. . . Saves Nine by Les Lynam
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Saves Nine by Les Lynam
I had an opportunity to read this as a sort of review copy quite a while ago. It obviously has undergone a few changes since then and it somehow became even longer than it was the first time. Since it's a time travel novel; sometimes being longer can be a horribly bad thing. I'm happy to say that that's not the case with this. This read to me the second time just a well as the first and in many ways felt as though I were reading it for the first time.
What I mean when I say that a long time travel novel can be bad; is that it can become recursive to an ad-nausea degree. You know: that bit where you have the character or characters live the same scene over and over until you feel like you are in some horrible remake of groundhog day. That doesn't happen here; though there is some overlap it usually breezes past quickly, because there's way too much other stuff going on to waste space[and time].
An odd thing I took from this novel is that I felt the main character Sean seemed almost a bit weak at time[which can be a good thing because character's need flaws]. This was not a showstopper weak, but there are times when as a reader I felt I would like to slap him up the side of the head for his actions and even his inaction. Of course, to his credit sometimes his inaction was a result of the programming of the enigmatic time traveler; claiming to be related to him.
The story starts out as an almost simple teen tale in high school with the usual angst. Some of this is the lame part of our character Sean as he tries to deal[not very well] with first someone obsessively stalking him and then his own obsession. But most of this is the setup for an early twist in the story and in a small way the prologue almost spoils some of it. Things get just a bit scary before they get really strange. And then when there is an excursion further into the past things are quite fun for bit.
In reading this twice I still found that it was well into the book that we meet the character I felt was the strongest in the whole story. This could just be me, so you really should read this book to see how you feel about it. At about this same time the book takes a more serious tone as we start to add up a few of the consequences of traveling through time and interacting with people[some who have been dead a few years or more in the time traveler's own time]. Les Lynam even threw a few thoughts and wrinkles that I don't recall seeing in this type of novel.
This is a long novel and happily I can say that in reading it through I never felt that there were any places where things could or should have been cut so the writing justifies the length[which is always a great thing]. When we weren't coming up with new ideas we were going through the process of developing the characters and moving the story forward. In fact; near the end and in the last few chapters I almost felt a sense of being rushed, which may have been exaggerated for me; because my favorite character was being developed a bit more and I hope that in the next installment of this series we see that happening at a different pace.
This is an outstanding debut novel from an author who cares enough to make the best attempt at delivering the cleanest clearest copy to the reader. This will make a great addition to the library of and Young Adult and those who love SFF just as well. A very thoughtful and thought provoking read.
J.L. Dobias
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Bane of Souls by Thaddeus White
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Bane of Souls by Thaddeus White
A friend suggest this read because I've been doing indie authors and they thought this one might do the trick. I'm glad they did. This was an entertaining read that is well written in the grammatical sense.
This is one of those books that almost lost me at the beginning. It opens with Francis who is being trussed up to drown in the River Axe by Wilf who is one of many corrupt Watchmen in the city of Highford.They are both despicable characters in their own way and in truth are very much alike. But this night Francis will meet a disembodied spirit who befriends him and can't help him and a magistri -mage who can and does help him. We do find that Francis has a tiny speck of loyalty in him that prevents him from revealing who left him out there to drown. He also has an almost unlikely girl friend named Sarah. The disembodied spirit named Samuel manages to assist Francis in obtaining a better life than his begging has given him and a better chance with Sarah. His intersection with the mage Julia brings him in contact with the other mage and possibly with the Main Character Horst. This is Horst's story, I think, but there are so many to chose from.
The other main character is the setting. This is possibly overwrought as far as description of what it looks like, but as long as the descriptions are there seems to be very little that brought me into the taste,smell, and feel of the story. Even Horst, who by default becomes the main character when you reach the end, is distanced by his desire to be somewhere else all the time. And there are so many characters that take the focus it is often difficult to keep up with and sort through them through the cover of all the description. If you love books that describe the setting down to tiny detail you should love this book.
There were few if any characters that peaked my interest or garnered sympathy. The most interesting character is Thaddeus who is basically an orbital character who floats out there intersecting with the other main characters periodically and even garnering the limelight now an then. Thaddeus is a thief in a world of thieves who is the only one who really seems to be comfortable with who he is and makes no pretense with special title or anything like that as do the rest of the community of thieves. He's the only character that rings true to himself all the time and he probably deserves his own book.
Being limited in my scope of reading in this genre I couldn't help get a certain feeling as though this were a slightly more mature Harry Potter type novel. I think it might have been the disembodied spirits and the notion of the great evil being one of those and needing to find the perfect vessel to bring him closer to this world and to greater power.
What I found missing was a good solid plot to grab onto. Oh, I'm sure it's there and I'll figure it out as I write all this. We have at least a handful of stories. The story of Horst the Kuhrisch who's last wish would be-to become a mage. The story of Francis the begger and Sarah and Francis' brief rise in society. We have the story of the Mage community a tight community devoutly protecting the city and other cities throughout the land. We have Thaddeus the head of the underworld so to speak and his fight to retain his power. And we have the officials of the city and their miriad of stories. And we have the evil spirit. These are all definitely part of the world building and are interesting; again, if world building is the readers interest. What they don't all do is come together clearly all the time, so there are things that don't seem to move, I can't say plot , the story and they don't even always move each other along, but just occasionally contribute a bit here and there.
There is so much going on and so much description that in a way, for me, it was hard to keep up and keep things straight. I had to go backwards a few times to figure out if I zoned out or if the story just japed into a different direction. (A couple of times it really was me zoning out.)
This is one of those stories that a lot of people die in- and the very ending had a predictable element to it. The Plot might be best described as good vs evil though in this case, with few if any redeeming characters, it might be grey vs black and the victory of the many over the one evil. And with as many times as that victory seems to occur it, is uncertain there has been a victory.
There could be more books coming though this seems to leave the stories in a fair place.
This is a great book for the SFF fans especially those who like the descriptive world building of a world of magic and evil spirits.
J.L. Dobias
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Emergence by Nick M. Lloyd
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Every once in a while there is a book that just grabs my attention and keeps it. I hadn't quite expected that from Nick Lloyd's Emergence. It seems to be written in the style of a procedural suspense thriller. This tends to create the air of Hard Science Fiction and thankfully not the difficult kind of hard. Well, maybe some difficult if you try to include the many worlds interpretation. I almost thought it would slip away from me when I was forced to focus heavily on the alien race. The world of Jack and Louise was becoming so entertaining that I didn't really want to take a break to examine the Gadium in the ship above Earth and certainly not the ones far off in space at other worlds.
There are a number of ways to handle alien races in a Science Fiction novel. One of those ways is to try to make everyday life and dialogue sound like us. Sometimes that choice can make the story a bit less than palatable. In Emergence it helped a lot, because there's a lot to get to know about these aliens before the climax of the story. What brings them here; and why they have come all this way only to watch. Much of this gets answered and even more questions the reader hasn't thought to ask. The procedural nature of the story is not limited to the Earth half of the story and the reader should be ready to learn a lot about the procedural nature of the aliens who watch.
But, to be honest, what I liked about Emergence is the characters. I had resolved that I was going to be concentrating on the colorful characters of all the Earth Humans. The animosity between Jack and Louise drive the story. Louise might not have begun her investigation, but for the conflict she'd been having with Jack. The dynamic duo of Jeff and Mike as college professors and the main researchers within the story are a good foil for Louise's hard nosed investigative reporting. But that was quickly derailed by the scenes depicting the initial discomfort between the aliens Aytch and Justio, which expands as the reader finds there are dissenters in the most perfect ranks of the great race.
