SciFi-Fantasy Bookshelf

Boneshaker

2010-08-19T18:31:00.000-07:00

Cherie Priest’s Boneshaker is a hard novel to sum up in a single word or even a phrase. Boneshaker is a blending of at least three sub-genre’s those being; alternative history, steampunk, and zombie. On the surface this fusion of styles seems like a train wreck waiting to happen. Indeed in less capable hands, Boneshaker would likely have been a muddled mess.

Not only does Priest blend three sub-genres, this is also a classic coming of age tale. The reader enters a world where the American Civil War has raged for almost two decades and shows no signs of ending. The location is Seattle, and a Seattle that became a boomtown many years earlier than Seattle did in reality. Priest’s Seattle was wrecked by the machinations of a greedy scientist.

This scientist created the Boneshaker, a massive mining drill, to aid the Russians in mining gold in Alaska. He then proceeded to take the Boneshaker on a test drive through his home town, wreaking havoc and releasing a toxic gas. This gas either kills people, or more likely, turns them into zombies. Thus the majority of Seattle was evacuated and a massive wall built around it to contain both the gas and the zombies.

The events of the novel take place some fifteen years later, when the scientist’s son Zeke goes haring off into the land behind the walls. Zeke does this in the hope of finding some scrap of evidence that will vindicate his father’s actions. Zeke’s mother, who has told him next to nothing about his father or life before the incident, feels she is to blame. Thus she too enters downtown Seattle hoping to find Zeke before he gets hurt or killed.

Priest combines vivid characterizations and frequent action to keep the reader engaged. Boneshaker alternates the perspectives of Zeke and his mother, Briar, thus enabling the reader to come into contact with a much larger cast of secondary characters. Not only does the reader encounter more characters, but the characters that overlap the perspectives are often perceived differently by Zeke and Briar.

All of these things taken together lead to a new and very fun to read novel. As I stated earlier a lesser author probably would have stumbled often trying to juggle all the angles and styles employed in Boneshaker. I tend to not care much for zombie novels as I have said in earlier reviews. Thankfully in this setting the zombies were not a major plot device. Rather the zombies in Boneshaker function as just one of many dangers and trials.

Boneshaker has gotten quite a lot of good press in the past few months. Having, finally, read Boneshaker I would have to say I whole heartedly agree. Priest has crafted a new and exciting blend of genres, and in the process built a very interesting setting to play with. I very much look forward to the next entry in Priest’s Clockwork Century setting, Dreadnought. I give Boneshaker a 4/5.

Trading in Danger

2010-07-14T21:09:00.000-07:00

Elizabeth Moon’s first Vatta’s War novel, Trading in Danger, is not your average space opera. Its’ protagonist, Kylara Vatta, in not automatically the best at what she does. In fact the novel starts out with her expulsion from an officer’s training academy.

Kylara is a very well intentioned person. In fact she is known for getting herself into trouble while helping others. She is also the scion of a very wealthy interstellar trading family, and is desperate to make her own way. Unfortunately due to Kylara’s abrupt exit from military life, that option is taken away from her.

Instead Kylara’s family takes pity on her and sends her off on a “milk run” with an old ship and a very experienced crew. Luckily they expect her to take some initiative and use this as an opportunity to actually make something of herself. What no one expects is that things are definitely not what they seem anymore.

This novel was first published in 2003 and it definitely feels more like a novel from a previous literary era, yet there are still signs of the changes that were occurring in the genre around that time. There is plenty of danger and action, but it is somewhat more blunted or perhaps less viscious than danger in the current literary era. However it is still an enjoyable read.

While this novel has a sound plot arc all its own, Trading in Danger is very definitely the opening act in a much larger saga. This is both the training ground for Kylara as a captain, and a carefully crafted method of giving the reader a lot of background and backstory before the real story arc gets going in the following novel. This is, of course, only my surmise as I have not yet read the next novel. This doesn’t take anything away from Trading in Danger as it is a novel that could stand on its own quite well.

Trading in Danger is a fast paced and fun read. The characters are well crafted and easy to connect with. There are plot twists that the reader doesn’t see coming, and plenty of action. Moon has done a great job building a universe and setting the stage for actions yet to come. I give this novel a 3.5/5.

The Color of Magic/The Light Fantastic

2010-07-10T10:10:00.000-07:00

I am choosing to review The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic (both by Terry Pratchett) together, because they are for all intents and purposes one novel. These are both the first two Discworld novels published, and also the only two novels which have a narrative continuity. There are many novels about the same characters throughout the series, but all the others have a distinct story arc all their own.

That being said, at many times The Color of Magic and The Light Fantastic seem more like collections of narratively continuous short stories than true novels. I am not sure whether this is Pratchett just finding his legs as an author, or an attempt to make the novels feel more like a travelogue.

After all this is what they essentially are, the telling of the adventures of Two Flower, the Discworlds first and likely last tourist, and Rincewind the unsuccessful wizard. While both novels do at times feel like a series of short stories, each does contain both a fully realized story arc and the overall plot of the two novels together.

These two novels are much more similar to straightforward fantasy than Pratchett’s later works. I suspect this is for two reasons. Firstly, at the time these were written no one else had taken a satirical look at the genre. Secondly with the main characters being Two Flower and Rincewind there was not much need to stray far from the beaten path. By this I mean these two characters themselves are such a humorous and satirical study in characters that none of the deeper nuances were required.

Granted the very notion of the Discworld, even as it was portrayed back then, is in itself a summation of what Pratchett has become known for. At the same time the structure of the world and its’ characters is much more rigid and closer to a “true” fantasy novel. That is to say the wizards are defined by their “level” in magic and the actual use of said magic is much more pronounced. By the time we reach Unseen Academicals almost no magic is actually “used,” in fact magic is more of a state of mind than an actual occurrence.

What is very interesting going back to these novels is how much of what was yet to come was already in place. In revisiting them I can see the origins of many characters and plot lines, even as far flung into the future as Tiffany Aching. However, the sooner to follow characters like Death and the Witches are much more realized.

While these novels, viewed from the vantage point of today, are clearly not Pratchett at the peak of his skill they are still wonderful novels. I doubt anyone could have foreseen that the Discworld series would grow to become what it is now, but thank goodness they have! Rereading is often the true test of a novel for me, as the first time through I am often in such a hurry to follow the plot line that I miss the nuances and subtleties. I can say with no qualms that The Color of Magic and the Light Fantastic are both worthy of multiple rereads and, it goes without saying, first reads. I give these two books a 3.5/5.

The Loving Dead

2010-07-05T11:17:00.001-07:00

In general zombie novels are not my first choice of reading material. However, I felt I must take advantage of the free online serial release of The Loving Dead by Amelia Beamer. While this novel has now been published, in the weeks leading up to publication it was released one chapter at a time on Beamer’s website. As this is her first published work as a fiction author this was probably a good idea.

Aside from the fact that this is a story about zombies (zombies seem to have almost as great a draw as vampires) I am afraid this novel may suffer from how region specific it feels. The setting is the Oakland Hills and Berkeley, California. This is near my home town and while it was pleasant to read about landmarks and such that felt familiar to me, I can’t really see it playing well among people that don’t know the region.

Also the characters are a little too strongly Northern Californian to settle well with the majority of readers. In fact this whole novel really felt like nothing so much as a direct representation of Beamer’s personal fantasies set down on a page. While I am sure Beamer has no desire to be attacked by a zombie, everything else with the exception of one or two graphic incidents very much felt like strong personal desires.

The actual quality of the writing was not that bad. Far better even than several massively popular authors of today, cough Stephanie Meyer cough. However the storyline needs much work and perhaps even a trip back to the drawing board.

Like most zombie tales, the unwitting populace is suddenly besieged by people turned into unthinking killing machines. Perhaps this novel is meant to portray the usual zombie tale in an ironic or sarcastic light. Unfortunately if this was Beamer’s intent she fell far short of the mark. The Loving Dead includes such uber-kitschy notions as the zombies being controlled by the sound of a cracking whip, even one from (massive free product placement) an iPhone app.

Then to make matters worse, just when the story was actually starting to roll a bit, after 15 or so chapters of nearly nothing but down home references and Northern California in-crowd feelings, Beamer wraps up the main story arc in a neat little bow and jumps into the future with an epilogue.

I actually felt this could be classified as a fun little read until this time jump occurred. There was really no resolution or true climax, merely a sudden and very cliché ending and then the epilogue. To make matters worse, the epilogue not only finished the cutesy little packaging job, but also out of nowhere tried to make a major parallel between zombies and discrimination against those of homosexual orientation. Beamer goes so far into this parallel as to name an anti-zombie law Prop 8.

In my opinion Beamer broke nearly every law of writing in this novel. There is nothing that will make the characters or the story appealing to the public. The novel is rife with brand names. The story spins it’s wheels for chapter after chapter, then suddenly resolves. Finally the epilogue introduces new concepts so abruptly and tactlessly that it essentially appears to be little more than propaganda. I give this novel a 2/5.

Unseen Academicals

2010-06-14T17:55:00.000-07:00

The latest entry in Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series is entitled Unseen Academicals. Anyone familiar with the series will know by the title that this is a wizard-centric entry. This is true, but while the novel as a whole is a wizards novel, the main characters are not in fact wizards, but staff members of the university.

Vetinari has decided to reform football in Ankh-Morpork and uses Ridcully and the wizards as the driving force behind his reforms. This requires the re-formulation of a sports program at the Unseen University. Ponder Stibbons is, of course, saddled with the task of putting these things together. Luckily for Stibbons a relatively unknown and also new staffer at the University is a born tactician.

Unfortunately for Mr. Nutt, the new employee, he is also an Orc. At the start of the novel no one knows this except Vetinari, Lady Margolotta, and Ridcully. The orcs were the battle slaves of an evil Ubervaldian empire, and were reviled and hunted to near extinction. Lady Margolotta has decided to try and reform their image through Mr. Nutt, who is at least as bright as Stibbons.

This novel gives Pratchett two targets to aim his satire and wit at, football hooliganism and racism/stereotypical thinking. As I have noted before Pratchett is in top form whenever he operates with primarily new characters. In this novel this is especially true. Pratchett utilizes his new characters interactions with Vetinari and Ridcully to further his exposition of both of those old characters.

Also these new characters occupy a previously uncharted part of the Ankh-Morpork social hierarchy. Mr. Nutt and his companions Glenda and Trev are working class people outside the Watch. While the social standing of Watch members is probably about the same as these new characters, the Watchmen are held apart because of their status as police officers. Due to this change in point of view the reader gets to view Ankh-Morpork from a slightly new angle.

I would say Unseen Academicals is one of the best entries in the Discworld series. It manages to integrate both old and new characters. Unseen Academicals also effectively ties together disparate groups, the Wizards, the Watch, Vetinari, and the common people of Anhk-Morpork. As is usual with Pratchett novels Unseen Academicals is witty and thought provoking. I give this a 4.5.

