Salt, Adam Roberts

Salt is an interesting sort of book; it does have a plot, but really the central point is not the setting (the planet Salt) or background, though we do see that, but a clash between two different ideologies. Roberts handles it pretty cleverly: as soon as you find yourself sympathising with one side, they do something awful. The voices are clever, too — more Barlei than Petja, because he reveals who he is and his self-satisfied, propagandist agenda with every word. I could never quite sympathise with his side of things, given that. I didn’t really side with either of them: it seemed like such a typical case of two different ways of life clashing, with no one really trying to understand the other — with the very act of trying to understand the other even being part of the problem, because they were just so incompatible.

The only place the voice really fails for me is when Rhoda Titus takes over narrating. It feels like the story just trickles to a stop there; there’s no resolution. Now, maybe the story warrants none; maybe there is none. But when you’re writing a book you can’t just let it dribble into silence in this awkward way.

It’s a clever/interesting set-up, and well-written for the most part — some of the passages about the landscape of Salt are gorgeous, and the voice of President Barlei is perfect too (unless, uh, you’re meant to like him and not see right through him). Just failed to satisfy when it comes to the ending.

Rating: 3/5

Elric of Melniboné and Other Stories, Michael Moorcock

My problem with Moorcock’s work has always been how interlinked it is. It doesn’t matter how much anyone tells me that x or y book doesn’t require knowing the rest of Moorcock’s canon, I’m compulsive that way and I want to know everything. From the start. So I’m glad to see these definitive Gollancz editions are author approved and fairly exhaustive in what they cover. I don’t think anything in here was covered by the omnibus I had before (and have read), which was nonetheless marked I. That drives me crackers.

And… I know it was a long time ago I made that attempt on Elric, but I think I liked this better. It establishes Melniboné beautifully, it shows us Elric’s first encounters with Stormbringer, his rule of Melniboné, his enemies and allies, his first pacts with Chaos. It’s a little awkward reading the comic book script, but fun, too — you get much franker comments about how Moorcock wanted Elric to look, and you can get an idea about the layout of pages, etc. It’s like reading a hybrid form.

I love the language Moorcock uses, the decadence and ruin and rot and dark beauties he lays bare. The magical world he creates. I’m looking forward to reading more of Elric. Also, his commentary on the genre which is included is excellent and worth reading.

Rating: 4/5

Slow Bullets, Alastair Reynolds
Received to review via Netgalley

It’s been ages since I read any of Alastair Reynolds’ work, and I think it’s high time for a reread. This novella reminded me of all the things I loved about his series: weird unknowable aliens, amazing tech, mysterious cataclysms, and yes, a strong female character too. And maybe now, with the extra reading and studying I’ve done since, I’ll know more about the science aspect of the fiction as well, and be able to appreciate it more.

This is an engaging read, narrated by a survivor from a war that bears some similarities with conflicts of the modern day: two sides, fighting over different interpretations of a Book, in which there is beauty and power but also the potential for great division. Yet these survivors have to put that aside, because it’s no longer relevant. The story has elements of a generation ship set-up, along with exploration of a mysterious object — in this case, the ship itself, which is suffering from data loss for reasons that, at first, take some understanding.

If you’re really wedded to hard SF, then the Sickening might annoy you, coming as it does without an explanation of the mechanism. I don’t know if it’s explainable or not, but that didn’t matter to me; it was a backdrop for the situation Reynolds created aboard this ship.

There’s something rather dispassionate and unpredictable about the narrator, Scur. I was never sure what she was going to do, what exactly drove her. But I get the sense that that was, in many ways, intentional — and given the way she’s telling her story, unavoidable. Part of the way she’s telling the story bothers me a little — seriously, etching 50,000 words into metal? — but I don’t mind suspension of disbelief, and at least the style matches with that conceit: Scur doesn’t waste her words.

Overall, very enjoyable for me. My sister’s hopping with impatience for it already…

Rating: 4/5

Grave Mercy, Robin LaFevers
Received to review via Netgalley

I was a bit apprehensive about reading this, because some people whose reviews I like and whose taste I often share were not fans at all… only to find when I did read it that actually I disagreed with them almost point for point. There are some aspects of this that I’m not so sure of — Ismae’s ready acceptance that these nuns kill people, for example, and her eagerness to join in — but I did love it. I enjoyed the main character’s difficulty in trusting the people around her, and how hard she finds it to understand that the convent that took her in could be fallible, could be manipulated. And yet she doesn’t take the easy route: she goes against what she wishes was right to do what she knows she should do.

