August Site Update

The previous five reviews have been archived and cross-linked on the main Brightdreamer Books site.

Enjoy!

Birthright Volume 9: War of the Worlds (Joshua Williamson)

Birthright Volume 9: War of the Worlds
The Birthright series, Book 9
Joshua Williamson, illustrations by Andrei Bressan and Adriano Lucas
Image Comics
Fiction, YA Fantasy/Graphic Novel
***+ (Okay/Good)

DESCRIPTION: Mickey Rhodes has come a very long way from the little boy abducted into the magical world of Terranos to fulfill a prophecy that turned out to be a lie. Now, he and his family - both the human family he left behind and his new wife and child from Terranos - are all that stand between two worlds and the total domination of King Lore. With Lore's monster army pouring through the portal to Earth, endgame has come: the final confrontation between Mickey and Lore, a test the boy-turned-warrior already failed once. But while he is facing the literal demons of his past, someone needs to seal the portal and separate the two worlds lest both collapse... a task that falls to Mickey's brother and his parents.

REVIEW: While it brings the war to a cataclysmic conclusion, this volume nearly lost a half-star for being stretched, repeating itself to draw out page count. Mickey finally finds out if he has it in him to be a hero after all the lies and betrayals and his own corruption, while the Rhodes family finds strength in unity even when they must go their own ways to save the world. It's the ultimate finale, though, on top of that stretching, that cost it the full fourth star, as it deliberately introduces a last-minute complication for the sake of probable sequels. Why? Something about it just felt tacked on. (I also still feel like the women got short-shafted in the overall story, particularly Mickey's mother.) Still, despite that - and despite the overall sense that this could've been a volume (or maybe two) shorter - Birthright remains a decent inversion of the portal world trope and a decent story overall.

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Swordquest: Realworld (Chad Bowers and Chris Sims) - My Review
Crap Kingdom (D. C. Pierson) - My Review
Birthright Volume 1: Homecoming (Joshua Williamson) - My Review

The Demon Awakens (R. A. Salvatore)

The Demon Awakens
The DemonWars Saga, Book 1
R. A. Salvatore
Del Rey
Fiction, Fantasy
** (Bad)

DESCRIPTION: In the wild northern frontier of the land of Corona, young Elbryan and his best friend Jilseponie (better known as Pony, who lately has seemed to him something more than just a friend) couldn't wait to grow up... until the goblins came. Their town burned to the ground, their families and friends cut down, the two are separated by the whims of fate - or perhaps the hand of destiny. While Pony loses her memory and wanders far away to a distant city, Elbryan is taken by elves to their secret sanctuary, there to be trained as a ranger like his uncle before him. Meanwhile, far away, pious young Avelyn fulfills his life's dream of entering the elite monastery St. Mere-Abelle... but his visions of godly devotion clash with the rot he finds within, a rot that echoes the impiety spreading across the land. For the goblin raid in the north was just one sign of a greater danger to Corona: the waking of a dactyl, a demon from the darkest pits of Hell, who would turn the land's corruption into a weapon to end the reign of humanity and bring eternal darkness.

