Review: The Rook

The Rook by Daniel O’Malley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’ll put this out there immediately – this is likely to be a front runner for my favorite book of 2012. I’ve not been able to get into urban fantasy, but this book may have changed my mind on the genre on a whole. It’s that good.

The book benefits by not wasting much time at all. Myfawny Thomas wakes up with a bunch of bodies littered around her and no recollection of who she is, what happened, or how she got there. There is, however, a note in her pocket that starts to explain things. It turns out that Thomas is a member of an elite supernatural protection agency for the United Kingdom, and someone has wiped her clean.

I don’t want to give up too much more than that, because the book is outright brilliant. It doesn’t take itself too seriously at all, which mean you get the occasional joke or wink along the way. The conceit is great and, while not new, doesn’t feel old or tired. There’s an opening for sequels perhaps, but works beautifully as a stand-alone as well.

Seriously, this book is great. If you have even a passing interest in mysteries, in urban fantasy or similar nerdy concepts, put this book on your list next. Highest possible recommendation on this. I wish I could buy myself a copy right now.



View all my reviews

Review: The Fault in Our Stars

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

John Green is a magnificent writer and human being, and that’s the long and short of it. It takes a lot for me to be emotionally moved by a book, but this one had me choked up more than a few times.

It’s hard to not make a book that’s about illness and disease and cancer and disappointment fun and worthwhile, but John Green pulls it off quite well. It’s not like his other books, which is a good thing, but it follows a girl dying of cancer and the people in her lives, including a teenager who lost his leg to cancer. Just heartbreaking across the board as is, and the characters are genuinely good people trying to get by and you just pull for them. It’s great.

This is a great, great book. Everyone should pick this one up, because it’s that well done. It’s powerful without losing its subtlety, it’s topical without being preachy. It’s hard to toe that line, and this is just a beautiful piece of work.



View all my reviews

Review: Reamde

Reamde by Neal Stephenson

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First things first: Neal Stephenson has some of the more interesting ideas in fiction lately, even if I don’t love everything he’s done, or even find it 100% compelling.

Second things second: The assumption that Stephenson is a sci-fi writer first and foremost may be my own individual error that I need to repair, as Reamde is not a science fiction title. It’s a good book with a lot of great moments, but it’s not really science fiction.

What it is happens to be part criminal thriller, part corporate espionage, part techno-heist. A virus is loaded into an MMO-style game run by a man who’s essentially created a stable currency in his game. The story tracks his – and his company’s – attempts to stop the theft of the money and involves a lot of terrorism, hacking, etc.

For a 1000+ page book, it’s very fast-paced. As long as it was, I don’t feel like it was padded for any real reason, and, while it wasn’t the book I wanted to read, it was still a book I’m glad I read. I think the one issue I have is the positioning of this, either in my brain or publicly, is that this is a science fictional title when there’s really no sci-fi elements to speak of. It’s probably better written than most books like it, but it also ensures that those who would enjoy it may never get around to picking it up.

Anyway, yes, recommended. Good-to-great, but not what you might think it is. I liked it, in any regard.



View all my reviews

Review: Asterios Polyp

Asterios Polyp by David Mazzucchelli

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I saw a movie about ten years ago called Waking Life, which was essentially a two hour philosophy lecture in film form. I didn’t like it much. Asterios Polyp is kind of like that movie, but with an (arguably) more coherent plot.

Polyp is an architect, an eccentric, a man who is always searching due to the course his life has taken. The artwork reflects his journey, his story one of affluence without feeling pretentious. A hard line to walk, but done well. It may not be the most accessible of books, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing.

I forget why I picked this up, but I’m ultimately glad I did. It’s a strange, weird, fun book to have read.



View all my reviews

Review: I Am Number Four

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This is the best 2 star (closer to a 1.5, really) book I have ever read. There is so much that is terribly, horribly wrong with this book from start to finish that I really couldn’t stand it, but it was ultimately engaging in that Mega Shark v. Giant Octopus sort of trainwreck way that I breezed through this like no one’s business.

Short plot: our protagonist is the 4th of 9 aliens from another planet. They’re being trailed by some evil, resource-hogging aliens, and Earth is next on the list. The 9 must be killed in order. The bad guys want Earth’s resources, too. Yeah.

