NOVEL REVIEW: April 2018

Leviathan Wakes, by James S. A. Corey.

Thanks for joining me for my first novel review! Today we’ll be looking at the first book in The Expanse series. You can pick it up at most bookstores, or many online stores as well. My copy came secondhand from a local used-bookstore. My mother recommended this one to me, and at the time of reading, neither of us even knew there was a show, so no, I haven’t seen the TV adaption and no, it won’t be influencing my review in any way.

Leviathan Wakes is a science-fiction tale of two protagonists(or a protagonist and a dueteragonist, technically). One, Holden, is the XO of a ship that mines and hauls ice from the rings of Saturn, and the other, Miller is your classic noir detective who drinks too much but is always developing just the right hunches to solve the mystery. Their lives become connected when Holden’s ship is attacked for no apparent reason, and Miller’s hunt for a “missing” girl, Julie, gives him clues pointing towards the answers Holden needs.

Throughout the book, mystery stacks upon mystery and horror stacks upon horror, ultimately leading to warfare in the solar system. As Holden just tries to survive long enough to make things right, Miller just tries to remain stable enough to answer all the questions burning inside him and find Julie, who he feels a strong connection to.

There’s a lot to enjoy in Leviathan Wakes. Though it claims to be a space opera, it brings up enough credentials that any science-fiction lover will probably be pleased with it. It also blends horror and classic noir elements incredibly well, and as a fan of those more than I am of sci-fi, I found myself enthralled. The worldbuilding was incredibly strong, and I believe that setting the story in a transitional time period—when humanity has colonized most of the solar system, but not much else—was a bold, but brilliant move by the authors. The universe of The Expanse feels rich and unique and really stands out from a lot of other sci-fi that’s out there.

I also liked how much of the universe we got to witness in just one story. A nearly 600-page story, but still. We never visit Earth or Mars directly, but we hear all about what they’re like and get to see, first-hand, the way life is in the asteroid belt and among the outer planets and stations. On the other hand, I did find that it fell into some stereotyping in certain scenarios. A minor scene with Miller checking out a shop stood out to me as trite, because it gave off racial undertones. I also found it rather dreary that only persons who weren’t white ever had their skin colour described, including Naomi, who was described as “never . . . conventionally pretty, but from the right angle she was actually fairly striking”, just after the narration mentioned her multi-ethnic background.

Speaking of Naomi, I wanted to talk about the treatment of female characters. Of the ones that died—and a lot of characters overall die, so be prepared for that—there was one in particular whose death felt a bit cheap, as though she were just killed to make a male character feel sad. I did like that they called out that male character’s tendency to treat women a certain way, so it didn’t feel entirely gross, but it did rub me the wrong way. Other than that, however, most of the deaths felt justified and most of the female characters felt real and multi-dimensional.

I have a sense that anyone who reads this book will fall into a sort of “Holden or Miller” trap, almost as if it were a young adult novel about a love triangle. Holden and Miller are very opposite—an idealist and a cynic, respectively. Holden believes humanity is inherently good and does his best to do the morally right thing, whereas Miller believes in the worst of humanity and thinks he needs to do what’s best for the greater good, not the individual. I found the contrast quite interesting, and, though many of my ideals are reflected in Holden, discovered my heart connecting with Miller and his plight more. Or maybe I’m just a sucker for sad detectives.

I also want to mention that I found the ending strangely beautiful, as well as completely satisfying. There was no grand hook at the end, there was no twist on the last page, and I can’t recall any plot strings that didn’t get resolved at any point. What I’m trying to say is there’s no cheap trick to make you want to read the next book in the series—it’s just good enough that you want to anyways. But it’s something I rarely get to treasure in the first book of a series.

