Rating - 3: worth reading once (borrow it from a library)
This is a strange little book, a poetic young adult novel that is to Heavy Metal and You as Heavy Metal and You is to Stargirl.
Weetzie Bat follows the early life of Weetzie Bat, her friend Dirk, and their blended family. It is about love and relationships of several kinds.
Have you seen Into the Woods? Explaining the plot of Weetzie Bat feels a lot like that, because it is sort of a fairy tale broken into two parts. "Happily ever after" comes halfway through, and we see the kinks in that in Act II.
Weetzie Bat is hippie fairy tale, minus the fairies. And they're not explicitly hippies, but that is the vibe. Weetzie lives in a world where love conquers all, where nothing exists except people and relationships, and where there are no prosaic worries about money, jobs, or the future. It is an idyllic ideal, a romantic take on California life.
Everyone gets to have his or her unique style, and they never clash. If you cannot decide on your own style, combine a few, and the clash will be successful. Why stop at the classic combat boots with prom dress, when you can add a headdress to it?
All things are accepted. Style is the least of these. Toss in underage drinking, drug use, gay sex, pre- and extra-marital sex, multi-racial relationships, and McDonald's Filet o' Fish. If Weetzie is Stargirl, she has transported the character to The Ethical Slut. Only there is no discussion of the ethics -- no one thinks of these as controversial items.
There is pain, but all pain comes from failures of love. Broken relationships make people unhappy. Weetize and Dirk's lovers flee, both because of a lack of complete and unconditional love and acceptance. Once you accept that love conquers all, you are happy. Note the mirrored situations of Cherokee and Witch Baby, who resists acceptance, and who suffers.
Romanticized rather than realistic, this feeds into a deeply felt need that many share. I am not the target audience; I think Slut's explicit communication will lead to happier relationships than an expectation of unconditional support, no matter what you do. But we can still have fairy tales about Ducks and Secret Agent Lover Men.
Amazon link
Note to conservative or traditional parents, in case this was unclear: if you would not feel comfortable buying your teenage daughter The Ethical Slut, you should not buy her this. If you read Slut and thought it was not a strong enough advocate of free love, this is the book you are looking for.
Wednesday, January 30, 2008
Monday, January 28, 2008
House of Many Ways by Diana Wynne Jones
Rating - 3: worth reading once (borrow it from a library)
This is much better than Howl's Moving Castle. Does it help or hurt sales to label a book a sequel, when a few minor tweaks would make it an entirely independent book? You get more readers who liked the first book, but you lose many who will not start with a sequel.
Charmain is house-sitting for her great uncle, a wizard whose house has one door that leads everywhere. Even without a magic house and erratic spellbook, she has found a royal mystery for her first journey beyond her pampered life at home. And how does this sweet little dog play into it all?
Charmain is not a Disney princess. We meet the standard fantasy motif with the baker's daughter heading out alone for her adventure, but that is about it. She is clever and self-aware, not kind or beautiful. She is neither a pauper nor a princess, just from a family well-off enough to leave her incompetent of any task involving her hands. She is irritable and impatient. She wants to be left alone with a stack of books and maybe a pastry. Her idea of wild daring? She wants to sneak off and become a librarian assistant.
I frequently refer approvingly to unconventional stories. I like them because they are something new. We already have two hundred versions of Cinderella so you need to bring something new to the table to merit reading, unless you are a better writer than anyone who has ever told that story. Entire forests have died to print the tales of willful teenage orphans and princesses who set out to find adventure, where they will succeed through beauty, kindness, and a special talent, only to discover that they were really looking for themselves and the way home. Her special talent will probably be some form of art or magic, and if we have a male protagonist, it will probably be swordfighting or magic. If we really want to shake things up, we can have magical art or a female swordfighter. You and thirty other authors are pushing that envelope this year.
Charmain breaks that while remaining interesting and sympathetic. This is an important point: you still need to have a good book. It is not enough to be transgressive but tedious and annoying. There are worse things than formulaic genre fiction, and violating norms badly is one of them. Here we have a character who you want to read about. She has reasonable thoughts and frustrations, and is probably more like the reader than Jasmine or Belle is.
That might be cheating. Charmain is a reader, an anti-social lass who wants to be left alone with a good book. Guess who reads young adult fantasy literature with female protagonists? (Besides me...) I am used to groaning about yet another writer-protagonist, but here we have a reader for a change. One of us!
The story has many small events at a brisk pace, so you look back and think that much has happened quickly but not much has happened at all. Charmain has busy days, and you will be half-way through the book in less than a week of her time. In a magic house, finding the bathroom is a potential adventure, and we stick with those scenes rather than switching to epic battles with dragons. There are action scenes, but they remain on a very personal scale.
I did not like Howl's Moving Castle. I will not get into it here, but neither the characters nor the events worked for me. (I plan to watch the movie sometime to see if a different version helps that.) I was hesitant about reading it sequel, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the direction this new book took. I was disappointed when the cast of Howl's appeared, because I saw nothing they could add to the story that Generic Wizard could not.
This sets a higher standard than Howl's. Charmain is a better character than Sophie, with a surprisingly large sense of agency for someone whose reaction to crisis is to get a book and hide. The storyline makes more sense as you go through it, rather than depending on the denouement to straighten things out.
The denouement here is still weak. The climax is more of an anti-climax, despite the culmination of events in an action scene, but it works very well. It fits the story and our protagonist. It is followed by a tidying up that is brusque and falls back to clichés. Characters are literally brought together in a sitting room to explain exactly what happened in that mystery, before going on to live happily ever after.
That leaves the book at ~97.5% good, which is a strong recommendation by my standards. The writing flows well so the reading goes quickly, and you will find time with this book time well spent. The chapter structure also makes it convenient as a bedtime story.