Warriors

2010-05-25T18:07:00.001-07:00

I will admit that I purchased the Warriors anthology, edited by George RR Martin and Gardner Dozois, almost entirely for the Dunk and Egg novella by George RR Martin. I do not generally like reading short stories or novellas unless they are set in an existing world. I feel that short stories can add and be added to by larger worlds and this is done effectively in both directions with Dunk and Egg and the aSoIaF novels.

The reason I tend not to like short stories that stand alone is that I despise getting to know a character and then a few pages later moving on. In the Legends anthologies, edited by Robert Silverberg, which contained the previous Dunk and Egg stories I read essentially only those stories either by authors I already knew or those I had an immediate interest in. With Warriors this was also my original intent.

However, after reading the foreword by GRRM I decided to stick it out for the whole anthology. In said foreword GRRM writes about how marketing and labeling of fiction has changed since he was a boy. GRRM posits that while such changes were inevitable that they were not necessarily good for the world of literature. GRRM goes into detail about how, in those days before mega-bookstores like Amazon or Barnes and Noble, and even when smaller scale booksellers were less available, all of the different genre’s bumped elbows in spinner racks at convenience stores.

The main notion of Warriors is just that sort of cross-genre elbow rubbing. The only real tie between the stories is that each centers on a warrior of some ilk. Within the anthology there are sci-fi, fantasy, western, mystery, historical fiction, and perhaps even some further subdivisions of literature. I must say this made for a unique reading experience.

Dozois and Martin managed to put together a fairly star-studded group of writers for this anthology. Some of them, like GRRM, work in their “home settings” others like Naomi Novik go far afield from the settings in which they usually write. I won’t go into detail about each story. I will say that some stories I loved, some were strong, a few were mediocre, and at least one I didn’t like at all. However, given the range of writing styles, genres, and settings employed here that is to be expected.

I enjoyed stepping back in time to the “spinner rack” with the aid of GRRM, Gardner Dozois, and all the authors who contributed stories to the volume. I would definitely pick up another such cross-genre anthology if it were to be produced. There are some amazing stories in Warriors, and as a result of reading some of them I will buy other works from authors I had never read before. I give this anthology a 4/5.

A Kiss of Shadows

2010-05-11T18:20:00.001-07:00

Laurell K Hamilton’s A Kiss of Shadows begins her rollicking and fun take on the Faerie Courts, the Meredith Gentry series, with several bangs. This universe finds the Faerie in the public eye, but with waning power. Also the Faerie have, for reasons not wholly explained in this novel, been driven out of their historical home in Europe and now hold court in the Midwest region of the United States.

Meredith, or Merry, the titular character of the series is a princess of the Unseelie (or dark side) Court. She is looked down upon because she has mixed blood (full sidhe, brownie, and human (that last bit being the real downer)). Due to her human ancestry she is mortal, which makes the immortals feel she is weak. At the start of A Kiss of Shadows Merry has been in hiding from her aunt, the Queen of Air and Darkness, for three years. During this time Merry has been living in Los Angeles working for a supernatural detective agency.

As events at the start of A Kiss of Shadows unfold Merry is forced to come out of hiding. She is in fear for her life, for very good reasons, but must re-embrace her past. What follows is much political intrigue, numerous assassination attempts, and lots of sex. It seems that the faerie culture pretty much embraces and uses sex and lust as power, status, and fun.

The amount of fairly graphic sex scenes right from the start of the book was at first somewhat off-putting. I know this is a fairly standard part of Urban Fantasy or Romantasy as I like to think of it, but sometimes it can be a bit over the top. However, once I got into the storyline and Hamilton had time to build the world, the sex scenes became a necessary part of the backdrop, even having increasing political and social importance as the novel progresses.

I thoroughly enjoy Merry as a character. Her blend of power, both magical and political, is interesting. This is especially true as she grows during the novel, and as her status changes. Merry is used to seeing herself as other, because of how she was treated historically. During the novel she is required to not only embrace her otherness, but also learn to use it as a tool.

Hamilton is very skillful at both crafting a world that could very easily be our own, if magic were real and faeries existed, and doling out tidbits of mythology at just the right times to keep the reader hooked. Little bits of information are woven in throughout the novel, and even more is hinted at. This is a world that has lots of promise for future entries. Indeed at this time there are 8 novels in the Merry Gentry series.

After resolving my initial feelings about the graphic sex scenes in this novel I came to enjoy it a lot. Hamilton has a pleasant writing style and keeps the plot moving at a good pace. There is plenty of intrigue and danger involved, and most plot twists are not telegraphed or easily guessed at. I recommend this for anyone looking for a bit of light, fun reading. I give it a 3.5/5.

io9 Bookclub and Soul Stealers

2010-05-05T18:01:00.000-07:00

Just a notice that the io9 Book Club is now in session for InfoQuake. On 5/6/10 Edelman answered questions and comments regarding this novel.

Also Soul Stealers is now available in the UK and Australia and worldwide as an ebook.

A Hat Full of Sky

2010-04-28T18:09:00.000-07:00

In A Hat Full of Sky, Pratchett brings readers, and Tiffany Aching, much more into the Discworld than in the The Wee Free Men. This is just one of many differences between the two novels. A Hat Full of Sky is a Young Adult title, the third overall YA novel in the discworld setting.

The Wee Free Men found Tiffany just discovering that she was a witch. She had no mentor and only the help of the Nac Mac Feegle to get through some rough times. That was very much a novel about discovery. A Hat Full of Sky finds Tiffany a little older and going away to be trained by an adult witch. She interacts much more with the greater Discworld, including quite a lot with Granny Weatherwax, an old mainstay. A Hat Full of Sky is much more a coming of age story.

Whereas in the first novel Tiffany was not culpable for her actions because she was just holding on for dear life, in A Hat Full of Sky she makes mistakes that are costly. She is more responsible this time around because she is no longer ignorant of the magical world.

One of the high points of The Wee Free Men was how it used Tiffany to give readers a better understanding of the mystery of Granny Weatherwax, because Tiffany is so much like Granny. A Hat Full of Sky capitalizes on this by actually bringing in Granny Weatherwax for much of the action. Thus providing a side by side comparison between the two characters.

All in all Pratchett made good use of both old and new characters in this novel. Although a YA title, and like The Wee Free Men, this is well worth reading as an adult fan of Pratchett and the Discworld.
This novel successfully raises the bar from the first. The storyline is strong and enjoyable, and overall the character of Tiffany is built up nicely. I look forward to the next Aching story, The Wintersmith. I give A Hat Full of Sky a 4/5.

Night Life

2010-04-23T18:06:00.000-07:00

The world that Caitlin Kittredge has crafted for her Nocturne City novels is similar to our own. There are some major differences though. Werewolves, witches, and other creatures that go bump in the night are not only present but out in the public eye.

Night Life is the first novel in this series. The protagonist is Luna Wilder, a homicide detective who also happens to be a werewolf. Luna is an Insoli, or packless werewolf, which basically makes her the very bottom of the totem pole. Any werewolf with a pack can at will mistreat her with no fear of repercussions. Add to that her idiot boss and chauvinistic coworkers and life is fairly rough for Luna.

Our story begins with a murder investigation that quickly becomes much more than a single murder or even an ordinary one. Luna is plunged into an occult mystery that leaves more and more people dead by the day. Luckily Luna finds a powerful werewolf ally and has a cousin who is a witch to help out as well.

Kittredge made at least two obvious factual blunders in the writing of this novel. She at one point refers to a broken tibia in someone’s forearm, and since the tibia is in the lower leg this is abhorrent. The fact that not only did Kittredge skimp on her research, but at least one editor overlooked this as well saddens me. The other, much more minor issue, involved the workings of a Glock pistol.

This is not a heavy read by any stretch of the imagination. While the plot does involve the mystery of who is behind the killings and why, this is much more an action based book than a true mystery. The mystery basically gives Kittredge an excuse to throw Luna into dangerous and exciting situations. It also allows Kittredge free reign to build the setting for future novels.

While this is not a novel on par with the work of someone like GRRM or Scott Lynch, it was a very enjoyable read. Kittredge blends together a lot of different elements including action, mystery, romance, and magic, in a seamless manner. The main characters are all likeable and there are even some people to loath. I had fun reading Night Life and look forward to reading other books in the series. I give it a 3.5/5.

Maneater

2010-04-20T18:03:00.001-07:00

Thomas Emson’s novel, Maneater, is not your typical werewolf yarn. At least not in today’s urban romantasy saturated market. Maneater is part horror, party mystery, and part urban fantasy.

This isn’t a world populated by lots of paranormal creatures, and it is not a vampires verses werewolves story. That is not to say there aren’t some very cliché bits, just different cliché’s than those that are the standard in this literary era.

Maneater, the titular character Laura Greenacre, is apparently the last surviving werewolf. This is a result of a war waged by the rival werewolf clan. The rival clan hunted the Greenacre’s for thousands of years and even gave up the ability to shift in their lust to end the werewolf lines. The rival clans, of course, started out as two brothers who chose opposite sides of a power struggle and whose families then spent thousands of years feuding.

This entry in the ages long battle between the clans results from Laura’s attempt to avenge the murder of her parents at the hands of the current leader of the rival clan. The murders happened when Laura was very young and thus she grew up with no knowledge or guidance in the ways of werewolves. The rest of the cast of characters include the son of the rival leader, the police, and a few random people involved with Laura or the rival clan.

The main plot is basically a rehash of every other feud plotline. The sides gradually learn more about each other, or rather more information is revealed to the reader, and it all leads to a major climactic battle where good triumphs over evil. Or something close to that anyway. One side is clearly evil the other has a few redeeming factors, but is hardly blameless.

Mixed into all this is at least one completely useless subplot, whose existence I never really figured out. This subplot involves a rapist, and in my opinion really did nothing to advance the story or in any way influence a major character. This subplot honestly felt like nothing more than a way to fill up some space.

All the characters are formulaic. Emson never got much past picking a major character type and giving each character a physical description. Beyond that each character could be replaced by any of about a dozen similar characters from different works. Emson also has the annoying tendency to write scenes of gratuitous male sexual fantasy without much real skill.

This novel, despite its general lack of originality, was a fun, fast read. If you can look past the several glaring flaws and don’t expect anything ground breaking or mind blowing it could be worth a read. I give it a 2.5/5.

Soul Stealers

2010-04-17T11:58:00.000-07:00

The second entry in Andy Remic’s The Clockwork Vampire Trilogy, Soul Stealers, is much more tightly focused than Kell’s Legend (the first volume). In the first novel multiple POV’s were followed and most of the continent was covered at all times. In this novel two POV’s occupy most of the story arc, with only the occasional interspersed side POV. Also all of the action moves in one direction this time around.

Beyond that Soul Stealers dramatically alters what the reader knows about the situation. Things we perceived to be true throughout Kell’s Legend are rendered false almost from the opening lines of Soul Stealers. True allegiances are revealed, and the real reasoning behind the Army of Iron’s invasion comes to light as well.

As with the first novel, most of the adventure centers around Kell and his companions. This is largely an old school heroic fantasy tale at its core with a more modern twist brought on by the politics and warfare going on around Kell. This is a combination that worked well in Kell’s Legend and continues to work in Soul Stealers.

