Michael Van Cise

The Fifth Elephant by Terry Pratchett


My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Like Thud, The Fifth Elephant is a discworld novel that centers around commander Sam Vimes and the watch (the Ankh Morpork police force). In The Fifth Elephant, Sam Vimes is sent on a diplomatic mission upon which he must ensure that the new "low king" of the dwarves is crowned and save the foreign city from usurpation by an "old-school" werewolf.

Although the book is entertaining and humorous, I did not enjoy it as much as I did Thud. As I mentioned in that review, perhaps it's the reading (I listed to an audio recording) that made Thud so enjoyable. I would recommend Pratchett to someone looking for some light reading. He does provide some insight into human behavior and the dialogue and writing often contains puns and other humor. I don't count myself a Pratchett-fanatic (though I think there are some die-hard fans out there), but I've enjoyed what I've read of his.

Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris


My rating: 3 of 5 stars
I just started reading the third novel in the “Sookie Stackhouse” series by Charlaine Harris. I decided to read these books after hearing others in the science-fiction book club I attend rave about the TrueBlood series on HBO. My wife and I had also heard a friend at a party discussing how much she enjoyed the series.
Although some might categorize the series with romance novels or pulp-fiction, I think there is more to the stories and the writing than mere mystery and sex. The novels, no doubt, contain love-interests, sex, and eroticism, but they also explore personal and societal issues such as abuse, greed, murder, and racism.
One of the reasons I enjoy science fiction, and I think why some authors choose the genre, is because the genre allows the author to explore issues that might be controversial or taboo in a non-intrusive, less in-your-face, way. Because Sookie Stackhouse, the narrator of the series, is a telepath, she can read other characters’ minds and relay what they are thinking. This supernatural power allows the author to expose the unspoken thoughts and demented minds of characters who are criminals and murderers.
By having characters who are vampires, shapeshifters, and maenads, she can consider racism in a less overt manner than if her characters were members of a real minority or oppressed group.
The Sookie Stackhouse novels (thus far) are entertaining and enjoyable. Because they contain fairly explicit sex, I would not recommend them to a young person. These books are definitely not in the same category as the Harry Potter series.
In comparison to another vampire novel I recently read, Kim Harrison’s “Dead Witch Walking”, I much prefer the Sookie Stackhouse novels. I haven’t yet seen the HBO series, but I want to find out more about how the season is broken out and whether the TV series parallels the book or if it is original scripts based on the characters and stories in the book. I definitely want to read the books before getting any spoilers from the TV series.

Other Reviews

• Read my review of Robert A. Heinlein's Starship Troopers here.
• Read my review of Malcolm Gladwell's Blink here.
• Read some of my thoughts on the implications of Blink which came to me while reading Moore's Watchmen here.
• Read some of my thoughts on Alan Moore's Watchmen here.
• Read my review of Harvey Pekar's The Quitter here.