Book Review: The King of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
I’m heading quick into my list. I’ve already finished off two books on it, and am well on my way into Devilish. So, here is my review of this particular book.I can’t say that I really liked The King of Attolia, but neither can I say I hated it. It was so-so for me. One of the interesting things I thought this novel had over other fantasy novels was that it did not revolve around a major military conflict. The conflicts generally seemed to be internal, rather than external to the kingdom of Attolia. In addition to that I found that the world that Turner had created was so believable it was actually real. There is a good reason for this: it is so much like a Greece that never was. There are guns and pocket watches. Think of Greece if it had survived long enough to become an empire much like England became. Can you imagine?The story is this:This book takes place some time after her first book The Thief, but stands alone I think. The King of Attolia is an outsider. He’s not an Attolian, but an Eddisian from a neighboring kingdom, and not only that, he practically stole the throne. Few respect him, and the Queen herself at one point cut off his hand. But Eugenides must come to grips with the reality of his situation: he is king, whether he likes it or not, and he cannot run away–he must prove that fact to those that are bound to serve him.Costis is a soldier who has made a terrible mistake. He just struck the King. But to his surprise he is pardoned, and his Captain too. Rather than being exiled he is put under the King’s charge as part of the King’s attendants. Costis hates the King, and always has. He loves his Queen, but the King is a different story entirely. That is where the story should have stayed. The problem with the book, a part that makes the story itself a little weak, is that under all of that is threat of invasion from a neighboring kingdom, an uprising among the nobility (Barons), and mounting attempts on the King’s life. Now, the last thing worked well in the story. With Costis being a sort of personal guard for the man he loathes, it is an amazing transformation to see how the characters grow through the story. But my biggest beef was that the story focused on something that would seem literally trivial in comparison to the first two subplots. I think trivial hatreds among soldiers is minute in comparison to threat of invasion by a force that the Queen herself knows she cannot repel if the Barons cannot be controlled. So why are we focusing at all on the fact that the King is disliked and has to prove himself? At this point it’s almost pointless. Who cares if the King shows that he is worthy of his position, even if he doesn’t want it, if by the end of the oncoming war there might not be a King and Queen of Attolia at all? The subplot of war could very well have been left out in my opinion. It only damaged the story.Turner’s writing is solid, except in times when she is intentionally trying to be vague about details. There is a scene in the novel where the King is being attacked by assassins and later in that chapter we learn that the King kills all three, even though he’s technically a cripple. Yet, the scene isn’t even written. It’s almost as if the page was missing that had that action in it. Turner goes on to say that it all happened so fast, but the scene itself shows that the King is being killed. I re-read it a dozen times and still couldn’t figure out how we went from King being killed to King killing.Another issue was the constant jumping around of POV. The only characters I cared about were Costis and Eugenides. Costis is the central character and should have remained the focus. There were a bunch of jumps to characters that weren’t really all that important. We didn’t need their insights on things because Costis provided enough.The novel itself ends rather shaky for me. It seems like the novel should have gone on a bit longer in my opinion. It just stopped on a happy note, and that was that. There’s no climax, no build up to an ultimate finally. It digs into the story, stays there, and never rises to the occasion.Other than that I found the novel to be decent enough, if not lacking. Might not be the best novel written, but certainly not the worst. At least the characters and the worlds were believable.
Book Review: Recursion by Tony Ballantyne
As part of my reading list for the awards, here is my review of Recursion.It’s not very often that I get to read something as utterly complex as this story. I don’t mean complex in that “I don’t understand or fully comprehend” in the same fashion as was the case with The Elysium Commission (which was a good book nonetheless). Rather I mean the sheer massiveness of the concepts involved within the novel itself.The basic story is this:Herb is a young entrepeneur in a futuristic ‘world’ (figuratively speaking since in this case there are many worlds within Earth’s scope) governed by an entity called the Environmental Agency. He is returning to a planet where he had illegally set into action little machines called VNM’s–self replicating robots that can be programmed to create entire cities–only to find that his VNM’s have gone haywire and overrun the planet, destroying everything of value. Just when he thinks he might get away with it, being so far from the center of control for the Environmental Agency, an EA agent pops up in his ship. Soon he finds himself in a different sort of trouble as he learns that his accident is nothing compared to what the something called the “Enemy Domain” is up to.There are two other story lines that run through this. One involves Constantine–set in the past before Herb–who is called a “ghost” because he has imbedded into his mind four other personalities (not the psychological condition, but actual other personalities that live in him as he goes along with his life…they interact and the like). The other is Eva who we find out in the beginning has been planning to kill herself for some time but because the Environmental Agency is truly the nosiest of governments it won’t allow her to do it without careful planning. This is set in the past as well. Later on we find her in a mental health facility with a group of people paranoid about something called “the Watcher”.Now the two other story lines run in with the main story with Herb. Both merge in the end with Herb. I don’t think it was a perfect merging, it was somewhat flawed and not quite as strong as I would have liked, but it worked well enough to keep me interested in the story from start to finish. One of the things I loved most about this book were the concepts in it. You have VNM’s that can build AND destroy, people who have extra personalities that are practically their own people inside of their minds, copied mental entities within sustained ‘Matrix’ style worlds that are just as alive as the minds they came from, and AI’s that have grown and evolved so much that they are actually smarter than humans–for obvious reasons.All this makes for a very intriguing story. The action was fantastic and I found that I truly enjoyed all the characters, even the crazy ones. I generally don’t like stories with so many story lines, partially because I like to delve deep into individuals rather than groups. Luckily I think Ballantyne managed to create very 3-d characters for me. They had fears that were real in the world they lived in. They cried when they were supposed to; freaked out when things went bad. They were, essentially, very human! He does an excellent job taking characters that aren’t human and twisting them just so slightly so you might start to wonder, “something just isn’t right about you.” The twists and turns keep the plot fresh and new. I liked this book very much. It will be in my collection for some time and I expect to read some more Ballantyne.
