Jan 21 2015

Horns: A Novel by Joe Hill

Here we go with another horror novel by Joe Hill. I admit that this book wouldn’t have even crossed my radar if they hadn’t turned it into a film with Daniel Radcliffe, but I’m glad it did.

The story focuses around Ig Perrish, who wakes up one day to find that he’s got horns. As he works on figuring out what the hell is going on, he discovers that the horns come with certain powers that he can use to manipulate people and things. With this realization comes the decision to right a terrible wrong that was committed in the past, and which ruined his life in the doing.

That’s the basics of the story, and it’s a good enough framework for a really decent horror book, but Joe Hill takes it beyond that. This book is also a bittersweet love story, and a mystery as well, as Ig uses his unexpected changes to figure out who owes the price of a life. It’s funny, too, in a macabre sense.

I enjoyed it, and I would recommend it to others who like horror that’s not all blood and guts but more psychological and creepy.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/21/horns-a-novel-by-joe-hill/

Jan 20 2015

The Three-Body Problem by Cixin Liu

The protagonist of The Three-Body Problem is a Chinese woman named Ye Wenjie. She barely survived the Cultural Revolution in China, and is so disillusioned by her experiences that she takes the opportunity as a governmental scientist to hijack an official program that’s attempting to make contact with aliens. She succeeds in making this contact, and encourages the extraterrestrials to invade Earth. Space being what it is (mainly large, very, very large), this takes a very long time to actually occur, and in the meanwhile a secret society in favor of the aliens is set up, which catches the attention of another scientist and a police detective, who work to figure out exactly what’s going on and why.

That’s the short breakdown of this book. The even shorter version goes something like this: PHYSSSSSSICSSSS! LOTS AND LOTS OF PHYSICS! OMG MATH!

This was fine for me, because I love science fiction when it’s using hard science. That doesn’t mean I found it an easy read, though, because it wasn’t. The character development left a little something to be desired. It wasn’t so much that the characters weren’t interesting because they were, but they kept getting interrupted by long expositions on science-y stuff. I had to drag out Wikipedia a few times to get through certain sections because I truly wanted to understand it, and it wasn’t necessarily always written on a layman’s level, which is actually kinda bad for a book that’s trying to attract leisure readers and not people who want to devour a textbook. Think of Isaac Asimov on a really good tear and not noticing that he’s leaving people behind.

The sections of the book that focused on the Cultural Revolution and its impact on intellectuals and society overall, etc., were far more accessible, but of course not at all science fiction-y. Furthermore, Ken Liu, who translated the book into English, worked very hard on footnotes and such to help people understand things on a cultural and political level, so that was immensely helpful.

I liked the book. I’m not sure I have the stamina to read it again, but I’m not sorry that I put in the time I did, and I’m pretty sure I’m going to get the next two books when they come out in English, because I do want to know what happens next, and really that’s what a book is supposed to do, yeah?

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/20/the-three-body-problem-by-cixin-liu/

Jan 19 2015

Therese Raquin by Emile Zola

I don’t know how I feel about this book. On the one hand, the depictions of violence and its physical aftermath were gripping and convincing, but something about the internal lives of Therese and Laurent felt off. I don’t know if Emile Zola was intending to moralize, or to present their guilt as the inevitable result of their actions, but it all felt a little self-conscious and stiff, less novel than homily (though, surprisingly to me, entirely devoid of the influence of the church. Were the French not religious in that era?) I don’t know if this impression is due to something being lost in the mores of our differing times, or if I’m just expecting a greater level of sophistication than can be expected of the degraded characters depicted here.

Oh, just checked Wiki: apparently, Zola did mean for each of the four main characters to represent one of Galen’s humors, and for the novel to show the inevitable results of their conflict, to which blah. I find most novels that were written to prove a philosophical point to be rather poor as novels, and this was no different.

Another problem I had with this book is the way guilt was apportioned to Laurent and Therese. It seems incredibly sexist to say that she was just as guilty as the man who actually conceived and executed the murder, because obviously she was a witch who could control Laurent with her, how shall I put this, feminine wiles. Poor Laurent, who’s just a big overgrown boy incapable of agency without some wicked woman to set him down the path to ruin. I’m not denying her culpability, but in terms of guilt, I think he’s got a lot more to answer for than she does.

But that is, I believe, an unpopular opinion in circles which believe that the woman who wanted her husband dead deserves a harsher punishment than the person who actually pulled the trigger (as was the result of a recent court case in Virginia. Look it up.) Dunno if that’s even as much about misogyny as an instinctive fear of intelligentsia, but it just seems like another shitty iteration of the Nuremberg defense, only for lesser stakes on the part of the doers. Eh, whatever: I was raised to believe that merely thinking or feeling something wicked is no sin, but that acting wickedly is. Morals eh?

