Book Review: Babylon’s Ashes by James S.A. Corey
Posted on December 13, 2016 24 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Babylon’s Ashes by James S.A. Corey
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Book 6 of The Expanse
Publisher: Orbit (December 6, 2016)
Length: 544 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
The Expanse has become one of my favorite series in recent years, and it is no exaggeration to say that it has only gotten better with every new book. Of course, the one problem with this pattern is that it works much like gravity—what goes up must come down, after all. And yet, I say this doesn’t necessarily have to be a bad thing. In fact, I’d argue that after a major plot event, it’s important to dial things back a bit in order to let your characters regroup, refocus, and rebuild (not to mention give time for the reader to digest the latest bombshell) and this is exactly the way I would describe the circumstances surrounding Babylon’s Ashes.
This sixth installment of the series is the immediate follow-up to Nemesis Games, directly addressing the events that happened in that book, so I would strongly recommend catching up before reading this review or others to avoid possible spoilers. If you’ve read the last novel though, then you’ll know that a new villain has come onto the scene in the form of the Free Navy, a violent group of rebels fighting in the name of Belters (a term that describes people born in or beyond the Asteroid Belt, a generally exploited and oppressed working class). Their leader, the charismatic Marco Inaros has just orchestrated the biggest, most devastating attack on Earth, killing millions. In the aftermath, he’s sowing even more chaos by setting his ragtag fleet on the vulnerable colony ships traveling through the ring gates to the new worlds on the other side.
It’s basically a nightmare scenario for Earth and its allies, who are still trying to help survivors and prevent more from dying due to the complete breakdown of infrastructure and governance. In their desperation, they reach out to James Holden, a man who in the past has been as much help to them as a hindrance, but the times are dire and they need all the support they can get. Captain Holden and the crew of the fast-attack ship Rocinante have a good track record of completing many dangerous missions and then surviving to tell the tale, so now they are being assigned one more: to break through to Medina Station at the entrance of the gate network and prevent it from falling to the forces of the Free Navy.
So how do you follow up a book like Nemesis Games, which is probably my favorite novel of the Expanse series so far? Well, I knew it was going to be tough. That’s why I wasn’t surprised when Babylon’s Ashes took a step back from the action, using this installment as an opportunity to take a breather, looking at where everything is and where everyone stands. That’s not to say Babylon’s Ashes wasn’t a great book, because it was. However, its focus and pacing were also decidedly less intense and immediate. The first half was heavily dominated by system politics and character relationships.
Babylon’s Ashes also broke away from the usual tradition of following a set number of POVs (usually four, I believe), branching out instead to cover a greater number of character perspectives, many of whom we’ve seen before in the previous installments. There were pros and cons to this. From a positive standpoint, this opened up the book to greater possibilities. We got to see the solar system through many more pairs of eyes, getting a fuller sense of the political climate and state of affairs in the wake of the Earth attack. In addition, favorite characters like Chrisjen Avasarala, Clarissa Mao, and Bobbie Draper get a chance to chime in now and then with their own chapters. However, as a counterbalance to this, the greater number of POVs also served to dilute the focus of the main situation and arguably made the first half of the book a less emotionally engaging experience.
In fact, it wasn’t until the halfway point where something finally happened to really shake me up. It was a good reminder that things in the Expanse universe are always in motion, always changing. Important people die, major worlds are decimated, and yet the characters must evolve and adapt to survive the new reality. There’s really nothing negative I have to say about this book, other than the fact that as a villain, Marco was kind of wasted. Having learned nothing from the last book, he falls into the same predictable pattern, and it’s always a little disappointing to see a bad guy who suffers repeatedly from the same fatal flaw.
It will be interesting to see where the events of Babylon’s Ashes will take us next. Another chapter in the ongoing saga of Jim Holden and the Rocinante has come to an end, and if there’s one truth I have learned from my experience with the last six books, it’s that anything can happen in The Expanse, anything at all, and that is why I love this series.
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of Abbadon’s Gate (Book 3)
Review of Cibola Burn (Book 4)
Review of Nemesis Games (Book 5)
Talking Delusions: An Interview with Michael R. Fletcher
Posted on December 12, 2016 17 Comments
Today I am thrilled to welcome back Michael R. Fletcher to The BiblioSanctum for a chat about his new novel The Mirror’s Truth, book two in the Manifest Delusions series which is out now on Amazon and Kindle. Be sure to check out my review of the book in case you missed how much I loved it! And if you happen to be a fan of grimdark who hasn’t read the first book Beyond Redemption yet, you need to run not walk to your nearest bookstore to join the insanity! Hope you enjoy our Q&A!
Hi Michael, thanks for the interview. It’s always great to have you join us!
Hi Mogsy! Thanks for having me! I like what you’ve done with the place. Those medieval torture devices are new, right? Um…they’re not for me, are they?
Dang it! I thought I told them to move all that stuff into the garage. Er, I mean, oops, let’s just pretend you didn’t see anything, shall we? By the way, congratulations on releasing The Mirror’s Truth! I have lots of questions to ask you about the series today, but first can you give prospective readers a description of what it’s about? Hopefully without scaring them too much! *grin*
Thanks! The base idea for the series is that belief defines reality. Nothing new there. The more you believe something, the more real it becomes. But add into the mix the insane, those who are capable of believing impossibilities with utter conviction. And then look at the sane folks around you and contemplate all the absolutely insane things they believe. Religion. Politics. Economics. Elvis is dead. Grilled cheese sandwiches aren’t health food. Your daily whiskey intake should be limited to three large glasses. Madness! If sane people can so easily be convinced to believe, what will this mean in a reality that is responsive to the beliefs of humanity? All of a sudden it becomes possible to make our own gods!
Did I just manage to totally not answer your question?
Perfect!
Ha, that’s a great teaser, actually! Do you remember how the first seeds for Manifest Delusions came to you? Looking back now that you’ve written several books set in this world, have those ideas evolved over time, or have there been any huge changes and surprises since their inception?