I give Leviathan Wakes a solid 4 out of 5. It wasn’t some kind of grand masterpiece—it had its moments, for sure—but it was still very enjoyable, and I think it’s a solid starting point for the next generation of science-fiction novels. It’s familiar and yet new. It’s harsh and yet forgiving. It’s dark and it’s lighthearted. It’s idyllic and it’s cynical. It’s Holden and it’s Miller. And it’s good. I recommend this to any and every science-fiction fan, and to those who love to be enthralled by a complex, yet gratifying mystery.

REVIEW: April 30, 2018

Tigerskin, by Kurt Hunt.

This particular story is hosted on Strange Horizon’s website, and you can click here to read it for yourself if you’d like to. And if you’d rather listen, there’s also a podcast version here.

The summary of this one is short and sweet: Ravi, five years old, is eaten by a tiger, but finds it to be not as horrible as one might imagine, and forms a bond with the tiger.

This one is fairly short and to-the-point, as well as dialogue-heavy, so, unfortunately, I don’t have much to comment on. What description there was, I thoroughly enjoyed. Though simple, the imagery was strong and vivid. Actually, nearly the same can be said for the dialogue, as it was uncomplicated yet the Ravi and the tiger both had a distinct personality.

I also enjoyed how young Ravi truly felt. Often, when writing children, I find some writers either dumb them down too much or get too intricate and lose track of the character as a child. Ravi, however, felt pure and playful and innocent and frightened, all within this experience. I don’t know if I agreed with the tiger’s assessment of Ravi as “fierce”, but perhaps I need a tiger’s perspective to see that clearly.

Honestly, I feel as though the tiger was a bit too closed off to really get a sense of its loss, the isolation that surely drives it to its choice at the end of the story. I definitely see that the attempt was there, but I personally believe a bit more had to be done to make this one stand out on an emotional level.

Regardless, I did enjoy the ending, and I find the story very earnest and almost cute, in a way. I definitely smiled while reading it. In the end, I give this one a high 3 out of 5. It wasn’t quite connecting the right dots to stand out from the crowd, but it still holds itself higher than a lot of other tales out there. It’s also a nice, quick read if perhaps you’re someone who doesn’t feel as though you have a lot of time for a good story. I’ll recommend this one if you need something to cheer you up.

REVIEW: April 27, 2018

A Bit of the Dark World, by Fritz Leiber.

Again, this is a tale I listened to, but this is anything except a friendly fantasy this time. You can find this story here on pseudopod.org, though I warn you: it’s both eerie and decently lengthy.

Written and set a little ways back in the day, A Bit of the Dark World is about three horror enthusiasts speculating on what true horror actually is, as they drive to a clifftop house where they then spend the evening. Along the way, something truly unusual catches their eye—though no one can decide what exactly it is—and once they arrive, the mystery only begins to intensify.

Let me be upfront with you: I’m a bit of a horror enthusiast, myself. Even the beginning, which is a bit of a technical exploration of different kinds of horror and fear, absolutely delighted me. It also set up the question of what horror truly is, and then proceeded to deliver the answer through the rest of the telling.

The characters are simple, but that feels intentional, as though they’re simply a vessel through which the audience can experience what they experience—rather than fearing for them, we fear for ourselves. The monster—or entity, or thing, or whatever—is the perfect blend of recognizable and unnatural and otherworldly and eldritch. It’s almost beautiful, how wrong it feels. This isn’t entirely surprising, as apparently Leiber’s sense of horror was influenced by his correspondences with H.P. Lovecraft back when they were both alive.

The other, smaller horrors were quite creepy as well, though the main entity vastly overshadowed them, and not just figuratively. My favourite parts were when the narrator was staring at the stars, and darkness and light switched, and I think the way it was told was mystifying. Almost all of the descriptions were vivid enough to enthrall me, actually—I could hardly focus on anything else.

Personally, I rank this a 5 out of 5. It was absolutely chilling and left me awe-struck and asking repeated questions, which is what I believe horror should be like. I can understand how this tale has stuck around for so long—because of its sheer quality.

