Reaper's Gale is the seventh volume of Canadian author Steven Erikson's epic fantasy series, The Malazan Book of the Fallen. Since the publication of the first volume, Gardens of the Moon (1999), this series has come to be one of the pre-dominant epic fantasy series of modern times, exceeded only by George RR Martin's superlative A Song of Ice and Fire and rivalled by Scott Bakker's excellent Prince of Nothing Trilogy. With 'only' three more books to come, Reaper's Gale continues the process of tying together a lot of long-standing plotlines from previous volumes and taking us towards the grand finale of the series.
It is a year since the events of The Bonehunters, two or more years since the events of Midnight Tides. The Kingdom of Lether has been conquered by the Tiste Edur tribes of the north and a grand new empire has been forged under the crazed eye of Rhulad Sengar, the insane Emperor of a Thousand Deaths. However, some among the Edur fear that rather than conquer Lether, they have been subsumed by it, as the day-to-day running of the empire continues under the stewardship of the corrupt Chancellor Gnol and the Edur have been infected by Lether's ultra-capitalist ideology.In the lands to the east of Lether, the Awl'dan tribes are massing for war under a new leader, forcing the commander of the frontier garrison of Drene to fight a desperate series of battles. In the province of Bluerose a party of strangers arrive searching for the soul of a long-lost demigod. In the capital of Letheras an economic genius and a disguised god plot the ruin of the empire. A great fleet has returned from the far side of the world, sent there on a quest to find warriors capable of challenging Rhulad in battle, and with them come Icarium Lifestealer and Karsa Orlong, warriors without compare. But in that task the Letherii inflicted great harm and loss of life on outlying outposts of a distant nation, and on the heels of the great fleet a formidable force is descending on Lether. The Malazan Empire has come to seek redress...Reaper's Gale picks up the dangling plotlines from the previous two volumes and ties them together in a most satisfying manner. I felt that the previous three volumes had seen a noticeable decline in the quality of the series since the superb Deadhouse Gates and Memories of Ice, but Reaper's Gale is a real return to form. Characterisation is much better than before (particularly among the Bonehunters themselves) and storylines are expanded and resolved in a much more efficient manner than in previous volumes. Reaper's Gale shares the problem with The Bonehunters of not being a stand-alone novel, which all of the previous Malazan books could be read as, but this late in the day it's not a problem. Most readers would probably not start reading an author with Book 7 of a ten-volume series anyway.It's not a perfect book. Many of Erikson's underlying problems remain. His inability to give characters their own distinctive voice beyond a few exceptions (Beak, Karsa and Tehol in this volume) is now to be expected, as is the tendency for even the meanest character, barman or lowest-common-denominator soldier or peasent, to suddenly break into a lengthy philosophical monologue on the meaning of reality or something. However, this problem occurs somewhat less frequently than in prior books. Again, Erikson's rather relaxed attitude to the timeline also causes some confusion in working out what events happen when (Fear Sengar and Silchas Ruin's party seems to have taken a pretty ludicrous amount of time to cross a few hundred miles from Letheras to Bluerose), but given that most people gave up trying to keep this straight three or four books back, it's not a major problem either. Another, potentially more serious, problem is in the Tehol/Bugg storyline, which involves them helping a female victim of torture and rape. The dichotomy between Tehol and Bugg's normally humourous storylines and this darker plotline is something Erikson doesn't entirely pull off.Erikson does do a lot of things better this time around. The combat scenes are more visceral and gritty than they have been since Memories of Ice. The constant use of Moranth munitions to get out of every jam is mildly tedious, but seeing the Malazan army doing what it's supposed to be doing and doing it well is thoroughly entertaining. Icarium, who can be a somewhat tedious character at times, is surprisingly and refreshingly kept in the background for much of the book, whilst most of the protagonists, old and new, are intriguing. There is good humour in the book (the drunken Sergeant Hellian, who was tedious in the previous volume, is much funnier this time around) and a particularly amusing side-swipe at Another Bestselling Fantasy Author (involving allegedly evil chickens). The normal 400-page clearing-the-throat thing that Erikson does at the start of each novel is mercifully reduced to about 200 pages or so in this volume, meaning that whilst this is still an overlong book, it's nowhere near as bad as other volumes in the series. Finally, just when it appears that Erikson is in danger of shutting down the entire series, with perhaps nothing but irrelevant filler to appear in the final three novels, he opens a number of interesting tangents and storylines to be explored further whilst still satisfactorily concluding a large number of stories from the earlier novels in the sequence.Reaper's Gale (****) is available now in the United Kingdom from Bantam in hardcover and trade paperback. An American edition from Tor will be published in April or May 2008. Nethspace, Pat's Fantasy Hotlist and SFFWorld all have reviews of the book as well. The eighth volume in the series, Toll the Hounds, is expected from Bantam in May 2008.
