thebookishowl.com

As per the recent post about Anticipated 2010 Books revisited, here are some quick thoughts about four such, plus a small press series debut that will appear in 2011 and turned out to be a big mismatch with me.

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FBC Review of ‘Hitler’s War” and of “The Man with the Iron Heart”

I liked Hitler’s War, the series debut a lot, it’s among the best Turtledove I’ve read and as fine a WW2 historical novel with a slight twist (WW2 starts in Sept 1938) that expands to quite different outcomes as it gets, but the rest is pitch perfect period, all told from the point of view of “grunts” – mostly soldiers and non-coms, with a submarine captain and a Stuka pilot Lt the highest ranked pov’s – and two special women, a middle age US socialite from Philadelphia that gets stuck in the Reich and a 17 year old Jewish girl from Munster.

West and East continues the same absorbing story, with mostly the same pov’s (some die and some new ones appear) and the book has a lot of happenings on the personal level of everyone, but as the big picture goes it is mostly a lull in the big battles kind of action, though things advance and we end as 1940 is approaching; since the series will go 6 minimum there is a lot to come (A)

Recommended by me and for all mil-fiction/alt-history fans who like a “grunt’s eye of events”.

***********************************************************FBC Review of “Retribution Falls”

Not on par with Retribution Falls but it has its moments – all the crew interactions in solving their personal issues from the last volume are superb, as are Frey’s interactions with Trinica.
The plot is ok, less suspenseful than in Retribution Falls and there is a bit too much repetition and not enough new stuff. The biggest failing though was in pulp moments like the silly beginning and the Amalicia part which made me cringe. All in all I am still in the series and I hope the next installment recaptures the excitement of Retribution Falls. (B)

Check this one out if you liked Retribution Falls

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After all the hype, it turned out the author can write “gadget fiction” but it remains unclear if he can write interesting fiction otherwise since this book despite its moments falls flat as writing style goes. Far away from the vigorous prose of RK Morgan to whose Altered Carbon debut this one has been compared and far away from the ornate prose of JC Wright’s debut The Golden Age to which this novel has many similarities in themes, the novel has many “goodies” and a great ending but it suffers from three major flaws:

The writing depends on gadgets and this was not a surprise since the author’ short fiction I have read before had the same issues and made me a bit wary about this novel.

Emotional remoteness almost verging on solipsism and the worst flaw of all, plot dependence on “my magic is bigger than yours” typical of run-off-the-mill fantasies – here of course it’s tech magic but there is the destined boy and all nonetheless.

If you are new to “sf as magic” – could not call it sense of wonder since there is only some of that – you may try this one, otherwise wait for the next installment to see if the author gets better at writing fiction rather than gadgetry. Though to be honest, the author writes better prose than other hard-sf authors like Charles Stross or Vernor Vinge so there may be hope, but this book’ subject and his style do not match well. (B)

Instead of The Quantum Thief, I would also direct you to Liz Williams considerably superior “Banner of Souls” or ‘Winterstrike” which have similar themes too though they eschew the mumbo-jumbo from this one.

***********************************************************FBC Review of “Heart of Veridon”

Very disappointing; I had so high hopes for this one after the wonderful Heart of Veridon novel and The Horns of Ruin was so linear, unsubtle, lacking nuance, predictable and with a heroine that is “wonder woman on steroids”, untouchable and unbeatable with the often repeated “magical” invocations that became so annoying that I would shudder and skip when I encountered them…

Basically The Horns of Ruin is a comic strip disguised as a novel and set in a steampunk/fantasy world and the inventiveness of the author reads like unnecessary baggage; better do a straight out Superwoman in Gotham than this elaborate world wasted on such thin and totally lacking in depth novel.

The only redeeming quality is the narrative energy which the author clearly possesses and that made the experience of reading The Horns of Ruin partly enjoyable, but again so far from my high expectations…. (D)

If you are a fan of comic-book novelizations or of action-only UF and you do not mind an elaborate setting, this one may be for you.

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Disappointing; the world is supposedly exotic but has no depth, the writing is ok in a thriller-ish mode, fast enough, but very bland characters, very disjointed plot and all depending on supposedly long going (nine centuries or so) conspiracies that are based on everyone being dumb and on coincidences; the extract that I read and made me try this one gives a very misleading impression of what comes after.

