Title: The Last Dragonslayer
Author: Jasper Fforde
Rating: 2 out of 5
Summary (with spoilers):
Jennifer Strange lives in the Ununited Kingdom, where magic is not as powerful as it once was. Jennifer is a foundling of the Blessed Ladies of the Lobster, sent to serve the wizarding agency Kazam. Tiger Prawns, another Lobster foundling, soon joins her. He gets along quite well with the quarkbeast, a fearsome-looking yet friendly pet.
Some of the pre-cogs have a premonition about the death of the last living dragon, which means that the dragon's lands, which are set behind magical marker stones, will soon be available for anyone to claim. When Jennifer tries to discover more, she meets up with the current dragonslayer, who quickly transfers the office to her. Jennifer crosses the marker stones (which only she can do) and speaks to the dragon. She also hires an assistant, Gordon van Gordon. Some of the wizards at Kazam say that Big Magic is afoot.
As the last dragonslayer, Jennifer gets a lot of attention from the press and King Snodd IV, who wants Jennifer to claim the dragon lands for the kingdom before the barrier goes down. When she refuses, the king sends the handsome Sir Matt Grifflon to kill her. The quarkbeast protects Jennifer, and she uses the sword of the dragonslayer to cut through the wall and get away.
On the day when the dragon is destined to die, Jennifer travels to the dragon lands. She runs into Gordon, who has betrayed her and is staking out lands for the Constuff company. He pulls out a gun, and when the quarkbeast runs to protect Jennifer, Gordon kills the quarkbeast. Then Gordon dies when Jennifer threatens to fire him, and he instead resigns (since only the dragonslayer or her apprentice can enter the dragonlands.) The dragon tells Jennifer that she must kill him, and even though she doesn't understand the reason why, she follows his wishes, slaying him with the sword. She gets angry and splits a stone with the sword. It turns out that when a dragon is killed, two dragons are born (but this doesn't work if the dragon dies of old age.) Jennifer is actually a berserker, which is why she was able to channel her rage and renew magic within the Ununited Kingdom.
My Thoughts:
I'm going to preface this by saying that I love much of Jasper Fforde's other work, like the Thursday Next books and Shades of Grey However, this book did not have a lot going for it. Although Wikipedia claims this is a novel for adults, it clearly seems to be a young adult novel to me. (And I often enjoy young adult novels, but not this one.) The book suffers from 3 major problems: too many characters, infodumping, lack of plot foreshadowing.
A new character is introduced almost every chapter, and most of them serve no specific purpose. Often, they are mentioned once and then never show up again. Why did that random guy have to ask Jennifer on a date in the first chapter? He's never mentioned again. What about the wizard that comes to visit Moobin and explains Big Magic. Couldn't another character have done that just as well? I'm not adverse to having lots of characters, but they need to serve some purpose, apart from just taking up space.
Ah, the infodump, where lots of background information is dumped on the reader in a less than subtle way. When the author wants to tell us the background of magic and the dragonslayers, a random side character is there to take up an entire chapter with the story. If we need to learn about Big Magic, there are some handy wizards to get Jennifer up to speed. (She's in charge of Kazam. You would think she'd know this information by now.)
Despite all of the infodumping, much information is revealed only when it suits the plot. Jennifer's on her way to the epic dragon death. Oh, by the way, did you know that no one can interfere with a dragonslayer when she's on official duty. When Constuff makes it look like the dragon committed some crimes, it turns out that there need to be three instances of dragon crime before the dragonslayer has to kill the dragon. The list just goes on and on. With all of that infodumping, couldn't the author have thrown in some of this information to foreshadow events later in the book? One major rule of writing fantasy is that the magic system has to be consistent. It's bad form to throw a bunch of new rules at the reader for the convenience of the plot.
Fforde is a great writer, but this isn't his best book. Try the Thursday Next series instead.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
East of Eden
Title: East of Eden
Author: John Steinbeck
Rating: 5 out of 5
Summary (with spoilers):
East of Eden chronicles the stories of two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, while repeating the motif of Cain and Abel throughout the book. The story begins with Adam Trask, who is born to a solider who trains Adam for the army. Adam's brother, Charles, is jealous that their father loves Adam best, so Charles attempts to kill Adam. (Here is the first instance of the Cain and Abel story.) Adam joins the army, and after many years makes it back to the farm to live with Charles. When their father dies, the men inherit a large sum.
Cathy is a sociopath who murders her parents, flees her home, and gets involved with a criminal. When the criminal beats her up and leaves her for dead, she crawls over to the doorstep of Adam and Charles. Adam nurses Cathy back to health and marries her, but she sustains a scar on her forehead. They move to the Salinas Valley in California.
Samuel Hamilton is an Irish farmer with big ideas and a large family. When Adam moves to the Salinas Valley, Samuel befriends Adam, although he realizes something is not quite right with Cathy. Cathy becomes pregnant and gives birth to twins. She decides to leave Adam, and when he tries to stop her in his confusion, she shoots him in the shoulder. (Hence the second instance of the Cain and Abel story.)
Cathy moves to Salinas (the city) and begins to work for a house of ill repute, eventually killing the owner and taking charge of the house. Meanwhile, Adam is depressed, and his servant Lee raises the twins. (There is a great scene where Samuel forces Adam to pick names for the children, and we see the beginnings of the third instance of the Cain and Abel story.) Lee is a thoroughly interesting and complex character, who is often judged for being Chinese and, in the beginning of the book, speaks a pidgin dialect with everyone but Samuel.
When Samuel Hamilton dies, Adam goes to Salinas for the funeral. He gets really drunk and visits Cathy. Adam realizes that Cathy no longer has a hold over him.
The twins, at this point, are about 11 years old. Aron is a friendly and well-liked boy, while Caleb is less favored and has flashes of cruelty. Some visitors come to the farm, bringing Abra, a cool-headed girl who Aron soon decides to marry. On the advice of the Abra's parents, Adam decides to move to Salinas. Aron and Abra meet up in Salinas, and while their engagement begins as childhood play, it becomes more serious as they get older. However, Aron is self-involved in many ways. Perhaps Lee describes Aron best when he says that Aron's purity and goodness are often selfish. For example, Aron considers joining the ministry and not marrying Abra.
Cal learns the truth about his mother and goes to see her. Adam and Cal continue to keep the truth from Aron, to protect him. Aron finishes high school a year early and goes to Stanford, although he doesn't like it there. He writes love letters to Abra, but she feels that Aron is really writing about himself. When Adam loses the majority of his fortune on an attempt to ship lettuce across the country, Cal earns the money back with help from Will Hamilton. During Thanksgiving, Cal gives the money to Adam, who won't accept the gift. Hurt and bewildered, Cal takes Aron to see their mother. Aron freaks out and run offs, then joins the army.
Cathy commits suicide, and Adam has a stroke when he hears of her death. Abra declares her love for Cal, in part because he isn't perfect, and they start dating. A letter arrives with the news that Aron is dead, which gives Adam another stroke. Cal reveals why Aron left for the army. Lee begs Adam to give some sign that he has forgiven Cal, even though it is difficult for Adam to speak. Adam manages one word, "timshel," which means "thou mayest." This resonates with an early episode in the book, implying that Cal has the ability to overcome whatever evil is in him.
My Thoughts:
This book is a masterpiece. The characters are complex and believable. The plot is exciting and layered. In summary, this book has everything that a good book should. Steinbeck describes the inner motivations of the characters with the skill of a master writer.
Throughout the book, we see the Cain and Abel theme reemerge for different characters in a satisfying way. I found the theological discussions of Lee, Samuel, and Adam particularly interesting. Steinbeck is always questioning the nature of evil. Where does it come from? Do we have the choice to overcome it (like with Cal and the idea of "timshel")?
The characterization of Aron and Cal invites analysis. Although Aron is the more well-liked brother, he is less complex than Cal. While Cal suffers over his idea of self and struggles to be a good person, Aron has a righteous goodness about him, which doesn't leave room for ambiguity or difficulties in others. (In some ways, Aron's attitude mirrors Adam's first view of Cathy. Although she tried to tell him that she didn't want to move to Salinas or stay with him, Adam refused to hear it, imagining Cathy to be the picture of a perfect wife.) Aron's biggest struggle comes when he moves to Stanford, but even then, it is a superficial struggle. When college does not live up to Aron's fanciful expectations, Aron moves off campus and instead idolizes Abra. Aron also does not have the patience for ambiguity in others. He expects Abra to be perfect, an expectation that she can in no way live up to. When Aron discovers the truth about his mother, it shatters his view of the world, and he can't handle it.
Cal, on the other hand, sees the cruelty in himself and battles to be a better person. He simultaneously loves his brother for his goodness and hates his brother too, because life seems so easy for him. Cal often tries to do the right thing, but he is confused about how to do it. For example, when Cal tries to give the money to his father, he wants to show his father that he loves him. (Although even this action is complex, for Cal admits that a part of him hopes he can buy Adam's love.) Later, Cal burns the money. Cal doesn't realize that being good doesn't have to be such a grand gesture or that it doesn't have to involve his suffering. Although on the surface Aron is easier to like, Abra realizes that Cal is actually less selfish and more in touch with the world.
In my summary of the book, I didn't talk much about the Hamilton family. Although those characters are well drawn, most of them remain in the sideline of the plot. Their stories are more vignettes that add flavor to the work as a whole.
I have nothing but praise for this book. It was a wonderful read.
Author: John Steinbeck
Rating: 5 out of 5
Summary (with spoilers):
East of Eden chronicles the stories of two families, the Trasks and the Hamiltons, while repeating the motif of Cain and Abel throughout the book. The story begins with Adam Trask, who is born to a solider who trains Adam for the army. Adam's brother, Charles, is jealous that their father loves Adam best, so Charles attempts to kill Adam. (Here is the first instance of the Cain and Abel story.) Adam joins the army, and after many years makes it back to the farm to live with Charles. When their father dies, the men inherit a large sum.
Cathy is a sociopath who murders her parents, flees her home, and gets involved with a criminal. When the criminal beats her up and leaves her for dead, she crawls over to the doorstep of Adam and Charles. Adam nurses Cathy back to health and marries her, but she sustains a scar on her forehead. They move to the Salinas Valley in California.
Samuel Hamilton is an Irish farmer with big ideas and a large family. When Adam moves to the Salinas Valley, Samuel befriends Adam, although he realizes something is not quite right with Cathy. Cathy becomes pregnant and gives birth to twins. She decides to leave Adam, and when he tries to stop her in his confusion, she shoots him in the shoulder. (Hence the second instance of the Cain and Abel story.)
Cathy moves to Salinas (the city) and begins to work for a house of ill repute, eventually killing the owner and taking charge of the house. Meanwhile, Adam is depressed, and his servant Lee raises the twins. (There is a great scene where Samuel forces Adam to pick names for the children, and we see the beginnings of the third instance of the Cain and Abel story.) Lee is a thoroughly interesting and complex character, who is often judged for being Chinese and, in the beginning of the book, speaks a pidgin dialect with everyone but Samuel.
When Samuel Hamilton dies, Adam goes to Salinas for the funeral. He gets really drunk and visits Cathy. Adam realizes that Cathy no longer has a hold over him.
The twins, at this point, are about 11 years old. Aron is a friendly and well-liked boy, while Caleb is less favored and has flashes of cruelty. Some visitors come to the farm, bringing Abra, a cool-headed girl who Aron soon decides to marry. On the advice of the Abra's parents, Adam decides to move to Salinas. Aron and Abra meet up in Salinas, and while their engagement begins as childhood play, it becomes more serious as they get older. However, Aron is self-involved in many ways. Perhaps Lee describes Aron best when he says that Aron's purity and goodness are often selfish. For example, Aron considers joining the ministry and not marrying Abra.
Cal learns the truth about his mother and goes to see her. Adam and Cal continue to keep the truth from Aron, to protect him. Aron finishes high school a year early and goes to Stanford, although he doesn't like it there. He writes love letters to Abra, but she feels that Aron is really writing about himself. When Adam loses the majority of his fortune on an attempt to ship lettuce across the country, Cal earns the money back with help from Will Hamilton. During Thanksgiving, Cal gives the money to Adam, who won't accept the gift. Hurt and bewildered, Cal takes Aron to see their mother. Aron freaks out and run offs, then joins the army.
Cathy commits suicide, and Adam has a stroke when he hears of her death. Abra declares her love for Cal, in part because he isn't perfect, and they start dating. A letter arrives with the news that Aron is dead, which gives Adam another stroke. Cal reveals why Aron left for the army. Lee begs Adam to give some sign that he has forgiven Cal, even though it is difficult for Adam to speak. Adam manages one word, "timshel," which means "thou mayest." This resonates with an early episode in the book, implying that Cal has the ability to overcome whatever evil is in him.
My Thoughts:
This book is a masterpiece. The characters are complex and believable. The plot is exciting and layered. In summary, this book has everything that a good book should. Steinbeck describes the inner motivations of the characters with the skill of a master writer.
Throughout the book, we see the Cain and Abel theme reemerge for different characters in a satisfying way. I found the theological discussions of Lee, Samuel, and Adam particularly interesting. Steinbeck is always questioning the nature of evil. Where does it come from? Do we have the choice to overcome it (like with Cal and the idea of "timshel")?
The characterization of Aron and Cal invites analysis. Although Aron is the more well-liked brother, he is less complex than Cal. While Cal suffers over his idea of self and struggles to be a good person, Aron has a righteous goodness about him, which doesn't leave room for ambiguity or difficulties in others. (In some ways, Aron's attitude mirrors Adam's first view of Cathy. Although she tried to tell him that she didn't want to move to Salinas or stay with him, Adam refused to hear it, imagining Cathy to be the picture of a perfect wife.) Aron's biggest struggle comes when he moves to Stanford, but even then, it is a superficial struggle. When college does not live up to Aron's fanciful expectations, Aron moves off campus and instead idolizes Abra. Aron also does not have the patience for ambiguity in others. He expects Abra to be perfect, an expectation that she can in no way live up to. When Aron discovers the truth about his mother, it shatters his view of the world, and he can't handle it.
Cal, on the other hand, sees the cruelty in himself and battles to be a better person. He simultaneously loves his brother for his goodness and hates his brother too, because life seems so easy for him. Cal often tries to do the right thing, but he is confused about how to do it. For example, when Cal tries to give the money to his father, he wants to show his father that he loves him. (Although even this action is complex, for Cal admits that a part of him hopes he can buy Adam's love.) Later, Cal burns the money. Cal doesn't realize that being good doesn't have to be such a grand gesture or that it doesn't have to involve his suffering. Although on the surface Aron is easier to like, Abra realizes that Cal is actually less selfish and more in touch with the world.
In my summary of the book, I didn't talk much about the Hamilton family. Although those characters are well drawn, most of them remain in the sideline of the plot. Their stories are more vignettes that add flavor to the work as a whole.
I have nothing but praise for this book. It was a wonderful read.
Thursday, October 24, 2013
Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Title: Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell
Rating: 3 out of 5
Summary (with spoilers):
This book is huge, so I'm leaving out a lot of minor characters, as well as bits that aren't essential to the main plot.
The book opens with a meeting of the York Society of Magicians, who study magic, but don't actually practice it. The group reaches out to Mr. Norrell, who is known to have an impressive library of magical texts. Norrell claims he can do actual magic, proving so by animating the statues in York Cathedral. The York magicians are forced to abandon their group, based on an agreement made with Norrell, but Mr. Segundus is allowed to continue the study of magic.
