Fantasist's Scroll

I finished Perdido Street Station this week.

My earlier appraisal of it’s literary merit has been born out. This is possibly the most interesting fantasy book I’ve read in the past five years. I guess that’s why it’s won awards, eh?
Now, I’m going to talk plot, so if you’d like to avoid any spoilers, just skip this until later.

The book starts off with quite a lot of wandering around New Crobuzon, where the story takes place. But, there is plenty of action to keep the reader interested, so I didn’t really mind, even though it went on for almost 200 pages. The entire book, after all, is over 700 pages, so 200 setting up the story isn’t really that bad. And, in that 200 pages, China Mieville sets up several plots and sub-plots. But, it’s a bit further before the reader figures out which one is the main plot.
The first of the two dueling sub-plots involve a flightless bird-man, called garudas, named Yagharek. He’s had his wings sawed off as a punishment by his tribe for some unknown crime. He’s come seeking a rogue scientist named Issac Grimnebulin who can help him fly again. Or, so he hopes.
The second sub-plot, which becomes the main thrust of the action, is a result of Issac’s “reasearch” into flight for Yagharek. He accidentally acquires a very deadly moth in it’s caterpillar phase. He raises the moth, mainly out of curiosity, and accidentally releases it on the city.
These two plots continue through out the book, constantly intertwined to a greater or lesser degree. Issac and Yagharek are joined by a motley crew of compatriots and temporary allies as they try to solve both the problem of flight and the destruction of a deadly, mind-stealing moth. Along the way, they make numerous discoveries, meet with tragedy, and find renewed hope.

It’s a very interesting and thought provoking book. And worth every last page of the 710.

That’s Bug Eyed Monsters.

Which are, of course, the most interesting characters in the Men In Black movies. I really loved the first one, and
Men in Black II didn’t dissapoint either. It’s the same kind of raucus fun that the first movie was, but taken to a higher level. If you haven’t seen this yet, stop reading, ’cause I’m going to dish out some spoilers…
It was fun to see Tommy Lee Jones do his whole amnesiac, Postal worker bit and see Will Smith get to be the guy in the know for a change. But, still, the coolest stuff was really the CGI work and the aliens. They really are what drive this movie.
Most of the comedy is derived from human looking aliens not behaving quite like humans. And, as always, the “humans” that turn out to be aliens in disguise. My favorite, though, was Frank the Pug. First of all, pugs are cute. There, I said it and I’m not even embarassed. Pugs are, in fact, cute. A talking pug, even if it has a voice like a 50 year-old chain-smoker from Pittsburgh, is even cuter. And, as in the last movie, some of the best lines in the film were written for the dog. That had to hurt Mr. Jones and Mr. Smith, but it sure was funny. And, Frank as Agent J’s partner was just a hoot to watch!
I didn’t care much for Lara Flynn Boyle’s character though. She just never seemed alien to me. In fact, she barely seemed awake most of the time. Maybe keeping up with Jack’s worn her out. Who knows…. I actually used to like her work, but now she just seems kind of pathetic.

Anyway, it’s a fun, fun movie and well worth buying on DVD, but get the
special edition with the blooper real!

Oh, to be a burgher in the Middle Ages!

Some short time ago, I wrote a review of the rather disappointing Medieval Lives. But, since I’m either a glutton for punishment, or an eternal optimist, I tried another similar book called Life in a Medieval City by Joseph and Francis Gies. I’m pleased to say that it’s a much better book.
First of all, the authors set out to simply enlighten the modern reader as to the daily life of a Medieval city-dweller. They had no hidden agenda, just the report of the facts, as best as they could determine from existing documents and sources. Their work represents a fairly accurate representation of what life might have been like for the average city dweller during the Middle Ages.
Second, they focus on one, particular city, namely Troyes. But, what they discuss can be generalized to other cities. Also, they compare Troyes to other cities of similar size and time periods, as examples of how standard, or not, Troyes was.
Thirdly, they use easy to understand language without talking down to the reader. They don’t try to make their historical personages talk to the reader, but, instead, let the occasional quote do their talking for them. They speculate only a little bit about what the people might have been thinking, focusing instead on what they actually did.

