Bill The Book Critic

Special Ops

2011-03-11T05:42:00.000-08:00

"Special Ops" could easily have been the eighth book of the series and "The Aviators" could have been skipped altogether. In fact, Special Ops picks up almost immediately where "The New Breed" left off. Jack Portet had just finished helping the Belgian paratroopers liberate his family from Stanleyville in the Congo and was being reunited with Marjorie Bellmon. However, just because one crisis in the Congo was averted it doesn't mean everything had settled down. In fact new international intrigue is just about to start with the arrival of Che Guevara from Cuba in a hope to drive the fascist, imperialist, pigs out and bring communism to the people.

Honestly this book isn't really about Guevara much either - except as a way to document his overall ineptitude at being a guerrilla leader. Instead, I think, it is more of an opportunity to introduce Argentina, of all places, to W.E.B. Griffin's fans - a locale he revisits in some of the books in his other series dealing with the O.S.S. and the German's in WW2. About 1/5 of this story takes place in Argentina presumably to show the US intelligence gathering techniques which are used to track Guevara. Overall this book didn't really have much of a purpose in relation to the initial "Brotherhood of War Series" and I found it a general letdown as a sequel to "The New Breed."

The worst part of this book was the end of it. A huge portion of the story is told via memo's between the Special Forces detachment (17) in the Congo and Stanford Felter in Washington DC. It was as if even Griffin realized he didn't have a story to tell so he just gave up on it, went to the bank, and cashed his royalty check. Some people may appreciate the memorandum style but, for me, it was off-putting. Typically, in the series, when I saw the memo format I would just gloss over it. However, in this story you can't or you'll actually miss a large part of the story.

In other words this couldn't have been a much worse book to finish the series with (though, "The Aviators" would have been an even worse final book - I'll discuss that in it's own review). I realize he left a few things hanging at the end of "The New Breed" but the series would have been better off had he just stopped there.

The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood

2011-03-03T13:43:00.001-08:00

This is the first book I've read on my Kindle. I was able to download it for free from Google Books and I'm glad I did. To tell the truth I didn't even know this was a book until I stumbled across it. I guess I should have known better but it just never showed up on my radar before now.

The title of the book is The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood for a reason; it is more of a series of short stories featuring Robin and his band of Merry men than one long story about Robin. If you've seen any of the Robin hood movies you've seen a couple of the short stories merged into one longer whole but, for the most part, there are a lot of Robin's tales you haven't' experienced yet.

My favorite Robin Hood movie is the animated Disney classic. It incorporates a couple of the merry adventures, such as the archery tournament; but, interestingly Prince John (the phony king of England) isn't really a problem for Robin most of the time. Instead, the Sheriff of Nottingham is. However, even the Sheriff isn't really all that evil and instead is just incompetent and a bit afraid of Robin.

Interestingly I'm glad I had just finished Ken Follett's "Pillars of the Earth" before reading this as I had a better understanding of the roles of various religious figures as well as what it meant to be the Sheriff.

The language, while often archaic, is pretty easy to read and understand and the book, as a whole, was fun. I recommend it.

The New Breed

2011-02-28T05:24:00.000-08:00

It is difficult to write reviews for the books in this series because I am reading them so quickly. I bought all of them at one time and have been going non-stop so that as soon as I finish one I just start the next leaving me no time to pause and write a review.

However, I felt this book deserved a little bit of individual attention simply because, so far, it was the best of the bunch in not only this series but also of "The Corps" series which I read immediately before "The Brotherhood of War."

This book doesn't stand out because Griffin suddenly changed his formula either; it still features extraordinary soldiers and the women they love or lust after. This is the first book in the series that doesn't focus on Craig Lowell - instead it is really about the young private Portet drafted into the US Army from his expat home in the Congo where he fly's for his fathers fledgling airline. Portet, much like the rest of Griffin's characters, has an unusual ability to absorb languages - plus he is fairly well off financially though he isn't, as Lowell would say, "Comfortable." Portet, much like Lowell, however, isn't very pleased to find himself in the military and is just counting down the days until his obligation is fulfilled and he can return home. Home is the crux of his problem.

Griffin has changed the playing field, and the normal flow of time in the series, by focusing on the chaos that took place in the Congo during the mid 1960's. "The Generals", the book that precedes "The New Breed" in the series actually takes place later in the 60's, after the events of "The New Breed." Furthermore, the other books in the series focus on the Asian Pacific theater so being thrust into the Congo rebellion is a little bit jarring; but in a good way.

To tell the truth I was a little tired of Craig Lowell and his playboy lifestyle. I had tired of him a couple books prior; he never seemed to learn his lesson about screwing around. Craig's nephew, Geoff who is also featured in this book, is a more likable guy because he is both married and faithful to his wife Ursula. Furthermore, Private Portet, who was a bit of a ladies man before entering the Army, isn't simply a rich kid with an unusually successful love life. Instead he seems to have a little more depth than Lowell.

I have also really enjoyed learning more about the circumstances of the strife in the Congo. It is one of those engagements I haven't read much about even though I'm somewhat familiar with Joseph Mobutu and Moise Tshombe. One of my favorite aspects of Historic Fiction is that it provides me with a launching pad to learn more about the actual history behind the story. I am anxious to learn more about the people and the events that took place around the Congo in the 1960s' thanks to this book.

You can pick up any of Griffin's book and read them out of order because he does a pretty good job of providing the back story filler for each main character in each book. This is a little bit annoying when you read the books back to back - but it provides a casual reader with the perfect excuse to skip straight to "The New Breed" for an interesting and compelling story about the Cold War and our efforts to stop the spread of Communism through the world.

