Tuesday, December 18, 2007

Slaughterhouse-Five - Kurt Vonnegut


Overall Rating : A+.
.
Slaughterhouse-5 is arguably Kurt Vonnegut's most-famous novel. It explores a variety of great themes - free will; the absurdity of war; fatalism; and one of my pastimes - time travel.
.
Jason says I can call this a classic, since Vonnegut has now passed on. That's great, since "traditional" classical American Literature is the pits. We'll discuss that at a later date, probably when I review Thornton Wilder's The Bridge At San Luis Rey.
.
What's To Like...
It was an easy read. I devoured this book in three evenings. The main character, Billy Pilgrim, is a likeable, ordinary bloke. The aforementioned themes are dealt with extensively, but in such a way that you don't feel like Vonnegut is preaching at you. Indeed, it's hard to say just what the author's personal viewpoint is on fatalism and free will.
.
What's Not To Like...
The storyline jumps around a lot, time-wise. That's natural for a time-traveler, but it may take some getting used to if you've never read any Vonnegut before; and haven't come unstuck in time.
.
Characters from previous Vonnegut novels (Kilgore Trout, Eliot Rosewater) come into the story with little or no introduction. This is one of Vonnegut's recurring literary devices, and it drove me nuts some years ago when I trudged through his book on evolution, "Galapagos".
.
Listen : Billy Pilgrim has come unstuck in time...
It should be noted that Slaughterhouse-Five consistently makes the yearly 100 most-challenged books by the self-righteous "let's keep our kids brainwashed" crowd. Ostensibly, this is because there are some cuss words in the book, and because God is not given sufficient reverence by Vonnegut. In reality, I think they fear the anti-war (and Dresden bombing) message in S-5. Vonnegut is qualified to write on this - he was being held as a POW in Dresden on the night the Allies decided to fire-bomb the city just for the heck of it. The consequence of our nastiness (there were no military targets in Dresden) was that 20,000-100,000 innocent civilians perished.
.
Of course, the book-banning fundies have never wavered in their drive to tell others what to read, watch, and think. At present, Philip Pullman's The Golden Compass (both the movie and the book) is the target of their wrath. It is claimed TGC will turn any reader/movie-goer into a Satanist. Of course, everyone who read/watched any of the Harry Potter series is already a witch. I wonder which is worse. I guess I'll find out, since I've just started to read TGC.
.
But I digress. Slaughterhouse-Five is a fantastic book by a great American author. Read it today, just to tweak the book-burners. Then give it to one of your ditto-head friends as a Christmas present, and start to de-program him as well. It is worthy of an A+ rating. Poo-tee-weet!

Tuesday, December 4, 2007

The Bourne Identity - Robert Ludlum


Overall Rating : A-.
.
Thanks to the Matt Damon movie, The Bourne Identity is undoubtedly Robert Ludlum's best-known novel. A bullet-riddled-yet-still-alive guy gets plucked out of the briny and discovers he's got a bad case of amnesia. He spends the rest of the book/movie trying to regain his memory; dodging bullets from (and then killing) a slew of professional assassins; and attempting to figure who is so all-fired anxious to kill him.
.
What's To Like...
The book is radically different from the movie, so there's a totally new plot and ending. In fact, the only similarities between the two are :
.1.) Our hero has amnesia.
2.) The heroine pulls a "Patty Hearst", gradually morphing from unwilling kidnappee to active GF and confederate of Jason Bourne.
3.) There is an outfit called Treadstone.
.
The plot is complex; the action is non-stop; and the book is a page-turner. There is both a good climax and a "door" left open for a sequel or two.
.
What's Not To Like...
I'm still nonplussed about the amazing foresight of Jason Bourne to have the number of his Swiss bank account implanted in his hip. Sheesh, how convenient.
.
The Treadstone in the book (which is very different from the movie's version) seems to be suicidally lax in security when it comes to high-level meetings.
.
Lots of other people b*tched about the movie being so different from the book, and this is probably valid if you read the book first. I didn't, so this isn't an issue for me.
.
Sequel, Threequel, Fourquel, Fivequel...
Ludlum of course mapped this out to be a trilogy, so one should expect some huge loose ends at the conclusion of Bourne-1. In addition to the Bourne Supremacy and Bourne Ultimatum, a guy named Eric van Lustbader has penned another two books in the series (after Ludlum was so rude as to die), titled The Bourne Legacy and The Bourne Betrayal.
.
So if you can't get enough of the saga, there's a couple thousands pages-worth of sequels out there. I'll take it one book at a time. Bourne-1 was a great read. We'll see if Bourne-2 can keep up the pace.

Monday, November 26, 2007

Prince of Fire - Daniel Silva


Overall Rating : D-.
.
The bombing of the Israeli embassy in Rome puts Gabriel Allon, a reluctant operative for Tel Aviv, on the trail of an Arab terrorist. The path leads all over Europe and the Middle East.
.
What's To Like...
It's easy to tell the good guys from the bad guys. No gray areas here. The Arabs are evil killers; the Jews are noble killers. At 376 pages, this is a fast read.
.
What's Not To Like...
The plot is hopelessly disjointed. The evil Arabs blow up the Israeli embassy in Rome. Somehow this leads to a raid in Milan, where a computer disc is found. Italian intelligence can't decode it, so they decide, "what the heck, let's give it to the Israelis". The Israelis magically decode it, and discover it lists, among other things, the personnel file of Gabriel Allon. Which somehow ties into the bombing. Allon assembles a think-tank team, and somehow they decide that the Ultimate Evil is an Arab named Khaled al-Khalifa. Meanwhile, the UE kidnaps Allon's vegetative wife in England, and instead of just killing her, has her smuggled into Paris so she can be blown up at a later date.
.
Confused? Don't worry. The obviousness of the plot and the simplistic black-&-white characters (Arabs = bad; Israelis = good) will put you to sleep long before you feel any urge to try to make sense of anything.
.
Born Under A Bad Zion...
The only way to comprehend this travesty is to recognize that it's merely a vehicle for the author to expound his Zionist viewpoint. This is really just a political diatribe with a sloppily-crafted plot thrown over it.
.
Silva seems to feel the Arabs are entirely to blame for the Middle East crisis. The millions of Palestinian refugees are to blame because they didn't take a better deal when it was offered way back in the 40's/50's. The various Arab governments are also to blame because they haven't expended vast amounts of money to assimilate these refugees into their own country.
.
Ultimately, Silva's philosophy can be summed up as, "the only good Arab is a dead Arab". Which is nice if you happen to be an Israeli, but not so nice if you're a Palestinian.
.
In real life, the Silva scenario is inane. If anyone is to blame for the Middle East crisis, it's Britain (who promised the same land to both the Palestinians and the Israelis), and the United Nations (who felt so guilty about the Holocaust, they mandated a new country where (unfortunately) millions of people already lived).
.
Jordan, Syria, and Lebanon are hardly wealthy nations. If anyone ought to throw large sums of money at the Palestinians, it's the UN. And the Palestinians can hardly be blamed for rejecting the earlier offer, since in essence it said they could keep a portion of Palestine provided they ceded a large part of it to Jewish immigrants. Is it surprising they turned down this deal?
.
But I digress. This is a wretched novel - both as a literary work and as a Arab-hating smear-job. If you're into blatant stereotyping - all Arabs are evil; all Chinese are brain-washed; all French are traitors; all Israelis are noble, etc. - then this book will appeal to you. Otherwise, don't waste your time.

