One Day in Budapes by J. F. Penn

One Day In Budapest by Joanna Penn (J.F. Penn)
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

When I saw the title I knew I had to read this story. I'm Hungarian by origin, and you can understand that a title like this catches my eyes. The novella connected on different levels.
It was nice to read a story in English playing out on the streets of Budapest, which I know well. But I wouldn't give more stars only because of it, there was something else. It worked well on emotional level. The story touched a real problem: rise of the right-wing nationalism. I never understood why people hate their fellow citizens just because of their origins. I never understood how it escalated to a war involving the whole world. I mean, I can understand the political reasons behind, but I cannot imagine I could be on the killing side. So when I read the scene - spoiler warning - about the murder at the Danube mimicking the executions of Jewish people at the end of WW II, my heart was racing.
The secret altar in the tunnels below the Castle is a compelling element, also the historical importance of the Holy Right.
Besides the emotional aspects I like the story because it is fast paced. I like the character of Morgan Sierra. She is the key to stop the madness of the misguided mob, but I appreciate that the author let the Hungarian guy have an important role stopping the bad guys.
One Day in Budapest is a nice read.


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Rip-Off!

Rip-Off! by John Scalzi
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The idea of "ripping off" famous stories by taking their first sentences seemed interesting, so I bought Rip-Off! I finished the book with mixed feelings. There are some great stories in it. Scalzi hits the high bar as he usually does, I liked The Muse of Fire the most. I had some good time with The Red Menace (by Lavie Tidhar) and The Big Whale (by Allen M. Steele). There were OK stories with nice twist at the end, like Writers' Block (by Nancy Kress), and there were OK stories, which were pleasant to listen to without having big endings, like The Lady Astronaut of Mars (by Mary Robinette Kowal). Then other stories were waste of time, I gave up on some of them after five minutes, for example Karin Coxswain or Death as She Is Truly Lived (by Paul Di Filippo).
So, do I suggest this book? Yes, if you have fair tolerance towards books with good stories mixed with ones going nowhere.

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House of Suns

"Uncle. Uncle!"

I look up. I realize Jenny is calling me for some time. She's standing in front of me, frowning, hands on her hips. She wears jeans and a red T-shirt "Brain rulez" written across her tits. It completely ruins her attempt to look serious. 

"Yes?" I grin at her.

"I hate to repeat myself" she says.

"Sorry Dear, I was reading."

She sighs. She knows well how deeply I can immerse in a book. I call it deep concentration, she calls it "men cannot focus on more than one thing". Women can multitask, but the male brain just doesn't work like that. When I'm reading, the outside world cease to exist. I submerge into the imaginary world of the story, I breath with it, I live in it.

Jenny crosses her arms. "And where were you this time?"

Where were I? Millions of miles and millions of years away, in another galaxy. I'm reading the House of Suns by Alistair Reynolds. It takes me far away from the everyday troubles, and makes my daily problems ridiculously subtle. This is why I love to read Reynolds. But how could I explain it to my niece? She would roll her eyes and call me a hopeless dreamer. 

I try to do it, anyway. I talk her about Campion and Purslane, the two shatterlings who travel across the universe through hundreds of thousands of years, in deep sleep, waking to fly into adventures. They witness the rise and fall of human empires. It puts the mind on test just to imagine the scale of the distance and time they travel. I know Jenny is a practical gal, so I tell her about the trouble the protagonists get into, the danger they face and the adventure they are part of. When I mention that their enemies almost kill them, trying to eliminate their whole genetic line, and I talk about the spaceship chase and the monumental ending, her eyes sparkle with interest.

"Must be hell of a story" she says.

"It is, indeed" I say. I don't mention the things I don't like in the book: it is too long in some places, and all the characters talk exactly in the same punctual, high class way. These doesn't seem important to mention to Jenny.

"Well, since you are listening to me now, could you please give me a hand to bring in the groceries from my car?" she asks.

I supress a sigh, and put my book down. I resist to have a longing look at it, instead I put my arm around Jenny's shoulder, and I ask her while we're walking toward the door:

"What was your day like?"

She smiles at me, and I feel like being the kind uncle she can count on. The House of Suns will patiently wait for my return.

The Gray Man by Mark Greaney

FYI: Usually I don't repeat what you can read on the back cover, instead I add my two cents.

The Gray Man. The ultimate living weapon. When someone is closing on him he disappears. Nobody can find him if he doesn't want to be found. If he is after you, you are a dead man.

The Gray Man is a fast paced novel with lot of action. Several groups of professional killers want to hunt down the Gray Man, they chase him through Europe, always on his heels. He has to use all his experience and talent to be able to get rid of them. I wasn't bored for a second, it's a real page-turner.

