Scruffy Fiction

Book Review: Heft by Liz Moore

Heft tells the parallel stories of Arthur Opp and Kel Keller. Arthur is a severely overweight man who hasn’t left his house in ten years. Kel is an eighteen year old with a very troubled mother. Both characters are sad, lonely and desperately in need of help. The subject matter of Heft sounds very heavy and the story really does carry a large emotional weight. However it never feels overly sentimental. It’s actually quite a gripping read because of the likeable but realistically flawed characters.

At first Kel comes across as a little too grown up for an eighteen year old, but as his story goes on we see that he really is just a scared child who has been forced to grow up too quickly. Arthur on the other hand is really the opposite, an adult who has become very child like. He used to be an average adult who had a difficult childhood, but after he makes a very well intentioned mistake he hides in the comfort of his home and shuts out the rest of the world. It’s very easy to care for these characters and the further I got into the book the more gripped I became by their stories.

Fortunately Heft isn’t all sadness and depression. At it’s core it’s a book about hope, about how it’s never too late to change and it’s ultimately quite inspiring. This book has stayed in my mind since I read it. After it was over I really wanted to spend more time with the characters, which is a sign of a very good book.

Book Review: Cursed by Benedict Jacka

Fated, the first book in the Alex Verus series was a book that I enjoyed very much. I think the reason I liked it so much was because being the first volume in a new series it displayed a lot of potential for more stories and gave us quite a wide view of the world while still hinting at more beyond what we were shown. Cursed is the second volume in the series and although it was a good read it didn’t work for me in quite the same way that Fated did.

The story in Cursed  feels less important. Although things are a little more personal for Alex this time it still felt more like a side adventure than an important chapter in an ongoing story. Things play out on a much smaller scale. We see less of the world that these books are set in and it didn’t really seem like any new elements were introduced. The plotting didn’t seem as tight this time either. While Fated was a real fast paced adventure that really raced along, Cursed seemed to be constantly stopping and starting with nothing really interesting happening in the lulls between the action.

Where Cursed really does work though is the character building, particularly the changing relationship between Alex and Luna. A lot of this book is concerned with Alex figuring out exactly what his relationship to Luna is and what it should be in the future. By the end of the book things really have changed for the two of them and there are some interesting possibilities for the future. A few supporting characters from Fated make a return appearance. I was glad to see them again and they where integrated into the plot well. Unlike some ongoing series the appearance of the supporting characters felt natural they all performed an important function in the plot.

Cursed is a fun read. Benedict Jacka has quite a fun writing style so even though I didn’t enjoy it as much as Fated I still flew through it pretty quickly. I was thinking maybe the problem here is more with me than the book itself. Fated showed so much promise that I was frustrated that Cursed didn’t capitalise on all of that promise straight away. Perhaps it’s best to just enjoy the journey and trust that there are more interesting things to come.

Book Review: Judas Unchained by Peter F. Hamilton

Judas Unchained is the conclusion of the Commonwealth Saga which began with Pandora’s Star. The Saga is really just one huge two part novel, the previous book ended with multiple cliffhangers and apart from a little bit of recap at the start Judas Unchained jumps straight back in to the action. Since this is the conclusion of the story I won’t go into too much detail here but this really is an epic story covering an entire society. There are a huge amount of different characters and plot threads. I left about a month or so in between reading these two books so at first it was a little daunting trying trying to remember who everyone was and where they all were especially when Hamilton started introducing new characters. I found my feet soon enough though and once things got moving I never again felt confused. It’s especially impressive how Hamilton can successfully juggle so many plot threads and form them into one complete story without overwhelming the reader. I don’t know of any other writer that is capable of telling story’s of this scale while still making the book extremely readable.

There is a nice moral debate at the centre of this story concerning weapons built to deal with the invading alien threat. This aspect of the plot gives Judas Unchained a weight  that wasn’t present in the first book. It’s more than just a glitzy, ultra-violent space opera, there are some real questions asked here. Where I didn’t think this matched up to the first book was the pacing. Pandora’s Star was a very well paced story. It started slowly and steadily built up steam, coming to a very exciting conclusion. In Judas Unchained though the story seemed to be constantly speeding up and then slowing down, stopping and starting. It was a bit frustrating at times when things seemed to be getting going then we’d jump to another plot line and everything would slow down again.

As the end of a story though the book works very well. All the important plot threads have very satisfying conclusions and every character gets there moment to shine. Some of the minor plot points are left open ended, I assume some of those will be picked up in The Void Trilogy which is set in the same universe as this and is now pretty high up on my To be Read list.

