Daniel Vanzin

Simple and short story where supernatural detective Harry Dresden rescues a “kidnapped” spoiled rich child. Quick and effective narrative that make us care about the characters.

WHAT

This book gives much more insights into Sherlock Holmes personality then the first, although the story is a little less interesting. Like his previous books I read, its all about the details of the case, not much in terms of character, world or story.

ANALYSIS

There is one important thing to note that makes the book character much different from the most recent screen adaptations: he is a very caring human being! He is genuinely concerned about people and he is disgusted by the evil nature of the crimes he investigates. By the way most reviewers seem to disagree with this. I interpret as “he doesn't let his emotions cloud his judgment” instead of “he doesn't have emotions”.

“It is of the first importance not to allow your judgment to be biased by personal qualities. A client is to me a mere unit, a factor in a problem. The emotional qualities are antagonistic to clear reasoning.”


I like the movie and series versions a lot, but they are very different from the book in that aspect. Holmes is a true scientist at heart, he relies on cold hard logic to solve his cases, and he cares nothing for the day to day affairs of the world. But he is not a social tool as is made up to be on the screen. A much more faithful and real representation of him can be found in Mr. Holmes, stared by Ian McKellen.

Sherlock is arrogant, but not without reason. He is in fact the most brilliant man in London, an possible in the world. He states that as an objective fact, not as a matter of bragging. He can be seen as a bit misogynous, but in the same sense that saying “most crimes are committed by black people” is racist, nothing like House for instance. He is a man with such and intellect that he must resort to drugs to cope with ordinary life. That to me is the most defining trait of Sherlock Holmes, the one that most well captures his essence. He cannot shut down his brain, he is always working.

“My mind rebels at stagnation. Give me problems, give me work, give me the most abstruse cryptogram or the most intricate analysis, and I am in my own proper atmosphere. I can dispense then with artificial stimulants. But I abhor the dull routine of existence. I crave for mental exaltation.”

“...I cannot live without brain-work. What else is there to live for? Stand at the window here. Was ever such a dreary, dismal, unprofitable world? See how the yellow fog swirls down the street and drifts across the dun-colored houses. What could be more hopelessly prosaic and material? What is the use of having powers, doctor, when one has no field upon which to exert them? Crime is commonplace, existence is commonplace, and no qualities save those which are commonplace have any function upon earth.”

He dislikes fiction and fantasy because they have do practical applications. For that same reason he has no interest in philosophy, politics and astronomy.

His drug use is quite extensive by the way. I think that the book starts with something like “for the last three months he has been shooting cocaine upon his arm thrice a day”. He indeed must be numb all the time in order to overcome the mundane existence. Something fiction lovers may relate to.

“You have done all the work in this business. I get a wife out of it, Jones gets the credit, pray what remains for you?”
“For me,” said Sherlock Holmes, “there still remains the cocaine bottle.”

The book follows the same dry formula from The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes. Case presented, Holmes investigates it and based on small details he solves what seems to be impossible.

Three things contributes to make this book larger then a short story:
- the case is a more slowly presented, although this doesn't add too much to the story. It is still satisfying to hear Holmes logical deductions.
- there is a small presentation of how Watson and Holmes meet, and also a minor introduction to the police inspectors
- there is a story inside the main story. When the culprit of the murder is found, he tells his tale and it takes a whole chunk of the book. It was a nice sub-story, but nothing special about it.

Although the book lacks the immersive component I seek in novels, each story is intelligently narrated enough to provide an interesting read. Sherlock Holmes is portrayed as a real life hero, a person with almost supernatural powers of deductibility capable of solving the most puzzling criminal cases.

There is not much character development here and all the stories follow the same formula: a case is presented, Holmes investigates it, then he presents his solution describing how the smallest of details when combined with his knowledge and skill can dispel the most obscure of mysteries.

This book reflects some Asimov's concerns throughout his life, such as the disdain that people shows towards science, his role as a public face for science, and the petty disputes in academia. It is very dry, there is no empathy for the characters and nothing worth reading except for the most die hard sci-fi fans.

It shares the same problems I see in The Foundation. There is this sentiment of turning the soft sciences into mathematical facts, though the use of some flimsy rationalization (like psychohistory)

The story revolves around the discover of a infinity source of power, and its consequences to the world.

Read 47/11:26 7%

The writing is worse than Nightfall, the science fiction more heavy. The way the ideas of the book are exposed just don't feel like a novel, it doesn't make for an engrossing reading.

The first chapter is a complete mess, you can get a sense of that right from the first few paragraphs. If you can read past that, this book may be for you.

I stopped because I couldn't get past the underdevelopment of inter character relations. At one point x gives orders to y, then y obey. Next y gives order to x, x is like WFT and reminds y of his place. Which is...?

1:45/8:12 22%

WHAT
Asimov looses himself in his love for science, making this book too cold and devoid of emotions. Characters relations feels forced, inorganic, like he had to include them for sake of literary purposes. This book have a feel of classic old poorly written science fiction.

TLDR: too science fiction, not enough human, bad writing.

PLOT
A world with six suns is about to experience a prolonged period of darkness for the very first time. Experiments have proved that people experience severe trauma and even death when exposed deprived of light for a period of 15 minutes. A group of religious fanatics have predicted this moment as the end of the world, and just now the scientists are finding proofs that they may be right.

ANALYSIS
The plot seemed interesting, but I stopped reading when it became clear the literary quality wasn't going to improve, and too much noise was added to the main plot. The idea was to bring life to a few characters by developing a subplot for each one of them until finally they meet and everything made sense.

Also, too much time is spent explaining the “science” aspect. I did not find that interesting by itself, and besides that, for the story being told, it was completely unnecessary.

The original short story is better because it is more concise, but still it's just an okay tale.

Read 3:53/11:54 33%

WHAT
A collection of manuscripts written by J.R.R. Tolkien trough many decades, put together and complemented by his son Christopher Tolkien. The book is close to a sequel to Silmarillion and has no connections with LOTR. The story is not very cohesive, but it is still an epic tale and bears some resemblance of the prose you see in his better known books. If you like Tolkien, this book is for you.

PLOT
Hurin, the great hero of men, was captured and cursed by Morgoth of Angband, the predecessor of Sauron. His entire lineage was condemned to suffer terrible fates. Fostered by the Eldar Elves, his son Tuirin tries to overcome his doom and free his father. But by his actions, misery and destruction follows him and afflicts all those that comes into his way, thus fulfilling his curse.

ANALYSIS
Have you ever had a problem naming characters? Well, Tolkien didn't, some of the characters in this story have many names, the protagonist having something like five. Tolkien uses the language he created to translate titles into names, such as “Bringer of Doom” or “Master of Fate”. As the character develops in the story, so does his name changes with him. This adds a nice touch, and doesn't feel to be abused.

The book starts very convoluted, in a Silmarillion “map my genealogy from the start please” kind of way. Clearly unnecessary for literary purposes, this is just Tolkien's pastime as a linguist. It takes a while for the real story to take shape.

