The Light Fantastic

The Light Fantastic is Terry Pratchett’s second book in the Discworld series. Compared to The Color of Magic, TLF comes a lot closer to making sense to those of us with an IQ less than 170. The story continues with the main two characters of the first book. This is an interesting phenomenon because nowhere else in the Discworld series does Terry Pratchett write in serial. Any other books can be read in any order and yet they are all about the lives and tribulations of the people of Discworld, and Pratchett uses many recurring characters. The central character is Rincewind, the Wizard who never learned any magic. He did read a magic spell in a book once, and the spell invaded his head, and has been trying to get out ever since. And of course, he partner in confusion, Twoflower the traveler. Twoflower, the man on an endless vacation, and entirely oblivious to any hazards in the world.

The plot flows well, and humor is rich with hyperbole and absurdity. Absurdity and irony are Pratchett’s special gift. He also like to play with subtle, or sometimes not-so-subtle puns. I imagine he must be a hilarious person to have over to a cocktail party.

Where Pratchett grows weak is in character development. His main characters are interesting and quirky, and you want to see them fair well, but you don’t really learn as much about them as you would in a book by Jim Butcher or Carl Hiaasen, writers who develop characters with such depth I think they must be people the writers actually knew. His minor characters are even less well developed, and rely a little on the traditions of the fantasy genre for you to understand them.

But I do think that TLF accomplished what Pratchett intended. It is very funny. He uses his special brand of ludicrous to poke fun at humanity. I liked the book a great deal, and give it a 98. 2 points loss for lack of character depth.

Fool Moon

Fool Moon (2001) is the second book of the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. The book opens up in McAnalley’s pub. Mac, the owner of the pub, has no magical abilities of his own, but somehow he ended up with this pub which has become neutral territory for various factions of magical and other mythical (or thought-to-be-mythical) entities. (after all, it is hard to call a creature mythical if he is sitting at a table drinking a beer with you.) Even warring factions agree not to fight in the pub. It is like Switzerland with beer. Oh yeah, I guess there is beer in Switzerland, too.

Harry meets with a young woman who should oughta know more about magic, given the depth of trouble she is about to get herself into. As soon as this unsuccessful meeting ends, Karrin Murphy arrives. She is the head of the Special Investigations unit of the Chicago Police Department. Murphy hires Dresden as a PI more than anyone else does, since her unit gets stuck with cases involving supernatural explanations, and the CPD doesn’t really want to acknowledge the supernatural.

Of course there is a murder spree, and of course there are supernatural forces behind it. Harry and Karrin set off to solve another case together.

Butcher continues to build his main characters and the relationship between Dresden and Murphy. Butcher is a strong writer in that his characters and their relationships are never static. Things change, for better or worse, in every book. Murphy is one of the most important characters in the series.

One of Butcher’s more amusing bits is this concept that wizards of great power and technology do not get along. The magical fields around the wizard just natural disrupt nearby technology. Sometimes Harry can use this to his advantage. Often it is an incontinent and unplanned event. Most of the time, it is humorous.

Bob the Skull’s role grows in Fool Moon. Bob is a spirit that inhabits a skull, and has been around for millennia. He knows more about the supernatural world than one human can comprehend. Harry may not be able to use the internet, but Bob stand in – and is actually better than the internet, because his info is reliable. Bob is also horny (don’t ask me how that works since he lacks a body), opinionated, not always cooperative, self-indulgent, and tends towards laziness. Aside from that, he is a perfect assistant.

As always, Butcher’s plots are complex enough to keep you reading, but not so much as to cause confusion. This book is probably a little slower to get going than all the other Dresden novels but the further you get into the book, the harder it is to put it down. Predictability factor is low – which is a good thing, of course.

Characters are rich. Humor is genuine; deriving from situations, foibles, irony, and Harry’s persistent wit and sarcasm. Fool Moon gets a 99 from me. I’m giving it a 99 for two reasons.

1. A bit of a slow start up on the plot, early on.
2. Having already read the entire series, I’m pretty sure this is the only one that is not getting 100 from me, and I want to appear to be at least somewhat unbiased. At least one of the Dresden novels has to get less than 100.

Storm Front

Storm Front (2000) is the first book in the Dresden Files series by Jim Butcher. I’ve read every Dresden book, and wait perpetually for the next to arrive.

Storm Front introduces us to Harry Dresden, Wizard, Private Eye. Harry is complicated because he is fully immersed in the world of magic and the world of men. His private eye business is barely floundering, and most of his work comes from Chicago P.D.’s “Special Investigations” unit. (i.e. the cases that are too bizarre to have natural explanations, but the CPD is afraid to admit as much).

