Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: The Island of Dr. Moreau by H. G. Wells

by Karen S. Wiesner 

 

This first edition cover (UK), frankly looks like something the author's kid might have created with crayons. We've come a long way, baby. 

Be aware that there may be spoilers in this review. 

It's hard to imagine the classic horror novel, The Island of Dr. Moreau by H.G. Wells, is 128 years old. It was first published in 1896 and, oh, how it has stood the test of time! This story serves as our earliest depiction of "uplift", which is a science fiction motif where an advanced race intervenes in evolving an animal species to a higher level of intelligence. 

The Island of Dr. Moreau starts with a scientifically trained Englishman named Edward Prendick surviving a shipwreck in the Pacific Ocean. After being rescued by a passing ship, he's cared for by a man named Montgomery. There, he meets who he assumes is Montgomery's manservant, M'ling, a grotesque bestial native. The ship is transporting a variety of animals to Montgomery's destination--the island of Dr. Moreau, his employer. Once they arrive, Prendick is forced off the ship by the captain, and Montgomery agrees that he can stay temporarily, though few ships pass the island. 

It isn't long before Prendick recalls who Dr. Moreau is--formerly a promising, respected physiologist who was forced out of the scientific community once his gruesome vivisection experiments were exposed. Moreau has all but disappeared in the 11 years since. 

Hearing the screams of the doctor's tortured patients on two early occasions, Prendick is driven by compassion out of the enclosed compound into the jungle. There, he begins to piece together the true horror of what's being done on this remote island. He discovers a colony of half-human/half-animal creatures living in the jungle. They're led by a creature called the "Sayer of the Law". They recite over and over their law, given to them by Moreau, their maker, which prohibits bestial behavior: 

Not to go on all-fours; that is the Law. Are we not men?

Not to suck up Drink; that is the Law. Are we not men?

Not to eat Fish or Flesh; that is the Law. Are we not men?

Not to claw the Bark of Trees; that is the Law. Are we not men?

Not to chase other Men; that is the Law. Are we not men? 

When I was a kid and watched the 1977 movie version of this book, the ritualistic chanting made quite an impression on me. It shocked and horrified me that Moreau made them obey his laws or he'd severely punish them by sending him to the House of Pain. To be so far removed from those he's, in one perspective, fathered, to feel so little regret or sorrow for their condition, was inconceivable to me, even at that young age. 

Moreau later admits that these "Beast Folk" weren't formerly men but animals he's operated and experimented on in hopes of transforming an animal completely into a human. With each new subject, he wants to believe he's getting closer to perfection, yet each time they revert to their animal form and behavior eventually. 

The balance in this fragile environment begins to erode with Prendick and his intact sense of morality (something Moreau lacks entirely and Montgomery has been losing steadily, at the cost of his own sanity, all these years) pushing it toward the edge. Seeing Prendick's rebellious behavior toward Moreau and Montgomery, the beasts soon begin retaliating for all their years of pain and suffering at the hands of the true monster in their midst. 

To put this story into the context of the time period it was published, note that in 1896, the possibly of humanity's degeneration was being discussed fervently in Europe. That's a whole 'nother subject that can be embarked upon at the reader's leisure and level of interest aside from this review. However, suffice it to say that several groups rose in opposition of animal vivisection on the basis of the topic, and The Island of Dr. Moreau is the author's reflection on the ethical, philosophical, and scientific concerns and controversies of that time period, most especially inspired by the trial of Oscar Wilde. Wells said in his preface to his collected works that The Island of Dr. Moreau embodies an ideal but otherwise "has no allegorical quality". Sure, whatever. 

Whatever the case, it's just plain a fantastic story of horror and, like Frankenstein, takes the concept of showing the monster being more the ideal of what man should be than the man himself, and, in that way, the man is the true monster. This is a story that I can't imagine anyone not finding compelling. Every part of it is perfectly developed. 

The Island of Dr. Moreau has inspired countless artistic endeavors, more than can be documented in this short review, but each of these is a testament to a story so compelling, even a century later, we're still influenced by the resonating message it proclaims. The countless films that have attempted to follow the book version are mainly all worthy of being watched at least, but it's the novel that, above all, shouldn't be missed. 

Next week, I'll review another Oldie But Goodie you might find worth another read, too. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: The Time Machine by H. G. Wells by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: The Time Machine by H. G. Wells

by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Be aware that there may be spoilers in this review. 

