Reading Round-Up

I’ve had a few interesting reads on my plate lately.

I recently finished The Warlord and The Conqueror by David Drake and S.M. Stirling, which are two books containing the five book story arc of General Raj Whitehall. Loosely based on the eastern Roman General Belisarius, Whitehall is tasked with reuniting a far future world that has fallen to barbarism. Aided by a sentient computer that is a remnant of the fall of civilization, he leads a small, well-trained force on a bloody campaign across his planet, eventually reuniting the disparate peoples under one banner. The action is gritty and detailed, with Drake’s flair for translating Roman history into fiction and Stirling’s penchant for grim characters. I had previously read two of the five books in this series, but was pleasantly surprised to find all of them in the two omnibus editions. If you like military fiction, whether science fiction or not, these books are a must read.

Butcher’s continuation of the Dresden files isn’t Hugo or Nebula worthy, but it is escapist and mindless. It is just the thing to unwind over a lunch break or read in an airport. Book Two, Fool Moon, has some kind of weird plot that is tangled with mob bosses, werewolves, FBI special agents, and tabloid reporters. I won’t say that I could really make sense of the plot, nor did I find the inevitable twists and turns particularly surprising. I was reading the book for the dry wit of the protagonist and Butcher’s ability to make the ludicrous seem mundane. Butcher accomplished both in spades. It’s almost like watching a well-done “B” movie.

I am pleasantly surprised by Michael Stackpole’s Talion. It is a fantasy novel that seems pretty generic on the surface. Had I picked this up in the bookstore, I would have put it back on the shelf, especially in light of the fact that Stackpole’s writing chops come from his Rogue Squadron series of Star Wars novels. Writing marketable fan fiction is not a quality that I would think gives one the ability to write high fantasy, but I’m happy to say that I was wrong. The main character in this novel is both good and just, and Stackpole understands how making those things happen in the same character can complicate things. The world building isn’t quite up to par; you can tell that he has dwelt mainly in the playgrounds of others, but the minor inconsistencies are not annoying enough to spoil the deft characterization, the deep setting, and the interesting storyline. If Stackpole writes more in this series, I’ll probably go ahead and pick them up.