Red Seas Under Red Skies Read Along: Week Five

Things have been pretty quiet around here recently. I’ve gotten behind on my reading so I had to skip last weeks read along questions and I’m late posting this weeks. It’s a shame that this happened right at the end of the read along but at least I just about got caught up in time. Here are the final questions and my answers:

1. Oh my god, such a lot going on I thought the showdown between the Poison Orchid and the Sovereign was brilliantly written and they were holding their own until Utgar and his nasty device turned up.  Well a lot of you had kind of predicted it, and I suppose we’d been let off too easy so far in terms of deaths of well-liked characters  – but come on,  did you expect something like that?  And how on earth will Jean ever recover?

The build up to the battle was really tense, it felt like something big and important was about to happen. I did see the death coming. When two characters are so happy together I always expect something awful to happen. I really thought that something like that needed to happen too. For a big book ending showdown there needs to be some consequences and a  real price for winning. It also puts Jean in an interesting position. For a lot of this book he was the one with a clear head while Locke was a little broken. Now that dynamic has changed and Jean is really damaged. I like Jean a lot so I feel bad for him but I do think that this tragedy is going to make him into a more interesting character. It will also add more layers to the ever evolving friendship between Locke and Jean.

  2. The deceit, the betrayal, first Rodanov and then Colvard.  Even now I’m not entirely sure I understand Colvard – Rodanov was never keen on the oath but Colvard seemed okay with it all and yet in this final deceit she was more devious than Rodanov – what do you think was her motive?

I think that Colvard was just looking out for herself and her ship, which is ultimately what all of these pirate captains are doing.  Drakasha really had the odds stacked against her so she sided with Rodanov who seemed to stand the greater chance of success.

3. Merrain – such a puzzle, no real answer, the mysterious tattoo, the determination to kill everyone to keep her identity and that of her master a secret.  Does anybody have any ideas where she’s from and what she’s up to exactly and who the hell is she working for??

No, it’s all quite a mystery. It’s good to have a few loose ends like this left at the end of a book like this. It leaves us with something to think about and when the answers come they will be all the more satisfying because of the wait.

4. Finally we get to the point of the GB’s latest scheme, all that elaborate planning for two years, fancy chairs, gambling, dust covered cards, abseiling lessons – all for one gigantic bluff. I loved the diversionary tactic here but having finally reached the end of the story and, more to the point, the end result – do you think the GB’s are as clever as they think they are?

I think that they’re over confident. They were so wrapped up in their cleaver scheme that they overlooked something really important. I like that they’re flawed in this way it would be boring if every book ended with all of the schemes working out perfectly.

5. I must admit that I liked Requin and Selendri – particularly at the end – I don’t think Requin will go after Locke and Jean, he was even sort of cool and composed about it all, in fact he came across as a bit pleased with himself because he had the last laugh.  Plenty of good characters this time which did you enjoy reading most about this time?

Requin and Selendri were one of the highlights of the book for me. I really felt bad for them as Locke and Jean’s plan was set into motion, after all these two really had done nothing to deserve the treatment they got. Fortunately things worked out for them and it was fun to see how calm Requin was about the whole situation. His attitude here only makes me like him more.

6. Finally, a triple barrel question, I know I shouldn’t ask this BUT, on reflection do you have a favourite between LoLL or RSURS??  And why?  Are you going to pick up Republic of Thieves?  And, where do you think Lynch will take us to next??

I think that The Lies of Locke Lamora was a better book. The story there just felt more important and the stakes felt higher. In Read Seas Under Red Skies although we are left with loose ends to be picked up on later it still feels like a side adventure. I do think it did a really good job of building on top of the first book. The relationship between Locke and Jean is something that was really well developed in this book. It took what was established in The Lies of Locke Lamora and added more layers to it. I really think that these two characters have a lot more depth to them now which is a sign of a good second book.

Lynch gave us a different type of story this time around. It’s good to see that he’s a writer with more than one type of story in him. He seems to delight in defying expectation. Going forward I think he’ll lead us in an entirely new direction. He seems to be laying the groundwork for a much larger story. He’s taking it slowly and just dropping a few details here and there for us to pick up on. The slow build is fine with me though, i’m enjoying the journey and I look forward to reading Republic of Thieves.

And that’s the end of the read along. Thank you to every one for hosting reading and posting, I’ve had a lot of fun and I’m honestly going to miss this.

