4. A Knight of the Word; 6. Angel Fire East

A KNIGHT OF THE WORD

ANGEL FIRE EAST
By Terry Brooks

Books 2 & 3 of the WORD & VOID Trilogy


My introduction to Terry Brooks was the adaptation of The Phantom Menace (Star Wars Episode 1, for ye commoners), a serviceable work. Unlike many other fantasy fans, I did not pick up the Sword of Shannara series until recently, concerned with the many reviews that considered it derivative.

RUNNING WITH THE DEMON, first in the WORD & VOID trilogy, was then my first wholly original Brooksian outing. I didn't know at the time if it fed into a larger world or was just part of this particular trilogy. I remember buying it at the Kroger in Oxford, OH, interested in the cover and dark, urban fantasy premise. Was this another Neil Gaiman-esque read?

No. No no no.

Don't get me wrong - I enjoyed it enough to buy these sequels and finish the story, but it wasn't literature or a genre-straddling opus (American Gods was recently in my memory). The story introduces our two heroes, the improbably named Nest Freemark, a teen with inborn magic ability being raised by her loving, irascible grandparents; and John Ross, a mysterious traveler and "knight of the Word," cursed to dream a grim future every night that changes - usually darker - with his actions. Together, they battle a demon trying to start the world on the road to Armageddon in rural Illinois.

Fast forward five years, and we're now in the brief timeline of A KNIGHT OF THE WORD. Here, John Ross takes a far larger role, as he is sought by the evil forces of the Void. For John has forsaken his Word vows and taken up as a regular person, with a normal job and friends. No more the wanderer, seeing friends and innocents die while he does "the best he can" to avoid the future he sees in his dreams (specifically here he grapples with a school shooting that he tried but failed to prevent).

Nest is set to put him back on the right path, away from the growing temptation of the Void's human agent(s), so in time he can be on the battlefield against the darkness.

All very dramatic, but overwritten. Brooks is a solid writer, but no Tolkien or even Robert Jordan, who in his early books spun quite a few strong phrases. The action is largely predictable, the outcome rarely in question (it is just book 2) and the characters aside from our leads as thin as the pages you still find yourself eagerly flipping. That's a key part of Brooks' appeal; he can assemble a good plot. I rarely found myself truly bored, just a little disappointed that all aspects didn't live up to their potential.

Which brings us to ANGEL FIRE EAST, final volume in this trilogy, where the potential needs to pay off in a big way. We have demons coursing their way through the lives of these two struggling heroes, throwing obstacles and tragedy at them like confetti. And so it came to pass that ten years following John Ross' fall from grace a gypsy morph (? not a fan of the name, but hey) was born, a being of pure magic that could be a powerful weapon for either Word or Void in the grand overall battle.

Being so chosen by destiny, John finds the creature and has to figure out how to keep it alive long enough to choose a final form and allegiance. He turns to the only "good" friend he has, Nest Freemark. Back in Hopewell, IL, site of their original meeting, the two must now plan to prevent an ancient, terrifyingly strong demon and his minions from snatching or killing the morph.

Who lives? Who dies? I can say there's a surprising mix, and I was happily surprised (though frustrated nonetheless) at how Brooks chose to close out this story. Much of the book is this back and forth between the two camps, with some flashbacks for good measure, telling of the escalating conflict. Some decent magic, a few action scenes and a final page-flipping conclusion that could make an uninitiated Brooks fan wonder if there is more to the story.

Start to finish, I enjoyed the series. These two books provided a welcome distraction to a busy time in my life and literally flew by. Based on how much I enjoyed them, I'll probably pick up the (but of course!) continuation of the story, even if it takes place years hence, with different characters. The writing is decent, the few lead characters given plenty of opportunity and page-space for development and growth - even if some is for naught - the action sufficient for this sort of fantasy and it can stand out  on the racks as not the same as the next Jim Butcher or Neil Gaiman or Charles de Lint or etc. urban/dark fantasyist.