Although there are some nice moments involving the world history, these are too vague. It is understandable due to the way it was brought about, but even if it were better told, it is not very good. It is a mixture of a classic Greek tragedy with an epic tale, where the hero is incapable of escaping his doom. It is not the tragedy that bothers me, but the very forced moments, like the characters acting unreasonably because “that's just who they are”. This kind of story works better in a poem, like Beowulf. And indeed it this was the intention of the author. It is better served as a short tale, something to give a background story to Middle Earth. Like the Smeagol backstory.

The character actions lack proper motivations and they fail to seamlessly transition from one point to another. For an example, Turin was fostered by an Elf King from his very early childhood, and he was treated as a son to him. He learned all the wisdom the Eldars had, but he still grew too proud. At one moment, he decided he did not want anything to do with the elves anymore and walked away to live with a group of criminals.

If the Hobbit would show why elves dislike dwarves, this book helps to understand why they also have mixed feelings towards humans. Turin proved himself to be arrogant and ungrateful. It also explains why so much hope is laid upon them, because he turns out to be one of Middle Earth's greatest heroes, as did his father before him.

I would rather it had connections with the events in LOTR, but I judge it for what it is. By the way, it helps to have some knowledge of the Silmarillion, such as who is Morgoth, the Eldar and the Valar to make more sense.

Still this was a nice enough reading. It is enough to inspire that epic feeling of heroic deeds you would expect from this kind of novel.

WHAT
Experience Middle Earth as you travel from Hobbit Land to the mount of Dorin in this adventure quest. Find your way through the dark Mirkwood, see if you can acquire the aid of the elves in that forest, encounter great treasures to aid in your quest, make new friends along the way. Oh yes, don't forget the preeeciousss! Tolkien's magical prose shines trough on this tale that starts as a children's book but quickly heads towards, but does not quite reach, LOTR levels of epicness.

PLOT

Gandalf enlists the help of an unlikely ally, a hobbit by the name of Bilbo Baggins, in order to help Thorin Oakenshield and his 12 dwarven warriors in order to reclaim the mountain of his ancestors who fled from the wrath of the great dragon Smaug.

ANALYSIS
The real magic in Tolkien's books is in his writing style. He pulls us into his stories with powerful words that fills us with a sense of heroic deeds and joyful friendship. The world is beautifully brought to life with vivid descriptions, the characters are brimmed with personality. His locations are memorable, and depicted in endearing (the “hobbit hole”) and terrible (Mirkwood) ways.

The book chronicles how gradually Bilbo wins the trust and friendship of the dwarves through his deeds of luck and courage, but ultimately it is his good nature that seals the deal.

In this story, Tolkien shows exactly why elves are not fond of dwarves. When confronted with all the harm he has caused, Thorin refuses to give up any of his new found wealth to help those in need. He is also the perfect example of dwarven stubbornness, choosing incarceration for an undetermined time in the hand of the elves instead of revealing to them his purpose while crossing their woods.

SIDE-NOTE: ABOUT THE MOVIES
Like many, I did not enjoy the movies too much because of the overly stretched content and the many unnecessary subplot insertions. Turiel and Legolas are the the prime example of these.

However, I was impressed by how faithful to the book the movies were. It is what I would have expected from Peter Jackson due to his previous works. I did not like the first parts of the movie (like an hour or so in the extended version) and all the music, but those were a perfect reflection of the book as well.


SYNOPSIS (a bit rough and not too precise )

SPOILERS AHEAD

- Bilbo meets the Thorin and the other dwarves. They eat, drink and sing all day long, hire the help of Bilbo on bequest of Gandalf, that describes him as a burglar, something he is definitely is not, as himself likes to point out.

- Unsure and afraid, but slightly curious, Bilbo is goaded into accepting this dangerous adventure, forsaking the peace and comfort of his home, something unheard of for a hobbit.

- They seek aid and council with Elrond of Rivendell, who provides them shelter and advises in the best course to their destiny.

- Their first obstacle are a few trolls in their way. Bilbo is sent to spy on them, but as he tries to live up to the burglar expectation, he fails his steal check while stealthily trying to rob one of them. Eventually the dwarves come to his aid, but one by one they are overthrown. Luckily Gandalf comes to save the day. He manages to trick them into arguing among themselves as to who to eat first and in what manner should he be prepared. He stall them long enough until the day breaks in and turns them into stone. They found many treasures within the Troll's lair, including the sword Bilbo would name Stinger.

- Next, they need to cross a fierce mountain, where giants of the storm play throwing balls of ice on each other. As they seek shelter from the tempest and also a place to sleep, they enter a cave that appears to be safe at first. However, during their slumber, a concealed door opens in the back of the cave, letting through a troop of goblins. Bilbo was having trouble to sleep and spots them, but not long enough to prevent him and the dwarves to be captured. But that gave Gandalf time enough prepare and to resist the goblins, later rescuing his friends.

- While fleeing the goblins, Bilbo falls from a precipice and too late the dwarves notice he is not with them. During the days that he is lost inside the goblin mountain, Bilbo finds Gollum and wins a trivia contest to escape with his life, else he would have been eaten by the creature! However, when Gollum finds out Bilbo got his ring, he lounges at him, forgetting his promise and not caring weather the hobbit is dangerous or not.

Luckily for him he is not, and Bilbo slips on the ring and run away. Gollum makes chase, but the ring makes the hobbit invisible. He becomes desperate as he cannot find Bilbo, and inadvertently leads him to the exit of the cave.

- Bilbo them is once again reunited with his friends, but eventually they are caught up by a pack of vicious wargs, which usually serve as mounts for the goblins. They climbed up some trees to escape them, as the wargs could not scale up the trees themselves. But soon they were joined by the goblins.

- Gandalf shoot fire into some of the wargs, and that started a fire in the forest. The goblins decide to wait them out while their trees were burning, but when all hope seemed to fade, the Eagles show up (iei Eagles!) and save the day. They grab each one of the party and lead them away to the tops of the mountain where they make their lair, inaccessible to humans in any other way.

- It turns out that the Lord of the Eagles owed Gandalf a favor, an he agrees to aid them in their quest, flying them as far as they deemed safe to go towards their final destination. As they leave the Eagles, Gandalf seeks the help of a “skin-changer” by the name of Beorn, who lives in solitude in that region and only abides the company of animals. Gandalf cleverly manages to get his help by telling a compelling tale that keeps Beorn entertained and invested in the story. So the party gets food and shelter for a few days.

- The next part of their quest is a difficult one. They need to cross the treacherous forest of Mirkwood, and Gandalf is forced away to attend in more pressing business (the Necromancer). Bilbo and the dwarves spend many days in the woods, they ran out of food, and after a few days without eating, they are faced with evil spiders, which captures the dwarves, but Bilbo escapes with the help of his ring, and latter rescues his friends.

- But now they are captured by the elves of Mirkwood, who demand to know their business and why they have trespassed his domain. Fearing the Elf King would demand a part of his treasure if he knew of his quest, Thorin keeps silent, and for many days him and the dwarves are kept captives there. Eventually Bilbo saves them, after a carefully planned escape.

- Now they arrive at village of Lake-town, where prophecies told of the return of the rightfully King of the Mountain. They agree to help the party with food and supplies, and now the final part of the journey begins as they walk toward the mountain.

