Josh Bizeau
Three and a Half Stars. Very enjoyable freshman outing with this cast of characters only briefly seen previously in the first two Isom volumes. Looking forward to how this arc proceeds.
The first volume in the series consisting of multiple consequential story/character arcs coming to a rising action head is also the best of the series thus far. Loads of Kaiju conflict as Asa faces her first real trial as a pilot with a neurotic researcher in tow; Kasuga, diverted by a predicament not of his own making but for which he becomes responsible; Miyako, finding herself in a spot of trouble after tailing her best friend, Yone; and the latter, whose encounter with an agency scout reveals her to be something of an accidental sexpot, belying her otherwise awkward, dorky personality, by way of her pursuit to break into the entertainment industry. Urasawa's practiced hand at balancing all these storylines and the editorial transitions between each is page-turning in its deftness.
Three and a Half Stars.
Great: Jon's World, Some Kinds of Life, Project: Earth, The Impossible Planet
Very Good: Prominent Author, The World She Wanted, A Surface Raid, Breakfast at Twilight, A Present for Pat, Of Withered Apples, James P. Crow, Souvenir
Good: The Cookie Lady, Beyond the Door, The Cosmic Poachers, Progeny, The Commuter, The Trouble with Bubbles, The Hood Maker, Adjustment Team, Imposter, Planet for Transients, Small Town
Okay: We Can Remember It for You, Wholesale, Martians Come in Clouds, Human Is, Survey Team
It's a shame Glen Cook has never continued this tale; the ending inarguably leaves room for a follow-up and we as readers can only hope Glen returns to this particular world of his creation one day. “The Swordbearer” is a deftly-written, action-packed high fantasy tragedy with a truly compelling and sympathetic lead character and a host of memorable side personalities. A young boy's idealistic dream of becoming a warrior is thrust upon him all too suddenly and violently in a manner that not only demands he grow up whether he likes it or not but own up to those demons most dark and personal as his goddess-determined fate forces him to become the wielder of a blade that incorporates the souls and memories of those he slays into his own consciousness.
The promise of character development through personal tragedy and global disillusionment inherent in a tale of this magnitude is taken full advantage of by Mr. Cook who manages to add a heaping dose of political double-talk, intrigue and personal betrayal into the mix along with his penchant for a full serving of crackling, perfectly-scored swords-and-sorcery action; no one quite writes action with the rhythm, timbre or intensity of Cook. If you love Glen's work, you shouldn't miss this particular stand-alone read. The worst thing that can be said about it would be that the author has never explored further into the world of our hero Gathrid and his dwarf companion Theis Rogala. I truly hope Cook decides to return to this particular miniature saga in the future; it would be a tremendous character study well worth further pursuit.
After second reading:
Three and a Half Stars. My thoughts on the book from my first reading pretty well stand as is. It's a thoroughly compelling science fiction tale which gives the reader plenty to chew on related not merely to the psychology of the main characters, given the formative events which stalk each of them throughout their arcs, but that of modern society at large given Zelazny's awfully prescient prognosis of where technological progress (of a nature very akin to that which we enjoy today) would leave humanity's individual and collective psyche. In typical Zelazny fashion, there are a mixture of mythological elements blended in with the narrative (primarily in the climax though foreshadowed far ahead of that), with a spinoff of Tristan and Isolde taking center stage. The closing of the book leaves much on the reader to image and reimage in terms of what events might transpire thereafter, which is style of storytelling very much up my particular alley. I always appreciate authors who treat their readers' intelligence with the utmost respect and Zelazny certainly seems keen on letting us evolve our notions of what befall his characters over the time we spend pondering the outcome he provides.
It also features a side story told in rare instances about a man in the same world haunting his way towards a highway into oncoming traffic, another side story about the main character's son and his precocious intelligence leading his career goals towards an optimistic vision regarding man's yearning to stretch out into the stars– and there's a talking dog who is a mythological stand-in for Fenris. That's pretty fun.
So, on the whole, this is a cleverly written story, replete with lovely prose and feels like the work of an author well beyond the age at which Zelazny penned it. It really goes to show how well read authors were in general so many years ago and of how much higher quality authors of today could be should they opt to follow that same lead. I very much recommend this book to any lover of science fiction who is looking for something more inspired and thoughtful than so much of the drivel being churned out within that genre at present.
