Book Review: Pandora's Star / Judas Unchained

The Commonwealth Saga by Peter F. Hamilton

Pandora's Star (Book 1)
Judas Unchained (Book 2)

Rating: 4.5 (2 book average)
Recommended: Highly!

Wow. HEAVY. And I mean that in every sense -- the books are close to 1000 pages, each, in paperback, and there's a whole lot of material that he packs in, especially in Pandora's Star.

Some of that material, I'd say, is unnecessary. A few relatively minor characters get built up more than I think is necessary. So yes, I'll get my main critique out there right now: it's too long.

*gasp* Madeleine just called a book too long?

Yes, I did. I found myself skimming parts of Judas Unchained. And parts of Pandora's Star were annoying to read, as Hamilton gave the readers a glimpse of the alien threat before he gave any character, any at all, such information. So when certain characters are speculating about the nature of the alien menace, the reader wants to scream about how wrong they are.

Judas Unchained's ending was way too long. The suspense and dilemma at the very end was just annoying and, frankly, not that suspenseful. I'd figured it out and was just waiting for the characters to catch up. (FYI: there are no main characters, at least none that take particular precedence over the 5-7 others that are also main characters.)

The characters are believable and richly detailed, as are the worlds. It's one of those books where I wanted to go back and reread to make sure that I caught everything, before moving on to Judas Unchained.

Perhaps one of the best parts of the duology is the massive conspiracy theory underlying most of the major plot. I think that's an interesting way to present some of the worldview, and it makes some of the necessary-exposition-masquerading-as-dialogue a lot easier to swallow.

In terms of the aliens themselves, Hamilton does a good job of making them, well, alien. I like science fiction where there are areas that the aliens and the humans can never, ever, overlap. I think that if there are aliens out there, they aren't anything like what we've dreamed up so far.

As I previously mentioned, some of the embellishments on the characters are unnecessary to the overall plot, and I was left wondering how they actually connected. Most of those ties were established, firmly, during the second book, but it still felt like it was too long.

If you have a week or two to spare, pick up these books.

Book Review: Shaman's Crossing / Forest Mage / Renegade's Magic

The Soldier Son trilogy by Robin Hobb

Shaman's Crossing (Book 1)
Forest Mage (Book 2)
Renegade's Magic (Book 3)

Rating: 4.5/5 (Series average)
Recommended: Highly.

The Soldier Son books are dark. I like Robin Hobb's stuff, and I will definitely keep reading, but -- man, is she a character sadist, and not afraid to kill people that the POV character cares about. Or put them through absolute hell and let them live, though with a memory of what they have lost.

The main character is Nevare Burvelle, and his world is consistently turned upside down in all three books. Nevare is unwittingly plunged into a massive, multicultural conflict through his father's attempts to give him the best education possible. Some parts of the books are downright painful to read, especially Nevare's self-delusions in the first book.

The magic that runs the world, that Nevare becomes involved with, is a unique and novel system. Hobb has always impressed me with her originality and willingness to branch out, and here is no exception.

This review might be a little bare because I'm trying very hard not to give anything away -- but I will say that the life Nevare imagines for himself, as a soldier making his father proud, as a dutiful husband and brother, hits some major setbacks. You can tell, too, even as Nevare pretends that things are okay, that his life is one crisis away from collapsing completely.

The series is carefully plotted, rich with detail, and well worth checking out.

Book List for Summer 2008

Since I will be reading a whole lot of new books over the summer, this list will be updated periodically to reflect the ones that I have read. This is a list only -- no links here. These books are ones that I read for the first time between May 20, 2008 and August 31, 2008.


The Sharing Knife: Legacy by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Sharing Knife: Passage by Lois McMaster Bujold
Dragon Harper by Anne and Todd McCaffrey
The Phoenix Unchained by Mercedes Lackey and James Mallory
Defender by C.J. Cherryh
Pretender by C.J. Cherryh
Deliverer by C.J. Cherryh
Fire Study by Maria Snyder
Olympos by Dan Simmons
Shadow Gate by Kate Elliott
Mystic and Rider by Sharon Shinn
The Thirteenth House by Sharon Shinn
Dark Moon Defender by Sharon Shinn
Reader and Raelynx by Sharon Shinn
Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg
Breath and Bone by Carol Berg
Fifty Degrees Below by Kim Stanley Robinson
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
The Ghost Brigades by John Scalzi
The Last Colony by John Scalzi
Karavans by Jennifer Roberson
The Wizard by Gene Wolfe
Shaman's Crossing by Robin Hobb
Kushiel's Mercy by Jacqueline Carey
The Fox by Sherwood Smith
White Rose by R. Garcia y Robertson
Wolf's Blood by Jane Lindskold
Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik
Forest Mage by Robin Hobb
Shadowmarch by Tad Williams
The Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. LeGuin
The Execution Channel by Ken MacLeod
Armageddon's Children by Terry Brooks
The Western Wizard by Mickey Zucker Reichert
Hammerfall by C.J. Cherryh
The Elves of Cintra by Terry Brooks
The Margarets by Sheri S. Tepper
Daggerspell by Katharine Kerr
Renegade's Magic by Robin Hobb
Judas Unchained by Peter Hamilton
Sing the Four Quarters by Tanya Huff
The High King's Tomb by Kristen Britain
Once Upon a Dreadful Time by Dennis L. McKiernan
Fifth Quarter by Tanya Huff
No Quarter by Tanya Huff
The Quartered Sea by Tanya Huff
Forge of Heaven by C.J. Cherryh
Dust by Elizabeth Bear
Darkspell by Katharine Kerr
Crystal Rain by Tobias S. Bucknell
The Bristling Wood by Katharine Kerr

