Gilbert M. Stack's Blog, page 67

Review: Turning Points in Middle Eastern History by Eamon Gearon

Turning Points in Middle Eastern History by Eamon Gearon

Let’s be clear about this—this collection of lectures is both well written and very interesting, but it also seems to be misnamed. First off, it begins with Mohammad and focuses very much on the growth of Islam as a political (and religious) force. Nothing that happens before Mohammad is even mentioned. It also covers events that happen in North Africa, Spain, the Balkans and Eastern Europe, areas that we do not classically think of as the Middle East. This led me to think that what Gearon was really writing was a history of Islam, but it’s not truly that either as it doesn’t cover important events that brought Islam further around the globe.

 

The focus is also very heavily on the Middle Ages, and as such I thought was very light on the twentieth century. I would have liked to see an analysis of the ousting of the Shah of Iran and the resulting Hostage Crisis and radicalization of that country. The two Persian Gulf Wars also would have made interesting material. And I could go on. So this is a highly informative book about Islam in the Middle East, North Africa, and neighboring regions that would seriously benefit from an addendum that covers the region since World War I. This was a great start, but I feel it ended prematurely.

 

Review: The Ambassador by Graham McNeill

The Ambassador by Graham McNeill

This novel has the best cover of any Warhammer book I have ever seen—a truly beautiful painting—and the prose inside measures up to the outstanding image. Kaspar is a fifty-four-year old widower who thought he had put his campaigning days behind him when his emperor asked him to become his ambassador to Kislev to help them prepare for a coming war with the hordes of chaos. This novel focuses on the preparations for that war—all of which are complicated by the disastrous tenure of Kaspar’s corrupt predecessor. The imperial troops are not just years out of training, they are starving because the voluminous supplies sent by the empire have all gone astray. The egos of the average Kislevite make it difficult to get anything done. And, of course, there are the traitors found in every corner of the world of Warhammer—men and women who have sold their souls to chaos and are secretly working to bring the defenders of the realm down.

 

Yet important as all of this is, it is not the heart of the novel—that revolves around the mysterious butcherman—a horrifying serial killer who eats his foes and who appears to have a sick fascination with Kaspar. Finding out who the butcherman is and stopping him becomes a critical storyline—even as the chaos horde grows closer.

 

Review: Deadly Seeds by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

Destroyer 21 Deadly Seeds by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

The secret organization CURE has been at work trying to save the American government from crime and corruption for twenty books now and in this novel we learn that their greatest feat was bringing down Richard Nixon in the Watergate scandal. Apparently, Nixon’s activities were not unusual for sitting presidents, but thanks to CURE, his crimes were exposed and hopefully no future president will do it again.

 

But that is what you might call the routine work that CURE carries out. Remo and Chiun are only brought in for emergencies and this time the crisis involves a threat to the world’s food supply. Mentally, Remo has never been the sharpest knife in the drawer, and this time that causes serious problems. Remo mistakenly believes that the bad guy is the good guy and starts helping him out of his desire to “do some good”. As if that isn’t bad enough, other bad guys hire a bunch of ninjas to go after Remo and Chiun. Many times Chiun has bragged that Sinanju is the “sun source” of all the martial arts and that none of the others can stand against it. In this book, he’s going to get the chance to prove it.

 

Review: Smoke and Mirrors by Craig Halloran

Smoke and Mirrors by Craig Halloran (Supernatural Bounty Hunter 5)

Lots of different monsters fill the pages of the fifth book in the Supernatural Bounty Hunter series, as did several surprises—not the least of which is that the Drake Corporation would like to recruit Sydney to work for them. This twist, corrupting their most dangerous adversaries, was a good one as we have run into corrupted agents before and this helped to explain how that happened. There are also growing troubles at the FBI as what looks to me to be more Drake Corporation influence affecting the agency that is supposed to be bringing them down. Overall, this is probably the best book since the first one thanks to the surprises and the wider variety of threats. I’m looking forward to seeing what Smoke and Sydney do next.

 

Review: Funny Money by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

Destroyer 18 Funny Money by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

Funny Money introduces one of the Destroyer’s best recurring villains—the survival-oriented machine called Mr. Gordons, and with it places the series’ feet another step further into the realm of science fiction. The problem initially confronting Remo, Chiun, and Smith is a perfectly counterfeited $50 bill being produced in vast quantities and threatening the entire U.S. economy, but it’s the brain behind the counterfeiting that is the real danger—one that even puts fear into the heart of the Master of Sinanju. This is a good story in its own right, but particularly important as the first appearance of Mr. Gordons.

