I've pretty much decided I don't review books well. I keep reading though. Currently, I'm on the third book of the Fourth Realm trilogy by John Twelve Hawks, The Golden City. I just started last night so I haven't gotten very far. The stories are about 3 main groups of people: Travelers who are persons whose consciousnesses can leave their bodies as "Light" and travel to the other 5 realms though for what purpose I've never really gleaned. We live in the Fourth realm, some sort of Hell is the second, etc. Travelers, when they return to our realm apparently are revered by many people are famous enlightened people from history are either known to have been or suspected of being Travelers.
The Tabula, who call themselves the Brethren are a group who hunt down Travelers to kill them over the centuries because they don't seem to like enlightened people because then it is harder to control the masses. These power hungry people are not nice and in this day and age are using computers, the media, etc to collect the world's populace into the "Vast Machine" where everyone is watched, cataloged and in some cases, removed from life, if they don't comply.
Then there are the Harlequins, these are warriors trained to protect Travelers from the Tabula. It is their soul purpose and often come from the same families (which, in my opinion makes them easier to find and kill by the Tabula, so they really ought to change this). In these books there are about 4 known Harlequins left, the daughter of one trained to be a Harlequin but who would rather be part of the Vast Machine and be left alone. All Travelers are thought to be wiped out but it comes to the attention of everyone that 2 brothers in California could become Travelers with a little training.
Thus ensues a race by the rival factions to find these men and kill or save them. The brothers, of course, are mostly clueless about the whole thing.
The story is interesting, the characters interesting, and the Vast Machine thing relevant to society today. I am enjoying the books, hating the evil, nasty bad, head of security Tabula bad guy, liking the Harlequin main character, but thinking the brothers are dweebs. They both are rather predictable in how they think, who they listen to, etc.
But the writing is well done and the story well paced, no skimming of paragraphs due to boring long-winded descriptions, or stilted dialog. I actually feel a little fleshing out may have been okay in a few places, some things seem barely to be mentioned before they are gone.
But I do recommend these books. The first is called The Traveler, and the second is The Dark River.
Friday, April 26, 2013
Saturday, March 26, 2011
Book Review: Ark by Stephen Baxter
I read this a few months ago but I'll try to remember. This is the sequel to Flood, where the hidden waters under the crusts of the earth open up and consume the planet leaving not even the tip of Mount Everest exposed. I know (according to Baxter's research) that these hypothetical pockets of water may exist but I simply can't believe they would amount to that much water, nor that while flooding some other geological cataclysms wouldn't occur, as in shifting plate tectonics raising some land formations. But I am not a geologist so we'll assume this could actually happen for sake of the review.
As one may conclude, Ark would have something to do with humans surviving on some sort of ship. This is indeed the case. Most of the book revolves around a group of children being groomed for space flight on a ship that will send a small remnant of humanity to another world to start anew. The education of the children and some of the politics are interesting, as is the workings of the ship. However, being as this is about saving the human race I was (in my probably misguided desire for happy endings) hoping it would be a more uplifting story, humanity over coming adversity, et al. But if you follow the news much, you could say that what happens aboard the ship is what one should typically expect from a bunch of inexperienced children trying to cope with deviant human nature and other nasty human qualities when they had NO life experience to deal with it.
The oldest of these kid are in their mid 20s so none of them have the guts or knowledge to really deal with some major screw ups the big one being a sexual deviant megalomaniac getting himself in power. Now I'd say if they had some older crewmen, say in their 30s or 40s, this would never have happened. But they wanted to save space for breeders so only youngsters were sent.
There are a few chapters devoted to the water raft cultures developing on earth as well as another ark which I won't mention so as not to spoil everything, but most of the story is devoted to the space ship arc. I'd say it was worthwhile reading it just to know how not to populate a space ship but it certainly left me with a "well crap" kind of feeling and wanting to throw the book against the wall.
I have no idea if there will be a third book, I really can't see what would be interesting in the lives of any of the survivors.