Amazon link
Expected publication: June 2008
If they make a movie version, Waif will be a big hit. Cute and furry companion! Start planning the tie-in stuffed animals now.
This is much better than Howl's Moving Castle. Does it help or hurt sales to label a book a sequel, when a few minor tweaks would make it an entirely independent book? You get more readers who liked the first book, but you lose many who will not start with a sequel.
Charmain is house-sitting for her great uncle, a wizard whose house has one door that leads everywhere. Even without a magic house and erratic spellbook, she has found a royal mystery for her first journey beyond her pampered life at home. And how does this sweet little dog play into it all?
Charmain is not a Disney princess. We meet the standard fantasy motif with the baker's daughter heading out alone for her adventure, but that is about it. She is clever and self-aware, not kind or beautiful. She is neither a pauper nor a princess, just from a family well-off enough to leave her incompetent of any task involving her hands. She is irritable and impatient. She wants to be left alone with a stack of books and maybe a pastry. Her idea of wild daring? She wants to sneak off and become a librarian assistant.
I frequently refer approvingly to unconventional stories. I like them because they are something new. We already have two hundred versions of Cinderella so you need to bring something new to the table to merit reading, unless you are a better writer than anyone who has ever told that story. Entire forests have died to print the tales of willful teenage orphans and princesses who set out to find adventure, where they will succeed through beauty, kindness, and a special talent, only to discover that they were really looking for themselves and the way home. Her special talent will probably be some form of art or magic, and if we have a male protagonist, it will probably be swordfighting or magic. If we really want to shake things up, we can have magical art or a female swordfighter. You and thirty other authors are pushing that envelope this year.
Charmain breaks that while remaining interesting and sympathetic. This is an important point: you still need to have a good book. It is not enough to be transgressive but tedious and annoying. There are worse things than formulaic genre fiction, and violating norms badly is one of them. Here we have a character who you want to read about. She has reasonable thoughts and frustrations, and is probably more like the reader than Jasmine or Belle is.
That might be cheating. Charmain is a reader, an anti-social lass who wants to be left alone with a good book. Guess who reads young adult fantasy literature with female protagonists? (Besides me...) I am used to groaning about yet another writer-protagonist, but here we have a reader for a change. One of us!
The story has many small events at a brisk pace, so you look back and think that much has happened quickly but not much has happened at all. Charmain has busy days, and you will be half-way through the book in less than a week of her time. In a magic house, finding the bathroom is a potential adventure, and we stick with those scenes rather than switching to epic battles with dragons. There are action scenes, but they remain on a very personal scale.
I did not like Howl's Moving Castle. I will not get into it here, but neither the characters nor the events worked for me. (I plan to watch the movie sometime to see if a different version helps that.) I was hesitant about reading it sequel, but I was pleasantly surprised to see the direction this new book took. I was disappointed when the cast of Howl's appeared, because I saw nothing they could add to the story that Generic Wizard could not.
This sets a higher standard than Howl's. Charmain is a better character than Sophie, with a surprisingly large sense of agency for someone whose reaction to crisis is to get a book and hide. The storyline makes more sense as you go through it, rather than depending on the denouement to straighten things out.
The denouement here is still weak. The climax is more of an anti-climax, despite the culmination of events in an action scene, but it works very well. It fits the story and our protagonist. It is followed by a tidying up that is brusque and falls back to clichés. Characters are literally brought together in a sitting room to explain exactly what happened in that mystery, before going on to live happily ever after.
That leaves the book at ~97.5% good, which is a strong recommendation by my standards. The writing flows well so the reading goes quickly, and you will find time with this book time well spent. The chapter structure also makes it convenient as a bedtime story.
Amazon link
Expected publication: June 2008
If they make a movie version, Waif will be a big hit. Cute and furry companion! Start planning the tie-in stuffed animals now.
Friday, January 25, 2008
The Breakthrough Imperative by Mark Gottfredson and Steve Schaubert
Rating - 2: not worth reading (skip it)
This is not a useful book. It will not teach you how to get outstanding results. It has a few pages of content that might be useful to you.
Two business consultants from Bain & Company explain the four laws that should guide strategic decisions on where your company is going. Costs and prices always decline; competitive position determines your options; customers and profit pools don't stand still; and simplicity gets results. This is about managing a business, not managing employees.
This is one of many unfortunate business books. It has a few insights, and it may be useful in pointing out priorities to think about, but then it is padded to book size with anecdotes and useless generalities. It also drips Powerpoint.
The good: it points to a few key things your business can focus on. Indeed, one of the points is that you can only focus on so many things (#4). Here, I'll collapse them down to two: remove any inefficiencies from your processes, and devote yourself to satisfying high-profit market segments. We can further shrink it to: don't stand still, keep making progress.
This is a back-to-basic approach. Find where the money is and take as much of it as possible. If your company is not trying to do that, you may need more than a management book.
That was too dismissive. Filtering is valuable, so the statement to focus on these things is meaningful. Another point is that you only need to focus on a few things, since your customers are also focusing on a few. Be the best at three things, and you only need to hit average on the rest.
I presume this is an advertisement for their consulting services. Get some managers to read the book, they get excited and proselytize to their staffs, and then the authors get called in for speeches and projects. The information presented within is not specific enough to be directly applicable, so you need a consultant to walk you through that. Much is made of charts showing markets and profits, with slopes and values specific to the industry. Of greater humor is the occasional reference to do something correctly. "Boss, I think we can make a lot of money if we stop doing things incorrectly."
The book's data support is descriptive rather than prescriptive. Despite the subtitle, this is not about how the best managers get outstanding results, but rather how some managers got results. It is a description of the winners after the fact, when we already know who won. We know who did it correctly because they won.
It is helpful to be the market leader. You become the market leader by selling more of people want at better prices. Once you become market leader, keep doing that. Great, thanks.
