Graphic novel review: Infinite Kung Fu by Kagan Mcleod

Genre: Graphic novels, martial arts.

Infinite Kung Fu is a 464 page, graphic novel about (magical) Kung Fu and zombies. It was created, written and illustrated by Kagan Mcleod. 

The art is black and white and has a painted, water color like, look to it. This style complements the martial arts theme of this book well and is one of the stronger points of the book.

The story itself is nothing special. The plot is very loose and there are many loose ends. The plot in this book is something one would expect to have in a video game or a pulpy movie, where the plot is secondary to the action. Despite this shortcoming, the final product works, mostly because it is written in the spirit of a pulpy kung fu movie. The pace of the book flows quickly and the action in the book is nicely illustrated. The book contains a myriad of characters and the mythology of the book is interesting.

All in all if you don't go into the book expecting a tight plot and the theme interest you, Infinite Kung Fu has plenty to offer.

Rating: 4 / 5, Recommended, if you are looking for a martial art themed pulpy read.

Book review: The Great Railroad Revolution: The History of Trains in America by Christian Wolmar

Genre: Non fiction

The Great Railroad Revolution: The History of Trains in America, takes us throught the initial birth of rail travel in the U.S, to the present times.

A large portion of the book focuses on the 18th and 19th century and the first half of the 20th century. The current state of railroads gets a perfunctory treatment.

The subject matter the book tackles, is quite interesting. The history of railroad is full of colorful characters and interesting events. The book however never hit its stride and the pace of the book is plodding. The end result is a book that will only appeal to folks who already have a interest in the railroads.

Rating: 3 / 5, recommended if you have a interest in railroads.

Book review: Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk

Genre: Fiction.

Lullaby by Chuck Palahniuk has Carl Streator, a journalist, who while researching sudden infant death syndrome, comes across a African poem, that when read out, kills people. Along the way he teams up with Helen Hoover Boyle a real estate agent, who sells and resells the same haunted houses, for a tidy profit. She knows the culling song too. Her assistant assistant Mona, who is a wiccan, and Mona's boyfriend Oyster. Oyster likes to blackmail businesses by threatening class action lawsuits for non existent issues.

All this sounds like the premise of a pretty decent book. Unfortunately, what we get instead is a lazy book. The plot is thin. The characters and the dialogues are terrible. The book resorts to cheap tricks to pad it thickness, uses list of words, repeated sentences, whose sole purpose is to occupy space. You don't like or hate the characters, you just don't care about them.

Avoid this.

Rating: 1 / 5; Skip it.

Book review: Fuzzy Nation by John Scalzi

Genre: Science fiction.

Fuzzy nation by John Scalzi is a rewrite/reboot of the novel, Little Fuzzy by H. Beam Piper. While Little Fuzzy is in the public domain, Scalzi released Fuzzy Nation with the permission of the Piper estate. I have not read Little Fuzzy, so I do not know how it compares to the original.

The hero in Fuzzy nation is Jack Holloway, a independent prospector, working on a world being mined by ZaraCorp. ZaraCorp's modus operandi is to find a planet worth exploiting and to then strip it bare of its resources. On this particular planet, Zarathustra, Jack Holloway encounters some cat like creatures, that he names Fuzzies. He starts to discover that these creatures are pretty intelligent, and the possibility is raised that these creatures might be sentient. Sentient creatures on Zarathustra would mean that ZaraCorp would no longer be allowed to exploit the planet. This is the premise around which Scalzi develops his story.

The book flows very well and the writing is excellent. Scalzi gets us to like the good guys and the bad guys are believable. The plot is entertaining and well fleshed out and even when one can see a plot twist coming, the way Scalzi executes the plot twists is satisfying and entertaining.

Seeing how well this book turned out, I now feel like reading the original Little Fuzzy, to see how they both compare.

Rating: 5 / 5; Highly recommended.

Book review: Four fish: The future of the last wild food by Paul Greenberg

Genre: Non fiction

Four fish, looks at Salmon, Tuna, Bass and Cod, as the most common wild fish, that can grace supermarket shelves. That we have over exploited many fish species to a point of collapse, is well known. These four fishes have not fared any better. Paul Greenberg has done a good job however, of not focusing only at this negative, but tries to chart a workable way forward with regards to our consumption of fish.

For each of the fish Greenberg looks at - how they were fished throughout human history, how we over fished them, what efforts have been made to keep the wild catches sustainable, what efforts are being made to farm these fishes, whether this farming is sustainable or better then catching them in the wild. For each of these fishes he also looks at other fishes, with similar flavor and texture profile that may be used to replaces these.

One of the strong points he make is that none of these fishes are suited for being cattle. It would be better to select species of fish more suited to that role, before we attempt to domesticate and farm them.

