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Fantasy, Review

City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett

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City of Miracles by Robert Jackson Bennett

Before continuing, please note that this is the third book in “The Divine Cities” trilogy. Before reading this novel, it would be a good idea to have read the previous two. There is also a chance that there may be spoilers below. It has been a few years since the first book, so I’m not 100% sure. Here is my review for the first book, City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett. I am a little shocked that I never posted a review of City of Blades though. I had the opportunity to meet the man himself and receive a signed ARC. If I get the chance, I will have to gather my memories and get that one up as well. If I do, I will edit this and link it here. Sufficed to say, I love the first book and really like the second as well. For now, let us move on to the third book.

Rounding out his trilogy, Robert Jackson Bennett give us City of Miracles. What a way to end the series. We return to the Continent to rejoin our favorite Dreyling, Sigrud je Harkvaldsson. It has been a number of years since the events at the end of City of Blades and Sigrud is still a fugitive, hiding away, doing odd jobs, and hoping Shara Komayd contacts him. (Okay, so kinda spoiler alert here, but not really, the following takes place in the first 10 pages, even before what I already introduced. It is on the book jacket and all previews, reviews, descriptions, etc.) While working one of these jobs in exile, Sigrud receives the news that his long time friend and partner has been assassinated. He now has one goal, the same one that got him into the predicament he is currently in, revenge. One of the most effective operatives to ever work on the continent returns from hiding to get justice for his old friend.

As one may guess from being the final book in “The Divine Cities” trilogy, Sigrud will have to tackle the divine once again, this time without direct help from Shara, the one who always the the knack for it. A spy’s job is never quick or easy though. Killing a target is simple. Uncovering what is happening behind the scenes and bringing everything to a stop will prove to be one of Sigrud’s most challenging operations yet. I feltthat this novel nicely wrapped up the series with another fantastic and epic story. The plot brought me right back to City of Stairs, with a very familiar feeling.

The characters were very well developed, even Sigrud, who we have known well through two prior books, got excellent additional depth. The world building was also very interesting. We already know many of the locations from the earlier novels, however the landscapes have changed significantly enough through advancements and industrialization, that the familiar names have all new features. With the divine, settings can (and do) change in the blink of an eye as well. The enjoyment level, as I mentioned, brought me right back to City of Stairs, and to me, was more enjoyable than City of Blades, which I also really liked. I give City of Miracles a 5/5, easily. If anyone has read any of the trilogy, you absolutely must complete it. If you have not yet begun the series, I highly recommend it.

The end of anything tends to be a little sad, but this novel, both with knowing it was over, and the actual content left me quite sad, though with a juxtaposed happiness for world and the accomplishments of the characters we grew to know and love. Those sort of feelings only come from a well written, well balanced story that creates emotional bonds between the world, the characters, and the readers. I for one thoroughly felt this bond and I will be watching out for Robert Jackson Bennett’s novels in the future, hoping for a similar experience.

 

 

Disclaimer: I received this review copy through Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.

Review, SciFi

The Fold by Peter Clines

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The Fold by Peter Clines

Mike Erikson is a teacher in a small New England town. He lives a quite life and knows practically everyone around. While his life is completely mundane, he prefers the peaceful calm of his uneventful surroundings. Though Mike is much more talented than your average teacher and could essentially do anything he wants, the lack of challenges or craziness keeps his overactive mind at ease. It is his unique set of skills that his friend is interested in, and bring him to offer Mike a job, and not for the first time, with DARPA.

There is a lot going on in this book and I feel like talking about 95% of it will spoil it one way or another, so I’m going to say as litle as can while till trying to give a good representattion. First, let me talk about the feel of the book. It has a very interesting tone. It has a modern day setting, in America. The DARPA project seems really interesting and I can see it being appealing to any science nerd, like myself. There is a lot of talk of the ind of things you might read about in a Michio Kaku book. There is nth dimension theory, wormhole physics, and other theoretical physics that interest the hell out of true nerd and sci-fi buffs alike. To keep it spoiler free, This DARPA research team came up with an amazing breakthrough and there is a lot of speculation from the government and scientists as to how. Mike is asked simply to observe.

