The BiblioSanctum

Audiobook Review: The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss by Max Wirestone

Posted on November 4, 2015 14 Comments

A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss by Max Wirestone

Genre: Mystery, Humor

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Hachette Audio (10/20/15)

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 4 of 5 stars

Narrator: Lauren Fortgang | Length: 8 hrs and 45 mins

The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss is definitely an audiobook you should avoid listening to in public, lest you want the people around you to think you’ve completely lost your mind. Folks generally don’t react well to someone bursting into spontaneous maniacal laugher, I find.

And to think, I almost let this gem pass me by! A book like this doesn’t technically fall under the Sci-fi and Fantasy purview, which is what I mostly read and review, but I could not resist checking this one out after learning about the MMORPG angle. From Ready Player One to Reamde, video games and gaming have been the inspiration for many works of speculative fiction, but of course not all gaming-related books are SFF. That doesn’t mean I can’t still geek out about them, though.

And geek out I did. If Nancy Drew were a millennial and grew up to become a gigantic mega super geek, you would probably get Dahlia Moss, the titular main character of this delightfully witty book. Thing is though, I can also see Dahlia being popular with more than just the geeky crowd; fans of underdog stories and readers who love rooting for the long-shot protagonist will be sure to love this book as well. Unemployed, flat out broke, and living off the largesse of her kooky roommate, Dahlia could not believe it when she was suddenly offered a job by some rich kid hiring her to track down a stolen object. Her only qualifications for the job appear to be 1) the one time she temped at a PI agency and 2) the fact that she has played Zoth, the massively multiplayer online game in which the theft itself actually took place.

That’s because the stolen object in question isn’t even a real object, but a bunch of pixels—more specifically, an ultra-rare spear that’s one of its kind in-game. It should be an easy enough job, Dahlia figures. All she has to do is to find out which of her employer’s guildies made off with the highly coveted weapon and call it a day. But then, that’s when things start to get weird. Jonah, the client who hired her, ends up dead the next day, skewered through by a very real, very sharp full-scale replica of the pixelated spear that was stolen from his Zoth account, right down to the very last gem stone.

Dahlia’s hunt for a thief soon becomes one for a murderer in this quirky little whodunit. Sure, our protagonist is not exactly the most savvy of detectives, but that’s all part of her charm, along with her propensity to leap into situations without thinking them through (this book isn’t titled The Competent and Well-thought Out Decisions of Dahlia Moss for good reason). She also has this bad habit of digressing a lot, but those runaway trains of thought often lead to hilarious asides about geeky pop culture and gaming references, so I let a lot of that slide seeing how Dahlia is a woman after my own heart. I also pardoned the character of her roommate, who is bizarre for the sake of being bizarre, as well as the many times this story grew too silly to the point of absurdity. Still, I couldn’t believe how often I literally laughed out loud at Dahlia’s exploits. With me, that happens to go a long way.

Also, books about MMORPGs really get to me. Especially books about friendships in MMORPGs. Even if you don’t consider yourself this book’s audience, I think you’ll be touched by some of these relationships. I’ve known some of the people I play MMOs with for years and there’s definitely a unique culture among online gamers; tight guilds often have their own code and customs, which is even more pronounced on RP servers. Though you’ll likely never meet most of your online gaming friends face-to-face, you definitely connect with them on a whole other level (no pun intended). I love how this book taps into all that, and I totally found myself relating to a lot of the characters.

A final shout-out has to go to Lauren Fortgang, the narrator. I’ve listened to her work in the past (most recently in the audio production of Six of Crows) and it’s hard to believe it’s the same person. She has so much more energy as the voice of Dahlia Moss. Audiobooks are always so much more enjoyable to listen to when you can tell the narrator is really getting into the performance (this is why I loved The Martian audiobook so much) and this is most certainly the case with this book and Ms. Fortgang. All her sardonic inflections and snarky deliveries were spot on. Just a brilliant, brilliant performance.

