Mr. Muller, let me show you and endless trail of sunsets. Let me save you.
Excerpt from The Electric Church

Our anti-hero, Avery Cates, is a gunner: a gun for higher, assassin, hit man, or all-around kill-for-cash sort of dude. He’s 27 and doesn’t know how he got as far as he did. He’s hired by the corrupt upper-class to stop an up and coming religion: The Electric Church. Rumors have been spreading that the EC has been forcibly gaining converts, but due to regulations the SSF (The System Pigs, as they are lovingly referred to) can’t legally do anything about it. They call in Cates to try and assassinate the head of the EC.

I found it really difficult to get past some of the dialog in this book. There was simply that much swearing throughout it that I found it hard at times to actually get into specific scenes. I can understand having some, or even moderate amounts of swearing, but when you have at least one a sentence for an entire page, it gets a little old.

Another problem I had was how shallow much of the book really was. There was a lot of depth put into how crummy the world has become, but very little is put into those who exist in it. The population of the slums is described – repeatedly – as “The Gray Masses.” I could deal with that, but even the main characters lacked the depth I usually expect from them. You had a dude with mental powers, a super tech, the anti-hero, the smooth criminal, and the git’r dun twins. Honestly they couldn’t have been much more cookie cutter if they tried. Even the antagonists were straight-forward. Evil bribed cop, sketchy church, The Fuzz, The Sociopath, the list goes on. Everyone was so… typical, that it really got to me. The only character development happened near the end of the book, and it was too little too late for me.

My complaints aside, it was an entertaining read. The internal banter of Averys’ mind put a smirk on my face more often than not. The repeated idea of “of course this is happening, because my day hasn’t hit rock bottom quite yet” is completely at one in The Electric Church. I enjoyed the fact that even as one action scene is toning down, another one is coming around the corner to kick the bejesus out of Avery.

It’s also interesting to read the subtle transformation that Cates has throughout the book, and though I say I saw it coming, it was still well done. I also appreciated that by the end of the book, the only thing driving Cates was spite. It’s not often you read about how the main character is going to finish what they started “just be-fucking-cause.”

If you’re a fan of the Cyberpunk genré and don’t want anything too dark and depressing, this is a pretty good option. It’s not the best example I can think of for Cyberpunk, but it was an enjoyable read. I don’t know if I could do it again simply because of the curse-dense dialog and shallow development of the characters.

6/10

“My Darling,” he began. His voice broke, and the words that he had rehearsed so carefully were gone. He closed his eyes, and when he could speak again more words came, unplanned. “Oh, my love” he said. “I’m so sorry. Our little daughter died as she was born.”
Excerpt from The Memory Keeper’s Daughter

The Memory Keeper’s Daughter spans over 40 years of the Henrys family history. When David Henrys wife gives birth to twins, he is overjoyed, until he realizes that one, a girl, has Down Syndrome. In a split-second decision, he hands his new-born daughter to his Nurse and tells her to take her to an institution for those with Downs. He does so thinking that what he is doing for the best, but the decision will go on to haunt him for the rest of his life. The nurse, Caroline, also makes a split-second decision and takes the child to Philadelphia and starts a new life. As the years go by, David and his wife grow more and more distant as the secret slowly tears at the fabric of their family life. As they unravel, unable to stop what has been set in motion, everyone must find their own way in life.

The first couple chapters were a bore. I’ll admit that it took me nearly a month to get through the first 100 or so pages. After that point (somewhere around there anyways) the book hooked me, and I finished the rest in record timing. The story is fluid and interesting, but also quietly sad. It’s an interesting point of view to take; watching as a father who meant to only do good, cause so much sadness and separation. The time-line is easy to follow, for the most part. I had a bit of trouble picturing the characters at their correct age, though that is partially my own fault for not noting the dates in the book.

