Ordermaster

55. Ordermaster (Saga of Recluse) by L.E. Modesitt. 494 p. Published January 2005.

In the direct sequel to Wellspring of Chaos, we find Kharl functioning as the wizard of Austra. Hardly settled into his newly granted lands, Kharl sparks a civil war after executing a traitor in the presence of the court. The resulting war, with the rebels funded and armed by Hamor, spreads quickly. Kharl, with what minimal training he can muster, must set out to defeat the Hamorian chaos wizards before they destroy the countryside. The resulting battle changes Kharl and marks him as one of the strongest Order users in generations.

Yet Austra’s new peace bodes ill for Kharl’s home of Brysta, to which Hamor has already shifted its gaze. And so Kharl, newly trained in law and etiquette, is sent as Austra’s envoy. What he finds is not the city of his birth, but one of a subdued people, penned into their homes by fear. The youngest son of Lord West, the same which forced Kharl’s exile, has begun to amass a secret army. As Hamorian troops in the guise of Brystan guard roam the streets, Kharl sets to finding the loved ones he was forced to leave behind and finds only tragedy. When the rebellion finally makes its move, Kharl is forced into combat, and this time he faces a far more resourceful foe.

While I enjoyed Ordermaster, I honestly felt that it was a little dry. The wit and ingenuity of Modessitt’s previous novels is overtaken by pages of battles and strategy, losing much of the character that imbues this world. I will not go so far as to express disappointment, but I can’t help but feel that this read was not as enjoyable as its predecessors.

Rating: 2 out of 5

The Looking Glass Wars

54. The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor. 358 p. Published September 2006.

I first heard about The Looking Glass Wars when I stumbled across a spin-off comic book series, Hatter M.

This is the true tale of Alice in Wonderland. Alice is, in fact, Alyss Heart, princess of Wonderland. Able to twist reality through the use of Imagination, the royalty of Wonderland serve to permeate ingenuity and inventiveness throughout the galaxy. On Alyss’s birthday, while all the people are celebrating and Alyss is with her dearest friend Dodge, her aunt Redd stages a surprise attack on the palace. With both her parents murdered, Alyss is swept up by her mother’s top-hatted bodyguard, Hatter Madigan, and taken through the Pool of Tears to Earth.

Presuming that Alyss is dead, Redd Heart sets to rule Wonderland with wicked abandon, her twisted decrees torturing the citizens and darkening the land’s splendor. A small force of freedom fighters work against Redd, but their hopes dwindle with each passing year.

Meanwhile, Alyss, seperated from Hatter Madigan, is left alone in London, stripped of her powers of imagination, and adopted by a loving family. The only problem is that Alyss refuses to release her memories of Wonderland and confides in Dodgson, a family friend. However, when he twists her stories and publishes Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Alyss’s sense of betrayal is overwhelming. Resigned to her fate, Alyss becomes Alice Lidell, and soon comes to disbelieve her own past. Alice grows to become a stunning beauty and soon is engaged to wed Prince Leopold, youngest son of Queen Victoria.

Hatter Madigan, having landed in Paris without Alyss, searches the world over for her. After 13 years, he finally finds a copy of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderlandand storms Buckingham Palace in an attempt to reach Alyss. He is wounded by the palace guard and flees back to Wonderland, where he is discovered by a now-grown Dodge. Dodge delivers Madigan to the resistance and goes to Earth himself to retrieve Alyss. However he is followed by Redd’s agents, who have come to learn that Alyss yet lives. As the agents crash Alice’s wedding, Dodge rescues her and the two return to Wonderland. Yet now, with years of disbelieving her own past and lacking her control of Imagination, Alyss must confront a primed Redd and win back her queendom.

With The Looking Glass Wars, Beddor modernizes Carroll’s classic tale without losing any of it’s dark majesty. Integrating the tale behind the book (Carroll is a pen-name for Dodgson, who based the character on a real live Alice Lidell), Beddor creates an ingenious realm of fanciful imagination and populates it with an array of rememberable characters, each a not-so-subtle allusion to Carroll’s.

