Thunder and Lightning

Rating system:
5 = Outstanding     4 = Good     3 = Fair     2 = Poor     1 = Awful

Books and movies consumed in 2009:

The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss – This epic fantasy is Harry Potter for adults. Young Kvothe is looking for his parents’ killers, as well as seeking an education and means to support himself, yet he is beset by dozens of real-world problems: money, classism, romance, legal trouble, dragons, money… It’s a great read, but you’ll have to wait for the next volumes in the series to get any resolution. [more] 4/5

Acacia by David Anthony Durham – This epic fantasy…was so similar to so many things I’ve read recently that I couldn’t get past page 40. Combine the lack of originality with a writing style that focuses on exposition instead of character or action and you’ve got something that I can’t get more than 40 pages into. [more] 2/5

The Blade Itself by Joe Abercrombie – This dark fantasy novel delivers many of the best features of George RR Martin’s series A Song of Ice and Fire, such as a large diverse cast with many POV characters and bloody action. Unfortunately, this novel is just a set up for the next one, which makes The Blade Itself not even a Book Itself. [more] 3/5

Aztec Autumn by Gary Jennings – This work of historical fiction recounts Aztec warrior Tenamaxtli’s rebellion against the Spanish in 16th century Mexico. The historical exploration of the region, its cultures, and the events of the period are fascinating, but the facts don’t seem to play well with the flow of the narrative. [more] 3/5

District 9 directed by Neill Blomkamp – This debut film is a solid, gritty, violent, and dynamic science fiction allegory about apartheid in South Africa. It features excellent effects, writing, direction, and acting, but the rather obvious story (and its lack of a real hero) may leave you a bit bored or disappointed, despite all of its other excellent qualities. [more] 3/5

Saturn’s Children by Charles Stross – This novel about robotic society after the fall of humanity is rich with bizarre characters, exotic settings, and clever ideas about how such a civilization might function. The spy-mystery plot is a bit uneven, and the hard science may turn some readers off, but it’s worth reading just to dunk your head in something new, different, and challenging. [more] (3/5)

Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen directed by Michael Bay – This sequel delivers more of the same from the original, a lot more. More robots, more characters, more action, more jokes. Fans of the franchise should appreciate all the nods to the vast Transformers mythos, and fans of summer action movies should get their ticket’s worth as well. People who hate shaky action, toilet humor, and confusing “plots” should probably look elsewhere. [more] (3/5)

Equilibrium directed by Kurt Wimmer – This debut offering from writer/director Wimmer is a retelling of the Fahrenheit 451 and 1984 dystopian futures, as well as an action film that blends excessive gunplay with kung fu. The result is not only exciting but artful, most of the time, although genre fans should not expect to see anything they haven’t seen in other films before. [more] (4/5)

Star Runners directed by Mat King – This Sci Fi movie-of-the-week borrows heavily from Star Wars, Pitch Black, Starship Troopers, and Firefly. It also features (surprisingly) two solid actors. So while the rest of the cast and much of the effects are quite lame, this Sci Fi offering is unusually watchable. [more] (3/5)

Wonder Woman directed by Lauren Montgomery – This animated film delivers an action-packed origin story about Princess Diana and the Amazon conflict with Ares, god of war. With a great voice cast and solid animation, the team at DC / Warner have created another excellent installment in their film line. [more] (4/5)

The Difference Engine by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling - This classic work of steampunk alternate history paints a vivid portrait of a Victorian world both enriched and devastated by technologies and politics that never were. Unfortunately, the wandering attention paid to the meager excuse of a plot left this reviewer unsatisfied. [more] (3/5)

Star Trek directed by JJ Abrams – This reboot of the classic franchise might just make Trek relevant again as action adventure with a charismatic ensemble of heroes who take their scientific genius as given and focus a little more on being heroic. And hilariously human. (Or non-human.) The plot is Swiss cheese, but the experience is solid gold. [more] (4/5)

Steampunk by Ann and Jeff Vandermeer - This short story anthology provides a sweeping look at stories about scientists, steam-robots, golems, human-salamanders, terraforming the moon, and of course, airships. Some stories are old fashioned adventures, but others are more complex, or even disturbing. [more] (3/5)

The Departed directed by Martin Scorsese - This Boston-based crime drama delivers some outstanding performances by its who’s-who cast of Hollywood heavyweights, but the blood-spattered conclusion may feel like a lazy or convenient way to wrap things up and roll the credits. [more] (4/5)

