Book Review: The Unreasoning Mssk

Philip Jose Farmer's 1981 Science Fiction novel The Unreasoning Mask is actually my first dip into his work - last year I read my way through his series The Dungeon, but as he was more a guiding force on that series, and didn't actually author any of the six titles included, it's not quite the same.

The novel is definitely space opera, as much of the plot follows a spaceship captain who has stolen a holy relic from one planet and spends the majority of the story on the run from the inhabitants of that planet, as well as his own government, and finally a world killing being that appeared as soon as he removed the item in the first place.

Captain Hud Ramstan, a non-practicing Muslim, is in charge of a shape-changing spaceship with a rudimentary sense of intelligence and a fierce loyalty to him. Initially painted as a straight-forward, morally black-and-white character, Ramstan's world is through into turmoil when he steals an idol from a world his ship is visiting for no conscious reason, even the captain is unable to understand why he has taken the item, called the glyfa, until it begins talking to him and lets him know that together then must work to save the universe.

The book does get pretty metaphysical, exploring questions of godhood and different levels of reality, but I found it to be a pretty solid science fiction novel, and one that definitely has me interested in reading more of the author's work.

Book Review: The Dungeon vol. 5, The Hidden City

Getting to the second Charles de Lint book in Phillip José Farmer's The Dungeon series was a great treat. In this novel, heavy inspired by Lewis Carroll's Alice in Wonderland and Through the Looking Glass, Major Clive Folliot and company have now reached the penultimate (next-to-last) level of The Dungeon, and as the last gateway was a looking glass, the problems begin for the group almost immediately.

For starters, the group is split into four rather than two groups - which does allow the story to focus on each group for a section of each chapter to build tension, and in true Alice in Wonderland fashion, one of the groups starts out over sized compared to the world and the other being this level in a micronized (less than an inch in height) fashion.

The story builds quite nicely from the previous two novels, taking the actions, plot and motivations offered there into account with this book. Part of what I've enjoyed so much about this series is how a group of four authors work to create this amazing world.

As with the second novel, I wouldn't recommend reading this book alone if, like me, you are working through the works of de Lint, but assuming the final novel ends works the same way, this entire series is definitely worth a visit.

Book Review: The Dungeon vol. 4, The Lake of Fire

As I've now finished volume four of Phillip José Farmer's The Dungeon, subtitled The Lake of Fire and written by Robin W. Bailey, I think I'm finally getting the hang of the series. Each new writer looks at the stuff that came before, and then moves the main characters to an entirely new setting, hopefully putting them back the way they were when the writer began his particular entry in the series (not an uncommon issue for comic book writing, come to think of it).

Some of the writers have been pretty great at this, my favourite being Charles de Lint, who split the group in book three allowing the story to bounce back and forth between the groups, only to reunite them in the last chapter before sending them on to the next world.

Volume four takes place mostly in a hell-like world (including devil and demons) and actually tests the characters beyond mere survival, which in itself was pretty neat, as well as reminding the reader that although Major Folliott is our main character, every other member of the group has their own goals and intentions, which should all be taken into account as well.

The fourth book was a pretty strong entry in the series, and has me looking forward to checking out book five.

Book Review: The Dungeon vol 3. The Valley of Thunder

Three books into Phillip Jose Farmer's The Dungeon series, and I hit the first one written by Charles de Lint.  Following the further adventure of Major Clive Folliot and company through the extra-dimensional world (possibly) of The Dungeon, the third novel continues the quest to find Clive's brother Neville.

De Lint does something rather clever with his book (part of why I'm such a fan), and separates the group into two; allowing him to switch the narrative back and forth between chapters to resolve the current cliffhanger faced by each team.  This made for a much faster read, and as the groups moved through dinosaurs, spaceships, and a clear Tarzan-styled setting, it also allowed for a lot more range in the story.

Today I start on volume four, and I really hope the pace continues to increase as I'm finding the series a lot of fun.

Book Review: The Dungeon 2: The Dark Abyss

The second volume of Phillip José Farmer's The Dungeon series, The Dark Abyss, by Bruce Coville, picks up immediately where The Black Tower left off. Major Folliot and company continue their search for the Major's missing brother and the mysteries of the dungeon get both deeper and stranger.

The second book is a faster read than the first, Coville moves the narrative along at a nice pace and as the characters have already been introduced the action can begin immediately. The novel takes the group through two levels of the dungeon, pits them against some of the most dangerous creatures they've met so far and manages both to answer some questions from the first novel while still leaving the reader looking for more.

As the third book is by Charles de Lint (who happens to be the reason I've picked up this series now), I'm looking forward to getting to the halfway point of the series, so will be starting almost immediately.

Genre Character of the Week: Major Clive Folliott

The Dungeon was a series conceived of by author Phillip José Farmer, and written by Richard A. Lupoff (vol. 1 & 6), Bruce Coville (vol. 2), Charles de Lint (vol 3 & 5), and Robin W. Bailey (vol. 4). As I’ve been working my way through the works of de Lint, and had come across used copies of various volumes for years, I finally decided to give the series a try this month, which was a pretty good decision as I was introduced to it’s protagonist (and this week’s genre character) Major Clive Folliott.

In the first book of the series, Clive travels from his home in 1869 England to find the location of his missing brother, the explorer Neville Folliott - his journey ends up taking him to another place entirely, a location (World, Level, Dimension?) called "The Dungeon".

What I like best about Clive is both his sense of honour (he searches for his brother mostly on principle - they were not close), and his willingness to step back and look at each new situation with a calm eye (a pretty great attribute for any leader to have).  The story is filled with all sorts of characters out of place and time, and I'm really quite interest to see where the various authors will take it next.

December Reading Plans

Happy December Everyone!

Having entered the final month of 2014, I’ve got eight books ahead of me and hopefully a couple weeks I can dedicate to clearing out the various magazines, comics and trade (collected comic) collections I’ve gathered over the last year.

Most exciting for me will be the first three volumes in Phillip Jose Farmer’s The Dungeon series, a six-volume collection that has intrigued me for years as I came across various volumes at various used-bookstores, and as I found earlier this year that volumes three and five were written by Charles de Lint, I’ve now got the excuse to finally buckle down and check them out.

Each year after I’ve finished my various pre-selected reads, I hit the magazines and comics I’ve added to my collection – top spot this year goes to the zombie-themed Afterlife with Archie, followed by the Hack/Slash Army of Darkness Crossover, and hopefully catching up with Astro City again.