Reviews of Popular Fiction Books
This section reviews the genre fiction books, including science-fiction, fantasy, and horror.
The Apprentice Adept trilogy by Piers Anthony
Split Infinity, Blue Adept, and Juxtaposition
This trilogy is a rather ambitious attempt to combine science fiction with fantasy in the same novel. It begins with the story of a man named Stile who lives on the planet Proton. Someone is trying to kill him, and someone else has sent him a humanoid robot named Sheen to protect him. So basically the story is Stile trying to figure out who is trying to kill him and why. Enter the other frame of Proton, Phaze--an alterate reality on the planet where magic works and science doesn't. Stile meets up with many friends, has many adventures, falls in love a few times, and doesn't play nearly enough Games on Proton to suit me.
The characterization is strong, as you would expect of Anthony, and the plot is capable of weaving together many different personalities and situations without becoming confusing or overpowering. The only problem with this trilogy is that it does wear on in places, losing some character interest in the intricacies of plotting. However, the trilogy remains among my favorite books, particularly the first of the three, Split Infinity.
Grade: A-
Order Piers Anthony's Split Infinity from Amazon.com.
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Walter M. Miller, Jr.'s A Canticle for Leibowitz treats religion very differently than does most science fiction. Miller's Brother Francis is charged with discovering the meaning of faith and God in the wake of total nuclear destruction. The particular religion extent in Miller's future is the venerable Catholic Church, an institution that has survived near-annihilation before.
The novel begins with the discovery of a tomb by a novice, Francis, a tomb that may or may not contain the remains and relics of his order's founder, Leibowitz. Miller thereby introduces questions in the reader's mind about the nature of what Francis has really found, what Leibowitz' soul was really like, and how strong Francis' faith remains. Faith is set apart from knowledge cleanly and clearly in this section.
The next section takes place 500 years later, when a scholar, Thon Taddeo, is trying to piece together the real story of what happened to civilization after the nuclear holocaust. In sharp contrast to Francis' faith, Thon is filled with doubt which becomes his major way of approaching life and finding truths. History is revealed to be inconsistent and subject to interpretation and loss. History is not nearly as reliable as Francis' frail desert faith.
The last section of the novel shows the first Earth colonists arriving at Alpha Centauri. There is another nuclear explosion and the threat of another apocolypse, but the real question hinges upon suicide. Government sanctioned euthanasia has encroached upon the monastery of Leibowitz, both physically, in the form of a euthenasia station, and spiritually, as the abbot and a doctor spar over ethics and scripture.
As a whole, the view of history, faith, and "truth" depicted in A Canticle for Leibowitz is quite dark and thought-provoking without being preachy. Knowledge of the past is unreliable and unable to prevent the same problems from plaguing humanity for eons. The things that could save humanity are ridiculed and forgotten, but the book ends with a strange feeling of success. No matter how foolish and suicidal humanity is and will become, the species will survive. Faith in ourselves seems even more a part of us than faith in Francis' God. Haunted by the spectre of religion and resurrection, humanity learns what it takes to hold onto life against all odds.
Grade: A-
Read this classic of science fiction for yourself.
The Firebrand by Marion Zimmer Bradley
Firebrand tells the story of the fall of Troy from the perspective of Cassandra, daughter of Priam and sister of Paris. As she does in The Mists of Avalon, Bradley takes a traditionally very masculine tale and renders it in the voice of a woman.
In the traditional story, Apollo falls in love with his priestess Cassandra and offers her the gift of prophecy in return for her favors. When Cassandra prefers her sacred virginity to the caress of a god, she reneges on her promise, and Apollo punishes her by declaring that no one will ever believe her visions. Bradley changes this story by saying that Cassandra was born with the gift of foresight, and the caresses she avoids are not those of Apollo himself, but rather the attentions of a rather odious priest of Apollo. The god does make an appearance, but seems to bless Cassandra's rejection of her union with the priest. From then on, the rest is history. Or at least Homeric history.
The story contains all the expected elements that make epics readable as well as meaningful: revenge, pain, loss, love, honor, and even a bit of magic. As with all of Bradley's novels, the characters are incredible, so lifelike, the reader could tell their voices apart at a dinner party. The plot is vintage classical, but has enough twists and details that it continues to be interesting, and, while fictional, it is respectful of Homer's original and remains inoffensive even to a classicist.
Anyone interested in classic Greece, mythology, prophecy, or just a good tale will adore Marion Zimmer Bradley's Firebrand.
Grade: A
Take a trip back to heroic Greece.
