Salem's Lot by Stephen King

439 pages Hardcover

1975

Fiction

I recently recently re-read The Tommyknockers by Stephen King. It was the first book that I had ever read by him. After that I found myself in a used bookstore and they had an old copy of the hardcover of Salem's Lot. So I picked it up. I have read this before sometime as a teenager, but not sure exactly when. 

The story follows the main character, Ben Mears, as he tries to start a new novel in the town of Jerusalem's Lot. As a young man he stayed with his aunt in the small Maine town. He had a horrifying experience in the old Marsten Place and he's come to final rid himself of the old nightmares. He attempts to rent the old Marsten place only to find that it has recently been sold. Two men running an antique store take up residence  there and move into town.

Danny Glick and his brother take a short cut through the woods and after several hours Danny comes tumbling home having lost all knowledge of the previous few hours. His brother is searched for by everyone in town, but never found. Danny gets sick and falls deeper into a weakened state, until he dies.

Mark Petrie is visited late at night by an old friend, Danny Glick. 

The night is soon taken over by nightmares people only dreamed of in the past. Ben, Mark, Matt Burke the local English teacher, the local doctor James Cody, and Father Callahan team up to fight an evil older than they imagine.

Stephan King is fun to read. In this book more than some of his others I find his descriptions to be fantastic. One of the chapters describes the town in a few pages and it could stand as it own ode to small town America. Take this and add in a bit of scary creeping around the town and you get an enjoyable read that is easy to tear through.

3 Intellectual/Emotional - It is easy to get involved with the characters. You feel their fear and hope for their success.

4 Style/Readability - King hasn't sold millions of all of his books because he is a poor writer. I found Salem's Lot to be among his best.

4 Long Term Impact - Stephen King has been a bestseller for over 40 years. It is fair to say his books will be having impact for a long time to come. Salem's Lot is one of his best.

11 out of 13. A great read for anyone looking for a book with a spooky side. 

Keep Turning Pages

Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

I first read Sanderson when he finished Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series. He took a series that had gotten far out of control and bloated and pulled it all together and finished it well. Check out the review of that if you are interested. My wife gave my the trilogy as a Christmas gift and I quickly started into the first book.

In Mistborn we follow a young lady named Vin. She grew up on the streets and is of a lower caste known as Skaa. She gets involved with a thieving group lead by a man named Kelsier. She soon realizes that her power to influence people is something much more than good luck. She is a Mistborn, an allomancer, that can burn metals to gain magic powers. She can push and pull metal objects, influence people's emotions, gain super strength and with the rarest of metals see into the future.

The world that Vin inhabits is devastated. Almost no plants grow and those that do are stunted and weak. Great volcano like mountains almost constantly cover the land in repeated Ashfalls. The nobility live the high life as uncounted Skaa work as their slaves. At the pinnacle of this arrangement lives the immortal leader, the Lord Ruler.

Kelsier plan is to overthrow the empire and if possible kill the Lord Ruler.

I enjoy reading fantasy fiction. After tons of reading in my younger days, I started to get bored with "the hero goes on an adventure" books. I still seek out good fantasy and was pleased to read this book. 

The system of magic is different than anything else with reasoning and explanation for how things work. The lofty goal of a small band of people trying to overthrow an empire is not knew, but how they go about it, the limitations set by the world, and the unexpected results all made this stand out from your typical fantasy fare. The unique magic system combined with Sanderson's ability to describe battle scenes makes this really worthwhile.

3 Intellectual/Emotional - Vin and Kelsier are both very likable characters. I was invested in their success.

3 Style/Readability - Sanderson has a easy going writing style. I felt his combat scenes stuck with me and it was easy to imagine them in my head.

4 Long Term Impact - Sanderson has been gaining popularity. He pleased most of Jordan's readers and I hope that he surpasses him. I hope he sets a trend that inspires like work going forward.

10 out of 13. This is a solid score for a solid book. I really look forward to reading more in the series. I think anyone that likes fantasy or science fiction would find this worthwhile. The series is to be a trilogy of trilogies. That has one set in the past, one set in modern times and one set in the future. We'll see how it goes.

Fury by Salman Rushdie

Fiction

249 Pages Trade Paperback

2001

I have a goal of reading all of Rushdie's works at some point. I have read most of them and now I am starting to dive into some of his lesser known work. Since having read his memoir it adds a bit to the story knowing what Rushdie was going through while writing this book. There seem to be parallels between the main character, Malik and himself.

Malik Solanka has left his wife and child in Europe and relocated to New York. He does this in a way to protect his family as he has a deep anger that he isn't able to control. He has made a living off the creation of a puppet show titled and focused on its main character "Little Brain". He finds himself getting involved in a number of uncomfortable relationships which eventually lead him to confront his issues.

I found this to be the most disappointing Rushdie book I have read. I found Malik to be very unlikable. He comes off as selfish, melodramatic and weak. He relationship with the neighbor lady comes off as creepy and almost incestuous. I realize that the point is that he is dealing with the problems of the past, but if I can't find anything about the character to connect with than it is hard to care about him. 

I also found a lack of the beautiful phrasing and wordplay that I look for in Rushdie's writing. It isn't to say it was bad, it just lacked what I find most appealing about his work. 

2 Intellectual/Emotional -There is little intellectual interest and the only emotional connections I made was for his wife and child who were sideline to the main story.

3 Style/Readability -Rushdie does fine, but it doesn't have much of what I hope for from his work. 

2 Long Term Impact - This is still Rushdie and I imagine there is more here that I am giving it credit for, but so far I would suggest reading any of his work over this.

7 out of 13. Rushdie is one of my favorite authors. I love reading his books, but I have to be honest this was a let down. Read Midnight's Children, The Moor's Last Sigh, or the Satanic Verses.