At one point I was almost ready to let the story guide me into the look and feel of Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. But this never got to the level of silliness of Douglas Adam's work. This seems to stay in the more serious vein perhaps like X-files. One would think that since the aliens are mostly there to watch that it would be pretty boring. For the most part the reader is initially led to believe it is pretty sedate; but soon, with the potential for internal strife, things begin to get interesting.
It takes a while for the reader to come to grips with the rules that the Gadium must abide by while observing the Emergence. It's those rules that set the stage for most of the story's conflicts. It's those rules and the Gadium belief that they are doing the right thing that lead to some pretty strange occurrences. Eventually everyone will be in a race against time to complete missions that all seem to be at odds with each other.
It's easy to start picking sides but it becomes confusing when the reader has to take into consideration that one or the other of the Gadium factions has to dominate and when that happens then the conflict becomes between them and the humans and neither of the former two are a good choice for that ultimate conflict and the humans are being set up to mostly lose in any situation.
When it gets to the final solutions the readers is left satisfied; but the final judgment will be that there will likely be more to this story.
This is well written well paced Procedural Science Fiction that waxes Hard most of the time though the seeming theoretical nature of Many Worlds Interpretation will stretch some readers suspension of disbelief.
You need to read this to see what I mean and you shouldn't be disappointed.
J.L. Dobias
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I loved this book. Not only was it entertaining it was educational. There are a lot of historical characters here that I might never have met without this book. It's amazing how many inventors there are that are not household names.
On the other hand there a quite a few household names in the book also. I usually call this name-dropping because an author often does not do much related with that character that seems to be totally in character when they map out stories like this. This is not that kind of story- these characters show up for a reason. This book starts out like a historical novel and then sort of morphs itself-understandably-into a sort of steam punk with just a bit less steam in it.
Instead of being an alternate universe which developed differently this is more like a time travel universe with the same potential as ours where the main character- familiar with today's technology- attempts to bring his new-old world up to date.
This has a great storyline with a great main character. Jack Riggs-maybe later we might consider him the Jack of all trades- has a vast amount of knowledge that he seems mostly to be wasting. Jack is a womanizer. He hasn't found the woman he loves- ie; one he respects long enough to actually be in a serious relationship with. This is what gets Jack into trouble and it's something he'll find himself working on in spite of himself.
Jack is teaching- which means he is using some of that knowledge. and he is presently toying with a relationship with Ashley who seems to be quite intelligent and driven and possibly a bit anal- at least from Jacks point of view. Jack has also been toying at work. He must be teaching seniors because the girl he's been cheating with, Shalah is possibly eighteen-making her somewhat legal. But, let's face it; Jack! what are you thinking. Jack has all sorts of good reasons for what he's been thinking of doing and all sorts of denial that he did that much. It seems that Shalah has thrown herself at him. This is natural since Jack is just one of those guys that women throw themselves at.
The trouble this leads to is everything beyond expected when Jack is being questioned at the police station for possible terrorism. Shalah shows up with a bomb at school-one which her terrorist boyfriend made- based on knowledge that Jack was freely tossing around. This leads to a disclosure of a relationship with Shalah that seems to be trumped up by pictures Shalah had taken after breaking into Jacks apartment. Jack naturally calls Ashley to pick him up where she proceeds to break up with him in a high speed drive away from the police station and into the center of a super storm. This is when things get really strange.
At the moment when Jack might be seeing his life flash before him. Surprise Ashley loses control of the care and the slide into an eventual accident. At the moment of Impact the super storm lightning strikes and some great vortex like force takes Jack back to the 1850's and some time just prior to the civil war.
Now I'll stop for my quibble with this book. There is a side story that figures heavily in this novel and probably makes more sense in the next novel. It shows up as a preface or prologue or such called Before. I won't say much about it because it confused me mostly and I'm not sure it's necessary. But, I didn't write this novel and I don't intend on rewriting it so it's there and it stands. I have the same feeling about the last chapter which is a chapter and could have been the epilogue. Either way I don't think they added to the story and could have been inserted somewhere in the second book if they are necessary, which I think they are and it might be that the author doesn't want to make it look like he thought of this at the last minute and inserted it into the second story. So, bottom line is the objection is just me- it probably is a good thing the two sections are there. There are more breadcrumbs related to them inside the story.
Anyway, Jack becomes a great facilitator of inventors. He needs to eventually create most of the things he thinks he needs to stop the civil war from happening. I'm not going to name drop all the inventors involved. I think the best way to read this is to have a paper handy and write names down and later check their credentials on line. You'll be surprised at what information is there and how well the characters fit into the world that Jack is building.
There's an evil group of southerners who are copying peoples patented technologies who will notice Jack and realize they need to get him on their team- not realizing that Jack is never going to be on their side. This creates the conflict. And, the woman of his dreams, Dreams Jack never knew he had, creates the pathway towards rehabilitating the womanizer. But, not before he takes an initial sampling of what's available in the past.
This is a great novel for anyone who loves historical romances and it's coming real close to the strange technology anachronism of all good Steam-punk novels. It has time travel and even some strange-mysterious group(possibly time travelers). So any one who loves Science Fiction or Speculative Fiction and those other aspects should love this novel.
I'm definitely reading the next few to get the rest of the story.
J.L. Dobias
I'm giving this 5 stars because its played well even though there are some potential road bumps. And because I'm giving it 5 stars I'm going to be a bit brutal about those bumps.
First and foremost I loved this book and I loved it a lot more than I expected. I am a fan of many of the movies and shows that contain the War in Space themes but not so much the ones that are heavy on the battle engagements. My focus always falls on the characters and how they develop within the context of the story. Damn the torpedoes; I want to know about the people.
This book starts with Day One: H-HOUR and its a good lead in with some mystery and intrigue and the beginning of war. Only problem is of course that everyone dies. Well that usually isn't a game changer since there's the rest of the story.
The quibble I have with this book is it takes the next third of the book to get to the rest of the story and there are a lot of people who after reading a hundred pages or less are going to say 'what the heck.' Yell 'Abandon ship.' and throw another log on the fire.
I'm glad i resisted all those urges. And John redeems himself well enough to let that all pass. I just think that there's a whole bunch of people who will get a bit upset. Here's why. There's this whole bunch of Poli-Sci fiction going here that reads almost like a stale history analysis of what led up to this one moment we saw in passing from above(What I said up there.), all lumped together.
Really there are some things in that history that the reader needs to know and though I don't usually agree with the notion of skimming or scanning a fiction book I think it's appropriate here because the reader really needs to get past page 100 to get to the rest of the story or their missing a really well told well paced action packed thriller.(Don't really skim or you might miss something important.)
Honestly, John needs to make cliff notes for Part1 for the reader who wants to read the action and character development. (I'm sure somewhere along the line he thought that's what part 1 is but seriously.) I have to be careful here because in this instance the author knows where I work.
Honestly though, I couldn't put this down once things really started to happen. As history showed us the colonies in space have very good reasons to rebel and now they have the support of a former Admiral Dermot Coughlan. Dermot has many motivations for helping the colonists but his deepest I wasn't sure about. It could be the senseless death of his son but he also seems to have some vision of the value of the strength of the colonies and that's somewhere locked in that Poli-Sci section that needs this shown in the cliff notes.
Nolan Shaw, the charismatic leader of the rebels is a dangerous and possibly overreaching man who is clearly leading his people beyond his own abilities and that is going to have to play out in future stories. He's building some bad karma.
