Catching up with the Classics: The Demon Awakens by R.A. Salvatore (DemonWars Volume 1)

Title:

The Demon Awakens (DemonWars Volume 1)

Author: R.A. Salvatore

Publisher: Saga Press

Length: 704 Pages (Trade Paperback)

Publication Date/Year: 1997 (Original Hardcover) / 2024 (Saga Press Reissue)

Genre: Epic Fantasy

Sometimes, it is a nice change of pace to go back to a classic, or at least a novel/work people consider classic. I've remarked previously that keeping up with all the HOT! NEW! releases can allow some of the older novels be forgotten or slip to the side. We as readers, especially those of us who read addictively, owe it to ourselves to take a step back and look at some older, foundational works of whatever genre it is we enjoy so much.

This brings me to R.A. Salvatore’s DemonWars saga. Salvatore has been a brand names in Epic Fantasy/Fantasy for the better part of the last few decades. He made his name in the Forgotten Realms shared world of Dungeons and Dragons with the character of Drizzt Du'Orden, but his DemonWars saga came to be his biggest non-shared world saga. Many years ago, I read the original Icewind Dale trilogy and the first few Drizzt novels and enjoyed them and even enjoyed an earlier novel in the world of Corona - The Ancient. In other words,  knew Salvatore could spin an entertaining tale, at the very least. Originally published in 1997, The Demon Awakens introduces readers to the world of Corona, the ranger Elbryan, the warrior Jilseponie “Pony,” and the monk/cleric Avelyn.

This may sound familiar… a dark entity has awoken after many, many years of being dormant. The races of the world think it dead or nothing more than a myth. This entity pulling the strings of all the darkness encroaching is the demon Dactyl also known as Bestesbulzibar, among many other names. The dactyl gathers the monstrous races of giants, goblins and other creatures together in an attempt to takeover the world.

We have three heroes at the center of this epic tale, Pony and Elbryan are romantically drawn to each other but before they can really get their relationship into gear, their home village of Dundalis is attacked by goblins. They are pulled in separate directions, thinking the other dead. Pony suffers from memory loss and PTSD while Elbryan is more fortunate. He’s taken in by the elves of Corona, the Touel'alfar. Meanwhile, Avelyn is a devout monk whose eyes are opened to the true nature of his brotherhood when he is sent on a mission to retrieve some magical gems. As the forces of darkness grow in power, as the dactyl's armies and minions become more of a presence in the world Pony, Elbryan, and Avelyn find themselves drawn together. 

I was swept away by the novel, by Elbryan’s journey with the elves as he became a true Hero. I was pulled into Pony’s (a.k.a. Cat) plight as she relearned who she was. I was taken aback by the change Avelyn made from his initial introduction as devout monk to powerful, almost jovial cleric. I found the centaur Bradwarden to be a refreshing character. The friendship and camaraderie that developed between these characters felt genuine and real.

I found the magic of the gems to be fun and interesting. The way they were introduced and how the magic was utilized throughout leaves a lot of room for development in future novels. There's some similarity to the way -mancy in Brandon Sanderson's Mistborn novels work. 

There are some little issues; however. The biggest one that continually brought me a chuckle was the naming convention and names of things. I’m sure there’s some logic to a name like Bestesbulzibar or Elbryan, but one could be forgiven for thinking that some random scrabble letters thrown together or tacked onto what are otherwise normal/standard sounding names.

Is this a Fantasy novel that exhibits some…familiarity? Yes. Does much of the story feature tropes and cliches? Sure. Then again, I’ve been reading fantasy for the majority of my life and for a significant amount of time prior to this novel being published. In other words, I had a sense of what might happen in the novel, what some characters might be.

But you know what, (to quote Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson), that “DOESN’T MATTER!” I enjoyed the hell out of this novel.

The Demon Awakens also surprised me in some places. There was more depth to the novel, the plot and characters than I was expecting. In particular, Pony’s journey throughout the novel. At the time the novel was written and published, I can’t say for certain how much PTSD was featured in fantasy novels but Pony’s plight and how her trauma affected her felt more mature than I was expecting. I had a very powerful sense that Salvatore put a great deal of care, energy, and compassion into Pony's journey. While I’ve seen a lot of comments negatively suggesting this as a “YA novel” (I do hate how people use that as a derisive label) there’s more depth and maturity than one might otherwise believe. Overall, the tone was a little darker than I was expecting, too. 

I have to admit to enjoying the earnest, largely straightforward nature of the story. Salvatore fully embraces the hero's journey, the familiar character types/classes and monsters of fantasy (Dungeons & Dragons and particular), and goes with it. Not saying I don't enjoy subversive novels that play with the tropes, but sometimes, a good straightforward novel/story like the one Salvatore presents in The Demon Awakens is just what the doctor ordered.

