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Book Review: The Operators by Michael Hastings
01 week ago
You may remember how back in 2010 an article in Rolling Stone got General Stanley McChrystal fired from his job running the war in Afghanistan. McChrystal and his team were presented as arrogant, free-wheeling and insubordinate, bashing the President, as well as the civilian leadership. I remember finding very little surprising about how McChrystal was portrayed in the article — but I’m a cynic, it’s my belief that most people who hold powerful positions tend to be burdened with hubris and incompetence. The fact that this is true, but is rarely reported in the media due to the cozy relationship between the power brokers and the court stenographers, is what really caused the firestorm. It wasn’t so much that Hastings’ story was true that upset so many in Washington, it was that he had the temerity to put the truth in print.
The Operators is a book-length version of the Rolling Stone article, covering the first few years of the Obama administration’s efforts in Afghanistan. And those looking for a hero in the story are going to have a hard time finding one. Even Hastings, the narrator and ostensible protagonist, isn’t particularly likable.
The war Hastings describes is one dominated by political infighting, with various factions hidden away inside their own insulated bubbles, incapable of recognizing the truth, or refusing to admit the truth when it conflicts with ideology. The Obama administration comes off as weak and ineffective, the Afghan government as corrupt and impossibly incompetent, and the American military as an isolated culture more concerned by its own inner workings and politics than whether or not it can achieve actual “success” in a country as thoroughly broken as Afghanistan (or even what “success” might mean). The media gets the worst of the criticism though, compromising its professional integrity in exchange for access to the people in power. The only people presented at all sympathetically are the individual American soldiers and infantry units who face the true reality on the ground every day.
It’s hard to come away from The Operators feeling like there’s any hope — not just for America in Afghanistan, but for our ability to accomplish anything substantial on a large scale. The dysfunction in America seems baked into our DNA, with political polarization and personal ambition overriding any sense of the greater good. Granted, this is just one person’s view of the situation in Afghanistan, but given that no one is treated terribly well, it’s hard not to believe that The Operators may be close to the truth.
Book Review: After the Apocalypse by Maureen McHugh
04 weeks ago
Maureen McHugh’s new collection of stories, After the Apocalypse, is not so much about the literal end of the world, as it is about the metaphorical end we all face. It deals largely with characters who have passed through their own personal ends and are now trying to survive in the wake of the worst possible scenarios. This includes a criminal dumped into a prison that is also a zombie preserve, a young woman trying to survive as a corporate slave after a bird flu plague took people she loves and a young refugee from a dirty bomb attack who has lost his mind.
Although I haven’t read McHugh’s previous stories, I am familiar with her work as an ARG designer (most notably, the trailblazing “I Heart Bees” campaign for Halo 2), and I put a lot of faith in the tastes of Kelly Link and Gavin Grant, the editors and owners of Small Beer Press. That said, this collection is not so much an assemblage of complete stories as it is a compilation of (mostly) interesting premises. Once the high concept of each story is revealed, the rhythms of plot and character have a hard time finding satisfying resolutions. The stories end, but lack the emotional punch or character insights that make the form so effective.
Still, one doesn’t read a small press book expecting a masterpiece (although Kelly Link’s own collections are by and large pretty perfect) — the small press offers an outlet for writers who are more experimental or unconventional, which are two areas where After the Apocalypse succeeds. Although McHugh has a great stock of ideas and clear skill with words, she needs to work more on the mechanics of telling a complete story. An ARG is all about the high concept, but a short story needs more. It needs to matter.
Book Review: The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
01 month ago
For years, I’ve tried to get through novels in the post-human, post-singularity, “New Space Opera” genre of science fiction, but found each book a chore. Not so much for the arcane and convoluted visions of the future presented by the authors, but because of the lack of humanity in the post-human characters. I just had a difficult time relating to or caring for characters so distantly removed from us. Sure, I was impressed with the “big ideas” inside the books (see: Stross, Charles), but I could give a damn about the plots or characters found inside.
Given my history with the genre, one would expect that Hannu Rajaniemi’s debut novel, The Quantum Thief, would leave me feeling much the same way, but this is not the case. The Quantum Thief, while presenting a radically alien post-human future described in an obtuse new vocabulary, has the one quality his peers lack — humanity. Yes, his characters are post-human, yes they exist as software iterations of themselves, and yes they are far removed from us, but despite their change in form, they are still driven by desires and ambitions and fear and love and all the things that make us human. In effect, by turning themselves into gods, the inhabitants of Rajaniemi’s novel have become like classic mythical gods — omnipotence crippled by human weakness and emotional frailties, their human foibles ever more present the less human they become.
