Adrian Collins's Blog, page 202

REVIEW: All Systems Red by Martha Wells

I started listening to All Systems Red on Scribd with the hopes of passing some time listening to something fun and simple while doing kitchen chores. Boy, was I wrong. I ended up not only cleaning the kitchen, reorganizing the pantry, fridge, cooking dinner, and meals for the next day in the hopes of listening to as much of this as possible before having to put it away for the night. It is a compulsive and addictive read. Once you start reading it, it is so short and exciting you will not want to stop till you get to the end.

All Systems Red is a perfect and tidy story. When I say tidy, it isn’t derogatory. Novellas have to get a lot done in a short amount of time. The author needs to convey a thought, history, emotion, narrative, and plot progression. So all of the choices the author makes need to be concise and tidy. In Martha Wells’ All Sytems Red, she created an exceptional character in Murderbot, Murderbot being the name he calls himself. He is cynical, confused, and courageous but more than anything, he seems very human. This character works quite well within the context of a novella because the reading audience has a cultural dialog regarding machines with human emotions, i.e., The Terminator. There isn’t a lot of groundwork to be laid, we already have a feel for what this scenario could look like. Murderbot is an artificial life form with organic components, and these components work in tandem with its artificial ones to create the perfect killing machine.

How life works for the Murderbot is that he is deployed on contract through his host company, The Company. In the first installment of the quadrilogy of short stories, Murderbot is protecting and defending a group of scientists and geographers on an inhospitable planet. Murderbot hacks his mainframe to start making independent choices aside from is company programming. Most of his decisions consist of which type of soap opera to watch on the entertainment channels available at his outpost. However, when another outpost on the same planet gets attacked, Murderbot needs to step in to protect the scientists that he has become attached to. What plays out over the brief story is exciting scenes, great dialog (both internal and external), and an excellent plot jump to the next novella.

I loved this, and it is easily understood why the author received so many well-deserved accolades. All Systems Red is funny and enjoyable.

Originally published on Before We Go blog.

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REVIEW: Blindness by Jose Saramago

Blindness by Jose Saramago is not a book that you read more than once. It is a suffocating immersive dive into the failings of human nature. It is chaos. Blindness tells the story of an anonymous city that is stricken with a mysterious illness that blinds a majority of the population. A man is suddenly and mysteriously blinded. He yells for help, and a supposedly helpful passerby takes him home but subsequently steals his car. The man who stole the vehicle is then stricken blind. And so on, and so until chaos rolls across the land. Everyone who comes into contact with a blind person is then blinded. People are forcibly quarantined in an attempt for the government to stymy the plague. An ophthalmologist who treated the original person is stricken, and his wife, who seems to be immune to the disease, joins him in quarantine. The question is, “what is her role?” Does she tell the people around her that she is blind, or that she is sighted? What is her responsibility to the people around her? For me, that was the crux of the novel. The asylum devolves into madness. Food and medicine become a traded commodity. Once the food runs out, there is not much left to trade but sex. Rape and violence follow. Gangs form, the worst of human nature rears its ugly head. Amongst the constant barrage of excrement that is human nature, moments of kindness periodically twinkle like stars passing behind a cloud. You want more, but Saramago delivers only the briefest of moments to remind the reader that the soul of humanity is not all garbage, just most of it. Life collapses, this is the new normal. The survivors make due the best that they can. New relationships form and human connections. When in crisis, it is said that you can see someone’s true nature. It breaks open, and people are their true selves. We recognize that again and again in Blindness. Saramago pulls no punches and there are few heroics in this book, just raw emotional pain. Would I reread Blindness, absolutely not. Hell no. Can I recognize genius when I read it? Yes, of course. Saramago won the Nobel Award for this story. And rightfully so. It is that good, but it is not pleasant. It made me feel greasy and dirty inside. It made me question humanity and how much humanity relies on the cushion of technology. It was in its way terrifying. Do I recommend you read this? Honestly, I have no idea. This book was a deep reaming of the soul. If that is the kind of experience you want, read it. I gave it five stars because it is good, great even. But god is it an emotionally hard read. Originally posted on Before We Go blog.

