Three for Reviewing

Hey,

So I had a pretty good weekend. I also finished up a bunch of books I've been reading so hey, let me tell you about them:

First up: Hell Ship by Philip Palmer. Philip Palmer has been turning out some really great Sci-fi over the last few years. I really enjoyed his first book Debatable Space and I've been keeping tabs on him since then.

Hell Ship is his latest book about a super-advanced race of beings that travel through the universe, destroying alien civilizations utterly and retaining a single specimen of each race in their vast prison (the Hell Ship). The book is about the attempts of the prisoners to break out whilst another alien survivor chases after them to try and get revenge.

As always, Mr. Palmer's writing is brisk and the characters are non-human and very interesting. But the plot in this one just keeps shearing off. When imprisoned in a ship built by beings with the power to blow up stars, the prisoners' escape plans keep running up against "but aren't the jailers smart enough to counter that?" And generally they are. So it's annoying that these break out attempts fail for the reasons you think they would, but if they succeeded, you'd think the baddies were being willfully stupid.

It's a high tech prison story, so people die. But they spend a lot of time on some characters whose stories don't go much of anywhere and then get snuffed out. There's some technology that's totally reliable and effective in a wide range of conditions until it mysteriously isn't for no other reason than to tug at your heart strings. And the book drives right to the end and immediately quits.

Again, the writing is good and you clip right along, but it's just not as well put together as his previous stories. I am interested in checking out new stuff he's got coming down the pike.

Next up, a Cthulhu pastiche. There are very few people who can stare into the gibbering maw of the Mythos and tell you what they see. Of great American writers, I can only think of two. William S. Burroughs and Hunter S. Thompson. Nick Mamatas (who did Kerouac/Cthulhu in Move Underground) and Brian Keene take on the latter in The Damned Highway -- Fear and Loathing in Arkham.

It's pretty much what you'd expect. In 1972, Thompson has reached a dead end and decides to travel to find the American Nightmare that Nixon is bringing to life. His travels take him across the country to Arkham, Massachusetts and local environs (incidentally, Arkham and Innsmouth don't get along). Along the way he uncovers the occult war between the Democrats and Republicsns, learns about Hoover's involvement in the Innsmouth affair, and, of course, tries some very special mushrooms.

I'd probably need to read a little more of Thompson's post Vegas writing to figure out how well the authors nailed his style. It seemed pretty good to me. The only fall down was a bunch of small attempts to push forward from 1972 and tie in Mythos conspiracy to events in the past decade or so. The attempt to make modern-day menace was a little weak. But Thompson's sparring with his arch-enemy Nixon results in some of the book's most powerful (and subtle) bits of horror. Overall, it's not wildly recommended unless you're a bit Thompson fan and I'm happy to loan it out.

Finally, we have Goblin Corps by Ari Marmell. The author was in a D&D game. A really kick-ass D&D game. I totally would've loved to play in his D&D game. He wrote down what happened and this is the book. So already you're thinking this is going to be awful. You would be wrong. This is a pretty solid book and a very fun read.

In your generic fantasy world you've got the Dread Charnel King Morthul. His latest plan has just been thwarted by a team of heroic do-gooders. Being the Charnel King, Morthul survives and kills King Dororam's daughter. Now the forces of Light are massing to take out his dark kingdom.

To respond to this threat, Morthul puts together a Demon Squad, a special strike team assigned the toughest missions with the highest mortality rate. For this team, he throws together a group of foul-tempered humanoids who'd rather kill each other than work together. So yeah, rag-tag team of misfits learns to overcome (or in this case, overlook) their differences to save the day (well, they work for the bad guys so it's hard to say they "save" the day).

Anyway, the book is great fun, the bickering is a treat and their "subtle like a brick" solution to various obstacles is always amusing. It's not deep reading, but it's got some surprisingly deft scenes packed in between the death and dismemberment. I solid step up from the average Warhammer fantasy novel and well worth it for some fun, trashy fantasy reading.

Um...oh, I also went through a couple of books from Osprey:

Yangtze River Gunboats 1900-49 -- Western Powers kept armed gunboats patrolling Chinese rivers to protect their commercial interests. The books was good, but I wish it had gone into detail about any fighting actions the boats had seen (interdiction of pirates, landing sailors to fight bandits, etc.). They really only cover the bombing of an American ship by the Japanese at the start of WWII and a British encounter with Communist forces.

Vietnam Infantry Tactics -- Pretty much does what it says on the tin. Various small-unit actions (patrols, ambushes, overnight preparations) and how they were carried out in Vietnam. Nothing too new, but the color plates are, as always, the draw for Osprey books.

