Tough Traveling: Disguises
Posted on June 4, 2015 25 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: Disguises
Hiding in plain site? Put on a disguise. Often used to sneak into the evil lair. For best results brain a guard and steal his; no one is tracking these things.
Wendy’s Picks:
Talon by Julie Kagawa
How do you hide a dragon in plain sight? You let them take on human form, of course. Ember and Dante hill are just gorgeous 16 year olds, hanging out at the beach for the summer with friends, right? Nope! They are actually young dragons, stationed there to learn how to blend in with society. Conveeenient!
American Gods by Neil Gaiman
You know who are really great at disguises? Gods. Like all the gods in Neil Gaiman’s American Gods. And poor, naive Shadow, gets to meet just about all of them as he travels the United States.
Mystique (X-Men) and Voodoo (formerly WildC.A.T.S.)
Disguises? Well that’s pretty easy to cover when shapeshifting is your mutant power.
Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
How do you lure the great Steelheart into a trap? By pretending to be an even more epic Epic than he is, complete with all the technology necessary to mimic super powers.
Lots of people with mutant powers stroll around Northcott’s future, and many of them are willing to face death in the Arena for a chance at some big cash. Matthew Moxon is one of them. Or rather, he’s pretending to be, because he really, really needs that money…
The Wizards’s First Rule by Terry Goodkind
Sneak into the lair of the deadly Mord Sith, a group of women who have been conditioned to a life of pain and misandry, you say? The Seeker of Truth and the Mother Confessor are up to the task!
The Cloud Roads by Martha Wells
Moon is an orphan with no clue about his origins. He’s spent his life hiding his shapeshifting abilities from the various cultures he settles with, especially since his true form resembles that of a feared enemy.
When a group of adventurers wind up dead at the local bar, the usual suspects of non-playable characters decide to forego their typical roles and take up the quests the dead adventures have left behind.
And finally:
Tiara’s Picks:
Myles (The Storm Siren Trilogy by Mary Weber)
Myles is the handsomest creepster you’ll probably ever meet. He’s one of the magical beings in Weber’s series whose ability is mind manipulation. One of his favorite tricks is using those abilities to disguise himself and others, often making himself appear as trusted allies to others in order to get access to information, move around in places he shouldn’t be, and of course, to get in close to people… One character even complains about him making her look like a teenaged boy after he tells her to stop gawking at herself as a boy. LOL!
Jezebel Jet (Batman R.I.P. by Grant Morrison)
Jezebel’s is a former model and now the leader of an African country. While these are her true professions, she uses them to the best of her ability to get close to Batman as a undercover agent for the Black Glove who tasks her with making him fall in love with her. This does and doesn’t work out for her in the end. He does reveal an insane amount of secrets to her including his Bat persona and takes her back to the Bat Cave, but this is Batman we’re talking about. He’s not the called the world’s greatest detective for nothing.
Bob Arctor (A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick)
In PKD’s dystopian story, Bob Arctor, a cop, is tasked with finding out who supplies a deadly narcotic known as Substance D (also called Death) that has some very disturbing affects on the brain. How does Bob plan to find the source? Well, he’s going undercover as a drug user. To say that’s an interesting experience is an understatement.
YOU’RE HIGH!
Count Olaf (A Series of Unfortunate Events by Lemony Snicket)
Count Olaf is the distant cousin of the Baudelaire children who becomes their caretaker after their parents die. He wants their inheritance. However, he’s foiled and the children are taken from him, and he begins a very dogged chase to get them back by assuming many disguises to ruin every opportunity they have at happiness.
Cullen (The Stranded by Mike Carey)
Cullen starts this book as a “sleeper,” a humanoid alien refugee with powers whose memories have been manipulated so he forgets who he is. His powers allow him to absorb the feelings, persona, and powers of others to disguise his presence, a power that he’s inadvertently continued to use even as a sleeper, which makes him difficult to find in a crowd or remember when the bad guys come looking for him and other sleepers. However, since he works as an investment banker while he’s “sleep,” his inadvertent use of his powers help him to connect to people and make them believe they have things in common, that he’s one of them, which makes him an excellent banker to his colleagues’ chagrin. (Note: This comic is hard to find.)
The Fables (Fables by Bill Willingham)
In Fables, fairy tale land is real, but has been taken over by an entity known as Adversary. The Fables, which includes names such as the Big Bad Wolf, Snow White, Beauty and the Beast, flee to modern day New York. Those who don’t normally look human have to pay to keep up a glamour. Otherwise, they’re shipped off to what’s known as The Farm. The Fables are policed in part by Bigby Wolf (The Big Bad Wolf) who has mostly atoned for his past, but can sometimes be pushed to reveal his true form.
This is only his partial true form. His true form is a wolf.
