My wife and I are both massive bookworms at heart. Two small children and a puppy, and a mountain of DIY/refurbishment to do restrict our reading to aMy wife and I are both massive bookworms at heart. Two small children and a puppy, and a mountain of DIY/refurbishment to do restrict our reading to a book a week, rather than the book a day we'd prefer!
Ever since our youngest was born, my wife has felt kind of frazzled! There's just so much to do and her attention span for complex novels has deteriorated. She wants 'popcorn' reads.
I've been sitting there going, "Read Leviathan. Read Leviathan. It's exactly what you want. You'll love it. Read Leviathan!"
She was resisting because she'd never read any Westerfeld before, and if you've barely got two functioning brain cells to rub together, it's easier to re-read books you know and love, because you already know what's happening. I get it, I do.
But eventually she heeded my sage advice and read Leviathan, and she loved it. These books are light, fun, and tremendously imaginative. The plotting isn't going to spin anyone's head-out, but there's enough shimmys (I wouldn't call them twists) to avoid them ever becoming predictable. All in all, very consistent ya-steampunk-war adventures.
Of the three books, I'd say this was my favourite. The world has been set-up, the characters have met-up, and we're all set to crack straight on with some proper adventuring! The setting (Istanbul) is fabulous. The Perspicacious Loris is wonderful. The rebel walkers and Ottoman steam-elephants are all just marvellous!
The only thing that holds this series back from being 5-stars, is that the characters are all a little one-dimensional and 'good' - eg, Deryn is 100% brave, loyal and pragmatic. There's none of the shades of grey that nuance the y-a protagonists of a peer like, say, Bacigalupi, or the snark of Stroud. Probably closest in style to a blend of Pullman and Nix.
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of lif
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my GIFTS AND GUILTY list.
Regardless of how many books are already queued patiently on my reading list, unexpected gifts and guilt-trips will always see unplanned additions muscling their way in at the front.
I'm a big fan of Peter Hamilton's work, yet I'd never heard of Lightstorm until a couple of months ago, when I was compiling my Pantheon list.
This is a YA sci-fi, set in a shared world called 'The Web - 2027'. Half a dozen different authors each contributed a story, all with different casts, but a shared setting and antagonist. Hamilton did not create this world and is working within the framework of the shared project.
Initially, the most striking aspect of this story is the use of jargon - there's a lot and it's quite silly. A kids bedroom is his cocoon. Boring people (or things) are cogs. People you don't like should curl-up. Computer power is measured in mips. An online AI character has a phace. Leaving the web is scuttling. Eight is good, six is bad, widow is amazing. People spin in and out of websites. There's so much webspeak, the book has a glossary. It comes across as very 'teeny' but unconvincing.
Next up - the web itself. This concept of the web is built around VR. Everyone has VR interfaces to access the web, either through basic gloves and glasses, or more commonly suits - technology is just reaching to a direct link to the nervous system (a neural shunt/jack/chip, etc). There's no mention of basic 2D screen interfacing - which again, is unconvincing. So websites are places. Hacking is like pulling a heist, with security and viruses, etc, taking physical form (as spiders, rats, cages, etc). This is all very reminiscent of Tad Williams' Otherland series (an epic fantasy story disguised as a sci-fi set in a VR universe). If you liked Otherland, you'll like The Web 2027 as a kids version. Also worth mentioning that some self-aware AIs have been granted citizenship status and just live in the web as regular folk. To me, as a sci-fi geek, this is a pretty huge deal - friendly, independent AI being something of a techie nirvana - but it's just dropped in here as an aside (and link events from another book in the series).
Then we have the realworld situation: This is the UK after global warming has hit and oil/petrol has run out. People don't travel much, the roads are decaying, we all live in our local communities and use the web for anything more distant. Green energy is important. As is an eco-friendly mindset.
The story itself is a fairly simple one - a kid sees something strange. Him and his net buddies do a bit of web hacking to figure out what's going on, and then the kid goes on a realword mission to get the proof - nicely mixing the action between web and realworld. The kid is likeable, the mission is worthwhile, and the pacing/action skips along quickly. It's a light, breezy, easy-read story (as long as the jargon doesn't grate).
