The Separation (Christopher Priest)
Another swing-and-a-miss historical fiction novel from a genre I'm having no luck with recently. I made it to page 100 hoping that this book's setting would be enough to carry it (World War II ended in 1941, when Rudolph Hess' crazed peace mission was successful). Unfortunately, the book itself is just deadly dull. Weather it's the author's dry writing style or the too-long coverage he gives of two brothers going to Germany to row in the Olympics, I don't know, but this book is a heck of a slog. Even reading about what should be an exciting bomber run one of the brothers makes had me skipping pages after a while. Skip this one.
Grade: D
Showing posts with label novel. Show all posts
Showing posts with label novel. Show all posts
Monday, June 20, 2016
Tuesday, June 14, 2016
Kalki
Kalki (Gore Vidal)
A book that is, unfortunately for me, simply far too of-its-time - this book is so 70's it hurts, and having missed that decade, I could almost feel my hair getting rustled as most of the book flew straight over my head. I've really enjoyed some of Vidal's historical novels before, and I think perhaps I'm going to stick to those in the future.
Grade: N/A
Monday, June 13, 2016
Resurrection Day
Resurrection Day (Brendan DuBois)
Ooooh, I did not like this book. The setting is interesting - it's the 1970s, and America is still reeling after a nuclear exchange during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In this world, the US got hit by enough nukes to destroy Washington DC, NYC, Florida, and, um, Omaha, Nebraska, losing 10 -12 million people, while the USSR was completely destroyed in return.
The problem is the execution. There's a passage I just couldn't get past where our hero is explaining to a Brit that America feels guilty, comparing the nuclear exchange to when a neighborhood bully throws trash into your yard and in return you shoot him, murder his family and burn his house down. My problem here is that the person saying this had his entire family killed in the incident he describes as "throwing trash in your yard". On top of that, a big part of his character is that he was in the Army doing radiation cleanup and saw horrible things that haunt him to this day. So would he be comparing all of his family dying and the haunting, terrible aftermath that makes up his largest character trait as throwing trash in someone's yard? What?
One more complaint and I'm done. The author hints that England is getting ready to invade the US, taking advantage of the US' weakness even 10 years on after the bombs and missiles fell. However, the author also states that the US is now the only nuclear power left in the world, with all the other countries having voluntarily given up their nukes. I couldn't get past this either: England is going to militarily challenge and attempt to invade the world's only nuclear power? What?
(To be fair, maybe the Brits have some counter measure, like they secretly have their own nukes - but the author attempts to build tension by hinting at this invasion, and since he does not address the nuke issue, this comes off as a damp squib and frankly a waste of pages.)
Take a pass on this one.
Grade: D-
Ooooh, I did not like this book. The setting is interesting - it's the 1970s, and America is still reeling after a nuclear exchange during the Cuban Missile Crisis. In this world, the US got hit by enough nukes to destroy Washington DC, NYC, Florida, and, um, Omaha, Nebraska, losing 10 -12 million people, while the USSR was completely destroyed in return.
The problem is the execution. There's a passage I just couldn't get past where our hero is explaining to a Brit that America feels guilty, comparing the nuclear exchange to when a neighborhood bully throws trash into your yard and in return you shoot him, murder his family and burn his house down. My problem here is that the person saying this had his entire family killed in the incident he describes as "throwing trash in your yard". On top of that, a big part of his character is that he was in the Army doing radiation cleanup and saw horrible things that haunt him to this day. So would he be comparing all of his family dying and the haunting, terrible aftermath that makes up his largest character trait as throwing trash in someone's yard? What?
One more complaint and I'm done. The author hints that England is getting ready to invade the US, taking advantage of the US' weakness even 10 years on after the bombs and missiles fell. However, the author also states that the US is now the only nuclear power left in the world, with all the other countries having voluntarily given up their nukes. I couldn't get past this either: England is going to militarily challenge and attempt to invade the world's only nuclear power? What?
(To be fair, maybe the Brits have some counter measure, like they secretly have their own nukes - but the author attempts to build tension by hinting at this invasion, and since he does not address the nuke issue, this comes off as a damp squib and frankly a waste of pages.)
Take a pass on this one.
Grade: D-
Wednesday, November 25, 2015
"Fall of Giants"
Fall of Giants (Ken Follett)
I made it 300 pages into this before giving up. This is a historical novel about a bunch of different families starting just before World War I, and it turned into a real slog rather quickly. I couldn't put down a different Follett book, The Pillars of the Earth, and I really feel the difference is a simple one: Pillars of the Earth has one, single overarching narrative thread that may touch many people and subplots, but keeps everything tied together; Fall of Giants is missing this, and is instead very, very loosely woven from five or six threads that barely rub up against each other. Almost every character's thread is interesting, but jumping away from them to dive into another, almost totally unrelated one kills all the momentum, and eventually makes the book a chore to read. I'd recommend taking a pass on this one.
Grade: C-
I made it 300 pages into this before giving up. This is a historical novel about a bunch of different families starting just before World War I, and it turned into a real slog rather quickly. I couldn't put down a different Follett book, The Pillars of the Earth, and I really feel the difference is a simple one: Pillars of the Earth has one, single overarching narrative thread that may touch many people and subplots, but keeps everything tied together; Fall of Giants is missing this, and is instead very, very loosely woven from five or six threads that barely rub up against each other. Almost every character's thread is interesting, but jumping away from them to dive into another, almost totally unrelated one kills all the momentum, and eventually makes the book a chore to read. I'd recommend taking a pass on this one.
