(pb; 1988: novella, published in the 2001 novella anthology Quartet)
Review:
Plot: Lycanthropic private investigator Willie Flambeaux and his partner Randi Wade investigate a series of grisly murders where the victims have had their skins flayed off in expert, swift fashion. The case leads them into the usual pulp-gumshoe themes of sex, corruption, old money and past familial crimes.
Skin is a good, entertaining and fast-moving novella, with its sometimes humorous, sometimes bloody and violent storyline. The characters are familiar but infused with a werewolf themed twist or two, while the storyline does little else to surprise pulp-familiar readers.
The open-ended finish is satisfying in that it effectively concludes the tale, while indicating that there is much more to these characters and their stories than what is shown in Skin. Good read, this -- worth owning, if you are a fan of pulp and werewolf works.
Skin was published in the 2001 novella anthology Quartet. I did not read any of the other works in this collection. Their titles: Black and White and Red All Over, Starport and Blood of the Dragon.
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The Skin Trade is being developed as a cable series for Cinemax. Its title: George R.R. Martin's The Skin Trade.
(hb; 2012: horror story anthology)
Overall review:
Good collection of thirteen classic horror-style stories, worth owning for its standout works. I disliked a few of the stories in this book, but that's due to personal writing preferences on my part, not crappy writing on the part of the authors. Check it out.
Standout stories:
1.) "The Secret of Vinegar" - Robert Bloch: Intriguing, exotic and mostly excellent tale about an infamous old-time Los Angeles cathouse. I write "mostly excellent" because a Plot Convenient Stupid Moment [PCSM] and a predictable finish mar the work. Still a standout story, though.
2.) "Chatting with Anubis" - Harlan Ellison: Entertaining, smart, sometimes funny piece about two paleoseismologists (Wang Zicai, Amy Guiterman) who, in the course of studying a possible archeological find along a fault line, experience a life-altering events. One of my favorite pieces in this anthology.
3.) "The Night They Missed the Horror Show" - Joe R. Lansdale: Pitch bleak-humored, frak-PC-minded-readers story about two "bored" redneck racists who eschew a zombie movie, only to find themselves in increasingly nightmarish situations. One of my favorite stories in this collection.
4.) "The Box" - Jack Ketchum: Clever concept, darkly humorous work. Memorable read.
5.) "Orange is for Anguish, Blue is for Insanity" - David Morrell: One of my favorite stories in this collection. A Postimpressionist artist's work and horrific life inspires madness in those whose research delves too deeply into them. Effective-build, entertaining read, this, with an ending that's not surprising but not disappointing.
(pb; 2011: Book Five of A Song of Fire and Ice)
From the inside flap:
"In the aftermath of a colossal battle, the future of the Seven Kingdoms hangs in the balance - beset by newly emerging threats from every direction. In the east, Daenerys Targaryen, the last scion of House Targaryen, rules with her three dragons as queen of a city built on dust and death. But Daenerys has thousands of enemies, and many have set out to find her. As they gather, one young man embarks upon his own quest for the quen, with an entirely different goal in mind.
"Fleeing from Westeros with a price on his head, Tyrion Lannister, too, is making his way to Daenerys. But his newest allies in this quest are not the ragtag band they seem, and at their heart lies one who would undo Daenerys's claim to Westeros forever.
"Meanwhile, to the north lies the mammoth Wall of ice and stone - a structure only as strong as those guarding it. There, Jon Snow, 998th Lord Commander of the Night Watch, will face his greatest challenge. For he has powerful foes not only within the Watch but also beyond, in the land of the creatures of ice."
Review:
Dance, like A Feast for Crows, is a transition book - in the sense that it's not as fast-moving and action-brutal as the first three Song novels. Because of this, Dance sports many of the same faults of Feast (e.g., its emphasis on secondary characters who are less intriguing).
On the plus side, though, there are a plenty of character-based moments in this fifth Song book where I experienced the same sense of thrill that I felt while reading the first three books. These moments made Dance a worthwhile, if overwritten, read.
Not as great as the first three books, it - like Feast - is still a more impressive read than most fantasy series I've read. Check it out from the library.
