Book Review: Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine
Posted on July 10, 2015 27 Comments
Genre: Young Adult, Fantasy
Series: Book 1 of The Great Library
Publisher: NAL (July 7, 2015)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 5 of 5 stars
I spent most of the last week bouncing up and down telling everyone I know about Ink and Bone. In case I haven’t already gotten the chance to corner you with my mad ravings about this book, let me just tell you right now: this is an outstanding novel. Needless to say, it is going straight on my Favorites shelf and on my list of best books of 2015. There’s still almost half a year to go but I already know it’ll be hard one to beat. Books of this caliber don’t come along often.
Ink and Bone tells a tale of alternate history. As we all know, the invention of the printing press had an enormous impact on humanity, revolutionizing the way information is acquired, processed, and spread. But what if that never happened? Imagine a world where Johannes Gutenberg’s creation never came to light, a world where great minds like him were systematically silenced every time a new proposal for a method of printing came close to being realized. Imagine no ink plates, no moveable type, no presses – all innovations that were deemed too dangerous by an all-powerful ruling class that seeks to gather and control all knowledge, deciding who should have access to it, how and when.
Jess Brightwell lives in such a world, where the only books that exist are original works or copies painstakingly written out by hand. By law they are all property of the Great Library of Alexandria, that powerful bastion of knowledge that never succumbed to destruction in this reality. The scholars of the Library strictly govern the distribution of books to the public, using a complex alchemical process to deliver content instantly to an individual’s personal Codex or blanks. As a result, traditionally bound books have become very popular on the black market, as has the illegal trade of smuggling them into the hands of private collectors and other rare book hunters. It’s risky, but the Brightwells have prospered in this business, and Jess’ father has decided to take it to the next level by sending his son into the Library’s service, hoping that having an inside man will benefit the family in the long run.
But being a Library servant is a position of prestige, and as such, the trials used to seek out the best of the best are rigorous, brutal, and not always fair. I’ve always been fond of stories about magic schools, but Rachel Caine took the basis of that idea and made it all her own. Together with about two dozen other hopeful postulants, Jess Brightwell travels to the bright, magnificent city of Alexandria, home of the Great Library. Because knowledge is deemed paramount, training doesn’t just involve learning how to run one of the many daughter libraries present in every major city of the world; postulants are also taught to guard and protect it, keeping original works out of the public’s hands even if it means dying for the cause.
As an avid reader, I of course find it difficult to argue with the importance of knowledge. But to place its value above human lives? This should clue you in to the kind of place our protagonist has landed himself, and even with his book smuggling background, Jess is unprepared to learn about the corruption at the heart of Alexandria, or just how deep it lies.
Despite its secrets (or perhaps because of them), the dark underside of the Great Library was a wonder to explore. Imagine a world where the personal ownership of books is forbidden – what a horrifying thought. But the story also appealed to a part of me that understood all too well why some people would resist the rule of the Library, or risk their lives to own a genuine paper book for the chance to hold a hefty volume in their hands, take in the heady scent of age and ink, as well as feel the hard leather of the binding or the crispness of the pages. Ink and Bone had that addictive and intoxicating effect on the delighted bookaholic in me, and I just couldn’t get enough.
The novel is also so much more than that. I’ve never understood what a book hangover felt like until now, wishing I’m still in Jess Brightwell’s world. What Rachel Caine has created here is a rich and vibrant tableau, filled with beauty and amazing wonders but also no shortage of pain and darkness. Scenes of clean and shining Alexandria are juxtaposed by the ugliness of war in England as well as the destructive Greek Fire of the rebel Burners. The same alchemical processes that bring knowledge to the masses are also used to oppress them, keeping a watchful eye out for sedition or powering the nightmarish automatons that guard the Library from its enemies. All told, the world building is phenomenal but so is character development. Jess and his fellow postulants are part of an unforgettable cast, every one of them endearing themselves to me with their unique and individual personalities. Rare is it also to find an adult character in a YA novel as complex as Scholar Christopher Wolfe, who was not at all what I expected, and he quickly became a favorite.
Once I started reading this book, I just couldn’t stop. It has raised the bar for the YA I’ll read for the rest of the year. But it doesn’t matter whether you’re a teen or an adult. Ink and Bone is for everyone, and a must-read for all who treasure the gift of the written word. A perfect mix of breathtaking fantasy and edge-of-your-seat dystopian fiction, this is a masterfully written novel guaranteed to hook you in.
Audiobook Review: Letters to Zell by Camille Griep
Posted on July 9, 2015 7 Comments
Genre: Fantasy, Fairy Tales, Imaginative Retellings, Humor
Publisher: 47North (July 1, 2015)
Author Information: Twitter | Website
Tiara’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Narrator: Amy McFadden | Length: 9 hrs and 52 mins | Audiobook Publisher: Brilliance Audio (July 1, 2015) | Whispersync Ready: Yes
Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book and audiobook was provided to me by the publishers. I would like to thank the author and the publishers for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed from here forward are my own.