Grade: C-
Friday, March 20, 2015
"Kushiel's Dart"
Kushiel's Dart (Jacqueline Carey)
A big fantasy novel about a courtesan who's tossed into a high-stakes world of political intrigue in late medieval fantasy Europe. For the first 300 pages or so this was really hard to put down; Carey's great at world-building and weaving exposition, and the world she's made is pretty interesting. Unfortunately the book eventually slows down and starts dragging, hamstrung by two issues, one big and one small. The big one is that it's simply too, well, big - the paperback comes in at a hair over 900 pages, and it's not hard to suggest some useless parts that could be cut (my recommendation would be the entire Master of the Straits storyline, which not only adds almost nothing to the story, but feels very out of place having a super-powerful wizard in a very low-magic setting). The second issue is that the characters are not always fleshed out as much as one would hope; our heroine and the main cast mostly come off pretty well, but the head antagonist is barely more than a sketch.
All in all, I guess this is a good beach book, but it's hard to really recommend seeking it out unless you pass it on the shelf at the library.
Grade: B
A big fantasy novel about a courtesan who's tossed into a high-stakes world of political intrigue in late medieval fantasy Europe. For the first 300 pages or so this was really hard to put down; Carey's great at world-building and weaving exposition, and the world she's made is pretty interesting. Unfortunately the book eventually slows down and starts dragging, hamstrung by two issues, one big and one small. The big one is that it's simply too, well, big - the paperback comes in at a hair over 900 pages, and it's not hard to suggest some useless parts that could be cut (my recommendation would be the entire Master of the Straits storyline, which not only adds almost nothing to the story, but feels very out of place having a super-powerful wizard in a very low-magic setting). The second issue is that the characters are not always fleshed out as much as one would hope; our heroine and the main cast mostly come off pretty well, but the head antagonist is barely more than a sketch.
All in all, I guess this is a good beach book, but it's hard to really recommend seeking it out unless you pass it on the shelf at the library.
Grade: B
Friday, February 20, 2015
"Vengeful Spirit"
Vengeful Spirit (Graham McNeill)
I'm scared to start a Graham NcNeill book now; when he's good he's great, and when he's bad, he's infuriating. I'll cut to the chase here: Good McNeill showed up for this book, and the biggest flaw has nothing to do with his writing; it's the fact that we're deep in the Hersey now, but the story's possibilities are still limited by knowing the ending. The reader knows there's no way that Horus is going to die during the course of this book, neither is the titular Vengeful Spirit going to be destroyed.
That being said, McNeill mostly works around this by drawing on the now well established setting of the Horus Hersey (over 30 novels!) - to the point where even giving a basic sketch of the book's story risks running into spoiler territory, as a pivotal character thought dead returns in first few pages. The tradeoff here is that McNeill is able to sidestep the majority of the predetermined ending problem, but in turn the book is almost totally inaccessible if you haven't been reading the Heresy up to this point.
In short, if you've read enough of the series that you'll catch the book's references, it's an easy recommend; otherwise, take a pass.
Grade: B
I'm scared to start a Graham NcNeill book now; when he's good he's great, and when he's bad, he's infuriating. I'll cut to the chase here: Good McNeill showed up for this book, and the biggest flaw has nothing to do with his writing; it's the fact that we're deep in the Hersey now, but the story's possibilities are still limited by knowing the ending. The reader knows there's no way that Horus is going to die during the course of this book, neither is the titular Vengeful Spirit going to be destroyed.
That being said, McNeill mostly works around this by drawing on the now well established setting of the Horus Hersey (over 30 novels!) - to the point where even giving a basic sketch of the book's story risks running into spoiler territory, as a pivotal character thought dead returns in first few pages. The tradeoff here is that McNeill is able to sidestep the majority of the predetermined ending problem, but in turn the book is almost totally inaccessible if you haven't been reading the Heresy up to this point.
In short, if you've read enough of the series that you'll catch the book's references, it's an easy recommend; otherwise, take a pass.
Grade: B
Saturday, December 20, 2014
"The Talon of Horus"
The Talon of Horus (Aaron Dembski-Bowden)
I'm getting real tired of reviewing ADB books; I don't know what to say anymore. Is this a great book? Yes. Should you read it? Absolutely. Is this one of the best W40K novels out there? You betcha. What more is there to talk about??
I guess I can go over the setting real quick; this book picks up just after the end of the Horus Heresy, looking at the heretofore unseen time when the defeated traitor forces are warring amongst themselves in the Eye of Terror, carving out meaningless little empires and not getting much done besides feeling sorry for themselves and blaming each other for everything going wrong. Our hero is one of the Thousand Sons who ends up taking part in the founding of the Black Legion, and if you understood that sentence you should know enough 40K to really enjoy this book. That brings me to the only caveat I can give, which is that this not for beginners; everyone else should pick it up immediately.
Grade: A+
I'm getting real tired of reviewing ADB books; I don't know what to say anymore. Is this a great book? Yes. Should you read it? Absolutely. Is this one of the best W40K novels out there? You betcha. What more is there to talk about??
I guess I can go over the setting real quick; this book picks up just after the end of the Horus Heresy, looking at the heretofore unseen time when the defeated traitor forces are warring amongst themselves in the Eye of Terror, carving out meaningless little empires and not getting much done besides feeling sorry for themselves and blaming each other for everything going wrong. Our hero is one of the Thousand Sons who ends up taking part in the founding of the Black Legion, and if you understood that sentence you should know enough 40K to really enjoy this book. That brings me to the only caveat I can give, which is that this not for beginners; everyone else should pick it up immediately.
