book log
One last book log to finish up the novels I've read in 2011.
Parable of the Sower - Octavia E. Butler
This is a book that's set in the near-ish future. It's not really post-apocalyptic, because there's still a government and a president, but things like law enforcement and social order have broken down. Drugs and violence are rampant, and people have to pay the police to come take care of problems. If you're lucky, you live in a walled enclave, descended from our walled neighborhoods. I thought this was interesting, if bleak, because it basically explores what would happen if libertarianism were taken to its extreme. What I liked less was that the main character was developing her own concept of religion over the course of the novel, essentially that God is Change. I really don't like missionizing, so the parts of the book where she explores her beliefs and then talks them through with other people turned me off, but the rest was a decent read, and kind of cool because it takes place in California. The sequel sounds totally depressing, though, so I'm not going to continue with the story.
Spellwright - Blake Charlton
This definitely falls into the category of "high fantasy," with medieval-sh setting and magic, but it's not your standard sword-and-sorcery story. It's really more about language.
The main character is Nicodemus, who's dyslexic. This is a problem, because magic in this world is based on language, and if you can't spell, your magic isn't going to do what you want it to do. It's a really cool magical system, in that words are formed in the body itself, and different magical languages have different grammars and different uses (Charlton has said that they're based on the chemical languages that occur in the body). This is important to the plot because we find out there's a demon who wants to take over the land Nicodemus lives in by causing the Disjunction--divorcing the signifier from the signified (yeah Derrida) and thus rendering magical languages ineffective.
The plot itself isn't that ground-breaking, with the Evil Threat, and a Prophecy, and intrigue at Nicodemus's magical school. What I really liked about this book, beside the magical system, was the characters. They felt like real people, not two-dimensional stereotypes, and they acted and reacted believably. The book has a really nice tone, being neither cheesy swashbuckling nor Martin-style grimdark--people die and get hurt and there are consequences, but things aren't destroyed just for the sake of drama. So I thought the book was good, if not amazing, with some really refreshing worldbuilding (there's also a southern hemisphere setting, which is a nice change from pseudo-Europe). I will definitely be checking out the sequel, Spellbound.
The Meaning of Night - Michael Cox
If you like Dickens, you will probably like this book. It's presented as a confession by one Edward Glyver, edited by J. J. Antrobus, Professor of Post-Authentic Victorian fiction, and that is a perfect term for what this is. Because it feels exactly like a Victorian novel--it's an intricately plotted memoir/confession/mystery with a discovered birthright, secret criminals, unconfessed love, betrayal, vengeance, and lots of bibliophilia. I've been on a sci-fi/fantasy kick for so long that I kept expecting some sort of gimmick--a supernatural angle, or maybe for Edward to be revealed as an unreliable narrator. But the author played it straight, and it was a surprisingly enjoyable read. Slow-burning, absorbing, and definitely recommended.
The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson
Hahaha, this book. The cover was pretty ridiculous, and I almost didn't make it past the second page because it's written in first-person and the main character is completely unappealing. But then he gets into a giant fiery car wreck so I decided to stick it out. It tells the story of a man--never named--once a gorgeous, drug-addicted porn star who is horrifically burned in a car accident. He is visited in the hospital by a woman named Marianne Engel who claims that they were lovers in a past life, and the story of their past and present unfold next to each other.
The concept is pretty interesting. The execution, however, is a bit of a slog. The biggest problem was that I hated the narrator. The second problem was that this book felt like The Fountain with a manic pixie dream girl - bewildering, pretentious, obnoxious. The third problem was that the author had done a fair amount of research, but not enough. I kept reading because Marianne's story, or so she claims, is wrapped up in medieval German mysticism, some of which I've studied, and his with the Inferno. But the author falls back on silly conceits, like German being typeset in Fraktur, but using the modern language, even when quoting from medieval poetry. There are other basic errors, too--at one point the story is in Iceland, but Davison doesn't seem to have read more than a couple of sagas (which he blatantly stole from)--he has two of the characters hang out in a tavern (there were no taverns, or cities, in Iceland until the modern period) and he totally botches the customs of gift-giving, which are a pretty big deal to the culture of the period. It's the sort of stuff that should have been apparent from the minimal amount of (good) research, or fixed with a good beta reader/editor.
