Book Review: The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

I came into this book not knowing much about it aside from the hoop-di-doo that surrounded the release of its movie. And so I ran out to get the book so I could judge it for myself.

First a plot review though: Lyra is an obnoxious little girl living on the campus of Jordan College in Oxford. She spends her times playing with her demon Pan and throwing rocks at other children. That and desecrating the tombs beneath the college. When children start disappearing, the people begin passing tales of the gobblers, who steal children for nefarious reasons.

Lyra's best friend is kidnapped and she leaves in the company of Mrs. Coulter. When she leaves the master of the college gives her an alethiometer, a magical device that tells you the correct answer to any question you ask it. She soon realizes that Mrs. Coulter is the head of the gobblers and runs away. She soon finds herself in the middle of the artic taking part in war between armored polar bears and finding out what the gobblers' plan really is.

Upon reading this, I have to say I wasn't very impressed. Neither the world nor the characters really seems to have a past stretching back before page 1. And Lyra travels through the story barely acting, but mostly being acted upon. Things happen to her, she gets upset, and then the things resolve. None of that really lends itself any feeling of tension.

A quick primer in plot... A story starts with the reader completely disoriented and so the first order is to introduce characters, world, and conflict. Hopefully, the author does that in an engaging method that makes you loath to put down the book. Then, the hero's plans to resolve the conflict repeated fail, constantly raising the stakes and tension. Finally, you reach the climax where hero and villain duke it out and only one can emerge victorious. After that comes the denouement where tension drains away and you put down the book feeling like you've actually been through something. Literature classes use a diagram like this to show how such a plot progesses:

The Golden Compass doesn't have a plot diagram like this. It doesn't have rising action, climax, and falling action. Instead, it has a diagram like this (my best estimation):

Yes, there is, in fact, a point in the middle where the tension is lower than it is at the beginning. Really, the entire book felt like it was only Act 1 of a bigger story. Yes, I'm aware it's the first book in a trilogy, but even in trilogies, each book should be able to stand alone as a book in and of itself.

Now, let's talk about the ending. I hate endings where there is absolutely no victory for the protagonist (not to say I don't do sad endings. They can be cool, but even then it's nice to have at least some feeling of victory at the end). I also hate endings where the hero does nothing but watch the climax. This does both. Yes, Lyra watches the entire climax without really acting as she loses.

As for the anti-religious aspects that were big in the news. There's not that much until you get to the very end. Then it gets really preachy about how organized religion (its world's Catholic Church) is evil. And wow does he lay it on. I seriously can't see how anyone could take it seriously. The Magisterium is such a straw man for Pullman to beat on, it's really ridiculous.

My other major issue was that the only way I had any tension was by assuming the heroes were all stupid. The alethiometer can tell you anything, and yet the heroes are constantly caught by surprise because they only use it when the plot needs them to go in some new direction. They spend the rest of the time wondering what will happen next, but never consult it. If people actually used it properly, they'd conquer the entire universe without any real opposition.

That said, I want a demon.

Book Review: The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett

When a new star appears in the Discworld heavens and quickly grows to dwarf the sun, that, needless to say, causes some concern. Civilization begins to collapse as people fall into basically two camps: those who go nuts and want to kill anything that might be magic to appease the star, and those who just want to get a good view of the end of the world.

The wizards know the only way to save the world is to read the Creator's eight spells. Unfortunately, one of those spells resides in Rincewind's brain. So the manhunt is on.

The second book in the Discworld series, and the second to follow Rincewind the (failed) wizard, the Light Fantastic is a better and more funny book than its predecessor. I think the major difference was in the fact that this one had a true plot (with rising action, climax, denouement, and all).

Included in the story are Cohen the Barbarian, the 87-year-old former greatest hero in the world. Twoflower the tourist and his Luggage are also around. Overall, a delightful read.

Book Review: False Memory by Dean Koontz

A man and his wife find themselves in the middle of a web of brain-washing, mind control, and repressed memory. The first half of this book is Koontz at his best. The suspense builds until you see no way the heroes can escape and you wonder who will be the twisted villain's next victim. But then things change.

By the midpoint of the book, the primary leverage the villain has on the heroes is loosened, and what remains is only social discomfort related to defeating him. Still, there is risk based on the continued threat he poses to others and that carried me through until the ending. There is a rule in fiction (I believe it was Ursula Le Guin who coined it, but don't quote me): "The protagonist must protag." The villain is defeated with the heroes not even in the same room with him.