All in all, a very enjoyable book. I recommend it to anyone who has an interest in the whys and hows of life in early cities.

Great book!

Well, I just finished Lawrence Watt-Evans’ latest, Ithanalin’s Restoration, and it lives up to my high expectations of his work. I may give you some spoilers here, so be warned. I do try to keep them to a minimum, but still, if you are afraid I’ll let something significant go, you’d best move on.
First off, this story takes place in Ethshar. Specifically, Ethshar of the Rocks, which is one of the three cities named Ethshar in the Hegemony of the Three Ethshars. In the time line of Ethshar, it takes place at the same time as The Spell of the Black Dagger.
The story is really about Ithanalin’s apprentice, Kilisha. The Ithanalin of the title is the victim of an animation spell gone wrong. Early in the story, Kilisha’s master botches a spell and is petrified, while parts of his “essence” are scattered into various animated objects. Kilisha is left to track down the objects and use them, along with her skill in magic, to restore Ithanalin to normal. No small task for even a wizard’s apprentice. Still, she manages to grow as a person and a wizard through the course of the story and, eventually, …. Well, I’ll let you read the book!
This is a great, relaxing read, though not quite as good or interesting as The Night of Madness. It is an interesting story that gives us a good look at the life of an apprentice as well as more of the mechanics of wizardly magic. Thoroughly enjoyable!
If you’d like a preview of Ithanalin’s Restoration, click here.

Medieval Lives was a complete dissapointment.

In the words of the author, “I cannot recreate you, medieval people, because I could not define how your personalitiesand desires linked with concrete times and places. You were stick figures, totems on a landscape, lines upon the horizon, temporally and spatially floating away.”
I couldn’t say it better myself. The author could not, in fact, recreate anything like the lives of the people featured in the book. He drew, at best, very modern people who spouted codified, modernized rhetoric based, very loosely, on philosophy that took its root in the Middle Ages. Virtually no attempt was made to make any of these people sound like people from the Middle Ages. Most of the time, it seemed as though the characters were simply talking heads that served no purpose other than espoousing the author’s personal agenda. They spoke in a kind of sociological dissertation language that would not have been found in any setting outside of modern universities.
Save your money!

At most, that’s all I can give the new Legend of the Five Rings series.

And, honestly, that makes me a little sad. I wanted to love these books. I really did, but it wasn’t until the third book in the series that a plot started to really develop.
The Legend of the Five Rings was a collectable card game, then a fantasy role-playing game before it was a fiction series. I fell in love with the FRPG because it was based in a mythical Japan that never was called Rokugan and featured wonderful art. In fact, before the latest rules revision, I collected just about all the books just for the art and the ideas they sparked. Then, something wonderful happened. Wizards of the Coast had the folks who wrote the fiction that was sprinkled throughout the game books whip up some novels with the further adventures of some of our favorite characters. And the Clan War novels were really good. There were seven, one for each of the Great Clans featured in Rokugan. Each book focused on one Clan but really move the plot along. The plot line was based on tournament play of the card game, so it got a little strange a couple of times, but it was pretty good over all.
Then, much to my delight, a new series of Legend of the Five Rings books came out. So, I bought the first three without even reading the back cover. Man, that was a mistake. The first book, The Steel Throne, was so scarce on plot that I couldn’t find it! I had no idea what this book was supposed to be about when I was done with it. But, I’d already bought the first three, so I pressed on with the next one. The Wind of Honor is by, in my opinion, the best author in the series, but even that didn’t save this book. Again, a meandering review of characters, but not much on plot. Then, finally, the third book, The Wind of War, started to actually show some signs of a plot. And, it even explained what was supposed to be happening in the first two. Apparently, the whole series is about a struggle to find a new Emporer for Rokugan. The “Four Winds” are the dead Emporer’s children, but there’s no explanation of how they got their nick-names or what they mean. This second series is sadly lacking in some of the basics of good fiction which the first series had. In fact, I bought the second series books based solely on how good the first series was!
Ah, well, at least it was a quick read and was a nice asian setting. It was a decent counter-point to the non-fiction I was reading at the time, too, which was also about Japan.

So sad that commercialization seems to kill the good things about new settings and ideas. I sure hope I don’t let that happen to me.