Review: The Ring Goes South by J. R. R. Tolkien

Hardcover, 253 pages
Published 2000 (originally 1954)
Acquired February 2011
Read March 2013

The Ring Goes South: Being the Second Book of The Lord of the Rings
by J. R. R. Tolkien

To my surprise, I didn't like The Ring Goes South as much as the previous volume in the series. While The Ring Sets Out has a pretty firm focus on the Shire and the dangers facing it, The Ring Goes South is a little more disjointed, alternating between excitement and boredom, and a little too overcrowded.

Unfortunately, it leads off with boredom: "The Council of Elrond" ought to be a textbook case of how not to handle exposition. I like the idea of the backstory, but the way it's related meant I had to go back over it multiple times in order to absorb it all, as I kept on skimming through whether I wanted to or not. I did notice that though there are many songs sung in Rivendell, they're all by Bilbo; the elves themselves do not sing much if at all. It's a marked difference to the more mischievous elves of The Hobbit.

Finally, though, the Company gets underway, and things begin to pick up. There are an awful lot of characters in the Company, and inevitable short shrift is given to most of them. Pippin is there just to be mocked by Gandalf (I loved it when Gandalf threatened to bash his head against the Gate of Moria), but even outside of the hobbits, I found it took a long time to get a grip on any one character's personality, beyond the fact that no matter what plan you come up with, Boromir will think it's a bad idea. They do get some moments, though, especially when Gimli visits Lothlórien and takes issue with the elves' prescriptions... but is then saddened when they must leave.

The visit to the Mines of Moria was definitely my favorite part of the novel: Tolkien very vividly communicates Moria's creepiness, and I'm a complete sucker for stories where characters find a fragmented narrative telling of a past disaster. The journey to Lothlórien is a complete shift, and though it has its moments (the stuff with Gimli, the looking in the Mirror of Galadriel, Galadriel's rant), it feels a little disconnected, and repetitive to the already-long stay in Rivendell.

The last chapter, though, is amazing, from Boromir's breakdown to Frodo's use of the ring to see all Middle-earth to Frodo and Sam's amazingly brave decision. The end of the book left me excited to see what would happen next; I just wish it had cohered a little bit more in and of itself, and that there's been more time to spend with any of the nine principal characters.

Review: Trillion Year Spree by Brian W. Aldiss with David Wingrove

Trade paperback, 511 pages
Published 1986
Acquired April 2012
Read August 2012

Trillion Year Spree: The History of Science Fiction
by Brian W. Aldiss with David Wingrove

Perhaps the most important place for the history of a genre to begin is with defining its topic. Aldiss and Wingrove open by calling science fiction "the search for a definition of mankind in the universe which will stand in our advanced but confused state of knowledge (science), and is characteristically cast in the Gothic or post-Gothic mode" (25). Later they clarify that the Gothic emphasizes "the distant and unearthly" and carries "us into an entranced world from which horrid revelations start" (35). This definition is at least partly circular, for it makes Frankenstein (1818) the first work of sf-- but it seems to have been designed to do so. Every now and then they let loose with another (usually perceptive) defining nugget:

• Stipulations apply only to individual writers, not a genre. (155)
• One of the pleasures of sf is considering its plausibility, experiencing a “sense of veracity” (155). Perhaps this is why so much early sf has plausibility-increasing frame stories? (Frankenstein, The Last Man, The Mummy!, The Narrative of Arthur Gordon Pym, The Purple Cloud, &c.)
• Sf is like Nazism(!) in that both link modernity and the past into a sort of "technological romanticism" (176).
• Prophecy is uninteresting. (340)
• Good sf speculates and entertains. (363)
• The delight of a first novel (in a series) is a new world; the delight of later novels is reacquaintance. (398) Not necessarily lesser, just different.

In any case, though Aldiss and Wingrove claim that they will modify the definition as they go, it comes up virtually never again. The idea that it involves "the search for the definition of mankind" seems unnecessary, but to reformulate it along the lines of saying something like that it 'takes us into an entranced world made possible through our advanced state of knowledge' would seem to come close to something more accurate and useful. I also like their comment that "transposition of reality" is what distinguishes sf from fantasy (49). They perhaps overplay the influence of the Gothic, but it’s a useful point to make.

