#3

This is a prequel, the backstory to a series that I hope is going to have a very different focus to this book. As such, it spends a lot of words on not a huge amount of story. This would be the first act of a more competently-written sci-fi thriller. As it is, this book bogged down with tedious details and depictions of torture that go from hideous, to gratuitous, to banal. It's a torture machine, our hero gets psychic powers from it in Superhero Origin Story #3. We get it. Can something happen now? No, just more ridiculous detail of dental procedures? Eh fine whatever, but it's all just grist for the word-mills.

I think that's the biggest problem with this book. It drags on long past its welcome, but in doing so it repeats so much that what should be horrifying is as much fun as the instructions to a washing machine. No, repeating torture scenes — which read like the writer is only using one hand to type them — doesn't make each one new, it makes them both boring because they have the same effect on someone that we're supposed to care about? But the protagonist's entire personality is "I'm not a rapist", so who gives a toss anyway? There's nothing to care about. He's just a great victim.

Zelazny was exploring the topic of divinity and the rights of gods for his whole career. He investigated shifting surrealist events and landscapes in his short stories as well as his other works.

It is apt that one of his short story collections is called "the road to Amber", but I think that most of his works can be roughly divided into "the road to Amber" and "the road to Lord of Light".

It is uncanny how good his language is too. He is a true American classic. American because he was as good at filigree details of landscapes and environments as he was at writing action scenes.

Absolute highlights of this collection for me, in order:

1. The Keys to December (just love it! Sentient cats, arctic cold, the rights of small nations to exist)
2. The Mortal Mountain (please treat it as a mystery you have to solve. All the clues are given to you. I was blindsided by the fact that it is possible to figure out the ending, but it really-really-really is a fair play piece. Absolutely loved it)
3. The Rose for Ecclesiastes (some say it is the best thing Zelazny wrote. I loved it thoroughly, and the fact that it's only #3 in my review, should really tell you all about how good the other two are).

For Amber fans:

1. Love is an Imaginary Number

For Douglas Adams appreciators:

1. The Great Slow Kings

I leave you with a semi-obligatory quote of the book:

They're here and we're here, and they think we're gods—maybe because we do nothing for them but make them miserable. We have some responsibility to an intelligent race, though. At least to the extent of not murdering it.

Autumn Leaves, 2024 Edition (So Far)

Every fall, it happens. My yard goes from green grass to yellow, orange, and brown leaves.

This is just the leaves in my backyard. As you can see, this tree isn’tdone, either.

I spent a large portion of my day using the dreaded lead blower. I’d use a rake, instead, but…

Leaf Pile #1

Leaf Pile #2

Leaf Pile #3

That’s just over half my yard in those leaf piles.

I had hoped to try and get the rest of the yard cleared today. Unfortunately, the weather has other plans.

Here’s That Rainy Day

Guess I’ll clean the INSIDE of my house today. I definitely know what the soundtrack will be.

https://youtu.be/xXBNlApwh0c?si=cYGZXznanxOQlO03

https://youtu.be/9pw2PGY7kBU?si=8c3Ox98ko0_ruIcZ

#1 #2 #3 #AutumnLeaves #HereSThatRainyDay #Kevin

This is book #4 in the series, but it's not the fourth part. Apparently there's a short story, "Omega Night", and it contained both plot and character developments that significantly impact this book. However, even on the official author's website it's not listed between books 3 and 4. It's listed after the final book, among other "related works".

And the author doesn't really do a good job of recapping what happened, it's just an abrupt jump, and now Hope/Astra's angsting over a new crush that started during that book, freaking out over a danger to one of her friends that's due to events in that book, and a number of other sudden changes.

And these changes continue to casually come up over the course of the entire book, so that put a serious damper on my enjoyment of it.

Beyond that, the premise/setting was unique and somewhat interesting, but a lot of it felt like repeating "same song, different verse." Just marking things off a checklist. Astra has a crush that she doesn't want to act on (thankfully not the same one as at the end of book #3). Astra asks for advice, then ignores it in a way that could cause trouble for the one who gave it. Astra manages to get separated from her team (but thankfully not abducted this time). Astra makes mistakes and spends time berating herself. Important rules get massively broken but a loophole means it's okay. And the Perfect Defenses get destroyed via the most plausible method, which somehow no-one saw coming.

I did really like that, after introducing a terrifying Islamic terrorist supervillain in book #1, the author chose to introduce a character that showcases the more peaceful side of Islam. I wish the character was ongoing, but it doesn't look like he will be.

I really didn't like the friend drama for this book - it felt pretty contrived, but Astra was utterly poleaxed. Honestly, the number of times something relatively trivial knocks Astra so off her stride that she can't think straight for several days should probably be cause for serious concern among the team leadership.