The ending redeems a bit the rest with some intriguing developments, but I have no intention of reading more in this series. Somewhat similar to Lamentation by K. Scholes, so if you liked that, you may like this one, but sadly not me… (D)

Also for fans of Richard Patterson and other “no-characters, all-action” thrillers with an exotic background.

Fantasy Book Critic

Hello, my name is Jordan Douglas Adams Thompson (so many terrible boy names put together) and I’m here to bash your brains in with a pokeball.

I want to start off by saying that intelligence cannot be mimicked and placed into a metal frame. That body does not act of it’s own accord; there are a multitude of pre thought out options given to it and not one feeling is original; it belongs to someone else. Now, I didn’t finish that reading assignment because frankly, I was already dehydrated trekking through the desert with a bad case of cotton mouth and I couldn’t handle anymore dry-ness. I saw the words Star Wars so I had hope, but it was quickly smashed into ground and is now seeking shelter with Diglet.

Glitter: The Unity College Fantasy Literature & Philosophy Blog

Where do I sign up? Book me on the first flight out!

AttackingtheDemi-Puppets

NOMINATIONS BEING TAKEN

Who’s the wimpiest writer in America?

At the moment I’d give David Sedaris that designation, though there must be other candidates. (John Hodgman comes to mind.)

A security guard at an airport asked Sedaris to remove his vest, and he became out of sorts. Oh my! Hand-wringing. Such a traumatic experience. She was so mean! “I’m going to turn her into a rabbit,” he proudly exclaims now after the terrible encounter, referring to his new book of un-fabled animal fables. What would the guy do if he were in a real confrontation? I hesitate to think about it.

John Hodgman reminds me more of the original wimp, namely, Wimpy from the Popeye cartoons. I can see Hodgman cornering people in alleyways, saying, “I’ll gladly pay you on Tuesday for a hamburger today!”

Jonathan Franzen surely needs to up there on the list somewhere. Who else?
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Yes, sixty years ago there were likely too many macho Hemingway-wannabe writers around, but the pendulum certainly has swung too far the other way. This for an art, American literature, that traditionally distinguished itself by its vigorous characters, settings, and sounds.

Say what you will about the Underground Literary Alliance, but it sought to get back to American roots writing by promoting some of the more vigorous writers around, notably, Wild Bill Blackolive. Our women writers, from the print underground, were tougher than most of today’s men. Even our trannies were tough!

We lost. The wimps and fakirs of American letters continue to occupy first place. Such is literature’s sad state. (Never fear: the foppish aristocrats will soon enough go by the wayside.)

AttackingtheDemi-Puppets

Official Michael Sullivan Website
Order “Wintertide” HERE (print) or HERE(Kindle)
Read FBC Review of The Crown Conspiracy
Read FBC Review of Avempartha
Read FBC Review of Nypron Rising
Read FBC Review of The Emerald Storm

INTRODUCTION:In the space of two years, Michael Sullivan has moved from a small press debut author that was featured in one of my first “Indie Spotlight Reviews” to a “name” in the fantasy field who sold-out his first novel and is getting both critical acclaim and fan appreciation. In my 2009 end-of-the-year rankings, Avempartha went head to head against the “big names” and made both my Top 2009 Books list and Cindy’s Top 2009 Book list, while The Crown Conspiracy made Mihir’s Top 2009 Reads too.

“Nyphron Rising” started the epic part of the series which had a lot of ground prepared in The Crown Conspiracy and Avempartha two mostly standalone adventures, while in “The Emerald Storm” the series ramped up considerably and the world expanded; the twist ending made “Wintertide” one of my top titles of the second part of the year. So very high expectations, but even so I was not prepared for the punches that Wintertide pulls which left me in need of complete reread of all five books to get an inkling where the series might be going in its finale…

FORMAT/CLASSIFICATION:“Wintertide” stands at about 330 pages divided into 21 named chapters that follow several main POV’s: Hadrian, Royce, Arista and Amilia, the lady in waiting and “mouthpiece” of Empress Modina as well as a young street kid Mince who is a new character. All the colorful characters from previous novels like Regent Saldur, Sentinel Guy, Archie, Marius reappear and there are several other characters that grow in importance here. The novel starts with two detailed maps of the world and ends with the most emotional and twisty chapter of the series so far.