The most useful thing that Aldiss and Wingrove do with genre is simply to be very, very careful about it. They point out that genres exist for readers, writers, and publishers, and though Swift was certainly not writing sf (they push against the tendency of genre fans to claim things for their genre), readers now read Swift for much the same reason that they read Wells or Asimov. Hence, their history of the genre charts not just works that exist within the genre, but the works that the genre is responding to, other works read by its readers, and writers outside of the genre undertaking similar projects.

They do fall into the trap of confusing the rhetorical project of genre with its features. For example, they mention Hardy as someone who has a "tremulous awareness set against the encompassing mysteries of space and time" and deals with the scientific revelations of his time, including Darwin (98). Surely the thing that stops Hardy from being an sf writer is that he doesn’t undertake a transposition of reality that relies on our advanced state of knowledge? But according to Aldiss and Wingrove, the reasons Hardy is not an sf writer are: 1) the changes in the social order he records aren't for novelty or sensation, but to impact characterization, 2) his tone is not rapid and light, and 3) he is a genius, whereas sf attracts talents at best (99-100). None of these are defining aspects of sf: Le Guin gives us changes in the social order for characterization, no one would accuse Orwell of being rapid and light, and sf has probably had more than one genius, and even if it hadn't  that’s a stupid thing to say. But otherwise, their tracing of these people outside the genre is perhaps one of the most interesting aspects of their project, as is their careful delineation of who is connected to whom within the genre: when discussing the 1930s, they separate out the magazine tradition of Gernsback and Campbell from folks responding to the same ideas like Čapek, Kafka, Huxley, and Lewis.

Their discussion of 19th-century sf is interesting, but not groundbreaking. I suspect the Frankenstein thing was at the time, but now it's a critical commonplace! (Still right, though.) Part of the problem with this section is that it doesn't get the time the other ones do; the careful delineation that shines in most of the book isn't present here, with utopian fiction, future-war fiction, Verne, and the dime novels all dealt with together a little carelessly. His connection to Sherlock Holmes is nice: in talking with a friend, I suggested that both sf and mysteries rely on the existence of a rational universe to some degree.

Review: Star Trek / Legion of Super-Heroes by Chris Roberson

Comic hardcover, n. pag.
Published 2012 (contents: 2011-12)
Acquired August 2012
Read February 2013

Star Trek / Legion of Super-Heroes

Writer: Chris Roberson

Pencils: Jeffrey Moy

Inks: Philip Moy

Colors: Romulo Fajardo, Jr.

Letters: Chris Mowry, Shawn Lee, Robbie Robbins

While IDW's later Star Trek: The Next Generation / Doctor Who storyline is definitely the crossover I've always known I wanted, Star Trek / Legion of Super-Heroes is the crossover I never knew I wanted. The concept might initially seem a little goofy, but I love Star Trek, and I love the Legion, and much for the same reason. Both series provide teams of colorful characters in strange settings accomplishing awesome things through virtue of teamwork. What's not to like? And why not cross over?

Chris Roberson's script sure plays up the parallels between the Federation and the United Planets, between the Enterprise crew and the Legion, to good effect. Not too much time is wasted on the initial, mandatory confrontation, but even that is well-played and interesting: what would Spock do if faced with Braniac 5? The answer is, of course, awesome. Both groups end up working together, though, to figure out why both their universes have been replaced with this aberrant one, and the interaction is helped by the fact that Roberson knows all the characters on both teams; there's even a great Chekov joke. Roberson sure does have fun with the mashup: we get an Orion with the Emerald Eye, Klingons fighting Khunds. And I never thought I'd see the day where Superboy showed up in a Star Trek comics, even if just in a flashback! If the comic falls down anywhere, it's the end: something complicated seems to have been built up, but it resolved in a far too cursory fashion just before the story's end, which is a bit of a bummer. Roberson had done such good character work up to that point, that I was disappointed that it didn't really factor into the conclusion.

