Tag: decadence

Dark AGE (RED RISING SAGA: BOOK 5) – Pierce Brown

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I kept looking for hope in the world. Expecting the world to supply deliverance if I plucked the right chords. Demanding that it supply validation to my labor if I just gave enough effort. But that is not the nature of the world. Its nature is to consume. In time, it will consume us all, and the spheres will spin until they too are consumed when our sun dies. Maybe that is the point of it. Knowing that though one day darkness will cover all, at least your eyes were open to see moments of light.

“Dark Age” is the fifth book in the “Red Rising” scifi saga, and indeed the story takes a dark path. Darrow’s revolution against the vile colour-coded, class-based Society is crumbling. The very Republic he sought to create ousted him and his wife, Mustang, barely escapes with life in the coup the topples the Republic in the hands of Red Hands, a mafia-like organization.

The splintered Society starts to come together under the courage and bright political mind of Lysander au Lune, son of the previous Sovereign. The allies of Darrow, the Obsidians, fall under the charisma and sheer power of Volsung Fa, a new leader coming mysteriously from the Rim. Sevro and other Howlers, the backbone of Darrow’s intelligence arm, are caught prisoner by old enemies.

The only positives are that Darrow and Mustang are alive. Victra au Barca-Julii, wife of Sevro, is rebuilding her forces, despite losing her capital ship to the monstrous army of Volsung Fa. Mars stands still loyal to Darrow. Pax, Darrow and Mustang’s teenager son, starts to show a great future.

Again, the book shows super writing craftsmanship and an engaging plot. The vocabulary remains a jewel, making reading a fascinating discovery of new words and meanings. I understand the book has a separate vocabulary editor, a true master in his field.

Unlike other volumes, this one presents several points of view, not only Darrow’s. This makes the motivations of personages much clearer and adds depth to characters.

For some, the gore, the violence, the truly gruesome scenes make the book hard to read. It is truly a vision of dark times, where humanity lost its way and starts to break in little fiefdoms fighting with each other.

Overall, a great fifth book in the Red Rising series, with a true vision of dark ages.

Mortal Engines (Mortal Engines Quartet Book 1) – Philip Reeve

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“Crome smiles. “Do you really think I am so shortsighted?” he asks. “The Guild of Engineers plans further ahead than you suspect. London will never stop moving. Movement is life. When we have devoured the last wandering city and demolished the last static settlement we will begin digging. We will build great engines, powered by the heat of the earth’s core, and steer our planet from its orbit. We will devour Mars, Venus, and the asteroids. We shall devour the sun itself, and then sail on across the gulf of space. A million years from now our city will still be traveling, no longer hunting towns to eat, but whole new worlds!”

In a steampunk world, where cities are wandering the land using huge wheels and tracks, a boy becomes witness to the start of a new era. The focus of the book is the city of London, moving now on tracks over the land, swallowing smaller towns and looking for dominance in the new Municipal Darwinism.

In a steampunk dystopia, it’s town eat town world.

Thrown from London and thought dead, victim of fateful event, Tom, Third Class Apprentice to the Guild of Historians, is the protagonist of the story. His adventure brings him to air towns, baloons, pirate suburbs, anti-tractionists, who believe cities should not move, and encounters even cyborgs.

The story is creative, superbly written and the world created is truly a wonder. A film was released in 2018 following the book.

The book seems dedicated to young readers: the protagonist is a boy, many things that occur to him are due to simple luck and the story has many just-in-time moments. However, the intrigue is captivating and there is noir background to the adventure.

A great book to read, particularly for your readers.

Ready Player One – Ernest Cline

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I created the OASIS because I never felt at home in the real world. I didn’t know how to connect with the people there. I was afraid, for all of my life, right up until I knew it was ending. That was when I realized, as terrifying and painful as reality can be, it’s also the only place where you can find true happiness. Because reality is real.

This is a book with one of the most creative, nerd scifi narratives, exploring the possibilities of virtual reality in a dystopian close future world.

The book follows the story of Wade Watts, a normal teenager fully immersed in a virtual reality called OASIS (a kind of Sims), while the world is slowly decaying around him, economically and politically.

The creator of the OASIS, a multi-billionaire nerd, leaves  his entire fortune and ownership of the programme for the player who manages to pass his in-game trials. Obsessed by the 1980s culture, all trials are related to those years, with music, gaming and movie references. Hence, a 1980s renaissance takes place, billions of players being after this prize, an escape from the dying world around them. The protagonist is one of those seekers.

player-one-book
The seller of illusions

A rival company pours monumental resources with the same purpose of getting the prize and the ownership of this virtual reality. This company slowly develops as the antagonist of the story.

Five years have passed since the creator died and no progress was noticed on the scoreboard towards the prize, a scoreboard available for everyone to see. Until the Wade’s avatar makes the first breakthrough.

The story gradually gains pace. mingled with love, friendship, courage, real life tragedies and perseverance. It is a story that transforms the teenager into a man. It is a kind of a Harry Potter in a dystopian future, but without family references.

