Category: Reviews

Wild Cards

On By Christopher TuthillIn Comic Books, Comics, George RR Martin, Reviews, Short Stories, writingLeave a comment

For most of my life I’ve read copious amounts of fantasy and science fiction. I recall the Wild Cards series coming out in the late 80s; an acquaintance of mine sang the book’s praises, but the idea of comic book characters was something that at the time, as a 16 year old, I felt I was outgrowing. Maybe I was self-conscious reading Batman and Superman and the X-Men as an older teen, and advertising that I still loved those characters seemed unwise. Though of course, I read them at home, away from my peers.

During the recent holiday break, I was looking for something light to read, and picked up the first volume of Wild Cards, that series I had shunned in my young, foolish days. If George RR Martin edited it, it must be good, I reasoned. I’ve been wanting to read Winds of Winter for some years now, but alas, it seems I’ll have to wait for that. I have read almost everything else George published, so I gave it a try.

How I wish I could go back 30+ years and tell sixteen year old me to read Wild Cards. I was the perfect demographic for it back then. I guess I still am. What a fun, crazy ride I had with these stories. I didn’t love all of them, but there were enough good ones to keep me interested, and the ones I didn’t like as much still had some cool elements.

Wild Cards, for those of you unfamiliar with this now-32-volume series, is a shared world alternate universe filled with superheroes, in which, at the end of World War II, an alien virus outbreak turns a large segment of humanity into mutants. It kills some of them outright, horribly disfigures others (known as Jokers) and turns some into superhumans (aces). It’s a funny, neat idea, full of noirish and comic elements, enough to keep an adult comic book reader happy during these long winter nights. I particularly enjoyed Roger Zelazny’s entry, as well as Martin’s. I don’t want to spoil the stories, they are too fun. If you enjoy comic books, but want something a little darker and more adult themed, give these books a try.

I’d never read something like this collection before. I loved the idea of a shared world in which lots of writers try their hand in storytelling in the same setting. I also really enjoyed the way these comics were written with adults in mind. I’d never seen this before in fiction, except perhaps when I read the novelization of the 1989 Batman movie as a teen. These stories reminded me of Frank Miller’s work with Batman, and Alan Moore’s many legendary tales of Swamp Thing, Watchmen, and others. I don’t regularly read comic books these days, but this first volume in the Wild Cards series made me want to revisit my favorites, and maybe read some more in the Wild Cards series.

The Wikipedia entry for this series says that Martin and his friends started the series after playing a GURPS style RPG based on superheroes, which makes perfect sense. The detailed backstories in each tale in this volume are a perfect fit with an RPG campaign of this style. Probably most people who have played in a campaign thought of turning it into a book (what a great idea!), but leave it to uncle George to actually pull it off. I was also reminded of the wonderful Dragonlance books, which were similarly based on a D and D campaign. I may also have to try Thieves World, which is a series I never read, but which was also a shared world.

There are so many books, and never enough time for me to read all my favorites, but I’m glad I gave this series a try. Winter is the perfect time to stay inside and curl up with a book. You’ll have fun with Wild Cards, I think. I just hope Winds of Winter comes out soon.

Memoir ’44

On By Christopher TuthillIn Boardgames, Games, ReviewsLeave a comment

We are heading into winter, perhaps the best time of year for board games!

My 11 year old is crazy about tabletop games, and World War Two games in particular. He really loves games with minis, so we have tried a number of those in many genres, but one of his very favorites for years now has been Axis and Allies. The only problem with that game is its epic length. It can take a long time just to set it up, and the game itself can take several sessions of a couple hours, over several days.

Enter Memoir ’44. Made by Days of Wonder, this game includes 15 different scenarios from D-Day. It’s a card based game with lots of die rolls, and beautifully produced miniatures. We’ve played four of the scenarios so far, and each of them took only around a half hour to complete. It’s lively and fun and if you enjoy wargames but don’t have three or four hours to play one, I would strongly recommend this game. You’ll probably like it so much that you’ll end up playing more than one scenario in a session, anyway.

The game is played in turns during which a player activates a card, which allows them to move troops on one or more sections of the board. You can then engage the enemy by rolling dice, subtracting points for various obstacles like trees, bunkers, barbed wire, and so forth.

