Dorkgasm - Book Review

Hunting Memories | Book Review

ScarletK — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 08:03:56 +0000

All the Blood, None of the Shimmer
By
Cheryl Kobs
Staff Writer

With the recent surge in vampire fiction lately it is hard to know what titles are actually going to be worth it and which ones should be placed in the circular file with all of their shimmery goodness. Barb Hendee’s Hunting Memories is one of those stories I can actually encourage you to take the time to read. Not only because it is a far superior work to some of the vampire work (coughtwilightcough) out there, but because it is innovative and fun all on it’s own.

The story revolves around the idea that vampires all have telepathic abilities which they use to feed on humans with out killing them, altering the victims memory so it seems they somehow fell, got mugged, or otherwise sustained trauma that explains their injuries. However, when Julian Ashton is ‘made’ he does not have this ability and he’s forced to kill humans in order feed. The elders decide that this cannot go on so he must be destroyed. Julian’s reaction is to kill every vampire he encounters with even a hint of psychic powers. Vampires throughout the world are pushed even further into hiding for fear he may show up at their door ready to kill.

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Eliesha Clevon is one of these hidden undead. After a close call with Julian, apparently in the previous book of the series, Eliesha decides to create a sanctuary from Julian in an old church in Portland, Oregon. She is accompanied in this endeavor by her conflicted vampire boyfriend Phillip, a human telepath Wade, another vampire named Rose and Rose’s nephew who has been unable to leave her side since his death. The characters are very complex but not overly sentimental or dreary. There are even exceptionally funny moments, like when Phillip begins to freak out because he discovers that his long hair makes him look like an 80’s rocker and no one told him he was out of touch.

Yes, they are all worried about the inevitable fight with Julian but they worry about other things as well. The author does a wonderful job making every vampire very distinct from the other in looks, mannerisms, and even their personal reactions to hunting humans. The inclusion of ghosts in the story is interesting to me because I have never seen the combination of the two so skillfully presented, but it makes sense that in a world where there are vampires that there would be ghosts. One of these ghosts is a teenage girl that Julian calls back from limbo in order to use her as a spy. He specifically searched through newspapers for a suicide that was “just trying to get mommy and daddy’s attention but didn’t anticipate they wouldn’t come rushing to her aid”. He reasons that such a suicide could only result from a superficial attention whore who will thus be easier to order around.

Needless to say, the book is for mature audiences and doesn’t pander to a younger group of readers just to make more money. There are some gruesome murders, a few nice intimate scenes, and no one fucking shimmers. It is truly enjoyable to read and rather addictive. You want to know what is going to happen to the characters next and I think that is always an earmark of a good book. So, if you have a taste for blood with an enjoyable story, pick this up. Hunting Memories is certainly worth your time.

Final Verdict (out of 5):

Quatrain | Book Review

ScarletK — Sun, 10 Jan 2010 05:55:30 +0000

The Emperess’s New Clothes
By
Cheryl Kobs
Staff Writer

Sharon Shinn’s Quatrain is a series of four novellas all in one book based on worlds she previously created. The first of these novellas is Flight. It takes place in a realm ruled not by kings, but by angels; and not nice, sweet seraphim either. These are asshole angels. The angels are more like frat boys that blow through women as if they are matches, leaving them abandoned and broken. The main goal of any women in this book is to have an angel baby at any cost, even though the fathers are total jerks and most angel births end in the mother dying. The main plot revolves around a 40-year-old woman named Salome, who, in her youth, had been a relentless angel seeker. She’s pretty comparable to a gold digger I suppose. She is trying to keep her niece from that life while she still dreams about the one love she had in the angel named Stephen. All very tragic and romantic, to be sure.