Richard Morgan's masterful Black Man is now available in the United Kingdom. Full review here. William Lexner called this book a Stranger in a Strange Land for the 21st Century and I agree fully. If there is any justice, this will be a front-runner for the Best Novel Hugo at Denvercon 2008. The US edition of the book, entitled Thirteen, will be released on 26 June 2007.I am currently reading Steven Erikson's Reaper's Gale, which will be my next review. However, it's very slow going. As with most Malazan books I expect the book to really kick into gear about halfway through. Nethspace has a review now though, as do Pat's Fantasy Hotlist and SFFWorld.
Paul Kearney, the skilled writer of the excellent Monarchies of God series, has had his new series, The Sea-Beggars, cancelled halfway through (and, very considerately, when he'd just about finished the third volume). More news on this here. Expect an author profile on Kearney in the near future.
In recent TV news, it has been confirmed that Lost will end after three more 16-episode seasons, conluding in May 2010. Battlestar Galactica, it is very heavily rumoured, will end with the final episode of Season 4, airing in March 2008. This has not yet been confirmed by the producers (David Eick comments on it here), but Eddie Olmos (who plays Admiral Adama) has hinted at it.
The Name of the Wind is the debut novel by American author Patrick Rothfuss. It is the first volume in The Kingkiller Chronicles and has arrived on the back of an immense amount of publicity, comparable to that which accompanied the release of Scott Lynch's The Lies of Locke Lamora last year. It is also an accomplished book which I greatly enjoyed reading.
The Name of the Wind is really two stories told in parallel. In the present-day tale we meet 'Kote', an innocuous barman running a nice inn in the middle of nowhere. However, his ability to single-handedly take on an infestation of spider-like demons soon hints that he is more than he seems. The arrival of 'Chronicler', a man searching for a legend, soon reveals the truth to us: that our flame-haired innkeeper is really Kvothe, a warrior and spellcaster of powerful repute. The bulk of the novel then proceeds in flashback as Kvothe tells his life story to Chronicler.There is nothing particularly new in this story. Kvothe is born amongst a travelling people and lives the bucolic dream until events take an unexpected turn etc. He then grows up learning various skills and eventually becomes an apprentice spellcaster at the great Commonwealth University, where things threaten to go a bit Harry Potter-shaped (although Rothfuss on his first novel is already a far more accomplished writer than Rowling after six) for a few chapters until Rothfuss takes the story in a more compelling direction.What is unusual and somewhat refreshing about the story is its relaxed feel. There are moments of high drama, of confrontations and skirmishes and terror, and Rothfuss handles all of these with the skill of a seasoned writer, but for the most part the story is allowed to unfold at its own pace. Rothfuss' writing is quite rich and draws you into its smokey taverns, its music halls and wild windswept bluffs with ease, a far cry from the furious pace some othe recent fantasy stories have unfolded. In fact, when the novel comes to an end it's a slight surprise that it's not with a bang, but a simple pause before Kvothe unveils the second part of his life story.The reason for this is that The Kingkiller Chronicle is actually one huge single novel that was broken in three for publication, and no attempt has really been made to make the individual parts stand alone. Those used to the 'standalone novel which is simultaneously part of a larger story' approach recently favoured by Scott Lynch or Steven Erikson may find this move slightly frustrating, as the second part of the trilogy is still a year away from publication.Another flaw in the novel is that Rothfuss gives occasional winks to the audience letting them know that he knows about the cliches of the genre, and indeed he does a great job of subverting them on several occasions to good effect. However, on at least one occasion he oversteps this with a post-modern passage about Kvothe noting how his story sounds like a traditional campfire yarn and how his audience shouldn't get too comfortable just yet. Amusing, yes, but it took me out of the story. Not a good move.Despite these minor problems, this is still an excellent fantasy novel, especially for a debut. The writing is very crisp and clear, with rich detail and some vivid characters. Rothfuss has done his homework and the University sections of the novel work very well, with mathmatics, metal-working, chemistry and music all forming part of the story in a very intricate manner. Rothfuss' magic system is also highly accomplished and original in conception and execution. I would recommend this book to anyone who is a fan of Tad Williams, Joe Abercrombie, Scott Lynch or good, solid epic fantasy in general. Rothfuss hasn't necessarily done anything new here, but he's done it with a confidence and ability rare in a first-time novelist.The Name of the Wind (****) is available now in the United States from DAW Publishing. A UK edition (with a frankly superior cover to the US editions) will be available on 20 September 2007 from Gollancz. Pat's Fantasy Hotlist reviews the book here. SFFWorld review the book here. Nethspace has a review here. The author has a website here. The author has also taken part in a Q&A session on Dragonmount.com which may be of some interest.
