The Space Merchants / Frederick Pohl & C.M.Kornbluth

The Space Merchants

category: science fiction, author:

Frederick Pohl & C.M.Kornbluth

original copyright 1952,
read in November 2010 (and before, in July 2007)

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

Six out of ten? "Six", meaning, "read to pass the time"? Thirty years ago I may have given it a seven but now, it seems a bit too over-the-top to be "well worth reading". Still, the message is still good.

That's the problem with "Masterworks" -- they may have been great in their time but sometimes that time has passed. Or, perhaps, my time has passed for reading this book.

The book presents a simple message: The world is going to hell in a hand basket because money is seen as more important than environment and quality of life. The message is simple and it is still valid. Perhaps that's a part of the problem.

We have a Mamas and the Papas CD. The Ms&Ps sing about dancing in the streets. According to the song, this open air festivity will cure the world of all evil... And yet the world -- so many years on that most if not all of the Ms&Ps are now dead -- the world is still full of evil.

It's the same with The Space Merchants: the simplistic answer was not implemented, it may not have worked anyway, the world is still driven by consumerism ahead of conservation.

The consumerism versus conservation war still rages but the field of battle has changed. Reading The Space Merchants reminds us that we have not yet reached hell but the war continues.

The book itself is heavy going at the start. Again, perhaps because it takes a stretch of the imagination to get past the failure of the predictions made. The reader has to read about the world as described and apply the plot to the world as it has actually developed. I also had trouble believing the extreme view of the then-future consumerist society.

Once the imagination has been stretched and belief correctly suspended, this is a good book.

Perhaps The Space Merchants is worth seven out of ten? When it was written -- and for many more years -- it was "eight", "really quite good". I believe that this book suffers due to comparison with the actual track of the predicted future.

Perhaps you should read it and form your own opinion.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

Dark Heart / Margaret Weis & David Baldwin

Dark Heart

category: fantasy, author:

Margaret Weis & David Baldwin

book 1 of Dragon's Disciple
original copyright 1998,
read in November 2010 (and before, in August 2005)

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10

It's five years since I first read this book. On the re-reading it was familiar -- but not enough to spoil my enjoyment. And I definitely gained something from the second reading...

Justin works for The Dragon. Sandra is still recovering from an abusive husband. This time, I could see the similarity even before it was announced by the author...

That's a benefit of a second reading: I find extra depth -- sometimes extra idiocy! -- after the often-too-fast first reading.

So what's it all about? Well...

Weis writes about dragons... I can see that during a quick browse of the "W" shelf at my local library. Dragons are traditionally associated with (or against) men scantily clad in leather armour and wielding huge swords. Sure enough, there's the man-with-sword -- fighting dragon -- on the front cover of this book.

And then it gets non-traditional...

Perhaps Baldwin writes tough-city-detective pot-boilers? I don't like to look until I've written my own views. At a guess, though, Weis put her name to a dragon book and Baldwin set the book in his familiar tough city streets of modern-day Chicago. ("Assume the position, punk. You know the position." The punk knew the position.)

This requires an interesting take on dragons... And makes for an enjoyable book with a mix of background expectations.

Perhaps the tough Chicago cop scene is overdrawn. The main characters unbelievably good and unbelievably evil. (I do like the way the evil guy punishes his errant henchman. Though it still makes me wince in sympathy.) Perhaps it just takes a while to adjust to fantasy extremes in a modern city setting? Or is the style just a bit too melodramatic...

Why do all of the mysterious but helpful strangers have to be Chinese? Has there been no intermarriage in the last few centuries?! And why do nice people have to die? Okay, I have a strong preference for books where they all live happily ever after :-)

Not a great book but a very enjoyable book. I hope that Book Two was actually written... and I look forward to tracking it down and following the story further.

---

Oh well.

I like to write my review before I search the web for background information... Keep my opinions untainted... And now I have discovered three facts:

(1) David Baldwin is Margaret Weis' son, (2) There is no Dragon's Disciple book two, and (3) David Baldwin is deceased.

Behind every story is another story.