My Kindle is a Paperweight

2011-01-31T10:07:00.000-08:00

Almost two years ago I wrote the article "A Better Kindle Still Isn't Great" where I identified, what was for me, the largest problem with the Kindle - DRM. About 2 months ago I was given a Kindle as a gift and, now that I have one, I felt I should reevaluate my prior opinion and share it with you dear reader.

I was given the newest 3rd Generation Kindle with Wi-Fi. (It does not include wireless 3G access but that is OK I'm rarely out of WiFi coverage). It's a pretty simple little device and the screen is very nice. In fact, the screen really caught me off guard it was so crisp and clear; it is much better than the 1st generation Kindle screen. As an example, when I first opened the package there was a plastic overlay on the screen as a protector. It appeared to have a drawing on it and an arrow pointing at the bottom of the device telling me where the power switch was. I peeled off the plastic protector and the impressive grayscale artwork was still on the screen. It truly looked like something that had been printed and not something being rendered by an electronic screen.

Once I finished marveling at the screen I decided I should download a book or two to try out on it. However, I knew I didn't want to buy a book yet so I headed to Google Books and grabbed a copy of "The Autobiography Of Benjamin Franklin" and "The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood." Both books were DRM free but in the epub format which the Kindle doesn't support. Thus I had to also grab a copy of Calibre - a free tool that will convert epub files into mobi files and thus make them compatible with the Kindle. The conversion process was pretty quick and I was able to push them directly to the Kindle from within Calibre. It was at this point that I began to have problems with ebooks.

Firstly the table of contents isn't necessarily useful from within each book and sometimes it just doesn't exist. Whoever makes the ebook file has to link the stuff in the Table to the actual digital position within the book. Page numbers no longer have meaning since the amount of text on each page can be changed on the fly by the user. Thus, if you want to use your Kindle while in a reading group you may have trouble figuring out where everyone else is at. Instead of page numbers the kindle books have "positions" and there are a ton of them in each book. In fact, when you create a digital bookmark it bookmarks the nearest position. It's pretty slick but it is also confusing especially when the table of contents doesn't really mention "positions".

Additionally, it is hard to figure out where best to hold the device. The page turning buttons are fairly large on each side of the screen (a good thing in general) but there isn't much space on the device to put your fingers when holding the device where you won't be touching buttons. I finally decided to let my fingers rest on the amazing fingerprint resistant screen. However, because the device is so small and my hands are sort of large it is uncomfortable to hold for long periods of time. On the flip side since there are no physical pages it is easy to just lay the device down and read it (such as when laying on your side in bed).

Neither of those problems, really, will stop me from using the device. The size and convenience are both pretty awesome. However, since the date I was given the Kindle I have bought twenty books and not one of them was in the ebook format and this is where the real problems with ebooks begin for me.

They are too expensive for what you get. I purchased the entire Brotherhood of War series and the entire "The Corps" series by W.E.B. Griffin in mixed formats (paperback and hardback) as used books via Amazon. They were all delivered for free and the total cost for all 19 books was apx $75. Each of the books is actually available as Kindle ebooks, but, had I bought them the total cost would have been over $160. Plus, when I'm done reading them I can give them to my Dad to read and he can then give them to one of my brothers who can pass them on to another of my brothers etc, etc, until we have each read them and then I can resell them on Amazon or Ebay and probably get back about $20 per series of books.

With the ebook I can't lend the books really. Sure Amazon has started a lending program but it only lets me lend each book one time and the length of the loan is no more than 14 days. Thus my Dad might finish some of them (assuming he commits some time to reading them during the 14 days and nothing comes up) but then none of my brothers could. And, to make matters worse, I can't resell them and thus I can't recoup any of the purchase price.

Granted, at the moment I have a huge stack of books on my desk. However, as I read them the pile is diminishing (and trickling through my family) and I have hopes of some more book money in the future when I sell these. Meanwhile, my Kindle sits on an end table collecting dust. I did finish reading "The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood" but I can't see myself buying any books for it until the price comes down and the DRM is removed. Until then I'll use it to augment my library with classics that I haven't had the chance to read yet. Moby Dick, here I come.

Rogue Warrior

2011-01-04T05:24:00.000-08:00

Badass. That's about the only way to describe Richard Marcinko a retired Navy Seal and founder of the most elite team of Seal, 6. Well, badass, reckless, and full of himself. However, I can forgive him his insanely high opinion of himself considering some of the stuff he accomplished during his long, but often troubled, military career.

When I was in the Army I really, really, wanted to join the Special Forces which is sort of like the Army's version of Seals. However, I didn't and that alone is a big difference between myself and Marcinko. When he wanted to do something in he went after it full bore and nothing would get in his way; including regulations and/or his chain of command. In fact, his utter disregard for his chain of command turned out to be his downfall.

This book was full of hoorah stories that really pumped me up and, quite honestly, inspired me to be a bit more kickass myself. Mr. Marcinko really does have something postive to teach everyone even if his approach to doing it may turn off many readers. He writes much as he talks; like a sailor so if rough language is a problem for you get over it. He worked in a world where death was a constant possibility; a few fucks scattered around really isn't too bad in comparision. No matter your background you should read this book simply to experience the raw power of a personality as strong as Marcinkos.

