Dreadnought

Today's review of Dreadnought, by Cherie Priest, comes from Paul Aridas. Enjoy...

In this sequel to Boneshaker, (previously reviewed here), Cherie Priest returns to the Steampunk world of Civil War America.  Except it’s East Coast Civil War America, where the edition of  Mercy Lynch, nurse-heroine-extraordinaire,  creates a completely different—albeit equally appealing—perspective of this unique world.  Cherie isn’t quiet Briar Wilkes, but she maintains a robust disposition whenever adversity strikes, repeatedly endearing her to the reader.

As Mercy embarks on a scandalously solo cross country trip to visit her dying father, she meets a cast of characters whose veiled motivations complicate her simple goal to reach Seattle. Mercy allies herself with a Texan named Horatio Korman, and together they begin to unravel the uncertainties and dangers emerging on their locomotive.

Intriguing as these relationships are, the story wanes in the middle. The perpetual threat of the Shenandohah, an enemy train, and the never-ending speculation about the mysterious cargo aboard the Dreadnought become redundant. Since the vampiric complications of gas, blight, and yellow tar addiction are just emerging on the East Coast, they are new to these characters…but not for readers who devoured Boneshaker----those fans will wish Priest had opted for tighter editing within these chapters. 

In the end, the book concludes brilliantly.  It’s worth finishing the novel to enjoy the moment when Mercy meets Zeke and Briar Wilkes, plus Lucy O’Gunning, and Andan Clay. It’s a reunion that hopefully foreshadows another steampunk novel set in this world.

~Paul Aridas

As always, thanks for reading. Questions and comments are encouraged below.
-Adam Delaura

The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught

In The Lost Fleet: Beyond the Frontier: Dreadnaught, Admiral Geary is back in command of the Alliance fleet, this time on a mission to explore the territory controlled by the mysterious Enigma race. Fans of the previous novels will no doubt enjoy this installment of Black Jack Geary commanding the fleet from the flagship Dauntless. For Geary and his familiar side-kicks, confronting the Enigma race proves difficult. The Enigmas are secretive and go out of their way to prevent the Alliance Fleet from learning anything about them. In addition to the Enigma race, the fleet faces challenges to Geary’s command, and politicians who would rather see them fail.

Like previous novels in the series, this one is full of tense fleet battles, political maneuvering, and close calls. If you like the others in this then you should definitely stop by the library to pick this one up.

Here are some links to other reviews of this book:
cybemage.se
alternative-worlds.com

You can also read our previous review of the Lost Fleet series here.

As Always, thanks for reading. Leave your questions and comments below.

-Adam Delaura

If Dickens designed Star Wars...

Today’s review comes from Paul Aridas, a relative newcomer to the SciFi genre. Read his take on Frank Herbert’s classic, Dune.

William Styron’s quote, “A good book should leave you... slightly exhausted at the end.  You live several lives while reading it”, is true when it comes to the experience of reading Dune by Frank Herbert.

It is immediately apparent, early in the novel, that it is a book that is meant to be savored: slowly, meticulously digested by the reader with a standing invitation to rediscover the book again and again at a later date, each time garnering something new from the pages. Dune is when of those books, where, when someone asks, “What is it about?” a solid half an hour is required to answer. 

There is the basic plot: new conquerors of a planet must adjust to the precarious political situation of a new life….but this is also a story of family, betrayal, politics, religion, humanity, ecology, power, mysticism, and legacy. The details unfold in a systematic way, but lend themselves to multiple interpretations, depending on the reader, and the particular character’s perspective they have chosen to embrace.  This journey differs when comparatively seen through the eyes of Paul, the beliefs of  Jessica and the Bene Gesserit, the prophecy of Muad’Dib, and the political alliances of the Baron.  The adventure evolves into a complicated series of alliances with epic consequences when the  Fremen, the worms, Paul and Chani’s love story, and the wretched climate all begin to intersect.

From a lesser author, this book would be a mess. In Herbert’s hands, it is a masterpiece.  If Dickens designed Star Wars, this would be the result.  From the intricate details of the planet’s ecology to the historical narrative of  Princess Irulan, this book is well thought out and brilliantly layered in complexity.  My reading registry is more complete for having discovered this title, and I look forward to continuing the adventure with the other novels within the Dune series.

