beaconatnight's reviews
247 reviews

I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this, but I totally loved it! In fact, it's probably among the most enjoyable, yet in many ways most unsettling, science-fiction that I've read. Thirty years later, the book still gives you a chill for making you ever more aware of the literally unimaginably vast number of variables that need to be taken into consideration as soon as we start (or continue) to make a more far-reaching use of what may be the most powerful technology of our time, genetic engineering.

The general setting should be familiar to most people. International Genetic Technologies (InGen) is a company which found a way to clone dinosaurs, by extracting their DNA from blood-sucking insects fossilized in amber. InGen's CEO, John Hammond, has the vision of a zoo-like theme park in which visitors (who are willing to pay the steep admission fees) are able to see the long-extinct giants. However, the scheduled tour through the park doesn't turn out to be as smooth a ride as Hammond expected it to be (who saw that coming?). Smaller and larger malfunctions of the complex machinery culminate in a massive catastrophe, so that soon tyrannosaurus rexes, velociraptors, and other dangerous dinosaurs are running lose in the park.

At that time, various characters are in the park. Ahead of the big opening, Hammond invites an array of experts in relevant fields, including paleontologist Alan Grant, paleobotanist Ellie Sattler, and mathematician Ian Malcolm, to give their blessings as to the park's proper functioning. Traveling with them is Donald Gennaro, a lawyer who represents the investors and who is rather pessimistic about the project as a whole. The managerial staff is proud on how few people are required to run the park (at least before the visitors are allowed in), so there is only Henry Wu (responsible for the bioengineering itself), John Arnold (the main technician), Robert Muldoon (functioning as an animal keeper), software developer Dennis Nedry, and veterinarian Gerry Harding. Finally, there are Hammond's grandchildren, Tim and Alexis "Lex" Murphy, and Ed Regis, who is usually responsible for the publicity work.

I really loved all these characters. Sure, they all are instances of familiar tropes, but they work so perfectly within the given setting. For one thing, there is John Hammond. Superficially, he may be an honest dinosaur enthusiast, but it isn't long before it becomes totally obvious how relentlessly and irresponsibly he is in pursuing his aims. He is also pushing around people without much of a clue about the complexities involved with the issues at hand, which of course adds another security risk. While in the beginning he is somewhat droll, in the course of the story you will come to hate him so much - not the least because you will almost certainly see him as a symbol of some of the most frightening dangers behind current developments.

Malcom is hilariously eccentric, constantly annoying everyone (the reader included) about his smartass chaos theory, making his "I told you so" echo through the entire book. Grant is the appealing figure. He completely lives for his work, but turns out to be quite likable when taking care of the children. Ellie, however, has little more than the bare minimum of qualities that the other sex is supposed to have in this sort of novels. Of the minor characters, I liked Muldoon the best. Readers of Spider-Man may know him as Kraven the Hunter, the badass who is able to read animal excrements like other people read books. For instance, he finds a watch that proves to him that at least one of the children is alive (because it is almost impossible to rip of a watch without ripping of the and as well, so that the child must have taken it down; and because it is broken, so the attack already happened).

I'm aware that movies of the 80s and 90s always had to have children, but I didn't know that this applied to novels, too. However, the children here are great additions, especially Tim. He is almost a Mary Sue character, knowing everything about dinosaurs and what to do in hairy situations, and even being able to do very elaborate technical stuff. Lex is the exact opposite. You almost get the feeling as if his childhood left Crichton with some sort of latent disgust for girls, making her this stupid and weepy character who doesn't do anything other than moaning about being hungry, acting like an idiot, and annoy the shit out of other people. I can totally see why in the movie adaptation they decided to at least make her the computer expert.

One thing that impressed me immensely was how visually the story is told. The cinematographic descriptions, spot-on dialogues, and breathtaking action really make this quite a unique experience. The one scene with the tyrannosaurus is awesome and the much smarter raptors are genuinely terrifying. Of course, you cannot be sure how much comes down to having seen its movie adaptation five times or more, but I cannot think of any other book that evoked such detailed mental images of what is going on at every single moment.