Thankfully Remic did not use the cliché of the hero being saved from one monster by an even bigger monster in this go round. That was my one big complaint about Kell’s Legend and I was happy it never reared its narratively lacking head here. Much like the first novel, Soul Stealers is a fast paced thrill ride.

While the overall story arc is less ambitious than Kell’s Legend, Soul Stealers is a very strong middle entry in a trilogy. Largely due to the fact that there is a total change in the perceived power structure right from the start there is nothing about this novel that feels even vaguely like filler. The backdrop of the story is totally changed consistently from the first page to the last. The reader rarely see’s any of the changes coming.

A lot of middle novels and sequel’s fail to live up to the standard set by the first entry in a series. This is not the case with Soul Stealers. The story arc is strong enough to stand alone, granted that would not work well without the history and world building from Kell’s Legend.

Remic knows what worked well and possibly what failed in Kell’s Legend. He stuck to this and moved away from old tired clichés in Soul Stealers. The result is a fun, quick reading second novel in what promises to be a strong trilogy. I can’t wait for the third novel, Vampire Warlords. I give Soul Stealers a 4/5.

Soul Stealers is a publication of Angry Robot Books. It is now available in the UK and Australia (print editions) and ebook format everywhere.

Infoquake

2010-04-13T18:17:00.001-07:00

In Infoquake, the first novel in his Jump 225 Trilogy, David Louis Edelman perfectly combines shifting perspectives and timelines to keep you hooked. The first 60 or more pages of the book make you believe that the main protagonist is one character and then suddenly you find that this is not the case. The introductory section introduces many of the main characters, the setting, and some major concepts. Then suddenly just as things seem to be developing we are taken back into the past to learn more about the setting and the characters by seeing how the main character grew to adulthood.

Infoquake takes place many years in the future. Humans have developed programmable nanotech which both maintains the body and improves upon natural systems. This nanotech also allows people to essentially transport their minds all over the inhabited areas of the solar system, while keeping their bodies at home, but still allowing all five senses to be used fully.

The story revolves around a relatively new “fiefcorp” or company that develops new and better programs to fuel the nanotech. The fiefcorps’ master is Natch, a somewhat controversial and enigmatic figure, whose genius and ambition are both envied and reviled. As the plot develops it is Natch’s unique character and drive that fuel the story and the action.

Edelman has combined familiar concepts, ideas, and scenery then blended these with technological advances in a manner which seems highly plausible. This is a world where buildings can expand or collapse depending on occupancy and needed work space. Where cities like London have maintained their unique architecture and character and other cities have boomed and/or broken because of the changes to society and technology. Even though the time is many years hence much of the technology is rooted in familiar things, like the Internet, which tends to make the futuristic technologies feel more real and believable.

The actual time and space covered by the “present” in Infoquake is comparatively short. Large parts of the novel are spent building the back story, filling in history, and explaining technology. Neither of these factors lessen the novel, rather Infoquake is well blended and keeps your attention. While it is readily apparent that there is a much larger story to be told this novel can stand on its own.

I have never read anything else with this take on technology or the future. Edelman’s background as a computer programmer has very much informed his choice of setting and characters. Unlike some future scifi settings where the cool technology feels more like James Bond gizmos designed to add color and flash to the story the technology in Infoquake is the basis for the story. I enjoyed this novel and look forward to reading the next two entries. I give it a 4/5.

The Wee Free Men

2010-04-09T17:59:00.000-07:00

As I have noted before Terry Pratchett tends to produce his best work when playing with new main characters. This is true of Tiffany Aching and The Wee Free Men. This is Pratchett’s second Discworld novel aimed at young adults. However, other than having a protagonist that is a child and being slightly shorter than a full length novel, it is little different from any other entry.

One minor, but noticeable difference is the lack of hard evidence that the story is set in the Discworld. There is no mention of the larger world, which is understandable as the protagonist is a 9 year old whose whole world view encompasses the few miles surrounding her family's sheep fields at the start of the novel. Of course, a veteran reader of Pratchett novels can immediately feel the Discworld filling out the boundaries of the story.

Having read this story out of the publishing order I am not sure if this is the first time the Nac Mac Feegle have come into play or not. This is certainly the first situation in which they have played such a major role. Tiffany Aching is a witch, who doesn’t really know it yet, and doesn’t know how to go about being a witch. This provides Pratchett with ample room to do what he does best; turn things on their heads and provide philosophy through sarcasm.

Characters we have certainly met before, the Faeries (from Lords and Ladies), come into play giving us another hint that this is truly the Discworld. Tiffany, of course, has no idea how vicious these creatures are and believes that she can overcome them. The Nac Mac Feegle aren’t so sure about this, but as they are always ready to fight anyone or anything, they go along quite happily.

One of the highlights of this novel is Tiffany’s development as a witch. Since Tiffany is a child and just learning she doesn’t hide her thoughts and actions the way Granny Weatherwax does. Tiffany will grow up into a witch very much like Granny Weatherwax, so the glimpses we get inside Tiffany’s head demystify both witchcraft in the Discworld and Granny Weatherwax. Near the end of the story we get definitive proof that this is, indeed, the Discworld as Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg come to check up on Tiffany.

While this story is intended as a young adult work, it is very much readable by adults. In fact, The Wee Free Men is one of the stronger entries in the Discworld saga. Tiffany is an enjoyable protagonist, and the Nac Mac Feegle are great, possibly even the best sidekicks in any of the novels. I give The Wee Free Men a 4.5/5.

Breaking Dawn

2010-03-29T17:58:00.001-07:00

The final volume in Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight Saga, Breaking Dawn, is perhaps the most well written of the four volumes. As I noted previously, Eclipse was a major step up in quality from the first two novels and Breaking Dawn is just a little bit further along. Perhaps this is because there is a whole section dedicated to Jacob’s POV. It could also be that Bella finally gets what she wants, or it could be that Meyer finally learned something from her editors.

That being said there are still some major issues here. The premise of this novel is, to be honest, pretty wacky. Bella finally gives in to marriage, but holds out on getting turned because she wants to have sex with Edward before she is overcome by newborn bloodlust. The result of this is Edward being all angsty after he basically beats Bella during sex, oh and she somehow gets knocked up too.

This of course leads to all sorts of drama involving Edward wanting to protect Bella, Bella wanting to keep the baby, and Jacob and company getting all uppity over how this may or may not break the “treaty.” The first half of the novel, in which Bella’s pregnancy takes place is pretty out there, and I again ask where does Meyer even come up with this stuff?

However, once you get past all that and to the second half of the novel things improve. The storyline in the latter half of the book is actually decent, and does bring the saga to an decent end. This is not to say it couldn’t have been a lot better, because Meyer is clearly not operating in the same mode as the better writers of this era. I will only say that in my opinion she could have made some choices that would have actually given the saga some real credibility. Instead she chose to take the easy route.

Is this the end of Twilight? I am not sure, the Bella and Edward story is pretty well closed out, but I believe there is still material that could be built on. However, would it be Twilight without Bella and Edward? Probably not.

Breaking Dawn could have been bad, and it could have been better. I think overall Eclipse is probably the best novel of the four. The writing is marginally better in Breaking Dawn, but the story arc of Eclipse is stronger. Breaking Dawn does bring the story to a good conclusion and it is a much better book than either Twilight or New Moon. I give it a 3/5.

Hammered

2010-03-18T18:10:00.001-07:00

Elizabeth Bear’s Hammered is the first novel in the Jenny Casey Trilogy. This story takes place in the late 2060’s and much has changed between now and then. The US has lost power and influence and Canada has become a global power. Jenny Casey is retired from the Canadian Army.

During Casey’s service she was shot down and survived the crash with severe injuries. Due to these injuries she became one of the first people to have cybernetic implants, her left arm and her left eye, along with cybernetics in her spine. This happened over twenty years prior to the events of the novel, and as a result Casey is in great amounts of pain and the cybernetics are reaching the end of their life.

Casey has retired to Hartford Connecticut. There she has befriended a local warlord, Razorface, and a local cop. The novel begins with Razorface bringing Casey one of his underlings who has apparently overdosed on military issue speed. Later it is discovered that this was an intentionally released batch of tainted drugs.

It is very apparent that this is the first volume in a preplanned trilogy. The majority of the novel amounts to setup for later events. Due in part to the drugs, and also to her failing cybernetics, Casey is drawn back into the Army and a situation she really wants nothing to do with. Also key to the plot are the development of space faring vessels (retro-engineered from alien craft found on Mars) and the potential development of an actual Artificial Intelligence.

The major action in the storyline is so minimal that if one were to take it out of the larger framework it would almost be laughable. Very few of the characters that seem hugely important at the start of the novel are even involved by the end. This is a novel where the reader really does not have any clue what is developing until it happens.

Despite the fact that this novel seems to consist mostly of world building and arranging the characters and knowledge for following two novels, it actually works. The story is enjoyable if not completely a page turner. You want to know where everything is leading. Each character has so many personal machinations amidst the greater intrigue that paying attention at all times is key.

Hammered is far from your average sci-fi novel. It is more about intrigue and manipulating people and places than any sort of action or adventure. Bear has definitely put together the pieces needed for an epic adventure to be played out in the following books. Hopefully they don’t disappoint. I give this novel a 3.5/5.

Kell's Legend

2010-03-11T18:19:00.001-08:00

Andy Remic successfully blends steampunk and high fantasy in Kell's Legend(Book 1 of The Clockwork Vampire Trilogy). Upon first entering the world the sense is much like that of any other fantasy novel. It is only as the novel evolves that the reader learns the true nature of the setting. This adds something of a mystery esthetic to the novel as well.

Kell, the titular character, is an old bear of a man. At the start of the novel Kell is living in a city basically incognito in order to be near his granddaughter. Suddenly the city is attacked by a merciless army of albinos, aided by creatures straight out of a horror novel. Kell manages to escape with his granddaughter and two other unlikely companions and flees in an attempt to warn the king in time to avert disaster.

As the story unfolds other monsters are unveiled. In fact this leads to one of the novel's weak points. Near the middle of the novel Remic has a tendency to put the characters in mortal danger, only to have them “rescued” by the arrival of some bigger badder monster who is subsequently distracted by the other monster. This tactic has been overused for many years, it may work once, but definitely not twice as is the case in this novel.

Along with Kell we get the viewpoint of Anu, a vachine (vampire machine), who is hiding her “impurity” in order to maintain her status in society (and her life). It is through Anu that we learn most about the vachine. These are a hybrid of human with clockwork machinery, and require “blood-oil” a magical distillation of human blood in order to keep their clockwork ticking. The vachine also have a strict religious society based heavily on fear and power.

As the story develops we learn much more about Kell’s past, and his “bloodbonded” weapon Ilanna. At the same time we are learning about the real reasons behind the invasion, and the political intrigue and machinations both within the vachine society and in Kell’s land. Further history and magic within the world are hinted at as the story develops rapidly.

