Two Book Reviews in One Sitting: A Terry Pratchett classic and a solid introduction to the work of Tessa Hastjarjanto

Book Review #1 — Eric by Terry Pratchett

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HarperCollins

Eric, by Terry Pratchett, is an interesting entry into the Discworld series because the title character is more of a catalyst than he is the protagonist of this story. The protagonist is the ever bumbling wizard Rincewind, who is never really sure where he is, why, or what he’s supposed to do about it. Which is admirable in the sense that his adventures are fueled by pure panic, and yet laced with a manner of knowing there’s nothing he can do except run and hope for the best. He’s not the wise Hermit in a deck of Tarot cards, he’s the Fool, always tempting DEATH who wracks his skull because Rincewind is in his periphery, and always okay because of his tenacious and menacing protector, a rabid piece of luggage with legs.

If you’ve never read a book out of the Discworld series, and that summary above leaves you puzzled, well…welcome to Terry Pratchett’s crazy imagination.

Eric is a young teen who has decided to practice a little bit of demonology to get the things he wants: beautiful women, a kingly status and everlasting life. He says a few magic words after cobbling together a devil’s trap, and voila! Rincewind appears scratching his head. Because he’s not a demon, last time he checked. He does have a half assed ability to travel through time, though, and that will have to do. But with every wish comes consequences, and the folly of human nature throughout the ages is the general consequence that Rincewind and Eric have to run from every time.

The Discworld mirrors our own history in that it has an Aztec like society, and a Ulysses type hero, so be prepared to recognize some nods to ancient world history with new names. All in all, this is a light, fast read with maybe a moral about being careful what you wish for. Mostly, though, it’s just fun.

You can find the entire collection of Discworld books here at Terry Pratchett’s website. 

Book Review #2 — A Dress to Kill For by Tessa Hastjarjanto

Cover Image from
Author website

A Dress to Kill For, written by Tessa Hastjarjanto, may be short, but it's an extremely well told little horror story about the lengths the society folk will go through to keep their fingernails clutched around their status. A touch gothic, a touch eldritch or folk horror, this short piece is well paced and well worth the read. Find more of her work here at her personal website. https://tessa.narratess.com/

Exiles by Mason Coile -- A familiar blend of scifi horror

 Exiles by Mason Coile — Blends familiar scifi horror themes to visit some root causes of self isolation

 

Cover Image Courtesy of

G.P Putnam's Sons 

A three man team (two men, one woman) embark on a literal suicide mission to Mars for the sake of humanity and the purpose of colonization. They know they won’t be coming back, except under unusually special circumstances. And, of course, they come to suspect those circumstances exist. Or the bots that were sent ahead of the mission to construct habitable living spaces do, and the mystery unfolds after our human team’s rough landing.

The narrative is led by Gold, the woman of the team that comprises Captain Blake and Engineering Specialist Kang (yes, Kang. For all the hardcore scifi aficionados). Gold is the Medical Specialist of the trio, and she comes with her own personal baggage.

Author Coile is no stranger to scifi, of which I haven’t read, but this book is a tight read. It doesn’t get bogged down with the science aspect of the genre and instead gets right into the guts of the horror. It has shades of Alien, as the bots have shut their home base down for fear of some monster outside its walls. But it also plays with the common science fiction themes of the dangers of AI and android sentience. Captain Blake and crew have reservations about trusting the three bots, who have come to name themselves and to exhibit distinctly human personalities.

These all play well together as common tropes within the genre, but the deeper story is inferred by the title. Exiles. Gold has a past that she wants to forget, one that she believes is rooted in fear and has toughened her up. It boils down to mommy and daddy issues—the dad who raised her, not good at it and the mom leaving her with feelings of abandonment at a very young age. There’s a twist to this part of the story that I’m not going to reveal, but it’s the weakest link—for me. And the problem is that I get why the author chose it theme-wise. The choice makes real sense. Reality wise, it’s a move that is hard for me to believe a smart parent would make, and Gold’s mom seems to be a smart parent. And I know, my definition of smart parenting is personal and probably skewed, but I could not get past this one. A smart parent would NOT do this.

But I get the author’s choice. It serves a specific purpose that fits an emotional framework made of guilt and the suffocating feeling that self-exile induces.

