More sci fi/fantasy reading
Gahh lj ate my post. I hate that.
So in a previous post I mentioned not being into scifi/fantasy the way it appeared in Anne Mccaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. I think Matthew Stover's Acts of Caine series does better, though the premise is not that original. Basically in this futuristic Earth ruled by massive companies, where people are divided into castes and oppressed, some gifted people can become 'Actors' and get paid to risk their lives in adventures on a fantasy world for an audience's viewing pleasure. The books follow an anti-hero called Caine as he is brought to life by the Actor Hari Michaelson. I don't think I can recommend the books.
Push comes to shove, I would say the first one (Heroes Die) is immensely readable. It reads like a tightly plotted action movie, with several neat twists and crowning moments of awesome. I could see it on the big screen, if only it'd tone down the violence (blah blah shock the audience into thinking how bad it is blah blah philosophical reflection blah). Oh, and the hamfisted ending zingers (re:violence and spectatorship), which instead of marveling at the authorial genius, I rolled my eyes and thought, I get it dude. I get it. It's about as subtle as a brick to the face, but largely serviceable.
The second book (Blade of Tyshalle) is kind of a clusterfuck though. It spends a lot of time of skeevy philosophizing when it's not narrating really gross violence, including rape. Yeah. Not so fun. Generally it pushes a vibe of man as a force of nature as an endgame (the author is apparently really interested in Nietzsche's will to power concept) and that feels too hollow for me. This review singles out perceptively the way the intense individualism (and it comes through more so than the first) actually becomes tainted with vaguely fascist (hypermasculine, social darwinist, violence and destruction as regeneration) strains. Where might is right and there are no people with individual wishes and dreams just *one* individual in his crusade against "the herd." Ew. I feel like the author should go for some Levinas to balance out his Nietzsche.
Anyway, Caine starts as a believable character with interesting personal demons to work through, but by the end of the second book, I get the feeling that he's kind of turned into a James Bond type or something like that-- a wandering badass with no roots or attachments. I prefer characters, who struggle with their attachments as they move through situations so I found the end of book 2 disappointing and found the character in book 3 kind of a bore.
And in book 2 apart from the inclusion of rapes, the track record with female characters was atrocious. Book 1 had two badass women that got key moments, even if I would have wanted a bit more and some of the stuff wandered into cliche territory. In that department, book 2 was ugh, I don't even. Suffice to say I didn't like it. I kept waiting for it to surprise me, but it didn't really pick up in the ways I would have wanted it to.
Now I'm shopping for very plotty adventure fantasy stuff with a woman as a main character. I heard of J.V. Jones Sword of Shadows, so I might give that one a try next.
So in a previous post I mentioned not being into scifi/fantasy the way it appeared in Anne Mccaffrey's Dragonriders of Pern series. I think Matthew Stover's Acts of Caine series does better, though the premise is not that original. Basically in this futuristic Earth ruled by massive companies, where people are divided into castes and oppressed, some gifted people can become 'Actors' and get paid to risk their lives in adventures on a fantasy world for an audience's viewing pleasure. The books follow an anti-hero called Caine as he is brought to life by the Actor Hari Michaelson. I don't think I can recommend the books.
Push comes to shove, I would say the first one (Heroes Die) is immensely readable. It reads like a tightly plotted action movie, with several neat twists and crowning moments of awesome. I could see it on the big screen, if only it'd tone down the violence (blah blah shock the audience into thinking how bad it is blah blah philosophical reflection blah). Oh, and the hamfisted ending zingers (re:violence and spectatorship), which instead of marveling at the authorial genius, I rolled my eyes and thought, I get it dude. I get it. It's about as subtle as a brick to the face, but largely serviceable.
The second book (Blade of Tyshalle) is kind of a clusterfuck though. It spends a lot of time of skeevy philosophizing when it's not narrating really gross violence, including rape. Yeah. Not so fun. Generally it pushes a vibe of man as a force of nature as an endgame (the author is apparently really interested in Nietzsche's will to power concept) and that feels too hollow for me. This review singles out perceptively the way the intense individualism (and it comes through more so than the first) actually becomes tainted with vaguely fascist (hypermasculine, social darwinist, violence and destruction as regeneration) strains. Where might is right and there are no people with individual wishes and dreams just *one* individual in his crusade against "the herd." Ew. I feel like the author should go for some Levinas to balance out his Nietzsche.
Anyway, Caine starts as a believable character with interesting personal demons to work through, but by the end of the second book, I get the feeling that he's kind of turned into a James Bond type or something like that-- a wandering badass with no roots or attachments. I prefer characters, who struggle with their attachments as they move through situations so I found the end of book 2 disappointing and found the character in book 3 kind of a bore.
And in book 2 apart from the inclusion of rapes, the track record with female characters was atrocious. Book 1 had two badass women that got key moments, even if I would have wanted a bit more and some of the stuff wandered into cliche territory. In that department, book 2 was ugh, I don't even. Suffice to say I didn't like it. I kept waiting for it to surprise me, but it didn't really pick up in the ways I would have wanted it to.
Now I'm shopping for very plotty adventure fantasy stuff with a woman as a main character. I heard of J.V. Jones Sword of Shadows, so I might give that one a try next.