Inferno by Dan Brown
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book follows the same pattern as Dan Brown's other Robert Langdon books: Robert Langdon has to solve some mystery and stop some bad guy, who loves to play scavenger hunt with old Christian artwork, who have hidden meanings, and for some reason, there's a time limit, there's a girl he has to explain everything to, and there's a betrayal. Robert Langdon wakes up in Florence, doesn't know how he got there, and people are trying to kill him. He has a mini projector that shows a painting, The Map of Hell, based on Dante's Divine Comedy, and from some changes in that, he goes off looking for more paintings and artworks. This book, he's accompanied by another beautiful girl, since he can't keep a relationship from the other books. This girl is Sienna, who supposedly has an IQ of 208, making her smarter than Albert Einstein and Isaac Newton, but she sure doesn't seem like it. Robert is always showing her up with his knowledge, and she basically follows him, figuring out a few things along the way but mostly serving as way for Robert to show how smart and awesome he is. Despite all Brown's talk in the Da Vinci Code about the sacred feminine and the Catholic church repressing females, his characters seem kind of misogynistic as well. The enemy of the book is a genius billionaire man who realizes the world is overpopulated and the population has to be reduced to 4 billion, or else we'll run out of resources and all die, and he decides to take manners into his own hands. He likes to quote the Divine Comedy, but the work itself doesn't really fit in with anything, just as imagery of people dying and suffering. It's not like the Da Vinci Code where the works of art supposedly suggest that Jesus had a wife and children, not that I really believe that's what Leonardo, who lived 1500 years after Christ, was trying to say. SPOILER ALERT: (view spoiler)[The whole scavenger hunt in Inferno is a total waste, as the plague had already been released and nothing Robert Langdon does has any effect on the plague, and the people he's running from are on his side. (hide spoiler)] Despite the thriller part of this book, which feels kind of forced, especially once the revelations at the end come in, it eventually disappoints, not really offering what I think is a realistic solution to the problem of overpopulation. In the end, these books feel like hyper fast tours of different musuems and artwork in a certain place, ie: France, Washington, and Italy. The plots and quests for knowledge feel forced and pointless after getting to the end, but the journey to the end is gripping and interesting, and there is some educational material, mixed with conspiracy theories. Fun, but not to be taken seriously.

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Ruins review

Ruins by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I enjoys Orson Scott Cards' books, and read most of them, but sometimes, in some of his books, his characters become too powerful, in a way. Plus, the main character in nearly every book he writes is a precocious teenage boy. They're the only ones who can do what they do, but have very little temptation to do evil with it. The character in Treason by the end was way too powerful, Alvin in his Alvin Maker books could change everything, and the boy in his other series he's writing, beginning with the Lost Gate, also started feeling too powerful by being able to teleport wherever he wants. Their problems feel trivial because there is no one who can oppose them. This series is starting to feel the same. Rigg before had to depend on his friend to go back in time, but in this book he can do it alone. His friend obviously feels jealous, but it feels like half the book deals with him whining, or some other character, and the others trying to tell them why they're not worthless. Since the main character can go back in time, there's not much feeling of urgency, even though the world is supposed to be destroyed in a few years time. The ideas explored here are interesting, and it was an engaging read. The time travel is hard to understand at times, though. Some ideas got weird, like the mice, and other ideas seemed to jump all over. I was hoping the series would end with this book, but it looks like another one will be coming.Anyway, interesting book, but hopefully the next one will be more focused and will finish this, because the idea is already feeling stretched.

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Lord of the Rings Review

The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Even though this is considered the beginning of modern fantasy and kicked off the genre and a bunch of copy cats, this isn't, in my opinion, the best fantasy ever. Especially the books, the way they're written. In reality, I feel the movies are better. Part of it is because Tolkien was more focused on his world, mythology, and language than he was on the actual story and characters. Don't get me wrong, it is a great story, epic, and affected me profoundly the first time I read it, even though I was in the sixth grade. A few years later, when the movies came out, I read them again, understood them better, but since then, haven't had the desire to read them again. They were a chore to read. So much history crammed in, songs, and other things to detract from the main story. Other parts were unnecessary, like the razing of the Shire, which I think was wisely taken out of the movies, as it was anticlimactic. The characters were flat, either almost perfectly good or perfectly evil. Even the races were stuck in their roles, the elves all good, the orcs evil, etc. It wasn't until later that I realized this is a story about the world created, the language used, the mythology of middle earth. Tolkien was more involved with the setting than the characters or the story. The story serves more as a tour of middle earth than anything else. Still, the story is interesting and epic, and Frodo defeating Sauron was an intense moment in fantasy literature. It served to inspire and mark me, help me come up with my own fantasy world (which I don't think copies his very much). So while there are flaws, buried underneath it there is a pretty good story and a well developed world.