In 2024, with Pinquickle’s Folly, Salavatore returned to the world of Corona and made the switch to Saga Press, the Science Fiction and Fantasy imprint of Simon & Schuster. I assume as part of that deal, Saga Press acquired the rights to repackage/republish the entirety of the DemonWars saga with cohesive branding/artwork. I know Salvatore’s many fans adore the late Keith Parkinson’s artwork on the latter 4 DemonWars novels. That said and this is no slight to the original artwork, but these newer editions have modern feel to these books. When I saw them on the Simon & Schuster table at New York Comic Con 2024, I was immediately drawn and finally decided this was a good time to acquaint myself with Salvatore’s beloved saga after many, many years of having The Demon Awakens on the ever-present "virtual" to be read pile in my head. 

I am very, very happy I finally dove into this series. I’ve been knee deep in horror the past few years (more than 50% of what I’ve been reading), especially most recently so I was happy to dive into a novel like this, something that hit the familiar notes of epic fantasy I enjoy so much, along with some unexpected nuances, told with a very engaging pace. Had I picked up these books when they were first published when I was first getting into The Wheel of Time, Memory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad Williams, and The Farseer by Robin Hobb, I suspect I'd hold them in very high regard, at least based on how much I enjoyed The Demon Awakens. 

Bottom line: this very seasoned reader of Epic Fantasy thoroughly enjoyed The Demon Awakens and has plans to at least read through the next two novels, and probably the “bridge” novel Mortalis. I’ve seen several fellow fantasy readers consider it Salvatore’s finest novel.

Catching up with the Classics or 3rd Time is a Charm – C.J. Cherryh’s Foreigner

C.J. Cherryh is a writer who needs little introduction to Science Fiction and Fantasy readers (although Andrew Liptak did a nice write-up about her at Kirkus). Even if you haven’t read any of her work, her name should be familiar. It is virtually impossible not to see her name in the SF section, she’s written over 50 novels since first publishing in the mid-1970s, has been nominated and received nearly every award the SFF genres have to offer. Yet, it is her 1994 novel Foreigner that launched what has become her single-longest series chronicling one character/set of characters continuously (even if many of the other novels take place in the same milieu).

It is the first book in the series that I’m covering here…

Ain't that purty?

But first, let’s take a step back. Foreigner isn’t my first attempt at reading a novel by C.J. Cherryh. The first Cherryh I read was The Dreaming Tree (a two-in-one edition containing The Tree of Swords and Jewels and Ealdwood). Or rather, I read the first half, about 15 years ago before giving up. I had a similar experience with Downbelow Station (link to SFFWorld Book Club discussion from 2006)  and ditched that book at about the halfway point. But yet…Cherryh’s output was so wide that surely I should try again, right? I was initially drawn to her work, admittedly, when I was browsing through Michael Whelan’s Web site many, many years ago and noticed just how many beautiful covers of her work he’d painted. Whelan's covers didn’t steer me wrong with C.S. Friedman, and he did covers for Stephen King and Tad Williams so I figured I had a good barometer.

Fast forward to a year or two ago….Cherryh’s name continually comes up in the conversations with folks I’ve become friends with on twitter an the online genre community (Stefan Raets, Paul Weimer) and I’m urged even more to give her work another (a yet unheard of third) attempt. So, I add Foreigner to my amazon wish list, received it for Christmas and earlier this week, I finally read it.

…and I enjoyed it. A great deal.

Essentially, Foreigner is a first contact novel…a first contact novel that doesn’t really become a first contact novel until a couple of prologues sets up the situation. Some readers/fans of the books have not looked too fondly on the first third of the novel, but I personally like that contextualization of events.

So, Foreigner is a first contact novel wherein aliens reluctantly visit a life with sentient beings and humans are those reluctant visitor aliens, the atevi are dark/black skinned inhabitants of the world humanity visits, and are several heads taller than humans, between 8 and 10 feet tall. The protagonist and our primary point of view character is Bren Cameron, the human who acts as translator / mediator / ambassador / representative (or the atevi title paidhi) for the atevi and is the lone human among the atevi.

The humans aren’t exactly fully welcome on the Atevi planet. Be that as it may, human technology has been slowly and deliberately introduced into atevi culture to the point that the atevi are close to reaching space travel technology.

The main action of the novel begins when an assassination attempt is made on Bren. It isn’t clear who is trying to kill the lone human, but it endangers the thin lines of stability in atevi culture and their relationship to humanity. This is made an even more challenging situation for Bren because of the subtle differences in atevi and human/English language and communication. He’s got two handlers, the male Banichi and female Jago, both of whom he tries to keep on an even keel without disappointing either of them. Part of his frustration and difficulty is that he is even more isolated, having been sequestered to an ancient castle for his own protection. He is little more than a prisoner under “castle” arrest, and all communication between him and the human populace has been halted; the regular letters he’d been receiving were cut off and the atevi are not permitting him to make any phone calls.

Although Cherryh uses an omniscient third person narrative, it is very limited to the point of view of what Bren sees and experiences so in that sense, it has much in common with the first person narrative. Because of this limiting narrative, we have as much of a clue as the human goings on and what his human friends are trying to communicate as does Bren himself.