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REVIEW: Blindness by Jose Saragamo

Blindness by Jose Saragamo is not a book that you read more than once.

It is a suffocating immersive dive into the failings of human nature. It is chaos. Blindness tells the story of an anonymous city that is stricken with a mysterious illness that blinds a majority of the population. A man is suddenly and mysteriously blinded. He yells for help, and a supposedly helpful passerby takes him home but subsequently steals his car. The man who stole the vehicle is then stricken blind. And so on, and so until chaos rolls across the land. Everyone who comes into contact with a blind person is then blinded. People are forcibly quarantined in an attempt for the government to stymy the plague. An ophthalmologist who treated the original person is stricken, and his wife, who seems to be immune to the disease, joins him in quarantine. The question is, “what is her role?” Does she tell the people around her that she is blind, or that she is sighted? What is her responsibility to the people around her? For me, that was the crux of the novel.

The asylum devolves into madness. Food and medicine become a traded commodity. Once the food runs out, there is not much left to trade but sex. Rape and violence follow. Gangs form, the worst of human nature rears its ugly head. Amongst the constant barrage of excrement that is human nature, moments of kindness periodically twinkle like stars passing behind a cloud. You want more, but Saragamo delivers only the briefest of moments to remind the reader that the soul of humanity is not all garbage, just most of it.

Life collapses, this is the new normal. The survivors make due the best that they can. New relationships form and human connections. When in crisis, it is said that you can see someone’s true nature. It breaks open, and people are their true selves. We recognize that again and again in Blindness. Saragamo pulls no punches and there are few heroics in this book, just raw emotional pain.

Would I reread Blindness, absolutely not. Hell no. Can I recognize genius when I read it? Yes, of course. Saragamo won the Nobel Award for this story. And rightfully so. It is that good, but it is not pleasant. It made me feel greasy and dirty inside. It made me question humanity and how much humanity relies on the cushion of technology. It was in its way terrifying. Do I recommend you read this? Honestly, I have no idea. This book was a deep reaming of the soul. If that is the kind of experience you want, read it. I gave it five stars because it is good, great even. But god is it an emotionally hard read.

Originally posted on Before We Go blog.

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REVIEW: To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini

I received a limited edition proof copy of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars in exchange for an honest review. Thank you to Christopher Paolini and Tor Books.

In To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, we follow the third-person perspective of Kira Navárez who is a xenobiologist. We join her towards the end of an assignment on the Earth-sized moon of Adrasteia. On the final excursion to the moon, Kira uncovers a mysterious relic. What was hidden there was placed away for a good reason and Kira’s discovery of it will have dramatic consequences for herself personally, her crew who were studying Adrasteia, as well as to all in the known galaxies and beyond. As the back of the novel fittingly describes it: “Space holds countless secrets. She just found the deadliest one.”

I’m aware that Paolini is a fantasy megastar and I am one of the few amongst my friends who haven’t read The Inheritance Cycle. I went into To Sleep in a Sea of Stars as a blank canvas with regards to Paolini and enjoyed this fact so that I could analyses what is billed as the author’s first adult novel on its qualities and merits. I can confirm that To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is a deep, well-written, and intelligent SF-epic that is definitely for the more mature audience.

Set approximately 250-years in the future, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars features interstellar travel to planets and space stations, space battles and skirmishes, on planet confrontations, aliens and sentient life, a fair few swears, and quite a lot of impalement. It’s a beautifully-written novel, brimming with poignant moments, great action-segments, and an awesome skinsuit that bonds with our protagonist.