Comic Stack – 06/03/15
Posted on June 3, 2015 2 Comments
The Displaced #1 by Rick Troula (writer, illustrator)
Publisher: Chaos Factory Comics (November 27, 2013)
Genre: Fantasy, Mythology, Action-Adventure
I am going to be completely honest with you guys about today’s comic. I have no earthly idea how I ended up with this comic, but after reading it, I’m not sorry that it found its way to me. While browsing through my stack of digital comics, I saw this one many times, but I’d passed it by just as many times. I wasn’t drawn to it as something I immediately needed to read, but the description sounded interesting enough that I knew I’d get around to it eventually. I don’t know what made this week different, but I decided to give it a read just to see the story behind this comic. I don’t have anything bad to say about this other than it’s too damn short. I think I was sort of holding my breath by the end of it.
The Displaced starts with a tale, a biblical legend of sorts that conjures up shades of Cain and Abel (the biblical story of the first murder committed by one brother against another brother), about something called “the wildling amulet.” The story goes that the first men of Zarconia, the wildlings, worshiped their gods to the point of fanaticism. Like any good religious fanatics, their fervor resulted in violence, especially when people tried to introduce new religious ideas. The comic says killing comes easy for the wildlings. However, the story cautions that it’s never easy to kill one’s own and this displeased the gods.
From this crime, the wildling amulet comes into fruition forged from the blood of those slain. The amulet is considered a living thing that stayed hidden nurturing its dark power until it was ready to be found. Then, it continued to feed on people’s strength, corrupting those who held it, until the gods “shattered” the world, which reminds me of how the biblical floods supposedly created continents and oceans, but the amulet was soon found again by men and used throughout the years by its wielder to seize power until the owner couldn’t control it. Finally, one woman finds the amulet and uses it to conquer the lands with her war maidens.
However, the power of the amulet is unable to corrupt her, and she has it locked away with very strong dark magic. The shaman who created the amulet hid away from civilization because men didn’t forget the amulet. However, the shaman is eventually found and killed by an ambitious young merchant, a merchant who spends most of his years trying to free the amulet without success. This is the point where the story stops being a parable and shows us the merchant as an old, bitter man being attacked by a group of men. What do they want?
Of course, a fight starts and we meet our main trio. We have some kind of battlemage type dude that creates weapons with magic. I love battlemages. They are my absolute favorite because they combine two things I love–magic and brawling. I don’t know this guy’s name, so I will dub him Sorcerer Supreme. He looks like Dr. Strange a little and he uses magic. Perfect name for him.
We also have our handsome archer dude, popping in from out of nowhere and shooting all the things. I don’t know his name, either, so I’m going to call him Robin of the Hood.
Finally, we have our tank. Where the hell would we be without our tank? Another nameless soul, so I’m going to call him Frank the Tank. Friendly reminder: Never disrespect the tank.
The scuffle ends with a lot of injured (and dead?) men, but the Sorcerer Supreme, Robin, and Frank make off with the wildling amulet while sparing the merchant’s life. Who are these guys really? The comic doesn’t tell us yet. What do they want with the amulet? The book doesn’t tell us that either. In fact, we only get a few additional pages about the group before the comic ends, which means I scrambled in search of the next one because this was a really compelling story.
I loved the combination of history telling, action, and mysteriousness this managed to blend together. The parable type telling at beginning of the book gave a brief, but totally understandable, history of the amulet. The story made an impact even with its brevity. It gave me just enough of a peek to know that this amulet’s power is dangerous and terrifying. That leaves me with this question: “What the hell do these guys want with this amulet?”
Waiting on Wednesday 06/03/15
Posted on June 3, 2015 24 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:
One Good Dragon Deserves Another by Rachel Aaron: August 1, 2015 (Aaron/Bach, LLC)
Thank you to Danya @ Fine Print for passing along the news about this book earlier this week. I had an amazing time listening to the audiobook of Nice Dragons Finish Last a few months ago, and I was thrilled to see that the sequel finally has a cover and blurb! One Good Dragon Deserves Another is set to be released on August 1 and I seriously hope that an audiobook version will also be available, and that it will follow close behind. Still, the narrator made the first book such a delight; if they keep the same voice actor I think it would be worth waiting for.
“After barely escaping the machinations of his terrifying mother, two all knowing seers, and countless bloodthirsty siblings, the last thing Julius wants to see is another dragon. Unfortunately for him, the only thing more dangerous than being a useless Heartstriker is being a useful one, and now that he’s got an in with the Three Sisters, Julius has become a key pawn in Bethesda the Heartstriker’s gamble to put her clan on top.
Refusal to play along with his mother’s plans means death, but there’s more going on than even Bethesda knows, and with Estella back in the game with a vengeance, Heartstriker futures disappearing, and Algonquin’s dragon hunter closing in, the stakes are higher than even a seer can calculate. But when his most powerful family members start dropping like flies, it falls to Julius to defend the clan that never respected him and prove that, sometimes, the world’s worst dragon is the best one to have on your side.”
