Gedlund

Gedlund by William Ray
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Tammen Gilmot is a young educated man that joined the army as a common soldier. Tam's goal is to see the world and get experience to write a book, but he quickly realizes he likely made a mistake. Tam is heading to dangerous Gedlund, a land where the Lich King rules the living, the dead, and things more frightening than both.

Gedlund truly was not what I was expecting when I first picked up the book. It wasn't until around 33% before anything felt fantasy like. Prior to that there were fights with goblins, mentions of Elves, and talk of an undead Lich King, but nearly no real magic to be seen. The storytelling was slow for much of the early going. My biggest complaint about the story is that large portions of it felt needlessly long. I was more than 200 pages into the story before it really caught my interest.

Gedlund did display a level of intricacy that I didn't notice until further into the novel. At the beginning of each chapter there were excerpts of hearings, reports, books, letters, and other bits of information that all took place during or after the Gedlund invasion. Once I finished the book I flipped back to the excerpts as they were telling a story that details the future in an interesting manner.

Nearly the entire story was told from Tam's point of view, but at about 58% of the way into a book a new point of view character was shown. It was slightly jarring to get a new point of view character after so much of the tale being told by Tam. That being said, I'd say that one of the two additional point of view characters seemed warranted.

One thing that surprised me was the utter lack of respect everyone had for common soldiers. If a person who isn't wealthy joins the Queen's Army they are treated like criminals on a work release. People, including the majority of their families, want nothing to do with them. It's truly hard to believe anyone would sign on for so much danger when nearly everyone would hate them for becoming a regular soldier.

The characters in Gedlund were largely average, the type of characters depicted by one or two characteristics and little else. Two characters particularly stood out to me, the affable Captain Valdemar (Val) Hoskaaner and stern Corporal Glynn. Val is an easy to like character as he's largely everything a writer could want in a hero. He's kind, brave, heroic, and uplifting. Despite being the Captain, Val was in the mix of every battle and would not ask anyone to do what he was unwilling to. Glynn is largely Val's opposite, but no less brave and heroic. Tam was ok, but I would have enjoyed Val or Glynn as the main character more.

Gedlund is a solid story that's different and deeper than it's description.

3 out of 5 stars

I received this ARC from NetGalley in exchange for an honest review.

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The Mad Lancers

The Mad Lancers: A Powder Mage Novella by Brian McClellan
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Ben Styke is a war hero and commander of a garrison in Fernhollow. Fernhollow is a small relatively peaceful out of the way town until a Kez Squadron spends the night. Major Prost, The Fatrastan Governor's brother, beats a local business owner for asking him to pay his bill. Styke intervenes on the business owners behalf and the real trouble starts.

Ben Styke is one hell of a killer which for the time period is fine, but he has an equally fierce temper. I can't help but feel as though if anyone with the slightest bit of diplomatic sense had taken Styke's place when confronting Major Post that the entire book would be different. Styke acts first and thinks second and Fernhollow suffers because of it. When he's thinking he's a horrifying monster to face. Styke is the biggest hammer in a world full of nails. He can't help but smash them. Styke fights like Rocky Balboa. His face may be all bloody and he may be unable to see, but you should see the other guy.

The Mad Lancers felt somewhat unnecessary. Perhaps at some point as Gods of Blood and Power progresses I will be curious about the Mad Lancers origins and the beginning of the Fatrastan Revolution. Right now I'm uninterested by Fatrasta and it's history. Styke is a curiosity, but I largely wonder if he was the inspiration for Kez's Wardens. He's the most physically resilient and powerful non magically augmented individual in the Powder Mage universe to date.

The Mad Lancers was a solid origin story of the military group with the same name.

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ROSEMARY'S BABY BY IRA LEVIN

Rosemary's Baby by Ira Levin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

”She opened her eyes and looked into yellow furnace-eyes, smelled sulphur and tannis root, felt wet breath on her mouth, heard lust-grunts and the breathing of onlookers.”

Nightmare? Passionate dream? Real? How could it be real? It can’t possibly be real.



Rosemary Woodhouse wants a baby. She is married to an actor named Guy. They have recently broken another lease to take an apartment in the exclusive Bramford Building. Guy, who glibly uses his acting skills to spin stories, has no difficulty extracting them from the first lease to take the open apartment in the Bramford. After all, that is what Rosemary wants.

Whenever any of us look back on our lives, we can usually point to a specific moment in time when we made one decision that sent us down a pathway that led us, hopefully, only briefly, astray from the pursuit of happiness. None of us, or maybe I should say few of us, can see the future. We have to make our best guess, hopefully based on more logic than a hope of luck. The apartment at the Bramford had more Gothic overtones, detailed woodwork, and certainly a more interesting location than the other apartments the Woodhouses had looked at. Although smaller than some of the other places, having a hip apartment, especially to young pseudo-intellectuals, is much more important than a few extra square feet of space.

They should have kept the first lease on the other apartment.

I can’t help but think of Bram Stoker every time the Bramford name dances before my eyes on the pages of this book. Strange things have routinely happened in this apartment building. Unexplained, sometimes brutal, deaths have occurred too frequently to be ignored, especially if you are an inquisitive man, such as Rosemary’s dear friend Edward Hutchins. He, on further investigation, finds that there are far more sinister stories surrounding the history of that building than are known by the general public. He discourages Rosemary from continuing to live there, but she is a rational, modern woman who doesn’t believe that a building can have sinister connotations.

Polanski used the Dakota for the outside shots of the Bramwell building.

She might ignore the past and the warnings that come with it, but she does feel flutters of unease that are based more on what can easily be quantified as primordial superstition than on any real basis of fact. Coincidences do happen and can seem ominous or alarming to someone who is already hearing the tap tap tap of paranoia on the door of reason.

Their next door neighbors are Roman and Minnie Castevet, who seem to be a well meaning, overly friendly, almost smothering, older couple. They are delighted to hear the news when Rosemary is pregnant. They suggest a more fashionable obstetrician and even a different regimen of vitamin enriched drinks than what her previous doctor had recommended. Rosemary goes along because Guy is so insistent, but the longer it goes on, the more suspicious she becomes of everyone’s motives.

Run, Rosemary, run!

I’ve been wanting to read this book for years. I’ve put off watching the famous movie by Roman Polanski because I wanted to read the book first. The story has become such a classic icon that people know the bare bones of the story without ever having read the book or seen the movie. The pacing of the book is simply a superb example of a writer who knows how to build tension and unease. By the time Rosemary is approaching the bassinet to see her baby for the first time, I was biting my knuckles, and the hackles on the back of my neck were not only raised but vibrating. I know what she is going to see, but until I read the words, I can hold off fully realizing the implications.



I loved the fact that Rosemary is a reader. Two books that were mentioned that stand out were Flight of the Falcon by Daphne Du Maurier and The Rise and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon. I love it when books are part of the lives of the characters I read about. I’m a huge fan of Du Maurier and plan to read Rosemary’s choice soon. I was even more impressed by her taking on Gibbon. I have six volumes of Gibbon staring me in the face every time I pick my next book to read. Yes, yes, I will read Gibbon. I must read Gibbon to call myself a reasonably educated man.

Rosemary’s Baby was published in 1967, the year of my birth, and has held up superbly, certainly much better than I have. It is a quick, flashy read that will give chills and thrills to all but the most jaded modern reader.

If you wish to see more of my most recent book and movie reviews, visit http://www.jeffreykeeten.com
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Raking Up an Old Bond

Moonraker by Ian Fleming
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Moonraker gets cartoonishly fiendish with its plot and villains, making this the first of the James Bond books to feel like a James Bond movie.

