The Tzer Island book blog features book reviews written by TChris, the blog's founder.  I hope the blog will help readers discover good books and avoid bad books.  I am a reader, not a book publicist.  This blog does not exist to promote particular books, authors, or publishers.  I therefore do not participate in "virtual book tours" or conduct author interviews.  You will find no contests or giveaways here.

The blog's nonexclusive focus is on literary/mainstream fiction, thriller/crime/spy novels, and science fiction.  While the reviews cover books old and new, in and out of print, the blog does try to direct attention to books that have been recently published.  Reviews of new (or newly reprinted) books generally appear every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.  Reviews of older books appear on occasional weekends.  Readers are invited and encouraged to comment.  See About Tzer Island for more information about this blog, its categorization of reviews, and its rating system.

Friday
Nov052010

Shadow of the Wolf by Brent Ghelfi

Published by Henry Holt and Co. on July 8, 2008 (also published under the title Volk's Shadow)

In Volk's Game, Brent Ghelfi created an intriguing character: an emotionally damaged Russian patriot who is filled with contradictions: a ruthless killer who feels compassion for widows and wounded veterans; a thief who dispenses charity; a man who questions his capacity for love while sacrificing himself for the sake of love. The character of Volk develops further in Shadow of the Wolf.

The story takes place six months after the conclusion of Volk's Game, and I suspect a reader would be a bit confused diving into this book without reading the first one. The complex and occasionally confusing plot pits Volk against terrorists and politicians, brings him into contact with American and Russian spies, and takes him back to Chechnya, where he lost his leg and perhaps his soul. All of this (backed by plenty of violence) would be routine stuff in thriller world except that Volk continues a path of personal growth that began in Volk's Game: he begins to question the conflict with Chechnya and the role he played in it; he starts to wonder if the man he has become is the man he wants to be. Like the first novel, the story is a fun read, but the well drawn main character is what really makes it worthwhile.

RECOMMENDED

Thursday
Nov042010

The Gift of Stones by Jim Crace

First published in 1988

The Gift of Stones tells a story that works on both a micro and a macro level.  It is the story of civilization making the transition from the Stone Age to the Bronze Age as seen from the perspective of a few individuals living in a small village of stoneworkers.  The villagers are skilled craftsmen; they live comparatively well, trading carefully-fashioning tools and arrowheads for food and other goods furnished by farmers and hunters.  They don't know that their way of living is coming to an end.

When a horseman shoots a boy with an arrow, causing the boy to lose his arm, he cannot work as a stoneworker and so becomes a storyteller.  His stories are inspired by what he has seen a day’s walk from the village, including a woman and daughter who live by the sea.  The woman whores herself and lives meagerly until the spring when geese arrive and provide a feast of eggs and goose meat.  The boy takes an interest in them that they don't entirely welcome.  When events force them to choose between moving or starving, however, the woman and daughter accompany the boy to the village.  Having no skills, their lives continues to be difficult despite the help the boy tries to provide.  As a storyteller, he represents the conscience of the village, but most of the villagers have little use for a conscience.

Late in the novel, a tragedy occurs that involves a bronze arrowhead.  The arrowhead heralds the coming of the Bronze Age and the end of village life -- the villagers recognize that bronze is superior to stone and that their skills will no longer serve them.  The storyteller is the only villager whose career cannot be supplanted by new discoveries or technologies:  he continues to act as a guide for those who are willing to listen.

The Gift of Stones is a parable, a lesson in the enduring role of the artist in a society that inevitably changes.  The novel can also be read as a comment on the natural bonding of societies (in this case, the village of craftsmen) and their intolerance of outsiders.   But The Gift of Stones is also a moving story of individuals confronting forces that they are powerless to affect.  Crace's elegant prose reminds us of what it is to be human, even in the context of the distant past. The story is simple but powerful and Crace tells it so gracefully that the novel is a joy to read.

HIGHLY RECOMMENDED

Wednesday
Nov032010

Anvil of Stars by Greg Bear

 

First published in 1992

Anvil of Stars is a mildly disappointing sequel to the mildly disappointing The Forge of God.  With the help of friendly aliens, a group of survivors of the cataclysm described in the first novel begin a quest to hunt down the unfriendly aliens who caused that catastrophe.  Most of the novel describes the factions and in-fighting that develop in the ship-bound society of youngsters seeking vengeance (or justice, depending on your point of view), as well as the training they undergo. A lot of it was repetitive and dull.

More interesting was the joining of the Earth ship with the aliens from another ship on the same mission. The aliens were well-conceived. In both physical description and behavior, they seemed truly alien, and therefore credible--as opposed to television aliens who seem like humans with funny hair, or movie aliens who seem like lizards.

The other interesting aspect of the novel concerns the conflict that developed between those who want at all costs to wipe out the species that destroyed the Earth (even in the absence of conclusive evidence of their responsibility) and those who worry they might be destroying innocents--ancestors who did not make the decision to attack the Earth and who may disagree with it, or a different alien race that had nothing to do with the attack. That moral dilemma poses no easy solution, and Bear does a good job of portraying both viewpoints fairly. This would have been a better novel if more emphasis had been placed on that conflict and less on training sessions.  In the end, the dilemma is resolved in a satisfying manner. I would have enjoyed the novel more if it had arrived at that resolution much more quickly.

RECOMMENDED WITH RESERVATIONS

Monday
Nov012010

The Librarian by Larry Beinhart

Published by Nation Books on August 25, 2004

Alan Stowe, an elderly man of great wealth and power, hires David Goldberg, a university librarian, to act as his personal librarian, sorting and recording the papers he's collected during his life. Stowe is a conservative backer of the president (a thinly disguised George Bush) in his bid for reelection. Soon people are trying to kill Goldberg because they believe his perusal of the papers has caused him to discover the plot they've prepared to steal the election.

If you put politics aside (which some readers will probably be unable to do), what's left is an entertaining thriller that charges along at a furious pace. The characters tend to be thin and the relationship between Goldberg and the beautiful woman who may or may not be on his side is improbable at best, but the inventive and action-filled story nonetheless entertains.

RECOMMENDED

Saturday
Oct302010

Volk's Game by Brent Ghelfi

Publsihed by Henry Holt and Co. on June 12, 2007

Volk's Game is a fast paced thriller with an abundance of violence that would seem gratuitous were it not for the carefully drawn characters Brent Ghelfi created to drive the story. Colonel Volk lost his leg fighting Chechen separatists while his beautiful (and dangerous) young friend and lover Valya carries emotional scars from that same conflict. The backstory explains why both characters so readily resort to violence, but it is a tribute to Ghelfi's deft storytelling that, as the story unfolds (and continuing into the next book), they begin to question their own bitterness and wonder if some better life might be possible.

Volk works for "the General" in a clandestine role, while also managing his own small-scale criminal enterprise and trying to keep Maxim (a powerful crime boss) happy. Volk's current assignment involves the theft of an unknown Da Vinci masterpiece that has been hidden in an art gallery. During the course of events Volk is betrayed by nearly everyone.

Volk is a complex character: a criminal who works for himself, for other criminals and for the Russian Army (i.e., for his country, which he fiercely loves); a ruthless and (mostly) remorseless assassin who finds time to dispense charity to war veterans and their widows; a man who, despite questioning his capacity for love, displays the self-sacrifice that is love's greatest measure. The secondary characters are a bit one-dimensional and the plot, while tight, is more than a little improbable -- but improbable plot twists are standard in the thriller genre. The story's background seems to have been well researched. All told, I thought this was a fun, enjoyable read.

RECOMMENDED