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Review, SciFi

Doctor Who: Silhouette by Justin Richards

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Doctor Who: Silhouette
Doctor Who: Silhouette by Justin Richards

A Doctor Who Novel with not only Twelve and Clara, but Vastra, Jenny, and Strax? What current Who fan could turn that down? Well, not this one. This is not my first Doctor Who novel, it is not even my first staring the Twelfth Doctor. See my review of Doctor Who: The Blood Cell.  Now we come to Doctor Who: Silhouette by Justin Richards. This is another one of three Twelfth Doctor books that were released on September 9th by Broadway books. This time around I am a bit more familiar with the latest regeneration, having seen a couple more episodes since I read the last story. As I have said in my last Doctor Who review, I hope anyone reading this already knows of the show. Other books are not necessary, but without knowing the current incarnation of the show, you will be a bit at a loss. I will not recap the characters or concepts from the show here either, because if you are not a fan of the show, I just cannot see reading this book or going further in this review.

We begin the novel with three sets of main characters, in three settings, investigating three mysteries. Let us start with the most important character: The Doctor. When we first join the Doctor and Clara, they are heading for Victorian London to investigate a power spike that should not exist. Next we are brought into a seemingly impossible murder where Madame Vastra is called upon to investigate by the victim himself.  Jenny assists in the investigate, as is to be expected.  Strax has a new drinking buddy, one of the few humans he can stand without thoughts of obliterating them with scissor grenades. After a night at the pub, Strax’s new friend is found dead. Strax is now on a hunt for vengeance. Eventually The Doctor and Clara cross paths with Jenny at a carnival which seems to somehow connect their cases, and their investigations coincidentally intertwine. Strax’s quest is clearly connected as well (from the beginning I might add, really would not call this a spoiler), though it take a little longer for all parts to come together.

As I mentioned earlier, I do have a better feel for the Peter Capaldi’s Doctor now. I now feel a bit more confident in discussing other portrayals of him. I think Justin Richards really did a great job in capturing this, at the time of publication, still relatively underexposed character. Nobody really knew him at the time, but I think this novel held quite well to the personality that has been developing on screen. In the show, Twelve is quite detached from humanity now and has become a bit of a grumpy old many who rather thinks himself more charming and handsome than he is. He is quite often unintentionally (at least I think) rude and his quips with Clara always become almost innocently insulting, like when talking to a child with no real filter. Richards manages to convey this quite well in his writing of the Doctor. The other characters were very well written and were true to their live action counterparts. Strax, I think, was the most well done among them. If there was any hesitation about reading this and having these characters ruined or not brought over properly, you can forget them.

The other important factor in any Doctor Who adventure, be it a novel, an episode, or even radio production, is the villain. The main antagonist in Silhouette is very well done. Now, there are a few “badguys” in here I suppose. While any of them are good Doctor Who antagonists, especially lately, the main opponent here is really well suited to be an adversary of the Doctor. He is intelligent, difficult to figure out and even more difficult to counter. There is enough character development here to get a good feeling of who he is. There is a fair bit of exposition, but it is done well enough, and in conversation, that it feels quite natural.

Well, here comes the real question. How did I like the story? I have to say that I really did enjoy it. I did initially worry about it being too forced with the other characters, but it felt right. Perhaps there were a few too many coincidences and I thought the Doctor would normally jump on that, but maybe this is just to show a change in the current Doctor. I enjoyed the ending, but the resolution felt a bit expected to me. I have not gotten that impression from other reviewers though, so maybe it is just me. Taking all into account, I would give it 4/5. Very good story and use of well known and loved characters. An enjoyable read I would feel confident about recommending to any fan of New-Who. One final bit of not-quite spoileryness, there is a scene with some great references for fans who know not only the new series, but the classics as well. Enjoy!

Review, SciFi

War Dogs by Greg Bear

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War Dogs by Greg Bear

War Dogs is the first book of a new trilogy by Greg Bear. I received an early review copy at BEA this year from the Orbit desk in the Hachette pavilion. This book is scheduled for release on October 14th 2014, one month from today.

