Tough Traveling: Non-Human Heroes & Protagonists
Posted on June 1, 2017 26 Comments
Back in 2014, the idea for Tough Traveling started with Nathan of Fantasy Review Barn who came up with the excellent idea of making a new list each week based on the most common tropes in fantasy, as seen in (and inspired by) The Tough Guide to Fantasyland, a tongue-in-cheek parody of the fantasy genre by Diana Wynn Jones. It was widely successful, with over fifty bloggers participating at one point before it went on hiatus. But now Tough Traveling is back, with huge thanks to Laura from Fantasy Faction for reviving the feature! Every first of the month we’ll be posting a list of books that fit a particular theme, with the next month’s theme also to be announced. Interested in participating? Well, grab your traveling packs and come along! You are welcome to post your Tough Traveling lists anytime during the month.
June’s topic is:
Non-Human Heroes & Protagonists
The Tough Guide assures us that HEROES are ‘mythical beings, often selected at birth, who perform amazing deeds of courage, strength and magical mayhem, usually against all odds.’ Furthermore, ‘if you get to meet a so-called Hero, she/he always turns out to be just another human, with human failings, who has happened to be in the right place at the right time (or the wrong place at the wrong time, more likely)’.
HOWEVER. For good or for evil, some of fantasy’s most memorable Heroes are not human at all. Some look human, but aren’t. Others may look monstrous, but be ‘human’ on the inside. Others still never pretend to be anything other than what they are – and why should they? In nearly all cases, we are likely to Learn Something from them – usually that appearances can be deceiving, or that the concepts of both ‘Human’ and ‘Hero’ are entirely subjective.
One might assume, considering my love for the Stone and Moon show, that the Raksura would be at the top of my list for this month’s topic, or even Vadrigyn, my new favourite protagonist from Larcout, but when I started brainstorming my picks, I realized that there was a connection between several of them. They met the non-human requirements, of course, but several of them still looked very human indeed. So I decided to focus my list on non-human heroes and protagonists who walk among us, unnoticed, but for that strange… something that gives them away….
Stranger in a Strange Land by Robert A. Heinlein
His ancestry can be easily traced to earth, but Valentine Michael Smith is far more than the humans who traveled to Mars and subsequently gave birth to him. Though he looks like an adult, he is but a child on his homeworld, and has much to learn about humanity and our culture when he arrives here. Among the things he must learn is that humans are jerks and everyone wants to use him, especially since his birthright means he has quite a lot of political sway as well as a lot of money at his finger tips. The trick is figuring out who he can trust to make sure that nothing is taken advantage of.
Elfland by Freda Warrington
From my original review: “For me, slipping into Elfland was like overhearing bits of an intriguing conversation. I sort of knew what the conversation was about, and was enticed to learn more as Warrington allowed me into this secret world of Aetherials – fae creatures living along side us in the human world.”
The Fox family are your normal, every day folk, but every seven years, they and the other Aetherials must renew their connection to their homeworld, lest they become truly human. And who in the world would want that?
Wild Seed by Octavia E. Butler
Anyanwu is a “wild seed.” She has the ability to change her shape and become just about anything she wants. She is not quite the same as the creature known as Doro, but their differences from the humans they care for or prey upon, respectively, bring them together, even as Anyanwu struggles to separate herself from Doro.
Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor
Karou’s bright blue hair is natural. The monsters she draws in her sketch book are real. She used to be one of them. She calls them her people. Her family. Karou is a chimaera. But there is so much more to her current existence in the body of a young art student that she does not know.
The Host by Stephanie Meyer
A race of parasitic aliens travel the galaxy taking over the sentient beings of the worlds they meet. Now they have arrived on earth and “Wanderer” has taken over the body of a human named Melanie. But for the first time in all of her experiences, Wanderer has discovered a host that doesn’t exactly like having her there
Nimona by Noelle Stevenson
The Grey Bastards by Jonathan French
LIVE IN THE SADDLE, DIE ON THE HOG! This rocking good book stars Jackal, a half-orc who is sworn to the The Grey Bastards hoof, one of the eight brotherhoods of former slaves that now live on the land known as the Lots. Shunned by humans but also hostile to the orcs, the mongrel bands are all that’s left standing between the city of Hispartha and the forces that want to see it fall. By the way, this book was also the winner in the Self-Publishing Blog-Off competition of 2016, and man oh man does it deserve that title. If you are a fan of dark fantasy, you need to read it.