Tiara’s Pick
Shadowshaper by Daniel José Older: June 30, 2015 (Arthur A. Levine Books)
Admittedly, I need still need to read Half-Resurrection Blues. I’m getting there. So many books, so little time. However, I think I’m a bit more excited to read this one than that one.
“Sierra Santiago was looking forward to a fun summer of making art, hanging out with her friends, and skating around Brooklyn. But then a weird zombie guy crashes the first party of the season. Sierra’s near-comatose abuelo begins to say “No importa” over and over. And when the graffiti murals in Bed-Stuy start to weep…. Well, something stranger than the usual New York mayhem is going on.
Sierra soon discovers a supernatural order called the Shadowshapers, who connect with spirits via paintings, music, and stories. Her grandfather once shared the order’s secrets with an anthropologist, Dr. Jonathan Wick, who turned the Caribbean magic to his own foul ends. Now Wick wants to become the ultimate Shadowshaper by killing all the others, one by one. With the help of her friends and the hot graffiti artist Robbie, Sierra must dodge Wick’s supernatural creations, harness her own Shadowshaping abilities, and save her family’s past, present, and future.”
Book Review: Siren’s Fury by Mary Weber
Posted on June 2, 2015 5 Comments
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Series: Book #2 of The Storm Siren Trilogy
Publisher: Thomas Nelson/Harper Collins (June 2, 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 Thomas Nelson 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.
In Storm Siren, we met Nym, a young girl with the ability to control the elements who has spent most of her life as a slave carted from owner to owner. She finally finds some purpose in life when she’s bought by her fifteenth owner who wants to make her a weapon of war between the warring kingdoms of Faelen (Nym’s home country) and Bron. Siren’s Fury follows the aftermath of Nym’s training and the climatic battle that ensued toward the end, which proved to be full of surprises, even if one surprise seemed fairly obvious given something that was said in the beginning of the book.
The war has ended (for now), but there are things festering beneath the surface, casting a stunning illusion of safety and peace for the two kingdoms. Nym finds herself again at a crossroads while fighting a seemingly uphill battle to secure what they’ve fought so hard for, for the peace many have died for. Allegiances are tested. Allies become enemies, and people once thought potential enemies turn into friends–or at the very least tenuous allies in some cases.
Admittedly, after being let down quite a bit by the last book, I refused to go into this one with high expectations as I did with the last book. I managed to enjoy this one quite a bit more than I did the first book, though. I don’t know if I can blame my lowered expectations on that or not, but I really think this book managed to outperform its predecessor. In the beginning, I thought I was going to continue to have a hard time connecting with Nym, but she grows as a character throughout this book. She doesn’t become this complete sage who’s been through a war she’s still fighting, but she does learn how to temper her some of her actions while still having plenty of scenes that show everything is still a learning process for her.
She still manages to do some really questionable things throughout the book as she tries to figure out how she’s meant to help, learning it’s not easy to know what’s the right thing to do at times. Okay, I’ll admit that Nym still did a load of stupid stuff that irked the hell out of me, but I tried to be forgiving given her circumstances by putting a seventeen year old me in her place. What would I do if I’d been faced with these decisions? How do you know what’s right or wrong when everything seems right and wrong?
Some of the characters came into play that I didn’t really get to see much of in the last book such as Princess Rasha the Luminescent that Nym was a little afraid of in the first book. I was really happy to learn more about how the Luminescent powers worked through Rasha. This book added a little more nuance to powers. The last book described their powers as allowing them to see on a spectrum that shows them how determined a person is on a set course. The more determined they are, the easier the person is to predict. However, even when they’re mostly sure of how a person will act, there’s still some room for error that Rasha acknowledges. One example is when she mentions that she’s “95% sure” about something but that doesn’t rule out the other 5% actually coming to fruition.
I am appreciative that this book wasn’t as heavy handed on the romance as the first. Instead we focus more on court politics, which as I mentioned in my last review, is not exactly Nym’s forte. This book is teeming with deceit, secrets, half-truths, and lies. Because of the new circumstances surrounding this book, the romance is very downplayed and segued in better with the story. So, readers are treated with more story that focuses on the powers and people of the lands than having to deal with page after page of “he loves me, he loves me not.”
It still lacks in some respect to explore many avenues, but it excels in finding a better medium between investing readers in the story of Nym and these people. The writing was more fluid and pieced itself together more while combining the intrigue and action into the story with more finesse. Weber definitely went places with the exploration of her characters this round, and one character I didn’t much care for in the first book really shined in their role in this book.
While I still had some issues with this book, it still felt more complete for me than the first book because there was more meat to the story than the constant romantic struggle. The romantic feelings still spurred many of Nym’s actions, but it was allowed to be more than a book where the story is secondary to the characters’ romantic feelings. This book ends on a cliffhanger much like the last. It isn’t nearly as dramatic, but it still begs readers to hang on to find out what will be thrown Nym’s way in the final book.
