The Nymphos of Rocky Flats

Well, I wish I can give this book a zero star.

If you think that vampire and sex can sell well, why not add another ingredient: detective story. This is just what the author do. If you think that extra ingredient can improve the cooking, think harder. The author even spiced it up with another ingredient: Roswell! UFO!

So what you have is a trash novel with plot like this:
investigate – fanged – gather with friends – interrupted sex – attacked by enemy – barely escaped – repeat the cycle from the beginning until end.

It is a total waste of time, you should avoid this novel like avoiding a nuclear waste (which is SURPRISE SURPRISE: another element in the novel!). Believe me, you will thanks me.

P.S. :
But there is a caveat. I just find out that the author INTENTIONALLY write this crap to get published. It is intended to be a pun to the publishing industry and readers nowadays! And guess what, it is published, and it gained some fans. Make me think a lot about the intelligence of our mass and publishing industry today.

The Enchantress

Finally, the finale. My first comment. Not bad Mr. Scott. Six novel in six years. It would say, it is quite satisfying, for a children literature. I would not mind my children to read this series. It is a good introduction to the world mythology, to get acquainted with Hekate, Morrigan, Prometheus, and so on, not to mention to be introduced to many great historical characters such as Joan of Arc and Musashi, and some obscure characters such as Nicholas Flamel and John Dee. And it is entertaining too.

Now the detail. First, I want to comment about the ending. There are two ending for the novel, the first one in the Danu Talis, and the second one in San Francisco. I do not really like Danu Talis. For a finale, it is to simplistic. Surely, Earthlord should not be defeated that easy.  But I like the ending for San Francisco, quite a battle there.

Since now we have the grand story explained, I would like to comment that too.
1. The Time Travel. I find the time travel a bit confusing. I would have made the story goes in loop, forever. This, I think, is the weakest part of the plot.
2. The deity and demigods. I am not complaining that Mr. Scott is using lots of deities in his story, out of the context of the real deity in the mythology. It is his story, and he has the right to do it. I might do the same thing, if I were the writer.
3. The twins. The twins is also a weak part. It should have been the apex of the story, somehow it does not feel that way. The side story, which is saving San Francisco is more interesting and emotional. The story about their pedigree is also not that interesting.

I would put this series in par with Rick Riordan‘s Percy Jackons series. Both using lots of mythology figure, both are in children literature section. Both are entertaining.

For children book, I will give it a 4 star, but for general reader, I will give it a 3. It is not in par with J.R.R. Tolkien, C.S. Lewis, or even Philip Pullman, yet.

Quantum Thief

WARNING: this book is for adult. There are plenty of reference to sexual act and homosexuality.

First impression, by looking at the cover, the title, and the author, not impressive. I thought it is just a pulp fiction, using hackneyed “quantum” term freely like on many best sellers list, written by an Indian spiritualist author. Turn out that I am wrong. It is a very high end science-fiction, the term “quantum” is properly used, and the author is not an Indian; he is Finnish. I still reserve my opinion about the cover.

OK, now the content itself. I admit that this is a HEAVY read. Lots of term, unexplained by the author. Lots of reference to Hebrew words, Russian names, quantum physics terminology. Thank God for the Internet, that I can simply search the term on wikipedia. Usually I do not recommend readers to peek the glossary of term while reading a novel, but this time, I recommend it. Here is the link:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Glossary…
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_…
Believe me, it will help you a lot in understanding this novel.

The story is about a thief, Jean le Flambeur, recently busted out from a Dillema Prison (a reference in game theory, google it by yourself) by Mieli, an Oortian (a reference to Oort Cloud) warrior. They are with a mission, a very sophisticated heist, delivered for a high being, with an unknown motive. And it is going to be carried in the Moving City of Mars, which is the main setting of this novel.

The world created by this author is very rich and riveting, once you get the hang of it. For me, it is after about three chapters. It is like finding a new world for you to explore, try to figure out how it works. It is a very exhilarating experience. It has been a long time since I read a novel that made me this excited. It forced all the grey cell of my brain to full throttle, try to piece together all the information into a coherent story.

I would say that this novel is better than The Demolished Man, which has similarity, a detective story in a sci-fi world. Rajaniemi’s world is richer and more engaging, but more difficult to comprehend without the help of glossary.

The idea in this novel is also very rich that makes the Matrix movie like a child play. The whole idea of transferred consciousness, uploading mind, even copying and hijacking mind are explored. It explores the whole possibility of a post-human being, cheating death, and even a possibility of living for eternity.

The battle scene is dizzying. A lot stuff happened at the same time, a wholly different family of weapon: viral weapon, nanobots, information warfare, while fighting physically. It is going to be really difficult to visualize it, not to mention to make a movie out of it.

So, if you like a mind-blowing and mind-boggling book, this one is highly recommended. If you are not this type, better stay away from it.

Shadow’s Edge

Brent Weeks definitely did not let me down. Not many times I read sequels with surpass the first book. This is one of it. This book expands the background laid in the first book, and brings it to a full bloom.

The story still continues on the life of Kylar, a full-grown assassin now. Cenaria had been fully occupied, the rebellion was forming, and Logan was still kept deep in the Hole. The Godking was tightening his grip on Cenaria, while Kylar was getting out of Cenaria to start a new life, just to realize that his past will always haunted him.

