Heretics of Dune

Heretics of Dune (Dune Chronicles, Book 5) Frank Herbert Date: 01 April, 1984   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

It's thousands of years after the Tyrant, God-Emperor Leto II, and humanity is still reeling from the effects. The Bene Gesserit are fiercely trying to keep from creating another prescient, the Tleilax are deep in the worship of their God, and members of the Scattering— the huge dispersal to different universes that followed Leto's death— are returning, bringing strange technologies, decadent Honored Matres, and the question of why they came...

I find this is where the story really starts to heat up. The previous volumes were deeply philosophical, about the nature of humanity, but starting with this volume, Herbert's thesis is that mankind has been remade for new destinies. It frees him, to a certain degree, and this feels more imaginitive and hopeful than some of the earlier volumes. One gets the sense that perhaps jihad is not inevitable, and that Herbert has an idea of humanity reborn as something greater than before.

Of course, some people find the story starting to become incomprehensible at this point. It requires close reading, and perhaps a re-read, to understand the chain of events.

Adiamante

Adiamante (Adiamante) L.E. Modesitt Date: 15 March, 1998   —   $6.29   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

When the cybs, rationalist cyborg people, come back to Earth after their exile ten thousand years before, the people of Earth, demis and draffs, know that trouble is coming. Yet according to their principles, they cannot even threaten; they must wait until overt violence occurs before they can react. So they elect a Coordinator to do the best planning they can under their principles— including the supplying of hospitality— so that they will be ready when the violence happens.

Yet even preparation for violence can be seen as a threat... and Earth's people's must live by their code, or they will die. So a Coordinator must balance all of these things along with the longing to prevent violence entirely, something very difficult when cybs reject emotion completely, and don't seem to understand how Earth has changed in the intervening millenia.

Modesitt is at his best when he allows himself to bring ethical problems into direct play, rather than cloaking them in thick fantasy. While I like his fantasy work, it is in his science fiction that he really shines, and this is no exception.

Flameweaver

Flameweaver Margaret Ball Date: 01 November, 1991   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

Tamai has the potential for great power, but not the ability to harness it, since Gadaharan magic is tied to children, and Tamai is barren. Her failure to control that power becomes moot when the Russians attack the high mountain country and Tamai is sent on a mission to bring aid to her country.

It's a typical coming-of-age story, and not even completed (the sequel, Changeweaver, is the one in which Tamai fulfills her promise), but entertaining for all of that.

To Sail Beyond the Sunset

To Sail Beyond the Sunset Robert Heinlein Date: 1987   —   $7.19   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

Hang on to your hats, people; if you thought Lazarus was horny, wait until you meet his mother. These are the memoirs of Maureen, mother to 'Lazarus' and progentitor of the Howard Families' greatest ancestors. It's largely set in a more-or-less recognizable Earth, one that is home to many of Heinlein's stories, and it takes place in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Maureen details her life and her many fascinations, and even includes her encounter with "Ted Bronson", Lazarus' pseudonym when he time travelled to meet his family. I think Heinlein went a bit overboard in expanding this section, and Lazarus' recounting (in Time Enough For Love) is more interesting since it plays with the boundaries, rather than stomping on them and dancing in the shards.

Again, most certainly not for children, but well done nonetheless.

The Cat Who Walks Through Walls

The Cat Who Walks Through Walls Robert Heinlein Date: 1985   —   $7.19   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

This is an immensely entertaining book that goes off in a really strange direction in the last quarter. Apparently I missed a book in the sequence because there are things that happen in this book that Heinlein obviously explained elsewhere. There are many nods to earlier Heinlein novels, including The Moon is a Harsh Mistress and The Rolling Stones (pre-Jagger.) What drove me nuts, however, was the characterization of notables from those books; while you expect Mannie (from MiaHM) to write in a terse, no-frills style, it doesn't seem quite right to have him speaking that way.

