Critical Myth-Interpretations

I’m relatively new to the Harry Potter fandom; it’s only been about a year since I first picked up one of the books, let alone finished reading the series.  So much of what is described in this memoir is enlightening to me.  I heard of some of it from friends devoted to the series, and I’ve been basking in some of the fruits of those frantic fandom labors (particularly wizard rock), but I’m well aware of the fact that the peak years of the fandom have come and gone.

This book provides a glimpse into how the fandom emerged, how it grew, and the best and worst of the response to Harry Potter.  It’s built around the framework of the “Deathly Hallows” release in July 2007, and for me, that was a nice touch.  That it was one person’s journey through the fandom, and the journey of someone at the center of the maelstrom, gave it an educated perspective.

I honestly don’t understand some of the negative comments I’ve read about the book.  A lot of criticism seems to be devoted to the author’s supposed attempt to ride on J.K. Rowling’s coattails.  I don’t see it that way at all.  Throughout the book is a sense of awestruck humility.  It’s a testimony to one of the best aspects of fandom: literally anyone can end up being a voice for thousands, even millions, who share a common passion.

The book is riddled with dozens of examples of people who believed in the Harry Potter concept, believed in the world that J.K. Rowling has created, and have wanted to honor that through action and homage.  As a fan of the Leaky Cauldron and a regular listener to Pottercast, I believe the author to be someone devoted to Rowling.

Sadly, the book doesn’t shy away from those who have sought, or continue to seek, some reflected personal fame and glory.  Frankly, the author goes to great lengths to be fair and balanced, even when talking about certain individuals who have parleyed their connections to the fandom (or just the existence of Harry Potter novels) to their own ends.

This is not, in my opinion, a book written by someone who wants to make money off of Harry Potter.  This is one person’s amazing accounting of how a fan came to experience some amazing things in the name of supporting something she loves.  In the process, she gives voice to those who seem, to Muggles, a bit odd and a little frightening.  But, as J.K. Rowling says herself in the foreword, this is a perspective that should not be missed.

Rating: 8/10

The previous album by Keane, “Under the Iron Sea”, was an eclectic mix of different sounds, even as it was an evolution from the relatively simple songwriting of their debut.  I was left wondering, as the release of this album began creeping up, if Keane would continue along the more contemplative and layered path with fare like “Atlantic”, or if “Is It Any Wonder?” was a hallmark of the future.

1) Spiralling – This song certainly answered my question.  It took a moment to realize that this was, in fact, Keane, but it didn’t take long to appreciate what they were trying to evoke.  This may sound too much like “The Killers” for some, but I love this song and could listen to it all day long.  (9/10)

2) The Lovers are Losing – The same applies to this song.  Keane has always been good at harmonizing, and the chorus is no exception.  I can’t help but note that they went with a Jeff Lynne vibe with the production of this song, which is usually a bad sign, but I think it worked in this case.  (9/10)

3) Better Than This – The first half of this song is a bit rough for me.  I don’t like the vocal effect, and it feels like something is missing.  That’s because it is, and when the additional layers come in later in the song, I like it a lot better.  (7/10)

4) You Haven’t Told Me Anything – I find this song to be like many of the lesser entries in the Keane catalog: inexplicably repetitive, and not in particular interesting ways.  This is one I tend to skip or leave off the Favorites list.  (6/10)

5) Perfect Symmetry – Now this is more like it.  Some of the lyrics may be a tad trite, especially in the choral section, but this is like some magnificent overwrought 80’s anthem, and I couldn’t love it more for it.  I know it will sound pretentious to many, but wouldn’t this be awesome live?  (9/10)

6) You Don’t See Me – I have to be in the right mood for the slower songs by Keane, and that applies to this song as well.  The vocals are gorgeous, however, and the lyrical style is a bit more akin to the earlier albums, so it’s definitely a decent track.  It’s just not one of the highlights for me.  (7/10)

7) Again & Again – I love the anger of this song, how it almost attacks the listener.  It’s also very energetic.  This is about as close as Keane has ever come to a full-out rock song, and it works tremendously well.  (9/10)

Playing Along – This sounds like a mixture of tracks from the previous album and some of the production effects introduced to their bag of tricks for this album.  While it works, it’s not the kind of song that demands my attention.  (7/10)