The next story, Blood, follows the tale of Kerk as he tries to find the mother who let him 15 years before. He ends up receiving help from an indigo woman; the indigo being a race he has been raised to hate. Yes, it’s as clichéd as it sounds. The third story, Gold, is about a princess who escapes the war that is ravaging her country by hiding with the allora, a fairylike race. Of course, the longer she stays with them, the more of her own world she begins to forget. No way in a million years could we have seen that coming, right? The final novella, Flame, is a transparent witch-hunt story. When Senneth, a mystic, has to use her magical powers to save a little girl, she reveals herself to the public, which, to say the least, is a bit displeased.

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Each of the stories has a touch of fantasy and sounds like it has an interesting premise, but the overwhelmingly sentimental nature of the writing leaves a nasty taste in your mouth. I mean, I can watch Pride and Prejudice and The Notebook back-to-back with out any problem, but this just reeks like a Lifetime special. Lost loves, abandoned children, losing memories and so on just take the fantasy element right out of the picture. The characters all have very complex backgrounds, but still come across as exceptionally shallow. The “writing craft” aspects of the book are great and Shinn is very descriptive, but I have an issue with lines like “ I love you so much it hurts my heart.” No joke, it’s the last line on page 55.

There was just too much soap opera sentimentality in this book. If you like Joanna Lindsey then this book, and possibly other Sharon Shinn works, are for you, but I prefer stories that actually have some meaning and substance to them. We often read fantasy books in order to enjoy a world that is believably different from our own without being so foreign as to be unrelatable. Allegory is often there if we look for it, but the charm of fantasy is that the author can remove the daily troubles of the real world and hide them skillfully in great images of fancy. Shinn attempts to create worlds that are different only in setting, skin tone, or other superficial ways. I don’t really know what I would do if an angel showed up at my house or I ran into someone with blue skin, but these aspects of her novellas seemed plainly unimportant to her except that it gave her a reason to get creative with her descriptive prose.. The characters are still extremely shallow, and the plots entirely too transparent, which bothered me a lot. I don’t think I could in good conscience recommend Quatrain to anyone I know who wasn’t looking for another bland romance novel wearing new clothes.

Final Verdict (out of 5):

At Empire's Edge by William C. Dietz | Book Review

MRiedlinger — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:47:03 +0000

Built in a Day
By
Michael C. Riedlinger
Editor-In-Chief

The problem with modern science fiction is that it often tries too had to draw attention to the cool science fiction bits that land it within that genre. The best science fiction plays it closer to the chest and lets us slide into the suspension of disbelief that our minds so want to fight against when we start reading about laser pistols and faster-than-light travel. We want to believe, but in order for us to do that, an author must believe in his world as much as he wants his audience to believe it. William C. Dietz accomplishes that very well with his latest novel, At Empire’s Edge.

Forget that Jak Cato is a member of the Xeno Corps stranded on a planet in the furthest reaches of a space empire. Forget that Usurlus is a diplomat of that Roman-style empire trying to uncover corruption. Especially forget that Verafti is a shape shifting, flesh-eating sentient lizard. This book, at it’s core, is about a cop, a killer, and an assassination plot. The sci-fi elements serve the story, and Dietz is a long time vet of the genre, so it comes easily to him.

From the get go, the book is like Dirty Harry in space. Cato is a renegade cop who sometimes steps over the line, though usually for the right reasons. When his prisoner escapes on the planet of Dantha, he does what all renegade cops do in that situation: whatever he has to in order to set things right. He doesn’t care about politics, but we do, because Dietz keeps it interesting by showing us how deeply corrupt this world is. From the top down, all of the power players are dirtier than movie versions of the L.A.P.D. The pieces of the plot come together surprisingly well, but only because Dietz keeps it simple.

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Image copyright Penguin Publishing Group

Some writers are masters of political intrigue, but Dietz isn’t one of them. It is fortuitous then that he uses the political moments to simply move his plot forward. Yes, many of the players are all shallow caricatures – the corrupt police chief, the brutal majordomo, and the politician plotting to be a tyrant – but the story dominates the landscape so well, you hardly care. The xenobiological landscape of the novel is richer, with winged Lir competing for face time with human-like Umans and a villainous Sagatha shape-shifter. Any avid reader of science fiction should feel right at home in Dietz’s world, but the story isn’t so far fetched as to be inaccessible to new readers.

