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Next up on my James Bond audio-book while you drive to work kick: Moonraker

This is Ian Fleming’s 3rd bond book – and considered by many to be one of his best.  It really introduces a number of the re-current character traits and story lines of a Bond novel – and it is a good little story to boot.  In the movie version, we saw Hugo Drax bent on destroying the world via taking a chosen population to space and then gassing the entire world’s population as a bid to ‘restart’ the world.  The book version, as usual with Flemming novels, differs from the movie. But as Bond adaptations go – it’s pretty darn close.

In our story, Hugo Drax is a rich and results-oriented industrialist in charge of an important government contract: the Moonraker project.  Moonraker is a new missile designed to protect Britain by making it capable of dropping warheads on enemy targets around it’s sector of the globe.  The post-WW2/pre-cold war themes are thick in this story line and a great insight into the fears of Fleming’s times.  However, Drax and his scientists on the project are a very mysterious lot with very shadowy backgrounds; but are in charge as they are the only people capable of developing such a technological marvel.

The story starts with us introduced to Bond’s gambling prowess at the high-society, high-stakes gambling club Blades at which M is a member.  Drax has been trouncing people at cards and has raised M’s suspicions of cheating.  Bond is sent in to uncover the methods behind Drax’s winning streak and then brutally turns the tables on him.  Fleming’s description of Drax’s character flaws with its near phrenological, and psychological and character ‘analysis’ is down-right entertaining.  You can hear how a person’s fiber was judged in post-war England – which is thick with derogatory national, racial, and appearance-based evaluations.

After the trouncing by Bond, there is the mysterious death of the Moonraker project’s government overseer just days before the very public test launch meant to show the world Britain’s new might.  Bond is brought in to investigate and make sure nothing interferes with a successful, test-firing of the Moonraker rocket.  He then uncovers the sinister background of the scientists and Drax, as well as their diabolical plan.  As the seconds before the Moonraker is test shot, Bond must find a way to stop their plot and save England.

The plot is solid and simple, the villain overblown, the evil plot gigantic, and the story keeps right on going through the minor plot holes and improbabilities.  Drax makes the first of the now-boilerplate great evil-genius monologs.  In short, it’s everything James Bond story is meant to be and I was loving it.

I give this a solid A- since it’s a great, fast and entertaining read.  It introduces us to many of Bond’s character traits and the action he’s well known for.  Highly recommend.

Next up on my listen-while-you-commute: Live and Let Die by Ian Fleming

Live and Let Die is Ian Fleming’s second novel, which came out pretty quickly after Casino Royal.  This story has a very different tone with Bond traveling to America to battle the nefarious black gangster Mr. Big.

The story starts with someone smuggling and selling large quantities of gold coins in Harlem.  The coins are from old Caribbean pirate treasure long thought lost.  M sends Bond to America where he hooks up CIA agent Felix Leiter to find out who is selling the coins.  Their path soon crosses the gigantic Haitian Mr Big who is behind the coins.  He works for SMERSH and uses voodoo to maintain his control over his minions.  During Bond’s first encounter, he meets Mr Big’s captive fortune-telling girlfriend Solitaire.  He escapes, saves Solitaire, and they head to Florida to follow up on a lead to the source of the smuggling route.  The story then gets thick with Felix being attacked by sharks and Bond heading to Jamaica to search out the source and get revenge for Felix as well as rescue the now-captive Solitaire.  Bond swims through shark infested waters to the island source, is captured, and is nearly killed as Mr Big attempts to drag Solitaire and Bond across the reefs.

It’s a great little story, but certainly different than Fleming’s earlier offerings.  Fleming’s impressions of America via Bond’s observations are humorous and derogatory at times.  His comments about American cars, food, and Florida’s aging retirement population are particularly entertaining/harsh.  It is a good insight into how certain American cultural aspects appear to our foreign friends.  There is plenty of racism in Flemming’s writing about Mr. Big’s and his African American gangsters.  Fleming’s 50’s-era sentiments certainly show.