Navy Admiral of the Fleet, Terry Hutchins is an old friend of Dermot Coughlan and is the counter-point to him on the other side in this war. His daughter Rear Admiral Evelyn Hutchins is the one who will have to face off with Coughlan and I want to say I'm in love with this character. She does everything right within her abilities and sometimes beyond and she is unswerving in the face of death.
I've no idea how well Evelyn will come out of all of this but look out Honor Harrington you have staunch competition.
Paulo Mantega is the investigator tracing after the infamous Somachai and trying to prevent the catastrophe that will set things off. He has a lot of guilt and a self imposed mission.
John Hanson is living with the knowledge of what his brother Michael has done and knowing he had a part in it all.
I'm definitely looking for the next book in this series.
And when you get a chance John shoot me those cliff notes.
J.L. Dobias
I acquired this e-book free from amazon and I can emphatically say that it was a delightful surprised wrapped in the fresh voice of a new talent.
Let me first warn that this book is best enjoyed on a kindle or in a kindle for PC app and not quite so friendly in the Chrome-book app that they have for it. I was test driving the chrome at the time and endured the jagged right margin with no indents and no spaces between paragraphs and there was often some confusion about where paragraphs ended. I checked later on my other two appliances and found it to be an affectation of the poorly written kindle program for the chrome. Let me also say that this should in no way reflect poorly on the author- in fact- it says a lot that I couldn't put this book down even with those problems on the chrome.
This is a sort of coming of age story. Jamie and her brother Brandon have recently left home and are trying to find their nitch in life. Brandon has his band and his band buddies, Jamie is not so fortunate as she only has the band by association. She's well organized but not yet focused on what she wants to do. So she helps out where she can with all the guys in the band and she is falling for one of them. Kyle is someone that she and her brother have known for a long time and she's becoming certain that she'd be comfortable with more than that as long as it doesn't mess with current friendships.
This story is a lot more than that though.
It's a story of changes and coming to understand ones own potential. It's a story of love, heart break, betrayal and growth. It's also a story of strange creatures and mystery.
It starts out a bit slow, but that won't put you off. It's a slowly peculating mystery where Jessica keeps the reader wondering just what's happening.
Brandon and Jamie start the story on a camping trip in the desert that goes just a bit awry when they wander into a deep cave where they both are injured and attacked by an unseen and deadly creature. Strange things begin to happen to them and it's only at about one third the way into the story that we discover a bit of what is going on. Trust me you won't want to put it down at least until you find out what that is.
Then when you do, you'll have to finish it because things get really interesting.
One of the amazing things about The Foretelling is how well the characters are portrayed. Not only did I easily identify with Jamie and Brandon and immediately feel a connection, but even some of the less likeable characters are still endearing enough to care about.
The story is a well woven and nicely paced tale that takes you from beginning to end and leaves you wanting to pick up the next book as soon as possible to find out what is going to happen.
Anyone who likes Anne McCaffery's Dragon stories will love this tale. I love mostly science fiction but the explanation and detail along with great narrative style were enough to keep me happy throughout.
I really can't express how much I love the world you're building here Jessica.
J.L. Dobias
I honestly didn't know what to expect from this novel. I had made it to the author's web page and looked at the covers, which were intriguing. I really did not read the blurbs. I was, in fact, taking a break from another tedious novel that I felt lacked some bit of style to keep me interested. So I decided to go ahead and try the bit of sample the author is offering. It's about one hundred pages. I usually don't put a lot of stock in the cover or the blurb, but prefer to read at least ten or more pages when possible. And I will say this-about Diamond Eyes- read those pages and then try to act like you're not interested in reading the rest of the book.
I was immediately drawn into the book by the engaging narrative. This is not one of the usual action packed, heart pumping, seat of your pants hooks. This is more a carefully crafted lure that is placed gently and casually entices the reader into the world of Mira Chambers and her heart rending story.
Ben-recently released from prison for something he had nothing to do with- thought that he'd just been through the worst he could ever see and was looking forward to getting back into the life he had to so abruptly leave behind. He's just taken a job with Serenity-better known as Libica Isle Benevolent Asylum for the Criminally Insane. Not the best assignment but he's now an ex-con. He'll be working with youths and young adults, but is primarily here to help with Mira's case. If he thought he had it bad he's about to discover a whole new meaning of bad. Not the way that the story initially misleads the reader, though. He's about to see how much of a hell that Mira has had to confront and slowly he begins to realize that it may all be even more of an injustice than his own incarceration.
Mira is blind- that's the least of her problems. She's not much hindered by her blindness and she is in no way to be considered helpless. Her real problem is that because her hold on reality seems so tenuous and her nature is to strike out at everyone, she is kept mollified through heavy medication. She has no friends in the staff and the one friend she has among the patients has recently sewn here eye lid shut.
There's a lot of mystery just in this first bit of getting acquainted with these characters. And sometimes this reads like a paranormal story and for some it might not get to the action as quick as they desire. This is a suspense thriller that build slowly one brick at a time and it kept me interested all the way through. There may have been some predictable elements in the narrative but I think that helped the pacing of the story if anything.
There are often novels, which I've read, that resonate with me in such a way that they really touch me and this novel had several moments. There were times when the struggles and decisions of Mira seemed so real that I could cheer when it appears that Ben has somehow connected and goes way above and beyond to help her. In the same token when Ben suffers for both his past and those decisions to help that put him a odds with the system I found myself sympathizing and trying to figure out how things were ever going to work out for him.
It seem for every breakthrough in Mira's condition they run into another setback for which either one of them might be responsible and until the two researchers come into the story there seems to be little hope in a total understanding of what is going on. But, with the possibility of answers for both Mira and Ben there comes a new set of risks and dangers that begin to make everything else they have experienced so far look like a walk in the park.
I'm not sure how anyone could put this book down after starting. I want the answers to the burning questions about Mira's condition.
There were several times that I had to look up some of the stuff mentioned in Diamond Eyes and I'd say the A.A. Bell did the research necessary to bring as much realism into this novel as possible.
If you like psychological thrillers, a bit of the paranormal, and some weird time travel like stuff you'll love this book. All this, and it could very well be considered a literary masterpiece. It's well told, clear and understandable as the author builds- each step of the way- the explanation of what the Diamond Eyes mean to Mira.(To say nothing of the Poet Trees.)
Well Woven Psychological Suspense Mystery Thriller
J.L. Dobias
Touchstone Trilogy by Andrea K Host.
I purchased this book after reading a sample of Andrea K Host's -And all the Stars-. I had already put the three books in my wish list prior to that. But after reading that sample I had a feeling I should just buy the whole and totally unrelated trilogy. I read through them in three days.
People have told me that writing in first person is hard to do. They have given various reasons why it does not work and sometimes those reasons are conflicted. Some even suggest that it's this decades fad to write in first person. Because this is written as a diary it's naturally in first person. Andrea nails first person right on the head, and right out of the box.
Cass is such an engaging character in Stray that she sucks you right into her story at the beginning. There is not doubt of Andrea's world building abilities and her strong characterization. But what really got me in this story is in the chapter February when Cass's birthday arrives. And I'm not giving anything away, other than to honestly say I was so into Cass by then that I nearly cried. It's not often a book does that.
And then there was Lab Rat One. And by now this series is peopled with a couple of handfuls of characters that you would think you'd need a score card but there are more to come and Cass has a way of making sure we don't lose track of who is who. Or maybe I should say that Andrea does.
It doesn't take long before Andrea does it to me again. Even though Cass sometimes begins to sound a bit whinny I just get so into her whole dilemma that I can't help but feel what she must be feeling.
So by Caszandra the third installment, you would think I was steeled and ready to handle it. But, Andrea through Cass has a way of now drawing you into her life and the extended family of people around her.
