REVIEW | The Mirrored Heavens by David J. Williams (Spectra)

Earth has been in turmoil for decades with constant wars, and infighting. Only in the last few years have political and military powers reached a detente, which is quickly eroding as an unknown terrorist group only known as Autumn Rain seek to cause havoc around the world and in nearby space. The United States and the Eurasian Coalition have agents in the field trying to understand and control the situation lest full-scale war erupt, which both side believe would mean the end of Earth.

David J. Williams' debut The Mirrored Heavens is cross breed of Cyberpunk, Thriller, Cold War Politics, and Espionage that all starts with a loud bang as a space elevator is blown into pieces and no one is sure why. Players on all sides are thrown into the mix with hardly anyone's allegiances trusted. All the main characters just seem like shades of the same person as they are all a bit sociopathic and overly precise, which can make it hard to separate the characters as they have similar voices. But these are altered humans who are specially trained to kill and infiltrate. Most agents are sent off in pairs with one being a Razor, who is the muscle of the group nearly Terminator-like while the other, the Mech, can make computers do their bidding who have circuitry on the brain.

Adrenaline floods Haskell’s body, merges with her distant ecstasy—and as it does so, her perception in the zone sharpens even further. The nervous system into which she’s extended her own crystallizes still finer. The edges grow sharper, the colors brighter, the shadows darker.

The Mirrored Heavens is an exhilarating read as Williams moves things at such a break-neck pace I often found myself having to take breaks just to absorb everything that was going on. Williams throws so much in the well it was close to overkill on more than one occasion with too much information and action making it hard to take everything in and really nail the look of everything in your mind's eye. I'm sure I lost some meanings or connections along the way. Regardless, Williams' vision of 2110 is one of the most action packed Sci-Fi novels around today with twisty characters that have capabilities that you can never guess.

Whirling. Marlowe confronts only air—and than instinct saves his life, for instead of drawing up dumbfounded, he keeps moving, diving as his adversary’s knife (replete with powered saw-edges to shear through even heavy armor) flies through the space where his head had been a moment before. Dive seamlessly switches to somersault, leaving him on the floor, firing backward over his head, riddling the man with bullets. The whole action has taken less than two seconds. Whoever he was, this man is now dead.

Williams denies giving his characters even the briefest of breaks as they are tossed from one battle to the next in this very bleak future. One of the main questions that kept coming to mind was: Does this future humanity deserve to survive? So few people seem redeemable and most are downright unlikable as they use and twist people to their own desires. Even thinking this I didn't have a problem pulling forward given the vivid, but somewhat frantic style.

If you like complex military Sci-Fi with a razor sharp edge or cold war politics mixed with hi-tech action The Mirrored Heavens is well worth checking out despite some issues. I give The Mirrored Heavens 7 out of 10 hats. Also, I'd recommend the mass market edition as it has a nice appendix with a timeline that I made use of more than once. I have The Burning Heavens the second book in the Autumn Rain Trilogy, which I'll partake of in the future to see if some of the issues I noticed were improved upon. Plus there is a lot going on in this future that I want answers to.  Also check out the site for the series as it looks pretty cool.


You Might Also Like:
VIDEO | The Machinery of Light Trailer
REVIEW | The Quiet War by Paul McAuley
REVIEW | Health Agent by Jeffrey Thomas
REVIEW | The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi

Recent Read Run-Down

Well I've been reading a lot even if I haven't had time to review everything. I wanted to share my thoughts and continue a log of sorts of what I've been reading. I especially wanted to get this down as I'll be on vacation next week and didn't want these to fade from memory too much. Don't worry about my absence as I have plenty of posts scheduled for my time away, which includes an author guest post.  As you'll see below I'm still avoiding books over 500 pages at the moment. I've definitely been in the mood for lighter reading fair and that will probably continue for the next couple of weeks.

