Author Archives: Kait McFadyen

About Kait McFadyen

I am a partially employed Canadian science teacher with visions of grand travel and incredible adventures. When not immersed in work I maintain a small backyard garden, where I try to protect my crops of corn, tomatoes and other vegetables from the neighbourhood wildlife. The all-important library, my source of entertainment and discourse, is a comfortably short walk away.

A Turn of Light – Book Review

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Book cover found on the internet.

Ok, so my brother has been nagging me to post on the website. Apparently he feels sad he is the only doing work.

I would argue that I haven’t read anything lately, hence the lack of posts. However, that would be a lie. Rather, I have not read anything remarkable. Do not expect much from this review.

The book is entitled A Turn of Light. The author is Julie E. Czerneda. My overall assessment: it is good with a rating of 8 out 10.

A Turn of Light is a very traditional fantasy novel. The world has been entirely and competently created in a mix of monstrous and magical creatures, swords and wild elements. It has a pioneer/settler vibe in a world that is not stuck in mediaeval fantasy land. Elsewhere in the world tracks are being laid for trains while distant large cities are busy with politics, learning and religion. Our story, however takes place in the wild lands at the very edge of the inhabited land. I liked the way the author incorporated magic into Marrowdell. I also feel the connection between the magical world of the Verge and the physical world of Marrowdell were nicely woven together.

The story is restricted to the small valley village of some eight homes and few interconnected families. Yet there remains a greater sense of world beyond the sheltered wilderness. The village and its inhabitants are important characters. They generally get along, yet each has its own personality and faults.

When boiled to its basic components, the story is a coming of age for a protagonist Jenn Nalynn. She is not an orphan, but has a loving and capable family: father, older sister and visiting Aunt. I like that the family is involved in Jenn’s life and she in turn is a part of theirs. This is not a story of an isolated individual setting out on their quest. This is adventure found in the shadowed nooks of the valley and the Verge overlapping it.

To shake things up there are also two newly arrived strangers. They add different points of view and a connection to the world beyond that helps to transform Jenn’s world view.

My biggest complaint is the length. The story in paperback is 800 pages. There is a lot of description, a lot of slow character building, a lot of words. It is slowly paced, plodding even. As much as the author works to weave different threads of story together, the narrative is long.

Close-up of the cover – there is not a lot of image choices on the internet.

Still, the story is solid. The characters are reasonable. The world itself is beautiful crafted, making it the best part. Over all it was good.

Shades of Milk and Honey

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Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowel

The story revolves around Jane Ellsworth living in Dorchester. She is the self-described unattractive eldest daughter of a doting father and neurotic mother. Her younger sister, Melody, has all the beauty and liveliness of nature; whereas plain Jane has all the talent. In this fantasy Regency World, magic comes in the artistic form of Glamours. By twisting the fabric of the ether, people are able to make magical illusions that have varying lengths of existence, from seconds to years. And differ in complexity from changes to light in a room to changing a room to an exotic grove.

Image of the cover – borrowed from the internets.

It is a fair story, with an unexceptional tone that has been described as reminiscent of Jane Austin. I certainly can see the influence of Pride and Prejudice and Sense and Sensibility in the narrative. Jane and her family pull heavily from the beloved characters of Pride and Prejudice. There are many similarities in terms of plot, though the story pulls from other Jane Austin works too. This is not an inherently bad thing. I really like Jane Austin stories, however, Shades of Milk and Honey does suffer from predictability. It also suffers from pacing.

The narrative is plodding, with only Jane’s view to show us the world. Jane by her nature is a thoughtful, pleasant individual who strives to remain composed in all situations. She is bland and as a narrator very daft at see the obvious.

Despite the length of the book, it feels as though nothing much happens. Strangely, there is a plot, one that is reasonably complex. Yet, the manner in which the story is told is plodding. The buildup of betrayal, mystery and even the love story is lacking. The attempt at tension fails. The love story does not engage the reader, who could see it coming from the first hello (the main character however, is completely caught off guard – largely because they are slow). Some of my favourite authors: Jane Austin and Georgette Heyer, have lovely simple stories. They are character studies, with successfully engaging characters who have properly developed faults and changes over time. There was no emotional draw to this story and no real payoff in the end. In fact the ending, when Jane suddenly falls in love with the Glamourist seems rushed considering she just spent the previous 250 pages pining for the other guy.

My other big complaint with the story is the lack of show, instead of tell when it comes to the main character. Jane is supposed to be unattractive by the measures of the time. She is old (all of 29 years of age) and unmarried with no apparent prospects. However, when we enter the tale, she already (or very shortly thereafter) starts to attract one and then a second male suitor.