This series of books is one powerhouse. Well told tightly packed. Emotionally charged.
But what really got me was how it all touched me. I would need more stars if I gave a star for every time I was greatly affected by this story.
J.L. Dobias
The Human Blend by Alan Dean Foster
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
The Human Blend (Tipping Point Trilogy) by Alan Dean Foster
I don't have much in my collection from Alan Dean Foster and that's all pretty ancient. So I thought I'd try this one out and see how his writing has improved. The premise is pretty good and the first chapter kept my interest; but then something happened and it might be related somehow to the fact that the author has quite a few film adaptations to his credit.
The story starts out with two melds, Jimney and Whispr, as they roll another meld for his parts, or at least his advanced hand. Jimney is employing a device that stops the man’s melded heart and his intent seems to include knowledge that this will kill the victim. Later Whispr makes a statement that either sounds like he didn't know all of that or he's trying to downplay what really went down. The bottom line is that the man has a piece of interesting tech woven into his clothing and they sign their own death warrants, when they take that. They are soon to be pursued by the police and two other shadowy agencies.
Elsewhere Dr. Ingrid Seastrom discovers a rather interesting added bit of tech in a meld done through some of the cheaper meld markets. The tech seems to be some sort of impossible metal that is quantum-ly entangled and over a period of time vanishes leaving her with no evidence. We later discover that Dr. Seastrom may have some hazy edge to her practice that borders on illicit; though possibly she has twisted moral reasoning behind what she does. This is not well defined and almost comes as a surprise although as a reader I was certain that the goal was to ultimately mix Dr. Seastrom with Whispr.
The next part of the novel is the cinematic influenced dance with death and destiny that brings Whispr through one desperate situation after another until he reaches the doorstep of the Dr Seastrom. In his wake are a number of victims who are mostly killed by way of brief association with Whispr. This part has the same feel as the movie Into the Night with Jeff Goldblum and Michele Pfeiffer. This made each meeting of Whispr with a new contact quite predictable in that the reader knows someone will soon show up and his contact would be permanently silenced. Many times the climactic scene was right while Whispr was there making the escape more thrilling. Oddly something happens, inexplicably, with the meeting with Dr. Seastrum and it takes much longer for the brute squad to catch up. By that time they have enough warning that the two have escaped.
There is a bit of haziness about why Ingrid ends up finally on the run with Whispr; though there could have been any number of fair reasons it seems mostly an almost clinical yet obsessive interest in the new technology and what it might potentially mean to her patients (yet even that is unclear). Murder and mayhem now follow at a slight bit slower pace; the possible excuse for that being that the two together make a better team against those in pursuit. In fact, it seems that that isn't so; as the reader will see that that is more of a self delusion; while coming up close on the end.
This is a serial so while the end is somewhat complete for this story the reader is left with a sense there is a lot more to come and we'll have to check those out to find the rest of the story.
This is a fair offering in the SSF department and has element familiar to steampunk (In the augmented human quantity and the sense of a dystopic future). Though I have this sense that this novel could be compacted by removing some of the excess cinematic specials, there is something to saying that it would then deprive the reader of some of the basic journey to get to the point.
J.L. Dobias
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In the Garden of Iden by Kage Baker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Garden of Iden (A Novel of the Company) by Kage Baker
I had not previously heard of Kage Baker and was just a bit skeptical about this book but I have read Connie Willis's To say nothing of the dog and after reading the sample of this book decided it was worth the try. I'm delighted that I did because not only does she have the fresh humor that Connie Willis demonstrates, she also has a depth of character and story that are quite compelling.
My first warning to anyone starting to read this is that it might be misleading to think that this is a futuristic time travel novel. The bulk of this novel reads more like a period piece with the incidental that time travel and future technology and immortality are integral in the event that stirs the main character into the story. Also it's a clever device that Kage Baker uses to enable her characters to think along anachronistic lines that actually make sense when you consider the whole.
To explain-in the future they develop technology to extend life-but are in a hurry to test it without having to wait the length of time it would take to verify first that it appears to work second that there are minimal side effects and third that it actually does work. But then they create time travel and have a host of common people to chose from on which to test this and if it works they just look them up in the present and test them for side effects and such. Presumably after much testing our main character, Mendoza, has the latest greatest with least amount of side effects.
Now a number of rules apply here that make the story interesting. They can't change the past-even if they try- so they don't try. They can go to the past and return to the present but can't go to the future- which means those they make immortal in the past have to stay in the past, but that's key to what they want to do anyway. So the premise is that if they find and alter people who have no visible impact on history it won't alter time and no one will know about it because those people were just common folk and there are just so many of those around that it makes no difference.--Sure there might be a hole in this somewhere in real causality but we can overlook that for now--.
These past participants are then isolated and trained to preform special tasks for the Company that will result in saving things for the Company to use in the future such as works of art that history never noted or perhaps were mysteriously lost and herbs and plants that had gone extinct and perhaps even some animals that had gone extinct. They would have to be isolated somewhere where they wouldn't be discovered until around the dawn of time travel so to speak. Mendoza is a botanist by training so is intent of getting specific things from the Garden of Iden.
These inductees are pumped full of nanites and drugs that make them immortal and it becomes questionable whether they are any longer human and their isolation makes them weary of and in many cases fearful of the apes known as man. They also have knowledge of history that extends well into the time time travel began so they have all sorts of influence from movies tapes and books that they would otherwise not know about. This leads to some interesting thoughts from Mendoza that seem anachronistic when the reader forgets that she learned all of the history and culture and literature that would give her this knowledge. So even though this takes place in mid 16th century she makes reference to things like Shakespeare and Don Quixote and more. Which means they have to be particularly careful when they are around the normal human animals.
What this story is really about is Mendoza's coming to terms with the notion that even though she is immortal she may still be human and it takes an unlikely romance with one of the human animals to bring this to her attention. Still throughout she constantly tries to deny that she might still be human. The reader on the other hand can have no doubts as they see her so easily fall sway to normal human pitfalls and prattles. Basically she's smitten and love sick. Of course since she is brought up to be areligious it makes perfect sense that she fall for a devout Protestant during a time of turmoil in England when the Catholic church and the Inquisition are going to be, for a short time persecuting Protestants and heathens. It's a tragedy in the making.
Mendoza is torn between duty to the Company and her job and her love for Nicholas and she vacillates between desire to run off with him and the knowledge that since she is immortal any such relationship would end badly. There is one particular incident when she is dancing with her beloved Nicholas that she is almost resolved to go with him when somehow her own conversation inadvertently leads to Nicholas having a logical conclusion that removes the possibility for them to run off together. Later there is a suggestion that part of the training imparted on Mendoza is full of subliminal triggers that prevent her from abandoning her work with the Company but Kage Baker's writing is so tight that even so, as a reader, I felt that it might have just been some human part of Mendoza that managed to crash things now and then.
Another clever piece of writing in the story is that we never quite cross any pivotal moments that make the history books, creating a sort of leeway for guiding the story where it needs to go.
This is a great story for people who like historical fiction and for SFF fans who are interested in immortal beings and time travel; even though it is mostly a sort of comedy tragedy about a romance between a radical Protestant and a Cyborg Atheist set in 16th century England. A great start to a series and fantastic debut novel.
J.L. Dobias
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Beautiful Zurt by Jes Simon
My rating: 3 of 5 stars
Beautiful Zurt by Jes Simon
This novella is interesting; but rather frustrating. It has the earmarks of something that could have been quite good; but falls backwards, because of the general premise behind it all. I like this as a short entertaining piece of light Sci-Fi and would love to give it high marks; but there is a struggle with that. The story itself is easily discerned to be one of a re-creation of a game experience put into context of a story. It has a sort of nostalgic flare to it; but inwardly the nostalgia seems to stifle the piece. It is not easy to explain but I'll give it a try.
