The Magician King by Lev Grossman

Hey all,

so it's official this is the first sequel reviewed on the Cyber Book Club. What can I say about the Magician King, well once again we're back in Quintin's shoes. This time he's the king of Fillory and decides to go on a quest, which grows into a quest to restore the world's magic.

But let me just stop there because as I was discussing this book to my friend tonight, this book has all the trappings of a Narnia story or dare I say a childish quest tale. The characters move from one location to the next, but Grossman is a man who writes fantasy but one who isn't really interested in exploring the glitz and glamour of it. No Grossman very brutally exposes the grime and that there are no "true fairy" stories. Time and time again in the Magicians Quintin was reminded that magic would not magically solve his own inner issues, so too in the Magician King do we see a similiar arc happening with the character Julia.

Only let me be honest, it is perhaps one of the most depressing stories I have read. The bits with Quintin are a bit lighter, but the Julia sections are dark and bleak. This is literally a person who cannot and will not fit in and as his characters often do, well his Main one's at least Julia like Quintin in the Magicians finds ways to make herself miserable and she will not give up her quest to be a magician, which turns to an obsession. She unlike QUintin did not make it in through official channels. So she truly had to struggle for magic and gave up literally everything else and as for the climax of Julia's story...I'll just say it's pretty horrific what happens.

Now Quintin. It's interesting to see how far Quintin has come. He's no longer the whiney person he was in book one. He still seems dis-satisfied, but by the end of this novel I think he has come to a place where he doesn't believe in the conceit of the fairy story. And honestly I think this is the whole point perhaps Fillory is just a metaphor sometimes the things that happen appear so random and revolve so closely around Quintin (we're talking cosmic events here) it makes it feel as though Fillory is his world. His quest is yet another reflection of his failures as a person that he is constantly seeking that thrill, seeking in a way to escape from reality.

There are a few moments. Nice moments actually where Quintin reflects that he may not have given the real world  enough credit. It's hard to describe the Magician King in terms of plot, because for me the plot isn't very meaningful sure, alot of cool things happen. But alot of the things that happen seem very random and coincidental and so to me what Grossman here has achieved is to create a very powerful exploration of two psychologically disturbed characters and wrapped it up in the trappings of a fantasy quest story. The thing that always intrigues me about Grossman's style is his characters and his world pokes fun at itself and is very aware of how much it is ripping off of other authors.

In a way The Magician King deals a lot with the theme of what is real, but on a deeper level it might be seen as a criticism of stories like Narnia, because even though this has all the trappings of Narnia. Instead of that blinding conviction in the reality of the world you get from CS Lewis. In Grossman's writing as in the narrative voice of Quintin there is nothing but disdain and cynicism that Fillory is in fact a real place and that the fact he needs to find seven magical keys does in fact make any sense whatsoever.

I really enjoyed The Magician King. It seems quite a simple world on the surface, but as I perhaps elaborated in the Magicians review there is something Grossman does that is so dark, twisted and above all really tugs at your heart strings. God does he pull at those emotions. I highly recommend The Magician King and I'm hoping that...sooner rather than later there will be another Magician book of his, because as miserable as Quintin is I have to admit I kinda like the guy.

Anyway happy reading everyone! Next time I'll be looking at a very different but also very emotional novel "The Speed of Dark" By Elizabeth Moon and I'm really loving it.

Perdido Street Station by China Meiville

Hey readers,

I thought I'd try something different for this post, cos chances are there's a bazillion reviews already talking about China's amazing imagination and vivid world. So I thought I'd do one better and list all the nifty things about the amazing world he's created in Bas-Lag.

Khepri - a race of bug people. The women have scarab heads and human bodies while the males are just big bugs. Procreation is done via the head. The bug race also make sculpture from chewed up and spat out material from their bug heads. The book also feature a human and Khepri romance.

Cacatae - a race of cactus humanoids. They have developed particularly gruesome weapons to chew threw their plant hides (yes there's even a scene where a child gets stabbed by the spikey spine of its mother)
Vodyanoi - Amphibians creatures that can magically shape water by using their watercraft, one of the Vodyanoi in the book also has a water elemental strapped across them to keep them hydrated.

Garuda - Proud bird creatures that live across the desert in a place called Cymek. One of the main characters in the story is a Garuda guilty of the races only crime choice theft (read to find out what that is) and he comes looking to fly again.