The Time Machine by H. G. Wells was published in 1895 and is another story by this prolific author that's brilliantly passed the test of time. This forerunner of time-traveling fiction is as amazing now as it was in its own time period. A previous short story by Wells (1888's "The Chronic Argonauts", published in his college newspaper) was the foundation for the novella. 

I resisted reading The Time Machine for a long time because, as I said in my previous review of Timeline by Michael Crichton, I'm not a fan of time-travel fiction, which tends to be convoluted and dependent on too many elements having to converge at exactly the right moment or it simply won't work. In the case of 99% of these types of stories, I find the odds simply too astronomical for me to believe it's possible. And yet in every one of these stories, it does work. Impossibly. And, for the most part, stupidly. So I resisted this pivotal example of one of (the only two, in my opinion) the finest pieces of time-travel fiction available for a long time. Once I finally caved in and read it, it was nothing like I expected with elements of time-travel, yes, but also of horror and adventure, with a post-apocalyptic slant. 

Set in Victorian England (a time period I adore), a gentleman, scientist, and inventor identified only as the Time Traveller journeys into the far future and meets a small, "intellectually degraded", humanoid group called Eloi who live on the surface of the planet along with savage and simian Morlocks, underground darkness dwellers who only emerge at night to capture the Eloi. 

In the  story, the protagonist travels through time for a bit of adventure and goes right back out into other time periods using his machine after returning to tell his friends the tale of the Eloi and Morlocks. There is no deeper reason for his endeavors in creating and using this machine, but many since The Time Machine's publication have attempted to provide answers and justifications and sequels to this very brief story. I must say that I did actually enjoy the 2002 film version with Guy Pearce that gives the Time Traveller a deeply emotional reason for why he (a university professor and inventor) developed a time machine, as well as a name--Dr. Alexander Hartdegen. Follow-ups to the original story do hold appeal, but be sure not to miss the novella that started it all. 

Next week, I'll review another Oldie But Goodie you might find worth another read, too. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: Riptide by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: Riptide by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

by Karen S. Wiesner 

 

Be aware that there may be spoilers in this review. 

Riptide by authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child was published in 1998, one of their first collaborations. While I generally avoid pirate books (notably, I didn't care for Michael Crichton's Pirate Latitudes either, though I generally read everything I can get from him), I can't deny I love the Pirates of the Caribbean movies. This particular story had a bit more to it than I anticipated and I was intrigued by it, in large part because of all the puzzles the island throws at the main characters, making them a lot like the Lara Croft series I love in any form. The authors themselves describe Riptide as "a fictional tale of suspense, terror, and mystery…based on research into such eclectic subjects as buried treasure, high-seas piracy, 17th century espionage and cryptology, forensic anthropology, as well as the latest high-tech tools of today's treasure hunters." On their website, they listed some of them on a separate page related to the book, for those who want all the details. 

The story in Riptide follows a plot to retrieve the buried treasure of a nefarious pirate, Red Ned Ockham. Not only is the stash reputed to be worth billions of dollars but it supposedly includes a cursed sword that will kill anyone who so much as looks at it. The story takes place on a fictional and dangerous island off the coast of Maine. In part, the story is modeled after the legend of the Oak Island Money Pit (called the Water Pit here), a real-life place that's become famous for numerous theories and attempts to discover buried treasure. 

Malin Hatch is the main character, and the accident when they were little kids (Malin was five) that led to him losing his older brother opens the book. This event is the catalyst for his attempts 25 years later to return to the island his family owns. Unfortunately, the high-tech salvage team--one that has its own motives--he accompanies to the island quickly learns that the island's curse may not be all legend and superstition. Mysterious accidents, illnesses, and tech issues plague them as they try to discover the secrets behind the architecture of the Water Pit. 

The characters are extremely well-drawn and compelling and the settings are realistic to the point that you can almost see everything, as if you're watching a movie. Speaking of which, this story would make an incredible one with nail-biting suspense and a plot that just won't quit. There was talk of it in 2003 but, as far as I know, nothing came of it. I guess I'll just have to read the book again, something I encourage readers who like Indiana Jones/Lara Croft and Captain Jack Sparrow/Barbossa type characters featured in the same story to pick up as well. 

