Jonathan Palfrey

This is a fine novel, which impresses me more every time I reread it. Although it comes more than halfway through the Vorkosigan Saga, it's suggested by the author as a possible starting point: you can jump in here if you like. Reading the preceding books will give you some background information, but I don't think you need it to understand this one.Miles Vorkosigan, the central character of the whole series, had a military career followed by a civilian career. In the preceding book, [b:Memory 1141958 Memory (Vorkosigan Saga, #10) Lois McMaster Bujold https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1347483059l/1141958.SX50.jpg 3036720], he was in transition between the two. Here, he begins to settle into his civilian career; which remains exciting and important, and gives him more official authority than he ever had before.So, what's the story? Miles is sent to investigate a disaster that could have been an accident; but it turns into a counter-terrorism operation. Detailed detective work is required to find out what's going on, which is not at all obvious. In addition to this, the book goes in depth into the details of a failed marriage (with child) and the first uncertain steps of a love story (to be continued in the next book).The disaster turns out to involve innovative science—and this is in the far future, perhaps around the 30th century, so the author has to generate some plausible technobabble about it, which she does well.It's a multilevel story that works well on all levels; and the levels interact with each other.My only regret about it is that it's set on the planet Komarr, which is not a cheerful setting, not being naturally habitable by humans. People live in cities under domes to keep the air in; so it's partly like living on a planet, but partly like living on a space station. I could certainly tolerate living on Komarr, but I don't think I'd want to settle there, if better alternatives were available. This doesn't spoil the book; perhaps it was calculated to reinforce the effect of the story in some way.

This is an alternative-history story, a fantasy involving magic, and a murder mystery.

The alternative history supposes that Richard I of England survives being hit by a crossbow in 1199 and lives another 20 years, succeeded by his nephew Arthur. The Plantagenet dynasty flourishes and continues into the 20th century, reigning over a powerful Anglo-French Empire that includes North America. The story takes place in the 1960s, when it was written.

The fantasy element supposes that the laws of magic begin to be identified during Arthur's reign (13th century) and are gradually developed over the centuries, so that licensed sorcerers have a respected place in the world. Their magic is a branch of science that can operate only within known laws: sorcerers cannot work miracles. This is my preferred way of treating magic in fiction.

The murder mystery concerns the death of a leading sorcerer, stabbed in a locked room with no-one else present and no use of magic. Lord Darcy, Chief Criminal Investigator for the Duke of Normandy, normally works in France, but the author contrives to involve him in this crime committed in London.

I've read this story many times and always enjoy it, but of course not everyone likes it, and there are various criticisms.

1. Writing style. Randall Garrett was born in 1927, started writing in the 1940s, and this book was published in 1966. The writing style is typical of sf of the 1950s/1960s, which I grew up reading, so I'm accustomed to it and have no problem with it. The sf writers of that period were poorly paid and wrote with typewriters, so the style lacks sophistication and polish. It serves to tell the story.

2. Characterization. You'd be daft to expect deep, subtle characterization from a book like this; but there are plenty of varied characters and they're clearly distinguished from each other. By the standards of the writers he was competing with at the time, I think Garrett did quite well.

3. Murder mystery. I read some reviewer complaining that he identified the murderer early in the story; but I find it hard to sympathize with people who treat a novel as a puzzle, worthless once solved. I've read this book many times, and every time but the first I already knew the identity of the murderer. So what? The mystery is a puzzle for the characters in the story; I enjoy watching them trying to solve it. On first reading, I'm sure I made no attempt to solve it myself. I read a novel to enjoy the story, not to solve puzzles.

4. Plausibility. The magic is relatively plausible, as magic goes; that's what I like about it. The alternative world that Lord Darcy lives in is persuasively described in detail, it lives and breathes as fiction, but it's less plausible in some ways than the magic.

Although the story is set in the 1960s, the world of Lord Darcy seems approximately Victorian—technologically and socially. But of course what we see is not Victorian society: it's the author's own reimagining of it in the context of a different history. In this world, every character seems content with his place in life, and happily and efficiently gets on with his own work, whatever it may be. People of different classes treat each other with respect and consideration, because it's the right thing to do. The Plantagenet monarchs are wise and good. This is all fantasy; but it's a pleasant and comforting fantasy in which to spend a little time, before returning to the real world.