Then we jump to the second half of the book. This is where it gets weird. The reader notices little things being… off. Then it happens a little more. Before you expected, you;re out of physics class and $#!% gets weird. It gets really sci-fi-y. It was a very fun jump that I did not expect. I actually knew almost nothing when I first read this, which added to my enjoyment immensely. Which is why I also will not tell you more than that. I fear I ma have said too much already. (Yes, I know this book has been out for a while and this is really late, but I’m sticking to this dammit.)

I thought that this book was a lot of fun. Very interesting for both my nerdy hard science side, and out there enough to awaken my deep SciFi/Fantasy side. I also wanted to bring up one other thing which I usually do not address: I loved the cover. It was very cool. After reading the book it was even more interesting. I do not know about the paperback that is out now, but the hardcover even had this great texture to it. I understand that this is neither here nor there, so back to the review.  I gave it a 4/5 and would give a very strong recommendation.

For more information on The Fold and Peter Clines, please check out links to his site, his blog, and his book page:

PeterClines.com

Blog

The Fold page on PeterClines.com

Disclaimer: I received this review copy through Blogging for Books in exchange for an honest review.

Review, SciFi

Mother of Eden by Chris Beckett

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Mother of Eden By Chris Beckett
Mother of Eden By Chris Beckett

Daughter of Eden

Before you continue reading this, please remember that this is the second book in a series. My review of the first book can be found here.

In the interest of full disclosure, I did not love the first book. The childish language used with adult topics just did not appeal to me. I understand and can appreciate it as  device. It is really clever and certainly adds something to the evolution of the culture, but I just could not get into it. Many other people loved it. The story itself was fine, I just did not like the dialect that was created. I enjoyed the plot well enough, but I could have loved it if the dialogue was a bit different. It seems strange, but I find myself disagreeing with almost every other review I read on this second book. I think I may be the only person who like this better than the first book. Not only did I like it better, I actually enjoyed it significantly more. The characters and world were both very well developed in both, however I felt that this was a much more mature book.

Now that we got that out of the way, on to the main course: Mother of Eden by Chris Beckett. The first thought I had when I put the book down was, as I said earlier, “Wow, I liked this much better than the first book” though I was not exactly sure why.  Mother of Eden picks up a few generation after the events of Dark Eden.  None the characters from the first novel are still around, however the main characters are now the subjects of their own mythology, much like Gela and Tommy became in the prior story. The world is much more spread out now since the events of the previous novel as a result of John Redlantern, and different cultures have emerged. There is still heavy striation between Johnfolk and Davidfolk, though there is some trading between them. There also seem to be some outliers, those who wish to be outside of the divisions or have chosen to follow a path other than the main two. That is where this book begins.

Starlight Brookling comes from a small fishing Island where the people identify themselves as Jeff’s followers, an independent offshoot of John’s followers. They prefer to live simple, basic lives under the radar of the other factions on Eden. While this lifestyle works to the contentment of most of the island’s inhabitants, Starlight is too adventurous to be confined. Starlight convinces her uncle, as well as her friend Angie, to take a trip to the mainland. Not everyone is in favor of this, but when she sets her mind to something, Starlight is fairly persistent. The mainland shows these simple island folk a whole different culture with strange dress, real metal, advanced ships, and odd accents. What they do not know is that Starlight’s life is about to become more different than she could ever comprehend.

Without giving too much of the story away, Starlight finds herself in a land far more distant than she originally planned. Thrown into a situation that she can hardly comprehend, she must adapt quickly to strange customs, not just to fit in, but to survive. This other land is a stark contrast to the simple island. There is a much more civilized and advanced culture with political structure there. It seems that the people here have really evolved their civilization. The cost, however, seems so be that the darker and more manipulative nature of humankind emerge under these conditions. Now, faced with the recovered ring of Gela herself, Starlight must balance a responsibility to her new people, her conscience, and her life.

