Warrior / Zoe Archer

Warrior
by Zoe Archer
Blades of the Rose (1)

fantasy, chick lit

copyright 2010
read in September 2013

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

This is chick lit for the woman who yearns to be swept off her feet.

Yes, the heroine is spunky, independent, tough. But she is clearly second fiddle to the incredibly tough, incredibly talented, natural leader hero. The heroine does her bit but the hero is always there to protect her.

Well fair enough. The book is, after all, called Warrior. And the warrior in question is the -- male -- hero. Still, it would be interesting to read Rebel, a later book in the series. There's a reasonable chance that the woman in question is the rebel. Is she in charge ? Or is she, also, swept off her feet by the strong and mysterious -- male -- stranger...

Warrior is in the same general genre as Close Contact: chick lit / romance, fantasy / science fiction. Warrior is the book that I started to read after Close Contact... and then decided I would rather re-read Close Contact.

Warrior is for the swooning maiden. Simple, fun, romance with explicit sex. Yet the plot seems to be a bit silly.

Okay, Close Contact is also silly ! But Warrior lacks the sense of fun. Warrior seems to take itself too seriously. Oh, and...

"Her thumb and forefinger could not meet as she circled him." Wow ! And this is a woman with, we are told, fingers which are long yet slender... Oooohh, no wonder the virginal heroine's eyes are watering !

It is just a book to read to pass the time... And it suffers, in my rating, by comparison with a far better book aimed at a similar target market.

Warrior is okay. But I have read better...

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Close Contact / Katherine Allred

Close Contact
by Katherine Allred
Alien Affairs (2)

science fiction, chick lit

copyright 2010
read in September 2013

rated 9/10: really, really good

Nine out of ten ? Really, really good ? Is this book really that good ?!?

Maybe not. But here's how it goes:

I read Close Contact and thoroughly enjoyed it. Started another book, read a few chapters... And decided that I would rather be re-reading Close Contact. So I re-read Close Contact -- and thoroughly enjoyed it -- again !

That, to me, is worth 9 out of 10 :-)

No, it is not great literature. I doubt that it will be studied by generations of graduate students of the fine arts. Yet it had most of the characteristics of "a good book"...

Great characters... Well, great character, singular :-)  With a supporting cast of very capable and generally likeable second-string characters.
 
The heroine is super strong, super powered, super hot. What's not to like about Echo Adams ?! And she does not take herself too seriously...

Walking into town, she munches on a Space Federation high energy snack bar. No way I could eat this awful stuff, she thinks. Except that it's covered in chocolate...

There's romance... Well, lust... Which quickly proves to be true -- and eternal -- love.

There's an intelligent, annoying but loyal spaceship. A cute pet dragon bird. And a remote planet where fighting is restricted to fist and blade. Swash and buckle in space !

The book is written first person by the heroine. And she is definitely the main -- strongest -- character. The hero is tough, intelligent, heroic -- but no more than an equal partner. Yes, Echo is swept off her feet. But no, this does not make her at all subservient.

A great heroine with a gently self-mocking sense of humor. A fun adventure with danger but no real threat of anything but a happy ending.

What's not to like ?

A really, really good book :-)

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The Runes of the Earth / Stephen Donaldson

The Runes of the Earth
by Stephen Donaldson

The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (1)
fantasy

copyright 2004
read in September 2013
rated 7/10: well worth reading

Absolutely over the top ! Guilt... suffering... heroic sacrifice ! Yes, the seventh major book of Thomas Covenant continues the tried and true formula !

Although -- now I come to think of it -- there is no real misery.

The characters suffer by choice. Bloody and bowed but unbeaten. Because their hearts are true.

Still...

The language is just as over the top. Poetic, almost: there is more meaning in the way in which the words are used than in the words themselves. What, for example, is an "indistinct nose" ? (Sorry, not an actual quote. Rather, a re-imagining of a noteworthy but unnoted phrase.)

And this book must set the record for number of times that an author has used the word "formication"... Donaldson used the word just one in his first book -- without explanation, I had to check a dictionary. This time, the meaning is given and the word is repeated... many, many times.

I have always had the impression that Donaldson writes with both dictionary and thesaurus to hand. He browses the reference books and attempts to use the longest words that he can find...

Anyway...

Runes continues the history of The Land. This time, with a focus on Linden Avery. Since Covenant himself is dead. Apparently. Thanks to a jump of several thousand years, threats to The Land are brand new and even more threatening than earlier threats.

I do have a problem with one threat, the Falls... or time-slips. If they are a turbulent mix of every instant at the place where they occur -- them how do they also allow entry at one point and exit at another ? Surely that means that the Falls must exist at every instant at all of the places between entry and exit ? Yet they don't...

Still, that's just a minor quibble... This is fantasy :-)  The Falls increase the threat to Time itself. And that is the central driver throughout the entire Covenant series.

Not a great book but a lot of fun. Well worth reading. Especially if you enjoyed the first six books...

Perhaps the third book of The Last Chronicles will actually end the saga... ?

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The Children's Hospital / Chris Adrian

The Children's Hospital
by Chris Adrian

copyright 2006
read in August 2013
rated 2 / 10: unreadably bad

Perhaps I was a bit under the weather. Perhaps I really needed some light relief. Perhaps my view of a book is coloured by my mood.