More reviews of this series: Storm Siren (reviewed by me), Storm Siren (reviewed by Mogsy)
Q&A with Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith: The Crown & Key Series
Posted on June 1, 2015 12 Comments
Clay Griffith and Susan Griffith are a married couple who have been writing and publishing together for a long time. Their latest project, the Crown & Key trilogy is set to come out this summer with the first book The Shadow Revolution releasing tomorrow. I had a great time with it, so if you haven’t already be sure to check out my review of this rollicking Victorian urban fantasy action-adventure! Clay and Susan were also awesome to stop by and chat a little about the series and their experience of writing as a team, I hope you enjoy the interview!
* * *
Hello, Clay and Susan, and welcome to the BiblioSanctum. First of all, congratulations on your new trilogy, Crown & Key. How would you describe the series to your new and prospective readers?
Crown & Key Book 1: The Shadow Revolution
Thanks. We shorthand CROWN & KEY as Charlotte Bronte’s Avengers. It’s an adventure story set in the pre-Victorian Era about heroes and villains capable of wielding supernatural powers. Simon Archer finds himself the last surviving scribe on Earth. He has the potential for incredible mystic power because of his command of runic magic, but he is inexperienced and unprepared for the brutal, immortal evils ranged against him. CROWN & KEY centers on a group of magicians and monster hunters who band together as a team and a family to protect the world’s innocents who are unaware of the growing menace of monsters and dark sorcery.
Book one The Shadow Revolution is kicking things off on June 2, followed by The Undying Legion and then The Conquering Dark, with approximately a month between their release dates. Happy readers will be able to enjoy all three books this summer, but how long did it actually take to write the whole trilogy?
From concept to plot to final drafts, it took close to two years to write all three books.
You two are also the authors of The Vampire Empire series (which I love – and how I first discovered your work, actually) an alternate history steampunk about the world being overrun by a plague of vampires. Now in The Shadow Revolution you’re writing about magic, mad science, and some really nasty werewolves. Maybe you can help shed some insight on a very important age-old question? Vampires vs. Werewolves, which of these classic monsters reign supreme? Inquiring minds want to know! Are you Team Fur or Team Fang?
Crown & Key Book 2: The Undying Legion
We are on opposing sides of this question. Susan loves werewolves, while Clay loves vampires. Dracula is one of Clay’s favorite novels, so it was very formative. He thinks vampires are very flexible as characters; they can be anything from monsters to lovers. Susan, on the other hand, finds shapeshifters more intriguing. The ability to be a part of both worlds, human and animal/supernatural, has so many possibilities. Werewolves are driven by instinct and in their animal form they may not be responsible for their actions. So there is a sympathetic character there which is appealing.
From the list of your works, it looks like you two have been writing together for a long time. How did you first come to collaborate?
We had always been sounding boards for one another’s works when we wrote separately. But the first time we made it official was when Clay got a call from Acclaim Comics to write some Disney properties. He was asked if he had ideas for Beauty and the Beast, Toy Story, etc. He said he’d have pitches on the editor’s desk the next day. But he had nothing. As soon as he got off the phone, he came over to me, knowing I had watched every Disney movie there was, including The Castaway Cowboy. Together we worked on those comics and were delighted with the results. We have worked together ever since.
What is the writing process like? Do both of you tackle everything together or do you split some duties?
We do both. With a large project like a novel, we plot out the book thoroughly. We divide up the chapters and start writing. Sometimes we divide chapters along chronological lines. Other times one of us might want to take certain sections because they like particular characters or want to write the political sections or the romantic sections or so on. Then we hand pages back and forth for editing, rewriting, and to make sure the final voice is consistent. Of course, we talk all the time throughout the process because no plot outline can survive the writing intact. We find ourselves coming up with better ideas or new directions all the time. So we have to go over all the ramifications of changes, and make sure we both agree.
With a smaller project like a short story or comic book script, we usually plot together, but then one of us will write the entire first draft. Then the other of us takes it and edits/rewrites.
Crown & Key Book 3: The Conquering Dark
You probably get a lot of questions about the challenges of writing as a team so I’m going to give it a twist and ask, what advice would you give to other writing duos are who are just starting out, or new writers thinking about collaboration?
Check your egos at the door! It no longer is about my stuff and your stuff, but OUR stuff. Nothing that is done showcases one writer over the other. It’s all about showcasing the project you are working on, always. You have to decide what’s best for the story to make it shine. It may mean tossing aside a beloved character to make room for your partner’s. But you have to trust that the decision is for the best. And trust is key to any good collaboration. If you don’t trust your partner to write the scene or create the character then you shouldn’t be working with them. It’s like a marriage…seriously.
What are your hobbies, or favorite pastimes for when you want to have fun or take a break from writing? I read somewhere a few years ago that you two play World of Warcraft and other MMOs (my husband and I do too – a couple who games together stays together!) is that something you still do?
