In the Castrima Comm, Essun struggles to navigate the many threats assailing her: her mentor is unwell, her daughter is missing out in the world somewhere, there are scheming Stone Eaters, and, oh, just a little thing about how the current Season wonāt end in her lifetime and humanity, as she knows it, seems doomed to extinction. Yāknow, normal stuff that happens every day. Also, what the heck is a moon....?
The Fifth Season had me stumbling a bit over Jemisinās use of the Second Person voice and, if that was rough for the reader in that book, well, book two continues that same device. By now, Iāve settled into it, it doesnāt bother me. On the contrary, use of the Second Person voice makes it easier to accept moments in which the narrator withholds information.
That latter scenario is what convinced me that I actually was enjoying The Obelisk Gate; the narrator alluded to events but provided no details. Something inside me shrieked, ātell me!ā From that point on, I was committed.
Even as I write this, I realize how cagey is the language I employ. Another bit of oblique evidence for how much I really liked the title: I donāt want to spoil anything for another prospective reader.
Essun is well-written, to my mind. Sheās very capable in many ways, although she doesnāt always succeed in the way she hoped. Sometimes, her victories come at a cost, and sometimes that cost is paid by people she cares about. It helped keep me grounded in the world!
I have, however, discovered that I canāt comfortably read these books back-to-back. The setting, the characters, the unfolding events, all of them are GRIM. Moments of levity are rare. It wasnāt so severe that I needed to take a break mid-novel, but I did need time between to cleanse the palate a bit.
And that, really, is my endorsement. If you liked the first one, youāll likely, uh, like this one, too. If you like your fantasy novels on the comedic side, maybe give The Obelisk Gate a miss. If you have a taste for apocalyptic survival fantasy, probably start with The Fifth Season. Iāll be shortly moving on to The Stone Sky!
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Woooo! Itās been a while. I have a new book club! Theyāre actually reading the sequel to this book, so I gotta catch up, and that means: more book reviews!
People who dwell in the Stillness must shelter in communal Comms, living in fear that one of their number could be revealed as a dreaded Orogene. Fortunately, the Guardians exist to wrangle those not-people, carting them off to the Fulcrum, where they can be properly made to serve mankind. At least, thatās what most folk believe....
Initially, I was disoriented by The Fifth Season; Jemisin deliberately employs the rarely-used Second Person voice, a dangerous and forbidden literary technique, and I needed a chapter or two to adjust to the unfamiliar perspective. It isnāt there all the time, mind you, just for, oh, about a third of the chapters. That, bundled with a substantial sum of setting-specific terminology, made the early chapters an exercise in patience.
Jemisin never becomes didactic, however. Rarely does she indulge in having one character explain something to another purely for the benefit of the reader, accomplishing much of her conveyance via show-donāt-tell and trusting that we will grasp her meaning in the fullness of time. I count this as a positive feature and laud her authorial skill! By the end, I didnāt feel like I lacked for detail and am very much anticipating The Obelisk Gate.
The story winds through the lives of three main protagonists, moving among events in three separate and distinct time periods, and the cast around them is fairly sparse. Readers beware of that: this isnāt three stories taking place concurrently, so keeping track of what is happening when may, at first, be a bit rough. (Personally, I very much enjoyed Andrew Hussieās Homestuck, which is, what, four timelines across two separate universes? The Fifth Seasons was, if anything, rather refreshing!)
I must, here, spare a moment to applaud the performance by Robin Miles in the audiobook version! She fills every line with a deft nuance that pulled my heart whichever way she pleased. I have favorites among the narrators I have heard in books past and she may have just launched herself into first place.
Ultimately, The Fifth Season is good! The world is intriguing, though the details are sparse, and the few characters are realized well. There are enough elements left unresolved to keep my imagination engaged. Content warning: thereās a lot of dark stuff here, including various kinds of abuse. If youāre looking for a feel-good book to help you laugh a bit and maybe learn something about yourself... go read Sir Terry Pratchett, instead. If you enjoy a journey through a dark, post-apocalyptic, pseudo-medieval fantasy setting, check it out!
On Mars, the Reds mine the fuel that will, one day, terraform the planet so that the rest of humanity, subsisting in orbital habitats and on the ruins of Earth, can come and build a paradise. When Darrow discovers that his whole way of life is a ploy to exploit him and every other Red who toils for the sake of the Society, he's angry. But it isn't until he transcends his humble origins that he can catch a glimpse of just how corrupt the system is.
I liked Red Rising. As a character, Darrow is straightforward and uncomplicated: he loves what he loves, hates what he hates, and wants to wear his heart on his sleeve. He learns how to control some of his impulsiveness, but never becomes a sterile, emotionless ubermensch.
The pace of the book is brisk. Early on, I caught myself wryly checking off items from an imagined list, as if playing some sort of 'radicalization bingo' card. Here's where he has an achievement stolen by a corrupt system, here's where he decides to just deal with it, (until) here's where it gets personal. In spite of that, it's easy to identify with Darrow's plight and Brown takes the time to emphasize just how mortal he is. Darrow isn't an impervious, stoic badass, he's a young, passionate man with strengths and weaknesses.
An inevitable comparison must be drawn to works like The Hunger Games and Divergent. I've not read the latter, but I generally liked the former. The Hunger games is, however, a Young Adult series, and, now that I've read Red Rising, I can better express what I felt was missing from it: the government. From what I recall, the Capitol was mostly represented by President Snow and his unfailingly loyal, mostly-faceless minions. The Government was Bad and the only redeemable people were secretly rebels or hapless bystanders.