First, the writing. Just really nothing special at all, almost offensive in its blandness. Given the publishing house that threw this together is sketchy as all get out (not that we should be surprised that James Frey of A Million Little Pieces would be involved in something sketchy), there’s no surprise that this appears to have been sold as a movie before the book was even done. It reads like a movie, it feels like a movie, it’s paced like a movie. Just not a very good one.

And the choices! Holy crap, the choices! First, for a “special” alien, John is just dumb as a rock. I almost don’t want to mention the dog in fear of giving something away, but if you’ve ever, you know, read a book or watched a movie or seen a television program, the moment the dog arrives on the screen, you’re 99% certain of what the deal is with the dog even if the details aren’t predictable. Dog ex machina, or something? Bad analogy, but the second part is that the book is absolutely littered with big neon signs of foreshadowing that provide no mystery and no joy when they’re revealed with huge clues that essentially scream “Hey, hey, look, over here, it’s important you pay attention here! Seriously!” Just shameful writing.

I think my whole problem with this book is just how blatantly obvious it is that it’s a cash grab intended for an eventual/intentional film. It’s almost like reading a film novelization without it actually being a film just yet. I’m not sure I’d have noticed it quite as clearly if I wasn’t aware of Full Fathom Five’s overall agenda, but it would truly be hard not to.

It’s less a story than an event, and that…I don’t know. We already have candy in the form of books, and this makes the candy look artful in comparison. I don’t know how to recommend this – it should be read because it’s such a spectacle, but I don’t know whether it’s just good for what it is or I’ve just become too cynical.



View all my reviews

Review: The International Kissing Club

The International Kissing Club by Ivy Adams

My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This book may better be described as the #firstworldproblems Twitter hashtag personified.

You have four girls who have great lives, all things considered, but want to expand their experiences somewhat, so they decide to all enroll in overseas exchange programs. There’s a secondary goal, of course – to kiss as many boys as possible omg.

Yeah.

I can’t really think of anything good to say about this book, so it may be in my best interests to say nothing as all. I enjoy fluffy teen books like this normally, but this was just frustratingly bad. The characters aren’t sympathetic, the situations not entirely realistic, and it simply doesn’t work as an escapist contemporary novel at all.



View all my reviews

Review: Revolver

Revolver by Marcus Sedgwick

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I don’t normally share lines or verses from books, but this one is simply too great to pass up, as a character describes his Colt pistol:

“The Colt is the finest machine I have ever seen in my life. It does one thing, and it does it superbly well.

Imagine I take one of those cartridges there, from the box. I’m not going to, but imagine I did. It’s a tiny thing. It’s made from four separate parts. There’s the case, the brass case that makes up most of its length. At one end, the back of the case, is the percussion cap, a small disc of copper with a little fulminate of mercury inside. At the other is the bullet itself, a tiny cone of lead weighing so very little. Inside the case is the gunpowder.

…

Imagine I took this cartridge, and lifted back the gate on the back of the cylinder here. It slides into one of the six chambers, a perfect fit. Everything measured and made to perfection. I pull back the hammer on the back of the gun, just halfway at first, so I can rotate the cylinder into place. Now the cartridge we loaded is sitting directly under the firing pin, on the underside of the hammer.

…

When the hammer hits the percussion cap, the fulminate of mercury explodes, for it cannot tolerate being struck. Once the cap explodes, it sets fire to the gunpowder inside the case, and instantly the temperature inside the case rises to a couple thousand degrees, as hot as the smelting works at the mine, but all inside that tiny brass case…

[T]he brass case, being so hot, there and then expands, and swells to press against the inside of the chamber, and so now it released its grip on the lead bullet…inside that barrel is a series of three grooves, set out in a spiral down its length. The bullet, which is lead, and with the hellfire of that explosion behind it, is now both hot and soft. It’s forced into those spirals. They bite into it, so that as it makes its way down the barrel, it spins. It spins and spins, and by the time it leaves the barrel, with the last of the gas pushing out behind it, it’s not only spinning faster than Rumpelstiltskin, it’s moving at over a thousand feet per second, which means that the bullet has hit whatever the barrel was pointing at before the bang has even left your ears.”

This is a relatively short read about a family mystery, about gold hunting in the snowy north, about the valuable things a family can teach you, and about loyalty until the end. The few flaws this book has are far, far outweighed by some really beautiful writing and a story that mostly kept me on my toes from start to finish.

Definitely recommended.



View all my reviews

Review: Do the Work

Do the Work by Steven Pressfield

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Every so often, you reach this point in your life where you’re looking for that nudge in some direction. I’ve been hitting a few walls with some things I’ve been thinking about/working on, and this short book was a perfect distraction during a power outage this evening.

