Ready Player One

Here we have a geek book.  The main characters are geeks, the plot revolves around playing video games, and the book is packed with geeky pop culture references.  I’m somewhat geeky and like a handful of video games, but I’m no gamer, so I was worried that this book would go over my head and/or be boring.  So, did I like it?

I did.  I was a tad worried at first, but I put on my +1 Helmet of Geekdom, dove in, and had a fun time.  I finished this book in three nights/reading sessions.

The book is set in the not-too-distant future, where civilization is swirling around the drain.  Climate change, overpopulation, and war have have all stacked up to make life shitty.  Unemployment is high, people are crammed into slums everywhere, and natural resources are stressed.  To avoid reality, people turn to OASIS, a global,  immersive virtual reality game.  People go to school in OASIS, work in OASIS, and some live the majority of time in the game.  This is true of the main character Wade, aka Perzival.

Like many others, Wade lives and breathes OASIS.  So when Halliday, the game’s creator, dies and announces that the winner of a puzzle/hidden teasure contest in the game will inherit his fortune and position as owner of OASIS, Wade is eager to win.  Of course, so are thousands of other OASIS players.  And an evil corporation.

The contest stretches for years, with all but the most die-hard players like Wade giving up.  Then Wade discovers the first clue and the race is on.

Sure, there were some references I didn’t get, and the plot was very predictable, but I was still very entertained.  It made me want to go hop on a video game and beat some boss-monsters.  It also made me seriously think that it would be a good movie, and sure enough, a movie adaptation helmed by Steven Spielberg is supposedly in the works.

I do think the plot could’ve been a tad deeper, and a lot of the pop culture references weren’t exactly necessary, but this was a fun book.  If you have any interest in video games, D&D, or cult pop culture, I recommend you read it.

Rating: 9/10

Blood Trail

This is the version of Blood Trail that I own.  It’s technically an omnibus, having both Blood Trail and its prequel, Blood Price.  My reaction to these two books can easily be summed up with memes.

Blood Price:

Blood Trail:

You can read my review of Blood Price here, which I wrote before attempting to read Blood Trail.  I didn’t finish Blood Trail and had no desire to, which lowered my opinion of Blood Price too.

In Blood Trail, the biggest problem is Vicki.  I want to like her.  She seems like a strong female character, and she has a distinguishable personality.  Unfortunately, Vicki’s personality rubs me wrong.  She’s stubborn, argumentative, and a little hot-tempered, and not in a cute or funny way.  No, she’s the sort of person you hate getting in a debate with because you know it’s going to turn into an argument, and regardless of the outcome you’ll end up with your blood pressure raised.  I know people like this, and I avoid them, and now that I’ve made that association with Vicki, I can’t forget it.  The only parts of Blood Trail I liked were the parts that she wasn’t in, and since she’s the main character I figured that meant it was time to stop reading.

Blood Trail Rating: 3/10

Steelheart

This is the third book/series I’ve read by Sanderson, and the first one I’ve read by him that is considered YA.  I’ve noticed a sort of recurring tone in his books, but first the general synopsis.

People with superpowers appear, but they’re all bad.  These super-powered people, called Epics, throw the world into chaos, destroy traditional government, and eventually establish their own fiefdoms/territories.  The Epic called Steelheart kills David’s father, and eventually takes over Chicago.  David grows up, joins a band of rebels, and get them to help him try to kill Steelheart.  We readers know it’s not an impossible goal impossible because they’re the heroes and book heroes usually win, but still, Steelheart is basically an evil Superman.

There were parts I like and parts I didn’t like.  For the most part, I didn’t like Meghan, or David’s interest in her.  I kinda liked the idea of Epics having weaknesses, but I didn’t like how stupid/specific some of said weaknesses were; I understand parallels can be found in comic books, but I don’t like it in comic books either.  For example, David says there was an Epic that could only be killed by someone that was 37 years old; that’s almost on par with Captain Marvel Jr. and Wonder Woman for stupid weaknesses.

Stupid.

Newcago is pretty depressing.  In fact, that’s something I’ve noticed about Sanderson’s works: there has been something depressing or threatening in every book.  Steelheart is actually the lightest, most “fun” book by him that I’ve read, and I still wouldn’t really call it fun until the second half of the story.  That’s not to say his books are bad – quite the opposite – but if you’re looking for a light read and/or the book equivalent of a summer blockbuster popcorn flick, Sanderson is not your author.

