Book Review and GIVEAWAY: Twelve Kings in Sharakhai by Bradley P. Beaulieu
Posted on August 31, 2015 21 Comments
*** The giveaway is now over, thanks to everyone who entered! ***
A review copy was provided by the author/publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Twelve Kings in Sharakhai by Bradley P. Beaulieu
Genre: Fantasy
Series: Book 1 of The Song of the Shattered Sands
Publisher: DAW (9/1/2015)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 4.5 of 5 stars
I love Epic Fantasy for many reasons, not least of which is the fact every book is a portal to a whole new world. But when you read as much as this genre as I do, you sure get to visit a lot of them. That is why, when every once in a while I come across a setting that truly stands out, I sit up and take note. And Bradley P. Beaulieu’s Twelve Kings in Sharakhai made me do just that.
Right from the start I was captivated by the magnificent desert city of Sharakhai, where this novel takes place. Surrounded by a literal ocean of dust and sand, this political and cultural trade center attracts all manner of visitors. From merchants to dignitaries, they sail across the dunes in great sand-ships to treat with the city’s kings, twelve immortal men who have held power in Sharakhai since time immemorial. However, not all people are happy with their rule, and many remember the injustices wrought upon them by the kings and their ruthless agents.
The novel’s protagonist Çeda is one such individual. When she was eight years old, her mother was a rebel captured and executed by the kings, then hung from Sharakhai’s walls as a warning and example to other detractors. Çeda has sworn vengeance ever since. Now more than a decade has passed, and Çeda is still as determined as ever to take down the twelve kings, with the help of a book of cryptic writings left to her by her mother. Unlocking the book’s puzzles will not be easy though, and there are many questions about her own heritage that must be solved before Çeda can bring the fight to her enemies.
So many thoughts filled my mind when I finished this book, I’m not even sure where to begin. Beaulieu weaves a complex tale of intrigue, employing devices like flashbacks and bringing in other characters points-of-view to great effect. In many ways, Çeda’s story plays out almost like a mystery plot, following her on a journey to uncover clues about the twelve kings’ weaknesses while also revealing details about her own past and the secrets her mother kept from her. Flashback chapters are generally tricky to pull off, but I was impressed with the way they were done here, inserted at precisely the best moments to emphasize important events in the characters’ lives.
Çeda is also a wonderful main character, one of the best female protagonists I have encountered in years. We open the novel with a scene from the fighting pits, where she is a competitor in the tourney. Right after a phenomenal combat sequence which ends with Çeda serving her opponent his ass on a platter, she then goes on to engage in an intensely passionate tryst with the fighting pit’s owner. If all this was part of Beaulieu’s attempt to capture the reader’s attention right off the bat, well, it certainly worked on me! More importantly though, I got the sense that Çeda is her own woman. She does what she wants but she’s also smart about it, and she is committed to her goals and utterly loyal to those she cares about.
The story also introduces several more major characters, first of which is Emre – Çeda’s childhood friend, partner in crime, and brother of her heart. As Çeda’s mission takes her down one path, Emre’s involvement with the underground resistance takes him down another, leading the two friends to drift apart. But what I love about this story is that nothing about it is black and white, and there’s much more to it than simply good versus evil. The twelve kings may be ruthless and cruel, but the rebels – a group calling themselves the Moonless Host – are far from innocent themselves, employing methods that are just as bloody and destructive. The relationship dynamics between Emre and Çeda become a focal point when the two of them end up on opposite sides, fighting for the same cause while driven by different forces. Throw in a third faction, Ramahd and Meryam of the Qaimiri delegation, and it gets even more difficult to tell friend from foe. As with the best and most realistic stories of fluid loyalties and political intrigue, there is absolutely nothing clear-cut about the situation and the plot will keep you wondering who’s an enemy and who’s an ally every step of the way.
While Beaulieu never stops challenging his characters, the world building in this novel is where his skills really shine. The many distinct cultures that feature in the pages of Twelve Kings in Sharakhai provided a diverse setting, which is further fleshed out by its rich history, religions, and various magic systems. The many sights and sounds of the city are brought to life by the stunningly detailed descriptions of important locales, from the decadent halls of the Tauriyat to the blooming fields of adichara plants in the surrounding desert. The world-building also made up for the slower pacing of the first half of the novel, because there were just so many wonderful things to take in.
All told, the payoff was definitely worth it. A promising start to a new series, Twelve Kings in Sharakhai offers readers a glimpse into Bradley P. Beaulieu’s talent for storytelling as well as his emerging role as a master world-builder. With its many different peoples and cultures, Sharakhai’s desert setting was utterly spellbinding. I also found myself enthralled by the plot’s combination of adventure and intrigue, along with the richness and depth of the characters. Books like this keep the epic fantasy genre fresh and diversified, and I am very excited to see what the future holds for The Song of the Shattered Sands series.
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TWELVE KINGS IN SHARAKHAI GIVEAWAY
Interested in the book? Now here’s your chance to win it. The publisher has very generously offered The BiblioSanctum an opportunity to host a giveaway for one print copy of Twelve Kings in Sharakhai. With apologies to international readers, this giveaway is US only. 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 “TWELVE KINGS” by 11:59pm Eastern time on Thursday, September 10, 2015.
Only one entry per household, please. Entrants must be 18 or older. 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!
