tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-45399856567754824922024-03-19T01:48:13.833-07:00Brightdreamer's Book ReviewsBook reviews by a book readerBrightdreamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11865613230041222153noreply@blogger.comBlogger1707125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539985656775482492.post-37502657607427323252024-03-15T15:47:00.000-07:002024-03-15T15:47:14.456-07:00A Night in the Lonesome October (Roger Zelazny)<b><span style="font-size: large;">A Night in the Lonesome October</span></b><br />
<b>Roger Zelazny<br />
William Morrow and Company<br />
Fiction, Horror/Humor<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">***</span> (Okay)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> Full moons have power, as does the night of Halloween. When the two coincide, great and terrible things may happen... depending on who involves themselves, and whether they stand for preserving the world or opening doorways to elder gods who may destroy everything. The dog Snuff, loyal familiar of cursed sorcerer Jack, has been through these events more than once in his long life, but this year's convergence in the English countryside already has unusual hallmarks, drawing all manner of strange characters and their own animal familiars. Before, Jack and his allies have managed to keep the elder entities at bay, but this time, dangerous newcomers are violating nearly every rule and custom to ensure that they fail, and even a loyal familiar like Snuff may not be able to save the day.
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<b>REVIEW:</b> This is one of those classics I keep meaning to get to, generally at a more seasonably-appropriate time (this being a very springlike mid-March, with the novel taking place over the 31 days of October), but it's understandably harder to secure the audiobook though the library in autumn. In any event, I'm not sure if it would've been notably improved by the proper atmosphere, for while the prose could be amusing and there are some very interesting and imaginative ideas and images at play, the whole starts feeling less like its own horror tale and more like a fanfic mashup of various gothic figures familiar from page and silver screen, to the point of distracting absurdity.<br />
The narrator, Snuff, makes allusions to the histories of himself, his master (who, though never explicitly named, is clearly Jack the Ripper as well as a very long-lived sorcerer), and the October ritual that may or may not end the world. When not protecting his master on nightly jaunts for spell ingredients, he's protecting the master from various entities contained in various parts of their home (such as the "Thing in the Circle" that keeps trying to tempt Snuff to free it by transforming into various exotic lady canines, and the often-threatening "Thing in the Wardrobe" up in the attic) and keeping an eye on the other local "players" in the coming "game". As part of the latter duties, he develops professional relationships with the other masters' and mistresses' familiars that range from friendly to antagonistic; the cat Greymalk, familiar of local "mad" witch Jill, is perhaps his closest friend, even when they realize that their keepers are destined to stand on opposite sides of the conflict.<br />At first, Snuff views it all with a certain weary familiarity. This isn't his first supernatural rodeo, after all. But when dead bodies turn up near his house, a wild card turns up in the form of a neighbor with a wolfish secret who may or may not be a player, and other oddities (such as a detective and his portly companion poking their noses into things) shake that complacency, Snuff starts feeling his first sense that maybe master Jack won't come out on the winning side come the end of October. The strongest parts of the story are Snuff's interactions with his fellow familiars, underlings with their own agendas that may or may not coincide with the humans they serve. The humans, on the other hand... despite what Hollywood and many comic book "multiverses" seem to insist, there are only so many disparate "worlds" and rules one can throw together before it just starts getting a bit ridiculous. Here, there's Jack the Ripper, Count Dracula (who keeps a company of stereotype "Gypsy" followers, not the only trace of unfortunate dating in the book), Sherlock Holmes and Watson, Larry Talbot (the Wolfman), Doctor Frankenstein and Igor and the Creature, and numerous others I didn't recognize off the top of my head but which were clearly lifted from other works. They draw too much attention to themselves and clutter the game board until the game itself is almost an afterthought. As a result, the climax feels weirdly muted, too surreal to even begin to care about the stakes or who wins or loses, with a bit of a deus ex machina thrown in the middle. The ending just kind of shrugs the whole thing off with a glib final line that doesn't even fit what we readers were told earlier about the consequences for whoever loses the contest (not really a spoiler if there's not really a point).<br />This is the second swing-and-miss for Zelazny for me, so I'm pretty sure he's just not an author I'm equipped to really enjoy, for all that I can appreciate some of the writing and the concepts.
He may be an inspiration to many in the genre, but for me I fear he's just too dated and not my cup of cocoa.<br /><br />
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<b>The Improbable Adventures of Sherlock Holmes</b> (John Joseph Adams, editor) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/abc/abooks/adamsjohnjoseph.html#improbable">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>At the Mountains of Madness</b> (Howard Phillips Lovecraft) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/jkl/lbooks/lovecrafthowardphillips.html#madness">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>Forever After</b> (Roger Zelazny, creator) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/wxyz/zbooks/zelaznyroger.html#after">My Review</a></b>Brightdreamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11865613230041222153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539985656775482492.post-26945036796093110412024-03-14T19:41:00.000-07:002024-03-14T19:41:02.939-07:00The Lost Words (Robert Macfarlane)<b>The Lost Words</b><br>
<b>Robert Macfarlane<br>
Anansi International<br>
Fiction, CH Poetry<br>
***+ (Okay/Good)</b>
<br>
<br>
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> When the <i>Oxford Children's Dictionary</i> was updated in 2007, several words were removed as no longer relevant to young readers, replaced with more modern terms related to technology. <i>Acorn</i>, <i>newt</i>, <i>raven</i>, <i>willow</i>... their loss hinted at a loss of nature, a loss of connection to the green world beyond the classroom. With these poems inspired by the missing words, Robert Macfarlane hopes to reforge that connection and spark the sense of wonder that the natural world can bring, even in the internet age.
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<b>REVIEW:</b> This is a case where the presentation - in this case, the audiobook - had a distinct impact on the rating. The poems themselves are decent, if a bit variable in quality and content. (I also wonder how much a kid who didn't already know and appreciate nature - particularly the nature of the English countryside - would get out of some of them.) But the audiobook insisted on inserting long lulls between the poems full of birdsong and natural sounds. They comprised at least a third of the total runtime; I timed more than one as longer than the accompanying poem. There's adding atmosphere, and there's just plain overkill... I think this one would work better in the original format, as a picture book with illustrations by Jackie Morris, but as I listened to the audiobook, it's the audiobook version I must review.<br>
(As a closing note, I wonder why the original word definitions weren't included, either with the poems or in an afterword. Wasn't half the point to re-introduce those words to children's vocabulary?)
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<b>Imagine a World</b> (Rob Gonsalves) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/ghi/gbooks/gonsalvesrob.html#world">My Review</a></b><br>
<b>Being a Beast</b> (Charles Foster) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/def/fbooks/fostercharles.html#beast">My Review</a></b><br>
<b>The Dream of the Thylacine</b> (Margaret Wild) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/wxyz/wbooks/wildmargaret.html#dream">My Review</a></b>Brightdreamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11865613230041222153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539985656775482492.post-16863054007454698922024-03-14T19:16:00.000-07:002024-03-14T19:16:52.265-07:00The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity (Mac Barnett)<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity</span></b><br />
<i>The Brixton Brothers series, Book 1</i><br />
<b>Mac Barnett<br />
Simon and Schuster<br />
Fiction, MG Humor/Mystery<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">****</span> (Good)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> Steve Brixton may just be a kid, but he already knows what he wants to be when he grows up: a private detective. He already knows everything he needs to know about sleuthing and catching criminals thanks to his favorite book series, the Bailey Brothers, and their handy guide for aspiring young detectives, <i>The Bailey Brothers' Detective Handbook</i>. All he needs is a case to get him started... but he never expected to stumble into one thanks to his social studies class, of all things, and certainly not researching the history of American needlework for an eight-page essay (due Monday). When he tries to check out the town library's only book on the subject, all heck breaks loose. Suddenly, he's on the run from both the librarians - really a secret society of elite agents that makes the FBI look like Cub Scouts - and the law, with everyone convinced he's an undercover private eye working for a mysterious figure known only as Mr. E. The only way to prove he's not a real detective is to find Mr. E for himself - a dangerous caper that might stump even the famed Bailey Brothers.
<br /><br />
<b>REVIEW:</b> A tongue-in-cheek riff on boy detective series like the Hardy Boys, <i>The Case of the Case of Mistaken Identity</i> pits a young would-be detective against intentionally over-the-top baddies in a twisty, turny plot that both leans on and tweaks familiar tropes. Steve thinks he has what it takes to be a real, live crime fighter, and even outsmarts his mother's new cop boyfriend by cracking a burglary at the dinner table, Encyclopedia Brown style (not that the man believes him, or appreciates the boy showing him up). But it's one thing to read about the fictional Bailey Brothers stalking smugglers and dodging gunfire, and a whole different thing altogether when armed men are breaking through the library windows hunting him down for trying to check out an old book on quilts. Still, Steve has his notebook, his mail-order official Bailey Brothers detective badge, his handbook for young detectives, and even his magnifying glass (which is apparently a vital accessory to any private eye, though he only figures out a use for it later on), and it's not like he has a choice about taking the case when the case is literally dropped in his lap... and when failure means either being hauled off to jail as a national traitor or taken away to a secret compound by the shadow organization of librarians, which might be even worse. Of course, one thing he knows from his reading is that every good detective has a "chum", or partner, though his best friend Dana isn't exactly thrilled to be drug into the role of sidekick, and even less thrilled by Steve calling him "chum" all the time, which in a modern coastal town is more often associated with fish bait than with partnership (the Bailey Brothers aren't exactly a modern duo). Through a combination of pluck, cleverness, sheer luck, and beneficial failures, not to mention a handbook that sometimes is more hindrance than help, Steve manages to make his way through the tale, though not without several setbacks and contusions. The whole manages to be amusing, delivering chuckles and thrills and intentional ridiculousness.
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<b>The Library of Ever</b> (Zeno Alexander) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/abc/abooks/alexanderzeno.html#ever">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>Write This Book: A Do-It-Yourself Mystery</b> (Pseudonymous Bosch) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/abc/bbooks/boschpseudonymous.html#write">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>Alcatraz Versus the Evil Librarians</b> (Brandon Sanderson) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/stuv/sbooks/sandersonbrandon.html#evil">My Review</a></b>Brightdreamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11865613230041222153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539985656775482492.post-706386733274189162024-03-13T17:10:00.000-07:002024-03-13T20:44:53.443-07:00The Neanderthals Rediscovered (Dimitra Papagianni and Michael A. Morse)<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Neanderthals Rediscovered: How Modern Science is Rewriting Their Story</span></b><br />
<b>Dimitra Papagianni and Michael A. Morse<br />
Thames and Hudson<br />
Nonfiction, Anthropology/Archaeology<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">***+</span> (Okay/Good)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> Neanderthal. Caveman. Ever since the first discoveries of primitive hominins and early reconstructions, these terms have been tossed around as pejoratives, expressing brutish stupidity and dinosaur-like obsolescence. The proof, of course, is that <i>Homo sapiens</i> has survived to invent the very archaeology that renders our extinct relatives as inferiors. If we weren't smarter, weren't stronger, weren't faster and more clever and overall just plain better and more blessed beings, we'd be the bones in the caves and they'd be the ones excavating our tools and wondering about us, right? In recent years, new discoveries and investigative techniques have upended nearly everything we thought we knew about <i>Homo neanderthalensis</i>, the iconic "caveman" relatives who once spread across Europe and Asia before disappearing into the mists of time. Just what were Neanderthals like? Where did they come from and why did they vanish... and is there anything other than old bones and stone tools left of them today? And, given what we've learned, is it really fair or accurate to treat their name as a synonym for stupidity?