Lieutenant Karrin Murphy is Harry’s friend, and in charge to the S.I. unit.

There are murders that have to be solved and explained to the satisfaction of officials who only believe in the natural world. But the undercurrent of supernatural forces behind the killing spree is the real problem that needs to be solved, and unfortunately Harry doesn’t get paid what he is really worth.

You will love Harry because we all feel for the person who is the only one in the room who really knows what is going on, and we always feel defensive for people who are misjudged or falsely accused. And because when it comes down to it, he is one of the most powerful beings in this story even if it doesn’t always seem that way to Harry.

Butcher’s humor is fantastic. Harry is sarcastic and quick witted. Bob the Skull is irreverent. Karrin is irritable. The characters are natural sources of humor, and the irony of life is as well. It is hard to put a Dresden book down, because the plots never slow down, from the beginning of Storm Front, to the end of whatever is on Butcher’s laptop right now.

Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1)

My score? 100. It doesn't get better than this.

My only complaint about Butcher is that he writes too slowly.

But then, I only mean that tongue-in-cheek, Jim; I understand thtat quality takes time. I’d rather you keep writing at this level of excellence than speed up and write garbage.

Moon Called

I was a little disappointed with Moon Called (2003). First of all, according to Kirchinger’s Principle #4, Moon starts off at a 95. There is not enough humor in the book to count. But as promised, I am also reviewing non-humor books, especially SciFi and Fantasy.


I’ll tell you why I am disappointed. The book started off with a bang. It started out with deep, mysterious, interesting characters who obviously had inter-relationships that would take us awhile to get to know. Brigg’s take on shape-shifters and werewolves is interesting and original. Her writing style is fantastic. She knows how to use words, turn phrases, write great dialogue, keep characters in voice, keep a story intriguing.

I have high praise for Patricia Briggs as a writer. Very high praise. I’d give her a 95 (see principle #4).

But then half way through the novel the plot just disappears. The tension falls out. I’m sitting in my easy chair drooling cause nothing is happening. The main character, Mercedes takes an injured friend to her hometown for a quiet place to heal. Unfortunately, the trip home becomes a prolonged journey of introspection for Mercedes. When this happens, the book turns from an intriguing work in fantasy to the kind of book my wife would like; an exploration in relationships and a person’s past. It becomes a chic-flick, an emotional journey.

Sorry, Patricia, I couldn’t get past the middle of the book. And whoI am I to give you a mediocre score? I’ve only just completed my first novel, and haven’t sold it yet. (Of course I haven't tried yet). And here you are, a successful serial novelist. I'm sure you have more credibility than me. I know you keep selling books in this series, so it must be good, but I can’t get past the middle. Too much toucny feely introspecion and retroscpection. I stopped caring in the middle of the book, and I put it down and forgot where I put it.  Maybe I'll try another one from the Mercy Thompson series later.

86 -- not very funny, plot sags in the middle and loses focus. On the positive side, Briggs has a lot of talent as a writer.
Maybe you would disagree with me on this book. Briggs is a very good writer, and this book might appeal to you more than me. There are a lot of good things about her writing..  You might think about trying it.

The Color of Magic

Because of Kirchinger’s Principle of Choosing Fiction #1 (There are more good books than you can read in a lifetime. Therefore life is too short to read mediocre books.) I sometime choose not to complete a book I have started. I stopped reading The Color of Magic (1983). Twice


I can’t explain why I started again, either time. The first time I put it down after reading about a third of it, and I put it down for nearly a year. No one told me to pick it up again. I’m in my 40’s, so I don’t read on assignment. I’m a medical doctor, so reading fantasy is not required in my profession. I had no friends or relatives raving about the book, other than when I first picked it up, my sister had told me she thought it was hilarious. But she did not stand behind me all those months of non-reading, telling me to “pick it up. Read it Dave. Pick it up Dave.” She didn’t know I had tried and put it down, and I doubt she would have cared.

Yet there was something curiously drawing me back to The Color of Magic. I picked it up again, and gave up on it even sooner the second time.

Oddly, the nagging voice inside my read telling me I have to read it became stronger this time. Before, it was just an occasional stray thought that could have been brushed aside as flatulence or allergies, but now it was an extra voice in my head telling me to read The Color of Magic. A couple month later, I was sick of the voice. I picked up the book, and I did not put it down until I finished it.

