Tuck: Surprisingly Satisfying

(Tuck by Stephen Lawhead. )

Those of you who have been following my posts on Facebook and Twitter know already that reading this book has been a struggle. It is honestly not my cup of tea and to say I enjoyed it would be deceptive. As a whole, I did not enjoy it. I'm not a big fan of this particular type of literature. But my own preferences and even enjoyment are irrelevant to the review process. A reviewer to be effective must be dispassionate in her evaluation.

Given that, I would have to say that Stephen Lawhead is certainly a master storyteller. I was impressed by his pacing. Too many writers of action-adventure fiction feel "conflict" must always involve a physical battle. One has little time to rest between fights and you feel like you are being pushed at top speed from one to another. Lawhead, however, interspersed periods of calm in between the battles. These were times when we could learn about the backstory and get to know the characters somewhat.

I have to say the characters, while distinctive, were not terribly well developed. I must preface the following by saying I have not read the other books and perhaps having read them the characters might have felt more solid. However, in most other ways this book stands on its own. I found most of the characters sort of stock stereotypes. Rhiban is heroic. Merian is beautiful and spunky. Alan is a scamp. And Tuck - well - Tuck is a classic hybrid warrior priest with Rosary in one hand and a stout staff to smash your head in the other. I do not consider that a positive character, but that's irrelevant to this review. However, I did like how Tuck recovers his Christianity at the end. I will say no more and spoil the story.

This is why I said the story was surprisingly satisfying. Throughout the book I was steaming over this supposed priest, quoting scripture and praying for the deaths of others. The number of commandments broken, the deciet, the hatred, the violence were hardly in keeping with that of a servant of the one who would not lift a hand in his own defense and healed the ear of the soldier sent to kill him. Tuck had more of Joshua than Yeshua in him. However, at the end, the victory comes as he rediscovers his call.

I would have liked to have seen this foreshadowed. I would have liked to have seen some sort of self doubt, questioning, or guilt. There were moments, but they were rare. A favorite scene in the book for me was at the end of chapter two when Tuck passes some dead soldiers and says:

"May God have mercy on their vile and wretched souls," Tuck whispered hastening away, "and grant them the peace they have denied to others." Thinking better of this crabbed prayer, he added, "Welcome them into Your eternal kingdom--but not for my sake, Good Lord, no--but for the sake of Your own dear son who always remembered to forgive His enemies. Amen."

I would have liked to have seen more moments like that in the book and fewer of Tuck praying for the arrows to fly true and "find their marks." The arrogant assumption that God must necessarily be on ones own side in a political conflict certainly has lead to great destruction of lives, communities and entire nations.

Interestingly enough, for me the most interesting and endearing character in his own way was King William. His misguided, but noble and sincere, attempt to atone for all the deaths he and his father had caused in battle was sad and touching. I would have liked to have seen more of this character. I suspect he is a more significant character in the other books. He comes across as a slightly clueless, reluctant warrior which is honestly more engaging than the cock sure Rhiban.

I warn potential readers that the book has a very high body count. Killing and bloodshed are glorified if in a "good cause." So, if that type of violence bothers you, then you might stay away from this book.

However, if you enjoy a well crafted medieval war story, this realistic re-telling of the Robin Hood myth is worth your time. Meanwhile check out the other sites on this tour.

Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Keanan Brand
Rachel Briard
Grace Bridges
Valerie Comer
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Alex Field
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Christopher Hopper
Joleen Howell
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Terri Main
Margaret
Melissa Meeks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
Eve Nielsen
Nissa
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Epic Rat
Steve Rice
Crista Richey
Hanna Sandvig
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Robert Treskillard
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
Jill Williamson

Review of Tuck by Stephen Lawhead - The Process

(Tuck by Stephen Lawhead. )

Okay, I have not read this book yet. Finals, bad health, cat ate my computer, pick your excuse it all works. Anyway, I am going to read it tomorrow and then post a review on Friday, but I thought you might like to take an inside look at the process. So, let me tell you what I am doing and thinking right now.

