Cryptonomicon by Neal Stephenson

This book could be considered the fourth book in the Baroque Cycle, although it was actually written first. One character features across all four books, but telling you who would count as a spoiler, so I won’t.

Cryptonomicon takes place partly in World War Two, partly in the 1990s. Two stories, each gripping in their own way, gradually connect on the Philippines in a search for Japanese war gold, looted from Asia and hidden away for decades.

As you might expect from the title, a lot of the World War Two action focuses on the codebreaking efforts of the allies, as they race to decode German and Japanese transmissions while also hiding from the enemy their successes.

As with Neal’s other books in this cycle the research has been meticulous and every location is describes briefly, but with incredible authenticity. From the Philippines of the 1990s to Sweden in World War Two, each location becomes almost a character in its own right. I love Neal’s writing so this book was a real treat for me. Highly recommended, along with the three Baroque Cycle books.

Bones of the Hills by Conn Iggulden

The Genghis Khan trilogy wraps up with this book. That was a shame from my perspective as I was hoping for more books. Personal bias there, as I find the Mongols of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries quite fascinating.

The saga of the Mongols in their conflict with one of the pre-eminent military powers of the day, the arrogant Khwarizm takes centre stage in this book. All is not well at home for Genghis and his close family members are either under threat, or a threat to Genghis. Conn Iggulden ends a great series with a neat twist.

Charley’s War by Pat Mills

I am a sometime participant into the practice of having my childhood repackaged and sold back to me at today’s prices. Charley’s War is one such. Originally published between 1978 and 1986, this comic series really blew me away, and I only originally read the last 3 years’ worth.

Titan Books has begun a collection starting from the first episode and working through the story. I certainly hope they go all the way through. Adding to the value of the product are commentaries on the series by Pat Mills, and each volume has an article about the period of history, or from someone giving another view into how the series came to light.

Charley’s War remains a wonderful anomaly. An anti-war war story about The Great War appearing in a boys’ comic about how great war is. It’s a gritty, unrelenting examination of a truly horrendous period of history. Better yet, it’s well told, full of characters to love and pity and hate, and brought to life with incredible artwork from Joe Colquhoun.

The books are being released at the rate of one per year, in October. The sixth is coming soon. Mark your calendars!

Lords of the Bow by Conn Iggulden

The second Mongol book by Iggulden shows first hand just how ruthless and effective their way of war was. With an army comprised of hardened men, all mounted, all expert archers, the Mongols lay waste to the armies of the more civilised and advanced Chinese. With their defeat of the main foreign power on their borders, it seems the Mongols are free to expand until their empire is bordered by the sea on all sides.

As he has done with Caesar before this, Iggulden vividly brings to life this period of history. Turning historical account and tribal memories into characters and events to keep the pages turning is no mean feat, and Iggulden excels here. Lovers of history and fiction alike will find this series to be a great read. Readers of historical fiction may believe they have died and gone to heaven. You haven’t it’s just a very good series. The final, Bones of the Hills is out now.

Moments

Many books have their moments, scenes that stay in your mind even years later, as vivid as when you first read them. This is one of the things that drives me to keep reading, the knowledge that there are more such memories waiting to be burned into my mind.

I’ve selected some of my own favourites below – I’m sure you have yours. I’ve put the book they come from after the scene.

William reading his letter from Marygay, written centuries earlier. (The Forever War by Joe Haldeman)

The cacophony of talking stones at York cathedral. (Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell by Susannah Clarke)

The French dragon falling screaming to its death after suffering a face
full of acid from an English longwing. As it plummets, its sorrowful rider puts a
pistol to the head of his faithful companion to end its agony. (Temeraire by Naomi Novik)

Ilya Volyova walking the vast and silent corridors of her ship. (Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds)

Fat Charlie Nancy’s karaoke experience – I’m smiling as I type this (Anansi Boys by Neil Gaiman)

Trying to use the phones in Unlondon (Un Lun Dun by China Mieville)

The wizard Harry Potter digging the faithfuls Dobby’s grave using only a
shovel and the strength of his arms. (Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by Joanne Rowling)

Reid Malenfant, at the point of death, clutches an image of his wife,
dead 6000 years ago. Her name is the last sound on his lips. (Space by Stephen Baxter)

Sansa realising it is her wolf that is to be executed. (A Game of Thrones by George RR Matin)

Historical Fiction: Five of the Best

Historical fiction is another area if ascendancy right now. Just as the ‘hard sf’ writers are making that genre interesting, so the ‘hard historical’ authors are writing believable well-researched fiction that remains true to its time. As with science fiction, there’s a lot to choose from here.

1. Quicksilver by Neal Stephenson
Along with its sequels, The Confusion and The System of the World, Stephenson’s Baroque Cycle is a stunning achievement, and more importantly and excellent story to boot. Set in the time of change and revolution, this saga spans the time of years just after the English Civil War (1645) to the ascension of the House of Hanover to the throne of England in 1714. This series is not entirely concerned with England, with much of the action taking place elsewhere, and as such shows much of the world as it was at that time.

2. Temeraire by Naomi Novik
Hornblower with dragons. I can’t be the first to say this, in fact I suspect Novik was when she first pitched the series. An eminently readable series set in Napoleonic times. The same players are at one another’s throats – England, Prussia, revolutionary France, however this time each country has dragons as well as an army and navy on its side. The role of a true air force has not been realised, with most countries using their dragons as fast messengers, or to intercept the dragons of others. However Napoleon was always known as a master tactician…

3. Jonathan Strange and Mister Norrell by Susannah Clarke
As with Temeraire this novel is set in England during Napoleonic times. However this novel covers the last two magicians in England, and their dealings with one another. I enjoyed the pace of this novel, but others who have read it found it too slow.

