New Book Discussion

I've just posted the latest book discussion at the unofficial DAW Books blog (dawbooks)! We're looking at The Dhulyn and Parno Novels, Volume One by Violette Malan, an omnibus edition of the first two novels in her Dhulyn and Parno series, which are The Sleeping God and The Soldier King. Swing on by and check it out!

Book Review: "Swords and Deviltry" by Fritz Leiber

I'm probably going to get roasted by the SF&F community for this, but . . . After hearing about this series for ages, I finally decided to check it out as part of my "reading new authors" quest this year. This series has been around for a while (since the 60s and 70s) so it's a little retro and I tried to take that into account as I read it. That didn't seem to help too much.





The premise: This first book is really simply three stories woven together to produce a book. The Snow Women is the back story of Fafhrd, relating his early life and how and why he flees and ends up in Lankhmar. Similarly, The Unholy Grail is the back story of the Gray Mouser and how he ends up in Lankhmar. And finally, Ill Met in Lankhmar is the story of how the two meet and become the famed Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser.

The third story is where the heart of this book lies, and also where I assume Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser caught readers' imaginations and really took hold. It is where I finally became interested in the two characters and where the story drew me in, with the two heading off to figure out how to hurt the thieves' guild and get revenge. Of course, things don't work out as planned and what started off as a mostly drunken excursion to scout things out becomes something much more meaningful to both of them. This is the real story, and this one story is the main reason that I'll go on and read the next book in the series.

Unfortunately, the two back stories for Fafhrd and the Gray Mouser didn't really catch my interest or hold my attention as well, especially Fafhrd's story (which was the introduction story in this book). I kept reading mostly because of what I'd heard from others about this series and this pair. The Gray Mouser's back story was more interesting and better written. Maybe the reason the second and especially the third story caught my attention and held it better is because they were more of what I was expecting in terms of "sword and sorcery," which is what these stories really are.

As I said, I tried to give the style of the writing some leeway, since they were written before I was born and the style then was slightly different. For example, the omniscient POV was much more prevalent, so what we now call "head-hopping" was more common. Now, we try mostly for third-person limited POV and "head-hopping" is frowned on (although still done occasionally). I must admit the head-hopping threw me and it took me a while to get used to it. The language itself and the structures of the sentences were also slightly "off" from current fiction, and that took some getting used to.

But in the end, I really think that my issues were with the story, not the style. The first one just didn't catch me. The second piqued my interested more, but it was the third where I finally felt that I was "getting" what everyone was raving out. The third story drew me in and, again, is why I'll go ahead and continue with the second volume.

Book Review: "Doctor Sleep" by Stephen King

I don't usually review Stephen King books, because he doesn't really need the extra exposure, but what the hell.





The premise: This novel is a sequel to The Shining in a sense, because it follows up with what happened to little Danny Torrance. What happened to him after the events at the Overlook Hotel? We get to see that in an attempt to drown out the shining and its unwanted visions, Dan turned to drink and drugs, eventually hitting bottom. He an attempt to sober up, he starts Alcoholic Anonymous and settles down in the Northeast, where a little girl named Abra is growing up. Abra is extremely powerful with the shining, so powerful that she attracts the attention of the True Knot--a group that feeds off of those with the shining. And their leader, Rose, wants Abra's essence. And only Dan has a chance to stop her.

I thought this was an excellent follow-up to The Shining, because even though there are ties to that first book, Doctor Sleep is really it's own story. Yes, it's Dan, and it's cool to see what's become of him, but in the end you focus on Abra and the True Knot and the novel becomes its own entity, separate from The Shining. I guess that's why I wanted to review the book. Because taking note of that is important.

Dan's attempt to blunt the shining with alcohol is completely understandable, especially since he's still being haunted by the events that happened at the Overlook. I also liked the fact that we catch up with Dan at the END of this self-destructive phase. We get enough of it to realize how bad it became, and then we get to see Dan redeem himself with AA, so there wasn't any wallowing in how low Dan went before he started to recover. I was afraid at first that the book would focus completely on that aspect of Dan's life. Instead, it became much more with the shift to Abra and with Dan coming to terms with what he'd done during his dark times with drugs and alcohol, and with him finally dealing with what happened at the Overlook.

So, definitely a good book and a nice way to return to a loved character without simply rehashing a loved book. Doctor Sleep is it's own story, and one well worth reading.