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Books Reviews

Not really reviews, just comments I have on various books I'm reading.

The KnightThe Knight - by Gene Wolfe

  I absolutely love this book.  It's part one of Wolfe's "The Wizard Knight" novel.  I'm puzzled by the comments of various readers on Amazon.com.  Some complain of no character development or juvenile fantasies.  I wonder if they're reading the same book.  Gene Wolfe has a reputation of being hard to read; his novels are like a slowly blossoming flower.  The worlds his characters reside in are slowly revealed, piece by piece until their magnificence stands unveiled. 

   The premise of the books is that a young teenage boy, raised by his brother away from the hubbub of much of modern life, finds himself in a fantasy realm loosely based on Nordic and Celtic myth.   Through various encounters, he decides he wants to be a knight and strives to become one.   As a scrawny teenage boy suddenly finding himself in a fully grown man's body, he at first relies much on his physical strength.  His purity of character win many to his side.   Many mysteries are brought up for the reader's enjoyment and slowly over the course of this book and the next, solved like a bits of a jizsaw puzzle coming together.   For readers who want everything spoon fed to them, perhaps this isn't their cup of tea (though things are explained much more so than in Wolfe's earlier works).

   Another Amazon reviewer claimed the world of The Wizard Knight was rather like a male juvenile fantasy - naked Aelf girls cavorting around trying to get the main character to bed them.   But one of the points of introducing those nubile nymphs is to show that Sir Able's love of Disiri isn't simply sexual.  He rejects the Aelfs' advances and remains pure to his love of Disiri.  

   This was one of those books that I simply couldn't put down.  Highly recommended to lovers of heroic fantasy who have a good head on their shoulders.


sithThe Revenge fo the Sith - by Matthew Stover

   If after watching the movie, you said, "huh?", then this book is for you.   Novelizations used to be simple retellings of the films - home videos machines weren't around yet, so a novelization was the only way to relive the movie over and over again without going to the theater.  Nowadays, movie novels (as exemplified by this one) try to go deeper into the story and character motivations.   In Sith, Stover manages to artful portray the fall of Anakin Skywalker.  He shows the tortured, conflicted person that Anakin is and how he loses faith in the Jedi and becomes seduced by the dark side. 

   Stover doesn't give just a simple retelling of what we see on the screen.  He digs into the thoughts and motivations of all the characters.  Scenes that were very weak (or even corny) in the movie take on added weight and significance.  In fact, I'd recommend reading the book before watching the movie in order to get the full story and maximum impact.

   Stover wrote this novel while the movie was being made, so while it underwent a line-by-line edit from George Lucas, many of the last minute changes that Lucas is famous for aren't reflected in the novel.   We'll never know why Anakin chose such a stupid finishing move in the film.   At any rate, this book is highly recommended for Star Wars fans!

book picThe Expectant Father - Facts, Tips, and Advice for Dads-to-Be - by Armin A. Brott

    I really don't like this book.   One of the reviewers on Amazon.com sums it up well when he says that this book isn't for everyone.   I think it's for father-to-bes with fragile egos who get upset over anything minor that doesn't make them feel in control.   Or perhaps super-sensitive namby-pamby men who are hurt by every little thing that goes on around them.   Not that I'm a Manly Man (far from it), but most of this book made me gag when reading it.   To be fair, there is some useful information contained within, but you can find that info in a lot of better written books.

    Or maybe Mr Brott's intent was to make the reader feel better by showing that they're not as pathetic as other expectant dads.  Nah.   He just wants to talk to the inner woman in every man.   Funny, considering he markets the books as being the only one that talks to men.   Bleh.  Stay away from this one unless you're (as the Govenor of Kalifornia says) "a girly man".