Once again, I'm in over my head. I picked up the first book in this series The Wizard's First Rule, as a special offer in my Audible subscription. I'm now through the second book, Stone of Tears, and beginning the third, Blood of the Fold. All are the story of Richard Rahl and Kahlan Amnell as they pursue adventures through political intrigues, magic, wizardry, and evil plots generally devised by demented wizards or witches (Sisters of the Light or Sisters of the Dark usually). I am primarily listening to the series through audio book versions. They are good companions on my walks and while I garden.
I was a bit dismayed to find out that reviewers see Goodkind as a follower of Ayn Rand and a believer in Objectivism. (I have to go back and reread Anthem, by Rand. I read it in the 70's. It now appears to be a seminal work in the thinking of conservative Christian politicians.) Since I learned of the connection I listen to the books with a close eye on the philosophical premises underlying with Wizard's Rules (each book explores one of the rules). I'm on the third rule now--Passions Rule, For Better or Worse. Since I am studying Buddhism and the works of Thich Nhat Hanh I am experiencing some cognitive dissonance. I expect Nhat Hanh would guide me to watering more peaceful/serene seeds in my store rather than filling my mind and ears with this violence.
I enjoy the action and adventure. However, these books are definitely fantasy. There is a great deal of sadomasochistic sex in the first book and other detailed sexual or violent content throughout the series. I would not suggest it for those with conservative sexual values or those disturbed by physical violence.
Wednesday, July 4, 2012
Peak, by Roland Smith
Everest! What would lead a 14-year-old to Everest by surprise? Smith's story follows Peak Marcello, the son of two "rock rats" from his illegal skyscraper climbing in New York City to Everest. Most of the story is about the attempt at Everest, but there are also several other story lines with in the book including: political relations between China and Nepal, the relationships of climbers and sherpas, family dynamics, sensationalism in the news business and coming of age.
Smith always tells a good story and this one is particularly strong. It kept me up well past my bed-time to finish reading and I had trouble sleeping afterward. (Or it may have just been my biorhythms--who knows.) Although I am not a rock climber I have plenty of exposure to them (my daughter works at REI and there are many climbers in the area where I live). I've also read Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer another book about the various factors around the current craze of guided trips to Everest. I believe both have significant questions about the wisdom of continuing to allow this sort of activity.
Smith's webpage is a great resource, but I am having trouble accessing its content today. I had hoped to gather some information about his research for this book. I know Smith has been around the world and experienced many of the situations (or at least nuggets of them) that he writes about. I wanted to know more about how he researched this book. I'll try his site again later. www.rolandsmith.com
This will be a great read for any
Smith always tells a good story and this one is particularly strong. It kept me up well past my bed-time to finish reading and I had trouble sleeping afterward. (Or it may have just been my biorhythms--who knows.) Although I am not a rock climber I have plenty of exposure to them (my daughter works at REI and there are many climbers in the area where I live). I've also read Into Thin Air, by Jon Krakauer another book about the various factors around the current craze of guided trips to Everest. I believe both have significant questions about the wisdom of continuing to allow this sort of activity.
Smith's webpage is a great resource, but I am having trouble accessing its content today. I had hoped to gather some information about his research for this book. I know Smith has been around the world and experienced many of the situations (or at least nuggets of them) that he writes about. I wanted to know more about how he researched this book. I'll try his site again later. www.rolandsmith.com
This will be a great read for any
The Last Temptation, by Val McDermid
McDermid is definitely an adult market author. This series, the Tony Hill/Carol Jordon, are detective/psychological thriller novels. Hill is a clinical psychologist/serial murderer profiler who has a close friendship with UK police detective Carol Jordon.
The Last Temptation is set primarily in the Netherlands and Germany. In this novel Carol Jordon goes undercover in the attempt to acquire incriminating evidence about an arms/dealer and human labor smuggler. To add to the complexity of her situation, she and her European colleagues also come across a serial killer working from a boat working the Rhine river. It is compelling--the action, as always in McDermid's books, is intense. I recommend against picking up these books when you have work or family pressures. You'll end up reading too long.