Moreover, the park itself forms a fascinating microcosm. You get a clear picture of what is where, which dinosaurs there are, what problems the park has to overcome (some actually quite detailed, like cleaning work and possible diseases). Its functioning is depicted in such a nuanced manner that it becomes evident that Crichton really tried to think through what it would take to make such a project work. With an elaborate technical system and fail-save mechanisms (such as a particular substance that dinosaurs need to be fed to survive) they may be excused to think that the park really is safe (well, they are not).

Sure, some mistakes are a bit on the nose. With doors protected by card-scanners that just open up in case of electricity failure, no observations at night, cars that can only go forward, poisonous plants near the dinosaurs, and a set maximum of how many animals a recognition software is able to detect, many readers will feel that the park was doomed from the beginning. But of course this is the point. Moreover, you can totally see how in the minds of those responsible these security deficiencies are relevant only when pushing almost impossible thought-experiments to all unlikely consequences. However, everyone has heard of massive mistakes in construction projects (like collapsing bridges or buildings without toilets), and as soon as unlikely scenarios become real, minor details (such as the placement of a tree, this is what raptors in the book use to get inside a building) may have disastrous implications.

Another reason why the park feels almost real are the detailed descriptions of characters interacting with its computer system. There are numerous tables and source code which make this feel genuinely scientific. Moreover, it makes use of the proper terminology, discussing concepts like objects in object-oriented programming and going through the command history and explaining the effects of these instructions. More importantly, there is a genuine sense of excitement when trying to figure out how a program works while raptors are closing in (probably what software developers working on Cyberpunk 2077 must have felt over Christmas).

Throughout the book, there are philosophical musings on chaos theory (a branch of mathematics focusing on the study of dynamical systems and which emphasizes the importance of initial conditions of these systems), power, science (more specifically, a law of scientific progress and its relation to autonomy and morality), reason, or the control over nature. There are also discussions of interesting epistemological issues and questions of what is real and natural. These issues become pressing as soon as you realize that information on behavior is not in a narrower encoded in DNA (let alone in the bones that you may dig up in the desert). So it's very difficult to form assumptions about the dinosaur's historical behavior against which the clones' behavior could be tested for "accuracy". Moreover, there is the question of how far the dinosaurs can be considered real when their DNA is a fix-up of ancient as well as modern animals. Finally, there are also the expectations of what dinosaurs should act like, historically accurate or not, and you may reasonably ask if this should play a role, too.

So, Jurassic Park is up there with Dune or Ender's Game when it comes to the most recommendable science-fiction books for readers who want to get into the genre. As for me, I'm not sure if I'm much interested in the second book, but this one firmly established Michael Crichton a position on my list of authors to look out for.

Rating: 5/5

The second book in the Wheel of Time series (and my first experience with Audible). While the novelty of reading epic fantasy not written by Tolkien slightly wears off, this was again an immensely entertaining journey.

At the end of The Eye of the World, main protagonist Rand was established as the Reborn Dragon, the one whose fate it is to confront the the Dark One in a final battle. Or rather, there is a powerful fraction within Tar Valon that ascribes this role to Rand while he openly refuses to be taken as the puppet of the powerful sect of sorceresses. More importantly, at least for him personally, Rand is able to wield the One Power and derive magical abilities from its male half, saidin. While this makes him truly special (incidentally, not as special as I thought, as there are other men who can do that), its usage will turn male individuals mad. Having control in the events to come seems crucial, as the importance of Tar Valon and the Aes Sedai is waning, mainly because fewer girls are born with a connection to the female half, saidar, and the magic is not as strong as it used to be. Meanwhile, the world is in turmoil. More and more "false Dragons" gather armies behind them and latent conflicts turn into open military conflicts. Finally, the Seanchan, the descendants of legendary king Artur Hawkwing, brought an army over the Aryth Ocean to reclaim the land that Hawkwing had conquered before his death.

After updating the political and historical landscape in the first third, the general plot structure is an instance of one of fantasy's most popular tropes: the great hunt. It has been prophesied that the Horn of Valere will play an important role in the final battle, because blowing the Horn will call to arms long-dead legendary warriors (of Light or of Darkness). In fact, the group around Moiraine already sighted this legendary artifact at the end of the first novel and in the beginning of The Great Hunt it seems save in the hands of the Aes Sesai. However, the Horn is stolen in an attack on Fal Dara, so that a group (including Rand, Mat, Perrin, and a couple of new characters) is send out to reclaim the fateful object. While the boys are off to get back the Horn (and the also stolen dagger from Shadar Logoth, without which Mat is going to die soon), the girls from the Two Rivers, Egwene and Nynaeve, start their journey to Tar Valon where they will become Aes Sedai themselves. There they also meet Elayne, the Daughter-heir to the Throne of Andor, who is also educated in Tar Valon and considered to have a strong connection to the True Source.

