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A Reader's reviews
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-12-09 09:45:18 for Sea of Glory: The Epic South Seas Expedition 1838-42.
(Language: English)
 
I was very surprised upon the flowing narrative of Sea of Glory. With the exception of quotations and long beats of description and background, a little editing could turn the book into a novel. Overshadowed by the Lewis and Clarke expeditions, this great sojourn to the South Seas (now called the Pacific) met substantial success and failure. The earnest, but conceited commander rubbed his subordinates the wrong way (to say the least). Critical mistakes led to the destruction or disappearance of several ships. While wonders were uncovered, the failures from unhappy company kept this important part of American history under the rug.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-12-09 09:38:42 for The War for All the Oceans: From Nelson at the Nile to Napoleon at Waterloo.
(Language: English)
Overall, The War for All the Oceans was a good introductory piece to nautical history during the Napoleonic Wars. Combining primary sources and to contextual analysis, it would educate someone like me who was just getting started in this particular fragment of history. At certain points, I could tell which parts of the book were written by Roy or Lesley. Some parts focused on the grand-scale effects on history by explicating the importance of particular battles and intelligence maneuvers. Other times, the book followed the lives of individual sailors and officers. The final chapter was particularly touching where a senior officer returned to the prison where he had been imprisoned for many years as a midshipman. He sought to find a kind woman who had sheltered him from French soldiers. He had found her an old woman, but they recognized each other and maintained contact in their following years.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-11-22 10:39:20 for If on a Winter's Night a Traveler (Everyman's Library (Cloth)).
(Language: English)
I have found that certain books, while having excellent literary quality, isn't always a favorite unless it strikes the reader at an exact point in his or her life. If I had read If on a Winter's Night a Traveler any earlier or any later, it would not have enacted such a profound effect upon me. As a novel constructed of fragmented and incomplete stories, I can understand a reader's frustration with a lack of conclusion and continuity. However, when I reached the end of the novel, I felt like I had reached the pinnacle of William Tell's overture to 1812. Perhaps for some readers, the ending felt far less profound for their time and patience with the novel. However, I appreciated the unique narrative structure and examined the human condition in Calvino's mind: an incomplete collection of experiences that will, one day, intersect into a moment of pure epiphany.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-11-18 09:23:04 for Boneshaker.
(Language: English)
After having read Cherie Priest's first novel, Four and Twenty Blackbirds, I was curious to see how Priest had matured and what her take was on the steampunk/zombie genre. I found Four and Twenty melodramatic at times. So far, I have never been scared while reading a book, so I offer no comment on that. Occasionally, in Boneshaker, Priest falls into the trap of melodrama, especially concerning the mother-son relationship between the two protagonists. I enjoyed the action and rooted for Briar as she searched for her wayward son in the lost city of Seattle. I felt more description could have been applied to describe an alternate Seattle in the 1880s. After finishing Boneshaker, I had visited Seattle and applied my surroundings in retrospect. However, I would like to have seen more in the novel. A good genre novel; I would recommend it as a leisurely diversion from our reality.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-11-18 09:14:19 for The Girl Who Played with Fire (Vintage).
(Language: English)
After being pleasantly surprised by the Girl with the Dragon tattoo, my emotional response to the second installment of Larsson's series felt more average. Dragon Tattoo had a tight narrative arc and plot consistency. While Played with Fire had few, if any, technical problems, I found the literary craft a little stunted in comparison to the first book, relying on the same catch-phrases and cliche remarks by both protagonists to carry their emotional reactions. There was far less description of technical specifications which allowed the novel to flow effortlessly as opposed to the first book, which the reader would have to contend with a very dense first two chapters. Overall, a good experience and looking forward to the Hornet's Nest when it comes out in paperback.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-11-03 10:47:06 for The Trailsman: No.64 Fargo's Woman.