I liked Duval, too: his devotion to his sister, the grudging partnership between him and Ismae, his general decency. I liked that we don’t just see that from Ismae’s point of view: we see other characters around Duval responding to his goodness with loyalty and trust.

I’m not sure why this was marketed so heavily as YA, because I didn’t really read it that way. It might well be suitable for that age range, but it’s not particularly childish in any way. If anything, it doesn’t portray young people as well as it could — the duchess Anne seems much older than thirteen in the way she acts, though of course people matured earlier in that time period. It’s quite a complex plot of politics, treachery and backstabbing. Granted, I was suspicious of a certain character well before anyone in the story was, so I felt like that was telegraphed too clearly, but I enjoyed it all the same.

I know from looking at reviews that Dark Triumph and Mortal Heart are focused on Sybella and Annith, side characters from this book. Hopefully, other characters I’m concerned about will wind their way through those stories, too. I notice there’s no mention of what happens to Beast at the end of Grave Mercy…

Rating: 4/5

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling

And my reread/rediscovery continues! This is definitely not my favourite of the series, owing to an unfortunate two week trip to France for which my mother made me pack only two books. This was one of them, Prisoner of Azkaban, the other. The latter didn’t suffer from the multiple readings (sometimes multiple times in one day) as much as this one did. Still, it’s been a long time, so it wasn’t too annoying — and I’d even contrived to forget the sequence of some of the events.

Actually, I’m enjoying the reread more than I really anticipated. It’s nice to come back to Harry Potter now the hype’s died down a bit; to read it not because it’s a cultural monolith and people are saying I have to, but because I feel like it. Helps that I don’t have anything to prove, too; once it caught on in school, there were years where I just had to be reading more literary stuff, just because high school.

It’s nice to come to these books for the friendships between Ron, Harry and Hermione; for the funny moments with Lockhart; for Dobby; for that thrill when it comes to the idea of Knockturn Alley… for the bravery and heroism of Harry, who isn’t particularly strong or smart (Hermione is a better witch than Harry a wizard, it’s very clear), who has been thrown into the path of great events, and does what he can.

Rating: 3/5

Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, J.K. Rowling

People who know me fairly well are probably stunned and shocked right now. I’ve resisted rereading the first few books for so long, even in the cause of finally finishing the series, because I got sick to death of the hype. I had my first Harry Potter books just before the hype really started, but I was also already into Ursula Le Guin and Tolkien at that point, so I wasn’t quite so impressed or swept up by it. It doesn’t help that I’ve also studied the books two or three times, starting with an exhaustive read through during my A Level English class. It really doesn’t help that an older review of mine, which is fairly critical, gets a lot of trolls and snark and even one or two people saying I can’t possibly have a degree in English Literature if I don’t like Harry Potter.

I mean, I get it. I was seventeen, I was a brat, and I was sharpening my tongue on something you love. But I’m twenty-five now. Let it go.

So anyway, I finally came back to Harry Potter by way of a HabitRPG challenge to re/read all seven books, and obviously, the only place to start is the beginning. So here I am. I still have a lot of my old reservations; there’s a lack of subtlety, a lack of originality, and Le Guin still wipes the floor with Rowling. And Malfoy is still eerily similar to Jasper in some ways. But if I put that aside and just try to enjoy it for the magic, and for the nostalgia of reading it for the first time, it’s fun. There is a lot of world building — Quidditch, the history of the wizarding world, the types of spells, how Hogwarts works, etc, etc. It captures some of the really ordinary stuff about school (everybody has their Malfoy, right?) and some of the really cool stuff about fantasy and imagination, and sometimes it’s really funny and clever about the types of people Harry has to deal with (Malfoy again, also the Dursleys).

So yes, I am enjoying this now for what it is. We’ve got Le Guin, we don’t need Rowling to give us the same kind of story; here we have a main character with plenty of room for us to identify with him, a humble guy who isn’t too cocksure about his powers, an Everyman. An ordinary boy who through love and friendship can be a hero.

Okay, yeah. I get the appeal. Now sit down and shush until I’ve finished the series (yes, Ruth, I’m looking at you, not a word).

Rating: 3/5