Book Review: The Last of the Renshai / The Western Wizard

The Renshai Trilogy by Mickey Zucker Reichert
The Last of the Renshai (Book 1)
The Western Wizard (Book 2)

Rating: 4/5 (both books)
Recommended: Yes

I have been pleasantly surprised by the Renshai series thus far. Despite the fact that I've seen a couple of major plot points coming from a mile away, which I mostly chalk up to me reading a lot of fantasy. Reichert borrows shamelessly from Norse culture to create her world -- Odin created the world, Valkyries bear the spirits of warriors to Valhalla, etc. And because he's consistent in his portrayal of the world and its mythology, it works. For me, consistency and believability are two key elements of good worldbuilding. Reichert has both.

The books are long, and at times I feel myself glazing over, but generally I like the characters and the plot. Things are original enough that I can overlook the Odin bit. I got the first book completely by accident at the Goodwill in Grinnell -- it was an autographed copy that had wound up there, and I figured an autographed copy is always a good thing to have.

Despite some of the previously mentioned plot twists that I saw coming, other aspects of the book were surprising and enjoyable. Perhaps one of the most interesting parts is the discussion of forces needed in the world -- good, evil, and neutral.

If I had to pick a bad point, I'd say that it's the way time is handled in "The Western Wizard". Ten years pass in a sentence, and while I understand moving the plot along, it felt rather jarring to me.

I will probably keep going, if I can find the books. The series is somewhat older, so not too many copies are still out there.

Brief reviews: August 11

Like most Tad Williams books, it took me about 3 tries before I actually got rolling on Shadowmarch. However, once I did, I enjoyed it. Par for the course with Mr. Williams. I will be reading Shadowplay (Book 2) soon.

I enjoyed the final Kushiel's Legacy book, Kushiel's Mercy. It would have been easy for Jacqueline Carey to just stick with the old plot points, but she brought new ones in and I thought it was all the better for it. She also wrapped up pretty much every outstanding issue in the six books, which makes sense considering that she's said she won't write more with these characters. Yes, I did hear her say this -- last summer, I went to several author talks, and Jacqueline Carey was one of them. She said she expects to come back to Terre D'Ange about a hundred years down the line with characters unrelated to the principals. I applaud her for that, and I hope she can stick with that even if people demand more Imriel/Phedre/Sidonie/whomever.

Wolf's Blood redeemed the previous book in Jane Lindskold's series that kind of left me scratching my head a bit. Ok, things make more sense now. It feels like a nice end, and I'd be happy if she stopped telling Firekeeper's tale at that point. I'd also be happy to read more.

Victory of Eagles was excellent, but I'm afraid my eyes glazed over a bit at times because most of the book is battles. It makes sense for the series but I'm just not *that* much of a military person. As usual, I can't wait to read what Naomi Novik comes up with next.

I can't say much about The Execution Channel, plot-wise, lest I spoil it. I was spoiled (accidentally, damn you too-inclusive Amazon.com summaries) for one of the main ideas and I think it'd have been better to not be spoiled. Yes, I know I've linked to the Amazon page -- you'll just have to be careful when reading it. Nice near-future world-going-to-hell book, and a few passages at the end that made me chuckle. Ken MacLeod is an author I'd like to read more of.

Book Review: Armageddon's Children / The Elves of Cintra

The Genesis of Shannara series by Terry Brooks

Armageddon's Children (Book 1)
The Elves of Cintra (Book 2)

Rating: 2/5 (both books)
Recommended: Not really.

Warning: While I will try not to 'spoil' things too badly, I do discuss plot points. So read at your own risk.

