I have finished Anathem.
I am still processing it and so will not give it a score yet. It has marvellous ideas, and challenges the reader. My complaint is that because of the way it is written, there are times when the reader becomes a little disassociated from the action.
Solid SF, with hints of A Canticle for Leibowitz and that is no bad thing at all.
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Showing posts with label books. Show all posts
Monday, October 06, 2008
Shike (9/10)
Robert Shea
Historical Fiction
I have just re-read the two books in the Shike series Time of the Dragons and Last of the Zinja and they have reminded me that Robert Shea was far better than either Eric Van Lustbader or Lian Hearn at the whole Martial Art / Historical Fiction genre. This guy is up there with James Clavell (Shogun, Tai-pan) for compulsive page turning classics.
The story is set in Japan in the 12th Century, and is a tale of a warrior monk and a noblewoman who fall in and out of trouble. The story includes the Genpei War and the invasion of Japan by the Mongols.
If you liked any of the authors mentioned above, then I recommend you hunt down a second-hand copy, as it is currently out of print. It is also availiable for free at bobshea.net
Quality 4.5/5
Readibility 4.5/5
Tuesday, October 02, 2007
The Summer Queen (8.5/10)
Joan D. Vinge
Science Fiction
The Summer Queen is the kind of book I really enjoy reading. It begins in small parts of complex and original world, and slowly expands the readers understanding of that world until the final framework is laid clear.
This book is the final book in the so called “Snow Queen” sequence. I had read the Snow Queen many years ago, and I will now be looking for a copy of World’s End, the second in this series. Reading the first two books may or may not have increased the power of the final novel, as I quite enjoy working out was has gone before just from the asides in the story.
The first third of the book is somewhat stop-start as the author is trying to cover important events that occur over a span of years, but as the pace slows the quality of the story increases, and I found myself glued to the book for the final third enjoying myself immensely.
The book has strong characters, and is an excellent space opera in a similar tone to Walter Jon Williams at his best. Extremely good read…
Quality 4/5
Readibility 4.5/5
Science Fiction
The Summer Queen is the kind of book I really enjoy reading. It begins in small parts of complex and original world, and slowly expands the readers understanding of that world until the final framework is laid clear.
This book is the final book in the so called “Snow Queen” sequence. I had read the Snow Queen many years ago, and I will now be looking for a copy of World’s End, the second in this series. Reading the first two books may or may not have increased the power of the final novel, as I quite enjoy working out was has gone before just from the asides in the story.
The first third of the book is somewhat stop-start as the author is trying to cover important events that occur over a span of years, but as the pace slows the quality of the story increases, and I found myself glued to the book for the final third enjoying myself immensely.
The book has strong characters, and is an excellent space opera in a similar tone to Walter Jon Williams at his best. Extremely good read…
Quality 4/5
Readibility 4.5/5
Thursday, September 20, 2007
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows (7.5/10)
J.K. Rowling
Fantasy
I found the final Harry P novel a difficult one to read. The story seemed to have moved away from Hogwarts (and quiddich, etc.), and this left it without its core. In addition to this I felt that the time that Harry, Hermione and Ron spent in the wilderness was boring and caused the book to lose momentum. I recognize that this may have been an intentional device by the author to make the reader feel some of the suffering that Harry felt, but frankly I think there are better ways to work with your readers.
I also felt that once again J.K.R. was making it up as she went along and that story elements from past novels where being used in ways they had not been originally intended.
I was however pleased with the resolution of the Snape storyline, the plot has always benfited from Snape, with his ambivalent morality, and the final reveal was a good one. I do feel that more hints about this could have been left earlier in the books.
The finale was very good, and certainly worthy of the series, I was not surprised by the resurrection theme, as Harry was clearly going to die, and I felt that the author had no intentions of letting that bring down the whole series.
Would have liked a bit more dialogue between Harry and Ginny towards the end as well, that seemed to finish with words left unsaid…
Ultimately I believe that the great writers have a very good idea of where they are going when they begin their stories and I felt that JKR was staying only a book ahead of the readers in her plot planning. Tough? perhaps, but it was a constant concern with me from about book 3 of this series.