The Unfortunate Decisions of Dahlia Moss was just an all-around fun book. You can bet I’ll be telling all my gamer friends about it, though I am also highly recommending this book to both geeks and non-geeks. Simply put, it’s awesome!

Story: | Performance: | Overall:

#RRSciFiMonth: Waiting on Wednesday 11/04/15

Posted on November 4, 2015 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:

Babylon’s Ashes by James S.A. Corey: June 16, 2016 (Orbit)

The BiblioSanctum is participating in Sci-fi Month so naturally all my WoW books are also going to be science fiction picks for the whole of November! Kicking things off is none other than the sixth book of The Expanse. I swear these books just get better and better, and that’s no exaggeration. I thought the fifth one was the best yet, so the question now is, how will this one stack up? Looking forward to finding out.

Meanwhile, only a little more than a month until The Expanse show premiere on Syfy!

“The Free Navy – a violent group of Belters in black-market military ships – has crippled the Earth and begun a campaign of piracy and violence among the outer planets. The colony ships heading for the thousand new worlds on the far side of the alien ring gates are easy prey, and no single navy remains strong enough to protect them.

James Holden and his crew know the strengths and weaknesses of this new force better than anyone. Outnumbered and outgunned, the embattled remnants of the old political powers call on the Rocinante for a desperate mission to reach Medina Station at the heart of the gate network.

But the new alliances are as flawed as the old, and the struggle for power has only just begun. As the chaos grows, an alien mystery deepens. Pirate fleets, mutiny, and betrayal may be the least of the Rocinante’s problems. And in the uncanny spaces past the ring gates, the choices of a few damaged and desperate people may determine the fate of more than just humanity.”

#RRSciFiMonth: Planetfall by Emma Newman

Posted on November 3, 2015 18 Comments

Sci-Fi November is a month-long blog event hosted by Rinn Reads and Over The Effing Rainbow this year, created to celebrate everything amazing about science fiction! From TV shows to movies, books to comics, and everything else in between, it is intended to help science fiction lovers share their love and passion for this genre and its many, many fandoms.

A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

Planetfall by Emma Newman

Genre: Science Fiction

Series: Stand Along

Publisher: Roc (11/3/15)

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Long story short: I loved Planetfall…except the ending. If you’ve ever enjoyed a great book that you nonetheless had serious issues with, then you’d probably know what I’m feeling. I’m still fantastically happy I read it though, because it has an amazing premise; while it does take a while for events to unfold, following along as they do was half the fun.

The story opens on a world far from Earth. Protagonist Renata Ghali is called urgently to the colony boundary when a mysterious figure is spotted heading towards the settlement. As the stranger approaches, even though Ren doesn’t recognize him, she sees that he bears a striking resemblance to her friend Suh-Mi, also known as the Pathfinder—the woman who had led their group here to this planet all those years ago to escape a polluted and over-populated Earth. But then, more than two decades have passed since they arrived here on a mission of faith and Suh-Mi had entered the gargantuan alien structure they found when they made planetfall. They called it God’s City, and everyone knows the Pathfinder is within it now, convening with a higher power in order to impart her wisdom to the colonists.

So, just who is this mysterious newcomer? He came alone, and it is astounding to think he’s survived by himself after all this time out there in the hostile alien wilderness. He’s also too young to be part of their original group to arrive on the ship to this planet. The young man claims to be the grandson of Suh-Mi, but only Ren and the colony master Cillian “Mack” Mackenzie know why that information would be dangerous. If it’s true, it could mean an end to the colony’s whole way of life, a life that they have spent years attempting to cultivate into their own little utopia.

First off, I love colonization sci-fi. I love that theme of arriving at a whole new world, establishing a territory and building a new home with your blood, sweat, and tears. I find these kinds of stories fascinating, celebrating the pioneer spirit at all levels, and sometimes the personal narratives of the characters can be very inspirational. Planetfall, on the other hand, has a darker tone, and it’s a very different and unique offering in this subgenre. I was compelled by the mysterious vibe, the way the plot slowly revealed itself in layers, often in the form of flashbacks and memories. Bit by bit, you can piece together a better picture of what’s really going on.