9) Pretend That You’re Alone – This sounds like something in a pseudo-classic style, perhaps 80’s era David Bowie.  The message of the song is interesting, to say the least.  Depending on my mood, this can be a fun song.  I’d love to see how this would do as a single!  (7/10)

10) Black Burning Heart – Take away the synthesizers and slow down the beat, and this would have easily have been one of the most powerful Keane songs imaginable.  As it stands, it’s still a great song, but it could have been so much better in the vein of “Bedshaped” or “The Frog Prince”.  (8/10)

11) Love is the End – This is more in the older Keane style than any other song on the album, with soaring backing vocals and beautiful towards the end.  I’m not sure that it meshes well with the rest of the tracks on the album, but it’s a gorgeous song.  (8/10)

12) Time to Go – Some albums don’t end quite right.  Keane has not had that problem in the past, but I’m not sure about this as a final track.  The previous song was, in my opinion, a better closer.  The theme of the song makes sense of its placement, but the style of the song just didn’t hit the right note for me.  (7/10)

Starting with a furious new sound, this album is not quite what I expected from Keane, but I can’t deny that it worked for me.  Every Keane album has a handful of songs that don’t quite tickle my fancy, and that was true in this case.  But it also had a few songs that I could sing along to all day.  What else could I ask for?

Final Rating: 7.8/10 (above average)

It’s been a long time since The Cure released an album, and this had a lot going against it from the start.  Originally this release was touted as a double album, but the story changed and apparently it was decided that the more upbeat songs would be collected and released instead.  Considering that I typically enjoy the harder, darker material from The Cure, I was not enthused.

1) Underneath the Stars – The album gets off to a good start with this track, but the production values are a bit worrisome.  The sound is a bit muddy to the ear.  The dreamy aural landscape of the song, however, makes up for some of the production shortcomings.  This sounds like it would be great live.  (8/10)

2) The Only One – This is a lot more upbeat, very much like the singles from “Wish”, right down to some truly inane lyrics.  It’s essentially harmless, but the muddy production really steals away its strengths.  (6/10)

3) The Reasons Why – The lyrics in this one are just plain bizarre, but I like the groove of the song.  It’s a bit darker than the previous track.  Once again, however, the song would have worked better without so much noise in the mix.  (7/10)

4) Freakshow – This reminds me of some of the less successful material from “Wild Mood Swings”.  That said, once the song gets going, I can’t deny that it has a certain charm.  This would be fun to play live, if nothing else.  (7/10)

5) Sirensong – This is another song that is practically ruined by the distorted production.  It also sounds like a B-side from the “Wish” era, which is not necessarily a good thing.  (6/10)

6) The Real Snow White – I have absolutely no idea what Robert Smith was thinking when he wrote this song (other than what the randy lyrics reveals).  But the song is a mess from start to finish, literally lurching all over the landscape between plodding repeats of the chorus.  And the end of this song is embarrassingly bad.  (3/10)

7) The Hungry Ghost – For whatever reason, this song mostly works for me, even with the production issues.  It’s one of the better songs on the album, which may not be saying much, but it has sections that sound like classic Cure material.  (7/10)

Switch – One of my favorite songs on “Wish” was “Cut”, because it was louder and harder than most of the album.  This song sounds like an attempt to add the same kind of variety to this album.  The difference is that “Cut” was a pretty good song.  This never really comes together, and the production makes it all slop together into noise.  (6/10)

9) The Perfect Boy – This is actually a good song, if a bit more upbeat in tone than I would prefer (the lyrics are a bit less so).  I like it quite a bit.  It sounds horrible with the distortion and noise, but I think the strengths manage to shine through regardless.  (8/10)

10) This.  Here and Now.  With You.  – Perhaps the most pretentious song title in recent memory (though given the title of the album, how could I be surprised?).  This song does nothing to make itself distinctive, and it practically begs the listener to skip ahead.  (6/10)

11) Sleep When I’m Dead – This has a much more distinctive sound, and actually reminds me of material from the “Head on the Door” or “Kiss Me, Kiss Me, Kiss Me” era.  Let’s just say there were certain chords and layering effects the band loved back then, and they show up here.  If more of the material was like this, it might have been a better album.  (8/10)

12) The Scream – This is a darker song, so it worked a bit more for me.  It actually meshes well with the previous song, and that scream is just insane.  It’s not much of a song in and of itself, and the distortion completely ruins it in the second half, but it’s noble failure.  (6/10)

