Book Review: The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
Posted on October 20, 2015 33 Comments
A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Traitor Baru Cormorant by Seth Dickinson
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Stand Alone/Book 1
Publisher: Tor (9/15/15)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
A really odd sensation is coming over me right now. I’ve just finished The Traitor Baru Cormorant and I’m sitting down to write this review, struggling to find the right words to describe my journey with this book. It all started even before I picked up the novel, since I’d been seeing so many of my fellow readers talk about it in the weeks leading up to its release, and quite frankly, a lot of the stuff I heard scared the hell out of me.
Economic machinations? An accountant as the main protagonist? And oh will you look at that, there are even financial math metaphors in the book’s official publisher description. It was really not looking good at all. I love the idea of a geopolitical epic fantasy, but I personally have no interest in a game of ledgers and numbers. Stuff like that just doesn’t appeal to me, it just makes me want to run for the hills.
But on the other hand, there are a lot of things that sounded good too. A tragic tale of revenge. Deep, multi-faceted characters. Immersive world-building and political intrigue. A thought provoking presentation of societal themes and issues like gender and sexuality. All this was enough to overcome my reservations, so in the end I just decided to take a leap of faith and simply let myself fall into this book, fully prepared to find myself broken and bloodied on the ground when I finish.
Well, I’m done now. And the only thing broken and bleeding is my heart.
(Totally worth it, by the way.)
What can I say, I was drawn to the main character Baru from the very first page. I loved the voice Seth Dickinson gave his young protagonist, who is only a little girl at the beginning of this story, watching her country of Taranoke become conquered by the Masquerade. Real world history is full of examples of empires swallowing up entire nations using commercial trade, re-education, cultural assimilation and other methods that Baru observes as her home’s identity is gradually chipped away. Possessing a sharp intelligence and an eye for hidden designs below the surface, she grows up within the enemy’s system, outwardly embracing their ways while secretly biding her time in patience until she can exact her revenge.
Her talents have not gone unnoticed. As one of the Masquerade’s most promising young graduates, Baru is posted to a distant nation which has proven to be the ruin of anyone foolish enough to attempt to tame it. Socially, politically, economically, the land of Aurdwynn is a mess, an unruly quagmire of mercurial dukes and treacherous bureaucrats, the population teetering on the brink of rebellion. With little knowledge of the local ways or customs, Baru is nonetheless tasked to bring order to the chaos as Aurdwynn’s newest imperial accountant—another test from the almighty Masquerade.
Oh Baru, Baru, Baru. How I adored Baru. Some characters just have this way of getting under your skin. I doubt Baru and I would have gotten along in real life; she is simply too formal, too distant, and too devious for my liking. She also has this tendency to see everything in terms of pros and cons, gains and losses, and to prioritize final results above all else, which is the complete opposite of my personality. But somehow, she really worked for me as this book’s protagonist. By all rights she should have frustrated me to no end or bored me to tears, and yet I found a lot to like about her past that cold, calculating mind. So much of the story is driven by Baru; she’s what made it so fascinating. I was drawn to her strange and unique persona, and found myself enthralled with experiencing everything through the eyes of someone who’s a mystery to me, someone who I also really wanted to understand.
Still, I’m not going to lie; there were definitely moments where I struggled, especially throughout the middle part of this book. I did what I feared and became bogged down by the minutiae of economics and then became frustrated when I just couldn’t keep up. Whether she was navigating the sticky politics of Aurdwynn or helping to organize a rebellion, Baru seemed to relish in tackling everything the same way: like she’s running a business. Which I suppose is how her character’s mind works, with an eye for the bottom line, but it certainly didn’t help make reading this book any easier. Who knows though, you might find yourself really taking to the financial politics, revenue discussions, and the balancing of surpluses against deficits, but if you’re like me and find your attention flagging over some of the details, all I can say is try to persevere and try not to lose sight of the big picture. The best has yet to come.
Which brings me to Tain Hu, Aurdwynn’s rebel duchess of Vultjag. From the moment she uttered the words “My Lady, command me” I was in her spell. There are so many ways I can describe the relationship between Baru and Tain Hu and how I feel about the two of them. Exhilarating, complicated, exquisite. Touching, dangerous, heart-wrenching. And yet none of these words seem quite adequate. The beauty of their connection defies all description. There is simply nothing I can compare it to. Their story is one for the ages, and I loved every moment they were on the page together.