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<b>REVIEW:</b> In the foreword, the authors mention that the book was supposed to have gone to press earlier than it did (in 2015), but that various factors ended up holding it up... and even in that brief delay, much of what they'd written had to be rewritten, or at least adjusted, to account for new discoveries, breakthroughs, and theories. I can only imagine where things stand in the scientific community in 2024. Even when it was published, though, it was clear that popular cultural images of the Neanderthal as a knuckle-dragging, club-swinging, misogynistic monster was about as accurate as the Flintstones in depicting our prehistoric ancestors and relatives. From missteps in early reconstruction and investigations to biases on race (and species), the history of prehistoric investigations has wended its way slowly and circuitously toward something approaching the truth, though of course we probably will never know the whole truth unless time travel becomes a thing (and fiction informs us that that's frankly more trouble than it's probably worth). The authors recount both the history (as understood) of the human/hominin diaspora that created Neanderthals, early "modern" humans, and other relatives known and unknown, and the history of discoveries and theories that have shaped our understanding of our lost kin. Sometimes the recitations can feel a bit dry and technical, and once in a while it seemed they were dismissing or downplaying hypotheses and ideas without really getting into why, but overall it paints a fascinating, if naturally (sometimes frustratingly) incomplete, picture of a lost species that was far more like us than many H. sapiens are comfortable admitting... for if we allow that Neanderthals were also capable of many of the things we think of as exclusively ours, that they were not obviously or inherently lesser beings, we might have to consider that we, too, could follow them into oblivion with the next roll of the evolutionary dice.
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<b>The Smart Neanderthal</b> (Clive Finlayson) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/def/fbooks/finlaysonclive.html#smart">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>Last Ape Standing</b> (Chip Walter) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/wxyz/wbooks/walterchip.html#ape">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>Paleofantasy</b> (Marlene Zuk) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/wxyz/zbooks/zukmarlene.html#paleo">My Review</a></b>
Brightdreamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11865613230041222153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539985656775482492.post-32784886112676133022024-03-12T11:25:00.000-07:002024-03-12T12:10:44.627-07:00The Art of Prophecy (Wesley Chu)<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Art of Prophecy</span></b><br />
<i>The War Arts Saga, Book 1</i><br />
<b>Wesley Chu<br />
Del Rey<br />
Fiction, Fantasy/Humor<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">****</span> (Good)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> It was the prophecy that founded a religion, that gave the beleaguered nations hope, that justified exorbitant expenditures of time, effort, and cold hard liang coins once the child was found: the Prophecized Hero of the Tiandi and Champion of the Five Under Heaven, who would rise to slay the Immortal Khan of the Grass Sea and end the relentless raids of those barbaric Katuian people upon civilized Zhuun lands. Thus was young Jian raised in a luxurious palace, surrounded by bodyguards and servants catering to every whim, trained by the best war artists in every possible manner of combat... and utterly incapable of winning a fight against so much as a child, let alone the Khan. Aging windwhisper Taishi, long past her prime, despairs when she discovers how spoiled the hero-to-be has become, how greed and corruption have turned his training into a mockery. She determines to do her best to salvage the situation - until the Immortal Khan is killed by someone else, rendering the prophecy obsolete and Jian a political liability.<br />
Jian doesn't understand it. As far back as he can recall, he's been the glorified chosen one. He's learned everything his exalted masters have taught him, struck every pose perfect as a painting, won every practice match he's ever been in - and never questioned why. Only the one-armed old hag of a war artist who plucks air currents like harp strings doubts his prowess... but when the very people who once praised him try to kill him in his own garden, only that old hag defends him, whisking him away from Mute Men assassins and bounty-hungry shadowkills. Faced with the very real possibility that not only was his entire life a lie but that he may not actually be a good war artist, Jian finds himself staring into a bleak future... but the prophecy may not be quite as obsolete as everyone believes, and the Champion of the Five Under Heaven may yet be needed to save the land.<br />
The Viperstrike warrior Sali has served the moving cities of the Grass Sea and the Immortal Khan himself with unwavering loyalty. She even bears a piece of his Will within her, a fragment of soul that beckons her when the Khan's too-mortal body is struck down. Tradition compels her to lay down her life, to return that fragment of the Khan's will that it may be reborn in a new body... but with the land-chained Zhuun armies destroying her people, Sali defies her sacred duty to become a Soul Seeker, to find the Khan's new vessel and unite the Grass Sea against the enemy. Once she has found him, she'll gladly die and return his piece of soul to him - but destiny may have another fate in mind for the warrior.<br />
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<b>REVIEW:</b> Warriors who can step through shadows or ride upon winds or even blur time, a "sea" of moving, living plants where cities rove upon great wheels, a prophecy that appears to have ruined more than it promised to save, and a collection of characters left to pick up the pieces and figure out what went wrong and why nothing seems to be going right... Chu blends magical martial arts with a well-imagined world and flawed yet interesting characters in this amusing epic adventure<br />Starting with Taishi discovering just how far astray the coddled would-be hero has been led by advisors and trainers more interested in their own glorification (and purses) than with saving Zhuun from the Immortal Khan's people, the tale takes several surprising turns. Jian, naturally, undergoes some much-needed growing up by being literally chased out of the lap of luxury and into the harsh reality beyond the palace walls... not quite as much growing up as one might expect by the end, in some ways, but he is still young and has a lot of botched upbringing to erase before he can truly become anything like a proper hero. Taishi, for her part, sees just enough promise in the boy to keep from giving up on him - just as she's not convinced that it's the prophecy that failed, a journey that leads her to the heart of the Tiandi religion and some surprising revelations, not to mention some new allies and enemies along the way. Steadfast warrior Sali of the Grass Sea has dedicated herself fully to her people and her Khan - especially when a childhood best friend became the new incarnation of the Katuian ruler after the previous one passed away. She eats, sleeps, and breathes tradition... yet finds herself defying not only the shamans but her own soul's pull toward death when she decides that she can serve the Grass Sea better by finding the new Khan amid the postwar chaos than by committing suicide in the temple - the first of many clashes she'll encounter with truths and rules she once considered as solid and unquestionable as the sun and three moons in the heavens. Further complications come from Quisimi, an ambitious (if not entirely mentally stable) shadowkill mercenary who means to make a name for herself and her crew by taking down the ex-hero and his traitor protector, the windwhisper war artist Taishi. They all have their parts to play in the unfolding saga, all facing conflicts that force them to reexamine their loyalties and beliefs and long-unquestioned assumptions.<br />The tale moves decently enough, with plenty of action, many exciting fight sequences and fascinating settings, some emotion and drama, and more than a touch of humor throughout, though sometimes it feels like it's not quite covering as much ground as it seems it should be given the page count, if that makes any sense. I wasn't entirely certain I'd read over five hundred pages worth of story when I reached the end, for all that I generally enjoyed it and look forward to where the saga goes from here.
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<b>The Blacktongue Thief</b> (Christopher Buehlman) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/abc/bbooks/buehlmanchristopher.html#thief">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>The Lives of Tao</b> (Wesley Chu) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/abc/cbooks/chuwesley.html#lives">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>Jade City</b> (Fonda Lee) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/jkl/lbooks/leefonda.html#city">My Review</a></b>Brightdreamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11865613230041222153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539985656775482492.post-16549010618621444462024-03-06T17:47:00.000-08:002024-03-12T11:53:51.490-07:00Whales on Stilts (M. T. Anderson)<b><span style="font-size: large;">Whales on Stilts</span></b><br />
<i>A Pals in Peril Tale, Book 1</i><br />
<b>M. T. Anderson<br />
Beach Lane Books<br />
Fiction, MG Action/Humor/Sci-Fi<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">****+</span> (Good/Great)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> Twelve-year-old Lily Gefelty is nobody's idea of a heroine. She spends most of her life hiding behind her bangs, as good as invisible... but being invisible means she notices things others miss. So when she goes to work with her dad for Career Day, she notices something amiss with the place - inside an abandoned warehouse (in the abandoned warehouse district of town) and protected by armed guards - and with the boss - Larry, a strange man who always wears a burlap sack on his head, rubber gloves on his hands, and has a strange habit of dumping seawater on his face for lunch. She's also not too sure about the outfit's business plan, though her father insists it's just an ordinary business dedicated to building stilts (and other accessories) for whales. Lily, though, is certain that Larry is a mad scientist trying to take over the world... a certainty that only becomes stronger when Larry tells Lily and her father that he's going to take over the world this coming Tuesday.<br />
Lily doesn't know what to do with this information, or how to stop it. She's just the girl nobody notices, not the girl who saves the day. Fortunately, she has two best friends who are famous for saving days: Kate Mulligan, whose exploits surviving monster attacks in Horror Hollow (a suburb off Route 666) have landed her a book series and fan club, and Jasper Dash, boy technonaut, whose steam-powered contraptions and science-based adventures used to have a far greater following (though he still has a lucrative endorsement from Gargletine breakfast drinks). But it's going to take more than Kate and Jasper to stop Larry's evil schemes. It's going to take a new heroine to step up... a heroine like Lily Gefelty.
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<b>REVIEW:</b> The title promises over-the-top silliness in the vein of old implausible serials and kid adventurer tales, and the story delivers on that promise in full and then some. Part Lemony Snickett, part <i>Goosebumps</i>, part homage to/satire of logic-light but action-heavy adventure series the likes of which date back well over a century, this is the kind of book that only works if the author fully commits to the gimmick, leans all their weight on the gas pedal, and puts every needle in the red, start to finish, which Anderson gleefully does. The fourth wall gets so many holes in it it's practically a window, which can be a tough trick to pull off but works here. (Some of the humor seemed aimed a little over the heads of the target reader, to the grown-ups reading along - or, like me, reading entirely on our own - not in a crude way, but referencing experiences and cultural knowledge the average youngster likely just doesn't have or hasn't been exposed to yet.) The main characters, despite their inherent exaggeration and silliness, make for a fun trio bonded by genuine friendship, each pulling their weight (even if they're sometimes hampered by the tropes that created them; Jasper Dash's clunky gear-and-steamwork gadgetry was all the rage back in the heyday of his serials and peak Gargletine sales, but is more than a little outdated in the cell phone era, while Kate is often shadowed by a trio of ghostwriters who crank out even more exaggerated versions of her exaggerated exploits so fast they often hit stores before the exploit itself has concluded). That friendship forms an emotional core that makes the story more than a collection of gags and winks, pulling all the elements together to be even stronger than the sum of the parts. The author often intrudes to skip over boring or repetitive parts or add the odd flashback or commentary, plus more than a few one-liners and asides. At the end of the wild adventure, which naturally leaves the door open for future installments (like any good serial), is a "study guide" for classrooms and book groups written by an expert... a guide that reveals far more about the expert's issues than the book it purports to examine. The fact that I was prompted to snicker out loud at work multiple times while listening to this story kicks it above four stars. I'm not sure if I need to follow the Pals in Peril tales further - this feels like a gimmick that, while hilarious once, might not be able to carry more installments without getting stale or repeating itself - but I'd be game to try at least one more.
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<b>The Name of This Book is Secret</b> (Pseudonymous Bosch) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/abc/bbooks/boschpseudonymous.html#name">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians</b> (Brandon Sanderson) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/stuv/sbooks/sandersonbrandon.html#evil">My Review</a></b><br />
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Brightdreamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11865613230041222153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539985656775482492.post-18069207699410239772024-03-06T16:56:00.000-08:002024-03-06T16:56:15.229-08:00The Dragons at Crumbling Castle (Terry Pratchett)<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Dragons at Crumbling Castle: And Other Tales</span></b><br />
<b>Terry Pratchett<br />
Clarion Books<br />
Fiction, CH? Collection/Fantasy/Humor<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">****</span> (Good)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> One of King Arthur's least promising knights leads a quest to rid Crumbling Castle of a dragon infestation... a race of tiny people, so small they can dwell upon a speck of dust, explore the wild universe within a living room... a boring prince sets out to seek his fortune... an ordinary bus trip takes an extraordinary turn through time... This volume collects fourteen stories written by the legendary author Sir Terry Pratchett.