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/19/therese-raquin-by-emile-zola/

Jan 19 2015

Dream Shaper by J. A. Ferguson

Disclaimer: I received this ARC (Advance Reading Copy) in Kindle format via Net Galley. The book itself won’t be published until January 31st, 2015. It’s the second book in the Dream Chronicle Series.

Dream Shaper tells the story of a female warrior, Hyndla Shenvirl. Hyndla was found as a baby by the side of a lake, and was raised by kind villagers. They remain kind even when it becomes clear from Hyndla’s height that she isn’t of their tribe. There is war in the valley, and a grown-up Hyndla acts as a warrior and advisor for the the Tiria, who oversees many of the various peoples in the valley. I could go on, but frankly this part of the story was somewhat confusing. I’m not sure if that’s because I missed reading the first book of the series (Dream Singer) and the author didn’t put enough breadcrumbs to the first book to help new readers stay in the loop, or if it was simply written somewhat confusedly.

Regardless, Hyndla soon finds herself on a quest to find an antidote to a poison that could kill the Tiria and all her people. She hopes to find her own origins as well, if possible. Along with her come a strange man (Runolf Tocho) who shows up abruptly at the beginning of the book, and a small(ish) person (Armic Ril) whose people live under the ground in caves. There are surprises on the journey with a very large surprise at the end, which I won’t spoil.

To be brutally honest, this book reminded me of the first few books of the Cheysuli series by Jennifer Roberson. The first few books in that series were not written very well. The story was good; the characters were good; but the level of writing to get the story and people across was lacking. It improved amazingly as Jennifer Roberson continued to write, and that’s what I feel will happen with J.A. Ferguson’s Dream Chronicles. She’s got the bones of a decent romance/fantasy happening here, and I look forward to seeing how things will improve as she hones her skills.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/19/dream-shaper-by-j-a-ferguson/

Jan 19 2015

Wolfhound Century by Peter Higgins

Sometimes it’s nice to be squarely in the middle of the target audience. Although I am not sure whether anyone would have said ex ante that the audience for a police procedural set in an alternate history Russia with fantasy and science fiction elements was much more than just me. But Peter Higgins went and wrote Wolfhound Century anyway (without even knowing me!), and a bang-up book it is.

Investigator Vissarion Lom is having a tricky time in the provincial police department of Podchornok, in the far eastern reaches of the Vlast, as the novel’s not-quite Russia is known. It seems he’s more interested in enforcing the law than in getting along, more likely to follow the threads of evidence regardless of where they lead than to uphold the status quo. That has long been a route to a short career in Russian policing (though obviously not only there), and indeed as the novel begins some of the birds whose feathers he ruffled in the backstory are coming home to roost.
Continue reading

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/19/wolfhound-century-by-peter-higgins/

Jan 18 2015

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

This is a classic Joe Hill horror story. A reclusive, somewhat bitter former rock star, Judas Coyne (known as Jude), lives away from people and collects macabre things, even a snuff film. He purchases a dead man’s suit, and finds that he is now the focus of a malevolent ghost. There’s a reason for the malevolence, and Joe Hill does a good job of building up interest in why Jude is the man he is, and the struggle he has facing up to his own internal ghosts while finding a way to deal with the external one. The characterization of Jude is well-done, but other characters are less comprehensive. And, as always, the author is the master of the cliff-hanger sentence at the end of a chapter.

I enjoyed this book. For me it was light, quick reading, and the story kept me interested and involved. I’ll be reading more of this novels in the future. Keep a look out for a review on his book Horns as well.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/18/heart-shaped-box-by-joe-hill/

Jan 17 2015

Mud Vein by Tarryn Fisher

I gave this book 5 stars on Goodreads because I got so caught up in it. On the surface it’s a puzzle/mystery kind of story. A female author named Senna Richards wakes up on her 33rd birthday to find herself trapped in a strange house with an emergency room doctor who once treated her and then dated her. She soon realizes that the house is itself an elaborate puzzle that will force her to face her past, and the abuses therein, before she can find her way home. This ends up being a very long process because Senna is not someone who is open to facing things; she prefers to close everything down – thought, emotion, action – and be alone rather than risk being around people. The author, in my opinion, got it right when it came to writing about abuse victims and thought processes of those who have been abused. I think that’s part of why I liked the book so much. The puzzles within the house and the mystery of who had put her there were good as well. The only disappointment I found was the twist at the end. It wasn’t a very good twist, but the book is still a good read and worth the time. Just be prepared for the discomfort of facing things like rape with very clear focus.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/17/mud-vein-by-tarryn-fisher/

Jan 16 2015

Beautiful You: A Novel by Chuck Palahniuk

I like most things by Chuck Palahniuk, mostly because he always pushes the envelope, even when or perhaps especially when it leaves people outside their comfort zone. This particular book explores sexuality and women in a way that’s distressing to an extent. I couldn’t really decide if he was drawing women as superficial pleasure seekers who would give up anything for the perfect orgasm, or making wry comment on the human condition. I suppose there’s no reason it couldn’t be both.