This is a book you can really lose yourself in. As conflicted as I was about Baru’s character, I did very much want to see her succeed. I just didn’t know the costs. I didn’t realize how deep I was in, until it was too late. Sure, The Traitor Baru Cormorant might not have been the easiest read, but I have to give it credit where it counts. As I’m sitting here with this tight, clenching feeling at the pit of my stomach, trying not to scream, I can’t help but think, well, a book that makes me feel like this has to mean something, right? I didn’t love everything about the book, but no doubt about it, I loved everything it made me feel.
Book Review: Our Lady of the Ice by Cassandra Rose Clarke
Posted on October 19, 2015 27 Comments
A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Our Lady of the Ice by Cassandra Rose Clarke
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Book 1/Stand Alone
Publisher: Saga Press (10/27/15)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Last year, I became a big fan of Cassandra Rose Clarke after reading her adult novel debut The Mad Scientist’s Daughter, an emotional tale about love, loss and androids that shattered my heart to pieces and left me pining for more. So ever since I learned about her new book Our Lady of the Ice, I have been counting the days. Its premise sounded captivating too, a mystery drama unfolding inside a city encapsulated by a glass dome, the only protection against the frigid darkness of an Antarctic winter raging outside.
The novel also features an intriguing cast. Eliana Gomez is a female PI, taking on as many jobs as she can in the hopes of scraping together enough money to get out of Hope City and head for the mainland. Her boyfriend Diego Amitrano is the adopted son of and right-hand man of Ignacio Cabrera, the city’s most notorious crime boss. Lady Marianella Luna is an Argentinian aristocrat and the celebrity face of an independence movement to build agricultural domes, a project which would help free Antarctica from the control of the mainland. Last but not least is Sofia, an android fighting for a different kind of freedom, envisioning Antarctica as a safe and human-free haven for all of robotkind.
Despite being a brand new story featuring all-new characters, I was thrilled that in some ways Our Lady of the Ice felt very much like the spiritual successor to The Mad Scientist’s Daughter. It explores some similar themes, such as: What does it mean to be human? How far would you go for love? What is the price of personal freedom? Still, The Mad Scientist’s Daughter was more of a character study, looking at these questions on a more personal and intimate level. Our Lady of the Ice, on the other hand, widens the scope. Here we get to see through the eyes of four very different characters who are all connected to each other in some way, weaving a rich narrative that readers get to experience from multiple angles.
All this also takes place at the bottom of the world, in Hope City, Antarctica – a settlement that grew out of the remnants of a failed amusement park built near the turn of the century in the coldest, most forbidding place on earth. Many of its citizens are descendants of the hundreds of workers who arrived decades ago to build and maintain the park. The city is also home to a great number of robots, from repair drones to fully sentient androids or “andies” that were left over when the park closed down.
Human or non-human, everyone is out for something. Eliana only has her eyes set on a ticket out of Hope City. Diego is torn between carrying out unsavory errands for Cabrera, who is like a father to him, and his love for Eliana, who makes him want to become a better person. Marianella has a huge secret, and she’s terrified of being found out. And Sofia…well, Sofia probably has the most astonishing story of them all. She has reasons to be more motivated than most. Programmed to be a “comfort girl” during the amusement park’s heyday, music is written into her code to trigger some very unpleasant reactions, making Sofia highly averse to any old song recorded before the 1930s. It’s frightening and it’s heartbreaking. I love how this book stirred up my emotions. Time after time the characters will do things to make you hate them, but then the story will always remind you again of their respective situations and why they made those choices. I felt much the same way reading about Cat in The Mad Scientist’s Daughter. Cassandra Rose Clarke’s characters are complex and multi-faceted; even when they are being frustrating, you can’t help but connect with them.
Furthermore, everywhere you look is another reminder of what Hope City once was, a bright and shining testament to humankind’s triumph over the elements, now reduced to a faltering system run by corrupt gangsters and two-faced politicians who are out only for themselves. If you have ever played Bioshock, Hope City reminded me a lot of where that game takes place, a beautiful-utopia-turned-crumbling-dystopia under the sea. There’s a feeling of isolation from the rest of the world and a sense of helplessness that emanates from the population, really complementing the dark mystery plot as well as the fatalistic and cynical attitudes of the protagonists.
