Review of The President Is Missing by Bill Clinton and James Patterson

The President Is Missing by Bill Clinton

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This was formulaic and cliché.

It's well-written (and probably heavily edited), but the plot uses a standard formula that I'm just tired of. Of course the fate of the entire world is at stake. Of course there's a "ticking time-bomb" scenario. And when we finally do find out the motives of the evil actors, it is laughable, because any idiot would know the harm done would boomerang on them big time.

The old "oh, *that's* what has been happening all along" is not inspired.

I think we're supposed to feel an "oh, crap, this could actually happen" moment, but I never did, because the main threat was not very believable to me.

Three stars because it is really well-written (however that sausage was made). I've always loved the really short scenes during action sequences, and while that is formulaic, too, it always works well. So the storytelling was good. It also wasn't boring in any part (though I couldn't get *into it* as the same time) EXCEPT the really long speech at the end (Bill Clinton has always been known for his long-winded boring speeches).

Overall, a mixed bag. I'd say it was really good for a first novel, but because it was co-written with one of the most successful writers in the business, I really can't give praise for that.




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Review of The Invisibles, Vol. 4: Bloody Hell in America by Grant Morrison

The Invisibles, Vol. 4: Bloody Hell in America by Grant Morrison

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The Invisibles Vol. 4: Bloody Hell in America is about The Invisibles infiltrating a secret U.S. government facility in Dulce, New Mexico in order to retrieve an HIV vaccine kept under wraps.

Bloody Hell is right. The blood and gore are dialed up to 11 in this one.

Add in remote viewing, ceremonial magick, weather dancing, and mind control, and you've got a recipe for an exciting yarn. Plus the fact that Oppenheimer was a secret priest of Azathoth.

Oh, and we find out what they recovered at Roswell, and it's tied to Oppenheimer's creation of the atom bomb. Morrison doesn't mention the other tie of Roswell to the bomb--the first responders at the Roswell crash were the 509th bomber group, the same group that dropped the first atomic bomb. (This is true! The military has never disputed this.) But he may have known about this connection nonetheless.

A fun and very quick read. It should take you less than two hours to read this one.



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Review of The Invisibles, Vol. 3: Entropy in the U.K. by Grant Morrison

The Invisibles, Vol. 3: Entropy in the U.K. by Grant Morrison

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The Invisibles are scattered and in serious peril. Can they even survive the magic of the trans-dimensional beings that have arrayed against them? King Mob is being tortured and is on the brink of death. But Jack Frost, seeming to be a chosen one, is still missing. He seems to be the key to everything. They will require the whole team to save him, if they're that lucky.

Terribly violent and loaded with magic and monsters galore, this installment is the best one yet. Don't read this if you're squeamish, but it is fantastically cool.




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Review of The Invisibles: Apocalipstick (Vol. 2) by Grant Morrison

The Invisibles, Vol. 2: Apocalipstick by Grant Morrison

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This is the second volume in The Invisibles graphic novel series.

Jack Frost abandons The Invisibles in the windmill, which was good for him because they have been tracked there and will almost certainly be killed. Actually, so will Jack, because he has taken off in King Mob's car, which is booby-trapped. How will they get out it? Read on...

In other stories, there's the father who betrays his evil master to save his own daughter. And then the daughter betrays him. There's a recurring theme of powerful men committing horrible atrocities. Sometimes they win, sometimes they lose. In one Hoodoo/Voodoo story, they lose horribly and grotesquely.

Fanny's (one of The Invisibles) origin story is meant to make us feel horrified. A boy who was raised as a girl because only girls can be sorcerers, and then sent to Mexico at age 12 to essentially have it cut off and hope that a god will accept her as one. And the parade of men who have taken advantage of her ever since.

This is heavy stuff. It's terribly violent. It's a fascinating, riveting read, but you must be a certain type (like me) who can stomach this sort of thing.



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Review of The Invisibles: Say You Want a Revolution (Vol. 1) by Grant Morrison

The Invisibles, Volume 1: Say You Want a Revolution by Grant Morrison

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


The Invisibles: Say You Want a Revolution is the first volume in The Invisibles series of graphic novels. It's about time travelers that can make themselves invisible and go around causing revolutions (like the French revolution) and their insectoid enemies.

It contains real-world magic and mysticism and is extremely violent. This is not for devout Christians or the squeamish!

