Joel Rosenberg "Paladins"`

I had never heard of Joel and picked this up on the off chance at a second hand book store.  I just looked him up, to find he passed away a month ago after writing approximately twenty novels.

The basic premise is actually quite cool.  Imagine a parallel universe where the divergent point is Arthurian England. Imagine an England several centuries later still where Morgana La Fey is still at large and in charge with the heir of Mordred on the throne.

The story uses this magnificent idea as a a backdrop as it follows the adventures of a group of knights in the Mediterranean who have stumbled upon a powerful weapon, in the shape of a ensouled sword, discovered by a fisherman who died for his efforts upon touching the cursed blade.

The story in the beginning and the middle is excellent.  Some interesting characters are introduced as the story unfolds and the craftsmanship of the writing is also very good.  I think however it falls down a little at the end, perhaps for want of a bit more time and editing.  Overall though it was an intriguing and engaging read and I will search out more of this fellows work.  Enjoy it if you get a chance.

"The Blade Itself" Joe Abercrombie

Joe Abercrombie is another UK fantasy writer.  Pure chance.  A quick search revealed that he has about 5 books published in the world of this novel, but this is the first book of a trilogy, while the other two stand alone.

What's important to know about this work?  Well, this is another fantasy writer who does not pull punches when it comes to writing about nasty stuff, there is mayhem, gore, torture, abuse, more torture and the odd bit of idiocy all contained inside the pages of this novel, and its great.  The characters are interesting, they are different, and the threads that they weave are very engaging as the story emerges.  It comes to a nice climax at the same time of making you say, what happens next. This is not one of those completely original works in terms of content and story arc,  it is in fact high fantasy, but it is extremely well written, engaging and coherent. Like I said in the last review on J V Jones, Joe Abercrombie gives bits and pieces, that all somehow hang together, that hint at the whole and the full picture, without saying too much.  You can see that the full story will keep you turning pages, but first you need to buy the next in the series.  Thinking about this, this was why I liked the Belgariad by David Eddings when I was young.  The problem, to my mind, that he had with everything else he ever did afterwards was that you knew exactly where it was going.  Joe Abercrombie does not make that mistake.

I am pleased with this find and will read anything else by Joe I can get my hands on.  I love the genre and I love the style.  Bring it on Joe.

 

'A Cavern Of Black Ice'- J. V. Jones

Now they do say that you should never judge a book by its cover, and in this case it is certainly true.  J. V Jones has begun a very readable, yet dark, series here, but it is not one that involves half naked women riding around on horses.  There is a lot of horse riding and fighting (it is epic fantasy after all), but where it is set it is cold.  There is frostbite to worry about. The wind could kill you.  The protagonist that is the subject of the cover is pretty well covered up and not riding around in leather.

The art work aside I really enjoyed this book, once I got past the gruesomeness of some of the writing, it is by the way not for the faint hearted.  From the very beginning there are some stomach turning moments that do not even make sense until much later on and may appear to be gratuitous.  This novel though is about courage, courage to go with your own morals rather than those of the people around you.  Courage to keep going, to keep hanging on.  In particular I like the young clan warrior Raif, who in leaving his clan behind expresses more what it means to be clan.

She does an absolutely super job of hinting at a big picture behind it all, drops some enigmatic details, develops some background characters, without really giving any of it away.  This first book does not end on a cliff hanger per se, but it does leave you wondering where it is going.  I will definitely keep reading the series anxious to find out what happens.

A last important point is that the author, a rather attractive lady, is my age and comes from Liverpool in the UK, where I had the great misfortune to mispend a lot of my youth.  Which makes it entirely likely that I totally failed to chat her up at some point in the past in some seedy and disreputable bar.  It is not true to say that good things do not come out of Liverpool, but it is true to say that once they get out, they stay out.  I think I will add her to my list.

Eve Forward, "Animist"

Eve Forward was born in 1972, which makes her 38, probably.  So to my mind she is a young writer, at the start of her career.  Animist reads like the first book in a series, but from what I read online I think she wrote a trilogy, with but one book so far in print.  The tale told is actually a fairly simple one, a young man goes out into the world to make his fortune at the conclusion of his training at the animist college, he has some adventures.  Animists are it seems people with a natural inclination for magic, whatever that is, who instead of developing earth shattering powers develop a bond with an animal that then allows them to see magic being performed, and communicate empathically with their familiar.  This means that the training mainly consists of animal husbandry and meditation with a shovel.

This book does not follow any standard tracks as it wends its way forward, pardon the pun.  Alex, the youthful Animist, does not develop earth shattering powers and instead only manages to form a bond with a rat, which will cause him lots of problems if he does not learn how to 'separate', as rats are not long lived. He has adventures, but they are mostly of the bumbling kind rater than cast in the heroic mould.  He is however a moral person, who strives to help those people around him.  It is this youthful morality and innocence, and the filter that this provides to the world as viewed in the narrative, that makes the book a fairly enjoyable read.   The book is often funny, but only in a light way, the book is not dark or complex and is instead written in a similar style to the works L E Modesitt Jr.  I will definitely read Villains by Necessity, her other fantasy novel, when I get a chance.

Simon R Green "The Man with the Golden Torc"

As a young man I went through a period were I read all the Bond novels.  I saw all the Bond movies.  I even had a James Bond themed fancy dress party at which there was an express rule that none of the guests could come as James Bond in a tuxedo (I alleged that this was to make for imaginative costumes, but really I looked good in a tux and wanted all the attention).  It was this love of Flemings flawed genius that made me spend good money on this book by Simon R Green, which seems to be something a series.