The first thing to notice is an added complexity in setting and showplaces as compared to the first novel. Tar Valon appears much less uniform now that the different Ahjas (blue, red, green, brown, white, gray, yellow, and possibly black) and their disagreements, ambitions and schemes become an active part in the story. This, and the facts that the Dark One is returning and there is war all over, add to the feeling that there really is no safe haven. The first couple of chapters, there is a lot of information to take in, but this brings the world to life and invokes overwhelming feelings similar to what the farm folks must experience when suddenly finding themselves in the middle of all that.

I have to admit that I wasn't overly excited about the main quest of getting back the Horn and I thought it was a bit silly when it gets lost again somewhere in the middle of the book. Introducing Hurin as someone who is able to feel death felt like a very clumsy plot device, too. While there is high pacing and a feeling of urgency in the beginning and the end of the story, the plot is treading some water in the middle.

However, the events are made interesting by a strong focus on Rand and his character development. I loved how the magic in the series is explained as not dissimilar to a drug. The subjects are longing to use its power, while at the same time physically and mentally suffering when too much indulging in its might. In Rand's case, the stakes are so much higher. He doesn't want to use saidin, but often it offers him the chance to save his friends or do some other good. However, the more he uses the One Power, the more he is becoming a danger to everyone around him (it is even said that as the Reborn Dragon he will also once again rupture the Earth). He wants to stay with the people he loves, but he has to leave to protect them from himself. Tragically, this is the reason why Mat wants to turn his back on him. And with all this on his plate, there is all this talk of him being some kind of legendary warrior, a task he obviously cannot wrap his head around.

I think all this worked very well in the plot. I also liked Rand's general character development. Because of some coincidence in name conventions, many people of Fal Dara take him to be a lord, and the Aes Sedai dress him up to invoke the same ideas when sending him out into the world. While this is part of the conflict between Rand and Mat and something Rand at first really doesn't want to embrace, by the end of the book it feels natural how much he has grown into the role (at least in demeanor, if not in real status).

The development of some other characters didn't impress me as much, though. For most of the story, Mat and Perrin are degraded to minor characters. What is more, I was quite disappointed by the events in Tar Valon. After so much fuzz was made about Egwene and Nynaeve becoming Aes Sedai, it felt underwhelming when they achieve that status within about the first five minutes after reaching the legendary city. The three challenges which Nynaeve had to endure were pretty cool, but with a series of such epic proportions I thought they may have spend a bit more time there. Especially since the plot thread that is initiated instead, with Egwene becoming the slave of the Seanchan, wasn't really that great (the setting of them having Aes Sedai as slaves was cool, though).

I think the Wheel of Time is quite famous for its multifarious depiction of cultures, and The Great Hunt gave a very good first impression of that. To begin with, there are the overly polite Shienaran of Fal Dara, who strongly separate men and women spacially while really not knowing such a separation in other respects (in bathhouses, for instance), who put deep trust in their lords, and who bury the bare bodies of their dead (for some religion purpose of getting the last embrace of the Mother). Then there are the people of Cairhien, colorless, serious, stern and rigorous in their demeanor and architecture, indifferent to the affairs of others but obsessed by their game of the noble houses. We also visit an Ogier stedding for the first time and get an idea of their way of living. There are interesting social descriptions of the Seanchan invaders and some hints of the fierce nature of the Aiel of the Aiel Waste. I'm really interested in how this will be extended upon in the novels to come.

I'm a huge geek for the idea of possible worlds in philosophy and science-fiction, so I was very excited to find this here, too. I'm not sure yet as of what role this will play in the books to come, but Rand living thousands of different lives, and fighting the Dark One in all of them, that gave me the shivers. Especially since he does seem to lose every single time - now that is a portentous setup!