This story starts when Zell (Rapunzel) unexpectedly leaves her friends to move to the “boonies” (Oz) to run a unicorn farm with her husband Jason and her twins. Zell’s circle of friends consist of the prim and proper Rory (Briar Rose/Sleeping Beauty), the foul-mouthed and cynical Bianca (Snow White) and the levelheaded CeCi (Cinderella). The inhabitants of fairy tale land know that they’re supposed to live out their pages to their happily ever after. On top of that, they are aware of the “outside” world, which is where normal humans live, humans who supposedly give power to their pages through their belief, which supposedly makes it even more important that they act a certain way. Zell, Rory, and CeCi have all achieved their happily ever after, even though it seems they still long for something more. Bianca is still getting to her happily ever after and is slated to be married to a kindly prince she doesn’t love. With Zell’s sudden departure, her friends find themselves in a sudden flux as they begin to rebel against their stories and start to find themselves. This book is told through a series of letters from each woman to Zell as they go from the pain of dealing with her departure to creating a happily ever after on their own terms.
Imaginative retellings are one of my favorite types of story because I love seeing how authors reimagine old characters and old stories, and this book was on one of my recent Top Ten Tuesdays of books that I was looking forward to listening to/reading this year. This story was like a fairy tale version of Real Housewives. Zell apparently met her prince while he was roaming the woods blind and she was pregnant with twins. She restored his eyesight and they married. You don’t learn too much about Zell other than little tidbits of her story, which was disappointing. Rory is married to a prince who doesn’t care for her much. She tries to be perfect and tell herself that loves comes eventually, even though she loved someone else before marrying her prince. She’s one of those women who tries to act like everything is beautiful while inwardly falling apart. CeCi has a great relationship with her prince. They truly love one another, but she’s starting to feel they’re beginning to drift in two different directions. The things she loves to do (cooking) she has to hide from him because he said that part of her fairy tale is over and she’s no longer a servant. However, she wants to do this because she loves it, and she wants to share this love with him. And then there’s Bianca… Oh, Bianca…
Bianca was probably favorite Princess because instead of sweet Snow White sobbing in the forest with her animals friends and the dwarves…
… we get Bianca who doesn’t take anyone’s shit, who’s cynical about love and the role women play in these stories, who admits that she’s sexually attracted to women and men and gratuitously uses the word “fuck.”
Yeah, this Snow White is who we get, but with less tattoos. (But I think she’d totally get the tattoos if she thought she could get away with it.) Bianca argues: “It’s irresponsible storytelling. Love can certainly include the occasional experimental romp in handkerchiefs or a playful smack on the behind with a riding crop, but it doesn’t involve isolation and belittlement. Star is already worthy of Sabian. What does she have to reinvent herself for?” Despite Snow White’s general curmudgeonly attitude, she does have a gentle heart. While she despises what her stepmother put her through, she has no desire to exact revenge and isn’t looking forward to having to possibly execute her in her happily ever after. She doesn’t blame her father, who loves to travel, for not being around to protect her. She petitions the powers to allow Huntsman to return from exile because she believes that he did the only thing he could considering the circumstances. She has no desire to marry the prince she’s fated, too, even though she lauds his great qualities and believes him to be a great man and a good friend to her. She doesn’t want what the pages tell her is her happily ever after. She wants to create her own. They all want to create their own. They want to be the narrators of their own stories.
A few complaints I do have is that the letter writing format can be a little jarring and disjointed. Sometimes, it’s too much like being a “chaptered” story where one letters is just really a continuation of the last letter’s story. Some of the moments that were so important to the characters were glossed over in their letters. Also, certain letters can get a little tiresome, even repetitive, especially Rory’s whose letters have to continuously be a “Everything is fine” mantra, even though I understand why they’d be like that. Sometimes, this book felt like it was going into young adult territory with some of the dialogue and scenarios. I’ll also concede that sometimes it’s hard to get to the meat of their issues with the way they complain. Like wanting to write Bianca off as just a catty witch instead of seeing the woman who wants to just be and leave this vengeance thing behind. These type of things can take readers out of the story.
