THE YOUNGER GODS - Michael R. Underwood

 

Jacob Greene is a child of cultists - extremists with a deep connection to powerful gods.  To stay in good favor and receive great powers from these gods Jacob's family (both biological family and cult group family) must occasion a sacrifice now then.

Jacob doesn't seem to question this (it's how he's been raised, after all) until the time he brings his best friend home to be brutally sacrificed. Jacob believes that his friend is a willing participant, honored to be chosen, informed of what was about to take place by Jacob's father.   Of course nothing could be further from the truth and the friend does NOT go willingly.

This shatters Jacob's belief and has him question his faith and he leaves his family and cult in order to think things through. But it's not easy to escape powerful gods, and despite being in the city of New York, all signs point to the fact that the gods know where he is and that something big is about to go down.

Although the description of the book was not necessarily appealing to me, I really enjoyed author Michael R. Underwood's modern urban fantasy Ree Reyes series, so I was interested in giving this a read as well.  Unfortunately it really does not fare too well.

The fact that this is all pretty dark is fine, and there's no reason to think it would be anything other than a dark fantasy series, with blood, death, and some bad intentions. But usually there is something in a story like this that will hold a reader's interest. It should be Jacob Greene in this book, but there's nothing at all interesting about him. He seems pretty clueless and while we want to root for him, we're mostly left thinking, "Maybe he will, maybe he won't.  Oh well."

This is one of those unusual books where it has fewer than 300 pages, it reads like a 500 page book.  It was a bit of a slog.

Looking for a good book? Michael R. Underwood has a great fantasy series that I would recommend to anyone, but this book, The Younger Gods, is one to avoid.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

2-1/4 stars

* * * * * *

The Younger Gods

author: Michael R. Underwood

series: Younger Gods #1

publisher: Pocket Star

ASIN: B00IWTWNZ6

ODDEST OF ALL -- Bruce Coville

Harcourt -- hc
Orlando -- ©2008 -- 235pp
ISBN: 978-0-15-205808-1

 A collection of stories:
"In Our Own Hands"
"What's the Worst That Could Happen?"
"The Ghost Let Go"
"In the Frog King's Court"
"The Thing in Auntie Alma's Pond"
"The Hardest, Kindest Gift"
"The Mask of Eamonn Tiyado"
"Herbert Hutchison in the Underworld"
"The Boy with Silver Eyes"
A Note from the Author

*****

 I've said it before and I'll say it again...Bruce Coville is one of the finest writers writing sci-fi, fantasy, YA, mystery, horror, humor today!

If you think you know Coville's work based on some of his humorous kids' books ("My Teacher Was an Alien" and the like), then you don't really know Coville.

This collection, the third of his "Odd" collection of short stories easily stands alongside my other favorite sci-fi authors: Harlan Ellison, John Varley, Kim Stanley Robinson, Roger Zelazny.

And I don't feel like I'm reading a 'kids'' story. Not a single story in this collection disappointed, and each story was as different from the next as possible, displaying Coville's versatility as a writer.

If you want to be moved, nearly to tears, read "The Boy with the Silver Eyes" (and if you've read his fantastic "unicorn" series, you'll be mighty pleased with this additional story). If you want to be a little terrified (but know that you'll come out okay on the other end), then "The Mask of Eamonn Tiyado" will satisfy (and again...fans of a Coville 'series' -- the Magic Shop Books -- will be mighty pleased here).

I just can't recommend Coville enough. Pick up a book, start to read, and you won't be disappointed.

STEAMPUNK! An Anthology of Fantastically Rich and Strange Stories -- Kelly Link & Gavin J. Grant, editors

Candlewick Press -- ebook


As it says in the title...a collection of Steampunk stories.

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"Some Fortunate Future Day" by Cassandra Clare -- a girl and her mechanical dolls rescue a soldier who fell from an airship.  The girl, all alone, fantasizes about his rescuing her.  Rate it 2-1/2 of 5

"The Last Ride of the Glory Girls" by Libba Bray -- a young girl with an aptitude for mechanics and working for the Pinkertons, joins the Glory Girls, a band female criminals, and creates a watch the stops time.  Rate it 3-1/2 of 5

"Clockwork Fagin" by Cory Doctorow

"Seven Days Beset by Demons" by Shawn Cheng -- a comic/graphic tale of boy meets girl/boy loses girl/boy goes crazy; in steampunk fashion.