I really loved playing this one with my son, and he has enjoyed it immensely as well. It makes great gift, and won’t break the bank– I got a copy of it for around $50. There is enough variety to make each scenario feel quite different; Days of Wonder has also created many different expansions, so if you enjoy this one and play all fifteen scenarios enough that you want more variety, you will never run out of more to play if you’re so inclined. There are also expansions that allow up to eight players, which sounds like it would be lots of fun.

I’d rate this one five out of five stars. So much fun to play, and beautifully designed.

Star Wars: Rebellion

On By Christopher TuthillIn Boardgames, Games, Reviews, Science FictionLeave a comment

A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away…

There was an endless appetite for games based on our favorite heroes and villains. Star Wars Rebellion, I am happy to report, is one of the very best of the bunch. Made by Fantasy Flight Games, it has their usual high quality minis, a beautiful board with numerous planets and systems, and lots of cards and markers and characters. It’s for 2-4 players, though I have only played the two player version. One side plays the rebels, the other is the dark side.

Rebellion is varied enough and features enough twists and turns that I think it has a high level of replayability. My 10 year old and I have played it 6 or seven times since we got it, and it’s always been fun and surprising. Essentially, the rebel player has a hidden base that the empire is trying to find. If the rebels can stave off the superior firepower of the empire and hang on for enough turns, while increasing their sympathy throughout the galaxy, they’ll win. But the moment the empire finds the rebel base, it’s over for the rebels. Each time we’ve played, both of us had a chance to win by the final round, making for an exciting and unexpected end with each game.

Each player has special attributes and cards to help them win; the rebels, for example, are aided by cards that allow them to change the location of the base, should the empire draw near. Other cards will allow sabotage, and to increase your reach through the galaxy. The rebels will gain victory points through a series of objective cards that award points when completed. The empire, meanwhile, has far superior numbers and brutal planet destroying weapons like the Death Star, making them hard to beat.

The character cards are also well designed. Each of the rebel characters have special skills and powers that allow them to succeed at basic missions, like gaining loyalty in systems, establishing weapons production, or conducting raids on the empire. The empire characters have similar skills, and are able to corrupt the rebels, destroy them with the death star, or otherwise ruin their chances to win. For example, in one very funny moment in our game, Obi Wan was turned to the dark side, which is rather hard to envision if you’re a fan of the old films, like me.

There are plenty of opportunities for battles, and that’s a lot of the fun of this game. You can move into systems and attack with your fleet of finely constructed X-Wings, Tie-Fighters, Star Destroyers and ground forces. You’re aided in battle by the leaders you’ve chosen and special cards that you draw through each round of combat. Nothing hurts so badly as building up a legion of rebel troops only to have them wiped out by Stormtroopers and AT-ATs (take it from me.)

This game is not cheap–the price runs around $90, but if you’re a fan of strategic war games, and of Star Wars, and you think you’ll have time to play this one, I’d say go ahead and buy it. It’s a lengthy game, often taking a few sessions of an hour or two each (or most of a day, if you’re able) to complete. I have found it a great way to spend time with my son, who has delighted in beating me a number of times.

Rebellion is pretty true to the spirit of the films. I love it, and recommend it highly, rating it five out of five stars. Maybe six out of five if you’re a star wars fans into miniatures and epic boardgames.

Axis & Allies & Zombies

On By Christopher TuthillIn Boardgames, Fantasy, Games, ReviewsLeave a comment

As if World War II needed some extra violence and mayhem, Avalon Hill added zombies to their classic game. It’s for two to five players, controlling one of the same powers as the original game, with the wild card of zombies for good measure.

I’ve been playing the original version of this game for many years; I find it a fun, lengthy wargame and my 10 year old son enjoys it very much. He could see after a few games, and after playing some more recent kinds of wargames, that the combat mechanics, while involved, are fairly standard, and when he saw this version with monsters in it he wanted it badly.

