Discuss and rate the last thing you read

[Agema]

I Still Dream - James Smythe

James Smythe is, I think, one of the better SF writers to have emerged from the last few years. He writes usually quite near-future material, and his books are quite interested I think in psychology and our perception of the world. Some are quite tonally different - his previous works have been borderline SF horror, where "I Still Dream" is certainly not.

At base, it's the story of one Laura Bow, who is instrumental in creating the world's first AIs. The story starts in 1997, and revisits at 10-year intervals to the mid-21st century; we thus see snapshots of Laura's life with the development of her personal AI project, Organon, and a rival part "stolen" from her by Bow Corporation (which her father was instrumental in founding). So that qualifies as SF. But really it's about Laura and the people around her; ruminations on love and loss (death of relationships, friends and family is a recurrent theme), and the nature of development - that bringing up an AI from rudimentary to developed sentience is partly a job of psychology, not just coding. It's an emotionally moving book rich on character, both sad and hopeful.

 

[davidmc1158_v1legacy]

Pigeons From Hell by Robert E. Howard

Decided to go back and reread this selection of short stories from Howard that I picked up years ago. It was a fun read, but one of the things I had actually forgotten about was Howard's . . . . interesting views on race. The first short story simply presented the "average-for-the-1930s" level of racism I was expecting from the author. The second story, however, jumped straight into full-on white supremacist racism of the worst sort. Sad, but unfortunately not unexpected. At least I can take comfort in the knowledge that Howard and his circle of literary friends (including Lovecraft) came up with some very interesting ideas that less racist (and in some cases, simply better) writers have expanded on over the years.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Brown's Requiem by James Ellroy (1981)

Apparently I was stuck on Brown's Requiem for exactly 5 months. To call the read "breezy" might sound disingenuous, but it is true: Ellroy writes with ease, keeping the prose snappy and the dialogue florid. But for some slumps in the narrative this should be a quick, fun read.

I guess the story never involved me much. For the most part it's your usual noir fare, which should be good enough, but Ellroy introduces weirdo elements that seem there purely out of personal taste and clash horribly with the disgraced PI/femme fatale/serial arsonist/bent cops routine. Loopers ('70s street for "caddies") feature prominently as lowlifes and hired goons, for some baffling reason that would better suit a parody. Through his mouthpiece Fritz Brown, Ellroy delivers lengthy speeches championing their awesome ethos as if caddying is a form of elevated counterculture. Brown is also a classical music nut (tying with his, as well as Ellroy's, obsession with his own Germanic heritage), a plot point that keeps finding its way back into the narrative awkwardly.

I just didn't care for Brown very much. He's always a little too in control, things always go a little too easy for him. There's no underdog charm to him. His penchant for lecturing people he's just met as soon as he has figured them out is tiresome, moreso when he takes a congratulatory tone. He's quick on judgement and paternalism and that strikes me as a very insecure or unsure Ellroy voicing his general opinions through a paper-thin surrogate.

Brown's Requiem isn't half-bad for a debut novel, but what I enjoyed the most was everything that reminded me of Ellroy's would-be hit The Black Dahlia, including the conspiratorial framework, one hellish trip to TJ (the high point of the book) and a suitably melancholy ending. At one point Brown even jokes about cracking the Black Dahlia case. Next time for sure, James.

 

[Agema]

The Deathless - Peter Newman

I really enjoyed Peter Newman's previous trilogy (The Vagrant, The Malice, The Seven) so had no qualms about picking up his new book. In a sense - humanity threatened by encroaching demonic forces - the basic idea is similar. However, where the previous trilogy involved a rent in the fabric of the world in which demons pured through, here demons are intermingled with nature; the wild is seriously dangerous. Small townships grow food, transport is across huge raised roads, and an elite live in floating castles that defend the townships when they are threatened.

