Tag Archive for 'Fantasy'

A Grab Bag of Mini Reviews

I’ve managed to rack up quite the backlog of books lately. So I’m taking a page out of the book of Arbogast, and have dialed up some mini reviews. Those pressed for time may wish to check the executive summaries (in italics) at the end of each mini where I rate each book for creepiness, suspense, violence, and erotic factor. Each executive summary ends with a one word summary of the book.

Supernatural The Unholy CauseCivil War re-enactment has never been more terrifying as the Winchester brothers tangle with demonic powers unleashed by a 19th century unholy relic in SUPERNATURAL – THE UNHOLY CAUSE. Should the brothers trust the kindly single dad and his earnest boy, or the aggravating town Sheriff, Jacqueline Daniels, who seems to be keeping something big to herself? What is causing so much friction between the Winchester brothers? Who is Castiel looking for? Where the heck are the black helicopters? The book is a fun read and is suspenseful. Joe Schreiber is probably not going to win the Bram Stoker award for it, but nobody I know picks up a novel based on a TV series because they want to sink their teeth into some Literature. I found this one a little more entertaining than the last one I read: Supernatural – Heart of the Dragon by Keith R.A. Decandido. Creepy, suspenseful, and violent, but not sexy. Entertainment. (Titan Books, 2010)

A Boy Born of MoldLorin Morgan Richards charts the paths of weird clouds that pass far overhead and then maps the changes that their rain makes on the lives of people living below. His writing has become better and more interesting in his newest collection of very odd stories, A BOY BORN FROM MOLD. The stories are amusing and make me think of the likes of Shel Silverstein and Tim Burton. As I reported with his last book, I was left wanting more outrageous tragedy and monsters and wished it wasn’t printed in ALL CAPS. If you like zines, Tim Burton, and nonsense stories, you may wish to check it out. Maybe creepy, maybe suspenseful, not violent and not erotic. Odd. (Published by the artist, 2010)

The Name of the WindDepending on your tolerance level for bigger-than-life heroes and melodrama, your good humor and fascination may or may not turn into irritation by the end of THE NAME OF THE WIND. Patrick Rothfuss chronicles the boyhood of a traveling musician (bard? gypsy?) who loses his parents to a violent supernatural gang, barely survives as a child beggar on the streets, and then studies to become the greatest wizard of all time. The fantasy is thick, the world-building is complete and amazing, the story and characters are compelling. Be warned: The childhood is more tragic than you can imagine; the woman is more beautiful, confounding, and mysterious than any you will ever meet; and the love affair is more painful and exultant than any normal heart could bear. I can see that many will love this book and look forward to the next (it is the first in a series). At some point I grew a brand new callus on my heart and could no longer be moved. Lightly creepy, suspenseful, sometimes violent, and romantic. Magical. (DAW Books, 2009)

When Ghosts Speak by Mary Ann WinkowskiYou may think that your house is haunted by the ghost of a notorious satanist, a pair of tragic lovers, or maybe someone interesting like Clara Bow. If that’s the case, then WHEN GHOSTS SPEAK is here to set the record straight. Your ghost probably has more in common with your great aunt Mildred, who still feels awful because she flushed your grandmother’s wedding ring in a fit of spite, but who never fessed up to the crime. Mary Ann Winkowski assures us that ghosts are not dangerous and recommends that they should always be directed into The Light. Lie to them if you must and let the afterlife sort ‘em out, she advises. Just get them there. Other important facts to remember: 1) Your dog or cat can become a ghost. 2) NEVER EVER play with a Ouija board. 3) Your chronic respiratory ailment might be due to a haunt. 4) If you’re a ghost and you’re haunting Jennifer Love Hewitt, it’s probably because you want to watch her in the shower. How many ways can I say it? The book is not fascinating. Creepy in a voyeuristic way, not suspenseful, not really violent, and occasionally titillating. Ghost-gossipy. (Grand Central Publishing, 2009)

Many thanks to the Hachette Group for the review copy of When Ghosts Speak, Titan Books for the review copy of Supernatural – the Unholy Cause, and Lorin Morgan Richards for the review copy of Boy Born from Mold.

Published on May 27, 2010 in Book Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , , , .

Book Review: Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman

The Left Hand of God by Paul HoffmanLet’s talk about orphans and fiction. The Guardian UK recently put together a list called “10 of the Best: Heroes from Children’s Fiction“. A full 4 of them (almost half) are orphans or were abandoned by their parents. Shockingly, this list excludes Harry Potter, an orphan whose franchise has become the tenth largest economy in the world. Here are three books I’ve reviewed on this site whose protagonists are orphans or abandoned children: Green by Jay Lake, Foundling by D.M. Cornish, and Four and Twenty Blackbirds by Cherie Priest. As you can see from these statistics, it’s a good thing that there are evil fairy godmothers, witches who live in candy houses, and diabolical evil wizards to keep these orphans down, because otherwise they would be kicking our butts out of the world.