The very first seeds came from looking at the meeting between the Spanish Conquistador Francisco Pizarro and Atahualpa, the Incan Emperor. I saw it as a clash of world-views. They both lived in realities defined by different belief systems and the group with the stronger beliefs won. I envisioned the Spanish as deranged from months being cooped up on a little ship crossing the ocean and I saw that madness as instrumental to the encounter. Most of this is in my head and not the history books, but that’s ok. My delusions define reality.
The idea grew. I began contemplating insanity in a world where reality was responsive to belief. How would various delusions manifest? How would a pyromaniac twist reality? What would a kleptomaniac be capable of? I did a fair amount of research into a number of less common delusions (Fregoli delusions, Cotard’s syndrome, etc.) and in each case imagined how reality might react to such a belief.
Lately I’ve been asking myself how those imbibing large quantities of hallucinogenics might alter realty. And what happens around people who are becoming senile or suffering from Alzheimer’s? Don’t visit Grandma, she thinks you’re her ex-husband from fifty years ago! Well, if she believes it strongly enough…
Many reviewers including myself have remarked upon the extreme “grimdarkness” of Beyond Redemption and The Mirror’s Truth. What is it about grimdark that appeals to you, and what do you hope Manifest Delusions will bring to the genre?
I didn’t actually set out to write a dark book, but once I had the world built I couldn’t see any other way for the story to go.
My goal with the Manifest Delusions novels is to pull no punches. I don’t write for shock value, that holds no interest for me. But if I think a scene should play out in a particularly brutal manner, I’m not going to flinch from it. I think grimdark readers are perhaps more okay with that than someone looking for epic fantasy where everyone is attractive and has great hair.
I didn’t set out to change the genre or bring something new to it. Truth be told, I never expected the first book to get published. But a couple of folks have said things like, “after reading Beyond Redemption I suddenly feel like you can write anything in fantasy.” And that’s pretty cool. Even if it wasn’t intentional. You know, almost nothing I do is intentional. I’ll pretend it is, but I stumble through life, a bear of very little brain.
That really is amazing, what folks have said. Even if you didn’t set out to do it, which I think makes it even cooler. With regards to your characters, they’re…well, insane. It’s part of the whole premise. What did you find was the greatest challenge when you were writing them? How did you put yourself into their heads?
I write by role-playing. Every time I write a Stehlen scene I become Stehlen. I see the world through her vicious yellow eyes, filter it through her terrible past, and take into account what she knows and what she thinks she knows. Half the fun is the juxtaposition of POVs. Different characters know different things and everyone must make their choices based on the information available to them. Not only that, but they must make choices true to who they are. Given exactly the same situation, Stehlen will act and react differently than Wichtig. Where he’d convince someone to buy everyone a round of drinks and be everyone’s best friend by the end, Stehlen would…well…probably just kill them all.
It was easy. Probably too easy. That’s bad, right? I’m one character. Click, I’m someone completely different. Click, I’m someone new. So easy. I understand them all. Each one is a fragment of me. The Stehlen fragment…shudder.
Ha! Well, that should make this next question fun. Okay, you have to spend a full day with one of your three main characters Bedeckt, Stehlen, or Wichtig. Who would you choose to hang out with, what activity would you guys do, and why?
Are you mad!? I’d run screaming. These people are dangerous!
Ok. If I had to, I’d probably spend the day drinking with Bedeckt. He’s the least likely to randomly kill me and he’s got so many great stories about his past. Also, I kinda love his grumpy old man philosophy.
Aw, not Stehlen? Heh, well…guess I can’t blame you. Anyway, you once mentioned in one of our conversations that you don’t really “plan” your books. Can you tell us a little more about that and your writing process?
Place crayons on desk.
Scream at crayons.
I’m still new to this writing thing and so my process changes for every book. For Beyond Redemption I did all my world building and had a few themes I wanted to explore and then threw myself into it. My plot was laughable: It’s a kidnapping! I didn’t know how it would end or who would survive.
I wrote Swarm and Steel next. I wanted to write something in the world of Manifest Delusions, but needed a break from the characters of Beyond Redemption. This time I knew the ending and had a few plot points I wanted to hit. My agent read the book, told me my ending was shit, and made a few suggestions. She’s awesome and pulls no punches. I ended up rewriting quite a bit of it whereas there was almost no rewriting with BR (though I did rewrite the ending). I’m still kinda stunned at how it turned out. Something clicked during the rewriting process and the story evolved somewhere unexpected.
With S&S out of the way I finally felt ready to return to the characters of BR. I wrote The Mirror’s Truth very differently. I didn’t have an ending in mind, but would plot out three chapters in advance. So…plan three chapters, write three chapters. Plan the next three chapters, write them. And so on. It made a world of difference. Where BR took me the best part of two years to write, the first draft of TMT (148,000 words) was finished in three months. That’s just shy of three Nanowrimos in a row. It helped that I was mostly self-unemployed at the time.
You went through quite a journey to bring The Mirror’s Truth into readers’ hands and I for one am grateful; I can’t tell you how thrilled I was when I learned you had decided to self-publish. Can you tell us a bit about the experience?
Beyond Redemption met fantastic critical success. The reviews were amazing and the book made over a dozen Best-Of-2015 lists. It never occurred to me that the publisher might pass on the sequel. Well, it turns out glowing reviews does not equal sales. The book was selling, but nowhere near the numbers Harper Voyager expected. They passed on The Mirror’s Truth without even looking at it. Overnight I went from thinking I might have a career as a fantasy novelist to thinking I’d better find a damned job.
My agent shopped the book around, but no publisher is interested in a sequel to a book held by another publisher.
I’d never given self-publishing much thought, but now I had this finished novel I really liked and no one interested in buying it. I had two choices, curl up and quit, or keep going. While I wallowed in self-pity, my agent sold Swarm and Steel to Talos (an imprint of Skyhorse/Night Shade Books). That gave me the kick in the ass I needed. I wasn’t finished. Sure, I might not have instant fame and fortune, but I’m a stubborn bastard.
