The Avid Reader: October 2010

The books I read in October 2010.

I started the month with a Star Wars book. ‘X-wing: Wedge’s Gamble’ is the second in the X-Wing series by Michael Stackpole. It continues to follow Wedge Antilles, Corran Horn, and the rest of Rogue Squadron through the next several months. The focus of the novel is actually a major happening in the Star Wars Universe, which is the Rebel Alliance taking over the central planet Corsucant. Against that backdrop, we follow the interpersonal relationships, the political maneuvering, and, of course, the various battles. Overall, I liked the book, but there were several times I had a few moments of, ‘oh, come on.’ Corsucant is a single city on a planet, and having a chase just ‘happen’ to crash into a building where other characters just happen to be stretches even the belief in the force. I did enjoy the book, and give ‘Wedge’s Gamble’ a B.

The third in the series of Percy Jackson and the Olympians is ‘The Titan’s Curse.’ As with the other two, I enjoyed the novel. The characters continue to grow and develop, and we meet more important characters, including Thalia and Nico. The mythology is once again correct, and it is very nice to see the gods and titans really start to go at it, even with the demigods helping on both sides. The romantic story also continues to develop, which doesn’t do that much for me except remind me painfully of early unrequited crushes I had while in high school. *shudder*. This third book continues bringing the epic forward and adding more complications to the dire prophesies the Oracle has given our heroes. I give ‘The Titan’s Curse’ an A-.

I decided that as long as I was giving reviews of books, I would include graphic novels, as, in my eyes, they are an a legitimate artform, just like fictional books, plays, movies, or any other story telling art form. So, that being said, my first graphic novel review is of Thor: Secret Invasion.

Thor: Secret Invasion is one of the tie-ins for the over-arching mini-series Secret Invasion. I had read Secret Invasion, and Thor, as one of the most powerful characters in the Marvel universe, was instrumental in rallying the heroes of Earth to fight off the invading aliens the Skrulls. I was looking forward to having Thor’s story of how he got to the fight. Instead, what I got was a story of what was happening in Asgard. Don’t get me wrong; I love the tales of Asgard and Thor’s supporting cast. This was a story about Thor’s alien ally, Beta Ray Bill. Beta Ray Bill is one of the few beings in the galaxy who can wield Thor’s hammer, Mjolnir, and he was given a hammer Stormbreaker which is the equal of Mjolnir. This makes Bill one of the mightiest beings in the Marvel universe. According to the story, Bill was captured, which I can accept, and then his powers genetically duplicated, which follows the rest of the Secret Invasion story, so I can accept. One of the things I can’t accept is that the Skrulls had the know-how to cut Stormbreaker in two, have it continue to work, and then give the hammer with its worthiness enchantment to a Skrull warrior now as the Godkiller, who is able to lift it. The Godkiller has Bill’s genetic signature, but certainly not the worthiness to lift the hammer. All in all, I found Thor: Secret Invasion disappointing and rushed. It did have some wonderful character moments, in particular for Thor’s alter-ego Don Blake, but it did not make up for my disappointment. I give Thor: Secret Invasion a C-.

The second graphic novel I read was ‘Annihilation: Conquest: Volume 1.’ This is another over-arcing mini-series. It deals with the ‘cosmic’ superheroes and the alien races of the Marvel universe. It is actually the second major saga of the cosmic heroes line, the first being ‘Annihilation. In Annihilation, two of the three major alien races are almost destroyed. The Skrull Empire was decimated and the Kree Empire was barely holding on. Conquest tells what happens next. This collection starts with a re-imagining of one of the major alien races – the Phalanx. In the first section, the ‘Star-Lord’ mini-series introduces what will become the supergroup Guardians of the Galaxy. Part 2 continues with the heroines Quasar and Moondragon. ‘Annihilation: Conquest: Volume 1’ is a mixed bag. I really enjoyed the humor in the Guardian’s part. One trend that Marvel has is that they will kill a character just for shock value. This time they choose Deathcry, a member of the Avengers from the late ‘90s (and mentee of Hercules). They have her act out of character, in my opinion, attacks a teammate for saving her life, and then he destroys her. I am always disappointed when they take a character with a rich history and un-fulfilled mysteries and kill them. The second half of volume follows the new Quasar and Moondragon. I’m not thrilled with the treatment of these two characters. Quasar is a replacement for what I consider the ‘real Quasar’ who was killed in Annihilation (still a source of irritation for me) and she does not have the makings of a Quasar, who protect life. Moondragon, always an irritating character because she thinks she’s better than everyone else, starts out okay, but then she goes through an ridiculous transformation that left me in disbelief. I am hoping that the rest of the series makes a better showing than this first part. Volume one of ‘Annhilation: Conquest gets C.

The fourth installment of Percy Jackson and the Olympians is ‘The Battle of the Magic Labyrinth.’ This one brings in the most famous maze in the history: the Labyrinth. Just as in all the other books, the Labyrinth came over to America when America became the center of western civilization. It is another fast paced adventure taking place over about a week. Percy Jackson is frequently compared to Harry Potter, and it is a fair comparison. Both are part of a hidden world hiding just below the surface of the mundane world. Both are stories of young boys who do not fit into the outside world. They have good friends who help them out, and the enemy that they face is much more powerful than they are. The difference is that this is most certainly an American story. It is fast paced and action oriented. The first person narration is also a major difference; I found Percy’s observations very amusing. The Magic Labyrinth is a worthy continuation of the story, with good mythology, good storytelling, and a nice build up to the final chapter. ‘The Battle of the Magic Labyrinth’ gets an A-.

