Beyond World's End / Mercedes Lackey

Beyond World's End
by Mercedes Lackey, Rosemary Edghill
fantasy

copyright 2001
read in November 2014

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

Mercedes Lackey appears to be the grand ruler of a particular set of Elven worlds. There are plenty of Elven books with Lackey named as author and one or two others as co-author. Perhaps it's like academic papers, where students do the work and the supervisor's name guarantees publication...

This book is one of a music themed series set in the Lackey universe. I checked Wikipedia to see where it fits in which series... and the answer is too complicated ! As far as I can tell, there are several series of books and short stories and they all overlap and interact.

Just accept it. This book is just one episode in a continuing saga. Yet it can easily be read alone. Which is both good and bad...

There is enough back-story to tell us what went before. Perhaps a bit too much back-story. Noooo... Some of it is irrelevant but it's all good fun. Much like the rest of the book. Good fun.

There are really nasty villains. Really nice support cast. Side plots which sound like fun but which go nowhere. Yes, I can see a lot more books in the future of this series...

Then the hero is in a terrible predicament -- so he used his extra-strength magical powers to escape. He's in another terrible predicament -- so he overacts, to gain the villain's respect. Another terrible predicament -- so he waits for the cavalry to ride to his rescue...

No doubt that he will escape. No great suffering, no interminable suspense. Just action, low level romance... and good fun.

Oh, and detailed descriptions of the hero's new apartment, of all its furniture and fittings, even of the contents of every drawer and cupboard. Regular changes of clothes, with descriptions of each item worn. Romantic interest, villains, various support characters, all carefully dressed and carefully described.

Yes, by all my definitions, this is chick lit fantasy !

If you enjoy the Lackey Elven books, well, this is one of them. I'm neutral: I read it, enjoyed it, would read more but will not go out of my way to find more.

It's an easy read with a rather dark and brutal set of villains. There are plenty of loose threads which will add enjoyment to future books. It's set in a standard Elven universe with predefined characters but it reads well as a standalone novel.

Good fun. Strong yet sympathetic descriptions of human poverty, despair and drug use. An overall sense that caring and niceness will win the day.

I enjoyed it.

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Vlad the Paler / Malthea

Vlad the Paler
by Malthea

porn, fantasy

copyright 2011
read in November 2014

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

Read to pass the time... Unless, that is, you're actually after porn. Possibly young adult porn. Man on man, young adult, vampire porn... In which case -- this book is worth a seven, well worth reading. Very... hot.

When I read fantasy I have a standard measure: if we are told what the hero and/or heroine is wearing, it's chick lit. Well, we are told what Vlad is wearing, we are told what his friends are wearing, but the man on man sex does not seem to go with "chick" lit... I may need to adjust my parameters :-)

The sex is great ! Who would have thought that the main benefit of vampirism would be a great sex life ?! The second best benefit is that you now look like the perfect Goth...

In between the numerous sessions of hot sex, there is also time for fighting evil. To fight evil, a vampire needs a team of assistants. And what a great bunch of assistants !

Vlad himself is a very good character. He's over 21... so this is not child porn, no-one likes child porn... But really, he's a teenager. Well brought up, well meaning, occasionally right up himself. (Figuratively, that is.) As a vampire, he's a very nice person.

And hey, that name has to earn him extra points !

His friends are equally likeable but two dimensional. And far too many of them. Perhaps "Malthea" really is a first-time author ? She has all these great ideas -- and throws far too many into this one story.

Speaking of which: the story ends but the book carries on. Sure, there's a lot of wish fulfillment in the author's mind. But please, save it for the second book !

In this first book I would have liked to have read just enough to let me know that there is more to Vlad's family than I expected. Just a hint. So that when I read book two, I am surprised but I can still accept it. At the end of this book, there is a lot which just does not fit into this story.

Yes, it's all very nice. It would make more sense if gradually revealed in the next book... Where we can learn more about Vlad and his team.

It's an enjoyable book. With an excellent title :-) Easy to read, lots of fun.

Just be warned: it is gay porn. In case that would offend you.

I wonder if my state library knows that it provides gay porn for its eBook readers ?!

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Seed / Rob Ziegler

Seed
by Rob Ziegler
science fiction

copyright 2011
read in November 2014

rated 9/10: really, really good

Harsh, violent, post-apocalyptic. Every day a struggle to survive. Death is common, from disease, starvation and violence.

Yet the characters have retained their humanity.

The hero murders others for their food, for his own survival. Okay, he'll only kill other thieves and murderers... A minor mitigation. On the other hand, he loves and looks after his brother.