"Hand in Glove" by Ysabeau S. Wilce -- a female detective is certain that the favorite detective is wrong and an innocent man will be executed ... all based on finger-print evidence, something which the popular detective and their boss, doesn't believe in yet.

"The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor" by Delia Sherman --  Ghost story featuring automatons and a sensible mechanic's daughter hired to work as a housekeeper for an inventor. I liked the friendship between the protaganist and the titular ghost.

"Gesthemane" by Elizabeth Knox --  not a steampunk story, about two people.

"The Summer People" by Kelly Link --  Story of a girl freeing herself from her role as a faery housekeeper.

"Peace in Our Time" by Garth Nix --  The man who perhaps triggered the weapon that started a world-devasting war, is approached by a survivor representing the 'other' side.

"Nowhere Fast" by Christopher Rowe --  Interesting take on technological progress versus environmental concerns.

"Finishing School" by Kathleen Jennings --  An orthodontist reminiscences about the time her friend Gwendoline built a flying machine at their boarding school. 

"Steam Girl" by Dylan Horrocks --  Sweet story about the developing relationship between a loner boy and the new girl who tells him stories about her adventures as an interplanetary adventurer and inventor.

"Everything Amiable and Obliging" by Holly Black --  Questions of humanity and power relations in love wrapped in an upstairs/downstairs romance package.

"The Oracle Engine" by M.T. Anderson --  Alternate history based on a true Roman story with a steampunk twist. The world building is excellent, I was caught up right away. Has an ending you're likely to see coming – particularly if you're familiar with Roman history – but like most stories that deal with fate and revenge, that's kind of the point.


*****

Although I am a huge fan of Bruce Sterling's work, I would not consider myself versed in the literary world of 'steampunk.'  I borrowed this book from the Amazon-library database to see if this was a genre I might enjoy.  Based on these stories, the answer would be 'no.'

The first two stories were decent tales that held my interest, but thereafter, my interest waned until M.T. Anderson's alternative history tale.

"The Ghost of Cwmlech Manor" and "The Summer People" were interesting and worth reading, but the rest of the stories I found to be dull, and not at all what I was expecting from the world of 'steampunk.'

DEAD UNTIL DARK -- Charlaine Harris

Ace Books -- pb
New York -- ©2001 -- 292pp
ISBN: 0-441-00853-4

Vampires have recently been accepted as members of society and a small Louisiana town gets their first vampire citizen, who happens to have affectionate intentions toward an unusual local waitress.

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I've been fascinated by vampire literature long before it was popular chick-lit. For those old enough to remember, it was once popular for young boys (who remembers Vampirella?).

I picked this up because I've enjoyed the TRUE BLOOD series and I wanted to read the 'original.' I was sadly disappointed. I found this book to be dull and boring ... not nearly as exciting as the tv series.

I could picture each episode of season one as I read through this, and of course I could only imagine the actors in the roles, rather than creating new impressions of the characters. This part of it was somewhat fun ... especially seeing how they created the entire first season out of the one book.

But as a book alone ... I guess it's just the 'romance' aspect of it; clearly written as a romance with a dark twist, that didn't appeal to this reader.

However, I will say that I intend to read a few more books in the series -- in part because I picked up a bunch rather cheaply and in part because I had high hopes for such a popular series that I don't plan to give up on it too soon.

HOW TO LIVE SAFELY IN A SCIENCE FICTIONAL UNIVERSE -- Charles Yu

Pantheon Books -- hc
New York -- ©2010 -- 234pp
ISBN: 978-0-307-37920-7

Charles Yu, time travel technician - part counselor, part gadget repair man - helps save people from themselves. Literally. When he's not taking client calls or consoling his boss, Phil, who could really use an upgrade, Yu visits his mother (stuck in a one-hour cycle of time, she makes dinner over and over and over) and searches for his father, who invented time travel and then vanished.

