"Neon Pray" Is Pretty Good But A Bit Of A Chase Novel

 

“Neon Prey” isn’t bad but it’s a bit of a chase novel. You know right away who the criminal is, and it’s up to John Sandford’s reoccurring hero, Lucas Devenport, to track him and his criminal friends down. It’s not all that different than other Devenport novels, except for the new location: Las Vegas. Most of Sandford’s novels take place in his hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota.

In this one, the gang of criminals are basically robbers, going around wealthy parts of Las Angles, threatening and robbing anyone unlucky enough to encounter them. What makes this group more sinister however, is a nasty twist. One of them is a cannibal, who has killed and eaten multiple people, including children. While the novel does spear us the graphic details of exactly how this cannibal committed his crimes, it does tell us what he did. He could be facing the death penalty if he is caught, and the other in the group face charges, but lesser ones.

This book is, like all Sandford thrillers, a solid page turner. If I was a little more critical, I would say Sandford introduces a ton of new cops and investigators in the new setting of Las Vegas, and it tends to feel like too many characters. I lost track, between the new good guys and the group of bad guys, who is who.

However, it’s still a good read. Sandford is one of our accessible thriller and mystery writers, and he will keep you turning those pages. I’ve been reading Sandford for a lot of years, and I still find his work a thrilling ride worth reading.

"Dragon Flight" Takes Flight

 

“Dragon Flight” by Anne McCaffrey is considered a classic of science fiction but reads more like a fantasy novel. It was originally a couple of novellas published in Analog, a classic award-winning science fiction magazine. “Dragon Flight” was compiled into a novel in 1968. I can see why McCaffrey is the first female author to win a Hugo and Nebula award. Her book is a strong epic science fiction with a strong female lead.

The book is very well written, but you should read it closely. It can be hard to follow at times, because of the large number of characters and situations going on. At under 300 pages, it’s not a long read. However, I found at times I had to go back and read previous pages.

McCaffrey does a good job juggling all the genres of this book. Dragons aren’t traditionally a science fiction element, but this book is technically science fiction. I was a bit reminded of Terry Brooks’s “Shannara” series, which is technically fantasy but has elements of science fiction at times, due to its futuristic setting. While I like the "Shannara” series, McCaffrey has more interesting prose than Brooks. Her writing can be lush and has been compared to the writing of Frank Herbert of “Dune” fame.

It’s been a while since I read an epic book like this, and though it’s not a long book, it is indeed epic. She wrote a bunch of sequels to this book, and I can see why. She sets up a lot of her world building in this novel. The planet, Pern, where this novel takes place, is a very complex world and has a whole society that is based on dragon riders, gender roles, and the protection dragons give to the planet.

I sometimes had to remind myself that the dragons weren’t human characters because we were hearing the dragon’s thoughts. However, as cool as the dragons were, the human characters are still the focus of the novel, as they try to make this society work, and make its protection work. I’m a big fan of the fantasy/scifi novels from the 60s, 70s, 80s and 90s and that old fashioned epic storytelling. This was a good read and I look forward to reading the many squeals.