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The Chronicles of the Black Company

26 January 2009 in Collection, Novel | No comments

By Glen Cook.
Being The Black Company, Shadows Linger, and The White Rose.
Begun 18 Dec 2008; finished 28 Dec.
Review written on 01 Jan 2009.

Overarching plot points and themes are discussed here. Nothing specifically spoilerish, but it may take away some of the fun of discovering the story for yourself. Don’t follow the cut if you don’t want it spoiled!

I’m not sure how I got wind of Glen Cook in the first place — Steven Erikson’s praise of the Black Company series as the source of inspiration for his Malazan Book of the Fallen definitely played a part — but I bought The Chronicles of the Black Company omnibus from Jeff and Ann VanderMeer’s book sale, and read it over my vacation break.

This omnibus collects The Black Company, Shadows Linger and The White Rose, which together form one story arc of the Black Company’s employment with the evil tyrannical power known as the Lady, the campaigns and wars they fought against the Rebel (the Lady’s opposition), and their sudden betrayal to come under the banner of her nemesis the White Rose. In the meantime, the Company marches all over the land, engages in numerous battles, gets tangled in political intrigue, military insurgency and rebellious machinations, all the while remaining under the shadow of not just the Lady and her minions, but also a greater, more sinister evil. This military sword-and-sorcery fantasy is told in first person by Croaker, the Company physician and historian, who happens to have the unique privilege of being close to the Lady and her activities.

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Titus Alone

25 January 2009 in Novel | 2 comments

By Mervyn Peake.
Begun 09 Dec 2008; finished 17 Dec.

Titus Alone is the final book of Mervyn Peake’s towering Gormenghast trilogy, that was written hurriedly as Peake’s health was deteriorating, and published a year before his death. I mentioned in my previous review that I was looking forward to following Titus Groan in his adventures after liberation from Gormenghast. Thus I approached the novel with many expectations — and it shattered them, one-by-one. Titus Alone was not what I expected it to be. It indeed was a chronicle of Titus’ journey beyond Gormenghast, but what a singular and surreal journey it was!

It’s uncomfortable, challenging and humbling to have an author completely defy your expectations in various ways, for various reasons. But that’s the great part of reading great books…

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Xenocide

11 January 2009 in Novel | No comments

By Orson Scott Card.
Begun 06 Oct 2008; finished 09 Oct.
Review written c. Oct 2008.

All sorts of spoilers in this review, beware!

After reading three books, I’ve confirmed without a doubt that Orson Scott Card — or at least the Ender series — is un-put-down-able. Xenocide was a long book, an involved story, with numerous and detailed sub-plots each building to the same climax (and it was a climax long in the making), and stuffed full of ideology. It was compelling and absorbing, it forced me to confront its ideas, and I couldn’t stop reading it.
That’s what I said about Ender’s Game and Speaker For the Dead. Yes, Card writes wonderful books!

Plot-wise, Xenocide picked up right where Speaker For the Dead ended. The title is apt, because the planet of Lusitania and its inhabitants — the three species of humans, pequeninos and the Hive Queen — are facing annihilation by human forces. However, humans and the Hive Queen are also threatened with extinction by the descolada virus, which is an essential part of the pequenino life cycle. As all three species fight to survive, overcome, evade and/or avert these twin xenocidal threats, their fate in part depends on the decisions and communications of Jane the A.I. and three people on the entirely separate world of Path.

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The Morgaine Saga

6 January 2009 in Novel | No comments

By C.J. Cherryh.
Being, Gate of Ivrel, Well of Shiuan, Fires of Azeroth, and Exile’s Gate.
Begun c. Aug 2008; finished Nov 2008.

The only fictional character I can truly call a “favourite” is Eärendil from J.R.R. Tolkien’s mythos. He is my favourite char not just because of the usual reasons (and his story isn’t really covered greatly in The Silmarillion; of his personality we know nothing), but because he has great significance to me on numerous levels. (A bit of it here.) Eärendil is as much an embodiment and symbol of many things to me, as he is a fascinating character.

Anyway, all that preamble to say that I now have two new favourite fictional characters: Morgaine and Vanye, from the Morgaine Saga by C.J. Cherryh. Like Eärendil, they are favourites not just for their story, but for everything they represent. And out of all the books I read this year, this series has had the most emotional impact on me.

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The Earthsea series

21 October 2008 in Collection, Novel | 1 comment

By Ursula K. Le Guin.
Being, A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu, Tales From Earthsea and The Other Wind.
Begun c. Apr 2008; finished c. Aug.