Thursday, November 22, 2007

Watchers - Dean Koontz


Overall Rating : A-.
.
Watchers is considered by most to be one of Koontz's better efforts. A depressed man comes across a remarkable Golden Retriever while hiking in the southern California wilds. The dog promptly saves the man from a menacing something, they bond, and thus begins a suspenseful book-long chase involving a monster, a psychotic hired hitman, and some duty-bound and therefore not-on-our-side NSA feds.
.
Oh yeah, there is a love-story too, but we'll ignore that as best we can.
.
What's To Like...
It's fast-paced. No 50 pages of introductory yawning here. By the time page 30 rolls around; you've already been introduced to the man, the woman, her erstwhile tormentor, the dog, the monster, and the hitman.
.
The central character - the high-IQ dog - is a joy to follow. What if one of our canine companions was as intelligent as us? The dichotomy (wow, I always wanted an excuse to use that word) of a human-like mind in a dog's body is a fascinating study.
.
Finally, ther are no slow spots. You'll find yourself staying up late to read more of Watchers.
.
What's Not To Like...
The characters are fairly shallow. The good guys are completely good; the bad guys are completely bad. The romance is straightforward. The central cri-fi theme - DNA manipulation - has been done by others, and in a better-researched manner.
.
The ending is hurried and tepid. After 450 pages of a great build-up, the evilnesses are disposed of with remarkable ease. You won't guess the ending, but that's simply cuz you'll be expecting more.
.
Finally, Koontz leaves so many loose ends that you'll be tempted to roll 'em up into a ball of yarn. The hitman murders - unresolved. The sabotaging of a top-secret government research project - unresolved. The reason that the book is titled "Watchers" - unresolved. The consequences of genetic manipulation - unresolved.
.
Genres? We've got genres coming out of our ears...
This book must be a librarian's nightmare when trying to think of where to file it. We could call it a Thriller, yet the monster's character is sadly under-developed. Indeed, his only purpose for most of the book is to do a random grisly killing about every 70 pages or so.
.
Or maybe we'll file it under Romance, although the love story is obvious and trite. The girl has head problems; the guy magically cures her with his love; and she never has any relapses again.
.
How 'bout Cri-Fi? Except that Koontz never really tries to make the science seem plausible. Maybe Mystery - but as mentioned before, half the killings are never resolved.
.
Perhaps the best fit would be to call it a Boy-And-His-Dog story, and put it next to Lassie. But I don't think little Timmy ever had to deal with monsters that liked to gouge out eyeballs and decapitate its victims; nor hitmen that fantsized about bludgeoning pregnant women.
.
But I digress. Watchers is a great read; yet I doubt I'll pick up any more Koontz novels. In his 3-page "Afterword", Koontz states, "I believe that we carry within us a divinely inspired moral imperative to love, and I explore that imperative in all my books". In other words, if you've read one Koontz story, you've read them all. I intend to stop at just one.

Monday, November 5, 2007

Against the Tide of Years - S.M. Stirling


Overall Rating : B+.
.
ATTOY is the second part of Stirling's "Nantucket" trilogy, where that island gets zapped from present-day back to the 1250 B.C. Bronze Age. Volume One (Island In The Sea Of Time) was previously reviewed. ATTOY takes place 8-10 years after IITSOT. The bad guys have been building up an empire in the Mediterranean. The good guys have been sailing all over the globe, have turned the British Isles into an oasis of civilization, have started Lewis-&-Clarking the North American continent, and have decided it's time to have a showdown with the baddies.
.
What's To Like...
Like IITSOT, this is a fast-paced, action-packed book. The good guys go courting the Babylonians as allies (well, the Akkadians, actually) in an out-flanking maneuver. After disposing of the nasty Assyrians, they also go wooing the Hittites and the Trojans. How's that for some non-stereotypical allies?
.
Unlike Clive Cussler novels, bad things happen to the good guys. The Nantucket naval fleet runs smack-dab into a hurricane (with devastating results). The Babylonian venture is jeopardized by an outbreak of small-pox. The native priests blame it on the foreigners, and they might be right. It's never quite clear exactly how the outbreak started.
.
Meanwhile, the bad guys are actually doing some smart (and good) things. They overrun Sicily, they set up a fortified city at the straits of Gibraltar, and they reward some of their slaves by freeing them after years of faithful service.In short, the two sides are very equally balanced.
.
What's Not To Like...
The plot loses just a bit of steam in ATTOY, but that's inherent in the middle book of any trilogy, including Tolkien's The Two Towers.
.
The same minor irritations from IITSOT carry over - Stirling's penchant for the emptying of the bowels as people die in battle, the excruciatingly tedious details about the science of sailing, etc. And now, about 25% of the political hero's vocabulary seems to consist of one word : "Ayup!"
.
Finally, unlike Volume One, there isn't any great big climax to close out Volume Two. The tension builds, the two forces meet on the plains of Ilium, and... um... and it's time to buy Volume Three.
.
Why Theology And Time-Travel Don't Mix...
Stirling isn't a big one to go into the theological implications of dropping a bunch of Yankee Christians back into 1250 B.C. The good guys allow the proselytizing of the Bronze Age England natives, and Stirling touches briefly on the fact that inroads are made. It's never clear if the natives comprehend the dogma, or if they merely accept the gods simply because they came with the conquering heroes.
.
Which got me to thinking - just how would one go about preaching the Gospel? Do you ask the barbarians to accept Jesus as their Saviour, when He's not going to show up for another 12½ centuries? And if you die before He does show up (which is a certainty), exactly what happens to you? Do you get a "Get Into Heaven Early" pass? Do you get to sleep for 1250 years (putting Rip Van Winkle to shame)? And do you make a note to interfere with Biblical history in the future, to make the Gospel story come out different? Did God zap these blokes back 300 years as some sort of cosmic joke, or did He have a purpose? Or perhaps this is all better explained as being an example of the Butterfly Effect.
.
But I digress. ATTOY is still a good read, albeit not quite up to the lofty standards of IITSOT. Despite being a bit anticlimactic, you'll still want to immediately start into the 630 pages of Volume Three, to make sure Good does triumph over Evil. This is still the best Alt-History I've read so far.