In Red Rising, there's a bit more nuance: Darrow discovers that, regardless of which caste they are born into, there are good people among the bad. He reflects on and is troubled by it, and it helps enhance a sense that the world is real. The Society is not a single, soulless entity, it is composed of many competing factions and egos, some of which can be turned against the others...
I think, if you enjoyed either of the other two series I referenced above, you'll probably find something to like in Red Rising. The same holds true if you enjoy more pop-corn-y adventure novels, along the lines of Harry Dresden. If you're looking for hard sci-fi from the likes of Vernor Vinge, though, maybe read this one later.
Siri Keeton joins a diverse crew of transhuman specialists to investigate an unknown artifact in deep space. Possibly, this will be the first contact with an extraterrestrial species, and so the TheseusĀ has a Linguist and a Biologist aboard to study them, a Soldier to direct the shipās defenses, a Vampire to offer his alien perspective, and Siri himself to act as an impartial observer. Nothing badās gonna happen on this trip!Ā
In the first two hours of the novel, I appreciated how Watts kept the narrative tight and quick, not bogging down in descriptions of the whole world. He kept to the essentials and effectively used context to direct the readerās imagination to fill in the gaps. The post-scarcity society that spans the Earth, Moon, and Mars, the commercially available Heaven that functions as a sort of long-term retirement crossed with an even more futuristic Holodeck, and the occasional oblique reference to a possible Singularity are all given just enough detail to entice the reader.Ā
Unfortunately, I couldnāt get invested in the story. Siri rather belabors his own cognitive state as a half-man, half-machine mind, the perfectly impersonal observer who canāt feel his way through any kind of human interaction, instead he intellectually digests facial expressions, body language, and subtle tonal variations to act as a sort of high-tech mentalist. He doesnāt get emotionally engaged with anything, and we are subjected to his anecdotes of a now-deceased girlfriend of his as an example of what can happen when he makes an attempt. Because of that emotional distance, I was never able to feel like I connected with the events unfolding in the text.Ā
There was a point where Siri talks about the various epithets that others have applied to him: synthesist, jargonaught, comissar, and one or two others. On the following page, he casually labels Jukka Sarasti asĀ āthe vampire.ā I was wondering if there would be a moment spent to reflect on the irony of this, but, no, that didnāt happen.Ā
None of the characters really have anything invested in the outcome. They have one thing to lose: their lives. Paradoxically, this single unit makes for poor drama, because the tension doesnāt really have anywhere to go: it starts atĀ āI could dieā and pretty much stays there. The few moments of comparative intensity end up feeling wan and robbed of immediacy, because I donāt care what happens to theseĀ āpeople,ā theyāre only vectors for exposition. It doesnāt help that four out of five crew members have back-ups in hibernation, so a death just means their replacement gets to wake up.Ā
I have, in the past, begun more than one, uh,Ā āintense verbal disagreementā by explaining how much I disliked A Game of ThronesĀ (the novel, not the HBO adaptation). In it, Martin got my hopes up by introducing an interesting cast of characters, then failed to deliver on my raised expectations. Watts hasnāt even accomplished that first feat, so I canāt even feel properly disappointed. The twelve hours I invested reading BlindsightĀ have not inspired much of anything aside from a desire to be reading something else.Ā
I canāt recommend this title to anyone. Do you enjoy hard science fiction with a sense of tension and high stakes? Read A Fire Upon the Deep, by Vernor Vinge. Do you want hard sci-fi with a sense of adventure? Read Old Manās War, by John Scalzi. Do you want a scary story of First Contact? Watch AlienĀ or Aliens, even the novelizations were pretty good.Ā
Did you ever read Harry Potter and think,Ā āthis is good, but what if Harry was a girl, and instead of school she was at a convent, and instead of magic she learned kung fu,ā and then just stared into space while reading this because of how I perfectly captured your thoughts? Yeah, uh, me neither....
Nona is a young girl, perhaps nine years old, living on a world where the space left for people to live in is ever shrinking, crowded inward by encroaching ice. The dim, dying sun yields little warmth and the only hope, the only relief, comes from the Focus Moon, shining light and heat down to the narrow corridor where people still try to scratch out some kind of life.Ā
Red SisterĀ took a long time to grab me. Part of the delay stemmed from the different narrator of the audio book occasionally using an odd pronunciation of a common word and having a very different attitude from what Iām used to. James Clamp was a great fit for Jorg Ancrath, very matter-of-fact and ruthless in his delivery, but still maintaining a veneer of civility. Tim Gerard Reynolds nicely interpreted Jallan Kendeth with all the swagger, pathos, and flippant egoism that really made the character for me, then turned right around an voiced Snorri as a man Iād be proud to call friend.Ā
Heather OāNeil has a cast mostly consisting of ten year old girls, so it was tough to differentiate them all. She acquits herself well, but Nona didnāt feel real, to me, until very late in the book.Ā
Thatās what lies at the core of my issues. The sisters of the Sweet Mercy Convent are interesting, having distinct personalities and hints at broader lives. Nona, by contrast, is very secretive, which makes it difficult to engage with her.Ā
Ultimately, though, this pays off, and the last third of the tale takes flight. It finally feels like a proper Mark Lawrence book. Events have far reaching repercussions and often delayed resolutions, and Lawrence has a talent for the tragedy of small things.