The Books of the Raksura by Martha Wells
Wendy might have passed on featuring this series, but hey, don’t mind if I do! Oh my gosh, the Raksura, guys. They have got to be some of the coolest, most original fantasy creatures ever. I personally picture them as being a bit like a form of bird-people, but in fact that are shapeshifters whose societies more closely resemble those of hive insects. A ruling queen is at the top, followed by lesser queens. Queens mate with fertile males called Consorts to produce royal clutches composed of Queens, Consorts and Warriors (infertile males and females that defend the colony). Together, these three types make up the Aeriat. They are winged and capable of flight. Then there are the Arbora, who have no wings but are capable climbers. They are made up of Teachers that oversee the nurseries and train the young, Hunters who provide food for the colony, Soldiers who guard the colony, and Mentors who are seers with magical abilities enabling them to perform tasks such as foreseeing the future or healing the sick and wounded. It’s all very complex, and in The Books of the Raksura you can read all about the ongoing dramas and inner workings of the Indigo Cloud court.
Children of Time by Adrian Tchaikovsky
Well, I just finished this novel, so even though it is sci-fi I still feel like I have to include it now that it’s fresh on my mind. Several major characters in this story are member of a race of giant spiders which were uplifted by a genetically engineered nanovirus during a planet terraforming mission gone bad. Ultimately, the spiders went on to evolve on this forgotten world, developing their own cultures, civilizations and knowledge. It is their home now, and they’re not taking too kindly to the assumptions of these strange looking humans who have showed up, thinking they can just take over and live on their planet.
Meet Julius, the protagonist of this series. He’s a dragon. The youngest, smallest, most powerless dragon in the Heartstriker clan, actually. Still, he isn’t a pushover so much as he’s just downright terrible at being a dragon. For one thing, he’s nice, considerate, has no designs on taking over the world, all of which makes him an absolute failure in his mother’s eyes. After twenty-four years of watching Julius hide out in his room in the mountain, Bethesda the Heartstriker has finally had it. Sealing him in his human form, the dragon matriarch banishes her son to the Detroit Free Zone where he’s left to either get with the program or fend for himself.
The Lives of Tao by Wesley Chu
Wendy featured The Host, a book about an alien who has taken over the body of a human. Here’s my own pick that features a version of this theme. This novel features Tao, an alien called a Quasing whose race crash-landed on Earth before the first organisms even made their way out of the ancient oceans. They could only survive in our planet’s atmosphere by hitching a ride in the living bodies of animals, and later, humans. And that’s how one day, a self-doubting, weak-willed, out-of-shape IT technician named Roen Tan wakes up with an alien voice in his head.
Join us next month for another edition of Tough Traveling! The theme will be:
Adepts
The Tough Guide defines an Adept as ‘one who has taken what amounts to a Post-graduate course in Magic. If a Magic User is given this title, you can be sure he/she is fairly hot stuff. However, the title is neutral and does not imply that the Adept is either Good or Evil.’
Waiting on Wednesday 05/31/17
Posted on May 31, 2017 20 Comments
“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that lets us feature upcoming releases that we can’t wait to get our hands on!
Mogsy’s Pick
A Dragon of a Different Color by Rachel Aaron (July 28, 2017)
Book four of Rachel Aaron’s (also known as Rachel Bach) self-published series Heartstrikers finally has a release date and one hell of a gorgeous cover! I just can’t get over how good Julius and Marci look together on it, and is that a fiery baby dragon on her shoulder?! I can’t wait to catch up with them and everyone in Julius’ crazy family.
“To save his family from his tyrannical mother, Julius had to step on a lot of tails. That doesn’t win a Nice Dragon many friends, but just when he thinks he’s starting to make progress, a new threat arrives.
Turns out, things can get worse. Heartstriker hasn’t begun to pay for its secrets, and the dragons of China are here to collect. When the Golden Emperor demands his surrender, Julius will have to choose between loyalty to the sister who’s always watched over him and preserving the clan he gave everything to protect.”