A good story requires tension, conflict, opposition. The main opponent of the Anglo-French Empire is the Polish Empire, which has spread itself all over eastern Europe and would like to spread further. So the main source of tension in Lord Darcy's world is a Polish plot of some kind; although Darcy's official function is to investigate homegrown crimes—which do exist, even in this apparently contented world.

It occurs to me that it would be nice to see a well-made film of this story; but it'll probably never happen. It would be moderately expensive to make (large cast, many sets and locations) and probably wouldn't sell well enough. It includes no sex, no chases, just a couple of small fights, and the three murders necessarily happen offstage (otherwise, no mystery). The alternative world of the magic-using Anglo-French Empire might give it a vaguely Harry-Potter kind of appeal, but I think there isn't enough spectacle in it for film-goers.

Being a novel, this has a story of some length and complexity, more ambitious than the novellas in the same series. New characters of various kinds are introduced, in addition to the characters we already know; and Murderbot's relationship with ART is pursued and explored in more depth.If you like to be kept on the edge of your seat throughout a novel, with constant crises and action, then this is a book for you. The story is not boring.It sometimes reminds me of novels by other writers. The alien remnants and their effects remind me of [b:A Fire Upon the Deep 77711 A Fire Upon the Deep (Zones of Thought, #1) Vernor Vinge https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1728332458l/77711.SY75.jpg 1253374], and some of the software details remind me of [b:ME 421800 ME Thomas T. Thomas https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1330101028l/421800.SY75.jpg 410918].I'm a bit uneasy about the alien remnants because they operate by science-that-we-don't-understand, which is not far removed from magic. I have no objection to fantasy stories, but fantasy tends to feel out of place in an sf story. However, after some dithering I've decided to give this one 5 stars. There's a lot packed into it: plenty of value for money.

This book is set in New Orleans and documents the interrelated lives of a number of poor and generally unattractive people, central among them one Ignatius J. Reilly, a lazy, gluttonous, fat slob spoiled by his mother and distinguished by his extra­ordinary conceit and his incongruously fastidious command of the English language.

I bought this book, read about a sixth of it, put it down, and haven't picked it up again. So I can't write a proper review of it; all I can say is that it seemed quite well written, but the initial chapters failed to hold my interest. Some books suck me in and I read on compulsively, but not this one. Your reaction may be different.I give it two stars because I can't definitely identify it as a bad book. Perhaps it's just a slow starter and you need to read the whole thing to appreciate it.Also by [a:Michael Flynn 126502 Michael Flynn https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1282631351p2/126502.jpg]: I loved [b:The Forest of Time - Hugo Nominated Novella 11539011 The Forest of Time Michael Flynn https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1570130951l/11539011.SY75.jpg 16478070] and quite liked [b:In the Country of the Blind 416325 In the Country of the Blind Michael Flynn https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1312053809l/416325.SY75.jpg 1922459].

Although I liked the two previous books in this series, I'm afraid this one lost me. I read a good chunk of it, nothing much happened, and what little happened was generally rather downbeat. I gathered from reading other reviews that the rest of the book is much the same, so I lost interest in reading on.

This is the story of five modern Americans who are unexpectedly and involuntarily thrown back in time to the Roman Empire in the year 165 AD, with no possibility of return, and decide to make it their mission to avert the decline and fall of the Roman Empire—partly in their own personal interests, and partly because they think that a thriving Roman Empire would be better for the world as a whole than the Dark Ages that followed the decline and fall in our history.

This objective would be absurdly over-ambitious, except that they arrive loaded down with advantages. They have a combined skill set that’s almost ideal; they've been sent back with a small fortune in Roman cash, plus books, seeds, medicines, and equipment; and the first person they meet after arriving is perfectly suited to helping them adapt to second-century life.

This is quite a long novel, but it doesn’t stand alone: it’s intended as the first of a series. However, it ends at a reasonable stopping point, not a cliff-hanger, and you can make up your own mind whether to read any further in the series.

It’s a well-researched book, giving details of many aspects of the Roman Empire: if you like reading about the Roman Empire, this one’s for you. It’s easy to read, although rather slow-moving in the first half, and rather preoccupied with warfare in the second half.