(Language: English)
Pulp and periodical westerns get a similar wrap as mail-in romances, so when I picked up a copy of The Trailsman #64: Fargo's Woman, my expectations were not very high. However, I was pleasantly surprised by the consistency of the plot. Although the protagonist Skye Fargo embodied the typical archetype of the lone ranger, the tertiary characters took on their own life, creating an emotional atmosphere for the reader to settle into. Once the reader looks past the rigid gender roles, portrayal of the evil savage, and the characteristically neanderthal villain, one can get caught up in the molasses thick plot of sex, gunfights and spears.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-10-11 09:22:15 for Ship of the Line.
(Language: English)
The predecessor, Beat to Quarters, introduces Captain Horatio Hornblower, paralleling his struggles with middle age and the Napoleonic Wars. However, Ship-of-the-Line runs might tighter in the plot, highlighting these themes with precision. The run-down Sutherland and worn out Hornblower both struggle against unfavorably odds in order to secure the balance of power in Europe. Patrick O'Brian's The Ionian Mission takes this theme a step further, making the ailing battleship a physical manifestation of age. However, Forester is the first to tackle these themes in this novel and is still the standard of nautical fiction.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-10-11 09:15:36 for American Born Chinese.
(Language: English)
Growing up Asian-American is not easy. Although dubbed "the successful minority" in sociology textbooks, the Asian-American still is subject to prejudices. American Born Chinese does well to highlight these ironies. Several incidents in the protagonist's school days reminded me of my elementary and middle school. Personal sentiments aside, American Born Chinese ties three plots: the author's personal journey, a fable of the monkey king and an American who has to deal with Chin-Kee, the ultimate Asian stereotype. Yang's coup de grace in the final pages shows how inexorably these three stories are the same; similarly to Italo Calvino's If on a winter's night a traveler. The theme of storytelling and magical realism prevalent in Chinese culture is reminiscent of Maxine Hong Kingston's writings; however, Gene Luen Yang aims for a much broader statement of being Asian American in the United States.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-03-16 10:43:32 for Dreams Underfoot: A Newford Collection.
(Language: English)
A good collection of short stories for any fan of Charles De Lint's Newford universe from over the years. However, many stories are ideas rather than plots and narrative structure. I enjoy reading exercises of imagination and enjoyed this work.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-03-16 10:35:43 for The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Vintage).
(Language: English)
From the beginning, the reader can gain a sense of Larsson's journalistic style weaved into the prose. At first, I found the first chapter concerning the disgrace of Mikael Blomkvist more like a narrative article. However, after pushing through and reaching the story of Lisbeth Salander, the punk girl with the tattoo, my interest was piqued. Her character is unpredictable and ingenious. I feel she carries the weight of the novel more then Blomkvist. I admit that I don't typically read mysteries so I don't have a reference to base the novel on. But, it does well with carrying suspense and highlighting the issues of domestic violence in Swedish society. Because of their socialist system and strong economy, it's hard to remember that even they suffer from the same vices of civilization as anyone else.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-02-13 10:08:41 for Leviathan.
(Language: English)
This is the first young adult book I've read in almost a decade. I found it a quick, enjoyable read that excellently portrayed the definition of steampunk. Westerfeld pits the two schools of the genre into the two grand alliances of World War I. While continental Europe champions diesel and mechanical engineering, Britain harnesses the power of evolution and eugenics, creating ships and weapons of an organic and biological nature. The Austrian-Germans rely on, forgive me for the usage, battlemech-like machines for superiority. In this universe, these two forces are equally matched and the outcome of the world war is far from certain.
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A Reader posted a review at 2010-02-13 10:03:11 for THE LOVELY BONES.
(Language: English)
A well-constructed novel that builds up to a final thesis that took my breath away. In the first chapter, I felt Sebold's personal voice got in the way of the narrator's, Susie Salmon, but I suspended that flaw and enjoyed the rest of the novel.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-05 10:02:21 for Seeker.
