This review originally appeared on Goodreads on February 6, 2013.

The Viscount and the Witch

By Michael J. Sullivan – Ridan Publishing – October 8, 2011

Review by Robin Marx

I wasn't familiar with this author or his Riyria Chronicles series, but this short story has motivated me to investigate further. The title story itself is a bit sleight and ends abruptly, but the characters (well-meaning soldier Hadrian and his cynical thief comrade Royce) and their interactions were appealing. Fans of Fritz Leiber's Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser stories may notice a similar vibe.

The sample Riyria Chronicles book chapters included in the e-book have also piqued my interest. I've added the first book to my shopping list, and I look forward to seeing if Sullivan's plots live up to his characters.

★★★★☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on February 4, 2013.

Captain Vorpatril's Alliance

By Lois McMaster Bujold – Baen Books – November 6, 2012

Review by Robin Marx

It's always a treat when a new Vor book arrives. This book focuses on one of the series' supporting characters rather than Miles Vorkosigan himself, but the book was no less satisfying because of it.

Like Cryoburn, plot took a bit of a back seat in this book, with the characters first and foremost. The story itself was interesting, but it progressed in a much quieter direction than the first quarter of the book suggested. There was also less action than I expected. I'm used to the diplomatic direction the recent Miles stories have taken, but cousin Ivan has always been a man of action. This series' books are gradually turning from science fiction novels into romance novels with science fiction trappings. And you know? Strangely enough, I'm OK with that. Bujold's well-rendered characters have always been her strong point, and they feel so real and familiar to me that listening to their conversations and spending time with them is enough. The mortal danger so common in previous volumes isn't necessary to keep my interest. Ivan and his family are like old friends, and new character Tej is a worthy addition to the cast of characters.

I look forward to the next installment in the series, and I hope it lasts forever.

★★★★☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on June 21, 2012.

Travellers' Rest

By James Enge – Pyr – December 3, 2010

Review by Robin Marx

This sword & sorcery story plays out almost like a spaghetti western, with the moody wizard-swordsman Morlock Ambrosius and his dwarfish companion happening on a tiny hamlet with a dark secret. Both the characters and story remind me a great deal of Michael Moorcock's Elric stories, sharing driven, melancholy characters, a tense atmosphere, and weird events. This free Kindle novella was released by James Enge's publisher Pyr to introduce readers to his Morlock Ambrosius series, and it certainly succeeded in capturing my interest.

★★★★☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on August 12, 2014.

Werewolves in Their Youth

By Michael Chabon – Open Road Media – December 20, 2011

Review by Robin Marx

This collection of short stories is mostly fluff. Highly engagingly written fluff, but fluff nonetheless.

While Chabon has a reputation of being a little more plot-oriented than most modern capital-L Literary authors, most of the stories here are primarily character studies and little “slice of life” stories, many with a minor epiphany towards the end. Almost without exception, the protagonist harbors some sort of deep-seated resentment towards another character (embittered husbands abound in particular), then something happens and they show some small sign of either moving on or hinting towards a reconciliation with others.

Only a few of the stories stood out for me. One involves a husband trying to cope with his wife's decision to bear her rapist's child—heavy and sensitively rendered—and another is one of Chabon's August Van Zorn series of Lovecraft pastiches. The latter stood out not only because it deviated from the formula used by the preceding stories, but because it was so much fun. Chabon gleefully borrows tropes and names from Lovecraft while still telling a legitimately good and spooky little story about a town with an ominous secret. This is the Chabon I like best, one that doesn't discriminate between high- and low-brow genres, instead mixing the best of both worlds.

Had it been written by any other author, this collection would probably warrant two stars. But even when the plots are so thin and meager, Chabon's voice and characterization are so consistently strong that even his more bare-bones, samey output is still undeniably a pleasure to read. While not recommended as an introduction to Chabon, existing fans should enjoy it.

★★★☆☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on June 21, 2012.

The Book of Taltos

By Steven Brust – Ace – January 8, 2002

Review by Robin Marx

This omnibus collects the fourth and fifth volumes in Steven Brust's Dragaera series, Taltos and Phoenix. I read the first three books collected as The Book of Jhereg about five years ago, and while I remembered a bit about the world Brust presents, those stories had completely faded from my memory. I expect the same will happen with these two installments as well. The world of Dragaera is interesting and appealing, but other aspects of the books aren't quite as strong.

Although published fourth, Taltos is chronologically the first story in the series. It introduces Vlad Taltos, a human assassin operating in the Dragaeran Empire. In an interesting twist, the tall, magically-adept Dragaerans (nicknamed “elfs” by the humans) are the dominant species in Brust's world, with humans (called “Easterners” by the Dragaerans) generally relegated to the fringes of society. This book covers Taltos' youth, with a parallel plot-line involving a quest into the Dragaeran land of the dead. The story provides a good deal of insight into the character of Taltos, as well as describing how he gained some of the powerful allies that feature so heavily in the other stories.