As bad ass as he came across he is also extremely selfish and, at times, deluded into thinking everything that happened to him, or his troops, was someone else's fault. First and foremost he was a horrendous husband. He sort of admits to it but at the same time he also doesn't seem to have any remorse for his overall neglect of his family. In fact, he seems proud of it. He also tended to act with his own sense of glory in mind rather than the welfare of his troops. Now, it may be that this is just a part of the SEAL psyche I can't understand; but, when his decisions as a leader led to his troops being in unnecessary and extreme harms way he just blames others for not supporting him. He never seems to realize it was his decision that put his boys up against 100 north Vietnamese on the night of the Tet Offensive for example. Instead he blames an incompetent and drunk Special Forces commander.

Marcinko does give good credit where it is due however and he frequently cites soldiers he served with who helped him or made him a better soldier. However, no matter how much those other guys tried to teach him there were some things, like tact, that Marcinko never learned; and it was this lack of tact; along with his disregard for the chain of command, that ultimately killed his career.

A prime example of his lack of tact comes late in the book when he is leading the super secret, bad ass team called Red Cell. These guys have what, to me, seems like the greatest job on earth. They are tasked with testing and breaking the security of naval installations around the world so that those bases can learn and improve. However, in his reports to the base commander's Marcinko doesn't care how he tells the commander that his post is screwed. Instead he just slams the guy regardless of the ego he is dealing with. I would think that in 30 years of naval service he would have learned he wasn't the only proud sailor around. I'm not saying that he should have softened his message but he certainly could have delivered them in a much more convincing manner. Instead he was an ass.

The ends may justify the means; but by delivering his message like a jerk he hurt not only himself but he undermined Red Cell's mission. Sure, the base's security flaws were illuminated but they certainly weren't addressed because the post commander had his feathers ruffled and he would turtle up and attack Marcinko instead of accepting the evaluation as a critique of the post and not of the commander. I don't know if I could have handled it any better but, considering the job he had, I certainly would have tried.

In the end Marcinko was still an excellent soldier who did his job, taking out the enemy, well and I'm going to try to take away some of his strengths from reading it. From now on, when I'm faced with a difficult obstacle that I think is too great to overcome, I might even ask myself, "What would Marcinko Do" - then I'll run through the damn thing and kick it's ass.

Even with all his failings and the books often awkward writing I enjoyed it and give it a 3.5 out of 5 star review.

Pillars of the Earth

2010-12-01T08:04:00.000-08:00

The Pillars of the Earth is roughly 970 pages long and, at times, it felt even longer. That isn't to say that it isn't a good story - it is - just that, occasionally, I wished the story would reach it's conclusion. That may be more a commentary on me and my impatience than it is on the book; I'm not sure.

The story is focused around the construction of a fictional cathedral in the small English village of Kingsbridge. It seems rare to me that a building is in fact one of the main characters of a story but Ken Follett not only selected an unusual protagonist he pulled it off quite well. The cathedral isn't the only protagonist, not by a long shot, but it is the focus of the actions all of the other main characters, both good and bad, take throughout the majority of the novel.

The story takes place in medieval England and, as such, it can be fairly graphic and violent in places; further, because the story takes place around the construction of the cathedral there is quite a bit of Christian dogma cited by various characters towards myriad ends. Of course, even without the cathedral the presence and power of the catholic church in Medieval England would have guaranteed some strong religious overtones in the weekly lives of the various characters.

Essentially there are four characters within the book who server as our protagonists. Prior Phillip, the leader of a conclave of monks who are the lords of Kingsbridge and who contract out the construction of the Cathedral. Tom Builder is the master builder who is tasked with constructing the cathedral. Jack Sharebourg, the step-son of Tom Builder and a fine stone carver, has a smaller role that builds to a more critical one as the story goes on. Last, but not least, is Aliena, the daughter of the local earl. Aliena is an unusual medeival woman in that, while she is treated, at times as less than human, she manages to do some amazing things that I doubt were wholly probably in the factual middle ages.

I, almost always, cheer for the good guys and find them to be the more interesting characters in a book. However, at times, a novel comes along with such sufficient insufferable bad guys that they steal the show. That was the case with all three of the antagonists in The Pillars of the Earth. The most powerful of the three, at least politically, is the snake like Bishop Waleran. He is a manipulative backstabbing and power-hungry bastard who, for the majority of the novel, goes out of his way to prevent the construction of the cathedral even though it is within his own Diocese.

Just slightly less powerful but significantly less intelligent and scheming is the ruthless William of Hamleigh. While William is a competent knight he is both vicious and full of spite; by mixing those two character flaws with a serious inferiority complex and a paranoid suspicion that everyone mocks his family William really does become the embodiment of evil throughout the story. I'm ashamed to share his name.

The final villain is Alfred; Tom Builders eldest child. Alfred is cunning and strong but also intellectually stunted. Further he is consumed by jealousy of Jack who is both more talented and smarter but much smaller and weaker. Their conflict is full of petty injustices spearheaded by Alfred's malicious desire to simply make Jack's life miserable. Alfred is a real ass who I kept hoping would get his due.

Overall all of the characters are believable, but, at times, their reactions to different events are not. For instance, Tom Builder's second wife, Ellen, is an anomaly who has a secret that keeps Bishop Waleran in fear. However, considering the power that the church had in the time period it is hard for me to believe she was allowed to remain alive; and, not just living, but thriving within the town of Kingsbridge as Tom's wife. Further, after she performed some sufficiently sacriligious acts I was amazed she wasn't captured and burned at the stake as a witch; especially considering the entire religious population of the region had denounced her as just that - a witch!