McDermid's books are not for the faint of heart. They typically include violence and sexual themes--often linked. Although she does not include salacious details, the settings and events are powerful enough to leave an imprint. She has been a journalist but became a full time novelist in 1991. She was born in Scotland and continues to live there. (See her website: http://www.valmcdermid.com/) She has won many awards, her Tony Hill/Carol Jordon books were also made into a TV series Wire in the Blood.
Her writing feels sophisticated to me. I end up researching parts of Scotland, England (and in this book Germany and The Netherlands) as well as reading with my smartphone close at hand so that I can look up words on The Free Dictionary.
I'm finishing the series. I've just completed The Torment of Others and am back-tracking to read Wire in the Blood . I am visiting the Netherlands and Scotland this summer. I've been trying to do some of my reading in books set in those areas (recommendations would be welcome!).
The Last Temptation is set primarily in the Netherlands and Germany. In this novel Carol Jordon goes undercover in the attempt to acquire incriminating evidence about an arms/dealer and human labor smuggler. To add to the complexity of her situation, she and her European colleagues also come across a serial killer working from a boat working the Rhine river. It is compelling--the action, as always in McDermid's books, is intense. I recommend against picking up these books when you have work or family pressures. You'll end up reading too long.
McDermid's books are not for the faint of heart. They typically include violence and sexual themes--often linked. Although she does not include salacious details, the settings and events are powerful enough to leave an imprint. She has been a journalist but became a full time novelist in 1991. She was born in Scotland and continues to live there. (See her website: http://www.valmcdermid.com/) She has won many awards, her Tony Hill/Carol Jordon books were also made into a TV series Wire in the Blood.
Her writing feels sophisticated to me. I end up researching parts of Scotland, England (and in this book Germany and The Netherlands) as well as reading with my smartphone close at hand so that I can look up words on The Free Dictionary.
I'm finishing the series. I've just completed The Torment of Others and am back-tracking to read Wire in the Blood . I am visiting the Netherlands and Scotland this summer. I've been trying to do some of my reading in books set in those areas (recommendations would be welcome!).
Seizure, by Kathy Reichs
This is Reichs' second YA book in the "Virals" series (and her overall second YA book). I'm enjoying her efforts. Reichs' has established herself as an adult author. Her books have also be the foundation of the TV series Bones. Both have some rough connections to her own work as a pioneering forensic pathologist. I would be certain to guide any adolescent reader to her website: http://kathyreichs.com for career connections.
The Virals series is a new effort. There is little of "forensics" in either novel, however the main character is the great niece of Temperance Brennan, the main character in most of her adult novels and the television show. The series has more of a "crazy science gone wrong" premise. In the first book the main characters and her "pack" are infected with a virus being researched by a scientist working on the university owned, island research facility where all of their families live and work.
In Seizure, the main character Tory, and her friends/pack are once again navigating a complex teen social scene, their supernatural powers, and a specific mystery (with some additional side-plots such as Tory's father's love life). My readers know that I value YA books that allow for investigations of a variety of themes/topics. The center piece of this story is a female pirate, Calico Jack, and her buried treasure. There are opportunities in this book to explore wolf pack behavior, realistic teen life (well--except for the super powers of the Virals), adult-teen relationship complexities (appropriate--not perverse or sexually inappropriate), pirates and privateers, biology of the flora/fauna of the South Carolina coastal region, and the history of Charleston, SC.
Reichs is a proficient writer and as always tells a good story. I think her first attempt, Virals, was just a little awkward. Learning to write for the YA market is not necessarily easy, even for the most proficient adult fiction writers. This book feels much more like a strong addition to the YA field. It would not be necessary to read the first book in the series to appreciate this book, but would fill out the background of how these adolescents acquired these mysterious powers. (And I believe the mysterious powers are a metaphor for the biological changes that adolescents experience and to which they need to come to grips.)
This book would be a nice companion to the Maximum Ride, series by James Patterson. It offers opportunities to discuss the ethics of science as well as some specific scientific concepts. (And I trust, better founded in actual science than are the Maximum Ride books.)
