Empire in Black and Gold / Adrian Tchaikovsky

Empire in Black and Gold
by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Shadows of the Apt (1 of 3)

copyright 2008
read in January 2014

rated 8: really quite good

How do you build a fantasy world ? How can you present unique characters without excessive detailed explanation ?

Tolkein gave us elves dwarves and men, and hobbits. Pick a race and the reader has an instant understanding of the general characteristics of the character. Often combined with warrior priest wizard and rogue, to give further depth to a character. Without need for detailed explanation.

Alternatively, base the races on well-known racial stereotypes... Pratchett does this on Discworld, with tongue firmly in cheek. Other writers have used the same approach... If a multi-tentacled monster stops fighting for a spot of tiffin -- the reader instantly knows that this monster will also have a stiff upper lip and an absolute sense of what is right and proper.

Then there are the animal races... The fast fighting pack of wolf people. The solitary yet strong big cat people. They may even be shape-shifters, to emphasise the point. The point is -- to allow the reader to quickly understand the central personality of the protagonist.

And now... it's the insects.

Tchaikovsky has a fantasy world where humans -- and yes, they are humans -- have the characteristics of insects. (Strictly speaking it's invertebrates.) And it works. Very well !

Beyond that one brilliant concept, it's a reasonably straightforward fantasy. Very enjoyable fantasy. With overtones of steam punk.

It starts a little slowly. Allowing time to get to know the people. The pace picks up but never to a ridiculous speed. The characters are mixed and all very likeable. Even -- almost -- the bad guy who wonders if his team is absolutely on the right path...

This is book one of three. (Three ? Maybe.) A self-contained story. With plenty of room for more.

I enjoyed book one. I look forward to reading book two.

A good story, great characters... And an interesting basis for this fantasy universe.

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Problems ? Solved

Bendable Learnings / Don Watson

Bendable Learnings
by Don Watson

management, humour ?

copyright 2009
read in January 2014

rated 7 / 10: well worth reading

... or possibly, rated towards 6: read to pass the time. It's a book to be sampled rather than read. A whole lot of examples of convoluted and inscrutable English.

With, unfortunately, not enough linking material from Watson, the "author".

A grab bag of incomprehensibility. Loosely grouped. But so what ? What is the point of this book ? What has the author added, by publishing all this material ?

If the simple aim is to poke fun then a far thinner book would have been enough. If it is a warning then it needs to highlight the negative results of this bureaucratic and academic verbiage.

But no. There is just enough linking material to say, this is rubbish... And if you don't understand why, then the message is lost.

Perhaps Watson could select less examples -- and attempt to rewrite them in plain English ? Because that would be a real challenge ! And, perhaps, a useful lesson to the original authors... and to the rest of us.

Enough of the general. Back to the specific selections...

I read them... and I recognize them...

Not exactly but in principle.

Mission statements, goals, objectives etc, etc,etc... If senior management says, write a mission statement, what do you do ? You take the generic statement provided as an example -- and add the name of your own group. You're not quite sure what a mission statement should be. All you know is, that you had better write something that your boss will approve... So you write nonsense.

Other statements are pure jargon. Sometimes it works -- that is, people in the same profession will know what you mean. Whether it is correct or not. Sometimes it does not work. Possibly because the latest -- essential -- buzzword has never been clearly defined. But if you do not use the accepted jargon -- your fellow professionals will assume that you know nothing.

Then there is simple complexity... You start with a simple statement. Realize that it could be misunderstood... either deliberately or accidentally. So you expand the sentence, to include explanation. And all of a sudden, your simple statement has become a convoluted and incomprehensible example in a book of examples of poorly written English.

I have some sympathy for the original authors of Watson's examples. Not enough sympathy to deny that they should do better. But it does not help to hold up an example and say, This is bad hahaha !

Watson has found the problem. But what is he doing to solve it ?!

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Problems ? Solved

Against All Things Ending / Stephen Donaldson

Against All Things Ending
by Stephen Donaldson
fantasy

NOOOOOOOO !!!

Struggled through this enormous time -- I just want to know how it all end -- and it DOES NOT END ! This book is:

The Last Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (3 of 4)

copyright 2010
read in January 2014

rated 4 / 10: bad but could be read

I considered 5/10 but decided that "readable" was just too much. This book is barely -- or not -- readable.

Is there anyone who has died in the previous nine books ? Well yes, thousands... and they are all making an appearance in this book. Worse yet -- they appear yet offer nothing useful...

Oh yes, we know the answer, they say, But we're not going to tell you. Hints of disaster are fine but actual facts are verboten.

Covenant himself has been dead for the last two books. Dead in a way that allows him to see all and know all, in the past present and future. Now he's alive again and willing to talk...

Guess what ? Now Covenant has amnesia... Good grief.

Then there's the pace of the story telling...

Ten people are running to a deadline. We are told who is first in line. And who is second... and third... In fact every person is placed in line. Then they pause...

And start running again. And guess what ? We are told the order in which each person now runs... Okay, it's exactly the same order. But Donaldson lists them all again. In order. In. Pointless. Order.

Still, I struggled on. Thinking, it's going to finish. Eventually. Then I reached the end...

And it did not end.

There's yet another book in the series :-(

Good grief.

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Problems ? Solved

New Earth / Ben Bova

New Earth
by Ben Bova
in the middle of a series

science fiction

copyright 2013
read in January 2014

rated 6 / 10: read to pass the time

If I wanted to sum up this book in one word, it would be "boring".

The story is okay, but slow. The characters are, in general, egotistic, irrational and uninteresting. The driving purpose behind the aliens gives the impression that it is there only to give direction to subsequent books in the series.

Most annoyingly, there is no indication on the various title pages that this book is one of a series.