The two boys travel with their murder mentor. The three depend on each other for survival. And they care for each other. It's almost a father-son relationship.

Other characters are also desperate, violent and entirely sympathetic. Not all -- there are some real creeps -- but the apocalypse had not destroyed every finer feeling.

There's an organic "factory" which produces the bulk of available food. How was it created ? The origins are both surprising -- and completely believable.

Okay, I do have a couple of niggles...

First, there are several typos. Words that sounds the same but have the wrong meaning. And several uses of words that are similar, but wrong.

Nitpicking, I know !

Then there is the use of ?Mexican? language... The hero and his friends speak a mixture of English and -- I'll call it -- Spanish. No worries with that, it suits the story. But...

What about readers who don't speak Spanish ?!

No, I'm sorry, I'm not going to use Google Translate on every other page. Some phrases I can guess. Others... I just skim over, ignore, perhaps miss some vital point...

Here's how I think it's done: you write the Spanish in italics with the English translation after it. For example:

"_Por que tan pensativo, viejo rata?_" he inquired. Isn't the moon lovely tonight?

Okay, that may not be a good translation :-)  The point is... Provide a translation ! Remember that you are writing for an English-speaking audience !

Okay. That's out of my system.

It's a great book. Brutal, violent, touching, involving. The climactic battle suits this book... It would be way over the top in other books. The ending is satisfying, conclusive, indicating that the world is improved but there are still problems. Then the hero does... exactly as his character would be expected to do.

All this in the author's first book ! Which, I admit, helped crank the rating up from a good 8.

And a final word for the publisher... Night Shade Books. "An independent publisher of quality science-fiction and fantasy." Never heard of you before. I'll be keeping an eye out for your books in the future.

This could be the best science fiction that I have read, for quite a long time.

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Old Pulp SciFi

October 2014... Holiday time... and I relaxed with a few downloaded science fiction stories. Turns out, they were mostly short stories and from pulp magazines from the early days of sf... The early days, that is, of my own sf reading.

Interesting memories !

A Martian Odyssey
by Stanley Grauman Weinbaum
copyright 1949
rated 5: readable, but only if there's nothing else

There's an episode of the TV series QI where Stephen Fry tells the story of an Eskimo tribe and their sacred meteorites. The meteorites were the tribe's only source of metal. And were objects of tribal worship.

An American explorer discovers the tribes. Discovers the meteorites. Is amazed. So he steals the meteorites and takes them home to America.

Weinbaum has taken that story and set it on Mars.

Is A Martian Odyssey a warning ? A pointed reminder that relative strength is no excuse for theft of cultural artifacts ? A sarcastic commentary on the ignorance of the explorer with superior firepower ?

Or is it just an example of a 1949 attitude that primitive tribes are there to be exploited.

Stairway to the Stars
by Larry Shaw
copyright 1951
rated 6: read to pass the time

So where are all the aliens ? Oh, they've just banned all contact until we get ourselves into space... Why, banned ? Here's one explanation.

What else is there in this story ? Mad scientist, honest but slow editor, beautiful alien and sneering alien. Alien powers and human responses.

From the introduction, the editor may be a bit of fun at the expense of an actual editor... Which badly loses its point, when all the knowledgeable in-crowd has died of old age.

Just a bit of fun. Enjoyable. Nothing great.

Star Guard
by Andre Norton
copyright 1955
rated 6: read to pass the time

Turns out that this is a complete novel. Thanks to Baen Books and their policy of allowing free download of complete books... As I understand it, Star Guard and Star Rangers were republished, together as Star Soldiers, in 2001.

Earth has entered space -- and found that it is crowded with aliens. Earth people find themselves to be low people on the totem pole...

The bulk of the book is a bunch of sword-wielding humans battling their way across an alien planet. Unbelievable -- but no more unbelievable than any other adventure story :-)

Then we meet the people who are working -- secretly -- to set Earth free. Humans will be forever free... eventually !

Excitement and adventure in a not too challenging plot. Read, enjoy.

Star Rangers
by Andre Norton
copyright 1953
rated 6: read to pass the time

Another enjoyable and unbelievable romp. Less aliens and more... possible... significance. Set in the same universe as Star Guard but many years later...

I think that's right. I was uncertain when I read it. It's now more than a month -- and many books read -- later. Sorry !

What I do remember, is that I enjoy a book which teaches me some history ! March east out of Rome, the Emperor tells his Legion. March east and never stop marching...

And the Star Rangers have a very similar objective. The universe may be falling down around their ears. The Star Rangers know -- and will follow -- their duty.