But the thing which drove me nuts was the ending. The protagonists have been told that a particular mission results in either success or failure with the deaths of all involved. At the end of the novel, it is evident that they succeeded— but that they are wounded and trapped in a certain deadly showdown. There's missing information, information which is in the next book... and I'm going to give a minor spoiler here and say that it is one small thing that the cat of the title does which marks the difference between life and death for Our Heros, and in fact is the tipping factor which creates the universe in which they succeed. But there's no way to tell that from this book. Yarrgh.

Time Enough For Love

Time Enough for Love Robert Heinlein Date: 1973   —   $7.19   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

I need to be very clear about this:

This book is not for children.

I have sometimes heard this category of book as belonging to Heinlein's "dirty old man" phase, and that's true as far as it goes; there is a LOT of sex going on in his later books, some of it in relationships that are entirely taboo. However, from an exploratory point of view, the speculations are entirely reasonable, being as Heinlein is really trying to examine the reasons behind the taboo. But if such speculations disturb you, avoid this book (and other later Heinleins) like the plague.

Personally, I can take a lot of things in fiction that would deeply disturb me to find in the news.

This book's protagonist is Lazarus Long, the oldest man in Heinlein's stories, give or take a couple of thousand years. I think Heinlein was sick of doing variations on a character and wanted to have a little continuity, and Lazarus is the result. This entire book is a series of vignettes, all told in an entertaining fashion. Notably, there is an example of the phrase "When in danger or in doubt, run in circles, scream and shout." I wonder if Heinlein came up with that phrase or if he acquired it elsewhere. These vignettes are stories from the long life of Lazarus Long, culminating in a time-traveling jaunt back to the city of his childhood.

Stories are told with the typical Heinlein flair, and it is a pity that the "dirty old man" bit are off-putting to many, since the stories are highly entertaining and fun. Without it, however, it is quite likely to have lacked the punch that makes it memorable.

Past Through Tomorrow

Past Through Tomorrow Future History Stories Robert Heinlein Date: June, 1967   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

Many of Heinlein's stories were set in the same future, where way led on to way. Most of these stories are collected in The Past Through Tomorrow, including popular ones such as "The Man Who Sold the Moon." As with many science fiction stories, some of these have lost their sense of reality over the years as new knowledge has been acquired, but they are still internally consistent and deal more with the effects of technology on people than the technologies themselves.

If you like Heinlein, it's not a bad collection, and it is pretty much kid-safe because of the time period these stories were written. In fact, the worst your kids will have to deal with is the interjections of "Gee!" There are worse things in life.

The Grounding of Group 6

The Grounding of Group 6 Julian F. Thompson Date: 1983   —   $10.85   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Juvenile

Coldbrook Country School is one of those "alternative" boarding schools, where rich parents can send their kids to be educated in the latest educational style. When you first get there, you go out camping in the woods as an orientation, and after a few days, you come back to get acquainted with the school.

Or, at least, Groups 1 through 5 do. Group 6 is never supposed to come out of the woods at all.

Of course, this time it's a little different. The "advisor" who is supposed to do the job, Nathaniel Rittenhouse, is a recent college graduate who was so desperate for money that he accepted this job before he could think better of it. The more he thought about it, the worse he felt, despite the reassurances that the kids were "lemons" whose parents thought that starting fresh would be the only answer. Of course, once he meets the teenagers in question, there's no question in his mind that the deadly game is going to include him... and there's got to be a way to not only survive, but ensure that the leadership of Coldbrook will never kill again.

If Group 6 can only figure it out...

The characterization in this book is what makes it work. The teenagers are well-developed (even not-very-mature Sully) and the killer faculty of Coldbrook are entertainly batty, particularly Mrs. Ripple, she of the prim and proper behavior and wild mental fantasies. But most of all, this is a fascinating foray into the world of "what-if," a world where some parents would kill their kids if they could do it without getting caught, a world where deviating from the expected behavior is a path to getting killed. Though some of the superficial details have changed (such as dress and cultural references), the story should still ring true to teenagers on the basis of whether it's worth it to fit in, and if not, what is worth it.

And besides, it's mostly just plain entertaining.