Norrell moves to London with the intention of offering his services to the government. He's befriended by two scoundrels, Lascelles and Drawlight, who associate with Norrell for their own profit. Norrell is having trouble getting the government to take him seriously, so he offers to do a favor for government official Walter Poole by bringing his fiance back to life. He completes the magic by summoning a fairy, a gentleman with thistledown hair, who requires Lady Poole's finger and half her life in exchange. The fairy puts Lady Poole and Walter Poole's servant Stephen Black under an enchantment, forcing them to spend their nights at Lost-hope in the fairy realm.
Norrell asks his servent, John Childermass, to force the street magician Vinculus out of town. Vinculus invades Norrell's house and recites a prophecy to him, the same prophecy which induces Johnathan Strange to become a magician.
After marrying Arabella, Strange comes to London in hopes of being taught magic by Norrell. Although hesitant at first, Norrell soon warms to Strange, the only person with which he can truly discuss magic.
Strange goes to the front to aid Wellington with the war effort against Napoleon. Many entertaining episodes ensue. When Strange gets back to London, he realizes that he would like to express his own ideas about magical theory, causing him to make a break with Norrell.
Meanwhile, everyone thinks Lady Poole is mad, and Stephen Black isn't having such a great time, either. Lady Poole is placed in a care facility run my Mr. Segundus. The fairy, wreaking more havoc, decides to kidnap Strange's wife and make everyone believe she is dead.
Devastated by the "death" of his wife, Strange travels to Italy, where he meets the Greysteel family and manages to summon the fairy. The fairy offers him any gift in the world, and Strange asks for whatever the last magician he talked to gave him. Strange receives Lady Poole's finger, travels to the land of fairy, and realizes that Arabella is alive. The fairy casts a spell so that Strange is covered by a darkness which follows him everywhere.
Strange casts a spell that changes all of England, allowing magic back into the world for anyone who wants to practice it. Drawlight appears in Italy, and Strange sends him back to London with a message for Norrell that he is coming. However, Lascelles murders Drawlight before the message can be delivered.
Strange appears at Norrell's library. Instead of fighting, the two try to summon the Raven King. The fairy murders Vinculus, who has the Raven King's book written upon him, but the Raven King appears (while Childermass is there) to bring Vinculus back to life. Strange and Norrell cast a spell so that England will greet the Raven King, but they accidentally name Stephen Black, who with his new powers is able to kill the fairy, releasing everyone from their enchantments. Stephen then becomes the new king of the fairy land.
Arabella makes it safely to Italy, and is cared for by the Greysteels. Strange and Norrell disappear to fairy, still trapped within the eternal darkness. Strange returns to Arabella, saying he will come to her once they have found a spell to lift the darkness, although he certainly doesn't seem to be in a hurry about it. Arabella promises to wait for him.
My Thoughts:
Excellent world building throughout the book. Clarke makes us believe that magic is a part of English history, creating a detailed magical history through the use of extensive footnotes. She uses phrases such as, "all school children know of [insert famous magician here]." Very well done.
The Jane Austen/regency style of writing was wonderful. She uses the same rhythm and complex sentence structure as classics of the 1800s. The book also has bits of humor here and there. Her writing style made for a delightful read.
However, the book certainly could have been shorter. The whole novel is actually three books in one, coming in at about 800 pages. I think the same story could have been told in 300 or 400 pages. We get a lot of detail about minor characters, like the Greysteels, and Stephen's love interest (who is never mentioned again.) There are also times where the plot loses focus, such as the description of all the various magical tasks of Strange and Norrell. I know this adds to the flavor of the book, but I would have preferred a tighter story.
I'm bothered by the ending. Arabella promises to wait for Strange, who seems in no hurry at all to get back to her. I suppose this is his way of saying goodbye to her, since I don't think either one expects to see the other again. I just wish that Arabella had had a more proactive role in the story, and that she could be defined by something other than her marriage to Strange or the fact that she was enchanted by a fairy. The weird thing is, she's described as being quite independent, and her dialog suggests this as well, but her role within the book is one of subservience. Arabella is not in control of her life.
Rating: 3 out of 5
Summary (with spoilers):
This book is huge, so I'm leaving out a lot of minor characters, as well as bits that aren't essential to the main plot.
The book opens with a meeting of the York Society of Magicians, who study magic, but don't actually practice it. The group reaches out to Mr. Norrell, who is known to have an impressive library of magical texts. Norrell claims he can do actual magic, proving so by animating the statues in York Cathedral. The York magicians are forced to abandon their group, based on an agreement made with Norrell, but Mr. Segundus is allowed to continue the study of magic.
Norrell moves to London with the intention of offering his services to the government. He's befriended by two scoundrels, Lascelles and Drawlight, who associate with Norrell for their own profit. Norrell is having trouble getting the government to take him seriously, so he offers to do a favor for government official Walter Poole by bringing his fiance back to life. He completes the magic by summoning a fairy, a gentleman with thistledown hair, who requires Lady Poole's finger and half her life in exchange. The fairy puts Lady Poole and Walter Poole's servant Stephen Black under an enchantment, forcing them to spend their nights at Lost-hope in the fairy realm.
Norrell asks his servent, John Childermass, to force the street magician Vinculus out of town. Vinculus invades Norrell's house and recites a prophecy to him, the same prophecy which induces Johnathan Strange to become a magician.
After marrying Arabella, Strange comes to London in hopes of being taught magic by Norrell. Although hesitant at first, Norrell soon warms to Strange, the only person with which he can truly discuss magic.
Strange goes to the front to aid Wellington with the war effort against Napoleon. Many entertaining episodes ensue. When Strange gets back to London, he realizes that he would like to express his own ideas about magical theory, causing him to make a break with Norrell.
Meanwhile, everyone thinks Lady Poole is mad, and Stephen Black isn't having such a great time, either. Lady Poole is placed in a care facility run my Mr. Segundus. The fairy, wreaking more havoc, decides to kidnap Strange's wife and make everyone believe she is dead.
Devastated by the "death" of his wife, Strange travels to Italy, where he meets the Greysteel family and manages to summon the fairy. The fairy offers him any gift in the world, and Strange asks for whatever the last magician he talked to gave him. Strange receives Lady Poole's finger, travels to the land of fairy, and realizes that Arabella is alive. The fairy casts a spell so that Strange is covered by a darkness which follows him everywhere.
Strange casts a spell that changes all of England, allowing magic back into the world for anyone who wants to practice it. Drawlight appears in Italy, and Strange sends him back to London with a message for Norrell that he is coming. However, Lascelles murders Drawlight before the message can be delivered.
Strange appears at Norrell's library. Instead of fighting, the two try to summon the Raven King. The fairy murders Vinculus, who has the Raven King's book written upon him, but the Raven King appears (while Childermass is there) to bring Vinculus back to life. Strange and Norrell cast a spell so that England will greet the Raven King, but they accidentally name Stephen Black, who with his new powers is able to kill the fairy, releasing everyone from their enchantments. Stephen then becomes the new king of the fairy land.
Arabella makes it safely to Italy, and is cared for by the Greysteels. Strange and Norrell disappear to fairy, still trapped within the eternal darkness. Strange returns to Arabella, saying he will come to her once they have found a spell to lift the darkness, although he certainly doesn't seem to be in a hurry about it. Arabella promises to wait for him.
My Thoughts:
Excellent world building throughout the book. Clarke makes us believe that magic is a part of English history, creating a detailed magical history through the use of extensive footnotes. She uses phrases such as, "all school children know of [insert famous magician here]." Very well done.
The Jane Austen/regency style of writing was wonderful. She uses the same rhythm and complex sentence structure as classics of the 1800s. The book also has bits of humor here and there. Her writing style made for a delightful read.
However, the book certainly could have been shorter. The whole novel is actually three books in one, coming in at about 800 pages. I think the same story could have been told in 300 or 400 pages. We get a lot of detail about minor characters, like the Greysteels, and Stephen's love interest (who is never mentioned again.) There are also times where the plot loses focus, such as the description of all the various magical tasks of Strange and Norrell. I know this adds to the flavor of the book, but I would have preferred a tighter story.
I'm bothered by the ending. Arabella promises to wait for Strange, who seems in no hurry at all to get back to her. I suppose this is his way of saying goodbye to her, since I don't think either one expects to see the other again. I just wish that Arabella had had a more proactive role in the story, and that she could be defined by something other than her marriage to Strange or the fact that she was enchanted by a fairy. The weird thing is, she's described as being quite independent, and her dialog suggests this as well, but her role within the book is one of subservience. Arabella is not in control of her life.
Saturday, October 5, 2013
The Wave in the Mind
The Wave in the Mind by Ursula K. Le Guin
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Summary (with spoilers)
A collection of non-fiction essays on reading, writing, and life, including essays on scanning text for stressed/unstressed syllabus, experiences being a woman writer (and a woman in general), discussion of writing workshops, and an essay on uncomfortable footwear for women.
Thoughts
Such an interesting look into Le Guin's ideas and writing processes. I loved her flowing, yet practical and complex, tips for writing. Le Guin discusses where the ideas for writing come from (hint: not from a mail in order), trying to honestly describe that nebulous, creative space of the writer's mind. She also notes that it can be dangerous to do writing in luxury (such as at a retreat), that luxury should not be a prerequisite for writing, and that it's up to you to make sure you have the practicalities of life (and your real way of making money) squared away. In another piece, Le Guin lays out the assumptions that is found in most fiction, that everyone is male, white, Christian, straight, and young. Breaking down these assumptions is useful for any writer.
What most surprised me was her essay on women's footwear, noting that American cultural norms encourage women to wear shoes that damage their feet. I'm not sure I'm okay with her use of the practice of foot binding as an analogy, but it is an essay that seriously changed the way I think about this issue. I don't want to be complicit in the idea that women have to ruin their feet to be attractive, so I'm considering never wearing high heels again. The poem at the end about the writing woman was wonderful.
Rating: 4 out of 5 stars
Summary (with spoilers)
A collection of non-fiction essays on reading, writing, and life, including essays on scanning text for stressed/unstressed syllabus, experiences being a woman writer (and a woman in general), discussion of writing workshops, and an essay on uncomfortable footwear for women.
Thoughts
Such an interesting look into Le Guin's ideas and writing processes. I loved her flowing, yet practical and complex, tips for writing. Le Guin discusses where the ideas for writing come from (hint: not from a mail in order), trying to honestly describe that nebulous, creative space of the writer's mind. She also notes that it can be dangerous to do writing in luxury (such as at a retreat), that luxury should not be a prerequisite for writing, and that it's up to you to make sure you have the practicalities of life (and your real way of making money) squared away. In another piece, Le Guin lays out the assumptions that is found in most fiction, that everyone is male, white, Christian, straight, and young. Breaking down these assumptions is useful for any writer.
What most surprised me was her essay on women's footwear, noting that American cultural norms encourage women to wear shoes that damage their feet. I'm not sure I'm okay with her use of the practice of foot binding as an analogy, but it is an essay that seriously changed the way I think about this issue. I don't want to be complicit in the idea that women have to ruin their feet to be attractive, so I'm considering never wearing high heels again. The poem at the end about the writing woman was wonderful.
Friday, September 20, 2013
A Feast for Crows
Title: A Feast for Crows
Author: George R.R. Martin
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Summary (with spoilers):
This is the fourth installment in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. As usual, each chapter follows the viewpoint of a specific character.
Cersei Lannister: Power hungry Cersei is queen regent now that Tommen is on the throne, but too young to rule. She puts her evil schemes into play, but makes the mistake of giving the Faith permission to build an army. In the middle of a plot to discredit Margaery, Tommen's wife, Cersei is locked up by the high septon and accused of various sins. She writes to Jamie to save her, but he does not come back to King's Landing to rescue her.
Jamie Lannister: He manages to get Riverrun to surrender without a battle. Spends the entire book freaking out about how Cersei is sleeping with other people.
Brienne: The Maid of Tarth is on a quest to find Sansa Stark (and also hopes to find Arya, once she learns Arya is alive.) Brienne picks up some companions on her quest, including Poddrick (previously squire to Tyrion), and Ser Hyle, who proposes marriage. She slays some outlaws from previous books (Shagga, etc.), runs into Gendry at an inn, and saves a bunch of children by fighting Biter, even though she is grievously injured. Brienne is delivered to Lady Stoneheart (the reanimated Catelyn Stark), but Stoneheart believes Brienne has betrayed her, since she's carrying a Lannister sword. Brienne and friends are hanged, although it's ambiguous whether they die or whether they will be saved at the last second.
Sansa Stark: She's up in the Eyrie with Petyr (Littlefinger) being all creepy while she pretends to be his daughter. Petyr succeeds in keeping control of the Eyrie, at least for now.
Ayra Stark: Arya ends up as an apprentice at the temple of the Many-Faced God in Braavos. She runs into Sam, although they don't know each other, and she kills a brother of the Knight's Watch who has strayed from his path. When she tells her mentor at the temple what she's done, he gives her a drink. The next day, she wakes up blind.
Samwell Tarly: Sam journeys to the Citadel in Oldtown to become a maester. On the journey, Aemon dies, and Sam sleeps with Gilly. In Oldtown, he meets up with apprentice Pate in the last chapter. If the reader can remember several hundred pages back to the prologue, we know that Pate has been killed, so this guy must be an impostor.
Meanwhile, we get the viewpoints of a bunch of random characters in Dorne and the Iron Islands. Arianne in Dorne tries to form a rebellion to have Marcella crowned queen of the Seven Kingdom. However, that backfires and her lover, Ser Oakheart, dies in the skirmish that follows their discovery. On the Iron Islands, a kingsmoot decides for Euron Crow's Eye over his brother Victarion and Asha Greyjoy. The islanders start raiding territories in the Seven Kingdoms.
My Thoughts:
For such a huge book, not much happened. Cersei does her weird plots (and her chapters take up the most out of any character in the book), but it's so clear that she's power mad that it's not much fun to read. Also, she sits through some boring council meetings, which means we have to sit through them too. And that bit with Lady Merryweather... It seemed like George R.R. Martin just got bored and wanted to throw in some sexy times. Didn't seem necessary.
Brienne wanders around doing nothing for most of the book. I like this character; she's one of the only unequivocally good people in the book. I wish her story had been better. We know where Sansa is, so it's not exciting for us to watch Brienne searching. We know Brienne is looking in the wrong places. Also, her ending was so unfair and sudden (although I don't believe she's dead).
What's with Ayra randomly killing some dude?! So unnecessary. Is George R.R. Martin trying to show that Ayra (whose been painted as a likable character up until this point) is actually evil? Because most good people don't go around murdering people who annoy them. I know his characters are all supposed to be a little rotten, but I don't know if I can go on liking Ayra if she's going to behave this way.
Those are my main problems with this book. I liked Sam's story and was happy to see more of him. I'm also interested to see how Petyr's plans play out, as he seems smarter than the other power hungry characters.
Of course, many of the main POV characters were left out of this book, since it was split into two novels. Here's hoping that the next book will be better.
Author: George R.R. Martin
Rating: 2 out of 5 stars
Summary (with spoilers):
This is the fourth installment in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. As usual, each chapter follows the viewpoint of a specific character.
Cersei Lannister: Power hungry Cersei is queen regent now that Tommen is on the throne, but too young to rule. She puts her evil schemes into play, but makes the mistake of giving the Faith permission to build an army. In the middle of a plot to discredit Margaery, Tommen's wife, Cersei is locked up by the high septon and accused of various sins. She writes to Jamie to save her, but he does not come back to King's Landing to rescue her.
Jamie Lannister: He manages to get Riverrun to surrender without a battle. Spends the entire book freaking out about how Cersei is sleeping with other people.
