Book Review - The Twelve

The Twelve – Justin Cronin          

For me, “the Passage,” Justin Cronin’s first book was a hit. Although I was not a massive fan of the format in which he changed the cast of characters about a third of the way into the story, it seemed to work. I found that Justin could write action pieces well and invoke tension into his prose. I was really looking forward to “The Twelve” then.

The blurb:

At the end of THE PASSAGE, the great viral plague had left a small group of survivors clinging to life amidst a world transformed into a nightmare. In the second volume of this epic trilogy, this same group of survivors, led by the mysterious, charismatic Amy, go on the attack, leading an insurrection against the virals: the first offensives of the Second Viral War. To do this, they must infiltrate a dozen hives, each presided over by one of the original Twelve. Their secret weapon: Alicia, transformed at the end of book one into a half human, half viral - but whose side, in the end, is she really on?

I am going to be upfront and say I was left pretty underwhelmed by this book. Maybe I am in a funk at the moment as the last three books I have tried (“Darth Plagueis” and GGK’s, “The Summer Tree”) I didn’t enjoy as much as I thought I should have or as much as other reviews suggested I should have.

I found the characters in, “the Twelve,” far less engaging than Justin’s first book. Justin adopts a similar format to, “the Passage,” although this time I did not feel a sense of annoyance or loss when the book moved on to introduce a whole new cast. Whether that was a good thing or not, I am not sure.

That does not mean I did not enjoy any characters in this book. Lila in particular is very interesting. Justin does a magnificent job of portraying her madness and the conflict she feels in knowing she is mad.

Sara is also an intriguing character and the only one I felt myself routing for throughout the novel.  I think this is because she is the only character that seems to remain consistent throughout.

Quite often Justin Cronin introduces a character, and just as you are getting to identify with them and look forward to uncovering their story, he moves on to another POV. This is a classic technique to leave the reader wanting more. However, I found that when Justin did return to said character, they no longer acted the same way as when we last saw them. There are reasons for this and these are explained but it made the reading process very disjointed.

The “virals” themselves could not possibly live up to the fearsome creatures we met in the first book and that is because they were now too familiar and we know more about them. Justin knows this and to his credit embraces it. Rather than give the reader more of the same, he focuses on the plot around their existence which suddenly becomes more complex and mysterious.

There are also several “cool” scenes throughout the novel. These help elevate the story from being almost bland in places to enjoyable with interludes of information. The chapter in the fields is excellent for example, as is a scene towards the end.

These rare scenes are so good, that you wish the whole novel was more like them. It is no coincidence that both scenes feature characters that have been developed and are consistent either.

For the most part though, the constantly shifting time periods and the large cast of mostly generic characters left me frustrated as I tried to work out who was who. Maybe, this is where the Kindle fails, as I was not aware of the appendix at the back which helps with the characters until I had almost finished the book. Would this have helped? Probably, but a book shouldn’t have to rely on such things.

Cronin’s writing is still very good however. The way he writes scenes is effortless, describing settings briefly without impeding on the story. The dialogue is good, although there are a few borrowed phrases when he goes for humour here and there.

I’ve read some reviews that complain about the Hollywood style ending engineered towards the forthcoming films. I have to say I don’t agree with these, but then again, I didn’t find the final climax to be anything to spectacular. If anything it was disorganised and rushed.

“The Twelve” then was a bit of a disappointment. It had many good things about it, but overall, I found the story dull and I struggled to care what was going on, especially around the second third. This left me annoyed as I really wanted to enjoy the novel as others have.

My rating: 7.0

Book Review - The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (JS)

The Wonderful Wizard Of Oz By L. Frank Baum

Now I know that after seeing the title of this review, you are now singing in a high-pitched voice the tune from the film, the book though is not quite a sugary as that.