Book cover borrowed from the internet.

All the while we don’t see any concrete signs of her lack of connections. Jane is praised repeatedly for her skills, her wit and her general disposition. While she may not flirt with the younger and flashier men, she certainly doesn’t appear to suffer from social stigma. There is only one instance in the entire 300+ pages where Jane is criticized without provocation.

This is not to be expected if she really is snubbed for her appearance. It was almost as if the author was writing the perfect character, than realized she needed to give the heroine a flaw. Now, as best as I can tell Jane is not ugly – she isn’t deformed or scarred. Her nose is large, her chin too square, her skin too sallow. As the main character is described only once, it is through her actions and interactions that we get to know her. In these Jane is a lovely character, thoughtful, honest, and loyal. Sure she argues with her sister, Melody. But then Melody is shown to be a selfish, bratty younger sibling. We need constant reminders that Jane is not attractive, but even these attempts sound shallow. This sort of ignorable physical trait is not a true flaw in the character. It is a minor inconvenience easily forgotten. Without a proper flaw there is no conflict, at least no room for the character to grow. The conflict, such as it is feels hastily added to the end of a story that is ultimately about nothing. I think more attention needed to be spent exploring these last few pages and far less time spent on the set up – which certainly could have been established with fewer words.

Final thoughts: it was fine – far from stellar, but not terrible. Will I read the rest of the series (some 5 or more books at present)? Well, probably not. They are not available from the library and I am not willing to spend more money on this one.

Locked on Lies

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The Lies of Locke Lamora comes as frequently recommended as Name of the Wind – perhaps even more often. The lengthy first novel by Scott Lynch is an epic thief adventure in the tough and gritty streets of Camorr. It follows the colour life of Locke Lamora and his talented band of Gentleman Bastards as they rob from the rich and save the city. Or something like that.

It could have been something fun and interesting and light to read. Instead it was bog down by excruciatingly inconsequential world building that bloated the story to over 500 pages of text. While I appreciate the author’s desire to explain how the rag-tag band of thieves met and learned the exceptional skills of their evil trade, too much time spent on things that ultimately didn’t matter. The story suffered from a lack of clear direction and solid writing. It was a rookie mistake that gives The Lies of Locke Lamora a rating of passable. It was not actively offensive, but it certainly was not good.

Book cover – from the internet. Clearly the cover is based on St Marco’s square.

The main antagonist of the tale, the dastardly and mysterious Grey King, is not introduced until we have read 1/3 of nothing. Eventually it becomes apparent that the Grey King is the evil Lamora must stop in order to save his life. The stranger in grey is described at several points as being vaguely familiar. This led to speculation on my part. Was this man Lamora’s long lost father? (Because of course he is an orphan.) Was he actually the man responsible for shaping Lamora, a man we thought was dead but had no actual evidence? While I am glad Scott Lynch avoided the father cliché, I was a little sad to discover the Grey King was absolutely no one we could have predicted. Written the manner he had, I expected the reviel to tie things together better. Instead, it is yet another thing about this questionable world I simply had to accept.

About the same time the Grey King is introduced, or a little later, the author suddenly realizes he needs wizards – so bam! We now have Bondmages. They come out of nowhere and serve only a questionable importance. A great deal of time is spent explaining why Bondmages can do anything and yet do not overrun the city. It brings to the forefront a common problem with magic in fantasy land, and that is the lack of boundaries. Magic can and literally does anything. Yet the vast majority of people cannot perform nor do they have access to this power – which if it actually existed would be world changing. So, instead we have all powerful Bondmages being tied to a very exclusive and greedy guild. The price of their service is an active deterrent. The power of the guild is supposedly protection against their murder. How does our clever thief circumvent this last problem? Well he violently maims the Bondmage working for the Grey King. And somehow, since Lamora did not outright kill the Bondmage, he will not face the retribution of the possessive guild. I am a little suspect of their logic.

From the very beginning the narrative flips back and forth in time. This is not an inherently bad idea. Its use however, left much to be desired. As far as I can gather the flipping back and forth between present and past serves no purpose other than to swollen narrative. Really, do you need to fall back in time a few hours to explain everything in detail? For example: our intrepid protagonist sneaks his way into a heavily protected building of a wealthy Don for a private discourse with the owner. Great, I can get behind a thief setting up a complex con. So, why do you need to destroy the mystic of the thief by rewinding and explaining in painful minutia the steps Lamora took to get there? It added nothing but another chapter I had to slog through. And again, it made Lamora look stupid – or the world look stupid. If he had that easy of a time getting into the building, why wouldn’t someone else find it equally as simple?