The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen by Alan Moore – This graphic novel brings together the most exciting characters in 19th century literature to do battle with a rather unexciting villain over a completely unexciting MacGuffin. Neither the art or the writing really shine, but the concept and the setting are reason enough to thumb through it if you find Captain Nemo, the Invisible Man, Mr. Hyde, and Allan Quatermain flying airships over London at all cool. Which it is. [more] (3/5)

Lion’s Blood by Steven Barnes - This alternate history tells the story of Aidan, a European slave taken by his African masters to the New World. The concept begins powerfully in reversing the black/white historical narrative of slavery in America, but all too quickly it becomes a Hollywood tale in which the good guys win and (oddly enough) the white guy walks away happier than anyone else. [more] (3/5)

Watchmen directed by Zack Snyder – This adaptation of a landmark graphic novel is itself a landmark film. While fans and critics may debate its specific merits or flaws, the movie succeeds as a work of art. It should not exist by modern commercial film standards, and yet by some miracle it does exist in all of its violent, sexual, and morally challenging complexity. [more] (5/5)

Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman – This piece of urban fantasy fluff suffers from the same problems as Neverwhere. The characters are not very sympathetic, the events are not terribly logical, and the author refuses to keep his comments, his tangents, and his superfluous jokes to himself. [more] (2/5)

The Plague by Albert Camus – A dull and lifeless story about a town besieged by bubonic plague, this bafflingly bad book did not prevent the author winning the Nobel Prize for literature in 1957, despite its lack of personal detail, absence of engaging story lines, and obsession with bland exposition about, for example, how corpses were disposed of. [more] (2/5)

Kitty and the Midnight Hour by Carrie Vaughn – A clever and refreshing spin on contemporary urban fantasy, this tale of a werewolf radio DJ’s average and not-so-average problems include explorations of supernatural politics, law, romance, feminism, and other practical matters one needs to deal with when transformed into a creature of the night. [more] (4/5)

Dandelion Wine by Ray Bradbury – A somewhat sentimental portrait of a small town in the summer of 1928, this classic story about a boy’s quest for understanding about life and his desire to preserve the beauty of his home takes on deeper meanings as the various tales of the townspeople become intertwined around the theme of death, both tragic and otherwise. [more] (5/5)

The Sparrow by Mary Doria Russell – A carefully crafted work of science fiction and religious debate, this novel spoils most of its own surprises through heavy-handed narration and the conclusion is more open-ended than this reader likes, but genre fans should enjoy the quality of the world Russell creates, the people who inhabit it, and the concepts she explores. [more] (3/5)

The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde – Dynamic and fast-paced, this literary roller-coaster only stops to let the author wax philosophical about literary theory. If you like literature, and you don’t mind the “witty” character names, you’ll probably enjoy this quick read. [more] (3/5)

Summer Knight by Jim Butcher – An atmospheric urban fantasy about a Chicago detective/wizard, this series spawned a short-lived show on SciFi that wasn’t half bad. The supernatural world of Harry Dresden is a bit all over the map, and there are a lot of things that need explaining, so you might find it a bit slow and, well, dull. [more] (2/5)

Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman – A novelization of a popular TV miniseries, this urban fantasy delivers lots of strangeness and action but few explanations or introspections. Characters gallop from plot point to plot point, but there’s no real understanding of how the world of London Below works, or why we should care. [more] (2/5)

Circus of the Damned by Laurell K. Hamilton – Third in the Anita Blake vampire hunter series, this urban fantasy hits the pavement running and manages to keep up the pace. The violence and horror are tangible, the world is believable, and the heroine is engaging. If you like chicks in leather shooting vampires, you can’t go wrong. [more] (4/5)

London Bridges by James Patterson – Tenth in the Alex Cross thriller series, this entry just goes to show that all you need is name recognition to create a “bestseller.” Patterson phones it in with a senseless stream of chases, escapes, and reveals and that drag on and on for no particular reason except to extend the length of the book. [more] (1/5)

Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris – Book 6 in the Southern Vampire Mysteries, this book is clearly geared toward readers who need to be kept informed about what retail outlet the heroine bought her lawn furniture at before moving on to the oh-so-infrequent episodes of vampiric or werewolfic carnage. [more] (2/5)

Meditations by Marcus Aurelius – Never intended for publication, these private musings on life and morality reveal a fascinating portrait of this Roman Emperor. This slim volume belongs in any collection on philosophy, morality, theology, or sociology as Aurelius asks the reader to consider the importance of existence and action against the endless stream of time. [more] (5/5)