Despite the sexism/racism/dated descriptions (that likely wouldn’t have been given a second thought in Fleming’s day) it’s a pretty entertaining story.  It contains a caricature-like portrait of America but plenty of action and suspense.  Bond’s seduction of Solitaire is also a strong storyline. This book also introduces a recurrent Bond theme of tropical destinations and shark-infested underwater adventures.  The final scene of Bond being tied behind Mr. Big’s boat and dragged through shark infested waters was used almost exactly in the movie version.

In the end, it was a pretty decent story.  Nothing spectacular, but is much like a fun carnival ride.  Lots of sound and action, but not a ton of substance.  I give it a B.  Recommend.

Shesh!  Book reviews galore.  Looks like I’ve been having too many boring drives home.  Anyway, on to a new book: one of Ian Flemming’s  James Bond stories.

This one is “The Spy Who Loved Me”.  It was another short read at 6 discs, or about 5 days of commuting.  If you’ve never had the honor, you should really read one of Ian Flemming’s Bond books.  The first thing you’ll note is that the movies have just about nothing to do with the stories they are named after.  Sure, there is a character named James Bond who is a spy; a damsel in distress, some evil characters, but that’s where things depart.

In this case, we have the story of a young French Canadian who is working her way across country doing odd jobs as she goes to pay the way.  As our story starts, she is working at a vacation motel at the end of it’s season.  On the last night, some unsavory gentlemen appear as does James Bond (by pure chance).  Bond’s debonair manner and gunplay ensue as he and our night clerk try to figure out and foil our villains’ evil plot without getting killed.  Being a short book, all the adventure really takes place at this one motel  There’s no evil mastermind plotting to destroy the world or counterespionage intrigue.  Just a great little compact story of an adventuresome night spent at a motel.

And for that, it’s a great little story.  Sure, it’s a bit dated with the girls being called dolls and whatnot, but it’s still a pretty good story overall.  Unlike a number of other Bond books, this one doesn’t have as much blatant bigotry you’ll find in some of Fleming’s other novels.  Instead, you get a good little story with some tight action sequences and a good finish.  I enjoyed it.

While nothing earth-shattering will happen here, but it’s still an enjoyable little pulpy adventure. I give it a B.

It appears yet another book is being made into a movie.  This time it’s the John Carter of Mars series by Edgar Rice Burroughs.  I just finished book 1 of this 6 part series – A Princess of Mars.

First off, some interesting tidbits about Edgar Rice Burroughs.   Burroughs had a very difficult early go in life despite his promising start.  He was born to a prosperous family in 1875. He served in the 7th Calvary in WW I but never saw action due to a heart problem.  After his discharge, however, he worked at all sorts of odd and very low-paying jobs such as railroad policeman, office manager, and even pencil sharpener wholesaler.  None of these endeavors were  successful and he and his small family lived in near poverty for many years.  At 35, he wrote the Mars series for All-Stories magazine.  This started his writing career and lead to a great number of works including the most famous, the Tarzan series.

But back to the book.  This was a quick audiobook ‘read’ coming in at only 6 discs, or 6 hours, of listening.  The first thing that will strike you is the tone.  You can tell this was written in turn of the 1900’s language and style.  The men speak more like English gentlemen and the ‘science’ part of the sci-fi is problematic and dated to say the least. Still, he does get a number of things partly right – which is pretty good considering what was known of other planets at the time.

Our hero, John Carter, is transported to Mars via an encounter in a mystical cave.  Once there, he has the strength of 20 men and can leap great distances with little effort due to the low gravity of Mars.  He encounters the warlike green men of Mars and earns a place with them through combat.  During his adventures with the green men, he meets the captured humanoid princess Dejah Thoris.  His attempts to win her hand and save both her and her city Helium from various armies leads to epic battles and adventures.