Book Review: The White Road by Sarah Lotz
Posted on May 30, 2017 21 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Horror
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Mulholland Books (May 30, 2017)
Length: 272 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
I’ve always held a bit of a fascination for mountaineering stories, which is really ironic considering my deathly fear of heights. Certainly I’ve never harbored any desires to scale anything more extreme than a steep hill, which is why when I first picked up Sarah Lotz’s latest novel about death and danger on Everest, I thought there would be little chance of her “ruining” mountain climbing for me the way she put me off from cruising for a whole year after I read her shipbound horror-thriller Day Four. And yet, books like The White Road still have this way of sending chills down my spine, even when I’m reading them from the warm, cozy comfort of my living room couch.
Our story begins in the winter of 2006, and protagonist Simon Newman and his roommate Thierry are a couple of slackers whose ambitions amount to nothing more than throwaway barista gigs at the local coffee shop and running their clickbait website on the side. At this point, YouTube stars and listicles are just starting to become a thing, and the two friends are hoping to grow their following enough to score a sweet advertising deal of their own. The idea for their big break comes when Simon first learns of the Cwm Pot caves in Wales, where several years ago a group of spelunkers had gotten trapped and died. Their site “Journey to the Dark Side” would become an internet sensation if Simon could go down there and come back with actual never-before-seen footage of the dead bodies, Thierry insists; it is the perfect material for their morbid audience.
Unfortunately for Simon, his venture into Cwn Pot ultimately ends in disaster. But while the incident leaves him traumatized, the salvaged footage from his harrowing experience along with the ensuing media attention does propel the website into the top ranks. Eager to take their newfound popularity to the next level, Thierry proposes the idea for another attention-grabbing stunt: Now that Simon has gone deep down underground in search of corpses to film, why not go the other way this time, and do the same thing on the highest point on earth? Mount Everest is said to be the final resting place of more than 200 people; the shocking reality is that there’s very little anyone can do for those who lose their lives at such altitudes, and their remains are often unrecoverable and left where they fell, sometimes for years and years. Surely it wouldn’t be too hard for Simon to go up there and capture more footage of a couple of dead bodies, which would undoubtedly bring even more traffic to their website.
But up above 8000 feet in the Death Zone, anything can happen. And the reality is, Simon did not emerge from Cwn Pot the same person. He is a haunted man now, after the things he’d seen in its terrifying depths, and he’s brought some of that darkness with him to the world’s highest open grave. The White Road is a story divided into three distinct sections, with the first focusing on Simon’s misadventures in the tight, twisty tunnels of the Welsh caverns. This, in my opinion, was the best part of the book. I read these first fifty pages or so feeling like my heart was stuck in my throat, the fear practically choking off my breath—and I’m not even a claustrophobe. If I had to go through even a fraction what Simon did, I would never turn a single light off in my house again, soaring electricity bills be damned. Sarah Lotz’s descriptions of the oppressive darkness and unbearably cramped spaces stirred up some of my deepest fears, and I couldn’t help but put myself in the protagonist’s place, losing hope as the underground water rose higher and higher.
Compared to that, the rest of the book almost seemed tame, even in Part II when Simon jets off to Nepal to climb Mount Everest. There are certainly plenty of frights in this section, though in a much different way than Cwn Pot. Here, we get to see the cold, merciless nature of the mountain, dispassionate about the fates of those who attempt the summit. A few years ago, I became obsessed with Everest-related history and literature after reading The Abominable by Dan Simmons, which was one particularly dark rabbit hole I fell into. I found plenty of amazing true accounts of great feats accomplished by great people, but just as plentiful were the traumatizing stories of death and disaster. Most of the fatal incidents on Everest occur in the mountain’s oxygen-starved Death Zone, which not only pushes a climber’s body to their physical limits, but also threatens to push their minds to the brink of madness. This is where some of the vagueness in The White Road comes into play. Are the strange things experienced by the characters merely the symptoms of altitude sickness, or are there supernatural shenanigans afoot? It could go either way, and the ambiguity contributes much to the suspense.
But while I really enjoyed The White Road, with perhaps the exception of the first section, I thought the book failed to pack the same punch as the author’s two previous novels, The Three and Day Four. This might have something to do with the structure, since the three disparate sections can make the story feel a little disjointed, especially in the beginning of Part II when we are introduced to an incidental character through a series of journal entries. There’s also an anticlimactic resolution, along with a few plot points that seemingly went nowhere and which I felt were implemented too awkwardly to be mere red herrings. Furthermore, Simon is not a very sympathetic character, and just when you think there’s hope for him yet, he pulls a reversal that makes you hate him all over again. Still, it’s hard not to feel bad for the guy, and Lotz makes getting invested in his story worth your time.