I suppose Follett had to take some artistic liberties to keep the story flowing and for that I am glad because it is a good tale full of both victories and defeats for "the good guys" which was refreshing considering how often the good guys just seem to easily come out on top in most tales. At times the story does get bogged down but, fortunately, it picks back up again before too long and you once again forget it is a 970 page book.

My youngest brother Chris gave me the book and a recontamination to read it and I'm glad I took his advice. I give it a 3.5 out of 5 star rating.

Towers of Midnight

2010-11-23T06:31:00.000-08:00

I started reading the Wheel of Time series in 1989. Twenty-one years ago and, yet, I stick with it. Some people would think I am a glutton for punishment however, books like "Towers of Midnight" serve as a reward for my patience.

Sanderson took over the writing duties for the series in the previous book, "The Gathering Storm" and he took a while to get comfortable with each of the characters which is why I felt the second half of that book was much better than the first. Fortunately he continued to improve as he wrote "Towers of Midnight" and, I think, at this point he has hit a great stride.

It took until the 12th book of the series for me to start like Nyneave; I think Sanderson's take on her is sufficiently different as to make her a more believable character. While Jordan was penning the series many of the women just seemed so depressingly disgusted with everything any man did that it became offputting to read. I can remember Jordan saying that the women in his books were written as he has experienced women and, if that is true, then I am sorry for his experiences. The Nyneave that came forward in "The Gathering Storm" is still a strong and confident character she just doesn't feel the need to treat all men like they are shit anymore. It's refreshing. In fact, she even is willing to admit that Rand doesn't constantly have his head firmly up his ass all the time now. Granted, emotionally Rand was pretty crazy for a bit but that should be expected considering all of the turmoil he is going through. However, some of the people he dealt with such as Cadsuane and Nyneave could have shown a touch of empathy considering Rand is probably in his early 20's and is being asked to not only overcome his own inner demons but also to gather the worlds forces and, while he's at it, prepare to face off against the most powerful and evil force the world has ever or will ever know - the dark one himself.

In "Towers of Midnight" Rand, thanks in no small part to Nyneave's improved demeanor, Rand completes a metamorphosis that began in "The Gathering Storm." Now, Nyneave has the unenviable task of convincing and converting every other Aes Sedai she meets so that they might trust Rand to not be a completely wool-headed farm boy. It won't be easy especially considering that Egwene still thinks she knows everything (even though she too is only in her early 20's) and Elaine hasn't learned any humility at all yet and still refuses to learn pretty much anything from any of her experiences.

Fortunately, we see little of Elayne or Egwene in this book. Instead, the majority of the tale is focused on Perrin and, to a lesser extent, Mat. In fact it felt like nearly 60% of the story revolved around Perrin. While he isn't my favorite character I am very glad his story arc finally moved forward a significant amount. Perrin, much like Rand, goes through a personal metamorphosis that is not only long overdue but much needed. An additional plus is that Faile isn't completely unreasonable in every one of her interactions with Perrin again. In fact, she shows a bit of empathy for his situation which is refreshing to say the least.

Mat and Thom finally make their move toward the Tower of Gengji but not before facing a dark nemesis that has been trailing them for quite a while. Overall I didn't really feel like Mat, as a person, changed much however he does finish up a story thread that has been dangling loose since back in the Great Hunt (book 2!) so it was great to reach that milestone. The best news about Mat in this book is that Sanderson is finally starting to get comfortable with his wise cracking personality. Mat's still missing a lot of his "zing" but he is much better in this iteration than he was in "The Gathering Storm" where he had become sort of a petulant child.

Towers of Midnight does an admirable job of pulling a wide variety of story lines forward and setting the stage for the last battle while at the same time another new dilemma is revealed that Rand and Aviendha are going to have to resolve. Further, the division within the Black Tower is more fully explored but no apparent progress is made toward resolving it. I imagine that will be something Rand has to face early on in "A Memory of Light." Honestly, at this point, I'm not entirely convince the series can really be finished in the next book but, supposedly, it will be. Sanderson has a herculean task on his hands but if he continues on as he has I think he is up to it. I certainly hope so because I am not sure I can keep reading until year 25!

I gladly award "Towers of Midnight" 4.5 out of 5 stars.

Crusade

2010-10-25T20:28:00.000-07:00

I am a big fan of three genres; military fiction, historical fiction, and speculative fiction (particularly those worlds that resemble medieval times on our planet) thus, it was with great interest that I picked up Robyn Young's novel, Crusade. Crusade is a historical fiction story based on the Templar's and their ongoing clashes with the Mamluk's that dominated the middle east during this period of the middle ages. It seemed like a perfect confluence of elements that couldn't possibly let me down.

I imagine, at this point, you've already figured out the kicker to this review. The story did let me down; in many ways. First and foremost Young just isn't good at describing battle sequences. Fortunately for her there are few in the book. In fact this story is kind of a misnomer as little of the story is about the Crusade's but rather it is about a small group of Templar's and their efforts to prevent another crusade.

Ms. Young also does a poor job of getting me to care about any of the protagonists; Will Campbell is a likable guy but he seems to lack depth. Meanwhile, his secret love, Elwen, comes across as a shallow, selfish, and completely clueless girl which seems to directly contradict the character Young tries to create in Elwen. The little bit of actual description of Elwen led me to believe she would be a wise, savvy, and worldly lady who had experience far beyond her years and station. However, she constantly came across as clueless and naive. It was a shame because she, Elwen, had great promise when she was first introduced in the story.