Susan still plays Warcraft religiously, while Clay only plays occasionally. Tabletop gaming is Susan’s new interest, though it’s difficult to get a good group of folks together. Her favorite games currently are Tsuro, Betrayal at House on the Hill, and Grave Robbers from Outer Space. Of course, we both read a great deal. Clay mainly focuses on research material, but he’s a historian, so that’s a given. He also reads classic comics, watches old movies, and sort of keeps up with sports. Susan reads more fiction, usually fantasy, alternate history, and paranormal.
Are there any other projects you’re working on currently or in the near future that you’d like to share, either writing or non-writing related?
We don’t have anything firm in place yet, but we have several ideas. We’re working on an outline for a new series we’d like to do. Of course, we still have stories in the VAMPIRE EMPIRE world we want to tell. And we’d certainly like it if there was more CROWN & KEY in the future. Plus, we’d love to write more comic books. It’s been several years since we worked in that field, and we really miss it.
That’s great, and I’m definitely looking forward to more Vampire Empire stories. Until then, I’m glad I’ll have Crown & Key books 2 and 3 to curl up with this summer. Thank you so much for the interview!
Thank you!
*** For more information about Clay and Susan and their work, please visit their website at http://clayandsusangriffith.blogspot.com! ***
YA Weekend: Storm Siren by Mary Weber
Posted on May 31, 2015 21 Comments
Genre: Fantasy, Young Adult
Series: Book #1 of The Storm Siren Trilogy
Publisher: Thomas Nelson/Harper Collins (August 19, 2014)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Tiara’s Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble
Narrator: Christine Stevens | Length: 9 hrs and 32 mins | Audiobook Publisher: Thomas Nelson | Whispersync Ready: Yes
In Storm Siren, we meet Nym, a young slave girl who has been sold fourteen times. Nym is an Elemental, a person who can summon the elements. However, she doesn’t know how to control them, which often leads to her unleashing them when she’s emotionally charged. She possesses the telltale signs of an Elemental, the white hair and unearthly blue eyes along with the powers. She shouldn’t exist, though, as all Elementals are born male. However, despite being female, her looks still make people uneasy.
Nym is carted off by her fifteenth owner, an eccentric woman named Adora, who wants to use Nym as a weapon in the war against another kingdom that is technologically superior to the kingdom of Faelen. She promises to provide Nym with the means to learn to control her power by providing a tutor while telling Nym that her only other alternative is death, which Nym has contemplated. Preying on Nym’s protective, caring, penitent nature, she tells Nym that defending Faelen would make up for all the death and destruction that she has caused in the lives of others. Nym takes the offer because she wants to learn to control her powers, and she does want to protect her home and its people regardless of the hardship she’s faced.
How do I describe how I feel about this book? This book caused much internal debate as I tried to figure out that out. I can’t say I ever connected with this book, but there were things that I liked about this. There were also things I really loathed about this. Some slight spoilers after the jump (YMMV), mainly because I think I used this review to process my feelings about this book. Also because I am curmudgeonly… and like gifs… Read More
YA Weekend: Seriously Wicked by Tina Connolly
Posted on May 30, 2015 10 Comments
A review copy of this book was provided to me by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own.
Seriously Wicked by Tina Connolly
Genre: Young Adult, Paranormal
Series: Stand Alone
Publisher: Tor Teen (May 5, 2015)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 3.5 of 5 stars
I really enjoyed Seriously Wicked, though feel I should also preface my review with the note that I’m probably not the intended demographic for this book. Young Adult and Teen Fiction is a genre I dip into quite frequently, but I was initially thrown off a bit by this novel’s tone and writing style which felt skewed even younger, maybe preteen (back in Grade Five and Six, we were already reading books about high schoolers, so it’s possible). It took some adjusting, but once I was able to get used to the crushes on “boy-band boys” and girls named Sparkle, I felt I could give this one a shot. And really, it was a lot of fun. If it were possible to go back in time, I probably wouldn’t hesitate a second to hand this one off to my 11 or 12-year-old self.
The story begins with an introduction to our 15-year-old protagonist Camellia Anna Stella Hendrix, whose days consist of figuring out ways to foil her adopted witch mother’s plans for world domination, running around town collecting strange and sometimes disgusting ingredients for her magical spells, and all the while trying to pass her algebra test and not get distracted by the cute new boy in town. However, the witch Sarmine’s latest plot to take over the world by harnessing the power of a dying phoenix on the night of the big Halloween dance might complicate matters slightly.
Actually, scratch that. Matters are complicated by A LOT when Sarmine’s failed demon summoning session ends with the demon taking over the body of Devon, the aforementioned cute new boy in town. Now on top of not flunking algebra, Cam has to worry about getting the demon out of Devon and preventing the school getting destroyed. Can things get any worse? Well, yes, yes they can. Hunting down hidden phoenixes and chasing after demon-possessed boys is just the beginning.
