Musings on the Written Word

Thursday, July 27, 2006

First Truth & Hidden Truth

First Truth by Dawn Cook

Alissa doesn't believe in magic or any of the stories her father told her when she was a child (before he went away and didn't return). The Hold, a fortress of Keepers and Masters, is nothing more than myths and legends. So why is her mother suddenly urging her out of the door of their cottage and into the mountains to seek it out?

Strell is a musician traveling home only to find he doesn't have one anymore. He turns around and heads into the mountains hoping to stay ahead of the winter snows on his way across them.

The two come together and travel to the Hold where they find a single Keeper in charge, one who isn't quite sane. He's killed off the other Keepers and sent the Masters to their death on a quest. He's seeking for a book,First Truth, a book that Alissa remembers from her childhood and one she wants now as well because she knows what happened to her father all those years ago.

This was a good start to a fantasy series. It took a little bit to get going into the story, but once I clicked with the two main characters I devoured it. The magic is real and solid and nicely described to sound realistic with hard and fast rules to it.

Hidden Truth continues Alissa and Strell's story as they work in the Hold, bound by a deal struck between the Keeper and the one remaining Master left. The Keeper thinks Strell is the latent Keeper who can open the book and the Master teaches Alissa on the side in the proper use of her magic. She awakens a dead city and when she opens the book, First Truth, the power of it is nothing like she or the Keeper ever could have imagined.

Solid second in a series. I have to admit, I liked this one better than the first one, but I think that was because I already had the story background and knew the characters.

Now I'll have to go off and seek out the next one in the series.

Posted by Amme :: 8:28 PM :: 0 comments

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---------------oOo--------------- There Will be Dragons

Book 13/20

John Ringo's There Will be Dragons

After Princess of Wands, I was a little leery about tackling another of Mr. Ringo's books. Granted, I had read March Upcountry and reasonably liked it, but that was a joint project of his with David Weber; there was no guarantee I'd like a science fiction piece of his on his own. Dad insisted I'd like it, though, and the premise of an "end of the world" leaving only Renaissance re-enactors was intriguing, so I ignored the barely-clad woman on the cover and dove into the book.

When the book opened with a prologue, I was ready to toss it. I hate prologues - they serve no valuable function, save to allow the author to do a needless info dump they couldn't fit into the actual action of the story. Now, this is the first book of series, so there is a chance the prologue will become important, but, for this book, I didn't need the opening from Mother's point of view. I could care less about Mother - she's basically standing in as a supreme deity, and she's about as effective as any you'd care to name (i.e., useless). Throw in a couple of names that surpassed four syllables, and I was annoyed from the very beginning (especially when said names were balanced against "Paul" - clearly, the man can use normal names). Still, I was determined to get through this book, and a quick conversation with Dad revealed that it didn't get interesting until after Chapter Three (it was actually around Chapter Six).

Once the Fall took place, the story did gain some legs and draw in my interest. The character development is sorely lacking, but that may be the standard for military science fiction. Everyone is stock and cardboard, and, if they changed throughout the story, I didn't notice. Ordinarily, that would really irritate me, but this is a series, which means it may take longer for the characters to "grow up." Herzer is a stereotypical hero from downtrodden beginnings (complete with parents who abandoned him); Edmund is the wise and noble king (and, really, was that whole revelation about Charles at ALL necessary? No); Bast is the "eye candy" that serves no other function (though I applaud the cover artist for being able to exactly duplicate her description); and McCanoc is just plain stupid evil (there are no brilliant villains in this book, not even Paul). Maybe this is what happens when you let a science fiction author pretend at fantasy, I don't know. So far as characters go, the only one I'm interested in is Azure - and Azure's scenes/intrusions made ZERO sense.

The story is a good one (which is why the failings bother me so much): Utopia has collapsed, leaving everyone to, essentially, start over from the beginning - while throwing in the fact that all Changed remain the way they are, even if they were a unicorn. If you had everything you could possibly dream, then have it yanked out from under you, how would you cope? It's an interesting examination of humanity and our ability to survive (though the devotion given to women having periods again was stupid, from my perspective). I'm not sure about some of the timelines in there, because they seemed awfully rapid for me, but it wasn't too bad. The development of the Blood Lords was interesting, but I could have done without the massive info dumps, terms only a military veteran would recognize, and the history lessons that came close to putting me to sleep. Personally, I don't think the CHARACTERS, for the most part, gave a damn about how the Roman Army was developed...and I seriously doubt they knew any of the terms being thrown around. If you took out the lectures and provided an explanation of what a decuri or triari is, it would have worked better (for me, anyway; it takes away from the book when I have to haul out an encyclopedia).