I really liked the art of Jeffrey and Philip Moy. The Legion was all on-character, but so too was the Enterprise crew: it was definitely them, without seeming traced or stiff. Get these guys on a regular Star Trek comic, stat! They also drew some great two-page spreads, especially the histories of the Legion and the Federation. I felt damn near inspired reading those sequences.

One other quibble: I am pretty sure the gap after The Great Darkness Saga where this story supposedly takes place in Legion continuity just doesn't exist. This certainly oughtn't take place after "The Day after Darkseid," but there's no point where it could fit in before that.

Review: England in the Nineteenth Century by David Thomson

Mass market paperback, 254 pages
Published 1986 (originally 1950)
Acquired October 2008
Read January 2013

The Pelican History of England: 8. England in the Nineteenth Century (1815-1914)
by David Thomson

I felt much more grounded in this book than in the previous Pelican History of England, Plumb's England in the Eighteenth Century. Partially, I am sure, this is because I study Victorian literature, and thus have more of a background, but I think it helps that Thomson doesn't divide his book into phases based on prime ministers whose importance I am supposed to take for granted, but three different "phases" (1815-50, 1851-74, 1875-1914) that emphasize, in turn, reform, progress, and statehood. With less of politics and more of the social situation, Thomson provides a very readable, light history with occasional moments of insight, such as: "Later generations have come to regard as man-made and intolerable many things which the Victorians accepted as without remedy. The Victorians regarded as intolerable many others things which their ancestors had deemed without remedy, and they had slowly to invent appropriate means to deal with these new-found but not novel social evils. [...] Evils felt to be humanly remediable were tackled as promptly, and, on the whole, as competently, as the means at their disposal allowed" (115). He's obviously working at point to reclaim the Victorians from later criticism (i.e., Lytton Strachey et al.), and I too am all for that.

Review: England in the Eighteenth Century by J. H. Plumb

Hardcover, 224 pages
Published 1976 (originally 1950)
Borrowed from the library
Read August 2012

The Pelican History of England: 7. England in the Eighteenth Century
by J. H. Plumb

I read this book for a general overview of the eighteenth century before I launched into my reading for my qualifying exams, which spanned 1780 to 1925. Some specific background knowledge on the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries seemed like it would be worthwhile. This book was maybe not all that I hoped; Plumb seemed to assume a level of general knowledge with the era's politics that I simply did not possess, as the whole book was organized around three principal prime ministers who were referred to as though I was already an expert. So it was okay, but I find that I've already forgotten much of the knowledge it contained. (Maybe I should have taken notes as I read?)

Reading Roundup Wrapup: February 2013

Pick of the month: The Battle Within by Gail Simone. Few books makes this distinction much less competitive, but this was probably the most well-executed book I read this month, though I was tempted to pick Star Trek / Legion of Super-Heroes for concept alone.

All books read:
1. Thomas Hardy’s Novel Universe: Astronomy, Cosmology, and Gender in the Post-Darwinian World by Pamela Gossin
2. John Brunner Presents Kipling’s Science Fiction by Rudyard Kipling
3. Birds of Prey: The Battle Within by Gail Simone
4. Birds of Prey: Perfect Pitch by Gail Simone
5. T. Tembarom by Frances Hodgson Burnett
6. Birds of Prey: Blood and Circuits by Gail Simone with Tony Bedard
7. The Obverse Quarterly: Year Two, Book One: Tales of the City edited by Philip Purser-Hallard
8. Star Trek / Legion of Super-Heroes by Chris Roberson