The other book in the omnibus, Phoenix, was the more troubled of the pair. In this story, Taltos is called upon by a goddess to assassinate the king of a minor nation. Just why this is necessary is never satisfactorily revealed, although there's some hinting about portents, etc. There's another thread dealing with the human liberation group Taltos's wife belongs to and it's struggle with the Dragaeran Empire, but this plot seemed fairly muddled as well. The ending was much better than the rest of the book, however; Taltos and the final pages of Phoenix are good enough to earn three stars, rather than the two I would've awarded otherwise.

I'm starting to thing Brust may not be the author for me. I find the world of Dragaera interesting and I'm fond of fantasy crime stories (Lankhmar, etc.), but the plots in this volume were a little weak. The Vlad Taltos character is well realized, but the (unnecessarily numerous) supporting characters basically seem to have one shtick. There's Sneaky Guy, Thief Girl, Uptight Swordsman, etc. Whenever Sneaky Guy appears, he's being sneaky, that's it, there's no further development. Uptight Swordsman is Uptight, and Long Cat is Long.

Vlad Taltos's “voice” (the books are written in first person) also rubs me the wrong way. He relates the story in a very casual, modern tone. He talks like every Joss Whedon character, basically. (It didn't surprise me at all to find out that Brust has written a full-length Firefly fan-fic novel.) For some readers (who may also be Whedon fans), this is probably not a drawback. However, I can only take Whedon in small doses, and when Brust (speaking through the character of Vlad Taltos) is describing life and death struggles and the fate of nations in a Whedonesque flippant, detached manner, I find I can't muster up much emotional involvement in the story. If the narrator isn't taking things seriously, why should I?

I own one more Dragaera omnibus, collecting the next two volumes in the series. I'll read Athyra and Orca before deciding whether to keep going or to abandon the series entirely.

★★★☆☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on January 20, 2019.

When Gravity Fails

By George Alec Effinger – Arbor House – January 1987

Review by Robin Marx

This sleek cyberpunk novel is set in the Middle East after the decline and Balkanization of the Western superpowers. It focuses on Marîd Audran, a low-level fixer in the Budayeen, the seamy red light district of an unnamed city. When a number of his acquaintances are viciously murdered, he finds himself breaking a number of his personal rules—including becoming entangled with powerful underworld figures and adopting personality-changing cybernetic enhancements—in an effort to find the chameleonic killer.

While very different in terms of subject matter, this book reminded me a bit of the contemporaneous Hardwired by Walter Jon Williams: solid cyberpunk fiction that includes popular cyberpunk genre hallmarks while adding some innovation of its own. Like many of the best cyberpunk novels, When Gravity Fails draws inspiration from hardboiled detective novels, peppering the narrative with shady cops, dangerous mob bosses, femmes fatale, sympathetic bartenders, and a world-weary protagonist. On the other hand, the Middle Eastern setting and “moddies” (personality modifying software) in particular felt very fresh. I was also pleasantly surprised to see multiple transgender characters presented as sympathetic human beings in a book published in 1987.

When Gravity Fails had everything I like to see in cyberpunk fiction plus some new twists. I look forward to reading the sequels.

★★★★☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on November 7, 2016.

The World Without Us

By Alan Weisman – Thomas Dunne Books – July 10, 2007

Review by Robin Marx

This intriguing book attempts to elaborate on the various ways Earth would be impacted if humankind were to suddenly vanish. The results of this thought experiment are a mixed bag, with some of the environmental damage and visible impact caused by humans fading relatively quickly, while other results of humanity's reign (particularly consequences associated with nuclear waste) having repercussions lasting for geological epochs. The end result is a planet that is not necessarily better or worse off for the lack of human habitation, but one very different from its current state.

Given the vast scope of the topic, the book feels necessarily a bit unfocused. Most chapters introduce a general question (“What happens to X without humans around?”), then the story's “lens” progressively zooms in on narrower details within that topic, going from macro scale to micro. Scientists, conservationists, architects, energy industry professionals, and so forth are introduced along the way, providing insight into their fields of expertise. I especially appreciated that alternate views were often provided, adding nuance when one expert's perspective veered too far towards rosy optimism or unvarnished pessimism.

By positing a scenario in which humans are completely absent the author encourages us to reflect upon humanity's current stewardship of the world. We're reminded that monumental structures and other proud feats of engineering may not be as permanent as they seem, while other more subtle byproducts of humanity's influence can have long-reaching, unintended, and permanent consequences.

★★★★☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on April 11, 2013.

Callisto

By Lin Carter – iBooks – July 14, 2010

Review by Robin Marx

This book collects the first two installments in Lin Carter's eight-volume Callisto series: Jandar of Callisto and Black Legion of Callisto, both originally printed in 1972. They're planetary romance stories specifically written in the vein of Edgar Rice Burroughs' John Carter of Mars/Barsoom series. This is both a strength and a weakness. Fans of the Barsoom novels will see a lot of fun familiar elements, but the imitation is too slavish, frequently crossing the line from homage to outright fan-fiction (a common complaint regarding the work of Lin Carter).