While this book may not tell you anything new, the way it synthesizes the need to just up and do what needs to be done to get things done – doing the work. It maps out the basics, validates the same issues we all generally have regarding roadblocks and self-doubt, and then just provides a quick and easy direction out toward the success of completion.

Seth Godin and the Domino Project have really done a good job providing business/self-help books for people who really need them but don’t need the schlock that normally gets published in that area. Between this and Poke the Box, I’m quickly finding these to be indispensable in terms of motivational direction.



View all my reviews

Review: The Walking Dead, Vol. 15: We Find Ourselves

The Walking Dead, Vol. 15: We Find Ourselves by Robert Kirkman

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Two thoughts:

1) The most optimistic I’ve ever seen this series, both in tone of the story and the feel of the characters. Things are looking up, and that impending doom feeling is fading a bit. An interesting, somewhat abrupt shift.

2) The series does feel like it’s reaching a point of endgame of some sort. We’re coming up on issue milestones anyway, so I’m wondering if we’re seeing the home stretch or if something else is coming along.

Either way, solid as usual.



View all my reviews

Review: The Postmortal

The Postmortal by Drew Magary

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Simply brilliant!

In the near future, a form of gene therapy is discovered that halts the aging process. “The cure” hits the black market, is legalized, and the book follows one man’s journal entries as the world falls apart due to the overpopulation and general societal breakdown.

I’ll be honest: I expected a funnier book, but this ended up being a pretty realistic-sounding speculative dystopian story. We spend only a limited amount of time in the different eras, and the way things fall apart as time goes on makes a lot of sense and is handled expertly. Just a really good time from start to finish.



View all my reviews

Review: Amplified

Amplified by Tara Kelly

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a book that has a feel of a typical YA contemporary title – girl leaves home, has conflict with parents, meets people in the big city, does things, gets a boyfriend, tries, eventually succeeds and is better off for the experience. There’s little to set this book apart.

With that said, this book hooked me for two reasons:

1) The characters are genuinely fun. Our protagonist is a guitarist (always good to see girl rockers in fiction), her band is quirky, the other bands play a good role.

2) The descriptions of music are great. Kelly doesn’t just mention the music and what it sounds like, but goes beyond by describing the pace and movement of those playing the music, to give you a better idea of the urgent or fast parts of songs. It felt very realistic and different, and I liked that.

A good read. Definitely glad I picked this one up.



View all my reviews

Review: All Men of Genius

All Men of Genius by Lev AC Rosen

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

While there are books I enjoy, and books that make me laugh, and books that are good because I learn something, reading All Men of Genius made me realize how few fiction books I get to read that are genuinely fun. There’s a lot to be said about fun rides in a book, and this is one of them.

The good thing is that the book does have some fairly heavy and nontraditional topics. Instead of making them out to be Big Things, they’re just part of the plot. A little homosexuality, a little gender-bending for advancement for the time we’re in, all of it is just something that happens. A refreshing turn, I thought, and just added to a fun “people in a school for X” plot that moved at a great clip and resolved itself surprisingly nicely.

I really, really liked this book. I think I loved this book. A welcome, awesome surprise that I think anyone who likes this genre should pick up, like, now.



View all my reviews

Review: Girl, Stolen

Girl, Stolen by April Henry

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A book that I was afraid was going to be a paint-by-numbers thriller ended up surprising me more than a few times. Really well done.

The plot gets started quickly. A blind girl is collateral damage in an attempt to steal a car, and when it’s learned that she’s the daughter of a Nike executive, things become much more interesting.

I liked this because you think you know how it’ll end, but it doesn’t really end that way. You think you know the people in the story, but they keep surprising you. This was my first book from April Henry, and it’s made me very interested in reading more.

Definitely recommended, even if this isn’t the type of book you’d normally read.



View all my reviews

Review: The Alloy of Law

The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson

My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I’ve been a fan of Brandon Sanderson since Elantris, and I haven’t been keeping up with the Robert Jordan stuff. With my rereading George RR Martin and with Patrick Rothfuss’s series being so good, it’s easy to forget how great the world Sanderson created with Mistborn was.

This takes place in the Mistborn universe, but is not part of the original trilogy. The magic system is the same, but it’s more of a fantasy steampunk mobster caper flick than a typical fantasy novel. The great news is that it works, and works excellently. I loved reading it, the pacing of it was wonderful, everything was awesome about it.

