Two Minute Review - Neuromancer

 

Every now and then you come across a book and you ask yourself "why have I not read this before?"  This most recently happened to me when I finally settled down to read William Gibson's Neuromancer.  I had certainly heard of the book before hand, but had no idea of how influential it has been; Neuromancer is full of the original source material for many other cyberpunk settings.  Case in point, Neuromancer coined the term "Matrix" in the sense of a digital reality.  Quite simply, one of the best books I've ever read.

At it's heart, Neuromancer is a character and setting driven heist novel.  The plot itself is fairly derivative (except for the object of the heist,) but the real energy of the book comes from the parade of characters you're introduced to and the eclectic series of locations we travel through.

We start off in the Chiba City, Japan, where we meet Case, a damaged former computer hacker.  From there Neuromancer takes us around the world and then into a couple of off world locations, New Zion and Freeside.  The cast of characters grows quickly; Molly Millions, a razorgirl, turns up to protect Case, Armitage, apparently the mastermind of the con, slowly reveals what exactly he's planning, Dixie Flatline is a digital reconstruction of a dead hacker. All very engaging and wonderfully written.  Gibson also paces the book perfectly, drip feeding information and plot development to begin with, before escalating the tempo as the team struggle to complete their mission.

Neuromancer is full of memorable scenes, Zions elders, a blank Armitage in his hotel room, Case jacking into Molly's nervous system, Riviera's holographic show, Wintermute trying to talk to Case, too many to relate here.  What should be emphasised is the depth of the world Gibson creates, just how cyberpunk everything is.  Not only the vibrant, neon urban areas; Gibson treats cyberspace the same way, he doesn't try to describe the indescribable, but instead relates the rush, the freedom, the danger involved in hacking.  Neuromancer is one of the most immersive books I've come across.

I feel I should also mention the narrator of the audiobook I listened to, Jeff Harding, because he was simply excellent.  This was the first audiobook where the quality of the voice acting was a noticeable positive.  Each character has their own accent and is consistent throughout;  Armitage has a booming boardroom voice, the Finn has a gritty Irish growl while Maelcum has a languid Caribbean drawl.  The editing is handled very well too, to the point where the different voices flow seamlessly from one another.

Any negatives to report?  Well, Neuromancer does feature my least favourite plot device, namely one of the main characters is poisoned at some point to ensure their commitment to the scheme.  I hate that mechanic, but at least here it isn't too intrusive to the plot.  Other that that, not much.  The narrator does take a little adjusting to when you start to listen; he has that peculiar American accent that dips down at the end of a sentence, making everything he says sound sarcastic.  After half an hour, though, I'd forgotten all about it.

Lastly, something I noticed about listening to this as an audiobook.  Neuromancer is a short book, the kind of book I suspect I would have blasted through in a weekend.  By listening to it instead, and considering I listen to books either commuting or while out walking, I was able to string Neuromancer out to well over a week.  This really helped me enjoy the book; not only did it give me a lot of time to think about what was actually happening, but the anticipation of what would happen next kept me hooked.

Outstanding.

Two Minute Review - The Civil War: A Narrative by Shelby Foote

The Civil War: A Narrative - Part One Fort Sumter to Perryville

Two minutes hardly seems like enough time to get started on this one.  For a change, I picked this up as an audiobook.  Very slowly, I'm becoming accustomed to the format, remembering to make an effort to listen along to the recording and to avoid letting my attention wandering.  It's taken a lot of getting used to, particularly with this book; it clocks in at just over thirty seven hours.

Shelby Foote, apart from his literary works, is probably best known for his appearances on Ken Burn's Civil War documentary series.  He had a wonderful voice and a unique way of thinking about the Civil War, particularly his habit of speaking as if it was still ongoing.  This first volume of three, covers the build up to and the first two years of the war.

I'm at a bit of a loss as to describe the work.  Foote certainly gives you an account, mainly chronological, of the conflict, but it's a meandering, seamless narrative where events flow into one another.  Although a chapter might start on the western front, about whatever problems Bragg is facing, the chapter could wander off to talk about the Southern press or Lincoln's personal life or the naval blockade.  Yet the narrative always, in hindsight, has a logic and structure that keeps you hooked in.  Throughout, I was never metaphorically lost wherever the author went.

The way the battles, particularly Antietam, unfold are inspired; there are no big announcements that one of the war's set pieces is coming up.  Instead, we follow the two armies as they march along, choose their positions and skirmish.  Soon you're being told about the fierce fighting and you can't quite exactly recall when battle started.  Somehow, this seems very fitting for the subject matter.