And no character is more flawed than the novel’s protagonist, master thief Jean le Flambeur, broken out of a software prison by a female warrior named Mieli and set on a mission by a distant higher power to steal something of great value in the Oubilette, one of Mars’ moving cities. Le Flambeur has lived so many lives that he’s intentionally forgotten most of them, but reclaiming his Martian memories is one of the key points the novel hinges on. There are so many genres at work here, and so many excellent characters and co-protagonists (such as amateur detective and student art historian, Isidore, and his MMORPG-derived girlfriend, Pixil), that it’s difficult to keep track of them all.
And as dense and challenging as the material is, the climax of the book and the amazing ride and fractal puzzle that unfolds is worth all the heavy lifting. The book is surprising, clever and deeply felt — easily the best science fiction novel of 2011, and the final pages only point to more to come.
Book Review: Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
02 months ago
Ready Player One has been hailed as this generation’s Neuromancer and Snow Crash — though the comparisons may be a bit hyperbolic, it is undoubtedly the cleverest novel about virtual life I’ve read in awhile. Granted, Ernest Cline isn’t writing on the same level as William Gibson or Neal Stephenson did in their prime, but that isn’t to say that Ready Player One still isn’t a thoroughly entertaining novel.
The book centers on Wade Watts, a trailer-dwelling teenager living in the bleak year of 2044, where the planet’s resources have been spent, unemployment is rampant, and basically the only meaningful life to be had is in an online game called OASIS, which has grown to encompass every imaginary universe ever created and the Internet, itself.
The OASIS was designed by a misfit genius named James Halliday — a Steve Jobsian figure complete his own estranged Steve Wozniakian partner — who dies and leaves ownership of the OASIS to the first person who can find an easter egg hidden within the simulation. When the novel opens, some years have passed since Halliday’s death, and no one — not even the well-funded and totally nefarious IOI corporation — have been able to locate the easter egg. That is, until Wade makes an unexpected discovery.
What follows is an adventure story steeped in 80′s nostalgia and references, most of which are pretty obvious to GenXers who grew up on the periphery of geek culture, but may seem obscure to the general population. The pop culture references and the hunt for the MacGuffin are just the shiny outer wrapper, though — Ready Player One‘s strongest elements involve explorations of online relationships and the effects of living your entire life in a digital world, two very important issues given how many people today choose to escape their own lives for the comfort offered by online games and communities.
Although Ready Player One doesn’t meet the incredible expectations and hype, it is both brisk and enjoyable. It’s well worth the time of science fiction fans, gamers and 80′s lovers, alike, just don’t expect it to change the way you look at the future like Neuromancer and Snow Crash did.
Book Review: Axis by Robert Charles Wilson
03 months ago
Robert Charles Wilson’s Spin was an exhilarating novel, perhaps one of the best science fiction novels of recent years. It combined big ideas with a sweeping story and rich, engaging characters. The only other recent novel in the genre I’ve liked more is Neal Stephenson’s Ananthem, and that’s saying quite a bit. There have been a lot of undeserving Hugo winners over the years, but Spin was not one of them.
Axis is the sequel to Spin, and although it continues the story Wilson started in the original, it lacks its predecessor’s scope and does very little to answer the questions it posed. The cast is largely new, and we only get to know them superficially compared to the well-rendered cast from Spin.
Set on the alien world Equatoria introduced at the end of Spin, Axis opens with a woman named Lise who is trying to solve the mystery of her father’s disappearance some years earlier. Sadly, this thread more or less gets dropped as a group of radical Fourths comes into play. Their plan, as well as a new development in the exobiology of the Hypotheticals, serve as the lynch pin of the plot and is only tangentially related to Lise’s long quest.
Despite a strong opening, the book gradually loses focus and plot momentum — even Wilson’s excellent use of language doesn’t do much to offset the narrative inertia of the later chapters. The revelations at the end are neither surprising or game-changing, and we’re left with an unsatisfying ending that leads into the final volume of the series.
I’m still on board to see where things go, but I have to admit that I was very disappointed with Axis. Here’s hoping that Vortex takes the series out properly.
Book Review: A Visit From the Goon Squad by Jennifer Egan
05 months ago
Perhaps it’s a result of when I read it, just following the death of my mother, but Jennifer Egan’s A Visit From the Goon Squad had a profound effect on me. Few books I’ve read have encapsulated my hopes and thoughts quite so much as this one. A Visit From the Goon Squad is about middle age, about growing up and remembering the past — realizing how fleeting youth is, and how with age you lose track of the scope of time, and the past and present begin to coexist in the same space. It’s also about the web of associations we build in life, the influence of people we’ve never met on people we have met — and therefore, feel the influence of those connected strangers on our own lives. That if you follow the chain of relationships back everyone is connected with everyone else. Our mentors had mentors who are our mentors, too. And we just might be the mentors of their children.