Brienne: The Maid of Tarth is on a quest to find Sansa Stark (and also hopes to find Arya, once she learns Arya is alive.) Brienne picks up some companions on her quest, including Poddrick (previously squire to Tyrion), and Ser Hyle, who proposes marriage. She slays some outlaws from previous books (Shagga, etc.), runs into Gendry at an inn, and saves a bunch of children by fighting Biter, even though she is grievously injured. Brienne is delivered to Lady Stoneheart (the reanimated Catelyn Stark), but Stoneheart believes Brienne has betrayed her, since she's carrying a Lannister sword. Brienne and friends are hanged, although it's ambiguous whether they die or whether they will be saved at the last second.
Sansa Stark: She's up in the Eyrie with Petyr (Littlefinger) being all creepy while she pretends to be his daughter. Petyr succeeds in keeping control of the Eyrie, at least for now.
Ayra Stark: Arya ends up as an apprentice at the temple of the Many-Faced God in Braavos. She runs into Sam, although they don't know each other, and she kills a brother of the Knight's Watch who has strayed from his path. When she tells her mentor at the temple what she's done, he gives her a drink. The next day, she wakes up blind.
Samwell Tarly: Sam journeys to the Citadel in Oldtown to become a maester. On the journey, Aemon dies, and Sam sleeps with Gilly. In Oldtown, he meets up with apprentice Pate in the last chapter. If the reader can remember several hundred pages back to the prologue, we know that Pate has been killed, so this guy must be an impostor.
Meanwhile, we get the viewpoints of a bunch of random characters in Dorne and the Iron Islands. Arianne in Dorne tries to form a rebellion to have Marcella crowned queen of the Seven Kingdom. However, that backfires and her lover, Ser Oakheart, dies in the skirmish that follows their discovery. On the Iron Islands, a kingsmoot decides for Euron Crow's Eye over his brother Victarion and Asha Greyjoy. The islanders start raiding territories in the Seven Kingdoms.
My Thoughts:
For such a huge book, not much happened. Cersei does her weird plots (and her chapters take up the most out of any character in the book), but it's so clear that she's power mad that it's not much fun to read. Also, she sits through some boring council meetings, which means we have to sit through them too. And that bit with Lady Merryweather... It seemed like George R.R. Martin just got bored and wanted to throw in some sexy times. Didn't seem necessary.
Brienne wanders around doing nothing for most of the book. I like this character; she's one of the only unequivocally good people in the book. I wish her story had been better. We know where Sansa is, so it's not exciting for us to watch Brienne searching. We know Brienne is looking in the wrong places. Also, her ending was so unfair and sudden (although I don't believe she's dead).
What's with Ayra randomly killing some dude?! So unnecessary. Is George R.R. Martin trying to show that Ayra (whose been painted as a likable character up until this point) is actually evil? Because most good people don't go around murdering people who annoy them. I know his characters are all supposed to be a little rotten, but I don't know if I can go on liking Ayra if she's going to behave this way.
Those are my main problems with this book. I liked Sam's story and was happy to see more of him. I'm also interested to see how Petyr's plans play out, as he seems smarter than the other power hungry characters.
Of course, many of the main POV characters were left out of this book, since it was split into two novels. Here's hoping that the next book will be better.
Tuesday, August 20, 2013
2312
Title: 2312
Author: Kim Stanley Robinson
Rating: 4 out of 5
I've decided that my summaries have been getting too long, so I'm going to make future summaries shorter. This book was over 500 pages, but here we go.
Summary (with spoilers):
Swan lives on Terminator, a city on Mercury that glides along planet-wide tracks to avoid being caught in the sun. As Swan grieves at the death of her grandmother, Alex, she learns that Alex was involved in secret political dealings. Alex has left several letters that Swan must deliver, causing Swan to meet up with Wahram, Inspector Gennette, and Wang.
In addition to being overcome with grief, Swan is a rather unusual person. She had her qube, Pauline, installed in her head. She's also undergone various physical modifications.
Swan tries to figure out what Alex was working on, but no one will tell her directly what's going on, except that it has to do with Earth, and that they don't trust the qubes. Swan travels to Earth via terraria (hollowed-out asteroids turned into small worlds), to meet up with her former lover, Zasha. On Earth, some ruffians attempt to kidnap her, but she is saved by Kiran. In return, she gets him off-planet to Venus, where he becomes a double agent for two major political powers.
Swan meets up with Wahram on Mercury. After attending a conference, they decide to don some spacesuits and walk back to the city platform. En route, they witness an explosion the almost hits Terminator and destroys the tracks. They rush back to the city, but it's already been evacuated. Since the sun is rising, they need to get to safety. They decide to run sun-ward to the next platform, which has an underground system mirroring the tracks above ground. They make it to the platform, and while they are waiting for the elevator to arrive, Swan jumps in front of Wahram to protect him from a solar flare.
They hike along the underground tunnel for weeks, trying to reach safety, whistling Bach to pass the time. Swan gets increasingly ill from radiation poisoning. Eventually, they go to the surface to break the monotony, even though they are sun-side, and a vehicle passing by rescues them.
Swan spends time with Inspector Gennette, who thinks the attack on Mercury was caused by lots of small rocks thrown so that they would all land at the same time. He's also suspicious of the cubes. Swan and Wahram go to Earth to help with various development projects and then decide to repopulate Earth with all of the animals stored in the terraria. Thousands of animals are sent through the sky in gel balloons. On Earth, Swan and Warham realize they have feelings for each other.
Swan and Warham become passengers on a space craft, when Pauline informs Swan that a similar attack is planned on the Venus sun shield. They use the space ship to deflect the small projectiles, which means that everyone has to evacuate. Swan and Warham get into space suits and float in space, waiting to be rescued. However, their rescue ship is attacked before it can pick them up, and Warham's leg is injured. Eventually, they are rescued, but their time waiting in space is reminiscent of their time in the tunnel.
Meanwhile, these strange humanoid qubes have been wandering about causing trouble, so Inspector Gennette exiles them all in a star ship. The book ends with the marriage of Swan and Warham.
My Thoughts:
My summary doesn't do the book justice, as its strengths lie in world building, character development, and philosophical discussions. It was a book that would make me stop mid-page and think for 20 minutes about the concepts. I enjoyed the discussion of the pseudo-iterative routines of Warham, the question of qube-human relationships, and the descriptions of the various terraria.
My favorite part of the book was when they were wandering through the tunnel, and also the description of animals floating down to Earth. The chapters completely filled with terraforming descriptions were hard for me to get through, but most of them actually did have a relation to the plot. I believe the book could have been 100 pages shorter, but I enjoyed the complexity and depth of the world that Robinson built.
This book has won the Nebula and is up for the Hugo this year. I would have voted for it if I had signed up for a voting membership.
Author: Kim Stanley Robinson
Rating: 4 out of 5
I've decided that my summaries have been getting too long, so I'm going to make future summaries shorter. This book was over 500 pages, but here we go.
Summary (with spoilers):
Swan lives on Terminator, a city on Mercury that glides along planet-wide tracks to avoid being caught in the sun. As Swan grieves at the death of her grandmother, Alex, she learns that Alex was involved in secret political dealings. Alex has left several letters that Swan must deliver, causing Swan to meet up with Wahram, Inspector Gennette, and Wang.
In addition to being overcome with grief, Swan is a rather unusual person. She had her qube, Pauline, installed in her head. She's also undergone various physical modifications.
Swan tries to figure out what Alex was working on, but no one will tell her directly what's going on, except that it has to do with Earth, and that they don't trust the qubes. Swan travels to Earth via terraria (hollowed-out asteroids turned into small worlds), to meet up with her former lover, Zasha. On Earth, some ruffians attempt to kidnap her, but she is saved by Kiran. In return, she gets him off-planet to Venus, where he becomes a double agent for two major political powers.
Swan meets up with Wahram on Mercury. After attending a conference, they decide to don some spacesuits and walk back to the city platform. En route, they witness an explosion the almost hits Terminator and destroys the tracks. They rush back to the city, but it's already been evacuated. Since the sun is rising, they need to get to safety. They decide to run sun-ward to the next platform, which has an underground system mirroring the tracks above ground. They make it to the platform, and while they are waiting for the elevator to arrive, Swan jumps in front of Wahram to protect him from a solar flare.
They hike along the underground tunnel for weeks, trying to reach safety, whistling Bach to pass the time. Swan gets increasingly ill from radiation poisoning. Eventually, they go to the surface to break the monotony, even though they are sun-side, and a vehicle passing by rescues them.
Swan spends time with Inspector Gennette, who thinks the attack on Mercury was caused by lots of small rocks thrown so that they would all land at the same time. He's also suspicious of the cubes. Swan and Wahram go to Earth to help with various development projects and then decide to repopulate Earth with all of the animals stored in the terraria. Thousands of animals are sent through the sky in gel balloons. On Earth, Swan and Warham realize they have feelings for each other.
Swan and Warham become passengers on a space craft, when Pauline informs Swan that a similar attack is planned on the Venus sun shield. They use the space ship to deflect the small projectiles, which means that everyone has to evacuate. Swan and Warham get into space suits and float in space, waiting to be rescued. However, their rescue ship is attacked before it can pick them up, and Warham's leg is injured. Eventually, they are rescued, but their time waiting in space is reminiscent of their time in the tunnel.
Meanwhile, these strange humanoid qubes have been wandering about causing trouble, so Inspector Gennette exiles them all in a star ship. The book ends with the marriage of Swan and Warham.
My Thoughts:
My summary doesn't do the book justice, as its strengths lie in world building, character development, and philosophical discussions. It was a book that would make me stop mid-page and think for 20 minutes about the concepts. I enjoyed the discussion of the pseudo-iterative routines of Warham, the question of qube-human relationships, and the descriptions of the various terraria.
My favorite part of the book was when they were wandering through the tunnel, and also the description of animals floating down to Earth. The chapters completely filled with terraforming descriptions were hard for me to get through, but most of them actually did have a relation to the plot. I believe the book could have been 100 pages shorter, but I enjoyed the complexity and depth of the world that Robinson built.
This book has won the Nebula and is up for the Hugo this year. I would have voted for it if I had signed up for a voting membership.
Tuesday, August 13, 2013
The Mindy Project
The Mindy Project by Mindy Kaling
Summary (with spoilers):
Mindy tells the reader about her life, from childhood to comedy success, through humorous essays. She discusses her high school experience as a comedy nerd, college acting, moving to New York and writing the play Matt & Ben with her friend, various jobs, and how she became a writer for The Office.
My Thoughts:
Not a bad book, although Mindy is not nearly as funny in her essay writing as she is in script writing and acting. Some of the episodes were well done. I especially liked her description of her childhood. When describing high school, she says that it's okay not to be a star, because it's kind of sad if high school is the best time of your life. However, some of the chapters fell flat for me. The one where she describes pictures of herself on her cell phone is especially bad.
Overall, it was an amusing read, but I could have skipped it.
Summary (with spoilers):
Mindy tells the reader about her life, from childhood to comedy success, through humorous essays. She discusses her high school experience as a comedy nerd, college acting, moving to New York and writing the play Matt & Ben with her friend, various jobs, and how she became a writer for The Office.
My Thoughts:
Not a bad book, although Mindy is not nearly as funny in her essay writing as she is in script writing and acting. Some of the episodes were well done. I especially liked her description of her childhood. When describing high school, she says that it's okay not to be a star, because it's kind of sad if high school is the best time of your life. However, some of the chapters fell flat for me. The one where she describes pictures of herself on her cell phone is especially bad.
Overall, it was an amusing read, but I could have skipped it.
Thursday, August 1, 2013
Quiet
Quiet by Susan Cain
This is the first time I've done a review of a non-fiction book. I'll keep the summary short.
Summary (with spoilers):
Cain talks about the "extrovert ideal" in United States culture, which privileges extroverted personalities over introverted personalities. She uses the Harvard Business School as an example of an extreme extrovert culture.
Cain discusses the nature/nurture debate, bringing up physiological elements that influence introversion. She looks at introversion in terms of sensitivity, arguing that people who are more sensitive to outside stimuli are more likely to be introverts. There's an interesting experiment where researchers played recordings of balloons popping, etc. for babies, and were able to predict which would grow up to be introverts based on how the babies reacted. The highly reactive babies were more sensitive, and therefore more likely to exhibit introverted qualities when they got older.
Cain argues that we should pay more attention to the positive qualities of introversion and examines introverted leadership.
My Thoughts:
Although I had high hopes for this book, I wasn't impressed. I could sense the author's bitterness at having to grow up in an extroverted world. Although she repeatedly says that she hopes the book will cause introverts to be at peace with who they are, I don't think she spends enough time on the positive aspects of introversion. In fact, most of the time she's talking about extroverts (the extrovert ideal, comparing introverts to extroverts, etc.) I would have enjoyed the book if it had been more focused on what it means to be an introvert, not about how introverts can survive in an extroverted world. Perhaps the author would have sounded less resentful if she had written the book in a more introvert-focused way.
The most interesting bits of the book talked about the effect of physiology on introversion. Although introversion is influenced by environment, it's also highly hereditary. However, I had some friends note that some of the experiments/findings seemed flawed, like arguing that introverts might be more sensitive to coffee when it's probably a separate gene that influences caffeine sensitivity.
I wouldn't recommend this book. I have so much difficulty finding good non-fiction books. There's always a worry that the book won't be factually accurate (although Quiet contained a substantial amount of footnotes, which is a good sign).
This is the first time I've done a review of a non-fiction book. I'll keep the summary short.
Summary (with spoilers):
Cain talks about the "extrovert ideal" in United States culture, which privileges extroverted personalities over introverted personalities. She uses the Harvard Business School as an example of an extreme extrovert culture.
Cain discusses the nature/nurture debate, bringing up physiological elements that influence introversion. She looks at introversion in terms of sensitivity, arguing that people who are more sensitive to outside stimuli are more likely to be introverts. There's an interesting experiment where researchers played recordings of balloons popping, etc. for babies, and were able to predict which would grow up to be introverts based on how the babies reacted. The highly reactive babies were more sensitive, and therefore more likely to exhibit introverted qualities when they got older.
Cain argues that we should pay more attention to the positive qualities of introversion and examines introverted leadership.
My Thoughts:
Although I had high hopes for this book, I wasn't impressed. I could sense the author's bitterness at having to grow up in an extroverted world. Although she repeatedly says that she hopes the book will cause introverts to be at peace with who they are, I don't think she spends enough time on the positive aspects of introversion. In fact, most of the time she's talking about extroverts (the extrovert ideal, comparing introverts to extroverts, etc.) I would have enjoyed the book if it had been more focused on what it means to be an introvert, not about how introverts can survive in an extroverted world. Perhaps the author would have sounded less resentful if she had written the book in a more introvert-focused way.
The most interesting bits of the book talked about the effect of physiology on introversion. Although introversion is influenced by environment, it's also highly hereditary. However, I had some friends note that some of the experiments/findings seemed flawed, like arguing that introverts might be more sensitive to coffee when it's probably a separate gene that influences caffeine sensitivity.
I wouldn't recommend this book. I have so much difficulty finding good non-fiction books. There's always a worry that the book won't be factually accurate (although Quiet contained a substantial amount of footnotes, which is a good sign).
Wednesday, July 24, 2013
What Makes a Good Book?
Doing all of these reviews has got me thinking more about literature and reading in general. So what makes a book worth reading? There are all those obvious elements like plot, character, conflict, etc. I want to think about the little things that distinguish an average book from one that's great.
