Whispers Underground / Ben Aaronovitch

Whispers Underground
(Peter Grant #3)
by Ben Aaronovitch
fantasy

copyright 2012
read in December 2014

rated 7/10: well worth reading

More fun and fantasy in the great city of London !

Surprisingly little death and violence. Surprisingly ? It may be an attack of cynicism but I expect these wizard in the big city stories to attempt to excite me with extreme violence. And with episodes of near sex, of course.

Peter Grant books one and four have the expected levels of violence. Is number three an accidental aberration, or did some marketing guru detect a slight slump on sales ?!

Not to worry. It's a most enjoyable book.

The regular social irony seems to have shifted to sarcasm. You know, it has moved from humour towards insult. Still funny though.

The plot is more straightforward than I expected. It's very close to being just one murder investigation. Though the final dénouement is not even the identification of the murderer...

In fact, there are several things which make this book different from the other two that I have reviewed. This is not a criticism, just an observation... And if they were all the same, I would suspect that the author was following a standard formula... :-)

I am, however, confused by the minor subplot involving the faceless man...

This book is clearly set before Broken Homes. Yet the hero remembers being pushed off a roof by the faceless man. Which happened at the end of Broken Homes ! Am I confused ? Or is the faceless man in the habit of regularly pushing Peter Grant off roofs ?!

I think that my rating may be a point lower than for other books in the series. Due to a few unexpected niggles affecting my enjoyment...

This is still an excellent book. And well worth reading.

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Problems ? Solved

The Serrano Legacy / Elizabeth Moon

The Serrano Legacy
by Elizabeth Moon

science fiction, chick lit

#1 Hunting Party
copyright 1993
rated 6/10: read to pass the time

#2 Sporting Chance
copyright 1994
rated 7/10: well worth reading

read in December 2014

Hunting Party is light, fun, unsurprising. There's the ex-space-navy captain now reduced to captain of a space yacht for the idle rich. There's the crew of the yacht, a bunch of no-hopers who do not meet the new captain's naval standards. And the passengers, idle, rich and beautiful.

They all develop as expected...

Yet it's not all space adventure. In fact, most of the action takes place on a planet. And I tell you what: this is the first time that I have truly understood the joy of fox hunting !

Okay, it's not entirely due to Moon's writing. She sets the scene, with descriptions of the hunt. Not all good, especially if you have trouble staying on a horse. I read beyond the story...

Milady loves riding horses. She loves the steeple-chase, with its jumps and other obstacles. Take a large area, dotted with a large variety of obstacles. Add one fox -- and you have a randomly set, ever changing obstacle course ! A challenge which is new and different, each time it is run.

Now I understand the popularity of our local fox hunting club. Which has never, in its entire history, seen a fox.

This first book of the Serrano series is predictable, lightweight and a lot of fun.

The second book -- Sporting Chance -- is less predictable, more complex, even more fun.

The captain is more settled. The crew are at a better standard. And the idle rich youngsters have done their essential growing up.

You know what still surprises me ? It's the amount of work it takes just to get a space ship into space !

There's a surprising amount of effort spent just fitting out and stocking up. Leaving very little time for space battles. In fact, once more, there is a lot of action on planets... Or on space stations which service the planets.

Finally, the rich old lady, the idle owner of the space yacht... She spends most of the book... Well, let's not provide a spoiler :-) But it's a very sympathetic treatment of a too common situation.

Book one is an introduction to the characters and the situation. Book two puts the now more capable characters into a more difficult adventure. It's still chick lit but ... better.

It's difficult to introduce a new series of books. Really, though I think that Moon learnt, and applied that learning to the writing of book two.

I still have book three to read and review. I'm looking forward to it.

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Problems ? Solved

The City / Stella Gemmell

The City
by Stella Gemmell
fantasy

copyright 2013
read in December 2014

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

I once read a book called, "How to Write a Bestseller". The main message of that book was, that success comes from a formula. Gemmell may have read that same book.

A key element of the success formula is "complexity". The City has complexity in spades. Nothing wrong with that. It's complex but clearly written; the complexity can be unraveled.