So, the story was sort of abstractly interesting, but very underwhelming, and in places actively obnoxious. And I found the section on the amazon page where Davison talks about becoming a writer to . . . explain quite a lot about the story and why it rubbed me the wrong way.
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
I liked this. I wouldn't say that it's amazing, as everyone claims on the dust jacket, but I thought it was good. I like that Neil Gaiman writes things for children that aren't watered-down or sugar coated. It's definitely age-appropriate, it just deals with things like death and loneliness and growing up that a lot of other books gloss over or shy away from.
A Fistful of Charms - Kim Harrison
Another one of the Hollows series, focusing on a witch who lives in Northern Kentucky with a vampire roommate in the near future, after humanity has been devastated by a virus and supernatural creatures have revealed themselves. Unfortunately I read this back in August so I don't have a lot to say about it now, except that I always expect these books to be cheesy--and they kind of are--but I always end up loving them : )
Gateway - Frederik Pohl
This is one of those books that is not easily forgotten. It's about a poor miner who wins the lottery, and with his winnings buys a ticket to a space station to take his chances with alien tech. Humans have found an alien space station packed with craft that have a destination already programmed into them, but they don't understand how it works. So people take their chances in the hope that they'll discover something that will make them rich. Most of them don't come back, or don't come back how they were before. That's definitely the case for the main character.
Much of this book was about this character's therapy after his experiences. The book was written in 1976, so a lot of it is psychoanalysis, which I really didn't like. The climax, I think, happens too quickly, but despite the things I disliked about the book, I think the payoff is worth it. I don't want to say anything more, because it's not something that should be spoiled.
Parable of the Sower - Octavia E. Butler
This is a book that's set in the near-ish future. It's not really post-apocalyptic, because there's still a government and a president, but things like law enforcement and social order have broken down. Drugs and violence are rampant, and people have to pay the police to come take care of problems. If you're lucky, you live in a walled enclave, descended from our walled neighborhoods. I thought this was interesting, if bleak, because it basically explores what would happen if libertarianism were taken to its extreme. What I liked less was that the main character was developing her own concept of religion over the course of the novel, essentially that God is Change. I really don't like missionizing, so the parts of the book where she explores her beliefs and then talks them through with other people turned me off, but the rest was a decent read, and kind of cool because it takes place in California. The sequel sounds totally depressing, though, so I'm not going to continue with the story.
Spellwright - Blake Charlton
This definitely falls into the category of "high fantasy," with medieval-sh setting and magic, but it's not your standard sword-and-sorcery story. It's really more about language.
The main character is Nicodemus, who's dyslexic. This is a problem, because magic in this world is based on language, and if you can't spell, your magic isn't going to do what you want it to do. It's a really cool magical system, in that words are formed in the body itself, and different magical languages have different grammars and different uses (Charlton has said that they're based on the chemical languages that occur in the body). This is important to the plot because we find out there's a demon who wants to take over the land Nicodemus lives in by causing the Disjunction--divorcing the signifier from the signified (yeah Derrida) and thus rendering magical languages ineffective.
The plot itself isn't that ground-breaking, with the Evil Threat, and a Prophecy, and intrigue at Nicodemus's magical school. What I really liked about this book, beside the magical system, was the characters. They felt like real people, not two-dimensional stereotypes, and they acted and reacted believably. The book has a really nice tone, being neither cheesy swashbuckling nor Martin-style grimdark--people die and get hurt and there are consequences, but things aren't destroyed just for the sake of drama. So I thought the book was good, if not amazing, with some really refreshing worldbuilding (there's also a southern hemisphere setting, which is a nice change from pseudo-Europe). I will definitely be checking out the sequel, Spellbound.
