Book Review

Well, I visited The Evil Bookstore today (Pulp Fiction, as opposed to The Other Evil Store) and picked up a number of books. As you do. I actually remembered to use some vouchers from there, for a change, as well. :)

The books (in no particular order)
Stardust, by Neil Gaiman; (Gaiman always tells a good story, even when I've heard it before)
Sir Apropros Of Nothing, by Peter David; (I remember his work on X-Factor - this should be bloody funny)
When The Devil Dances, by John Ringo; (Mobile Infantry! Need I say more? Third in a series)
The Difference Engine, by William Gibson and Bruce Sterling (Steampunk! Steampunk!) (And hopefully no AI's loose on the 'Net!)
Last Call, by Tim Powers(An RPG I like the look of called Unknown Armies is apparently heavily influenced by this guy's modern stuff - is supposed to be very good.)

So, I figured I'd start reviewing these books as I finished them. By happy coincidence, I finished Stardust at work tonight (it was a short book, after all).

Stardust is a fairy tale, right enough. The final denoument became apparent to me about halfway through the book, and I wasn't paying a huge amount of attention. For some reason, though, Gaiman was able to keep the story interesting, regardless. Apart from a sex scene in the first chapter (oh, and a single rude word in the second), this is the kind of story one could read to children, but it's not written 'down' in any way. It has Gaiman's trademark fantastic images, especially in the scenes in the Faerie Market (someone was selling storms in eggshells, for instance). It's done in a pseudo-Victorian style, mostly, but that just kind of lends to the air of wonder about it (as well as reminding us of when it's set, I guess).

Is it one of Gaiman's more haunting stories? Naaah. Good triumphs, Evil is vanquished, people learn lessons along the way. (Not that that's a bad thing, but it's straightforward, which is unlike, say, Terry Pratchett's way of accomplishing the same thing.) It's still a pleasant read, and sometimes I think Neil Gaiman visits Faerie just for the ideas. :)

So, I think next up I'll go for some big boomy powersuit fun in When The Devil Dances.

And I have to tell you - the links from the booklist took some very rapid Googling. :)