Book Review: The Mad Scientist’s Daughter
Posted on March 27, 2014 2 Comments
The Mad Scientist’s Daughter by Cassandra Rose Clarke
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Stand alone
Publisher: Angry Robot (January 29, 2013)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
The Mad Scientist’s Daughter ended up giving me all sorts of contradictory and inconsistent feelings. Even though I loved this novel, there were still a ton of things that drove me nuts about it, and yet I can’t help but suspect a lot of it was by design.
First of all, while I enjoyed this book, I also have to say it was also one of the most depressing stories I’ve ever read. Even though the tagline is “A tale of love, loss and robots”, I don’t actually think it was meant to be that depressing (in fact, it’s got a pretty happy ending) but here you have a main character who’s just so pitiful and tragic and even pathetic, I couldn’t even bring myself to hate her for her many, many flaws.
At its heart, The Mad Scientist’s Daughter is a deep analysis and portrayal of Caterina Novak, daughter of a brilliant yet a eccentric inventor and cybernetics expert, and we follow her character’s development from childhood to her adult years. Cat is five years old when she first meets Finn, the android her father brings home to be her tutor. But as Cat grows, she discovers Finn is different from other androids. With every year that passes their relationship becomes increasingly complicated, as Cat starts to see Finn as someone more than just a tutor and friend.
And yet, what Cat attributes to love for Finn, I see it more as an obsession. I wouldn’t really consider this book a love story or a true romance, and if it was meant to be, then it missed its mark completely. If you’re looking for romantic tension or chemistry between two characters, you’re not really going to find it here. For most of the book, Cat’s feelings are mostly one-sided, and for all the times we’re told Finn is sentient and one of a kind, the author still never manages to make him seem quite human enough.
So yeah, I pretty much just spent a lot of time feeling bad and really sorry for Cat. Like I said, depressing.
Still, the fact I am able to express any sympathy for her at all is an incredible achievement in itself. It’s like Cat is always in her own little world, with Finn being the only thing ever on her mind. She snaps at people, not understanding why they might not feel the same way about androids as she does. She marries a man (who turned out to be a grade-A dick but genuinely did love her) out of convenience. She donates to a charity that defends androids, but I’m not convinced she actually believes in the cause or if it’s more likely she’s driven by her guilt and Finn obsession.
By rights, such a self-absorbed and angst-ridden character should turn me right off, but somehow Cat manages to make me like her. Maybe it’s because we all know nobody’s perfect. Or that when it comes to that special someone, no one can help the way they feel. I felt Cat’s pain of loving someone she believed she could never have. I felt her helplessness of knowing she shouldn’t have those feelings but turning them off is also easier said than done. We’ve all been there. That I could relate to her made it easier to overlook her many faults.
Before this, I’d only read Cassandra Rose Clarke’s young adult novels and I was really keen to see what she could do with a longer, more mature story. In the end I was quite happy with the book The Mad Scientist’s Daughter turned out to be. It isn’t an exploration into the humanity of intelligent machines like Asimov’s Bicentennial Man or the movie A.I. Artificial Intelligence, or at least it isn’t its central focus; instead, the delineation of Cat’s personality takes center stage, and the plot takes a backseat to the dynamics in her relationships with Finn and, to a lesser extent, her mother and father. The premise is a cool idea, even if the story ultimately turned out to be a horribly heartbreaking one for me.
Comic Review Bites
Posted on March 27, 2014 Leave a Comment
In season 6 of Buffy, Willow delved deep into her magical abilities, becoming addicted to the power and eventually becoming “Dark Willow,” the big bad of the season. Since then, she’s been struggling with the balance of her power — suppressing her desire, while still aiding Buffy and the Scoobies in the saving of the world business. At least until season 8, when Buffy banished magic from earth. In Wonderland, Willow goes on a solo journey into dangerous, mystical dimensions in an attempt to restore it.
I haven’t been reading the Buffy comics since the beginning of season 9 and am surprised to see that Willow’s issues with magic still exist, however, it is something that needed to be addressed and I think this book did a reasonably good job of it, though some of it was a bit cliché and predictable. Willow’s self-deprecating wit occasionally popped up, but not enough for my liking.
The art was cute and did it’s job, but I would have loved it if David Mack had done more than just the gorgeous covers. His scattered imagery and painted style would have taken this story to an entirely new level, perfectly capturing the ethereal feel and the sense of loss that Willow suffers with.
