The month's reviews have been archived and cross-linked on the main Brightdreamer Books website.
Enjoy!
Thursday, March 31, 2022
March Site Update
How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse (K. Eason)
How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse
The Thorne Chronicles, Book 1
K. Eason
DAW
Fiction, YA Fantasy/Humor/Sci-Fi
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: It has been two hundred years and more since a daughter was born to the royal Thorne family, head of a consortium of worlds with subjects human and alien, but despite having spread across the multiverse with a melding of magic (more commonly known these days as arithmancy) and technology, certain traditions must be upheld... such as the naming ceremony for a princess, and the customary invitations left in the garden for twelve fairies to bring their gifts - and, if one is strictly following protocol, the thirteenth fairy to bring her curse.
Nobody expected the fairies to actually exist, let alone accept the invitations - or to bestow gifts upon the girl. As for the curse... while the thirteenth fairy burdens her with the ability to always see through falsehoods to the truth beneath, that is far less a curse than the worlds at large contrive to throw at her, curses involving a spoiled younger brother, a ridiculous tradition preventing girls from inheriting the throne, and a war against a tyrant and regicide whose resolution demands she marry a weakling prince whom she only ever met once. But Rory Thorne isn't some helpless, mindless romantic of a princess; she's well aware that royalty is about politics, and politics is all too often about accepting poor bedfellows to keep the peace (and stave off even worse bedfellows). She travels to the space station capital of Tadesh fully intending to go through with the marriage... but things go wrong from the moment of her arrival, pointing to even greater and darker schemes afoot.
Unfortunately for her enemies, this damsel isn't anything like her pining ancestral namesake, waiting for a prince to rescue her from the palace of brambles. If anyone's going to be saving anyone, it's Rory Thorne. Too bad she may just have to destroy the peace and the multiverse to do it...
REVIEW: To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect when I downloaded this audiobook, save that the title promised fun and the premise - melding fairy tale tropes with a space opera plot - intrigued me. It quickly pulled me into its amusing yet detailed and interesting world, a mash-up that probably shouldn't work but somehow does in Eason's hands. With few exceptions, nobody in this story is just who or what they appear to be, with hidden motivations and layers to them. Rory was raised with a keen understanding of the politics of her position, and harbors no illusions about happily-ever-after endings for someone in her position, but that doesn't means he has to sit back and play her harp (one of the skills a fairy granted her, which turns out to be more useful than anticipated) while other people use her for their own gains. Between a half-cybernetic bodyguard and the royal vizier, not to mention a mother from a less male-dominated culture than her father, she received a rather progressive education, which she puts to good use when she finds herself thrust into the interstellar game board as someone else's pawn. The story rarely if ever lags, as Rory pits her wits against a scheming usurper who has already killed more than one monarch and will not hesitate to kill another to get the power he craves. Along the way, the narrative, written by an unnamed historian chronicler, adds several amusing asides and flourishes to the tale. When I finished, I hit Overdrive almost immediately to see if the second installment of the duology was available for download, but unfortunately there appears to be a wait list. Dang it...
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Princess Bride (William Goldman) - My Review
Cinder (Marissa Meyer) - My Review
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (Patricia C. Wrede) - My Review
The Thorne Chronicles, Book 1
K. Eason
DAW
Fiction, YA Fantasy/Humor/Sci-Fi
****+ (Good/Great)
DESCRIPTION: It has been two hundred years and more since a daughter was born to the royal Thorne family, head of a consortium of worlds with subjects human and alien, but despite having spread across the multiverse with a melding of magic (more commonly known these days as arithmancy) and technology, certain traditions must be upheld... such as the naming ceremony for a princess, and the customary invitations left in the garden for twelve fairies to bring their gifts - and, if one is strictly following protocol, the thirteenth fairy to bring her curse.
Nobody expected the fairies to actually exist, let alone accept the invitations - or to bestow gifts upon the girl. As for the curse... while the thirteenth fairy burdens her with the ability to always see through falsehoods to the truth beneath, that is far less a curse than the worlds at large contrive to throw at her, curses involving a spoiled younger brother, a ridiculous tradition preventing girls from inheriting the throne, and a war against a tyrant and regicide whose resolution demands she marry a weakling prince whom she only ever met once. But Rory Thorne isn't some helpless, mindless romantic of a princess; she's well aware that royalty is about politics, and politics is all too often about accepting poor bedfellows to keep the peace (and stave off even worse bedfellows). She travels to the space station capital of Tadesh fully intending to go through with the marriage... but things go wrong from the moment of her arrival, pointing to even greater and darker schemes afoot.