While not a modern classic, At Empire’s Edge is still a good read. The political bits, decorated in Roman nuances, left me wanting more, but the action and intrigue were interesting enough on their own. It should also be noted that this is the first of a two book series, and that I’m looking forward to Dietz fleshing out some of his characters in the next installment. The more Dietz concentrates on his own ideas, instead of properties like the Halo series, the better he will get. In the meantime, the bad-ass cop genre works well in sci-fi, even if the accompanying politics are flimsier than a toga.

Final Verdict (out of 5):

On the Edge by Ilona Andrews | Book Review

JSobczak — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 06:12:05 +0000

A Light in the Dark
By
Jenny Sobczak
Staff Writer

Think Twilight, then subtract the vampires, insert a couple hundred supernatural hounds and various forms of magic, and make the writing five times better. Throw in a Voldemort-like antagonist and you’ve got yourself On the Edge by Ilona Andrews. Taking place in three different realms, the novel follows Rose Drayton and her two brothers, Jack and Georgie, as intruders shake up their lives. Declan and Casshorn, the intruders, both come from the Weird, the magical realm. As a contrast, Rose and her brothers live in the Edge, which lies between the Weird and the mortal realm of the Broken. But, despite the comparison to Twilight, this book is well written and has a much darker and more interesting plot.

The most striking similarities to Twilight are the female narrator and the insane descriptions of Declan. Not only does he have almost ten titles, Andrews is always describing him as overwhelmingly handsome. It reminded me immediately of how Robert Pattinson reiterated Stephenie Meyers’ descriptions of Edward Cullen in her books. All male protagonists have to be so sexy that the female protagonist just wets herself whenever they see each other. The main difference here is that Rose Drayton is a better character than Bella Swan. She’s written better, for one. She is a strong character who can hold her own and doesn’t trip over dust particles.

On the Edge is dark, but it isn’t without its humor. The banter between Rose and Declan is often sufficiently amusing, especially in the latter chapters when the main plot is darkest. Their interactions have a gradual arc; instead of forming an immediate obsession with each other, Rose starts out wanting nothing to do with Declan. Another amusing character is that of Elsie Moore, an obviously senile old lady who has tea parties with her teddy bears. Not only are her bears named after celebrities, but her interactions with and reactions to Declan are also arguably the funniest part of the novel. I only wish we saw more of her.

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Image copyright Penguin Publishing Group

The action is well written and remains consistent. Andrews doesn’t back out of the violent and gruesome parts of her novels, and she doesn’t water it down for her readers. In fact, one of the only downsides to this novel is that the plot drags in the middle. It moves rather slowly due to unresolved plot holes from the beginning, one of which involves a character that seems entirely unnecessary until the novel is more than halfway over. These issues made it easy to put the book down. In fact, it wasn’t until I was about ¾ of the way through that I really got into it. By then, however, I had to finish it because it had finally sucked me in, and the plot holes of the middle had been resolved and explained sufficiently.

Andrews’ novel is an entertaining piece of science-fiction romance, with a good mix of magical elements from opposing sides of the spectrum and characterization. The plot is driven both by character’s interactions and the evil forces that grip the characters’ lives, and neither aspect overpowers the other. Plenty of twists and turns along the way hold the reader’s attention, even if the plot does drag a bit in the middle. Andrews’ characters and creations all vary from repulsive to hysterical, with a bit of everything in between as well. None of them are unnecessary, even though it may seem that way for a short while. And though the ending is a slight cliffhanger, it gives us enough to satisfy our expectations and even leaves room for a possible sequel, should the author choose to write one.