Cheaper By the Dozen

Cheaper by the Dozen (Perennial Classics) Frank and Ernestine Gilbreth Date: 1948   —   $8.96   —   Book product page Rating:

Memoir, Children's

Why, why, why does Hollywood always screw this one up? Cheaper By the Dozen is a collection of memories by two children of the creator of "motion study," tales of what it was like to grow up with a strangely regimental father as one of a dozen children. It's got thousands of little period references and signs of the times that make for a delightful and engaging read. And when they adapt it to a movie, the very first thing they do is "modernize" it and jettison all the elements that make it so charming. (I will admit that I haven't seen the older adaptation and that it might be good. I've only seen clips of the recent one and refuse to see it on that basis.)

The stories range from learning foreign languages through records played while in the bath, to Morse code lessons painted on the walls of the summer house, to the chorus line of tonsils removed, to the piling into the cranky car and driving around like an orphanage... story after story of life as one of many. Through it all, their boisterous father looks for ways to save time, to revolutionize work. The kids don't understand his obsession, particularly, but as he is always willing to teach them new things and tell them stories they forgive his foibles. Alas, their father had a bad heart and died at the age of fifty-five, with children from college-age all the way down. The sequel to this book, Belles on Their Toes, details the life of the Gilbreths in the wake of their father's death, but they all felt that their energetic father had known to pack as much living as he could into the time he had.

Someone once asked Dad: "But what do you want to save time for? What are you going to do with it?"

"For work, if you love that best," said Dad. "For education, for beauty, for art, for pleasure." He looked over the top of his pince-nez. "For mumblety-peg, if that's where your heart lies."

Stranger Is Watching

Stranger Is Watching Mary Higgins Clark   —   $7.19   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Thriller

It's a Mary Higgins Clark book, which means that the bad guy who seems to be a good guy gets the upper hand early on, and the rest of the book is a race against time to save someone in danger before time runs out. And since it always happens that the good guys win in the end, it's not a spoiler to say so.

Of course, authors get popular on the strength of their storytelling, not their plots, so MHC is a good read within that framework, with endless variations. This variation deals with a murderer coming back to finish the job he started earlier... but of course, the wrong man is about to be executed, so not only does the good guy have to save the victims the murderer has kidnapped, they have to prove that the man on Death Row is innocent before they pull the switch. It is a nice bit of tension, neatly played.

If you like one of her books, you'll probably like the rest. And everybody needs a little thrill in life.

Name of a Shadow

Name of a Shadow (Chance) Ann Maxwell Date: 01 December, 1976   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

The world of Malia is doomed to molecular destruction because of an undeclared war against their colony planet, Vintra. Two outlanders are willing to chance the legendary Malian arrogance to find out why a world would seek destruction, or at least why they would hate their colony planet so. They find instead a mystery that they must unravel before Malia is condemned to die... because the planet might well be innocent.

This book did not grab me. In fact, it was really hard for me to care about the Malians and their heady pursuit of sensation. Moreover, the basic premise of a number of worlds with cross-compatible humanoids who nonetheless are different because of their planets of origin was less than compelling. I rank this book as high as I do because for all that, it is well-written, and another person might find engaging what I find cold. But really, I don't care about these characters, and so the book ranked as a mere plotline rather than a story for the ages.

Broken Blade

Broken Blade (The Rune Blade Trilogy, Book 3) Ann Marston Date: 01 February, 1997   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

We're back to first-person with this one, from the point of view of one of Kian's granddaughters. (Kian himself is still alive at this point, still the canniest of all of his line.) The tale is a little distracted because the teller is a little over-emotional, which of course is what makes her interesting. She lives through the breaking of Celi, and has to help a small group escape from the clutches of blood sorcery while all but overwhelmed by the death of her prince and the severing of the magic bond between them.

I need to get the next trilogy together, because it's not very nice to leave the good guys in smoking ruin. It really isn't.

The Western King

The Western King (The Rune Blade Trilogy, Book 2) Ann Marston Date: 01 October, 1996   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

This sequel to Kingmaker's Sword feels like an interim book. Red Kian of Skai has had three sons, all of whom are powerful in their own ways (as well as a daughter who is a skilled Healer). The eldest will be Prince of Skai, but another son, one of the twins, sees the necessity for uniting all of Celi so as to face the Maedun foe when they come. What follows, of course, is vaguely Arthurian, especially given that the other twin is a powerful sorcerer. There's the slow bringing together of the prophecies, the broken promises and dire prophecies, and the promise of a line of kings stretching until the end of time.