After Kira’s discovery and the catastrophic repercussions, she spends the majority of To Sleep in a Sea of Stars on a space vessel known as the Wallfish, or with the ship’s crew as they deal with the threats of two alien species (known as the Jellies and the nightmares) who both wish for the destruction of humankind. The crew of the Wallfish are a great ensemble to follow, all having intriguing and diverse pasts, all seem extremely loyal to each other, and qualified in their areas of expertise. The ship’s captain Falconi, the kid Trig, and the ship’s mind Gregorvich all have great interactions with Kira. The latter, brilliantly intelligent, poetic, yet slightly unhinged is a standout creation. I loved his banter with Kira and the many colourful nicknames he gives her (“O Spiky One”, “O Queen of Flowers”) and the crew of the Wallfish. There is also a pig that lives on the ship and is a favourite pet of the crew.

To Sleep in a Sea of Stars is a behemothic novel that features 850+ pages in both the ARC and the hardback versions. Creating something this detailed in a first foray in both science fiction and adult fiction is extremely ambitious by Paolini and I think he succeeds as he’s created an enjoyable and grand space opera with significant depth and detail. I have to admit, that I wasn’t always in the mood to read To Sleep in a Sea of Stars. I had to set aside a good chunk of my day and make sure that I had no distractions so that I could completely lose myself in this science fiction adventure. Every time I approached it I wanted to make sure that I could make a sizable dent in the novel. This is the first novel in the Fractalverse and is a complete standalone. The finale is stunning and completely fitting for the scale and scope of the narrative. Some of the characters could come back in future escapades, and others are almost unrecognisable with the manner they change throughout this book. The next Fractalverse story could contain a whole new cast but it is definitely something I will be willing to check out when it is released. To summarise, To Sleep in a Sea of Stars isn’t YA and it doesn’t feature any space dragons but for those readers who like intelligent and ambitious SF with a Mass Effect feel then there is a lot to enjoy here.

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REVIEW: Warriors of the Storm by Bernard Cornwell

Warriors of the Storm is the 9th entry in The Saxon Stories series that follows Uhtred of Bebbanburg and it is my favourite of the books so far. It has a brilliant opening and the standard doesn’t drop for the length of the whole book.

At the beginning of Warriors of the Storm, a fifty-something-year-old Uhtred is residing at the stronghold of Ceaster. Mercia seems to be thriving under the rule of Æthelflæd. Things have been tranquil and peaceful for a couple of years but now a new threat is on the horizon. The fierce warrior Ragnall Ivarson leads an army and he has his sights set on both Mercia and Northumbria. Ragnall is a leader of repute and for all intents and purposes, a man to be feared. To make matters more interesting, he is also Uhtred’s son-in-law’s brother

“Ragnall Ivarson. I had never met him, but I knew him. I knew his reputation. No man sailed a ship better, no man fought more fiercely, no man was held in more fear. He was a savage, a pirate, a wild king of nowhere, and my daughter Stiorra had married his brother.”

Being the ninth novel in the series, a lot of what is presented here has been seen before throughout these tales. Battles, skirmishes, shield-walls, formidable opponents, intelligent tactics, and quality side characters (both seasoned and new). Alongside The Burning Land and The Last Kingdom, Warriors of the Storm, for me, is a perfect example of Cornwell’s formula. The formula seems to be working on me though as I have read all 9 of these books so far this year. With them all being 300 or so pages and enticingly devourable within 3-4 days I may very well finish this series this year, timing it well with the imminent release of the final novel War Lord. I have rated all of the books 3-stars and above.

“I was Uhtred, Lord of Bebbanburg, in my war-glory. The arm rings of fallen enemies glinted on my forearms, my shield was newly painted with the snarling wolf’s head of my house, while another wolf, this one of silver, crouched on the crest of my polished helmet. My mail was tight, polished with sand, my sword belt and scabbard and bridle and saddle were studded with silver, there was a gold chain at my neck, my boots were panelled with silver, my drawn sword was grey with the whorls of its making running from the hilt to its hungry tip. I was the lord of war mounted on a great black horse, and together we would make panic.”