However, don’t think this is a serious read. While there are certainly serious themes here, this book is infused with humor. While some of it made me smile, I won’t say it was laugh out loud funny. Some of the jokes were a little corny, but the narrator, Amy McFadden, caught the varying tones of the princesses well. Rory’s voice was whimsical and dream like. CeCi’s voice was conversational and levelheaded. Bianca’s voice was tough and unladylike. She didn’t do a great job with male voices, but readers should take care to remember she’s reading these letters in the tone of the princesses, so it makes sense the male voices wouldn’t be that great. She’s creating a semblance of a male voice as the princess would. These princesses are catty, cordial, selfish, selfless–in other words they’re very flawed as any person. They complain, they whine. But if you look through their words you can see more shaping up. If stories that turn your favorite princess into less that some self-sacrificing damsel upsets you, turn away from this book. This was one of the more fun retellings I’ve read, but this absolutely won’t be for everyone. I’d rate this between 3 and 3.5 stars, but I am feeling generous because I liked some of the themes. With that being said, I’ll leave you with this quote from Snow White:
“We’re all at risk of becoming imprisoned within our own mirrors. By our expectations of ourselves. We are vain or unkempt, bitches or sycophants, mothers or monsters, queens or servants.”
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Tough Traveling: Otherworldly Creatures (Tentacles Preferred)
Posted on July 9, 2015 18 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: Otherworldly Creatures (Tentacles Preferred)
Just for Tiara, this topic explains itself. Creatures not of our world or even our plain of existence, perhaps living in another dimension. Preferably, though not required, with tentacles. Or really anything with tentacles can be considered weird enough to be otherworldly.
Tiara’s Picks:
Remember that time Batman and Superman had a sleepover where they cried and hugged it out after watching tentacle porn? No, just me. Ah, well. Consider yourself enlightened now. DC is no stranger to tentacles. At least they know how to do one thing right.
Mist Wraith (The Sword of Shannara by Terry Brooks)
I’m still not over the fact that the characters in this book thought it was better to take on the Mist Marsh to be confronted by a threat they’re not sure exists (the Mist Wraith) rather than taking the path they know leads to wolves, but at least, they know how to take care of wolves, even if the wolves are scary. Needless to say that their adventure in the Mist Marsh gets a little exciting when the Mist Wraith attacks, captures Flick with a tentacle, and tries to make off with him. It just wanted to love you, Flick! Oh, and they still had to go into the wolf-infested woods.
Kraken: The Curious, Exciting, and Slightly Disturbing Science of Squid by Wendy Williams
Not really a speculative book, but I thought I’d slipped you some science in here because I LOVE SCIENCE! This is a highly entertaining and narrative book all about cephalopods. We’ll just say this is magical realism if it makes you feel better.
Doyle (The Book of Speculation by Erika Swyler)
Admittedly, Doyle is not a cephalopod. He’s a human. However, he’s had almost every inch of himself tattooed with tentacles. I included him in this pick because his tentacles are often described as moving in correspondence to his temperament or feelings. They don’t literally move on their own, but because of the movements he makes, it’s noted that his tentacles seem to reflect his mind state as if they are moving in an unearthly manner.
Davey Jones and the Kraken (Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest by Disney Press)
I’m listening to a review copy of the PotC books which are narrated by Simon Vance, so I definitely couldn’t leave these out. Davy Jones alone is a fearsome creature with tentacle-y face. I’d argue that he’s misunderstand, but let’s not get my feelings all up in this. At his disposal he has the feared Kraken to obey his orders to destroy those who oppose him.
Suction Cup Dreams by David Joseph Clarke
A romance in an ancient temple. A mysterious stranger in a dusty Western town. A confrontation beneath the waves. Tropical islands and ancient mysteries. Merchants of alien pearls. Desolate futures and mystical pasts.
Take a dive into these twelve original tales of the noble octopus and drift into suction cup dreams. From science fiction over horror to heartbreaking love story, each tale offers a unique perspective of one of the our planet’s most intelligent and curious lifeforms.
From the same man who gave us Jaws, we get Beast. A story about “a creature that rises up from the well of an ocean gone mad with an insatiable hunger and an endless lust to kill.”
King Sholto (A Kiss of Shadows by Laurell K. Hamilton)
Sholto is the product of a sidhe/nightflyer union. And he happens to have tentacles on his torso. I’ll spare you all the “he gives good tentacles” jokes that happened in conversation when I talked to friends about this book. Just know that he’s pretty because he’s a sidhe, but has weird tentacles appendages on his chest which… nevermind… heh… heh… heh….
Inkay/Malamar (Pokémon by The Pokémon Company)
I’m a huge Pokémon fan and have been for years. I don’t care what you have to say about that. One of my favorite Pokémon is Inkay who evolves into Malamar. This picture represents its before and evolved form.
Credit: http://www.propokemon.com/
Lusca (City of Heroes by Paragon Studios)
Again my favorite, now defunct MMO, was known for its giant monsters that would appear in the various cities that required heroes/villains to band together to defeat them. Once such creature was Lusca who appeared randomly in the waters of Independence Port. Lusca was defeated by taking on each tentacle before finally being able to take on the head.
And finally…
RELEASE THE KRAKEN!
Mogsy’s Picks:
Tentacles preferred? I guess this means I’m digging into my cache of Lovecraft inspired spec fic…
Ah, crap. Anything I could possibly say about this book here would be a spoiler. So…let’s just say “This book fits this week’s topic” and leave it at that.