Un Lun Dun is the fifth novel by British fantasy author China Mieville. Mieville has become the guiding light of the 'New Weird' fantasy movement which has become a major force in the genre in the last few years, and in his Bas-Lag novels he's created a compellingly different secondary world mixing elements of fantasy and steampunk to good effect. However, in this latest book Mieville takes a break from Bas-Lag to instead write and illustrate his first novel for younger readers. Given that Mieville's adult work has a grotesque fairy-tale quality to it, this isn't as strange a move as it first seems, and his writing and the subject matter turn out to be a winning combination.
Another world lies beyong this one, separated from it by immense distance but at the same time accessible through cracks in reality. Each city in our world has its own reflection or 'abcity' in this other world. The great metropolis of London is shadowed by UnLondon, a city of the dispossessed and the magical, a city under threat by a sinister force known only as the Smog. Into this world come two young girls, Deeba and Zanna, whose coming has long been foretold. They are prophecised to save UnLondon from the Smog, but there is one snag: they haven't a clue how they're going to do it.Un Lun Dun opens with Mieville on slightly shaky ground, betraying a slight lack of confidence in tackling this new audience (particularly in his handling of how streetwise London kids talk and interact). Perhaps aware this isn't his natural element, he very quickly hurls his characters into the streets of UnLondon and unleashes his fertile imagination in full force, rapidly ensnaring our protagonists in a very strange but at the same time familiar landscape populated by all manner of weird and wonderful creatures. In the afterword to the book, Mieville expresses his thanks to Lewis Carroll, Beatrix Potter, Clive Barker and Neil Gaiman, and indeed the novel is reminiscent of a crazy mash-up between those writers in style and tone. But it is Mieville's constant invention that really impresses the reader, from the bullet-proof umbrellas to the ninja dustbins to the half-ghosts to the black windows. Nearly every one of the 99 short chapters introduces an impressive new concept or character or idea that will keep readers enthralled and rattling through it's 500 pages at quite a pace.The novel follows in the recent footsteps of Phillip Pullman by being a fiendishly clever, original children's tale whilst simultaneously telling a different story to adult readers. Mieville's political leanings are pretty clear from his earlier work, but Un Lun Dun weaves them in perhaps more subtly than before, with some biting social commentary on the environment and the responsibilities of government. He even has time to mildly attack overly repressive anti-terror legislation, which is a surprising move in a YA novel, but something I suspect most younger readers won't even notice. Mieville doesn't pull any punches in this regard despite this being no doubt seen by some as a 'lighter' work; he's also not afraid to kill off characters either, lending the book a slightly darker edge than some other YA books around at the moment. Some very mild counter-points to the Harry Potter books can also be found in the novel, particularly Mieville's hatred of the class system and a very funny take on the nature of prophecy.Aside from the shaky opening, Un Lun Dun's only other major flaw is that the ending is left perhaps a little bit too open for a sequel or three. However, the new world that Mieville has created is every bit as compelling and fresh and interesting as Bas-Lag is (if far more whimsical), and return trips to UnLondon and the other abcities will be most welcome. Praise must also be given to Mieville's illustrations, which adorn the book. They are superb, lying somewhere at the Monty Python end of the spectrum of surrealism (but pretty accurately depicting what's going on in the text) and adding a great deal to the enjoyment of the book.Un Lun Dun (****) is published by Macmillan in the UK in trade paperback and hardcover, and by Del Rey in the USA in hardcover. These editions are available now. Some more information on the book, including some of the illustrations and an interview with the author, can be found here. SF Reviews covers the book here. AVClub covers the book here whilst SFFWorld offers a review here.
