Books

Batman – Dark Knight Returns and Dark Knight Strikes Again

I just finished reading these two graphic novels (I read at least part one of DKR a long time ago, but I don’t think I read the other 3 parts). DKR was a great book; it had a good story with Batman, Joker, Gordon, Superman, and a new Robin. It was a nice way to show Batman’s “last story.” The art was different, but good.

DKSA, on the other hand, was not as good. I did not like the art, a lot of pages were huge drawings (nice) or very cluttered (no so good). I did not like how the story focused on the whole world as opposed to just Gotham. We had only a cameo of Gordon, but we had lots of cursing and trashy pictures like “Nude on the News” which served no real purpose. I thought there was too much noise distracting from a decent story. And when the Joker-want-to-be’s identity was revealed, that pretty much ruined it for me. Even the ending came abruptly and was not as neat and tidy as DKR.

In my opinion, enjoy Dark Knight Returns, but skip the sequel unless you must have every Frank Miller or Batman book.

Midworld

I just finished reading this book by Alan Dean Foster after I became interested in it from reading his short story Mid-Death in the book Forbidden Planets. This is an older book , but I was able to find it on Thrift Books, a great place to find used, out of print books. Where Mid-Death took the reader into Midworld from the point of view of a search and rescue party, Midworld was told with a native as the main character and went much farther into the specifics of the dangers and environment of the planet. Foster’s environment is highly complicated and interesting and the eventual conflict between the natives and the outsiders (and their different views of the ecosystem) is a great theme for this book. There were some twists on how the story played out; Foster also explained some things at the very end of the book that were only hinted at during the story. I can’t remember if Mid-Death took place before or after Midworld, but where Mid-Death was a great horror story, Midworld was a nice good native versus evil, greedy outsiders story. It was definitely a fun read and I recommend it.

Northwest of Earth

I bought this book from the Science Fiction Book Club recently. It is a collection of stories about a futuristic outlaw/mercenary named Northwest Smith. The stories were written in the 1930’s by C.L. Moore. While I really liked the character of Northwest Smith and his Venusian partner, and I could even suspend disbelief at the descriptions of Mars and Venus, the stories dealt too much with fantasy themes instead of science fiction ones. Of the 13 stories, I enjoyed 2-3 of them; the others dragged on with great descriptions but very little conversation or action. These stories I did not like were about mythological beasts or vampire-like creatures. I was looking for some good sci-fi writing. Of the stories I liked, one was a good time travel paradox story, one was a decent exploration story, and one, while it dealt with fantasy and magic, had some good characters to make you look past this setting.

After reading this collection, I just wish the author would have taken her characters to some better places; she was certainly a good writer, I just did not enjoy her style of long, drawn out prose instead of more character interaction and conversation. I am sorry to say this was another Sci-Fi Book Club disappointment for me.

Forbidden Planets

I just finished reading this book, which I purchased from the Science Fiction Book Club. It contains several short stories using forbidden planets as a theme. After reading the first story, “Mid-Death”, I was really excited about this book. It was probably the first graphic Sci-Fi horror story that I have read, but it was very well written with a lot of tension and surprises along the way. The rest of the book, with the exception of the story “Kaminsky at War” was pretty forgettable. The other stories were either bad or too weird for my tastes. My recommendation would be to either borrow the book or buy it used for the two stories I mentioned.

Orcs Trilogy

For those who think I only write about Fallout 3 lately (you’re right, but that’s beside the point), here is something completely different: Orcs, by Stan Nicholls.  I read this three book series in one volume (he’s already written the first book of another Orc series) a couple of months ago, and I just could not put it down.  This is a great fantasy tale from the perspective of Orcs.  It includes humans (some of whom are the main villains) and other standard fantasy creatures (brownies, kobolds, dwarves, elves, etc.), but the books are about a small band of Orcs who take a small step away from the norm and end up on a worldwide journey for the recovery of ancient relics, battling all sorts of enemies during the journey.  The story keeps you interested and the battles are wonderfully written.  The main Orc characters each have certain qualities that differentiate them from the others and their tale is one you won’t want to miss.  I highly recommend this series and cannot wait for Mr. Nicholls to finish the next one.

Lest Darkness Fall

Lest Darkness Fall is an entertaining time travel novel by L. Sprague de Camp.  It is about an archeologist named Martin who, while visiting Rome, is struck by lightening and sent back to the 6th century.  Once there, Martin must survive with the meager possessions he has on him.  However, not only does he survive, he decides to take it upon himself to prevent the “Dark Ages” from ever happening by introducing great inventions from later time periods, hence the title of the book.

The book is very good because of the colorful characters and the believability of the environment.  For example, the banker Thomasus, who becomes a good friend of Martin, is funny as he always first refuses Martin a loan then haggles with him for hours.  Also, being arrested in today’s world a person has certain rights and certainly there is no fear for one’s life.  But when Martin is arrested on a trumped up charge, he suddenly finds himself listening as Roman “police” casually discuss torturing him.  He also finds himself bribing quite a few people throughout the book to get what he wants.

The book is well-written and unpredictable and, although it ends in a good way, you want it to go on and on.  The only minor gripe I have is how believable it is that Martin, an archeologist, is able to get parts fabricated and put together complicated equipment such as a printing press in the 6th century.  There’s nothing to indicate he has any special engineering skills to accomplish these feats, but this doesn’t detract much from the overall story.  Lest Darkenss Fall is definitely an enjoyable read for those who like historical or science fiction and I highly recommend this classic.