While “Nyphron Rising” started getting into the heart of the main story of the series and The Emerald Sea thickened the plot and expanded the world, Wintertide returns to the heart of the action in the Imperial capital of Aquesta, where the two regents are preparing to celebrate the marriage of an Empress and the rebirth of an Empire with the burning of a witch as closing entertainment.

As its two predecessors from the heart of the series, “Wintertide” is adventure fantasy in an epic context.

OVERVIEW/ANALYSIS: Liviu:”‘Black queen takes king. White rooks retreat. Black queen captures bishop. White rook to bishop’s four, threatening. Check. White’s pawn takes queen and bishop. Jade’s tomb, full face.”

While a bit spoilerish at least if you know what the above means, the paragraph quoted is something that makes a book worth reading by itself; of course getting there and understanding it takes a while and Wintertide has much more, from action, to intrigue, to heart-breaking drama and a lot of subplots closure. The big picture becomes even more intriguing since quite a lot of assumptions are challenged by the end of the novel. And there is only one more installment to go…

Since it is book 5 and I strongly recommend reading at least the previous two installments to fully appreciate this one, the only thing I will mention about the story is that as opposed to the world expanding The Emerald Storm, Wintertide returns to a more compact geographic location and urban/castle action including a knight tourney that offers quite a lot of comic relief to the tension buildup as Wintertide (the event) gets closer and closer.

The dramatic ending of the novel made me go back and reread books 1-4 for clues about where the author may take the series in Percepliquis, and I made a big list of “things to watch for/possibilities” but the one thing I am sure of is that the series ending will be one of those “put down everything and read immediately” novels.

Wintertide (A++) is the second top-rated combo (with The Emerald Storm) of 2010 for me and establish the series as one of the best traditional epic fantasies currently being published and a top 10 novel of mine.

Cindy: After completing Emerald Storm I wanted the next book right away. After a few months of waiting the wait is finally over. One thing about authors is that they make you wait and wait for books and then you get the book and there’s a feeling of let down. Let me assure you if you’ve been following this series at all you won’t be let down.

At this point in the series we’re so far into it that it’s hard to do an analysis of the plot and characters because part of the appeal for the series is the growth of the characters and plots as you read.

Wintertide is everything that I’ve come to love and expect about anything written by Sullivan. It has all the characters that I’m familiar with. After having them fleshed out a bit in the previous book everything just seemed to flow and come together.

There is a sense of more to come, yet Wintertide has a feeling of the end is almost near. While reading I was impressed with everything but at the same time I couldn’t shake the feeling that this series that I have come to love is starting to wind down.

Without being all dramatic the ending will keep you hanging and waiting for the next book.

Like Liviu I really feel that this is one of those series that has a place in the fantasy world. I know it’s a series that I will gladly be returning to time and time again. Sullivan has earned my respect and admiration with all the work that he’s achieved and I can’t wait to see what he pulls out of his hat for the final book. If these past few books are any indication I’m sure it’ll be a memorable ending. Well worth the read and time to look into the series and the next book is a must read for myself!

Fantasy Book Critic

Epic Fail Funny Videos and Funny Pictures

READING APPEARANCE
I’ll be reading some poetry this Sunday October 3 as part of the Mad Poets Festival in downtown Media. See
www.madpoetssociety.com
I’m scheduled to go on at 2:15. I’ll be on for five minutes, which is enough, as long as any poet should be allowed to read. I hope to surprise, enlighten, and entertain while I’m at the podium.

I’ll also be taking notes, possibly taking a snapshot or two and doing a mini-interview or two for my new blog. (See below.)

NEW BLOG POST
I have a new blog post up at my “private” blog at
www.happyamericaliterature.blogspot.com
The subject of the post is radio and what might be learned from a particular show.

NEW BLOG
I have a new Philly blog at
www.phillyzeen.blogspot.com
part of new experiments I’m running. We’ll see how this one goes!

AttackingtheDemi-Puppets

The Sea of Fertility Tetralogy ( Spring Snow (1966), Runaway Horses (1969), The Temple of Dawn (1970) and The Decay of the Angel (1971)) by Yukio Mishima

exotic, reincarnation, great characters, great worldbuilding and page turners to boot; Nobel prize winner; a loose tetralogy following one character’s interactions with four young people he believes are successive reincarnations of each other.