We’ve played it a number of times now, and it is always fun. The story is that some sort of noxious smoke, unleashed by a Nazi archaeological dig, circulates around the globe creating zombies. The zombies can end up overtaking you before your opponent, which can be funny. You draw a zombie card before your turn, and add a zombie to a territory. You also have a chance to drive them out of your territories, but beware! If you lose, your soldiers end up zombified, which can be disastrous for your chances to win, even while being quite hilarious. You also have a chance to roll for tech advances that will help you fight the zombies, similar to your ability to advance your technology in the original game. Who doesn’t want a chainsaw tank or zombie mind control ray in their arsenal? No one, that’s who.

The pieces are high quality, and in line with what you would expect from an Axis & Allies game. It’s a worthy addition to this series. I have been thinking of picking up one of the other versions of the game, as there are now editions focused on WWI, the Pacific theater, and so on. But two games of this sort are enough for now. One of the fun things about these enormous wargames is the epic feel of them. It can sometimes take numerous sessions over several days to finish. We have a number of these types of big games in our collection, and adding to that seems unwise. The most disastrous thing that has happened while playing one of these occurred when our cat, in her nocturnal roamings, destroyed a game of War of the Ring after two solid days of play. We tried to soldier on, but the feline monster won the day.

If you like Axis and Allies, I’d rate this one 4.5 out of 5 stars. Highly recommended!

One Roll Quest!

On By Christopher TuthillIn Games, Reviews, SummerLeave a comment

In our family travels this summer, I brought along some quick, portable games to play with my eight and ten year old. A couple of them were real hits with the kids that we will continue to play.

One Roll Quest plays just like it sounds. There’s a big clear die with 5 tiny colored die inside. You roll it, and that roll immediately determines whether you live or die, gain fame and fortune or experience points. The inner, colored dice determine some more specific consequences for your character–i.e. Everyone gains fame and fortune, except you–you die! It’s a very fast paced and funny game that my kids and I played numerous times. We also played One Roll Chronicles, which is a book with a brief story, in which you start out drinking in a tavern (like all good adventurers) and wind up, of course, looking for fame and glory. I’d rate this one 10 out of five stars for the number of laughs we had over it. It even includes some one off jokes like ‘One roll pizza,’ in which the die roll determines what pie you’ll order and which toppings. (we ended up with pepperoni and cheese, but my daughter cheated). 🙂

“Gelatinous” is another humorous dice game from Steve Jackson, in which each player gets 7 dice and tries to roll enough threes to create a gelatinous cube to win. Everyone can also lose and get eaten by a cube, which is a very amusing way to end this game. My kids found this one fun, as well.

We also played Catan dice, a shortened version of the game, in which all the dice have different resources on them, and you roll to create towns, cities, and roads. This was another fun and fast paced game, though it was less funny that the first two.

Finally, on a rainy day during our vacation, we played ‘Undead,’ a pocket box from Steve Jackson Games. This is a fun one, a bit more complicated than the others that will take an hour or two to complete. One player controls vampire hunters, the other is Dracula, and there is an option for a GM. It takes place in London in 1890, and is a hidden movement game that we found fun and thematically pleasing.

You can’t go wrong with any of these games. Steve Jackson Games has always done a great job with affordable, light games like these, and they keep creating great new ones all the time. I highly recommend supporting their kickstarters, or just checking out one of their many pocket or travel games if you’re looking for something to take with you on your vacation. They also make great diversions on game night with your friends.

Our trip was fun, as well. But games make everything better.

RökFlöte

On By Christopher TuthillIn ReviewsLeave a comment

RökFlöte, the 23rd studio album from Jethro Tull, is, to paraphrase an old maxim, a very nice sort of album for those who enjoy these sorts of albums.

Just a year removed from the long-awaited, pandemic-delayed The Zealot Gene, Ian Anderson and friends return this spring with a record full of Norse Mythology. That Anderson is still releasing new music at this stage of his career, fifty-five years after he founded the band, is an amazing feat. This new one has, as you may expect, plenty of rock, plenty of flute, plenty of dense lyrics about Odin and Thor and the creation of the world. In short, the perfect subject matter for Jethro Tull.

