The House without a Key / Earl Derr Biggers

The House without a Key
by Earl Derr Biggers
Charlie Chan (1)

mystery

copyright 1925
read in June 2013

rated 7/10: well worth reading

Goodness me ! a Charlie Chan omnibus ! I've seen five minutes of a Charlie Chan movie. And enjoyed the Chinese detective who has helped Maxwell Smart. But I have never read nor watched a complete Chan story...

Until now !

Is it just my era, or is Charlie Chan still an iconic figure in film and literature ? No matter.

I was pleasantly surprised by this book :-)

I didn't know what to expect. The introduction almost put me off, so I skipped most of it. The story -- is a lot of fun.

The characters are straight from Wodehouse via Boston. The action is slow, the humor is light and pleasant. Best of all -- the mystery makes sense.

Sometime in the past I must have read a mystery novel. I'm sure that I've watched more than one mystery on TV. The one thing in common is, that the resolution of the mystery is a riddle wrapped in an enigma. As far as I can tell, the final and definitive clue is only provided as the detective states the solution.

"What no-one knew," says the detective, on the last page but one, "Is that Mr X is the victim's second cousin twice removed, that he was in the conservatory just after midnight -- despite all prior evidence to the contrary -- and that the innocuous flower which no-one has, till now, mentioned, is the only known breeding ground for the deadly black-throated spider ! Which leads to... the inevitable conclusion... that the murder was really suicide !" Oh yeah ?!

Charlie Chan puts forward a whole lot of clues. These lead to a string of suspects. Who are eliminated -- as suspects, that is, -- one by one. The final clue is not obvious. But it is presented early enough for the reader to -- with luck ! -- almost beat the hero to the correct conclusion. Or, at least, to keep up as all is revealed.

Oh, and "hero" ? Charlie Chan is not the hero. The hero is one of the Wodehouse characters... Chan solves the case and gathers conclusive evidence. The hero has a leap of strong intuition, just in time to prevent the villain from escaping. And the hero gets the girl.

Chan is essential to the story. Yet not -- yet ? -- the central character.

My book is three novels in an omnibus. I look forward to seeing how Chan develops in the next two stories.

So far... so good.

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Problems ? Solved

The Gabble / Neal Asher

The Gabble
by Neal Asher

science fiction, short stories

published 2008 (previously published stories)
read in May 2013

rated 7/10: well worth reading

Who could not like the gabbleduck ?!

Asher's universe is really quite amazing. Complex. Coherent (as far as I cared to look). Very, very violent. But positive.

Positive ? I mean, it's mostly the bad guys who suffer the violence. And there's usually a happy -- or at least satisfying -- ending.

It's also nice to have a universe where humanity rules... Well, humanity and AIs... though I have to admit... humanity is no longer constrained by the original model. Made in *whose* image ?!

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Problems ? Solved

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch / Philip K Dick

The Three Stigmata of Palmer Eldritch
by Philip K Dick

science fiction

copyright 1964
read in May 2013

rated 7 out of 10: well worth reading

Warning: possible spoiler ahead ! Only a "possible" spoiler ? Yes... I don't know if I really know what happened...

First, I checked my understanding of "stigmata". Check. Then related that to the book. Check. So here is what happens:

The man who has god-like powers in the hallucinatory worlds is not God. He has been taken over -- or possibly replaced by -- the god-like being who lives in deep space, the being that may, in the past, have been mistaken for God. The existence or otherwise of a real God is not a part of this story.

The hallucinatory worlds exist only for the hallucinator. Each person dreams of their own world. Every other person in their world is imaginary. Except for the man who has been taken over by the God-like being from outer space.

Except -- another exception -- when the hallucinator imagines that they have moved into the future. The hallucination of the future is real. (It is a real... possible... future.) The people in the hallucination of the future are real. Although they -- the real people in the imagined futures -- may be taken over by the man who has been taken over by the God-like being from outer space.

Are you with me so far ?!

Enough !

This is an enjoyable book... if a bit challenging to understand ! Easy to read, difficult to follow. Satisfying, though my own satisfaction may be based entirely on misconceptions of what it all means...

Better yet, the style of the book has not dated... The predictions may be way off but that does not affect my reading enjoyment... Which I particularly notice because I have recently read some Heinlein.

Heinlein is horribly dated. His scientific predictions may be better but his characters -- and their attitudes -- are, well, possibly believable and maybe acceptable to narrow-minded readers of fifty years ago.