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Assassin's Apprentice Review

Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

My experience with Robin Hobb up till now has not been good. I first read the Soldier's Son Trilogy, which I found nearly painful to read. The main character obsessed over his weight so much he felt like a girl, and was always depressed and nothing much seemed to happen. Admittedly, it's been a few years, so I might be oversimplifying, but I remember I did not enjoy it much. Then I read the first book of the Tawny Man series, which is a sequel to this series, although I didn't realize it. So I had no idea what was going on, and it moved really slow. So I came to this book with trepidation, but still, I had heard that Robin Hobb was such a great author, she had to have something good. I started reading it, and found it was a better experience than I feared.
The good
It was down to earth, not over the top like so much literature now. The world felt well realized, and the main character was far from overpowered.
The magic was interesting because so little was known about it. Fitz sensing animals was nothing special, but it was interesting that we don't know if he will go crazy like others who had the same ability. As for the Skill, still don't know much about it, but it does appear a lot subtler than most magic.
The villain wasn't overpowered either. No one is in complete control, but everyone is struggling to get some sort of power and keep it.
The bad
Having royalty with names like Shrewd, Regal, Chivalry, and then having to act out that attribute, was a little strange and out of place.
The main character felt more like a blank boy than someone with a real personality. He get depressed easily and ended up doing nothing for a while.
He was supposed to be training to be an assassin, but this is not believable at all. The only people he kills are soulless beings, and when given a real assignment, he can't do it. Sure, there should be moral questions, but Fitz never remotely seemed like he could ever be a real assassin. I knew he wouldn't kill his target at the end, so there was no surprise there.
The pacing was slow. Not as big a problem as some of the other books of hers, but I was in no hurry to finish it. There wasn't much suspense or anything to look forward to. I'm not even sure I feel compelled to read the next ones in the series. We'll see.
Overall, a solid book, but nothing really amazing in my opinion. Good in comparison to the other Robin Hobb books I have read.

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Thomas Covenant Review

The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant, the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

If you don't know what these books are about, Thomas Covenant is a modern leper who has lost his wife and most everything else. After an accident, he finds himself in "The Land", a land of fantasy creatures and people threatened by Lord Foul (the names in these books are not that original). Thomas' wedding ring is supposedly a powerful artifact to combat Lord Foul. But Thomas believes it's all in his head and doesn't think his choices matter. The people all believe in him, but he doesn't want them to. I wanted to like the books, but the writing style was very hard for me. Maybe I'm used to different styles, but it was hard for me to follow what was going on, and at times I got bored. I struggled to finish the first trilogy and couldn't bring myself to read the second. There were some good ideas, like Thomas refusing to shave to see if he would have a beard in his own world, although he then shaves it off and defeats the purpose. The concept, that you're responsible for your actions, whether they really affect other people or not, is interesting. Does it apply to things like World of Warcraft? Anyway, the descriptions didn't help me picture The Land very well, and Thomas was always whining and feeling sorry for himself, so it was a tough read. But it does take a different angle to fantasy than Lord of the Rings, where every character is perfectly good or evil.

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Alcatraz review

Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This series is for young adults, but that shouldn't stop you. It is hilarious. The premise is that librarians are evil, and since they control all the information, they can brainwash. It's all a giant controversy, they even managed to hide away a continent of people who rebel against them. The main character, Alcatraz, finds out that his father is one of these rebels and that his family all has talents (his is to break things...really). Those with talents all have prisons named after them, hence Alcatraz (there are others, but my favorite was a girl named Australia). They fight against the librarians using their supposed talents, and Alcatraz becomes something of a celebrity among the rebels. Brandon Sanderson is really creative with this, like one chapter in one book where they just quote Hamlet when talking. There were several times I burst out laughing. My only real complaint is that the books ended somewhat abruptly, I would love to see more.

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City of Bones Review

City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I read this book as I heard that there would be a movie coming out, and it seemed to be pretty popular. It felt like a mashup between Percy Jackson and Twilight, with some Star Wars family drama thrown in. It is an easy read, targeted towards teenagers, especially girls, I presumed just from the cover. The protagonist, Clary (notice how the author's last name is Clare, although that itself is actually just a pen name), is not particulary strong in this book, at least. She pretty much just reacts to everything, and sometimes convinces Jace, her hunky shadowhunter demonslayer guy, to do stuff for her. The problem I always have with a supernatural urban setting is this: it starts out normally, then the main character starts seeing strange things, and then finds out there is a whole world of magical creatures like vampires and werewolves living among humans, but no one is smart enough to figure it out except this teenager. Even if magic is involved, you'd think that all the stuff getting destroyed by their fights would rouse people to attention. Then there is the infodump, where some wise character explains detail by detail how they hid themselves for thousands of years, and is about to explain some vital secret when they get interrupted by demons or something and once things calm down, the character conveniently forgets to continue explaining until later. Again, like in Percy Jackson, I never felt like the characters were in much danger. There's such a limited cast that I doubt anyone's going to die. There's a fight with a greater demon and they kill him with some sunlight. Still, plenty of revelations, although many were obvious. Not the most sophisticated read, but if you don't have high expectations, it's fine, goes quickly.