As a novel, it has the weakness that its heroes are never seriously challenged: they arrive with all they need to make progress, all the people they meet in the Roman Empire are remarkably cooperative, and their various technological projects encounter only minor difficulties. They have a major challenge hanging over them in the form of a barbarian invasion that could have wiped them out; but their introduction of gunpowder enables the barbarians to be defeated relatively easily.

If you’ve read Stirling’s Island in the Sea of Time, try to imagine it without William Walker, and you’ll have a fair idea of what this book is like. Walker was an exaggerated villain, a Voldemort, and I dislike reading about Voldemorts; but they are an easy way of providing setbacks and surprises to liven up the plot.

I’ll be interested to see whether the next novel in this series provides a more eventful plot and a rather more challenging experience for the heroes. As it stands, this one makes a rather bland novel. I learned from the story at least one interesting new thing about the Roman Empire. I decided years ago that the Romans never conquered Germany because it wasn’t worth the trouble; but I read here that it could have been well worth the trouble if the Romans had known about the silver deposits to be found in Germany.

I also learned a little about the Emperor Marcus Aurelius, who had previously escaped my attention because my reading about Roman history has been haphazard.

For this story, Peter Grant is sent reluctantly out of London into rural Herefordshire, next door to Wales, to try to help with the mystery of two 11-year-old girls who have disappeared.

The initial chapters are relatively quiet as the scenario is unhurriedly set up for us. Things start to happen after Beverley Brook also arrives from London, and it becomes clear that some kind of weird shit (excuse the technical jargon) is involved in the disappearance of the girls. The situation gradually becomes quite complicated and exciting.

Positive aspects of this story are the presence of Beverley and the absence of the Faceless Man.

Negative aspects are the temporary replacement of the Faceless Man by a different kind of over-the-top villain, and the absence of most of the other characters we’ve got to know (including Nightingale), who remain in London. The new characters that we meet in Herefordshire are OK, but I don’t particularly mind leaving them in Herefordshire at the end of the story.

I mostly like this episode of the series, but towards the end it introduces us to a whole new level of weirdness that we haven’t encountered before, and it doesn’t quite seem real to me: I have some trouble believing in it. In a fantasy story, it’s the job of the author to convince readers that the impossible happens and that supernatural beings are as real as the chair you’re sitting on. Aaronovitch usually has the power to do this, but in this particular case the power he deploys isn’t quite enough for me (it may be enough for you). The problem doesn’t ruin the book, but it makes the climax of the story somewhat less satisfying than it might have been.

Having read everything else in the Rivers of London series, I decided to try this as a random sample of the series in comic format. These are sometimes described as ‘graphic novels', although they're much shorter than novels, and might be more accurately described as illustrated short stories.

I'm not a big reader of comics, but I have read some in the past, and I find that I can cope with Rivers of London in comic format. The illustrations of the characters are mostly tolerable, although some are better than others. Molly is a difficult one to draw; I'm not sure exactly what she should look like, but I don't think the attempt here is a success.

My main criticism is of the story itself, which strikes me as different in kind and below the usual standard of stories in this series. It reminds me vaguely of the old Avengers TV series from the 1960s (which I'm old enough to remember), but without the light-heartedness that was the main attraction of that series.

Of course it would be difficult to cram a good story into this abbreviated format; but stories of any length can be made to work if you have the knack of it. This story seems to me too formulaic, it's story-writing by numbers, it lacks inspiration. The villain and his dastardly plot are corny.

I wouldn't say this was a particularly bad experience, but I don't feel encouraged to read more of these comics.

Having read everything else in the Rivers of London series, I decided to try this as a random sample of the series in comic format. These are sometimes described as ‘graphic novels', although they're much shorter than novels, and might be more accurately described as illustrated short stories.

I'm not a big reader of comics, but I have read some in the past, and I find that I can cope with Rivers of London in comic format. The illustrations of the characters are mostly tolerable, although some are better than others. Molly is a difficult one to draw; I'm not sure exactly what she should look like, but I don't think the attempt here is a success.

My main criticism is of the story itself, which strikes me as different in kind and below the usual standard of stories in this series. It reminds me vaguely of the old Avengers TV series from the 1960s (which I'm old enough to remember), but without the light-heartedness that was the main attraction of that series.

