Review: Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey

Leviathan Wakes by James S.A. Corey (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound) is a pulp-ish space opera occurring just prior to humanity’s expansion beyond our solar system and any contact with extraterrestrial life. Earth and Mars are the big military powers while settlers in the asteroid belt and beyond (known as belters) are a sort of second-class of humanity with revolutionary aspirations. War breaks out as harried captain of a diminished cargo crew (Holden) and a down-on-his luck detective from the asteroid Ceres (Miller) find themselves at the center of something bigger than the escalating war around them.

James S.A. Corey is the pen name for the writing duo of Ty Franck and Daniel Abraham – with Abraham being a something of a darling for on-line critics and reviewers with a wide variety of works on the market and Ty Franck best known as George RR Martin’s assistant. With that, Leviathan Wakes has been widely reviewed with relatively high praise. I’m not quite as high on it as others, though it is certainly a good, fun read that combines classic space opera with a more modern sensibility (if vomit zombies are sensible that is J).

Leviathan Wakes is not hard SF, but it does feel for the most part like a reasonable possibility. Humanity and its flaws don’t change, they just change location. However the feel of the society at times rubbed me the wrong way – it feels like things are now. I find it hard to believe that society would seem so similar, in spite of few things clearly inserted to try and make things feel advanced – such as the family of Holden, which is a family of multiple ‘parents’ living together in a sort of communal setting and raising a single child (this is also pretty much the only family structure mentioned in the book).

Of course the most topical aspect of the book that you’ll either love or hate are the zombies. Yes, there are indeed space zombies in Leviathan Wakes – or as the they say in the book, vomit zombies. It’s not a cheesy as I make it sound and it’s actually rather interesting, however for some insane reason I couldn’t help but think of ‘space herpes’ from the 1980s SF movie, The Ice Pirates – which really has no resemblance, but that’s how my mind rolls. But there is quite a memorable scene as Holden and Miller flee from legions of vomit zombies while suffering the effects of acute radiation poisoning.

In my opinion what is more interesting and much more successful are the political and personal interplay between various characters and factions. The trust, lack of trust, bad judgment, idealism, obsessive devotion and conflicted loyalty show the flawed human spirit in action.

In short, Leviathan Wakes is a fun new space opera and the opening book in a series called The Expanse and yet another example that SF is not dead, nor will it be anytime soon. As with many others, I’m eagerly awaiting the publication of Caliban’s War, due out in June, 2012 (Book Depository, Powell’s Books, Indiebound).

An Evening with Daniel Abraham

So last night Daniel Abraham was in Phoenix for his first ever book tour (a momentous one-stop tour) at The Poisoned Pen in Scottsdale, Arizona (lots of signed books available from there). I managed to tweak my schedule to attend – and I’m glad I did. I got my books signed and chatted with him in a pretty interment round-table setting for nearly 2 hours. Daniel is fun, interesting, funny and very smart guy who was a joy to talk with for a couple of hours. Most of the event is actually available on a web-cast if you’re interested. It covers a lot of ground from his background, the Clarion workshop, to writing, to e-books, to various author stories (including what authors bitch about at the bar), the books, and more. Daniel and I (and another attendee Raul) sort of started the conversation 30-minutes early and that was great (and not covered by the webcast). We talked about the books and quite a bit about the transfer from Tor books to Orbit books. It was a frank and informative conversation and one I’ll not share all of the details for – but Daniel views the move as a great opportunity for his career and I couldn’t agree more. The rest of the interview was at times frustrating since the bookstore employee felt the need to lead the discussion and cover the talking points on his note cards – since he hadn’t actually read any of Daniel’s writing much of that was the generic stuff that always gets asked, that so many find interesting, yet bores me.

Anyway, go watch the webcast – it’s nearly an hour and half long, so there is a lot to see. Oh, and go buy Daniel’s books – I really enjoyed The Dragon’s Path (The Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound) and will make sure that I read more of his books.

Review: The Dragon’s Path by Daniel Abraham

Daniel Abraham became a critical favorite with his Long Prince Quartet that unfortunately never translated into wide popularity. As a result he has re-booted his career, writing under the pen names of James S.A. Corey and M.L.N. Hanover as well as Daniel Abraham, and switched publishers. Now he has a new fantasy quintet*, The Dagger and The Coin, with its first book, The Dragon’s Path recently released (Book Depository, Powell's Books, Indiebound). Where the Long Prince Quartet moved beyond the norms of epic fantasy such as the medieval European analog, The Dagger and The Coin, embraces many of epic fantasy’s traditional values and The Dragon’s Path is a promising start to this new series.

Abraham’s world is one in which humanity has risen from the ashes of a ruined civilization created by dragons. One of the many legacies of dragon rule is that humanity is the creation of 12 additional races of humanity. However, just how and why the dragon empire ended remains a mystery long lost to history.

