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This book felt episodic, each chapter a new adventure in the life of Wanbli. Towards the end, he starts to reflect on his adventures and realizes he has learned from them, and we start to see the connecting threads. These threads wrap the story into a nice bow in the final pages.



Back to the beginning, though. Our hero, pictured on the uncredited cover, looks very much like Val Kilmer circa late 1980s. In the first few chapters, it feels as though his early movie roles are the inspiration for the character as well – Wanbli is cocky, charismatic and self-assured. Later in the story, women fall under his spell. Also like Willow's Madmartigan, he is a reluctant hero.

The setting of the novel is this: humanity has spread out from the earth at varying rates and in mostly cultural groups. Our hero's group was one that spoke Hindi (first revealed as 'Indi, which I thought of as a generic future language for most of the tale). There are other intelligent races out there, and between humanity (breeds like rabbits) and them, accessible space is somewhat at a premium.

Accessibility is through some sort of "string", the equivalent of a wormhole or faster-than-light travel lane. This plays a key point in the plot, and in fact the subtitle of the book (from the title page and not the cover) is "Lessons along a minor string".

Wanbli is a warrior who has succeeded in his "third eagle", very advanced training. Each comes with a tattoo of eagle feathers, and this training does factor into the story. Early in the first chapter, he fights two other warriors to defend his employer, sending them packing. This and other fights are well described and interesting – our hero is a flexible guy.

Each episode introduces other characters, and Wanbli makes connections easily. These subcharacters are mostly static, but like the lessons of the subtitle, our hero learns from these encounters more about himself and his universe. The last of these episodes is the one that ties the story back together, and brings about the major final confrontation.

The Third Eagle wasn't nominated for any awards, but it is listed on author and reviewer Ian Sales "Mistressworks" site, an answer to the Science Fiction and Fantasy Masterworks series. From what I have read elsewhere, this was MacAvoy's only published science fiction novel. I am looking forward to trying out a fantasy novel from this author soon.

David Lindsay, from the Scottish borders, inspired C.S. Lewis and Phillip Pullman and many others. Where I really enjoyed C.S. Lewis's Planet trilogy, I found this a lot harder to relate to.

Published in 1920!, this book was named a Masterwor of Fantasy. It is similar to Gulliver's Travels, and like that story, I suspect an annotated version would help to pick up the philosophies and politics behind this one. Instead of meeting curious peoples and deciding how to help them, Maskull meets individuals and usually has a detrimental effect on them.

The story was hard to read, with the point of view occasionally leaving Maskull. This happens at the end also, adding to the confusion of the conclusion. Women are discussed as weak, even though examples of the feminine within the story are usually quite strong. My trade paperback was not cursed with the typos and mispunctuation that other reviewers have complained of, so that's a blessing.

I have read that this book is thought provoking and gains something on a second reading. I just don't plan to undertake that anytime soon.

This tale is set just after World War II, a time when Nazis and spies, Commies and moonshiners and more are available bogeymen. It is told entirely from the point of view of a Boeing employee whose best friend comes home from Germany with a great story and a secret rocket that he acquired somehow.

Each chapter after that adds more layers onto the plot, as more and more people find out about the rocket and try to take it for themselves. It turns out the rocket has a point of view also, and it talks to the main character in a voice only he can hear. These situations give the novel a very pulp feel and also add a bit of humor.

When I read of Jay Lake's passing earlier this year, I noted he was a fairly prolific writer, and sought out this book to sample his work. The writing here is excellent, evoking the feel of the late forties and also providing excellent descriptions of the cars, trucks and planes that show up in the story.

This is not a long book, and is well worth seeking out. I understand that Audible has recently released a recording of this, and I may read that version soon, just for fun.

Starts off as a thriller, the assassin striking in the middle of the night. Hints are given that killing off this particular family is not a random act, so we get the idea that the child who survives is somehow special.

While this sounds like the start of the Harry Potter mythos, it is instead from a young adult novel published some 10 years later. The Graveyard Book is an excellent work, combining history and mythology, ghosts and prophecy into a growing up and coming of age story. Each of the characters here seems to have a solid backstory, though only a few are explored in the course of this novel.

Each chapter sees the main character grow a few years older, and each is almost a story unto itself. Each of Bod's trials help him to learn and grow, leading to a long final chapter and confrontation.

I won't spoil the story any further, and suggest you go find this relatively quick read today. Recommended!

This is a huge fairy tale, covering generations of characters and places. At one point Auberon asks "How do you keep all these people straight?" and I sympathize with him.

While the characters are fully fleshed and interesting, and the journeys are magical, there is a distinct lack of conflict. The main antagonist shows up quite late in the tale, and barely affects most of the characters. Women in this story are more attuned to the magic, with the men more or less plodding along. In this respect, it seems the male antagonist is also doomed from the start.

John Crowley has said "I wanted to write novels with the breadth and depth of the greatest realistic fiction," and this book does have some anchors in the real world. The "Big City" is not named, but late in the book the nearby rivers are, leaving it to be New York. The realism is further strained with the dystopia that our future has become.

In conclusion, I was not thrilled with this book. I liked a few aspects of it, but most felt too large for me. Someday I may reread it, and someday I may run across someone who finds it wonderful to compare notes. Until then, 2 stars is the most I can muster.