Where Dresden Kicks Some Phantom Butt

Grave Peril by Jim Butcher
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you've read books 1 and 2, you know what you're in for. But this book isn't just by the numbers. This is a good book, all on its own, and great fun to read.

One of the miracles of the Dresden Files is how Jim Butcher gets the reader to accept one absurd premise after another, but somehow he does it. The stories are grounded in the reality of Harry Dresden's scruffy apartment, crappy car, and overall schlumpy existence, making him come across like one of a million other Joes you might find in any big city. He's a good guy, but not too good; he's sympathetic, but not a soft touch; he's capable and inventive, but not unstoppable. He can't save everybody, but he really tries. All of that makes him feel like a regular guy caught in extraordinary circumstances, allowing the reader to sort of believe in the vampires and ghosts and demons, which makes it more fun to marvel at the strangeness.

The realistic interpersonal stuff, including his relationships with his girlfriend, friends, spouses of friends, police, and other acquaintances, makes what could be cartoony action feel like the real world with genuine stakes. There are lives at risk; we need him to solve the mystery and beat the bad guy. He can do it with wisecracks and banter, which is a big part of what makes these books fun, but none of that would matter if we didn't care. We do.

So, well done. A farfetched plot, kept in the lane by the gutter bumpers of human emotion on the one hand and wisecracks on the other, rolls along at a terrific pace with tons of action, great fun from beginning to end.

If you're like me, getting a late start on the Dresden Files, go ahead and jump in. This is no guilty pleasure. These are good books. Enjoy.

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Con-men and Pirates

Red Seas Under Red Skies by Scott Lynch
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an inventive, clever novel. The plot has more moving parts than any single book should attempt, but the author makes it work. The dialogue is witty and fun. And the world-building is excellent, following up on the first novel in the series.

When I had less time to devote to reading, I got stuck a bit. When I had more time, I read it avidly with a lot of enjoyment. I guess that means I should read more.

Its greatest weakness (I would argue) is evident when you pick it up--it's a big book. Bigger than it needs to be, maybe. Lots of twists and turns and scams and cons and double-crosses and extortions and escapes. Though all fun, they blur a bit. One review I saw suggested that the pirate section in the middle could be removed without harm. I was thinking just the opposite, that the the pirate section made the best part of the book and could have been the whole novel. So there you go--that's what you get when readers give advice! Incoherence.

Even though I thought it was longer than necessary for perfect reading pleasure, I still gave it all five stars because there's so much to enjoy here (especially the aforementioned pirate section). The action is driven by well-drawn characters, eccentric but comprehensible, that I could root for even though they have a very different sort of ethics. Above all, the wry tone with above-average banter carries you through a lot of action and plot twists. If you're a laugh-out-loud type of reader, maybe a John Scalzi fan, this should be your next fantasy series. Lots of good lines.

That is not to say that there is no emotional weight to the novel, because there are many human, affecting moments throughout. Some minor characters make a lasting impression, especially a couple of pirate women, but most of the emotion derives from the protagonists' friendship. The connection between Locke and Jean is genuine and warm, and the arc of their friendship carries us from literally the first page to the last.

Also, there is a delightful kitten.

Finally, and this is not a minor point, I like the author, as a human viewed from the middle distance of conventions and twitter, and judge him to be a good person, so the book is ethically sourced. (If he is not that, it's an excellent scam, and therefore I approve even more.)

Okay, to sum up, an (apparently) good guy wrote another good book, and I liked it. I hope you do too.

I mean, come on! Pirates!

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Becoming an Agatha Christie fan, unexpectedly

The Murder of Roger Ackroyd by Agatha Christie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Turns out, I like Agatha Christie.

It was the movie of "Murder on the Orient Express" that made me think I might. I enjoyed watching it, and then wondered about the original novel. I read it, liked it, and now read this one. Huh. Didn't expect to become a fan. I thought I would never be an Agatha Christie reader.

One of the great pleasures of reading an older novel, a novel on the edge of being a classic, depending on how you look at it, is that you know something about it already from cultural references, but like so many other bits of culture, it remains a gray area. I expected it to stay that way forever. Now I know something about the author and Hercule Poirot, satisfyingly filling in much of the gray, and I have joined the fraternity of readers who over time who have enjoyed these novels. (Hello, fellow reader! You knew something I didn't!)

I had to work a little to keep characters and their relationships straight, but the author does well to help one accomplish that. There is an expectation, of course, that a murder mystery reader will try to keep up, pay attention, but it is not a chore or like homework. The prose is brisk and pleasant, and the inevitable surprises are a delight. (Trying to think of a better word; only delight seems to capture it.) So my main expectation for a novel--namely, to have fun while I'm reading it--is met, and it was met more fully than I thought it would be. What a nice surprise.

Four stars because I liked it very much.