I find Dick's characters to be much more believable. Okay, not realistic ! But believable. And very hard to dislike...

Sure, the Stigmata characters are self-centered. Some are willing to abandon others to protect themselves. They are open to bribery and corruption. But they are all children, and how could you dislike children !?

No, not really children. They are all child-like in their approach to life. There is no underlying cruelty, no innate evil. They just look after themselves. And are sorry when that causes problems for other people.

The characters mean well. They are just realistic when it comes to matters of self-interest. Realistic and self-centered ! Oh, and very analytical.

When it comes to character motivations, Dick fails the test of show versus tell. The characters are constantly "telling" us their motivations -- through self-analysis -- rather than "showing" through their actions.

Which just goes to show that an author can break the rules and still write a good story.

Stigmata is a good story. Still readable, still enjoyable -- still confusing -- many years after it was written.

I have a book containing four more Dick novels. I hope the rest are just as enjoyable.

I just hope that I am better able to understand what happens... :-)

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Problems ? Solved

Blood Spirits / Sherwood Smith

Blood Spirits
by Sherwood Smith

fantasy, romance
copyright 2011

rated 7: well worth reading

The adventure continues from Coronets and Steel... The fantasy element is more obvious. There's less of the beautiful woman being put-upon by handsome men. It's just as much fun :-)

The target audience is more obviously teenage girls... The heroine is a young woman of marriageable age but there is more involvement by the local schoolgirls: admire the heroine while you identify with the plucky young assistants.

The first book ended with the hero marrying the wrong woman. So how can a second book sort out that rather awkward problem?! It's too nice a book to assassinate "the wrong woman"! I rather liked the solution to that little problem... And it also provided an interesting new direction for the next book. Well done, the author :-)

Some threads on the last few chapters are, I think, somewhat unraveled. (Hmmm... poor analogy. I mean, I can't follow what happened.) I gave up trying to remember who was who amongst the many secondary characters. But who cares!?

This book is a lot of fun. Likeable characters. Not too much tension.

I enjoyed reading Blood Spirits. I look forward to reading more.

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The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde / Robert Louis Stevenson

The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde
by Robert Louis Stevenson

horror / science fiction

copyright 1886
read in March 2013

rated 7 / 10: well worth reading

It's rather difficult to review a book where the "surprise twist" is so well known... Yes, I have finally read the original Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde!

It is also difficult to rate such an old book for modern readers. Okay, it's a classic, so full marks as a classic work of fiction... But I review on enjoyment. Specifically, on my own enjoyment.

And I did enjoy this book.

Compared to modern horror, it's a bit slow. The final body count is just two, where one body is "the monster". I recently reviewed a recent fantasy book where the body count was in the thousands, including quite a few named characters.

If is also difficult to appreciate the mood and mystery which is evoked by the author... We are in London, with its dark streets, thick fog, streets which are deserted after dark -- because that is the London of the author's time.

The central theme of this book -- that we may be composed of two separate elements, one good, one evil -- is as relevant today as it was then. Stevenson even suggests what is now accepted, that one person may contain a large number of separate personalities.

The way that the theme is presented, is old. Even the style of the book's title is old!

A contemporary reader would have appreciated the dark mood of the city streets, the isolation of one household from the next. I read the book as a mild horror story -- and as an insight into life in the late nineteenth century.

Okay, life may have been exaggerated -- that's what an author does! The insights are still valid though the facts may be fictional...

This book is well worth reading. It offers mild horror in -- to us -- a different world. The science of the science fiction is more psychological than physical. To most of us, there is no surprise in the dénouement.

It is just a great pleasure to finally read such a well-known classic. And an extra pleasure to find that it is both easy to read -- and quite enjoyable.

Oh, and you can download the book for free, from www.gutenberg.net

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Hot Water / P.G. Wodehouse

Hot Water
by P.G. Wodehouse

humour
copyright 1932
read in March 2013

rated 7 out of 10: well worth reading

Is this the American Wodehouse? Sure, it's set in France. There are a couple of English characters, some French... and mostly American. And the Americans are more than just the extremes of hero and villain...

Yet Hot Water is typically Wodehouse.

There is, for example, Mr Soup Slattery, safe-cracker. Reduced, by unfortunate circumstances, to stick-ups. Lots of muscle, very little brain. Yet when push comes to shove -- I like him :-)

In a Wodehouse book, nearly all of the characters are likeable. They may have their minor peccadilloes -- such as a tendency to live on other people's money -- but they are likeable. That is one of the great pleasures of reading Wodehouse!