3.5/5 for each book, but the series overall is 4/5

-Erik

3. To Your Scattered Bodies Go

TO YOUR SCATTERED BODIES GO
By Philip Jose Farmer

Winner of the Hugo Award! blares the strip across the top of the cover. For a sci-fi/fantasy fan, that's a big deal. It's essentially the Pulitzer or National Book Award for this wing of  "genre" lit. The category is very exclusive and includes some all-time great works: Dune, Starship Troopers, The Forever War, Neuromancer, A Fire Upon the Deep, American Gods, Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell. 

I have a bunch of them on my shelves, and it's how I chanced upon this novel.

To Your Scattered Bodies Go is the first book in the Riverworld (more later) series, published in 1971. This will sound awful, but I don't tend to look for "older" books* when there's so much great, creative, new work coming out with pleasing frequency. I do trust the genre award lists to act, at the very least, as a a guide to "good reading" or at least strong authors (not all of the award-winning books are the authors' best). When perusing the list, I happened upon this series and it made its way onto my "buy" list. And so five or six years ago, I picked up this book, and two of its sequels (on binges, I tend to buy authors in bulk. See Martha Grimes; I went from 0 -> 10 after one Friends of the Library sale).

The story is full of possibility: everyone who has ever lived wakes up, naked, within short distance of a massive river that appears to have no end. The nations, ethnicity, creeds, etc. are all mixed up. While their basic needs are seen to by mysterious "grailstones," they are left otherwise to their own devices. Our viewpoint character is famed British explorer Sir Richard Francis Burton, who finds himself together with a disparate group of lost souls (the inspiration for Lewis Carroll's Alice, all grown up, Hermann Goering, a neanderthal, a sci-fi author, an alien and a few sporadic others) trying to make sense of what's going on. Queue adventure.

I won't say much more about the plot, save that Burton - ever the explorer - will not remain sedentary and seeks to find the source of the great river, a task for which he is uniquely suited. In his quest, he finds all variety of human civilization and temperament as he sails every on up the mighty river valley.

While the plot did meander at points, and the origins of the piece as two distinct - but linked - novellas is apparent in structure, it's an enjoyable yarn and light meditation on society. As it is part of a series of stories, the end isn't as final as you might want. But that's the fun the Riverworld saga. In future volumes, we will meet different (real world, [in]famous) travelers on the River, find out more of the origins of this alien place and see the various character strands wound together to a purported satisfying conclusion

The major flaw I found in the writing of this volume was a vagueness - not of plot or character, but with his description. There were some confused passages where the action, the point A to inexplicable point J, was not clear. Perhaps a future re-reading will show that I wasn't as attentive a reader as the book deserved.

Farmer died in 2009, but before then he wrote four sequel novels and several short stories; he even opened the universe to other authors in two anthologies. I haven't read anything beyond the back copy of the other books, but this first volume is enough to keep me interested in the others on the shelf.

3.75/5

-Erik

*Of the Hugos for best Novel since 2000, we have nine on our shelves, and a quick glance at upcoming reading reveals recent works by Stephenson, Grossman, Scalzi, Mieville, Sanderson, Brockmeier,  MM Smith, Stross, Abraham, Scholes, etc. Far more current than classic fiction. 

2. Airframe

AIRFRAME
by Michael Crichton

Who amongst us hasn't read a Michael Crichton book? I'd imagine that, next to Stephen King, there is no late 20th Century author whose work has been as widely absorbed as our late techno-thriller maestro, The Hon. Michael Crichton, M.D.

(To forestall the protest from the JK Rowling fans, I mean authors who have a varied oeuvre, as opposed to a series. If not George Lucas or Gene Rodenberry might trump everyone.)

ANYWAY.