Readability (4/5) – Lost points for the boring bit in the middle, but the rest was easy to read.
Quality (3.5/5) – She made it up as she went along (with the probable exception of the Snape storyline).
Fantasy
I found the final Harry P novel a difficult one to read. The story seemed to have moved away from Hogwarts (and quiddich, etc.), and this left it without its core. In addition to this I felt that the time that Harry, Hermione and Ron spent in the wilderness was boring and caused the book to lose momentum. I recognize that this may have been an intentional device by the author to make the reader feel some of the suffering that Harry felt, but frankly I think there are better ways to work with your readers.
I also felt that once again J.K.R. was making it up as she went along and that story elements from past novels where being used in ways they had not been originally intended.
I was however pleased with the resolution of the Snape storyline, the plot has always benfited from Snape, with his ambivalent morality, and the final reveal was a good one. I do feel that more hints about this could have been left earlier in the books.
The finale was very good, and certainly worthy of the series, I was not surprised by the resurrection theme, as Harry was clearly going to die, and I felt that the author had no intentions of letting that bring down the whole series.
Would have liked a bit more dialogue between Harry and Ginny towards the end as well, that seemed to finish with words left unsaid…
Ultimately I believe that the great writers have a very good idea of where they are going when they begin their stories and I felt that JKR was staying only a book ahead of the readers in her plot planning. Tough? perhaps, but it was a constant concern with me from about book 3 of this series.
Readability (4/5) – Lost points for the boring bit in the middle, but the rest was easy to read.
Quality (3.5/5) – She made it up as she went along (with the probable exception of the Snape storyline).
Little Heroes (6.5/10)
Norman Spinrad
Science Fiction
The future of sex and drugs and rock & roll is the topic of discussion here. Despite a typically gritty and powerful effort from Mr. Spinrad it became somewhat repetitive toward the middle of the book and the final scene was dissapoiting. It is also somewhat dated by references to modems, rather than an internet, but the quality of the writing allowed that point to slide by in my opinion.
The book seemed to be somewhat limited in scope as well, with the whole world of the characters somewhat obsessed with sex and drugs and rock & roll.
Readability (4/5)
Quality (2.5/5)
Science Fiction
The future of sex and drugs and rock & roll is the topic of discussion here. Despite a typically gritty and powerful effort from Mr. Spinrad it became somewhat repetitive toward the middle of the book and the final scene was dissapoiting. It is also somewhat dated by references to modems, rather than an internet, but the quality of the writing allowed that point to slide by in my opinion.
The book seemed to be somewhat limited in scope as well, with the whole world of the characters somewhat obsessed with sex and drugs and rock & roll.
Readability (4/5)
Quality (2.5/5)
Friday, February 03, 2006
Thud! (9/10)
Terry Pratchett
Comedy / Fantasy
Discworld novels are in danger of being taken for granted. It is only when you read the book after a discworld novel that you realize how damm god they are. Thud is a Night Watch / Sam Vimes novel and continues in the fine traditions of these novels with the Watch expanding to accept even more types of coppers. The back of the Hardcover is an advertisement for the children’s novel that Sam Vimes reads to his son (“Where’s my cow?”) and I can see that coming out as well.
The story deals with relations between dwarves and trolls and is all good fun, my only concern is that discworld technology will overtake our technology very soon. The ‘Gooseberry’ PDA that Sam uses has ‘Bluenose™’ Integrated Messenger Service to interface with the clacks towers, which is a little twee.
Terry Pratchett books are like chocolate, you always consume them too fast and then desperately want more.
Readability (4.5/5)
Quality (4.5/5)
Comedy / Fantasy
Discworld novels are in danger of being taken for granted. It is only when you read the book after a discworld novel that you realize how damm god they are. Thud is a Night Watch / Sam Vimes novel and continues in the fine traditions of these novels with the Watch expanding to accept even more types of coppers. The back of the Hardcover is an advertisement for the children’s novel that Sam Vimes reads to his son (“Where’s my cow?”) and I can see that coming out as well.