These elites have noble blood lineages where one is chosen as host to a soul that is perpetually reborn (The Deathless), and leads the fight against the Wild. There are seven realms/families, each of which has an associated crystal, each with 3-7 deathless, the numbers being limited by how many receptacles they have to hold the souls. However, in the Sapphire realm, trouble is afoot. The High Lord is unstable, has riven his family by revoking his sister's immortality, and the realm is on the verge of collapsing into murder and civil war.

So, nice enough set-up, but I couldn't help it feel was a little ho-hum unoriginal fantasy thereafter. There were some intriguing hints of where the series might go - that there's a huge amount the characters (and thus the reader) don't know about the state of the world, but the characters aren't particularly engaging, the plot is pretty average. They're not bad either, mind. The writing's pretty good, and it's easy to read. The end is not much of an end, more a pause - it feels like the book could almost be an extended intro/prologue, with the second book is going to revisit about 5-10 years down the line and get the real meat of the story started.

Anyway, yeah, fine to spend some time on, but not by itself compelling.

 

[the December King]

Pigeons From Hell by Robert E. Howard

Decided to go back and reread this selection of short stories from Howard that I picked up years ago. It was a fun read, but one of the things I had actually forgotten about was Howard's . . . . interesting views on race. The first short story simply presented the "average-for-the-1930s" level of racism I was expecting from the author. The second story, however, jumped straight into full-on white supremacist racism of the worst sort. Sad, but unfortunately not unexpected. At least I can take comfort in the knowledge that Howard and his circle of literary friends (including Lovecraft) came up with some very interesting ideas that less racist (and in some cases, simply better) writers have expanded on over the years.

I do find it hard to read some of the other shorts that Howard wrote, definitely, with the racism quite pronounced. I like a lot of his writing, but ...yeesh.

Pigeons from Hell has a cool monster, a neat twist on a currently played-out threat (without getting into spoilers).

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

For You by Ian McEwan (2008)

For You is a "libretto for Michael Berkeley's opera", whatever that means. I can't quite visualize the staging. I read it as a quickie two-act play, or even a TV script, since it's so melodramatic. It reads like a boiled-down pitch for a lengthier, better Ian McEwan novel: a composer and womaniser rediscovers his musical calling when he falls for the horn (hehe) in his orchestra. Meanwhile his sickly wife may or may not have the hots for her doctor, and his housekeeper nurses an obsession the maestro doesn't know he's fanning. You recognize the McEwan archetypes in them; the manic housekeeper in particular rings close to Enduring Love's creep.

I enjoyed the writing and the dry-wit exchanges at face value; there's some marvel in how deftly and effortlessly McEwan conjures such intricate web of self-defeating wont. But between the awkwardness of the presentation and the pervasive feeling that this is a mere sketch, I wouldn't rank it very highly in the author's oeuvre.

 

[Hawki]

Overwatch: What You Left Behind (3/5)

So, another Overwatch short story, and round about the same level of quality as the last one. As in, it's fine...not good, not bad, just fine.

Actually it could be said to be slightly worse than the last one, in that the formatting feels off at times. Like, when the characters are thinking, usually there's italics to designate that, but here, there's no visual distinction. It's arguably minor, but it's certainly noticable. But that aside, it's okay. Fairly dark at times, but no darker than what the setting of Overwatch actually provides for (which, despite its aesthetic, is actually plenty dark). Baptiste isn't exactly my favourite character, but as someone who's written for him in regards to both his Talon days and his relationship with Sombra, it was nice to see the story touch on both.

Also, minor point - anyone see the title and think of Deep Space 9? Also, anyone see his armour and be reminded of the Bengal medic armour in StarCraft? Anyone?

Ah, okay then.

 

[Agema]

The Ember Blade - Chris Wooding

Wooding spends his time in fantasy and YA. I don't read YA, but his fantasy work to date has been pretty good - something of a cut above.

Which makes The Ember Blade so disappointing. This is the most by numbers of fantasy by numbers you can imagine. Young hero bildungsroman, magic sword, resistance to evil empire, underlying threat to the whole world... nothing the average fantasy reader hasn't read a million times before. Wooding's still a better than average writer even toiling away at a bog standard doorstop and if you enjoy fantasy literature, why not? But there are always going to be so many limitations with a huge lump of cliches - such works haven't been able to set my pulse racing in decades.