13) It’s Over – The Cure is usually good with its album closers, and this one is another attempt at a strong finish.  This would be great live, but once again, the production values undermine everything the band is attempting to do with the song.  This could have been a knock out of the park, but it falls short.  (8/10)

I can’t express enough how the production choices for this album completely destroy it from beginning to end.  Granted, some of the problems are a matter of song choice and style, but even the stronger songs become a noisy, distorted, muddy mess.  It actually sounds like the songs were recorded on a cheap cassette tape from a crappy radio transmission.  Some people might like that sound, but I found it very hard to enjoy.  Add to that the lack of any truly distinctive and powerful songs, and I cannot recommend this album to anyone…not even fellow fans of The Cure.

Final Rating:  6.6/10

I have a love/hate relationship with most action/adventure games.  I love how smooth the gameplay can be, and when it’s well-designed, most of the inherent frustrations don’t matter so much.  But I hate the games that are so hard and demanding that it’s remarkably easy to “die”, thus forcing you to re-start the game and, if lucky, start at some point that was about two hours earlier in your life.

The trick to the new “Prince of Persia” is not ridiculous difficulty or even the most compelling of stories.  It’s how well the creators of the game managed to turn the experience of failure into a fluid return to the game.  When you make a wrong move, misread a situation, or let an enemy get the better of you, your ever-present partner Elika uses her magic to save you and deposit you on the most recent patch of solid ground.  As a result, you can try the same sequence of moves as many times as necessary to achieve your goal.

For some, that sounds like a cheat.  In effect, however, it makes the game incredibly immersive, because you start to love that gorgeous batch of pixels saving your butt on a regular basis.  It also means that the game becomes addictive very quickly, because there’s no unwelcome “end screen” and restart sequence to remind you that it’s been several hours since you started playing.  I literally beat the game at the end of a six hour marathon.

It also helps that the visual style is stunning.  Instead of pushing for photo-realism, the creators went for something out of a fairytale.  Combined with a stirring musical score, the visual style pulls you into the setting incredibly well.  The fact that the game is less about button-mashing and more about rhythm and pacing only adds to the serenity of the gameplay.

There are some battles to be fought, and they can get annoying, but almost all of them are an exercise in patience, rhythm, and flow.  Miss the flow and the battle becomes endless and frustrating.  Find the flow and the battles are simplicity itself, and just as visually appealing as the rest of the game.

I wouldn’t call this a particular difficult game; I finished it in around 10 hours, and I was taking my time.  Experienced gamers will likely find it easy and therefore a bit disappointing, especially the aspects that seem to hold your hand.  But for me, it was more than worth the time.  Some games are meant to be fun and played for relaxation, and this is one of them.

Rating: 9/10

This was the final novel to be published under the original book contract, and it is by far the shining jewel of the collection.  In a very real sense, this book presages the kind of tight continuity that marks the trilogies that followed.  The story of what happened to Sinclair between his arrival on Minbar and his eventual return to Babylon 5 in “War Without End”, this is a gift to any dedicated Babylon 5 and Jeffrey Sinclair fan.

The author spends a great deal of time reconciling some apparent contradictions within the series proper: specifically, the political changes in Minbari society and the rise of the Rangers, a force consisting of Humans and Minbari.  Why would a Grey Council, dominated by an isolationist warrior caste, agree to fund and foster a group of warrior-priests with a Human leader?  This book makes the case fairly well, and explores Sinclair’s personal development in the process.

Two other topics are explored along the way: the personal history of Marcus Cole and the fate of Catherine Sakai.  It’s always been odd to imagine that Marcus could undergo such strenuous training, substantial enough to make him an effective fighter and teach him so much else, when it had to happen in less than a year!  It’s still a stretch of the imagination, but this novel does make a bit more sense of the notion.

Seasoned “Babylon 5” fans know that Catherine Sakai was originally meant to fulfill the role that Anna Sheridan ultimately held, had Sinclair remained the central character of the series.  This book adjusts the overall story to give Catherine’s later absence a reasonable explanation, and even alludes to her ultimate fate.

The author was given the daunting task of repairing some of the damage done when the original plans for the series were altered after the first season by network intervention and the realities of syndicated television.  The only complaint one might have is that the novel simply isn’t long enough or detailed enough.  The reader is left wanting more.  Is there any better compliment that can be made?