- There they are faced first with finding a backdoor door, and then opening it, because they would not dare to come through the front gate where Smaug may be watching for intruders. Bilbo again prevails in both matters after a trialing few days.

- Once inside the mountain, Bilbo is finally charged with the task which he was originally hired to. He is to spy on the dragon find any weakness he may in order to defeat him. As the party devise a plan to kill Smaug, a task that seems impossible, the dragon awakes and tries to kill them all. Failing to do so, he angrily flies towards Lake-town, with plans to exert his vengeance upon their inhabitants for the insolence of the dwarves.

- With an unintended help of Bilbo, Smaug is defeated by Bard son of Gilleon, but the town is destroyed, and many of its people are dead.

- They started to rebuild with the help of the Elves of Mirkwood, and believing the dwarves to be dead, both man and elves march towards the mountain to reclaim its treasure.

- Thorin gets a hold of the news that two armies are marching towards his new found home, aiming to steal his gold. He sends word to this cousin for help. Meanwhile, the goblins also heard the news and send an army of their own.

- When Bard and the Elf King arrive at the mountain, they try to reason with Thorin for a fair share of the treasure to help to rebuild the Lake-town, but Thorin would have none of this. He awaits his cousin to arrive and soon a battle between the elves and humans against the dwarves breaks out. Gandalf is there to by now, and right before the battle starts, he points out the army of goblins and wargs coming in.

- Elves, humans and dwarves join forces against the goblins, but they are too many for them. When all seems lost, they died. No, just kidding. The Eagles and Beorn with some beats shows up and saves the day. Later this would be recalled as the Battle of the Five Armies (goblins, wargs, men, elves, dwarves).

- Thorin and two of the dwarves of his party dies in the battle. Bilbo travels back home with Gandalf.

The first book had at least the novelty of the Discworld going on for it. This book reveals a little more of the world, but there is nothing interesting about it. The plot is also not very exciting, neither are any of the scenes or characters.

Pratchett signature witty prose in its infancy. It introduces the Discworld, his famous fantasy world in the shape of a disc, hold by four elephants carried by a giant turtle that floats trough space. The coward and weakling Rincewind, a expelled magician who knows only one spell which he cannot ever cast, is charged to protected the incredibly naive and optimistic Twoflower, the Disc's first tourist visiting the world most vicious, dangerous and smelly city. The world is interesting, the prose kind of good but the story fails to keep you interested to read through.

WHAT
The coming of judgment day seen through the eyes of Pratchett and Gaiman. So every paragraph is ether an excuse for witty sarcasm humor or it describes an ethereal concept as a real person. Although there are some good parts, it is an inconsistent book. I'm not a fan of Gaiman's style and Pratchett isn't very funny here. Material for great quotes though.

SYNOPSIS

(some events described here are not very precise, they just sum up what I remember of the book)

The story follows the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley, adversaries in the grand battle of heaven and hell but “friends” for lack of better company. Stuck on Earth since the beginning of time, obviously six thousands years ago, they have been the agents of their respective factions, both carrying out a mission to lead humanity to they're inescapable doom. But of course, through different means, since Heaven being all good and sorts and Hell being the evil ones! :-)

Crowley begins his existence in this world in the form of a snake, and does not accept the blame he, and also mankind for that fact, is given for the whole “apple eating” fiasco. I mean, it was placed so right in front of them an all. You would expect it to be somewhere more inaccessible no?

Aziraphale is the angel responsible for safeguarding Adam and Eve. When they are banned from Eden, he lands them his Mighty Angelical Fire Sword... for warmth and protection from boars and such. How could he predict that man would use it to cause harm and destruction to the world?

Crowley is portrayed as a cool kind of demon. Riding his black Bentley, using his magical powers to get anything he needs, like free gas and the like. He would rather cause a massive traffic jam to piss people off then to apply physical pain.

Through the centuries many evil deeds have been attributed to him, like the Inquisition, but he claims not to be responsible for most of them. He was just sort of there when it happened. In fact he though Aziraphale was the one responsible for that, and so did the angel though Crowley caused it. Either way, both their superiors gave them credit for it.

Aziraphale is the clumsy, inadequate, book worm character. He is more of a secondary character to Crowley.

The main plot revolves around the birth of the Antichrist, and what they both should do about it. Neither one wants to see the world destroyed, they grew quite found of it. So they take upon themselves to raise the child, in an attempt to prevent him from becoming a murderous genocidal evil monster and be just a regular Joe.

Things get problematic when they found out too late that they have been mentoring the wrong child. The story then revolves around them finding the real one, who meanwhile have been leading a fairly ordinary existence as an 11 years old leader of a gang of miscreant children, whose greatest misdeeds involves things like chasing down cats and not going to bed when they are told.

Meanwhile, the four horsemen have been summoned and they are gathering towards the boy. Also the hosts of the Great Witch Army, composed entirely of an old men and a young apprentice, is called to track him down. Unbeknownst to each other, both factions have that army in they're speed dial. Also, the descendant of Agnes Nutter is trying to find her lost book of accurate predictions, in order to understand what is happening to the world. Ancient continents have risen, fish are falling from the sky, aliens are coming to Earth with a message of reproach for they high pollution levels.

ANALYSIS

My synopsis reflects my opinions. The book's angel parts are blend, the Antichrist boy named Adam subplot was uninteresting, Gaiman's horseman was pretty much his usual work but more watered down. This is also among Pratchett's early works, which did not have the quality of Small Gods and other of his books.

Crowley was the best character.

————————
OH GLORIOUS DAY! Found a understandable reader! It is the Martin Jarvis version, I can't remember which was the other one, don't think it was Stephen Briggs. I just remember that pleasant “I'm trying to whistle and eat as I talk” tick British accent.


PREVIOUS REVIEW of Aug 08, 2011
I'm sorry, but this book is just not to my taste. I love the authors, but the writing and humor are just TOO BRITISH! I listened it through audiobook and the reader had a thick accent as well, which just made it much worst.

I just read a few chapters, maybe 1/3 of the book. Even so, I'm including in my list as a reminder to myself

WHAT
A very short psychological horror story about the last man alive in a post-apocalyptic monster dominated world. By day Robert Neville hunts vampires while they sleep, by night he hides in his house, fearing for his life and his sanity. His greatest battle is an inner one, against feelings of depression brought down by loneliness and the knowledge that things are not going to get any better.

TLDR
- too short to be considered a proper novel
- not a fan of horror stories: reliance on emotions and ambiance over an intricate plot
+ involving narrative
+ sorta interesting ending

WHAT
A Celtic fantasy love story that starts off as an abridged version of a reasonable book and by the end it feels like s a synthesis of a bad one. Eilan, a priestess of the Goddess, is torn between loyalty to her people and her love for Gaius, a soldier of the Roman Empire whose military power kills and enslaves them.

TLDR
- rushed prose, undeveloped scenes and character emotions and intents
- unsatisfying ending
+ discernible and elaborated plot, more then I can say of most of the books I've been reading

SUMMARY (brief)
While traveling in plain clothes trough a forest in Britain, Gaius is hurt and brought back to Eilan's home for help. After a few days or nursing his wounds, they develop a deep connection, a love that they seem to remember from a previous life.