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I don't remember the recommended list that I came across that had this book on it, but it sounded fascinating. And it was. But it wasn't...well...it wasn't great.

For those who have read plenty of science fiction, the idea of time travel and time loops and the dizzying headaches that accompany both, is really nothing new. I can think of a few novels of this nature (David Gerrold's The Man Who Folded Himself comes first to mind). What makes this novel slightly unique is that the narrator appears to be the author himself and that the book that we hold in our hands is the book that the narrator is both reading and writing at the same time (confusing?).

I had high hopes for a truly original sci-fi novel, but found, instead, a book that was actually pretty conventional with a main character who was generally pretty boring and not immediately like-able.

For those who've only been reading SF for the past decade or so, then this is probably an outstanding, original book. For those of us who've been reading the genre for four decades or more, than this isn't all that spectacular.

SOLAR -- Ian McEwan

Doubleday -- hc
New York -- ©2010 -- 287pp
ISBN: 978-0-385-53341-6

Michael Beard is a Nobel prize–winning physicist whose best work is behind him. Trading on his reputation, he speaks for enormous fees, lends his name to the letterheads of renowned scientific institutions, and half-heartedly heads a government-backed initiative tackling global warming. Can a man who has made a mess of his life clean up the messes of humanity?

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This book was recommended to me twice, first through a listing of books that I've generally liked, and then by our local librarian who has very similar tastes as I do.  Unfortunately, this book completely failed to capture my attention.

Michael Beard was an unsympathetic character.  Somehow, this nerdy scientist, who is never described as particularly attractive, has women falling all over him and each time he gets married, he's off having an affair.  His latest wife has an affair of her own, and of course he seems to want her back to himself, but it never happens.  And... we don't care.

Beard has all but given up actually doing any hard work once he's received the Nobel Prize, and ... again we don't care.  It's a wonder he was ever successful enough to actually have received the Nobel, based on what we see of him in the book.

Bits and pieces of the book were interesting, if not completely transparent.  The section of the book when he was exploring the Arctic was interesting, though I'm still not sure what it had to do with any other section of the novel.

I waited and waited for the section as described in the tag lines on Goodreads and the dustjacket: "Here is a chance for him to extricate himself from his marital problems, reinvigorate his career, and very possibly save the world from environmental disaster. Can a man who has made a mess of his life clean up the messes of humanity?"  Do I need to answer the question that's posted?  


This was a colossal waste of time.  I waited for something to happen.  Anything.  The few things that did happen came as no surprise.


I hope this isn't McEwan at his best, it sure doesn't make me eager to read any of his other works.

MAN FROM NEBRASKA -- Tracy Letts

Northwestern University Press -- tpb
Evanston, IL -- ©2006 -- 89pp
ISBN: 0-8101-2347-9

Two act play.
4 M, 5 W

A luxury sedan, a church pew and visits to a nursing home form the comfortable round of Ken Carpenter s daily life. And then one night, he awakens to find that he no longer believes in God. This crisis of faith propels an ordinary middle-aged man into an extraordinary journey of self-discovery. This wickedly funny and spiritually complex play examines the effects of one man s awakening on himself and his family. [from goodreads.com]

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I started out NOT enjoying this play very much, but as I got through it, it grew on me a bit.

Tracy Letts has a bit of a theme running here with this play and his much more successful AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY, and that would be a theme of late-middle-aged men trying to understand their lives. In many ways, one could almost see this as a pre-cursor to AUGUST: OSAGE COUNTY.

Both plays (and I will try, of course, to speak more to this play directly) deal with an older man who has some interest or experience in the arts. In A:OC it's a poet and here it's a man who thinks he no longer believes in god, leaves his family to discover himself, and finds art in the form of sculpture. He's not very good, of course, but it brings him to a better understanding of himself AND a creator.

As a middle-aged artist who has let his art slide, I could identify mightily with our lonesome hero, Ken Carpenter (and yes, the name Carpenter is a wonderful symbol in so many ways as the Christian god-in-flesh was a carpenter, and as a sculptor, an artist uses many of the same or similar tools as a carpenter). His desire to find passion in life is probably understood by many men, and that passion is not necessarily a sensual or sexual passion. That passion is relayed here as sexual, artistic, and religious.