The only character's that I really felt anything for were Garin, a drunken and selfish ex-templar who rightfully so merited nothing but contempt from me. At times it seemed that Ms. Young was apologetic for making him such as scoundrel and at least twice she tried to make excuses for him being a complete ass; but his utter lack of real redeeming qualities belied her efforts. The other interesting character was Kalawun - the mamluk conspirator with the Templar's trying to keep the peace. However, some elements of Kalawun were also completely unbelievable.

A prime example of the disconnect between Kalawun and his principals can be found in Kalawun's son, Khalil. The two of them have such divergent views concerning peace in the middle east you might think that Kalawun had no involvement in his children's lives. Yet, early on in the book Ms. Young suggested that not only was Kalawun involved in their lives but he was also close to them. Therefore, it made no sense to me that Khalil didn't at least understand his father's position and that Kalawun didn't raise his children to understand his point of view. How could Kalawun possibly hope for a lasting peace if he didn't even strive for it within his own household?

The story had a lot of promise but, sadly, the lack of believable characters just destroyed the book for me and I can't give it any higher than a 2 out of 5 star rating.

Fevre Dream

2010-10-23T05:54:00.000-07:00

Imagine a silent paddle-wheel cruising the Mississippi river in the still of the night stopping only to allow it's passengers the opportunity to feast upon the blood of the unwary populace sleeping in range of the shoreline. So long as the captain were to avoid a predictable pattern of stops they would be able to terrorize the entire length of the Mississippi and it's tributaries for generations.

This is the horrific possibility that Martin conjures within the dark pages of Fevre Dream; a tale of ruthless vampires, a riverman looking for redemption, and an idealistic young vampire who sees a future where vampires no longer need to succumb to the allure of drinking the blood of man.

Fevre Dream is a slightly different take on the traditional vampire story. It is set in the busy river-boating days of the late 19th century America. Martin does a few interesting things with the vampire legend that help set this story apart from others covering the same topic. For example he provides a compelling and believable backstory to the drinking of blood while at the same time he obliterates some of the more cloying bits of folklore about how to defend against a vampire.

I normally don't read "horror", however Martin's deft hand produced a tale I still enjoyed quite a bit. It's easy to read and flows along as smoothly as the river the book is set upon. To fans of George R. R. Martin's epic fantasy series "A Song of Ice and Fire" Fevre Dream will come as a bit of a surprise; however, it is interesting to note that Fevre Dream was originally published in 1982 and thus gives you a glimpse into the evolution of his writing style. I think that if you like A Song of Ice and Fire you will also enjoy Fevre Dream; just in a different way.

I give this book a 4 out of 5 possible stars.

A Whole New Mind

2010-10-18T06:43:00.000-07:00

I was given this book when I joined a group called Create Huntington. It was given as sort of a home-work assignment as we work toward building a more creative community in my small hometown of Huntington, WV.

Overall, I think Pink hits the nail on the head though, truth be told, I began reading the book with a bit of animosity considering he attacks my profession, Software Engineering, right off the bat. Fortunately I think he misses the mark in regards to that particular field in his failure to understand the amount of creativity that is needed within it.

Pink makes a simple but effective case, in general, for why manufacturing jobs and anything else that just takes people and time won't be the future of the US economy. We can't even begin to compete against nations such as India and China where they have millions of people training in the traditional "powerhouse fields" of medicine or programming as well as nearly endless supplies of lower wage laborers who can assemble things just as well as anyone in the states.

Instead our future is in providing creativity and generating value out of the leisure time can afford to apply to the products and services the rest of the world is creating.

Granted, I don't think that we will survive just be being creative; we need to become the producers of things as well but the only way we will be able to leverage our production is by making the end product stand out and the only way we can do that is by applying our creativity to the problems the products solve.

We don't own the market on creativity but, as a people, we have more time and freedom to pursue it so we need to lead the way before we find ourselves being left behind.

RATING: 3 out of 5 stars

The Scar

2010-10-08T06:49:00.000-07:00

I bought this book at the same time I bought Perdido Street Station and I can thankfully say this story was much better, to me, than the other. I didn't really like any of the main characters but I was, at least, sympathetic to their plight.

I imagine my enjoyment is incremented somewhat by my lessened expectations. I had high hopes going into Perdido Street Station but I was barely willing to open The Scar after that let down.

This story doesn't really take place in New Crobuzon but the dark city still has its place in the tale and the the city's looming presence seems to exist on every page due to it's threat to the floating city of Armada.

Armada is a city of remade (creatures, including humans, who have been substantially altered) and outcasts from the mainland. For the most part the city thrives on piracy and they maintain genetic diversity via kidnapping and assimilation. It is this pattern of kidnapping and assimilation which brings the reader, via the interpretor, Coldwine, onto Armada.

From the point Coldwine arrives on the floating city onward the story is one of intrigue and deception with an ending, much like Perdido Street Station, that I found disappointing. In fact, it is the ending which led me to give this book four, instead of five, stars.

Overall I enjoyed the completely different style that Miéville has though I do wish he would use the term "opaque" a little less often.

Perdido Street Station

2010-10-08T06:47:00.000-07:00

I had pretty high hopes going into Perdido Street Station so I am a bit disappointed to only be giving it three stars. I had heard from so many different sources about how great this book was that I often found myself wondering if I was reading the right book.

To be blunt the story just didn't engage me at all. I managed to work my way to the finish but reading a novel shouldn't be work - it should be an entertaining escape. Yet, somehow, Mieville managed to turn this novel into a chore.

The first problem I had was that I never cared about any of the characters. I couldn't feel sympathetic to any of them. In fact, the whole story seemed more about the city itself than any of the characters; as if "Perdido Street Station" where intended to introduce me to New Crobozun; the sentient characters were just there to help guide me through the dark.

