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!
Book Review: Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
(Quick note. I have decided to drop the whole ‘current reading list’ deal. I’m not even following it at this point. I’m jumping around as it is and I’ve just come into some review copies and the like that are going to take precedent over my reading list anyway. The only list that will remain constant is my awards list…)Philip K. Dick and his lovely work of art. This book is quite a treat. I’ve never read it before, but heard about it a dozen times. The story is about a bounty hunter named Rick Deckard. What does he hunt? Androids of course. The Earth, as it stands, has become a backwater world after a massive nuclear war that leaves cities in ruins and constant radioactive dust falling everywhere. The people who still live on Earth are lucky to stay alive without going insane, and those are aren’t so lucky to keep their normal brains aren’t even allowed to leave for other colonized worlds (Mars included). To add, humanoid androids are illegal on Earth. They come from Mars, usually going to extreme methods to escape servitude there to find a new life on the fallen Earth. Deckard hunts these androids to ‘retire’ them (which is a fancy way of saying ‘kill’). The story itself takes place when six androids come to Earth and Deckard is brought on to take care of them.This is a fantastic novel. It might come off as a little difficult for some to come by. Some things such as Mercerism (which is the new world religion of Earth) and the Empathy Box might be beyond a lot of you to really comprehend, as they were for me. I wasn’t sure what the whole deal with Mercerism was. Was it intended to be so bizarre that you couldn’t believe it? Or are you led to believe that perhaps the people of Earth have just gone so nuts from the radiation that this is the next step? It’s strange indeed.Still, I found the world Philip created to be quite enthralling. It is dystopic–something I am hoping to perhaps place some heavy study in come the next couple years at UCSC. The world is dark. People are not normal. Animals are so far and few between that to have one is a sign of prestige, of wealth, and to have a rare animal is even more prestigious. People are so driven to own an animal that some buy android animals just so they can mimic others.I recommend everyone read this. It is a staple in the scifi world, hands down.
Book Review: The Elder Gods by David & Leigh Eddings
David Eddings has earned himself a very strong reputation as a great fantasy writer. I am familiar with his earlier work simply because I have heard of it, but have not had the opportunity to read it. I imagine, though, that for those that are a fan of his work, this particular novel will read as less than amazing.The four god siblings–Zelana, Veltan, Dahlaine, and Aracia–are on their way to going back to ‘sleep’ so that their counterparts can return to run the world for a while. But things have gone haywire when a long told event begins to take place. That-Called-the-Vlagh has begun assembling its armies and now wishes to control the world. But That-Called-the-Vlagh has begun in Zelana’s domain first, where her people are nothing more than Native American-esque people who possess no technology whatsoever. Zelena finds she must convince her siblings and the people of their domains to help aid in the oncoming war.(That is a severely diluted synopsis…quite frankly there is way too much going on for me to post an accurate synopsis without giving everything away).The Elder Gods is not necessarily a terrible novel, but it is a severely lacking novel. The story begins much like a mythological tale would, which essentially is information the reader doesn’t necessarily need at first. We generally can grasp the concept of multiple gods without need of explanation, and again we don’t need an explanation of who the bad guys are from the start. Such information should be learned by the main characters.The characters in this novel are varied. Some of the best characters should have remained the main human characters, but unfortunately Eddings goes off on some characters that really aren’t all that important at all. Characters of note are: Captain Sorgan Hook-beak, Longbow, and Rabbit. There are secondary characters I liked too–Eleria especially. Now, Eddings runs into a problem I’ve mentioned before in reference to other books: he has way too many character viewpoints going on. Three would have sufficed, but Eddings switching POV not only in the beginning half, but in the second half as well. There is no clearly defined main character. Zelena, who starts as the main character, suddenly falls off into no-man’s land and doesn’t even get the benefit of being important towards the end of the book. Hook-beak, who should have had a greater presence, has the same issue towards the end as well. Rabbit, who we know about for a while and suddenly are thrown into his head, gains a presence half way through the book rather than having one earlier. I liked Rabbit, but the problem was that he wasn’t really introduced until Longbow speaks to him. This POV jumping and what not really hurts the pace of the novel.Another issue was that Eddings constantly has characters retell the same information to other characters. Rather than just saying “He told Hook-beak what Eleria had mentioned to him” or something of that nature, he goes on for huge paragraphs having the characters tell the information. This happens over and over until the last 30 pages when characters stop doing that and he simply does what I mentioned in the quotes. Why all of a sudden? I don’t get it. But it wastes valuable time and space to have the characters do this over and over.One thing I did notice about this book is that it is written almost as if it were intended for a younger audience. The language indicates this very much. That isn’t a bad thing, but it does play out in how the individual characters speak, which comes off as somewhat unbelievable. Characters with huge reputations likely would not speak like 10 year olds.Last of my issues was with the battles. I’m going to spoil this for everyone because I want to. Towards the end all these people from other continents have been paid to come out and fight the battle. Nothing bad happens to the army as it travels across a wide ocean. Then again, when they begin to fight the enemy, which is supposed to be somewhat of a hive mind, first a massive flood takes place that kills the first wave. Then a volcano explodes and kills the rest of the Vlagh army. Very few good guys actually die, which is disturbing because Eddings tries to make it seem like the Vlagh is actually rather sneaky, which would make for a rather prolonged and arduous battle. Needless to say, EVERYTHING GOES RIGHT FOR THE GOOD GUYS. Where’s the conflict? Shouldn’t something go wrong? Shouldn’t something be hard? Now, I’ve rambled on and on about this book. I personally would not recommend this to anyone unless you are a die hard Eddings fan. It is probably not even close to his best work. So, read at your own risk.