The first puzzle that comes and then unravels itself is the immediate strangeness of the nomenclature for the tools and other oddities found in the world. This is the first clue that this is mostly about a game (one that might exist). The player Renya Zaffor has arrived on the planet after her ship attained orbit; and was somehow trapped leaving her few options from which she somehow determines transporting down is the best option. From there she is stuck. She was drawn here by a friend, The Baron, who seems absent; leaving her as the sole occupant of the world. The Baron has left some notes pertaining to the Tools that are lying around everywhere--tools that may be assembled in various ways to make different levels of tools--none of which have much if any explanation from the Baron as to their use. The names are weird and probably not names created by the Baron; though we don't know much about him, so that assumption might be taking license with the feeling that this is a game.
Much of the first part of the book Renya is wandering around assembling tools and finding even some tools not yet in the Baron's notes while she makes her own notes; possibly for the next unfortunate who might be trapped here. Sometimes blasé about things Renya is a bit concerned about what might happen when her food supplies run short. Eventually she discovers that one common room she's been using will give her access to the language of whoever created the tools. When a new arrival appears she is able to help them learn much more quickly all that is needed only to have them zapped into some sort of creature construct.
The map of the world easily begins to read like one of those MMORPG's of today and as it turns out this, though textual rather than graphics, might be one of the earliest of multiplayer games. Knowing in advance that that is what this is might be more helpful than a spoiler so I won't count this as a spoiler. Though this mirrors the game it is real--at least to Renya and the four others involved in the story.
There is a plot of sorts in all of this, which involves mostly finding the Baron and getting off the planet. Though we learn a bit about the Baron's past we don't really get to know Renya enough to know if her actions and attitude are reasonable to the circumstances under which she finds herself. As a reader I found that, at best, I had to rely on the notion that the Baron must have expected something of this nature from her; since he lured her to be trapped with him.
This novella is an interesting story that might be more suited to those interested in MMORPG's and enjoy Sci-Fi. It's a quick light read and does contain an evenly paced story. It might be most valuable to those who have some nostalgic connection to the original game it was derived from, since it maintains the games naming conventions and some of the general map of the world.
Overall, for me, this was a good framework for a story; but it could have been fleshed out more.
J.L. Dobias
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Date Night on Union Station by E. M. Foner
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Date Night on Union Station by E.M. Foner
Humor is subjective and I always have to keep that in mind when I read something that is billed as good comic science fiction. Maybe I'm thick and just have a problem seeing the humor. When I think of good humor in diplomacy and science fiction I always settle back into images of Keith Laumer's Retief series of books. Well move over Retief because Kelly Frank has just hit the space ways.
I really expected this to turn into a comic romance in a great hurry because the first thing we find out is that Kelly's co-workers have decided to get her a subscription to the stations dating service. But before we let things digress too much we have to stipulate that this is Union Space Station and it's owned and operated by the Stryx who have sponsored the humans in the attempt to uplift them into space. And Kelly has been installed as the acting consul or acting Ambassador for Earth. She has one major problem with most of the alien races trying to understand why she 'acting' out the part. The station has a Stryx intelligence named Gryph who controls the station and a part of that, which interfaces with Kelly, calls itself Libby although the various persona of the station like to remain separated in a sort of anonymous way.
Kelly of course is single and the agency that does the matchmaking (secretly run by Libby) is at best a dysfunctional analogue to Jane Austin's Emma. Every date for Kelly seems to double as a work assignment with little hope that she'll ever meet anyone who she might actually enjoy being with. But not to worry because her coworker Donna has two pre-teen daughters who will call her Aunt Kelly and will surely help one way or another. The girls do manage at least to make some money out of selling flowers to many of the people using the dating services.
Kelly is finding her pre paid dating service is costing her more than it's worth and would be interfering with her whole job as ambassador if it weren't for the fact that it seems to slowly be working her around to investigation into a major problem that Earth has at the moment. Being that Earth is such a primitive planet it has to rely on the trade of such quaint wares as kitchen utensils such as cork screws and can openers; but recent knockoffs produced by aliens have started to cut into profits and the poor quality is giving their trade a bad name. The Stryx rules have no prohibition to these alien counterfeiting practices so Kelly has to find a more elegant solution beyond just finding and identifying the culprits.
This is a really fun and intelligent read with the whole mess actually making a certain twisted sense as it all plays out; and Kelly's eventual solution might leave her homeless and penniless, but there is light at the end of the corridor.
As it is this is less romance and less science fiction and a great bit of tongue in cheek type humor while watching Kelly have to deal with aliens who seem to think...well, in some alien manner.
Great casual read to fill a night with elements that should satisfy the average Sci-Fi lover and some of the SFF lovers and maybe even a few of the less stringent SF lovers.
For good entertainment I recommend this and any other of Kelly's adventures. Have a fun read.
J.L. Dobias
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Indigo Heartfire by Jo Marryat
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Indigo Heartfire by Jo Marryat
This is another to go on my love/hate list. I'm giving it high marks just so I'll feel good about telling all the things I hate along with the things I love. This is first a love story that has a fantasy element. I was hoping for a fantasy story that had a love element but six of one half a dozen of the other. It's well written; but well written doesn't always get the reader past style decisions. Of course Romance in not my usual first pick so there might be some elements of style that I'm not in tune with. Still overall I enjoyed the story and the characters. It just took a while to warm up to them.
This novel started out a bit slow for me and it became a sea of trope types quickly. I think perhaps it feels like a means of throwing the reader off trail a bit by insisting that the point of view draw all his impressions of the people he meets into his own set of recognizable tropes. Of course Robert Kirk himself is a trope of sorts. He is a man who is still grieving and has been grieving for over five years; but has decided to rejoin society and at least give the appearance of trying to move on. In the beginning he starts introducing us to various new acquaintances as french underwear, taxi thief, and harridan with a handbag. Don't worry though soon we'll get some names. As it is Robert is an osteopath and he's elected to join a holistic health practice that's filled with some quirky practitioners; through his eyes. Robert is still fraught with thoughts of his departed wife Elaine and is for the most part indifferent to relationships; though from his description of the women he meets it's apparent that he's not dead yet. The first ten percent or 27 pages of the novel are getting us acquainted with the people he'll work with and himself; but it seems that since it's through rather cynical eyes that the real introductions come much latter as some of his impressions unravel a bit to give the reader the real picture. Perhaps it those flip flop characterizations that help obscure important details.
The fantasy part of the novel hits at around 40 pages into the story when they all get together as a group and meditate; while in Roberts head we see him imagine a place on the beach with a tiny fairy that looks, in his description, like Lindsay Lohan. All of this is supposed to be in response to the guidance of the one in charge of the meditation, but as we see it from Roberts point of view he seems to imagine it before she tells everyone to imagine it. It's not difficult for the reader to see that something strange is up. The novel itself did not start taking off for me until about 70 pages into the story when Robert finally accepts that Annabelle the fairy is real. Really though to be fair this book quite good and I think a reader needs to make their own judgement. Again for me from there and for around half the book it does quite well; sometimes reminding me of the old Topper ghost stories by Thorne Smith. I could almost feature Constance Bennett as Annabelle rather than Lindsay Lohan. Like those novels and the movies this novel is filled with many light moments of humor and serendipitous circumstances. There are some serious moments and even some moments that brought tears to my eyes.
