A Memory of Light by Robert Jordan (REVIEW)

Well, it's been 20+ years, 14 books, and somewhere shy of 15,000 pages, with Brandon Sanderson stepping in to finish what Robert Jordan began. I'll do my best to avoid spoilers, but it's hard to talk about A Memory of Light without at least acknowledging a few contributions . . . and sacrifices.



The first 200 or so pages were pretty gripping, but after that it started to wear thin. There was a lot of talking and a lot of waiting for the end, with one battle scene after another filling space. I get what Sanderson was trying to convey, and I realize he had to establish the overwhelming odds, but I will admit I started skimming through all the skirmishes with Trollocs. By the time I hit the halfway mark, my reading pace really began to slow, and I found myself struggling to get through.



Having said that, there were some interesting bits, and some moments that genuinely made me smile. Still, it really did feel like a lot of talking and waiting. Nevertheless, I was determined to persevere. It was around the 600 page mark that I began to see some glimmers of hope. I quite liked the role that Mat found himself thrust into (once he was finally allowed to make a long-overdue appearance); the appearance of the Ogier on the battlefront was something to behold; and the arrival of the Asha'man certainly kicked up the carnage a notch; but the battle scenes really began to feel like a lot of padding. For such a battle-heavy book, I found myself surprised by the lack of 'big' deaths, so deep into the tale. Given the overall carnage, and the simple fact that leaders and heroes should be prime targets, it' did push the bounds of plausibility just a bit.



Coming into the last 200 pages, things certainly picked up. The pacing got better, there was a significance to the plot developments, and Sanderson finally pulled the strings on some 'big' sacrifices. Elayne and Egwene both stepped it up, earning their role as equals of Rand, and it was immensely satisfying to see the forces of Light come up with a weave to challenge balefire. Min's role was a little less spectacular, but still with some notable contributions, and Aviendha ultimately had a worthy role to play, despite seemingly being pushed out of the spotlight. Tuon's role was a bit smaller than I expected, but her off-the-page contributions to Mat's planning were indeed crucial to the climax.



More than anything, though, I found myself lamenting the absence of Rand. I really did expect him to be more of a . . . well, hero. Instead, after some touching goodbyes, he spends the last half of the book stuck in a cave and swapping dreamscapes with his enemy. Some of the futures they explored were interesting, but dispensed with too quickly to have any real impact. Again, I get what Sanderson was doing, and I ultimately appreciated Rand's master gameplan, once it was exposed, but it took 850+ pages to get there. I understand it's an ensemble story, and I appreciate that Sanderson was left with a lot of loose ends, but some scenes were just frivolous. Sure, most of the characters had strong roles to play, but others seemed to be given a token scene or two just to get their names into the book.



As much as I enjoyed the first 2 books of the final trilogy, and really appreciate how well Sanderson has managed the legacy, the story was stretched a bit thin. We all know Jordan intended for there to be one last book to end the series, and that Sanderson expanded those notes into a trilogy, but I wonder how much of that decision was creative, and how much of it was sheer marketing. While packing everything into one book might have been a bit rough, I think a two-book conclusion would have better served readers who waited so long for satisfaction.



I am glad we got an ending, and I am entirely satisfied with Rand's final solution . . . I just wish we hadn't had to wade through so many Trolloc heads to get there.







Published January 8th 2013 by Tor Books

Hardcover, 909 pages

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The Summoner by Layton Green (REVIEW)

With The Summoner, Layton Green introduces us to Dominic Grey, a Diplomatic Security special agent with a flair for unearthing dangerous religious cults. His story begins with the disappearance of a US diplomat during a Zimbabwe religious ceremony, but quickly gets darker, stranger, and more sinister with the secrets he uncovers.



Part mystery, adventure, and thriller, this is an exciting tale that grabs hold of the reader early on and refuses to let go. The physical descriptions of Zimbabwe are absolutely stunning, creating a unique setting that lends itself very well to the atmosphere of magic and mystery that Green has crafted. There are political, cultural, and religious elements to the story, all of which are so carefully blended that the glimpses of the supernatural are impossible to simply disregard. Early on, I knew the book could go either of two ways, with one leading to my DNF pile, and the other leading me here, to an enthusiastic review and recommendation.