This book was just WEIRD. What else can you expect about a story featuring a forty-foot-long specimen of giant squid just up and disappearing overnight from its display at the British Museum of Natural History? It turns out this gargantuan cephalopod represents a deity to the Church of Kraken Almighty. But is there really a giant squid god?
Harrison Squared by Daryl Gregory
When Harrison Harrison (nicknamed Harrison Squared by his scientist mother, because geek humor is the best kind of humor) was a toddler, his family’s boat was capsized by something huge in the water. Officially, the authorities said that it was a sharp piece of metal that claimed Harrison’s leg, and that the storm was what drowned his father, but Harrison knew he saw: GIANT TENTACLES.
Armada is Zack Lightman’s favorite first-person space combat flight sim MMO. In the game, players all around the world get to take the role of drone pilots, controlling Earth Defense Alliance ships to do battle with alien invaders that look a lot like giant squids, complete with tentacles.
The Desert Spear by Peter V. Brett
I honestly don’t remember this part at all, but I recently finished reading the Demon Cycle novella collection The Great Bazaar & Brayan’s Gold and in the back of it was a description of water demons that first mentioned in The Warded Man and appeared in The Desert Spear. And I quote, “Some breeds have tentacles ending in sharp bone.”
Tales from Jabba’s Palace edited by Kevin J. Anderson
This is the anthology that features A Barve Like That: The Tale of Boba Fett – also known as the story detailing Boba Fett’s escape from the tentacled Sarlacc at the Great Pit of Carkoon.
I also just had to seize this opportunity to list a couple of the MMOs I play, and show off my own screenshots.
My favorite MMO ever, TSW is set in a modern day real world under attack from occult forces. Players join one of three secret societies to fight otherworldly creatures like Lovecraftian monsters and other immortal beings. This is my character with the raid boss of the Manhattan Exclusion Zone…five seconds before it served me my ass on a platter.
Rift is another MMO that’s fond of tentacles. The game takes place in the fantasy world of Telara, which is overrun by enemies that emerge from dynamic “rifts”, which are like tears between reality and the elemental planes of Air, Fire, Water, Earth, Life, and Death. This is my character preparing to engage an opened Water rift.
Wendy’s Picks
Agent to the Stars by John Scalzi
The Yherjak are an amorphous ameboid species that communicate with each other through smell. But every now and then when chatting with humans, a tentacle or two might be necessary to get the point across.
Lord of the Rings by JRR Tolkien
What’s worse than a tentacles monster god? Being the priestess for said god and having an existential crisis in the middle of an attack on your adopted town.
Comic Stack 07/08/15 – 5 Upcoming Comic Reviews
Posted on July 8, 2015 1 Comment
I’m a little behind on my comic book reading. Getting caught up on my books has taken precedent over most of my comics with the time I can spare for reading. I work full-time, and sometimes, my work obligations make it hard to focus on all the things I would love to focus on. Usually my comics are the first to suffer because I feel a bigger obligation to finish ARCs and books I’ve been sitting on for a while than comics. I skipped last week, and this week was looking to become another skip week, even though I should be talking about Deathstroke, because I had to hammer down from the short week. However, I thought I’d give you a little taste of five upcoming comics that I will be reviewing/talking about soon.
King #1 by Joshua Hale Fialkov
“King just wants what anybody wants: not to get fired, eaten, or forced to mate with a cheetah lady.”
This is actually an ARC set to be released on August 19th, so that’s when my official review of this book will go up, but King centers around a post-apocalyptic earth now populated by mutated humanoid creatures like cheetah ladies. King is the last known human survivor of this apocalypse and finds himself the subject to the new inhabitants whimsies such as being sent on jobs to find relics of the old world like Excalibur and iPod shuffles. While the new inhabitants battle it out, King starts looking for something called the “seed of life,” which may bring things back to the way they used to be.
A Vertigo ARC that I’ll be reviewing on August 26th. This will be something a little different for me as it’s a financial thriller, and I can’t say that I’ve read many of those, especially not in comic format. The story starts with a woman who is killing off people Kill Bill style that were involved in her husband’s death. However, things become much more complicated as she becomes embroiled in the world of money. This book is being touted as Kill Bill meets The Wolf of Wall Street mixed with a little Da Vinci Code. We’ll see how this works out, and I’ll admit that part of the draw for me was that the story seems to feature a leading lady of color.
Teen Titans Vol. 1: Blinded by the Light by Will Pfeifer
An ARC provided by DC set to be released on August 12th. Admittedly, as much as I love the Teen Titans cartoons in its various incarnations, I have never read a Teen Titans comic. Not one. Part of that I blame on the fact that I’m just now starting to read more DC comics in recent years. So, I’m well past due for reading about the Teen Titans. Maybe the New 52 isn’t the best way to meet the team since I’ve only been “meh” about so many of the DCnU titles, but I thought this was an interesting line to add to the blurb for these new adventures: “…any one of whom could be the next heroic figure or major villain!” So, I’m hoping they make good on making these kids seeming to toe the live of hero and villain.