Gaius tries to marry Eilan, but her parent refuse his proposal because of his great hatred for the Romans. Eilan then decides to live her life in celibacy serving the Goddess. Gaius follows into his father's plans and marries a prominent Roman woman, whose political connections could further his career.

ANALYSIS

The story showed promise in the beginning, but it soon became clear that something was missing. I double checked to see if I was not reading an abridged version, and the book is really long, but the events were exposed so quickly that I soon lost connection with all of the characters and the plot. It felt like the author was rushed into finishing the book, and this became even more apparent in the end.

Among my criticisms of underdeveloped elements:

- the Druids were portrayed as mean old men for no apparent reason other then being men. This may bear some historical accuracy, but they started out as reasonable characters and soon the author stopped defending their motivations. While in The Mists of Avalon they are compromising, understanding and wise, here they are just oppressive and overbearing tools.

As one example, at the start of the book it is established that in order to maintain the Forest House existence, which holds the sacred priestess of the Goddess, the Druids had to make some concessions. They vowed to not aid the rebels, to preach peace for the population, and the priestess were required to obey a vow of chastity.

The women in the story were constantly complaining about this “preposterous” oppression enforced on them, as if the Druids had a say in the matter. They know what happened to the previous priestesses Sanctuary, and are trying to prevent another slaughter and dessacration of their women and holy sites.

- The same goes for Dieda. I can see why she would be bitter, but there is a whole chunk of character development skipped here. She blames others for her problems, that's fine. But how does she goes from being a loving sister to a hateful bitch?

- In one scene, this woman Eilan goes from a lifetime of hating a men Gaius to entrusting her son to him. There is no explanation given, and this took place in about one page:
“What, you want to take part in our son's life? Never, I would rather die!
A few paragraphs latter...
Oh well, you better take care of him, I know you will do just fine”

- The Druids are quick to condemn Eilan to death when she refused to call for a rebellion instead of peace. She explained that she is an oracle to the Goddess that they all serve, but by some reason the Druids decide not to trust her. It is fine for them to loose faith in their god, but this was not explored at all.

- Also in that scene, too much was left in the air. Eilan “felt like a lightning hit her” and then... stuff happened? This could have been the climax of the book, instead it was the end, exposed in a few lines of text. This is where you would have expected the “evil characters” to be punished, to see the consequences of their actions.

On the thing I liked, it still shows some of the flare the author used in Mytst of Avalon. That writing style is still faintly present, the Celtic fantasy is actually well laid out, with the women dedicating their lives in adoration, year after year performing the great festival of Beltane, where they channel the Goddess and answer the questions for the members of their tribe.

The plot is fairly extensive, many things happens throughout the book. There is the bits of historical facts like even though they blamed the Romans for all their pain, the tribes of Britain waged war constantly among themselves before they were conquered.

Ordinary situations taking place in an extraordinary setting. Put a group of one hundred brilliant scientists in a spaceship heading to colonize a new planet, and what do they do? They fuck like rabbits, they squander and gossip among themselves and they immediately aim to ignore everything they were ordered to do in their mission. The “founding fathers” of this new world are portrayed as teenagers going to college, anxious to rebel against their parents and the norms of society to do as they please.

There is some discussions about Americans trying to impose they're freedom to everybody and the Russians favoring the communism way of living. Also some hints of atheism scientists vs religious fundamentalists.

The scenes are devoid of emotion and these social conflicts are too prosaic or paltry described to bear any interest. They just weren't enough to constitute a meaningful reading experience, unlike 1984 or Brave New World which brought up social conflicts and integrated them into a good novel.

Read 3:22 / 23:05 15%

WHAT
An anthropological account of a man visiting an alien planet. Learn about its flora, the native tribes custom's, how much they differ from us even in the way of thinking, and other textbook boring subjects.

ANALYSIS
This is not my kind of book. The prose is dry, the characters are not relevant. It is a novel where the “setting” is king, and I was not fond of its majesty.

Other reviewers point out that by the end of the book there is a message about mankind's flaws or something. I could struggle to get there, since its is a very short book. But I choose to spend my next two hours reading something else.

Read 2:40/ 5:50 46%

WHAT
The everyday life of the people that will eventually survive a cataclysmic event. They go to parties, reflect about love, life, work... yawn!

ANALYSIS
This books actively tries to be the most boring possible novel for me. Imagine you reading about me describing one day of my life, about every exciting thing I'm doing and seeing, like talking to my mom and driving to work. Then I would call this a science fiction novel. That's how I felt about this book.

I didn't even got to the part where the comet would threaten Earth, it was 3 hours of nothing. No conflict, no action, no mystery, no fantasy, no fiction, no anticipation.

I strongly agree with the following comment:

“... reading hasn't been such a chore since Professional Nursing Practice Foundations and Concepts. And in the fiction world, Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell.”
Carol


Read 2:41 / 24:31 11%

WHAT
Enter the mind of Rae Sunshine, as she throughly describes every single thought that passes her mind while baking cinnamon rolls and other sweets on Charlie's Coffee Shop. Oh, and this takes place in a post apocalyptic world where nearly everybody is a supernatural creature, and vampires are trying to control the world.

ANALYSIS
I was tired when I read this book, and it was an easy reading, so I kept on reading it. The first person narrative helps you sympathize with the protagonist, but there is no plot worth mentioning here.

The setting had a lot of potential, but it received no focus, it was just there as a background for Rae to discuss her feelings. All of the book is her telling at great lengths what it means for her to be alive, to grow up without a father, how she feels about the boyfriend she doesn't really love, but its dependable. You don't even know the post apocalyptic supernatural aspect until much latter in the book. Oh, sorry, spoiler alert!

Every little scene is dissected in her mind, and while its nice to hear the character thoughts, there is too much rambling. “Oh my God, I'm here trapped with this vampire that wants to kill me! Me, who is scared even of spiders, who cannot stand the sight of blood! How I wish I could be on my bakery, making cinnamon rolls and chocolate cakes. Oh it is hard work but I like it so much. And Charlie... (four pages later the focus goes back to the vampire)”

A great amount of time was spent on minor details that didn't contribute to the plot, and were just too uninteresting to contribute to the immersion such as the many kinds of charms and how they behave like real creatures.

This could be a somewhat heroic adventure, if Rae was not, as describe by herself, a wimpy and scared girl that wanted nothing to do with her inherited powers.

I stopped reading during the final confrontation with the bad vampire that was trying to kill her. By this time I recovered my wits, and I just couldn't stand this lack of meaningful content anymore.

Read 13:22 / 15:24 87%

WHAT
A historical romance about a compassionate nurse out of her place and time and a gallant young Scots warrior. Caught in a war of England and Scotland, not fully trusted by either side, Claire is torn between the love for her husband, and Jamie, for whom amidst the chaos she forms a bond too strong to resist. Religious traditional romance lovers beware, this books contains logic, adultery and some fantasy.