First, I take a look at the cover. It's a nice hard bound cover. The design is simple but elegant. I see it is book three in the King Raven series.

Oh great. Once again, I'm reviewing a book in a series where I haven't read the other books. Of course, it may stand alone. It should stand alone. Every book should be able to be read on it's own merits. Okay, maybe that's just me venting because I didn't read the other two books.

I see this is Stephen Lawhead as author. Pretty big name for our little blog tour. Now, I'll check out the cover copy on the back.

The first thing that hits me is a quote "Pray God our aim is true and each arrow finds its mark"

Oh no, not another "God is on our side and all those human beings on the other side are evil demons from the netherworld and not sons and husbands and fathers with fathers, wives and sons who will weap over their deaths" type of book. Getting a little tired of the Christian publishing world ready to justify any type of violence but will shudder if someone even mentions a sexual topic. Okay, more venting. Doesn't mean this book is really like that. I would like to see more speculative fiction that doesn't involve battles and massive killing sprees. But I'll reserve judgement. And that is a personal matter of taste and not something relevant to the excellence of the writing or story.

Apparently, this series follows the adventures of Rhi Bran also known as King Raven and is told from the perspective of Friar Tuck.

Okay, another retelling of the Robin Hood mythos. What an enduring legend. The idea of a band of outlaws, who use robbery as a form of social commentary and civil disobedience. Wonder about the theology of robbery as a means to help the poor. By the way, I wonder if they have Men in Tights available on demand.

Seems like it is a story about a rebellion to find a homeland for the peoople of Elfael.

Sounds tedious right now. Supposedly set in the latter 11th and early 12th centuries. Probably glamourizes that whole bloody era, turning local politics into a morality play of some sort with clear villains and heroes when the real characters of history are rarely either. I feel uneasy with stories set in historical times dealing with historical events which never actually happened. But then I do like the Brother Cadfael mysteries which do that. So, this might be like that. Again, I need to reserve judgement until I read the book.

Now, to read the book. I will be posting updates on Twitter and Facebook as I read the book tomorrow. Realize that these will be purely personal responses and not to be confused with a reasoned evaluation of a book based on its own merits and not my subjective responses, but you might be interested in the process.

Meanwhile, check out what others are saying about Tuck at these other blog sites:

Brandon Barr
Jim Black
Keanan Brand
Rachel Briard
Grace Bridges
Valerie Comer
Amy Cruson
CSFF Blog Tour
Stacey Dale
D. G. D. Davidson
Jeff Draper
April Erwin
Karina Fabian
Alex Field
Beth Goddard
Todd Michael Greene
Ryan Heart
Timothy Hicks
Christopher Hopper
Joleen Howell
Becky Jesse
Cris Jesse
Jason Joyner
Kait
Carol Keen
Krystine Kercher
Dawn King
Terri Main
Margaret
Melissa Meeks
Rebecca LuElla Miller
Caleb Newell
Eve Nielsen
Nissa
John W. Otte
John Ottinger
Epic Rat
Steve Rice
Crista Richey
Hanna Sandvig
Chawna Schroeder
James Somers
Robert Treskillard
Rachel Starr Thomson
Steve Trower
Speculative Faith
Fred Warren
Phyllis Wheeler
Jill Williamson

Flashpoint is an Amazon Bestseller

Frank Creed's ground-breaking Christian cyberpunk novel Flashpoint (The Writers' Cafe Press, 2007) passed a major milestone yesterday. It was listed as the top selling religious science-fiction/fantasy book on Amazon.com, the world's leading online bookseller.

The rankings, which are updated hourly showed Creed's book leading sales of the popular Dragonkeeper series by Donita Paul and the Left Behind series by Tim LaHaye and Jerry Jenkins.

“I nearly fell off my chair when I saw that,” commented Creed. “I am hugely happy about this especially in light of what's coming next.”

