Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road

Thursday, March 08, 2018

Robin: Tragedy & Triumph (Batman/Robin #4) ★★★★☆

Title: Robin: Tragedy & Triumph
Series: Batman/Robin #4
Author: Chuck Dixon & Alan Grant

Artist: Norm Breyfogle & Tom Lyle
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 192
Format: Paper Edition

Synopsis:

This graphic novels entails 2 different stories that aren't related.

The first story, entitled Rite of Passage, is the backstory of the tragedy surrounding Tim Drake's parents. How his mom died and his dad was totally incapacitated. They were multimillionaires, investors and their plane was hijacked. They were held for ransom by the Obea Man in Haiti but he had planned to kill them along no matter what. Batman rescues them but not before they drink poisoned water, which kills Mrs Drake and puts Mr Drake into a coma. While all of this is going on, Tim is back in Gotham tracking down a computer hacker who has been stealing from Gotham banks and depositing the funds into peasants accounts across the world.

The second story is the Robin II set of comics that introduces the new Robin as his own character. Batman is out of town, the Joker escapes and it is mid winter with a huge storm coming in. The Joker kidnaps a computer programmer and takes over the city and demands Batman deliver him a billion dollars. The Joker blows the truck up to kill Batman and in the ensuing confusion (As Robin has set things up) Robin takes down the Joker and puts him back in Arkham. Thus he puts to rest any doubts he has about being capable of being Batman's partner.

My Thoughts:

I can understand why they put these 2 stories together, but they really didn't mesh well. The tragedy surrounding Tim's parents is only touched upon in Robin: A Hero Reborn so it is good to get the full story. It is amazing how the birth of a hero always seems catapulted by some sort of deep tragedy in their own lives. Nobody, as far as I can tell, just wakes up in Comic World and decides to fight crime for the fun of it. I obviously haven't read every about superhero, nor do I have that desire, but Motivation seems to half the battle when it comes to creating a “hero”. Nothing beats a good old death of mum n dad to help someone along the path.

The Robin II storyline, with Tim facing off against the Joker, was your stereotypical comic book storyline. A whole city helpless, only one man, or boy in this case, can save the day. The Authorities completely stymied, every person in power panic'ing and their brains nullified. It is the dream of every teen. It also showcased how comics in the 90's were still grounded in our world. None of this alternate reality, science fiction, fantasy kaka I see nowadays. Once a Superhero moves out from “our” world, they become just another character, no longer a Superhero.

This Robin book didn't impress me as much as the previous book. It wasn't as good but it also wasn't as ridiculous. It was a comic book about a teenager (Drake's only 14 for goodness sake!) for teenagers. I've been looking around at other Tim Drake/Robin books and I think I'll be leaving them alone. Drake's origin and first real mission, that's a good place to stop.

I've got one more Batman/Robin graphic novel coming up, Under the Red Hood, which deals with the return of Jason Todd. I have no idea if Drake is involved or not, but either way, I'm ok with this little bit I already own and have no real desire to chase down more.

★★★★☆

Tuesday, March 06, 2018

Hunters of Dune (Dune 7 #1) ★★★☆½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Hunters of Dune
Series: Dune 7 #1
Author: Brian Herbert & Kevin Anderson
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 644
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Duncan Idaho, Sheena and others escape in the noship Ithaca. They journey in another universe altogether for years before coming back to ours. Once back they have multiple run ins with the Old Couple, who are revealed to be Erasmus and Omnius, who are in control of the new Face Dancers and for some reason need a kwisatz haderach of their own to “win” Krazilec. Sheena ends up recovering lots of genetic secrets from their resident Tleixu master, Scytale. She ends up resurrecting many of the Atreides and their retainers “because”. Duncan wants to keep on the move to avoid the Old Couple while other Bene Gesserits on board want to find a planet to settle down on to restart the Bene Gesserit Order without the “impurity” of the Honored Matres that Murbella introduced.

Meanwhile, Murbella has forced her New Sisterhood down the throats of the Bene Gesserit and Honored Matres. Not all Honored Matres submit though and Murbella must subjugate them so as to show a united front for when the Unknown Enemy makes it appearance. She also must contend with the Spacing Guild and Ix and the tech world of Richese. She begins pouring the New Sisterhood's spice reserves into Richese to build a fleet unlike anything the Old Empire has ever seen.

