Caveat Emptor

It was almost a struggle reading halfway through the book. The enthusiasm of reading this one diffused fast from day one up until finishing Gaiman's work. This is supposedly my Halloween read but now it's almost New Year. I needed a lot of reading breaks for this and it took me to finish one non fiction, one short story, a manga, YouTube videos and Skyrim introductory game before finishing the whole anthology. Getting busy with my work also helped and the reversal of roles between what used to be a pleasure reading and a mediocre work came in handy. Thanks to this book, my work became a pleasure and reading, a mediocre chore.

It's important to note that rating this anthology on account of reading only the story written by my favorite author will not give justice to the whole work. So I will share the plot and my views per story and if you hate spoliers, better STOP HERE and check for my overall rating at the bottom.          

Love Hurts (Jim Butcher)
3.5/5
The plot resolved as easily as predicted. But Harry Dresden's postmortem work ala CSI is enough reason here for readers of dark fantasy to look and read more about this mysterious wizard and his world.

The Marrying Maid (Jo Beverly)
2/5
Weakest story for the whole anthology. This one lacks heroism and self-sacrifice. The "prince charming" here is selfish and narcissistic, less medieval and more metrosexual, has no balls at all and I imagined myself breaking his chin and busting his kneecap for good. Forcing a maiden to marry and love you in order to prevent a deathly curse against your clan can never be considered as destiny nor love. It's called extortion.
Jo Beverly should have made her "prince" a better character by searching for another way to solve his own dilemma. There is always an alternative.

Rooftops (Carrie Vaughn)
3/5
The final confrontation between Charlotte, Dorian, and the Unknown Hero is vague. Something not to be taken seriously.

Hurt Me (MLN Hanover)
3.5/5
Reversal of roles between the Ghost and the Prey. The ghost is the one being hunted here. Nice one.

Demon Lover (Cecelia Holland)
2.5/5
The detailed rendezvous between the Incubus and his victim is the only thing that I can remember here. At this point, I'm getting tired of reading about helpless and easy to fool damsels here.

The Wayfarer's Advice (Melinda Snodgrass)
4/5
Sci fi tale that reminds me of a classic story not far from our home planet Earth. This comes up with a good cliffhanger too. A shining light for the whole anthology's bleak universe. So far.

Blue Boots (Robin Hobb)
3/5   
Just as you thought your mind is about to meander within the story, you are content finishing it as it ended happily ever after. A story about the crooner, his love, and her blue boots.

The Thing About Cassandra (Neil Gaiman)
3.5/5
The thing about this one: it's not Neil Gaiman's best short fiction work but it still won the 2011 Locus Award for Best Short Story. The writing is good and the story is a bit unpredictable and sad. Like any memorable Twilight Zone episode, you just take it or leave it as it is.

After the Blood (Marjorie Liu)
4/5
Another good story and a good example on how to write a cross genre fiction (postapocalyptic dark fantasy). In my mind, I can easily draw the main characters' "evolution" as distinct from each other. After reading the story, I thought there is hope for this anthology after all.

You, and You alone (Jacqueline Carey)
3/5
This episodic and spy story reminds me of the historical Alexander the Great, with cloak-and-dagger plot that started unconvential, intriguing in the middle, and ended flat. The writing is good but the story in general is more suitable to a certain group of readers different from my tribe.

His Wolf (Lisa Tuttle)
3/5
At this point, it's becoming obvious. The process of love is incredibly fast and easy in a short fiction work. Good thing here is that the protagonist advocates against traditional belief that wolves are evil and I agree.

Courting Trouble (Linnea Sinclair)
3.5/5
The story started bland but ended better than expected albeit orthodox. One of those rare stories with an ending that you find agreeable. There's a lot of Sci Fi plot details here to nuke your mind but just concentrate with the story and you'll be okay.

The Demon Dancer (Mary Jo Putney)
3.5/5
The pace is good and the writing is simple but effective. Thankfully, there's no annoying emo, nor dim-witted alpha male, nor primadonna character here to hate. And just as you thought you can predict the ending of this one (since the story involves a succubus!) you are dead wrong. In the whole anthology, this story is most adaptable to be told in graphic novel or comic book form.