Another key element is to have a lot of characters, all interacting and possibly interrelated. Tick. The idea is, there will be at least one character with whom each reader will be able to identify.

That's rubbish.

If I like the main characters then I am likely to enjoy the book. If I dislike the main characters then I will probably dislike the book. If there are so many characters that there is at least one that I will like... then I may as well be reading a telephone directory.

Then there's violence. Actually, I'm not sure whether violence was an essential part of the success formula. The City certainly truckloads of blood and violence and sudden death.

I almost categorised it as "military" fantasy, there are so many battles. But the battles -- and the centuries-long war -- are just background. This is not military fantasy.

Despite my dislike of bestseller formula, I enjoyed reading most of this book... Up to the end, I would have rated it higher than six. So what don't I like ?!

Stella Gemmell's background is politics and journalism. Perhaps she realises the reality, that war is just a small part of politics and power. That's reality. I read for escapism.

There are battles and victories and defeats. Heroic deeds and base treachery. And at the end... nothing much has changed.

Sure, several evil rulers have been overthrown. The current battles have been ended. Some major characters have survived. But...

Another evil ruler had taken over. The attitude of war is still there, there may be a lull but the war will continue. The surviving heroes get to survive... nothing more. Oh, and they find out that all their heroism was being stage-managed for the benefit of others.

What's the point ?!

Real life may be pointless and miserable. Well, it is if you look too closely at politics and read too much journalism :-) I prefer my fantasy to be more optimistic. The City just leave me feeling, so what. (Or bleagh, if that's how it's spelt.)

Oh, one more rule from the bestseller formula: leave enough loose ends for another book. Yep, you guessed it. More loose ends than a knitted scarf in a kitten factory.

Too complex, too many characters, too pointless to enjoy. Otherwise, not too bad.

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14mar18:

I pick up this book... read a few pages... realise that I have read it before. Not to worry, I think, it seems to be an entertaining book. I have forgotten most of what happens. So...

I read a few chapters. Read through the slaughter of 20,000 or so conscripted soldiers. Have already met three sets of characters who would be central characters in any well-written book -- meet them once, then they disappear. Read my earlier review. Give up in disgust.

My dislike of never-ending sagas has grown. If an author doesn't have any idea how to wrap up their own plot -- why should I bother to read it?

Rating it now, I would say, four out of ten: bad but could be read. That is, could be read by someone with a strong stomach and no interest in endings.

Not a novel. Just a pointless and endless pot-boiler.

The High Druid's Blade / Terry Brooks

The High Druid's Blade
(Defenders of Shannara # 1)
by Terry Brooks

fantasy

copyright 2012
read in December 2014

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

I love the way that Terry Brooks builds on his world. The Shannara books are a continuing saga. Two dozen books, so far. Linked by characters from two families. Separated by generations.

Each group of stories involved a new group of characters, though the main characters will be from within the well known families. Some long-lived characters provide continuity. Yet even the longest-lived eventually become history.

Characters arrive, develop, die, often of old age. Shannara -- the land -- has time to develop a rich and detailed history. Each novel continues the Shannara story, with a new phase of Shannara history.

I have the feeling that each of these different stories... is the same story...

A member of the Leah family lives an ordinary life. He is forced to pick up the magic sword. He finds the the magic sword leads him into magical action and adventure.

Meanwhile, a member of the Ohmsford family is living an ordinary life. That person discovers the ability to use the magical wish song. The wish song leads to a life of magical action and adventure.

It all seems to be fantasy-by-the-numbers. A return to a familiar story set in a familiar land.

Nothing wrong with that.

It's simple adventure. Magical wish fulfillment. Nice characters. Satisfactory ending. All fun. Nothing startling. Except, perhaps, the book's title...

I think that the hero has been trained to become "The High Druid's Blade". You know, the fighter who will be the sharp edge to the druid's magic. Except that the author seems to have forgotten to mention this... Or perhaps it's just so obvious that it doesn't need to be mentioned...

