Book Review: 'Shaman' by Kim Stanley Robinson

Kim Stanley Robinson's new novel may seem like a change from his past works, but in a way it fits in well with his other works. Instead of spaceships we get the end of the last ice age. And although you may think that this is a huge change in what Kim usually writes, we do get a story about humans surviving and adapting through innovation and investigation, just like all of his stories. 'Galileo's Dream' may have seemed like Kim was talking about the beginnings of science, but with 'Shaman' he shows that there are no beginnings of science and that it is essentially part of being human.

Kim has stated that his inspiration for this novel come from extensive hiking near glaciers and the type of environments that Europe would have been like at the end of the last ice age. On these hikes Kim would imagine what it would have been like to be a human at this time. Other inspiration has come from the ongoing investigation of Otzi, the five and a half thousand year old body found exposed in a glacier in 1991. Clothes and other artifacts found with the body have survived wonderfully and provide a great insight into the technology and innovation of the time.

What Kim produces is a heart-warming, coming of age tale of an apprentice shaman. We join him in his first wandering, cast aside into the wilderness naked and with no tools. We learn an awful lot about his clan and how they function in day to day life. And every character you encounter is well-drawn and is a complete individual. These people and the book itself does well to remove itself from using the standard caveman stereotype and indeed shows that 'humanity' has been with us all along and did not come about with the rise of civilisation.

I found that I did not enjoy this novel as much as some of Kim's other works such as the Mars trilogy and 'Galileo's Dream', but compared to most other works out there, it is still a brilliant and thoughtful work full of wonder and heart. In my opinion even when Kim is experimenting and trying something different like this, he could write the pants off all but a few authors.

Book Review: "The Goldfinch" by Donna Tartt

I have been getting rather annoyed with blurbs the last few years and I am trying to steer clear of them as much as possible. Of course they come in handy for judging a book quickly and I do read them for unknown authors or authors that are hit or miss. After reading a book and looking at the blurb I have often thought "That's a bit spoilery. I could have done not knowing about that."  Why do blurbs have to contain spoilers of the first 100 pages of plot?

Anyway my point is with "The Goldfinch" is I made a concerted effort to avoid blurbs or any description of any kind before reading it. And looking back at the blurb now I have to say:

DON'T READ THE BLURB!

I would have been so disappointed with that knowledge. Sure sometimes I get pissed off with books with no blurb and just quotes from Bill Bryson and Stephen Hawking. But this is me this time, and this is my gushing thumbs up, and that means more than Bill Bryson's. And therefore this review is just going to amount to a huge gush of adoration with no plot details at all.

Of course I can tell you all what I loved about this book apart from plot details. And the plot was great. Lots of surprises, lots of intrigue. The characters are all wonderful, both to love and to hate. The writing is just so fucking brilliant. 800 or so pages in just under 3 days. That is how good.

I also loved Donna's "The Secret History" for a lot of the same reasons. She has definitely become one of my favorite authors, and it is good to know that she is popular. A rare overlap between what the masses love and what I love.

I don't know if this is an adequate review. But I loved it. And you should read it.

Book Review: 'Galileo's Dream' by Kim Stanley Robinson

I finally braved getting this large tome out of my to-read-pile. It's not that it scared me, I have pretty much adored all that I have read of Kim's, it's just that I'm busy researching at the moment and I knew that this would eat up my time and imagination. And it did, but it did not interfere with my work at all. I'm glad I pulled it out. It really was the best book at the best time.

'Galileo's Dream', although being fiction, is 70% biographical. The story is essentially Galileo's life from his work on telescopes up until his death. We see him rise to fame for his mathematical work and his work with telescopes, his writings on the Copernican universe, and his downfall and judgement by the Catholic Church.

Interspersed in this non-fiction are little snippets of fiction that Kim has placed in Galileo's story. Each section fits into the truth so well and mirrors excerpts from Galileo's writing. As to what they involve, well you'll have to read it yourself; but Kim is a science fiction writer at best.

Just like Galileo the book is intelligent and funny with a great amount of detail being given on politics and his everyday life. Each character is unique and you get to experience many wonderful personalities. The imagery in this book is wonderful, sumptuous and beautiful, full of the observations of an early scientist.

At the heart of the story is the story of science and one of it's founding giants, a man who connected what he could see and observe to mathematics, and looked to see if these results were repeatable and consistent. The fiction of the story is a further exploration of science and philosophy which is powerful and a great enough story in itself.