I mentioned padding. A book grants prestige, and it is a bonus source of revenue, so you need to add bulk to a simple idea until it is literally weighty. Include an anecdote, whether or not it is exactly on-point. People like stories anyway.
I mentioned Powerpoint. You can see the slides, ready to be used when the consultants come to your company. Everything has a chart. Everything has a few graphics. Everything is in a few points that make great bullets. The authors even demonstrate how one of King Arthur's speeches to the Knights of the Round Table would work so much better as a slide.
Chapter six has a chart showing twelve key questions. Photocopy that page and you should be set. If your soul demands more, read the bulleted lists at the end of each chapter. If you see a term you do not know or some new way of measuring business success, I recommend ignoring it (as consultant bait) and focusing on those basics.
Amazon link
Expected publication: March 2008
This is not a useful book. It will not teach you how to get outstanding results. It has a few pages of content that might be useful to you.
Two business consultants from Bain & Company explain the four laws that should guide strategic decisions on where your company is going. Costs and prices always decline; competitive position determines your options; customers and profit pools don't stand still; and simplicity gets results. This is about managing a business, not managing employees.
This is one of many unfortunate business books. It has a few insights, and it may be useful in pointing out priorities to think about, but then it is padded to book size with anecdotes and useless generalities. It also drips Powerpoint.
The good: it points to a few key things your business can focus on. Indeed, one of the points is that you can only focus on so many things (#4). Here, I'll collapse them down to two: remove any inefficiencies from your processes, and devote yourself to satisfying high-profit market segments. We can further shrink it to: don't stand still, keep making progress.
This is a back-to-basic approach. Find where the money is and take as much of it as possible. If your company is not trying to do that, you may need more than a management book.
That was too dismissive. Filtering is valuable, so the statement to focus on these things is meaningful. Another point is that you only need to focus on a few things, since your customers are also focusing on a few. Be the best at three things, and you only need to hit average on the rest.
I presume this is an advertisement for their consulting services. Get some managers to read the book, they get excited and proselytize to their staffs, and then the authors get called in for speeches and projects. The information presented within is not specific enough to be directly applicable, so you need a consultant to walk you through that. Much is made of charts showing markets and profits, with slopes and values specific to the industry. Of greater humor is the occasional reference to do something correctly. "Boss, I think we can make a lot of money if we stop doing things incorrectly."
The book's data support is descriptive rather than prescriptive. Despite the subtitle, this is not about how the best managers get outstanding results, but rather how some managers got results. It is a description of the winners after the fact, when we already know who won. We know who did it correctly because they won.
It is helpful to be the market leader. You become the market leader by selling more of people want at better prices. Once you become market leader, keep doing that. Great, thanks.
I mentioned padding. A book grants prestige, and it is a bonus source of revenue, so you need to add bulk to a simple idea until it is literally weighty. Include an anecdote, whether or not it is exactly on-point. People like stories anyway.
I mentioned Powerpoint. You can see the slides, ready to be used when the consultants come to your company. Everything has a chart. Everything has a few graphics. Everything is in a few points that make great bullets. The authors even demonstrate how one of King Arthur's speeches to the Knights of the Round Table would work so much better as a slide.
Chapter six has a chart showing twelve key questions. Photocopy that page and you should be set. If your soul demands more, read the bulleted lists at the end of each chapter. If you see a term you do not know or some new way of measuring business success, I recommend ignoring it (as consultant bait) and focusing on those basics.
Amazon link
Expected publication: March 2008
Monday, January 21, 2008
Buffy the Vampire Slayer Season Eight, Volume 1: The Long Way Home by Joss Whedon and Georges Jeanty
Rating - 4: worth reading multiple times (buy it)
Wow, that was good.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer returns. The show ended after seven seasons, and Joss Whedon is writing a comic with season eight. The last episode redefined the rules of the game, and here is how the Scooby Gang is still fighting the good fight. Few Watchers, many Slayers, and a worldwide effort to fight, with the world fighting back.
This is the first five issues of the series. They are good. The first four are the story arc, with a bit of monster-of-the-week, and issue five is a standalone vignette. It is a very slow season, coming out over months and months, but the compiled edition is like getting the first DVD all at once. Of course, this is still only the first DVD, so we have many issues/episodes to come. That is a good thing, unless we can get them all now.
When I end a series, I usually note the superfluity of the review. Either you have read that far and are going to finish the series, or you have not and you will not read the one book alone. Here I must say: this is really worth reading. This is good. You already had several ending points throughout the show, so you could walk away without this new beginning. Your life would be less for having done so.
Wow, that was a pretty strong statement. It assumes that you like Buffy. You should, because all good people do. If you have not watched the show, you should. It does a lot right, with witty dialogue, good action, strong stories, and some solid acting. Joss Whedon is especially known for his dialogue, so I will repeat that. Many recent shows have been using season-long story arcs, and Buffy did much of the trailblazing there. Each episode is self-contained while contributing to the season's story, and the seasons connect to each other. I will stop pimping the show now, but you should seriously go rent and watch it.
If you have not, you can skip the rest of the review. Season eight alone will not make a lot of sense, although it has its merits. I will re-read it with that view sometime and see if it is all coherent. There are plenty of good reasons not to have watched the show, such as the weakness of the first and last seasons, but the good still outweighs the bad. Last time: watch the show or bail out now. Oh, and there are some references to Angel.
Okay, welcome to season eight. I will avoid spoiling things, since part of the fun is seeing how X fits into the new order of things. Something re-appears from the show, and we all cheer.
Xander gets the award for looking good. Buffy gets lines that recall the early days of the show and remind us that our vampire slayer is named Buffy.
Giles is mostly absent, and I look forward to seeing more of him in future issues. Dawn and Willow mostly seem to be filling slots at this point, but this is not their story yet. Andrew's continued significance is surprising. I don't think I can reach far beyond the Scoobies without risking spoilers, so I will not.