As you can probably tell from its description and cover, Seriously Wicked is a fun, quirky book – emphasis on the quirky. Like I said, the story is probably geared more towards preteens or young teens, which might account for some of the silliness. It’s a very lighthearted and upbeat book, which means it’s probably good for providing some cheerful, innocent entertainment for folks of all ages. Its lightness and YA designation notwithstanding, the story actually has a lot of complexity, quite a few not-very-obvious twists and turns, as well as many instances of Cam finding very creative and outside-the-box solutions to her problems. Readers will adore Cam, whose quick thinking and determination can help get her out of any difficult situation, from dealing with high school mean girl cliques to procuring a source of goat’s blood for Sarmine’s spells.
My final verdict is, if you’re an older teen or adult looking for more age-appropriate reading, Seriously Wicked probably will feel too immature for you. However, yours truly did her best to put herself in a middle-grader’s shoes and was still able to find plenty to like about the book. Those curious about Tina Connolly’s work but aren’t into Children’s or YA fiction could probably check out her Ironskin series which is said to be quite good, and having read the second book Copperhead I can attest to that. If you don’t mind a cute, charming read that clocks out at just a tad over 200 pages though (so it’s also very quick), give this one a go.
Backlist Burndown: Artemis Awakening by Jane Lindskold
Posted on May 29, 2015 13 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!
For this month’s Backlist Burndown, I’m reviewing…
Artemis Awakening by Jane Lindskold
Genre: Science Fiction
Series: Book 1 of Artemis Awakened
Publisher: Tor (May 27, 2014)
Author Information: Website | Twitter
Mogsy’s Rating: 2.5 of 5 stars
Artemis Awakening is a strange novel, one I wish I could have enjoyed a lot more. I wouldn’t say I disliked it, but neither did it hold my interest…and later on it just plain weirded me out. After mulling it over for a bit, I’ve concluded my disappointment probably stems more from feeling suckered in by its description, rather than something specific associated with the story.
First of all, the setting is Artemis, described as a distant world created by an advanced human empire to be a pleasure planet for its richest and most elite to play in. Centuries later, the empire is no more and much of its technology has been lost, and Artemis itself is all but forgotten. The story begins when a young archaeologist named Griffin Dane crashes his ship onto the planet’s surface, stranding himself. Enter a local huntress named Adara and her psychic-linked puma, who encounter Griffin and lend him their help in his predicament.
From all this, I expected more of a sci-fi adventure. But what Artemis Awakening offers (at least in the beginning) is actually something closer to a spiritual journey. Not a very compelling one either, if I’m to be blunt. In the introduction, there’s lot of talk and not much action, and most regretfully of all, very little by the way of science fiction elements. Sure, I found certain concepts fascinating, such as Artemis’ past as a bioengineered “wild” playground for the rich and powerful, the adapted humans and creatures that have persisted and live there now, as well as the mental links certain individuals have with their animal companions. All that potential feels squandered, however, as none of these ideas come to fruition, doomed instead to wither on a vine behind a brick wall.
So much amazing world building, but where the story was taking me was definitely not where I wanted to be. The plot went in a direction that was rather unexpected, but I was also baffled by how the author decided to tackle it. After spending a few days alone together (with Sand Shadow the puma) in the wilderness, Griffin and Adara grow close, so that upon their return to Adara’s home, her kind-of-but-not-really-boyfriend grows upset with the new boy in town for macking on “his” woman. Had I wandered into a Young Adult novel without realizing it?
This bizarre love triangle is further complicated when the three set out with Adara’s mentor to figure out what to do with Griffin. This is where a lot more starts happening in the story, but it’s also where things get perplexing. It didn’t help that I was so numb at this point, not much was going to help turn my tepid opinion around. Add to that, further along our characters’ journey came the ridiculous villain, a man who is ancient but physically never ages (how random), then there was the uncovering of the conspiracies and the kidnappings, the horrible revelations of the breeding facilities and the forced rape and pregnancies of women, and by now I’m just like a deer in the headlights going, um? Whu? Ugh…
I’m still a bit confused, trying to figure out what kind of book I just read. Half mysticism, half quest narrative? A mix of YA and some very mature adult themes? Something that’s more paranormal than science fiction? Probably the thing that frustrates me most about this book is how thoroughly it left me cold. Thing is, I didn’t hate the novel or even wholly disliked it. Instead, I watched event after event unfold before me with something close to mild curiosity, but with no real interest. Despite reading about everything that happened in the story, I remained feeling unaffected, which in some ways is even worse than being just outright disgruntled or upset. It means I hardly made a connection to any of the characters or the conflict. It’s a shame too, because there was so much potential, and the story certainly had plenty of merits. Nevertheless, somewhere along the way I simply stopped caring.