I really think Chris Beckett did a fantastic job in his follow up novel. The character development is really great in this book. I felt that it was pretty good in Dark Eden as well, but it felt stronger in Mother of Eden. The world building was also much richer and more in depth. With the emergence of new subcultures, it fleshed the world out even more. He re-imagined a familiar fantasy trope and made it his own in a new and unique world. If you like the first novel, this is a must read. If you didn’t love the first novel, I personally think this is a redeeming next installation. The dialect that is used still bugs me a bit, but with the richer story, less so. I gave it 4 stars for that reason. I almost passed it because of my general indifference to the first, but I am really glad that I gave it a chance.

The third and, according to the author, final book in the Dark Eden series is currently in the works. It will be titled Daughter of Eden (<-check the link) and will feature Starlight’s friend Angie living among the Davidfolk. No release date has been announced yet, but I will check it out as soon as I ave the opportunity.

Disclaimer: I receive this review copy through the LibraryThing Early Reviewers program.

Fantasy, Review

The Secrets of Life and Death by Rebecca Alexander

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The Secrets of Life and Death by Rebecca Alexander
The Secrets of Life and Death by Rebecca Alexander

Blending the realms of Paranormal Fantasy and Historical Fiction, Rebecca Alexander brings us The Secrets of Life and Death, the first book in her Jackdaw Hammond series. Here in the US this is pretty much a new release. We just got this novel last October from Broadway Books (a Crown Publishing imprint, part of the Penguin Random House family) with the sequel, The Secrets of Blood and Bone, released in September (Working on that review as well). The Novel however was initially published in the UK in 2013 by Del Rey UK, with the second installation published in 2014. Sorry UK readers, but its new to us.

In The Secrets of Life and Death, Alexander takes us on two journeys separated by over 500 years. In present day England, a university Professor is brought in to consult when occult symbols are found on the body of a young girl. Professor Felix Guichard is top this novel what Robert Langdon is in Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code. Felix’s research and investigation bring him to meet Jackdaw Hammond, the titular character of the series. Jack is strange girl who holds some stranger secrets, among them that she is dead, or rather she should be.

On the other side of the story, in the 16th century we Edward Kelly, assistant to Dr. John Dee and apparently a medium for an angel. Dee is a physician, alchemist and dabbler in the occult. Dee and Kelly are actual historical figures. Dee practiced the aforementioned skills while advising Queen Elizabeth. In this story they are called to Poland to help the King’s niece, Elizabeth Bathroy, who is suffering from an unknown and virtually untreatable ailment.

Both of these women have one thing in common: they are on borrowed time. Their lives are extended by magic. The magic system here is a bit unique. The only other series I can think that uses a similar structure (though still quite different) is Peter V. Brett’s Demon Cycle series, of which I am very fond.  As Felix investigates, we delve further into both the accounts of Edward Kelly during his and Dr. Dee’s work with Elizabeth Bathroy, and the world surrounding Jack. These two stories turn out to be intertwined in a way that ties the novel together quite nicely.

I definitely enjoyed the book. Like 4 out of 5 stars enjoyed it. The combination of urban fantasy and historical fiction worked very well for me. It gets more interesting if you know who Elizabeth Bathory is. I will not spoil it here, but I will link to the Wikipedia article if you are interested. The magic system combined with the dark history really turns out something very different and enjoyable. I also think the characters were well developed. You get a good feel for who most of them are and why there are where they are. I find this to be true for both time periods. I have seen some criticism of the jumping back and forth, but in SciFi and Fantasy novels, jumping between characters, settings and time periods is not really unfamiliar, so I had no problem with it. The only minor thing for me was that I felt the ending was a bit predictable, but satisfyingly, so It seemed the only way to end it.

I also wanted to note that not only did I really like this book, but I was also very excited by the fact that I knew a sequel was coming. When I wrote the bulk of the review I was watching out for it. By the time I was getting back to finish his up, I already had a review copy of the next book. Now at the time of uploading this, I have already finished that book too. I hope to have that review up shortly as well.
Disclaimer: I receive this review copy through GoodReads First Reads program.

