Film: The Odyssey

The Odyssey is one of Nolan's best films. But before you start blowing those trumpets, know that I don't consider Nolan a good film maker, so this being amongst his best isn't actually saying much.

All of his annoying trademarks are here, from the overlapping soft cuts between scenes transgressing time and space, to the chopping and mixing up of chronology. Given I don't see any of these tricks as adding to the value of a Nolan film, the overuse of them does more harm than good.

It's probably a testament to Homer that this film is so good though. The story is straightforward and accessible, but with enough nuance to make it interesting. All actors do a fabulous job of spinning the tale, and production is top notch (something I really can't take away from Nolan).

On balance then The Odyssey is a good, even great, film, and yet one that makes me wonder how much of a Nolan fanboy I would become when he finally decides to leave all his gimmicks at home.

Book: We Need to Tax Billionaires, Gabriel Zucman

I'll get straight to the point. This isn't a great book. It might have been a good blog post. What might be mistaken for accessibility is its lack of depth - numbers fly around not meaning much (unless you happen to be an economist already perhaps?). A lot of this might be due to losses in translation.

It's a shame because the message trying to cut through is a pretty simple one. It is also compelling, which is where the real danger lies - unless this argument is made robustly and decisively, it is unlikely to make it to the masses who rely on more alluring sources for their information.

On the other hand, this might just be the fodder needed to generate more messaging to the voting public to make a different choice. I hope the downstream effects are real, because as it stands this book alone won't cut it. 

Book: Dark Matter, Blake Crouch

To be honest I'm not sure why this book was on my list. I like to think I have a robust and discerning filter mechanism - mainly because I don't have the time any more to consume all the books that I want to. I guess no system is perfect and thus Dark Matter slipped made it to my reading list.

How bad a book is doesn't typically stem from a single reason. Dark Matter is badly written (both technically and creatively), has bad characters (although I was made to feel very strongly how much of a douchebag Jason was) and characterisation and treats the "multiple worlds" concept with such a lack of care and attention that I was left unusually frustrated. This wasn't just bad scifi, it was bad art, and I firmly place it amongst Twilight and The Hunger Games as one of the most awful books I've read.

The only reason I completed this book was because it was mercifully short. One to skip. 

 

Book: One Day, Everyone Will Have Always Been Aainst This, Omar El Akkad

Apart from being wonderfully written, brilliantly concise and amazingly clear, the real value in this book isn't how well it is put together, but as medicine for those who perhaps struggle for articulating the feelings and positions they have over current and recent world affairs. In that sense it's a bit cathartic, a welcome release valve for us to realise that, no, we are not mad nor alone.

It's a short book and I recommend everyone to read it. 

Book: Aurora, Kim Stanley Robinson

I've always maintained that there is Science Fiction and there is Science Fiction. Aurora can be firmly placed in the more genuine of the two buckets, appealing not to popular sentiment or in anticipation of a TV deal but setting out to tell a hard story (with hard science) answering hard human questions.

It's this "rough around the edges" feel that makes the book so great - that's not to say it is of low quality, since however abrupt the prose seems the plot, characterisation and narrative are all as polished as it gets. Indeed the real genius in the book is being both authentic while keeping its depth accessible.

Perhaps a bit over long, the story remains gripping throughout. I'm left hopeful that modern robust Science Fiction can be a thing, even if it remains rare. Recommended.

Book: Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir

Although I very much enjoyed The Martian at the time, after reflection I saw it for what it was - a book of puzzles and problem solving using creativity and science. It was like the analogue version of watching a physics experiment on YouTube or something. As such, I didn't have much interest in reading much more from the author, expecting anything he wrote to be more of the same. Given that I'm between franchises and a film is due for release next year I thought I'd give this one a shot. And (spoiler alert) Project Hail Mary is pretty much the same book.

That's not a bad thing of course. Being so formulaic meant reading more puzzles, seeing more problems solved - unlike many others I don't see these books as sci-fi but just examples of very tight storytelling, something that is a treat to those who thrive on feeding their mild OCDs. One evolution Hail Mary has is parallel storytelling in the form of flashbacks, lending some further twists and drama to another dimension of the story.

It's short, punchy, and (unlike certain other books I've been reading recently) doesn't require access to the Internet to follow. Any questions the reader has are headed off - the author has a natural ability to anticipate any queries had - in that sense he carries you with him on the ride as the book unfolds.

And yet the conclusion remains the same - there's something about this book that makes it feel like a novelty, cheap and fun calories that you won't necessary regret but probably won't stay with you in the longer term. That's not a totally bad thing, particularly given the size of the book, and so Project Hail Mary receives a recommendation from me.

Book: Isles of the Emberdark, Brandon Sanderson

In many ways Emberdark is the opposite of Wind and Truth, the last "main" Cosmere novel that I read. It's concise (well, relatively anyway), it doesn't hold back on the fun - it even goes to a pretty extreme length to catch the reader up in the form of recounting the previous short story set in First of the Sun in the form of flashbacks.