The Dragon’s Island by Jack Williamson is an old school science fiction book. I found it truly amusing when on the back of the book it talks about how normally science fiction books are set in the far future, instead of just a couple years from now in the 1970s. This book was written in 1951, but it still deals with morality issues that are still raised today. It focuses in on Genetic Engineering and creating a race that is ‘better’ than ‘normal’ humans - faster, smarter, stronger. Are they out to destroy normal humans or are they going to be the saviors of the world. You have the humans who are sure the ‘mutants’ are going to annihilate the human race, and will do anything to kill the mutants, and you have mutants who seem to have shady dealings and consider humans less than they are. Dragon’s Island keeps you guessing as to what side the protagonist should be on. The ‘science’ of the science fiction is…well…shaky at best about how they do the genetic manipulation, but overall it is a pretty good read. I give Dragon’s Island a B.

I have to admit, I have always been a fan of Bangsian Fantasy. Bangsian Fantasy is where an author will take historical people and write about them in a situation after their death –whether it is in the afterlife (Heaven/Hell) or a rebirth. One of the finest examples of Bangsian Fantasy is Philip Jose Farmer’s Riverworld series. I finished book 3 – The Dark Design- of this series. The previous two books were very entertaining. The first book –‘To Your Scattered Bodies Go’- is written from the point of view of Sir Richard Burton – a British explorer, adventurer, and author. The second book – ‘The Fabulous Riverboat’- is told from the point of view of Samuel Clemens, AKA Mark Twain. The idea is that everyone who ever lived on earth is brought back to life on the banks of a river, without any knowledge of how they got there. They introduce many characters from history – Alice Hargrave (Alice from Alice in Wonderland), King John of England (Prince John of the Robin Hood legend), Eric Bloodaxe (Viking chieftain), Hermann Goering (of the Third Reich), and swordsman Cyrano de Berjerac, as well as a single alien and a couple caveman-types. This third book – ‘The Dark Design’ has multiple points of view rather than the single of the first two. For the most part, the book flows along very well, although it jumps from person. Along with Burton and Clemens, we see from the point of view of a 20^th Century liberated woman who is a blimp captain and Peter Jarius Frigate, a 20^th Century author (who closely resembles the author Farmer). As I said, the book flows very quickly until we are introduced to Frigate. We then take time out of the book to let the author expound on his view of the life, the afterlife, philosophy, and long examples from his life. It is about four or five chapters in the book that really drag it down. I strongly recommend the first two books of the Riverworld series – giving ‘To Your Scattered Bodies Go’ a B+ and ‘The Fabulous Riverboat’ an A. The third book is the weakest of the series so far with its sometimes confusing transitions and the long section of Frigate’s. This third book is really a transitional book between the first two and then the fourth book where many of the questions are answered. I give the ‘The Dark Design’ a B-.

As a birthday present, my buddy Paulie gave me the graphic novel ‘Siege.’ I have been looking forward to this particular graphic novel. I knew that it was going to feature my favorite Marvel superheroes – Thor and Captain America- as well as the return of the main central Avengers – the two plus Iron Man. For the past several years, the heroes of the Marvel universe have gone through some severe difficulties, including a Civil War where the heroes were fighting other heroes because of a constitutional amendment and the aforementioned Secret Invasion, followed by something called the Dark Reign where former Spider-man villain Norman Osborn (the Green Goblin) becomes the new leader of the spy agency ‘HAMMER.’ Osborn sees Asgard – which is now on earth floating above Oklahoma – as a national security threat and sets up one of the Asgardians to cause an incident that would allow him to attack and take over the home of the gods. The attack is staged and, despite the President’s order for Osborn to stand down, Osborn attacks using a group of villains masquerading as the Avengers. The graphic novel is fast paced with some fine moments for Thor, Captain America, Iron-Man, and the Greek war god Ares. It also has a show down between two of the most powerful beings in the Marvel Universe: Thor and the Sentinel. The battle and deaths of major characters are graphic and powerful. The difficulty with most of the mini-series now is that we are not getting the full story. I know that I will be getting ‘Seige: Thor’ which fills in some blanks in the story, and there are at least 11 other collections that tie into the Seige storyline, which is a bit much. Overall, this is one of the better mini-series, but I also know that I am a bit biased towards Thor and Asgard. I give Seige a B+.

The grand finale of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians takes place in the fifth book. It is a natural build from the previous four books, and continues using the mythology to tell a fast-paced, exciting story. It is a story that truly shows that not any one person can do it all on his/her own, and sometime the ‘hero’ is not necessarily the one you expected it to be. There were enough twists in this story to make it fun; I have to admit, I had the big twist figured out fairly early, but there were a number of smaller twists that I didn’t see coming. It was a good read, and well worth the time I put into it. I give the ‘The Last Olympian’ an A-.

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I started the month with a Star Wars novel, and now I’m bookending the month with next installment of the X-Wing saga. ‘The Krytos Trap’ features Rogue Squadron leader Wedge Antilles and the others trying to deal with the death of Corran Horn and the trial of their XO Tycho Celchu, who is accused of Horn’s murder. We also see Horn trying to escape from his imprisonment. The backdrop is Corsucant, now under the control of the Rebels, and the politicians trying to set up a government. The mystery of the traitor in their midst is interesting to try to follow, and characters continue to develop and stretch. It also ties in to some of the established minor characters from the movies, which is always fun. I actually liked this one better than I liked the second novel. I give ‘The Krytos Trap’ an A-.