The resulting effect of this eclectic hodgepodge is something truly amazing: A sci-fi novel infused with hard-boiled noir vibes featuring wonderfully flawed characters in one of the most mind-blowingly unique settings I’ve ever seen. I found this book simply irresistible.
Novella Review: Envy of Angels by Matt Wallace
Posted on October 18, 2015 15 Comments
A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Envy of Angels by Matt Wallace
Genre: Urban Fantasy
Series: Book 1 of Sin du Jour
Publisher: Tor.com (10/20/15)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
I have to say, so far I’ve been very impressed with the variety of Tor.com novellas. Just as I’ve gotten myself settled in with a couple stories that are rather sober, more serious-like endeavors, along comes Envy of Angels barging into this black tie dinner party like your favorite uncle, the one who gets loud when he’s had too many but is always ready to entertain the crowd with a funny yarn.
I had such a great time with this book. Imagine Hell’s Kitchen meets Dresden Files, marinated in a flavorful blend of action and thrills, seasoned generously with humor. When I first glimpsed the conspicuously short publisher description for this novella, I had my suspicions about what this meant and now they have been confirmed: The less you know about this story going in, the better.
Fortunately, I can give the general gist of it without spoiling anything. Envy of Angels is about Lena and Darren, two ordinary down-on-their-luck New York chefs who suddenly find themselves landing the gig of lifetime at Sin du Jour, an exclusive catering company owned by one of the city’s hottest celebrity chefs. However, it soon becomes clear that Sin du Jour is no ordinary catering company. For one thing, their clients are demons.
When asked to serve a morally questionable item on the menu at their next event (and we’re not talking about veal), Sin du Jour owner and executive chef Byron “Bronko” Luck gathers his staff and puts it to a vote. Should they do what they’re told and go through with the whole thing? Or should they take the dangerous, near-impossible option and attempt to pull the wool over their devilish clientele’s eyes by preparing a substitute main course and praying they won’t notice? By the way, these types of hellish customers, when they don’t get what they order, aren’t just going to be sending it back. But guess what our characters decide to go ahead and do anyway.
The result is an extraordinary amount of story packed into this novella. Envy of Angels features plenty of action both in the kitchen and out in the field, and even includes a thrilling heist sequence starring Ritter, Cindy, Hara and Moon, the unforgettable foursome who make up Sin du Jour’s Stocking and Receiving Department.
The plot is also very addictive, especially when it gets more and more bizarre. Between getting completely sucked into the story and the sheer morbid curiosity to see what other crazy things might be happening next, I kept turning the pages and finished this book in no time at all. It was fantastically good fun. I really don’t want to give much more away, though in truth, there are moments so absurdly hilarious, so out-of-this-world-insane that I would be hard-pressed to describe them, anyway. Seriously. There are moments in here that you simply must experience for yourself.
One thing is certain though. I’ll never look at a Chicken McNugget the same way again.
Audiobook Review: Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Posted on October 17, 2015 23 Comments
A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Series: Book 1 of Six of Crows
Publisher: Audible Studios (9/29/15)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 4 of 5 stars
Narrator: Jay Snyder, David Ledoux, Lauren Fortgang, Roger Clark, Elizabeth Evans, Tristan Morris, Brandon Rubin | Length: 15 hrs and 20 mins
Okay, I’m intrigued. Very intrigued. Leigh Bardugo’s Six of Crows may have fallen slightly short of my expectations, but it’s still great. And honestly, it was going up against a super high bar, considering the ridiculous number of good books I’ve read this year so far and the fact that I can be very finicky about my heist stories.
First though, let’s get something out of the way, since I’ve gotten asked this question a bunch of times: You don’t need to read or even be familiar with the Grisha trilogy before starting this book. It is set in the same world, but other than a few references to events and people from the other series, Six of Crows features an all new story and an all new cast of characters. Personally, that made me very happy. As much as I enjoyed the Grisha trilogy, it didn’t end as strongly as it started, and I was definitely ready for something fresh.
