Late Book Reviews - Part 1
I remember - back in the mists of time - when I had the idea of writing small reviews of the books I’d read every couple of months, as a reminder to myself more than anything else since I like looking back at what I’ve read every so often and yet have no memory. Well, that was a fine idea, and it even worked for a while, but then I got really busy at work and missed a point on the schedule. I tried to catch up, but by then I’d read more, so there was more to write about, and the task seemed even more daunting and off-putting, so I ignored it for a bit longer. Lather, rinse, repeat.
I think it’s about time to do something about it, so here’s the first batch, starting from early April, with more to come unless something breaks or unties.
A Feast For Crows - George R.R. Martin
A Song of Ice and Fire is one of the only Phat Phantasy series that I’ve been able to get interested in since I was a teenager. I ploughed through the first three books in next to no time, and then had to wait six years for this latest volume to come out. Sadly, it’s pretty under whelming.
The problem is that the story is currently split between 2 branches: One half is a standard Medieval courts and kings (European) type fantasy setting, while the other is a “Thousand Nights and One Night” deserts and horse-lords scenario. The European branch has pretty much run its course, with most of the interesting stuff having already taken place, and since the author isn’t afraid to kill off major characters, all that’s left is some perfunctory court politics for the remaining royalty to wrangle through.
The Arabian branch is where the meat of the story is, where all of the potential has been built up and where all of the reader interest will be focused until the two halves finally collide with each other.
The problem, then, is that this entire volume is concerned with tying up loose ends and sealing off the European branch, which results in an entire 700 page book where nothing much happens. (Not to Robert Jordan levels of glacial plot progress, but not far off.) There’s even an apology for this in the afterword, and a promise that the next book will get onto the stuff that the readers really wanted.
Some hope for future volumes then, but this one is really heavy work. Probably a bad sign that I was relieved when I got to the end of it.
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle - Haruki Murakami
Continuing a life-long accidental habit of reading author’s catalogues completely out of order, I finally got around to Murakami’s first novel. There are a lot of themes and imagery that recur in his later books (Isolation; entering and leaving social stasis; cats…) but it feels a lot more impressionistic than most of his later stuff. Huge tracts of the book are never really explained, and mainly serve to paint images in your head that stick around and bubble back into your thoughts at odd times.
It might also be one of the sexiest books ever written, while at the same time dealing with some pretty disturbing stuff. Sort of makes me wish I was smart enough to actually understand any of it.
The Family Trade - Charles Stross
You might wonder how long a review of this book can go without mentioning Roger Zelazny’s Amber series. In this case: 14 words.
It’s a similar parellel-world-walker fantasy setup, but it’s a lot more enjoyable (The Amber books sent me to sleep.) It feels very contemporary, and it’s clear that it won’t hang around in a fantasy setting for long. Like most of Stross’ stuff it jumps incessantly from one ingenious idea to the next, leaving you torn between stopping to examine ideas that other authors would devote entire wrist-breaking tomes to, or flowing along with the story which proceeds at a gallop at all times.
The only problem is that it’s really only a small part of a bigger book. There’s no real resolution, and it expects that you’ll basically move straight onto the following volume in the series - which leads us on to…
The Hidden Family - Charles Stross
… which is just the direct continuation of The Family Trade. They could have been glued directly between the same covers if it weren’t for writing deadlines, publisher machinations, and the impracticalities of carrying thick books around.
There’s more of a conclusion at the end of this one, but it’s still really just another chapter, to be continued in The Clan Corporate (which I haven’t been able to get hold of yet. Curses!)