TLDR
+ plot is organically developed, things make sense, scenes have plausible outcomes
+ good understanding of human nature
+ fully fleshed out, relatable, likable characters
+ incredible attention to details without over doing it
+ minor humor bits that made me laugh
- it's still just a romance, no exceptional elements
. many sex scenes, some brutality
. little to no fantasy


ANALYSIS
Time travel. That's as much as you'll get of fantasy in this book, as it is not important to the story overall. You will however experience a time travel effect as you'll be transported to 18th century Scotland and find yourself in the middle of a war with England.

This is not my kind of book, it is a romance, a genre of heavily emotional stories. I'm a fan of fantasy, which is by definition the opposite of ordinary. I don't like ordinary stories, and nothing is more ordinary then emotions. Most romance stories I know, through books or movies, favors love over reason and are full of “roll my eyes” and predictable moments.

The first thing that sets this book apart is the exceptional quality of the writing. Diana Gabaldon is a pretty talented writer, she structures her sentences intelligently, and kept me interested in the book in a way that only Marion Zimmer Bradley could. And that is without the arthurian mythos behind it!

The plot and the individual scenes makes sense, the sequence of events are cohesive and logical. Given the premises of a given situation, a very sensible course of action is taken. For instance, at one point Claire was prevented from going back to her time simply because she was a long way from the place she had to go. It may sound ridiculous, but she was a woman in the 18th century, alone, with no survival skills, no way of transportation. Many other reasons were given as the plot evolved, and they all felt natural and integral to the story.

The love between the protagonists is another example of an unavoidable consequence. The story was built in a way that gave them no other option, from the moment they first met to the point they are forced into being together by forces outside their control. Everything is explained and conceivable.

Sometimes I got worried the plot was going to take a wrong turn, but the author pulled through and kept the quality rising. I was going to give this a 3 star, then after reading over half of the book I decided it deserved a 4 and I had to hold on giving a 5 just because in spite of all, it is not an intellectual challenging premise. The sex scenes are very well exposed, the desire Clarie and Jamie felt for each other was palpable, the tenderness of their relationship came through really well. But its just not interesting for me by itself.

Finally the characters are convincingly brought to life through their virtues and vices. The protagonists are throughly described and side characters are given enough attention to make them matter.

Jamie is the perfect representation of the knight in shinning armor, and also a typical stubborn hot headed Scotsman, an educated barbarian, a naive young man, a natural born leader, a humble and loyal servant to his Laird. His love and devotion for Claire is moving and awe inspiring.

Claire is pragmatic, compassionated, strong willed, sharp tongued, “take not shit from men home”, plucky, and opinionated. The author draws a nice conflict for the reader by making her seem a bit cold when she is trying to escape Jamie to go back to her time, even tough he has wholeheartedly given himself to her, at some personal cost as well.

Randall is cruel, ruthless and duty bound. He doesn't appear much but plays a major role, even when not present. You'll learn of what he is capable of throughout the book and by the end of it, you will really hate him.

On a side note, I thought the plot was going to develop in a different way. Claire learns at the beginning of the book that Randall is some sort of spy, and when she finds out he resembles her husband, I figured he would be a love interest for her, and consequently they would form a love triangle with Jamie. This would work in so many levels! For a long time I believed that Randall was faking being cruel to put himself above suspicion.

Among the things I didn't like too much, the story did focus a lot on common day events, but I would say that was more or less acceptable for the purpose of bringing up immersion. Also, the story felt stretched out towards the end. Although I liked Lollybrook, the book could have ended before it and it still would have been great. The prison arc though was a little less convincing. Here my suspension of disbelief was somewhat shaken, but I took it to add to the adventure feel of the book.

To conclude, this is a deep and moving love story, about two characters that are completely devoted to each other, that found love in an unlikely situation and had to face many trials to be together.

Addressing some of the review's criticisms here at GoodReads:

The story is trash: Nonsense. I hate romances, I love good plots. Never would I consider reading this book, or let alone continue reading it as it is a very long book, if the story wasn't really good. There is a little of everything here, intrigue, heroic deeds with consequences, humor. Maybe it could have more of those, but I didn't feel necessary, the story felt pretty authentic the way it was told.

The story is an excuse for adultery: one of the claims is that the little amount of attention given to the protagonist's husband makes this book a cheap excuse for adultery. For me the conclusion is different: it means the book is not about adultery. It is about a woman out of her time (not in a time travel sense) that given the circumstances makes the best as she can, inadvertently falling in love in the process. The plot clearly describes a gradually growing and unavoidable relationship. Adultery plays little role in comparison to this.

Another complaint is that the time travel also is a bad plot element and a cheap excuse for adultery as well. That holds no grounds, the protagonist husband being in a different timeline is only a detail. Time travel is irrelevant in this book, it could easily have been replaced by “in a distant land, unable to go back home”.

This kind of criticism stems from people who are religiously conservative and/or have zero tolerance for fantasy. What would be a good excuse for adultery? Your standard “my husband does not appreciate me, beats me up and cheats on me?” Time travel is the perfect excuse because it is logical and interesting. The discussion with father Anselm in the end of the book tries to show some arguments in favor of the so called adultery. At the very least it shows that Claire does care about the issue.

The time travel aspect is so insignificant for me that this book does not even registries as a fantasy. You have a woman in an impossible situation. For some, this spells “she wants to cheat”, as there is no such thing as impossible situations, there is only reality, and it is harsh and you're stuck with your dead beat husband for whom you swore your obedience until your dying breath.

Rapey: hmmm... no. The book is very graphical, everything is told in great detail. The author makes you see and feel everything she is writing about. You are actually teleported to this backward Scotland, where things are not like present day America. The book has many mentions of rape. Guess what, people are mean, they actually do this kind of stuff. There is only one scene I think though, and it was very sick, gruesome and integral to the plot.

Abuse-apologist: really not. Morality is not black and white. If you ask a bully why he beats up someone he will not say “because I'm mean”. The author describes the reasons the characters behave the way they do in an incredible realistic style. It shows great depth and understanding of human nature. This is not apologetic, its storytelling. Regarding the wife-beating scene, the woman in no way validated the abuse. She in fact fiercely maintained her disapproval despite all his explanations. She said she would kill him if he ever laid his hands to hurt her again.

And if that sounds weak and apologetic, remember that although this is “not quite the Dark Ages but they were a far cry from modern women's rights” (this is from other reviewer). By the way, did this upset you more then the witch burning? Why? Because that was normal in those days, but beating up women wasn't?

ANALYSIS
The prologue was mildly interesting. Something about an ancient evil having been awakened by human scientists, that forced them to escape their planet. This evil is so powerful that it threatens all existence.

But as soon as the story started, the prose was too dense, it was just too boring to read. Reading other people reviews, the sci-fi notions do sound awesome. This might be a candidate for speed reading, not a novel to enjoy for its literary values (like engrossing dialog, empathetic characters, etc).

READ 1:08 / 21:42 5%

WHAT
Three short slightly weird fantasy stories dealing with alternate selfs, parallel realities, different timelines colliding, world devouring entities, and more. Heavy consciously-burden Elric is confronted with more moral choices to again promptly ignoring them.

TLDR
- superficial protagonist
+ better then previous book
+ dreamy prose: things feel strange, fogginess, can't tell reality from imagination

PLOT
Sailing the the Future: After an frustrated attempt at mingling with the humans, Elric is running for his life when a mysterious ship comes to the rescue. He is tasked with saving the the world from two alien creatures.