YA Weekend Audio: The Witch Hunter by Virginia Boecker
Posted on August 30, 2015 7 Comments
A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
The Witch Hunter by Virginia Boecker
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Series: Book 1 of The Witch Hunter
Publisher: Hachette Audio (6/2/15)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating (Overall): 3.5 of 5 stars
Narrators: Nicola Barber | Length: 10 hrs and 4 mins
The Witch Hunter is probably one of this summer’s more buzzworthy Young Adult titles, if the amount of coverage I’ve seen for it is any indication. Most of my friends who have read it also enjoyed it, while others were not so keen. If nothing else though, the book did succeed in getting my attention, and I was grateful to receive the audiobook for review, which is actually my preferred format when it comes to reading YA.
The story starts off by introducing us to its protagonist, Elizabeth Grey. She’s sixteen years old and already an accomplished witch hunter, part of the king’s elite group of agents trained to track down and capture sorcerers. But when a nighttime rendezvous goes awry, Elizabeth is accused of being a witch herself and is taken to the dungeons to await burning at the stake.
On the eve of her execution, a strange man pays a visit to her cell. Believing her to be a witch, he helps break her out of prison. As it turns out, her mysterious rescuer is none other than Nicholas Perevil, the most powerful sorcerer in the kingdom as well as leader of a group of young rebel witches and wizards who are unhappy with being persecuted by the king’s laws. By helping her escape though, Nicholas has also turned Elizabeth into public enemy number one, forcing her to accept his terms or be left on her own to deal with the authorities. Reluctantly, Elizabeth agrees to help Nicholas break a deadly curse that has been laid upon him, and the group also takes her in as one of their own.
But of course, Elizabeth knows that it’s all a lie. Not only is she not a witch, she is one of the hunters whom they hate and fear, and there is no telling what Nicholas and his group might do when they find out the truth about her.
Now that I’ve finished the book, I feel I can better understand the different reactions I saw across the board. My own feeling lie somewhere in between. The Witch Hunter is a story peppered with tropes and familiar clichés, making it a very typical middle-of-the-road YA fantasy. As a protagonist, Elizabeth was not exceptional, nor did she really strike me as particularly sharp. Are you really telling me, that in all the years of witnessing countless examples of her mentor using magic as a tool in their witch hunter training sessions, Elizabeth never once suspected he was a magician? The logic is not strong with this one. It was also one of the bigger plot holes I tripped upon. The story itself is rather simplistic too, with the obvious message of “magic itself not being inherently evil, it just depends on how you use it” being presented as the crux of the conflict. Not exactly profound.
For all its flaws though, The Witch Hunter also has plenty of redeeming factors. The novel’s strength is in its light and adventurous tone, which had me chuckling at a couple places in response to some clever lines of dialogue. I especially loved the conversations between Elizabeth and Fifer, the only other female in their group. When Fifer’s character was introduced, I despaired thinking she would be yet another typical “girl rival” whose only purpose in the story is to make the heroine look good. Suffice to say, I was glad to be wrong. I also enjoyed the lack of a full-blown love triangle, and I felt the romance arc was stronger for it.
Most of the time I also prefer to listen to YA novels in audiobook format. I’m less likely to get hung up on world-building (or the lack of it) when I’m experiencing a book in this format, and characters feel richer to me when a narrator gives them a voice. This isn’t the first time I’ve listened to an audiobook narrated by Nicola Barber; in fact it was just a few weeks ago that I listened to her on another title so her performance was still fresh on my mind. I find myself very impressed with her versatility. For The Witch Hunter, Barber sounded younger, giving the protagonist the bubbly, energetic personality which her character called for, and her deftly delivered curses of “Damnation!” made me think, yep, that’s Elizabeth right there.
Simply put, this book was a lot of fun. I may have called the story simple, but that in itself is not necessarily a weakness. In fact, if you enjoy tightly woven plots and are tired of the ostentation and gimmicky shticks cropping up all over the genre these days, this one might very well work for you. It’s mainstream and not looking to break new ground, but it definitely knows what it has to offer.
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Mogsy’s Bookshelf Roundup: Stacking the Shelves and Recent Reads
Posted on August 29, 2015 21 Comments
Bookshelf Roundup is a feature I do every other weekend similar to Stacking the Shelves where I talk about the new books I’ve added to my library or received for review, as well as what I plan to read soon. I also summarize what I’ve finished reading and/or reviewed since the last update, and sometimes I even throw in fun stuff like reading challenge updates, book lists, and other random bookish thoughts.
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RECEIVED FOR REVIEW
August was a very big month for new arrivals, leaving me with a TBR which includes both requested/accepted books in addition to the many unsolicited books I want to check out too. As a result, for the last few weeks I’ve taken a more prudent approach when it comes to taking on new books. I think that’s been going pretty well, even though my NetGalley request button-pressing finger apparently missed the memo. But more on that later, as we first turn the spotlight on the books in my mailbox this week, with thanks to the wonderful publishers and authors who sent them my way.
Bound ARCs and Finished Copies:
Chapelwood by Cherie Priest – Paperback, with thanks to Roc. This one was a surprise arrival and it’s also a sequel. It just so happens though, I’ve read the first book! It’s a tale of Lizzie Borden with a Lovecraftian twist, so Horror fans might want to take a look at this one.