Fans of the Broken EmpireĀ and Red Queenās WarĀ might find the sudden shift to a new setting jarring, as I did, and new readers may balk at the slightly slow pace. The youth of the protagonist and many supporting characters made me think this might be the start of a young adult series, but it is certainly not for children. Lots of graphic violence here! Ultimately, Iām glad I began Red SisterĀ and glad I finished it. I suggest you join me in waiting for the next book!
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A strange disease, Dragonscale, has swept around the globe, and the people it infects develop swirling black marks, like tattoos, all over their bodies. Then they spontaneously combust. As civilization collapses, young nurse Harper Grace tries to comfort the sick and suffering, including a young deaf boy brought to the clinic by a man dressed in a firefighterās coat and gloves.Ā
Then the hospital burns down. Then she discovers she, too, has been infected and sends her husband Jakob to live somewhere he wonāt risk infection. Then she discovers sheās pregnant, decides to carry the child to term despite the many risks, and sets out to find a place to deliver her baby into the world safely.Ā
Iāve read that Joe Hill has referred to The FiremanĀ asĀ āThe StandĀ soaked in gasoline.ā It is fortunate for him, then, that I have never read The Stand, as Iāve also read that many fans of Stephen King regard it as his finest work. If The FiremanĀ is Joe Hillās finest work, I doubt Iāll be reading anything else he has written.Ā
I had high hopes at the start. King is often hit (Eyes of the Dragon, The Wizard and Glass) or miss (Song of Susanna) with me. Several members of my book club had read Hillās works and said theyād liked them, though in retrospect they didnāt gush with praise for them. Still, I was optimistic, and I suppose that means I am partly to blame for my own disappointment.Ā
My biggest problem with the book lies in the laziness of its composition. The Dragonscale is interesting and Hill successfully preserves the Firemanās air of mystery and danger throughout most of the book. But Harperās character can be summed up in three words: Nice Pregnant Nurse. There. Thatās it.
Emphasis on āpregnant,ā by the way. So much emphasis. No one ever lets you or anyone else ever forget it. āCareful, Harper, remember that youāre pregnant.ā I expect I was mostly cranky about my gripes with the book, but it started to feel like Hill didnāt trust me as a reader to keep track of that fact on my own.Ā
Early on, the pace is rushed. We are allowed to read a brief vignette, then time skips ahead days, weeks, or even months to another vignette. If I were feeling charitable, I might describe it as creating a sense of lost control, talk about how it underscored the fast fall into a post apocalyptic society.Ā
Regrettably, Hill rapidly exhausted my charity, so Iāll instead describe it as more lazy writing. He had the opportunity to organically build up the relationship between Harper and Jakob but he wanted to get to the action faster, so he rushed past what should have been establishing scenes. As a result, Jakob goes from a slightly-rough-around-the-edges young husband, to a stressed out hipster prick, and finally to violent sociopath in a shockingly short time. It was also space in which he might have convinced me to invest myself in Harperās plight, but there appears to have been an assumption that I would automatically empathize with the Nice Pregnant Nurse.Ā
Part of what broke my immersion was the way Harper doesnāt seem to have existed prior to the start of the story. She doesnāt have any friends! She seems to never have had any! None worth mentioning, at any rate. As a nurse, sheās attended university and works in a school in the very first scene, places where a person canāt help but be surrounded by people. Yet, her life has been distilled down to herself and Jakob. There isnāt even a mention of anyone she knows catching the Dragonscale and combusting to explain this comprehensive absence of anything resembling a social life. I dimly recall her reminiscing on things she did in her youth, but canāt think of a single friend or relation aside from Jakob or her parents.Ā
It feels especially egregious after we learn that Jakob has been cheating on Harper with some of her friends. I had thought we would slowly learn how subtly abusive Jakob had been, slowly isolating Harper from her friends, but that doesnāt seem to be what happened. Still, she doesnāt have any mementos or fond memories to share with anyone else. I guess sheās only close enough to these other women for Jakob to prove heās an irredeemable asshole.Ā
The other characters are written to about the same level, though theyāre easier to accept because we donāt live inside their heads. It should be noted that Hill appears to have an aversion to dialogue as a vehicle for character development. Every character worth talking to simply drops an information dump on Harper. Itād be understandable if it happened once, maybe twice, but itās the norm rather than the exception.Ā āOh, I guess weāve got some time alone, might as well tell you my life story and all my relevant motivations.āĀ
If thereās something that a character doesnāt directly exposit, most often Hill fills it in for us as narration and then attributes it. Itās a literary shortcut that snips out even more opportunities for characterization through dialogue and further underscores the theme of laziness Iāve been banging on about.Ā
Itās a shame because, taken as a whole, the book fits together very neatly. Hill has a pretty consistent in-universe explanation for everything that happens and almost every question is eventually answered. In the few non-info dump places where characters do interact, they almost convinced me they could be real people, and he adds many small sensory flourishes (scents, visual details) to help set scenes in the readerās mind.Ā
The FiremanĀ is not a bad. Joe Hill did oodles of research and spent years polishing the prose until he was satisfied. Unfortunately, I canāt recommend it to anyone. The characters are bland, the pacing is inconsistent, and there wasnāt anything I felt invested in. For a book riddled with flame iconography, it ultimately felt tepid.Ā
The Kez army is advancing towards the heart of Adro. Field Marshal Tamas readies his men for a flanking maneuver, all the while wracked with worry over his son Taniel, comatose since the events on Mt. Pike. More concerning are the rumors that Kresimir is alive, in the Kez camp.... and going mad. I read both of these back to back, finishing out the Powder Mage Trilogy in one stroke, and I'm rather glad I didn't space them out more. Crimson Campaign ends on a very tense cliffhanger, and I simply couldn't wait to see the resolution. That, alone, should be a fairly strong endorsement. McLellan occupies a strange spot among the authors I enjoy reading. He does solid world building, writes dialogue very well, and creates tense action scenes. In spite of that, he doesn't rank among my favorites. Part of the problem lies in the way he structures the magic in his world. It's all very straightforward with little nuance for the reader to appreciate. In Promise of Blood, Taniel has to make a shot from miles away, and the only trick to making his magic help with that is 'concentrate really hard.' This is in stark contrast to the battle between Vin and Shan near the end of Mistborn: The Final Empire. Vin manages her magic precisely to overcome her foe's advantages. Still, I have grown to love the characters. Taniel and Ka-Pol are easily my favorite pair to follow through the story. His cavalier, cowboy attitude and her fiery, expressive personality combine to keep everyone around them either off guard or absolutely infuriated. Lots of great popcorn moments, romantically tense moments, and moments to cheer over. As a last word of caution, the tone of the series stays grim through the last two books. There are few, if any, breather moments as characters pass from trial to trial. The time they are given to rest is usually skipped in the text and, as a result, we readers lose out on a some moments for potential growth and insight. The Powder Mage Trilogy is a strong offering in a non-standard fantasy setting. It doesn't clear my personal threshold of awesome, but it comes very close while daring greatly. Fans of historical fiction centered around the time of the American Civil War or perhaps the Napoleanic Wars might acratch their fantasy itch here.
