Three Books, No Waiting

I still haven't finished Hyperion, and I have two very good reasons:

1) It's a little bit of a horse tranquilizer at times. I love me some Dan Simmons, but this is by far my least favorite of his novels. I'll say more about it in the full review, but suffice it to say that I keep forgetting that I'm even reading it. Not a good sign.

2) I'm also reading two other books. It's a bad habit, I know. When I'm reading a book that doesn't do a lot for me, I'll often pick up another one. In this case, I started two, just to be safe.

One of the books is the hit YA novel The Book Thief, which I'm really impressed by so far. It's very strange and eccentric and lyrical. I have a bad feeling that the ending will be Downerville, though. A book about Nazi Germany narrated by Death himself doesn't promise to have an upbeat ending.

The other one I'm reading is Meg Gardiner's second Evan Delaney thriller, Mission Canyon. I haven't picked up a Gardiner novel in over a year (that's what comes of having a library the size of the Empire State Building), and I'd forgotten how good she is. Canyon promises to be even better than China Lake.

So that's how things stand. I should probably finish all three books within a few days of each other. More thoughts and impressions coming soon!

Game of Thrones 1.1 "Winter is Coming"

I watched the first episode of the Game of Thrones series a few days ago. Since it promised to combine two things I love (A Song of Ice and Fire and TV), my expectations were high. I wasn't disappointed. Game of Thrones pretty much nailed the feel of the books and made the first few chapters of the first novel work as an episode of television. The settings and special effects are absolutely terrific, and the casting is excellent overall (with a few exceptions, see below). I'm not wild about explicit sex and violence, but it is true to the source material, and the episode didn't go too overboard with it.

Here are a few of the things that stood out to me:

~ The Wall looks amazing. In fact, the whole opening scene was just about perfect: scary, beautifully shot and true to the spirit of the prologue.

~ The credit scene is incredible. An absolutely brilliant way to show the geography of Westeros and gorgeously animated to boot.

~ I was very impressed by how much of the dialogue was verbatim from the book. Robert and Ned's conversation in the tomb, the execution of the Night's Watch deserter, Viserys bullying Dany, all were pretty much exactly like the book.

~ The direwolves could be wolfier, but I'm sure that it would be pretty much impossible to portray them exactly like the book.

~ I was surprised by some of the architecture, particularly at Winterfell. It seemed rounder and more stylized than I had imagined it. Speaking of Winterfell, there were a couple of really bad bluescreen moments when Bran was climbing the wall. Probably the only bad special effect in the whole hour.

~ Magister Illyrio's beard is yellow and forked, people!

~ For better or for worse, the creators have the Dothraki down perfectly. Public sex acts and vicious disemboweling--that's the barbarian tribe we all know and love.

~ Rickon showed up for about three seconds overall. Likewise, Arya, Tyrion and The Hound got very little screen time. Hodor had a tiny cameo for someone so big.

~ All of the kids are definitely older than in the book series. Jon and Robb are both young men in their late teens/early twenties (and rather buff, too), Dany is sixteen, Bran is ten, and I think Arya is twelve. Sansa is probably fifteen and tall for her age, whereas Sansa in the book is implied to be petite.

~ The weirwood grove outside Winterfell looked scarily similar to how I imagined it.

And now the cast:

Sean Bean as Ned Stark: Having fantasy icon Sean Bean play Ned is totally perfect. Bean is absolutely ideal for the role, both physically and performance-wise. He brings a nice sense of world-weariness and aged heroism to the part. A

Michelle Fairley as Catelyn Stark: Fairley has kind of a unique look to her, and doesn't much resemble my mental image of Catelyn, but she'll do a solid job with the role, as least based on this episode. I hope the show keeps Catelyn's quiet badassery intact, though. She seemed a tad subdued here. B+

Richard Madden as Robb Stark: Eh. Madden seems a little too old and experienced for Robb, and he looks too Stark-ish (Robb is supposed to look like a Tully). We didn't see much of him, so I'm reserving judgement. B-

Sophie Turner as Sansa Stark: As I mentioned before, Turner doesn't match the description of Sansa in the novels, but I think she hit the right balance of endearingly naive and slightly irritating. B

Maisie Williams as Arya Stark: Arya is one of my favorite characters of all time, and I was really concerned about how she would be portrayed on the show. Thankfully, I think Williams is the right pick. She didn't show up too much in this episode, but she definitely made the right impression. I think she could end up being awesome in the part. A-

Isaac Hempstead-Wright as Bran Stark: Wasn't wild about this casting. Hempstead-Wright is clearly a fine actor, but he's too waif-like and subdued for Bran. Bran is supposed to be active and robust, which makes his accident that much more tragic. C

Kit Harington as Jon Snow: Jon is another character that I really wanted them to get right, and I'm not sure Harington was the right pick. He's a solid actor, but like Richard Madden, he seems too old for the role and his features are a little delicate. I'll reserve judgement. B-