Despite the fact that on the surface this is a hero adventure story not much different from the early days of Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms, Kell’s Legend manages to be relevant and enjoyable today. The Kell storyline is very high fantasy, it is the larger picture of the world that is important here. The idea of the vachine are a brilliant reimagining of both steampunk ideas and vampires. With these creatures set in a world that Remic obviously has so much as yet unrevealed history for there is nowhere to go but up.

Kell’s Legend is a fast paced read. There are multiple points of view and unlike some cases, each time you return to each POV you are happy to be coming back. There are no “filler” POV’s, each is relevant and brings important information to the table. Even though I had an issue with Remic’s use of salvation by introducing a new big baddie I very much enjoyed this novel. I give it a 4/5.

Kell's Legend is published by Angry Robot Books and is currently available in the UK and Australia. It will be available in the US and Canada in May 2010.

Good Omens

2010-03-05T19:33:00.001-08:00

Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman wrote Good Omens: The Nice and Accurate Prophecies of Agnes Nutter, Witch in the late 1980’s. This was long before they were Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman, and it was a task they took on of their own accord. In this novel, the reader can see the beginnings of what was to come with each of these authors.

This is the tale of the coming apocalypse, ostensibly at the hands of the son of Satan, one Adam Young. Unfortunately for Satan his main minion on Earth, Crowley, and Crowley’s more celestial counterpart Aziraphale, don’t really want to give up life on Earth. Due to this, and the ineptitude of human help, the success of the ineffable plan is very much at risk.

Good Omens is a novel peopled by many colorful characters (really with these two authors at the helm one would expect nothing less). Beyond Crowley and Aziraphale we find such illustrious characters as Witchfinder Sergeant Shadwell with his obsession with the number of nipples everyone possesses (clearly an indication of your inner witchiness), Madam Tracy, Anathema Device, Newton Pulsifer, and of course Agnes Nutter herself.

One minor detractor to the brilliance of this novel is the fact that Gaiman and Pratchett repeatedly introduce characters whose only function is to provide a viewpoint on the action for a few paragraphs. After these flash in the pan characters have served this purpose they are never heard from again. While this is effective, I question whether or not this device would have been used had this book been written later in Pratchett and Gaiman's careers.

Any veteran reader of Pratchett and/or Gaiman will know just how witty and sarcastic this novel is, even without turning the first page. For instance, the Four Riders of the Apocalypse are loose in the world. Plague has been replaced by Pollution because Plague couldn’t handle the pressure after the discovery of the effectiveness of Penicillin. Famine is hugely successful in producing a line of “food” that tastes just like the real thing, but has no actual useable calories or nutrition, thus a person can gorge to the point of gluttony and still die of starvation. War is a retired arms dealer, and now the preeminent war journalist of the time, and Death is, of course, Death.

We can find some comparisons between the Discworld and the Earth of Good Omens. Death here is much more old school Death than our old friend from the Discworld, but you can chalk that up to his presence on Earth instead of in the Discworld. In one scene if you don’t blink you can even catch a glimpse of the Earth version of C.M.O.T Dibbler.

We as readers are lucky that Gaiman and Pratchett collaborated way back when before they became who they are today and had time for such a thing. This is a brilliant work that foreshadowed what was to come for each of them. Despite its few flaws it is a work well worth reading. I give it a 4.5/5.

All Together Dead

2010-03-03T18:55:00.001-08:00

Charlaine Harris’ seventh Sookie Stackhouse novel, All Together Dead, ties up some long running plotlines in a neat little package. For several novels now the reader has been hearing of the impending Vampire Summit. Sookie is required to appear at the summit in order to snoop on other humans. Ensuring that they are not attempting to do anything underhanded in regards to Queen Sophie-Anne.

This event was originally intended to happen in New Orleans, but after Katrina hit it was moved to Rhodes. Along with the loss of the conference Sophie-Anne has lost a lot of power and money due both to Katrina and the death of her husband, the King of Arkansas. In fact at the summit Sophie-Anne is on trial for this death.

To make things even more exciting the security at the conference is exceedingly suspect during the daylight hours. No one but Sookie seems concerned about this, and she has grave misgivings. Also present at the conference are Quinn (he’s managing all the special events) and Barry (the other telepath that Sookie discovered in Living Dead in Dallas).

Since Sookie doesn’t often see Barry she takes this opportunity to practice her telepathic powers with him. Together they discover more about their abilities, and weird people out by having conversations entirely in their minds. Also Sookie finally finds out information about Quinn’s past and figures out why even vampires seem to hold Quinn in high regard.

This seems to be a pivotal moment in the series. Harris brings together several long running story arcs and closes them out. By the end Sookie has a totally different perspective than at any time in previous novels. It will be interesting to see where Harris goes next. Since this novel resolves so many long standing items it is one of the better books in the series. I give it a 4/5.

Sheepfarmer's Daughter

2010-02-26T19:51:00.001-08:00

Elizabeth Moon published Sheepfarmer’s Daughter in 1988. Surprisingly it doesn’t feel too different from works published lately. Granted the various descriptions of violence and torture have nothing on something like Abercrombie’s First Law Trilogy. However, virtually nothing is that graphic even today.

Paksenarrion, the titular character, flee’s home and a marriage she does not want. To get well away and have a way of supporting herself she enlists in a mercenary company. The reader follows along as Paks learns more about life and war.

Due to this learning process the major storyline is somewhat slow to develop. Virtually the first half of the novel is Paks learning and experiencing her first campaign. It is only during Paks second year that we encounter the big bad, and the main plotline.
From there the plot still advances slowly, with the action taking place over the course of almost a year. Throughout this Moon manages to mix in bits and pieces of the larger puzzle, a sign of things to come in later volumes.

Like the main plotline the fantasy elements are slow to develop. Early in the story the only magic involved is used to heal, and potions are mentioned. After that almost no magic or hints of magic are mentioned until much later. This is an interesting choice, especially given the time frame this novel came from, when things like Dragonlance and Forgotten Realms were king.

Moon’s writing style is very enjoyable. Though the books covers almost three years, the majority of it focuses on the points of action. The in between times are covered, just not delved into. Moon also uses a good mix of description of the world and people versus the actions and conversations.

While this is an older work it still feels relevant. The only thing that I found less than great is Moon’s choice of using Paks lack of desire for men as a major issue throughout. There were times it made sense to use, but overall the persistence did not full make sense. Perhaps this will come into better focus in later novels. I enjoyed this book, I give it a 3.5/5.

Definitely Dead

2010-02-24T18:06:00.001-08:00

Whilst the fifth Sookie Stackhouse novel, Dead as a Doornail, was a major let down, the sixth, Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris, is right back on track. Sookie’s cousin Hadley has been murdered, an action which apparently was revealed in a short story which makes for a slightly abrupt transition, and Sookie must go to New Orleans to clean up Hadley’s apartment. Sookie had been planning to do this at her leisure, but the Queen of Louisiana (who had been Hadley’s lover) hurries Sookie along.

When this takes place we know there must be a reason beyond just getting some clothes and furniture packed up, and indeed this turns out to be the case. Sookie is dragged yet deeper into Vampire politics, yet again by forces completely out of her control. To complicate things even more, Weres keep attacking Sookie, and she does not know why.

Luckily Sookie’s new love interest, Quinn, is around to take care of her, and since Quinn is a weretiger he is well equipped for the task. The major plotline of the novel is one of the better plotlines yet. Lots of political machinations, intrigue, and danger with major changes and long lasting implications. It is also revealed that Sookie has some fairy blood, and that Claudine is her fairy godmother. However, we don’t know how this will effect things, or what exactly it means.

Another thread that is tied up in this novel involves the Debbie Pelt plotline. This plotline has been drawn out through several novels, and Sookie’s circumstances have changed so much in that time period that the Pelt storyline has really lost touch. Hopefully this is the end of that plotline. Beyond that this is one of the strongest entries thus far. I give it a 4/5.

Dead as a Doornail

2010-02-18T18:12:00.001-08:00

Book five in the Sookie Stackhouse series of novels by Charlaine Harris is entitled Dead as a Doornail. This novel starts with a series of attacks on shapeshifters and weres. The police don’t know what to do with this because to them it appears to be a serial killer choosing victims with no apparent link. Eric loans Sam his bartender, the vampire Charles, and Sookie gets dragged into Shreveport pack politics by Alcide.

Calvin Norris, the packmaster of Hotshot, is one of the wounded and Jason is the suspect favored by the Hotshot pack. Which complicates Jason’s fledgling relationship with Crystal Norris. Add to this mix the usual tension between Bill, Eric, and Sookie. Due to these factors this entry in the series revolves more around relationships than perhaps any other novel yet.

To me this book feels like filler. Lots of action happened in Dead to the World so maybe this just feels like a letdown from that. However, a lot of the main plot is actually reaction to things that happened in Dead Until Dark (book 1) and also involves actions throughout the timeline. I also get the sense that quite a few new storylines are being set up in this novel.

Despite the fact that logically I know that at some point plot lines have to be tied up and new ones introduced, I still can’t help but feel that this could have been handled a bit more organically. Dead as a Doornail really feels like it could have been interspersed throughout other novels without any loss to the reader. This is definitely the weakest entry yet in the series. I give it a 3/5.

The Windup Girl

2010-02-16T07:17:00.001-08:00

Finally I have read a fairly current novel! Paolo Bacigalupi’s The Windup Girl, has received quite a lot of acclaim, including being on several “best of 2009” lists. I have been somewhat stuck in series reading of late, and it was pleasant to find myself in a totally new setting and reading a new voice. Especially when the setting and the voice are as good as this.

The Windup Girl takes place sometime in the future. My guess is probably in the range of 100 to 200 years from now, although it is hard to pin it down as there are only vague historical references, and those tend to be to events which have not yet happened. The location is Thailand, one of the few nations to have not fallen prey to the “calorie companies.”

This is a post-apocalyptic story, but the apocalypse was entirely different than any other I have encountered. In short, humanity continued on its current course until fossil fuels were exhausted, and did not find a replacement source of energy before the end. On top of that, corporations began genetically engineering fruits and grains that would only allow for limited growth, before a whole new stock had to be purchased.

As a side effect, food related plagues have sprung up, some engineered and some accidental. Now people exist on short rations, in fear of what eating might infect them with, and with little to no variation in their diet. As the novel begins, an undercover “calorie man” has just discovered a new fruit in the Thai street markets.

Along with genetic manipulation of foodstuffs, scientists have also engineered different creatures such as “chesires” (a bread of cat that can basically become invisible) and megodaunts (some alteration of an elephant that makes it better suited for labor). The titular character, Emiko, is one such genetically “enhanced” person. Known as a New Person (of which there are variations) this particular person was bred by the Japanese for subservience, functionality as a secretary/translator, and of course as a sex toy. The “windup” moniker comes from the fact that her movements are herky jerky, most likely a trait added to forever mark her as other.

