The first volume of the Fringe prequel trilogy, “The Zodiac Paradox”, was notable for presenting a tale from the early years of Walter Bishop and William Bell that fit the general understanding of their drug-drenched youth, but seemed to diverge in odd ways from the series’ mythology.  In particular, the discovery and nature of “cortexiphan”, which was very different when described in the series.

I was hoping that “The Burning Man”, focused on Olivia Dunham, would be set during her years in Jacksonville, when her cortexiphan-based abilities were emerging.  If this had been paralleled with a subplot involving Walter and William as they explored the nature of cortexiphan, it would have been a clever way to flesh out a key point of the mythology while also digging into what was only hinted at in the main narrative.  Sadly, this novel is nothing of the sort.

Olivia’s experiences in Jacksonville are relegated to the very beginning of the novel as a prologue.  It’s essentially a reminder of where her abilities manifested and a couple examples of how.  After that, it is a story of teenaged Olivia dealing with a deranged lunatic from her past, and how her cortexiphan abilities make the situation a bit more interesting.  It’s all well and good, and seeing Olivia’s past is interesting and often engaging, but I couldn’t get over the notion that the story could have been so much more.

Part of the problem is that it becomes hard to reconcile that Olivia wouldn’t remember something that was so traumatic.  People around her die and her sister is kidnapped.  There are aspects of the experience that pertain directly to her cortexiphan abilities, and there are several references throughout the story that suggest she’s aware of how they continue to manifest in odd ways.  She even uses them intentionally once or twice.

And that’s something of a problem, because the older Olivia Dunham of Fringe barely remembers a thing about her cortexiphan abilities or even the experiments in Jacksonville.  She’s suppressed them over the years.  It’s fair enough to say that a young child might do this, as it’s something that actually happens, but would a person completely forget events that took place as a teenager?  Especially when they are in conjunction with getting into a strange school under odd pretenses and ultimately getting taken to a lab where monstrous experiments have taken place?

With the Fringe mythology, there would have been ways to resolve this.  It has always been a theory that Olivia’s memories were intentionally “erased” by Massive Dynamic, and sure enough, they are behind much of what happens with Olivia (good and bad) during the course of the novel.  So I’m not sure why the author didn’t simply suggest that Olivia’s memory was altered.  It’s not as though it’s going to be contradicted in future episodes!

Which is not to say that this is a terrible book, because on the contrary, it tells a fairly strong story.  It’s just a story that I’m not sure needed to be told within the Fringe continuity, or one that fits very well within that continuity.  It’s the classic dilemma of tie-in fiction.  If the events remain at the proper scale to be less important than what was mentioned in the source material, to fit logically within the context of the series, then the fiction can seem extraneous.  Attempts to make a novel more exciting and relevant often demand that the scope and scale be well beyond what could reasonably take place within the continuity.

The natural counter-argument to this would be: if the story is a strong one, and true to the characters, then should strict adherence to some conception of “continuity” matter?  After all, the “history” is fictional, so it’s all cobbled together anyway, right?  It comes down to a matter of consistency of vision.  Also, if a book is written with the claim that the stories were conceived during sessions with the writers of a series, then one has a reasonable expectation that the contents should align with the established continuity.  Why else bother to claim additional provenance by citing that collaboration, otherwise?

The irony is that the third and final book of this prequel “trilogy” will focus on Peter Bishop, and of the three main characters, his life before the advent of the series is the one that would logically have least to do with bizarre “fringe events”.  He knew that Walter was involved in some crazy experiments and weird ideas, but he also pushed that part of his life away to become something of a con man.  So it should be relatively easy for his story to fit the parameters of what was revealed on Fringe.  Since “The Burning Man” itself is well-written, and the story hangs together within its own context, it make me hopeful that Peter’s story will close out the trilogy in more fitting fashion.

Released: July 2013
Price: $7.99 (print version)
Acquisition method: Barnes & Noble