Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
If Down: Pinhole is to believed, the Christian idea of Hell is actually to be transported to Europe some time in the mid-18th Century. As if being thrown into pre-industrial society wasn't bad enough, you share your dismal demise with all of the nasty people from throughout history.
Borrowing the idea that the LHC in Switzerland would open up some sort of wormhole which will swallow the earth, Glenn Cooper leverages the idea into a solid 'portal' story where people from the real world are sucked into some fantasy - although not all that fantastic - world.
What the Author does well is to build well-fleshed out characters, and put them in situations where the tension is seeping out of the walls. Although I will admit that there is a certain diminished tension in a world (Hell) where most people are already 'dead' and the possibility of dying further doesn't really exist.
On the other hand, Cooper does take us on a whirlwind tour of famous-European-people-who-are-dead-but-still-want-to-continue-their-former-lives. The characters who stick in for long enough with the main hero are certainly interesting, but they tend to leave a lot of dead bodies in their wake.
It was an entertaining, solid beginning to a trilogy, and I am interested to read the rest. I felt like there were a lot of unresolved issues, even before we got to the cliffhanger at the end, but I guess the author has started a lot of snowballs rolling downhill, and I'll wait and see where they end up.
4/5 stars
Tuesday 22 December 2015
Review - Monetary Men by Kenneth D Alford
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
I have decided to make a rule for myself when reviewing non-fiction books about war - if the author manages to make war boring, then I take at least 1 star off. I am kind of a war nut, in terms of how voraciously I read war-related books, and I don't think I'm that hard to keep entertained.
Monetary Men suffers from several major problems. Firstly, it is being released soon after a movie called The Monuments Men, which is based on an equally excellent book. The Monuments Men covers some of the same ground as Monetary Men, and obviously the books share similar titles. I must admit that was what caught my notice first.
The second problem is that it reads as though it was written by an accountant. Which again, is not in and of itself bad, but it makes it a weighty tome which is largely filled with recounts of the numbers, and values of the gold, and other forms of currency which were stolen and recaptured from from various countries and locations around the world. I get that - if that was the purpose - there may be a market out there for this kind of information, but it hardly makes for entertaining reading.
The third, and probably ultimately the least forgiveable problem with the book lies in the title itself. The phrase "Monetary Men" implies that it would be telling the tales of the men who were out there doing the hunting down of stolen Nazi gold. Instead, more accurately, it is the story of the Tripartite Gold Commission. Unlike the Monuments Men, which took the time to highlight the personalities who were involved in the operations, I came away from Monetary Men with the impression that.
- Nameless Nazis stole the gold
- Nameless Allies recovered the gold
- Nameless Allies were largely reluctant to give it back
*sigh*
At the end of the day the subject matter was just not that interesting, and was not presented in a particularly interesting way. I felt that it had been anonymised to the point where it had ceased to be about the actual eponymous 'Monetary Men'.
I will give it 2-3/5 stars because it clearly has a use as reference material, or for light reading for accountants, but I would judge it to be outside the interests of the casual reader.
I have decided to make a rule for myself when reviewing non-fiction books about war - if the author manages to make war boring, then I take at least 1 star off. I am kind of a war nut, in terms of how voraciously I read war-related books, and I don't think I'm that hard to keep entertained.
Monetary Men suffers from several major problems. Firstly, it is being released soon after a movie called The Monuments Men, which is based on an equally excellent book. The Monuments Men covers some of the same ground as Monetary Men, and obviously the books share similar titles. I must admit that was what caught my notice first.
The second problem is that it reads as though it was written by an accountant. Which again, is not in and of itself bad, but it makes it a weighty tome which is largely filled with recounts of the numbers, and values of the gold, and other forms of currency which were stolen and recaptured from from various countries and locations around the world. I get that - if that was the purpose - there may be a market out there for this kind of information, but it hardly makes for entertaining reading.
The third, and probably ultimately the least forgiveable problem with the book lies in the title itself. The phrase "Monetary Men" implies that it would be telling the tales of the men who were out there doing the hunting down of stolen Nazi gold. Instead, more accurately, it is the story of the Tripartite Gold Commission. Unlike the Monuments Men, which took the time to highlight the personalities who were involved in the operations, I came away from Monetary Men with the impression that.
- Nameless Nazis stole the gold
- Nameless Allies recovered the gold
- Nameless Allies were largely reluctant to give it back
*sigh*
At the end of the day the subject matter was just not that interesting, and was not presented in a particularly interesting way. I felt that it had been anonymised to the point where it had ceased to be about the actual eponymous 'Monetary Men'.
I will give it 2-3/5 stars because it clearly has a use as reference material, or for light reading for accountants, but I would judge it to be outside the interests of the casual reader.
Review - On by Jon Puckridge
I must admit that I hate when a novel is noted as a "cross between" two things, particularly where it claims more famous cousins. In the case of On by Jon Puckridge it was the works of William Gibson, and the movie Bladerunner. My healthy suspicion about such comparisons was well-founded as I discovered.
Oh it began well enough, with a certain Gibson-esque atmosphere to this dystopian future, but it soon deteriorated. There are hints at some of Max Barry's ideas around corporatisation and commodification of everything in the future. I was also reminded of Neal Stephenson's cyberpunk books - before he began writing encyclopedia-sized tomes.
I found this book downright confusing as all hell. There are constant switches in viewpoint, and almost all of them are told in first person. I concluded that about the only thing people were 'On' by the end of it was a boatload of drugs. As soon as I had begun to get a grasp on what was going on, Puckridge was off on another tangent to parts unknown.
I finished the book, but only just. I genuinely felt that I came away not knowing what the hell I just read. It was like a melting pot of recycled plots and ideas from Cyberpunk and Science Fiction novels and movies from the past 30 odd years. And I just didn't care.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
I can't recommend this novel. Interesting ideas, with confusing and poor execution.
2/5 stars.
Oh it began well enough, with a certain Gibson-esque atmosphere to this dystopian future, but it soon deteriorated. There are hints at some of Max Barry's ideas around corporatisation and commodification of everything in the future. I was also reminded of Neal Stephenson's cyberpunk books - before he began writing encyclopedia-sized tomes.
I found this book downright confusing as all hell. There are constant switches in viewpoint, and almost all of them are told in first person. I concluded that about the only thing people were 'On' by the end of it was a boatload of drugs. As soon as I had begun to get a grasp on what was going on, Puckridge was off on another tangent to parts unknown.
I finished the book, but only just. I genuinely felt that I came away not knowing what the hell I just read. It was like a melting pot of recycled plots and ideas from Cyberpunk and Science Fiction novels and movies from the past 30 odd years. And I just didn't care.
Disclaimer: I received an ARC of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
I can't recommend this novel. Interesting ideas, with confusing and poor execution.
2/5 stars.
Thursday 10 December 2015
Review - The Awakening by Adair Hart
Disclaimer: I received a review copy of this book through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
So a few random humans - The Stereotypical Doctor, the Stereotypical Innocent Child, the Stereotypical Redneck/Soldier (I think), and a random Indian get kidnapped by aliens. They are placed in a ship filled with other aliens from around the multi-verse who have all escaped their holding pens and are probably going to kill said humans in the near future.
Fortunately there's a random stereotypical time-travelling alien and his stereotypically friendly, lovable robot there to save the day and lend a hand.
You know when you start a book, and are super-glad that it is relatively short? That was me with this novel.
This book reminded me a lot of Matthew Reilly's first book, Contest, where aliens from all over the universe are thrown into mortal combat with each other in a confined space. There were also healthy doses of Doctor Who tropes thrown in for good measure. However, the similarities soon ended.
Sure there were plenty of interesting and gruesome death scenes, which I did enjoy rather immensely. But then there was just so much stuff that either made no difference to the story, made no sense, or was so completely convoluted that my eyes began to glaze over.
- Any time Evaran (the aforementioned alien) began mansplaining (or is that aliensplaining) anything involving multiple universes, how he travels through time, and the laws which govern them. I just did not care.
- Wherever they wandered into an errant sub-plot about Evaran and the Mercenaries.
I would hazard a guess that more of the novel made no sense to me than the bits that did. I didn't buy, or understand why the humans were kidnapped in the first place; I guess humans were supposed to be Earth's apex predators, but these particular humans seemed like weak, inept, do-nothings.
Evaran was an interesting character, when he wasn't speaking pseudo-sciencey crap, and his robot sidekick V was quite cool, although there were a few too many "interpret what the human says literally" moments for my liking.
