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Here we are at the quarter mark of this year's 52 Book Challenge. By last month we'd already finished 9 books: so even if I only finish three books this month we should average out to where I think we should be. This month I'm addressing another theme I said I'd get around to back in the preview show. It's all the books this month are written by people who have also written comic books. Okay- really two guys well known for writing comic books and one who has written comics but is really best known for novels. Since all of you hate these pathetically worded intros let's just get down to business.
- Psi-Man Book Five - Stalker by Peter David (Incredible Hulk) :
If you liked the previous four Psi-Man books, I have a surprise for you. You're going to like this one too. This time Chuck Simon is on an out of control bullet train with a covert ops team that wants to kill him, a shapeshifting psychopath who wants to kill him (and the covert ops team) and Chuck's ex-wife. To break with expectations, she is one of three characters in the whole book who doesn't want to see him dead. The stakes are a little higher in this book, there is a little more gore and a little less comedy than the previous books. It is much more of a sci-fi horror tale than the rest of the series, which to date has been sci-fi action-comedy. Otherwise it is what you'd expect. Chuck fights a guy with powers. Chuck gets into a telepathic argument with his dog. He loses. That happens in every Psi-Man book I've read. Overall, it is a lot less predictable than The Chaos Kid. There was only one character's death I really predicted. Then again I generally don't read horror. A nameless esteemed colleague would have seen it coming a mile away and been able to tell me exactly which Stephen King book Mr. David stole it from.
- Psi-Man Book Six - Haven by Peter David (Fallen Angel) [Book of the Month]:
The Psi-Man books have always run the gamut from sci-fi, comedy, action to spy thriller. The question remains, which form would the sixth and final book of the series take? The answer is- all of the above. It is jam packed. Every little subplot left on the back burner since the first book comes to a boil. Every possible loose end reaches an explosive conclusion. All the Psi-Man books are short- but this one had such thrust that it seems even shorter than the rest of them. That's mainly because it leaves no time for dull moments. Chuck has lost his memory of the past few weeks. He tries to find it again and his usual luck kicks in. If it wasn't for bad luck, he wouldn't have any. Every villain from the series, save for Stalker, return to hunt Chuck. A character who had previously been a wild card finally chooses a side. The ending leads to a battle royale and an ending that makes you hungry for more. The type of hunger you know will never be satisfied but perhaps the series is better for it. As always the series is filled with plenty of inside gags. My favorite- being an avid reader of Star Trek novels- is one of the characters reading an old sci-fi novel called Vendetta. Which is coincidentally one of the first Peter David works I ever read.
- Firstflight by Chris Claremont (Uncanny X-Men):
Never before has the influence of Heinlein on Claremont's work been more clear. Take your average, rough and tough novice space pilot character from a Robert Heinlein novel and make it a woman. Then take the typical quirky, plucky sidekick and ex-lover who is probably destined to die and make it a guy. Then spend half your book on character development, sex and world building. Then once you hit that magic half way point with almost nothing happening only to have things begin to happen in such rapid succession that the deliberately slow pace suddenly begins to make sense. Throw in a few mysteries that don't actually get resolved and you have a book. In all seriousness, I enjoyed the read. The technical aspects of the book, while nothing new, were filled with nice touches. The emotional connections between the characters were strong. Many (but not all) of them got a chance to be fully fleshed out. Claremont actually gets you to care about some of the characters who die and are very clearly canon fodder from the get go. There are a few amusing jokes that only people who have read 80s X-Men comics will get. If the book has any major flaws they are: 1) there are about twenty five pages where there is nothing going on. No character development. No technical explanations. No world building. Nada. 2) While the book has a fairly satisfactory conclusion- Claremont is still Claremont. I'm not quite sure if he really wanted to write three novels of 250-350 pages each or one 920 some odd page book. The unclear ending really works in comics but unless advertised on the front cover of a book- it can get somewhat agitating.
- Grounded! by Chris Claremont (New Mutants):
To start with- my concern about whether or not this was really a trilogy or one big book chopped into three chunks is no less clear now than it was with the first book. Secondly- it has a similar flaw as Firstflight. It takes a 125 pages to really get going. In this instance, Claremont does a lot with those 125 or so pages that you don't realize he's doing it at first. This one is a sci-fi thriller/mystery and a lot of time is spent developing the suspects. You begin to care about them as characters and hope they aren't the bad guy. However as one of the contributing writers to the Chris Claremont drinking game- I don't recommend playing it with this book. For every strong female character sip. (Slurp, slurp.) For every red head, sip twice. (Slurp, slurp, slurp, slurp, slurp, slurp) plus a chug a piece for every adolescent girl who is a zillion times smarter than she should be, every pair of psychic twins, each chapter set in an illusion or virtual reality and two chugs for every character who gets mind controlled. I'm sorry, you've reached 51% blood alcohol levels by the end of chapter five. A lot of the pieces involving virtual reality must have seemed new, hip and cool when the book was released back in 1991. Now they seem kind of old hat. References to the first Gulf war still having an impact on the world of the late 21st century seem a little odd. The fact that Claremont had the second one start in the 2020s is sadly optimistic. This book has some advantages over Firstflight- the characters seem a little more developed. Once the action starts going it is a much faster and is a much better read. It takes longer to get there but it is not a clear cut good guys versus bad guys story. That makes it much more rewarding. The only real misfire is the mind controlled attempt to assassinate the president subplot. We've all seen that one too many times. The Manchurian Candidate being just one of many. In fact I'm fairly certain this isn't even the first time Chris Claremont has used that story. Overall- in spite of the number of jokes I made about it- I rather liked this book.
- Star Trek: Shadows on the Sun by Michael Jan Friedman (Darkstars):
When it comes to Star Trek novels, Friedman is (usually*) one of the best. This is one of the books that shows off why. First he shoves James T. Kirk as far out of the book as he possibly can. Secondly- he creates an interesting new planet that, at least in the flashback portions, has some really interesting Prime Directive issues. Then he hands the story over to one of the most endearing characters in the Star Trek universe- Leonard H. McCoy. The story utilizes some of the lost background material created by D.C. Fontana and DeForest Kelly- a fact that Friedman acknowledges. However the way it is used is pure Friedman. As always- Star Trek books are not great literature. At best they are episodes or movies that should have been. This book is golden. It was hard not to imagine Karl Urban in the young McCoy scenes and DeForest Kelly in the main story. It is the best Star Trek book I've read so far this year.
*That is- if you can just forget Star Trek: The Next Generation/X-Men: Planet X was ever written. It's been a year since I read it and I'm doubled over from that one.
Next: Boldly Going - Again!
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