Homunculus by James P. Blaylock

Review of Homunculus bu James P. Blaylock



Let me start by saying yes... yes that is easily the uggliest book cover I have ever seen.

Ugly enough that the first thing I did upon receiving this book in the mail was look up how to make a book cover out of a grocery bag.

Why did I receive such a hideous looking book in the mail in the first place? That's a fair question. I have a steampunk obsession. I know... I know... there's 12 steps that'll cure that right up. It's not a genre I'm going to defend, it's got plenty of flaws, but it's got a lot of promise too. I keep coming back to something a friend said when I confessed my obsession, "Isn't steampunk more of a visual form?"

And she was right. The best steampunk examples I've seen have been visual. But I keep looking for books too. The nice thing has been that anyone even tangentially touching upon the genre seems more than happy to point you in the direction of some more attempts. And there have been a lot of fingers point in the direction of a book called Homunculus by James P. Blaylock. It has been desciribed as one of the earliest examples of the form. So I had Sarah seek it out. Within 15 minutes she had a copy ordered for me... and a couple weeks later I was saving grocery bags for book covers.




The first book that I read by Blaylock was All The Bells on Earth . It was maybe 9 or 10 years ago now.


That book immediately won me over. It was an exquisite example of what Dark Fiction (or Urban Fantasy, or the New Weird, or whatever you call the genre) can do. Unfortunately, since that book I just haven't found another Blaylock book as good.

And this book didn't change that streak. This book wasn't bad, and I guess I judged it two ways.

If I judged it on its own, I probably would have given it a 2 (out of 5... i'm on the good reads rating system now). It starts slow, I didn't really find myself enjoying it until about halfway into the book. The characters are easy to confuse. There's a good sized cast, and they all seem to fall within two groups. The good and the bad. Within those groups the characters are all but interchangeable.

The plot was tangled, but still felt arbitrary. In the end I don't feel like the characters really moved the book, rather they were caught up in it.

Where this book scores points is when judged within the steampunk genre. This was one of the early cornerstones of that form. And in that respect it was a fun read. It did pick up in the second half. And if you like the general setting and style of steampunk stories you'll enjoy this one.

If you're new to the steampunk genre, or curious about it, I'd recommend Extraordinary Engines: The Definitive Steampunk Anthology ed. Nick Gevers as a starting place.

His Dark Materials Trilogy by Philip Pullman

I'm about halfway through the final book in the trilogy - The Amber Spyglass.

And I'm stopping.

I hardly ever stop a book. Even if I don't like it, even if I'm finding it painful or brain numbing beyond words, i still push my way through. I'm stubborn like that.

But I'm stopping near the middle of The Amber Spyglass.

But this time, it's out of love.

I've only done this with 2 other series.

The Lord of the Rings. It wasn't until I heard that they were being made in to movies that I went back are read the final chapters in the third book. I started them when I was in 6th grade... what year was that? Somewhere around '88 I think. And I read through all but the last few chapters . I read enough to know how the story ends, but I couldn't bring myself to read the very end.

The other series was Stephen Kings Gunslinger Series. If you've read this series, you know the part I'm talking about. The "Dear Reader" part in the last chapter where the author himself suggests that you stop right here. I took his advice.

I'll reread that series many times too, but unless there's an imminent movie or some other method of forcing the ending upon me in the near future, I won't read that final portion.

And the His Dark Materials trilogy joins those ranks. I've been reading them through in one large feast. And I'm loving them. But I'm not ready for the series to be over.

So I'm going to put the last book aside for a while. The movie is coming out on December 7th, 2007. So sometime between now and December 7th I'll pick the book back up and finish it. But for now, I want to let Lyra, Will, and Iorek just exist in my imagination. Suspended in my mind, moving forward in their journey, but not yet at the end.

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman

The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman



This is another one of those books that people have been telling me to read for years. Especially people who think they have a general feel for what I like to read for fun. But I resisted. Not actively, I just sort of put it on the "someday when i get around to it" list.

Part of this, I admit, is due to coke.

Coke and it's damn anthropomorphic polar bears.
...drinking soda, dancin' around, smiling all creepy like, and showing up on beach towels everywhere.

And one of the only two covers that I've seen of this book previously had a picture of a girl bundled up in winter attire sitting atop a cuddly looking polar bear.

Ahhhhhh.... that's so sweet. She looks so warm and wintery, and he looks like he's about to crack open a nice cold coca cola and share it with her along with some christmas cookies.

So I kinda stayed away from the book.

I did find one other copy, a trade paperback, with a much more somber cover. I bought it for my daughter because I'd heard that it's a good book for kids too. She didn't read it either.

And then during the trailers before the transformers movie I saw that they are turning this series in to movies this fall.