Fantasy, Review

The Falcon Throne by Karen Miller

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The Falcon Throne by Karen Miller
The Falcon Throne by Karen Miller

The Falcon Throne is the first in a new epic fantasy series (The Tarnished Crown series) by Karen Miller. It has taken me a long time to actually find the time to sit down and write this review. In fairness, it took me a long time to read it, even to get a chance to read. I received the book a little later than I anticipated so I had to move my queue lineup around, and a couple other larger reads have been shuffled around, with some breaks for smaller items in the middle. Needless to say, my review schedule was all out of whack. Luckily, while I did not write this review when I finished it a few months ago, I did write parts of it immediately then wrote down my notes so I could come back with thoughts in tact. The first note I have is that this book doubles as a weapon. It is quite large. Normally when I get print books from publishers I get a paperback review copy. A basic uncorrected proof, sometimes without even the final cover and author’s notes, acknowledgements, etc. This one came in the full hardcover retail glory. It was huge.

I had really mixed feelings about this book. The characters were very well done. I do not even know how to do justice to how well they were crafted and with how much depth. The detail that the author used was incredible. It was generally a really, really well written book. On the other hand, it takes a lot more than great characterizations and descriptions. It was really a 700 page setup book for the rest of the series. So much time was spent setting the scene that it was tiring, almost a chore. There was so much going on in power plays, but the physical action was much less that that there was little excitement. There was certainly a fair bit, it felt… diluted maybe. It is more political than action based. A lot of people are comparing it to Game of Thrones. I can see the resemblance. Several groups in different kingdoms, trying to assert dominance over each other. There is puppetry behind the scenes, good people in bad situations, bad people in good places. I just felt that it moved a little too slow for me. Not a bad story, I just wished there was more excitement.

As a setup book, it was well done. I think there is a lot of interesting content coming in the future of Miller’s series that I can honestly say I am excited for. The ending left me with some things that I really wanted to see play out, but I was also glad to be done. Usually when people criticize books for being slow, I tend to disagree. The Curse of Challion gets heat on that front constantly, but I absolutely loved it and offer only praise. While The Falcon Throne had a rich and deep story, and perhaps even more action than Challion, I was not drawn in by it, not compelled. I also ended up hating all of the characters by the end. Even the “good” ones were too flawed for me to like as protagonists. Flawed characters are the most relate-able, but if they’re also hate-able, the connection to them is lost. I can’t even say that there are not-so-good, but likable anti-heroes. I hated everyone. Viscerally. I’ve read plenty of books where the author specifically went for this vibe. It was likely intended, and I can somewhat understand it, though that does not mean I like it. I gave it 3/5 stars because, as I said earlier, it was a really well written book, but I just could not get completely drawn in by it. While a 3 star review isn’t generally a strong recommendation, I think it may be worth reading this to get into a series that I personally believe has lots of potential. Besides, regardless of what I thought, you might love it.

Disclaimer: I received this book through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program in exchange for an honest review.

Fantasy, Review

The Slow Regard For Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss

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The Slow Regard for Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss
The Slow Regard for Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss

The Slow Regard for Silent Things by Patrick Rothfuss was originally intended to be used as his short in George R. R. Martin’s Rogues anthology. He eventually wrote “The Lightning Tree” instead, which focuses on Bast. This was not meant to be a book or novella of its own, but it ended up way over the short story length. After showing it to some people, who all seemed to like it, Rothfuss still was unsure that it was fit for the masses, but as something he enjoyed, shared it with some more friends as well as his editor. Eventually he became convinced that maybe it was fit for publication, and DAW published it. The result was this odd sort of story than nobody can really describe, but many people love for what it is and others hate for what it is not.