Monster of the week: good. You get more options when you are not bound by television. Of course, how "of the week" anything is is yet to be seen. First mini-arc: very good. We have a mix of new and old, including innovations from both heroes and villains. I like that the villains are fighting smarter, and I like that the heroes are, too. Season arc set-up: good. We have limited indication of where this is going, but it feels like a good successor to a season where the heroes literally fight evil. You cannot dial it up much higher than that, so why not dial it sideways? (Does the dial go sideways? Is that like 11?) The pacing is good, and it makes good use of cliffhangers, set-ups, and the page divide, the way the show might make good use of commercial breaks.
Noting that last one: this is a good use of the comic book format. You see many things that translate badly from book to movie or movie to TV series. Joss Whedon can write for both television and comic books. The different versions of Buffy take advantage of their different media.
Issue five is somewhat disappointing in that it is a stand-alone story. I really want to see where the arc is going. As a single story, it is interesting, a sort of Tale of the Slayerette. The short story is sketchier than I would like, with a bit more material than will fit into one issue of a comic book. It is a good sign that I want to hear more about what is going on.
There is a lot of that going on. Much is implied, rather than said. Maybe more will be said as time goes on, but for now we ride with the characters rather than wait for exposition. Some things are assumed from the show, and the rest you infer or just accept via suspension of disbelief. It is all Buffyverse-consistent, so there is no straining that suspension.
At five issues, this is a quick read, and I strongly recommend it. I plug the dialogue one last time: Joss's writing is what brought so many of us to the show, and Buffy is back in classic form.
Georges Jeanty does good things with the art, particularly as he is hemmed in by famous faces. I don't think of faces as the strong point here: many of them are left sketchy or indistinct. Bodies are doing the work here, with not a lot of subtlety. Not what I am used to lately, but it works. More fine detail work could create better distinction in the crowd of multicultural vampire slayers (but we can tell who might be important because they get names).
Perhaps that is the price to pay for crowds of Slayerettes. Big crowd scenes are hard in drawn art because you must draw them. Those shots you occasionally see of everyone, like in Marvel's Infinity War or DC's Identity Crisis? Those take days for one drawing. Picking out individuals, Xander fares very well in this treatment.
For bonus points, look around the panels for fun things tossed in, like someone reading Fray or Joss Whedon's appearance in the dream sequence. (Also: Fray is pretty good.)
I am concerned for the series in the long-run, because Joss Whedon hands off writing duties after these issues. He hands it off to Brian Vaughn, however, so if you liked Runaways, that is not a bad thing. They kind of traded series.
Amazon link
For more review fun, see Chris Sims: issue 1, 2, 3, 4. Four issues include two "best of the week" and two face-kicks of the week.
Wow, that was good.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer returns. The show ended after seven seasons, and Joss Whedon is writing a comic with season eight. The last episode redefined the rules of the game, and here is how the Scooby Gang is still fighting the good fight. Few Watchers, many Slayers, and a worldwide effort to fight, with the world fighting back.
This is the first five issues of the series. They are good. The first four are the story arc, with a bit of monster-of-the-week, and issue five is a standalone vignette. It is a very slow season, coming out over months and months, but the compiled edition is like getting the first DVD all at once. Of course, this is still only the first DVD, so we have many issues/episodes to come. That is a good thing, unless we can get them all now.
When I end a series, I usually note the superfluity of the review. Either you have read that far and are going to finish the series, or you have not and you will not read the one book alone. Here I must say: this is really worth reading. This is good. You already had several ending points throughout the show, so you could walk away without this new beginning. Your life would be less for having done so.
Wow, that was a pretty strong statement. It assumes that you like Buffy. You should, because all good people do. If you have not watched the show, you should. It does a lot right, with witty dialogue, good action, strong stories, and some solid acting. Joss Whedon is especially known for his dialogue, so I will repeat that. Many recent shows have been using season-long story arcs, and Buffy did much of the trailblazing there. Each episode is self-contained while contributing to the season's story, and the seasons connect to each other. I will stop pimping the show now, but you should seriously go rent and watch it.
If you have not, you can skip the rest of the review. Season eight alone will not make a lot of sense, although it has its merits. I will re-read it with that view sometime and see if it is all coherent. There are plenty of good reasons not to have watched the show, such as the weakness of the first and last seasons, but the good still outweighs the bad. Last time: watch the show or bail out now. Oh, and there are some references to Angel.
Okay, welcome to season eight. I will avoid spoiling things, since part of the fun is seeing how X fits into the new order of things. Something re-appears from the show, and we all cheer.
Xander gets the award for looking good. Buffy gets lines that recall the early days of the show and remind us that our vampire slayer is named Buffy.
Giles is mostly absent, and I look forward to seeing more of him in future issues. Dawn and Willow mostly seem to be filling slots at this point, but this is not their story yet. Andrew's continued significance is surprising. I don't think I can reach far beyond the Scoobies without risking spoilers, so I will not.
Monster of the week: good. You get more options when you are not bound by television. Of course, how "of the week" anything is is yet to be seen. First mini-arc: very good. We have a mix of new and old, including innovations from both heroes and villains. I like that the villains are fighting smarter, and I like that the heroes are, too. Season arc set-up: good. We have limited indication of where this is going, but it feels like a good successor to a season where the heroes literally fight evil. You cannot dial it up much higher than that, so why not dial it sideways? (Does the dial go sideways? Is that like 11?) The pacing is good, and it makes good use of cliffhangers, set-ups, and the page divide, the way the show might make good use of commercial breaks.
Noting that last one: this is a good use of the comic book format. You see many things that translate badly from book to movie or movie to TV series. Joss Whedon can write for both television and comic books. The different versions of Buffy take advantage of their different media.