Next week, I'll review another Oldie But Goodie you might find worth another read, too. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: Mount Dragon by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: Mount Dragon by Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child

by Karen S. Wiesner 

  

Be aware that there may be spoilers in this review. 

Mount Dragon by authors Douglas Preston and Lincoln Child was published in 1996, their second collaboration. In the vein of Michael Crichton, this technothriller takes existing technology and extrapolates all the horrible places it could go if left unchecked in the hands of madmen. 

Two researchers, Guy and Susana are employed by GeneDyne Corporation, stationed at the Mount Dragon facility in New Mexico, and a hormone that's been engineered to prevent the flu goes horribly wrong. The virulent disease that results and spreads rampantly, not surprisingly, could have been prevented. Guy and Susana discover that their predecessor was driven mad by his work on the virus. Other so-called accidents have also occurred and been hushed up in the time since. Only they can stop a planet-wide epidemic from leaving Mount Dragon, but those who own GeneDyne will stop at nothing to continue their experiments. Note that the authors include on their website a final chapter to Mount Dragon that didn't make it into the book. 

The inspiration for the story was best described in an interview posted on the authors' website, in which they talked about "genetically-engineered tomatoes, or milk produced from cows that have been given growth hormones... ...things like that are just the tip of the iceberg. ...Imagine 'improving' something like cholera or plague so that it's even more deadly. Or...tweaking diseases so they home in on the hereditary differences of certain groups of people. It's a truly, truly scary thought." 

Something I love is that these two authors are always trying to make connections between all their books, regardless of whether they're standalone or series titles. The hacker Mime in Mount Dragon also appears in the Pendergast Series and devices created by GeneDyne are also mentioned there. 

If you like nail-breaking suspense stories with intriguing characters set in memorable places, this one has all the ingredients to satisfying your cravings. Personally, I can't get enough of books like these, whether they're written by Michael Crichton, Robin Cook, Andy Weir, Tom Clancy, Dan Brown, or these two guys Preston and Child separately or together. If you feel the same, this is one to put on your list of must-reads. 

Next week, I'll review another Oldie But Goodie you might find worth another read, too. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: Final Girls by Riley Sager by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: Final Girls by Riley Sager

by Karen S. Wiesner 

 

Final Girls was published in 2017, written by Riley Sager (pen name of Todd Ritter). Although this was the first book written under the author's pen name, it's one of the last I'm reading of his. It fits into a niche genre that includes psychological suspense thrillers characterized almost routinely by unreliable narrators, unexpected plot twists, and complex and usually immoral characters. Gillian Flynn, Paula Hawkins, S.J. Watson, and Sager himself are the forerunners in this category. 

As you can imagine, this "slasher film" trope is based on the last character left alive to tell the tale. The premise of Final Girls stemmed from the author wondering what it would be like for girls who are the last to survive horrific events in which everyone else around them was murdered. He wondered if they thought about it every day, whether it was possible for them to forget such a thing, and if they can ever trust again. 

The heroine, Quincy Carpenter, was involved in such an event. Ten years ago, her and her college friends were on vacation at Pinewood Cottage. Everyone was massacred by a psychotic escapee from a nearby mental hospital. Quinn remembers little about this, and what she does remember is recalled in scenes interspersed with the current story. After the incident, Quinn involuntarily becomes part of an unofficial club of "Final Girls", so named by journalists and social media websites. Lisa Milner and Samantha Boyd also survived harrowing, similar situations. For the most part, Quinn has shunned not only the press but the other "group members". She's getting on with her life, blogging as a baker and committed to a boyfriend lawyer, her hang-ups from the past locked up in a drawer in her kitchen. Lisa commits suicide and, a few days later, Quincy finds a text from her, begging her to make contact. Not long after that, Lisa's death is rule a homicide, and the other Final Girl Sam shows up on Quincy's doorstep. What happens next is a whole lot of disjointed weirdness, doubts about everyone and everything in her life, and the endless red herrings that complicate (and sometimes overwhelm) stories like these. 

Unlike a lot of Sager's other novels that I've read (and reviewed previously on this blog), he didn't include anything vaguely supernatural in this particular one. While I love stories that blend a thriller with the paranormal, I didn't miss it too much in this story, which I thought was one of his best. While, yes, it's true that I'm going to complain like I always do about his books that this one was at least 150 pages longer than it really needed to be, it was an edge-of-the-seat story and I got so caught up in it, I forgot the cardinal rule of not taking anything the writer says at face value. While I was trying to figure out what devious twist he'd try to pull out of his hat at the last minute, Sager sneaked in the back door with something I should have been looking out for from the first. Clever. I love that he out-thought me. Very few fellow writers have that ability so I can give nothing but kudos to him for achieving it with this story. 

