The Graveyard Book, Neil Gaiman

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman is a book by an author I enjoy.  It has received more awards and honors then you can shake a stick at (see the labels).  This is a children's novel, but has moderate appeal to adults as well.

Started: 7/30/2011
Completed:  8/10/2011
Recommendation:  Very Good Read
Recommended By:  A neighbor who is a huge Gaiman fan
Review:  This is a good, quick read.  Gaiman, as ever, introduces a series of interesting characters and develops them nicely.  His obsession with death is well explored in this book about a boy growing up in a grave yard tended by ghosts.  The literary device allows him to explore many centuries of life in England and also allows him to explore quirky characters without feeling like he has gone out on a limb.  A good read for any young adult, but it does require a certain willingness to wade through the first few pages of PG rated murder.  As with virtually all children's books these days, the parents are killed in the opening scene.

The Sardonyx Net, Elizabeth A. Lynn

The Sardonyx Net by Elizabeth A. Lynn is a book about science fiction slavery.

Started:  8/11/2011
Completed:  8/21/2011
Recommendation: Not recommended
Recommended By:  I like John Varley's stuff and had read some of Lynn's stuff, so when Varley had the recommendation on the front cover, well, that seemed like recommendation enough.
Review:  The adventures of a sadist slaver.  Ugh.  This book has little, if any redemptive quality.  I had hoped for some sense of the horrors of slavery (there is plenty of that) and how slavery doesn't work.  Instead, this book is a half-hearted effort to both condemn slavery and to demonstrate that it DOES work.  Yuck.  I'm disappointed that Varley gave this book a recommendation.  The scifi components are marginal at best in my opinion.  This could just have easily have happened in the 18th century with very little change to the plot.