One issue, however, was my feelings for the protagonist. That’s the funny thing about me and characters; sometimes I can relate to them even when they’re wholly unlikeable. Their personalities can be abrasive, repulsive, or completely at odds with mine, but if they’re written well, most of the time I manage to make a connection anyway. Unfortunately, this was just not the case with Renata. When it came to Ren, I always felt like there was a gap there I couldn’t bridge. It’s not that she’s unlikeable, because she has some very sympathetic qualities. Yet I still had a hard time feeling anything for her but pity, and I hated that. Part of the reason is the way she was written, and the fact that the story places a rather large focus on her mental disorder. I think it’s important to explore these issues, but in Ren’s case, her compulsive behavior is used as a convenient plot device. I could feel the author’s hand very strongly in the story thread surrounding Ren’s struggles, and it only emphasized how unempowered the character was. It’s possible that I’m being oversensitive about this, but in any case, I wasn’t entirely comfortable with it.

My main issue though, was the ending. As I approached the final 10% of the novel, I started to feel a little nervous. Knowing beforehand that this was a standalone and that there had to be so much more left in the story to be addressed, I did wonder how the author was going to wrap everything up with so few pages left. The result was unexpected, to say the least. It felt like someone flipped a switch on this story and scrambled all its circuits. It was hard to believe I was still reading the same book. It’s difficult to describe, but everything following the climax felt like a string of non sequiturs, the tone and style and narrative veering off in a drastically unpredictable direction. Sometimes “curveballs” in a story are good, but I’m still torn about this one.

Still, Planetfall is a book I would recommend. In its finer moments the book is a thought-provoking narrative about the fear of the unknown, and how in times of uncertainty, those around you can be a comfort…or a strain. I love Emma Newman’s writing style, which gracefully highlights some of the darkness and heartbreak in the story. Slight feelings of frustration and disappointment are still lingering from that random ending and the lack of answers, but overall this was a good read.

#RRSciFiMonth: Wild Seed by Octavia Butler

Posted on November 2, 2015 10 Comments

Genre: Science-Fantasy, Historical Fantasy

Series: Book 1 of the Patternmaster Series

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing (April 1, 2001; first published 1980)

Author Information:

Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble

Narrator: Dion Graham | Length: 11 hrs and 15 mins | Audiobook Publisher: Audible Studios (July 16, 2009) | Whispersync Ready: Yes

Doro, a man who steals the bodies of others and uses the until he must find another or he feels he deserves the body of another person, finds Anyanwu in the African forests living alone on the fringes of a village as a old medicine woman. While searching for one of his lost groups of people, people who were likely taken and sold into slavery, Anyanwu’s power pulls him toward her. This aged woman reveals herself to be a young healer with strength that could crush a grown man who has roamed the world for over 300 years, but her lifetime is still a drop in time compared to his own lifespan.

Anyanwu agrees to leave the safety of her home to help Doro forge a bloodline of children who have special abilities and share their immortality in a world where loneliness and boredom are the enemies of people like them. While her agreement is made in order to save her own bloodline from him, part of her wonders if there could truly be a time when she would no longer have to watch her children die. This book follows Doro and Anyanwu from Africa during the early years of the American slave trades to the end of slavery as love, fight, hate, and dream about everything from the ethical issues of true workings of Doro’s breeding plan to their feelings about each other.

It’s hard to pin this book down to just one thing. It’s science-fiction mixed with historical fantasy add a little romance and a generous helping of social issues (racism, gender issues, ethical issues). Even describing it like that, I don’t think I’ve capture the essence of this book. This books takes so many conventional ideas and presents them in such an unconventional way as Butler uses words to weave this tale that can really take her readers on an emotional roller coaster. I love a good light, quick, fun speculative read, but there’s nothing like speculative fiction that uses the medium to really transcend expectations of the genre. Butler managed that this with book.