Pure Cold War spy bliss, this book taps into our collective fear of mass annihilation after the successfully brutal bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. A war hero has offered his vast fortune, ambition and knowledge to create and construct a missile supposedly capable of defending Britain in case of attack. A test of the missile is scheduled soon and Bond is put on security detail, because something just isn't quite right with the whole situation, so thinks he and his boss M.

Iam Fleming's own spycraft knowledge from having worked in intelligence during WWII is put to good use in these books. For a genre guy, he's also a decent writer. Doesn't it seem like all public-school-trained Englishmen know how to string along a decent sentence or two?

This is the first book in the series where we get a real decent in-depth look at M. It was a pleasant and unexpected treat to get to know M more intimately and see a little bit about what makes him tick. The book in general was fun, even if the bad guy and his righthand toady were a bit over-the-top...maybe it was fun because they were soooo dastardly!

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Grade A Murder

A Murder of Quality by John le Carré
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I haven't exactly rushed to read John le Carré's books, but whenever I've gotten around to it, I'm always glad I did!

The man can write. He's not the best. It's not all perfect, but it's damn good. The words just flow. The plots are solid. The characters feel like real people, which is sometimes a knock on mystery/crime writers. Carré spends more time rounding out his characters than your typical who-dun-it writer. Sometimes that means the action slows down and the intensity slackens, but that's all right. A change of pace is good!

A Murder of Quality goes old school. Literally, this is about the students, professors and institution of an exclusive boy's prep school. Think Eton. Tradition and having "the right stuff" are of paramount importance. The school has standards to maintain and by god they WILL be maintained!

Does that mean certain individuals, who are just too individual, need to be permanently removed like a blot might be scrubbed away? Former intelligence officer George Smiley is discreetly on the scene to discover what he can.

Smiley is a central figure in many of Carré's books. He's a likable old chap. Sensible, smart and crafty, and rather unassuming. No, not at all pompous. You root for him to take it out of the windbag or bring the snooty character down a peg. Without being overtly charming or particularly outstanding in any way, it's amazing how easily you suddenly find yourself rooting for Smiley.

This low-key character blends into the background of this equally low-key book, and yet you still pull for him from the edge of your seat by the end. A Murder of Quality is another book of quality by Carré!

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Animal Farm

Animal Farm by George Orwell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Under the leadership of the pigs, the animals of Manor Farm overthrow their human owner and go into business for themselves with all animals doing their part. However, some parts involve a lot less work than others and things quickly change...

I somehow managed to dodge this landmine in high school and the ensuing couple decades. However, I had a few conversations about it at work and decided it was time to give it a read.

Animal Farm is a dystopian tale of revolution and the ensuing government. According to everyone, it's an allegory of the Russian revolution of 1917. However, it could easily be an allegory of every revolution ever. Meet the new boss, same as the old boss.

The revolution happens fairly quickly. The pigs organize the other animals and send farmer Jones out on his ass. After that, the future looks bright for about fifteen minutes. Then the pigs start maneuvering against each other and fucking over the other animals. There's also scapegoating, lying, rewriting history, and all sorts of things no government today does. That was sarcasm, before anyone decides to chime in.

This is a powerful little book with many messages. Power corrupts. Communism doesn't work. Those who don't know the past are doomed to repeat it. People are dicks.

There are some classics that are as dry as a geriatric's vagina and pretty joyless to read. Other classics are fairly easy reads containing a wealth of wisdom. Animal Farm is firmly in the second camp. In today's uncertain political climate, it is definitely a must read, although it may be a case of closing the barn door after the horse has already left. Five out of five stars.


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If Only In My Dreams

Keira Andrews
KA Books
Reviewed by Nancy
4 out of 5 stars

Summary

To be home for Christmas, they must bridge the distance between them.

Charlie Yates is desperate. It’s almost Christmas and his flight home from college has been delayed. For days. Charlie promised his little sister Ava he’d be home for her first holiday season since going into remission from leukemia. Now he’s stuck on the opposite coast and someone else grabbed the last rental car. Someone he hasn’t even spoken to in four years. Someone who broke his heart.

Gavin Bloomberg’s childhood friendship with Charlie ended overnight after a day of stolen kisses. With years of resentment between them, they don’t want to be in the same room together, let alone a car. But for Ava’s sake, Gavin agrees to share the rental and drive across the country together.

As they face unexpected bumps along the road, can Charlie and Gavin pave the way to a future together?

My Review

Charlie Yates is going to have the worst Christmas ever if he doesn’t get to Connecticut in time to see his little sister, Ava, who is now in remission from leukemia. It turns out Mother Nature is going to make Charlie’s life difficult by wreaking havoc on both coasts, forcing massive flight cancellations during one of the busiest travel times of the year. Charlie’s only alternative is to rent a car and drive cross-country. Unfortunately, Gavin Bloomberg, Charlie’s childhood friend and cause of his broken heart, has taken the last one.

This is a light, sweet romance with a little angst that is just perfect for the holidays. The alternating viewpoints mostly worked well here. I liked how the problems that caused Gavin’s and Charlie’s separation were revealed slowly, helping to maintain a sense of mystery and keeping my interest. I was thankful, though, that each chapter was headed by the main characters’ first names, because there were times I got confused and forgot who was talking.

I loved how Charlie and Gavin sorted out their problems and reconnected during their long journey. Teenagers may be much more savvy than they were in my day, but I couldn’t help feeling that they acted too maturely for their 18 years. As much as I felt their chemistry and enjoyed their sexual encounters, the dirty talk didn’t feel age-appropriate and made me squirmy.

I enjoy road trip stories and was disappointed there were so few adventures and mishaps other than a slip on the ice and a flat tire. One of my favorite scenes is when they stopped at Little America and were encouraged to participate in the Reindeer Run for charity, where Gavin (the reindeer) is blindfolded and Charlie (the sleigh) carries presents and directs Gavin toward the finish line while managing not to fall off his back.

Normally, I steer away from romances with children, but I rather enjoyed Charlie’s relationship with Ava and the family interactions which revealed a lot about his character. Ava was well drawn and her presence was brief, so don’t let that stop you from reading this.

If you enjoy stories about friendship, harmonious families, fresh starts, and the healing power of love, you won’t be disappointed.

The Way of Shadows

The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Azoth is an orphan who wants to grow up to be a feared and dangerous man like Durzo Blint. Durzo is the city's most famous and deadly assassin. After a chance encounter, Azoth begs to be apprenticed by Durzo. After Azoth completes a task Durzo sets him to, he accepts Azoth under one condition...that he turns his back on his old life completely. He becomes Kylar Stern the apprentice to Durzo Blint.

The Way of Shadows is a complicated book. In many ways it reads like a horny teenager's wet dream. The book also features sloppy execution by introducing things out of nowhere for convenience sake. The first three quarters of the book were quite slow and just interesting enough for me to continue. The last quarter of the book was quite good in fact.

The magic system was unlike anything I've ever previously encountered. The author's creativity abounds in the magic and it's undoubtedly one of the strongest parts of the book. It's no coincidence that the last quarter of the book that was really good, finally showed off the magic system in full force.

The dialogue in this book made me crazy. I don't understand why anyone would write the majority of the characters in the way they did. The naming also was weak at times since the main characters were, I kid you not, called Wetboys instead of assassins. It was sophomoric at best and cringe worthy at it's worst.

The Way of Shadows was quite the mixed bag indeed.