King of the Bastards by Brian Keene – Paperback, with thanks to Apex Publications, whose awesome editor noticed my enthusiasm for this book and generously offered me a review copy. Sword and sorcery meets some old-school pulp, yeah! I knew I had to read it as soon as I saw it.
The Sleeping King by Cindy Dees and Bill Flippin – Hardcover, with thanks to Tor. Another unexpected arrival, but it was a very welcome one. This book has been on my watch list for a while.
Dragon Heart by Cecelia Holland – Hardcover, with thanks to Tor. Renowned historical fiction writer Cecelia Holland tackles fantasy! I’ve not read her work before, so I’m very excited about this.
Towers Fall by Karina Sumner-Smith – Print ARC with thanks to Talos. A welcome surprise! I’ve enjoyed the first two books of this series and I still maintain that Karina Sumner-Smith and her series both deserve a lot more attention. I’m looking forward to read this third and final book of The Towers Trilogy.
After the Saucers Landed by Douglas Lain – Print ARC with thanks to Night Shade Books. More goodies from Skyhorse! This one actually caught my eye back when I saw the eARC on Edelweiss, so I was very happy when a finished copy turned up last week.
Time and Time Again by Ben Elton – Print ARC with thanks to Thomas Dunne Books, whose very kind, very nice publicist pitched me this title and gave her time to patiently answer all my questions about it. I did say I was going to be more prudent in taking on review books, so while the time traveling component of this one intrigued me, I wasn’t so sure about the historical fiction or WWI aspect. The publicist assured me that the story actually features more portal jumping/alternate history than history or war, and her enthusiasm ultimately sold me because it does sound really good! I think this book might have been released earlier in the UK too, so it already has some amazing reviews. Check it out.
Earth Flight by Janet Edwards – Hardcover, with thanks to Pyr for the finished copy. I so enjoyed books 1 and 2 in the Earth Girl trilogy, so this third and final installment is high priority!
Digital:
Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel – eARC with thanks to Del Rey via NetGalley. This was on my watch list, so I requested it as soon as I saw it. I was still pretty surprised to see the eARC available already though, considering its release date isn’t until next April.
Never Never by Brianna R. Shrum – eARC with thanks to Spencer Hill for the invitation. I’d been waiting for this one to show up on NetGalley forever, it seems. I even geeked out big time about it with a publicist from their imprint Spence City Books, and so she put forth my contact info when the widgets were going out for this title. If you caught my WoW this week, you’ll understand my excitement!
Nightfall by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski – eARC with thanks to G.P. Putnam’s Sons Books for Young Readers via First to Read. This looks fantastic, and its Horror tag just brought it home. The last couple of YA novels I’ve gotten through Penguin’s FtR have been great, so I’m hoping to strike gold for a third time.
The Dead House by Dawn Kurtogich – eARC with thanks to Little, Brown Books for Young Readers via NetGalley. I actually won a print ARC recently, but before that I’d put in a request on NG which sat in my pending queue for so long, I thought for sure I was denied. I was utterly shocked when the approval email finally came through last week. Bumping this one up, though it was already marked high priority on my list!
Swords and Scoundrels by Julia Knight and Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen – eARCs with thanks to Orbit for the invitations and for making my NG shelf explode. They have so many amazing titles coming out this fall, it took everything in me to resist accepting them all. In the end I picked up these two books, both of which have been on my anticipated list for a long time.
Audio:
The Trials by Linda Nagata – Audiobook with thanks to Audible. Remember my review of First Light? I absolutely loved it. I’m thrilled to be given the opportunity to review the sequel.
The Good, The Bad and the Smug by Tom Holt and The Witch Hunter by Virginia Boecker – Audiobooks with thanks to Hachette Audio for review copies of these two books. I’ve heard great things about both, so I’m quite excited to dive in.
WHAT I’VE READ SINCE THE LAST UPDATE
Earlier this week, I got sick with the nastiest cold. I caught it from my daughter, who picked hers up from preschool AKA the germ factory. Seriously, these are some powerful, badass bugs. As you can imagine, being stuffed up and coughing my lungs out has affected my concentration somewhat, so this week I’ve been a little audio heavy. I’m still reading though, so I’m sure you’ll see some of these reviews in the coming weeks, if they’re not up already.
Reviews:
Here are the reviews I’ve written and posted since the last update, gathered together and listed here for your convenience and viewing pleasure.
Baptism of Fire by Andrzej Sapkowski (4.5 of 5 stars)
Flex by Ferrett Steinmetz (4.5 of 5 stars)
The End of All Things by John Scalzi (4 of 5 stars)
Alice by Christina Henry (3.5 of 5 stars)
Forbidden by Cathy Clamp (3.5 of 5 stars)
Zer0es by Chuck Wendig (3.5 of 5 stars)
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi (3.5 of 5 stars)
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Have you heard of or read any of the books featured in this week? What looked good or caught your eye? Any new discoveries? Let me know! Nothing makes me happier than sharing my love for books and I hope you found something interesting for a future read. Until next time; see you next Roundup! 🙂
~Mogsy/Steff~
Tiara’s August Wrap-Up
Posted on August 28, 2015 18 Comments
I had various things going on this month which is why I slowed down with book reviews. I’m hoping to get my groove back in September. The kids started back to school. My husband had to do some traveling for work this month which meant I had to pull some double duty parenting at home. We’re dealing with a family tragedy right now, too, with one of my husband’s family members. However, we’re doing find, dealing with it one day at a time. And, of course, there’s always work and things that need to be done for our projects. I did get some reading done this month. Some of it wasn’t speculative fiction, which means I didn’t review it here. I read many wrestling memoirs because I’m a fan. Sometimes, it feels like wrestling should be considered speculative entertain. Also, I participated in my first read-a-long, and that was a lovely experience. I look forward to it in the future! 😀 Anyhow, here’s how my month of August wrapped up.