Issue five is somewhat disappointing in that it is a stand-alone story. I really want to see where the arc is going. As a single story, it is interesting, a sort of Tale of the Slayerette. The short story is sketchier than I would like, with a bit more material than will fit into one issue of a comic book. It is a good sign that I want to hear more about what is going on.
There is a lot of that going on. Much is implied, rather than said. Maybe more will be said as time goes on, but for now we ride with the characters rather than wait for exposition. Some things are assumed from the show, and the rest you infer or just accept via suspension of disbelief. It is all Buffyverse-consistent, so there is no straining that suspension.
At five issues, this is a quick read, and I strongly recommend it. I plug the dialogue one last time: Joss's writing is what brought so many of us to the show, and Buffy is back in classic form.
Georges Jeanty does good things with the art, particularly as he is hemmed in by famous faces. I don't think of faces as the strong point here: many of them are left sketchy or indistinct. Bodies are doing the work here, with not a lot of subtlety. Not what I am used to lately, but it works. More fine detail work could create better distinction in the crowd of multicultural vampire slayers (but we can tell who might be important because they get names).
Perhaps that is the price to pay for crowds of Slayerettes. Big crowd scenes are hard in drawn art because you must draw them. Those shots you occasionally see of everyone, like in Marvel's Infinity War or DC's Identity Crisis? Those take days for one drawing. Picking out individuals, Xander fares very well in this treatment.
For bonus points, look around the panels for fun things tossed in, like someone reading Fray or Joss Whedon's appearance in the dream sequence. (Also: Fray is pretty good.)
I am concerned for the series in the long-run, because Joss Whedon hands off writing duties after these issues. He hands it off to Brian Vaughn, however, so if you liked Runaways, that is not a bad thing. They kind of traded series.
Amazon link
For more review fun, see Chris Sims: issue 1, 2, 3, 4. Four issues include two "best of the week" and two face-kicks of the week.
Thursday, January 17, 2008
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
His Dark Materials, volume 1
Rating - 4: worth reading multiple times (buy it)
The Golden Compass starts slowly, but you can tell from the first page that it will be worth reading. (This is not one of my better-written reviews, so just go read the book.)
Lyra is an eleven-year-old orphan at Jordan College, Oxford. When the Gobblers kidnap her friend, she sets out to find him, first with the enchanting Mrs. Coulter and then with the boat people who have lost so many children to the Gobblers. They head north, in a journey that will include armored polar bears, witches, balloon-based attacks, a truth-telling compass, Lyra's absent parents, and research into the origin of Dust and how it relates to daemons, humans' souls incarnate as lifelong animal companions.
Events move very quickly, sometimes jarringly. Several action scenes will happen back-to-back-to-back without pausing to think. We find ourselves headed towards the next significant event before we can ask if our path was anything better than "it seemed like a good idea at the time." This is what happens when you let eleven-year-olds determine the plot direction.
The book has the usual exposition, but arranged to fit the spaces between those events. We pause to discuss some major point of the world's history or theology, then we are off again. I said the book starts slowly, with such a discussion, and entirely the wrong one in terms of the standard formula of plot exposition.
Wrong is good here. We do not start with an explanation of our main character; she is assumed, and we learn through her impetuous actions. We are thrown into the middle of a world before we get to much of the story, and the backstory catches up along the way. It is a good reworking of how to tell a tale.
The book does so well in terms of violating expectations that it is disappointing when it meets them. About 1/3 and 1/2 way through, we start getting the standard things like learning about the orphan's parents and her destiny. Standard tools become somewhat surprising when you have been using something else, so it is both unexpected and entirely predictable. I should have expected that when we started with the standard orphan.
Lyra is not contemplative. She is described as unimaginative, someone who prone to do and not think. Hence our headlong run into action, and her incurious nature that leaves much of the world faintly sketched. Lyra serves as our cabbagehead so some other character can explain the world to we the readers, but she is more interest in getting to the next thing. Late in the book, someone asks her why she is making a cross-continental journey. Huh, she never thought about that one.
Lyra is a great liar. This is one of the few books marketed for a young audience that shows how you can achieve your goals by lying shamelessly and convincingly. Lyra is an untamed animal, using words to overcome superior forces the way a squirrel might jump and scamper from a large dog. Only here the squirrel ends up riding the dog.
Daemons are the interesting conceit of the book. Each human carries his or her soul around, and the soul takes the form of an animal. An adult's daemon has a fixed form that exemplifies his character, while a child's remains unfixed and changing to fit her mood. I will leave it at that, rather than spoil some points.
So we have our epic tale, led by an adventurous child and punctuated by speeches from scholarly adults. Characters are drawn with bold lines and clear natures, aided by the daemons that embody them. We have grand scenes of battle, hope, and betrayal. Don't play it small. I have not yet seen the film, but many of the scenes should translate very well.
I have already mentioned my primary critique, that the story moves without much pondering. Lyra's utter lack of introspection is alien to me, but maybe that is just me. It still works. The standard elements are still there, very standard in most cases. I feel the need to say it, so I am switching to white text for the spoilers: of course he is her father; of course she is her mother; of course she is the destined one; of course he is a prince; and so on. Oh, and don't have two polar bears named Io* *nison, no matter what good etymological reasons you have.
My other critique is that the ending is weak. It is telegraphed in a way that goes well beyond foreshadowing. It culminates oddly, especially after a strong climax at the end of a subplot, and concludes on a note of painful illogic. Reversed stupidity is not intelligence, and the same applies to evil. Evil people also believe that being mauled by a bear is a bad thing; this does not make bear maulings good. That ending already had the perfect setup, so it did not need the flawed justification.
Have I said enough about why this is a great book? It compares favorably to The Fellowship of the Ring, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and other starts to epic tales of adventure. It does so by using, violating, and misusing the standard storytelling elements in a way that builds a compelling and coherent story, even for a reader with an entirely different internal life from the protagonist. It mixes action with grand ideas. Not least of all, it is original and well written.