The story deals with relations between dwarves and trolls and is all good fun, my only concern is that discworld technology will overtake our technology very soon. The ‘Gooseberry’ PDA that Sam uses has ‘Bluenose™’ Integrated Messenger Service to interface with the clacks towers, which is a little twee.
Terry Pratchett books are like chocolate, you always consume them too fast and then desperately want more.
Readability (4.5/5)
Quality (4.5/5)
Tuesday, January 31, 2006
Judas Unchained (7.5/10)
Peter Hamilton
Science Fiction
After the excitement and scope of Pandora’s Star this was a little bit of a let down. The book was not too bad, but did little to expand upon the wondrous scope exposed in the first novel. Ozzie’s journey to the Silfen is almost completely pointless and rather unjustifiable. The major characters engage in a huge battle with the Primes, killing millions and in the end little is resolved. All good Space Operey stuff, but perhaps could have used some tighter editing.
Upon reflection this is much tighter that his last series (“Night’s Dawn”) and so I suppose we can view that as progress.
Readability (4/5)
Quality (3.5/5)
Science Fiction
After the excitement and scope of Pandora’s Star this was a little bit of a let down. The book was not too bad, but did little to expand upon the wondrous scope exposed in the first novel. Ozzie’s journey to the Silfen is almost completely pointless and rather unjustifiable. The major characters engage in a huge battle with the Primes, killing millions and in the end little is resolved. All good Space Operey stuff, but perhaps could have used some tighter editing.
Upon reflection this is much tighter that his last series (“Night’s Dawn”) and so I suppose we can view that as progress.
Readability (4/5)
Quality (3.5/5)
Schild's Ladder (4.5/10)
Greg Egan
Science Fiction
Greg Egan's novels always have a great idea, which is inadequately supported by the plot; his latest effort is no exception. The idea is again wonderful, with a universe being consumed by another universe (growing at half the speed of light). The people in this far future novel have almost evolved beyond our ability to empathize with them, they interact using 'mediators' to translate and agree on interface parameters and cultural norms. There are worlds whose entire populations go into 'slow time' so that a single person can travel the universe and return without apparent time-debt.
These are wonderful ideas but they are not supported by the writing, and ultimately the story gets a little bit silly.
A worthy vision of the future, but I just didn't care...
Readibility (1/5)
Quality (3.5/5)
Science Fiction
Greg Egan's novels always have a great idea, which is inadequately supported by the plot; his latest effort is no exception. The idea is again wonderful, with a universe being consumed by another universe (growing at half the speed of light). The people in this far future novel have almost evolved beyond our ability to empathize with them, they interact using 'mediators' to translate and agree on interface parameters and cultural norms. There are worlds whose entire populations go into 'slow time' so that a single person can travel the universe and return without apparent time-debt.
These are wonderful ideas but they are not supported by the writing, and ultimately the story gets a little bit silly.
A worthy vision of the future, but I just didn't care...
Readibility (1/5)
Quality (3.5/5)
Wednesday, January 11, 2006
A Feast for Crows (8/10)
George R.R.Martin
Fantasy
You need to have read the previous books to even bother with this one. Despite that, the author seems to spend far too long summarizing past events, possibly due to the hideous number of characters in this story.
George R.R. Martin does his best to kill off more this time around, and one is left certain that getting attached to characters in this book is a good way to get depressed. Thankfully the resurrection theme does not get too much of a mention in this book, as I felt this was the weakest part of the previous novel (along with the obsessive references to heraldry).
The lack of the story arcs to the North and the East are a pity, but overall this is still a good read, with characters that are far too realistic and nasty. They are people who do not follow blindly and the fact that they are all too human makes this story a compelling read.
