Mini review: "Timestealer" by Steve Stanton

This short story reminded me a bit of Philip K. Dick's "We Can Remember It for You Wholesale" (the inspiration for the movie "Total Recall"). Steve Stanton's short story is about a man that earns his living selling other people's memories and experiences, after stealing them. You can live any kind of experience you want, you can be anyone you want. But the person who trully lived it won't remember it. The short story talks about ethics and the condition of human race. Reading it I could imagine how the world would look like if this thing would be possible. Because aren't we all wished at least once to be somebody else?

Quote:

"First tell me who really is going to miss five minutes of mental process? People waste more than that standing at a transit stop or meditating on the toilet. Some people are so drugged they forego higher cerebral functions for most of the day. A culture with no respect for time can well afford to lose an inconsequential fraction to timestealers like me. If God had meant our thoughts and feelings to be private he would not have allowed the monitoring technology to develop..."

"Sabriel" by Garth Nix

"Sabriel"

by Garth Nix

Format: Paperback, 368 pages

Publisher: Harper Voyager

"Sabriel" is the first novel of "The Old Kingdom" serie by Garth Nix.

Sabriel, a necromancer's daughter, is sent by her father to study in Ancelstierre. Her father is the Abhorsen, a necromancer that puts the dead to rest or prevents them to come back to life. After many years in school she finds out that her father is missing and so she begins a journey in search of him. She travels to the Old Kingdom, the northern neighbour of Ancelstierre and her birth land. Here she finds that she has inherited the title of Abhorsen and that she has to fight an evil that threats the land and tries to kill her father.

I liked the novel. Garth Nix creates an entertaining world, an interesting magic system and enjoyable characters. The world consists in two major lands, Ancelstierre, a land that resembles our world, with technology, electricity and where the magic doesn't work and the Old Kingdom, north of Ancelstierre, which is a fantastic land, where magic works. This two lands are separeted by the Wall. I liked the world created by Garth Nix and I liked that even though he doesn't spent too much time in building it he describes it well. For example, when the characters reach Belisaere, the capital of the Old Kingdom, the author makes a description that is almost visual.

The magic system is another part I enjoyed. We have two kinds of magic, Free Magic, that is an unbound magic, raw and chaotic and the Charter, the magic that is used by Abhorsen and usually the inhabitants of the Old Kingdom bear a Charter mark on their foreheads. The Charter can be made using symbols, memorized by the spellcaster or by whistling a specific tune. The Abhorsen has also a set of seven bells that helps him cast spells or improving the ones made with the Charter. I loved that the author fully explained what the bells do and what are they for.

The characters are enjoyable, very well constructed. Sabriel is a young girl that starts a journey that will change her. I love how Garth Nix developes this character. He manages to catch the changes in the character, her coming of age and her transformation from the girl that saves a school colleague's bunny to the necromancer that tries to save the kingdom. The character that I loved the most is Mogget. Mogget is an unknown creature that takes the shape of a white cat. The author does a great job with Mogget, he behaves like a cat, a talking cat actually, and I loved when he was precious or bored. I also loved his sarcasm, his cynism and how he ridicules the other characters.

Overall Garth Nix's "Sabriel" was a very fun read for me and one that I will hold dear.

Mini review: "Hell is the Absence of God" by Ted Chiang

"Hell is the Absence of God" by Ted Chiang won a Hugo Award and a Nebula Award. It's a story about the relationship between man and God, and the events that influence this relationship. In an alternate world where miracles and the appearances of angels can be seen constantly, Neil Fisk must reconsider his relationship with God after losing his wife after the appearance of an angel. Like the other short story I read, "Hell is the Absence of God" dwells on another classical theme, the love of God, and like in that one Ted Chiang manages to make you reconsider and rethink your opinions about this themes. A very interesting read.

Quote:
" God is not just, God is not kind, God is not merciful, and understanding that is essential to true devotion."

Mini review: "What's Expected of Us" by Ted Chiang

"What's Expected of Us" is a very short story that I read quickly but made me think hard. Essentially the philosophical theme isn't new, the existence of free will, but Ted Chiang does a great job regarding this theme in this short story. Basically it is about a new toy, the Predictor, that has a button and a green light. The people that play with it have to push the button, but everything they do the green light will always light up one second ahead of their pushing. The outcome is interesting and Ted Chiang finishes this short story in a disturbing manner. "What's Expected of Us" leaves me with questions and Ted Chiang leaves me wanted to read more of his works.

The novel or the movie?

For ordering information: Amazon UK & Amazon US

I saw "I Am Legend" last night but I have to say that I was disappointed. Don't get me wrong, I like post-apocalyptic scenarios and novels because of their psychological aspects, but this movie failed to captivate me. And being the ecranization of Richard Matheson's "I Am Legend" made the things worst (you can find an excellent review of the book at Fantasy Book Critic). The movie has some logical errors, some events are not fully explained and I didn't felt a thing for Robert Neville, the character played by Will Smith, I didn't care if he got hurt, if he lives or if he dies. I saw "28 Days Later...", a movie that has the same general idea, and I like it. It has more drama, more tension and I connected more with the characters.