All in all the book flows well, and is a brisk read.

Rating: 5 / 5; Great. Get it.

Related: Hooked, pirates poaching the perfect fish by G. Bruce Knecht

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.

Book review: From the dust returned by Ray Bradbury

Genre: Fantasy

From the dust returned is a collection of short stories packaged in the form of a novel. The stories center around a strange family in Illinois. This is a family of vampire like creatures, ghosts and other mythical and fantastical creatures. The stories themselves lack any real punch to them. The fantastical nature of the characters is simply used to dress up their shallowness and make them a bit less forgettable. The poetic nature of the prose and quality of writing do provide some entertainment, but there is no substantial value here.

Rating: 2 / 5, Below Average.

Book review: Remarkable Trees of the World by Thomas Pakenham

Genre: Non-fiction

Thomas Pakenham went around the world looking for remarkable trees and when he found them he took photographs of them. If you like trees ( like I do ) then the premise of the book is extremely interesting. Thomas does not try to find record holders (like largest tress or tallest tree), though he may have visited some of them. Rather he is looking for interesting trees, trees with character. Each chapter of the book focuses on one aspect, like gaints, dwarfs, Methuselah (old trees) and so on, with Thomas finding interesting examples of these.

Thomas textual description of the trees and the environment he encounters them is good, poetic sometimes even. The photographs in the book are lovely. I really wish that there were many more photographs in the book though. This kind of a book demands a large number of high resolution photographs. Perhaps If this book was written more recently and Thomas used a modern high resolution digital cameras we would get many more gorgeous photos. Thomas likely lugged around a old school film camera and so had to be careful with what he shot.

So any cons of this book are really a function of when it was written and nothing more.

Rating: 3 / 5, Good, wish it had many more photos though.

Book review: Elminster Ascending: Sage of Shadowdale by Ed Greenwood

Genre: Fantasy

This collects three books in the Elminster saga - Elminster: The Making of a Mage, Elminster in Myth Drannor, and The Temptation of Elminster. I read it as one big Novel. For such a large book there was surprisingly little story to it. The initial character and plot development was solid. There is however no epic story that unfolds in these 3 books. Ed Greenwood has a god acting mysteriously in the book and sending Elminster of on random tasks to "increase the use of magic in the world". Why ? And to what ends ? None of these questions get answered. Some clues into why the God was getting Elminster to perform these tasks would have helped peaked interest in the sequels that followed. These books simply feel like episodes of a soap opera that you know will never end or resolve anything in a meaningful or satisfactory manner.

If you are desperately hankering for some fantasy fiction then consider this book. Else give this a pass.

Rating: 2.5 / 5, Meh average.

Book review: Inferno by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle

Genre: Fantasy.

This book is a modern day retelling of Dante's Inferno. In this version we follow a science fiction author who lands in hell and follow his journey as he attempts to get out of hell. The book is jointly authored by Larry Niven and Jerry Pournelle, two well respected authors.

Never having read Dante's Inferno, I can't comment on any links between the two tales. The concept of a science fiction author in a hell or a hell like place is intriguing. The first third of the book was fun to read as the authors explore the initial concept. However after the initial exuberance has waned, the shallowness of the plot starts to come through. The book is basically composed of "Allen Carpentier" the main character of the book and "Benito", his guide / companion visiting various levels of hell and seeing the punishment being meted out. The plot is thin and the conclusion is insipid.

This is not a bad book however, namely because the writing style is good and there is some entertainment to be had from the description of a modern (well 70'e era) hell. However instead of fulfilling its promise of being a special book, we end up with one that is just average.

Rating: 2.5 / 5; Average.

Book review: Plant (DK Eyewitness Books) by David Burnie

Genre: Casual non fiction

This is a well presented introduction to plants. The book consist of chapters of a couple of pages each, that focus on a aspect of plants like leaves, flowers, propagation method etc. These chapters then present the information visually using highly detailed photographs and little blurbs that detail out the illustration. A surprisingly large amount of information is packed into each of this chapter. This information is presented in a way that is clear and extremely easy to understand.

A great read for anyone have a casual interest in learning more about plants or a great gift if you are looking to spark a interest in plants in some one else.

Rating: 5 / 5; Highly recommended.

Book review: The street lawyer by John Grisham

Genre: Fiction. Drama with some elements of a thriller.

This book tells the tale of a lawyer Michael, whose climb up his law firms corporate ladder is interrupted when a homeless man takes him and his co-workers hostage. This incident forces him to reevaluate his life. Along the way he also starts to dig into why his firm was targeted by the homeless man and uncovers a mystery.

Michael's philosophical crisis and his journey through it is not that interesting. The crisis might have been triggered by a dramatic incident, but it is basically a upper middle class lawyer having a mid-life crisis. The mystery in the book never quite develops and there are no intelligent twists and turns. There is nothing interesting or exciting about this book but it is not badly written. The end result is a solidly average book.