Just a note to remind those interested that Alastair Reynolds' The Prefect (****) is now available in the United Kingdom from Gollancz. My review is located here. The book is a very good SF thriller and, as both chronologically the earliest book in his Revelation Space universe and also somewhat more accessibly-written than his other works, marks a good point to jump into Reynolds' work.
American fantasy fans should be aware that Book 5 of Steven Erikson's The Malazan Book of the Fallen, Midnight Tides, is now available from Tor Books. This is a solid slice of epic fantasy and a worthy addition to the series which overcomes the initial problem of not featuring any locations or characters previously encountered in the series (with one exception). It's also the funniest book in a sometimes grim series. A proper review of the Malazan series will follow at some point, but on its own merits I would give the novel a rating of ***. Book 7 of the same series, Reaper's Gale gets its UK debut on 7 May, whilst the mass-market paperback of Book 6, The Bonehunters, was also recently published in the UK.I am currently reading China Mieville's excellent first novel for children, Un Lun Dun, and will have a review soon.
Keeping It Real is the first novel in the Quantum Gravity series by British SF author Justina Robson. Robson is a noted author of hard SF novels such as Silver Screen and Mappa Mundi, but for her latest project she has ventured into Science Fantasy, giving us a world where cyborgs and elves coexist with fairies and advanced AIs.
In 2015 the Quantum Bomb exploded. An accident at an atom-smasher has fractured reality and opened Earth - now called Otopia - to waves of immigration from other dimensions, home to demons, fairies, elves and elementals. It is now 2021 and Lila Black, a special operative condemned to live as a cyborg after losing her limbs on a dangerous mission, has been assigned as bodyguard to Zal, a charismatic elven rock star. Zal's decision to live among humans and do unelven things such as eat meat and exist as a celebrity has made him many enemies among his own people in Alfheim, some of whom have made threats against him. Black has to protect Zal from death or capture whilst uncovering secrets that threaten the relationships between the realms.Keeping It Real is a book with a lot of excellent ideas. The combination of SF ideas and fantasy tropes works pretty well for the most part and the plot fairly clips along, as it has to in a relatively short (270-page) book. However, there is no denying that the central idea is pretty zany, and the reader is probably expecting a zany, funny book to explore it. This isn't what you get with Keeping It Real. This is a serious book which treats the central daftness of its concept with grim severity. There is some humour in the book - the demon bouncers for example - but overall this is a mostly laughter-free zone.This wouldn't matter if the characters are likable and interesting. They are not. When she's not dwelling on her horrific injuries, being cut off from her parents and her somewhat tedious 'Game' relationship with Zal, Lila Black is an intriguing character. Unfortunately this is in only about a quarter of the book. The rest of the time her character is engaged in moody introspection about how awful it is to be welded into a metal body with enough firepower to level a small city secreted about your person. Zal is completely unlikeable from the second you meet him to the very last page of the book: a selfish hedonistic egotist with no redeemable features at all. Some of the other characters were much more intriguing - Black being forced to work alongside a rival intelligence agent who was responsible for her injuries is an interesting plotline - but with the two central characters being rather unsympathetic, this made engaging with the novel very hard work.Luckily, the story kicks into gear towards the end, after the action moves from Otopia to Alfheim. The last 50 pages or so are much faster-paced and you do find yourself drawn into the action. However, for most readers I fear this improvement will come too late in the day to keep them interested.Keeping It Real (**½) is published in UK by Gollancz and by Pyr in the USA. A sequel, Selling Out, is published by Gollancz on 17 May 2007.
