Book Review: Ninja by Racy Li
I originally won this in the Debut A Debut Contest at Writing Aspirations for my review of Tower of Shadows by Drew Bowling–basically I was randomly picked out of a hat. I had originally thought to possible read this book for the contest, but decided to pick a ‘safer’ book due to its critical acclaim and what not. Now I know why I don’t listen to critics and should be listening to the little guy inside my head.Now, Ninja is not your typical science fiction style novel. Actually, it’s so far from what I normally read that I can’t necessarily recommend it to anyone unless they are the type who enjoys this style of literature. What style is that? Erotica. And not just normal erotica, but some strange mixture of urban fantasy, scifi, and naughty erotic fiction. Having said that it has to be mentioned that because Ninja is erotica, there is heavy emphasis on sex and its related topics–graphic sex scenes, etc. I had to initially come into this book with a very open mind. Would I have normally picked this up (or downloaded it as it is an e-book)? I can’t say. If it were just an erotic novel without any of the nifty scifi stuff in it, I probably wouldn’t have given it a second glance. However, because Ninja has so much scifi and fantasy woven into the steamy love story I managed to plow right through it with my interest peaked.Synopsis (Racy Li’s version): In a parallel world of alchemy, demons and superheroes, even the most ordinary may harbor the most extraordinary of secrets. Liz Blackwell leads a double life, as an attorney by day, and a freelance spy on the side. Unknown to her, her geeky secretary Kent Alistair is the mysterious superhero known simply as “Ninja.” In the middle of an international game of crime wars, demons and mystical objects, can these two people learn to trust each other before it is too late? Now, this world is a rather interesting one when it comes to genres. On one hand you have a world set after an alien invasion by a species known as the Joran, which in turn releases all the magic energy that creates all these superheroes, etc. On the other you have superheroes such as “Ninja”, most of which are supposed to be registered by the government–well a certain entity of it. Then you also have magic and such. All this is woven into the world Li has created. Personally I thought she did a fine job pulling all these very opposite genre related ideas together.Writing wise, Li is a decent writer. I found some grammatical errors and spelling errors, but otherwise I was not at any point confused by what she was saying or attempting to portray. The sex scenes were…well….steamy to say the least. For my tastes certain scenes were a little more risqué than I am comfortable with. Again, this is personal taste. Perhaps you like such scenes and would enjoy them a lot more than I did.I think some of my favorite parts of the the book were in the descriptions of Ninja and his abilities. She has taken what we commonly know as a ninja and added on very powerful and magical based abilities. Ninja’s can pass through shadow unseen for example, and not just “hiding” but actually practically invisible. So you learn really quick that in order to stop a ninja you have to have LOTS OF LIGHTS. There’s other things too, such as how alchemists access their abilities, what they can control, how dangerous they are, etc.The book ends pretty much giving you the hint that there will be a sequel, or should be. I am curious to see how all pans out in the end if such a book is written.So if you are into erotica, this book is for you. If you can’t handle erotica, avoid it. If you’ve always wanted a very futuristic or fantastic setting mixed with hot, steamy, and wildly passionate sex scenes and a strong–and very human–love story, then you should definitely check it out. You can find her website here.
Book Review: Shadowfall by James Clemens
This is by far one of the best fantasy novels I have read in a long time. Clemens’ writing style is exceptionally strong and he proves that having multiple viewpoints can be worked successfully. One of the things that makes it work is the length. There is plenty of time to establish who the characters are, where they are from, their histories, etc. I found myself, especially towards the end, on the edge of my seat. Unlike other fantasy novels–Tower of Shadows being a prime example–Clemens doesn’t show you the viewpoint from the villians. You don’t know at any point who really is the bad guy. And because you aren’t given that viewpoint the twists and turns come as an even greater surprise.Synopsis (my version): Tyler is a fallen knight in the world of Myrillia where knights serve the many gods who live among man on the earth. He has had everything stripped from him: his future wife, his health, his pride and prestige. Then one night he witnesses the slaying of a god, something that is supposed to be impossible. When he goes to the dying god she blesses him with her own grace (magic basically) and he is immediately accused of being a godslayer. He finds that he has to uncover a vast conspiracy to clear his name and prove that despite a great daemon–left by the dying god–now held within his flesh, he is not a godslayer.Dart is a girl studying to be Handmaiden for whichever god will take her. There is something about her that nobody really knows about. She has an ‘imaginary’ beast friend who not really imaginary at all, but a constant companion to her. She too gets sucked up into the conspiracy working to destroy the foundations of Myrillia.Kathryn is a Shadowknight (one of the knights that serves the gods). She also was formerly betrothed to Tylar. But news that he still lives and that he may be coming to kill he brings her into a struggle with discovering who is