The Virals series is a new effort. There is little of "forensics" in either novel, however the main character is the great niece of Temperance Brennan, the main character in most of her adult novels and the television show. The series has more of a "crazy science gone wrong" premise. In the first book the main characters and her "pack" are infected with a virus being researched by a scientist working on the university owned, island research facility where all of their families live and work.
In Seizure, the main character Tory, and her friends/pack are once again navigating a complex teen social scene, their supernatural powers, and a specific mystery (with some additional side-plots such as Tory's father's love life). My readers know that I value YA books that allow for investigations of a variety of themes/topics. The center piece of this story is a female pirate, Calico Jack, and her buried treasure. There are opportunities in this book to explore wolf pack behavior, realistic teen life (well--except for the super powers of the Virals), adult-teen relationship complexities (appropriate--not perverse or sexually inappropriate), pirates and privateers, biology of the flora/fauna of the South Carolina coastal region, and the history of Charleston, SC.
Reichs is a proficient writer and as always tells a good story. I think her first attempt, Virals, was just a little awkward. Learning to write for the YA market is not necessarily easy, even for the most proficient adult fiction writers. This book feels much more like a strong addition to the YA field. It would not be necessary to read the first book in the series to appreciate this book, but would fill out the background of how these adolescents acquired these mysterious powers. (And I believe the mysterious powers are a metaphor for the biological changes that adolescents experience and to which they need to come to grips.)
This book would be a nice companion to the Maximum Ride, series by James Patterson. It offers opportunities to discuss the ethics of science as well as some specific scientific concepts. (And I trust, better founded in actual science than are the Maximum Ride books.)
Friday, June 15, 2012
Gideon's Corpse, by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child
I have been a fan of Preston and Child's Pendergast series. I think as their popularity as writers grows, the quality of their writing is diminishing. Even in their most recent Pendergast book, I felt they had shortchanged their readers. I am guessing that publisher pressures to turn out books quickly are forcing them to release books that are incomplete and not polished as much is they had been before they became best selling writers. I have had a similar experience with reading Dean Koontz's Frankenstein series. I felt the last couple books have ended prematurely. They feel almost more like chapters that should be part of a longer book.
The plot of this book focuses on terrorism and dirty nuclear weapons. I think the plot had great potential but the characters, plot and settings were not as well developed as in the earlier books by this writing team. Much of this book is set in New Mexico, a state with which I am very familiar. I couldn't help but compare the visualizations of New Mexico in earlier books by this writing duo. I felt that they shortchanged the descriptions of setting and culture of New Mexico. Particularly, Los Alamos, one of America's nuclear research facilities, deserved a little more detailed description.
For some reason I am less enamored of Gideon as a main character than I am of Pendergast. I can't really explain it, they're both larger than life and surrounded by mystery. Perhaps because Pendergast's history is more complex and revealed more slowly he becomes a more engaging protagonist than Gideon. It may also be that Gideon is very much a loner. Although this could be said of Pendergast as well, he also has a collection of friends and supporters that add texture and depth to Pendergast as a character.
The plot of this book focuses on terrorism and dirty nuclear weapons. I think the plot had great potential but the characters, plot and settings were not as well developed as in the earlier books by this writing team. Much of this book is set in New Mexico, a state with which I am very familiar. I couldn't help but compare the visualizations of New Mexico in earlier books by this writing duo. I felt that they shortchanged the descriptions of setting and culture of New Mexico. Particularly, Los Alamos, one of America's nuclear research facilities, deserved a little more detailed description.
For some reason I am less enamored of Gideon as a main character than I am of Pendergast. I can't really explain it, they're both larger than life and surrounded by mystery. Perhaps because Pendergast's history is more complex and revealed more slowly he becomes a more engaging protagonist than Gideon. It may also be that Gideon is very much a loner. Although this could be said of Pendergast as well, he also has a collection of friends and supporters that add texture and depth to Pendergast as a character.
City of Lost Souls, by Cassandra Clare
Up to this book I have enjoyed the Mortal Instruments series. This particular title ended up being too much like romance fiction for me to enjoy it in the way that I had the other titles in the series.