Creed is referring to the publication of War of Attrition, the second book in the Underground series later this year.

Flashpoint tells the story of a brother and sister living in the Chicago Metroplex of 2036 in a world where all religious devotion regardless of sect is considered terrorism. Taking the “street names” of Calamity Kid and eGirl, they join a “muscle cell” of the underground church tasked with protecting – within the limitations of the “Agape principle”- Christian believers from persecution through the use of non-lethal weapons and spiritually empowered cybernetic implants.

For more information about Frank Creed or The Underground series, visit http://www.frankcreed.com

Self Publishing: Everybody's Right - Sort of

If you want to stimulate a vigorous discussion among a group of writers, just raise the question of self-publishing. Almost immediately, they will gather into one of two camps. One camp sees self-publishing as the salvation of the written word. The other camp sees it as the death of literary quality. Truth be told, both are right.

The problem with highly polarized questions is that they force out the more reasoned evaluation that exists at some point between the the extremes. Self-Publishing is no exception to that rule. Rational discussion degenerates into open warfare between those claiming that self-publishing democratizing publishing providing the reader with a greater variety of reading materials than the traditional publisher driven system can provide and those claiming that self-published inevitably means poor quality.

The ugly truth is that both sides speak the truth just not all of it. Self-Publishing does create a greater variety of materials than is economically feasible for traditional publishers to produce. This is particularly important for writers and readers of niche literature. For instance, a traditional publisher warehousing thousands of copies of each book cannot afford to publish books of interest to only a few hundred people. However, the self-published author can write that book about underwater basket weaving and underwater basket weavers everywhere will rejoice to find new patterns for their seaweed baskets.

Using the internet as a distribution pipeline, readers with special interests can find the types of books they want and writers with a drive to write that type of literature can reach that audience. So, while sales of books in bookstores and through traditional publishers are down, there is no lack of publishing, buying and selling the printed word.

It's a beautiful world where self-publishing has saved the written word from extinction, then. Right?

Sorry, not quite. The other side claims, with some strong justification, that self-publishing is degrading the overall quality of printed materials. They say, that it is true we have more printed material available to readers, but just having more garbage doesn't make it any less smelly. The traditional publishing system of editors and editorial teams acting as gatekeepers produces higher quality writing and produces a better physical product.

I agree completely that most self-published material fails to meet even minimum standards of acceptability in terms of literary skill. Likewise, the physical product tends to be poorly edited and poorly designed.

When the only one deciding if a piece of writing deserves publication is the writer, there exists a huge hole for the devil to creep in. Who of us are truly objective about our own writing? We give birth to a book and it is our pride and joy. Like proud parents it is perfect in our sight and what isn't perfect, well, that just adds to the special-ness of the little tyke.

Unfortunately, most self-publishers are motivated less by a desire to fill a niche not being filled by the traditional media, but by impatience and incompetence. They don't want to go through the long process of pitching a book to multiple editors, then revising, editing, rewriting the manuscript until it is ready for publication. I can heat up a three-course meal in the microwave in 10 minutes. Why can't I get published like that? Well, I can. Just upload the text, choose a few designs, and after a few keystrokes and mouseclicks, you too, can be a published author. And you don't have to hear any editor telling you that your manuscript is not yet ready for publication or (horror of horrors) that is just isn't very good.

So, where does this leave us? It leaves us with and "embarrassment of riches." Self-publishing brings to the reading public many quality books each year that traditional publishing could not (or would not) publish. Certainly, those of us you enjoy Christian speculative fiction often depend on self-published materials to feed our hunger for the genre.

However, without any gatekeepers, all sorts of low lifes rush into the courtyard. The consumer has to be even more critical in evaluating their book purchases. They can no longer depend on a publisher to pre-screen the writing or to proofread the manuscript. They have to be more involved in the process of making an informed purchase. Perhaps, that is the biggest benefit that can arise from self-publishing.