Book Review: Lockstep by Karl Schroeder
Posted on March 26, 2014 Leave a Comment
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Book 1
Publisher: Tor (March 25, 2014)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars
My brain does not feel fully equipped to handle Lockstep. Obviously, this is not a criticism of the book; rather it is one on my limitations in spatial-temporal thinking. For you see, the whole book revolves around a fascinating but sometimes confusing concept of coordinated hibernation cycles. With no warp drives and light-years between colonized planets, it’s the most efficient way to keep a civilization going in a huge galaxy.
In this Lockstep system, worlds are carefully timed on a “sleep-and-wake” schedule, and this also allows travelers to lie dormant during long trips between planets. Whole populations can go into cold sleeps for decades while only waking for a few weeks, but even after many cycles it could feel like hardly any time has passed at all. So in essence, there’s “real time” and then there’s “Lockstep time”. The main character Toby experiences this the hard way, having gone to sleep after being lost in space, then waking up 14,000 years later in real time. But in Lockstep time however, only about four decades have passed.
I’ve been noticing a lot more books featuring wild and innovative ideas dealing with space and time in recent years, and I think it’s totally awesome! The concept behind the Lockstep Empire is one of the best and most original yet. In spite of this, the book is not without its problems and for me they mainly stem from the confusing execution of those ideas.
First of all, the Lockstep system by itself is not a very difficult one to grasp, but the book will keep throwing factors into the mix making the story a lot more complicated. Take for instance, worlds that don’t operate on the Lockstep schedule, or are set at different intervals. Or how about different characters in different contexts, popping up with their ages all over the place relative to Toby and his friends’. Whenever the author states how much time has passed (presumably in Lockstep time) or whenever a character goes to sleep and wakes up again during space travel, I would always wonder when I actually am.
The creative plot line and world building notwithstanding, I also only felt lukewarm towards the story. I was drawn by the ideas in this novel and the intrigue of Toby’s messed up family, but I was never made to feel truly excited about where the book was going. I also won’t deny this might have played into my overall uncertainty of the Lockstep premise. It pretty much mirrors my experience with hard sci-fi. While I don’t really consider myself a big fan, I wouldn’t mind hard sci-fi novels as long as they “hook” me in some way, making it easier for me to wrap my head around technobabble and the more complicated ideas. I think the same can be applied to Lockstep, but in this case the storytelling, while ambitious and inventive, just didn’t really do it for me.
To sum things up, this book has lots of great ideas and world building, worth reading just to be hit with the awesomeness of the Lockstep system and learn about its ins-and-outs. The story could have been written in a way to make it easier to understand, but the concept is still nothing short of incredible. My main issue with the book isn’t so much that I found the Lockstep system confusing (like I said, that’s my problem, not the book’s) but the fact the story itself did not excite me. I enjoyed it, but could it have been more? I think so. Still, not bad, not bad at all.
Waiting on Wednesday 03/26/14
Posted on March 26, 2014 Leave a Comment
“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that lets us feature upcoming releases that we can’t wait to get our hands on!
In the days of the first kings in the North, there were seven devils…
Ahjvar, the assassin known as the Leopard, wants only to die, to end the curse that binds him to a life of horror. Although he has no reason to trust the goddess Catairanach or her messenger Deyandara, fugitive heir to a murdered tribal queen, desperation leads him to accept her bargain: if he kills the mad prophet known as the Voice of Marakand, Catairanach will free him of his curse. Accompanying him on his mission is the one person he has let close to him in a lifetime of death, a runaway slave named Ghu. Ahj knows Ghu is far from the half-wit others think him, but in Marakand, the great city where the caravan roads of east and west meet, both will need to face the deepest secrets of their souls, if either is to survive the undying enemies who hunt them and find a way through the darkness that damns the Leopard.
To Marakand, too, come a Northron wanderer and her demon verrbjarn lover, carrying the obsidian sword Lakkariss, a weapon forged by the Old Great Gods to bring their justice to the seven devils who escaped the cold hells so long before.
“Tour Review: Stone Cold by Devon Monk
Posted on March 25, 2014 Leave a Comment
Wendy’s (Snowy) Spring Reading List
Posted on March 24, 2014 Leave a Comment
I’m just finishing up the last of my Winter Reading List with The Last Wish. I’d feel guilty about the fact that I’m a few days late with that, but since this is what it looks like outside my window…. While it might not feel like spring in spirit, my daughters are certain that it is and are already making plans. I shall use their positivity to fuel my own spring plans.
