If You Like It, Then You Should Have Put a Micro Reviews On It

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IN THIS EDITION: (click on the link to jump to the micro review)

Books

non-fiction:
50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God (** – found interesting)
Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge (***** – loved)

YA/MG fiction:
The Thirteenth Child (**** – liked)
The Hound of Rowan: Book One of the Tapestry (**** – liked)
The Seven Towers (*** – enjoyed)
H. I. V. E.: Higher-Institute-of-Villainous-Education (**** – liked)

adult fiction:
Perelandra (**** – liked)
Black: the Birth of Evil (** – found interesting)

50 Reasons People Give for Believing in a God by Guy P. Harrison (non-fiction book, 2008) – I had high expectations for this book, described on the jacket as a respectful conversation between believers and an atheist who was well traveled enough to have knowledge of other cultures. And, as promised, the tone is light-years ahead of, say, Dawkins or Harris in terms of actually maybe getting people who disagree with you to listen; I particularly liked that the author insists you can be a believer without being stupid or ignorant. However, I couldn’t help but notice that if one chooses, as this author does, to address the justifications of the person-on-the-street rather than those of experts in the field, one can make equally compelling arguments against science or materialism.

Against Method: Outline of an Anarchistic Theory of Knowledge by Paul Feyerabend (non-fiction book, 1975 – this edition 1993) – I know, I know I should’ve read this a long time ago, like in first year or whatever. But I liked it a lot, both the delivery and the ideas. Maybe after reading so much over-simplified stuff about religion and science aimed at those without historical, philosophical, and/or scientific backgrounds, it was refreshing to dive into a more knowledgeable argument…

The Thirteenth Child by Patricia C. Wrede (MG fantasy novel, 2009) – Among the types of stories for which I am a sucker, you can now add “the ones where the main character is told by everyone else that they suck and believes it, but they finally realize they have a valuable talent too”. Eff is born a supposedly cursed thirteenth child, while her twin brother Lan (who is well written in that he’s supportive without being a saint) is the super-awesome seventh son of a seventh son. The whole story is set in a fascinating alternate-1800s America, and although I’d be disappointed if this were a standalone, I’m excited to pick up the sequel.

The Hound of Rowan: Book One of the Tapestry by Henry Neff (MG fantasy novel, 2007) – The success of the Harry Potter series spawned a bunch of recent MG novels about special kids going to magic schools. I have read a lot of them, and this is by far the best one I’ve encountered. I liked how the imaginative fantasy plot interwove with the protagonist’s real-world concerns (how can he run off to school and leave behind his lonely single father?) and how the author built up vivid, diverse characters in an epic good vs. evil framework.

The Seven Towers by Patricia C. Wrede (MG fantasy novel, 1984) – As a fan of Ms. Wrede’s later works, I found this story a bit rougher than I was expecting. However, despite a large cast of viewpoint characters, this tale of magical and political intrigue set in a bunch of kingdoms with names like Sevarin and Barinash is fun to read and comes together nicely in the end. Depending on whether you enjoy verbal tics, you will either love or hate some of the characters it contains; personally, by the end, I was ready to punch two of the main female characters in the face, even though they were otherwise pretty cool ladies.

H. I. V. E.: Higher-Institute-of-Villainous-Education by Mark Walden (YA adventure novel, 2007) – This series-opener about Otto, a clever young man who’s been kidnapped and brought to a school for villains, is funny and quick but in some ways shows all the signs of being just that: a series-opener. The book is full of hilarious parody characters using exciting made-up technologies, and we root for our heroes as they try to escape the school. However, the mysteries they uncover have that will-surely-be-expanded-upon-in-further-volumes feel, and I was slightly disappointed that a book about deciding whether one wants to be a villain sidesteps the real issue of, you know, being a villain entails hurting other people sometimes.

Perelandra by C. S. Lewis (science-fiction novel, 1943) – The more I read of C. S. Lewis, the more I admire his skill. When I lay out the bare bones of the plot — our Christian hero Ransom goes to Venus to try to prevent the forces of evil from corrupting their version of Adam and Eve — it sounds stupid, protracted, and boring. But in Lewis’s hands, it’s still eminently readable, even by someone like me who strongly disagrees with its ideology.

Black: the Birth of Evil by Ted Dekker (novel, 2005) – Supposedly, you can read this sequence of novels starting from either the first published book or the last one since they’re a narrative circle, but I chose the first one. Yeah, maybe I shouldn’t have read this right after Perelandra (above), because in comparison to that of Lewis, Dekker’s Christian fantasy feels rough, stilted, and superficial. Our hero, Thomas Hunter, finds himself shifting between our own reality, in which  terrorists are about to release a genetically engineered virus, and a seemingly pre-Fall future, in which… um, Satan is a bat? I think? but it all happens at such breakneck speed that it was difficult for me to find events either plausible or emotionally engaging.