<br /><br />
<b>REVIEW:</b> Long before Discworld debuted and changed the course of fantasy and satire, Terry Pratchett was a teenage journalist who penned numerous little confections like the ones collected here. Some, such as the "carpet people" tales, revisit the same settings and a few of the same characters - those stories would eventually inspire his first published novel, <i>The Carpet People</i> - but many of the rest are just light, often silly amusements. Even then, there are traces of Pratchett's later, more signature style and wit, and every story brims with imagination. If there aren't really any girl characters of note, and if there are hints of some racial stereotypes now and again, well, not only was the author just a teenager, but the stories were written in emulation of older fairy stories, adventure yarns, and once-upon-a-time tales that shared similar blind spots. The whole may not be up to the lofty heights Pratchett would later reach, but are certainly enjoyable and entertaining for what they are.
<br /><br />
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<b>The Bromeliad Trilogy</b> (Terry Pratchett) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/pqr/pbooks/pratchettterry.html#truckers">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>Book of Enchantments</b> (Patricia C. Wrede) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/wxyz/wbooks/wredepatriciac.html#enchantments">My Review</a></b>
Brightdreamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11865613230041222153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539985656775482492.post-40531460657982747102024-02-29T18:44:00.000-08:002024-02-29T18:44:32.281-08:00February Site UpdateLast day of a short month, and February's eight reviews are now archived and cross-linked on the <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/index.html">main Brightdreamer Books site</a></b>.<br>
<br>
Enjoy!Brightdreamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11865613230041222153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539985656775482492.post-89290784037024546202024-02-23T15:25:00.000-08:002024-02-23T18:54:22.395-08:00How to Survive Your Murder (Danielle Valentine)<b><span style="font-size: large;">How to Survive Your Murder</span></b><br />
<b>Danielle Valentine<br />
Razorbill<br />
Fiction, YA Thriller<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">*+</span> (Terrible/Bad)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> Halloween night, partying teens, a corn maze in Omaha... if anyone recognizes the ingredients to a horror movie, it's Alice Lawrence. The high school junior is obsessed with slasher films, and she and her two best friends are even contemplating starting a podcast about survival lessons one can learn from the "final girl" survivors of Hollywood killers. That's why she doesn't follow her older sister Claire into the maze. But Alice never expected to see her own sister stabbed in front of her eyes among the cornstalks.<br />
One year later, at the trial, a strange woman turns up, implying that maybe Alice didn't see what she thought she saw... that maybe the man on trial is not the real culprit. Alice has been hearing this throughout the hellish year since the worst night of her life, a year in which everything - her dreams of college, her family, even her seemingly-unbreakable friendships - all went to Hell. She knows what she saw, and who she saw. But when Alice hits her head in the courthouse bathroom, she wakes up on that terrible Halloween night - and, this time, she's in the corn maze with her sister. This time, the murder doesn't happen... but another girl dies.<br />
Alice has until midnight to unravel the mystery of what really happened in that corn maze. If she succeeds, she may save the life of her sister, but if she fails, she goes back to the future where Claire is dead and her life isn't worth living. With a murderer stalking the streets of Omaha, she'll have to use every trick she learned from her favorite movies to stay alive - but movies aren't reality, and being the final girl may take more than Alice can muster.
<br /><br />
<b>REVIEW:</b> This book wants to be a self-aware thriller in the vein of the <i>Scream</i> franchise (and numerous others), where a teen girl thinks she knows how to survive a horror movie situation only to discover that what looks easy when you're shouting at a character on a screen - <i>Don't put down the knife! Don't go into the basement! Don't split up! Just run, already!</i> - is much more difficult when it's you stumbling over bodies and stalked by a killer or facing the realization that the monster may wear a very familiar face. It really, wants to be that. But either this is an exceptionally meta take on that concept, or Alice really is too ridiculously stupid to be a final girl. I lost track of how many times she stood there, frozen, because fear flooded through her/locked her legs/killed her voice/fill in the descriptor to explain why she doesn't actually do anything useful, or anything at all. She also is a remarkably inept investigator (if what she does counts remotely as an "investigation"), not really thinking through any of the wild conclusions she leaps upon almost at random. I kept thinking of the opening sequence to the parody <i>Scary Movie</i> (the only remotely amusing part of that film, in my opinion), where the girl kept being presented with choices and always took the wrong one: finding a table full of weapons such as a gun and a grenade, she confidently grabs a banana, and when she flees and comes to a fork with signs pointing to Freedom and Certain Death, she hardly pauses before racing to the latter... only this wasn't a parody or an opening sequence, it was the whole of the book, as Alice repeatedly grabs bananas and keeps tripping on her way down the wrong path. The plot helpfully leads her around by her nose, a nose that's often practically pushed into solutions time and again that Alice refuses to see (in addition to freezing up at almost any stressor, she also adopts the winning survival tactic of closing her eyes, because anyone in a survival situation knows that what you don't see can't hurt you). The real culprit's obvious by the halfway point, and most of the distractions and jump-scares feel manipulative and telegraphed even to someone who doesn't watch a ton of slasher movies. There are numerous things that just plain don't make sense by the end, as well as a few last-minute twists that I won't get into for spoiler reasons but which dropped it to the rating it received.<br />(As a closing note, I still maintain that <i>Shriek If You Know What I Did Last Friday the 13th</i> was a much funnier horror parody than <i>Scary Movie</i>, and that's a hill I'm willing to die on.)<br /><br />
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<i>The Legends of the First Empire series, Book 2</i><br />
<b>Michael J. Sullivan<br />
Del Rey<br />
Fiction, Fantasy<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">****</span> (Good)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> Once, the humans of Rhuneland looked to the Fhrey as gods, and godlike indeed they seemed to be: tall, elegant, often living three thousand years, masters of all manner of unknowable arts, and bearing both unstoppable metal blades and unbeatable magicks. That was before the coming of the God Killer, the young man Raithe who, helped by an escaping slave, killed a Fhrey lord. He fled to the walled hilltop village of Dhal Rhen, and it was here that humans, a band of renegade outcast Fhrey, a friendly giant, and a young mystic girl who had somehow learned the trick of elven magic threw back the forces of Fane Lothian of the Forest Throne.<br />
That insult will not be allowed to stand unchallenged.<br />
When the fane's reprisal levels the village and calls for genocide against the whole human race, Raithe, newly risen clan leader Persephone, and the rest of Dhal Rhen's surviving citizens flee southward. There, Persephone means to do something no chieftain has managed before: unite all the human clans, even the wild northern warriors, under one keening. It's their only chance against the coming war. But they'll need more than numbers and a leader to win against Fhrey magic and Fhrey weapons. There's not much they can do about the former - only the wildborn girl Suri has ever managed Fhrey-like magic - but the latter may have a solution, across the waters in the stony halls of the dwarfs. But they are a mistrustful race that already lost a war with the elven Fhrey, and handing over armaments to humans will almost certainly bring the wrath of the fane down upon them again. It will take daring, cleverness, bravery, and more than a little deception to get them to part with their treasures.<br />
Meanwhile, back in the Fhrey capital, Prince Manwyndule, the spoiled son of Lothian, chafes under the thumb of a father who still sees him as a child. He longs to exact revenge upon the whole of the human race for striking down his friend and mentor at the battle of Dhal Rhen, even as he seethes over how his former teacher turned traitor to help the upstarts. When he encounters a secret society of other young men and women of his kind who feel, as he does, that the magic-wielding Miralyith tribe are truly the superior of all the Fhrey, akin to the gods themselves, and should be worshiped as such, he faces choices and temptations that could deliver everything he dreams of - or turn into his worst nightmare.
<br /><br />
<b>REVIEW:</b> This year, I'm making a conscious effort to follow through on some series I keep telling myself I'll get back to "someday". Having enjoyed Sullivan's <i>Age of Myth</i> (despite not having previously read any of his Riyria books, which this series is evidently a prequel to), I figured this is one of those "get back to it" series worth following up on. I was also in the mood for a nice epic fantasy. Fortunately, this book both scratched that epic itch and lived up to the first volume, making for an enjoyable read (or listen, this being another audiobook).<br />
It picks up more or less where the previous book left off - just as Fhrey magic (and attacking giants) deliver the fane's answer to the battle in the previous book, with lightning and hail and tornadoes. In the aftermath, with barely one stone left atop another in what was Dhal Rhen, chieftain Persephone - who, by chance, encountered a trio of dwarfs while fleeing for her life - only grows more determined that the only way to save her people is to rally the rest of her species against the Fhrey. Several familiar faces return, with a few new ones picked up along the way, as the clan treks southward to the coastal village of Dhal Tirre... but what they find is not the welcome they had hoped, and uniting the clans seems almost impossible from the start, even without the fractious northern clans involved (yet). It doesn't help that most won't take her seriously as a chieftain because of her gender. They'd rather have the God Killer, Raithe, as their keening... but he still rejects all efforts to drop big responsibilities onto his shoulders. As far as he's concerned, the war is already as good as lost: few among the humans even have so much as copper blades, no match at all for the bronze of the Fhrey, even disregarding the problems presented by Fhrey magic. Persephone, however, refuses to give up, a drive that leads her into the forbidden stronghold of the dwarfs with a group of young women, the Fhrey woman Arion (still endeavoring to teach the young mystic Suri how to use her unexpected abilities), and the trio she met earlier, who were not as honest as perhaps they should have been about what awaits the humans. Meanwhile, back among the Fhrey, the spoiled young princeling seethes at still being treated like the child he so often behaves like, making him the perfect patsy when targeted by schemers with their own ideas on the future of the ancient race.<br />
As before, the story doesn't have too much down time, moving along almost from the first page with plenty of action and intrigue, punctuated by moments of emotion and humor and wonder. As in the first volume, there are familiar tropes at play, but for the most part they're interesting and work here, though some of the side characters can feel a bit flat. Overall, though, it makes for a solid continuation of the series, retaining that nice, old-school epic fantasy feel and sense of wonder without feeling at all stale. I'll be looking forward to the third installment.
<br /><br />
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<b>The Elvenbane</b> (Mercedes Lackey and Andre Norton) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/jkl/lbooks/lackeymercedes.html#bane">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>Age of Myth</b> (Michael J. Sullivan) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/stuv/sbooks/sullivanmichaelj.html#myth">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>The Tiger and the Wolf</b> (Adrian Tchaikovsky) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/stuv/tbooks/tchaikovskyadrian.html#tiger">My Review</a></b>Brightdreamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11865613230041222153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539985656775482492.post-25195898240725993682024-02-16T18:06:00.000-08:002024-02-16T18:06:04.264-08:00Skulduggery Pleasant (Derek Landy)<b>Skulduggery Pleasant</b><br />
<i>The Skulduggery Pleasant series, Book 1</i><br />
<b>Derek Landy<br />
HarperCollins<br />
Fiction, MG Adventure/Fantasy/Humor/Mystery<br />
****+ (Good/Great)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> When popular horror writer Gordon Edgely died, the relative who misses him the most is his twelve-year-old niece Stephanie... but even she never expected to inherit the vast majority of his estate. Soon, it becomes apparent that she inherited more than his house and future royalties: she also inherited enemies she knew nothing about - and an ally she never expected, when she's saved by the living, walking skeleton named Skulduggery Pleasant. A detective by trade, Pleasant was a close friend of her eccentric uncle, whose books were inspired by the hidden world of adepts and sorcerers and other magical beasts and beings amongst humanity. One of those sorcerers apparently got it into his head that Gordon knew something about a long-lost artifact, a scepter with ties to elder gods long cast out of this world, and that sorcerer is convinced that he left the key to finding that scepter with his heir. Though Stephanie knows of no such key, her denial won't stop the man's monstrous servants from torturing her and killing her very, very dead - unless she and Skulduggery Pleasant can unravel the mystery themselves and beat the villain Serpine to the scepter.