Book Count
Audiobook Count
Official count has now hit 43. I’m coming for you 50. I plan to double down next month. I’ve had Warbreaker audiobook on hold for about two months. I lke the story I’ve just been lazy.
Popsugar 2015 Challenge Count
Did not read any of my picks for the challenge this month, but I will remedy that in September.
Goodreads Challenge Update
Just in case that’s a little small to read. I’ve read 133 out of 150 books for my Goodreads challenge.
Miscellany
Here’s a general update of what I’ve been getting into aside from reading because, sometimes, even I need a break from reading. Sometimes, I want to enjoy more visual media, and I can’t live without music. Music is my heart and soul.
TV/Movies
Music
Gaming
I’ve been playing a Scandanavian folklore game called Year Walk, which follows a premise of people locking themselves away from people and refraining from eating for 24 hours during an important holiday. At midnight, they take their Year Walk which is supposed to give them insight on things upcoming in the year such as marriages and deaths. It’s a very atmospheric horror-ish games I haven’t encountered any jump scares, but the way they’ve entwined it with mythology is interesting, making it creepy. It’s a very simplistic, engaging game. It requires more from the player than just to point and click, such as remembering which pagan symbols you saw in various places and recording drawings as well as clues that will help you advance.
That’s it for me for the month. See you in September where I hope to have more done!
Backlist Burndown: The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
Posted on August 28, 2015 11 Comments
As book bloggers, sometimes we get so caught up reading review titles and new releases that we end up missing out on a lot previously published books. As a result, one of my goals this year is to take more time to catch up with my backlist, especially in my personal reading pile. And it seems I’m not the only one. Backlist Burndown is a new meme started by Lisa of Tenacious Reader. Every last Friday of the month, she’ll be posting a review of a backlist book and is inviting anyone interested to do the same. Of course, you can also review backlist books any day you want, as often you want, but be sure to watch for her post at the end of the month to link up!
This month, I’m reviewing…
The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Night Shade (9/1/2009)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
This was a great book. And the only reason I’m not rating it higher is because I’ve read better from Paolo Bacigalupi. If I had read this a few years ago, I think I would have enjoyed it unconditionally, but of course that’s not what happened. Instead, I read The Water Knife earlier this year and loved it, and as I usually do when I read an amazing new book by an author I’ve never read before, I went and picked up a bunch of Bacigalupi’s older titles. I decided to read The Windup Girl first, his multiple-award winning debut that shot him to stardom, and figured too that it was the perfect choice to review for Backlist Burndown.
The book takes place in 23rd century Thailand in a world ravaged by increasing temperatures and rising sea levels. Frequent disasters, both natural and manmade, cause widespread devastation to crops and human populations. Humanity is now dependent on biotechnology for food production, and megacorporations control the market using their own genetically modified seeds, which have all but replaced the natural order. The capital city of Bangkok only survives due to technology, and would be underwater if not for the levees that hold back the flood.
The story features multiple POVs. Major characters include Anderson Lake, a Calorie Man for the megacorp AgriGen, a sort of economic hitman sent to work undercover at a factory in Thailand. It is a front for his real mission, to search Bangkok’s street markets for produce thought to be extinct in order to discover the location of the Thai seedbank. Anderson leaves the running of the factory to his manager, Hock Seng, a Chinese refugee who was a businessman in his former life in Malaysia before being exiled from the country. Seng plots against Anderson, embezzling from the company while planning to steal secret designs and documents from his boss.
Then there’s Emiko, a “Windup Girl”. She is a genetically engineered being, and not human in the strictest sense, due to all the different modifications to her DNA. Windups are made to be docile slaves, programmed to obey. Abandoned by her Japanese master, Emiko lives a dangerous life in Thailand, because she would be destroyed if caught. She is forced to put up with sexual abuse and humiliation at the club where she works, in exchange for a measure of protection against the Thai government. She dreams of a day when she can finally buy her freedom and leave this place forever for a refuge in the north.
What I found interesting are the many similarities The Water Knife had to The Windup Girl. Bacigalupi seems to fancy writing dystopian science fiction about humans screwing up the future of the world. Both stories feature a shortage of vital resources, their supplies controlled by megacorporations or corrupt authorities. Both books even have a corporate hitman/mercenary-type character in a main role. So, perhaps comparisons between my experiences with his latest novel versus my experience with his first novel were going to be inevitable.
First, there’s the realistic premise, an important factor that makes all the difference. For me, dystopian novels tend to be more impactful when they take the form of cautionary tales or commentary on current issues, given how much easier it is to imagine them really happening. I also spent a part of my childhood in Bangkok, so reading this story also had a strong effect on me in more ways than one.