First and foremost on my list is The Barrow, for which I claim bragging rights as this copy was personally signed and sent by my friend, Mark Smylie. It dawned on me, as I walked back from the mailbox through the knee deep snow (yes, I’m bitter. Sue me.) that it had been over a decade since we first met at a Detroit comic convention and he introduced me to Artesia. We eventually lost touch, until I stumbled across The Barrow on Goodreads during its early stages. I’m very much looking forward to reading this for so many reasons.
After that, I am still busily working on my promise to work though books I already own and have been meaning to read, and not buying any more books in the mean time (failed on the latter … see upcoming book haul post). I’ve been using my many Worlds Without End reading challenges to keep me focused on this goal and am pleased to report that I’m doing reasonably well.
The Kingdom of Gods by N.K. Jemisin
I’m putting this on here, but I reserve the right to run away from it and cry in a corner. It may be that I can only handle one book in this series per year, and I’m only just getting over The Broken Kingdoms, which was the first book on my Winter Reading List. But now that I’ve learned that Jemisin’s The Fifth Season has been postponed to 2015, perhaps I should consider it a sign that I need to be finished with the Inheritance Trilogy first and then let my emotions settle before diving into a new story.
The New Moon’s Arms by Nalo Hopkinson
There are several authors whose names I have heard, and know them to be major players within speculative fiction, but I am completely unfamiliar with their work. Nalo Hopkinson is one of them, and as part of both the Speculative Fiction by Author’s of Colour Challenge and the the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award Challenge, I’ve selected this book as my introduction to Ms. Hopkinson’s work and made a special trip to the local library to grab it.
Other books on the we’ll-just-have-to-pretend-it’s Spring Reading List continue the theme of catching up. In some cases, even going back to some genre classics… :
Graphic Novel Review: Rat Queens Vol.1: Sass and Sorcery
Posted on March 24, 2014 4 Comments
Rat Queens, Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery by Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch
Genre: Fantasy, Gaming
Series: Rat Queens #1-5
Publisher: Image Comics
Publication Date: April 8, 2014
Wendy’s Rating: 5 of 5 stars: Drop whatever pre-conceived notions you might have over RPG adventurers. These women are unapologetically perfect in their blazing imperfections.
And a copy for you and a copy for you… I swear if I had the money, I would be flinging copies of Rat Queens at eeeeeverybody. As it stands, only a few of my precious babies will be getting an Amazon mailbox surprise soon, and I’d already pre-ordered my own copy from my not-so-local comic book story. But thankfully, NetGalley let me partake of this glory early in exchange for an honest review, which basically goes like this:
Why the hell aren’t you reading Rat Queens already? #FLAIL
But seriously. You do not really have to be a roleplaying game fan to appreciate the Rat Queens, though it probably helps quite a bit to understand how the characters fit into the basic roles of a team of adventurers. There’s Dee Dee the human cleric, Hannah the elven sorceress, Betty the smidgen rogue, and Violet the dwarven warrior. Beyond that, drop whatever pre-conceived notions you might have over RPG adventurers. These women are unapologetically perfect in their blazing imperfections. They are crude and violent, sexual and in command, vulnerable and honest, and wonderfully loyal to each other and those they deem worthy. Some might find the Rat Queens over the top, believing them to be the product of a man trying too hard to write liberated females, but ending up with stereotypical male characters with boobs. I will politely disagree with such an opinion. These ladies are the epitome of femininity in all its glorious parts, beginning with Roch Upchurch’s depiction of characters with real body types. They are all kinds of sexy in both attitude and appearance.
But they aren’t just about the bar brawls, sex, drugs and mercenary work. Wiebe carefully weaves in little bits and pieces of their personal lives and really rounds out the characters and all of their various relationships outside of the group. Within the group, the design of their friendship and loyalty is subtle, but clear. There is certainly conflict, but at the end of the day, they would each take a bullet for the other (if there actually were bullets). Dee especially surprises as the divine magic user who doesn’t believe in the divine she was raised on. She doesn’t get her moment in the spotlight until the last issue of the volume, but once it occurs, she became an instant favourite for me because of an endearing back story and touching moments that I could personally appreciate. (See mom? That’s how you handle that sort of thing…)
When we first meet the Queens, they are making a mess of the city they claim to be protecting and, along with several other amusing groups of mercenaries, they are sent out on various quests. The questing is typical RPG fodder – until they all walk into an elaborate trap. The mystery of who arranged for the assassination of all these mercs becomes the many plot, but there are other delectable threads teasing along the edges.
Wiebe’s wit is so very on point throughout. The dialogue is knife edge sharp and funny, even when Violet is failing miserably at the intimidating one liners. I love the way the story mocks itself as much as the various mediums it targets. It walks the fine edge of satire without going overboard and becoming preachy, allowing it to be simply a hilarious, fun read that I am dying to get more of.