War Dogs is a futuristic sci-fi military novel. It takes place in the future, however it is not so far in the future that it is unrecognizable. As a matter of fact, humanity has not really had huge technological advances in this time and any real advances have come from external sources. Yes, that means there are aliens. These visitors are known as the Gurus. The Gurus gave Earth technological gifts and other bits of knowledge. This much is on the cover flap, so I can safely say that I am not spoiling anything. They came in peace and initially asked nothing in return. Eventually they did reveal that their actions were only partially altruistic. More of a reciprocal altruism in fact. They let it be know, to their small cabal, that they have been traveling around fighting their long time enemy which we have come to known as the antagonists. Antags for short. Earth was enlisted to help fight this ancient war as the Antags were making their way into the solar system. This was technically optional, but if you want to get new shiny toys from the Gurus, you became signatory.

Not much is known about the Antags, even by the soldiers who were sent to fight. Actually, not much is know about the Gurus either, other than by the very small group that makes up the inner council. People do not even know how many may be on Earth. What people do know is that we get all of this great stuff from them, so we might as well follow them. Soldiers are sent off to the unforgiving vastness of Mars to fight the Antags at the request of their reclusive benefactors.  This is where the story takes place, more or less. This is where we join our main character, Sgt. Michael Venn. Venn is a Skyrine. An elite fighting force trained for these Mars drops and fighting in these conditions. In his latest campaign, he is dropped onto Mars in a botched operation. With the mission in shambles and the intel uplinks not communicating or sending orders, the soldiers revert to simply trying to survive. What they come across when traversing the harsh Martian landscape is unexpected and potentially game changing. Unfortunately they are not the only group who knows what they now do and Command seems to have different ideas regarding how to deal with its tactical nature. The adventure is laced with Antag attacks, Mars settlers, racist groups, falling comets, psychedelic experiences and adverse conditions.

Now, that is only half of the setting and plot. When you open to the first chapter, you will notice that the setting is not on the red surface of a dusty planet, rather here an Earth. Sgt. Venn ha just returned to Earth from a drop and is en route to a safe house. What happens is that the viewpoint shifts between Venn recounting, in first person, the events that transpired on Mars, and the present day omniscient third person with Venn in the safe house accompanied by a friend of a friend.

What I really liked was the Mars lore Bear is establishing. What the Skyrines come across and learn is a fairly interesting plot line that sets the hook to bring readers along to the next volume of this series. Unfortunately you really only start getting to the more interesting unravelings towards the end of the book, leaving you with a cliffhanger. The cliffhanger certainly makes we want to continue on, but I do wish I learned a bit more first.

The characters were well done, but it seemed to go through quite a bit of them for such a small group. Bear takes the time to really paint each of them out and reserves a few pages for exposition on many of them. With all of that, I don’t know how much sense I got of who any of them really are, other than key one or two. Some of their personalities tended to shift, by the author’s designs of course, but that does make it a bit more difficult to really know that character. I think the characters were pretty well developed, but there feel that there were too many that I was supposed to care about, which ended with me not caring enough.

Now, here is the major criticism I have : All suspense that I thought I should feel in the Mars chapters is mitigated by the fact that the story is being retold on Earth by the main character. You really do not have to wonder if your main character will survive… he did. You already know he did. Since the first page. Obviously you could not tell the present day story without this effect, but it did have an effect nonetheless. It by no means ruined to narrative, it is still a great story, I think it just drained some of the punch.

Stepping back and look with everything in its place, It was a very good book. The Sci-Fi is somewhat believable given the time period. That characters are generally well done, and the author really does paint a very nice picture of world(s) around them. Overall I think it is somewhere between a 3.5/5 or 4/5. I think after the next book I will want it more at the 4, but right now I just want to know what happens so I have to live with that nagging feeling for now.

Greg Bear’s webiste

War Dogs page on Bear’s site

Greg Bear’s Goodreads

War Dogs Goodreads

Review, SciFi

Doctor Who: The Blood Cell by James Goss

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Doctow Who Blood Cell
Doctor Who: The Blood Cell by James Goss

Doctor Who: The Blood Cell by James Goss is one of three new Doctor Who stories being released this Tuesday September 9th, 2014 by Broadway Books, which feature the Twelfth Doctor. I  received this eARC through Blogging for Books via Edelweiss in exchange for an honest review. I was excited to get this book since I am a die hard Doctor Who fan. At the same time, I was not sure what to expect since at the time of this writing, only three episodes with the twelfth Doctor have aired. I even found myself reading it in Eleven’s voice, even when trying to keep Twelve’s in my head. I do wonder a little if putting these out now was in fact strategically smart with the momentum from the new season, or if it is too early since we had not yet had time to really get to know the latest regeneration or really see him as The Doctor.