There are some unpleasant and difficult themes to deal with as well. Bacigalupi’s novels are certainly not happy stories. Characters in The Windup Girl live in a grim and very brutal world, and many are subject to discrimination, violence and other kinds of abuse. Emiko, the book’s titular character is especially subjected to the worst kind of treatment – rejected, beaten, raped, tortured, hated – all because of what she is and what she represents. Created to be nothing more than a toy for the wealthy, Emiko is helpless to control her situation or even her own actions because of her genetic modifications.
As well-written as this was, the author has certainly come a long way since his debut novel. The Windup Girl is a fascinating and engaging tale. Compared to The Water Knife though, it’s not nearly as well-plotted or polished. I sensed that Bacigalupi’s storytelling was still outpaced by his imagination at this point, in part due to the uneven pacing as well as the unexpected turn of events in the last quarter of the book. I can’t say I’m too fond of the last 100 or so pages; what should have been a ramp up to a killer conclusion instead had me fighting to keep my interest, but for all that, I still thought this was a great read.
Tough Traveling: Gnomic Utterances
Posted on August 27, 2015 23 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: Gnomic Utterances
These are traditional and are set at the head of each section. Culled from a mighty collection of wise sayings compiled by a sage some centuries before the Tour begins. The Rule is that no Utterance has anything whatsoever to do with the section it precedes.
In other words… Those quotes that always start the chapter but rarely are connected to the plot.
Mogsy’s Picks:
Oh, hahaha, when I first glimpsed this topic on the master list, I mistakenly thought it said GNOMISH Utterances. Good thing I realized my error before I started tearing my hair out trying to come up with books featuring gnomes that say dumb things. Okay, this definitely makes things easier. I probably could have found a few more examples if I plundered my e-book library too, but it’s just so much more convenient to flip through my physical book pile checking for gnomic utterances at the beginning of each chapter.
Featuring examples from the following books:
The Dinosaur Lords by Victor Milán – Along with pretty illustrations of dinosaurs at the top of each chapter heading.
The Stormlight Archive by Brandon Sanderson – Sanderson loves his gnomic utterances…
The Unremembered by Peter Orullian
City of Stairs by Robert Jackson Bennett
The Moontide Quartet by David Hair
The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin – In which the gnomic utterances are at end of each chapter, not before.
Wendy’s Pick
Yup, I totally thought this was about “GNOMISH utterances,” so I’m glad Mogsy was on the ball. Still, even though she’s not even a gnome, I am still going to pretend ignorance and grace you with the gnomish utterances of Betty from Rat Queens.
Comic Stack 08/26/2016 – 5 Literary Graphic Novel Recommendations
Posted on August 26, 2015 6 Comments
Today, I was supposed to have a review of Vertigo’s The Names up. Unfortunately, due to some family things going on and some technical issues with the comic, the review likely won’t be up until next Wednesday. However, I’m not going to leave you hanging this week, my friends. Yesterday’s Top Ten Tuesday topic, where I chose comics for my fictional syllabus and talking with a few people about other awesome comics that would be great to teach in a comic book course, inspired this impromptu post. I thought I’d recommend five more literary focused graphic novels that readers who want something less superhero-y might be interested in and would be great to put on a syllabus.
Combined for the first time here are Maus I: A Survivor’s Tale and Maus II – the complete story of Vladek Spiegelman and his wife, living and surviving in Hitler’s Europe. By addressing the horror of the Holocaust through cartoons, the author captures the everyday reality of fear and is able to explore the guilt, relief and extraordinary sensation of survival – and how the children of survivors are in their own way affected by the trials of their parents. A contemporary classic of immeasurable significance
Persepolis is the story of Satrapi’s unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private life and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trials of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming—both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland.
It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up. Edgy, searingly observant, and candid, often heartbreaking but threaded throughout with raw humor and hard-earned wisdom—Persepolis is a stunning work from one of the most highly regarded, singularly talented graphic artists at work today.
Are You My Mother? A Comic Drama by Alison Bechdel
Alison Bechdel’s Fun Home was a pop culture and literary phenomenon. Now, a second thrilling tale of filial sleuthery, this time about her mother: voracious reader, music lover, passionate amateur actor. Also a woman, unhappily married to a closeted gay man, whose artistic aspirations simmered under the surface of Bechdel’s childhood . . . and who stopped touching or kissing her daughter good night, forever, when she was seven. Poignantly, hilariously, Bechdel embarks on a quest for answers concerning the mother-daughter gulf. It’s a richly layered search that leads readers from the fascinating life and work of the iconic twentieth-century psychoanalyst Donald Winnicott, to one explosively illuminating Dr. Seuss illustration, to Bechdel’s own (serially monogamous) adult love life. And, finally, back to Mother—to a truce, fragile and real-time, that will move and astonish all adult children of gifted mothers.
Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths by Shigeru Mizuki
Shigeru Mizuki is the preeminent figure of Gekiga manga and one of the most famous working cartoonists in Japan today–a true living legend. Onward Towards Our Noble Deaths is his first book to be translated into English and is a semiautobiographical account of the desperate final weeks of a Japanese infantry unit at the end of WorldWar II. The soldiers are told that they must go into battle and die for the honor of their country, with certain execution facing them if they return alive. Mizuki was a soldier himself (he was severely injured and lost an arm) and uses his experiences to convey the devastating consequences and moral depravity of the war.
