trilbynorton's reviews
253 reviews

Vita Nostra by Marina Dyachenko, Sergey Dyachenko

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

4.5

There are concepts that cannot be imagined but can be named. Having received a name, they change, flow into a different entity, and cease to correspond to the name, and then they can be given another, different name, and this process - the spellbinding process of creation - is infinite; this is the word that names it, and this is the word that signifies. A concept as an organism, and text as the universe.

In many ways, Vita Nostra is the anti-Harry Potter. Both feature young people getting invited to weird schools to study an unusual curriculum, making friends, passing exams, and clashing with teachers along the way. But whereas Harry Potter creates a cosy pseudo-Victorian stasis that readers would love to live in themselves (to the point of hurling themselves at a wall in a London train station), Vita Nostra instead takes place in a hostile and unpleasant institute which no one in their right mind would wish to attend. Students aren’t invited with magical letters but essentially blackmailed into attending; they don’t study fun and easily recognisable subjects like Potions and Charms but a mysterious subject simply named “Specialty” which is never actually explained to them; and instead of getting the loving support of a friendly faculty, students are antagonised and bullied by mean teachers to the point of mental breakdown.

There is a point to the academic belligerence, although we are left as much in the dark as the students until late in the novel. There are hints throughout, to do with the relationship between language and reality, but I won’t spoil anything here. Suffice to say that Vita Nostra is one of the strangest books I have ever read. The strangeness is imparted in large part by the slippery prose, in an excellent translation from the novel’s original Russian; in even simple descriptions of places and people, the book’s prose seems to loosen the reality of the world. Now that I’ve read it, Vita Nostra is going to stay in my head for a very long time.

Kill Your Boyfriend by Philip Bond, D'Israeli, Grant Morrison, Daniel Vozzo

funny fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

Grant Morrison's Natural Born Killers. This feels a bit flimsy compared to the work Morrison had done previously (Animal Man, Doom Patrol). Still, it does evoke a time in British culture when people did seem to believe that teenage delinquency would genuinely lead to the downfall of civilisation.

Counter-Clock World by Philip K. Dick

challenging reflective medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Expanded from Dick's short story "You're Appointment Will Be Yesterday", Counter-Clock World sees the Earth engulfed in a time reversal field in which people begin conversations with "Goodbye", food is regurgitated onto empty plates, and the dead return to life. It's the last which is the book's primary focus, as the deceased founder of a religion is due to return, possibly with insights into the afterlife. To be honest, neither of these subjects - time reversal or the theological implications of mass resurrection - are fully explored, with Dick seemingly more interested in the ethical implications of his characters various extra-marital affairs. Still, the whole thing moves along at a brisk pace, and the themes presage Dick's later metaphysical obsessions.

Kid Eternity by Grant Morrison

adventurous challenging dark fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

Grant Morrison has two modes: thrillingly bonkers and tediously bonkers. Thankfully, Kid Eternity is the former (see his Green Lantern run for the latter). In the first few pages alone an abstract painting comes to life to murder partygoers and the titular Kid summons a knight and a 30s gangster (complete with tommy gun) to fight it. The art by Duncan Fegredo is mesmerising, evoking Dave McKean's work in Morrison's Arkham Asylum.

Chapterhouse: Dune by Frank Herbert

adventurous challenging dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I've enjoyed my time spent in the Dune universe, but I'm glad it's over (I probably won't be reading Brian Herbert's sequels, let alone his prequels). Frank Herbert's allusive and elusive writing has reaped diminishing returns since God Emperor, to the point at which Chapter House: Dune happens entirely elsewhere and all the reader is given is space nuns sitting around talking politics. Even the political and philosophical discussions seem trite compared to previous books.

Chapter House: Dune ends on a cliffhanger, but that feels like a good place to leave the series. Dune has always been about the dangers of prescience and the need for uncertainty and the unknown in human affairs, so it feels fitting to walk away as the characters venture into an unexplored universe.

Superman: Whatever Happened to the Man of Tomorrow? by Alan Moore

adventurous fast-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? It's complicated
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.0

I knew that this was Alan Moore's “conclusion” to Superman's story ahead of his reboot after the events of Crisis on Infinite Earths, but I was expecting something more reflective. What it is is two decent, if rushed, Superman stories with a framing device. Whereas I wanted something more along the lines of Neil Gaiman’s What Ever Happened to the Caped Crusader?. Honestly, I think Grant Morrison did this idea better in his All-Star Superman book.

Heretics of Dune by Frank Herbert

adventurous dark reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? It's complicated
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.25

It's interesting to see where the universe finds itself 1500 years after God Emperor of Dune, nearing the culmination of Leto II’s “Golden Path”. But, while more certainly happens in Heretics than the previous book, much it is “off page”, as it were, with what we're shown mostly being people sitting in rooms talking in circles about philosophy and government. There are a couple of bonkers moments towards the end, but overall this feels like an extended interlude.

The Sheriff of Babylon: The Deluxe Edition by Tom King

challenging dark emotional sad medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? A mix
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

4.0

In his introduction to this deluxe edition, Tom King says that he wanted to write a story about the American occupation of Iraq that captured its confusion and messiness without making a political point. I think he succeeded, to a degree. There is an underlying (and very American) sense that, for all of the destruction and suffering it caused, the invasion of Iraq was fundamentally a good thing. After all, they got Saddam, right? But there is also a surprisingly sensitive understanding of the various factions at play in Iraq, even before the invasion, as well as a very clear condemnation of the sorts of insensitive and inhumane operatives and operations which characterise American foreign policy. Ultimately, The Sheriff of Babylon is a very human story, a humanity most visible in the couple of standout introspective issues which seem to be King's specialty as a writer.

God Emperor of Dune by Frank Herbert

challenging dark mysterious reflective slow-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Character
• Strong character development? Yes
• Loveable characters? No
• Diverse cast of characters? No
• Flaws of characters a main focus? Yes

3.75

I appreciate what Frank Herbert is doing in God Emperor of Dune intellectually more than creatively. This, of course, is famously the book in which Paul Atreides' son has turned himself into a sandworm, part of the longest of long term plans for humanity to avoid some foreseen catastrophe. Instead of describing this plan, though, Herbert, through Leto II, engages in long philosophical discussions and koan-like aphorisms in order to get those around him (and the reader) to come naturally to an understanding of his "Golden Path". Intellectually, it's a fascinating way of writing speculative fiction, but it often doesn't make for particularly engrossing reading. Like many of the Dune books, God Emperor will probably benefit from rereads.

Danger Street Vol. 2 by Tom King

adventurous funny lighthearted medium-paced

• Plot- or character-driven? Plot
• Strong character development? No
• Loveable characters? Yes
• Diverse cast of characters? Yes
• Flaws of characters a main focus? No

3.5

Perhaps Tom King’s weakest effort. I get the gimmick here: all of the characters appeared in the 1st Issue Special anthology from the 70s, and Danger Street is an attempt to tie all those separate characters together into a single narrative. It just isn’t very compelling. There are a few standout moments, with the issue featuring Manhunter and Codename: Assassin’s duel being a highlight: it has a real Man in Black versus Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride mixed with the Man in Black versus Vizzini from The Princess Bride vibe. Overall, though, it lack the thematic cohesion that holds together King’s best work.