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First Law Trilogy Review

The First Law Trilogy by Joe Abercrombie
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This has some spoilers, so if you really want to read through the series, don't read this review.

So everyone seems to like these books because they turn the fantasy world upside down. There's the usual tropes, the quest, with the prince, the barbarian, the warrior princess, and the mage, off to find some mysterious artifact that will stop some dark lord. Fairly familiar, except that everyone is a jerk and they never find the dumb artifact. Theres also a crippled torturer who is supposed to gain sympathy. So there are some interesting twists, and if I were to judge this on the first book alone, without having read the others, I might have given this a higher score. It was intriguing, and you want to find out what's next. Are things going to get better? No. That's the problem. Maybe I judge books too much on their ending, but if they don't end satisfactorially for my, then I'm not happy, even if it was good up till then. The noble is a self righteous jerk. The warrior girl is blind to everything but her own revenge, which she never gets. The mage looks at everyone else as inferiors and tools. The barbarian is the most sympathetic, but he's pretty much just along for the ride. The torturer is just that: he tortures people. Just because we get to see his point of view doesn't make him good or sympathetic. He does some bad things. And the ending is a total let down. It feels like someone played a prank on me. I read three books just for this? So back to the first point. It turns the fantasy genre upside down. I think the genre needs to look at itself now and then and not just follow blindly what others, like Tolkien, have done. But making the whole thing pointless? That turned me off. If you like gritty, you might like this, but if not, don't bother.

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The Death Gate Cycle Review

The Seventh Gate by Margaret Weis
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

So I'm going to rate the whole series. I've been reading these books for some time now, between other books. There are seven in total, quite a long series. It has an interesting premise. There are five races: humans, elves, dwarfs, sartan, and patryn. The first three are roughly the same strength, while the latter two are supposed to be much more powerful and consider themselves demigods, if not gods outright, but they are bitter foes, the sartan supposedly good and the patryn supposedly bad. A long time ago, the sartan, fearing the patryn, used their magic to lock them up in a labyrinth, their prison, and to divide the world into four elements, earth, water, fire, air. Each world would emphasize one of these elements, so in the air world, there are floating continents, but little water. Supposedly, the resources would be shared between the worlds and everyone would be happy and in paradise, the sartan watching over the lower races. But then they disappeared and left the humans, elves, and dwarfs by themselves, having to duke it out for their resources. The books begin with one patryn, Haplo, who had broken free from the terrible labyrinth, being sent out to explore these worlds and find out what happened to the sartan. At first, the books explore the cultures and how each race adapted to their environments, which is a bit interesting, there are some unique ideas, but later on it gets a little complicated, with evil incarnate trying to disrupt everything. Early on, Haplo find Alfred, a bumbling sartan, and even though they are enemies, are forced to work together. For most of the series, Haplo is an antihero, the villain who is going to conquer everything, but then he slowly is converted to good, and builds a relationship with Alfred. Unfortunately, I felt that relationship was altogether too abrupt, with them becoming pals in the sixth book. It was more interesting with the tension between them. The last three books felt like they lost their way, once they stopped describing the worlds. And while the worlds and cultures were interesting, they felt underpopulated. I didn't feel there were great cultures to be explored, just a few squabbling nobles to try to represent them. The elves, humans, and dwarfs were all so similar, it didn't feel necessary to have them. I don't mind these races, but only when there is a reason to have them, something unique about them. The characters were mostly filler, and I didn't really care about the lower race characters. Even Haplo and Alfred didn't feel well rounded. And every leader of the people was stupid, something I would call lazy writing if I couldn't compare them to the leaders in the government today (just kidding). The ending wasn't great. The wizard Zafnib just called attention to the fact that these were books and dated them, using cultural references from the 80's and 90's, although some of the jokes were funny...at first. Anyway, they had an interesting premise but weren't executed perfectly. Reminiscent of the Dragonlance books, but in a less predictable setting.

