Book Review: The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons

The Fall of Hyperion by Dan Simmons
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

How does one follow up one of the best science fiction books which saw six pilgrims who are on their way to a location guarded by a giant killing machine? The Fall of Hyperion is the second book of Dan Simmons’ Hyperion Cantos as the remaining pilgrims to the Time Tombs arrive in the valley while an interstellar war breaks out as the Ousters attack Hyperion as a feint before a full-scale invasion of the Hegemony, or do they?

Simmons starts off essentially where he left off in the previous book, however the number of point-of-views increased from just the pilgrims to a whole host of characters. This change while expanding the story onto a galactic scale is a direct departure from its predecessor but given the expanded scope of the story that involves numerous places in the galaxy and “cyberspace” with the interactions of Ais it makes sense. This book brings together all the storylines from the previous book and ties to conclusions that were mostly satisfactory though there were some that felt a bit too contrived leading to a little disappointment in the quality of the Simmons writing for that. Though the ending of some of the storylines was a bit disappointing, the rest of Simmons’ writing was very good and engaging even when he brought poetry into the text. Overall, the book is fine follow-up and conclusion to everything introduced into Hyperion, but some things just didn’t hit the mark in concluding some storylines.

The Fall of Hyperion continues Dan Simmons’ Hyperion Cantos series, though up to the overall quality of it’s predecessor it concludes things fine but I didn’t feel the need to continue with the rest of the series because I felt things came to an end.

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Book Review: The War for the Union, Volume II: War Becomes Revolution, 1862-1863 by Allan Nevins

The War For The Union: War Becomes Revolution, 1862-1863 by Allan Nevins
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

After a year of improvised army building, supply gathering, and campaigns tried to do too much with too little, the Union and the Confederates planned to deal that one decisive blow that would end the war but instead what came about was military stalemate and a political revolution. The War for the Union, Volume II: War Becomes Revolution, 1862-1863 is the sixth volume of Allan Nevins Ordeal of the Union series as the Union’s high hopes in the spring of 1862 crater with McClellan’s inability to use his army while Robert E. Lee brings hope to the Confederates and in the West the rise and maturation of Ulysses S. Grant begins.

Over the course of around 530 pages, Nevins covers the events military, political, diplomatic, domestic, foreign, and business over the course of 17 months from January 1862 to the end of May 1863 that made the supposedly “quick” civil war turn into a revolution not just for the change in Union war strategy but in the running of the government and the rise of business. Throughout the book, Nevins examines the events and developments of all these subjects not only in the context of the day but with hindsight as well, which is especially revealing when describing the mistakes of generals. While the military and political developments as well as interactions between the two were the dominant themes throughout the book, Nevins devoted four chapters of the volume to other themes: diplomacy, business related to war, the revolution in industry spurred by war, and the revolution of freedom. Though this volume is over 65 years old, it’s very detailed and gives a total picture of the events of that time making it a most read for anyone interested in the history of the American Civil War.

The War for the Union, Volume II: War Becomes Revolution, 1862-1863 sees the nature and view of the war change as both sides realize this won’t be a “short” war, but as Allan Nevins shows throughout the effects which would influence the future were making the war something more.

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Book Review: The Novice's Tale by Margaret Frazer

The Novice's Tale by Margaret Frazer
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A convent of nuns is put through the ringer as a difficult frequent visitor arrives with little notice, suddenly leaves, comes back even more difficult than usual, and then dies resulting in even more visitors wanting to know why she died. The Novice’s Tale is the first book of Margaret Frazer’s Dame Frevisse mysteries as the titular novice finds herself the suspected killer of her great aunt and Sister Frevisse is tasked by the convent’s prioress to figure out the truth.

Through the use of two point-of-view characters, Frevisse and the novice Thomasina, Frazer is able to not only to tell an engaging narrative but also reveal the inner workings of a medieval convent through action not exposition. The mystery is set up well with a lot of credible suspects with believable motives set up to be red herrings to disguise the who did it with the motive hidden from the reader by one that would appear to be more important. If there was one critique it is the belief by some characters that a young woman within weeks of taking her vows would risk damnation by murdering someone so she can become a nun, just writing it out just now makes the suggestion a little irrational though that might have been Frazer’s intention given some of the characters we are introduced to. Overall, this was a nice, quick read with a mystery that had a good set up and interesting conclusion.

The Novice’s Tale is both a good mystery and good first installment to a series, which Margaret Frazer wrote seventeen overall books for.

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