Plot wise this is a top notch novel. At no point in the story was there a predictable twist or turn, and there were plenty of those to be had. So many characters are key to the story, that until the very end the reader doesn’t really know who, other than the windup girl, are really the main characters. Even Emiko seems like just a bit player through most of the narrative.

Thematically this novel is very dark, which one could readily guess from its post-apocalyptic nature. Don’t set out reading and expect to feel happy at the end. You can, however, expect a sense of fulfillment and despite the darker moments in the narrative there is still some hope at the end. The one part of the novel that troubles me is the debasement of Emiko. She is used as entertainment at a whore house, wherein one of the other girls truly enjoys inflict pain and emotional trauma upon her before an audience. This is key to the novel, and I don’t have a problem with its use as a plot point, but it is just sad to me that things like this can and do happen.

That being said it points to a major theme in the novel, that of people continually preying on the perceived weaknesses of those around them. This is the central issue around which the entire plot revolves. There were many ways this novel could have gone, and most of those would have been brilliant right up until the end. Thankfully Bacigalupi managed to find the one ending that did not betray the rest of the story. This is truly one of the best novels of 2009, and well worth reading. I give it a 4.75/5.

Just a note: io9's Book Club discussion for the month is on the Windup Girl. Paolo Bacigalupi will be joining the discussion Friday 2/26/10!

Dead to the World

2010-02-11T20:43:00.000-08:00

Life gets pretty rough for Sookie at the start of Charlaine Harris' Dead to the World. Bill, whom she is no longer dating, takes off for Peru and Sookie then finds Eric running naked down the road with a case of amnesia. Shortly thereafter Sookie’s brother Jason, goes missing. That’s a pretty rough couple of days!

In this entry into the Sookie-verse, we get to meet some witches (good and bad), a fairy, and a whole bunch more shifters and Weres. The vampires are attempting to sort out what is wrong with Eric, and the Weres are dealing with an incursion on their territory. Sookie discovers that without his normal personality she really rather likes Eric, and fireworks ensue.

Thus far this is the strongest novel in the series. We already a know a bunch of back-story and lore from the previous books and Harris gives us almost as much more as we already know. Meanwhile we only get a glimpse at Fairies, and a passing reference to the “three worlds.” For me this is a great combination, giving me enough to feel like I’ve learned something and sinking the hook further at the same time.

Action wise, this novel definitely has the most, which is saying something. Strange alliances are required by the end and old enemies reappear. Meanwhile that unrequited Sookie/Eric thing is dealt with, or is it?

As with the previous entries Harris sticks with what works, a fast pace and no extraneous materials. These are the ingredients to a true page turner. Also key are questions both answered and raised. I truly enjoyed this novel. I give it a 4/5.

Making Money

2010-02-09T18:04:00.001-08:00

Moist von Lipwig is, once again, up to questionable good in Terry Pratchett’s Making Money. Since the Post Office and the Clacks are now both running smoothly, Moist finds himself getting a little bored. Luckily for Moist, Vetinari has a new scheme in mind. The chairperson, Topsy Lavish, of one of Ankh Morpork’s banks is about to die and Vetinari uses this as an opportunity to overhaul the banking system.

Moist goes at this with his usual zeal and forward thinking. Unfortunately, the rest of the Lavish family does not want anything to do with what will spell the end of their easy going days. Enter Cosmo Lavish, the step-son of Topsy, who believes he has the real rights to the bank, and also is attempting to not only usurp Vetinari, but in fact become him.

Pratchett really has something special going with the Moist character. Moist fits perfectly into what Pratchett does best, that being poking fun at reality. Since Moist is ostensibly now a good guy, but with a checkered past, he can get away with a lot of slightly ambiguous things, which characters like Captain Carrot or Commander Vimes could not.

The secondary characters in this novel are also among the best that Pratchett has created. Mr. Bent the lead cashier, whose brain works best on number crunching and is devoted to the “gold standard” but whose past is shrouded in darkness is a brilliant anti-Moist. Cosmo’s descent into Vetinari-ness (insanity) is quite amusing as well. The chairman of the bank, Mr. Fusspot, and his new “toy” are also enough to bring an instant laugh.

This is definitely one of the better forays into the Discworld in quite some time. Plenty of political intrigue, misguided golems, and of course some Igor related mishaps. The novel makes you think about what really make’s Money valuable. I give this novel a 4.5/5.

Club Dead

2010-02-05T22:06:00.001-08:00

The third Sookie Stackhouse novel, Club Dead by Charlaine Harris, starts out with Sookie and Vampire Bill on the outs. This is because Bill has left Sookie for his old vampire flame Lorena. Eric of course attempts to use this situation to his advantage in his ongoing attempt to bed Sookie. What gets Sookie to play along is the fact that Bill is being held hostage and tortured.

The majority of this novel takes place in Jackson, Mississippi and involves the vampire King of Mississippi. Now if you watch True Blood the vampire royalty was already revealed in season two, in the novels this is the first mention of the power structure above Area Sheriff (Eric’s rank). Essentially Bill’s captivity is a power struggle between the King of Mississippi and the Queen of Louisiana (although the Queen is kept in the dark because Eric doesn’t want to face her wrath).

We are introduced to Alcide, a werewolf in Eric’s debt, who is Sookie’s daytime escort/protector. Club Dead is the name of the Club in Jackson where Sookie and Alcide go to investigate using Sookie’s telepathy. Through Alcide we get a better look at the werewolves in the Sookie-verse and also learn more about shape-shifters. We also encounter a werewolf biker gang, and the vampire Bubba also plays a large role.

This novel differs from the previous two in that since Sookie is mad at Bill she is allowing herself to have feelings/sexual desires for Eric, and also Alcide. This changes the dynamic of the books quite a lot. Again the majority of this novel, like the last, occurs outside of Bon Temps so most of the characters from Dead Until Dark only have brief appearances, and instead we get to visit a whole new cast.

Harris stays with what works for these novels. They are short and fast reading. The story stays focused on the plot and the whole novel really only covers a few days time. I like the fact that throughout the series each novel gives us just enough more information about the supernatural community to keep us hooked, but only just, so that you really want to start the next book to get a that little bit more.

The one thing I dislike about this novel is a scene in which Bill, who has been starved and tortured, wakens in a tight space with Sookie and essentially rapes her before coming to full alertness. What I find odd is that after this happens Sookie more or less just moves on, and apparently does not suffer any emotional turmoil over it. However, other than that I enjoyed my brief time with this novel. I give it a 3.5/5.

Eclipse

2010-02-03T19:12:00.000-08:00

Some of you must be wondering why I would even bother reading Eclipse (or any of Stephenie Meyer’s novels) much less writing a review. The answer is this: I always endeavor to be an ambassador for reading, especially when it comes to stories in the SciFi and Fantasy genres. That being said I believe that any book that gets people to read, especially inside the genre is important for that reason, and I should be familiar with said book(s) so if I am talking with someone who has read it I have a starting point to hopefully get that person into some other genre novels.

In both Twilight and New Moon Meyer had a tendency to reuse the same descriptions and phrases over and over again so that by the time you reached the end of the novel you never wanted to read those particular phrases ever again. Thankfully, either just in learning a bit more about writing or maybe under the influence of a good editor by the time Meyer wrote Eclipse she had curtailed this problem to a large extent. In fact if those phrases were not already etched in my memory I probably would not have even noticed them in Eclipse.

Twilight was a fun read, not much too it, but fun. For some reason it is a story that, even though it has flaws, you want to keep reading. New Moon, in my opinion is a wasted book. Having gotten to the end of Eclipse I know why New Moon was written, but I believe that with a little work Eclipse could have been the second novel and very little would have been lost. By this I mean that there is no reason to drag out the Victoria storyline through two whole novels.

I understand Meyer’s need to establish the werewolves and Bella’s relationship with Jacob, but at the same time I feel that didn’t deserve an entire novel. Due to the fact that this build up was given a whole novel the actual plot around it is very weak. Basically nothing in the Victoria storyline is advanced and all we really get is Bella being sullen and depressed and Edward acting like a jackass out of over protectiveness. Essentially all that was established in New Moon was the threat of the Volturi and the Jacob/Bella “relationship.”

Eclipse is the first novel where I think Meyer really found herself as a writer. This novel has quite a lot of action, and provides us with a lot of back-story which really fleshes out members of the Cullen tribe and provides information on the werewolves and the Quileute tribe. Like I mentioned before Meyer seems to have realized that she needed to use some different descriptors and expand the vocabulary used in the book. Plus there is a real imminent threat, with tension that builds to a strong climactic battle.

There are still a few problems I have with the novel and the story in general. First the concept of werewolf “imprinting” is a little weird, especially when it happens with a two year old (where did Meyer come up with this stuff? She even claims to be a “straight-laced” member of her religion). However the real problem I have is that Bella at first has an issue with it, I mean this is essentially what she and Edward did with each other, except without the apparent biological imperative built into the werewolf DNA.

Two issues Bella can’t get over are her age and getting married. These are issues that I find asinine and serve no purpose in the plot. In essence they are just added drama. Bella gets practically spastic ever time she thinks about the fact that she is going to turn a year older, in this case heading toward the dreaded old age of 19. This is because she will now be two whole years older than Edward was when he became vampire. Somehow this is the most awful thing Bella can imagine, other than being married. Now why it’s ok to be made undead and spend eternity with Edward, but it’s absolutely the worst thing imaginable to marry the guy I will never be able to comprehend. Maybe I just can’t understand because it’s one of the many mysteries of the female mind.

At the very end of Eclipse Meyer includes, for the first time a Jacob POV chapter, and in my opinion it is the strongest chapter in the series thus far. Eclipse is Meyer’s strongest novel to this point. It is an enjoyable read, despite the issues I have with it. I give it a 3.5/5.

In case you care I would give Twilight a 3/5 and New Moon a 2/5.

Living Dead in Dallas

2010-01-28T17:58:00.001-08:00

Charlaine Harris’ second entry in the Southern Vampire Mysteries is entitled Living Dead in Dallas. This novel finds Sookie drafted by Eric to use here telepathic powers to solve a crime in a neighboring vampire district. This is partly due to a promise Sookie made in Dead Until Dark, but also partly due to Bill’s new status as a vampire investigator. The investigation takes them to Dallas, and Sookie for the first time interacts with the larger vampire world.

In Dead Until Dark we are only introduced to vampires, shape-shifters, and telepaths. Living Dead in Dallas reveals the fact that in the Sookie-verse pretty much any legend, myth, or nightmare is probably true. In this novel we encounter more shape-shifters, werewolves, another telepath, a maenad, and of course lots of vampires. From this novel I get the sense that this setting, with all the things that go bump in the night, is going to be a fun little place to play.

While, like Dead Until Dark and season one of True Blood, the overall storyline starts and ends much the same season two of True Blood made some major changes. Again a lot of this is due too the novels being told from Sookie’s point of view and the show being more of an ensemble. Another reason for this divergence is the fact that these novels are short and fast moving. If True Blood stayed word perfect to the novels it would probably only be able to get 4 or 5 episodes out of each novel.