Given, of course, that they survive the next few years...

Dragons On the Town

Dragons On The Town Thorarinn Gunnarson Date: 01 December, 1992   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

While there is a skateboard on this cover, this book actually has skateboards in it! There's hope for this publisher yet.

Of course, this book is a little like a head trip. While it is completely consistent with the plot line as stated, the follow-through is more than a little bizarre, and in some ways disappointing; I had rather hear more about Mira's world than this strange dimension-down-a-hole-in-Iceland. And while the elven Sherlock Holmes is entertaining as a character, his introduction is extremely abrupt and waved away. Oh, well, it's still entertaining, and does finish up the series rather nicely, but I guess I just wanted something a little different.

Human, Beware!

Human, Beware! Thorarin Gunnarson Date: 01 December, 1990   —   used only   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

Another book, another skateboard on the cover. And worse, this one doesn't even involve California! What was this, a time where all Californians were blonde, ponytailed, and rode skateboards?

This sequel to Make Way For Dragons! starts shortly after that book but is much more active and involves a pure fantasy world. There's a prophecy involved, and Jenny, the nine-year-old from the previous novel, and the implication is that none of the events from the previous novel were accidental. The main bulk of the story begins after Jenny has left college and goes to refine her magical abilities under sorceress Lady Mira (note that with this move, she has now been resident on no fewer than three worlds.) She's been living under the shadow of the prophecy for most of her life, and really wants to get on with it so she can find out if she'll have a life later.

Note that by this point, though she is still outwardly human, she's basically a dragon in almost every respect.

Since Lady Mira is a rather impulsive person, they do in fact "get on with it," leading to a cliffhanger ending to be resolved in the third book.

In tone, this seems different from the previous novel because we don't have Earth and familiar everyday life as a touchstone. This is closer to pure fantasy, and Gunnarson's slapstick humor is evident at several points. The writing is again accessible to younger readers but there are allusions to sex, so screen beforehand to see if it's appropriate.

Make Way For Dragons!

Make Way for Dragons! Thorarin Gunnarson Date: 01 July, 1990   —   used only   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

This is my favorite example of Don't Judge a Book By Its Cover. Everything, and I mean everything about this cover screams dreck. To begin with, there's the title, which seems just a step above completely juvenile. Then there's the cover art. Rowena is a fairly decent artist, but she will do quick work for cash, and this cover, featuring a stereotypical 80s Valley Girl on a skateboard with a horrible little runt dragon in front of pastel palm trees, fuses the horrible with the massively incorrect. (No Valley Girls, palm trees, or skateboards included. The dragon, as described, is much prettier and larger to boot.) And the blurb on the back uses every single Southern California hook possible... but the book has only a general connection to California at all, which merely is a setting (and it takes place in the mountains anyway!)

What are we left with? Why, a personal recommendation, which is how I came across this. It's good standard fantasy, with a few horrible puns thrown in (all told by the participants, though, not part of the scenery as in Xanth.) It's a book about friendship, and about chasing dreams, and about fighting huge horribly ugly evil dragons with the help of the small pretty ones...

Agewise, one could easily hand this to a twelve-year-old and have complete comprehension. There might be some topics that are age-inappropriate, however, so screen it before handing it to your kid. I also think this will appeal more to girls than to guys at that age; there's not nearly enough action for someone fond of video games.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

(Originally published in 2005.)

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix J.K. Rowling Date: 21 June, 2003   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy, Juvenile

I worked the release party for the fifth book, singing filk. Naturally, the song most requested (by the circle of ten-year-old girls, who were fascinated) was way low, and I had to start changing the notes so I could still sing it— but it was about a phoenix. Anyway, right after midnight, we started selling the book, and one of my co-workers read the first chapter out loud to the line of 200+ people. After everyone had gone (and I had my copy), I asked him what he thought.