The book opens on Sasha, a woman working in the New York City music industry who goes on a date with a man she met on an online dating site. From there, the novel spins out, bouncing from character to character as it spreads through a web of associations that begins and ends with Sasha. It crosses space and time, and loops back to that date and in the end you get an incredible sense of lives lived and lost, and the little things that connect us all together. Goon Squad celebrates a generation of young people coming of age in the latter half of the twentieth century — myself included, back when I was young — to whom music was everything, the very definition of cool and identity. It puts in perspective the fleeting moments of our lives when we went to shows, did drugs, drank and saw the future as limitless and full of possibility, only to wake up and realize our time as parents of small children greatly eclipsed our oh-so-brief time as punks.
In addition, the book is a scathing literary and cultural satire — at once hilarious and tragic, and un-ironically postmodern, ultimately terminating somewhere in the suburbs of a post-science fiction city built by William Gibson. You’ve no doubt read about the chapter written as Powerpoint slides — and as much of a gimmick as it might seem, it works brilliantly in presenting the anxieties of a young girl and her family. Egan closes on a future where social media alone can create a star, where the connections between people aren’t inherent and subtle, but are open and clearly graphed out on the Internet for everyone to see.
A variety of editions, including an iOS version, have been released, but don’t let the hype fool you — this is a really great book enhanced, not hindered by the marketing and well-deserving of winning the Pulitzer Prize. Of all the novels I’ve reviewed in the past two years, this is undoubtedly my favorite. I am so sad that I’ve finished it, but can’t wait to plunge back in to re-examine the associations I’ve missed.
Review: A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin
06 months ago
Do I even need to say how long it’s been? A Feast for Crows was a placeholder, a holding action intended to keep the story going just a little during the decade-long creative struggle George R.R. Martin faced at the end of A Storm of Swords. It would be easy enough to set aside any objective criticism and instantly adore the book. But that’s not how I am as a reader, and as grateful as I am for A Dance with Dragons, it’s not as satisfying as A Storm of Swords, A Game of Thrones, or A Clash of Kings. This is not to say that it’s a bad book — anything but. It is at turns thrilling and terrifying — a big complicated behemoth of a book full of unexpected surprises and deftly paid-off moments of plot. But there is trouble at the heart of it — the fabled “Meereenese Knot” that Martin grappled with for so long.
Before I continue, I want to note that I am going to avoid spoilers and speak in generalities. I understand that those generalities may be considered spoilers — so read on at your own peril. But please be aware that I will not spoil specific plot twists, character reveals, etc.
A Dance with Dragons is centered around three major story-lines — Dany’s rule in Meereen, as well as the many people trying to reach her; Jon’s tenure as Lord Commander of the Knight’s Watch on the Wall; and the north under the stewardship of the Boltons. Other characters and settings are addressed, including a few lingering threads spun out of A Feast for Crows, but Dany and Jon are by far the most critical characters in the book.
The problem is that the “Meereenese Knot” isn’t so much a knot, as it is a cul-de-sac. For five books now we’ve watched Dany develop as a queen, waiting for her to arrive on the shores of Westeros with her dragons and her army. And yet at the close of A Storm of Swords, Dany decided to stay in newly-conquered Meereen on the shores of Slaver’s Bay to learn how to rule. Her arc is concerned mostly with that — as well as the unexpected consequences of her decisions. The early chapters in the arc are some of the least interesting in the entire book, but Dany’s arc begins to pick up steam in the last third of A Dance with Dragons, driven in large part by a compelling new POV character. Yet, as the book closes, I’m not sure that I’d say the knot is any looser than where it began. Only Martin knows for sure, but with so much time devoted to Dany, I’m not sure very much progress has been made.
Jon’s arc on the Wall also deals with the complications of rule — the compromises leaders must make for the greater good. And as Jon makes some very difficult decisions, it’s easy to wonder if he has some of his Ned Stark’s weaknesses, or if he will rise above his father’s mistakes. One could also say that Jon’s arc has certain … Shakespearean overtones.
The Boltons are, I believe, the only true “villains” in the series — characters so vile and evil that they are irredeemable. Yet, they are believable villains — a family of sociopaths who pass on their predatory approach from father to son. Their story is told from a surprising POV character who I would rather not name, and I found the Bolton chapters to be especially compelling, as well as disturbing.