Sunday, October 28, 2007

The Romanov Prophecy - Steve Berry


Overall Rating : B.
.
My second Steve Berry novel (the first was The Third Secret); this one is less Cri-Fi, and more action. Set in modern-day Russia, where the people have decided they want to return to having a Czar as a ruler, Miles Lord, an American Afro-American lawyer on business in Moscow, stumbles onto a prophecy that implies that not all of the Romanovs were killed by the Bolsheviks in 1918.
.
What's To Like...
Lots of action from the get-go. It's heavy on historical references, which suits me just fine. Rasputin becomes a prophet, and Youssopov is re-made as a good guy.
.
The book is a page-turner, and Berry once again doesn't bore you with page after page of philosophical preaching. Take a note, Dan Brown.
.
What's Not To Like...
If there's such a thing as TOO much action, this is it. Essentially, this is a 384-page chase scene. The bad guys, professional assassins all of them, can't seem to hit an elephant from 50 feet away (much like in the movie Miami Vice, but that's a subject for another post). The hero finds the bad guys repeatedly and incredibly picking up his trail, and never figures out that someone close to him might possibly be tipping them off.
.
Finally, the plot pretty much plays itself out with no surprise twists. You gotta have surprises when you're reading Cri-Fi.
.
Talk About Implausibility...
The most important parameter for any historical fiction is its believability. And TRP fails that in one key area.
.
No, I'm not talking about some of the Czar's family surviving. That's been a romantic, albeit highly unlikely hypothesis for decades. Nor am I talking about the incredible shooting inaccuracy of the assassins. You can rationalize that away as being subject to the divinely-inspired prophecies of Rasputin.
.
The unbelievable part is the opening premise that a majority of the Russian people would for some reason want to return to Czarist rule. Pigs will fly before that happens. Some Russians may want democracy; some may want a return to the Communist days; some may want some sort of uber-nationalism; and who knows, some may want Dubnutz to come stay with them after we throw his a$$ out of office next year. However, the one thing they can all agree on - no one wants the return of the Czar.
.
The Romanov Prophecy is another solid effort by Steve Berry. If it isn't quite on the same level as The Da Vinci Code, it's still a good read while we wait for Brown to get off his butt and put out another novel.

Thursday, October 18, 2007

Island in the Sea of Time - S.M. Stirling


Overall Rating : A.
.
IITSOT is part one of an Alternate-History trilogy where the island of Nantucket (and a bit of the seas around it) gets transported back in time from present-day to the Bronze Age of 1250 B.C. The first order of business is simply to survive the oncoming winter, since very few of the Nantucketeers are skilled in hunting, gathering, fishing, and trapping.
.
What's To Like...
This is the best Alt-Hist book I've read so far. The plot moves fast; there's lots of action; and the meticuous research by Stirling is obvious.
.
Unlike Eric Flint's 163X series, the Good Guys actually make a few mistakes here. And the Bad Guy, believe it or not, is not Evil Incarnate. He's ambitious, he's Machiavallian, and he's inventive. He and his cohorts manage to spring a number of surprises on the Forces of Goodness, which is a pleasant change-of-pace.
.
The good guys' fighting hero is a gay, female black; which is certainly not stereotypical. And lest you think the author is trying to foist his bleeding-heart liberal philosophy on you, he also takes some rather reactionary pokes at gun-control, whaling, and tree-hugging. Yet all this is woven neatly into the plot. No page-after-page "preaching" such as Flint and even Dan Brown are given to.
.
Finally, there's actually a climactic ending to the book, even though it's just the first of three volumes. Robert Jordan could've taken some pointers here.
.
What's Not To Like...
There's too much space devoted to the technical part of sailing. Good lord, I feel like I'm reading a Tom Clancy novel.
.
Stirling gets fixated on a variety of things. To wit, the sounds effects of war; the fact that one's bowels 'void' as one dies in battle (and the consequent stench thereof); the 'down-hominess' of the Good Guys' political hero.
.
He also seems to spend a lot of time on the erotic thoughts of the lesbian pair. There's nothing wrong with Stirling giving us his insight in this matter, but you'd think that nothing else enters the minds of these two when they're not fighting and killing. Then there's the Bad Lady's penchant for S&M. Although Stirling handles the sex scenes better than Harry Turtledove does, one still gets the feeling that they're primarily there to make teenage boys hot and sweaty.
.
Finally, the Sierra-Clubbing, AmerIndian-saving Pamela Lisketter is just too stereotypical to be believed.
.
We Are Yankees, Hear Us Roar...
It should be noted that, like Flint's 163X series, we once again have a small, intrepid group of Americans enlightening the rest of the non-American past-world with our superior technology, government, philosophy, and overall goodness. Just once, I'd like to see something like a modern-day Chinese army dropped into, say, 1700's America. Or maybe the entire nation of 21st-century France. Or the 20th-century British Imperial Navy. Let's reverse the roles for a change.
.
It should also be noted that Nantucket Island had an inordinate number of world-renowned history and industrial specialists on the Island at the moment of the time-swap. And a nearby Coast Guard steel-plated windjammer conveniently gets zapped into the Bronze Age along with the island. (*)
.
None of these "picked nits" detract from the story, including the fact that a 100-pound Ninja babe can kick any-and-all 200-pound male, barbarian a$$. In reality, the odds of the present-day Nantucket surviving a year in the Bronze Age would be extremely long. Stirling is fully allowed to follow in Flint's footsteps (or is it the other way around?) and "stack the deck" in order allow the story to go on more than one winter.
.
This book was a real page-turner for me. And ultimately, that's what counts the most when I read a book for pleasure. We'll give it a solid "A", and see whether the other two books in the trilogy can keep up the pace.
.
(*) : Update (11/03/09)...
S.M. Stirling stopped by soon after I posted this in 2007 to let me know that all the skills and technology described in IITSOT did indeed exist on Nantucket in 1998, which is when he visited the island to research this book. Including the Coast Guard's steel-plated windjammer, "The Eagle". You gotta love it when an author takes the time to visit, read, and comment on your book review. (**)
.
(**) : Indeed, this humbled me and made me a bit less snarky when writing reviews of someone else's literary efforts.