This book is part of a new sub genre in fantasy that I have been reading recently, in which the fantastical elements are embedded in the modern world.  It has been tremendously successful for the likes of Rowlings with the Harry Potter books and there is a lot of diverse writing in this area.

Unfortunately, I think that this book is part of a plot by S.P.E.C.T.R.E. to bring fantasy literature into disrepute.  I did not manage to get even a quarter of the way through it before giving up and turning it into a door stop.  It is filled with bad cliches.  It has no sense of timing.  The writing is sometimes OK but the errors in plot and continuity infuriate.  The plot is ridiculous without being funny (as far as I got in it).  In short I was a wee bit disappointed.  Whatever you do, avoid this writer like the plague.

Margeret Atwood "The Handmaid's Tale"

Not the title I was recommended, but one I found nevertheless. This work of science fiction is a really classic example of the genre. Along the lines of create a different world, in this case the USA of the future ruled by some kind of male dominated theocracy similar to, but worse, than present day Iran, and explore what it means.  In a society like ours, where the last hundred years have seen a massive step forward in terms of rights for women, racial minorities, homosexuals and just about everyone except for perhaps body odor challenged polygamists, it takes an extreme example to get your attention, and that is what Atwood manages to do with this novel.

The book postulates an extreme society in which the presence of disease and infertility has led to the worse kinds of behavior by the men of the ruling classes.  Fertile women are enslaved and forced to provide children for the elite childless males.  The justification for the seizure of power, the denial of rights and the oppression of pretty much everyone is religion.

What makes the book interesting is the depth of the character development.  You learn a lot about the unnamed woman who is the handmaid of the title, and a lot about the depths that people will go to when it comes to justifying the hunger for power.  In some ways it was maybe a bit wordy when compared to other writers in the genre.  Atwood has essentially taken a common approach of literature that is rarely used in science fiction and applied it to a science fiction theme, so it is a bit different.  You could compare it directly to another novel along similar lines by Heinlein, "Revolt in 2100".  Heinlein has a similar theocracy ruled America, but packs in a lot more action. The difference in styles is remarkable, but both are well worth a read.

I enjoyed my first foray into this talented Canadians work and look forward to reading more of her works.

I look forward to reading more by Margaret Atwood!

"The Hunger Games" Suzanne Collins

J.K.Rowling's recent success has seen an absolute torrent of material in the fantasy genre for teens or young adults, but not so much in the way of science fiction.  Suzanne Collins is filling that void very nicely with the first in a trilogy that came a as a recommendation to me recently, and it was thoroughly enjoyable.

Suzanne Collins has imagined a future that seems much smaller than our, a sparsely populated post apocalypse north america where the majority of people are downtrodden and controlled.  One of the vehicles for that control involves a yearly draw which all the citizens in the districts, the areas that supply the capitol with goods and the stuff of life, must enter from the age of 12 for 7 years.  The draw decides who fights in the hunger games, a many day filmed combat to the death with a boy and  a girl picked from each of the 12 districts. The story follows a young girl, who steps forward to take the place of her 12 year old sister (yes they do make 12 year olds fight to the death) and becomes a tribute.

This first part of the trilogy is a story of good versus evil, but never falls into the trap of becoming trite.  It seems to me that it is the beginning of some kind of revolt against the Capitol, though it is nicely understated.  It also explores themes of love and growth. It manages to achieve what Heinlein achieved with his teen fiction, a strong empathy for the emerging adults as they shoulder an adults burden.  I particularly like the distance that is kept from the real villains of the piece, the rulers of Capitol that push children together to fight to the death.  This is an excellent book and I look forward to reading the following parts of the trilogy.

Joe Haldeman "The Forever War"

This is yet another attempt by me to plumb the depths of the writing out there by looking for previous award winners I never read.  Joe Haldeman won a Hugo and a Nebula for this masterpiece and I enjoyed it thoroughly.  This writer actually reminds me of Heinlein at his best, which is no faint praise considering I host the Robert Anson Heinlein Memorial Library in my very own house.  The book is classic science fiction that is not at all dated and still totally enjoyable to read, and it has a point.  It is of course about war.  I think judging by the dates of publication it was strongly influenced by thinking on the Vietnam war, but it still makes you think even now.
The novel traces the path of a soldier, Private Mandella, through the course of a war with aliens, which he is fortunate enough to survive.  The war is fought in space and is at the whim of the realities of the faster than light travel and propulsion systems, such that a whole lot of time passes during a decade of subjective living by the protagonist.  It ties together a changing society and a changing war in an interweaving tapestry of prose that is difficult to put down.  I will definitely keep an eye out for more of his works, this was fantastic and gets a recommendation.
Interesting to some perhaps is the way in which our society is different to the imagined one of Haldeman's universe.  I do not think any sci fi writer predicted the effect of easy information exchange on such large things as war.  It may be hard for some to appreciate, but it is actually pretty amazing that government and military institutions find it so hard nowadays to hide the nasty parts of war, like Abu Graib in Iraq.  Back in the day, WWII, governments fought wars with misinformation that would be next to impossible to do today, it's impossible to stop connected people talking, and stupid people always slip up.  (By the way, stupid people are actually everywhere, so it is an axiom that that means they will screw up, just wait.)
I digress shamefully, thank you Joe for a fine read that is equally thought provoking due to what it hit and what it missed.