I was quite suprised by the ending. After hinting at a big showdown between Rand and Padan Fain from the beginning, with dark prophecies written in blood on a dungeon wall, it's quite funny that he doesn't even show up in the end. Instead, the Horn is blown much earlier than you would have expected and a blistering Rand is fighting Ba'alzamon flying high in the air for everyone to see - really, the stuff of legends! I'm looking forward to see how this event will determine the course of events in the third novel. Which I'm planning to get back to in March or so.

Rating: 4/5

I'm not sure if it's because of the somewhat clumsy German translation or because of the story itself, but I struggled to love it as much as I wanted to. Don't get me wrong, it certainly is very entertaining. However, I cannot say that reading the book excited me much.

The story is about the upcoming final battle between Heaven and Hell, which is expected to come about now that the son of Satan, the so-called Antichrist, is born. However, there are forces involved which make it less certain that the end of the world really is imminent. First of all, there are angel Aziraphale and demon Crowley, who have for all intents and purposes been friends for centuries, really took a liking in their life on Earth and would rather prefer if their time there didn't yet have to end. In fact, there is a prophecy book which foretells exactly how things will turn out - if only we were able to interpret its auguries. So, in addition to the cosmic forces, there are also numerous human characters lead by this book and/or other metaphysical or earthly ideologies. Finally, the world below is summoning personifications of human scourges, which are to appear as the Four Horsemen when the Apocalypse comes. If Heaven and Hell have been somewhat quiet lately, they are really cranking it up for these final hours!

What surprised me the most is that I actually thought that this was funny. Not in the sense of having gags that will make you laugh out loud, but rather by its thick description of a truly absurd world. Pratchett and Gaiman take all the religious shenanigans to liven up what for most people in this secular age is a boringly profane world. With every single paragraph, the authors inexhaustibly work away on one aspect of the creed after another, to create a truly fascinating, if incredibly ridiculous, world of fantasy. This will make you smirk like an idiot for the entire ride.

I have to admit that I would have preferred a more conventional plot structure. From the start it is obvious that the story will culminate in the End of the World (or the prevention thereof). Things just seem to happen to the protagonists, without them having much of a say in anything. I get it, everything has been foretold, so that the different subplots move forward as if on rails. Actually, I liked the feeling of confusion that some scenes invoke in the reader, making you gradually figure out how the pieces fit together (while ultimately the Great Plan really is ineffable, as a character in the book is impishly pointing out). However, philosophically this doesn't actually preclude the characters from having their own agendas and motivations - and having this would have made it a more interesting read for me.

Now I really wonder: Is there more purpose to the Discworld novels?

Rating: 3/5

Roughly, there are two kinds of science-fiction books. There is hard science-fiction, which has a heavy emphasis on the science, and there are softer forms, going more with the fiction. The Expanse falls squarely into the latter category. Usually, I'm more strongly drawn towards the exposition of ideas, but from time to time I enjoy a well-written example of science-fiction that resembles stories from the fantasy genre.

The strongest aspect of the book is its amazing world building. There are three intergalactic fractions: Earth (governed by the United Nations), Mars (governed by the Martian Congressional Republic), and the Belt (consisting of the asteroids that make up the rest of the colonized solar system). There are latent conflicts between Earth and Mars, but together they suppress the Belt, from where they get important natural resources. In a lose sense, the Outer Planets Alliance (OPA) is an institution that advocates the Belters' interests, often by military (or terrorist) means.

As with many science-fiction and fantasy books, each chapter follows one of two characters, Earther Jim Holden (who is executive officer on a transport ship, the Canterbury) and Belter Joe Miller (who is a police detective in the Belt). Holden and his crew receive a distress signal, but when they cannot find any occupants they are attacked by another ship and the Canterbury is destroyed. Things get hot politically when Holden sends out a signal claiming that they were attacked by Martian forces. Meanwhile, Miller is ordered to find and bring back Julie Mao, the daughter of a wealthy Belter who became active in the OPA army. The Holden crew gets involved with Fred Johnson, a former war hero who later became the "Butcher of Anderson Station" because he ordered a strike that led to a massacre, but who is now fighting for the rights of the Belters.

Both protagonists get closer to what is really going on, unraveling that the unleashed conflict is just a distraction and that the real ground pin to recent events is the discovery of a strange organic substance. The substance was made very long ago by aliens from far out of the solar system with the intention to use it on the Earth's early biosphere in order to create something, but it somehow got intercepted by Saturn. This substance was replicated by the real wirepullers and tested on the people of Eros to find out what exactly it can be used for. Holden and Miller decide that this material needs to be destroyed.