What it all boiled down too in the end was that it was neither overly original, or interesting. However, the bits that were interesting weren't original, and the bits that were original weren't all that interesting. I felt like it couldn't make up its mind whether it was trying to be survival horror or Doctor Who ripoff.
2.5/5 stars.
So a few random humans - The Stereotypical Doctor, the Stereotypical Innocent Child, the Stereotypical Redneck/Soldier (I think), and a random Indian get kidnapped by aliens. They are placed in a ship filled with other aliens from around the multi-verse who have all escaped their holding pens and are probably going to kill said humans in the near future.
Fortunately there's a random stereotypical time-travelling alien and his stereotypically friendly, lovable robot there to save the day and lend a hand.
You know when you start a book, and are super-glad that it is relatively short? That was me with this novel.
This book reminded me a lot of Matthew Reilly's first book, Contest, where aliens from all over the universe are thrown into mortal combat with each other in a confined space. There were also healthy doses of Doctor Who tropes thrown in for good measure. However, the similarities soon ended.
Sure there were plenty of interesting and gruesome death scenes, which I did enjoy rather immensely. But then there was just so much stuff that either made no difference to the story, made no sense, or was so completely convoluted that my eyes began to glaze over.
- Any time Evaran (the aforementioned alien) began mansplaining (or is that aliensplaining) anything involving multiple universes, how he travels through time, and the laws which govern them. I just did not care.
- Wherever they wandered into an errant sub-plot about Evaran and the Mercenaries.
I would hazard a guess that more of the novel made no sense to me than the bits that did. I didn't buy, or understand why the humans were kidnapped in the first place; I guess humans were supposed to be Earth's apex predators, but these particular humans seemed like weak, inept, do-nothings.
Evaran was an interesting character, when he wasn't speaking pseudo-sciencey crap, and his robot sidekick V was quite cool, although there were a few too many "interpret what the human says literally" moments for my liking.
What it all boiled down too in the end was that it was neither overly original, or interesting. However, the bits that were interesting weren't original, and the bits that were original weren't all that interesting. I felt like it couldn't make up its mind whether it was trying to be survival horror or Doctor Who ripoff.
2.5/5 stars.
Review - Target Tobruk by Robert Jackson
Disclaimer: I received a free copy of this book from the publisher through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
When I was a kid, there were these little comic books called Commando comics, man I was so addicted to them. I had a huge collection of these things, and was always scouring the local second hand book stores for them. They were kind of on the ground stories of the little people of the second world war. They weren't particularly realistic, and were full of macho American exceptionalism and British stiff-upper-lippedness, but they were just a plain good time.
I say these things because I think in many ways, Target Tobruk, and its erstwhile hero Yeoman something or other, who seems capable of doing everything from flying planes, to acting as a commando, and everything else in between.
I must admit that I was a little surprised in that the author gave a German point of view character, and actually treated him with some dignity which is not always afforded to antagonists. On the other hand, I was often unsure actually what was going on in the bigger picture, and/or what the point of it all was.
I quite liked the novel - accepting its flaws - because it was unpretentious, short, and was just good plain harmless fun. It's part Biggles, part Commando Comic and a little bit of rock and roll.
4/5 stars.
When I was a kid, there were these little comic books called Commando comics, man I was so addicted to them. I had a huge collection of these things, and was always scouring the local second hand book stores for them. They were kind of on the ground stories of the little people of the second world war. They weren't particularly realistic, and were full of macho American exceptionalism and British stiff-upper-lippedness, but they were just a plain good time.
I say these things because I think in many ways, Target Tobruk, and its erstwhile hero Yeoman something or other, who seems capable of doing everything from flying planes, to acting as a commando, and everything else in between.
I must admit that I was a little surprised in that the author gave a German point of view character, and actually treated him with some dignity which is not always afforded to antagonists. On the other hand, I was often unsure actually what was going on in the bigger picture, and/or what the point of it all was.
I quite liked the novel - accepting its flaws - because it was unpretentious, short, and was just good plain harmless fun. It's part Biggles, part Commando Comic and a little bit of rock and roll.
4/5 stars.
Monday 7 December 2015
Review - Eisenhower's Guerillas by Benjamin F Jones
Disclaimer - I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Eisenhower's Guerillas is a book which is dedicated to the stories of the group called the Jedburghs (aka Jeds) which were a multi-national force of guerillas who went into occupied France after D-Day to work alongside the French resistance, the Maquis.
A great majority of this book is given over to the politics of war, and the battles which occurred at the highest levels of the command structure, as well as between the political leaders who had very differing ideas about how the Jedburghs should be used.
I must say that I was slightly disappointed in the book, in that it was so focused on the chess game of the war, that it often failed to deliver on the individual stories of the men involved on the ground. At the end of the book, for instance, it reveals that there were some 190 teams of Jedburghs who were either deployed, or were trained for deployment, and I can respect that it would be an impossible task to capture all of these men's stories. Certainly there were highlights of the action on the ground in bits and pieces, but I felt like the fog of war had descended over the book, with intermittent descriptions of battle, which seemed - for all intents and purposes - to take place in a void.
Another aspect which I found difficult to parse was the often-dizzying array of acronyms which were obviously in use at the time. Having to jump back to a reference guide, or looking up on the internet while trying to read a book isn't the best thing in the world.
Much of the story of the German side of the conflict is glossed over. Probably the most cohesive and interesting section of the book for me was the final chapters and the epilogue, which nicely lifted the fog of war and actually tied it all together.
I have a serious level of interest in history and war; and as such am willing to give a book a bit of leniency, particularly where it is dealing with an aspect about which I was otherwise either unaware, or under-read. However, I came away from the book with only a limited increase in my understanding, due to the way that the information was presented. I fear that this is perhaps too dry a tome for the average reader, perhaps aimed at the academician.
2.5/5 stars.
Eisenhower's Guerillas is a book which is dedicated to the stories of the group called the Jedburghs (aka Jeds) which were a multi-national force of guerillas who went into occupied France after D-Day to work alongside the French resistance, the Maquis.
A great majority of this book is given over to the politics of war, and the battles which occurred at the highest levels of the command structure, as well as between the political leaders who had very differing ideas about how the Jedburghs should be used.
I must say that I was slightly disappointed in the book, in that it was so focused on the chess game of the war, that it often failed to deliver on the individual stories of the men involved on the ground. At the end of the book, for instance, it reveals that there were some 190 teams of Jedburghs who were either deployed, or were trained for deployment, and I can respect that it would be an impossible task to capture all of these men's stories. Certainly there were highlights of the action on the ground in bits and pieces, but I felt like the fog of war had descended over the book, with intermittent descriptions of battle, which seemed - for all intents and purposes - to take place in a void.
Another aspect which I found difficult to parse was the often-dizzying array of acronyms which were obviously in use at the time. Having to jump back to a reference guide, or looking up on the internet while trying to read a book isn't the best thing in the world.
Much of the story of the German side of the conflict is glossed over. Probably the most cohesive and interesting section of the book for me was the final chapters and the epilogue, which nicely lifted the fog of war and actually tied it all together.
I have a serious level of interest in history and war; and as such am willing to give a book a bit of leniency, particularly where it is dealing with an aspect about which I was otherwise either unaware, or under-read. However, I came away from the book with only a limited increase in my understanding, due to the way that the information was presented. I fear that this is perhaps too dry a tome for the average reader, perhaps aimed at the academician.
2.5/5 stars.
Review - No Direction Home by James Baddock
Disclaimer - I received a free copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
The plot of No Direction Home is a fairly familiar science fiction trope - a 'ark' ship is sent off a dying Earth to populate the planets of some far-off star system, complete with thousands of people in cryostasis. What could possibly go wrong, right?
The main character - Christopher Vinter - is awakened from the cryosleep and given little to no information before he is tasked with investigating the possibility that there is a spy on the ship.
Okay, back up a bit...
Back on the earth there was a civil war between some group named New Dawn and some other group named Earthcorp, the motivations of both groups are pretty poorly defined, other than they are "Bad Guy group 1" and "Bad Guy group 2". (the BGGs) The ark ship (the Terra Nova) that Vinter and the others are on is sent off the planet to escape the war between the two BGGs - although why they would need to pre-emptively do that is unclear to me.
Fortunately for humanity they did though, because one nuke led to another, and the BGGs wiped each other, and everyone else, off the planet.