Yes, it makes sense on its own. But it would -- possibly -- make more sense if read in context. And the "to be continued" ending is blatantly obvious long before it is revealed. And boring.

Then there are the various questions raised by the book...

The bodies are shipped in the deep freeze. Minds travel separately, in computer storage. So why not ship a few spare bodies ? Or a few thousand spare brains ? If this is effectively a one-way trip -- as stated -- why not ship cloned (or otherwise spare) bodies plus *copies* of crew minds ? So the trip can be actual one way with the reassurance that the "original" mind is still safely back on Earth ?!

Okay, that may raise a lot of questions, ethical and practical. The questions would add interest to a rather boring story.

Then there's the occasional snippet of "Mom & Dad" back in the Solar System. They decide to follow daughter Trish to New Earth. But wait ! they've aged at least ninety years before the next ship is due to leave. Mother definitely does not have any age-resisting nanotechnology. Yet she is as sprightly as a young'un. So why is anyone impressed by an alien who looks distinctly decrepit at 300 ?!

Then there's their daughter, Trish... For a while I was seriously worried... A far as I could tell, Trish was not even on board the expedition to New Earth ! Turns out, she had so little to do that I did not notice her. A character who is essential for *series* continuity -- but absolutely irrelevant in this one book.

Then there's the "honest" aliens. Their policy is to speak the absolute truth but the humans have to ask the right questions. Finally, one man asks the right question: "What's the true story behind all this ?"

Good grief.

The most sympathetic characters appear, speak and are crisped, all within one chapter. And the most memorable line is, possibly, a typo...

A spaceship floats "incredulously" in space.

A bit like the whale in Hitchhikers Guide. "What am I ? What am I doing here ? I'm in space ! I'm floating in space ! That's absolutely incredible ! I don't believe it !!"

Because that's what incredulous means: expressing disbelief.

Perhaps it was a typo. But the incredulous spaceship will stick in my mind. A lot longer that the rest of the boring characters in this book.

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Problems ? Solved

Promise of Blood / Brian McClellan

Promise of Blood
by Brian McClellan
Powder Mage (1 of 3)

fantasy

copyright 2013
read in January 2014

rated 8 / 10: really quite good

Quite a few characters -- but only a handful of major characters, characters who need to be remembered. Good ! There is one major story -- and each of the characters is playing a part in that one story. Excellent !

I do so dislike multi-volume fantasy "sagas" -- soap operas -- where several dozen characters are following their own storylines. Where the "plot" is just a tangle of unrelated stories, joined only by their common fantasy universe.

Promise of Blood is an actual story: a beginning, a middle and an end. With a set of characters who are each essential to the story and who each *add* to the overall story. That rare item -- an actual fantasy *novel* !

So how can you combine guns with magic ? By adding magic to the use of guns... Which leads to conflict: traditional magic users versus users of gun magic. Clever !

Good characters, too...

You know the character who is quite likeable... Who is sadly misunderstood... And you just know that they will be driven to evil. Blood offers a similar character... but I am almost certain that they will choose niceness rather than evil.

It's a bit like that: There are characters who have a history of being honest and dependable. And despite the standard conventions of soap opera fantasy -- they turn our to be honest and dependable !

Likeable characters, often with rough edges. But likeable. And I like that.

Then there's the "book one of a trilogy" problem: how to leave the reader wanting to continue with book two...

The absolute loser hack writer simply leaves each and every character hanging by their fingernails off the edge of their own cliff. The market-oriented writer with no ability at plotting does the same, but spends a lot of time trying to make us like the characters. Like them enough to start reading book two. (Which may begin, "With a mighty leap, all characters reached the top of their respective cliffs...)

The best writers are not afraid to make book one a standalone novel. With a beginning, a middle and an end. These best writers provide a satisfactory ending -- and are also able to leave the reader wanting to read more...

Promise has a very satisfactory ending. Sure, several heroes are at death's door. I have no doubt they will survive...

They are at death's door because they succeeded in what they set out to do ! They *concluded* a solid plot line ! The book is *finished* -- but there is still a lot left to be done !

Yes, McClellan has written a book one which has a very satisfying ending. (How do you deal with a returning god who will have death and destruction on his immediate agenda ? Very nicely, thank you :-)

And yet... I want to read more !

I finished the second half of this book in one very late-night session. It was great ! An excellent ending, a thoroughly enjoyable book.

And yes... I look forward to reading book two.

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Problems ? Solved

Blotto, Twinks and the Riddle of the Sphinx / Simon Brett

Blotto, Twinks and the Riddle of the Sphinx
by Simon Brett
Blotto, Twinks (5)

humour, crime ?!

copyright 2013
read in December 2013

rated 6 / 10: read to pass the time

This is a book for the hard-of-thinking.

I mean... How often does the reader need to be reminded that Blotto is stupid ? How many times do we need to be told that the family line consists of idiots, thugs and robbers ?

Early on in reading this book I thought, the author just does not like his characters. He puts them down at every opportunity. Repetitively.

Several pages are spent having the university genius discovering how thick the hero really is. The main point of this section is to demonstrate that the university genius is also an idiot. Even the super-brainy Twinks misses some obvious clues.

Not that it really matters... The characters are so flat that there is no empathy: I just don't care whether they are happy or lucky or smart...

Yet the main characters are not *un*likeable. I was glad that they -- as expected -- survived and conquered.

And wasn't it so convenient, that all the baddies gathered together, just in time to be dealt with en masse ?!

It's light. It's fun. It's harmless. The insults to brains and honesty and family are spread across all characters.

Switch off your critical thinking. Lighten the intellectual load. Read this book to occupy an idle afternoon.

Why not ? It's harmless.

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Problems ? Solved