Robert Heinlein’s Citizen of the Galaxy by Robert Lazaro
ARC comic that I’ll be posting a review for on August 4th. This is based on Robert Heinlein’s Citizen of the Galaxy, which follows the adventures of a young slave boy named Thorby who is adopted by a beggar, a beggar who turns out to be so much more than that. I haven’t read the novel yet. It has been sitting on my TBR pile for a while. However, I have already this comic, and it’s definitely made me want to read this novel now. I thought the comic was pretty good and it piqued my interest in learning the full story of Thorby.
October Faction Volume 1 by Steve Niles
My final entry (and yes, another ARC) is October Faction, which I’ll be reviewing for July 22nd. I think I’m going to just use the blurb for this one because it’s so damn interesting:
The October Faction details the adventures of retired monster-hunter Frederick Allan and his family… which include a thrill-killer, a witch, and a warlock. Because sometimes crazy is the glue that binds a family together.
There you have it. These should be some of my upcoming comics reviews. I’ll also be trying to find a way to shoehorn in Marvel’s Civil War because that reread is about to happen with a friend starting with House of M, and yes, we’re absolutely nuts for doing this.
Previous 5’s I have featured: 5 Graphic Novel Recommendations, 5 Manga Recommendations
Happy reading!
Waiting on Wednesday 07/08/15
Posted on July 8, 2015 9 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:
Burning Midnight by Will McIntosh: February 2, 2016 (Delacorte Press)
I always get excited when I hear about a new book from one of my favorite authors. I first became a fan of Will McIntosh after reading Love Minus Eighty (now one of my favorite books of all time) and I’ve followed his work with enthusiasm ever since. Looks like his book Burning Midnight will be his first Young Adult novel, which should be an interesting experience.
“For fans of The Maze Runner and The Fifth Wave, this debut YA novel from Hugo Award winner Will McIntosh pits four underprivileged teens against an evil billionaire in the race of a lifetime.
Sully is a sphere dealer at a flea market. It doesn’t pay much—Alex Holliday’s stores have muscled out most of the independent sellers—but it helps him and his mom make the rent. No one knows where the brilliant-colored spheres came from. One day they were just there, hidden all over the earth like huge gemstones. Burn a pair and they make you a little better: an inch taller, skilled at math, better-looking. The rarer the sphere, the greater the improvement—and the more expensive the sphere.
When Sully meets Hunter, a girl with a natural talent for finding spheres, the two start searching together. One day they find a Gold—a color no one has ever seen. And when Alex Holliday learns what they have, he will go to any lengths, will use all of his wealth and power, to take it from them.
There’s no question the Gold is priceless, but what does it actually do? None of them is aware of it yet, but the fate of the world rests on this little golden orb. Because all the world fights over the spheres, but no one knows where they come from, what their powers are, or why they’re here.”
Book Review: Cities And Thrones by Carrie Patel
Posted on July 7, 2015 4 Comments
Genre: Gaslamp, Post-Apocalyptic
Series: Book 2 of the Recoletta Series
Publisher: Angry Robot (July 7, 2015)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Tiara’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided to me by Angry Robot via Netgalley. I would like to thank the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed from here forward are my own.
The Buried Life took us to the world of Recoletta, an underground city that has existed for many years after an event known only as the Cataclysm caused people to seek refuge underground. However, Recoletta is not some dingy, dark place. The atmosphere of the city is created with colorful gaslamps and there are skylights that allow sunshine in. The people living underground don’t see the surface world as a desirable place to live, even though they get sunlight and much of their resources from the surface. There are surface dwellers, though. The only group encountered in the The Buried Life made me think they all must be happy hippies living in communes. That couldn’t be further from the truth. After reading this book, I learned the surface dwellers live normal lives in towns, and they find the underground dwellers just as fascinating as the underground dwellers find them. However, there is more of a marked easiness between most surface dwellers. Underground life was filled with trite tête-à-tête that often felt like verbal sparring. Surface dwellers are easygoing and more open with much of their information unlike the guarded underground dwellers.
Cities and Thrones plays out less like a whodunit and more like a political intrigue piece. For that reason, this has a more linear storytelling style than The Buried Life. While that can be a good thing, I do like stories that take me on a rollercoaster more than stories that are just trying to get me from point A to point B, but there are a few surprises. The focal point of this story revolves around a hidden library that contains information that the warring parties either think will bring great power or must be destroyed for the power it could bring. Since the Cataclysm, books about the world before the apocalyptic event are closely guarded or destroyed to keep past mistakes from being repeated. As I said in my review of The Buried Life, the Cataclysm serves as some vague fear in the back of people’s minds to keep them under control, to make them agree that destroying and hiding knowledge is the best thing for all humanity. Now, there’s this new threat of a hidden library that everyone wants to get their hands on for good or evil.