Dion Graham was such a powerful, amazing narrator choice for this book. The emotion and voices that he used for the characters captured me as much as the words did themselves. Butler’s characters were already so powerful. I love characters that can really shake me to my core. There was nothing simple about any of them. Even the ones you hated had this part of them that you still recognized as human, and Butler was able to convey so much of their humanity in less words than many author’s use to get you to care about characters in books twice this size. These characters combined with Graham’s narration was fantastic. I’m hoping that he’ll be narrating the other books in this series.

Despite all the ugliness in this book, it was counteracted with so much beauty. I had one minor complaint with a transition later in the book. It seemed a little hurried as Butler tried to wrap up the story, but I did like what it transitioned into.This was my first read by Octavia Butler, and it took me so long to read her because others had told me she could be a heavy read. And while I expected something amazing, something that would probably affect me on a profound level given how many people I know read her books and praise how she touched on issues, I hadn’t expected the incongruous beauty that waited for me or the feelings and thoughts that was this book.

Story: | Performance: | Overall:

Other reviews of this series: Wild Seed (Wendy’s Review), Mind of My Mind (Wendy’s Review), Clay’s Ark (Wendy’s Review)

#RRSciFiMonth: Starship Troopers — Well That Wasn’t Like the Movie At All

Posted on November 2, 2015 11 Comments

Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein

Genre: Military Science Fiction

Publisher: Ace (June 2006, first published 1959)

Wendy’s Rating: 2 of 5 stars

In my continued quest to read some of the works by classic authors considered to be instrumental in the shaping of genre fiction, I finally decided to check out Starship Troopers by Robert A. Heinlein. I’d already read and loved his Stranger in a Strange Land, and who doesn’t love the movie, Starship Troopers, starring Casper Van Dien, Denise Richards, Dina Meyer, and Neil Patrick Harris? Reading this book was a no brainer. Alas, the experience ended up being a disappointment.

First of all, I came here for Diz and I came here for giant bugs.

#TeamDiz

It’ll grow back.

Technically, both those things were in the book, albeit briefly, and I’m not totally hating on it for not being the movie. There were good things about the book, but I think the movie did a better job of streamlining it and pulling out the parts that are important to me–namely, character development.

Heinlein’s story follows Juan (Johnnie) Rico as he joins and trains for the mobile infantry in the war against the Bugs. A lot of time is spent in this training, very little of which makes Johnnie or any of the characters he briefly comes in contact with particularly endearing. Similarly, I had little investment in the war itself (which we don’t see much of) or Heinlein’s political message because of the amount of time it spent delving into the everyday details of Rico’s training, but not so much into how he felt about it.

The movie also gets bonus points for expanding the role of women. Not that Heinlein’s work is overtly sexist. In fact, I will first praise the diversity of the cast which, unlike the movie, is not predominantly white. But the book is predominantly male. We see Carmen initially, as the woman Rico would like to get with, but who he knows is out of his league. In the movie, we know they are a couple, but more importantly (my dislike of Carmen aside–#TeamDiz forever!), we get to see what Carmen actually does as a pilot, and we get to see other women fighting for their civilian status as well.

And most importantly, we get to see, in the movie, a lot more heart and soul when it comes to the soldiers fighting in this war, which is what makes soldier stories work for me. In the book, Rico just isn’t interesting enough on his own to make me care, but in the movie, I salute all the soldiers who give their all against the bugs. Yes, Carmen, even you.

#RRSciFiMonth: Sci-Fi Month 2015 Introduction

Posted on November 2, 2015 7 Comments

It’s going to be a very busy month for us at the BiblioSanctum. In case you haven’t heard, November is SciFiMonth! The event is only in its third year, but it’s already a big success. We had such a great time last year that we’re participating again in 2015! This year, it is being hosted by Rinn Reads and Over the Effing Rainbow.