The remaining characters and arcs in the story are probably best left unmentioned — although they often eclipse the three major plot movements of the book and lay important pieces for books to come. I will say that I have gone from being lukewarm about Victarion Greyjoy to wanting to hop aboard a longship and follow him across the world — the guy is an incomparable badass, reckless and bold, a true pirate lord. My old favorite Davos Seaworth is on hand for a few chapters and remains one of the most humble and truly brave and heroic characters in A Song of Ice and Fire. But my favorite POV chapters come from a completely new character — one who shepherds in a whole series of changes into the series.
Although A Dance with Dragons is a much more satisfying book than A Feast for Crows, I believe many readers will find that it shares many of the unsatisfying elements that plagued its immediate predecessor. Playing pieces are shuffled into position (or out of position), but very little is resolved. This is not surprising for a series as big and ambitious as A Song of Ice and Fire, but with such a long gap between books, it can be disappointing. Unlike earlier volumes in the series, A Dance with Dragons does not tell a complete story — it is more complete than A Feast for Crows, but only just so.
Here’s hoping for a shorter wait before the release of Winds of Winter.
Review: A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin
07 months ago
It goes without saying that A Feast for Crows is possibly the most controversial book in George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Ice and Fire. Five years in the making, it followed A Storm of Swords, arguably the best book in the series and certainly the most eventful. Absent are fan-favorite characters Dany, Jon and Tyrion (well, almost absent – Jon Snow does put in an appearance early in the book, and Tyrion does appear as a monster in a dream). Absent too are the huge earth-shattering events of the previous three volumes.
When Martin finished A Storm of Swords, he intended there to be a five year gap in the story before the opening of what was then considered to be the next volume, A Dance with Dragons. However, after writing a big chunk of the next novel, Martin found that the five year gap was untenable from a storytelling perspective. He discovered that he had to recount many of the events from the gap in flashback, which was slowing the main story thrust of the novel. He decided to step back and write a book that covered that five year gap. However, the book soon grew out of control, and ultimately he decided to split the book in two volumes — A Feast for Crows and a new incarnation of A Dance With Dragons.
At the heart of Martin’s problem was something he came to call the “Mereneese Knot.” I won’t get into the story specifics (although I will say that I interviewed him about the knot, among other things, in episode 149 of Television Zombies), but that huge writing problem meant that certain characters could not appear in volume four of the novel until it was resolved. So he took all of the events that took place in the south and wrapped them into A Feast for Crows, and took all the events in the North and across the Narrow Sea and put them into A Dance With Dragons.
The problem is, and this is pure conjecture on my part, that the POV chapters set in the south were originally intended to be supporting stories – not at all the main plot of the novel. And my guess is that since there wasn’t enough there, he padded the book out with POV’s taking place in Dorne and the Iron Islands, POV’s that likely wouldn’t have happened if the split had not occurred. This is not to say that the non-named POV chapters don’t have merit, or important things don’t happen in them, it’s just that they could have been explained in brief exposition and not taken up half a book. A Feast for Crows, I believe, was a stopgap intended to placate readers while he wrestled with A Dance With Dragons.
However, that said, A Feast for Crows is still a damned good book. It centers on the Lannister twins — Jamie and Cersei — and the different paths they take. Jaime, determined to write his own story in the Kingsguard’s White Book the way that he would want to be remembered struggles to find honor and redemption, while Cersei desperately tries to retain her grasp on power in Kings Landing.
Both arcs are surprisingly satisfying — I thought Jaime was one of the most compelling characters in A Storm of Swords, and he really stands out as the hero of A Feast for Crows. Is Jaime a bad man trying to be good, or a good man who did bad things? It’s hard to say, but I very much like where his journey takes him. Cersei, on the other hand, finally plays her cards — the audience has never been aligned with her POV, and once we are, her take on events becomes, maybe not surprising, but not necessarily as expected. Unintended consequences have long been a theme of A Song of Ice and Fire, and nowhere is that more apparent than in Cersei’s arc in Kings Landing.
Supporting the Jaime and Cersei POV chapters are chapters featuring Brienne, Sam, Arya and Sansa. All interesting — particularly Arya’s two brief chapters — though mostly padding. The chapters set in Dorne and the Iron Islands help to move playing pieces into position on the board, but are not as compelling as the named chapters (though I will say I liked getting more of an insight into those two settings).