Once I decided I was going to self-publish The Mirror’s Truth, an unbelievable number of people stepped forward and offered their help. It was truly humbling. The fantasy/grimdark community is amazing. It took longer than I expected (no more grumbling about how long it takes publishers to release a book) but it’s finally real!
My delusions have once again manifest!
And hooray for that! Are there any other projects you have in the works right now, or coming up soon, that you can share with readers?
I mentioned Swarm and Steel. It is slated for release in August of 2017. It’s the same world as BR and TMT, but with an entirely new cast of characters. For this one we venture into the Basamortuan Desert.
I’m currently working on a new dark fantasy series, but it’s too early to talk about in any detail. I can say I’m really liking how the world is coming together. So much potential for cutting social commentary.
Aaaaaaaand last week I turned in a nasty little science fiction novel to my agent. I’m waiting on her feedback.
Wishing you luck with all of that! Do you have other creative outlets besides writing? What hobbies do you enjoy doing in your spare time?
Spare time?
I had hobbies. I gave them all up to write. I realized they were all distractions and any time spent playing guitar or First Person Shooters (I’m a junkie) was time I should spend writing. I might be a little driven.
I keep telling myself that I’ll get my hobbies back when my writing earns me a living.
Buy my books so I can shoot something!
It’s been great talking with you, Michael! To wrap things ups, tell us three things we might be surprised to learn about you!
Thanks!
Ok. Er…mostly I’m not surprising. Hmm. Trying to decide what people’s expectations of me might be.
1) I have no formal education. In anything. I misspent my youth drinking, experimenting with hallucinogenics, wandering the world, and eventually working in the music biz.
2) I don’t actually know anything about writing. I’ve never taken a single writing class or worked with a writing group. I’ve just read so much I kinda know how the words are supposed to be used.
3) I’m not a straight white male. Actually, I am none of those things. The guy in the pictures is my step-brother. He does any public appearances for me cuz he’s read my books and is occasionally funny. I figured I’d do better as a fantasy writer as a white guy instead of a brown lesbian.
4) I can’t count.
5) Am I at three yet?
6) Nothing I say can be trusted.
Thank you so much again for stopping by! Where can readers find out more about you and your work?
Thank you! It’s been a pleasure being random.
Here are some places you can find me:
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MichaelRFletcher
Twitter: https://twitter.com/FletcherMR
Web site: http://michaelrfletcher.com/
Book Review: The Found and the Lost: The Collected Novellas of Ursula K. Le Guin
Posted on December 11, 2016 14 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 Found and the Lost by Ursula K. Le Guin
Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Science Fiction, Fantasy
Series: Anthology, Collected Novellas
Publisher: Saga Press (October 18, 2016)
Length: 816 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
I’m deeply ashamed to admit this, but I had not actually read anything by Ursula K. Le Guin before picking up this anthology. From the moment I saw The Found and the Lost though, I knew it would be the perfect chance for me to rectify the situation. For the first time ever, every novella published by this renowned fantasy and science fiction icon can be found in one place, together at last in this gorgeous hardcover collection.
Here’s the full list of the stories, and what I thought of them:
Vaster than Empires and More Slow – A group of scientists journey to a distant planet on a mission of exploration and research, bringing along with them an empath whose role is to detect the presence of intelligent life once they arrive. However, his sensitivity to his co-workers’ emotions makes him an ornery crewmate to be around, causing much tension among the team. What a great opening story to grab the reader’s attention and kick off this anthology. It is intensely gripping and atmospheric. Fear plays a huge role in this story—fear of the unknown and of what we don’t understand. It’s a subject that carries through well, ultimately culminating into a somewhat abrupt but unexpectedly poignant ending.
Buffalo Gals, Won’t You Come Out Tonight – Inspired by the magic of animals and their relationship with humans, this story tells of a young girl who becomes lost in the desert of the American Southwest. She is rescued by Coyote and brought to a community of animal characters who are effectively like people—a perspective I found both fascinating and a bit difficult to wrap my head around. Drawing heavily from Native American folklore, Le Guin creates a world that blends reality with mysticism, and the results are quite often surreal but also breathtakingly beautiful.
Hernes – “Hernes” is not among my favorites in this anthology, but it is nonetheless intriguing and thought provoking. Covering the lives of four generations of women, the story weaves together multiple tales of love, ambition, heartbreak, and self-discovery. It can be somewhat confusing at first to see how all the threads tie together, but I loved the author’s empathetic treatment of her characters’ struggles as well as her portrayal of the mother-daughter relationships by alluding to the Greek myth of Demeter and Persephone.
A Matter of Seggri – Seggri is a world where the number of females is six times greater than the number of males. For the most part the two sexes live completely separate lives, with the women making their homes in medieval-style villages while the men dwell in castles. While this story pulls us back into science fiction territory, it also features the author’s none-too-subtle endeavor to explore the nature of gender roles. At first, it may seem that the men on Seggri have it all—they compete in sports games to entertain themselves, later basking in the adoration of the females who want them to sire their children. As it soon turns out, however, the situation is much more complicated. This story wasn’t among my favorites either, but there are certain elements that I think will hit hard emotionally.
Another Story or A Fisherman of the Inland Sea – Hideo grew up listening to his mother tell him the legend about the fisherman who was seduced by a sea-princess only to return home afterwards to discover that centuries have passed. When Hideo later on becomes a physicist, he has the opportunity to embark on a journey that involves faster-than-light travel, and thus the connections between the fairy tale and the main character’s own life are revealed. The concept of time dilation or time warping often provides interesting twists in these kinds of stories, and I suppose this one is no exception, though after reading it I couldn’t shake this feeling that something was missing. Later on, I discovered this was supposed to be a companion story to a couple others that were published in another anthology. While I enjoyed this one well enough, I wonder if I would have liked it more if I had gotten the context from the other stories.
Forgiveness Day – Speaking of interconnected stories, I believe these next three were all first published together in an anthology called Four Ways to Forgiveness. They have several themes in common, namely those that surround the subjects of slavery and freedom, suppression and liberation, order and rebellion. I loved “Forgiveness Day”, which tells of an envoy named Solly who travels to another world and is assigned a bodyguard named Teyeo. The two of them are water and oil from the start, though as the story progresses we are given an opportunity to see the situation from both points of view. I liked this one’s message about individual biases and how personal histories are shaped by experience. To sympathize with others we first must change our own way of thinking, and that starts with looking within ourselves.