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Seventh Decimate (The Great God's War #1) By: Stephen R Donaldson

Seventh Decimate by Stephen R. Donaldson
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is my first exposure to Stephen Donaldson, and honestly...not quite sure what to think. It is an enjoyable read. I really like the concept., but the language is a problem with me. Before I get slapped in the head, there is NO doubt the man is a talented writer, it is just the language has a very dry feel to it, there is a great deal of passages full of 10 dollar words and gold plated phrasing when you very well could make it lot cleaner. THAT is a problem with me, If you try to talk over my head and its not necessary, I won't bother with you.

If you are a fan of epic fantasy, you will probably enjoy this. Will you be clamoring for the next book? that remains to be seen.



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Waiting for the Punch: Words to live by from the WTF podcast By: Marc Maron

Waiting for the Punch: Words to Live by from the WTF Podcast by Marc Maron
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I used to be way more social than I am now, I don't know what happened but the older I got, the more inward I went. That is one of the reasons Marc Maron and the WTF podcast fascinate me. Maron is a bundle of issues and the last person you would expect to be easily one of the better interviewers I have ever heard. He feels like he has a honest need to be totally open with his guests, and has a great talent in bringing out the marrow in the figurative bones of the people he is talking with.

Waiting for the Punch is a terrific collection of interviews and pieces of conversations from the WTF podcast, if you are fan of the show, or a fan of interviews on a variety of subjects, this is a must read.



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A Behind the Scenes Look at...Nothing Much

The Magnolia Story by Chip Gaines
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was my bowling-ball-with-my-name-on-it gift to my wife this Christmas, à la Homer's gift to Marge in that old Simpsons episode. What I'm saying is I bought this for her, but it was really for me.

Thing is, I knew she'd love it, and she did. She read it in its entirety on Christmas day. I finally got around to it just now, but once I got into it, I also gobbled it up quick. You see, we're both big fans of Chip and Jojo, the hosts from the tv show Fixer Upper. We've watched plenty (too many) home remodeling shows over the years, especially around the time when we were looking to buy a house, but Chip and Jo meshed with our personalities more than others.

While a handsome couple in their own way, they're not "Hollywood handsome" like some others.




And their interactions feel more natural. Or at least they're not as irritating as some. No doubt that's because Chip and Joanna Gaines are a married couple with a family and a past. They worked on house building and remodeling projects prior to the show, and so their onscreen conundrums and strategies to overcome real obstacles that pop up in the process feel real. They also have almost polar opposite personalities that play off one another well onscreen. Chip's occasional Puck-like behavior can be entertaining, too.

It was the Gaines' past and the behind-the-show stories that I was interested in reading about when I picked up The Magnolia Story. Unfortunately this is a slim, fluff piece. Yes, there is plenty of their past to read about, but the thing is, their pasts aren't that interesting. Meh, my fault. I mean, I asked for it. It's not their fault that they haven't lived torturous and depraved lives. No wait, it is their fault! Lol! Anyway, what I'm saying is, don't expect huge amounts of drama and degradation in their history.

The lack of behind-the-scenes info on the tv show is something a little more substantial to complain about. That's what drove me, and no doubt many other readers, to this book. I wanted to hear about the production, what it takes to put the show together, how they decide on the properties to be featured, what makes good tv and what gets left on the cutting room floor, etc. Aside from the story of how the show's producers found them and how it eventually clicked, it's just not there. Possibly it's just not interesting.

All in all though, I can't complain. This is what it is and I didn't truly expect the world from this book. I got a fan's perspective and that's all one honestly deserves. I suspect most of the show's fans will be perfectly happy with The Magnolia Story. I scanned over a few reviews and noticed complaints that I hadn't considered, but in hindsight, yes, they do bother me too. Such as, Chip's manchild-like habit of buying new houses and even houseboats without consulting his wife, or forgetting that he's a dad and leaving his newborn to go to the store on multiple occasions, really does not endear me to the man. Some of it can be forgiven for reasons given in the book, but still, there was some negligible behavior going on there. Also, if you don't want to here the name God spoken every other page, steer clear. I didn't realize they were so churchy, because you don't get much sense of that on the show. And there were times when I want to shake them and say "No, you were the cause of the that, not anyone else!" whether it be for good or bad reason. Often decisions are attributed to "the voice of God" and I want to say, "In actuality, you decided to sell that property to the Gaines' at their asking price, because they're good people who are very charming, and jeez louise, it's an old farmhouse in the middle of Waco, Texas during a time when Waco wasn't all that! You weren't about to get a better offer and you know it!"

Charming, as I said above. This couple and their family are quite charming, and so is this book. If you're already a fan of Chip and Jojo, I recommend The Magnolia Story.

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Rumpole on the Defense

Rumpole for the Defence by John Mortimer
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

That champion of the downtrodden, oppressed and falsely accused, the aging London barrister Horace Rumpole is at it again in another addition of his memoir-esque reminiscences in Rumpole for the Defense.

In just about every one of former barrister-turned-author John Mortimer's books his hero Rumpole, that witty grump, is almost invariably set upon by an antagonistic judge. Often his client is not guilty, but harboring a secret he/she doesn't want to give up, not even to his/her own counsel. Usually, Rumpole is even at odds with his own firm!

About a half dozen stories/cases make up Rumpole for the Defense. I don't know if there's a common thread among them more than, say, Rumpole's continual defense of those accused of crimes they (usually) didn't commit and the aforementioned recurring formulas. I suppose Mortimer was leaning most heavily on Rumpole's unflinching defense of those in need, and the need in general of those at the mercy of the merciless.

This is a very solid 3 stars. If there's any real fault it's that it is rather repetitious, treading on past formulas already well-tread. However, these are good stories that will delight any Rumpole fan and should engage those who like courtroom drama.

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A Little Less Whimsy in the Wimsey

Unnatural Death by Dorothy L. Sayers
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

The continuing adventures of that dandy Lord Peter Wimsey continue.

In Unnatural Death, our somewhat foppish hero, the amateur detective Wimsey suspects there may be more to the cancer-assumed death of an older lady. But what are the means? What is the motive?

I've read about five of Sayer's Wimsey books so far and this is the least engaging. There's nothing blatantly wrong with it, it's just not quite up to standard. I struggled to get a grasp on why I felt this way. I think it's because there's very little action and a whole lot of talking, specifically between Wimsey and his friend Inspector Parker. They spend a good deal of time sitting about talking this one over. They literally don't move. Yes, of course there is SOME action somewhere within the book: a bit of dash at the end; a touch of insinuated violence. But most of this seemed to me to be Wimsey spouting his theories with Parker poopooing them.

However, Unnatural Death contains all the humor and old world panache (as well as old world borderline racism) one comes to expect from these books, and any fan of the Wimsey stories will enjoy this one regardless of its minor failings.


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Ghost Walk

Ghost Walk by Brian Keene
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

When Ken Ripple decided to build a haunted road, The Ghost Walk, he has no idea what horror will be unleashed. Can Amish sorcerer Levi Stoltzfus stop unspeakable horror from entering the world and devouring it?

I've read a couple Brian Keene books (The Lost Level and King of The Bastards) in the past and the hints at his Labyrinth mythos grabbed my attention. So, when Ghost Walk popped up for 99 cents for one day only, my decision was made.

Ghost Walk is the tale of an evil trying to enter the world and the man trying to stop it. Levi Stoltzfus is a very compelling character, hearkening to Roland Deschain of The Dark Tower series and The Rider from Merkabah Rider: Tales of a High Planes Drifter, although he's not a ripoff of either by any means. Levi is a sorcerer who isn't afraid to get his hands dirty, as long as it's God's will, and is surprisingly heartless at times. Seriously, Levi has a lot of potential and I hope Keene has him live up to it in future books.