And I got a glimpse of the bear.
He wasn't holding a coke.
Or wearing sunglasses.
Or dancing even.

He comes crashing through a stone wall decked out in armor with murder glinting in his eyes.
That's way cool.

So I my daughter and I started reading them together. I went out and bought a paperback that did not have a cuddly bear on the cover. And I noticed something.

This book is marketed completely differently depending on it's cover. Or maybe the cover is part of the completely different marketing.... i don't know....

But anyway, in each of the bookstores I looked in, it appears in both the young adult section, and the Sci-Fi fantasy section. And the deciding factor between where it is shelved seems to be it's cover art. There are some covers in the young adult section that I would very embarrassed to be seen holding. But in the fantasy section there are covers that blend in perfectly well with the other "mature" (can you call stories about robots, dragons, hobits and spaceships mature?) novels.

My daughter sorta stalled out. She says she's still reading them, but at about a page a week, and that average is dropping.
Me, I'm loving them. I'm going to read the entire series straight through. I'm on the second book, The Subtle Knife, right now. And these are some of the best fantasy books I've read. They don't need the "young adult" qualifier. They are just damn good fantasy books.

And rather than being young adult books that are good for regular adults too, this is an adult story that could be stretched down into the young adult range if you're looking for a wider audience. I think that the book gets thrown in with young adult literature because the main character of the first novel, Lyra, is a young girl. She's an orphaned little snot, but you'll love her anyawy. Just don't ever volunteer to babysit her.

The world is a sort of steam punk world. I've been a little obsessed with steam punk lately.
Good steam punk is rare. China Mievilles "Perdido Street Station" is the only good steam punk novel I've ever read (that - by the way - is an amazing book that i cannot recommend highly enough).

huh? what? speak up sonny!
"What is steampunk" you ask? Well I'm not sure I can define it, Wiki has an article on it.

I've run into it as a visual art form more than anything, and I know it when I see it. Here's some examples.

Let's start with transformers redone in steampunk style




















es vaaaary nice, yes?

Transformers are maybe not your thing though, eh?
Well how about a little Star Wars redone a-la steampunk? hmmmm?















The "Han and Chewie" was especially nice, was it not?
And to end off this feast, some original steampunk work.









It took me a bit to realize that this first book might fall in to that category. But about halfway through I was sure. Airships and steam engines along side oil lamps and strang lights run from something called anabaric energy. Those are the base ingredients for this world.

People have things called daemons (pronounced just like demon).
Think of it as your soul, only on the outside. You aren't alive if you don't have one.

Sprinkle in some political intrigue and a church that is growing in powerful and still grasping for more. Nebulous mysteries in the north and brief glimpes of what seems to be an entire city flickering through the Auror Borealis.

Oh, and that bear? His name is Iorek Byrnison. He's a recovering alcoholic (he's usually recovering) who is being held by a group of men mostly because he has the uncanny ability to bend metal in his bear hands (ha! get the pun?) and fix just about anything that takes metal work. They're also a little sore about the time he tore a whole bunch of them in to bloody little chunks because they took his armor away.

He does not drink coke, though there is a part where he twists a guys head off like a bottle cap.... that's kinda the same thing.

Snake Agent by Liz Williams

Snake Agent by Liz Williams



I wish I could reccomend this book, I really do. But in good conscience, I cannot. It's not for everyone, not by any stretch.

I admit, I picked this book up because of the cover art. I know... I know.... Book... cover.... don't judge... blah blah bah...

But seriously, look at that cover art.... Would you not pick a book up just for cover art like that?

And the idea for the book intruiged me too. Sorta a near future cyber-punk setting with a little bit of hell thrown in for fun.

Here's the full publishers blurb
"Detective Inspector Chen is the Singapore Three police department's snake agent - the detective in charge of supernatural and mystical investigations. Chen has several problems: in addition to colleagues who don't trust him and his mystical ways, a patron goddess whom he has offended and a demonic wife who's tired of staying home alone, he's been paired with one of Hell's own vice officers, Seneschal Zhu Irzh, to investigate the illegal trade in souls. Political pressures both Earthly and otherworldly seek to block their investigations at every turn. As a plot involving both Singapore Three's industrial elite and Hell's own Ministry of Epidemics is revealed, it becomes apparent that the stakes are higher than anyone had previously suspected.

The world lived up to my expecations. It was imaginative, well developed, and intriguing. A world parallel to our own, maybe a couple decades in the future, but the barriers between earth, heaven, and hell have eroded. Demons, angels and gods can travel back and forth. There are business transactions and political dealings that nudge the realms in to working together, or somethings against eachother. This book focuses on a place called Singapore Three, and you get the impression that the fabric between the realms is thinner here than other places. Liz Williams lays down the rules for her reality, and she sticks to them.

