Juggling Reviews and Batman

I posted up my review of Juggler of Worlds, the follow-up to Niven/Lerner’s enjoyable Fleet of Worlds. I didn’t enjoy Juggler nearly as much as its predecessor:

As indicated in my review of Fleet of Worlds, I’ve not (even since then) had a chance to read any of Nivens other Ringworld or Known Space novels, so I don’t know how much overlap or retconning/re-appropriating is done for this novel. Some parts of the novel lacked dramatic tension. The earliest portions of the novel were tense as we were introduced to Sigmund, but as the novel progressed, Sigmund became less interesting and the story also felt more by-the numbers.

Mark posted his review of James Barclay’s latest, Ravensoul. I read the a bunch of Barclay’s excellent Raven novels a few years back and like them a lot, here’s a brief from Mark’s review:

…the book begins strikingly, with the return of old characters in new bodies. The souls of the dead, under threat, are drawn to those they knew best. Removed from their place of rest, they are being hunted by a new enemy travelling across dimensions, the Garonin. These seemingly unstoppable opponents appear from nowhere in Balaia, mining mana, the magical force that drives this world. Any attack on them means they vanish to other dimensions in the blink of an eye. When engaged in combat, their speed is phenomenal, their weaponry awesome and their battle-skills are ferociously scary.

On to things Batman...

I really, really hope Grant Morrison’s payoff in Batman R.I.P. is worth the hype and delays. Something inside of me hopes Bruce becomes the Joker, but that might be too extreme even for Morrison. Part I’ve been enjoying the ride Grant’s been taking us on so far and despite what others have said, I like Tony Daniel’s art. Time will tell how long “Bruce Wayne will no longer be Batman,” since DC will somehow get Bruce back under the cowl. I think the Heart of Hush storyline that just concluded in Detective was pretty good as was the Nightwing storyline involving Two-Face.