The Man in the High Castle

"It is 1962 and the Second World War has been over for seventeen years: people have now had a chance to adjust to the new order. But it's not been easy. The Mediterranean has been drained to make farmland, the population of Africa has virtually been wiped out and America has been divided between the Nazis and the Japanese. In the neutral buffer zone that divides the two superpowers lives the man in the high castle, the author of an underground bestseller, a work of fiction that offers an alternative theory of world history in which the Axis powers didn't win the war."

The Man in the High Castle won the Hugo award in 1963. This alternative history story is an amazing vision of what if. But its much more than that. It's a story of a book with in a book. One of the cornerstones of the story is a book titled The Grasshopper Lies Heavy by Hawthorne Abendsen, who is the Man in the High Castle. Grasshopper is itself an alternate history book in which Germany and Japan did not win WW2.

Dick is a master of the esoteric in this book. He weaves a tale worthy of the title "Masterwork". For a work over 40 years old it does not feel dated. Characterizations are well developed for a book if this modest length. I found myself re-evaluating my opinions of the protagonists, most especially Juliana, several times as I read. This is a must read for any fan of speculative fiction.

9 out of 10

The Clan Corporate

I'm a big fan of Charles Stross's the Merchant Princes series, and I've been eagerly anticipating the release of The Clan Corporate, the third book in the series. For those of you not familiar with the series I will give you a brief plot overview.

Minor spoilers.

The premise is that there are multiple worlds. and that certain people have the genetic ability to move between them by concentrated on a particular pattern associated with a particular world. One of the world is ours. This is the world our protagonist Miriam Beckstein was brought up in. But our Earth is not the world she was born into. She is a scion of the Clan, the familial alliance of genetic world walkers, who have used their ability to cross to modern Earth to amass great fortune and great power in their medieval world. Miriam reintegration into that world has caused them a number of headaches however.
That is where the third book picks up.

Stross writes another page turner. The book is a fun and easy read. I previously called this series two parts Zelazny's Amber and one part Puzo's The Godfather. This book adds in what feels like a forth part Tom Clancy. The introduction of the pov of a DEA agent is part of the fall out of book two's climax. Stoss also gives us a number of interludes consisting of transcripts of conversations between minor or supporting characters. They felt a bit odd and out of place. Miriam also seems changed. Where up to this point she has adapted and overcome all the challenges presented to her, in this book she seems much more helpless.

Overall, the book seemed to have a different feel to it than the opening installments. While I still enjoyed The Clan Corporate immensely, I don't think this volume was as good as the first two.

7.5 out of 10

Dying of the Light

"A whisperjewel summoned him to Worlorn, and a love he thought he'd lost. But Worlorn isn't the world Dirk ta'Larien imagined, and Gwen Delvano is no longer the woman he once knew. She is bound to another man, and to a dying planet that is trapped in twilight, forever falling toward night."

Dying of the Light is George R.R. Martin's first novel. For a debut its tremendous. While technically this is a sci-fi story at its core its its a love story. The characterization that is the bread and butter of Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire novels, is abundantly evident here.

Worlorn is a rogue planet which is temporarily passing through a star system, and as a result will be able to support life for awhile. The planets of the outer fringe decide to each build a city on Worlorn, and hold a festival to show the inner planets their glory. Now the festival has passed. Worlorn is passing beyond the warmth of the suns and is slowly dying, a little more each day.

The book is well paced, and has a number of plot twists that have you reevaluating your views of the characters. No one seems to play with my views like Martin does. I'm a bit more torn about the ending. I just finished it, and I don't know if I like what he did or not. At the very least it was a bold way to finish of his first novel. Over all it was at very good book, and I'm eager to read more of George's early works.

8 out of 10

Lord of Light

"They called him Mahasamatman and said he was a god. He himself preferred to drop the Maha- and the -atman and called himself Sam. He never claimed to be a god, but then he never claimed not to be."

Lord of Light was Roger Zelazny's third novel and it won him the Hugo award for Best Novel in 1968.

The story on the surface seems like diefied fantasy, based around the Hindu pantheon. Deeper in however clues are revealed as to what is truly going on. The book starts out with the introduction of Sam, or Buddha, or Siddhartha, or any of the half dozen other names he is known by. Each of the subsequent 5 chapters are flashbacks telling the story of Sam's fight against "Heaven", with the seventh and final chapter occurring chronologically after the first.