The original title was "Northern Lights." The North American title differed, because of the same editor who changed Harry Potter. Should we all agree to use the original title? It does match up with the other Dark Materials titles better. Or maybe that is just me again.
If you are worried about anti-religious elements, don't be. This book has nothing to concern you. The later books in the series reportedly do, in spades.
Amazon link
His Dark Materials:
Rating - 4: worth reading multiple times (buy it)
The Golden Compass starts slowly, but you can tell from the first page that it will be worth reading. (This is not one of my better-written reviews, so just go read the book.)
Lyra is an eleven-year-old orphan at Jordan College, Oxford. When the Gobblers kidnap her friend, she sets out to find him, first with the enchanting Mrs. Coulter and then with the boat people who have lost so many children to the Gobblers. They head north, in a journey that will include armored polar bears, witches, balloon-based attacks, a truth-telling compass, Lyra's absent parents, and research into the origin of Dust and how it relates to daemons, humans' souls incarnate as lifelong animal companions.
Events move very quickly, sometimes jarringly. Several action scenes will happen back-to-back-to-back without pausing to think. We find ourselves headed towards the next significant event before we can ask if our path was anything better than "it seemed like a good idea at the time." This is what happens when you let eleven-year-olds determine the plot direction.
The book has the usual exposition, but arranged to fit the spaces between those events. We pause to discuss some major point of the world's history or theology, then we are off again. I said the book starts slowly, with such a discussion, and entirely the wrong one in terms of the standard formula of plot exposition.
Wrong is good here. We do not start with an explanation of our main character; she is assumed, and we learn through her impetuous actions. We are thrown into the middle of a world before we get to much of the story, and the backstory catches up along the way. It is a good reworking of how to tell a tale.
The book does so well in terms of violating expectations that it is disappointing when it meets them. About 1/3 and 1/2 way through, we start getting the standard things like learning about the orphan's parents and her destiny. Standard tools become somewhat surprising when you have been using something else, so it is both unexpected and entirely predictable. I should have expected that when we started with the standard orphan.
Lyra is not contemplative. She is described as unimaginative, someone who prone to do and not think. Hence our headlong run into action, and her incurious nature that leaves much of the world faintly sketched. Lyra serves as our cabbagehead so some other character can explain the world to we the readers, but she is more interest in getting to the next thing. Late in the book, someone asks her why she is making a cross-continental journey. Huh, she never thought about that one.
Lyra is a great liar. This is one of the few books marketed for a young audience that shows how you can achieve your goals by lying shamelessly and convincingly. Lyra is an untamed animal, using words to overcome superior forces the way a squirrel might jump and scamper from a large dog. Only here the squirrel ends up riding the dog.
Daemons are the interesting conceit of the book. Each human carries his or her soul around, and the soul takes the form of an animal. An adult's daemon has a fixed form that exemplifies his character, while a child's remains unfixed and changing to fit her mood. I will leave it at that, rather than spoil some points.
So we have our epic tale, led by an adventurous child and punctuated by speeches from scholarly adults. Characters are drawn with bold lines and clear natures, aided by the daemons that embody them. We have grand scenes of battle, hope, and betrayal. Don't play it small. I have not yet seen the film, but many of the scenes should translate very well.
I have already mentioned my primary critique, that the story moves without much pondering. Lyra's utter lack of introspection is alien to me, but maybe that is just me. It still works. The standard elements are still there, very standard in most cases. I feel the need to say it, so I am switching to white text for the spoilers: of course he is her father; of course she is her mother; of course she is the destined one; of course he is a prince; and so on. Oh, and don't have two polar bears named Io* *nison, no matter what good etymological reasons you have.
My other critique is that the ending is weak. It is telegraphed in a way that goes well beyond foreshadowing. It culminates oddly, especially after a strong climax at the end of a subplot, and concludes on a note of painful illogic. Reversed stupidity is not intelligence, and the same applies to evil. Evil people also believe that being mauled by a bear is a bad thing; this does not make bear maulings good. That ending already had the perfect setup, so it did not need the flawed justification.
Have I said enough about why this is a great book? It compares favorably to The Fellowship of the Ring, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, and other starts to epic tales of adventure. It does so by using, violating, and misusing the standard storytelling elements in a way that builds a compelling and coherent story, even for a reader with an entirely different internal life from the protagonist. It mixes action with grand ideas. Not least of all, it is original and well written.
The original title was "Northern Lights." The North American title differed, because of the same editor who changed Harry Potter. Should we all agree to use the original title? It does match up with the other Dark Materials titles better. Or maybe that is just me again.
If you are worried about anti-religious elements, don't be. This book has nothing to concern you. The later books in the series reportedly do, in spades.
Amazon link
His Dark Materials:
- The Golden Compass (originally: Northern Lights)
- The Subtle Knife
- The Amber Spyglass
Wednesday, January 02, 2008
2007 Reviews: Index by Rating
56 books read and reviewed this year. The order is by rating then by author/title, with the gaming books in a separate section at the end. Two books under three are asterisked, pointing out two books that are just as worth reading as the 4s but may not demand repeat reading.