 

Review: Last War Dance by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

Destroyer 17 Last War Dance by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

Sometimes a Destroyer novel works because of the introduction of a fascinating problem. That’s the case in this book. Back in the early 1960s, the U.S. developed a doomsday nuclear weapon to frighten the Soviets out of launching a first strike. As long as the weapon’s location is secret, it deters the Soviets. If its location is ever revealed, however, there is the possibility that the Soviets could turn the weapon back on America destroying much of North America. A decade has passed and the weapon, hidden beneath a memorial marking a massacre of native Americans by the U.S. army, is in danger of being revealed due to protestors planning to destroy the memorial.

 

That’s the problem confronting CURE—how to deactivate the weapon without the Soviets ever figuring out that it is really there. To complicate matters, Remo and Chiun also have to deal with the protestors (a ridiculous parody that really didn’t work that well). Weaknesses aside, the eventual resolution of the problem was sheer genius.

 

Review: Oil Slick by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

Destroyer 16 Oil Slick by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

The thing that stood out most strongly to me in this novel was that I liked the nominal villain. He’s a colonel who has managed a successful coup in his fictional country, driving out a hereditary monarch, and is now trying to make life better for his people. Unfortunately, the oil companies, the industrialized nations, and even his own subordinates and people appear determined to frustrate him at every point. So nothing is changing despite his honest efforts to provide good government. As if that isn’t bad enough, he has also unintentionally run afoul of Sinanju. It seems that there is an ancient legend that Sinanju would protect the latest descendent of the ousted monarchy, and Chiun, is determined to uphold Sinanju’s end of the bargain. But even that is not the real problem, because Chiun’s original student, Nuihc, also knows the legend and is determined to use it to destroy Remo and Chiun.

 

This novel has all the usual satirical fun of the Destroyer series, plus plenty of action, and a very interesting conflict over who will be reigning master of Sinanju. I liked it a lot.

 

Review: Murder Ward by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

Destroyer 15 Murder Ward by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

Doctors as murderers—it’s a highly disturbing concept. When people go into a hospital for surgery, they need to believe that the doctors and nurses are wholly committed to helping them recover their health. But in this Destroyer novel, a couple of those key personnel are turning a profit by making certain their victims (I mean their patients) never recover consciousness. It’s a chilling premise at the root of another enjoyable tale by Murphy and Sapir.

 

Two other things add substantially to the enjoyment of this novel. The first is the continued focus on Remo’s remarkable skills that include mental training as well as physical adeptness. Remo isn’t just good at killing people, he recognizes how others go about their shared trade and knows their weaknesses. In addition, the ongoing interactions between Chiun and Remo are especially well displayed in this novel—especially Chiun’s usually concealed caring for his pupil. It also doesn’t hurt that the resolution of this novel depends upon the superhuman mastery of the body that masters of Sinanju attain—and so reinforces just how different Remo and Chiun are from other humans.

 

Review: Madwand by Roger Zelazny

Madwand by Roger Zelazny

The sequel to Changeling was not as sharp a novel as the first, and might explain why a third book did not come in what was clearly intended to be a new series by Zelazny. I think that in part the book was less successful because it lacked both the clear opposing lines of the first book—magic versus technology—and the underlying feeling of tragedy that developed out of the certainty that the two antagonists should have been friends.

 

Instead, what we get is a mystery. Someone is trying to kill Pol for unknown reasons. And a mysterious figure is trying to help Pol, but his unwillingness to explain why makes the reader suspect that he is not really a friend. There is plenty of moral hypocrisy in this novel as supposedly white magicians engage in evil actions. The central problem appears to be that everyone assumes Pol must be evil because they believe his father was and apparently blood runs true. Yet, they all forget that it was Pol’s grandfather who defeated his father, and he was not evil. There are further examples of blood not running true in the story as well.

 

Perhaps the biggest weakness of the story is that too many characters have the sarcastic personality that Zelazny often gives to his heroes, which makes multiple people in the book appear to be the same. The best things about the novel are the beautiful illustrations—and that’s not a good thing to note about a medium that depends on the written word.

 

Review: Judgment Day by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

Destroyer 14 Judgment Day by Warren Murphy and Richard Sapir

The fourteenth Destroyer novel should have been called Hostile Takeover and this one is all Harold Smith’s show. Smith has been a fairly two-dimensional supporting cast member for the first thirteen books. He’s the elderly, budget conscious, patriotic head of CURE who apparently has no imagination and no personal ambition other than to do his job to the best of his ability. He carries a poison pill with him at all times, prepared to commit suicide to protect the secret of CURE. But in this volume, the bad guys have figured out the kind of information CURE tracks and they kidnap Smith and torture out of him the info they need to step in and take over. Unfortunately for them, they forget to actually kill Smith and that oversight leads to one of the best Destroyer novels, because Smith is not about to leave CURE in enemy hands. Murphy and Sapir finally bring the head of CURE fully to life and leave only the question of why they waited so long to do so. Fans of the series will not want to miss this book.