Grade: A+
Monday, December 15, 2014
"The Grey Knights Omnibus"
A collection of three novels about (checks title) the Grey Knights, W40's super elite anti-demon hunters, and as close as the setting comes to good guys. Contained within are three novels:
Grey Knights - This is a good start; the book kicks off with a battle where an isolated group of Grey Knights mounts a almost hopeless assault on a evil, naughty demon who's sealed for a thousand years, with the story picking up as some naughty, evil Chaos chumps attempt to summon him back into real space. The 13th Black Crusade is going on in the backround (as it is for the entire omnibus, actually), meaning that our heroes are working on as close to a shoestring budget as 8 foot tall psychic genetically modified guys in powered armor can be. Since our heroes work as the Inquisition anti-demon branch and inquisitors need to be super suspicious, there's also a health dose of paranoia, although I'm not sure I exactly followed one character's redemption late in the book. Solid, slightly above average stuff.
Dark Adeptus - This is my favorite novel in the omnibus. It kicks off with an entire planet screaming out of the Warp, and our heroes go to investigate, saddled with suspicious allies who they don't entirely trust, and vice versa. This aspect really makes the book stand out, with our heroes fighting not just against the entire possessed world, but keeping an eye on their companions, who they suspect are there to steal some ancient, highly valuable technology. It does take a little while to get going, but once the characters make it into the more interesting parts of the planet (basically a corrupted super-server), this is the best material in the whole collection.
Hammer of Daemons - Unfortunately the omnibus goes out with a real slog; Our hero is captured in the first ten pages and spends the rest of the book trying to escape a demon planet dedicated to Khorne, the least interesting Chaos god, whose gimmick is that he's real angry and loves blood. While it's interesting seeing our hero taken out of his Grey Knight comfort zone, a lot of the book is portent-filled dreams and symbolic demon possession attempts, and this gets old real quick. I appreciate the author trying something new after the previous two novels, but it didn't quite work in this case.
All in all, this falls squarely into the large pile of good, not great, W40k fiction out there; two good and one okay novels for the price of a single paperback is hard to pass up.
Grey Knights - This is a good start; the book kicks off with a battle where an isolated group of Grey Knights mounts a almost hopeless assault on a evil, naughty demon who's sealed for a thousand years, with the story picking up as some naughty, evil Chaos chumps attempt to summon him back into real space. The 13th Black Crusade is going on in the backround (as it is for the entire omnibus, actually), meaning that our heroes are working on as close to a shoestring budget as 8 foot tall psychic genetically modified guys in powered armor can be. Since our heroes work as the Inquisition anti-demon branch and inquisitors need to be super suspicious, there's also a health dose of paranoia, although I'm not sure I exactly followed one character's redemption late in the book. Solid, slightly above average stuff.
Dark Adeptus - This is my favorite novel in the omnibus. It kicks off with an entire planet screaming out of the Warp, and our heroes go to investigate, saddled with suspicious allies who they don't entirely trust, and vice versa. This aspect really makes the book stand out, with our heroes fighting not just against the entire possessed world, but keeping an eye on their companions, who they suspect are there to steal some ancient, highly valuable technology. It does take a little while to get going, but once the characters make it into the more interesting parts of the planet (basically a corrupted super-server), this is the best material in the whole collection.
Hammer of Daemons - Unfortunately the omnibus goes out with a real slog; Our hero is captured in the first ten pages and spends the rest of the book trying to escape a demon planet dedicated to Khorne, the least interesting Chaos god, whose gimmick is that he's real angry and loves blood. While it's interesting seeing our hero taken out of his Grey Knight comfort zone, a lot of the book is portent-filled dreams and symbolic demon possession attempts, and this gets old real quick. I appreciate the author trying something new after the previous two novels, but it didn't quite work in this case.
All in all, this falls squarely into the large pile of good, not great, W40k fiction out there; two good and one okay novels for the price of a single paperback is hard to pass up.
Wednesday, November 26, 2014
"The Greenlanders"
The Greenlanders (Jane Smiley)
I feel bad not being able to get into this book; it's got excellent reviews, but when it came time to actually crack it open, I barely made it ten pages. I've read that it's supposed to be in the style of a Norse saga, but for me I just found it to be horribly dry, written in snore-inducing this happened, then that happened style. Here's a little taste (page 233):
Did you follow that? I didn't, because I fell asleep halfway through it. Maybe I've just read too many fast-paced novels, but it takes so long for anything to happen that I couldn't stop my attention from drifting away. I'm sure a more patient reader can find a lot to enjoy here, but for me it's going regretfully in the donation pile.
Grade: D
I feel bad not being able to get into this book; it's got excellent reviews, but when it came time to actually crack it open, I barely made it ten pages. I've read that it's supposed to be in the style of a Norse saga, but for me I just found it to be horribly dry, written in snore-inducing this happened, then that happened style. Here's a little taste (page 233):
Another thing that happened after this hunger was that Bjorn Einarsson Jorsalfari declared his intention of remaining year round at Thjodhilds Stead, which was in Kambstead Fjord, at the back of Hvalsey Fjord, instead of spending part of the year at one farm an part of the year at the other, for he hadn't enough men to make something of both farmsteads, and he preferred the location of Thjodhilds Stead, for it gave his ships easy access to the sea but also to Gardar and Brattahlid. For this reason it happened that Gunnhild Gunnardottir would be within a day's walk of her own home when she went to stay with Solveig for the summer...