All books acquired:
1. The Resurrectionist: The Lost Work of Dr. Spencer Black by E. B. Hudspeth
2. Star Wars Omnibus: At War with the Empire, Volume 1 by Scott Allie, Randy Stradley with Brian Daley, Paul Chadwick, Jeremy Barlow, Paul Alden, Ron Marz, and Welles Hartley
3. Star Wars Omnibus: At War with the Empire, Volume 2 by Ron Marz, John Jackson Miller, Thomas Andrews, Rob Williams with Brandon Badeaux, Jeremy Barlow, and Judd Winick
4. Star Wars Omnibus: The Other Sons of Tatooine by Mike W. Barr with Michael A. Stackpole, Paul Chadwick, Jeremy Barlow, Randy Stradley, and Rob Williams
5. Doctor Who: The Way through the Woods by Una McCormack
6. Doctor Who and the Auton Invasion by Terrance Dicks
7. Doctor Who and the Cave Monsters by Malcolm Hulke
8. Doctor Who and the Cybermen by Gerry Davis
9. Doctor Who and the Abominable Snowmen by Terrance Dicks
10. Star Trek: Vanguard: Declassified by Dayton Ward, Kevin Dilmore, Marco Palmieri, and David Mack
11. Star Trek: Vanguard: What Judgments Come by Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore with David Mack
12. Star Trek: Vanguard: Storming Heaven by David Mack with Dayton Ward & Kevin Dilmore
13. Doctor Who: Touched by an Angel by Jonathan Morris
14. Infestation v.1 by Dan Abnett, Andy Lanning, and Mike Raicht
15. Infestation v.2 by Scott Tipton, David Tipton, Erik Burnham, Dan Abnett, and Andy Lanning
16. Star Wars: The Old Republic: Fatal Alliance by Sean Williams
17. Star Wars: The Old Republic: Deceived by Paul S. Kemp
18. Star Wars: The Old Republic: Revan by Drew Karpyshyn
19. Darwin Loves You: Natural Selection And The Re-Enchantment Of The World by George Levine
20. The Handbook: The Unofficial and Unauthorised Guide to the Production of Doctor Who by David J Howe, Stephen James Walker & Mark Stammers
21. Star Wars: Red Harvest by Joe Schreiber
22. Star Wars: Blood Ties: Jango and Boba Fett by Tom Taylor
23. Star Wars: Blood Ties: Boba Fett Is Dead by Tom Taylor
24. Queen City Jazz by Kathleen Ann Goonan
25. Journey into Space, Volume One: Operation Luna by Charles Chilton
26. Batman: Knight and Squire by Paul Cornell
27. Time, Unincorporated: The Doctor Who Fanzine Archives, Vol. 3: Writings on the New Series edited by Graeme Burk and Robert Smith?
28. Soldier Zero, Volume One: One Small Step for Man by Paul Cornell
29. Queer as Folk: The Scripts by Russell T Davies

Books remaining on "To be read" list: 509

Faster than a DC Bullet: Birds of Prey, Part IX: Blood and Circuits

Comic trade paperback, 206 pages
Published 2007 (contents: 2006-07)
Borrowed from the library
Read February 2013

Birds of Prey: Blood and Circuits

Writer: Gail Simone
Co-Writer: Tony Bedard
Pencillers: Nicola Scott, Paulo Siqueira, James Raiz
Inkers: Doug Hazlewood, Robin Riggs
Letterers: Travis Lanham, Pat Brosseau, Jared K. Fletcher, Rob Leigh, Ken Lopez

Even though there's no year-long gap in the middle, Blood and Circuits feels divided in much the same way as its predecessor. The first half continues the Birds of Prey's encounters with the Secret Society of Super Villains that began in Perfect Pitch, as they compete for control of Black Alice. Dinah considers her membership of the team, because of the girl Sin she adopted in that volume, and Helena has another showdown with a mobster from that story. On the other hand, a mysterious wannabe-Batgirl has appeared in Gotham. It's an okay story, worth it as always for the characters' interplay and growth, which wraps up with Dinah really deciding to leave. She also publishes a book about her career, which is charming, though I found it hard to believe that Barbara wouldn't have noticed until it came out!

