Joshua Sim

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

What I expected from this book:
Girl protagonist, murder mystery, trains.

What I got:
Alcoholism, depression, anxiety disorder, psychopathy, obsessional stalking, one lousy psychotherapist, and a little bit on trains.

This book was painful to read. I liked the climax part, I thought it was well written and executed. That was the only good part about it. Everything else before the climax was bad. Real bad.
The characters are unlikeable. They all are broken people at their core and had no redeeming qualities at all. If the characters didn’t meddle in other people’s affairs, cause so much unnecessary drama, and let the police do their jobs, then the case could be solved. In fact, without all the drama there probably wouldn’t have been a case in the first place.

The characters are probably why it was a pain to read.

There was bad foreshadowing. Usually, the author would put in strong clues and mislead you with red herrings all around. But here, the major piece of the puzzle is only revealed just before the climax. The entire book is one big red herring made up of tiny red herrings sewn together.

The ‘victim’ of the murder had a POV in the book. But what’s the point of her POV if she is just going to keep key information from the reader? Her only job is to give out red herrings.

The book is also, I daresay, unfeminist. Having 3 female POVs doesn’t mean much if all of them are weak in character and men-dependant. Even the lone supporting female character is man-dependant.

The title of the book is misleading. It gives train-related books everywhere a bad name.

Really; don’t read this book. As other reviews have mentioned before:
The real mystery here is why so many people like this book.

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Dragonhearted by Xie Shi Min
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Dragonhearted is the story of a young girl and her adventures, discovering ancient Chinese myths and legends in the modern world. I’ve said it before, and I’ll say it again, this book is the Chinese version of Percy Jackson. That’s the best way to describe it.

The plot is interesting, our young hero Xin has to defeat an ancient evil and starts on her hero’s journey to do so. Better still, retellings of popular (and not so well known) Chinese myths are interwoven into the book. And these myths all have a part to play in the story. It left me excited as to see how everything is connected and how all the stories and plotlines tie up at the end. Best of all, even after the climax is over, Xie slaps you with yet another myth that makes for a great plot twist.

For a children’s book, it is very smart, plot twists and all. It doesn’t try to dumb down the reader. It is also a page turner and will make you want to race through the whole book to absorb all of it. Good thing that this book is short enough to be read in one sitting.

The book does something interesting. Because it is told from the first person view of a young girl, words are purposely misspelled, and thoughts are interjected into the prose, portraying how children think. Definitely, a refreshing way to view things. Although I’m not sure if children will identify with such a literary trick.

I’d recommend this not only to all children aged 10 and above, but to every Chinese person. It doesn’t matter where in the world you live, our traditions and myths are the same. With English literature full of western themes, to find a book that blends Chinese themes together (without blindly copying) is very refreshing indeed.

I do have to say, however, if you weren’t already familiar with Chinese culture and myths, you may need to take this book slower or look up some of these myths online. It was easy for readers like me who have heard all the myths at least once before and who are familiar with the creatures of myth. Still, don’t fret, if you are unfamiliar, then take this as your eye opener into the rich world of Chinese myths and legends.

Disclosure:
I know the author personally.
I was a beta reader.
I am Singaporean Chinese

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The Name of the Wind by Patrick Rothfuss
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book is really a biography about a fantasy person you have never met, who tells his life story. However, it feels like one of those chats with an annoying friend who goes on an unnecessarily long “there was this one time…” rant, one too many times.

I picked up this book with high expectations, with all the good reviews. However, I have to say I was sorely disappointed, and it was a pain to even finish the book.

The main character of the book, Kvothe. I could not identify with this character and could not care to learn more about his story really. Thing is, I read books mainly for the plot. And this book, although it had a lot of prose and scenes, had a plot that went around in circles, but gotten nowhere. We don’t really know what are the main character’s motives. Does Kvothe want to know the name of the wind, does he want to find his parents murderers, or does he want to go after the girl of his dreams? Becuase, SPOILER ALERT, he doesn’t achieve anything in these 3 areas. In the end, Kvothe still doesn’t learn the name of the wind, doesn’t find much evidence of his parent’s murderers, and doesn’t end up with the girl of his dreams. There is barely even a climax in this book, just a collection of exciting stories of some dude’s life. And now we learn it will take 3 books of this prattling before we have a real conclusion. SPOILERS END HERE.