The Prince of Mist by Carlos Ruiz Zafon - This is the first book Zafon ever wrote, which also happens to be a YA book.  You can definitely see how The Shadow of the Wind developed from here.  The prose isn't nearly as beautiful, but accomplishing that would be difficult given the intended audience.  YA books just don't stretch your vocabulary as an adult book intends to do.  Still it was a very fine read that I recommend all Zafon fans seek out.  The ending was a bit off, but the first two thirds built up well. I'd love to hear thoughts about this one from someone who hasn't read The Shadow of the Wind to see what an outsider without the high expectations gets from it.   Zafon's publisher Little Brown is planning on releasing his other two YA books a year apart.

The Mirrored Heavens by David J. Williams - Recommended.  Full review to come.

Divine Misfortune by A. Lee Martinez - Yet another great comic romp.  Martinez is solidifying his place as one of American's best Speculative Humorists. The ending was a bit predictable, but I can overlook that for the entertainment value as Martinez's baggage-laden gods show how truly gone wild they are, especially after being invited into someone's home. In some ways this is a humorous version of Gaiman's American Gods that doesn't take it self too seriously, but using gods little used in literature elsewhere.  Highly recommend for those looking to laugh.

Strata by Terry Pratchett - An okay read that I was expecting more out of.  Definitely not the Pratchett we've come to know and love.  This was him striving for more of a hard Sci-Fi story.  While it does the science part fine the characters were difficult to care for and a section at the beginning of the main journey bothered me in its execution.  It is a good read to see the evolution of the idea of a disc world, but I prefer other early Pratchett such as The Carpet People and The Bromeliad Trilogy.

A Canticle for Leibowitz by Walter M. Miller, Jr - I thought I had read this years ago, but I think I might be mistaken.  Either way I doubt I would have appreciated it as much in the past.  This is a classic not to be missed by anyone.  The third section lost me a little as it feels a little dated, but the first two are timeless and amazing in their style and execution.  This story is a forbearer to so much Apocalyptic fiction it is scary to think where that subgenre would be if it had never been published.

The Goon Vol. 1 through 5 and The Goon: Noir by Eric Powell and others - I am officially addicted to this truly awesome graphic novel series.  I'd rank it close to Hellboy in terms of quality of art with the cover paintings being especially grabbing.  The stories are pretty darn good as well as the mob muscle/anti-hero known as The Goon battles a Zombie Priest and his hordes.  With each passing chapter The Goon gains unexpected complexity, but it is the all out fights you'll stick around for.  He combats a mad scientist, werewolves, mutants, and a host of other creatures.  All in all it is a great mix of 30's Noir and the paranormal with a deep humor bent that can border on the inappropriate. Highly recommended.

Swords and Dark Magic edited by Lou Anders and Jonathan Strahan - Highly recommended. Full review to come.

Stalking the Vampire by Mike Resnick - The second in the John Justin Mallory series of uber hard-boiled Detective stories in an alternative Manhattan infested with creatures of myth and legend. The story moves along at a quick pace, but some of the repetitive dialogue between certain characters was tiring. This mostly had to do with Mallory and his cat-girl protector Felina arguing about what she is going to eat.  Still I like Mallory and his no nonsense attitude plus their are loads of funny lines between other characters. Recommend for those looking for a light read with some laughs.

You Might Also Like:
REVIEW | Monster by A. Lee Martinez
REVIEW | The Angel's Game by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
Recent Read Run-Down, March 2010
Recent Read Run-Down, April 2010

VIDEO | The Machinery of Light Trailer

I've just finished the very complex The Mirrored Heavens, which kept getting better and better. It is very much a mix of Cold War Thriller and Cyberpunk with a hole lot of action. In honor of the release of the third and final book in David J. Williams' Autumn Rain series here is the well done trailer for The Machinery of Light.

You Might Also Like:
VIDEO | Neil Gaiman on a Trampoline
VIDEO | Evolution of a Steampunk cover
REVIEW | Implied Spaces by Walter Jon Williams