Did you follow that? I didn't, because I fell asleep halfway through it. Maybe I've just read too many fast-paced novels, but it takes so long for anything to happen that I couldn't stop my attention from drifting away. I'm sure a more patient reader can find a lot to enjoy here, but for me it's going regretfully in the donation pile.
Grade: D
Wednesday, September 17, 2014
"Star Trek: Destiny"
Star Trek: Destiny (David Mack)
Review by N. Web
As I said in my review of The Good that Men Do, one of my biggest
problems with the Star Trek literary universe is that its status as
canon is questionable at best. Perhaps this is either good or bad,
because having a bad, ridiculous story as part of official canon can
lead to serious problems. But, at the same time it can also lead to
authors not taking much of a risk for fear of disrupting established TV
and movie canon. Which, as "These are the Voyages..." shows, sometimes
probably deserves to be disrupted. Star Trek Destiny is a huge risk, as
far as I'm concerned. But one that ultimately succeeds.
Star Trek Destiny also tackles one of the biggest problems in the
established canon, that being the Borg. Much has been made over the
years of the "nerf"-ing of the Borg in Star Trek. It seems as though
the Borg were always meant to have been seen as indestructible, and
indeed in "The Best of Both Worlds", they were only defeated through a
fluke. Over the years in canon, the Borg seemed to lose their
unbeatable quality and in Star Trek Voyager pretty much became relegated
to Monster of the Week status. Even the crew of the NX-01 Enterprise
had a turn at the tee. So, how does an author manage to make the Borg
seem threatening again? This radical of a solution doesn't seem like it
could possibly work, but in the end I was ultimately left more satisfied
than I have been with any Borg story since at least "Endgame" (the
against-all-odds inexplicably good series finale to Voyager), and maybe
even since "The Best of Both Worlds." Massive spoilers to follow,
perhaps you don't want to read before finishing the book.
Verdict: Highly recommended.
*** spoiler space ***
For David Mack, it seems the solution to the problem of the Borg was to
ultimately get rid of them. But, it does make sense. In order to
prevent the perpetual nerfing of the Borg or the perpetual power creep
that the Federation would have to go through in order to constantly
defeat them; perhaps the best solution really is to just eliminate them
entirely to prevent not only over-use of the Borg, but further
degradation of the "canon." David Mack takes a gamble, and ultimately
wins, as far as I'm concerned. The send-off they get is equal parts
relieving and moving.
Mack manages to tie together all four post TOS Star Trek series and a
large amount of established literary universe into three novels that not
only give the Borg an origin story, but an end story that manages to be
quite thought-provoking and moving. Of course, the main stars are the
TNG cast, with almost everyone other than Ezri Dax relegated to small
parts and cameos, and the Enterprise crew is entirely off camera even
during the parts that take place during the 22nd century. Captain
Hernandez ultimately becomes quite interesting, and ended up once again
making me wish that Enterprise had continued past Season 4.
I found myself less interested in the characters that were created in
the literary universe, but as the story went on I grew more familiar
with them. The story is very evocative, and I found Mack manages to use
the prose to generate genuine dread, fear, creepiness and ultimately
relief throughout the tale. It's to his credit that when I was done I
immediately began looking into more Star Trek literary universe ebooks
on Amazon. David Mack's new series seems to be a three parter about
Geordi attempting to rebuild Data, and I'm already thinking of
purchasing it.
Stray observations:
This seems to be sticking with the "Bashir and Dax broke up post DS9"
book canon. Also very weird that Bashir, O'Brien, and Nog are not
appearing in this film at all. At least Garak shows up.
Speaking of, it would have been nice to see more of the Federation's
allies involved other than the brief cameos Garak and Martok and a lot
of generic ambassadors have.
Geordi doesn't have a lot to do, though a short romance is shoehorned in
for him, which I feel like he deserves at this point.
I like the idea of Worf as Picard's first officer, but isn't he supposed
to be the Ambassador to the Klingon Empire? Worf also gets a short
romance shoehorned in.
I had one small gripe in that Picard seems to have dropped back into his
jerk mode he was in for most of Star Trek First Contact. Which, I
thought the point of the movie is he gives up on the White Whale. Maybe
I missed some kind of a relapse he had in the literary universe, but I
couldn't get over his inability to function for 2.9 books because of the
Borg.
Review by N. Web
As I said in my review of The Good that Men Do, one of my biggest
problems with the Star Trek literary universe is that its status as
canon is questionable at best. Perhaps this is either good or bad,
because having a bad, ridiculous story as part of official canon can
lead to serious problems. But, at the same time it can also lead to
authors not taking much of a risk for fear of disrupting established TV
and movie canon. Which, as "These are the Voyages..." shows, sometimes
probably deserves to be disrupted. Star Trek Destiny is a huge risk, as
far as I'm concerned. But one that ultimately succeeds.