What did not ring true for me was how quickly and easily Carpenter seemed to make his break. Certainly some (if not all) of this would be made up for by the actor portraying the character.

The only other part that bothered me was how many short scenes there were. We jumped quickly and loosely and it made it difficult to keep a thread of the story together, even though the scenes really revolved around Ken. The scenes with Ken's wife, Nancy, just didn't work as well. It seemed too late to try to make the audience care about what Nancy was going through and how stalwart she was toward Ken.

Still...Letts has a great sense of theme and plot and subplot and uses his imagery very well. This is a play that takes a little getting used to, but could work on many levels.

SUPERPOWERS -- David J. Schwartz

Three Rivers Press -- tpb
New York -- ©2008 -- 377pp
ISBN: 978-0-307-39440-8

Five college students at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, wake up one morning after a party to discover they have super powers.  They begin a journey, at first alone, and then together, to discover what their powers mean for themselves.

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I'm not sure what I was expecting when I picked this up in a little independent book store, but, as I like comics and I enjoy literary and genre fiction, this seemed like a good book for me.

I'm still intrigued with the premise ... five students in Madison, WI wake up one morning to discover that they've inherited/developed/been gifted with some extraordinary super powers.  What happens next?

I like that Schwartz has attempted to keep it real.  Grounded (no pun intended).  Unfortunately, it gets so grounded that it becomes tedious and boring in spots.   The personal/sexual relationships that are developed don't seem interesting, and frankly, I never fully understand how close these friends really are.  Are they all friends?  Are some outsiders among their groups?  Does it matter?  Well, yes it does if you're telling a story about people.  And their actions as super-powered individuals isn't played up too much ... mostly second reports about what they've done.  Again, this is fine as this is a story about people and not a comic about a superhero, but what is the focus of this story?

There are some really nice moments here ... specifically (without giving anything away), a scene in a nursing home that I really wanted to read more about, and the effects that the powers have on some of the students (physical as well as psychological), but in the long-run, this book lagged a bit.

I give it 3-1/2 stars.

ALBUM -- David Rimmer

Nelson Doubleday -- hc
New York -- ©1980 -- 105pp
book club edition

A two act play about youth growing up in the 60's, with music as a focus of their lives and a device for the playwright.

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As I read this, my first thought is: "Wow, this play is dated."

I really liked the idea of incorporating popular music into the life of these youngsters. It reminds me greatly of my youth -- the days when we'd sit around and talk about the new songs, or the latest album by a favorite musician, and even the arguments about when band is better. In this sense, I was pulled in to the play. But as the characters got older, I cared about them less.

Again, I believe that this is more a result of the period of the play. This play is very characteristic of plays from this era, with lives changing for the worse at every turn. But dropouts and runaways don't pull at the heart strings the way they used to.

There are some great acting scenes and monologues here, but if I saw this on the season subscription for a local theatre, I wouldn't be running out to get tickets.

BROKEN MUSIC -- Sting

A memoir
Dial Press -- hc
New York -- ©2003 -- 337pp
ISBN: 0-385-33678-0

An autobiography of Gordon Sumner (aka Sting).

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I first thought maybe I'd try to write a review without commenting on Sting's music, but frankly, it would be stupid to even try. You're unlikely to read this memoir if you don't know who Sting is, and unless you've lived in a movie theatre and think he's only a bit player in a few flicks, you're likely to read this book (or not) based on his music.

What I found most interesting, though, is that this book is a lot like his music ... occasionally brilliant, mostly just okay, and sometimes downright hard to follow.

The book rambled some, and at one point I paged backward to see if I had skipped something, because I didn't understand why we'd just spent a dozen pages or more on an off-topic. But then, when he wrote about music, and his music in particular, I was interested.

Lots of artists suffer and starve before they make it 'big' and it's good to be reminded that some of these artists had tough times. Sting had a somewhat unique situation where he was in the starving/struggling camp, while working with the Police.

