Ariel

Author: Steven R. Boyett

What happens when all technology suddenly fails, and magic, however reluctantly, comes to life in the world. Ariel is the tale of a young man and his smart-ass unicorn on a quest to fight the evil Necromancer of the ruins of New York City. Fast and gripping, but touching. The only significant drawback is the pages and pages and pages and … and pages about hang gliding, which are enough to convince you that hang gliding most be a sport accountants pick up when cranking Excel gets too hectic. But, really, focus on the smart-ass unicorn. Her name’s Ariel.

Ariel was recently re-released ahead of Boyett's long awaited sequel (which he swore he'd never write), Elegy Beach.

Bridge of Birds

Author: Barry Hughart
This story is a watercolor painted on a silk screen, beautiful and simple. Don't know what I mean? Maybe you should read the book.

It is a story of "ancient China that never was," a fairy tell or sorts, but wrapped around a heist, or perhaps a mystery. It's funny, charming, and engaging. You will likely figure out the ending before it's delivered, but seeing the story unfold is no less pleasurable for it.

Mistborn: The Final Empire

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Synopsis: In a fantasy world where ash rains from the sky and the majority of people are oppressed by nobles ruling under an immortal god-king, a young girl discovers vast powers within herself and joins a plot to bring justice to the downtrodden.

Brandon Sanderson was recently tapped to complete the Wheel of Time series after the unfortunate death of Robert Jordan. This piqued my interest. When a friend recommended the Mistborn trilogy, I decided to take him up on it.

And I’m glad I did. Epic trilogies are the bread and butter of fantasy, and Sanderson is starting his off with a bang. In the first several pages, I was concerned about the prose – it was a little literal, not highly imaginative. I took this to be a sign of the story to come, and I couldn’t have been more wrong. The story is superb. The characters are rich, but fathomable. That’s an apt word, here, because one actually feels that there are depths to fathom – not de riguer in fantasy circles.

The magic system is sensible, complete, and compelling. One consumes metals to power a handful of effects, including the capacity to Push or Pull on metal objects, but only on the line between the mage and the object. I was most impressed with the physical astuteness Sanderson brought to the magic system. If you Push or Pull on an object much lighter than you, it moves. If it’s much heavier (or attached to something heavier, or Push or Pulled against it), you move instead. This makes for some fantastically imaginative and stirring action scenes.

The final books in the trilogy are already out. I will be picking them up soon, and reporting my thoughts here.

The Graveyard Book

Author: Neil Gaiman

Let me preface this review by stating that I would bear Neil Gaiman’s love child. I know that this would require significant experimental surgery and a long talk with my wife, but, in the end, it would be worth it. I came to this conclusion after reading Sandman, and renewed my decision with American Gods, Neverwhere, and Stardust. And his short stories and poems, some of which are amongst the best I’ve read.

But Anansi Boys was a wiff.

And now the Graveyard Book.

I looked forward to this book for months. It seems a return to Gaiman’s simply delivered and richly textured work that runs through Stardust and many of his short stories. Patterned after the Jungle Book, this is the story of a boy named Nobody who is raised by the shades that inhabit a cemetery, a story told in a series of short-story chapters that gradually develop an over-arching plot which only becomes directly referenced in the last chapter.

I expect to love it. To really love it, as I do Sandman. I expected this to be a book that I would re-read yearly.

I expected too much.

It’s good. I should say that, somewhere. It is – the story is charming and imaginative. There isn’t too much borrowed mythology, and what is borrowed is creatively massaged to fit the world of the story.

I suspect my disappointment is a result of the fact that this is a book for young readers. That is, while Gaiman avowed that it was written for readers of all ages, the syntax and story are ultimately simple. And I guess there just wasn’t enough world and wonder replace that lost stimulation.

Lisey's Story

Author: Stephen King

I haven't read much Stephen King, and I'm not sure why. His works that I have read have been really, really good: Different Season, Dolores Claiborne. Lisey's Story continues this streak of very good-ness.

One of the reasons I like it so much is that it persuades me to suspend my disbelief so easily. Although it begins, seemingly, in this universe and only later progresses into fantasyland, at no point did I hesitate to follow said progression.

If I had any complaint about the book, it would be about the characters. They're all right, but I find them a bit colorless. And this despite the fact that King said he was "a fool for Lisey; I kind of fell in love with her," in this interview. Odd.

Lamb

Author: Christopher Moore

Chris Moore is a very capable writer who skillfully mixes humor, fantasy, and truly deep emotional elements into very compelling novels.

Lamb is perhaps his most famous (notorious?) work, a story of Jesus’s childhood as related by his buddy, Biff. Biff tells us of their travels, their travails, and the growth of Jesus’s understanding of his role.

Some may have a reaction against such a premise, but despite Moore’s generally irreverent humor, Jesus comes off very sympathetic. Essentially, Jesus plays the straight-man to Biff’s goofy, lewd, or numskulled comedy.

The book in genuinely hilarious, yes. But interestingly, it explores some interesting philosophical terrain with a shocking depth. There are a few lines that I’ve added to my own personal worldview as a result.

There are scenes that made me squirm – sexualized young teens, for instance – but these are few, and can be defended as appropriate for the book, both in terms of history and plot.

Iron Kissed

Author: Patricia Briggs

Decent, if cheesy. The best part about this book is that the author refrains from making the protagonist the most awesome fill-in-the-blank ever, as many fantasy writers are wont to do. Though surrounded by werewolves, vampires, and fairies, the sum total of the protagonist's powers are that she can turn into a coyote and back, has a heightened sense of smell, and some resistance to magic. As a result, we are spared the main-character-realizes-full-extent-of-powers-and-blasts-enemies-to-smithereens scene that seems to be so prevalent in fantasy fiction. Yay.

The Golden Compass

Author: Philip Pullman

As an atheist, it's nice to occasionally come across a book that is anti-religion and anti-god. The problem is that atheists tend not to think magic is real, either. So, as usual, it is necessary to put aside any philosophical considerations and enjoy the book as a work of fiction only.

As a work of fiction, this book did not particularly impress me. It served as light reading, but I wouldn't recommend it over other books of its kind.