Note: Changeless is the sequel to Soulless. If you haven’t read it already, check out my review of Soulless here. Otherwise, read on!
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Wednesday, September 22, 2010
A teen primer on urban fantasy
Charles deLint is the grandfather of urban fantasy. Without him, the whole scope of modern-day fantasy would be changed. His Newford series is his longest and probably most well-known series. He began to introduce teen readers to the series with The Blue Girl, and with Little (Grrl) Lost, he continues to introduce teens to his world. Since it’s a standalone novel, it’s a great place to jump in and see if the series is right for you.
It’s a fairly standard girls-finding-their-place-in-the-world story at heart. T.J.'s family had to leave their home in the country for financial reasons, and they’ve moved to the city. In the move, she had to leave behind her best human friend, as well as her best animal friend, her horse. Moving from the country to the city has other obstacles as well, since the types of cliques are different in different areas. So she’s having a pretty hard time fitting in.
Elizabeth appears in her room one night. She’s a Little, and lives in the walls of T.J.'s new house. A rebel in a fairly conservative, cautious family, she wants to go see what else there is in the world. Of course, being only a few inches tall makes this a more precarious venture than it would be for another girl her age. And since she was raised in such a cautious family, she’s never really encountered the perils of the outside world for herself. But she’s heard a legend that Littles used to be birds who gave up their wings, and there might be a way to learn to switch back and forth.
Along the way, both girls run up against a lot of the problems of growing up, just with a bit of a fantasy twist. We meet a few more creatures from European mythology, and travel to the underground world of magical beings that seems to exist under a lot of cities. We also learn what it means to make a promise, to keep one’s word, and to have a real friend.
Compared to some of deLint’s other stories, Little (Grrl) Lost is much more light, even during the relatively dangerous parts. It’s an easy teen book with easy, teen morals, but it’s still a nice, quick read to escape our much more mundane world.
Highs: An easy read, and a good introduction to the world of the series
Lows: A little simple, but fairly standard for the Teen Fantasy genre
Verdict: Worth the read, but don’t expect high art
Further Reading: The Blue Girl, City of Bones
Monday, September 20, 2010
Manga Monday: A cute kitten realizes cabbage isn't tasty
Note:Chi’s Sweet Home Vol. 2 is, of course, the sequel to Chi’s Sweet Home Vol. 1. If you want to read that review first, check it out here. Otherwise read on!
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
After the Zombie Apocalypse, life goes on
Most zombie stories take place during the initial outbreak. That makes sense; action movies are based on action, after all, and normal humans first finding out that their loved ones want to eat them tends to create plenty of action. Even movies like the recent Zombieland still have a post-apocalyptic atmosphere.
But what happens after the first outbreak? Assuming that we normal folk can keep some kind of containment going, you might get a world like the one in Mira Grant’s Feed.
It all started out innocently enough. In 2014, scientists use engineered viruses to cure both the common cold and cancer. One would think that this would create a new renaissance. But a few problems begin, snowballing into the greatest public health epidemic in world history.
First, liberal do-gooders, who are afraid that the scientists might try to sell the cold virus cure, steal the new virus, called the Kellis virus, go up in crop dusters, and spread the cure around the country. Some people hailed them as the greatest humanists of all time. At the same time, the first cases of cancer are cured with the Amberlee virus.
What no one knows until it is too late, however, is that when the two viruses interact, they cause Kellis-Amberlee syndrome. Generally benign as long as the host is alive, once the host dies, the virus becomes active within the host. The body resurrects, with higher brain function destroyed, and an insatiable craving for fresh meat. Every animal over 40lbs can, and is, infected (there’s at least one recorded death by giraffe bite at a zoo...). Being bitten, even non-fatally, by a human or animal with active Kellis-Amberlee in its system will also cause the virus to manifest in the victim.
But what happens after the first outbreak? Assuming that we normal folk can keep some kind of containment going, you might get a world like the one in Mira Grant’s Feed.
It all started out innocently enough. In 2014, scientists use engineered viruses to cure both the common cold and cancer. One would think that this would create a new renaissance. But a few problems begin, snowballing into the greatest public health epidemic in world history.