Bayou by Jeremy Love
South of the Mason-Dixon Line lies a strange land of gods and monsters; a world parallel to our own, born from centuries of slavery, civil war, and hate.
Lee Wagstaff is the daughter of a black sharecropper in the depression-era town of Charon, Mississippi. When Lily Westmoreland, her white playmate, is snatched by agents of an evil creature known as Bog, Lee’s father is accused of kidnapping. Lee’s only hope is to follow Lily’s trail into this fantastic and frightening alternate world. Along the way she enlists the help of a benevolent, blues singing, swamp monster called Bayou. Together, Lee and Bayou trek across a hauntingly familiar Southern Neverland, confronting creatures both benign and malevolent, in an effort to rescue Lily and save Lee’s father from being lynched
I’m thinking I may do a series of these literary focused comics because there are so many that I could introduce you to! There’s another freebie top ten coming up soon on Tuesday, so I may save some of them for then. Happy reading!
Previous 5 recommendations: 5 Graphic Novel Recommendations | 5 Manga Recommendations
Waiting on Wednesday 08/26/15
Posted on August 26, 2015 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:
Never Never by Brianna R. Shrum: September 22, 2015 (Spencer Hill Press)
While I’m pretty ambivalent about the original tale of Peter Pan and Neverland, I admit to a real weakness for its retellings. And one seen through the eyes of Captain Hook is something that I just cannot say no to. I’ve already heard some great things about this YA novel coming out this fall from Spencer Hill, and last week their wonderful publicity team sent me an invite to read the eARC on NetGalley. Looking forward to this one!
“James Hook is a child who only wants to grow up.
When he meets Peter Pan, a boy who loves to pretend and is intent on never becoming a man, James decides he could try being a child—at least briefly. James joins Peter Pan on a holiday to Neverland, a place of adventure created by children’s dreams, but Neverland is not for the faint of heart. Soon James finds himself longing for home, determined that he is destined to be a man. But Peter refuses to take him back, leaving James trapped in a world just beyond the one he loves. A world where children are to never grow up.
But grow up he does.
And thus begins the epic adventure of a Lost Boy and a Pirate.
This story isn’t about Peter Pan; it’s about the boy whose life he stole. It’s about a man in a world that hates men. It’s about the feared Captain James Hook and his passionate quest to kill the Pan, an impossible feat in a magical land where everyone loves Peter Pan.
Except one.”
Book Review: Alice by Christina Henry
Posted on August 25, 2015 25 Comments
A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Genre: Fantasy, Horror
Series: Book 1/Stand Alone
Publisher: Ace (8/4/15)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
It recently occurred to me that over the years I’ve consumed a fair number of movies, games, comics, television shows etc. featuring retellings or re-imaginings of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland – but never a novel. Huh. Suffice to say I was pretty shocked by this realization; after all, there are quite a few high-profile titles out there.
Christina Henry’s Alice therefore had the distinction of being my first “Alice retelling novel”, and I’m actually quite happy about that. Of the many different versions of Lewis Carroll’s classic that I have experienced, my favorite ones were typically those considered “dark” or “twisted” – and to be honest, those are the types I’m mostly interested in. There’s just something about the original tale that lends itself to the creepy or macabre treatment.
In any case, dark was what I wanted and dark was what I got. Henry’s retelling is definitely not for the faint of heart, and readers should also beware that themes of sexual violence and abuse feature heavily in this novel. This is Alice’s Adventures told through a horror lens, as vicious and sharp as a butcher’s knife wielded unflinchingly in your face, and all the whimsy and magical light-heartedness is warped here into a horrible nightmare of savagery and pain. If you enjoy close adaptations or would prefer to see the fanciful nature of the original story preserved, this book is not for you. But if, on the other hand, you know what you’ll be getting into and would like to see a refreshing new take on creative retellings, then this one could very well be right up your alley.
Alice begins with an introduction to our eponymous protagonist, a young woman who has spent the last ten years in a hospital ward for the insane along with the city’s other undesirables. She can’t remember the events that precipitated her imprisonment, and only knows what she’s been told – that as a girl she went missing, and then was later found again beaten and broken, one cheek slashed open and blood running down between her legs, gibbering nonsensically about “the Rabbit”. Now Alice finds herself mostly forgotten by the world, and her only friend is another prisoner called Hatcher, a multiple murderer who talks to her through a mouse hole in the wall connecting their cells.
One night, a fire breaks out in the hospital allowing Alice and Hatcher to escape, but the two of them are far from free. A shadowy monster known as the Jabberwocky is on the hunt, and it has their scent. The only way to be rid of the beast is to slay him with a magical blade, forcing Alice and Hatcher to seek it out in the heart of Old City where they will face monsters of a different sort – for this is where the magician crime lords rule, feeding off the fear and misery of the populace. Within their ranks are the men known as Cheshire, Caterpillar, the Walrus…and to Alice’s dismay, her old enemy the Rabbit.
As I was saying, if you like your Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland retellings dark and twisted, you’ve come to the right place. Christina Henry doesn’t pull any punches when it comes to filling her world with brutal violence and death. Her protagonists are troubled and broken people, haunted by traumatic pasts and memories. It’s not a happy book. And yet, beneath all the horror and disturbing themes, I’m impressed by the author’s sheer imagination and creativity. I like how she’s taken the familiar elements from the original story and reworked them into her version, making Alice one of the most unique retellings I’ve ever read.