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<b>REVIEW:</b> I've heard of this series now and again, and I see it go through the library shipping center on a reasonably regular basis, but for some reason it never made it onto the reading list until now. Whatever I was expecting, what I found was a highly enjoyable, often witty magical adventure with a strong heroine and one of the most fun characters - the titular Skulduggery Pleasant - I've read since Jonathan Stroud's Bartimaeus the djinn. <br />
The tale starts not unlike several other middle grade fantasy/adventure stories, with a relative's death and an unexpected inheritance, followed by the revelation of a magical "world". Unlike many of those stories, Stephanie actually has a supportive family, if one unaware of the existence of magic; to them, Uncle Gordon was just considered eccentric, possibly a touch delusional, and kept strange, potentially dangerous company. But family isn't going to help the girl survive henchmen who can be lit on fire and barely get singed... and Stephanie, who has always been encouraged to find her own path in life (for all that Mom and Dad couldn't possibly have anticipated this particular path), realizes early on that she doesn't want them to help her in this anyway. This is <i>her </i>path, <i>her </i>adventure, <i>her </i>destiny, and if she can't manage it without them then she doesn't deserve it at all. The magical world's dangers are apparent even before she realizes it's magic going on, but something about it calls to her despite the risks. For his part, Skulduggery Pleasant sees enough potential in her that his attempts to sideline her in the dangerous investigation are minimal; if she isn't put off by being chased through the night by a monstrous killer, there's not much that'll turn her aside, though he is never anything but honest with her about what's ahead and the risks of mingling with magicians. The hidden world of mages has less in common with Hogwarts or the Ministry of Magic and more with adult urban fantasies, or Nnedi Okorafor's <i>Akata Witch</i>: magicians are an insular community, eccentric but also potentially dangerous, and nothing is bubble-wrapped or blunted for the sake of newbies of any age. Stephanie gets a trial by fire (literally, at times) as she steps into this world, where it's often hard to tell friend from foe (and the same person can be both in different circumstances) and where the stakes are life and death, not just for her but for the world at large if Serpine gets his hands on the scepter. There are shades of/nods to Lovecraft around the edges, with ancient races and "Faceless Ones" who once ruled in chaos and darkness. Through it all, Skulduggery Pleasant is a steadfast, clever-tongued presence, though one with his own agenda. Despite her age and inexperience, Stephanie makes a solid partner for him, and generally doesn't do stupid things for the sake of being stupid (or for the sake of plot).<br />
The story moves quickly from the start, with a significant bruise and body count by the time it reaches the climax. Part of me almost wonders if Skulduggery Pleasant was originally intended to be the Harry Dresden-like star of his own grown-up fantasy series; I'm almost certain he could've carried one. Still, he works very good here, and Stephanie steps up to her role and future rather than stooping down to it, if that makes any sense; again, there were times I almost wondered if her age was rolled back a bit, maybe for marketing purposes. In any event, I greatly enjoyed this story and am looking forward to continuing the series.
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<b>You Might Also Enjoy:</b><br />
<b>Artemis Fowl</b> (Eoin Colfer) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/abc/cbooks/colfereoin.html#fowl">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>Stoneheart</b> (Charlie Fletcher) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/def/fbooks/fletchercharlie.html#stone">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>The Amulet of Samarkand</b> (Jonathan Stroud) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/stuv/sbooks/stroudjonathan.html#amulet">My Review</a></b>Brightdreamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11865613230041222153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539985656775482492.post-63363319202721668762024-02-15T17:14:00.000-08:002024-02-15T17:14:47.441-08:00Cujo (Stephen King)<b><span style="font-size: large;">Cujo</span></b><br />
<b>Stephen King<br />
Viking<br />
Fiction, Horror<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">****</span> (Good)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> The Trenton family - Vic, Donna, and young Tad - moved to Castle Rock, Maine from the big city to raise their boy in a better place, but it may be the undoing of their family. Vic's small advertising firm may be losing its biggest client, Donna's frustrations over small town life and being a stay-at-home mother lead to a brief affair with an unstable man, and Tad is convinced that there's a monster in the closet of his new room. When Vic has to head out of town on short notice to try saving his business, he leaves Donna with the boy and the family Pinto, which has been acting up lately. The local repair "shop" is crusty Joe Camber's converted barn at the end of a long, dead-end country lane... a shop space he shares with a gentle giant Saint Bernard named Cujo. The dog has been a solid animal, good and loyal, as well as a best friend to Joe's son Brett - until a fateful encounter with a rabid bat. Now Cujo, in growing pain and confusion and sourceless rage, is a monster on four legs... and Donna and Tad are about to become the targets of an unstoppable madness.
<br /><br />
<b>REVIEW:</b> This 1981 horror novel still delivers suspense and chills, though some of the story arcs range a bit far afield and don't always quite pay off for their ranging. From the start, there's a supernatural sheen to the otherwise earthbound terror that's about to be visited upon the Trentons and other residents of Castle Rock, demons that cannot be escaped from once they've chosen their victims. After the opening, the setting and characters are established and set in position for the terrors to come, most of them having complicated inner lives and relationships. As in other King novels, there are other themes that tie them together, in this instance matters of time and age and how every year, every month, every moment narrows choices and all too often moves one further away from the life one wants, further away from the people they used to be and still think of themselves as being even though that version of them slipped away while they were busy with the day-to-day business of living. Yet even when the past is gone, it still shapes and colors the future, a seemingly inescapable pattern. Different characters deal with their frustrations and disappointments over lost times and repeating patterns in their lives in different ways that drive the plot; some look backward and keep trying to recapture a lost era, others try to numb or drown the pain of lost years, still others feed resentments or other distractions. Even Cujo struggles to stay a good and loyal dog even as an alien madness - one, again, with some tinges of the unnatural behind it - drives the animal to murderous rampages.<br />
From a somewhat meandering opening, the story builds toward its violent, tragic climax. At numerous spots along the way are places where things could go differently, where someone else other than Donna and Tad could move into the line of catastrophe (or said catastrophe might have been averted altogether), yet those moments are passed by as tragedy becomes more and more inevitable. As a monster, Cujo becomes downright terrifying, all the moreso because the reader first met him was, indeed, a very good dog. Rabies is a horrific enough disease on its own, but the strain in Castle Rock - of course - is more than a mere virus. Cujo does not just mindlessly hunt and maul; this is a stalking, cunning creature, the tool of an older and darker and more patient evil than any mere canine (or human) mind can understand. (There's also quite a bit of damage done to the troublesome Pinto whose engine malfunction kicks off so many bad things; having driven cars with "issues" myself, I rather suspect there was some personal catharsis involved as King mercilessly and relentlessly ravaged that car.) Toward the end the tale wanders a bit again, though the conclusion is reasonably strong.<br />
On its own, <i>Cujo</i> remains a decent horror story. Compared to some other masterworks by the author, such as <i>It</i> or <i>Pet Sematary</i>, it falls short, but average Stephen King is still fairly good.
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<b>The Girl in Red</b> (Christina Henry) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/ghi/hbooks/henrychristina.html#red">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>Pet Sematary</b> (Stephen King) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/jkl/kbooks/kingstephen.html#pet">My Review</a></b>Brightdreamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11865613230041222153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539985656775482492.post-91284229740404430872024-02-12T22:13:00.000-08:002024-02-18T12:45:33.552-08:00The Expanse: Dragon Tooth, Volume 1 (Andy Diggle)<b><span style="font-size: large;">The Expanse: Dragon Tooth, Volume 1</span></b><br />
<i>The Expanse: Dragon Tooth series, Issues 1 - 4</i><br />
<b>Andy Diggle and James S. A. Corey (creators), illustrations by Rubine<br />
BOOM! Studios<br />
Fiction, Graphic Novel/Media Tie-In/Sci-Fi<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">****+</span> (Good/Great)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> One year ago, the solar system was rocked by cataclysmic events. Already destabilized by the opening of the alien ring gates and the colony worlds beyond, the rise of Belter rebel Marco Inaros led to the bombardment of Earth, while the betrayal and desertion of Martian General Duarte left one of the major system powers half-gutted. Now, with Marco dead and Duarte vanished behind the now-closed Laconia gate, Earth, Mars, and the newly-created Transport Union of Belters try to pick up the pieces and move forward in a changed reality... but with Earth in shambles, food growing scarce, and pirates preying on colonists and freighters alike, the system is still half a click away from disaster.<br />
Captain James Holden and the crew of the <i>Rocinante</i> have been hunting pirates, but one - Sohiro - proves both exceptionally brutal and exceptionally elusive, leaving nothing but carved-up wreckage in his wake. Camina Drummer, president of the Transport Union, struggles to coordinate traffic through the ring gates from Medina Station while keeping supplies of food and live soil moving... nearly impossible with the pirate problem, and with Earth - the only source of microbial-active soil needed to grow human-edible food - in such a state of disarray. Chrisjen Avasalara tries to keep the peace on a broken world, but suspects the rot revealed by Marco and by Duarte's defection is by no means cleansed; not only is the rage that led to Marco's rebellion still rampant through the Belt, but Duarte's ability to coordinate such a staggering betrayal suggests a vast network of spies and traitors, not all of whom may have passed beyond the Laconia gate with him. She is about to be proven right - and it may spell the end of the fragile peace.
<br /><br />
<b>REVIEW:</b> In the interest of full disclosure, I contributed to the Kickstarter campaign that helped fund this graphic novel series, billed as "Season Seven" of the televised version of <i>The Expanse</i>.<br />Though following the show's version of events (and featuring likenesses of the actors), <i>Dragon Tooth</i> also fills in some of the time that was jumped over between Books 6 and 7 of the source material. It had a fairly high standard of storytelling and continuity to live up to. Happily, it cleared that bar handily.<br />
Starting one year after the sixth season finale - the end of Marco's rebellion, the disappearance of Duarte beyond the Laconia gate, and Drummer becoming head of the fledgling Transport Union to keep supplies and people flowing between the new colony worlds - it drops the reader into a familiar situation: the <i>Rocinante</i> on a desperate rescue mission, hunting enemies in the Belt. From the first frame, it feels just like the show, from the fantastic artwork to the pitch-perfect dialog to the character interactions. Even though it's been a little while since my last rewatch of the show, I was back up to speed in no time, in part because it just felt so familiar. Even the new characters slot neatly into the established world. With action, intrigue, emotion, and the odd touch of humor, this first volume establishes a strong story arc for the next installment. I'm looking forward to Volume 2 already...