Green's story is well-paced, with a generous amount of background information that never gets in the way of moving the story forward. Dominic Grey is an interesting protagonist, a little hard to warm up personally, but strong enough to entrust with carrying the rather ambitious plot. Fortunately, his partner/colleague, Professor Viktor Radek, provides more of a human element, allowing the reader to find an emotional attachment to the tale. It's not a pretty tale, and readers who are at all squeamish may find themselves tempted to skip certain passages, but it's a temptation that must be denied in order to fully appreciate the significance of Grey's work.



There were a few twists that I saw coming, and a few surprises that fell a little flat, but for the most part I was pleased with how things developed. Even when he truly surprised me, I never felt cheated or betrayed by the changes in direction. I was a bit concerned about how the story would end, especially since Grey's role in carrying the franchise erased any possibility of real danger, but the climax here really works.



As a self-contained story, the book works well enough to satisfy readers looking for something a bit different, but it certainly leaves a lot of potential for the books to follow. Given that it's the second book, The Egyptian, that originally caught my eye - I really only read this one because my OCD prevents me from jumping into the middle of a series - I was thoroughly relieved to find myself wanting more at the end.

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Don't Be a Hero by Chris Strange (REVIEW)

As a teenager, I probably spent more time in comic books stores than was wise, and certainly spent far more money there than I care to remember. I witnessed the rise of of superstars like Todd McFarlane and Jim Lee, enjoyed Tim Burton's stunning cinematic rebirth of Batman on the big screen, and suffered through Sidney J. Furie's death-blow to the Superman franchise on VHS. I saw comic books stores explode across North America . . . and then slowly die of attrition a the 'coolness' factor of comic books waned once again.



While I stepped away from the comic book world when the reboots and restarts made it clear the writers had run out of stories, I never lost my love of superheroes. As a result, I'm always on the lookout for new books that feature superhero themes. They're generally hit-or-miss, but Don't Be a Hero is definitely more hit than miss. From the writing style, to the characters, to the storyline, to the dialogue, it's clear Chris Strange has not just a love for the genre, but an understanding for what makes it work.



Yes, it's derivative and cliched at times, but honestly so. Strange wears his superhero cape proudly, and tells precisely the kind of story you might expect. Simultaneously, it's also daring and original at times, with some rather unique touches that undeniably make the story his. Rather than reuse another nameless, faceless, booming North American metropolis, he transplants us to the streets of New Zealand, giving us a setting that's familiar, but which has room for invention. It's a world where mankind has made it to the Moon, establishing a colony for unwanted superheroes, but still gets by with steampunk-ish technology.



Similarly, he resists the urge to go with either the 'super' masculine or the endearingly geeky hero, giving us instead a lesbian superhero - one who's disillusioned and cynical, but otherwise quite ordinary. Heck, there's even a sidekick with the corny "guess my power" name of Carpenter, but he provides a nice balance to Spook. As for the villain of the story, he's very well-crafted, a character who serves as both a worthy foil and source of tangible menace - and who, it must be said, has some memorable henchmen. Strange clearly understands that at the heart of every great superhero tale is that balance . . . that conflict . . . that dichotomy of good versus evil. Without a worthy adversary, even the greatest superhero is just an impressive guy (or gal) in tights, and Quanta certainly helps to make Spook matter.



After a pair of superhero-themed novels that I left unfinished last year, and another pair that I quite enjoyed, I was curious to see how Strange would tilt the balance. Fortunately, this is another story that I quite enjoyed, and one that has me anxious to see what he'll do next. Not only does he keep superheroes cool, he makes then fun again.

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Waiting On Wednesday - Red Planet Blues by Robert J. Sawyer

"Waiting On" Wednesday is a weekly event, hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine, that spotlights upcoming releases that we're eagerly anticipating.