This really is a wonderful work which gives me a great respect for Galileo and has encouraged me to read further into his story and see how much the details in the book are true. Kim has risen to new greats in my respect also. This one one of those rare treasures of a book that spoke volumes to both my mind and my heart. It would definitely be in a top 20 book list of mine and may even make it to a top 10. It deserves all 5 of those elephants.

Book Review: 'The Passage' by Justin Cronin

'The Passage' is a post-apocalyptic fiction where U.S. government-made vampires have wiped out most of humanity. Wait! I know that sounds shit. Haven't vampires been done to (un)death? They're actually more like zombie/vampires. This is not helping is it?

Anyway, despite the blurb and description, 'The Passsage' is a great novel. Plenty of post-apocalyptic coolness, a great mystery to keep you theorising and some interesting characters. It reminds me of 'The Family Trade' which I read a few weeks ago in that there is nothing new about the book, it's a reworking of several themes and story lines that have been done before. But it brings all these ideas together and tells a damn good story that pushes the genre forward and this can only be a positive.

This is a long novel and it took me a long time to read (physical books tend to lack attention in winter; I can curl up under the covers in the warm darkness and read an ebook). But a lot happened in the book. There was a great introduction to the event, then a journey.
Yes, it's a quest book.

'The Passage' has left me with some great sequences and imagery in my mind. Cronin can definitely bring post apocalyptic middle America to life. I enjoyed this greatly and look forward to starting the second book in the trilogy, 'The Twelve'.

Book Review: 'Horns' by Joe Hill

I dipped straight into 'Horns' after my disappointment with 'NOS4A2', but my faith in Joe Hill still high due to 'Locke and Key'. The worry was that I might only like Joe's graphic novels rather than his novels. The great news is that I enjoyed 'Horns' much more than 'NOS4A2'.

The main character of the novel, Ignatius, is a flawed twenty-something living in small town US. He has a troubled past, with a major tragedy defining his existence. Everybody he knows believes Ig to be guilty of a serious crime. The story starts one morning where Ig discovers he has grown horns on his head and that everyone he talks to starts telling him the truth.

Joe manages to tell a great story, with excellent flash-backs to childhood and the hopelessness of Ig's life comes across on the page. There is violence, but I do not believe it is gratuitous and it is part of the overall story.

Characterisation is spot on, with a cast that is well-described and all have clear motivations. Look out for one of the coldest psychopaths I have ever come across.

We do get a little bit of Joe Hill magical object/ magical room here, which is one aspect of his work that I adore, but it is much more subtle than his other works I have read.

I am starting to see Joe's voice become distinct from his fathers. This novel is not something the King would wright in my opinion. I am definitely going to have to read his other works.

One worry I do have is that I know it is currently in production as a film starring Daniel Radcliffe as Ig. Daniel Radcliffe? I'm a little worried about this casting.

Book Review: 'NOS4A2' by Joe Hill

Read from June 29 to July 10, 2013 

This is the first Joe Hill novel I have read. I read and thoroughly enjoyed "Locke & Key" his highly acclaimed graphic novels series.

A lot of people have been raving about this book with 4 and 5 star ratings being bandied about so it was a natural choice for my first Joe Hill novel. I'm sorry to say that I was slightly disappointed, mainly due to all the rave reviews I have saw and partly due to what I felt was a story that was too drawn out and needed a good edit.

Before I jump into the negatives, I think I should address the positives since I did enjoy this book, despite the negatives. The one thing that I adore about Joe's stories (well the two I have finished) is his use of magical objects in everyday life. For example, the keys in 'Locke and Key' and in this book, the bike, car and scrabble set that are more than what they appear. Added to this Joe invents a rule system on their use, kind of parallelling high fantasy magic systems. Characterisation is great also. They are very well-drawn and seem real and fallible.

But I felt this book was just too long. Three quarters the way through I just wanted it to be over already. The long drawn out road to that final confrontation, that you knew was bound to happen for hundreds of pages, did end up tiring me somewhat. Because of this I lost sympathy for the main character and the impact of the final scenes was a little lost.

Another negative (maybe only in my opinion) is the similarity to his fathers writing. Take away 20% of the characterisation, the magical objects and what you have is a Stephen King-by-numbers. Not the great Stephen King, but the drug-fuelled formulaic novels of yore. Sorry, but it did feel that way.

But apart from these gripes, still a worthwhile read. I'm reading 'Horns' next, so obviously I still have a lot of faith in Joe.