Unfortunately for her enemies, this damsel isn't anything like her pining ancestral namesake, waiting for a prince to rescue her from the palace of brambles. If anyone's going to be saving anyone, it's Rory Thorne. Too bad she may just have to destroy the peace and the multiverse to do it...
REVIEW: To be honest, I wasn't entirely sure what to expect when I downloaded this audiobook, save that the title promised fun and the premise - melding fairy tale tropes with a space opera plot - intrigued me. It quickly pulled me into its amusing yet detailed and interesting world, a mash-up that probably shouldn't work but somehow does in Eason's hands. With few exceptions, nobody in this story is just who or what they appear to be, with hidden motivations and layers to them. Rory was raised with a keen understanding of the politics of her position, and harbors no illusions about happily-ever-after endings for someone in her position, but that doesn't means he has to sit back and play her harp (one of the skills a fairy granted her, which turns out to be more useful than anticipated) while other people use her for their own gains. Between a half-cybernetic bodyguard and the royal vizier, not to mention a mother from a less male-dominated culture than her father, she received a rather progressive education, which she puts to good use when she finds herself thrust into the interstellar game board as someone else's pawn. The story rarely if ever lags, as Rory pits her wits against a scheming usurper who has already killed more than one monarch and will not hesitate to kill another to get the power he craves. Along the way, the narrative, written by an unnamed historian chronicler, adds several amusing asides and flourishes to the tale. When I finished, I hit Overdrive almost immediately to see if the second installment of the duology was available for download, but unfortunately there appears to be a wait list. Dang it...
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Princess Bride (William Goldman) - My Review
Cinder (Marissa Meyer) - My Review
The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (Patricia C. Wrede) - My Review
7 Ate 9 (Tara Lazar)
7 Ate 9: The Untold Story
The Private I series, Book 1
Tara Lazar, illustrations by Ross McDonald
Little, Brown Books
Fiction, CH Humor/Mystery/Picture Book
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: When rumors spread about 7, that he ate 9, a distraught number 6 turns to the letter detective Private I for help; after all, if 7's gone bad, surely 6 is next in line for the knife (and fork). Both 7 and 9 are conspicuously absent from the city, but does the story add up, or is this case a bad equation?
REVIEW: Most everyone knows the grade school joke ("Why was 6 afraid of 7?" "Because 7 8 9!" - read it out loud if you don't get it), but this "untold story" explores the case in detail, with several number-related puns and jokes along the way. I interviews 8 at the crossing of Second and Fourth streets, and picks up tips at the cafe while eating a slice of pi, before finally cracking the case. It's a clever (for the target audience) nod to private eye tropes.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors (Drew Daywalt) - My Review
E-mergency (Tom Lichtenheld) - My Review
The Sad Little Fact (Jonah Winter) - My Review
The Private I series, Book 1
Tara Lazar, illustrations by Ross McDonald
Little, Brown Books
Fiction, CH Humor/Mystery/Picture Book
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: When rumors spread about 7, that he ate 9, a distraught number 6 turns to the letter detective Private I for help; after all, if 7's gone bad, surely 6 is next in line for the knife (and fork). Both 7 and 9 are conspicuously absent from the city, but does the story add up, or is this case a bad equation?
REVIEW: Most everyone knows the grade school joke ("Why was 6 afraid of 7?" "Because 7 8 9!" - read it out loud if you don't get it), but this "untold story" explores the case in detail, with several number-related puns and jokes along the way. I interviews 8 at the crossing of Second and Fourth streets, and picks up tips at the cafe while eating a slice of pi, before finally cracking the case. It's a clever (for the target audience) nod to private eye tropes.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Legend of Rock Paper Scissors (Drew Daywalt) - My Review
E-mergency (Tom Lichtenheld) - My Review
The Sad Little Fact (Jonah Winter) - My Review
Monday, March 28, 2022
Memory's Legion (James S. A. Corey)
Memory's Legion
The Expanse novellas
James S. A. Corey
Orbit
Fiction, Collection/Sci-Fi
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: A Martian engineer's new drive design will change the face of the solar system - but he will never live to see it. An Earthborn hero seeks atonement through death after a raid on a Belter station. A hardened boy on Baltimore's lawless streets faces a choice that will determine his future. An aging Belter, stranded on a colony world, sees history about to repeat itself. These and other tales from the Expanse universe are gathered in this print collection for the first time, including author notes and a new story, The Sins of Our Fathers.