Is it any wonder why I’m such a big fan of the author and why every new book by her automatically gets added to my must-read list? A master of the horror genre, Sarah Lotz’s talents were especially in clear evidence in this novel with its atmosphere of tangible suspense and pure, icy terror. Thoroughly entertaining and astonishingly realistic, The White Road is a gripping, high-climbing thriller which will creep its way under your skin and stay with you for a very long time (…like fingers in your heart).
Book Review: Ghosts of Tomorrow by Michael R. Fletcher
Posted on May 29, 2017 16 Comments
I received a review copy from the author. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Ghosts of Tomorrow by Michael R. Fletcher
Mogsy’s Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Book 1
Publisher: Michael R. Fletcher (February 25, 2017)
Length: 396 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Readers coming to Ghosts of Tomorrow from Michael R. Fletcher’s Manifest Delusions series will find its themes to be very different, I suspect. Interestingly though, this book actually predates Beyond Redemption, being a revamped and republished version of the author’s first novel, which was a futuristic cyberpunkish sci-fi dystopian called 88. Still, from the fascinating premise to the amazing setting and characters, it’s clear everything about this book is pure Fletcher—that is to say, grim, gritty, and violently gory. In a way, it’s good to know that some things have never changed. For a fan like me, it’s a comfort, even.
The story takes place in the near future, when most of the world’s countries have consolidated into continental trade unions in order to compete in the global market. Technology has come a long way too, with the advent of brain scans and the ability to transfer a deceased person’s mind into machines called chassis. Not quite human and yet not quite a computer, these scans have effectively become a source of slave labor. While they have sentience and retain most of the memories and personality they had in life, scans are more or less immortal and can be tweaked like any program, making them a highly sought after resource in almost every industry. Officially, people become scans voluntarily, but because demand outstrips supply, criminal organizations have capitalized by churning out their own black market scans in illegal crèches. It’s a horrifying process: children are either illicitly bred, bought, or stolen from their homes, put through forced conditioning, and then killed for their precious brains which are then scanned and sold. Certain boutique crèches have even sprung up, brainwashing and training children to become loyal, unquestioning fighters intended for combat and assassin chassis.
For his first assignment as a special investigator for the North American Trade Union, newly graduated agent Griffin Dickinson is tasked to crack down on such illegal crèches. Unfortunately, his inexperience also leaves him unprepared for the grisly consequences of failure. In another place, a seventeen-year-old Marine named Abdul is killed in the line of duty, but medics rescue enough of his brain and consciousness to give him a choice: become a scan and continue working for the military, or die for real. Meanwhile, the world says goodbye to Mark Lokner, founder and CEO of the world’s largest manufacturer of Scanning equipment. Before his death, he was also famously known for refusing to be scanned, though in fact, Mark’s mind lives on in Lokner 1.0, watching his own funeral from a hidden server stored in a secret facility in Redmond, Washington. And somewhere deep within mob territory in Costa Rica, the scanned mind of an autistic girl known only as 88 awakens to her new reality. Bought for an exorbitant sum from a black market crèche, her scan was originally acquired by the South American Mafia to manage and expand their vast business empire by seeking out patterns in everything from financial markets to sports betting pools. However, all 88 wants to do is find her mom. And unfortunately for 88’s masters, she has all the mental and technological resources at her disposal to break free of their virtual chains.
Books like Ghosts of Tomorrow make me wonder why Michael R. Fletcher isn’t a bigger deal in the world of science fiction and fantasy publishing. I don’t even enjoy cyberpunk all that much, but I fucking loved this. Dare I say, in some ways it even appealed to me more than his Manifest Delusions, and I certainly did not expect that when I started this novel. These are the kinds of stories I enjoy though, gripping narratives about darkly philosophical subjects with plenty of intrigue and in-your-face action and violence mixed in.