I find Sanderson’s process fascinating. He has stated he’s far from done with the Mistborn universe, and perhaps a full-fledged sci-fi novel may come of it. If it’s as good as this, I can’t wait.



View all my reviews

Best Stuff of 2011

It’s that time of year again. 11th list, too!

Music:

This was probably my favorite year for new music in quite some time. Much of it is because I discovered a lot of great bluegrass and alt-country music via Turntable.FM, but the reality, for me at least, is that there was just a mess of great music that came out this year. I made a Spotify playlist of my favorite songs of the year, if you’re into that sort of thing, or you can sample the YouTube links provided.

Anyway:

1) Childish Gambino – Camp: I got into Childish Gambino not just because I’ve gotten into some rap music in the last year, but because I’m a big fan of Donald Glover, especially his work on Community. Even from his previous mixtapes and EPs, I didn’t expect this – a great rap album that perfectly straddles the line between serious and fun, with references all over the place that you may not catch until your 10th listen. Really, really great. Highlights: “Bonfire,” Heartbeat.”

2) Chris Thile and Michael Daves – Sleep With One Eye Open: An album of traditional/classic bluegrass duets doesn’t sound exciting on the surface, but there’s an attitude to this, along with the stripped-down nature, that made me very addicted to this album very quickly. I picked this up on a whim from an Amazon mp3 daily deal and I’m really glad I did. Highlights: “My Little Girl in Tennessee,” “Rabbit in the Log,” “Sophronie.”

3) David Wax Museum – Everything is Saved: I’ve been a casual fan of David Wax Museum for a couple years now – their albums never really resonated with me, but it was always one or two songs that stuck with me. This album still has a few songs that rise far above the rest (“Unfruitful” in particular is far and away the best song I’ve heard this year), but as a cohesive unit, Everything is Saved is a step ahead for a band that should be a lot more popular than they are. Highlights: “Unfruitful,” “Born With a Broken Heart.”

4) Laura Stevenson and the Cans – Sit Resist: Out of nowhere, this album just grabbed me and wouldn’t let go. Pleasant, poppy indie rock from a songwriter with more of a ska background. Just listen to some of it and you’ll be charmed. Highlights: “Master of Art,” “The Healthy One.”

5) The Decemberists – The King is Dead: The best R.E.M. album put out this year. It dawned on me while reading pre-release reviews that the last two Decemberists albums left me somewhat cold, that only the singles really hit me. “Down By the Water” was such a solid song, too, that I was worried that the album wouldn’t hold up. I was thankfully wrong. Highlights: “Down By the Water,” “Rox in the Box,” “This is Why We Fight.”

5) Fountains of Wayne – Sky Full of Holes: I felt that Traffic and Weather was a bit of a stumble overall, which meant that the last Fountains of Wayne album I truly loved was Welcome Interstate Managers, which was ages ago. Thankfully, this album is more of a return to form of sorts, very few flaws to speak of overall. Highlights: “The Summer Place,” “A Road Song,” “Richie and Ruben.”

6) R.E.M. – Collapse Into Now: Not as solid as Accelerate, arguably better than most of what they’ve put out in the post-Bill Berry era. An album that ended up being a swan song was something that did more to remind me of what R.E.M. has been all these years than anything else as of late. Highlights: “Mine Smell Like Honey,” “It Happened Today,” “Discoverer.”

7) Sarah Jarosz – Follow Me Down: Her first album, Song Up In My Head, was good, but not great. An interesting cover of the Decemberists’ “Shankhill Butchers” was the highlight, but when this album came out, it definitely shifted things for me. A darker bluegrassy effort with a different tone than what I think most would expect, plus a great cover of Radiohead’s “The Tourist,” makes this an extremely solid, great effort. Highlights: “Come Around,” “Annabelle Lee,” “The Tourist.”

8) Jessica Lea Mayfield – Tell Me: Late to the party on her, but she’s a great folkish singer-songwriter doing some really interesting things, and this album offers something new every time. Highlights: “Blue Skies Again,” “Our Hearts Are Wrong,” “Grown Man.”

9) Low – C’Mon: It’s strange to say that a Low album sounds optimistic, and I may just be hearing it wrong, but this was not what I was expecting from Low after the brilliant and stark Drums and Guns. A number of really great sing-a-long style songs along with a lighter tone than I’m used to. Highlights: “Especially Me,” Something’s Turning Over.”