There were some serious structural issues with the world itself. From rumour and cover I was led to believe this novel took place in Venice. Now, I have actually been to that marvellous Italian location. I have walked the narrow twisting streets, strolled over the bridges that link the tiny island and ridden down the canals that form the major thoroughfares. Venice is a fascinating testament to human engineer. To visit now is to see a world caught in time with the crumbling facades of bygone glory next to the modern attempts to cling to life. No doubt Venice, or some fantasy version, would make for an excellent setting. However, if that was the inspiration, then Scott Lynch has never seen a postcard of Venice let alone been to visit. The world of Camorr is an illogical mess of mountainous islands, rivers, wide lakes, perhaps a lagoon, and deep underground caverns. I could not for the life of me understand the geography. I was personally affronted by the lack of understanding for the natural world – you cannot have underground caverns if you live in the middle of a lagoon. And where did the mountains come from? And why on this green earth are horses cluttering the streets? You talk at great length of boats and barges; there would be no land for the wide streets and stables needed for animals of such size. It is a confusing mash of discrete ideas. Sure there are interesting fantastical elements, but the number of which in this city alone breaks my emersion in his world. It simply doesn’t make any sense, in any way.

Yup, this makes you think Camorr is based on Venice. That is until you read the story and realize this is not what was written. (Image from the internet)

Finally, the language – a major means of storytelling – lacked a streamline understanding for the narrative the author wished to communicate. It felt like Scott Lynch wanted to accomplish two things, the creation and exploration of a gritty world of crime; a look into the very depths of human civilization. At the same time he was desperately trying to build witty rakes who could charm their way out of the most dangerous situations. The language of the story reflected these to discordant ideas of dark despair and light con. We would go from unnecessarily crass language to banter filled with endless quips. It didn’t fit. It was grating to read and often the moments of humour fell flat. There was no proper build up for what were supposed to be funnier moments. And the constant quips, the lack of serious motivation of Lamora and his gang, failed to build up the darker elements.

In the end the greatest crime of the book was simply that it was boring. I couldn’t care about a thief, who largely didn’t seem to care about what he was doing either. I couldn’t find the motivation to feel sorry for Lamora when at any point he could have (and probably should have) walked away. No one was really invested in the thief – except the Grey King and that didn’t make much sense. Ultimately, the Lies of Locke Lamora was a lengthy, banal story that was a job to read. It was not the worst I have read, it was not that offensive. It was not also the best I have read. The Spirt Thief was a far more successful story about a rogue thief and his misfit gang.

So, any more recommendations you want to suggest?

Malevolent Maleficent

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As my brother has posted this is the holiday season, thus the lack of posting. It is also a time to catch up on entertainment. I have seen two movies of late: The third part of the Hobbit and Maleficent. Today I will write a short reflection on the latter.

Aurora, Maleficent and Crow (couldn’t be bothered learning this one’s name). Image from the internet.

Maleficent was meh. I had extremely low expectations having watched recent remakes like Mirror Mirror (very clean and simple) and Snow White and the Huntsman (truly terrible film). The movie did not exceed them. On the other hand, it was not frustratingly worse than I had expected.

Best scene in the movie – The Cursing of Baby Aurora by the Evil Maleficent. Image from the Internet.

Angelina Jolie had a great scene when she cursed the baby Aurora. Otherwise her acting was good, but not great. The acting of the other primary characters was terrible, while some of the tertiary characters were better acted. The visuals pulled heavily from Lord of the Rings. The vine monsters were kind of neat, but completely unnecessary (as were many of the elements). The story was a mess. The writing was terrible. And the world development was a mess.

The simple princess. Not the type to survive political intrigue, war, famine or even the hallways of her own castle. For an affectionate child, she was surprisingly unmoved by her father’s demise. Image from the internet.

Maleficent was trying to give a different perspective to the class Disney Sleeping Beauty while at the same time still retreading very familiar material. Unfortunately in attempting to make the villain sympathetic, Disney cleaned her up to heroic level. In order to accomplish this unnecessary feet, the writers had to create a different villain (the king, Aurora’s father) and kill all characterization of the other characters. Aurora came off as simple, in the classical sense. For a princess, Aurora did not fill me with confidence for the future of her land. She seemed the sort of oblivious individual that would get lost in her own castle.