The battles and fights certainly portray the signs of Burroughs’ times.  There are clear echos of white man vs Indian/’savage tribe’ attitudes, battles that themselves would be considered brutal and morally questionable by today’s standards.  But that does not terribly detract from the story.  In fact, if anything, it add something Burroughs never expected: historical insight.  In many ways, Burroughs’ writing echos the prevailing attitudes towards indigenous peoples and what was considered the height of culture and understanding of his days.  It’s a good reminder to always have a healthy dose of skepticism as to our own perceived ‘we know much better and are so much more sophisticated’ attitudes and political/social agendas.  In some ways, his world is much more civilized such as in the case of the duel-like rules of personal combat.  In others, such as reasons for battle and killing every last man of your enemy, appear barbaric.

Still, with so much story to tell in such a short time – the writing is anything but eloquent.  One person has (mostly correctly) said it reads a lot like an adventure written towards teenage boys.  Sure, you can get some dialog exchanges that are simplistic to a point of being almost comical.  The sci-fi part is clearly dated and wrong in many ways.  This isn’t intellectual reading.  But is it a good story and worth the read?  Yep!

It’s a ride at a carnival.  The set pieces and characters are mostly painted walls, and the dangers only as real as you imagine them to be; but that doesn’t make it any less fun.  It’s an escape from the mundane into the somewhat ridiculous and far-flung.   It’s just good fun when you can see beyond the shortcomings and enjoy it for what it is.  A crazy romp to another planet where a southern gentleman meets and falls in love with the most beautiful woman he’s ever met with a pet monster as a bosom friend while swash-buckling his way through epic battles.

Overall, I give it a solid B and I’m looking forward to the movie version as there should be some great opportunities for crazy creatures and epic battles.

Just finished the third and final book of the Hunger Games trilogy.  In this final installment, Katniss is with the rebels and they are in a war to defeat the Capitol.  The stakes are high as she fights along with the other rebels in a winner-take-all war.  There’s not much I can say beyond that without giving out some serious spoilers.  So here they come.  Skip if you don’t want to know anything.

<Spoilers>
I have a lot of criticism for this book.

First off, people drop like flies.  Previous victors are killed off in rapid-fire succession like red-shirts on a Star Trek episode and very little is given to these losses other than passing sentiment.  Peeta is brutally brainwashed by Snow into wanting to kill Katniss.  This powerful story element was mostly flubbed by Collins and it quickly reverts to the tired love triangle theme that just continues to go nowhere for 90% of even this book.  Finally, the killing of her sister Prim has to be one of the most pointless, even sadistic, story elements from a writer I’ve run across in years.   The very fact Prim was where she was *ahead* of the front lines, and that the whole point of the death was to take Gale out of the love-triangle equation by means of some of the most feeble logic I’ve ever heard made me throw my hands up in frustration at Collins.

As a core theme, the love triangle, just gets completely flubbed with cheap moves.  I’d hoped something good would come of it and see our characters bloom into something rich and heartwarming despite the surrounding destruction.  Mostly I just wanted to smack the three of them and Collins’ poor handling.  Despite each of their flaws, I wanted to hear Peeta or Gale have an epiphany and confess their love for her in some heartfelt and real expression of their inner self.  Katniss could have done likewise or actually *chose* one of them.  But instead of this, Collins merely makes Gale out to be a monster (on trumped up charges none-the-less) and Katniss ends up with Peeta kind of by default even though Peeta sees clearly that Katniss never really loved him.   Even this ‘resolution’ you don’t find out until the tacked-on epilogue.  And the reason she’s with Peeta?  The best answer you get is because she ‘owes’ him more as he did more for her earlier.  Really?  That’s why you marry someone? And that’s what you do with a story element going on for 3 books?

For those that at least enjoyed Haymitch’s presence: this staple, interesting and ever-working in the background character in the first books is barely even present in this one.  Felt he was completely under-utilized.