Wow. I’ve never had an experience with a book like that. I’ve never been haunted by a book that I chose not to finish, and I have rarely read one from cover to cover in one setting.

WARNING

Discworld is mind twisting and addictive.

If you like fantasy, humor, and forcing your mind to think in new ways, I highly recommend the Discworld series. It is one of the best there is. The Color of Magic is the first book of the The Discworld Series

The Color of Magic is harder to follow than any of the others. The Color of Magic is book one, and The Light Fantastic is book 2. Terry Pratchett says that none of the books have to be read in any particular order. I’ve read half the series, and I agree with Pratchett…except for the first two books. The Light Fantastic makes much more sense if you’ve read The Color of Magic first. I would also say that the entire series is much easier to understand if you read those two first. After that, read in any order.

The Color of Magic is hilarious. It is also disjointed at times, but eventually the disjointedness explains itself, more or less. The main characters are Twoflower, Rincewind, the luggage, and Death. Twoflower is a traveler from the other side of the disc, and is persistently oblivious to danger, which always seems to work in his favor. Rincewind is a failure of a wizard; a wizard with no magical power at all, who has been assigned to be Twoflower’s guide. The luggage is made of sapient pearwood, and thus has a mind and personality of its own. It doesn’t talk, but people often knows what it is thinking, none-the -less. Death is, well, Death, and is after Rincewind, but things just keep going wrong.

I'll give The Color of Magic a 93.  It loses points for plot confusions; it is a little scattered at times. And while Pratchett is a comedic and creative genius, this first book of the Discworld series has some literary weaknesses; loss of point of view "headpopping," prose that waffles between very good and "someone should have read this before printing." The problem is, I think that sometimes Pratchess reaches too hard for the joke.

The Dresden Files

For my first post I’d like to pay homage to one of the best contemporary fantasy novelists. Jim Butcher. If I had to pick a favorite fantasy novelist, which I would rather you not force me into that situation, it would be Jim Butcher. Well, let me just say that maybe it would be Jim Butcher. I’m qualifying it with a maybe because until someone actually forces me, I’m not going to commit. BUT, if at some point between this posting and your reading thereof, I have, indeed, been forced, then Butcher is the answer.

The Dresden Files is the BEST fantasy series still being written today. Absolutely my favorite series, my 17 year old son's too.

Butcher has raised the standard for fantasy writers. In Dresden, Butcher writes complex characters. They are never static and never dull. They continue to develop, as real people in real life do, from book to book. He does not use the same characters in every book. Some will come and go in various books, in non-chronological order. Some you will grow to love, some you will grow to hate more than you did before, and some will die when you least expect it. The characters have their own interwoven pasts with one another that complicate the emotions and the plots of the books.

The humor is impeccably appropriate. This is not a humor series for humor’s sake, but Butcher does an excellent job of lightening a tense seen with a clever quip or unexpected bit of irony. The main character, Harry Dresden, is quite sharp tongued and quick witted. Of course, this gets him in trouble sometimes. I’m sure there are times that Harry would have wished he kept his mouth closed.

Not only is he a wizard of great skill, he is a private detective and often contracts with the local Chicago Police Department for the more "unusual" cases. Sometimes it is hard to be the only person in the room who understands everything that is going on -- both natural and supernatural. Harry is not a perfect person, and he struggles with his imperfections, and evolves throughout the series.

Harry’s wit is not the only source of humor. There are quirky characters, ironic situations, and plenty of humorous plays off the contrasts between the fantasy world of magic and the real world we live in.
As far as plot? Well let me just say, Butcher’s books are hard to put down. And while you see some things coming, you don’t see everything coming.

Each book is stand-alone, and you do not have to read them in order, BUT ----- I highly advise that you do, because you will understand the characters and situations with much greater depth if you do. Which book is my favorite? Whichever one he wrote last because each one just gets better than the last.

If you like fantasy, scifi, wizards, magic, action, adventure or humor in your fiction, then you are missing out on one of the best on the market today by not reading the Dresden series.

This series is one of my absolute favorite out of dozens of series. 100 points for me

If you like humor, suspense, mystery, wizards and magic, deep characters that are dynamic, surprises and unpredictability and a world of its own (like Harry Potter) set in a real world (Chicago), then you HAVE TO read Dresden. In fact, if you try the first three books and really do not like it, I will personally guarantee your purchase. Send me your receipt and your books, and tell me why you did not like each book, with convincing specifics (because I am not likely to believe you), and I will send you a check for the price of the books. Offer good for the rest of 2009 and 2010.