Harry Potter Redux

In looking at this cover, please note the words "Original Rehearsal Script". For those of you dying to read another 600-page Harry Potter novel, this is not it.

Instead, this is the script for a stage play. You can finish it in an hour or two, faster if you're an Evelyn Woods graduate!

This is not the door-stopper I hoped for, but I'm still glad I read it. Rowling revisits her themes of family and friendship, and Harry's tragic past, but with new characters. I was glad that she FINALLY made some sympathetic, non-bullying Slytherin characters. (Yeah, Snape was a bully. Even if his death was heroic, he was still a jerk most of the time.)

I don't want to give away the story here, but it follows Harry's son Albus Severus (poor kid!) and Draco Malfoy's son Scorpius (um, a name a former Death Eater probably should have avoided giving his kid) from the postscript of the seventh book to their own difficult Hogwarts careers. We see all of the familiar characters and places (though as one reviewer rightly pointed out, Ron has been relegated to comedic relief, and that's a disservice to his character), sped up decades into the future.

I got misty, I laughed, and I am still desperately hopeful that Rowling with revisit the wizarding world she invented, even if she never writes Harry's name ever again. There are so many stories she could tell, and I'm the kind of girl who loves me an extended universe.

I am also dying to see the play, just to see how they manage the special effects.

The Cuckoo's Calling

The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When a supermodel dies of an apparent suicide, one-legged Afghan veteran Cormoran Strike is hired to uncover the truth.

The death of Lula Landry was tabloid fodder for months, but Strike soon discovers that her life was as complicated as her death. Her adopted brother, John Bristow, is determined to know the truth about his sister's seeming suicide.

Landry is the necessary victim void at the plot's center, and Rowling does a good job of making her seem appealing and her death regrettable. I found the solution to the mystery a letdown (and a bit unbelievable), but it's not a book you read for the plot alone. Instead, get into it for interesting characters and the great setting of contemporary London.

Strike's history as the son of a supergroupie and a rock star puts him in an interesting position as he interviews London's glitterati - he is not exactly the in crowd, but neither is he a complete outsider, and each character's reactions to his life story is a kind of litmus test. His relationship with the treacherous Charlotte will surely produce interesting surprises in the future, and I can hardly wait for the next installment.

I also liked the incredibly awkward meet-cute with his Temporary Solution secretary, Robin Ellacott. Robin finds herself at odds with her new fiance because of her fascination with Strike's work, but cannot help be drawn from the dullness of temp work into Strike's colorful world.

Robert Galbraith was once as anonymous as Richard Bachman, but both both "men" were destined to die the same death: Galbraith was outed as the pseudonym of J.K. Rowling (and Bachman, who "died" in the 1980s, was revealed to be Stephen King). After trying The Cuckoo's Calling, I'm on board to read Rowling's other adult novel, The Casual Vacancy, which came out to mixed reviews.

For an off-the-wall suggestion, I'm going to throw out this one: The Beautiful Fall by Alicia Drake, which gives a real-life glimpse into the tumultuous and self-obsessed world of fashion design, following the rivalry of Yves Saint Laurent and Karl Lagerfeld in 1970s Paris. Some of the interview scenes with Lula Landry's friends reminded me of the outrageous behavior Drake depicts.

Quotable:

"He knew more about the death of Lula Landry than he had ever meant or wanted to know; the same would be true of virtually any sentient being in Britain. Bombarded with the story, you grew interested against your will, and before you knew it, you were so well informed, so opinionated about the facts of the case, you would have been unfit to sit on a jury." - 25

"It was difficult for him to decide whether she was sincere, or performing her own character; her beauty got in the way, like a thick cobweb through which it was difficult to see her clearly." - 319

Ender's Game

Ender's Game by Orson Scott Card
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A brilliant young boy is molded into a military leader to save humanity from an alien threat in this classic work of science fiction.

I was inspired to reread this novel by the release of the long-awaited movie version. The gorgeous visuals fail to convey the emotional complexity of Ender's Wiggin's journey from six-year-old boy to pre-pubescent general, so I was glad I went back to the original to refresh my memory.

It's a classic Chosen One story, much like Harry Potter or Dune, where a special child is the only one who can save his people from total annihilation. Ender is special, so special that he was actually requisitioned by the government in the hopes that he would balance out the traits of his sociopathic brother, Peter, and his compassionate sister, Valentine.

Humanity is united by two previous invasions by an alien species known as the Formics (or colloquially as the buggers). Having barely won the past two encounters, Earth's government sets up a special Battle School designed to train young children to be tactical geniuses.

Battle School is full of games to challenge Ender. The most important of these games takes place in the battleroom (like zero-g laser tag), where children fight each other in armies. The students at the school are brilliant, aggressive, and frightening: Ender is the best of them all. He's manipulated into a precision weapon, proving himself lethally competent to face whatever the adults throw his way. Ender is aware of the manipulations and hates them, but he chooses to fight, recognizing the greater threat.

There are intriguing characters (mostly children), tense and clever battle sequences, a bizarrely unsettling mind game, and an overarching mystery about the true nature of the enemy. It's Lord of the Flies in space, and the perfect intro novel for those who have never read science fiction and want to try it. Its exploration of free will, warfare, and the helplessness of childhood is part of the best tradition of classic science fiction.

Ender's Game stands alone but is the first in a series, and the sequel Speaker for the Dead follows an adult Ender into self-imposed exile. There is also the great parallel series, beginning with Ender's Shadow, that tracks the Battle School life of Ender's second-in-command, Bean. Bean is a unique character, and his story may echo Ender's but ends with very different results.

If you want another sweeping novel about fascinating alien species and child protagonists, definitely try Vernor Vinge's A Fire Upon the Deep.

Quotable:

"Survival first, then happiness as we can manage it."

"Any decent person who knows what warfare is can never go into battle with a whole heart."

"Welcome to the human race. Nobody controls his own life, Ender. The best you can do is choose to fill the roles given to you by good people, by people who love you."