There is also the clever use of words and the regular use of unreferenced quotes...

The lark is on the wing and the snail is crawling slowly across the thorn... I know I could place that... if only I knew my English poetry! I need to Google...

This book, I did read with the internet close by... So I learnt about Xenophon and his ten thousand. Bloomsbury authors. Macedoine. The Volstead Act. It's surprising how much of our language has fallen into disuse in just... eighty... years.

Hot Water can be read and enjoyed for its humour, it's characters, plot twists and overall sense of fun. It brings alive a -- possibly exaggerated -- sense of the Wodehouse world of the 1930s.

And underneath, is a depth of words, of life, of history. A whole host of common assumptions to add to our enjoyment of the book. Assumptions which have largely been lost, over the last eighty years.

Read, enjoy and -- if you want to -- discover the meaning of all the "current" references which are scattered throughout the book.

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City of Dreams & Nightmare / Ian Whates

City of Dreams & Nightmare
by Ian Whates
City of a Hundred Rows (1)

science fiction / fantasy: steam punk

copyright 2010
read in March 2013

rated 7 out of 10: well worth reading

The young hero fights for his life, discovers that he has special powers, finds that his powers will be central to saving his world... Sound familiar?

Don't worry... It's a familiar plot but in a fascinating new world.

There are complex depths to this world. Lots of different groups yet they all seem to fit into their logical niches. A range from peasant to powerful, interacting -- at arms length -- and all essential to the operation of the city.

There are hints that the peasant class are down-trodden. Certainly, no-one asks them to vote. On the other hand -- and I like this -- they are not miserable.

The various people fight hard to live in their niches. Life is sometimes cheap and short. Yet when there is a fire -- passers-by shout warnings and there is a reasonably effective fire brigade. In the poorest part of the city.

Life is tough but not degraded. Self interest is strong yet there is friendship, loyalty and concern for the neighbours.

It is very easy to empathise with the nicer characters. And quite possible to have some sympathy for the rest. City of Nightmare? I've met worse.

An interesting and likeable world. So what about the plot?

The plot is a little simplistic.

Lots going on, plenty of intersecting threads, no sudden changes of fortune. This book simply keeps rolling along...

... Rolling along, providing interest and action. Very enjoyable. The heroes are threatened but never in any really serious danger. Although, of course, they often *believe* that their lives are at risk!

As a book which is "well work reading" I have only one real criticism: the level of deus ex machina...

Near the start there is a suggestion that several people are pulling all the strings. Towards the end the same people appear, just in time to save the heroes.

String-pullers can spoil a book. If the control is too tight there is no free will -- and no interest for the reader. Whates does not make that mistake... His heroes are set up, then left to take their chances... most of the time.

Having the string-pullers appear just on time to save the day... is a bit weak. It does detract a bit from the strength of the book, from the strength of the heroes. Still, no worries -- the heroes do most of the work.

Overall this book is easy to read and a lot of fun. Enough plot lines are closed off to give a satisfying ending. Enough are left open so that there is obviously more to be written.

I look forward to reading more of the City of a Hundred Rows.

Perhaps in book two... the boy will get the girl :-)

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Coronets and Steel / Sherwood Smith

Coronets and Steel
by Sherwood Smith

fantasy romance

copyright 2010
read in February 2013
rated 7 out of 10: well worth reading

Fantasy, sort of. Romance, definitely. Chick lit, absolutely... Rated seven out of ten? Depends on your point of view!

My original rating was six, read to pass the time. A fun book but not great. Then I thought, what is the point of my rating?

My rating reflects my own opinion of the book. Sometimes I am impressed by how well -- or how poorly -- a book is written. I may notice that characters are well fleshed out -- or as two dimensional as cheap cardboard. Some of my "quality of writing" opinions affect my enjoyment of a book.

My rating is an overall impression of how much I *enjoyed* the book.

I thoroughly *enjoyed* Coronets and Steel!

A feisty heroine, a dashing prince, the amoral and dashing cousin. Set in a country which -- by an amazing set of circumstances -- has maintained the best parts of Scarlet Pimpernel-style courtly behavior. With enough modern conveniences to maintain good health and entertainment.

I read Coronets as a pick-me-up after the tedium of The Wise Man's Fear. Found that Coronets has much of the same descriptive space-filling as Fear. Found that Coronets does it much better... I was skipping lightly through the flowering fields of Coronets verbosity. Where I needed Wellington boots for the swamps of extraneous sludge in Fear.