The sort of Scottish, increasingly Evil King Stefan. Probably because he is an orphan and if I learned anything from the film it is that orphans do lots of damage to the land. Image from the internet.

I found Stefan (the king) a poorly organized character. He was an orphan (and that is sad), in order to make a connection to the fey Maleficent (also a sad orphan). Stefan was driven by greed to excessive and unexplained proportions. His actions seemed as inconsistent as his vaguely and randomly Scottish accent. By the end he was so irrationally evil that no one, including his perfect daughter, mourned his death.

Actually, this reflects a problem with the world building. One human kingdom is located next to a full blown fey kingdom. Naturally an all-powerful king rules over the Human lands. While the Fey live via democracy, at least until Maleficent goes on a vengeance kick and subjugates all the other, conveniently smaller fairies. Of course, when Maleficent is finally redeemed as a character at the end of the film she then crowns Aurora as Queen of the Fey kingdom – and yet no one sees this as a problem?

Also, if the Humans had been living next to the Fey for so long, why were they so surprised and baffled by magic? It should have been normal or at least explained why it was not normal. Also, after the Humans spontaneously declare war on the fey and Maleficent repels them at cost, why do three little fairies go to help the king and bless his daughter?

Why the wings? Well ’cause she is a fairy of course. Why is Maleficent a fairy? Umm… hmm… still can’t answer that one. Image from the internet.

At the end of the day the motivations for Maleficent becoming the evil sorcerer that she is famous for, were far from compelling. Her redemption was contrived. It was … not good. A better direction to take the story would be to start with the cursing. Then work out the why behind the actions. As my brother suggested, I wouldn’t redeem Maleficent. I would however explain in sympathetic terms why she became evil. It would be done in a way that while Maleficent’s actions were explained and understood, the audience could also sit back and see she was still evil and should not have done the curse. I also wouldn’t have her as a fairy, just a sorcerous. Furthers, since we know the story of Sleeping Beauty, I would not worry about having all the familiar elements. Why rehash old material when time could be better spent telling a new and interesting story. I also wouldn’t randomly make the King evil just to have a villain – Maleficent is the villain, the story should be why.

The bottom line: Maleficent took one of the greatest, most recognizable villains and forced her to be a weakly explained, psuedo-hero.

Wild Ways – by Tanya Huff

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I do like Tanya Huff’s work – at least the portion of modern urban fantasy I have read (only a part of her published works). One of my favourite books is Summon the Keeper, which hosts hell in the basement of a bed and breakfast.

The book cover as found on the itnerwebs.

This post will focus on a different metaphysical charm-worker. Wild Ways is the sequel to the Enchanted Emporium, which introduces the Gale family. And really, after you peel back the layers of magic and fey (which are not offensively used), the banter and the various romantic elements you have a story about family; a slightly twisted and off-kilter family.

Family is at the heart of these stories. Family provides both the antagonists and the protagonists. Sure there are a few non-family elements. In Wild Ways, Aunt Catherine continues to manipulate the Gales into doing her bidding. But there are a few scattered others to act as additional villains: trolls, goblins and ethically-challenged oil corporations.

The focus of the story falls to Charlie, as she tries to find her place in the weave of the family. Being a Wild One means that she is different. Her powers are different and her role in the family is different. It is a difference she has come to embrace, yet on some level she still is struggling to understand her position in the overall whole. Jack, the sorcerer-dragon Gale boy, echoes this struggle as he also is learning what it means to be part of the family and how to cope with that place.

One thing I really appreciate in Huff’s writing is her use of diversity. Her characters have different skin colours, sexuality and power. Her villain is understandable. The motivations of all the antagonists are explained. While their actions might seem a bit over the top, they make sense. I understand why the ethically-challenged corporate president was trying to force an oil well into protected habitat. Do I side with the environmentalists? Well yes. But I completely understand the desperate the woman faced as she tried to do her best by the company.

I like the way the book is set in Canada, without making a big deal about its setting. There is no explanation about how Canadian the Maritimes are. Rather, it is treated as a setting. It adds something to the overall flavour without trying too hard. It is also nice to read about places I have actually travelled to. Since I am not American, I do not have a personal connection to the popular story locations of New York, Washington and wherever else. I have, however, been to Cheticamp and Louisburg in Cape Breton.

I have not, however, followed the Celtic music festival. I suppose that you could also say the book was about the power of music, the potential created when eager and talented individuals musicians come together to enchant the audience (sometimes in the literal sense of the word, other times figuratively).