The part where John Lennon is invoked as a god using traditional ceremonial magic methods was really cool. The advice he gave was that a street thug boy would "have to be put through the mill." This boy is recruited for The Invisibles and given the code name Jack Frost. He gets the tip of his finger cut off, which, considering everything that happens in the graphic novel, isn't really so bad. In then end, he wants to quit the group, but you just know that won't be possible.

Overall, great fun! On to the next volume . . .



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Review of Conan The Adventurer by Robert E. Howard and L. Sprague de Camp

Conan: Conan the Adventurer by Robert E. Howard

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This is one of the better collection of Conan stories.

The best one is the last story, "The Pool of the Black One." It also includes two stories of Gods residing in desert oasis cities.

These stories are very sexist, so if you bristle at that sort of thing, stay away, but if you can get past that, it's really great stuff, very much like Lovecraft. Of course, it was written in the early 1930's, so that explains the sexism.

These stores are also very violent, fantastic, and horrifying. What makes the stories great is that they could be put into any setting--it doesn't have to be fantasy (though it does have to be supernatural). These stories could have been set in a Lovecraft world just as easily.




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Review of The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers

The Anubis Gates by Tim Powers

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Tim Powers's classic time travel tale is a must-read for all time travel or magical realism lovers. The time travel is based on Ancient Egyptian magic and not science. It's got an eclectic cast of interesting characters, and includes clones, mind transference, potions, spells, clown magicians and things created by time loops. It takes place in 20th century, 19th century, and 17th century England and incorporates a lot of what I see in my fiction, that, unfortunately, I thought was kind of original before I read this book.

At least I've found a decent comp, albeit and old one (the novel is 35 years old).

The knock I have on it is that at times it's confusing, hard to distinguish characters (mainly because there are so many of them, and either the gaps of narrative where you don't see some characters at all is quite long, or characters are one and done), and most sentences are probably too long, though that grew on me, as you can tell from this sentence. However, these things are easily overlooked when looking at the big picture of the novel, but be warned: if you don't like confusion and complexity, then this novel is not for you. If can tolerate things that are hard to follow, and you like either time travel or magical realism, then you'll love this novel.



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Review of 1984 by George Orwell

1984 by George Orwell

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Of course 1984 is a classic of dystopian, science-fiction literature. It is dark and depressing and as a story it doesn't disappoint. It was written in 1948, on the heels of the fall of the Third Reich, and in the midst of the anti-Communist fervor, and in the aftermath of the development of the atomic bomb. It posits a world where totalitarianism has reached a pinnacle of success across the globe, with three autocratic governments at perpetual war, in order to divert economic consumption from the people. It is a haunting reminder of what humanity's drive for power is capable of.

Winston Smith is old enough to remember all the things that the totalitarian government wants him to forget. And the government is really good at knowing that. He must find a way to survive in a world that he can't keep up with, to love for pleasure's sake where pleasure is forbidden. Can he beat the system, or is the government so powerful that he is doomed? And is brief happiness worth the high risk of the torture that will result from his efforts? And can anyone really be programmed to hate romantic love? Given sufficient technology, can the government succeed in blunting basic human nature? 1984 shows us a vision of a world where power exists for its own sake and on what cost to society it will require to achieve it. Humans have instinctive and inherent drives. Can the drive for power extinguish all of the others? And whether or not that is true, what will happen in the attempt?

Read 1984 as a powerful reminder of the dangers of modern society. Read it as a great and tragic love story. Read it as a haunting, horrifying tale of a trapped existence. But don't read it if you need something upbeat, light, and uplifting. It's not that kind of novel.




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Review of All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai

All Our Wrong Todays by Elan Mastai

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This may not be the best time-travel/alternate history book ever written, but it is definitely right up there. For a first novel, it is extremely well-written--then again, it was written by an established screenwriter, but the movies he's written are all mediocre. His calling is definitely as a novelist. Actually, it is very well-written, period.

It posits a hypothesis of changing the past that is in line with what I will do for a novel that I am planning (it's in the outlining stage, on the shelf temporarily while I work to get my zombie novel done).

This is a great read from start to finish. It doesn't force you to think too much, except in one section, as he illustrates action second by second. If you don't like theories of time travel, you'll still like it, but if you are into that sort of thing, it certainly has some fun nuggets in there, though you'll fare better reading non-fiction books about time travel. Time Travel And Warp Drives by Everett and Roman is a good one.