Re-Made - The official version is done to punish people guilty of crimes. Basically a person's body is remade in grotesque ways attaching parts from other creatures and often the way a person is "re-made" is a reflection of their punishment. There is organic remades, but some are mostly machine. In the underworld, remaking is a means to develop a good ol private army. There is one particular character who has taken remaking to the extreme and is very literally almost a piece of every creature you can think of. Why and how?  (read, but I won't promise you'll find anything else).

AI Constructs - This comes in later, but through a out of control computer Virus the little helper robots of the city develop a sort of conbsciousness born of calculations and mathetmatical formulae.

 Weavers - Now this is a truly aweinspiring creature. It's an interdimensional spider that speaks in verse and moves between dimensions as easily as walking down the street. It also tends to the world web you might say it weaves it.

There's also very cool technology and energies. Thaumaturgy I haven't quite worked out what it is, but there's lots of different types. To me it's almost magic really. Then there's Crisis Energy that comes from objects in crisis. And a really cool kind of energy called Torque. One bit of the book we're treated to Bas-Lag's version of nuclear fallout where a Torque bomb was left off. No one knows what it does, but when you emerge your body may have strangly transformed or you may be vaporised. It's very cool like a cloud of random magical energy.


And I haven't even mentioned the evil demons the protagonists unleash and have to track down. I won't spoil the story but do you want to read it are you curious? The story itself is easy enough to follow, but China Meiville breathes such freshness into a world populated with such alien creatures. And these creatures think like what they are, the Khepri are bugs and think like bugs. What can I say.

So what about the story? Well it's actually really engaging and nothing that's set up is a red herring or lose end. The main plot takes a while to get to, but on the way you get to meet these really interesting characters and ultimately what is a very interesting adventure story is not lost in this amazing world. So what should you all be doing, reading Perido Street Station that's what!

I think you'll be seeing some more China Meiville on this blog, just a feeling. Anyway, up next we have my first sequel on this blog. The Magican King, which is the recently released sequel to Les Grossman's The Magicians. I enjoyed the first book so I'm really looking forward to getting into the next one.

Anyway happy reading everyone!!!! and read Meiville even if you hate it (cos I imagine fiction like this can only be loved or hated) you'll walk away with some fascinating experiences and stories (trust me).

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card

Good day all,

Nah I know what your thinking, but I'm not that faster reader. Basically reading for me is 2hrs a day, 1 HR to work and the hour back. But I actually digested Ender's Game as an audio book.

I admit I've only listened to a couple, but I think this made the best use of the medium and coincidentally Mr Scott Card himself says it is his ideal medium. Their were multiple voice actors which I think helped give the different narrative perspectives in the book a nice tone.

Now usually you I don't even think of this when reading but this has so much dialogue and honestly i loved it. I love the long passages between each character.

Okay I've digressed enough now to the story haha. In a nutshell Ender or Andrew Wiggin is a child in the future and at the ripe age of six the International Fleet (IF) recruit him to lead the defense of Earth against the alien buggers.

Ender though is no ordinary six year old in case your wondering. Most of the book focus's on the brutal training regime and the military's attempts to continuously break and re-break Ender. I wont go into the details but it's a dark
Story definately not for kids.

Ended endures hell and like any kid just wants go home, but he changes and it's both sad and fascinating watch him develop and do things he never wanted or expected he could at the beginning.

The thing though that really got to me though was Ender's relationship with his sister Valentine. In the beginning Valentine protects Ender her younger brother from her cruel eldest brother Peter. Watching how the relationship changes as years go by growing up without eachother is really tragic. They both love each other more than anyone in the world and so the separation is even more punishing. I felt sorry for Ender as Valentine continues to move on with her life and dare I say at times seems to forget Ender. Ender never stops. Some of the best moments in the book for me were the times Valentine and Ender meet. Really it's a love story but not in the way we imagine love is and i think these sorts of relationships should be explored more often personally !

I won't give anymore away except info want to say a little about Colonel Graff. He I would say is the closest thing to a villain in this story. He is ruthless and is the one behind tormenting Ender into the perfect tool for the military. What makes him terrifying is that despite his affection for Ender he let's nothing get in the way of what he sees as his job and he always presents as cool and calm. Laughing off the suggestions of others that he is pushing Ender too hard. From the beginning he and Ender have a very unique relationship.