To my ear, RökFlöte is heavier, with more hard rock songs than The Zealot Gene, but lacks some of that album’s warmth and emotion. Given Tull’s huge catalog, and Anderson’s interest in myths and legends, it’s almost surprising that he hasn’t recorded something like this before. I particularly enjoyed the way the songs interplay with one another, each centered on a different Norse god or myth. The opening track, and the closing one, feature spoken word poetry from the Old Icelandic poetic edda, inviting the listener into the world the band is exploring. It’s well worth the trip. And, I might add, if you don’t love spoken word Old Icelandic poetry, I am not sure how I can help you, or convince you to enjoy this kind of record. I love it, but of course I do. This is my favorite band, and has been for more than thirty years. Besides, I’m a sucker for Norse Myths and dead languages–Anderson knows his audience by now. The only thing we love better than mythology are long flute solos and synth riffs. As W.H. Auden once said, in a review of Lord of the Rings: “This is a work that will either totally enthrall you or leave you stone cold, and, whichever your response, nothing and nobody will ever change it.” Over the years I have found this to be true about many of the things I enjoy, including progressive rock and epic fantasy.

I’m glad Anderson is still active and touring. I am too young to have seen the band in their legendary 70s form, having discovered them in the early 90s, when I was in college. Since then, I’ve listened to everything they’ve released, and seen as many tours as I could. I’m not about to stop now. I have tickets to see him again in November, and was so pleased to hear he has planned a 24th album for release next year.

Kindred, by Octavia Butler

On By Christopher TuthillIn Fantasy, Reviews, Science FictionLeave a comment

I found Kindred to be such an amazing achievement; wonderfully written, creating such a believable, harrowing world. I plan to read the rest of Butler’s novels in due course, but had to let my thoughts on this one simmer for awhile. This isn’t light beach reading or something you pick up to be distracted. It’s considered one of the monumental works of 20th century science fiction, deservedly so.

Dana, an African American writer, is transported back to the antebellum south, and this is where the horror begins. It is hard to do this book justice, but the day to day life of a slave in the American south is described in great and horrifying detail. Dana becomes the protector of young Rufus Weylin, the heir to a plantation, and she later learns that he is one of her ancestors. Dana travels back and forth between the 1820s and 1976, finding that while she has been in the past for several hours, days, or months, she has usually only been gone for comparatively short periods of time in the present.

Slaves on the Weylin plantation are brutalized, raped, and tortured, and yet Weylin’s father, Tom, their master, is considered by the slaves to be mild in comparison to other slave owners. Families are casually torn apart to pay debts, or in some cases just to prove a point. Dana’s account of these atrocities gives the reader an idea of what slave life was like, and the unimaginable horror of just surviving and enduring.

The book is set during the bicentennial, which is when it was written, and this setting is significant, given how much America was celebrating at that time. But this book is a clear reminder of our brutal, racist, genocidal past. It’s something we must reckon with, if we want to make this country more just and fair.

Kindred is a book everyone should read. It’s a landmark of American literature, a brilliantly written and researched novel and a powerful work of literature. The characters are very nuanced and have so much depth to them. The depiction of the slave community, and the brutality they were subjected to, are so moving and heartbreaking. They are faced with unthinkable choices for their survival, and Dana’s struggle to help them and eventually be liberated has echoes of historical slave narratives, as many critics have pointed out. Butler has said in interviews that she wanted “to make people feel history,“ and she succeeded brilliantly.

Contact, by Carl Sagan

On By Christopher TuthillIn Reviews, Science FictionLeave a comment

“We all have a thirst for wonder. It’s a deeply human quality. Science and religion are both bound up with it. What I’m saying is, you don’t have to make stories up, you don’t have to exaggerate. There’s wonder and awe enough in the real world. Nature’s a lot better at inventing wonders than we are.”

“She had studied the universe all her life, but had overlooked its clearest message: For small creatures such as we the vastness is bearable only through love.” –Carl Sagan, Contact

Carl Sagan had a rare gift for making extremely complex subjects accessible to non-experts. Coupled with his passion for educating the public, he was truly a one of a kind renaissance man who brought the wonder of science to millions. His novel is something no one who enjoyed Cosmos, or his other popular works, should miss.

Contact is the story of how humans might one day communicate with an extra terrestrial race, made plausible by Sagan’s knowledge of science, physics, astronomy, and his talent as a writer. Ellie Arroway, the astronomer/hero of the novel, discovers a signal through a radio telescope, and sets out to decode the message with the help of scientists from around the world. Politics, religion, and mass hysteria become a volatile mix when the public gets wind of the project.