In truth I liked the pacing and results of Living Dead in Dallas much more than I liked season two of True Blood. Again this goes back to the narrative style of the novels. The Dallas plot takes place first with only Sookie, Bill, and Eric involved and for the show this would have left a lot of favorite characters hanging for about six of the episodes. So in order to sort this out the maenad story line was dragged out over all 12 episodes, and it just wasn’t that good of a plot line. The novel not only handles that story in an almost completely different matter, but starts it up and then doesn’t go back to it until the very end keeping the whole deal mercifully brief.

Living Dead Until Dark introduces a lot of new lore and helps to flesh out the structure of the vampire world. We learn that there are things bigger and badder than a vampire. The Fellowship of the Sun is also introduced. The Fellowship is a good foil to use to both make the vampires seem less evil and also to comment on the abuses of religious ideals and political conservatism.

I like the fact that Harris does not try to make these novels more than they are. The story arcs are brief and the mysteries are resolved without a lot of CSI style investigation, which is good because that is not what these novels are about. Shorter novels rarely catch my attention because I often don’t feel like getting to know a character and then moving on so soon, but as Harris already has several novels out it’s not quite so bad. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I give it a 3.5/5.

Thud!

2010-01-27T18:00:00.001-08:00

The Battle of Koom Valley (and its numerous repetitions) is the wheel around which Terry Pratchett’s Thud! turns. In this, the 34th Discworld novel, Commander Samuel Vimes and the various members of the City Watch are the main characters. The story is essentially a study on racism and the ludicrous notions that often beget long term race related hatred.

Thud! is a reference both to a board game in which the players reenact the Battle of Koom Valley, and the alleged murder of a dwarf leader by a troll. This murder happens deep underneath Ankh Morpork in a new dwarf “mine” (which is really just the dwarves excavating the many previous floors upon which the current city is built) and is thus the province of the City Watch.

To complicate matters even further Vimes is saddled with a new vampire recruit, an auditor from the Patrician, and the need to keep tempers cool as the anniversary of Koom Valley approaches. There is much tension involved in investigating the crime as the dwarves don’t trust the troll officers to not skew the facts, and the trolls just don’t trust the dwarves.

When you get to the nuts and bolts of the story this is a fairly average entry in the series. The Watch and Vimes are characters that Pratchett often uses both as main characters and as important parts of other stories. Due to this fact a lot of the really inventive things Pratchett does are often not found in Watch-centric novels. There is just too much history built around them already to get too far off the beaten path. Not to mention the fact that they are bound tightly by the laws of the city.

I don’t intend to give the impression that Thud! is not a good read. I would say that even the weakest Discworld novel is still entertaining and frequently makes one think about things in a new light. It just seems that Pratchett really shines when using characters that have been used more lightly. This is probably why the stand alone stories are peppered throughout the series and also why characters like the Witches and Wizards have become background characters in the later volumes.

Stephen Briggs was the voice of this audiobook. As usual he did a very impressive job bringing the voices of the characters to life. While not one of Pratchett’s most inventive or freewheeling novels, Thud! is an entertaining read and does comment quite successfully on the idiocy of racism, and also how people should really study things, rather than just blindly believing. I give this novel a 3.5/5.

Ring of Fire

2010-01-25T18:02:00.001-08:00

In general I don’t plan to do full a review of any anthology. To do an actual review would essentially require a short review of every story, and that’s not my cup of tea. If I enjoy the anthology or, as in this case, it is fairly focused I will endeavor to provide a short overview review of the entire anthology.

Ring of Fire, edited by Eric Flint, is the first collection of short stories set in Flint’s 1632 universe. At this point there are four anthologies (two under the Ring of Fire moniker) and something like 27 Grantville Gazette’s (which are essentially Flint approved fan fiction anthologies). The stories in Ring of Fire range from beginning concurrently with 1632 to beginning more or less at the same time as 1633.

There are several notable authors involved in Ring of Fire. David Weber’s entry is important to the 1633 storyline, and Flint, Virginia Easley DeMarce, and Mercedes Lackey each have stories that spark later books in the main story arc. These four stories are the strongest entries in the anthology. The other stories are written by fans and approved by Flint as essentially canonical.

All in all Ring of Fire is a very enjoyable read. If you like the 1632 setting as much as I do Ring of Fire is definitely worth picking up. In Ring of Fire we get a lot of seeds for later plot lines, and also a good deal of background about characters that are not necessarily the ones that Flint likes to write about. I give it 3.5/5.

Dead Until Dark

2010-01-24T09:53:00.001-08:00

Since True Blood is a lot of fun to watch, I have begun reading the Sookie Stackhouse novels by Charlaine Harris. The first is entitled Dead Until Dark. The approach the TV show has taken is not what I would hope for if I were a diehard fan of something (that is to say I hope David and Dan stay truer to aSoIaF than True Blood does to these novels) but I do think that in this instance it works well.

The overall story arc of the first novel and the first season of True Blood are fairly similar. In both cases we start and end in the nearly the same places, and most of the subplots are, if not exactly the same at least maintain the integrity of the story. Where we find a lot of divergence is in characters and characterization. This has a lot to do with the fact that the novels are written in the first person and have a heavy introspective component, these two things would not work well for TV!

Thus Dead Until Dark is focused much more tightly around Sookie, and we only see the events from her perspective. It takes much longer in the novel to get a feel for the characters around Sookie. In fact with the exception of Bill and possibly Sam the other secondary characters are much further developed by the end of the first season of True Blood than they are by the end of Dead Until Dark. This is not a bad thing, it is merely the result of changing from novel form to TV and all of the adjustments required therein.

To be honest Sookie, as portrayed in True Blood, annoys me quite a lot. This I believe has to do with the lack of her inner dialogs that we have available in the novels. Sookie’s character is played much as she projects herself to other people in the novels. That is to say the novel Sookie realizes that being a young, curvy, blonde in the South gets her typecast as a bit of an airhead, or at least less smart than your average bear. She uses this knowledge quite effectively to her advantage by playing up that image while actually being intelligent about things. In True Blood, all the viewer gets is the played up dumb blonde act, without the benefit of Sookie’s true thoughts, and as a result she doesn’t come across as a sympathetic character.

I have not read very much “urban fantasy” prior to this novel, just one or two random things and I guess you might call the later Anne Rice Vampire Chronicles novels urban fantasy, but I think they may be more of a predecessor to the sub-genre. Urban fantasy is not my favorite of the sub-genre’s but it can be a fun interlude between weightier reads. That is exactly what Dead Until Dark is.

Harris writes in a very concise and quick moving style. We only discover facts and background about each character in glimpses and snippets that are important to the immediate plot line. As a result this is a very quick read. I wouldn’t say it’s an edge of your seat kind of story, but the writing style keeps things moving fast enough that you never lose interest. I give Dead Until Dark a 3.5/5.

The Black Company

2010-01-16T15:12:00.001-08:00

Glen Cook’s The Black Company is the first in a series of ten novels. These are ostensibly tales gleaned from “the Annals” of the Black Company. The member of the Company tasked with writing the Annals is Croaker, who is also the Company physician. The history of the Company goes back perhaps thousands of years, the full length of time is only hinted at, and there is no indication given why the reader is introduced to the Annals at this point.

This book was published in 1984, and as many such novels of previous era’s has a narrative style and feel much different than those prevalent today. In many ways the novel is much more violent than the likes of Joe Abercrombie or GRRM, but in a way that is almost more ominous because it is less graphic. The tone is somewhat more cerebral and the action more sparsely described than more current novels, and the author is not afraid to skip periods of time between one large event and the next.

Apparently the second chapter of this novel was the first actual published story of the Black Company. This is only vaguely noticeably as one reads through. In fact if the reader were not aware prior to reading the first two chapters it may not even be noticed. The first chapter tells the story of how the Company came to be in the service of the Lady, and in the North. The second chapter begins some months later and spells out first true bit of infighting between the Lady’s minions.

The story goes on from there with many battles between the Lady’s troops (of which the Black Company is one) and those of the Rebel, leading to a climatic showdown at the Lady’s fortress. There are many little skirmishes between the minions of the Lady along the way, and somehow Croaker finds himself closely involved in most of them. At first Croaker romanticizes the Lady but gradually he begins to realize that the Lady is evil. The true strength of the novel lies in that Croaker realizes that there is no good side in this conflict, rather two evils, of which neither is truly lesser.

All in all this is not a hugely complex tale. Cook takes a fairly straightforward approach, as one would expect in a true Annals. What makes this a better than average story is that although the tale itself is not hugely complex, there are several important twists and turns which are foreshadowed, or not, to varying degrees. Perhaps aided by the fact that it is very short by current novel standards (barely cracking 300 pages) I found myself really yearning to have the second novel on hand to read the moment I was done with the first.

As I noted before, any reader used to reading newer novels will immediately notice stylistic and tonal differences. Is the change from then to now as great as the change from the days of Asimov and Heinlein to when the Black Company was first published? I would say easily. This does not in any way tarnish these older works, in fact it can be a refreshing change. I thoroughly enjoyed this novel. I give it 4/5.

The Last Hero

2010-01-08T18:22:00.000-08:00

The Last Hero is the first Discworld story wherein Pratchett varied from the normal novel format. This book was published in a large format and was illustrated by Paul Kidby. It is much shorter than the average Discworld story. After this entry (number 27 overall) we find the Young Adult titles interspersed with the regular series.

With the Last Hero Pratchett brought together two characters I have always felt would make a great team. Those being Captain Carrot and Rincewind. Unfortunately this story feels a bit phoned in. Since we have in effect 4 characters in play (add Cohen the Barbarian and Leonard of Quirm to the cast) the story never really settles on one main protagonist. We have grown accustomed to Carrot being a secondary character but Rincewind occupies so much space he feels out of place as a second or third stringer.

The story itself is quite fun. Cohen and his Silver Horde are afraid of dying a normal boring death and thus head out to return fire (actually high explosives) to the gods. Vetinari gets wind of this and realizes that if the Horde are successful it will be the end of the Discworld. Thus Leonard, Carrot, and Rincewind are sent via “the Kite” (a true space fairing ship) to try and stop the Horde. We actually get to cover a lot of ground in the Discworld and interactions with the gods are always amusing.

Stephen Briggs usually does a great job on this recordings for the audiobooks in this series. This time around however, I felt that his Rincewind was more a bumbling idiot than the sage coward that he truly is. All in all this was a fun little entry in the canon of the Discworld. I need to get a hold of a printed copy as I am sure the illustrations add a lot. This feels like a fluff piece though, definitely not Pratchett at his best, I give it a 3/5.

The Charnel Prince

2010-01-07T19:16:00.001-08:00

In The Charnel Prince, Greg Keyes picks up the saga of the The Kingdom of Thorn and Bone basically right where it left off at the end of The Briar King. Here we have basically the same cast of characters (excluding the deceased) and POVS, with the addition of a bard who is bent on writing the first opera. The main narrative arc of this novel covers Muriele’s power struggles in the capital, whilst Anne tries to return, Neil chases Anne around, and Aspar is tracing the “threat” of now awake Briar King.