1) Immersive experience
Whether through world building, exciting plot, or character development, a book should make the real world disappear for the reader. Great books make the reader forget that she is reading a book.
2) Different from real life
The author should create a story where everything makes sense and nothing happens randomly. If I'm taking the time to read the book, I want to be reading something well thought out. Unlike real life (where things happen all the time for no reason), a book should have internal justice and a coherent plot.
Books can take advantage of symbolism, because the author adds symbolism intentionally. (If the main character is in a bad mood, and it's raining outside, that's relevant. In real life, the weather isn't a barometer for the emotions of people.) Authors can use various elements like foreshadowing, and the reader understands that these elements will work in a certain way, based on what it means to be reading a story.
Only important or useful actions need to be mentioned. An author doesn't have to tell us every time a character uses the bathroom or brushes her teeth. We can assume these things are happening, even if it's not explicitly mentions.
3) But not too different from real life
However, a book must be relatable. If I hate a main character of a book, there should be a good reason for it, so that I can still enjoy the story. Ditto if the main character is an idiot. Unless there's going to be some great character development going on, I don't want to spend a lot of time with a character I don't like.
4) Imaginative
If a book must be different from real life, it follows that the author must use her imagination when writing. I've noticed that great books are always really strange, not just the science fiction or fantasy ones, which you might expect to be unlike the real world. It's stuff you would never expect to happen in your own life. Real life is comfortable, but boring. And indeed, most good stories happen around conflict, when stressful things are happening to all of the characters. This stress and strangeness are what make books interesting.
1) Immersive experience
Whether through world building, exciting plot, or character development, a book should make the real world disappear for the reader. Great books make the reader forget that she is reading a book.
2) Different from real life
The author should create a story where everything makes sense and nothing happens randomly. If I'm taking the time to read the book, I want to be reading something well thought out. Unlike real life (where things happen all the time for no reason), a book should have internal justice and a coherent plot.
Books can take advantage of symbolism, because the author adds symbolism intentionally. (If the main character is in a bad mood, and it's raining outside, that's relevant. In real life, the weather isn't a barometer for the emotions of people.) Authors can use various elements like foreshadowing, and the reader understands that these elements will work in a certain way, based on what it means to be reading a story.
Only important or useful actions need to be mentioned. An author doesn't have to tell us every time a character uses the bathroom or brushes her teeth. We can assume these things are happening, even if it's not explicitly mentions.
3) But not too different from real life
However, a book must be relatable. If I hate a main character of a book, there should be a good reason for it, so that I can still enjoy the story. Ditto if the main character is an idiot. Unless there's going to be some great character development going on, I don't want to spend a lot of time with a character I don't like.
4) Imaginative
If a book must be different from real life, it follows that the author must use her imagination when writing. I've noticed that great books are always really strange, not just the science fiction or fantasy ones, which you might expect to be unlike the real world. It's stuff you would never expect to happen in your own life. Real life is comfortable, but boring. And indeed, most good stories happen around conflict, when stressful things are happening to all of the characters. This stress and strangeness are what make books interesting.
Ready Player One
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Summary (with spoilers):
It's the 2040s, and the world has entered into a dystopian era after running out of fossil fuel. Most people spend their time in OASIS, a huge virtual reality simulator that has replaced the Internet. The OASIS was created by an extraordinary programmer named Halliday. Upon his death, Halliday issues a challenge to the world. The first person to find his 3 keys and 3 gates, solving intricate puzzles along the way involving 1980s culture (the era when Halliday grew up), will inherit Halliday's massive fortune. This contest gives rise to the "gunters," people who have devoted themselves to finding Halliday's "Easter egg" within the worlds of OASIS.
Enter Wade (avatar name Parzival), a poor orphan living with his degenerate aunt in "The Stacks," although he spends most of his time in an abandoned van. He's a gunter obsessed with figuring out the puzzle, with a specialty in old arcade games. He doesn't have the money to teleport around the OASIS, but he is able to access the planet Ludus, where he goes to school. His only friend, Aech, is also a gunter.
While reading Halliday's 80s culture lovefest journal, Wade notices that some letters are marked, and that putting the marked letters together spells out a clue about the first key, mentioning a tomb of horrors and learning. He realizes that the tomb of horrors refers to an old D&D quest module, while the reference to learning means that the tomb recreation could be on the Ludus school planet. After scanning the Ludus map, he finds a hill that matches the illustrations in the Tomb of Horrors module.
He uses a school voucher (intended to let him go to away games) to transport to the correct area of Ludus. He makes his way through the tomb, avoiding the traps, until he gets to the throne room. The arch-lich, which isn't supposed to show up until later, is sitting on the dias, and challenges Wade to a Joust tournament. Wade loses the first game, but after asking to switch sides, he's barely able to win the next two games. Wade receives the Copper Key. He's the first person to find the key, even though the contest has been going for 5 years!
As he turns to leave, he runs into another avatar, Art3mis. Wade's been reading her gunter blog for years, and has a crush on Art3mis, although he's never met her. Although suspicious of each other, they like each other right away and exchange contact information. However, Wade lies to her about getting the Copper Key. She checks the scoreboard, and see's that Parzival's name is there. He admits winning at Joust, and advises her to switch sides with the arch-lich.
The Copper Key has a clue written on it, which Wade instantly deciphers. Wade heads for the planet Middletown, a recreation of Halliday's hometown, knowing that he must beat a specific video game to find the gate. Upon beating the game, a gate is revealed. Wade inserts the key and enters into star-studded space, landing in a recreation of the movie WarGames as Matthew Broderick's character David Lightman.
Art3mis soon clears the First Gate as well, followed a day later by Aech and two guys from Japan, Daito and Shoto. I-rok, an annoying friend of Aech's, reveals that both Aech and Wade are students on Ludus, because the two refuse to show him where the Copper Key is hidden.
As Parzival becomes famous, Wade gets all sorts of endorsement offers. He also gets an email from the IOI corporation, home of the "Sixers." This corporation wants to win the contest so that they can take over the OASIS and start charging an entry fee.
Wade agrees to meet with a high ranking IOI employee, who offers him a job and money to give them a walk-through of the First Gate. When Wade refuses, IOI reveals that they know his real identity, and that if he doesn't help them, they'll blow up his home in The Stacks, where they believe he currently is. Wade realizes that either they are bluffing, or that if they intend to kill him, they'll do it whether he helps them or not. He decides not to help them and leaves the virtual chat. Minutes later, an explosion destroys his home. (Luckily, he's in his hide-out in the van.)
Shaken, Wade and Aech call all of the others who have managed to gain a place on the scoreboard (a group known as the High Five.) Despite the danger, they decide to remain solo gunters. The Sixers converge on Ludus and put a force field around the entrance to the Copper Key.
With his endorsement money, Wade moves to Columbus, changes his identity, and gets his own apartment. He develops a relationship with Art3mis (although they've never met in person), but when he declares his love for her, she tells him they shouldn't see each other until the contest is over. She then becomes the first to find the Jade Key.
The Sixers have acquired a powerful artifact that allows them to locate any avatar once per day. When Art3mis finds the Jade Key, they use the power to discover she is on Sector 7. When swarms of Sixers flock to the sector, everyone else knows the Jade Key is there too.
Aech sends Wade a clue about the location of the Jade Key. It's hidden in a world based on the text-based game Zork. Once Wade collects all of the trophies, he must blow a whistle found in a Captain Crunch cereal box (like people used to do to make free long-distance phone calls.) The Jade Key is encased in foil, with a riddle about passing the test to continue the quest. Wade has to flee the planet quickly as the Sixers descend.
During the battle at the Zork planet, Daito is killed in real life. Shoto visits Wade in the OASIS and gives him a powerful artifact that Daito, Shoto, and Wade had uncovered during a quest they did earlier. While Wade tries to discover the clue to the Jade Gate, the Sixers pass the Jade Gate and obtain the Crystal Key.
Wade realizes the clue is a reference to Bladerunner. As he says "the unicorn," the paper folds itself into a unicorn. He finds a replica of the tower in Bladerunner and is transported to the second gate, a bowling alley from Halliday's youth. He plays a first person version of Black Tiger and is rewarded with his choice of a large robot and the clue to the Crystal Key. The clue, a symbol on a Rush album, leads him to a planet based on the album 2112. Using the song lyrics as a guide, he finds a guitar. While still in that room, he plays the first bit of "Discover," and another clue is revealed. Wade realizes that the Sixers must not have received this addition clue. He plays the guitar in the main room, and is rewarded with the Crystal Key.
The Crystal Key contains an "A," just like the one on Halliday's character Anorack. Wade realizes that he must go to Anorack's castle, which no one but Halliday has ever been able to enter. Unfortunately, right after Wade gains the key, the Sixers put a barrier around the castle so that no one can enter.
Wade emails the locations of the gates and keys to Art3mis, Aech, and Shoto. He purposefully goes into debt under his fake identity, so that he'll be arrested by IOI, which has a system of making people who can't pay their debts become indentured servants.
Aech sends Wade a clue about the location of the Jade Key. It's hidden in a world based on the text-based game Zork. Once Wade collects all of the trophies, he must blow a whistle found in a Captain Crunch cereal box (like people used to do to make free long-distance phone calls.) The Jade Key is encased in foil, with a riddle about passing the test to continue the quest. Wade has to flee the planet quickly as the Sixers descend.
During the battle at the Zork planet, Daito is killed in real life. Shoto visits Wade in the OASIS and gives him a powerful artifact that Daito, Shoto, and Wade had uncovered during a quest they did earlier. While Wade tries to discover the clue to the Jade Gate, the Sixers pass the Jade Gate and obtain the Crystal Key.
Wade realizes the clue is a reference to Bladerunner. As he says "the unicorn," the paper folds itself into a unicorn. He finds a replica of the tower in Bladerunner and is transported to the second gate, a bowling alley from Halliday's youth. He plays a first person version of Black Tiger and is rewarded with his choice of a large robot and the clue to the Crystal Key. The clue, a symbol on a Rush album, leads him to a planet based on the album 2112. Using the song lyrics as a guide, he finds a guitar. While still in that room, he plays the first bit of "Discover," and another clue is revealed. Wade realizes that the Sixers must not have received this addition clue. He plays the guitar in the main room, and is rewarded with the Crystal Key.
Wade emails the locations of the gates and keys to Art3mis, Aech, and Shoto. He purposefully goes into debt under his fake identity, so that he'll be arrested by IOI, which has a system of making people who can't pay their debts become indentured servants.
They all meet virtually in Aech's private chat room to talk. Wade reveals all of the information he downloaded. He tells them a plan to send a mass email asking for everyone's help taking down the Sixers, who are guarding the Crystal Gate. when Shoto and Art3mis reveal that they are not in very safe locations, Ogden Morrow (Halliday's business partner) appears within the chat room. He offers to fly everyone to his mansion in Oregon (in real life.) The 4 gunters accept his offer, realizing that they will meet for the first time.
Aech comes to pick up Wade to drive him to the airport. When Wade enters her RV, he sees that a plump, African American woman about his age is driving. At first, he is shocked that Aech's true identity is so different from her online persona, but then he realizes that it doesn't make any difference; she's still his best friend.
Everyone arrives at Ogden's house, although Art3mis and Shoto decide not to meet the other two until after the contest is finished. Wade arrives to the castle in his robot, which is flooded with friendly avatars ready to fight for the four friends. The orb is disabled, and the main Sixer guy activates his huge robot, Mechagodzilla. Shoto distracts the Sixer, getting eliminated in the process. Wade activates the Beta Capsule to become huge and take the Sixer down. Then Art3mis, Aech, and Wade all get to the Crystal Gate and activate it. Before they can step inside, everyone dies in a huge explosion. (The Catalyst was activated.)
However, Wade gets an extra life because he has the quarter in his inventory. As he's searching for a way to reach the gate (which is now high above him since everything has been destroyed), he promises to split the money with his friends if he gets to the egg.
He enters the gate, and must get a high score on the game Tempest. Then he's put into a movie recreation of The Holy Grail. After completing that game, he enters a room with all of Halliday's computers/video game consoles. Wade figures out that the log on password is the name of the D&D character of the woman that Halliday loved. He then plays Adventure, getting to the room with the first video game Easter egg. Instead of the name of the creator of Adventure (as in the original game), there is Halliday's egg! Wade picks up the egg, gets transported into the castle, and meets up with Halliday's avatar. Halliday tells Wade that there is a secret button that will destroy the OASIS, but only Wade will have access to it. He also warns Wade that true happiness can only be found in reality.
Wade and friends are rich, everyone is happy, and the Sixer guy gets arrested in real life. Art3mis is waiting for Wade outside. He finally gets to meet her in person, where they kiss.
My Thoughts:
I loved this book. The premise is so much fun, the action is exciting, and there are tons of nerdy cultural references. (On the day when I read about Wade getting the Copper Key, I had just gotten back from a D&D game.)
Massive points to Cline for his vision of the OASIS, which is completely different from our the Internet today and also a plausible evolution of current technology. Creating believable future technology is one of the hardest things to do in science fiction.
I enjoyed all of the reference to 80s culture. (I still have to check out Zork.) The fast pace of the book made it hard to stop reading, and I was rooting for the characters the entire time.
Now for a few issues. I did feel that Wade's extensive knowledge of 80s culture was unrealistic. (He says he's watched The Holy Grail 157 times, that he's read every book on Halliday's overflowing shelf, and on top of that, he's a video game master, able to get a perfect score playing Pac-Man.) I know he devotes all of his free time to the pursuit of Halliday's egg, but I just think he wouldn't have the time to do all of these things.
I was also bothered when the "Chekhov's Gun" rule was broken. Wade buys a gun shortly after escaping from the Sixer compound. It's mentioned once or twice after, but there's never a situation where he even remotely needs to use it. I kept worrying that some bad guy was going to attack him at the end. I wish the author had just left out the bit about Wade buying a gun.
Overall, this book was excellent. I would recommend it to all of my friends.
Summary (with spoilers):
It's the 2040s, and the world has entered into a dystopian era after running out of fossil fuel. Most people spend their time in OASIS, a huge virtual reality simulator that has replaced the Internet. The OASIS was created by an extraordinary programmer named Halliday. Upon his death, Halliday issues a challenge to the world. The first person to find his 3 keys and 3 gates, solving intricate puzzles along the way involving 1980s culture (the era when Halliday grew up), will inherit Halliday's massive fortune. This contest gives rise to the "gunters," people who have devoted themselves to finding Halliday's "Easter egg" within the worlds of OASIS.
Enter Wade (avatar name Parzival), a poor orphan living with his degenerate aunt in "The Stacks," although he spends most of his time in an abandoned van. He's a gunter obsessed with figuring out the puzzle, with a specialty in old arcade games. He doesn't have the money to teleport around the OASIS, but he is able to access the planet Ludus, where he goes to school. His only friend, Aech, is also a gunter.
While reading Halliday's 80s culture lovefest journal, Wade notices that some letters are marked, and that putting the marked letters together spells out a clue about the first key, mentioning a tomb of horrors and learning. He realizes that the tomb of horrors refers to an old D&D quest module, while the reference to learning means that the tomb recreation could be on the Ludus school planet. After scanning the Ludus map, he finds a hill that matches the illustrations in the Tomb of Horrors module.
He uses a school voucher (intended to let him go to away games) to transport to the correct area of Ludus. He makes his way through the tomb, avoiding the traps, until he gets to the throne room. The arch-lich, which isn't supposed to show up until later, is sitting on the dias, and challenges Wade to a Joust tournament. Wade loses the first game, but after asking to switch sides, he's barely able to win the next two games. Wade receives the Copper Key. He's the first person to find the key, even though the contest has been going for 5 years!