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After first reading:
A thoroughly fascinating read which I will be giving a second pass before giving an official rating and review. I have a hunch that, now knowing how it ends, reading from the beginning once again will unfurl much more regarding the story's myriad mythic hieroglyphs and “far future” ideas, so crushingly relevant in their psychology to the year of my having first read this hyperextended short story. It is rather beyond unlikely that I managed to read two books back-to-back (The Claw of the Conciliator just prior) which spin off a pair of different mythological tales involving ships come home carrying either white sails or black depending on a particular event's outcome. And to think that The Dream Master was written before Zelazny had yet turned 30 and won the Nebula (long before that institution became the joke it has rendered itself more recently) for Best Novella alongside Frank Herbert's win with Dune as Best Novel makes it all the more bizarre that while the latter remains highly regarded, widely read and frequently republished, this novella was left far behind and has not seen an even somewhat meaningful publication in well over twenty years. It's time more readers discovered this gem.
Two and a Half Stars. A decent –if rushed and melodramatic– introduction to this world and our presumed primary protagonists.
A star rating on this is nigh-impossible given how fresh this new universe is and how much more context will be needed regarding story and character developments. I will revisit and give this a proper star rating at some point down the road when it feels correct to do so.
It's a solid start though and I am waiting very impatiently to see where this goes in coming volumes. Hail, Eric July, the Rippaverse and the Iron Age!
An excellent narrative told with some of the sharpest prose I have ever read and an impressive, total commitment to the first-person perspective which pays dividends investing the reader in solving a literary puzzle which will take the following three main books to even attempt at piecing together. Wolfe was a truly exceptional sort of wordsmith and I eagerly await my eventual second reading of this great work which will no doubt grow in my estimation over time.
The main character being a stand-in for nihilism is about as subtle as a cleaver to the balls while the primary love interest (a debatable perspective considering our protagonist's necrophiliac inclinations) offers a strange, shallow attempt at Poe-esque, darkly romantic tragedy. The primary plot twist was every bit so well-hidden as Joe Biden's cognitive decline and the violative scenes attendant throughout the tale are so purposefully deranged that they can't help but Wile E. Coyote themselves off a metaphorical cliff, tryhard edgelording themselves into something approaching fever dream symbolism and [un?]intentional black comedy. Perhaps, deep down, this is a work of sheer, uncompromising, deconstructive genius by Mr. Morrison and I lack scholarship enough to grasp its profundities– problem being that, unlike Mr. Owl's admirable curiosity at calculating licks towards that elusive Tootsie Pop center, I simply do not wish to “find out” and indeed the “world may never know.”
Plot developments, learning a little more about several characters and inching ever closer to Kaiju confrontation.
An omnibus volume containing the first two novels in The Book of the New Sun (The Shadow of the Torturer and The Claw of the Conciliator), which I have reviewed separately on the pages for those individual titles.
Three and a Half Stars.
A spirited, engaging start with some memorable characters to whom I am already quite attached.
Very Good: Earthbound; In Mirror Valley; Smashed
Good: Roar; Death Row Doorbell; Library Vision
Okay: The Mystery of the Haunted House; The Mystery of the Haunted House: Soichi's Version; I Don't Want to Be a Ghost
Not Good: Bloodsucking Darkness; Ghosts of Prime Time; Soichi's Beloved Pet; Splendid Shadow Song
“Now and Forever” encapsulates into one volume two highly differing yet fascinating pieces of short fiction from one of literature's high masters, Ray Bradbury. ‘Somewhere a Band is Playing' reminds me, oddly enough, of the Twilight Zone episode ‘Walking Distance'; not necessarily in structure but certainly in tone and in the overlying story about one man's yearning for and discovery of eternal youth in a little Arizona town, one filled with deathless tombstones and other mysteries. Bradbury beautifully shows how one man's soul can be so torn between the impossible, everlasting youth, and the less-than-perfect world he has grown to love his whole life.