The characterisation falters at times (I've somewhat given up on searching for this in the Cosmere now) but the story and worldbuilding is more than enough to carry it all through. Yes, there are implications and teases, but these seem far more respectful of the reader than they do elsewhere - I suspect due to the shorter length of this book.

Emberdark has quickly become one of my more favoured Cosmere novels and reminds me why I've put so much into this universe so far. Recommended.

Book: Wind and Truth, Brandon Sanderson

More often than not, bigger is never better. At [stupid number] of pages long, WaT is the longest volume in the Stormlight Archive, and therefore also the longest book in the Cosmere - in fact, it might be longer than some trilogies in this particular universe.

That isn't enough to wreck a book, but it didn't help that this one was especially terse. The time passed since the previous books (as well as the dragging of the Roshar stories) didn't help, and I got up to page 13 before giving up and going to the Internet to read the four 200 page summaries of what came before. Doing so was helpful both in getting me up to date, but also allowing me to think about the series as a whole.

You see, The Stormlight Archive isn't a book or even an epic - it's a lifestyle choice. To get the most out of it you have to be part of the meta, read and contribute to forums, follow off-book developments. That kind of thing. Needless to say I didn't sign up to that.

In some ways the summaries were actually better than the books themselves, distilling the story to the essentials, while skipping some of the more dubious character development present here. And indeed that might have been my issue with this series - the characterisation failed at what it tried to do, and for me any development was cheap, gimmicky and shallow, especially in the shadow of the faux-depth they tried to have.

Another example of the gimmicks at play here were the epitaphs sprinkled throughout each chapter start. Perhaps I'm too procedural or one dimensional, but having to read in two different directions was a chore and reminded me of how much this book felt like work.

The multiple threads were somewhat tied up - or at least reduced - by the end of the book, and we finally have the wider Cosmere context that's been promised for so long. Given that this is the first arc (of two) in Stormlight, I'm not sure how excited I am for things to proceed.

So here I am over six months after starting Wind and Truth, complaining about how much it all was. In many ways I had the same complaints during the middle of The Wheel of Time, and in many ways Stormlight was a bit of a rip off of that series too. I can only hope that, like in the WoT series, the ending made the middle worth it in the end.

Book: The Sunlit Man, Brandon Sanderson

If I ever had a complaint about The Cosmere, it's that Sanderson refuses to help us out with his world. He teases and baits, but very rarely tells. Some people dig that, but my school homework days are long over and sometimes I just want to be told what's going on.

The Sunlit Man tells us a lot. I might even say too much. I promise that this isn't an obvious case of never being happy, but more because the novel is set so far in the future that any exposition it provides does more to confuse even more - I think I now have ten more threads in my head to juggle.

Getting over that though, Sunlit is a great novel in the line of the other Cosmere novels, and as such I can't stay mad at it for too long. It's certainly more essential that the last few "secret projects", not that that gives it more value, but the contrast is definitely welcome.

Book: Yumi and the Nightmare Painter, Brandon Sanderson

The real genius in Sanderson lies not just in his ability to create rich worlds, but to do so tremendously concisely. This isn't just a good thing on its own - I actually think it makes for far more wonderful books, particularly in the Cosmere. It's not surprising that Elantris, Warbreaker, Tress and the other standalone novels are my favourite in the franchise - as impressive as The Stormlight Archive is (so far) there's just so much of it that it sometimes falls under its own weight.

Yumi is another great example of this effect. In just 500 pages we have yet another planet in the Cosmere, with a rich yet easily accessible system of fantasy and lore, and characterisation aplenty - all wrapped up in a decent romance to boot. There really is little to complain about here.

And yet it doesn't quite reach the upper rankings, not because it's not good, but more because it's not as good. That's no mean feat for sure - make no mistake, I enjoyed Yumi a lot, it's just not my favourite. Otherwise it's just the ticket to tide me over till the next book in the Cosmere... coming up next.

Book: The Sins of Our Fathers, James S. A. Corey

Okay so now this is actually finally it - my reading of The Expanse is finally over with the final short story released. As before all the short stories (with the exception of the RPG) were read from Memory's Legion, a compendium that all series like this should have available (I'm looking at you Cosmere).

The novella itself was not what I was expecting. Rather than an epilogue of sorts, it was another side story, albeit one set after the events of Leviathan Falls. This shouldn't have come as a surprise given how tangential the other short stories were, and I can only blame myself for expecting it to offer any kind of closure.

That said, it was actually one of the better short stories available, paced just right as well as adding flavour to the small amount of the post-ring world we were given. In that sense it is actually a decent way to exit the books, again with its non-essential nature proving to be where its value lies.

Book: Leviathan Falls, James S. A. Corey

Aaaaah, it's always difficult to review the last volume of an epic such that was The Expanse. Is it even possible to pay off so many books, chapters and words? Maybe, but such a beast would be a rare thing indeed. Unfortunately although Leviathan Falls does its best... It just about falls short.