Although ageing, Uhtred is still formidable, imposing, often stubborn, Thor-following, battle-ready, and fiercely intelligent. He is renowned across the land. It’s a joy to follow Uhtred’s first-person perspective as an even older Uhtred tells the reader his tales. His family is extremely important to the narrative here and some of his children have become stars of the cast too. There is a brutal and tragic moment that features one of his family members and it definitely plays with the heartstrings.

In Warriors of the Storm, we find out about more about fan favourite Finan’s past with their being an important Irish presence in this story. These parts made me love Finan even more. He is of a similar age to Uhtred but still possesses unrivalled speed with a blade. Other ageing characters who were first featured at the very start of the series in our narrator’s younger days play important parts here too. I adore stories where we follow a character from youth for their whole lives. Alongside the narrative of FitzChivalry Farseer in The Realm of the Elderlings, the tale of Uhtred is the finest I have ever read where we follow a character for 50+ years.

Warriors of the Storm is another brilliant example of Cornwell’s historical fiction. My line up of reviews for October and November features some of the most anticipated reads in science fiction, fantasy, and horror but I’m sure I will sneak another couple of The Saxon Stories books in between as they are criminally addictive and feature a lead whose escapades I just want to read more about.

“It is not difficult to be a lord, a jarl, or even a king, but it is difficult to be a leader. Most men want to follow, and what they demand of their leader is prosperity. We are the ring-givers, the gold-givers. We give land, we give silver, we give slaves, but that alone is not enough. They must be led. Leave men standing or sitting for days at a time and they get bored, and bored men make trouble. They must be surprised and challenged, given tasks they think beyond their abilities. And they must fear. A leader who is not feared will cease to rule, but fear is not enough. They must love too.”

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REVIEW: Rogue Trooper: Tales of Nu-Earth, Vol. 1 by Gerry Finley-Day

Rogue Trooper began life in the British comic 2000AD in the early 1980s, initially the work of Gerry Finley-Day and Dave Gibbons. Other artists in this first volume are Cam Kennedy, Brett Ewins, Colin Wilson, Mike Dorey and Eric Bradbury. Alan Moore would provide a few of the stories.

The story is set on is Nu-Earth (prepare yourself for plentiful future slang), once a paradise world at a hyperspace junction devastated by years of war between two great alliances – the Norts and the Southers. This planet is so poisoned by chemical weapons that in most places humans cannot survive without a sealed chemsuit.

Thus, the Southers created the blue-skinned GIs – Genetic Infantrymen – who can survive the poison atmosphere. But in their first action they were betrayed and massacred. One survived to hunt down the traitor outside the military chain of command – the titular Rogue Trooper. He is accompanied by his comrades, now implanted in biochips attached to his war-gear, still speaking to him as he roams the poison wastes.

Rogue’s history is revealed to the reader gradually, across a number of flashbacks. Each episode deals with another skirmish in the wastes of Nu-Earth, as Rogue and his comrades encounter another band of struggling Southers, and another part of the exotic Nort war machine. Wunderwaffe of the week, if you will – the Norts are practically copied from the pages of World War II comics of the time, complete with names like Wagner or Torpitz, yells of ‘Nain’, and a threatening lightning-cloud emblem. The Southers receive a blandly American depiction, with a scattering of references to the American Civil War (the Battle of Mek-Bull Run, Harpo’s Ferry). The reference to the war of brothers serves to suggest equivalence with the Norts – they are a half of the war machine that has killed Nu-Earth.

The image of the (practically) lone supersoldier and his quest is an arresting one, but the spread of adventures Rogue finds himself in don’t always match it. The schemes of the Norts sometimes divert from the outlandish to the camp, as do the perils of Nu-Earth. The Fort Neuropa arc is particularly out of sync in this regard.

