Book Review: Ark Royal

First of All: So I've liked this page on Facebook which talks a lot about Fantasy and Sci-fi stuff.  Most of the time, they just post memes which only nerdy people would get, but occasionally, they'll recommend a book which they liked.  When they posted a short review about Ark Royal, by Christopher G. Nuttall, I got curious and decided to look into it further.  To be honest, it's actually really good.

Second of All: The Book!
Everything changed for the people of Earth once they discovered the gravimetric Tram lines that ran from star to star.  A brilliant scientist developed a device called the Puller drive, which would allow starships to travel these lines in a heartbeat, and thus humanity began its expansion into the stars.  Earth's various political powers have each claimed several inhabited worlds, and each of them have been building up military strength and developing new, more efficient ships for the better part of a century.

Captain Ted Smith, the commanding officer aboard an ancient British carrier named H.M.S. Ark Royal, knows that his command is more punishment than anything.  The decrepit old ship was one of the first battleships built, and now, at 70 years old, it's kept running by sheer determination and grit from its minimal crew.  Everyone in the British navy knows that Ark Royal is where they send the washouts and failed members of the Navy, and it's driven Captain Smith into alcoholism.

Everything changes one day when he's called to a meeting with the British Navy's highest officer, the First Space Lord, who gives him grave news.  Humanity has made first contact with an alien race, and the extraterrestrials aren't friendly.  All of mankind's forces are mustering in the first combined effort to defend human space in history, and the Ark Royal is needed.  With a new, ambitious first officer, Commander James Fitzwilliam, in tow, Captain Smith begins preparations to take his old carrier out into the battle with a vastly superior alien race.

Third of All: The Review!
Going into the book, I was a bit skeptical of how good it would be, since the cover seems to suggest self-publishing, or perhaps an inexperienced publisher.  But I was very pleasantly surprised when I got into the book.
Christopher Nuttall weaves a fantastically real-feeling universe, where tensions between nations run high and the stakes are always increasing.  He portrays the burdens of aristocracy, the weight of command, and the very real repercussions that war has among common citizenry, all with a very skilled and talented hand.  His characters felt real, with passions and history and strengths and weaknesses all of their own, and even the minor, unimportant characters had depth.

Also, the alien race he created was amazingly well-made.  Even though the reader never finds out much about them, the amount of detail he gives us about what their ships look like, their physical appearance, and other aspects (which I won't mention due to spoilers) all demonstrate that he's put a lot of thought into this alien species.

So well was his universe created that the dynamics of space travel and the nature of the ships in his world made for some very real-feeling situations in the book, where the characters' survival was always hanging just on the edge.  The space combat was very well executed, and felt real as well.

There were two things that didn't sit well with me, though.  First and foremost, there was some sexual content in the book.  It was set up by some real-feeling psychological issues, and the situation that resulted because of it was very realistic, but I was disappointed that such a great story had to include it.  Also, there were a few typos, and some times where phrases were repeated in pretty close succession, though this issue could very easily be fixed with a good copy edit.

Overall, I thought this was a great book, and I hope that he gets around to writing another.  Were it not for the above mentioned issues, Ark Royal would have got a near-perfect grade, but as it stands, I give it a Four and a Half out of Six Nerd Stars.

Movie Review: The LEGO Movie

First of All:   LEGOs.  An essential part of any awesome childhood.  Certainly a central and pivotal part of mine.  So naturally, when I saw that this movie was coming out, I kind of geeked out.  A lot.  And then, today, when my family asked if I wanted to come along and see it with them on opening weekend, I gave them a wholehearted and enthusiastic "Yes!"   And let me tell you, I wasn't disappointed at all.

Second of All: The movie!
The LEGO Movie follows Emmet Brickowski, a completely and entirely average LEGO minifigure who enjoys his all-too routine life as a construction worker.  One day after work, he stumbles across a mysterious girl minifigure named Wyldstyle, and then is thrust into an adventure that he never saw coming.

Now, as the Special proclaimed by prophecy, Emmet joins up with the Master Builders--an elite group of minifigures who can construct anything they imagine--and is forced to find something unique inside of himself to become the only hope of stopping the tyrannical Lord Business and his unstoppable superweapon: the Kragle.

Third of All: The review!
Mere words can't contain the amount of awesome that this movie bears.  Witty dialogue, family-friendly fun, action, comedy, popular culture and nerd culture references, romance, a touching and epic story, and even more incredible features are what make this movie one of the best I've seen in recent memory.  Though it is geared toward kids and teenagers, any child at heart will thoroughly enjoy this film.  Besides, it has a fantastic cast of great voice actors like Morgan Freeman, Liam Neeson (heck yeah!) and Will Ferrell.