The menace isn't as compelling as the character but is fairly chilling since it plays on its victims' worst fears. The way Levi dealt with it seemed logical given the workings of magic in Keene's universe. There was a little gore but not near as much as Keene is known for. The writing isn't spectacular but is more than adequate for the job. While he's no Elmore Leonard, Keene's dialogue is still pretty slick, balancing the horror with humor.

I don't really have many gripes with this book. I probably should have read Dark Hollow first but I didn't feel in the dark by any means. Reading more Brian Keene and Levi Stoltzfus will be one of my 2017 priorities. Four out of five stars.



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The Dark Collector

Vanessa North
Self-Published
Reviewed by Nancy
5 out of 5 stars

Summary

Jeffrey Kuyper was a once-in-a-generation talent and I was his muse.

Jeffrey's death shocked the art world and upended my life. His last portrait is an intimate reminder of our final weeks together. Now it's up for auction and I want it more than anything. When a cold-mannered man in a dark suit outbids me, I'll agree to anything to buy it from him--even a weekend in his bed.

My Review

So unexpectedly beautiful.

Oliver Conklin is grieving for his lover of 5 years, who died in a car crash a year ago.

Jeffrey Kuyper was an artist and a Dom inspired by his young, submissive lover.

Now Jeffrey’s estate is up for grabs and all Oliver wants is his last painting. With just a wave of the paddle, the Dark Collector, a big fan of Jeffrey’s work, is now its owner.

He agrees to sell Oliver the painting on the condition he spend the weekend with him and do whatever he asks.

Oh, how I wanted to hate the Dark Collector. He took advantage of Oliver and disregarded his grief. It was his smile, his soft expressions and tenderness that warmed me up to him. Their sex is kinky, passionate, and so full of emotion. Oliver likes the feeling of being “owned”, but he remembers that this is nothing more than an arrangement they made.

Gradually, the Dark Collector helps Oliver find himself and find peace.

“Is that what I’m doing? Making peace? I watch myself in the mirror as I lick the last few drops away. How long has it been since I’ve cared at all about the person I see in the mirror? Can the muse exist when the artist does not? How can this stranger, whose name I don’t even know, see me if I can’t?”

This is an exquisitely written story that explores a man’s grief, love, and healing. The ending is sweet and made me cry happy tears.

The Hero, The Sword, and The Dragons

The Hero, The Sword and The Dragons by Craig Halloran
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Nath Dragon may look like a man, but he was born a dragon. He's a rare dragon, a great dragon, like his father and grandfather before him. His father and grandfather were born dragons, became men, and had to earn their scales to become dragons once more. Nath is trying to do just that, but has yet to earn a single scale after countless years. So Nath continues to save dragons in hopes to become a great dragon like his father.

The Hero, The Sword, and The Dragons was a really solid story. A light and easy read for sure with some complexities that were quite interesting. It's also sophomoric at times like an eye roll inducing uncle with lines like this, "Nath Dragon is my name; saving dragons (and other things) is my game." I wish I could say that was the only line like that in the book, but there are quite a few more which is shocking since the story isn't even 200 pages long.

Nath is a solid character who purely desires to help dragons and please his father. He doesn't visit home often because he's ashamed that he's still scaleless. Nath has that loveable oaf type of personality yet he's a fierce fighter. His personality is offset by his mostly serious travel companion the dwarf Brenwar. Brenwar felt similar in personality to Gimli in the Lord of the Rings films in that he's a good friend, travel companion, and warrior.

The Hero, The Sword, and The Dragons wasn't a stunning story, but it makes me want to know what happens next when it ends. Any book that leaves me feeling like that when I put it down, is a pretty solid book in my opinion.

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MONSIEUR BY LAWRENCE DURRELL

Monsieur by Lawrence Durrell
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

”I dozed on my bed until sunrise and then set out resolutely to find a coffee, traversing the old city with affection and distress, hearing my own sharp footsteps on the pavements, disembodied as a ghost. Avignon! Its shabby lights and sneaking cats were the same as ever; overturned dustbins, the glitter of fish scales, olive oil, broken glass, a dead scorpion. All the time we had been away on our travels round the world it had stayed pegged here at the confluence of its two green rivers. The past embalmed it, the present could not alter it. So many years of going away and coming back, of remembering and forgetting it. It had always waited for us, floating among its tenebrous monuments, the corpulence of its ragged bells, the putrescence of its squares.”

We first meet Bruce Drexel when he is traveling home to Avignon after learning of the “suicide” of his best friend, Piers, who was more like a brother to him. In fact, he was his brother-in-law as Bruce is married to Piers’ sister Sylvie. The three of them were close, so close that idle speculation might allude to the fact that Bruce married Sylvie only to be closer to Piers (his lover). Their friend Rob Sutcliffe was so struck by their entwined relationship that he made them the subject of one of his novels. Sutcliffe, too, has perished, but his lingering shadow keeps slithering along the walls of the plot, long after he has gone, by way of his notebooks and letters. Given that I am an amateur reviewer, I couldn’t help, but laugh at his description of reviewers. ”The reviews of his new book were all bad or grudging. A critic is a lug-worm in the liver of literature.”

I can’t imagine that Lawrence Durrell ever had to suffer bad reviews, of course not.

This lug-worm in the liver of literature will squirm on.

The fact that Bruce was returning from a post far from the gothic dilapidated halls of Verfeuille and his wife Sylvie left behind begs the question of the current status of their relationship, and with Piers now gone, is the connection too tenuous to continue? There was once passion. ”When I closed my eyes the darkness throbbed around us and once more I returned to relive, re-experience the soft scroll of her tongue which pressed back mine and probed steadily downwards across chest and stomach to settle at last, throbbing like a hummingbird on my sex. I held that beautiful head between my palms like something disembodied, and rememorised the dark hair cropped down, and then spurred up into its chignon, the crumpled ears of a new-born lamb, the white teeth and lips upon which I would soon slowly and deliberately graft back my happy kisses.”

The soft scroll of her tongue and then throbbing like a hummingbird --quick, someone dash a pail of ice cold water in my face. Let me just say, it has been too long since I’ve read Durrell, but what I do remember from reading him before is the weight of every one of his sentences. His words choices are lush and unusual. His supporting characters are all fascinating, and each adds new levels of interest to the plot and, in some cases, new insight into the trinity of main characters. ”Toby as a victim of the historical virus could not look at the town without seeing it historically, so to speak--layer after layer of history laid up in slices, embodied in its architecture.” As another sufferer of the historical virus, Toby and I would be fast friends or fast enemies if our interpretations of history differed. Or maybe Piers and I would have been that special kind of friends for our mutual love of books. ”Though he had always been a bit of a dandy his choice of apparel was scanty, but choice, with a distinct leaning towards clothes made for him in London. A couple of medium-sized trunks were enough to house personal possessions of this kind; but the books were a different matter--Piers could not live without books, and plenty of them. This explained the sagging home-made bookshelves knocked together from pieces of crate.”

Probably about 80% of the bookshelves in my house have been knocked together by myself, not of crate, but of cheap pine. I build shelves myself because I have to take advantage of every square inch of my library, so shelves are designed to go from ceiling to floor to not lose precious book inches.

The characters are so interesting, do we even need a plot? Indeed, we do. The issue really revolves around: ”Trash was taking an English lesson with a French whore who had the longest tongue in Christendom. What happiness he knew, in all his innocence, what pride in this girl with the slit of a mouth--so spoiled and gracile a slender body.” Ok, I’m just messing with you. The plot does not revolve around the whore with the longest tongue. Though once you read those couple of sentences, one can’t help pondering the benefits of having such a long tongue, given her chosen profession.