The idea of all superpowered people being bad was different, and the end of the book was a significant improvement over the begining.  There was a love interest, but no actual romance or love triangles in sight (yay!).  The one character that annoyed me ended up having a reason for being annoying, so overall I’d say it was a good read.

Rating: 7.5/10

I need to discuss the character Meghan, and there will be significant spoilers as a result.  Meghan really irritated me.  She seemed nice at first, but was cold/bitchy for most of the story.  This was particularly irritating because despite her mood swings, David had a crush on her.

She’s just not that into you.

It turns out the Meghan is actually an undercover Epic, sent to spy on the rebels/Reckoners.  In fact, she if Firefight.  The mood swings are related to Epics are crueler when they’re actively using their powers, and at times Meghan was sneakily using her’s.  I like this explanation for her moodiness, especially since she’s not the only character that faces this problem.  My main concern is that it looks like the sequel is going to revolve around her and trying to save her, so I hope Sanderson continues to manage avoiding the sappiness/stupidity of many YA novels.

Utopia

I like amusement parks.  I don’t necessarily like a lot of the rides -roller coasters and other popular “thrill” rides don’t interest me – but I like some of the shows and tamer rides.  At Universal Studios, I particularly liked the new Harry Potter Diagon Alley section, in part because of how immersive it felt.  So how about a book set in Utopia, an imaginary theme-park made famous for its immersive visitor experience?

Utopia is a park with four themed sections: Boardwalk, Camelot, Victorian Gaslight, and Callisto/space station.  All visible crew members dress in theme-accurate costumes based on whatever section they’re in.  In fact, theme/historical accuracy is so important, that the park creators hired historians and specialists of all sorts; even the plants/landscaping is theme-accurate.  If Utopia was real, I would go on a pilgrimage to get there.

plz make it a thing

I liked and cared more about Utopia than I did about any of the characters.  So naturally, Lincoln Child used Utopia not just as a setting, but as a hostage.  The bad guys and good guys duke it out behind the scenes, the bad guys killing people by tampering with/blowing up rides and the good guys quietly trying to stop them.  All the while, the park guests are blissfully ignorant.  So now I can’t fully enjoy imagining a park like Utopia, because I remember that Lincoln Child is having tourists die there.  And the next time a theme park ride breaks while I’m on it – which has happened (Men In Black at Universal) – I can pass the time wondering if it’ll blow up.

y would u do dis to me?

The book was fine for what it was.  I can’t say there was anything particularly good or bad about the plot, characters, or story-telling.  The only part that really stuck out in my mind was the park itself, but that was marred by the whole burning-and-killing-tourists thing.  Is my reaction to the book logical?  Probably not, unless Lincoln Child intended for readers to consider the Utopia park a character in and or itself.  But that’s ok; reactions and opinions don’t have to be logical.  I read it, it was fine, and it’s time to move on.

Rating: 6.5/10

Blood Price

The first books I read by Tanya Huff were her Valor series, which I loved.  It had humor, action, and a strong female hero.  Blood Price also has humor, action, and a strong female hero, so I should love it too, right?  Wrong.  But let’s talk about the story first.

Vicki Nelson used to be a homicide investigator.  She was good at it and loved it, but quit because of bad eyesight that was only getting worse.  So she became a private investigator.  She gets hired by a college student to look into the death of a classmate/lover, and along the way partners up with a [non-sparkly] vampire and learns that demons are real.  This book is not Supernatural though.

Crowley would’ve made things more interesting.

Yes, there are supernatural elements and humor and fight scenes, but it left me underwhelmed.  Since the vampire, Fitzroy, is nocturnal and doesn’t interact much with Vicki, the author tries to interest you in him with flashbacks of his past.  I didn’t care though, and skipped over most of them.  Vicki has what is described as a “stormy” relationship with Mike Celluci, meaning they scream at each other 90% of the time and have sex the other 10%.

So this is love, huh?

The villain is pitiful.  Not in the sense that he’s a worthless villain, but rather that I almost pitied him.  I understood his motivations, and while he was creepy, I kinda felt bad for him by the end.  I’m not sure if that was the author’s intention or not.

The book was decent, I finished it, and I intend to read the next one, but that’s partially because book I have is a 2-for-1 deal that has both Blood Price and Blood Trail.  Hopefully the next book is bit better though, because after the Valor series, Blood Price was a bit disappointing.