(Language: English)
As a fan of space stories, the idea of combining mystery and the "lost colony" theme intrigued me. I found that a host of novels prelude and conclude the Alex Benedict series; however, one doesn't need to read the previous novels in the series to follow the plot. Each novel is episodic. Through and through, it's well written although sometimes it gets muddled up with sequences of action often seen in a political thriller. However, I find McDevitt to be old school in an era where Asimov and Clark dominated the genre: hard and sociological science fiction. I found this to be a good, fast-paced read with a satisfying ending. My only complaint was the narrator, Chase. It wasn't until a third of the way through that I realized she was female. The voice was distinctly male at least to my perception. I had to go back over some of the pages, but I found no other clues prior that led me in that direction. The novel also concluded abruptly. While satisfying, I wished for a softer landing. However, a good, fast read brilliantly interwoven with themes of the science fiction genre.
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A Reader posted a review at 2009-01-05 09:04:23 for Debatable Space.
(Language: English)
Normally, I'm wary of the first person perspective. Many writers fall into the trap of making the protagonist the omniscient and truthful voice of a novel. However, Philip Palmer bypasses this conundrum by adding layers of perspectives from conflicting characters. The primary character, Lena, is a woman a thousand years old who survived the onslaught of civilization by supplementing her body with various surgeries and therapies to keep her body youthful. However, she acts like a cranky old woman. The pirate who kidnaps her, Flanagan, is more or less the swashbuckling scoundrel, but his common sense conflicts with his savage tendencies. Other points of views are described by the rest of the pirate crew, a ragtag team of aliens and genetically altered humans. Some are your normal bipeds, but others are blended with felines or other animals. Each provides a different outlook on their current predicament. Overall, the host of unreliable narrators gave Debatable Space a sense of humor and emotional depth as we sympathize with the characters. While the novel did get silly at times, (ie millions of star ships engaged in epic battles and people eating each other and then putting them back together) I could suspend my beliefs enough to enjoy this read. Palmer definitely is able to command the use of voice. Overall, a valiant first novel. I have always been wary of the first person perspective. Primarily, I become concern when a single character dominates an omniscient view of a novel's plot. However, one of Philip Palmer's greatest successes is an artful command of multiple perspectives. First, Lena, the protagonist, while the most important source of history and information, is an unreliable narrator. In my opinion, the unreliable narrator is the most believable kind. While a woman aged a thousand years and kept young through a series of reconstructions and age therapy, she acts like a cranky old woman. The other characters who flood the novel range from the pirate captain Flanagan to the man boy Jamie who permanently keeps his body at 10 years old. Aliens such as flame beasts offer their immortal and logical understanding of the universe while engineered humans (who may bear cyborg or even feline physical and mental traits) also provide depth to the deviant society of this space opera. The multitude of opinions and personalities clash throughout the novel which kept me reading. At times, the plot got silly. When millions of starships are fighting an epic battle or when people are eating each other and then reconstructing their bodies, it requires a lot of discombobulation from believability. However, as a nerd myself, I can forego reality when it comes to speculative fiction. I've read very harsh reviews on Debatable Space, but I feel differently. This is an audacious attempt of combining conflicting personalities, human solidarity and the questioning of establishment into a normally clichéd genre. A valiant venture as a first novel.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-05-05 05:00:35 for Perdido Street Station.
(Language: English)
Mixing fantasy and horror, this speculative novel sets within the realm of a steampunk universe. A creature both bird and man seeks a scientist in order to help him fly again. Filled with creatures alien to our reality, Perdido Street Station is a Dickensian horror novel. The noble lower class fight to survive in the harsh ghettos as the disconnected aristocracy fight for political dominance. Mieville subtle implications of Marxism is artistic as well as his garguantuan imagination.
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A Reader posted a review at 2008-05-05 04:54:35 for The Onion Girl (Newford).
(Language: English)
I picked this novel up at random while rifling through the fantasy section of my local bookstore. I'm sorry to say that I was pretty disillusioned with the genre because nothing seemed to stick out. After reading the blurb, I thought I'd give it a shot. This book changed the way I view fantasy. The mix of myth and modern conflict blends well and evenly. The characters are believable and complex. Both dark and charming, De Lint's prose dazzled me from the start until the end.
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