Final Verdict (out of 5):

Vigilante by Laura Reeve | Book Review

Trevor Curtis — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 05:56:37 +0000

John McClain’s ancestors in: Die Hard 23
By
Trevor Curtis
Staff Writer

Military SF usually falls into two categories: those trying rewrite Heinlein novels, or those trying to bore us to death with the technical details of their spacecraft (see David Weber). Thankfully, Vigilante by Laura Reeve falls into neither category.

Vigilante is the second in a series, the first being called Peacekeeper. It’s set in a universe where humans have reached the stars, using something called an N-space drive. Their only interaction with aliens seems to be with a race called the Minoans, apparently called that due to their resemblance to the Minotaur of Greek legend. The Minoans have a series of buoys they use to navigate N-space, and tend to treat humans like their inferiors. Humanity is divided between the Consortium of Autonomous Worlds and the Terran Expansion League, apparently over who should pay for cleaning up Earth after the Yellowstone volcano finally goes boom.

Our hero, Ariane Kedros, is a hard-bitten pilot, formerly of the Consortium, but still working intelligence for them. She’s haunted by her actions during the last war, when she completed a mission using what’s called a Temporal Displacement weapon, wiping out an entire star system. Because this still haunts her, she’s pretty much a functioning alcoholic. Apparently in the first book, she was tortured by Terrans, and forced to give up some mining rights.

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Image copyright Penguin Publishing Group

The book starts with the heroine going to a system called G-145, where ancient alien ruins have been discovered. Unbeknownst to Ariane, a group of fanatics have stolen a TD weapon and are planning to blow up one of the Minoan buoys, effectively isolating the system, and wiping out the inhabitants. Complicating matters for Ariane is the arrival of the Terran prince who tortured her in the last book, the fact she has an illegal AI on her ship, and said prince has not kept his word about keeping her identity secret. So, needless to say, she’s got a lot of problems to solve before books end.

I enjoyed this book. Ariane is a nice change from the usual over-achieving heroines of most SF. It was nice to see someone screwed up and haunted take the center stage. Also, Reeve has set up an interesting universe, one I’d like to see more of. I really liked the sense that Ariane is a regular lady who keeps finding herself in the wrong place at the wrong time. The Minoans are interesting, if a little overused as deus ex machina at times. I also think that the author’s background in treaty negotiations and the military added a sense of authenticity to many scenes.

Now, there were some negatives. Like a lot of hard SF, this book took a little while to get into. A little more background in the beginning would have helped a lot, as this was the second in a series. Also, the villains were a little too stock, and were pretty much the space version of Wahabi fundamentalist Muslims. A little more humanity to them and a little less rhetoric would have been welcome.

That said, Vigilante is a great gritty adventure, so much so that you can almost feel the dirt coming off the pages. It manages to come across as a mix of noir and SF genres, and seems to mirror our times, which is something the best fiction accomplishes.

Final Verdict (out of 5):

With Forever War being a 5, and any of Weber’s space battle scenes being a 1

Xombies: Apocalypse Blues | Book Review

kenneth.holm — Wed, 30 Sep 2009 03:55:02 +0000

28 Days Later, The Hunt For The Xombie Lord of The Flies Continues...

A review of Xombies: Apocalypse Blues

(Previously published as Xombies)

A novel by Walter Greatshell

Review by Kenneth Holm

Senior Staff Writer

Okay, I will admit it. When I picked this book up, I thought it was something different. When I saw “Xombie”, I immediately thought of James Farr's online animation epic / comic book Xombie, but I was mistaken. No, this is something completely different. Oddly enough though, this was not my first time reading it... Back in 2004, Xombies: Apocalypse Blues was originally published as a book simply called Xombies. The cover featured a cool looking creature... thing and that was what drew me in. I finished the book and went about my life. Now that the sequel is somewhat close at hand, Ace has decided to re-release it to the masses to get the blood pumping for its future installments.