The northern kingdom of Antea lets internal politics boil from its borders with an invasion of the Free City of Vanai to the south. This event sets the plot in motion for The Dragon’s Path as we follow four primary points of view – Geder: an outcast minor noble in the invading army, Dawson: a traditional and powerful noble working for the preservation of Antea, Marcus: a mercenary captain with a past, and Cithrin: a young ward of the Medean Bank. As the invasion nears, Cithrin is disguised and sent from Vanai with much of the wealth of the Vanai branch of the Medean Bank. Marcus is the captain of the caravan’s guards in which Cithrin is hidden. Dawson seeks to manipulate events in Vanai from afar and Geder finds himself tangled in the intrigue.

Abraham’s earlier fantasy series set out to be different from epic fantasy while The Dagger and The Coin sets out to engage the core of epic fantasy. However, it’s hard to call The Dragon’s Path a traditional epic fantasy with the twists in perception engineered by Abraham. Traditional fantasy may be embraced and honored, but its presentation is fresh.

One of the aspects that I enjoyed most in The Dragon’s Path is Abraham’s selection of the characters he tells the story through. While most will (correctly) point to Cithrin and Marcus as the most developed, most sympathetic and likeable characters and Geder as the most intriguing in terms of what is to come, Dawson gets left out. Dawson represents the traditional, conservative force so common in epic fantasy – the status quo. He is an elitist noble who thinks of everyone else as less than human, he is a bigot, and he thrives in a male-dominated, testosterone culture that is reprehensible to modern sensibility. In court politics he commands a faction that is defending against a rival group of younger nobles seeking reforms such as more power in the hands of the farmers and such. The twist is that most fantasy these days tells the story from the point of view of the reformers while Abraham chooses to tell the story from the point of view of the conservatives. It’s a classic battle of progress versus the status quo and I love how Abraham forces the reader to cheer for the traditional bad guys.

In another slight deviation from traditional epic fantasy, Abraham embraces rather than discounts the power of economy. Throughout history, much of the power of society has resided in banks or their equivalent and Abraham honors this historical reality. Cithrin is the ward of a bank just about to achieve her adulthood and freedom – but events force her to flee her home and survive without direction. As the child of bank her only real world skills are banking, and use them she does. I love the importance that Abraham gives to the banks, even if it is only just realized in this opening chapter to the series.

Marcus is the classic aged hero with a past. He is the father figure and moral guidepost. And he comes complete with a not-quite-funny sidekick. When will Marcus come out of the shell of his past and be the man he can be? Geder is the biggest mystery of the main characters. He is a would-be scholar born into a noble society that reveres manly pursuits (not scholarship). He is a tool and the whipping boy of the marching army and he makes some odd choices that lead the reader to question his moral center and even sanity – is Geder a sociopath in the making? And just who’s tool is he? The answers to these questions are only hinted at in The Dragon’s Path with resolutions (hopefully) forthcoming in future books.

For an epic fantasy, The Dragon’s Path is a bit short on battles and magic, but this is only the opening chapter of the quintet* with the second book, The King’s Blood coming in 2012 (planned). The Dragon’s Path does not stand on its own and is similar in to The Fellowship of the Ring in that it is only the beginning of one great novel. This is the introduction and the promise of magic and battles to come is laid out and many questions have been raised with few answers. The Dragon’s Path wets the appetite but doesn’t deliver the meal. That is for later and I can’t wait. 8-8.5/10


*EDIT: I 'spoke' with Daniel Abraham about this and he says that the original concept was for The Dagger and The Coin to be a five book series, but he is currently under contract for only three. We'll have to wait and see what the sales are like before a final decision is made - Abraham says he can do either. SECOND EDIT: Abraham just informed me that he and Orbit have agreed on 5 books - now they just need to get the contractual details all together.

Reap the Boredom

Near complete boredom combined with an inability to become motivated to do the actual work I should be at the moment have lead me the writing of this post that does little on its own, instead pointing to interesting discussion elsewhere.

The discussion of interest is this one over at Westeros where a question to simply rank 5 of the newer and more talked about (at least in certain circles) authors in epic fantasy. The authors under the gun are Joe Abercrombie, Scott Lynch, Patrick Rothfuss, Daniel Abraham, and Brian Ruckley.

I find this fascinating both because I have read and enjoyed 4 of the 5 authors (and interviewed 3 of the 5) and by the omission of (insert the author you feel should have been included) along side the demographic similarity of the 5.

I’m usually pretty bad with ranking pretty much anything, but in this case, there is a natural rank as I’ve felt about the books I’ve read from these authors.

1. Joe Abercrombie (my review)
   
2. Patrick Rothfuss (my review)
   
3. Scott Lynch (my review)
   
4. Brian Ruckley (my review)

I haven’t read anything by Daniel Abraham yet, but I do have a book on The Stack that I hope to get to in the next couple of months.

In my boredom, I decided to graph the results of the discussion so far (yes, I’m that bored and that geeky). When an author got ranked #1, I gave him 5 pts, #2 got 4, #3 got 3, #4 got 2, and 5 got 1. If someone hadn’t read the author no points were awarded, but it is noted. There were roughly 43 votes as I’m writing this and curiously all had read Abercrombie and Lynch, about a quarter had not read Rothfuss or Ruckley, and about a third haven’t read Abraham. The graph is below.