However, when the various elements align, it can be satisfying. Gibbons’s livid, contorted faces wrenched from their gas masks are arresting. The variety of outlandish weapons works as well: hovering shrapnel mines, sentient barbed wire, hallucinogen-spraying tanks, poison saboteurs, the drop-troopers of the Nort Sun Legion apparently hang-gliding from orbit. It all adds up to a singular, nightmarish vision of future war.

Duncan Jones, known for his excellent debut Moon, is directing an adaption of the strip for the screen, so you might want to get a head start on that with this volume. The varying quality of the strips means that I am hard-pressed to give a single star rating to the material within – thus, I would brace yourself for an average of Two or Three Stars and be pleasantly surprised by the exceptions.

Read Rogue Trooper: Tales of Nu-Earth, Vol. 1 by Gerry Finley-Day

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REVIEW: Witchsign by Den Patrick

Witchsign by Den Patrick is a slow burn of a novel but promises a solid foundation for the Ashen Torment series. Patrick, whose previous stories included the dark fantasy series Erebus Sequence, writes Witchsign as a novel that can be appreciated by adult and YA readers alike.

Their town of Cinderfall is colored in gray shades, whether it be from ash or dirty snow, brother Steiner and sister Kjellrunn have only known the gray their whole lives. Steiner is a fledgling blacksmith apprentice; his goals in life are to take care of his family, especially his eccentric sister Kjellrunn, find a wife to love, and live in as much comfort as he can fight for. Kjellrunn has always known she was a little bit different. Instead of chasing boys and persuing relationships as some of the other girls in her village, Kjellrunn seeks out the calmness and solemnity of the forest. It brings her quietude, beauty, and color.

A ship arrives, as it does every year, full of the Empire’s Invigilators. Invigilators are servants of the Empire and, specifically, the Emperor that seek out and sense those with Witchsign. A set of power of the elements. Some have the ability for fire, some earth, some wind, and some water. If an Invigilator detects the Witchsign than that child needs to report to the ship the following morning and be taken away permanently. No one knows what happens to the child. They are just gone. The Inviligators are rightly feared by parents and children alike. The time of the Invilligators has come, and it is Kjellrunn’s turn to be tested…

The story is told almost entirely from the perspectives of the two kids, Kjellrunn and Steiner. Kjellrunn is left in the village and shunned by the whole community save for her dad and uncle. Steiner is mistakenly shipped away to an academy/prison that sits on a rocky island surrounded by rough seas called Vladibodgan. The island’s location is a great secret and only know to those of high ranks in the Empire, and ships that bring supplies to the island. The kids’ lives have taken drastic turns from each other. Steiner must survive his ordeal. He doesn’t have Witchsign, and that is of great embarrassment to the invilligators in charge. Kjellrunn shunning leaves her unable to get food for her family; her family’s smith is also being shunned and told to move to another town. Kjellrunn only wants to survive and help et her brother back at all costs. At the same time, Steiner wants to get off of the island and protect his sister.

I think this parallel of intention between Steiner and Kjellrunn is the heart of the story. Both are desperate to save the other. This desperation fuels the characters desire chapter by chapter. It is an exciting perspective for a reader to watch the scenes unfold and know that they might miss each other if they are successful.

As far as characters go, Steiner and Kjellrunn are pretty standard. At least at this point. Steiner is a sort of angsty teenager but, at his core, has morals and strength. Kjellrunn is also similar, angsty, but where Steiner has a core strength, Kjellrunn has a lot of emotion. I think this part is a means of differentiating her from other characters in the book. She feels a connectedness to the world and nature specifically that is not experienced in other characters. Both characters have moments where they are irritating. Steiner is very much a hothead, and Kjellrunn is a bit flighty. I think that as the story progresses, we will see these two characters mature. Their natures both will be tempered by experience, and they will grow as people.

There are also some great side characters in this book. The book mainly focuses on the siblings; however, we get insight into the side characters and interact with them. I get the impression that their presence in the main character’s life will play a crucial role in future books.