In short, Wild Ways was a well written, entertaining book. I look forward to reading the next in the series, which I shall hopefully pick up from the library this weekend.

www.Wake – Book Review

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Yes this is November. Yes that means that I have been busy juggling work, job applications and the yearly Nanowrimo challenge. Does this mean I haven’t read anything? Well, not quite. I have read, though considerably less than at other points in the year. What I have been reading has been largely ridiculous and thus not worth the bother of writing a review (or too embarrassing to admit that I read that trash).

The book I am reviewing today is www.Wake by Robert J Sawyer. It came highly recommended by a person at work. The individual was so enthusiastic that they mentioned this book on some half dozen occasions over the past year. Even though they know I am more of a fantasy and less of a sci-fi reader.

Book cover, image from the intelligent internet. Careful – it is watching you.

Well, partly out of boredom and partly out of stress I borrowed www.Wake from the library. I was told it was a story about a blind girl who had an implant that let her interface with the internet where she discovered intelligence (AI). It was a stupid sounding plot. It was also strangely misleading.

So what was the story about? Well it is about a corner of the internet gaining consciousness. It is also about an orangutan-bonobo hybrid demonstrating the ability to learn language and starting to paint in perspective. And yes there is also a blind girl, who undergoes a procedure designed to correct her vision problem. There is also a conspiracy/cover-up in China just to add more tension. In short there is a lot going on. While most of the secondary strands are simplistic they all contribute to the ideas of flow of information, self-awareness and identity.

The book is first and foremost well-written. The plot progresses at a reasonable pace. A lot work is done to build realistic and complex characters. Even more time is spent trying to develop different perspectives. I really liked the geeky math-based humour that actually had me laughing as I read.

A number of interesting and potentially controversial ideas are raised. I am of two minds about this. On the one hand it might get people thinking, which is always a good thing. On the other hand, real science doesn’t support these ideas. The idea that humans did not gain true consciousness until some 1000 BC is ludicrous. The arguments put forth for this idea (researched while I was reading the story) are easily countered by the simple fact that other civilizations existed around the world with written language. The book has an ape capable of meaningful communication – which real life has failed to produce. The concerns about the ape being a hybrid is really questionable. Most interspecies hybrids are sterile – which is why we have different species. While these points might be fun to think about or even talk about, they don’t hold up to modern science.

My other complaint comes from the authors efforts to make the story Canadian. There is nothing wrong with writing about Canadians. However, this one felt like he was trying too hard. Each Canadian-ism felt like it was being shoved in my face. The writing was smoother when Sawyer forgot he needed to reinforce the idea the story took place in Ontario and instead focused on the characters and their personal struggles.

Also, the birth of AI in the internet is silly. I may know next to nothing about programing, but this was clearly science-magic. AI is fine for a story. While I don’t personally find it compelling, others I understand like reading about it.

Summary: it is a well-written book. I enjoyed it despite all my complaints. That said, I have zero interest in the sequels that round out the trilogy so don’t expect more on this topic. Now back to my own sad scribbles.

Reading, Writing and Reviewing

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As work becomes less intensive I feel I ought to contribute something to the blog. I have read and enjoyed several books of late. Unfortunately none of them inspired me with the burning need to write full length reviews. Instead I will gather them all in one post – into a mass reviewing of books.

Book cover from the interwebs.

Free Agent by J.C. Nelson was a fun, fast-paced romp through a fantastical urban setting drawing heavily on fairy tale imagery. The protagonist works for the local Fairy Godfather, who will help you find your Happily-Ever-After for a reasonable fee. When working on assignment, Marissa mistakes a blacksmith for a prince things start to unravel around her. She is suspended from the job she loves and hates. She causes her crush to be targeted by a dangerous curse. She ends up in the hospital on more than one occasion from near death experiences. But things turn really dangerous when her boss is targeted by a rival Fairy Godmother. Sorting out all the tangles and surviving to work another day is not an easy task. The writing is fun and imaginative. The story is high energy and fun. I will be adding the (yet unpublished) sequel to my book-list.

Book cover from the interwebs.

Unmade by Sarah Rees Brennan is the third and conclusive book in the Lynburn Legacy novels. I really enjoy the character development in Brennan’s writing. Yes, it is a young adult novel. So yes, it follows around a bunch of hormonal teenagers. However, Brennan doesn’t write dialogue like teenagers speak. Her characters are far more engaging. They have distinct voices that are often filled with lively banter and cleverly crafted phrases. With the author’s awareness of classic tropes, she handily makes fun of many of the clichéd moments in the story. Even the main character is able to reflect on how easy life would be if she was an orphaned heroine, rather than burdened with a family she cares about. I really appreciate the variety of relationships built (or broken) in the story. The inclusion and prominent use of family in the story helps to build a world that is real. While we might not be facing an army of murderous wizards, we can all relate to family feuds that disrupt our lives. It is the characters that drive the story and create the interesting world of Sorry-in-the-Vale. I really did love this series.