‘Leviathan ‘99' is a whole different beast, no pun intended, being a far-future, cosmos-sailing adventure inspired directly by Melville's ‘Moby Dick.' The Whale has been replaced with a giant comet and the infamous Captain Ahab is on a suicidal quest to snuff out that particular cosmic entity which he blames for blinding him and will stop at nothing to achieve his aims. The original tribual-esque Queequeg has been replaced with the telepathic Queel, though his character's placement in the overall story arc remains much the same; the narrating crewman Ishmael remains true to his original name. Melville's original story may have been gigantic as the whale he wrote about, but Bradbury's story is fraction of the length yet manages to retain all of Moby Dick's psychological complexity as Bradbury lets his imagination run wild, having particular fun with Ahab's long-winded, dramatic quasi-Shakespearean speeches. His misguided belief that the comet is doomed to crash into the Earth sends the entire crew into the closest reaches of the massive comet, the Cetus 7 starship doomed by Ahab's insanity.
It's a strong duology of storytelling and one that no fan of great literature or Bradbury himself should miss. Even in his late '80s, Bradbury is proving he still has more talent and imagination in his pinky finger than most contemporary authors have in their entire minds.
A poignant if unsympathetic view of World War II's final days in the European theater told through the eyes of a cautious young German man and his less cautious friend, both exerted to join the Waffen-SS in its final, doomed efforts against Russian and American forces, their experiences therein impacting each of their respective fates. Rothmann's writing is by turns terse and impactful with Whiteside's translation establishing a taut narrative rhythm, the seemingly smallest details magnified to searing effect. Not all horror comes at the behest of human mortality as the author is equally interested in the terror of a bomb impacting but failing to kill, debauchery amidst military defeat, alongside the more mundane streams of individual life being diverted into the river rapids of history and the churning effect those events had on a citizenry who had [or had not] believed in vain that they were serving some grander purpose than folly. I found the ending of the novel, as told from the point of view of the main German soldier's son following his father's death in old age, to be particularly sharp, narratively mirroring one of his father's journeys but which becomes a historical knell resounding through generations hence.
Three and a Half Stars.
More Kaiju action with Asa doing her level best to bite off more she's been given to chew, a short but enjoyable bit of drama towards the end of the volume involving Asa, Miyako, Kinuyo, et al. and a decidedly concerning turn for Shoto, whose desperate need and strain to live up to his family's expectations along with those he projects on our title character encourages a choice opening a path to hallucinated glory where naught but psychological and physical ruin surely reside.
This second portion of The Book of the New Sun is every bit as rife with outstanding prose, intriguing worldbuilding (equally beguiling– an ever-expanding puzzle with pieces doled in deliberately meager fashion) and a journey for our protagonist as lively and engaging as that in the first volume. Interactions between Severian and a multitude of characters aid in layering each of them within this deteriorating world and, by book's end, finds one relationship in particular closing in forlorn fashion indeed. The immemorial complexity of male/female romantic relationships is shown through several facets by way of our imperfect protagonist and his equally flawed compatriots. Wolfe paints desires within a particular character by showing us their nature through action– the varied feelings Severian has for the female characters every bit as wrought with theatrics as his relationships with the masculine gender. That a level of curiosity for, circumspection of and interest in complex/flawed characters cannot seem to override certain “current day” sensitivities of a great many readers shows a tremendous flaw in western society when so many are now apparently unable to parse reality from fantasy, ideology from philosophy. The portion of this novel which pertains to the relationship between Severian and Jolenta is one of its most tragic elements of and shows us not merely tremendous flaws in both characters (Severian his spontaneous lusts, Jolenta her willingness to sell her soul for a false body which breeds self-absorption and romantic emptiness) while also pointing to those laudable aspects of their character which shine through the cracks of the grim, cold world around them (Severian his capacity for love and care, Jolenta her bent towards loyalty and companionship). That the nuance of this and other relationships within Wolfe's writing is so entirely lost on a great many reviewers is a testament to not merely lack of critical thinking ability but sympathy for nuance and patience with character development– analysis once widely encouraged, now abdicated in favor of lazy ideological reflexes and personal political imprinting so liberally misapplied, stupefyingly unwarranted.
The Claw of the Conciliator is an excellent read and one which, as with the first volume, I eagerly anticipate revisiting in years to come where I might further decipher Wolfe's masterfully constructed narrative.