In Bren’s situation – cut off from friends and his own damned species – feeling disheartened, frustrated, and confused are natural. Cherryh does a fine job of showing these emotions through Bren’s interactions with the atevi closest to him. What makes his character so strong is that he does not give into despair and hate. Through everything the atevi do to him (which turns out to be logical in hindsight once the big Reveal is, well, revealed), Bren seeks to understand them and seeks their understanding of him and humans.

Cherryh does some great things in this novel, she conveys so much about cultural misunderstandings as representatives of these cultures to try and understand each other. Some of the stronger portions of the novel involved conversations between Bren and Cenedi. My only real complaint is that a full character list would have been helpful.

This series has grown considerably since the publication of Foreigner in 1994 with 15 books in print (at about a book per year) and a 16th due this year (2015). For me, Foreigner serves as my new entry point into Cherryh’s enormous oeuvre and I hope to spend time catching up with her work. I will likely next dive into the four-book Morgaine Cycle,  perhaps The Chanur Saga, maybe The Faded Sun (I am a sucker for an omnibus and DAW does them better than any publisher), the next Foreigner installment, or maybe another Michael Whelan cover which catches my eye.

 

 

Would I have enjoyed the book had I tried it any other time, say closer to the time I read and gave up on Downbelow Station? I don’t know, but I’m leaning towards a “no.” My reading tastes in the genre have evolved and matured in the last decade. I think this is due in large part to my interactions with other  friends / readers, which has allowed me to be more open, willing to try again, and think about what I read differently than I did 5, 10, 15 years ago.

Later edit: I would be remiss if I didn't point out Jo Walton's excellent overview of some of Cherryh's work, including a reread of the Foreigner series, with over at Tor.com.

On a side note, I read the physical/mass market version of this book and as I’ve been wont to do in recent months, I was “reading” an audio-book at the same time. In this case, Andy Weir’s The Martian. There’s an interesting contrast in the two novels, in particular the abandonment both protagonists experience.

Not Quite a Review of Trading in Danger by Elizabeth Moon (Plus a Thought or Two on Gender)

In Trading in Danger, Elizabeth Moon introduces readers to Kylar “Ky” Vatta as she’s being discharged from the military. Ky, fortunately, is a member of the Vatta family, owners of Vatta Transport Ltd a powerful space trading corporation based on the rich planet Slotter, so she can fall back on her family’s company as a means to an end. However, her heart was in the military and in the first chapter, Moon’s depiction of the Ky’s discharge is one of the strongest novel openings which immediately generates empathy and sympathy for the protagonist. It may seem a simple thing and with little introduction to or knowledge of Ky, but a great sense of emotional turmoil and shock is conveyed through what Ky experiences and how she deals with it through her internal dialogue. I immediately began rooting for Ky to succeed and felt that way over the course of the novel. I think I like the character of Ky Vatta even more than Moon's more famous character Paks.

Throughout the remainder of the novel, Ky’s plight does not get any easier. She is given a derelict of a ship Glennys Jones to run one last job/mission, which of course does not turn into “one last job.” Along the way of this last job, Ky takes on another job in her name, rather than in the name of her father’s company. Ky wants to branch out on her own, make a name for herself. When her father, Gerard, set her on the task of “one last job” for the ship, he suspected she might get herself some more contracts and go a little rogue. What he, nor Ky, expected was that the major communication ansible at the spaceport would be destroyed, one of those jobs she takes would lead to a contract with a Mercenary crew – the Mackensee Military Assistance Corporation – and that job would involve holding on to some passengers for a time. What everybody involved didn’t expect was that some of those passengers would be pirates who are connected with messing with the ansibles, attempt mutiny on Ky’s ship. Fortunately, Ky’s military training kicks in which allows her to handle the situation amazingly well.

I am a fan of Elizabeth Moon’s writing, although I’ve only read her fantasy output. Not surprisingly, her storytelling, writing and hand at character just as strong when she shifts to Science Fiction. Like her fantasy, there’s a strong military flavor to the novel which, considering her experience as a Marine, is only natural. In that sense, the novel feels quite natural and plausible. Overall, I enjoyed the novel a great deal and plan on reading through the remaining books in the series sooner rather than late, which I define as ‘within the next year.’

There came a point near the end of the novel when one of the characters – a mentor character by the name of Quincy Robin – was giving Ky some advice. Good advice from a place of love and respect. It was a great scene, and I came to a realization. This character was/is a woman whose first name is Quincy and often is referred to by that first name. From my experience, and this is probably flavored by the television show Quincy starring Jack Klugman, I was both reading this character as a man and a woman. Maybe a better way to say that is with gender blinders? All I know is that I wasn’t placing a value on the character because of her gender. Multiple times in the narrative, Moon refers to Quincy as “she” or “her” but my preconceived notion of the character as a man because of the name was in conflict with that. I wasn’t placing a value judgment on the character of Quincy or her gender, but it was a conflict (of sorts) in my own head. As a result, I realized the gender of the character didn’t factor negatively or positively into my respect and admiration of the character, Quincy was simply a well-wrought character who happened to be a woman.