I was glad to get more of an idea of Recoletta as a city. In my last review, I complained that Patel had this fascinating world that she spent so little time on. It could’ve been my backyard for all the information I got about it. This time around she gives us more to work with. We learn how Recoletta came to be and are able to make connections to the modern world as we know it. Patel also presents us with this beaten down Recoletta that is trying to forge itself into something new after the dramatic events that ended the last book. At the same time, we’re introduced to new cities and players that wear even more on an already stressed Recoletta who can no longer afford to politic as they once did. This story has opened up, feeling less cloistered and more focused on a story that encompasses a broader range of events. However, the world can still come off a bit empty, but I’m still appreciative that she tried to give us a little more about the surroundings.
Many of the key players from the last book have returned, but one character in particular I’d like to praise this time–Jane Lin. In the last book, I never really reconciled her character to the story, even though Patel did her best to make her involvement mean something. I liked Jane, but Jane seemed unnecessary for much of the book. After reading this, I understand that Jane represents that part of society that is overlooked, ignored, invisible, that part of society that can easily amass information because they’re not deemed important or a threat. I understood that in the last book, too, but this time around her involvement felt organic. I appreciated her character and her junior Nancy Drew skills much better in this story. She meshed well this time around. Another character who made a bit of a change is Liesl Malone. For sure, she’s still that tough-as-nails officer we first met, but she’s finding herself mired even more in politics during this state of unrest, and politics are not her strong point. It was interesting to see her try to navigate her new circumstances. At times, she seemed defeated, but despite it all, she loves Recoletta and she’s willing to do what she has to in order to bring order back to her city.
Again, I have found Patel’s writing quite fascinating. I didn’t find the beginning as slow as the previous book, but there is a significant amount of build-up. However, since it follows straight on the heels of the last book, this build-up isn’t without its merits. One of the things I’m finding that I like about these books is that the endings seem Pyrrhic at best and they end with the possibility of anything being able to happen in subsequent books. While there’s still much that can be improved in Patel’s writing, she has me invested enough to continue reading this series.
Book Review: Time Salvager by Wesley Chu
Posted on July 6, 2015 14 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 1
Publisher: Tor (July 7, 2015)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 4 of 5 stars
Full disclosure, though I am writing this review for the ARC, I actually had the distinct pleasure of being a beta reader for an early draft of Time Salvager last year, and I just want to say now that being able to experience this story again felt even more amazing. Wesley Chu has already shown a flair for writing thrilling sci-fi adventures with his Tao trilogy, and there’s no doubt that his new novel is another strong entry into the genre.
Time Salvager takes us to a future where Earth has become a toxic wasteland. Those who could afford to get off-planet have long since taken their lives to the outer solar system, but this dispersion has also created a greater need for resources to support the population – resources that Earth is no longer in a position to provide.
Enter ChronoCom and their elite corps of time-traveling agents, aptly known as “Chronmen”. If the present can’t provide the resources that humanity needs, then they shall plunder the past. However, messing around with the chronostream is always dicey, so chronmen are dedicated to keeping their ripples in the past as small as possible so that the timeline can heal itself before effects can be felt in the present. This means that a lot of rules put in place, and the harshest punishments are brought down on those who break them.
Unfortunately for chronman James Griffin-Mars, on his final mission in the twenty-first century to secure his retirement, he experiences a moment of madness and breaks the most important and unforgiveable rule of all. Unstable and already close to snapping, James spontaneously decides to rescue a young woman named Elise from her fated death and brings her back to his time. Viewed as a temporal anomaly that must now be eliminated, Elise is forced to go on the run with James as the full might of ChronoCom descends upon the two fugitives.
Firstly, time traveling stories are always tricky to pull off, and admittedly I can’t think of too many where some willingness to turn a blind eye to temporal paradoxes and contradictions is at least required. Time Salvager is no different, though to Chu’s credit, the time traveling system he proposes is compelling and well-developed. Even though it may not stand up to heavy scrutiny, the process behind the technology lends itself perfectly to the story which will delight readers who are in it for the action and the entertainment. In other words, yes, you’ll probably have to roll with the punches, but at the same time I’m hard pressed to think of any other instance where doing so has been more fun.
Those who have read the author’s Tao series may also notice that the story of Time Salvager has a darker, more despairing vibe. Much of this has to do with the protagonist of James, whose long years working for ChronoCom and salvaging dead-end timelines has exposed him to too much death and destruction. Added to his overall jadedness are the dangerous physiological effects of doing too many time jumps, the character of James Griffin-Mars is definitely not singing a song of sunshine and rainbows. Perhaps the only reason I like Wesley Chu’s Tao books slightly more is because of the emotional cocktail of desperation, hopelessness and pent-up rage that is James’ personality. It fits who he is and makes for interesting development later on in the novel, but it does give Time Salvager a certain gravitas and makes it a heavier read.