Khrone, the leader of the New Face Dancers, while under the control of the Old Couple, has plans of his own for the Face Dancer Myriad. Using the last Lost Master of the Tliexu, Krone raises a ghola of the old Baron Harkonnen and one of Paul Atreides.

This book ends with the forces of Omnius beginning the invasion of the Old Empire.

My Thoughts:

Ok, this is my 3^rd time reading this. What struck me the most was how busy this was while taking 20 years. A lot of hurry up and wait. The second thing that struck me was this book did not fit in with the previous 2 by Frank Herbert. If you hadn't read the Legends and Houses of Dune trilogies by Herbert&Anderson, much of this is inexplicable and makes no sense. Frank Herbert wouldn't have written a book like this. I can see the bare bone ideas that Frank might have used but some of the specifics, not at all. The third issue I had was that in the previous 2 books the Honored Matres were presented as this completely overwhelming force but here they fall before Murbella and the New Sisterhood like a row of dominoes. It didn't scan.

I found that as long as I didn't stop to think too hard about things, I had a better time with this. It's nice to get the final story of Dune but really, it feels as much a sellout as a dedication to a great series. I wasn't sure if how this would turn out after my 2 other times, but it was still decent. Now though, no more re-reads of this. I've still got Sandworms of Dune to finish this duology, but once I'm done with that, I'll stick to just re-reading Dune every decade or so.

I would recommend this for a hardcore Dune completionist and that's about it. If you made it through Heretics and Chapterhouse, then I don't see that kind of person having a hard time with this. They might not like it a lot, but it will scratch the itch of wondering where Frank might have taken us. Consider this authorized Dune fan fiction and you'll have a good grasp of the style and skill.

★★★☆½

Friday, March 02, 2018

Cobra Traitor (Cobra Rebellion #3) ★★☆☆½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Cobra Traitor
Series: Cobra Rebellion #3
Author: Timothy Zahn
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 416
Format: Trade Paperback

Synopsis:

Merrick Broom is on a world to find the war drug that the Trofts are going to use on humans to infiltrate the Dominion of Man and cause havoc. He hooks up with some freedom fighters and a Troft from an opposing Demesne.

The Dominion of Man has taken over Aventine, the capital Cobra world and now it is up to the Cobras there to figure out a way to throw them off without getting the entire planet scorched. Or every Cobra with a slave collar on.

The Qasaman's are playing their own games, with various drugs and secret cobra soldiers.

Everything ends with the “bad” Troft alliance falling apart due to the various other characters all working together. Jody Broom and the Cobra Traitor head to the main Dominion of Man world to show what happened and to sway public opinion in favor of the Cobra worlds.

My Thoughts:

Well, besides the original Cobra, none of these other Cobra books have really worked for me. This is book 9, the third trilogy and I'm done. Zahn was a favorite of mine growing up and he wrote some cracking good books, but this recent stuff, it's boring and stilted. It doesn't help that I was reading this on my lunch breaks and so only got in 20minutes at a time.

Funnily enough, my review of Cobra Outlaw really sums up how I felt about this book. Too many viewpoints, too much going on and not interesting enough. It came across as a political thriller in space with more focus on the Cobra worlds trying to deal with bigger forces by means other than violence. Sorry, Cobras are super weapons, use the heck out of them and let the chips fall where they may. I know that Zahn CAN write politically oriented SF very engagingly, as evidenced by his Conquerors trilogy but this wasn't the series of books to do that. Super Soldiers, Super Soldiers, Super Soldiers. Come on, USE them.

It also doesn't help things that I read Cobra Outlaw almost 3 years ago and Cobra Slave almost 5 years ago. If I were going to force myself to read any more Cobra books, I'd have to wait until the entire thing is completed and go through it in a couple of months. Zahn is not a fast paced author in terms of plot and action and so his stuff really relies on ideas, which get fuzzy after a couple of years.

Can't recommend this to anyone besides really diehard Cobra fans. Honestly, I might just go read the original novel and pretend none of these other books exist.

★★☆☆½

Thursday, March 01, 2018

Use of Weapons (The Culture #3) ★★☆☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Use of Weapons
Series: The Culture #3
Author: Iain Banks
Rating: 2.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 433
Format: Digital Edition

THIS BOOK IS PREDICATED ON THE READER NOT KNOWING CERTAIN FACTS, READ FURTHER AT YOUR OWN RISK DUE TO SPOILERIFIC'NESS.