As he turns to leave, he runs into another avatar, Art3mis. Wade's been reading her gunter blog for years, and has a crush on Art3mis, although he's never met her. Although suspicious of each other, they like each other right away and exchange contact information. However, Wade lies to her about getting the Copper Key. She checks the scoreboard, and see's that Parzival's name is there. He admits winning at Joust, and advises her to switch sides with the arch-lich.
The Copper Key has a clue written on it, which Wade instantly deciphers. Wade heads for the planet Middletown, a recreation of Halliday's hometown, knowing that he must beat a specific video game to find the gate. Upon beating the game, a gate is revealed. Wade inserts the key and enters into star-studded space, landing in a recreation of the movie WarGames as Matthew Broderick's character David Lightman.
Art3mis soon clears the First Gate as well, followed a day later by Aech and two guys from Japan, Daito and Shoto. I-rok, an annoying friend of Aech's, reveals that both Aech and Wade are students on Ludus, because the two refuse to show him where the Copper Key is hidden.
As Parzival becomes famous, Wade gets all sorts of endorsement offers. He also gets an email from the IOI corporation, home of the "Sixers." This corporation wants to win the contest so that they can take over the OASIS and start charging an entry fee.
Wade agrees to meet with a high ranking IOI employee, who offers him a job and money to give them a walk-through of the First Gate. When Wade refuses, IOI reveals that they know his real identity, and that if he doesn't help them, they'll blow up his home in The Stacks, where they believe he currently is. Wade realizes that either they are bluffing, or that if they intend to kill him, they'll do it whether he helps them or not. He decides not to help them and leaves the virtual chat. Minutes later, an explosion destroys his home. (Luckily, he's in his hide-out in the van.)
Shaken, Wade and Aech call all of the others who have managed to gain a place on the scoreboard (a group known as the High Five.) Despite the danger, they decide to remain solo gunters. The Sixers converge on Ludus and put a force field around the entrance to the Copper Key.
With his endorsement money, Wade moves to Columbus, changes his identity, and gets his own apartment. He develops a relationship with Art3mis (although they've never met in person), but when he declares his love for her, she tells him they shouldn't see each other until the contest is over. She then becomes the first to find the Jade Key.
The Sixers have acquired a powerful artifact that allows them to locate any avatar once per day. When Art3mis finds the Jade Key, they use the power to discover she is on Sector 7. When swarms of Sixers flock to the sector, everyone else knows the Jade Key is there too.
Aech sends Wade a clue about the location of the Jade Key. It's hidden in a world based on the text-based game Zork. Once Wade collects all of the trophies, he must blow a whistle found in a Captain Crunch cereal box (like people used to do to make free long-distance phone calls.) The Jade Key is encased in foil, with a riddle about passing the test to continue the quest. Wade has to flee the planet quickly as the Sixers descend.
During the battle at the Zork planet, Daito is killed in real life. Shoto visits Wade in the OASIS and gives him a powerful artifact that Daito, Shoto, and Wade had uncovered during a quest they did earlier. While Wade tries to discover the clue to the Jade Gate, the Sixers pass the Jade Gate and obtain the Crystal Key.
Wade realizes the clue is a reference to Bladerunner. As he says "the unicorn," the paper folds itself into a unicorn. He finds a replica of the tower in Bladerunner and is transported to the second gate, a bowling alley from Halliday's youth. He plays a first person version of Black Tiger and is rewarded with his choice of a large robot and the clue to the Crystal Key. The clue, a symbol on a Rush album, leads him to a planet based on the album 2112. Using the song lyrics as a guide, he finds a guitar. While still in that room, he plays the first bit of "Discover," and another clue is revealed. Wade realizes that the Sixers must not have received this addition clue. He plays the guitar in the main room, and is rewarded with the Crystal Key.
The Crystal Key contains an "A," just like the one on Halliday's character Anorack. Wade realizes that he must go to Anorack's castle, which no one but Halliday has ever been able to enter. Unfortunately, right after Wade gains the key, the Sixers put a barrier around the castle so that no one can enter.
Wade emails the locations of the gates and keys to Art3mis, Aech, and Shoto. He purposefully goes into debt under his fake identity, so that he'll be arrested by IOI, which has a system of making people who can't pay their debts become indentured servants.
Aech sends Wade a clue about the location of the Jade Key. It's hidden in a world based on the text-based game Zork. Once Wade collects all of the trophies, he must blow a whistle found in a Captain Crunch cereal box (like people used to do to make free long-distance phone calls.) The Jade Key is encased in foil, with a riddle about passing the test to continue the quest. Wade has to flee the planet quickly as the Sixers descend.
During the battle at the Zork planet, Daito is killed in real life. Shoto visits Wade in the OASIS and gives him a powerful artifact that Daito, Shoto, and Wade had uncovered during a quest they did earlier. While Wade tries to discover the clue to the Jade Gate, the Sixers pass the Jade Gate and obtain the Crystal Key.
Wade realizes the clue is a reference to Bladerunner. As he says "the unicorn," the paper folds itself into a unicorn. He finds a replica of the tower in Bladerunner and is transported to the second gate, a bowling alley from Halliday's youth. He plays a first person version of Black Tiger and is rewarded with his choice of a large robot and the clue to the Crystal Key. The clue, a symbol on a Rush album, leads him to a planet based on the album 2112. Using the song lyrics as a guide, he finds a guitar. While still in that room, he plays the first bit of "Discover," and another clue is revealed. Wade realizes that the Sixers must not have received this addition clue. He plays the guitar in the main room, and is rewarded with the Crystal Key.
Wade emails the locations of the gates and keys to Art3mis, Aech, and Shoto. He purposefully goes into debt under his fake identity, so that he'll be arrested by IOI, which has a system of making people who can't pay their debts become indentured servants.
They all meet virtually in Aech's private chat room to talk. Wade reveals all of the information he downloaded. He tells them a plan to send a mass email asking for everyone's help taking down the Sixers, who are guarding the Crystal Gate. when Shoto and Art3mis reveal that they are not in very safe locations, Ogden Morrow (Halliday's business partner) appears within the chat room. He offers to fly everyone to his mansion in Oregon (in real life.) The 4 gunters accept his offer, realizing that they will meet for the first time.
Aech comes to pick up Wade to drive him to the airport. When Wade enters her RV, he sees that a plump, African American woman about his age is driving. At first, he is shocked that Aech's true identity is so different from her online persona, but then he realizes that it doesn't make any difference; she's still his best friend.
Everyone arrives at Ogden's house, although Art3mis and Shoto decide not to meet the other two until after the contest is finished. Wade arrives to the castle in his robot, which is flooded with friendly avatars ready to fight for the four friends. The orb is disabled, and the main Sixer guy activates his huge robot, Mechagodzilla. Shoto distracts the Sixer, getting eliminated in the process. Wade activates the Beta Capsule to become huge and take the Sixer down. Then Art3mis, Aech, and Wade all get to the Crystal Gate and activate it. Before they can step inside, everyone dies in a huge explosion. (The Catalyst was activated.)
However, Wade gets an extra life because he has the quarter in his inventory. As he's searching for a way to reach the gate (which is now high above him since everything has been destroyed), he promises to split the money with his friends if he gets to the egg.
He enters the gate, and must get a high score on the game Tempest. Then he's put into a movie recreation of The Holy Grail. After completing that game, he enters a room with all of Halliday's computers/video game consoles. Wade figures out that the log on password is the name of the D&D character of the woman that Halliday loved. He then plays Adventure, getting to the room with the first video game Easter egg. Instead of the name of the creator of Adventure (as in the original game), there is Halliday's egg! Wade picks up the egg, gets transported into the castle, and meets up with Halliday's avatar. Halliday tells Wade that there is a secret button that will destroy the OASIS, but only Wade will have access to it. He also warns Wade that true happiness can only be found in reality.
Wade and friends are rich, everyone is happy, and the Sixer guy gets arrested in real life. Art3mis is waiting for Wade outside. He finally gets to meet her in person, where they kiss.
My Thoughts:
I loved this book. The premise is so much fun, the action is exciting, and there are tons of nerdy cultural references. (On the day when I read about Wade getting the Copper Key, I had just gotten back from a D&D game.)
Massive points to Cline for his vision of the OASIS, which is completely different from our the Internet today and also a plausible evolution of current technology. Creating believable future technology is one of the hardest things to do in science fiction.
I enjoyed all of the reference to 80s culture. (I still have to check out Zork.) The fast pace of the book made it hard to stop reading, and I was rooting for the characters the entire time.
Now for a few issues. I did feel that Wade's extensive knowledge of 80s culture was unrealistic. (He says he's watched The Holy Grail 157 times, that he's read every book on Halliday's overflowing shelf, and on top of that, he's a video game master, able to get a perfect score playing Pac-Man.) I know he devotes all of his free time to the pursuit of Halliday's egg, but I just think he wouldn't have the time to do all of these things.
I was also bothered when the "Chekhov's Gun" rule was broken. Wade buys a gun shortly after escaping from the Sixer compound. It's mentioned once or twice after, but there's never a situation where he even remotely needs to use it. I kept worrying that some bad guy was going to attack him at the end. I wish the author had just left out the bit about Wade buying a gun.
Overall, this book was excellent. I would recommend it to all of my friends.
Friday, July 12, 2013
Ethan of Athos
Ethan of Athos by Lois McMaster Bujold
Summary (with spoilers):
This is a book of the Vorkosigan series, although where it falls in the series depends on whether you're reading them in chronological order (like me) or in publication order. This book doesn't include the star of the series, Miles Vorkosigan, although he's mentioned a few times.
The book begins on the planet of Athos, an all-male society which reproduces with the help of uterine replicators. Ethan is an obstetrician who is tasked with going off planet to obtain new cultures for the uterine replicators, as their original cultures are becoming non-viable. Although Athos ordered a shipment of new cultures, the shipment that arrived was full of unusable samples.
Ethan is worried about what he will find off-planet. (After all, there are women out there!) Before he leaves, his life partner crashes Ethan's hover car, causing damages that the partner has to pay off with his social credits, which the couple will need if they want to have children. (Ethan desperately wants to be a parent.)
Ethan arrives at Kline Station, where he abruptly gets lost. He asks for directions from a young man, too late realizing that "he" is actually a woman, Elli Quinn. Quinn is a member of the Dendarii mercenaries (who we're first introduced to in the book The Warrior's Apprentice), led by Commander Naismith (aka Miles Vorkosigan).
Ethan plans to find the best planet for ovarian samples and travel there. He leaves his hotel to search for some food, ends up in a shady bar (which he entered because it was the only woman-free place he could find), and gets into a fight. Quinn saves him from this predicament, but he's still too nervous around women to accept an invitation to dinner. While walking back to his hotel, Ethan is kidnapped and interrogated by Millisor and Rau. Seeing that his station map has traces of a bug, they believe Ethan is a spy, and keep questioning him about Terence Cee. The captors reveal a plan to destroy the reproduction centers on Athos and generally blow some stuff up. They send Ethan off with Okita, who has instructions to kill Ethan, but Quinn saves him once again (although she accidentally kills Okita in the process.) Ethan realizes that Quinn was the one who planted the bug on his station map. Also, she's got a contract out on Millisor and his conspirators from the Jackson's Hole house that Athos purchased the ovarian cultures from.
They dispose of Okita in a unit that breaks down organic matter to feed back into the food growing system. Here they meet Helda, a no-nonsense member of the bio-control unit responsible for making sure the space station is free of disease and other contamination.
Fearing for his life, Ethan occupies a new hotel room purchased by Quinn. However, when they get into an argument, he decides to leave. Ethan promptly runs into Rau, who shoots a neural disruptor at him. Ethan flees into a worker closet and dresses himself in a red Docks and Locks jumpsuit. After some more adventures (including a trip to the decontamination ward and a security officer who tries to flirt with him), he's approached by a man who turns out to be Terence Cee.
Cee reveals that he is a telepath, although his powers only work when he ingests a certain chemical. He was part of an experimental project on Cetaganda, along with Janine (his romantic partner and fellow telepath), who was killed after they escaped. He had an ovarian culture made from Janine and put in the Athos shipment, with the hope of immigrating to Athos.
Ethan and Cee meet up with Quinn. They decide to team up, since they all want to find the shipment and/or defeat Millisor and co. When Millisor kidnaps Quinn's cousin Teki (who they involved in a scheme earlier in the book), Quinn calls the bio-control unit, claiming that Millisor has given her an STD. Helda arrives at Millisor's room, along with another tech and a security guard. When Millisor won't open the door, she sucks all the air out of his room, forcing him to come out. Ethan realizes that Helda had to be the one to destroy the cultures, and she admits to the crime, stating that she's hated Athos ever since her son immigrated there.
Everyone gets carted off to decontamination/security, but Quinn disappears. Ethan talks to the captured Millisor, who tells him that Cee wanted to send the cultures to Athos because they contained the recessive gene for telepathy. Because of the unusual means of reproduction on Athos, the gene would have eventually invaded the entire planet.
Ethan gets a call from Cee, asking to meet at a docking area. On the way there, a man in a pink suit gives him a message device for Millisor. Once Ethan gets there, he realizes that Cee was forced to lure him into a trap. The escapee Millisor appears, pointing a neural disruptor at Quinn. Ethan mentions the message thing, which turns out to be a bomb. Quinn activates it. Then some dudes from the Jackson's Hole house show up and shoot Millisor/Rau. They also pop out Quinn's elbow for not completing her contract.
Ethan visits Quinn in the hospital. He asks her to donate an ovary to Athos, and she agrees. They all go to pick up some newts that Quinn stored in cold storage. She plans to use the shipment as a cover for the biological material Cee gave her (so that the Dendarii mercenaries can study telepathy). Ethan looks out into space and sees that the boxes housing the original ovarian cultures are floating there. (It turns out when you "throw things out" on a space station, they might just get chucked into space.) Cee and Ethan recover the cultures, without telling Quinn. Ethan tells Cee that they can bring the cultures back to Athos, therefore setting up a world of telepaths, because Ethan fears that Athos will not survive in the future without some edge.
Ethan and Cee arrive on Athos, where it's revealed that Ethan's life partner has run off. It's implied that Ethan and Cee may become a couple.
My Thoughts:
As always, McMaster Bujold delivers an exciting novel with a rip-roaring plot.
Pros:
*Fun and easy to read
*Funny in parts (especially Quinn's antics and Ethan's view of women)
*I like the idea of a world without women. (Usually the stories of single-gender planets and reproduction involve no men. This was a good twist on that idea.)
*Good depiction of life on a space station (including their obsession with contamination)
Cons:
*Strange to have a book without Miles as a character
*Some of the plot seems slapped together. Parts of it move so quickly that it's hard to keep up or really see if it makes sense.
*Having the Jackson's Hole people come in at the last minute seems too deus ex machina
Overall, this book was another great addition to the series. I feel it didn't move the series along much, except to introduce Quinn as a character. So far, Ethan hasn't come back in later books, so it's strange to know I've spent a whole book with a POV character that won't appear again.
Summary (with spoilers):
This is a book of the Vorkosigan series, although where it falls in the series depends on whether you're reading them in chronological order (like me) or in publication order. This book doesn't include the star of the series, Miles Vorkosigan, although he's mentioned a few times.
The book begins on the planet of Athos, an all-male society which reproduces with the help of uterine replicators. Ethan is an obstetrician who is tasked with going off planet to obtain new cultures for the uterine replicators, as their original cultures are becoming non-viable. Although Athos ordered a shipment of new cultures, the shipment that arrived was full of unusable samples.