So here we find ourselves in the new setting of Ketterdam, a bustling trade city and home to a gang of thieves calling themselves the Dregs. Kaz “Dirty Hands” Brekker is their fearless leader and mastermind, willing to take on any job for the right price. When tasked by a powerful crime lord to rescue a scientist with a secret formula from the impenetrable walls of the Ice Court, Kaz goes forth and gathers his crew in preparation for the heist of a lifetime.
For better or worse, the heist itself actually takes a backseat to the amount of attention given to the members of the Dregs. This also means the plot is decidedly uncomplicated once you pare it all down, because the complexity is all in the characters. Probably a good thing too, when you have as many as six crew members to follow.
Kaz is the clever one, the one who makes the plans and takes care of the boys and girls in his crew. A child of the streets, Kaz’s background is one huge sob story, which lends sympathy to his thirst for revenge against the man he blames for his brother’s death. Reserved and coolheaded, Kaz also wears fancy-pants clothes and walks around with an ostentatiously well-fashioned cane due to a “childhood” injury to his leg (in quotes because right now he’s still all of what, 17?) Kaz is interesting, though whenever I think of him I picture a kid trying to play at being an adult, and unfortunately that whole persona tends to drive me crazy.
Then there’s Inej, also known as the Wraith. Her talents lie in being able to melt into the shadows. She has a pretty sad story too (okay, I’m just going to say right now, ALL of them have pretty sad stories. Seems like that’s Bardugo’s go-to approach for every single one of her characters) but out of everyone, Inej was my favorite.
Jesper is the sharpshooter, and he’s also the joker of the group. I don’t think he got near enough the attention he deserved, which is a shame because I really liked him. There was also this great dynamic between him and Wylan, the Dreg’s “outsider” who nonetheless found his way to a special place in my heart. Seriously, the two most interesting members of the crew with the best banter got shafted here, because the story decided instead to shine all the attention on…
Nina and Matthias. The Grisha and the Witch Hunter. Nina brings the magic and Matthias brings the insider knowledge of the Ice Court and its security systems. Together they bring enough YA clichés to fill an ocean. Normally, I am all for forbidden love and a romance between characters who start off hating each other’s guts, but these two were downright insufferable. Just shut up and make with the kissy-face already. Plus, Matthias was distractingly perfect. And Nina was distractingly awkward whenever she attempted her sexy act. Every time they interacted, I had to fight the urge to cringe because it all just felt so damn scripted.
Personally, I would have been happier with less drama, more action (more heist!) The story was also a little slow to take off, with a long and drawn out intro. Most heist stories typically use this time to focus on the planning and preparation, but Bardugo has opted for a different strategy, giving us background information on the characters in the form of flashbacks and memories instead. I really enjoyed some of these flashbacks (Inej and Kaz had great backstories) while others felt more like a distraction (Nina and Matthias), which makes me think your mileage may vary depending on how you feel about the various members of the Dregs. This is very much a character-focused story, which is great, but when you have such a big cast, I will invariably connect with some more than others.
And speaking of a big cast, the audiobook is also a fantastic format to enjoy Six of Crows. I simply adore huge productions that involve multiple narrators because each perspective character gets to have their own unique “voice”. Six of Crows features a whopping seven narrators, many of whom are big names in the world of YA audiobooks. Several of them I’ve had the pleasure of listening to their work in the past, like Elizabeth Evans (she’s great on the Throne of Glass series), Lauren Fortgang (from the Grisha trilogy audiobooks), David LeDoux (who narrated Sam’s chapters in Maggie Stiefvater’s Shiver) and Jay Snyder (from Peter Clines’ Ex-Heroes). Everyone delivered fantastic performances, including the narrators who were new to me.
Bottom line, this is a great start to a series with some serious potential. It wasn’t exactly the type of heist story I expected, though it just as well Leigh Bardugo made it all about her characters because characters are what makes a good book. Even though I despised the corny romance, there are some wonderfully unique and memorable personalities here, and I’d like to see more of some of them in the next installment.
Guest Post: “Girls & Dragons” by Katherine Harbour
Posted on October 16, 2015 7 Comments
Today I’m excited to welcome Katherine Harbour to The BiblioSanctum to talk about an awesome topic! Katherine is the author of Thorn Jack, which I reviewed earlier this week. It is the first book of the Night and Nothing series which also includes the sequel Briar Queen and the upcoming Nettle King, due out next spring from Harper Voyager.