Paul Aridas

Stop by the library to checkout Dune in a variety of formats.

Paperback

Audio Book

Downloadable Audio

As always, thanks for reading. Leave questions and comments below.

-Adam Delaura

Song of the Dragon

The Song of the Dragon, by Tracy Hickman, opens up with the final battle between a mighty elven empire and the last dwarven king.  Drakis and his companions, all of them slave warriors of the elven empire, fight their way to the Ninth Throne and kill the last dwarven king. It is a great victory for them and it will bring honor to their elven master, Lord Timuran. Unfortunately things begin to go downhill for Drakis and his companions.

After the dwarves are defeated the elven warriors turn on one other, each trying to claim the dwarven crown for their master. The crown is lost in the chaos and Drakis’ cohort is left with nothing to bring back to their master except a rather annoying dwarven fool.

Things get worse when the warriors arrive home; House Timuron’s Aether Well gets destroyed during the Devotion ceremony. The Aether Well is the source of elven magic and it is what allows the elves to control their slaves. Each slave’s memories are manipulated and controlled by the Devotion spell in a way that makes the slaves want to serve their master. With the Aether Well destroyed, all of the slaves remember everything they had been forced to forget.

Drakis and a group of slaves flee north lead by the song he hears in his head. Along the way each former slave grapples with their newly remembered memories. Most of them are shocked when they remember the things they have done in the past. Adding to the tension is the fact that Drakis and his companions are strangers to each other. Also one of them is marking their trail, allowing the elves to follow them.

Normally a few escaped slaves wouldn’t be such a big deal for the elves. However many people think that Drakis will fulfill an ancient prophecy and destroy the elven empire. Various power groups attempt to capitalize on this idea. Drakis himself disbelieves the prophecy but that doesn’t stop others from using it to their advantage.

Drakis is a classic reluctant hero. He is also a static character. In fact, most of the characters are static. By the end I was tired of Drakis’ repetitive reluctance. Regardless, my favorite character is the dwarven fool. By the end of the book I still wasn’t sure if he believed in the prophecy or if he was manipulating Drakis in order to get revenge on the elves.

The Song of the Dragon is a fast-paced, epic fantasy adventure. I recommend it to any fantasy reader; seasoned readers or those new to the genre.

Stop by the library or place it on hold today. (It's also availible as an audio book!)

Thanks for reading. Questions and comments are encouraged below.

-Adam Delaura

House of Leaves

Mark Z. Danielewski’s House of Leaves is not a science fiction of fantasy book. In fact, I’m not sure what to call this book. Nevertheless I feel compelled to share my experience with it. House of Leaves is a bizarre, psychological-horror-puzzle that will make your head explode if you try to understand it all.

House of Leaves is about many things although on the surface it provides a pseudo-scholarly examination of a documentary film that may or may not be fictitious. The subject of the documentary film is a house that is larger on the inside than on the outside. Terrible things happen inside this house as the owner and film maker, Navidson, documents his exploration of the extra-dimensional spaces found within the house. The house is possibly alive and it is constantly changing. Hallways and doors change without notice. For example, traveling down a staircase may take only a few seconds but travelling back up that same stairway might take days.



This hardly describes the true plot of this book. The House of Leaves is a fictional book about a fictional film, however in the margins and on several pages are the thoughts of other characters, Zampano and Jonny Truant, who are “reading” House of Leaves and trying to understand it. This act of comprehending the House of Leaves kills Zampano and horrifies Truant. In fact, the introduction to the book is a warning from Truant.

The book has a most unconventional setup. First, it’s filled with various footnotes and references to academic journals, magazines, and scholarly writings; most of which do not exist. Second, there is a separate type-face used to notate the various characters thoughts. Additionally the book has passages in many languages, English, German, Latin, Russian, Braille, and possibly others. There are seemingly random lists of things, passages printed backwards and written in code, entire lines that are struck through, and some very creative page layout. Also the word “house” is always printed in blue.

One could easily write an entire book just trying to explain House of Leaves. Nevertheless it’s worth reading if you are interested in an unconventional novel. Stop by the library and check it out



Thanks for reading. Questions and comments are encouraged.

-Adam Delaura