H.E. Bergeron

H.E. Bergeron rated a book 3 of 5 stars

The Sky People (Lords of Creation, #1)
by S.M. Stirling

read in July, 2012

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In the vein of the John Carter books, The Sky People is set in a universe where Mars and Venus are simply foreign rather than alien, wildernesses that nevertheless have a breathable atmosphere and edible plant- and animal-life. The story takes place...more In the vein of the John Carter books, The Sky People is set in a universe where Mars and Venus are simply foreign rather than alien, wildernesses that nevertheless have a breathable atmosphere and edible plant- and animal-life. The story takes place on Venus, where rolling plains and vast jungles are populated by animals that seem to have been assembled from prehistoric Earth: saurian behemoths, sabertoothed mammals, and intelligent, if primitive, bipeds that seem stunningly similar to humans (right down to a pretty exotic princess for the hero to romance).

Also in the vein of the John Carter books, the characters are minimally developed, the hero has a lot of gratuitous specialness, and interpersonal relationships are neglected in favor of airship crashes and dinosaur fights. This is more or less what one expects from the genre, and I couldn't be too bothered by it because I do enjoy airships and dinosaurs, and it is certainly not as bad as, say, A Princess of Mars in any of these regards; but since I know it is possible to have both characters the reader cares about and an interesting setting, it bears mentioning.

The science, such as there is, is satisfying enough that I didn't rage at anything. The presence of primitive humans on Venus is actually explained, which is delightful. The pacing is reasonable; Stirling is a bit too fond of lengthy scenes between the main character and his tame wolfdog which have little to no impact on the plot, but otherwise, stuff happens more or less constantly. The primary thing to recommend the book is the setting - I would love to trailblaze on this version of Venus. It has a nostalgic grandeur, this untamed world that can be conquered with minimal supplies and human ingenuity. The actual plot serves to take us through that world, and the characters are there to interact with it. I was charmed enough by this vision of Venus to overlook the solid mediocrity of the other aspects of the work, but it really is just an updated version of a Boy's Own adventure story, so take that as you will.

I was also pleased by the self-aware way the book acknowledges its sources, having characters mention the fifties pulp sci-fi stories upon which this novel was clearly based, but I could see some people being annoyed by the lampshading.(less)

H.E. Bergeron wants to read

Railsea
by China Miéville (Goodreads Author)

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H.E. Bergeron rated a book 3 of 5 stars

Infernal Devices
by K.W. Jeter (Goodreads Author)

read in July, 2012

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I will begin by saying that I am predisposed towards liking books that tell a complete story in a single novel, and Infernal Devices is certainly that. It's a neat little romp through steampunk England with rarely a dull moment. The plot proceeds rap...more I will begin by saying that I am predisposed towards liking books that tell a complete story in a single novel, and Infernal Devices is certainly that. It's a neat little romp through steampunk England with rarely a dull moment. The plot proceeds rapidly without feeling glossed over, and with few irrelevant scenes, a lot is accomplished within relatively few pages.

The world of Infernal Devices is one full of clockwork curiosities and characters suffering varying degrees of madness. I enjoyed touring it. I admit I was a little jarred by one particular paranormal element the author introduced which did not quite seem to fit with the universe he had constructed up until then. (view spoiler) The premise of this book, the 'miracle exception,' if you will, that moves it out of the mundane world, is that in this version of history dwell craftsmen and scientists who can construct miraculous devices. Any strangeness that proceeds from these devices makes sense in context, but I was far less willing to accept a new strangeness which did not have its origin in mad science. I had already suspended my disbelief in regards to quasimagical clockwork. To be suddenly asked to suspend it again in regards to something completely unrelated almost ruined the whole precarious thing.

Infernal Devices seems to be located in an era roughly parallel to our turn of the century (allowing a wide margin of error, since no specific events are identified to anchor it), and it shares a number of stylistic similarities to the fiction written broadly during that era. Perhaps the most obvious of these is that, although it is narrated in the first person, the narrator is not particularly the protagonist. George Dower exists more as a lens for the reader to see the story through than a person in his own right. He is swept along by the current of things, and does little to influence the story by his actions; but that did not particularly annoy me, accustomed as I am to similar reader-surrogate narrators in the tales of writers such as Lovecraft or Poe. It's a tradition of the age, and if anything, it made the story feel more authentically antiquated.

Prose-wise, Infernal Devices does the thing steampunk stories always do and tries to sound Regency - and Jeter pulls that off better than most. He avoids the archaic spellings that always feel forced and pretentious as well as the obviously modern syntax that sometimes invades this synthetic style of writing and exposes the sham.