As one may conclude, Ark would have something to do with humans surviving on some sort of ship. This is indeed the case. Most of the book revolves around a group of children being groomed for space flight on a ship that will send a small remnant of humanity to another world to start anew. The education of the children and some of the politics are interesting, as is the workings of the ship. However, being as this is about saving the human race I was (in my probably misguided desire for happy endings) hoping it would be a more uplifting story, humanity over coming adversity, et al. But if you follow the news much, you could say that what happens aboard the ship is what one should typically expect from a bunch of inexperienced children trying to cope with deviant human nature and other nasty human qualities when they had NO life experience to deal with it.
The oldest of these kid are in their mid 20s so none of them have the guts or knowledge to really deal with some major screw ups the big one being a sexual deviant megalomaniac getting himself in power. Now I'd say if they had some older crewmen, say in their 30s or 40s, this would never have happened. But they wanted to save space for breeders so only youngsters were sent.
There are a few chapters devoted to the water raft cultures developing on earth as well as another ark which I won't mention so as not to spoil everything, but most of the story is devoted to the space ship arc. I'd say it was worthwhile reading it just to know how not to populate a space ship but it certainly left me with a "well crap" kind of feeling and wanting to throw the book against the wall.
I have no idea if there will be a third book, I really can't see what would be interesting in the lives of any of the survivors.
Sunday, August 15, 2010
Book Review: Raptor by Gary Jennings
This odd novel takes place all over Europe around 490-526 AD during the last days of the Roman Empire when there are two empires, Rome and Constantinople. The main character is Thorn who we meet in a monastery as a child. He suspects his parents were Goths, of either Visigoth or Ostrogoth fame. For reasons I won't reveal here as it's a rather large part of the story, he is forced to leave the monastery and the surrounding region due to an interesting and rare genetic problem. Upon leaving he meets various interesting people, Wyrd, a sort of woodsman/soldier who teaches him many things including how to survive on his own. Later in the book he meets other Goths of the eastern Roman empire and Thorn sort of settles in among them for the remainder of the book, though not in the same locations. There are skirmishes and battles and a war or two including lots of description of war but without the excitement and danger one would expect in war. It's a dry but not quite too dry history lesson.
It's an odd book in that it's also a travelogue of ancient cities, all described via Thorn's point of view as he is the narrator. The Raptor of the title is what he decides he will be, a creature without feelings to keep himself from experiencing emotional pain. This is a good thing as a heck of a lot of people die in this book in his presence. The annoying thing about this book is that it is mostly a travelogue, very limited in the conversations between people, of bringing people to life. The people, while interesting in themselves, I found I didn't really feel much sympathy for, except intellectually, as "oh, too bad he/she died". But you do learn a lot of history. It's a long book, almost 1000 pages. I did find myself towards the last 200 or so wishing it would end soon. It was just interesting enough to keep me reading to the end, barely.
I would recommend it only to those persons with plenty of time to read and have an open mind because Thorn himself is different from the average human being.
(edited to make title consistent with prior posts)
It's an odd book in that it's also a travelogue of ancient cities, all described via Thorn's point of view as he is the narrator. The Raptor of the title is what he decides he will be, a creature without feelings to keep himself from experiencing emotional pain. This is a good thing as a heck of a lot of people die in this book in his presence. The annoying thing about this book is that it is mostly a travelogue, very limited in the conversations between people, of bringing people to life. The people, while interesting in themselves, I found I didn't really feel much sympathy for, except intellectually, as "oh, too bad he/she died". But you do learn a lot of history. It's a long book, almost 1000 pages. I did find myself towards the last 200 or so wishing it would end soon. It was just interesting enough to keep me reading to the end, barely.
I would recommend it only to those persons with plenty of time to read and have an open mind because Thorn himself is different from the average human being.
(edited to make title consistent with prior posts)
Tuesday, December 15, 2009
Book Review: Somersault by Kenzaburo Oe
Strange book. I don't know if it's strange because of the author's style, or if his style is typical of Japanese authors, or if it's simply how Japanese writing is translated into English, or a combination of all three. But I finished it, far more quickly (by 3 months? than it took my husband to finish Gravity's Rainbow by Pynchon, a book I could not finish and still have no desire to try.)