Rating: 2.5 / 5. Average.

Book review: Boneshaker by Cherie Priest

Genre: Fiction, Steam-punk with zombies

Ravenous undead, air pirates, criminal overlords and heavily armed pirates in late 1800's Seattle with a steam-punk vibe. That sounds like a premise of a pretty entertaining book. Unfortunately Boneshaker fails to deliver on this.

The book tells the story of a mother - Brair and her teenage son Ezekiel. Boneshaker is the name of the a machine that destroyed much of Seattle and let loose a gas that created the undead. Boneshaker was created and piloted by Brair's husband.

The first 6 chapters of the book is a attempt to define Brair and Ezekiel's character. It however does not do a good job with this and it is hard to care about what happens to them. These chapters end up being really slow and boring.

The books picks up a bit when Ezekiel goes into the undead infested city and his mother follows him in. But the plot soon starts to meander around and does not really develop into anything substantial.

The ending of the book is pretty decent and if this were a short story it would have been a good one. Personally I was just relieved that I had managed to finish the book.

Rating: 1 / 5, Terrible, skip it.

Graphic novel review: Bone: The Complete Cartoon Epic in One Volume by Jeff Smith

Genre: Fantasy

This volume collects all the Bone comics in one fat graphic novel.

Everything about Bone is top-notch. This series is destined to be a classic. The story by Jeff Smith is interesting, well developed and paced very well. The characters are likable and are fleshed out with great care and detail. The story combines humor, suspense and dark fantasy into a tale that will hold your attention till the end, and like any good book is fun to reread too.

The art by Jeff Smith is absolutely excellent. The art is extremely detailed and pretty to look at. It at the same time injects a few characters like the Bones, who are drawn in a much more carton like style. These two looks however blend together very well to create one unique style.

A brilliant book, go get it.

Rating: 5 / 5, Highly recommended. A classic.

Graphic novel review: Batman year 100 by Paul Pope and Jose Villarrubia

Genre: Superhero

The year x books put familiar characters in unfamiliar situations and hope that a good story will result from that. So in this book we have a society where everything is tightly controlled. Every human has been recorded and can be tracked easily by people in power.

Into this world leaps Batman, suddenly the authorities have someone they have no records of and are unable to trace and track. The book creates a bunch of mysteries, unfortunately they are not resolved in satisfactory manner. The main plotline of the book is serviceable, but without some strong and inventive writing it is incapable of raising this book above average.

The art is interesting. Whether you like it or not will be a tossup. I thought it was pretty good and enjoyed the style.

All in all though the book is below average. If you like all things Batman you would enjoy this more than other folks, for the rest there are better choices around

Rating: 2 / 5, Below average, only rabid fans need bother.

DVD review: In Search of History - Navajo Code Talkers (History Channel)

Genre: Historical documentary

Navajo code talkers were a group of Navajo marines who used their obscure language to create one of the only unbroken ciphers of world war 2. These men and their code played a crucial part in America's victory over the Japanese in the Pacific.

The documentary is extremely well presented. It explores the history of the Navajo. Sadly the recent history of the Navajo was persecution and horrific treatment at the hands of white settlers. Despite this treatment, when the US was attacked the Navajo rushed to volunteer.

The documentary goes on to explore the development of the cipher and its deployment in battle. It also touches on the discrimination that was rampant in the US around that time and how that meant the Navajo did not get the recognition that they deserved.

The documentary is presented with the help of interview of some the Navajo survivors. One of the daughters of a Navajo code talker, who now is a historians about this code, gives further insights and information.

An extremely interesting documentary, well worth watching.

Rating: 5 / 5. Great. Highly recommended.

DVD review: National Geographic: Everglades - America's Wild Spaces

Genre: Nature show.

The Everglades are subtropical wetlands located in the south of Florida. Everglades has a large amount of biodiversity and hence should make for a interesting nature show.

Just like most of the worlds natural habitats the Everglades are threatened by human settlements and human tampering of the ecosystem. The DVD touches on this and explains just what has been done to threaten the Everglades. It also touches on the restoration and conservation efforts that have started.

A fair bit of the DVD is spent following a German photographer, who is kayaking in the Everglades for the first time. Other times we are introduced to various biologist who are studying the Everglades, both to understand the natural system and also to see how best to conserve it.

Unfortunately not enough time was spent actually looking at the various plants and animals in the Everglades. The biologist are interesting enough, however the time spent following the German photographer is boring. The DVD is still interesting from time to time, since the Everglades is interesting. However by not showing enough nature this DVD is firmly in the average category.

Rating: 2.5 / 5, Average.