By now you’ve probably guessed that the protagonist of The Left Hand of God is an orphan or abandoned child. If you’re hip to the standard orphan plot, you’ll be able to guess that the protagonist is “special” somehow, and is more than likely suffering at the hands of some adults. In this case, our hero is fourteen year old Thomas Cale, who has been raised in an appallingly violent environment while being trained to be a soldier by a group of militant religious fanatics.

The world Thomas Cale discovers when he and his friends escape their cruel tutors is very much like an alternative medieval Europe. The book itself is very firmly in the fantasy genre, and I would say is really properly a young adult book. It is also, I should mention, the first in a series.

I thought that the first half of the book was rather interesting, but vague disappointment set in rather quickly after that. There is a mysterious lack of emotional depth in Left Hand of God. All foreshadowing proves to be superfluous. Bad decisions lack consequences. Like many novels being published now, there is almost no sex and plenty of descriptive, explicit violence.

Creepy Factor: 1 out of 5
Suspense Factor: 3 out of 5
Weird Erotic Tension Factor: 0 out of 5
Funny and/or Strange Factor: 1 out of 5

Final result: Because of its choice of subject matter, this book is entering a crowded field, and to me it compares poorly to some others that I named above. If you told me you really liked this book, I would be able to relate. But I thought it wasn’t so hot.

The Left Hand of God by Paul Hoffman – Dutton Adult – 2010
Buy The Left Hand of God now at Amazon

Thanks for reading another one of my book reviews, and thanks to Penguin Books for the review copy. See you next time!

Published on May 24, 2010 in Book Reviews. 0 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Book Review: Foundling and Lamplighter by D.M. Cornish

Lamplighter by D.M. CornishWe all know that it’s dangerous to think in terms of black and white. For instance, a person might think that there is no place for monsters on the TV show 24. I am here to say that most definitely, there are a lot of places where monsters would make that show a lot better. For example, imagine a scene where a terrorist is chasing Jack Bauer down a hallway with a huge killer virus bomb when a monster suddenly jumps out from out of nowhere and kills the terrorist by breaking him in half and then eats his feet or something. That would be awesome. (Incidentally, I would volunteer for that part, even though the TV show really stresses me out and I need the Diabolical Dr. Francois to watch it with me. I also don’t happen to eat feet, but could pretend for a movie. Maybe they could make special effects feet out of cake.)

What I’m trying to say is that in real life things are often more complex than we like to think. Even more complex than what Jack is having to deal with every week in sixty minute bites. Sometimes the people you don’t expect to be mean, cruel and devious turn out to be worse than you could imagine. Sometimes authority has to be questioned. Sometimes things aren’t exactly as they may seem.

That is exactly the case with these two books, Foundling and Lamplighter by D.M. Cornish. A third book in the series is expected sometime this year. I was introduced to this series by the excellent book blog, Speculative Fiction Junkie. The books follow the adventures of the unfortunately named Rossamund Bookchild and are definitely the most entertaining young-adult fiction that I’ve read since Phillip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. I wish that I could get through this review without mentioning Harry Potter, but although these are definitely a lot different, I think it’s safe to say that if you have read all of the Harry Potter books and wish there were more, these books are for you and you should go get one now. Now!

Like the Phillip Pullman and J. K. Rowling novels, the protagonist of these two books is an orphan. The orphan, Rossamund, lives in a world of magic and strange technology. The world that Cornish has imagined is amazingly complete and compelling. The world of Rossamund is inhabited by monsters of all shapes and sizes. Mankind is at war with the monsters, and any people who are found to be friendly with monsters are hanged for the crime. Our young hero Rossamund is earnest to a fault and loves to read pamphlets detailing the adventures of sailors. He dreams of a life of adventure sailing the seas, but as an orphan, his choices are limited. Eventually he is chosen to become a Lamplighter.

Lamplighters tend the lamps that run between towns throughout the empire. They are a cross between public servant and anti-monster military force. In Foundling, we follow Rossamund on his way to join the Lamplighters. He gets mislaid and has a great adventure finding his way into and out of trouble. Along the way he meets a fascinating woman named Europe who is a monster-killing mercenary. He also meets and finds himself forced to make friends with a monster.