<br /><br />
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<i>The Books of Babel series, Book 4</i><br />
<b>Josiah Bancroft<br />
Orbit<br />
Fiction, Fantasy<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">***+</span> (Okay/Good)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> The great Tower of Babel has stood for centuries, and though the people come and go and ringdoms rise and fall within its walls, it has been as enduring as a mountain... but even mountains may fall. Now, as the monstrous machine known as the <i>Hod King</i> - constructed by renegade Luc Marat and crewed by zealot followers culled from the enslaved hods - begins its destructive ascent, and as the enigmatic Sphinx goes silent in their high lair, the unthinkable might be possible. As the ringdoms fall into squabbling and war, the Sphinx's agent, Captain Edith of the advanced airship <i>State of the Art</i>, has her hands more than full, even if there weren't a war engine gnawing its way to the heart of the Tower like a great metal termite. She managed to rescue Thomas Senlin's wife Marya and their infant daughter from the evil Duke of Pelphia, but Senlin himself is now lost, last seen on the deadly Black Roads as a hod. Young daredevil Voleta has finally woken from near-death, but has returned changed in ways none of the crew understand or trust. And Voleta's brother Adam is still somewhere at the top of the tower, last seen in the company of the lightning-bearing guards of the highest and most aloof of the ringdoms. Edith races to collect the paintings that will reveal the key to the locked "bridge", and with it the purpose of Babel's construction (and, hopefully, the means for its salvation), but Marat's agents always seem to be one step ahead of her. And if he succeeds in taking over the tower, all hope will be lost.<br />
Senlin thought he could infiltrate Marat's hod rebellion and sabotage the madman from within, but now he's trapped by his own deceit inside the <i>Hod King</i>, helpless to stop the horrors to come. His ruse worked too well, as he finds himself drawn into Marat's secret inner council of former Wakemen: those who were saved by the Sphinx's unusual devices in exchange for becoming agents, but who turned on their distant master in favor of Marat. As the shape of Marat's ambitions become more and more clear, Senlin's resolve to stop him - even at the cost of his own life - only grows more certain.<br />
Meanwhile, at the top of the tower, young Adam is mystified to be heralded as a celebrity among people whom he's never met. The city of Nebos is every inch the paradise he'd imagined: beautiful gardens, golden houses, all dominated by a great pyramid of awesome size, peopled by artists and scholars and more, living a life of unimaginable luxury. It is also, as he soon learns, hiding dark secrets beneath its immaculate streets, and a betrayal that dates back to the final days of the enigmatic Brick Layer who designed the great tower itself. As much as Nebos considers itself above the troubles plaguing the rest of the tower (literally and figuratively), it, too, is threatened by the crumbling beneath... and it may hold the key to saving the Tower of Babel, or destroying it utterly.
<br /><br />
<b>REVIEW:</b> As the rating reflects, I had mixed feelings on this final volume in the epic Books of Babel series. It almost feels like it wanted to be two books, and again like it should've been only half as long. That sounds contradictory, but it's what I'm left with as I consider how some plot points and character arcs come to conclusions (if sometimes prolonged conclusions) and others feel like they've just been introduced or are only half-finished by the time the tale finally, eventually, almost exhaustedly comes to a halt.<br />
Things start more or less where the previous volume ended, at least storywise. The Sphinx has gone silent and their lair sealed off, the crew of the <i>State of the Art</i> deal with onboard tensions (such as Captain Edith's mixed feelings over having Marya aboard, after her brief affair with Senlin) and external threats, and Luc Marat's great siege engine the <i>Hod King</i> begins its slow-motion assault on the tower, on its way to lay siege to the Sphinx and thence to claim power of the whole of Babel, while Adam at the top of the tower finally learns just why everyone in Nebos knows so many details of his life. As the story moves between the now-scattered characters, it sometimes feels unevenly paced, shifting from meandering and sight-seeing to high tension and action almost at random. The Tower of Babel itself remains massive and enigmatic and full of wonders and horrors beyond imagination, while also serving as a condensation of humans being human in all the best and worst (especially the worst) ways possible. More is revealed about the Brick Layer and the Sphinx, as the true purpose of the tower - so long a matter of debate - eventually is revealed... and here is one of the stumbles that wound up costing it in the ratings, as I felt myself fighting to not roll my eyes at some revelations and other incidents that sometimes felt less like clever solutions and more like out-of-the-blue twists made up on the fly to shock and awe the reader.<br />
On the character side, nobody is who they were when the reader first met them, and their development continues through the tale as they're all put to the test in various ways. Senlin and Marya have been through so much in their separate, harrowing journeys that reconciliation may not even be possible at this point, not even with an infant daughter binding them; long gone are the happy, naive small town man and wife who stepped off the train in the first book, replaced by weathered, more worldly people who both have seen their own weaknesses and dark sides. Edith, having had leadership thrust upon her unexpectedly by the Sphinx, must learn to fill the shoes last filled by the absent Senlin. Former bodyguard Iren still struggles to deal with her own changing life and her first real brush with romance, while Voleta's changes make her do some growing up (but not a ton of it, as she's still a bit prone to recklessness, if in different ways than before). The former Red Hand, the only one who can relate to her new experiences, becomes a sort of ally and mentor as she deals with the mind- and time-bending effects of a bloodstream full of red "medium", the miraculous glowing fluid that powers the Sphinx's contraptions. This also allows Voleta to become a bit of a plot device, as part of the medium's properties involve a sort of astral time travel... but I can't elaborate without spoilers.<br />
The whole has a lot of moving parts and a lot of balls in the air to juggle, and it doesn't always feel like those balls get caught; one or two seem to have disappeared by the end of the story, while others went through a lot of frantic actions yet didn't necessarily go anywhere far at all. The ending almost feels like it wants to segue into another book or series, though I'm not sure if there's enough steam in the world or plot. (There are also at least a few worldbuilding points that felt handwaved or inadequately addressed.) Even with that, though, there are plenty of solid moments and memorable writing throughout. I liked it more than I didn't, but I still can't quite shake the sense of something out of kilter, something either not quite finished or carried a step or two too far past the natural end point.
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<b>Senlin Ascends</b> (Josiah Bancroft) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/abc/bbooks/bancroftjosiah.html#senlin">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>The Invisible Library</b> (Genevieve Cogman) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/abc/cbooks/cogmangenevieve.html#library">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>The Keys to the Kingdom: Mister Monday</b> (Garth Nix) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/mno/nbooks/nixgarth.html#monday">My Review</a></b>Brightdreamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11865613230041222153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539985656775482492.post-52997571390051221072024-02-02T19:29:00.000-08:002024-02-04T12:35:07.492-08:00Winds of Marque (Bennett R. Coles)<b><span style="font-size: large;">Winds of Marque</span></b><br />
<i>The Blackwood and Virtue series, Book 1</i><br />
<b>Bennett R. Coles<br />
Harper Voyager<br />
Fiction, Adventure/Sci-Fi<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">***+</span> (Okay/Good)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> Second son of a minor lord, Liam Blackwood sought his fortune as many of his rank do, in the star-sailing navy of the interstellar human empire. He's a solid officer, rising to the rank of Subcommander, but all too often he finds himself second in command beneath higher-born men who consider fleet ships their personal toys - as happened when his captain, Lord Silverhawk, pushed the vessel <i>Renaissance</i> almost past its limits through a solar storm just for bragging rights at a party. Only the valor and hard work of the crew, and the quick thinking of one common-born underling in particular, Amelia Virtue, saved them all from disaster... but, of course, men like Silverhawk never bear the blame for near-disasters, unlike those of Liam's minimal family status. He needs a new commission while the <i>Renaissance</i> is in dry dock for extensive repairs, something preferably far away from Silverhawk and his kind - and finds salvation quite unexpectedly handed to him.<br />
War with the inscrutable Sectoids is on the horizon, but pirates - always a problem in the spaceways - are becoming bolder in their attacks. If the outlaws and the threat they pose to supply lines aren't dealt with soon, then the imperial war effort is effectively dead in space, but any open efforts to round up the pirates may tip off the Sectoids that the Empire is preparing for war. To this end, the Empire has offered a letter of marque to the retrofitted frigate <i>HMSS Daring</i>, authorizing them to go undercover as common merchants and use any means necessary to track down the pirates to their lair and eliminate them - though if they mess up and are caught, the Empire will disavow any knowledge of their actions. It will mean working under yet another highborn captain, along with a new crew (of which he only is familiar with a handful, those he personally recruited from the <i>Renaissance</i>'s idle sailors - including, of course, clever Virtue), but, as second in command on the <i>Daring</i>, this secret mission could make the fortune of Blackwood and everyone else on board... or ruin them forever if they fail.
<br /><br />
<b>REVIEW:</b> A strong hero and solid heroine out to prove themselves to a world that underestimates them, a nefarious band of pirates, a fantastical space setting amid a dense star cluster where ships ply the complex solar winds under sail... <i>Winds of Marque</i> had many ingredients that should've made for a rollicking swashbuckler. Once in a while it actually reached that, but more often it seemed to fall short.<br />
The tale starts with a handful of stock characters in a decently tense scene, as the captain obliviously pushes his vessel to the brink of ruin just so a rival won't beat him to a fancy ball on their destination world; Blackwood, his chief engineer equivalent Smith, and plucky Virtue manage to stay half a step ahead of disaster to pull the <i>Renaissance</i> through, even knowing that the damages will probably come out of their hides and careers while Silverhawk walks away without a blemish on his record. Though familiar tropes, they work fairly well in the scene, establishing the star-sailing world and social dynamics that drive much of the novel. But once the action dies down and the ship makes it to port, that world starts to feel a little thin and hollow. Though the reader sees some of the nobles and also some commoners, the latter don't seem particularly oppressed or abused among the crew; minor lordling Blackwood being demeaned and wronged by those of higher birth comes through loud and clear, and there's prejudice against other species (the insectlike Sectoids are universally feared, while the saurian Theropods - commonly termed "Brutes" - are often looked down on even as they're tolerated in menial positions), but until Virtue calls him out on his blindness to the plight of the everyman in a world where noble blood means immunity from laws and basic decency, the novel doesn't even bother getting into how commoners are generally treated by the empire. This discontent may or may not form the root of the growing piracy plight, but mostly the pirates are cardboard cutouts for the main characters to chase across the spaceways, cold-blooded killers, and some minor hints that there's something else going on behind them (other than greed or possibly cultish fanaticism) are completely forgotten by the end. Among the crew, the sense of everyone being a stock character going through stock character motions only grows stronger as the tale goes on.<br />
That's not to say there's nothing enjoyable here. Those stock characters and tropes exist for a reason, in that they generally work to tell a story. The action sequences are exciting, melding the pitched battles of ship-to-ship combat with the added dangers of space travel. There's some intrigue with the possibilities of traitors on board and the obligatory threat of mutiny, as well as the expected romance between newly-promoted quartermaster Amelia Virtue and Subcommander Liam Blackwood. Underneath all that, unfortunately, I just never shook that sense of hollowness or flatness or a lack of that indefinable spark that takes a story from a collection of expected tropes and ideas into something stronger.
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<b>Crownchasers</b> (Rebecca Coffindaffer) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/abc/cbooks/coffindafferrebecca.html#crown">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>The Last Watch</b> (J. S. Dewes) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/def/dbooks/dewesjs.html#last">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>Arabella of Mars</b> (David D. Levine) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/jkl/lbooks/levinedavidd.html#mars">My Review</a></b>Brightdreamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11865613230041222153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539985656775482492.post-87955461021723055602024-02-01T16:01:00.000-08:002024-02-03T18:56:57.462-08:00Midnight at the Well of Souls (Jack L. Chalker)<b><span style="font-size: large;">Midnight at the Well of Souls</span></b><br />
<i>The Well of Souls series, Book 1</i><br />
<b>Jack L. Chalker<br />
Del Rey<br />
Fiction, Sci-Fi<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">***</span> (Okay)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> One of the greatest mysteries encountered by humanity as they spread across the stars was the Markovian ruins, great cities atop planet-encompassing technology that bear not a single lingering artifact - not so much as a potsherd - nor any hint as to what happened to a species that had advanced to near-divinity. But a chance discovery puts one archaeologist, Elkinos Skander, on the path to waking a Markovian computer... with which he believes he can become like a god over the known universe and beyond. When his breakthrough is witnessed by ambitious young student Varnett, Skander resorts to desperate measures. The two are locked in life-and-death combat when they suddenly vanish.<br />
Freighter captain Nathan Brazil has spent hundreds of years plying the spaceways. Rejuvenation procedures often extend human life spans to centuries, but Brazil is older than that... old enough he's even forgotten his own age and origins. On his latest run, he carries three passengers from various worlds. But when a distress beacon reaches the ship from a Markovian planet, Brazil diverts to explore, which is how all four of them end up disappearing. Finding themselves in a strange new place, they're met by an old friend of Brazil's, former space pirate Serge Ortega - only the man is not the human he used to be, but a half-snake, half-walrus alien known as an Urik. He explains that they have fallen into a planet known as Well World: a Markovian artifact, which holds over one thousand distinct habitats in hexagonal fields, each with its own biomes and tech (or magic) levels. As for why the man is no longer human, this is what the Well World does to everyone: it transforms all arrivals into new species and sends them to one of the habitats, there to live out their days as best they can. Escape, Ortega informs them, is impossible. But even as they resign themselves to their fate, Ortega holds Brazil back, with a special assignment. Skander and Varnett are on Well World, too... and both believe they've discovered the keys that will let them control Markovian tech, if they can make their ways from their new habitats to the central control room inside the planet. This, of course, would be a disaster in the making, not just for the inhabitants of Well World but for the rest of the universe. Nathan Brazil was always a resourceful one, and Ortega wants him and his companions to do everything in their power to stop the two meddlers.
