There is a very high chance if any of the lit crit types describes a writer’s sentences as “shimmering,” I won’t like their works.

Even though when I was callow and far more arrogant I used to read more for this sort of “shimmery sentence” experience than for plot, these days I far prefer plot.

As I can craft those allegedly “shimmering” sentences myself, I just don’t think they are that difficult or remarkable.

Plot is much more difficult. At least having a cogent, intelligent and comprehensible one that hews somewhat close to verisimilitude.

This is why very few literary novels have even a semblance of a plot that a two-year-old couldn’t have thought up, and even outside of the literary sphere decent plots are pretty damn rare.

I just wish more writers could do both. The only one I’ve seen come close recently is Jeff VanDerMeer with his Southern Reach trilogy.

Close, but not quite there. The writing is really good. Expressive without being showy. But the plot tapers off toward the end.

That trilogy is still worth reading, though. The “biologist” character is one of my favorites from any novels I’ve read in the past few years.