True life can also have unhappy endings.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

Tarzan of the Apes / Edgar Rice Burroughs

Tarzan of the Apes

category: fantasy, author:

Edgar Rice Burroughs

introduction by John Seelye
book 1 of Tarzan
original copyright 1914,
read in November 2010
(and only once before, a couple of years ago)

Agamedes' opinion: 9 out of 10

Agamedes' opinion is 9 out of 10, "really, really good". Is that really, really true?

Well, I enjoyed it. Very, very much. And, as it says, it's "opinion". Enjoyment has a strong effect on my opinion. Still...

It is so very unbelievable! But then, it's fantasy.

There are errors of fact! Plants and animals in Tarzan's jungle which normally live in a different environment -- or on a different continent. But it's fantasy!

This time through, I noticed something new (to me). "The Apes" are not apes of any common genus... Without really thinking about it, I had in my mind that Tarzan was raised by gorillas: the largest of the primates. Yet Tarzan's Apes swing through the treetops. And they battle with their traditional enemies -- the gorillas!

One more layer added to this fantasy: In the depths of the unexplored jungle is a tribe of giant apes. Apes which have never been seen before... or since.

Okay, now it seems obvious. But it was new to me, the realisation that Tarzan was reared by Apes which only exist in the fantasy world of the Tarzan stories.

Ridiculous characters. Over-the-top characterisations. Racial and badly dated stereotypes. Unbelievable action... Yes! It's absolutely great!

Tarzan is fantasy, action, adventure, romance... Pure escapist fun. Read Tarzan of the Apes, perhaps be embarrassed by it... enjoy it.

Oh, and there's a bonus!

I read the Penguin Classic edition of Tarzan. There are explanatory notes -- and they actually help the reader!

Earlier, I read Wells' The Sleeper Awakes, in Penguin Classic edition. The notes were printed -- intrusively -- in the text. And the notes were worthless: self evident at best and with no notes for the truly confusing parts of that book.

Seelye has done a good job of producing interesting notes which actually add to the reader's understanding of -- or interest in -- the book. Then there's his Introduction... which is a fascinating examination of the evolution of the "wild man" in literature. An examination which is almost incomprehensible to the reader who has not studied the topic! Yet it still provides enough interest to be worthwhile.

Thinking about it... Perhaps "9 out of ten" is too much. It's not a great book.

Not a great book in the sense that it is well written and it stands alone as a shining example of the skill of the superior author.

Yet, as a very enjoyable book... Taking fantasy out to new horizons and back home for enjoyment by hordes of readers... As the precursor to a score of popular books and uncountable other media releases... As a book which is widely known and well remembered (if only indirectly) a century after its publication...

Tarzan of the Apes is very, very good. Well worth that 9 out of 10.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

The Braided Path / Chris Wooding

The Braided Path

including:

1. The Weavers of Saramyr
   
2. The Skein of Lament
   
3. The Ascendancy Veil
   

category: fantasy, author:

Chris Wooding

book 1, 2 and 3 of The Braided Path original copyright 2003, 04 & 05, read in October/November 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 9 out of 10

Interesting... As I considered my "opinion" I realised that each book was different -- but the three together added up to an excellent read! For the record:

• Eight out of ten for The Weavers of Saramyr
  
• Seven for The Skein of Lament
  
• Eight for The Ascendancy Veil
  

What?! Eight, seven, eight ... to give an overall score of nine?! Absolutely!

Weavers was a good fantasy yarn: Action, characters, climax, resolution. All set in an interesting world. Skein continued the story -- and expanded the world. Uh oh! Is the author simply trying to add more "excitement" by introducing new monsters? For example, when going from point A to point B, why do the heroes have to cross a demon infested swamp?!

But there was a point to the swamp -- an action which helped the heroine to grow, to develop her powers. Still, this second book has a touch of the monsters being included just to pad out an otherwise boring chapter...

Then you read the third book and it all falls into place.

Major plot threads are brought to satisfying conclusions. Major and minor confusions are explained. The significance of apparently minor actions is fitted into the whole.

Yes, the battles are violent, death count is huge, action is non-stop. On the other hand, there is a feeling that battles, deaths and actions are all essential to the plot.