All these are novels except for Tales From Earthsea, which a collection of short stories and world-building notes, including the novella Dragonfly. The novels loosely follow the lifespan of Ged, the last Archmage of Earthsea, from his youth in A Wizard of Earthsea (reviewed) to old age in The Other Wind. The first three books centre around Ged and his deeds, which significantly change the world and himself. The spotlight shifts away from him in the latter two novels, which are more concerned with the changes in Earthsea that were set in motion by his deeds.

As usual, I’m not terribly concerned with the characters and stories per se, but prefer to examine the themes and motives that underlie the novels. So I’ll primarily discuss the series as a whole, and touch on individual books now and again. The review may ’spoil’ Earthsea in a universal, thematic way, so you may not want to read this if you want to know absolutely nothing about the books. A spoiler concerning Tehanu (both story and character) is duly marked.

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Twilight

2 October 2008 in Novel | No comments

By Stephenie Meyer.
Begun c. Jan 2008; finished 08 Feb.
Review originally written c. Mar 2008.

Occasionally I surface from the depths of my biblio-world and take note of the book trends of this day. Usually I glimpse a few titles, maybe a blurb or review, then sink back down without being terribly affected. Sometimes I may even get interested enough to put one of them on my reading list. Usually I take no notice of contemporary “bestseller” novels until years after the fact. But on rare occasion, a book so leaps out at me that I feel compelled to read it.

That’s how Vega came to read Stephenie Meyer’s Twilight. Indeed, I got suckered in — but there are reasons! (Maybe not good ones, but reasons nonetheless!) Firstly, I’d heard so much about it: all the raves and “hates”, the critiques, the reviews. Ordinarily this wouldn’t influence me. Then I read the blurb itself, and that got me. A vampire story with a twist! The “twist” (definitely influenced by the “vampire” part) was particularly intriguing: given that vampire/paranormal fiction is at saturation point and so very homogeneous, only a book that professed new ideas — and duly approved by readers — would get me into this genre. So I bought it (yes, that was how suckered in I was! it has a lovely cover too!) and read it.

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The First Circle

2 February 2008 in Novel | No comments

In Russian: В круге первом
By Alexander Solzhenitsyn.
Begun 17 Oct 2007; finished 30 Oct.

I first picked up The First Circle about 6-7 years ago, but didn’t get far. I decided to tackle it this time, given it’s the last major fictional work of Alexander Solzhenitsyn that I hadn’t yet read.

The First Circle is the second most formidable novel of Solzhenitsyn’s that I’ve tackled. (The first is The Gulag Archipelago.) It is some 55 substantial chapters long, contains a massive cast, and spans only three days of time. It’s a book that demands attention and energy and patience, not for the fainthearted. Yet it’s worth reading despite (or maybe because of?) its length and intensity.

The novel is set in the Gulag of Stalin’s Soviet Union, much like One Day in the Life of Ivan Denisovich; however, this prison is a “special prison” where prisoners of a skilled/professional background spend their sentences working on secret government projects. The First Circle contrasts nicely with One Day — in the latter, prisoners are in labour camps in the worst of circumstances; life is as good as it gets in a special prison, the ‘first circle’ of the Hell of Stalin’s Gulag. The title refers to the organization of Hell in Dante’s Inferno, where the virtuous and scholarly heathen reside in the first and highest circle of the underworld.

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East Of Eden

2 February 2008 in Novel | No comments

By John Steinbeck.
Begun 28 Sep 2007; finished 16 Oct.

East Of Eden by John Steinbeck is the most significant book I’ve read in 2007. It is become one of the most life-impacting novels I’ve ever read in my life, standing with the likes of One Day In the Life of Ivan Denisovich (Alexander Solzhenitsyn), Les Misérables (Victor Hugo), and Crime and Punishment (Fyodor Dostoyevsky).

Where to start? I have so much to say about this towering novel: perhaps I’ll start with an overview of what it contains. East Of Eden is a tale of humanity. It is a fable filled with truths about the nature of each human being. All the characters are glaringly human, but each is an Everyman. Though there are many, I can identify with each of them, because in each is highlighted a trait that ultimately points to and reveals something about myself. Coupled with this is a powerful and moving story about how relationships between these single, individual humans are formed and developed, and how these links are a source of influence. Ultimately, this novel is a mirror, revealing and telling the reader many truths about himself, humankind and human behaviour. The major novels listed above do this, and so does East Of Eden.

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