Here is the blurb- though I am sure that everyone knows the story:

Dorothy thinks she is lost forever when a terrifying tornado crashes through Kansas and whisks her and her dog, Toto, far away to the magical Land of Oz. To get home Dorothy must follow the yellow brick road to Emerald City and find the wonderfully mysterious Wizard of Oz. Together with her companions the Tin Woodman, the Scarecrow and the Cowardly Lion whom she meets on the way, Dorothy embarks on a strange and enchanting adventure.

 I have always had a soft spot for the Oz books, there is something the stories that appealed to me, and when I saw the trailer for the new film, I suddenly felt the need to reread them again.

This is not a long story and is certainly not complicated and I am sure that most people have seen the Judy Garland film at some point of their life so think they know all about it.

However, there are no ruby slippers in the book, these ones are silver and the Tin Woodsman axe is not just for show as he shows on numerous occasions saving the companions on their journey.

There are some great touches; the Emerald City for a start is only green, as everyone has to wear spectacles when they enter. The wearer of a cap controls the Winged Monkeys, but only for three wishes. There are fighting trees, and a land and people made completely of china that have to go off to be mended when they are broken.

Though there is violence in the book that was not in the film it is not overly dwelt on and villains (the wicked witch of the west for one), are quickly beaten. This is not complex writing; it is actually quite plain and simple,  the book will not take long to read and does not have pages of descriptions. This is a fun strange little book; with characters that all have back stories which make them come alive for the reader, whose friendships make them able to overcome all obstacles.

I would recommend this book, particularly for those amongst us, who have been forced to sit through the film over the years and know all the words to ‘Over the Rainbow’, to see where the story actually came from. Thanks to reading this one and enjoying it, I am now revisiting all the other books and the other much more strange characters that are there.

7 out of 10  

Book Review - The Summer Tree

The Summer Tree – Guy Gavriel Kay

     

GGK is an author I have been meaning to try for a long time. Several people I know hold him in high regard and he regularly gets high reviews. I decided to start at the beginning of his work although I was aware that this was supposedly inferior to his latter work.

The Blurb:

Five young people find themselves flung into the magic land of Fionavar, First of All Worlds, to play their part in the vast battle against the forces of evil led by the fallen god Rakoth Maugrim and his dark hordes. This is the first book in a fantasy trilogy in the "Lords of the Ring" tradition.

As a rule I am not a fan of mixing the real world with a fantasy world. I prefer my fantasy to be firmly that. There are exceptions of course, King’s Dark Tower series does it effortlessly and so does Enid Blyton. Most books though I think suffer for it.

The reason I don’t like it is demonstrated perfectly in the Summer Tree. Whenever, someone is transported to a mysterious realm it is hard to make it feel realistic. I would expect to see people scared out of their wits and struggling to get their head around the concept. Of course, I can understand why authors don’t bother with this as it would make for some pretty dull reading but GGK does not even attempt to deal with the situation. His characters so readily accept what happens to them that it completely dilutes its effect.

More so they do not seem the slightest perturbed by the use of magic or outlandish creatures and take it mostly in their stride. This annoys me to the point of distraction.

So that pet flaw aside are the character’s any good? Well to begin with, I would have to say, “no.” GGK flits around multiple view points but spends so little time on each that it is hard to remember who is who and get a sense of who they are. A third of the way into the book and I only just began to get a sense of the identity of one or two of them. Maybe that is just me but I would have preferred a little hand holding to begin with.

I have also read a lot about how wonderful GGK’s prose is, so I was therefore shocked how annoying I found it at the start. I have never been one that believes one should adhere to the common writing rules but one I do agree with is the overuse of adjectives spoils a scene. Also in dialogue if you need to use an adjective to describe how someone spoke a sentence rather than use “he said”, or “she replied,” then your dialogue is not clear. The reader should be able to discern how the character is feeling without being told. GGK does this in abundance at the start of the book, for example, “he intoned lugubriously,” Really?