I totally failed to get into this book.

I read the first few pages. There's an angel telling the story... No, I have no idea why.

There's a hospital for the seriously challenged birthing. A separate hospital for the seriously challenged newborn babies. Separate buildings connected only by a pedestrian bridge. Birth and care of the newborn physically separate ? No, I have no idea why.

The main character is a trainee maternity nurse who does not enjoy her work. One birth for the day and she's had enough... She interrupts her boyfriend -- drags him away from helping save a baby -- to have sex in a spare bed.

The story (?) so far... interspersed with reference to blood, vaginas, deformity.

So far, so... What's the word I want ? Oh yes: So far, so bloody awful.

Not helped by the small print and dense, rambling -- jumping all over the place -- prose.

I gave up.

"Playful, very funny, moving", if you believe the cover. Or rather unpleasant rubbish. Take your pick.

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Altered Carbon / Richard Morgan

Altered Carbon
by Richard Morgan

science fiction

copyright 2001

read in August 2013

rated 9 / 10: really, really good

A fast-paced thriller with ultra violence... A detailed view of the future where good guys and bad fight with technology and less subtle weapons. A killer hero with a heart of gold...

Or is there more to this book than well implemented cliches ?

I can't speak for the author's intentions... but I see a possibility...

Science fiction begins with, "what if ?" Take one technological possibility -- or impossibility -- and explore the consequences. Is this what Morgan is doing ?

What if, technology allows us to preserve the mind (or soul, or character, or.. the essence of the person) in digital storage ? Being able to store implies being able to recover, to put the "person" back into a body. Back into the same body -- or into a spare, or a clone, or an artificial body...

Surely this is immortality ?!

Consequence one: Immortality -- for those who can afford it.

Consequence two: Organic damage -- up to and including total destruction of the body -- is no longer murder. As long as the "person" is still intact, in storage.

One what if -- and a host of logical consequences ! Classic science fiction.

Add good characters, complex plot, good versus evil, a satisfactory ending...

An excellent book ! Unless you do not enjoy extreme violence. At a classic cartoon level.

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16mar18:

Read it again. same opinion.

Background: I wanted to watch a bit of tv. Found Altered Carbon, a new tv series. I watched a couple of minutes of titles, almost gave up. Then watched a couple have a shower. Sensuous, I suppose. Boring, really.

At 3 minutes 10 I gave up watching. TV is just so slooooow :-( Unvariable :-( The viewer is stuck at whatever pace is set by the director.

Then I picked up the book. Read it over the next couple of days -- at my own pace. Enjoyed it. Never did find (in the book) a two-person shower scene.

I prefer to read a book.

Heritage of the Xandim / Maggie Furey

Heritage of the Xandim
by Maggie Furey

fantasy
Chronicles of the Xandim (1)
copyright 2009
read in August 2013

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

This is book one of a trilogy which is set in the far distant past of what I guess is very many books set in the world of Aurian. A prequel. Which leads to all sorts of problems for the reader who is not familiar with "present day" Aurian...

Furey has done an excellent job of writing for the "new" readers.

Perhaps a fan of Aurian would gain even more enjoyment from this book than I do. I enjoyed it enough to be satisfied ! In fact, it is also a good book as a standalone... Sure, there are plots aplenty waiting to be explored in books two and three. But this book one ends quite satisfactorily.

One character did seem to appear for no real reason... She may have an actual role to play in the rest of this trilogy... Though I have a strong feeling that her key role will be as a mysterious villain in later -- that is, already published Aurian -- stories. My feeling is that fans will be saying, So that's why so-and-so had such a strong dislike of that other so-and-so !

In the world itself, there is an interesting link between the "real" world and the "other" world. Characters can move from one world to the other but with restrictions. Arbitrary restrictions, perhaps ! But it does provide a good explanation for some of the limits on the powers of the strongly magical super beings.

Generally, a good book to be read by itself. Interesting enough to attract me to the rest of the trilogy. And -- probably -- great back story for regular fans of Furey.

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The Martian War / Gabriel Mesta

The Martian War
by Kevin J. Anderson (as Gabriel Mesta)

science fiction
copyright 2005
read in August 2013

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

Assume that every book written by HG Wells was true and that all the adventures included Wells as a key character. Add a feisty, attractive -- modern stereotype -- woman. Is this a "heartfelt tribute", a "terrific homage" or a rather weak ripoff...

The first half of the book is, I guess, for readers who like to understand the author... to understand Wells, that is. The second half is for readers who enjoy Wells' books. I enjoyed the second half. And found the first half to be a bit boring.

Mind you... What's the point of writing a story which is purely a ripoff of a well known book ? Add a few chapters which show that you have also read the original author's biography -- and you avoid charges of plagiarism.

Hard to please everyone.

The big question is: why does the author use a pseudonym -- and announce it on the cover ? Is it the Rowling effect ?

JK Rowling recently published a book under a pseudonym. It was well received by reviewers but failed to sell... Until the true author was revealed. Did Anderson have the same problem ? No sales -- so the publisher decided to market the book under the better-known name...

Speaking of that better known name... According to the back cover, Anderson has "over 16 million books in print". By my understanding of "in print", this means that Anderson has *written* over 16 million books ! Goodness !

And this has been just one of them.

Perhaps the other 15,999,999 books are more original.

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