FINAL PARAGRAPH IS A SPOILER FREE SUM UP OF MY THOUGHTS.

Synopsis:

Zakalwe, a man outside of the Culture but brought in to be used in situations where the Culture couldn't officially act, is a warrior and warleader of great ability. Given Culture longevity and weapons and support, Zakalwe is wielded by the Culture like a katanna. Not always on the side of Right or on the Winning side, Zakalwe fulfills the aims of the Culture without knowing what those aims are.

The real payment for working for the Culture is so that Zakalwe can visit his sister after each year/decade long mission and plead for forgiveness of the breach between them. The breach is a shadowy affair involving the death of their younger sister and how a family friend was involved. This was all long ago and not fully revealed until the very end.

There was a LOT of time skipping and flashbacks to various previous battles and fights. While the current battle and latest visit to Zakalwe's sister are the focus, the whole story is one interlocking cube where the past locks certain things into place that the current Zakalwe can't alter. He fulfills his mission, gets to visit his sister and then the author slams us with the fact that Zakalwe isn't Zakalwe but the family friend from long ago who killed Zakalwe's sister. Zakalwe killed himself and this friend, who had turned the little sister into a chair made of her bones, tries to take on Zakalwe's identity to do penance for what he did.

What a bloody scumbag!

The End

My Thoughts:

This is my last Culture novel. I simply don't like Banks' style or how he writes or what he writes about. For example, this time around, with all the flashbacks in non-linear fashion and all the hidden psychological crap going on, I simply felt lost. Others might love it and revel in it, good for them. For me, it simply wasn't enjoyable at all.

I liked the overall story and if things had been a straight up adventure story, I would have liked this a lot more. More linear, less hidden things, more focus, less dreamy, makes no sense kind of thing. The reveal about Zakalwe didn't surprise me, as it explained so much, I was just so lost in Banks trying to be clever with his writing that it was just one more “trick” that he used. So instead of being impressed, I was annoyed.

Unfortunately, Banks riled me the wrong way from the first book of his that I read and the next 2 books, while written well and telling a decent story, have never un-riled me. I would certainly recommend these books to others if they asked about them, but I would never recommend them on my own initiative. There are just to many things about the whole universe that annoy me and make for a non-enjoyable read.

The biggest issue is that the Culture just doesn't show humans acting like humans. Handwavium goes on in the background to explain that Humanity has “changed” but it's so much bullshit. And then every story shows certain humans acting like humans but Banks excusing it as not really representative of the Culture. I call bullshit again. I do not find the Culture believable at all, especially with what Banks reveals about certain parts of it. That disconnect is enough for me to not be able to enjoy the stories, as the overarching framework is crooked, rotted through and not able to support the stories that Banks tries to hang on it.

Glad I tried these. But they are not for me and I won't be reading any more by Banks. He frustrates me too much. The two stars denotes my frustration with the series and not that this was badly written or poorly executed. I simply didn't like it.

★★☆☆☆

Monday, February 26, 2018

Queen of Vengeance (Oh My Goddess! #7) ★★★☆☆

Title: Queen of Vengeance
Series: Oh My Goddess! #7
Author: Kosuke Fujishima
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 152
Format: Paperback

Synopsis:

And we're back to chapter stories.

With the goddess computer system down, the goddesses can't convert the energy they need. Plus Skuld and Urd begin aging differently so Urd gets kiddiefied and Skuld grows up overnight while Belldandy has to split herself into tiny versions to conserve energy. Keiichi ends up solving the mystery by making moon rocks and turning them into bracelets for his 3 houseguests.

Then Skuld and Megumi get into a robot battle and while Megumi wins, Skuld throws a tantrum and blows everything up.

The volume ends with Sayoko trying to steal Kei away from Bell again and failing, again.

My Thoughts:

Thank goodness we return to the chapter stories. Much more slice of life. The ridiculous factor gets dialed down, as it is physically impossible to stuff as much nonsense as we read in the previous book into a single chapter story here. I just read them, was amused and moved on to the next story.

Also, trying to get a decent picture is getting harder and harder as these Dark Horse original releases are out of sync with the actual release and there are no chapter numbers or even page numbers in these paperback copy releases. I have to hope that the digital volume number contains most of the chapters the paper one has and then start diving around. Since chapters are moved around for the paper copies, I feel like I'm throwing a bent fork at a target sometimes.