"Harry's a dick," he said.

I thought a moment, and replied, "He's a fifteen-year-old boy."

"But he's a dick," he insisted.

Naturally, I figured that since he had actually been a fifteen-year-old boy, he couldn't see what it looked like from the outside. I stand by my assessment, which is that Harry, by and large, is acting like a typical fifteen-year-old boy.

The large majority of which are dicks.

(Incidentally, I very properly went to bed when I got home, and read the book the next day, then handed it off to my husband, who likewise finished it. It afforded great amusement to me to sell the book to someone, have them ask if I'd started, and to reply that not only had I finished it, so had my husband. And people wonder why we have so many books.)

This is a book straight out of history. One can draw parallels to the fall of the Weimar Republic, to certain totalitarian regimes solidifying power, and to the Hitler Youth, but the obvious place Rowling gets the feel from is Britain in the early thirties, because there was an official sentiment that was deliberately ignoring the horror ramping up in Europe, and hoping to quash any dissenting voice. At the head of the Potter parallel is a truly nasty person who believes she is doing right— obviously not one for deep philosophical questions on the nature of evil— and who thinks nothing of using repression and fear in her quest to force the Hogwarts students into a particular mold.

She also apparently not one for applied sociology.

There are, unfortunately, far too many examples of such people throughout history, but Rowling is speaking from a particular historical perspective that is good to understand. (Mention Neville Chamberlain to a Brit above a certain age and you'll see what I mean.) The U.S. was more focused on problems stemming from the Great Depression at the time, and entered the war in Europe long before we got into such a situation as outlined in the book, so we may not understand the feeling engendered by "official" versions of events that include undermining the credibility of those telling the truth. (Oh, and Percy is an utter jerk.)

Also present in this book are certain things hinted at in the last volume (and which one of my friends successfully figured out; read the text carefully!) as well as a new dimension for Harry's obnoxious Aunt Petunia. She's still nosy, hateful, and unwilling to even speak about her sister— but she is not about to let Harry die, and shows a fundamental decency surprising to someone who has been looking at her as simply the horrible aunt. Sure, she's nasty... but she has a line she will not cross. And in sheer nastiness she is far surpassed by the new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, someone who is supposedly good. (As a very minor spoiler, Aunt Petunia is not the person who dies, and is not even in danger of dying, as several major characters are.)

Anyway, the sixth book is out this summer, and the last one will be a few years after that, and then they will be done! Yay!

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire

Garri Potter i Kubok ognia (Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire) J.K. Rowling Date: April, 2002   —   $22.06   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy, Juvenile

So five years back I was on a long car trip with my fiancé. One leg of the trip was from Denver to Sacramento (my parents), and we made it in one shot (with a car trouble layover in Laramie.) We arrived in Sacramento literally 24 hours after we had set out. I immediately headed for the shower, and fiancé settled down with a book. Harry Potter, in fact. This was so that we would not fall asleep in the middle of the day and get all out of whack.

Well, my mother had mislaid the third book, and as we are both fast and avid readers, decided to get us the four books then out as a belated engagement present. In hardback.

When I have children, they will not be allowed to TOUCH these books until they display the proper reverence for printed matter. They can get their own copies.

This is the book where Rowling decided to up the ante, both in peril and in length. Some people find the size of the book off-putting, but I have an affinity for longer texts. And there is much to deal with in this volume; anyone who has studied a major conflict in history can recognize the preliminary rumblings. It's no longer a personal problem for Harry; soon the issue of the Dark Lord will take on a greater significance. Of course, these rumblings are on the sidelines; the central story is once again about Harry and his adventures. And he's fourteen, so you can imagine where some of those adventures are going.

Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkabhan

Harry Potter Aur Azkaban Ka Qaidi (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) J.K. Rowling Date: 30 June, 2004   —   $19.95   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy, Juvenile

This is considered one of the best books in the series, with some justification. The first two books were clearly children's books, while this one actually begins to deal with things on an adult level. Harry is thirteen, and certain assumptions need to be challenged, because he's at an age where the world gets more complex. You learn that Harry, the star Quidditch player, can lose a game. You learn that his parents' deaths were not as straightforward as they seemed (at least from a magical perspective.) You learn that villains are not necessarily villanous and seemingly harmless friends may be something much stranger.