A Man of the People – The narrator in this story spent his childhood growing up in the rural and sheltered community before heading out to discover all there is in the wider world. This is a tale featuring themes of freedom but also highlights the idea that we should never forget our pasts. I liked how much this one added to the discourse about the importance of empathy and involvement.
A Woman’s Liberation – This story has strong ties to the last, and really should be considered together. Both feature protagonists who have complicated histories and struggle with their individual identities, questioning who they are and what they want. I liked this one a little more, however, due to the voice of the main character—a woman who is born an “asset”, or a slave—as well as her point of view on the issues that were covered in these last three stories.
Old Music and the Slave Women – This one shines a spotlight on Old Music, a character who appeared briefly in one of the previous stories. Here he gets to tell his own tale about slavery, courage, and revolution. While it was nice being able to revisit this character again, truthfully it was hard to get into the narrative because of the slower pacing and muddled presentation of ideas.
The Finder – This one will probably hold more significance for fans of Earthsea since it takes place long ago in that world, chronicling the life of a young shipbuilder boy who manifests magical abilities. Like the other stories, the prose here is richly detailed and evocative, though my attention started waning as we drew closer to the end. It’s a shame because this story has a lot going for it, but it might have dragged on for a little too long.
On the High Marsh – Another tale from Earthsea, I had a hard time getting into this one as well because of a lack of connection I felt to the main character Ged (who I later learned was an Archmage of the Roke magic school, the origins of which were covered in “The Finder”). That said, I don’t often do well with side stories like this that focus on characters or events from the main books of a series.
Dragonfly – After struggling a little with the last few stories, “Dragonfly” was one that swept me off my feet. This third Earthsea story also appears tie into the main series; more specifically, I hear it’s sometimes been called a “postscript” to Tehanu, and again I wonder if I would have gotten even more out of it had I read the book first. I loved the eponymous main character, an earnest girl who is also a bit rough around the edges from being raised by an angry, alcoholic father. Through sheer persistence and courage though, she manages to gain entry into Roke, an all-male magic school. Overall, I really enjoyed this story’s themes, especially its message about the power of women’s magic and how a little determination can go a long way.
Paradises Lost – This one is about a generation ship and explores what it means for the people who are born and raised aboard during the long voyage. These are the generations descended from the original pilgrims, but it is their own descendants that will reach the final destination, not them. Le Guin speculates how this would affect the travelers both emotionally and spiritually, and the kind of society they might create. I love stories about generation ships and colonization, and this is perhaps one of the more philosophical ones I’ve read. There’s compassion and realism in it too as Le Guin gets right down to the issues that really matter to the people in that situation, and asks the questions that many other authors don’t address.
Concluding Thoughts:
For Le Guin fans, this anthology is a must. But for new readers too, there is a lot to love. It’s true that some of the stories are better than others, and there are even a few that, when taken out of their original context, might be a little confusing especially if you’re unfamiliar with the author’s different worlds and cycles, but overall it serves as a great introduction to her style and the themes she writes about.
More importantly, the stories in here are an excellent showcase of the author’s astounding talent and deepness of thought, proving why her work has remained so beloved throughout the decades. Reading this was an absolute gift.
Audiobook Review: Fireborn by David Dalglish
Posted on December 10, 2016 17 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: 3.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Book 2 of Seraphim
Publisher: Hachette Audio (November 22, 2016)
Length: 13 hrs and 41 mins
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Narrator: Joe Knezevich
David Dalglish’s Skyborn was perhaps one of the greatest surprises for me last year. I didn’t know what to expect going in, but it turned out to be an epic start to a high-flying fantasy adventure series about a group of elite winged soldiers with the power to command the elements. The Seraphim, as they are called, are the warriors of a post-apocalyptic world in which humanity has taken to the skies. Everyone now lives on one of six floating island kingdoms that are constantly in conflict.
The first book introduced us to protagonists Bree and Kael, twins who are following in their late parents’ footsteps by training to become Seraphim themselves. Much of Skyborn read like a “magic school” story, chronicling the siblings’ individual trials at the Seraphim Academy. In contrast, the themes surrounding Fireborn are a little more complex. This sequel is set right after the stunning events of the previous novel, and if you haven’t read Skyborn yet, I’m not going to ruin it for you. It’s enough to know that things have gotten very bad.
In the fallout, one of the main casualties was the Seraphim order. With their home invaded and their order disbanded, Bree and Kael’s futures are now uncertain. However, upon their return to their occupied island, they are almost immediately recruited by a group of rebels planning to fight back against the powerful Center. Bree becomes their reluctant symbol, the Phoenix—a nickname given to her because of the burning twin blades she wields in battle. Meanwhile Kael, whose talents lie elsewhere, is tasked to recruit new allies for their uprising, but the coming war weigh heavy on his heart. As the fighting intensifies, he worries for his sister who is on the frontlines but also starts to have doubts about the leader of their rebellion, the unsettling cult leader and doomsday prophet Johan.
As with the first book, there were some issues with the pacing in Fireborn. Despite its more intricate ideas, I also found it harder to throw myself into the plot or feel engaged with the characters. For the first half, this is essentially the standard dystopian-rebellion story, complete with member recruitment and secret gatherings. Some of these sections were a little too drawn out for my tastes, making this one a slow burner. Don’t get me wrong, though; this was still a solid sequel. However, it didn’t quite sweep me off my feet the way Skyborn did, containing some of the vexing symptoms of “middle book syndrome”. To be fair, the first book had the advantage of being a series opener, introducing readers to a fresh and unique world. That book charmed my socks off, understandably making it a tough act to follow.