Prince Jalan Kendeth has a problem: heās an out and out scoundrel who would like nothing better than to spend the rest of his life indulging in fine wine, fine food, and fine women. How is that a problem? The world might well end before the year is out....
This review canāt avoid spoilers for The Liarās Key, so readers may want to read that one first!Ā
At the end of The Liarās Key, Jal stood at the door to Hell and his nerve failed him. He turned away from his friend Snorriās plight and stole Lokiās Key back from Kara. Then someone, or something, reached through the door and pulled him into Hell anyway.Ā
That was where I expected The Wheel of OsheimĀ to begin, starting with Jal and Snorriās reunion and detailing their adventures there. It had been so long since Iād read anything by Lawrence that his usual style of writing had slipped my mind. His method of mingling two tales, past and present, into a meaningful whole. Here he puts a new spin on his familiar style and it works! The shift creates tension and some powerful, poignant moments that would not have otherwise fit into the narrative quite as well.Ā
The changes wrought in Jalanās character throughout the series are now on full display. Heās still the reluctant hero, still the cowardly scoundrel, but his asides to the reader are starting to sound thinner and thinner. He doesnāt always do the heroic thing for proper, heroic reasons, but heās not the same man he was when he first left Redmarch and, deep down, even he knows it. Ā
I am, perhaps, most impressed with Snorriās arc through the trilogy. As a character, heās the big, strong, courageous hero that, by all rights, ought to be the protagonist. Instead, he plays second fiddle to Jalan who, much of the time, behaves like the sneaky side-kick. The role reversal of whoās in the spotlight is a big part of what makes the Red Queenās WarĀ such an engaging read, but Lawrence still makes Snorriās plight powerful. By the end of The Liarās Key, heās the last surviving person of not just his family, but of his entire viking clan. And his quest into Hell to recover his wife and children... well, Iāll leave that to the reader to discover.Ā
Thatās probably the biggest difference between The Broken EmpireĀ trilogy and The Red Queenās War: the former focused exclusively on Jorg, the latter allows other characters to step into the spotlight and break your heart.Ā
If you have tender sensibilities you should probably give Prince of ThornsĀ and its sequels a miss. The books star a violent sociopath who lacks anything resembling mercy or compassion. Prince of Fools, on the other hand, is a much more approachable novel. If you like classical mythology with a modern, after-the-end sort of twist, high adventure, deep pathos, and excellent character writing, start in on reading The Red Queenās War. The final book, and the two that precede it, are fantastically good.Ā
Joe Abercrombie is easily in my top five favorite authors, and Sharp Ends shows off so much of what I love about his writing.
Acting as a companion piece to the First Law trilogy and its three sequel novels, Sharp Ends gives us glimpses into events that occurred before the beginning, after the end, and from different perspectives in between. We donāt see much of the protagonists we grew to know, but thatās fine. Their stories are told. Sharp Ends was not published to abolish, but to complete!
Noteable mentions go to the short stories that let us meet pre-First-Law Logen and Glokta. Shy South gets some time in the spotlight for us to see part of her life before the start of Red Country. There are several that follow a pair of original characters down through the years, and, possibly my favorite, a dramatization of one of the battles in Red Country from the pen of Nicomo Coscaās hired biographer. Immediately after the prose, Cosca provides his own, er, constructive criticism. It is thoroughly delightful.
I think the best of the lot, though, is a short story in which a package is successively stolen by a series of characters. As each new person acquires the parcel, the narrative smoothly shifts to their perspective and the tale continues to unfold. Itās a wonderful device and leads to moments both tense and comical.
I recommend this book to long-time readers of Abercrombieās books. Whatās here is enjoyable enough for newcomers, but parts will appear disjointed to folks unfamiliar with the previous books.
