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Book Reviews
7/7/08 22:21None of these things is at all like the others...except now that I think about it, they're all at least a bit violent.
"Dust," Elizabeth Bear
This is a SF novel (warning: somewhat cliched cover). I read this for Readercon; of all the books on the "How I wrote..." series of panels this one looked the most interesting from the back cover blurb. My main takeaways from this book:
1.) I have never thought about symbiont wings made of nanites before; this book made me think about them.
2.) I was impressed that the spaceship seemed as much a character as the characters; if Gormenghast had been smaller and less mythic and in space, it might have felt a bit like this.
3.) The major important plot happenings seem to be coincidences. Later on, you find out that that is not the case--except for the one plot point that sets the entire book into motion, which (to me) seemed out of character for who the character thought she was at the time and more in line with who the character would become in another 200 pages. I felt the author dangled the character's destiny in front of her like an unfamiliar carrot, and she bit into it though she didn't know what it was.
4.) Another major character was supposed to be an overblown, pseudo-Shakespearean windbag. However, it quickly got on my nerves. Not sure if that was supposed to be deliberate or not, but it made me feel no sympathy for the character at all. It was hard to see his very valid point.
5.) One of two main characters seems to turn into yogurt VERY quickly at the end of the book. So much angst! However, this is book one of a series.
I may pick the others up. Enjoyable read, but not a must-read.
"Usagi Yojimbo," vol. 1, Stan Sakai
This is vol. 1 of a collection of comics about a samurai rabbit, drawn in the mid-80's. is, I am told, a lynchpin of furry culture and an interesting commentary on Japanese manga in the mid-80's.
I found it to be an interesting parody of Japanese manga cliches and an interesting blend of a very super-deformed, Japanese style of character with a very stylized, Merrie-Melodies/Loony Toons/Tom & Jerry super-deformed type of American anthromorph. It was interesting to see these together, as well as to see how the whole thing of detailed backgrounds and cartoony characters tied into a somewhat Japanese manga aesthetic.
I loved the backgrounds; very classic and beautiful.
The stories are a bit cliched; I am told the plot picks up later, though. Apparently this thing ran forever.
Not a must-read. It was on the table, so I read it.
"The Virgin of Flames," Chris Abani
This is a fiction book about a layabout, artist and stoner from LA with parent problems and girlfriend problems. I heard the author speak about a year and a half ago at MIT; he was quite intense and did a lot of research in LA for the book. The setting is amazing; throughout little touches of the surreal are sprinkled in. You're not sure if it's because the narrator is crazy, or blessed, or if it's just LA. The thing that struck me about this book was its sense of language, and its sense of color and what both of those add to an auditory and visual landscape of a place. It's also a book about what defines people, and what things people let define them.
Going to bed now.
"Dust," Elizabeth Bear
This is a SF novel (warning: somewhat cliched cover). I read this for Readercon; of all the books on the "How I wrote..." series of panels this one looked the most interesting from the back cover blurb. My main takeaways from this book:
1.) I have never thought about symbiont wings made of nanites before; this book made me think about them.
2.) I was impressed that the spaceship seemed as much a character as the characters; if Gormenghast had been smaller and less mythic and in space, it might have felt a bit like this.
3.) The major important plot happenings seem to be coincidences. Later on, you find out that that is not the case--except for the one plot point that sets the entire book into motion, which (to me) seemed out of character for who the character thought she was at the time and more in line with who the character would become in another 200 pages. I felt the author dangled the character's destiny in front of her like an unfamiliar carrot, and she bit into it though she didn't know what it was.
4.) Another major character was supposed to be an overblown, pseudo-Shakespearean windbag. However, it quickly got on my nerves. Not sure if that was supposed to be deliberate or not, but it made me feel no sympathy for the character at all. It was hard to see his very valid point.
5.) One of two main characters seems to turn into yogurt VERY quickly at the end of the book. So much angst! However, this is book one of a series.
I may pick the others up. Enjoyable read, but not a must-read.
"Usagi Yojimbo," vol. 1, Stan Sakai
This is vol. 1 of a collection of comics about a samurai rabbit, drawn in the mid-80's. is, I am told, a lynchpin of furry culture and an interesting commentary on Japanese manga in the mid-80's.
I found it to be an interesting parody of Japanese manga cliches and an interesting blend of a very super-deformed, Japanese style of character with a very stylized, Merrie-Melodies/Loony Toons/Tom & Jerry super-deformed type of American anthromorph. It was interesting to see these together, as well as to see how the whole thing of detailed backgrounds and cartoony characters tied into a somewhat Japanese manga aesthetic.
I loved the backgrounds; very classic and beautiful.
The stories are a bit cliched; I am told the plot picks up later, though. Apparently this thing ran forever.
Not a must-read. It was on the table, so I read it.
"The Virgin of Flames," Chris Abani
This is a fiction book about a layabout, artist and stoner from LA with parent problems and girlfriend problems. I heard the author speak about a year and a half ago at MIT; he was quite intense and did a lot of research in LA for the book. The setting is amazing; throughout little touches of the surreal are sprinkled in. You're not sure if it's because the narrator is crazy, or blessed, or if it's just LA. The thing that struck me about this book was its sense of language, and its sense of color and what both of those add to an auditory and visual landscape of a place. It's also a book about what defines people, and what things people let define them.
Going to bed now.