I have issues with the conclusion - it's very much a bad-guy out of nowhere - because that part of the story is tied into the larger series, which I haven't read - so that element doesn't work particularly well as a stand-alone.
This isn't brilliant, but it's alright - it's about a 2.6 rounded up to a 3 star rating, because I'm a Hamilton fan.
Also worth noting that Lightstorm was an Xmas present from my wife's parents - and as it's a fairly random and specific book which I particularly wanted and they bothered to track it down, I thought that was very cool.
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of lif
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my LOCUS Y-A list.
I think I’ll always have a soft-spot for imaginative young-adult speculative fiction and as the good people at Locus did such a grand job with picking their Sci-Fi winners, I’ll trust them to single out some special y-a books too.
Before I read the book I was: Excited!
The title: Brilliant. The cover art: Beautiful. The endorsement from Gaiman: Reassuring.
And the word on the street? Hot-diggitty, I think they liked it! Whenever I check out a new book, there are certain reviewers opinions that I look for first... Nataliya - 4 stars Carol - 5 stars Catie - 4 stars Alrgernon - 5 stars Megan - 5 stars Jonathan - 5 stars When you see this many stars flashing past from trusted voices - it's hard not to get that greedy, anticipatory grin!
So I was having my 'Locus YA Award Winners Phase' - devouring one tasty YA morsel after another, as fast as I could snatch them up, like starving man at a vol-au-vent buffet...
Every time I went back for more, my hand hovered over Valente's fairytale, and I thought, "no, shhhh, not yet; we'll save that one for later". So I saved it for last and then...
Oh. I'm not loving this! Why am I not loving this? Damn you, world, how could you do this to me? What crushing disappointment is this?
And yet, from there, I slowly, gradually, incrementally but irresistibly allowed the curious quirks and curves of the words to slip into the rhythm of my thoughts. And by the end - oh, the end! - by the end I've got that grin back, that greedy, anticipatory grin that I had before I opened the book. It was wolfish, that grin at the end, so much so that I wanted to brush-up my teeth and let it shine out extra bright.
It's very superficial - that was what bothered me. The language is oh so very cute and whimsical, with the erratic little details like glitter and ball-bearings in your alphabetti-spaghetti. And the imagination is wonderful, like a cartoon dream captured in moonbeams and crayola. But where's the depth? Where's the substance? If you try and sink your teeth into this world, it's going to pop like a bubble.
September, this little girl, she gets whisked off to fairyland, OK? And then she decides to go and find an adventure, because that's what you do when you're in fairlyand - right? So she meets some fairy folk and goes on a journey and stuff happens - and it's all so very arbitrary because there's nothing driving this apart from the fact that something has to happen, and there's no real consequences for September. It did not vibe well with me - but it did charm me.
I think it was about the point she goes to visit Autumn that I turned a corner - over half way in. Some bad juju comes September's way and now that she's got a clear adversary, allies to put at risk, and actual consequences biting her ass - now we've got some tension and a real story!
From there it's all on the up-and-up, and by the time the big climax ties everything together, I had to concede that Miss Valente really does know what she's doing.
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of lif
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my GIFTS AND GUILTY list.
Regardless of how many books are already queued patiently on my reading list, unexpected gifts and guilt-trips will always see unplanned additions muscling their way in at the front.
POPCORN! Did you hear me? POPCORN!
It's delicious and oh-so-very moreish... as soon as I finished the book I wanted another one! But despite all the zippy-tangy flavour, there's no real substance - I could read a dozen of these things without being made to think for myself once!
You could argue that's not a great compliment... but if you're looking for interesting, accessible, enjoyable, escapism then you need look no further than Stormdancer.
As far as I'm concerned, Kristoff started his novel writing process by making a list of cool stuff:
I love the idea of riding a dragon! But wait... there's been loads of books (and films) about dragon riders. What other mythical flying beasts are there. Pegasus? Na, too horsey, too girly. Griffins are kind of cool! Did you ever see those Schliech toys - Dragon Riders and Griffin Riders? They were cool. But the name, 'Griffin' doesn't have a zing to it. Eagle head, lion body... what if we made it a snow tiger body and called them Thunder-Tigers! I like it... I really like it!
What else is cool? Ninjas and Japanese martial arts. Everyone loves them!