It turns out Sagan’s gifts weren’t limited to teaching and science. He was a poetic writer as well, and the novel is so well written, with such attention paid to characterization, along with scientific explanations for what the astronomers are actually doing. I was impressed with the way he melds hard science with a touching story about a somewhat lonely astronomer, and her efforts to change the world. Sagan also takes religion and politics seriously, and has empathy for those struggling with faith as a result of the discovery of life beyond earth.

In reading Sagan’s work, I get the feeling he was an optimist who loved people, who loved science, and who felt it was in our best interest for the public to be educated on matters that we too often leave to researchers and don’t understand. But he was also a realist, and hoped that we could overcome our petty nationalistic struggles for the good of all humanity. The book shows the interplay of these complex human issues: the nations of earth come together to solve the puzzling message, but soon after, they begin bickering over who will control the message, and who will get credit. The idea of non human intelligence terrifies political and religious leaders, who don’t want their power threatened, or to admit that we might just be a backward, primitive race in comparison to the extra terrestrials.

Sagan’s book brings to bear a whole world of philosophical, scientific, religious, and personal ideas, and I feel it is a must read. It might even inspire you to read more about astronomy and physics, and learn more about the SETI project. As an avid, lifelong reader of science fiction, I don’t know how I didn’t read it for all these years, but I’m so glad I picked it up. At times, I was reading the book hearing Sagan’s voice from Cosmos. His legacy is really secure. I finished it wishing he had written more science fiction. Like scientist/fiction writers such as Asimov, Clarke, or Frederick Hoyle, he might’ve had a long and distinguished career as a science fiction writer, as well.

A Plague of Demons, by Keith Laumer

On By Christopher TuthillIn Reviews, Science FictionLeave a comment

I’ve been reading authors who are new to me lately, in an effort to try to fill in some gaps in my knowledge. For my birthday, a good friend of mine with impeccable taste sent me a copy of a science fiction collection by Keith Laumer, A Plague of Demons. Laumer reached the height of his career before I was born, so I hadn’t known about him, but I knew it had to be great if my friend recommended it.

I was not disappointed. A Plague of Demons, the novel that leads off the collection, leaps off the page at you from the first sentences. A military thriller/action adventure/science fiction novel, it has a breakneck pace that never lets up, and is filled with surprises and wonders that will reward any reader. I had so much fun reading this and I can’t wait to read more Laumer. In fact, I was at a book sale today and picked up a couple more of his books.

In the near future, the hero, John Bravais, is sent on a secret mission to North Africa, where armies are fighting in a gentlemanly fashion, under the supervision of UN inspectors. Bravais soon learns, however, that demonic aliens are entering the fray, hiding themselves until they can clandestinely kill soldiers and–get this–steal their brains. Why are they doing this? Bravais decides to find out, and spends the rest of the book alternately chasing these demons down and being hunted by them. There is a secret society of humans who try to help him in his quest to thwart the aliens, but the task is almost impossible, since the aliens have far superior technology and are hiding everywhere on earth. They disguise themselves as soldiers and can strike whenever they wish.

I don’t want to reveal too much of the plot, but it turns out the aliens have been abducting soldiers from battles for their brains since at least as far back as the ancient Romans. They take the brains back to their homeworld, place them in giant robots, and use them to fight their wars.

Does this sound bonkers? Yes, but in the best sense of the word. The writing is so lively and the dialogue so sharp that I was laughing out loud. Laumer does a great job with setting up expectations and traps for the reader, and it all reaches a very fun and exciting conclusion. There is one hilarious and action packed scene in which dozens of human soldiers, trapped in their enormous, tank like roboskeletons, attack their oppressors. They are a ragtag bunch from every era of human warfare, yelling Old English and Viking and World War One and Napoleonic battle cries as they take up humanity’s fight against the aliens.

I’d rate this one five stars out of five. It has a bit of everything, and is so fun to read. I love this era of fantasy and science fiction, you never know what kind of story you’re about to get when you start. I’m adding Keith Laumer to my list and want to read more, as will every reader who encounters his work.

