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Reviews tres leche
Aug. 19th, 2014 09:48 pmHi,
Well...actually no milk of any kind really. I just read three books. So let's get cracking:
First up, Inversions by Iain M. Banks. This is part of his Culture series (which I am sadly running out of installments to read -- man, fuck cancer). Unlike most of his submissions in this series, Inversions doesn't directly tie to the star-spanning sci-fi adventure you would expect. Instead, this is very deliberately a Culture novel that resembles a very low-magic fantasy novel more than anything else.
There are actually two stories woven through this book. The first is set in the Kingdom of Haspidus where Oleph keeps tabs on his master Vosill, a strange woman from over the seas who has risen to become the person physician to the King. The second story takes place in the neighboring Protectorate of Tassasen and follows DeWar, the personal bodyguard to the Prime Protector. Both of them have to deal with various threats and problems facing their respective nations but neither story particularly intertwines. Each, however, gives hints about a shared history out in the wider world of the Culture.
So...no one kills themselves out of ennui which is an ever-present hazard in a Culture book. As a stand-alone book, it's only so-so. There aren't any of the usual "big ideas" that normally drive a Culture book and the individual stories mostly just cruise along without a lot of real dramatic tension. It just wasn't all that compelling.
After that, I picked up Tigerman by Nick Harkaway. Mr. Harkaway's first novel Gone Away World was amazing and his follow-up Angelmaker was also quite good so I was very anxious to give this one a go.
The story takes place on the island of Mancreu. Several years ago a chemical plant accident turned the island's volcano into a cauldron of mutated super-bacteria. Occasionally, the volcano releases a noxious cloud that produces some random effect. Fearing for the safety of the planet, there are plans to scour the island with nuclear fire, but there's the promise of interesting discoveries coming out of the volcano and so the executioner's hand is stayed. The island becomes an extra-national zone and the harbor is full of mysterious ships from all over the world who find the place a legally-convenient place to do things no one would admit to doing.
Sergeant Lester Ferris is a washed up British Marine sent to the island for a rest and serves as the acting brevet-consul to the island. He walks the streets, gets to know the locals, and helps maintain a little bit of law and order as the inhabitants slowly pack up and leave the doomed island. He befriends a local boy and they wind up having tea in a cafe run by a man named Shola.
His quiet existence comes to an abrupt end when men burst into the cafe and gun down Shola in front of him and the boy. Anxious to help the boy through his trauma (and perhaps help the boy leave the island with him), Lester agrees to help track down the men responsible for this murder. The boy wants to help and his big contribution is "Tigerman" -- Lester should become a costumed hero like the ones in the boy's comic books to take out the bad guys and restore order. Lester reluctantly dons the costume to please the boy and bust up some small-time crooks, but in doing so he starts to pull back the cloak of secrets that cover the island.
If you've read Harkaway's other books you know that things eventually all come together and they certainly do in this one. The ending is a little more melancholy than his previous works. I keep wanting to say that this is like Kick-Ass with grown-up sensibilities. A middle-aged man puts on a mask to fight crime and it doesn't make him super-human, it just makes him a guy in a mask. Lester knows it's stupid, but as time goes on, Tigerman takes on a life of its own and Lester's overwhelming desire to save the boy keeps him at it.
I didn't like this one as much as his previous works (maybe the mixed ending?), but the writing is still very strong and evocative, the characters are well-rounded and the dialog has some really great moments. Certainly worth a look especially for comic book lovers.
Finally, I blazed through The Incorruptibles by John Hornor Jacobs. You start with a magical, steampunk, western setting. Shoe and Fisk, two Imperial scouts are riding point along the Big Rill river, keeping pace with the deamon-powered steamboat Cornelius. On board is an Imperial governor and his family. Not an easy job out on the fringes of the frontier but made worse when the stretchers show up -- tall, alien, immortal creatures that haunt the mountains and have decided to amuse themselves by hunting down the arrogant humans skirting their lands.