WHAT FOLLOWS IS MILD SPOILERS. HOWEVER, IT IS STILL LESS THAN YOU'LL FIND ON THE JACKET COPY, WHICH I NEVER READ BECAUSE IT WILL SPOIL IT FOR ME. READ ON IF YOU'RE STILL ON THE FENCE WHETHER TO READ THIS OR NOT. I RECOMMEND STOPPING AS SOON AS YOU'VE MADE A DECISION TO READ IT.

You know the future world we were supposed to have? You know, flying cars, moving sidewalks, and the like. Well, there was an alternate history in which this developed, and then it was ruined by Tom Barren and time travel. Now we're stuck with . . . what we have now. Which I suppose is just fine, but it's not all it could be.

But what if your life, and the lives of your loved ones, is better in *this* world, than in the *better* world--the world that's better for most people. Where different people lived. Anyone born after 1965 (certainly significantly after) in the old, better, world, usually does not exist, replaced by others.

And what if you had the power to fix what you screwed up and change things back? Would you? And what if you remember BOTH histories simultaneously, where you are the same person, genetically, but with completely different personalities?



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Review of Stormbringer by Michael Moorcock

Stormbringer by Michael Moorcock

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The final (6th) book of the Elric Saga depicts the final battle between Law and Chaos. Stormbringer is Elric's evil sentient sword forged by Chaos to defeat Chaos and re-establish the Cosmic Balance between the two forces.

You can read this series out-of-order, though there's no point, since no book is much better than any of the others. This book is supposed to be the first full-length novel, but it still reads as a serial of four stories.

The entire series is well-written and enjoyable, but by the sixth novel, it got to be repetitive. I'd say you'd do just fine reading the first four, and then coming back to the final two much later. I read all six in a row (sort of, I'm always reading more than one book at a time), and the same thing did get tiring.

The story of Elric is severely tragic. No one is redeemed in any way, shape, or form. The ending is predictable, but that is by design. You are witnessing a slow motion train wreck where every triumph extracts a price not worth the admission.

All the main characters throughout the series are evil. The love interests are not, but it is also a very sexist story as there are no prominent female characters. If you are repelled by male-centric, then steer clear of these. Having said that, the female love interests are the only characters that are grounded and have any notion of common sense. And so, they have the common sense to stay out of the story. Their only mistake is that they love Elric, and have I said this is a tragedy? Of epic proportions? I sort of did?

Still, it's a good set of swords-and-sorcery yarns. And, in the end, Elric does end up doing the right thing. Or does he?




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Review of World War Z by Max Brooks

World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This is not a novel, but a series of short stories told in the first person by people interviewed by a reporter ten years after the ten-year zombie war.

Zombies, War, taking place all over the world? What's not to like?

Well, some people will love it. It was a #1 New York Times bestseller, so plenty of people did. They made a movie out of it (which I never saw).

As for me, I'm not a fan.

What this has going for it is the writing is excellent. The author's breadth and depth of military knowledge is impressive, but to me it's just boring and tedious, especially having to look at footnotes to understand the military jargon.

I like novels with character development and a great long story. This just doesn't have this at all. Not that it tries to. I suppose it's good for what it is, but I didn't care for it.

I compare it to The Martian. Man, I was really bored by all the sciency stuff (and I have an Engineering background!), it was way over the top. But The Martian had a great story, so I really liked it. This has a hundred of them, all too short.

There are, though, a couple of real gems in here (the one about the female paratrooper trying to survive comes to mind), but overall, I had to slog through it, and it put a serious wrench in my quest to read 48 books in 2018.



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Review of The Bane of the Black Sword by Michael Moorcock

The Bane of the Black Sword by Michael Moorcock

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This latest installment (5th) of the Elric Saga has him vanquishing and old foe and fighting for the survival of a city outside the ream of the Lords of Chaos and Law.

This book is good, but it is more of the same (see my earlier Elric reviews). That's not to say it's any worse, it's just that it isn't any better, or different. Hence I still give it 4 out of 5 stars, just don't expect anything different here.

Elric must travel to different reals, an evil forest, an incompetent citadel, and many planes of existence, including the insufferably boring Plane of Law. He is sorcerer, which means the spells he casts are petitions to his patron, the elementals, and other gods to help him out, usually to smite his enemies. He also carries a sword that steals souls and powers him to mow down many opponents at a time, so that also helps. He has a wife and has settled down, but he really can't because he, she, and everyone he loves is always in danger.

I have hopes for the next book, Stormbringer, for while the first five books are serialized short stories, I understand the sixth (and supposedly final, but not) to be a full-length novel (well, a short one, but purported to be a novel nonetheless; we shall see).