Sailing to the Present: a former Melnibonean monarch pursues a woman that falls into Elric's protection. He must decide to give her up in exchange for his freedom or fight his way through.

Sailing to the Past: Elric sails to the land from where his ancestors migrated ten thousand years ago, in search of answers that will guide him into saving his people.

SUMMARY
Sailing the the FutureElric is fleeing from the enemies he made in the last city he ventured into. He is completely out of hope, almost dying from exhaustion and lack of supplies, including the special drugs that keeps him alive.He is once again embracing the death to come, thinking maybe this is for the best, when a ship appears from the sea coming through a dense mist. He approaches the vessel and notices something strange about the captain and the crew, but he does not have the luxury to picky given the situation.Once aboard the ship, he meets the other passengers, and find out that they too arrived at the ship under the same circumstances, all of them being near to death and without any hope to surviving. He finds out that the ship was actually expecting to find him there, and his name and the others were on a list held by the captain. He had a special mission for them: to save the galaxy from annihilation in the hands of two world devouring creatures, a brother and a sister.Elric was reticent about accepting such a quest, but he had little choice given the consequences of his inaction in the matter. The ship lead them into an island, where they found two strange houses. They entered the houses, met some resistance and most of the men died before they met the first of the alien creatures. What followed was a weird battle, where Elric melt his self together with other three passengers of the ship whom he felt some strange connection before.After the battle, they disjoined, returned to the ship and each one proceeded to their own path. It is implied that the other fighters that formed the super creature are in fact different incarnations of Elric, coming from different universes and different times.

ANALYSIS
Same impressions from the first, only a little better. Here there are a little more defined moral choices for Elric to face, but again they're not well developed.

When confronted with handing over the women he is protecting into the hands of a man that that obsessed with her, the only reason he gives to not caving in is that he gave his word he would protect her. Not that he cares what happens to her.

When asked to release a man from a terrible curse, he calls for demonic help. Here is a gross paraphrasing:

The demon says “I can lift the curse and save him, but doing this will bring death and destruction for the rest of the wo...“
Elric replies “Hey, could you just shut up please? I said to lift his curse. Do it now!”

WHAT
A short fantasy story closer to a poem than a novel. Albino, purple-eyed, blood-weakened by birth, sorcerer, warrior, Emperor Elric, sets himself apart from the society he rules by virtue of his conscience even more than his physical features. It's a beautiful but coarse and unfulfilling tale that almost reach the quality of Howard's Conan.

TLDR
- thinly developed protagonist
- plot annoyance: “Fooled me once, fooled me twice, fooled me three times?”
- begging based magic with not explored consequences
- powerful sorcerer with no real magic
- moral character that makes no use of morality
- intelligent character that makes no (much) use of his mind
+ beautiful, fast paced prose.
+ the fantasy is here: ancient realms, demon race, magic, dragons, planes.

PLOT
Melniboné's power is decaying after a ten thousand year rule over the world, and its last emperor must find a way to bring back the old days of might and magic. But as his treacherous cousin plots to take over his throne, Elric is forced to pledge his loyalty to an ancient demon whose motivations are unknown. Have Elric started the downfall he was trying to prevent?

SUMMARY (spoilish)

The island of Melniboné in an ancient land of untold riches, powerful magic and mighty dragons. For ten thousand years the royal bloodline ruled over the entire world with an iron fist, granting them the title of demons.

Elric is the last emperor of this bloodline. He is a sorcerer, a warrior and a scholar. Born with a disease that makes him physically weak, he spent most of his youth in the library.

His albino coloration and purple eyes are not the only features that distinguish him from the rest of his kind. Melniboné is an amoral society, where torture and murder can be expected for prisoners, and a slave can suffer the same fate with no fear of consequences for his master.

The Melniboneans rule the world no longer. The supernatural entities that granted them magical abilities have been less present and more reluctant to attend their calls. They're dream inducing drugs have made them more inward and unconcerned with reality, contributing to the decaying power of the empire.

While Elric tries to think of a way to restore that power, his cousin Yyrkoon threatens to take his throne. His lack of morals resemble closer to a true Melnibonean, and he is constantly attacking Elric with words and veiled threats.

When a human fleet of ships attack the capital city of Imrryr, Yyrkoon takes the opportunity to slay Elric amidst the battle. He succeeds, but an unexpected aid from the Lord of the Water Elementals comes to the rescue of the albino emperor. As punishment, he sentences his cousin to a grim fate, one which he manages to escape through the use of sorcery. During his flight he also manages to kidnap his own sister, Cymeril, Elric's beloved.

Elric then spend all of his efforts to find them. After months of failure, he tries to summon the most powerful demon that has ever pledged to help the emperors of Melniboné in times past, Arioch. The demon agrees to help him at the cost of his servitude.

Further aided by the lord of the water elementals, and then hindered by his brother, the Lord of the Earth Elementals, Elric manages to find his cousin. In the course of a couple of months Yyrkoon has taken over a city and its armies, and set up a protective magical mirror, that makes anyone that gazes at it forget who they are, making them susceptible to being mind washed.

Through cunning, Elric destroys the mirror, but the battle cost most of his army. Yyrkoon escapes to another dimension but Arioch helps Elric to follow. His condition is that he must bring back the long lost soul blades, banned from this plane by Elric ancestrals.

When Elric finally finds his cousin, each takes hold of one of the swords and fight each other. Elric wins, but refuses to kill his cousin, fearing he is being manipulated into doing so.

Back at Imrryr, Elric renounces his crown, claiming he needs to find elsewhere for the knowledge he needs to save his people. He ventures into the Young Kingdoms, the land of the humans, leaving his cousin to rule in his place.


ANALYSIS
The length of this novel puts it in the short story category when considering the criteria for evaluation. The story overall is less detailed: characters are more shallow, the setting is briefly mentioned, motivations are told not shown more often.

Even with that in mind, I found the protagonist to be too coarse described to be invested on him. I don't know if I liked Conan better because I already knew him, but the author basically described Elric as “an intelligent and ethical warrior and sorcerer” in a few sentences, and then you're expected to have that in mind whenever he does something.

So he is troubled by torturing prisoners? Well, I said previously he was questioning his moral values. He defeated one of the best swordsman in the empire in a fair fight? I did say he was a fine warrior as well.

It is a bit of the show don't tell I guess, there is clearly something in his writing style that made me not connect with the character, in a way that Howard and Asimov have been able to do within the same amount of space. Salvatore's Drizzt, which was inspired by Elric, has a way more fleshed out personality.

I was deeply annoyed by one annoying plot element (trope?). Yyrkoon is openly hostile to Elric, he pretty much says that in the first opportunity he gets, he will stab him in the back. Elric ignores him, claiming “I'm stronger than him, I'm not worried”. And then Yyrkoon attacks Elric and leave him for dead. That's strike 1 for me.By a miracle (quite literally divine intervention) he survives, and again has the chance to deal with his cousin. He decides to exile him. Strike 2. That already is bad enough, but even before he was exiled, he manages to escape, proving once again to be powerful and traitorous.Elric then sells his soul and his empire in order to get revenge. This is an opening for future stories, as nothing comes of this in this book. If this happens to be the cause of Melniboné's downfall, It will definitely make me hate this saga. When finally he finds him again, he decides to let him live. "He knows now I'm more powerful". If Yyrkoon betrays him again, that will be strike 3.