The story is about 2 older men who once had their own church, and what would be considered a cult following though it was based on Christianity. Ten years earlier the leader now called Patron performed a "somersault" essentially denouncing his own religion as silly, stupid, and totally wrong and his followers fools for going along with it. Apparently, this was to prevent a radical sect of his group from performing an act of mass suicide while possibly killing other innocent thousands in order to bring the end of the world closer.
The religion apparently was about the end of the world and how the world should repent and they would lead the way.
Ten years later the 2 leaders, the other called Guide who translated Patron's undecipherable mumblings from these trances he had into something coherent their followers could understand have decided it's time to embark on creating a new church. They gather up a small group of helpers, a few true believers and hangers on. Of course, the 2 old church radical sects still exist and also returned with their own agendas.
What follows is essentially, what can happen when these 3 different groups plus a fourth they run into when they move the church to its new location all want the new church for their own purposes and ideologies. Sounds exciting, doesn't it? The problem to me is the writing style which is all talking. And I mean talking. A group of people will discuss an idea, then they will dissect that idea and then discuss what they think the other person was saying, and what another person also thought of what that same person was saying. There's a lot of retelling from different points of view of the same subject. There is very little of what I'm used to seeing which is the thought processes inside the characters head while they watch something unfold. There is very little action. I'm not sure I'm describing it well but everyone is always talking. As I said at the beginning, it's just possibly a language barrier thing. It was not enough to keep me from reading on though occasionally I had to reread a page or two to know what was being talked about.
The main characters are Patron, Guide, Dancer and Ogi, the first new members, Kizu an artist, and Ikuo who Kizu and Dancer ran into many years earlier. Apparently, that has "meaning" to these 3. I never really "felt" for any of these though I suppose my favorite character was Ogi if only because I felt he was "in the dark" as much as I was about what was going on. I do recommend reading the book. I, myself will be looking for one of the author's earlier books, ones that earned him the Nobel prize in literature, just to see if this book was slightly "off". With this book the author himself claimed his writing was going in a new direction after all. I'd like to see what he meant
The story is about 2 older men who once had their own church, and what would be considered a cult following though it was based on Christianity. Ten years earlier the leader now called Patron performed a "somersault" essentially denouncing his own religion as silly, stupid, and totally wrong and his followers fools for going along with it. Apparently, this was to prevent a radical sect of his group from performing an act of mass suicide while possibly killing other innocent thousands in order to bring the end of the world closer.
The religion apparently was about the end of the world and how the world should repent and they would lead the way.
Ten years later the 2 leaders, the other called Guide who translated Patron's undecipherable mumblings from these trances he had into something coherent their followers could understand have decided it's time to embark on creating a new church. They gather up a small group of helpers, a few true believers and hangers on. Of course, the 2 old church radical sects still exist and also returned with their own agendas.
What follows is essentially, what can happen when these 3 different groups plus a fourth they run into when they move the church to its new location all want the new church for their own purposes and ideologies. Sounds exciting, doesn't it? The problem to me is the writing style which is all talking. And I mean talking. A group of people will discuss an idea, then they will dissect that idea and then discuss what they think the other person was saying, and what another person also thought of what that same person was saying. There's a lot of retelling from different points of view of the same subject. There is very little of what I'm used to seeing which is the thought processes inside the characters head while they watch something unfold. There is very little action. I'm not sure I'm describing it well but everyone is always talking. As I said at the beginning, it's just possibly a language barrier thing. It was not enough to keep me from reading on though occasionally I had to reread a page or two to know what was being talked about.