I've read plenty of books where you just don't buy into the world that the author creates. Either because the author never makes the rules clear, or doesn't stick to the rules they've made, or because it just doesn't make any sort of sense.

In this book, Liz Williams created a world that makes sense, whose rules are clearly defined, and that you can find yourself easily sinking in to. You can imagine her world existing apart from the characters, and apart from the novel.

That's the good part.

Both the story and the characters are weaker.

The story wasn't bad, but for a book with a detective as the main character it just wasn't very "snappy" either. Earlier this year I read all the the "Dresden File" books in a streak of biblio-gluttony. They were a sort of near-reality/alternate reality setting too. And they featured a detective (the wizard Harry Dresden) as well.

But what they had, that this book didn't, was a story line that "snapped". They were well paced with a mystery that fit nicely together at the end with a few twists and turns getting there. Snake Agent just sort of started at point A and plodded along in fits and stutters to point B, took a gentle curve, and ended at point C. It wasn't bad, but it wasn't a memorable story either.

And the characters.... they lacked a certain... what's the word? ...character.
Yup, that's it, they lack character.
I think that a good character works their way in to your imagination. You feel like you know them, like you could lift them up out of the novel, place them pretty much anywhere, and have a decent idea what they'd do.

Not with these characters. I imagine picking them up and out of the book, placing them in a different setting, and watching them blink in stunned confusion waiting for someone to tell them what to do.

But, from what I've read since, most people have said that she only improves as she goes along.

So I'm going to keep reading the series. I like the setting enough, and maybe her characters sharpen up. And besides, the cover art for the next book is just as beautiful.

Snake Agent by Liz Williams

They say that you shouldn't judge a book by it's cover.... but come on.... look at that cover.

I have no idea what the book is about. Or if the author is any good, or if it's a young adult book.
I saw that cover, I grabbed that book. And I've just started it.

Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

Just started....
I've wanted to read some Neal Stephenson for years now. But I've never really known where to start. I finally ran across someone who has read his books, and she pointed me towards "Snow Crash".

I'm only about 50 pages in, but I think I like it already.
The first 5 pages are one of the best opening hooks I've read in a bit.
I'll write a bit more about it later, but I'll have to put up some heavy "spoiler" barricades first.

Foundation by Isaac Asimov

review for Foundation by Isaac Asmiov:

It has recently been brought to my attention that there is a significant gap in my sci-fi classics reading experience. Now, to be fair, there is also a significant gap in my reading or Victorian novels. And Colonial American Novels too. ...and now that I think about it, there are quite of a few of the great works from the romantic era that I haven't read. Neither have I delved deeply in to South American literature, nor the great works or warrior hamsters.

But, and here's the point I was straying from, I don't pretend to know much, if anything, about those topics. Not that I pretend to be a sci-fi historian either... but apparently I sort of give off the aura of one who would know his sci-fi greats.

And I don't want to be a poser. Laws-no. M-O-O-N, that spells "poser".

So I should read some of those works that the genre has been built on. Those works that have formed the foundation, you could say....

Sweet Seven in a red dress, sometimes I impress even myself. See how I did that? Rambled all over the place, and then brought it back to center with an allusion to the title of the book itself? ?? ? ? ?? ???
foundation?
get it?
Foundation?
Crap.... Maybe it wasn't that impressive.

Anyway, i finished Isaac Asimov's Foundation (it's a whole series, I just read that first book. Though oddly enough, there's also a book called Prelude to Foundation, but it's not the first book. Chronologically it would come first, but it wasn't the first one written. I think it's sorta like a prequel).

It was a good book, it was an easy read, and I can't really argue that there were many of the building blocks i.e. legos, of modern science fiction. It was very obviously part of a larger series, the ending is not a conclusion by any means.

I should give you a brief synopsis....
If you want the full run down go here

Briefly, there's a guy named Harry Seldon, a frickin' genius. Not a mad scientist, but a legitimate genius. He's what is called a psychohistorian. He weaves mathematics, history, and sociology together to predict the development of societies on a large scale. And he comes to the conclusion that the empire is
nearing it's final days (dum-dum-dum dum-da-dum dum-da-dum no, not that empire silly.)

He can't prevent it, he can't change it, he can't even make people believe him when he tries to warn them. All he can do is maneuver current events so that the period of barbarism and violence is shortened to a mere one-thousand years.

He dies before his plan really even kicks off. Not in a violent action packed scene. But rather off stage, of old age.
And then the story begins.

There are a few qualities to this novel that make it different that other sci-fi stories, or other novels in general even.

