Review: Memories of Ice

Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Malazan odyssey continues. While the early battles and climactic, cataclysmic clash are thrilling, I began to wonder if the length of the journey between them was necessary. Erikson published an essay (link) on the RPG origins of Malazan, and the books make clear that his worldbuilding is encyclopedic. At times, that wealth of lore can bog down the narrative. I'm sure every Dungeon Master would love to publish his Silmarillion to rabid fans, but the imperative is good storytelling, not completion.

This is not to say that the book is all historical footnotes and expository conversation. In fact, Erikson pointedly leaves most of that out, for the reader to figure out, or not, over the course of the book. I'm only now getting a better picture of some of the factions that were introduced in the first chapter of the first installment. It's just that the plot is often turned by some previously unknown context: a rekindled feud between two races determines the fate of a battle, the nature of transporting between dimensions puts a character in peril, a magic spell brings people back to life. That may be just another day at the office for people who are immersed in Erikson's universe, but to a new reader it can come across as deus ex machina.

(Terry Pratchett's Discworld books come across as the other end of the spectrum from Erikson. Discworld books are all internally consistent with their lore, races, gods, history, etc, but every detail directly serves the plot with never a dull moment. I like them both, but I don't always have the room in my head to keep up with Erikson's cast and universe.)

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Review: Worth Dying For

Worth Dying For by Lee Child
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was our vacation audiobook, and is appropriately mindless. Some great action scenes, and a significant body count by the end, but ultimately one of the least satisfying Reachers I've read so far. Meh.

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Review: Deadhouse Gates

Deadhouse Gates by Steven Erikson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

The Malazan saga continues. The sheer number of characters and intrigues can feel overwhelming at times, but Deadhouse Gates is easier to follow than Gardens of the Moon. This tome revolves around a massive refugee train - the Chain of Dogs - that must be escorted to safety across a desert. The single-mindedness of this story anchors the book, and its simplicity makes the tale that much more heartwrenching to read.
There's still plenty of other goings on, and I've found that enjoying these books means letting go of trying to understand everything that happens on every page. I'm learning to trust that Erikson will explain things when he's good and ready. Or he won't, and I'll figure it out down the road. These books would reveal a lot more on a second pass, but I know already that won't happen anytime soon.
Despite their size, I immediately started the third book. It's a terrific series.

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Review: A Princess of Mars

A Princess of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

A Princess of Mars is sci-fi rendered in primary colours.
John Carter, our hero, is able to determine almost immediately which civilizations are good and which are evil, at which point he feels no qualms about wiping out hundreds of thousands of people. It's helpful that he's essentially invincible, due to his Earth-muscles being disproportionately powerful in the lower gravity of Mars. His greatest flaw? "My mind is evidently so constituted that I am subconsciously forced into the path of duty" - he has no choice but to be brave.
This certainly makes for an adventure, but I found myself skimming pages to see if anything would actually happen. All too often I ran headlong into sentences like this:
"While the court was entirely overgrown with the yellow, moss-like vegetation which blankets practically the entire surface of Mars, yet numerous fountains, statuary, benches, and pergola-like contraptions bore witness to the beauty which the court must have presented in bygone times, when graced by the fair-haired, laughing people whom stern and unalterable cosmic laws had driven not only from their homes, but from all except the vague legends of their descendants." (Chapter 12)
All characters are prone to lengthy digressions in excruciating detail about mundane and often irrelevant aspects of Martian life. It's an exercise in world building, sure, but it's the kind of thing that should be in a Mars extended universe wiki, not an adventure story.
I haven't looked, but I'm sure someone has turned them into comic books. Go read those instead.

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Review: The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy

The Dead Hand: The Untold Story of the Cold War Arms Race and its Dangerous Legacy by David E. Hoffman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Hoffman tells the story of the arms race as a war machine bigger than any of its players. In the USSR, it gains a momentum beyond the government's - or anyone's - control. There are hair-raising close calls and a couple of Bond-worthy covert operations. Though the writing is on the dry side, I was thrilled to find a comprehensive book to give me the big, cold picture. Call me crazy, but I want to know why exactly the Nuke of Damocles has hung over my head every day of my life, and will for the foreseeable future (until the robots take over, of course).