If you are expecting Kvothe in this novella or anything really having to do with the actual storyline of the Kingkiller Chronicles, this isn’t it. If you want something to satiate that need for the next story in the series, this will likely not do it. If you happen to be intrigued by Auri and wanted a bit of a glimpse into her head and her life, then you’ll want to pick this up. I honestly cannot explain this story. It takes place in the same universe, at the same time as the other books, with a character from the series, but I wouldn’t even put it in the same genre.. It is one of the oddest things I have ever read. I shouldn’t like it, I know that and the author knows that, he even states that explicitly. This is not a normal book, it does not follow any real literary process, it just is. I know that this means nothing to anyone, but when(if) you read it, you’ll get what I mean.

Here is what I can make enough sense of to tell you. You get a chance to see the world (well, the Underthing at least) as Auri sees it. It is an adventure through her little nook of the world and the strange working of her mind. Unfortunately we learn basically nothing of her past, something I was sort of hoping for in this. There is a ton of emotion experienced by Auri which Rothfuss does a great job of conveying. He really paints an excellent picture of her feelings so that the reader can ride them out along with her. While we see somewhat into her mind and her feelings, I do not think we really come any closer to really understanding her as a character though. She is clearly an enigma, and a well crafted one at that. I don’t see this as a flaw in the character development, quite the opposite actually. To experience a character in this much depth and see their thoughts, yet still be puzzled by them, is not something easily achieved.

I can’t really comment much more on the character development because… well… there aren’t really other characters. That may be debatable, but not by my definitions. There isn’t and real dialogue, and at best a hint at the inkling of a plot. I can’t even rate this using any standard process because the parts are just not there. This story has been a little controversial among fans, some love it, some hate. I honestly cannot tell you why, but I liked it. It was a well written case study on an odd and troubled girl. It is very different, but it is endearing. I do not know whether to recommend it to other readers or not, but I gave it 4 stars based solely on how I felt when I put it down. I enjoyed reading it and regardless of the criteria we are supposed to look for in a “proper” story, isn’t the reader’s enjoyment or entertainment the only thing that really matters? Like I said, not everyone enjoyed it the way I did and it really may not be for everyone, but if this odd and nonsensical review made you at all curious, give it a shot.

Review, SciFi

The Murder of Adam and Eve by William Dietrich

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Nick Brynner, a 16 year old with a streak of curiosity, decides to take a quick trip to visit a restricted island to explore its’ old fort. His plan is to be in and out before anyone notices he has even gone. What Nick finds is way beyond anything he imagines. His simple trespass puts him on an incredible adventure of the utmost importance to the future of humanity.

The Murder of Adam and Eve takes place in several settings. Since I think it is better for any reader to really experience these in the story, than for someone to read it among my ramblings, I will only mention the previous alluded to fort and the African Savannah. No doubt the flap and any other online description give you more information, but I will keep it relatively simple. To spoil as little as possible, Nick stumbles into test to determine the fate of the world as he knows knows. Succeeding, as well as choosing that path, will keep the status quo for our world. Failing, or deciding to allow things to change, will change life on Earth in unforeseen and unknowable ways. He an his new companion Eleanor, AKA Ellie, have been chosen to represent the human race to prove that humanity is worth allowing to continue on their path. Earth and it’s people are not directly in danger of invasion, attack, or anything of the sort per se. The danger, technically is in the past, where unless Nick and Ellie prevent the death of the genetic “Adam and Eve” our entire existence will be unmade to play out an entirely different way. They are sent back to the prehistoric Savannah, 50,000 years in the past to not only figure out how to survive, but also track down the most distant ancestors to whom all current humans can track their DNA back to and stop them from being killed by a race who deem themselves judge, jury and executioner of worlds.

I have to admit the concept of this immediately intrigued me. From the sci-fi angle, there is time travel, aliens, and the progression of life as we know it all intermingled. Very promising start. From a scientific standpoint, William Dietrich took into account actual evolutionary theories and played with them in a very interesting way. The idea that there is a couple dating back to prehistoric times who all current Homo sapiens share genetic links to is not a new or solely literary idea. While the term of “Adam and Eve” is not referencing the actual biblical story, it is a nod to the concept of all humans sharing common ancestors. The author also explores the causality of an event fifty thousand years ago and how the lives of two individuals from that long ago can shape our reality today. This is some seriously interesting science fiction, blended with metaphysics.

