Connie Willis, "Domesday Book"

This work is on a classic SF theme, time travel.  A theme that has been done and redone so many times, but how does Connie Willis make it work?  The answer is that it is all in the character development and the storytelling.  There is also a tension that runs through the book that keeps you wondering and makes the ending meaningful.  It all hangs together very nicely.

The story is about a history PhD student at Oxford university in the near future.  In this future they have access to time travel when it does not affect the present, so it is only useful for students of history.  That does not make it safe however, as Kivrin discovers when she goes back to 1320 to study a mediaeval village.  Unknown to anyone Kivrin was sick with a new flu bug, think H1N1 with steroids, and the Oxford of the present ends up in quarantine as she falls sick in the past, to be succored by some visiting nobility.

What I really liked about this story, without giving away any details, is the way that the characters are torn with indecision, uncertainty and realism.  In particular I like the way that the decisions of the Kivrin's supervisor change and evolve.  The description of the past, especially the more harrowing parts which you will know when you get to them are particularly well written and I think it is likely that the writer has probably taken advantage of her own time machine to make this book realistic.

It is a bit different, it is already slightly dated, but it is a clear voice. I will definitely read more Connie Willis when I get the chance.

Peter V. Brett "The Warded Man"

I just finished reading this and enjoyed it immensely.  Peter V. Brett has written something which is simple, yet totally riveting. I could not put this book down and read avidly from start to finish.  This book is one of action, from the front cover to the back.  There is not a lot of emphasis on the description of the scenes or on feelings.  The action though unfolds in such a way as to give insight into the main characters and into the land in which the tale unfolds.  The author does not try to do too much and succeeds quite well at what he does attempt, an unfortunately rare trait.

In brief we have a humanity threatened by demons, or what they call demons.  The history is simple.  Long ago man fought against demons until it developed magic.  The magic worked against demons.  When the demons were on the edge of being totally defeated they vanished.  Man then forgot its magic, which after all was only to do with demons, developed science and spread to cover the world.  Unfortunately the demons were not finished.  When the demons rose again, without magic man kind was near crushed until they remembered some few wards to use as protections.  That is the situation now, people huddle in fear behind arcane barricades at night while the demons delight in torment.

The hero, or one of the main heroes, fights his fears of the demons and through the course of the book discovers ways to fight back.

The only problem with the book is one a good editor would have spotted.  There was a perfect ending point to this first book in a series, but he continues and creates another.  He probably felt it necessary to bring the main characters together though, so he can be forgiven.  He could maybe have met them before discovering the spear?  Who knows.

I will read more Brett and would recommend this book to any fantasy readers who like a good heroic adventure romp.  Not surprisingly the author is a fan of D&D.

Alice Borchardt, "The Dragon Queen"

 

I found this novel in a second hand book store.  No recommendation from a friend, no previous knowledge, complete shot in the dark.  Arthurian tales have always been a weakness of mine.  There is so much there in a simple framework to work with for a writer, and so many different tales have been told based on it.  At first glance this work struck me as being a new angle on the story, exploring the legend from Guinevere's point of view, and hopefully with a strong female character.  I was pretty excited to read it actually.

Alice Borchardt has good prose, some excellent descriptions of places and some good characters. Unfortunately I think that Alice Borchardt tried to do to much and a lot of it either does not have enough back story or is over the top, which has the effect of not really tying the individual pieces together.  For example, when she introduces Guinvere's potential father, who turns out to be a fairy who gives her magical armor embedded in her skin it was done abruptly, with no background on the fair folk, no background on who her father might have been.  It did not do this to evoke mystery, it just happens like that. 

Other things happen too abruptly.  A prime example would be when she meets Arthur.  Their meeting is far too devoid of content for the level of commitment that results from it.  It just does not really follow.  I thin that the real problem to me as a reader with this story is that it is far too obvious that the events that take place, and the decisions that are made, are the work of the author.  At no point does it become real.  At no point does it evoke a lost past, or another world that I fall into.  Which is one of my goals in reading fantasy.  Being a lover of fantasy literature is not being a lover necessarily of the cleverest writing or the wittiest dialogue, it is rather the desire for losing yourself, briefly, into something other.