Book Review: Midnighters–the Secret Hour by Scott Westerfeld
It’s not often that I read an entire book in practically one night. This isn’t to say that I don’t enjoy other books that I have read, but it does go to show that any book I read in one night is perfectly written to allow such a thing to happen.This is the case with Midnighters–the Secret Hour (Book One in the series if you must know). I don’t think I could be any happier with it. It was fast and well drawn. It didn’t bite off more than it could chew (though certainly with the concepts behind it it certainly could have).The story is basically this:There is a secret hour between midnight and midnight. It’s an hour that only those born at midnight can experience and it can only be experienced in Bixby, OK. For this hour everything else is frozen, except the shadowy creatures that live there. For the four Midnighters in Bixby, everything seems to be going normal. Each of them has a special talent. They don’t bother the creatures and the creatures don’t bother them. That is until Jessica Day moves to town and the shadowy monsters there suddenly become violent. The question is, why all of a sudden? Why would her presence cause this? And what can they do about it so that midnight is safe to roam again? To put it simply, this is a fascinating book with wonderful characters. Dess would have to be my favorite character, simply because she is so weird, but the entire cast is rather spellbinding. Westerfeld has created a very interesting mythology for his world. The plot moves smoothly. The characters develop very well and there is even a little romance, which for characters in their mid-teens (that 15-16 age) worked perfectly. It was not your usual romance, but that lovely high school bubbly romance that we have all come to expect from kids these days. Even the change of viewpoint each chapter worked out well, and I am one to be very weary of changes in POV. But for Westerfeld it worked. This is a fascinating book that tells a powerful and intriguing story. As I said, few times do I read a book straight through. This book I did.
The Elysium Commission by L. E. Modesitt, Jr.
I recently won this book as a signed copy and have been really anxious to finally read it. I’m not sure why. I have not read any of Modesitt’s work before, but for whatever reason I just want to get into this book quickly.Now I need to premise this review by saying a few things. First, this book is going to be well beyond the average scifi reader. Second, I can say this because it is well beyond me. The concepts in this are so deep and sound that if you are not prepared to grasp them you probably won’t until halfway through the novel. This is not to say that it is a bad book, quite the contrary, but it is saying that this book is probably going to turn off a lot of less hardcore scifi readers out there. If you love hard scifi, you will likely love this book. If you love Modesitt, well then that is self explanatory.The basic story is, well, not very basic. In fact I’m not going to bother trying to provide a self-written synopsis, but I’ll instead put up the one on the book:“A brilliant scientist on the planet Devanta has created a small universe contiguous to ours–and a utopian city on one of the planets. The question becomes, though, a utopia for whom? And why is a shady entertainment mogul subsidizing the scientist? More critical than that, does this new universe require the destruction of a portion–or all–of our universe in order to grow and stabilize?Blaine Donne is a retired military special operative now devoted to problem-solving for hire. He investigates a series of seemingly unrelated mysteries that arise with the arrival of a woman with unlimited resources who has neither a present or a past. The more he investigates, the more questions arise, including the role of the two heiresses who are more–and less–than they seem, and the more Donne is pushed inexorably toward finding himself a pawn in an explosive solution and a regional interstellar war.” See how complicated that is?Now, I really did enjoy the book once I got into it. At first it was rather difficult because of the language and what seemed to me to be very French influence. The story moves along very much like a detective story. I enjoyed the characters very much. It was strongly written and Modesitt has created a very fascinating world that I would be interested in knowing more about. That being said, some of the things I didn’t like were more or less little pet peeves. I thought the ending was rather forced. I won’t ruin it for anyway, but it just seemed so, well, quick, and I didn’t quite understand why Donne had to be a part of it if it were seemingly so simple. I also found the sections where Modesitt switched viewpoints to one of the antogonists to be rather annoying. This is written in first person, so the first few times he does this it is hard to tell if we’re in Donne’s head or someone else’s. Eventually it all pans out, but those were some things I didn’t like.All in all I think it is a well written book. It’s not one of my favorites, but at the same time I can’t say that I didn’t enjoy it. The detective story really had me wondering how Donne was going to figure it all out.So, if you are into really hard scifi, give this one a go.