The main conflict remaining at that point was how to stop him without ending up in prison, and then someone else does it for him. A tidy way to resolve that conflict, but I felt cheated.

On a related note: Have you ever noticed that every psychiatrist who ever shows up in a Koontz novel (even in narrated backstory) is evil? At some point in the future, I have to put together my top ten Koontz motifs.

Books Read in Previous Years

2009:

1984 by George Orwell
21 by Patrick O'Brian
A Series of Unfortunate Events 1: The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket
A Series of Unfortunate Events 2: The Reptile Room by Lemony Snicket
A Series of Unfortunate Events 3: The Wide Window by Lemony Snicket
A Series of Unfortunate Events 4: The Miserable Mill by Lemony Snicket
All I Know About Animal Behavior I Learned in Loehmann's Dressing Room by Erma Bombeck
All the Pretty Horses by Cormac McCarthy
Alvin Journeyman by Orson Scott Card
America: The Book by Jon Stewart
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
Bad Luck and Trouble by Lee Child
Basket Case by Carl Hiaasen
Beowulf (translated) by Seamus Heaney
Blue at the Mizzen by Patrick O'Brian
Bones to Ashes by Kathy Reichs
Brain Droppings by George Carlin
Brothers in Arms by Lois McMaster Bujold
Carpe Jugulum by Terry Pratchett
Cocktail Time by P. G. Wodehouse
Confessions of a Part-time Sorceress: A Girl's Guide to the D&D Game by Shelly Mazzanoble
Dave Barry's Money Secrets by Dave Barry
Day of the Dead By J. A. Jance
Digital Fortress by Dan Brown
Dracula by Bram Stoker
Empire by Orson Scott Card
Feet of Clay by Terry Pratchett
Frankenstein: Dead and Alive by Dean Koontz
Half Moon Investigations by Eoin Colfer
Heartfire by Orson Scott Card
Hideaway by Dean Koontz
Hogfather by Terry Pratchett
I am America (And So Can You) by Stephen Colbert
I am Legend and Other Stories by Richard Matheson
In Odd We Trust by Dean Koontz and Queenie Chan
Interesting Times by Terry Pratchett
Jingo by Terry Pratchett
Liberty by Garrison Keillor
Lords and Ladies by Terry Pratchett
Lost Boys by Orson Scott Card
Magic Street by Orson Scott Card
Maskerade by Terry Pratchett
Memory by Lois McMaster Bujold
Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett
Mirror Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold
More Napalm and Silly Putty by George Carlin
Napalm and Silly Putty by George Carlin
Nothing to Lose by Lee Child
Octopussy and the Living Daylights by Ian Fleming
Of Mice and Magic by David Farland
On Writing by Stephen King
Oxygen by John B. Olson and Randall Ingermanson
Pastwatch: The Redemption of Christopher Columbus by Orson Scott Card
Prentice Alvin by Orson Scott Card
Red Prophet by Orson Scott Card
Relentless by Dean Koontz
Seventh Son by Orson Scott Card
Shroud for a Nightingale by P. D. James
Song of Susannah by Stephen King
Strip Tease by Carl Hiaasen
The Bad Place by Dean Koontz
The Battle for Skandia by John Flanagan
The Best of Writers of the Future (edited) by Algis Budrys
The Burning Bridge by John Flanagan
The Callahan Chronicals by Spider Robinson
The Commodore by Patrick O'Brian
The Crystal City by Orson Scott Card
The Dark Tower I: The Gunslinger by Stephen King
The Dark Tower II: The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King
The Far Side of the World by Patrick O'Brian
The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett
The Fifth Man by John B. Olson and Randall Ingermanson
The Five Lessons a Millionaire Taught Me About Life and Wealth by Richard Paul Evans
The Hound of the Baskervilles by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
The Hundred Days by Patrick O'Brian
The Icebound Land by John Flanagan
The Imperium Game by K. D. Wentworth
The Last Continent by Terry Pratchett
The Letter of Marque by Patrick O'Brian
The Murder Room by P. D. James
The Nutmeg of Consolation by Patrick O'Brian
The Prestige by Christopher Priest
The Prince by Nicolo Machiavelli
The Private Patient by P. D. James
The Ruins of Gorlan by John Flanagan
The Salmon of Doubt by Douglas Adams
The Tales of Beedle the Bard by J. K. Rowling
The Thirteen-Gun Salute by Patrick O'Brian
The Time Machine by H. G. Wells
The Truelove by Patrick O'Brian
The Turn of the Screw by Henry James
The War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells
The Wastelands: The Dark Tower III by Stephen King
The Wine-Dark Sea by Patrick O'Brian
The Wish List by Eoin Colfer
The Wizard of Ooze by David Farland
The Worthing Saga by Orson Scott Card
The Yellow Admiral by Patrick O'Brian
Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs
Walden by Henry David Thoreau
Watchers by Dean Koontz
Watchmen by Alan Moore
When You Look Like Your Passport Photo, It's Time to Go Home by Erma Bombeck
White Jazz by James Ellroy
Wizard and Glass by Stephen King
Wolves of the Calla by Stephen King
Wrath of the Bloodeye by Joseph Delaney
Wyrms by Orson Scott Card
Your Heart Belongs to Me By Dean Koontz

