Slow Train to Arcturus / Eric Flint and Dave Freer

Slow Train to Arcturus
by Eric Flint and Dave Freer

science fiction
copyright 2008
read in February 2013

rated 6 out of 10: read to pass the time

This book begins well, with the story told from an alien perspective. So we get an outsider's view of humanity, plus an insight into an alien society.

So far, so good.

Then the point of view shifts. And shifts again. And again... Does this help us to understand the actions and attitudes of the various characters? Or is it simply a lazy way to allow two authors to write one book?

The multiple points of view are not confusing. I just wonder why it's done. And wonder if it also adds to the flatness of the story: We understand all points of view, so there is less stress, less doubt, less tension.

The "slow train" concept is good, solid science fiction. Pity the authors gave it so little attention. As they admit in a brief introduction, they had to write within their knowledge.

So Slow Train is a story of the strengths and weaknesses of closed societies. With a final message which is, essentially, the benefits of cross-fertilisation.

The authors have used a multi-generation space ship as a means to isolate a number of social experiments.

At first I thought, cheap trick. Use a good science fiction idea to allow the authors to pick holes in a whole lot of different social ideas. On the plus side, they did pull together the best of each society in order to save the nice aliens' bacon.

Having read about a third of the book, my thoughts turned to stereotypes... I was beginning to tire of the stock-standard characters and their attitudes. Other than the space ship, Slow Train was offering nothing new.

A few pages further on and I thought, these are not stereotypes -- these are caricatures.

Wait a minute, I thought, is this book intended to be *funny* ?!

I'm still not sure.

Is Slow Train to Arcturus intended to be funny? Should I have been reading -- and laughing? I hope not...

Slow Train is a mix of stereotypes and caricatures. Fighting to help some likeable -- and interesting -- aliens. Fighting against people who, interestingly enough, don't care whether or not the aliens are saved.

In other words...

The action is driven by aliens. The conflict is driven by human social choices, with no interest in aliens. The setting is a space ship which could as easily have been a large city with high internal walls...

Several good ideas, lots more weak ideas, all thrown in the pot. A bit of stirring and hope that the flavours add up to a meal worth eating.

Easy to read. You feel satisfied at the end. I just wish that the authors had put more effort into matching the ingredients.

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"Common sense is what tells you that the world is flat"--per Ginger Meggs

Money for Nothing / P.G.Wodehouse

Money for Nothing
by P.G.Wodehouse

humour

copyright 1928
read in February 2013
rated 8 out of 10: really quite good

English country folk from upstairs and down, described with humour and affection. American con artists shown as cunning but not evil. Confusion, coincidences and -- surprisingly -- some almost cave-man action.

Yes, this is vintage Wodehouse. (Is there any other form of Wodehouse?!)

It struck me as I read the eminently satisfactory conclusion, that the world of Wodehouse is a little more fixed than I would expect in a more modern novel.

Sure, the various problems are all resolved. Yet there is no shifting of the relative positions of the characters. If one is a Lord at the start then one is a Lord at the end. There is no chance that a pauper will turn out to be a Prince who was exchanged as a baby. Case in point...

The hero begins the story as the obvious person who should inherit the estate. The actual heir has no interest in managing the history and the economics of a rich country estate. And at the end of the book -- there is no change.

The hero will continue to manage the estate. The heir will eventually inherit and continue his disinterest. There is not even the hint of the possibility of a change.

And there is not even the slightest hint of any jealousy on the part of the hero. He will continue to manage and protect the estate, on behalf of its owner.

A glowing, rosy world.

A Wodehouse world to be enjoyed.

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Coronets and Steel / Sherwood Smith

Coronets and Steel
by Sherwood Smith

fantasy romance

copyright 2010
read in February 2013
rated 7 out of 10: well worth reading

Fantasy, sort of. Romance, definitely. Chick lit, absolutely... Rated seven out of ten? Depends on your point of view!

My original rating was six, read to pass the time. A fun book but not great. Then I thought, what is the point of my rating?

My rating reflects my own opinion of the book. Sometimes I am impressed by how well -- or how poorly -- a book is written. I may notice that characters are well fleshed out -- or as two dimensional as cheap cardboard. Some of my "quality of writing" opinions affect my enjoyment of a book.

My rating is an overall impression of how much I *enjoyed* the book.

I thoroughly *enjoyed* Coronets and Steel!

A feisty heroine, a dashing prince, the amoral and dashing cousin. Set in a country which -- by an amazing set of circumstances -- has maintained the best parts of Scarlet Pimpernel-style courtly behavior. With enough modern conveniences to maintain good health and entertainment.

I read Coronets as a pick-me-up after the tedium of The Wise Man's Fear. Found that Coronets has much of the same descriptive space-filling as Fear. Found that Coronets does it much better... I was skipping lightly through the flowering fields of Coronets verbosity. Where I needed Wellington boots for the swamps of extraneous sludge in Fear.