Turning the Capitol into deathtraps, and having custom-bred dogs that whisper Katniss name felt like overdone and feeble attempts to recapture the interesting Hunger Games theme – but mostly didn’t work and it was too little, too late.

The storytelling itself was disjointed and spotty.  Big gaps of time with hard landings left some of the story hard to follow and further exaserbated the feelings of disconnectedness with the characters.

Finally, Katniss.  She suffers badly from PTSD effects through most of the book, several times getting drugged into oblivion so she can just hang on.  She does take on the role of the Mockingjay – but that role never really goes anywhere and Collins absolutely blows a great opportunity to make that a much more powerful symbol.  Instead, all it turns into is a propaganda piece that Katniss herself isn’t very interested in.   But the big failing in my opinion is that Katniss doesn’t seem to grow as a person.  There are a few attempts to protest morally questionable activities like the bombing of the nut in district 2, but that doesn’t go anywhere. In fact, she shows quite the opposite of character and growth when she votes to throw the children of the Capitol’s leaders into one last Hunger Games (run by the rebels of all things) with no real discussion of the morality given.  It gets like 3 pages – bang – she votes to throw these innocent kids into the arena and nothing more is said.  Then, about 10 pages later, she coolly assassinates Coin without much of a second thought.  Overall, we’re left with a burned-out, war-scarred character that hasn’t shown any particular growth or hope.  I was left caring very little for her when I could have been there with her all along if she’d shown even one tenth the character, struggle, or growth you’d see with Frodo or other person in a titanic struggle like this.  It could maybe have been made a bit better with her at least started to find some sort of healing or hope at the end – but even that we don’t get.  I don’t need a fairytale ending – but there should be some sign of hope, change, or healing.

I don’t know if I would qualify this book as a teen book.  It’s got some pretty rough story lines and themes: PTSD, mental and physical abuse, drugged states to get through personal crises, many morally questionable activities (that don’t get questioned) and plenty of death and destruction. While these topics can be appropriate for teens if consequences and characters struggle to make right choices, but you get little of that. I didn’t find the way they were handled to be very productive or geared towards helping teen readers understand these topics.

There are some good points.  There is an interesting and clever bit about the power struggle between President Coin, President Snow and Katniss, but it just doesn’t make up for the other problems.

</Spoilers>

So, I had a lot more criticism of this book than good things to say and would even hesitate to call it teen-appropriate.  While it was a decent attempt to bring the elements to a close – the writing and story just fell apart in too many ways.  I was hoping for a lot out of this book – but it left me disappointed.  If you saw the story cracks in book 2, then those cracks are absolute canyons in this book.  You should probably read it to finish the trilogy since it’s only 10 audio discs (600 minutes); but don’t go into it expecting a very good story.  You just aren’t left feeling very connected or concerned about Katniss or most of the other characters (that manage to still be alive) by the end.  I was just glad this train-ride was over.  Sadly, the journey started so well in book 1 has turned into a destination to which I never want to go back.  Even as I sit here writing this I am thinking of ways in which this book could have been better.  Sigh.

I give this book a D+ rating.  It finished everything up; but left numerous problems with the morality of their choices, the plot, and the largely unsatisfying ending to the characters.

Finished book 2 of the Hunger Games trilogy over the holidays.  I’ll try to keep the spoilers to a minimum; but some details will come out.