The trio of Bruce, Sylvie, and Piers met a guru who led them into the deserts of Egypt for a mind expanding experience with the help of mind altering drugs. Akkad then infused his discussions with pearls of infinite wisdom that made it seem that he may possess the answers to all the greatest questions. They were all impressed, but Piers felt like he had finally found what he had been looking for his whole life. Something larger than himself to believe in. Is it a religion, a philosophy, or a cult? The most successful spiritual organizations manage to blend some of all three.

The circumstances of Piers’s suicide were, needless to say, suspicious. Unless he found and ordered a do-it-yourself guillotine kit or figured out how to rig a flashing blade with springs and levers, then someone had to help him, or should I say murder him? As Bruce pulled the pieces together, it became more and more clear that the cult in the desert may have very well had a hand in executing, as Piers liked to call himself, the last of the Templars.

The subtitle of this novel is The Prince of Darkness , and certainly there are gothic overtones throughout the whole novel. The setting is around World War Two, but the book has a decided Victorian feel to it. There is more light in the world in the 1940s, but this novel definitely feels like a time when darkness was only lightened by flickering candles and dancing gas flames. The writing, as I’ve mentioned, is so evocative and so succulent that I had black ink on my teeth and (normal lengthed) tongue as I masticated each sentence, trying to steal Durrell’s vast talent...and make it mine.

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Gluttony Bay (Sin du Jour #6) By: Matt Wallace

Gluttony Bay by Matt Wallace
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Matt Wallace makes me physically ill, I have made my problems with novellas known, it all boils down to my reading speed. YETTTT, EVERY SINGLE TIME a new Sin du Jour book comes out I drop what I am reading and devour it like I have never read a book before.

This series of books is what I call the best Netflix series that hasn't been made yet, Tons of fun, characters that you will love and wild, but awesomely good stuff.

Do yourself a favor, go get all these books, sit down and ENJOY YOURSELF.

3000 stars out of 5

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Dogs of War By: Adrian Tchaikovsky

Dogs of War by Adrian Tchaikovsky
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an incredible view into a very very possible future. Dogs of war will make you think about the future of warfare, science and mankind. Actually, more like the nature of being. (yes, I am being vague...but I don't spoil things remember)

Great, very deep characters, which is an accomplishment considering the premise of the story, cracking action and great pace to the tale, This is a great holiday read if you like your scifi with a military edge.

Highly recommended.



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Duped and Loving It!

Shutter Island by Dennis Lehane
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Good lord, I was not expecting that! Heck of a good read, in my book!

Dennis Lehane's Shutter Island started off well for me and my tastes. Federal Marshals going into an insane asylum/prison on an inescapable island in Massachusetts during post-WWII to find a missing crazy woman, who apparently escaped. Love the setting, the characters, everything!

From here on out this review contains all kinds of spoilers, so you just stop right here, Miss I-Haven't-Read-This-But-Plan-To.




The set-up story roped me in. It took me far too long to figure out what was going on. I caught the signs Lehane shoved my why, but I willfully ignored them. Yes, looking back on them, I ignored them like a step-child.

Though the anagrams, the numbers, and then the very obvious prophetic dreams all stuck in the back of my head and told me that thins weren't as they seemed, I ignored them all in favor of trying to figure out Rachel Solando's impossible escape.

In my defense, I didn't know a thing about the book before reading it. I know people loved it, so I intentionally avoided spoilers. Glad I did!

It felt inventive to me. Maybe others weren't so fooled, but I was and I'm okay with that. I was taken in and frankly, I love it! I'm glad a book can still dupe me like that. Probably if I read more psychological thrillers I wouldn't be so impressed. But I am. 5 Stars!

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The Flattening of the Earth

The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century by Thomas L. Friedman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

"Fucking flat-earthers...Oh wait, that's not what he means? All right, maybe I'll read it."

That was me about five or so years ago when friends kept insisting I read The World Is Flat by Thomas Friedman. Finally, when my wife recently bought tickets to a local Friedman talk, I resolved to read the damn thing.

I'm glad I did. It's really good. I'm not saying it's prefect (I'll get to that in a minute), but this is a must read at least for a certain few people with their heads in the clouds. For one, it's a great book for folks who don't understand what has happened since the advent of the internet. Give this as a gift to your dad or gramps. If they don't use it as a doorstop, they'll get a hell of an education on the modern ways of business and sociability.

The other group of people that need to read this, or really any book like this, are those cretins who troll, lurk and spew upon the comment section of "news" articles online. Everybody seems to have an indisputable, unshakable opinion that they take for fact and which they feel the need to spray all over the internet. They are the modern version of every family's uncle from the good ol' days who would show up at family events and holidays seemingly for the sole purpose of annoying everyone else while starting an argument with another alpha male about politics, religion, economics and any other myriad of topics that most sane people know is off-limits around family and friends you wish to retain as such. The real crime in all this is that they don't usually know what the fuck they're talking about. They have one biased, uninformed talking point on whatever the subject is they'll let you hear it.

So yes, I do feel like a book like this is helpful for a segment of the population, especially in these particularly stupid days in the American dark ages. The problem is, at 600+ pages, this book is 300 pages longer than it needs to be.



The World Is Flat: A Brief History of the Twenty-first Century is not brief. That's because it's written as a journalist would write a book. This is a book-length feature article. Friedman makes a statement, maybe backs it up with data, and then gives an example via a full-blown biography on a business or entrepreneur. It's all good stuff. Some of it's even enjoyable. But it's more than necessary for what's actually being said. He could've done more with less. I honestly doubt I would've gotten through this if I hadn't gone with the audiobook version and had a cubic buttload of yard work to do.

Now, that's not to say didn't enjoy this or that I didn't get something out of it. I did. I am getting old and so some of these whippersnappers with their new fangled gadgets befuddle me. However, I did grow up in the age when personal computers were first coming into the home. I even had a Commodore 64, baby! So I'm not at a total loss in the computer age. On the other hand, I am a bit of a recluse and I'm not big into global politics and the economy, so sadly I am having to catch up on that and a book like this taught me a thing or two. So, let's call it a good stepping stone for the uninitiated.




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Bannerless

Carrie Vaughn’s “Bannerless” is a science fiction book of ideas. Ostensibly a mystery, this short novel is really an exploration of the ramifications of the effect of scarce resources on society. But unlike the summary on the cover of the book, the main character Enid, an “Investigator” does not expose cracks in foundation of the society. What she does is enforce the laws of this community run society. Essentially, the Investigators are judge, jury and enforcer of the Coast Road rules. They travel from town to town to make sure the Coast Road polities are obeyed. The most stringently enforced rules deal with over-consumption. After the “Fall”, the apocalyptic catastrophe that killed millions and decimated society two generations or so ago, the remaining people had to band together to make it.


Small communities sprung up and down the Coast Road, grew their own food, hunted or fished and made do with a small amount of technology that survived plus the books and treatises saved by the founders. Vaughn imagines that birth control would be one of the main technologies that would survive this catastrophe. The Coast Road society uses the ability to control birth and control population to ensure that the towns and households do not over consume scant resources. People are only allowed to have children (obtain a Banner) if the community or their household can show the ability to support more children. And people who get permission proudly display their banners.