Ethan is worried about what he will find off-planet. (After all, there are women out there!) Before he leaves, his life partner crashes Ethan's hover car, causing damages that the partner has to pay off with his social credits, which the couple will need if they want to have children. (Ethan desperately wants to be a parent.)
Ethan arrives at Kline Station, where he abruptly gets lost. He asks for directions from a young man, too late realizing that "he" is actually a woman, Elli Quinn. Quinn is a member of the Dendarii mercenaries (who we're first introduced to in the book The Warrior's Apprentice), led by Commander Naismith (aka Miles Vorkosigan).
Ethan plans to find the best planet for ovarian samples and travel there. He leaves his hotel to search for some food, ends up in a shady bar (which he entered because it was the only woman-free place he could find), and gets into a fight. Quinn saves him from this predicament, but he's still too nervous around women to accept an invitation to dinner. While walking back to his hotel, Ethan is kidnapped and interrogated by Millisor and Rau. Seeing that his station map has traces of a bug, they believe Ethan is a spy, and keep questioning him about Terence Cee. The captors reveal a plan to destroy the reproduction centers on Athos and generally blow some stuff up. They send Ethan off with Okita, who has instructions to kill Ethan, but Quinn saves him once again (although she accidentally kills Okita in the process.) Ethan realizes that Quinn was the one who planted the bug on his station map. Also, she's got a contract out on Millisor and his conspirators from the Jackson's Hole house that Athos purchased the ovarian cultures from.
They dispose of Okita in a unit that breaks down organic matter to feed back into the food growing system. Here they meet Helda, a no-nonsense member of the bio-control unit responsible for making sure the space station is free of disease and other contamination.
Fearing for his life, Ethan occupies a new hotel room purchased by Quinn. However, when they get into an argument, he decides to leave. Ethan promptly runs into Rau, who shoots a neural disruptor at him. Ethan flees into a worker closet and dresses himself in a red Docks and Locks jumpsuit. After some more adventures (including a trip to the decontamination ward and a security officer who tries to flirt with him), he's approached by a man who turns out to be Terence Cee.
Cee reveals that he is a telepath, although his powers only work when he ingests a certain chemical. He was part of an experimental project on Cetaganda, along with Janine (his romantic partner and fellow telepath), who was killed after they escaped. He had an ovarian culture made from Janine and put in the Athos shipment, with the hope of immigrating to Athos.
Ethan and Cee meet up with Quinn. They decide to team up, since they all want to find the shipment and/or defeat Millisor and co. When Millisor kidnaps Quinn's cousin Teki (who they involved in a scheme earlier in the book), Quinn calls the bio-control unit, claiming that Millisor has given her an STD. Helda arrives at Millisor's room, along with another tech and a security guard. When Millisor won't open the door, she sucks all the air out of his room, forcing him to come out. Ethan realizes that Helda had to be the one to destroy the cultures, and she admits to the crime, stating that she's hated Athos ever since her son immigrated there.
Everyone gets carted off to decontamination/security, but Quinn disappears. Ethan talks to the captured Millisor, who tells him that Cee wanted to send the cultures to Athos because they contained the recessive gene for telepathy. Because of the unusual means of reproduction on Athos, the gene would have eventually invaded the entire planet.
Ethan gets a call from Cee, asking to meet at a docking area. On the way there, a man in a pink suit gives him a message device for Millisor. Once Ethan gets there, he realizes that Cee was forced to lure him into a trap. The escapee Millisor appears, pointing a neural disruptor at Quinn. Ethan mentions the message thing, which turns out to be a bomb. Quinn activates it. Then some dudes from the Jackson's Hole house show up and shoot Millisor/Rau. They also pop out Quinn's elbow for not completing her contract.
Ethan visits Quinn in the hospital. He asks her to donate an ovary to Athos, and she agrees. They all go to pick up some newts that Quinn stored in cold storage. She plans to use the shipment as a cover for the biological material Cee gave her (so that the Dendarii mercenaries can study telepathy). Ethan looks out into space and sees that the boxes housing the original ovarian cultures are floating there. (It turns out when you "throw things out" on a space station, they might just get chucked into space.) Cee and Ethan recover the cultures, without telling Quinn. Ethan tells Cee that they can bring the cultures back to Athos, therefore setting up a world of telepaths, because Ethan fears that Athos will not survive in the future without some edge.
Ethan and Cee arrive on Athos, where it's revealed that Ethan's life partner has run off. It's implied that Ethan and Cee may become a couple.
My Thoughts:
As always, McMaster Bujold delivers an exciting novel with a rip-roaring plot.
Pros:
*Fun and easy to read
*Funny in parts (especially Quinn's antics and Ethan's view of women)
*I like the idea of a world without women. (Usually the stories of single-gender planets and reproduction involve no men. This was a good twist on that idea.)
*Good depiction of life on a space station (including their obsession with contamination)
Cons:
*Strange to have a book without Miles as a character
*Some of the plot seems slapped together. Parts of it move so quickly that it's hard to keep up or really see if it makes sense.
*Having the Jackson's Hole people come in at the last minute seems too deus ex machina
Overall, this book was another great addition to the series. I feel it didn't move the series along much, except to introduce Quinn as a character. So far, Ethan hasn't come back in later books, so it's strange to know I've spent a whole book with a POV character that won't appear again.
Thursday, July 4, 2013
Gateway
Gateway
Frederick Pohl
Summary (with spoilers):
When Robinette (Bob) Broadhead wins the lottery, he spends the money to get out of his job at the food mines and travel to Gateway, a space station built by long-gone alien civilization called the Heechee. The story is told by shifting between two time periods: flashbacks of Bob's experiences at Gateway and his sessions with his robot physiologist, whom he calls Sigfrid, in the present.
Gateway was abandoned by the Heechee, but it still has working space ships. Prospectors travel in the ships to unknown locations, where they hope to strike it rich by finding a cache of Heechee artifacts or by getting a large science or danger bonus from the Gateway corporation. There are 3 types of ships (Ones, Threes, and Fives), named based on the number of personnel they can hold. The humans haven't figured out what most of the stuff in the ship does or how to tell where the ships are going.
Bob starts dating Sheri, a woman in his class on Gateway, but they break up when he decides not to go on a mission with her. The truth is, Bob is scared to go on any missions. The majority of them don't return.
He starts dating Gelle-Klara Moynlin, a woman who has been out on two missions, but who is also scared to go out on any. Eventually, they go out in a Five with three gay men. They aren't able to land on the planet they pop out next to, so their mission is not very profitable. One of the men goes insane.
When Klara and Bob get back, they grow apart. Bob sleeps with Louise Forehand (who is waiting for her family to get back before going on a mission, although her daughter has been out long enough that she is probably dead.) Klara sleeps with Dane Metchnikov, who was Bob's assigned mentor when he first arrived at Gateway. Bob and Klara get in an argument, and when Klara punches Bob in the shoulder, Bob beats her up really badly.
Klara leaves on a ship for Venus, and Bob signs up for a One mission. At the end of several months, he arrives at Gateway II, a known location. In anger that his trip has been useless, he changes the settings in his Heechee ship, and becomes the first person to break a ship without having it explode.
Back on Gateway, the scientists have some new ideas about what the colored bars in the ship panels mean in relation to coordinates. They plan to send two Fives out to the same destination, posting a hefty danger bonus. Bob and Dane Metchnikov end up in one ship. Bob's legless friend Shikitei Bahkin wants to go, but Bob doesn't put in a good word for him. (As you may have realized by this point, Bob is a selfish jerk.) Klara shows up and signs up with the other Five. The two ships pop out at the destination. It is a black hole! They all try to pile into one ship so that they can use the momentum of the other ship to push them out of the black hole. They only have a few minutes to transfer everything in and out between the ships, and in the hustle, Bob is the only one who is not able to get back to the correct ship in time. Instead, he punts the other 9 people into the black hole to save himself by using the momentum of their ship.
Throughout the book, Bob is going to the robot psychologist, and at the end, finally reveals this secret. Also, due to issues of time and black holes, although years have passed for Bob, only a few seconds have passed for Klara and the crew. Knowing that Klara is out there somewhere probably at that second (in her time) thinking Bob is an awful guy makes Bob feel even guiltier.
****EDIT*****
Okay, so wiki says that actually Bob was trying to close the hatch and then push the other ship away to safety, but that somehow his ship was the one that got pushed out of the black hole. I read that part again, and it's ambiguous what actually happened. Bob also seems not to know what his intentions where, or if someone on the other ship pushed a button first. He's convinced himself that he was trying to save himself. Unclear what actually happened.
My Thoughts:
I liked the first part of the book better than the ending, mostly because the main character becomes less likable throughout. Learning about the Heechee was interesting. I especially liked that the book had these little asides (snippets of lectures on the Heechee, classified ads on Gateway, etc.) However, the asides took up a full page each time and were placed somewhat randomly throughout the book, often cutting a sentence in half or detracting from the action. I would have preferred if they were placed more strategically for minimal disruption of reading flow.
Bob is revealed to be a fairly terrible guy. I can understand that in a fit of fear he punted the 9 other people into the black hole. That's a rotten thing to do, but it's a move I think a lot of people would make to survive. However, Bob becomes an unsympathetic character when he beats up his girlfriend. (It's so bad that she looses a tooth.) He feels remorse for beating her up, but not enough to satisfy me. Also, she shows up randomly and forgives him, which I didn't like.
There are problems with how the missions are set up. Throughout the book, many prospectors die because they run out of food, and all prospectors are worried about resources until they reach turnaround (the half way point of the trip out). If this is such a big problem, why don't they send out less people in the bigger ships? They could send out two people in a Five with a lot more food. In the story, when one of the longer missions fails, it's even noted that perhaps one person in the Five could have survived. Also, when a prospector dies during the trip, the other prospectors split the money she would have earned. When Bob dooms his nine shipmates to drawn out death by black hole, he actually makes 9 million dollars. If I were a prospector, that would make me nervous.
An interesting theme is the emotions/humanity of robots, as shown by Sigfrid, who reveals at the end of the book that he hypothetically envies Bob's ability to feel emotions, even though Bob feels negative emotions like guilt.
Frederick Pohl
Summary (with spoilers):
When Robinette (Bob) Broadhead wins the lottery, he spends the money to get out of his job at the food mines and travel to Gateway, a space station built by long-gone alien civilization called the Heechee. The story is told by shifting between two time periods: flashbacks of Bob's experiences at Gateway and his sessions with his robot physiologist, whom he calls Sigfrid, in the present.
Gateway was abandoned by the Heechee, but it still has working space ships. Prospectors travel in the ships to unknown locations, where they hope to strike it rich by finding a cache of Heechee artifacts or by getting a large science or danger bonus from the Gateway corporation. There are 3 types of ships (Ones, Threes, and Fives), named based on the number of personnel they can hold. The humans haven't figured out what most of the stuff in the ship does or how to tell where the ships are going.
Bob starts dating Sheri, a woman in his class on Gateway, but they break up when he decides not to go on a mission with her. The truth is, Bob is scared to go on any missions. The majority of them don't return.
He starts dating Gelle-Klara Moynlin, a woman who has been out on two missions, but who is also scared to go out on any. Eventually, they go out in a Five with three gay men. They aren't able to land on the planet they pop out next to, so their mission is not very profitable. One of the men goes insane.
When Klara and Bob get back, they grow apart. Bob sleeps with Louise Forehand (who is waiting for her family to get back before going on a mission, although her daughter has been out long enough that she is probably dead.) Klara sleeps with Dane Metchnikov, who was Bob's assigned mentor when he first arrived at Gateway. Bob and Klara get in an argument, and when Klara punches Bob in the shoulder, Bob beats her up really badly.
Klara leaves on a ship for Venus, and Bob signs up for a One mission. At the end of several months, he arrives at Gateway II, a known location. In anger that his trip has been useless, he changes the settings in his Heechee ship, and becomes the first person to break a ship without having it explode.
Back on Gateway, the scientists have some new ideas about what the colored bars in the ship panels mean in relation to coordinates. They plan to send two Fives out to the same destination, posting a hefty danger bonus. Bob and Dane Metchnikov end up in one ship. Bob's legless friend Shikitei Bahkin wants to go, but Bob doesn't put in a good word for him. (As you may have realized by this point, Bob is a selfish jerk.) Klara shows up and signs up with the other Five. The two ships pop out at the destination. It is a black hole! They all try to pile into one ship so that they can use the momentum of the other ship to push them out of the black hole. They only have a few minutes to transfer everything in and out between the ships, and in the hustle, Bob is the only one who is not able to get back to the correct ship in time. Instead, he punts the other 9 people into the black hole to save himself by using the momentum of their ship.
Throughout the book, Bob is going to the robot psychologist, and at the end, finally reveals this secret. Also, due to issues of time and black holes, although years have passed for Bob, only a few seconds have passed for Klara and the crew. Knowing that Klara is out there somewhere probably at that second (in her time) thinking Bob is an awful guy makes Bob feel even guiltier.
****EDIT*****
Okay, so wiki says that actually Bob was trying to close the hatch and then push the other ship away to safety, but that somehow his ship was the one that got pushed out of the black hole. I read that part again, and it's ambiguous what actually happened. Bob also seems not to know what his intentions where, or if someone on the other ship pushed a button first. He's convinced himself that he was trying to save himself. Unclear what actually happened.
My Thoughts:
I liked the first part of the book better than the ending, mostly because the main character becomes less likable throughout. Learning about the Heechee was interesting. I especially liked that the book had these little asides (snippets of lectures on the Heechee, classified ads on Gateway, etc.) However, the asides took up a full page each time and were placed somewhat randomly throughout the book, often cutting a sentence in half or detracting from the action. I would have preferred if they were placed more strategically for minimal disruption of reading flow.
Bob is revealed to be a fairly terrible guy. I can understand that in a fit of fear he punted the 9 other people into the black hole. That's a rotten thing to do, but it's a move I think a lot of people would make to survive. However, Bob becomes an unsympathetic character when he beats up his girlfriend. (It's so bad that she looses a tooth.) He feels remorse for beating her up, but not enough to satisfy me. Also, she shows up randomly and forgives him, which I didn't like.
There are problems with how the missions are set up. Throughout the book, many prospectors die because they run out of food, and all prospectors are worried about resources until they reach turnaround (the half way point of the trip out). If this is such a big problem, why don't they send out less people in the bigger ships? They could send out two people in a Five with a lot more food. In the story, when one of the longer missions fails, it's even noted that perhaps one person in the Five could have survived. Also, when a prospector dies during the trip, the other prospectors split the money she would have earned. When Bob dooms his nine shipmates to drawn out death by black hole, he actually makes 9 million dollars. If I were a prospector, that would make me nervous.
An interesting theme is the emotions/humanity of robots, as shown by Sigfrid, who reveals at the end of the book that he hypothetically envies Bob's ability to feel emotions, even though Bob feels negative emotions like guilt.
Thursday, June 27, 2013
Endless Night
Endless Night
Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Summary (with spoilers):
Michael Rogers, our first-person narrator, is a ne'er-do-well who takes in interest in a land sale of Gipsy's Acre, even though he's been warned that the place is cursed. While looking at the property, he meets Ellie, a rich American. She doesn't have any real family, just a bunch of relations by marriage, like her step-mother Cora, who are reliant on Ellie's wealth. Michael and Ellie meet secretly, with the help of Ellie's assistant Greta, and eventually get married. Ellie has purchased Gipsy's Acre, so the couple hires Santonix, architect with a fatal illness and friend of Michael, to build them a house.
