The Gunslinger

The Gunslinger by Stephen King

Book 1 of the Dark Tower

5/5

I deeply enjoyed this book. It was very beautiful and surreal and confusing, but in a good way. King’s style of writing is entrancing. He introduces mysteries on almost every page. The protagonist is complex and interesting, and I enjoyed reading about the side characters as well. At first glance, the plot is simple: a man is walking through a desert in search of another man. However, King brings nuance to this basic premise, and the setting is immersive and believable.

The Fountainhead

The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand

2/5

As a novel, The Fountainhead fails. The protagonist, Howard Roark, is portrayed as perfect in all regards. He is an architect who is infinitely talented, who in every action represents integrity and staying true to one’s self. He faces obstacles created by others, who don’t recognize his genius, but he maintains his ideals uncompromisingly. Rand makes it very clear that he is a hero. Because of his initial perfection, he doesn’t undergo any character development. Other “enlightened” characters can recognize his genius just by looking at him. Thus, he is the most uninteresting character in the novel. He behaves for the most part utterly predictably. The exception is when in one scene he rapes a woman; disturbingly, this is not supposed to represent a character flaw but rather his strength and masculinity, because the woman wanted it despite not giving consent. The other characters are still fairly two-dimensional, but not to the same extent as Roark.

As a philosophical treatise, The Fountainhead fares slightly better than as a novel. It does provide a clear exposition of Objectivism (mainly because her characters give long monologues about it in the middle of conversations). Some of the basic principles are interesting and important: many of her discussions on maintaining integrity, creativity, and individual pride seem reasonable. Most of the book talks about the battle between individualism and collectivism. Rand would make a convincing case for the former if she didn’t take her arguments to such ridiculous, uncompromising extremes. It is certainly possible to write a novel that demonstrates a philosophy (cf. Camus), but Rand doesn’t quite pull it off. The Fountainhead is worth reading to understand Ayn Rand, and I definitely took some positive messages from her philosophy, but ultimately I had to overall dislike this book.

Accelerando

Accelerando by Charles Stross

4/5

This book was an exploration of many interesting ideas: nanotech, A.I., the Singularity, etc. Stross took each to the logical extreme creatively and thought-provokingly. At first, the style of the book seems full of technobabble, but I got used to it quickly; it suits the chaotic, futuristic tone of the novel, and having finished it I can’t imagine it being written in any other way. The book starts with Manfred Macx, a man pushing the world towards technological and social advancement to a post-scarcity economy. He fights for the legal rights of A.I., including uploaded lobsters, and immerses himself in an interconnected transhumanist world. This was my favorite part of the book: Stross throws ideas at the reader at a manic phase, and the result is absurdly entertaining. The story continues with Manfred’s descendants in an increasingly post-human and strange universe filled with beings who have transcended humanity. The concepts are amazing, but unfortunately the highlights all occur in the first portion of the book. By the end Stross has gone overboard, and the ending was a little disappointing. Still, overall this novel was excellent: it reminded me why I love science fiction, and I was fully immersed in the world Stross created.

Uprooted

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

3/5

This is an enjoyable fantasy novel, but on the other hand it is not really or profound. The setting is very interesting, and by far the best part of the book: all of the main locations surround the Wood, an evil forest full of fairy-tale-like creatures and monsters, where if people enter they return insane. A wizard called the Dragon protects nearby villages from the Wood, in exchange for taking a girl as a servant every decade. We get thxe story from the point of view of one of these girls, Agnieszka. She is perfectly likeable, but not very interesting; I wish more of the story had taken place from the point of view of the Dragon. Agnieszka and the Dragon have to work together to save the world from a mysterious threat stemming from the Wood. The plot is fairly average, and the magic system used to combat the evil is a little bit too arbitrary and whimsical. Overall, this is a fun, mindless read with an interesting setting.

Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter

Aunt Julia and the Scriptwriter by Mario Vargas Llosa

3/5

This book centers around the comedic adventures of Marito, a Peruvian who works at a radio station. There are two main halves to the novel, which alternates between them chapter by chapter. One is the story of Pedro Camacho, a writer driven insane by his devotion to his wildly popular radio serials. The other is Marito’s romance with his much older aunt Julia (not related to him by blood). Both stories are amusing and make for interesting character studies. The main flaw with this novel is that there isn’t too much emotional depth—I never really believed in the romance between Marito and Julia or cared too much about the characters. Additionally, the ending is abrupt and unsatisfying.