Karl Burnett
The Magicians is an interesting book - a postmodern take on Harry Potter and the Narnia books. The main character is highly intelligent, but depressed and lonely. Even when his dreams come true, and he gets to attend a magical school for potential wizards, he discovers that it isn't what he would hope it would be. The main theme of the book seems to be that contentment won't be handed to you, and you should make your own happiness. Or perhaps the theme is ‘wherever you go, there you are'.
Several reviews I've seen complain that despite the book telling us how academically clever Quentin (the protagonist) is, he doesn't seem especially intelligent. However I think Q is very much like some of the super-intelligent people I've met, brilliant at learning, lousy at reading people, social interaction and understanding subtext, and therefore is quite a unusual character in this kind of book.
I liked this book a lot, although occasionally I felt like it was giving me a kicking. Some of it is a bit predictable, but it was an enjoyable read that posed some fascinating questions and successfully brought a level of adult sophistication to an area that seemed to not mesh with that kind of Chabon-esque literature.
8/10
I very much enjoyed this book. A mash-up of steampunk, zombies, alternate history and boys-own war story, it was perhaps in serious danger of over-egging the pudding, but fortunately the author avoids that and instead manages to create a fast moving, rip-roaring yarn.
The creation of ‘corpse gas' by German scientists has driven the Great War to last much longer than perhaps it should. Reanimated corpses of both German and Allied soldiers attack the Allies, forcing the war into a nightmarish stalemate. Other zombie soldiers seem to have held on to their personality, the most famous of these being The Bloody Red Baron, Von Richtofen himself, who plays a major part in this book. It's the Baron who sets the events of this tale off, as he shoots down American flying Ace Major Jack Freeman. Freeman's half-brother, Captain Michael Burke and his team of fighting men is dispatched to rescue him, as Freeman is more important than a normal soldier...
Nassise creates a fascinating tale that, while fantastic, feels grounded and credible. Some of the characters in Burke's squad are somewhat underdeveloped, and the novel isn't quite as clever as Kim Newman's The Bloody Red Baron, which it will invariably be compared to. It is however a lot of fun, and Nassise has a steady and assured style of writing that makes his prose a pleasure to read. I would recommend it to fans of alt-history and steampunk novels, especially if they enjoy a bit of horror too!
7.5/10
I adore the Temeraire series of books with a passion, and am happy to spend time with Ms. Novik's characters, but sadly this was the weakest book in the series so far. The politics are a bit muddy, and a large chunk of the book is spent with the characters seemingly meandering about, initially with no real sense of purpose. It picked up towards the end, but there wasn't quite enough plot to fill the book.
This is not to say that I hated it, I for the most part found it enjoyable. The writing style is easy and entertaining and most of the characters are likeable and/or interesting. I am eagerly awaiting the next book in the series (I know it's out, I'm just waiting for the price to come down) and I'm sure I'll enjoy it.
I just hope Temeraire and Laurence get a bit more to do in it.