What really got me about this book is the silent controversy that it inspires. To give away ones child seems utterly barbaric, and yet he was honestly doing what he thought was best. Children with Downs Syndrome did not have a very good survival rate in 1964, and he was trying to spare his wife the pain that would ensue from raising a child with Downs. On the flip side, he did give their daughter away, and then lie (and continue to lie) about that action through the entire novel. Was he right to do it? I won’t answer that, because I feel that our past actions dictate who we are now. He did what he did, and he lived with it. I personally respect that, regardless of the consequences.

I must also sing praises to Ms. Edwards for bringing to light how hard it was for those raising Down Syndrome children. Parents had to fight for every right that they felt their child should have. Proper health care, public education, employment, and the list goes on. The struggle that Caroline goes through to raise Phoebe is an impressive read in and of itself. Package that with the fact that there was an uneasy, yet deep connection between Caroline and David because of their daughter, and you get a true understanding of just how hard their lives really were.

The novel also shows that though mentally slower than normal people, those who have Down Syndrome are no less entitled to things in life. Their achievements, though possibly smaller-seeming to ‘normal’ people, are in fact no more or less significant than any other persons achievements.

I wasn’t expecting this book to be nearly as good as it was, and I’m thankful for that. It’s not a book for everyone because it can drag on at times, and the chapter sizes are epic to say the least. Either way it’s a proud addition to my shelf, and I’m a little sad to see the end of it.

7.5/10

“This is the President of the Righteous Fist of Rassilon,” he barked. And then he gave the order that he had prayed he would never have to issue. “Break open the Slaughterhouse.”
Excerpt from The Quantum Archangel

I wish I could summarize this book properly, but it seems to be many stories unfolding in one. There are even stories within stories that are nothing less than vivid and unnerving. The Doctor goes to investigate temporal disturbances going on in modern-day Earth only to find The Master trying to exact revenge upon the Chronovores as well as become a God by taking control of the same power that sustains those same Chronovores. The plan goes to hell and a new creature is born: The Quantum Archangel. Que the epic end-of-everything multi-verse-cluster-fuck that is the second half of this book.

To be honest, I thought that the book was going to be over when there were still about 150 pages left. I honestly couldn’t see how they could drag it out any further then it had already been dragged. Mr. Hinton did a damned fine job of throwing me through a loop and creating a story so epic, that to render it on TV would require technology not currently in production, and a budget to match. The alternate realities provided throughout portions of the book really help to complete the mind-blowing that starts at that 150 page mark. It’s one of the few Doctor Who books that provide a view of the Doctor as totally at the mercy of something far greater than himself.

The writing is sold from start to finish, and Craig Hinton does a superb job of nailing the Doctors third and sixth incarnations, as well as The Masters. The supporting characters are strong, three-dimensional people who (in some cases) are good recreations of their former corporeal selves. There’s a strong sense of wit and direction in regards to the back and forth between the differing characters and I found myself smirking more than once

This book is the reason that I read and love Doctor Who. The ridiculous epicness that the Doctor generates is worth it all. The depth of character that is displayed in these books is what the new series lacks, and which is why time and time again I am brought back to the older series. To hell with the youth that they are trying to capture with the new series; give me the depth I crave!

Worth reading, especially if you like epic stories and even more so if you’ve seen The Time Monster and enjoyed it.

8/10

“Coming to” and “sobering up” are two distinctly different states of being. Each has its own independent schedule, and each comes with its own shocking revelations.
Excerpt from I Am Not Myself These Days

The story as I stated revolves around Josh/Aqua and his time in New York City. I refuse to say much about the book because revealing anything truly feels like a spoiler. Josh meets a man by the name of Jack during one of his club nights as Aqua, and the two hit it off in the most insane ways. Did I mention that Jack was a call boy who’s clients mostly want him to beat them up and call them scum? No? Well there you go. I’ll let that pique your curiosity.