This week's pre-publication "can't-wait-to-read" selection is:



Red Planet Blues by Robert J. Sawyer

March 26, 2013



Robert J. Sawyer, the author of such “revelatory and thought-provoking” novels as Triggers and The WWW Trilogy, presents a noir mystery expanded from his Hugo and Nebula Award-nominated novella “Identity Theft” and his Aurora Award-winning short story “Biding Time,” and set on a lawless Mars in a future where everything is cheap, and life is even cheaper…



Alex Lomax is the one and only private eye working the mean streets of New Klondike, the Martian frontier town that sprang up forty years ago after Simon Weingarten and Denny O’Reilly discovered fossils on the Red Planet. Back on Earth, where anything can be synthesized, the remains of alien life are the most valuable of all collectibles, so shiploads of desperate treasure hunters stampeded to Mars in the Great Martian Fossil Rush.



Trying to make an honest buck in a dishonest world, Lomax tracks down killers and kidnappers among the failed prospectors, corrupt cops, and a growing population of transfers—lucky stiffs who, after striking paleontological gold, upload their minds into immortal android bodies. But when he uncovers clues to solving the decades-old murders of Weingarten and O’Reilly, along with a journal that may lead to their legendary mother lode of Martian fossils, God only knows what he’ll dig up...





Much to my chagrin, I have yet to give my fellow Canuck (and sci-fi legend a read). I have a half dozen of his books on my shelf, waiting to be read; am well aware of his cinematic influence; and have very fond memories of his appearances with Commander Rick on Prisoners of Gravity. This year, I am determined to give him a shot, and Red Planet Blues sounds like a great place to start.

     

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What writing technique of yours are you most proud of? by Michael Meyer (author of Covert Dreams)

One technique that I am particularly proud of is summed up by one of the many readers who have left reviews on my Amazon website: “One last point: at the end of most of the chapters the author used an unusual and effective technique that really won my respect. I felt I was in the hands of a master. Terrific book. I would recommend it to anyone.” This particular review really had an effect on me since I had worked extremely hard to perfect this specific technique. Since COVERT DREAMS has two alternating stories that are linked in a horrifying way at the end, I wanted to keep the reader in suspense the entire journey. I especially wanted to ensure that this would be a page-turner. So what I did was to link each chapter together with endings that would titillate the reader, making one want to hurry on to see what was going to happen next.

COVERT DREAMS is set primarily in Munich and in Saudi Arabia, both places that I know very well. The locales I have drawn are authentic. The research I did to ensure that the settings are all real came from my own personal observations. I was a student in Germany, and I have probably traveled to Munich on fifteen separate occasions. I know the city like I know my own hometown. In addition, I was a professor at a university in Saudi Arabia, and I traveled extensively throughout the country, which I also know quite intimately. So what I had to do was to somehow link these two extreme cultural entities, the Bavarian ebullient nature and the Arabian ultra religious culture. What I finally came up with, after lots of thought, hard work, and many rewrites was to add an intriguing link between Munich and Saudi Arabia at the end of most chapters.



One of the two alternating stories mainly takes place in Munich, Germany, where a man who has been haunted recently by a series of lifelike nightmares is frantically trying to discover what is real, and who is who. The second story takes place in Saudi Arabia, where an American professor is frantically searching for his wife, whose very existence has disappeared. The first time I used this technique of linking the two alternating threads together to add suspense was at the end of the first chapter: “Time, gradually becoming their enemy, did a flip-flop, and the now became the then, dying, giving birth to what lay ahead, way beyond the present, biding its own good time, in total control, much like a German panzer unit moving across The Netherlands. Just like the power of Allah under the hot Saudi Arabian sun.”



One other example of my using this technique comes at the end of a later chapter: “Then it happened. They were both emotionally wrought, and the fear was evident in the way in which they clutched one another, neither of them wanting to ever let go, the table—their whole world, in fact—shaking, much like a beer barrel polka in a boisterous Munich beer garden—or a sandstorm in the lonely Saudi Arabian desert.”



