Review of Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

Space opera, oh space opera, thy lights are so delightful. Space opera, oh space opera, thy popularity so frightful. The market shines with endless sales, bestsellers that never pale… In fact, we are literally one century into the space opera phenomenon (one-tenth of a millennium giggles the nerd). And it shows no signs of slowing. The latest star atop the Christmas tree? James S.A. Corey’s (pseudonym of author combo Daniel Abraham and Ty Franck) Expanse series, of which the first volume is Leviathan Wakes (2011).

Readers dropped into the action and not released until the final page turns, Leviathan Wakes begins in situ with a woman’s desperate situation. Captured by what she thinks are space pirates, she can only listen from her jail cell aboard ship as her fellow crew are tortured and killed. But when all goes silent, the woman is forced to escape her makeshift cell. What she encounters is perplexing. A distress beacon drawing a nearby ice hauler, captained by James Holden, to the scene, what he discovers is even more confusing. No time to ponder the situation, an attack occurs that sees Holden having to drastically reevaluate his situation—the polite way of saying run for his life with a handful of fellow crew. And the hunt is on. Holden desperate to survive and relate to the rest of the civilized solar system what he found, the group who attacked are just as desperate to stop him to ensure their nefarious plans can go off as planned. The implications eventually discovered to run deep, will human life in the solar system survive?

Hopefully crack doesn't kill...

Due to coronavirus, and the increased time at home (read: lots of work in the garden that I probably should have done over the past several years but haven’t until now), I have been devouring the Expanse universe, more precisely works by Daniel Abraham. Four novels, three short stories, and two television seasons of The Expanse in four weeks, plus a novel in The Dagger & the Coin universe. I think it’s fair to say it’s an addiction. (I’m currently in the middle of the fifth Expanse novel…) A wonderful balance between character and plot (i.e. it’s highly entertaining without being too condescending in its treatment of dialogue, behavior, culture, internal monologue, etc.), it’s the perfect half-minded reading while trimming hedges, spreading fertilizer, turning over the compost pile, raking winter’s leftover dead leaves and twigs, staining the kids’ treehouse, making minor repairs to the shed, firing up the lawnmower, removing weeds, clipping water sprouts, getting bicycles ready for winter, priming the lawnmower, building raised garden beds, kicking birds out of the kitchen ventilator, cutting grass, tilling soil, planting vegetables…

…this is all a warning—a way of saying there are a number of reviews upcoming that are all from the mind of Daniel Abraham, and for the Expanse works, the mind of Ty Franck, also. Hopefully crack doesn’t kill. The exercise in the garden should at least give me a fighting chance.

Review of The Vagrant by Peter Newman

“Cut through the noise” is the latest metaphor I’ve heard describing authors and publishers’ attempts to get sales in this age of market saturation. And while there is no magic formula, there are certainly a few tried and tested techniques that seem reasonable: prose appropriate to the story being told, good pacing that includes high and lows at expected and (properly) unexpected plot moments, and characters we can relate to. Sharply defined or imaginative settings also help, but are not the be-all end-all. How then does Peter Newman’s debut novel The Vagrant (2015) cut through the noise—ear-splitting uproar—of fantasy on the market today?

A breach has appeared in the Earth, and demonic creatures have emerged, wreaking havoc upon the land and people who live in the future world. Humanity sent their bravest and strongest to fight, including the singing sword Malice, but were defeated. Now the land lies in ruins. People fight for scraps of food, bodies are taken over by the demons, . But through the cratered landscape walks a silent man, the Vagrant. A child carried in the crook of his arm and goat tapping along behind, he is on a mission that no know of save him. As the demonic horde learns of his journey, they attack with all their force. (How was that for cover copy? Does it help if you imagine it being read by the movie trailer narrator?)

Non-Fiction: Review of The Four Disciplines of Execution by Chris McChesney, Sean Covery, and Jim Huling

For the unaware, when I’m not wearing my super-hero blogger spandex, I work in IT (wearing IT spandex, you know…). Specifically, I work for a manufacturing company, which is a lot different than working for a company whose main business is providing IT services. Rather than being a core function that drives value and profitability, IT is yet one more gaping mouth sucking up overhead costs. The business has their own priorities, many of which are of the quick-get-it-done-now-or-the-world-will-burn-down variety that really stretches my spandex. While I do my best to avoid it, I see how many of my colleagues are sucked into this swirl of whack-a-mole firefighting. Naturally, this results in a lot of frustration. People don’t feel they are working on truly value-added projects, or believe that many things which should have more priority are getting it, let alone ideas that actually come to fruition.

I’m not here as a paid-proponent of Sean Covey, Jim Huling, and Chris McChesney’s The Four Disciples of Execution (2012) as a way of combating the situation described above. But I can say that even at a bare minimum, its ideas and main thrust should be at least a springboard for thought to anyone in business looking to get out of the swirl of a persistently reactive work environment that is full of good ideas that don’t often become reality.

Console Corner: Review of Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris

I’m not sure Tomb Raider has reached the Mario-spectrum of its life—able to boast a game in nearly every type over decades, but it has covered a number of them.  From puzzler to action adventure, mobile to console to PC, old school Playstation to latest school PS4, the evolution of Lara Croft in gaming has numerous waypoints.  Zooming in on the arcade feel of an action/puzzler is 2014’s Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris from Crystal Dynamics.