Star Trek Destiny also tackles one of the biggest problems in the
established canon, that being the Borg. Much has been made over the
years of the "nerf"-ing of the Borg in Star Trek. It seems as though
the Borg were always meant to have been seen as indestructible, and
indeed in "The Best of Both Worlds", they were only defeated through a
fluke. Over the years in canon, the Borg seemed to lose their
unbeatable quality and in Star Trek Voyager pretty much became relegated
to Monster of the Week status. Even the crew of the NX-01 Enterprise
had a turn at the tee. So, how does an author manage to make the Borg
seem threatening again? This radical of a solution doesn't seem like it
could possibly work, but in the end I was ultimately left more satisfied
than I have been with any Borg story since at least "Endgame" (the
against-all-odds inexplicably good series finale to Voyager), and maybe
even since "The Best of Both Worlds." Massive spoilers to follow,
perhaps you don't want to read before finishing the book.
Verdict: Highly recommended.
*** spoiler space ***
For David Mack, it seems the solution to the problem of the Borg was to
ultimately get rid of them. But, it does make sense. In order to
prevent the perpetual nerfing of the Borg or the perpetual power creep
that the Federation would have to go through in order to constantly
defeat them; perhaps the best solution really is to just eliminate them
entirely to prevent not only over-use of the Borg, but further
degradation of the "canon." David Mack takes a gamble, and ultimately
wins, as far as I'm concerned. The send-off they get is equal parts
relieving and moving.
Mack manages to tie together all four post TOS Star Trek series and a
large amount of established literary universe into three novels that not
only give the Borg an origin story, but an end story that manages to be
quite thought-provoking and moving. Of course, the main stars are the
TNG cast, with almost everyone other than Ezri Dax relegated to small
parts and cameos, and the Enterprise crew is entirely off camera even
during the parts that take place during the 22nd century. Captain
Hernandez ultimately becomes quite interesting, and ended up once again
making me wish that Enterprise had continued past Season 4.
I found myself less interested in the characters that were created in
the literary universe, but as the story went on I grew more familiar
with them. The story is very evocative, and I found Mack manages to use
the prose to generate genuine dread, fear, creepiness and ultimately
relief throughout the tale. It's to his credit that when I was done I
immediately began looking into more Star Trek literary universe ebooks
on Amazon. David Mack's new series seems to be a three parter about
Geordi attempting to rebuild Data, and I'm already thinking of
purchasing it.
Stray observations:
This seems to be sticking with the "Bashir and Dax broke up post DS9"
book canon. Also very weird that Bashir, O'Brien, and Nog are not
appearing in this film at all. At least Garak shows up.
Speaking of, it would have been nice to see more of the Federation's
allies involved other than the brief cameos Garak and Martok and a lot
of generic ambassadors have.
Geordi doesn't have a lot to do, though a short romance is shoehorned in
for him, which I feel like he deserves at this point.
I like the idea of Worf as Picard's first officer, but isn't he supposed
to be the Ambassador to the Klingon Empire? Worf also gets a short
romance shoehorned in.
I had one small gripe in that Picard seems to have dropped back into his
jerk mode he was in for most of Star Trek First Contact. Which, I
thought the point of the movie is he gives up on the White Whale. Maybe
I missed some kind of a relapse he had in the literary universe, but I
couldn't get over his inability to function for 2.9 books because of the
Borg.
Wednesday, August 20, 2014
"Blood Angels Omnibus"
The Blood Angels Omnibus (James Swallow)
This omnibus collects two novels and a short story. Normally I'd review the novels separately, but they're basically two halves of the same tale, and if I had read the first novel by itself, I probably would have been pissed at the cliffhanger ending. (I also don't know that I have much to say without giving away the first book's story.)
Collected as a omnibus, the two novels work great; I have yet to read a bad James Swallow book, and the streak holds here. Swallow's villains are always more interesting than his heroes, and this omnibus stars a particularly loathsome piece of filth pitted against our (somewhat forgettable) heroes. I don't want to say much more except that this falls into solid good-not-great territory; it's a easy recommend for W40k fans, but if you're not familiar with the setting, I'd recommend Swallow's excellent Fear to Tread first, which covers the same chapter of Space Marines and serves as a very nice introduction.
Grade: B+
This omnibus collects two novels and a short story. Normally I'd review the novels separately, but they're basically two halves of the same tale, and if I had read the first novel by itself, I probably would have been pissed at the cliffhanger ending. (I also don't know that I have much to say without giving away the first book's story.)
Collected as a omnibus, the two novels work great; I have yet to read a bad James Swallow book, and the streak holds here. Swallow's villains are always more interesting than his heroes, and this omnibus stars a particularly loathsome piece of filth pitted against our (somewhat forgettable) heroes. I don't want to say much more except that this falls into solid good-not-great territory; it's a easy recommend for W40k fans, but if you're not familiar with the setting, I'd recommend Swallow's excellent Fear to Tread first, which covers the same chapter of Space Marines and serves as a very nice introduction.
Grade: B+
Tuesday, August 5, 2014
"Honour Imperialis"
Honour Imperialis (Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Rob Sanders, Steve Lyons)
A W0K omnibus about the good ol' Imperial Guard. I'm going to review all of the novels one by one.
Dead Men Walking (ADB) - This is probably the worst ADB novel I've read yet, meaning it's just good and not great. Honestly, by the time I got to the end of the omnibus, I'd forgotten almost everything that happened in this novel; I do remember there were some great action scenes, and I was also kind of gobsmacked that the book contained literally zero female characters. (The Imperial Guard's omnisex - unlike the setting's popular stars, the Space Marines - so there's really no excuse.) That said, I don't want to be too tough on the book; it's exactly the kind of above-average but not spectacular book that fits perfectly in a omnibus like this.