The main characters are Patron, Guide, Dancer and Ogi, the first new members, Kizu an artist, and Ikuo who Kizu and Dancer ran into many years earlier. Apparently, that has "meaning" to these 3. I never really "felt" for any of these though I suppose my favorite character was Ogi if only because I felt he was "in the dark" as much as I was about what was going on. I do recommend reading the book. I, myself will be looking for one of the author's earlier books, ones that earned him the Nobel prize in literature, just to see if this book was slightly "off". With this book the author himself claimed his writing was going in a new direction after all. I'd like to see what he meant
Friday, November 6, 2009
Book Review: Flood by Stephen Baxter
The story starts out with 5 hostages in Spain, and you think it's going to be about these hostages and it is but suddenly they aren't hostages and instead you and they are suddenly thrown into Britain during severe storms and flooding. These people have been out of it for a while, their emotional responses are screwed up and maybe that's why the author uses the hostage scenario, keeping emotions to a minimum while the flood takes over. And that is what this story is about, the flood and the reasons behind it. Whether these people and the rest of humanity survives is a moot point.
The first character is American military, one is a climatologist, one is British military, one is a woman with a baby, don't remember what she does, in her case it seems to be all about the baby. And if you think "aha" the baby, that's where the author will place all the emotive stuff! Nope, guess again.
The story bounces all over the world via the main characters and the second tier characters (mostly scientists and one obnoxious super rich guy) essentially showing us how governments and people react to catastrophe. It crosses nearly 4 decades, yet it is not emotionally wrenching, uplifting, thought provoking, etc. It is not a book I had trouble reading, it wasn't boring, but it certainly wasn't exciting either. It was there, to be read, to see if there is any kind of an ending worth the effort. Mainly it was an exercise in watching how the world might end but from very far away.
I'd say read it if you're interested in odd geologic science but not for "damn that was good!" story telling.
The first character is American military, one is a climatologist, one is British military, one is a woman with a baby, don't remember what she does, in her case it seems to be all about the baby. And if you think "aha" the baby, that's where the author will place all the emotive stuff! Nope, guess again.
The story bounces all over the world via the main characters and the second tier characters (mostly scientists and one obnoxious super rich guy) essentially showing us how governments and people react to catastrophe. It crosses nearly 4 decades, yet it is not emotionally wrenching, uplifting, thought provoking, etc. It is not a book I had trouble reading, it wasn't boring, but it certainly wasn't exciting either. It was there, to be read, to see if there is any kind of an ending worth the effort. Mainly it was an exercise in watching how the world might end but from very far away.
I'd say read it if you're interested in odd geologic science but not for "damn that was good!" story telling.
Thursday, October 29, 2009
Book Review: Mailman by J. Robert Lennon
Albert Lippincott is a mailman, in fact he is one of those people who seems to define himself by his job, at least the author refers to him as Mailman, not Albert, only other characters call him that. He is 57, divorced, once had been in a mental institution when he attacked his college professor, he's been a mailman for nearly 30 years, he has cats, he doesn't like the cats, he doesn't seem to like much, and he reads some of the mail he delivers. He seems to live in the past and also the future, never keeping his mind on what he is doing right then, which is probably why he has so many routines, that must be done the same way, like his mail route, or he freaks. He talks too much, he thinks too much, he thinks about things that may or may not happen, too much. He may be obsessive compulsive. His relationship with his sister is odd, his family is odd, his relationships with other people are odd, he is odd.
The story is told through flashbacks that break into Mailman's present as it falls apart around him. He thinks he's going to get caught by the postal inspectors, someone on his route dies while he was dithering over a letter he "borrowed". Is he responsible for that death? Who else knows? Does she know, the girl at the same apartment building who stares at him, saw his fighting with the mailboxes?
I liked the story. I was surprised when I found myself at the end though not disappointed. I mean, the guy is so ordinary what would be the point of continuing? I learned enough about Albert, I don't need to know any more. He seems real enough, the author has a way with words, very descriptive in a Thomas Pynchon kind of way but not to the point of going on and on and on ad nauseum till you just want to skip over whole sections while yelling "get on with it, damn you!".