 

[Johnny Novgorod]

Less Than Zero by Bret Easton Ellis (1985)

I'm going to mull over this one some more.

 

[Agema]

The Doomsday Game - Gary Gibson

Third in a series about the "Pathfinders" - a bunch of survival experts rescued from alterative dimensions who explore other alternative dimensions for "The Authority" - a department of the US government. Essentially, the trick with these infinite alternative dimensions is that humanity has found infinite exciting ways to detroy itself - plague, nuclear war, environmental catastrophe, errant physics experiments - and the main dimension of out heroes is heading that way itself, so it's looking for a replacement dimension to transfer to.

Bluntly, this book isn't that rivetting. It finishes off the stories of the protagonists from its previous; the first book was fairly interesting, and it's been diminishing returns since then. It's competent enough to pass the time (although its also short), but it's all a bit meh, retreading the same stuff, inferior to its predecessors and nothing I'd go out of my way for. The most interesting thing was the whizzo way he thought up of a parallel humanity finding a way to extinguish itself, but one good idea does not a good book make.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

What I've read recently:

Straight Outta Fangton by C.T. Phipps
An urban fantasy set in Detroit about a fairly new vampire who stumbles into a dangerous plot. It's an interesting take on the vampire mythos, with lots of pop culture references sprinkled within.
(5/5)

Meddling Kids by Edgar Cantero
Basically Scooby-Doo meets HP Lovecraft, with all the horror that entails. The writing is very descriptive with a lot of interesting metaphors, entertaining characters, and plenty of twists and turns. There are a lot of sudden shifts into script for... some reason, which readers may find a but jarring. But otherwise it's a good, creepy read.
(4/5)

 

[Hawki]

Simpsons Comics Royale (3/5)

So, this is a collection of random Simpsons stories. I say random, because there's not really any one theme or idea that connects them. Just various comic issues. You can take them or leave them. Ergo, 3/5

 

[Hawki]

One Piece: Volume 2 (3/5)

Vol. 2 is better than Vol. 1, but don't get exicted - there's simply less bad stuff rather than there being more good stuff. And what stuff there is is basically a giant fight scene where the characters TALK IN CAPITALS A LOT OF THE TIME! HAVE I MADE THAT CLEAR?

Bleh. Doesn't help that Luffy's easily the least interesting protagonist so far, but it's not as if Zolo or Nami are much better. But hey, clowns, cannons, idiots, swords...yay...

The Amulet: The Stonekeeper (3/5)

Well, this was disappointing.

There's nothing overly bad about 'The Amulet' so far, but it is reminding me of stuff I'm either indifferent to (Spiderwick Chronicles) or stuff like the Medoran Chronicles (kill it with fire!) Also doesn't help that at least the first book is skewing younger than I was led to believe. I mean, okay, this was a YA series, but it's a bit more "Y" than "A" right now, so to speak. I was led to believe that the series was quite good, but so far, it's just average. It's a packaging of familiar tropes that doesn't really do anything to distinguish itself from other series that have used those tropes. Parallel world? Check. Kid being "the special"? Check. Dead father, kidnapped mother? Check. Kid rising to position of responsibility? Check. Temptation of power? Check. Crazy elf? Um...okay, check, because that's been around since Warhammer at least.

So, is 'The Stonekeeper' bad? No, not really. But there's nothing overly special about it either. Certainly not worth the $20 I spent on it.

 

[Hawki]

One Piece: Volume 3 (3/5)

This is the best volume so far. Like vol. 2, its increase in quality is partly due to there simply being less annoying stuff to irritate me. Still, the volume does have some improvement, in part because it's not just action, and does allow some character development...sort of...maybe...arguably...

Honestly, I'll take what I can get at this point.