10) The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow: A great folky duo that sounds really unassuming until you realize that you’ve been singing half the songs on the album to yourself on a regular basis. Highlights: “I’ve Got This Friend,” The Girl With the Red Balloon,” Barton Hollow.”

Other highlights musically:

* Sallie Ford and the Sound Outside – Dirty Radio (Highlight: “Danger“)
* Ellie Goulding – “Lights” (Bassnectar remix)
* Gillian Welch – The Harrow and the Harvest (Highlight: “Dark Turn of Mind“)
* Fujiya & Miyagi – “Yoyo”
* Das Racist – Relax (Highlight: “Michael Jackson“)
* The Civil Wars – Barton Hollow (Highlights: “I’ve Got This Friend,” The Girl With the Red Balloon,” Barton Hollow.”)
* Yuck – Yuck (Highlights: “Get Away,” The Wall.”)
* The Roots – undun
* Hayes Carll and Cary Ann Hearst – “Another Like You”
* Alison Krauss and Union Station – Paper Airplane (Highlight: “Dust Bowl Children“)
* Abigail Washburn – “Chains”
* Death Cab for Cutie – Codes and Keys (Highlights: “Codes and Keys,” “Underneath the Sycamore“)
* Dum Dum Girls – Only in Dreams (Highlight: “Bedroom Eyes“)
* Eilen Jewell – “Queen of the Minor Key”
* EMA – Past Life Martyred Saints (Highlight: “Milkman“)
* The Vaccines – Whatever Happened to the Vaccines? (Highlight: “Post Break-Up Sex“)
* Wild Flag – Wild Flag (Highlights: “Romance,” “Electric Band,” “Glass Tambourine.”)
* The Black Keys – “Lonely Boy”
* The Sounds – Something to Die For (Highlight: “Something to Die For“)

Lowlights:

* Elbow – Build a Rocket, Boys!
* Fujiya & Miyagi – Ventriloquizzing
* Beady Eye – Different Gear, Still Speeding

Movies:

I didn’t get to the movies often this year. If I had to list what I really liked?

* Moneyball
* Bridesmaids
* Thor
* The Muppets

And what I hated?

* The Tree of Life
* The Tree of Life
* The Tree of Life
* The Tree of Life

Books:

Keeping in mind that I still haven’t picked up Neal Stephenson’s Reamde…

Top books:

* Pie – Sarah Weeks: A beautiful, gorgeous children’s book about family, about expectations, and about following your own talents and desires.
* Ready Player One – Ernest Cline: Yes, it’s a book full of fanservice, but it’s SO GOOD at it.
* Robopocalypse – Daniel H. Wilson: As good as advertised, a fun robots-take-over read.
* Wonderstruck – Brian Selznick: Subtle, yet significant. So many surprises in a book of mostly illustrations.
* The Art of Fielding – Chad Harbach: A great literary title with a lot of nuance and an engaging plot.
* The Wise Man’s Fear – Patrick Rothfuss: Best fantasy series running, possibly the best fantasy writer going given what we’ve seen so far.
* A Dance With Dragons – George R. R. Martin: Nothing else needs to be said.

Bottom books:

* The Omen Machine – Terry Goodkind: A nonsensical insult to his fans and readership.
* The Inquisitor’s Apprentice – Chris Moriarty: A book for children that dragged in ways few adult books do.
* Happyface – Mark Emond: A graphic novel for teens that is way too dark and disturbing to be taken seriously.

Releaunching Soon

Due to a move and some personal issues, this went on hiatus for a bit. This will be relaunching shortly. Thanks for sticking around!

Video of the Moment

Friday Links

* A few good R.E.M. eulogies: Grantland, AV Club, Salon.

* Ethics aside, this dad photoshopping Ewoks into vacation photos is awesome.

* What catchers are best at framing strikes?

* A crazy story about one school’s Methuselah Trust.

* Ikea’s Manland, for the whiny male shopper.

* The guy on Twitter who owns the name of Netflix’s new spinoff service? Yeah, about that… Also: my favorite comic about the Netflix debacle.

* The White House is brewing its own beer.

* Finally, everything you wanted to know about the Star Wars Blu-Rays.

Video of the Moment

Video of the Day is going to shift to Video of the Moment as I kind of revamp things with this blog. I should applaud myself for not missing a day in 400+, though. Or cry myself to sleep.

Video of the Day