Coronets is light. It's fun. And you know that the story is progressing towards a satisfying conclusion.

A line from the back-cover blurb is worth quoting, if only in the hope that fantasy writers will take note: "Smith dares to resolve several plot lines, in defiance of fantasy sequel conventions..." Message to other fantasy authors: If you don't know how your story will end -- please do not publish.

Back to Coronets.

There are plenty of references to other books and poems. They do more than show off the author's knowledge... Smith provides enough detail to allow me to Google the work and understand the reference. Thank you! Though one reference did give me a huge hint as to how Coronets was going to end...

On the negative side... I suspect that Smith did not check the meaning of "droit de seigneur"... Or perhaps it's just me... I may be too innocent to accept the heroine's imaginings in this chick lit fantasy of a romantic age adventure...

Great fun, easy reading, an enjoyable novel.

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The Wise Man's Fear / Patrick Rothfuss

The Wise Man's Fear
by Patrick Rothfuss
book 2 of The Kingkiller Chronicles

fantasy
first published 2011
read in February 2013

rated 7 out of 10: well worth reading

There is just one problem with this book: it is tedious.

Look, we started book one with the hero going to magic school. There was a lot of detail but fine, it's a new world, let's get some detail about this new world. But really!

Half way through book two and we are still getting details of life at school... Sure, we know that the hero carries a grudge. His aim in life is to find and kill seven evil dudes. But come on! How many times do we need to be told that no-one knows anything about these evil dudes?!

Okay, there is a second problem. The hero is borderline ratbag. Remember that other book series about a boy at magic school? Remember the one book where Harry Potter was a teenage creep? That was an uncomfortable story -- hard to like the hero -- but it fitted in with a boy growing up -- and it was just one book of seven.

Kvothe, the hero of Fear, is short-tempered. He rejects his teachers teachings. He initiates cruel tricks on his enemy. Okay, that's his style. Doesn't make it any easier to like him though.

So he continues with school for the first half of this book. Then grudgingly accepts the advice of his friends and goes overseas for experience, adventure and letting the heat die down. Has one slow adventure. Goes to another school. Has another relatively quick adventure.

You can see that all of this is building up, to give him the skills to defeat his seven major enemies. Can't it go just a littler faster?!

War, they say, is weeks of boredom interspersed with minutes of mortal fear. The joy of a novel is that the author can say that... then skip past the weeks of boredom. Rothfuss skips very little...

Not that he gives us boredom... But he gives us enough detail of the slow build-up that we -- or at least I -- find it tedious.

I also have a small fear...

Is this book two of a trilogy?

Or will The Kingkiller Chronicles continue on... forever...?

If book three brings a conclusion -- then great, it's a fascinating series, worth the effort of reading. If book three ends -- and the hero had yet to battle his enemies... then I believe that I shall give up.

All very well to build a unique and interesting world. I just hope that there is a point to it... And by that I mean, I hope that there is a story to be told... A story with a beginning, a middle -- and an end.

I have no objection to a story which leaves openings for subsequent stories. But first, I want the current story to reach a satisfactory conclusion.

This book is well worth reading. The series is still waiting to be rated.

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A Damsel in Distress / P.G. Wodehouse

A Damsel in Distress
by P.G. Wodehouse

humour
first published 1919
read in February 2013

rated as 9 out of 10: really, really good

Wodehouse at his very best :-)  Yes, at his very best, smiley-face :-)  I have just reread the last couple of chapters -- and am smiling again :-)

What an enjoyable romp! What a likeable lot of characters! Well, there is one cad -- an absolute bounder -- but he only appears for long enough to guarantee the happy ending :-)

One aspect of Damsel that is also in other books -- but that is very clear in this book -- is that Wodehouse is writing for an American audience.

The setting is England. The characters are English, upper crust and basic filling. A few Americans are thrown into the mix, with the requirement that they fit well into Society.

Yet there are regular comparisons to America. Comparisons to help the American reader appreciate the English-ness of the setting and the characters.

Oh... and there's a Limerick... About a man from Chicago named Young... Read it and laugh :-)  And note that he's from Chicago.

This book is the best Wodehouse that I have read for a while.

The others were fun. Damsel in Distress is absolutely joyous.

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The Extra / Michael Shea

The Extra

by Michael Shea

science fiction

copyright 2010

read in February 2013

rated as 7 out of 10: well worth reading

Who would have thought that a near future dystopia could be such fun?!

Violence, struggle, money-based ghettos. Life and death for sale as raw material for our entertainment. Yet there is friendship, loyalty and carefully protected areas of relative peace.

The main action of this book is disturbing and violent. Yet there is loyalty, family and willingness to help a friend. And willingness to help strangers.