Also - Iron Man. Iron Man's suit is awesome. Did you ever see the steampunk/noir comic they did? That was mega-awesome.
Oh heck - while we've mentioned steampunk, make sure we get some airships and lots of goggles in there! And while I'm linking back into my earlier thought about ninjas... CHAINSAW-KATANAS. Best idea, ever, right?!
Psychic powers! Dr Doolittle styleee. Imagine talking telepathically with your Thunder-tiger! I love myself when I'm in this mood - throw that in the pot!
What else? Think bigger! Drugs. A whole country of drug addicts.
Tattoos are always cool.
Also... we need Corruption (with a capital C) - corrupt government, corrupt/polluted land, fuelled by the blood of innocents! Mwahaha! EVIL! Yes! Now an evil King, Emperor, whatever... so evil he likes to hurt puppies and wants to have sex with his sister... and kills anyone who fails or disagrees or makes his breakfast wrong...
Have we got enough in the mixing pot? The protagonist should be a young, sexy girl (of course!). We've got so many layers of cool here I'm scared to mix the pot - what if the awesomeness reacts with the uber-cool and there's some kind of explosive Zeitgeist-splosion! OK - do it! Do it! Mix the pot!
Oh, holy Japanese stempunk! I've baked a Stormdancer!
Damn... it tastes good...
Let's cook-up a sequel :-)
Recommended for fans of Leviathan (and vice-versa). ...more
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of lif
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my LOCUS Y-A list.
I think I’ll always have a soft-spot for imaginative young-adult speculative fiction and as the good people at Locus did such a grand job with picking their Sci-Fi winners, I’ll trust them to single out some special y-a books too.
Ugh. How did Pay the Piper ever win a Locus award? 2006 cannot have been a great year for YA books!
It’s not a ‘bad’ book, but it very, very ‘OK’.
American, teenage girl, blah blah blah, quirky name, blah blah blah, a rock/folk band retelling of the Pied Piper of Hamlin, blah blah blah, fairy politics, blah blah... snrk? Did I drift off there for a minute?
Look – I’m not terribly good at writing negative reviews – I like books and I appreciate the effort put an author puts into telling a story. Because I’ve been working my way through award winners for the last couple of years, I’ve become somewhat spoilt. I expect the crème de la crème. Instead... I got vanilla yoghurt. Nothing wrong with vanilla yoghurt, but I’ve never deliberately bought it.
There are two halves to this story worth discussing – the concept and the execution. The fantasy concept isn’t too bad really. Who was the Piper? Why did he lead all those kids into the mountain? What’s his backstory? What if he was still around? So we’ve got an immortal fairy prince, banished to the mortal world for killing his brother, forced to pay a tithe of gold or souls every seven years or become mortal himself. Because of his innate fairy gift for music, his bounced about over the centuries, trying to scratch-up enough cash to pay the tithe or, as a last resort (when he’s broke) stealing children. Nice guy, real likeable, huh?
In the modern era he’s the frontman for a folk/rock band – playing flute and singing (at the same time?) and writing songs which are all about himself and his plight, because he’s self-absorbed, arrogant prick like that. So the band do a gig, the night before they have to pay the tithe, and it’s the last paycheque they need to raise enough to pay the fairy king. But the damn fools didn’t read the fine print – it’s a charity gig and they ain’t getting paid. And you know what The Mask says – can’t make the scene if you ain’t got the green – so they’re forced to steal the children instead.
The Piper makes out like he hates taking children and, woe is me, he feels much, much guilt. But this sympathy shuttle’s never-ever gonna fly. How irresponsible do you get, to leave it until the night before the bill is due before you fill the piggy-bank? And to not check the contract on a charity gig under those circumstances? And then there’s the alternative – take the hit on the chin, pay the price yourself and become mortal yourself? Nope. Okay, so I’m totally cheering your corner in your quest to beat the Fairy King’s curse and get back home to fairyland, you brother-murdering twat.
Which puts all of the empathy-burdon on our heroine, the bright as button, quirky little fourteen year old, Callie. She must be quirky, right? Because she has a quirky name? And her siblings (Mars and Nicolodeon) have even quirkier names – so this must be one hell of a kooky family? Except it’s not; it’s boring. She’s boring. Her teeny-bopper chitter-chatter with her buddies is annoying as hell. And her family are just so annoying! *petulant foot stamp and pout* And gosh-darn it, it’s just so hard to write a review of a gig when you overheard the band talking about tithes and stuff! Let’s have a strop, huh? She’s immature (if you haven’t gathered).