There is a lot to take in, but it's amazing how light-weight the writing style really is. There is hardly a paragraph that is not exactly relevant for the events at hand, and the details of the background setting are repeated when necessary, so you never feel like there is too much information to keep in mind. To be honest, it reads a lot like a Star Wars novelization, the story being packed with action and enjoyable characters. Another thing that I very much liked was the horror elements. That was something I didn't expect to find in this book and I would have liked if it had played a bigger role in the narrative.

Admittedly, there is not much depth to the characters and their interactions never seem natural. However, their banters and disagreements are good fun and often serve a purpose and lead to cool developments. Actually, in this respect it reminded me of Iain M. Banks. Over-the-top and very 80s in nature (in a 2011 book), but a hell of a lot of fun!

Somewhat in the same vein, some crucial plot threads are initiated with the help of a sledgehammer. For instance, Miller is obsessed with Julie (the girl he is send to look for), which often helps to keep him in the plot long after any other sort of motivation is gone. Moreover, Holden's impulsive decisions to release sensitive information lead to conflicts that are a bit forced. This may seem like criticism, but I felt this really added to the novel's charm.

So, while I'm not immediately planning to get back into the action with the second book in the series, I'm really looking forward to continue at some point. Especially since now that I have Audible, because I'm sure that this is the kind of book I would really enjoy to listen to in audiobook form.

Rating: 3.5/5

This is quite possibly the best space opera that I have read. To my mind, science-fiction is the most successful if it brings together mind-bending scientific or philosophical ideas and an intriguing plot. More importantly, the ideas need to be invoked in a way that actually advances the plot (rather than weighing it down). In this respect, Pushing Ice succeeds tremendously.

After a brief prelude set in the distant future, the main body starts in the early days of space travel through the solar system. Companies from Earth send out ships to mine the ice that comets are made of. One of these ships is the Rockhopper, commanded by Bella Lind (who far into the future is praised as an ancient hero). Then something strange happens. It is discovered that a Saturn Moon, Janus, is not moving in its normal orbit. In fact, it isn't long before it starts to move out of the solar system, appearing to be some sort of disguised alien artifact. The Rockhopper is the only ship close enough to outrun Janus (before it moves out of reach), so in the hope of scientific and technical progress the mining ship's crew is ordered to pursue the moon. Eventually, this will lead to the founding of a microscopic human society (a colony, really) on Janus, positioning them right in the middle of intergalactic conflict and diplomacy.

I totally loved all those twists and turns that the story is taking. Just when you feel like the plot is settling in a rut, you are in for a surprise. Is it about the travel to an unknown galaxy? About survival in an uninhabitable environment? About first contact? About conflict and political strife? It's all that at once, and all this develops naturally from the seed which is already planted with what at first sight seems like a rather silly premise of a chase in space.

Unlike so many of his fellow hard science-fiction writers, Alastair Reynolds really has a good sense for the intricacies of interpersonal relationships and character development. In the course of the journey, there are very tough decisions to be made, decisions that affect the lives of the entire crew. As you would expect, this is very hard on some characters' relationships, especially when institutionalized authority needs to be wielded in order to settle some of those practical disputes. Power relations are constantly shifting throughout the book, so that relations need to be renegotiated. I'm not saying that the characters are very complex per se (in fact, the baddy in the first part of the story wouldn't feel out of place as the villain in a Disney movie), but they develop over decades and for the most part I really felt their struggle. It also makes the political conflicts and mutinies much more personal, as all conflicts are extrapolation of the central characters' motivations and misunderstandings.

The initial mystery of what Janus and its goal destination, the Spica Structure, really is and why humankind is brought there, remains intriguing throughout the story. While themes of first contact take center stage at some point, the alien species play their cards close to the chest. So, even though humanity comes so far, the resolution of many secrets of the universe within its grasp, the story ingeniously gives away just enough information to make you ask more refined questions - while ultimately staying in the dark. I liked this approach more than the too-vast-to-be-comprehended turn that many other works in hard sf take (2001 or Contact are good examples for that).