Xombies: Apocalypse Blues follows the story of Louise “Lulu” Pangloss. Lulu suffers from chromosomal primary amenorrhea, which can be described in layman terms as complete lack of menstruation. Although she is seventeen years old, her body seems to have arrested at around twelves years of age. She and her mother are on a hunt for the man that is supposedly Lulu's father. However, as anyone should have known, disaster strikes and a biological virus codenamed “Agent X” is released onto an unsuspecting populace. The virus turns people into cyanotic, rage-driven nightmares reminiscent of the anger beasts from 28 Days Later. It also begins its deadly life in women of a certain cycle, slowly spreading to others nearby. Oddly enough, the Xombies seem like supporting players most of the time, leaving the majority of the drama to be handled by the human survivors and the evil that man (or woman) can and will do to each other. Lulu and her mother run to find shelter and escape the blue tinged hoards, but run out of room to move quickly. Lulu is rescued by a man named Fred Cowper, who just happens to be the man who might be her father. Unfortunately, her mother is not so lucky. Lulu and Fred quickly try to make the best of a bad situation and head out of town to a place where Fred believes that salvation is imminent.

When they arrive at their destination, Lulu is beginning to think that Fred is something more than he appears. The military installation they flee to treats him with familiarity and he knows more than any average citizen should. She also notices that because she is female, she is considered to be highly suspect even in the best of times. There is a submarine which will be leaving the mainland soon, and Fred is determined that they will be on it. However, Xombies (so named because of the “X” in Agent X) have a way of making things run less than smoothly and things quickly go from bad to absolutely horrible. Along the way, the sub and her crew encounter a possibly abandoned cruise liner, a Xombie outbreak on board, a globally reaching conspiracy, and Greenland.

So after all of these seemingly disparate elements, is the book any good? Before I tell you that, let me expound on the title of my review. This book has elements of 28 Days Later, The Hunt For Red October, and The Lord Of The Flies thrown in together with elements from George A Romero's Dead films and just a pinch of satire at times. The story moves briskly without going too fast and the main characters are easy to relate to. Overall, I would recommend that you should check this book out. There is enough here to keep both genre fans and newcomers interested. Besides, how are you going to know what is going on in Xombies: Apocalypticon (Coming March 2010) if you miss this? Check this book out and lose yourself in a stellar mythology.

Pride and Pejudice and Zombies | Book Review

JSobczak — Tue, 15 Sep 2009 00:04:00 +0000

Photo-Chop
By
Jenny Sobczak
Staff Writer

It isn’t impossible to create a good adaptation of a Jane Austen novel, whether on paper or on screen. The Jane Austen Book Club had its moments, and Lost in Austen was very imaginative and entertaining. So why, on the literary front, has Seth Grahame-Smith failed miserably with his own attempt? Pride and Prejudice and Zombies looked like it was going to be a good read. Jane Austen and zombies are two brilliant elements separately, so why not mix them together and make for something insanely awesome? Apparently, they should be kept apart, or the task should be undertaken by someone who can execute it properly.

The problem with this novel is that it reads like a bad Photoshop job. The zombie story is just cut and pasted on over Austen’s original plot, and neither lends itself to the other. There is way too much going on to concentrate on all of it properly without spanning 500 pages. Instead of attempting to meld the two ideas in an original way, Grahame-Smith takes the easy way out. The majority of the zombie changes come in the form of simply transposing locations in England to locations in Asia. Governesses become ninjas, and the “town” that Mr. Bennet disdains transforms into his dislike for Japan and preference for China.

To further add to the disaster of this book is the fact that Austen’s wit is gone, replaced with jokes about bodily functions and innuendos that do not fit the Romantic Era setting. Sure, it may be a zombie story, but as someone who read this book as an Austen fan more than a zombie fan, I’ve got to say it doesn’t fit with the time period. Just because there are zombies attacking Georgian England doesn’t mean the Bennet sisters have to dwell on the genitalia of our two leading men. The bodily functions are somewhat more understandable, though they are extremely overdone. Characters vomit almost every two chapters.