But if I think about the ecranizations of other novels I shouldn't be so disappointed. It isn't the first or the last ecranization that I'm not enjoying it. Let's see if I can recall some other movies that didn't live up my expectations: "The Stand" a TV mini serie after the novel of Stephen King, "Mr. Murder" after the novel of Dean Koontz, "Dune" the ecranization of Frank Herbert's novel and "Earthsea" after the novels of Ursula K. Le Guin. And this are only the first that I can think of. To be correct I have to tell you about those that I consider good: "The Green Mile" by Stephen King, "The Lord of the Rings" the trilogy of J.R.R. Tolkien, the Harry Potter serie after J.K. Rowling's novels and "Blade Runner" the ecranization of Philip K. Dick's "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?".

I'm sure that the ecranizations are a tricky thing and I like seeing how directors or screenplay writers visualize the novels I love, but I definitely prefer the books to the movies.

"Elantris" by Brandon Sanderson

"Elantris"

by Brandon Sanderson

Format: Paperback, 656 pages

Publisher: TOR Books

"Elantris" is the debut novel of Brandon Sanderson and it is a good debut. And if the next novels will be as good as this one then Brandon Sanderson is up for a great career.

In the city of Elantris lived a race of demigods with great skills in magic and they protected the kingdom of Arelon and especially its capital, Kae. They were transformed by Shaod, a process that magically transformed humans in elantrians despite their social condition, and enjoyed a good life and respect. Until ten years ago, when an event changes the blessings of Elantris in a curse and Shaod changes people into some wretches affected by hunger and constant pain. After this event the merchants took control of the country and initiate a monarchy controled by the wealthier of them. After this ten years, Arelon and the kingdom of Teod are threaten by Fjordell, a powerful theocratic nation with an expansionist desire, and they seek an alliance through the marriage of the prince of Arelon and the princess of Teod. But Prince Raoden is taken by Shaod and thrown in Elantris as is the tradition and Sarene, his fiancee, arrives in Kae finding herself a widow. Sarene tries anyway to save the two kingdoms from the threat of Fjordell and when in Kae arrives Hrathen, a great priest from Fjordell with the mission to convert the kingdom of Arelon to his religion, her mission becomes more difficult.

The story is presented through the point of view of the three main characters and this makes it interesting for the reader, because always he knows more than the three characters as an individual. The characters are entertaining and I found myself interested of their future and tied to their destiny. Prince Raoden tries to find out what has destroyed Elantris and why the old magic doesn't work anymore. Princess Sarene tries to save Arelon of the threat of Fjordell, but also tries to save the kingdom of his own monarchy and political system. Hrathen, and this character is the one I enjoyed the most, found himself with doubts and questions over his religion when he tries to complete his mission. I love this character because has more depth than the other two, has a history and a childhood behind and has interesting inner conflicts.

I think that the magic system and the worldbuilding are the strong points of this novel. The magic is created with the help of Aons, letters of light and power, known only by the elantrians. Brandon Sanderson describes the magic of Elantris with care and the hole system is logic. The religion is also created with care and logic, and this part has the conflict of the two major doctrines, Shu-Dereth and Shu-Korath. The religion resembles a little medieval christianism, with a schism, resulting two doctrines that have similarities and conflicts. The author also creates very well the city of Elantris, with great details and accuracy.

On the other hand the prose is the weak point of the novel. Although is paced well and is simple, helping the reader, I found some dissapointing things. Sometimes the scenes seem to come from nowhere with no proper background and also some things happen too easy. Like it is all too easy to come to a conspirational meating or for a new acquaintance to convince other people that his actions are the correct ones. The end is better with tension and suspanse, but a bit hollywoodian. Considering that this is stand-alone novel and that the characters and the worldbuilding are good I think that this inconveniences can be easily overcome by the reader.

Overall Brandon Sanderson makes a good debut with "Elantris", an entertaining read and an original novel. And I certainly read his next novels because I think he is capable of improving his works.

Pile o' Shame

I saw this article last week on A Dribble of Ink but being so short of the time I will post my list only today.




Because of all the great reviews and all the fans around the world I bought the most books of the serie "Malazan Book of the Fallen". But to my shame I didn't start to read it and when I look in my library I tend to pass it by. That is because I'm thinking of the other series I started, George R.R. Martin's "Song of Ice and Fire" and Robert Jordan's "Wheel of Time", and I didn't finished them yet. I think that I want to start this one when I will have all the books in the serie and to read all of them. But maybe I will started anyway.

First fantasy book I read was "Lord of the Rings" by J.R.R. Tolkien and being so enthusiast when I finished it I looked for other fantasy books. So I have bought "The Silmarillion" and since then didn't touch it again. I wanted to read it but I prefered to read other fantasy works and when I remembered about Mr. Tolkien's works I read "The Hobbit", "Roverandom", "The Book of Lost Tales" or to read again "Lord of the Rings". Unfortunately "The Silmarillion" is still waiting.

I am a huge fan of Stephen King. I have almost all of his books, but every time I look at "The Dark Tower" serie I leave it where it is. I don't know why, it's hard to explain, because when I see Mr. King's books not only I buy them, but immediately start to read them. "The Dark Tower" is another story and it may be because of "The Talisman" and the fact that I enjoyed this duology so much. I really do not know.

But the hope still exists, and in time I'm certain that this list will change, this books will be read and other great titles will wait their turn.