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<b>REVIEW:</b> This story, first published in 1977, is something of a genre classic, and has a wild imagination and ambitious scope that hold up today... better, unfortunately, than some other aspects of the story.<br />
The characters aren't especially deep, but then the primary focus is the exploration of the Well World concept and the legacy of the Markovians, which is much more than the simple ruins that dot the galaxy - and the primary purpose of the Markovians and other aliens is to examine the metaphysical purpose of life itself (especially human life). There's a fair bit of handwaving/"sufficiently advanced technology" that's basically magic to explain how the world and much of what it contains and enables exist, with echoes that resonate in old Earth myths and legends and religions (because of course Earth and humans are the center of the known universe, for all that the species has lost its way terribly on the way to the stars; many are becoming hivelike nests of cloned genderless servants under a small ruling class, while others are greedy and lawless monsters). At its heart, the story is more of an epic quest, with a small band of travelers crossing many strange lands and encountering many strange cultures on their way to the metaphoric citadel to stop the villains from destroying the world/universe and end the evils that have darkened the land - in this case, the way humanity has parted ways with its own heart and conscience in pursuit of illusory perfection and/or material luxuries. Brazil's companions each enter new bodies and new mini-worlds across the Well World, each with their own strengths and weaknesses and quirks... but Nathan Brazil himself, strangely enough, is untouched by Well World's transformations, yet another hint that he is other than he appears to be.<br />Things move reasonably well, save when things bog down a bit as new habitats and species are introduced and explained... with an odd emphasis on genitalia. Chalker seemed a bit ahead of his time in exploring notions of gender fluidity and how identity was not determined by what one had between the legs, but he also got a bit obsessed with sex and mating elsewhere; he went out of his way to find a way for two of his characters to get it on when they're not even the same species at the time, in ways that constitute potential spoilers. And this was after one of the pair declared that love was not about sex at all but about caring about one another on a deeper level, so it didn't matter to her that they were physically incompatible at the time because they could still love each other. (Sure seemed to be about sex the moment it was remotely feasible... or maybe the author just had some very peculiar fetishes goin' on, because that scene definitely had more than a touch of bestiality - even more so when one learns about the true nature of one of the participants. But I digress...) In any event, the whole story starts bowing under the weight of increasing metaphysical Messages about life, the universe, and God (because this is yet another science fiction classic that not only considers humans to be the obvious pinnacle of any creation, but considers that godhood is the inevitable "goal" of evolution). The climactic final confrontation between Skander, Varnett, and Brazil and company feels flattened by that weight, and the conclusion starts feeling stretched.<br />
There are more novels in the Well World series, but I consider my curiosity about the concept sufficiently satisfied to stop here. As I mentioned at the start, <i>Midnight at the Well of Souls</i> is an imaginative concept, at least.
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<b>Rocannon's World</b> (Ursula K. Le Guin) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/jkl/lbooks/leguinursulak.html#rocannon">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>Lord Valentine's Castle</b> (Robert Silverberg) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/stuv/sbooks/silverbergrobert.html#castle">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>A Fire Upon the Deep</b> (Vernor Vinge) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/stuv/vbooks/vingevernor.html#fire">My Review</a></b>Brightdreamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11865613230041222153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539985656775482492.post-5912278329842122422024-01-31T15:22:00.000-08:002024-01-31T15:22:11.046-08:00January Site UpdateThe first month of reviews has been archived and cross-linked over on the <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/index.html">main Brightdreamer Books site</a></b>.<br>
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Enjoy!Brightdreamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11865613230041222153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539985656775482492.post-78774085828007855972024-01-28T13:55:00.000-08:002024-01-28T13:59:11.881-08:00Under the Smokestrewn Sky (A. Deborah Baker)<b><span style="font-size: large;">Under the Smokestrewn Sky</span></b><br />
<i>The Up-and-Under series, Book 4</i><br />
<b>A. Deborah Baker<br />
Tordotcom<br />
Fiction, MG Fantasy<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">****</span> (Good)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> When Avery and Zib climbed over the wall that shouldn't have been there into the forest that couldn't exist, they were strangers. Now, after traveling the bizarre realms of the Up-and-Under along the fickle Improbable Road in search of the Impossible City and the way home, they have become friends. Together with the one-time Crow Girl (now the near-stranger Soleil since she reclaimed her name), the drowned girl Niamh, and Jack the boy made of a flock of jackdaws, they have at last arrived at the fiery realm of the Queen of Wands: the missing queen who should be in the City, but has vanished without a trace, leaving a dangerous power vacuum that the other realms might go to war to fill. For all the hardships and dangers they've endured, Avery and Zib are still together, and now they're surely almost to the end of their strange adventures and peculiar trials. Wild-hearted Zib will miss the place and their new friends, while Avery cannot wait to get back to a world where people don't become flocks of birds and roads stay just where you left them when you turn away, but both are looking forward to going home to the families that surely miss them. All they have to do is figure out where the Queen went and get her back to her tower in the City before war comes. Considering what they've been through to get this far, it should almost be easy. But the Up-and-Under, much like the real world, does not always play fair or offer happy endings. Just because they've come this far is no guarantee that they will succeed, and just because the two children arrived together is no guarantee that they'll depart the same way - or at all.
<br /><br />
<b>REVIEW:</b> The conclusion to the four-part Up-and-Under series, a spinoff of/tie-in to author Seanan McGuire's horror-tinged alchemical fantasy <i>Middlegame</i> (once a standalone, now a series) wraps up the story of Avery and Zib's adventures, as well as those of their traveling companions. As in previous entries, the Up-and-Under is both reminiscent of classic portal fantasy worlds like Oz or Wonderland and a dark reflection of those worlds. Even the kindest characters they meet almost invariably have hidden agendas and shadows just beneath the surface, and the world itself contains levels of threat and menace that are never long forgotten. Every place they've visited, every King and Queen and Page they've encountered, has great power and great capacity to harm as well as help. When they do prove helpful, it's almost always because doing so helps themselves in some manner. Avery and Zib, naturally, have had to learn to work together despite their differences, each changed by their journeys... Zib more than Avery, as the girl openly embraces the slantwise logic of the Up-and-Under. As before, there are strong elements of alchemy and elemental symbolism, such as that found in Tarot decks, throughout (part of the tie-in features; in the world of <i>Middlegame</i>, "Baker" was actually a practicing dark alchemist who loaded her popular children's stories with occult subtexts and hidden codes), as well as marvelous descriptions and turns of phrase that evoke the spirit of old, beloved tales. With so many adventures and backstories and characters with conflicting motivations from the previous three books, this final stretch of the journey can feel tangled, especially if it's been a while since one has read the previous three adventures, and a few elements didn't feel like they paid off like they should have. The very ending felt abrupt, as though the story weren't quite over yet and rushed to wrap up, while the "author" afterword tied it all back into <i>Middlegame</i>'s universe.<br />
Overall, I enjoyed this outing, demonstrating yet again the many talents of prolific author Seanan McGuire.<br /><br />
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<b>Over the Woodward Wall</b> (A. Deborah Baker) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/abc/bbooks/bakeradeborah.html#wall">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>The Divide</b> (Guy Gavriel Kay) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/jkl/kbooks/kayelizabeth.html#divide">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making</b> (Catherynne M. Valente) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/stuv/vbooks/valentecatherynnem.html#ship">My Review</a></b>Brightdreamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11865613230041222153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539985656775482492.post-72411988907131012002024-01-27T19:36:00.000-08:002024-01-27T20:52:15.652-08:00A History of What Comes Next (Silvain Neuvel)<b><span style="font-size: large;">A History of What Comes Next</span></b><br />
<i>The Take Them to the Stars series, Book 1</i><br />
<b>Silvain Neuvel<br />
Tordotcom<br />
Fiction, Historical Fiction/Sci-Fi/Thriller<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">****+</span> (Good/Great)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> <i>Always run, never fight. Preserve the knowledge. Survive at all costs. Take them to the stars.</i><br />
For three thousand years, an unbroken line of mothers and daughters, each identical to the previous generation, have worked in the shadows to expand and guide human civilization, prodding them onto the path that will - they hope - take the species to the moon and beyond before an unnamed evil comes to the planet. They drift like ghosts through history, changing names and roles any time they risk exposure, amassing hidden reserves of wealth and contacts and secret records for their descendants. But the Kibsu, as they call themselves, have lost much along the way, including just who or what they are, where they came from, and what "evil" they are meant to be defending against, not to mention the origin and purpose of the peculiar necklace that is all that remains of the original generation known as One. They do know, however, that there is an "evil" already on this world: the Trackers, ruthless beings as inhumanly powerful and gifted as themselves, who have been chasing the Kibsu since the beginning.<br />
In 1945, the 99 - mother Sarah, teenaged daughter Mia - are closer than they've ever been to achieving their goal: World War II saw a massive acceleration in propulsion technology, and the same rockets designed to launch warheads could send people to other worlds. But to keep things moving forward beyond the end of the war will take new pressures and new politics. For the first time, Mia is being entrusted to push forward the Kibsu cause; Sarah managed to pull some of her many hidden strings to get the young woman sent into Germany as an OSS agent as the war winds down, to recruit rocket scientist Wernher von Braun to the American side before Russian troops reach his research facility (and before the Nazis decide that the best way to keep the man's expertise from enemy hands is a bullet to the head). Sarah hopes to spark a rivalry between Russia and America as they carve up and claim Germany's expertise, a rivalry that will lead to bigger and better rockets and, eventually, space travel. It's a dangerous mission, but one that will prove pivotal to the rest of Mia's life, not to mention the future of the Kibsu generations and their sworn mission... even as it may finally draw the stalking Trackers to their doorstep.