Eventually I got past Robert the snarky people-label-er and into the real tragic Robert that lay behind all of that wall of animosity that he puts between him and everything outside. It turns out that he's quite a complex and noble soul, which takes us back into the dark side of what dragged me out of the novel for a moment and that's the last quarter of the novel. The novel's ending is at about three quarters of the way through when the reader is placed on the doorstep of near future which requires some detailed explaining; and then there is a quarter devoted to explaining how things got to that place. What I'm unsure of, even scanning back through the second time, is whether I should have been able to guess those things. The clues unfold in the last quarter and they are almost like the summation at the end of a mystery where the detective unravels the mystery to the other characters. Usually those work best when the reader has mostly unraveled it just moments before the detective. Somehow the hidden clues all remained hidden-at least to me. I'm glad I forged ahead into the summation.
I was almost tempted to believe it was just me not quite catching these hints; but then I kept asking 'why' the one quarter explanation at the end; if it should be obvious. It left me thinking that the main character Robert was deliberately obfuscating a few things along the way to throw us off and perhaps does too good a job. The saving grace is that the last quarter manages to hold itself up by delivering a few more tear worthy moments even though we already know the outcome at the time. So when you read this (please do) if you do figure this out by the three quarter mark I recommend you go over the summation because it's just as well written as the rest even if I'm not fond of the style choice at this point.
This is a great read for those who like Romance and light fantasy that is written quite well and sometimes overly clever with a caution that there might be some colloquialisms that will make some people stumble a bit and even be a devilish bit difficult to track down the meaning. Good humorous fun read for all. A top notch debut novel.
Truly this is one of those books that is about the journey just as much as the destination. And it turns out that this might be more a story about Annabelle than anything else since the next installment seems to take up the story from here and into her next project.
J.L. Dobias
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Bled White by Tim McBain
My rating: 4 of 5 stars
Bled White by Tim McBain and L.T. Vargus
This book will go on my love/hate list. You will either love this or hate it. The first book was really good as an introduction but the finishing style of cliffhanger-ish ending begins that love-hate relationship. I'm not certain how many books will be done in all for this series, but I do have some friends who steer clear of any that look to be going past 3 with the pattern described by the plots and endings of the first two books. I had just a bit of trouble because number two had a clear look of starting off where one left off and thus could not stand alone. For me the first could stand alone with it being a rather upended ending that could almost be considered thought provoking. Had the second started more standalone I could come to the same conclusion that the ending of the second could also be considered as a single story with similar upended ending. The problem is that it goes that other route because the beginning depends on you knowing what happened in the previous and this comes close to what I really hate which is those books that have been torn into ten parts to make a serialized set of e-books. Only at least these are long enough to be called novels.
I think that I would have been happier if these had been put into one book instead of split like this. That would make it plenty long and it has that sort of ending that feels more rounded than the first book. Though both endings are quite satisfactory, it doesn't bode well that there is an undefined number ahead. Again the longer more epic novel would have been just right because we could rationalize, 'ok, four hundred some pages and they didn't want to subject the reader to eight hundred: so that's cool.' But this is just me ranting.
As with before the writing is superb. And Jeff Grobnagger is still the same old Jeff he used to be, which might be why someone might feel a bit let down this time. He almost looked like he was ready to make some headway and then he gets kicked back to the curb in this book. He still is naive and this is one thing that really hurts him and the reader can see this and so far there are few if any people he can trust. Yet he too easily trusts at the same time he is paranoid, which makes him his own worst enemy. He has some real issues that keep rearing their heads and he spends so much time on these this time that there are other questions that should come to mind that he completely overlooks.
Telling anyone about these questions would be a spoiler and I think that it would be best to read this story.
Once again this is a great suspense thriller without as much leaning toward the science as the mystical this time, which is fine because the better part of the last was probably the same.
I'm beginning to like the character Ms. Babinaux; though I don't trust her at all and I'll be interested in how things go with her in the next installment.
This is great SSF for fans of Thriller Horror Suspense and who don't mind the serialized nature of the stories. They could ‘almost’ each stand alone, though they are just not strong enough and you'll be eager to go on to the next one when it comes out, so you can hope for some resolution.
J.L. Dobias
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Fade to Black by Tim McBain
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Fade to Black by Tim McBain and L.T. Vargus
When you use a title like this is a fair thing to say that you might get muddled in with a few other books of the same title. Notwithstanding that this is the second book of this title that I've read in less than a year. The first is by Francis Knight and it's a pretty good magic world, dystopic, fantasy and bears reading. This book is a bit different though I'm not sure where to put it yet in genre. Since it is part of a series I think I'll wait, before passing that judgment. Although it does stand as a pretty intense psychological thriller, I enjoyed this and I think a lot more people will enjoy it than I'd have thought when I first went into reading it.
When this Fade to Black was first drawn to my attention I was reticent about reading it just from having sampled the authors, Tim McBain and L.T. Varus, first book. I was thinking maybe Stephen King quality and I do read those, possibly Dean Koontz which I've read less of and have half a dozen of his waiting for the right moment. I do that kind of horror suspense, but not that often so I passed on these books. Then I got this message through twitter and (well I won't go into it) I’ll only say that if you get the message you'll see what I mean and you won't be able to resist. So I picked Fade to Black because it was mentioned and because I was intrigued with the notion of reading two Fade to Black in six months time. I wasn't disappointed and I was greatly surprised to find this wasn't anything as I expected.
Jeff Grobnagger is not your average hero; maybe he's your average anti-hero though he doesn't seem average anything. It seems he strives to be less than average if not invisible. Thankfully he is engaging enough that it doesn't hurt that the reader is going to be stuck in his head all the way through this piece. He's really messed up though, and you can't help but feel sorry for him even while he makes you laugh a bit by his almost seeming naïve yet snarky take on things. Jeff has a problem, well he has a large number of problems, but the seizures are the one of greatest concern here. It's not just the seizures it's the dreams that accompany them; or maybe we should say the recurring dream. It seems that he consistently finds himself dangling by one foot from a rope while an assassin is soon to arrive and strangle the life out of him. Quite thankfully when that occurs he wakes from his seizure, and when the reader first meets him he wakes in the grocery store where Glenn and a dozen other people are gathered around with concerned faces. This would probably be mildly embarrassing if Jeff didn't have an aversion to people so it might be more like horrifying and as I learn more about Jeff it becomes evident that to him the dream is less horrifying than dealing with people. But today Glenn manages to force himself on Jeff and begins the uphill battle toward changing Jeff's life.
In this novel the seizures are a gateway into some other level of consciousness (possibly) and there are other people who can experience these things while there are several groups that have been trying to attain the level that Jeff seems to have reached. Glenn thinks that this has something to do with the disappearance of his daughter, Amity, and that somehow Jeff will help him find her but Jeff wants nothing to do with that until his place is trashed when someone tries to take him out with some potshots and by his reclusive nature he has nowhere to go except to Glenn’s for a place to crash.
From here the reader is taken into a world that has several options ranging from magic and Tarot to Quantum Physics as an explanation for what might be happening. The bottom line for Jeff is that a hooded unknown kills him every time he has this dream generated during a seizure and he doesn't know why or who. Somehow the threat to his real life and the several cult like groups and Glenn and Amity are all tied together and Glenn is relying on Jeff to get the answers. And at about 20 percent of the way through the story I had a fair idea of the ‘who’ but not the why and a notion about a possible ironic outcome. I don't consider myself greatly exceptional at deducing things so it's likely that others might come to the same conclusions. Rather than being disheartened I would just console other readers with the reality that it's less about the destination and more about the journey in this story. This is a journey with Jeff that you won't want to put aside once you start down the path. It was a short enough read that I finished it in one sitting.