More meaningful than Star Guard, with less action. I appreciate the efforts of the heroic Rangers. They aim to build a better galaxy, one planet at a time...

It's not great. Just not too bad.

Equation of Doom
by Gerald Vance
copyright 1957
rated 6: read to pass the time

Tough hero, beautiful heroine, evil aliens. A mind-boggling secret which will give ultimate power to its discoverer.

Is the universe ready for such power ?

The plot is slightly complex, with no great surprises. What's the role of the beautiful but dumb stripper ? Unexpected but no real surprise.

Okay, it's not a great story. But it is nice to have a story with a message.

Standard space fare. Fun to read. Perhaps a small cut above the rest.

The Cosmic Express
by Jack Williamson
copyright 1930
rated 7: well worth reading

Well worth reading ?! Well...

Simple, fun, totally cliche plot twist. Was it a cliche in 1930 ?

Then there's the science. Well beyond its time. In fact, well beyond today's science ! Using technology that was only successfully implemented for the construction of the NCC 1701, the USS Enterprise...

The world had been set to rights. Weather is fine, everyone is happy. Life is one long warm happy summer's afternoon... Boring, eh ?!

The hero is bored. So he teleports to a "real" environment. One where he can prove his capability. Where he can succeed by dint of his own hard work !

Of course, a real environment turns out to be much worse than he imagined...

Still, I wonder if the truth would discourage every would-be adventurer ?

Wouldn't it be nice to have just a little bit of excitement ? Can't the weather control managers at least provide the occasional unexpected rainstorm ?

Williamson recognises that Utopia can easily become very boring. Nice. Safe. But boring.

It's unfortunate that he only investigates the other extreme, of constant deadly danger. Then does not consider that it's not really utopia if life is always boring.

In the Year 2889
by Jules Verne
copyright 1889
rated 5: readable, but only if there's nothing else

Rated 5 ? Is that a bit harsh ? Perhaps.

But there is no story.

This is an essay on life and technology of the far future. So Verne may have a great imagination. That doesn't make for a great story.

On the other hand... This story was written more than a century ago. The predictions are imaginative but not great. What we do get...

What we get, is an insight into the thinking of the year 1889. This is what the advanced thinkers of the day were seeing, for their own far future. For that, it is an interesting story.

If it were written today ? There's nothing really bad about it. I would just read it and think, Ho hum.

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Riders of the Purple Sage / Zane Grey

Riders of the Purple Sage
by Zane Grey, copyright 1912

... and

The Trail Driver
by Zane Grey, copyright 1935

westerns

read in November 2014

rated 8 / 10: really quite good

I am now a Zane Grey fan.

This makes three Grey westerns that I have read. I have enjoyed all three. Each of the three is different.

Purple Sage stars the country. The country is remote, wild, beautiful. Described with poetic amazement.

Of course there are people in the story. Couples who fall heavily in love. Bad guys who want to tear them apart. All very stereotypical, really... But still enjoyable.

The bad guys are interesting: Mormons. Evil Mormons ? I remember a Sherlock Holmes story (The Sign of Four ? ) where Mormons were painted in a similar light: patriarchal, controlling their own people, willing to kill outsiders.

I checked wikipedia. Reading between the carefully impartial lines, yes, early Mormons were more than just religious nutters with unbelievable beliefs... They also, in their early days, had very bad press...

And since one of the good girls is a Mormon -- she has to battle her innocent faith to see that religion and evil are not mutually exclusive. And I expected a western to be simple black hat versus white hat !

I loved one particular line in the book... The hero has just shot the religious bad guy. The bad guy is dying. The hero tells him, Speak quickly to your god because you won't get to see him again where you're about to go...

Okay, the ending is no great surprise. Though there is a drawback -- a finality -- to the ultimate solution. Yet Grey has remembered to build a clever loophole into that solution: it's not as final as the hero would expect. Very clever !

The story of Purple Sage is straightforward and very enjoyable. The good guy characters are honest, tough and likeable. The real star of the book... is the purple sage country.

Trail Driver stars the cowboys.

Imagine a list of all the things that could go wrong on a two month trail drive... Storms, stampede, rustlers, Indians, drought and flooded rivers... You name it, it'll happen !

Okay, so the plot is not the greatest. But the story is about the people. In particular, about their response to the various trials and tragedies -- and high points -- of their journey.

The characters are... well... noble. Think "noble savage" in a cowboy outfit. Completely unbelievable. Yet completely likeable. When a good guy turns bad, he is quickly punished. When another almost turns bad, he is overcome with remorse at his own weakness.

It's all so unlikely. So over-simplified. So thoroughly enjoyable.

And then Grey surprises me again.

