Andrew Mayden

By Andrew Mayden

These are some of books I’ve read so far in twenty eighteen, with a brief summary of the book and what I learned from it. This is more than just whether or not I liked the book, but a reflection on what specific points worked and what things didn’t.

The list is in approximate chronological order.

Song of Susannah by Stephen King – This is the second to last volume in King’s Dark Tower series. This book is noteworthy in that this is the first book in which Stephen King actually writes himself into the book. A fictionalized version of Stephen King gets a chance to meet Roland and Eddie and have a talk with them.
This type of story device is referred to as metafiction. The story recognized itself on some level as a piece of fiction. Some find this to be self-important and even a little pretentious. I did not find it pretentious at all. It was handled as well as could be expected with King’s typical authenticity.

Dragonlance Lost Chronicles: Dragons of the Dwarven Depths, Dragons of the Highlord Sky, Dragons of the Hourglass Mage by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman – This is my junk read. Like McDonald’s. It’s a nostalgia trip for me as I read a lot of Dragonlance back in high school. The core books by Margaret Weis and Tracey Hickman are obviously among the best of the Dragonlance line.

Wild Ginger by Anchee Min – A book set in China during the cultural revolution. It is a coming of age story about a young Chinese girl, her mixed race best friend (named Wild Ginger), and the boy they both love. The plot consists of a teenage drama against the backdrop of the cultural shifts and political upheaval of the time. This is a quick read as it is a short book, which it kind of has to be, as the plot is pretty thin.

A Corpse in the Koryo by James Church – This book turned out to be a great find. Inspector O is a series of books about a police inspector in Pyongyang. It’s a hard boiled detective story, vaguely noir, set against the bizarre backdrop of North Korea.
I grew up watching Star Trek. What I learned from this book is that North Korea is as close to a real life Cardassia as you will ever find. The bureaucracy is stifling, the factions and wings within the government compete with one another almost like rival gangs. It is a world rife with corruption, mistrust and a general feeling that survival means keeping your head down.
Inspector O is a gruff, no nonsense guy living in a world of total nonsense. It read like a really good Constable Odo/ Gul Dukat episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. But it was more interesting because it was real, not science fiction.

Hidden Moon by James Church – Sequel to A Corpse in the Koryo. These are stand alone mysteries, but some character background and interactions do follow from one novel to the next. So, I suggest reading them in order.

Eternity Road by Jack McDevitt – This post apocalyptic novel is set in the distant future when humanity has rebuilt civilization. There is a history of hundreds of years since a plague destroyed our world. The story is simple. It’s about a group that sets out on a journey across the former United States to find a lost collection of books that survived from the Roadmaker’s time.
Enemy Women by Paulette Jiles – A civil war novel about a woman living in southern Missouri who gets arrested for southern sympathies. She falls in love with her Union jailor and later escapes with plans to meet him again.
This is part of my attempt to break out and read things that I wouldn’t normally have read. I enjoyed reading about the backdrop of the Civil War, but the main story was uninspiring.

Bamboo and Blood by James Church – the third Inspector O novel. I am not finished with this book however, it seems very tightly written and very well plotted.

The Dark Tower by Stephen King – This book ends Stephen King’s Dark Tower series.
Overall I give the series a solid A, but can’t quiet bring myself to give it that extra plus. When the series is on, it’s freaking on. I loved the scenes where King wrote himself into the story, and I loved the action sequences and most of the plot threads. The characters were strong and dynamic, all four of the main characters taken through a successful story arc.
But when the story was not running on all cylinders, God did it feel bloated. For example, there are so many different ways in which people from Mid-World can get to Earth and back again. Each time Stephen King wants characters to flip over, he invents a new way. By the end of the series it becomes a bit convoluted.

Under the Dome by Stephen King – A post apocalyptic novel about a city cut off from the rest of the world behind an indestructible force field.
This book was well researched, the science behind it was believable, with weather patterns changing, carbon emissions building up on the surface of the dome, and trees wilting from the atmospheric changes. The characters were believable and mostly well written. King is good at giving each character a unique voice so that it really felt like an entire community of individuals.
My problem with the book comes down to one thing. The villain. Big Jim was a comic book villain who was so obviously supposed to be the bad guy, that it was unbelievable. He takes over the city and rules with an iron fist. Strong centralized leadership is not necessarily a bad thing. I would rather have seen both sides of this issue given merit.
I was hoping Big Jim would have died maybe seventy five percent of the way through, then the community fall into disarray. Suddenly his iron fisted rule is seen in a different light because nothing would get done by committee. I imagine the survivors arguing during the town meeting, with different points of view expressed, and no single leader to make the hard choices.
Was his declaration of martial law necessary? Where do you draw the line between the good of the community and the rights of the individual? These are complex topics that are in no way explored in this book.