The second half gives us a very different approach, as Dinah recruits widely to find a replacement for the Black Canary. Huntress and Lady Blackhawk on a mission with Big Barda turns out to be every bit as amazing as you'd imagine, and we also get to meet Kate "Manhunter" Spencer for the first time. She is awesome;  I look forward to reading her solo series someday. We also get a villain matched to Oracle: the Spy Smasher. She seems good so far, though the fact that she went to college with Barbara is a bit much. Unfortunately, the story is hard to judge, as the book ends when it's only halfway over. In retrospect, the last few collections of Birds of Prey could have been handled a bit better, I think, with something like:

• first half of The Battle Within (taking down rogue vigilantes; issues #76-80)
• second half of The Battle Within and first half of Perfect Pitch (up against the Gotham mobs, ending just before the Infinite Crisis; issues #81-90)
• second half of Perfect Pitch and first half of Blood and Circuits (Dinah and Sin, all after the one-year jump; issues #92-99)
• second half of Blood and Circuits and... whatever comes next? (issues #100+)

The best part of Blood and Circuits, by the way, is definitely the little story in the middle, where Dinah explains her history to Sin. Well written by Gail Simone and Tony Bedard, and probably the best art that Paulo Siqueira and Robin Riggs did on the title. The second half introduces Nicola Scott on pencils and Doug Hazlewood on inks, and she's my favorite of the artists paired with Simone thus far; I look forward to seeing more of her work in future volumes.

Faster than a DC Bullet: Birds of Prey, Part VIII: Perfect Pitch

Comic trade paperback, 223 pages
Published 2007 (contents: 2005-06)
Borrowed from the library
Read February 2013

Birds of Prey: Perfect Pitch

Writer: Gail Simone
Pencillers: Paulo Siqueira, Joe Bennett, Joe Prado, Eddy Barrows, Adriana Melo, Bruce Timm, David Lopez, Adam Dekraker
Inkers: Robin Riggs, Jack Jadson, Dick Giordano, Will Conrad, Fernando Blanco
Letterers: Jared K. Fletcher, Pat Brosseau

Perfect Pitch opens with a three-part celebratory story, which is possible one of the funnest Birds of Prey tales yet. The first part gives us a part for the recovered Dinah, with lots of fun moments for each of the characters, especially Zinda's attempts to flirt with Creote, Helena trying a new Italian restaurant's food, and Barbara making up with Dick. (Speaking of which, I feel like I only ever have half the story on that relationship-- was the other half happening in Nightwing comics I haven't read?) Then, there's a crazy story of a cultist attempt to sacrifice reporters in downtown Metropolis while Superman's away, which Dinah defeats with her usual aggressive approach. Bruce Timm's artwork for this tale is, of course, amazing. Finally, Helena gets to do some avenging. I'd say she was rapidly becoming my favorite Bird of Prey, except Barbara and Dinah are just as awesome.

The next story, the titular "Perfect Pitch," puts the Birds of Prey up against the Calculator (last seen by me being an anti-Oracle in Identity Crisis) as they continue their efforts to destroy Gotham's gangs by letting Huntress take over one of them. I didn't like this as much as some of the other recent stories: Batman is a jerk for unexplained reasons (if he previously told Oracle to stay out of Gotham, we never saw it happen in Birds of Prey itself), and Deathstroke the Terminator, possible my least favorite DC villain who is not Mongul, shows up. While him posing a threat to the Birds of Prey is more probable than him posing a threat to the Justice League, he's still completely overdone, and I was beyond pleased to see Dinah get him in the eye! Actually, there are a number of good moments in the story, such as Barbara revealing her new secret identity to her father, Huntress continuing to be badass, Dinah reconnecting with Oliver Queen for the first time since he cheated on her in Straight Shooter, Savant and Creote finally achieving real redemption, Dinah... "thanking" Batman, and Zinda learning the truth about Creote.

There's a year-long gap between "Pefect Pitch" and the next story, "Progeny." By the time of "Progeny," Dinah has left the team to switch positions with Shiva, who she wants to both learn from and redeem. I found that takeaway from Dinah being in the village where Shiva was raised kinda weak: she learns who she really is for the umpteenth time, I think. But I did like the subplot with Sin, even knowing how this will end up in Green Arrow and Black Canary.

