NOLA

Despite my travel delinquencies, I have indeed traveled to New Orleans (for work). Unfortunately, all I saw was the French Quarter (open containers of alcohol on the streets and people covered in beads despite it not being Mardi Gras). I think I would have loved it in college. I regret not having seen any of the cultural bases for the city, but what I did see hasn't inspire me to go back.

Treasure Island - Robert Louis Stevenson

It's hard to believe that I've made it this long without reading this classic adventure rag. It delivered everything it promised - danger, excitement, treasure, adventure... Sure, the characters are caricatures, but at the end of the day this novel was written to inspire kids to be pirates, and it certainly inspired me. The basis of a lot of pirate-lore (the pirate, shiver me timbers, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum...), who hasn't wanted to go on a quest to find buried treasure? Sure, Long John Silver is a scoundrel, but would we have him any other way?

The Vanishing Man - R. Austin Freeman

In the style of Sherlock Holmes or a Wilkie Collins novel, this turn-of-the-century (the LAST century) murder mystery is quite intriguing. John Thorndyke is a medical lawyer whose keen powers of observation and reliance on observations and data make him thoroughly scientific in his investigation methods. The book is narrated by a young medical doctor who falls in love with one of the principals in the case. As far as mysteries go, I wasn't at all surprised (and in fact expected) the conclusion, but as always I was drawn in by the image of a more civilized (at least in some parts of the popultion) time.

Red Mars - Kim Stanley Robinson

The first in a series of books about the colonization and terraforming of Mars, this novel functions well as a stand alone novel. I doubt I'll read the rest of the series - while the world is intricate and the characters are engaging, there are too many characters to get personally attached to any of them. The novel begins with the murder of the 'First Man on Mars' by his best friend, and another of the '1st Hundred' - the first hundred colonists on Mars. It gives a retrospective of personal interactions between the 1st Hundred, all of whom were scientists, albeit with different ideologies. The terraformers, led by Sax, would like to remake Mars in Earth's image, whereas the Reds, led by Ann, would like Mars to remain untouched. John Boone, as well as Arkady in a different way, argues for Martian independence from the transnational companies on Earth that have grown wealthier and more powerful than individual nations. The transnationals represent capitalistic greed in a socialist/utilitarian society. Attempts to reset human history on a new world come into conflict with the traditionalist ideals, and a rebellian results (compared often to American Independence) that leads to the deaths of many. Other interesting concepts include the discovery of a 'treatment' that leads to increased lifespan, which leads to incredible overpopulation problems on Earth, and a breakaway group led by Hiroko (likely to be discussed more in future books), who are the true idealists. Overall, this novel made me think, but didn't draw me in.

His Majesty's Dragon - Naomi Novik

Not a bad little fantasy piece. The presence of dragons is inserted into the British/Napolionic wars. Dragons basically provide air support for the naval and land troups. The story is told from the perspective of a formal naval officer that bonds with a rare Celestial Chinese dragon after it hatches from an egg that he takes from a French frigate. He is forced to leave his aristocratic life, parents, and love interest to become an 'aviator' - inserted into a totally different world where (gasp) women can also be aviators and crewmen are informal. The captain and the dragon learn together who they are and how much they depend upon each other.

Pride and Prejudice and Zombies - Jane Austin and Seth Grahame-Smith

Wah! So of course I had to read it. I can't resist either Jane Austin OR zombies, let alone together. Only an idiot like me would expect to like such a thing. I enjoyed the book about as much as I would have enjoyed a zombie eating out my succulent brains. Of the >50 cool ways I imagined the author could have written this book, all were ignored, and it was one of the most poorly cobbled together things I've read in a long time. It's almost like the author did a 'find and replace' for certain phrases and inserted zombie references. I could have written a better version in an hour.

Assassin's Apprentice - Robin Hood

As much as I hate to admit it after my recent lambasting of the fantasy genre as a whole, I really liked this book. It was a page-turn (screen-advancer) and the characters were diverse enough to be interesting. I would definitly be interested in reading the rest of the triology, although the book was sufficient as a stand-alone novel. You rooted for the main character, even though he wasn't perfect (and in fact was an assassin, no one I could root for in real life), and the description of the society verged on political criticism. There was a Machiavellian kind of economy - whatever means to an end, and description of the responsibility of rulers to the people (the Mountain people didn't have a King, but a 'Sacrifice'). No noble set of ethics guided decisions on the societal level (although they did on the personal level) - the good of the Kingdom was the overriding goal.

Other interesting things. I actually liked the Royals' naming system - name them for virtues you hope them inspire to - leading to the irony of course that personalities became the perversion of virtues taken to the extreme. The Red ships with Forging was slightly confusing to me, and I'm assuming will be played out better in the subsequent novels. Also, blaming the child for being a bastard (most definitely not the child's fault, but certainly politically important when you're a bastard of royal blood) was telling of society as well.

Overall, I'd recommend this novel for a light read if you're into fantasy - not a masterpiece but definitely fun.