If viewed as a direct sequel to A Storm of Swords, then A Feast for Crows is nothing short of a massive disappointment. But if viewed as an epilogue to A Storm of Swords and as a prologue to A Dance With Dragons, A Feast for Crows is not without merit. Few fantasy novelists have taken the time to show the impact of war on regular people — and Martin definitely spends a great deal of A Feast for Crows doing just that. It is a bleak novel, featuring a cast of characters who all feel left behind by their friends, family and loved ones. People who are trying to pick up the pieces after having lost everything. Longtime readers of Martin’s work will see glimpses of some of his darker novels and short stories here — yes, A Song of Ice and Fire is still pretty upbeat compared to a lot of Martin’s older work (see Dying of the Light, for instance).
Unfortunately, most of the chapters are unnecessary, and it is the weakest volume in the series to date. But the weakest volume in a great series is still pretty great, all things considered. Just make sure you go into the book knowing what to expect and enjoy it for what it is. And with A Dance with Dragons just around the corner, you don’t have to go on thinking that A Feast for Crows might be where everything ends.
Book Review: A Storm of Swords by George R.R. Martin
07 months ago
As many times as I’ve read Game of Thrones and Clash of Kings, I’ve only read A Storm of Swords twice. After returning to it for the first time in about eight years, I’m startled by how the events of the book are remarkably fresh in my mind. A Storm of Swords serves as the end of the first act of A Song of Ice and Fire, as the War of the Five Kings comes to a climax. So much of importance happens in the book, it’s hard to keep track of it all. Characters are shuffled off the board in startling ways, and huge surprises are in store for two of our lead POV’s. As much as book one belonged to Ned and book two belonged to Tyrion, book three is arguably shared by Dany and Jon.
Delivering a great number of twists and payoffs on elements spun out of the first two books, A Storm of Swords is arguably the most satisfying volume in the series. The ending chapters are breathless page turners, as principle characters are brought again and again to the edge of peril. As angry as many fans of the HBO show were regarding Ned’s scenes on the steps of the Sept of Baelor in A Game of Thrones, there are moments in this book even more shocking and horrendous — I can’t wait to see how the television audience reacts to them.
In the end, the only disappointment I have in A Storm of Swords is that it was originally setting up a five year gap between major story movements in the series. I know what a stumble it was when Martin entered a decade-long culdesac struggling to finish A Feast for Crows and A Dance With Dragons and fill in that gap within the story. Filling that gap may be important, but I fear it will be many years yet before the story promise offered by A Storm of Swords is fulfilled. New readers should understand that Swords is the climax of an act and that the great twists and turns of the book may not return to the series until the pieces are properly arranged on the board once more.
Book Review: A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin
28 months ago
Back in October 1998, I was working in the Gallery Place neighborhood of Washington, D.C., when on a lark I went into the old Olson’s book store (RIP) near the Shakespeare Theater on my lunch break. The science fiction and fantasy section of the store was pretty meager, but it was the only bookstore in the neighborhood, and I had time to kill. As I scanned the titles on the single row of hardbacks, my eye caught something I couldn’t believe I was seeing — A Clash of Kings by George R.R. Martin. Sitting on the shelf, a good three weeks before street date. Of course, I bought it — I was incredibly thrilled at my luck. No other fans had read it! When I got home, I posted the chapter list on Usenet, and to my surprise, almost every single response claimed that I was lying. I chalked it up to sour grapes and finished the book before it event hit the street.
Now, thirteen years later, I have just re-read A Clash of Kings as part of my epic re-read of A Song of Ice and Fire corresponding with both the HBO television adaptation of Game of Thrones, and the imminent release of Dance With Dragons. Clash of Kings is still an immensely great book, which like the first, centers on the arrival of a new king’s Hand — in this case, the unlikely Hand, Tyrion Lannister — in King’s Landing. Unlike Ned Stark, however, Tyrion is much better equipped to deal with court politics, but a different set of personal weaknesses endanger his reign. Meanwhile, war engulfs the river lands, Robert’s brothers Renly and Stannis both vie for the Iron Throne, Dany continues her journey to the east, and the Night’s Watch strikes out to discover where all the Wildings have vanished to. Theon Greyjoy is added as POV character, and along with Tyrion, offers one of the most interesting arcs in the book.
It’s somewhat easy for Clash of Kings to be overshadowed by Storm of Swords (the best in the series thus far) and Game of Thrones, but there is still much to recommend about it. The ending is both sad and hopeful at the same time, a true Empire Strikes Back style ending, and Martin begins to turn the screws on his characters in ways that not even Game of Thrones could anticipate.