REVIEW: This seemed like a decent old-school epic fantasy... at first. Yes, the main enemy is a literal demon from Hell, cackling and gloating from his obsidian throne, and the heroes are inhumanly virtuous in the face of sin and corruption, but there's something to be said for an old-fashioned throwdown between Good and Evil. The retro charm, however, soon wears very thin, as it becomes glaringly clear that The Demon Awakens is not so much an epic fantasy as a morality play that makes Narnia look downright subtle.
Elbryan, Pony, and Avelyn are simply too holy in their perfection and virtue, looking down with smiling paternal condescension on the poor sinning fools they're compelled to defend (and fools they're often shown to be, ignoring warnings and blundering into danger and laughing at calls to reject wickedness), who more or less brought the evil on themselves for being corruptible (a.k.a human.) Pony in particular, for all that Salvatore insists she's a warrior and equal to Elbryan (as he gives lip service to how women in this world are accepted as hunters and warriors), is invariably described by her beauty and desirability first and foremost, to the point where, even at the climax, Elbryan finds her distractingly breathtaking in the middle of pitched battle. (This, despite innumerable mentions about how he acknowledges her to be beyond protecting.) True to her nickname, she's a wild animal only Elbryan's perfection and divine virtue can tame - to the point where he literally rides a wild stallion to meet her the night they consummate their long-simmering love. (Talk about choking the reader with symbolism...) Elbryan is an impossibly perfect warrior who never makes a misstep or has an impure thought or otherwise is relatable in any way, so physically beautiful that at one point his companions stand mesmerized as he performs a sword dance in the nude... not sexually attracted, but just awed by his pure manly perfection. Avelyn, played as a bit of a comic relief, becomes a third wheel, prone to throwing around his catchphrase far, far too often, a hearty "Ho, ho, what!" that soon had me envisioning a deranged Santa Claus instead of a warrior monk on a holy mission. The other races of the land are invariably evil, save a lone centaur and the waning angelic elves; given that the humans of Corona are all white, this takes on some iffy racial connotations if one squints. And, of course, even the elven diety is revealed to clearly be just another aspect of the human (thinly-veiled Christian) God, driving home the idea that there really is only one religion and everyone is practicing it even if they think they're not, silly elves.
Once the divine hand of destiny becomes clear behind everything, the plot devolves into tedium, drawing out the inevitable final confrontation with innumerable blow-by-blow battles where the heroes cannot lose and which mainly serve to reinforce their superiority. (And I do mean blow-by-blow: every step, every sword sweep, every slight angling of a stave is meticulously recorded.) As an atheist-leaning agnostic, the reliance on religion and stark black-and-white morality lessons lacked a certain appeal for me. Add to that the omniscient viewpoint prone to grandiose embellishments, and what started as a fun adventure turned into a slog, wending through some of the epic fantasy subgenre's most overplayed and tiring tropes. In any event, I will not be reading onward.

You Might Also Enjoy:
The Sword of Shannara (Terry Brooks) - My Review
The Fellowship of the Ring (J. R. R. Tolkien) - My Review
The Dragonbone Chair (Tad Williams) - My Review

Ascender Volume 2: The Dead Sea (Jeff Lemire)

Ascender Volume 2: The Dead Sea
The Ascender series, Issues 6 - 10
Jeff Lemire, illustrations by Dustin Nguyen
Image Comics
Fiction, Fantasy/Graphic Novel/Sci-Fi
****+ (Good/Great)

DESCRIPTION: When the robot dog Bandit returned after ten years away - ten years in which Mother's dark sorcery rose to fill the gap left when the great Descender robots effectively destroyed most technology in the galaxy - it triggered a chain of events that could lead to liberation... or the last destruction of hope against Mother's totalitarian rule. Young Mila and Bandit have escaped Mother's minions (for now) with the reluctant help of ex-captain Telsa, but her father Andy has been captured, destined for the vampire feeding pits. Meanwhile, a problem with the mystic Coven draws Mother away... and into the jaws of a trap sprung by the one person in the galaxy more dangerous and depraved than herself.

REVIEW: As I've come to expect from this series, the second volume of Ascender starts fast and keeps the momentum going, even through flashbacks that fill in histories of key characters. Despite herself, Telsa becomes drawn into the heart of galactic problems again, while young Mila tries to cope with the loss of her father by throwing all her effort into moving ahead and none into processing or mourning. Meanwhile, Andy refuses to give up - even when he sees what Mother's magic has done to someone he once loved. Mother gets some backstory as she must confront her past and the truth about her rise to power... just as that power is threatened. Some familiar faces return, not always in welcome roles, and the rebels prove they've still got fight in them no matter the odds. More of the new magic-dominated galaxy is explored, with some cracks in Mother's seemingly-all-powerful grip revealed. The artwork and storyline remain imaginative, drawing me forward in eager anticipation of the next installment.