I was a huge fan of this series when I was in my 20's but now, I have to admit, I am having some real serious doubts about just how far I'll go. Obviously I'm not the target audience anymore, but there are manga that still interest me. It's not even that I don't like romantic comedies, as my owning W Juliet and Karo Kano shows (of course, I haven't re-read those since I bought them either. Oh dear....).

I enjoyed this more than the previous book and think that at this juncture that Fujishima can tell a better short story than he can a novel. However, I had to drop it down 1/2star because being honest, it feels like I've been rating the previous volumes with some serious nostalgia goggles and I can't do that anymore. The cold cruel reality of the weaknesses of this manga have clawed their way into my brain and eaten my eyes and filled my ears with maggots. Ok, that last sentence was just to see if anyone was paying attention * wink *

This is the picture that stuck out to me this time around. I'm not exactly sure why, but something about Kei and Bell, both looking up, it is almost like they are inviting me into the story, into the romance of their life. Being on the motorcycle and in the sidecar, with no other goddesses, grounds the picture in hard reality. But they are both smiling and looking happy and content. THAT is very appealing.

★★★☆☆

Previous Oh My Goddess! Reviews

Sunday, February 25, 2018

Winter Rose ★★★★½

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Winter Rose
Series: ----------
Author: Patricia McKillip
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 173
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Rois, younger sister of Laurel, is a wild young woman who loves the woods. She finds a hidden pool behind a curtain of wild roses and in the process of drinking from it one day, sees a stranger coalesce out of light and shadow.

She later finds out that a young man, Corbet Lynn, has returned to the village to repair and live in his ancestral home. His father supposedly murdered his grandfather in the middle of winter long ago and the grandfather cursed him and all his descendants. But no one knows what the curse actually is.

Rois feels an attraction to Corbet and in a dream is told to never let him go. Back in the real world, it becomes obvious that Corbet is in love with Rois's older sister Laurel, who is engaged to Perrin, a local farmer. Rois figures out that Corbet is from the fairy world, ie, The Wood and in a dream-like trip there, comes across Corbet's father, Tearle Lynn. He is under the spell of the fairy queen and when the fairy queen tries to take Corbet for her own, Tearle fights his ensorcellement and ultimately ends up dead in our world in the Lynn house and Corbet has disappeared.

With Corbet gone in deepest mid-winter, Laurel begins to fade away, much like their mother did years and years ago. Rois offers herself up to the Fairy Queen but her humanity ends up breaking the spell the Queen has over her, Corbet and Laurel. Laurel wakes from her infatuation with Corbet and Corbet realizes he was trying to be in love with her humanity to keep himself out of The Wood. Since he is free, he can choose Rois and she can choose him.

The book ends with spring just around the corner and Corbet beginning to truly rebuild Lynn Manor.

My Thoughts:

One of the reasons I like to re-read books is to re-evaluate how I feel about them. When I read this back in '07, even though I praised it highly, my feelings were just how unpleasant everything was. So I went into this with some trepidation, wondering how it would be. I really shouldn't have worried as it turned out. I enjoyed the daylights out of this read.

Ominous, that is probably the best word to describe the tone for this book. The setting of winter and the Cold and the Wild Hunt and the Fairy Queen and Nial Lynn (the cruel grandfather who set this all off) and even such mundane things as roses and thorns just give out vibes of ominosity (I love making up words that aren't real, at least in my reviews). In the hands of someone else that all might have been extremely depressing, but in McKillip's hands, the lyrical words swept me along and brought me back into the spring and the sunlight.

The thing that stopped me from bumping this up all the way to a full 5star rating was the whole thing with Corbet and Laurel. While it was explained and made part of the story, I wish there had been another way. I don't like reading about infidelity, even if it's only emotional and all because of magic.

Other than that, this was a perfect book. I think when I read it again, some time in the future, I'll try to read it mid-summer and not in the middle of a bleak New England winter.

Kinuko Craft does the cover again and I have to admit, it is probably one of my least favorites by her. Most of that is because of my dislike of the Fairy Queen in this story and since she's THE cover, it just makes me go “blah”. But when you look at the full piece of art by Craft, you can just see what a gorgeous work this is. It goes hand in hand with the book and fully complements it.

