I LOVE Star Wars, But This?...Not So Much

Outcast by Aaron Allston
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Is this lazy writing or a rushed production? Maybe it's both.

Aaron Allston's Outcast, in which the Jedi order is being subverted, kicks off the nine-novel "Fate of the Jedi" series for the Star Wars franchise. Allston would write three of the novels, while two other writers worked on the other six, and all this was done within three years.

That's a lot of writing in a short period. It would seem like they just wanted to pump this stuff out. I mean, nine books in three years is a lot. On the other hand, it's only one book per year for each writer. That should be doable without rushing things. Quality should be maintained.

However, some poor writing got published here. Too many smiles and glares are "offered" and "given". I lost count of the number of times an expressed emotion was given to someone else. After a while I stopped giving fucks.

Maybe Allston is a shitty writer. Or maybe he could've or would've done better given time. Outcast reads like an early draft in which place-holder text is left on the page in order to expedite the writing process. A writer at leisure would go back and revise, remove redundancies, vary the language, make sure the damn words have the correct meaning for what is being said, etc.

I don't care about the vast expo dumps or the tropes trooping about. This is a sci-fi soap opera. I get that. I'm just looking at this from a reader's perspective. The ability to run your eyes over the page without tripping up on some non-sensical sentiment or having the 4th wall busted down because a repetitious phrase is hitting your eyes with the consistency and irritation of a Chinese water torture device.

That truly is unfortunate, because if you're a Star Wars fan, young or old, there's good to be found within these pages. The action scenes (occasionally gratuitous now and then, but not a big quibble) are handled well. Plus, our old friends Luke, Leia, Han, C3P0 and R2D2 are all here. Joining them are a platoon of sons and daughters, nieces and nephews, and grandkids. The warm-fuzzy of familiarity brought on by beloved characters goes a long way in fostering forgiveness for a book's other faults.

Aunts...Who Needs 'Em?!

Aunts Aren't Gentlemen by P.G. Wodehouse
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A case of pink spots on Bertie's chest (maybe it's a touch of malaria, who's to say?) sends him to the country on doctor's orders to rest and relax. Rest and relax? If you've ever read a Wodehouse, you know that's not bloody likely.

Troublesome aunts, daffy explorers, strong-willed dames along with their ardent suitors, crusty landlords, and charming cats all conspire against poor old Bertie Wooster. His butler Jeeves seems to be his only ally in this perpetually-yet-vaguely 1920s, god-help-us world.

Wodehouse did it again! Well into his Jeeves & Wooster series, the insanely prolific writer of the early-to-mid 20th century churned out another quality book replete with a finely paced plot, delightfully nutty characters and enough laughs to fill The Laugh Factory with wall-to-wall guffaws.

At this point, I'm predisposed to enjoy anything by Wodehouse, so perhaps Aunts Aren't Gentlemen has received a gratuitous star in the ratings from me. If you're already a fan, this will crank your chucklebox. If you're new to Wodehouse, I might suggest -NAY!- I would suggest starting with something else. Go ahead, ask me. I'm full of suggestions!


READER'S NOTE: Aunts Aren't Gentlemen is alternately titled The Cat-Nappers.

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Orphan's Quest

Pat Nelson Childs
Glynworks Publishing
Reviewed by Nancy
4 out of 5 stars

Summary

Rokey, a poor orphan, has lived his entire life sheltered within the walls of the Noble Contemplative Monastery. Growing up, he never dreamt anything would haunt him more than the riddle of his parents' identity. But at seventeen, Rokey is discovering that while his roommate, Ely, can think only of girls, his own feelings draw him toward other boys instead. Soon the question of whether or not he is a "samer" is occupying his mind to the exclusion of all else. But when a tragedy results in his expulsion from the only home he has ever known, and an unknown enemy begins trying to kill him, Rokey's mind abruptly returns to the mystery of his parentage. Solving that puzzle, he determines, could mean the difference between life and death. On the road, Rokey soon meets up with a charming elf named Flaskamper. Captivated by the handsome young man, the elf promptly volunteers his help, as well as that of his three unlikely companions. Before long, the five become swept up in the effort to solve the riddle of Rokey's origins and to find out who is trying to kill him, and why. Along the way, Rokey endures some harsh lessons about disappointment and betrayal, but also delights in the joy and excitement of first love. Foiled in initial attempts, Rokey's enigmatic foe escalates the attacks. As the young orphan and his new-found friends pursue the trail of clues that leads them across the land of Firma, they find themselves battling an ever-deadlier array of assassins. When they finally do uncover the truth, it is in the last place Rokey had ever expected to find it.