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GIRLS & DRAGONS
by Katherine Harbour
Once upon a time, it was girls and unicorns. Unicorns adorned stickers, school binders, and posters on bedroom walls. The unicorn was mysterious, noble, and pure. The unicorn was the good boy.
Then along came dragons.
Dragons have evolved from monsters that devour virgins and terrorize villages, into beings with personalities and agendas. Dragons didn’t even need to change their shape to become rock star. There’s no better example than Smaug in The Hobbit films; Smaug, the result of some gorgeous CGI artistry, is imbued with the sexy, British baritone of Benedict Cumberbatch.
And girls went from being devoured by dragons, to slaying them (The Hero and the Crown by Robin McKinley), to eventually befriending them.
The shift in attitude toward dragons perhaps began with Anne McCaffrey’s Pern novels, where the dragons are sentient beings who share a telekinetic bond with their human riders, a bond that sometimes results in tragedy. In the YA version of her Dragonrider novels, Dragonsong, a young musician, a girl named Menolly, discovers a group of little fire lizards, cousins to the great dragons, and teaches these wild creatures to sing.
Mothering dragons is Daenerys Targaryen’s thing in The Game of Thrones, a privilege that becomes more of a burden when the dragons reach adolescence and begin to do what dragons traditionally do. This proud mama soon has to choose between her savage children and the people she protects, and it’s a poignant moment.
Then there are the girls who befriend their dragons. In Patricia McKillip’s short story ‘The Harrowing of the Dragon of Hoarsbreath,’ instead of harrowing the dragon, the heroine sets it free. In Carrie Vaughn’s Voices of Dragons, a young woman’s friendship with a dragon may avert a war.
Dragons began to shapeshift. Talon, by Julie Kagawa, features a dragon named Ember who has taken a girl’s form in order to walk among the enemy—mankind. The heroine of Sophie Jordan’s Firelight is a dragon girl who transforms into a human after she falls in love with a dragonslayer. In Vivian Vande Velde’s Dragon’s Bait, a young woman is accused of being a witch and left for the dragon terrorizing her village. The dragon, Selendrile, takes her away, but, in his lair, he shapeshifts into a golden-haired young man. As they’re both outcasts, they bond. But Alys wants revenge on her village.
A shapechanging dragon extraordinaire called Morkeleb the Black is featured in Barbara Hambly’s Dragonsbane. Jenny Waynest, a mother, and a wizard wed to a scholarly dragonslayer, learns that some of the venomous and beautiful dragons that sometimes terrorize the world might actually be sentient. Morkeleb, a wizard dragon, takes a human shape to convince Jenny to stay with him. When he transforms Jenny into a dragon, she is tempted to remain that way . . .
In Thorn Jack, I’ve hidden my dragon, who is hinted at but not revealed until the third book, sort of.
So why is it that girls and women no longer seek the pretty nobility of the unicorn, but the wild power of a dragon? (That says something, doesn’t it?) Dragons can be villains, heroes, or tricksters. The bond between a girl and her dragon involves a lot of reasoning, taming, and a fascination with danger—the perfect dark romantic formula. Spiky and predatory, wealthy and erudite, arrogant and wise, dragons are the ultimate magical creature. They were bound to become the bad boys at some point.
I hope we’ll be seeing more of them in the future.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
I was born in Albany, NY (upstate NY is where Thorn Jack takes place) and now live in Sarasota, FL. I briefly attended college in Minneapolis, Minnesota, before attempting life as a painter (the artsy kind). I’ve been writing since I was seventeen and juggling a few jobs while doing it. I wrote Thorn Jack when I was seventeen—as well as many, many other things over the years—and I took it out of the trunk (a literal trunk) two years ago, dusted it off, and began revising it…
Visit Katherine at www.katherineharbour.com or follower her on Twitter.
Audiobook Review: Ancillary Mercy by Ann Leckie
Posted on October 15, 2015 7 Comments
A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Book 3 of Imperial Radch
Publisher: Hachette Audio, Orbit (10/6/15)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Narrator: Adjoa Andoh | Length: 10 hrs and 54 mins
Breq used to be part of a whole, one of the many connected ancillaries linked up with the artificial intelligence aboard the Justice of Toren. But when the great starship was destroyed, Breq suddenly became one. All alone. The last fragment of the AI still living on in a human body. Ever since then, she has been trying to get revenge on the one responsible: Anaander Mianaai, Lord of the Radch and supreme leader of the Radchaai Empire.
