King's Dragon

King's Dragon by Kate Elliott

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


A pretty standard, kingdom in turmoil, invaders from the north, treachery from a royal sibling, mysterious waif loses guardian to nefarious forces, adopted bastard chosen by fate to be protector of the kingdom type of book. The execution however, is pretty good. The waif suffers true trauma. The kind of thing that can damage a person for a long time. And it's not how her guardian dies, but what happens after.

The religion is very catholic-like, with saints and priests, though a more gender-neutral(or even reversed) version of the church hierarchy and dogma. Religion is depicted mostly positively, though some members use the church as a vehicle of their ambition, others are sincere. Saints do appear in exceptional circumstances, but most of the time, people have to follow their religion the same way we do, with faith.

The structure of the kingdom is interesting, with a roving court, a semi-autonomous church authority, and a semi-matriarchal line of succession. The politics are introduced slowly, only halfway through the book are we given a real picture of how the land is governed.

The characters have some real progression, with loyalties tested, religious callings conflicting with religious morals, trauma forcing an escape inwards, and imperfect mentors.

I'll be reading more of this series. I'll let you know if it loses its interest. But I'm optimistic.



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Riverworld, book 1 and 2

"To Your Scattered Bodies Go" and The Fabulous Riverboat by Philip José Farmer

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I checked this out from the library, and I'm glad I didn't purchase it. The edition I checked out was an omnibus of the first two books of the Riverworld series.

My feeling is these books are like, "Wouldn't it be really cool if..." all the interesting characters of history were all living and ran into each other. And, yes, it's cool to think about, but it's not something you can base a novel on. It's more like a dinner party idea. Though, I've never been to that kind of dinner party.

The reason the idea doesn't really work is that the characters are restricted. Or at least, the author's ability to be creative with the characters is restricted. So the first book, written with a relatively unknown(at least to most modern audiences) character has a somewhat more interesting characterization. The second, starring Samuel Clemens, seems more forced, less natural.

The world is a little interesting--an artificial world with one long river, food and clothing supplied daily, but very little in the way of natural resources besides wood--but also unvarying. In a way it's an advantage, since after a single description of the landscape, it's easy to visualize wherever the characters may travel. You never feel like you don't know the place. The only difference is in the cultures of the people inhabiting the area. This gives you a sense of humanity being the landscape.

One thing I found surprising was the female characters. They were essentially objects. Not necessarily sexual objects,(though they sometimes were) but things to be acted upon, not actors in themselves. Sometimes Fantasy and Science Fiction are harped on for their depictions of women, and this book made me understand why. There's a big gap between the way Brandon Sanderson writes women, and the way Farmer did.


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The Bikes of New York

Something slightly different, free fiction, read it in full here:
The Bikes of New York

5/5

I read this a few years ago, but this story on slashdot reminded me of it.

A novella about the pressures of feeding a family and the difficulty of maintaining an ideologically pure rebellion. Starting with a startlingly believable premise that our economy fueled by oil crumbles, and instead of an unrecognizable world, it's a limited world. Cities are not graveyards, but they are dark at night. There's still money, there's still government, but the streets are filled with pedestrians, and power from an outlet is a luxury.

If it sounds like there's too much going on for something that's not a novel, set your worries aside. This is a focused story, with a sympathetic and flawed protagonist, action, villains who are both sinister and pathetic, and great speeches about the freedom to work.


If you don't like Science Fiction, try this anyway. Seriously. If you do like Science Fiction, try Simon of Space afterwards.

Has some profanity, and one euphemistic use of the word "Servicing".

A Shadow in Summer

A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


Really a 3.5, but I wouldn't recommend this to non-fantasy fans.

A fantasy book with an eastern flair, and a tragic end.

Some people are annoyed with books that introduce fictional cultures and settings. This book is not for them. They'll complain about how that element was stolen from some culture, or how it interrupts the narrative when the author mentions a formal "pose" as a method of communication. And it's true, there are a few moments where it's not quite carried off the way it should. There are moments where the novelty of the culture is a little too intrusive, but they are just moments.