This isn't one of his more well-known works. Its movie adaptation (or TV mini-series, depending on the source) has yet to materialize, due in part to the material. AIRFRAME is about a mid-air "incident" that results in the death of several people. The airline faces lawsuits, the manufacturer of the plane the same, there's a major deal in the balance and the media loves a crash and cover-up.

All of Crichton's books have a degree of technological detail and assumed knowledge thereof that many of their peers lack. It's not that other authors are bad, but Crichton was a smart man and researched. When he made stuff up, he had such a wealth of background material that he could make it sound real. Here, he doesn't need imagination. The details about airplanes, turbulence and aerodynamics are all very real - and that adds to both my enjoyment and others' boredom.

I found the investigation into what went wrong (and the side-plots of cover-ups and corporate shenanigans) fascinating, but that's because I don't know much about the mechanical operation of that beauty of engineering, the airplane! And in a way, that's the main character, not Norton aircraft quality assurance VP Casey Singleton, who heads the investigation. For the few weeks after reading this, were I asked, I might actually be able to explain lift in terms beyond the layman's.

This is a small story, in many respects. There is no big scientific leap taking center stage; the fate of the world, time/space or even any lives are not at stake. Instead, this is a real-life tech-mystery mixed with investigative journalism and a view of what some will do to close a deal. Casey has the unenviable job of finding what went wrong when there are no real indications of error. Did the pilot fall asleep? Was there a glitch that didn't get recorded in the plane's system? How about the parts -was something actually a Chinese knock-off added into the assembly without anyone's notice?

Frankly, I was surprised at how much I enjoyed it. Others, again, were bored by the talk of wind sheer, ailerons, and elevators that don't carry people on cables. Unlike other Crichton, the chapters were short, the pace brisk. We got more/less right into the heart of the story and stayed with it for a speedy 350pp. The characters weren't drawn with Faulkner's sophistication, but existed as "more real" than anything you'd find in a James Patterson sizzler. A beach read...? Eh, remember that most get to the coasts via plane, and after reading about a near-crash, you may cash in your ticket for a train pass.

This is a perfect one for the snowy day with nothing to do. You'll polish it off in no time.

My enjoyment was high, the technological knowledge presented impeccable (though not futuristic or all-new), but compared to his other books it was a little light on substance, character development and some manner of thematic heft. To be fair, I need to knock off a half-star for that.

3.5/5

-Erik

1. From the Notebooks of Dr. Brain

 FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF DR. BRAIN

by Minister Faust


I love superheroes. Comics, movies, prose - whatever. I think it's terrific that the genre is seeing a revival of sorts outside of the traditional grid medium of comic books and in books and big-screen adaptations. While there aren't many of the former (and we all know the blockbuster status of the latter), I do my best to hunt down what's out there and give it a whirl.


Sometimes, I'm pleasantly surprised (DEVIL'S CAPE by Rob Rogers) by the attention paid to crafting a believable narrative around people flying, shooting beams from their fingertips or controlling marsupials with their minds.


This go-around, the result is a bit more scattershot.


The book itself isn't a traditional narrative. Though it has the "title" FROM THE NOTEBOOKS OF DR. BRAIN, the book "in-universe" is actually Dr. Brain's bestselling "Unmasked! When Being A Superhero Can't Save You From Yourself: Self-Help Guide for Today's Hyper Hominids." As such, you get cutaways to Dr. Brain theorizing on the motivations, backgrounds and psychological afflictions of the "Fantastic Order of Justice" members featured in the book's main story.