The first novel of the series is like the laying of the chess pieces on the board and some opening movement. One side was under pressure, and victory was on sight. But total destruction was evaded. The heir survived. On the second novel, the play on both side became more subtle. Each was laying traps for his opponent. The end game was difficult to predict. New players, initially not taking part in the first novel, were coming, bringing their own interest. The game became more complicated. The balance of the game was change. Brent Weeks was indeed the master of the game. He laid the characters like a professional chess player. The intention was hidden until the attack was commenced. And once the attack began, it was hell unleashed.

Brent Weeks succeeded in expanding the first novel, in terms of plot as well as tension. The new faction and point of view characters indeed make the story more interesting. Unfortunately, it is the main characters, Kylar, that somehow was not really grown. I expect a deeper characterization for Kylar. Fortunately, it is saved by the discussion of Caernarvonian culture, which is an important plot point. Logan part is much better, and of course Vi’s part. It looks like that we are going to have a trinity finally: Kylar, Logan, and Vi.

The dialogue is witty, despite some cliches. The pacing is good, not to slow not to fast. It is easy to get hooked when you read this novel. The best part I will say is the plot. All the plot device are laid carefully till they converged to the final event. The final conflict was indeed a very good climax, even though it was a bit predictable. Weeks was too obvious in showing the trail. I hope he can write with more subtlety (which he did, in his Lightbringer series).

Overall, a very good sequel, better than the first book. 4 star!

Transformation

My first reaction of this book is not good. First, the cover, it looks like a romance fantasy. Bare-chested good looking guy, with wing? I certainly will skip it, if not my reading group recommendation. Second, somehow some people tag this novel with M/M relationship. What the #$%!? No way I am going to touch this. No offense guys, it is just not my thing.

The story is about a ex-Warrior, who later became a captured slave, and his Master, a prince from the most powerful empire. Together they will determine the future of not just the empire, but the whole realm.

But, again, since it is a “mandatory” read from my reading group, I read it. After several pages, actually it is quite good. The writing is flowing beautifully, the characters are well placed. It is just the plot that is a bit slow in the beginning. For almost 200 page, the plot is so-so. And the tension is risen, and everything comes out with full blown blast. And it is good.

There are not too many characters to follow. The world is simple enough, so is the magic. The only genuine part is the explanation of the Ezzarian community. Even that is not very complicated. So, it is quite an easy read actually. It is using a common formula for a sword, wizard, magic and sorcery fantasy.

Now about the M/M thing. I cannot see a hint of M/M romance relationship in this novel. Yes, there are no significant male-female romance here, but it does not mean that the other explanation exists. Does all fantasy need romance (like all the YA fantasy)? Certainly no. Can’t you just accept that there exists another thing beside romance that binds two person strongly such as servitude, honor, duty, and friendship? Romance is not the only formula.

What kept me from giving the book higher that 3 star is the originality. While it is a good read, it is too formulaic. The slave-master relationship is original though, and well explored. But again, I need something more. And the cover does not do justice to the book.

A Scanner Darkly

I admit that this is a difficult book to read. It requires a higher state of concentration to fully appreciate this book, and I think I fail to do that. Some reviewers say that watching the movie (the one with Keanu Reeves) is helpful to  grasp meaning of this novel. I think this is the only time that I recommend watching the movie before reading the novel.

The story is about an undercover narcotic police agent. Deeply involved in his job, and actually too deep, he took Substance D, a highly addictive narcotics. He did not realize the side effect (or actually a permanent effect) of the drug until it was too late.

The science fiction theme of this book is not easily seen. It is hidden beneath the rambling of drug users. I myself might not see it as a science fiction novel. It is more about drug abuse than exploring the splitting personality because the Substance D destroys the connectivity between the left and the right brain. So instead of having one unified brain, the victim see the world using two brain, and sometime have conflicting information.

The complexity of drug user behavior, which the author captured perfectly, makes it even more difficult to follow the story of the book. Only after reaching the second half of the book, I began to grasp the story.

What I admire most about this book is the realistic approach of the writer, in describing the drug user culture. The dialogue is so real, that you feel that you are inside the story, witnessing everything. Only an accomplished writer can do such a thing.

This book was written in the height of drug abuser culture in 1970s. Simply because I do not belong to those era, it makes me difficult to really grasp the inner meaning of the story. If I understand the struggle, the atmosphere of those hippies era, maybe I will give this book an extra one star. Maybe if you get high you can understand it better (sic). Living in this new century, when the issue around us are environmental degradation, religious fanaticism, public ignorance, etc, I cannot really see the importance of drug issues in this era. At the end of the novel, the author stated that this novel is about many of his friends, those died and suffered because of drug abuse, and I fail to get that feel.

Notes: I just found out in this book that, the voice of your own, that you hear directly while you are speaking, is not the same voice as it is heard by other people (?)

Verdict: 3/5 as a sci-fi. But as a general reader I would give 3.5/5

In Memoriam Roger Ebert

In Memoriam Roger Ebert (1942-2013)

Among movie fans and reviewers, you will be greatly missed.

To quote the obituary from his website:

Roger Ebert loved movies.

Except for those he hated.

So long Mr. Ebert.