The only reason why this book is not getting a lower star rating is because of the way it was told and it’s attempt at world building. The story was told rather well. The switching between present day and Kvothe’s past is a refreshing way to read fantasy. I do not particularly like this way of writing, but I can appreciate the effort.

The subverting of tropes was another praise point. The story is not ‘run of the mill’. The hero lands himself into trouble, and sometimes trouble he can’t save himself from, but his life still continues. Although the hero seems perfect in many ways, super genius, master musician, and crafty actor, his fatal flaw is that he is eternally poor. I think many of my fellow reviewers might have missed this point. Although he is uninteresting in many respects, an eternally poor hero is something I haven’t seen in other books, and Rothfuss does a good job of portraying the hero’s sad plight and the psychology of a poor person.

The world building, although taking the backseat in this book, is rather interesting. You won’t see much of the geography and history of the place. But there is a good ‘magic’ system. Not the best, but good enough to make it interesting.

Related to that are the mini legends and myths told by various characters. These stories add flavour into the world and make the story interesting. “Is our hero going to find the truth behind these stories?”. Sadly, no, and I think this is a waste. Ultimately these mini-stories don’t affect the main plot as much as it could have.

Sadly, I can’t say that I will be reading the 2nd book and onwards. I don’t want to be dragged into another plot roundabout with no ending. In fact, this book could have been much shorter and still be interesting. Heck, even the Wikipedia summary for this book is more interesting.

However, if you are a diehard fantasy, then I guess this is your grub. Have fun immersing yourself.

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The Grace of Kings by Ken Liu
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

2.5 Stars at best.

The Grace of Kings is an Asian medieval tale of both the history of the fantasy land of the Islands of Dara and of one man’s unlikely rise to power.

I like the idea of an Asian medieval fantasy epic. We have so many Western medieval epics that this book gives a fresh perspective. Because of this, I wanted to rate this book higher. BUT…

This book follows the actual history of China too closely. Other reviewers and readers might look at this book and go, ‘an Asian medieval story, that’s new’. Even I think this book feels like the Chinese version of Game of Thrones, characters in this story can and might die (but not with GoT’s level of culling). And that’s a good thing in my view. However, as a person with a good level of understanding of China’s history, I can recognise the links between this book’s plot and the Chu-Han contention in China’s history. That and other stories and tropes in China’s history. And this is not good. In my view, the story is extremely unimaginative and anti-creative because it’s just a copy and paste and ‘change all the names and places’ from China’s history type of job.

Here are a list of links:

– Spoiler alert for most of these –

In China’s History, the Warring States Period and the Qin Dynasty that followed matches with the Xana conquest and unification of the Islands of Dara. It also follows the same idea that this was the first unification of all the kingdoms. This is the ‘all under heaven’ trope, ??, as we say in Mandarin. As with this book and in real life, unification of all under heaven brought about good things for the whole empire as well as atrocities that were committed in order to unite the land. The Xana Emperor is really just Qin Shi Huang. Even the atrocities he committed are the same. Burying scholars alive? Been there, done that.

Kongfigi, the one true scholar, (I can’t spell his name because I was on the audiobook) is really Confucius. Even his teachings about harmony, the relationship between father and son, and the place of men and women are more or less similar in the book and in real life.

The scene where the the prime minister walks in with a deer and tells the boy emperor that it’s a horse, actually happened in real life. It’s such a prominent piece of history that the Chinese saying, ????, is based on this. It literally means “point to a deer and call it a horse“. This scene could have easily been changed or involve other animals or even with inanimate objects, but it wasn’t. This is probably the most prominent piece of copy and past in this book.

The female beauty sent to drive a wedge between Mata Zyndu and his uncle (the father figure) is similar to Diao Chan who was sent to drive a wedge between Lü Bu and his adopted father Dong Zhou (Three Kingdoms Period). In both cases, the father figure dies.

The overthrow of the Xana empire and rebel forces mirrors the downfall of the Qin Dynasty.