Coronets is light. It's fun. And you know that the story is progressing towards a satisfying conclusion.

A line from the back-cover blurb is worth quoting, if only in the hope that fantasy writers will take note: "Smith dares to resolve several plot lines, in defiance of fantasy sequel conventions..." Message to other fantasy authors: If you don't know how your story will end -- please do not publish.

Back to Coronets.

There are plenty of references to other books and poems. They do more than show off the author's knowledge... Smith provides enough detail to allow me to Google the work and understand the reference. Thank you! Though one reference did give me a huge hint as to how Coronets was going to end...

On the negative side... I suspect that Smith did not check the meaning of "droit de seigneur"... Or perhaps it's just me... I may be too innocent to accept the heroine's imaginings in this chick lit fantasy of a romantic age adventure...

Great fun, easy reading, an enjoyable novel.

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Problems ? Solved

The Wise Man's Fear / Patrick Rothfuss

The Wise Man's Fear
by Patrick Rothfuss
book 2 of The Kingkiller Chronicles

fantasy
first published 2011
read in February 2013

rated 7 out of 10: well worth reading

There is just one problem with this book: it is tedious.

Look, we started book one with the hero going to magic school. There was a lot of detail but fine, it's a new world, let's get some detail about this new world. But really!

Half way through book two and we are still getting details of life at school... Sure, we know that the hero carries a grudge. His aim in life is to find and kill seven evil dudes. But come on! How many times do we need to be told that no-one knows anything about these evil dudes?!

Okay, there is a second problem. The hero is borderline ratbag. Remember that other book series about a boy at magic school? Remember the one book where Harry Potter was a teenage creep? That was an uncomfortable story -- hard to like the hero -- but it fitted in with a boy growing up -- and it was just one book of seven.

Kvothe, the hero of Fear, is short-tempered. He rejects his teachers teachings. He initiates cruel tricks on his enemy. Okay, that's his style. Doesn't make it any easier to like him though.

So he continues with school for the first half of this book. Then grudgingly accepts the advice of his friends and goes overseas for experience, adventure and letting the heat die down. Has one slow adventure. Goes to another school. Has another relatively quick adventure.

You can see that all of this is building up, to give him the skills to defeat his seven major enemies. Can't it go just a littler faster?!

War, they say, is weeks of boredom interspersed with minutes of mortal fear. The joy of a novel is that the author can say that... then skip past the weeks of boredom. Rothfuss skips very little...

Not that he gives us boredom... But he gives us enough detail of the slow build-up that we -- or at least I -- find it tedious.

I also have a small fear...

Is this book two of a trilogy?

Or will The Kingkiller Chronicles continue on... forever...?

If book three brings a conclusion -- then great, it's a fascinating series, worth the effort of reading. If book three ends -- and the hero had yet to battle his enemies... then I believe that I shall give up.

All very well to build a unique and interesting world. I just hope that there is a point to it... And by that I mean, I hope that there is a story to be told... A story with a beginning, a middle -- and an end.

I have no objection to a story which leaves openings for subsequent stories. But first, I want the current story to reach a satisfactory conclusion.

This book is well worth reading. The series is still waiting to be rated.

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Problems ? Solved

The Extra / Michael Shea

The Extra

by Michael Shea

science fiction

copyright 2010

read in February 2013

rated as 7 out of 10: well worth reading

Who would have thought that a near future dystopia could be such fun?!

Violence, struggle, money-based ghettos. Life and death for sale as raw material for our entertainment. Yet there is friendship, loyalty and carefully protected areas of relative peace.

The main action of this book is disturbing and violent. Yet there is loyalty, family and willingness to help a friend. And willingness to help strangers.

Plus insanity, giant mechanical spiders and even more gigantic artistic egos. A thrill ride across the blasted landscape of one man's artistic creativity.

If that sounds like a lot of nonsense -- well, so is the book. Action and death, horror and humour, friendship and a violent battle to climb the corporate ladder.

Escapist fun, light on significance, well worth reading.

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Dr Nick Lethbridge
Problems ? Solved
(+61) 0419197772
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"Youth is fleeting, immaturity is forever"--per Ginger Meggs

Flash Forward / Robert J Sawyer

Flash Forward
by Robert J Sawyer

Science fiction

Published 1999
Read in January 2013

Rated 7 out of 10: well worth reading

I seem to be reading a lot of books which are "well worth reading". Am I too soft in my rating? Noooo... I'm just a bit selective, and avoid books which I'm fairly certain that I will not like.

