The Western King (Marston)

The Western King, Ann Marston 1996.

I knew that this was book two in a trilogy when I picked it up. Bought it anyway. Loved it. The story takes place 20 years after the first volume and doesn't require that you know anything about book one. This story spans several years and flows well. It's not like, "Here's one afternoon's events, and here's another afternoon five years later." It's a well-thought-out tale of three brothers -- one a Prince, one destined to be King, and a younger twin who will have three sons, according to a prophecy -- their father, who is the Regent, and the rest of their family. The try to unite their island against an enemy that has occupied a portion of land for 20+ years, even as the raider's home territory -- indeed, the entire continent -- is falling before a darker evil. Half of the prophecies are fulfilled before the end of this book. Others deal with the future and should be resolved in the final volume. Great book at a great price. I stayed up late reading extra chapters. This book makes up for the crap I bought at the same time at the same price. I may have to look for the other two books.

I eventually used the Public Library system to track down the other five books in the two trilogies. These reviews will show up eventually, but I was disappointed to learn that the story didn't have any closure at the end of book three and I had to find three more books.

Batman (Gardner)

Batman, Craig Shaw Gardner, 1989

A promising prologue, but then it fell apart. Little more than what passed the screen hit the pages. Harvey Dent got a few mentions, but no more action or appearances. The narrative was uneven -- at times, dark and cynical; others, too sarcastic. And not just when the Joker was in the scene. The narrator's voice blended with the characters' thoughts too freely. Could've been so much better. Quick read. (Day and a half, maybe)

Starcruiser Shenandoah: Squadron Alert (Green)

Starcruiser Shenandoah: Squadron Alert, Roland J. Green, 1989

a book from the used book store (a trade-in). I grabbed it for a change of pace -- I haven't read any military SF that I recall. I didn't realize that I'd picked up the first book of a proposed trilogy. As such, a lot of time was spent introducing a lot of characters that I'd later confuse with one another (despite the handy, but incomplete, roster in the front of the book), and the book moved slower than an old steam freighter despite a promising start. Didn't do enough or have enough story to cover a full book rather than a third of a trilogy. Didn't suck though.

Apparently, there have been six books, not just a trilogy. I've seen sequels at the library, but since I don't remember the first book all that well, there's little point in reading farther.

Star Trek: TNG: Unification (Taylor)

Star Trek: The Next Generation: Unification, Jeri Taylor,
story by Rick Berman and Michael Piller

Adaptation of two-part TNG episode. About standard for a novelization; mediocre for a book. You could see the scene fades and cuts. Some dialogue could've been cut and replaced with description or exposition. Or they could have just told the damn story! Quick read even though I've only seen a portion of part two (and none of part one) on TV. Recycled it.

And by "recycled", I believe I mean that literally. It didn't go back to the used bookshop to exchange for another. It went out with the newspapers.

Timeline (Crichton)

Timeline, Michael Crichton, 1999

Fast-paced, thoroughly enjoyable. Better than Pastwatch. The ending with Daniger was a little wanting. Sure, he deserved whatever he got, but how it was delivered wasn't quite right. A group of historians goes back in time to find "the Professor", who is lost back there, using technology of an evil, greedy, corporate scientist, who uses the past to shape the future. The past also supplies detailed floor plans for excavation work in France. Twists and turns galore wrapped up in 32 hours. It would be a shame to make a movie out of it. A mini-series (a real one: 6 or 8 hours) would be better.

Of course, a movie was made from the book. I haven't seen it as of this writing, so I don't know how well it translates. Then again, at this point, I might not remember enough to notice how different the adaptation was.

The Empire of Time (Kilian)

The Empire of Time, Crawford Kilian, 1978, 182 pages

Short but boring. I fell asleep too many nights without finishing two pages. Dense and too long. Might've made a good 90-page Analog story. Interesting premise: Other timelines are discovered, all parallel to ours, all in the past, except for two future ones where the world has been destroyed. I bought this book for a quarter and picked it, probably, because of the word "Time" in the title and the subway train (No. 1 line) on the cover (with rats). Subways allow more people to travel through the I-Screen quicker --- saves energy. It started off well, though with lots of exposition, but the middle gets bogged down as the plot unravels. You never get to like the characters at all.

Another book that I'd forgotten that I'd read. I don't remember any of it. Not even the cover that I seemed to have liked.