My Review

Rokey is a 17-year-old orphan who spent his childhood in the Noble Contemplative, a monastery where young men from all over are educated and trained for their future vocations. While his roommate and closest friend, Ely, thinks about girls, Rokey discovers early on his attraction to boys. An unfortunate accident has resulted in Rokey’s expulsion from the monastery and the only life he’s ever known. During a robbery, Rokey is rescued by a handsome blond elf named Flaskamper and his friends. Together, the group embarks on a journey that will forever change Rokey and his friends.

Orphan’s Quest is a riveting fantasy novel that kept me flipping pages until the wee hours of the morning. Despite the use of common fantasy tropes and some predictable situations, the author has created a well-drawn world filled with likeable and believable characters. The love that develops between Rokey and Flaskamper is touching and develops at a natural pace.

The simple language and uncomplicated plot make Orphan’s Quest a story that should appeal to young readers. The adventures, suspense and romance make it a fun read for adults too.

I thoroughly enjoyed this story and look forward to reading more by this very talented author.

Star Wars Battlefront: Twilight Company

Star Wars Battlefront: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The Galactic Civil War bitterly envelops the known galaxy. The Rebellion battles on for the freedom of the galaxy despite overwhelming odds. One unit tears through the toughest battles against The Empire and that unit is the Sixty-First Mobile Infantry otherwise known as Twilight Company. They get the worst jobs but the company survives. When Twilight Company captures a high profile officer their chances of survival seem slimmer than ever.

I have to say Twilight Company surprised me in a good way. I didn't have particularly high expectations for a companion novel to a video game, but the novel was really solid. The author captured the grit that the Star Wars series has often lacked and had some tough yet believable characters as well.

While the Star Wars series has numerous amounts of nameless characters dying in battles, Twilight Company introduces a lot of characters the reader can grow to care about that just don't make it. It makes the story somber at times, but it demonstrates the true danger and sacrifice people face fighting for the Rebellion.

Two characters stood out above the others in the story for me and they are Namir and Brand. Namir is a veteran soldier who doesn't believe in the rebellion, but instead believes in helping Twilight Company survive. Namir is a complex character and it was easy to relate to his feelings. Despite his gruffness I wanted to see things go well for him.

Brand is quite different from Namir yet she stood out to me. She is a former bounty hunter who was hired to kill the Captain of Twilight Company, but instead joined them. She is a strong capable woman whose motives are hard to understand. Brand is fiercely loyal to the company and serves in her own unique manner.

Twilight Company was probably the best video game companion novel I've read to date. I'd happily read more about their missions in the future.


I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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Knight's Shadow

Knight's Shadow by Sebastien de Castell
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As Falcio val Mond deals with the increasing side effects of poison, new dangers arise that the Greatcoats must solve. Falcio fights with whatever time the poison permits to save his homeland from civil war.

Knight's Shadow is a solid sequel to Traitor's Blade. All the primary Greatcoats have returned and find themselves once again going against impossible odds to earn justice and freedom for all.

I really enjoyed the increased Greatcoat interaction Falcio had in this book compared to the first of the series. There is no massive gap where Falcio is fighting solo to save a girl by impossible odds and that was certainly an improvement.

It was nice that the author took a moment to ensure that everyone was pronouncing Falcio's name properly in the story. As a rumor of Falcio's exploits are being spread throughout Tristia his name is mentioned as Falsio which in truth was the way I thought his name was pronounced. Thanks to this moment we learned his name is pronounced as Falkeyoh.

