Brent's Blog

maybe again someday...

Instead of doing anything mildly productive, I will instead discuss some of the books that I have recently read.

The Man in the High Castle: One of Philip K Dick's better known works, The Man in the High Castle is the story of a post WWII America in which the Allies lost. It is an interesting tale, and one worth reading. There is really a lack of much to talk about concerning this book, especially as it is so short. But the core of the book is pure Dick, with the dark futuristic setting and likeable characters. And considering it was written in 1962, with race relations the way they were back then one would wonder about his intent in writing a world in which Chinese are barely people and being Jewish is a crime punishable only by a painful death. The Germans upon winning WWII, take it upon themselves to "sterilize" Africa, which they accomplish in less than ten years. So anyways I'm sure he also had many deeper meanings hidden in his work about reality and the nature of free will, but discussing those themes in any depth would ruin the book in a way.

Dark Elf Trilogy / The Icewind Dale Trilogy: R. A. Salvatore actually wrote twelve books in this series, I've only read the first six, but it seems to be a good standard fantasy series. I really like the main character of the series because being of the evil race of drow elves who inhabit the underdark, he's not a typical ranger. So I'd say it's worthwhile reading if you would enjoy a romp in a decent fantasy land.

Icarus Hunt: I must say that I respect Timothy Zahn as much as any other contemporary Sci-Fi author. His environment creation follows the more contemporary style of the "used future" concept popularized by Star Wars. Unlike his predecessors, Clarke and Asimov notably, who created visions of a pristine spotless tomorrow, Zahn's universe is gritty populated by all manner of unsavory aliens and seedy bars. Anyways the story itself is good and action-packed, with the main characters being perused across the galaxy by sinister forces. I was dissatisfied with the ending however, it felt way too much like the "wrap-up time" of an episode of Scooby-Doo. But the 430 pages before that were thoroughly enjoyable.

Anywho those are a few of the books I've been reading lately. And since nothing interesting is happening I was compelled to describe them to you in incoherent detail. This post has taken me all day with stopping in the middle of sentences and stuff so I apologize for that. Anyways it's late now and I'm off to bed.

¶ 11:54 AM

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