Fireborn makes up for its more subdued intro with a ton of action packed into its second half though. Again, like Skyborn, this book is back loaded with much of the excitement saved for the end when all the tensions finally come to a head. That’s when all the build-up starts to pay off. As the rebellion explodes into the open, Dalglish exacerbates an already fiery situation by throwing in an unexpected twist, adding an even greater threat to the equation. The aerial battle scenes continue to be a highlight as well, and their even better now that Bree and Kael have a much better handle on their flight skills and elemental powers.
Fireborn wasn’t without its flaws, but then again, the first book also started on shaky ground before ending up blowing me away. Still, there’s no denying that it lacked some of the magic that made Skyborn so amazing. The story and characters may have matured while the themes have also grown darker, deeper, and more complex, but the plot itself remained rather simple and straightforward. That said, I still really enjoyed Fireborn and in no way do I consider it a poor sequel. The ending did a fantastic job building up anticipation for the final book of the trilogy, and I’m looking forward to see how it will all end.
Audiobook Comments: The Seraphim is another example of a series where I decided to jump formats again this year, choosing the audio edition over the print because I got curious after hearing such great things about the narration. I was not disappointed. Joe Knezevich is a fine narrator and he does some great voicework, playing with accents, inflections, and tones—though I think he could have taken advantage of even more opportunities to do so. Overall I have no complaints about the audiobook. If presented with the opportunity to continue the next installment in this format, I probably would take it. Recommended.
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of Skyborn (Book 1)
Book Review: Winter Halo by Keri Arthur + Series Giveaway!
Posted on December 9, 2016 11 Comments
*** The giveaway is now over, thanks to everyone who entered! ***
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: Urban Fantasy, Science Fiction
Series: Book 2 of Outcast
Publisher: Signet (December 6, 2016)
Length: 368 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
I found a new favorite author in Keri Arthur when I read City of Light last year, and my hope is that I will continue to enjoy her work for years to come. Certainly those odds are looking good with Winter Halo, the sequel. Not only did I enjoy it as much as the previous book, this second novel of the Outcast series also came along when I needed it the most, providing a much needed counterpoint to the heavier reads I’ve had on my plate lately. It was nice to simply let loose with Tiger in her world again; that and we all know there’s nothing quite like vampires and shapeshifters plus a little a bit of sex and action to serve as perfect entremets.
The story picks up from the end of City of Light, continuing Tiger’s quest to rescue a group of kidnapped children. With the help from some new allies (because calling them friends would still be quite a stretch), she traces the trail to Winter Halo, a pharmaceutical company whose research arm appears to be involved in a bunch of shady activities. Our protagonist hatches up a plan to go undercover, using her déchet abilities to shapeshift and gather information from a top company executive to find out what’s going on within their research facility.
Her findings end up being even more bizarre and worrisome than expected, including everything from reports of hauntings to illicit experimentation and dissections. Just what is going on inside the walls of Winter Halo? To find out, Tiger must infiltrate the company and go deep into the heart of hostile territory. Time is fast running out, and the lost children are depending on her to find and rescue them.
If you haven’t discovered the world of Outcast yet, you’re in for a treat. As I mentioned before, Tiger is a humanoid being known as a “déchet”, a French term that means “junk” or “waste”, referring to the process with which she and others like her were made. Déchets were the super-soldiers created for the war against the monsters that came through rifts into our world more than a hundred years ago, genetic hybrids cobbled from genes from human, animal, and even paranormal creatures. Tiger’s main role in that long-ago war was to act as a “lure”, an agent capable of seducing her victims and extracting sensitive information from their heads before killing them. This explains why she is more “emotionally connected” than many of her fellow déchets who were mainly bred to be violent war machines. Pretty much all of them were eradicated by the end of the war though, so Tiger lives a lonely existence, making her home in an abandoned bunker surrounded by ghosts of murdered déchet children.
I think that’s the part which gets me the most. Let’s face it, urban fantasy and paranormal books about their main characters trying to rescue kidnapped kids are a dime a dozen. What makes Outcast and Tiger so special is that the reader can deeply sympathize with her reasons for going the distance for these stolen children. Her own life has been touched by the cruel and untimely deaths of young souls, and those experiences have affected her and stayed with her. Whenever we encounter scenes with Bear and Cat, our protagonist’ energetic helper ghosts, sometimes they charm us so much that it’s easy to forget the horrible way they died. For Tiger though, the heartbreaking circumstances around their deaths are always on her mind, and she’ll fight hard to prevent another child from ever being harmed again.
This sequel also builds upon the relationships established in the first book. The feelings growing between Tiger and Jonas are likely to be of the most interest, their attraction having been teased since the two of them first met. I’m actually surprised at the slow-burn approach Arthur is taking, when in a lot of other series, their authors often seem so eager to throw their love interests together as quickly as possible. I love this more measured pacing though, giving time to let the characters’ lives and personalities sink in.
Finally, I’m really enjoying the new plot developments. There’s a noticeable shift in Winter Halo’s themes towards more subterfuge, but the tensions and thrills remain high. The hunt for the missing children still makes up the main story arc, but now several secondary plot threads have also come into play and I’m curious to see where they will go.
The stakes have definitely been raised for this one! Arthur’s world-building and characterizations continue to be outstanding for this series, and I am having a blast with the twists and turns of the story. Now begins the hard part: the wait for book three.
More on The BiblioSanctum
Review of City of Light (Book 1)
The Outcast Series Giveaway
Interested in checking out the Outcast series by Keri Arthur? Here’s your chance to win this great set of books! With thanks to the publisher, we’re happy to be hosting this giveaway for City of Light AND Winter Halo. This giveaway is open to addresses in the US and Canada. To enter, all you have to do is send an email to bibliosanctum@gmail.com with your Name and valid Mailing Address using the subject line “OUTCAST” by 11:59pm Eastern time on Monday, December 19, 2016.
Only one entry per household, please. The winner will be randomly selected when the giveaway ends and then be notified by email. All information will only be used for the purposes of contacting the winner and sending them their prize. Once the giveaway ends all entry emails will be deleted.
So what are you waiting for? Enter to win! Good luck!