Rating: 6/10

So, about the villain.  Norman Birdwell is an oddball.  He’s the sort of person that, if one day they snapped and did something drastic, deep down you wouldn’t really be surprised.  That’s Norman.  He wants to be liked, to fit in, to get a girl, but instead he gets laughed at and shrugged off.  Repeatedly.  To his face.  And then he starts summoning demons, making the demon steal cool things for him, and when he still doesn’t get the girl, he orders the demon to kill.

Crowley would hate being compared to Norman, but…

I got the feeling that maybe Norman wasn’t aware that when the demon he summoned needed to “feed” it was actually killing, because when he finally gave it a direct order to kill it seemed like a big deal.  That makes Norman even more pitiful, because that means he wasn’t an intentional killer at first.  Granted, the fact that he thought summoning demons was in any way a good idea is not a point in his favor, but it doesn’t seem like he started with malicious intentions, but rather was corrupted by the power he was trying to control.  Almost more of a victim than a villain.  And since I can’t tell how much of this is intentional on the author’s part, it makes Norman a bit of a problem for me.

Island of the Sequined Love Nun

I loved Moore’s book A Dirty Job.  I remember liking several parts of his book Lamb, even though I didn’t finish it for some reason.  Then I read Practical Demonkeeping and this book, and I was just so disappointed.  And bored.  And frustrated.

So chronologically, the books were written in this order: Practical Demonkeeping, Love Nun, Lamb, A Dirty Job.  Since the book I liked the most of those four is the most recently written, I’d like to think/hope that part of the reason is because Moore’s storytelling has improved over time.  I’ll have to try one of his other, more recent books.

But back to the Love Nun book.  I didn’t love it.  In fact, I found extremely boring, and couldn’t bring myself to waste the time trudging through the rest of it when I knew I could be reading something else.

Tuck is an idiot who thinks with his dick, and ends up crashing his employer’s private plane during an ill-advised mid-flight liaison.  Then he gets a shady employment offer and ends up on a backwater island with a collection of odd characters.

There’s the taxi driver, with the junker taxi car and aspirations to be a Crips gangbanger.  There’s the intelligence officer that spends his days “spying” on the island’s “navy,” which basically amounts to a fishing boat.  And there’s the cross-dressing prostitute/pilot named Kimi who has a live bat necklace/pet.  Sounds like a fun group, right?

Nope, they aren’t fun.  It’s not like they’ve created a fellowship to help the main character, thus becoming interesting and entertaining side characters.  No, the story diverts from the main “plot” to show you how quirky these other characters are, but ultimately they contribute nothing to the story but filler.  And it feels like filler.  It’s like ordering General Tso’s Chicken from a Chinese place and getting a dish with a bunch of broccoli and peppers and other vegetables, and just a couple of pieces of chicken.  Vegetables are okay, but you’d probably feel cheated and want more chicken.  Well, I wanted more story!

Where’s the plot?

What I read felt like an aimless mess that was going no where fast, so I gave up.  I don’t care what happens to Tuck, so I’m just going to pretend he was eaten by cannibals so I can move on to another book.

Rating: 2/10

Mistborn: The Final Empire

[First half spoiler-free, then spoilers after warning.]

This is the second series by Brandon Sanderson that I’m reading, and it does not disappoint.  The book is 600+ pages, and while it is descriptive, it does not spend seven pages describing a forest or a building.  Because this is a longer book, the set-up takes longer, so it takes a while for the story to gain momentum.

The main character of the book is Vin.  She starts off as a beaten and untrusting street urchin, and at first I didn’t like her.  Over time she gains some confidence, and turns out to be a very powerful Allomancer.  I generally like strong female heroes, so I really wanted to like her and was rooting for her to save the day.

Girl power!

Kelsier becomes a sort of secondary main character a bit into the book.  He’s charismatic and daring with a tragic past; not unique, but still fun.  Other characters I like were the enigmatic Sazed and the quirky Elend.

The story takes place in a rather depressing world, with most of the action centered on Luthadel, a sad, sooty city with a large population of slum-living “skaa,” peasants treated like slaves.  The Big Bad – an immortal tyrant – lives in the pointy, many-towered building called Kredik Shaw, located in the center of Luthadel.

Ok, Luthadel isn’t THAT bad, but there are similarities.

The Lord Ruler maintains his rule in part with Allomancy, the magic of the land.  In a lot of books, magic is very vague; lots of wizards tossing fireballs and lightning around with nothing but some gibberish words.  On the other hand, Sanderson gives Allomancy clearly defined mechanics and parameters.  I think this makes the magic more interesting and unique.  He does spend a fair amount of time describing Allomancy and having Vin learn Allomancy though, so some might find it boring.