What struck me was how well characterised the main personalities are. Partly this comes from the author's own opinion on certain figures, but also from the frequent quotations from letters and diaries etc.  A case in point is McClellan, whose letters are quoted extensively. Reading (or listening) along, you feel frustrated at his inability to do anything, then feel his excitement as battle draws near and, ultimately, you feel sorry for him as he is quietly removed from command.  Perhaps it is due to the fact I was being read to, but I haven't had that reaction to any other book on the American Civil War.

At this point in any review, you're supposed to point out any criticisms you have of a work. After racking my brain for a while, I can honestly say I have none.  Pushed hard, I'd say that TCW wouldn't be suitable as an introduction to the conflict.  Due to the authors sojourns and detours, without at least an existing idea of the structure of the war, a new reader could get a little lost along the way.  Access to a selection of suitable maps is a huge help.

Sadly, the recording I listened to was not narrated by the author himself.  The style of writing and the turn of phrase used (particularly the quotations from dispatches and letters) would have been wonderful to hear in the author's particular southern accent.  The narrator used does a satisfactory enough job, but he's a touch too fifties newsreader in tone for my tastes.

Quite frankly I can't recommend this book highly enough.  From Grant's preferred expletives to the Beauregard's choice of dress uniform, if you like your history with plenty of character you won't be disappointed.  A bit of a pause will be required before listening to volume two, looking ahead, it clocks in at over forty seven hours!

Two Minute Review - The Plantagenets by Dan Jones

This weekend, I finally finished reading The Plantagenets by Dan Jones.  Man, this one was a struggle.

First off, it should be hard to write a bad book about this period of English history, populated as it is by so many famour figures; The Lionheart, King John, Edward Longshanks, Henry III, Simon de Monteforte, Richard II. Indeed, the author manages to write a competent enough history of the period; this happened, that happened, this is why they happened, nothing spectacular, but simple enough to read through.

The unfortunate problem with The Plantagenets is all to do with the structure and editing used.  Jones has chosen to write a narrative history, so it's very easy to read, no long sentences, next to no dates or direct quotes from sources are used.  Indeed, you are left with a rough picture of what happened rather than a explicit sequence of events.  Nothing wrong with that, but the structure chosen for the books disrupts all efforts to forge a coherent and stable narrative.

In medias res, is a narrative technique as old as literature itself (a story starts in the middle of events, summarises how we arrived there and they plays out the rest of the tale.)  In The Plantagenets, Jones uses this technique to such an extent that it borders on the ridiculous. I would suggest (allowing for my critical viewpoint) that two thirds of the chapters in the book begin this way.  You barely get caught up with events before jumping forward ten or fifteen years.  Now this wouldn't be such a critical problem if there were any length to the chapters, but the book flies by. Some of the chapters here are barely 1200 words in length (that's three and a half pages!)

The Plantagenets struck me as a book simply in need of a good edit.  The author does thank his editor in the preface, but I honestly don't know what she did to earn her pay on this one. First up, the a decent editor would have picked up on the problematic structure before a first draft was completed.  Secondly, some elementary errors really bothered me.  If you're going to abandon dates and simply use years to track events, at least get the years right.  I'm not an expert on Medieval England,  but if you state an event happens in two different years, then I'm going to know something's up! Lastly, and from my point of view, the most frustrating; if you don't know how to use a word properly, just don't use it! Worst example; bode. Just don't.

There might be a decent enough narrative history here, but the author has does all he can to keep it from you.

Incidentally, The Plantagenets fails at my wargamer-history rule, in that, it doesn't even tempt me into wargaming the time period in general or any of the notable battles in particular. Poor.

The Norman Conquest - Two Minute Review

In amongst the frantic packing/moving activity this week, I've eased through Marc Morris' highly readable narrative history, The Norman Conquest (TNC.)  Like the Persian invasion of Greece and the Punic Wars, the Norman invasion is something I don't get tired of reading about., just get more familiar with.

TNC follows a fairly chronological pattern, starting with chapters on the decades before 1066 in England and Normandy.  The Conquest chapters themselves are fairly by the numbers, but do go to lengths to present the different crises and rebellion as serious as they were at the time.  For instance, although the Danes invading turned out to be nothing but an irritant, at the time it was as serious as it got for William. 

Hastings comes and goes, with more time spent discussing the choices made and the options available to the two sides, rather than discussing the actual fighting.  The Bayeux Tapestry turns up and we get the familiar propaganda and updated in the 1700s discussions.  Still, Morris drops in enough that was new to me to keep this section interesting (first known depiction of a plough, it survived because it was regularly used, it's actually an embroidery.) 

Come the 1080s, we get to the Domesday book aka the other bit everyone knows about!  As most of the other Conquest books have explained it to me, the Domesday was a massive tax collection exercise.  Morris instead makes the convincing case that, although tax was a part of it's purpose, the Domesday book was a massive exercise in codifying feudalism.  As it was new to me, this it an extremely engaging chapter (a few online searchs imply this is an accepted viewpoint, but, as I said, new to me!)