★★★★½

Winter Rose (2007 Review)

Saturday, February 24, 2018

Sackett Brand (Sacketts #10) ★★★☆☆

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Sackett Brand
Series: Sacketts #10
Author: Louis L'Amour
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Western
Pages: 160
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

William Tell Sackett and his new bride Ange are making a start of it. With the gold they had, they bought enough supplies to start a new life in the West with cattle. When Tell goes ahead to scout, he's shot and falls into a river. He escapes those hunting him and makes his way back to where Ange had the wagons. There is no trace of the wagons OR Ange.

Tell survives and hunts down information after finding Ange's body. A rancher, co-owner of the Lazy A, is responsible. Nobody knows that he killed Ange and he must kill Tell to keep his secret, for NO one will work for a man who kills a woman. Said rancher hires a large group of gunfighters under the claim that Tell tried to kill him.

The word goes out that a Sackett is being hunted. Other Sacketts come a running and Tell only has to survive until they arrive. Of course, he has to survive 40 gunfighters who are all hunting him.

He survives and the other Sacketts take down the gunfighters. The book ends with Tell surrounded by his family.

My Thoughts:

Gotta admit, it took me by surprise when L'Amour had Ange killed. I did not see it coming, especially so early. It really affected how I read the rest of the book. While it gave Tell a real motive to survive and for revenge, L'Amour's writing of Ange's death probably affected me more than it did Tell.

This was a very quick read and it was even quicker given certain stock phrases and ideas that L'Amour uses in almost every book of his. You don't read these for originality at all but to see the Right prevail and the Wrong fail. Truth and Justice. Sometimes you need to read that those Ideals actually do exist and that there are men willing to bear the burden of being responsible for them. I read this in about 2-3hrs, so it was quick.

There just isn't much else to say. These reviews of the Sacketts are more about getting the synopsis so when I look back in 10-15 years I don't have to feel like I need to read these again.

★★★☆☆

Previous Sacketts Reviews

Friday, February 23, 2018

Destroyer (Expansion Wars #3) ★★★☆☆

Title: Destroyer
Series: Expansion Wars #3
Author: Joshua Dalzelle
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 336
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

The mystery Spectre ship has been hitting secret Federation outposts that not even most of the Federation knows exists. When the Tsuyo Corp puts pressure on the Fed Congress to not respond, Admiral Wright and her superior Pitt, are both very suspicious. Jackson Wolfe is let off his leash and given direct orders to find and destroy the Spectre.

He saves the sentient AI computer and it comes up with the idea that the Warlord controlling the Spectre is trying to gain control of all the former Phage ships lying around. This would allow the Warlord to pretty much rule Darshik and Human space uncontested.

Wolfe ends up having to sacrifice the AI to take out the Warlord and his Spectre. Now that the Darshik threat is taken care of, the Feds can begin to concentrate on the Eastern Star Union.

My Thoughts:

This was just like all the previous Expansion Wars books. Thankfully, Dalzelle sidelines Celesta Wright and as a very small side character she is great. Dalzelle just can't write more than one character at a time and Jackson Wolfe takes his attention. It's an obvious weakness of Dalzelle's and considering it is manifested in his Omega Force series as well, it's just something I as a reader will have to put up with.

The story was kind of blasé to be honest. It felt like this whole “trilogy” really should have been one longer book. While the trilogy storyline was pretty good, the particulars of each book fell kind of flat. The Darshiks and the Uushins just weren't very threatening and while the Warlord and the Spectre made a great villain, he wasn't giving much time as a “character”. I think there would have been a lot more tension if the “mystery” of the Uushin and the Darshik had never been and the Warlord had taken centerstage. I mean, a brainship? That is just cool.

I know I complained a lot. I still enjoyed this, but it was more of an “it's ok” enjoyment than a “Awesome, what a great book” enjoyment.

I do know that with the next Black Fleet related trilogy that Dalzelle writes, I'll be passing on reading each book as they come out. I'll just wait until the Reunification Wars trilogy is done and read them all in a row. I'm hoping that reading them closer in a row will allow for a better experience, kind of like what I had with the original Black Fleet

★★★☆☆

Thursday, February 22, 2018

Martin Chuzzlewit ★★★★★

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress, Blogspot & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Martin Chuzzlewit
Series: ----------
Author: Charles Dickens
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic
Pages: 954
Format: Digital Edition

Synopsis:

Martin Chuzzlewit, the Elder, has a falling out with his grandson, Martin Chuzzlewit, the younger. It all centers around the Elder's ward, Mary Graham. Both men being cut from the same cloth, ie, stubborn, they go their separate ways. The Younger to seek his fortune so as to be able to provide for Mary and the Elder amongst his other relatives to see if any of them are worthy of being his heir.