My main grievance with Knight's Shadow and this series thus far as a whole is that everything seems overly convenient. The perfect things happen at the perfect moment, time and time again. There are at least a few moments that go from Falcio and friends being screwed until A voice called out to Falcio and the team's savior arrives at just the right time. That got old for me.

Knight's Shadow is really a solid book and sequel with some interesting ideas.

3 out of 5 stars

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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LEVIATHAN WAKES BY JAMES S. A. COREY

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

”Way I see it, there’s three ways this can go,” Miller said. “One, we find your ship still in dock, get the meds we need, and maybe we live. Two, we try to get to the ship, and along the way we run into a bunch of mafia thugs. Die gloriously in a hail of bullets. Three, we sit here and leak out of our eyes and assholes.”



Well, really, the story begins when some alien species shoot a payload of virus at Earth and misses. This virus is capable of turning the human race into piles of nasty, smelly biosolids. Luckily for Earth, this contagion from space gets caught in Saturn’s rings which keeps it from ever reaching its intended destination.

Holden is the second in command of an iceberg hauler. When he sees his ship Canterbury blown into dust particles by pirates, while the ship was trying to respond to an SOS, his world is suddenly expanded and contracted. Expanded by the beginning of a conflict that will spread across the known universe, but his world has also contracted down to the confining corridors of the small ship that he and his remaining crew members are trying to keep afloat.

The universal conflict might be more than a little bit Holden’s fault. He broadcasts out to the world the existence of incriminating evidence that Mars might have had something to do with the pirates. The writers behind the name James S. A. Corey might be making a point about the misuse of disseminating wrong information on the internet. How many people believe it even when it doesn’t make sense?

This section of the universe is shared between Earth, Mars, and what are called the Belters. Belters are people born in the asteroid belt. The Belters are generally taller, fitter, and tend to bastardize language much the same way as immigrants to America bastardized English. I kind of think of Holden as Gavrilo Princip, the man that touched off WW1 by assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand. Holden meant well; to him information is meant to be shared so that it can be analyzed and expounded upon. People unfortunately jump to conclusions without examining the evidence too closely, especially when the potential for war has been brewing for some time. The major powers in the universe are just looking for the right catalyst to start a war. Holden, inadvertently, provided the match.

”The moral complexity of the situation had grown past his ability to process it.”

So there is some lethal goo out there trapped in the rings of Saturn. Knowing humans to be the “curious monkeys” that they are... what do you think happens next? Yeah, they just can’t help poking a stick at it.

Things go from bad to worse in a hurry.

Vomit zombies...need I say more?

Okay, maybe just a bit more because there are more stages to this thing.

”A flock of softball-sized spiderlike things crawled through the corridor, leaving a slick sheen of glowing slime behind them. It wasn’t until he paused to knock one off the cart that he recognized them as severed hands, the trailing wrist bones charred black and remade. Part of his mind was screaming, but it was a distant one and easy to ignore.”

*SHUDDER*

As a counterweight to Holden is the cop Miller. He sees the world through rose murky colored glasses. He has seen the worst of people, so he doesn’t need to speculate about what people are capable of. He is on the case of a missing rich girl, and even after he is fired from his job, he continues to hunt for her. It turns out she is connected with the OPA, a Belter resistance group, and also she is somehow mixed up with the goo from space.

Miller hooks up with Holden and his crew, but it is an uneasy alliance. Holden’s righteousness and Miller’s cynicism mix like oil and water, but actually with the universe hanging in the balance their differing views create a middle which is generally where the right answers can be found.

So pull up a bowl of fungal curds and a cup of something that tastes close to coffee and have a blast watching the crew of the Rocinante cartwheel across the universe barely surviving one disaster after another as they do everything they can to stay alive and save the world.