Not to worry. This is an enjoyable book. A light read for a few hours light entertainment. Perhaps a good introduction to the world of Shannara. Certainly an enjoyable continuation for readers who are already Shannara fans.

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Problems ? Solved

Rangers of the Lone Star / Zane Grey

Rangers of the Lone Star
by Zane Grey

western

copyright 1915 ?
read in December 2014

rated 7/10: well worth reading

There seems to be some mystery about this book... There's very little about it on the web. The only clear reference that I found says that it was stitched together -- by the publishers, in 1915 -- from parts of other Zane Grey works...

The same source says that this is the only Grey book written in the first person. Even with my own limited Grey reading, I had thought that the first person narration was unusual.

So is it a good book ? Yes :-)

Though it is really way, way over the top. Put the hero's underpants on the outside and he's the Phantom. Add a cape and he's Batman. This is not just a Texas Ranger... This is a story of the epitome of all heroic Texas Rangers !

And it's still a good book... A classic Western. With some unusual features...

You know the scene, at the end of the movie, where it's the hero and his loyal sidekick against the entire gang of baddies ? Where they are outnumbered and absolutely nothing can save them ? Until all the solid citizens pop out of the side streets to support the hero with their own guns...

Well...

That scene is in Rangers. Except that it's no last minute surprise. Because the hero has already put on a lot of work to make sure that the solid citizens will support him at the appropriate time.

Which makes for less suspense but a whole lot more sense.

So, once again, Grey has surprised me with a clever -- and sensible -- plot. His characters have depth and interest. The wrapup at the end requires more than just a big gun battle.

There's no doubt that good will triumph over evil. The surprise is that the triumph requires more than just a fast gun and two powerful fists.

Another very enjoyable Zane Grey western.

Just so, so... over the top... in the attitude to the hero.

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Pirate Freedom / Gene Wolfe

Pirate Freedom
by Gene Wolfe

historical... action ?

copyright 2007
read in December 2014

rated 3/10: so bad it's embarrassing

This book is rubbish. Avoid it.

The cover claims that it is "science fiction". No, it's not. It's a long and boring series of anecdotes about pirates.

Here's the formula:

Read a book such as, The Boys Big Book of Exciting Pirate Adventures. Take every incident -- real and rumoured -- and write it all down. Write it all down as though every single incident had happened to the one character.

Make sure that your writing style is boring, rambling and with plenty of statements such as, I'll tell you about this later. Oh, and add lots of details about ships, to prove that you read a few Wikipedia entries on sailing ships.

Then realise that no-one will read a boring book about pirates. Not even if they enjoyed Pirates of the Caribbean. Readers expect characters, plot, action and suspense.

Is this book a very clever attempt to write in the style of a very boring person telling his first person account of a series of very boring anecdotes ? Well, success ! This book is as boring as its narrator.

Not to worry ! You're well known as a writer of science fiction. So you add a paragraph at the start and a paragraph at the end, to make your boring pirate into a boring time traveler. And claim that this book is science fiction.

What a load of absolute drivel.

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Problems ? Solved

World of Warcraft: Wolfheart / Richard A. Knaak

World of Warcraft: Wolfheart
by Richard A. Knaak

fantasy, fansonly

copyright 2011
read in November 2014

rated 7: well worth reading

This is fantasy and it's quite good. Some surprisingly interesting angles. For example, how do the Elves feel now that they have lost their immortality ?

On the other hand, the target audience is players of World of Warcraft. The story is complete in itself but it's set in the World of Warcraft universe. Or... I don't know... is it really any good for non-fans of World of Warcraft ?

I play WoW. Wolfheart fills in the story between two game releases. Fascinating stuff ! To a WoW player...

Central to Wolfheart are the Worgen. So that's what happened ! I thought. And promptly went and started my first Worgen character...

As a World of Warcraft player and fan, I rate this book as a seven, well worth reading.

For a non-WoW-player... Would this book be interesting ? It's very hard for me to tell !

"Fansonly" in the very bad sense of, "it's rubbish" ? I don't know. And, really... I don't care... Seven is my own rating for my own enjoyment :-)

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Problems ? Solved