The Heroes by Joe Abercrombie

Genre: Fantasy

Joe Abercrombie's The Heroes, would like you to know that it is full of - misfits, flawed characters, anti heroes; everything but heroes.

It hammers this lack of heroes and that war is hell incessantly. In the book, we find ourselves in midst of a war between the barbarian northerners and the civilized union. The narratives alternates between description of various battle/skirmishes and some character building. The description of the battles is suitably gory and gritty, leaving you with little doubt that war is hell. The character buildup, done via reaction of the characters to current events and some flashbacks, is nicely done. The pace of the book is brisk and it flows well.

While there is a little twist at the end, the book really is, a bit surprisingly - All the smaller battles/skirmishes leading to a final climatic battle. The book is not pulpy enough to carry such a simple plot. All this focus on creating anti-heroes means that despite the good character buildup, you don't really care for the characters that much. A better plot would have elevated this book over average territory.

Rating: 2.5 / 5. Average

Atlantic by Simon Winchester

Genre: Non fiction.

Atlantic ( with a long subtitle - Great sea battles, heroic discoveries, titanic storms, and a vast ocean of a million stories) is a biography of this vast ocean.

Writing a biography of the Atlantic ocean is a ambitious undertaking. How do you weave a common thread through extremely diverse fields, that may have a passing link to the Atlantic ocean ? This book does not manage to find that common thread.

What we get instead is chapters, and sub-chapters that tackle diverse topics like the geological history of the ocean, ancient and modern battles on this ocean, cities along the coast, how the west explored this ocean and found the American continents, fishing, pollution, ocean conservation etc.

The writing in the book is good, and the authors personal experiences with the ocean give it some character. Sadly, none of this is able to overcome the lack of coherence in this book.

Rating: 2 / 5, Meh, skip it.

The Precipice by Ben Bova

Genre: Science fiction.

Decades of greenhouse gas emissions have taken their toll, and Earth has now warmed. Floods and various other environmental disasters are causing havoc all around, and the world is in crisis. This is the setting for the novel "The Precipice" by Ben Bova.

In this book Dan Randolph, an industrialist, pits his wits against his rival, Martin Humphries, in a race to develop and control fusion drives for space travel. Fusion drives are critical, since apparently there are the only thing that would let us tap the resources of the asteroid belt. Dan Randolph wants to do this so that he can move earth based industries into space and help mitigate climate change related chaos, while Martin Humphries wants control of this so that he can make more money.

Sounds like some cheesy soap opera plot? Unfortunately, the writing and plot in the novel never raise it above the cheesy soap opera level. The rivalry and corporate maneuvering between the two main characters is infantile. There is no plot or story to speak of. I can't think of any redeeming qualities for this book.

Rating: 1 / 5; Terrible. Don't bother.

Eye of the Red Tsar: A Novel of Suspense by Sam Eastland

Genre: Thriller / Mystery.

Eye of the Red Tsar is a detective novel set in Russia, in the years following the communist revolution. The lead character of the book is named Pekkala. Pekkala used to be a big shot investigator under the czar but has had to endure hard times under the communist.

Sam Eastland attempts to develop Pekkala's character by flashing back to his childhood and his time under the czar. However this character development ends up feeling forced and I found it hard to care or feel sympathetic towards Pekkala. A major reason for this is the simplistic attempt to paint the czar and his family as some sort of idealized royalty and the communist as bad guys.

The plot and mystery in the book is not exceptional. It is however not bad either and with better characterization would have made a above average book. The writing is decent and does not get in the way.

Rating: 2.5 / 5; Average. Nothing special.