I am delighted that my readers have found this technique of mine effective because I can tell you that I spent a lot of time making sure that the wording in each chapter ending of COVERTDREAMS was as strong as it could be.

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About the Book

Imagine waking up remembering intimate details about a country in which you have never traveled and fluently speaking a language that you have never spoken. B.J. is living the ideal life. He has a great wife, a wonderful job. And yet he is experiencing life-like vivid dreams of Munich, a city he has never visited.



Stan Halsey is a professor in Saudi Arabia, who sends for his wife to join him. She arrives, and, in the blink of an eye, she vanishes, leaving no trace of ever being alive in either the United States or in Saudi Arabia.



COVERT DREAMS is a fast-paced international suspense thriller that moves from Munich to the burning sands of Saudi Arabia. What is real, and who is responsible for the terrifying nightmare?

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About the Author

I have resided in and have visited many places in the world, all of which have contributed in some way to my own published writing. I have literally traveled throughout the world, on numerous occasions. I have lived in Finland, Germany, Thailand, the U.S. Virgin Islands, and Saudi Arabia, where COVERT DREAMS is set. I gained the wanderlust to see the world, to experience other cultures, at an early age, and this desire has never left me. If anything, it has only gained in intensity as I have aged. I try to travel internationally at least once a year. In the interim, I spend lots of time traveling around both my home state of California and other nearby states.



I spent my early years in the small town of Lone Pine, California, the home of almost every western movie, in addition to a wide variety of other genres, made in the 30’s, 40’s, 50’s, and 60’s. In fact, Hollywood still films parts of big-time movies there today. My dad, the town’s lifeguard at the time, personally knew John Wayne, Lloyd Bridges, and Lee Marvin, all of whom came to the town’s pool, the Memorial Plunge, at times to cool off after a hectic day of working in the sun. I was even an extra in a movie filmed there in 1957, MONOLITH MONSTERS, a B-cult favorite even today. I was ten years old at the time. Even though I resided in a small town hours from the big city, I was exposed to the excitement of action and heroes at a formative age, and, thus, my interest in writing novels of suspense such as COVERT DREAMS was born.



As a recent retiree from a forty-year career as a professor of writing, I now live in Southern California wine country with my wife, Kitty, and our two other cats.



Amazon | Goodreads | Facebook | Pinterest

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An Interview with Robert Pinsky

Robert Pinsky (born October 20, 1940) is an American poet, essayist, literary critic, and translator. From 1997 to 2000, he served as Poet Laureate Consultant in Poetry to the Library of Congress. Pinsky is the author of nineteen books, most of which are collections of his own poetry. His published work also includes critically acclaimed translations, including The Inferno of Dante Alighieri and The Separate Notebooks by Czesław Miłosz. He teaches at Boston University and is the poetry editor at Slate. He has numerous awards for his poetry and translations.

• Jersey Rain (2000) - reviewed Dec 16, 2012


• Gulf Music: Poems (2007) - reviewed June 1, 2012


• The Figured Wheel: New and Collected Poems 1966–1996 - reviewed June 11, 2012

As a follow-up to his reviews, Donald was fortunate to engage Robert Pinsky in a brief interview about his work . . .



Donald: Is poetry your favorite to write or is it translations?



Robert: The way I do translation the goal is poetry. To make the work a poem in English.



Donald: What is your mood setter to get into your writing mode?



Robert: Impatience, irritation with my own disorder or confusion.



Donald: What do you teach at Boston University?



Robert: Poetry. Next year, Norton will publish my book Singing School. The subtitle is: "Learning to Write (and Read) Poetry by Studying the Masters." That's what I teach.



Donald: Gulf Music is one of my favorites of your collected poetry works. What was the inspiration behind this book.



Robert: The doings and derelictions of the George W. Bush administration in the Persian Gulf and the Gulf of Mexico. My anger inspired me to approach such things not in an editorial way, but somehow in a poetic way, and in light of history and personal history.



