PissWeakly Reviews: July 2019

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Uncharted / Anderson, Hoyt

Uncharted

(Arcane America #2)

by Kevin J Anderson, Sarah A Hoyt

fantasy

read in July 2019

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

This book is clearly identified -- on the front cover -- as, "Lewis and Clark in Arcane America". So I read the Wikipedia entry on Lewis and Clark before reading this book. The book is a solid magical alternative to the real L&C. Which is both good and bad.

As an alternative history, this book is good. From my limited knowledge I can believe that the L&C expedition could have gone like this... if they were exploring a land with active magic. It's fun to meet the "real" people in their "arcane" incarnations.

Unfortunately real life is not as well organised as a good novel. This causes problems. The dog, for example...

Both real and arcane Lewis are accompanied by a dog called Seaman. This leads ro an awful example of a Chekov's gun. When a gun is hanging on the wall in act one, it must be fired in act three. Otherwise it is pointless... as is the arcane dog. Other than matching history, the dog serves no purpose. It is annoying.

Some arcane characters match their real counterparts. Others -- such as the Indian woman and her husband -- have radically changed roles. Often, this works well.

Towards the end of the book, arcane and real seriously diverge. The pace of action accelerates. The plot logic is stretched thin. The ending of conflict is quite clever, unheralded, satisfactory. Yet clearly leading into another book.

All of this is a mixture of good and not so good. An acceptable story well-based on a real expedition. There is only one major fault with this book:

There is absolutely no excitement. Not that it is boring, there is enough invention to make it worth reading. Yet the story simply does not grip the reader. In fact it's not the story. It's the way that it's told.

==== Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
===

"The most dangerous gift is advice"
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dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
====

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Agent of Chaos / Kami Garcia

Agent of Chaos

(X-Files Origins)

by Kami Garcia

read in July 2019

thriller, fansonly

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

First, an admission: I am not a fan of the X-Files. I did watch a couple of episodes, they struck me as being direct steals from science fiction stories that I had read. Still, the series was characters as much as stories.

This book is a story of Fox Mulder, a story of the beginning of his belief in the weird stuff. He meets a nutty alien conspiracy theorist and guess what? It all appears to be true... Lightweight, illogical, easy to read.

The book is full of references to the tv series. Fair enough, the book is a post-written prequel to the tv series. As a non-fan, though, some of it seems pointless and contrived. And stupid like a thriller... Fox is being "managed" by an all-powerful super-secret agency. All very exciting when gradually revealed in a tv series, rather ridiculous in the one relatively short book.

Fox himself is an idiot. A super-smart idiot. Think Sheldon Cooper but chasing murderous villains rather than scientific truths. Where Sheldon can embarrass his friends, Fox unthinkingly puts his friends in danger.

The book is interesting -- even for a non-fan -- for its insight into the Fox Mulder character. The plot is either embarrassing, or aimed at quite young teenage readers.

The book is readable but I wouldn't bother. Unless you're a fan.

==== Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper
Agamedes Consulting / Problems? Solved.
===

"Dogs also bark at what they do not know" … Heraclitus
===

dying for you to read my blog: notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au :-)
====

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Lords of the Sith / Paul S Kemp

Lords of the Sith

(Star Wars 6)

by Paul S Kemp

science fiction, fansonly

read in July 2019

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

Okay, I've called this "fans only" but really it's not that bad. For Star Wars fans this would rate higher. For non-fans some of the attractions for fans -- are a negative.

Darth Vader is marooned on a planet, the rebellion army try to kill him. Will Vader die? Not if he wants to appear in the movies where he is chief villain... Such knowledge spoils the suspense, yet it fills in a gap for fans.

btw: I call this book number six. That is according to the timeline in the book -- which places it after three movies, a tv series and another book. Again, good for the fans, confusing for a non-fan reading just the one book.

Still, it's not too bad. The author has captured the "feel" of the three SWs movies that I have seen. And captured some of the silliness: I've only flown a simulator! How do I pass control to the co-pilot? Press that blue button. Oh yes, thanks...

And, of course, one bomb in just the right place will destroy the entire enormous spaceship... Oh, and note to supreme evil dude: Design your troops' helmets with a clear face-plate, so you can see when it's really a rebel in disguise.

It's fun, it's familiar, it's -- occasionally -- ridiculous. I'm almost tempted to rate it as seven... but no. It's enjoyable, but not "well worth reading". Unless you are a serious Star Wars fan.

Friday, July 19, 2019

cafe: Cafe Cafe / Subiaco

café: Café Café, Subiaco

We've been here before. Several times. Which makes this a rating of three out of three: enjoyed it, will come back :-)

Admittedly a lot of the attraction is convenience, right above easy Subiaco parking. Also... it's a very nice café.

Today we are upstairs, all by ourselves. There's a noisy crowd downstairs, a cold wind outside, we are comfortable on lounge chairs. We feel sorry for the waiter delivering up all those stairs, he is cheerful about it.

Coffee is very good. Our cake -- is excellent. Choc date & nut slice with an excellent balance of flavours. We can taste the dates, taste the chocolate, see the nuts sitting on top. Very nice!

We've been here before and we'll be back. Three out of three.

Dr Nick Lethbridge / Consulting Dexitroboper

... Agamedes Consulting / Problems ? Solved

===

"Why be difficult? Be impossible." … Ginger Meggs

===

Dying for you to read my blog, at https://notdotdeaddotyet.blogspot.com.au/ :-)

Colony / Ben Bova

Colony

by Ben Bova

science fiction

read in July 2019

rated 7 / 10: well worth reading

At the start of this book I am thinking, Uh oh, this book could be horribly dated. It is not. The speed of technological development is hugely over-optimistic. The style of government is way off reality (the story is set in 2008). The role of corporate business is (perhaps) exaggerated.