Rating: 10/10

This is the second book in the soon-to-be-completed “Wheel of Time” saga, as most fantasy fans are aware.  It’s been several months since I read the first book in the series, and I was a bit concerned that the second book would be hard to crack without full memory of the details.  Thankfully, this book eased into its plot slowly enough that I was rarely lost or confused.  In fact, if anything, I was quickly reminded that Jordan’s writing style makes it rather easy to find out what’s happening, because not a moment passes that isn’t explored in endless detail.

That probably sounds like a bad thing, but I’m already aware that the books can bog down in sections that appear to go nowhere.  Forewarned is forearmed, and while this is still one of the earlier novels (and thus more quickly paced than some of the later novels, as I’ve been given to understand), I was ready for the long setup process.

After reading this novel, I had a much better understanding of the Aes Sedai and their structure, and that part of the series continues to be my favorite aspect.  The trials of Egwene and Nynaeve shed light on how magic works in this particular universe.  This stands in stark contrast to Rand’s own channeling and his battle at the end of the book, which I found somewhat confusing.

One thing that has struck me, both in this novel and the previous one, is the invocation of themes from Arthurian legend, Christian dogma, and European myth.  Certainly there are parallels to Tolkien’s work, but there are aspects that seem very similar to “Dune” as well.  In particular, having just re-read “Dune” again, I saw parallels between the Aes Sedai and the Bene Gesserit.  Thankfully, these connections, while fairly blatant, are never cloying enough to undermine my enjoyment of the novel.

Two additional things came to mind in the course of reading the novel.  First, Jordan appears to have a massive story to tell, and while he’s taking his time, there does appear to be a game plan.  Second, I can only hope that all of the parallels and connections are intentional and tie together into a point to the entire story.  Because this doesn’t simply feel like a massive story meant to be told well; it has the unmistakable feeling of a story meant to hold Meaning.

It’s more than I could say for a number of popular fantasy sagas currently on the shelves.

Rating: 8/10

I’ve read “Dune” so many times in my life that the binding of my hardcover copy has long since been broken.  There’s really no need to discuss how wonderful the book is, or how much it changed my perception of the world, science fiction, and how it all tied together.  To call “Dune” a tour de force of imagination is practically a cliché.

Instead, this time around, I was looking at the novel in light of the recently published prequels.  A great many things stood out in the prequels as inconsistent with my memory of the original novels, and having tackled the “Legends” and “House” trilogies, it seemed like a good idea to refresh on the classic novels.

Considering how many basic facts were contradicted (such as Paul’s birthplace), it’s stunning how many of the broad plot elements in the trilogies were right there in the original text.  It wasn’t hard at all to understand why the new authors went in the direction they did on certain topics, particularly in terms of the “Legends” trilogy.  Oddly, most of the discrepancies and tonal disharmonies take place between the “House” trilogy and the classics.

It’s also interesting how the saga as a whole has created such a mystique around the novel that it always feels like something is missing on every new re-read.  “Dune” is actually the most straightforward of the classic novels, despite the depth of the universe, and it’s almost as if the words themselves only scratch the surface.  That quality only serves to reinforce the primary weakness of the Herbert/Anderson novels; the new novels may be detailed and might cover a dozen plot threads, but they lack the substance of Herbert’s original creation.

Rating: 10/10

It’s been quite some time since I read a book in the Ender series.  Quite frankly, I never expected Card to return to the saga after he seemingly closed things out in “Shadow of the Giant”.  Sure, there were a few loose ends, but I was satisfied that the story had been told.  Apparently that was not the case, as this novel attempts to take care of those dangling threads and reconcile a few continuity discrepancies.

I often enjoy novels that exist for the sole purpose of repairing continuity inconsistencies, because those are the things that nag at me incessantly.  Of course, that’s usually something that’s reserved for media tie-in properties, where authors will take it upon themselves to take care of gaps and plot threads from the parent series.  Some authors in the “Star Wars” and “Star Trek” franchise, for instance, produce some of the best novels in that fashion.

When it comes to science fiction literature outside of the media tie-ins, however, it’s a risky business.  The “Second Foundation Trilogy”, for example, was a noble failure at an attempt to resolve the loose ends of Isaac Asimov’s classic saga.  Many of the new “Dune” books create more continuity problems than they’ve resolved.  At least, in this case, the author himself is attempting to make all the Ender novels, short stories, and comics and pull them together into one cohesive whole.