The way the story plays with space and especially time is truly mind-bending. I would be lying if I claimed that I really understood all that is going on. From the get-go, the reader knows that humanity will find a way to communicate discovered future technology back to Earth, and it's one of the big plot points to explain how this came about. In the beginning, as an appendage of Janus the Rockhopper traveled through space at a much higher speed than human technology would have allowed back then, in this way traversing time faster than the people back on Earth (in a sense traveling into the future). There is also the factor of communication through time and a lot of space, which forces you to reconsider the different positions that communication partners may hold to each other. And then the aliens enter the stage, introducing their future technology, that may be the future human's technology (the one that in the meantime was developed back on Earth) - well, things certainly do get complicated! Truly fascinating stuff.

Rating: 5/5

The book is marketed with a strong emphasis on a supposed psychological dimension to the plot. Unfortunately, from a modern perspective these themes feel underdeveloped. However, there is a constant tension that still makes it worth your time if you are looking for a war novel in a science-fiction setting.

The East and the West have been at war for over a decade, with some areas (the UK is mentioned explicitly) having fallen victim to nuclear attacks. Resource scarcities, particularly of oil, make it increasingly harder for both sides to keep up their war efforts. The story follows an submarine team of the West (of course) whose mission it is to sneak up very close to Russian territory, to skim oil reserves unknown to the other side, and bring their cargo safely back home.

Potential encounters with enemy ships are not the only danger on the high seas, though. There had been reports of many submarine crews going mad, so the mental health of the crew is another risk factor. Because of this, one of the crew members (the story's main protagonist, John "Johnny" Ramsey) secretly functions as a psychologist, mainly observing and evaluating the ship's captain. And there is something else. Soon after they put to sea, there are indications for sabotage and the murder of a secret service associate comes to light, which makes their situation even more precarious.

Many of the dialogs revolve around Ramsey's true role on the ship, and there is the ongoing investigation on who the traitor is. To be honest, it isn't long before the mutual accusations become quite tedious. It does get better towards the end, though. What I quite liked where the encounters with enemy ships, and I would have liked to have a bit more on that and it felt a bit strange how easily they escaped at times.

The book really goes into some depth in its technical descriptions of what is going on, which is impressive on the one hand, but which at times made it very difficult for me to understand what was really going on. I have to say that I kind of regret that I didn't do some proper research before diving deeper into the plot (no pun intended). I think that would have improved my enjoyment of the novel greatly.

Readers coming from "Dune" may want to readjust their expectations. While there is something of the same strategic thinking in here, the characters are certainly much less likable and the overall feeling of this book is terribly dry. There probably aren't many books like this out there, and if you are into submarines and navel battles and things like that you will be all over it, but this certainly isn't for everyone.

Rating: 2.5/5

I would like to say that this is easily among the best fantasy I've read. That would be pretty misleading, though, considering that Tolkien, some children's books and a couple of video game tie-ins by R.A. Salvatore are pretty much my only encounters with the genre. However, I have to say that I was completely drawn into the world, and it has been long since I've read a book that made me so eager to know what will happen next (rather than just enjoying the ride). It's really everything I ever wanted from fantasy games, and more.

The plot itself is surprisingly easy to get into, at least if you consider that it's only the first installment in a series of 14 brick-sized books. It opens with a Prologue, which throws you right into the middle of the metaphysical lore of the Wheel of Time, presenting the two biggest opponents. It seems to be a story of Good vs. Evil, with the latter being represented by the Dark One, while the former should be a man called the Dragon. It's not as easy as that, though, as the reader first meets him right after slaying all of his kin. The Prologue also hints at a bit of history of the world. Certainly a very cool opener.

From then on out, the book gets much more grounded, substantially as well as stylistically. The scenery of world-defining happenings is replaced by a very opposite setting, and the reader now follows the 16-year-old boy Rand, who lives in a village in the Two Rivers, a place very isolated from (and ignorant to) the political struggles happening at the time. However, the countryside idyll is destroyed when suddenly the village is attacked by legendary forces associated with the Dark One, and it soon becomes clear that he is after Rand and two of his age-mates (the blacksmith apprentice Perrin and the comic relief Mat). Luckily, in the village there is an envoy of an order of powerful sorceresses, the so-called Aes Sedai, and she is determined to safely deliver the three boys to their fortress, Tar Valon. One big reason as to why the story feels so truly adventurous is the fact that the journey takes them the entire 800 odd pages, making you feel as if you were really traveling through an unknown and fascinating realm.