However, a gypsy women keeps warning them to leave, and someone throws a rock through their window. Michael and Ellie meet some neighbors, Major Philpot and Claudia, who was previously married to Ellie's banker, Stanford Lloyd. When Ellie sprains an ankle, Greta comes to live with them. Michael and Greta don't get along, and Michael had tried to hold off meeting her for as long as possible.
***SPOILER: I'M GOING TO REVEAL THE MURDERER*****
The murder happens near the end of the novel. While Michael is away at an auction, Ellie goes out riding, and is later found in the woods, dead. Michael goes to America to settle the business affairs, since the majority of her fortune has been transferred to him. Her lawyer, Lippincott, is suspicious of Michael. On the boat ride home, Michael reveals to the reader that he has been in love with Greta all along, and that they planned from the beginning to have Michael marry Ellie, and then kill her for her money. (We later learn this isn't the first time he's murdered for personal gain.)
Michael arrives back at Gipsy's Acre to celebrate. On the road up, he thinks he sees Ellie, but she looks right through him. Upon his reunion with Greta, he freaks out, quoting a song that Ellie often sang about how some are born to "sweet delight" and others born to "endless night." Realizing that he could have been happy with Ellie, Michael strangles Greta in a rage. Soon after, others arrive and he is caught.
My Thoughts:
I felt cheated by this book. The main character is the murderer and he's been lying to us all of this time? Really? If the main character is lying to me the entire book, I want it to be done well, like it was with Gone Girl. Although the narrator is strange, I don't think there's enough evidence to show that he's a serial killer.
Ellie is a tragic character. No one in her life truly loves her. Her best friend and husband, the people that should care for her most, are the ones who plot to kill her. Perhaps Christie is commenting on the difficulty of having lots of money.
There were a few other literary elements that didn't go anywhere. Michael frequently describes Major Philpot as God. (In fact, the sentence that introduces him to the reader is something like, "we met God today.") In contrast, Santonix, whose name sounds vaguely like Satan, struggles with evil himself. Since he's ill, Santonix says that he can do whatever he wants without fear of repercussion, since he will die soon anyway. Perhaps Michael is supposed to be torn between these two forces, but this doesn't play out well in the book. Upon his death bed, Santonix even tells Michael that Michael should have gone the other way.
Another baffling thing about this book is that the murder doesn't happen until almost the end. The work mostly focuses on character development, but since it's Christie, I'd rather be looking for clues.
Overall, this was an unsatisfying work. I enjoyed it while reading, but I didn't like the ending.
Slapstick
Slapstick
Kurt Vonnegut
Summary (with spoiler):
The book follows the life of Wilbur Daffodil-11 Swain, a deformed twin who eventually becomes president of the United States. Wilbur and his twin Eliza are mutants, assumed to be mentally deficient. They live the first 15 years of their lives in a large mansion with special helpers, pretending to be mentally challenged. When their parents come to visit, and their mother reveals she wishes they were intelligent, they reveal their ruse. As it turns out, Wilbur and Eliza are geniuses when in close physical contact, although when they are separated, they are fairly normal.
After an unfortunate intelligence test where the twins become too physically close, Wilbur is sent to school, while Eliza is sent to an institution. She is later released, and comes to visit Wilbur (although she is somewhat angry that he never came to help her.) Eliza reaches out to touch Wilbur, and upon contact have a days-long orgy.
Meanwhile, China has developed a method to shrink people so that they use less resources. Wilbur is visited by a tiny Chinese person, who asks for some of the writings Wilbur and Eliza created as kids. Eliza is given a ticket to Mars, where she soon dies in an avalanche.
Wilbur becomes president of the US, but everything is falling apart. No fuel, plague, etc. Wilbur institutes an idea he and his sister came up with long ago, to assign everyone new middle names, creating artificial families. After the presidency falls apart, he lives on Manhattan, which has been ravaged by the "Green Death," later revealed to be caused when a normal-sized person accidentally inhales a miniature person. He meets a few people from the Church of Jesus Christ the Kidnapped, communicates with his sister in the afterlife through use of a strange machine, travels to see the King of Michigan, and dies shortly after his birthday party.
My thoughts:
Vonnegut has a style of writing all his own. He uses these short passages, often just a few paragraphs at a time, which somehow makes it impossible to stop reading. I enjoyed how he described the bizarre elements as if they were completely ordinary, so that I could easily believe the world Vonnegut created.
He begins the book with an introduction, where he says that this work is the most autobiographical one he's likely to write, noting that "it is about what life feels like to me." He thought of the book idea while on a plane to his uncle's funeral. In the introduction, he also meditates on his sister's death. And in the book, this is how things go. People die. Most people catch the plague. People come into and out of Wilbur's life without warning. There isn't a reason why things happen, just like in real life.
Part of the interest of this novel is what Vonnegut chooses to emphasize. Wilbur's marriage is first described in just 2 pages, and his wife is rarely mentioned again. His sister is center stage with Wilbur during the first half of the book. Then they are separated, he basically forgets about her, and then she dies. However, Eliza is central to the novel. Even though he doesn't see her much after childhood, or before her death, Wilbur constantly mentions his sister and their ideas.
Overall, this was a fun and quick read that also made me think. I enjoyed Vonnegut's imaginative voice, and I liked the concept of life as slapstick. I've felt that way, too.
On summarizing
Everyone remembers a book differently. We filter the book through our own experiences, highlighting and understanding themes, character motivations, and plot elements in a way that makes sense to us. Summarizing these books has made me realize how much I draw on my own ideas of life when I read. The act of summarizing is half science, half art. It's not possible to include everything that happens in the book (for that is the book itself), so I have to ask which plot points are important enough to make it into the summary.
For example, I'm reading this Vonnegut book right now. (His writing style is hard enough to summarize, because it's so unique). There's a few pages that discuss the National Archives. Being an archivist, that part grabbed my attention, even though it's not integral to the plot. I'll probably put that bit in my summary, since it impacted me, but someone else would choose another bit to pull out.
And what about the stuff I leave out? In my summaries, I've left out important parts that I was just too lazy to put in, or that I felt wasn't needed for me to remember the book. Sometimes I leave out bits I didn't like. Sometimes I leave out boring bits. Sometimes, like with The Peril at End House, I just don't feel like putting in all of the clues, so that the experience of reading the summary is a completely different one from the experience of reading the book.
Character description is another element that doesn't come across well in summaries, since my idea of a character is built up over dialogue and even the smallest action. I can use any adjective to describe a character (funny, intelligent, etc.) but it's hard to explain why I perceive a character to be that way without specific examples. I'm not looking to do a close reading or an English essay.
Doing these summarizes has also let me understand why I forget books so easily soon after I've read them. Simply, there is a lot to remember.
For example, I'm reading this Vonnegut book right now. (His writing style is hard enough to summarize, because it's so unique). There's a few pages that discuss the National Archives. Being an archivist, that part grabbed my attention, even though it's not integral to the plot. I'll probably put that bit in my summary, since it impacted me, but someone else would choose another bit to pull out.
And what about the stuff I leave out? In my summaries, I've left out important parts that I was just too lazy to put in, or that I felt wasn't needed for me to remember the book. Sometimes I leave out bits I didn't like. Sometimes I leave out boring bits. Sometimes, like with The Peril at End House, I just don't feel like putting in all of the clues, so that the experience of reading the summary is a completely different one from the experience of reading the book.
Character description is another element that doesn't come across well in summaries, since my idea of a character is built up over dialogue and even the smallest action. I can use any adjective to describe a character (funny, intelligent, etc.) but it's hard to explain why I perceive a character to be that way without specific examples. I'm not looking to do a close reading or an English essay.
Doing these summarizes has also let me understand why I forget books so easily soon after I've read them. Simply, there is a lot to remember.
Sunday, June 16, 2013
Peril at End House
Peril at End House
Agatha Christie
Summary (with spoilers):
Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings are on vacation. Poirot is retired, but wait, is that a bullet zooming past!? Yes, the beautiful Magdala Buckley, known to everyone as "Nick," is in peril. She's narrowly escaped harm in a string of accidents, and Poirot believes that her life is in danger.
So who is the would-be murderer? The suspects are:
Charles Vyse: Cousin and lawyer
George Challenger: In love with Nick
Ellen + family: Servants
Frederica Rice: Best friend
Jim Lazarus: An art dealer and boyfriend of Rice
Mr. and Mrs. Croft: Couple from Australia living on the estate of End House. Mrs. Croft is paralyzed
Poirot suggests that Nick have a friend (other than Ms. Rice) stay with her. Nick telegraphs her cousin Maggie. During a dinner and fireworks party, Nick (who is wearing black, a color she never usually wears), goes inside to replace her shawl with something warmer. Her cousin follows to get a coat. Poirot, whose feet are getting wet, goes into the house and discovers that someone has been shot. At first, he believes it to be Nick, because the victim is wearing Nick's shawl, but in fact it is the cousin, Maggie.
After the shock, Nick is persuaded to stay at a hospital (which is really just for her protection.) No one is allowed to see her. Poirot does some snooping about. He finds that Nick was secretly engaged to the airman Michael Seton, who is probably dead. Seton, conveniently, has just inherited a large fortune. While in the hospital, Nick eats some chocolates which she thinks were sent by Poirot, but which were laced with cocaine.
There are lots of clues, but I'll just talk about the giveaway clue. While looking for a will that Nick drew up, Poirot finds some love letters from Seton that are fishy. There aren't a lot of them, and it's clear that more were written than the bundle that Nick kept.
Poirot finally figures things out. He decides to tell everyone that Nick is dead, and stages a dinner party at End House with all of the suspects. Nick's will, which has been missing for the entire book, mysteriously shows up. Charles Vyse reads the will, which says that all of Nick's assets are to be left to Mrs. Croft. Nick shows up, pretending to be a ghost, and Chief Inspector Japp also makes an appearance, revealing that Mrs. Croft is actually a scammer who forged the will.
Spoiler alert: I'M GOING TO REVEAL THE MURDERER NOW!
Twist! The murderer is actually Nick. It was her cousin, whose full name is the same as Nick's, who was engaged to Seton. Nick killed her cousin so that she could pretend to be Seton's fiance and inherit all of his money. Tricky.
My Thoughts:
I haven't read much Christie (or many mysteries, for that matter), but I preferred And Then There Were None. I didn't see the ending of The Peril at End House coming, although I thought the letters were a bit weird. It crossed my mind that Nick might not actually have been engaged to Seton, but then when he uses her name in a letter, I thought that he must have been. (Totally didn't think about how her cousin could have the same name).
It was easy to read, but the mystery didn't grab me that much. There were all of those clues, but I wanted to breeze through to see what happened. Enjoyable, but forgettable.
Agatha Christie
Summary (with spoilers):
Hercule Poirot and Arthur Hastings are on vacation. Poirot is retired, but wait, is that a bullet zooming past!? Yes, the beautiful Magdala Buckley, known to everyone as "Nick," is in peril. She's narrowly escaped harm in a string of accidents, and Poirot believes that her life is in danger.
So who is the would-be murderer? The suspects are:
Charles Vyse: Cousin and lawyer
George Challenger: In love with Nick
Ellen + family: Servants
Frederica Rice: Best friend
Jim Lazarus: An art dealer and boyfriend of Rice
Mr. and Mrs. Croft: Couple from Australia living on the estate of End House. Mrs. Croft is paralyzed
Poirot suggests that Nick have a friend (other than Ms. Rice) stay with her. Nick telegraphs her cousin Maggie. During a dinner and fireworks party, Nick (who is wearing black, a color she never usually wears), goes inside to replace her shawl with something warmer. Her cousin follows to get a coat. Poirot, whose feet are getting wet, goes into the house and discovers that someone has been shot. At first, he believes it to be Nick, because the victim is wearing Nick's shawl, but in fact it is the cousin, Maggie.
After the shock, Nick is persuaded to stay at a hospital (which is really just for her protection.) No one is allowed to see her. Poirot does some snooping about. He finds that Nick was secretly engaged to the airman Michael Seton, who is probably dead. Seton, conveniently, has just inherited a large fortune. While in the hospital, Nick eats some chocolates which she thinks were sent by Poirot, but which were laced with cocaine.
There are lots of clues, but I'll just talk about the giveaway clue. While looking for a will that Nick drew up, Poirot finds some love letters from Seton that are fishy. There aren't a lot of them, and it's clear that more were written than the bundle that Nick kept.
Poirot finally figures things out. He decides to tell everyone that Nick is dead, and stages a dinner party at End House with all of the suspects. Nick's will, which has been missing for the entire book, mysteriously shows up. Charles Vyse reads the will, which says that all of Nick's assets are to be left to Mrs. Croft. Nick shows up, pretending to be a ghost, and Chief Inspector Japp also makes an appearance, revealing that Mrs. Croft is actually a scammer who forged the will.
Spoiler alert: I'M GOING TO REVEAL THE MURDERER NOW!
Twist! The murderer is actually Nick. It was her cousin, whose full name is the same as Nick's, who was engaged to Seton. Nick killed her cousin so that she could pretend to be Seton's fiance and inherit all of his money. Tricky.
My Thoughts:
I haven't read much Christie (or many mysteries, for that matter), but I preferred And Then There Were None. I didn't see the ending of The Peril at End House coming, although I thought the letters were a bit weird. It crossed my mind that Nick might not actually have been engaged to Seton, but then when he uses her name in a letter, I thought that he must have been. (Totally didn't think about how her cousin could have the same name).
It was easy to read, but the mystery didn't grab me that much. There were all of those clues, but I wanted to breeze through to see what happened. Enjoyable, but forgettable.
Tuesday, June 11, 2013
The Casual Vacancy
The Casual Vacancy
J. K. Rowling
The reader is quickly introduced to a number of point of view characters, which J. K. Rowling switches between effortlessly throughout the book.
Mary Fairbrother: Wife of Barry. Grieving widow.
Howard Mollison: Anti-Fields council member and rival of Barry. Owns a deli with Maureen Lowe. Extremely obese.
Shirley Mollison: Wife of Howard. Dislikes her daughter-in-law, Samantha. Miles Mollison: Son of Howard and Shirley. Has a law practice. Runs for Pagford council (anti-Fields).
Samantha Mollison: Wife of Miles. Immature and unhappy. Obsessed with a boy band.
Colin Wall: Husband of Tessa. Headmaster of the high school. Runs for Pagford council (pro-Fields).
Stuart (Fats) Wall: Adopted son of Colin and Tessa. Best friends with Andrew Price. Sleeps with Krystal Weedon. Wants to be "authentic," but really uses that as an excuse to be a jerk and do whatever he wants. Makes fun of Sukhvinder.
Andrew Price: Best fried of Fats. In love with Gaia. Simon Price: Father of Andrew and husband of Ruth. Prone to fits of rage, where he hits his family.
Gaia Bawden: Daughter of Kay. Unhappy that she has been forced to move to Pagford from London.
Kay Bawden: Social worker, carrying for the Weedon family for most of the book. Moved to Pagford for a relationship with Gavin.
Gavin Hughes: Law partner of Miles. Later realizes he's in love with Mary.
Krystal Weedon: Lives in the Fields. Mother is a drug addict.
Parminder Jawanda: Doctor married to the super hot Vikram. Pro-Fields council member.
Sukhvinder Jawanda: Daughter of Parminder. Teased at school. Friend of Gaia.
The book centers around the relationship between all of these characters, whose lives are intertwined in the small town of Pagford. The first main plot point occurs when Andrew Price, deciding to get revenge on his father, hacks into the Pagford council website and posts as "The Ghost of Barry Fairbrother," revealing that his father's criminal activities, like buying a stolen computer and doing after-hours jobs at work. Sukhvinder follows suit, claiming that her mother was in love with Barry. Fats, another child angry at his parents, posts about his father's OCD. Scandal ensues.