Starting today, we’ll be joining other bloggers, authors, and readers in a month-long celebration of everything science fiction. That doesn’t mean we’ll stop covering all our other favorite speculative fiction genres though! You will most definitely continue to see our usual fantasy reviews, weekly features, author spotlights, and all that other fun stuff. The only difference is, some of our reviews and posts will branch off from the usual to encompass the various mediums that science fiction reaches. Keep an eye out for a science-fiction read-along! Special sci-fi giveaways! Our weekly Waiting on Wednesdays with a sci-fi touch! Discussion of sci-fi movies and television! Lots of geeking out over sci-fi games! And don’t forget, Star Wars, Star Wars, STAR WARS!

This event is Boba Fett approved.

Simply look for posts tagged with “SciFi November” or those that contain the SciFi Month banner and button.

For more information about this event visit the SciFiMonth Announcement post at Rinn Reads, where you can also sign up to participate if you’re interested. Everyone is welcome, and you can join up anytime! Be sure to also follow the hashtag #RRSciFiMonth on Twitter so you won’t miss a thing.

Come explore the wonders of science fiction with us, and feel free to let us know:

How long have you been a fan of science fiction?

Why do you like sci-fi and what is your favorite thing about it?

What are your favorite books/games/films/TV shows in the genre?

What are your plans for Sci-Fi Month?

Guest Post: What Are Los Nefilim? by T. Frohock

Posted on November 1, 2015 Leave a Comment

I have been reading and loving T. Frohock’s Los Nefilim series and was curious about the Nefilim themselves as well as her choice of setting. Angels and demons are reasonably common elements of gothic horror and dark fantasy, but stories set in Spain? Not so much. So I invited Lady Frohock to give us a little primer on her fascinating world!

Los Nefilim is simply the Spanish spelling of Nephilim. So Los Nefilim are the sons and daughters of angels and daimons. Through their supernatural lineage, they have the ability to work magic. They also have the ability to reincarnate and retain the memories of their past lives.

The two most important lives for a Nefil are the firstborn life and the current life.

In their firstborn lives, my main characters lives were as follows (in order of their ranking in Solomon’s court):

In his firstborn life, Guillermo was Solomon, third king of Israel;
Miquel was Benaiah (or Ben), commander of Solomon’s armies; and
Diago was Asaph, one of the chief priests in the Temple, and Solomon’s best friend.

Solomon and Benaiah are based on Biblical texts, and since I had nothing for Aspah other than a name, I made everything else up. In my backstory, Diago/Aspah started out as a minor character, then he became a secondary character, and finally the protagonist. Now I can’t imagine the series without him.

So why isn’t Los Nefilim set in the Middle East?

During the Diaspora, many Jews fled to the Iberian Peninsula, and since, in my backstory, Solomon, Benaiah, and Asaph were fleeing the daimons of Israel, I thought maybe they, too, would seek another country to begin anew. So they went to the Iberian Peninsula and became Los Nefilim.

Were they all reborn in the same region of Spain?

No. Guillermo was born in Aragon, which is in northern Spain. Miquel is from Barcelona, in the Catalan region. Diago was born in Sevilla, in the southern region of Andalusia.

Guillermo is of Visigothic ancestry. Miquel is Gitano, and Diago has Berber lineage among his mortal parentage in his current life.

How did they find one another?

That is a very long story, which is a novel. Suffice to say: the angel who forced them flee Israel brought them together again in Iberia.

Why the Spanish Civil War?

Guillermo del Toro is one of the few fantasists who have attempted to portray the events surrounding the Spanish Civil War with both The Devil’s Backbone and Pan’s Labyrinth. It was his works that initially ignited my interest in the conflict.

While I was between projects, I talked to my agent about reworking my Guillermo/Solomon story so that it was set in the twentieth century. Since a lot of other authors have, or currently are, writing novels set during either World War I or World War II, I decided to keep Los Nefilim in Spain and begin my series in the early years of Spain’s Second Republic.