I remember vividly the first conversation as Graff is about to lead Ender away from his family. He tells him how he is a burden to his parents and even though they love him they will be glad to see him go. He also explains that in time they will forget one another. They will soon be perfect strangers. I found it chilling that he was telling a child all this, but it says everything about what the relationship is between them.

What can I say I thoroughly enjoyed this audiobook. In substance it is Enders story the stuff about the bugger to me is filler. It poses an interesting ethical question too I think.

Well that is Ender's Game an amazing science fiction book. I hear there's a whole Ender saga. I know I hate series but maybe in this case I'll make an exception.

So happy reading every body. Next Perido Street Station!

The Terror by Dan Simmons

Good day all,

I apologise for the delay between this post and the last but rest assured I have some nifty books coming your way. Not least of which is this gem, Dan Simmons The Terror, again I can't recommend the top 25 best stand alone fantasy book list enough. So if you have seen this page and want to find some more books The Terror is just one of many on this list which I'll be honest are full of gems.

Okay so what's this book about, well let me put it this way. This is an interesting fusion of horror, alternate history and fantastico/spiritual elements. This is story tells the tragic tale of the Franklin Polar expedition and how the two ships that were part of its expedition got trapped in the ice. So the tale turns into a struggle for survival, as much as the story is based on historical events Dan Simmons takes liberty with some of the details adding a monster that begins to terrorise the men on the ice. This is a thrilling, gory tale of survival, treachery and courage.

The first thing that will strike you as you begin reading The Terror is the detail. Now I have to take my hat off to Dan SImmons, I like to write myself, but I can't imagine researching as thoroughly the Franklin expedition as he did. Oh and for anyone who's read this, all the main characters in case you didn't know are real people (...maybe though I was the only dumb one...) Francis Crozier, John Franklin and Captain Fitzjames. I'm not sure about Goodsir Blanky, Irving, Shadow, Peglar and Hickey.

We get to appreciate the detail from a lot of angles i.e the ice master Blanky tells us all about the ice. We learn about the ships engines and as other reviewers have put it we become experts in polar exploration. I think what this book does really well is it raises the stakes and it really helps us sympathise with the main characters. While Franklin is a bit of an imbecile the second in command Crozier is portrayed from the beginning as a man with a bad rung of luck and a true underdog. He's had his share of heart break...a nice flashback scene that I have to admit I could relate to and made his arc all the more tragic.

The book ends up exploring a lot of different view points throughout and I'd say its quite an achievement that for the most part Simmons kept me hooked. I only have one issue with this book, but I'll deal with that later and for once...there may be some minor spoilers if you read on.

The fate of the crews of The Terror and the Erebrus the two ships stuck in the ice, get worse and worse. The food is poisoned, there's the constant fear of the men, the harsh cold and the constant threat of mutiny. I have to hand it to Simmons the first chapter starts midway into the story and then it goes back to the beginning from there, but the way he introduces the creature. Crozier leads a group of men down a ladder into the hold. One of his crewmen Manson doesn't want to get a bag of coal from the hold, because he can hear strange rattling noises from a room down below housing the bodies of the already dead. The noises Crozier says are rats, but the second he says it Simmons very clearly states that not for a moment does Crozier believe its rats at all. They enter the hold and they see the monster has somehow tunnelled into the hold.

I had to tell it because it really hooked me. Still it's funny the most terrifying scenes to me didn't necessarily involve the bear at all as always its real human evil that has a more profound effect on me, but for once I would say that this is a book that will give you the creeps if you read it at night and reflecting back on the scenes he paints and the brutality of what happens to so many of your favourite characters this book can be unrelenting and things get to such a low point...all I'll say is that it's a page turner and I don't have a problem with the length.

Okay now the spoiler part. The one thing I didn't really like all that much and had a little trouble following is when we discover what the beast is. I won't give away much else save that the book becomes somewhat mystical and the beast is described as this mythical creature from an eskimo legend. I'd be lying if I thought the last section gelled with the rest of the book, it works...I think I was just waiting for a final face off that never occurred, but really that's my only gripe although I admit it's a long slog to get to a bit of a dissapointing ending.

Still I would highly recommend this to anyone who enjoys fantasy or anyone who enjoys alternate history. I think this is a nice genre bridging book. Next time I'll be talking about Perido Street Station another fascinating fantasy book, which I am pleased to say is probably like nothing I've ever read. Anyway till next time happy reading.

J