(pb; 2005: Book Four of A Song of Fire and Ice)
From the back cover:
"After centuries of bitter strife, the seven powers dividing the land have beaten one another into an uneasy truce. But it's not long before the survivors, outlaws, renegades, and carrion eaters of the Seven Kingdoms gather. Now, as the human crows assemble over a banquet of ashes, daring new plots and dangerous alliances are formed while surprising faces - some familiar, others only just appearing - emerge from an omnivorous twilight of past struggles and chaos to take up the challenges of the terrible times ahead. Nobles and commoners, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and sages, are coming together to stake their fortunes. . . and their lives. For at a feast for crows, many are the guests - but only a few are the survivors."
Review:
It would be difficult for Martin to top the character-familiar plot corkscrews and karmic resolutions of the third book, A Storm of Swords, which was a near-operatic culmination of two books' worth of personal machinations, often grim and rape-fixated actions and bloody conflicts whose survivors who found themselves with the taste of ashes and bitterness in their mouths.
I bore this in mind as I read Feast. I'm glad I did, because while I wasn't as emotionally invested in this fourth Song novel, I enjoyed it a lot. Getting to know new characters, a few of whom aren't chapter titled by their names, was initially a bit of a chore after my familiarity with the characters in the previous books - but, ultimately, it was worth it, between Martin's fast and furious plotwork and writing, as well as the equally familiar grim and bloody actions of its characters; because of these elements, Feast proved to be a worthwhile sequel to its predecessors.
Of course, I missed certain characters - e.g., Tyrion Lannister, aka "the Imp" - whose stories weren't told in Feast, but given the narrative flow of this novel I understand why Martin chose to save their stories for later.
This is worth reading if you don't mind being introduced to new characters, and don't expect the easy familiarity of characters from the first three books. Feast is clearly setting up a new round of love, lust and war, and I look forward to seeing how it plays out.
Followed by A Dance with Dragons.
(pb; 2000: Book Three of A Song of Fire and Ice)
From the back cover:
"Of the five contenders for power, one is dead, another in disfavor, and still the war rages, as alliances are made and broken. Joffrey sits on the Iron Throne, the uneasy ruler of the Seven Kingdoms. His most bitter rival, Lord Stannis, stands defeated and disgraced, victim of a sorceress who holds him in her thrall. Young Robb still rules the North from the fortress of Riverrun. Meanwhile, making her way across a blood-drenched continent is the exiled queen, Daenarys, mistress of the only three dragons left in the world. And as opposing forces maneuver for the final showdown, an army of barbaric wildlings arrives from the outermost limits of civilization, accompanied by a horde of mythical Others - a supernatural army of the living dead whose animated corpses are unstoppable. As the future of the land hangs in the balance, no one will rest until the Seven Kingdoms have exploded in a veritable storm of swords."
Review:
All the elements, plot-twisty action and characters that made A Game of Thrones and A Clash of Kings great reads structure and set the tone of this second sequel. This grim, bloody, whimsical and sometimes surprising (but always character-consistent) series continues to wow; it has made me excited to be a reader, in a way that I haven't been in a long time.
Worth owning, this - as are the first two novels.
Followed by A Feast For Crows.
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Most of the events in Storm are the basis for the third season of the first HBO/cable series, A Game of Thrones. The series' first episode originally aired on April 17, 2011. HBO recently aired its Season 3 finale, with a fourth Season set to air next year.
Given the many characters in this series, I'm not going to list the characters, nor the actors who play them. (I have a busy schedule. Maybe later, when I have a little more time, I'll list those who have worked on the series.)
(pb; 1999: Book Two of A Song of Fire and Ice)
From the back cover:
"A comet the color of blood and flame cuts across the sky. And from the ancient citadel of Dragonstone to the forbidding shores of Winterfell, chaos reigns. Six factions struggle for control of a divided land and the Iron Throne of the Seven Kingdoms, preparing to stake their claims through tempest, turmoil, and war. It is a tale in which brother plots against brother and the dead rise to walk in the night. Here a princess masquerades as an orphan boy, a knight of the mind prepares a poison for a treacherous sorceress, and wild men descend from the Mountains of the Moon to ravage the countryside. Against a backdrop of incest and fratricide, alchemy and murder, victory may go to the men and women possessed of the coldest steel. . . and the coldest hearts. For when kings clash, the whole land trembles."