Here's something a little different. Rather than just reviewing the latest book I've bought (old or new), I have decided to do some reviews on major works that have made a big impact on me over the years. After wondering whether to start at the beginning or the end, I decided mixing them up may be the best way to go. I start off with a more recent work of epic fantasy that has been a major critical success in recent times, with the author going from being unheard of to mentioned in the same breath as Erikson, Kay and Martin in just three years. This, then, is The Prince of Nothing Trilogy.
The Prince of Nothing is a series that also forms the opening three books of a much longer sequence (at least seven volumes in length) called The Second Apocalypse. As the title hints, the books revolve around - once again - the return of an ancient evil to a world that no longer believes in it. However, Scott Bakker writes in a manner far more reminiscent of Frank Hertbert than say Robert Jordan, mixing philosophical ruminations with explosive action sequences and machivellian politicking.
The setting is Earwa, a continent which resembles Europe in the Hellenistic era, although the technological level is more reminiscent of the Crusades. The new Sharia of the Thousand Temples of Inrithism has called a Holy War against the heathen Fanim, vowing to drive them out of the Holy City of Shimeh and recover it for the Faithful. The Nansur Emperor, Ikurei Xerius III, is determined to mould the Holy War to his design.The plot of the Holy War is essentially that of the First Crusade transported to a much colder and more brutal secondary world. The Prince of Nothing is a somewhat pitiless series. Like George RR Martin, Bakker has no qualms about killing major characters or showing the ugly, horrific side of war. Enormous battles, particularly in the second volume, are described with enormous skill, but they aren't the focus of the trilogy. Instead, the focus is squarely on the characters.Ansurimbor Kellhus is the Prince of Nothing of the title. A member of an
ancient and forgotten order called the Dunyain, Kellhus is a master manipulator of human thought and emotion, able to bend people's wills to his design by knowing their histories: what has come before determines what follows. This aids him on his quest to find his father, Moenghus, who long ago fled to Shimeh and 'went native', to the Dunyain's disgust. Along the way, however, Kellhus discovers that the evil Consult, the powerful force that served the No-God in the First Apocalypse two thousand years earlier, has returned. The non-human Consult and their skin-spies stand outside Kellhus' experience and knowledge, representing a challenge he cannot ignore.
The other main principal character is Drusas Achamian, a member of the Mandate. The Mandate knows that the Consult and the No-God will return and have stood guard against them for millennia, but their order is mocked throughout the Three Seas. Only their knowledge and mastery of the Gnosis, the most powerful form of sorcerery known to mankind, ensures their survival in the face of jealous rivals such as the Scarlet Spires or the Nansuri Saik. Like all members of the Mandate, Achamian, or Akka, is visited each night by terrible nightmares of the First Apocalypse, a warning left behind by their founder Seswatha so that may never forget their duty. Achamian's lover, the prostitute Esemenet, is another key character. Although her significance is perhaps unclear at the start of the series, she eventually moves into a key position and she is one of our main POVs on events in the series.
Cnaiur is a Scylvendi barbarian warlord, chieftain of the Utemot and a warrior beyond compare. The self-proclaimed 'most violent of all men' is haunted by memories of Ansurimbor Moenghus, who passed through the Scylvendi lands decades earlier, and for the chance to destroy Moenghus he eagerly sides with Kellhus and the Holy War. Meanwhile, Ikurei Conphas, nephew of the Nansuri Emperor and one of the most gifted generals alive, battles to seize control of the Holy War and direct it on the course his uncle has chosen.
The Prince of Nothing is not a fluffy epic fantasy full of farm boys saving the world and virtuous princesses cooped up in their towers. It is dark and it is often brutal. There are rays of light penetrating the gloom - moments of good humour and fellowship - but these are few and far between. Yet it is compellingly readable. Bakker has a superb prose style, easy to follow yet packed with information that rewards careful reading and re-reading. In this sense he is very similar to Frank Herbert, and indeed The Prince of Nothing often feels like an epic fantasy version of Dune, reinforced by the fictional quotations that open each chapter and the absolutely massive glossary that makes up nearly a fifth of the third volume. Bakker is interested in philosophy (indeed, his masters' degree in the field was put on hold whilst he worked on this trilogy) and this comes through in the books, with characters frequently pondering the nature of life, of war and of thought. The shadow of Nietzsche lies heavily on the books in particular. Whilst it never overwhelms the plot (the philosophical interludes are delivered in bite-sized chunks rather than massive info-dumps), some may find that this slows down the proceedings. I can say I didn't, and tore through all three books in a matter of days.