This core of characters is joined by others, forming an interesting and quite diverse party. Traveling with the Aes Sedai Moraine is her protector, the Warder Lan, who is this taciturn and opaque character, but who is very effective when it comes to doing his job. There is also an interesting back-story to him, which unfolds as the first book approaches its conclusion. In the world of the Wheel of Time (does this world have a name, by the way?), gleemen are amazingly popular, and a capable bard is celebrated in pretty much all places around the world. One of those gleemen, Thom Merrilin, was present in the village at the time of the attack, and he takes up the opportunity to travel to the legendary Tar Valon when given the chance. I liked how, throughout the book, his songs and stories have somewhat of an exchange value, making his skills quite prized. Finally, there are two young women from the village, Nynaeve and Egwene. Nynaeve is what the people of the village call a Wisdom, performing tasks of a healer as well as a soothsayer, and Egwene is her assistant. Nynaeve only joins the group somewhat later, which explains Egwene motivation of rather seeing the world, instead of waiting decades for a chance of becoming the Wisdom herself. In the beginning, she's also introduced as a bit of the latent love interest of the protagonist Rand, but soon is established as having her own motives to travel to Tar Valon.

In the beginning I thought the characters where interesting in their roles, not necessarily as characters per se. That improved much in the course of the book, and by the end most had become dear to my heart. In most cases, this has to do with the fact they they become more vulnerable. The best example is probably Nynaeve, who is a very important person in her village, but her pride is quite severely broken when she has to reorient herself in the wider world. There are small subplot to many characters of the group, some involving new abilities most likely explored in the successive books. It's not always overly interesting, but I always felt it added to my attachments to the characters.

What I loved the most about the book is how fascinating the world really is. As the party leaves the Two Rivers behind, together with the younger protagonists the reader develops a better understanding of important cities, legendary beings and places, historical events, political factions, and what the Wheel of Time might be. Yet, while it certainly is a rich world, it's quite easy to keep track. Their travels are made more exciting by the constant feeling of urgency, with the characters constantly having to look over their shoulders and asking themselves who they can trust (albeit it admittedly falls short of true paranoia).

The boy in me rejoiced at how awesome many aspects of the world really are. For instance, I loved how immensely powerful the magic is, releasing tremendous forces that shake the earth, burst out in flames, or having other impressive effects The subplot when Perrin learns that he is able to communicate with wolves, transforming himself to more of a wildling, was another moment that made me quite excited. Or the haunted metropolis of ancient times. Damn, there really is an abundance of cool stuff.

There were smaller things that bothered me a little bit. The most obvious is how very similar it is to The Lord of the Rings: you really cannot deny, that many many details of this book can be directly mapped onto elements from its famous predecessor. Take Lan, for example. He's obviously quite similar to Aragorn from the start, but when you get to know that he's actually some sort of a king who never took the crown, the parallels scream rip-off. But you know what, it didn't bother me all that much. Also, I expect that it distances itself more from Tolkien in the later books. You might also argue that it is a bit slow somewhat around the time when the group gets separated in the middle of the book; but that is only to be expected from a book of this length and I guess it even conveyed the feeling of exhaustion that the protagonists where having at that point. Finally, I thought the ending was really confusing, although I suppose that was intentional. However, it left me feeling that the titular Eye of the World was a bit pointless?

Even though I loved the Book all around, I never really planned to get back to the second book right away. Actually, the ending wrapped up many things quite nicely, so it almost feels like a stand-alone novel. Maybe I can do like a years-spanning reading marathon, with about two novels every year or so, but right now I'm content with my first glimpse at this interesting universe, and when the time comes, I'm excited to revisit it. But I think I will need something less epic next.

Rating: 4.5/5

I wanted to read something unsettling for Halloween. I don't know if people consider The Fifth Child a work of horror literature, but it sure makes you feel very uncomfortable. Probably more so than any straight horror novel could have done.

The plot revolves around a dream in life. Harriet and David become a couple in the 1960s, being drawn to each other because of their rather conservative beliefs and a shared tendency towards social isolation. However, now that they found each other, they develop the strong desire to constantly surround themselves with as many people as possible. Most of all, they share a very traditional understanding of the family and want to have children, many children.