Refocusing on the book, we join the Doctor in this adventure in a prison set in a remote asteroid. Very little is know upfront, we have no idea why the Doctor (Prisoner 428) is in this prison, what terrible event he is looking to avert, or where exactly Clara and the Tardis are. He obviously does have an agenda. Let’s face it, the Doctor almost always does.  What we do knows is that he believes that something bad is going to happen and if the Governor of the prison does not work with him and release him, something bad will happen and people will start getting killed, which for the record, Clara shows up and petitions the Governor claiming the same thing. With the Doctor, these statements generally hold true, even if he is not aware of some impending doom. Since the Governor does not believe him, the Doctor decides he will just have to continually break out until they get the point. I cannot get too much deeper into the plot without spoilers, but needless to say, the prison is having problems and while everyone blames the Doctor, he wants to figure out what is really going on.

What is interesting about this narrative is that it is written in a first person point of view and not that of the Doctor or Clara, but of the Governor. This is somewhat of a change from other Who novels.  It does offer a unique perspective that I can only think of one or two TV episodes that approached it this way. The plot itself was not bad. It seemed in line with what could be an episode this season. I have seen a number of other reviewers criticizing the ending, but I saw no problem with it. In all fairness, it was an ending I would come to expect from the current direction of the show. It actually felt a bit like the Satellite Five and later Gamestation episodes. Was it an amazing, epic Doctor Who adventure? Not particularly. Was it an awful adaptation of the Doctor? Certainly not. It was a fair and decent story. There were funny moments, suspenseful moments; it was Doctor Who.

One area I am normally very critical of is characterization, but novelization of a running character is really hard to fit into a regular square box. If you read the book, you should be well familiar with the character. The author should not be defining the main characters in a Doctor Who novel. They are already near and dear to the readers. Your only job is not to butcher them. What Goss did need to do was define the other characters which I felt he really did do a good job with. Also, since this is early in the 12th Doctor’s run, he did have to work with a personality we do not know much about yet and I think with that in mind, he fared quite well. The Doctor’s little quips and obliviously unflattering comments to Clara fit in with the first few Capaldi episodes. As does the spoon. I do not know if it was intentional, but a spoon does come into play in Season 8 Episode 3 as well as in this novel, which gave me a bit of a chuckle. The way it come up here though was something I may have expected more from the Tenth Doctor.

All in all I felt the book was pretty good for a Doctor Who story. As I said earlier, it is neither the worst nor best I have come across, but it was entertaining and engaging. I flew through it. I will admit it was tough to put down, I finished it in two days. It took a lot from the show and worked with a new Doctor that I honestly do not know enough about yet to criticize the portrayal. With that, it is considerably more difficult to rate. My gut says that it is a 3.5/5. If you are a Doctor Who fan, it is worth a read. Just do not expect a “Blink” or “A Good Man Goes to War”.

 

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Cursed Moon by Jaye Wells

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Cursed Moon by Jaye Wells
Cursed Moon by Jaye Wells

 

Cursed Moon in the second installation in the Prospero’s War series by Jaye Wells. I really should have written the review a week ago when I finished reading, but I have just not found the time until now. I was pretty excited to read this book, and since I was not able to get this one early, I had to wait until mid-month to pick it up in a month I already knew was going to be hectic. With that in mind and my bad excuses out of the way, I apologize for not getting this out there earlier.

Since this is the second book, I am going to assume that anyone reading this has already read Dirty Magic, the first book. With that assumption, I will not need to summarize the characters or magic system. If you would like a look back, check out my review of Dirty Magic, which I really, really enjoyed. With that out of the way, let us jump into Cursed Moon. We join Kate Prospero a few months after the events of Dirty Magic. She is still part of the MEA task force, on loan from the BPD.  With everything that happened in the first story, there is plenty of stress in Kate’s life including her brother Danny who she is raising, her law enforcement career, and her guilt over her recent use of magic. To add to this, a blue moon is coming right around Halloween. This moon has a profound impact on magic. It has effects on adepts and potions. With the impending moon, a crazed lunatic decides to stir up some mayhem in Babylon. Kate’s MEA team now needs to track this psycho down before he does too much damage to the city.