If in Foundling it becomes obvious that not all monsters are bad and not all humans are to be trusted, the theme is expanded upon in the second book, Lamplighter. In a nutshell, Lamplighter follows Rossamund and a rather willful girl Threnody as they are trained to be Lamplighters and assigned to their first post. As could be expected in a sequel, characters from the first book make an appearance in this one. This book is so suspenseful that I could barely contain myself while reading the last fifty pages. The ending is shocking and leaves the reader with more questions than answers.

A few last details: The books are beautifully illustrated by the author and have their own jargon and language. I takes a little while to get used to the language, but once you do, it’s smooth sailing. It also must be noted that the books are amazingly imaginative and well-written. While they are marketed for young adults, they will certainly appeal to adults who enjoy fantasy and adventure. Here is the official site.

Creepy Factor: 4 out of 5
Suspense Factor: 5 out of 5
Weird Erotic Tension Factor: 1 out of 5 (I’m giving one star for mild romantic tension)
Funny and/or Strange Factor: 4 out of 5

Final result: Great adventure, mean monsters, deep characterizations, friendly monsters, cool illustrations, hard lessons, strange monsters, and enormous suspense all in one place. The second book is rather long but you’ll never notice it. I love these books and can’t wait to read the next one! (P.S. I don’t usually get into author blogs, but D.M. Cornish’s is here.)

Foundling by D.M. Cornish – Speak – 2007
Lamplighter by D.M. Cornish – Putnam – 2008
Get Foundling on Amazon
Get Lamplighter on Amazon

Thanks for reading another one of my book reviews. See you next time!

Published on January 19, 2010 in Book Reviews. 3 Comments Tags: , , , , .

Book Review: Green by Jay Lake

Green by Jay LakeOK I’ve got to come out and say that Green by Jay Lake is a weird book. Now I know what you may be thinking, because I’m thinking it too. You’re thinking, “The Dark is such a weird and bizarre monster that he probably thinks David Lynch movies are perfectly normal and romantic comedies are strange.” You’re right after a fashion, but believe me, I know weird when I see it. Sometimes weird is like David Lynch movies and other times weird is like opening a closet to investigate a strange noise and finding a giant Persian cat doing something unnatural with a goose. The goose might be wearing a hat and saying something over and over in Portuguese. This book is a little like that kind of weird. (Please note that the above scenario has never happened to me, I swear.)

Yes yes this is a fantasy book. It’s not exactly what I call “dark fantasy” but it was dark enough to keep my attention. Green is set in another world somewhat like our own and maybe in Asia somewhere. A little girl is sold by her dirt-farmer father to a man who hopes to turn her into a concubine. Fortunately or unfortunately, the man also has a hidden agenda. Besides the concubine gig, he also wishes to turn the little girl into an assassin to kill the Duke. The Duke rules the city and has used magic to live far beyond his years. The man wishes to end the Duke’s life and rule. For the most part, the reader is left to ponder who is part of this conspiracy and who is not. Along with being taught how to be a very well educated concubine, the girl is basically ritually abused and also, on the sly, schooled on how to be an assassin.

As you can probably guess, after years of this sort of treatment the resulting person, who calls herself “Green”, ends up being a little twisted. While she is ultimately compelling and sympathetic, Green spends most of the book in a bad mood and is vaguely naive and unpredictably violent. Green likes to dress up in strange menacing costumes and wander around cities. Green joins a cult of women who hunt down and kill murderers. Green finds she has a taste for being tied up and lashed to get her kicks.

The book is quite the page-turner. You know the kind of book where if you’re busy with something else (like say you’re toiling over some diabolical project in your lab), it’s almost like the taste of the book is stuck in your head, and you want to go read some more? It’s that kind of book. The writing is excellent. The characters are well-developed and compelling. The story is suspenseful. My only complaint is that it gets kind of bogged down in a few places and I found myself thinking that the plot ended up being kind of more complicated than it needed to be. At the same time, I couldn’t stop reading it.

Creepy Factor: 1 out of 5
Suspense Factor: 4 out of 5
Weird Erotic Tension Factor: 3 out of 5
Funny and/or Strange Factor: 1 out of 5

Final result: We have a winner. If you’re a fan of Fantasy fiction and you’re looking for a good book to read I say look no further. I also have to say that the cover art by Dan Dos Santos is spectacular. I found you can download wallpaper-sized copies of the cover here, after you jump through some hoops.

Green by Jay Lake – Tor Books – 2009
Jay Lake on Amazon
Green by Jay Lake on Amazon

Many thanks to Tor Books for sending me this book to review. (See my disclosure policy.) Thanks for reading another one of my book reviews. Hopefully next time I review a nice juicy horror novel with loads of Weird Erotic Tension. I’m working on it! See you next time!

Published on July 7, 2009 in Book Reviews. 1 Comment Tags: , , , , , , , , .