Being in Jeff's head and hearing his doubts and fears and paranoia are what make this a psychological thriller as he finds there are few he can trust. The ending is a bit of a surprise in that it's more like the end of the first act and there will be some acts to follow, which there will be. But as it stands the ending gives it more of the feel I initially thought with those suspense and horror authors mentioned above. Still there is a promise of some redemption in that the second book is already there to be read which I intend to do. And by the nature of this book the debut novel I passed on is now on my list.
No matter what you feel going into this novel I expect most readers will enjoy the read and be thirsty for the next one. But don't take my word for, by all means pick up a copy and make your own judgment.
J.L. Dobias
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Stranger's Descent by Tony Barrett
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Stranger's Descent(Chronicles of the Return Book1) by Tony Barrett
This is a great size novel for a debut novel and I might be able to qualify that a bit more once I understand what genre to place it into. I give it high marks for keeping my interest and making me work to search out the least bit of redeemable traits that might be evident in the main characters. If you're looking for something in a light read this could almost qualify if it weren't such a dark world. It has the feel of the wild west except that it has magic, witches, warlocks, Were-beasts, and zeppelins. If you love dystopic tales this could easily fall into that catagory. And with the zeppelins and were-beasts it might fall in the category of steam punk, but only narrowly. I'm almost inclined to give it a new tag; maybe cowboy-punk [Don't quote me on that].
The characters are all quite dark and it is difficult to really find any that I could empathize with. In some respects this brought to mind the DeathStalker series of Simon R. Green. I had trouble empathizing with most of the characters in Deathstalker. But where Deathstalker often veers into the gritty and the fantastic Stranger's Descent is gritty with a bit more realism. It's this element of Gritty Dark Realism that colors the first part making it a difficult read for me. It took about one third of the way into the novel before I began to syncronize with Tony Barretts dismal pace to where I could really begin to enjoy the story. A person really has to carefully read this to see what I mean because this might be related to my own preferences.
There are a multitude of well drawn characters and for the most part they are distinct from each other and yet there is some bit of the darkness of the story that drags them all down to the same level until they begin to look a lot the same [variations on a theme]. By this I mean that we have the Stranger who obviously has a rather mysterious past [even though it has all been dramatized in dime fiction] and despite his own misgivings toward things magic he has gotten involved with magic and one specific wizard. Later he makes use of the connection to that magic to get himself out of the corner he manages to paint himself into. We have Jerrod and Perin who seem to be two young men with some bits of idealistic notions about soldiers and yet they work for a General who is a madman bent on the destruction of all around him and often find themselves at odds with what they are ordered to do. Misandry and Harkon are witch and wizard and work for 'the master' supposedly working toward the return but each would just as easily tear out the others eyes than to be in a partnership and they both seem to have their own agenda. And in the end it's difficult to tell exactly what their master might be working at and, if they knew, whether they would continue to work with him. There are more. The point is they all are complex characters[all seemingly molded by the worst this world has to offer] and they are many but thankfully they are not difficult to keep up with.
If there is any problem at all in the characters it's a result of the darkness that is cast across the world; that manages to drag all of the characters to their deepest weakest point and for me that made it difficult to empathise with anyone. Life is cheap in this novel and all the characters seem to hold to this philosophy and that tends to make them self centered. This world has an evil to it that brings out the worst in every character. If the character of Wyn had been a bit stronger he might have been able to redeem the plot more than the hints and inuendo about things yet to be explained that eventually gave me the feeling there was a much greater depth to everything that Tony Barrett will be revealing in future parts to this story.
Over all though the writting is solid and the author has taken some time to try to make the reading experience better than the average non-traditional author. One caveat here being that though there are still less than a handful of errors, they are errors that stand out enough that they will be hard not to notice. The story is well paced except the portion that makes this a dystopic tale which carries on relentless throughout the entire novel with no other pace beyond utterly gritty and depressing all the time.
This is great for those who love the epic fantasy such as Deathstalker and especially for those who key into the darker grittier pieces of those worlds.
Good SFF with moderate use of science and more for the magic aficionado.
J.L. Dobias
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The Pilot: A Tale of the Sea by James Fenimore Cooper
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Pilot (A Tale of the Sea) by James Fenimore Cooper 1824
One more deviation from my normal reads. Someone was asking about good historical fiction they might use for an essay and this was one of the offerings mentioned. I couldn't resist since its a fictionalized account involving a notable hero of revolutionary fame in the United States of America.
The novel itself reminded me of the style and scope of Paul Clifford by Edward Bulwer-Lytton (1830) and the stranger's life, as it vicariously told, reminds me of Giacomo Girolamo Casanova (as related in his memoir written 1798 published 1822-German). As such our hero is called stranger and Mr. Grey and John in the few scenes within which he is prominent. Truly the style is what makes this classic what it is. It is more reminiscent of the Dumas books with the romantic adventure spirit. But what am I saying? Dumas and Fenimore were contemporaries, though Dumas' writing may have begun well after the publication of Pilot. Some would like to say that Fenimore created the template for this type of romance, but I think there are other's to pull up to that position who come from further back in literary history. Pilot was written partially in response to The Pirate by Sir Walter Scott(1822). But I will admit that Fenimore improved the genre immensely.
In the Pilot James Fenimore Cooper uses a device that I have found annoying though seemingly prevalent in his era. This is breaching the forth wall, well maybe it was supposed to be an aside back then, but for me it pushed through each time he pause to let the reader know we were going to skip this part or jump back and show the reader what he knows the readers are so anxious to see. This enables him to, throughout, bring in several asides that apprise the reader of things that otherwise might be left unknown or at maybe bewildering to the reader: or at least we are led to believe so by Fenimore.
One such instance is this next-where in three short sentences he brings us back and up to date.
::
We must leave the two adventurers winding their way among the broken piles, and venturing boldly beneath the tottering arches of the ruin, to accompany the reader, at the same hour, within the more comfortable walls of the abbey; where, it will be remembered, Borroughcliffe was left in a condition of very equivocal ease. As the earth had, however, in the interval, nearly run its daily round, circumstances had intervened to release the soldier from his confinement-- and no one, ignorant of the fact, would suppose that the gentleman who was now seated at the hospitable board of Colonel Howard, directing , with so much discretion, the energies of his masticators to the delicacies of the feast, could read, in his careless air and smiling visage, that those foragers of nature had been so recently condemned, for four long hours , to the mortification of discussing the barren subject of his own sword-hilt. Borroughcliffe, however, maintained not only his usual post, but his well-earned reputation at the table, with his ordinary coolness of demeanor; though at times there were fleeting smiles that crossed his military aspect, which sufficiently indicated that he considered the matter of his reflection to be of a particularly ludicrous character.
Cooper, James Fenimore (2012-05-16). The Pilot (p. 236). . Kindle Edition.
More important than this though is the introduction that proclaims that Fenimore is attempting to write a sea adventure with more realistic tone (Being that he served for five years as a seaman aboard a merchant ship and obtained the rank of midshipman.). Somehow in those words I mistakenly conjured notions of the harsh realities of seafaring life without realizing that this was going to digress quickly into a romance heavily on the romantic side of lovers and sometimes tragic lovers.