I was not impressed with the magic in the book. So, every single spell is granted to the sorcerers through begging. They can choose between the lords of Order and Chaos, or the neutral Elementals. This is not developed well enough. “Oh please Arioch, strike down my enemy and I will do whatever you ask.” “Oh great and mighty demon, light me this torch and I'm forever yours.”

Not only is this upsetting, as I was expecting a sorcerer to actually have some power himself, but the interesting possibilities of consequences are not explored. The only time Elric sees a price for his requests is when he is forced to wield the world's most strong artifact in exchange for having to control its thirst for blood. Which he does, so, it felt like a good bargain. Also, Elric never uses his supposedly superior intellect acquired reading books when others were busy “being evil”. He is always pleading for a supernatural intervention.

On the topic of Elric's personality, there is not much here. We are told he is trying to develop a moral conscience, but he doesn't show that too much. He says he didn't kill Yyrkoon because he was not afraid of him (bad plot) and then because he was going to exile him (bad plot) and then because he had no reason to fear him. Where is the morality here? The only thing that shows is Elric brooding over his existence, embracing death at every turn.

Still, there is something about this book that makes me like it, enough to continue reading the others. This series is cited by many authors as being good fantasy, and indeed the elements of a great fantasy novel are here: (sleeping) dragons, magic artifacts, pacts with demons, ancient (soon to be forgotten, hehe) realms, inter-plane travel and soul drinking berserker swords.The prose is beautiful and there is an epic feel to the story, as Elric is portrayed as either the savior or the doom bringer of his civilization. And for all the negative points I mentioned here, my overall complain is that the interesting aspects are too lightly explored. This is a D&D reference

WHAT
A hard sci-fi world for people who enjoy alien forms of life, unusual characters and an imaginative city able to hold all of them in the same space. No plot or it takes too long to get interesting.

PLOT
A disgusting human scientist is challenged with finding a way to give a winged humanoid his sawed off wings back, while his insect humanoid artist lover is commissioned with sculpting the most bizarre creature that ever existed.

SUMMARY
Isaac is a brilliant, repugnant human scientist that ostracized himself from the science community because of his unusual interests. He does not care to specialize in any field, his interests lies in the bizarre, mysteries that can benefit from a combination of any of the other fields, like biology, engineering and thaumaturgy.

His lover is Lin, an artist from a insect like race, also an outcast by choice since she didn't think like everyone else in her hive community.

The city of New Crobuzon is teeming with weird forms of life, a most bizarre combination of different races and cultures living in an strange harmony. It is gritty, disgusting and steam-punkish like.

One day a garuda comes to Issac and tells him the sad story that resulted in his wings being cut-off by his own people, giving him the unusual challenge of finding a way to grow them back, not to find an artificial substitute. His girlfriend Lin is also defied with a unique task: a crime lord wants her to create a sculpture that captures his essence, which he considers to be the essence of the city itself. He is a combination of many different creatures sown down together.

ANALYSIS
Quoting the top reviewer: “if you read only for the story and plot, this book is not for you”. Well, after a few hours there was no plot or story whatsoever. I did not care for the hyper biological sci-fi scenario presented, so I stopped reading.

The book is a bit hard to read, typical of hard sci-fi. I think the prose was fine, I just could not enjoy the city and its inhabitants being described without giving me any sort of emotional or intellectual attachment to them.

Read 2:40/31:00 9%

WHAT
A collection of short pop sci-fi stories suited for a broad audience. Although they do have a peculiar 1940s old school feel to them, they can still be enjoyed today. However, the wide appeal counters any cult, deep or cerebral elements I enjoy.

TLDR
- wide audience target / universal themes: feels too generic
. twilight zone feel
. hysteric / over the top characters
. 1950s typical men/women relationships
+ easy to read


SUMMARY

(this is my attempt for personal purposes, for a better summary, see here https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Illustrated_Man)

The Veldt: a couple decides to buy a fully automated house, eliminating the need to prepare food, clean up dishes, tie up your shoes, and even parenting. The wife begins to feel restless with all the extra free time she have, and notes the bad influence the house have on the children. They have a virtual reality room that can make any wish come true, but things get out of hand when the virtual begins to supersede reality. A cautionary tale on spoiling your kids, over relying on technology, letting the TV do your job.

Kaleidoscope: a spaceship blows up and they're occupants are left drifting away in empty space. They will soon be dead and while inertia sends them away from each other, they are still able to communicate via radio until their demise. In the face of death, people begin to tell what they REALLY think of each other, and begins to contemplate if they had a meaningful existence.

The Other Foot: Mars have been colonized by a group of black people. When news arrives of a rocket with white people coming from Earth, the memories of years of abuse and oppression are brought up, and they decide to show the white man what does it feel to be the oppressed minority.

The Highway: a family of Mexican farmers notes unusual traffic on the highway, and father decides to investigate. They learn that the world is ending, the atomic war is night. The story makes you consider what does that mean to be a part of this “ending world”. What does that change for the farmer and his family, who are not aware of the rest of the world?

The Man: the Messiah comes to Mars. A rocket from Earth arrives just moments after his departure, and the crew is first skeptic about it and then becomes obsessed to find him. What lengths would you go to meet your god? The story contrasts two characters, one a true believer and the other a typical cynical man that only cares about money and himself.

The Long Rain: a rocket crashes on Venus, a planet where rain never stops. After many days trying to find one of the many Sun Domes built by man, they begin to go loose their mind as they have no way to prevent rain from hitting in they're faces. The captain struggles to keep hope alive in his men after a destroyed Sun Dome is found. Tales of the native Venus creatures dragging people into the sea for torture does dot help.

The Rocket Man: a man that when in space longs to be with his family, and when with his family longs to be in space. A tale to reflect when you want two things you cannot have. Also on the nature of people, that cannot bear to live without their loved ones for more then a few months.

The Fire Baloons: not on the version I read

The Last Night of the World: a man have a dream of the world ending, and he finds out the same dream is shared by his coworkers. He is talking to his wife about it. Don't remember much, this tale did not impress me too much. But it is about what would you do in that scenario? The couple just continues with their routine, because they are living how the wanted to live, happy with each other.

The Exiles:

No Particular Night or Morning: two friends in a spaceship for way too long. One of them starts to doubt reality. Something like “since its been so long he last saw his family, how can he be sure they are real? Maybe he just dreamed of them”. Increasingly, the amount of time it takes for he to doubt the existence of people and objects gets shorter, until he doubts himself to exist. This is a classic case of “solipsism” :-)

The Fox and the Forest: in a future where time travel is a touristic commodity, a couple decides to go back to a peaceful time to escape their war-ravaged present world. They plan on staying there however, and that's a big “no-no” for the time police. The story is a cautionary tale of the dangers of the atomic wars that were threatening the word in the 40s and encourages people to see how beautiful life is now.