Even the best concepts need to be properly executed. Writing a novel about the most appealing theories in the world can fall flat without a strong plot or well developed characters. Thankfully Mr. Dietrich delivers. You really get a good sense of who Nick is, how he came to be the person he is and how his thought process works. He is a very realistic teen put in a very unrealistic situation and reacts accordingly. I think he has good depth and is well formed. Ellie also seemed well created with a good background and fairly believable actions. Of course with Nick being our true main character, he does feel a bit more fleshed out, but for good reasons.

I think that the book was absorbing enough that I cannot really think of many negatives. The only thing that comes to mind is something towards the end of the book that felt pretty predictable. I did not think the whole story or even the outcome itself was, just the way one certain even plays out, I could tell for a bit before it happened that it was clearly written on the wall. Other than that I felt that it was solid. From the environment to the interactions, everything was very well done.

I think at this point it is fairly obvious that I enjoyed this book. I highly recommend it for anyone remotely as nerdy as me. If you find yourself watch the History, Discovery, and/or NatGeo channels, this may be right up your alley. I gave it 4/5 stars and looking back I think that was rather conservative. There is also a fantastic explanation after the story explaining the Author’s inspirations and the theories he incorporated in the novel. I always tend to read authors’ notes after the story, but if you are not typically one who does, I very much suggest doing so for this book… especially my fellow nerds.

Disclaimer: I received this eArc from Netgalley in exchange solely for a fair review.

Review, SciFi

Doctor Who: The Crawling Terror by Mike Tucker

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Crawling Terror
Doctor Who: The Crawling Terror by Mike Tucker

As the final Twelfth Doctor novel in my queue from the September 9th publication, I finally got around to The Crawling Terror by Mike Tucker. There was no real method to the order I read them, I just picked them pretty much at random according to my mood when I read the description. This happened to be the third one I got to. Like the other three, I received this galley from Blogging for Books by way of Edelweiss in exchange for a fair review. It is now time for my standard Doctor Who review disclaimer: I write this review under the assumption that the reader is a fan, or at least familiar with the current Doctor Who TV series. If not, I suggest stopping here, this review will mean nothing to you and the books will be lost on you as well. If you wish to read my reviews of the other two Doctor Who novels released along side this one, See my review of Doctor Who: The Blood Cell, and Doctor Who: Silhouette.

The TARDIS brings our two (current) favorite time travelers to quiet English town. As any Who fan would expect, it does not stay a quiet little town for long. The town begins swarming with giant insects, bug of unusual size, if you will. The village becomes cut off and isolated, so it it up to the Doctor to get through this. As the body count rises, the Doctor investigates the insects, uncovers covert WWII experiments and an ominous stone circle as he tries to discern if the events are otherworldly, supernatural, or the result of human tampering.

Crawling Terror, more than some of the others, gave me a very familiar “Who” feeling. Oddly enough, I did not feel that out of the three, this necessarily captured Capaldi’s Doctor the best of the simultaneous releases, but it did not do a bad job either. It read as though it could be a script for a really good episode. It actually felt a lot like the episodes “The Poison Sky” or “Partners in Crime.” For lovers of the 2005-present Who, this novel will certainly remind you of the show you know and love. The reason I do not feel this took Twelve’s personality is that the Doctor did not seem as detached and obliviously inconsiderate as Capaldi’s portrayal. He is more of a curious detective in this book a la Tennant’s Tenth or even Eccelston’s Ninth Doctor, as opposed to the grumpy, unintentionally callous old bastard he has become. I do not mean this as a negative criticism though. As I said in previous reviews, when these novels were released, we barely had a feel for the new Doctor. On top of that, I can understand the author writing the character with his great memories of Doctor in general.

I gave this story 4/5 stars. It was a really good Doctor Who story, that could plausibly be a really good episode. It is a great read for any fan. If you are looking for a fix in between seasons, I can’t imagine being disappointed with Mike Tucker’s The Crawling Terror.

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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WarDogs
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