Friday, October 12, 2007

The Galileo Affair - Eric Flint and Andrew Dennis


Overall Rating : D+.
.
1634TGA is the first "1634" book in the 163x series to make it to paperback. This time, the USE (United States of Europe) sends a diplomatic mission to Venice to develop strategic political and commercial alliances. Coincidentally, Galileo is going on trial in Rome for his allegedly heretical teaching that the earth revolves around the sun, and not vice versa. The protagonists in the book get to be both the defense attorney for Galileo, and his potential jail-springers.
.
What's To Like...
There's 667 pages to make you feel like you're getting your money's worth of reading material. There's a number of new characters to get to know. Most notably, the resident hippie-cum-chemist, Tom Stone ("Stoner") and his three raised-in-a-commune sons. By "new", we mean they didn't appear in 1632 or 1633. They are introduced in the Ring Of Fire - Grantville Gazette anthology, which we'll review some other time.
.
You get to get up close and personal with 17th Century Venice. And if you're burnt out on all the fighting and killing in 1632/1633, you'll find this a much lighter-hearted book.
.
What's Not To Like...
There's very little action. 600 pages into this book, you realize there's been a grand total of one botched assassination attempt, one street brawl, and one pointless murder. The rest is, how shall we say it, drama. Sheesh, if I want drama, I'll go read Wuthering Heights. We read Alternate History for the action, and of course, the advancement of a parallel history.
.
And that brings up the second shortcoming of the book. It doesn't contribute one bit to the new timeline. Oh, relations are established with Venice. And Galileo goes on trial. But none of the dozens of loose ends from 1632/1633 are addressed, let alone tied up.
.
Worst of all, the theme of this book, "The Galileo Affair" comes off as unbelievable and shoddily written. The Swiss Guards appear to be the 1600's equivalent of the Keystone Kops. And although Father Mazzare gives a brilliant defense of Galileo, the author(s) don't see fit to give us any details of it. Both sloppy and lazy.
.
Where Does This Road Go, and Why Is It Paved with Good Intentions?
It's hard to know who to blame for this book. One suspects 99% of this was written by Andrew Dennis, with Flint's only contribution being to add legitimacy to it by putting his name on the cover, and to make sure AD doesn't write anything into the plot that might interfere with whichever way Flint intends to develop his particular 1634 sequel.
.
Flint's approach to developing the 163x world is certainly well-intended. He's allowing a number of other writers to contribute whole volumes to it. In theory, that allows "other viewpoints" to come into play. In practice, however, it means you're going to be reading a lot of meaningless, tangential "fluff".
.
Two other 1634 books are out in Hardcover. 1634 - The Bavarian Crisis, and 1634 - The Baltic War. And Flint is supposedly working on 1634 - Escape From The Tower. So it appears we will be stuck in 1634 for quite a few years. And we'll be paying $7.99 for each and every plot-advancement, with the occasional rip-off of no plot-progress at all. I suspect, therefore, that 1634TGA will be the last book I read in this series, at least until the paperback versions start showing up at the used book store.
.
But I digress. 1634 - The Galileo Affair is a well-meaning but ultmately boring tome. If you just can't get enough of 163x, this may tide you over until Flint finishes his own 1634 contribution. But for everyone else, you won't be missing anything important if you skip this yawner

Thursday, September 13, 2007

How Few Remain - Harry Turtledove


Overall Rating : C+.
.
Harry Turtledove is a prolific author of Science Fiction and Alternate History books. This was my first Turtledove book.
.
HFR is "pure" Alt-History in the sense that the timeline doesn't change due to some inscrutable cosmic event. Instead, McClellan's army doesn't intercept Lee's battle plans after Antietam. With the US army kept in the dark, Lee is victorious in the battlefield; England and France recognize the new nation; and the Confederate States of America gains independence. HFR is set in 1881, when the "second war of independence" erupts between the North and the South.
.
What's To Like...
The book is a great "What-If" novel. Turtledove weaves a detailed alternate timeline by following a number of historical figures. Abraham Lincoln is doing the speech-giving circuit and contemplating becoming a socialist. Teddy Roosevelt is a bronco-bustin' cowboy in Montana. James Longstreet is the president of the CSA. Frederick Douglass is giving anti-slavery rallies. Samuel Clemens runs a newspaper in San Francisco and rails against the folly of war. George Custer, Jeb Stuart, Stonewall Jackson, and even Geronimo are followed.
.
Some of the good guys die. Some of the bad guys live. And, unlike many other works of fiction, you can't predict who lives/dies by the author's character development (or lack thereof).
.
What's Not To Like...
Well, if the character-development is superb, the plot-advancement is non-existent. Mexico sells the states of Sonora and Chihuahua to the CSA, which for some unfathomable reason p*sses off the USA to the point of going to war. So far, so cool.
.
Alas, the total events of the war consist of a few CSA minor victories in Arizona; some skirmishes between the US and Canadians/Brits in Montana, a British naval raid on San Francisco, and the USA for some reason trying to take (of all places) Louisville, Kentucky. That's it. Failing in those endeavors, the USA calls off the war. Talk about a lack of resolve.
.
Turtledove tells the story from a pro-CSA POV, so the issue of slavery in the South is downplayed, almost to being ignored. James Blaine, the US President, is given short shrift. It would've been nice to understand the workings inside his head as to why he decided to quickly go to war, then just as quickly opted out.
.
Oh yeah, and the couple of sex scenes are incredibly lame and completely pointless. Were they put in there to titillate teenage male readers? If so, it failed miserably.
.
Why I've Been A Lifelong Alt-History Fanatic...
I read my first Alt-History book 45 years ago. It was titled "If The South Had Won The Civil War" (yep, same theme), and if you google that, you will find that it is by MacKinlay Kantor and was re-issued in the 1990's, and is still available from Amazon.
.
Looking back, it was a rather tepid attempt at Alt-Hist. The South wins; Texas secedes from the CSA; slavery again gets downplayed; and the three countries remain best-of-buddies for a hundred years. After a century of group-hugs and bonding, they all schedule a joint news conference, and it's strongly implied that Reunification will occur.
.
Okay, it was not a hard-hitting book. But I was in 5th or 6th grade at the time, and despite its lameness, I thoroughly enjoyed the "What If" scenario. That passion for Alternate History has stayed with me ever since. The genre is done much better nowadays, but I think it's fair to say that that's because science fiction & science fantasy as a whole are now being done so much better.
.
But I digress. Your opinion of How Few Remain will hinge on how important a plot is to you. For me, this was a fun read, and I enjoyed "getting to know" the various historical characters. But the story didn't go anywhere. The war came, the war went, and nothing really changed and/or progressed. I came away with the feeling that Turtledove only wrote this to set up the characters in his World War One Alternate-History series. The first book of that series (second if you count HFR) is on my "to be read" bookshelf, albeit, along with a dozen other "must-read" books. So eventually, I'll find out whether this tangential timeline takes off or fizzles out.