In the author's note in the back, he mentioned that his editor's enthusiasm for the book aided him in setting a personal best in speed writing. Stephen King gave Final Girls a mostly positive review but found it "hampered only by bad writing and lack of literary merit". Honestly, I didn't notice anything but an overinflated word count. The book won the International Thriller Writers Awards for best Hard Cover Novel in 2018, so it can't be too bad. Fans of the genre will no doubt find this one worthy. Talk of a movie based on the book was announced in November 2017 but I don't think anything ever happened with it. Incidentally, there were two 2015-released movies (one called Final Girl with Abigail Breslin and another called The Final Girls), neither written by Sager, as well as a 2021 novel, The Final Girl Support Group (by Grady Hendrix), with a similar premise. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Karen S. Wiesner: {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: The Genius of Leonardo Da Vinci by Barrington Barber

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: The Genius of Leonardo Da Vinci by Barrington Barber

by Karen S. Wiesner

Leonardo Da Vinci has long been a fascination for me. An Italian polymath of the High Renaissance, his achievements as a painter, draughtsman, engineer, scientist, theorist, sculptor, and architect almost feel alien-like. In too many areas, he's just too far ahead of his time to have been relegated to the years of 1452 to 1519, where most of his radically advanced conceptions couldn't even be made in reality. But he and those who trusted him tried making many of them. I marvel that one person was given so many skills. Most theorists don't necessarily design their own projects even in blueprint, nor go on to actually building it. Either they don't have the skills, the materials, or the funding. But he did so much more than conceiving, designing, and construction. He also worked from the inside out, figuring out the inner workings of the human body, proving himself to be a revolutionary in medicine, science, art, and architecture.

How did one man come by all these incredible secrets? It's beyond believing or conceiving.

Barrington Barber gives us glimpses of the genius. I read this beautiful, gold-embossed, clothbound boxed set with reproductions of Da Vinci's work called The Genius of Leonardo Da Vinci. The three volumes delve into his art, life, and work. I enjoyed the overview, marveled at his range and just how much the world owes to his advancements and innovations in such diverse areas. Who can compare to him in any of those disciplines? Even if anyone has gone beyond since, no one else can claim the discoveries he did in the mere 67 years he spent on this Earth…well, that we know of. 😁

My only complaint is one that goes for all biographies. The very last thing I ever want to know about anyone, especially those I admire, are details about their private lives. I learned far too much, things I really didn’t want to know about the man. In this one area, at least, Da Vinci was indeed mortal, fallible, and depressingly common. Sigh.

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

{Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: "The Oblivion Bride" by Caitlin Starling by Karen S. Wiesner

 

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: "The Oblivion Bride" by Caitlin Starling

by Karen S. Wiesner 

 

"The Oblivion Bride", a romantic fantasy novella by Caitlyn Starling, was published January 21, 2025 by Neon Hemlock Press, the same publisher that released Starling's 2020 "Yellow Jessamine" novella. This new tale has a lot in common with that one, though I liked this one slightly better. Taking place in a made up city-state called Volun, wild magic surrounds the walls, forcing all to stay inside a warded area for safety's sake. The main character Lorelei has lost almost everyone in her family under suspicious circumstances, including, most recently, her beloved mother. The cause is almost certainly magical in origin, possibly a curse. Her remaining kin, an uncle, is determined to figure out the cause of this and so agrees to marry Lorelei off to the top war alchemist Nephele, who applies herself to investigate while the marriage is being arranged and Lorelei is magically impregnated in a way that also includes Nephele's genes. 

Lorelei is, not surprisingly, a mess, grieving the loss of her mother and never expecting to develop feelings for her betrothed. Nephele has a similar reaction, given that this was an arranged marriage and she's an older woman who's been almost totally consumed by her career up to this point. 