I generally enjoyed Witchsign. Some moments slowed the pace down, and I was looking forward to switching perspectives. I think inevitably when reading Witchsign you will be either Team Steiner or Team Kjellrunn. Both have similar goals, save the other person. But I found myself on Steiner’s team. I looked forward to the parts that featured him while not being wholly engaged in Kjellrunn’s plight. Maybe that will change in future books, and Kjellrunn will be a character that will have more growth and be more enjoyable for me to read. But as it stands, she seems almost as a side character.

The worldbuilding shines in Witchsign. Patrick expertly creates a unique world. Some elements build on popular mythology in fantasy novels, but generally, the world feels very fresh and inventive. I loved the magic system. The last 20% of the book moved at a lightning pace. The action, coupled with the solid world creation, made it fly page to page. I hope that this pace continues in the next novel, Stormtide, and I am looking forward to seeing what new plot twists Patrick will pull.

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REVIEW: The Devil All the Time by Donald Ray Pollock

The Devil All the Time is a harrowing southern gothic-like novel that borders on straight-up horror. Written in 2011 by Donald Ray Pollock, this novel came to my attention due to the impending Netflix movie starring Tom Holland and Robert Pattinson. The movie looks dark as all get out and I had hopes that the book would be even darker. Thankfully for me and all fans of grisly, disgusting, and horrifying stories, this book should scratch all morbid itches you may have.

Now, while I would consider The Devil All the Time to be in the southern gothic wheelhouse, I will add the preamble that it doesn’t take place in the south. Rather, most of it takes place in either rural Ohio or rural West Virginia. Yet, the hallmarks of the subgenre are all there; deeply flawed characters, extreme poverty, run-down small towns, eccentric characters, etc. Yet, since it doesn’t technically take place in the southern United States, I suppose it should be called rural gothic instead (although that doesn’t have as much of a ring to it, in my opinion).

The Devil All the Time is a book made up of several vignettes that seem tangentially related at first but, at about two-thirds of the way through, connect and pay off in a big way. Being the dark and tragic tale it is with many southern gothic sentiments, comparisons to Cormac McCarthy abound. In fact, some are well warranted: the sparse prose and the suffocatingly violent and dark tone are present in both. Despite those similarities, it diverges enough in a way that tells a fantastic, twisted story that feels original.

The only downfall when compared to McCarthy is the lack of beautiful lines. The Devil All the Time is a plainly written novel with simple descriptions and the occasional simile. I have a love of complex and beautiful lines (I’m looking at you Blood Meridian), the plain manner in which Pollock’s story is presented makes sense and is even endearing, in a way/

The main players in The Devil All the Time are Arvin, a young man who’s the only real semblance of a protagonist. The story follows Arvin the most consistently, from youth to young adulthood, and from tragedy to tragedy. He’s a rural hero archetype; charming, kind of quiet, likes to work with his hands, and not afraid to use violence when necessary. Yet, throughout the story the perspective shifts to several others; from Carl the cigar-smoking snuff photographer who murders hitchhikers with his wife Sandy, to Roy, a preacher-turned-murderer-turned-carnival act, to the crooked ex-alcoholic Sheriff Bodecker.

Each one of the interconnected stories deals with an isolated theme on its own; a husband’s love for his wife, a man’s belief in the power of God, a communities capacity to trust those in power. Yet, it’s not the themes themselves which have been overdone time and time again but, rather, the delivery. In almost every theme that is presented, it is promptly subverted, often in terrible and maudlin ways.

This story is dark and brutal and I loved (and hated) every moment I spent in Ohio, West Virginia, and beyond. The Devil All the Time earns a bloody and well-earned 5 stars.

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REVIEW: The Boys by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson

The Boys is a hefty series written by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson. Ennis, of Preacher fame, “blows the bloody doors off” of the Superhero genre. The Boys is not your tidy and inoffensive Superman type story. Instead, this is a bloody, gory, disgusting, and brutal take on superheroes as a genre set in a modern world. It would have to be harsh if you think about the corruption of absolute power. A superhero is probably not a sane person, and given a skewed lens of the world filtered through a life without limits, I can see them acting…badly. Although not all people are bad, as we see in the story, enough of them are that you will need a group like The Boys to attempt to keep them in check. The Boys are so harsh that it is almost repulsive, but in typical Ennis style, the reader can not turn away.