I will add, as a nitpicky footnote, that there were a much larger number of typographical errors than I am used to seeing in a published work. At first I thought the author was just getting a little creatively exuberant with his approach to punctuation. After the first fifty pages, I had changed my conclusions and decided the proof reader fell asleep on the job. By the end of the book, I was wondering in a characteristically paranoid fashion whether it was a code, and I may in the future go through and check all the letters preceding and following the unexpected periods or mysteriously absent hyphens just to be sure. If anyone else deciphers it, let me know. On the other hand, if it was simply human error, your edition may not even have this problem.(less)

H.E. Bergeron rated a book 3 of 5 stars

The Mouse In The Mountain (Rue Morgue Vintage Gumshoe Mystery)
by Norbert Davis

read in July, 2012

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Honestly, I picked up The Mouse In The Mountain because I was planning on writing a short story in a harboiled style and I wanted to brush up on the slang. Davis's diction proved not to be nearly as quirky as, say, Chandler's; the book is located in...more Honestly, I picked up The Mouse In The Mountain because I was planning on writing a short story in a harboiled style and I wanted to brush up on the slang. Davis's diction proved not to be nearly as quirky as, say, Chandler's; the book is located in time more by what transpires than by the prose. Furthermore, Doan himself, although the private detective of the story, is not really the protagonist in any exclusive sense. The hypothetical camera of the narrative moves fluidly between him and Janet Martin - a schoolteacher on a mission to see the places she had only read about - and occasionally settles on someone else entirely. Rather than being a story about one man solving a mystery, it is a story about an event much broader in scope than any single person moving through it.

To be a little more specific, although I'd like to avoid spoilers, it follows the adventures of a bus full of tourists on a visit to a remote town in Mexico. The cast includes, in addition to Doan, his dog Carstairs, and the aforementioned Janet Martin: Mr. and Mrs. Henshaw, a middle class pair from the suburbs; Mortimer, their unpleasant son; the rich heiress Patricia Von Osdale; her gigolo Greg; and her maid Maria. To no one's surprise, all of these folks have their own agendas. I am always a fan of the ensemble cast, and I enjoyed learning what brought them all on this trip, whether those motives be sinister or purely entertaining. Janet especially proved to be a much more interesting character than I had anticipated, having significantly more agency than one might expect from a woman in a detective story; without having any talents which seemed incongruous to her backstory, she solved large portions of the mystery well before Doan.

In terms of craftsmanship, the tale is structurally sound: all of the many plot threads are deftly woven together, each scene fits neatly into the overall story, and nothing is left egregiously unresolved. I was certainly entertained enough to keep turning the pages. It isn't an edge-of-your-seat thriller, and the climax is neither especially precipitous nor breathtaking, but The Mouse in the Mountain is a good, solid read with a satisfying conclusion - and it can be finished in one or two sittings.(less)

H.E. Bergeron entered a giveaway

Broken Elements (Elements, #1)
by Mia Marshall (Goodreads Author)

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H.E. Bergeron rated a book 3 of 5 stars The Sky People (Lords of Creation, #1) by S.M. Stirling read in July, 2012	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
In the vein of the John Carter books, The Sky People is set in a universe where Mars and Venus are simply foreign rather than alien, wildernesses that nevertheless have a breathable atmosphere and edible plant- and animal-life. The story takes place...more
Jul 30, 2012 06:49am · see review
H.E. Bergeron wants to read Railsea by China Miéville (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 14, 2012 08:42pm
H.E. Bergeron rated a book 3 of 5 stars Infernal Devices by K.W. Jeter (Goodreads Author) read in July, 2012	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
I will begin by saying that I am predisposed towards liking books that tell a complete story in a single novel, and Infernal Devices is certainly that. It's a neat little romp through steampunk England with rarely a dull moment. The plot proceeds rap...more
Jul 14, 2012 08:27pm · see review
H.E. Bergeron rated a book 3 of 5 stars The Mouse In The Mountain (Rue Morgue Vintage Gumshoe Mystery) by Norbert Davis read in July, 2012	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Honestly, I picked up The Mouse In The Mountain because I was planning on writing a short story in a harboiled style and I wanted to brush up on the slang. Davis's diction proved not to be nearly as quirky as, say, Chandler's; the book is located in...more
Jul 13, 2012 01:14pm · see review
H.E. Bergeron entered a giveaway Broken Elements (Elements, #1) by Mia Marshall (Goodreads Author)	Rate this book Clear rating 1 of 5 stars 2 of 5 stars 3 of 5 stars 4 of 5 stars 5 of 5 stars
Jul 13, 2012 12:29pm · like · see giveaway

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