Seizure

Tory Brennan and her friends Hi, Shelton and Ben are, along with wolf pup Cooper, the Virals; a psychically linked 'pack' who, as a result of exposure to an experimental virus have achieved, in addition to the aforementioned psychic link, heightened senses and varying degrees of super speed, strength and agility. Unfortunately they also seem to have gained a heightened ability to get themselves mixed up in weird and dangerous situations as well.

The first book in the Virals series; called, appropriately enough, Virals; told of how the gang got their powers, and their subsequent efforts to bring down the nasty scientists and mobsters responsible, whilst simultaneously keeping said powers secret. I mean, you would, wouldn't you? No-one likes being vivisected.

Book 2, Seizure, is having no truck with that though and sets about examining what the kids will do with their new abilities. Which, it turns out, is hunt for buried pirate treasure to fund their parents lab so they don't lose their homes and have to split up. So basically, The Goonies.

Reichs doesn't attempt to disguise the similarities, even going so far as to have characters mention the movie in conversation. But acknowledging an influence doesn't relieve you of guilt if you don't live up to it; if anything, I'd say it's quite the opposite; and this book in no way lives up to the legacy of said movie. Sadly, it's The Goonies with all the wit and charm replaced by stilted dialogue and science lessons.

Reichs can tell a story, that much should never be in doubt. The problem is that she can't tell this story. Her background is in forensic anthropology, and her 'day job' of remains identification; be it for disaster relief, war zone/genocide clear up or, ore often, law enforcement; is shared by the heroine of her 'adult' novels, Temperance Brennan. As such, Reichs' technical jargon and propensity for lecturing the reader in aspects of her discipline, sits easily in the context of those books. Of course coroners and cops and the like will talk in those terms. Teenagers, however scientifically minded, will not. There isn't a single character among the 'Virals' that comes across like an actual teen.

This could have been a thrilling adventure story. And when she lets herself go, it is; she's certainly capable of writing a decent action sequence. But it's too inconsistent, and all too often she falls into the trap of having her characters explain the plot to each other in a huge chunk of techno-babble. Suspension of disbelief becomes impossible.

Of course, I'm going to keep reading regardless. Not because I'm particularly enjoying the series but because I am still enjoying the Temperance Brennan books and, on an intellectual level, I'm eager to see how the two series co-exist. Reichs is playing a little bit fast and loose with the rules of fiction lately and I'm intrigued as to how she keeps it up.

Not only does she have Tory and her father sit down to watch Bones, a TV show based on novels which, one would assume, don't exist in their world, since they feature a member of their family as a fictional character (and Tory's father has actually appeared in a couple of them himself), but we also have the fact that both the Tempe and Tory Brennan books are existing in the same world; Tempe has mentioned her niece in her books, and Tory has asked her Aunt for help in the Virals books, but the Tempe books are straight thrillers with a hard science basis and the Virals books are, by their very nature, delving into the realms of sci-fi. How closely will she allow them to interact? And will she come a cropper because of it?

I'm not wishing for her to fail. Far from it in fact; I thoroughly enjoy her adult books and genuinely hope she finds a more distinctive voice for her YA work. I just don't think she will.

Vampire Diaries: The Return

Since comparing the Vampire Diaries books to the TV show has become pointless, I have no easy method to disguise my thoughts on them. So, I must bite the bullet and give a straight opinion of the books, in and of themselves. It may not be pretty.

The second series of The Vampire Diaries books, called The Return because there is no lazy cliche to which L. J. Smith will not stoop, is comprised of the novels Nightfall, Shadow Souls, and Midnight. They are none of them very good.

To Smith's credit, she has opted to widen the setting of these books considerably, fleshing out the history and deepening the mythology of her fictional world, when it must have been oh so very tempting to churn out more of the same. Parallel worlds, heavenly 'police', an order of vampire hunters, vicious animal spirits... there is an awful lot going on here, that in the hands of a decent writer could have produced something a bit good. Sadly, in the decades since the first series Smith has not a better writer become. All the annoying little tics that blemished her earlier works are still present and correct, not least the ridiculous need to stop the plot every few pages so the girls can debate the relative 'hotness' of various characters and of course her insistence on using terms no self respecting human would ever utter in real conversation. We know that Meredith and Alaric are 'engaged to be engaged' because characters use that very phrase EVERY SINGLE TIME the couple are mentioned.

"Did you hear about thingy and wotsit?"

"No, what about them?"

"Oh, they're engaged to be engaged! It's ever so romantic."

"Engaged to be engaged, you say? That's ever such big news!"

"I know! Engaged to be engaged!"

You think I'm mocking. There are numerous conversations, exactly as banal as that, throughout these books. It's annoying as hell.

Terrible writing aside though, there is actually a lot to like in the story. Certainly, if the TV show writers were looking for new villains to displace the increasingly tired Originals they could do a lot worse than check out the Kitsune demons seen here. Petty and spiteful their motives may seem at first glance but that doesn't stop the effects of their actions from being truly horrific in places. Indeed, some of the acts of self-mutilation they inspire in those they influence are nothing short of disgusting. Make no mistake, there is some really nasty stuff in here.

Of course, tradition dictates that the story must end on a pathetic cop-out, and sure enough Smith doesn't disappoint. The out of nowhere resurrection of Elena at the end of the first series, which occurs without any explanation and essentially renders the drama of the climax meaningless is actually beaten here by the lead characters essentially asking an angel for a do-over and the angel saying yes. So NOTHING BAD THAT HAS HAPPENED IN THE LAST 7! BOOKS MATTERS! It's couched in slightly more complicated terms than that, but the bottom line is, angels fix all the boo-boos. It's an insult, ladies and gentlemen.

So, the story is an improvement over the first, at least until the end, but the writing is as crappy as ever. The question now becomes, how will the third series compare? Smith herself has been fired from the series by the publishers, though you'd never know it from the covers, and a ghost writer is penning them. Can we expect to see an improvement, or will this new pen be even worse, as difficult as that is to conceive? We'll have to wait and see, won't we?