Reading about Gorbachev's struggles to shut down his country's war machine can be dismaying. The weapons programs were designed to be secret, and so they persisted in their vacuum long after they were ordered to shut down. The deception (and production) persisted despite any number of agreements, treaties, public statements and orders from the top. Paranoia flourishes, for good reason.

But if you squint your eyes just right, you can take find hope in this struggle. Institutions often have the means to resist a leader who is dead set on overhauling the country. If you think that leader is dangerous and irrational, then you're cheering for the "deep state" and hoping their objectives are the lesser evil.

Hoffman goes into detail about the US's efforts to prevent a weapons diaspora once the USSR crumbles. A particularly chilling passage recounts an American official finding a old tin of peas in an abandoned factory. Instead of peas inside, he finds test tubes of weaponized plague.

Hoffman doesn't have solutions, but leaves plenty to worry about:
-Russia is still hiding all sorts of things, and relations aren't improving under Putin;
-nukes are scary, but don't forget biological weapons; there's no modern day Hiroshima or Nagasaki to capture public imagination, but they're equally or more destructive;
-mutually assured destruction kept the Cold War cold, but that doesn't work on suicidal terrorists.

Ah, the good ole days when everyone wanted to live. What a bleak thing to be nostalgic for.

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Review: Underworld

Underworld by Don DeLillo
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I like other Don Delillo, and I really, really wanted to like this. However, in good conscience I could not recommend Underworld to anyone, due to the following:
Many characters feel like irrelevant tangents, and you will marvel at the scope of the cast and wonder how it all these stories could possibly wrap up. They don't.
You may find yourself disoriented by the way the narrative flips from story to story like a compulsive channel surfer, skipping away in the middle of a scene, a thought, a sentence.
There will be plots you look forward to returning to that you will never see again.
Be prepared for lengthy musings on garbage.

These things being said, I can sed that many hardcore Don Delillo fans may take all these in stride. You could argue that art reflects life, which is sometimes uncertain and frustrating and at best a jumble of experiences onto which we try to impose a story that give our lives meaning. I believe the rave reviews of the critics are sincere (I think) but it was determination, not enjoyment, that got me through the last two thirds of this book.

Libra, Delillo's JFK assassination fever dream, was a similar kaleidoscope of scenes and characters and forces, but the inevitable climax gave everything momentum and purpose. In Underworld, I couldn't find any of that same purpose.

I feel glad to have finished it, because I abandoned it twice in the past. It's a testament to the strength of the opening chapters that I came back, but I read on hoping for a payoff that never paid off. (I'm also glad I got to the end because the epilogue, while unsatisfying, is absolutely bizarre.)

There are passages that are really powerful, and scenes that are memorable, but they are in the minority. I didn't hate it like many seem to, but I certainly won't recommend it to anyone.

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Review: Little Heaven

Little Heaven by Nick Cutter
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

While I still haven't read a word of Craig Davidson, this is the third book I've devoured from his horror alias Nick Cutter. Behind the Cutter name, Davidson goes to some gruesome places, while always barreling ahead on plot. How does he enter (and exit) that headspace?
A visceral, exciting and darkly funny read, this was the perfect antidote to my last book, Don Delillo's Underworld.
The Cutter stories have similarities. Trap a group on an island/undersea lab/forest compound, watch a seed of corruption spread disease/insanity/evil, see who lives the longest. Not to say they're repetitive - there's plenty of room for variety inside the framework. And the scraps of outside world we get in Little Heaven feel fresh and full of potential. I want to know more about the extended universe. The Troop and The Deep also gave tantalizing glimpses of larger context. Here's hoping there's enough Cutter material one day for him to give his fans an oeuvre-encompassing epic à la Dark Tower.
If you've got the stomach for it, this is a ripping yarn.

Review: Gardens of the Moon

Gardens of the Moon by Steven Erikson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

One the one hand:
Dauntingly complex, long and dense. Ridiculous fantasy names are thrown around with little to no context. On the rare occasion that Erikson takes time to explain something, it feels like you've finally found a solid foothold on a vertiginous ascent.

On the other hand:
One of the most epic books I've read, and I've been led to believe that the series only gets better. The swirl of names and races and cultures etc etc etc eventually starts to make sense as it washes over you again and again. The many story lines regularly interweave, and Erikson sets up thrilling collision courses. The crashes do not disappoint.

