Category Archives: speculative

Clearing the To-Be-Reviewed shelves

Posted on February 7, 2012 | 7 Comments

Cascade by Lisa T. Bergren
I loved this book. I mean, seriously: time travel, Italy, and archaeology all in the same book? The adventure, the fun, the ingenuity. Excellent. This is book 2 of the River of Time series (3 books out so far), and while I haven’t read book 1, Waterfall, now that I’ve read book 3, I think part of my enjoyment stemmed from being allowed to fill in those pieces from the bits of background scattered throughout.

Torrent by Lisa T. Bergren
This, book 3, was a letdown. Maybe it’s because the storyline seemed so one-dimensional after attempting to construct book 1 while reading book 2? I also thought book 2 indicated a larger discussion of or focus on elements of faith in book 3, but while there was a bit more, it was still seriously lacking in that department.

The Hunger Games, Catching Fire, Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
The Hunger Games trilogy has been hashed and rehashed countless times while I was getting up the courage to read them. See, I was afraid, when I first heard about them, that they would be too much like The Lottery by Shirley Jackson, which, when I read it early in high school, left me scarred. But the similarities were quickly overcome once I dove in, and I quickly devoured the whole series. The reality TV (a la Big Brother) component is really interesting, but really they’re just great stories. They plumb the depths of what it means to be human.

And, with that, my writing time for today is just about up. Maybe I’ll add some thumbnails to the above and move on with my day. Hopefully this hasn’t drained me too much and I’ll be able to post another set of mini-reviews (or a few) soon. Hey, maybe I’ll even post more than once in a week — now that would feel like a miracle!

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Empaths and prophets

Posted on January 26, 2012 | 5 Comments

Most of the media experiences (not just books, although mainly books) that really struck me this year have a couple things in common. I learned something about myself, particularly through their confluence. They’re all about being an outsider, working on something that others don’t really understand. And yet this work is something that drives [the person], that it’s impossible to ignore. A calling, even.

Although perhaps not traditional (and certainly not all-inclusive), this is my greatest hits list for 2011.

ANGEL

I think the first one was from the TV show Angel. Along Angel’s circuitous journey, one of the guys who assists in his mission of helping people is an Empath demon. Backstory: The demons in this narrative (that starts with Buffy the Vampire Slayer) are various races and/or individuals with special skills or giftings. Taken as a whole, they use these abilities to further their bloodlust and rage, but there are a few here and there who’ve chosen another path.

This particular Empath demon uses his ability to feel other peoples’ pain to help them. Later in the narrative the gods see fit to give the empath ability to a human, and it very nearly destroys her. (Actually, I’m not sure I’ve seen the end of that story line. I know it comes close, but I’m not sure if it eventually does or not.) She should die because a human can’t bear that burden of feeling so much the pain of others.

THE RELUCTANT PROPHET by Nancy Rue

The Reluctant Prophet illuminated what I’d seen in Angel, if that makes any sense. Allison has been asking God what she’s supposed to do, and when she begins to follow through on what she hears, the members of her church aren’t exactly thrilled. It’s a serious examination — in the form of one fictional woman’s story — of what a life of faith looks like and the risks it entails.

It’s a well-written story that I read at exactly the right time. It rings authentic, and I can’t wait to crack open the next book in the series, Unexpected Dismounts. I’ve also been enjoying Rue’s (@NNRue) blog.

THE FALLING AWAY by T.L. Hines

The Falling Away is a truly excellent book (it won the INSPY in December for Speculative Fiction).

This quote will, I think, illustrate how The Falling Away fits into my list: “we’re almost magnets for pain and suffering, but because we have ways to control it, there’s a design to it all” (page 97).

WINTER by Keven Newsome

Winter isn’t really of the same calibre as the aforementioned books writing-wise (or editing-wise), but it does dwell in the same vein, of prophecy. Enough so to earn a place here. It may not speak to everyone as it did to me — the appeal of the others is probably more broad — but that’s not necessarily the point of this list. So.