Yet the book soon gets past its future-history failings. The facts may have missed reality but the underlying ideas are still relevant. Actual race wars -- for example -- may not be happening but racial tensions are just as real.

The "facts" have been proven wrong. The major principles are still relevant.

One fact has yet to be disproven: human beings, as soon as they leave Earth, develop cultures where clothing is optional. This is true on Bova's near-Earth Colony as much as on any far distant alien planet.

And why not? After all, most alien cultures prefer nudity. Or maybe it's just the preference of many writers -- and readers -- of science fiction...

Infinity Engine / Neal Asher

Infinity Engine

(Transformation #3)

by Neal Asher

science fiction

half read July 2019

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

My rating for this book is low. I rate for *my* enjoyment. There are several factors which make this book less than satisfactory, some are purely situational...

I'm reading Infinity in bits and pieces, this is a book which should be read right through, it is too complex for dipping. It is book three of a series, it would probably make more sense if I had read (recently) books one and two. On the other hand -- there are other books, parts of a series, which are good reading without having read earlier books.

There are half a dozen separate plot threads. They are well separated and identified but it is confusing. There are so many characters and the plots are -- in the first half of this book -- so hard to relate that they may as well be separate short stories. This is my own problem in that I missed the first two books. Also, I guess that the threads will rejoin before this book ends.

Then there is the science. This -- in my opinion -- is a distinct fault with the book. First, the science may as well be magic, there is no explanation. Worse, it varies to fit the situation. Okay, the science comes from various sources, each civilisation and each alien genius will have its own version. Still, it would be nice to have -- for example -- a standard science base for each ... creature. Rather than the unexplained waving of high tech magic wands.

Part of the science is the ability to manipulate minds. What this means is that an intelligence may be thinking thoughts which have been created by another intelligence. So there are no independent characters, just intelligences which may be thinking thoughts created by something else... Or, they may literally change their own minds. All of which means -- there are no real characters, just programmable intelligences.

I am not able to like characters who may, in the previous or next chapter, be completely different characters. There are no heroes to cheer for, no villains to boo. Just a universe full of irresistible forces meeting immovable objects. And beings who may or may not be affected by the results.

I'm only just past halfway through the book. I may continue reading to the end. But only when I have nothing better to do.

cafe: Sol Espresso / North Perth

14jul19: Sol Espresso, North Perth -- cafe

Look on Google, this little cafe is into its fourth name -- at least. It's nice enough that we hope that this iteration survives :-)

The staff are friendly. One has three-layer-shave hair style, otherwise this is non-hipster. A cafe more than a fashionable place to be seen. (We are fresh from a visit to Chinta, where it was so crowded that we didn't bother to join the queue to get in.)

We choose the Sol today's special, ham and cheese croissant... not our usual cake! With coffee, of course. In fact, the cake selection is very limited... muffins. That's fine, we enjoy our shared croissant and the coffee is good.

Rated two out of three: we enjoy our coffee, glad we are here, won't go out of our way for another visit.

cafe: Chinta / North Perth

14jul19: Chinta, North Perth -- cafe

Okay, it's Sunday brunch-time, crowds are expected. There's no spare parking near the cafe. Surrounding streets include several with parking for residents only. We park several streets from the cafe.

We look inside. It certainly looks hipster. Including, it's crowded...

The cafe is packed. There is a queue, half a dozen people, waiting to get seats.

We leave. Walk to a smaller -- definitely not hipster, separately reviewed -- cafe, it's halfway back to the car. Enjoy our coffee and cake.

A Chinta test and review may happen later. On a less busy day.

Wednesday, July 3, 2019

year one / nora roberts

year one

(the one #1)

by nora roberts

fantasy, chicklit

read in july 2019

rated 6/10: read to pass the time

easy reading, chicklit fantasy by the numbers. this is chapter one of a saga, there is no satisfactory conclusion.

by the numbers: start with rich, happy, self-satisfied family group. cue the cackling crone foretelling death, doom and many more books in the series. of course no-one listens to the crone (not that she makes any sense). then kill all the family -- except for the pregnant woman.

next: introduce the characters who will survive for most of the book. and what a lot of them there are! the author is setting us up for an enormous and complex saga. the goodies are sooo sweet. the villains are almost cackling with evil. babies pop out all over the place.

a lot of the "action" involves creation of a cutesy little village, where everyone -- except the obvious baddies, of course -- is loving and supportive and creative and hard working. gosh, who would have thought that one person on one pc could "find" the lost internet? and the one website that exists is run by evil people who plan to kill every user of magic.

amongst the magic users, one person can see the future. "the baddies are coming, to kill all magic users!" she says. so what do the magic users do? they leave their guns at home and have an open-air party. and guess what...

it's rubbish, it's predictable, it's so sweet that dentists would warn against it. the ending is a pause for the goodies to develop new powers, it is not a conclusion. this is chapter one rather than book one.

but it's easy to read, reasonably entertaining and relatively harmless. with a solid dose of, "magic is nice if the magic user is nice". formula fantasy by the numbers, probably took longer the read than to write.

not great literature but reading it is a reasonable -- mindless -- way to pass the time.

Pages

Tuesday, July 30, 2019

Saturday, July 27, 2019

Wednesday, July 24, 2019

Friday, July 19, 2019

Wednesday, July 3, 2019