Donald: What is some of your favorite books and authors?



Robert: Ben Jonson, Willa Cather, Isaac Babel, Nikolai Gogol, John Keats, Mark Twain, Lewis Carroll, Wiliam Carlos Williams. Emily Dickinson, Charles Dickens, Homer. (I take a guilty pleasure in the Rieux prose translation of the Odyssey).



Donald: As a writer myself in the beginning stages and to all the others out there. What's your advice to us all.



Robert: When you find a piece of writing you admire and would like to emulate, type it up. Memorize all or part of it. Keep a computer file (maybe called "Anthology" or "Guides") of such examples.



Donald: Regarding the poem "The City Dark", which inspired me to write a novella, what is the meaning behind it?



Robert: The meaning is not behind the poem, but in it. The city dark is different from, and similar too, the rural or suburban dark. It is different from, and similar too, its partner, the city light.



Donald: I am a man of humor, always looking for a great laugh. Tell our readers something funny, life experience, joke or just make us laugh.



Robert: My jokes tend to be vocal. For me, comedy is like poetry, it needs to be vocal. I lack the Lewis Carroll or Dodgson or Thurber gift of funny writing. So I'll quote an epigram by J.V. Cunningham:

This Humanist, whom no belief constrained,

Grew so broad-minded, he was scatter-brained.

Donald: What is next for Robert Pinsky in the world of writing?



Robert: Tonight, the great pianist Laurence Hobgood and I will perform from our PoemJazz CD (http://circumstantial.us/) at le Poisson Rouge, which thrillingly, for me, is the old Village Gate. This Spring, the actors at the Shakespeare Theater in D.C. will perform my free adaptation of Schiller's Wallenstein, in repertory with Coriolanus. I've already mentioned Singing School. And another book of poems is taking shape.





Many thanks to Robert for taking the time to sit down and chat with Donald!

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Stacking The Shelves & What I'm Reading

Stacking The Shelves is a weekly meme being hosted by Tynga's Reviews, while Mailbox Monday is being hosted by Lori's Reading Corner this month (see Mailbox Monday for each month's host). Both memes are all about sharing the books you've added to your shelves - physical and virtual, borrowed and bought. It's Monday! What Are You Reading? is a weekly meme hosted by Book Journey, and it's focused on what's in your hands, as opposed to what's on your shelf.

A trio of ARCs this week, as well as a pair of purchases:





Black Feathers by Joseph D' Lacey

Black Feathers is a modern fantasy set in two epochs: the Black Dawn, a time of environmental apocalypse, and generations into the future in its aftermath, the Bright Day.



In each era, a child undertakes a perilous journey to find a dark messiah known as The Crowman. In their hands lies the fate of the planet as they attempt to discover whether The Crowman is our saviour… or the final incarnation of evil.

Star Trek: The Next Generation: The Stuff of Dreams by James Swallow

The Enterprise-E arrives in unclaimed space for a rendezvous with the Starfleet science vessel Newton. Jean-Luc Picard and his crew have been ordered to assist the Newton with the final phase of its current mission - a mission that brings Picard face to face with something he never thought he would see again, the phenomenon known as the Nexus. Less than twelve years after it left the Alpha Quadrant, the Nexus ribbon has now returned. 



Tasked to track and study the phenomenon as it re-entered the galaxy, the specialist science team on the Newton discovered that the orbital path of the Nexus has been radically altered by the actions of the rogue El-Aurian Tolian Soren - taking it deep into the territory of The Holy Order of the Kinshaya, one of the key members of the Typhon Pact. Starfleet Command is unwilling to allow Kinshaya - and, by extension, The Typhon Pact - free access to what is essentially a gateway to anywhere and anywhen, as a single operative could use the Nexus to change the course of galactic history . . .