really trying to tear down Myrillia from the ground up. Is it a group of dissenters known as the Fiery Cross? Or someone else? Could it be Tylar? You can’t go wrong with this book. The characters are exceptional and drawn so well that you truly get an idea of who they are. The action is described perfectly, drawing you in. I didn’t even notice that the book had many common cliches until the end, which immediately tells me that Clemen’s writes in such a way that even common fantasy themes seem new. The world he has created–Myrillia–is fantastic. His system of gods and magic (called Grade, like God’s Grace) is elaborate and powerful. You can easily grasp the limitations of it.My favorite character in the book is Dart, and I’m not entirely sure why–at least I can’t really say why because it gives way too much away about what happens in the book and I am not fan of spoilers. I think perhaps I like her because what she suffers is something some might call far worse than anything Tylar suffers. Read and you’ll understand what I mean. I gather a lot of women would agree on that matter, then again, many might disagree. But I’m a man, so I can’t say for certain.The only problems I had with the book were based on my personal tastes. There are several scenes that he writes with great detail that just made my skin crawl. One in particular is a rape scene. I personally found myself disgusted. This is not to say that Clemens did a bad job, not at all. He wrote them well and got the desired effect from me I imagine. I just personally have problems reading scenes that describe such events in any detail whatsoever. I personally could never write such scenes–well that might be true, but I would certainly have a hard time doing it.Nonetheless, this is a definite must read. Note this is not a children’s book, so please don’t read it to your children. It is very violent in some areas in such a way that is necessary. It is not excessive and not unneeded. Give it a read. I personally loved this book and hope many of you will too!
Book Review: Childhood’s End by Arthur C. Clarke
First things first, I need to make a note about my reviews. A lot of discussion has been made over my review of Tower of Shadows by Drew Bowling, much of which is disagreement. I have nothing against a disagreement, but I do find it interesting that many automatically think I must be wrong in my assertion that TOS is not really that good of a book simply because they liked it. This isn’t to say that I don’t want comments and disagreement in the future, but I want everyone to realize one thing: these are based on my opinions. If I don’t like a book, then I don’t like it. There’s no going around that for me. I will explain the reasons why I don’t like it, and leave it to everyone else to decide. I’m not the end all / be all on this subject. This is simply my opinion. Take my thoughts however you like, just take notice that just because you like a book doesn’t mean that I should like it. We all have different tastes.Now to the review. Most of us who read SF have read works by Clarke or have at least heard about him. He is, after all, one of the most popular ‘golden age’ SF authors. So, by saying this I want it to be clear that Childhood’s End is a classic. It was written in a time when SF had practically no foothold whatsoever in the mainstream market. Like Foundation by Isaac Asimov, Childhood’s End was written in installments and published in magazines. I didn’t know this when I first started reading it, but now that I do know this it makes some of my dislikes for the book less pronounced. I have to now take into account that rather than a full fledged novel, this book is more like a set of connected short stories all set in the same universe on the same plotline.The synopsis is this:Set in a not so distant future (at least when it was written) an alien race known as the Overlords comes to Earth in giant ships (think Independence Day, only not violent). They establish themselves as overseers of Mankind, ridding the world of war, famine, prejudice, racism, etc. All this is done without violence. The Overlords could easily wipe out Mankind, but that is not their goal. They are there to establish a long lasting peace, a veritable utopia where none go hungry and everyone can live a life of leisure.But something else is going on, something that Mankind is not prepared for and could very well make them extinct… That synopsis is somewhat vague simply because I cannot give anything at all away or it would ruin the ending of the book. I can tell you this, you will have one of two reactions to the end: you’ll either feel sad and sympathetic, or you will be angry.Now, stylistically speaking Clarke is a very good writer–one of the best really when you think about it. He is able to draw you into the characters deep enough to care about them even though you know them for such a short time (remember, written in short story installments).The only thing I didn’t like about the book was the ending. To me it seemed far too sudden and I can’t imagine reacting in the way the characters did to the final twist. This isn’t to say that the ending is unbelievable, although scientifically speaking from a more modern view it does seem tremendously unlikely, but it is saying that the ending seemed somewhat out of place. Many in my lit class discussed this same subject. Some liked the ending, others didn’t. I personally didn’t much care for the ending.Regardless, this is a classic. A must read. If you are into the foundations of SF, as I am, then you should probably pick this one up, along with Foundation by Isaac Asimov and early works by Poul Anderson and the like. For a classic it is good; but from a modern prospective it lacks due to various circumstances. Still, I’m glad I read it.