Early in the book there is a moment that might make the reader’s head spin a bit. Aspar encounters both the Briar King and a new Sefry character whilst fighting some monks who are reawakening a demonic sedos. In the aftermath of this encounter we find out that the Church is the real enemy (who didn’t see that coming) and the Briar King is either a good guy or at least the enemy of our enemy. To me this is a bit trite.

I must admit that it is possible to operate on incorrect information and suddenly have to change an opinion based on new evidence. However, the tone of The Briar King and the portrayal of this entity up to that exact moment point so much to the Briar King being evil that this switch about just doesn’t feel right. Perhaps this is just because we will see another flip flop in a later novel, but at this juncture in the story it feels mishandled.

After this point the story works quite well. We find several of the characters really growing up and into the roles they must inhabit. This is most notable in Anne, but also key to both Neil and Cazio. During the story we also find out that the Church thinks that the world is corrupt and is trying to reawaken all these dead paths to somehow save the world before some unknown apocalyptic event. Apparently there is also some unknown player involved that is both very powerful and is gathering powerful underlings throughout the world.

This novel is fast paced. There is plenty of action in nearly every visit to each POV and a lot of ground is covered. What the reader knows about the situation has changed vastly by the time we reach the end. The only down side to this is the fact that it feels like not very much actual time has passed between the beginning and the end of the novel. We only know that it must have been a significant amount of time because several characters travel great distances, and several characters are wounded and heal enough to participate in key battles.

Thus far the novels in the saga of the Kingdom of Thorn and Bone have been enjoyable reads. The Charnel Prince didn’t quite hold me in thrall as much as The Briar King did. I do think that the strength of the overall story has grown a great deal in the second novel, in that it feels much more like a part of a larger story than the first novel did. However, the sense of timing could have been much better and I have a real problem with the way the big bad so abruptly changed. I give this book a 3/5.

Going Postal

2010-01-01T11:56:00.000-08:00

In Terry Pratchett’s Going Postal we meet Moist von Lipwig for the first time. Unfortunately for Moist we meet him mere hours before he is to be executed. You see up to this point Moist has been a con artist, and when you indulge in that sort of activity in Ankh-Morpork it won’t be long before the Patrician hunts you down. Fortunately for Moist, Vetinari has bigger plans for him than a simple hemp fandango.

This novel finds Pratchett at top form. He has a new main character (who seems to have become Pratchett’s favorite for the moment given the number of Moist involved books that have either come out or are planned since this novel) to play with, and of course all of the characters like Vetinari that inhabit Ankh-Morpork. What makes Moist a good new toy is that he is unlike any of the previous main characters.

Here we have a newly reformed confidence man who is almost learning to live for the first time. He learns to use his powers of persuasion and guile to help people and set things right rather than just to make a quick dollar. However, since this is the Discworld everything is a bit quirky. He is tasked with rebuilding the Postal system and ends up competing with the “clacks,” (a system that is somewhat like a visual telegraph) which was probably Vetinari’s plan all along. Moist finds his only real help at the start to be a crazy old man, and a possibly autistic boy enamored with pins. Oh and of course Mr. Pump, the golem who is Moist’s bodyguard/parole officer.

The novel really shines as Moist progresses from feeling wronged and hating his situation to really getting into the spirit of the thing. I am glad golem’s feature prominently in this novel. I have always felt that Pratchett’s golems were an interesting bunch, but under used, and this novel starts to remedy that.
Of course there is the arch enemy Reacher Gilt, who in many ways is a mirror of what Moist might have become had he not been caught. In the end though Moist proves to be the wiser of the two, and in essence the better con-man. The Post Office is a perfect place for Pratchett to work. There are so many things about Postal service and the idea of going Postal, that really play right into Pratchett’s sarcasm and love of turning everything in the world on its ear.

I listened to the audiobook version of Going Postal read by Stephen Briggs. Briggs did an excellent job of bringing the characters to life, and chose voices for each which very much matched their character. This novel not only introduced Moist von Lipwig, but also gave us an better insight into the way Vetinari thinks and acts. This is one of Pratchett’s best works I give it a 4/5.

Shadow Unit

2009-12-30T19:27:00.000-08:00

For those of you who have not yet had the pleasure of stumbling upon “the greatest television show that never existed” well, get to it!

This “TV Show” is Shadow Unit Shadow Unit’s third season just began on Christmas with the release of the episode On Faith. The easiest way to explain this show is to think Criminal Minds crossed with the X-Files. The origin of this show is thus: Elizabeth Bear encouraged some of her author friends to write fan fiction for TV shows as an attempt to reconnect with writing for pleasure. This sparked the idea of Shadow Unit in the mind of Emma Bull, who then brought the idea to life with the help of Will Shetterly, and eventually Elizabeth Bear, Sarah Monette, and the list of involved authors keeps growing.

The amount of time and effort these authors have put into Shadow Unit is amazing. There is tons of background information available, each season has extra’s that add to episodes and bring in back story, and several characters even have active LiveJournal’s. With the extended format of this show the reader gets to know the characters better than one can with real TV or even most novels or series.

Each episode is built in five acts and the episodes tend to be longer than most short stories. The exception to this is the final episode of season 1 which is easily long enough to be a novel, and also probably the best episode thus far. On Faith is different from most episodes in that it takes place before the Shadow Unit officially formed, but it gives the readers a little more perspective on the overall story and a few more tidbits about the settings history.

If this is the first time you have heard of Shadow Unit, or you have never checked it out before I recommend starting with the Shadow Unit Wiki. You will find character descriptions, some more explanation of the premise and background, and also the suggested reading order as some of the extras were not released chronologically with the episodes. Do yourself a favor and get hooked on Shadow Unit!

1633

2009-12-29T21:40:00.001-08:00

If you recall from my 1632 review, I quite enjoy this setting. As I stated before with the first novel Eric Flint did an amazing job of both setting up an interesting alternate history and making effective use of time travel. As great as 1632 is, I have come to have a much greater appreciation for Flint and this setting since reading Flint and David Weber’s 1633.

Flint has stated that when he wrote 1632 it was intended to be a stand-alone novel, but due in part to the large amount of interest at the Baen-Bar the setting has developed into something quite large. For 1633 Flint chose to collaborate with David Weber, and while sometimes collaboration is not a good choice in this case it was indeed the right thing to do. The novel still flows just as well as 1632 and feels like a cohesive unit, in fact unless you are already familiar with Weber’s work you may not even notice his presence.

1633 starts not too long after the end of 1632, but departs from 1632 in a lot of ways. While 1632 features mostly the “up timers” as the main cast and stays fairly geographically close to where Grantville landed 1633 introduces a lot more denizens of the 1600’s and has expeditions to France, England, Scotland, Holland and beyond. Also in 1633 we get more of the perspectives of outsiders, that is those who are not members of the new community/country developing around Grantville.

In 1632 we find the characters largely reacting to what is happening around them. The “up timers” essentially only deal with how to survive each issue as it crops up, and while there is discussion and the beginnings of future planning not much of it pays off within the boundaries of that story. 1633 is quite the opposite of this. We now find those plans starting to mature and become something, and we see the major power players making even more long reaching decisions.

Since the “up timers” know that their technological advantages are only good for as long as they last they have begun to do everything in their power to use what they have available to build up technology that, while not quite as advanced, will still keep them ahead in the power struggle. Key to this strategy is building up large enough stock piles of more easily made advances to carry them through to a point where they can make larger advances. Key to this novel are the foundation of the Navy, with what amount to Civil War era ironclads, and a fledgling Air Force, using single engine airframes running car engines.

Another way 1633 diverges from 1632 is that now the other powers in the area are starting to realize exactly what they are up against, and changing their long term plans accordingly. A major issue that arises revolves around the wrong people getting a hold of history books and doing everything they can to alter those things that went awry in their plans in the "original" history. This makes life interesting for the “up timers” because now they have less of a handle on how events are going to unfold.

Weber and Flint have crafted an amazing novel in 1633. They have taken all the things that made 1632 good and gone a step further. Whereas at times in 1632 it felt like the “up timers” were nearly impervious, even though they did have some trying times, in 1633 their weaknesses are beginning to be discovered. Weber and Flint do not pull any punches this time around, and everyone is fair game. The decisions that are made here are harder for the characters and have farther reaching implications. I truly loved this book, I give it a 4.5/5.

Elantris

2009-12-23T20:04:00.000-08:00

I must admit that until all the hoopla around the release of Jordan/Sanderson’s The Gathering Storm I didn’t know much of anything about Brandon Sanderson. As I have not read any of the Wheel of Time, and don’t plan to I was not really interested so much in the new book, but more so in this author who had been handpicked to take up the reigns for the late Jordan. Say what you will about WoT and Jordan, but I have to believe that someone chosen to basically speak with another author’s voice, especially in so well known a setting, has to be at least better than average.

So combined with this desire to find out just who this fill in voice was, and recommendations from several of my friends over at the aSoIaF forums at Westeros.org I decided to read some Sanderson. Initially I intended to start with The Final Empire (Mistborn book 1) as that was the direct recommendation but as I was not paying attention I wound up with Elantris (a standalone) instead. Mind you I am not complaining about this mix up.

Elantris is the story of a city perched on the edge of what was once the greatest civilization in the world. Elantris was the name of this great civilization, its members were virtually immortal and could control vast magical powers through what amounts to a complex and well explained system of runes. Then one day the magic stopped and the citizens of Elantris became what amounts to living dead instead of living gods. The story is set ten years later and tells of a power struggle both for the rulership of the city in the ashes and attempt to avoid domination by a neighboring warmongering religion.

The story is told from three perspectives, rotating in the same order throughout. Initially I found this a bit annoying as the third perspective was not as enjoyable to read as the other two, this is just personal preference not anything to do with the writing or the story itself. However, as the story progressed I found this third perspective to be important to the story and gave the reader information that would have been hard to implement in any other fashion.

This novel starts with a definite hook, and doesn’t let go until the end. All too often I find that even though I enjoy a story I don’t have a driving passion to keep reading it, that is not the case with Elantris. Sanderson has built a strong world to work with and spent obvious time on its magic system and building backstory and characters to inhabit the novel and its environs. While the overall arc of the story is predictable, Sanderson does very well at both hinting at the eventual twist and at the same time keeping it hidden so the reader doesn’t see it coming.

From what I have read about The Gathering Storm WoT fans seem to be on a whole happy with Sanderson, and I can see why he was picked to fill the void. I found Elantris to be one of the better books I have read this year, and cannot wait to read the Mistborn novels. Sanderson is a distinct voice amongst the masses and I am glad I took the recommendation to read his work. I give Elantris 4.5/5.

The Briar King

2009-12-21T20:43:00.001-08:00

Prior to stumbling upon Greg Keyes The Briar King (Book 1 of The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone) I had no idea that Keyes wrote anything other than tie-in fiction. I have read his three entries in the Star Wars Universe, which like most of the other Star Wars novels are all fun reads. With the exception of the Timothy Zahn entries a perhaps one or two other though I never can remember who wrote which novel, which I guess is a good thing as all of the novels should flow together as if written by one author. Keyes also has novels set in the Babylon 5 universe and a game tie-in with the Elder Scrolls, I have not read any of these works.