Still, I like to be surprised. And my thinking should be open. In the future I will read more books which -- if I were to judge by the cover -- I would expect to not like.

Flash Forward, I expected to like. And I was right... Which, of course, reinforces my preference for reading books which I *expect* to like. In future, I will try harder.

Or, is the future predetermined? Is space-time an immutable Minkowski cube? Will I continue to select books that I expect to like -- because in the immutable future I already select only books that I expect to like?!

Deeeep...

Then there's that cat on the box... Is it dead or is it alive? If we can't tell, does that mean that the cat is both dead and alive?! Will the universe split in two, just because we forgot to put a camera inside that box?

Or will the cat -- when the box is opened -- send a transaction back on time... A transaction which will counter the possibility that the cat had died -- or not died -- inside that box?!

All this and more, in Flash Forward!

What Sawyer has done, is to take the key views of quantum mechanics -- and build a story around them.

The story is satisfactory. The science is interesting and well presented. This is hard science fiction. Not a great book. But well worth reading.

Yes, I did enjoy this book. As I expected. The enjoyment was not predestined... It's just that yes, I can often select -- by its cover -- a book which I will enjoy.

Which raises yet another question for discussion: do I *reject* books which I would enjoy just as much?

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The World Inside / Robert Silverberg

The World Inside
by Robert Silverberg

science fiction, collection
copyright 1971
read in January 2013

rated 7 /10: well worth reading

In the introduction to this book the author points out that this is a collection of short stories. It is not a novel. This is both interesting -- and a weakness.

Interesting, because it allows Silverberg to tackle the human hive topic from several different directions. Also interesting for an insight into the writer's approach to his task...

I think I'll write a story on over-population, he thinks. I think I'll be different and see over-population as a good thing. Now, what story shall I wrap around the over-population theme...

The first story is almost a cliche for its style.

A happy drone introduces a visitor -- today's Everyman -- to the hive. The visitor has reservations, the drone explains the benefits. One incident shows that all is not perfect. The visitor -- and the reader -- are given an understanding of how the hive works / would work, successfully.

No real plot. Just an explanation of a solution where the what-if is, what if over-population problems were solved by crowding lots of people into one very large building...

Subsequent stories have a bit more plot, with individuals being followed through good times and bad. Many of the individuals interact, to give a sense of continuity to the stories.

Yet as a whole, there is no coherent plot. And this is the weakness of the book -- of the book if considered as a novel called The World Inside.

We don't have a novel. We have seven short stories by one author, exploring various aspects of a human hive.

Bearing all this in mind, the book is still worth reading. Feel free to take a break between stories, you won't lose the thread of the overall story. And don't hope for a conclusion in the final story... it's just one more story in the common world.

A world where happiness is maintained at the cost of individuality. Where those in charge are as debased as anywhere else. And where the non-conformist is sacrificed to support the status quo of unthinking mass happiness.

It's a *good* day.

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The Adventures of Sally / P.G. Wodehouse

The Adventures of Sally
by P.G. Wodehouse

humour
written in 1922
read in December 2012

rated 7 /10: well worth reading

Before I read this book I expected to write, Another great book by Wodehouse... What else can I say.

I mean, I've read enough Wodehouse to know the style: charming, light, warm.

Yet Sally is different...

The Adventures of Sally is set largely in America rather than England. The characters are mostly American. And not every character is likeable!

There is the boxer who enjoys hitting his opponents. There is the money man who is a fool for his woman. His woman, who is her own woman and a fool.

The first fiance turns out to be a self-centred, self-pitying incompetent. The second fiance -- despite being an Englishman -- is an unpleasant snob.

I am surprised!

Perhaps it's because the book is set in America... a melting pot of races, people and classes. Whereas Bertie Wooster and his friends live in splendid upper-class English isolation.

Perhaps the characters of Sally were based on observation of actual Americans... Wodehouse did live in America for most of his life. And, as a corollary, the Wodehouse England may have been based on youthful memories and rose-tinted imagination...

For whatever reason, this book includes several characters who may be actively disliked. Which is unusual -- in my limited readings of Wodehouse.

Is this really unusual? Or is my Wodehouse experience too limited...

I look forward to reading more books by P.G. Wodehouse. I know that I will enjoy them. And I am interested to see if I will meet more of these definitely dislikeable Americans.