Speaking of which, do not read this book if you are squeamish or prefer only safe, happy, familiar topics—because here you will find the complete opposite of all that. Innovative and surprising at every turn, the story is as fresh, bloody and raw as a slab of butchered meat, and in truth, most of Fletcher’s work should probably come with a “Persons who are faint of heart should not experience this attraction” warning sticker. You would think I’d know to expect that by now, but even I was somewhat taken aback by the massive destruction and astounding death toll in this novel. And yet, it’s all part and parcel of the world-building—the casual dismemberments, decapitations, and massacres all feeding into this atmosphere of bleakness and chaos.
In fact, with the escalation in violence and stakes growing ever higher, you may even find yourself thinking, “No way, this has gone too far!” or “Nah, this isn’t gonna work!” But you’d be wrong. Under different circumstances, Ghosts of Tomorrow might have been just another mindless action novel devoid of any soul, but Fletcher’s talent with characterization turned this story into a gripping experience that I could emotionally connect with. While the most dangerous and powerful people in Beyond Redemption are the ones touched with insanity, the smartest and deadliest of characters in Ghosts of Tomorrow are those with the psychological maturity of children—because that is in fact what they are. Scans like 88 or Archaeidae are little more than frightened, emotionally damaged and uninhibited killer kids who see the world as a game board and human lives as expendable game pieces. Whether you love them or hate them, the author’s characters are always deep, complicated, and terrifyingly genuine.
Unflinchingly twisted and mind-bending, Ghosts of Tomorrow is a gem of a novel, guaranteed to get under your skin and stay with you for a very long time. Michael R. Fletcher has done it again, enrapturing me with another ripping good read.
Book Review: Luna: Wolf Moon by Ian McDonald
Posted on May 28, 2017 21 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Luna: Wolf Moon by Ian McDonald
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Book 2 of Luna
Publisher: Tor (March 28, 2017)
Length: 382 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Luna: New Moon was a wonder for me, a sensation. And following directly on its heels is this sequel, Wolf Moon, which picks right up from the shocking events at the end of the first book. As such, the usual caveat about potential spoilers for book one applies to this review, in case you haven’t had the chance to start this series yet and would like to approach it with completely fresh eyes (and I would highly recommend doing so as soon as possible!)
In the previous novel, we were introduced to the Dragons: five powerful, dynastic corporate families that control everything on the moon. Among them, the most recent to rise were the Cortas, making their members the newest targets for the four other rivaling families—the Mackenzies, the Vorontsovs, the Suns, and the Asamoahs. Now the Corta matriarch Adriana is dead, her legacy scattered like lunar dust to the winds. Eighteen months have passed, and the surviving Corta children have been divvied up and claimed like so much of the company’s other assets by the four remaining families. Even with the death of a Dragon, nothing has changed; the moon is still a lawless, hostile place to be, ruled by the political machinations of the most cutthroat and corrupt.
Unbeknownst to nearly everyone, however, a major Corta player has survived the destruction, and he is keeping a low profile while attempting to regain his strength in secret. Of Adriana’s children, Lucas has always been one of the most competent and cunning, and he is determined to rebuild Corta Helio to become even more powerful than before. But first, he’ll need to go to Earth—even if the journey itself could very well kill a lunar-born citizen like him, whose physiology has been so altered by the low-gravity environment of the moon. Still, in the war between the Dragons, it’s the children who suffer most. Lucas’ son Lucasinho and niece Luna are still alive, but only because of the protection offered by the Asamoahs, while his nephew Robson has become a hostage of the Mackenzies, and devastation seems to follow him wherever he goes.
It’s no surprise this series has been described as Game of Thrones on the moon. Ian McDonald has achieved something truly impressive here with Luna, creating a tableau filled with multiple subplots and crisscrossing character paths. The ongoing power struggle between the great Dragons is rife with political scheming and intrigue, with alliances constantly being formed and broken, and the character list in the back of the book is a veritable tangle of relationships showing a history of arranged marriages and shady backroom deals between members the five families. This sequel continues the trend that started with New Moon, exploring the twisted fates of those characters who were fortunate (or unfortunate, depending on your point of view) enough to survive past the stunning events of the first book.
