Fantasy & Science Fiction Reviews — A Dribble of Ink

Posts Categorized: Reviews

Review of ‘Gods of Risk’ by James S.A. Corey

By Aidan Moher September 20th, 20122 Responses

Gods of Risk

By James S.A. Corey eBook Release Date: 20120915 Pages: 69 Publisher: Orbit ISBN: B008CJ241O Buy: Book/eBook

In support of the Expanse trilogy, James S.A. Corey, a pen-name for authors Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck, has been publishing a series of novellas set in the same universe (or, perhaps a more apt term would be solar system… get it?) as their popular inter-solar series, which began with 2011′s Hugo-nominated Leviathan Wakes (REVIEW), and was joined by 2012′s Caliban’s War, to be concluded in 2013 with Abaddon’s Gate, ‘Gods of Risk’ is the second of these novellas.

Though ‘Gods of Risk’ is set during the same time period as the Expanse trilogy, and featuring cameos by both characters and conflicts from the mainline novels, knowledge of the series in unnecessary. ‘Gods of Risk’ is an intimate story about a young martian (meaning, ‘born on mars,’ not ‘alien from mars’) man, Daniel Draper, a brilliant, but somewhat troubled student and drug manufacturer. The obvious comparison here is to television’s Breaking Bad, though Daniel’s insertion into the drug dealing community isn’t the result of desperation or need, but through social pressures and because, well, as a top-level chemistry student, he’s good at it and has access to the materials, making him an easy and obvious target for Hutch, a volatile drug dealer and tentative friend. Continue reading

Review of The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin

By Justin Landon September 18th, 20124 Responses

The Killing Moon

By N.K. Jemisin Hardcover Release Date: 20120501 Pages: 448 Publisher: Orbit Books ISBN: 0316187283 Buy: Book/eBook Excerpt

The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, N.K. Jemisin’s Hugo nominated debut, was one of the first novels I reviewed, at which time I said:

Jemisin presents a style that is uniquely intimate. I often felt like a voyeur lurking on the outskirts of something I shouldn’t be seeing. It is beautifully written and brims with emotion.

While I haven’t managed to read the subsequent two volumes in the Inheritance Trilogy, the outstanding nature of the first novel put The Killing Moon on my radar as soon as it was announced for 2012 release.

To anyone paying attention to genre scuttlebutt, it’s common knowledge that Jemisin is one of the more outspoken proponents of bringing new points of view to the fantasy lexicon. Whether that means non-western cultures, strong female characters, or more challenging narrative structures, she’s practiced what she preaches. In The Killing Moon the focus is more on the first two, eschewing the more complex narratives of her past work. The result is a plot oriented novel that will appeal to traditional fans of high fantasy as well as those tired of reading recycled characters and worlds. Continue reading

Review of King of Thorns by Mark Lawrence

By Justin Landon September 6th, 20123 Responses

King of Thorns

By Mark Lawrence
Hardcover
Pages: 464 pages
Publisher: Ace Hardcover
Release Date: 08/02/12
ISBN: 1937007472

Excerpt

Prince of Thorns, Mark Lawrence’s 2011 debut novel, was not well received in all corners, occasionally offending reader sensibilities. Jorg, the protagonist and narrator throughout the series, is a self interested often bloodthirsty teenager who’s ruled equally by his emotions and lack thereof. Those hoping for a redemptive tale, or an ultimately apologetic tone from the author, found themselves woefully bereft. Deeply disturbing, and written with a haunting elegance, I called it the best fantasy debut of 2011.

Jorg, no longer a wandering prince in search of revenge, has taken a throne. Not his father’s or the Empire’s, but it’s a start. The path he carved has made him visible to those who share his lust for power, and now a six nation army marches toward his gates, led by a man far more suited to rule than he. An honorable man would lay down his sword and join the fledgling Empire in peace, leaving his kingdom whole and his people alive. That doesn’t sound like Jorg, does it?
Continue reading

Review of Wards of Faerie by Terry Brooks

By Aidan Moher August 14th, 20126 Responses

Wards of Faerie

by Terry Brooks
Hardcover
Pages: 384 pages
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: August 21, 2012
ISBN-10: 0345523474
Buy: Book/eBook

In the interest of full disclosure, I’m a moderator at the Official Terry Brooks Forums, a role which I take seriously and indicates my level of fandom for Brooks, but which has not coloured the following review.

