Category: Reviews

Singing with the MasterHarper

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science Fiction15 Comments

Masterharper of PernFor my first book for the Sci Fi Experience, I decided to revisit a favorite character on one of my favorite distant planets, and reread The MasterHarper of Pern by Anne McCaffrey.

As the title suggests, this is a novel centered around MasterHarper Robinton, a shining supporting character in many other Pern novels.  Covering some 50 years, the book divides roughly into three parts.  First, Robinton’s childhood and musical training, and his fraught relationship with his perfectionist composer father, Petiron.  Next, Robinton’s romantic relationship with Kasia.  And third, the rising threat of Fax, a greedy and ruthless man intent on conquering more and more of Pern.  In the background, there’s the imminent return of Thread, burning spores falling from space.  It’s a danger ignored by most, which Robinton (and the reader) knows is to their peril.

I enjoyed this read a lot, although it may be for a funny reason.  The plot was satisfactory (I think the family drama in the first part was my favorite of the three plot-threads) and the characters were universally interesting though only a few were extraordinary.  But I really loved visiting Pern.  Since this covers so many years and explores Robinton’s life from birth on, this is an excellent book for just spending time in Pern.

We get a depth and breadth experience of life in the Harper Hall that’s beyond what’s provided in the relatively time-compressed (but excellent!) Harper Hall Trilogy.  Robinton journeys to practically every corner of the continent, giving us little snippets of life in different areas.  Pern has a beautifully rich and complex culture and society, and it always feels so inviting.  I probably wouldn’t actually like living in it, but I love reading about a world where people live in rock-hewn Holds, drink klah, and learn history and lessons through Harper songs.

It occurs to me that this is probably exactly why I lost interest in this series in later books, when people rediscovered certain technology and began to remake society in fundamental ways.  When the society is the appeal, changing it takes away much of what I like about the books!

But this installment is long before any of that happens.  This is in some ways a prequel to Dragonflight, although the angle is different.  Many of the characters from that book (or The Harper Hall Trilogy) appear here in much younger forms, which was a lot of the fun of the book.  Although Robinton is a Harper, Pern’s famous dragons are still very much in evidence.  His love of dragons was a good element, and it felt convincing rather than dragged in.

There were also some drawbacks to this particular book…  After 400 Threadless turns, I found it a little implausible that certain elements of society (like respect for Dragonriders) only began to break down dramatically in the last thirty years (before everything is reshaped by the events of Dragonflight).  I understand McCaffrey wanted to tell that story within Robinton’s lifetime, but it seemed a little unlikely on timing.  More seriously, while Fax is a compelling plot-thread, the climax of the book is tied so closely to events in Dragonflight that Robinton ended up having little to do except observe…which is a somewhat disappointing choice for the ending.

Robinton himself is possibly more charming as a supporting character than as a narrator, but at the same time he has more depth and complexity as the lead.  And he is still charming and eminently likable besides.  I do love the expressive symbolism of the cover, showing him with his harp in one hand, and a glass of Benden white wine in the other!  (And I don’t care if the wine looks a little reddish, it must be Benden white.)

I wouldn’t recommend choosing this book as your starting place for Pern (you’re better off with Dragonflight, Dragonsong or possibly Moreta) but if you’ve already been to the third planet in the Rukbat system, and especially if you enjoyed meeting MasterHarper Robinton while you were there, then I can recommend this one too.

Author’s Site: http://pernhome.com/aim/

Other reviews:
265 Book Blog
And I’m finding a sad lack of reviews!  Anyone else want to share theirs?

Buy it here: The Masterharper of Pern

Back to Narnia with Prince Caspian

On By cherylmahoneyIn Fantasy, Juvenile, Reviews3 Comments

Prince CaspianRemember my re”reading” of the Narnia series via audiobook?  Today we’re on to Prince Caspian, book 2 (or 4, depending how you count it).  This is the second book focused primarily on the Pevensie children, Peter, Susan, Edmund and Lucy.  They make their second trip to Narnia, only to find that hundreds of years have passed during, for them, the intervening year.  They eventually join up with Prince Caspian, rightful heir to the throne, who has gathered an army of Old Narnians (fauns, talking animals, dwarfs and the like) to fight his wicked uncle, King Miraz.

This was an interesting one for getting to know the Pevensie characters better.  Peter had a bit of lordly leadership to him, but I wound up feeling pretty neutral on him, neither liking or disliking him much.  Susan was quite frankly a wet blanket.  Edmund and Lucy emerged as the most interesting and complex of the group.  Edmund has grown much more likable since his nastiness of the previous book, while that past history gives him…well, a history!  There’s still the sense that he has shadows to overcome, and that doing the right thing is, not a struggle, but perhaps a conscious choice.  Lucy of course is lovely, heart always in the right place and often having beautiful moments, but never too perfect either.

I think it was really Caspian that I liked best, or at least his story.  The Pevensies’ adventure was good, but I particularly enjoyed the flashback story of how Caspian learned the stories of Old Narnia, fled from his uncle, and met wonderful, magical creatures in the process.