You Might Also Enjoy:
Ascender Volume 1: The Haunted Galaxy (Jeff Lemire) - My Review
Saga Volume 1 (Brian K. Vaughan) - My Review
A Big Ship at the Edge of the Universe (Alex White) - My Review

The Glass Town Game (Catherynne M. Valente)

The Glass Town Game
Catherynne M. Valente
Margaret K. McElderry Books
Fiction, MG Fantasy
**** (Good)

DESCRIPTION: Once, there were six children in the Bronte house on the edge of the dreary moors... until the two eldest daughters caught ill at their perfectly cruel boarding school. Now it is time for Charlotte and Emily to return there - tearing them away from their little sister Anne and their often-wicked (but still their sibling so they love him anyway) brother Branwell, away from their games in the little room at the top of the stairs where they sent their toys to all sorts of wars and adventures in all sorts of imaginary lands. But when the day comes to escort Charlotte and Emily to the boarding school carriages (with Anne tagging along for one last goodbye), Branwell insists on a detour to see the new local marvel, the great steam engine at the new train station. What they find is something much more marvelous than a train: a man made entirely of books, and two wooden men very much like their toy soldiers at home... only nobody else at the station seems aware of them. Surely this is a magical adventure in the making, and no proper child would turn their back on a chance for one last great adventure before school and growing up steal magic away. Thus they find themselves whisked off to Glass Town, a place they invented - only it's not exactly like their games. For one thing, their Napoleon Bonaparte wasn't made of bones with musket arms, nor did he ride a great firebreathing rooster. For another, they never invented "grog", a miraculous liquid that cures death - a liquid at the heart of the great war shattering the realm in a very literal sense. And surely they would've remembered inventing Brunty, the terribly wicked book man. As the Brontes become swept up in the struggles and politics of Glass Town, they realize that this is no longer a game... indeed, unless they're very clever and very lucky, they might never live to make it home to England again.

REVIEW: The Glass Town Game draws inspiration from the real-life childhoods of the Brontes in a story with strong nods to Edward Eager and other classic children's tales (plus a few slight shades reminiscent of another Valente series, her delightful Fairyland books.) The world is full of wonderfully inventive imagery and ideas, bound by a thin veneer of storybook logic and literalism. At its heart are four siblings struggling with growing up and coping with both the deaths of loved ones and futures that they feel powerless to direct: their parson father insists the only real role for a lady is a governess, at least until she becomes a wife, and Branwell's artistic leanings will be no use to a boy clearly expected to follow in his dad's footsteps. At times, the plot drags a bit as it wends through backstory and lingers over oddities, and there were a couple threads and characters that seemed underutilized by the end. I'm also sure I missed some points by only having a vague, cultural osmosis familiarity with the Brontes. Still, it's a fun, somewhat throwback story with some brilliant turns of phrase and a solid heart to it.

You Might Also Enjoy:
Knight's Castle (Edward Eager) - My Review
Un Lun Dun (China Mieville) - My Review
The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of her Own Making (Catherynne M. Valente) - My Review

How to Be an Antiracist (Ibram X. Kendi)

How to Be an Antiracist
Ibram X. Kendi
One World
Nonfiction, Autobiography/History/Politics/Sociology
***** (Great)

DESCRIPTION: Today's demonstrations in the name of Black Lives Matter are just the latest face of a struggle over racial equity that predates the founding of America. Many people are energized to join the marchers, many call for their dispersal, but a great number still sit on the sidelines as though it's not their problem. "I'm not a racist," they say, or "I don't have a dog in this fight" ... or "it'll die out on its own if we just ignore color altogether." But the story of racism is more than just the story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr or Jim Crow South or affirmative action. It's a story that involves everybody, a story on which power in the modern world as a whole has been built on a foundation of racism and inequity - one that's brought us to the literal brink, racially and politically and environmentally. It's not enough to just say one is not racist; to have any hope of actual, lasting change, one must be antiracist. Scholar, author, and activist Ibram X. Kendi traces the history of racism through history and his own life, from the invention of the concept of race through generations of supporters and detractors and the many (often flawed) proposed solutions, to the concept of antiracism as an active voice and movement.