Anything else? No, that's it.

later
Tom

Three for Reviewing

Hey,

So I had a pretty good weekend. I also finished up a bunch of books I've been reading so hey, let me tell you about them:

First up: Hell Ship by Philip Palmer. Philip Palmer has been turning out some really great Sci-fi over the last few years. I really enjoyed his first book Debatable Space and I've been keeping tabs on him since then.

Hell Ship is his latest book about a super-advanced race of beings that travel through the universe, destroying alien civilizations utterly and retaining a single specimen of each race in their vast prison (the Hell Ship). The book is about the attempts of the prisoners to break out whilst another alien survivor chases after them to try and get revenge.

As always, Mr. Palmer's writing is brisk and the characters are non-human and very interesting. But the plot in this one just keeps shearing off. When imprisoned in a ship built by beings with the power to blow up stars, the prisoners' escape plans keep running up against "but aren't the jailers smart enough to counter that?" And generally they are. So it's annoying that these break out attempts fail for the reasons you think they would, but if they succeeded, you'd think the baddies were being willfully stupid.

It's a high tech prison story, so people die. But they spend a lot of time on some characters whose stories don't go much of anywhere and then get snuffed out. There's some technology that's totally reliable and effective in a wide range of conditions until it mysteriously isn't for no other reason than to tug at your heart strings. And the book drives right to the end and immediately quits.

Again, the writing is good and you clip right along, but it's just not as well put together as his previous stories. I am interested in checking out new stuff he's got coming down the pike.

Next up, a Cthulhu pastiche. There are very few people who can stare into the gibbering maw of the Mythos and tell you what they see. Of great American writers, I can only think of two. William S. Burroughs and Hunter S. Thompson. Nick Mamatas (who did Kerouac/Cthulhu in Move Underground) and Brian Keene take on the latter in The Damned Highway -- Fear and Loathing in Arkham.

It's pretty much what you'd expect. In 1972, Thompson has reached a dead end and decides to travel to find the American Nightmare that Nixon is bringing to life. His travels take him across the country to Arkham, Massachusetts and local environs (incidentally, Arkham and Innsmouth don't get along). Along the way he uncovers the occult war between the Democrats and Republicsns, learns about Hoover's involvement in the Innsmouth affair, and, of course, tries some very special mushrooms.

I'd probably need to read a little more of Thompson's post Vegas writing to figure out how well the authors nailed his style. It seemed pretty good to me. The only fall down was a bunch of small attempts to push forward from 1972 and tie in Mythos conspiracy to events in the past decade or so. The attempt to make modern-day menace was a little weak. But Thompson's sparring with his arch-enemy Nixon results in some of the book's most powerful (and subtle) bits of horror. Overall, it's not wildly recommended unless you're a bit Thompson fan and I'm happy to loan it out.

Finally, we have Goblin Corps by Ari Marmell. The author was in a D&D game. A really kick-ass D&D game. I totally would've loved to play in his D&D game. He wrote down what happened and this is the book. So already you're thinking this is going to be awful. You would be wrong. This is a pretty solid book and a very fun read.

In your generic fantasy world you've got the Dread Charnel King Morthul. His latest plan has just been thwarted by a team of heroic do-gooders. Being the Charnel King, Morthul survives and kills King Dororam's daughter. Now the forces of Light are massing to take out his dark kingdom.

To respond to this threat, Morthul puts together a Demon Squad, a special strike team assigned the toughest missions with the highest mortality rate. For this team, he throws together a group of foul-tempered humanoids who'd rather kill each other than work together. So yeah, rag-tag team of misfits learns to overcome (or in this case, overlook) their differences to save the day (well, they work for the bad guys so it's hard to say they "save" the day).

Anyway, the book is great fun, the bickering is a treat and their "subtle like a brick" solution to various obstacles is always amusing. It's not deep reading, but it's got some surprisingly deft scenes packed in between the death and dismemberment. I solid step up from the average Warhammer fantasy novel and well worth it for some fun, trashy fantasy reading.

Um...oh, I also went through a couple of books from Osprey:

Yangtze River Gunboats 1900-49 -- Western Powers kept armed gunboats patrolling Chinese rivers to protect their commercial interests. The books was good, but I wish it had gone into detail about any fighting actions the boats had seen (interdiction of pirates, landing sailors to fight bandits, etc.). They really only cover the bombing of an American ship by the Japanese at the start of WWII and a British encounter with Communist forces.

Vietnam Infantry Tactics -- Pretty much does what it says on the tin. Various small-unit actions (patrols, ambushes, overnight preparations) and how they were carried out in Vietnam. Nothing too new, but the color plates are, as always, the draw for Osprey books.

Anything else? No, that's it.

later
Tom