The writing style is very much in the first person, though it does switch between tenses rather quickly, which forces you to pay attention. The transitions can be jarring at time, but for the most part the story flows well. It’s not often that a book can spur real emotion in me; sure I can feel for the characters in the book, but few can actually make me feel happy or sad based simply on the words in a paragraph. This novel manages to do just that which sets the mark way higher than normal. The book is a laugh pretty much the entire way through, and even provides many an insight as to the live of a professional drag queen.

Some of the ending seemed a little drawn out, and I found myself skimming through a bit of it. On top of that the book does get a little repetitive, though I think that was partially the intention. Repetition and spiraling seemed to be a major theme throughout the book… so maybe this memoir is also a cautionary tale? Maybe it’s more of a guidebook for those in the scene. I have no idea really and I refuse to read more into the book than what is probably there. I will say that you have to get the P.S version of the book if only for the added part about Jack.

I can safely say that Josh Kilmer-Purcell has lived an interesting life, if only in small, explosive bursts. I am eternally thankful that he decided to write this memoir to share with the world. It’s actually one of the few books that I can say that I read straight through without getting bored. Hell I sat in a luke-warm bath just to finish the last 30 pages of the damned book, just because I was so eager to finish it! Suffice it to say it’s high on my list of good books.

To think I found it in a book overflow store while waiting for a venues doors to open. I mean it’s right there on Amazon.

Read this book people, seriously.

9/10

Now They’re all gone. There’s only me left. I’m free, now.
I’m the last of my kind, and I miss Them. You’d think I’d forgive Them for what they did, so long ago. But I can’t. Somethings are unforgivable.
I was a Time Lord in exile.
Or was I an animal in a zoo?
Excerpt from Doctor Who: The Last Dodo

The Last Dodo takes place a bit in the future, where the Doctor and Martha show up on an artificial planet that features the rarest creatures in the universe. Literally, the last of (almost) every creature is kept in this massive Museum of the Last Ones. The Doctor is horror struck when he sees what’s going on, but before he can get into his tirade he is told that some of the creatures are going missing. Let the mystery begin.

Though still fairly typical as far as Doctor Who new adventures are going, this one was entertaining for a couple of reasons. One: it’s actually 3 adventures in one, though I cannot explain that without giving away too much of the book. Two: Half of the story is actually told from Martha’s point of view in a fourth-wall-breaking sort of way. Three: it contains one of the creepiest internal thoughts of the Doctors that I have ever read. And lastly, four: never have I been so impressed with someone writing from a creatures point of view then I have with this book. The author really makes you feel for the Dodo species.

As far as the new series go, this is the best one I’ve read.

7/10

The Witch could wait. They would meet again – Excerpt from Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West

The book is quite literally about what it says it is about: The life and times of the Wicked Witch of the West. Seriously, that’s what it is about. The book centres around the life of Elphaba, the green-skinned, sharp-featured and sharp-tongued girl who would one day be the Wicked Witch of the West, and who would be felled by a young girl from Kansas. The book is split into different stages of Elphaba’s life and seem more like snippets rather than entire sections. I had to admit that I was skeptical about what this book could possibly provide for me, but at 519 pages (at least my copy was) it had to be saying something.

As it turns out it says an awful lot, and for the most part it does so with page-turning entertainment. It touches on many topics that though Elphaba seems to be intertwined with, is not the direct cause of. Topics such as segregation, political intrigue, affairs, oppression, and depression. Though these topics may be old hat to those who pay attention to the world around us, it must still be noted that these very topics are so casually and seamlessly integrated into the book that I didn’t even realize how well a job Mr. Maguire had done until I was nearly done the book. The writing style is both smooth and easy to follow and doesn’t get bogged down with the multitudes of detail that plague many fantasy novels.

Mr. Maguire does a very good job of building a world that mirrors what was originally made, but adding his own touch of realism to it. Gone are the sing-a-longs and the joy joy feelings, and in their places are real characters, a depth to the different peoples of Oz, and an underlying tension within the societies. Characters are given as much back story and development as is needed, which may sound like a bit of a cop-out, but it isn’t. The characters don’t seem shallow, but neither are there pages dedicated to needless character introductions when they do not play a major role.