The city itself is interesting but it just wasn't enough to convince me to like this book.

The Girl Who Played With Fire

2010-10-08T06:23:00.000-07:00

I picked up both this book an "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo" at the same time and read them back to back. The story of Lisbeth Salander is a pretty dark and compelling one and The Girl Who Played With Fire finally gives us some insight into the issues that plague Lisbeth and cause her to be so uncomfortable with people.

While the main characters, Lisbeth and Mikael, are the same in this story their relationship is entirely different. Mikael has lost all contact with Lisbeth and spends the vast majority trying to help Lisbeth without her even knowing about it. Listbeth, on the other hand, is living an even more complicated life than she had in "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo".

Thanks to the money she managed to acquire near the end of the prior book Lisbeth is finally in a state of economic contentment; however, her personal life becomes even more tumultuous as she deals with various men who are preoccupied with exacting vengeance upon her for past deeds; including her reclamation of independence in the first book.

Over the course of the story Salandar seems to open up a bit more and to trust others a little more and, once again, when she faces her personal protagonist I found myself hoping she would once again be brutally vicious in punishing him. Normally I'm not a very violent person but I can't help but feeling a little "old testament eye-for-an-eye" behavior is justified when it comes to Lisbeth.

When I started reading "The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo" I had bit of a desire to visit Sweden; however, by the time I finished "The Girl Who Plays With Fire" I had begun to reconsider it for fear of what might happen to my wife and daughters as we walk down the street. I'm sure I'm being entirely irrational but if there is one thing you can say for Steig's books; they don't really sell Sweden as a place that is friendly toward women.

The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo

2010-07-28T10:06:00.000-07:00

I picked this book up because Sweden itself keeps popping up into my everyday conversations. The story painted Sweden with a not-entirely flattering brush - which surprised me; specifically the underlying theme of misogyny that permeate the tale. I don't mean to suggest that the main characters are misogynistic - far from it - but their lives are constantly shaped by the misogyny around them. It makes me wonder how prevalent the attitudes described in the book are in actuality with Sweden.

The title character, the girl, is Lisbeth Salander. She is a bit of an enigma who has clearly suffered some horrible tragedies and is thus completely anti-social toward almost everyone. However, she is also a talented hacker who utilizes her skills in her position as a security researcher for a private security company. Because of this position she is eventually drawn into a nightmarish tale that dates back over 40 years. Fortunately for Mikael Blomkvist, a financial journalist who is equally committed to the tragedies, Salander is also a tenacious fighter who hates one thing above all else - women hating men; which coincidentally is close to the original name of the book "Men Who Hate Women." Had I known that before picking up the novel I wouldn't have been so surprised at the attitude of so many of the secondary male characters.

The story starts leading the reader to believe the tale will be about the Wennestrom affair but the majority of the novel basically ignores Wennestrom and, instead, focuses on the Vanger family - a wealthy but disfunctional family with sprawling, but fading, business interests within Sweden.

Stieg Larsson does a fine job of telling a compelling tale that kept me sucked in and awake late into the night as I poured through the pages in order to find out the resolution. However, at times, Larsson seemed to get bogged down in excessive details; specifically about particular items aquired by the characters. For instance, at no point did I need to know the amount of RAM within Salander's new Macbook. Fortunately, that is the only real criticism I have of Larsson's writing style and I throughly enjoyed the book.

Slow Reading

2010-06-14T12:42:00.000-07:00

It may seem like I haven't read a new book in a long time and that's because I'm reading some really dry books (non-entertainment stuff) that has been slowing me down. I am currently reading:

A Whole New Mind - Daniel Pink
Bowling Alone - Robert Putnam
The Rise and Fall of Nazi Germany - William Shirer
The Ancestors Tale - Richard Dawkins
The World is Flat - Thomas Friendman

I had actually started most of those books quite a while ago but they kind of fell to the wayside as I started digging into some good speculative fiction. However, over the past couple months my reading time has gone back to non-fiction. Hopefully this list will help explain why I've read nothing else of particular interst of late (or at least I haven't mentioned anything).

I did read "The Gathering Storm" over the past couple months but for some reason I have failed to write a review. I'll have to rectify that soon.

The Amber Spyglass

2010-02-23T17:38:00.000-08:00

The third installment of Pullmans' "His Dark Materials" is, by far, the longest and, at times, it sort of felt like it was a little too long. However, I still enjoyed the story and, in a rare act for a bit of fiction, it left me thinking.

Typically, when I read a novel I just go into it for the entertainment and the escape. I don't try to analyze or dig deeply into the hidden layers of meaning however Pullman makes it almost impossible for me not to think about the allegory that his entire series seems to act as.

For the time being, however, I'll ignore all of that and just point out one nit in the story that really bothered me. How did Mrs. Coulter get Lyra and herself all the way to a cave in the Himalayas so fast? She didn't have any kind of special equipment or magical devices and yet she was able to get somewhere far away in, what seemed like, a day. Meanwhile, Will, with his magic knife had to travel for weeks to reach the cave. It honestly didn't make any sense and that disconnect bugged me throughout the entire book.

One of my favorite parts of the series was the fact that Pullman never really let you know if Mrs Coulter or Lord Asriel was really good or bad. In fact, I detested both of them throughout the series even though they seemed to have completely conflicting purposes. At least Asriel's demaon was likable but perhaps that was because we barely got to know it - meanwhile Mrs. Coulter's monkey was easy to dislike. Throughout the series I kept waiting to learn some secret about that Monkey and Mrs. Coulter so I was a little disappointed when it was all said and done.