Let me get this out of the way first: I really liked this book. Basically everything I liked about the first one carried over and even improved. Since the main characters were already very well defined, Wells took the time to give depth to some of the secondary characters. Some history also comes out to refine the already well developed ones. Kate certainly grows and her views and feeling change a lot since the last book. One other character that I was very excited to learn more about was good old Uncle Abe. Other than the characterization, I love the language used in the book. The conversations are wonderful. I don’t mean to say that the words are particularly elegant, they are not. What they are is real. This is how people talk. Most of us are not eloquent, in daily life the majority of people are quite the opposite. If you are sensitive to language and easily offended, this probably is not for you. Also, if you are one of those people, Chaucer is not for you and you’re really missing out on some great stuff. People talk like this. Always have, always will. This is exactly why I loved it. The language used is so real and true to life. If you are reading a book where low lives, drug (potion) pushers, pimps, whores, killers are using sanitized language, you’re really missing something and I cannot see how someone can get wholly absorbed in a story unless the world is entirely absorbing and realistic. The raw, crass dialogue felt and read so incredibly natural. There is no forced language that is trying to be edgy, in fact Kate even comments on certain word choices and cringes at others. I do appreciate an author who writes such realistic characters and dialogue.

With development behind us, much of the buddy cop aspects are gone. I see this as a big improvement. You learn more about the team and their rapports. I think they have more interesting and complex relationships now, even with it only being a few months in story time. I really like the way the characters interact this time around. I do not know exactly what to put my finger on to say that I like better, but it just felt better. I know that makes very little sense, or none at all, but that is the only way I can describe what went through my head reading it. I honestly hove only one piece of criticism and that is the resolution of the main story. It was not bad, but it was a little out there, even for this. Honestly though, I kind of saw it coming, so it did not shock me that this was coming.

Even though there was one criticism, I still give this a 5/5. I was tempted to remove a half star with the ending, but I accept that I have to suspend disbelief for a fantasy novel. Besides, I really loved the book so I could not bring myself to lower this score. I absolutely recommend this book, obviously assuming you read the first one. The conclusion to the Prospero’s War series, Deadly Spells, is due for publication in March of 2015. That is something I will be definitely be keeping an eye on. So far I have enjoyed what I have read from Jaye Wells and am looking forward to more.

Review, SciFi

Dark Eden by Chris Beckett

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Dark Eden by Chris Beckett

Dark Eden was first published in 2012 which soon earned its author Chris Beckett a British Science Fiction Association Award  nomination for Best Novel that same year. It then went on to win Beckett the  Arthur C. Clarke Award for Best Novel. In 2013 Broadway Books, an imprint of Crown Publishing, acquired the US rights. It was published here earlier this year. I received a review copy for this US publication in exchange for a fair review.

This novel is a science fiction and dystopian story. The story takes place on a planet, or more likely planetoid, called Eden. I say planetoid for two reasons; first, there does not seem to be a central mass or solar system that it orbits. There is no natural sun or close by star. Secondly, the planet appears to be fairly small. Several generations ago a few people from Earth took off into the unknown, followed by police, and landed on Eden. While some attempted to return home, two of them stayed, waiting for the possibility of Earth to return to get them. In the meantime, the two who stayed began their own family and started populating their new home. Jump to present day in the book, there are over 500 people living on Eden, all in the one area where their ancestors first landed. These humans are living on a truly alien planet. Their light and heat come from trees with hot sap pumping through them. The animals somewhat resemble the creatures of earth, yet are wholly different.

The people make the best of what they can in their little piece of this alien planet. The whole community of every human living there is called Family, while subgroups have sprung up named mostly after things around them such as Redlantern and Spiketree. These groups have their own areas within Family. The society is governed by both the group leaders as well as a council presiding over all groups. They have lived this way since the first two, Tommy and Angela, taught them.