Readibility (4/5)
Quality (4/5)
Fantasy
You need to have read the previous books to even bother with this one. Despite that, the author seems to spend far too long summarizing past events, possibly due to the hideous number of characters in this story.
George R.R. Martin does his best to kill off more this time around, and one is left certain that getting attached to characters in this book is a good way to get depressed. Thankfully the resurrection theme does not get too much of a mention in this book, as I felt this was the weakest part of the previous novel (along with the obsessive references to heraldry).
The lack of the story arcs to the North and the East are a pity, but overall this is still a good read, with characters that are far too realistic and nasty. They are people who do not follow blindly and the fact that they are all too human makes this story a compelling read.
Readibility (4/5)
Quality (4/5)
A Transatlantic Tunnel, Hurrah (4/10)
Harry Harrison
Science Fiction / Alternate History
This was not that good. The premise was that America was still a English colony and that they were building a transatlantic tunnel (Hurrah?). The story has some nice technologies (It does have Babbage engines, mobile phones and mag lev trains which were all rather cool) but was written in a “heroic fantasy” kind of style. The heroes are larger than life and their exploits are just a bit too wonderful. Took me a while to get around to reading this one and I will now sell it off.
Readibility (2/5)
Quality (2/5)
Science Fiction / Alternate History
This was not that good. The premise was that America was still a English colony and that they were building a transatlantic tunnel (Hurrah?). The story has some nice technologies (It does have Babbage engines, mobile phones and mag lev trains which were all rather cool) but was written in a “heroic fantasy” kind of style. The heroes are larger than life and their exploits are just a bit too wonderful. Took me a while to get around to reading this one and I will now sell it off.
Readibility (2/5)
Quality (2/5)
Thursday, January 20, 2005
Cowl (6/10)
Neal Asher
Science Fiction
This books contains time travel. It should also be placed on the book on a sticker as a warning. Time travel if not handled with care can lead to extremely confusing plots and this book certainly has this issue. Cowl begins strongly with some interesting characters, but then become less intelligible as the book begins to lose control. There are ideas and concepts here there that I was not able to follow and the ending seemed to leave a large number of questions unanswered. There were also minor characters in the book whose point of view we had the story told from for no particularly good reason. These characters were added (I suspect) to flesh out this novel from a novella.
Readibility (2.5/5)
Quality (3.5/5)
Science Fiction
This books contains time travel. It should also be placed on the book on a sticker as a warning. Time travel if not handled with care can lead to extremely confusing plots and this book certainly has this issue. Cowl begins strongly with some interesting characters, but then become less intelligible as the book begins to lose control. There are ideas and concepts here there that I was not able to follow and the ending seemed to leave a large number of questions unanswered. There were also minor characters in the book whose point of view we had the story told from for no particularly good reason. These characters were added (I suspect) to flesh out this novel from a novella.
Readibility (2.5/5)
Quality (3.5/5)
Wednesday, January 12, 2005
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell (8.5/10)
David Brin
Science Fiction
This book is written in a fake-historial style, with plenty of footnotes. The footnotes were often used to hold various stories of farie, the type of stories where the humans usually end up dead/permanently disfigured.
I liked it, it created a nice history of magic in Britan (mostly false, but still good). A critisim might be that the story has little in the way of a great central plot, but if you are the type of reader that can enjoy the journey (i.e. readers of Neal Stephenson) rather than the ending, then this is a good fantasy novel that is a great read. It is nice to see magic being brought into the historical novel, makes it far more interested from my point of view.
Readibility (4.5/5)
Quality (4/5)
Science Fiction
This book is written in a fake-historial style, with plenty of footnotes. The footnotes were often used to hold various stories of farie, the type of stories where the humans usually end up dead/permanently disfigured.
I liked it, it created a nice history of magic in Britan (mostly false, but still good). A critisim might be that the story has little in the way of a great central plot, but if you are the type of reader that can enjoy the journey (i.e. readers of Neal Stephenson) rather than the ending, then this is a good fantasy novel that is a great read. It is nice to see magic being brought into the historical novel, makes it far more interested from my point of view.