Within the first twelve pages (I know this because I turned to Jonathan while I was on page 12) I had been hit with some heavy-handed, loaded exposition that mostly made me go "O...kay then." I didn't realize that Brooks is essentially linking two of his worlds together in this series, as it's "The Genesis of Shannara" series that talks about "The Word and the Void".

I read the Shannara series when I was younger, and I only read them once because after a while I started to pick out the same characters, the same plot threads, from one series to the next. He likes to follow a family through the ages, and I found that Billy (not a real character) was exactly the same as his great-grandfather Bob (again, not a real character, I'm just trying to make a point here).

Having glanced over summaries of his "The Word and the Void" trilogy, I now see that Armageddon's Children would make more sense if one had read the other trilogy beforehand. Honestly? I'm not inclined to do so. I'll give Brooks credit for one thing, he's a good writer. I can't complain about his prose style. His characters? I didn't see anything original. It's a post-apocalyptic society, ok, so we've got the rag-tag group of street-wise kids living on their own, the jaded old warrior driven by revenge until he realizes that revenge means nothing, the fierce female warrior who's independent and driven... Yeah. Also, the reveal of the Big Bad a few chapters in was played up huge because he's apparently a character in the earlier series.

And there's magic in the world, did you know? The reason we don't know about it is because the elves went into seclusion because they were being out-propagated by the humans. <-- That's about how it's given to you in the book too.

The Elves of Cintra, Book 2, is not that much better in my opinion. There appear to be two or three main "character groups" in each book, with characters sometimes shifting groups and a different group getting the most attention in an individual book.

So in this case, different characters get the spotlight from "Armageddon's Children". I suppose that's all right, though I didn't really see the difference from Book 1 to Book 2. The major plot point is "someone is secretly a Demon!" and it's ... not handled well. The reveal is typical Evil Genius Explains Everything.

We also get to learn more about the Individual Ragtag Children that we saw in the first book. Nothing I haven't seen before, nothing that really makes me say "Wow!" or "What an awesome book!"

I'll finish the series out of habit, but I won't reread it.

Book Review: Old Man's War

Old Man's War by John Scalzi

Rating: 5/5
Recommended: Highly. All SF/F fans should read this book.

Old Man's War is one of those books that I heard about and mentally shoved on my "must-read" list. Despite being only 311 pages, the book manages to talk about and deal with a lot of issues. The basic premise is that humans have colonized other planets and run into other species, which has lead to wars. So the Colonial Defense Force has decided that the most efficient way to fight the war is to recruit 75 year old men and women from industrialized countries on Earth.

John Scalzi won the John W. Campbell award for best new writer on the back of Old Man's War, and deservedly so. There's biotech and physics advances that are explained realistically and in enough detail that unless you're a total science ignoramus (so why are you reading SF again?) you should be able to get it. The way he explains them is humorous, and fits perfectly into the narrative without breaking its stride. Mostly, what struck me about this book was how realistic it was. How the various situations and problems were handled. The description of people, from the 75-year-olds to other folks in the army. Like I said -- it's only 311 pages, and it deals with issues of war and morality pretty well. I think it's one of the best short books I've ever read.

Favorite Author List

The following authors are, for the most part, ones whose books I will always make a point of picking up to read. The author's name is hyperlinked to their own webpage. I've also listed a series or two by the author that I especially like. If no series is listed, there is no 'series' that I can point to, just individual books I like. I read many more authors than the list -- these are just the ones that stand out for me.

Douglas Adams -- Hitchhiker's, Dirk Gently
Joanne Bertin -- Dragonlord
Kristen Britain -- Green Rider
Lois McMaster Bujold -- Chalion, The Sharing Knife
Orson Scott Card -- Ender, Ender's Shadow
Jacqueline Carey -- Kushiel
C.J. Cherryh -- Chanur, Foreigner
Kate Elliott -- Jaran, Crossroads
Elizabeth Haydon -- Rhapsody
Peter Hamilton
Robert Jordan -- Wheel of Time, being completed by Brandon Sanderson
Ellen Kushner
Madeleine L'Engle -- The Time Quintet
Mercedes Lackey -- Valdemar, Five Hundred Kingdoms
Holly Lisle -- The Secret Texts
George R.R. Martin -- A Song of Ice and Fire
Anne McCaffrey -- Pern, Acorna
Sean McMullen -- Greatwinter, Moonworlds
Richard K. Morgan -- Takeshi Kovacs novels
Naomi Novik -- Temeraire
Philip Pullman -- His Dark Materials
Brandon Sanderson -- Mistborn, finishing Wheel of Time
Allen Steele -- Coyote
Charles Stross -- The Clan Corporate
Sheri S. Tepper