Newton's Wake by Ken MacLeod

Sometimes you pick a book because it looks interesting. The cover is amazing, the storyline sounds exciting, the reviews are good, and you take the plunge and buy it. Until I read this book, MacLeod was an author I had not tried. This looked like the perfect book to start with. Maybe it was me but this book sounded better than it actually was. By the time I was a third of the way through, it lost my interest. Other books were calling and I did not care if I read the rest of this story.

One of my problems was the way the author was sidetracked down other paths. It almost seemed like he was not sure what book he wanted to write. Authors like Jack Vance and Roger Zelazny can take you on side roads and keep my interest. Here, it seemed like MacLeod would obsess with details that did not interest me.

Another problem I had was the characters. In general, the characters were not likeable. I found myself not caring who was right and who was wrong. Usually I find some character to cheer for. That was not the case in Newton’s Wake.

I put MacLeod on my list of authors to try again in the future. For now I have too many other authors I want to try. Add the authors I already enjoy and it will be a while until I return to MacLeod’s books.

Going Postal by Terry Pratchett

I have seen Pratchett's novels on the bookstore shelves for years but never bought one. Then SF Signal started the Great Pratchett Reading Project. They are going to read and post reviews of all the Discworld novels this year. After reading their first reviews, I realized what I had been missing. Terry Pratchett combines my love of fantasy novels with the great British style of humor done by Monty Python to make a unique series.

If Going Postal is a normal book in this series, I am a fan for life. This book contains drama, interesting characters, logical plot development, and humor that is very rare. The author makes all of this seem very natural. I don't know that I have ever laughed this much when reading a book.

The plot alone was different that the usual fantasy novel. A swindler named Moist Van Lipwig is sentenced to death by hanging. But instead of dying, he is given a possible way out. Moist can either choose to die or accept the position of Postmaster. He choose the government job thinking that he can just escape once he starts in the post office. What he doesn't plan on is a golem being assigned to prevent him from leaving his post. Moist takes up the challenge and tries to turn the post office into a money making business. It is hard to believe that I was kept on the edge of my seat by a novel about a post office.

Pratchett is excellent at developing characters. As I read the book, I felt as if I got to know the "people". I hope that the author revisits some of the characters in other books. I look forward to reading more of the adventures of Discworld.

Rating: 5 out of 5.