reviews

Deception Point (Dan Brown)

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Deception PointDan Brown One of the biggest problems I had with Da Vinci Code was the recurring tactic of withholding information from the readers, giving us vague, dire pronouncements instead of letting us judge the facts for ourselves. This amateurism is still in evidence in Deception Point; the second sentence of the book reads: "Geologist Charles Brophy had endured the savage splendor of this terrain for years, and yet nothing could prepare him for a fate as barbarous and unnatural as the one about to befall him." There’s nothing really barbarous about being shoved to your death out of a […]

The Raw Shark Texts (Steven Hall)

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The Raw Shark Texts by Steven Hall There are two types of people in the world, Eric. There are the people who understand instinctively that the story of The Flood and the story of The Tower of Babel are the same thing, and those who don’t. — Trey Fidorous (285) Fidorous’s binary distinction sums up reader reaction to this book. Those who don’t instinctively understand the equality between the two stories, such as a previous reviewer for Strange Horizons, declare that "at its best, it is an entertaining adventure yarn with a plot that doesn’t bear scrutiny too well, not […]

Valhalla Rising (Clive Cussler)

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Valhalla RisingClive Cussler I’ve never read Clive Cussler before, but a relative of mine kept referencing him as writing fun stories (if not entirely realistic or profound), so I thought I’d check it out. It’s always nice to have a common ground of reading material–that’s one topic that skips right over all the awkward small talk. Her evaluation was pretty much spot-on, although I think I was expecting more in the way of obstacles. There’s really no point in the book where you have serious doubts about the outcome; it’s a blatantly vicarious story (more about that in a bit) […]

Chrono Crusade (Daisuke Moriyama) 1

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Chrono CrusadeDaisuke Moriyama I’m not usually very fond of manga — there are certain stylistic choices common to the medium that irritate me, not even mentioning the fact that most manga don’t know how to end — they just keep stretching out into the thirties and forties of volumes, like the graphic counterpart to the Animorphs series. But Daisuke Moriyama’s Chrono Crusade really impressed me. The vision is unique and cohesive, drawing heavily on the resonant power of religious icons, Sinners and Apostles, while talking about something wholly different. It’s set in the Roaring Twenties, which automatically gives you extra […]

The Da Vinci Code (Dan Brown)

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The Da Vinci CodeDan Brown This book surprised me. With all the uproar from the Church, I did not expect it to be so reverent, so respectful, of forms of faith. The history of the Catholic Church is very critical at times, but by the time the book wraps up, everyone is given at least one sympathetic dimension, even Opus Dei. Overall the book avoided villainizing or bashing any one religious group, which is remarkable considering how easy it would have been. The symbolic and historical depth of the book is also quite interesting, although none of it is terribly […]

Filaria (Brent Hayward) 3

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FilariaBrent Hayward A complex, intricately woven (or should I say tiered?) little book, Filaria divulges its most important secrets in bits and pieces, usually secondhand to a character who is unaware of its import. For instance, the lust that seizes all the male characters is revealed as a pheromone experiment mentioned in the first quarter of the book, aimed at Deidre, but outed to Phister. The four central characters never meet each other, but cross paths with mutual acquaintances who provide new revelations at every step. In addition, the level of detail is subtle and exquisite, often provided in succinct […]