The Burning City

by on October 27, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

Niven had a few things to say in The Magic Goes Away, and said them, so I’m always surprised when I see another story set in that world. But they’re generally good, and seem to be a way for him to have a bit of authorial fun. As is usual with Niven and Pournelle book, this possibly better than anything else set there; it’s a little hard to judge because it’s longer and a more involved story than any of the others I’ve seen.

However, the first half of the book is a very slow burn. While much of it is important, one way or another, to the rest of the book, I found watching Whandall grow up a bit wearing on my patience, and which that it had been cut down a little. The rest of the book somewhat surprisingly breaks into two very uneven sections. The first (technically part of part 1, but it has more of the feel of the rest of the book) deals with having gotten out of the confines of proto-Los Angeles and is more of an adventure in spirit. Once the plot is really moving, the book suddenly skips twenty-two years, to where Whandall is established with his own family when events finally circle back to the first part of the book.

Yes, part of the idea behind this book is that it deals with the area of Los Angeles in the prehistoric time of The Magic Goes Away universe, with the rest of the book happening in the central valley. There’s a number of references to the modern area (the La Brea Tar Pits are naturally a major location in the story), some of which I probably don’t get because I’m not that familiar with the area. (And some are no doubt in-jokes; I have a feeling that Condigeo is a reference to Con Diego, a spectacularly unsuccessful convention attached to San Diego Comic Con at one point.)

Despite my grousing at the pacing, overall this is another good Niven and Pournelle book, and as with the majority of them, well worth reading. Despite the physical setting, most of the attention is on the various societies involved in the area, and the interactions between them as well as personally shifting from one to another.

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The Last King of Poland

by on October 19, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

Adam Zomoyski starts his book by noting that there’s no truly adequate biography of King Stanisław II Poniatowski in any language, and his doesn’t measure up either. He figures Stanisław deserves two fairly large volumes to trace down every tangent related to his life. It would be a thoroughly scholarly work, and I doubt I’d read it, but after reading the book he did write, I can understand the desire.

Zamoyski paints a very positive picture of Stanisław, and while he not hide his problems he does not dwell on them either. As Poland pre-deceased him, it should be obvious that Stanisław has come in for a lot criticism and finger-pointing over the centuries. Unlike a lot of assessments of Stanisław (mostly starting right after the fact), Zamoyski generally celebrates his life and accomplishments. And there’s a lot to admire; he was obviously a very intelligent man, who on several occasions took effective control of councils or parties designed to limit his power. An Enlightenment idealist, he managed to get elected King of Poland and start reforms while being pragmatic about what could actually be accomplished inside of Poland’s delicate situation in the 18th Century.

And as in any good tragedy, these positive qualities are at the center of his problems. Zamoyski shows how he constantly wavered between his pragmatic and idealist impulses, eventually getting swept up in the Great Sejm and drafting up the constitution which led to the final partitions of Poland. He does not discuss the fact his ability to change position, and re-align with which way the wind was blowing also probably caused a fair amount of trouble, as it would be harder to trust him; and yet there was often little choice, as his actual authority was low. Similarly, he showed an interest in all sorts of pursuits (very much a Renaissance Man), and spent a great deal of energy diverting himself between all of them, and I wonder if more may have been accomplished with better focus.

Stanisław was not a military leader, and the couple of wars that occurred in his reign are not covered in any major detail. Poland’s military had been kept purposefully weak, and had to build up the army in a hurry after the new constitution. Given the challenges, it seems have performed well in the Polish–Russian War of 1792, and I’d like to see more about that.

An unfortunate final note is that my copy is a scan-and-OCR Kindle edition of an early 90’s work, and it shows. The early part of the book is in very good shape, but as often happens, the cleanup of the text slowly degrades through the course of the book. Mostly, the problems are more minor than usual (a number of extraneous periods), but a number of ‘e’s have become ‘c’s, and very late in errors like “l)evichy” (Devichy) occur. This is a shame, as the text deserves better.

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Sun and Moon, Ice and Snow

by on October 11, 2017 at 12:00 pm
Posted In: Books

My knowledge of fairy and folk tales is pretty minimal, so this is a completely new story for me, despite being based on a Norwegian folk tale. As its own thing, it’s a good story, though you can certainly see the folk take themes in it. Compared to most such books, this runs a little longer, and is obviously an expanded version of the story, though still easily readable in the YA range. Elements of the original were borrowed in Beauty and the Beast, and are easily recognizable here.

An interesting take away for me is that trolls here are very close to the Malediction Trilogy version: very powerful magic coupled with the need to follow any oaths/promises exactly. I’m more used to the D&D version (hunger personified), or maybe the ElfQuest version (lumpy green dwarf stand-ins).

In general, the novel is intelligent and engaging all the way through, keeping the cast of characters is engaging and large enough for things to happen while also small enough to keep the story nicely close and tightly-written. The ending seems to rush through things fairly fast, but the rest of the book has very good pacing, so overall it’s well worth a read.

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Rose

by on October 3, 2017 at 12:00 pm
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Bone is, of course, a wonderful series, so I have to admit to feeling some guilt at taking so long to getting around to the prequel that came out while Bone was still running, especially as a long-time fan of Charles Vess.

Vess’ art and colors are as always superb, and his style fits the story very well. Parts of the story are in the dream world, and well… most of Vess’ art looks like it’s in a dream world. I wish he’d done the cover as well, as it jars a bit with the interior, though I’m sure it’s to make the book fit with the look of rest of the series for people who just know Jeff Smith’s work.

As a prequel to the epic that is Bone, the events in Rose seem like they should have an ‘epic’ quality to them too, but somehow a lot of the book just feels a bit disjointed and out of place even though it all technically fits together. Perhaps it’s just a too-quick introduction to the situation and secondary characters in the opening chapters. But the main problem with the plot is that the main ‘twist’ is cliche enough these days that the foreshadowing of it ends up really telegraphing it to the reader. It is a tragedy, where most of what is lost you aren’t given much motivation to mourn for.

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Mindline

by on September 21, 2017 at 12:00 pm
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Part two of the Dreamhealer’s duology naturally picks up right where Mindtouch left off.

Jahir starts his residency on Selnor, and finds that it has even higher gravity than the (for him) heavy gravity that he’d had to get adjusted to on Seersana. I was a bit tired on my own while reading this, and the combination of reading through Jahir’s struggles with a planet too heavy for him grinding him down really made me feel it.

Vasiht’h chases after him and helps keep him going as they get drawn into a medical crisis that strains both of them. (This gets into one of my problems with psionics, as Jahir’s purely mental (as in brain/nervous system) ability seems to be able affect something that from what very little description is given is more purely chemical.) In some books, this might be enough for the entire story, with a triumphant, but bruised ending.

But this is a book about two people, and not the external problems they come across. The crisis is maybe half the book, and definitely makes me think of Cordelia’s Honor: “But I’ve always thought—tests are a gift. And great tests are a great gift.” The second half is rebuilding from a test that nearly kills them (Jahir especially), and a clearer return to the themes of the first book.

The pair really are one story. There’s a third book in the series now (and some short stories), but that’s a sequel, and a new story, and so isn’t essential to pick up immediately as this one is.

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