Under / Above the Water (Tanith Lee)
4/5
There's beauty in this story that is not easy to describe in words. It's always been part of the human subconscious to dream or delude for love to be eternal, transcending space, time, and even sin. Thanks to the author Tanith Lee for reminding us again of this inescapable human nature.

Kaskia (Peter Beagle)
2.5/5
The flow of reading the anthology hit another brick wall this time. For someone who earned the Locus, Mythopoeic, Hugo, and Nebula awards I have to say this is surely not his best. Regrettably an empty story, imagine yourself teaching Korean or Chinese girls the English language in a virtual chatroom and that will become more memorable than Peter Beagle's short story.

Man in the Mirror (Yasmine Galenorn)
3.5/5
Finally a character who knows how to be selfless and knows when to do it at the perfect time. Nice story.

A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows (Diana Gabaldon)
3.5/5
Randall Mackenzie is no doubt an experienced fighter of the Royal Air Force tasked to perform a reconnaissance mission over the Nazi camps in Eastern Europe. When his Spitfire malfunctioned while practising his skills in recon maneouvres and operating the camera on board, Randall being able to land with minimal injury felt lucky. But there's one thing that worries him more than seeing his Spitfire in total wreck. He crashed in a different time.
I enjoyed this one, it gave me the feeling that I was actually in the British Airspace taking part in a WWII air-to-air combat or dogfight. Randall is surely a fighter and survivor who never gives up to return to where (and when) he truly belonged---to his family sometime in WWII.

-------------------------------

For the whole anthology we get an average rating of 3.26 out of 5 rounding it off to 3 out of 5 units. Checking the Book Eater's Scale in the sidebar, it's a Staple Food. Meaning, it's a substantial read but it's not good enough if you're not a fan of any of the 17 authors. 

Though it's still worthy to recall the authors who made this collection alive like Tanith Lee, Melinda Snodgrass, Marjorie Liu, Diana Gabaldon, Jim Butcher, Mary Jo Putney, Neil Gaiman, and Linnea Sinclair. The rest, better luck next time.

The Western style of Romance and its definition of Love as purely an emotional process (and hormonal excess) far from being volitional or spiritual may be appealing to others and dull to some and for me, the latter almost won over the former. The "appeal" survived the "dull" by a hairline.

Don't expect too much if you want to read this book and don't blame me if you think that I didn't warn you enough.

Genre: Cross Genre Fiction
Rating: 3 imaginary girlfriends out of 5 

Alan Navarra's DUMOT

Shepherds, farmers, fishermen, and other members of the self-employed profession have the best reason to be happy. They don't need to deal with an Evil Boss. They don't need to hold that anger or contain that aggression against this evil puppeteer and manipulative hog who remains a constant source of pain in the urban, corporate world.

This book by Alan Navarra is about anger and hate. I bought this one on the eve of TRESE 4's launching as a companion read to that good comic book. Another reason is the title---it caught my attention because I know what the word means due to my West Visayan roots.

Though the main character's (Michael Perez) vindictiveness against his superior is a natural reaction, me as a reader feel no sympathy nor allegiance to this corporate worker who shares the same "hole" with the boss. Considering that Michael can easily puke at the mere sight of his superior (nandidiri), I think that it's stupid to bang your boss's wife. Wala syang pinagkaiba sa boss nya.

No matter how funny and clever the writer's choice of cuss/curse words and phrases and no matter how experimental and postmodern the writer's technique here, he who paints his character as an eternal victim that whined every second and badmouths everything, unknowingly paints Michael Perez as the character who failed to differentiate the pussy from the weiner and also metaphorically becoming both. It's like an attempt to spit on God's face and realizing that your spit fell back flatly in your own face, special thanks to gravity.

By the way, I think the "crab mentality mindset" is a redundant term. Redundant as a "crisis situation scenario" or "difficult dilemma." But I'm not an English teacher nor a communications expert, I'm just a common, pedestrian reader who just inserted his 200 pesos worth of money to the writer's pocket. Once again, just a reader.