The SyFy Channel has just launched a new series called Expanse that is based on the universe created by Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck in this series of books. I haven’t watched the episodes yet because I really wanted to read the first book before watching any part of the TV series. If I have a complaint about the book, it is that it does feel a bit bloated, but the fact that it is unapologetically calling itself a space opera I feel kind of snarky even broaching the subject. The world building is fascinating, and from what I have read, the books will continue to add pieces to this world as the book series progresses. I have plans to read at least two more.

One last little tidbit from Miller which I found rather funny as I’m holding this 16 pound trade paperback novel in my hands: ”The OPA man, Anderson Dawes, was sitting on a cloth folding chair outside Miller’s hole, reading a book. It was a real book--onionskin pages bound in what might have been actual leather. Miller had seen pictures of them before; the idea of that much weight for a single megabyte of data struck him as decadent.”

I just blew you a raspberry Miller.

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The Incurables by Jon Bassoff

The Incurables by Jon Bassoff
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

'It’s a mean old world, isn’t it?'

Beginning in 1953 The Incurables by Jon Bassoff is a character driven tale with its heart set in madness and its thoughts desperate for tranquillity amidst the Incurables of society.

Thirty-two hundred lives he’d saved, give or take, and he wasn’t done yet. The famous Dr. Walter Freeman, the pioneer of the transorbital lobotomy but when his time is deemed over, there's no going back so he kidnaps his latest patient and it’s time for pastures new.

'Without hesitation, he grasped the ice pick and jammed the point into the tear duct. He then gripped the hammer and struck the ice pick, once, twice, causing an audible crack. Back and forth, back and forth he cut. Then, with a twisting movement, he withdrew the ice pick, all the while pressing his gnarled fingers on Edgar’s eyelids, preventing hemorrhaging.'

And that is a transorbital lobotomy, Woah WTF, this apparently, effectively treats patients with a history of anxiety, depression, insomnia and bouts of homicidal mania. Dr Freeman and Edgar find themselves on the carnival circuit wanting only to help those in need. And with a sign.

'The Amazing Dr. Freeman and his Transorbital Lobotomy. Ending Mental Anguish Today.'

Durango Stanton, sixteen year old Messiah, is also on the carnival circuit with his father, usually found sat cross-legged on a homemade throne, wearing a crown of thorns while dear old Dad preaches all the truths the sinners don't want to hear. And then there's Scent, a young woman who sells her body to survive, her Mother has loads of money hidden away, waiting for her lover to return, forcing them to live in poverty. So we have one crazy Father, one crazy Mother and as if sent from heaven, the good doctor.

“It’s the town. Out here in the middle of nowhere with all them ghosts whispering from beneath the bloody dirt. A town full of incurables, a town full of sinners, a town run by the devil. And wherever the devil is, God is sure to follow.”

The Incurables sees Jon Bassoff back to his best following a slight stutter with Factory Town, Scent was easily my favourite character, seemingly a fragile young thing with a dark side desperate for reparation but will she get what's due? In a place where insanity blossoms amongst the hopeless and faith doesn't mean a thing, only death.

I received The Incurables from Darkfuse & Netgalley in exchange for an honest review and that’s what you’ve got.

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A Stranger's Grave by Craig Saunders

A Stranger's Grave by Craig Saunders
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I've said before that Craig Saunders writing style fits succinctly with my inner core and A Strangers Grave is definitely one of my favourites.

Elton Burlock is out of prison after a long 26 year stretch for murder, longer than it should have been but that's something at the heart of his story, along with the reason he went to jail. You would think a murderer an evil man but Elton is far from that, he's an old man now just surviving.

The only job Elton can get is the keeper of an old graveyard in a small Norfolk market town, the first headstones were laid in 1756 but something much older came in 2007. A trio of angels carved in basalt and polished to a black sheen, the evil those angels bought was older than anything.

And when the first murder occurs, who is the obvious suspect?

'But he screamed, then, because as he came she came, the old one, and she drove splinters into his spine and tore out handfuls of his lungs until he could scream no more, snapped his neck, broke his skull, tore into his brain, her worm-ridden tongue licking and licking and eating his eyeballs from behind.'