When I was fourteen I was going to xxxxx with my xxxxx and xxxing her... actually that’s a little too much personal detail for this review – but let’s just say my real life was considerably more gnarly at that age than that of Callie and her picket-fence crew. If I’d met Callie then, we wouldn’t have been friends. The girl is sheltered, conventional, hasn’t got a drop of alternative attitude in her constitution (despite the rock and roll allusions of the series) and this story doesn’t exactly push her out of her comfort zone. She just sort of doddles along and solves the conundrum at the end.
So an annoying child breaks a fairy curse and lets a murdering child-thief go home. Happy ever after. Barf...
If you want to read an excellent story of fairies playing rock and roll - read War for the Oaks by Emma Bull - that is everything that Pay the Piper should be. If you want to read an excellent modern, re-imagining of the Piper (with drum'n'bass instead of rock) read King Rat by China Mieville. Save your time, skip Pay the Piper.
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of lif
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my LOCUS Y-A list.
I think I’ll always have a soft-spot for imaginative young-adult speculative fiction and as the good people at Locus did such a grand job with picking their Sci-Fi winners, I’ll trust them to single out some special y-a books too.
Was it good? It was amazing!
That’s what a 5-star review means, right?
It took my 5 days to read Ship Breaker, because real life kept getting the way. Left to myself, I would have easily blitzed through this puppy in a single sitting – not even stopping to eat.
Cards on the table – I’m a Bacigalupi fan and The Windup Girl was an instant hit with me – so I was all primed and excited to enjoy this one. But hell, if you’ve never read The Windup Girl and you’re coming to Ship Breaker fresh, you’re in for a treat.
It’s set in a near future, post-oil dystopia. The world as we know it has gone to wrack and ruin. There’s a boy, our hero, Nailer Lopez, who’s in his early teens but small and skinny for his age. He works for the Light Crew, scavenging copper wiring from the beached hulks of oil tankers. It’s a rough life on Bright Sands Beach, living in a shanty town with his abusive, alcoholic father. It’s not a setting that pulls any punches – this is poverty. There’s camaraderie amongst the crew, and Nailer has the tinies smidgeon of security with his friend and crew boss, Pima and her mother, Sadna. Everyone’s desperate for a ‘Lucky Strike’, that stroke of fortune that will turn their lives around – make them into something. Likewise, everyone’s desperate to hold onto what little they’ve got, because there’s always someone with less looking to take it from you. Like I said, it’s a hard life.
After narrowly surviving a scavenging accident (Nailer gets dropped into an oil reserve, abandoned by an ambitious crew mate and impaled by rusty shrapnel), and surviving a hurricane which levels their shanty town (wiping out whole families) – Nailer’s luck seems to turn for the better. He and Pima discover a crashed clipper ship – the fabulously expensive, modern, beautiful wave skimmers that fly across the world’s oceans. It’s crashed, it’s fit for scavenging – this is it, their lucky strike!
But there’s a survivor – sure they could kill her and take the loot – but Nailor’s conscience is getting pesky with the squeamishness. He insists on saving her life, and the Nailor’s Dad catches up to the crash and seizes it, and the survivor for his own.
That’s (nearly) as far as I’m going to divulge with the premise – it all gets pretty gnarly as Nailor defies his Da’ and throws in his lot with the survivor, who’s in the midst of her own corporate war.
This is gritty, likeable, fast paced and enthralling reading. It’s a compelling, convincing world, sketched out in broad brush strokes and tied together with fine, visual details.
I’ve just read seven award winning scifi/fantasy YA books in quick succession; three Tiffany Aching novels, Pay the Piper, Leviathan, The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland – and Ship Breaker. Guess which was my favourite? It’s the only one I gave five-stars to. It doesn’t dumb anything down or ‘nice’ things up. The fantastic elements aren’t cute or clever. This is about great human qualities – loyalty, trust, faith, determination, self belief, resourcefulness, and never-say-die attitude. The characters have depth and flaws – I cared about them.