As previously mentioned, the book is cut into sections which dictate the happenings throughout Elphaba’s life within given points in time. This is a double-edged blade, as there are sections that I wanted to continue reading, and others – namely the last – that I wished to be shorter. I admit that there must be a cutoff point for each section, lest the book move more into the 3000 page region, but still. I will say that i liked the book for the most part. All sections excluding the last were enjoyable and drew me in. Gregory really knows how to make you feel for people.

Then the last section comes along, and it gets very meta-physical and sort of fizzles out. The book ends much as one would expect, but I found the ending to be rather weak in comparison to the rest of the book. It left a sour taste in my mouth and had me wishing that I had stopped reading a couple chapters before the end. This is easily the novels major problem. The rest of it is a solid read it’s the ending that takes away from it all.

A good read, and worth reading at least once to say you have (it makes those Sunday talks in the knitting circle that much more cultured) and I’ll still end up reading at least Son of a Witch.

7/10

“‘You know how you wanted them to say it out loud back then?’ Another breath. ‘I’ll say it now — we all wanted it to be you that died. You should have died in that tub.’”
Excerpt from Everything Must Go

The basic story is that Henry Powell is blamed for the ruining of his family at the tender age of seven. After this life-altering event, the family goes down hill. Mom develops a Valium addiction, the older brother becomes angsty, and dad just distances himself from his feelings. I’m not giving away plot twists here, merely the story line. As a result Henry is burdened with the guilt of this, and spends his life trying to make it up to his parents. It’s sort of sad to see the pathetic progression of his life, or a lack thereof.

Everything Must Go is an easy read and doesn’t provide much strain on the brain. This is sadly a double-edged comment. What that means is that though easy to read, it is adversely not that intriguing in its plot line. I got the gist of it about 150 pages in. It’s like the bizzaro Rudy. It’s Rudy if he didn’t get into Notre Dame. All the sappy depression, but no upswing at the end. It sort of just levels out on itself. Say you started at a happy scale of 5. the book brings you down to negative ten, then manages to crawl back up to about a zero. The ending left me somewhat deflated, though that comes down to personal opinion.

I will admit its a sadly detailed look into the life of those who don’t quite make it. Those people that don’t make it out there and do something with their lives. Not even anything extraordinary, but even those who go out and blend into the median. Henry is a character that sits outside the bell curve, cursing it for its comfortableness and at times holstering his guilt as a badge of honour. It’s a story about love and duty, no matter how misplaced either must be. I appreciated that though depressing, Henry stands out as a man of his word above all else. He is a sad and simple man, but he is honest and truthful… even if that makes him sound like a psycho throughout some of the book.

Elizabeth Flock also managed to incur in me one of the longest “cringe moments” of my life. In my Social Psych class, we were taught that men and women respond differently to the same situation. For instance when someone is doing a speech, and failing horribly at it, men will cringe and look away. Women tend to lean in and pay more attention, trying to offer silent support. It was this look-away-and-cringe effect that flowed within me for about a third of the book, though at differing times. I can’t explain why, but anyone who reads this one through will understand.

It wasn’t a bad book, though I think I may have missed the point. I am also wary of any book that actually comes with “discussion questions” in the back.

5.5/10

The concept of the book is pretty straight forward: Nameless asshole guy goes throughout his life, and it’s narrated in first person so you get all of his thoughts as they go. You also get to read about his having sex, wanting to have sex, jerking off, wishing to jerk off, or some sort of combination of all the previous activities for about 60% of the book. This may sound like a pathetic excuse for a novel, but if you take all the satire out of it, you will realize that guys think about sex on a near-unhealthy amount. The narrator continues to document his life and lusts as his relationship falls apart around him and a new one forms.