And that main story, while not new to a comic book fan, is still fertile soil. The most powerful superhero in the world (Hawk King) has died, some argue under mysterious circumstances. The members of his team,  many in varying states of mental breakdowns now that they have both defeated all of the traditional villainous forces and have nothing to do, are all forced to turn to Dr. Eva Brain-Silverman for grief counseling and working through their team and interpersonal issues (for the supposed betterment of society). The key members of FOOJ, according to jacket-copy:

OMNIPOTENT MAN–a body with the density of steel, and a brain to match

THE FLYING SQUIRREL–aging playboy industrialist by day, avenging krypto-fascist by night

IRON LASS–mythology’s greatest warrior–but the world might be safer if she had a husband

X-MAN–formerly of the League of Angry Blackmen . . . but not formerly enough

THE BROTHERFLY–radioactively fly

POWER GRRRL–perpetually deciding between fighting crime or promoting her latest album, clothing line, or sex scandal




Most think it ludicrous, acting cold, indifferent or wildly offensive. All have a chance to address their issues over the course of the book, though I will stop short of saying whether any experience true "breakthroughs" other than the physical (as in, through a wall, ceiling, window, teammate, etc.). For me, I could be happy with a story based around these therapy sessions (without the textbook asides and reader exercises) and have Hawk King's death be just a catalyst, not a central plot point.



But that pychobabble is only part of the story. The other is the investigation by X-Man (a black superhero who posits some radical - and very true - theories on all of the other heroes; the author's voice) into the death of Hawk King and who benefits and loses. For those who have read Watchmen, envision a post-Black Panther activist crossed with Rorschach. His character arc, while not a perfect match, has a lot of the same touch-points. Of all the characters, he is given the best attention to detail, the most rounding. It's his story and worldview that ultimately drive the book, and much of the "therapy" really takes a backseat to peeling the layers away from his character and the mystery at the core of Hawk King's death. 



And many times, I took umbrage at the way Faust wrote the story because of X-Man's investigation, his reasoning, his cynicism. His main antagonist in the story isn't a villain or cosmic emperor; it's Flying Squirrel, the crotchety old man/golden age hero cross of Batman, Dick Cheney and a generic robber baron. Take the worst from all, mix, write. Faust takes pointed aim at US policy and culture through the bright red bulls-eye that is Flying Squirrel, pouring as much venom in as he hurls out at everyone he thinks is inferior to him (hint: that is a big group). He and X-Man are always at loggerheads about everything, usually with Squirrel parroting stereotypical right-wing hate speak at the free-thinking, eyes-open-to-the-REAL-world underdog hero that is X-Man.



(Those who know me are aware that my personal political beliefs run a little to the right of the middle lane, and it grates on my nerves when no thought is given to balance - or even a neutral presence - in representing modern ideologies. That goes for both sides, as writers who consider left-of-centers all tree-hugging, abortion-crazy, hippy, commie seditionists are as much to blame.)



When I read fiction or watch a movie, I try to absent personal political philosophy so I can enjoy the story. Largely, I was able to do that. For my gripes about the mixed style of the book (self-help Q & A, asides from the therapist, and Dr. Phil-logizing tossed with a superhero mystery), I can see and respect the plot, world-building and satire. What Faust overall has to say about society isn't all that far off the mark. Faust is known for writing about race relations, and whether you think there is a bit of hyperbole behind the allegories, he both knows his stuff and brings an awareness of deep-seated issues that mainstream "cape" stories ignore.



I don't mind seeing a Superman-type portrayed as a few IQ points above a tree stump or the other spandex types as jaded, vapid egoists who would rather kill their fellow heroes than think twice about "why" they did it. Each of the heroes he delves into or name-checks is creatively thought out, the situations that drive the plot very clever at times and the overall depiction of "real world" superheroes closer to the mark than many would like to consider. However, I would have appreciated a little more ideological balance. A viewpoint for the "common" man.



Maybe the problem there is Dr. Brain herself, who I still don't know if I like as a narrator, character or person. In a way, she may be the book's ultimate antagonist, as she can ideally "see" everything and what does she do with the knowledge? Perhaps Faust has written in a "common" man, a regular citizen who, like so many of us, sees the fire spark but fails to look for water until all that's left is a pile of cinders.

(Did I give away the ending? No. It all twists around. We know Dr. Brain survives, because she writes the book. Beyond that...who's to say? Enjoy.)