Despite being geared to a younger audience, The Looking Glass Wars possesses enough pace and plot to satisfy an adult. Frankly, I found many of the scenes required added effort on behalf of my imagination simply because I’ve matured - never an excersize I regret. I will admit, some of Beddor’s characters are a bit shallow, but adequate for the intended readership.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Other Reviews of The Looking Glass Wars: Fyrefly

Batman: The Dark Knight Returns

GN 23. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller. Illustrated by Klaus Janson and Lynn Varley. 224p. Published May 1997.

“…And all the other old farts, they grunt and nod and grumble at each other, swapping old jokes they’ve swapped a thousand times. Even fat, beet-red old “Penguin” chirps out a curse or two before bursting into tears.

Then they get talking. And if you’ve got half a brain, you listen. They talk about about amazing adventures, sounding like a bunch of retired car mechanics the whole time.

They talk about a Man of Steel. An Amazon Princess.

But they never talk about the mean one. The cruel one. The one who couldn’t fly or bend steel in his bare hands. The one who scared the crap out of everybody and laughed at all the rest of us for being the envious cowards we were. No, they never talk about him. Say his name and watch Dibny’s face sag so bad his jaw hits the bar.

Not a man among them wants to hear about Batman.”

With fearless mutant gangs roving the streets, rampant urban decay, and no one standing against it, Gotham City has become a city for the hopeless. It’s been 10 years since the last Batman sighting and many doubt he ever really existed. Commissioner Gordon is days from retirement and the new doctors in charge of Arkham have decided to release a cosmetically-fixed Harvey Dent, AKA “Two Face”.

Bruce Wayne, old and retired, burns inside. Flashes of past tragedy clash with horrors of the present, and a dark obsession suddenly breaks free. In a night of shocking violence and myth-come-to-life, Batman returns to the streets of Gotham. There he must prevent Two Face’s latest plot, combat the Mutant gang menace, and train the newest Robin.

But the shockingly public vigilante violence draws out dissenters. Ellen Yindel, the new Commissioner, declares Batman a criminal and issues warrants for his arrest. The leader of the Mutant gang calls Batman out for a final duel for supremacy. And the President, while busy combating Russia, enlists Superman to quiet his old compatriot for once and for all. The final chapter reveals the consequences of this epic battle and the dark reality that embraces the world.

With The Dark Knight Returns, Miller breathed new life into a character most remembered only as a campy TV hero. Here, Batman’s true form is revealed – he is not the hero we want, but the one we need. Embracing the reality of Batman’s vigilante style, Miller creates a vision of the true Bruce Wayne, kept alive and lent strength by his burning obsession. The art and coloring tells a story of its own, providing a necessary element in this monster story.

Rating: 5 out of 5

Wellspring of Chaos

53. Wellspring of Chaos (Saga of Recluse) by L.E. Modesitt. 464 p. Published April 2005.

While the 12th book in Modesitt’s Recluse Saga, Wellspring of Chaos begins a new stand-alone chapter in it’s history. Only the magic system (use of Order and Chaos as the elements composing physics and reality) and a sense of events as history carry over.

Kharl is the best cooper in Brysta, and is happy with his life. However, Kharl has a tendency to help those in need, and it proves to be his undoing. Preventing the rape of a neighbor’s daughter pits Kharl against the lord’s son and when a blackstaffer from Recluse (kind of like a traveling magician’s apprentice) is killed in his shop, it’s obvious that he’s being persecuted.

Soon enough, Kharl’s wife is hanged for the blackstaffer’s murder, his taxes are quadrupled, and his neighbor and best friend is murdered. Kharl flees his shop, spending a year hiding among the homeless. With only the blackstaffer’s book on Order control to study, Kharl begins to get in touch with his deeper strengths. Soon enough he is pitted against a chaos mage who has been preying on the homeless.