“Remember the seven Ps.

Seven what?

Proper preparation and planning… Prevent piss-poor performance.”

The superheroes in this story are called The Seven, which is a nod to the Justice League, and are your basic despotic, raping, and pillaging psycho and sociopaths. They kill for the fun of it, lord over humans, live to the excess, and are generally horrible but powerful human beings. In turn, the book explores governments’ and by extension societies’ responses to the superheroes with a band of misfit black ops soldiers of varying degrees of sociopathic and homicidal tendencies sent in to fight them. They, too, are incredibly screwed up but in exciting and equally terrifying ways. Their sole purpose is to keep the “supes” in check. In the center of all, this is a sweet and goofy love story. No, really, I am serious. Ennis makes it work, and it is awesome.

The overarching plot follows The Boys through a series of screwed up interactions with superheroes. The Boys “manage, police, and sometimes liquidate Vought-American’s superhumans,” so that is what they do. They attempt to keep the supes in check, things go awry, there is much sex and death, people die in awful ways, and there is always another superhero to stop. Neither side can claim the moral high ground. Wee Hughie is the main character that the narrative focuses on. At one time, Hughie was just a regular bloke, his story is wrought with sadness. Hughie was in a relationship with the love of his life. His girlfriend stepped off the curb in a wonderful romantic comedy moment and was summarily destroyed in an explosion of gore and viscera. All while holding Wee Hughie’s hands. No one could be quite right in the head after that.

“There’d be no point trynna blackmail a bloke everyone already knows is a cunt, would there?”

Through the series, we learn the backstory about why The Boys are the way they are, and why each of them has a reason to hate supes. Each of them has a good cause and a solid backstory. By the end of the series, we have a much richer picture of The Boys and some closure to the story. It would be exhausting if the writing and art weren’t so good.

Additionally, Ennis modeled the character “Wee” Hughie as a mirror image of the actor Simon Pegg. It is a great fan nod. Some find it distracting to read about “Wee” Hughie walking into an orgy, but my sophomoric sense of humor found it utterly hilarious. The 13-year-old in me is doing double fist pumps and giggling.

“You know you can be a real bitch sometimes.”

The art is a very “Marvel comic” style, purposely drawn to convey the superhero motif. The supes and their world are drawn and colored to emphasize the superhero world’s grandness and gaudiness. Versus The Boys, who are dark and melancholic.

Typical of Garth Ennis’s style, the writing is large, precise, and excessive. If you are familiar with Preacher, you will be familiar with his style. The Boys is a challenging series. It is full of sex and violence to the extremes. If this bothers you, maybe look for something from a different author. But for me, this severity and excessiveness are part of its charm. Superheroes are maniacs at their core. This book acts on the extremes of superheroes with extreme characters in retaliation. Who else could keep superheroes in check than people with nothing to lose except their own moral code?

Read The Boys by Garth Ennis and Darick Robertson

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REVIEW: Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike

J. Zachary Pike’s Orconomics on the surface, looks like your typical fantasy story. Not bad, but nothing to write home about. The thing is five pages into the book; you know that you are entirely wrong. There is nothing standard about this exciting, hilarious story told from the multiple points of view of the “heroes.” But at its heart, Orconomics is a scathing and effective satire. It is capitalism and the dangers of, set in a magical world.

I did not see that coming.

The plot of the story, as mentioned before, is about a group of reluctant heroes. They are gathered together to go on a quest looking for treasure and finding lost relics. There are quite a few different political and economic plays by various groups around this quest. Things are not what they seem. At times the plot was a bit hard to follow, but as the story reaches its conclusions, everything becomes clear.