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As if these issues weren’t enough, he screwed with two of the novel’s minor characters. In fact, he screws with most of the minor characters. Mr. Wickham is far more unsympathetic in this novel than in Austen’s original, due to the fact that Grahame-Smith decided he needed to make him physically abusive as well. Mr. Collins simply becomes a fat blob who knows almost nothing. These changes, especially the one involving Mr. Collins, do not effect the general plot, and they don’t make it any more or less of a zombie novel. Collins was comedic relief in Austen, and Grahame-Smith takes all of that away with a litany of mindless fat jokes.

Then, just as expected, he infects one of the lesser characters with the zombie plague. This isn’t so much a problem, but the execution is sloppy. Without trying to spoil too much, the author seemed incapable of explain the zombie disease without infecting one character. In order for the reader to get a complete sense of it, the rest of the characters seem oblivious, and that aspect simply doesn’t make sense. The author does attempt to explain why only one character noticed that the transformation was under way, but this is so far removed from the infection that it hardly matters anymore.

I only have one comment to Seth Grahame-Smith, and that comes in the form of a warning to stay away from the rest of Austen’s novels. If zombies existed in our world, I’m sure Jane Austen would rise from the dead and revenge herself on Mr. Grahame-Smith. I sure hope I don’t see Mansfield Park and Frankenstein on the market any time soon.

Final Verdict (out of 5):

Turn Coat - A Book of the Dresden Files | Book Reviews

MRiedlinger — Mon, 23 Mar 2009 17:37:26 +0000

The Wizard Who Shot Liberty Valance
By
Michael C. Riedlinger
Editor-In-Chief

Jim Butcher has been at this a while. His star character, Harry Dresden, has been running around Chicago solving mysteries on television, in comics, and in the flagship book series for almost a decade now. Over the course of the first ten books, Butcher has developed his entire cast, not just Dresden, and given readers a solid whodunit every time. In the background of each novel in the series is a grand metaplot, however, just as full of intrigue and mystery as each novel, but each installment so far has offered only a snippet of what was going on. Until now.

Almost as a reward for reading those first ten volumes, Butcher’s latest Dresden novel, Turn Coat, finally coughs up some answers, sort of. The main plot of this novel revolves around a traditional murder mystery/ frame-job. Harry’s long-time Nemesis, the Warden Morgan, winds up at his doorstep battered and professing innocence to a crime Harry hasn’t been informed of yet. As happens with Harry Dresden, everything goes south with a quickness. Be warned folks, here there be spoilers.

After picking up medical supplies for the fallen Morgan, Harry is attacked by a Native American Skinwalker. The monster is the stuff of legend, and kills one of Harry’s long-time allies. It is immediately apparent that Harry is more outmatched than ever, and that someone behind the scenes is pulling out the big guns to keep a secret. That secret is plainly the identity of the traitor on the Wizard White Council, a fact we’ve been building up to for a while. Of course, no one wants to believe it because the easier answer is, well, easier. In the words of Maxwell Scott, “When the legend becomes fact, print the legend”. The world wants to cover it up, damn Morgan, and build trust and peace on the fact that the killer was caught and punished so quickly, even if it means killing an innocent man.

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Image copyright Roc Publishing

That said, Harry is a stickler for the truth, no matter how damning it may be. He figures out the clues, tracks down the baddies, and sets up a final showdown on a mysterious island. Butcher has managed to grow as a writer over the course of this series, and as such, there are no easy answers or solutions in this novel, but there are resolutions. Often, when dealing with metaplot concerns, much of the subtlety a writer has goes to the curb. Not so with the true masters, and Jim Butcher is a true master of his craft. The secrets flow (like why the White Council didn’t like his mom), and we find resolutions to story concerns dating all the way back to the first book, Storm Front. Morgan, the Werewolves, and even Toot, all get updates and develop as characters. Oh, there is plenty of new mystery and action in Turn Coat, to be sure, but it is all in service to a larger story.