We meet a veritable cornucopia of people along the way.

Mr Pecksniff, a relative of the Chuzzlewit's. A more self-righteous, moralizing, hypocritical and thoroughly sleezy character you couldn't ask for. The Elder goes to live with Pecksniff and his 2 daughters. The Elder allows Pecksniff complete control over him so as to see if there is even one drop of selflessness in him. Also living with Mr. Pecksniff is Tom Pinch, a humble character who believes the best of everyone and while talented, always believes that it is the genius in others that makes his doings so good.

We have another branch of the Chuzzlewit family introduced and the father there dies soon after and the son, Jonas, takes over. Jonas is a mean, grasping, simple, villianous fellow. He marries one of his cousins, Pecksniff's younger daughter, for her dowry and then gets involved in a huge money scam. It is revealed that Jonas murdered his father so he could inherit and he, Jonas, then murders another fellow who knew of this and was the leader of the money scam. Jonas ends up penniless and commits suicide by poison on the way to jail to avoid the gallows.

The Younger meets up with Mark Tapley, a jolly fellow who believes it is his duty to serve under poor conditions so as to “bear up and be jolly”. Martin and Mark head to American, get boonswaggled into buying a swamp, almost die and then come back to Englad. Martin changes and realizes how selfish he has been and begins working on becoming a better man. Mark realizes that he's going to be jolly no matter what circumstances he's under, so he marries the widower of a local inn and decides to be a jolly taproom owner.

Tom Pinch, the assistant to Mr. Pecksniff, has always believed that Pecksniff walked on air. However, when he interrupts Pecksniff's plans to marry Mary Graham so as to get an even greater grasp on the Elder and to hurt the Younger, Tom has his eyes opened. He is secretly in love with Mary himself but knows she loves the Younger and honors that love. He does what he can to protect Mary and is fired by Pecksniff. He makes his way to London to his sister's and a friends and begins working as a clerk under mysterious circumstances. The friend, John Westlock, a rich young gentleman, falls in love with Ruth Pinch and by the end of the book they are married and Tom is living with them, bringing kindness and gentleness to all he comes into contact with.

Pecksniff is taken in by the money scam that Jonas is involved in and when the masterminds abscond to America with all the money, Pecksniff's estates became collateral for all the other people involved. The Elder reveals that he knows of his villianous ways concerning Mary and cuts Pecksniff out of his life for good. Pecksniff ends up a drunken hobo.

The Elder and the Younger are reconciled when both realize what asses they have been. The Younger marries Mary with the Elder's blessing and they live happily ever after.

My Thoughts:

It has been 10 years to the month since I last read Martin Chuzzlewit. So this re-read was definitely due. It was also a complete smashing success. Dickens give full reign to his verbosity but this time around, I was able to appreciate the wordsmithing that took place instead of being annoyed by the windy wordiness. Part of it was that Dickens is making his characters fully fleshed out with the long passages, the little, or not so little, passages of dialogue. He is building these characters from the ground up and much like a real person, they have quirks. Dickens gives us his characters, fully quirked!

While this is entitled Martin Chuzzlewit, I found that Tom Pinch was the real hero of this book. Dickens explores Selfishness through his characters, deliberate or otherwise and Tom Pinch is the antidote to that all. While others are sunk in schemes and plots, Mr Pinch is nothing but kindess and love. He seeks out ways to help anyone who comes across his path and takes upon his own back the rod meant for another. There were times where I wanted to just shout “You GO Tom Pinch!”

The rest of the side characters also made this book what it was. From Bailey the little rascal boy to Mrs. Gamp, to the survivors of Eden (the swamp Martin and Mark go to in America), to the politicians in America. Oh man, Martin's time in America was great. Dickens doesn't spare his cousins across the Pond one bit. Caricatured and lampooned, Dickens shows us a land that has not yet gone through the fire of its Civil War and it is not a pretty picture. Money, slander and violence were the watchwords then. Which goes to show that not much has really changed here in 175 years.