Needless to say that if people try to illegally gain a child, the Investigators are quick to punish the household by either splitting them up or taking children away from their families and parents or punishing the community by banning children for a time. In Enid’s mind these transgressions should be punished severely. Several times Vaughn depicts Enid’s anger as an Investigator. Her fear of what happened before and her desire to not have it happen again.


The novel is split into two halves. Enid and Tomas, her co-Investigator, and mentor, have been called to Serenity, a small community down the Coast Road, where one of the citizens has died under suspicious circumstances. The only mystery is whether the man, who appears to be bannerless, that is born without permission of the Coast Road, and ostracized in Serenity fell or was pushed to his death. Although the “culprit” is easily identified early on, it is Enid’s investigation of the reasons for his death that is the key. Serenity is a town run by a counsel made up of Ariana, Philos and Lee, three heads of households in the town. Enid’s discovers that Ariana requested the investigation, but has ulterior purposes. Philos, who runs the Bounty household, has run roughshod over the town for a while and Ariana wants to take him down. But while Enid pursues her investigation, she runs into Dak, a troubadour that she had journeyed with in her youth.


This is the second part of the novel. In a series of timeline shifts, Vaughn skips back and forth from the present to the past. Enid tells of the time before she was an Investigator and went down the Coast Road, visiting various towns and making love with Dak, a sweet playing musician. Enid journey is both a journey of discovery of who she is and who Dak is, but also a reinforcement in many ways of the benefits of the Coast Road society rules. Enid discovers that she wants to be useful and stand on her own merits, while Dak is a little hollow at his core, and Enid discovers does not want to get involved with Investigators or society. His wandering ways are as much a part of his reaction to what happened to him as a kid as Enid strong center are hers. Enid will also run into people in an abandoned pre-fall city, where a woman with three malnourished children is surviving in a nomadic existence. This is a woman who will not accept the population controls of the Coast Road and telling says to Enid, that the Coast Road "takes your children away"


Enid and Tomas investigation of Serenity, Dak, Ariana and Philos will reveal the tensions in a society that values control of resources and rules against freedom to do what you will. In the end, greed and power are always a danger to societal rules.


The real question for the reader is whether Vaughn through Enid makes her point. Is the Coast Road’s society just. Can religiously controlling reproduction and resources ensure that a society can grow responsibly? The jury is out for this reader. But Enid is very convinced and diligently pursues punishment for the people who want to break her society’s rules.

Cycle of the Werewolf

Cycle of the Werewolf by Stephen King
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Under the light of the full moon, a werewolf stalks the people of Tarker's Mills. Can anyone stop... The Cycle of the Werewolf?!?!?!?

I first read this in high school, younger than my dog is now. It took me a few chapters to realize that Silver Bullet was based on it. Anyway, I found it for a buck at a yard sale a couple years ago and decided I could use a reread.

Like Kemper told me while I was reading it, Cycle of the Werewolf is essentially a Stephen King calendar. Each chapter is a month out of the year the werewolf is stalking the town, accompanied by one or more of Bernie Wrightson's fantastic illustrations. Stephen King's writing is as crisp as ever. Also, he wrote this during his prime so it isn't bloated or over-written in the least.

I actually prefer the movie in this case. It has a lot more depth. Marty Coslaw doesn't show up until halfway through the book. The book and movie hit most of the same beats. I think the book might rely on Bernie Wrightson's illustrations a little too much. For the most part, it's just a collection of werewolf attacks with not a lot else going on. That being said, I did like the structure, with every chapter being a month of the werewolf's reign of terror.

While it is strictly a B-list Stephen King book, Cycle of the Werewolf is by far the best Stephen King novel ever turned into a movie starring Cory Haim and Gary Busey. Three out of five stars.

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Unprison

Yamila Abraham
Yaoi Press
Reviewed by Nancy
4 out of 5 stars

My Review

I love the cover and was keen on reading a prison romance. The title, though, led me to suspect that this story would be light on the violence and hardships associated with prison life. In that area, my expectations were met.

Ryan Burgess is an 18-year-old Princeton freshman who likes to party and dabbles in cocaine. Even his rich and influential father could not keep Ryan from getting a 25-year sentence for drug trafficking.

The fear of rape constantly looms in the back of Ryan’s mind, as all the men he encounters are much larger and stronger than he is. He meets a compassionate soul named Donnie who gives him tips on survival and advises him to hook up with Ray Harrison, a 48-year-old long-time inmate who will offer him protection.

“I buried my face in my hands and let out something between a scream and a groan. What the fuck was wrong with me? I’d trusted the first asshole I met here and now he was auctioning my ass off to the highest bidder.”

Though Ray is attracted to Ryan, his primary interest is in friendship. The rest is negotiable. Ray promises that he won’t make Ryan do anything he’s uncomfortable with – either personally or in the various jobs he gives him.

30% into the story, I was sure that nothing bad would happen to Ryan, so I focused my attention on the developing relationship between Ryan and Ray. Though Ryan didn’t want to be called “kid,” he was indeed Ray’s kid and Ray was his “daddy.” Their relationship was sweet and intimate, and the sex kinky and adventurous. While I loved Ryan’s growth in prison, I would have liked some tension, danger, and suffering. Despite that, the portrayal of life in a medium-security prison felt authentic, perhaps even more authentic than what we see in movies or on TV.

Fortunately, Ryan didn’t have to serve the entire sentence and was paroled after three years. The ending felt rushed and the happiness a little too easily earned, but overall this was a sweet and satisfying story.

To the Towers of Tulandan

To the Towers of Tulandan by Bradley P. Beaulieu
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The Maharraht Khadija has reached out to her former mentor and teacher the Aramahn Ashan. She seeks his assistance with a powerful yet difficult to reach boy named Nasim. Ashan chooses to come despite suspecting Khadija's masters wish to use the boy as a weapon.

To the Towers of Tulandan is listed as a prequel to the Lays of Ansukaya series. Despite being a prequel it seems crucial to have read at least the first book in the series before reading this story. The story begins as though the reader has full knowledge of the world's terms and magic systems. Seeing as I haven't read any of the books in the series this prequel was more slow and confusing than anything else.

Unfortunately I didn't find anything in this short story that I enjoyed. The characters personalities and actions could often be summed up in a single word. Khadija is angry, Nasim is distant, Ashan is insightful, and the others mostly seemed various degrees of mad. The story itself begins as a clear cut case of radical fighters resisting those who occupy their country. Shortly afterward it turns into a science fiction philosophy story mixed with incomprehensible powers, unclear motives, and lots of vague questions asked. The story is only 50 pages or so long, but I found it difficult to finish. Perhaps if I read another book in the series first I'd feel differently.

The Towers of Tulandan is a prequel that requires reading at least one book in the series in order to understand and likely to appreciate it.

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LEONARDO DA VINCI BY WALTER ISAACSON

Leonardo da Vinci by Walter Isaacson
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

”Although generally considered by his contemporaries to be friendly and gentle, Leonardo was at times dark and troubled. His notebooks and drawings are a window into his fevered, imaginative, manic, and sometimes elated mind. Had he been a student at the outset of the twenty-first century, he may have been put on a pharmaceutical regimen to alleviate his mood swings and attention-deficit disorder. One need not subscribe to the artist-as-troubled-genius trope to believe we are fortunate that Leonardo was left to his own devices to slay his demons while conjuring up his dragons.”



This paragraph made my blood run cold, not because I thought about how different the world would have been if Leonardo da Vinci had not been Leonardo da Vinci (tragic for sure), but because it made me wonder how many potential geniuses we are drugging into “normalcy.” Are some of the great artists and innovators of the 21st century hidden beneath the layers of a cornucopia of drugs?