 

[Agema]

The Tropic of Eternity - Tom Toner

Third in the ongoing series of the Amaranthine Spectrum series (earlier books "The Promise of the Child" & "The Weight of the World"). It's past 14,000 AD; Homo sapiens is gone. In it's place are a race of immortals, the Amaranthine (sterile humans that underwent an immortality treatment), and a welter of other posthuman species, most of which are chaotic, primate-like breeds collectively called The Prism. The Amaranthine, few in number and utterly stagnant, rule a gradually collapsing empire (The Firmament), playing off the technologically inferior but vibrant Prism against each other to keep a grip on their wealth and territory.

Obviously not wanting to give too much away on spoilers, this is the continuing adventures of the cast from the first two books: chiefly Lycaste (a posthuman giant), plus various Amaranthine, Prism and others as they navigate the decay of the Amaranthine empire, triggered to crisis by the mysterious antagonist, Aaron the long-lived. What this book does is very dramatically expand the scale of the universe. For the first two books, we are mostly just exploring the machinations of Aaron and struggles of the Amaranthine Firmament. Here, we discover just how small and relatively trivial they are - the scope of the intergalactic stage they are operating in is staggeringly vast.

I love this series. It's beautifully written for a start, as Toner has a lovely way with words. Furthermore, it's a superb stylistic mix of the sort of melancholy, odd/grotesque and often dark humour from two of my favourite authors, Jack Vance and Mervyn Peake, so it's well up my street. In fact, much about it has a feel of Jack Vance's Dying Earth series. The characters are well constructed there are few, if any, real villains - the characters are well-rounded, have complex motivations, flaws and virtues, and there's no simplistic concept of good and evil. The Amaranthine Spectrum is most certainly science fantasy; most of the technology and power is often baroque and maybe even arbitrary enough to be magic.

I cannot recommend this series enough really, it's one of the best things I've read in years and I love it. Although I appreciate taste is subjective, and it might not be yours.

 

[Agema]

Priest of Bones - Peter McLean

For anyone who has watched the BBC interwar crime drama "Peaky Blinders", this looks dangerously close to a fantasy book rip-off. Thomas Piety, from a notorious crime dynasty in a major industrial city, returns from a thoroughly PTSD-inducing war with his unstable brother to rebuild his criminal empire (left in the hands of his aunt whilst he was away) and gets caught up with government agents who want him to do their business, one of which gets a job as his barmaid. I mean, this is totally Peaky Blinders. Chuck in a bit of magic, life in the slums and gang warfare(fantasy equivalent 1500-1600s I reckon - gunpowder, but swords and crossbows seem to be doing the personal damage), overarching Big Threat, let it roll.

But is any good? Well, it's not bad, but it's not like there's a whole lot to really recommend it above a whole load of other books you could be reading, either. It's not original, not particularly exciting, the characters aren't particularly compelling, not particularly well written. However, it flows happily and credibly enough, it's easy to read, and if you've got a hole in your reading time to fill for a few hours, why not?

 

[Agema]

Thin Air - Richard Morgan

Richard Morgan's output seems to have been fairly scarce recently - although perhaps we can expect this as I'm sure he's made a lot of money by now and doesn't have quite the same drive to pay the rent. Anyway, Thin Air is typical Richard Morgan fare. Super-tough guy with plenty of fuck you bad attitude; corrupt capitalist society; noir-ish detective plot. Our hero, Hakan Veil, could as easily be the protagonist from Altered Carbon or Black Man (publication title Thirteen in North America): basically a violent arsehole who circumstances have left in the dumps, although with a moral core in there to let you sympathise.

The set-up here is some way into the colonisation of Mars. Terraforming is quite some way off, but there's now a very extensive habitable zone (under a dome) with a main conurbation, outlying towns and (for lack of a better word) countryside. The Chinese have their own habitation zone on the other side of the planet. By analogy, it's a little like the later phase of the US West, perhaps around 1900 - still very rough around the edges, but increasingly under more controlled governance and law. Mars is hot in certain forms of tech, the money is flowing in; but much of the population lives in (hi-tech) drudgery. Mars has a government with very substantial funding and control from capitalist investors, plus the Earth-based government(s) watching over in the background. Morgan is a bit of a leftie, albeit seemingly one resigned to the left's inability to effectively challenge the dominant paradigm, but it doesn't intrude much on the book.