On the other hand, Shiva serving with the Birds of Prey as "the Jade Canary" is every bit as delightful as you might imagine. But ugh, Prometheus shows up, and as long-time readers of my reviews might know, I hate him as much as Deathstroke and Mongul combined, probably. How did this many bad villains end up in the same collection? Also, Gypsy joins the Birds in this story... only you wouldn't even know that was her name were in not for the dramatis personae at the volume's beginning! Whoops.

Paulo Siequeira and Robin Riggs draw most of this volume, and they turn out to be Simone's most solid artistic partners yet. Good faces, solid linework. I was amused to notice that in this volume, Helena starts wearing purple lipstick that matches her Huntress costume's colors!

Faster than a DC Bullet: Birds of Prey, Part VII: The Battle Within

Comic trade paperback, 237 pages
Published 2006 (contents: 2005)
Borrowed from the library
Read February 2013

Birds of Prey: The Battle Within

Writer: Gail Simone
Pencillers: Joe Bennett, Ed Benes, Tom Derenick, Joe Prado, Eddy Barrows
Inkers: Jack Jadson, Ed Benes, Bob Petrecca, Robin Riggs
Letterers: Jared K. Fletcher, Phil Balsman

The fourth collection of Gail Simone's Birds of Prey run is where her take really clicked with me-- perhaps because this collects twelve issues, a full year of her run, rather than the usual 6 or so, allowing one to really dig into her interweaving plots. This is odd, as I found the first few stories pretty disposable: the Birds, in their new mobile home Aerie One, travel to Dayton, Kansas, and Metropolis to rein in overeager vigilantes. I'm not sure why Barbara decided this was their new purpose in life, but there you go.

We get a few done-in-one (or -two) stories that are strong in character for the regulars, which is nice, but little else. It's nice to see Helena actually doing educational stuff, and there's one of my favorite moments in the whole series thus far when she crossbows a guy in hospital and shrugs it off. Zinda turns out to be a fantastic addition to the Birds, rarely at the center of the plots, but always fun in how she changes the dynamic. On the other hand, Kansas is portrayed in an utterly condescending way, and Tom Derenick and Bob Petrecca's art is so off that when a mystical creature ages Dinah twenty years in the middle of combat, you can't even tell.

The plot in the book's second half, as the Birds of Prey being to disintegrate and also take on some gangs internationally, was much more consistent. Helena leaves the group to do things in a way that combines her original one with Barbara's, and in doing so, we get our best understanding of her character in the series so far: someone violent and brash, but dedicated to doing good in whatever way works best. Helena trying to infiltrate the Gotham underworld (and tussling with Dick "Nightwing" Grayson, who is doing the same) is one of the series' most interesting undertakings. Meanwhile, Barbara must undergo surgery and Dinah has to organize the defense of Gotham City with just hand-on-hand combat. The interweaving of plot and character has never been sharper in the title, and I have never liked all three characters more.

Unfortunately, the story is let down by the series's weakest art thus far: Joe Bennett and Jack Jadson's women all have plastic faces incapable of displaying emotions other than wide-mouthed; Ed Benes might be cheesecakey, but at least his characters have facial expressions. Worse is the creepy way he draws all Asians. Ugh. One wonders why DC was never able to supply Gail Simone with an artist who could match her writing talent. At least Huntress's costume has lost the belly window.

Review: The New Adventures: Walking to Babylon by Kate Orman

Mass market paperback, 257 pages
Published 1998
Acquired November 2012
Read December 2012

The New Adventures: Walking to Babylon
by Kate Orman

This is a thoughtful, cute romance, where Bernice gets to hang out with an Edwardian archaeologist in the distant past, while meanwhile the People get up to no good. Not a lot happens, perhaps (seriously, how long does it take you to find people from the far future in ancient Mesopotamia?), but Orman's prose and interiority are such that you rarely notice, and when you do notice, you don't care. Bernice is at her best here, after a couple crummy outings, and John Lafayette is a good character too. The investigation of the People is great; my first real encounter with these guys.