Adamat, a private investigator with a knack for remembering everything, is called to discover the meaning behind the cryptic last words of the Royal Cabal killed in a coup. The man who executed the coup, Field Marshal Tamas, has plenty of larger problems to tackle, such as finding a way to pay his men, feed the people of Adro, and discover which of his allies might be a spy. He calls his son Taniel back to the capitol to aid in the hunt for an escaped sorceress who might hold the key to some of his problems.
With a title like that, I was almost expecting vampires to show up. Fortunately, I went into this book knowing it was the first title in the Powder Mage Trilogy. I suppose there could still be vampires, but the title probably wouldnāt align quite so well.Ā
The McClellan made a lot of solid choices regarding the setting. Immediately following a violent military take over presents plenty of opportunity for dissent and intrigue. The Napoleanic-era level of technology in the world means the powder mages have access to weapons better than muskets without having the ridiculous rate of fire that later revolvers or magazine fed firearms provide.Ā
The three different kinds of sorcery are tremendously interesting, though I feel like they were conceptually added to the world after the countries had been finalized. It makes it feel like the magic didnāt really have an impact on the shaping of events. The Knacked can have tremendous potential in niche roles, but it seems that they mostly are left to apply their skills on their own.Ā
We are told that the Privileged are the most powerful and versatile of sorcerers, but most of what we see them accomplish is combat magic. I was kind of let down by that, though the events justify things going the way they did.Ā
The eponymous Powder Mages feel a lot like Sandersonās Mistborn, with a bevy of abilities that make them potentially very powerful. Sadly, Sanderson has spoiled me, so quite a lot of what should have beenĀ āwow, cool!ā moments came across tepid. Allomancy is sometimes described as a brutal art, but readers are treated to a depth of description that strongly demonstrates how much personal skill is involved in wielding the power effectively (see Kelsierās battle with the Steel Inquisitor near the end of Mistborn: The Final Empire). By contrast, McClellan tries to get away with saying,Ā ātrust me, this is super difficult, but heās really skilled and he did it.ā It takes the excitement out of what should have been very tense moments.Ā
McClellan also seems averse to letting his characters fail in the clutch. When the chips are down, they always have what it takes. Authors like Jim Butcher will do this with a little more wit, allowing his protagonists to have an easy solution that works, then revealing that it only has limited use and there are way too many problems to solve that way. Now the hero has to improvise and his new solution is probably going to hurt.Ā
In spite of this list of gripes, the story itself is genuinely interesting. The characters are varied and the twisting plot is absorbing enough that I want to read the second book.Ā
If you love Brandon Sanderson, Jim Butcher, and/or Joe Abercrombie, check out Promise of BloodĀ by Brian McClellan. His writing is distinct from those three, but thereās enough in common that youāll find something to enjoy.
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Daniel McEvoy has had a comparatively peaceful six months since the events of Plugged. His sort-of girlfriend is starting to get her life straightened out. Heās just starting to think that maybe, just maybe, life will turn out to be pretty sweet. We canāt have that!Ā
The death of Irish Mikeās mother means that his stay of execution has just run out, but Mike has a deal for him: deliver an envelope to a particular mobster in New York and that execution can be put off a little longer, perhaps indefinitely, if all goes well. Knowing McEvoy, this will probably turn out to be a milk run... right?
I almost didnāt pick up this sequel for a few reasons. The first book was a little over-the-top and the reviews I write for sequels tend to go something like,Ā āyep, more of what we saw in the previous novel.ā Happily, I did read it, and I was pleasantly surprised.
Compared to Pliugged, ScrewedĀ has a much smoother execution. There isnāt any need to establish McEvoy as a badass, so we can instead focus on building a little more of the world around him. Iāve compared him to Harry Dresden in the past, and that impression sticks: heās smart, but not the smartest, heās clever, but not the cleverest, and heās strong, but not the strongest. If he has any traits that make him stand out, Iād say heās resourceful, heās lucky, and he thinks fast in a bind.Ā
Unlike the Dresden Files, however, the stakes are kept personal. Daniel McEvoy isnāt saving the world, or the country, or even his city. Mostly, heās trying to get his own bacon out of the fire. That, coupled with his inner monologue, tends to play most things for laughs instead of drama, though Colfer proves heās can hit the drama switch effectively when he wants to.Ā
Overall, readers who enjoy the Dresden FilesĀ will almost certainly like Screwed. Itās a nice, lighthearted break from the supernatural, save-the-world intensity of Butcherās series without stepping completely away from the snarky, urban protagonist.Ā
Skara is a princess without much of a kingdom. After her grandfather, the King, dies, betrayed by Grandmother Wexen's promise of peace, she must flee in search of allies. Destitute, having only a scurrilous pirate to aid her, she must test the wisdom her grandfather's minister instilled in her. Can it truly be said that only half a war is fought on the battlefield? Raith is the sword-bearer to Grom Gilgorum, the breaker of swords. Mostly, he wants three things out of life: to fill his king's cup, to build his legend in battle, and to stick by his brother, the king's shield bearer. All that goes out the window when king commands him to attend upon the needs of Princess Skara. He'd hate the job completely if Skara weren't so kind and pretty.... Koll owes his life to Yarvi. The minister freed him from slavery and has been training him as an apprentice to one day be a minister on his own. But to be a minister would mean never being able to wed the woman he loves... This is the third book of the Shattered Sea series, and it develops the trend of incrementing the number of viewpoint characters by one. Much like Half the World, those viewpoints are often closely intertwined, and some of the best moments arise from the main trio interacting. An excellent element of Abercrombie's writing lies in how he delays moments of gratification while still giving small victories to his characters, usually when a different character has the narrative focus. It makes their ultimate moment in the spotlight feel more powerful without making the buildup feel like an unmitigated string of losses. I don't know if there are plans for any more novels set in the Shattered Sea, but this is the first of them that feels like a proper Abercrombie title. It has the spirit I grew enchanted with in the First Law trilogy. It's still a bit lighter and softer than that worthy series, but I would enthusiastically recommend it to young readers over Game of Thrones.