The Darkness That Comes Before opens proceedings well, but it is a somewhat slower book that introduces the concepts and the characters. The main focus of the book is on the build-up to the Holy War, on the political strife between the kingdoms contributing to the crusade and on Akka's discovery of the first evidence in two millennia that the Consult is on the move. There is a huge, fascinating battle sequence that establishes key character motivations and relationships for later events in the trilogy, but generally this is a set-up book, as first volumes usually are.
The Warrior-Prophet is the story of the Holy War as a third of a million soldiers traipse south through burning deserts and across dry rivers, their eyes fixed on distant Shimeh. Akka and Esme come to the fore in this book as the battle for control of the Holy War rages amongst the higher echelons and, almost hidden from view, Kellhus slowly weaves himself a new identity and purpose. Whilst The Darkness That Comes Before was a powerful work, The Warrior-Prophet is an astonishing one, eliminating many of the first book's minor problems (the slower pace, the slightly longer musing on philosophy) and delivering an avalanche of intrigue and action. Individually, it is one of the best fantasy novels published in the last decade.
The Thousandfold Thought sees the Holy War finally arrive at Shimeh and begin the final battle against the Fanim. As the action unfolds outside the city's walls, Cnaiur and Kellhus must seek out Moenghus and learn the final revelation of the Thousandfold Thought, a secret which puts Kellhus on a very different road to the one he was pursuing before. Whilst Bakker successfully and somewhat elegantly resolves the story of the Holy War, the stories of our main characters is very much left open. For that reason the book suffers somewhat, although this problem will fade when the next part of the overall sequence is released.
The Prince of Nothing is a major, key work of modern fantasy that deserves to be read by all with an interest in the genre. It divides opinion massively between those who think it is too cold, too brutal and too dark to read, and those who think it borders on genius. I quite happily fall into the latter category.
The Darkness That Comes Before (2003, ****) is published by Orbit in the UK, Overlook in the US and Penguin in Canada.
The Warrior-Prophet (2004, *****): UK, US, Canada.
The Thousandfold Thought (2005, ****): UK, US, Canada.
Alternate reviews and interviews with the author can be found on the SFFWorld website located here. Sandstorm Reviews has covered the first book here. Nethspace has covered the whole trilogy here. Hope I Didn't Give Away the Ending covered the trilogy here as well.
British editions linked to are mass-market paperbacks. US editions are trade paperbacks only. The Canadian editions are mass-market paperbacks apart from The Thousandfold Thought, which is only available in trade at present.
Scott Bakker has since completed work on an SF thriller named Neuropath, which is looking for a publisher. The Great Ordeal, Book 1 of The Aspect-Emperor, will be published in May 2008 in the UK, picking up the storyline twenty years after the events of The Thousandfold Thought. It is already my most anticipated book of 2008.
Sunshine is the seventh movie to be directed by Danny Boyle, whose debut film Shallow Grave was a cult hit before he hit the big time with Trainspotting. He was lured to Hollywood to make A Life Less Ordinary and the The Beach, but their mixed critical success saw him return to Britain to make the extremely successful 28 Days Later (a sequel, 28 Weeks Later, is out next month with Boyle as producer). Sunshine continues the collaboration between Boyle and writer Alex Garland, which began with The Beach and continued in 28 Days Later. Although Boyle's previous films had dabbled with SF ideas and fantastical dream sequences and imagery, Sunshine is his first out-and-out SF movie.