Red Seas Under Red Skies Read Along Week Three

The third week of the read along was very interesting. This section was very different and quite far removed from everything that came before, it’s almost like it’s own short story. With so many different plot threads involved now it’s hard to imagine how everything’s going to come together in the end. Whatever happens it’s a really fun journey. Here are this weeks questions and my answers:

 1. Locke and Jean’s ability to find themselves at the center of a serious mess seems unparalleled. At this point, do you think that Stragos will get the return he expects on his investment in them?

Locke and Jean are continually bouncing from one bad situation to another. It’s very different to the first book where a lot of the time they had the upper hand or at least had a plan to deal with whatever situation they found themselves in. Here though they seem to be struggling just to keep themselves alive. I like that the two books are different in this way, we’re getting a different sort of adventure this time around.

No one ever seem’s to get what they expect from Locke and Jean and since nothing has gone to plan so far I can’t imagine that Stragos is going to get what he wants.

2. Merrain’s activities after our boys leave Windward Rock are interesting. What do you think her plans are?

Another character who defies expectations. Lynch is so good at pulling the rug out from under us that it’s difficult to predict anything about anyone’s future plans. Just keeping up with what’s going on right now is hard work!

3. Does anyone know why having cats aboard the ship is so important?

It’s an interesting custom and one that’s apparently taken very seriously. I was thinking that they are there as a kind of sacrifice to the gods.

 4. The word “mutiny” creates a lot of mental pictures. Were you surprised? Why or why not?

Not really surprised. At this point I pretty much expect Locke and Jean to get themselves into as much trouble as possible whatever they’re doing and there can’t be any situation worse for a ships captain than a  mutiny.

5. Ah, the Poison Orchid. So many surprises there, not the least of which were the captain’s children. Did you find the young children a natural part of the story?

I thought the children were a perfectly natural element to the story. I think you would expect a ships captain to keep her children around. Seeing the captain act as a mother adds an important element to her character and does a lot to humanise her.

6. Jean is developing more and more as a character as we get further in to the book. Ezri makes the comment to him that “Out here, the past is a currency, Jerome. Sometimes it’s the only one we have.” I think several interesting possibilities are coming into play regarding Jean and Ezri. What about you?

Jean has developed an awful lot in this book and the shifting relationship between him and Locke has been the highlight of the book so far. Jean’s priorities seem to be starting to change while Locke is still dead set on his original goal. There are a lot of different ways this could go.

7. As we close down this week’s reading, the Thorn of Camorr is back! I love it, even with all the conflict.  Several things from their Camorri background have come back up. Do you think we will see more Camorri characters?

I’d love to see The Spider make an appearance in this book. Great to see Locke thinking of himself as the Thorn of Camorr again. Shows how far he’s come since the first book where he didn’t take the title seriously.

Red Seas Under Red Skies Read Along Week Two

It’s the second week of the Red Seas Under Red Skies read along. This week we got a lot of important information and have a much clearer idea of what’s going on, though there are still plenty of mysteries and everything’s still very unpredictable. Here are this weeks questions and my answers:

Now that we know a little more about Selendri and Requin, what do you think of them? I worry Locke is suddenly realizing this con might be a bit tougher than he expected.

Both of these characters are not what they initially appear to be. The interesting thing is that the further we get into the book the more sympathetic they are becoming. At first they came across as simple unsympathetic villains. Now though they are just two characters who have different goals to our heroes which does not necessarily make them villains.

Locke is certainly realizing that this con will be tougher than he expected, though that seems to be the only type of con that he takes on. This time round he doesn’t seem to be quite as confident as he has about previous cons though.

What did you think of  Salon Corbeau and the goings on that occur there? A bit crueler than a Camorri crime boss, no?

Very different from the kind of things going on in Camorri. I liked Locke’s reaction to Salon Corbeau, his natural instinct is to rob everyone blind. It certainly solidifies his opinion of the rich.

The Archon might be a megalomaniacal military dictator, but he thinks he’s doing right by Tal Verrar: his ultimate goal seems to be to protect them.  What do you think he’s so afraid of?

I’ve no idea what he’s afraid of. He really does think he’s doing the right thing so I’m not going to write him off as a simple monomaniacal dictator. There are times when he does seem a bit mad and paranoid but other times what he’s saying does make sense. I like what he had to say about alchemy and the Bondsmagi, that seemed like a good observation.

And who the heck is trying to kill Locke and Jean every few days?  they just almost got poisoned (again!)!

Again I’ve no idea. Looks like there are even more complications for Locke and Jean on the way!

Do you really think it’s possibly for a city rat like Locke to fake his way onto a Pirate ship?