One teen, John Redlantern, sees things a bit differently. This main character does not understand why things have not changed. He feels that the traditions are stifling them and not allowing them to grow and reach the level of those who came from Earth. John and small group of friends wish to expand Family. Traditionalists are not happy with this idea and controversy spreads. The story switches tracks from idealism to adventure on this still mostly unknown world.

There is a whole cast of unique individuals. Beckett give you a good taste of all of them, though not in major depth. I can say that while I understood most of the characters, I cannot say that I really liked any of them. Not that I did not like how the author wrote them, I did not like their personalities. I suppose that says they were developed enough to have unlikable characteristics. I started out liking John and the way he saw the world. I later found that I very much disliked him. I began to see past his altruism and saw something else. I also really liked Tina Spiketree at first, but I stopped being able to. Other characters were meant to be hated, and you do in fact hate them as you read.  While the characters were developed, I just personally have trouble getting fully immersed in a story where there is nobody to really relate to.

Another interesting thing was the language. They spoke English, since Tommy ad Angela did. They know of London, Brooklyn, television, electricity, and so on. There was no way to truly understand these things, but they had vague ideas. They however spoke about it in a manner similar to when you are teaching a three year old and they say things how they hear them. The names and words come out in hybrid English/baby talk. That is how a lot of the words in the story were. It makes sense. Slang develops in all cultures and vowel shifts, etc. It is as if you are teaching a child to say things, however you do not correct them, so their mispronunciations are passed down for generations. It worked in the story so it did not bother me most of the time. Occasionally I wanted to yell at the characters to pronounce the words properly, but that is just me. I will even point things like that out at the office.

The story was fairly interesting. The concept of stranded earthlings making their home on a distant and strange alien world is a great science fiction concept. It felt like a Lord of the Flies meets Lost in Space. OK, two classics there so it is not really a negative statement, but I felt that it could have been taken so much farther. I realize that this is only the first book in a series, with the next one slated for release in 2015, I believe. The first story did not jump out at me and make me want to continue though. I tend to have bad luck with award winning novels. Maybe I expect too much going in, or maybe I just have a completely different taste that award committees, but I tend to not love these lauded novels as much as I want to.

The book was not bad, 3/5 in my eyes. I did not love it, but I did not hate it. It seemed right in my wheelhouse, but just did not live up to expectations. Again, Dark Eden was an OK book, but I felt it was too lackluster considering all of the praise. I wanted to love it, instead I just did not mind it.

Fantasy, Review

City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett

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city of stairs cover
City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett

City of Stairs was an interesting book (which is due to be released on September 9th, 2014 by Broadway Books, a Crown imprint) that immediately intrigued me. I had not really been aware of it leading up to the promotional stage and though I know of Robert Jackson Bennett, I did not actually know much about him or his writing. This is actually the first chance I have had to read his work. When I looked at the description it immediately stood out as something I needed to request. The story takes place primarily on a colonized continent. The Continent was formerly a world power which wielded its’ own pantheon of gods. The gods are now long gone and a smaller island nation has colonized the Continent. More or less at the center of the Continent is the city of Bulikov, our main focal point. An even with certain political and legal implications brings our main character, Shara, over to Bulikov, and that is just the first few pages.

In town with the credentials of a diplomat  assigned to the local embassy sent to investigate recent events, Shara is actually about as far from a political player as one working for thier govenrment can get;, she is one of Saypur’s top operatives on the continent. Her true job is less diplomatic politician and more undercover spy. What sounds so far like a geopolitical drama evolves into a world with a unique magic system and a strong fantasy based story. Religious extremists, divine miracles and unexplainable events cause Shara and her associates to believe that these long gone gods may not be as gone as everyone seems to think. The plot really escalated quickly and refocuses several times. There is drama, magic, twists and plenty of action. More than enough for any fantasy fan.

I really appreciated the level of characterization and descriptiveness the author used. The characters were given not only depth, but layers. I really liked how the the layers were teased out over the course of the book, slowly revealing more and more about them and their history. I felt like I had a strong understanding of many of the main characters at the end and a really nice glimpse into their pasts and their motives. I am a sucker for strong characterization and Bennett certainly gave us that. It was not only the characters that were given full back stories, but also the regions, the deities and political structure. The world building was fantastic and unique. It bordered on fantasy world building and urban fantasy world altering. It does not end there either. The descriptions were detailed and vivid. One particular scene stands out where Shara is cooking while discussing some rather in depth Continental history. The detailed descriptions of her preparations intertwined in her conversations felt so casual yet was extremely well done, completely taking me into to scene where i could absolutely see her standing there crushing garlic and slicing meat. I do not know why that stuck with me so much, but I was completely impressed with it.