That isn’t to say that readers new to the series won’t find something to latch on to. Butcher’s wit is as sharp as ever, and the last two hundred pages had me reading until dawn. Butcher’s talent is such that he had me wrapped around his finger, racing to see how the mess turned out, and disrupted my expectations flawlessly every time I thought I knew enough to solve the crime. Butcher’s references to other pop-culture elements are so smooth, it feels like he wrote them first. In one magical duel, two heavy hitters have a shape-changing war that simultaneously feels viscerally dangerous while reminding us of childhood loves like Disney’s Sword in the Stone.

The funny thing about this novel is that it is only the halfway point in the series. Butcher has promised some twenty-odd books. Yet, this feels so self-contained, I have no qualms recommending it to first time readers of the series. Turn Coat is a complete work of fiction unto itself, much like The Hobbit, in that it is utterly enjoyable without knowing the rest of the author’s works. Sure, there’s a lot more to this book when a reader has all the other information, but without it, this volume is still a treat to read.

Final Verdict (out of 5):

Grotesque | Book Review

kenneth.holm — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 02:54:04 +0000

The True Nature of the Monster A Review of Grotesque By Natsuo Kirino Translated by Rebecca Copeland Review by Kenneth Holm Senior Staff Writer When I first picked up Grotesque from my local library, I had no clue that I even wanted it. Truly, my wife decided that it looked like something I would like to read. I had never heard of the author, and by reading the dust jacket I thought that I was in for a slightly more feminist retread of any of the Ringu series by Koji Suzuki. As usual, if I would just calm down a little bit and think, I would not have these botched first impressions. This book is about jealousy, power, sexuality, and cultural differences. This review is about misconceptions and how they almost forced me to stop reading one of the most satisfying books I have read in a long time. The book begins with two sisters, as everything worth reading or watching usually does. The first sister, who remains unnamed throughout the book, is rather unremarkable in her looks and stature. She goes through life hating her sister Yuriko because she is “heart-stoppingly” beautiful. It is the typical story of sisters who have been pitted against each other since birth. Yuriko's elder sister has no looks, but is the brains of the family, while Yuriko is beautiful, but dumber than a bag of hammers. While Yuriko goes through life charming everyone she meets, her sister grows increasingly upset that no one can see Yuriko for the monster she is. It was at this point that I almost put the book down. It quickly became apparent to me that this book was not a Ringu or Ju-On riff, and I wanted nothing more to do with it. However, a nagging little voice in the back of my head told me to keep going, that I would not be disappointed. This next part I can tell you with full confidence that I will not spoil the story. Many years down the road, Yuriko has become an old, dried out prostitute. An illegal immigrant who is now going on trial for his crimes has murdered both her and a friend from school, another prostitute. Now, this is where the story really gets good. Kirino combines equal parts film noir, feminist literature, and good old-fashioned storytelling to get to the end of the case. Right from the start, we know who did it. Well, kind of. However, getting there is half the fun. The story consists of four different narratives, which are each more interesting than the last. With Yuriko's older sister narrating, we see the lives of Yuriko, fellow prostitute Kazue, and would-be murderer Zhang. Like Rashoman before it, each narrative unfolds slightly differently so you can never tell the truth of the matter. Just like Kurosawa's masterpiece, the truth itself does not matter, as it is in the eye of the beholder. What matters is the believability of the subject at hand, which Ms. Kirino excels at amazingly. Her rendering of a Japan not everyone sees is amazing. The dilapidated housing, love hotels, and the sordid circumstances that would drive an intelligent and competent woman to sell her body spun around wildly in my head even after I finished the book. I think the most complimentary thing I can say about this book is that it struck a chord with me. It is not that easy to do so, so when it happens, I am usually duly impressed. This book's fifth main character is loneliness. The kind of loneliness that most people around the world can identify with. Whether you come from money or from the gutter, loneliness is one of the most recognizable feelings in the world, and it plays a big part. From the elder sister who feels overshadowed by her younger sister, to the younger sister who cannot feel love but only wants sex, each character deals with their feelings of having been cast off by a society that does not like them, let alone love them. If this is something that you can deal with, I strongly suggest you pick up Grotesque and read it for yourself. Like me, you may be overcome with a voice telling you to put the book down, but I say roll with it. You may just stumble into another world. A world where even all the lights of the Shibuya Terminal cannot light up the lives of many.