Switching directions a bit, Passport through Darkness: A True Story of Danger and Second Chances by Kimberly L. Smith (2011 INSPY winner for Creative Nonfiction) also deserves a spot on the list. It doesn’t quite fit with the others in that, while the others taught me something about myself and showed a bit of the way I should go, Smith voiced so much of what I’ve felt leading up to this time. It’s almost like her words were echoing what my soul had been crying out. Don’t get me wrong, I haven’t been working in Darfur unbeknownst to you, but I did find significant parallels.

Summary: Several books I read in 2011 seemed to coalesce around a theme, enough so that it made me sit up straight and take notice. Through these books, plus the earthquake and tsunami in Japan, God spoke to my identity, my place/role in the Body of Christ. I don’t have it all figured out yet(!), but it was encouraging to learn. One piece: an implementable way to channel my empathy.

So, there you have it. Not a traditional best-of list — I read lots of other terrific books — but the ones that most stood out to me.

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Posted in books, Christian Fiction, fiction, memoir, nonfiction, speculative, WordLily

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Forbidden by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee

Posted on September 24, 2011 | 9 Comments

Word Lily review

Forbidden by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee, book 1 of The Books of Mortals series, (Center Street, September 13, 2011), 384 pages

Summary
In a world ruled by fear (no other emotions now exist), although violence is basically unheard of, people generally go through life keeping their heads down.

A vial of blood and a cryptic page are thrust into Rom’s hands by a man on the run from authorities. The old man says something that makes Rom think his father didn’t live quite the straight-and-narrow life he’d always thought. But he doesn’t have long to think about it, now that he’s being pursued because of what he now possesses.

Thoughts
This was, overall, an enjoyable read for me. I don’t always respect Dekker’s books much, but this is one of his better ones. He’s always been great at pacing, and this book is no exception. The story flies along, dragging the reader from one page to the next. Lee’s influence was clear — at times, the prose really sparkled, which is something I haven’t experienced in Dekker’s writing.

Somehow, while feeling pretty unique, the whole dystopian setup also felt trite.

There was also one scene, in particular, that was overwrought, more bloody than it needed to be. Maybe this will be sussed out in subsequent books, but as it stood in this one, it was out of place and gory.

The part of the book that was most interesting to me was touched on immediately, on the first page of the first chapter: Art, any kind of creative pursuit, only barely survives in this world, and that only because a long-dead expert had written about the educational merits of the arts. The life of an artisan is hard, in a world unmoved by creativity. [Not that the life of an artist is exactly easy, even today.] Even then, “artisan” is a more accurate word than “artist” because the act of creation doesn’t really happen outside the full scope of emotion, which this population lacks.

I love that one of the characteristics we as humans share with God is creativity. God created ex nihilo, and we, made in that image, create.

I can easily see how art appreciation might not happen in a world without love or joy or even anger. But I hadn’t really thought about creating being an act that required emotional undercurrents.

A quote:

“You only feel pain because you’re alive, boy!” the keeper thundered. “This is the mystery of it. Life is lived on the ragged edge of that cliff. Fall off and you might die, but run from it and you are already dead!”

~page 339, Forbidden by Ted Dekker and Tosca Lee

What do you think? Could an emotion-less being create?

Rating: 3.5 stars

Book 2, Mortal, is schedule for release in September 2012; book 3, Sovereign, will be published in 2013.

About the authors
Ted Dekker is a bestselling author of more than 20 novels. He lives in Austin, Texas.

Tosca Lee (@ToscaLee) is the author of Demon and Havah.

Other Faith and Fiction Round Table Participants:

I received this book from the publisher as part of the Faith and Fiction Round Table. I am an Amazon Associate and receive a small commission on sales through my affiliate links.

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Book Spotlight: Veiled Rose by Anne Elisabeth Stengl

Posted on July 7, 2011 | 1 Comment

About the book:
Rose Red trusts no one with her secret. She hides in the forest, her face veiled in rags, shunning the company of all except her father and her nanny goat. And then she meets a privileged young man sent to the mountains for the summer. Leo befriends Rose Red, and together they begin hunting for the rumored Mountain Monster.

