Matthew Hunter

Expanded universe is an odd collection - unlike every other author’s volume of short stories you’ve read, EU is half author musings. It is almost as if Heinlein sat down to fill 500+ pages with social commentary, and used the short story format for about half of it.

If you are a fan of all things Heinlein you will doubtless enjoy this cross-section of his mind. If you were born in my parent’s generation, say around 1950 (or earlier), you will likely find a lot of his essays more relevant than I did - for many of them were written in the shadow of nuclear weaponry, and his predictions for the future (of which there are plenty) were made while you were alive.

Guy Gavariel Kay continues his magic-realism kick with The Lions of Al-Rassan, a thinly-veiled tale of Spain under Muslim rule. The fantastical elements so prominent in many of his earlier works are missing almost entirely from this one, with their only remnant vaguely psychic visions suffered by a character subject to fits and seizures. The story itself is still a masterfully-told romance with a strong female presence, perhaps too strong for the culture. Kay fans who don’t mind the lack of a strong fantasy element will enjoy the well-told story; those who read to escape the limitations of the world we know may find this tale offers little.

If Kindred: The Embraced is the Storyteller universe transferred to television, Underworld is the Storyteller universe transferred to the big screen with the serial numbers filed off. Vampires and werewolves at war with a extra helping of melodrama, all taking place under the veneer of the modern world. Unfortunately, taking that universe to the silver screen didn’t work out much better than the small screen.

This movie was portrayed as an action-adventure with “romance” as the plot motivator. It has enough action to qualify without a doubt, but it’s relatively uninspired action. The romance angle is so thin as to be meaningless; the characters supposedly “in love” are willing to buck their entire supernatural society after spending little more than a few hours together. Watching it, I struggled to retain my suspension of disbelief and ultimately failed.

Book of Night with Moon is a cat book for those who grew up with Diane Duane’s So you want to be a wizard series. It is somewhat dependent on the earlier works, even though it is not explicitly a part of the same series (and the plot itself stands alone).

Those with cats as pets will delight in the detailed and surprisingly well rendered view into the mind of a cat, where playfulness and feline politics vie with the weighty concerns of world-saving. Those without cats will be lost and confused, which is perhaps typical human behavior from the perspective of a cat anyway..

The Shadow Rising is the fourth book in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time series.

The Stone of Tear has fallen, and the Sword That Cannot Be Touched has been drawn in accordance with prophecy, confirming Rand as the Dragon Reborn. But there is much yet to do before he must face the Dark One at Tarmon Gai’don. Goaded by Moiraine, who seeks to guide his path towards Sammael in Illian, Rand remains determined to choose his own path, and to move in a direction that no one expects. For the Dragon, to remain in one place is death – and the Aiel, who took the Stone and allowed Rand to sieze the Sword That Is Not A Sword, have their own prophecies to fulfill.

Something from the Nightside is another piece of formulaic fantasy from Simon Green, who seems quite capable of writing formulaic fantasy or science fiction with his eyes closed and quite possibly while unconscious. His books are characterized by unique people with unique items wielding unique powers, to the point where the sheer uniqueness of everything (complete with capitalization) becomes tiresome and repetitive. This book is a fairly normal application of his formula.

Imagine a world in which Europe does not exist; the Vikings (Eyrans) trade directly with the Muslims (Istrians) at the fabled Allfair, and the Footloose, nomadic gypsy peddlers familiar from a myriad of traditions, converge to swindle them both with false magic, tall tales, and petty thievery. To the Allfair come the cast of characters, seeking adventure, excitement, a beautiful southern wife… and, of course, a handsome profit.

But such is not to be found this year. Instead, Katla Aranson, swordsmith and rock-climber, chooses to climb the rock her people call Sur’s Castle – the seat of their deity. Unfortunately, the Istrians claim that rock for their deity Falla… and deem it sacrilege for a female to touch it. Sacrilege that comes with a death penalty. And in the resulting intrigue, the merchants can perhaps be forgiven for failing to notice the increasing efficacy of the Footloose charms, for something that has been long asleep within the world now begins to stir.

Lord of Chaos, the 6th book in Robert Jordan’s Wheel of Time, marks a turning point for the series. It is the last book that can be effectively defended as lacking major flaws. In some ways it is almost a victim of its own bloat… almost, but not quite, for the high points of the story are very, very high.

We are witness to Rand’s struggle to control the nations he has conquered; between Tear, Cairhien, and the Shaido, his political plate is more than full. Yet his forces gather to launch an assault on Sammael in Illian, even as two factions of the Aes Sedai vie for his attention and favor. In this novel Rand and Egwene, his childhood friend from the Two Rivers, become polarized figures pulled in different directions by the forces of the adult world. Indeed, as events take shape, it becomes clear that the tale Jordan seeks to tell is one of gender-based conflict as much as the simple conflict between good and evil. The nature of saidin and saidar is such that they work best in harmony, yet the Dark One strives to keep them separate, working desperately at cross-purposes, mistrusting and divided.

I read this in a 2003 reissue; it was originally published in 1977. Despite this, it’s an engaging piece of hard science fiction that passes the test of time extremely well. The author was even lucky enough to guess at a Russian collapse, leaving the Chinese as the primary world power (other than the United States, of course). There are only a few references that date the book to its original publication, and none of those are jarring.

“The Paladin” is the tale of an aging swordmaster, living in reclusion, trying to deal with a prospective student who wants him to return to the world and deal with the Evil Usurper. The plot is hardly original, although there are a few interesting twists. Even so, the story is well told and thoroughly enjoyable. It’s worth noting that it dates from a time when fantasy novels could be simple, straightforward, and well-written; that was enough. These days it can be a little more complicated.