The High King of Montival / S.M. Stirling

The High King of Montival

category: fantasy, author:

S.M. Stirling

book 10 of The Change
original copyright 2010

unread in February 2014

Agamedes' opinion: unrated

"Unread" ?! "Unrated" ?!

I picked up this book with the thought, Okay, it seems to be a follow-up to "The Sword of the Lady". A good test of a second book is, Can it be read without reading the first ? I started reading...

Chapter one has 50 or so people that I am expected to know. So what do they do ? Mostly, a few simple -- and take-it-on-faith, it works, it's magic -- actions. Which seem to be (a) allowing former enemies to travel together. And (b) demonstrating the heroic niceness of the main character. Plus some cutesy snuggling, warm-hearted chuckling and bloodthirsty posing amongst the various minor characters.

Boring.

On to chapter two... and a totally different set of characters. Characters who are heroic and human and humorous and loving and loyal and... Good grief ! where's the brown paper bag ?!

That's where I stopped.

And that's when I realised that this is not a second book -- it's a tenth. Which explains why the background to this alternate universe makes very little sense.

If you've read books one to nine then -- well, you must enjoy the series. So you'll probably enjoy this book just as much. If this is your first book by Stirling: Put the book down... walk carefully away... and if you like heroic sword-play, heroic heroes, heroic heroines and a mish-mash of other characters and cultures -- look for book one.

I didn't enjoy what little I read. Perhaps I would have enjoyed it more if I had read earlier books. Or perhaps not... Anyway, to be fair, I won't give a rating.

But I will ask, Who is that guy on the front cover ? He's holding a sword --  and the hero has just (in the previous book) retrieved a magic sword. But -- unless my memory has totally failed -- the hero with the sword has bright red hair which reaches his shoulders. So who is the man on the cover, with the short black hair and the significant sword ? Was there an earlier book called, perhaps, "The Other Sword of the Other Lady" ? Or is the cover art drawn by -- and checked by -- someone who did not bother to read the book ?!

Weak.

Neptune's Brood / Charles Stross

Neptune's Brood

category: science fiction, author:

Charles Stross

original copyright 2013

read in February 2014

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10 (well worth reading)

You and I -- with our limited imaginations -- would believe that finance and banking would be very, very boring. Even in the context of an entertaining, space opera romp through a future robot civilisation... Stross, however, sees the comic potential of banking and finance.

You and I would be right.

The economic basis of robot life is fine: clever, occasionally funny. The regular Heinlein-esque discussions of the underlying principles of banking and finance -- as applied in this future world -- are... dead... boring. My eyes glazed over.

That aside:

A few chapters in and I did have to check the cover comments: Yes, this book is space opera and yes, it is intended to be funny... Sometimes it's hard to tell with science fiction: Is this an over-the-top extreme of hard science, or is the author just having fun...?! So -- having settled in my mind that Brood is humorous space opera -- I sat back and enjoyed the book... (Except for the boring explanations of interstellar banking and finance.)

With the correct expectations -- and having learnt to skim quickly over the boring bits -- I enjoyed this book !

And yet...

The title, "Neptune's Brood". Okay, Neptune was a Roman god, the equivalent of the Greek Poseidon. Poseidon did a lot of construction work on the island of Atlantis -- and the Atlantis star settlement is central to this book. Poseidon also had ten (at least ten) children --  a "brood" ?! The central villain of this book had a brood of offspring, at least 114. The villain was also a founder of the Atlantis settlement. Is that the link to the title ?

Then there's the water world which the heroine finally reaches, towards the end of the book. Water world ? Another possible link to Neptune ? That was my first thought, since it is Poseidon -- not Neptune -- with the links to Atlantis and to broods of children.

But wait -- there's more:

These people (robots of the robot civilisation) travel by having their minds transmitted to a new body at the destination location. So why did the heroine have to have her body transformed for her own journey to the water world ?? Why not: Click, mind sucked out of unsuitable body. Followed by, Click, mind transferred into suitable body already waiting at destination ?! Oh, of course... the author wants to detail the changes needed for the new environment. Hmmm.

Oh... and on the cover of the book...

We -- the readers -- are given a detailed account of the changes made to the heroine's body. And yet... On the cover of the book those changes have been -- mostly -- ignored. Why ?! Oh, wait... It's because the changes made her look less attractive, less human. And the cover looks better with a rather attractive, human-based mermaid... So that's okay :-)

Look, I'm being picky ! I skimmed over the boring bits and -- on the whole -- enjoyed the book. It's set in an interesting, clever, imaginative universe. With some entertaining pokes at life as we know it. (The regular lack of success, for example, of the Church's stated central purpose.)

Read it, enjoy it. And if you are turned on by banking and finance -- and science fiction -- then this book will really get you excited.

Death's Head / David Gunn

Death's Head
by David Gunn

military science fiction
book one of a series

copyright 2007
read in February 2014

my rating 8/10: really quite good

Tough, violent... satisfying.

The hero is just slightly superhuman. The violence is extreme but it just happens. There is no "gore porn", no excessive dwelling on the blood and dismemberment.

Perhaps I am already desensitised ? Yet I still shudder as I listen to a tv show which gleefully dissects a murder victim. In this book the violence just happens, it is not the central entertainment.

Better than all this -- the hero is a hero !

He doesn't easily make friends. Yet when he does make friends -- he really means it. And when he makes a promise, he means to keep it. This is the friend that you need when you are in really deep trouble.