Book cover from the interwebs.

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas is the third book in the Throne of Glass series. I have really enjoyed following the saga of Celeana – world’s best assassin. It is a richly developed world with multiple locations and people all interacting at various points. Though the story revolves around Adarlan and its recent abolishment of magic and all those associated with it. It is a kingdom set to conquer the world – seemingly at any cost. Despite the inclusion of the fey, the world is interesting. Celeana is a fascinating character. She is not the most verbose of leads, but her actions are loud and energetic. There is something engaging about her struggles in a world that has become increasingly grim. My biggest complaint of the book that followed not only Celeana, but Captain Westfall, Prince Dorian and the Heir of the Blackteeth clan was the lack of conclusion. For whatever reason, I had it in my mind this series was only three books in length. I was a little surprised and disappointed to reach the end of the book and not have a conclusion to the story. On the other hand I have another book to look forward to. It is a fun, if somewhat violent, young adult fantasy setting. Still I enjoyed it.

Book cover from the interwebs.

Royal Airs by Sharon Shinn is the sequel to Trubled Waters. The story is nice (if somewhat predictable), the characters are nice, and the pacing is a tad on the slow side. What draws me to this series is the world. I love the description of the capital city with its temples, plaza of women and men, the potentially dangerous river, and the mix of modern elements. There are a number of more ‘modern’ elements mixed with more traditional fantasy; from the trousers and tunics worn my most people to the automobiles clogging the city streets. Yet this is a world where the sword (or knife) is the deadliest weapon. Magic is both overt with the primes and their ability to move the elements and subtle when mixed with the spiritual religion. While I appreciate the author’s reorganization of the calendar into five seasons, each eight weeks long with a changeday between them. Each week is nine days. I like the neat organization of the calendar. But I love the religion and its focus on blessings. There are eight blessings (things like wealth, change, joy, etc) for each ‘element’ (wood, water, earth, air, and fire). At the temples you pull your blessings three at a time. They can offer guidance or reflection for where you are in life. I like that while you are typically born into an element it does not depend on your parents and is more a reflection of your personality. There is something about this setting that I find lovely. It is more for the setting that I read this series and will continue to read this series.

Book cover from the interwebs.

Tin Swift by Devon Monk is book two in her rough and tumble new world western frontier setting. It is an age of steam and mechanism, with rail lines crossing the land and airships sailing above. It is a land where the gods can curse a man. Where the fey are dark and hungry, the thing of shadows and nightmares. Witches are few and clustered together in covens. Man is restless as he seeks his fortune (whether that is power, safety or freedom). It is a rough world filled with violence, death and mysterious dark forces. But there are also glimmers of hope mingled in the mixing of magic and machine. There is something intriguing about the gritty world Monk has created. The writing itself is also well-constructed.

TV Review – Scorpion

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It is fall and that means there is a new crop of TV shows assaulting the airways. One of the shows that caught my eye (for reasons I cannot entirely explain), is called Scorpion. It is supposedly about a group of geniuses who form a special unit in the US government to solve crimes and right wrongs and hunt bad-guys. The standard sort of fare.

Not my image. Title image of TV series on CBS.

I was not expecting much, though the first episode proved splendidly awful. It was tripe, clichéd and illogical. It was Flash Gordon bad – so bad it was kind of good. It was funny, when it was trying to be serious – or at least intense. All the emotional, concluding moments were far too contrived to take seriously and the plot was over the top to say the least.

Bored, I watched the second episode. I was expecting another ridiculous romp. Unfortunately it was so glaringly bad that I could not loose myself in the outrageous plot line. In fact, it was almost offensively stupid and illogical.

Where to start my actual complaints?

While I would rewrite everything, I don’t think it is so entirely without potential. However, the main character makes zero sense. He cannot be emotional disconnected and the leader of a team of misfits that all need special handling. No person is that conveniently inept. He also cannot be a genius at everything if he still needs a team of secondary characters. So, one of the first things I would do (besides recasting the flat and poorly acted parts) is to redefine the group members, their roles and more importantly their limitations.

The ‘Human calculator’ and ‘Mechanical superstar’ should be rolled into one character; ‘the Engineer’. The lead should be brilliant at computers and software and average at other things. The amazing psychologist should be the team leader – he has the skills for this position. This is the character who should be responsible for interacting between the group of misfits and the rest of society. I would then add someone with a different expertise, something in either physics or biological sciences.