But the quite possibly insane Anaander Mianaai, divided across a multitude of bodies, is at war with itself. The conflict is fast spreading through the empire and Breq must now prepare the Athoek space station against invading factions. Meanwhile, someone who shouldn’t exist shows up in this book and causes some complications, not to mention the mysterious translator who had arrived as a messenger from the alien Presger Empire. Breq is awash in a sea of divided loyalties, hidden truths and unknown factors. However, leaving everyone at Athoek to fend for themselves is not an option. Breq and her allies are going to do whatever they can to confront the new threat and bring back peace.
Ancillary Mercy is, hands down, my favorite book of the trilogy. I make it no secret my feelings for the first two novels, which I enjoyed well enough, but they probably didn’t work as well for me as they could have or should have. Each installment has piqued my interest, spurring me on to continue reading, but I know I’ve never truly embraced these books as wholeheartedly as some of my fellow bloggers. Still, that’s not to say I did not appreciate their many merits, because I did; I was very happy to see Ancillary Justice sweep up all the awards because I felt it was very much deserved. I might not have connected as well with it, but I nevertheless the book was innovative, clever, hard-hitting, and had everything to make it a modern sci-fi classic. And after reading the sequel Ancillary Sword, I just knew I had to see Breq’s story through.
I did do something different with this third book, though. I switched to the audiobook. And I think that might have made a positive difference. This actually doesn’t come as much of a surprise, since I’ve said it many times and I’ll say it again: some books simply work better for me when I’m listening to the words rather than reading them off a page, especially when it comes to science fiction. Whenever I read sci-fi novels and I come across a new elaborate concept, I slow down because I have this tendency to get hung up on the details. And as you know, with this series, it’s all about the elaborate concepts! It would be so much better to just give in to the flow of the narrative, and that’s just much easier to do while listening to an audiobook because I’m less likely to get distracted and dwell on every word. It also made me appreciate the little things, like just how humorous this series can be. I’ve noticed the subtle jokes in the dialogue before, those little quips traded back and forth between characters, but they were definitely more effective being delivered by a narrator versus just me reading it in my head, especially by a reader as talented as actress Adjoa Andoh.
That might be why I finished Ancillary Mercy over the course of two evenings. I could hardly bring myself to stop. It’s not just because I was listening to the audiobook either, because of course the story itself was brilliant too. This was the grand finish I’ve been waiting for, and for this I am so very glad that I decided to complete this trilogy.
Without a doubt, the most rewarding aspect for me was finally being seeing the groundwork from the first two books come to fruition. This here is the defining moment of Breq’s epic journey to personhood. She began as one of many. Then she became separate. She came to understand what being an individual really means. What relationships mean. What personal freedom means. And she also came to learn and appreciate the value of other individuals. Everyone on the station has an identity and purpose, so no, Breq isn’t about to leave them all in terrible danger, even if she could have easily packed up and left. Her motivations have evolved throughout the course of this trilogy, and that process itself is a very personal and touching tale that stands out in amidst all these other conflicts.
I was also happy that we got to see a lot more of Seivarden! There was definitely not enough Seivarden in the last book, especially since this character’s presence in Ancillary Justice has always struck me as a plot device for Leckie to highlight the differences between humanity and an ancillary. By the end of this book, however, if there was one character I cared for as much as Breq, it would be Seivarden. The dynamics between the two of them is another testament to just how much things have changed for the Breq, an ex-ancillary on the path to embracing her own personhood and recognizing the individuality of others.
No question about it, I had a lot more fun this time around. I also find it kind of interesting that all three books follow a similar pacing pattern, building momentum slowly before letting go of all that pent up energy to deliver a sensational ending. That the series as a whole should also follow this pattern is quite fitting, actually. It means a bit of investment is required, but it’s well worth it in the end.