It seems like an awfully big task and not the kind of thing that can be faked easily. Simple deception and smooth talking won’t be enough  it seems like some genuine skill will be required. I can’t see this going well.

Book Review: Rule 34 by Charles Stross

Set in a near future Scotland, Rule 34 juggles three plot lines. DI Liz Kavanaugh basically polices internet porn, as the head of the rule 34 Squad she investigates crimes inspired by internet memes. Anwar is an ex-con who is trying to go straight just not trying very hard. Through a shady friend he ends up with a job as a Consul for an Eastern European Republic which didn’t exist until recently. Finally The Toymaker is a troubled employee of a crime syndicate who  becomes a person of interest in DI Kavanaugh’s investigation.

As with most books told from multiple perspectives some characters stories are more interesting than others. I found Liz Kavanaugh’s character to be instantly engaging, which is good because she is really our entry point into this world. I found her to be relatable and sympathetic but she’s also comes across as real and unique, not just a bland character for the reader to latch onto easily. Easily my favourite sections of the book were told from her perspective. Anwar was a slightly harder character to get to grips with. He consistently makes such bad decisions that initially he’s just frustrating to read, he’s such a naive idiot though that eventually he won me over. One character that never won me over though is The Toymaker. He’s not necessarily a character that your supposed to like but I never really felt like I understood him and I wasn’t interested in his storyline very much.

Charles Stross writes the book using a second person narrative which is a very interesting choice and certainly sets the book apart, but unfortunately it wasn’t a choice which worked for me. I initially found the book quite hard to get into and it was this writing style which was one of the main reasons. For me it’s just not a style of storytelling which draws me in the way I want it to. I find it more distracting than anything else. Something else which didn’t work for me was the plot. I really thought it was unnecessarily complicated and there were large sections where I didn’t have a strong grasp of what was going on. To be fair all of the various plot strands did come together at the end in quite a satisfying way but I didn’t find the journey there to be very enjoyable.

Where Rule 34 really shines though is in its ideas. It’s overflowing with really interesting ideas about the future of the internet, technology and artificial intelligence. I got the impression that this was really why Stross wanted to write the book, as a platform to present his ideas. He also created a very interesting world as a setting for his story. The world is close enough to our world to feel real and familiar but there are enough interesting differences that it seems like a lot has happened in this future. The setting and ideas are what really establishes this as a science fiction story and are by far the most successful aspects of the book. If these had been wrapped up in a more engaging plot then this could have been a much more enjoyable read.

Red Seas Under Red Skies Read-Along Week One

Following on from the Lies of Locke Lamora Read-Along we’re back for the second book in the series Red Seas Under Red Skies. I enjoyed the first book quite a lot so I was excited to get started. This weeks questions were supplied by Bryce from My Awful Reviews, here are the questions and my answers:

1. The Sinspire. It looks like our heroes (can they really be called that?) find themselves in search of a way into an unbeatable vault. Do you think they have what it takes to make it happen?

After everything they pulled off in the last book I’m pretty confident that an unbeatable vault wont be too much trouble for them. A few complications have come up already though so I don’t imagine it’s going to be smooth sailing. I was glad to see that things have started to go wrong almost immediately, the story has really hit the ground running and gotten the book off to a great start.

2.  Anyone want to guess how they’re going to make it happen?

No idea yet.

3. It’s a little different this time around, with us just being focused on Locke and Jean. Is anyone else missing the rest of the Bastards as much as I am?

It is a little different but I think I prefer it this way. Instead of a group of characters that we don’t know all that well we’re now focused on two characters that we are quite familiar with. I feel much more invested in Locke and Jean as a team than I did with The Gentlemen Bastards as a group. Although I do miss all the banter that came along with the Bastards.

4. I love the section where Jean starts to build a new guild of thieves. It really shows just how well trained and tough he is. Do you think the Bastards will end up training others along the way again like Bug?

I loved that section too, it was my favourite part of this weeks reading. The fact that Jean was able to outclass the other thieves so easily just goes to show that he is so much more than a common criminal. I get the impression that they will end up training others, I think they both miss having a band of brothers. I think that will be more of a long term goal though, I can’t see it happening too soon.

5. For those of you looking for Sabetha, we still haven’t spotted her yet. Anyone else chomping at the bit to see the love of Locke’s life?

I’m going to be excited when we finally do meet Sabetha but for the moment I’m enjoying all the little clues we’re hearing about her. This is going to make it all the more satisfying when she does finally make an appearance.

6. It’s early on, but the Bastards are already caught up in plots that they didn’t expect. How do you think their new “employer” is going to make use of them (The Archon, that is)?