Now on to the two Martin's. None of this story would have happened if either of them weren't such pigheaded boneheads. Thankfully, Dickens doesn't make them the main focus of the story even while using them as the skeleton upon which the whole book hangs. The various side characters give us flesh, blood, emotion, etc, making for a pleasant read. If it was just a book about the side characters it would have gone “sploosh!” in a bloody, fluidy mess and if it was just a book about the Martins, it would have been Skeleton War, and honestly, who wants THAT in a Charles Dickens book?

yeah, yeah, I know. Putting in a gratuitous skeleton war picture in a Charles Dickens review. Shameless!

I found that I had to almost literally hold myself back from racing through this. Dickens was a wordsmith and I am finding that the goals in reading something from a wordsmith are different from the goals I have when reading something like Forgotten Realms. When I was in the right mind frame, I enjoyed the long, convoluted passages immensely. It was when I got impatient and tried to hurry things along that I ended up wishing that Dickens hadn't been quite so verbose. I feel that my time reading this was well spent though and that my time was rewarded with some great storytelling and some really good writing. Reading good writing is one of the best ways to learn how to spot bad writing. I also gave this my coveted “Favorite” tag. Now you know I mean serious business!

To end, this first step along my Dickens re-read path was completely successful. I appreciate his skill even more and I find his stories even more universal in touching upon humanity in all its glories and in all its shame. Bravo Mr Dickens!

★★★★★

Tuesday, February 20, 2018

Terrible Master Urd (Oh My Goddess! #6) ★★★☆½

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Title: Terrible Master Urd
Series: Oh My Goddess! #6
Author: Kosuke Fujishima
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 140
Format: Paperback

Synopsis:

The first full book plot. Mara is trying to awaken the Lord of Terror and it is revealed that Urd is his heir. She's had her goddess license suspended for constantly lying and so is wide open to the temptation to take power whereever it may come from. LoT (Lord of Terror) possesses Urd and is on the way to destroying the whole universe. Keiichi gets captured and then accidently reveals that there is a master Total Destruction program. This allows Urd to release the wolf Fenrir and the LoT then jumps from Urd to Fenrir.

Fenrir/LoT then summons the Cosmic String (string theory plays a rather large part of this plot) and is going to cut it and so destroy the universe. Only he needs a goddess made 10 Dimensional scythe to do so. So the LoT jumps from Fenrir to Kei, as he knows that the 3 goddess will make one of those handy dandy 10D scythes to separate him from Kei's body. Belldandy disobeys 'daddy', ie The Lord and releases her seal, making her “Nigh Invulnerable!” (if you don't get the Tick reference, go read ben edlund's graphic novels).

The 3 goddesses trick LoT to jumping into a computer disk, hence freeing Kei and stopping the threat of the end of the universe. Skuld then wipes the disk clean with a magnet thus removing the threat of the LoT for good. The whole Yggrasil system is out of whack though, so there will be consequences. The book ends with Belldandy revealing that she is staying with Kei becomes she loves him and not because of the contract.

My Thoughts:

This was just ridiculous. 15 years ago I could read, accept and enjoy such ridiculousness with ease. It slid down my throat like a bite of chicken finger dipped in sweet&sour with some vegetable fried rice on top. Mmmmm! However, while I still really like said food concoction, the same can't be said for the shenanigans pulled here.

This was the first time that the manga-ka goes from a chapter by chapter story to an overarching plot and his lack of experience really shows. Things “just happen because” and they make zero sense. The revelation about Urd being part demon? I've been under the assumption that the Lord was the father of all 3 of the goddesses but with this revelation, does this mean that god sleeps around? Or is the Lord not actually god but just a super powerful angelic being? Fujishima just pulls explanations out of a hat to suit where he wants the story to go without thinking through the consequences of those explanations.

This was definitely slapstick humor. One thing I did laugh about was when LoT takes over Kei he, the LoT, threatens to hurt Kei by hitting himself on the head with a hammer. Now that is funny! The rest of it though, it kind of flew by me and made me go “huh” instead of laughing.

I know I've complained a lot here but this wasn't a bad volume, it was just a very juvenile volume. I do have to admit though that my heart kind of sank when I was done with this volume and I realized I had 42 more volumes to go.

On to the artwork! Here we get Keiichi possessed by the Lord of Terror. Goth Kei! His “look” and how the LoT used him was probably what saved this volume from a blasé 3star rating. I mean, look at him! Hahahahahaa.

★★★☆½

Previous Oh My Goddess! Reviews