Meanwhile, Howard is pushing for a vote on the Fields and also whether to close Bellchapel, the drug addiction clinic which is currently helping Krystal's mother Terri Weedon. Parminder gets so angry that she says Howard has also cost the government a lot of money by gorging himself to obesity, and reveals other health information about him.
Miles wins the parish council election.
Gaia, Sukhvinder, and Andrew, who have gotten jobs at Howard's deli, are asked to assist at his birthday celebration. Gaia and Andrew get drunk, Fats shows up, and Gaia ends up kissing Fats, to the dismay of Andrew. Samantha, who is distraught because she did not get to attend the concert of the boy band she is obsessed with, also gets roaringly drunk, and ends up kissing Andrew (who is 25 years her junior.) Her husband Miles walks in on them in the kitchen. Howard's daughter, who also doesn't like her parents (I'm sensing a theme here), reveals to Andrew that Howard had an affair with Maureen. Since Andrew feels some guilt for posting that message about his dad, which resulted in Simon being fired, Andrew reveals Howard's secret to Simon, and they post about it on the Pagford council website, which still has lax security.
When Shirley reads the message the next day, she confronts Howard, who does not immediately deny the affair. When Shirley returns to the house, she plans to kill Howard with an EpiPen (which the deli kept in case Andrew had an allergic reaction). However, she finds Howard is already in the middle of a heart attack. Miles runs to Parminder for help, but Parminder refuses to see to Howard because she is under review by the medical board, and does not want to practice until she is cleared.
Krystal, who lives in the Fields with her unstable mother, gets sexually assaulted by her mom's drug dealer. A few days later, she finds the man in a room with her little brother, Robbie. Afraid for her brother's safety, she takes him on a bus to Pagford. Krystal believes that if she becomes pregnant with Fats' child, his family will have to take care of her. She convinces Fats to sleep with her in some bushes, and tells her little brother to stay put. Robbie falls into a nearby river. Sukhvinder, who happens to be walking along, jumps into the river to save the boy, but she is too late. When the police return Krystal to her home, Krystal knowingly takes an overdoes of heroin, which kills her. The book ends with the double funeral of Krystal and Robbie.
There's a lot more I didn't summarize, but those are the main points.
My Thoughts:
Pros:
-Despite being about council politics, the book was exciting
-Masterfully switches between point of view characters
-Characters were real and well-rounded. Their motivations were believable.
Cons:
-Difficult to keep up with all of the characters introduced at the beginning of the novel
-Although the decision around the Fields is a central focus of the book, the actual decision is anti-climatic. No one cares about the decision, except for Howard, who promptly has a heart attack
-It was weird reading about all of the sex/drugs and thinking "this never would have happened in the Harry Potter books!"
-The relationship between Fats and Andrew was not resolved. The book closes with the two friends not speaking, even though Andrew will soon move away from Pagford. Since they've been best buds since they were 4, I don't buy that they'd just cut off all communication, even though Fats is devastated about the deaths of Robbie and Krystal.
After my disappointment with the seventh Harry Potter book, I thought J.K. Rowling might have lost her touch as a writer. However, I found the Casual Vacancy to be well done and engaging.
Thursday, May 30, 2013
Unlocking the Air
Unlocking the Air: Stories
Ursula K. Le Guin
Summary (with spoilers):
Not a complete summary, but here are a few of the stories I enjoyed.
"Limberlost" - A novelist ventures to a writing convention in the wilderness, which she later realizes is in the same location as a camp she visited as a girl, and has a conversation with a poet.
"Ether, OR" - This story switches between many point-of-view characters, all who live in or near the town of Ether, which keeps shifting location. Much of it is centered around a woman who works in a grocery store and has had several husbands. There's a girl who wants to be a truck driver, and a farmer.
"Unlocking the Air" - Follows the actions of a mother and daughter living in a country in rebellion. The title refers to the practice of shaking keys in the air during a protest.
"Daddy's Big Girl" - Jewel Ann grows to be 45 feet tall!
"Olders" - One of the only stories in this collection with a fantasy feel. A doctor accompanies a wounded man back to his home island. The man never wakes from his comma, but instead begins to turn into a tree, as is common for people of his line.
"The Poacher" - A different telling of "Sleeping Beauty." A peasant boy finds a giant thicket of thorn bushes, and after years of hacking his way to the middle, he finds a castle and grounds where everyone is in an enchanted sleep. He spends his life there, knowing that one day a prince may come to break the enchantment, because the enchantment is not there for him.
My Thoughts:
It's difficult to critique a book of short stories that were published in previous publications (and not written with the idea of a cohesive collection in mind.) Although written with the skill of a master writer, many of these stories didn't grab me as Le Guin's science fiction tends to do. I came to the end of several stories feeling that I hadn't gained much from them, although all were well crafted. A good example of this is one of my least favorite stories in the collection, "The Professor's Houses," which describes a professor's hobby of building doll houses and furniture. It felt to me that this story was trying too hard to be "literary" and didn't present any interesting ideas.
I did enjoy many of the stories, especially those with a more fantasy bent. Le Guin writes with a style that I love; she makes me feel as if I am experiencing those worlds, as if I am embodying, not so much the characters, but the places she describes. It's one of the reasons she's my favorite author.
In the last story in the book, "The Poacher," when the boy makes it through to the other side of the thorns to reveal a castle, it was as if I too had broken through a thicket, because it was only then that I remembered I had read this story at a younger age, perhaps 13 or 14. It's always strange reading a story you read years before, especially if you last read it as a child.
Ursula K. Le Guin
Summary (with spoilers):
Not a complete summary, but here are a few of the stories I enjoyed.
"Limberlost" - A novelist ventures to a writing convention in the wilderness, which she later realizes is in the same location as a camp she visited as a girl, and has a conversation with a poet.
"Ether, OR" - This story switches between many point-of-view characters, all who live in or near the town of Ether, which keeps shifting location. Much of it is centered around a woman who works in a grocery store and has had several husbands. There's a girl who wants to be a truck driver, and a farmer.
"Unlocking the Air" - Follows the actions of a mother and daughter living in a country in rebellion. The title refers to the practice of shaking keys in the air during a protest.
"Daddy's Big Girl" - Jewel Ann grows to be 45 feet tall!
"Olders" - One of the only stories in this collection with a fantasy feel. A doctor accompanies a wounded man back to his home island. The man never wakes from his comma, but instead begins to turn into a tree, as is common for people of his line.
"The Poacher" - A different telling of "Sleeping Beauty." A peasant boy finds a giant thicket of thorn bushes, and after years of hacking his way to the middle, he finds a castle and grounds where everyone is in an enchanted sleep. He spends his life there, knowing that one day a prince may come to break the enchantment, because the enchantment is not there for him.
My Thoughts:
It's difficult to critique a book of short stories that were published in previous publications (and not written with the idea of a cohesive collection in mind.) Although written with the skill of a master writer, many of these stories didn't grab me as Le Guin's science fiction tends to do. I came to the end of several stories feeling that I hadn't gained much from them, although all were well crafted. A good example of this is one of my least favorite stories in the collection, "The Professor's Houses," which describes a professor's hobby of building doll houses and furniture. It felt to me that this story was trying too hard to be "literary" and didn't present any interesting ideas.
I did enjoy many of the stories, especially those with a more fantasy bent. Le Guin writes with a style that I love; she makes me feel as if I am experiencing those worlds, as if I am embodying, not so much the characters, but the places she describes. It's one of the reasons she's my favorite author.
In the last story in the book, "The Poacher," when the boy makes it through to the other side of the thorns to reveal a castle, it was as if I too had broken through a thicket, because it was only then that I remembered I had read this story at a younger age, perhaps 13 or 14. It's always strange reading a story you read years before, especially if you last read it as a child.
The Assassin's Apprentice
The Assassin's Apprentice
Robin Hobb
In case you missed the first post, everything will be FULL OF SPOILERS!!!
Summary (with spoilers):
The book begins when Fitz, the illegitimate son of Prince Chivalry, is deposited at a castle. He's swiftly put into the care of Burrich, the stablemaster, and forms a bond with a dog named Nosy. After it is revealed that Chivalry has abdicated his right to the throne, the group travels to Buckkeep, the seat of King Shrewd and his sons, Verity and Regal. From here, Fitz has a series of adventures, as he is trained in the art of assassination by Chade, befriends a town girl named Molly, and is told by Burrich not to use the Wit, which is a magical ability that lets him connect with animals. Burrich severs the connection between Fitz and Nosy, implying that Burrich has killed the dog. Also, Chivalry mysteriously dies. When the Red-Ship Raiders start Forging citizens (turning them into zombie-like people without empathy), Fitz and other illegitimate royal children are trained in the art of the Skill by Galen, an abusive teacher who beats up Fitz. Fitz is given another dog, Smithy, by Patience, the wife of the late Chivalry. As a final test of the Skill, Fitz is taken to a distant location and left on his own. Guess what, it's right near the town of Forge, home of the first people to be Forged! Fitz hurries home, because Burrich and his dog Smithy have been attacked, which Fitz gleans through his use of the Wit. After dispatching with some Forged zombies, he makes it home, to discover that Smithy has died. Meanwhile, Verity is using the Skill to hold off the Red-Ship Raiders, but Shrewd decides that he should take a wife. All of the courting is handled by Regal, since Verity is too busy, and when the wedding day comes, Regal has to stand in for Verity as the groom. Fitz and ensemble travel to the mountainous region of the bride, but Fitz has a secret task, to assassinate the brother of the bride. Only it turns out the task is not so secret after all, since Regal has told everyone that Fitz is an assassin. The bride ends up poisoning Fitz, but the brother comes to Fitz with a purge, saying that he'll support the Six Duchies, so there is no need to kill him. However, Regal insists that the deed must be done, giving Fitz a packet of poison. Fitz goes to the brother and reveals the whole plot as they share wine. But wait, it turns out that the wine they were drinking was poisoned! The brother dies, Fitz is set up to take the fall, and through the Skill he also learns that Galen is planning to kill Verity. Things are looking bad for our hero, but at least he discovers that his old pal Nosy, instead of being dead, is actually alive and well in this mountainous kingdom, where Burrich shipped him off to those many years ago. Fitz and Regal have a showdown in the baths, where Burrich is clubbed and Fitz is almost drowned in a pool. (He's having trouble physically after drinking the poisoned wine.) However, he's able to contact Verity using the Skill for the first time, warning him of the plot against his life, which results in Verity draining Galen his energy using the Skill, thus killing Galen. All seems right again in the kingdom, except that Nosy valiantly gives his life to save Fitz from drowning. (That's right, they let you know the dog isn't actually dead, as you've thought for the entire book, only to kill him off again a few pages later.) There's also some political intrigue stuff, like, "how much did King Shrewd know about this plot?" etc.
My Thoughts:
PROS:
-An engaging fantasy novel
-Liked the little stories/notes at the beginning of each chapter
-Interesting to see another world, with its magic system
-Fairly exciting throughout
CONS:
-Uses some common fantasy tropes (Fitz is illegitimate, but wait, he has super powerful magic)
-Leaves some ends hanging (where did Molly really go/what's happening with the raiders) but those will probably be addressed in further books, since this one is part of a series
-Seems like the book tries to cover too much set up at once (Fitz is learning to be an assassin, but he's also learning the Skill, but he also has the Wit)
-For the love of Pete, why are all of the dogs so ill-fated?
Overall, I thought the book was fun to read, and I enjoyed stepping into a new world.
Robin Hobb
In case you missed the first post, everything will be FULL OF SPOILERS!!!
Summary (with spoilers):
The book begins when Fitz, the illegitimate son of Prince Chivalry, is deposited at a castle. He's swiftly put into the care of Burrich, the stablemaster, and forms a bond with a dog named Nosy. After it is revealed that Chivalry has abdicated his right to the throne, the group travels to Buckkeep, the seat of King Shrewd and his sons, Verity and Regal. From here, Fitz has a series of adventures, as he is trained in the art of assassination by Chade, befriends a town girl named Molly, and is told by Burrich not to use the Wit, which is a magical ability that lets him connect with animals. Burrich severs the connection between Fitz and Nosy, implying that Burrich has killed the dog. Also, Chivalry mysteriously dies. When the Red-Ship Raiders start Forging citizens (turning them into zombie-like people without empathy), Fitz and other illegitimate royal children are trained in the art of the Skill by Galen, an abusive teacher who beats up Fitz. Fitz is given another dog, Smithy, by Patience, the wife of the late Chivalry. As a final test of the Skill, Fitz is taken to a distant location and left on his own. Guess what, it's right near the town of Forge, home of the first people to be Forged! Fitz hurries home, because Burrich and his dog Smithy have been attacked, which Fitz gleans through his use of the Wit. After dispatching with some Forged zombies, he makes it home, to discover that Smithy has died. Meanwhile, Verity is using the Skill to hold off the Red-Ship Raiders, but Shrewd decides that he should take a wife. All of the courting is handled by Regal, since Verity is too busy, and when the wedding day comes, Regal has to stand in for Verity as the groom. Fitz and ensemble travel to the mountainous region of the bride, but Fitz has a secret task, to assassinate the brother of the bride. Only it turns out the task is not so secret after all, since Regal has told everyone that Fitz is an assassin. The bride ends up poisoning Fitz, but the brother comes to Fitz with a purge, saying that he'll support the Six Duchies, so there is no need to kill him. However, Regal insists that the deed must be done, giving Fitz a packet of poison. Fitz goes to the brother and reveals the whole plot as they share wine. But wait, it turns out that the wine they were drinking was poisoned! The brother dies, Fitz is set up to take the fall, and through the Skill he also learns that Galen is planning to kill Verity. Things are looking bad for our hero, but at least he discovers that his old pal Nosy, instead of being dead, is actually alive and well in this mountainous kingdom, where Burrich shipped him off to those many years ago. Fitz and Regal have a showdown in the baths, where Burrich is clubbed and Fitz is almost drowned in a pool. (He's having trouble physically after drinking the poisoned wine.) However, he's able to contact Verity using the Skill for the first time, warning him of the plot against his life, which results in Verity draining Galen his energy using the Skill, thus killing Galen. All seems right again in the kingdom, except that Nosy valiantly gives his life to save Fitz from drowning. (That's right, they let you know the dog isn't actually dead, as you've thought for the entire book, only to kill him off again a few pages later.) There's also some political intrigue stuff, like, "how much did King Shrewd know about this plot?" etc.
My Thoughts:
PROS:
-An engaging fantasy novel
-Liked the little stories/notes at the beginning of each chapter
-Interesting to see another world, with its magic system
-Fairly exciting throughout
CONS:
-Uses some common fantasy tropes (Fitz is illegitimate, but wait, he has super powerful magic)
-Leaves some ends hanging (where did Molly really go/what's happening with the raiders) but those will probably be addressed in further books, since this one is part of a series
-Seems like the book tries to cover too much set up at once (Fitz is learning to be an assassin, but he's also learning the Skill, but he also has the Wit)
-For the love of Pete, why are all of the dogs so ill-fated?
Overall, I thought the book was fun to read, and I enjoyed stepping into a new world.
Tuesday, May 28, 2013
Getting started
This is just a blog to help me keep track of the books I've read. I've found that I have a terrible memory for books; I forget almost all plot points and characters a few months after I've finished reading a work. Once I finish my next book, I'll provide a summary with lots of spoilers (so I can remember what happened in the book) and my thoughts about the book.
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