Well I assume he’s going to want them to pull off a con of some sort since that’s the Bastards speciality, but beyond that I really don’t know yet.

That’s it for this week, before I go I just wanted to say that I’m really enjoying the book so far. The first book got off to quite a slow start with a lot of set up and it really took me the first hundred pages or so to get into it. This book really grabbed me from the start though, it seems to have a faster pace and more of a sense of fun. With The Lies of Locke Lamora being such a strong first book Read Seas Under Red Skies has a lot to live up to but so far it’s off to a great start.

Book Review: The End Specialist by Drew Magary

Starting pretty close to present day The End Specialist tells the story of what happens when we discover the cure for ageing. At first not much changes, peoples attitudes towards certain things begin to shift but nothing major. However the further we get down the timeline the more things change until we find ourself’s in a world transformed by the absence of death.

The story is told from the perspective of John Farrell through material taken from his diary. This format was a very good choice, it often feels more like reading a blog than a novel making the story very easygoing and accessible. I didn’t find John to be a particularly strong central character. He’s very much the every-man type, no real distinguishing features, not particularly likeable or un-likeable, he’s just kind of there providing a view on the world around him. I found myself feeling more for the people around him than I did for John himself.

Since this is John’s diary throughout the book we get transcripts from news programs, letters and interviews that John has collected. This was another good format choice because although Johns experience is rather limited these articles flesh out the larger world and we see just how much the world has been changed by The Cure. It also gives Drew Magary the chance to explore some of his ideas more thoroughly. There are a lot of interesting ideas presented here, from peoples changing attitudes towards marriage to new religions and cults inspired by The Cure and the radically different ways countries like Russia and China react to the changing world. It’s often thought provoking and left me thinking about how I would react in these circumstances when there are so many moral grey areas and no clear right or wrong answers.

The End Specialist is almost a good book but it has a few problems which stopped it from really working for me. It get’s off to a strong start but once we get to the middle section the plot seems to meander a little and it starts to feel like the story isn’t going anywhere. A little too much time is spent hearing about things happening around the world rather than moving the plot forwards. Fortunately by the end things get a little more focused and everything comes to a satisfying end. It’s a novel full of good ideas and it is very thought provoking, as all good science fiction should be but with a more engaging central character and a tighter structure it could have been a much better book.

Book Review: Pandora’s Star by Peter F. Hamilton

In 2380 the human race has developed wormhole technology which has allowed us to colonize hundreds of planets. The Commonwealth is a society with very few problems; ageing has been cured through rejuvenation, it’s a mostly peaceful society with no wars and people are free to live however they choose. When an astronomer observes a distant star trapped inside a massive force field the Commonwealth has to develop it’s first ever starship to investigate the potential threat.

Epic is a word that gets thrown around a lot when describing Science Fiction and Fantasy but Pandora’s Star is really worthy of it. The short description above doesn’t really do justice to the hugeness of the story being told here but I didn’t want to go overboard and give too much away. A lot of the fun of the book is in following the various plot lines, watching as they move apart and overlap slowly expanding the scope of the story as we go.

Pandora’s Star is most commonly described as a space opera but it’s so much more than that. It seem’s that almost every genre is covered here at some point from detective story to political thriller, fantasy and more. Peter F. Hamilton is able to cover so much ground because the world he has created is so well thought out and richly detailed that there are a huge number of stories to be told in it. We see the world from all sides; the super rich politicians, astronauts, police, reporters, terrorists, average citizens and even aliens. In one of my favourite sections of the book we switch to the point of view of an alien species as it is encountering humanity for the first time. The alien species is truly alien, not just another humanoid life form. It thinks and acts in a very different way to us and Hamilton did a really good job of leading us through it’s thought processes and making us understand something that is so strange.

The book is packed with detail. I’m not always a fan of books that spend a lot of time building a world in such extreme detail but for some reason it really works here. It’s a huge book but I never felt like it was a slog to get through, in fact it’s quite a page turner. With so many different view points I would usually expect there to be one or two plot lines that don’t work as well as the others but that wasn’t the case here. I was fully absorbed in the story the whole time and my only real complaint was that sometimes it was hard to remember where some plot lines had left off after they had been gone for 100 pages or more. You are required to hold quite a lot in your head as your reading the book but it really is worth the effort because the further you get into the story the more rewarding it becomes.

A lot of Pandora’s Star is pure set up and things really get moving towards the end. This is really just the first part of one huge novel which concludes with Judas Unchained. Considering the multiple cliff-hangers that we are left on here that’s a book I am really looking forward to getting stuck in to.