3/5


-Erik

Note: for those looking to read this book, and comic aficionados will want to at least hit up a library, Faust has retitled it "SHRINKING THE HEROES" for e-book (and prospective paper) release. The trade dress is changed (for the worse; stick with art over cheap photoshopping!) and it is listed first and foremost as a political satire of the Bush Administration, as opposed to "what do superheroes do when they've won? Have mid-flight crises." Neither is fully accurate. Were I to run across the new description, it would not have found a place on my shelf. I don't see the aim as Bush so much as those who find enemies to justify a dubious action (that is an historical political motive, and present day one as well) and failing to adequately analyze the roots of societal and political issues.

0. No Way to Treat a First Lady

NO WAY TO TREAT A FIRST LADY 

by Christopher Buckley

(I started this one in 2011, but finished it just after the New Year.)

Long/short: the first lady wakes up next to her dead husband, the philandering president of the US of A. All surface evidence points to her as the murderer, or her actions. Enter: lawyers, comedy, inept media & courtroom satire. Result? Hilarity.

Christopher Buckley has made a name for himself as a witty novelist, and many of you appreciate his wry stylings even if you aren't aware: the film Thank You For Smoking was based off of his book of the same name. It surpasses the film, as most "based on" books do, and was my first introduction to his sharp pen.

NO WAY TO TREAT A FIRST LADY (NWTTAFL?) is the third book I've read by Buckley and very obviously influenced by the Clintons' dynamic. Though the deceased president in question isn't exactly Bubba (he has a distinguished military career, more reminiscent of JFK), first lady Elizabeth MacMann is a slightly less ambitious version of dear Hillary. He sweeps her off her feet in law school (stealing her away from another lawyer-to-be, Boyce Baylor), they marry, but his pants don't drop just for her.

The book concerns itself with the investigation into the president's death (a subdural hematoma caused by a hurled spittoon, the hurler being Elizabeth) and the media frenzy surrounding the trial. Each trial chapter is an exercise in good comedy, be it slapstick, dumb humor or the crisp, dry barbs that we expect from a good PG Wodehouse (though sauced up a bit more, as this is America). Baylor is brought in to represent former lover Elizabeth, creating a winning dynamic in all of their chapters. Nick Naylor, protagonist of Thank You... returns here as a public relations guru for the fading starlet who fooled around with the president the night he died.

And of course you have a scheming Vice President-now-President, looking to smear Elizabeth in any way possible, a mainstream media more concerned with the degree of the first lady's guilt than if she even is guilty and an all-too gullible public. It's reality!

NWTTAFL is a quick read, less than 300pp, and a fun distraction from our current political shenanigans. You'll remember a time when the biggest hooplah was over a stain on a dress, as opposed to losing cases of guns, a guttering economic recovery or foreknowledge of a terrorist attack.

Knowledge of Washington, DC., politics or policy is not needed. We've all seen the news, suffered through media circuses over "trials of the century/millennium/epoch." And we can all use a good laugh.

4/5

-Erik 

Starting late...situation normal.

Welcome to the start of my book-blogging for 2012! What do you mean it's September? Obviously you don't run on "Erik" time.

Over the course of the next year [read: three months and change] you'll get the astonishing privilege of reading little reviews of and thoughts on the books that fly off of our myriad shelves to my waiting, eager hands.

No e-readers here, as I've made far too much of a financial commitment to paper to switch before the Rapture.

So what sort of nonsense and ballyhoo will I read this year? I don't know, maybe something by that irascible firebrand,  [insert controversial - and probably political - author here], the dystopian kid future thing with the killing and the angst, or perhaps that one book, you know, with the slapping and the moans that made you feel dirty to just see a woman reading on the train*?

Who can honestly tell? The future...is unwritten!**

Giddy up! Allons-y! Et cetera!


-Erik

*No. A thousand times no.
**Technically, this future has already happened and we're just visiting its wake. Sorry.