Still, as much as I enjoyed this novel, I couldn’t help but feel like it was missing something vital. In spite of its relatively short length, Alice took me an inordinate amount of time to finish due to the numerous occasions where I got distracted or drifted off while reading. I liked the book a lot, but it just didn’t grip me the way it ought to have, even though the characters had purpose and the plot maintained a steady momentum. I wanted to stay connected but at times it was a struggle, almost like the darkness in the story was a massive black hole that sucked all life from its surroundings. To be clear though, it wasn’t the brutal nature of the story that affected me, but rather the hollowing effect it had on the characters. Both Alice and Hatcher felt distant to me, and whether or not this is by design, it had an impact on my experience.
Nevertheless, I’m still a fan. Alice is unconventional and rather fascinating in its uniqueness. This book is certainly not for everyone, but I can see it scoring a hit with readers who enjoy strange and dark retellings. Themes like sexual abuse and psychological trauma makes this one a disturbing read, but I feel they are handled with a complexity that’s not just there for shock value and cheap thrills. While Alice features a self-contained story, the end does leaves things somewhat open for a future installment. If that’s the case, I definitely wouldn’t mind reading more!
Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Books That Would Be On Your Syllabus If You Taught X 101
Posted on August 25, 2015 21 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 Books That Would Be On Your Syllabus If You Taught X 101
Comic books are often regarded as entertainment for a younger audience in Western culture and older comic book readers are treated like nostalgia nerds unable to let go of that last bit of their childhood. However, comics have evolved to tell complex stories through the years using art and words. If I were teaching a course, I’d introduce people to comics that I feel best showcase the literary brilliance that the medium is capable of producing. For many of these I will just be quoting myself, so I’ll just warn you now.
For many years Alex Moore has been writing graphic novels which spin complex tales that tend to focus on darker themes dealing with the human condition. While I certainly could pick any number of Moore’s book, I will stick with the first book I read by him (and still a favorite to this day). Many people might be more familiar with the movie adaptation of this comic that starred Natalie Portman and Hugo Weaver in the eponymous role of V.
A frightening and powerful tale of the loss of freedom and identity in a chillingly believable totalitarian world, V for Vendetta stands as one of the highest achievements of the comics medium and a defining work for creators Alan Moore and David Lloyd.
Set in an imagined future England that has given itself over to fascism, this groundbreaking story captures both the suffocating nature of life in an authoritarian police state and the redemptive power of the human spirit which rebels against it. Crafted with sterling clarity and intelligence, V for Vendetta brings an unequaled depth of characterization and verisimilitude to its unflinching account of oppression and resistance.
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
Alison Bechdel might be best known for her comic strip Dykes to Watch Out For and the Bechdel Test, which is a sort of litmus test for media, that asks if there are at least two women in the media that talk to each other about something else other than a man. Fun Home is a graphic memoir that depicts Bechdel’s complicated relationship with her overbearing father. This book explores her sexuality, gender roles, and various issues she dealt with growing up as a queer child.
I didn’t think I’d put too many superhero type comics on this list, but while going through my essentials, books like these popped. This is a Superman comic. Despite that, this book tells a more complicated story than a simple superhero tale. Superman has retreated to solitude after a hero named Magog is acquitted of killing Joker—who went on a killing spree in Metropolis, a bender that resulted in Lois’ death. When humanity expresses that Magog is where superheroism should go, Superman leaves them to that, seeming to lose quite a bit of faith in people. This book explores a moral dilemma, pondering many sides of the old question, “Is it morally justifiable to do y, if it’ll prevent x?”
Julio’s Day by Gilbert Hernández
This is a slice of life comic that opens up with the birth wails of Julio and ends with his death rattle 100 years later in the same house and in the same bed. Even though there are many iconic things that happen from 1900 to 2000, the comic kept the impact of such events insular, choosing to focus on the small scale impact of these events and how they did or didn’t affect Julio’s family. Things like the stock market crash happened and the family acknowledges it, but what does it mean to a family that’s already poor? What does it mean to a family already used to just getting by? This book also focuses on the people in their communities and how they impacted Julio and his family’s life, as well.
This story was filled with dark family secrets, loneliness, betrayal, mental health issues, racism, turning sexual tides, and many other things. While that seems so much for one graphic novel, the pains and joys in this story are told with such simplicity, often times without words or with only dialogue that says so much without the characters ever going into full details such as Julio’s sister telling him, “I don’t feel so sad when somebody dies, Julio, because they fly away to explore the stars and planets. When it’s our turn we join them in exploring the universe.” The art, the pacing, everything was just right for this story.
Daytripper by Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá
I think I’ll let the description speak for this one:
What are the most important days of your life?
Meet Brás de Oliva Domingos. The miracle child of a world-famous Brazilian writer, Brás spends his days penning other people’s obituaries and his nights dreaming of becoming a successful author himself—writing the end of other people’s stories, while his own has barely begun.
But on the day that life begins, would he even notice? Does it start at 21 when he meets the girl of his dreams? Or at 11, when he has his first kiss? Is it later in his life when his first son is born? Or earlier when he might have found his voice as a writer?