What I liked learning about him was that he was smart enough to hedge his bets ... joining with other musicians even while playing with a group.

All in all, it's not a book that will live with me forever, nor did it offer any great perspective on the world or even Sting's music, but it was a pleasant way to spend a weekend reading.

CATCHING FIRE -- Suzanne Collins

Scholastic Inc. -- hc
New York -- ©2010 -- 278pp
ISBN: 0545227240

Katniss Everdeen and Peeta Mellark won the annual competition described in Hunger Games, but the aftermath leaves these victors with no sense of triumph. Instead, they have become the poster boys for a rebellion that they never planned to lead. That new, unwanted status puts them in the bull's-eye for merciless revenge by The Capitol.


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In my review of Book One (for which I've taken many pot shots from readers who feel my opinions are wrong) I said that I wouldn't be reading Book Two because I don't like being played for a sucker, and the cliffhanger ending played me big time.

Well, I'm eating those words. I just read Book Two, and of course this time I went in knowing that it was part of a series and OF COURSE it would end in a cliff-hanger moment, so I wasn't disappointed when I read it.

Why did I read it? Because my daughter read it and I wanted to stay tuned to what she's reading. And...I didn't dislike the first book. I thought it was quite well written, in fact, I just didn't like being surprised by the non-ending (I read it before all the hype and before it was ever printed anywhere that it was the first book in a series).

This book isn't quite as strong as the first book. There's plenty of the same old characters, and there are a few new ones tossed in. There's a plot that can be seen coming all the way from the far side of the game field, and there's still the main character who's like-able, but just doesn't seem to catch on to things until late. Still, it's fun to see what's happened to our favorite characters, and we want to cheer them on as if they really were stars of a game.

It is a quick, easy read, and I can't imagine any teenager NOT reading it if they'd read the first book. Fortunately, it can be picked up and read without having read the first book. It explains enough of the back story that a person could read this book first.

On to the third, which my daughter read in one afternoon....

THE LAST HUNT (The Unicorn Chronicles: Book IV) -- Bruce Coville

Scholastic Press -- hc
New York -- ©2010 --605pp
ISBN: 978-0-545-12807-0

As the unicorns gather to defend their lives, the human girl, Cara, is sent on a mission to meet a ferocious and mysterious dragon. Faced with perilous danger, Cara must make a desperate decision that will change her life forever.

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An epic fantasy concludes!

Like so many people, I waited far too long for the conclusion to this series.

I'd been reading the books aloud to my sons, who have been completely enthralled by these characters. yes, the books start with a fairly simple, outstanding book, but as Coville advances the story, he also advances the scope, depth, and breadth of characters as well.

I haven't read all the reviews here on Goodreads, but I see that some are not happy with the variety Coville offers. I think it's been the perfect advancement for the younger readers -- to develop a greater sense of reading by gently advancing the series.

There are moments in the book that I found slow and dull, and we couldn't wait to get on to some of the more active scenes, but over-all, this was an exciting conclusion to a fantastic series. What surprises me the most is that Coville left the door open for another series based on some of the characters in this series. For as long as it took to get back to the writing of these books, does he really want to get us excited about another series?

SELECTED WORKS OF ALFRED JARRY -- Alfred Jarry

Grove Press -- tpb
New York -- ©1965 -- 280pp

A collection of theatre, reviews, essays, and fiction by the grandfather of the absurdist theatre movement.

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Alfred Jarry is an acquired taste, most certainly.

If you are familiar with the works of playwrights such as Eugene Ionesco, Samuel Beckett, Harold Pinter, or the novels of Andre Breton, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, or Stanley Elkin or Harlan Ellison, then reading Jarry will be a treat. The works of Alfred Jarry are considered precursors to the surrealist, dada, and absurdist movements.

I'd read very little Jarry before this, but I was most impressed with his plays. The 'Ubu' plays are outrageously funny and much more cohesive than I expected (I was anticipating something more akin to Ionesco's "The Bald Soprano"). Ubu is a childish despot. He is greedy and vain and a delicious poke at power, greed, and politics. For the plays alone it is worth reading.