The Reckoners are in a tight spot, facing down the strongest, smartest Epic they've ever known. Resources are limited, and allies are harder to find than ever. Worse, Obliteration seems intent to continue his quest to wipe out all life on the planet, and Firefight keeps appearing at unexpected moments... The thrilling conclusion of the Reckoners trilogy is here. David and his team have at their sights on the impossible task of eliminating the source of the Epics' power, the dread star Calamity. Can they discover its weakness? Can they find a way to reach it? Can David's metaphors get any worse? I really loved this book. Each successive title has finished stronger than the last and, fittingly, Calamity goes out on the highest note of the trilogy. David's come a long way, and the rest of the cast has grown with him, giving him solid foils every step of the way. (Mcleod Andrews delivers an excellent performance in the audio version, and I strongly recommend it if you're the type to read audio books.) Anyone who liked Steelheart, even a little, owes it to themselves to finish the series.
Daniel McEvoy is an Irish guy working as a bouncer in a small casino in New Jersey. Life could be better: his job is pretty gross, his apartment is beneath a crazy lady who shouts at him all night, and, top it all off, heās losing his hair.Ā
Still, things could be a lot worse. His girlfriend could get murdered, the crime pinned on him, and he could get mixed up with a drug running operation and a local mafia boss. Oh, wait. Yeah, things get worse.Ā
Have you ever read the Dresden Files? Did you think,Ā āthis would be great without all the magic, faeries, and other fantasy stuffā? If you did, two things, 1) maybe youāll like Plugged, and 2) you can go now,Ā ācause on this blog, we rep #teamDresden.Ā
Thatās... really a pretty close approximation, though. PluggedĀ is the Dresden FilesĀ without all the fantasy stuff. Itās not Urban Fantasy, itās just... Urban. For better or for worse.Ā
In the hands of a less capable author, McEvoy would be a boring character to read. Heās ex-special forces, deadly in hand-to-hand combat with his bare hands or with a blade, heās also a competent marksman, and *yawn* always prepared for blah blah blah. What kept me reading was the internal monologue, filled to the brim with anecdotes and humorous asides.Ā
The thing really missing was a consistent character foil.Ā āGhost Zebā tries to fill in, but seeing as heās just a projection of McEvoyās wandering subconscious mind, he canāt really fill those shoes. There needed to be someone else who was capable of covering a few of McEvoyās weaknesses. It would have diversified the challenges that could be sent against him and presented a wider array of interesting failure modes.Ā
It falls a bit short of my list of favoirites, but Iām not sorry I read it. My recommendation above stands. Itās good for a light read, and Iāll add in that anyone with a fierce pride in their Irish heritage will probably like the novel all the more.Ā
I didnāt think Iād ever need to write this review, but Iād like to have my thoughts nicely summarized in one place. That way, if someone asks me what I think about Deadpool, I can paste them a url and say,Ā ābasically, that.ā
Let me begin by establishing my credentials: Deadpool is the only Marvel character whose comic I have read of extensively. I havenāt read everything, but Iāve got a solid foundation on the various backstories heās been given and his character in general. In terms of where the character currently stands, Iām firmly in the camp that feels heās in danger of getting played out, reduced to a caricature with the phraseĀ āquirky and violent comedic sociopathā scrawled at the bottom. Still, he hasnāt been run into the ground yet, and Reynoldās portrayal is as faithful as I could have dared to hope.
This film manages to fit in a pretty good origin for DP without actually telling the whole origin story. The film doesnāt waste time building Wade up from a normal dude to a badass, doesnāt get caught up in maudlin reflection over internal struggles. Instead, boom, heās a badass, he never shuts up, heās a little crazy, and heās... human.Ā
Thatās the part of Deadpool that seems to be in danger of vanishing. Underneath the violence, snark, fourth wall breaks, more violence, profanity, gross body humor, violence again, sadism, and general weirdness, Wade is still a dude with no family, scarcely a friend in the world, and a face that could sour milk at thirty paces. His tragedy isnāt that his home planet blew up, that his parents were murdered, or even that heās being unfairly persecuted. Heās a genuine badass with an arbitrarily huge bank account that canāt be permanently killed. He has nothing to fear in the whole world. Nothing, aside from loneliness and rejection. Reynoldsā Deadpool doesnāt dwell on it, but itās there, woven into the character, all the same.