If you cannot already tell, I really, really enjoyed the book. The action scenes were great, the world building was very well done and magic system was interesting and unique. I have not talked about Sigrud at all in this review so far, but you will love Shara’s “secretary” and travel companion. I do not know if there is anything in particular that I  can point out that I  did not like. I have to give City of Stairs 5/5.  I absolutely recommend pucking this up. I would even go as far as saying to pre-order it, it liked it that much. I am not claiming that this is the most revolutionary book I have read and it will change your life. It was however damn good and fairly unique and I am confident that most SFF fans will love it. The novel was a very well balanced book. I hope we see something else in this universe. I know I will have to pull some of Robert Jackson Bennett‘s other works after this.

Disclaimer: I received this book from the publisher, through Goodreads in exchange for a fair review.

Fantasy, Review

Half a King by Joe Abercrombie

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Half a King by Joe Abercrombie

Half a King , the recent novel by Joe Abercrombie, is the author’s first real foray into the world of Young Adult and the first book in his new Shattered Sea series. I have mixed feelings about YA in general, but with Joe Abercrombie as the author, I was going to dive in either way. On one hand I feel that YA is really flooding the market, especially in the Fantasy genre. On the other hand I love that it is out there and there is a good base to bring younger people into the literary world. I will not go into my YA feelings in any more depth right now, I prefer to take a book for what the content is, rather than how it is marketed.

At the heart of the story we have our main character, Yarvi, the second son of the King and Queen. Yarvi has no real air of royalty and is in fact studying to become a minister, having no interest in the royal life. Yarvi is young, weak and had a deformed hand. In a family and culture which prides itself on strength and warfare, he knows where he stands. Unfortunately his plans are upended and he is forced to take the throne. Whilst beginning to settle and accept a life he never truly wanted, Yarvi is betrayed in usurper’s a grab for power. He swears an oath of vengeance and to reclaim the throne he wished never to have.

Regardless of the YA billing, this is still very much an Abercrombie book. It may have been conceived for an audience younger than the average Abercrombie fan, but the loyal fans can still love this novel and get a real sense that the author has not compromised in writing it. There is still a gritty and grim feel to this book. There is enough death, blood and violence to get that familiar ‘Lord Grimdark’ feel. It is a classically styled fantasy-adventure novel. I think it is good for any age… well, maybe anyone above middle grade.

Although it does go above the YA classification, it does keep strongly to the YA formula. A young protagonist, usually teenage, either becomes a leader, or is thrown into a tough situation (usually a combination as it is here) and has to work through it and grow up quickly. Not to say that I do not enjoy the books, but too many really do fall into that narrow scope. The only other slight criticism I had was the “twist” as it has been labeled by other reviewers. I don’t know how much of a twist it really was. From early on I though “hey I can tell this is going to happen,” and I was just waiting on the reveal. It could be that I was expecting a twist and this was the most logical theme, or that I’ve watched to many bad-guy of the week TV shows that I always look for things. Many others have written about their shock at the twist and I am sure that added to their enjoyment. I, on the other hand, felt that it was a fairly blatant thing and it even helped me better understand one of the secondary characters a bit better as I was reading.

The novel as a whole was a very well done classic story by Joe Abercrombie. It is certainly a must read for any fan and certainly a recommended read as an introduction to this author for any fantasy reader who is not yet a fan. I give Half a King 4.5/5 with the only caveat for me being the predictability. I think being surprised or have a more unexpected ending would have made it that much more enjoyable and moved it well into the 5/5.

Review, SciFi

My Real Children by Jo Walton

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My Real Children by Jo Walton
My Real Children by Jo Walton

Published here on May 20th 2014 by Tor, and coming to the UK in August, Jo Walton brings us her tenth novel, My Real Children. This is the story of a woman, Patrician Conway, who is living in a nursing home with dementia. Her biggest problem is that she seems to be living two lives. Not only does she feel that she is in a different place on different days, but she distinctly remembers two different pasts.  The book dives in to those pasts. It has taken me longer than I had hoped to get to this review, considering I had gotten this from the publisher back at BEA. I even managed a signed copy, though not personal, it was pre-signed, which is still really nice.