<short plot summary with spoilers – so don’t read if you don’t want any idea of what happens>
So, this book takes off right after the end of the first book.  Katniss and Peeta are taking their victory tours around the different districts and then return home.  All throughout the districts, unrest is beginning to grow and they see Katniss as something of a touchstone or symbol for this rebellion despite the fact that she’s not trying to appear or play into these ideas.  She returns home to her district and begins life in the victors village.  Meanwhile, every 25 years, the Capitol unveils another Hunger games called the ‘quarter quell’.  This being the 75th year since the rebellion, so it’s a quell year and quell years have special rules.  This year, the combatants in the arena don’t come from tributes – but from the roster of previous victors.  This means that Katniss has to come back to the arena.  She does so, and the ending sees a dramatic end to the games that results in disruption of them and the survivors being yanked from them either by the capitol or the rebel forces.
<summary end>

I found this book an organic continuation of the previous book.  Style and voice were nearly identical.  So, if you liked the first one, you’ll like this one too – maybe more so.  I did find that the Hunger games that occurs in this episode to be unique in its challenges and style.  Very creative and imaginative – and maybe even better than the first one really. But don’t expect any differences in how it’s told or develops from a story reading or style of character point of view.  It will feel just like reading the first one.

If I had any gripes at this point – it would be about Katniss character development.  I had hope we’d get more answers after the first book and become more emotionally attached to her as she struggles with this adult-making decisions.  Instead, I found myself becoming increasingly bored/frustrated/irritated with her at times.  She waffles continually between her feelings for Peeta and Gale, between obeying the Capitol to joining the rebellion, about what she was even doing with the berries in the arena, about ….every major plot point.  In the end, she doesn’t even choose/make decisive or clear decisions on most of these really important points in this book.  In the ones she does choose, it feels more like a decision between what externally looks better to downright ‘flip of the coin’ type of deciding than anything else.  I just wasn’t convinced by the logic behind the choices she made or believed the inner dialog as she worked it out.  She questions her own motivations so much at times that it doesn’t sound like any choice is made at all.  There were times that it seemed kind of obvious why she had made certain decisions – but she just wouldn’t admit them to herself.  And the author didn’t either.  Maybe this is what being a teenage girl is about; but it makes for some tedious reading and makes her appear to be a much less ‘likeable’ character who is making a real stand for something or growing markedly to adulthood by having to mature through them.  Maybe someone could enlighten me, but maybe this is just because the book is suffering from ‘middle-trilogy book’ syndrome in which you want to keep things going, but make sure you have enough for the last book.

Overall, I’d give the book a solid C+/B- for being a good, quick read and having good arena scenes.  At 9 discs, it made for about a week and a half of commute-time listening.

I’ve already started on the final book, Mockingjay – and we’ll see where that goes.

So, I just finished book 2 of Rothfuss’ trilogy – A Wise Man’s Fear (3rd has not yet been released).  It’s 30% bigger than the first at 993 pages (vs 672); and at 43 hours and 18 minutes of listening, it took better than a month to ‘read’ on my commute.  So, was it worth it?  Well…sort of.  I’ll quote the best description I saw of it on Amazon. “It’s kind of a mess.  An engrossing, brilliant, hot and swanky mess, but a mess just the same.”

Book 2 continues the story of Kvothe – a young man enrolled in an university dedicated to arcane arts such as sympathy (magic), crafting of magical items, etc.  However, in this installment, he ventures out into the world.  He journeys to the court of the uber-rich Maer Alveron (line of Vintish kings), he journeys to the Fea world, visits the Adem and has many other adventures. It’s quite a ride.

The good:
Well written and has engrossing and really imaginative bits.  The battle Kvothe has with the bandits has to be one of the most fantastic tellings of how a D&D style magician would do battle.  Honestly, it’s worth the read alone despite being bloody and dark.  Some of the court adventures in Severen are quite entertaining and original.  You’ll read the whole thing, and should well enjoy it.

