I’ve read a number of books recently, really the past few months, and I haven’t written about them. It’s a gorgeous Sunday morning, and the windows are open, and I have a bug to write something, so figured I’d mention some of them.
I just finished WWW: Wake by Robert J. Sawyer this morning. I really like Sawyer’s writing, it’s fun and easy to read (but not in a dumb way, he’s just a good writer and it flows well). I enjoyed the book, and went into it knowing that it was a planned trilogy, with WWW: Watch the second installment already out, and sitting next to me ready to be read. However, while I enjoyed the book, I guess I was expecting a bit more to it as an individual book, however it felt lacking in that regard. It definitely felt like Volume 1 of 3. Kind of like say reading Fellowship of the Ring and saying “well the story isn’t over.” It was most definitely just the first part of a larger story, and while it COULD be read as a stand alone book, I think that if it were ONLY a stand alone book, I’d have been dissapointed in it. It felt like the whole thing was setting up the larger story to be told. I plan on reading the next volume next, and I’m sure I’ll enjoy it, and then read the third part later on. Unlike Sawyer’s previous Hominid’s trilogy though, this feels more like one big grander book, broken up into three individual parts by an editor or publisher.
Anyway that said I’d give it 4 stars out of 5. Sawyer is an excellent writer, and it was an intriguing story, it just has to be read as only the first part in a grander tale, how that larger story ends up could impact this rating, because if it all ends up being crap then this would be a bit more a blah book. I expect part 2 to ratchet up the tension (which this book entirely lacked) and part 3 to be very exciting.
Previous to that book I’d actually just read Flashforward also by Robert J Sawyer. I got the paperback out of the library. I couldn’t remember if I had read it before, but it didn’t seem familiar enough for me to tell for sure, and it turns out I don’t think I had. I watched the TV series that was loosely based on this book, and understand now more why they changed certain things to make it into a television series, but I feel this would have been better handled as a movie or a mini-series, rather than an ongoing series. The book itself was good though. Drama, action, thought provoking concepts from physics to free will, and the future of humanity. I think that it could have gotten more into the social dynamics changes down the road, and the changes the Flashforward would have wrought on society. I thought about the book The Light of Other Days that Arthur Clarke wrote with Stephen Baxter, and how technology radically changed humanity. I couldn’t help but feel that society took the Flashforward far more in stride than real society would have. Particularly after determining free will existed in the story, it would have been more interesting for a more radical change in society, religion, people, technology, than occured. AS it was it almost seemed like a non-incident. That would be my major complaint about the book. However, as always I enjoyed Sawyer’s prose, and felt it was a fun book to read, if it left me feeling a bit dissapointed at the end by how quickly everything wrapped up. Again 4 stars.
Prior to that I gave China Mieville a whirl with The City & The City. I’d heard of Mieville of course, but I’d never read him before. Lots of good praise for him, and Hugo nominations, so I decided to jump in with his recent Hugo Winner from 2010. First off, I have to admit, that I didn’t finish the book. The story was primarily a detective story, and that part of it felt formulaic, and I don’t really enjoy detective stories. However, I have to agree that Mieville is an amazing writer. I really enjoyed reading, and he wove a very interesting and unique vision of the world. I simply get bored by detective stories, and the setting once I got a feel for it, wasn’t enough to keep me reading. I won’t rate the story because I didn’t finish it, however I’d say that if you don’t react like me to the “There’s been a murder, let’s investigate!” type of story, I would definitely recommend it. I plan on reading something else by Mieville in the future, so this didn’t turn me off him entirely, however I was admittedly disapointed.
Going back further I read Stardust by Neil Gaiman. I’d enjoyed the movie, and reading Gaiman’s Graveyard Book gave me an appreciation for his writing. I definitely enjoyed the book, and I now understand the poeple that complained about the departures from the book to the movie. However I like both, and understand the fun stuff they put in the movie, and the changes they made. Gaiman really has impressed me with his writing. His books really are all over the map, but they’re fun, and exciting, and have interesting worlds. I actually have American Gods sitting underneath WWW: Watch for me to also read in the next week or two, and I plan on enjoying that one thoroughly as well. Gaiman has definitely earned a place on my short list of authors that I’ll read everything they write. 4 stars out of 5 again on this one. Not perfect, but definitely enjoyable. Maybe 4.5 stars.
Prior to that was The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman. A fun read, as I enjoy the time travel into the future concept. I really enjoyed how it started, but as he moved more into the future, I felt it got disjointed. Moving into the further future where a group used technology to keep the people oppressed under religion felt timely and interesting, and it would have been great if it stopped there, but then it jumped into a weirder and farther future, and then even further, and that kind of lost me. A fun read, but the story felt more like a short story, that got fleshed out and dropped a bit by doing so. 3 stars.
Then before that I read The Shattering: A prelude to Cataclysm. It’s a World of Warcraft book. I play World of Warcraft, I saw the book, and thought “Meh why not.” If you play WoW it’s an interesting Lore read about some of the changes between this and the previous expansion of the game, but otherwise I wouldn’t recommend it for anyone. As a book by itself it was sorely lacking, and I can’t help but come down negatively on Christie Golden’s writing. It’s fan fiction in hardback. If you don’t play the game you’d not understand many things. Description was almost entirely lacking, so if you’re not familiar with what Durotar looks like from playing the game, or what a Zeppelin Tower even is, or where it is in relation to the gates of Orgrimmar for instance, or what those gates look like, or anything descriptive, you’d be at a loss much of the time to what the world is like. There’s pretty much NO description of the world, of things in the world, explanations of what things are. If I gave this to my wife who has never played the game or looked at it before, she’d be utterly confused. Which is fine I guess because I doubt they’re interested in presenting this book to anyone but WoW players, but still. As a stand alone book by itself, it was written poorly, the dialog was uncomfortable, and the description almost entirely lacking. 1 star if you don’t play WoW. 2 stars if you do.
Going back further I read The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown. The continuing adventures of Tom Hanks from the Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons. They’re already making the movie. I was kind of meh on this one. One thing abotu Dan Brown is his books have a quick plot. Theyr’e structured and boom boom boom. Probably why they make good movies. Fast plot, easy read, throw in some conspiracy and infodumps. I can see why people love em, and I did enjoy the Da Vinci Code, but this one I dunno. I’m sure it’ll make an exciting story, but it’s not exactly high literature. A good beach read, but it’s not going to challenge you in any way. If you want a book to read and not think, then here you go. 3 stars.
Before that was Eifelheim by Michael Flynn, and Boneshaker by Cherie Priest. Two other recent Hugo nominees. I enjoyed both. Boneshaker was sort of a sci-fi equivalent of Dan Brown in that it was a thumping adventure plot in a cool sci-fi cyberpunk zombie victorian era world. Hard to explain. I look forward to the movie, but it’d make an awesome ongoing Syfy tv series I think as well. Eifelheim was about aliens landing in medieval Germany, The plot was so so, the writing a bit more difficult to get through, but the story was an interesting take on first contact. I’d give both books 3 stars. Maybe 3.5 for Boneshaker.
Those last two reviews were cut a bit short because I gotta head out and my wife is getting twitchy.