<br /><br />
<b>REVIEW:</b> <i>A History of What Comes Next</i> is rooted firmly in real-world history, particularly the 1940s and 1950s that formed the foundation of modern space exploration... foundations inextricably linked to atrocities of warfare. This highlights one of the themes of the book, how humans (and Kibsu) have such great capacities for miracles and atrocities, good and evil, within them, the two often mashed up until it's difficult to definitively strip out one from the other; more than once, witnessing firsthand the horrific things people do to each other, what can be waved away or excused or rationalized by those who may not actively participate in terrible things but don't (or can't) stand up against them, Mia questions whether humans are worth saving at all. When she gets her first tastes of her inhuman Kibsu abilities, and how easily she can eliminate threats (physically, if not psychologically), she starts to wonder just how different she and her mother are from the Trackers, who are mostly known to them through the unspeakably mutilated corpses they leave in their wake whenever they get close to the Kibsu. Mia starts pushing back against her mother's rules, and though friction between mother and daughter isn't unknown in the generations, Mia's challenge to the status quo takes it to new levels, and has lasting ramifications for mother, daughter, and those humans around them (who remain ignorant of their inhuman nature, but are very much a part of their lives nonetheless, for all that Sarah keeps advising her daughter to keep emotionally distant). It makes Sarah rethink her own life and how she's pursued her goals, and whether the example set by her mother and grandmother and back through the line is the only possible way for the Kibsu to be. But some lessons of past generations are worth preserving... such as fear of the Trackers, who sometimes seem as nebulous as any bogeyman but are all too real. The reader gets a few chapters from their point of view, shining new light on the Kibsu's origins; unlike the Kibsu, the all-male generations of Trackers remember their origins and purpose, though that memory doesn't make them any less dangerous or psychotic. Meanwhile, Sarah and Mia see more than their share of human danger and madness as they navigate postwar Germany, Russia, and America. Some chapters flash back to previous generations of Kibsu through the ages, showing how they moved through the world and its myriad cultures (and prejudices and blind spots) while pursuing their mission and preserving their lineage, which add new weight to how Mia and Sarah are both echoing and changing those ageless dynamics.<br />Toward the end, I felt the story started stumbling, and even for the first book of an apparent trilogy there are a few too many loose or forgotten threads for the ending to feel truly satisfying, enough to affect the rating. Those issues aside, this was an unexpectedly interesting melding of history, thriller, and imaginative science fiction, centered around the complicated relationship of a mother and daughter at the heart of world-changing events. (The audiobook afterword by the author, on the real-world inspirations, was also interesting.)<br /><br />
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<b>The Book Eaters</b> (Sunyi Dean) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/def/dbooks/deansunyi.html#book">My Review</a></b><br />
<b>The Calculating Stars</b> (Mary Robinette Kowal) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/jkl/kbooks/kowalmaryrobinette.html#stars">My Review</a></b>Brightdreamerhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11865613230041222153noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4539985656775482492.post-87724915664388981382024-01-25T18:23:00.000-08:002024-01-30T11:56:31.384-08:00Across the Desert (Dusti Bowling)<b><span style="font-size: large;">Across the Desert</span></b><br />
<b>Dusti Bowling<br />
Little, Brown Books<br />
Fiction, MG Adventure<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">****+</span> (Good/Great)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> Two years ago, Jolene's life may not have been perfect, but it was worlds better than the one she's living now. The car crash completely upended her life - but not in the way one might expect. It was when her mother came home from the hospital with a prescription for pain pills... a prescription that became an oxycodone addiction, though Jolene doesn't want to use that word. Now Mom spends most of her time in bed and hardly seems to notice her own daughter, barely managing a grocery run now and again. One of Jolene's few escapes is in the library, and she was there, using the computer to watch her favorite livestream - "Addie Earhart", a girl just about her age who flies an ultralight solo all around the Arizona desert having adventures - that disaster strikes again. Addie's ultralight goes down in the middle of nowhere... and only Jolene was watching, to know that she's in trouble at all.<br />
Jolene tries to get help. She calls the police, she goes to the fire station, she even tries talking to her mother. Nobody believes the half-hysterical twelve-year-old girl, and since it was a livestream there's no record of it online, just a dead channel. But Jolene isn't going to give up on Addie. She's been watching regularly for quite some time, and has even hand-drawn a map of her flights, so she's pretty sure she knows about where the ultralight went down. It's only eighty miles away, and she knows her mother won't even miss her before she gets home. It'll be an adventure, just like the women she's read about, who traveled across the country and around the world all on their own. But there's a big difference between reading about adventures and having one herself, especially when she's a city girl through and through trekking out into the desert for the first time in her life...
<br /><br />
<b>REVIEW:</b> <i>Across the Desert</i> starts with a girl already in distress and and puts her through the physical and psychological wringer, celebrating resilience and tenacity even as it shines a spotlight on how terrible it is that she has to be in this situation to begin with: if addiction were easier to treat without so many barriers and hoops to jump through (many of which just can't be jumped through without lots of money and/or lots of luck), if people just plain listened when other people (especially children) cried for help and didn't dismiss them at a glance, Jolene never would've been in the situation she's in, and even though she learns some positive things and discovers her own strengths, the story does not pretend that it's a great thing that she had to go through this at all. One of the first thing she learned after the accident and her mother developed her pill dependency was how impossible it is for anyone to get help, and how she can't trust anyone because they just won't listen to her. Her mother's dependency naturally has knock-on effects for her daughter, especially in school, where her tattered and too-small clothes and other markers of poverty make her a target for mockery and bullying. One of her few outlets is drawing maps, which is why she has a detailed map at hand of the Arizona desert while she watches Addie's livestream. She's about the only regular viewer, and has a semi-regular online correspondence with the girl who seems to embody all the bravery of the adventuresses in history she loves reading about... which makes her the only person who knows something is wrong when Addie ends up livestreaming her own ultralight crash. Even the librarian doesn't believe her, convinced the girl is mistaken, more upset that the library filters let a child see something disturbing than with listening to what she's actually saying. With no better results when she calls authorities or tries to talk to her mother, city girl Jolene decides it's up to her to rescue her internet friend in the wilderness - a job she can't possibly do alone, but which clearly needs doing, and which nobody seems willing to help her with. Even from the start, though, there's more to her decision than just helping Addie, a turning point in her life that's been coming ever since the car crash and her mom's pills sent her own world tumbling out of control. It's a half-step away from actually running away from home, and about as far from simply not caring if she comes back from the desert at all.<br />
Despite her conviction that nobody will help her, Jolene ends up finding a few allies along the way. Most notable is the 17-year-old girl Marty, whom she meets at the Greyhound station and who ends up becoming both protector and friend, though much of the journey still rests on Jolene's successes (and failures). Without Marty, she wouldn't even have gotten on the bus as an unaccompanied minor. Still, Jolene has trouble trusting Marty, especially when the older girl tries to talk her out of her dangerous (and admittedly ill-thought-out and -prepared-for) plan, but soon enough proves her worth and loyalty. Along the way, Jolene does a lot of growing up in a hurry, setting out alone for the first time in her life and learning that the rest of the world doesn't work at all like downtown Phoenix, where gas stations are always open and there's always an outlet to charge a cell phone (and a signal). Much as she tries to draw lessons and comfort from historical lady adventurers and groundbreakers, Jolene is also still a child, an untested city girl, and one burdened by unprocessed traumas (which she describes as the "car crash feeling" that often threatens to overwhelm her, reminding her of those horrible, infinite seconds between realizing their car was going to be hit - and there was nothing she could do about it - and the impact that essentially destroyed her world). Through it all, she manages to find reserves of strength and courage she never realized she had, and perhaps some possibilities for a future she had stopped believing she would ever reach, or even deserved. Most of all, though, she finally learns - and believes - that she is not as alone as she thought, and that sometimes there really are people who care. It all builds up to a harrowing climax in the desert, where Jolene and Marty are put to the ultimate test of how far they've both come.<br />
After this moment, though, there's still more story to tell, as that climax served almost more to prepare Jolene for the ultimate trial of confronting the biggest challenge in her life. I thought this tail end went on just a trifle too long, almost enough to rob the tale of the extra half-star, but ultimately gave it the benefit of the doubt. It was never just a story of one girl finding the spirit of adventure and her own inner strengths, after all, but the tale of a hurt and broken girl who had slipped through society's gaping cracks and had stopped even trying to climb out, who finally discovers reasons to begin fighting back and claiming a future for herself. It does not pull many punches as it deals with the traumas endured by the families of addicts, and how, while society often gives lip service to caring and pretends that there's always a helping hand for those who reach for it, it mostly just seems to ignore the ones most hurt, especially the poor and the young ones, leaving them to fend for themselves.
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<b>The Canyon's Edge</b> (Dusti Bowling) - <b><a href="https://www.brightdreamer.com/bdbooks/abc/bbooks/bowlingdusti.html#edge">My Review</a></b><br />
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<i>The Singing Hills Cycle, Book 4</i><br />
<b>Nghi Vo<br />
Tordotcom<br />
Fiction, Fantasy<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">****+</span> (Good/Great)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> After three years wandering the land and collecting numerous stories (while finding themselves pulled into more than one tale along the way), Cleric Chih finally returns to Singing Hills Abbey. They're looking forward to some rest, catching up with old friends while entering the stories from their travels into the abbey's extensive archives, and seeing their talking hoopoe companion Almost Brilliant and her hatchling. But what they find instead is something very, very wrong. The abbey is nearly deserted, and a contingent of soldiers stands outside the gates, along with two royal war mammoths. Worse, Chih learns that their beloved mentor, elderly Cleric Thien, has passed away... and that, it seems, is why the soldiers and their very irate leaders are there. Before joining the abbey, Thien was a prominent member of the powerful Coh clan of Northern Bell Pass. Now, Thien's relatives demand the body be returned, to be buried in the family graveyard as the man and husband and father they were before taking vows - and even though Singing Hills is supposed to be sacrosanct, the fact that they brought war mammoths means they appear willing to use force if necessary to get what they feel they deserve.
<br /><br />
<b>REVIEW:</b> This is a welcome new entry in the interesting world of Singing Hills and the sometimes-too-eventful life of adventurous Cleric Chih. Though it, like the other novellas, can technically stand alone, it feels more connected to the previous stories, following up on Almost Brilliant's "maternity" leave to raise an egg and mentioning prior excursions. Also like the previous installments, there are definite themes being explored. In this case, matter of grief, identity, and transformations are dealt with, particularly how one person invariably becomes another and another onward throughout their lives. It also shares themes with other Singing Hills stories, particularly about stories, who owns them, and how retellings and biases often turn tales into something quite other than the truths that inspire them. Which story is the truth of Thien: the man who was an influential advocate and head of a prominent clan, the inspiring abbey cleric who helped raised new generations of story collectors, or both, or neither? Now that they have passed, stories are all that are left to the world of them, and the decision of whose take precedence could destroy everything. Cleric Chih, naturally, becomes part of the struggle that Thien's death has precipitated, balancing their own grief and the griefs of those who knew them both before and during the elder's time at the abbey. Thien's hoopoe companion, Myriad Virtues, is almost literally crippled by her grief, to a degree even the abbey's other hoopoes find disturbing; Vo delves a little more into the talking birds with this storyline, the living memory keepers of the clerics and Singing Hills, who are people but also not human. In the absence of most of the clerics (called away to another urgent project), Chih's childhood friend is temporary leader of those who remained behind... and, like everyone else (like Chih themself), they have changed over the years, and moreso with the mantle of even temporary power. Chih's well-intentioned efforts to defuse the growing conflict may only make things worse for everyone, and fracture relationships that have lasted for years. The resolution is a slight stretch, though it fits the world of Singing Hills and the characters (especially if one has followed along through the previous novellas, and understands the magical nature of the setting), involving some necessary sacrifice and loss, as well as moments of wonder and beauty. I'm still enjoying the world and the characters, and look forward to more visits to Singing Hills Abbey and its world.
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<b>Chris Barton, illustrations by Shanda McCloskey<br />Little, Brown Books<br />
Fiction, CH Fantasy/Humor/Picture Book<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">****</span> (Good)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> Dragon and Fire Truck are the best of friends, and have all sorts of fun together. So what happens when two kids decide they'd rather see a fight than have a party?