Another fantastic feature of the film is that everything--and I mean characters, scenery, lasers, special effects, and even the explosions--in the movie has been painstakingly constructed from LEGOs, which gives it an absolutely wonderful feel.

I did see the movie for the first time in 3D, and I would recommend that you watch it in 2D.  The large amount of action and fast-moving scenes get kind of blurry when seen through a pair of special 3D glasses, and I feel like I missed out on some of the finer details because of it.  

The LEGO Movie carries a wonderful message, an incredibly creative approach to the theme, and an ending which tugs at the heartstrings.  I wholeheartedly recommend this movie, and it is with no reservations that I give it a full Six out of Six Nerd Stars.

Book Review: The Way of Kings

First of All: I think I already mentioned how big of a Brandon Sanderson fan I am.  Let me check...yep.  Though I think "mentioned" should be replaced with "gushed about".  Actually, a few days after finishing The Way of Kings, I got to meet the man himself in person at a book signing in Idaho Falls!  What an awesome experience!  Despite the huge line, he took time to speak on a personal level with each and every one of his fans as he signed their books.  To those incredulous among you, here's a photo as proof!

I'm the one with some wicked widows peaks--or "power alleys"--in the back.  Please contain your swooning, ladies.

Second of All:  This is the first book in The Stormlight Archive series, of which the next book is coming ot in March of next year, and which is part of Sanderson's universe called the Cosmere. The story itself, in keeping with the sheer epic nature of any Brandon Sanderson book, is set in its own world, with rules that are radically different than our own.  Most of the planet--at least the parts we get to see--is rocky, with plant and animal life unique to the planet.  Vegetation keeps itself contained in stone-like shells, into which the plant withdraws itself if threatened, and most of the animals we see are crustacean in nature, just on a large--or in the case of some monsters called "chasmfiends", huge--scale.  There are seas and far-off lands where things are different, but most of the action takes place in the rocky part of the world.  Also, there are the constant danger of the Highstorms, massive hurricane-like tempests which rage across the worlds at somewhat predictable intervals.   Sanderson even creates his own monetary system, composed of gems embedded in glass spheres which become more valuable when infused with Stormlight, an energy harvested from the Highstorms.  This Stormlight also powers suits of armor called Shardplate, ancient artifacts that are nearly indestructible and which grant the user enhanced strength and speed.  The greatest warriors of this world own a suit of Shardplate and wield Shardblades, huge and nearly weightless swords that can cut through anything except living flesh.  Instead, the sword burns the soul out of whatever living thing it touches.

The story follows several principal characters.  First is Kaladin, the son of a surgeon who fought in the army but later became a slave for reasons that don't make themselves clear until late in the book.  While in the army, he earned the title "Kaladin Stormblessed," due to the masterful grasp he had of fighting and warfare in general.  There's something special about the man, something that everyone who meets him notices, which is truly epic in nature.

Second is Shallan, the daughter of a wealthy merchant who is seeking to learn under the care of Jasnah Kholin, an atheist heretic scholar in possession of a powerful artifact known as a "Soulcaster" which can transmute any substance into any other substance.  Shallan, despite her innocent appearance, is hiding a dark secret about her purpose to learn under Jasnah.

Third is Dalinar, one of the Highprinces of a nation in a war to avenge their assassinated king, who was Dalinar's brother.  He owns a suit of Shardplate and a Shardblade, and his legendary feats of battle in the past have earned him the nickname "The Blackthorn."  He is entrusted with protecting the new king, his nephew, and is wrapped up in the political plots and deadly warfare that surround him.  Dalinar also suffers from visions during Highstorms, which make people fear he is going mad.

Third of All: The Review!
Though the amount of originality in creating a whole new world--with its own monetary system, government hierarchies, animal and plant life, and so forth--is incredible (and a good job is done of introducing these new concepts without breaking character), it is still a bit confusing for a new reader until about a good quarter of the book passes, when you start to get a hang of how things work.  Kudos to Sanderson, though, for depriving himself completely of all conventional fantasy devices or creatures, while creating his own.

The story is magnificent, with Sanderson's trademark explosive climax at the end.  Tensions build constantly through the book, and due to the sheer number of pages, that makes for a huge amount of conflict at the end, which Sanderson handles with the master's touch.  Each of the characters, even the small ones, are incredibly well made, with personalities, history, and development throughout the book.  Also, none of them seem invulnerable.  Each has flaws, weaknesses, and is plunged into mortal danger which could very well end them if they're not careful.  Overall, it was a masterful work, full of plot twists and mysteries whose answers have to wait until later books, as well as a colorful cast of memorable characters.  Also, it's packed with tidbits and hints at the over-arching plot that encompasses all worlds set in the Cosmere.