Readibility (4.5/5)
Quality (4/5)
Monday, December 06, 2004
Dragon Prince (6.5/10)
Melanie Rawn
Fantasy
This is Fantasy from a woman's perspective, which gives us well written female characters, and male characters that are a little one-dimensional. This first book is very definately setting all the pieces in place, and will not let anything get in the road. Lots of characters but they all seem to be easily remembered, a fact that does not continue to the later books in this series.
That said, it was a fairly enjoyable read, it has an original magic device, and lots of fantasy mainstays (battles, princes, dragons).
Readibility 3.5/5
Quality 3/5
Fantasy
This is Fantasy from a woman's perspective, which gives us well written female characters, and male characters that are a little one-dimensional. This first book is very definately setting all the pieces in place, and will not let anything get in the road. Lots of characters but they all seem to be easily remembered, a fact that does not continue to the later books in this series.
That said, it was a fairly enjoyable read, it has an original magic device, and lots of fantasy mainstays (battles, princes, dragons).
Readibility 3.5/5
Quality 3/5
Thursday, December 02, 2004
Quicksilver (9/10)
Neal Stephenson
Historical, Science Fiction
Neal Stephenson is a smart man who wants his readers to be smart people too. His books educate and make you want to learn more about the subjects at hand, often throwing in lessons along the way.
Quicksilver looks at the development of alchemy into philosophy, Isaac Newton and Currency in a rollicking ride through the 15th & 16th Centuries.
The story wanders constantly down little alleys that do little to advance the plot but are always worth the time taken. When reading this book it is important that you focus on "enjoying the journey," as the author (despite his protests) does not have the best way with endings in the world and often leaves the reader feeling somewhat flat.
Nonetheless, this is but the first part of a trilogy and it leaves the reader desperate for more, and extremely interested in the historical events surrounding the novel. I spent some time looking at the history of the Royal family of the time.
Readability 4/5
Quality 5/5
Historical, Science Fiction
Neal Stephenson is a smart man who wants his readers to be smart people too. His books educate and make you want to learn more about the subjects at hand, often throwing in lessons along the way.
Quicksilver looks at the development of alchemy into philosophy, Isaac Newton and Currency in a rollicking ride through the 15th & 16th Centuries.
The story wanders constantly down little alleys that do little to advance the plot but are always worth the time taken. When reading this book it is important that you focus on "enjoying the journey," as the author (despite his protests) does not have the best way with endings in the world and often leaves the reader feeling somewhat flat.
Nonetheless, this is but the first part of a trilogy and it leaves the reader desperate for more, and extremely interested in the historical events surrounding the novel. I spent some time looking at the history of the Royal family of the time.
Readability 4/5
Quality 5/5
Good Omens (9.5/10)
Terry Pratchett & Neil Gaiman
Comedy, Fantasy
How could I hate this book, it is the work of two of my most favorite authors, and even has a bit of religious trivia to boot. It reads very easily and is a laugh to read, especially the part about the "other" four bikers of the apocalypse.
In brief it is a story of the end of the world, from the point of view of the Snake, the Angel and the 11-year-old antichrist. The book has the magical air that Neil Gaiman brings to anything he writes, and combines it with the intelligent, insightful wit of Pratchett.
Sadly the authors say that they will never collaborate again due to distance, but we can always live in hope.
Readability 5/5
Quality 4.5/5
Comedy, Fantasy
How could I hate this book, it is the work of two of my most favorite authors, and even has a bit of religious trivia to boot. It reads very easily and is a laugh to read, especially the part about the "other" four bikers of the apocalypse.
In brief it is a story of the end of the world, from the point of view of the Snake, the Angel and the 11-year-old antichrist. The book has the magical air that Neil Gaiman brings to anything he writes, and combines it with the intelligent, insightful wit of Pratchett.
Sadly the authors say that they will never collaborate again due to distance, but we can always live in hope.
Readability 5/5
Quality 4.5/5
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