Okay, this is book one of a series. Various characters are being set up to be regulars; people with special needs or special skills, who will likely reappear in later stories. Not a problem !

Because this book does -- on its own -- reach a conclusion.

There is a beginning, a middle and an end. The end of this book provides a satisfying conclusion to all of the previous action.

Yes, there are loose ends. Loose ends, not cliffhangers. The reader is not left unsatisfied... There is, just, enough room to want more.

That's the sign of a good book in a series: the reader does not *need* more; the reader *wants* more.

I want more :-)

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Problems ? Solved

Parasite / Mira Grant

Parasite
by Mira Grant

science fiction, thriller
warning: introduction to a series

copyright 2013
read in February 2014

my rating 6/10: read to pass the time

I quite enjoyed reading this book. After all, I thought, what's not to like when the heroine adopts a cute dog ?! Then I reached the end of the book.

Okay, it is there on the title page, "parasitology volume 1". I didn't notice. My fault. But it leads to a very disappointing book.

The dog, for example, growls once at bad guys but is otherwise simply decorative. Then there's the boyfriend's dog, with no purpose whatsoever.

The dogs are typical... This book gathers a pack of characters who will then -- in subsequent books -- have a series of adventures. Adventures which, like book one, are exciting but pointless.

The heroine puts her life on the line in order to steal computer data. So what ?! The book end, and no-one has done anything with the data. Yes, the importance of the data has been explained: essentially, its theft allows the anti-corporate group to continue to exist. Oh blah...

The book does end with a grand dénouement... Which is no real surprise, it was so clearly telegraphed. What is a surprise is the lack of logic behind the shock horror discovery. How does it work ? How could it possibly work ?! Who knows !

Meanwhile, back at the super-secure  government medical lab... where America's best medical scientists have spent many months studying sick people... they are not able to spot the problem. Which is odd, really. Because even the heroine -- totally medically unqualified -- is able to look at an MRI scan... and instantly spot the problem !

This book is a thriller, with the usual secret agency controlling the world. Just to be different, there are *three* super-secret agencies. Each with amazing technology and spies everywhere. Although the heroine always manages to... just... slip through the nets.

Okay, Parasite is light, fun, easy to read. I enjoyed it. Until I read enough to realise that it is simply part one of a soap opera series.

I reached the non-ending and thought, That was disappointing. Will I look for book two ? No... Because every indication is... that book two will also provide no conclusion.

I like a story, not a continuing saga. A "story" had a beginning, a middle -- and an end. If the author has no clue on how the story ends... I have very little interest in reading a soap opera.

Sure, read this book to pass the time. Just don't expect to read for a clever plot and a thrilling conclusion.

Conclusion ? There is none.

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Problems ? Solved

The Mortifera / A.L. Brooks

The Mortifera
Strangeworld (1)
by A.L. Brooks

fantasy

copyright 2012
read in February 2013

rated 7/10: well worth reading

Remember the Harry Potter book where Harry was a whiny, abusive teenage creep ? Well, the hero of The Mortifera can be like that... Not as annoyingly as Harry... which is lucky, because this is not just one book -- not just one developmental stage -- in a series of seven !

Still, Jake can be annoying. On the other hand -- he has good reason to be upset. And to take out his misery on others. Even better -- Jake does see the error of his attitude. Eventually !

Brooks handle Jake's character faults quite well. Especially since the story is told by Jake... Quite a challenge, I imagine, to let us understand the hidden depths of a first-person narrator...

All of the characters -- and their interactions -- are well handled.

The story itself is a bit... stretched. Not slow ! There is plenty of action, never a dull moment. What I mean by "stretched", is that there are too many ideas for the one story...

Brooks has invented a fantastic world, a parallel universe, with none of the standard elements. The world is -- to me, at least -- new and unique. And so varied -- that some of it could have been saved for the second book.

We are given a tour of this new land. The journey to save the girl, in particular, takes us to a series of amazing places. Yet for most of these places, we are simply passing through.

For example, the heroes reach one town and are almost captured. With no more than a distant description of the town. Then a long journey with not much more than an explanation of the means of transport. Followed by another town, with no more than a battle to catch the last train out of town.

A lot of good ideas -- too little time to enjoy them. I'm not suggesting detailed and boring tours of each town :-) Rather, less exotic locations and a tighter focus on the main plot.

Or... since this book is already written and published... Use the next book to revisit some locations, to provide a bit more depth for future readers. Mainly: I would not like to see a whole lot of new creatures and locations thrown in simply because the author has a great imagination...

And yes, I do hope that there will be a second book.

This book is not great, there are faults -- but it is well worth reading. And easy to read. The publisher was local -- to me -- and set up specifically to publish local fantasy novels. But it is now out of business.

Life is tough... I hope that the author is tougher. Publishing is full of bestselling authors who all write to the same formula. Brooks' Strangeworld is different.

I enjoyed this book and hope that there will be more.

Oh, and speaking of "different"...

The hero lives in a Cornish village which is surrounded by locations with significant names. You know the type: Fairy Hill, which turns out to have real fairies, Hellmouth, which turns out to really be a gate to hell, you know what I mean. Well, near this village -- every single feature seems to have a significant name ! Is this more overkill from the author's imagination ? Or is it a good example of clever tongue in cheek...

And finally, Strangeworld itself.

Strangeworld... is our own world. How strange is that ?! A very clever touch.

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Problems ? Solved