I was thinking about the main character. I was wondering how the human mind works. The Gray Man is a ruthless, cold-blooded killer, he is trained to take lives with such ease as I cut the veggies for dinner. In spite of it we root for him, and our adrenalin level rises high when he is in danger. How can we like a murderer like him? He says he is after the bad guys, who deserve to be dealt with. But still he is a killer.

Before the final battle I thought the story was going to be just like the Expendables. You know, when the hero shoots a whole army without receiving even a scratch. This scenario has its charm, but it would have messed up this novel. Fortunately Greany didn't fell into this trap. The Gray Man was injured, and he was barely making it. The bad guys started to shoot at each other in a competition to get to him first. The whole situation was well constructed.

There was one thing I found too much: the bragging about how professional the Grey Man was. It was OK that his enemies showed respect because of his reputation, but it wasn't necessary to talk about him as a superman. His actions showed that he knew what he was doing.

The new Star Trek movie delivers

Photo: collider.com

On Saturday with my sons I went to see the new Star Trek movie. This is a film you want to see on big screen. We were packed with popcorn, chips and M&M's and with a Coca Cola "Share a Coke with Alice" written on it. (We haven't met any Alice, so drunk all the coke.)

The new Star Trek is a typical Hollywood film. I don't mean it as criticism. It's full wit action and exciting scenes and spectacular space ships. But since I have seen so many of this kind, I could guess many of the twists. Though they were some which got me surprised. Let me explain.

The film is fast paced, there is hardly a minute without action, conflict or foreshadowing. It starts with an old formula: the crew is in a middle of trouble, which establishes the platform to show that they are tough and capable guys, even if sometimes they make stupid decisions. (I try not to spoil the story, but no promises.) Of course they hardly get out of it. Now our adrenalin level is set, we are prepared for the further complications.

Because there are complications on several levels. First there is a bad guy on the loose, who blasts or kills everyone who wants to stop him. By the way, I liked the part before he persuades an officer to blow up an operation base concealed as a library. The officer's family life is ruined by the illness of his daughter. There is hardly any dialogue, but the emotions come through nicely. Khan offers him to save his daughter. This is the only thing being said, but we know that the officer has to pay the price.

The characters are well done, if you ask me. I especially liked the development of Spock, he IS the second protagonist next to Kirk. Actually he is the one - with some help, though - who defeats Khan. I think it made the story better that he busted Khan than if Kirk would have done it. The figure of Khan is a compelling connection to the first series. I haven't seen all episodes, but I seem to remember one, when Khan was waken up from a cyrogenic sleep. Then he went berserk. At the end of this movie he is put into cyrogenic sleep. (Oops, sorry, I forgot about not giving spoilers.) Another connection to the series that now the young Spock asks advice from the old himself how to defeat Khan. Nice touch. At the beginning of the movie Khan was the dark, bad guy, but later when he revealed his motivation I completely understood his reasons. He was betrayed and at the end general Marcus who used Khan for his own purposes was bigger, badder guy than Khan. An interesting take on villains. By the way, it was really predictable that Khan was going to betray Kirk - one of those elements I guessed right beforehand. The other thing which was predictable - now, spoilers again - was the revival of Kirk. Not only the fact that he cannot stay dead, because then how could he save the world later, but the I knew how it could be done before he actually died. One character I couldn't place was the general's daughter, I couldn't figure out her importance.

There was lasergun shooting, of course, and space battle too, it wouldn't be Star Trek without them. Supported by the modern computer technology it was really enjoyable. And there was it: a bigger and more powerful spaceship than the Enterprise, coming after our heroes with full warp thrust. As you can guess it was defeated by the Enterprise crew's bravery. And some nasty tricks, but this is what the bad guy gets when he messes up with the heroes.

There were some errors I spotted, for example the little furry thing the doc experimented with. The Enterprise was free falling and bouncing and turning around itself, but the little fella stayed right on the table. But in the heat of the final battle, I quickly got over it.

The Star Trek into Darkness delivers in several levels. It's full with action, so you never get bored. It's full with emotions, which drives the story. And it's a spaceship movie, man. Go and watch it.

Just bought: Prophecy by J. F. Penn

I just bought this book on the right. It's amazing how easy it is these days to buy a book on-line.
I have read the first book in the Arkane series, and I'm curious what the second one is like. According to the reviews it's even better.
I follow Joanna's podcast, and I hope that her book will be a success. She deserves it. By the way, have a look at her blog if you don't know her yet.

Writing prompt

In case you need the first kick to write:



Finish the story. Now go write!