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The Gate Thief

The Gate Thief by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like Pathfinder, this series gets more philosophical in the second book and a lot less happens. In the first, Danny was discovering his powers, balancing his power with responsibility and a thirst for friendship. Now he just uses his friends to bounce ideas off, and they pretty much talk for the whole book. Moral issues are an interesting and important part of having superpowers, often not explored enough, but there does need to be a balance, and discussion should flow naturally from the situations presented, instead of in dry dialogue. One of the most frustrating things was that every girl was trying to throw herself at Danny. Maybe plausible, once they knew he had powers, although it was stretching, but the most frustrating part was the reasons given for it. They just wanted to get pregnant, have his baby, because he was powerful and they were attracted to power. These are adolescent girls, I really don't think that even if they wanted to have sex with him, it would be about getting pregnant. Even if there is the subconscious biological urge, most girls wouldn't articulate these ideas. Danny resists, which I don't have a problem with, since sex is a cause of so many problems in the world today, but the way he does it is so unbelievable. He is so divorced from his emotions, with his head thinking pure logic, and we don't feel the struggle. In that type of situation, there would be a lot of confusion, trying to be good morally, wanting to give in emotionally, and logic probably wouldn't enter, just would knock timidly from the outside while emotions wrestled. Time after time, the situation goes like this: Danny finds himself alone with girl. Girl moves forward, making obvious advances, saying she wants to have his baby. Danny thinks: oh, this is biological, she just evolved this way. Oh, I evolved to respond to this. My body would be pleased. But this is wrong. She doesn't know what she's doing. Teleport away. Safe! It felt like an insult to women everywhere, to suggest they would all throw themselves on anyone with a bit of power. Still, other ideas were interesting, and when there was action, it was entertaining enough, plus the revelations got you hooked. I would have liked having other powers explored more, instead of just gating. The final conflict was anticlimatic. With all of this, I will probably read the last book when it comes out, hoping it gets back to action instead of pondering. Orson Scott Card's writing is good, I just wish he would focus more on content and story.

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Beyonders Review

Brandon Mull's Beyonders Trilogy: A World Without Heroes; Seeds of Rebellion; Chasing the Prophecy by Brandon Mull
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

For what they are, middle school age books, they do a good job of giving a story that is fairly complex and mature. Obviously, compared to adult books, they feel very naive and simple, but they aren't really meant to be compared. It is a standard boy and girl get transported to another world and have to become its saviors, especially since no one in that world wants to stand up against the evil magical emperor Maldor, who has killed all the other wizards who might stand up to him. The books flow pretty well, although the second one felt kind of forgettable to me. Ironically, despite the first book being called a world without heroes, there are several characters that are heroic, almost too heroic. Prince Galloran feels like an old blind Aragorn who kept all his sword skills. Personally, I don't really like it when someone, especially some kid, goes to another world and suddenly is declared to be its hero and everyone worships them, even though they don't actually do much (Narnia, Thomas Covenant, etc). The main characters Jason and Rachel go to Lyria, full of magic and warriors, and immediately get sent on a quest to kill the emperor. It would be like some caveman being sent to our time and being enlisted in special ops with an emphasis in computer hacking. Rachel does eventually learn magic, but Jason proves fairly useless, aside from a few bright ideas. By the end, several characters die, but many of them are filler characters that barely get a eulogy when killed. In fact, many are drinlings, who have like a two year life span, so obviously if they die, its not important. It felt kind of callous, in a way. For some reason as well, I didn't really connect with the characters and wasn't that invested in them. And the ending didn't feel as impossible as it was made out to be. But there were some good ideas, like the displacers who can be fully functional while severed from body parts, or the amar who have a seed on their neck and can get planted once they die, resulting in almost immortality. Anyway, if you like young adult fantasy, it is pretty good. If not, you might not become fully invested.

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Promise of Blood Review

Promise of Blood by Brian McClellan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This new book bears some similarity to Brandon Sanderson's books, which makes sense since he studied under that author. Personally, this book flowed well, but there were some parts that dragged a little. When not paying close attention, I sometimes got confused between two of the protagonists' names, Tamas and Taniel, father and son. Props for having an old man as one of the protagonists, instead of just a young cast. In fact, another protagonist, Adamat, is middle aged. So males of different ages are represented well, but there's not really any female voice (Except Nila, who only appears in a few scenes and doesn't do much). The magic system could be explained better, as well. There are three types of magic users: Privileged, who are powerful but traditional sorcerers; Knacked, who have special attributes like perfect memory or going around without sleep; and Powder mages, who get high off gun powder, go into trances, and can control bullets and fire off gun powder, but the book doesn't explain much about how they came about or why the privileged consider them abominations. The book starts out good, with the nobility all being executed for their corruption. It might have been better to show why they deserved execution, but it was easy enough to imagine. Unlike most fantasy, this setting is a bit more modern, somewhat victorian, with guns playing a big part. It is an interesting debut, I will be looking for further books when they come out, and hopefully some of my questions will be answered. Overall, a promising debut, with some pacing and length issues, but mostly enjoyable.

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