I remember, as a child, reading a biography of Leonardo da Vinci. I thought that he had the coolest name I’d ever heard. My name seemed so pedestrian in comparison. I was even more struck by the term that still best defines him…Renaissance man. I wanted to be a Renaissance man. Unfortunately, I have fallen woefully short of that title, but the eclectic books I choose to read still show that that original desire to be a well rounded person is alive and well. In an age of specialisation, I find myself to be an outlier. I am asked so many times a year...how do you know that?

<I read.
I ponder.
I am gifted with infinite curiosity.
I want to know things just for the sake of knowing them.

”’Talent hits a target that no one else can hit,’ wrote the German philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer. ‘Genius hits a target no one else can see.’”

Whenever I read anything about Leonardo or gaze upon his paintings/drawings, I feel that same pang felt by Antonio Salieri whenever he would read that latest music composed by Mozart. I am awed by Vitruvian Man and Mona Lisa, but I am enamored with Lady with an Ermine, the portrait of Cecilia Gallerani, mistress of the Duke Ludovico of Milan. Ludovico commissioned the painting after Cecilia gave him a son. There are so many things about this painting that arrest my attention. The alert, coiled energy of the ermine, looking as if it will jump out of the frame of the picture into my arms any second. The slight upward tilt of her lips, implying the hint of a smile. The enormous limpid eyes. The long elegant fingers that would have been a gift to a concert pianist. I can imagine the Duke coming to see her and just sitting in her rooms and watch her do...anything.



While in Milan, Leonardo was also working on the famous bronze horse that was going to be three times bigger than any sculpture existing at the time. Unfortunately, this is one of the many great pieces of art by Da Vinci that was never finished, but in this case war was at fault. The bronze for his horse was used to make cannons, to no avail. The French take Milan, and troops used the clay model he had made, a masterpiece in itself, for target practice. Da Vinci left many unfinished paintings in his wake: The Adoration of the Magi, Battle of Anghiari, and Saint Jerome Praying in the Wilderness, just to name a few. Despite being unfinished, these paintings rocked the art world, and students flocked to see them.

We have about 7,200 pages of Da Vinci’s notebooks, about a quarter of what he wrote. These notebooks are filled with sketches of inventions, few realized and most centuries ahead of their time, scribbles of ideas, doodles, and detailed drawings of his research into anatomy. Walter Isaacson absolutely loaded this volume with plates of Leonardo’s artwork, but also of pages of his notebooks. One, in particular, was very moving. I know I’ve seen this very image before, but life creates changes in all of us; something seen at 20 may not have near the impact on the same person who sees it at 50.

There is something just so fragile, so human, so perfect about it that I felt overcome by the beauty of...us.

He worked for a variety of powerful, diverse men, from Ludovico Sforza to Cesare Borgia to Francis the 1st of France. Leonardo was a sensitive man, but also had a very astute interest in war. He offered many times in his life to make machines of war for various patrons. ”The brutality of war didn’t repulse him as much as it seemed to mesmerize him, and the goriness he described would be reflected in the drawings he made for his battle mural:

”You must make the dead covered with dust, which is changed into
crimson mire where it has mingled with the blood issuing in a
stream from the corpse. The dying will be grinding their teeth, their
eyeballs rolling heavenward as they beat their bodies with their fists
and twist their limbs. Some might be shown disarmed and beaten
down by the enemy, turning upon the foe to take an inhuman and
bitter revenge with teeth and nails….Some maimed warrior may
be seen fallen to the earth, covering himself with his shield, while
the enemy, bending over him, tries to deal him a deadly blow.”

So vivid, without him even picking up a brush, we know this mural would have been unsettling and would not at all idealize the splendors or nobility of war. It might have even given a psychopath like Cesare Borgia pause.


Peter Paul Rubens reimagining of what Leonardo’s Battle of Anghiari would have looked like.

I’ve read other books by Isaacson so I knew that the genius of Leonardo da Vinci was safe in the hands of the writer who has specialized in writing about some of the greatest minds in history. Da Vinci comes vividly to life in this biography and the magnificent plates scattered throughout the text of his life’s work. This is a beautiful, heavy book, printed on high grade paper, and will make the perfect gift for those of infinite curiosity.



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Senlin Ascends By: Josiah Bancroft

Senlin Ascends by Josiah Bancroft
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This is an amazing piece of work, and honestly..I don't remember how I came across it. But as the crud goes around my house and town and I am deep in a sinus med fueled delirium. I pick up this book.

Beautiful language, amazing world and incredibly readable, even though I was a bit in a fever dream (hah) I was sucked in and was not going to leave.

Pick this up, this is WORTH your time, (I'm still sick..so I make less sense than usual)

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Obligatory Ready Player One Review

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

All the kids are reading it! And here I am, late to the party as usual. Actually, I wasn't even invited...as usual.

Ready Player One has generated the kind of phenomenal interest few could have predicted. The book seems to appeal greatly to 80s nostalgics and romanticizers. There are a few people from my generation who wish they'd never left the 1980s. There are also a few millennials who wish they could've lived it. The former seem to be forgetting and later is apparently unaware of how shitty the 80s were at times, what with the threat of Russians invading Red Dawn style or the fear of getting nuked out of existence in a quick and decisive WWIII. Plus neon and big hair sucks!

Ready Player One revels in Atari, Dungeons & Dragons, early computer games, and 80s movies (leaning heavily on sci-fi), so this is ALL UP in my wheelhouse. I should be going gah-gah over this. I admit, I did enjoy the romp down memory lane for a while, but fairly soon the light plot wore on me.

This book reads like a movie in which the kids save the day, very much like War Games. This is all just a game as a matter of fact. The threat of avatars dying does not hold the same tension as a person losing their life. That's not to say author Ernest Cline forgot to add the human-life threat, it's just not there for some of the book's biggest moments. In that way it reminded of Ender's Game.

The main character plays and wins the video games I grew up on in order to save the day. I should have been loving this book. But most everything comes too easy for him. He's great at this game. He gets lucky, because he just happened to have recently studied/mastered the next game thrown at him in this contest to become rich and rule the virtual world. The motivations that book this book didn't move me. In the end, it's not bad, but I just don't understand the raging hype for this one.

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Genghis Khan was a Swell Guy

Genghis Khan and the Quest for God: How the World's Greatest Conqueror Gave Us Religious Freedom by Jack Weatherford
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Genghis Khan was a baaad man...if you were a shitty ruler who oppressed your people and lived fat off the sweat of those less fortunate.

Jack Weatherford knows his subject inside and out. He's written numerous books on the Mongols and the khan in particular. He did an excellent job in helping me garner a better understanding of perhaps the greatest ruler of all time.

Genghis Khan and the Quest for God: How the World's Greatest Conqueror Gave Us Religious Freedom succeeds in portraying Genghis Khan as a man to be admired for his ability to gracefully accept the religious beliefs of our cultures and nations when he had absolutely no need to. In fact, it would seem to behoove him to squash the beliefs of all who came under his power, if for no other reason than to have uniformity of belief under his sway entirely.

Instead, this man had the wisdom and foresight to allow the people he subjugated to retain their believes, whatever they may be. That did away with the necessity of fighting a secondary religious war with highly fanatical partisans.

As I was flying through these pages I was remained of a modern day parallel that may help you understand the kind of ruler Genghis Khan was. Think Khaleesi from Game of Thrones. Both are warlike and brutally slaughtered many, but both brought about freedom for the previously oppressed. Yes, I'm drawing on fantasy fiction for an analogy, but hey, the legendary stories that make up Genghis Khan's life seem like they have to be the stuff of some master writer's wild imagination.