Originally, I had thought Luna would be a duology, and I’m glad I found out otherwise before I started this book, or I might have been more frustrated by some of the meandering story threads and lack of real resolutions. Despite being a great read, Wolf Moon felt distinctly like a “middle book”, and it didn’t impact me quite as much as New Moon did. If I were to guess, I would say this was due to the character POVs. First and foremost, with Adriana dead, we lost one of the strongest voices from the first book, and this was a void I felt keenly. Moreover, while Lucas Corta struck me as one of the more important characters, his storyline was often relegated to the background especially in the middle section of the book. Ariel Corta also had a diminished role compared to the part she played in New Moon, while Wagner Corta, whom I admittedly have less of an interest in, got more attention this time around. That said, the two bright points for me were Lucasinho and Robson, and if there’s one silver lining to the loss of so many older Cortas, it’s that the members of the younger generation are finally getting their chance to shine.
As you can see, most of my feelings for this sequel are based off of my personal preferences for the different characters. Certain strengths have remained the same from New Moon though, chief among them the fascinating world-building. I am still in awe of McDonald’s vision of a highly individualistic lunar society, where those who prosper are the strong and the merciless. I also love the multilayered storytelling, and the fascinating lives of the diverse people who bring this rich world to life. Every detail should be savored and carefully digested, simply because everything about Luna is so comprehensive and intricate; blink and you might miss something important.
All told, despite not reaching the height of its predecessor, Wolf Moon is still a solid and worthy follow-up. If you enjoyed the ingenuity and the surprises of the twists and turns in New Moon, then you definitely will not want to miss this sequel.
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of Luna: New Moon (Book 1)
Book Review: Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake
Posted on May 27, 2017 11 Comments
Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake
Genre: Dark Fantasy, Young Adult
Series: Three Dark Crowns #1
Publisher: HarperTeen (September 2016)
Author Info: kendareblake.com
Wendy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Triplet queens are born to each previous queen, as the goddess commands. One a poisoner, one a naturalist, one an elementalist. May the strongest take her crown and the others perish by the queen’s hand. It is assumed that this year, Mirabella, with her fierce spirit and great elemental powers, will take the throne. Her sisters are weak. Katharine struggles with her poisoners gift and Arsinoe can hardly make a flower bloom, much less call an animal familiar.
The queens, separated since childhood, are resigned to their fate. That this ritual must dominate their lives is all that they live for, even the two who know they are not meant to win. Yet still, Arsinoe and Khatarine persist, either by their own will or the encouragement or coercion of their companions. The story is told from the view points of the three queens and several of these companions. Through their eyes, Blake shapes the different realms of the kingdom, as well as the nature of their worship and this age old ritual, and, of course, the queens themselves. At first, this constant back and forth is a bit ponderous and perhaps a bit confusing, but it was certainly necessary to the worldbuilding leading up to the night of their sixteenth birthday, when their battle for the crown truly begins. This climax does not happen until the very end so I must caution that this book requires patience, but I was quite pleased with the pay off and promise of more to come.
This book successfully kept me on my toes with its constant twists and turns. It is never quite clear who is working for or against each of the queens, and even those who seem to love them most can’t be trusted. Not that everything is about deep dark plotting and scheming — though there is a healthy does of that.
The entire concept behind the triplet queens is pretty creepy and the way each queen and those around them approaches the concept of having to kill her sister helps fuel the intrigue. And then there is the greater question of who is really running the show? The politics behind the three groups of magics is tangled up within the story but there’s a sense that there’s so much more going on that we don’t get to see. And by the end of the book when things finally come to a head, it’s clear that all of this has only scratched the surface of what the queens and their courts are capable of.
Three dark queens
Are born in a glen,
Sweet little triplets
Will never be friends
Three dark sisters
All fair to be seen,
Two to devour
And one to be Queen
Friday Face-Off: Mice
Posted on May 26, 2017 28 Comments
Welcome to The Friday Face-Off, a weekly meme created by Books by Proxy! Each Friday, we will pit cover against cover while also taking the opportunity to showcase gorgeous artwork and feature some of our favorite book covers. If you want to join the fun, simply choose a book each Friday that fits that week’s predetermined theme, post and compare two or more different covers available for that book, then name your favorite. A list of future weeks’ themes are available at Lynn’s Book Blog.
This week’s theme is:
“Of all the words of mice and men, the saddest are, ‘it might have been’…”
~ a cover featuring MICE
Mogsy’s Pick:
The Green Mile by Stephen King
The moment I saw the topic for this week, my first thought was MR. JINGLES! Who could forget the little brown mouse from both the book and the movie adaptation who made his home on the death row block of Cold Mountain Penitentiary, also known as “The Green Mile”? Originally published in six serialized parts before being republished as a single volume, the novel even has an installment called “The Mouse on the Mile”.