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of Ancillary Justice (Book 1)
Review of Ancillary Sword (Book 2)
Tough Traveling: Pure Good
Posted on October 15, 2015 12 Comments
The Thursday feature “Tough Traveling” is the brainchild of Nathan of Review Barn, who has come up with the excellent idea of making a new list each week based on the most common tropes in fantasy, as seen in (and inspired by) The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynn Jones. Nathan has invited anyone who is interested to come play along, so be sure to check out the first link for more information.
This week’s tour topic is: Pure Good
No middle ground, no moral middle, no grey area at all. Some people are pure avatars of goodness. Fantasyland seems to be full of them.
Wendy’s Pick
Honestly, I am at an utter loss over pure good characters. Why? Because I dislike them so much. Pure good is booooring. And sometimes pretty damn annoying too. Give me a Prince Jorg any day.
Comic Stack 10/14/15 – 5 Horror Manga Recommendations
Posted on October 14, 2015 4 Comments
Following on the heels of my 5 Horror Graphic Novel Recommendations, I give you my manga recommendations. I know what you’re thinking. You’re going to see my usual suspects, but I can assure you that I read so much more manga than Attack on Titans, okay. I just have my books I love and can’t get over ever. I really, really wanted to put Battle Royale in this lineup, but since it’s like one of my favorite books/manga/movie ever, I use it for everything.
I can still leave you with smiling Mitsuko, though. Anyhow, here are 5 picks, many of which have left me in a state of “Please, God, Japan, no!”
I found this manga much like I find most of my manga by watching the anime first and then having to hunt down the manga:
Shy Ken Kaneki is thrilled to go on a date with the beautiful Rize. But it turns out that she’s only interested in his body—eating it, that is. When a morally questionable rescue transforms him into the first half-human half-Ghoul hybrid, Ken is drawn into the dark and violent world of Ghouls, which exists alongside our own.
Jisatsu Circle (Suicide Club) by Usamaru Furuya
This actually isn’t an anime that tempted me to its manga. This was a movie I watched many years ago. It was one of those movies much like Battle Royale that was just horrifically creepy. Unfortunately, this manga is very hard to find, and obviously, there’s a huge trigger warning on this one.
54 girls jump off a platform in front of an on coming train. However, one girl survives and starts up another suicide club as more copycat clubs pop up around the city. The police begin a frantic race to figure out what is triggering these events that seem unrelated… at first…
Yuu, Mitsuki, Rei, Hajime, Eiji, and Haruka have entered the game called ‘Rabbit Doubt’, where all of the players are ‘rabbits’ in a group, and one of the players among them is randomly chosen to be a ‘wolf’ in the group of rabbits. Each round, the wolf kills a rabbit. Each round, the rabbit group tries to figure out which of the rabbits is actually the wolf in disguise and kill it. If a rabbit kills the real wolf, the rabbits win. If they’re wrong, all of the rabbits will be killed. Who is the real wolf? And can they stopped it before the game is over…
All the best creepy Japanese manga seem to involve high school kids which has probably given me an irrational fear of all high school kids probably being evil entities. I’m a mom. I’m preparing the salt for my kids’ high school years.
These terse tales of terror tell the story of a high-school girl named Tomie, who can be seen as a living embodiment of lust and all the negative emotions that go along with it, such as jealousy. Tomie is the ultimate self-destructive entity, yet ironically she survives anything. She is identified by a mole under her left eye.
She possesses an undisclosed power to make anyone fall in love with her. Through sleight of hand, or emotional manipulation, she drives these men into jealous rages that inevitably lead to brutal acts of violence. Men kill each other over her; and girls are sometimes driven to jealous rages as well. Tomie is inevitably killed time and again, only to regenerate. Tomie is bound to go on forever in this way.
In the first story “Tomie”, she returns to school after an announcement that she had died, much to the horror of her friends and teachers. It transpires that during a school trip, her fellow students and favorite teacher murder her and dismember her body.
Each story tells a different viewpoint of how she lived and died, with some recurring characters. (wiki)
Fuan No Tane (Seeds of Anxiety) by Nakayama Masaaki
There are four volumes of these books which are basically just short stories that revolve around urban legends and myths and revolve a recurring theme. Most of them are terrifically creepy.
Waiting on Wednesday 10/14/15
Posted on October 14, 2015 19 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:
False Hearts by Laura Lam: June 14, 2016 (Tor)
Ever since Pantomime I’ve wanted to read more by Laura Lam, so it was exciting to hear that next summer Tor will be releasing her new book called False Hearts that’s being pitched as “Orphan Black meets Inception.” Sounds awesome!