REVIEW: With this book, the long-asked-for print compilation of the short stories and novellas, the long and winding journey of the Expanse universe seems to finally be at an end (though, of course, I've learned that "end" doesn't always mean "end"). I've read several of these as e-books, but a few I hadn't gotten to yet, and the author notes were interesting. As for the new story, it addresses a loose end while touching on events after the finale of the ninth book, as humanity is once again thrust into a new era of its existence with minimal warning, bringing with it the same habits and cycles that have both elevated and held back the species since its origins. Overall, it's a nice collection of stories to supplement the main books.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury) - My Review
The Expanse Volume 1: Origins (James S. A. Corey, Hallie Lambert, and Georgia Lee) - My Review
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Dennis E. Taylor) - My Review
The Expanse novellas
James S. A. Corey
Orbit
Fiction, Collection/Sci-Fi
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: A Martian engineer's new drive design will change the face of the solar system - but he will never live to see it. An Earthborn hero seeks atonement through death after a raid on a Belter station. A hardened boy on Baltimore's lawless streets faces a choice that will determine his future. An aging Belter, stranded on a colony world, sees history about to repeat itself. These and other tales from the Expanse universe are gathered in this print collection for the first time, including author notes and a new story, The Sins of Our Fathers.
REVIEW: With this book, the long-asked-for print compilation of the short stories and novellas, the long and winding journey of the Expanse universe seems to finally be at an end (though, of course, I've learned that "end" doesn't always mean "end"). I've read several of these as e-books, but a few I hadn't gotten to yet, and the author notes were interesting. As for the new story, it addresses a loose end while touching on events after the finale of the ninth book, as humanity is once again thrust into a new era of its existence with minimal warning, bringing with it the same habits and cycles that have both elevated and held back the species since its origins. Overall, it's a nice collection of stories to supplement the main books.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury) - My Review
The Expanse Volume 1: Origins (James S. A. Corey, Hallie Lambert, and Georgia Lee) - My Review
We Are Legion (We Are Bob) (Dennis E. Taylor) - My Review
Saturday, March 26, 2022
Guns of the Dawn (Adrian Tchaikovsky)
Guns of the Dawn
Adrian Tchaikovsky
Tor
Fiction, Fantasy
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: When the nation of Denland murdered their rightful king and set up a parliament of commoners to rule them, the people of Lascanne could only look on in horror - then in fear, as the Denland armies, not content with destroying their own monarchy, turned toward their neighbors and one-time allies. Surely such a rabble of commoners would be easy to put down, when Lascanne still had the best cavalry in the world, not to mention their royally-appointed warlocks and the will of God as embodied in their king, on their side. But somehow year followed year, both sides dug in, and more and more men were needed for the war (which, of course, must nearly be won, only needing a few more soldiers to button the whole unpleasant matter up). When there were no more volunteers, the draft took all men and boys between 50 and 15... and, when they were gone, the draft demanded a woman from each household - even the noble houses like the Marshwics.
Emily Marshwic and her sisters had already given to the war effort, first a brother-in-law and then a young brother, neither of whom send much in the way of letters back home. When the women's draft called, many high houses sent servants in their place, but the Marshwics had always served the king proudly. Thus Emily dons the red uniform and takes up the musket, confident in the righteousness of her nation and cause. But war is nothing at all like she could have imagined, and her old ideas of right and wrong and noble causes are the first in a long list of casualties.