Veil is a gene and AI-enhanced soldier busted out of private military and forced to do grubby street work for money. He gets caught up in an Earth-instgated oversight investigation into the Martian government, and after that it's all about unravelling the mystery with plenty of tech, guns, brutal combat and lashings of enthusiastic, graphic sex. Like just about all Morgan's other SF leads. Like most of Morgan's output, it's fast paced, full of attitude, and a perfectly good read. One might wonder if Morgan could try something a bit different (I mean different from his fantasy trilogy, which essentially is the same sorts of characters and plots except with dragons). It's a bit tired, but I guess it works for him, and currently still for me.

 

[Thaluikhain]

A Fighting Man of Mars, part of the Barsoom series by Edgar Rice Burroughs.

Read a few of Burroughs books, and they tend to be very formulaic, especially the female characters, who are there to look good, get imprisoned and require rescuing by the hero who they get angry with before falling in love with. "The incomparable Dejah Thoris", for example has mutated into an action heroine in other people's interpretations, but originally she didn't do anything much except get kidnapped. The books still tend to be decent and have some good stuff in there, just you have to put up with some not great bits.

A Fighting Man of Mars introduces a female characters who's actually useful, and can hold their own compared to the hero. Sure, she gets imprisoned a few times, but then again so does everyone on Barsoom, Burroughs likes daring escapes and rescues.

Otherwise, the book was quite samey compared to earlier stuff, and there's a few cases where the hero wins just cause he happens to be really strong, or it's offhandedly mentioned that he's the best knife-thrower around (which is relevant exactly once). But there's good bits, interesting ideas and fights with giant lizards or spiders or cannibals.

 

[Hawki]

Legends of Shannara: Bearers of the Black Staff (3/5)

One day, I'll read a Shannara novel that is "good" rather than "average" or in the case of First King, outright bad. Alas, this isn't the day.

So, rest assured, the usual tropes are here. Army invading an area? Check. Humans and elves working together against said army? Check. Elf falling for human? Check. Fairly simplistic writing? Check. Setting and tropes that are derivative of Tolkien, and feel even more dated in a post-Game of Thrones world? Check. I know I'm being harsh, but Shannara, least in my experience, really hasn't aged well. It's not the only fantasy series that uses LotR as inspiration, but unlike, say, Wheel of Time, it doesn't add nearly enough of its own material to make up for the deficit of originality.

So, that said, what does this book do to distinguish itself from other Shannara books? Well, it's the earliest book I've read in the timeline (well, read to completion at least), so this is before the Four Lands, where much of the world outside the given area is still a hellhole. So, there's some nice word-painting there. Oh, and a character uses an ATV that's somehow still functioning after 500 years, so, yay for that. And, um...yeah, I've really got nothing. Even if the story is set at least 500 years before Sword of Shannara (I'm not too up to date on the timeline), it's using the plot points from said work liberally, even if its setting is different. I've felt for a long time that the Shannara setting is literally too small, that because it takes place over such a narrow geographic area, there's only so many stories you can tell.

Is there even any point in me reading Shannara books at this point in time, when they've so far proven themselves to be bog standard fantasy? Looking at Brooks's bibliography, maybe the answer is no - he certainly seems to have gone for quanity over quality, and when his best book I've read is the second one ever written (Elfstones), then...yeah. Well, in the meantime, that's this book. Generic fantasy that uses generic plot, existing in a genre that's long stopped trying to imitate Tolkien.

 

[Agema]

One day, I'll read a Shannara novel that is "good" rather than "average" or in the case of First King, outright bad. Alas, this isn't the day.

I'm not sure you could manage that after Elfstones, and I fear that might not have survived the test of time as I read it 30 years ago.