Mata Zindu is history’s Xiang Yu. Fictional Mata raised 800 men to follow him in joining the rebel cause, while real life’s Xiang Yu raised 8,000. Both were the de facto chiefs of the rebel forces, powerful warriors, and had the title of hegemony. After the rebels defeat the empire, both men split the empire arbitrarily, giving different lands to different rebel leaders. In real life this is known as the short lived Eighteen Kingdoms.

Kuni Garu is history’s Liu Bang. Both were given a small kingdom to rule over after the rebellion was successful. The Mata – Kuni rivalry is history’s Chu-Han contention, or the Xiang Yu – Liu Bang rivalry. Both fictional Kuni and real life Liu Bang beat their rival to capture the capital city of the empire first and topple the empire. Both of them were strict about telling their men not to kill innocent people. Both of their rivals got upset and tried to have them assassinated at a banquet with a sword dancer. Both of their rivals gave them pieces of land to their disadvantage. Need I write more? If you read the history on it, you will be able to see the links for yourself.

Ultimately, Kuni wins. In history, Liu Bang also won. Both men would go on to become the emperor and create a new empire that aimed to be benevolent and do the things the previous empire wasn’t able to do.

Lastly, the notions of benevolent rule, care for the common folk (?????), and overthrowing an ‘evil’ emperor, are common stories and tropes in Chinese literature. These aren’t bad to copy, I’m just pointing it out to those unfamiliar to Chinese culture.

– Spoilers end here –

Can you see why I was upset with this book? Once I saw the links between the plot and history, the book became boring. I could see how it was going to end before the ending came. Plus the first quarter of the book was very slow moving and dry. I went through the book thinking, ‘if I really wanted to read China’s history, I’d rather just go to Wikipedia and read from there’. Really, I’d rather read the actual history, since this book copied it so closely.

I’m not totally against the copy and paste style of books. I know there is ‘nothing new under the sun’, and that books will tend to copy and innovate based on their source materials. Even the Game of Thrones was based on England’s War of the Roses historical time period. However, just like GoT, history can be melded and shaped into something else. This could have been done here: different rivalries, subverted tropes, different endings. Instead, we got a blatant re-write of history. At least it was re-write with airships and narwhals.

Despite my rating and review, I have high hopes of this series. I sincerely hope Liu will run out of history to copy from and start making up new ideas. (Although running out of history is hard, because China’s history is very long and colourful.) I will read the next book for sure.

Disclosure:
I am Singaporean Chinese
I read the audiobook

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Battlefront: Twilight Company by Alexander Freed
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

As an SW Fan, I would like to have rated this higher. Sadly, I can’t.

Twilight Company is a military story about a soldier who is raised from First Sergeant to Acting captain of a Rebel Alliance mobile infantry company. The protagonist is doubt of himself and his abilities and motivation to lead the unit.

The plot understandable follows one of the few established military plots and tropes. However, I felt that much more depth could have been added. The only dilemma seen is that of the protagonist. The supporting characters seem to be a little too bland or paper thin. What the book lacks in internal conflict, it makes up for in conflict between the Rebels and the Empire. But since it’s a novel, such skirmishes aren’t as exciting and can’t capture the excitement of it as well as the SW Battlefront 2015 game that this novel is supposed to represent.

It’s not that because this novel is only supposed to be a companion novel that automatically makes it bad. I have read a companion novel to the SW Republic Commando game, i.e. Order 66 by . That book had good depth and gritty conflict among the characters. This book really seemed like it was here to sell the game. Or as since scenes in the Battlefront 2015 game were stitched together with a weak plot.

Don’t read this, just play Battlefront.

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The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A New Thought book cleverly thought out and narrated in a story format. The story follows and unnamed Spanish boy, in what seems like the late 1800s, or early 1900s, on his journey from Spain to Eygpt.

The journey and the destination are really an allegory for one’s journey in life. It’s a smart idea, although I do think the characters and obstacles met along the way are a little too cryptic to find a real-life equivalent.

I like the telling of the story. It’s simple and it fits all the lessons it wants to impart to the reader. It’s short and doesn’t drone on longer than it is. Though I’m not sure if the focus of the book was the lessons in it or the story.

I think most people will either love it or hate it because the lessons supposedly in the book are of the school of New Though. I.e. “don’t give up”, “the universe conspires to help you”, “follow your passion”. People who believe in those will rate the book highly and those that don’t will rate it low. (Just read the other reviews, you will notice this trend.)