Book Review: Venus by Ben Bova
If there is one thing that I have come to expect of Ben Bova it is that he can take any fantastically unbelievable idea and make it so real that you actually think that it could happen. This is the case with Venus.Van Humphries is the last living son of Martin Humphries, having outlived his brother who died a few years before on a trek to the venusian surface to try to discover how a runaway greenhouse could explain the sudden warming on Earth. But his father hates him beyond reason. He’s the runt in the family with a terrible anemia that he has to take medicine for to keep in check. Then comes his father’s award–a billion dollars to anyone who can bring back the remains of his beloved son. To make matters more interesting, Martin Humphries has cut off all of Van’s funding and in desperation Van signs up to win that billion dollars. But Van isn’t the only one that wants the prize…Enter Fuchs, an asteroid belt entrepreneur who lost everything he owned because of Martin Humphries, including his wife. Claiming a billion dollars could right his life and give him the vengeance he has always wanted.The story is riveting to say the least. I think this book is possibly better than Mars, but it’s such a close match I find it hard to make the decision. Everything from the way Bova designs the ships that take them to Venus and ultimately the ships that get them to the surface to his description of Venus in such a realistic manner made this book one of the best reads I’ve had in a while. I don’t want to give anything away, but the way he describes Venus’ clouds, surface, winds, etc. really give you the image of how dangerous this planet is.Venus is written in first person and I found that in this case it worked perfectly. I’ve known a few instances when I hated first person, but again, the same as with Old Man’s War, it worked very well here. Bova’s style is not profound in any sense of the word, and he likely won’t be winning any ‘best writer ever’ awards, but he has such a way to tell a scifi story to make you really believe in what is going on. There is little that I had to dispel belief for. This is something I’ve come to know Bova for–realism. There are a lot of twists and turns that you don’t expect too, and I won’t give any of them away simply because that would ruin the book. Pick this book up. You can probably find it online for cheap–it’s been out for a while. It is a fascinating read.
Book Review: The Forever War by Joe Haldeman
I have quite a lot of books that I have yet to read in my collection, and then I have some books that are classics or older books that I am reading for my literature class. So every so often I will be reading a book that is a classic or old, or just not necessarily from the last couple of years. The Forever War is a book I read for my literature class. So here goes my review.The Forever War is another military SF novel in much the same fashion as Old Man’s War by John Scalzi was written. The only difference is that Old Man’s War is relatively new in comparison. The Forever war is in first person, follows a single character–as should be the norm in a first person story–and deals with the concept of an interstellar war between mankind and an alien race known as the Taurans. The novel begins with the main character–William Mandella–being drafted into the first strike force for the United Nations Exploratory Force, emphasis on ‘force’. This is not an ordinary draft. Mandella is a genius, along with practically all of his fellow draftees. Every single new soldier has an IQ of 150 or more and can contribute something to the war. Mandella was a physics teacher. Why get smart people for war? You can count on smart people to be able to think while blasting away the alien menace, which you would hope would put you in an advantage.The most mind boggling part of this book was the way in which the soldiers traveled. This book was written a hell of a long time ago, so much of what we know about physics would probably make Haldeman’s plan for interstellar travel pretty much impossible, but regardless here it is. They pass through things called “collapsars”, which are essentially black holes. Since it is impossible to reach the speed of light, one can go through a collapsar and appear somewhere on the other end. The thing about traveling this way is that for those inside the collapsar, people practically going the speed of light, experience a completely different speed of time than those outside. Mandella might experience a week on ship time, while the Earth would experience years. Centuries pass him by like nothing. What I found interesting was actually trying to contemplate running a military with this sort of time dilation. How does one schedule someone for deployment when you haven’t a clue when a ship is going to be coming back in? This was the one thing that just made it so amazing for me.I think this is an amazing novel. It’s not the best written SF novel I have read though. Haldeman is rather good at writing, but his style is not as strong as Scalzi’s, in my opinion. However, this doesn’t in any way detract from the effectiveness of the novel. I found myself caring about what happened to Mandella, and alternately what happened to his friends. He is able to draw that sort of emotion with me in his writing.Haldeman makes the changes on the Earth over centuries look so real and natural. You start to wonder how you would react to a world that is so drastically different. What do you think you would expect if in two hundred years the Earth was overpopulated and there was need for some sort of universal birth control?This book is essentially a classic. Everyone should read it at some point in their reading life. It’s a relatively quick read and delves deeply into an ever changing world that you start to feel a little out of place. If you read this, think how you would react to a world so drastically different from your own? Would you be able to adapt to the changes? Or would you try to find a new home for yourself?
