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ADDED a review of Orson Scott Card's Ender's Shadow. Ender's Shadow was a good book, but nowhere near as good as Ender's Game. Rather than proceeding directly to Shadow of the Hegemon, which continues Bean's story, I think I'll be attempting Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander, the first in his famous Aubrey-Maturin Series. The almost fanatical admiration of Patrick O'Brian is somewhat amazing to me. I first encountered his name when his obituary appeared in The Economist last year (he died only two days into the new millenium), when he was praised to the skies for his novels about naval warfare. Some casual searches revealed more glowing praise, such as this page from Ex Libris, and this featured authors page from The New York Times (the latter page contains this famous article, which, according to the web site, "is widely credited with reviving interest in O'Brian's work in America"). Is this man for real? Only time will tell. I'll let you know in a few days.
You know how, yesterday, I said that Laputa - Castle in the Sky may not be the best movie that I've ever seen? Well, when I wrote that, I hadn't actually finished watching it yet; I was only about halfway through. I finished watching the rest of it today, and my opinion has changed: Laputa IS one of the best movies that I've ever seen. All of the characters—especially Pazu, Sheeta, and Dora—were absolutely amazing, and there are some virtuoso action scenes at the end, including a jaw-dropping finale. As with every other Miyazaki film, Laputa has a happy ending—but even at the end there is a hint of longing, of regret for lost opportunities, that made me sit through the entire ending credits unable to do anything else. And the music is incredible. This is a fantastic film, and certainly the best Miyazaki movie I've seen so far.
Two-thirds of the way through Ender's Shadow. This is not a bad book, but as I was reading it I was struck by how much less gripping it is than Ender's Game was. Even on a rereading, Ender's Game could keep me up all night, and the ending—despite being completely familiar to me—was still heart-rending. Unless something amazing happens in the last third of Ender's Shadow, I seriously doubt that it'll approach the level of its predecessor.
About halfway through Ender's Shadow; I should be done with the book by the end of the weekend two days from now. Recently, I've been watching Japanese anime films directed by Miyazaki Hayao, who is best known in the United States for Princess Mononoke. Mononoke, however, is a much darker and more mature work than some of his previous work, most of which are aimed at younger children; so people who were turned off by Mononoke's violence, ambiguous characterization, and blatant environmentalism should still check out Miyazaki's older films. My favorite one so far is Laputa - Castle in the Sky, which is just an amazing film, full of adventure, drama, and wonderful characters. My Neighbor Totoro is one of the cutest movies I've ever seen (although, in hindsight, Totoro him/itself could be pretty scary in a dark alleyway). And Kiki's Delivery Services, though not quite as flashy as Laputa, is a charming film in its own right. I wouldn't say that these are the greatest films of all time, but I certainly couldn't help watching each of these films without a big, stupid grin on my face.
Added a Links page with my favorite book review sites. I'm about a third of the way through Ender's Shadow; it's pretty good, and an easy read, but I'm getting aggravated by some small annoyances in the text. Never mind—you'll hear about them soon enough, hopefully within a few days.
ADDED a review of Stanislaw Lem's Solaris, at last! I'm not sure what to read next: I was going to read Roger Zelazny's Lord of Light, which is supposed to be just a fantastic book, but I'm also thinking of starting Patrick O'Brian's Master and Commander, which, as a naval adventure, is in a genre I usually don't read. I suppose I could read more of Iain Banks's work, which is always fun, or I could start reading the Vorkosigan Series by Lois M. Bujold, or the Discworld Series by Terry Pratchett, etc., etc., etc.
Almost, almost done with Solaris. A review will be up tomorrow, if not today.
I've changed the layout of these pages yet again. Instead of the two-column nonsense that I've been employing, I decided to put the author's name at the top of the reviews, so that there's more horizontal space for the reviews to fill. I think it looks a lot better now as a result. Plus, if I want to link to a particular author, it actually takes you to the top of the list instead of to the bottom, where it was before. I'm also thinking of putting up links to my favorite book review sites at some point; unfortunately, I'm not quite sure where to put the link to that list. We'll see.
ADDED a review for Dark Horse Comics' graphic novel, Star Wars - Shadows of the Empire. Although I am a Star Wars fan, this was not a good graphic novel, so please don't read it. Even my review isn't very good. I haven't given up on Solaris yet, but I have some work left to do, so the last half of the book may take significantly longer than the first half did. But I will have more reviews up in the meantime, probably of graphic novels that are actually good.