The end result, however, feels generally unnecessary.  Having never read the short stories or the comics, I never recognized the apparent continuity problems and never yearned for a novel to make it all work together.  Like most of Card’s more recent novels, there’s a bizarre need to insert political and social statements that don’t always mesh well with the circumstances (a problem seen more often in the “Shadow” series).

That said, it was good to see Peter receive a better treatment as the Hegemon than he received in the “Shadow” series.  Peter’s rise to power was a lot more disappointing once it was explained; it was an example of something that could have remained in the background, left to the readers’ imaginations.  The same, of course, could be said for this book.

Rating: 6/10

The very first “Supernatural” novel was something of a disappointment.  While many of the common fan complaints were somewhat questionable, the story suffered from too much idle characterization and a weak antagonist.  For the most part, the characters were well represented, however, so the challenge in this follow-up was all plot.

The author focused his first novel on his own home turf, and it felt a bit too insular as a result.  I’m not sure that problem was resolved in this novel, however, because the Key West setting seems a bit too familiar to the author as well.  A good portion of the novel feels like the travel section of the town paper.  If the intention was to interest me in a possible future vacation in the area, then it worked.  But it felt a bit heavy-handed for a relatively short novel.

The plot, on the other hand, was a vast improvement over the first novel.  In fact, it came a bit close to overkill.  As I’ve said before, when novels are introduced into a property with relatively strong continuity, the trick is to keep events from becoming too substantial.  Otherwise, it’s too easy to question why the events aren’t discussed in the series.  The crisis in this novel is just below the threshold for the third season (where events vary wildly in scale anyway).

Kudos also go to the author for continuing with the capable characterization.  The dialogue doesn’t always work, but the motivations definitely fit the third season mold.  The author takes great pain in placing the psychology of the Brothers Winchester in context with the major events of the series (sometimes to a fault), and that resonates with the tone of the series itself.

The book is a bit short in terms of word count, so it doesn’t require much of a time investment.  I finished it in a few hours over the course of a couple days.  In terms of content, it is probably the best of the current tie-in properties, beating out the first two novels and the disappointing comic books.  That doesn’t mean the novel is perfect “Supernatural”, however; there’s plenty of room for a dark horror volume, should the publisher ever find the right author and enough courage.

Rating: 7/10

It’s been quite some time since I read this novel, definitely more than ten years.  This novel (and the early “Vampire Chronicles” volumes) eventually led me into my first internet fandom.  I was a longtime contributor to an Anne Rice online RPG, I wrote novel-length fan fiction, and I attended the Memnoch Ball in New Orleans in 1995.  Those are some of my fondest fandom memories, at least until I found a similar “family” in the “X-Files” fandom.

It’s no secret that Anne Rice has fallen from her superstar status, and I never bothered to read several of the more recent volumes of the saga.  Like many of the books I enjoyed in college, however, I was tempted to return to the Vampire Chronicles and see if the intervening years had enhanced or changed my impression of the novel.

Conceptually, I found it difficult to see the novelty that was there in the beginning.  At the time the novels were fresh and emerging in the public eye, when the film version was impending and had people wringing their hands in anticipation (or terror), they were fairly unique.  There wasn’t a glut of vampire fiction out there, and there certainly wasn’t a subgenre of paranormal romance.  Now, the subgenre is overflowing to the point of absurdity, and what was once erotic is now paled by the acrobatics of the Anita Blake novels.

In terms of the eroticism, I actually prefer the less graphic descriptions.  It leaves more to the imagination, for one thing, and it puts the emphasis on the psychological aspects of the vampiric world.  That was always one of the more intriguing elements of the series, and that was still one of my favorite parts of the book.

Unfortunately, the rest of the book suffers from the passage of time.  With most of the surprises of the novel now cliché in popular culture, the clunky writing style is amplified.  In fact, much of the book is written in such a pretentious tone that the more serious aspects are buried in the resulting frustration.

I’m not saying that “you can never go home again”, since even those many years ago, I found “The Vampire Lestat” to be the more interesting and engaging early novel.  Louis is such a morose character that his mood is relentlessly depressing, and that’s a factor.  But I don’t think the novel has aged well.

Rating: 6/10