While I enjoyed the dystopian quality of the setting and otherworldly mood of the events, as a whole, the story felt as disjointed and underdeveloped as "Yellow Jessamine" did to me when I read it (which is why I didn't review it). My main issue here was that the past really wasn't dug into deeply in this particular tale. We learned very little about Lorelei and Nephele's histories nor about the circumstances surrounding the state of the world beyond what was told us as statements of facts (i.e., whatever might have been written on a character/plot sheet in advance of writing--no more, no less). That crucial dimension of development forced 2D renderings and never achieved full-fledged lifelike status for me. I also have to comment on the fact that the reader can't help but feel Lorelei was projecting on older-woman Nephele her loss and devastation over her mother--desperately needing maternal comfort. It's difficult not to get an icky feeling about their romantic/sexual relationship because of that. 

Additionally, the last few chapters kind of dissolved a bit with far too many instances of the f-word per page. I don't mind some well-placed swearing, but sometimes overuse gets so drastic that it's hard to know what the author meant a word to actually mean. If everything (noun, verb, adjective, you name it) becomes an acrobatic feat of grammar by twisting the same word to the form needed, the story becomes muddied by the appearance of the same word from one sentence or paragraph to the next. Not only that, but using a word like that absolutely does not in any way intensify the reader's sense of suspense, action, or emotional connection--you know, beyond annoyance that genuine portrayal of said suspense, action, and emotional connection is being reduced to childish cursing. Ergo, the reader is thrust out of the story by lazy writing, which is what happened to me toward the end. I really struggled to finish the last few chapters. 

That said, I nearly always enjoy Starling's offbeat and unusual storytelling, and this tale is no exception, despite the areas I was left wanting more and different things than were being presented. I read eagerly at first and my interest only waned slightly from start to finish. (I certainly would have preferred to be more excited about the novella near the end rather than earlier on.) 

As a little bonus, the exterior and interior of the paperback were very striking. The front cover had such a multifaceted and layered image, I found myself going back often for more, to discover something else that might have been hidden in the cleverly rendered artwork. The interior had compelling, black and white, free-form images before each chapter of a similar but always changing nature. Unfortunately, the text was left-aligned, not justified, and that made it hard for me to read. I just prefer text to be tidy and symmetrical to prevent it from distracting from the story. 

For those who like to view the world in an unconventional, even weird way through their reading, this story will more than satisfy. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: Warriors Anthology Edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: Warriors Anthology

Edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois

by Karen S. Wiesner 

 

This post contains my 154 review on the Alien Romances Blog! 

Warriors, published in 2010, is another cross-genre anthology George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois edited and assembled together. As before, this collection with 20 shorts (two of them novellas) was originally published in one large volume. Later, the stories were separated into three paperbacks, and all include Martin's introductory article titled "Stories from the Spinner Rack", which I very much enjoyed reading for its shared nostalgia (though I did wonder if the author actually tried to read a few romances or nurses novels before deciding he'd "never did get into" them). All the authors are big names, award-winning and undeniably gifted, and Warriors won the 2011 Locus Award for Best Anthology. 

While I love cross-genre fiction, there were far too many war stories in this one, which probably makes you laugh as much as it does me at this point. For the most part, I picked up this anthology for one story--the George R. R. Martin Dunk and Egg installment (the third in his A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms series). 

I guess the word "warrior" has a positive, noble context in my mind. Most of the "warriors" in this anthology, however, weren't necessarily good people in my estimation. I'd call them "rogues" (or something similar) instead. I prefer to believe the best of warriors, and, in my way of thinking, warriors tend to be ordinary joes or janes who step up and become heroes in a crisis, even if they never wanted to be that in the first or last place. 

Truthfully I was hoping there would be more fantasy, paranormal, and science fiction selections, or that those types of stories would have something more compelling than run-of-the-mill soldiers who follow orders without actually thinking for themselves, or who fight for a good cause and not simply for whatever the agenda on tap is. A few of the stories stood out in this collection--the ones I'll review here--but, with the exception of The Mystery Knight and The Scroll, even those weren't really what I was looking for. I also feel compelled to inject that one story in particular (that I'm choosing not to name here) was so disturbing, I felt dirty after I read it and I'd give anything to just blot it from my mind for the rest of time. Make of that what you will. Another was written in a way that frustrated me and put me off the story instantly. I don't know if I would have liked it if it'd been written differently or by someone else altogether. Again, since it's a subjective opinion, I won't name that particular story either. I was also sad that I didn't like one of the stories by a popular author I've been reading much more of lately and was looking forward to. 