I’m not quite sure how I feel about the Pevensies’ adventure in some ways…I enjoyed it, and it was thought-provoking, which is good–except that I don’t feel like Lewis explored a lot of those thoughts!  The children return to Narnia to find the crumbling, abandoned remains of the castle where they had once ruled as Kings and Queens, during the Golden Age.  They ruled for years and years, and for them all those memories are only a year ago.  To return and find that hundreds of years have gone by and the Golden Age has most decidedly past…well, it ought to prompt all kinds of sorrow about lost friends and lost times, and reflections on the meanings of our deeds, and the changes of the world.  I had some of those thoughts, but I would have liked to see the characters have more of them too!

All the same, there were some wonderful characters in here–and Aslan, of course, was a delight.  Big and solemn and immense, naturally, but we got to see him be a bit more playful now and then too. 🙂

Next on the list, Voyage of the Dawn Treader, which is one of my favorites!

Author’s Site: https://www.cslewis.com/

Other reviews:
The Bookworm Chronicles
The Overstuffed Bookcase
Living on Literary Lane
Anyone else?

Buy it here: Prince Caspian

TGKA: Star Trek: The Original Series

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science Fiction8 Comments

TGKA 1For the Sci Fi Experience this year, I’m embarking on The Great Khan Adventure, an attempt to put together all the pieces of the story of Khan Noonien Singh, as portrayed on screen and through Greg Cox’s trilogy of books.

It was a bit tricky deciding where to begin–“the beginning” is not straight-forward when multiple timelines converge in most installments.  The Eugenics Wars books take place chronologically before “Spaceseed” in Khan’s life, but after “Assignment: Earth” in Gary Seven’s life–and the Kirk-portion of the books is after the episodes.

Solution?  The episodes were written first, providing the background for the books, so I’m starting there!  This post wraps together several episodes of Star Trek which would appear to have no connection to each other–but they all intersect the 20th-century in some way, and prove relevant to the books.  Taking them in chronological order (as Kirk and crew experience it, at least)…

Tomorrow Is Yesterday

Quick Plot: Due to an accident with a black hole, the Enterprise is flung back in time to the 1960s.  Spotted by the American airforce, they have to beam pilot John Christopher aboard, to avoid being identified as a UFO.  Next problem: how to send Christopher back, with all he knows now about the future.

Thoughts: The basic plot here is pretty decent, of the Enterprise crew scrambling to hide their own traces from a military watching for UFOs.  Although he’s a one-episode-only character, Christopher may be the most moving part, a man adamant about returning to his family in the face of all the Enterprise crew’s insistence that the risk is too great.  There’s also some nice humor in here, from a military sergeant’s stunned reaction when he too is beamed aboard, to Kirk’s deprecating attempts to downplay his uniform when captured by military personnel.

And it does all end happily…even if the solution seems wildly implausible from a scientific point of view–and that despite the fact that I’m willing to accept slingshotting around the Sun as a valid method of time travel!!

Best Quote:
Christopher: I never have believed in little green men.
Spock [stepping into Christopher’s view]: Neither have I.

Space Seed

Quick Plot: The Enterprise picks up a sleeper ship and revives its leader, a genetically engineered superman from the late 20th century.  The man turns out to be Khan Noonien Singh, who ruled a quarter of the planet during the Eugenics Wars of the 1990s.  Khan wins the loyalty of Ship’s Historian Marla McGivers, and with her help he is able to waken his crew and take over the Enterprise.  Kirk wins out in the end, and Khan, Marla and the rest are exiled to Ceti Alpha V, there to build a new empire. Continue reading “TGKA: Star Trek: The Original Series” →

The Girl on Fire

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews3 Comments

Catching FireI was a little bit late to see Catching Fire, second movie in The Hunger Games saga, but I finally caught it this past weekend.  I was deeply curious about this one, and hopeful–in a way.  If you recall my reviews of the books, I liked the first one only to be disappointed by the second and, to a much greater extent, the third.

However–while I’m normally against Hollywood making big changes when they adapt a novel, in this particular case, I suspected that they might choose to change things in a way that I would end up liking much better…and so far Catching Fire seems to be bearing that out.

Catching Fire continues the story of Katniss Everdeen (Jennifer Lawrence), who survived the deadly arena of the Hunger Games in part by selling the Capital on her tragic love story with fellow Tribute, Peeta Mellark (Josh Hutcherson).  Sinister President Snow (Donald Sutherland) doesn’t buy it, and warns Katniss that any wrong move from her will be a danger to her family.  In truth Katniss is torn between Peeta and her best friend, Gale (Liam Hemsworth), and terrified by the rumbles of uprisings throughout the districts, from people who are looking to her to be a symbol.  Danger becomes more immediate when special rules are announced for this year’s Hunger Games–past Victors will be returned to the Arena, meaning Katniss and Peeta will have to face 22 particularly smart and deadly opponents.

Long plot summary, because there’s a lot going on!  The movie manages a nice balance, though, between all the many crises pulling at Katniss.  In some ways she becomes reactive, confronting each crisis (whether it’s Gale kissing her or a crowd shouting) as it comes–but it’s a thinking reactive, where I get the sense that she’s trying her best to deal with everything.  It’s so overwhelming that she has to confront each item as it comes.