Each day in Brás’s life is like a page from a book. Each one reveals the people and things who have made him who he is: his mother and father, his child and his best friend, his first love and the love of his life. And like all great stories, each day has a twist he’ll never see coming…
In Daytripper, the Eisner Award-winning twin brothers Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá What are the most important days of your life?
Meet Brás de Oliva Domingos. The miracle child of a world-famous Brazilian writer, Brás spends his days penning other people’s obituaries and his nights dreaming of becoming a successful author himself—writing the end of other people’s stories, while his own has barely begun.
But on the day that life begins, would he even notice? Does it start at 21 when he meets the girl of his dreams? Or at 11, when he has his first kiss? Is it later in his life when his first son is born? Or earlier when he might have found his voice as a writer?
Each day in Brás’s life is like a page from a book. Each one reveals the people and things who have made him who he is: his mother and father, his child and his best friend, his first love and the love of his life. And like all great stories, each day has a twist he’ll never see coming…
In Daytripper, the Eisner Award-winning twin brothers Fábio Moon and Gabriel Bá tell a magical, mysterious and moving story about life itself—a hauntingly lyrical journey that uses the quiet moments to ask the big questions. tell a magical, mysterious and moving story about life itself—a hauntingly lyrical journey that uses the quiet moments to ask the big questions.
Yet another comic that has been turned into two movies. Sin City is dark, unforgiving, and gritty. On the surface it’s a crime comic, but if you dig much deeper you’ll find these books explore many themes typical of day to day human life and exaggerates them to the nth degree. These books feature various stories, following various characters that all interlock together.
X-Men: Magneto Testament by Greg Pak
Today, the whole world knows him as Magneto, the most radical champion of mutant rights that mankind has ever seen. But in 1935, he was just another schoolboy – who happened to be Jewish in Nazi Germany. The definitive origin story of one of Marvel’s greatest icons begins with a silver chain and a crush on a girl – and quickly turns into a harrowing struggle for survival against the inexorable machinery of Hitler’s Final Solution From X-Men: Phoenix – Endsong writer Greg Pak and award-winning artist Carmine Di Giandomenico. Collects X-Men: Magneto Testament #1-5.
Y: The Last Man by Brian K. Vaughan
You knew it was coming. I knew it was coming. However, this is an excellent series for readers looking for something less superhero-y. I might be biased, but this would be a great comic to introduce people to because this series will always be relevant:
Y: THE LAST MAN, winner of three Eisner Awards and one of the most critically acclaimed, best-selling comic books series of the last decade, is that rare example of a page-turner that is at once humorous, socially relevant and endlessly surprising.
Written by Brian K. Vaughan (LOST, PRIDE OF BAGHDAD, EX MACHINA) and with art by Pia Guerra, this is the saga of Yorick Brown—the only human survivor of a planet-wide plague that instantly kills every mammal possessing a Y chromosome. Accompanied by a mysterious government agent, a brilliant young geneticist and his pet monkey, Ampersand, Yorick travels the world in search of his lost love and the answer to why he’s the last man on earth.
Truth: Red, White, and Black by Robert Morales
Another superhero pick, but one that brings about a social awareness:
In 1940, Joe Simon and Jack Kirby created Captain America, a frail patriot who was transformed by a “super-soldier serum” into a physically perfect specimen to champion freedom, an American alternative to the Nazi uebermensch. Now, writer Morales pursues this idea and also draws inspiration from U.S. government experiments in the 1930s that left unwitting African-Americans infected with syphilis, leading to many deaths.
Beginning his story in 1940, Morales incisively depicts the racism his various African-American characters confront both in civilian life and in the military. These black soldiers are compelled to act as test subjects for the super-soldier serum; some die, while others become deformed. Ultimately only one survives, Isaiah Bradley. Substituting for Captain America on a mission, Bradley discovers Jewish concentration camp inmates subjected to experiments.
Ranging from heroic figures to pointed caricatures, artist Baker makes his varied styles gel. Drawing on copious research, Morales dramatizes how racism corrupted American history, yet verges close to asserting moral equivalency between America and Nazi Germany. Roosevelt was ultimately in charge of the super-soldier program: would he have approved these human experiments? Besides, how can one talk about “truth” regarding a fictional creation? Simon and Kirby devised a fable about an American everyman tapping his inner strength to combat genocidal fascism; Kirby helped pioneer positive depictions of blacks in comics. By adding Morales’s backstory to Captain America’s origin, Marvel has turned the character into a white superman who owes his powers to the deaths and exploitation of African-Americans.
I love my theology debates, so what better comic to get all existential and theological with than Ennis’ Preacher?
One of the most celebrated comics titles of the late 1990s, PREACHER is a modern American epic of life, death, love and redemption also packed with sex, booze, blood and bullets – not to mention angels, demons, God, vampires and deviants of all stripes.
At first glance, the Reverend Jesse Custer doesn’t look like anyone special-just another small-town minister slowly losing his flock and his faith. But he’s about to come face-to-face with proof that God does indeed exist. Merging with a bizarre spiritual force called Genesis, Jesse now possesses the power of “the Word,” an ability to make people do whatever he utters. He begins a violent and riotous journey across the country in search of answers from the elusive deity.
The BiblioSanctum 