Mogsy’s Book Haul
Posted on March 23, 2014 Leave a Comment
Defenders – kicking off this week’s stack of books is this title from Will McIntosh, whose Love Minus Eighty was one of the best books I read last year. You can imagine my excitement and gratitude when I received this ARC, so my big thanks to Orbit Books!
The Unquiet House – Jo Fletcher Books publishes some great horror, and this one by Alison Littlewood caught my eye. She is also the author of Path of Needles, which I will be reading very soon as well.
Binary – I was so excited because JFB also sent over this one and the first book Gemsigns, though Binary has arrived first. I want to start this series so badly! But alas, I’m still waiting for book one to show up. Until then, this one is on my shelf, sitting there…just taunting me. ARRGH.
The Book of Lost Things, Foul Trouble and The Language Inside – okay, so a while ago Random House’s young adult fiction community Random Buzzers was shut down, and I’m guessing this is where these three books that arrived totally randomly (har har) came from. They must have cleared out the old ARCs in their inventory, threw a bunch into envelops indiscriminately and sent them to their former users. The thing is, I’m not big on the contemporary YA genre (the only one I might have an interest at all in is the Mister Max book) so I’ll likely not read these but I featured them anyway because I hate seeing books (especially ARCs — even if they’re old) go to waste. So, if you live in the US and are interested in any of these three books, leave me a comment or email me with a way to get in touch and I’ll be happy to give these away to someone who wants them. Check out their descriptions if you need more info, and The Language Inside appears to be a book of poetry.
Now onwards to the digital pile:
Archetype – isn’t it great when you add a book to your wishlist, and then days or weeks later it goes on sale? The Archetype ebook was $2.99 earlier this week (still is, I think) and it was on my list so when I saw it I jumped on it right away.
Nightmare Ink – an urban fantasy involving a tattoo shop and a killer tattoo, I just couldn’t resist this eARC!
Deadly Curiosities – my NetGalley pile is in danger of overwhelming me again, but I am an admirer Gail Z. Martin’s work and when I heard about an urban fantasy by her coming out from Solaris Books I knew I had to check it out.
Heaven’s Queen – my ever growing NetGalley pile notwithstanding, I still just had to request this one. For obvious reasons.
The Ten Thousand Things – the second book to the Dead West series. You saw how much I enjoyed the first book, so I’m super excited to get the sequel! Thanks, Ragnarok Pub!
Apex Magazine #58 – after a very successful Apex blog tour coordinated by Andrea from the Little Red Reviewer back in February, I am now savvy to Apex Magazine and am very excited to read the March issue!
YA Weekend: The Well’s End by Seth Fishman
Posted on March 22, 2014 Leave a Comment
The Well’s End by Seth Fishman
Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction
Series: Book 1 of The Well’s End
Publisher: Putnam Young Readers (February 25, 2014)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
I had trouble categorizing The Well’s End, which should already tell you that this is quite a unique piece of YA fiction. Part science fiction and fantasy but also a bit of mystery and thriller, the book is a fast-paced adventure that sets itself apart with an imaginative scenario and memorable characters.
The book follows Mia, whose fall down a well when she was four years old made her a local celebrity. Twelve years later she is still known to everyone in town and at the exclusive Westbrook Academy where she goes to school as “Baby Mia”. The experience left her with a fear of water and tight dark spaces, which only led to my increased admiration for her as I watched her fight through many frightening situations in the course of this story.
Mia had even joined the swim team and become its star. On the eve of a big meet though, a sudden emergency causes Westbrook to go into lock-down, the cause of it being a deadly virus that speeds up the aging process in its victims so that those infected die within hours. It feels a bit wrong of me to say this but, NICE! A story about a killer virus and quarantine in a YA novel that isn’t related to zombies for once!
Once the news breaks about the virus, that’s when the plot really takes off. Seth Fishman nails the atmosphere of Westbrook and makes the social aspects of the school very believable (when I was a teen I spent a couple years overseas stuck in a high end international school and a lot of the different cliques and students’ attitudes there were actually a lot like what I saw in this book). Some of the best scenes were at the beginning of the novel where the students first learn that they are not allowed to leave the campus, resulting in the utter chaos you would expect from the reactions of privileged kids used to getting their own way. It was frightening, it was intense, and it was brilliant.