Wednesday, August 15, 2007

The Lake House - James Patterson


Overall Rating : D-.
.
This is the sequel to Patterson's 1998 book, When The Wind Blows, and is not to be confused with the film "The Lakehouse" (one word) with Sandra Bullock, which has absolutely no relationship to this book.
.
As in WTWB, six genetically-engineered "bird kids" get help from a (female) Colorado veterinarian and a (male) decommissioned FBI agent against an evil doctor intent on on turning them into lab rats.
.
What's To Like...
It's your typical James Patterson novel. Fast-reading, fast-moving, and the average length of a chapter is 3-4 pages. So if you're in the habit of reading before going to bed (like I am), you won't have to read very far when it's time to turn out the lights.
.
What's Not To Like...
Unfortunately, plenty. Like most readers, I thoroughly enjoy Patterson's "Alex Cross" detective series. But either he's burnt out on serial-killer thrillers, or else he thinks anyone can write a Cri-Fi novel.
.
Alas, he's no Michael Crichton. He takes no time to try to convince you of the scientific validity of the "genetic engineering" theme in these two books, so you never really feel like it could be real.
.
At least WTWB is moderately interesting. Alas, there's nothing new added by Patterson in the sequel. Same plot, same chase scenes, same type of bad guys (evil but bumbling), same ending. Except now, everything is more-sloppily done.
.
Dr. Nefarious has a lucrative "entire internal organ transplant" business going. He's rejuvenated 40 of the world's leaders, and is therefore both insanely rich and insanely powerful. Why he would want to jeopardize all this for 6 bird-kids is an unexplained mystery.
.
To boot, he's cloned himself. Four times, even. And apparently does a heap of Balco Barry steroids, cuz he's also incredibly strong. And he can tell your IQ just by looking at you when you're sleeping. But he's not too intelligent. After he (and his gang of clones, thugs and hired assassins) are out-smarted and out-fought several times by the bird-kids, including having one of his clone-selves eradicated, what does he do? Attempts to kill the chief bird-kid, all by himself, armed only with a scalpel. Go on now, guess who wins.
.
Nothing gets resolved at the end. The bird-kids kill one Evil-Doctor-Clone and one Rejuvenated-World-Leader; then the original Dr. Nefarious is killed at the very end. But you're never told what happens to the organ-tranplant rejuvenating business after that. Custody of the bird-kids is transferred from their natural parents (who want to retain custody) to the Vet and FBI-ex-agent, even though it's obvious from both books that this doesn't make them one bit safer. And the remaining three Evil Clones are left to do... well, whatever three now-leaderless clones do. Look for a fourth for a pinochle game, maybe?
.
And on, and on. A 7th-grader could do a better job of crafting a plot and tying up loose ends than Patterson does here.
.
When Border's Has A Book On Sale, It Means...
I found this book on sale at Borders Bookstore. Not on their regular bargain tables. Nope, TLH had its own table and was 30% off. That makes it a good deal, right?
.
Wrong. It's clear that based on Patterson's reputation, they bought tons of copies of this book, and the books weren't selling. Jimmy-Boy was pulling a fast one. My best guess is that he fooled the publishing company; the publishers then fooled the bookstores; and the bookstores then fooled the readers. I feel like Curly in The Three Stooges. Moe slaps Larry; Larry slaps Curly; and Curly discovers he has no one to slap.
.
But I digress. This is a stinker of a novel. When The Wind Blows is so-so, so if you want to see how Patterson fares at writing Cri-Fi, read it, and skip this sequel. And learn a lesson as to why Borders Bookstore gives books like this their own special sale.