So there's death in the graveyard, the odd ghost with evil intent, still-born children buried in a strangers grave, a grave that can never be too deep and some laughs around two fat coppers.

'They both set to running as fast as two fat coppers can in a dark cemetery if they don't want a broken neck or a coronary, because of intuition, but also because both policeman knew that whatever happened next, neither one wanted to get to the screamer alone.'

From reading Craig Saunders work you can tell he doesn't waste much time on masses of research, the writing flows effortlessly from darkness to humour in the blink of an eye and I've got visions of him chuckling away in his legendary shed, maybe it's got a little bar and pool table for relaxing. But at the end of the day I really enjoyed A Strangers Grave, the protagonist carries enough baggage to make for an arresting character coupled with a disturbingly creepy setting and a quite wicked story. Craig Saunders does it again.

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King of the Bastards

King of The Bastards by Brian Keene
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

With Albion in chaos, Rogan and his nephew wash up on a foreign shore. The primitive tribesman of the foreign land are being terrorized by a shaman with an alien god on his side. Can Rogan set things right and find his way back to his former kingdom?

I've made it no secret that I'm not fond of the typical Tolkien via Dungeons and Dragons style of fantasy that dominates the genre these days. When I want fantasy, I'm more into the Leiber/Howard/Moorcock style. Thankfully, King of the Bastards is just such a novel.

Rogan is an aging barbarian, like Conan if he survived to be sixty. Rogan reminds me not only of the lgendary Cimmerian but also Karl Edward Wagner's Kane and David Gemmell's Druss the Legend. In short, he's the baddest mother on the planet and not ready to go to the grave just yet.

King of Bastards is an homage to the glory days of pulp fantasy. If you're squeamish about violence and rampant sexism, this isn't the book for you. Rogan is randy for being a senior citizen and doesn't mind talking about it. He also isn't shy about dealing out violence and gore.

The plot isn't very complex but Keene and Shrewsbury get a lot of mileage of out it. It's a fun pulpy romp full of violence, gore, and funny one-liners. Rogan and his nephew encounter one breasted Amazons, natives, ape-men, giant snakes, zombies, and all sorts of other things. References are made to Keene's Labyrinth mythos and the Thirteen, and there was a Dark Tower reference as well.

Much like the fantasy of yesteryear, King of the Bastards was action packed and short enough not to overstay its welcome. If you yearn for the fantasy of yore, King of Bastards is what you're looking for. Four out of five stars.

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Beautiful Pictures of Horrible Things

Gandhara: The Memory of Afghanistan by Bérénice Geoffroy-Schneiter
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Who destroys 1400 year old gargantuan statues? The Taliban, that's who. See, this is why we can't have nice things.

The Bamiyan Buddhas, carved from the stone cliffside in the Bamiyan Valley of eastern Afghanistan, stood for fourteen centuries until a rival organized religion came along and decided it was too much of a threat. They couldn't build up their own impressive monuments. Nope, they had to dynamite someone else's, least their own grasp upon the people be impinged.



Seriously, that is such weak-sauce.

Gandhara tries to salvage something of the remains. It gives a brief, and not altogether succinct, summary of the history, surmising upon the origins of this land where Greek art met Indian Hinduism. Author Berenice Geoffroy-Schnieiter, a French archeologist and art historian, is suited to talk about the French archeologists given permission to work in the area and unearth the ruins. Perhaps something was lost in the translation or perhaps the author isn't a gifted writer (that's no knock on Berenice, I mean, how many skills can one person excel at?!) as not all of this was described in an English easily digested. Or maybe I'm ignorant of the culture and art of that part of the world. Actually, yeah, that's more likely.

On the other hand, this slim volume is two-thirds photos. There isn't a lot of room for elucidation in an 80 page book when 60 of those pages are pictures. However, the photos are gorgeous and there are summary explanations at the back giving the pertinent details of each.






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