Luckily, this Visayan reader appreciates a good art when he sees one. Alan Navarra's style (ala Robert Crumb) of organic art  transmuting into different forms and symbols of Michael's own version of the alphabet as they complement acronyms of the shitty business and corporate terms became a redeeming point. Design saved the day for Navarra, prompting me to give his book a passing mark. This one is a very angry design book and it's better to view it more as a design book than as a book of complaints but at least, the aggression here is entertaining.

I'm sure Alan Navarra knows another Hiligaynon term like YAWA and if he attempts to write a book about it, I will surely look forward to read it.

ART SAVES THE AUTHOR

Genre: Postmodernist Literature, Visual Book, Mature Reading
Rating: 3 enchantments of YAWA out of 5

ILUSTRADO

With the current trend of Pinoys (from sports to entertainment and now, literature) making their name in the international scene, I'm very sure that there will be hundreds of book reviews written about this Palanca and MALP winning novel so I want to make one straight to the point.

Plus Points. The book's good points come from the author's honest depiction of Filipino society coming from eyes of the middle class. Another plus is the author's (and his editors') usage of experimental and postmodern techniques in writing. Young readers will surely like it. Another good point is the criticism on the bourgeois class straight from the fiery lips of Crispin Salvador. Reading this book also taught me new words I thought never existed but for some readers this may be a minus point because any author can sometimes appear too pedantic when using those special words. But this is probably what Pinoy expats love about the book.

Middle Points. I feel neutral for Syjuco's usage of political jokes that are actually outdated and less relevant. This is the danger of making a political joke. Five or more years from now the younger readers wont see it funny or they wont see them as a joke at all. 

Minus Points. Personally I did not like Syjuco's usage of the word tradpol. It sounded close to tadpole though I know it's just a contraction of the term traditional politician. The apt word is still the classic trapo as we all Pinoys know it since 1994. The word trapo was popularized in a song by the southern punk band Yano. Trapo in the Visayas meant rags which in turn meant basahan in Tagalog. That meaning in the Southern tongue is actually intentional. Another minus point is the two characters of different background (and representation) using the same slang or expression. It destroys the uniqueness of both characters. 

All in all reading this book reminded me about a classic Einstein Mantra: "Make everything as simple as possible, but not simpler." This may be a good reminder when one attempts to write a good novel. But still, I tip my hat for Miguel Syjuco for finally publishing his manuscript about the most sarcastic race on the planet, us Pinoys. 

Genre: Postmodern Fiction
Rating: 3.5 out of 5 pederastic hotsipatootsies! 

The Nazrani son

With slight presumptions, anticipation and foresight, I was able to finish the book and at the same time enjoy the wildest ride (so far for my A-Z challenge) into the unknown territory not very far from real history of Espionage, WWII, and Roman Catholicism in this speculative fiction masterfully crafted by Tim Powers.

This book won in 2001 the World Fantasy Award and the  International Horror Guild Award but sadly due to a technical matter was adjudged ineligible for a nomination in the Nebula Award for best novel. Still, I'm glad to find a novel that blended speculative fiction with historical fantasy and espionage adventure into one delicious meal for a book eater like me. It scored highly on the creative/original criteria due to Powers' imaginative storytelling and at the same time also believable due to Power's extensive research in the secret history of Europe, Catholicism, and the Middle East.

Personally, I like it better than Da Vinci Code or Angels & Demons. There's no assumption or imposition that the West is always better and good than the East. Unlike other popular espionage and action novels (Tom Clancy's, Robert Ludlum's) CIA was never involved in the story and there's no boasting of who owns the technological edge in any geopolitical warfare. Tim Powers does not demonize any ideologies even if he realistically depicts the politics and jealousies surrounding the world of espionage. The adventure scenes are thrilling as your imagination travels before and after WWII, from England to France, Russia to Egypt and even from the scorching lands of the Middle East to the high glaciers of Turkey where Noah's Ark took refuge. And thankfully, there's no stupid character in the novel. You just go with the story, go with the flow, the step by step revealing of an ancient history as old as the Sumerian Epic of Gilgamesh and the Catholic's First Testament.