I find I liked movie-Katniss better than book-Katniss for this installment.  It may be the thinking part of her reactive-ness.  In the book I got frustrated with Katniss’ lack of decisive action–her inability to choose between the two guys, her ambivalent feelings about the growing revolution.  The movie tells essentially the same story, but the telling is just a hair different, making me feel that Katniss really is trying.  That she’s doing her best in an incredibly difficult situation, torn between sympathy for the people in the districts, fear for the consequences of an uprising, fear for the people she cares about…

The romantic triangle went a touch differently too; where in the book she simply didn’t seem able to feel anything definite about Gale or Peeta, the movie emphasizes that she’s too scared and overwhelmed to think about romance (very reasonably so!!), only to realize in key moments of crisis that she may care too much about both guys.  The movie also balances the romance well, in that it didn’t feel like a distraction from the larger life-and-death questions.  As Casablanca puts it, “it doesn’t take much to see that the problems of three little people don’t amount to a hill of beans in this crazy world.”  Except they do, when you might be about to lose one of those people.

Gale was in the movie only briefly, but somehow emerged better than he did in the book.  Peeta, on the other hand, didn’t do much in this one even though he was in it more.  He’s clearly struggling with having stronger feelings for Katniss than she has for him, and beyond that, I didn’t get much of a feel for him at all.

Some of the supporting characters, though, were wonderful!  Crazy Effie Trinket (Elizabeth Banks), with her ridiculous outfits and superficial concerns, actually won me over.  Especially when she talks about how she, Peeta, Katniss and Haymitch are a team.  Effie really is superficial, but somewhere under there she has a good heart.  Haymitch (Woody Harrelson) was great as well, still a cynical drunk but showing strength and insight too.  And Stanley Tucci as Caesar Flickerman was once again absolute perfection–a beaming, shining picture of a game show host, laughing and enthusiastic and so, so unflinching as he talks about death and murder as though it’s entertainment.

Rue, even though she died in the last installment, was still such a heartbreaking presence in this one.  The most wrenching moment was when Katniss is in Rue’s district, speaking about what Rue meant to her.  I love that the three-fingered salute becomes a symbol of the revolution.  Alongside Rue, this Hunger Games gives us Mags (Lynn Cohen), an old woman Haymitch describes as a wonderful lady.  Katniss has some lovely sweet moments with Mags, which I think do a lot to soften some of Katniss’ more hard-edged, survivalist moments in other places.

All in all, I’m quite hopeful about where the next movie(s) will go–although, I was hopeful when I finished the second book too!  But the reason I’m expecting better things comes down especially to the last two seconds of the movie.  Katniss has just received devastating news and begins to cry–but then she blinks, and stares directly into the camera with absolute, steel-eyed determination.  It is, quite frankly, what I wanted and never got in the entire third book.  So I am very interested to see what Hollywood plans to give us next…

The Weekend of the Doctor

On By cherylmahoneyIn Reviews, Science Fiction3 Comments

Day of the Doctor OfficialIf you’ve been paying attention to geek news (or went on Google last weekend), you may have noticed just a bit of Doctor Who buzz…  Saturday marked the 50th anniversary, with a thoroughly hyped special that’s been promised for months.  Happily, I thought it lived entirely up to all the anticipation!

I went with some friends to see the special at a showing at a local pub.  The place was packed with Who shirts and costumes, and there was a photo opp with a life-size TARDIS.  Near as I can tell, this is the closest thing to the geek Superbowl. 🙂

The special, The Day of the Doctor, proved to be epic, hilarious, heartrending and, my very favorite thing in geek franchises, from beginning to end a love letter to the fans.  It’s all well and good to create something for “the general audience”…but we all know the fans really want something with in-jokes and past references galore!

The story centers around a meeting of Three Doctors (ish–maybe).  We’ve known since the beginning of New Who that there had been a huge Time War between the Time Lords and the Daleks, which ended when the Doctor destroyed both races.  This special features the War Doctor, a previously-unknown Regeneration (John Hurt), who made the fatal decision.  The War Doctor goes through time and space to meet the 10th Doctor (David Tennant) and the 11th Doctor (Matt Smith) to fight alien shape-shifters and make a truly universe-changing decision.

The plot is far more epic (and surprisingly coherent) than I’m making it sound!  It was epic and immense both on the level of threats to billions, and on the personal level of what effect one enormous decision has on the man who makes it, and then carries it through multiple centuries and lives.

But in between all the epicness and the heart-rending and the guilt, there is so much that is so fun!  I loved the Doctors bouncing off of each other, making snarky observations about one another that fans have been making for years.  And so many in-jokes, from the 4th Doctor’s scarf to the 11th Doctor’s fez to the 10th’s Doctor’s mysterious history with Elizabeth I (and his propensity for kissing).  And there was possibly my single favorite line, about reversing the reversing of the polarity–“we’re confusing the polarity!”

If you’re thinking you might like to jump into Doctor Who, this is not the place to jump, full as it is of earlier references.  But if that paragraph above all made perfect sense to you, do not miss this special.  It’s going on my list of top 5 favorite episodes–and that is saying quite a lot!