Grade: C+
Cadian Blood (Rob Sanders) - This author wrote one of my all time favorite W40K novels in Atlas Infernal, and he's written probably the best novel in this omnibus. My big issue with Cadian Blood is the same problem I had with Atlas Infernal : The author keeps jumping around the chronology of the story, cutting between our heroes being interrogated in prison and earlier scenes running around fighting Orks. This is annoyingly confusing, all the more so as some characters are introduced in the flash-forwards before we meet them in the earlier parts, which make up the bulk of the book. Still, this is pretty good - it's not quite as bonkers as Atlas Infernal, but this novel is the star of the omnibus.
Grade: B
Redemption Corps (Steve Lyons) - Remember when I said that Cadian Blood was bonkers? This book has Imperial Guard guys charging Necrons on horses. I couldn't imagine this without laughing.
That's pretty much the high point. This is a good-not-great book, unfortunately weighed down by making the focal point of the beginning of the book a frankly boring romance between two goofs I was hard-pressed to care about. After this problem is disposed of, the novel falls into the W40k trap of having too many POV characters, although in fairness it's not nearly as bad as some other books (cough, cough). I'd recommend just skipping all the parts with the two lovers, at least until the second half of the book - once the Necrons warp in the book gets a lot more interesting.
Grade: B-
After the main attraction there's four short stories - one really good ADB one, one not so great Steve Lyons one, and two pretty good ones by (cough cough) and (mumble mumble). All in all, this is one of the stronger W40K omnibusses out there; there's not a single miss here, and while none of the novels themselves are superstars, all three of them for $9 is a great deal.
Total Grade: B+
A W0K omnibus about the good ol' Imperial Guard. I'm going to review all of the novels one by one.
Dead Men Walking (ADB) - This is probably the worst ADB novel I've read yet, meaning it's just good and not great. Honestly, by the time I got to the end of the omnibus, I'd forgotten almost everything that happened in this novel; I do remember there were some great action scenes, and I was also kind of gobsmacked that the book contained literally zero female characters. (The Imperial Guard's omnisex - unlike the setting's popular stars, the Space Marines - so there's really no excuse.) That said, I don't want to be too tough on the book; it's exactly the kind of above-average but not spectacular book that fits perfectly in a omnibus like this.
Grade: C+
Cadian Blood (Rob Sanders) - This author wrote one of my all time favorite W40K novels in Atlas Infernal, and he's written probably the best novel in this omnibus. My big issue with Cadian Blood is the same problem I had with Atlas Infernal : The author keeps jumping around the chronology of the story, cutting between our heroes being interrogated in prison and earlier scenes running around fighting Orks. This is annoyingly confusing, all the more so as some characters are introduced in the flash-forwards before we meet them in the earlier parts, which make up the bulk of the book. Still, this is pretty good - it's not quite as bonkers as Atlas Infernal, but this novel is the star of the omnibus.
Grade: B
Redemption Corps (Steve Lyons) - Remember when I said that Cadian Blood was bonkers? This book has Imperial Guard guys charging Necrons on horses. I couldn't imagine this without laughing.
That's pretty much the high point. This is a good-not-great book, unfortunately weighed down by making the focal point of the beginning of the book a frankly boring romance between two goofs I was hard-pressed to care about. After this problem is disposed of, the novel falls into the W40k trap of having too many POV characters, although in fairness it's not nearly as bad as some other books (cough, cough). I'd recommend just skipping all the parts with the two lovers, at least until the second half of the book - once the Necrons warp in the book gets a lot more interesting.
Grade: B-
After the main attraction there's four short stories - one really good ADB one, one not so great Steve Lyons one, and two pretty good ones by (cough cough) and (mumble mumble). All in all, this is one of the stronger W40K omnibusses out there; there's not a single miss here, and while none of the novels themselves are superstars, all three of them for $9 is a great deal.
Total Grade: B+
Wednesday, July 30, 2014
"A Natural History of Dragons"
A Natural History of Dragons: A Memoir by Lady Trent (Marie Brennan)
This book stumped both Hams to come up with a clever and witty opening, so I'll just recommend it from the both of us.
Oh, you wanted to know what it's about? FINE. This one you can judge from the cover; it's a natural history of dragons, written as part memoir, part natural history. Dragons are presented as being very real animals in a fictitious world that bears a strong resemblance to Victorian-era Earth with the names switched around. Here there are no talking dragons or majestic rideable dragons; these dragons are presented in a realistic fashion, and you'll probably find yourself both fearing them as they attack the main characters and fearing for them as in turn they're hunted by poachers and have their habitats invaded by smugglers.
This book is the first in a series, covering the main character's first interest in dragons up though the end of her first adventure (complete with sequel hook). Writing her memoir - the book in your hands - allows the author to drop in asides that both flesh out the setting and the main character herself, who is now a crotchety old woman who doesn't give a fig. Given the faux-Victorian setting, there is some anachronisms about women having a place in the home; beyond this I'm not sharing any more plot details (it's only $12 on Amazon or free at your local library).
Grade: B+
This book stumped both Hams to come up with a clever and witty opening, so I'll just recommend it from the both of us.
Oh, you wanted to know what it's about? FINE. This one you can judge from the cover; it's a natural history of dragons, written as part memoir, part natural history. Dragons are presented as being very real animals in a fictitious world that bears a strong resemblance to Victorian-era Earth with the names switched around. Here there are no talking dragons or majestic rideable dragons; these dragons are presented in a realistic fashion, and you'll probably find yourself both fearing them as they attack the main characters and fearing for them as in turn they're hunted by poachers and have their habitats invaded by smugglers.