Also – I’m a sucker for some of them steampunk flavours.
I keep promising myself – "no more series until you’ve finished the ones you’ve already got on your plate" – and then I meet one that’s just too good, and I have to put the sequel on my list.
I couldn’t quite figure out if this is set in the same world as The Windup Girl – and if it is, if it’s the same era. There are definitely elements in common, but not enough to be sure. My instinct said same world, but earlier in the timeline. I’m hoping that will be clarified in future books.
The plot itself is a little predictable in places (eg, no real doubt that it will all work out alright in the end) – which is in marked contrast to The Windup Girl – but I’m not sure the YA market is ready for quite that much bleak and gritty just yet!
I loved Ship Breaker. You might not love it as much as me, but you’ll never know unless you give it a try. Highly recommended!
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of lif
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Following the resounding success of my Locus Quest, I faced a dilemma: which reading list to follow it up with? Variety is the spice of life, so I’ve decided to diversify and pursue six different lists simultaneously. This book falls into my LOCUS Y-A list.
I think I’ll always have a soft-spot for imaginative young-adult speculative fiction and as the good people at Locus did such a grand job with picking their Sci-Fi winners, I’ll trust them to single out some special y-a books too.
This is a book I read before The Great Goodreads Censorship Debacle blew-up and for a few weeks all thoughts of regular reviewing went right out of the window. As a quick aside on that, while we’re here: many good people have left, but to me, the reaction of the community - the solidarity, creativity and conviction shown by the many wonderful reviewers here – has convinced me that I should stay. The almighty overlords might be incompetent, but all the regular Joes are solid gold. I’ll stand up and tell the Censor exactly where he/she/it can shove the big red delete button, but I’m not going to walk away unless they kick my trouble-making ass out on the street. And if I’m sticking around, I might as well get back to business.
Leviathan won the Locus YA award in 2010 - the same year that Boneshaker took the top Sci-Fi book, The City & The City won best fantasy, and The Windup Girl walked away with best debut. In the YA group, Leviathan polled ahead of Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2) and Ness' The Ask and The Answer to win this award, which was no mean feat. Ever since then, the feel-good buzz around the book has gotten thicker and it's a book I was veryverymuch excited to eventually be reading!
Leviathan is a great book. I bought in all the Locus YA winners before I started reading any of them, then blitzed through them like Pringles – good YA is always uber-accessible easy reading, and once you get on a roll it’s a slippery slope. That’s one reason I think big YA fans are so enthusiastic about their books; this stuff is quick, uncomplicated fun. Like a no-strings f#ck-buddy. Good YA leaves you feeling buoyed-up and ready to dive into the next one – there’s no deep-and-meaningful suckerpunch in need of a good mulling-over when you finish.
Of all the YA books I read on that roll, Leviathan is my second favourite (behind Ship Breaker). The concept is pure awesome! The instigation of WW2 through a fantasy-steampunk lens. The Nazis are replaced with Clankers – mechanical geniuses who wage war in walkers (walking tanks, a la Star Wars walkers) and the Allies become the Darwinists – a fantasy science of unzipping DNA and mixing it up to breed new, custom beasties.
We follow joint protagonists, one on either side of the conflict. There’s the son of Archduke Ferdinand (the dude whose death marked the tip-off for hostilities) - running for his life to Switzerland. Then there’s the girl-pretending-to-be-a-boy working for the British Air Force, ‘manning’ the titular Leviathan, a helium-filled flying whale inhabited by a whole ecology of tweeked beasties.
As far as visual imagination goes, this is rich, heady stuff, gloriously splashed across the senses.
The adventure is quick paced, with clear, strong characters and a simple but effective plot.
For me, what let it down somewhat were the two leads. Neither really grabbed me or surprised me at any point – it felt like all the creativity had been sucked out into the wider world, leaving them grey and listless. Alright, they’re not that bad – but enough to knock a star off my rating.
Leviathan really is a fine book and for me, one that lived up to the fuss. It’s a strong enough setting to carry a dozen stories if he wants to – can you imagine an epic interweaving of plots, like A Song of Ice and Fire, but set amidst this steampunk war? Ohmygoshness, I love the potential!
Now that Mr Westerfeld has got the world up and running, I just hope he can put the same spark of genius into his characters for the sequel.
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