Thursday, August 2, 2007

Where Have All the Leaders Gone? - Lee Iacocca


Overall Rating : B.
.A few months back, I received an e-mail titled "The Nine C's of Leadership". It basically slammed the daylights out of Dubnutz, and was purportedly written by none other than Lee Iacocca.
.
I was intrigued that one of our industrial giants might actually have the chutzpah to tell it like it is, but also little leery because of all the right-wing bullsh*t lies circulated by the repugnican chicken-hawks. So I went out on the Internet and found that this indeed was written by Iacocca, and was from his new book, Where Have All The Leaders Gone?
.
I'm not a big fan of celebrity-penned books (do we really want to hear Paris Hilton's philosophy of Life?), but went down to Borders and bought WHATLG anyway.
.
Oh, and I forwarded the 9-C's e-mail to all my ditto-head friends (you have a lot of these when you live in Arizona and work for a chemical manufacturing company), and waited for their rebuttals. But apparently Rush hasn't told them was to think about it yet, since I only got one response, and that in effect said that Lee should be more grateful since we bailed him out when he was the CEO of Chrysler. Talk about a tepid counter-point.
.
What's To Like...
The Nine C's of Leadership segment is eloquently written. In fact, the first third of WHATLG is all about politics, and the Chimperor and his lackeys fare very poorly. Talk about some wonderful chapters!
.
Lee Iacocca wrote the whole book in a "chit-chat" style, making it very easy to read. And he covers every topic you can think of - the environment, the auto industry, rising gas prices, outsourcing, medical research, running for office, etc. So if it's in the headlines today, chances are Lee has, and gives, an opinion.
.
What's Not To Like...
While Lee's take on politics is great, when he gets to discussing the auto industry (which is obviously near and dear to his heart), I was "able to put the book down".
.
He covers a slew of topics, but a lot of them are done with a cursory approach. Can you really solve the issue of "How To Deal With Rising Gas Prices" in a mere five pages?
.
There's also s lot of name-dropping in here. Wanna know what advice Lee gave the Pope? Do you really think the Pope was impressed?
.
If You Can Find A Better Book, Buy It...
Bottom line - it's a good book. You may or may not get tired of Lee's "chit-chat" style. And while you might have to plod through a couple of topics that you frankly don't care about, most of them are of high-interest.
.
There was one issue that really stuck with me - medical research. Lee's first wife died of diabetes, and he is determined to find a cure. To that end, he started a diabetes research foundation. What he discovered about MedRes is that no one is really interested in finding a cure. What's important is to get government grants year after year. So if/when your foundation actually happens upon a breakthrough (as was the case with Iacocca's group), the rest of the researchers in that field will not be happy. In fact, they'll be downright hostile.
.
What's the worst thing that can happen to, say, the American Cancer Society? You got it - finding a cure for cancer. Such an event would not only end their reason for existence, but also end their goverment $$$. I had this pointed out many years ago. About once a year, ACS will make an "exciting" announcement. New wonder drug - (insert random chemical compound here) - shows promise in curing some types of cancer in mice!! More tests are needed to see if it works on humans!!!
.
And then, that's about all you ever hear about it. Coincidentally, they make this announcement right about the time they have to apply for more grant-money from the government. Twelve months later, they make a new "exciting" announcement, touting a new wonder-chemical. Nothing is said about last year's exciting discovery.
.
Now that I've let you in on this, watch for the next "exciting announcement" from the ACS, and then sit back and be amazed how this scam plays out every year.
.
But I digress. Where Have All The Leaders Gone? is a good read. Give it as a Christmas present to all your ditto-head friends.

Tuesday, July 24, 2007

The Third Secret - Steve Berry


Overall Rating : B.
.
If you liked Dan Brown's Angels and Demons, you'll like The Third Secret. There's Vatican intrigue and nasty skullduggery as Cardinals wallow in politics to increase their odds of being the next Pope.
.
What's To Like...
Berry has throroughly researched several Marian Apparitions and Catholic Prophecies; and weaves them skillfully into the plot. He concentrates on three of them : The Malachy "Prophecies of the Popes"; the Three Secrets of Fatima, and the Ten Secrets of Medugorje. The Fatima secrets are by far the most famous, and the "uber-secret" Third Secret of Fatima provides the title to this book.
.
Amazingly, Berry manages to combine these three prophetic events into one coherent message, without compromising their historical background. All three are in fact non-fiction events, and can be found at Wikipedia.
.
I also like the "even treatment" Berry gives God and the Church. Most authors choose one side or the other. Either their book finds nothing good to say at all about Christianity, or else its a thinly-veiled call for you to get right with God. Berry's posture falls halfway between "Heaven and Hell", so to speak.
.
What's Not To Like...
If you're a loyal Catholic, you're not going to like this any more than you liked the Da Vinci Code and Angels and Demons.
.
Also, you go through almost the entire book waiting for The Third Secret to be revealed, and when it finally does... well... it's quite the anticlimax. In fairness, it has to be said that the Vatican's official version of The Third Secret is just as much of a letdown, fueling speculation that they gave us a red herring.
.
Finally, the protagonist is just too "pure evil" to be believable. I have no doubt that getting elected Pope is all about politics and nothing about seeking God's guidance, but the depths of the misdeeds here come off as too contrived.
.
Mail Hairy, Gruel of Face...
The Third Secret is not gonna bump Jurassic Park and The Da Vinci Code from the pinnacle of Cri-Fi. But it's a good read, about interesting subjects, and the Mary-sightings and Papal Prophecies are well-researched.
.
So we'll give it a solid "B", and refer you over to Wikipedia for some good readings on the "real" Fatima, Medugorje, and Malachy topics. The Vatican's stance on these sorts of things is surprisingly tepid.
.
It should be noted that the Malachy Papal Prophecies, which in theory give visions of the (at the time) next 112 Popes have now reached #111. Which makes you wonder if there's an implied "end of the world" or "end of an era" coming just around the corner. Berry weaves this nicely into the book, but the historical prophecies are almost more captivating.

Tuesday, July 3, 2007

1633 - Eric Flint and David Weber


Overall Rating : B+.
.
The sequel to 1632. David Weber was apparently brought in to add a "big name" to the series. Which is kind of a waste, since I've never heard of him.
.
In 1633, our intrepid band of modern-day hillbillies have stopped slaughtering 17th century armies, and now are trying their hands at diplomacy & politics. There's not as much action as in 1632, but it's an interesting read neverthless.
.
What's To Like...
Again, the meticulous historical researching shows through. The historical figures of Oliver Cromwell, King Charles of England, Thomas Wentworth, Don Oquendo, and (Swedish) Princess Kristina are all introduced. Cardinal Richelieu is fleshed out, and if he can't be loved as the Ultimate Evil, he can at least be admired for his deadly charm and intelligence.
.
The French, British, Spaniards and Danes become the bad guys. The hillbillies, Swedes, Dutch and German peasants are the good guys. And unlike in 1632, some of the good guys actually die. albeit in a most heroic fashion.
.
The bad guys even manage some military victories, something sadly lacking in 1632. I have the impression that Weber's hand is to thank for the "evening-out" of characters, events, luck, victories, etc.
.
What's Not To Like...
Mike Stearns is still the consummate Ubermann. If he was the paragon of military perfection in 1632, here he makes 17th Century politics seem like childsplay. He may have to admit that Admiral Simpson now has some redeeming qualities, but Admiral Simpson has to admit that Stearns is perfect in everything he does.
.
More unsettling is the large number of "loose ends" here. Ollie Cromwell is introduced but is still imprisoned in the Tower of London at the end of the book. Amsterdam is under siege. The Danes are threatening to conquer Germany. Richelieu is conniving like crazy. One gets the feeling that Flint is going to pull a "Robert Jordan" - that is, resort to the never-ending sequel.
.
In conclusion...
It's still a very good Alternate History story. There are tedious parts (mostly when Flint gets to preaching his personal political philosophies), but David Weber supplies a much-needed counterbalance to Flint's sometimes too-shallow plot- and character-development. We can only hope that the loose ends don't go on for another 12 books or so.

