King of Sword and Sky / C.L. Wilson

King of Sword and Sky

category: fantasy, romance, author:

C.L. Wilson

book 2 of Tairen Soul
original copyright 2008,
read in December 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

There's a reasonable story here. Heavily overlaid with longing looks, deep sighs and heavy breathing... It's a romance, in the sense of true love, jealousy and do-anything-for-the-partner heroics. Sigh...

But it's not a great romance. I have nothing against lovers who will give their lives for each other. But come on! Lovers who fly into a jealous rage when someone else just holds the partners hand? Oh well, just a bit too heartfelt heavy-handed for me... The Twilight books are ridiculously good fun. King is just a bit ridiculous.

It's also a bit, well, nasty. There's the couple who have been prisoners for one thousand years. The villain will torture them mercilessly, bring them screaming to death's door -- and then... eventually... heal them. To start the torture again. For the last thousand years. Sure, the prisoners are immortal. But still... Yukk!

I just have a thing against people being held completely at the mercy of a villain. It's only the fact that these two are still resisting -- even a tiny bit -- that allows me to enjoy other aspects of the book.

Another problem is with the number of characters. All with the standard, complex, fantasy names. After half a book, I was getting to grips with them all -- then I went away for a couple of weeks. Read other books. Came back for the last few chapters of King. And found myself very confused, trying to remember who was who.

Okay, it's also a problem with reading the second of a trilogy without having read the first. The confusion of characters is largely my own problem. Bear that in mind when you consider my rating of this book!

If you like to mix your true love romance with torture and slaughter, this book is for you. For me, I may read other books by Wilson. But I won't go looking for them.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.

The Keep / F. Paul Wilson

The Keep

category: horror, author:

F. Paul Wilson

book 1 of The Adversary Cycle
published by Tor,
original copyright 1981, read in September 2010

Agamedes' opinion: 6 out of 10

Soft-core horror...

Not that there is such a genre. Not by that name, anyway. What I mean is, all the traditional elements of horror -- with no edge... no real nastiness.

Or perhaps I'm just inured to nastiness...

Beautiful virgin, heroically masculine experienced man, aged scientist, ancient evil creature from the prehistory of the world, an army of zombie minions... All the elements of a standard horror potboiler.

Luckily enough, I prefer to avoid the really nasty... If a book gives me nightmares -- I would rather not have read it. The Keep is easy to read, enjoyable, lightweight horror. A good book to read to pass the time.

There is, however, one more interesting aspect to this book...

The evil creature of The Keep feeds on human suffering. He enjoyed his time working with Vlad the Impaler. For those who live on human suffering, Vlad's antics would be just a light snack -- compared to the multi-course feast of Nazi Germany.

Yes, The Keep is set in WW II. German soldiers are killed -- horribly. Nazi storm troopers are killed -- nastily. The evil creature kills dozens of these soldiers (plus a few villagers). But...

But the evils of the evil creature pale into insignificance against the evils of the Nazis of WW II. Yes, it's human cruelty a clear winner.

The evil creature is trapped. If it escapes, it will grow huge and all-powerful, feeding on the human cruelty of Nazi Germany. That's a future threat, to add some suspense to the story.

The real horror, is what humans -- Nazis -- are already doing.

There are all sorts of ancient evil monsters, lurking in every shadowed and mysterious dark place of the world. Put one foot wrong and unspeakable evil will be released upon the world.

Avoid all the dark and hidden places of the world -- and there is still enough horror to fill endless books. Human-kind has a history of horror. Wilson takes an ancient evil... And adds Nazis, for a truly bloodcurdling -- though still lightweight -- chill of horror.

..o0o..

These reviews are provided by Agamedes Consulting. For an independent and thoughtful review of your processes, problems or documents, email nickleth at gmail dot com.