So now we have the ark ship - the last hope of humanity - flying through space. And it is being chased by another ship of unknown origin and intent, which just happens to be communicating with other people of unknown origin on the Terra Nova.
I would prefer to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible, but the author reveals something about the main character pretty early on which meant I ceased actually giving a shit about anything that happened to him thereafter.
At the end of the day I felt like I had read this story all before, and it involved people I was actually able to care about. It's a solid novel, but I just didn't feel like the motivations of the characters - particularly the BGGs were fleshed out well enough. There are a few action scenes, which are generally speaking, well-written, and are probably the most interesting parts of the novel. I just didn't buy the stakes. For all I cared, the BGGs and everyone could sail off into the sunset, never to be seen again.
2.5/5 stars
The plot of No Direction Home is a fairly familiar science fiction trope - a 'ark' ship is sent off a dying Earth to populate the planets of some far-off star system, complete with thousands of people in cryostasis. What could possibly go wrong, right?
The main character - Christopher Vinter - is awakened from the cryosleep and given little to no information before he is tasked with investigating the possibility that there is a spy on the ship.
Okay, back up a bit...
Back on the earth there was a civil war between some group named New Dawn and some other group named Earthcorp, the motivations of both groups are pretty poorly defined, other than they are "Bad Guy group 1" and "Bad Guy group 2". (the BGGs) The ark ship (the Terra Nova) that Vinter and the others are on is sent off the planet to escape the war between the two BGGs - although why they would need to pre-emptively do that is unclear to me.
Fortunately for humanity they did though, because one nuke led to another, and the BGGs wiped each other, and everyone else, off the planet.
So now we have the ark ship - the last hope of humanity - flying through space. And it is being chased by another ship of unknown origin and intent, which just happens to be communicating with other people of unknown origin on the Terra Nova.
I would prefer to keep this review as spoiler-free as possible, but the author reveals something about the main character pretty early on which meant I ceased actually giving a shit about anything that happened to him thereafter.
At the end of the day I felt like I had read this story all before, and it involved people I was actually able to care about. It's a solid novel, but I just didn't feel like the motivations of the characters - particularly the BGGs were fleshed out well enough. There are a few action scenes, which are generally speaking, well-written, and are probably the most interesting parts of the novel. I just didn't buy the stakes. For all I cared, the BGGs and everyone could sail off into the sunset, never to be seen again.
2.5/5 stars
Review - El Narco by Ioan Grillo
As it happened, my finishing reading this book coincided with the unfortunate deaths of a couple of young Australian surfers, seemingly at the hands of persons associated with the Mexican drug cartels. This has certainly helped to bring into the spotlight the true dangers and tragedy of what has been transpiring in Mexico, the United States and other countries in southern and central America.
El Narco is at its heart, the story of the drug trade which predominantly occurs from Mexico to the United States, however deals with events in Colombia and other countries. As much it is the story of those who are directly involved in the trade, it is also the story of the users, dealers, legislators, and members of the public who are affected - directly or indirectly - by the war on drugs.
The author speaks with a great deal of authority, having conducted numerous interviews with traffickers, and others. He is also not afraid to deal with some of the hard issues which surround the drug problem - centrally, that while there is a demand for the drug, trying to squash the supply problem is never going to fix the issue.
This is a heartbreaking story of how drug crime has swept up so many people and families - even those not involved in the trade - through addiction, poverty and revenge killings.
A sensitive, considered and well-researched treatment of a delicate and emotive subject. El Narco is an insight into a world about which most of us have very little understanding.
4.5/5 stars.
El Narco is at its heart, the story of the drug trade which predominantly occurs from Mexico to the United States, however deals with events in Colombia and other countries. As much it is the story of those who are directly involved in the trade, it is also the story of the users, dealers, legislators, and members of the public who are affected - directly or indirectly - by the war on drugs.
The author speaks with a great deal of authority, having conducted numerous interviews with traffickers, and others. He is also not afraid to deal with some of the hard issues which surround the drug problem - centrally, that while there is a demand for the drug, trying to squash the supply problem is never going to fix the issue.
This is a heartbreaking story of how drug crime has swept up so many people and families - even those not involved in the trade - through addiction, poverty and revenge killings.
A sensitive, considered and well-researched treatment of a delicate and emotive subject. El Narco is an insight into a world about which most of us have very little understanding.
4.5/5 stars.
Saturday 28 November 2015
Review - In the Blood by R L Martinez
Disclaimer: I received an ARC copy of this book in return for an honest review.
I think that the events of this book feel like the characters won the war, but then lost the battle.
In the Blood is the story of twin sisters who are separated by a great distance. Ottilde is locked in a prison camp after being captured during a war which took place before the start of the novel. Her sister Oriabel is locked in a castle with a group of odious captors.
Oriabel is a witch, masquerading as a person with healing powers in a society which has a Salem-esque fear and paranoia about, and general love of the burning of, witches. In spite of the apparent danger, she seems to go out of her way to do obviously witchy things in front of people. Ottilde is a famous (or infamous) warrior who for all intents and purposes may as well be genderless, and after a few brief action scenes at the start to demonstrate her badarsedness, proceeds to be extremely passive for the rest of the novel.
The story is split between the two locations, and I didn't feel like they were all that connected. The characters seemed to be somewhat-psychically aware of things which were happening to the other, but I felt like the story lacked connectivity.
And then there's the romance.
Now I am a bloke, and pretty blokey, and so some of this I might write off to me just not 'getting it' but I really didn't buy the romance between the main male protagonist (Hito) and Oriabel. I'm sure that every girl who gets sexually assaulted, and then raped by a powerful male is just DYING to jump into bed with the next vapid nobleman who wanders along. (spoiler, not spoiler, this IS romance fantasy)
Oh how she lovingly tends to the wounds of the injured nobleman, stroking his kneecap lovingly. And now she's drugging him - for his own good of course - so she can tend to his needs better. (what?)
And then just when I thought the author was building more of a relationship between them, BAM! Hito turns into an animal, discovers his beloved is a witch, discovers she's being blackmailed by her rapist and loses his shit. But never fear, the conquering hero will ride to the rescue... from himself.
Erm... ok, that escalated quickly.
I... in spite of these gripes did actually enjoy - for the most part - this novel. I thought the world was well-described, and the different characters felt distinct from each other. I did however think that the author took a bit too tight of a lens on the small events in the world, rather than dealing with more of the grander world events, like more of the fallout from the war that just happened.
It's a competent, if un-spectacular beginning to something, which reminded me of a lot of other books in this genre that I've read. It was somewhat reminiscent of Robin Hobb's Assassin trilogy - which I disliked immensely - and a little of Gail Carriger - whose works I love. In spite of the things I may have disliked about it, it kept me interested until the end, and am willing to give any further books a chance.
3/5 stars
I think that the events of this book feel like the characters won the war, but then lost the battle.
In the Blood is the story of twin sisters who are separated by a great distance. Ottilde is locked in a prison camp after being captured during a war which took place before the start of the novel. Her sister Oriabel is locked in a castle with a group of odious captors.
Oriabel is a witch, masquerading as a person with healing powers in a society which has a Salem-esque fear and paranoia about, and general love of the burning of, witches. In spite of the apparent danger, she seems to go out of her way to do obviously witchy things in front of people. Ottilde is a famous (or infamous) warrior who for all intents and purposes may as well be genderless, and after a few brief action scenes at the start to demonstrate her badarsedness, proceeds to be extremely passive for the rest of the novel.
The story is split between the two locations, and I didn't feel like they were all that connected. The characters seemed to be somewhat-psychically aware of things which were happening to the other, but I felt like the story lacked connectivity.
And then there's the romance.
Now I am a bloke, and pretty blokey, and so some of this I might write off to me just not 'getting it' but I really didn't buy the romance between the main male protagonist (Hito) and Oriabel. I'm sure that every girl who gets sexually assaulted, and then raped by a powerful male is just DYING to jump into bed with the next vapid nobleman who wanders along. (spoiler, not spoiler, this IS romance fantasy)
Oh how she lovingly tends to the wounds of the injured nobleman, stroking his kneecap lovingly. And now she's drugging him - for his own good of course - so she can tend to his needs better. (what?)
And then just when I thought the author was building more of a relationship between them, BAM! Hito turns into an animal, discovers his beloved is a witch, discovers she's being blackmailed by her rapist and loses his shit. But never fear, the conquering hero will ride to the rescue... from himself.