After killing the mage, Kharl flees out to sea, where he travels the world and develops an attunement towards Order. But when civil war breaks out in another country, Kharl feels that he must step in, even if he doesn’t believe he’s ready.

Wellspring of Chaos provides a refreshing return to Recluse and the battle between Chaos and Order. Where the previous books culminated in Modesitt developing his magic system to it’s ultimate form, here we return to the basics. By using a protagonist well into his adult years, with a mind unclutered with the foolishness of youth and tempered by the wisdom of experience, Modesitt brings a sense of reality to the study of power and magic.

Having read book 11 almost 7 years ago, I really appreciated this return to one of my favorite epic fantasies. That said, Wellspring of Chaos connects just enough to provide that sense of nostalgia without going through the trouble of having to reread so many books.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Cally’s War

52. Cally’s War (Legacy of Aldenata) by John Ringo. 326 p. Published October 2004.

At the end of Hell’s Faire, Cally and her grandfather were declared dead, casualties of the nuclear exchange during the final Posleen push. In reality they were snuck out by members of the Benne Sidh, a secret organization working against the industrial-political powers running the galaxy.

Finishing the training her grandfather started, the Benne Sidh raised Cally to be one of their spy-assassins, and for the last 40 years she’s been living a life of aliases, random lovers, and violent endings. As Cally finishes each mission and the miraculous medical sciences patch her up good as new, she finds pieces of herself have begun to slip away and she worries that it may be to late to start having a real life. However, any hope of that happening has to be put on hold for Cally’s next mission.

There’s a traitor in the Benne Sidh, selling information to the military. Cally, physically altered to match an actual officer, is planted as a secretary in the counter-intelligence office investigating her organization. Digging around, Cally finds herself sleeping with the general, but falling for  his aid-de-camp. Pulled between finding the traitor, keeping her secrets, and her attractions, Cally must come to terms with what she wants out of life. And the Benne Sidh must figure out whether Cally is worth the risk of extracting.

Setting Cally’s War 40 years later, Ringo gives the reader an idea of how humanity is fairing after repulsing the invasion. Despite the interesting look into the future and Cally’s development, the switch in pace from the previous 4 novels took some getting used to. Despite that and a few predictable twists, Cally’s War provides a decent enough read.

The first five chapters of Cally’s War are available on the publisher’s website.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Preacher: Gone to Texas

GN 22. Preacher Vol. 1: Gone to Texas by Garth Ennis. Illustrated by Steve Dillon. 200p. Published March 1996.

A preacher, his ex-girlfriend, and an Irish vampire walk into a diner. Sounds like one hell of a joke… and the opening to Preacher: Gone to Texas. Of course, how they got there is a whole new story. Running from a shoot-out, Tulip forces Cassidy into becoming her get-a-way driver. Meanwhile, Reverend Jesse Custer is starting to lose his faith, resulting in a rather embarrassing scene at the local tavern. The next morning, with the whole town in attendance, Custer begins his sermon. But he’s suddenly interrupted as Genesis, a demon-spawned angel, escapes from his Heavenly prison and descends to Earth.

Tulip and Cassidy see the resulting explosion and go to investigate. They find everyone in the town dead – except Custer. The Preacher, miraculously unharmed, is quickly rescued and the three leave before emergency services can respond. But everyone from the Sheriff to The Saint of Killers (hey, everyone’s got someone looking out for ‘em) are hunting them. But Custer’s got an ace up his sleeve – his merger with Genisis has granted him The Word of God, giving him the ability to over-ride free will.

After a showdown with the Sheriff and Saint of Killers, the trio travel to New York in search of someone whose been missing ever since Genesis was conceived – God. While there, each one tries to come to terms with the other. Custer pursues information of Tulip’s criminal activity while Tulip wants to know why Custer left her to become a Preacher. And both must come to grips with Cassidy’s taste for human flesh.