It's a hard book to describe, it's just a slice out of this one man's life and he isn't someone I would really care to know, but the slow train wreck of his existence is fascinating to watch. Can he can get off the train? But if he doesn't, oh well, no big loss. I'm not sure I care either way, but I'm still glad I read the book. Weird, huh?
I liked the story. I was surprised when I found myself at the end though not disappointed. I mean, the guy is so ordinary what would be the point of continuing? I learned enough about Albert, I don't need to know any more. He seems real enough, the author has a way with words, very descriptive in a Thomas Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow" kind of way but not to the point of going on and on and on ad nauseum till you just want to skip over whole sections while yelling "get on with it, damn you!".
Read it.
The story is told through flashbacks that break into Mailman's present as it falls apart around him. He thinks he's going to get caught by the postal inspectors, someone on his route dies while he was dithering over a letter he "borrowed". Is he responsible for that death? Who else knows? Does she know, the girl at the same apartment building who stares at him, saw his fighting with the mailboxes?
I liked the story. I was surprised when I found myself at the end though not disappointed. I mean, the guy is so ordinary what would be the point of continuing? I learned enough about Albert, I don't need to know any more. He seems real enough, the author has a way with words, very descriptive in a Thomas Pynchon kind of way but not to the point of going on and on and on ad nauseum till you just want to skip over whole sections while yelling "get on with it, damn you!".
It's a hard book to describe, it's just a slice out of this one man's life and he isn't someone I would really care to know, but the slow train wreck of his existence is fascinating to watch. Can he can get off the train? But if he doesn't, oh well, no big loss. I'm not sure I care either way, but I'm still glad I read the book. Weird, huh?
I liked the story. I was surprised when I found myself at the end though not disappointed. I mean, the guy is so ordinary what would be the point of continuing? I learned enough about Albert, I don't need to know any more. He seems real enough, the author has a way with words, very descriptive in a Thomas Pynchon's "Gravity's Rainbow" kind of way but not to the point of going on and on and on ad nauseum till you just want to skip over whole sections while yelling "get on with it, damn you!".
Read it.
Monday, October 26, 2009
Book Review: The Duke and I by Julia Quinn
A nimble little regency romance novel by Julia Quinn. We have a stuttering duke, raised by his nurse with immense daddy issues because his father thought him an imbecile and essentially disowned him. The heroine is Daphne, the eldest daughter of 8 children, 3 of them older brothers. Their "cute meet" is over a drunken suitor to Daphne whom she wants nothing to do with, so she and the duke decide to pretend to be courting to keep the "Ambitious" Mamas" of the ton from pushing their children onto either of them.
Things of course, get hairy as they do lust for each other, and Daphne wants lots of children while the duke wants neither children nor marriage. Daphne's eldest brother the Viscount knows his friend the duke to be a rake and should not be entertaining any thoughts of his sister never mind a false courtship so there is lots of bad blood there. And half way through the book, there's a duel, sort of.
I liked the book. I liked the characters, I wouldn't mind reading more assuming the author marries off the other 7 children. Series do seem to be common in the romance genre. Unlike the ones I've read by Stephanie Laurens there is no subplot of murder or mystery, (other than the duke's problem with his dad), this is a straight romance story. I wish it was a little meatier as I didn't find the 2 main characters very compelling but as I said, it was a nimble little story. A quick read.
Things of course, get hairy as they do lust for each other, and Daphne wants lots of children while the duke wants neither children nor marriage. Daphne's eldest brother the Viscount knows his friend the duke to be a rake and should not be entertaining any thoughts of his sister never mind a false courtship so there is lots of bad blood there. And half way through the book, there's a duel, sort of.
I liked the book. I liked the characters, I wouldn't mind reading more assuming the author marries off the other 7 children. Series do seem to be common in the romance genre. Unlike the ones I've read by Stephanie Laurens there is no subplot of murder or mystery, (other than the duke's problem with his dad), this is a straight romance story. I wish it was a little meatier as I didn't find the 2 main characters very compelling but as I said, it was a nimble little story. A quick read.
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