Erm... ok, that escalated quickly.
I... in spite of these gripes did actually enjoy - for the most part - this novel. I thought the world was well-described, and the different characters felt distinct from each other. I did however think that the author took a bit too tight of a lens on the small events in the world, rather than dealing with more of the grander world events, like more of the fallout from the war that just happened.
It's a competent, if un-spectacular beginning to something, which reminded me of a lot of other books in this genre that I've read. It was somewhat reminiscent of Robin Hobb's Assassin trilogy - which I disliked immensely - and a little of Gail Carriger - whose works I love. In spite of the things I may have disliked about it, it kept me interested until the end, and am willing to give any further books a chance.
3/5 stars
Monday 23 November 2015
Review - House of War by James Carroll
The subtitle of this book is "The Pentagon and the Disastrous Rise of American Power" which is pretty accurate, based on the book's assertions.
Every so often I read a book which really makes me mad about the fucked up way that the world works, and the atrocities and madness which have been perpetrated in our names by governments. Although I am not American, I felt like the story of Australia's post WW2-history was interwoven into so many of the events, due to our being dragged into so many of America's conflict.
The book follows the history, political and power developments which occurred through the lifetime of the Pentagon from its construction in the second world war, through to what it has become today. Chiefly the author focuses on a number of events which occurred on September the 11th in various years, and it is certainly interesting how so many pivotal events occurred on that particular date.
Every so often I read a book which really makes me mad about the fucked up way that the world works, and the atrocities and madness which have been perpetrated in our names by governments. Although I am not American, I felt like the story of Australia's post WW2-history was interwoven into so many of the events, due to our being dragged into so many of America's conflict.
The book follows the history, political and power developments which occurred through the lifetime of the Pentagon from its construction in the second world war, through to what it has become today. Chiefly the author focuses on a number of events which occurred on September the 11th in various years, and it is certainly interesting how so many pivotal events occurred on that particular date.
The author certainly takes an anti-military industrial complex stance in the book. However, it is hard not to feel that the world may well have been a different place if it were not for military forces creating an atmosphere of fear and suspicion about what the Russians were doing in the world. What great works, or how many of the world's problems might have been solved if billions and trillions were not being spent on preparing for a nuclear war which never came.
I remember reading a quote a while ago, although its origin now escapes me, which goes something like this:
"How many times over do we need to be able to kill everyone on the planet with nuclear weapons? About three times should do it."
It's just fucking crazy, and it's fucking madness.
All in all, House of War is an interesting look at the relationship between the military leadership and the civilian politicians they are answerable to throughout the decades.
4.5/5 stars
Saturday 21 November 2015
Review - Contact Sport by J K George
Disclaimer – I received an advance reader
copy of this book through NetGalley in return for an honest review.
Contact Sport is a book about a somewhat
obscure, and unknown (at least to me) sort called Contesting or Radiosporting, Specifically
a competition which took place in 2014. This somewhat anachronistic event
involves ham radio operators from around the world coming together in one
location – in this case America – to compete against the other teams over a 24 hour period to make
the most contacts with other radio operators in Europe.
The author does an excellent job of teasing
out the history of previous events, and the characters who are involved in the
whole competition. The fact that the author went out involved himself in the
action, working alongside one of the teams made the story that much more
interesting.
While not all of the concepts involved are
explained particularly well – for instance, how the point scoring system works
in the contest – but it is generally very accessible for people who don’t
necessarily know much about ham radio. It was also interesting to hear about
the use of, and integration of modern technology in this old
As a fan of bird-watching, and other obscure sports, I can appreciate the
obsessive nature of some of the contestants who took part in the event. Even
the slightest mistake can ‘ruin’ everything.
I really enjoyed reading the book, and
learning about something new – I had no idea that there were such contests
still going on around the world, and while there is something “old-fashioned”
about it, it still has a certain charm.
4.5/5 stars
Wednesday 18 November 2015
Review - The Nazi Hunters by Andrew Nagorski
The hunt for high-ranking Nazis after the second world war is one of those periods of history about which I thought I had at least some knowledge. Probably the most famous of the Nazi hunters is Simon Wiesenthal, an Austrian jew who survived the concentration camps, and determined to hunt down the people responsible for the deaths of so many jews.
The book sets out to dispel some of the myths, or stories which are out there about the Nazi hunters. It focuses on some of the lesser-known - to me at least - characters, and purports to tell the ‘true story’ of some of the famous events like the capture of Eichmann, amongst others.
Generally speaking, it is an informative book, although I found that it could get repetitive at times, as it covered an extended period of time between the end of the second world war and approximately 2013. It is more the story of the people who did the Nazi hunters, rather than the hunting themselves, and as such can take a bit of reading.
While the book is obviously well-researched and written, with more references than you can poke a stick at, I don’t think it was something I would go out of my way to read again. I suppose I would recommend it to people with a serious interest in the subject, or a connection to the story.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
3/5 stars
The book sets out to dispel some of the myths, or stories which are out there about the Nazi hunters. It focuses on some of the lesser-known - to me at least - characters, and purports to tell the ‘true story’ of some of the famous events like the capture of Eichmann, amongst others.
Generally speaking, it is an informative book, although I found that it could get repetitive at times, as it covered an extended period of time between the end of the second world war and approximately 2013. It is more the story of the people who did the Nazi hunters, rather than the hunting themselves, and as such can take a bit of reading.
While the book is obviously well-researched and written, with more references than you can poke a stick at, I don’t think it was something I would go out of my way to read again. I suppose I would recommend it to people with a serious interest in the subject, or a connection to the story.
Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
3/5 stars
Saturday 14 November 2015
Review - The Angola Deception by D C Alden
The Angola Deception is a conspiracy/spy/thriller novel, and I received it from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
This novel suffers from generic genre mediocrity in the worst possible way.
Reading this book I felt like I was again a naive teenager growing up in the 90s - watching the movie Conspiracy Theory, getting all worked up about FEMA, the New World Order, the Illuminati, and all of those other things you read about on blogs. And to bring it into the 21st Century there was a healthy dose of September 11 conspiracy.
After reading the book, I realised that the deception in the title seems to refer to the fact that Angola has virtually nothing to do with the actual novel. Okay, that's not fair, the Angola refers to an Angola virus, which the dark and mysterious forces in the world intend to unleash on the world.
We have a cast of characters who are about as generic as you might find in a thriller:
- Roy Sullivan - some working class schlep who has a missing/dead brother in Iraq. The centralish conflict in the story is that he is being blackmailed by some generic gangster into babysitting some other generic psycho for purposes unknown.
- Roy Sullivan's ex-wife, who has a new boyfriend and wants a divorce. (either Vicky or Vikki depending on the author's mood)
- Roy's autistic son Max.
- Derek - the generic psycho.
- Frank Marshall - a guy who is on the run, with some kind of Jason Bourne amnesia thing going on, but then he suddenly remembers who he is.
Generic Bad Guys
- Josh.
Some other generic bad guys I can't remember the names of. There are also the big bads, who are Committee - a shady Bilderberg Group/New World Order conspiracy who like to think they control the world.
So many things about the novel didn't make much sense to me - why Roy was being blackmailed, or even what he was being blackmailed with, or what his relationship with the generic gangster was exactly. He is forced to endure numerous beatings and generally psychotic behaviour from Derek, all the while carrying on a normalish life and working at a regular job.
So many things in this novel are predictable, and none of it really seemed to matter. Roy's role in the novel seemed to be to carry the plot of the novel until something more important happened. The problem for me was that it had a decent amount of potential, but the things that took centrestage were not the most interesting parts of the plot which was hinted at.
Overall I was quite disappointed. The premise reminded me a little of the Robert Ludlum novels published after his death by other authors, but it was nowhere near as good.
2/5 stars.
This novel suffers from generic genre mediocrity in the worst possible way.
Reading this book I felt like I was again a naive teenager growing up in the 90s - watching the movie Conspiracy Theory, getting all worked up about FEMA, the New World Order, the Illuminati, and all of those other things you read about on blogs. And to bring it into the 21st Century there was a healthy dose of September 11 conspiracy.
After reading the book, I realised that the deception in the title seems to refer to the fact that Angola has virtually nothing to do with the actual novel. Okay, that's not fair, the Angola refers to an Angola virus, which the dark and mysterious forces in the world intend to unleash on the world.