In my review of Bearers of the Black Staff, the first volume of Brooks’ The Legends of Shannara duology, his most recent published work, I wrote:

[T]he real meat of Bearers of the Black Staff is in the familiar elements that begin to rear their heads. The Trolls, a race that’s played a maligned roll in many of Brooks other novels, are the stars of the show here, and much of their history is revealed to the reader, for the first time in the series. Their origin story, involving characters from The Genesis of Shannara is heavy-handed and would have been better left hinted at, but this is something Brooks fans should be used to by now. Astute readers will also begin piecing together hints of the Knights of the Word and their eventual transformation into the Druids that manipulate the world in later Shannara novels.

Ultimately, though, these familiar elements are also the novel’s (and Brooks’) weakest link. Terry Brooks has a vocabulary that he’s built up through his career. Not a vocabulary in the sense that you’d find it in a dictionary (though his prose isn’t exactly a bastion of variety, it’s serviceable and easy to read), but rather in elements, archetypes and plot devices that he uses to construct his stories. There’s next to nothing in Bearers of the Black Staff that we haven’t seen before in any of Brooks’ previous novel.

This dissatisfaction extended into the sequel, The Measure of Magic, and grew, leaving me with a bitter taste in my mouth as a longtime Shannara fan. I didn’t review The Measure of Magic, for fear of just repeating the exact same points I made in the first, with only a small measure of irony. Fast forward a year and I approached the release of Wards of Faerie with no little amount of trepidation. Since Brooks concluded The Voyage of the Jerle Shannara 10 years ago, with the exception of Armageddon’s Children, I felt disappointment with each of his novels, from mild to severe. Where was the Brooks I fell in love with as a boy, first discovering Fantasy? Was he gone? Or was I simply grown up, better read and unable to appreciate the type of fiction that Brooks writes? Continue reading

Review of the Batman Trilogy, directed by Christopher Nolan

By Aidan Moher August 8th, 201211 Responses

“Hey man, you seen The Dark Knight Rises yet?”

“Nah,” I replied, “I haven’t seen it. Been hearing good things about it, though.”

“You gotta see it. We should go this weekend.”

“Actually, I haven’t even seen The Dark Knight yet…”

“You haven’t seen The Dark Knight?” Incredulity.

“Nah,” I’d say. “Haven’t seen it.

The whole conversation sounded like a broken record.

In the circles I run in, the cross-over between geek and pop culture runs strong. Between the guys I work with, my one brother who lives with a comic book-obsessed illustrator, and my other brother who works in the film industry, the cultural and social impact of a film like The Dark Knight Rises is akin to a tempest. It is on the tongues and in the conversations of nearly everyone I associate with on a daily basis. It’s impossible to ignore, let alone hide from.

So, then, with a long weekend alone with my wife out of the house, I chose to join the crowd, to give into the rising, whirling winds. One a day, I watched the Batman Trilogy, immersing myself in Nolan’s envisioning of one of literature’s most tragic heroes.

[He's] little more than a rich man with a lot of toys.

I’ve long been a fan of Batman, first inspired by reading through my mom’s old comics from the late sixties and early seventies. Hell, I was even in love with the old Adam West Batman, wall-climbing, homoeroticism, paunch and all. Growing up, however, I rarely considered him to be my favourite superhero, usually citing Spiderman (who I could, you know, relate to, because I thought of myself as a bit of a nerd), or, oddly, Aquaman, and, if we really want to stretch it outside of Golden Age American superheroes, Astro Boy. I liked Batman, but was never impressed with the idea that he was little more than a rich man with a lot of toys.

An adult now, I see how I misinterpreted Batman’s strength and the true source of his ‘super’ powers. Like Astro Boy, Batman’s origins lie in tragedy, in trying to recover what was lost by refusing to let it drift away into memory. In vengeance. In anger. Sure, he has gadgets, and his near limitless pool of money gives him the ability to become a superhero, but its his inner emotional turmoil and utter belief in justice that gives him the power to accomplish amazing things. Continue reading

A Dribble of Ink

Of Fantasy & Science Fiction, edited by Aidan Moher