I didn’t want to start at the outbreak, or in the middle, of the war. I wanted to juxtapose the angels and daimons with the mortal conflict so that the reader can see how political rhetoric became so strident that it eventually leads to war. I also wanted to give the two youngest Nefilim, Ysabel and Rafael, time to grow up before thrusting them into the final days of the Spanish Civil War and before they fled to France where the surviving members of Los Nefilim joins the French Resistance.

T. Frohock has turned a love of dark fantasy and horror into tales of deliciously creepy fiction. Her other publications include everything from novelettes to short stories. She is also the author of the novel, Miserere: An Autumn Tale. The second novella in her Los Nefilim series, Without Light Or Guide will be available this week! Read my review here!

Novella Review: Without Light or Guide by T. Frohock

Posted on November 1, 2015 2 Comments

Without Light or Guide by T. Frohock

Genre: Urban Fantasy

Series: Los Nefilim #2

Publisher: Harper Voyager Impulse (November 3, 2015)

With thanks to the publisher for an opportunity to read an advanced copy of this book in exchange for an honest review.

There are so many unique things about this urban fantasy, not the least of which is the setting. Typical urban fantasy takes you to current American city streets, but here we walk alleys and roads and tunnels in Spain, with the Spanish Civil War looming on the horizon. We also have a a main protagonist who is older than usual, and an approach to magic that toys with your senses.

This is the second in the Los Nefilim series, and it picks up a few weeks after Diago not only learned he had a son, but almost had to sacrifice that son to the daimon who holds Diago’s estranged father, at the demands of a horrifying angel. After barely getting out with his own life as well as that of his lover, Miquel, Diago has finally decided to choose a side. As a unique Nefilim that carries both daimon and angel blood, he has opted to stay away from both, living life as a mortal instead, but now he chosen to work with the angels — not that the angels are that much better than the daimons, and there is civil war afoot with the Nefilim set to serve as the angels’ soldiers, while mortals, well, sucks to be you, mortals. Diago must work with Los Nefilim who might not like him so much, and earn their trust — but only if he too is willing to be truthful.

I mentioned magic, which Frohock seems to love. Better yet, she loves unique forms of magic, with many of her stories basing their magic in music. Los Nefilim is no different, but Without Light or Guide adds a new dimension through Diago’s frequent attacks of chromethesia. I am endlessly fascinated by synesthesia — the confusion of senses wherein one might smell words or taste sounds. Diago’s chromesthesia turns sounds into blinding colour. It is a detriment now, but I look forward to it perhaps becoming something more, especially in connection to his son, Rafael’s drawings and considerable powers.

The first half of this story moves slowly through a detective novel-like plot as Diago and his grudging companions try to discern the cause of several ghastly murders and determine what the angels and daimons have planned. Diago wrestles with his reality, his relationships — especially between himself and Miquel, and with his father, whom Diago fears becoming. When he finally finds some solid ground to work with, things fall into place, but of course, that’s inevitably when the bad guys attack and love and loyalties are pushed to their limits. But we still have more to go to find out the fate of Diago, his family, Los Nefilim, and everyone else….!

Book Review: The Fifth House of the Heart by Ben Tripp

Posted on October 31, 2015 15 Comments

A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Fifth House of the Heart by Ben Tripp

Genre: Horror

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Gallery Books (7/28/15)

Author Information: Website

Mogsy’s Rating: 5 of 5 stars

So the other day I was having this conversation with another blogger about what makes us give a book 5 stars. Admittedly, my own reasons can be pretty nebulous and oftentimes the finer details can differ from a lot of others’ “criteria”, but ultimately I think it always comes down to the question: Did the book blow my mind? Maybe the author impressed with some crazy unique ideas, or made me see something in a whole different light. Or maybe the book touched my emotions in some way, destroyed my feels and left me blubbering like an idiot.