This book is the first in a series, covering the main character's first interest in dragons up though the end of her first adventure (complete with sequel hook). Writing her memoir - the book in your hands - allows the author to drop in asides that both flesh out the setting and the main character herself, who is now a crotchety old woman who doesn't give a fig. Given the faux-Victorian setting, there is some anachronisms about women having a place in the home; beyond this I'm not sharing any more plot details (it's only $12 on Amazon or free at your local library).
Grade: B+
Tuesday, July 1, 2014
"Snow Crash"
Snow Crash (Neal Stephenson)
I really hated this book; it has the William Kennedy style of writing where it sounds like an annoying person at a party you can't escape yammering nonsensically at you, with Stephenson's twist being that it sounds like you've been cornered by a 10 year old boy who can't shut up. Here's a quote from the first ten pages, talking about the hero's car, which goes, like, a billion miles an hour:
I made it through maybe 15 pages of this crap before it was hurled into the donation pile with great malice. I don't know that I have much to add beyond that horrible quote. I guess I would say - do not buy this book; do not check out this book; do not recommend this book; do not read this book.
Grade: F-
I really hated this book; it has the William Kennedy style of writing where it sounds like an annoying person at a party you can't escape yammering nonsensically at you, with Stephenson's twist being that it sounds like you've been cornered by a 10 year old boy who can't shut up. Here's a quote from the first ten pages, talking about the hero's car, which goes, like, a billion miles an hour:
The Deliverator's car unloads that power through gaping, gleaming, polished sphincters. When the Deliverator puts the hammer down, shit happens. You want to talk contact patches? Your car's tires have tiny contact patches, talk to the asphalt in four places the size of your tongue. The Deliverator's car has big sticky tires with contact patches the size of a fat lady's thighs. The Deliverator is in touch with the road, starts like a bad day, stops on a pesta.
I made it through maybe 15 pages of this crap before it was hurled into the donation pile with great malice. I don't know that I have much to add beyond that horrible quote. I guess I would say - do not buy this book; do not check out this book; do not recommend this book; do not read this book.
Grade: F-
Friday, June 20, 2014
"The Gildar Rift" (Space Marine Battles series)
The Gildar Rift (Sarah Cawkwell)
This is a SPACE MARINE BATTLES book, and at this point I feel like the series could honestly be renamed "Pretty Good 40K Novel Light On Plot" as most of the books fit into that category. This one does too; it's pretty good, mostly action, and a little light on plot and characterization (although the loyalist chapter the book is about, the Silver Skulls, are unique enough to set them apart from generic space marines). Honestly, I mostly got this book out of curiosity at seeing a female author handling the sausage-fest that is 40K. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but what I got is one of the better Space Marines Battles novel, and one that's easy to recommend with the above caveats in place.
Grade: B
This is a SPACE MARINE BATTLES book, and at this point I feel like the series could honestly be renamed "Pretty Good 40K Novel Light On Plot" as most of the books fit into that category. This one does too; it's pretty good, mostly action, and a little light on plot and characterization (although the loyalist chapter the book is about, the Silver Skulls, are unique enough to set them apart from generic space marines). Honestly, I mostly got this book out of curiosity at seeing a female author handling the sausage-fest that is 40K. I'm not sure what I was expecting, but what I got is one of the better Space Marines Battles novel, and one that's easy to recommend with the above caveats in place.
Grade: B
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
"Helsreach"
Helsreach (Aaron Dembski-Bowden)
Like most of the SPACE MARINES BATTLES series, this book is basically a novel-length, ummm, space marine battle. That's not a bad thing - the best ones, which include this book, have enough character development to give the reader someone to root for before they spend 300 pages hitting Orks in the face with a crozius. This particular book lands firmly in the good-not-great pile, although I have to say it's towards the top of that particular heap; ADB manages to pull off the often-attempted but rarely successful technique of following around a bunch of different POV characters. That being said, this is still a novel-long battle; go in knowing what you're getting and I think it's a pretty solid bet you'll be happy with it.
Grade: B+
Like most of the SPACE MARINES BATTLES series, this book is basically a novel-length, ummm, space marine battle. That's not a bad thing - the best ones, which include this book, have enough character development to give the reader someone to root for before they spend 300 pages hitting Orks in the face with a crozius. This particular book lands firmly in the good-not-great pile, although I have to say it's towards the top of that particular heap; ADB manages to pull off the often-attempted but rarely successful technique of following around a bunch of different POV characters. That being said, this is still a novel-long battle; go in knowing what you're getting and I think it's a pretty solid bet you'll be happy with it.
Grade: B+
Friday, April 25, 2014
"On Such a Full Sea"
On Such a Full Sea: A Novel (Chang-rae Lee)
I really wanted to like this book, and for the first 70 or so pages, I did; The setting of a ambiguously radiated future where Western civilization has declined seemingly more of malaise than anything else and been largely replaced by Chinese settlers is really interesting, even if our heroine doesn't have much of a personality.
The problem is that eventually I would like the scene to be set and the story to begin, and this never really happened. The author is unable (or, I suspect, just unwilling) to actually tell the story; for each page of our heroine's journey out in the wilds, you'll get a page about the city our heroine left, and while some of these are interesting, I eventually became deeply annoyed at cutting away from the main plot to meander through four pages about the weird uncle who used to live upstairs. By the time I was a third of the way through the book and realized that the plot was never going to be able to pick up any momentum this way, I bailed.