Though similar to other Martin/Dozois anthologies, in that each story in this collection was preceded by a fairly in-depth author biography, the introductory blurbs included for each were so slim, they were all but worthless. It's difficult for me to enjoy something that I don't get an adequate summary for in advance of reading. Probably another "me" thing on that count. I was initially pretty unhappy about the lack of illuminating blurbs until after I read the stories. Then I wondered how to describe them myself. So many defied summary! 

Below you'll find the stories I'm covering in this review listed in the order they appear in the original publication in one volume. Technically, they came in 1st, 9th, 12th, 13th, 17th, 18th, 19th, and 20th. For those of you following my anthology reviews, if I'd edited and assembled this collection, I would have started with "The Scroll", ended with The Mystery Knight, and placed the rest of them in this order: Story #4, 7, 10, 12, 14, 16, and 18 instead, with the rest of the stories around them.                                                 

1)              "The King of Norway" by Cecelia Holland: Bloodthirsty Vikings, complete with violence and vows, about sums up this story. While I'm sorry to say I found it predictable, especially as the make-or-break-it first included in the collection, I did like the line "All dreams are true somehow". I spent a lot of time considering that line apart from the story, if nothing else.

 

2)              "Seven Years From Home" by Naomi Novik: This was an interesting sci-fi tale about a researcher's role in a manufactured war. I was drawn in by the theme of time not healing some wounds and about how war, "politics and the great concerns of the universe" leave one content to withdraw into a place where peace and simplicity are the rule, not the exception, as it is in reality's ever-present state of violence.

 

3)              "Out of the Dark" by David Weber: Compelling. Literally (and I mean that), humanity's only hope for survival when the Earth is invaded by canine-like aliens is the very last being one would think of in terms of providing help to mankind. All in all, kind of an insane story that makes me laugh in shock each time I think of it now.

 

4)              "The Girls From Avengers" by Carrie Vaughn: Set in 1943, a woman in WASP (Women Airforce Service Pilots) investigates the death of her friend. While I might have liked this if the subject matter and themes were more interesting to me, I will say that this story did fit the brief of fascinating, worthwhile warriors, the way most of these tales didn't (in my opinion anyway).

 

5)              "My Name is Legion" by David Morell: Set in 1941, members of the French Foreign Legion do their duty, even if it means fighting each other. While the story was generally enjoyable, I felt like I was missing something all the time I was reading. I just didn't get it, which may be more of a commentary on my dislike of war and stories containing that theme than anything actually wrong with the piece.

 

6)              "Defenders of the Frontier" by Robert Silverberg: For two decades, the troops manning a fort that was once teaming with soldiers have done their duty to their realm so completely, they've wiped out every last enemy. There are only 11 defenders left, and they've had no contact with the Empire in long enough for them to wonder if they've been forgotten. I read this in a state of horror from start to finish. These men struck me as the worst kind of monsters--the kind that doesn't even realize what they've become by blindly following orders. After submitting without question for so long, someone and something snaps. It has to. Is all shred of humanity lost at that point? The story tries to answer that question after a fashion by the way the survivors react, but I suspect that my answer to the same question would be on the opposite extreme.   

 

7)              "The Scroll" by David Ball: A French engineer and his fellow slaves under a new regime are mere pawns in a diabolical game in which the madman in charge of building a new city from the rubble follows the whims of an ancient scroll said to prophesize (and predict) what the engineer will do next. Wow, was this yet another horrifying refrain! The engineer trapped in this sad, sordid drama would do anything to stop playing the role he's been cast into. But it seems like everything he says and does, everything he doesn't say and doesn't do leads to one thing and one thing alone: Death. There's no escape. It reminded me a lot of the videogame Fable II, in which the hero is forced to go to the Spire, where the cold, calculating, nutso Commandant tries to teach submission to all the slaves. Devoid of choice or freedom, blindly following some random edict, leaves nothing but no-win situations. This was my second favorite tale in the collection, mostly because it held me so spellbound while I read it.

 

8)              The Mystery Knight (Book 3: A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms) by George R. R. Martin: This was hands-down my favorite included in the anthology. I reviewed it back on March 14, 2025 with the two previous stories in its series. 

Warriors had a theme that wasn't really geared toward someone like me, who dislikes war in nearly every context. Those who are fans of war stories and not-necessarily noble warriors will probably enjoy this anthology much more than I did.