The hero of the series is Jonathan Dark, and the books are written in first person POV. Like the classic Barsoom stories, there's a goofy metafiction element where Lin Carter directly addresses the reader, insisting that he is not the author of the Callisto stories, he's only acting as editor of a series of mysterious manuscripts delivered to him through unorthodox methods. (This particular collection of the novels goes even further, with a new introduction by publisher John Betancourt that somewhat crassly hints that the late Lin Carter isn't really dead, he's just joined Jonathan Dark on Callisto.)

Jonathan Dark is a helicopter pilot during the Vietnam war who ends up on one of Jupiter's moons—Callisto—after crashing in the jungle and encountering a mysterious portal. Just as John Carter was captured by the four-armed Green Martians, he's taken prisoner by mantis aliens. Like John Carter, he grows to understand their ways, gradually winning the respect of their leader. Like John Carter, he encounters a bodacious alien princess with whom he is immediately smitten. Like John Carter's lady-love Dejah Thoris, she gets kidnapped frequently. This series is like John Carter.

To be fair, things do get shaken up a bit. It's not a straight-up retelling of Edgar Rice Burroughs' A Princess of Mars. Most of the events, aliens, and interactions are different enough to keep things interesting. But while I was pleased to read new (to me, anyway) stories written in the tradition of the Barsoom novels, the Callisto stories would've benefited had Lin Carter taken the basic “stranger in a strange land” premise and done his own thing, rather than directly translate nearly every element found in the Barsoom books. After a while it starts to feel like the author is working from a checklist. Skyships? Check. Romance with a princess? Check. Alien warrior BFF? Check. Despite being a Vietnam War-era American, Jonathan Dark speaks in the same antiquated, slang- and contraction-free manner as Civil War Veteran John Carter. Why?

While not unexpected given what I know about the author, the imitation was a little disappointing. Complaints aside, I did enjoy this volume. It's not as good as the best Edgar Rice Burroughs, but these two stories were better than some of ERB's less-inspired work, and among the better Lin Carter output I've read. I'd like to read the subsequent volumes, but I think I'll work through the last few remaining Barsoom novels before spending any more time on Callisto.

★★★☆☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on February 19, 2016.

The Man of Bronze (Doc Savage #1)

By Kenneth Robeson (House Name)/Lester Dent – Street & Smith – March 1, 1933

Review by Robin Marx

I had heard a bit about the titular “Man of Bronze,” but had never previously had the chance to read one of the stories. As a fan of pulp fiction I read this, the first of the Doc Savage novels, with great interest.

Both the characters and the story lived up to expectations. Doc Savage was, as expected, a paragon of mankind. He's a genius with the physique of an Olympian. His close friends—a lawyer, geologist, chemist, historian, etc.—are equally as remarkable, but I found it interesting that even in their chosen specialties, they're still second to Savage himself. Savage is basically perfect. And while this would grate in many forms of literature, it's easy to accept in pulp fiction from this time period. Savage is JUST that good.

While I had a bit of trouble keeping Savage's five friends straight (some have more of a presence in the story than others), I enjoyed their first adventure. The pace was brisk and it involved both strange assassins and the treasures of a lost Mayan civilization deep in the jungle. Just the kind of thing I was looking for when I picked up this book.

This book is a product of its time, but I was pleasantly surprised with how the Mayans were treated in this book. They weren't all ignorant savages, many of them were shown to be intelligent, civilized, and generous. They worked with the main characters and had agency, rather than being presented as inferior cannon fodder. There's only one named female character in the book, but she too is shown to be bright and resourceful, and is never reduced to a mere victim or damsel in distress.

I found the ending to be a bit abrupt, but the heroics and breakneck pace of the story appealed a great deal. I look forward to reading future installments in the series.

★★★★☆

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This review originally appeared on Goodreads on October 31, 2018.

Heart-Shaped Box

By Joe Hill – William Morrow – March 25, 2010

Review by Robin Marx

This extremely entertaining ghost story involves an aging heavy metal musician (I basically pictured him as Danzig with a beard) haunted by the ghost of a dead groupie's stepfather. Simple yet effective, this initial premise develops additional layers over the course of the story.

This was my first Joe Hill book, and I was curious to see how his work compares to that of Stephen King, his father. Their styles are decidedly similar. Most of the story takes place in the kind of rural locales favored by King, but Hill emphasizes the South as opposed to Maine. Hill also excels at characterization, one of his father's strengths. But he also avoids some of King's weaknesses. Stephen King characters often tend to have a catchphrase or tic that inevitably wears out its welcome, but that's not present here. Hill also sticks the landing, and ending the story is something that his father has struggled with. While it'd be doing Hill a disservice to compare him to his father too much—especially since he's carved out his own successful career without relying on the King name—if you like King's work you'll probably like Hill's.

I was especially impressed by the characterization and the pacing of this book. Hill starts off with some fairly stock characters in a rockstar and associated hangers-on, but all of them are humanized and made real as the story progresses. The pace is also breakneck. Events in the story built at such a speed that it seemed like I was reaching the climax at only the one-third point. I had to check and make sure this book wasn't a collection of novellas instead of a full novel.

This was a very satisfying read and something I can wholeheartedly recommend to horror fans.

★★★★☆

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