The bad :
It is simply not the best storytelling at times.  While Rothfuss is a good writer, the story takes some jarring jumps and is beginning to put pants on Kvothe I’m not sure he could/should be wearing.  He spends too much time on some boring parts and far too little on the really important parts.  For example, after a drudgery of pages about a search for bandits, there is an amazing battle scene. In like 2 more pages they then run into a mythical fae creature and he quite literally runs off to 50 pages of sex-romp in the fairy world only to return and immediately go to Adem for a very different story line.  Yet there is very little ‘internal’ growth of Kvothe.  The jumps are jarring and it feels almost like Rothfuss is just trying to hit everything on a shopping list as opposed to a really flowing story that shows how Kvothe is evolving.  There is also an over-abundance of sex.
Sex by itself doesn’t bother me so much if it’s handled well, but it’s becoming part of a pattern of distasteful….smugness to the writing of our adventurer Kvothe.  He is an amazing lover with knowledge of fae lovemaking techniques.  He’s a minstrel who’s songs woo queenly maidens.  He learns swordplay from the best fighters in the world.  The list goes on as Rothfuss tries to take the street kid and make him into the best…everything.  It’s honestly getting a bit unbelievable because we never hear Kvothe’s internal workings when he goes from killing a dozen men right into a month-long fae orgy.
At times, I almost hear the author being a nerdy kid imagining what ‘the best’ looks like.  Problem is, the ‘best’ in reality doesn’t look like this.  True greatness looks more like a Frodo or Aragorn from Lord of the Rings.  People with greatness of character often discover that greatness through trial and tribulation by doing the good, beautiful, and right despite challenges to do otherwise.  They touch upon great truths via these struggles.  Kvothe’s is more like greatness externally draped on a character as a cloak and feels as sterile as a list of things on a resume.  It doesn’t really fit when we see nothing of inner growth or struggle in Kvothe to suggest he has the character of greatness or the heroic.

So, would I recommend the book – yes – with conditions.  I give it a C+.  It’s still got some great storytelling in it, and very imaginative parts.  But you’ll have jarring jumps, an author who is kind of throwing in the kitchen sink to build up the resume of a somewhat unbelievable uber-character.  I’m honestly not sure what the third book will bring – but I sense it will not end well.  I think Rothfuss over-promised a character that is a ‘legend’ and he’s fighting to get that character from the streets to the stuff of legends in too short a time.  Unfortunately, he’s doing it by throwing everything in at once instead of a the more believable/organic growth. We want to see the core struggles and relate/learn about becoming ‘great’, but Kvothe has little of this subtlety and what there is of it is a little stilted. So, enjoy the story but expect plenty of flaws.

Time for audio book review #2. I finished the audiobook version of ‘The Hunger Games’.  The first of a trilogy by Suzanne Collins.

It’s a futuristic tale told in the dystopian future country Panem; built in the remains of North America.  Years ago, the 12 districts of North America fought with the Capital, and lost.  As part of their surrender terms, each district must send one boy and one girl to appear in the annual Hunger Games – a televised fight to the death of 24 contestants until only 1 remains as victor.  Katniss is from the poor, coal producing district 12 (which is likely old Appalachia by its description). Through a turn of events, Katniss is elected as this year’s representative for the games.  She’s a scrappy, tom-boyish girl who knows how to bow hunt (it’s illegal, but it’s the only way to keep her family fed after their father died in the mines).  The rest of the story is how the bloody games, and relationship with fellow tribute Peeta (a baker’s son that showed her kindness many years ago), progress over the days in the wilderness where the competition is set.

First off, this book was written for young adults.  So don’t expect a lot of adult themes and a little more on the ‘simple’ side of word/dialogs/story development.  I know if I’d read this as a kid, I probably would have loved it; and I wouldn’t say I was at all disappointed as an adult.  It held my interest for the 9 hours it took to get through the audiobook version.

The story itself follows much in the lines with such stories as The Running Man or Deathrace 2000.  We’re going to follow Katniss through her brutal and poor life in her beaten district.  Her selection, the crazy lead-up to the games in which she’s dressed up, paraded around, interviewed on television, and treated something like royalty.  This is all to gain ‘sponsors’ who can buy expensive gifts to help particular contestants during the actual battle.  Then in they go, and the latter half of the book is all about what they do in the piece of wilderness controlled by the game makers to maximize excitement over the days as the battles unfold.  None of the battles (save 1 which I’m wondering how they’ll show on the movie) are overly bloody or brutal – but there is definitely violence – toned to a young-adult level of course.  You won’t have people attacking each other with chainsaws; but death does abound.