The Daylight War: Book Three of The Demon Cycle by Peter V. Brett

With The Warded Man and The Desert Spear, Peter V. Brett surged to the front rank of contemporary fantasy, standing alongside giants in the field such as George R. R. Martin, Robert Jordan, and Terry Brooks. The Daylight War, the eagerly anticipated third volume in Brett’s internationally bestselling Demon Cycle, continues the epic tale of humanity’s last stand against an army of demons that rise each night to prey on mankind.



On the night of the new moon, the demons rise in force, seeking the deaths of two men, both of whom have the potential to become the fabled Deliverer, the man prophesied to reunite the scattered remnants of humanity in a final push to destroy the demon corelings once and for all.



Arlen Bales was once an ordinary man, but now he has become something more—the Warded Man, tattooed with eldritch wards so powerful they make him a match for any demon. Arlen denies he is the Deliverer at every turn, but the more he tries to be one with the common folk, the more fervently they believe. Many would follow him, but Arlen’s path threatens to lead to a dark place he alone can travel to, and from which there may be no returning.



The only one with hope of keeping Arlen in the world of men, or joining him in his descent into the world of demons, is Renna Tanner, a fierce young woman in danger of losing herself to the power of demon magic.



Ahmann Jardir has forged the warlike desert tribes of Krasia into a demon-killing army and proclaimed himself Shar’Dama Ka, the Deliverer. He carries ancient weapons—a spear and a crown—that give credence to his claim, and already vast swaths of the green lands bow to his control.



But Jardir did not come to power on his own. His rise was engineered by his First Wife, Inevera, a cunning and powerful priestess whose formidable demon bone magic gives her the ability to glimpse the future. Inevera’s motives and past are shrouded in mystery, and even Jardir does not entirely trust her.



Once Arlen and Jardir were as close as brothers. Now they are the bitterest of rivals. As humanity’s enemies rise, the only two men capable of defeating them are divided against each other by the most deadly demons of all—those lurking in the human heart.





Fake Girls by Matthew Sloan

IT'S TEN P.M. DO YOU KNOW WHO YOU ARE? Molloy is a problem-solver. For a price, he'll find anyone-or help you hide from anyone. Too bad he can't fix any of his own problems. He's already turned down his latest job offer, but Mr. Knott is the kind of client who won't take 'no' for an answer. Or, rather, it's Mr. Knott's boss who refuses to be denied. They want Molloy to find a missing woman named Nada Klone before a psychotic killer, an insanely jealous husband, and the world's most powerful secret organization finds her first. Mobsters, X-rated internet entrepreneurs, rogue government agents-they all seem to be searching for Nada Klone. There's only one problem: she doesn't exist. A rollicking adventure into the mysteries of love, sex, murder, and identity, FAKE GIRLS is a novel that's never quite what it seems. But, then, what is?





IN SITU edited by Carrie Cuinn

From independent publisher Dagan Books, IN SITU is a new anthology of science fiction stories featuring alien archeology, hidden mysteries, and things that are better off left buried. 



A quiet man finds more than he bargained for when he sets out with his metal detector on a lonely hill ... A soldier meets a new kind of enemy fighting an altogether different kind of war ... On a distant swamp planet, a woman questions what kind of human she's becoming ... a pregnant archeologist finds a connection with a long-dead alien child ... while deep space scavengers wonder what it ever meant to be human at all. 



These fifteen evocative science fiction stories will take you from dusty archaeologists digging up our alien past into a distant future where we've become the relics. Thought-provoking and entertaining, IN SITU explores science, theology, preservation, and the art of alien finance, in a whole new way. 



Edited by Carrie Cuinn. Contains stories by Ken Liu, KV Taylor, Paul A. Dixon, Bear Weiter, Mae Empson, Jason Andrew, Greg Burch, Sarah Hendrix, R.S. Hunter, Rebecca Lloyd, Alex Shvartsman, Kelly C. Stiles, Graham Storrs, David J. West, and Dawn Vogel.





As for what I'm reading, I'm juggling a hardcover, a paperback ARC, and my e-reader . . .

          

What's topping your shelves this week?

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