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Apocalypse Cow / Michael Logan

Apocalypse Cow
by Michael Logan

published 2012
Science Fiction
rating 7 /10: well worth reading

Here's a funny quote from Terry Pratchett: "Apocalypse Cow made me snort with laughter." That could be the funniest line in (though it's actually on) this book.

There are suggestions that this book is humorous. It is not. There are some ironic, even sarcastic, comments on society. There are some chuckles.

Mostly, this is a blood-spattered action-packed adventure. Typical horror story, perhaps, with people dying -- horribly -- on every other page. Read the back cover and you get an idea of how few people will survive to the end of the book... Then the compulsory, but wait, it's not over yet, ending.

So it's not humour. Despite Terry Pratchett's humorous introduction.

On the other hand... it's quite a good book.

At the start we are introduced to the main characters. And what an unlikeable lot they are! There are some tiny little positive notes. Yet it reads like some of the worst books of so-called humour, where noone could possibly like any of the characters.

And yet...

Those tiny positives grow. The characters become likeable. Until -- by half way through -- I do care what happens to them.

Then there's all the telling rather than showing. Quite a lot of it. Yet each lot of telling is short. Not long enough to be boring, just enough to be noticeable.

So as a novel it has faults. Yet it is an enjoyable novel. Once I get to know the characters, I like them. Well, I like the small handful who are good guys, anyway.

And by the last third of the book -- I wanted to read on, to find out what happens next.

A good book, worth reading. As long as you are willing to read rather tasteless descriptions of violent death. And open descriptions of the feelings and physical responses of the horny teenager...

A difficult start but it improved, markedly.

Give it a go. Laugh at the clever title. Enjoy the action and horror -- with occasional chuckles and some depth of character. Not perfect but well worth reading.

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Flatland / Edwin Abbott

Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions
by Edwin A. Abbott

published 1884
read in October 2012 (and skimmed, years earlier)

categories: management, science fiction, other
rating: 7 / 10, well worth reading

Strictly speaking, this novella is "other". Categorising as "management" is misleading. I'm a victim of my own definitions, since "management" is defined as "management, business, informative stuff". And Flatland is intended to be informative.

There is a simple story: hero makes great discovery, cannot convince his friends, realises that the government is suppressing his discovery, is jailed to keep him quiet.

The main point, though, is to explain the concept of multi-dimensional universes, with dimensions from zero, through our normal three, and beyond. With rational explanation of possible life at each of the lesser-dimensioned universes.

I still cannot visualise a four-dimensional world. But Flatland makes me believe that it is possible. I'm not sure that I'm ready to believe that it is "likely"...

... Which supports one of the points which is made, gently, in the book. A 3D Sphere is dismayed that the 2D Square (the author and hero) has so much trouble believing in the third dimension. Yet Sphere has just as much trouble believing in the fourth dimension!

Sphere, of course, is from our own, 3D space. Abbott clearly explains the logical possibility of zero, one and two dimensional spaces. He then asks us to step beyond our built-in limitations -- and explore the possibility of space with four... or more... dimensions.

For a budding mathematician -- or a fan of science fiction -- this is a great little book.

Save the heavy textbooks for later. Start with Flatland, for a pleasant introduction to the possibility of multi-dimensional space.

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The Man who would be King / Rudyard Kipling

The Man who would be King
by Rudyard Kipling
copyright 1888
cat: action
rated: 7 out of 10

As I began to read this book I was confused. What's it all about? It's an old book -- written in 1888 -- so a lot is unfamiliar. People, places, attitudes, all are unfamiliar. What I was reading did not make sense.

Then I realised that I was failing to recognise irony. Okaaaay...

Start reading again. From the beginning. And it makes more sense.

Well, perhaps Kipling is simply reflecting the reality of his times. Or it may be social commentary, making a point with slight exaggeration. To me -- reading more than a century after the book was written -- irony fits.

Remember the King and the Duke in Huckleberry Finn? Con-men to the core. Transplant them to colonial India. Add courage and some honest intentions. Offer them as being typical representatives of a common class of people. You have this story.

White men with guns, the urge to rule and the ability to improve the primitive local lifestyle. Superstitious natives, tribal fighting, overawed by the white man's guns and apparent power. Vicious retribution and honest loyalty...

A fascinating view of a past empire. With some interesting insights into today's national identities. Plus a rip-roaring yarn of two-fisted adventure!