The virtual reality, OASIS, looks like a drug, people giving their life and freedom for a world where they can be anything they want to be. The real world is slowly decaying around them, civil duty (like voting) is neglected, allowing some form of slavery to exist. However, the message of the author is that the virtual reality cannot replace the real world: things like a kiss, a touch are unique and cannot to be replicated.

The book is catchy for everyone who played a computer game in their life, so I recommend it as a good reading. I couldn’t put the book down.

(Featured image by Andreas Dantz)

Blacksad – Juan Diaz Canales, Juanjo Guarnido

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Une étoile s’était éclipsée, abandonnant mon passé dans le noir, égaré quelque part entre les ombres. Et personne ne peut vivre sans son passé.

Là dehors se cachait le coupable de deux meurtres, au moins: celui d’une personne et celui de mes souvenirs.

Et ce salaud allait le payer.

Blacksad est une exceptionnelle série de bande dessinée, anthropomorphiste, en cinq volumes (2016) de Juan Díaz Canales (écrivant) et Juanjo Guarnido (dessinateur).

Blacksad, l’héro.

Le héro est John Blacksad, un chat noir, détective privé aux États-Unis dans les années 1950. L’atmosphère a l’empreinte d’un film noir et est parfaitement exprimé par les dessines. Le graphisme de Guarnido est monumental: les personnages animalières sont superbe choisis, la coloration à l’aquarelle donne un timbre spécial, précis et vivant au action.

Le dialogue est fluide, les mots sont bien choisi. La narration est souple, avec aucune bagage de mots inutile, une qualité rare dans la littérature. C’est un plaisir de lire les histoires de Blacksad, regarder les dessines et être part de cette atmosphère noir crée par Canales et Guarnido.

Les cinq volumes sont : Quelque part entre les ombres (2000); Arctic-Nation (2003); Âme rouge (2005); L’Enfer, le silence (2010) et Amarillo (2013).

John Blacksad n’a pas des qualités incroyable, exceptionnelles, mais il est honnête, courageux et obstiné. Blacksad est sombre et solitaire, mais il reste sociable. Le lecteur se peut identifié facilement avec le héro. Son ami est Weekly, une fouine, journaliste, très bien informé, qui partage les même valeurs, mais pas la même personnalité réservé que Blacksad. John travaille souvent avec  Smirnov, un berger allemand, commissaire de police, aussi honnête et incorruptible.

La intrigue est toujours fraiche, plaine des surprises, mais réaliste. Les options disponible pour le héro ne sont pas simple. Les volumes sont avec mafia, assassinats, racisme, femmes fatales, fume de cigares, anticommunisme. Chacun a une couleur dominante propre:  noir, blanc, rouge, bleu et jaune.

La série de bande dessinée Blacksad reste une ouvre d’art, qui je recommande de voir et lire.

[Feature photo: Photographies prises lors du Festival International de la BD de Sollies Ville by Esby from Wikimedia]

[Article photo by Galvi, flickr]

99 francs – Frédéric Beigbeder

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[…] Marronnier est un peu fini dans la profession mais à une époque c’était un sacré winner: Lions à Cannes, couverture de Stratégies, V Prix au Club des A.D… Il est l’auteur de plusieurs signatures assez connues: «ET VOUS, C’EST QUOI VOTRE TÉLÉPHONE?» pour Bouygues Telecom, «QUITTE A AIMER LE SON, AUTANT AVOIR L’IMAGE» pour MCM, «REGARDEZ-MOI DANS LES YEUX, J’Ai DIT LES YEUX» pour Wonderbra, «UNE PARTIE DE VOUS-MÊME EN MEURT D’ENVIE, L’AUTRE N’A QU’A FERMER SA GUEULE» pour Ford. La plus connue reste quand même «CAFÉ MAMIE. IL Y A SÛREMENT UN MEILLEUR CAFÉ. DOMMAGE QU’IL N’EXISTE PAS». Putain, ça semble facile mais fallait le trouver, plus c’est simple plus c’est compliqué à débusquer.

Le livre est en français, donc j’écrivais le revue dans la langue du livre que j’ai lu.

Le roman de flamboyant auteur Frédéric Beigbeder raconte une histoire de décadence dans la société de consommation actuelle, par la suite d’un épisode de la vie d’un directeur de publicité.

99francs
Une roman qui parle de consumérisme et décadence

L’auteur suggère que la publicité pousse les consommateurs à prendre des décisions qu’ils ne veulent pas nécessairement faire. Il se moque des corporations et rit de leur structure, considérée comme hypocrite et perfide. Alors que de nombreux idées socialistes, de gauche, sont clairement dans la veine de roman, la critique ne charge pas l’intrigue.

L’histoire se termine un peu décevant, avec un monde fantastique où les vedettes se cachent. Mais peut-être ca était toute l’idée de roman, je vais vous laisser découvrir.