So “The Summer Tree” did not get off to the best of starts in my opinion and this is where I am glad I begin my reviews 150 pages or so into the book. It is so easy it enjoy the climax of a novel and forget all that has come before it.

“The Summer Tree” did improve. It never reached the dizzy heights for me to rave about it, but the plot had a little more to it, the characters established themselves a little better and the prose improved tenfold. There was still far too much labouring on about the history of Fionavar for my liking, which rendered some scenes bland. But there were some very good scenes in there too. By the end of the novel, I can honestly say I enjoyed the experience enough to know I will be reading the next in the series.

My rating: 7.2

On writing

On Writing – Update

Jacqui asked me why I hadn’t posted an update on my writing the other day. I told her it had only been a few weeks to which she pointed out my last update was 10^th October. Wow, has it really been that long? Sorry for going dark on you all, I didn’t mean to!!

Any long term reader of the blog will know that when the writing is going well I post regular updates, when it is not going well I tend to keep quiet. After all there is only so many times a man can whine about having no time in the day.

As it happens progress has not been too bad. It is not as good as I had hoped but I have been more inconsistent than anything.

Back in October I was called to do Jury Service - a process that is both interesting and mind numbingly boring at the same time. The endless hours of waiting around, did allow me to do quite a lot of writing however so that was good. The bad news was that I was off work for two weeks, which meant stupidly long hours when I returned and which I haven’t really stopped doing since.

During the last couple of weeks I have also picked up a virus - Sinusitus (is it a virus?), which has meant after sorting out work and the kids I have mainly wanted to just go to bed.

At some point between my last update and the present, I realised I was being stupid in beating myself up in not getting writing done.  It was really getting me down and I was stressing as each day passed and I hadn’t found the time to progress the novel. One morning I woke up and decided it didn’t matter. If I don’t get the time, I don’t get the time. I am honest enough with myself to know when I am slacking on the writing front and at the moment this really is not the case. I therefore shouldn’t beat myself up when I am not writing due to factors beyond my control.

The last few weeks I have found some sort of rhythm again. The target of 500 words tends not to happen. Instead I have bursts of writing over 1,000 words every 2-3 days. Far from ideal but the book is progressing slowly.

Last time:

Total words book 2: 46,246

Today:

Total words book 2: 59,242

Book Review - The Silver Skull (aka The sword of Albion)

The Sword of Albion by Mark Chadbourn

With this book, I did my classic habit of like the look of the cover, blurb sounds interesting, and on special offer!

Did not know the author at all, but it is a period of history that I like with the added bonus of fantasy thrown in, so how could I resist.

This is the description:

1588: as the Spanish Armada prepares to sail, rumours abound of a doomsday device that, were it to fall into enemy hands, could destroy England and her bastard queen once and for all. Enter Will Swyfte. He is one of Walsingham's new breed of spy and his swashbuckling exploits have made him famous. However Swyfte's public image is a façade, created to give the people of England a hero in their hour of need - and to deflect attention from his real role: fighting a secret war against a foe infinitely more devilish than Spain...For millennia this unseen enemy has preyed upon humankind, treating honest folk as playthings to be hunted, taken and tormented. But now England is fighting back. Armed with little more than courage, their wits and an array of cunning gadgets created by sorcerer Dr Dee, Will and his colleagues must secure this mysterious device before it is too late. Theirs is a shadowy world of plot and counterplot, deception and betrayal, where no one - and nothing - is quite what they seem. At stake is the very survival of queen and country...

As the description says, the story is set in Elizabethan England with the threat of invasion by Spain hanging over the country and starts with an attack on the Tower of London. Lights are seen under the Thames, the gates unfasten, and guards are transformed and killed.

A prisoner who has been held in the Tower for years is released and disappears into the streets of London.

Elizabeth’s spymaster Walsingham then calls in his small team of spies, chief amongst them Will Swyfte to recapture the prisoner who wears a mask of silver which is vital in the defence of England.