Plus insanity, giant mechanical spiders and even more gigantic artistic egos. A thrill ride across the blasted landscape of one man's artistic creativity.

If that sounds like a lot of nonsense -- well, so is the book. Action and death, horror and humour, friendship and a violent battle to climb the corporate ladder.

Escapist fun, light on significance, well worth reading.

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"Youth is fleeting, immaturity is forever"--per Ginger Meggs

Pompeii / Robert Harris

Pompeii
by Robert Harris

action

copyright 2003
read in February 2013
rated 6 out of 10: read to pass the time

Perhaps Harris is trying to tell us that corruption is timeless. What I see is Dallas in togas. With a list of Roman names which made me think of Asterix.

Harris has read -- and acknowledged -- plenty of reference books. And he has used the material...

A Roman feast with incredible food... presented with so little feeling that it's almost as though we are not really there. Names, places, graffiti, quoted but with no extra life. Some of it supports the story. Some is simply there to show that the author had done his background reading.

Though the colour of the burning sulphur had me searching Wikipedia. And finding a different colour to that described in the book. And Pliny's personification of Nature as a "she" seems odd... Didn't the Romans have gods and goddesses rather than a direct personification of nature?

Still, I've never read Pliny...

It's just one of the ways in which Pompeii reads as a modern book where the characters happen to wear togas. And perhaps that's exactly the way it was in ancient Rome.

The story is centred round the aqueduct engineer. That is possibly the most interesting aspect of the book. The engineers actions are unbelievable but at least they show signs of being based on the author's own imagination.

There is just one sentence which has stuck in my mind: "The Aqua Augusta continued to flow, as she would for centuries to come." Now that -- to me -- is amazing. Well worth a book about it. What a pity that it is just one throwaway sentence, near the end of a fairly average story.

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The Crime Wave at Blandings / P.G. Wodehouse

The Crime Wave at Blandings
by P.G. Wodehouse

humour... of course!

copyright 1937
read in January 2013
rated 9 out of 10: really, really good

A lighthearted romp through the world of Wodehouse. A delightful short story...

Short story?!

Yes, this "book" is just one short story. One of fifty "mini modern classics", according to the publisher. A publishing rip-off, according to this reviewer.

Still, it was a gift, so I didn't pay. It's by Wodehouse, so it's great fun. But you may prefer to look for the earlier editions -- as an omnibus of short stories -- where you get a lot more stories for your money.

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Reamde / Neal Stephenson

Reamde
by Neal Stephenson
action
copyright 2011

read in January 2012
rated 8 out of 10: really quite good

Really quite good and really quite thick. Not quite gripping but never boring. Paints the bad guys as fools but is willing to poke fun at the good guys...

Reamde is as wordy as Stephenson's earlier Anathem. In Reamde, however -- something happens. It just takes a lot of words to describe it. Take the bear, for example...

The girl wakes up to hear a grizzly bear sniffing and scratching nearby. She thinks, Uh oh, the bear is attracted to attractive girls. She moves to a ten page flashback, to tell the story of an uncle who told her about bears and women. The flashback includes commentary on conversations, lifestyle, her own upbringing, the uncle's family and beliefs. Back to the present and the girl changes her mind... The bear is only after food scraps lying nearby... So what was the point of the lengthy flashback? No point at all!

Then there's the planning...

Characters don't just do something, they discuss it first. No need for the reader to wonder, Why didn't they choose another action... Every possible action had been considered, analysed and logically selected or rejected...

Which is not as boring as it sounds. It's just a very wordy approach to writing. Wordy... and thorough.

Despite the wordiness, I have categorised this book as "action". It takes a chapter or two to really get started -- then it is non-stop action. Violent, deadly action.

It takes quite a few pages to get to understand the title of the book. It takes three times that many pages to get to the main story. Did you ever watch Some Mothers Do Have Them? A simple start leads... inevitably... to a complex and disastrous conclusion. That's the Reamde style.

The book is also very right wing, in the Heinlein -- or even Hubbard -- style. The villains are cunning but fools. The heroes use good old American (and English) know-how to win the day. Even the Canadian cougars eat villain in preference to hero.

Despite this bias, there is still time to point out some of the bad points of the American and English ways of living and working. Stephenson clearly delineates good from evil. Yet he is happy to point out that "good" is still not perfect.

This is an entertaining romp through action, violence and wrong-doing. Massive coincidences ensure that the plot keeps on twisting. And in the final chapters, right triumphs over might... Especially since right is supported by right-might, with enough weapons to fight a small war...

Oh, and there's an online game at the center of the plot. A game which is said to be a step beyond today's World of Warcraft. And the game includes many features which I had already decided should be incorporated in the next generation online game... (Though my own ideas predated WoW.)

Great action, over the top characters. And a massive computer game.

What's not to like?!

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