Overall, it was an imaginative book worth the 9 hours of listening – or about 2 weeks of commuting in audiobook time. 🙂  I have to say I was pleasantly uplifted by this book after having read The Golden Compass series – which left a very poor taste in my mouth for ‘modern’ young-adult sci-fi literature.  There is still plenty of good social commentary (poverty and police-states of the districts, the brutality and dehumanizing treatment of the less fortunate by the rich and bored, children being forced into adult roles of supporting and raising families as well as turned into killers, etc), but none of it is so preachy it becomes a theme in itself.  It’s the story is what moves the plot forward, and it’s a good story.  In fact, in Collin’s descriptions of the things Katniss  sees in the capital, I even got a few ideas for software projects I’d like to try out/experiment with.  Not bad sci-fi.  There were some times when I wanted to put a boot in the rear of Katniss’ character as she waffles between being a hard-as-nails competitor, and second-triple-and-quadruple guessing herself as to other people’s motivations.  Some of the ways the fights turn out are a touch unbelievable (she gets a strange reprieve from death at one point that left me pondering for a long time before I could even feel ok with it) and the author does give her some cheats/lucky breaks; but nothing so egregious as to disrupt the story. It ends on a bit of a hanging note; which is fine considering it’s part 1 of a trilogy. But there were a few themes like Katniss’ small shows of defiance to the Capitol’s games/rule that are started in this book, but don’t go too far.  I’m hoping those themes are picked up in the next books, as I’ve already reserved the audio versions of books 2 and 3 from the library.

A final, interesting observation.  While I was ‘reading’ through the book, there were some definite themes that I don’t think male sci-fi writers would have put in, or spent as much time on.  In fact, the whole bits during the run-up to the games themselves were the most revealing to me.  Suzanne Collins spends longer with themes like the dresses Katniss wears, the waxing/hair-plucking/’beautification’, the clothing designers and interview show, and the confused feelings/trying to figure out the motivations of others that Katniss has were noticeably different than things I’ve read by other male sci-fi writers.  It’s doubtful someone like Ray Bradbury would have spent as much time with those details/parts.  While they didn’t particularly change the story IMHO, they were just a noticeable…difference of tone that made me appreciate how many sci-fi stories are by male writers.

Fortuitous timing, as the movie is just about to be released.  So far, trailers seem to show it’s a near-exact transfer of the book.  Which is a refreshing change of Hollywood’s usual pace of b*stardizing most good books/stories/childhood toys. While some of the production values look a little low, I know I’ll watch it at some point; and get the next two books in this trilogy.

Overall, I give the book a solid B for being a good story.

Been on an audio-book kick most of this year.  I’ve got a 30 min commute each way to/from work each day – so why not get some awesome audio books in?  I’ll start up with reviews of the ones I’ve listened to thus far.

Finished listening to The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss about 2-3 months ago.  It’s a pretty hefty ‘read’ – coming in at 22 hours (672 pages) of listening.  But, considering I get about an hour of listening per day, it only took about a month of commuting.

Why try to re-invent the reviews on Amazon?  I just pulled the quotes I saw that sound like what I read:

Set in an unnamed imaginary world, Kvothe (“pronounced nearly the same as ‘Quothe’ “), the hero and villain of a thousand tales, is presumed dead but actually now lives as the simple proprietor of the Waystone Inn. Prompted by a biographer who realizes his true identity, Kvothe starts to tell his life story. This is the riveting first-person narrative of Kvothe, a young man who grows to be one of the most notorious magicians his world has ever seen. From his childhood in a troupe of traveling players, to years spent as a near-feral orphan in a crime-riddled city, to his daringly brazen yet successful bid to enter a legendary school of magic, The Name of the Wind is a masterpiece that transports readers into the body and mind of a wizard. Kvothe is driven by twin imperatives—his desire to learn the higher magic of naming and his need to discover as much as possible about the Chandrian, the demons of legend who murdered his family.