REVIEW: As a lower-income left-leaning white woman, I've been aware that racism existed for some time, though it never quite seemed to touch my life (that I was aware of). Like many, I've been watching recent developments (or degenerations) with increasing concern. It seemed there was a lot I hadn't been told or did not understand, for this much apparent progress - for the "arc of history" I'd been told to trust would inevitably bend toward justice and equality - to backslide this far and this fast, despite apparent widespread objection. So, when the recent spurt of books on racism hit the library system where I worked, I figured it was time to do some self-education to try to understand what was going on, and why, and if there was anything that could be done. After the initial surge, this book was one of the ones that still surfaced regularly in circulation, so I figured it might be one to try. (It was also relatively short; some of those books are bricks, and I'm an undereducated American public school alumnus, so they'd likely be way too much for an introduction.) It turned out to be a very good choice.
Drawing on both deep scholarly research and his personal and family history, Kendi exposes the roots of racism at the start of the European slave trade (and the very capitalistic idea of doing an end-run around the competition, slave-traders from the Middle East... plus advertising to justify their "product" and "brand" by inventing a vision of Africa and Africans with no basis in reality but which rationalized the whole deal - and, not coincidentally, generated enormous profits.) To be sure, humans have long held prejudices against other nations and cultures - a pitfall of a brain evolved to seek mental shortcuts and patterns even when none exist, perhaps, as many prejudices seem to play right into hardwired mental blind spots - but color-based racism was an invention with a verifiable birth date. These ideas were further refined down through the ages, evolving to counter arguments and objections, dehumanizing and othering non-Whites, layering themselves into the fabric of society and policy and classes and popular thinking until even those who wanted to fix the problem too often came at the matter from flawed and racist assumptions, that the Black people needed to be "elevated" (as though they were inherently lower) or "assimilated" (as though their cultures and languages were inherently inferior) or "saved" (as though Europeans were doing their souls a favor.) Nor is racism strictly a problem of White people; many Blacks (and other races) unthinkingly swallow and regurgitate racist ideas against Whites, against Blacks of a different social strata or cultural origin, against other races - even against themselves, as reflected in movements that blame racial inequality on personal failings and laziness rather than institutions and policies designed against them. Kendi again draws on his own life and his often-painful struggle with inherited ideas of race and gender (he ties feminism and LGBTQ+ issues into the greater struggle of racism and inequality; to embrace antiracism is to recognize that any policy dehumanizing or belittling or othering any part of the human race, by skin color or gender or anything, shares the same root and spreads the same poison.) It is a very enlightening and sobering exploration, one that left me astounded at my own short-sighted ignorance.
Toward the end, he explores why antiracism seems to be floundering - an overreliance on ideological "purity" and moral victories over focusing on tangible policy changes that actually create change, plus a strange refusal to admit that flawed tactics are not working even as progress gets steamrolled by the re-energized racists in power. Kendi acknowledges that we're in dire straits, especially with the racist power structure bringing us to the edge of economic, social, and environmental collapse (racism is inextricably tied with capitalism, which is responsible for so much destruction and anti-environmental policies linked to runaway global warming), but insists that hope cannot be abandoned altogether. In the end, I consider myself much more educated on the subject, if much more aware of how deep the problem truly runs and how big and many-headed this Goliath truly is. I may not be able to do much, if anything, about the greater problems, but I can hopefully do something about my own misconceptions.

You Might Also Enjoy:
Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave (Frederick Douglass) - My Review
The Black Count (Tom Reiss) - My Review
 They Called Us Enemy (George Takei et al.) - My Review