Tangled Webs / Anne Bishop

Tangled Webs

category: horror, author:

Anne Bishop

book 6 of Black Jewels
original copyright 2008,
read in May 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 3 out of 10

This book is so bad that it's embarrassing.

The Outback Stars / Sandra McDonald

The Outback Stars

category: military science fiction, author:

Sandra McDonald

book 1 of three
original copyright 2007,
read in May 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10

There's a lot going on in this book... A lot to like, too.

First, there's the space ship. It is huge! Giant blocks of self-contained cities (or cargo holds), attached to a base, to form one enormous ship. If you have the power to push (not that there is any explanation of the power source) then why not push a lot. There's no friction in space, so no need to be neat, no need for aerodynamics.

The spaceships travel along mysterious rivers in space. Shortcuts between the stars. Created by a long-vanished alien race... Again, no explanations. The shortcuts simply exist.

One of the sub-plots is the search for better control of an alternative -- also alien, unexplained -- transportation system. A bit of mysticism here, with dream messages from Dreamtime spirits... Though that could as well be telepathic communications from the aliens, since this book is "science fiction".

Amongst all of this technology -- the real story is of the crew who work in Supply on the spaceship.

Bridge of Birds / Barry Hughart

Bridge of Birds

category: fantasy, author:

Barry Hughart

book 1 of Master Li and Number Ten Ox
original copyright 1984,
read in May 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10

Something different...

This is fantasy set in old China. Not in a post-apocalyptic, China now rules the world, reconstructed China. Nor an alternative, these aliens act Chinese China. But the "real" ancient China. The China of legend.

That said, perhaps the legends have been rewritten.

Did you ever watch Monkey? The TV series with the trouble-making monkey god, his companion Pigsie, others whose names escape me and the monk, who acts as Monkey's guide and conscience. Every episode a new adventure, a new villain. And many of the villains turned out to be demons.

Bridge of Birds is a bit like that: Over the top adventures with demonic enemies. Though without Monkey's terrible dubbing, thank goodness!

Death Masks / Jim Butcher

Death Masks

category: fantasy, action, author:

Jim Butcher

book 5 of The Dresden Files
original copyright 2003,
read in May 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 8 out of 10

After a few rather disappointing books -- it's great to get back to an enjoyable author! I've read a few of Butcher's books and enjoyed them all. Action, humour, magic and great characters...

I've categorised Death Masks as "fantasy, action"... I don't (yet?!) have a category for "crime". The whole Dresden Files series is gumshoe: hard-boiled private investigator with dames, booze, thugs and scheming evil villains... Philip Marlowe, I think, is the original. (Must read some Philip Marlowe books!)

The Dresden villains are particularly evil. When bad guys can be demons and other supernatural creatures, evil is easy to arrange. On the other hand, there are also some really, really, good, good guys. Ones who work for the angel who reports directly to God, for example.

Amongst all this, the author -- via PI and wizard Harry Dresden -- maintains an almost science fiction attitude: all these gods, demons, faeries, ogres, they are just creatures from alternate universes -- or planes of existence -- with their own powers and drives and rules.

Busted Flush / George R.R. Martin

Busted Flush

category: fantasy, author:

not really George R.R. Martin

book 19 of Wild Cards
original copyright 2008,
read in May 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 3 out of 10

Apparently, this is a "mosaic novel". That may mean, "Don't blame me, I only wrote some of it." Or possibly, "Be nice to me and I'll publish some of your work in 'my' next 'novel'."

It's "mosaic" because there are nine separate authors. Each author writes a series of related chapters. The series of related chapters are then interspersed to form a book. Perhaps, by the end of the book, the separate series of chapters somehow link together. Or perhaps not.

btw: None of the authors are George R.R. Martin.

A novel is a book of long narrative in literary prose. As far as I read, Busted Flush is a series of short stories. Perhaps they do -- eventually -- join up to form "a long narrative". Perhaps not. As far as I read it was a series of short stories and not a novel.

As a book, this is a comic.

All Tomorrow's Parties / William Gibson

All Tomorrow's Parties

category: science fiction, author:

William Gibson

original copyright 1999,
started reading in April 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 4 out of 10

The most interesting thing about this book is the word map generated by my review:

The map was generated by Wordle... What a brilliant idea! I simply pasted in the text of the review...