Chu, however, did impress me with his characterization of Levin Javier-Oberon, the ChronoCom auditor tasked to capture James and Elise. With his complex view of the world and the way he believes things should be, Levin became my favorite character as soon as he was introduced as a point-of-view character. I can’t even really bring myself to name him as the antagonist; it doesn’t seem fair just because Levin is rigidly tied a set of moral standards that happens to be the antithesis of James’. I hope we’ll see more of Levin in the next book, because I’m not ready for his tale to be over yet, especially given how the book ended.
It goes without saying, I’m really looking forward to the sequel. Time Salvager feels like the next big step in Wesley Chu’s writing career, which continues to rise promisingly. This book does a fantastic job setting up for a fast-paced sci-fi thriller series that is brimming with potential, and you really can’t ask for much more.
Book Review: The Floating City by Craig Cormick
Posted on July 6, 2015 12 Comments
Genre: Fantasy, Alternate History
Series: Book #2 of The Shadow Master
Publisher: Angry Robot (July 7, 2015)
Author Information: Website
Tiara’s Rating: 3 of 5 stars, but with some caveats
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Full Disclosure: A review copy of this book was provided to me by Angry Robot via Netgalley. I would like to thank the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for providing me this opportunity. All opinions expressed from here forward are my own.
This is very different from its predecessor. The only thing that has stayed the same is the Shadow Master himself. The Shadow Master is far from the Walled City in a place called the Floating City (Venice, basically). The city is being besieged by an enemy that sends monsters in the water who attack the powerful people living in the city, such as the seers who are magicians with immense power. The story begins with the writer Vincenzo who is torn as to whether he should write about the trouble of the city, as he feels led to do, or to do the job he is being paid for which is to write the history of the Montecchi family, which largely chronicles the adventures of the Montecchi daughters. However, the Montecchi daughters and Vincenzo’s urge to write about the troubles of the city begin to converge into a single story. Vincenzo also finds himself sort of a master of events to come when he becomes an accomplice to the Shadow Master who sets certain events into motion.
Cormick has taken the heroines from three of Shakespeare’s plays–Disdemona (Desdemona from Othello), Giuletta (Juliet from Romeo and Juliet), and Isabella (Isabella from Measure for Measure)–and essentially has made them sisters in this book along with a few other trappings from their individual stories. I have no problem with that. I enjoy retellings or stories that imagine familiar characters in different ways. I’m a huge Shakespeare fan, so there’s a part of me that takes satisfaction in being able to point out things that parallel his stories in these books. Some things followed Shakespeare’s plays so closely that you can easily predict certain dialogue and situations if you’re familiar with these stories, especially Othello with its inclusion of Otello (Othello) and Ipato (Iago). Sometimes this works for the story and sometimes it doesn’t.
I really did like the sisters, though, especially as their roles became clear and their stories started to make a real impact. You also see much more of the Shadow Master and his machinations in this book, which helped in understanding him a bit better than in the last book. Okay, maybe “understand” is a strong choice of word, but there’s more to him this time around. There are many characters and many point of views in this book aside from the sisters, and funnily enough, few of these POVs actually end up merging together. What’s interesting though is that they do fit together to make an overarching story with Vincenzo acting as the Shakespeare of this story along with the Shadow Master to reshape the story that is taking place. However, so many POVs might be a major turn off for some people who may see it as too overwhelming to follow so many characters, especially some who don’t seem that important in the grand scheme of things. This book is very busy, and the reader will ultimately have to decide if these things make much sense to them or not.
I’ll admit that I am largely still confused by some of this story. There’s still way too much that seemed pointless and just befuddling to me. It’s not badly written, and some of the ideas that are set forth are interesting. I’m starting to see these books as Shakespearean retellings that add more magic, political intrigue, and assassins. I’m going to give it three stars for that because I don’t feel it’s fair to keep giving him question marks when there are things I do like about this overall–especially compared to that last book. I feel like these might be the kind of books that I may need to sit down with one day and reread them with a different way of looking at things, especially now that I am absolutely sure that Cormick means for these to be some type of Shakespearean tragedy with a puppet master pulling the strings. I thought this book was and wasn’t much easier to follow than the previous book, but I just… my brain still hurts after reading this. My husband said this aptly describes my face after finishing this book when I just sat there looking off into space while my brain tried to process this.
There were less euphemisms this time around, which I was thankful for. I’m coming to the conclusion that maybe this just isn’t the series for me, though. Maybe I’m not smart enough for it. If you’re smart enough to understand, please explain it to me. I am lost. I need help. I need an adult, an adultier adult than I am.