4: worth reading multiple times (buy it)
Heavy Metal and You by Christopher Krovatin
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard
3.5: worth reading, parts worth re-reading (borrow or buy it)
Girl Genius: Omnibus Edition 1 by Phil and Kaja Foglio
Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge
The Faceless Fiend by Howard Whitehouse
3: worth reading once (borrow it from a library)
Candyfreak by Steve Almond*
Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
What Would Dewey Do? by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
The Myth of the Rational Voter by Bryan Caplan
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
The Ethical Slut by Dossie Easton and Catherine Liszt*
Fantasy: The Best of the Year, 2006 Edition edited by Rich Horton
How to Tell a Secret by P.J. Huff and J.G. Lewin
Faeries' Landing: Volume 1 by You Hyun
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
Crisis of Abundance by Arnold Kling
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Kilala Princess Volume 1 by Rika Tanaka and Nao Kodaka
The Secret Lives of Men and Women compiled by Frank Warren
My Friend is Sad by Mo Willems
Today I Will Fly! by Mo Willems
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
2.5: parts of it are worth reading once (borrow it from a library)
The Monster Hunter's Handbook by Ibrahim Amin
Bipolar Disorder Demystified by Lana Castle
Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Leviathan on the Right by Michael Tanner
2: not worth reading (skip it)
Batman: Son of the Demon by Mike Barr and Jerry Bingham
Krapp's Last Tape by Samuel Beckett
Little Big Man by Thomas Berger
The Name of This Book Is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino
The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg
Imperial Earth by Arthur C. Clarke
Saffron and Brimstone by Elizabeth Hand
Epic Legends of the Magic Sword Kings by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik
Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress by Shelly Mazzanoble
The Defense of Kamino and Other Tales by John Ostrander, Jan Duursema, et al
Sabine by A. P.
The Methuselah Enzyme by Fred Mustard Stewart
H.I.V.E. by Mark Walden
Tortoises by Jerry Walls
Star-Begotten by H. G. Wells
1: not worth considering (burn it)
Leapholes by James Grippando
Rave New World by Lynne Hansen
Gaming Books
4: useful for any campaign (buy it)
Dragonmarked by Keith Baker, Michelle Lyons, and C.A. Suleiman
3: useful for many campaigns
Magic Item Compendium by Andy Collins, Eytan Bernstein, Frank Brunner, Owen K.C. Stephens, and John Snead
Dragon Magic by Owen K.C. Stephens and Rodney Thompson
2: of use for some campaigns (but not most)
Warlords of the Accordlands: Master Codex by Allison Medwin et al.
Trojan War by Aaron Rosenberg
Complete Champion by Ed Stark, Chris Thomasson, Ari Marmell, Rhiannon Louve, and Gary Astleford
4: worth reading multiple times (buy it)
Heavy Metal and You by Christopher Krovatin
Wicked by Gregory Maguire
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard
3.5: worth reading, parts worth re-reading (borrow or buy it)
Girl Genius: Omnibus Edition 1 by Phil and Kaja Foglio
Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge
The Faceless Fiend by Howard Whitehouse
3: worth reading once (borrow it from a library)
Candyfreak by Steve Almond*
Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
What Would Dewey Do? by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum
The Myth of the Rational Voter by Bryan Caplan
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick
The Ethical Slut by Dossie Easton and Catherine Liszt*
Fantasy: The Best of the Year, 2006 Edition edited by Rich Horton
How to Tell a Secret by P.J. Huff and J.G. Lewin
Faeries' Landing: Volume 1 by You Hyun
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen
Crisis of Abundance by Arnold Kling
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr.
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling
Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
The Arrival by Shaun Tan
Kilala Princess Volume 1 by Rika Tanaka and Nao Kodaka
The Secret Lives of Men and Women compiled by Frank Warren
My Friend is Sad by Mo Willems
Today I Will Fly! by Mo Willems
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe
2.5: parts of it are worth reading once (borrow it from a library)
The Monster Hunter's Handbook by Ibrahim Amin
Bipolar Disorder Demystified by Lana Castle
Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare
Leviathan on the Right by Michael Tanner
2: not worth reading (skip it)
Batman: Son of the Demon by Mike Barr and Jerry Bingham
Krapp's Last Tape by Samuel Beckett
Little Big Man by Thomas Berger
The Name of This Book Is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch
If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino
The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg
Imperial Earth by Arthur C. Clarke
Saffron and Brimstone by Elizabeth Hand
Epic Legends of the Magic Sword Kings by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik
Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress by Shelly Mazzanoble
The Defense of Kamino and Other Tales by John Ostrander, Jan Duursema, et al
Sabine by A. P.
The Methuselah Enzyme by Fred Mustard Stewart
H.I.V.E. by Mark Walden
Tortoises by Jerry Walls
Star-Begotten by H. G. Wells
1: not worth considering (burn it)
Leapholes by James Grippando
Rave New World by Lynne Hansen
Gaming Books
4: useful for any campaign (buy it)
Dragonmarked by Keith Baker, Michelle Lyons, and C.A. Suleiman
3: useful for many campaigns
Magic Item Compendium by Andy Collins, Eytan Bernstein, Frank Brunner, Owen K.C. Stephens, and John Snead
Dragon Magic by Owen K.C. Stephens and Rodney Thompson
2: of use for some campaigns (but not most)
Warlords of the Accordlands: Master Codex by Allison Medwin et al.
Trojan War by Aaron Rosenberg
Complete Champion by Ed Stark, Chris Thomasson, Ari Marmell, Rhiannon Louve, and Gary Astleford
2007 Reviews: Alphabetical Index
56 books read and reviewed this year. The order is by author then by title, with the gaming books in a separate section at the end. The number in parentheses is the rating. Two ratings are (3*), pointing out two books that are just as worth reading as the 4s but may not demand repeat reading.