“Ye must be Angusss,” said Gorm, stamping up to the bar. “Anguss,” corrected the serpentine barkeep, polishing a glass. “The middle ‘s’ is silent.”

The questing party, professional heroes down on their luck, are being supported by a local religious community and a cadre of investors who invest in quests in exchange for a portion of the loot. This usually comes from non papered characters or shadowkin that are seen as fodder and regularly killed and hunted to increase hero rankings. Their only mistake is that they are a nuisance to humans and possibly have pillagable loot. The higher ranking the hero is, the better the quests. It sounds like a very familiar scenario, that of Hollywood movies. Movies get made with a well-known actor; interested parties then fund the film in exchange for a portion of the generated revenue. The actor and their following is a commoditized asset that rises and falls based on the actor’s successes and failures. Orconomics is more cutthroat in the successes and failures, literally, but the economic system is the same.

This book’s satire takes on some pretty hard-hitting ideas. Firstly, we have the whole questing system. It treats the heroes as commodities bought and sold, as I said earlier—a very Hollywood idea. Orconomics also touches on the toll of drug addiction, specifically opioid or pain killer addiction, which is rampant in cities across the world. One of the main characters, who once was a huge and well-known adventurer, had too many injuries requiring healing potions. Eventually, the healing potions become what she lived for, and addiction occurred. She then became a shell of her former self, always looking for a reason to get high. The author addresses this in a scene talking about people out on the street, cutting themselves so that they need to use a healing potion.

“Marketing is its own kind of magic, is it not?” said Zurthraka. “An illusion that men pay to be fooled by.”

Pike also touches on class system dynamics; market commoditized objects such as magic swords, religious zealotry, and the business of making money from it, and lax laws for weapon ownership. A stand-in for lax laws around gun ownership. You will read this thinking that Pike is brilliant as hell, and be a little sad that our world is so near in line with the one in Orconomics.

Firstly, the main character is a dwarf named Gorm Ingerson. Much of the story is told from his perspective. He is a tenth level hero, who, twenty years ago, “supposedly” made the mistake of running to save himself when most of his party perished. He was left shammed while another party member who stayed to fight became one of the land’s best-known heroes. The rest of the hero party is full of misfits. They all have a reason to be there and are hoping for another shot. This leads to a sense of urgency in the questing; they all need to succeed in this quest.

Because each party member has a distinct voice written well by Pike, the dynamics of interpersonal relationships between the questers and character development truly come through. We are told very early what each of the characters are facing and working with. One is a drug addict who is addicted to healing potions and alcohol. Gorm, as I mentioned earlier, is fighting his past. Another is a very skilled mage that is not useful in a fight. At the same time, the other mage is an excellent brawler but has no finely honed skills. Another is a shadowkin just trying to survive. The shadowkin’s, a goblin, and his relationship with Gorm are the book’s best parts. Best and certainly funniest. I laughed for a good two minutes after reading how Gorm found out how to say the goblin’s name. Finally, we have one who rarely speaks, and another running from a mobster—all work to play off each other and develop as characters.

“I prefer to quit while I’m ahead,” Heraldin explained. “Ye’ve a funny definition of ‘ahead,’” said Gorm. “I prefer to define words in ways that suit me,” said Heraldin.”

Man, this is a great book. And, five minutes into reading it, I understood all the love for it. It was the SPFBO4 winner, and now I can see why. The relationships, the story, and the allegory to everyday economics are so cleverly done that they might go under people’s radar. I didn’t figure out half of them until I sat down to write this review. It all started to come together, and I realized how creative Pike is. The book was funny, and heartfelt which, in the face of some pretty hard plot ideas, is important and kept the tone light. Had he not done that, this book might be too depressing to read. But, as it stands, it is a perfect balance. I am a fan of this book, obviously, and will be jumping into the next book, Son of a Liche, as soon as possible.

It is a worth it read, so check it out.

Read Orconomics by J. Zachary Pike

 

 

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