I've never read much high fantasy, and I don't know that I'll want to dive into another universe once I've made it through this one. Nonetheless, Gardens of the Moon is damn rewarding.

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Review: A Wanted Man

A Wanted Man by Lee Child
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is only my second Lee Child book but I think I'm getting the picture pretty quickly. Jack Reacher, the giant ex-military policeman, lives a fantasy life as a nomad roaming the USA. No bags, no friends, no regrets. His only long term commitment is a toothbrush, which he carries in his pocket for a few chapters.
Inevitably, he: runs into big trouble by accident or design; plays Sherlock, putting it all together from a stray word in conversation, the cut of someone's shirt or the colour of their pocket lint; kills a bunch of bad guys, as often as not with his elbows alone.
A Wanted Man hits all these marks. It moves relentlessly forward. The writing is clean and direct. I love books like this for when life off the page gets hectic - they're simple to engage with. I picked it up somewhere for a buck and I'll leave it on a bus or something for someone else to find. (That's what Jack Reacher would do.) It's a lot like playing a good Call of Duty game - slick, fast action, reliably satisfying and unpredictable... within predictable parameters.
Lee Child writes with efficiency and verve. While the book isn't explicitly funny, there's a humour about the hijinks that make me more than willing to suspend my disbelief.

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Review: Case Histories

Case Histories by Kate Atkinson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

As a bigly fan of schlock fiction I have a certain set of expectations from a 'mystery' story, and sometimes they need to be put in check. Stephen King, Clive Cussler, Lee Child: I can turn my brain off for a while, like watching a blockbuster movie or playing a video game.
Case Histories required more attention and gave more reward. It fell in the grey zone between airport paperback and Literary Fiction (a distinction which is entirely unrelated to how much I enjoy or appreciate it).
The plot was messier and more complicated than an airplane book might dare, and all the richer for it. The antihero private eye with a heart of gold stayed pretty much to the A.P.E.W.A.H.O.G. script, taking his lumps from every direction and putting together the clues he's overlooked. I found it more satisfying than clichéd.
Atkinson is kind to her characters, though not afraid of a few moments of startling violence. (Ann Patchett meets Stephen King?)
Loved it.

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Review: Gulliver's Travels

Gulliver's Travels by Jonathan Swift
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

When considering this book in context, it's a fascinating artifact. For something written almost three hundred years ago, it's a testament to how little the English language has changed. It is easy to read, and quite funny, though a few I may have been laughing at it and not with it.

As much as I can appreciate how groundbreaking it was, and how readable it remains, I can't say I actually enjoyed reading it. There are some outdated ideas (ugliness is the outward sign of moral degeneration), and Gulliver's conversations with various kings about how crappy European civilization is got a little repetitive.

For all his travels and all his exposure to more enlightened people/horses, Gulliver returns as a real piece of work: he sails home on a boat made from the skin of children (that he murdered?) and for years won't tolerate his "odious" wife or children in the same room. I bet she was thrilled at the reunion.

This bizarre ending actually made me feel a lot warmer towards the book. I'm sure if I was more familiar with the history I would have been more engaged, but I'm moving on. Finally finished a classic.

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Review: Books of Blood: Volume Two

Books of Blood: Volume Two by Clive Barker
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

While the stories are still creepy, and still imaginative, and still justifiably groundbreaking for future generations of horror writers, I shouldn't have read this so soon after Books of Blood Vol. 1. This collection felt like Barker turned down the volume, and the stories feel more predictable, verging on monotonous. I often found myself willing the narrative to pick up the pace, but for better or for worse, Barker's style in these stories sticks with slow, gothic dread.

I'll try another volume one day, but only on the strength of Volume 1 - not to mention the terrific Weaveworld.

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Review: Tripwire

Tripwire by Lee Child
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Yeah, I read another Jack Reacher. They're so easy to read, especially while I'm working my way through Stephen Erikson's obscenely epic Malazan fantasy series.
Tripwire was the second best one I've read so far, second only to Persuader. A truly sinister villain, a satisfying payoff to the mystery, and gripping action sequences. However, the female lead is once again a ridiculous male fantasy; this time, Reacher's first love has been pining after him for decades and will do anything to be with him. Women aren't the only ones who fall for him, either - this is Lee Child's third Reacher book, and he's head over heels too, waxing on about his good looks, his tousled hair, his charming smile, etc. (I'm sure the fact that Reacher has made him a killing doesn't hurt, either.)
This book's immortal line was fawning over his musculature: "He looked like a condom crammed full of walnuts." I can't imagine what came over Child, let alone his editor, peers, and family. I hope this line won him a bet, at the very least.