This book -- novella, actually -- is fun to read. And provides unexpected depths for the modern reader.

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Little Brother / Cory Doctorow

Little Brother

category: science fiction, subadult, thriller, author:

Cory Doctorow

original copyright 2008

read in September 2012

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10, well worth reading

Well worth reading? Really? For its paranoid conspiracy message, perhaps. For the quality of writing, no.

Little Brother is subadult. It aims at the teenage -- boy -- market. At least, I guess it does. The style gives the distinct impression that the book is written by an older adult, pretending to know how a teenage boy would speak and act. The style rings false... Or, perhaps, it's me that has never spoken with a teenager :-)

It is also a thriller, in that there is a major -- adult -- conspiracy that the hero must battle. No matter which way he turns, the villains are there, watching, waiting for him to slip. Standard thriller scenario.

The book is also -- and this is its main thrust -- science fiction. Set just slightly ahead of our time. With Big Brother taking over. (Still, could be worse. The city could have been taken over by Big Brother the tv show.)

The author's message is slathered on like marmalade, thick and heavy. Complete with the Heinlein touch, of classroom discussions, where hero and villain discuss politics and philosophy. The author's view is clearly the winner, though the villain then uses positional power to shout down the author... sorry... hero.

The whole subadult writing style is... laboured, overdone, contradictory. While reading, it did seem obvious, but I did check: the author is well past 25 years old. Yet his good guys are urged to not trust anyone over 25... Urged, in one major scene, by someone aged (if I remember correctly) 32. The hero's final success is driven by a reporter -- who is as old as his parents.

And what about the hero's under-25 supporters? Well... the hero does not trust them. He forms a "ring of trust", to keep out the treacherous under-25s. A teenage personal enemy wants to turn him in to the thought police. Another teenager has been acting as a police informer.

There are two messages about trust: do not trust anyone over 25 (shouted loud and clear) and, do not trust anyone 25 or under (this is shown by act and attitude). Which perhaps adds up to a perfectly valid message: if you are fighting the thought police -- do not trust anyone.

This book is rather poorly written. Easy to read, a touch of suspense, unbelievable action. (But then it is science fiction, so that's okay!) Contradictory, with heavy-handed authorial lecturing.

But perhaps the authorial lecturing is valid. Perhaps the conspiracy theory is correct. Perhaps we do need to protect our privacy, to protect our freedom. Perhaps there are people in power who like to keep us in perpetual fear, in order to control us. Little Brother is extreme -- but the conspiracy theory may have some basis in reality.

At the very least, we need to consider the possibility that the conspiracy theory could grow into absolute truth. That the people who are -- in reality -- prepared to do anything to maintain power, could be trying hard to destroy our freedom to think.

The message is slathered on with no subtlety. Still, a novel is easier to read -- and more likely to be read -- than a political treatise. And the message is worth our consideration.

..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.

PissWeakly: the Index

Awakening / Lara Morgan

Awakening

category: fantasy, author:

Lara Morgan

book 1 of The Saranthium Twins
original copyright 2008

read in August 2012

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10, well worth reading

I like the idea that "serpents"... dragons... are an intelligent race sharing a world with humans. Living within the terms of an agreement, for each race to support the other. The two races work together but do not share any common understandings.

Other than that -- Awakening is a reasonably standard fantasy-with-dragons. I like the characters, enough to want to read more. The story itself hangs together well, with some excitement but little suspense. Which is fine by me: I rather like a book where characters have a fair chance of living past the end.

In reading the book I went through two distinct phases -- and it may well have been the book, rather than me. First, it is a developing story of two people -- the Twins -- and their journeys from an "ordinary" life to the life of fantasy hero and heroine. An interesting world, with several distinct (human) cultures.

Half way through the book I slowly began to feel the effect of the trilogy...

The book -- or my reading -- shifted, from, Will they win? to, How far will this book get them on the way to winning? That is, the feeling grew that this really is, book one of a trilogy. Not just the first book of a series of three.

Sure enough, the book ends with cliff-hangers.

Yet there is also a satisfactory ending!

The main characters are scattered, some are unaccounted for. Yet the ones that we care about, are safe. Clearly, that is safe -- for now. Which is what I like to see.

This book is the opening scene of a war. It ends, with the heroes resting between battles. Yes, there will be more. But for now, we are safe at home. With some mysteries resolved and others yet to settle. No conclusion, but a satisfying point at which to take a break.