First, liberal do-gooders, who are afraid that the scientists might try to sell the cold virus cure, steal the new virus, called the Kellis virus, go up in crop dusters, and spread the cure around the country. Some people hailed them as the greatest humanists of all time. At the same time, the first cases of cancer are cured with the Amberlee virus.
What no one knows until it is too late, however, is that when the two viruses interact, they cause Kellis-Amberlee syndrome. Generally benign as long as the host is alive, once the host dies, the virus becomes active within the host. The body resurrects, with higher brain function destroyed, and an insatiable craving for fresh meat. Every animal over 40lbs can, and is, infected (there’s at least one recorded death by giraffe bite at a zoo...). Being bitten, even non-fatally, by a human or animal with active Kellis-Amberlee in its system will also cause the virus to manifest in the victim.
On top of that, when the virus first broke out, the Mainstream Media mocked the idea that zombies were among us, and actively tried to cover it up. The internet, however, distributed the true information, along with ways to kill zombies, localized outbreak information, and theories about how the outbreak started. Because of this, many, many people do not pay attention to the MSM anymore, and the idea of blogging news has taken off.
This brings us to our intrepid reporters. There’s Georgia, the leader of the group, and a staunch Newsie (fact with as little opinion or commentary as possible); Shaun, her not-quite-twin brother and Irwin (a little too dumb to survive, likes to poke at zombies with sticks, and gets everyone into trouble, but draws lots of ratings); and Buffy, the small, blonde, perky Fictional (writes the fiction, poetry, and soap operas of the ‘net).
Mira Grant has worldbuilding down to a science in this book. She does enough that nothing pops out of nowhere to surprise us (except zombies, but that’s what they do), but not so much that it gets repetitive or boring. Every leap that the country has done socially makes sense, and even the science seems plausible. Nothing annoys me more than coming upon bad science in a novel, but Grant has audited virology courses to make sure that this book makes sense, and it shows. It sets the stage well for the next two books for the trilogy, but still has closure unto itself. Very nice novel.
Highs: Worldbuilding, characters
Lows: Some zombie cheesiness
Verdict: Great start to the trilogy
Further Reading
Monday, September 13, 2010
Manga Monday: Books as weapons? Oh my...
Manga in the US is still something of a niche market. Along with American comic books, they have gotten some mainstream attention recently (mainly through major summer blockbusters for comics, and late-night cable TV for manga and anime), but people still have to seek it out to some extent, and the average American high-schooler is unlikely to have an Afro Ken cellphone charm. For that reason, most manga readers here are lovers of books of all kinds. Which makes a comic about a girl who has ‘sold her soul to books’ an easy sell.
May I introduce you to Yomiko Readman of Read or Die Vol 1. Yomiko, we soon learn, is a paper master. She can control paper, making it into, for example, a blast shield, or able to cut through steel walls, or dive-bomb enemies with razor-sharp paper airplanes. Because of this power, she is also the 19th person to be known as “The Paper,” a James Bond-esque title given to her by The British Library and MI6. She runs errands for them and goes on missions, often relating to acquiring a rare book and determining its authenticity. Of course, things often go horribly, horribly wrong.
We also meet Nenene Surimigawa. Having written her first novel at age 13, Yomiko runs into her when she briefly substitute teaches at the high school she attends. At first put off by a Yomiko (she comes across as a VERY enthusiastic fan), Yomiko eventually grows on her and they become friends.
The Joker is also introduced in this first volume. The leader of Special Operations, he often assigns Yomiko to cases. He’s quite clever, and has a quick tongue, but not much else is brought up about him in this first volume.
This being from the seinen magazine Ultra Jump, there is a slight lean toward fanservice throughout the book. Even the picture on the back cover shows Nenene jumping, with her short schoolgirl uniform flaring up for a panty shot. Even Yumiko, with her overly-proper manner of speech and buttoned-up outfits gets herself into some questionable situations with Nenene and with one of the villains. There is also a subplot that is reminiscent of the Stephen King novel Misery, except that the fan is an older male, and the author is a schoolgirl. Again, fanservice. There’s enough action and decent storytelling to make up for this, however.
The Read or Die story was first told in a series of 12 light novels written by Hideyuki Kurata. As far as I can tell, they have never been published in the United States, but as Spice and Wolf and FLCL have come out in light novel form in the US, perhaps ROD will follow.