Cooperative for 1-4 players (local and online), Temple of Osiris is a top-down isometric game that tries to marry the best of Tomb Raider puzzles with fast-paced, arcade style action, all set in an (extremely) pseudo-Egyptian setting.  Boiling the Tomb Raider formula down into its most fundamental ingredients, the game sees players using a basic set of moves to find and open gates, traverse moving and moveable platforms, gun down fantastical enemies, solve environmental puzzles, and defeat bosses—all linked by the thinnest of stories as Lara and her friends attempt to take down the evil god Set.  Good for drop in and drop out, the game is fast and furious shooting with brain teasers, nothing deeper in terms of story and character.

Review of The Hydrogen Sonata by Iain M. Banks

I assume like most bibliophiles, there are a few authors that touch that nerve of pure enjoyment and satisfaction inside. Their stories fill me with an inner sense of delight at the places, characters, and emotions described, and leave me feeling a little high upon completion—wanting more but wonderfully gratified with what I have. And completion is, unfortunately, a necessity. While we may like to be forever in those places and among those characters, the last page inevitably turns. And for authors who have passed, so too do oeuvres have a last page; at some point in time I will have read everything by an author and face the reality of not being able to embark on any virgin experience.

And thus it is with a few authors I have patiently let their final unread book sit on the shelf for years, waiting for the moment that feels right to enter upon that last bit of glory. With Iain Banks’ The Hydrogen Sonata (2012) a couple of weeks ago the moment felt right. And so, with mixed feelings, I dived in for my last, virgin experience in the Culture. I have emerged upon the last page to confirm delayed gratification is a real thing.

Review of Galileo's Dream by Kim Stanley Robinson

From a few, solid perspectives, Kim Stanley Robinson’s 2009 Galileo’s Dream is the perfect bit of historical fiction. Where some modern writers will relay history in near-fictional form, i.e. adding dialogue, emotions, etc., not all of which are directly taken from recorded history, this approach can often feel disingenuous, like the writer is preying upon our acceptance of their conjecture. Galileo’s Dream thrusts in a different direction: science fiction.

Robinson clearly having pored over biographies of Galileo and the Italian mathematician/scientist/lens maker/astronomer/author/physicist/engineer’s own written works, not to mention histories of Galileo’s era, the Catholic church, and many other contributory sources, a good two-thirds to three quarters is a mimetic imagining of the man’s life—dialogue, emotions, stream of consciousness, etc. But where Robinson departs from the presentation of historical fiction is to introduce the ludicrous. Yes, the ludicrous. Sending Galileo into the future, particularly into a war being fought among Jupiter’s moons by the future of humanity, the 16th century mathematician meets the next millennium.

Review of Time of Contempt by Andrzej Sapkowski

Seeming to set the pace for the remaining three books in the trilogy, Time of Contempt (1995), the second book, picks up exactly where the first Blood of Elves left off. Not only pace, the novel likewise carries forward the character focus, authorial voice, and style of the first novel in consistent fashion.

At the outset, Ciri and Yennefer are on their way to Aretuza where the intention is that Ciri will train to harness her magical source abilities and become an enchantress. Their journey anything but straightforward, while stopping in Gors Velen the duo have several encounters that indicate prying eyes are interested in their progress—or lack thereof. Meanwhile, Geralt wanders the countryside and cities, earning his keep as a monster hunter. After accidentally stumbling upon a behind-the-scenes fight amongst factions of the mages, Geralt finds himself embroiled in the wider interests of Aretuza, like it or not, and simultaneously in the machinations of Nilfgardian interests to take over the lands.

Console Corner: Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons

While single-player games can be a lot of fun, something I can sink hours of time into, I still prefer couch co-op.  Something about working together with someone sitting beside you to solve a puzzle or take on a difficult level of enemies (and the boss!) is more satisfying.  But these days there are relatively few really good couch co-ops.  Most games designed for online multi-player, gone are the hours of fun with: one Nintendo, two controllers, and a game that was almost inevitably designed for at least two players.  The market today is not devoid of such games (Overcooked, Lara Croft and the Temple of Osiris, Never Alone, Wipeout and others keep the type alive), but they are certainly the minority.  Where most Nintendo games were couch co-op, modern games are not.  But a 1.5 player game?  A wonderful adventure stuck between a one- and two-player experience is Starbreeze Studio’s 2013 Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons.  How can a game be 1.5 player? Let me explain…

Brothers is the story of two boys, Naiee and Naia.  Their father lying deathly ill in the family’s small, seaside hut, the village doctor sends the pair on a mission to the Tree of Life to collect the waters that will save him.  Both the boys able climbers and eager to help, they embark on the journey of a lifetime to get the valuable resource.  Norse in theme, their journey through the fields, mountains, and beyond is full of surprises, good and otherwise, the pair must pass to get to the Tree of Life and help their father.

Console Corner: Review of: Assassin's Creed: Origins

A new year, and a new Assassin’s Creed game.  Oh wait, 2017 was a little different; Ubisoft had taken a two year break to change the formula with Assassin’s Creed: Origins...  Or did it?

Before I start bemoaning the state of Ubisoft, it’s best to jump into what AC: Origins is.  Origins is the story of Bayek, medjah of the desert town of Siwa.  Egypt ruled over by the despot Ptolemy, Bayek works to protect his town from Ptolemy’s generals whose greedy, ambitious soldiers persistently kill and steal from the people.  But things hit closer to home for Bayek one day when he and his son are abducted by one of the generals and forced into an underground occult ritual, a ritual whose results prove devastating to Bayek, pushing his life in a new direction.  Revenge now his goal in life, Bayek must travel throughout Egypt to take down the generals and ultimately the pharaoh who wronged him.