The observer character reaches the end of the trail and realises that the experience was tough -- and cruel. We watched men battling the odds and winning. Men being "real men". (Yes, the book is the original cliche.)

Grey describes the trail country with love and admiration. He describes the cowboys as heroes, nonchalant, honest and dedicated. And the cowgirls are feisty and tough yet soft and very pretty.

Then, through the observer, he tells us that he will never again send cowboys into such a dangerous situation.

It's tough. It's heroic. Yet it's not worth the risk to the cowboys who casually face the extreme dangers of the trail.

Trail Driver is an ode to the cowboys and the country. Grey describes (an idealised version of) what happened. He recognises the possibility that the cost in young lives was just too much.

And one more surprise... Well, two.

There's a bad guy, an evil gunslinger, waiting for the good guys. In Dodge City. The cowboys are going to paint the town red, just as soon as they are paid.

One situation is dealt with so quickly that I wondered why I had been waiting with such anticipation. That other is so sad that it just has to be based on a possibly-true anecdote.

Zane Grey may have written the stories on which every western cliche is based. (If it's the first, it's not a cliche ! ) As simple stories of adventures in the old west, these are good books.

The occasional twist, the extra depths, take these books from good, to excellent.

I'm not surprised that Zane Grey books are still in print. I'm just glad that I found some.

I'm looking forward to reading the third story in the 2012 Best of Zane Grey book that I've enjoyed so much so far.

Stay tuned, for Rangers of the Lone Star :-)

Jupiter War / Neal Asher

Jupiter War
(Owner #3)
by Neal Asher

science fiction, space opera

copyright 2013
read in November 2014

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

As the Owner becomes more machine and less human, his human enemies become less humane. Is there a message here ?

Nooo... If Asher had meant to provide a message about what it takes to be human -- he would have stated it strongly and clearly. With a warp-drive sledgehammer. This is not a subtle book !

Each chapter is introduced with a message from the "subnet", a politically motivated blog. Each message provides some minor background to the story -- and a major message on the stupidity of humanity. There are messages, I enjoy them, they are not subtle.

And did I categorise the previous two Owner books as "space opera" ? If not, I apologise... Large scale action, demigod hero, rapid scientific development... It's all here.

I enjoy space opera. I enjoy science fiction. I enjoy a book which hammers me with messages -- as long as the messages are plausible.

So why only six out of ten for Jupiter War ?!

There is far too much time spent detailing the construction of the new spaceship.

It's nice to know that Asher has thought through the process of building a giant spaceship. Perhaps a dedicated hard SF fan would follow and document the process, sketch the final plans, admire the care and attention to detail...

I find that it detracts from my enjoyment of the story. While clever robots are building large steel structures -- my attention is wandering. The book begins to drag.

Compare that with the final climactic battle -- which is also described in fine but slow detail... The battle is slow but it is an essential part of the story. It doesn't drag -- it builds tension. Though the slow exposition did give me time to work out one major "surprise" :-)

And speaking of slow... My goodness, it does take a long time to dispose of a major villain, doesn't it ?! Still, the disposal is well worth the wait...

This book has a lot of over the top action, mixed with tedious space-themed filler. It's an enjoyable romp through space. The proportion of filler is just a bit too high.

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Black Moon / Kenneth Calhoun

Black Moon
by Kenneth Calhoun

science fiction

copyright 2014
read in October 2014

rated 5/10: readable, but only if there's nothing else

The premise is good: what if 99% of people cannot sleep ? The results: are scary and believable. So why don't I like this book ?

If it's not as miserable as The Road -- it's not for want of trying.

Actually, with a bigger cast, it's hard to not find one or more sympathetic characters. Yet when the last of these is killed off I think, How stupid was that ?!

Trying not to spoil it too much: Has no-one heard of an on switch with a timer ? Or an emergency override button ?!

Then I'm confused. Was the owl significant ? What happened to the girl sleeping in the drain ? (Though I think I can guess that one. Unless the author really did forget about her.)

What really puts me off this book is my own preference for science fiction. I'm just not into the detailed examination of the psychology of troubled but otherwise ordinary people. And boy, is there a lot of that !

The book is set post-apocalypse. Yet at least half of the story -- so it seems to me -- is set back in the good old days. Back in the good old days of internal -- mental -- problems rather than external apocalyptic and life-threatening problems.

Boring.

More correctly... I find it boring.

I read half of Black Moon. Went away for a month. And found it difficult to convince myself to read the rest.

I'm sure it's a good book... by some standards. Runner-up book of the week for suicidal readers perhaps ?

It's just not a book that interests me.

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