Or maybe sometimes, like in the case of The Fifth House of the Heart, the reasons don’t have to be either cerebral or emotional. Maybe I just want to give a book 5 stars because it was just so damn fucking fun. DEAL WITH IT!

Seriously, though. Horror, humor, and a heist all in one? I couldn’t have asked for more. Say what you want about vampires being a tired old trope, but they can still be pretty terrifying, especially when you have an author who knows how to portray them like the monsters that they are—the way they’re meant to be. Next, throw in a motley group of mercenaries led by a septuagenarian antiquities dealer, our rather zany protagonist who is as motivated by his desire to rid the world of vampires as he is by the opportunity to get his hands on some of their priceless loot.

For you see, vampires are as bad as dragons when it comes to hoarding; they have an obsession for the past as well as an eye for expensive, beautiful, and exquisitely crafted things. Unfortunately, they are also fiercely attached to their possessions and will guard them with as much fervor. This is precisely how Asmodeus “Sax” Saxon-Tang draws the attention of a vampire at an antiques auction, after barely winning a bidding war for an ormolu clock. But Sax is no stranger to vampires, having profited greatly from a couple of run-ins with them in the past. So when the clock is later stolen from his warehouse, leaving the watchman on duty brutally murdered, Sax knows only one thing can be responsible. Determined to settle the score, he travels to the Vatican to assemble a crack team of vampire hunters to counter this new threat—and hopefully to make another fortune while he’s at it.

Everyone in this book is a character, in the sense that they all possess interesting and notable traits or personalities. First there’s Fra Paolo, the guileless monk admiringly described by the openly gay Sax as a dark, handsome young “piece of Italian beefcake.” Next is Min, a small innocuous-looking Korean woman who just happens to be one of the deadliest, most frighteningly accomplished vampire killers in the world–and the sanest one the Vatican could come up with on short notice. Rock is the team’s muscle, an ex-US Army Special Forces guy who is as rugged and strong as his name suggests. Gheorghe plays the role of the rogue, a Romanian burglar who moonlights as a street acrobat in between bank heists. Then there are the unwitting additions to the crew, those who just happened to fall into this deadly caper by happy circumstance: Nilu, the Bollywood actress who became a vampire victim; Emily, Sax’s concerned niece who trails her uncle to Europe; and finally, Abingdon the British blacksmith/professional jouster whose impeccable physique and devastatingly good looks make him popular with the ladies at Ren Faires all across the continent.

Hard to imagine a more dubious or random group of people getting together to slay monsters, but there you are. But of course, the most interesting and entertaining one of all is Sax, the leader of this jolly band and the one who holds everyone together. Sax is one of the best protagonists I’ve read in years, a man of contrasts if I’ve ever seen one. I can’t decide whether he’s closer in type to the gentle elderly man who gives smiles to children in the park, or to the crotchety one who brandishes his cane at them from his porch yelling “Get off my lawn!” In truth, he’s probably both in equal parts.

One thing is certain though: this novel owes a lot of its greatness to Sax. Certainly, his wry and wicked sense of humor is a huge part of it; I laughed and I laughed and I laughed. Throughout the book, Sax will say all sorts of scandalous or outrageously inappropriate things but you’ll still find yourself busting a gut without feeling too guilty about it because he reminds you of your 100-year-old eccentric grandpa. Plus, the guy has already survived two vampire attacks, and yet even now he’s preparing to charge headlong into another. RESPECT. I could only hope to be so spritely when I’m pushing eighty.

You might have noticed by now that I haven’t talked much about the plot – and I’m not going to. Because as with most heist stories, the less you know about the novel before you read it the better. The less you know about the vampires in this book the better too, but I just want to say how much I loved Tripp’s return to the ruthless, bestial portrayal of these creatures while still giving it a refreshingly unique twist. The Fifth House of the Heart will remind you that vampires are monsters. They don’t love you. They want to kill you.