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Sweet Sequel

Sweet Thursday by John Steinbeck
Reviewed by Jason Koivu
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was in Monterey quite recently and even visited the Steinbeck house in Salinas, so I thought it would be a damn good time to read another Steinbeck. As per usual, it was a really good read and as per usual, I was right. But then again, it's always a good time to read Steinbeck!

Having said that, I do worry every time I read one of his books, because all the character's always die and it will always be sad. The amount of hyperbole in that previous sentence is nothing to the level of my forgetfulness when it comes to Steinbeck's solid sense of humor. For like Cannery Row, Sweet Thursday is actually a comedy.

That makes sense, since Sweet Thursday is a sequel to Cannery Row. Most all of the old characters are back and their aims are almost exactly the same. Poor old Doc is set upon once again by Mac and the boys in their attempts do something nice for their beloved friend. Of course, they have their own happiness in mind and their ways and means aren't conducive to well-laid plans, so yes, things fall apart. That's the whole point.

I could see someone docking the book for being a repeat and coasting on the coattails of a successful predecessor, but that someone is a douche. Shut up, sit back and enjoy the fact that a major novelist gave you more of a good thing!

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A Pretty Mouth

A Pretty Mouth by Molly Tanzer
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A Pretty Mouth contains the tales of multiple generations of the Calapash family.

My first exposure to Molly Tanzer was Vermilion. When I learned Colleen Danzig from I Am Providence was based on her, I figured I was due to give her another look.

A Pretty Mouth is really fucked up but in the best possible ways. I was hooked from the opening story. Speaking of which, Bertie Wooster loses a bet and Jeeves has to help one of Bertie's friends, Lord Calapash, with his bathtub-bound sister, who is addicted to the secretions of a bizarre octopus. From there, the weirdness train rolls backwards, exploring the various members of the Calapash clan throughout history, all the way back to the beginning of the line in ancient Rome.

Each story is written in a different style, from the Wodehousian language of the first story, to Bronte, on down the line. The stories all have a Lovecraftian undercurrent, with the Calapash's being known for their look, not unlike the Innsmouth look. There's sex, incest, twincest, murder, sorcery, Lovecraftian horror and lots of crazy ass shit.

The homages to various Lovecraft tales were well done and didn't feel like Lovecraft pastiches alone. Molly Tanzer put her personal touch on each tale, writing in a variety of styles, bringing a freshness to the Lovecraftian subgenre.

A Pretty Mouth hit the sweet spot for me. About the only negative thing I can say about it is that I wish it was twice as long. Four out of five stars.



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Saved

A.M. Arthur
Briggs-King Books
Reviewed by Nancy
3 out of 5 stars

Summary

He didn’t want an alpha to save him, but fate had other ideas…

Braun Etting was raised to know his place as an omega by his alpha father’s cruel words and fast fists, and he expects nothing but violence from the alpha who may one day mate him. His older brother Kell mated a cruel alpha who abuses him daily, and Braun is terrified of that seemingly inevitable future. When Braun’s father dies in a car crash, leaving Braun an orphan, he’s sent to a halfway house for omegas. But on his fourth night there, he witnesses a horrifying crime that sends him fleeing to the streets alone—and edging into his first heat.

Tarek Bloom is settled in his workaholic, single lifestyle, even if it is somewhat embarrassing to be a twenty-eight year-old unmated alpha. He enjoys his job as a constable, helping people and solving problems, so he isn’t prepared for his life to flip upside-down when he walks into his beta friend Dex’s apartment to help with “a problem.”

The problem turns out to be an unmated, nearly in-heat omega orphan who Dex and his husband rescued off the street last night. The even bigger problem is that Tarek feels the mating bond for this terrified omega immediately—and he’s pretty sure the omega feels it, too. But Braun hates alphas as a general rule, and no way is he giving in to the bond. All mating leads to is violence and suffering, so no thank you. But Tarek’s gentle kindness slips under Braun’s emotional shields, and Braun begins to want. To dream. All Braun has ever known is violent alphas, but Tarek is determined to make Braun trust him—and to trust in the idea of their happily ever after.

My Review

Braun Etting is a young Omega living in an alternate version of the United States where no females and three classes of males exist – Alphas, Betas and Omegas. Alphas are the most powerful in physical, economic and social spheres. In order to reproduce, an Alpha must mate with an Omega while he is in heat and at his most fertile. Betas enjoy much of the same rights as Alphas, but they are unable to reproduce. Omegas are the nurturing parents, valued only for their ability to bring more Alphas into the world.

“Only an alpha/omega coupling could create children, and alphas were the top prize. The biggest earners, the CEO’s, the inventors and the powerful. It was considered an honor to be omegin to an alpha offspring, and doubly so to birth two. Only one omegin in history had ever given birth to four alpha children, and he had a small marble bust in his honor at the Museum of Natural History.”

In this world, Omegas are treated as third-class citizens. They are unable to inherit property and unable to drive, unless they are mated and then only with their Alpha’s permission. Because the laws disfavor Omegas, they are vulnerable and subject to the whims of cruel Alphas.

When Braun’s abusive Alpha father dies in a car crash, Braun is sent to a halfway house for his own safety as he’s approaching his first heat.

This story explores the injustices and cruelty of this system, Braun’s deep distrust of Alphas and the infinite patience of his future mate, Tarek Bloom, a forward-thinking constable, and a sweet, likable Alpha. It was easy reading, compelling enough, and comfortably unchallenging, perfect for recovering from a bout of bronchitis. Unfortunately, it was also bland and derivative while I was looking for something more thought-provoking and intense.

While I enjoyed the setting, the tension, and the developing romance, I would have liked more nuanced characters, particularly the villains. Tarek was far too perfect and not at all alpha-like. Though he loved and supported Braun, I found him too indulgent and Braun too childish and petulant. I enjoyed the secondary characters, Serge and Dex, quite a bit more.

The events surrounding Braun’s brother, Kell, captured my interest, but I’m not sure if I plan to continue this series.

Nightblade

Nightblade by Garrett Robinson
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

Loren dreams of becoming a great thief known as the Nightblade. An honorable thief if such a thing is possible. Loren's dreams provide her comfort as her reality is far from enjoyable. Her parents are cruel people who physically beat her and verbally berate her. When her chance arrives, Loren flees her home with a wanted wizard named Xain. The constables who pursue Xain, begin to pursue Loren as well and trouble begins to follow her wherever she goes.

Nightblade is largely a PSA of the dangers of running away from home. No one will debate that Loren's home life is horrible due completely to her parents abuse, but Loren compounds her problems. When she encounters the wizard Xain, he tells her he's a wanted man. Despite that Loren can think of no better companion for the road than a wanted wizard. By all means run away from home, but don't head off with a fugitive from the law for goodness sakes. The first part of the book could easily have been called, Making Bad Worse: Loren's Story or How to Make Bad Decisions and Run for Your Life.

Loren continues to make mind boggling decisions as the story proceeds. I wish the girl was just dumb, but she shows her intelligence from time to time. Loren makes the wrong choice over and over again. Each poor choice leads to increasingly poor choices that multiplied the amount of people who wanted her dead.

Nightblade had some good parts. The most prominent part was the mystery surrounding Loren's blade. When Loren ran away from home she stole a blade her parents kept hidden away. The blade seemed far too fine for her parents to own and seemingly everyone who saw it had a notable reaction to it. Some of these reactions were quite intriguing and the mystery that shrouds the blade travels through the story.

Nightblade was a tale of poor choices and unfortunate consequences.

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