I honestly wanted to slack some more before I write this review, but I just finished another novel and realised I am starting to forget what it was about in the previous novels...
Yea, I have goldfish memory.
If only I was also as pleasing on the eyes as a goldfish, oh well.
Anyhow...
Read four novels since last book review, the first was Michael Crichton's Rising Sun.
Rising Sun is a detective story about a murder in a Japanese company in Los Angeles. I have grown out of detective story since I almost always know the twists, the plot, or the true murderer fairly early in the story.
I am not one of those impatient readers who flips to the end of a novel to find out the ending. I like to be surprised, be entertained by the writer, so if I already knew what's coming, especially in a detective story, it lessens the enjoyment of reading the book.
Sadly it's no exception with Rising Sun, I knew the twists and the ending fairly early in the story line.
A typical detective story: murder, investigation, a first likely story to throw you off the track and cover the real truth, the smart arse detective who caught on to something amiss, the further investigation, and ultimately the exposure of the real, darker, more sinister, worse truth.
Oh, of course, in between there will be car chase ah, gun shots ah, that sort of things.
Story line wise there is nothing special, but this novel is very informative. It has become the novel that I repeatedly bumped into sentences or paragraphs that I simply have to quote. It's enlightening to learn about the way Japanese do business and their way of thinking.
"The Japanese have a saying: fix the problem, not the blame. In American organizations it's all about who fucked up. Whose head will roll. In Japanese organizations it's about what's fucked up, and how to fix it. Nobody gets blamed. Their way is better."
"Japan has never accepted Freud or Christianity. They've never been guilty or embarrassed about sex. No problem with homosexuality, no problem with kinky sex. Just matter-of-fact. Some people like it a certain way, so some people do it that way, what the hell. The Japanese can't understand why we get so worked up about a straightforward bodily function. They think we're a little screwed up on the subject of sex. And they have a point."
This is a quote that mirrors my thought:
"They see billions and billions of their dollars, kohai. Invested in a country that's in deep trouble. That's filled with strange individualistic people who talk constantly. Who confront each other constantly. Who argue all the time. People who aren't well educated, who don't know much about the world, who get their information from television. People who don't work very hard, who tolerate violence and drug use, and who don't seem to object to it..."
"In Japan," Connor said, "if a company is doing poorly, the first thing that happens is the executives cut their own salaries. They feel responsible for the success of the company, and they expect their own fortunes to rise and fall as the company succeeds and fails."
"People deny reality. They fight against real feelings caused by real circumstances. They build mental worlds of shoulds, oughts, and might-have-beens. Real changes begin with real appraisal and acceptance of what is. Then realistic action is possible."
Like almost all of Michael Crichton's novels, Rising Sun was translated into a movie as well.
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Black Market by James Patterson is about the bombing of Wall Street and the threat of the collapse of America financial system by a secret militia group.
It's action filled and fast paced with a bad arse agent who simply cannot die. There is a little romance thrown in too.
Engaging read and gripping story line.
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I returned to the world of Krynn and indulged myself a treat of Dragonlance with Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman's Dragons of the Highlord Skies, volume 2 of The Lost Chronicles trilogy.
It's a Dragonlance novel from Weis and Hickman! It's one of the Lost Chronicles!
All true Dragonlance fans need no further introduction. =)
Dragons of the Highlord Skies told the story of the retrieval of the dragon orb from the icy land of Icereach. The knights of Solamnia led by Derek Crownguard, together with some of the Heroes of the Lance, travelled to Icereach to confront the dark elf mage who held the dragon orb in possession.
Kitiara, the Blue Lady in command of the blue dragon army, was plotting and scheming behind this perilous quest, working to forward her own ambition as well as that of the Dark Queen. Kitiara was eventually cornered into facing Lord Soth, the Death Knight, and that encounter was described in this novel.
Shame Tanis and the Majere brothers were not part of this story, but fantastic read nevertheless. Another great piece of work from Weis and Hickman that no Dragonlance fans should miss!
Will write about the other novel I just finished in the next review, since it's the first of a trilogy and I am going to start on the second tonight.
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