I'd recommend checking out of the library and going about 100 pages; if the author's elliptical style and refusal to get to the point aren't driving you crazy, you're set.
Grade: C-
I really wanted to like this book, and for the first 70 or so pages, I did; The setting of a ambiguously radiated future where Western civilization has declined seemingly more of malaise than anything else and been largely replaced by Chinese settlers is really interesting, even if our heroine doesn't have much of a personality.
The problem is that eventually I would like the scene to be set and the story to begin, and this never really happened. The author is unable (or, I suspect, just unwilling) to actually tell the story; for each page of our heroine's journey out in the wilds, you'll get a page about the city our heroine left, and while some of these are interesting, I eventually became deeply annoyed at cutting away from the main plot to meander through four pages about the weird uncle who used to live upstairs. By the time I was a third of the way through the book and realized that the plot was never going to be able to pick up any momentum this way, I bailed.
I'd recommend checking out of the library and going about 100 pages; if the author's elliptical style and refusal to get to the point aren't driving you crazy, you're set.
Grade: C-
Monday, March 10, 2014
"Maldorax"
Maldorax (Ben Counter)
Yes, I know I've been reading a lot of W40k lately; Don't worry, I'm almost out for the time being.
As for this particular book, it's part of the SPACE MARINES BATTLES series, which means you get a whole lot of bang pow boom splat aaagh. So far I'm kind of split on this series, and I wasn't really sure what to expect.
Luckily, this book is all right; we're dealing with solid, middle of the road W40K fare. The basic jist is that a SPACE MARINE has escaped the demon planet of Maldorax, and comes back with a bunch of his buddies to kill the Evil Bad Guy whose name I've already forgotten. There certainly are a lot of Space Marine Battles depicted within, and the author alternating chapters where our hero is back with his buddies flipped with ones where he's escaping the planet is a nice touch. If you need a 40k fix you might as well pick this up, as you could certainly do a lot worse; otherwise it's nothing special.
Grade: C+
Yes, I know I've been reading a lot of W40k lately; Don't worry, I'm almost out for the time being.
As for this particular book, it's part of the SPACE MARINES BATTLES series, which means you get a whole lot of bang pow boom splat aaagh. So far I'm kind of split on this series, and I wasn't really sure what to expect.
Luckily, this book is all right; we're dealing with solid, middle of the road W40K fare. The basic jist is that a SPACE MARINE has escaped the demon planet of Maldorax, and comes back with a bunch of his buddies to kill the Evil Bad Guy whose name I've already forgotten. There certainly are a lot of Space Marine Battles depicted within, and the author alternating chapters where our hero is back with his buddies flipped with ones where he's escaping the planet is a nice touch. If you need a 40k fix you might as well pick this up, as you could certainly do a lot worse; otherwise it's nothing special.
Grade: C+
Saturday, February 15, 2014
"Roman Blood"
Roman Blood: A Novel of Ancient Rome (Steven Saylor)
This is a street-level detective story set in ancient Rome. If that sounds like the SPQR series, well, they're rather alike; I'm afraid this novel has spoiled me, though, mostly because it's just very well written. What leaps out the most is Saylor's talent at creating memorable, personality-filled characters (the cranky oddballness of Cicero is a particular treat), but even mundane actions like the sun rising on what promises to be a hot day stuck with me as the author describes it like a thief sneaking over his roof tiles.
So I recommend this one - not just for history nerds, although they may get slightly more out of it (the case is about the murder of Sextus Roscius, which I recognized from the Master of Rome series). I don't think that being unfamiliar with the setting would be much of an impediment, and I'd suggest at least checking it out of the library.
Grade: A
This is a street-level detective story set in ancient Rome. If that sounds like the SPQR series, well, they're rather alike; I'm afraid this novel has spoiled me, though, mostly because it's just very well written. What leaps out the most is Saylor's talent at creating memorable, personality-filled characters (the cranky oddballness of Cicero is a particular treat), but even mundane actions like the sun rising on what promises to be a hot day stuck with me as the author describes it like a thief sneaking over his roof tiles.
So I recommend this one - not just for history nerds, although they may get slightly more out of it (the case is about the murder of Sextus Roscius, which I recognized from the Master of Rome series). I don't think that being unfamiliar with the setting would be much of an impediment, and I'd suggest at least checking it out of the library.
Grade: A
Tuesday, February 4, 2014
Spring Moon
I started and finished Spring Moon last night. That alone should give you insight into how much I enjoyed this book. Telling the tale of Spring Moon and her family on an epic scale, the book weaves the lives of the Chang clan with China's turblent early 20th century history.
Spring Moon grows and changes throughout the bittersweet story, beginning as a precocious girl and ending as a woman very much into her old age. She tells us of herself through her own eyes but we also see her through the eyes of her favored Grand Uncle, his wife, and Spring Moon's own child. A great read for history fans looking for the human side of the story and people who enjoy love stories that aren't ridiculous affairs.
Spring Moon grows and changes throughout the bittersweet story, beginning as a precocious girl and ending as a woman very much into her old age. She tells us of herself through her own eyes but we also see her through the eyes of her favored Grand Uncle, his wife, and Spring Moon's own child. A great read for history fans looking for the human side of the story and people who enjoy love stories that aren't ridiculous affairs.
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