Iām just going to lay out an opinion that is probably going to draw a lot of flak in future conversations: DeadpoolĀ is a better movie than Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Iāve already recorded my criticismĀ towards that film, and thereās nothing that it does that DeadpoolĀ doesnāt do better. The pacing, the characterization, the dialogue, even the sets were more interesting to look at, more engaging.Ā
Best of all, the protagonist, indeed the entire film, take themselves just seriously enough. The heavy moments hit home with gut-wrenching thuds, but never so hard that they steal any momentum from the lighthearted quips, the silly references, the tightly paced action, or the gross humor. Better, the humor never feels forced or out of place.Ā
Speaking of the gross humor, I was pleasantly surprised! It was there, no mistaking that, and it certainly went beyond what I normally see at the theatre, but it never quite reached the level of shocking-simply-for-the-sake-of-shocking.Ā
As a long time fan, there were plenty of staple characters in place and, while some of the details had been changed, the whole remained recognizable, like a familiar face from not so long ago. At the same time, almost everything about the film is accessible enough that a newcomer would still come away from the film feeling entertained and probably grossed out. But, like, in a good way? Probably.Ā
If I have one criticism to level at Deadpool, it was the use of the character Vanessa. Sheās great, and she makes you love her from the moment she steps into the frame, but thatās almost her entire role. Granted, she sees more screen time than Kim did in Taken. Iām not sure what I might have done differently. Perhaps a more active role in her own rescue... Morenna Baccarin already shows off her skill as an actress, despite the relatively little space she was given and, even though it may sound ungrateful, Iād like to see more than just Flirty, Devoted, and Angry.Ā
I should mention that, even now, weeks after opening in theaters and given plenty of time for reviews to circulate, a few people got up and left within minutes of the film starting. So, hereās the disclaimer: this film is packed to bursting with violence, profanity, and full frontal nudity. If you (or the person you are reading this to) believe I must be exaggerating, that DeadpoolĀ is a super hero movie like The AvengersĀ or Iron Man, let me emphatically reassure you that, if anything, I have understated the case. If that kind of content is offensive to you, donāt see Deadpool. It really puts in work to earn that RĀ rating.Ā
DeadpoolĀ is funny, exciting, and weirdly touching. For a lot of people, itās going to be an acquired taste, but for those who manage the acquisition well, the film will be a solid addition to many a list of favorites.Ā
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Six months after the chaos sown by Bleeder, Waxillium Ladrian is approached by a Kandra and asked to seek out a missing spike. When he vehemently declines, they ask Marasi. After she accepts the mission, Wax is shown a photo of... his missing sister!Ā
Itās a group trip to New Seran to discover the fate of Telsin Ladrian, the location of the stolen Kandra blessing, and one more thing: the mythical Bands of Mourning, the bracers that once belonged to the Lord Ruler himself. Legends say they hold the power to make anyone possessing them into both a full misborn and feruchemist, and that they are full to bursting with stored power...
Wax, Wayne, Marasi, MeLaan, and... Steris is going, too!? Theyāre going to need every advantage they can wrangle if the Set is involved in this business.Ā
This is the book that finally pushed Sanderson into my #1 Favorite Author slot. For a long time, Pat Rothfuss had held that spot, which is frankly a little shocking. Sanderson has him wholly overmatched for sheer quantity and breadth of Crowning Moments of Awesome. Still, as Wit once said, the highest virtue is timeliness. This book arrived when I needed it, desperately, and not just because I love the Mistborn series. Following Wax as he struggled with his mistrust of Harmony helped me grow past a problem I was facing, and I canāt place a high enough value on that.Ā
In my review of Shadows of Self, I mentioned how my regard for Steris had changed from the time I first met her in Alloy of Law. At first blush, she was a stiffly mannered lady with list for everything that seemed to exist only to keep Marasi and Wax from being the couple I really expected them to be. But I now remember that Kelsier and Vin didnāt need to be lovers and, indeed, Vin married someone else.Ā
Steris got treated pretty shabbily by Wayne in Shadows of Self, but thatās where she started to show the other side of herself. Sheās awkward, analytical, and academic in her approach to life. I know I can relate to that, and I imagine many readers can, too. With that simple revelation, the person who seemed cold and aloof suddenly became easy to relate to, and Bands of MourningĀ only makes her more awesome. She does her best to prepare for everything.Ā
If youāve read Alloy of Law, then you already know that Wax and Wayne are awesome, and that hasnāt changed here. Marasi gets to show off a lot of the ways sheās matured since Alloy, too.Ā
I think the what shocked me the most was the way Sanderson handled Harmonyās interaction with Wax near the end of the book. I donāt know what I expected. After Shadows of Self, I felt I had been firmly reminded that Shards shape their holder, and, for all that Sazed had been the gentlest of souls, half of his power now flowed from Ruin. How had that changed him in the three hundred years since the fall of the Final Empire?Ā
If you read both AlloyĀ and Shadows, then you know that the former is pretty lighthearted and the latter is one of the darkest novels Sanderson has ever published. BandsĀ is somewhere between the two, with the worst things, especially those perpetrated by the Set, occurring off-screen. Itās still pretty awful, if you take the time to think about it, but having it be at such a distance makes it easier to deal with.Ā
Overall, I have tremendous difficulty saying whether I like the Stormlight ArchiveĀ or MistbornĀ better. Theyāre both so full of wonder, sorrow, and... and... conviction, that I must recommend both series. MistbornĀ was my introduction to Sanderson, though, and this is a MistbornĀ review, so Iāll give it the nod here. If you read Shadows of SelfĀ and havenāt yet read The Bands of Mourning, you owe it to yourself to pick up the sequel. If you havenāt readĀ Mistborn: The Final Empire,Ā please, pick it up and read it. You wonāt be disappointed.Ā
Ok, so, spoilers here for the end of The Bands of Mourning.Ā
