Review on Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman

"'You're no help,' he told the lime. This was unfair. It was only a lime; there was nothing special about it at all. It was doing the best it could."


Both American Gods(2001) and Anansi Boys(2005), respective chronologically in timeline, are within the same contextual universe. Compé Anansi, also a part of Gaiman's novel American Gods, is a mythological trickster god hailing from West African and Carribean folklore. He is represented by the spider aspect. In Anansi Boys, he is referred to as Mr. Nancy (a pseudo-homonym of Anansi), and the infamous spider god is dead.

Anansi Boys won the Locus, Mythopoeic, YALSA Alex, and British Fantasy Awards in 2006. The novel was also adapted into a radio play for the BBC World Service in 2007.

Main characters include: "Fat Charlie" Nancy, Anansi's son; Roise Noah, Charles' Fiancée; Mr. Nancy, Charlie's father; Mrs. Nancy, Charlie's mother; Callyanne Higgler, Charlie's childhood neighbor; Grahame Coats, Charlie's boss, also named Basil Finnegan and Roger Bronstein; Louella Dunwiddy, the childhood neighbor who made Spider go away; Mrs. Bustamonte and Mrs. Noles, childhood neighbors; Spider, Charlie's brother he never knew he had; Maeve and Morris Livingstone, tw of Grahame Coats' clients; Daisy Day, a police detective; Eutheria Noah, Rosie's widowed mother; Benjamin and Clarissa Higgler, hotel concierge and mâitre d'.

The gods featured are: Compé Anansi, Lion, Elephant, Python, Stoat, Tiger, Hyena, Monkey, Rhinoceros, Crocodile, Bird Woman, Dragon, Rabbit and Scorpion.

To best explain the story, first it must be mentioned that all the stories were Tiger's, and then they belonged to Anansi, 'earned' through his 'hard work'. Through the stories Anansi tells, reality will bend this way and that to create a miracle. The gods are able to call upon these miracles to further their intentions, additionally fueled by their mythological characteristics. Fat Charlie and Spider are from the same Anansi bloodline, meaning they may have inherent godly power but are also entirely different people.

As befitting the mystical world which miracles are pulled out of thin air by walking deities exercising their divine right, the sense of perception is distorted far out of proportion. Despite any inconsistencies, the reader may comfortably follow the complex and rhythmic design Gaiman has masterfully paved, one breadcrumb at a time. Complaints founded through flaws in logic, normality or direction are easily carried off by an overwhelming interest to discover what actually happens. Gaiman possesses that rare quality in his writing, capable of deflecting the edge of sharp criticism. Yeah, I could rip it to shreds (like serious Tiger might), but as the next paragraph and the next after that go on, I realize I've only been humming to the same tune (like so many others).

There are distinct themes of good versus evil, naturalistic harmony, the pen being mightier, and respecting one's elders. Symbolically, the atmosphere is chock full of contextual clues. The novel has a strong recurrance of both coincidence and justice. This book is a quick read, a fun adventure and a tasteful insight of spiritually guided foolishness. My only warning being that you may have to forcefully restrict yourself from the use of clichés after being introduced to Grahame Coats. Just... don't say I didn't warn you.

Review on Songs of the Dying Earth, anthology in tribute to Jack Vance

"Hand over the nose."


This 22-story anthology, of 21 shorts and one novella, is based in Jack Vance's Dying Earth. The authors of this compilation are reknowned, distinguished for their talent and all have at least one thing in common. They grew up reading Jack Vance's novels and aspired to the greatness with which he penned a universe.

My first questions, having not been introduced to Vance: Why have some of my favorite authors all written under the same cover? Who is Jack Vance? Why is there so much acclaim, from authors I've enjoyed, for someone I've never heard of?

This man's work is like a cleverly disguised niche. Within lies the font from which the genre of science fiction itself sprang. The contents of the anthology are as follows:

The introduction is by Dean Koontz.

"The True Vintage of Erzuine Thale" by Robert Silverberg
"Grolion of Almery" by Matthew Hughes
"The Copsy Door" by Terry Dowling
"Caulk the Witch Doctor" by Liz Williams
"Inescapable" by Mike Resnick
"Abrizonde" by Walter Jon Williams
"The Traditions of Karzh" by Paula Volsky
"The Final Quest of the Wizard Sarnod" by Jeff Vandermeer
"The Green Bird" by Kage Baker
"The Last Golden Thread" by Phyllis Eisenstein
"An Incident in Uskvesk" by Elizabeth Moon
"Sylgarmo's Proclamation" by Lucius Shepard
"The Lamentably Comical Tragedy (or The Laughably Tragic Comedy) of Lixal Laqavee" by Tad Williams
"Guyal the Curator" by John C Wright
"The Good Magician" by Glen Cook
"The Return of the Fire Witch" by Elizabeth Hand
"The Collegeum of Mauge" by Byron Tetrick
"Evillo the Uncunning" by Tanith Lee
The Guiding Nose of Ulfant Banderoz by Dan Simmons
"Frogskin Cap" by Howard Waldrop
"A Night at the Tarn House" by George R R Martin
"An Invocation of Curiosity" by Neil Gaiman