Now all the smut aside, if you look past the sex, lust, jackassery and hyper-abused stereotypes, you will see that this book actually does offer some honest to God truths about how guys think and function. Is it classy? no. Does this book describe every guy to some extent? Possibly. Is there true insight in the book if you are willing to read it in an unbiased fashion? Yes. It documents (in a rather outlandish way, admittedly) that guys fear that every woman could turn into their mother. It documents that guys think about sex on a nigh constant basis. It documents that guys like to masturbate (the book does take it to a bit of an extreme I admit). Hell it even documents the classic “ex-gone-crazy” scenario. I know that sounds like an asshole thing to say, but trust me when I say that girls can be insane without being insane.

It’s dirty, it’s rough, it’s disgusting, it uses horrible stereotypes, and is rather condescending to both genders. It was also a very interesting read when you got past all of the smut.

6.5/10

Bethany, the world is a beautiful place. Life is short, and yet it’s long. Being here is such a gift.
Excerpt from The Gum Thief

The synopsis is not something I can easily go through and so I shall keep it short. Roger is a pathetic excuse for a man who is in his 40′s and working at Staples. Bethany is a girl who’s a bit too old to be a Goth with no real direction in life. She too works at Staples. They connect through their writing each other notes. Nothing romantic in them, but a connection is forged. And that is the simple yet stunning basis of the book. From there it is a whirlwind of real-life and the human thought process. To add to it there is a story within the book called Glove Pond which I honestly wish was a book on its own, as well as the deeply moving stories of different slices of bread and toast.

I’m aware that I’m a fanboy of Douglas Coupland. Anyone that looks at my cluttered bookshelf will note that fairly quickly. I can say that I enjoy his writing style and that generally it isn’t for everyone. You need to appreciate the subtle (and some times not so subtle) outrageousness his books tend to sport.On that note, The Gum Thief may be his most toned-down novel ever. This is in no way a bad thing, and I find it unsettling how realistic the characters feel. They truly feel like people you would utterly ignore walking down the street while you think other thoughts. That’s exactly what he was going for, I think. He wanted to give depth to the two-dimensional characters we see walking down the street, the ones that work in Staples, those who move through life in obscurity.

It’s a story about nothing and everything all at once. It’s a snapshot of the every day life of two people. Not two super humans or eccentric crazy-folk. Just regular people. It hooked me late in the book, but when I finished it I wished that there had been hundreds of pages more. It’s heart-warming in the tenderness that the characters portray towards each other. It’s crushing in watching their lives go through dark patches and slide to the brink of nothingness. It’s triumphant in leaving you laughing on one page and deeply moved the next.

If you can read Douglas Copeland’s work (there are those who can’t stand him, and that’s understandible), you must read this. If you’re an actual fan of his, this may be the best thing I’ve ever read by him to date.

Depressing and beautiful. As captivating as watching the sun go out.

9.5/10

I finished the book with the same feeling that I’ve felt after reading every other new adventure story so far (Winner Takes All, The Clockwise Man, The Stone Rose, The Art of Destruction, and The Nightmare of Black Island): Typical. The Clockwise is a possible exception, but not by much. All these stories, though good, seem like they were rejects for the show for simply not exhibiting enough strength. They’re not bad by any means and I enjoyed each of them in differing ways. What I am saying is that I have yet to read a new adventures that can compare to the old series.

Maybe it’s unfair to compare these novels to the likes of “The Shadows of Avalon,” “Blue Angel” and the “Interference” duet. The problem is that it’s generally hard when you’ve read so many of them. I figure that they are toning these first ones down to help appeal to the younger audience, and I can respect that. What I would like is just something with a bit more soul. I’ve read books that have permanently changed the way I view the Doctor. None of the new ones have come close to that. They all seem like we’re watching the surface façade of his character. The Price of Paradise is no exception to the rule, which disappointed me somewhat.

It is a well-written story, and I would totally suggest it for teaching literary practice, for a class to read, or to introduce Doctor Who novels to someone. That’s about it though. There is no foreshadowing, no deep secrets brought to light that we didn’t already know about.

6/10.