Fifty years into the future, the Sun is dying. For reasons never fully explained, the Sun is growing colder and the Earth has been plunged into an ice age. And things are getting worse. With mankind threatened with extinction, a young scientist named Capa has built a 'stellar bomb' which he hopes will kick-start the Sun back into operation again. The ship designed to deliver the bomb, Icarus I, is lost on its first attempt, so a second bomb and a second ship, Icarus II, are comissioned. However, the creation of this bomb depletes Earth's store of heavy elements. If this mission fails, humanity dies.The film's plot initially feels uncomfortably like that of the The Core from a few years ago (a movie that falls squarely into the 'so bad it's hilarious' school of film-making), but Boyle is too far a skilled and canny director to simply write an SF action movie. The science throughout the film is pretty robust: the Icarus II has a massive solar shield to prevent it being incinerated as it gets close to the Sun, whilst the stellar bomb itself is built on quantum principles that seem reasonably sound (although it also comes across as being vastly more sophisticated and advanced than any other future tech in the movie). This fidelity gives the opening part of the movie the feel of 2001: A Space Odyssey, especially the sequences set in airlocks which recall the Pod Bay of Discovery. There's even a very nice direct tribute to the film when a bunch of monoliths turn up when you least expect them. There's also an obvious homage to Silent Running and possibly even a few nods to Event Horizon (a more-successful-than-not SF/horror hybrid from ten years ago).Whilst 2001 was somewhat sterile, Sunshine is - forgive the pun - much warmer. The characters are introduced quite deftly and are an interesting bunch. Chris Evans (no, not that one, UK readers) is shown to be a better actor than perhaps his performance in The Fantastic Four hinted at, whilst Cillian Murphy is as excellent and intense as ever. Michelle Yeoh also delivers a fine performance whilst Hiroyuki Sanada (previously best known for nearly decapitating Tom Cruise during the making of The Last Samurai) displays immense gravitas as Captain Kaneda. Clifford Curtis gives some particularly interesting depth to the ironically eccentric psychiatrist Searle. The other characters are somewhat less well-developed, but their lack of screen time means this isn't too important.As the movie continues, Boyle deftly provides large amounts of misdirection to the audience. Is the computer going to go mad and kill everyone, as with 2001? Is there a supernatural event going on, as with Event Horizon? Is there a stowaway on board? Are aliens involved? The audience is constantly left thinking and theorising, even as the movie dismisses one possibility only to open up another. At the same time, Boyle delivers some stunning imagery. A simple shot of Mercury passing across the face of the Sun becomes, with the help of a remarkable soundtrack, a moment of some beauty, whilst a dangerous EVA mission to repair some fried solar-reflection panels features some astonishing physical and CGI work. In fact, the effects throughout the movie are incredible. Those used to George Lucas delivering thirty thousand rapid-fire shots of CGI overload will probably find Sunshine's use of long, stately effects shots with the action based on real-life physics most refreshing, and far more impressive. This film also features one of the most disturbing scenes I've seen in a film for some time, with Boyle making inventive use of near-subliminal imagery. It only lasts a few minutes but is more disturbing by itself than most entire horror movies. Look out for it when the characters explore a dust-shrouded environment.There is a slight problem with the ending of the movie. An entire subplot that unfolds in the last twenty minutes or so of the film feels very badly like a studio note about how to make the finale more exciting. It sticks out like a sore thumb, although Boyle makes as good a fist of it as he can, and the final few shots of the movie make up for it.Sunshine (****) is an excellent SF movie which combines scientific fidelity with decent character-building and delivers an atmosphere that is at times quite eerie. The film focuses on the theme of death, but not necessarily as something to be feared, which is an interesting and successful directorial choice. The ending is perhaps misguided in conception, but Boyle just about manages to pull it off. This is a film that needs to be seen on the big screen, as its scale is immense and overwhelming at times. The movie is on general release in the United Kingdom at present and will be released in the United States in September 2007.
After its weak opening six-episode arc, Lost returned from its extended break to run interrupted all the way through the end of the season. We're now halfway through this second run and it seems like a good time to assess the show once more.
Lost has, against all the odds and predictions, made something of a return to form in these latest episodes. The producers have seemingly decided to concentrate once more on showing as much of the cast as possible each week, with seperate plots and subplots giving more of the cast time in the limelight. This has had some ramifications (the supposedly long-running Paulo and Nikki subplot was curtailed and ended rather abruptly in the episode Expose) but overall has worked quite well. The characters feel more connected and the somewhat lightweight subplots back on the beach have contrasted nicely with the claustraphobia of the Others' storyline.