Highs: Fantastically funny and relatable characters, depth
Lows: Fanservice
Verdict: The fanservice moves this manga closer to the ‘fluff’ pile, but there’s enough intelligence remaining that it’s worth the time to read.
Further Reading: Read or Dream, Kino’s Travels
May I introduce you to Yomiko Readman of Read or Die Vol 1. Yomiko, we soon learn, is a paper master. She can control paper, making it into, for example, a blast shield, or able to cut through steel walls, or dive-bomb enemies with razor-sharp paper airplanes. Because of this power, she is also the 19th person to be known as “The Paper,” a James Bond-esque title given to her by The British Library and MI6. She runs errands for them and goes on missions, often relating to acquiring a rare book and determining its authenticity. Of course, things often go horribly, horribly wrong.
We also meet Nenene Surimigawa. Having written her first novel at age 13, Yomiko runs into her when she briefly substitute teaches at the high school she attends. At first put off by a Yomiko (she comes across as a VERY enthusiastic fan), Yomiko eventually grows on her and they become friends.
The Joker is also introduced in this first volume. The leader of Special Operations, he often assigns Yomiko to cases. He’s quite clever, and has a quick tongue, but not much else is brought up about him in this first volume.
This being from the seinen magazine Ultra Jump, there is a slight lean toward fanservice throughout the book. Even the picture on the back cover shows Nenene jumping, with her short schoolgirl uniform flaring up for a panty shot. Even Yumiko, with her overly-proper manner of speech and buttoned-up outfits gets herself into some questionable situations with Nenene and with one of the villains. There is also a subplot that is reminiscent of the Stephen King novel Misery, except that the fan is an older male, and the author is a schoolgirl. Again, fanservice. There’s enough action and decent storytelling to make up for this, however.
The Read or Die story was first told in a series of 12 light novels written by Hideyuki Kurata. As far as I can tell, they have never been published in the United States, but as Spice and Wolf and FLCL have come out in light novel form in the US, perhaps ROD will follow.
Highs: Fantastically funny and relatable characters, depth
Lows: Fanservice
Verdict: The fanservice moves this manga closer to the ‘fluff’ pile, but there’s enough intelligence remaining that it’s worth the time to read.
Further Reading: Read or Dream, Kino’s Travels
Friday, September 10, 2010
Oh No! Mean aliens are coming!
I’m not a military science fiction fan. Actually, I’m not a military fiction fan of any sort. That being said, John Ringo is one of my favorite sf authors. Like most of his books, A Hymn Before Battle is full of military jargon and tactics and such that take me a good while to get used to, but the story itself is what keeps me hooked.
Earth’s first contact with alien species starts off rocky. There’s a race of aliens called the Posleen who are bent on interstellar conquest and destruction. And then there’s another group of aliens, which are rather incapable of defending themselves. So they decide to recruit the backward, primitive Humans to do their fighting for them. I assume that normally the leaders of Earth would tell them to fight their own battles, but unfortunately, Earth is the next in line to get taken over. Damn.
Enter Mike O’Neal. A former soldier who is now a web developer and sci-fi buff, he’s called back in by friendly former commanders to help head the tech development teams that will be working with the (relatively) friendly ETs to get the soldiers of Earth ready for interstellar combat within five years. Rather a tall order, but there’s really not much choice there.
Throughout the book, we flip between fronts, from a recon group, to front-line fighters, to the people left back on Earth. Since I’m not a military buff, I can’t speak very well on the tactics being used in the field, but it’s the interaction between people that makes the heart of this story shine. There’s a lot of heart in this book, especially because so many people are being separated, and because war forges very tight bonds between people. You care about the people in this book very quickly, and that makes each loss all the more heartbreaking.
Like most of Ringo’s books, even during the slower sections, there’s something to keep me engaged. Of course there has to be a lot of dialog, and explaining, in the first book of a series. Thankfully, the humans are clueless and need plenty explained to them. As we’re introduced to our new extraterrestrial allies, the level of technology that we’ll be able to use is explained, as well as some basic military knowledge that some of the audience might not know. Again, I’m not a military fiction fan, and since I have pretty much no military knowledge at all, a few parts can be a little tricky to get through, but never bad enough to stop reading.