And somebody's who has been paying attention will recognize the prisoner of the title; his name was mentioned in the first chapter of the first book. If you didn't catch it, however, that's okay, because Ms. Rowling helpfully plants a reminder. And more than ever, a background in word roots is helpful.

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Haris Poteris ir Paslapciu Kambarys (Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets) J.K. Rowling Date: 20 July, 2001   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy, Juvenile

Harry Potter, second year, more fun at Hogwarts, yadda yadda. If you like the first one, the second one is good— and here's the interesting note: Rowling intended the book to be written at the level of the protagonist. This book has Harry at twelve; therefore the target audience is twelve-year-olds. The moral dilemmas are more complex, and the writing is just a bit more advanced. The sneaky thing to do is to get your child hooked on Harry Potter and merely provide the books; once they get past the first few, they will start reading at a higher level without even noticing.

Rowling has obviously done her research; anyone with a grounding in mythology and Latin will be able to figure out plot twists long before they happen. (Even knowing word roots is enough.) This background gives her world a rich texture lacking from many children's books, and enables a great deal of consistency. Ah, well.

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone

Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone (Urdu Edition) J.K. Rowling Date: 01 January, 2003   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy, Juvenile

You knew I had to get to these eventually. The truth of the matter is, I did not want to get sucked into the hype lo these many years ago, and besides, I wanted to wait until the last one was out. (There were three at the time, and Ms. Rowling was still breaking her back putting out one a year, so it seemed reasonable. Under that schedule, all seven would be out.) And then I was visiting my parents, and my mom had copies lying around... well.

So I started the book, thought, "this is nothing special" (in fact, I was thinking of Roald Dahl the moment the cupboard was mentioned), and finished the book, whereupon I immediately picked up the second and started going through that.

At 10PM.

So, obviously, while the book was "nothing special," I still found it interesting enough to continue on with the story at a late hour even though it was late and I was tired. I don't have to be beaten over the head very hard before I make the connection. Harry Potter is, indeed, "nothing special"— or it would be, if every published author had an interesting story and an engaging style. I've actually read a few eviscerations of Rowling's writing style, but they mostly boil down to "we don't like her style and therefore it's wrong." Some people act as though there is a Holy Grail of writing, and anyone who falls short is unworthy.

Mind you, many of these people rate James Joyce's Ulysses as the best book of the 20th century, a book that is so stylized and tortuous that most people have never finished it.*

Moreover, children's publishing follows Sturgeon's Law, and since in genre terms it is not only small but generally has small returns, there's a smaller talent pool to draw from. There's still a superior ten percent of talent in the children's section, but once you slice it up by age, the eleven-year-olds this book is aimed at have only a few selections to draw from, most of them the justifiable classics of years gone. I can tell you a few, if you like— but I was a bookseller, and I know there aren't that many lasting classics. (Really, how many people have Nancy Drew still on their bookshelves, especially the new ones— and how many have Harry Potter.)

This is a book aimed at those who loved Roald Dahl, or who loved The Hobbit, or any of the classical fantasy offerings. Even though most Americans do not have experience with boarding schools, there are enough cultural markers in common to make every kid identify with life at Hogwarts.

Oh, and one final note: This book, and all subsequent ones, have exchanged certain common British terms for American ones. In some cases I approve— just imagine if Harry were 'knocked up' by Ron to receive his handmade 'jumper', the protect-the-children crowd would have a field day— but in others, I'd like to strangle the publishing house. When I got to the description of the Sorcerer's Stone, I stopped, and thought, "What a stupid thing. That's the Philosopher's Stone." Then I find out it's not the author's fault, and in fact the author knew perfectly what she was about. Grr. Arrgh.

*It may be genius. However, an essential part of novels is their readability, and a novel that requires Cliff's Notes for the professor doesn't seem to rate very high on the readability scale.