Then found that the word "good" was highly visible. I had used "good" in the negative sense, of "no good reason" to read the book. Yet the single word "good" leaped out of the word map...

Just goes to show: It's not the words that give meaning, it's the way we use those words.

btw: The above map was generated by pasting the text -- with the word "good" removed. So the map is meaningless but at least it is not misleading.

---

I started reading this book. Found it a bit hard to get into it, read another. Read a couple more. Read a few more chapters of this book. Gave it away as a bad job.

Near future science fiction: don't like it. Miserable characters: no thanks. Confusing story with random jumps to unexplained situations: need a good reason to read on... I found no good reason.

I don't know what was going on. I don't know who the characters were, neither the ones we met nor the ones referred to by the characters we did meet.

Gave up reading.

..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.

Carpe Jugulum / Terry Pratchett

Carpe Jugulum

category: fantasy, author:

Terry Pratchett

book 23 of Discworld
original copyright 1998,
read in May 2011 (and before, a couple of years ago)

Agamedes' opinion: 8 out of 10

Witches versus vampires... It's either another Discworld story... or the missing volume of the Twilight series...

Okay, it's Discworld number 23. And if it's Discworld, why is it not fantasy and humour? Because this book is far too serious to be classified as "humour".

Dragonmaster / Chris Bunch

Dragonmaster

omnibus edition, with:

Storm of Wings (2002)

Knighthood of the Dragon (2003)

The Last Battle (2004)

category: fantasy, military, author:

Chris Bunch

books 1, 2 and 3 of Dragonmaster
original copyright 2002, 2003 and 2004,
read in April 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 8 out of 10

I had to rethink that rating, 8 out of 10. First I typed 7... then 8. It's not really a great book. What it has, though, is enough good distinguishing features to lift it just a bit higher than "well worth reading".

And another decision: Is it military fantasy? The three stories follow a young man who joins the army, creates an effective dragon air force and fights a whole lot of battles. The military efforts are central to the books. But the books are more than "just" military.

Possibly, the military aspects are just a bit weak for a true military fantasy...

The cover of this omnibus edition says, "A banquet of blood and thunder". That is very true. Yet there is a whole lot more.

The Colour of Magic [and] Sourcery / Terry Pratchett

The Colour of Magic

and

Sourcery

category: fantasy, author:

Terry Pratchett

books 1 and 5 of Discworld
original copyright 1983 & 1988,
read in April 2011 (and before, in about 2009)

Agamedes' opinion: 6 and 8 out of 10

What can you say about The Colour of Magic? This is the first ever Discworld book: funny, clever, imaginative... And yet...

The Colour of Magic has the strengths of later Discworld books -- and the weaknesses. More particularly, one weakness: Rincewind the loser.

It is very difficult to enjoy a book about a loser. What is there to enjoy -- other than the suffering of the "hero"?! It may be funny. It is also uncomfortably painful.

On the other hand, there are the puns, the outrageous characters, the ridiculous rip-offs of stereotypical situations... Pure Discworld though still learning.

Read it to enjoy it. More importantly, read Colour for its place in Discworld history.

Then read Sourcery for pure enjoyment...

Why is Sourcery better that Colour?

Canberra's Best Bush, Park & City Walks / Marion Stuart

Canberra's Best Bush, Park & City Walks

category: travel, author:

Marion Stuart

maps by Tony Fakira
one of Woodslane's outdoor guides
original copyright 2010,
read in April 2011

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10

Okay, I didn't read much of this. It's a library book, borrowed as we look for somewhere to go for a holiday. Canberra is probably not on our itinerary... so I just skimmed the book for general interest.

From what I can see... it's quite a good book. There's an overall map -- well, several -- so you get an idea of what walks are where. Maps, pictures, words. Descriptions of each walk with perhaps enough detail to be enough detail. (As I said, I just skimmed!)

Going to Canberra? Get the book. Thinking of visiting Kosciuszko, Sydney, the Blue Mountains? Go to the Woodslane website and check out their other travel books... the standard seems to be, quite good.

..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.