With this as a background I did not have any grand hopes for The Briar King. I had seen it referred to as “GRRM-lite,” which when you really think about it could be applied to a lot of works; face it a lot of people can attempt to reach GRRM’s level, but so far I have not found anyone who has. Is The Briar King truly GRRM-lite? Well it is Sword and Sorcery, but much heavier on the Sword end. It does feature political machinations and unforeseen plot twists. There is no lack of blood and treachery, the narrative style is more POV than not, and there is a mostly unseen evil working to destroy the world of men. These are the bones that make a Song of Ice and Fire and the Briar King. However, the Briar King may be GRRM-lite, but it is more of the lite and less of the GRRM.

I liked all of the “POV characters” well enough, some more than others as you would expect. They are dissimilar enough to not feel like different sides of the same coin and they are truly spread around enough to actually give you different windows on the overall story. At the same time they interact enough to give you different viewpoints on the same points of action. I also enjoy the way magic is more of an enhancing tool (in most cases) than an a pure weapon.

The story follows members of the royal family and also a few people that work for either them or the church as an ancient evil rises anew. It is unclear in this first novel, just how much the political intrigue is purely on the human level and how much of it is actually the unseen hand of the Briar King (or whatever force might be behind him) using people as pawns in the larger game. As the evil rises other creatures thought to be the stuff of legend or tales used to scare children into obedience begin to arise, and of course there are the obligatory evil monks who have been corrupted by the power of evil.

The novel covers plenty of ground and actually builds to a fairly strong conclusion. In point of fact this novel could easily have stood alone, although at the end the reader would have been left with a few questions and the larger story arc would not have been resolved. It is, unfortunately, not often that a first novel in a planned series has even this much of a full story feel to its structure, and for that I give Keyes some credit. This is a fairly quick read, nothing that requires too much attention to detail. I enjoyed my time with the characters and the story, I give it 3.5/5

Monstrous Regiment

2009-12-16T20:41:00.001-08:00

I do not intend to write many reviews starting with works that are not the first in a series. I have chosen to in this instance for a couple reasons. The first being it has been so long since I read The Colour of Magic that I could not do it justice in a review at the moment. The second being Pratchett’s work is strong enough to stand on its own without starting at the beginning. I intend to eventually get back to the beginning, but I don’t know how long that will be. Until then you can check out the Wertzone where Adam is in the middle of doing reviews of the Discworld Novels.

As you may or may not know the Discworld novels consist of several sets of characters who have what amounts to series with the larger series. These are Rincewind/the Wizards, the Witches, the City Watch, and Death and his cohorts. Interspersed throughout these other storylines are a few stand-alone novels, Monstrous Regiment is one of these. There characters of the Discworld tend to freely float about and in this case the City Watch (at least a few officers) are involved.

Whilst the majority of the novels are set in or around the city of Ankh-Morpork Monstrous Regiment takes place in the tiny country of Borogravia. Borogravia is an apparently bloodthirsty realm that has been at war with its various neighbors more or less continually for decades. At the start of the novel these neighbors have finally decided to gang up on the much smaller, yet vicious, country and have enlisted Ankh-Morpork’s aide, in the shape of Commander Vimes and a few Watchpeople. In the classic case of long and bloody wars most of the able-bodied young men of Borogravia have already been lead off to the slaughter.

Thus we find that the raw batch of new recruits are all in fact women in disguise. All of these characters are off to war to either find someone or something, ranging from a brother to some battlefield experience with surgery. The tale encompasses the new recruits struggles to get to the front and then their actions and foibles once they arrive. As with all Pratchett’s work the real meat of the novel is its irreverence towards social norms and its biting commentary on ingrained beliefs and practices.

Borogravia is a country with a dead god (Nuggan) whose ghost is mad, and the country has been ruled by the Duchess for something like 70 years. The characters have varying degrees of belief and patriotism, and their interactions with each other and outsiders provide much of the commentary. What this novel proves to itself, its characters, and perhaps its readers is that women can and usually are better at things than men, except when they are trying to be men , in which case they just amplify all of the negative qualities of the male persona.

I listened to this novel, read by the excellent Stephen Briggs. The audio book was well done and did the material justice. The good thing about the occasional stand alone in the Discworld setting is that it brings Pratchett’s full strength to bear on the material, while the series are always wonderful because of character familiarity at times the story and the commentary can get bogged down in the same familiarity. With a standalone like Monstrous Regiment all the players are fresh and usually built to fit the exact issues that Pratchett is aiming at. This novel is exactly such a case, I give it 4/5.

1632

2009-12-15T19:10:00.001-08:00

Eric Flint’s 1632 is a refreshing take on alternate history (or it would have been when it was published in February 2000). If you are looking into it for the first time it can be found as either the “Ring of Fire” series, as it has come to be known, or the “Assiti Shards” which I believe must have been dropped as that title is really only a passing reference to something that never really developed. Both series titles refer to the mechanism by which the story is begun.

A perfect sphere of modern West Viriginia surrounding the town of Grantville is uprooted and hurled back through time into 1630’s Germany. This drops the “up-streamers” as they are later dubbed into the middle of the Thirty Years War, quite literally as several battles take place nearly on the territory they now occupy. This time traveling is dealt with neatly by also transporting the people and land to a parallel history or universe so that the readers and characters are not plagued by the old tired problem of worrying about tampering with history and thus causing your own extinction. Due to this choice the readers are able to experience an interesting look at the 1630s.

Flint mixes the points of view that the reader is treated to between up-streamers and people from the, lets call it, local time. This combined with the fact that there is obvious depth to the amount of actual history involved (by that I mean we have important historical figures who are not just the famous ones) gives the story more of a real feeling. We experience the struggle to understand several distinct cultures from most of the sides involved. Some of the characters accept these cultural differences and use them to improve the situation, other’s reject them and as per usual respond with hatred and violence.

Key to the success of this story as something beyond the average is how characters from both timelines come to work together. Through this togetherness we can see the character development as well as the plot development as it is actually influenced by the differences in characters background, technological levels, and how they choose to integrate these radical changes into their lives and actions. Furthermore the scope of what this novel takes on itself works. It doesn’t try to be grand, it merely answers the immediate questions brought on by the massive change in its character’s situation. It worked as a stand alone, but also lead nicely to a larger body of work, which now encompasses several novels and shor t story collections.

I like this novel because it feels like it could be genuine. There are characters with many levels of gradation between good and bad, and the bad characters are not necessarily “evil” just on the wrong side of a bad situation. There is a bit of a thrill at the technological superiority of the “Americans” and the bringing of the boots to the oppressors. What makes this novel stand out is how the characters recognize the situation and work together to improve their world, not just kick ass and take names indiscriminantly. Flint has done a great job of creating a vibrant setting with characters that you can actually care about. I give it a 4/5

The Magicians: A Novel

2009-12-14T20:55:00.000-08:00

Lev Grossman’s The Magicians: A Novel is an interesting read. It is essentially a mash up of other works that have been succesful. The character’s attend a school for magic that is unknown to the world at large (Harry Potter) and revere and (of course) enter a magical realm (Chronicle’s of Narnia). Then thrown in for good measure are bits of urban fantasy. The Harry Potter homage goes so far as to include a made up “sport” although in this case it much more closely resembles a board game than a “sport” and the rules are so vaguely described as to make one question whether or not the rules were ever actually fleshed out to the point of making the inclusion of the game worth the reader’s time.
I must say that the majority of the novel, which takes place at Brakebill’s College (the stand in for Hogwart’s) I thouroughly enjoyed. In fact I would say that I would have liked to have gone to Brakebill’s. Grossman here takes the concept of a wizarding school where I think most adults really wanted Harry Potter to go. We have a bunch of hormonaly rampaging teens together and playing with magic, with very little actual adult supervision, to me it sounds like a great time. One thing I really enjoyed about the novel was the Antartic Excursion. This bit I thought was very original (in fact one of the truly authentic feeling parts of the novel) and I feel it actually brought something to the story and the character development.
The concept Grossman was going for I think had a lot of promise. Where it stumbles though is the fact that we only have one book. If this had been broken down into 4 or 5 novels, perhaps going by year as with Potter I think Grossman could have done something grand. With the stand alone novel however, I believe Grossman was far too limited to really explore the two worlds he chose for his characters to inhabit. The characters really don’t develop much beyond how they are each introduced, and all of their experiences in school are a bit hurried. In fact the whole novel feels a bit rushed, largely because so much territory is covered.
All of this could have been ok, if the pay off had been worth the build up. Unfortunately the trip to Fillory, as with the rest of the novel is rushed. In fact after revolving essentially around becoming a real magician and gaining powerful friends so that the trip to Fillory isn’t just a quit death, the trip is so essentially short that it doesn’t even feel worth the bother. Not to mention that the eventual wrap up of why the party is essentially lead to Fillory, while promising, is a bit mishandled (probably again due to the single novel size limitation) and leaves the reader feeling a bit let down. The main character does however, stay within his limited development and not suddenly become changed by the experience which in a way is refreshing.
Don’t get me wrong, this book was fun to read, which is in my opinion what at times is most important. I would recommend it to most people, especially as it is a quick read. In fact if I were to find out that Grossman had intentionally done things as they turned out as a sort of poking fun at the way things usually go I would significantly up my rating of the novel. After all it is essentially the enshrining of all the things we look for in entertainment, sex, drugs, and a good time. The only thing that gets me is the longer I think about the book the more I feel we missed out on something that could have been great. I give it 3/5.

A Word on Ratings for Reviews

2009-12-14T20:54:00.001-08:00

In recent months there has been some discussion on other blogs about the use of ratings in reviews. For this blog I will be using a 1 to 5 scale with half points. I debated this a bit as I questioned whether or not I should just go for a 1 to 10 scale and whole points only. I decided on the other in that 1 to 5 seems a more widely used scale and I think a 4.5/5 is a little stronger than a 9/10. That said I will be using 5's only for books that I feel are in the category of an author's best work (only if the author is worthy obviously) or the work is deserving of a Hugo. A 4 to 4.5 will be a work I feel is very good. A 3.5 will be a strong work, and a 3 will be something I feel is a pleasant read but not necessarily a work that contributes anything to the genre. I am not sure if i will ever give anything less than a 2.5 or 3 as if a book is that bad I may not actually finish it, in which case I probably will not do full review but merely state my disgust. If i decide to make any further gradations or change my scale I will let you know in future posts.

Introduction

2009-12-13T20:57:00.000-08:00

First off, the main purpose of this blog is discussion/review of Science Fiction and Fantasy Novels (call it Genre or Speculative Fiction if you want). However, I am not going to be that strict about it. I will post about things like NFL Football, new films and music, interesting websites, and so forth when I feel that there is something to be said. That being said, my first review will likely be of Lev Grossman's The Magicians and I should post it in the next day or so.