I had originally picked up Artemis Awakening so I could read it before picking up the sequel Artemis Invaded this summer. Unfortunately, I probably won’t be doing that anymore. Still, I’m open to checking out other books by Jane Lindskold; this was my first book by her and while it didn’t really work for me, I hear a lot of her stories involve humans with very close and special bonds to animals. Sounds like something I would enjoy very much. I’ll be keeping an eye out on Lindskold’s other work, but it’s looking like I’ll be giving book two a pass.
Tough Traveling: Heists/Cons
Posted on May 28, 2015 22 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: Heists/Cons
Smash and grabs are not always the best way to illicitly acquire objects in fantasy land. Sometimes these things take planning, a loyal crew, and a little bit of luck. But a good crew can always get the job done.
Mogsy’s Picks:
I LOVE this week’s topic! Heist books and stories about daring capers are like my guilty pleasure and I’m really looking forward to what everyone else has on their lists. I’m constantly on the lookout for more heist books.
Edit: Well, I originally thought I’d leave The Palace Job for either Tiara or Wendy but I guess we love that book so much here that it’s a given. Patrick Weekes‘ rollicking fantasy heist book definitely deserves top spot in this week’s topic. It’s great. Read it.
Premonitions has got it all, including your quintessential caper crew. However, there’s nothing typical about Karyn Ames and her team of thieves. Karyn herself fits the role of mastermind, but also has this debilitating condition which allows her to hallucinate slices of the future – a useful power when you’re the one responsible for the safety and wellbeing of your crew, but it can get out of hand, especially when a notorious crime lord offers you and your friends two million dollars to steal an ancient occult artifact.
California Bones by Greg Van Eekhout
California Bones has everything I want in a heist novel: a diverse crew with each member equipped with specific, specialized talents? Check. High stakes? Check. Innovative solutions to get around alarm systems, physical barriers and other security measures? Check. And last but most importantly, lots of plot twists to set up an explosive final act. Double check. Our protagonist Daniel and his friends are offered the job of a lifetime. The score? Caches of untold osteomantic treasures in the Heirarch’s heavily guarded storehouse.
The Magician’s Land by Lev Grossman
In the first half, we have an exciting heist story. Quentin meets up in the back of a book store with a bunch of other strangers, called there by a mysterious benefactor, a…talking crow? All of them are put through tests until the ultimate team is chosen. Departing from convention, however, this heist doesn’t go well at all. Despite months of preparation, things get pretty disastrous.
The latest Dresden Files book is a heist story, I was happy to discover when I picked it up. Some old friends come along for the ride, as well as a few new faces. Among this team of talented individuals, we have the thief Anna Valmont, the rogue warlock Hannah Ascher, the wizard mercenary Binder, a shapeshifter named Goodman Grey, and even a forest creature called a Genoskwa. And of course, Harry, Karrin Murphy, and Michael Carpenter. They are led by the nefarious Nicodemus and his daughter Deirdre, and as we all know, whenever the Denarians get involved, we get our fair share of treachery, deceit, and unexpected twists and turns.
The Lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch
I would be shocked if we don’t see this one on a lot of lists this week. Young Locke Lamora and all his friends in the Gentleman Bastards crew live for heists and long cons, led by their mentor Father Chains. This first book as well as its sequel Red Seas Under Red Skies both prominently feature a heist story or caper themes.
Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson
It’s easy to forget sometimes that Mistborn is essentially a fantasy caper story. We have Kelsier the charismatic leader and mastermind, his various friends with clashing personalities and unique talents, and finally a young newcomer in the form of Vin to round out this motley thieving crew of magic users. The job: to overthrow the Final Empire by robbing its treasury blind and collapsing its entire economy.
Most heist stories make for rather light and fun books, though the same really cannot be said of Neuromancer – it’s a much heavier and more challenging read, but it does feature a caper. Case is a burned out hacker and cyberthief, ruined when his ability to jack into the matrix is taken away by a neurotoxin. Then a mysterious employer contacts him and offers him a sweet job to steal a ROM module that holds the saved consciousness of one of Case’s old mentors.
Vlad Taltos works as a killer-for-hire in the House of Jhereg (an order like the mafia in this fantasy world). One day, a powerful underworld boss offers him a lucrative contract to track down and assassinate a council member. It is discovered, unfortunately, that his target has fled to the home of Dragonlord Morrolan who is also Vlad’s good friend. Now Vlad has to try and figure out a way to fulfill his contract without royally pissing off Morrolan, whose strict rule against the killing of anyone on his premises while they are under his protection is proving to be more than just a minor inconvenience. Much of the book revolves around Vlad trying to come up with creative ways around the rules of Morrolan’s hospitality.
The Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron
Some thieves like to go big, but none probably go as far as Eli Monpress who has gotten it into his head to steal not an object of value or item of power. No, the magician-thief has set his sights on stealing the king himself. If he pulls this off, he’ll gain what he’s always wanted, which is the reputation as being the best thief in the world. His plans to increase his notoriety fall through, however, when he unwittingly brings about political turmoil that could threaten the kingdom and even the spirits of the land.