We have a cast of characters who are about as generic as you might find in a thriller:
- Roy Sullivan - some working class schlep who has a missing/dead brother in Iraq. The centralish conflict in the story is that he is being blackmailed by some generic gangster into babysitting some other generic psycho for purposes unknown.
- Roy Sullivan's ex-wife, who has a new boyfriend and wants a divorce. (either Vicky or Vikki depending on the author's mood)
- Roy's autistic son Max.
- Derek - the generic psycho.
- Frank Marshall - a guy who is on the run, with some kind of Jason Bourne amnesia thing going on, but then he suddenly remembers who he is.
Generic Bad Guys
- Josh.
Some other generic bad guys I can't remember the names of. There are also the big bads, who are Committee - a shady Bilderberg Group/New World Order conspiracy who like to think they control the world.
So many things about the novel didn't make much sense to me - why Roy was being blackmailed, or even what he was being blackmailed with, or what his relationship with the generic gangster was exactly. He is forced to endure numerous beatings and generally psychotic behaviour from Derek, all the while carrying on a normalish life and working at a regular job.
So many things in this novel are predictable, and none of it really seemed to matter. Roy's role in the novel seemed to be to carry the plot of the novel until something more important happened. The problem for me was that it had a decent amount of potential, but the things that took centrestage were not the most interesting parts of the plot which was hinted at.
Overall I was quite disappointed. The premise reminded me a little of the Robert Ludlum novels published after his death by other authors, but it was nowhere near as good.
2/5 stars.
Friday 6 November 2015
Review - Strangers on a Bridge by James Donovan vs Bridge of Spies (film)
After hearing about the new Tom Hanks novel - Bridge of Spies - I was very interested in watching the movie. After learning that there was a book written by James Donovan - the central character played by Tom Hanks - based on his diaries kept at the time, I was also interested to see what the similarities and differences were between the two versions.
Strangers on a Bridge (the book) takes the form of Donovan's diary entries, as he was corralled into defending the alleged Soviet spy Colonel Rudolf Abel. It follows the extensive courtroom dramas which unfolded, and follows his journey up to and including the Supreme Court arguments. What unfolds between Donovan and Abel is a grudging respect that turns into a cautious friendship. Donovan was formerly involved in the OSS during the Second World War, and also took part in the Nuremberg trials. This was in part the basis of their connection which went beyond the lawyer-client relationship.
The courtroom, and legal battles comprise approximately 80% of the book, and is followed by a much shorter, and less intricately detailed (allegedly for security reasons) description of how the exchange of prisoners between Russia, East Germany and America took place.
I will admit that in watching the movie, I felt that there was not a good balance between the two 'halves' of the story, but I can see how much of the legal wranglings which work in book form would probably be death on screen. I felt that much of the performance of Mark Rylance as Colonel Abel rang true for me, but the relationship between Abel and Donovan was completely ignored in the film. Unfortunately, most of his lines seemed to boil down to asking "would it help?" in response to any question asked of him by Hanks. According to the book, he was deeply interested and involved in the preparation of his defence, and was no passive actor.
I felt as though it was played up as Hanks being the ra-ra 'Murica angle, and red blue and white-washed a lot of the humanity of the story. I really got sick of the 'clever' transitions between actions occurring in one location, and similar but contrasting action taking place in another. It was neat the first time, but got old very quickly.
Rylance's performance was definitely the most outstanding of the actors, although Hanks' wife, played by Amy Ryan was very well characterised. I note that the book makes only infrequent mentions of his relationship with his wife, but it seemed to be accurate from what I can tell.
There is something about Tom Hanks that has started to annoy me. There was a certain Sleepless in Seattle feel about his performance, that leant a certain air of incompetence. I'm just not sure I bought it.
I much preferred the book, although the diary style of it could be a bit jarring, and might have worked better as woven into a narrative. However, it did serve to pinpoint the time periods over which the events took place. I would rate the book 4 out of 5 stars.
The movie is an overdramatised, overhyped, mostly-accurate version of the events, by comparison to the events as described in the book. Only the performance of Mark Rylance stands out in a mostly-mediocre cast. At best a 2 out of 5. I wouldn't bother seeing it in theatres.
Strangers on a Bridge (the book) takes the form of Donovan's diary entries, as he was corralled into defending the alleged Soviet spy Colonel Rudolf Abel. It follows the extensive courtroom dramas which unfolded, and follows his journey up to and including the Supreme Court arguments. What unfolds between Donovan and Abel is a grudging respect that turns into a cautious friendship. Donovan was formerly involved in the OSS during the Second World War, and also took part in the Nuremberg trials. This was in part the basis of their connection which went beyond the lawyer-client relationship.
The courtroom, and legal battles comprise approximately 80% of the book, and is followed by a much shorter, and less intricately detailed (allegedly for security reasons) description of how the exchange of prisoners between Russia, East Germany and America took place.
I will admit that in watching the movie, I felt that there was not a good balance between the two 'halves' of the story, but I can see how much of the legal wranglings which work in book form would probably be death on screen. I felt that much of the performance of Mark Rylance as Colonel Abel rang true for me, but the relationship between Abel and Donovan was completely ignored in the film. Unfortunately, most of his lines seemed to boil down to asking "would it help?" in response to any question asked of him by Hanks. According to the book, he was deeply interested and involved in the preparation of his defence, and was no passive actor.
I felt as though it was played up as Hanks being the ra-ra 'Murica angle, and red blue and white-washed a lot of the humanity of the story. I really got sick of the 'clever' transitions between actions occurring in one location, and similar but contrasting action taking place in another. It was neat the first time, but got old very quickly.
Rylance's performance was definitely the most outstanding of the actors, although Hanks' wife, played by Amy Ryan was very well characterised. I note that the book makes only infrequent mentions of his relationship with his wife, but it seemed to be accurate from what I can tell.
There is something about Tom Hanks that has started to annoy me. There was a certain Sleepless in Seattle feel about his performance, that leant a certain air of incompetence. I'm just not sure I bought it.
I much preferred the book, although the diary style of it could be a bit jarring, and might have worked better as woven into a narrative. However, it did serve to pinpoint the time periods over which the events took place. I would rate the book 4 out of 5 stars.
The movie is an overdramatised, overhyped, mostly-accurate version of the events, by comparison to the events as described in the book. Only the performance of Mark Rylance stands out in a mostly-mediocre cast. At best a 2 out of 5. I wouldn't bother seeing it in theatres.
Thursday 29 October 2015
Review - A Nation in Conflict: Canada and the Two World Wars by Andrew Iarocci and Jeffrey Keshen
This is a book which is really only secondarily about war. Rather, it is predominantly focused on the social and cultural effects, and attitudes which rippled through the Canadian population throughout the course of the First and Second World Wars. There have been many books written about the conduct of the wars, and this was a interesting break from the usual for me.
As an Australian, I was interested to see the war from one of the other 'small time' players among the allies, who also happened to be a member of the commonwealth. I think the authors did a nice job of blending the story of what was happening with the war in with the conflicts which were occurring on the home front.
The action is covered in moderate detail in chapters divided up between the air, sea and land war. But I don't think that people looking to read this book should come expecting detailed descriptions of Canadian involvement in certain actions. These were more descriptions of flashpoints, or drawing the story back to the effects of life for civilians.
It is not without its flaws however. The book has a tendency to try to draw too many parallels between the two world wars, and there were times when the "compare and contrast" style got a bit hard to follow.
Nevertheless, as a political and social history book, A Nation in Conflict is certainly an interesting read. What it sets out to do, it achieves - for the most part - with a fair degree of success, and does not have any pretenses to cover in the same level of detail the actual war part of the war, which has been dealt with by other authors.
I would like to thank Netgalley for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.
4/5 stars
p.s. Incidentally, people looking for books more focused on Canadians in action during the wars could do worse than Mark Zuehlke's excellent series of books which cover particular battles which predominantly featured Canadian units, or focus on Canadian units within greater battles.
Review - Operation Paperclip by Annie Jacobsen
Undeterred by this, I was interested to learn more, particularly given that this was a recent title, rather than something written contemporaneously. From reading the book, it is now apparent that with the passage of years, and the declassification of many documents, more of the whole sordid story is coming to light.
I'm not going to lie, the deeper I got into this book, the madder I got. Not at the book, or the author, but at the actions of the US military, as depicted in these pages. It is somewhat difficult to maintain the moral highground, I feel, on the one hand trying many war criminals at Nuremberg, while recruiting, or attempting to recruit many many more, because they were useful, or could provide valuable skills for the US's own war making.