This is book 2 in the Tales of Goldstone Wood series, which I’ve been drawn to since I first saw them. I’ve heard good buzz, but I can’t find too many links now.

Read an excerpt of Veiled Rose by Anne Elisabeth Stengl.

Here’s a review of the first book, Heartless:
Books, Movies and Chinese Food

I received this book from the publisher as part of the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance. I am an Amazon Associate and receive a small commission on sales through my affiliate links.

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Faith and Fiction Round Table Discussion: A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.

Posted on June 11, 2011 | 8 Comments

The Faith and Fiction Round Table is a group, started by My Friend Amy, that determined six books relating to faith and mostly fiction to read together in 2011. We have discussions via email and then post our thoughts on the book.

This month’s book is A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller Jr.

This book is on the Image Journal Top 100 list, so I was excited that it coincided with the Faith ‘n’ Fiction Round Table, since I’ve committed to reading every book on that list but my progress has been so very slow.

So often science and faith have been cast as opponents. Whether we’re talking Galileo or the current origins conflict, science and faith are often seen — even by their members — as mutually exclusive. This is something I grew up blowing off, almost ignoring. I knew the two could work together. But as I’ve experienced more of the world, I’ve seen how strong the dichotomy is, in practice. (Like oil and water? Do you remember those science experiments?)

In Canticle, though, Miller casts at least this small part of the church, a monastery dedicated to the memory of an early 20th century engineer, as the keeper, sustainer, of scientific knowledge.

As the monks copy artifacts and fragments over the multiplied lifetimes, most of the time they gain no understanding from what they read. And the outside world is no better, with low single-digit literacy over the centuries, following that first catastrophic nuclear “Simplification” (in the 1940s).

But time passes, and eventually one of the monks with a particularly scientific mind takes the necessary leaps and reinvents electric light.

At this point, the outside world (this monastery is very isolated) also has a leading scientist or two, but his mind is clouded by his preconceptions — and the monk has reached so much greater success, even without the benefit of a university education.

Hm, that may be a bit more detail than I needed to give.

Anyway, I guess my question today is this: Do you view science and faith as diametrically opposed, or do you see how they can be reconciled? Examples?

NOTE: This is not a forum to debate creation/evolution or the like — not even close.

For more posts on A Canticle for Leibowitz, please visit:
My Friend Amy
Ignorant Historian
Book Addiction
3Rs Blog
Books and Movies
Book Hooked Blog
Semicolon
My Random Thoughts

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Book Spotlight: Darkness Follows by Mike Dellosso

Posted on May 30, 2011 | 1 Comment

About the book:
Sam Travis lives in a Civil War era farmhouse in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. One morning he wakes up to find a journal with an entry by a Union soldier, Lt. Whiting — written in Sam’s own handwriting. When this happens a few more times, both at night and during waking trances, Sam begins to question his sanity and becomes obsessed with the lieutenant and his journal entries. Can the unconditional love of Sam’s daughter break through his hardened heart before a killer catches up with them and Sam’s past spurs him to the unthinkable?

Read an excerpt of Darkness Follows.

I received this book from the publisher as part of the Christian Fiction Blog Alliance. I am an Amazon Associate and receive a small commission on sales through my affiliate links.

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Juniper Berry by M.P. Kozlowsky

Posted on May 2, 2011 | 3 Comments

Word Lily review

Juniper Berry by M.P. Kozlowsky, illustrated by Erwin Madrid (Walden Pond Press, an imprint of HarperCollins, April 26, 2011), 240 pages

Summary
Juniper Berry is the daughter of movie superstars. She has fond memories of spending time with her parents, but since their stardom really took off, they’ve become distant, obsessed with maintaining their status. What’s more, they’ve also — in attempt to safeguard their privacy — essentially shut Juniper up, she never gets to leave the house. Her parents’ eyes are empty, and when a neighbor boy wanders into her backyard, she not only gains a friend but also incentive to figure out what’s wrong with her parents.

Thoughts
I appreciated the first part of the book, the part that details Juniper’s everyday goings on. Her looking through her monocular, telescope, and playing with the family dog, Kitty. The scene involving the home-video of Central Park is especially poignant.