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor 

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

Oldies But Goodies {Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: The Terror by Dan Simmons by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Oldies But Goodies

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: The Terror by Dan Simmons

by Karen S. Wiesner 

 

Be aware that there may be spoilers in this review. 

Two irresistible subjects for me are Antarctica and fictional horror creatures. The Terror came close enough to having both of them for me. This 2007 novel by Dan Simmons takes place in the Arctic, the most northern place on earth, while Antarctica is the most southern, but "ice everywhere you look" is a tidy description for both places. Simmons' fictionalized account of Captain Sir John Franklin's lost expedition to find the Northwest Passage from 1845-1848 has everything a boring, dry history book might skim over or even leave out--and it has the goods aplenty.   

The story starts with two HMS ships, Erebus and Terror, trapped in the ice 28 miles north-northwest of King William Island. They've been there for more than a year, their provisions are dwindling, and there's no wildlife to be hunted. But something is hunting them. Called "the terror", this indestructible monster seems to have taken the form of a colossal polar bear with a hideously long neck. Additionally, one of the parties sent out earlier encountered "Esquimaux" (Eskimos) while out on the ice. They shoot the old man, supposedly an accident, and end up bringing the young woman back to the ships with them. When they discover her tongue has been bitten off, they begin calling her "Lady Silence". 

The main character is Captain Francis Crozier, second to Sir John Franklin, who quickly becomes commander of the expedition when their leader is lost. Crozier is initially a drunk (forced into sobriety by a lingering illness) with insecurities stemming from his Irish heritage and his societally unimpressive beginnings which surely led to him being rejected as a suitor by the Captain's own niece. Crozier may or may not have psychic abilities. Other characters of note are Commander James Fitzjames, third in command, an upper-class officer in the Royal Navy. Dr. Henry D. S. Goodsir, an anatomist, considered the least of the four doctors caring for the crews, was a phenomenal character. In his unflagging humility and compassion, he gained the respect of both crews. The antagonist is most certainly Caulker's Mate Cornelius Hickey, who compels a desperate band of rebels to attempt mutiny. 

Before and after the dwindling crew abandons both ships, they're beset with one catastrophe after another in the form of starvation, illnesses and an unending catalog of maladies. It's discovered by Goodsir that the tinned provisions are all tainted with lead from soldering and are often putrid--the result of His Majesty's Navy taking the lowest bid to stock the ships with foodstuffs. Any help from the indigenous tribes is quickly squandered by the cannibalistic mutineer and his despairingly hungry band of insurgents. As if that isn't enough, the "Chenoo" ice monster that pursues them wherever they go seems to have a personal grudge against them. Does the Lady Silence, herself a shaman, know something about that? 

This book is absolutely not for the faint of heart. The landscape is ruthless and bleak (so well written, you'll feel the icy wind at the back of your neck, making you shiver). The themes explored arise from hopelessness, desolation, trapped and depraved conditions, where human beings are pushed right to the edge of humanity as well as sanity. With players being picked off left and right from every direction, you'll soon lose track of who you're rooting for, in some cases, because the protagonist is ripped from the story by a sudden and shocking death. The ending is unexpected and equally horrifying but I was somehow gratified by how it came back around to the beginning. (Beware spoiler below!) 

 

Crozier and Lady Silence, now lovers with children, are the only survivors of the tragedy. Their family comes upon the HMS Terror, still afloat almost 200 hundred miles south of her original "prison". After touring it, he sets it on fire and watches it burn and finally sink, lost to the ice, as the man he once was is and will now always be. 

 

Another reason this massive tome isn't for the meek is its sheer length. The hardcover is nearly 800 pages, larger than even most history books! One other thing threw me a bit--the story opened in medias res ("into the middle of things”), so chronologically, we were put in the middle of the plot instead of the beginning in these opening pages. I normally wouldn't mind that, but I entered a historical-like account in present tense, and whenever I was thrust in medias res, I felt like I was floundering and ungrounded. Luckily, most of the book wasn't written that way, but that nearly kept me from continuing both times I read this book--the first time when it initially came out as a hardcover in 2007 as well in as my recent reading. 

Additionally, Simmons has a very Stephen King-esque style of writing, in that he includes details that you either didn't want to know or would have assumed anyway if he'd just had the good manners to leave them out. Some call such information flavor. I call it bad taste. (I really don't care what color pubic hair or areolas anyone has, nor what someone's body does involuntarily while he's sleeping. Though flatulence did drive one particular plot of King's, I don't know of any other story that actually "benefits" from sensory details like this.) 