I generally enjoyed this read though, and it’s a fast one. It adds to the vast number of science fiction classics that pose the serious pros and cons of a world that is heavily reliant on artificial intelligence. Find the book HERE or at your favorite book retailer. 

Reluctant Killer by Lisa R. Perron — A thriller with a touch of heart

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I bought this book at the Los Angeles Festival of Books a few years back, and thought it would be a good quick read to finish my month and to reduce the height of my TBR book tower. It’s a crime thriller, not necessarily my go to genre, but crime thrillers can be thrilling reads once in a while, hence the reason for the genre.

This might be Perron’s first stab at thriller writing. Her repertoire is small, and the story is standard, about a woman who is awakened by her husband in the middle of a home invasion, then learns that her husband is not the man she thought him to be. In fact, his past is shady, and the night ends with her shooting a stranger dead and with him disappearing on the run.

If this is an intriguing setup, this might be the story for you. Told in first person, present tense, we follow Katherine as she investigates who her husband Jacob once was while she manages how she could have been such a fool to fall in love with him. She also has a rough past of her own that she needs to come to terms with: a pastor father convicted of killing his wife—Kate’s mother—in cold blood. Kate never forgave her father for his sins at the beginning of the story and now, because she has to kill a man for her own safety due to her husband’s past, Kate struggles with the fact that she herself is capable of murder.

Perron’s writing style is essentially stripped down. No overly flowery prose, which makes for a good clean read. We feel Kate’s dilemma and sympathize with her. She’s not a superwoman. She deals with the trauma of the inciting event in a real, human way, and I like this about her character. She struggles with her feelings for a man who has always been kind and loving to her, and with the revelation of the heinous things he is proven to be capable of. It puts her in danger and forces her to have to fend for herself.

While the book is generally well written, there are just enough grammatical mistakes to betray an inexperienced editor—or maybe an over-reliance on basic editing software. There are passages where the narrative lapses from third person present tense to third person past tense, and it’s noticeable. I try to overlook these kinds of occasional errors because it happens, but if it happens enough to pull me out of the story, I feel the need to make note. 

Otherwise, though, Reluctant Killer is a good beach read for the general thriller fan.

Guards! Guards! by Terry Pratchett -- as relevant today as it was over 25 years ago

Cover Image

courtesy of

Harper Collins Publishers 

Can you hone currently relevant wisdom from a silly little novel about dragons and impotent guards set in a medieval fantasy world and written nearly thirty years ago? Why yes. Yes you can. Take, for example, this passage from Terry Pratchett's arguably most popular DiscWorld novel Guards! Guards!

Excerpt from Guards! Guards!

 by Terry Pratchett

1989 

I try not to get too political when I write reviews, but this passage struck me as ironic while reading this in 2026 during the Trumpocolypse -- and writing about it on the day of the dude's birthday, no less (and no, I will not be watching the 250th anniversary UFC fight on the White House stage/lawn. I've seen the movie Idiocracy, and I don't need to see it play out in real life, thank you very much). The arts, it seems, is full of prophets.

Guards! Guards! is the 8th book in the long ago popular DiscWorld series. I have been told that you don't need to read the series in order, but I'm an orderly philistine who likes to approach things with some linear semblance (This also applies to Star Wars. A New Hope will always be the first to me). They're right. You probably don't need to read books 1-7 first, but side characters and world building from some of the previous novels might make the read more of a pleasure. It prepares you for the appearance of DEATH and the Librarian, after all. So let's summarize for the potential new generation of readers who (gasp!) might not be at all familiar with Pratchett and his work.

The story takes place in the cesspool of a big city called Ankh-Morpork, where crime runs legally rampant due to various shady guilds who control everything due to shady government deals, and where the understaffed policing department, The Watch led by Captain Vimes, serves its community best by turning a blind eye and staying out of harm's way. There is no "king" here; there is a government appointed Patrician named Vetinari, who is hardly a saint as far as government leaders go. But it's better than a king, right?

Well, some citizens of Ankh-Morpork disagree. A cult-like cabal sets out to change things by summoning a dragon with a restricted access book stolen from the city's magical library. If they summon the dragon, they can rely on some fool with a magic sword to come slay it and, by default, that brave young knight with heretofore unknown royal lineage, is crowned king. That's the plan. And, for some reason, it works.