The Last King of Osten Ard

On By Christopher TuthillIn ReviewsLeave a comment

Those of you waiting for Winds of Winter ought to read Tad Williams, if you haven’t already; George RR Martin has credited Williams’ landmark Memory, Sorrow and Thorn trilogy of the 80s and 90s with inspiring him to write A Song of Ice and Fire. I read Williams’ original series years ago and enjoyed it, and have been having a grand time reading The Last King of Osten Ard, Williams’ revisiting of the series, begun with 2017’s The Witchwood Crown.

The Last King of Osten Ard is in every way the equal of Williams’ earlier work. When these kinds of stories get revisited, there is often the worry that the newer installments will not do the originals justice (I’m thinking of you, Star Wars and Star Trek), and fans like me often end up wishing the creators would leave such series alone. But I needn’t have worried about Osten Ard, which has always been in good hands—in some ways I think the new series surpasses the earlier one.

I spent the past several days reading both Brothers of the Wind, a prequel novel, set thousands of years before the events of the Osten Ard books, as well as Into the Narrowdark, the third of the Last King series. Williams has crafted a wonderful tale in both of these works. I found Brothers to be breathtaking in its emotional impact, and a truly unique twist on fantasy fiction. It’s the tale of two Sithi brothers: Ineluki, who would become the Storm King, and Hakatri, his less volatile older sibling. The two of them go on a doomed quest to slay a dragon after Ineluki swears an ill fated oath. The story is told from the point of view of Pamon Kes, the servant of Hakatri, who is setting the tale down years after the fateful events that would shape Osten Ard for centuries to come. This vantage point is brilliantly done, as Kes is constantly questioning his worth, feeling that as a Changeling devoted to the prince Hakatri, his entire worth comes from his ability to serve his master. But as he tells the story, he’s awakened to new possibilities for his own life, as well as the reality that his master is not as perfect as he may have thought.

The story of these two ill-fated brothers is masterfully told. Readers of Memory, Sorrow and Thorn will know that Ineluki will end up being the mad Storm King, a spirit who nearly destroys humanity in the original Osten Ard books. Here, he is a lonely, tragic figure, consumed by anger and his own sense of honor, headstrong, brave, and sympathetic. There’s a sense of tragic fate here, as in the best mythological and fantasy stories. Ineluki’s brother, Hakatri does his best to reign him in and try to save him from his half mad quest. I found this to be an gripping story, and was so impressed with the way Williams makes his readers feel great sympathy for two of the biggest villains of his world.

In reading the new Williams series, I’m reminded of the way Ursula LeGuin revisited Earthsea. In coming back to it, she, like Williams, told a more complex tale, one that turned readers’ expectations upside down. Depending on how a story is told, or how history is written, villains can even become heroes, and there is a lot of exploration of that theme here. For example, the Sithi, who were allies of the Erkynlanders in the first war against the Norns, are in these novels mostly indifferent to the plight of their one time allies, having felt mistreated after the end of that conflict. The Norns, meanwhile, have multiplied and want to avenge what they see as the destruction of their ancestral homelands by the humans—events elaborated on a lot in the prequel novel, in which the Sithi know that the humans will eventually outnumber them and take their lands.

There is still plenty of the stuff that fantasy fans know and love so well: double-dealing, perilous and hopeless quests, epic battles, large scale combat, romance, magic and sorcery—you name it, and Tad Williams has mastered it. (I don’t want to spoil any of the plot or the fun, so I’ll just warn you: beware of kallypooks.) But underneath it all is a nagging sense that things are not going to turn out as you might have expected or hoped. That even villains may have some grievances and grudges worth hearing out, and that not all heroes are beyond reproach. The larger question of who has wronged who in colonizing Osten Ard is the complex underpinning of this  whole series, in my opinion. The Norns, led by their sorcerer Queen, Uttuk’ku, seem at first to be evil aggressors, but when you consider what their people have lost, you can understand where their anger comes from. Each chapter is told from the points of view of different characters, which lets you have a lot more sympathy for some of the antagonists.

If these morally grey areas sound somewhat familiar, remember that Williams was doing this in the 80s, as well, with his first series, which inspired great books like A Game of Thrones. Williams has left quite a legacy with these books, and readers who enjoy fantasy are lucky to have him. I read both of these in a week, just couldn’t put them down. Wonderful stuff. Read them, you’ll be enriched for it.