That being said, I can only recommend it to people who don’t mind a bit of dated and technical speak, as it is a bit harder to digest than the average modern tale. If you’ve enjoyed any classic horror—or even science fiction or fantasy—and you haven’t read this, definitely add it to your list. It’s worth it.

REVIEW: April 25, 2018

Run of the Fiery Horse, by Hilary Moon Murphy.

First off, I want to make it clear that I listened to this story as a podcast, which you can find here on podcastle.org. I bring this up simply because, without actually reading it, I can only guess at some spellings of names and the like. But without further ado: a quick summary and my thoughts on the story.

Li Chi is a young girl in China who was born in the year of the fire horse. There is superstition surrounding women born of that year, that they are too strong-willed, too independent, and if they ever do get married, they end up killing their husbands.

Tsi Sha is a dream-twisting snake hungry for humans, and he has preferences for persons born in certain years over others. You can guess where this is going. He begins hunting Li Chi, though he cannot decide whether to eat her sooner, or later.  And so, not wanting to risk ruining her flavour by having her “break”, he decides to give her the choice.

My general impression was overall positive. I went into the story with some expectation that I wouldn’t fully understand it, as I’m not expert in Chinese mythology, but I was pleasantly surprised to find out I didn’t need much to go on. I think, even without the introduction at the beginning, the story itself explained just enough for me to understand without giving too heavy an exposition.

I did find it came on a little strong in typecasting the characters as their zodiac animals, but I suppose that’s what the story’s about, after all. They just felt a little flatter than I would have liked, though they were still interesting. Surprisingly, my favourite character was Li Chi’s father.  The parts from his perspective were quite interesting.

That being said, Tsi Sha really stood out as a villain, powerful, clever, chilling, and yet still utterly controlled by his hunger. I loved the way he had telltale signs of being in someone’s dreams, if they were clever enough themselves to put it together.

Probably my only other gripe is that sometimes the story was so caught up in the imagery that it felt a little drawn-out at times—and I’m not sure this would have even been an issue if I’d been reading it rather than listening. Despite that, it was enjoyably visual and easy to see in the mind’s eye.

In short, I give the story 4 out of 5. The writing was just as strong as the fire horse herself, and if I’m being honest, the tale left quite an impression on me. I’d definitely recommend it to anyone who loves a good villain, or who wants to dip their toes into tales of Chinese folklore.

REVIEW: April 23, 2018

The Sorcerer Minus, by Jeffery Ford.

I found this tale in The Way of the Wizard, edited by John Joseph Adams, and if you’re interested you can buy an ebook or print version here.

Briefly, The Sorcerer Minus is set in a modern society about a sorcerer that’s different from other sorcerers, in that he takes magic away instead of putting it into the world. Needless to say, he’s generally not very well liked, though he has his uses.

I have mixed feelings about this story, and that mostly stems from the fact that it felt less like a story and more like a concept for one. It was certainly made of intriguing parts—I’d love to read more about how the courtroom works for sorcerers, in particular—but they felt barely connected at best. After reading the author’s introduction and finding out he had won so many awards, I suppose I expected a more in-depth narrative than what I got.

Again, however, it was made up of great ideas. The brutal magic Minus uses was morbidly fascinating, and I wish I could have read more about his plans for the town that he had. I also enjoyed reading about the other characters from his perception of them, as it explained quite a bit of his character as well. Axis was my favourite, as he was Minus’, but I tend to be drawn to the more clever and more ruthless characters. Bill Mug was interesting as well, especially when he was implied to have made Minus’ jaw drop.

I almost wish the murder mystery at the beginning had played a larger role in the story, but that’s just personal taste. The ending was very notional, which, once more, lends to the thought that this work is more of a theory in and of itself than it is a tale. Still, it made me think, and I can appreciate that.

Overall, I give this one 3 out of 5. It’s not bad and it has some parts that stand out, but it only really touches on each idea it presents before it moves to the next one, so it wasn’t easy to get into. Regardless, I’d recommend it if you have an interest in alternative types of magic, or if you’re just a fan of people getting their due.