That is just about the best description I could come up with.  As for the storytelling, there are a few patterns of Rothfuss’s writing who’s repetition begins to make you feel like he got a bit lazy (like the fact this kid has the absolute WORST luck in the same way several times – which always end with him out of money).  He also gives Kvothe some lucky breaks and coincidences that feel a bit like cheats, but those are very minor points.  Overall, there’s very little to gripe about.   It’s certainly not as epic and grand a tale as Tolken; with grand battles and deep theological / philosophical underpinnings and imagery.  You won’t walk away from the story feeling like you want to ponder again and again the deeper meanings, but its originality and story make up for any loss of the gradious.  No, this is the story of a kid growing up under crazy circumstances and struggles his way through in a really unique world.

The coolest point has to to be one of the most amazing and well-thought out descriptions of how a wizard/magician of the D&D/fantasy sort works internally.  The descriptions, realism, and imaginative mechanics of how magic is done as Kvothe re-tells his stories is truly captivating and original.  None of this ‘he waves his wand and poof’.  Rothfuss has thought out a definite system of how the ‘magic’ happens – and that alone is enough to make this worth reading this book.  In fact, I was told this was ney-on required reading for any dungeon master or DM wizard character.

Overall, I give this a solid A-.  It’s not a sweeping epic – but it’s originality and story will keep you to the end.  I took a breather with a different genre of book after this one, but have already started his second book in the series if that gives you any clue to it’s goodness.

Interesting article in Fortune from someone who appears to be a good manager and author of the book “You Can’t Fire Everyone” by Hank Gilman.   I particularly liked him because he seemed like a ‘good’ manager.  i.e. he had the notion of treating his people with respect, and handling his job with class, professionalism, and style.  One of his un-stated guidelines he seems to have is that if you build a great work environment, then it will sell itself.  Keep that point in mind while reading the rest of this. Some of his points:

1. The day your star employee decides to leave is the day you start woo-ing your player back again – it’s not a time to act like child, hold a grudge, or try to sabotage them.  New opportunities and a chance to grow/try something different come along for everyone.  It’s your job as a manager to get them to want to come back. Doing any of the aforementioned childish behaviors only sabotages your own reputation, future hiring, and long-term career.
2. Try to keep them – if what they want is something you can give.  Know when it’s right to bend over to keep someone.  If it’s about money, get them some more. If it’s about title, do something about that (titles are only words anyway). But if they really want a new job – or need a change – let them take it.  People who think a good career move is a new title will likely be back in six months anyway.  Conversely, all the money in the world won’t keep someone who really wants or needs a change.
3. Don’t bad-mouth their direction/new employer.  Even if you know the other company is bad or people there are cut-throat back-stabbers, don’t get involved in a petty squabble or words that might get back to the people you gab about.  Show your integrity at those moments.  If you’ve build a great work environment, then you can honestly say “Go off and have a great time. I think you have a great opportunity.  However, I’ve had enough of them and I believe you’re not going to get much better than what we offer.  You’re always welcome here.”  The grass isn’t always greener, but sometimes you just have to let them find that out on their own and welcome them back when they’re ready.
4. Keep in touch – Make it a point to have lunch or dinner and remain friendly.  You have a scout in a new place if you want to recruit one of their colleagues. You also have a damn good reference in case you need to look for work!

He had other suggestions, but you get the idea of his style.  He shows how an other-directed focus gives your actions class and doing things with a style that makes people want to come back to him.  His advice is to not pout around like a child that didn’t get their way, burn up potential partners and bridges, and generally strangle your own career over the long haul because you’re too ego-centric.  If all managers worked in a similar way, then I think far more people would be happier in their work lives.