This “gender blindness” or “zero value gender judgment” came at a time when I’d read a few novels in a row by women and just prior to Trading in Danger, I read (and enjoyed) Ascension by Jacqueline Koyanagi. Both novels feature women protagonists in novels most often associated with male writers which would most often feature male protagonists. With both of these novels and the protagonists, I felt a connection to their plight, felt invested in their emotions and rooted for them to succeed.

I’d like to think I’ve always read gender in characters this way, not as a value in a positive or negative, but as an element of the character. There’s ever more talk, at least in the twitter circles that I follow, about gender in genre. So this is just my little two cents on the subject. At least for now.

Daylight Red - New Reviews at Tor.com & SFFWorld

I’ve got a new review up at Tor.com, a novel for me that had an extremely high anticipation factor and Mark continues his read-through of the Virginia Edition of Robert A. Heinlein’s work.

My review is The Daylight War by Peter V. Brett, the third in is five-book Demon Cycle. I was very pleased with the novel as you may see if you click through to the review.

While the demons are still very present in The Daylight War, humanity’s remnants need to get their collective heads together before the demon threat can effectively be vanquished. In many post-apocalyptic stories—and a case can be made for The Demon Cycle as a post-apocalyptic story—the trigger event marginalizing human society becomes window dressing as the story progresses and the human character’s conflict takes center stage.

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The mythology/worldbuilding behind the demons hinted in the previous volume is revealed slightly more here in The Daylight War, as Brett peppers in chapter passages from the POV of the demons, providing readers with a glimpse of their society and race as a whole. Whether he will continue to expose more of the demons’ nature and origins remains to be seen, but I enjoyed the slow reveal unfolding here and I am very curious to see how much of the demons’ history Brett will allow readers to see.

Mark Heinlein read-through catches him up with Red Planet

What surprises me most on re-reading is how complex this book really is behind the obvious plot narrative. We have ancient Martian races, social revolution and rather manipulative humans on a Bonestellian style planet. Our hero is, as was rather traditional for these books, a teenage human male, whose growing up (see: rite-of-passage) was rather frontier-like. On the cutting edge of space colonisation, Jim Marlowe is a pioneer. It’s not by accident the original edition was subtitled on the cover, ‘A colonial boy on Mars’.

Rather surprisingly, Willis still reads as an engagingly depicted character that would gladden the heart of any young reader, although he/she/it is basically a canine substitute (and is something that Heinlein will use again in later books such as Star Beast and The Rolling Stones/Space Family Stone, for example.) It’s not by coincidence that Tor Books once referred to the novel as ‘One Boy and his Martian.’ Supremely loyal and endearingly enthusiastic, these days I can see the similarities between Willis and Edgar Rice Burroughs’s Woola more clearly.

The Hundred Year Christmas by David Morrell - Catching up with the Classics

Christmas stories are a dime a dozen, and I think that’s underselling the point. For a story about Christmas or Santa Claus to have some kind of impact, it needs to be different while still towing to the themes of faith, love, and hope. When the writer of First Blood turned his storytelling pen to a fable about Santa Claus not many people would have expected such a poignant and heartfelt tale. Well, that’s just what readers of The Hundred Year Christmas got when they closed the book illustrated by R. J. Krupowicz.

My father was and is a big Stephen King fan so when he first became a King fan back in the 1980s, he learned of The Dark Tower (at the time, only The Gunslinger) was published. He managed to get a first edition of The Gunslinger and subsequently got on the mailing list for the publisher Donald M. Grant books, the original publisher of The Hundred Year Christmas.

So, since my father bought the book nearly 30 years ago, I read it every couple of years and again yesterday for the first time in quite a while. It is basically an origin for Santa Claus and it’s got a little bit in common with the film The Santa Clause and hits upon some of the same thematic beats as the Rankin-Bass stop-motion special The Year without a Santa Claus.

The story is told as a bedtime story on Christmas Eve from  father to his two children. The story itself began as a tale Morrell told his two children. Intertwined into the story of Santa Claus is that of Father Time; Santa has a 100-year lifespan and Father Time a one-year lifespan. Both entities live in a magical house with a road leading over a hill where each must go when their time is up. EThe story chronicles the hundredth year of the Santa Claus from the 20th Century, for there have been multiple Santa Clauses throughout the years. very 100 years, Santa has to choose his successor while every year a new Father Time appears. Morrell crafts a wonderful story and in a short space, builds up a great deal of emotion and love between the two mythical characters.

To go into more detail would spoil the story (right, its a story nearly 30 years old now and not easy to acquire). I’m somewhat surprised this one hasn’t been made into a film or TV special of some sort. The illustrations by R.J. Krupowicz are a bit unsettling, the elves in the illustrations are creepy and they resemble gremlins. Away from the elves, the art does lend an appropriately classic look to the story.

Overlook Press recently reissued the story in an illustrated edition with some revisions and an introduction.

Martin's Fevre Dream and van Thal's Second Pan Book of Horror

It’s a week after Hallowe’en but Mark and I have two reviews that keep the dark mood going.