ADDED a review for Alan Moore's graphic novel, The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, as promised. I haven't had a chance to read Solaris whatsoever the past few days, since I was at the Williams Debate Tournament. I did get into a spirited discussion with Lindsey Worth and Rich Lichtenstein about our favorite fantasy and sci-fi novels. It turns out that everybody had read Ender's Game (by Orson Scott Card) and loved it, even Ben (Shultz). I also talked about Neal Stephenson for the first time with somebody, and I spread the word about George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire. Just doing my duty to the God of Fantasy.
I think I will soon be adding reviews for graphic novels as well. Graphic novels are essentially glorified comic books that have been bound together, given a sturdy cover, and made glossy. Among the reviews I will soon put up: Alan Moore's V for Vendetta, The Watchmen, and The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen; Frank Miller's Ronin, Batman: The Dark Knight Returns, Sin City, and Sin City: A Dame to Kill For; Garth Ennis's Preacher; and Dark Horse Comics' Star Wars: Shadow of the Empire. I might also put up a word for Neil Gaiman's Sandman, although I can tell you right now that I will have nothing but embarrassingly effusive praise for that series.
ADDED a review for Clive Barker's The Hellbound Heart. I hadn't intended to read another book while reading Solaris, but the opportunity to pick up this novella cropped up unexpectedly. I've been meaning to read this book for years, ever since seeing photographs of the Cenobites from the Hellraiser movies, and so I decided to take a break from artsy Polish sci-fi to read a very distinctive style of horror.
I'm now about halfway through Stainslaw Lem's Solaris. It starts off in a really creepy fashion, and only gets better. The mystery surrounding the planet—which is one big alien, as far as I can tell—is fascinating. And Lem's writing—despite being translated into English from the French translation of the original Polish!—is more than adequate. This looks like a keeper: a more thoughtful novel than Player of Games, and a more interesting novel than Roadside Picnic. Note: I'm going to a debate tournament at Williams for the next two days, so I won't be posting my review of Solaris until Saturday night, at the earliest.
ADDED a review for Iain M. Banks's Player of Games. Although the beginning of the book was pretty slow (as I mentioned in some of my earlier posts), it ended up being absolutely amazing. Highly recommended. I think I'm going to try to brave another non-English science-fiction book next: Stanislaw Lem's famous Solaris. It should be a short book, but, then again, Roadside Picnic was also short. I also think that I might try reading Patrick O'Brian's famed Aubrey-Maturin series, starting with Master and Commander.
For those who care: I'm about a third of the way through Iain M. Banks's Player of Games. I should be finished with it in a few days. The book is pretty good: not quite as many fun action sequences as in Consider Phlebas, but Banks starts to make the Culture much more interesting, and the characters are slowly coming into their own (although, as in Consider Phlebas, their development begins inauspiciously enough). The beginning is very slow, but it's starting to pick up. I have heard that this is one of the best of Banks's Culture novels, so hopefully there will soon be some of the plot twists and edge-of-the-seat storytelling that Banks is famed for.
ADDED a review for Arkady and Boris Strugatsky's Roadside Picnic. I've changed the look of the web page. The book reviews are now in their own, separate spot, without losing the beautiful pastel blue background. Hoorah!
ADDED reviews forVernor Vinge's True Names and Tad Williams's Otherland series. I don't think I'm going to review any more old books; from now on I'll only be reviewing books I just finished reading. The next book review (as I say above) will be Roadside Picnic, probably in a day or two. Stay tuned!
There may be quite a considerable lull in book-review updating until at least September 17, 2001, as I am currently in the middle of a lot of work. I am sure my hordes of rabid fans will be able to tolerate this brief interruption.
ADDED reviews for Michael Crichton's Andromeda Strain, Robert Heinlein's 6xH, George R.R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire, Richard Matheson's I Am Legend, Tim Powers's Expiration Date, and Philip Pullman's His Dark Materials. I also updated my review of Peter Beagle's The Last Unicorn with a dissenting viewpoint from my brother, Frank.
ADDED reviews for Peter Beagle's The Last Unicorn; David Gerrold's The War Against the Chtorr; Stephen King's Dreamcatcher; and Thomas Harris's Red Dragon, Silence of the Lambs, and Hannibal.
ADDED reviews for Iain M. Banks's Consider Phlebas, David Brin's Startide Rising, Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? and Ubik, and Stephen R. Donaldson's The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant.
ADDED reviews for John Steakley's Armor, Iain Banks's The Wasp Factory, and John Varley's Persistence of Vision.
I begin work on this page. No reviews actually up, but I've written in the titles and author names of the books I want to review. |
Steven Wu's Book Reviews |