I really liked this book. Normally when you try and blend magic/steampunk/westerns together you just get a hot mess, but it all comes together really well in this case. The plot clips along and the world-building stuff is very smoothly built up as you go. I was always interested in what was going to happen next. Probably the best book out of the three and recommended. If you have a Kindle, it's only $3 and a complete bargain.
later
Tom
Well...actually no milk of any kind really. I just read three books. So let's get cracking:
First up, Inversions by Iain M. Banks. This is part of his Culture series (which I am sadly running out of installments to read -- man, fuck cancer). Unlike most of his submissions in this series, Inversions doesn't directly tie to the star-spanning sci-fi adventure you would expect. Instead, this is very deliberately a Culture novel that resembles a very low-magic fantasy novel more than anything else.
There are actually two stories woven through this book. The first is set in the Kingdom of Haspidus where Oleph keeps tabs on his master Vosill, a strange woman from over the seas who has risen to become the person physician to the King. The second story takes place in the neighboring Protectorate of Tassasen and follows DeWar, the personal bodyguard to the Prime Protector. Both of them have to deal with various threats and problems facing their respective nations but neither story particularly intertwines. Each, however, gives hints about a shared history out in the wider world of the Culture.
So...no one kills themselves out of ennui which is an ever-present hazard in a Culture book. As a stand-alone book, it's only so-so. There aren't any of the usual "big ideas" that normally drive a Culture book and the individual stories mostly just cruise along without a lot of real dramatic tension. It just wasn't all that compelling.
After that, I picked up Tigerman by Nick Harkaway. Mr. Harkaway's first novel Gone Away World was amazing and his follow-up Angelmaker was also quite good so I was very anxious to give this one a go.
The story takes place on the island of Mancreu. Several years ago a chemical plant accident turned the island's volcano into a cauldron of mutated super-bacteria. Occasionally, the volcano releases a noxious cloud that produces some random effect. Fearing for the safety of the planet, there are plans to scour the island with nuclear fire, but there's the promise of interesting discoveries coming out of the volcano and so the executioner's hand is stayed. The island becomes an extra-national zone and the harbor is full of mysterious ships from all over the world who find the place a legally-convenient place to do things no one would admit to doing.
Sergeant Lester Ferris is a washed up British Marine sent to the island for a rest and serves as the acting brevet-consul to the island. He walks the streets, gets to know the locals, and helps maintain a little bit of law and order as the inhabitants slowly pack up and leave the doomed island. He befriends a local boy and they wind up having tea in a cafe run by a man named Shola.
His quiet existence comes to an abrupt end when men burst into the cafe and gun down Shola in front of him and the boy. Anxious to help the boy through his trauma (and perhaps help the boy leave the island with him), Lester agrees to help track down the men responsible for this murder. The boy wants to help and his big contribution is "Tigerman" -- Lester should become a costumed hero like the ones in the boy's comic books to take out the bad guys and restore order. Lester reluctantly dons the costume to please the boy and bust up some small-time crooks, but in doing so he starts to pull back the cloak of secrets that cover the island.
If you've read Harkaway's other books you know that things eventually all come together and they certainly do in this one. The ending is a little more melancholy than his previous works. I keep wanting to say that this is like Kick-Ass with grown-up sensibilities. A middle-aged man puts on a mask to fight crime and it doesn't make him super-human, it just makes him a guy in a mask. Lester knows it's stupid, but as time goes on, Tigerman takes on a life of its own and Lester's overwhelming desire to save the boy keeps him at it.
I didn't like this one as much as his previous works (maybe the mixed ending?), but the writing is still very strong and evocative, the characters are well-rounded and the dialog has some really great moments. Certainly worth a look especially for comic book lovers.
Finally, I blazed through The Incorruptibles by John Hornor Jacobs. You start with a magical, steampunk, western setting. Shoe and Fisk, two Imperial scouts are riding point along the Big Rill river, keeping pace with the deamon-powered steamboat Cornelius. On board is an Imperial governor and his family. Not an easy job out on the fringes of the frontier but made worse when the stretchers show up -- tall, alien, immortal creatures that haunt the mountains and have decided to amuse themselves by hunting down the arrogant humans skirting their lands.
I really liked this book. Normally when you try and blend magic/steampunk/westerns together you just get a hot mess, but it all comes together really well in this case. The plot clips along and the world-building stuff is very smoothly built up as you go. I was always interested in what was going to happen next. Probably the best book out of the three and recommended. If you have a Kindle, it's only $3 and a complete bargain.
later
Tom