The writings on theatre are also a delight. How fun to read his own take on the theatre of his time.
His essays tend to show his off-beat sense of the world and where his Ubu plays are coming from (see..."How to Construct a Time Machine").

The fiction is a little more difficult to read (for me), mainly because of the style and era from which it was written. A bit dry and confusing. Even so, to read more of his pataphysics (his invented science) is a delight.

OH, COWARD!: A MUSICAL COMEDY REVUE -- Noel Coward

OH COWARD! A Musical.
Doubleday -- hc
New York -- ©1974 -- 100pp
ISBN: 0385084455

A weak attempt at a story in order to get many Noel Coward songs together.

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Although I read a lot of plays, this may be the first musical review that I've read. And yes...it is strange to read a musical revue.

By its very nature, a musical revue has even less story (or 'book') than an opera. It's generally a compilation of songs by composer or lyricist that were written for other purposes. They are usually assembled in a way to generate some kind of story-line, albeit quite simple. In this case, the storyline was too simple. Nearly non-existent.

Musical Revues are quite popular and have evolved into their own genre. Good ones are essentially new musical plays with old songs from a variety of other sources (Crazy for You is one of my favorites). In the early days of this new genre, most didn't bother with much of a story.

And so...why read a book of a musical revue? The answer...I don't know. I wasn't aware that's what it was when I started, but I sure bored quickly.

Coward's lyrics are a delight, but without the music to accompany them, it was even harder to read this than a normal play, or even a typical musical comedy (in which case the lyrics lend themselves to furthering the storyline).

I wouldn't recommend the read, but it would be fun to see this staged some day.

SKELLIG/WILD GIRL, WILD BOY -- David Almond

Delacourt Books for Young Readers -- tpb
©2005 -- 240pp
ISBN: 0385730748

Skellig is the dramatization of his highly acclaimed novel. What has Michael found in the derelict garage? What is this creature that lies in the darkness? Is it human, or a strange beast never seen before? And what will happen in the world when he carries it out into the light?
Wild Girl, Wild Boy is an original play produced in London by the Pop-Up Theatre company. Young Elaine has recently lost her father, and now she spends her days dreaming in the family’s garden, skipping school, unable to read or write. One day, Elaine conjures up a Wild Boy from spells and fairy seed. No one else can see him, and Elaine disappears into a world of fantasy where she and Wild Boy remember the teachings of her father. Will her mother ever come to understand?

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Almond's actual book, Skellig is quite remarkable and unique, and being a theatre professional, I was looking forward to this as well. While I think the play manages to retain much of the spirit of the book, Skellig, it seems to be lacking in something quite important -- characterization.

I am well aware that theatre characters are the "bones" of a character and the actors and director put on the "flesh," but it was strange to read a play based on a book that I'd read which had some very strong, identifiable characters and then to read a play in which the characters seem to be lacking a spine.

Wild Girl, Wild Boy had a similar 'problem...there wasn't much character definition. First, there's 'Wild Girl' who doesn't change or grow much during the course of the play, and because of her learning disability, she's rather one dimensional. 'Wild Boy' is intriguing, and there's some very nice themes running through here, but again, getting to them is a bit of a slow process, and not always appearing to be worth the effort.

Moments of brilliance kept me going, but I'd like to have seen/read this same play by Almond as a more experienced playwright. Do we really need all the different scenes? Can we get these plays to flow a little more evenly?

This tends to be a problem with novelists who decide to write plays. In books, they can jump around from scene to scene easily. But when they write plays, they tend to have trouble condensing and confining while keeping the story active. Almond has the same trouble here -- Wild Girl, Wild Boy has only 82 pages, but has fifteen different scenes. Skellig has fiften scenes in act one and nine in act two.

Skellig also makes use of a narrator -- another common problem with novelists-turned-playwrights ... you can tell a read anything you want about a character in your book, but how do you give the audience inside information? A good playwright knows how to do it. A 'young' playwright gives us a character or characters to give us that sort of information.

As theatre, neither of these plays work. As literature, there is some great moments, keeping my rating neutral, rather than too low or too high.