Small Favor: A Novel of the Dresden Files | Book Review

MRiedlinger — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 02:55:10 +0000

Phenomenal Cosmic Powers, Itty Bitty Living Space
By
Michael C. Riedlinger
Editor-In-Chief

If you aren’t familiar with The Dresden Files by now, maybe you have been living under a rock. Between a short-lived SCI-FI CHANNEL series, a graphic novel adaptation by industry licensing mavens The Dabble Brothers, and a forthcoming RPG, it is hard to ignore Jim Butcher’s ne’er-do-well wizard for hire. This newest installment in the series, Small Favor is a prime example of why Harry Blackstone Copperfield Dresden is at the top of his popularity with no signs of letting up. For those rock-dwellers out there, here’s a primer. Harry Dresden is the only wizard in the Chicago phonebook. Through the course of the last nine books, he has befriended fairies, werewolves, and cops; fought off demons, fairies, and vampires, and generally been a pain in the ass to wizards everywhere. Jim Butcher writes him as a regular guy who just happens to have amazing powers, and if you’re a sci-fi/fantasy/pop-culture dork, you and Harry will get along just fine. In fact, part of the power of this series is that Butcher’s frequent references to everything from John Carpenter films to the Chicago weather keep the story grounded in something we can all identify with easily. The real world setting makes his hero “one of the guys” and Small Favor is no exception.

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See, this time around Harry is brought in to investigate the disappearance of Johnny Marcone, local mobster and Baron-cum-lately of the Unseelie Accords. The powers that be don’t like that he’s been snatched and the Queen of Winter, Mab, has agreed to wipe a favor owed off of Dresden’s tab if he finds the Mafioso. Not really having a choice in the matter, Dresden starts looking, but crosses paths with an assortment of beasties, new and old, along the way. The Knights of the Blackened Denarius make a return here, and Nicodemus is as evil as ever. I especially got a kick out of Dresden’s inner comment that the guy should really look into the Evil Overlord List (eviloverlord.com), because it shows that Butcher is aware that his villain carries a sense of the cliché about him. He is, after all, a 2000-year-old demon. Without getting too far into spoiler territory, Dresden has to deal with crappy weather (remember the winter we just survived? Yeah, that weather) and a constant barrage of attacks from Nicodemus’ crew in order to figure out what the Denarians are after, save Marcone, and probably the rest of the world while he’s at it. Especially keen in this installment were the scenes where Harry starts to realize what is really at stake in this fight. His relationships with Michael Carpenter, Lieutenant Murphy, Ivy, and Captain Luccio all develop further in this novel, and it really seems to be about those connections in the end. Harry has family now. He has people he really loves and trusts. Sure, his brother has been there for a while and he and the others have been close, but it seems that Harry finally realizes what the readers have for a while now. Greater still, Butcher wastes no time getting to the meat of his story and he never wanders into the land of over-sentimentality. His balance of humor, horror, and action is truly masterful here and Small Favor is a gripping novel from start to finish. Not once did my faith in the series falter, as Butcher manages to give us new clues to the Dresden meta-plot, answer some lingering questions from past novels, and still give us a great, self-contained whodunit. All that, and Billy Goats Gruff to boot! Do yourself a favor and pick up Small Favor when it hits stores on the first of April.