The book rather arbitrarily sticks to England and Normandy, referencing other places, but not dealing with the consequences of the Conquest for the rest of the British Isles.  To be fair, the author acknowledges this as a choice he made, but I'd have preferred a bit more detail on William's sojourns to Wales and Scotland.

Although it's a very readable book, Morris doesn't skimp on the detail and, in particular, his sources. We frequently pause for a quick discussion of the merits of the various sources at hand, as well as discussing any author or time bias.

All in all, I can't really fault TNC for anything other than focusing solely on England and Normandy. The problem is, of course, that I now want to get a Norman army together.

The Innocent Mage - Two Minute Review

It's been a wee while since the last one, so here's another two minute review.

Before we get going though, I should point out that I'm a little bit sexist, but only in a very limited way.  For the record, I've never discriminated against a woman at work, nor do I think someone's ability to do something is affected by their gender. . .  With two exceptions; fiction author and stand-up comedian.  The Mrs pointed both of these out to me when I refused to read a Maria Snyder book (because it was too "wooly") and when I switched the tv off when Shappi Khorsandi was on.  In my defence, we watched the comedy show (it was alright) and I read the Snyder book (better than I thought,) nor can I adequately explain why I instinctively avoid female fiction; Alison Weir is a favourite writer, but she's a historian.

As a result of this (and the subsequent nagging I got from the Mrs) I've read more female authors than previously, Kristin Cashore and Gail Martin being two that I've particularly enjoyed.  Still struggle with female comedians though.

So it was against this backdrop that I picked up The Innocent Mage by Karen Miller.  I was havering between this and the new Brent Weeks book, but went with this because, you know, trying not to be sexist.  The Innocent Mage is primarily the story of Asher, a young fisherman who goes off to make his fortune in the big city.  The city Dorana is in the kingdom of Lur, occupied by two different peoples, the Olken and the Doranen.  Asher arrives in the city and picks up a job and . . . that's pretty much it.

What made the book enjoyable to me was the decent range of characters and the skillfully written dialogue (and there's a lot of it.)  There's an interesting tension on offer between the two groups of people, with one being the ruling class, but it isn't overdone, just nicely there in the background. There's also a decent supporting cast offsetting the main characters, although not developed as far as some other writers do, Miller has done well populating her fictional land.

You can tell that it's a début novel however; the pacing is waaay off, with the book gradually drawing you in and then abruptly hurrying you to a finish.  There are other issues as well, notably the perspective bizarrely starts jumping round to multiple different people, when it's been exclusively two characters for the first three quarters.  Lastly, there's the plot itself which, magic and prophesy mumbo-jumbo aside, it's the story of an individual pursuing a sensible and efficient career in the public sector!

So excellent dialogue, interesting premise and some wonderful scenes, The Innocent Mage is easily worth a read.  FYI, if you end up getting the same edition I did, don't flick through to the author bio, it's on the same page as the preview to the sequel with a fairly big spoiler in the first line! Enjoy.

Halo 4 - Two Minute Review

This weeks free time has been dominated, of course, by Halo 4.  Unfortunately, our landline broadband hasn't been installed yet, so I haven't been able to devote hours to the online game.  As a result, I've probably spent longer on the campaign section.

After a couple uninspiring efforts (neither ODST or Reach were really authentic Halo games,) Halo 4 sees the return of Master Chief to centre stage, up against both the Covenant and the newly revealed Forerunner forces.  343 have managed to provide a proper Halo experience - the game feels like a Halo game.  The level design, enemies and weapons are all have that authentic and the difficulty is scaled almost perfectly.

Sadly, the plot and pacing of the game are well below what was expected.  The campaign starts off well enough, with a number of engaging set pieces and cut scenes.  The big reveal a third of the way through is well handled and the framework is there for a great experience. Instead, the game trails off to a rather numb conclusion.  No grand set piece, no panic, oddly, there isn't even much of a challenge.

Now I understand that the story in Halo 4 is revolves around the relationship and dependency between the Chief and Cortana, the conflict simply being the setting, but the sheer sense of anticlimax Halo 4 leaves you with is overwhelming.  Think back five years ago to the first time you finished Halo 3; the soundtrack, the effects, the drama, the immense Warthog drive across the collapsing landscape.  Halo 4 gives you the exact opposite experience.  In a generic sci-fi shooter, I would have said the story was average.  In a Halo game, extremely disappointing.

And another thing.  The Warthog noise is all kinds of wrong.  Reminds me of my first car - and that's not a good thing!

Still, the campaign is only part of the game.  I've heard the online modes are classic Halo action, so I'm looking forward to that.  In the interim, I may go back to the Halo 3 campaign for a more satisfying single player experience.