To give some perspective, if all 16 people who haven’t yet read Abraham gave him a 5, his score would jump to 145 – which is still about 13 points less than Abercrombie (though there would be a corresponding drop of 1 point in Abercrombie’s score for this to be the case, so it would put Abraham on top by 3 points). I mention this to give a bit of an idea of just how far out front Abercrombie is in this little discussion.

Another interesting aspect is the count of #1 votes - Abercrombie received 29 votes for number 1, which blew away everyone else. Lynch received 10 and Abraham 5. Neither Rothfuss nor Ruckley had a single number 1 vote in this informal pole/discussion.

I can’t wait to see what this does to Joe’s ego :D.

George R.R. Martin Answers Questions Five

Well, he hardly needs an introduction – George R.R. Martin is a best selling author who has won most of the SFF awards out there at some time or another throughout his long career. He has become most well known for his epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire and his rabid fans eagerly await the arrival the next book in the series – A Dance with Dragons. The newest book in his bibliography is Hunter’s Run, a collaboration with Gardner Dozois and Daniel Abraham that was expanded from the novella Shadow Twin (my review).

I am very pleased that GRRM has taken the time to answer Questions Five.

As a resident of Santa Fe, I imagine you have an opinion on a uniquely New Mexican issue – do you prefer red, green, or Christmas chili? Why?

GRRM: Xmas, of course. Red and green both have their own unique flavors, so why not get both? (“Red or green” is the Official New Mexico State Question.)


If someone was forced to make a decision between reading Hunter’s Run and watching a Cowboys vs. Giants football game, what would you advise?

GRRM: Xmas! I mean, why not get both? That’s why god invented (1) bookmarks, and (2) TIVO.


Please describe one reason Hunter’s Run would inspire a reader to strip naked and run screaming into the forest?

GRRM: Uh… to get away from the cupacabra? Actually, trying to read while running naked through the forest is dangerous.


What other peculiar qualities of Hunter’s Run should readers be aware of?

GRRM: We’ve been working on it since 1977. So it’s bound to be really good.


Why should Hunter’s Run be the next book that everyone reads?

GRRM: Dreamsongs won’t be out until this fall, Inside Straight not until January, and A Dance with Dragons… uh… later. Hunter’s Run will help with the wait.

Shadow Twin by Gardner Dozois, George R.R. Martin, and Daniel Abraham

A three-way collaboration on a novella sounds like something that won’t work well, despite having big names like those involved in Shadow Twin. However, in this case, it works – not perfectly, but quite well.

Ramon is an independent prospector on a remote, earth-like planet that has recently been colonized by humans. Down on his luck, he sets out to score ‘the big one’ in the distant mountains to the north where little prospecting has been done. He discovers a hidden alien race that attacks and destroys his camp. Ramon escapes.

The aliens, needing to remain hidden, hunt for Ramon. In order to properly do so, they create a clone to do the tracking – classic ‘set a thief to catch a thief’ thinking. Cloned Ramon struggles with his identity, having all the memories of real Ramon, and grudgingly aids an alien companion, secretly hoping for escape.

The above synopsis does not do justice to the Shadow Twin, which is a powerful story. Ramon is not a likeable guy – he angry, violent, self-destructive, and abusive towards women. Yet, Ramon shows a clear love and even respect for the environment, struggling with the consequences of discovering mineral wealth. The superb characterization actually allows for sympathy for this bastard of a man early in the story. It is also very refreshing to have a protagonist that is of a Latino descent.

The early experiences of cloned Ramon hit on some very primal fears of humanity – claustrophobia, injury, nakedness, despair; you fear for Ramon. His later struggles with self, especially as he is confronted with his real self, is powerfully written. Ramon sees what he is, what he is becoming, and strives to for change – but at what cost.

My only real complaints about the story are related to wanting more. The aliens are intriguing and utterly alien in thought and action, yet work as little more than a literary device. I want more – Martin asserts in the Afterward that Shadow Twin should be a full-length novel; I agree wholeheartedly. Here’s to hoping.

One of the most interesting aspects of Subterranean Press Limited Edition of Shadow Twin is the Afterward I mention above – a conversational back-and-forth between Duzois, Martin, and Abraham. Dozois and Martin reminisce about the origins of the novella in the late 1970s, when Dozois originally conceived the concept. Abraham occasionally quips about how old he wasn’t at the time. We see its resurrection after 20 years in limbo and here of the contrasts between the modernist style of Abraham and the old-school styles of Martin and Dozois. The collaboration comes together seamlessly, with different styles and voices blended.

On my 10-point rating scale, Shadow Twin rates a solid 8. I enjoyed this novella a lot and recommend it to all fans of SFF, not just the Martin fanboys (and fangirls). The only thing lacking is more – and there just might be hope for that.