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Good Omens is ostensibly about the end of the world, which will take place next Saturday. Just before dinner. However, Crowly (an angel who did not so much Fall as Saunter Vaguely Downward) and Aziraphale (angel and part-time book dealer) have decided that they want to save the human race. So they take advantage of the fact that Sister Mary Loquacious (Satanic nun of the Chattering Order of St. Beryl) has misplaced the Anti-Christ. Any more is giving away the plot.
Good Omens is really about the friendship of sorts of Crowly and Aziraphale who, while theoretically serving different sides, find out that their friendship is the right thing to do, and even demons like Crowly can care about that. Gaiman, better known for his Sandman comics, and Pratchett do a splendid job of making the Apocalypse amusing, along the way pointing out a few of the foibles and greatnesses of human kind. The authorial investigation of humanity is affectionately done, almost tender in its treatment of the comic subjects of life and death, filled with irony and dark comedy, but also with slapstick. Life is often silly and death is often funny, and neither Crowly nor Aziraphale will allow the reader to forget that.
Definately give Good Omens a try if you at all enjoy things that are genuinely funny, as well as clever. Good Omens is insightful in the way that often only comedy can get away with being, and delivers interesting characters and plot. There are surprises and brilliant moments, dark comedy and light, and a few really good lines like, "It is said that the Devil has all the best tunes. This is broadly true. But Heaven has the best choreographers."
Don't bother yourself that it is at times heretical and almost always ireverent; it isn't meant disrespectfully. So give it a chance.
Grade: A-
Order Good Omens from Amazon.com today.
Grail by Stephen Lawhead
From Geoffrey of Monmouth to Monty Python, the story of King Arthur is as perennial as the tides. A confessed Arthurian junky (and a particularly rabid fan of the Grail), I was excited to see Lawhead's addition to this vast corpus of mythic exploration. I was particularly excited to see the depth of research Lawhead did.
Alas, Lawhead's research does not avail him. There is perhaps too much research and too little plot, creating a world in the novel with a lot of breadth, but little depth. The characters so rich with potential are a bit flat and lacking the medieval faery glamour possible in the tale. The suffering never seems bad enough, and the joy never seems bright enough. The Wasteland never seems quite, well, Wasted.
This novel is definately of interest to people who love the Arthurian tales or who enjoy scholarship made into fiction. However, it is important to note that academic integrity does not have to be heavy-handed to be thorough. Lawhead does not feel that he is a slave to the old legends, which can be good, but the reader is never really sure why the changes Lawhead does make are there; what the author hoping to accomplish for his novel by adding his own elements to the old stories is not always clear. Yet, for all that, Lawhead is a skilled writer, and it would be difficult to make the Grail story anything but rousing and renewing. If you love Arthurian legends or relish medieval romances, you will likely find Lawhead's Grail an enjoyable read.
Grade: B
Travel with Galahad across a blighted Britain.
How Like a God by Brenda W. Clough
Brenda Clough's hero, Robert Lewis, has an unusual problem. He discovers that he has the ability to read minds and then alter them, changing how another person thinks and feels into whatever Rob wants them to think. Rob wants to use his new-found abilities for good, but when he discovers the ways he is damaging his beloved family, he begins to fear his abilities and deny them. Most of the novel consists of Rob's search for his own truth: what makes him the way he is spiritually, what is the source of his power, and what he should do now.
As a whole, the novel is Clough's personal ponderings on the consequences and ethical dilemmas inherent in power. The source of Rob's power matters less than what he does with it once he has it. His ethics, caught off guard by his sudden mental blossoming, are somewhat slapdash in the beginning, but by seeing the damage that his power can do, the reader and Rob are led in tandem toward an understanding of what responsibility and love really mean. Rob must answer questions about how much right he has to affect another person's being, questions that all humans must answer to a lesser extent daily.
Rob eventually gains a friend, a doctor who helps him research his powers, and tracks down some answers. These answers, however, do not lead him to any clearer understanding about his proper ethics or responsibilities and are, in truth, a bit disapppointing in some ways. Like Nietzsche, Rob must simply do the best he can and accept that in life, there are no easy answers, only hard questions.
Clough provides a very entertaining look at some very serious and weighty moral issues, but she sneaks them up on you so quietly that you are already working out your personal beliefs before you realize that you are doing philosophy. Her characterizations are interesting and deep, but still open enough to clearly represent any human being and allow for a wide variety of readers to identify with someone. Rob is complex, but understandable, and Clough's personal ethics never intrude upon the plot, entertainment value, or any conclusions the reader might draw in answer to the questions she poses. How Like a God is not nearly as intimidating as it might be, and it just might make you think.