The Meaning of Night - Michael Cox
If you like Dickens, you will probably like this book. It's presented as a confession by one Edward Glyver, edited by J. J. Antrobus, Professor of Post-Authentic Victorian fiction, and that is a perfect term for what this is. Because it feels exactly like a Victorian novel--it's an intricately plotted memoir/confession/mystery with a discovered birthright, secret criminals, unconfessed love, betrayal, vengeance, and lots of bibliophilia. I've been on a sci-fi/fantasy kick for so long that I kept expecting some sort of gimmick--a supernatural angle, or maybe for Edward to be revealed as an unreliable narrator. But the author played it straight, and it was a surprisingly enjoyable read. Slow-burning, absorbing, and definitely recommended.
The Gargoyle - Andrew Davidson
Hahaha, this book. The cover was pretty ridiculous, and I almost didn't make it past the second page because it's written in first-person and the main character is completely unappealing. But then he gets into a giant fiery car wreck so I decided to stick it out. It tells the story of a man--never named--once a gorgeous, drug-addicted porn star who is horrifically burned in a car accident. He is visited in the hospital by a woman named Marianne Engel who claims that they were lovers in a past life, and the story of their past and present unfold next to each other.
The concept is pretty interesting. The execution, however, is a bit of a slog. The biggest problem was that I hated the narrator. The second problem was that this book felt like The Fountain with a manic pixie dream girl - bewildering, pretentious, obnoxious. The third problem was that the author had done a fair amount of research, but not enough. I kept reading because Marianne's story, or so she claims, is wrapped up in medieval German mysticism, some of which I've studied, and his with the Inferno. But the author falls back on silly conceits, like German being typeset in Fraktur, but using the modern language, even when quoting from medieval poetry. There are other basic errors, too--at one point the story is in Iceland, but Davison doesn't seem to have read more than a couple of sagas (which he blatantly stole from)--he has two of the characters hang out in a tavern (there were no taverns, or cities, in Iceland until the modern period) and he totally botches the customs of gift-giving, which are a pretty big deal to the culture of the period. It's the sort of stuff that should have been apparent from the minimal amount of (good) research, or fixed with a good beta reader/editor.
So, the story was sort of abstractly interesting, but very underwhelming, and in places actively obnoxious. And I found the section on the amazon page where Davison talks about becoming a writer to . . . explain quite a lot about the story and why it rubbed me the wrong way.
The Graveyard Book - Neil Gaiman
I liked this. I wouldn't say that it's amazing, as everyone claims on the dust jacket, but I thought it was good. I like that Neil Gaiman writes things for children that aren't watered-down or sugar coated. It's definitely age-appropriate, it just deals with things like death and loneliness and growing up that a lot of other books gloss over or shy away from.
A Fistful of Charms - Kim Harrison
Another one of the Hollows series, focusing on a witch who lives in Northern Kentucky with a vampire roommate in the near future, after humanity has been devastated by a virus and supernatural creatures have revealed themselves. Unfortunately I read this back in August so I don't have a lot to say about it now, except that I always expect these books to be cheesy--and they kind of are--but I always end up loving them : )
Gateway - Frederik Pohl
This is one of those books that is not easily forgotten. It's about a poor miner who wins the lottery, and with his winnings buys a ticket to a space station to take his chances with alien tech. Humans have found an alien space station packed with craft that have a destination already programmed into them, but they don't understand how it works. So people take their chances in the hope that they'll discover something that will make them rich. Most of them don't come back, or don't come back how they were before. That's definitely the case for the main character.
Much of this book was about this character's therapy after his experiences. The book was written in 1976, so a lot of it is psychoanalysis, which I really didn't like. The climax, I think, happens too quickly, but despite the things I disliked about the book, I think the payoff is worth it. I don't want to say anything more, because it's not something that should be spoiled.