REVIEW: Tchaikovsky is quickly becoming one of my go-to reliable authors for a solid, engaging story. Guns of the Dawn is by no means the first story to expose the horrors of war, especially in the musket and pistol era, but it successfully depicts one woman's awakening to those horrors and the gray areas that ultimately govern politics and life. She starts as a woman of a minor yet old noble line, convinced of the privelege of her rank and righteousness of her king without being excessively uppity or unlikeable; she takes to heart the idea that those of her rank should be caretakers of their lessers. She and her sisters carry a bitter grudge against the local acting governor Northway, a commonborn man with known shady dealings whose rise to power coincided with the fall of their father's fortunes, ending with the old man putting a bullet in his own brain. Emily and Northway's clashes - over class, over policies, over everything - become her first lessons in how far the real world is from noble ideals, for all that she does not recognize it for some time, and the war strips any remaining idealism from her as comrades in arms come and go, the latter often in rains of bullets from Denlander guns. Along the way, Emily grows from genteel middleborn noblewoman to true soldier, from mindless follower of propaganda to a more jaded viewer of events, through backdrops ranging from the aging family estate to a royal ball to the spirit-crushing swamplands where she spends the war. Action can explode from nowhere just like surprise gunfire from the swamp mists, though always Emily is moving and growing as a character, enduring setbacks and tragedies and battles that leave wounds physical and psychic. There are teases of romance along the way, but nothing like the idealized kind she might once have entertained, and her choices are nowhere near clear right up to the finale. The end feels just a hair abrupt, but brings Emily's journey and the story as a whole to a satisfactory and earned conclusion. While the world of Lascanne and Denland and the characters introduced could possibly carry a sequel or spinoff, things wrap up well enough here in one book, a somewhat rare phenomenon these days. I enjoyed it more than I expected to.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Blacktongue Thief (Christopher Buehlman) - My Review
The Forever War (Joe Haldeman) - My Review
War Girls (Tochi Onyebuchi) - My Review
Adrian Tchaikovsky
Tor
Fiction, Fantasy
**** (Good)
DESCRIPTION: When the nation of Denland murdered their rightful king and set up a parliament of commoners to rule them, the people of Lascanne could only look on in horror - then in fear, as the Denland armies, not content with destroying their own monarchy, turned toward their neighbors and one-time allies. Surely such a rabble of commoners would be easy to put down, when Lascanne still had the best cavalry in the world, not to mention their royally-appointed warlocks and the will of God as embodied in their king, on their side. But somehow year followed year, both sides dug in, and more and more men were needed for the war (which, of course, must nearly be won, only needing a few more soldiers to button the whole unpleasant matter up). When there were no more volunteers, the draft took all men and boys between 50 and 15... and, when they were gone, the draft demanded a woman from each household - even the noble houses like the Marshwics.
Emily Marshwic and her sisters had already given to the war effort, first a brother-in-law and then a young brother, neither of whom send much in the way of letters back home. When the women's draft called, many high houses sent servants in their place, but the Marshwics had always served the king proudly. Thus Emily dons the red uniform and takes up the musket, confident in the righteousness of her nation and cause. But war is nothing at all like she could have imagined, and her old ideas of right and wrong and noble causes are the first in a long list of casualties.
REVIEW: Tchaikovsky is quickly becoming one of my go-to reliable authors for a solid, engaging story. Guns of the Dawn is by no means the first story to expose the horrors of war, especially in the musket and pistol era, but it successfully depicts one woman's awakening to those horrors and the gray areas that ultimately govern politics and life. She starts as a woman of a minor yet old noble line, convinced of the privelege of her rank and righteousness of her king without being excessively uppity or unlikeable; she takes to heart the idea that those of her rank should be caretakers of their lessers. She and her sisters carry a bitter grudge against the local acting governor Northway, a commonborn man with known shady dealings whose rise to power coincided with the fall of their father's fortunes, ending with the old man putting a bullet in his own brain. Emily and Northway's clashes - over class, over policies, over everything - become her first lessons in how far the real world is from noble ideals, for all that she does not recognize it for some time, and the war strips any remaining idealism from her as comrades in arms come and go, the latter often in rains of bullets from Denlander guns. Along the way, Emily grows from genteel middleborn noblewoman to true soldier, from mindless follower of propaganda to a more jaded viewer of events, through backdrops ranging from the aging family estate to a royal ball to the spirit-crushing swamplands where she spends the war. Action can explode from nowhere just like surprise gunfire from the swamp mists, though always Emily is moving and growing as a character, enduring setbacks and tragedies and battles that leave wounds physical and psychic. There are teases of romance along the way, but nothing like the idealized kind she might once have entertained, and her choices are nowhere near clear right up to the finale. The end feels just a hair abrupt, but brings Emily's journey and the story as a whole to a satisfactory and earned conclusion. While the world of Lascanne and Denland and the characters introduced could possibly carry a sequel or spinoff, things wrap up well enough here in one book, a somewhat rare phenomenon these days. I enjoyed it more than I expected to.
You Might Also Enjoy:
The Blacktongue Thief (Christopher Buehlman) - My Review
The Forever War (Joe Haldeman) - My Review
War Girls (Tochi Onyebuchi) - My Review
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