Alfie Allen as Theon Greyjoy: My least favorite casting of the show so far. Allen is so wrong for this part. Physically, he doesn't look a thing like Theon as described in the books, and his attitude is whiny and effeminate, rather the testosterone-fueled asshat that Theon was in the first novel. Ugh. D

Mark Addy as Robert Baratheon: Despite not really having Robert's physical presence (he's only 5'10), I thought Mark Addy was a good fit for Robert. Bombastic, crude, ineffectual, kind, a little tragic. All the right beats in only a few scenes. A-

Lena Headey as Cersei Lannister: Headey is the only actor in the cast (other than Bean) who I immediately identify with another role. Every time I look at her I think Sarah Connor, which is my problem, not the show's. Anyway, Cersei hasn't really had a chance to go full psycho yet, so the only part of her that Headey has to play is her controlled public face. We'll see what she does with Cersei when things really start to get interesting. B

Peter Dinklage as Tyrion Lannister: Now, Tyrion is my favorite character in the entire series, and I've heard so many good things about Dinklage's performance that I was expecting sheer awesomeness. Instead, my reaction was kind of shruggy. Tyrion doesn't get many scenes, and I think Dinklage did an okay job, but I have yet to see anything incredible. With a character like Tyrion, you have to be stupendous. B

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau as Jaime Lannister: Quite possibly my favorite casting of the series so far. There are so many layers to Jaime, and I feel like Coster-Waldau is more than equal to the task of playing such a complicated character. The scene where he throws Bran off the tower was perfectly played. And the actor is not hard on the eyes either. A

Jack Gleeson as Joffrey Baratheon: Wow, where did they find this kid? Just looking at him makes me want to find a ranged weapon. A-

Rory McCann as Sandor Clegane: Clegane only got a tiny bit of time on screen, but so far I'm not thrilled. His burns are supposed to be hideously disfiguring, but instead it looks like he got a bad haircut and is in need of some Aveeno. I'll have to wait to see if McCann can get the character down. C+

Emilia Clarke as Daenerys Targaryen: Clarke may not have had to do a ton in this episode, but she was basically perfect at looking like a scared and helpless victim. A very effective performance, and she looks exactly like I imagined. A-

Harry Lloyd as Viserys Targaryen: Was Viserys this insane in the book? I guess he was, but I imagined him colder and less shrill. Still, Lloyd has really committed to the character, and he does a fine job. B

Iain Glen as Jorah Mormont: I have a weird soft spot for Jorah, and I was looking forward to his TV incarnation. From the brief scene he was in, Glen should be good in the role. He's quite the right look, too. B+

Jason Momoa as Khal Drogo: It's not like playing Drogo is an especially complicated job, but Momoa still impressed me, both with his physical presence (wow) and his ability to communicate with just a few words. A-

Whew. I'm glad I won't have to write about the whole cast every episode. There are so many freaking characters in the series.

Overall, I'd give the first episode a solid B+. It certainly met my expectations and was suitably well-made. I'll be interested to see how good it gets.

I Have Cheated on Dan Simmons

I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do it, honestly. It's just that it was so glossy and it wasn't set in a science-fiction universe, and I knew that it was going to draw me in quickly. I figured one page wouldn't hurt. Just one page turned into ten, and so on.

I've cheated on Hyperion. And, aptly enough, with a book called The Affair. Lee Child's newest Jack Reacher thriller. And it was good, too. I read it in about three days, casting guilty glances at Hyperion, which lay untouched on the coffee table. Hyperion just isn't doing much for me. It's clever, and I enjoy the intricacy of Simmons's world-building, but there isn't much to hang your hat on. The characters are flat as heck, and there's no central mystery that's very compelling. Sure, I'm mildly curious about the Shrike and the Time Tombs or whatever, but there aren't any stakes since I don't care about any of the characters. Who all seem rather lethargically resigned to their fates, by the way, which doesn't do much to make them seem sympathetic.

The Affair, however, came out of the gate like a missile and, in classic Lee Child tradition, never slowed down. I happily gobbled it down in several long reading sessions. Like The Enemy, it's a prequel to most of the series, dealing with Reacher's last case as an MP. Like all of Child's books, it was a ton of fun, although not in the series' top tier. The plot held up okay (and there was one piece of really good misdirection towards the end), but it was kind of a garden-variety Reacher plot, and there was no massive explosion of insane action at the climax. The Obligatory Love Interest subplot was better than usual, though, and the origin story moments (like Reacher buying his first folding toothbrush) were PURE MOLTEN GOLD. Not total bottled-lightning amazingness like The Hard Way or Persuader, but definitely my favorite of the two prequel novels.

And now I must return to my poor forsaken Hyperion, which I hope gets more interesting fast.