Mostly this is a political tragedy around a love affair. The love affair is not greatly explored, but it's motivations are clear and sympathetic. The politics are complicated by personal relationships that the players must betray. In the end, the book explores love that is not eros.



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Wise Man's Fear

The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is storytelling. There is a cadence to the story, a pace that is just perfect. The story teller, telling his autobiography, lives in tragedy, yet the story he tells of his past seems to be that of a conquering hero. The juxtaposition underlines even the best outcomes with a sense of dread. You know that somewhere in these victories, lies the seeds of destruction. You could complain that everything seems to come too easy to our hero, that every obstacle is demolished, and every pitfall narrowly avoided. But Rothfuss has provided a frame, that allows the user to see the undercurrents of failure. Yes, the pitfall is avoided, but an enemy is left behind. The obstacle is demolished, but innocent blood was spilled.

The online literary term for the always too perfect hero is Mary Sue. I believe that Patrick Rothfuss wanted to play with the idea of the Mary Sue. He created a hero for which everything is just so easy, whose weaknesses are trivial. Then he fast-forwarded past everything, and imagined what might actually happen to someone who always won, without thinking of the consequences. Eventually, something Bad happens. We just don't know when yet. And that gives a darker tone to this otherwise bright tale.

*This was the first book I read on my iPod Touch. I enjoyed how easy it was to always have with me. I could bring it shopping with my wife, and while she picked out dresses, I could read my book. That's transformative.

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The Book of Lost Things

The Book of Lost Things by John Connolly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is a book about children in transitional situations, and the difficult feelings insecurity can cause. It is not necessarily a book for children, and is sometimes quite dark. The author dips deep into fairy tales, and pulls the darker elements out to create a phantasmal world to reflect the emotional fears of a child. Like me, David loved books. He felt the power of a story, how they can pull you along, and come alive. I can say that during times of my life that I felt insecure, reading was a way of escaping, forgetting, and recovering. Reading a triumphant story could help me feel triumphant, that awesome things (things full of awe?) do sometimes happen. Perhaps only in my mind, but that made them no less real.



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Dragon Keeper

The Dragon Keeper by Robin Hobb

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I like Robin Hobb. She's very good at writing an epic story where the characters spend most of their thoughts and efforts on non-epic subjects. In most of fantasy, there is a quest to save the world, and most of the time, characters talk about or work on this quest. Robin Hobb's characters spend a lot of their time thinking about who they're with, what their place in a group is, what they have to do right now, and often don't have much of a plan, just like real people. I think it is telling that the magic of her world has nothing to do with fireballs, healing or dark wizards. Instead it is about relationships. The magic affects bonds between people, and sometimes animals.

This book deals with feminism, dominating partners and closet homosexuality. There is no actual sex, but there is a viewpoint character who is attracted to men, and describes his first encounter with someone of the same orientation. This made me a little squeamish, but not terribly so. I thought the relationship with the dominating partner was very insightful.

Another angle that piques my interest is ecological. The dragons in this book are the remnants of an almost extinct species. Due to natural disaster, their life cycle was interrupted, and their habitat changed entirely. The river valley that once was their breeding ground has become a wide swathe of swamp, marsh and rain forest, with no dry land to build on. The water is always slightly acidic, and after earthquakes, will sometimes run white and strong enough to scald. Humans have built in trees, and have found the ruins of ancient cities, which they excavate for treasures that they do not understand. Dragons can no longer sustain themselves and must rely on the humans for survival.

As interesting as I make this sound, in the end this is a book about dragons. If you can't take dragons, you won't like this book. If you haven't read any of Robin Hobb's books, I would suggest starting with the beginning, Assassin's Apprentice, set in a different part of this same world, but more accessible, told in first person, from the point of view of a child growing up. Melinda didn't finish it, but I think it should be enjoyable to a wider audience.

*This was the second book I've read on my iPod Touch, and I quite enjoyed it. I may begin reading more ebooks.

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