Wednesday, June 20, 2007

1632 - Eric Flint


Overall Rating : B+
.
You'll find 1632 in the Sci Fi section of your local bookstore. But there's no science fiction, other than a brief opening reference to "the Assiti shards". Which in reality is just a literary device to transpose a West Virginia town from 2000 into 17th Century Germany and the 30 Years War. Can 20th Century technology and hillbilly determination change European history, presumably for the better? That's what the book explores.
.
What's To Like...
It's obvious that Eric Flint thoroughly researched this era. And it's nice that the West Virginians get dropped into a place-&-time that most of us are unfamiliar with. Much better and more original than plopping them into, say, Pearl Harbor 1941, or Custer's Last Stand.
.
Also, distracting stuff like Romance and Social Drama are kept to a bare minimum. Hey, we're reading this for the historical musing; not some sappy love story.
.
Finally, Flint doesn't fall into the trap of penning a right-wing action diatribe. For instance, there are inter-racial, inter-religious, and inter-dimensional marriages for the reader to come to grips with. Plus issues like "English-only" and Women's Lib. No soapbox oratory on such subjects; they're just presented; you get to see how the 1633 Germans react to them, and you can then form (or reflect upon) your own opinions.
.
What's Not To Like...
Not much. I guess my main quibble is how the main protagonist - Mike Stearns - is portrayed. This is Mr. Perfect. He's handsome, charismatic, and a born organizer and leader. He grasps 17th Century European politics and warfare instantly, like they are Sesame Street concepts. Not bad for a hillbilly.
.
The Europeans come off as little more than Neanderthals. They get slaughtered in battles due to being out-gunned and out-technologied. And instead of trying to steal the West Virginians' incredible toys, they just charge again, and get chopped to ribbons again.
.
Then there's the incredible talents and achievements by the rest of the West Virginians. By fortuitous chance, there's a refinery in their town. Okay, I'll allow that for the sake of the plot. But the operators are the most innovative of fellows - they know how to build a new refinery, from scratch, and via 300-year-old materials of construction. Methinks if you really wanted to accomplish this, it would have been prudent to also time-warp the Engineering Department from West Virginia University.
.
Ditto for a West Virginian pilot. Not only can he fly a plane, but if you give him a couple trees and some duct tape, he can build a second plane, albeit, of WW1 design.
.
Then there's the Olympics medal-winning female sharpshooter that also by good fortune gets time-warped, and who enables the out-manned Americans to constantly take out all the bad-guy leaders.
.
Finally, there's the Women's Libber & Pacifist - Melissa Mailey, who finds true love and cosmic happiness in 1632 Germany, but only after she's thrown off those too-modern attitudes. I can accept that 20th Century issues might be irrelevant in 17th Century Germany. But it's quite a stretch to think that abandoning one's lifelong ideals will somehow suddenly bring you inner peace.
.
In conclusion...
Wikipedia gives some fascinating background on both Eric Flint and this series. To save us both some time and space, go there and read about it.
.
There is a sequel in papaerback, unsurprisingly titled "1633". A review on it will follow shortly. There are several offshoot storylines, the majority of which were written by amateur fans of 1632, and with the active encouragement of Eric Flint. A threequel ("1634" of course) is in the works, as are several other Assiti shard time-warps, one of which reportedly involves sending George Washington back to ancient Rome.
.
Overall, this is a fine book. 592 pages of history, alternate history, action, social commentary, and "what-if's". Definitely worth reading.

Saturday, May 26, 2007

Silence of the Hams - Jill Churchill


Overall Rating : D+.
.
We have a book-exchange where I work, and with a witty title like Silence Of The Hams, I just had to take this book home and read it.
.
Alas, it was quite the disappointment. Mean Mr. Robert Stonecipher is found dead beneath a fallen rack of hams at the local deli. When his secretary also meets an untimely end soon thereafter, its time for soccer-mom Jane Jeffry and her best Shelley Nowack to take it upon themselves to investigate the deaths.
.
Think "Murder She Wrote", except make Angela Lansbury a divorced Mom, raising two kids. The story plods along with our pair of sleuthettes chit-chatting with all the suspects and frankly getting nowhere fast. Jane's BF just happens to be the detective working on the case, who keeps giving her (and us) unwitting updates on his lack of progress. How convenient.
.
Finally, 255 pages into the 278-page book, Jane decides to root through a bag of trash, picked up by her son, who conveniently works at the deli, who conveniently picked up the trash from around the deli several days after the "ham-incident", and who conveniently decided to bring said bag of trash home rather than throw it in a dumpster. Conveniently, there's the case-breaking clue in that trash.
.
I dunno. Maybe this was targetting an audience of Junior High girls. It has all the plot-tension of a phone directory. But no $$$ were expended, so my only investment was a couple hours of my time. And at least the book was fast-reading.
.
Jill Churchill's title motif apparently is witty take-offs of familiar book and movie titles. Besides SOTH, there are Grime and Punishment, A Farewell To Yarns, A Quiche Before Dying, The Class Menagerie, A Knife To Remember, and From Here To Paternity.
.
If you enjoy Nancy Drew books, then this is your kind of story. Otherwise, it's skippable.

