On The Nightstand – The Rook – 4/1/2018

I’ve always gotten a kick out of the saying – “sex is kinda like pizza…even when it’s bad, it’s pretty darn good”.  I’m not going to make a judgement about it’s accuracy with respect to sex but I do generally believe it to be true about books.  As I’ve said before, I actually read very few books that are so badly conceived that I can’t find something within them to enjoy.  It sometimes happens but it’s rare.

Having said that, it’s not unusual for a book to surprise me on the upside and this one did.  I pulled this off the Verge article I posted – “26 Underrated Science Fiction And Fantasy Gems You Shouldn’t Miss”.

On The Shelf – Interesting Picks – 2/11/2018

I had modest expectations going in but you can probably see from past posts that this type of story appeals to me – supernatural threats to the mundane world controlled by extra-ordinary organizations.  “The Laundry Files” by Charles Stross and “The Dresden Files” by Jim Butcher are the two best examples that come to mind.  I have every book in both series and they are prized possessions – the source of countless hours of fun.

Not to say that this always works for me – I never really cared for the “Monster Hunter” series.  Those books aren’t bad – they’re just not good enough to deserve an investment on my part.  I read the first in the series and just didn’t feel compelled to move forward – it just felt kind of heavy-handed and klunky.

Still, the blurb from the Verge article on this one intrigued me.  I downloaded an e-copy and read through it this week.  While it’s too early to tell – all too many authors have wrecked a great concept with a poorly conceived second book – literary one hit wonders that whose authors write themselves into the same fate as “Dexy’s Midnight Runners” or ‘Tommy Tutone” – I think this may be a long term win.  I thoroughly enjoyed this book – far more that I’d ever expected.

It did what a really good story should – it compelled me to keep reading after the first few pages.  Daniel O’Malley takes a relatively unprepossessing, amnesiac, thoroughly charming heroine – Myfanwy Thomas – and grows her over the course of the story into a thoroughly formidable presence who never loses the relative innocence and overwhelming practicality that made her so charming to begin with.

He also creates a British Governmental Agency – the Checquy – that combines the formidable effectiveness and capabilities of MI5 or the FBI with the oddness of Monty Python’s “Ministry Of Silly Walks”.  There are real similarities to The Laundry in Charles Stross’ books – the difference being that the Checquy is far better funded and enjoys far greater support from the U.K. Government.

I just loved these books – enjoyed them enough to go back and both download a copy of the second book in the series – “Stiletto” and order hard covers of both.  It was an act of faith – I’m fully aware of the possibility that O’Malley might disappoint me with “Stiletto” but I’d be shocked if he did.  This first volume was too well-written, the characters too well-conceived and the story was too thoroughly enjoyable.  Combine that with the fact that “Stiletto” reviews on Amazon come in at 4.5 stars and I think I’m safe.  My  hope is that I have characters and a world that I can live with and enjoy for a very long time – that these books come to occupy a place in the Library similar to that earned by Stross, Butcher, Brust, Erikson / Esslemont, Stirling, Weber and others.

I love to try new titles – that act of faith that you hope leads to a new literary love – but there are very few feelings that compare to the one I get when I see that one of my favorite authors has a new release scheduled – that he or she is going to give me the chance to spend a few more hours with old friends like Bob Howard or Vlad Taltos or Harry Dresden.  I don’t suffer under the illusion that any these books will have lasting significance or that anyone is going to be reading them in 20 years but who cares – they almost always come to me as a precious gift.  Here’s to hoping that O’Malley finds a way to make Myfanwy Thomas and the Checquy into one of those gifts that keeps on giving.