Book Review: The Tower of Shadows by Drew Bowling
This is for the Debut a Debut contest I discovered here.Every once in a while you stumble upon a great work of art within the fantasy genre. Take Eragon by Christopher Paolini for example. A young author writes a fantastic epic and well driven story, and succeeds. Not only that, Paolini wrote a sequel which, while not quite as good as Eragon, deserves just as much praise for the development of the various characters.However, The Tower of Shadows is not one of these so called ‘great works’. Rather, it is a terribly written, poorly plotted, and mindlessly pointless piece of fantasy fiction.At first appearances, and at first glance, you get the idea that this is going to be a story that falls into many cliches, but has the potential to add some new and fascinating twists. The synopsis is gripping enough:(My version) “Long ago a demon called Apollyon broke free from his imprisonment. Two brothers are the only ones that survive in the village, taken to safety by the wizard Dale, and Apollyon was caged again. Wren, wandering into the village, also manages to escape with the help of Dale.Some years later Cade, grown and possessed with great magical power, seeks vengeance for the horrible deaths of his parents. He hopes to bring Apollyon back and destroy the demon, forever banishing Apollyon from the world. He needs his brothers’ blood–Corin–and a mythical dagger. Dale, however, hopes to protect Corin from the evil idealogy of his brother.And so it begins…” When you open the book, in the first 50 or 60 pages you start to ask yourself a few questions, realizing that the synopsis has just tricked you into reading something that might pass as a paper weight instead: Who is the main character?Honest to God question. In those first pages I mentioned you are introduced not only to the supposed main character (Wren), but to Dale, a wizard, two assassins who’s names aren’t important, but who play an important role, the bad guy (Cade), his powerful apprentice Damon, the brother Cade needs (Corin) and his friend Dusty and his Uncle or Father, or some such figure, Adriel (Dale’s apprentice) and Wren’s daughter (who’s name escapes me at the moment). And mind you, we’re inside all of these peoples’ heads throughout those 60 or so pages. I wanted to know who was going to be the focus of the book, because with the POV jumping around all over the place I couldn’t tell who was the central character. The synopsis told me it was Cade, the writing made it seem like it was Wren–though it on his daughter and other characters just as much on him. Why does it take almost 100 pages before the story really starts going?Now, I know in books of 400, 500, or more pages you wouldn’t expect a full flowering of the plot in any way until probably around that 100 or so page mark. What I mean is, the plot is well on its way, it’s heading slowly for the climax, and you have an idea of what is going on, even if you don’t know all the facts, etc. Tower of Shadows is a 286 page book, this means that the central character should be obvious by page 10 and the plot should be well on its way by page 40 or 50. Rather, the plot doesn’t kick off until you’re so thoroughly bored with the pointless talk of the characters lives. Yes, we need that information, but not if you are going to waste our time and ignore the fact that there is supposed to be some evil stuff going on and the good guys are supposed to be gearing up for a fight. Why do dragons of this world (Ellynrie) have four wings?Now, for most of us fantasy readers or writers, we can dispell disbelief. But we also all know that dragons are enormous creatures of immense power and tend to have some sort of intelligence. We also know them to have two wings. So why four? I can’t explain it. Theoretically speaking, a creature as large as a dragon with four wings would be incapable of much more than perhaps eating, sleeping, and reproducing. The brain mass needed to have some sort of sentience (even sentience to know to destroy human habitations on purpose) would be far too large and complex that such creatures would have to be more intelligent, or far more dominant than humans. Bowling never explains this. We’re supposed to take it as it is. Unfortunately, I can see the problem with a four winged massive beast. Alright, so those are some immediate questions. So now I’ll address some other issues with the book.First a positive.Not all is bad with Tower of Shadows. Despite his constant switching of POV, Bowling’s writing style is powerful. He can describe like nobody else. My biggest complaint in his writing was the excessive use of metaphors that really had no context in the story. The thing about metaphors is this: use them, but don’t make it confusing. Despite that, if he had written this in the mind of Wren, fine tuned the plot and some other elements, I imagine this would have been a halfway decent novel. Another issue with this novel that is less positive is the actual plot and action. First, the majority of the good guys get around on pure luck, despite the fact that Wren is supposed to be this amazingly accomplished fighter and for whatever reason Adriel is supposed to be quite powerful. Wren’s daughter is, well, a useless and pointless character. She serves no purpose other than to drive Wren further on his quest for fear that that he might lose her. And if she had died I think his convictions would have been doubly strong. Instead, she parades around with Wren doing mostly nothing but crying, feeling bad for the mishaps that happen to her father, and doing insanely stupid things that any supposedly