Review: Haze

Haze by L.E. Modesitt Jr.

My rating: 1 of 5 stars


I have read a little over a quarter of the book and have decided to stop and the reason is that the only motivation to go on is to get an answer to the mystery of the planet Haze and to me that’s not enough.
My main problem with the book is that almost a hundred pages in I still haven’t connected with the main character. I know what he does for a living, which is to infiltrate different cultures to find breaches to rules laid down by the dominant culture, but I don’t know who he is and what drives him and to me this isn’t enough. It might have been easier to get immerged in the story if it hadn’t jumped between two different timelines, presumably to highlight differences and similarities between the societies that the main character Keir Roget is sent into. I don’t object to the time jumping per say, but without the emotional tie to the character the frequent change in context becomes jarring.
I speak, read and write English fluently, but it’s still only my second language and there are a few sections early in the book where neuwords (where two ‘current’ words are merged together) are used. These aren’t that uncommon in science fiction, so this isn’t specific to this book, but the use of neuwords are still annoying to someone that hasn’t been speaking English their whole life. It requires that the reader either stop and think through what the origin of the word is and what the new word means or to push through and ignore the word and thereby lose some of the meaning/context of the situation.
The last of my objections is that the beginning is almost completely devoid of action and personal interaction. There is a lot of walking, watching and not much else in the first part of the book and as I’ve already mentioned there isn’t enough in it for me to find out what happens later on in the book.



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Review: Gomorrah

Gomorrah by Roberto Saviano

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


Gomorrah is written by Roberto Saviano, a journalist that has written about the Nepalese mafia for many years and in this book writes several stories about the individuals behind the headlines. The stories lets you see how the mafia managed to gain control of the commercial as well as the governmental aspects of Neapel and the surrounding area.
Roberto's language is very visual and lets you see into the brutal reality that is Neapel, under the rule of the Camorra.



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Review: The Alchemist

The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


It's one of the best books I've ever read!
The story is quite simple story, but in its simplicity it's really makes you think.
There's more written between the lines than the letters actually printed on the pages.



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Review: Thank You for Smoking

Thank You for Smoking by Christopher Buckley

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This an amazingly funny book about Nick Naylor, who's a spokesperson for the tobacco industry and how he deals with what he does for a living.
If you haven't read it and have a thing for situational comedy you're going to love this book.



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Review: The Traveler

The Traveler by John Twelve Hawks

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


A throughly enjoyable book, but in a somewhat strange universe.
The setting is quite similar to how Stephen King creates his worlds, which is mostly here, but then there is a place very close to it that is linked to it and... well it's beautifully weird.



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Review: The Magic of Recluce

The Magic of Recluce by L.E. Modesitt Jr.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I read this the first time about 15 to 20 years ago (when it first came out as a paperback), which was probably an ideal time as it was in the middle of my teen years. It really is a coming of age story about a boys inability/reluctance to see the world the why his parents choose to view it and his (unrealized) need to explore the world to learn more about himself and thus understand his world better.



Now a few words on why I liked this book in particular and also why L.E. Modesitt Jr. is such an interesting author, at least in my book (no pun intended).

As I said I first read this some years back and what I didn’t get then, but really struck me this time was Modesitts use of subtle references. One example is when Lerris has his serious talking with uncle Sardit and he says; “Because you’re like your dad … or your aunt. In the blood…” and later when he meets the girl Shrezsan, who’s driving a wagon of melons, on the road to Nylar and her response to the staff he carries.

Through these little hints the reader is very early introduced to the implicit knowledge that there is something special about Lerris, but like Lerris the reader doesn’t get anything explained to him either. As a reader I’m gently lured into seeing the world through Lerris’s eyes as we know no more than he does and is equally frustrated by the answers he gets to his questions.

The part of the story that takes place in Nylar is somewhat tedious, without being overly so, but once again that helps the reader to bond with Lerris and his lack of appreciation of a good education. :-)

A thing that has made me return to the world of Recluce and other fantasy worlds of Modesitt’s design is his ability to visualize that there’s always at least two sides to a story. This is especially true in the world of Recluce where the viewpoint of the main character can change from one book to the next. In the beginning of the series the Black side of Order are described as the good guys and the White of Chaos is the evil side, from the perspective of the main character, like Lerris in The Magic of Recluce, but about halfway through the series of Recluce this is turned on its head as the main character Cerryl of The White Order enters training as a White Wizard to fight the evil Black Masters.

This is perhaps a bit premature to talk about in the review for the first book, but already in this book there are hints that the Black Brotherhood isn’t all good. That their use of order to fight, what they perceive as evil rulers is hurting the weak and poor.



Overall it’s a very good book, which I thoroughly enjoyed and that I would recommend to all that likes fantasy of the Sword and Sorcery persuasion especially if you enjoy what is likely to make you think one step further..



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Review: The Magic of Recluce

The Magic of Recluce by L.E. Modesitt Jr.

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


I read this the first time about 15 to 20 years ago (when it first came out as a paperback), which was probably an ideal time as it was in the middle of my teen years. It really is a coming of age story about a boys inability/reluctance to see the world the why his parents choose to view it and his (unrealized) need to explore the world to learn more about himself and thus understand his world better.



Now a few words on why I liked this book in particular and also why L.E. Modesitt Jr. is such an interesting author, at least in my book (no pun intended).

As I said I first read this some years back and what I didn’t get then, but really struck me this time was Modesitts use of subtle references. One example is when Lerris has his serious talking with uncle Sardit and he says; “Because you’re like your dad … or your aunt. In the blood…” and later when he meets the girl Shrezsan, who’s driving a wagon of melons, on the road to Nylar and her response to the staff he carries.

Through these little hints the reader is very early introduced to the implicit knowledge that there is something special about Lerris, but like Lerris the reader doesn’t get anything explained to him either. As a reader I’m gently lured into seeing the world through Lerris’s eyes as we know no more than he does and is equally frustrated by the answers he gets to his questions.

The part of the story that takes place in Nylar is somewhat tedious, without being overly so, but once again that helps the reader to bond with Lerris and his lack of appreciation of a good education. :-)

A thing that has made me return to the world of Recluce and other fantasy worlds of Modesitt’s design is his ability to visualize that there’s always at least two sides to a story. This is especially true in the world of Recluce where the viewpoint of the main character can change from one book to the next. In the beginning of the series the Black side of Order are described as the good guys and the White of Chaos is the evil side, from the perspective of the main character, like Lerris in The Magic of Recluce, but about halfway through the series of Recluce this is turned on its head as the main character Cerryl of The White Order enters training as a White Wizard to fight the evil Black Masters.

This is perhaps a bit premature to talk about in the review for the first book, but already in this book there are hints that the Black Brotherhood isn’t all good. That their use of order to fight, what they perceive as evil rulers is hurting the weak and poor.



Overall it’s a very good book, which I thoroughly enjoyed and that I would recommend to all that likes fantasy of the Sword and Sorcery persuasion especially if you enjoy what is likely to make you think one step further..



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Review: Grabben I Graven Bredvid

Grabben I Graven Bredvid by Katarina Mazetti

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


The reason I picked up this book was that it was one of a few available during a vacation, as it's really not the type of book I usually read. It has however made a bigger impact on me than I thought at the time; not so much the story, but the way it was told.
The story is about two very different people meeting in one of the few places they are likely to every share, the grave yard. He's a dairy farmer and she's a librarian, so their worlds doesn't really intersect much.
What still sticks with me is they the author chose to write the chapters alternatively from his and her perspective, which really helped to highlight their differences in an elegant way.



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