Grade: B+
Clough's How Like a God at Amazon.com.
The Last Rainbow by Parke Godwin
I may be the only person I know who was not in love with Godwin's version of the Robin Hood story, Sherwood. When I saw this version of the St. Patrick myth, however, I couldn't resist giving it a try. Godwin's The Last Rainbow attempts to fuse pre-Christian pagan ideals and culture with the arrival of Christianity in the person of St. Patrick. Godwin even includes faery lore, a people called the Prydn.
Strangely, Godwin eschews the actual biography of Patrick, summing up what is known to scholarship in a few sentences and concentrates instead upon creating a fictionalized account of how Patrick interacted (and intermarries) with the Prydn. Godwin also fails to include a real sense of what insular Christianity was like at the time and dwells only in the created world of the Prydn. There is a sense of real open-mindedness on the part of Patrick, the sort of humor that shows up in Patrick's own work, the Confessions, but again, the feeling is so contrived that it doesn't quite work. Godwin might have been better of creating a fictional priest based upon Patrick than trying to use Patrick's name and not his biography or personality.
However, Godwin is, as always, a good writer. The characters are interesting, if not historical or always convincing, and there is much here for a reader who loves myth and faery tales. The off-handed remarks about Arthurian details are a bit jarring, but the world is so disjointed from reality already that a few more unlikely elements does little damage. It is also important to note that Godwin has only a scanty archeological record to draw upon in order to form less imaginative conclusions about Irish life in the wake of the Roman Empire.
In short, if you are truly interested in early Celtic religion (pagan or Christian) or the life of Patrick, this is not the book for you. It will likely annoy you more than entertain you. However, if you enjoy a good tale about cultural survival, love, or faith, then you might enjoy this. Just forget everything you know about Irish or medieval history first.
Grade: B-
Discover a faery world with Patrick in ancient Ireland.
The Little Country by Charles de Lint
De Lint's Little Country tells the story of Janey Little, musician and scholar, and her trip across the miles and years to a place where faeries are real and music is the most precious thing of all. Janey finds an unfinished, ancient manuscript, and, without giving away the plot, is transported into the borders of the pages for a confrontation with herself and with the Universe she will never forget.
The secondary characters are perhaps not developed as well as I would like, but this is mostly because de Lint makes them so engaging that I want to know more of their stories. It would be nice to know more about who they are and how they have come to be there, just as we have much of Janey's life and spirit depicted for us.
This story has everything I have come to expect from de Lint. It has magic, myth, and excellent storytelling, characters that leap from the page to walk my dreams, and a sense of the Otherworld that not just any writer can create in a believable and reasonable way. It is my favorite book by him so far, and I have read them all. I recommend this book for lovers of music and bibliophiles particularly, since Janey Little's musical soul figures prominently in the plot and the ancient book she finds is the key to de Lint's world. However, if you have little or no musical training (or interest), there is still much to love in this novel of music, magic, adventure, and good and evil. If, on the other hand, you do not like old-fashioned faery tales, this story is not for you.
Grade: B+
Enter the Little Country for yourself...
Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman
This is the story of two sisters, Gillian and Sally Owens, orphened by their parents and raised by their two eccentric aunts. The aunts raise the two girls in a New England household filled with magic and freedom from the mediocrity that infects everyday life elsewhere on the planet. They want to escape this world of exotica, however, and do so, one by marrying very young, and the other by running away.
The book, written in a magical realist style, picks up with the return of Gillian to the ancestral home after several years of absence where her sister and her neice (Antonia) await her. When the three generations of women re-unite, sparks fly and magic happens. The girls must all learn to cope with two worlds, the magic world that will always be a part of them, and the "real" world which tries to destroy them. How they go about doing this, and trying to heal spiritually along the way, is the crux of the novel. The practical magic of the title could be many things from the wonderful gifts of familial love to the very mysterious abilities of the eldest Owens women.
The characterizations in this novel are predictably good, considering the author's experience and talents. The prose, however, is almost startlingly vibrant, the kind of magic-laced writing that is perfect for such books as Practical Magic and Byatt's Possession. The plot is interesting, though slow in places, and develops smoothly and believably throughout the novel. Even the crises of the book are tightly woven into the book as a whole and are natural outgrowths of the characters and the results of decisions they have made in the past. It will just make you feel better.
Grade: B
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