Of course it would be difficult to cram a good story into this abbreviated format; but stories of any length can be made to work if you have the knack of it. This story seems to me too formulaic, it's story-writing by numbers, it lacks inspiration. The villain and his dastardly plot are corny.

I wouldn't say this was a particularly bad experience, but I don't feel encouraged to read more of these comics.

Having read everything else in the Rivers of London series, I decided to try this as a random sample of the series in comic format. These are sometimes described as ‘graphic novels’, although they’re much shorter than novels, and might be more accurately described as illustrated short stories.

I’m not a big reader of comics, but I have read some in the past, and I find that I can cope with Rivers of London in comic format. The illustrations of the characters are mostly tolerable, although some are better than others. Molly is a difficult one to draw; I’m not sure exactly what she should look like, but I don’t think the attempt here is a success.

My main criticism is of the story itself, which strikes me as different in kind and below the usual standard of stories in this series. It reminds me vaguely of the old Avengers TV series from the 1960s (which I’m old enough to remember), but without the light-heartedness that was the main attraction of that series.

Of course it would be difficult to cram a good story into this abbreviated format; but stories of any length can be made to work if you have the knack of it. This story seems to me too formulaic, it’s story-writing by numbers, it lacks inspiration. The villain and his dastardly plot are corny.

I wouldn’t say this was a particularly bad experience, but I don’t feel encouraged to read more of these comics.

I tried this as my first experiment with Brandon Sanderson, having read nothing of his before, and I found it readable and mildly entertaining, but far too long, and rather cold throughout. On finishing it, I don’t feel motivated to read the sequels.

In fantasy, I like a hard magic system, which functions according to known rules and limitations; and here we have a hard magic system. However, this magic system has little in common with traditional magic: it doesn’t feel like magic as I know it from other stories. It seems more related to superhero stories from 20th century comics, in which particular people have special powers. I repeat: there is something cold about it.

On first reading, the story is not bad, but I have some problems with it.

1. I don’t believe the scenario. The author just asserts it without doing anything to make me believe in it. What is the Deepness? How did the Ruler come to be the Ruler? After reading through the whole over-long book, I still don’t know, and I don’t really care. To hell with it. I can go away and read something else.

2. Characterization is good enough, it’s not bad, and yet it’s fairly superficial. I don’t care very much about any of these people. I quite like Vin, the heroine, but even she isn’t enough to persuade me to read more books in the series. The whole situation strikes me as unreal.

3. The story drags. I plodded through it reluctantly, wishing for it to end sooner. It’s an unusually long novel, but I have a few other novels in my collection of similar length, and they don’t drag quite so much. A novel shouldn’t normally be this long, it’s an excessive length, but occasionally a novel may have enough story in it to justify the length. This one hasn’t. I kept wishing for it to get to the point and finish. Thank God it’s over at last.

4. As a man, I have no claim to be a feminist, but I suspect that the last sentence of this novel will not appeal to feminists. If you read through all the pages, you’ll get there in the end.

This book is set in New Orleans and documents the interrelated lives of a number of poor and generally unattractive people, central among them one Ignatius J. Reilly, a lazy, gluttonous, fat slob spoiled by his mother and distinguished by his extra??ordinary conceit and his incongruously fastidious command of the English language.

I bought this book, read about a sixth of it, put it down, and haven???t picked it up again. So I can???t write a proper review of it; all I can say is that it seemed quite well written, but the initial chapters failed to hold my interest. Some books suck me in and I read on compulsively, but not this one. Your reaction may be different.I give it two stars because I can???t definitely identify it as a bad book. Perhaps it???s just a slow starter and you need to read the whole thing to appreciate it.Also by [a:Michael Flynn 126502 Michael Flynn https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1282631351p2/126502.jpg]: I loved [b:The Forest of Time - Hugo Nominated Novella 11539011 The Forest of Time Michael Flynn https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1570130951l/11539011.SY75.jpg 16478070] and quite liked [b:In the Country of the Blind 416325 In the Country of the Blind Michael Flynn https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1312053809l/416325.SY75.jpg 1922459].

Although I liked the two previous books in this series, I'm afraid this one lost me. I read a good chunk of it, nothing much happened, and what little happened was generally rather downbeat. I gathered from reading other reviews that the rest of the book is much the same, so I lost interest in reading on.