Probably the most well-known, or most celebrated of the Operation Paperclip scientists recruited and brought to the US was Werner Von Braun, whose wartime V2 rockets essentially were the basis for America's journey into space. One might look at his post-war achievements, and all that these brought to the US, and humanity generally, but it is hard to overlook the fact that he was a member of the SS, and worked in plants and factories which were responsible for the deaths of prisoners.
But Von Braun is only the beginning of the story, and there were many other scientists, and engineers who were spirited out of the country, or left to work in secret in country. People with horrendous, criminal track records, many of which were white-washed for the sake of military convenience.
I suppose looking back that the argument could be made, and is addressed by the author, that if they weren't recruited by the US, then they would have been by Russia. And that they were doing the only expedient thing by doing this. Certainly there is some merit in preventing the other side from gaining access to the scientists and creators of such technology, but I can't help feel more than a little anger at what was done, or overlooked, nonetheless.
Operation Paperclip is an excellently researched, up to date history book, and is very educational with respect to the conduct of war, and the conduct of peace. I certainly look forward to reading more books by this author.
5/5 stars
Monday 26 October 2015
Review - The Last Warrior by Andrew Krepinevich
This is a very weighty tome, and definitely not for the faint of heart. I was interested in this book, as it tracks many of the developments in the military-industrial complex, and think-tanks which carried America through the Cold War and into modernity.
I will admit having never heard of Andrew Marshall before - and this seems to be due to the nature of the man himself, rather than any failing on my part - and to be honest I had him slightly confused with George C Marshall of WW2 fame when I first saw the book.
I was reminded in parts of the book Legacy of Ashes by Tim Weiner, about the horrendous mis-management and intelligence failures at the CIA. By comparison, the work of Marshall and his team, as portrayed in this book, smacks of something like competence.
The real problem with the book is that it just isn't that engaging. This is not the story of the front line, of the nitty gritty of intelligence or military work, this is about backroom machinations, and political manoeuvrings.
The Last Warrior is a moderately interesting book about the life and work of an otherwise-little known man, who has obviously had a huge influence on military policy at the highest levels for decades. One for students of political history, and true history buffs, but not for the casual observer.
2.5/5 stars
I will admit having never heard of Andrew Marshall before - and this seems to be due to the nature of the man himself, rather than any failing on my part - and to be honest I had him slightly confused with George C Marshall of WW2 fame when I first saw the book.
I was reminded in parts of the book Legacy of Ashes by Tim Weiner, about the horrendous mis-management and intelligence failures at the CIA. By comparison, the work of Marshall and his team, as portrayed in this book, smacks of something like competence.
The real problem with the book is that it just isn't that engaging. This is not the story of the front line, of the nitty gritty of intelligence or military work, this is about backroom machinations, and political manoeuvrings.
The Last Warrior is a moderately interesting book about the life and work of an otherwise-little known man, who has obviously had a huge influence on military policy at the highest levels for decades. One for students of political history, and true history buffs, but not for the casual observer.
2.5/5 stars
Friday 23 October 2015
Review - A Land Divided by K M Ashman
Disclaimer: I received an ARC from NetGalley in return for an honest review.
A Land Divided is a historical novel set in 11th century England, Ireland and Wales. Although it is based on real events, the author has taken certain liberties, largely for the sake of plot convenience. It tells the story of a family, and a nation divided by a civil war.
It is a very well-written book, with epic brutal, fast-paced action scenes, where I understood what was going on most of the time. But it is also a book filled with lovely quiet moments, particularly around the Queen and her daughter. In fact, I would say that the female characters are the most well-developed in the story, and certainly the most interesting.
It is not without its flaws, however, and this may be a case of my not being used to Welsh names, but so many of the major characters just seemed to all roll into one. There's Gruffyd king of Gwynned, and Rhys ap Tewdwr (mostly called Tewdwr), and a whole bunch of other names who held similar titles or positions on opposing sides, I often struggled to remember who was who. There is a guide to pronunciation at the beginning, which helps with understanding how their names are pronounced, and it may have been useful in a hard copy book as a point of reference, but with an ebook I really should have made a bookmark.
A lot of these problems clear themselves up towards the end of the novel, as through natural attrition the number of characters are diminished. (war is hell, right?) All in all, I enjoyed the book, and look forward to reading more of the series.
3.75/5 stars
A Land Divided is a historical novel set in 11th century England, Ireland and Wales. Although it is based on real events, the author has taken certain liberties, largely for the sake of plot convenience. It tells the story of a family, and a nation divided by a civil war.
It is a very well-written book, with epic brutal, fast-paced action scenes, where I understood what was going on most of the time. But it is also a book filled with lovely quiet moments, particularly around the Queen and her daughter. In fact, I would say that the female characters are the most well-developed in the story, and certainly the most interesting.
It is not without its flaws, however, and this may be a case of my not being used to Welsh names, but so many of the major characters just seemed to all roll into one. There's Gruffyd king of Gwynned, and Rhys ap Tewdwr (mostly called Tewdwr), and a whole bunch of other names who held similar titles or positions on opposing sides, I often struggled to remember who was who. There is a guide to pronunciation at the beginning, which helps with understanding how their names are pronounced, and it may have been useful in a hard copy book as a point of reference, but with an ebook I really should have made a bookmark.
A lot of these problems clear themselves up towards the end of the novel, as through natural attrition the number of characters are diminished. (war is hell, right?) All in all, I enjoyed the book, and look forward to reading more of the series.
3.75/5 stars
Monday 19 October 2015
Review - The Angel by Mark Dawson
The Angel is a very modern thriller, dealing with many of the big issues facing the intelligence community, as well as the community as a whole. There is a multi-faceted teerrorist attack in London, told mostly from the perspective of the young (and not so young) terrorists as they carry out the attack.
I haven't read any of Mark Dawson's novels before, but was pleased to see that this was the start of a new series, rather than trying to play catchup from the middle of a series. I felt like the characters were well fleshed out, but they followed many of the tropes of other military thrillers.
For instance, there is the disgraced military/intelligence officer who is demoted by politicians just before some great catastrophe occurs which requires his expertise. He goes through the novel being praised as a hero by all and sundry, and modestly denying it all.
There are seemingly random cutaways to the life of a young woman in Morocco, who seems to be going about her randomly random daily life, and it only becomes apparent later that she is the eponymous character of the novel's title.
The story also follows the recruiter who appears to be the real force behind the terrorist attack, and then gets out of the country. Unfortunately, I anticipated that the majority of the novel would revolve around the natural search for that.
I might have missed the connection - it seemed a little vague - to why the intelligence agents have to recruit a girl in her teens - who seems entirely too competent for someone that age - to spy on the son of someone, while studying at a high class high school in Switzerland.
Because that won't seem strange and obvious at all...
What follows is an extensive description of the life of a new student at a strange boarding school; with the awkwardly trying to fit in, and the going to parties, and the shopping trips in to town to buy expensive watches and... stop.... just stop...
The woman who was portrayed in the random spots of randomness does not seem to bear any relation to the girl who is in the second half of the novel. And frankly it was a little annoying, and distracting from what was otherwise a fairly competent thriller novel. I didn't understand what the connection was between the boy, his father, and the terrorist plot, or how they intended her to plant some sort of bugging device.
At the end of the day, I think the author managed to waste the potential of the woman he had built up to be the hero. While I am somewhat interested in seeing the direction the series is going in, I don't buy "The Angel" story as it is currently presented.
I felt that it was a reasonably competent, if by-the-book thriller novel, but I felt that it was let down by failing to be a complete story in itself.
3/5 stars
I haven't read any of Mark Dawson's novels before, but was pleased to see that this was the start of a new series, rather than trying to play catchup from the middle of a series. I felt like the characters were well fleshed out, but they followed many of the tropes of other military thrillers.
For instance, there is the disgraced military/intelligence officer who is demoted by politicians just before some great catastrophe occurs which requires his expertise. He goes through the novel being praised as a hero by all and sundry, and modestly denying it all.
There are seemingly random cutaways to the life of a young woman in Morocco, who seems to be going about her randomly random daily life, and it only becomes apparent later that she is the eponymous character of the novel's title.
The story also follows the recruiter who appears to be the real force behind the terrorist attack, and then gets out of the country. Unfortunately, I anticipated that the majority of the novel would revolve around the natural search for that.