Week 2: A Closed and Common Orbit Read-Along
Posted on December 9, 2016 6 Comments
Sci-Fi November might be over, but that doesn’t mean the sci-fi fun has to stop. Our Read-Along of A Closed and Common Orbit by Becky Chambers has officially begun. If you’re interested in participating, hop on over to the SF/F Read-Along group for more information; we’d love for you to join the discussion. Have you read The Long Way to A Small Angry Planet, the first Wayfarers book? Are you planning on reading this standalone follow-up? Let us know your thoughts.
Lovelace was once merely a ship’s artificial intelligence. When she wakes up in an new body, following a total system shut-down and reboot, she has no memory of what came before. As Lovelace learns to negotiate the universe and discover who she is, she makes friends with Pepper, an excitable engineer, who’s determined to help her learn and grow.
Together, Pepper and Lovey will discover that no matter how vast space is, two people can fill it together.
The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet introduced readers to the incredible world of Rosemary Harper, a young woman with a restless soul and secrets to keep. When she joined the crew of the Wayfarer, an intergalactic ship, she got more than she bargained for – and learned to live with, and love, her rag-tag collection of crewmates.
A Closed and Common Orbit is the stand-alone sequel to Becky Chambers’ beloved debut novel The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet and is perfect for fans of Firefly, Joss Whedon, Mass Effectand Star Wars.
Week 1: Friday 2nd December – Part 1 up to Page 94, hosted byLisa at Over the Effing Rainbow
Week 2: Friday 9th December – Page 95 to End of Part 1, hosted by Imyril at There’s Always Room For One More
Week 3: Friday 16th December – all of Part 2, hosted by Lynn at Lynn’s Book Blog
Week 4: Friday 23rd December – Part 3 to End, hosted by Mogsy at The BiblioSanctum
1. Sidra has quite the range of emotional (and physical!) crises this week. What do you make of the ways she tries to cope/adjust? Do you think she can come to terms with herself?
In many ways Sidra reminds me of a child on the cusp of her teenage years — a formative time when an individual starts to gain a lot more independence, and naturally this leads to a lot of self-exploration and, for better or worse, the testing of limits. She’s still seeing the world through an innocent and naive lens and I think many of her “ways of coping” can easily backfire on her, as we’ve seen. Like all teenagers though, I think Sidra will find her way eventually.
2. How would you choose what memories to delete to save new ones? Is Pepper being sensible or is it an impossible thing to ask?
I was wondering this myself as I was reading this part. Was it fair of Pepper to demand Sidra just “be pickier” about the knowledge she wants to download and retain? A part of me wants to tell Sidra to suck it up; this is her new reality now. My own memory is like a sieve and I even joke to friends that my brain is like a hard drive, and I have to dump old stuff to remember new things. If Sidra wants to pass for human, she’ll have to deal with the mind’s biological limitations the same we all do.
On the other hand, Sidra’s counter argument is valid too. Despite my joke comparing my brain to a hard drive, humans are not like computers and memories aren’t stored or retrieved the same way. In people, certain memories might seem long forgotten only to be dredged up from the recesses of our mind by a random smell or some other kind of stimulus, because our brains are wired form those sorts of associations. However, Sidra isn’t capable of those kinds of processes, so once a “chunk” of memory is gone, it is gone forever. When put that way…yeah, that does kind of suck.
Pepper and Sidra are simply going to have to meet each other halfway, I suppose.
3. What are your first impressions of Owl?
She has a very “motherly” presence. I wasn’t surprised when I found out that she was an A.I. built for the space shuttle equivalent of a family recreational vehicle. That her previous masters got rid of the shuttle Owl was housed in only after their kids all grew up implies that a huge part of her system protocol is to be good with children, perhaps serving as an on-board nanny or teacher on top of running the ship’s processes. That would explain her seemingly unlimited patience and kindness.
4. There are lots of big big themes being unpacked as we get to the end of the first part. Which one(s) stand out for you? (How) Is it explored through each timeline?
This week we saw clear parallels between Sidra and Jane’s stories. The big theme here for me was the process of learning. I doubt it’s an accident that in the past, Jane (human) learns the ways of the world from Owl (A.I.) while in the present, Sidra (A.I.) learns the ways of the world from Pepper (human). I like how the two storylines mirror each other and how for Jane/Pepper’s character, things come full circle.
Book Review: Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Posted on December 8, 2016 24 Comments
I received a review copy from the publisher. This does not affect the contents of my review and all opinions are my own.
Certain Dark Things by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Genre: Urban Fantasy, Paranormal
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Thomas Dunne Books (October 25, 2016)
Length: 323 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
I’ve been champing at the bit to read Certain Dark things ever since I first heard about the book. Back then it still didn’t have a title, but the mere description of it clinched it for me. I’m not someone who’s ever needed much motivation to pick up a vampire story after all, and after learning that one of the main characters is a descendant of Aztec blood drinkers, I was even more intrigued.
That the book takes place in Mexico City was a compelling factor too. Gangs, drugs and corruption run rampant in the capital, but what you won’t have to worry about are vampires. That’s because the city has declared itself to be a “vampire-free zone”. But as with all rules, there are times when individuals have found a way around this particular edict.
This is something Domingo knows all too well. A homeless teenager who ekes out a meager living by salvaging landfills for usable goods to resell, he is on his way home one day when he spies a pretty girl trailed by her large Doberman. To his surprise, she notices him back. And actually talks to him! It isn’t long before the girl confides in him her name and true nature. She is Atl, and she is a member of a subgroup of vampires who trace their line back to the ancient Aztecs.
Atl is in trouble, so she cuts to the chase: some other dangerous vampires are after her, and she needs to get out of Mexico City and head south right away. But while she’s here, she will need a place to hide as well as a “Renfield” to feed on and to assist her during the day. Completely smitten by this confident, beautiful girl, Domingo readily agrees to help her out—the fact that she’s a vampire and wants to drink his blood be damned.