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Review: Books of Blood: Volume One

Books of Blood: Volume One by Clive Barker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Though I'm not usually one for short stories, I really enjoyed these. What most stands out to me is Barker's range, from funny little stories of household demons to hulking, titanic horror. Whatever the story may be, he revels in the mind's struggle (and usually, failure) to comprehend the fantastic, the otherworldly, the unknown. People go insane left, right and centre.
This volume has the sense of "classic horror" which I associate with someone like Richard Matheson - the undead, the fantastical, the eldritch - but plays those notes with a lighter, brighter touch.

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Review: The Stranger

The Stranger by Harlan Coben
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

Harlan Coben is an author I've never been able to hold in my mind. He's a mega seller, I know, but despite the fact that I think I've read at least a few, I forget them all the instant I put them down.

Reading The Stranger, I have to assume that Coben has some sort of formula (or "writing secret") that churns out a story. Following our hero pick up clues and solve the mystery felt like Coben listlessly assembling a jigsaw puzzle, but the picture is drab. There were a lot of names without a lot of characters. There was a lot of conspicuous brand names, which felt weird - I wondered if I was supposed to read something into those trademarks. (Oh, he grabbed a Sprite - this guy must be looking for a zesty beverage but watching his caffeine intake!) Overall, bleak and unsatisfying.

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Review: Weaveworld

Weaveworld by Clive Barker
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Though it took me a few chapters to buy in, this book kept getting better and better. Each act is more exciting than the last.

Weaveworld is ambitious. Clive Barker is not only creating a fantasy world but then crashing it into modern day England and seeing what happens. I remember my favourite parts of Harry Potter being when magic ran amok in our non-magical world. I found that same pleasure in Stephen King's Dark Tower books, and again in this book.

But even more than Stephen King, this magic can be vicious, nasty, hateful. Barker seems to delight in the revolting, not stopping his imagination from going to it's darkest corners. Some of his monsters are putrid - you can almost smell their reek. At other times it veers towards twee, with magic people serenading one another and dancing and picking fruit in a paradise fairy land. Both of these fit the story though, and of course it's inevitable the two collide.

The cast is large (all the men have names like Gideon, Jericho, Hobart, Shadwell - clearly nobody with magic powers has an ordinary name like Wayne) and while I couldn't always keep everybody straight, some of these characters are vivid. The story floats along like a dream, always on the edge of turning nightmarish. Many scenes are still vivid in my memory, and some of these characters will stay with me for a good while, I expect.

It's long, and while in retrospect I can fit the events into three main acts, the story winds through a lot of places. It could have run as a serial - the story is split into three Books containing 13 Parts and innumerable chapters. It's a journey, but each part serves its purpose, and it already feels as though it's been edited down from something much larger and longer. Clive Barker may have his own Silmarillion up his sleeve somewhere.

Terrific book. I hope there's a movie because I want to relive this story again. I hope there's not a movie because there's no way it could top the thrill of the writing. (I just saw there's a graphic novel. That just might work!)

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Review: The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story

The Lost City of the Monkey God: A True Story by Douglas Preston
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

There are some fantastic tangential chapters early on, where Preston's background research reveals some ripping yarns of treasure hunters, banana moguls, drug lords and secret agent subterfuge. When he gets to the jungle himself, it feels straight out of an Indiana Jones movie, with gigantic snakes, bug swarms, mud slides, and tough as nails army jungle guides.
The book really fell down for me in the back half, though. Preston and the rest of the crew leave the jungle surprisingly early, to return to America and send a whole lot of emails to each other about their bug bites. They do indeed have the "horrifying, sometimes lethal-and incurable-disease" that the jacket hypes, and all my sympathies to them, but it felt like epilogue material had been stretched out into "Part Two: Bureaucracy".
My suggestion: start this book, but don't bother finishing it!

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