Candyfreak by Steve Almond (3*)
The Monster Hunter's Handbook by Ibrahim Amin (2.5)
Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum (3)
What Would Dewey Do? by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum (3)
Batman: Son of the Demon by Mike Barr and Jerry Bingham (2)
Krapp's Last Tape by Samuel Beckett (2)
Little Big Man by Thomas Berger (2)
The Name of This Book Is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch (2)
If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino (2)
The Myth of the Rational Voter by Bryan Caplan (3)
The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg (2)
Bipolar Disorder Demystified by Lana Castle (2.5)
Imperial Earth by Arthur C. Clarke (2)
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (3)
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (3)
The Ethical Slut by Dossie Easton and Catherine Liszt (3*)
Fantasy: The Best of the Year, 2006 Edition edited by Rich Horton (3)
Girl Genius: Omnibus Edition 1 by Phil and Kaja Foglio (3.5)
Leapholes by James Grippando (1)
Saffron and Brimstone by Elizabeth Hand (2)
Rave New World by Lynne Hansen (1)
Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter (2.5)
Epic Legends of the Magic Sword Kings by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik (2)
How to Tell a Secret by P.J. Huff and J.G. Lewin (3)
Faeries' Landing: Volume 1 by You Hyun (3)
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen (3)
Crisis of Abundance by Arnold Kling (3)
Heavy Metal and You by Christopher Krovatin (4)
Wicked by Gregory Maguire (4)
Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress by Shelly Mazzanoble (2)
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (3)
The Defense of Kamino and Other Tales by John Ostrander, Jan Duursema, et al (2)
Sabine by A. P. (2)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling (3)
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (2.5)
Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli (3)
The Methuselah Enzyme by Fred Mustard Stewart (2)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard (4)
The Arrival by Shaun Tan (3)
Kilala Princess Volume 1 by Rika Tanaka and Nao Kodaka (3)
Leviathan on the Right by Michael Tanner (2.5)
Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge (3.5)
H.I.V.E. by Mark Walden (2)
Tortoises by Jerry Walls (2)
The Secret Lives of Men and Women compiled by Frank Warren (3)
Star-Begotten by H. G. Wells (2)
The Faceless Fiend by Howard Whitehouse (3.5)
My Friend is Sad by Mo Willems (3)
Today I Will Fly! by Mo Willems (3)
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe (3)
Gaming Books
Dragonmarked by Keith Baker, Michelle Lyons, and C.A. Suleiman (4)
Magic Item Compendium by Andy Collins, Eytan Bernstein, Frank Brunner, Owen K.C. Stephens, and John Snead (3)
Warlords of the Accordlands: Master Codex by Allison Medwin et al. (2)
Trojan War by Aaron Rosenberg (2)
Complete Champion by Ed Stark, Chris Thomasson, Ari Marmell, Rhiannon Louve, and Gary Astleford (2)
Dragon Magic by Owen K.C. Stephens and Rodney Thompson (3)
Candyfreak by Steve Almond (3*)
The Monster Hunter's Handbook by Ibrahim Amin (2.5)
Unshelved by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum (3)
What Would Dewey Do? by Bill Barnes and Gene Ambaum (3)
Batman: Son of the Demon by Mike Barr and Jerry Bingham (2)
Krapp's Last Tape by Samuel Beckett (2)
Little Big Man by Thomas Berger (2)
The Name of This Book Is Secret by Pseudonymous Bosch (2)
If on a winter's night a traveler by Italo Calvino (2)
The Myth of the Rational Voter by Bryan Caplan (3)
The Plain Janes by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg (2)
Bipolar Disorder Demystified by Lana Castle (2.5)
Imperial Earth by Arthur C. Clarke (2)
Pinocchio by Carlo Collodi (3)
The Man in the High Castle by Philip K. Dick (3)
The Ethical Slut by Dossie Easton and Catherine Liszt (3*)
Fantasy: The Best of the Year, 2006 Edition edited by Rich Horton (3)
Girl Genius: Omnibus Edition 1 by Phil and Kaja Foglio (3.5)
Leapholes by James Grippando (1)
Saffron and Brimstone by Elizabeth Hand (2)
Rave New World by Lynne Hansen (1)
Gödel, Escher, Bach by Douglas Hofstadter (2.5)
Epic Legends of the Magic Sword Kings by Jerry Holkins and Mike Krahulik (2)
How to Tell a Secret by P.J. Huff and J.G. Lewin (3)
Faeries' Landing: Volume 1 by You Hyun (3)
Girl, Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen (3)
Crisis of Abundance by Arnold Kling (3)
Heavy Metal and You by Christopher Krovatin (4)
Wicked by Gregory Maguire (4)
Confessions of a Part-Time Sorceress by Shelly Mazzanoble (2)
A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr. (3)
The Defense of Kamino and Other Tales by John Ostrander, Jan Duursema, et al (2)
Sabine by A. P. (2)
Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling (3)
Romeo and Juliet by William Shakespeare (2.5)
Love, Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli (3)
The Methuselah Enzyme by Fred Mustard Stewart (2)
Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead by Tom Stoppard (4)
The Arrival by Shaun Tan (3)
Kilala Princess Volume 1 by Rika Tanaka and Nao Kodaka (3)
Leviathan on the Right by Michael Tanner (2.5)
Rainbows End by Vernor Vinge (3.5)
H.I.V.E. by Mark Walden (2)
Tortoises by Jerry Walls (2)
The Secret Lives of Men and Women compiled by Frank Warren (3)
Star-Begotten by H. G. Wells (2)
The Faceless Fiend by Howard Whitehouse (3.5)
My Friend is Sad by Mo Willems (3)
Today I Will Fly! by Mo Willems (3)
The Bonfire of the Vanities by Tom Wolfe (3)
Gaming Books
Dragonmarked by Keith Baker, Michelle Lyons, and C.A. Suleiman (4)
Magic Item Compendium by Andy Collins, Eytan Bernstein, Frank Brunner, Owen K.C. Stephens, and John Snead (3)
Warlords of the Accordlands: Master Codex by Allison Medwin et al. (2)
Trojan War by Aaron Rosenberg (2)
Complete Champion by Ed Stark, Chris Thomasson, Ari Marmell, Rhiannon Louve, and Gary Astleford (2)
Dragon Magic by Owen K.C. Stephens and Rodney Thompson (3)
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