And, for once, there was an ending I could cope with! *-* You still don't know what's going to happen with the Council, but the immediate story is tied neatly shut - no dangling from a swiftly-crumbling cliff. I think McCanoc's end was a little unnecessary and pointless, but he wasn't a very functional villain, in the first place. The ending didn't feel rushed, either, which is a nice change of pace. If anything, I think it could have been chopped down a little bit (that final battle was beginning to grow tedious).

All in all, I like the underlying story, and the rest I could take or leave. *-* I'm hoping the next two books will be better, now that the base has been developed. After all, there are a lot of areas to explore, including Celine's monsters and the mer that have been, currently, labeled as neutral. If I can just skim through the history lectures and info dumps, I might even start to enjoy the characters. *-*

Posted by Andria :: 8:37 AM :: 0 comments

Friday, July 14, 2006

StarDoc

Book 11/12

S.L. Viehl's StarDoc

I have a confession to make: I didn't pick up this book until I had already won a signed copy of Rebel Ice in one of Ms. Viehl's blog contests/giveaways (I highly recommend her blog, and not just for the giveaways: Paperback Writer). I had heard a lot of people talk about the series, and I had been curious to pick it up, but I never did. Suddenly, I had the latest book in the series sitting on my shelf, and my cursed inability to read a series out of order took over. I picked up StarDoc the next time I hit the bookstore, deciding that - if I didn't like it - I could always just keep the signed book as a neat momento.

I loved the book. *-* I'm not really one for medical intrique, and I'm tired of plague stories (especially in science fiction), but I loved the book. Cherijo's character latched onto me from the very beginning, and the more I read, the more I liked her. She's inherently flawed, and it's so refreshing to see that in a fictional character. She steps on toes left and right, she openly makes mistakes (most of which were worthy of a chuckle), and her decisions are not always in her own best interest, much less anyone else's. She chose a career that was far from what she knew, and she refused to confess her ignorance - while determined to learn. She's an admirable character, and her wit is wonderful. The "secret" of her past feels a little "old" (in the science fiction-has-done-this-forever) sense, but it wasn' the prime focus of the story, which helped. I was a little disappointed at the brevity of her romance with Kao Torin, but this is science fiction: romance always gets the short end of the stick (I will say this, though: the sex scenes shocked me. I'm so used to such being barely hinted at in science fiction, and they really caught me off-guard). Besides, considering Kao Torin's fate, it does make sense (shame, though - I really liked him).

Duncan Reever is an obnoxious character I really wish had died. I know that he has a "sordid past" that is likely going to come out in future books, but I don't care. His personality is flat, and he behaves like an automaton - at the best of times. He was very weak in the cast, and while he served a point, I just didn't think he really mattered. His abilities are interesting (telepathy as a conduit to language-comprehension is one I haven't seen much), but he needs to go. Every time he appeared in a scene, I was tempted to skim it - simply because he bothered me. While the rest of the characters are rounded and have their own little quirks, he was just an obnoxious chunk of cardboard thrust in as a plot device. Even Rogan Phorap, who was just meant to be a pain in the ass had more "sparkle" than Reever. I really felt that Reever had a negative impact on me, and, as I said, I was disappointed when he didn't die.

While the sentient anaerobes were an interesting idea, I'm not sure the "plague" was very realistic. I will admit that I'm only drawing on my Microbiology classes, but it just felt...constructed. The incubation times and deterioration limits were all over the board, and that requires a little more suspension of belief than I have. Maybe it was due to timeline issues in the entire book (they were inconsistent), but I had trouble believing the entire colony could be so affected in such a short span of time - particularly given the restrictions on contagion. I've read a number of Robin Cook's infectious microbe books, and this progression of "illness" felt much more fantastic than his "plagues." It's a shame, because there was obviously a lot of medical research put into this book. I just think Ms. Viehl might have donated some more time to the infection, just to make it more plausible.

And, of course, my old nemesis the "cliffhanger ending" made an appearance here. *~* I do understand that it's "needed" for series, but it's so exasperating to reach that final page, turn it, and find NOTHING. There are questions shrieking in my head, and the only option is to go out and buy the next book...which (given my experience with Alan Dean Foster) will only lead to another book, and another, ad infinitum. It's a great marketing tool, I won't deny that, but it's irritating for those of us who get caught up in these amazing stories, and then have to wait for the next installation. Unhappily, I don't see the pattern changing, so I'll just have to accept it. *-*

I am currently working on my "final" book for my goal, which means it's time to readjust it. Given that this book is one in a series of...I believe I have two (three?) more after this one, I'm going to aim a little higher than I originally intended and set a new total goal of 20 books by the end of the year. We'll see if the universe cooperates with that or not. *-*

Posted by Andria :: 9:50 AM :: 0 comments