However, it turns out Atl’s troubles are worse than he realized. The vampire gang she’s on the run from are headed by Nick Godoy, a real nasty piece of work. Brash young Nick is a “Necro”, a subspecies of vampire that most closely resembles the classical vampire archetype, and he has a grudge to grind. Bent on seeking vengeance for a long-ago slight, Nick has tracked his target to Mexico City where he and his Renfield Rodrigo have been getting into all sorts of mischief, attracting the attention of a police detective thus causing even more problems for Atl and Domingo.
I had high hopes for the world-building going into Certain Dark Things, and I was not disappointed. Instead of charging in with an attempt to turn the vampire mythos on its head though, Silvia Moreno-Garcia does something more subtle—and ingenious, in my opinion. As we go deeper into Atl’s past, we get to learn a wealth of information about vampire lore in general. We find out about the subspecies, of which there are many. Considering how many cultures throughout history have developed their own version of the “blood-sucking/flesh-eating monster” legend (the Chinese and the Jiang-shi, or the stories of the Wendigo in Native American folklore, to name a couple) I thought this to be an especially clever twist. By drawing from inspiration taken from all over the world, the author has formed a basis for her story that at once feels fresh but still has roots firmly planted in our reality. The results are very effective and pleasing because the reader feels an immediate affinity for the setting and characters.
The plot was also kept rather simple. It’s also fast-paced as hell. Everything about this book is slick and elegant, furnished with all the best features without being weighed down. This lack of complexity is perhaps the only thing holding me back from giving it a full five stars, but while it may not be phenomenal, it is still great. Certain Dark Things easily ranks among my most interesting and entertaining reads of the year.
Silvia Moreno-Garcia offers a whole new world to discover in Certain Dark Things, a novel that offers rock solid world-building and compelling characters that are guaranteed to charm you and open your eyes. So if you’re getting a hankering for a vampire story, why not give this one a try? You won’t regret it.
Waiting on Wednesday 12/07/16
Posted on December 7, 2016 17 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
Ash and Quill by Rachel Caine (July 11th 2017 by Berkley)
I’m looking forward to this conclusion of The Great Library trilogy. It was postulated at the end of book two, but looks like this confirms it — Jess and the gang are headed to America!
Hoarding all the knowledge of the world, the Great Library jealousy guards its secrets. But now a group of rebels poses a dangerous threat to its tyranny….
Jess Brightwell and his band of exiles have fled London, only to find themselves imprisoned in Philadelphia, a city led by those who would rather burn books than submit. But Jess and his friends have a bargaining chip: the knowledge to build a machine that will break the Library’s rule.
Their time is running out. To survive, they’ll have to choose to live or die as one, to take the fight to their enemies—and to save the very soul of the Great Library….
Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten New-To-Me Favorite Authors I Read For The First Time In 2016
Posted on December 6, 2016 38 Comments
Top Ten Tuesday is an original feature/weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. They created the meme because they love lists. Who doesn’t love lists? They wanted to share these list with fellow book lovers and ask that we share in return to connect with our fellow book lovers. To learn more about participating in the challenge, stop by their page dedicated to it and dive in!
This week’s topic: Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read For The First Time In 2016
Mogsy’s Picks
How often have you said to yourself, “OMG! Why did it take me so long to read <insert author’s name>’s books?!” For me that feels like a very frequent occurrence which is why I love today’s topic – and why I’m also happy to be making another one of these lists, this time for 2016.
*** Note that I’m generally focusing on authors who have been writing for a long time, or already have a bunch of novels/short stories out, otherwise this would be a very long post! I also won’t be naming any debut authors today (because that is a top ten list for another day! 🙂 ) ***
A. Lee Martinez
It appears plenty of people are already aware of the awesomeness of A. Lee Martinez, and as usual I’m just way behind. I first heard of the author only earlier this year, when I saw the title and cover for The Last Adventure of Constance Verity. I read it, loved it, and I want more. The book was unexpectedly charismatic and offbeat, and I think of all the fantasy comedy novels I’ve tried this year, so far this is by far my favorite. This blogger will definitely be looking into picking up more books by Mr. Martinez! (Review: The Last Adventure of Constance Verity)
Jon Skovron
Jon Skovron is already quite a big name in the Young Adult fantasy world, having authored several novels for teens. His first adult fantasy series The Empire of Storms began this summer though, with Hope and Red which was my first experience with his work. I ended up really enjoying the world and the characters, and now I can’t wait to read the next book in the trilogy. I might even need to go back and pick up some of his previously released YA books. (Review: Hope and Red)
Kelley Armstrong
Yes, believe it or not, it actually took me this long to finally try Kelley Armstrong (despite the fact others have been telling me about how great she is for years). I also find it a little ironic that even though I’m more of a speculative fiction reader, it wasn’t any of her fantasy or paranormal books that finally caught my eye, but her newest mystery thriller/suspense novel City of the Lost. It was just fantastic, guys. Seriously couldn’t be more pleased that it was my very first KA novel. (Review: City of the Lost)
Jack Ketchum
I’ve never read a Jack Ketchum novel before, and was completely unfamiliar with his work. A quick search on Goodreads brought me to his author bio which proudly proclaims that his first book Off Season was once scolded by the Village Voice for being “violent pornography”. Still don’t know if I’ll ever read Off Season (because it sounds too hardcore even for me!) but his latest novel The Secret Life of Souls that was co-authored with Lucky McKee turned out to be pretty awesome. (Review: The Secret Life of Souls)
Paul Tremblay
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of reading Paul Tremblay’s A Head Full of Ghosts which promptly landed him on my “I must read more of this author!” list. If you enjoy modern horror, this is a book you really need to check out. Anyway, I actually went on to read Tremblay’s latest book, Disappearance at Devil’s Rock which came out earlier this summer. Admittedly, I didn’t think it was as good, but I’ll probably still keep picking up anything he writes. (Review: A Head Full of Ghosts; Review: Disappearance at Devil’s Rock)
Jennifer Fallon
