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_Warbreaker_, Brandon Sanderson (version 4)
_Red Son_, Mark Millar et al
_Superman for All Seasons_, Jeph Loeb
_Chosen_, Mark Millar
_Liberty and Justice: JLA_, Alex Ross and Paul Dini
_This Is Not A Game_, Walter Jon Williams
Extremely short version: Good, odd, good, odd, mixed, great.
Brandon Sanderson is going to write the last book of Robert Jordan's _Wheel of Time_ series. OK, last three books. He has a fairly popular fantasy series of his own, called _Mistborn_, and he's writing a big standalone right now. The standalone is called _Warbreaker_, and because he's releasing multiple revisions of it, I should specify that I read V4. My biggest complaint is that Sanderson has created a very consistent-feeling magical fantasy world, given it an interesting kind of life magic which ties into the economy in all sorts of ways, and then stuck a clunker of a BiCapitalized name on it: BioChroma. No other word in the entire book is BiCapitalized, and none of his other made-up words sounds so relentlessly mid-90s dorky. He should search and replace, case-insensitive, /biochrom/chrom/ and I would stop getting tossed out of my suspension of disbelief.
Other than that, it's pretty good, especially as a society that nobody actually wants to live in.
_Red Son_ is the tale of Superman arriving 12 hours early on his famous flight from Krypton -- and thus crashlanding in a Ukrainian collective farm instead of Kansas. I like the alternate Wonder Woman, can't stand the alternate Batman. Argues strongly for nurture over nature. Discusses the basic problem of 'good' dictatorships (succession).
_Superman for All Seasons_, on the other hand, is a relentlessly cheerful take on the origin story, skipping over the spaceship and baby blanket bits to concentrate on high-school senior Clark Kent and his discovery of girls... and superpowers. Continues through a few years in Metropolis, before Lois and Supes hook up. Rockwellian, on occasion. Charming.
_Chosen_ is a story about a kid who might be the second coming of Jesus. This is about as creepy as you can possibly imagine, and is likely to offend just about everyone. I enjoyed reading it once and I can't imagine ever wanting to re-read it.
The JLA book features beautiful paintings by Alex Ross and a plot that doesn't make much sense by Paul Dini.
Walter Jon Williams is one of my favorite authors. He likes to change themes and styles, but he's only written one stinker (The Rift, which was a summer doorstop disaster novel about the St. Louis earthquake of 2002 or so). This is not a second stinker. This is an excellent near-future thriller about some people who run Augmented Reality Games (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game) and the possible interactions with the real world. A little like _Sneakers_, but more believable. Strong female lead, and a clear understanding of gamers, programmers, venture capitalists, tourists, and police. I read it in one day, starting after work and finishing about midnight. I guess that makes it a gripping page-turner.
_Red Son_, Mark Millar et al
_Superman for All Seasons_, Jeph Loeb
_Chosen_, Mark Millar
_Liberty and Justice: JLA_, Alex Ross and Paul Dini
_This Is Not A Game_, Walter Jon Williams
Extremely short version: Good, odd, good, odd, mixed, great.
Brandon Sanderson is going to write the last book of Robert Jordan's _Wheel of Time_ series. OK, last three books. He has a fairly popular fantasy series of his own, called _Mistborn_, and he's writing a big standalone right now. The standalone is called _Warbreaker_, and because he's releasing multiple revisions of it, I should specify that I read V4. My biggest complaint is that Sanderson has created a very consistent-feeling magical fantasy world, given it an interesting kind of life magic which ties into the economy in all sorts of ways, and then stuck a clunker of a BiCapitalized name on it: BioChroma. No other word in the entire book is BiCapitalized, and none of his other made-up words sounds so relentlessly mid-90s dorky. He should search and replace, case-insensitive, /biochrom/chrom/ and I would stop getting tossed out of my suspension of disbelief.
Other than that, it's pretty good, especially as a society that nobody actually wants to live in.
_Red Son_ is the tale of Superman arriving 12 hours early on his famous flight from Krypton -- and thus crashlanding in a Ukrainian collective farm instead of Kansas. I like the alternate Wonder Woman, can't stand the alternate Batman. Argues strongly for nurture over nature. Discusses the basic problem of 'good' dictatorships (succession).
_Superman for All Seasons_, on the other hand, is a relentlessly cheerful take on the origin story, skipping over the spaceship and baby blanket bits to concentrate on high-school senior Clark Kent and his discovery of girls... and superpowers. Continues through a few years in Metropolis, before Lois and Supes hook up. Rockwellian, on occasion. Charming.
_Chosen_ is a story about a kid who might be the second coming of Jesus. This is about as creepy as you can possibly imagine, and is likely to offend just about everyone. I enjoyed reading it once and I can't imagine ever wanting to re-read it.
The JLA book features beautiful paintings by Alex Ross and a plot that doesn't make much sense by Paul Dini.
Walter Jon Williams is one of my favorite authors. He likes to change themes and styles, but he's only written one stinker (The Rift, which was a summer doorstop disaster novel about the St. Louis earthquake of 2002 or so). This is not a second stinker. This is an excellent near-future thriller about some people who run Augmented Reality Games (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternate_reality_game) and the possible interactions with the real world. A little like _Sneakers_, but more believable. Strong female lead, and a clear understanding of gamers, programmers, venture capitalists, tourists, and police. I read it in one day, starting after work and finishing about midnight. I guess that makes it a gripping page-turner.