George R.R. Martin needs no introduction, though some of his early work may. Thanks to the success of A Song of Ice and Fire his back list is being reissued, including the CLASSIC Vampire novel, Fevre Dream, here’s part of what I thought:

Abner Marsh is a man down on his luck; while considered a good steamboat captain, his most recent ship was destroyed in icy water. Joshua York, enigmatic man to say the least, sees something in Marsh that he thinks will be a key to his mysterious goals. The two men met and despite Marsh’s warnings to the contrary, enter a business arrangement to build and operate the greatest steamship to chart the waters of the Mississippi River – the Fevre Dream. The novel is set against the back-drop of the American South shortly before the Civil War, Martin’s novel features a great mix of characters many of whom are black men, both free and slaves.
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In a parallel narrative, Martin introduces Damon Julian, also a vampire and whose actions more closely reflect to the evil vampire that has come to be the accepted model of the blood sucker. Julian lives a decadent life in the dark, the plantation which he took over is fraying at the edges and Julian’s reputation in the slave community and the region in general is becoming unsavory. What’s even more unsavory is Sour Billy, the human who keeps Julian’s world in order during the day. Few characters I’ve encountered are as slimy and disgusting as Sour Billy Tipton, in other words, he’d probably be pals with some of Martin’s more lurid characters from A Song of Ice and Fire like Roose Bolton and there’s a part of Sour Billy that reminded me of Ike Clanton as portrayed by Stephen Lang in the film Tombstone.

Mark continues his look back at some classics of genre in Herbert van Thal’sThe Second Pan Book of Horror Stories:

At the time of writing this we approach Halloween (again) and my thoughts turn to Horror stories for this time of year. Two years ago I reviewed the re-release of the first of these collections. This year I had to raid the vaults of Hobbit Towers for this 52-year-old classic.

There are fifteen stories in the collection, ranging from the classic (from Edgar Allen Poe, HG Wells and Bram Stoker, for example) to the rather unknown these days (Guy Preston, Oscar Cook, Stanley Ellin). There’s also the odd surprise: Agatha Christie and Carl Stephenson.

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In summary, there are more hits than misses here. Personal favourites would be The Fly, The Black Cat, and The Judge’s House, all of which are recognised as classics. Almost as good, and much more unknown was By One, By Two and By Three and The Specialty of the House.

A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham (The Long Price Quartet #1)

Just one review so far this week and its mine. I *might* have another later in the week, but we shall see. Confession time, I originally started the book I reviewed in 2007, the year following its publication and stopped halfway through to read and review a then forthcoming novel. A few years later, this series gets tons of praise from readers whose opinions I respect and Abraham publishes two terrific novels in 2011. So I realized with greater excitement I need to revisit Daniel Abraham’s The Long Price Quartet, something I’d planned for a while. (not to mention that these books have gorgeous covers by Stephan Martinier) All that said, here’s my review of the first book A Shadow in Summer

A Shadow in Summer has many elements in common with Abraham’s fantasy contemporaries – imagined world with echoes of our own, archaic governments that hearken to our past, hints of magic and non-human creatures. Where the novel (and series) differs is in how these elements play together in Abraham’s sandbox. The magic is subtle, only one andat is a primary player in A Shadow in Summer, the imagined world feels more like an old-world Asian setting rather than what’s become the template – Renaissance/Middle Ages Europe. Though the ripple effects of events in the novel are global, it is a plot involving not that many characters, or in other worlds, a world shaped not by war but a chosen few in power. Hints of the power of commerce which take more of a role in The Dragon’s Path can be seen here in A Shadow in Summer. The comparison to Guy Gavriel Kay has been made by many people and I’ll add my voice to the crowd, it is difficult to ignore if you’ve read both writers. Another writer to whom I’d compare Abraham, at least with this novel, is Sean Russell – subtle magic, elegant prose, and ripple effects of a few men on a large scale.

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The movements throughout the novel are like that, subtle in the small pieces until the results come to light as something far greater than the sum of their parts. What is unfortunate is that this series did not get the attention from the fantasy reading masses it rightly deserved when first published, having attained something of a cult status. With Abraham’s profile growing in recent years – close ties with George R.R. Martin will do that, not to mention his two great novels I mentioned earlier with Orbit US, this series is growing out of that ‘cult’ status into a defining Fantasy work for the early 21st Century. Smartly, Tor books the original U.S. publisher of The Long Price Quartet is ensuring the series will be imprint by issuing two omnibus editions containing the four books.

Zombies, Thieves, and Circuses - Oh My!

I’ve got one review over the past week, Mark has two. Normally with that ratio, I’d go Mark’s review-Rob’s review-Mark’s review. I’m changing it up, linking to my review first, since the book I reviewed is a nominee for this past year’s Hugo Award. Mark reviewed a classic of the fantastic and a debut that received a fair amount of acclaim when it hit shelves earlier in the year.