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Review of How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie

How to Win Friends & Influence People by Dale Carnegie

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


This book has great insight into human behavior. I know I will benefit from it. That said, it's a little dated (published in 1936, updated somewhat in 1981). It's very male- and management-centric. Rather than get myself into trouble with awkward phrasing, I'll just point to a recent Dilbert to make the point:

http://dilbert.com/strip/2018-01-14

Write a book today on how to solve that problem, and you have a bestseller.

Nevertheless, I learned a lot from this book, and everyone can take away something useful from this.



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Review of The Vanishing Tower by Michael Moorcock

The Vanishing Tower by Michael Moorcock

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


There's not much more to be said about the Elric Saga that I didn't say in the reviews for the earlier books. It's more of the same good fun. Elric's quest for revenge on a sorcerer takes him to all sorts of fascinating places, culminating with three incarnations of himself venturing into a castle ("The Vanishing Tower") that continually jumps from one plane of existence to another. It turns out a "caretaker" has been murdering "guests" and robbing them, making it a treasure trove.

And stuff like that.

It hasn't gotten any better, but it hasn't gotten any worse, either. The intro to the fifth book is quite intriguing, so I have high hopes for that one.




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Review of The Weird of the White Wolfe by Michael Moorcock

The Weird of the White Wolf by Michael Moorcock

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


The third book in the Elric saga is good, but it is also more of the same. Which is alright, it is still fun. In this one, the evil emperor betrays his homeland, searches for the Dead God's Book--a book which will tell him the true nature of divinity, hoping to shake off his contract with the evil Arioch, and investigates many disappearances in the vicinity of a Citadel that sings.

He still carries with him Stormbringer, the evil artifact soul-stealing black sword that he must keep in order to maintain his own health and vitality. He fails to get rid of it, and once unsheathed, must be fed a soul, friend or foe alike.

And he has a conscience, strange though it may be. He actually has capacity for mercy, must to the consternation of his people.

All in all, good fun. The writing, while very good, fails to convey the emotional impact that some events should have. It is written more like mythology than like modern fiction. I'd rather give it 3.5 out of 5, but if I have to choose 3 or 4, it definitely leans towards 4 out of 5.



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Review of The Sailor on the Seas of Fate by Michael Moorcock

The Sailor on the Seas of Fate by Michael Moorcock

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


MILD SPOILER ALERT.

The Elric Saga continues. This time the albino emperor-in-exile journeys the seas on supernatural ships that take him to other planes of existence. Eventually, he winds up at the island from which his ancestors came from, where he breaks a curse and brings on a worse one.

Elric weilds Stormbringer, an evil artifact sword with a mind of its own. It gives him life-sustaining power, helped by the souls that the sword takes (it doesn't just kill).

The reptilian savages are cool, as is the insect god that defeats them.

This installment is pure fun from beginning to end. It should take you about 6-7 hours to read.



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Review of The Sandman by Neil Gaiman

The Wake by Neil Gaiman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


I recommend the entire fantasy Sandman series of graphic novels. I am not a fan of comics or graphic novels in that The Sandman is the first set of graphic novels that I have ever read.

The series is engrossing from start to finish, centered around a family of stewards of aspects of the human condition (Death, Destiny, Destruction, Delirium, etc.), with Dream as the Sandman, the main character.

Essentially, characters from the "real" world interact with the "dream" world, along with the other aspects of the human condition, with mainly disastrous results.

Do not read this if you are not an adult who loves the gruesome. If you are, you'll love it from beginning to end.



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Review of Insurgent by Veronica Roth

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Insurgent is the sequel to the YA novel Divergent. There is no point in reading this one before Divergent. It's largely the same thing, and Divergent is slightly better.

The war between the factions, and the factionless, is in full rage. We have learned what it means to be Divergent. Or have we?

No one seems to care what is outside the fence of the city. I find this hard to believe, but everyone seems conditioned not to care. Still, the story is really fun, which makes up for my confusion and the continuation of the lame teenage romance (that's Young Adult for you). The Erudite faction, in combination with Dauntless faction traitors, is trying to attain full control over the city. Amity tries to keep the peace, but the factionless and the Dauntless who are remaining (not traitors) will not go quietly.

Then Big Reveal at the end is somewhat predictable, though not completely.

I'd really give this 3.5 stars, but I have to give a whole number. The quality of the story wins out and grants it a 4.