Disappointingly, I found far fewer covers featuring Mr. Jingles than expected, likely because publishers thought an electric chair made for more ominous, compelling imagery. There are too many covers for this book to showcase them all here, but I gathered what interesting ones I could find to compare and contrast.
The Green Mile
From left to right, top to bottom: Penguin Signet (1996) – Orion (2009) – Plume (1996) – Scribner (2000) – Orion (1999) – Pocket Books (1999a) – Pocket Books (1999b)
French (1997) – Spanish (2013) – German (2011)
Winner:
No one cover really stands out to be me this week, to be honest. But as you can see, certain themes and layouts are repeatedly used in a many of these designs, and the Spanish edition looks as if it’s making an attempt to take all these elements and mash it into one. Of all the “vanishing point” covers featuring the cell block, this is the most aesthetically pleasing to me, and I love that it incorporates Mr. Jingles (if you look really closely).
What do you think? Which one is your favorite?
Book Review: The House of Binding Thorns by Aliette de Bodard
Posted on May 25, 2017 23 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
The House of Binding Thorns by Aliette de Bodard
Mogsy’s Rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Book 2 of Dominion of the Fallen
Publisher: Ace (April 4, 2017)
Length: 416 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Ultimately, my second foray into the Dominion of the Fallen did not turn out the way I’d hoped, though to be fair, I did have a lot riding on this sequel. It’s true that the first book left me with mixed feelings, but I found the premise intriguing enough that I wanted to see where things would lead, and maybe give this series a another chance to sweep me off my feet. Regrettably, this did not quite happen—despite The House of Binding Thorns being a pretty decent follow-up. At the end of the day though, I simply found myself tripping over a lot of same hurdles as book one.
First of all, in spite of the suggestions that this can be read as a standalone, I would highly recommend against it. Definitely read The House of Shattered Wings first if you can; you will find the background information absolutely indispensable, especially in anchoring you to the setting. In the aftermath of the war between angels, the proud city of Paris is now only a ghost of what it once was, and the Fallen are now divided in several houses all vying for power among the crumbling ruins. Most of the characters here were originally introduced in the first book, including Madeleine, an alchemist suffering from an addiction to angel essence. Upon her return to House Hawthorn, their leader Asmodeus mercilessly purges that addiction from her, with the intention of sending her on a diplomatic mission to the dragon kingdom under the Seine.
Meanwhile, Philippe is also back, now mourning the loss of Isabelle, the fallen angel with whom he had shared a mental link. While searching for a way to resurrect her, he comes across Berith, another Fallen who claims to be Asmodeus’ sister. The exiled angel is currently keeping a low profile, hiding herself and her pregnant human lover Françoise from the chaos and poison of the clashing Houses. However, due to their familial connections, Berith may not be as well hidden from Asmodeus as she has led Françoise to believe, and in the escalating conflict between all the factions involved, it is becoming increasingly clear that no one will be safe from the violence.
Right away, I was struck by how little I remembered from the first book. I had to go back to my review of The House of Shattered Wings to remind myself who was who, and in doing so, I also noticed what I had written about the characters and how I’d struggled to engage with any of them. Unfortunately, this is a problem that persists; there are too many characters and not enough personality between them to justify so many, and the result is just a jumble of names and descriptions that I tried to but could not connect with on a deeper, emotional level. For this simple reason alone, the rest of the book fell apart for me, even though I admit from a technical standpoint, The House of Binding Thorns is probably a better book than its predecessor. However, I need to care about the characters to care about the story; without that foundation, it’s hard to get on board with everything else.
Furthermore, though I was impressed with the allegorical themes of post-colonialism, I’m not sure they came through well enough amidst all the noise. Paradoxically, the plot felt simultaneously too complicated and too superficial, overly simplistic. At times, The House of Binding Thorns felt very much like a “middle book”, in the sense that it is neither here nor there, striving to expand the story and characters beyond the first novel but ultimately falling short of achieving the desired result. Again, all the ingredients seem to be there—the history, mythology, philosophical discourse and world-building, etc.—and in many cases they even surpass their scope from the first book, but for the reasons I touched upon above, the story simply failed to “speak” to me.