That figure whose memories are stored in the coppermind-coin Wax held at the end... the scars on the arm (and his single word imperative) say,Ā āKelsier,ā but the fact that the only individual who could have possibly known how to construct the metal minds that anyone could use would have been the Lord Ruler. On top of that, the Lord Ru-Rashek. On top of that, Rashek already understood Hemalurgy, which would explain how he spiked himself in one eye.Ā
Iāve said it before, I was impressed by how my opinion of Rashek changed over The Well of AscensionĀ and The Hero of Ages. I still think he was pretty awful, but knowing there was a purpose to it adds new dimension to that appraisal. Coming to think on it, though, just because he was no longer using his Atium Metal Mind to compound his Age attribute, would he really snap back to his real age? I mean, Blood Makers donāt suddenly have wounds sprout open when they stop tapping their health...Ā
Is it possible that he could have faked his death, filling a hidden Atiummind so he appeared to age rapidly and tapping health from a similarly concealed Goldmind to survive being impaled by a spear? Itās been too long since I read the original MistbornĀ novel. I canāt recall what happened to his body after Vin defeated him.Ā
And I clearly recall that, after Kelsier died, OreSeur took his shape and carried out his last commands. If the person in the memory from the copper-coin-mind is supposed to be Kelsier... I have no idea how that might have come to pass.Ā
The only thing I know for certain is I need to read Mistborn: Secret History, and maybe spend some time revisiting the original trilogy. It was just about time for a reread, anyway.Ā
Ok! Ok. Iāve finally caught up to the rest of the world and seen the latest Star Wars film. I have to believe that itās not too late to add my voice to the maelstrom of opinions already roaring over the movieās merits.Ā
I liked it! I didnāt spot any glaring plot holes on the first viewing, and can say that, with only his few early scenes, Poe Dameron rocketed into place as my favorite character in the new trilogy. Heās the first main character we meet and he makes a powerful impression. The Phantom MenaceĀ lacked a real protagonist, and Luke was plagued by his doubts and fears, but Poe, even as a supporting character, has all of the old swagger that Solo brought, blended with Lukeās altruism, and an infectious energy that made me feel like, yeah, we can do this. Weāre gonna win, and weāre gonna do it in style!
The real protagonists are Finn and Rey, though, and I very much enjoyed them, too. Both of them worked, Rey being independent and strong without needing to be venomous or aggressive, Finn being competent without being good at everything. Finn gets a special mention for being very human. I expected him to fall into Lukeās role of being a wide-eyed fellow, trying to do his best at all times, but he surprised me by turning out to be a very sympathetic coward.Ā
Perhaps thatās unfair. He was a lot like the guile heroes I love in literature. He makes it up as he goes, always with his primary goal (escaping the reach of the First Order) firmly in mind. Although, I feel like his decision to change, to stop running and turn back to rescue Rey, didnāt get enough fanfare.Ā
Friends had told me that this film was very much an homage to the original trilogy, and I can see why they said so. The figures are mostly there, Han filling in for Obi Wan, and even a stand-in for Yoda. Old artifacts crop up, familiar sequences and visuals iterating on the modern screen.
I do have some nit-picks, though.Ā For reasons best known to himself, Abrams decided to go light on the dialogue, and I feel the film suffers for it. From the start, there are two tightly scripted action scenes, the attack on the village when Poe is captured and then Finnās betrayal and escape to Jakku. Next, we get Rey scavenging in solitude, and the next time we have two protagonists in the same place itās time for another harrowing battle and chase. When it finally looks like Finn and Rey will actually have some time to talk, their ship is captured, then their captors are attacked, and then itās time for another escape sequence. And so on.Ā
Thereās very little breathing room, nothing like A New HopeāsĀ scenes on the Millenium Falcon between Obi Wan and Luke,Ā and I started to suffer from action fatigue. On top of that, what little dialogue we are given is mostly stilted, full of dramatic pauses between characters who seem to already know what the other means to say. Iām always a proponent of show-donāt-tell, but there can be too much of a good thing. The breakneck pace made the film very choppy, as if it were supposed to have been two or three films and had to be roughly condensed into a single movie.Ā
The film is very quippy. Too often, thereās a tense atmosphere building and it gets undermined by someone tossing out an off-handed joke. Once or twice would have been okay, especially from a character like Han Solo, but it was overdone and robbed several scenes of their impact.Ā Frankly, The Force Awakens feels like a second or third film instead of a third. The presentation I described fits better when the setting and characters are all well established and the stakes are all known.
In spite of that, I want to see the next one, at the very least. Kylo Ren has some strong potential as a conflicted antagonist, although I quirked an eyebrow at his struggle with beingĀ ātempted by the Light.ā It makes him a little ridiculous, and I imagine him struggling with a hidden desire to cuddle with a puppy instead of kicking it, hoping that Vader-senpai will someday notice him. Will he be redeemed by the end of this new trilogy? I genuinely want to find out and see, if so, how?Ā
The easy way would beĀ āredemption equals death,ā Ren taking himself out, Vader-style, to save the heroes and give them a chance at winning the climactic battle. But thatās been done before. What if... what if one of the other heroes sacrifices their life for him, bringing him down firmly down on the side of Light, leaving him to take up their cause and fight for the good guys? Heād have an uphill battle ahead of him, convincing the other heroes that heās totally on their side now...Ā
Anyway, if thereās anyone reading this who hasnāt seen the film... hey, sorry if I spoiled anything.Ā
If youāre prone to motion sickness or hate things that are awesome, then I guess you could probably skip seeing The Force Awakens. If you loved the original trilogy, you might find this latest offering to be a bit thin, story-wise. If you loved the prequel trilogy, I feel confident you will love this one even more. Personally, I place this one between the two, it blends some of the exciting action of the prequels with the deeper substance of the original, and the resulting compromise clears most of my thresholds to be a movie worth seeing.