Pastwatch: the Redemption of Christopher Columbus (Card)

Pastwatch: the Redemption of Christopher Columbus, Orson Scott Card, 1995

Apparently a result of anti-Columbus propaganda from 1992 (the 500th anniversary), but it was an interesting premise nonetheless. A science group can observe the past and find that under certain circumstances, they can affect the past in small ways. They start a group dedicated to pinpointing when Columbus made his decision to sail west so that they can change history and prevent suffering. What they discover is that someone has already changed history so that Columbus went west instead of going to Constantinople on a Crusade. Interesting theories about the American Indians rising up from the ashes of the fall of the Aztecs to eventually take over Europe (having been innoculated by a small group of Portuguese that land in Brazil). Interesting historical "footage" of Columbus. And a nice association of Noah, the Great Flood and Atlantis (and the last Ice Age). Enjoyable book. Long, but good.

Lord Demon (Zelazny/Lindskold)

Lord Demon, Roger Zelazny, Jane Lindskold 1999

Billed as the last work of the great master, it was also the first Zelazny book I read. I wanted to read at least one Lunacon book raffle book from last year before this year's Lunacon, and this was an excellent choice. Fun to read, interesting characters, and only one really stupid part. Well-paced, and you can never be sure where it'll go next -- literally, as they cross several odd planes. (The Hangers plane got dumb and the Socks plane was nearly too much. It was silly at a time when it should have been serious.) The one thing that got me was a character that was mentioned a couple of times and when he finally showed, he was nothing like my mental picture because no description had been given beforehand. Not a big deal. Enjoyed the planes-hopping with the demons, gods and fu dogs.

The other thing that I remember about the book is that I had previously read Roald Dahl's "The BFG" (Big Friendly Giant), and I could've written an interesting essay comparing and contrasting the two. There were enough similarities to make reading Lord Demon that much more interesting.

Harold R. Foster's Prince Valiant

Harold R. Foster's Prince Valiant, Martin Delrio, 1998
screenplay by michael Frost Becker, Anthony Hickox, Corsten Lorenz

I was warned that the movie (which I hadn't known existed) was bad. This book only confirms it. Not a very good story on its own, and not very well-written for an adaptation, the story goes on to decimate the storyline from the comic. Major characters die. The Singing Sword is lost. And Valiant doesn't even meet Areta. The story is that Excalibur is stolen (and Sir Tristan is killed along the way). The sword is brought to Thule, where almost comedically it is dropped into the stone floor, where it becomes stuck. And the rest of the movie concerns getting the sword back and getting it out of the ground. Stooooo-pid. Quick read. Didn't like it.

Just plain awful. Avoid.

News from the Edge: the Monster of Minnesota (Sumner)

News from the Edge: the Monster of Minnesota, Mark Sumner, 1997.

The cover is laid out like a tabloid newspaper -- first clue that this book wasn't going to take itself seriously. (Actually, after the characters were established, it did turn serious.) The cover compares it to The Cat Who... and X-Files, but it was more X-Files because they had an episode with a lake monster years ago. "Savvy" was mostly Scully, looking for the truth, but she's willing to believe that something is there. The ending is set up to go either way (which is disappointing) except for one minor detail mentioned earlier in the book that comes back. Fun to read. Quick. Light.

If anyone has read this and wants to classify it, let me know. I'm just calling it "not-too-serious" because I don't know anything better to call it.

Tom Clancy's Net Force: Hidden Agendas (Pieczenik)

Tom Clancy's Net Force: Hidden Agendas created by Tom Clancy and Steve Pieczenik, 1999.
(technically, I never actually saw the name of the author in the book)

An elite government computer force with cool equipment set 10 years from now. Second in the Net Force series, but the characters were well-enough introduced if you weren't familiar with them. (I wasn't. I didn't read the first book.) Lots of "hidden agendas", lot of double-crossing, but borrows two much from Die Hard. Not overwritten like many of Clancy's books and I guess that "apostrophe s" is the reason. The romances were interesting: two couples get together, one broke up, and one never got together (and if they did, it would've been way too cliche). Only one subplot seemed to go nowhere. The boss's kid was having his heart broken by a girl -- big flippin' deal as far as the rest of the story is concerned. He only briefly interacted with his father in two key scenes, neither of them key. Overall, a good read. I'll pick up the first book sometime if I see it at the library. (Glad I broke the adaptation cycle.)

Just thinking: 10 years into the future would be this year.
I still haven't read book 1, but I did read the next few as I found them.

Raiders of the Lost Ark (Black)

Raiders of the Lost Ark, by Campbell Black, based on a screenplay by Lawrence Kasden, based on a story by George Lucas and Philip Kaufman, 1981

This is what a movie adaptation should be. Lots of background and descriptions, not a scene for scene, shot for shot regurgitation. There are a few differences from the film, probably last-minute production changes made after the script was sent off for novelization. In fact, it has some changes in it that I remember being "wrong" when reading the comic book many years ago. Quick read. Excellent.

This book is the Gold Standard for movie adaptations, along with Star Trek II: the Wrath of Khan.