Will is described in pamphlets and by word of mouth as the hero of England someone that the people can rely on, a public face for the defence of the realm

Though he is a hero, Will is involved with the others in his team in a very different fight than the people suspect. They not only seek to defeat the Spanish but also the Unseelie or Unholy Court that look to destroy all of England and who look down on humans as less than animals.

Will is a great character, and very human, he drinks and knows many of the prostitutes of London, where he goes to relax. He has great banter with his servant- Nat, but he has dark side as he never forgets his lost love Jenny, who vanished due to the Unseelie Court who are behind many peoples disappearances.

The writing is fast paced especially towards the last third of the book and very enjoyable, and as the chapters are quite short, you tell yourself, you will only read one and end up reading more. There is plenty of action, with a touch of horror, a description of a straw man burning, makes you go a trifle cold.

There are many good side characters, though I did find Grace- Jenny’s younger sister annoying. As the story develops, you get an insight into many of their back-stories, which help the reader understand many of the characters actions, which is good especially in the case of Mayhew one of Wills band of spies. 

The detail of the period is very good and adds to the story appeal. I also liked the Unseelie court themselves, the descriptions of the grey shadows and the images that they can show is very good, I would have liked maybe a bit more of them

This is the first in a series, and you can see the strands of the story that will continue on, but there is a definite conclusion to this one so the reader is not left on a cliff-hanger. Would recommend this as a story with many different elements so there is very much something for everyone, and I will definitely be reading book number two.

8 out of 10

Book Review - Darth Plagueius

Darth Plagueis – James Luceno

As a rule I am not a fan of the Star Wars novels and the EU. I am such a massive fan of the films - where was the announcement on this site Rob? I hear you ask – Chillax, I reply, it was old news within seconds and the world had already spoken about it to the nth degree – anyway, I digress, I am such a massive fan of the films that anything in the EU that even slightly doesn’t ring true irks me. I often spend pages of the novel thinking, “Han would never have said that,” and get too distracted by the whole thing.

The novels I have read all seem to be stories told with an attempt to fit the characters in and make it “Star Warsy,” rather than a good story where the characters slot in effortlessly. I have yet to read a SW novel that does not borrow a few lines of dialogue from the films to make them sound authentic.

Darth Plagueis captured my interest though. A figure only mentioned in passing in the films, captured my imagination completely. Who was the Sith Lord that trained Sidious? When the reviews of the book were strong I was curious enough to give the book a whirl in celebration of the announcement of the new trilogy.

The Blurb:

He was the most powerful Sith lord who ever lived.
But could he be the only one who never died?

Darth Plagueis: one of the most brilliant Sith Lords who ever lived. Possessing power is all he desires. Losing it is the only thing he fears. As an apprentice, he embraces the ruthless ways of the Sith. And when the time is right, he destroys his Master - but vows never to suffer the same fate. For like no other disciple of the dark side, Darth Plagueis learns to command the ultimate power . . . over life and death.

Darth Sidious: Plagueis's chosen apprentice. Under the guidance of his Master, he secretly studies the ways of the Sith, while publicly rising to power in the galactic government, first as Senator, then as Chancellor, and eventually as Emperor.

Darth Plagueis and Darth Sidious, Master and acolyte, target the galaxy for domination - and the Jedi Order for annihilation. But can they defy the merciless Sith tradition? Or will the desire of one to rule supreme, and the dream of the other to live forever, sow the seeds of their destruction?

I was disappointed. I wanted to enjoy the book and in parts I did but at no point did I revise my above opinion on Star Wars books. Luceno is an accomplished writer and his knowledge of the Phantom Menace is vast. However, I found the book to be a bit all over the place if I am honest.

Darth Plageuis is interesting enough to begin with, but his character gradually fades away to be replaced by Palpatine. I was disappointed by this as I wanted to read about the Sith that trained Palpatine and not the senator of Naboo himself. By the end of the novel I am still struggling to think of anything interesting to write about Plagueis as a character.