While a little far-fetched in premise, the colorful characters and gratuitous content in Gone to Texas drive the story along at a good pace. This first volume is perfectly structured, introducing key characters and a compelling plot while providing plenty of foreshadowing. It’s really too bad that HBO canned the mini-series.

Rating: 3 out of 5

Viewpoints Critical

51. Viewpoints Critical by L.E. Modesitt, Jr. 350 p. Published  March 2008.

Viewpoints Critical is the first collection of short stories by L.E. Modesitt. Modesitt, who is known for his work in both fantasy and science fiction,  penned one of my favorite series, The Saga of Recluse.

This collection begins with five stories from Modesitt’s early career as a writer. Covering topics like  global warming, justice, the economy, and religious belief, each story illustrates Modesitt’s ability to grasp issues critical to the future. These are followed by more short stories, many of which feed from Modesitt’s experiences in Vietnam. “The Swan Pilot,” for example, attempts to combine Modesitt’s fighter-pilot experience with futuristic mythology.

Standing distinct among the other stories are three which connect to Modesitt’s novels. Both “Black Ordermage” and “Sisters of Sarronnyn, Sisters of Westwind” tie into The Saga of Recluse while “Beyond the Obvious Wind” was the original story to inspire the Corean Chronicles.

Spanning over almost 40 years of Modesitt’s career, Viewpoints Critical provides a glimpse of this author’s gift. However, as Modesitt himself admits in the foreword, his true talents lie in novels. While many of these stories proved interesting, I found all but a few lacking that inefible depth that comes from an author’s devotion to the story and the world being created. Now, I’m not saying the Modesitt put out inferior work. Rather, the work I usually associate with Modesitt - namely Recluse and the Spellsong Cycle – is so rich in detail and character that these stories pale in comparrison. Still, Viewpoints Critical is a decent compilation and worthwhile reading for any Modesitt fan.

Rating: 2 out of 5

September ‘08 Wrap Up

September, much like August, left me surprisingly little time for reading. Combined with non-fiction, which takes me far longer to read, and we come to a total of three books for the month.

1. Never Have Your Dog Stuffed by Alan Alda

2. Havana Nocturne by T.J. English

3. The Decieved by Brett Battles

Number of pages: 997

Compared to August’s already dissapointing 4 books/1,993 pages, September went poorly. Thankfully there appears to be some more time freeing up starting up this week and some good reading material sitting on my shelf.

The Deceived

50. The Deceived by Brett Battles. 358 p. Published June 2008.

This novel is the sequel to Battle’s debut thriller, The Cleaner.

When Quinn is called to clean up a body, he prepares for a normal job. What he didn’t prepare for was discovering that the body belonged to one of his closest friends, Steven Markoff, who was left to die in a shipping container. With only a cryptic message scrawled in his friend’s blood, Quinn feels obligated to inform Markoff’s lover, Jenny. But Jenny, a Congressional aid, has gone missing, and Quinn finds a bunch of men ransacking her house.

Quinn, with the help of his apprentice Nate and Orlando, a tech-savy compatriot, jumps around the country tracking Jenny’s trail. Along the way Quinn begins to unravel a devious plot by forces within the U.S. government. Finally, Quinn tracks Jenny to Singapore, where the story begins to take on a whole new level of intrigue and danger.

The Deceived continues to develop and refine the world of The Cleaner. Improving on his skills at character development and pacing, Battles combines technique, technical detail, and a gift for sudden plot twists to carry the reader along. While a number of scenes in the novel still come across as unfinished or even unecessary, The Deceived exhibits Battles’ skills and potential in a bloated market.

Rating: 3 out of 5

XKCD

I spend a significant portion of every morning catching up on my favorite webcomics. With a knack for combining intellectual humor and stunning wit, XKCD numbers high on that list. And I’m not just saying that to avoid being taken hostage by its rabid fan base (help me!).