They buy a huge house and very soon thereafter the first child is on his way, and the next toddler is always right around the corner. Sure, there are worries (particularly of a financial nature), and their friends and families are almost shocked by the way they approach their dream, but for Harriet and David these early years bring mostly a pure form of joy. They are never alone in their house, and they couldn't be happier to have all their friends and family with them for Christmas and Easter, often staying with them for weeks.

Then Harriet is pregnant with the fifth child, and for the first time this really wasn't going according to plan. It's a very complicated pregnancy, but their real troubles only start after Ben is born. He is very prone to violence, completely unaffected by the love his parents try to show him, and it isn't long before his actions tear apart most bonds to friends and family. Most characters progressively lose their spirit, and soon Harriet is the only one left who still fights to admit Ben to their family.

More than anything, this is a very sad book. It is heart-wrenching to read how their dream gradually falls into pieces, and with so little motivation other than what appears to be a demonic spirit. No matter how much love Harriet invokes towards such a monster and to reestablish their dream, the forces of evil are just too strong.

I thought that this was a very interesting take on the hellion theme. There are aspects to the story that border on the supernatural, but very similar to Stephen King, it's always used to explore characters. Ben is portrayed as being unnaturally strong and he doesn't seem to be able to feel empathy or interact with other people in any comprehensible way. Towards the end of the story, Harriet comes to belief that he is actually of another species, presumably some ancient and primitive ancestor of the human race breaking through. A situation that is so hopeless that it makes you fall back on metaphysical concepts amazingly conveys the frustration that especially his mother must have felt after years in this situation.

The book really moved me in many ways. There are some scenes that are particularly gruesome (like the brief episode in a mental institution). The horror is less with graphic depictions, though, but rather in how hopeless the situation really is. I was particularly surprised at how natural their dream seemed to me. Even though it certainly isn't my own idea of what to pursue in life, there is something heartwarming about the idea of fulfilling your most fundamental desires, especially desires that are so emotional in nature. A very powerful theme.

Rating: 4/5

This is the second book in the Culture-series, and I'm reading them in order, so it's also the second book for me. Since Consider Phlebas left me a bit disappointed (see my review here), I wasn't too eager to get right back into the Culture-universe. However, I'm pleased to say that I did enjoy The Player of Games more than I enjoyed the first book

The story's main protagonist is the popular game-player (Jernau Morat) Gurgeh, who feels his life has gone a bit stale and who is looking for new challenges. So he accepts an order of the Culture's Special Circumstances institution and is send to the planet of Azad, where he is to participate in a very special sort of game. Somewhat like Borges's Lotterie in Babylon, developments in the game determine much of the politics, religion and education of that society, with personal success or failure deciding over your social standing within its institutions. Moreover, Azad has strong imperial ambitions, for which it is frowned upon by the Culture, but whose utopian principles forbid them to intervene in more direct ways.

Interestingly enough, even though the game of Azad is the element from which all plot threads resolve, the games itself are not actually depicted in the narrative. This is a smart move, because in this way its sheer complexity, in its rules as well as in its implications, remains believable and Banks can focus instead on what it all means for Gurgeh. So, if you are like me and expect a story in the vein of Ender's Game you should prepare yourself for something quite different.

While Horza (in Consider Phlebas) was motivated mostly by pure egoism, Gurgeh is a much more nuanced and interesting character. He has ambitions, struggles with constant pressure, speculates on his role in the wider scheme, and empathizes with others. I don't know, I think it's easier for me to sympathize with a character who navigates with something of a moral compass. There were some interesting interactions with other characters, too, especially with the AI's.

The Player of Games also gives the reader a much better insight into what the Culture actually is and how it is to live within its jurisdiction. We get to know about their ideas on issues such as gender, war, money, or architecture, and only get an idea about their technology. There was one idea that I found particularly interesting. Growing up in the Culture, Gurgeh has to been taught concepts such as greed, blackmail, or insurance, for which there is no application within his own society, but which are of central importance to the people of Azad. The implication is that concepts and ideas are shaped along with a society's development, to the point were it might become obsolete. There was also a page or two about how language forms thought, but unfortunately it wasn't pursued any further.

To sum up, I'm very keen on continuing with the series very soon, and even the more so after the great ending of this month's read. I've read that the next one is quite different once again. Stoked!