I might have missed the connection - it seemed a little vague - to why the intelligence agents have to recruit a girl in her teens - who seems entirely too competent for someone that age - to spy on the son of someone, while studying at a high class high school in Switzerland.
Because that won't seem strange and obvious at all...
What follows is an extensive description of the life of a new student at a strange boarding school; with the awkwardly trying to fit in, and the going to parties, and the shopping trips in to town to buy expensive watches and... stop.... just stop...
The woman who was portrayed in the random spots of randomness does not seem to bear any relation to the girl who is in the second half of the novel. And frankly it was a little annoying, and distracting from what was otherwise a fairly competent thriller novel. I didn't understand what the connection was between the boy, his father, and the terrorist plot, or how they intended her to plant some sort of bugging device.
At the end of the day, I think the author managed to waste the potential of the woman he had built up to be the hero. While I am somewhat interested in seeing the direction the series is going in, I don't buy "The Angel" story as it is currently presented.
I felt that it was a reasonably competent, if by-the-book thriller novel, but I felt that it was let down by failing to be a complete story in itself.
3/5 stars
Review - The Aeronaut's Windlass by Jim Butcher
I will admit to being an enormous Jim Butcher fan, and so when I found out that there was a new book out, I was immensely excited. Needless to say I was not disappointed with this book.
The Aeronaut's Windlass is Butcher's take on Steampunk, with his own twist. There are airships galore, and battles that are some of the most exciting and engaging I have read in a while. I'm not going to lie, it's not the most originalof concepts, and there are all of the typical tropes of the genre here, but they are done well, with his typical polish.
The characters are extremely well-crafted, and come across as individuals. Whether they were human, half human, or fully cat, their voices were unique and interesting. I really enjoyed the cat society that he built, and the attitudes and behaviour he ascribed to the feline members of the cast of characters were very catlike.
I was intrigued by the magic system that Butcher is using in this series, and the people who wield the power are some of the most interesting in the book. Folly was the stand out personality of the whole novel for me, much more than some of the other cadets.
Although it is clearly aimed at a younger audience than his Dresden Files, The Aeronaut's Windlass would appeal to readers of all ages, and is well worth a look. I can't wait to see where this series goes next.
5/5
The Aeronaut's Windlass is Butcher's take on Steampunk, with his own twist. There are airships galore, and battles that are some of the most exciting and engaging I have read in a while. I'm not going to lie, it's not the most originalof concepts, and there are all of the typical tropes of the genre here, but they are done well, with his typical polish.
The characters are extremely well-crafted, and come across as individuals. Whether they were human, half human, or fully cat, their voices were unique and interesting. I really enjoyed the cat society that he built, and the attitudes and behaviour he ascribed to the feline members of the cast of characters were very catlike.
I was intrigued by the magic system that Butcher is using in this series, and the people who wield the power are some of the most interesting in the book. Folly was the stand out personality of the whole novel for me, much more than some of the other cadets.
Although it is clearly aimed at a younger audience than his Dresden Files, The Aeronaut's Windlass would appeal to readers of all ages, and is well worth a look. I can't wait to see where this series goes next.
5/5
Saturday 10 October 2015
Review - Fate of the Union by Max Allan Collins
This novel is your standard "former national hero secret service agent who took a bullet for the president-of-the-future receives a phone call from his friend who needs to talk, but before they can talk his friend dies in mysterious circumstances leading said agent to uncover a possible serial killer who turns out to be part of a giant conspiracy" story.
It's full of your typical thriller cliches like...
- Dead friends.
- Dead friends' wives as possible love interests.
- Billionaires
- Incompetent local cops
- Incompetent federal cops
- Female Federal Agent sidekick who defies all orders to work with the hero of the story.
- Conspiracies involving large corporations and the government.
- Mysterious technology.
- Geeky genderless sidekick available via "phone a friend"
- Strippers. (who may not actually be strippers)
- Transvestites. (who may not actually be transvestites)
- Transphobia.
- Main hero as a Social Justice Warrior.
- and more...
But seriously though... this book was not bad, with all of that said. It just felt as though I had read this thing all before, by so many other authors, and so so much better. It was like the author took all of the cliches of this genre, inserted their characters' names, and changed some of the minor details.
At least 60% of this novel involves the main characters following red herrings all over the country, while I was deeply suspicious about the people who wound up being the bad guys.
In spite of all of this, I was actually prepared to give this novel a fighting chance, because it was at least engaging, and somewhat entertaining. That was until I hit the ending. But first, the climax of the story had the potential for such interesting tension, involving bombs, and threats and whatnot, but it was over in one sentence and a goddamned cheesy line. And that was before we got ending.
To say that the ending was a deeply unsatisfying, exposition-heavy talk-fest, followed by a convenient wrap, would be an understatement.
*sigh*
2.5/5 stars... just. Just go read the latest Lee Child novel, he does it a lot better.
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.
It's full of your typical thriller cliches like...
- Dead friends.
- Dead friends' wives as possible love interests.
- Billionaires
- Incompetent local cops
- Incompetent federal cops
- Female Federal Agent sidekick who defies all orders to work with the hero of the story.
- Conspiracies involving large corporations and the government.
- Mysterious technology.
- Geeky genderless sidekick available via "phone a friend"
- Strippers. (who may not actually be strippers)
- Transvestites. (who may not actually be transvestites)
- Transphobia.
- Main hero as a Social Justice Warrior.
- and more...
But seriously though... this book was not bad, with all of that said. It just felt as though I had read this thing all before, by so many other authors, and so so much better. It was like the author took all of the cliches of this genre, inserted their characters' names, and changed some of the minor details.
At least 60% of this novel involves the main characters following red herrings all over the country, while I was deeply suspicious about the people who wound up being the bad guys.
In spite of all of this, I was actually prepared to give this novel a fighting chance, because it was at least engaging, and somewhat entertaining. That was until I hit the ending. But first, the climax of the story had the potential for such interesting tension, involving bombs, and threats and whatnot, but it was over in one sentence and a goddamned cheesy line. And that was before we got ending.
To say that the ending was a deeply unsatisfying, exposition-heavy talk-fest, followed by a convenient wrap, would be an understatement.
*sigh*
2.5/5 stars... just. Just go read the latest Lee Child novel, he does it a lot better.
Thanks to NetGalley for the opportunity to read this book in return for an honest review.
Tuesday 6 October 2015
Review - Warmth by Sam Wolfson
Do you enjoy reading books with “gripping” dialogue where almost every sentence ends in an exclamation mark for dramatic tension!!?!!?!!! This is definitely the book for you.
Do you enjoy reading books where there are endless passages of info-dumpy dialogue with brief passages of confusing action? This is definitely the book for you.
Do you enjoy political thrillers with shadows organisations with names like Them, Deluge, DG, YD, tERROR, the IDF, and many many more? This might be the book for you.
Do you enjoy searching Wikipedia for something and waking up 2 hours later with 200 Chrome tabs open, and no idea what you were originally looking for? This might be the book.
Sigh…
Warmth had a lot going for it – an interesting premise, hot-topic politics, and world inundation… or domination… or maybe both. But it really wasted its opportunity with boring talk-fests, confusing plotlines and interchangeable, forgettable characters who all sound the same.
And then there’s the exclamation marks. Sweet baby jesus does this author love his exclamation marks. Early on in the novel he limits himself to single exclamation marks at the end of his dialogue, but as he passes the mid-point he becomes aware that his novel mostly involves people sitting in small groups explaining things in exotic locations like London, London, Country England, Paris, London… I don’t really know… the only way he seems to come up with to ramp up the tension and drama is to keep adding more exclamation marks.
I shall attempt to explain the plot.
The year is 2027, and there has been a worldwide rise in sea levels.
John is a political advisor to some politician in Australia. He discovers his boss is involved in some sort of global conspiracy that gets his boss killed, him kidnapped and framed for his boss’ murder, then in the middle of the kidnapping he gets re-kidnapped by a group of people who appear to be the ‘good guys’. An extended tour of the Conspiracy Theory pages of the Internet ensues as the group find themselves taking on a new world religion, led by some bloke named Clive, a mysterious organisation called Them, and assorted other random bad guys.
Oh, and the new religion is called The Delugion. The author manages to limit himself to one little joke about people being Delugional, but that pun was far too little, far too late.