The place where all of John Ringo’s books shine, however, is the characters. As the books go on, you get really attached to the characters and want them to win. Mike’s father seems like a blast, too, and I’m wondering if Cally might turn out like the girl in Kick-Ass.
All in all, it’s a great book to start a series out with, and certainly well worth your time.
Highs: Great setup for the series, interaction between characters
Lows: A little hard to follow the military terms sometimes
Verdict: Definitely worth the hard parts for the story
Further Reading: Gust Front, Live Free or Die
Highs: Great setup for the series, interaction between characters
Lows: A little hard to follow the military terms sometimes
Verdict: Definitely worth the hard parts for the story
Further Reading: Gust Front, Live Free or Die
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
Great potential, great story...inexperienced author
I was introduced to the novel The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms through an online book club, and read the author’s blog before ever picked up the book. That may have raised my expectations unfairly high, since the author seemed like a pretty cool person (and the blog was well written), but this book is a first novel, and that does show through.
The story itself is quite a good one. The idea of aspects of the gods, and fallen gods, walking among the morals is a standard, it’s a standard for a reason. The idea of a triumvirate of higher gods, with children of them making up lesser gods is also fairly standard, but the gods’ personalities and interactions are great.
Unfortunately, they outshine the personality of the main character, Yeine. Raised in a society that is steeped in misandry, and considered very backwater. Yeine was raised in a very forward-thinking family, but there still should have been more of that culture showing through in her actions and thoughts about what was going on.
There’s also a distinct lack of worldbuilding in this book. Jemisin has mentioned that the next two books in the series will take place outside of Sky, which will give more opportunity to see how the rest of the world works. That will certainly be welcome, since so much was hinted at, but not developed.
I wonder if the publishers gave Jemisin a shorter word count than more established authors. I think that this story would have benefited quite a bit from a page count closer to a Robert Jordan fantasy novel, rather than the scant 400 or so trade paperback pages she got. I know that parts of the story weren’t revealed to the reader on purpose, or were kept until much later in the book, but it really felt like parts of it were rushed.
The sex scenes also really felt like they were written by a bad fanfic writer. There’s a knack to writing erotic literature, and this isn’t it.
All in all, most of the problems with this book are just what happens with a new author. The core story itself is fantastic, and makes it well worth reading through the less well done parts well worth it. I’m certainly looking forward to the next books in the series, and sometimes that’s the best compliment to a story that you can give.
Highs: Lots of potential, great story.
Lows: First book syndrome, not much worldbuilding
Verdict: If nothing else, read it to enjoy the story and set up the next books
Further Reading: The Way of Kings, Wizard’s First Rule
The story itself is quite a good one. The idea of aspects of the gods, and fallen gods, walking among the morals is a standard, it’s a standard for a reason. The idea of a triumvirate of higher gods, with children of them making up lesser gods is also fairly standard, but the gods’ personalities and interactions are great.
Unfortunately, they outshine the personality of the main character, Yeine. Raised in a society that is steeped in misandry, and considered very backwater. Yeine was raised in a very forward-thinking family, but there still should have been more of that culture showing through in her actions and thoughts about what was going on.
There’s also a distinct lack of worldbuilding in this book. Jemisin has mentioned that the next two books in the series will take place outside of Sky, which will give more opportunity to see how the rest of the world works. That will certainly be welcome, since so much was hinted at, but not developed.
I wonder if the publishers gave Jemisin a shorter word count than more established authors. I think that this story would have benefited quite a bit from a page count closer to a Robert Jordan fantasy novel, rather than the scant 400 or so trade paperback pages she got. I know that parts of the story weren’t revealed to the reader on purpose, or were kept until much later in the book, but it really felt like parts of it were rushed.
The sex scenes also really felt like they were written by a bad fanfic writer. There’s a knack to writing erotic literature, and this isn’t it.
All in all, most of the problems with this book are just what happens with a new author. The core story itself is fantastic, and makes it well worth reading through the less well done parts well worth it. I’m certainly looking forward to the next books in the series, and sometimes that’s the best compliment to a story that you can give.
Highs: Lots of potential, great story.
Lows: First book syndrome, not much worldbuilding
Verdict: If nothing else, read it to enjoy the story and set up the next books
Further Reading: The Way of Kings, Wizard’s First Rule
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