Buckle down, there’s learning to be done.

I liked that the book was more thoughtful with its magic system, and that the story wasn’t the epic quest tale typical of many epic fantasies.  It wasn’t a page-turner, but I was entertained throughout most of the book.  This is part of a series, so I plan to read the next book.

Final rating: 8/10 (0 = die in a fire, 5 = average, 10 = amazeballs)

So Vin was awesome and disappointing at the same time.  Awesome because she managed to go from a downtrodden girl I didn’t like, to a girl with a bit more confidence and spunk, not to mention cool abilities.  She’s starts off as a short-haired, pants-wearing, dirty-faced urchin, and eventually embraces luxuries like perfumed baths and fancy dresses without losing sight of who she is.  A lot of books/movies seem to be afraid to make a kickass girl that likes dresses and girly things, unless she’s a sexy/flirty femme fatale type character, so I’m glad Sanderson didn’t shy away from that.

You can kick ass AND wear dresses!

However, she suffered from Harry Potter Syndrome in that despite all the hype around her, how she won the showdown with The Lord Ruler had nothing to do with her gifted Allomancy abilities.  In fact, it was really nothing special at all, just circumstantial luck/resources: she had the Eleventh Metal and knowledge of the logbook.  Given the same resources, any relatively intelligent Mistborn Allomancer could’ve done the same.

Keep telling yourself that Harry/Vin.

I don’t understand how The Lord Ruler managed to have a young version and an old version, and I can’t remember anything being done to the old version.  I assume that’ll be in a sequel, so I shall read on.

Generation V

Review contains spoilers.

This book could have been bad.  Nowadays any book that has vampires in it makes me suspect that sexy blood suckers and/or Bella-sues will be making an appearance.  However, this book really doesn’t have that.  Thank goodness.

Meet the Scotts, a family of vampires.  Madeline is the matriarch, an old, powerful, and respected vampire with a large territory and three children she sired.  Prudence is the oldest child; she’s independent and cold.  Proper, obedient Chivalry is the middle child, and although he’s married, he still lives with Madeline.  Then there’s Fortitude, the youngest sibling and the main character of the book.

Guess which one is Fortitude?

Fortitude (Fort) is a loser.  He works at a crappy Starbucks knock-off, has a useless liberal arts degree, and a junker car.  He has a girlfriend, but she’s a rebellious  super-liberal and she’s openly cheating on him with his bum of a roommate.  The only “cool” point is Fort’s favor is that he’s a vampire.  Or rather, he will be after he goes through vampire puberty.  But he doesn’t want to be a vampire, so he avoids his family and eats veggie wraps instead of steak, hoping that’ll delay vampire adulthood.

Sure, ’cause that’ll work.

Fort isn’t a complete lost cause.  In fact, he’s the most empathetic of his family; not difficult, considering most of his family has as much empathy as a brick.  His family sees humans as pets, servants, and food, while Fort likes and respects humans as sentient beings.  This is part of the reason why he doesn’t want to become a full-fledged vampire.

Thing is, even with his good heart and good intentions, Fort does some stuff that firmly qualifies as stupid.  A big bad vampire visits the Scott family, and while in their territory he kidnaps a girl.  Fort is horrified, both by the kidnapping and his family’s lack of concern about it.  So he, a weak baby vamp and with a bad poker face, decides to try to confront the vampire and bluff him into releasing the girl.  His backup plan?  A gun he’s not even sure can kill the vampire.

Other interesting characters appear in the book.  There’s a curmudgeonly witch, a half-elf, and a family of kitsunes.  One kitsunes, Suzume, is funny and becomes an important character.  I suspect she’ll be a love interest in later books, but for now I like her.

Overall this is a was a fun book.  It wasn’t deep or ground-breaking, but it was fun, had a good pace, and wasn’t bogged down by an insipid romance.  The author’s take on vampire biology was interesting, and I like dynamics of the Scott family.  I plan to try to read at least the next book in this series.

Rating: 7.5/10

Insurgent

There are potential spoilers in this review, so ye be warned!

I read “Divergent” and found it tolerable, so I decided to read the next book in the series.  True, “Divergent” had a weak premise, but was entertaining enough that I let things slide.  Unfortunately “Insurgent” takes that same weak premise and stacks blocks of drama, angst, and stupidity on top, and eventually it just collapses into a pile of WTF.

Readers, we have a problem.