The problem with writing about events which occur in the near-future is that current events are bound to quickly overtake the plot. Wolfson references contemporary events in Australian and world politics, and this might appeal to people who believe in conspiracy theories, but I didn’t care about any of the characters, many of whom seem to wander in and out of the novel for extended periods of time.
As a parting note, I received a copy through NetGalley in return for an honest review, and the copy I received may be an ARC, it was sorely in need of a proofreader, and someone to delete 99% of the exclamation marks before it was published.
Barely 1/5… because I actually finished it in a bit over a day and a half.
Sunday 4 October 2015
Review - The First Great Air War by Richard Townshend Bickers
The First World War has been sliced and diced just about as many ways as it can be, and in some ways I feel like authors need to find a 'new' angle to catch my interest. I realise this was published some time ago, but received a copy for review through Netgalley from the publisher.
I recently finished a similar - although much more focussed - book called Fighting the Flying Circus, by Eddie Rickenbacker, which gave an insight into a particular aspect of the air war. This book, by contrast, was much wider in scope, but managed to maintain the personal aspect of the war, bringing it down to earth (no pun intended) by relating personal insights and stories with historical detail, and technical information about the ongoing developments in air power.
I also enjoyed the comparison to events and characters in the Second World War - particularly the Battle of Britain - which I understand the author has also written extensively about. This book brought home to me just how widespread the war in the air was, not just limited to the war over France.
I thought the book was well-paced, informative, and easy to read.
4/5 stars
I recently finished a similar - although much more focussed - book called Fighting the Flying Circus, by Eddie Rickenbacker, which gave an insight into a particular aspect of the air war. This book, by contrast, was much wider in scope, but managed to maintain the personal aspect of the war, bringing it down to earth (no pun intended) by relating personal insights and stories with historical detail, and technical information about the ongoing developments in air power.
I also enjoyed the comparison to events and characters in the Second World War - particularly the Battle of Britain - which I understand the author has also written extensively about. This book brought home to me just how widespread the war in the air was, not just limited to the war over France.
I thought the book was well-paced, informative, and easy to read.
4/5 stars
Saturday 26 September 2015
Review - Mission Accomplished by Simon Jenkins
I was provided a copy of this book by the publisher through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.
I am always fascinated at how the mind works, and how recent history can soon fade into a homogeneous idea. And so I think has happened - for me at least - with the events of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. I recall being very angry about it at the time, but as the years progressed, and I moved on in my life, I somehow lost that same passion and anger.
Jenkins' book is a literal walk down memory lane, stretching through a history of Western intervention - particularly focussing on America and Great Britain - in conflicts across the world such as Kosovo in the 1990s through to the Arab Spring, and ongoing conflicts in Syria.
Jenkins writes in a very relatable, understandable style, and I never felt as though I was being talked down to, but rather felt like I was reliving many of the same thoughts I had at the time.
The book was thought-provoking as well, asking questions such as why we choose to intervene in some conflicts, and not others. Ignoring atrocities in south-east Asia, and parts of Africa while choosing to intervene when it is politically convenient.
Mission Accomplished? is an engaging and thought-provoking read.
5/5 stars.
I am always fascinated at how the mind works, and how recent history can soon fade into a homogeneous idea. And so I think has happened - for me at least - with the events of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars. I recall being very angry about it at the time, but as the years progressed, and I moved on in my life, I somehow lost that same passion and anger.
Jenkins' book is a literal walk down memory lane, stretching through a history of Western intervention - particularly focussing on America and Great Britain - in conflicts across the world such as Kosovo in the 1990s through to the Arab Spring, and ongoing conflicts in Syria.
Jenkins writes in a very relatable, understandable style, and I never felt as though I was being talked down to, but rather felt like I was reliving many of the same thoughts I had at the time.
The book was thought-provoking as well, asking questions such as why we choose to intervene in some conflicts, and not others. Ignoring atrocities in south-east Asia, and parts of Africa while choosing to intervene when it is politically convenient.
Mission Accomplished? is an engaging and thought-provoking read.
5/5 stars.
Monday 21 September 2015
Review - Aftermath by Chuck Wendig
This ain't your mama's Expanded Universe, that's for sure.
Being a fan of Chuck Wendig's previous work, I was definitely interested to see what he would do with the Star Wars universe, and was definitely interested to see how Lucasfilm would transition to the new film series.
I suppose that books must be read as products of their time, and this is a very modern take on the Star Wars universe, bringing a great deal of the modern experience of war into a semi-allegorical tale in parts. That did get me a little worried that it was going to be more about real world politics than just a good old Star Wars tale, but I found that it settled down after a while.
The book is largely unlike pretty much most of the other Star Wars books I have ever read, and I have read most of the EU books set after the battle of Yavin. Instead of focussing on a few "big" people - such as Han and Leia, it stars some smaller people who are dealing with the aftermath of the fall of the Emperor at Endor. Admiral Ackbar, and Mon Mothma are the main big names in the book, although Han Solo makes a very random appearance near the end, whose sole purpose seems to be to set up the next book.
The novel centers around a series of events on the planet Akiva - following an Imperial Pow-Wow to decide on the future of the Empire. There are former rebels, former imperials, smugglers, bounty hunters, kids with dreams who build droids, droids who know martial arts... All of the ingredients are there for an interesting story, but... somehow much of the novel is devoted to the kind of nonsense Lucas inflicted on us with the Trade Federation and Old Republic Senate discussions in the prequel movies.
Every now and then the story is littered with "interludes" which are basically excerpts from occasionally more interesting people and storylines the novel could be following. There are brief flashes of violence and action, but it quickly reverts to a bit of a gabfest.
I guess it is probably a more realistic look at the aftermath of the downfall of the emperor, which would inevitably create a power vacuum, like Iraq after the fall of Saddam. My recollection of the early post-Endor novels from the previous canon were pretty bad, and probably unrealistic looking back. Kathy Tyers' Truce at Bakura involves the Empire and the Rebels teaming up with each other to take on an existential threat for instance. Probably unrealistic.
What I would say is that the novel does a good job of looking at the broader consequences for the galaxy, and that there is more to the story than the story of the movies.
I am looking forward to the rest of this series, hoping that the characters and story pick up soon. There have been some really ordinary Star Wars novels before, and in fairness the other "official canon" novels released so far are not all that great, but I am willing to give this author and series little latitude.
3.5 stars.
Being a fan of Chuck Wendig's previous work, I was definitely interested to see what he would do with the Star Wars universe, and was definitely interested to see how Lucasfilm would transition to the new film series.
I suppose that books must be read as products of their time, and this is a very modern take on the Star Wars universe, bringing a great deal of the modern experience of war into a semi-allegorical tale in parts. That did get me a little worried that it was going to be more about real world politics than just a good old Star Wars tale, but I found that it settled down after a while.
The book is largely unlike pretty much most of the other Star Wars books I have ever read, and I have read most of the EU books set after the battle of Yavin. Instead of focussing on a few "big" people - such as Han and Leia, it stars some smaller people who are dealing with the aftermath of the fall of the Emperor at Endor. Admiral Ackbar, and Mon Mothma are the main big names in the book, although Han Solo makes a very random appearance near the end, whose sole purpose seems to be to set up the next book.
The novel centers around a series of events on the planet Akiva - following an Imperial Pow-Wow to decide on the future of the Empire. There are former rebels, former imperials, smugglers, bounty hunters, kids with dreams who build droids, droids who know martial arts... All of the ingredients are there for an interesting story, but... somehow much of the novel is devoted to the kind of nonsense Lucas inflicted on us with the Trade Federation and Old Republic Senate discussions in the prequel movies.
Every now and then the story is littered with "interludes" which are basically excerpts from occasionally more interesting people and storylines the novel could be following. There are brief flashes of violence and action, but it quickly reverts to a bit of a gabfest.
I guess it is probably a more realistic look at the aftermath of the downfall of the emperor, which would inevitably create a power vacuum, like Iraq after the fall of Saddam. My recollection of the early post-Endor novels from the previous canon were pretty bad, and probably unrealistic looking back. Kathy Tyers' Truce at Bakura involves the Empire and the Rebels teaming up with each other to take on an existential threat for instance. Probably unrealistic.
What I would say is that the novel does a good job of looking at the broader consequences for the galaxy, and that there is more to the story than the story of the movies.
I am looking forward to the rest of this series, hoping that the characters and story pick up soon. There have been some really ordinary Star Wars novels before, and in fairness the other "official canon" novels released so far are not all that great, but I am willing to give this author and series little latitude.
3.5 stars.
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