We still have vampires, elves, werewolves, and other supernatural beings working within the mundane world. As in her other books, most of the main characters are well developed and help adolescents understand the strengths and weaknesses inherent in every individual. Unfortunately, for this reader, too much of the book was captured by romantic interludes involving several pairs of the series continuing characters. One of the things I appreciate about this series is the degree to which Clare explores friendship and family ties and responsibilities. Even in this title, with its increased amount of romance,Clare still helps teenagers explore the boundaries of these various groups in their lives.
There will be a sixth book in the series and the first book is being made into a movie. Although I was disappointed in this particular title, I will probably go ahead and read the next book as well just to see how Clare pulls it all together.
We still have vampires, elves, werewolves, and other supernatural beings working within the mundane world. As in her other books, most of the main characters are well developed and help adolescents understand the strengths and weaknesses inherent in every individual. Unfortunately, for this reader, too much of the book was captured by romantic interludes involving several pairs of the series continuing characters. One of the things I appreciate about this series is the degree to which Clare explores friendship and family ties and responsibilities. Even in this title, with its increased amount of romance,Clare still helps teenagers explore the boundaries of these various groups in their lives.
There will be a sixth book in the series and the first book is being made into a movie. Although I was disappointed in this particular title, I will probably go ahead and read the next book as well just to see how Clare pulls it all together.
The Black Angel, by John Connolly
I managed to get out of order in my Charlie Parker series books. Consequently, reading this book helped fill in some gaps in my knowledge. This book is more supernatural than most of the other books in the Parker series. In some ways the role of the angels and demons in the book remind me of some of Anne Rice's novels.
The book introduced me to be Sedlec monastery and Ossuary. It prompted me to do some research about the Cistercian order and this monastery in the Czech Republic. I am traveling to Paris later this summer and need to see if I can talk my friend into visiting the catacombs (including some ossuaries) which have played it important role in the plot of the Michael Scott books (The Immortal Nicholas Flamel series-for younger adolescent readers) and some of the Anne Rice's novels. An ossuary is connected to the storage or display of skeletal remains. The church at the center of this book is famous for having most of the interior decorated an ornament in with human skeleton parts. Connolly weaves this historical, religious, and artistic information throughout the book.
In The Black Angel, Connolly explorers the fallen angels and their agents on earth. Consequently, readers of James Lee Burke and Anne Rice will feel a resonance with the works of these authors. They are among the few authors, exploring the concept of evil and its work in the world, who end up simultaneously having to explore religion, angels, and demons.
As always, Connolly writes in a literary style and as a result can be challenging to readers. Taking the time to do the background research on topics introduced and the geographical connections will enrich the reading. The book is also accompanied by a CD of music either mentioned in the book or connected to the plot and characters. This is the first time I have played an accompanying soundtrack. It was an interesting and enjoyable collection of works. As our writers become more technologically engaged I anticipate more media connections and additions to their works.
The book introduced me to be Sedlec monastery and Ossuary. It prompted me to do some research about the Cistercian order and this monastery in the Czech Republic. I am traveling to Paris later this summer and need to see if I can talk my friend into visiting the catacombs (including some ossuaries) which have played it important role in the plot of the Michael Scott books (The Immortal Nicholas Flamel series-for younger adolescent readers) and some of the Anne Rice's novels. An ossuary is connected to the storage or display of skeletal remains. The church at the center of this book is famous for having most of the interior decorated an ornament in with human skeleton parts. Connolly weaves this historical, religious, and artistic information throughout the book.
In The Black Angel, Connolly explorers the fallen angels and their agents on earth. Consequently, readers of James Lee Burke and Anne Rice will feel a resonance with the works of these authors. They are among the few authors, exploring the concept of evil and its work in the world, who end up simultaneously having to explore religion, angels, and demons.
As always, Connolly writes in a literary style and as a result can be challenging to readers. Taking the time to do the background research on topics introduced and the geographical connections will enrich the reading. The book is also accompanied by a CD of music either mentioned in the book or connected to the plot and characters. This is the first time I have played an accompanying soundtrack. It was an interesting and enjoyable collection of works. As our writers become more technologically engaged I anticipate more media connections and additions to their works.
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