It is easy for me to overlook my problems with the story though and just say, "I liked it." I hope to get my daughters to read the series at some point even though Lyra became a weaker and weaker character as the story unfolded.

RATING 4

The Subtle Knife

2010-02-23T17:36:00.000-08:00

I flew through this book even though in one critical way it disappointed me greatly; Lyra didn't seem as confident in herself nor as bold in this chapter of the trilogy.

"The Subtle Knife" takes place on three worlds; the first is the same as that which dominated the first book. The second is the Earth we are familiar with and the third is a planet that is haunted by Specters that drain the spirit from adults they encounter.

In neither our world, nor the world of Specters, do the humans have an animal companion as in the first world - yet Lyras' Pan does not disappear even though all the people she meets elsewhere have their spirits within themselves. It's an odd inconsistency considering the one person we end up meeting in Lyra's home world who was from Earth has an animal companion.

This volume stars a young boy, just older than Lyra, named Will who serves as her fighting protector and guide when she visits earth. Will is an interesting character who has his own very unique story and he adds an interesting twist to the overall tale being told but the focus on Will, at Lyra's expense, disappointed me after having Lyra presented as such a strong character in "The Golden Compass."

To be honest this book did nothing towards helping clear up the alignment of the motives of Lord Asriel. While, I'm intrigued with the concept of destroying "God" I'm just not sure if Asriel's motive is a good one. I'm anxious to read book three, "The Amber Spyglass" to see the resolution.

RATING 4

The Golden Compass

2010-02-23T17:34:00.000-08:00

I picked up this book, well the series really, in order to spend some time reading a few stories to my eight year old daughter. However, she wasn't very interested in the book because there were so many words she didn't know the definition of. However, I fully enjoyed the tale.

I picked this book specifically because it appeared to have a strong young female lead character and the story didn't disappoint in that regard. In fact Lyra is, perhaps, one of the bravest characters I've ever read. Considering she is, maybe, 11 years old she faces and overcomes incredible circumstances throughout the book.

The setting of the book is an alternate earth that is very similar to our own world, but in an age gone by, but also one that is very foreign. For instance Texas is a country and Polar Bears are warriors who can talk. However, the most unusual part of the world is also one of the main elements of the overall story - the daemons; an animal representation of each person's soul.

Lyra and her animal companion, Pan, experience a wide range of adventure as well as a a colorful cast of characters. One of the coolest aspects of the book is that it isn't obvious who is actually doing good and who is doing evil - or if either of the two main characters that are a focus of Lyra's attention are doing good at all. The only thing we really know is the people who befriend Lyra all seem like really good people.

I hope to get my daughter to come back and read this book either by herself or with me in the future because I think she would really enjoy the story

RATING 4

Best Served Cold

2010-01-27T05:46:00.000-08:00

If you enjoyed Abercrombie's prior books (The First Law series) chances are good you'll like this one too.

Not a very detailed review is it? No, I guess not and it does tend to ignore everyone who hasn't read a prior Abercrombie book (what? you haven't? Go read them, they are very good!). Okay, well, I'll try again then.

Best Served Cold is about revenge; all sorts of revenge. The book opens with a betrayal and then spends the rest of the tome describing how the betrayed, Monza Murcotto, exacts her revenge on those that betrayed her.

Monza is a well drawn character who's backstory is filled in as the novel unfolds. And, as we learn more about Monza, she is joined by a variety of characters that you may remember from the First Law books thus providing a robust cast of characters that, at times, keep the tale more interesting than the activity surrounding them.

Overall I thought this story was a bit simplistic but it was still a fun read and I wouldn't hesitate to suggest to others. However, as in the First Law books, there are some scenes that may be disturbing; especially scenes detailing torture so proceed with caution if that type of action, in it's written form, is difficult for you.

RATING: 4

The Stupidest Angel

2010-01-15T05:47:00.000-08:00

The Stupidst angel is a pretty short and simple book. No big surprises beyond the fact that it is the wackiest Christmas story I've ever read. The book features a "B" movie starlet and, quite frankly, the whole book had a "B" movie quality to it. In fact, if it were made into a movie, it would probably end up with a cult following.

This story gives you a bit of everything from pot smoking cops, to crazy sword wielding naked women, a death by shovel, and a collection of brain sucking zombies - all just in time for Christmas.

Much like the book this review is short and simple. It was a fun read and light read that can be read anytime of the year - Christmas not required.

Great Expectations

2010-01-03T17:18:00.001-08:00

This was the first book by Dickens I have read and, based on this one, I'll definitely read another. At times the vernacular was a little clunky and hard to follow - but that is just because of the change in times and, more than likely, the British influence.

As much as I enjoyed the book I think I'd rename it to "Great Coincidences" as it is chock full of them. In fact every relationship, except those between Pip and his Joe are pretty much purely coincidental and yet those ties interweave throughout the story and continue to build and pile upon one another throughout the tale. Pip, Miss Havisham, Estella, Jaggers, Magwitch, etc. They were all coincidentally connected. Yet, for all of that, I still enjoyed the story.

Pip, as a kid was amiable enough and, as an adult, while he clearly had some failings, he grew on me and remained likable and decent to the core. Perhaps his failings made me like him all the more because he seemed to be altogether believable.

I hope Dickens other works have survived as well as Great Expectations over the years because, if they have, I have a nice new collection of books in my to-read pile.