The book only had a couple weaknesses, one being the uneven pacing of the story. It slows a little after Mia and friends escape the school grounds and start heading towards the Fenton Electronics Company located in “the Cave”, a front for where her father works. There’s a burst of excitement again when the teens hit up the aqueduct and run into all sorts of trouble there, but it calms down again once they find the Cave and realize it’s not what they thought it was at all. The explanation for the virus situation felt a little drawn out and there was also a sudden shift in perspective here that might jar some readers. There were also a few interactions between the characters that felt awkward, especially the one between Mia and the new kid Brayden. Their relationship felt too fast and too sudden, though as the story progressed, I started to understand why it might have been that way.
The big reveal about the Cave was a real game changer though, ratcheting the excitement up a few notches. As the pieces of this puzzle fell into place, all the strange things that had baffled me finally made a lot more sense. Here we tread further into fantasy territory, and with the secret nature of the Cave still mostly unknown, the stage is set for all kinds of possibilities.
In the end, this debut by Seth Fishman did not disappoint. I found out he is the literary agent of a couple of my favorite authors, so he definitely knows a good story. His first book was indeed a promising start to a new series though be aware that the ending is very abrupt, leaving things open for an inevitable sequel. There’s no question I’ll pick it up though; I’m invested in the story and these characters and I’m eager for answers.
Book Review: The Detainee by Peter Liney
Posted on March 21, 2014 Leave a Comment
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Book 1 of The Detainee
Publisher: Jo Fletcher Books (UK: July 4, 2013/US: March 11, 2014)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Dystopian fiction seems to be all the rage these days, but if you’re hankering for a book that sets itself apart and that is not a Young Adult novel, then boy do I have a gem for you.
The Detainee is set the distant future, where society as we know it has essentially collapsed, the economy and infrastructure in tatters. The population is kept in line by security satellites in the sky, constantly watching. Do something against the rules and — ZAP! — you’re either disabled, dying or dead, depending on the severity of your crime. But if you’re a troublemaker, the authorities would sooner just throw you away than deal with you. Anyone who represents a burden is unwanted, dumped onto The Island like the rest of the Mainland’s garbage.
But what makes this book stand out is the main character Clancy, also known as “Big Guy” on account of his huge size as a youth, a trait that gave him such an edge as a former mafia goon. He is also sixty-three years old. Now, with people living longer and longer these days, I don’t know if I would really call that old … but the point is, Clancy certainly identifies himself as elderly. So, that’s a bit different. I don’t often come across stories told from the point of view of someone “aged” (for the entire duration of the book) and I thought Clancy’s position offers a very unique perspective, as someone who has watched the “good old days” turn gradually into the hell they live in now — piece by piece and slippery slope by slippery slope.
Because of his age, Clancy is also an involuntary resident of the Island, because those who are past their prime are seen as nothing more than takers and freeloaders. Elders in this society are not revered but instead treated like scapegoats for the system’s collapse — along with the sick, the poor, and even children. There are many young people at the Island too, many of whom ended up there because their parents chose abandoning them over being cast off themselves. These kids are rounded up and manipulated by the island’s Wastelords who use a regime of drugs and abuse to create a brutal child army, which they use to set against the old people who live in the village.
Like I said, this is not your teenager’s YA dystopian. In an ironic twist, the youth are the enemy, the face of death to Clancy and his friends. Their village becomes a bloody battlefield whenever the fog rolls in, because that’s when the kids come raiding, knowing full well their activities are obscured from the gazes of the uncompromising satellites.
Powerful and provocative, you can practically feel the weight in Peter Liney’s writing. The Detainee paints a hollow, painful existence for everyone living on the Island, for while the book is told in first person from Clancy’s point of view, we find out later on that things are just as bad (if not worse) for the young people at the Camps. Instead of focusing on a single age group, the author has taken things further to explore the unpleasant effects of a dystopian society across multiple generations. But the novel is also hopeful and inspiring; even in a world of misery, the protagonist Clancy forges several unlikely relationships that give him reason to carry on. In time he learns when it comes to love and suffering, age is just a number, and that everyone longs for freedom the same way.
What you’ll find here is a compelling story about adaptability, compassion and courage. Clancy is a very interesting narrator, with the experience of his years behind his character, and who ultimately discovers you are never too old to surprise yourself. I could be wrong, but I think The Detainee is a stand alone novel (EDIT: seems that I am wrong, I’m told there is a book 2 in the works YAY!) It reads perfectly fine as one, in any case. I would have liked to see more from the story about its world’s history and background, but I found the book thoroughly enjoyable. Perfect for fans of dystopian fiction who are looking for an exceptional novel to dive into.
The BiblioSanctum 