The basic concept at the heart of society in this book – the faction system – is unrealistic.  History has shown time and again that dividing people doesn’t create peace and stability: rich vs. poor, race vs. race, religion vs. religion, etc.  Also, the factions are defined by character traits: modesty/selflessness (Abnegation), intelligence/curiosity (Erudite), bravery/fearlessness (Dauntless), pacifisim/tree-hugger (Amity), and honesty/trustworthiness (Candor).  Everything about your life is determined by the faction you belong to: how you dress, where you live, how your house should look, who you can marry, and how you should act.  You must always conform to the ideals of your faction.

You will fit in that box if you know what’s good for you.

But wait, you say.  What if someone is brave AND smart AND honest?  You know, if someone had a realistic, well-rounded personality instead of being a living stereotype?  Well, that person would be labeled as “Divergent.”  And Divergents are a danger to society.  Obviously. Why?  Well, because they don’t fit in one particular box, so they are a threat to the faction system.  And they have special brains that are resistant to the simulation serum; magical, evil brains.

Ok, the magic part isn’t actually true, but so many myths have been spread about Divergents that some of the characters in the book admit to prejudice and superstitious beliefs concerning them. Seems kinda odd to that a society with science advanced to have realistic mental simulations and truth serum would still have people believing in nonsense like magic brain powers, but what do I know.

I guess River is Divergent.

Speaking of truth serum, wtf?  Seriously.  At the start of “Divergent” there’s all this tension between Erudite and Abnegation factions because of some nasty rumors flying around.  If there is a truth serum, and the whole Candor faction is dedicated to the truth, why didn’t Candor use their magic serum to get to the bottom of the rumors?  And then in “Insurgent,” why didn’t they use it to figure out what the hell Erudite was up to?  Having half of Dauntless acting as Erudite body guards after nearly wiping out Abnegation didn’t seem like a good reason for Candor to say, ” Everyone shut the hell up and take some truth serum”?

Erudite in general seems pretty stupid, considering that they’re supposed to be the “smart” faction.  They create a serum that lets them mind-control Dauntless, and uses them to attack Abnegation?  Seriously?  If they wanted information, they should’ve subjected Abnegation to truth serum.  If they wanted to take over the city, they should’ve attacked or brain-washed Candor first, as they were more likely to offer resistance than Abnegation or Amity.  It just doesn’t make sense. The Tris in “Insurgent” feels like a different character that the Tris in “Divergent.”  While reading “Divergent,” I remember thinking that Tris was more bad-ass than Katniss from “The Hunger Games”; she learned how to fight and use weapons and actually applied that knowledge.  In “Insurgent,” bad-ass Tris has disappeared and was replaced by a stupid, angsty teen with a martyr complex/suicidal tendencies.  Some people will say Tris is in shock and a reacting to everything that happened recently, but I don’t care.  I don’t like Tris enough to want to read a whole book of her being stupid, useless, and mopey.

Final Verdict:  Nope.  One star.  It might be better than “Twilight,” but I still couldn’t finish it.

Patient Zero

by Jonathon Maberry

I found the overall story very entertaining.  There was action, suspense, and a bit of though/pseudo-science all mixed in.  It was not a deep or thoughtful book, more the page-turning equivalent of a summer action flick.  Some points I feel should be addressed:

1.) This is not a zombie apocalypse book, or a tale or a zombie medical epidemic. This is a story of the “War on Terror,” of the clash of the American government with Islamic religious extremists. In this case, the terrorists’ weapon of choice just happens to be zombies; more specifically, a zombie virus cooked up by extremist scientists.

2.) The main character, Joe Ledger, is a bit much. He’s a gruff warrior-type and a leader, with better reflexes and combat instincts than experienced war/combat vets. He manages to attract the interest of a gorgeous woman, and is able to comfort her when she has a breakdown. Ledger makes for a decent main character, but I think I’d like him more if he was more flawed and less male Mary-Sue.

3.) Grace Courtland. Here’s a woman who is supposed to be beautiful, efficient, beautiful, cold, beautiful, and capable. And beautiful. Really, any time a new character meets her, they mention how beautiful she is. She’s basically just a Bond girl, so she predictably ends up with Ledger. Because of this, she feels like a waste and a distraction. I would’ve liked the story more if either Courtland proved herself to be powerful and capable and NOT ended up weeping on Ledger’s shoulder and then sleeping with him, or if she had just been replaced with a male character.

Verdict: 7/10.  I very nearly gave it 7.5, and would have if Grace Courtland had been less frustrating.