Many consider this to be Zelazny's finest work. I still prefer the first Chronicles of Amber, but I can certainly see why other chose this. Once I got a grasp on how the story was being told, and began to pick up clues as to what the gods truly were the story made a lot more sense. This is a book that really makes you work.

8.5 out of 10

What is yet to come.

Books I'm looking forward to.

The Clan Corporate by Charles Stross : Book 3 of the Family Trade

The Blood Knight by Greg Keyes : Book 3 of the Kingdom of Thorn and Bone

The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch

A Sword from Red Ice by J.V. Jones : Book 3 of A Sword of Shadows

Farther down the road

A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin : Book 4 of A Song of Ice and Fire

A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan : Book 12 of the Wheel of Time

The Aspect-Emporer by R. Scott Bakker

John M. Ford

Ford is, I believe, a criminally under known author. The Dragon Waiting won him the World Fantasy Award. He has also written amongst other Heat and Fusion and Stories a collection of short stories, and The Last Hot Time, which is simply an amazing contemporay fantasy. I met Mr. Ford at this year's Boskone. He is also a local Minnesota resident like a slew of other talented fantasy authors. If you are looking for something new to read, you could dop far worse than picking up some of Mr. Ford's work.

Ender's Game

Winner of the Hugo and the Nebula Ender's game has become a Sci-Fi classic. Many people dislike Card because of his political and religious views, but I prefer to keep an authors works separate from his beliefs.

Ender's Game was originally written as a short story and later expanded into a novel. It follows the sory of Andrew "Ender" Wiggin, a boy of 6 years, who is mankind's last hope to lead them against the "Bugger" threat. It is a moving and at times very sad story of what one little boys is put through for the good of the world. The book also includes one of the coolest names ever, Mazer Rackham. At about 320 pages its not overlong, and was a fun easy read, while still doing a tremedous job of exporing Ender's character. Card wrote a series of sequels to this book as well as a spin off written from the viewpoint of a supporting character.

9 out of 10

The Salmon of Doubt.

I finished listening to the audio book of The Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams yesterday on my walk. I'm of two minds concerning it. I always have reservations about publishing unfinished materials following a great author's death. This book is no exception. I have not read the print version. Narration by Stephen Fry and Simon Jones.

The Salmon of Doubt was Adams working title for his last novel. He had intentions of making it a Dirk Gently novel, as well as a HHGTTG novel. In the end it hadn't really evolved into either, while having elements of both. The actual story however was, in my opinion, the weakest part of the book. Probably 2/3's of the books consists of friends eulogizing Douglas, as well as a hodge podge of Adam's musings, columns, and anecdotes.

The eulogies are bittersweet of course. You can feel the love his friends had for the man and their palpable sense of loss. The various columns, anecdotes, and unconnected musings, were the best part of the book. Many times I found myself laughing out loud while listening, as Douglas related his bizarre plans or expounded on his love of computers. He debated philosophy and theology. My favorite part is where he details the history of science and divides it into the four ages of sand.

My this work is extremely disjointed and the actually story is cobbled together and unfinished, this is a must read, or even better listen for any fan of Adams. The rough nature and incompleteness of the work are the reason for the lowered score.

7 out of 10

The Bronze Canticles

A big thanks to Pat at Pat's Fantasy Hotlist and the folks at Warner Books for the signed copies of the Bronze Canticles, by Tracy and Laura Hickman. Pat is generous enought to work with publishers and offer periodic giveaway contests.

A Shadow in Summer

I finished A Shadow in Summer this past weekend. I thought it was a very good debut novel for Abraham. In some was it has a lot of familiar plot elements typical to fantasy, but the presentation of those elements was very unique. The setting has a definite Asian vibe to it

Strengths:
The introduction of the poets and andat. The andat are demi-god like spirits that are bound into corporeal form by poets in the crafting of their poem. Each poem is unique and reflects the personality of the poet, which is mirrored in the personality of the andat.

Communication: Abraham, in addition to verbal, gives us a secondary form of communication, in the form of poses. I series of forms and gestures designed to show mood, as well as ask and answer simple questions, and relate position such as student to master, etc.

weaknesses: Characters. While the main characters had depth, none of them were all that memorable. Otah is probably the most interesting. The andat Seedless was also fairly interesting.

I enjoyed the book , and that's key for me. Although ASiS only the first book in a four book series, it feels like a complete story. In some ways that's great, The sub-story is completed. In another way there is no cliffhanger, It didn't leave me immediately wondering when the next installment was due.

7.5 out of 10