Palpatine is not anything different from what we see in the films (I know this should be a good thing given my earlier comments) but there is no development of his character as his path to the darkside is generally skipped over. Although, there is an interesting segment of the book when we first meet him, scenes like this were few and far between. There is also a horrendous gloating speech at the end of the novel that had more in keeping with a “Scoopy-Doo” cartoon than a Star Wars piece of fiction.

What we get as a result is a history type text book of the events as they unfold. Dare I say it but it feels more like a fleshed out timeline, especially the latter parts where the plot shadows that of the Phantom Menace.

Others have praised the master manipulations of Plagueis and Sidious but I found it all rather bland and boring. Characters enter the story and then depart without getting any real sense of who they are and as a result I didn’t really care.

In keeping with the textbook theme, the ending of the novel felt more like a footnote to the Phantom Menace than a climax to a riveting story. James Luceno attempts to fill in the blanks and answer some questions not resolved in the films.

Maybe, I suffered from not having read any of the other EU books which I am told introduced a lot of the characters that I did not identify with. James Luceno is clearly a skilled writer and I can see how other regular readers of the EU have enjoyed this book but as a standalone novel I was not convinced.

My rating: 6.5

Book Review - The Railway Detective (JS)

The Railway Detective by Edward Marston

Review by Jacqui Slaney

I have always liked detective books, especially those set in an earlier time such as Agatha Christie and Ngaio Marsh to name two authors. Therefore, when I saw a series of books set in Victorian England, I was interesting the description sounded interesting, so I thought I would try it.

This is the description:

In 1851 England, the city of London anticipates the grand opening of the Great Expedition. Excitement is mounting with each engineering triumph of the railways, but not everyone feels like celebrating. A sudden attack hits the London to Birmingham mail train and it is looted and derailed. Planned with military precision, Detective Inspector Robert Colbeck fights to untangle a web of murder, blackmail and destruction. As Colbeck closes in on the criminal masterminds, events take an unexpected turn when the beautiful Madeline, daughter of the injured train driver, becomes a pawn in the criminals’ game. With time, running out, good and evil, new and old, battle against each other. But will the long arm of the law have speed on its side? Full of historical detail, unexpected twists and memorable characters, this is a mystery that will surprise you at every turn.

The story opens with violence, the mail train is robbed of its gold bullion and when one of the crew tries to resist as they see that their beloved engine is about to be derailed they are seriously assaulted.

Scotland Yard investigates and they soon decide that there must be inside knowledge of the trains’ cargo. This is where you first meet Inspector Colbeck and Sergeant Leeming who are given the case to solve.

I glanced at reviews before I purchased this book, as I did not know the author and the majority of them raved about how good the book was, so thought I would be onto an entertaining series.

 I started to struggle with the book though quite quickly although there were plenty of elements that should have made it good.

The story is set at the beginning of the expansion of the Railways so you have the conflict between landowners and the railway owners. The police force themselves were changing from consisting of ex military men to having a proper detective branch, so you have conflict between Colbeck and his superior who interferes with his work. You even have a love interest with a romance starting between Colbeck and Madeline.

However, I just could not get involved in this story; I found it dull.

Looking at what I have written, that sounds harsh, but unfortunately, it is true, all the things were there that’s should have made it a good read but they just did not gel for me.

I found myself flicking through pages trying to get into the story, but without success.

Looking back at the reviews, I can see that some people struggled but the majority seem to give the story and the writer ringing endorsements.

To me the characters were flat and did not get my interest even when they were in trouble.

I am a bit stubborn, so I did hold onto the end and so am able to say that by the end I had found the story had picked up slightly and came to a satisfactory conclusion.

Would I read the next one? Not at this time.

Would I recommend this one, well this is only my opinion, another reader might find it as good as the other reviewers did, but I do not think I could actually recommend this book to anyone.

5 out of 10