Borealis

Borealis
by Ronald Malfi


(Edited) Blurb:

On a routine crabbing expedition in the Bering Sea, Charlie Mears and the rest of the men aboard the trawler "Borealis" discover something unbelievable: a young woman running naked along the ridge of a passing iceberg. The men rescue her and bring her aboard the boat. But they will soon learn her horrible secret. 

My Reaction:
I thought a horror novella might ease me back into the wonderful world of reading, after the painful ordeal of The Far Pavilions (which took me forever to read-- and I didn't actually even finish it).  Also, the cover art and title were appealing.

I wanted something brief, to the point, and exciting enough to keep the pages turning.  To give credit where it's due, Borealis certainly is short, and it does get right to the point.  Things happen pretty quickly, and at least I managed to finish it, which is a nice change of pace after two DNFs in a row.

But.

I'm sorry.  I must come across as such a complainer in most of my book reviews.  I am picky, I admit, but if you're not going to be honest, why bother with reviews?  The problem is, I didn't really enjoy Borealis.

This was at least partly due to a mismatch between book and reader.  It's not that I don't like horror, but I want atmosphere over guts.  This had too much gore for me.

More importantly, I would've appreciated a few more hints as to what the "woman" was.  The beginning was intriguing (reminded me strongly of the opening of Peter Straub's Ghost Story, which was the best part of that novel, too), but after finishing the book, I look back and find it frustratingly vague.  (She ages like a normal person?  Or can she take on whatever appearance she wants at any time?) I need a little more to go on, to be satisfied by horror.  I want to have at least a theory about the nature of "the Enemy".

I'm still not sure what to think about the ending.  I couldn't believe that was it!  Not a satisfying conclusion, at all.

To sum it up, it could've been better.

DNF: The Long Ships

by Frans G. Bengtsson 
(translated by Michael Meyer)


Blurb:

This saga brings alive the world of the 10th century AD when the Vikings raided the coasts of England.

Acclaimed as one of the best historical novels ever written, this engaging saga of Viking adventure in 10th century northern Europe has a very appealing young hero, Orm Tostesson, whose story we follow from inexperienced youth to adventurous old age, through slavery and adventure to a royal marriage and the search for great treasure. Viking expeditions take him to lands as far apart as England, Moorish Spain, Gaardarike (the country that was to become Russia), and the long road to Miklagard. The salt-sea spray, the swaying deck awash in slippery blood are the backdrop to fascinating stories of King Harald Blue Tooth, the Jomsvikings, attempts to convert the Northmen to Christianity, and much else. Like H. Rider Haggard, Bengtsson is a master of the epic form.

My Reaction:
This was to have been a shared read with Donald, but we didn't get very far.  I think we were only 16 or 17% through the book (having skipped the introduction for fear of spoilers) when we decided that we just weren't that into this saga.

My main interest in the book was that it was about the Vikings and written by a Swede.  Donald (my husband) is Swedish, so I thought this might be something we could both enjoy.  I don't really know much about the Vikings, but obviously they're one of the more exciting parts of Scandinavian history, so I was curious.

I wouldn't go so far as to say that the book was boring, but it wasn't exactly gripping, either.  You know that nothing too terrible will happen to Orm, since he's the hero of the saga and has to live at least until the end.  That knowledge takes away much of the suspense you might otherwise feel on his behalf, which has a flattening effect.

However, I think what bothered me more was that the novel suffers from "Too Much Action Syndrome".  It's just a fairly simple, straightforward cataloging of the events of a fictional character's life.  "And then he did this, and then he did that, and then (after a spate of lackluster poetry) he did this other thing."

Aside from our hero and Krok (who does stand out, as the leader of the expedition), one character is hardly distinguishable from the next-- or at least we both had a hard time remembering who was who and what their names were.  In keeping with the rest of the book, the characterization felt shallow.

There wasn't enough conversation, charm, and distinct personality (to suit my tastes).  Maybe this changes for the better, later in the book, but we tired of waiting for more depth and color in the tale.

I'm disappointed that we didn't enjoy this more.  It wasn't dreadful, but we weren't excited to keep reading.  After my recent capitulation to the interminable The Far Pavilions (and the flood of elation that followed), I didn't hesitate to suggest that we could set this aside as a DNF, and so we did.

Maybe one or the other of us will try reading it with better luck, at some point in the future.  If so, I suspect it will be Donald who conquers Red Orm; this has been another reminder that sagas really aren't for me.

Since I haven't come close to finishing it, I feel guilty giving it a star rating, but since goodreads seems to require that, I'll have to give two stars...

DNF: The Far Pavilions

The Far Pavilions
by M. M. Kaye

(My Ruthlessly Edited Version of the) Blurb:

This sweeping epic set in 19th-century India begins in the foothills of the towering Himalayas and follows the adventures (and romance) of Ashton/Ashok/Ash.  A young orphan born to English parents but raised as an Indian, he struggles to belong completely in either culture. 

(Some think that) M.M. Kaye's masterwork is a vast, rich and vibrant tapestry of love and war that ranks with the greatest panoramic sagas of modern fiction.

My Reaction:
I have been slogging arduously through this "saga" for months and months (because I've lacked motivation to read, not because it's at all challenging material), only to finally decide that the time has come to throw in the towel and let this become a DNF (Did Not Finish).

The novel started off promisingly enough, and I did enjoy parts of it and was touched by aspects of it (Ash's adoptive mother, Sita, in particular), but the enjoyable moments became too few and far between, and I eventually recognized that there wasn't anything that could happen in the remaining quarter of the book to make it worth continuing to read.  So I just skimmed the rest!

I found that my two main predictions proved correct...

SPOILERS FOLLOW!!
.
.
.
.
(Wally dies; Ash and Anjuli go off in search of their peaceful valley in the Himalayas)
.
.
.
.

...which was all I even remotely cared to know, at that point, and skipping to the end means that I probably saved myself another month or two of forcing myself to read something I no longer wanted to read.  (Ah, sweet relief!)  Basically, I spared myself the Second Afghan War portion of the novel, and I count myself lucky. 

The Far Pavilions has 964 pages.  A book that long might be okay if it's a real page-turner.  This was not one of those books.  Also, the novel seems to have been promoted as more of a romance than it really is, so there's an element of false advertisement.  (Though to be honest, I don't think a stronger emphasis on the romance would've helped in this case, because this author's version of romance leaves me cold... It's not her strong suit, imho.)

If you're interested in the history of India as part of the British Empire, give this a look.  Personally, I found it just didn't keep me interested enough, so I rarely wanted to read it, which is a very bad quality in such a long book!  Part of the problem is that I'm probably just not cut out for sagas.  Terribly sorry, but I get bored; I got bored, and now I'm so so so happy to put this book behind me and never look back.

I'm giving it three stars because while I just couldn't find the will to finish it, parts of it were good.  I think it deserves three stars despite my difficulties with it.