“Raised in the closed cult of Mana’s Hearth and denied access to modern technology, conjoined sisters Taema and Tila dream of a life beyond the walls of the compound. When the heart they share begins to fail, the twins escape to San Francisco, where they are surgically separated and given new artificial hearts. From then on they pursue lives beyond anything they could have previously imagined.
Ten years later, Tila returns one night to the twins’ home in the city, terrified and covered in blood, just before the police arrive and arrest her for murder—the first homicide by a civilian in decades. Tila is suspected of involvement with the Ratel, a powerful crime syndicate that deals in the flow of Zeal, a drug that allows violent minds to enact their darkest desires in a terrifying dreamscape. Taema is given a proposition: go undercover as her sister and perhaps save her twin’s life. But during her investigation Taema discovers disturbing links between the twins’ past and their present. Once unable to keep anything from each other, the sisters now discover the true cost of secrets.”
Book Review: The Kingmakers by Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith
Posted on October 13, 2015 10 Comments
A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Kingmakers by Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Book 3 of Vampire Empire
Publisher: Pyr (9/4/12)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
I was so happy when I found out that Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith were returning to the world of Vampire Empire this fall with another Adele and Gareth book. Even though you can read the upcoming novel as a stand-alone without reading this trilogy first, I still wanted to find out how things will end in the third book before tackling The Geomancer. Plus, I am a completionist at heart.
It’s actually been quite a while since I read the first two books in this series, but this is a very special world full of very special characters, the kind that stay with you for a long time. I jumped right back in with no problems, and it was like I never left. War between humans and vampire is at full tilt, with Empress Adele of Equatoria launching a campaign to take back the lands of the north. Fighting at her side is her consort, the vampire Prince Gareth who is helping the human cause in his guise as the legendary Greyfriar.
The Equatorians also have a secret weapon – Adele herself. A talented geomancer, she has the ability to use the powers of the earth to burn away vampires in vast numbers. But geomancy has its costs. As surely as it kills vampires, the power also poses a danger to her beloved Gareth, not to mention every time she uses geomancy it drains her energy and threatens her own life. After a huge attack on the heart of vampire territory, Adele sees the destruction she has wrought and starts to wonder if there is another way to wage this war. Gareth seeks a chance to do affect change as well, using his influence to undermine the efforts of his brother Cesare, who has become the new king of the vampire clans.
This book is full of bloody battles, hidden alliances, and betrayals. It’s a lot to fit into the concluding volume of a trilogy, but in spite of this, the novel is well balanced and pulls everything together in a spectacular finish. Of all three books, The Kingmakers is probably the most action-packed and fast-paced, building up to the climax of the war.
And yet, there’s also plenty of what first drew me to this series: the romance! In between all the intense fighting and war planning, it’s good to see that Adele and Gareth are still able to find ways to spend quality time together. When it comes to forbidden love, theirs is one of my favorites. So many tales involving star-crossed lovers rely on unnecessary drama and emotional manipulation to keep things “interesting”, but there’s no need for that nonsense when it comes to Adele and Gareth. Throughout the trilogy, their romance has never once felt contrived to me, with their relationship rising above all those cloying clichés. It’s always good to see them as a team, with the Greyfriar’s resolve complementing the Empress’s indomitable spirit.
The Kingmakers is an emotional finale, filled with difficult choices and dark twists. You might be surprised at how things end. For me, it was a satisfying conclusion to the trilogy, and that’s what mattered. Clay and Susan Griffith did something very amazing here, taking a tired old trope like vampires but still somehow managed to make it interesting and unique. Throwing in the alternate history and steampunk setting was a stroke of genius as well.
This book has only cemented my love for this world and the characters. Thinking about the sweet moments like the scenes of Gareth and Adele together at the opera house or at the Great Library of Alexandria still makes me smile. It has also made me realize that it’s probably a good thing that I read this only after I found out there’s another Vampire Empire book on the horizon. Clearly, I’m not ready to say good bye just yet! Now onwards to The Geomancer!
More on The BiblioSanctum:
Review of The Greyfriar (Book 1) | Review of The Rift Walker (Book 2)
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