Blog Prologue...

My Reviews

I will mostly avoid spoilers, but do read each review/ramble at your own risk.

In general, the purpose of my reviews is to capture standalone books and series in such a way as to highlight a few different aspects, aside from just whether or not I liked them…

· Entertainment value

o Is the book/series an entertaining read? A page turner? More slow paced and thought provoking? Somehow both at once?

· Literary crafting

o What literary elements shine, as well as which elements fade to the background or struggle.

§ World-building

§ Scope (epic vs. intimate)

§ Character Development

§ Magic/technology

§ Prose

§ Etc.

· Success/failure

o Why I enjoyed (or didn’t enjoy) the book/series, as well as why I think readers at large are drawn to the work

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On Fantasy & Science Fiction

Let’s start with the big picture items…

Sci-fi and Fantasy tend to be lumped together, but they are not one and the same. I think the primary reason they are bound together is that fans of one genre tend to be fans of the other. However, while both genres fall under the umbrella of “speculative fiction” and allow for significant overlap, the core of each genre is very distinct and can head in very different directions. Novels like Dune or movies like Star Wars show elements of each, but the Wheel of Time and C.J. Cherryh’s Alliance-Union could not be more different. Science Fiction often explores “when” rather than “what if”. When we start really exploring space, what might happen. When we exhaust our natural resources, what happens. Fantasy cannot explore a legitimate reality because, by definition, elements of the story must needs be impossible (as far as us muggles are aware). Fantasy also more often than not takes place in a society far in the past, rather than the future, so we literally are talking opposites in some regards.

Second, Sci-Fi/Fantasy books are not just for kids or geeks, they aren’t lesser literature, and they aren’t just pop-culture. Many people look to the Lord of the Rings as the progenitor of Fantasy. It’s not. Tolkien may be the godfather of modern fantasy, but fantasy has been around for as long as books have been. Think The Odyssey, Beowulf, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, etc. Not only are these old, old, old books, but they are also books taught as prime examples of classical literature. I almost never hear these referred to as Fantasy, but of course they are! The fantastical components are usually just considered a sub-element of these stories, but they aren’t “really” fantasy. Bullshit. Fantastical elements are literally the only thing that distinguishes fantasy from everyday literature. For some reason, people seem to think that Fantasy has to mean sword and sorcery, or YA, or some other descriptor that allow literary snobs to smother genre novels in a blanket of irrelevance. But Sci-Fi or Fantasy can run the whole gamut of any metric you want to throw at any fiction book. The odyssey has witches and a pantheon of gods and mythical beasts… that means it can be classified as fantasy. A Midsummer Night’s Dream has fairy kings and queens dictating the plot with love-potions and spells (fantasy!). Beowulf might as well be the archetypal fantasy, with a hero slaying monsters and claiming a crown. Aside from ancient and classical literature, there is plenty of non-genre fantasy that is absolute crap. And there are numerous examples of Fantasy or Sci-Fi whose literary qualities and themes compare to the celebrated literature taught in schools across America. In fact, the current trend in Sci-Fi and Fantasy is to see more and more literary works taking precedent over the military or space opera sci-fi and sword and sorcery epics of the past. Ursula Le Guin, for example, very clearly tackles thematic issues of gender identity and gender politics in many of her works. N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth series delves into otherness and oppression. The fact that these authors are able to contemplate such profound issues, and do so through means other than our shared cultural or political climate lends even more power to their questions. It matters not if you agree with the author’s points of view, these authors are allowing us the opportunity to explore and discuss issues in a new environment and to look at things from an out-of-the-box perspective. Novels like Cyteen or Ancillary Justice delve into fascinating perspectives on self-identification and character development. The prose and attention to detail of The Name of the Wind; the complexity and scope of A Song of Ice and Fire; I could go on and on. Science Fiction and Fantasy are way more than the crappy beach read of the nerds. There are pop-sci-fi military vs. alien novels and crappy fantasy romance, and everything you could imagine; some of which I’m sure are great fun and worthwhile enjoyment, but Sci-Fi/fantasy can also explore every thematic issue, and master (or fail) at every literary skill, just like a real novel! If you limit your understanding of genre fiction to its stereotypes, you are missing out on an absolute treasure trove of excellent literature that just happens to fall into different genres.