RATING: 4 out of 5

Lamb : The Gospel According to Biff

2009-12-08T21:25:00.000-08:00

Christopher Moore's speculative history about Jesus' best friend from childhood, Biff, is a pretty light hearted tale that explores the first 30 years of the Christ's life - through the eyes of a smart-alecky Jew named Biff. Well, Biff's his nickname but it suffices.

If you are easily offended by the thought of Jesus saying some bad words don't read this book; he doesn't do it often, but, really Jesus is portrayed like any kid with the exception that he knows he is supposed to save us. Thus, at times, Jesus lives vicariously through Biff. Jesus can't have sex? Well, that won't stop him from encouraging Biff's exploits and then hearing about it afterwards. Likewise, Jesus can't persue an earthly relationship with Mary Magdelene - so Biff does in his stead. I won't spoil how that works out but you can be certain Biff can't live up to Jesus.

The story is told as if Biff were writing his own book of the Bible, though with much more modern language and, for the most part, the tale revolves around Jesus and Biff seeking out the three wise men who visited Jesus' manager when he was a baby. Each wise man has some stuff to teach Jesus (and Biff gets his own lessons along the way) until, finally, they return for the fateful day where Jesus is captured, then crucified and dies.

I know, Jesus rises from the dead 3 days later - Biff's story doesn't get into that but it does tell you what the "H" stands for in Jesus H. Christ.

Overall this was a fun read but not as good as I had hoped. While parts were funny I can't think of any laugh out loud moments; something I was expecting based on all the cover blurbs.

RATING: 3

The Alchemist

2009-11-09T11:18:00.000-08:00

The Alchemist is a very quick and simple read with a lot of bits of meaning and advice laden throughout the quest of a young shepherd who goes in search of his own personal legend (destiny). The story itself was pretty good and I actually felt a connection with "the boy" and I internally cheered him along on his mission.

My main problem with the book was the introduction written by Paulo Coelho himself. It's sort of a 3 page recap of the story you're about to read. Thus, I'd suggest you read the story and then go back and read the intro.

I'm not a spiritual person at all and this book had the unique ability to get me to consider my view of God and the universe. Granted, it didn't change my general opinion - but it did help me verbalize exactly what it is I think which, I believe, is pretty damn cool.

The book also left me thinking about where I am in life and where I always dreamed of being - to consider what my own Personal Legend was, or still is.

It's a quick and easy read that plants some not so easy questions in your mind. Read and enjoy.

RATING: 4 out of 5.

The Lies of Locke Lamora

2009-07-07T15:01:00.000-07:00

Honestly, I've always had a preference for roguish characters so when I found this book I had was pretty excited to get to it. Fortunately, Scott Lynch didn't disappoint me.

The Lies of Locke Lamora follows, in a twisted path, the evolution of Locke from a small, but crafty, orphan into a skilled thief and con man. Locke is an immensely likable character that I couldn't help but root for throughout his trials and tribulations. Thankfully he is also teamed up with some equally likable fellow such as his master "Chains" and his friends Jean, Bug, and the twins Carlo and Galdo.

The majority of the book is focused on Locke's adult life however there is some time spent giving the reader a better feel for how Locke thinks by illustrating some of his childhood schemes as well as much of the skills that Chains teaches the rag tag band of thieves. Chains, it seems, dreams of smarter thieves who get their prize handed to them instead of thieves who have to take their prize from their mark. To that end Chains teaches the boys a variety of languages and dialects, math, reading, writing, proper etiquette for a variety of scenarios, the arts of disguise and cooking, and much much more. Most importantly he teaches the boys to think and to work together - the two skills that help them get out of more than one troublesome situation.

Not only are the primary thieves likable characters but the primary targets of our thieves are also interesting and, quite frankly, likable as well. However, not everyone in the story is a charming and endearing person. Locke (and quite a few others) have their own sets of enemies to deal with and these various "bad guys" add an additional dimension of intrigue to the overall story arch. I was happy to be surprised by the outcome of a few different scenarios during the book and equally happy when those scenarios led to even darker turns in the story.

Supposedly this is the first book of seven. Hopefully Lynch manages to keep the level of his story telling and character development to the high standard he debuted with. If so Locke and Jean could supplant Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser as my favorite pair of miscreants in fiction.

Toll of the Hounds

2009-05-27T05:07:00.000-07:00

I was pretty excited to get this book; not only was it the next installment in the Malazan series but it was well reviewed by just about everyone in the fantasy blog-o-sphere last year. However, even though this novel was by Erikson (my preferred author of the two) I found this book a chore to read.

Most of my problem with this tome was the way Erikson changed the point of view (POV). It's pretty standard fare to have multiple POVs throughout and, typically, I like that device. However, Erikson seemed to bounce between a pseudo-first person perspective and then a third person perspective that I found really off putting. Adding to my overall level of discomfort Erikson decided to wax poetic far more often in this book and, at times, it seemed as if he were babbling on paper rather than telling the story.

Some of the story arcs that were followed were interesting and seemed to offer a lot of promise but, overall, I thought they all fell short. A lot of time was spent with a small group of Tiste Andii led by Nimander as they accompanied Clip toward a meeting with Rake. Yet, the group's story never seemed very compelling to me and, frankly, I could have dealt without their inclusion in the book. By the third entry related to this small band I was already inwardly groaning that I had to read more about them; each scene just seemed like a repetition of the one before it.

My favorite character, Karsa, was also in this book and, it seemed like, there was a lot of potential for him as well; but overall he seemed to be glossed over.

The whole book just felt disjointed and poorly planned; even the climactic scene seemed to be missing something. It was weird putting down a book and not wishing it wasn't done. Hopefully the next edition in the story improves.