Sometimes a book comes along, you overlook it initially then when you read it you want to go back, slap yourself for initially passing on it because the book is That Damned Good. Case in point, Mira Grant’s FEED, the first of her Newsflesh trilogy:

Georgia Mason and her brother Shaun run a popular blog newsite, After the End of Times in the year 2039, about 25 years after the Rising – the first time the dead rose in 2014. Georgia is a Newsie, who reports straightforward news; Shaun is an Irwin (so named after Steve Irwin), since he goes out and pokes & prods the zombies for the cameras, which draws in viewers to their blog; while their third primary leader, Buffy, is a Fictional, who writes stories and poems. Their blog grows in popularity, especially when Senator Peter Ryman invites Georgia and crew to join his campaign trail, becoming the first bloggers allowed access to such a presidential campaign. This, of course, increases their popularity/ratings, but with the legitimacy afforded by such an invite, consequences and fallout are naturally expected. The consequences in Feed, being a science fiction/horror hybrid (with political thriller elements thrown into the mix), are more than anything for which Georgia, Shaun, and Buffy bargained.

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Grant goes into great detail about the scientific nature of the cause of zombies, and she does it an informal conversational way through Georgia that it is both gripping, provides a breather from some of the more intense narrative scenes, and pushes the story forward. While the narrative is told mainly in Georgia’s first person voice, it is interspersed with passages from the blogs of Georgia, Shaun, and Buffy. In both the ‘breaks from action’ and well handled scientific rationale, I was reminded a great deal of Scott Westerfeld’s brilliant vampire novels Peeps and The Last Days.

The debut Mark reviewed has been released in both the US and the UK this year and features a rogue-ish protagonist Among Thieves, which serves as both Douglas Hulick’s debut and the first of the Tales of the Kin saga:

This is a lively and very competent debut. Rising above what could’ve been a difficult sell – a man whose life revolves around deception and murder is not often a character to like – but Douglas manages this difficult balancing act pretty well. For Drothe is an honourable thief, a murderer with scruples.

...

This one rattled along nicely from revelation to revelation. We find that items are discovered that may have consequences for all of those involved. Drothe and Degan engage in a pact that will have implications for them both, and may indeed be connected to a plot to kill the Emperor. Unrest in the Kin-run areas of town lead Drothe and his compatriots being involved in a series of street fights, setting and avoiding traps for the unwary and trying to avoid being both betrayed and the betrayers of all they hold dear.

The Circus of Dr. Lao by Charles Finney is a classic of early 20th Century fantastic literature, which was filmed in the 1960s starring Tony Randall. I read the book a few years ago, liked it a lot, and Mark recently reviewed it:

The book begins in what we would now see as a small-town USA / Stephen King kind of way, as the town’s inhabitants read of the circus through an advertisement placed mysteriously in the town’s newspaper. The book shows us the effects of the circus on various members of the Abalone community, amongst them the newspaper printer and copy editor, a local schoolteacher, the children of the town and a down-and-out (this was the time of the Great Depression) recently discharged from the Army, amongst others.
...
Some of the language is Bradbury-poetic, lyrical and obscure. It’s not every day that you read the word ‘pulchritude’, even less so on the first page of the novel. It is also deliberately ambiguous in its plot, a book that doesn’t explain everything and doesn’t finish with an ending that ties everything up, though it is apt. It even poses some questions at the end not answered in the book!

On Basilisk Station by David Weber, plus Mamatas Interviewed

As I’ve recounted quite a bit on the ‘o Stuff, David Weber is climbing my list of favorite writers, thanks to his epic Safehold saga, so I figured I should try the series that really put him on the map, Honor Harrington, specifically, the launch of the series On Basilisk Station. My review went up at SFFWorld today:

Though Weber’s first novel was published in 1990 - Insurrection - a collaboration with Steve White on a novel based on the Starfire board game, and his first solo novel – Mutineer's Moon –published in 1991, it was On Basilisk Station that really gave an indication of greater things to come.
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On Basilisk Station introduces readers to Commander Honor Harrington of the Royal Manticoran Navy upon her graduation from the Academy. Despite much promise, she is given a ship that is stripped down so suffers defeat and is assigned (more like banished) to the titular Basilisk Station. The only relief is that her nemesis from the Academy, who is in charge of the Basilisk Station, leaves to have his ship repaired thus leaving Harrington in charge of the problematic station. Honor soon discovers much clandestine and black market activity on the Station which had been allowed to occur for years as those who run the station, for lack of a better term, turned a blind eye. It is here that Weber begins to further flesh out his future universe, hinting at the divide present in a galactic society. Furthermore, this novel begins to establish the two primary powers – the aforementioned Star Kingdom of Manticore and the Republic of Haven.
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Mark interviewed outspoken writer Nick Mamatas recently for SFFWorld, which can be found here.
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Another friendly reminder about the book club discussions at SFFWorld for May 2011:
The Keepby F. Paul Wilson
BlackOut by Connie Willis

Lastly, the second Dresden Files post, focusing on Fool Moon, by SFFWorld co-hort Mark Yon is now live at Orbit Books blog (UK).

SPOTLIGHT: Catching up with the Classics - Glen Cook's Dread Empire

This one is from the archives of 2007. I never got around to posting it here or at SFFWorld, so I figured with The Black Company being the book of the month in the SFFWorld Fantasy Book Club, now was as good a time as any to post my review of A Cruel Wind: A Chronicle of the Dread Empire. I was also way overdue on my plans to do a Spotlight/Catching up with the Classics once a month.

