Reviews of recent books
Uprooted by Naomi Novik.
I actually read this last year but never got around to putting up any comments so this is done from memory.
A nice fantasy story, it was nominated for the 2016 Hugo Awards for best novel.
A well developed plot that moves along at a good clip. Naomi holds the reader’s attention while not burden you with too many unnecessary information or details. There are very few surprises in the story, but that is not a bad thing. It is rather like running into an old friend with a new wardrobe.
The story is told first person, so you connect with the MC early and well. The motives of many of the secondary characters remain foggy, but that is to be expected. Given that we’re seeing them through the MC’s eyes, they are reasonably well developed. I found myself talking back to one of the characters several times. I can only suppose that “Earth Magic” is a forgotten form in this world.
A very good book - well worth reading. 4 out of 5
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The Deep Sea Diver’s Syndrome by Serge Brussolo.
This is an English translation of a French novel, originally published in 1992. The book presents us with a unique idea about mediums and art. From the cover flap: “They call them Mediums - professional dreamers who dive into the dream world to retrieve items that convert to valuable artworks in the waking world. What’s more, the more dangerous the dream, the more valuable that art becomes.” You are never told exactly what these artworks were made of, but enough hints are given for the reader to draw their own conclusion.
It opens well and manages to keep the reader’s attention. There are a few spots were the story drags while Serge gives some background details, but the plot moved reasonable well. I believe it held up well in translation. It stands up to time as well.
I found some of the ideas more than a bit unconventional, and I disagree with how he ended the story. Personal tastes do vary.
The MC is well developed. While I didn’t quite agree with his motives, I was able to empathize with him. Some of the other characters were not so well developed, but that is a common failing in most books. I thought one of the female secondary characters could have been very interesting if Serge had put a bit more depth into her.
Over all, it is a fairly good book - not especially great, but worth reading. 3 out of 5.
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All the Birds in the Sky by Charlie Jane Anders.
If I had known that this was an Apocalyptic story, I would have passed it by since I have always found those too depressing, but nothing in the cover blurb warned me (or I missed something) “From an early age, Patricia Delfine and Laurence Armstead had different - and sometimes opposite - ways of seeing the world. Patricia could talk to animals and even turn herself into a bird, while Laurence build a supercomputer and a time machine (that only went forward two seconds). As they navigated the never-ending nightmare that is junior high school, they become wary allies until an enigmatic guidance counselor with a hidden agenda intervened.” From this, I was expecting a coming of age story.
I guess I should have read the rest of the blub. As I read it now I see what should have been warnings to me: “planet falling apart around them” and “war between science and magic”
Okay, so it is not my usually taste in books.
The first chapter opens reasonably well, but from there on, I had to struggle to finish this book. The book is set in the recent past, current time and near future, yet it is riddled with contemporary “trendy” phrases that knocked me out of the story multiple times. Charlie’s use of {M-MC} was like “You should sneak up on her..” in the narrative almost had me throwing the book across the room. If it had not been a library book, I might have thrown it. I can ignore that usage in dialog, but not in the narrative.
On a personal note: I felt like I was being lectured too about how evil humans are. That did not help me enjoy the book.
The plot is ponderous and meandering. There are several scenes that did not truly advance the story, or should have been somewhere else in the book. One flashback scene was especially annoying since we’d gotten hints about these events several times. That scene would have worked just as well, if not better, if it had been placed earlier.
The sub-plot about the guidance counselor never really materializes. You never got a real idea of who he was, who he worked for, or what he was doing. That needed to be better developed or dropped.
There were very few surprises in the story; in fact, most of it was painfully predictable. The one plot point that I didn’t figure out before it was revealed fell flat - my reaction was “give me a break”. The foreshadowing for one event was so heavy handed that you know it is going to happen, it is just a matter of when
The characters were poorly developed. The MC’s were two dimensional, at best, with only a few hints about their motivations. The rest of the cast are little more than line drawing - stereotypes. All authority figures were jerks - period. Everyone bullied the MC’s at school with no explanation of why - just the typical “they were different”. I find it hard to believe that no one, teachers or classmates, would reach out to either MC. The parents were stereotypically clueless about their children while being psychologically abusive. I never felt any connection with the characters; in fact, I did not like any of them.
Honestly, I was ready to stop by halfway through but kept reading in mixture of hope that it would improve and morbid fascination. It was like looking at a train wreck - how bad is it really? 1 out of 5 because you can’t give a zero.