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<b>REVIEW:</b> This sequel to <i>Shark vs. Train</i> again juxtaposes two unlikely contestants in a battle for supremacy... or, at least, that's what the kids keep hoping happens. Instead, Dragon and Fire Truck get along great - but they're nothing if not crowd pleasers, so they give rivalry a go, with amusing consequences. It's a fun, quick read that manages not to retread the original story.
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<b>Neil Gaiman<br />
Harper Audio<br />
Nonfiction, Essays/Media Reference/Memoirs<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">****</span> (Good)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> This collection of Neil Gaiman's writings covers a variety of topics, from the state of comic books and graphic novels as art and literary forms through reflections on his life and career to interviews, book forewords and afterwords, and more.
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<b>REVIEW:</b> Though I find Gaiman's fiction a bit hit-and-miss, I can always appreciate what he's doing and how he's doing it, and one can't help but stand in awe of a career like his. Much like his fiction, these articles and essays and reflections can be a little hit-and-miss. Some loses context by being, well, out of context: material meant for inclusion in album liner notes can't help feeling a little lost without the album backing it up, and some of the minutiae of industry talk (especially the comic book industry) is lost on someone who only occasionally delves into graphic novels. (One of the coldest shoulders I ever got in a retail store was in a comic book shop, and so many of the popular titles seem to gatekeep themselves by being part of decades-long intertwined arcs and histories and traditions and so forth anyway in ways that can discourage newcomers from even trying to start - I'm lookin' at you, too, Sandman - so I never really felt welcome in that crowd. Yes, I'm officially too much of a social misfit to read comic books. But I digress...) Still, even when discussing stuff I wasn't familiar with, Gaiman manages to be interesting. Plus he's still one of the better audiobook narrators out there; I never have to crank my earbuds up to pain-inducing volumes just to understand what he's saying. The tone of the articles varies, some being lighter and some darker, some fairly focused and others ranging further afield, some short and some long, but few outstayed their welcome. All in all, it made for interesting listening.
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<i>The Leaphorn and Chee series, Book 19</i><br />
<b>Anne Hillerman<br />
Harper<br />
Fiction, Mystery<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">****</span> (Good)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> It was a morning meeting like countless others, as members of the Navajo Nation police force met at a local eatery to discuss cases with retired legend turned private investigator Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn. Then a stranger in the parking lot pulled out a gun, and Leaphorn is on the ground, a bullet hole in his head, barely clinging to life.<br />
As the sole eyewitness, Officer Bernadette Manuelito wants nothing more than to find the culprit, but the captain - following protocol - suspends her from the case as being too close to the matter. But she can't just sit on her hands; Leaphorn has meant too much to her and her husband, Sergeant Jim Chee. When Chee is assigned to take the lead on the investigation, Bernie can't help doing some investigating of her own. Though a man with a career as long and storied as Leaphorn's doesn't lack for potential enemies, nobody can fathom what motive could possibly be sufficient for such a cold-blooded daylight hit. The clock is ticking, both on the case and on Leaphorn's life, as husband and wife face a puzzle even the great investigator himself might not have been able to solve.
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<b>REVIEW:</b> Though my local library listed this as Book One of a series, it's technically the nineteenth entry in the Leaphorn and Chee stories created by author Anne Hillerman's father, Tony Hillerman, which I haven't read any of yet. However, this has a strong vibe of a torch being passed to a next generation, so it seems to work as a solid entry point without alienating newcomers; though there are obviously references to previous adventures and prior relationships, the story does a decent job grounding the reader in what's relevant to the current tale. The end result is an exciting mystery set firmly in the American Southwest and its unique blend of cultures.<br />
From the start, both Chee and Manuelito see themselves as mere shadows of their friend and mentor Leaphorn, a larger-than-life figure in their lives and in the Navajo tribal police force. They've always been able to count on him to help with their own work, a steadfast source of support and insights to crack the toughest cases. Even after he technically retired, Leaphorn is a fixture of the officers' lives and jobs; they all know they can turn to him for anything. Seeing such a legend lying on the pavement in a puddle of his own blood, shot in the face in broad daylight not fifty feet from a host of police officers he himself practically trained, sends shockwaves through the ranks and across the reservation. As determined as Chee and Manuelito are to find justice, both secretly fear that, without Leaphorn, they're never going to succeed, especially not with the feds sniffing around (there are mixed jurisdictional issues on tribal lands, especially with a case like this). While Jim Chee goes through official channels to explore possible suspects and motives, Manuelito must take a step to the side to do the same, often ending up in places she knows she probably shouldn't be if she's supposed to be on leave and not officially pursuing anything. She does try to set it all aside, dealing with an aging mother and a younger sister going through a tumultuous phase, but keeps finding herself pulled back, by her own nagging sense of guilt that she could've done something if only she'd been faster out the restaurant door if nothing else. Her own investigation takes her to different places and people than her husband's, but neither are so stubborn or stupid that they refuse to help the other one out, or compare notes in the interest of the biggest case to land in their laps in ages - not to mention the first they must unravel without Leaphorn's watchful eye. Both encounter a host of colorful characters, on and off the rez, set against a desert backdrop that almost becomes its own character. It's a place that's both modern and timeless, where even computers and cell towers can't compete with the sheer vast, remote scale of the land. The investigations take several twists and turns and suffer some serious setbacks, all as Joe Leaphorn fades further and further from this world. It eventually comes together in an exciting confrontation and unmasking of the true culprit, followed by a brief wrap-up that, naturally, leaves the leads ready for the next book/case to unfold.<br />
While I mostly enjoyed the tale and its interesting blend of characters and cultures and procedural investigation, there were a few loose threads and characters that seemed forgotten about by the end. I also thought the confrontation with the culprit ventured a little too far into the "monologuing villain" trope. I might end up following a few more stories in this series, though I doubt I'm committed enough to backtrack through eighteen previous volumes.
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<i>The Song of the Last Kingdom series, Book 1</i><br />
<b>Amelie Wen Zhao<br />
HarperVoyager<br />
Fiction, YA Fantasy<br />
<span style="font-size: large;">**+</span> (Bad/Okay)</b>
<br />
<br />
<b>DESCRIPTION:</b> Twelve cycles ago, Lan watched in horror as foreign invaders, the Elantians, struck down her mother in cold blood with their metal-fueled magic. With her dying breaths, the woman left a strange sigil on her young daughter's arm, a mark only she could see: a character in no Hin language she has ever seen, enclosed in a circle. Since then, mere survival in a conquered land has taken most of her time and energy, but she still struggles to understand her mother's last gift, a message she's sure must hold some special meaning. But it's not until the night she meets the strange young man at the teahouse where she works (if "work" is the proper term for what's essentially slavery) that she begins to figure out the truth: that the mark is tied to ancient tales of powerful practitioners who once flourished in the land, and that, by bestowing it, Lan's mother left her with both a great gift and a terrible burden.<br />
Zen arrived in the city to meet a contact for the underground resistance against the pale invaders, only to find the old man dead... and find traces of a very unusual power lingering in the air. He tracks it to a teahouse, and to a young woman who seems to have no idea who or what she truly is: a potentially powerful practitioner, capable of channeling natural qi energy into magic. But right on the heels of this discovery comes the arrival of the most dangerous foreign magician in the land, the ice-eyed Alloy of unimaginable strength and cruelty. The man seems strangely intent on hunting down Lan, but Lan has no idea why - except for the fact that she knows him as the one who tore her mother's heart from her chest. By rescuing Lan from the Alloy, Zen risks the secrets of the resistance and the hidden school where he learned his practitioner skills... and also risks exposing his most shameful secrets, ones that could destroy everything.
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<b>REVIEW:</b> At the outset, this had all the earmarks of a solid story: a plucky young woman, a magical secret, a conquered empire steeped in history and lore inspired by China, a mysterious stranger with more mysterious powers... and, yes, there was a cool dragon on the cover, so sue me, I like dragons and was in the mood for a dragon story. Much like that dragon on the cover, though, those earmarks became misleading disappointments. The fact that there is no dragon for the majority of the tale is the least of these.<br />
Things start promisingly, with the history of the empire and the four "demon gods" - vastly powerful beings of pure yin energy, which can work great miracles and victories but always at a great price, often involving the corruption of whoever thinks to wield them - and the coming of the pale-skinned foreign invaders and their metal-based magic that puts an effective end to that long history almost overnight. Lan is rebellious at heart, but as an essential slave of a city teahouse (for the foreigners may stamp down on the local culture with iron boots, but they love the aesthetics and trappings, like clipping the wings of a captured exotic bird for display in the parlor), her opportunities to strike back at the people who killed her mother twelve cycles/years ago are limited, especially when she can't make out her mother's cryptic final message in the mark left on her wrist. That was twelve cycles ago that her mother was murdered before her eyes, and still Lan doesn't understand why. Did I mention it happened twelve cycles ago? See, it had been a sentence since I said it, so you probably needed a reminder... If you're getting tired of the repetition here, try getting that kind of repetition in a book-length story, for almost every single plot and character point, start to finish. I had to wonder if the story was originally serialized, that the author thought the readers needed the constant reminders to catch them back up on the story so far. As it was, it stopped being helpful very early on, and by the halfway mark I was almost literally rolling my eyes and grinding my teeth every time the story looped back to remind me, yet again, that Lan's mother was murdered twelve cycles ago, and how, and by whom.<br />Between the bouts of repetition, there's a decent amount of action, but at some point I found it hard to care about Lan or Zen... or nearly anyone else. None of them ever become more than paper-thin caricatures fulfilling very obvious plot roles, more often than not tripping themselves up with angst (and getting lost in their own recollections - cue yet another repetition of information the reader already knew). The Elantians are even shallower, despite the potentially interesting magic system that defies all local understanding of how power is supposed to work (something that no Hin practitioner, apparently, is even trying to learn or dissect, even if that might seem like the kind of thing that a rebellion group would probably want very much to understand about their enemy; instead, they're more caught up in policing their own handful of surviving practitioner disciples by old rules handed down by admittedly paranoid rulers who had already decimated qi lore long before invaders showed up to finish the job), and the Alloy who murdered Lan's mother (remember, Lan's mother, who was murdered twelve cycles ago?) struts and monologues and preens and sneers and only lacks the Snidely Whiplash mustache to twirl and a railroad track to which to tie helpless damsels (though maybe that turns up in the sequel). So... what, the Hin people have a rich, diverse, sometimes contentious history stretching back thousands of cycles, while the Elantians just fell out of the sky as a monolithic entity with no emotion or motivation beyond basest greed and cultural superiority? Why even hint at their alchemy and their metal magic and their angel-heavy symbolism without following through on any of it? They're not even really people, just things, stomping and shouting and stealing and destroying, things whose only apparent weakness is not knowing about qi. (And, yeah, I get that white people haven't exactly trod with delicate steps around the world, but part of what makes a conquering culture dangerous isn't just the stomping and shouting and stealing; it's how their cultures have taught them to rationalize their own terrible and destructive actions, how they work to spread that culture to those they've conquered until the victims start parroting the same ideas. This book offers some aesthetic trappings of foreign culture, but no real sense of that culture itself, or how it's poisoning its latest acquisition. There's a lot more about how previous turnovers in Hin power have poisoned Hin histories and folklore than how the Elantians have done the same.) In any event, stuff happens, characters angst and waver and make sacrifices and mistakes, Zen's hair keeps falling over his eyes like a cut-rate anime character, and it finally ends by promising a sequel.<br />
I wanted a dragon story. I got a pair of angsty cliches who wouldn't stop telling me things I already knew ad nauseam, in a world that felt shortchanged by them and their story. Despite some solid ideas and interesting descriptions and a few decent action sequences, I don't think I'll bother with the next installment, even if the dragon might actually be in that one.<br /><br />
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