First out of the box was Not in Portland, the conclusion to the story arc that had Kate, Sawyer and Jack as prisoners of the Others for the first part of the season. The producers made a major mistake in not transmitting this with the first batch of episodes, as it would have provided satisfying closure to the mini-arc that opened the season rather than left us hanging on the rather insipid cliffhanger provided by I Do. Nevertheless, Not in Portland was a good episode which provided some decent backstory for Juliet and got Sawyer and Kate out of that damned prison.
Flashes Before Your Eyes is an odd episode, seemingly breaking one of Lost's fundamental rules by having one of our characters travel in time. The opening and conclusion of the episode are fine, although the dramatic final revelation lacks bite (on a show that is as profligate with its heroes' lives as Lost is, hinting that Charlie - not the most essential character on the show anyway - may soon die is not that interesting). The heroic effort to recreate London in Hawaii deserves some respect, but the basic errors that creep in are still irritating (few English pubs in London have a massive Union Jack over the bar and the mis-spelling of posters and signs with American words is just plain sloppy). The story itself is interesting and Desmond remains one of the most compelling characters on the show, but overall the episode felt somewhat lacklustre and didn't really feel like an episode of Lost at all.
Stranger in a Strange Land is yet another Jack flashback. A very weird and somewhat surrealistic tone to the episode actually works quite well, but the problem is that the mystery the show reveals - what is the significance of Jack's tattoos? - is a mystery that is far more interesting to the writers than the fans.
Tricia Tanaka is Dead is far more impressive. It's quite a funny episode (highlight: the meteor destroying Hurley's restaurant) with a somewhat whimsical plotline, whilst remembering to keep the main plotline chugging along in the background (Kate recruiting a band of asskickers to go rescue Jack). Plus the fate of the dog, Vincent, is revealed, which was of some significance for a large chunk of the audience.
Enter 77 is a bit of a fan-pleasing episode, as we see the Flame Station and some important backstory to the Others and the DHARMA Initiative is revealed. Sayid's backstory is a bit irrelevant, but Naveen Andrews turns in an excellent performance as usual. However, they really need to keep Locke away from computer terminals.
Par Avion showcases a much-guessed but previously unconfirmed connection between two of the major characters and also features the goriest death in the series to date, even if the Sonic Fence feels like something from the Command and Conquer games. Locke's increasingly bizarrre behaviour is also made more apparent, and the cliffhanger is quite mystifying. Unusually for Lost, we get some answers relatively quickly. The Man From Tallahassee answers probably one of the single most mused-over questions in the show - how did Locke end up in the wheelchair? - and features a very nice, large explosion. Inbetween there are some great acting and writing moments and the final shot of the episode is pretty bizarre, although apparently it won't be expanded upon until episode 19 (due to actor availability, I guess).
Expose is a mixed episode, focusing on the backstory to the somewhat tedious Nikki and Paulo, although apparently this is their last appearance on the show. Recreating the plane crash was quite impressive and seeing some characters again who've met their ends on the show is enjoyable, but some plot points seem unlikely (Paulo and Nikki knew about the drugs plane, the Pearl Station, Ben and Juliet weeks before anyone else did?) and the ending is just disturbing. The episode is saved by lots of loose ends being tied up and by some pretty funny dialogue, not to mention a brief appearance by Billy Dee 'Lando Calrissian' Williams as himself.
Left Behind is very much a transitional episode, clearing up the loose threads of the Others' storyline and putting our heroes back together again. Some impressive visuals (especially finding out what that slightly preposterous Sonic Fence is really for) and at least one major question being addressed (what is the connection between the Others and the Monster?), if not answered, leads to an enjoyable episode, especially when combined with Sawyer's subplot back on the beach. The flashback was somewhat pointless, but happily did not outstay its welcome.
307: Not in Portland ****
308: Flashes Before Your Eyes ***
309: Stranger in a Strange Land ***
310: Tricia Tanka is Dead ****
311: Enter 77 ****
312: Par Avion ****
313: The Man From Tallahassee ****
314: Expose ***
315: Left Behind ****
Forthcoming: One of Them (11/04/07), Catch-22 (18/04/07), D.O.C. (25/04/07), The Brig (02/05/07), The Man Behind the Curtain (09/05/07), Greatest Hits (16/05/07), untitled 2-hour Season 3 finale (23/05/07)