The major thing that I have noticed about Jo Walton is that she really is a great writer. The other thing is that her writing almost fits as well, if not better into the “Non-fiction” general category than it does into the genre specific Sci-Fi and fantasy. She writes truly wonderful prose, but she does hover that genre line by having just enough to qualify. Among Others for example has a light fantasy hint to it (though I maintain that girl is crazy), but mainly it was about a weird girl from a dysfunctional family, and her books. My Real Children is really a story of two alternate histories and the way these lives played out based on an early decision. The science fiction is really in the fact that these are alternate histories. Within those histories there are further sci-fi aspects which are more of something ancillary to the plot. It also builds rather slow to this, with the first of these sci-fi aspects emerging about half way through the book.

Again, this was very nicely written and it was a nice story, though it did leave me fairly sad. It was not even the proper ending that did it, rather events leading up to the end. Jo Walton‘s greatest strength is really her development of the main character, and I do not mean solely in this novel. You really feel that you understand the main characters, both versions of them here. Having a strong character development is something that always pulls me in as I get a sense that this is a real person behind everything. I do not know if all of the characters were so developed though. I felt like I got a taste of some of their personalities, and some I did not feel I knew more than their names.

Other than the actual writing, what I loved about this is that you can feel real love for the people and places. I cannot even explain how badly I want to visit Florence right now or get a gelato. What I did not love was the overt agenda. I thought the overly liberalized agenda was way to strong. I am not commenting on the agenda itself, I do not have a problem with it directly, my problem is they way that it felt too obvious, too in my face, and it took me out of the story. I completely felt like I was being lectured about feminism, anti-war sentiment and disarmament. What if you already drank that particular kool-aid and are on board? It still feels like it is being shoved down your throat. A certain degree of it absolutely helped the plot, but I think it went on more than it was needed.

I put this novel at a 3/5. I enjoyed the story and the writing, but it really did start off slow for me. There were plenty of wonderful part as well as things that yanked me out of that world. It was a nice balance, but simply balancing does not really shift me into loving something or not. I may have brought it up another star if I was expecting a general dramatic story, but I tend to like genre driven stories, and I did not feel that is truly lived up to the genre it was billed as. I also did not love the ending. It did not offer the closure I wanted.  Is this novel worth a read? I think it is, sure. As long as you have the correct expectations going in.

Fantasy, Review

The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains

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The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains (Enhanced Multimedia Edition): A Tale of Travel and Darkness with Pictures of All Kinds
The Truth Is a Cave in the Black Mountains (Enhanced Multimedia Edition): A Tale of Travel and Darkness with Pictures of All Kinds

This review is going to be a little different. This is mainly because the item I am reviewing is a bit different. Back in August of 2010 Neil Gaiman read one of his short stories at the Sydney Opera House in a multimedia event. Images were created from the prose and displayed on a screen while a string quartet played to the mood of the story. Last week I found out that this was going to be recreated at Carnegie Hall and that really excited me. Unfortunately I was not working in the NYC office that day, I was working out of HQ on LI and working late. I did the next best thing and bought the published version which came out June 17th 2014. While this story itself has been available online, Neil Gaiman only just released a multimedia version. That, as much as the “book” is what I will review.

Before I continue I have a word or warning to anyone looking for this hybrid version: read device support from your vendor. For example, the Kindle version only works on Kindle Fires and iOS devices. It does not work entirely with standard e-ink Kindles, Android apps or the PC. You can still read it, but not hear it. The same goes for the Nook edition, Nook devices only. I ended up with the Google Play enhanced eBook so that I could see it in color on my Nexus tablet and listen to it. That, obviously, is the version I will review.