4. I Claudius / Claudius the God by Robert Graves
What Quicksilver does to the seventeenth century I, Claudius does for ancient Rome – brings the time period to life with stunning clarity.

5. Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden
This series covers the rise of Ghengis Khan in the thirteenth century. So far it has two books, but a third is on the way – next year, maybe? Already this is a great saga.

The System of the World by Neal Stephenson

The final book for the Baroque cycle. The three main characters of Jack, Eliza and Daniel again play their central roles, but this is Daniel’s book.

It begins by catching up with those 1714 chapters from Quicksilver that made such little sense at the time, which was ok since being chased by pirates is cool. Daniel returns to a very different London to the one he left, and this time arrives via a circuitous route through the English countryside. It gives him time to apprecoiate the lifestyle of the Tory landowners he has always opposed.

In London his old comrade Sir Isaac Newton is trying to run the Royal Mint, and forever chasing a criminal known only as Jack the Coiner. No prizes for guessing who that is.

I won’t spoil any of the details. Like the other two of this series the book may be long, but every page, every sentence has been crafted to keep you reading. I won’t deny anyone the experience of turning each page with trembling fingers, eyes struggling to stay open for just one more chapter.

The System of the World is a grand finale to a grand series.

Computer Games and Stories 2

Some computer games use the medium to tell a story with flair, I’ve covered some of those. Other games take a different tack. They allow you to write your own story, while playing the game. Some of these games give you unlimited parameters, other limit you to telling your own version of a particular story.

The games with greater parameters are often referred to as sandbox games. Civilization is among the better known of these. Civilization allows you to re-write the history of the world, telling the tale of how the Egyptians rose to conquer the French/Indian alliance and dominate the world. Or whatever you are able to achieve.

Alpha Centauri continues the story of Civilization, with groups of colonists attempting to make a permanent home on an alien world. This game has its own storey too, and in a further twist factions are divided along philosophical, rather than national lines. Factions that value harmony, or the collective, or science, or religion, al clash as they pursue their own vision of what it means to establish a thriving new colony.

Medieval 2 concentrates the story into Europe and the Mediterranean, allowing you to control various nations throughout a four-century period. The English might win the Hundred Years’ War and go on to conquer Spain, or else Poland might rise to become a pre-eminent crusading power, or the Turks might conquer Europe, or the Mongols. This game offer many hours of intense diplomacy, including the diplomacy of the sword.

Into the second type of game fall most of those referred to as CRPGs, or computer role playing games. Some of these are better than others, and they are often judged, fairly or not, on how much freedom is given to the player. A good central story is one thing, but when it’s just you and your computer, people like to explore every odd passage and remote village, and tend to dislike it if it turns out those are just painted backdrops with no substance.

More recently games such as Age of Conan have allowed each player to write their own book of ‘feats’ showing the various things they have achieved. These games write the story for you as you play. Automation, I like that.

Myself I’m more into the sandbox style game, Alpha Centauri and Medieval 2 both hold a permanent place on my hard drive. The others tend to be more transient. Once their story has been told, I don’t need to hear it again. It takes longer to play a CRPG than it does to read a book, so the story needs to be at least as good as the average book.

I might give that books of feats thing a look, though.

The Confusion by Neal Stephenson

Luckily this book is not confusing, as the title suggests. In good literary style, the title refers to an older meaning; con-fused, or joined together. Through the journeys of its characters, particularly one who makes an eastward journey from India to London, Stephenson shows how the lines of trade connect and join the globe, even in 1700. The naming of a ship in Malabar can have consequences in Paris, should the wrong name be chosen. Trade has always been global.

In The Confusion the three characters from Quicksilver return, though in this book they are rarely together. The Confusion is a book about the journey. The evidence of con-fusing is background, a detail if you will. Jack’s journey around the world is the principal focus of the book, and the effects his actions can have on Eliza are unforeseeable. Daniel Waterhouse is rarely seen, being mostly immobile in London during the years of this book, and wishing he were in Massachusetts. The mercurial character of Enoch Root also returns, to save our trading heroes from a subtle and deadly trap set by the Japanese.

As in Quicksilver, the slow emergence of what we today would recognise as science continues, though here science is still con-fused with alchemy.

As with Quicksilver before it (and The System of the World after) this novel is dense and rewarding to read. Like all good books, the reader is encouraged to seek out yet more books to read to answer or confirm (or not!) questions raised.

Wolf of the Plains by Conn Iggulden

Last year I enjoyed reading through Conn Iggulden’s quartet of books about the life of Julius Caesar. This year, Ghengis Khan gets the Iggulden treatment.

Tracing the life of the Mongol tribes in the early thirteenth century, Iggulden brings a vivid picture of tribal life in a harsh land. Surrounded by enemies or potential enemies, each tribe must fight to hold on to what they have, and raid other tribes to prove their worth. Tribal life is harsh, but far worse is that of the tribeless wanderers, in twos and threes dotted around the landscape, they must be constantly wary. There is no tribal justice for these outsiders.

Young Temujin of the Wolves finds himself and his family cast out of their tribe, with nothing but the clothes on their backs. Fighting to survive, Temujin has still greater plans.

As with the Caesar books, Wolf of the Plains contains notes from the author about the real historical story, his research. These notes include details of the areas where he changed things, either compressing events of bringing them forward by a few years, or characters whose names have been changed or simply left out of the story for one reason or another. The notes themselves are fascinating and are a testament to Iggulden’s research which complements his storytelling abilities.