Prince of Thorns - Two Minute Review

Although I've not managed much gaming lately, I've still ploughed through plenty of books. The latest fiction book I finished was Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence, a fantasy released in 2011.  By many measures, PoT is your standard fantasy fare.  Starting not quite in medias res, we meet the protagonist, Jorg, in the company of a criminal gang, burning their way though a rural village.  The pacing is fairly quick and we soon discover more about Jorg's past, the associated tragedies and how he ended up where we found him.

Put simply, PoT is character driven fiction, specifically one charater, Jorg.  If you don't take to him fairly quickly, you'd be as well putting the book down and not bothering.  In fact, you could read the first two or three chapters in a bookstore and decide before even buying the book.  So what's so engaging about Jorg?  Well, his age and situation aren't what you might initially expect, he has a fairly odd view of the world that is really engaging, but what grabbed me was that he (very early in the book) makes an undead wight run away in terror!  How he manages it is one of the questions that drew me in.

The author has adopted a very easy, flowing style of writing, something that has become very common recently, and combined with the fast pacing, I found that the pages just flew by.  In this respect, Mark Lawrence has a lot more in common with Kristen Cashore or Peter Brett than with more "wordy" authors like Peter Hamilton or Iain M Banks.  So don't expect to need a dictionary here, the depth comes form the dialogue and Jorg's internal monologue.

There were a couple issues to get past before I could fully enjoy PoT.  Firstly, Jorg has a copy of Plutarch he enjoys reading.  Now this is the Plutarch, so what's he doing in a fantasy world?  Hmmm, not sure if this is clever or lazy on the authors part.  It only really affects the plot directly once, so at the moment it feels a little unnecessary, but that may change over the next two books (because, obviously, every new fantasy has to be a trilogy or a quartet or a series or something!)  Secondly, PoT is written in the first person i.e. I did this, I think that...  Not that this is a huge problem, indeed it is almost mandatory given how Jorg explains his view of the world, but it does lessen the tension somewhat as you know the hero can't die!

Despite that, PoT is a highly enjoyable, highly readable little fiction.  If you need a quick fantasy fix, and you could easily read this in an afternoon, I'd heartily recommend picking this up.  Better yet, have a quick read of the first chapter on Amazon, PoT continues like it begins.

Fear To Tread - Two Minute Review

When it comes to reviews, it takes a pretty strong reaction to force me to put one up on the blog here.  And a strong reaction is exactly what was provoked by the latest Horus Heresy 40K novel, Fear To Tread by James Swallow.

Over the previous twenty books, the Horus Heresy series has shown us a side to the 40K universe that we haven't seen before.   However that unique viewpoint of the Horus Heresy has been lost and it often feels we're just going through the motions, until the authors get round to the battle for Earth.  In my opinion, the best HH books (Legion, The First Heretic, Fulgrim) have been those that start before Horus has fallen to Chaos and chart those events from another Legions point of view.  Some (The Outcast Dead, Mechanicum, Nemesis) were just garbage.

Now when you read licensed fiction (i.e. something set in a pre-existing universe,) you accept that the author doesn't have free reign as to where they take their story.  Accepting that, you are entitled to expect some core elements from the existing universe.  When it comes to 40K and the Horus Heresy books, that includes plenty of action, decent dialogue, appropriate imagery and an insight into the particular legion you're reading about.

Fear to Tread does a pretty good job of portraying the Blood Angels; loyalty and division in droves.  The dialogue is pretty engaging too and from unexpected quarters; the dialogue between Horus, the daemon and the Word Bearer is outstanding, as is the way the plot to turn Sanguinius to Chaos is revealed.  Sadly, the rest of the book is spent trawling through some rather underwhelming bolter-porn.  As the legion succumbs to rage and mindless violence, all the finesse in the writing disappears.  I lost all respect for the book when a group of Space Marines were attacked by lampposts.  Yes, you read that correctly.

Then there's the blood.  Yes, they're Blood Angels and a lot of the imagery and symbolism of that legion revolves around the idea of blood; loyalty, sacrifice, anger, violence, family etc.  Fear to Tread really takes this to extremes, however, and some of it is comical - Wait, that blood isn't Blood Angel Blood, that blood is someone else's blood!  Sigh.

Sadly, I'd hoped for so much more from Fear To Tread.  Although the plot is engaging enough, the the writing nowhere nearly up to scratch; really a big missed opportunity.  What really surprises me is the number of 10/10 or ***** reviews you can see online.  Seriously?  I know GW have a lot of fanboys out there, but overall Fear To Tread is just terrible!  Hopefully we won't see James Swallow near another HH book for some time.  Abnett has another Eisenhorn/Ravenor book out later this year, all I'm saying is that it had better be good or I'm going to have to start sending out those threats again.