Once it got past the beginning part (I can’t help but think of it as two separate parts, the transition was abrupt), the story was quite dark, which surprised me. Maybe I shouldn’t have been surprised, but I was. Dark, and scary, and background-wise, there were quite a few holes I wish had been filled in.

The characters. The cast of characters who actually shows signs of life is very small: Juniper, Giles, Dmitri, and Theodore. Dmitri and Theodore have very little screen time. Even Giles feels like a type, rather than a real person.

I usually really enjoy middle-grade fiction, but this one didn’t succeed for me. It was OK, but *only* OK.

Rating: 2.75 stars

About the author
M.P. Kozlowsky was a high school English teacher before becoming a writer. Juniper Berry is his first book. He lives in New York with his wife and daughter.

Other reviews
Have you reviewed this book? Leave me a link and I’ll add it here.

I received this book from the publisher. I am an Amazon Associate and receive a small commission on sales through my affiliate links.

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Posted in books, fiction, Middle Grade, review, review copy, speculative

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The Chasm by Randy Alcorn

Posted on February 10, 2011 | 5 Comments

Word Lily review

The Chasm: A Journey to the Edge of Life by Randy Alcorn (Multnomah, February 8, 2011), 128 pages

Summary
A guy’s in an alternate reality, with many gray roads and one red road. The people on the red road are strange, so he heads for the adventure of the gray road and the shiny (well, not literally) people there.

Thoughts
I was excited when I saw there was a new fiction title coming from Randy Alcorn. So excited, in fact, that I just grabbed it up, without doing any research. If I had, maybe I wouldn’t have read this book. I certainly wouldn’t have been so eager to do so.

The missing piece of information? The Chasm is *adapted* from one of his earlier novels, Edge of Eternity, which I didn’t remember but do recall not enjoying. (Side note: Who does that, who adapts a novel into a new novel?) I kept reading, after spotting that tidbit on the back cover of the advance copy, because The Chasm is a slip of a book. Very small. So, what’s the harm?

The Chasm (well, both books, really — as soon as I got into the book, the earlier one came flooding back) is reminiscent of The Pilgrim’s Progress, but with a different traveler. The Chasm‘s pacing is quite a bit faster than the first, which makes sense.

Part of my eagerness to read a new Alcorn was because it has been several years since I’ve read his fiction (it’s been awhile since he’s had a new release, actually), and as much as I enjoyed most of the Alcorn I read, I wasn’t without complaint. So, I wanted to see if my opinion, or the author, had changed.

The pacing of The Chasm is faster than I recall from Edge of Eternity. But that’s really the only positive thing I can say about it. I couldn’t enter into it; all the way through, I remained wholly separate from the characters.

The illustrations — by Mike Biegel — are confusing. The craft is fine, but they make it feel like a kids’ book, although the content really doesn’t fit that.

Although in actuality this book is adapted (condensed?) from a longer novel, it feels like an elongated tract. In fact, if you grew up in the evangelical church in America, I bet you can tell which one just from what I’ve already written. This brings up a big issue. What is the point of Christian art? (Is there really such a thing as Christian art?) While reading I was reminded of this blog post, at Transpositions. Opinions vary widely on what the goal of Christian fiction should be, and this topic is much bigger than the scope of this post. But, I would hope that the writer’s goal would be to create great art. When an artist brings an agenda to the page (or whatever medium), it shows. The artistic value is diminished and it gives the audience an out. Now, I’m not saying great art can’t illuminate Truth; it often does! What I am saying is, propaganda, no matter the message, is basically always not great art.

I’ve read four or five of Alcorn’s previous novels, plus a couple of his nonfiction tomes. If you’re curious to try his fiction, I’d suggest starting with Safely Home or Deadline.

Rating: 1.5 stars

About the author
Randy Alcorn is the founder and director of Eternal Perspective Ministries. Before starting EPM in 1990 he was a pastor. He and his wife live in Oregon.

Other reviews
Have you reviewed this book? Leave me a link and I’ll add it here.

I received this book from the publisher. I am an Amazon Associate and receive a small commission on sales through my affiliate links.

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