I will press on to listen to the audio book of the third and final novel in the series, titled Allegiant. I don't expect disappointment.




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Review of Elric of Melnibone by Michael Moorcock

Elric of Melniboné by Michael Moorcock

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Elric of Melnibone is a great read, and I am eager to start the next book in the saga. I would give it 4.5 stars if I could (I reserve 5 stars for books that WOW me).

A once proud evil empire is now shrunk down to one island that is fiercely and easily defended. Elric is the emperor, by birthright, and his cousin, Yyrkoon, openly challenges Elric's rule, contending that Elric is weak because Elric espouses such heresies as mercy and compassion.

Elric is kept alive with drugs and sorcery, and demons and elemental begins figure prominently as they ally with Elric to keep his throne as well as the love of his life. His quest takes him to barbarian kingdoms that threaten the island, as well as another plane of misery and bleak existence.

This was a fast read, it should take about 4-5 hours to complete. If you are in the mood to read fantasy, this book will not disappoint.



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Review of Babel-17

Babel-17 by Samuel R. Delany

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


This classic by Chip Delaney left me more confused than entertained, though the premise that language shapes your brain is a great one to explore. Are you even capable of forming thoughts that you do not have words for? What happens to a person that doesn't know the meaning of the words 'I' or 'You?' as one example.

It's a thriller, but unlike modern thrillers, the prose is extremely hard to follow. A two-page sentence surrounded by several sentences of subtext in the margins will do that to you, especially when followed up by several very short sentences.

Overall, not that exciting, but interesting. I spent most of my time, however, trying to piece together what was actually going on, not because of the mystery aspect of it, but because of the prose itself.



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Review of Cell by Stephen King

Cell by Stephen King

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Cell is a good representation of the zombie sub-genre, although the climax was "meh" and predictable. It is also a quest novel, which is somewhat unresolved, but, when you think about it, there are a number of ultimate endings that would work, and I didn't feel the need to choose one in particular.

At the end of the day, it is classic Stephen King, which, in my humble opinion, is always very good. It's just not in the upper tier class of The Dark Tower series, The Stand and 11/22/63. Still, a good, solid effort.



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Review of Fahrenheit 451

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


How do you review a classic?

By today's standards, this novel is very short, probably in the 50-60K range. New writers would fail to get this work traditionally published, solely based on word count alone, but also because it is written in the style of 1950. But this is considered a masterpiece. Just wanted to make that editorial comment.

I don't know if this is a masterpiece, but it probably was groundbreaking at the time. It's about a dystopian society that burns books because it doesn't want the masses to think for themselves. In fact, they'll burn whole houses where books are found. I don't know if Bradbury was the first one to come up with entertainment fake news, but 60-70 years later, we certainly have entertainment fake news.

He completely whiffed on communication devices, but then again who in that era didn't? Ender's Game came out two generations later. But I digress.

I loved the ending, much more so than the beginning. Because of the weak beginning, I gave it 4 stars. But it's still worth sticking with it for the ending.

Anything more I say will be spoilers, and since this is a classic, I won't bother anyway.

Read it for your social literacy alone. It should take you less than 5 hours out of your day.



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Review of Wolves of the Calla

Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


Wolves of the Calla is book five of the seven-book Dark Tower series. I highly recommend the entire series, which should be read in order, starting with The Gunslinger. I give all books in the series five stars, except for book four, Wizard and Glass, which I found disappointing. I actually skipped almost all of it by reading a graphic novel of it, The Gunslinger Born.

While post-apocalyptic, the epic Dark Tower Series is ultimately fantasy, in that it takes place in a world that once had great technology, but now lies in ruin, with time and space warped beyond any recognition. The fact that this world is blended with our own through magical means lends a fun dimension to the story. In fact, the three most-significant non-protagonists are from New York of different times.

Wolves is a great read from beginning to finish. The town of Calla Bryn Sturgis, in the post-apocalyptic land of mid-world, is filled with memorable, flawed characters. While I predicted the "mystery," I was so engrossed in the story that I didn't care, and I was insanely curious how it all unraveled.

With the evolution of the gunslingers, the main characters of the series, I wished I was as strong and fearless as them, while all still vulnerable to their weaknesses, of which there are plenty. Such evolution of characters is only believable in a grand epic.

The Dark Tower Series was the leading inspiration for the TV series Lost. If you were a fan of that TV show, I bet you'll love the Dark Tower Series, and The Wolves of the Calla in particular.



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