2008:

Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
Artemis Fowl by Eoin Colfer
Artemis Fowl: The Arctic Incident by Eoin Colfer
Artemis Fowl: The Eternity Code by Eoin Colfer
Artemis Fowl: The Lost Colony by Eoin Colfer
Artemis Fowl: The Opal Deception by Eoin Colfer
Artemis Fowl: The Time Paradox by Eoin Colfer
Attack of the Fiend by Joseph Delaney
Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
Blood Meridian by Cormac McCarthy
By the Light of the Moon by Dean Koontz
Cetaganda by Lois McMaster Bujold
Chase by Dean Koontz
Cold Fire by Dean Koontz
Curse of the Bane by Joseph Delaney
Desolation Island by Patrick O'Brian
Equal Rites by Terry Pratchett
Erik by Terry Pratchett
Everyman by Philip Roth
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
False Memory by Dean Koontz
Gentlemen of the Road by Michael Chabon
Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett
HMS Surprise by Patrick O'Brian
Icebound by Dean Koontz
Intensity by Dean Koontz
Killshot by Elmore Leoneard
Lightning by Dean Koontz
Master and Commander by Patrick O'Brian
Mort by Terry Pratchett
Moving Pictures by Terry Pratchett
Night of the Soul Stealer by Joseph Delaney
Odd Hours by Dean Koontz
One Door Away from Heaven by Dean Koontz
Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie
Phantoms by Dean Koontz
Post Captain by Patrick O'Brian
Pyramids by Terry Pratchett
Reaper Man by Terry Pratchett
Revenge of the Witch by Joseph Delaney
Seize the Night by Dean Koontz
Shock by Robin Cook
Small Gods by Terry Pratchett
Sole Survivor by Dean Koontz
Sourcery by Terry Pratchett
Split Images by Elmore Leonard
The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
The Corrections by Jonathan Franzen
The Darkest Evening of the Year by Dean Koontz
The Fortune of War by Patrick O'Brian
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
The Hot Kid by Elmore Leonard
The Ionian Mission by Patrick O'Brian
The Light Fantastic by Terry Pratchett
The Mauritius Command by Patrick O'Brian
The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
The Surgeon's Mate by Patrick O'Brian
The Voice of the Night by Dean Koontz
The Vor Game by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold
The Yiddish Policemen's Union by Michael Chabon
Tick Tock by Dean Koontz
Tishomingo Blues by Elmore Leonard
Treason's Harbor by Patrick O'Brian
Up in Honey's Room by Elmore Leonard
When the Women Come Out to Dance by Elmore Leonard
Whispers by Dean Koontz
Winter Moon by Dean Koontz
Witches Abroad by Terry Pratchett
Wyrd Sisters by Terry Pratchett

2007:

Against the Day by Thomas Pynchon *Abandoned*
Animals in Translation by Temple Grandin
Blood Music by Greg Bear
Brother Odd by Dean R. Koontz
Crossover by Joel Shepherd
Cyclops by Clive Cussler
Darkfall by Dean R. Koontz
Dragon Tears by Dean R. Koontz
Elantris by Brandon Sanderson
Eldest by Christopher Paolini
Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Fear Nothing by Dean R. Koontz
Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin
Forever Odd by Dean R. Koontz
Frankenstein: City of Night by Dean R. Koontz
Frankenstein: Prodigal Son by Dean R. Koontz
From the Corner of His Eye by Dean Koontz
Golden Apples of the Sun by Ray Bradbury
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
I Sing the Body Electric by Ray Bradbury
Knife of Dreams by Robert Jordan
Life Expectancy by Dean R. Koontz
Lost City by Clive Cussler
Mars by Ben Bova
Midnight by Dean R. Koontz
Murder at the ABA by Isaac Asimov
New Spring: The Novel by Robert Jordan
Next by Michael Crichton
No Country for Old Men by Cormac McCarthy
Odd Thomas by Dean R. Koontz
Old Man's War by John Scalzi
Protector by Larry Niven
Ptolemy's Gate by Jonathan Stroud
Puppet Masters by Robert A. Heinlein
Ringworld by Larry Niven
Ringworld Engineers by Larry Niven
Shadow Fires by Dean R. Koontz
Shards of Honor by Lois McMaster Bujold
Songmaster by Orson Scott Card
Strangers by Dean R. Koontz
The Amulet of Samarkand by Jonathan Stroud
The Color of Magic by Terry Pratchett
The DaVinci Code by Dan Brown
The Dresden Files: Storm Front by Jim Butcher
The Face by Dean R. Koontz
The Golem's Eye by Jonathan Stroud
The Good Guy by Dean Koontz
The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale
The Hades Factor by Robert Ludlum and Gayle Lynds
The House of Thunder by Dean R. Koontz
The Husband by Dean R. Koontz
The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
The Lion of Commare and Other Stories, 1937-1949 by Arthur C. Clark
The Minority Report and Other Stories by Philip K. Dick
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
The Servants of Twilight by Dean R. Koontz
The Taking by Dean R. Koontz
Twilight Eyes by Dean R. Koontz
Velocity by Dean R. Koontz

Book Review: Crossover by Joel Shepherd

This is the first in what I assume to be a series of Cassandra Kresnov books. I received this as a present (and something of an intervention against my then habit of only reading books on writing) and dove into it eagerly. It had won awards in Australia and was a topic of much talk at the 2006 WorldCON.

The blurbs suggested it was the greatest android novel since Philip Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? It shaped up like any number of ghost-in-the-shell stories as we follow Cassandra's (an android) attempts to show that she is a being worthy of life and freedom despite her mechanical nature.

I found myself disappointed. The first hundred or so pages had little action and all seemed designed to create a sense of ennui (or so I'm told). It didn't work for me. It served to bore me and make reading the book more a chore than an enjoyable pastime. What I noticed most in these first pages was that Cassandra Kresnov spent most of her time naked and seeking sex with human men (and sometimes women). The rest of the story became a string of emotionless gunfights and action sequences, only vaguely connected by plot.

The major failing of this book was that it never actually evoked any emotion other than boredom (and maybe vague distaste) in me. I never related to any of the characters because they never showed any real emotions. At the end of Act 2, for a moment, I thought we would have a scene that made the whole book worthwhile. One of Cassandra's friends dies, and she begins to emote. The emotional tension builds, and just before it reaches a point where it would pierce the most cynical heart Cassandra reminds herself of her mission and launches off into Act 3, leaving me to deal with the emotional fizzle and more angry than anything else.

Book Review: Brother Odd by Dean Koontz

The third installment of the Odd Thomas novels finds Odd living in a monastery attempting to recoup from his previous adventures. It's a good life until Odd begins seeing bodachs, mysterious black figures that always precede tragedy. Now he must figure out the source of the danger before it claims the lives of both the monks and the sick children for whom they care. Along the way, he's helped once again by the ghost of Elvis. This time a canine ghost helps, too.

Part of the villainy in this novel is perpetrated by monsters formed of complexly woven bone-like fragments (explained at the end, but here left with the original descriptions). These monsters are freaky, but after the fairly mundane villains Odd has faced in the past, they seemed a bit much. Sure they were scary, but after satanists and voodoo cultists, the true villain of the story was just too outlandish for me.

Overall, this is a good book, but I'm not sure which of Forever Odd or Brother Odd is my least favorite of the series. I'm leaning toward Brother Odd, though, because while its plot is better than that of Forever Odd, it's not really much more than a rehashing of Odd Thomas.

It ends with a touching and heartfelt scene between Odd and Elvis, and the final page left me awaiting the next Odd Thomas novel.

So I lied.

Current Project: The Adventures of Algernon Oldman, Hero Maker. Chapter 5.

I guess it has been until December before I got around to posting again. Let's see... catching up. I finished my Writers of the Future story on September 29th. It came in at almost exactly 10,000 words. After that, I spent some time decompressing and started rewriting what I had done in before the WotF story. I found it impossible to step back into the novel where I left off, so I'm using ramping back up to speed as an excuse to rewrite.

I've been working on Chapter 5 for a couple of weeks now. I just couldn't get any scene with my character Gareth Tythingman to not suck. I finally realized it was because I only had a caricature of him in my mind. And it wasn't evan a good caricature. Last night I spent plenty of time working on fleshing him out and the scene is starting to work.