But this isn't a symptom of this, the ninth book in the series, but a reflection of the series as a whole. The flaws - no, weaknesses - were glaring, the labouring as visible as the labour, and the magic kind of muted.

Maybe it could have been trimmed down a bit? Maybe some of the harder science fiction could have been polished off a bit? The truth is that The Expanse will not be a classic, and that's a tough pill to swallow considering how on paper it's far better and complete than most of what passes as sci-fi media these days.

I suppose The Expanse was always doomed to fail, having set up an ambition that was out of the reach for anyone but the masters. That said, the fact that it's even being compared to the best of examples says enough to recommend it.

Oh and yes, I know I'm writing as if there's nothing more to say. Well no, because there is one last short story to read before I'm completely done with The Expanse.

Book: Aurberon, James S. A. Corey

One of the nice things about the novellas in this series is how they're not afraid to jump out of context. Aurberon for example goes right back to the start of the Laconian take over of the human worlds, and the struggles with governorship that comes with such expansion. As such it's a very political story, and one that makes its point succinctly.

It's a nice break from some of the more wild science fiction that's going on elsewhere in the epic, while also showing the cracks in the empire that were there from the start.

A quick win then, and a nice little palate cleanser before the main event and finale to come next.

Book: The Last Flight of the Cassandra, James S. A. Corey

At 25 pages long this was hardly a novella - not that it ever claimed to be. Cassandra was actually a super short story first published in The Expanse Role-playing handbook. That makes it even less vital than anything included in Memory's Legion for instance.

That said, it was a quick read with more from the universe of the series. Given its place in the TTRPG it leaves more questions unanswered than otherwise, so don't go in expecting any Easter eggs or the like.

Book: Tiamat's Wrath, James S. A. Corey

Like many epics, there are usually two main antagonists. The human and the non human, the relatable and the unrelatable, the easy and the hard. The Expanse is no different, and Tiamat's Wrath largely deals with mopping up the less of the bad stuff going on in the now expanded galaxy.

In many ways it's because of this that it laboured a bit. Tiamat's Wrath wasn't a slog to read, but it wasn't the easiest either and I'm not sure the payoff (as great as it was) was worth the challenge.

But end it did, and I'm left excited for the final book (novellas aside) being allowed to give full focus to the big bad. On we go.

Book: Persepolis Rising, James S. A. Corey

I'll say it again: if there is one thing that The Expanse nails it's its pacing. Book 7 out of 9 is firmly third arc stuff, very Empire Strikes Back, and ultimately one of the better books in the series.

The book was a breeze to read too, not exactly gripping but with a high enough content density that you didn't feel the slog. It was a rebel, no wait, rescue, no actually a heist movie of a story, and it was this linear plot that actually benefited it the most.

Unfortunately this came at the cost of any real science fiction: this was politics and war, and as such The Expanse cements its place in whatever the genre has become over the last decade or so. But to be honest I didn't mind too much as I was having such a good time anyway.

Book: Strange Dogs, James S. A. Corey

In what can only be described as "what it says on the time", Strange Dogs was definitely strange. The Expanse, as a series, tends to oscillate between the vanilla (space, war, politics) to the fantastical (ancient aliens, warping of physics, "magic") in way that suits its brand of modern sci-fi, and Strange Dogs firmly falls into the latter end of that spectrum.

Characterisation is better than the other novellas, and so this is also one of the better novellas. It may have been slightly on the longer, labouring, side but that didn't stop me from turning its pages.

If this is how the remaining novellas will turn out to be then I look forward to not having to write them off like I was planning to.

Book: Babylon's Ashes, James S. A. Corey

Is it really only book 6? I guess that's a testament to the pacing of this series, as it really does feel like a lot more has happened. And yet ironically this volume was quite flat in terms of any major wider plot development. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, given the events of the previous book. So maybe a reset then, before the final act?

I suppose just like it is for the characters in the book, Babylon's Ashes is a comfort. We spend time with characters old, seeing them interact in new situations but in the equally old ways. It was all very familiar and safe and low effort, and although I didn't mind it here (with its 700+ pages) I do hope the next novel will bring something else to the table.

Book: The Vital Abyss, James S. A. Corey

I think I've concluded that the short stories from The Expanse (all handily contained in Memory's Legion) aren't that great. It's not that I mind filler - especially at these lengths - but it really does seem like most of this stuff is what would have been found on the cutting room floor.

Take The Vital Abyss for instance. It's written well but oh so boring, and in some ways very experimental. I just hope that I'm gathering some depth to the universe by osmosis that will allow me to enjoy the main lore more than I would have otherwise.

Book: Nemesis Games, James S. A. Corey

Book five and I'm now over half way through the mainline series as a whole. Keeping with the varying theme this series does so well, we now revert back to star system politicking rather than any of the science fiction of this particular world (universe?).

The Expanse is firmly what I describe as "modern" sci-fi and it says a lot that I don't totally hate it for that. Nemesis Games was still a bit weak, a bit trashy, but it's the world that's keeping me here and not the plot or characters or melodrama.

And so on we go.