The format of this special enhanced, multimedia… thing… was nice, unique, but could use refinement. It was different for sure. I did like the images with the story. It had a feel like a graphic novel at some points, specifically when text balloons were incorporated in the scenes.  One thing I do enjoy when reading is creating the scene in your head, but it is nice to know that you are picturing what the author intended, so the guided images were a pleasant change. The audio included was a mixed experience as well. On one hand it felt like an read along audio book with Neil’s reading from the original event. I will discuss my thoughts on audio books at a later time, but I do like the idea of it having a combined presentation. I can see where some people might not love the idea, but both reading and listening are options and not mutually exclusive. The other side of the audio is that behind the reading is the string quartet. On some level I wish there was a separate track, but I realize that without being timed to the reading, it loses the effect. My major criticism is that the audio stops playing if you do anything. Go to the page that continues the text still being read and the audio stops. You cannot follow completely along. This may be different on other editions, but I cannot confirm. Overall, it was a nice experience, but that did bug me a few times.

On to the story. I am, admittedly, a biased Neil Gaiman fan. I know absolutely nothing of the story other than it was done by MR. Gaiman and that was good enough for me. Since it is a short story that can be read in about 90 minutes I really cannot discuss much without spoilers. In essence this is set on the Scottish countryside  where one man enlists the help of a guide who has a known reputation, to find a cave in a hidden island filled with treasure. The story is absolutely fantasy based, with several twists, and really any interesting tidbits will give the story away. I considered and deleted even a single adjective a dozen times while writing this, trying to decide if it gave too much away.

While it was fairly interesting, I felt that the story was flat. It started very slow and mostly progressed the same way. There were a few big moments, but not enough to really make the story. The end felt right, but a little rushed considering how much the story felt teased out. There were some images as well as the cover that made me think it would be freakier than it was. The story was fine, but it does not really live up to what I have come to expect and love out of Neil Gaiman. Perhaps that is unfair, to judge on the author’s merits, not the sole story, but I honestly feel my rating would be the same either way. I would rate this 3/5 considering all aspects of the multimedia experience as well as story content.

Though Neil was already here in NY and in San Francisco, he can still be seen this week in the UK, in London on 7/4-7/5/14 and Edinburgh on 7/6/14. See his site, http://www.neilgaiman.com/, for details.

Fantasy, Links, Preview, SciFi

Previews

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A week has gone by since BookCon and I have been inundated. Unfortunately most of the books I picked up are not being released until the fall and the publishers request reviews not be posted until a certain period prior to release. The time varies by publisher, but basically nothing I have right now can be posted. Instead of a new review, I figured I would throw out a couple of previews until I get through a book I can actually write about.

First from Tor, something I am personally excited for, Is John Scalzi’s new book, Lock in. In the near future, a virus spreads through the world’s population. Everyone reacts differently with some people experiencing nothing worse than a headache or flu symptoms. The more severe cases result in acute meningitis, and only one percent gets “locked in” and are unable to move or respond, but are still conscious. This is unfortunately a real phenomenon called Locked In Syndrome. It is generally unrepeatable and the person has almost no ability to communicate, with a few notable cases trying to have interfaces where patients could at least answer “yes” or “no”.

In Scalzi’s book, however they have devised a virtual reality system where those suffering could “ride” a licenses body and once again interact with the real world. The story builds based on what actions are taken with these “loaner” bodies. Tor has released the first 5 chapters on this up coming book. Check here for links to each chapter as well as other related information. Lock In comes our August 26th 2014.

The next link I have is an excerpt from the new anthology edited by George R.R Martin, Rogues. Rogues contains stories from Neil Gaiman, Pat Rothfuss and Mr. Martin himself as well as many other authors in this genre. I know I am excited for some of these stories such as Neil Gaiman’s story “How the Marquis Got His Coat Back” which is based in his Neverwhere story. Martin’s story is based in the “Game of Thrones” universe (so calm down, you’re getting a new story), and of course Patrick Rothfuss has a story with Bast from “The Kingkiller Chronicles”. It is that story I happen to have found an excerpt of on Pat’s Fantasy Hotlist. Suvudu has also posted Scott Lynch and Joe Abercrombie reading from their stories. The release of Rogues is right around the corner on June 17th and is being published by Bantam. I really wish I had gotten a chance to review this book earlier, but I promise to try to squeeze it into my TBR list.

Luckily there are tons of great books coming  out and I don’t even come close to scratching the surface. Stay tuned in to your favorite publishers, authors and blogs for the latest.