So if you want some terrifyingly good entertainment, read this book. What an uproarious mix of thrills and chills! Needless to say, I enjoyed it thoroughly, from the first page to the last!

Novella Review: The Builders by Daniel Polansky

Posted on October 30, 2015 17 Comments

A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.

The Builders by Daniel Polansky

Genre: Fantasy

Series: Stand Alone

Publisher: Tor.com (11/3/15)

Author Information: Website | Twitter

Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Funny how I’m generally not big on anthropomorphism but at the same time I do seem to love a lot of books featuring fluffy, furry adorable sentient animals (Redwall, Watership Down, Mouse Guard, etc.) Thus the draw of Daniel Polansky’s The Builders won out, and it was also perfect because I’ve been meaning to check out his work for a long time.

The animals in this book are far from soft and cuddly, though. A mouse, a stoat, an opossum, a badger, a salamander, a mole, and an owl all walk into a bar. This however is not the beginning of a joke but a start of a Kill Bill-style tale of vengeance and bloody destruction. One upon a time, all of them stood united against a common enemy, until treachery destroyed the group from within. The last job they were all on together didn’t end so well, so now the battle-hardened mouse known as the Captain is rounding up his old pals again for one last hurrah.

But alas, you know what they say about the best laid schemes of mice and men. Before long, both bullets and fur will fly in abundance, as the Captain and his ragtag crew fight their way deep into the heart of enemy territory, facing up against a dastardly skunk, his trio of wicked henchmen, and the legions of his rat army.

Clearly, there’s lots to love here, and not just for the novelty of a gritty and darkly comedic shoot-‘em-up starring two groups of warring woodland critters. Polansky approaches the violence masterfully, portraying the anger of the Captain as something born out of more than simple desire for revenge. In fact, most of the characters were pretty well written, each given their own quirks and vices. I’m sure too that loads of great discourse could be had on the topic of animal instinct and its inevitable effects on the choices of these characters; it’s just a pity that the story does not explore this theme further.

While I had a good time on the whole, I did have a couple of minor concerns. Longtime readers of my reviews know I’ve never made secret the mixed feelings I have for the shorter, more restrictive length of the novella. Sometimes it works for me and sometimes it doesn’t, but when it comes to The Builders, once again my malaise with the format reared its ugly head.

First, I had myself a love-hate relationship with the short chapters and non-linear structure of the storyline. As a stylistic choice, it was very unique and made this book a fast read. Still, my admiration gradually waned towards the end when it proved more disruptive than beneficial to the overall flow of the plot. Polansky certainly has a strong sense for timing, but even then it’s easy to miss a few beats when working with a lower page count.

Second, there were so many characters introduced in such a short amount of time, I was given really no opportunity to connect with them, save only a few. The Captain, Bonsoir the stoat, Barley the badger and Cinnabar the salamander were among the well written ones, but a couple of the other members of the crew were lost in the chaos of gunfire and piles of corpses. It hasn’t been long since I finished reading, and already I’m having a hard time dredging my memory for their names and even their species. Admittedly, most of my enjoyment came from the story, the surface-level entertainment from following its many twists and turns, and not really out of any deep concern for the main players. The book was fun, so I was genuinely interested in learning how it ends, but I remained overall ambivalent about most of the characters’ fates.

Me, not care about whether fuzzy little animal characters lived or died? That…that just doesn’t feel right. At the same time, I’m not surprised at this distancing since it’s such a common reaction for me to have towards novellas with large casts. That said, the compelling story overwhelmingly makes up for a lot of areas which I felt were weaker. If this was a full-length novel, I’m sure I would eat it up. Polansky’s writing intrigued me, so picking up one of his other books like Low Town or Those Above is most definitely in my future. As for The Builders? All in all, I enjoyed myself. And as long as you’re not looking too deeply into the whys or the hows, I think you’ll have a good time too.

*** Originally reviewed at The Speculative Herald ***