I am not here to debate New Thought, I want to rate the book on its merits. I don’t fully believe in New Thought, though I read a lot of New Though material when I was young, so I’m used to it. I also I have been an advocate for using stories to explain ideas and concepts to people. I like how the Alchemist has used a narrative to explain the concepts of New Thought. But ultimately I don’t think it actually did a particularly good job of it. The concepts might be misinterpreted or are too vague. The plot isn’t stellar either because I think the narrative was used more as a teaching tool than in a normal novel. As such, this book should be treated as a self-help book rather than a novel.

The book is short, so you won’t be wasting your life reading it. If you are an aspiring non-fiction or self-help author, give it a read and learn how what in the book does well (or not well).

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Skin Deep by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A short and witty tale, just as good as the first book in this series. The plot, though short, is engaging and intriguing. Best of all, the plot twists are well hidden, as expected of Sanderson.

The gang imaginary characters are entertaining. I found them to be well thought up characters. It pretty interesting to see a group of people with so many different backgrounds and expertise interacting. The scenes of them interacting are almost like mini thought experiments.

Although this book’s main plot comes to a satisfying end, the overarching backstory is still left hanging. Hopefully, that means this series isn’t over just yet.

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The Accidental Time Machine by Joe Haldeman
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book felt like a 21st-century update to H.G. Wells’ original classic The Time Machine. The plot isn’t particularly exciting or meaningful. It’s just like the original, where a man moves forward through time and experiences fantastical new worlds. However, the future worlds are imagined based on our current understanding of science and technology.

The story actually feels hollow. There is barely any conflict in the book. Our protagonist travels into the future, faces some obstacle, and conveniently avoids the problem by travelling into the future again. Rinse and repeat; that’s basically the plot of the book.

:SPOILER:
It all ends when he travels far enough into the future where people have finally invented a backward travelling time machine so that he can go back to his original time. A pretty unexciting ending. It’s not much of a spoiler really. I was expecting something more, like time-travel magics, but that didn’t happen.
:SPOILERS END HERE:

The book explores a lot of themes and future worlds, but only briefly. It glosses over the details of how these future worlds came to be. There are no real adventures in these future worlds other than stopping and having a look at it before travelling again. Kinda like a long road trip with pee breaks. The story should either have been much shorter than it currently is, or should have been longer to accommodate more detailed adventures.

Overall it’s a pretty short book, I finished it in 3.5 hours. If you are short on time travel fiction, then this one is easily digestible. Just don’t set your expectations too high.

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Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A tribute to geeks everywhere. If you are a gaming geek, you need to read this. It’s right up the alley of the movies Wreck-it Ralph and Pixels. Though this book is less funny than those movies, it is more in-depth in plot and references to gaming culture.

After a billionaire game designer dies, his will launches a modern worldwide quest to retrieve a million dollar treasure he left behind. This quest takes place, you guessed it, in the humongous virtual simulation world created by said game designer.

The plot is engaging and creative. It’s every gamer’s dream, a world where the icons of gaming mesh together and anything is possible. With an epic quest lingering in the background, beckoning everyone who thinks they are worthy of the prize.

Cline truly made a unique book with this one.

The plot is an obvious use of the Hero’s Journey. The climax and plot twist of something I could see coming from a long way off. However, the telling of it, and the imagination put into the scenes made me want to read to the end.

Nothing spectacularly new in storytelling here. But like I said, if you are a gamer, you need to read this. Or at least watch it when the movie comes out.

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Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

An excellent continuation of the series. This book picks up right after the ending of the previous one and shows more depth of the world Sanderson built for the book.

There aren’t as many plot twists in this book than in the first, but this time they are more spread out throughout the plot (as opposed to all at the end of the book, like in book 1). the pacing is better now as well. Though I suspect this is because the backstory and basics of magic have been established, and Sanderson can tell the story unhindered.

Though it is long, it is very immersive. It’s definitely a page-turner, and I was struggling to stop reading and reach the end of it.

Sanderson reveals even more intrigue into this book. Even at the end, it made me wonder how the clues together, and what will happen in the next book. If Sanderson can keep this up for the 10 proposed 10 books in this series, I will be very impressed.

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