Okay, I'd rather have a complete story. But Awakening is good enough to read on its own. And good enough to have me hoping to read the next instalment...

With an added bonus: The author is from Western Australia, from my part of the world!

There are several good fantasy writers in Australia. Morgan is now one of them. Enjoyable, imaginative, entertaining. If the next book is as good, I will be happy. If it is even better -- then I will be very, very pleased!  And then...

I searched the web... It would seem that book 2 is published but no longer available in Australia. Book 3 is still being written -- in German, for the German market!  Ah well, it's tough in the world of writing.

Good luck, hope it all works out -- and I'll keep an eye out for a copy of Saranthium 2 and -- eventually -- three.

..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.

PissWeakly: the Index

Anathem / Neal Stephenson

Anathem

category: science fiction, author:

Neal Stephenson

original copyright 2008

read in July 2012

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10, well worth reading

Round about page 100, one of the characters complained about his life. "If only something would happen," he said. Strangely enough, I had been thinking the same thing.

This is a very slow-moving book.

Perhaps it was near page 150 that I was reminded of the standard advice to authors: Show, don't tell. Perhaps Stephenson has read that advice. Perhaps he didn't understand it.

Here's the hero. He's spent many pages in earnest discussion with other characters. And, occasionally, with himself. Now, thinks Stephenson, it's time to show something... So what does he do? The hero shows some tourists round a museum, while telling them -- and us -- some more of the history of his world...

Boring!

Still, it does get better.

Anathem is a textbook, a primer, in quantum physics. Wrapped up in a slow-moving story of "alien" invasion. The textbook material is quite good... Several times I found myself thinking, Wow! so that's what [some esoteric theory of physics] is all about!

This book does hit many of the essential points of traditional "hard" science fiction. One major scientific theme. Clever but cardboard characters. Scientific theory made practical to save the world. Hero is logical, understanding, brilliant. There's a token love interest. Rest of the world is, by and large, cooperative.

Look, I may sound as though I think that this book is awful -- but I don't and it's not! There are just so many faults... But the faults are all part of good science fiction. Except, perhaps for the slow-moving plot.

Those characters...

I spent several years in a support group for intellectually gifted children. Often, it was the parents who needed support. One particular issue was with "average" parents of exceptionally intelligent children.

"My child is a mind reader," was a common claim...

The smart child sees clues... The parent rushes them past the bike display. They quickly hide the small tool kit. They spend an hour locked in the garage, after a large cardboard parcel has been delivered... Aha! thinks the child, It looks as though I'm getting a bike for my birthday! Not mind-reading, just observation and logic.

The main characters of Anathem are like that: intelligent, logical, taking small clues and building a clear picture of the world around them. With an added bonus: the Anathem characters are also able to turn scientific theory into practical devices. How can the aliens possibly win, when the heroes can "read their minds" and build effective counter-measures?!

If you enjoy hard science fiction, read Anathem. If you want a primer on quantum physics, read Anathem. If you are a slow reader, or easily bored... try any book by Doc Smith.

..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.

PissWeakly: the Index

The Jazz / Melissa Scott

The Jazz

category: science fiction, author:

Melissa Scott

original copyright 2000

read in June 2012

Agamedes' opinion: 7 out of 10, well worth reading

This is an enjoyable book with some surprises. Well, not so much surprises. More, I was surprised when some stereotypes failed to materialise...

Which is good !

First up, the conflict of the story is set up by a teenage hacker. Or, rather, a teenager who uses a tool which was hacked by a friend. The heroine is a smart web user with a past. She helps the teenager.

I kept expecting the teenager to come out of his shell, to develop, to use his skills to somehow solve some of the stories problems. But... he remained a teenager: sometimes surly, sometimes scared, sometimes suitably chastened. Which is fine, really... I suspect that my expectations were set by my recent readings of teen-boy-saves-world-and-gets-the-girl wish-fulfilment stories.

Then there's the heroine with the past...

At one point she thinks, Is this all a long-term plot aimed at me? Then she dismisses the idea as being worthy only of conspiracytheory.com... Which is a pity, since I was looking for a deeper plot. A major conspiracy plot, perhaps.

The Jazz is a straightforward story of nice people versus nasty. No great conspiracies, no nasty surprises. Just a looming threat, a few good friends and fast evasive manoeuvres. With the heroine using her special skills -- right at the last minute -- to save the day.

No great plot complexity but an interesting world. And nice characters except for the one, chief villain.

A pleasantly enjoyable book.