Review:
All the elements, plot-twisty action and characters that made A Game of Thrones a great read structure and set the tone of this first sequel. This grim, bloody, whimsical and sometimes surprising (but always character-consistent) series continues to wow; it has made me excited to be a reader, in a way that I haven't been in a long time.
Worth owning, this - as is its source novel.
Followed by A Storm of Swords.
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The events in Clash are the basis for the second season of the first HBO/cable series, A Game of Thrones. The series's first episode originally aired on April 17, 2011. HBO recently aired its Season 3 finale, with a fourth Season set to air next year.
Given the many characters in this series, I'm not going to list the characters, nor the actors who play them. (I have a busy schedule. Maybe later, when I have a little more time, I'll list those who have worked on the series.)
(pb; 1996: Book One of A Song of Fire and Ice)
From the back cover:
"In a land where summers can last for decades and winters a lifetime, trouble is brewing. The cold is returning, and in the frozen wastes to the North of Winterfell, sinister and supernatural forces are massing beyond the kingdom's protective protective Wall. At the center of the conflict lie the Starks of Winterfell, a family as harsh and unyielding as the land they were born to. Sweeping from a land of brutal cold to a distant summertime kingdom of epicurean plenty, here is a tale of lords and ladies, soldiers and sorcerers, assassins and bastards, who come together in a time of grim omens. Amid plots and counterplots, tragedy and betrayal, victory and terror, the fate of the Starks, their allies, and their enemies hangs perilously in the balance, as each endeavors to win that deadliest of conflicts: the game of thrones."
Review:
I'm not fan of sword-and-sorcery fantasy novels, but this may be first book of this genre to fully immerse me in its vivid, often grim, sometimes kind and seductive world since I read J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings trilogy as a teenager. In fact, Game - for this middle-aged reader - may even trump Tolkien's work for its better editing and brutal realism.
I'm sure this review will add little to what others have already said, given my late entrance into Martin's created world, but to be clear: I loved and/or loathed the fully realized characters and their twisted, interwoven and intense histories; the action was raw, intriguing and unsparing; and the epic scope of Martin's world, as well as the "plots and counterplots" of its widely varied denizens absorbed this noir-minded (that is to say jaded) reader into its wild storylines.
One of my all-time favorite books - worth owning, this.
Followed by A Clash of Kings.
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The first HBO/cable episode of A Game of Thrones aired on April 17, 2011. This series is still going - HBO recently aired its Season 3 finale, with a fourth season set to air next year.
Given the many characters in this series, I'm not going to list the characters, nor the actors who play them. (I have a busy schedule. Maybe later, when I have a little more time, I'll list those who have worked on the series.)
(pb; 2012: novelette)
Review:
When college professor Lou Meade is accosted by a talking owl - a familiar of the Greek deity Athena, "goddess of wisdom, the practical arts, and warfare, and the protectress of
cities"* - it's the first moment in his new life phase, an era that will lead him further into the works of author C.S. Lewis and intellectual warfare against Eris, the wily Greek goddess of discord.
Burstein's writing is straightforward, episodic, smart and exciting in a dry-humored way, which serves this atypical, Lewisesque work well.
Readers of Lewis and gentler, clean cut-to-it readers of fantasy would do well to own this 70-page "neo-Pagan Fantasy" (as Burstein subtitles this intriguing work). Don't expect the epic bombast and graphic grimness of George R.R. Martin's A Game of Thrones, but do expect to be entertained in a cerebral, sometimes phantasmagorical manner.
Worth owning, this. You can purchase it here.
[*The Free Dictionary.com]
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Burstein's earlier, much-shorter work - The crawfish boil - graced the Microstory A Week site on January 11, 2012. If you haven't read this story, check it out!