More from this series: The Shadow Master (Tiara’s Review), The Shadow Master (Mogsy’s Review)
Book Review: Witches Be Crazy by Logan J. Hunder
Posted on July 5, 2015 15 Comments
A review copy was provided by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own. Any quotes contained in this review are from the advance copy of the book and are subject to change.
Witches Be Crazy: A Tale that Happened Once Upon a Time in the Middle of Nowhere by Logan J. Hunder
Genre: Fantasy, Humor
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Night Shade (July 14, 2015)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Humor, as we all know, is subjective. Especially satire and parody. Case in point, the man I married can watch Monty Python and the Holy Grail for the nine hundredth time and still bust a gut laughing, while I’m sitting there beside him on the couch rolling my eyes because the movie stopped being funny after the first time (and I expect I will catch a lot of grief for that blasphemous confession). What I find funny/not funny might not be the same as others, which is why I feel it is necessary to preface this review with a big YOUR MILEAGE MAY VARY. There are many great things about this novel: it’s clever, it’s entertaining, and it has its uproariously funny moments. On the other hand, there are parts where the humor simply did not work for me. But that doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t work for you! Because it is so difficult to put a score on books like this, I’m actually going to leave my rating off for the blog.
The hilariously titled Witches Be Crazy pokes fun at one of my favorite fantasy themes – the epic quest. The story begins “once upon a time in the middle of nowhere” – in this case a desert oasis village, home to an unassuming blacksmith-turned-innkeeper named Dungar Loloth who hears tell of strange happenings in Jenair, the kingdom’s capital. The ruler King Ik is dying, if not already dead, with only his long-lost-but-now-only-just-found daughter to succeed him.
No, as a matter of fact, Dungar doesn’t think that sounds very legit either. Convinced of witchcraft, Dungar sets off on a journey to expose the princess for what she really is, and plans to kill her before she can set her evil plans in motion. Along for the ride is Jimminy, an insane hobo who loves to sing off-tune and drive Dungar (and me) crazy. Surviving each other is just the beginning, though. Together on their way to Jenair, the two companions get to come face-to-face with many more dangers, meet other questing adventurers, and run afoul of plenty more beloved genre tropes.
If you’ve followed this blog for a while, you might have noticed we participate in a weekly meme called “Tough Traveling”, a feature inspired by The Tough Guide to Fantasyland by Diana Wynne Jones, a parody tourist guidebook that uses humor to examine the common themes in fantasy fiction. Tropes are popular for a reason – they’re tried and true and entertaining to boot, but it’s also very fun to recognize and affectionately make light of them, which is why I was drawn to the description of Witches be Crazy in the first place. Logan J. Hunder’s debut succeeds at lampooning many of the genre’s most established and cherished clichés, starting with character archetypes. I loved this book’s introduction, which featured many quotable gems such as this one about the ridiculously beautiful Princess Koey:
“She was known to have left the castle and made a public appearance only once. It is said that during this appearance her skin, which was oddly tanned for someone who had apparently never been outside, emitted a light more radiant than that of the sun and her smile was so alluring that a flock of birds splattered themselves all over a tower because they were physically unable to watch where they were going.”
The book is full of moments like this that will make you chuckle – because they reveal the illogical nature behind so many of our favorite tropes. The prologue made me optimistic for the rest of the book, though as I read on, I realized that I prefer a subtler kind of comedy. After the first handful of chapters, it’s clear that there was not going to be much variation to style of humor employed by the author, which consists of mostly punny wordplay and slapstick. If you enjoy that, then you are sure to be in for a real treat. For me, however, there was just not enough variation to the repertoire. While I had an excellent time with the beginning of this book, I have to admit the novelty gradually lost its appeal.
The story read like a series of skits – Dungar and Jimminy are plunged into one situation after another, some of which will be immediately familiar to avid readers of fantasy. You have the gladiatorial arena. A stint on a ship with a fearsome band of pirates. A magical tree with malicious nymphs. This random assortment of events made for an outrageous yet amusing plotline, though ultimately they featured a similar routine played out over and over. By the time Dungar and Jimminy got to the village populated by bigoted Amazons, I was just worn down and ready for this story to end. It might have been oversaturation for me at that point, but I really could have done without that entire section with the all-women village, which I did not enjoy or find funny at all. But like I said, to each their own.
In the end, I think a novella of this type of story would have been perfect for me, but a full length novel was perhaps more than I could manage. It was a fun book, but simply featured too much of the same kind of humor and ran too long for my tastes. I have no doubt that Witches Be Crazy will garner a lot of fans though; to me this is the kind of book with “dedicated cult following” written all over it, much like other parodic classics like Monty Python and the Holy Grail or The Princess Bride. If the novel’s description sounds like something that would interest you, it might be worth giving it a shot.
The BiblioSanctum 