In any case, despite a cast larger than most encyclopedias, the characters in this setting, immersed in such a tense plot, are well worth the endeavor of taking on this intense reading project. Nearly twenty years after its publication, it certainly stands the test of time. 

If you're not up for this in-depth read, though, you don't have to miss The Terror's incredible story. There's a TV series that at least starts on the basis of Simmons' novel. The first season, making up 10 episodes, covers the entire novel, and pretty faithfully at that. Season 2 (and the upcoming 3) is also based on another mysterious event with a supernatural twist. Jared Harris as Crozier, Ciarán Hinds as Franklin, Tobias Menzies as Fitzjames, and Paul Ready as Goodsir were standout actors. In whatever form you choose to take in this story, just don't miss it. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/

{Put This One on Your TBR List} Book Review: "Caver, Continue" by Caitlin Starling by Karen S. Wiesner

 

{Put This One on Your TBR List}

Book Review: "Caver, Continue" by Caitlin Starling

by Karen S. Wiesner

 

Back in June 2023, I reviewed Caitlin Starling's first novel, a 2019 sci-fi horror The Luminous Dead. (Check out the review here: https://aliendjinnromances.blogspot.com/2023/06/karen-wiesner-book-review-luminous-dead.html.) In that story, the protagonist, 22-year-old Gyre Price, has risked everything to join the Lethe expedition, supposedly tasked with mapping the cave system, performing mining surveys, and restocking the camps set up along the way. Gyre quickly learns her handler isn't a team of professionals but a single person: Em, who owns the company and has poured a fortune into this cave and investing in perfecting a suit capable of functioning on so many levels to keep cavers alive. Em isn't what she seems, nor is this mission or its endgame. Em had apparently hired on cavers like Gyre often in the past, losing 34 to the horrors of the cave. In that story, readers were treated to the author's expertise concerning diving, climbing, caves, spelunking--things I love to read about, especially in horror and science fiction tales. 

I left The Luminous Dead completely satisfied with every part of the story. But I wanted more. I would have loved a whole series set in just this world but, alas, it seemed as single-title as it gets. I never imagined I'd get anything else connected with the novel. When I heard Starling had a story in the thirty-fifth issue of Grimdark Magazine, I bought it immediately from Amazon (for only $3.99--but keep in mind the magazine is electronic only). The short story "Caver, Continue" (a little less than 15 pages long) is set before and during the events of The Luminous Dead. Interestingly, it's told from the point-of-view of Eli Abramsson, one of Em’s lost cavers. I started it without any clue the two were related and spent a confusing several minutes reading, wondering if this was an early version of the novel that maybe had been written in a male perspective instead. Although I read The Luminous Dead years ago, I remembered the distinctive setting so vividly, I knew there had to be a connection. I did figure out it must be one of the earlier lost cavers long before I finished the story, which I read in one sitting. Eli begins to realize that his handler is seeing him fight for his life--and doing nothing to help him. This is a story well-worth the price I paid for it. My only complaint is I'll never have a hard copy of it. If I lose the e-mag, that's it. I won't be able to read the story again in the future. Sigh, why is everything so throwaway these days? 

As for the rest of the magazine, Grimdark focuses on the "darker, grittier side of fantasy and science fiction". It's published quarterly, and each issue has articles, reviews, interviews, and a selection of short fiction. Issue 35 had 5 short stories. You can find out more about the magazine and a subscription on their website (easily found with an internet search). While I like off-beat fiction like Starling's (among others), I have to say that I wasn't in love with the rest of the material in this issue, which I, in general, found gory and needlessly gratuitous, especially one particular piece with a "fight hate with hate" theme that came off as a thinly disguised metaphor for social injustice alive and well in our current world. I don't condone hate for anyone or anything, and overdosing on negativity is a surefire way to increase violence and turbulence. That said, readers who enjoy dark fantasy will probably like everything this e-mag has to offer. 

Karen Wiesner is an award-winning, multi-genre author of over 150 titles and 16 series.

Visit her website here: https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/

and https://karenwiesner.weebly.com/karens-quill-blog

Find out more about her books and see her art here: http://www.facebook.com/KarenWiesnerAuthor 

Visit her publisher here: https://www.writers-exchange.com/Karen-Wiesner/