The Master of Go by Yasunari Kawabata

page turner that is both allegory and a gripping description of a marathon go match; another novel that was an important part of a Nobel prize winner’s work.

The Defense by Vladimir Nabokov

maybe not the best Nabokov, nor the most sf-nal (Ada is alt-history for example) but a big favorite of mine for its great tale of chess and madness; also one famous book for which the movie is pretty good since it respects its spirit whatever liberties it takes with the text.

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The Blind Assassin by Margaret Atwood

family saga, mystery and pulp-sf; Booker prize winner and top five novel of the 00′s of mine.

Seven Japanese Tales by Junichiro Tanizaki

the one collection on the list since each story here is superb; a mixture of themes and settings from contemporary to the writing (mostly 1910-30′s though one as late as 1959) to historical fiction showcasing Junichiro Tanizaki’s “typical” mixture of eroticism, strange and exotic

2666 by Roberto Bolano

sprawling, subtle, funny and then ultra-dark; one of the few “must” novels of the 00′s imho; I hope to review it here by early 2011.

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The Forbidden Forest by Mircea Eliade (aka St John Nativity Night or even Faerie Night in the original Romanian language title)

one of the few novels I read in three languages several times each; sadly the English language edition is rare and expensive but good college libraries have it – I read it that way first and kept it borrowed on and off for almost all my time in graduate school here since it was banned by the communist regime I grew up under; later I bought the French edition and then even later, a Romanian language edition and I wish someone would reprint it in English too since I would buy it on the spot at a decent price…

epic, (slight) paranormal, romance, world building, great characters and a powerful sense of history; the last 100 pages and the ending are still among the most emotional ones I’ve ever read even today after many readings of the book; the one “marooned on an island novel” for me

When We Were Orphans by Kazuo Ishiguro

another Booker shortlisted novel and while maybe not the author’s best, a favorite of mine despite being loosely classified as “detective/crime” fiction; exotic world building at the boundary with the imaginary and a great denouement

The Magus by John Fowles

the one pure mainstream novel that reproduces the sf-nal sense of wonder; it just blew me away many years ago when I read it first in Romanian and then I read it in English several times too; one of those famous novels I think any sff fan should at least look at

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Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak

epic tale of glitter, misery and Revolution; world building, great characters, page turner in this Nobel prize winner novel; the author paid dearly for the Nobel though, suffering humiliation in the supposedly “thawed” Kruschev’ Soviet Union; the first book I bought and read here in the USA, days within my arriving in 1990. A bunch of movies too with the most recent Russian miniseries the best rendering of the novel I’ve watched, though of course Omar Sharif and Julie Christie still have their timeless charm…

A Time to Love and a Time to Die by Erich Maria Remarque

nobody does better exile and alienation in a foreign country than EM Remarque and his tales of people blown by the winds of war in the maelstrom of Europe 1930-1940′s when a passport stamp made all the difference between life and death still resonate with me very strongly today; this one though is a bit more straightforward; Germany 1943 among bombings, rubble and the specter of the Eastern Front and the title says it all; while Arch of Triumph – another personal favorite that takes place in 1939 Paris – may be more accomplished, this one is just a big, big personal favorite.

The Stranger by Albert Camus

too well known to say more in a paragraph and a landmark of the literary world of the 20th century; also a crucial part of a Nobel prize winner work; try it since you will be surprised how gripping it is

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Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov

another well known novel about the Devil in Stalin’s Moscow; the posthumous publication was a landmark event; the 10 episode Russian miniseries is the best adaptation of several I watched; and Behemoth the black cat on the cover above is still awesome

Doctor Faustus by Thomas Mann

the “most difficult” novel on the list but another landmark of 20th century literature which shows that an author can write great stuff decades after receiving the Nobel; the descent into madness both personal and societal and with sff-nal elements too.

A Place of Greater Safety by Hilary Mantel

way before Wolf Hall, there was this one which I read on US publication some 15-16 years ago and reread a bunch of times since; while less accomplished technically it is still a big time favorite; same great world building and characters but in the French Revolution. And of course a superbly ironical title.

Fantasy Book Critic