Wednesday, May 16, 2007

Ivan's War - Catherine Merridale


Overall Rating : C.
.
I like reading historical non-fiction. If I can't read actual history, I'll gladly settle for Alternate History, but that's a subject for another time. I especially like reading about relatively unknown historical topics. After all, can there really be a "new angle" to, say, the Battle of Gettyburg, or D-Day? So a book about day-to-day life in the Red Army during WW2 is something that will naturally appeal to me.
.
Catherine Merridale spared no effort in researching this book. She spent many weeks in Russia, interviewing old WW2 veterans and poring over recently-declassified documents.
.
Unfortunately, one gets the feeling the Red Army vets never really opened up to her. So she was stuck with a mountain of documents to go through instead, knowing all the time that Stalin and his minions had probably sanitized the entire lot many decades ago.
.
In the end, you get 400 pages of interesting, but highly selective and highly repetitive accounts. The book lacks any direction. Yes, it's laid out in roughly chronological order. But this is a book about the lives of the soldiers, not the campaigns. It would've been better to arrange the book by theme : "humor", "day-to-day living", "supplies", "the growth of patriotism" (or lack thereof), politics, etc.
.
Instead, the book plods along retracing ad nauseum the same trite themes : it was cold, life was brutal, lots of soldiers perished, the Germans were brutes, etc. In 1941. In 1942. In 1943. In 1944. In 1945. You get the idea.
.
This could've been a great book, but perhaps the fault lies with the Russian veterans for not providing anything of substance in Merridale's interviews. In any event, if you love to read history, it's won't disappoint you. But if you aren't a avid history-phile, perhaps it's better to read The Longest Day.

Saturday, March 31, 2007

Knife of Dreams - Robert Jordan


Overall Rating : B+.
.
I've been a fan of Robert Jordan's WoT series since I wandered into the local Walden's Bookstore years ago and found them handing out *FREE* copies of the first half of Book One. Smart marketing there. Now, 11 books and nearly 10,000 pages later (which Jason tells me works out to and estimated 2½ million words), I'm still hooked on it.
.
KoD is, as always, a superb narrative of the various characters in Robert Jordan's world. If there is a criticism, it is the usual one - you can tear out the first half of the book and not miss any plot-advancement. Elayne's been trying to win the Lion Throne of Andor for a couple books now; she still is. Mat's been trying to figure out women (specifically, Tuon) for two books; he still is. Perrin has been planning how to rescue his wife Faile for three books at least; he still is. About the only "progress" to the story in the first half of KoD is following Egwene as she sets about to undermine Elaida in the White Tower, all while being spanked thrice daily in an attempt to rehabilitate her.
.
But if the first half drags with regards to the overall plot, the second half more than makes up for it. All of the above sub-plots are resolved (except for Egwene/Elaida); and Rand withstands yet another attack of 10-gazillion trollocs (how DO they always seem to know where he is?), only to lose his left hand in an encounter with Semirhage. To boot, there is reason to believe Moiraine will make an encore appearance in the next Book.
.
Speaking of which, we are promised by Robert Jordan that the next book (tentatively titled "A Memory of Light") will finish the saga, even if it takes 1500 pages. Alas, RJ has some very serious health problems at present (see the Wikipedia entry on him for details), which makes the slated release date (early 2009) for aMoL quite problematic. It has long been my fear that RJ might "pull a Tolkien" and shuffle off this mortal coil before finishing WoT.
.
So we'll give KoD a B+ rating, taking off points mostly for the plot-dragging over its first half. It's still an excellent book.

Sunday, January 28, 2007

1812 - The Rivers of War - Eric Flint


Overall Rating : B-..
Eric Flint has a bunch of Alternate History books out, the majority of which deal with a 20th-century West Virginia town transported back in time to 1632 Germany. 1812RoW is the first in his next AH series, this one dealing with how a minor change in a battle (Sam Houston receiving a small wound instead of a major one) alters the rest of the War of 1812.
.
The only problem is - not much history is changed. Yeah, Sam Houston becomes the hero of the battles of Washington DC and New Orleans, but the outcomes remain the same. So if you're looking for some tangential history line, you're going to be sorely disappointed. True, this book serves mostly as a set-up for the second book in this series - where Arkansas becomes a free territory right after the end of the war - where blacks and Indians can live on their own terms. But 535 pages of non-alternate history is a lot to read just for a set-up.
.
OTOH, is you read this book as a historical novel, then its quite good. Most people's knowledge of the War of 1812 can be distilled down to four vague facts :
.
1.) It started cuz the British kept stealing our navy men.
2.) John Paul Jones said something about not giving up the ship.
3.) Two years into the war, the British burned Washington D.C. (normally, this means "game over; we win!". but for some reason, they decided to play on.)
4.) We won the Battle of New Orleans, which is important because without that Johnny Horton would've had one less hit song. (Everybody sing now - "In 1814, we took a little trip...")
.This book does a great job of fleshing out the details of the war - particularly how the roles of the Indians (Choctaw, Chickashaw, Creek, and Cherokee) and Blacks (both slaves and freedmen) interplayed with the British, American (and to a lesser degree the French and Spanish) sides.
.
So if you like History, then by all means get this book. But if you want to read some Alternate History, then pick up his novel 1632 (which is on my bookcase waiting in line to be read), or wait for 1824 The Arkansas War - which is out in hardback, but who wants to shell out 4x the $$$ instead of waiting for the paperback?
.
As for me, I'm now starting into Robert Jordan's Knife of Dreams - Book 11 in the Wheel of Time series. I'll have 837 pages to see whether the plot advances one iota, something that hasn't happened in 4 or 5 volumes.

Friday, January 5, 2007

Black Market - James Patterson


Overall Rating : C+.
.
I'm way behind on my James Patterson reading. His best efforts involve serial killers and the homicide detective Alex Cross. Unfortunately, Black Market has neither. Wall Street gets blown up, and we spend most of the first half of the book going on wild goose chases. Finally, the story begins to move, and there are a couple nice Dan Brown-esque twists in the latter stages. Still, one yearns for a deranged psychotic killer to show up and slash someone to pieces - anyone - just to spice things up.
.
What is eerie about this book, however, is the way it foreshadows September 11. Black Market first came out in 1986, and if you substitute the Twin Towers for Wall Street, you get a scenario with uncanny similarities. Perhaps in 500 years, someone will decide that Patterson was a 20th-Century Nostredamus.
.
All-in-all, it's a decent story, but its never gonna be your favorite Patterson book.