Book Review: The Dark Dreamweaver by Nick Ruth
I recently received a review copy of this book after wandering through a series of blogs. I found out about this book from one such blog and thought to myself that it sounded really good. So I request a review copy. I thoroughly enjoyed this book even though it was written for an audience somewhat younger than I am used to. I love Harry Potter, Leven Thumps, and other such novels that are written for that slightly older teen audience–the more versed groups. The Dark Dreamweaver is written, obviously for a much younger audience. The language, while at times a little advanced, is perfect for those 8-13 year olds.That being said, the story basically is as follows:David is a young boy from our world. He collects caterpillar eggs with his parents, pretends his a magician (the real kind, not tricks), and goes about life like any young boy does. Then one day one of his caterpillars starts talking to him. This is Houdin, a wizard who has been cursed into a constantly repeating life cycle as a caterpillar–growing, sprouting, dying, all repeated over and over. David soon learns that the dark dreams he keeps having and all the dark dreams plaguing the world are due to a dark wizard named Thane from the world of Remin, where Houdin comes from. Remin is the world of imagination, dreams, and spectrum–the curious magical glitter than allows select few people in Remin to do amazing things. Now David finds himself caught in a battle not only to save Remin from Thane’s destructive path, but also to cure Houdin of his curse and save his own world before it’s too late… I found the book to be delightful. It’s not a perfect book, and I think that won’t matter considering the audience it is meant for. Younger kids aren’t too concerned with scenes that move a little too quick. The magic of this world is really interesting too. The idea of having to ‘load’ wands with ‘spectrum’ the way you might load a gun is a neat little twist. Some of the characters are great too. Sir Head-a-lot is a guy who can change his appearance by switching his heads. Houdin, obviously, a little caterpillar. And there are more characters too, all lovable in their own way. I couldn’t help but find Houdin as my favorite–and I think that stems from reading Leven Thumps some time ago where one of the characters was a talking toothpick.One notice for this book as that it does have some dark sections to it. It is not so dark in the same sense that Stephen King is dark. There are mentions of some blood, which for me is perfectly fine, and themes that I think might be a little scary. Regardless, I think kids can handle it. It’s a powerfully driven tale with swift and well drawn action, interesting puzzles, and a well paced plot. Good work!
Book Review: Cell by Stephen King
It took me a lot longer to get through than I had hoped, and that is not saying I didn’t enjoy the book. It was just a rocky last couple of weeks and now I’m behind on a lot of stuff. Cell is the only King book I have ever actually finished, and also the first book where I got through fifty pages before putting it down. I’m not sure why this is. Perhaps it has something to do with my obsession with zombies and my desire to perhaps one day write the most chilling and thrilling of zombie epics to ever grace the metaphorical screen of literature.Having said that, Cell is not actually a ‘zombie story’ in the traditional sense. There isn’t much here that is actually cliche or common in such stories. Cell starts out setting you up with the main character–Clay. He’s an artist who has just struck a major publishing deal for his graphic novel and is on his way home to let his estranged wife and his son know that things are going to be better. Then chaos reigns. People start freaking out, biting, clawing, and killing themselves and others. Clay is caught in the middle. Here he meets Tom and together they manage to get away. From this point on it is an all out battle for survival. Clay and Tom–and Alice, a young teenage girl–set off to try to escape the fires and insane people that have consumed normal society. As time passes they realize that it wasn’t just some random event, but some sort of pulse, some sort of subliminal message that has made everyone who was listening or does listen go nuts, and, to make things far worse, they start to realize that the ‘Phonies’ are beginning to change…into something…else… I thoroughly enjoyed this book, and I’m not just saying that because of my obsession with zombie stories. His writing is perfect for this. He doesn’t dawdle around on the issue, or wander in places he shouldn’t. He focuses immediately on the characters and draws you into their lives without destroying things with flashbacks and such. Half-way through the book I started to think that this would make an amazing mini-series on HBO or Showtime (not on Fox or one of those normal stations because those places tend to make series crappy after one season…and this book ends in such a point where there would HAVE to be a second season to clear up all the remaining questions).My only problem with this novel is the way it ends. It felt to me like King didn’t really want to finish the novel. Maybe he’s going to write another to follow this. Regardless, it leaves you completely wondering whether Clay succeeded in ‘finding’ his son. Other than this, Cell is an amazing, gripping, and thrilling novel. This is the perfect novel to read when you’re home alone and in a slightly dim room where your mind can wander and make you feel like perhaps this could really happen. Kudos to King!