The Visitor: mars is used as something of a leprosy colony, and the dying gets pretty bored up there. They miss Earth, and that longing makes them a little bit mad. When a new man comes from Earth, one of the “lepers” hogs him for attention. When he finds out the newcomer have telepathic powers, capable of making others believe anything they want (like we are actually on Earth), a dispute ensues for who will get to spend more time with him. A story about the importance of sharing.

The Concrete Mixer:
Marionettes, Inc.:
The City:
Zero Hour:
The Rocket:

ANALYSIS

Short stories are much different from a full novel. They are easier to read when you have little time available, and there is not a great let down if you didn't like them. There is no great emotional attachment to the characters either, it is a very casual experience.

There is no question on the quality of the writing. This book contains certain passages that are best savored in a slow pace in order to admire the beautiful prose. But like many other popular authors, his stories are just not for me.

The stories talk about universal themes, like good parenting, fear of death, racism, etc. They have a “twilight zone” feel to them, because exaggeration of the problem at hand and hysterical, over the top characters. Some typical stereotypes that are present:
The “arrogant cowboy”: the american capitalist, cynical, and with the “guns solve everything” and “the world is mine for the taking” attitudes.
The “afraid housewife”: the stay at home mom that is always nagging at her husband for him to “do something!”

WHAT
A teen adventure fanfic for those who engulps anything Star Wars related. The book follows the same “Leia fleeing the Empire” plot and overall structure from the movies, and it has all the same characters in the same situations. While it does add some unique elements to the franchise, the story is pretty bland, it has some annoying cliches and the characters have no depth. If you want interesting Star Wars content, you're better of reading the Wookieepedia.

TLDR
- No literary value, poorly written fanfic. Cheap vocabulary, lacklusting prose
- Shallow characters, no personality development
- Poor dialog
- Omniscient villain
- Lack of conflict and suspense, predictable scenes outcomes
- Faithfully follows the movies plot structure (completely lack of originality)
+ Faithfully follows the movies plot structure (if you want to relieve that feeling)
+ All the movies main characters
+ Structurally well constructed plot. Scenes flow are logical
+ Easy to read and understand

PLOT
The Emperor has been defeated and while the fledgling New Republic struggles with internal conflicts, they're efforts are under a greater threat from a military genius who is rallying the the remaining Imperial forces.

SUMMARY

The story begins 5 years after the Battle of Endor, where Luke Skywalker defeated Emperor Palpatine and Darth Vader. The Empire is slowly loosing its grasp on the majority of the planets it had conquered since the destruction of the Jedi.

Han Solo is having trouble abandoning his outlaw ways and adapting to a life of politics. Leia is trying to find time for her diplomatic career, her Jedi training and her marriage, all the while worried with Luke's emotional problems. Luke is lacking a purpose in life, he does not know how to be a teacher for Leia, and he is from being a Jedi Master yet. He fells alone, being the last Jedi on the universe.

Meanwhile, Grand Admiral Thrawn is putting into practice his plan to destroy the New Republic. He is leading the Imperial Starfleet into an attack on an unprotected Republic base, one that would cripple their military power.

In order for this plan to succeed, he first needs to find the Emperor's secret stash containing powerful artifacts. He anticipates that the artifacts are protected by a powerful Dark Jedi, and so he first acquires a device to counter the Force. He is also counting on subjugating him into his service. In order to help Thrawn, the guardian asks that a Jedi to be delivered to him, alive. The only Jedis left are Luke, Leia and her twin unborn babies.

What follows are a series of attempts to kidnap both Luke and Leia, who are traveling the Galaxy with Han and Chewbacca on diplomatic missions. The Republic does not have the means to counter the Empire espionage, and so they must rely only on each other to survive.

ANALYSIS

First on the quality of the writing: it is awful. I've been reading almost exclusively Nebula award winners for the past 3 years and I can say this books feels like something I could have written. I would not call it literature, but fanfic. Not that there is no good prose in fanfic, but as a whole, it is written by amateurs who do not grasp all of the subtleties of a good narrative.

I'm not very good at criticizing bad prose, specially without examples, which I didn't bother to record any. I would say that “The show don't tell is weak with this one”. The exposition is bad as well, the way the characters are always explaining things with inner dialog or to the person next to them. Some paraphrasing: “... but the strike did not affect him. Could he be so cunning that he found a way to counter it? Perhaps he used some mind trick to fool him. Is this man really that powerful?”. The language is very crude, lacking depth. Although I hate the opposite, when it is full of alliterations, symbolism, misplaced poetry and unusual vocabulary.

All of this matters very little to me though. It might have encouraged me to finish the book and give it another star, but the plot is what matters the most, followed by interesting, relatable characters. And the plot sucked. And so did the characters.

The book have no sense of mystery or intrigue. Thrawn is constantly describing his tough process to his subordinates in a very straightforward way. He claims to be different from Vader, encouraging his crew to not be afraid of giving him bad news. However, in one situation, Luke uses the Force to pull off an impossible stunt to escape the general's ship. Thrawn then asks who was responsible for controlling the tractor beam that had Luke under control, and kills him for letting he escape, claiming “You must be ready for everything”.

I never really cared too much for the “one dimensional” critic of characters, but here it applies well. Thrawn comes of as an omniscient being. He is always aware of his enemies moves, always able to counter their deceits. He mentions that one time he destroyed 6 Jedi Masters at once. He encounters a man claiming to be a Jedi Master. He says that is impossible, therefore he is a clone. When Lea and Han are trying to loose track of him, they use 2 ships to escape, then have them connect to each other in space through a bridge and part separate ways. Thrawn then says: Lea is on the left, Han on the right. Where is the fun in that?

Mara Jade was an awful character. She hated Luke, and every time she was near him, she made a point to let him know. This subplot was what made me stop reading the book. It was too much of a bad developed cliche. The antagonist that hates the protagonist because he did something bad to her, although the protagonist is not aware of what it is and likely it was not his fault. She then becomes a bad person, doing things that pale in comparison to the wrong that was done to her. Then they are forced to work together, possible leading to a friendship or a romance. It was also very clear that she had a connection with the Force, even though I did not read enough to find out.

The smuggler Derick, the one that replaced Jabba was also a terrible used cliche. The bad guy that is more honorable then all of the other characters combined.

I liked the fact that the author made point to include all of the movies main characters, but they are not further developed. In fact they feel pretty simple minded and shallow. Han and Leia strong personalities were pretty much wasted in this book.

The action scenes were uninspired, the use of Jedi powers was underwhelming. Thrawn send a team of assassins two times against Luke, and they fail both times. There was nothing thrilling to the scenes, they were just OK.

On the positive side, the book is still very readable. The scenes are concise, well connected, consistent with the plot. They flow well together, it is clear that the author gave some though into organizing them on a white board with stick notes. The fond memories of the Star Wars characters in my head plus the overall joy for the franchise made me want to see something that was not there, and I kept waiting to find it.

I found it interesting enough his attempt to replicate the overall feeling of the movies. The movie structure is basically maintained here, with Lea, Han, Luke, Chewbacca and Lando working together in order to solve a problem. Even though they all have new higher level responsibilities, they manage to find a way to abandon them and get together to be chased down by the Empire once again.


Read 10:30/13:08 80%