Until it doesn't. Until the summoned dragon gets his own ideas and decides that it could just as well be king too. This is literally a play with fire and get burned scenario. Captain Vimes and his mismatched crew of watchmen (including too old to be working Nobby, out-of-shape Colon, and by-the-book dwarf Carrot--who is way too tall to be a dwarf and named Carrot because of his top heavy build, not his hair color) embark on a quest to save the city from its own lack of courage. They engage the help of Lady Ramkin, a socialite with a keen interest and knowledge of the lesser swamp dragons whom she cares for and raises like pets.

It sounds a bit like a circus, much like our current state of affairs on this day in America with this current administration (do not --at-- me with your opinions. This book is nearing 30 years old!). But the outrageous fantasy element makes it fun and absurd and, by default, maybe easier to manage. What it tells me is that, from the perspective of Terry Pratchett, we've been through this before. And it's more than likely that we'll make it through to the end. Even if the odds are a million to one. Coincidentally, a quote from both Star Wars and Guards! Guards!
 

If you haven't read it yet, why not? Get on it! Find it here, or at your library, or wherever books are sold. 

The Seep by Chana Porter Trolls the Same Waters as Pluribus on Apple TV

Cover Image Courtesy of 
Soho Press

If you are a fan of the Apple TV series Pluribus, maybe you’ll like this book—or maybe you won’t. That’s not necessarily throwing shade. The two separate endeavors share a highly similar setting where an alien invasion consists of a hive mind entity that solves everyone’s problems and makes everything possible once you surrender and accept the alien life form’s control. But under your terms. The Seep wants you to decide. No pressure…

Porter’s novel was published before Vince Gilligan ran with the series idea for Pluribus, but I wouldn’t be surprised if the book had been a source of inspiration. The difference between the two lies in their themes. While both address the problematic aspects of living in a questionable utopia that’s controlled by one big universal thought machine, Carol in Pluribus actively fights it. In The Seep, MC Trina lives in a world where the hive mind has already been established and the world has accepted it. Even Trina has accepted it in some form or other. Until her significant other Deeba makes a wildly controversial choice to utilize The Seep in a way that flat out ends their relationship. Trina deals with a loss—still similar to a loss that Carol shares in the TV series, except that the loss is fundamentally different (can’t explain, it’s a spoiler), and the loss is the crux behind all of Trina’s subsequent actions.

While Trina does push back against The Seep’s influence, her bigger hurdle is more personal. Her personal battle is more akin to depression and grieving. Also, there are themes that touch on addiction and acceptance of self.

I have conflicting feelings about this book, so let’s break it down the way a fair review should be done—the good—the bad—the rating.

Here’s the good. This is one of those books that is perfect for a book club or a group read. It’s an easy commitment at about 200 pages, it’s actually a quick and easy read, and there’s a lot to discuss. It’s a story relevant to current events in multiple ways, including discussions about gender, lgbtq topics, socialism and the advantages and dangers of living within an AI simulated reality. These topics might just make this book relevant for a near timeless run.

Now here’s the bad—and let’s be honest, it’s unfair for me to call what I didn’t like about this novel “bad.” These are the things that made me personally uncomfortable, and for some that might be a selling point. But here it goes…I loved the first season of Pluribus for the reasons that make it different from this book. I’m team Carol. The idea that we would all be happy if we were locked into the same brainwave frequency living in some parallel to an AI simulation that can become whatever we decide it to be—even if it isn’t—doesn’t sit well with me. Maybe I should harken back farther and pledge allegiance to team Neo. Kill the Matrix.

While the MC Trina does fight against The Seep to some degree in this novel, it’s not ultimately what Trina’s fight is about. The Seep is part of this world, and it isn’t really going away, and Trina is fine coming to terms with that part of her reality. This part of the story is a let down for me.

But it’s a great topic for a group read discussion, right? So my rating is a thumbs up one.

If you are interested in books and movies that explore a future painted up to be a surreal utopia that proves to be a facade, this book might be for you.  Thanks goes out to Porter Square Books who put out a social media challenge a while back to have them guess a good book selection for you based on some criteria that I have now forgotten. Maybe it was a “what TV are you watching,” kind of question because that would make sense… Anyway, The Seep is available through them, as well as through many book sites of your choice.