This year was the first time I read Jennifer Fallon, and interestingly, I hadn’t known that The Lyre Thief was a follow-up series until I read the blurbs for Medalon and the other books in her Hythrun Chronicles: Demon Child and Hythrun Chronicles: Wolfblade sequences. Fallon eases us into the world so gently and seamlessly though, I felt no disadvantage from not having read the previous series—and you know how picky I can be about such things. I loved the book so much, I’ve already added the previous trilogies to the TBR because I want to learn everything I can about this irresistible world and the characters. (Review: The Lyre Thief)
Keri Arthur
This was my first book by Keri Arthur, and I was completely unprepared for how good it was. I don’t even know why I was caught so flat-footed! After all, I know friends who have been fans of the author’s for a long time and they all absolutely adore her work, which is what convinced me to give City of Light a try in the first place. For ages I’ve been curious to try one of her books, and this being the first of a new series, I figured it would be the perfect place to start. I went in with pretty high expectations. It ended up exceeding all of them. (Review: City of Light)
Blake Crouch
Even though I’ve known about the author’s Wayward Pines series for years now, I’ve never read it nor have I watched the recent TV show adaptation based off of it. But if those books are anything like Dark Matter, which was my first foray into his work, I might just have to go check them out. I know I talk about this book a lot, but it really was a lot of fun. Will I be checking out more of his work in the future? Oh, you bet. Mr. Crouch has a new fan. (Review: Dark Matter)
Jason Arnopp
Jason Arnopp is a scriptwriter with a background in journalism who has written for many films and authored a bunch of media tie-in novels including various official Doctor Who fiction. This year I read his new book The Last Days of Jack Sparks and loved the hell out of it. According to our interview he is currently working on his second novel for Orbit Books (unrelated to Jack Sparks) which is a standalone “supernatural thriller in a completely different way” – so thrilled to hear about his next project, I can’t wait! (Review: The Last Days of Jack Sparks)
Ursula K. Le Guin
My last pick is kind of a cheat because technically I am still working my way through this huge tome, The Found and the Lost. I’m deeply ashamed to admit I have not read the work of Ursula K. Le Guin before now, but that is being rectified as we speak. This is a collection of every published novella by the renowned American literature icon, and I am enjoying the stories a lot so far. Keep an eye out for my review later this month.
Book Review: The Mirror’s Truth by Michael R. Fletcher
Posted on December 5, 2016 24 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 Mirror’s Truth by Michael R. Fletcher
Mogsy’s Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Book 2 of Manifest Delusions
Publisher: Michael R. Fletcher (December 15, 2016)
Length: 455 pages
Author Information: Website | Twitter
The Mirror’s Truth is a sequel that builds upon everything that made the first book so great and all-consuming, featuring storylines and characters that are grittier, twistier, and even more insane. In other words, it’s even more fucked up than Beyond Redemption…and I loved it.
“War isn’t insanity, it’s the base state for all reality. Plants war for sunlight. Animals war for food and water. Wolves battle to decide who leads the pack. All life is struggle.
Peace, now that is insanity.”
You didn’t actually think it was over for our protagonists, did you? In the world of Manifest Delusions, death is only the beginning. Bedeckt, Stehlen, and Wichtig are back, following the complete and utter bloodbath that was the end of the first book. Only now, they’ve emerged even more brutal, bloodthirsty and psychotic than ever before.
It all started when the old and wretched Bedeckt, filled with the sudden horror of his actions, decided that he could not go through with the plans he had made. Now he must undo the damage caused by his weakness and do whatever it takes to stop Morgan, the mad child who has become a god. And if it takes abandoning his companions to the eternal greyness of the Afterdeath, then so be it.
Not surprisingly, Stehlen and Wichtig react none too kindly to that idea. Livid at being left behind, the murderous Kleptic and the self-styled Best Swordsman in the World decide to make clandestine deals of their own, returning to the world of the living in order track down Bedeckt and make him pay—slowly and painfully.
With friends like these, who needs enemies? At the same time though, it would be a mistake to dismiss these characters so casually. They may be insane, but they are deep. Beyond Redemption would not have been such a wildly successful book in my eyes if our protagonists had merely been the vile, monstrous degenerates they appeared to be on the surface. Instead, Michael R. Fletcher drew me in with the complexity of their personalities and relationships, and I was glad he continued to build upon these in the sequel. While Bedeckt, Stehlen, and Wichtig spend much of this book apart, we are still treated to the fascinating inner workings of their deep, dark scary minds.
In fact, with the chapters basically alternating between their POVs, each of the three are essentially given their own storyline thus giving way to a lot more character development on an individual level. The Bedeckt we used to know has become transformed, no longer just an old jaded thief looking to end his financial troubles once and for all with the score of a lifetime. Now he is a man wracked with guilt and grief, struggling to keep what morals (and sanity) he has left. We also get to see a softer side of Stehlen—and if you’ve read the first book, you’ll understand why I just burst into incredulous giggles while typing that—but believe it or not, it is true; the psycho kleptomaniac woman actually has feelings that go beyond wanting to slit your throat and steal your shit. And finally, there’s Wichtig, perhaps the most complicated of them all. Of the three protagonists, he’s the only one whose past is explored in depth, and I also find the story surrounding his delusion of being the world’s best swordsman to be extremely compelling.
And of course, I am once again floored by the originality and excellence in the world-building. People always complain about the same tired old tropes in fantasy and the lack of fresh ideas when it comes to magic systems and powers. To them I say, “Take some Manifest Delusions and call me in the morning.” Fletcher has done an incredible job creating this world where magic is madness, and those who are the most powerful are also the most unhinged. It’s a premise ripe for all kinds of ruckus and mayhem, and this sequel pushes the envelope even further.
Plot-wise, The Mirror’s Truth is simpler in some ways, but it is also stranger, bloodier, and more violent. The conclusion, however, was the best part. With that ending, Michael R. Fletcher might have just single-handedly redefined the word “insane”. Seriously.
I think it’s safe to say those who enjoyed Beyond Redemption will also love this sequel, and after all this waiting and uncertainty, I’m glad that The Mirror’s Truth has finally found its way into readers’ hands. Manifest Delusions is not so much a hidden gem, but rather an absolute treasure trove of a series to fans of grimdark. By the end of this one you will be begging for more.
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of Beyond Redemption (Book 1)
The BiblioSanctum 