Devlin's Honor

Devlin's Honor (Sword of Change, Book 2) Patricia Bray Date: 03 June, 2003   —   $6.29   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

After all of the hints of the first book, it was evident that Devlin was going to have to deal with his painful past somehow, and so he is forced back to Duncaer by the need to get the Sword of Light, the traditional weapon of the Chosen One. He not only has to go back to a land where he is kinless— a very bad thing for the Caerfolk— but where he representing a hated conqueror, and he has to do it while his influence is needed there.

And, of course, it's not nearly as bad as he was fearing, though there's certainly enough intrigue to keep him occupied. Devlin isn't nearly the broken man he was at the beginning of the first novel, and he's actually becoming a decent strategist. So, of course, he has to be interfered with, and it's obvious to the reader at least that the demoralizing force planted in his mind is from a human agency. (Honestly, would the gods of this world really spend time jeering at their human subjects? I Don't Think So.)

Not bad. I want the third one, though, so I can judge the series as a whole.

A Point of Honor

Point of Honor, A Dorothy J. Heydt Date: 01 April, 1998   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Science Fiction

This was a surprise gem in a bunch of random books I was given at one point. "Sir Mary de Courcy" is the handle of a woman named Mary who makes a living competing on a virtual reality jousting circuit. After one bout, a defeated opponent gives up the title to a virtual manor in lieu of ransom (which equates to real dollars) and Mary's problems begin. There are three attempts on her life in two days and she is immediately interested in finding out why a collection of bits and bytes is worth killing someone over. She manages to hook up with one of the Lords of the Lists, the programmers who created Chivalry, the VR program in which she makes her living, and they attempt to find who owns the manor, and why.

VR is a great method of having a fantasy world and the real world combine without feeling clichéd, and the central issues of the VR problem deal with both intellectual property issues and real-world danger in terms of what systems are affected by the hack. One note for good or ill: every event in the book is connected, which means that pieces of the puzzle can be put together by an enterprising reader, but which also means that the characters have little depth beyond that in the events directly explained. It's a matter of taste whether you consider that a good or a bad thing.

Keeper of Cats

Keeper of Cats Elizabeth Boyer Date: 30 November, 1994   —   used only   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

Here's another entry in the truly horrible cover department. If one were to judge the book on the strength of the artwork and blurbs, one would think that this story is about a typical spoiled teenager going off to live with her crazy old female relatives and their excessive amounts of cats. One would be correct— except that the setting is a semi-Norse fantasy land where the society is only now switching over to marriage instead of clan living, and the females used to be the ones in power because the men would all get themselves killed. It's a bit of a far cry from modern suburbia, which is what the cover implies. And there's way too much of the bright green that screams MAGICK (with a k) in cut-rate fantasy.

This isn't cut-rate fantasy; it's a well-thought out world with its own rules, rather than a cheap copy of our own. The kettir— special cats— have appeared in Boyer's work before, particularly in the Catfantastic series of short stories. Jutta, the protagonist, is a spoiled brat, and so it's obvious who the villain is going to be, but Boyer manages to build it up so that it is only a surprise to Jutta, and so not spoiled. I only give it a three because it isn't extraordinary; I'm apparently needing a bit more in my fantasy these days.

Dragon Companion

Dragon Companion Don Callendar Date: 01 November, 1994   —   Book product page Rating:

Fiction, Fantasy

This book could easily work as a longer juvenile, as it is straightforward fantasy without complications. Tom is a librarian who suddenly finds himself in a magical world instead of on the Metro platform; he immediately encounters Retruance Constable, a large green and gold dragon who latches on to him. Though Tom doesn't look much different from the local inhabitants, since he is a semi-mythical human, he has certain advantages which are immediately put to work, namely that he thinks of practical solutions to problems rather than magical, and this trait means he is much more effective in a world that doesn't think that way.

This has all the elements of classic escapist fantasy, including the princess, talking animals, and the unlikely hero. I suspect that there might have been a sequel or a prequel; someday I might well run across them and give them a review as well. In the meantime, read this if you want uncomplicated fantasy and avoid it if you want characters with depth.