My only complaint comes from the length of the book.  Well, not so much the length in pages, but the spacing of the action throughout those pages.  At several points during each of the main characters' plots, I found myself frustrated with what seemed like the tediousness of the plot.  I'm thankful that I had a friend who had already read it, who constantly reassured me that the good stuff was just around the corner.  Looking back, I can see how all of the little things which I was impatient with had to exist to contribute to the awesome finale, and I'm glad that I powered through the hard parts.  The Way of Kings is certainly much larger than any of Sanderson's other works, except perhaps his work with Robert Jordan in The Wheel of Time series, which are even more massive in scale.  Whether this book is Sanderson's contribution to the tradition of epic-length novels, or simply just a huge story that necessitates a ton of pages is unclear.

Regardless, this book was fantastic, as is anything that Sanderson touches.  I give it a Five out of Six Nerd Stars.

Book Review: Steelheart

First of All:  I am a huge Brandon Sanderson fan.  Ever since I first read his novel Elantris, I've been fascinated by his vast creativity and in-depth world-building.  What is so intriguing to me about all of his books is that they're fantasy books (which definitely falls under the nerdy categories appropriate for this blog), but he's not content with sticking to traditional fantasy tropes like spell-casting and dragons and trolls.  He starts from the ground up, constructing entire worlds from scratch, each with their own rules of how things work, their own completely original creatures, and very real-feeling political and economic systems.
Now if that wasn't enough, the vast majority of Brandon Sanderson's works are all tied together in the same universe called the Cosmere, where there's a much bigger cosmic plot running above what most of his characters ever experience.  Some fans might get a bit frustrated that he jumps from one world to the next so rapidly, but I for one am glad to get a consistent stream of his books, even if he does have to take a break from his big projects to work on something smaller.  It keeps him from burning out, which works just fine for me.

Second of All:  The book!
I was a bit sad that Steelheart turned out to be one of the books he writes that isn't set in the Cosmere, but he more than made up for it with one big thing: super powers.  Heck yeah super powers!  I'm a big fan of anything super-human, and so I was jazzed right from the start at seeing my favorite author taking his turn at the super-power batting cage.

As you can find out from the teaser text on the back of the book (or the inside flap of the cover), Steelheart is set in a somewhat futuristic Chicago, where every non-organic substance has been converted into pure steel by a superhuman--or Epic, as they're called here--named Steelheart.  These Epics first started showing up when a huge star-like object called Calamity started floating above Earth, granting certain people superhuman abilities similar to what you'd find in comic books.  The only problem is that every person who turns into an Epic also becomes an evil, power-hungry thug.  Within a few years, Epics have taken over the world, and now fight for dominance over scraps of territory all over the globe.

The story is told from the perspective of David, a young man who watched as the Epic named Steelheart killed his father and then took over all of Chicago, transforming it into a totalitarian state deemed Newcago.  Driven by his desire for revenge and the fact that he's seen Steelheart bleed--though the Epic is supposedly completely invulnerable--he begins collecting information on every Epic he can find.  He stumbles across a group of resistance fighters called the Reckoners, and convinces them to join on his quest for revenge.

Third of All: The review!
I went into the book expecting Brandon Sanderson's typical detail-ridden style, and was surprised to see it much more basic in feel than his normal books.  It is definitely written for a young adult audience, rather than his usual more grown-up readers, and so it reads accordingly.  Those who are expecting something with the feel of The Way of Kings or Mistborn will probably be disappointed and maybe turned off by the simplistic style that he employs here.  Young adults, on the other hand--or those who read at their level--will probably love it (not to mention the super-powers, tons of awesome guns, lots of explosions and the feel of a spy-action novel).

Plot-wise, I rather enjoyed it, as anyone who loves a good underdog story does.  There were plenty of twists and turns, tons of plot twists, a slightly kid-ish love story, and--as with all of Brandon Sanderson's books--a huge climax that doesn't stop till very near the end, leaving you hanging on the edge of your seat to find out what comes next.  I loved most of the characters, though there were only a few who we really get to see in-depth, as far as why they're doing what they're doing.

The only thing that I could really say that I didn't enjoy about it was the lack of explanation about how things work that usually comes with a Brandon Sanderson novel.  In most of his books, the huge climax at the end is so gripping not only due to the events in the book, but also because he drops a huge realization about the workings of the world that explains so much about all of the little clues you've been picking up along the way.  This one did have some big reveals about several characters, but not about the world as a whole, which did leave me a bit disappointed.  Just a bit, though.

Overall, I would give this book a 5 out of 6 Nerd Stars

Last of All: Thank you for getting this far.  Lots of text can be intimidating to some, but not to you, dear reader!  

Let me know what you think of the book in the comments, whether you agree, disagree, and also--perhaps most importantly--if you're as psyched as I am for the next Stormlight Archives book to come out early next year!