The main caste of the Team of Misfits – missing only the surly Government Official that put the team together.

Further, when faced with a problem the characters should play to their strengths, fall apart with their weakness. Their dialogue should also reflect their roles in the group. This would help with character development and consistency. For problems completely outside their purview, they should fail. Or at the very least call in guest characters to help/lead them threw that challenge.

Finally, we need to address the idea of genius. What is a genius? According to this show, those who are good with math and incompetent at social interactions are geniuses. I am not certain that you have exhibit characteristics of autism to be classified as super-duper brilliant – but then I didn’t spend a lot of time studying this concept. Also, everyone understands that the IQ test is not the be-all end-all of intelligence testing right? The test is largely based on cultural knowledge. Besides, how do you define intelligence? Everything has to be learned so what are we really measuring? This however is a question best left to other people (like my brother who has actually some background in this area).

Anyway, I just want to say that while I don’t hate everything, Scorpion is a terrible show. Atrocious writing, terrible acting, zero chemistry and absurd plots make for poor TV – except for the numerous viewers who have no discerning taste.

Silver Mirrors

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So it has been a while since I reviewed a book. It has been a while since I have read a book. So, here I am with a very short book review.

Silver Mirrors is A. A. Aguirre’s sequel to Bronze Gods. It is described as a steampunk noir by the author. While I don’t get the noir part, it is clearly steampunk set in a magical world.

The land of Hy Breasil is a series of Islands; including the Summer and Winter Isles. There are allusions to some distant land, the original source of Humans in Hy Breasil. The original peoples were the Ferishers who had magical abilities. With mention of the Iron War and a great barrier separating the islands from elsewhere, it seems to me these books are set in a parallel world; the mysterious Fey land often mentioned in British mythology.

Janus Mikani and Celeste Ritsuko are two members of the Criminal Investigation Division of the Dorstaad police. In Bronze Gods they stop a conspiracy to tear down the veil separating the islands from elsewhere. Silver Mirrors follows directly after those events and looks at some of the consequences.

Book cover – image from the internet.

I liked the way the book did not spend one chapter summarizing the first book in the series. It doled out the information in bits and pieces throughout the novel and provided just enough mention of Bronze Gods to remind me of the key points (even though I had forgotten most of the plot).

My biggest complaint with the story was the lack of investigation. It seemed a bit of a stretch to send two CID from the capital city of Dorstaad to the distant Winter Islands to figure out why weird things are happening (weird things including: screaming mirrors and wailing trains). That aside, the two leads are moved from one location to the next in sequence. Things happen. Information is fed to them, but there is no real sense of mystery or investigation. It never felt they were in charge of their actions. It very much felt like they when from one place to the next because that was what had to happen for the plot to progress.

Over all, the book was fine. It will not make my top ten list (still working on that one), but it is not terrible either. I will happily read the next in the series – something I am guessing will happen.

I am Divergent

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Book Cover – not my image.

The latest greatest craze for young adult novels is Divergent by Veronica Roth. It is well loved by more than just teenage girls (though I am not entirely certain on the breadth of its audience). Divergent is described as a well-written dystopian future with a richly created female lead. As I said, I have only heard positive things about this book. So, with some trepidation I plunged into the futuristic world of crumbling cities, segregated populace and randomly running trains.

Divergent is set in an unspecified city – though according to the back it is meant to be Chicago. I am not American, so likely I missed all the obvious references. For reasons, definitely not explained, society as we know it has crumbled and been replaced by five competing factions that have until the start of the story managed to work peacefully and effectively together. Each faction is dominated by a single personality trait: honesty, selflessness, happiness, intelligence and bravery. Each faction is responsible for a different aspect of life in a functioning society: Candor = the legal system, Abnegation = government and all volunteer organizations, Amity = farming and health care, Erudite = research and development, and Dauntless = security.

At the age of sixteen each member of society takes an aptitude test which is a short series of hypothetical scenarios in a virtual reality setting. Using a process of elimination the results will tell the person which faction they belong in. After the test, the sixteen-year-olds then choose the faction they would like to belong to. Strangely this Choosing Ceremony involves cutting your palm with a shared knife and dropping blood into a bowl representing one of the five factions.

Image from the recent movie – not my picture.

My first question was why? Why do they need to physically shed blood during the Choosing? Yes, I get that it is symbolic. The words that hold up society are Faction before Family. By bleeding for your faction you are binding your blood with theirs. Still, it seems unnecessary.