Inception written and directed by Christopher Nolan
While I’ve got a couple more books in mind, I wanted to stick to 10 and round up my last pick with a nod to a great film, one of my favorite sci-fi heist/caper stories of all time. The film is, of course, Inception. Cobb works as a freelance “extractor”, cracking into people’s dreams like a thief would crack into a bank vault. He rounds up a team for one big job, though instead of “stealing” something, they are attempting to plant an idea in their target’s head.
Tiara’s Picks
Since I’d used The Palace Job for a lot of these, I decided not to use it this time. I was actually going to choose Neuromancer first, but Mogsy best me to it. I’ve actually read more heist/con-like stories than I give myself credit for but more in the science fiction vein. However, I was able to rustle up a few fantasy books I’ve read, too, aside from The Palace Job. The Palace Job was just one of the more fun fantasy ones I’ve read.
The Quantum Thief by Hannu Rajaniemi
Jean le Flambeur is a thief including being a mind-thief. In fact, he’s been many con-types throughout his lifetime, and now, he’s serving time in the Dilemma Prison, which he’s sprung from by a woman named Mieli. However, he now has two dilemmas. He has to keep his other self from killing him and he has to pull off a helluva heist, the one that got away.
The Space Merchants by Frederik Pohl and C.M. Kornbluth
In the 22nd century, people are needed to colonize Venus because Earth is overpopulated. Only problem is Venus is not a great place to live (yet), so the government uses a copywriter, Mitch, to write enticing ads, conning people into moving to Venus. Mitch wakes up one day to find his identity erased, but he still has his skills and starts using them to not only find out what happened but to help the revolutionists with their plan.
The Long Run by Daniel Keys Moran –
Trent is the last of Earth’s telepaths (latent telepathy in his case) after a massacre orchestrated by the Peacekeepers rids the world of them. Treat is an engineered human who becomes a cyberthief intent on taking down the military force dominating the world. He teams up with another telepath and his old crew for quite the adventure. Trent kind of makes me think of Case from Neuromancer.
Signal to Noise by Eric S. Nylund
Cryptographer, Jack Potter, works for the highest bidder–legal or not. This is one of those somewhat hard sci-fi books that’s full of cyber theft, espionage, and shady aliens. The problems come into play when Jack begins trading information with aliens who are a little too happy to deal with humans. Then, the con really starts.
I don’t like Tolkien (but I’ve read the books). A kinder, gentler heist, but a heist all the same, and I don’t care what you say. This was a damn heist. You know it. I know it. That’s all I have to say here. Let’s move on.
God Stalk follows Jame, a woman who has amnesia (except the amnesia works kind of stupid and is just obviously a plot device as needed) and Penari, a thief. They live in a world described as “god-infested.” Jame (who also has a strong moral compass and sense of honor despite even going as far as to join a Thieves Guild) manages to find a lot of excitement in their “god-infested” city, especially when she takes up a daring task.
Retribution Falls by Chris Wooding
The Ketty Jay is manned by Captain Frey and his band of degenerate misfits. They do various things from robberies to whatever the hell else they think will annoy the law. Frey and friends find themselves targeted when a heist goes extremely wrong, and then, suddenly, it’s not so fun to be the outlaws anymore. This kind of makes me think of Firefly in terms of setting and storytelling.
Twinborn Trilogy by J.S. Morin
Pirate ships. Fire. Antics. This probably has heist/con-like elements more so than being a straight up heist/com. The premise of this book says that our dreams are actually real, alternate, magical realities and tells us what happens when these two worlds get a little too close for two people. Did I mention there were pirate ships and fire? You can’t go wrong there.
Adventures of the Stainless Steel Rat by Harry Harrison
James Bolivar DiGriz alias The Stainless Steel Rat alias Slippery Jim should’ve had a place on The Weasels list and/The Ace list, but I didn’t think about him until a friend and I started talking about this series. DiGriz does a little bit of everything–master thief, master martial artist, master con artist, master… you get the point. In his mind, he’s providing a service to the populace by keeping them entertained with his antics.
Valour and Vanity by Mary Robinette Kowal
If Jane Austen wrote a heist novel with magic, I’m sure this what you’d get. In this world magic is known as “glamour” and its users “glamourists.” I actually found this book through my mother who is bookish, too, while I was on hiatus from the site last year. This hiatus including me spending a lot of time with my mom, and this was one of the books she was reading at the time. I don’t think I got a chance to read the ending, though, because I can’t remember how this ends. Two glamourists, Jane and Vincent, are robbed by corsairs. Vincent ain’t having that, and they concoct a heist to get their money back. Also, this is not the first book in the series. I’m glad I couldn’t tell and my mom kept quiet. I would’ve died.
The BiblioSanctum