Yes, that is quite a sum of authors, awards, material and collaboration. Likewise, it would be drastically probable to suffer a lower quality stigma of material as the result of such a large production. Songs of the Dying Earth(2009) connects freely with the timelines of Vance's previous writings. Such is not the case. The penalty more likely was, however, licensing fees and sign-on bonuses. This hardcover has two versions. Face value being clocked in at $125 and $300 for limited and collector's editions, respectively. Harrowing.

Every author includes a preface to their section of the compendium, as well as a miniature biography depicting the circumstances under which Jack Vance's collection entered their lives. Illustrations provided are of an impressive texture and match well the grandiose schema of which the writer has engineered their tale.

Aside from cost, mitigated by a trip to your local library, only a single downside remains detriment. Songs of the Dying Earth is like stop-and-go city traffic. A short story, fueled with the purpose of each writer's imagination must hurtle itself in turn to a final red-light destination, so that you may wait to start up again for the next. A veritable wealth of income awaits you after each session's commute.

Review on Stardust by Neil Gaiman

“You can't cross the wall. Nobody crosses the wall.”


Stardust(1999) is the colloborative result of authors Neil Gaiman and Charles Vess.

The novel originally stems from the same titled DC graphic novel series published in 1997. Stardust(graphic novel) received the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Awards for Favorite Limited Series for 1998 and 1999, with the collected edition for the Comics Buyer's Guide Fan Award for Favorite Reprint Graphic Album for 1999.

Stardust(novel), in 1999, was awarded The Mythopoetric Fantasty Award for Adult Literature by the Mythopoeic Society and was also nominated for the Locus Award. In 2000, it received the Alex Award from the American Library Association, as one of the "top ten books written for adults that have special appeal to young adults".

The storyline has also been similarly converted to motion picture, released in 2007, as Stardust(film).

Stardust has a little of it all, in more than just its very broad publication spectrum. Neil Gaiman is a wonder worker with a fantastical touch, blending the humble disposition of Great Britain, beginning in 1839, with the mythical land of Faerie. Henry Draper would have just photographed the Moon, and Charles Dickens was serializing the novel Oliver Twist. Faerie is a land sustained of a more magical significance, where all manner of places that have been forced off the map by "explorers and the brave going out and proving it wasn't there" must go. What definably separates the two is the town of Wall.

Notable characters are: Tristran Thorn, the main protagonist, who is half-faerie; Yvaine, a fallen star; Dunstan Thorn, Tristran’s father; Victoria Forester, whom Tristran is infatuated with; The Lord of Stormhold; Lord Primus, first son of The Lord of Stormhold; Lord Tertius, third of Stormhold; Lord Septimus, seventh of Stormhold; Lady Una, Tristran’s mother; Madame Semele/Ditchwater Sal, a peddling witch; Morwanneg, a witch-queen, one of the Lilim intent on devouring the heart of the fallen star in the preservation of her immortality.

It is a fact, Gaiman has a gift for writing a faerie tale. Reading through any novel he has thus penned, I would be greatly surprised if, within the first 50 pages, there were not at least one element that has already left every reader in its wake wistfully wishing for the silly, beautiful treasures of their wildest imaginations. It could seem overboard, but reading the story, there you are.

Stardust is primarily categorized as fantasy but can pass, arguably, as romance novel. I am personally not a fan of romantic fantasy, for what I consider to be 'good reason' but is more along the lines of preference. By no means does it touch close to being the gushy, steamy, inclusive of genericized Fabio-esque cover art paperback we all know and fear, but it is a world where the setting must be a start to finish faerie tale for the adult audience.

How confusing is that? A world with all the rules broken connected to the average unknowing shmoe's hoedinger hobble trying to raise their livestock. The only time villagefolk allow themselves to wander beyond the wall, located at Wall, is once every nine years for the May Day festival. The supernatural are to be exchanged monetarily, and that is always where the trouble must start. Isn't it? Maybe its where all our problems get solved.

I'd say to get lost reading and figure it out, but you might choose to never come back. I do recommend this title, though by all means it is atmospherically aloof.