The cover is just so gorgeous I had to post it as big as I did.

Without further ado...



NightShade Books
ISBN 978-1-59780-055-6
August 2006
904 Pages

Glen Cook has been writing acclaimed fantasy (and some science fiction) for many years, just on the outskirts of the big brand names like Donaldson, Jordan, and Martin. This is not to say his writing is inferior to those more recognized names, in fact, quite the opposite. After having read Cook’s first three Dread Empire novels, collected in a beautiful omnibus from the fine folks at NightShade books under the title A Cruel Wind, I find myself eager to read more of his works, if not in the Dread Empire, then any of his novels. I was not a novice to Cook when I opened this book, I read and enjoyed three of his Black Company novels, published by the Science Fiction Book Club under the title The Annals of the Black Company. It has been a number of years since I read the Black Company novels, so I can’t fairly and precisely compare the two sets of books other than the feel both worlds evoke. Cook doesn’t mince words, either in his descriptions or dialogues. These people live in harsh worlds were war is prevalent and a fact of daily life.

The first book in A Cruel Wind, A Shadow of All Night Falling, flips between to time periods. The ‘present’ of the world and the past, illustrating the origins of a great wizard, Varthlokur. Cook presents a harsh, desert-like landscape in which the wizard-to-be is born and raised. Much of his early life is spent without speaking, though he plots a plenty. Those scenes alternate with Varthlokur’s plans coming to fruition, as he sends spies to invade the nation where his prophesized future wife rules. The foremost spy goes by the name of Mocker, a rather unassuming individual from a physical standpoint, but able to win over crowds and individuals thanks to his amazing charisma. Eventually Mocker’s way with words wins over the queen, whom he originally was intended to sway to Varthlokur’s side as his wife, as a lover of Mocker’s own. This novel sets the stage for the events in the subsequent novels, while also ending with a sense of closure. A Shadow of All Night Falling set the stage, obviously, and it was the book I enjoyed most in the omnibus. I really liked the alternating perspective Cook utilized in the narrative and his evocation of the setting which reminded me of the Hyborian Age of the Conan novels than of anything else.

The second book, October’s Child, takes more of a physical approach to the action. Whereas A Shadow of All Night Falling was more a novel of political play, the gruesome, tireless and seemingly endless cloud of war permeated the second installment of The Dread Empire. Throughout this second novel, Cook terrifically injects the darkness of war, especially in the way the characters feel. Though I thought narrative was as strong here, it fell a bit short of how much I enjoyed A Shadow of All Night Falling.

The final volume in this book, All Darkness Met, again brings more of the focus on Varthlokur’s efforts, though he is more of a secondary character. After following the wizard’s ascent in the first volume, Cook expertly builds on the character with other character’s thoughts and fears about Varthlokur. Cook's method of characterization from a distance worked for me here and I enjoyed All Darkness Met probably as much as October's Baby.

While a number of the characters are important across the three books, perhaps the most well-drawn throughout is Mocker. A fat man, with high charisma and a unique speech pattern make for a memorable and enigmatic character. Some might find his manner speaking annoying, with it’s Yoda-like word placements, but it comes across as an endearing quality, much like the small, green Jedi master. On can also see the similarities between Mocker and Steven Erikson’s Kruppe, which is no surprise since Erikson has listed Cook’s writing as an influence.

The Ragnarsson clan evoking a Nordic influence, factor a great deal throughout the storyline, particularly the final two books.

The physical book itself deserves mention. From small-press NightShade, this is a beautiful looking book, from the evocative Raymond Swanland cover, to the nice paper, to the overall feel and design of the book, one can tell the publishers put a great deal of thought into their final product. It should also be noted the book includes a great introduction by Jeff VanderMeer who paints a great picture of Cook’s writing; the preface works as both an introduction and a “love letter” of sorts.

The suggestion is often made, but fans of Erikson’s Malazan series should check out this book, as well as Cook’s Black Company. Fans with an interest in the down-in-the trenches approach without so much veneer would do well to check out these books. Hell, fans of fantasy in general would do well to read these books. I enjoyed A Cruel Wind a great deal for many reasons - the evocation of the setting, the different approaches Cook utilized from book to book, and quite simply, the overall story itself in each volume and as a whole for the saga. I did think the pacing was slightly uneven in spots from book to book, but on the whole I liked A Cruel Wind quite a bit.

© 2008 Rob H. Bedford

Thanks for the nudging Joe.

SPOTLIGHT: Catching up with the Classics - Starship Troopers

So, here's the new "feature" at the Blog o' Stuff. Once a month (at the very least, I hope), I'll be taking a look at a classic book or novel from the Fantasy/Science Fiction genres. This will either be a book I haven't read in a while, or the case of in this installment's book Starship Troopers, a classic I have yet to read. How can I never have read this book? I just never got around to it, simple.

What I can I say about one of the most famous, acclaimed, influential, popular, and important Science Fiction books of all time and a Hugo winner, to boot? What can I add to all the words that have been extolled or exhorted in frustration? I don’t know, except for my opinion and my own response. Suffice it to say, it is virtually impossible to open up this book and read it for the first time without knowing about it, its reputation, or having some preconceived notions.