Book Review: Neuromancer by William Gibson
Note: This is not on my review list because it is from my scifi/fantasy lit class. But since Elder Gods is a long book–and not one of the best books I’ve read thus far–I don’t know if I’ll be ready to review it until sunday. Now, Neuromancer is one of those books that has created itself a whole league of copycats and followers–much like Lord of the Rings did. There’s a good reason why: it is possibly the first book to ever suggest that computer technology would advance so far that things similar to ‘The Matrix’ could actually be possible. Gibson coined so many phrases, words, etc. in this one book alone.That being said, such books are also the type that tend to be a little less accessible to a wider range of audiences, and for good reason. If you aren’t prepared for the most complex, convoluted, and indepth of fantasy worlds, then you’ll likely never like LOTR. This isn’t to say that LOTR was a bad story, but for a wide audience it is not really the type of book that can be simply grasped. Most readers look for books they can just read and not have to think too much about. Neuromancer is one of those less accessible books. Gibson has created a fascinating world that seems on the surface to be a post apocalyptic, or dystopic technologically advanced place where violence, crime, and drugs are as much the norm as corruption and nifty gadgets…The story is about Case, a ‘cowboy’ as he likes to refer to himself, or at least a ‘former cowboy’. What is a cowboy? Well, think back to what exactly a cowboy is to begin with. Way back in the day, a cowboy wasn’t your run of the mill westerner, rather they were in some ways the outcasts, the rugged people. Well, take that and add technology. Cowboys in Gibson’s novel are essentially your outcasts–illegal hackers if you will. Case is crippled from stealing from his previous employer, who took revenge by damaging Case’s body so much that he can no longer ‘jack in’ to the ‘matrix’–not the same as the movie, but similar in that he has nodes on the back of his head, he visually sees a world of programs and code and even things that seem real, etc.Now comes Armitage, a rather mysterious figure, who claims to be able to cure Case’s problem provided that Case works for him–and Molly, a cyber-samurai with implants over her eyes to protect them, and a load of other interesting cyber-implants. Case jumps on it. You would too if you were offered your life back. Case soon finds himself in a twisted battle of AI’s and other bizarre things that even now come to me in a haze of confusion.The book is bold to say the least. Gibson did his research–or I think he did as I am not a computer junky, and neither is Gibson by the way. The world he’s constructed is rather believable–a massive city complex called the Sprawl that is nothing more than a city growth stretching from Boston to Atlanta, illegal hackers, druggies, gangsters, implant ridden henchmen, and the like. There’s so much more to the world he has created that I would likely have to write a rather long paper just to describe it to you in its entirety.The biggest problem with this book is in Gibson’s style of writing. He is not the most intriguing of prose writers and he has tried hard to tackle a subject that would suggest that there is little need for such prose to begin with. When you’re talking technojargon it becomes increasingly difficult to maintain the literary style many of us are accustomed to in speculative fiction. Because of this onset of massive new slang and the like, I found it very hard to keep track of everything that was going on. This is one of those novels that you should probably read a couple times to get a better idea of what exactly is going on.Needless to say, this book is mind boggling. I did enjoy it quite a bit, and the discussion in class was rather riveting.