The author's careful usage of flashbacks and fast forwards does not kill the narrative but highly charges the anticipation of the reader. The author does not exaggerate romantic liaisons and allows the reader to focus on the mystery of the Big Picture as Powers introduce characters and historical persons in the world of espionage (who are also equally mysterious due to their dangerous background).

In this novel, not just countries but supernatural beings were involved in the Second World War. Historical clues of their existence were actually evident into what we see, hear, and read today but we have no idea that myths and legends (i.e. historical allegories) have their real and factual origins highly different to the popularized story we know.

If you are curious to read a cross-genre fiction this year and if you like espionage, I recommend this book. And you will surely know who really is the son of Nazrani.


random passages:

"The mountain does not belong to Armenia," said Fuad. "It is in Turkey. Why do you Armenians have it on your coat-of-arms?"
"Does the moon belong to Turkey?" asked Mammalian. "It is in your flag." 


"I believe Russia has a... a primitive guardian angel, which must be denied at every turn; and those who persist in loving the angel, and merit her special assistance, must be killed---ideally after they have given their full measure of acceptable benefits to the Party, and not one benefit more."


"Allah knows that djinn and ghosts without number clustered around our fires when you and I perfumed the desert with tobacco smoke," bin Jalawi protested. 


Rating: 4.5 drogue stones out of 5
Genre: Speculative Fiction, Sci Fi, Historical Fantasy, Espionage

Anathem, A-Z

It's been a long trip reading this novel by Neal Stephenson but the real story is actually more than just escaping cul-de-sacs and cliffhangers but also taking this cross-genre fiction at face value, as it mirrors the real, historical evolution of religion and science. Even if this funny and fascinating book ran only second to Gaiman's The Graveyard Book in winning the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2009, it is not an easy read because you'll be needing patience in making frequent visits to the glossary and the timeline page up to the middle part of the story. Basic familiarity with Science and Philosophy is a good take off point to completely enjoy and understand a world so familiar, yet so different from our own.

I write reviews mostly for fellow readers who also finished the book to incite further discussions but since the majority are not familiar with this novel and will surely hate another spoiler, I'll just leave you with KEY WORDS in relation to the story arranged alphabetically to best describe my whole month of reading and gatecrashing into the Planet Arbre, the World of Anathem.


Aliens

Bloodline

Coming-of-Age

Diversity

Evolution of Science

Factions

Gyroscope

History of Mathematics & Philosophy

Insurrection

Jigsaw Puzzle Mystery

Knowledge Preservation

Liaison
(yes! there's romance in this book and it's a funny one!)

Martial Arts
(you're reading a classic Stephenson book-- ergo, fight scenes are a delicacy)

Nuke

Origins

Polycosm

Quantum Physics

Religion

Satellite

Travel Adventure
(travel adventure is more than just cross-terrain here!)

Unpredictability

Vocation

World Map
(the only thing this book lacks-- a map)

X Ray Target

Y Chromosome Blues
(this is highly the case for Fraas involving their liaisons with Suurs in the mathic world)

Zero Gravity




some memorable passages:

For in truth I was looking at a collection of ancient machines that had no meaning: all syntax, no semantics. I was claiming I saw a meaning in it. But this meaning had no reality, outside of my mind. I had brought it into the hall with me, carrying it in my head, and now I was playing games with semantics by pasting it onto these iron monuments.

-------

No matter who is discussing these proofs, in what age, whether they are speaking cake or pastureland, they always arrive at the same answer. These truths seem to come out of another world or plane of existence. It's hard not to believe that this other world really exists in some sense-- not just in our imaginations! And we would like to go there.

------

It took me a few moments to see it. "Terrible," I said at last, "but right." Then the tears came so hard she had to close her eyes and turn her back on me. She let go of my hand and began to totter away, shoulders hunched as if she'd just been stabbed in the back. She seemed the smallest person in the Convox. Every instinct told me to run after her, put an arm around her bony shoulders. But I knew she'd break a chair over my head.



Rating: 4 Valer supermoves out of 5 (80%)
Genre: Science Fiction, Adventure