Penny and Linus are the main protagonists. Penny is a young intern who hasn’t quite managed to pass the bar, and Linus is a famous billionaire/inventor/scientist that the entire world watches. He invents a series of sex toys for women that overcome the world, in that every woman ends up abandoning her usual life for the pleasure of these toys, these little inventions that know everything a woman’s body could possibly want when it comes to pleasure. Penny discovers that they hide an evil little secret, however, and therein lies the crux of the plot.

I’ve seen better fleshed-out characterization from Chuck Palahniuk, so the fact that the characters were somewhat flat was a disappointment, but the story itself kept my attention. I wanted to know what was going to happen and so I kept reading, and yes, despite my quibbles over depth of characterization and such, I enjoyed it. I was horrified and shocked and interested and the questions raised in this world the author created made me think.

Thinking is good. Pushing the envelope of what you’re comfortable with is good. This book isn’t for everyone, but it’s good.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/16/beautiful-you-a-novel-by-chuck-palahniuk/

Jan 15 2015

The Raven Cycle #3: Blue Lily, Lily Blue by Maggie Stiefvater

This is the third book of a series that is beginning to become extremely interesting. It was good to begin with, but as the story continues it becomes even more layered, with complex plotting and characterization that a reader can really sink their teeth into.

The tale involves 4 boys at a Virginia prep school who are on a quest to find a mythical Welsh king. It’s not an ordinary sort of quest, and these are most definitely not ordinary boys. In the process they meet up with a group of women living in the small town (at 300 Fox Way) where the school is located, woman who are psychic and unusual and just as fringe in their way as the boys are.

The mixture is delightful and infuriating and there are conundrums within enigmas, such as how Blue Sargent (the teenage girl at 300 Fox Way), who is not a seer, actually saw (in the seer kind of way) a spirit on St. Mark’s Eve. According to the mystical women she lives with, that means either she killed the person, or the person was her one true love, or both. That person is Gansey, one of the Raven Boys who are questing for the Welsh king.

In this third book, Blue becomes even more entangled with the Raven Boys and becomes an active part of their quest rather than just an interested onlooker. The relationships between the four boys and Blue are well-developed, and I found myself rooting for everyone involved, even the less likable characters. You find yourself wanting this quest to succeed, and for everything to work out. Part of the hook of the series, though, is that you can’t be sure it will, and so you keep coming back for more, eagerly awaiting the next book to find out what happens NEXT.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/15/the-raven-cycle-3-blue-lily-lily-blue-by-maggie-stiefvater/

Jan 15 2015

Mort by Terry Pratchett

I’ve read the first Discworld novel, The Colour of Magic, several times, but I had never taken the plunge and dived deeper into the series. I missed them, somehow, when they were new and I was devouring almost all the fantasy in sight. Then I was overseas for a while and doing my best not to accumulate books (it didn’t work). After that, I was in grad school and reading other things (history of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, how are ya; also, Nagorno-Karabakh). Suddenly, there were twenty Discworld books. Now I’ve been overseas a lot longer, and while I have given up on not accumulating books, I am more conscious of what I give shelf space than I would be if I lived on the same side of the ocean I was born on. (E-reader people, hush; I want the kids to be able to find the Discworld books that I do have.)

Now, thanks in part to conversations with this blog’s Laura, I am giving it more of a go. Thanks to a random trove I stumbled upon in Basel, I have about half a dozen of the earlier volumes (online retail people, you can hush too; I like serendipitous discoveries in the physical world); Mort is the first one that I have read, though it is the fourth in the series.

One of the critical assessments I’ve heard about Discworld over the years (though I can’t pin down a definitive source of this view) is that the early books are good fun and all that, but about a dozen or so books in, Pratchett started writing novels that were Really Good. I guess I will see when I get there — and a startling transformation has precedent in F/SF, most famously between early and middle Robert Silverberg — but my sneaking suspicion is that Pratchett was writing the Really Good ones all along, and it just took that long for the audience to notice what he was getting up to.

Certainly by Mort he’s already writing with the effortlessness of a mere six or seven drafts, casting off careless asides that had me chortling, and deftly sketching people and places. The action is fast, the characters reveal unexpected facets of themselves and almost incidentally Pratchett says interesting things about people, love, life and death. I suspect that with Discworld, it’s good novels all the way down.

Permanent link to this article: https://www.thefrumiousconsortium.net/2015/01/15/mort-by-terry-pratchett/