First, it is very dialog driven. I didn't even realize this until I was reading through some online reviews and came across a comment to the effect of "it was like reading a script". I went back to the book, and sure enough, it is almost purely dialog. But I've got to say, i think that's a strength. If you can tell a
story through dialog, you've done a beautiful thing. Good dialog is the core to a good novel. And when it's done well enough that you don't even realize that you've read almost an entire book of dialog, you've accomplished something amazing.

The converse, a narrative book with little to no dialog, is a very very hard thing to pull off. There are many more books that have too much narrative and not enough (or weak) dialog than there are dialog bloated books without a narrative. Good dialog becomes narration all on it's own (See Hills Like White Elephants).

And yet some of the crappiest books (sci-fi or otherwise) I've ever read where these "then Joe went there and shot some guys. He drank beer. He drank too much beer. He shot some more guys. But they were undercover federation guys. So Joe had to fly away in a cool ship with big guns. Zoom. Zoom. Zapitty-zap-zap. Kaboom!" type books (I went just a smidge over board there didn't I?).

In retrospect, even though i didn't realize at the time, the dialog was probably my favorite part of the novel.

Second. The story isn't about any one specific person (unless you were going to argue that it's about Harry Seldon. But it's really not, it might be about his theories and plans, but not so much about him directly). I can't remember the name of a single character beyond Harry Seldon - and he's dies pretty early in the book.

It's not that the characters aren't interesting. There were really only a couple character flaws that I noticed (making a note to come back to those). It's that they don't stick around very long. The book covers several generations, and you get a glimpse at a handful of significant characters from each generation.
Then they get old and die. You remember the the part they played, but you probably won't remember their names or anything about them specifically. But that's sort of the point. The story isn't about individuals. It's about an entire society.

Character flaws.

Again, i can't remember the names, but there's one character (A male... now that I think of it most of the main characters are men... is that significant? I don't know.) who is a radical in his government. He wants to shake things up, he's pursuing change, he's even ready to violently overthrow the existing government he believes so strongly in his vision.

He reappears later in the novel as an elderly statesmen still working within the government. But now he's the symbol of conservative government unwilling to change.

Maybe it's an intentional comment on what happens to fiery youth as they grow old and comfortable.

But I had a hard time believing that he wouldn't have that moment of "ah-ha, I was that fiery youth once maybe i should at least listen with an open mind." But he never does, he's stubborn and ignorant in the final scene he plays.

Character flaw number two. And here's the one that bugged me more.

The villains (though calling them villains might be simplifying it. They are heads of opposing states, and very well drawn with believable motivations and goals) have a tenancy to be easily talked out of things.
There's a scene that occurs a few times, and it goes vaguely like this.

"Grrrr... Arg... I'm a bad guy... I'm angry and I would like to imprison, hurt, maim, and/or kill you, the good guy"

"But wait - irascible bad guy. I've got a monologue that I'd like to deliver first. Here, listen to my well thought out chain of logic. blah blah blah. yaddity yaddity. A equals B, and the square root of Q is the roman numeral VIII. So you see, you should not maim, injure or otherwise inflict damage upon my person"

"You know, i've never looked at it in that light. Now that you lay it all out like that, you're absolutely correct. I surrender."

That little scene plays out in a lot of novels though doesn't it? Movies/TV
too now that I think about it.

I'm to the point in my book reading life, where i find myself silently chanting "just shoot him to shut him up, and deal with the consequences later"

Next point.
The technology.

It's easy to pick apart the technological "predictions" in this book and say "ha, how could the author think that's what would happen?"

But keep things in perspective. This book was published in 1951.

On October 4, 1957 Sputnik I launched by the USSR.
On January 31, 1958 Explorer I was launched by the United States.
On August 7, 1959 The first photo of earth from space was taken by Explorer 6.
On September 14, 1959 the USSR sent the first Probe to Moon - Luna 2.
On April 12, 1961 the USSR put the first human in orbit - Vostok 1
And on July 20, 1969 the USA put the first human on the Moon - Apollo 11.

So Isaac Asimov was writing before any sort of space travel science had been developed.

And, I found an interesting bit of trivia that I missed while reading. There's a point where one of the characters whips out a scientific calculator and punches out some quick numbers. I didn't think anything of it. Why wouldn't a scientist whip out a scientific calculator? After I finished the book I found out that the first pocket calculator was developed over 20 years later. So "hi-5" Mr. Asimov.

It was a good book. If you don't really read sci-fi, I'll be honest, you're probably not going to get much out of this one. But if you read science fiction at all, or you're thinking about buffing up on your sci-fi classics. Get this one.

I'm glad I got it, and I'll pick up the other foundation books next time I'm at half-priced books.