While most children will stay in the faction they were raised, those that leave for new factions are then condemned by their families and taunted by their new faction. I don’t really understand this reaction as it seems to run counter to the Choosing Ceremony and Testing. If you don’t want your children to change factions, then why give them a choice in the beginning?

After the Choosing, the sixteen-year-olds undergo Initiation. Again, I don’t know why we have a redundant set-up. The person has already been tested via some system whose results are not generally called into question. The young person has then made their choice. What is the purpose of Initiation? The flimsy excuse that it is the factions’ chance to weed out its members seems contrived. It is clearly an excuse to bully the Initiates, to put them through hazing rites.

So we follow our young female protagonist from the life she has been raised to the aggressive chaos of the Dauntless Pit. The cult of the Dauntless styles itself as a cross between military discipline and aggression and punk rebellion. They wear black. They are heavily tattooed, pierced, and dyed. They do crazy, bad-ass stunts that would normally be considered stupid. Ostensibly to prove how brave they are, the Dauntless will jump on and off moving trains. They will fight each other using their fists, guns, knives or any other weapon. They will theoretically face their fears. Everything about them is aggressive and often violent. They drink until drunk. They yell loudly. They jump off really high buildings to ride zip-cords. And they apparently only see violence as evidence of fearlessness.

Wow, don’t they sound cool?

Book Cover – not my picture.

Well, not really. Bravery or fearlessness is not marked by the ease in which you can kill another person. Just because you can pound the flesh of your opponent into the ground doesn’t mean you are dauntless. It is a very limited view on the concept. Now, to show some fairness the author obliquely mentions this was not always the way the Dauntless worked. However, the manner in which she concludes the story with a very violent night of executions ending with their protagonist easily killing dozens of people seems to celebrate the violence of the faction.

One thing that struck me in this world: who controls the trains and why do they never stop? It seems like such a simple question, almost inconsequential. However, the fact that there is no answer really starts to demonstrate the incompletion of the story’s world. I am not even going to question the serum or the fact that the protagonist inexplicably finds herself drawn into the greater conflict. I will not ask why the male lead randomly is attracted to our female protagonist – because presumably that can happen in real life. Of course this is a perfect relationship in which he truly understands her, though they don’t spend a great deal of time talking. I will not even question the timeline. In only one month’s time, our decisive protagonist becomes an expert in hand-to-hand combat and the most amazing marksman. All this while still recovering from a number of very serious injuries – I think she might be a relative of Wolverine.

There are two final things I would like to bring up in this incoherent ramble.

First, it is obvious from the start these factions are cults. There is no better way to describe the uniformity of action and thought demanded by the factions. It makes you wonder again how they started and how they had been getting along for so long before our book starts. It is makes me question the initiation process once more. Initiates that fail this process are kicked out of the faction (or the case of the Dauntless are likely dead) to become Factionless. The factionless are the homeless in this futuristic world. Why? I suppose they must all have failed their initiation. Strangely enough they also serve a purpose performing jobs that no one else wants. So why do they continue to accept the abuse they are given? Why does the Abnegation not incorporate them back into the factions? Perhaps the answers to some of the questions are answered in the other two books of this trilogy.

Symbols for the different factions – found the image on the interwebs – certainly not my own product (I think it is a movie poster but I could be wrong).

Second, how does being Divergent give you super powers? Just because your test results are inconclusive (you show equal aptitude for two or more factions), you suddenly can perform actions faster and better than anyone else. If anything, I could see this being a hindrance, you are not so focused. Instead those who are divergent can recognize they are in simulations (a trait unique to them) and they are harder to mind-control (which apparently is the purpose of each cult – I mean faction). This is stupid. There is – at least there shouldn’t be – anything special about our female protagonist. However, in fact she is special, super-powered because of her divergent nature. It is rather amusing as we start to learn there are a number of divergent people living in this world. But don’t tell anyone.

Divergent bears a strong resemblance to the Hunger Games. Both narratives are told first person, present tense from the female protagonist’s perspective. Both involve poorly structured dystopian societies. Both books celebrate and glorify violence and the killing of others. They both end in the slaughter of a number of characters. Tris in Divergent is more decisive than Katnis in the Hunger Games. I find both characters waver between bland and unlikeable – perhaps a reflection of my ancient age.

In summary: Divergent is a silly story with serious flaws of character, plot and world building. That said, it is far better written than Twilight (the lowest of low). Having read the story, I still don’t understand why people who are not sixteen like it.