I would have read and enjoyed any one of these books by itself. The second, not as much as the others. Taken as a whole, the three books make for a tightly crafted, easy to read and hard to put down, thoroughly enjoyable story. The whole is, indeed, greater than the sum of the parts!

The world is changing in Saramyr. What was commonly accepted at the start has been turned upside down -- or thrown out -- by the end. Yet the people and the civilisation will survive. There is a consistency in the world, strong enough to make me believe that the civilisation of Saramyr will be rebuilt. The same, yet different, due to the events described in these books.

And that is one of the strengths of The Braided Path: the world is so believable that I am happy to accept that Saramyr will be rebuilt. Still not perfect but with some major problems removed.

The characters, too, have depth and consistency.

There are fighters and magic users and leaders and negotiators. All play their parts, without having to play other, less logical parts. The "diplomat", for example, is not a fighter. She plays an essential -- and non-violent -- role. The magic user can fight, but not particularly well. The characters are human, with a variety of skills, but they are not super-human. (Well, yes, some are. But they are each limited in their super-human skills.)

There are goodies and baddies. Some of the goodies have their own agendas, hidden or otherwise. They support each other and betray each other. And it all seems to be so perfectly reasonable... They act in a very human fashion. Consistently inconsistent. With no"unexpected plot twists" where the author has lost the plot...

Better yet, there is obvious room for more books. One threat removed, another -- a logical follow-on from these three books -- will soon need to be countered. If Wooding has written another Saramyr trilogy -- I look forward to reading it.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

The War of the Dwarves / Markus Heitz

The War of the Dwarves

category: fantasy, author:

Markus Heitz (translated by Sally-Ann Spencer)

book 2 of The Dwarves
original copyright 2004, translated from German in 2010
read in October 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

I read The Dwarves a few months ago and found it to be excellent. The War of the Dwarves is... a bit of a disappointment.

It's still a lot of fun to have a story told from a Dwarf perspective. There are still some good Dwarf characters. And the Dwarven hero finally gets his Dwarven girl.

Unfortunately, Heitz has taken a rollicking adventure -- and built on it.

First up, there are too many strands to this story:

The first book began -- as many fantasies do -- with a hero setting forth on an adventure. Along the way, the hero meets other people -- of various races and abilities -- and a group is formed. The group splits, only to be reunited at the climactic conclusion...

At the start of this second book -- The War of the Dwarves -- there are already a number of plot strands in place. Heitz follows these... and coherence is lost.

Yes, Tungdil the hero plays a major role in the story. Yet there are a dozen or more others who pop in and out of the narrative: friends, villains, kings, elves, dwarves and men. Worse yet, whole armies seem to appear as though from nowhere! Not really "nowhere", but the distance between points seems to grow and shrink at the author's whim: armies march for weeks in one direction then apparently take only days to return... Perhaps I simply did not pay enough attention to the geography!?

Then there are the names... Okay, I managed to keep track of most of the place names. After a fashion. But the elvish, dwarvish and human people names were just too much for me. Take the necessarily different naming styles of the major races. Add multi-part names, alternate names and alternate ways in which each name is used. With, perhaps, Germanic overtones... I just could not keep track of who was who.

A second or third reading -- or a slower and more careful first reading -- would sort out who was doing what to whom. On the other hand -- the book does not warrant a second reading.

Take a first book with interesting characters and strong action. Add more battle scenes, up the death count, unexpectedly kill off key characters -- and a lot of the book's enjoyment is lost.

The War of the Dwarves is just too violent, too realistic in its death count. Too over-the-top to be enjoyed. Okay, too over-the-top to be enjoyed by me. I like my fantasy to be more fantastic and less violent. Or at least less violent to the characters that I have come to like. War is a violent, almost non-stop, battle.

The Dwarves was an enjoyable adventure with the added perspective of the dwarven perspective. The War of the Dwarves adds somewhat to the dwarven story -- but at the expense of plot. Along the way, some of the enjoyment has been lost.

Still... There are plenty of indications that book three is on its way. I will probably read it. I just hope that the battles are toned down and the story depends more on plot than on violence.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.