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Where I say what's right with Django Wexler's books, for those who didn't know yet

The Guns of Empire by Django Wexler
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

If you read the first three books, you probably already know you will enjoy this book, so you don't need someone (like me) telling you so. If you haven't read the first books, there's not much point in me telling you to read this one--I'll suggest the first book, which I also liked very much. Off you go. ;)

So, with no real audience for this review, I'll still say into the void--this is a great book. Great series, actually, and I highly recommend all of it. There are a lot of reasons to offer up my praise, but the two most compelling, for me, are the author's handling of characters and the realistic portrayal of a military campaign.

In reverse order, since this is going into the void anyway, one of the most impressive things about the whole series is the accuracy and completeness of the author's portrayal of war and soldiers, of camp and campaign and battle. The action and descriptions ring true, with the force of genuine scholarship, so that whatever errors it might contain are beyond my ability to detect or trip over. The effect of that, of course, is that the story hits home more deeply because the reader (well, me) believes it more. In addition, and this is not a minor point, it makes the story more fun.

Returning to characters, this is also a strong point from the beginning of the series. The author has not only created a number of well-drawn, comprehensible, captivating, distinct, round, dynamic characters with interesting arcs, but he has given us as many female characters of that type as male. More, perhaps, if I were to take a tally, and maybe someone wants to accept that job....

Winter is my favorite character--complex and damaged but noble and heroic--though I also love Bobby, and her arc here is spoilerly awesome. Sothe's action is fun to read, and Cyte has become a new favorite, and on and on. I also admire Marcus, and identify with him, and see Janus as an impressive, complex, mysterious, iconic leader, and enjoy any scene with Give-Em-Hell, etc., so there's a great balance that, to me, feels organic rather than forced.

This sharing of the narrative load among many personality types, between men and women, and between civilian, soldier, noble, and officer, makes the story feel more layered and satisfying, as well as more significant thematically and emotionally. And more fun. This helps carry the reader on (well, me again), which matters, because even though it's a long (comparatively long) book, it seldom drags. It's nearly always a pleasure to start the next chapter.

So, in a nutshell--good book. I liked it.

One book to go. It's out in hardcover, so that's cool... but that would just not look right on the shelves next to 4 paperbacks. Nothing I can do. It's a thing. So, I'll have to wait just a bit. But I'm looking forward to it. And in the meantime I may check into his kids' books. They look good, too. :)

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Personal reflections on Rocket Raccoon and Groot: Steal the Galaxy!

Guardians of the Galaxy: Rocket Racoon & Groot Steal The Galaxy by Dan Abnett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

If you're like me--where you like comics, but you love books--this crossover novel will be a great find. Marvel characters in original novels! Love it.

A digression
I remember when I was a kid, we had a Fantastic Four book. It was one of those "big little books," where it was short and fat and had a picture on every other page but was a legit book. I loved being able to read a comic book story filled with some of my favorite characters, on my own, at my own pace, supplying most of my own pictures. I read that book a bunch of times.
The Fantastic Four: The House of Horrors

About the same time, we had a "Get Smart" novel, which somehow was more fun than the goofy TV show. TV is all dialogue, but a novel has narration, which makes the story seem more real to me, and filled in so much that was missing. I don't know where that one book came from, or why we didn't get more. Should have.
Missed It By That Much!

And my favorite novel of this sort (crossover from another medium) that we had when I was a kid was Alan Dean Foster's novelization of "Star Wars." I loved the movie, but in some ways preferred the book. It had scenes that were missing from the movie, which was cool, but what affected me the most was the narration: the lingering on crucial events that occurred in a second in the movie but filled a paragraph in the book, or a page; the revelation of the characters' thoughts and motivations; the explanation and description of technology; the backstory and connections. The movie was two dimensions, but the novel was in three. Or so it seemed.
Star Wars: From the Adventures of Luke Skywalker

TL:DR
This "original novel of the Marvel universe" is in the same vein, and I liked it. It is a straight-up comic book adventure, but it's more fun (for me, a book nerd) to enjoy it in novel format. The author employs an excellent smart-ass tone, supplies helpful exposition, uses a variety of settings and secondary characters, and keeps the saving-of-the-galaxy plot moving along with as much energy as a comic or movie. It is very much pulp fiction, with all that implies, except for shoddy writing; Dan Abnett is an excellent writer who knows the characters and universe very well. So, I suppose, this is high quality pulp, which I mean neither as an oxymoron (a lot of pulp is well-written) nor a criticism. Pulp is entertaining; pulp is imaginative; pulp doesn't make a lot of demands on a reader; pulp, more than anything is fun, which is what I want most from reading.

If you're not put off by your comic book characters showing up in your paperbacks, and you like novels to be fun, maybe even silly, you should take a look. I think you'll enjoy it.

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