The story opens off the coast of Great Briton; and if my reckoning is correct it's somewhat north and east of the isle and within some treacherous waters. Our secondary characters (Barnstable and Griffith) are bringing two vessels into a bay that is protected by rock with the expectation of obtaining a passenger they will call the Pilot, who we are led to believe will be helping navigate around these waters unknown to them. It is by the Pilot's instructions that they are to make rock-fall and send a party ashore. One of that party is Barnstable, the captain of the whaling schooner Ariel, who we quickly find has the surprise of a lover who has anticipated their landing. What ensues before Pilot arrives is a bit of a trist (very brief) with his love Katherine Plowden who tells him of her and Cecilia's plight[Cecilia is Grifiths lover]. Cecilia Howard is a ward of Colonel Howard as is Katherine though Cecilia is more closely tied to the man. The Colonel staunchly supports his king and eschews the rebellious Americans, which is why he has brought his wards back to England. With not enough time Katherine leaves Barnstable with a letter and some instructions. These become important in the sense that she demonstrates that their movements in English waters are being watch; particularly by the Colonel. While many believe that a man name Paul Jones is aboard those vessels the Colonel is certain that Barnstable and Griffith are aboard with the colonel's nephew, Merry. This is the one of two times Paul Jones is directly mentioned though many times alluded to.
The Pilot proves his mettle to the sailors by saving them through navigating in troubled waters back out of this rocky bay. The Pilot's purpose is left mostly unknown in a sense of a need to know basis. Because they reveal a portion of what is in Katherine's letter the Pilot finds it worthy of a diversion and serendipitously he takes Griffith along and they manage to become captured. It should come as no surprise when one of St. Ruth's nuns, Alice Dunscombe, is shocked to recognize a voice when the prisoners are interrogated. Soon Pilot becomes a player in the grand romantic tragedy that is afoot.
It doesn't take long for the plot to be diverted leaving this reader with the notion that the original plot he perceived was a MacGuffin and the true plot is one of lost love and young love and duty and honor and perhaps whether all those can all survive in the same adventure tale. Make no mistake, there are still a few naval battles to be fought and the usual pitfalls and storms of nature against man. There are even some strange turns of events that often stretch the suspension of disbelief.
This is a great classic for all readers and might interest some of those Romance fans though mostly Adventure Romance and those who are interested in the details of ocean sailing ships. This rather dusty historical romance fiction still reads quite well and satisfied this reader's thirst for exceptionally long sentences.
J.L. Dobias.
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Endeavour by Ralph Kern
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Endeavour by Ralph Kerns
I have visited this novel once before and read it now three time. This year I've had the pleasure of reading three outstanding novels by debut novelists in the Science Fiction category. Each of them qualifies in my mind as solid pure science science fiction. But I think that the reader should make their own choice so you should read them. The other two are; Day One by John Forsberg and Emergence by Nick M. Lloyd. This; the third novel in the group[and at least the third time this one has been released after edits] was just as outstanding, but initially had some problems with editing. I'm happy to say 'most' of those were taken care of.
This novel itself is almost indicative of the space program today and then what it might be like in the future. At first glance it is almost akin to a Star Trek spin-off; but it takes the story of the Dyson Sphere further. It moves to the more current trend in science fiction to Matrioshka Arrays based on the Dyson Sphere. But first it has to get us into space so we invent a sort of cross between a star-gate and the transporter technologies. A three Dee printer using the stuff of the cosmos to print copies of the travelers to their destination.
The primary plot premise in this story derives from the question; where is everybody? I'm not talking about a Twilight Zone last man on earth episode I'm talking of the Fermi Paradox. Since our sun and world are relatively young then there might be older systems with older worlds with older civilizations with more advanced technology and the universe should be full of explorers and colonies- so where is everybody?
This book is about the search for the answer. Endeavour should appeal to all Pure science Science Fiction Fans because Ralph Kern does a great job of trying to keep his science well grounded with the physics we know today. There are a lot of recognizable locations that are used in the search and some interesting speculations on what we might find out there.
Ralph Kern does a spectacular job of entertaining.
And despite the new edits I do have some of the usual Caveats. Most of the previous problems were conquered, but for me there were still some problems with around a dozen sentences that had poor punctuation that often left me confuse.
Lydia rubbing the sleep out of her eyes, as Harry filled them in quickly and succinctly.
Kern, Ralph (2014-10-17). Endeavour: A Sleeping Gods Novel (Kindle Location 1061). Tickety Boo Press. Kindle Edition.
I offer the one above as the mildest example where I was not really sure what Harry was filling Lydia's eyes with. And this may just be me; but I felt it would have made more sense if it had read ' ,as Harry filled everyone in quickly and succinctly '.
Also; and this is a pet peeve of mine when it come to the pure science ones; there is a word here that is spelled Tokomak. If this is the Magnetic Plasma Torus then it should be TOKAMAK or Tokamak since it's name is an acronym and there is an English variety from a different acronym that is Tochamac. But all of this is minor stuff and many readers will not notice them or at least you should read and make your own judgement about the punctuation at best.
The story spans long distances and a long time, but we experience it through the eyes of those chosen to explore and their unique situation allows them to stretch the time of their lives. The search is like searching for a needle in a haystack only it's in the middle of a field of haystacks and it's pitch black out. So what happens when we light a match to see? You will have to read this fine piece to get that answer.
Great stuff for the SFF fans and for anyone who enjoys entertaining and thought provoking speculative fiction. If you're a fan of Star Trek or Babylon 5 or just someone who enjoys watching the space program and are looking for something fresh to read; you should read this.
J.L. Dobias
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Endeavour by Ralph Kern
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Endeavour by Ralph Kerns
This novel looked interesting in that it seemed to promise to give an experience more representative of what the space program today is like and what it might be like in the future. As I read the story it began to look a lot like the typical star trek spinoff but it was taking the story of the Dyson Sphere further. It in fact seemed to be moving it more toward the more current trend in science fiction to Matrioshka Arrays based on the Dyson Sphere. But first it has to get us into space so we invent a sort of cross between a star-gate and the transporter technologies. I have to admit its been a while since I read a book of this caliber; since John Forsberg's Day One.
The entire premise or plot in this story is the notion of question; where is everybody? I'm not talking about the Twilight Zone episode I'm talking of the Fermi Paradox. Since our sun and world are relatively young then there might be older systems with older worlds with older civilizations with more advanced technology and the universe should be full of explorers and colonies- so where is everybody?
This book begins and embodies the search for the answer that reveals the truth. Endeavour should appeal to all Simon Pure Science Fiction Fans because Ralph Kern does a great job of trying to keep his science well grounded with the physics we know today. There are a lot of recognizable locations that are used in the search and some interesting speculations on what we might find out there.
Ralph Kern does a spectacular job of entertaining us, but I do have some of the usual Caveats. I have a rule that says if I find 6 errors there are likely to be 6 more and so I draw the line at 6, which equals 12 in my screwy system. What I mean by errors is problems with grammar, spelling and punctuation. Most of mine end up mostly concentrated on the first two. The version of the novel that I have (Feb 14 2014) has over 50 suspicious problems I encountered(The author has had editing done since this originally was written.). These are usually things that are easily rectified, in that the reader can figure out the correct word usage or grammar intended. But it means that those people who have problems with that will want to keep that in mind. Some of these might go unnoticed to some people.
The story spans long distances and a long time, but we experience it through the eyes of those chosen to explore and their unique situation allows them to stretch the time of their lives. The search is like searching for a needle in a haystack only it's in the middle of a field of haystacks and it's pitch black out. So what happens when we light a match to see? You will have to read this fine piece to get that answer.
Great stuff for the SFF fans and for anyone who enjoys entertaining and thought provoking speculative fiction. If you're a fan of star trek or Babylon 5 or just someone who enjoys watching the space program you should read this.
J.L. Dobias
View all my reviews