In the end, I have a feeling that this might just be another classic case of “Good book, but not for me”. Still, despite not winning me over, I’m glad I gave this series another shot. Chances are I’ll probably sit out for the third book of Dominion of the Fallen, but I’m definitely not closing any doors to trying more of Aliette de Bodard’s other work in the future.
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of The House of Shattered Wings (Book 1)
Waiting on Wednesday 05/24/17
Posted on May 24, 2017 16 Comments
“Waiting On Wednesday” is a weekly meme hosted by Breaking the Spine that lets us feature upcoming releases that we can’t wait to get our hands on!
Mogsy’s Pick
Age of Assassins by R.J. Barker (August 1, 2017 by Orbit)
Who doesn’t love a story about assassins – or better yet, a story about assassins versus assassins! Not to mention, my pick for this week celebrates this month’s Tough Traveling theme oh so well…
The synopsis also makes this one sound like a lot of fun, in the style of a traditional epic fantasy. Plus, I’m always interested in trying debuts.
“TO CATCH AN ASSASSIN, USE AN ASSASSIN…
Girton Club-foot, apprentice to the land’s best assassin, still has much to learn about the art of taking lives. But their latest mission tasks him and his master with a far more difficult challenge: to save a life. Someone, or many someones, is trying to kill the heir to the throne, and it is up to Girton and his master to uncover the traitor and prevent the prince’s murder.
In a kingdom on the brink of civil war and a castle thick with lies Girton finds friends he never expected, responsibilities he never wanted, and a conspiracy that could destroy an entire land.
Set in a world ravaged by magic and the ambition of noblemen, this debut epic fantasy features a cast of assassins, knights and fools which will delight any fan of Brent Weeks, David Dalglish or Robin Hobb.”
Book Review: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Posted on May 23, 2017 9 Comments
Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Publisher: St. Martin’s Griffin (October 2015)
Author’s Info: rainbowrowell.com
Wendy’s Rating: 5 of 5 stars
Reading and/or writing fanfic is a fangirl/boy rite of passage and it’s the tie that binds Rainbow Rowell’s Fangirl together. As the main character of that story made her way through the trials and tribulations of family life, relationships, and her first year at college, it’s Cath’s fanfic that helps her through it all, with each chapter starting with an excerpt from “Carry On.” Those little excerpts offered glimpses in a fascinating Harry Potter-esque world that is now the main focus of this new book.
I enjoyed the Harry Potter series, but it’s not my fandom of preference. There are many things about the series that trouble me, more so because Rowling never really addresses them. Carry On is not only an excellent story in its own right, it serves as a very creatively powerful analysis of those problematic areas in Harry Potter. At the top of the list is the real villain of the story, Dumbledore. His character is known simply as The Mage in Carry On and he is the orchestrator of all things.
Carry On stars Simon Snow as the proverbial Chosen One who, unlike Harry, actually is a powerful mage himself. Also unlike Harry, he is not the centre of this story. Well, he *is*, but the other characters get their fair share of attention with chapters told from many different points of view that remind us of how important each and every character is — even the minor ones — within Simon’s story and as part of the mysteries and the great mage family war that threatens. Rowell explores their feelings and their opinions on Simon and the situation through dialogue and descriptions that are always on fire.
Carry On takes place during Simon’s last year at school, yet Rowell so easily paints a moving image of Simon’s life and all the elements surrounding it — past, present, and future — all in a single book. Of course I’d like to read more about his battle with the Chimera, or their kidnapping and other encounters with the Insidious Humdrum – the great evil that haunts them wearing Simon’s face. Yet when Rowell tosses out these encounters through conversations and recollections, I don’t feel at a loss for not having read them fully. Rowell has managed to wrap so much in a single book through crisp and pithy writing that is often funny, endearing, and powerful.
What would fanfic be without some hot and heavy romance? Harry’s relationships were always so meh to me, but once again, Rowell brings the fire in true fanfic style by forcing Simon to bunk with his mortal enemy, Baz, a vampire who, on the first day back at Watford School of Magicks, does the unthinkable: Baz does not show up, leaving Simon to fear the moment when Baz will leap out from a corner and attack. But is there more to these feelings? OF COURSE THERE IS and that’s really what we’re here for right? Because just look at that gorgeous cover. unf.
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