Much of the novel deals with Johnny Rico’s experiences in the Mobile Infantry and how he deals with the equivalent of boot camp in the future. Heinlein basically paints a picture of the life of one volunteer in what amounts to the Space Marines. Throughout, Rico’s thoughts about life, politics become shaped by his training, his superiors, his “drops,” and the battles in which he engages with the “Bugs.” He goes from one who is unsure of his thoughts to a man with strong-held convictions, and in this sense, the story works as a coming-of-age story.

One thing that surprised me as I was reading the book was how little action and science-fictiony stuff happens for the better part of the novel. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t think this is necessarily a bad thing. In fact, I think the best science fiction novels, like this one, have an utterly human quality to them. Even if Johnny Rico serves as something of a mouthpiece for Heinlein (as some have said), the character comes across as genuinely human.

Another part of the story that surprised me was the nonchalance with which Rico reacts to the attack of the Bugs and the beginnings and of the Bug War. Despite Rico losing his mother and the momentary grief he experienced because of it, the attack and break out of the war are dealt with very matter-of-factly. I understand that Rico and his peers are training for war, but there didn’’t seem to be any kind of panic or any great swell of emotion when the Bugs attack Earth, or not as much as I would have expected.

I don’t know Heinlein’s writing well enough, but one item in particular struck me as very far sighted. Much of the novel, probably because it is in an unspecified future, has a timeless air about it. You get the sense that Heinlein was writing this both as a reaction to what he saw as well as a treatise as what he thought. One can also get the feeling that he wrote this book with the intention that it could ring true for many years to come, particularly the chapter where Rico describes something he takes for granted, what most people of that time take for granted, and something that has become a staple of the Military Science Fiction genre – Power Armor:

No need to describe what it looks like, since it has been pictured so often. Suited up, you look like a big steel gorilla, armed with gorilla-sized weapos. … But the suits are considerably stronger than a gorilla. If an M.I. in a suit swapped hugs with a gorilla, the gorilla would be dead, crushed; the M.I. and the suit wouldn’t be mussed. (Page 100 Ace mmpb)

That description says more in the words it doesn’t use than it does in anything else. It allows the reader to visualize something big and powerful; something iconic. It doesn’t rigidly define the thing and allows the thing to stand the test of time.

Although (as I said) I’ve never read the book before now, I do know of its reputation and influence, it arguably spawned the entire Military Science Fiction subgenre. Half of the authors of Baen Books were likely heavily influenced by Heinlein, and this book specifically. As I was reading through the book, I recalled some of the books I’ve read and realized how they were influenced by Starship Troopers – Old Man’s War by John Scalzi. Mr. Scalzi admits to patterning his novel off Heinlein’s. Robert Buettner’s Orphanage* is a very similar story line (the alien enemies are Slugs, close enough to bugs for me), though a good book in its own right. Ender’s Game also has a strong similarity. The whole drop scene and group of Space Marines from the film Aliens were likely patterned after the Mobile Infantry. Look at any of the popular science fiction video games, many can trace their origins and influences back to this book.

Lastly, I have to believe Stanley Kubrick read Starship Troopers at some point in his life prior to making his war masterpiece, Full Metal Jacket. The depiction of boot camp is very similar and there is a point in both stories where they seem like two different novels/movies. As soon as Private Pyle blows off his head and Private Joker heads off to Viet Nam, it seems like a different film. Granted, Full Metal Jacket is an adapted screenplay so the source material may be structured this way, but Starship Troopers fits the mold, to a degree. The cut isn’t as drastic in Starship Troopers, but the tone of the book changes, at least in my internal reading voice, after Rico leaves.

Obviously, I can’t speak on how much the novel is “of its times” nor can I speak directly of how much validity there is that certain characters in the book are simply mouthpieces for Heinlein, I haven’t read all that much by him. What I can say is that the novel is very powerful and I agree with William Lexner’s sentiments – this is a must read and probably one of the five most important Science Fiction novels ever written. I’d go as far as to say one of the most important books written in the 20th Century considering it is on the reading list for three of the four US Military Academies.

I still haven’t seen the movie, and I’m not making any plans to watch or TiVo it. So, have I added anything to the discourse that has been going on about this book since its publication nearly 50 years ago**? Perhaps. If nothing else, it shows that the book is still effective to an experienced reader of the genre like myself.

In sum, I really enjoyed the book and am torn. On one hand, I feel I should have read it many years ago. On the other, I'm glad I just read it for the first time. I'm not sure what my next book will be for this "feature" but I certainly started it off with a bang.

* Buettner's next Jason Wander novel, Orphan's Destiny, publishes later this year through the new Orbit US imprint, which absorbed the WarnerAspect Science Fiction line. Good for Robert, the books are a lot of fun. The covers are redesigned and look very good, but I still like this original piece from Fred Gambino.

**I wouldn’t be surprised if some sort of fancy 50th anniversary edition of the novel will be published next year.