tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-20041981188029515202024-03-11T22:32:11.072-07:00It Started With The Hugos...Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.comBlogger836125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-34175026064134666622024-03-11T22:31:00.000-07:002024-03-11T22:31:37.711-07:00Fevered Star<p><span style="font-size: large;">Rebecca Roanhorse<br />Completed 3/11/2024, Reviewed 3/11/2024<br />4 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I wish I hadn’t waited so long to read the second book in the “Beneath Earth and Sky” trilogy. I forgot almost everything about the first book, <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2021/05/black-sun.html" target="_blank">Black Sun</a>, except that I totally loved it. I didn’t love this book as much, as I struggled to remember the characters and situations. Roanhorse does a decent job of reminding you what happened, but even halfway through, I felt like I was missing something. Fortunately, the prose is so amazing that reading the book is a joy. And I did remember quite a bit. I just think I would have enjoyed it better if I hadn’t waited so long.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=39439" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="235" height="375" src="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/covers/rr_fevereds.jpg" width="235" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The book begins on the heels of the cliffhangers of the first book. Naranpa, the Sun Priest, finds herself prematurely buried and must claw her way out. While crawling out, after her lamp burns out, she finds her hands glow, for she has become the avatar of the Sun god. However, she doesn’t know how to use her powers yet. Her narrative takes her on the journey of self-discovery while continuing to try to bring peace to the clans. Serapio has become the avatar of the Crow god and continues his quest to kill the Sun Priest. He struggles with power, trying to figure out how to still be a human while being a living god. It is sort of the opposite of Nara’s problem. Xiala, the Teek who brought Serapio by boat to Tova, searches for him, for she has become infatuated with him. However, fate keeps her from him and she finds herself on a different path in this political nightmare.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">As you can tell by the plot summary, there is a lot of journeying in this book, either physical or spiritual. And that’s my main problem with this book. It is rather plotless. There is a lot of political intrigue as the myriad of secondary characters jockey for position in the new order of things, but not a lot actually happens. I was disappointed in this. I wanted forward momentum. Instead, I got a lot of meandering. So I concede that this novel suffers from middle book syndrome. It exists to position all the characters for the dramatic conclusion in book three. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">However, the book is beautifully written and the world building continues to be outstanding. I was completely sucked into this alt-pre-Columbian culture and propelled forward by the prose alone. I didn’t love the book, but I loved reading it. Since I don’t know much about indigenous cultures of Central and South America, I found the mythology as engrossing as in the first book, perhaps more so since I was rediscovering it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">My reading challenge this year is to stick to books I already have on my Kindle. However, I’ll probably pick up the final book of the trilogy so that I read it on the heels of this one. Probably in a month or two. Roanhorse has become one of my favorite authors and I want to get as full an experience of this world she built before I lose my memory of it. I give this book four stars out of five even though I was a little lost and there was a lack of a strong plot. I enjoyed reading it that much, all because Roanhorse has gorgeous prose that gripped my attention. If her writing wasn’t as strong, I would have only given it three stars. </span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-40277826286683894342024-03-03T05:45:00.000-08:002024-03-03T05:45:59.151-08:00Deadbeat Druid<p><span style="font-size: large;">David R. Slayton<br />Completed 3/3/2024, Reviewed 3/3/2024<br />5 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This book is an amazing, heady conclusion to the Adam Binder novels. Slayton’s imagining of the underworld is truly spectacular, with demons who eat away the feelings of the souls so that they can transition uncaring into the next plane of existence. Adam must travel there to save his love, Vic and to finally destroy the druid-gone-bad that is killing his family. By this third novel, I so fell in love with Adam, Vic, and Bobby, that I didn’t want the series to end. But it did, and in a spectacular way. There are so many twists and turns in this hell that it kept me up at night reading. I’m sad to see the series end but am so glad I took the chance on this “suggested for you” book. I discovered a new author that I love and want to continue reading. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=45446" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="235" height="375" src="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/covers/drs_deadbeat.jpg" width="235" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Adam must journey to the underworld after Vic saves him from the evil druid. Vic and Adam’s cousin Jodi were transported there along with the druid. Adam consults with Sara, who is Death, for info on how to get there. She gives it to him, but also tasks him with finding her daughter Mel. He and his brother Bobby take his beloved Cutlass and drive through the portal at the one place that was hell on earth for Adam. Once there, they encounter a variety of demons, and even a “sanctuary” of souls who eat other souls to keep their feelings and not move onto the next plane. But he must get Vic, Jodi, and Mel out of there, for the living cannot be allowed to infect the dead.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The book is also told from Vic’s POV. He and Jodi are captured by demons and experience firsthand how they suck the feelings out of souls. In their captivity, they happen upon Mel, who has been there for a hundred years. This sucking out of feelings is an interesting way to get the backstory on Vic. Even though the previous books fill you in on the events of his life, the reader gets to experience his emotions in those events. It’s a profound way of fleshing out a character’s past and exploring motivation. At times, it slowed down the action a bit, but it also provides the gritty reality of Vic’s love and loss of his father. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I was impressed by Slayton’s characterization of Adam’s brother. Bobby is wholly committed to helping Adam find Vic and Jodi, even though the relationship between the two brothers is still new and tenuous. It’s very realistic and honest. Adding one more twist to the plot is the finding of their father, who Bobby killed as a teen trying to protect Adam. The reunion is also tenuous and uncomfortable but provides Bobby and Adam with some closure. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I also liked the personification of Life and Death. They were both manipulative. Death is present in all three books, so we understand the manipulation. Life, however, was a surprise. Life tells Adam it is also known as Chaos, as per the understanding of the Greeks. It’s not all touchy-feely warm and wonderful Mother Nature. It is also a punitive force that demands justice. The interplay between Life and Adam is unexpected but understandable in this universe. It also uses trickery, as did Death, and as do all the demons and souls Adam has encountered so far.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The ending of the book is grand, as any reader would hope and expect. Adam’s choices are surprising, but they work out. Indeed, they are realistic, and all those around him must deal with the aftermath, the elves, the leprechauns, and the humans. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I give this book five stars out of five. It took me longer to read it because of the character demon-torture flashbacks. They slowed down the action somewhat. But the lack of action was countered by the profundity of the emotion. It fueled my desire to see Adam and Vic finally get together, which I think is what every reader will want. I was so sad when the book ended even though it’s a relatively happy ending. I didn’t want to say goodbye to the characters. But I was also glad I did, because the amount of craziness they went through was more than enough for one lifetime. And after literally going through hell and back, anything else would be anticlimactic. </span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-43626270945543034042024-02-26T21:58:00.000-08:002024-02-26T21:58:11.442-08:00Paradigm Lost: The Founder’s Sons<p><span style="font-size: large;">R Roderick Rowe<br />Completed 2/26/2024, Reviewed 2/26/2024<br />4 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">At last in this final installment of the Jamari and the Manhood Rites trilogy, the book reads more like a novel than a documentary. There is ongoing conflict, issues, and a mind-blowing ending. This edition of the book was modified in parts, and it shows in the maturity of the prose. At the end of this book, there’s a description of all the books in this universe and it added some clarity to the first two. Both <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2024/01/paradigm-lost-jamari-and-manhood-rites.html" target="_blank">Jamari and the Manhood Rites</a> and <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2024/02/paradigm-lost-jamari-shaman.html" target="_blank">Jamari Shaman</a> were reissued as a single volume with all the erotica removed. I think I would have preferred reading the reissued volume. All the erotica was placed in a separate book. I have one more book to read in this universe, which I’ll get to in a few weeks. I’m actually looking forward to it. It delves into the prehistory of this tribe and its spiritual roots. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/70250027-paradigm-lost" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="309" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1677883842i/70250027.jpg" width="206" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The plot picks up where Shaman left off. Jamari is in soul crushing despair over the loss of his lover, with whom he had just agreed to become lifelong partners. It takes great effort to reconnect with his inner sense of God. Just as he does, the tribe comes under threat of a tree harvesting corporation that claims to have rights over the tribal lands, nullifying the treaty that established it eighty years before. In the meantime, Jamari resumes his role as Shaman, growing more spiritually, and has a vision of the Founder asking him to accomplish a task involving the Founder’s newly born son. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">A lot goes on in this book. There is a lot of conflict and resolution going back and forth. It makes for exciting reading. I was caught up in Jamari’s despair. I was aghast at the corporate attempts to reclaim their land. Most of all, I was thrilled by Jamari’s rapid growth into a leading Shaman of the tribe, particularly, with his experiences in meditation with the Divine. This being the third book, his character developed a great deal and the journey that propels him into the spiritual leader of the tribe is quite riveting.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I thought the writing in this book was much better. This is probably because most of the world building has finally finished and the prose is more focused on moving the plot forward. Even the description of the world outside the tribal lands is much more interestingly depicted as Jamari and the Knight Shaman make their way to Salem to fight the evil corporation. It reads much more like a novel than a documentary, which made a big difference in my enjoyment of it.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">There was a little more interaction with the women of the tribe in this book as well. It added a little something, perhaps balance, in this male-dominated story. I really like Sophia, the women who is his first mating partner. She is also elevated in the tribe around the time Jamari is, and she accompanies him on one of his meditation sessions to help him reattain the contact with the Divine that has eluded him since the death of his lover. It is an extremely touching scene as she provides insights that he can’t perceive on his own. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I give this book four stars out of five. It is a well written, well thought out conclusion. If I am ever so motivated, I will go back and read the combined and edited first two volumes to see if it reads better than the originals. And I may just read some more of this universe as Rowe produces more. I’m looking forward to the next book I have, “Cernon,” the genesis story. It is told from Sophia’s point of view. I always like genesis stories to fantasy and science fiction universes. And this one looks to be quite intriguing. </span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-74379778274222681932024-02-22T15:36:00.000-08:002024-02-22T15:36:40.287-08:00Trailer Park Trickster<p><span style="font-size: large;">David R Slayton<br />Completed 2/19/2024, Reviewed 2/19/2024<br />4 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I am loving this Adam Binder series. This book continues the rural fantasy adventures of Adam Binder, a gay warlock from Oklahoma who is trying to save his family from an evil Druid. It is a well-written, suspenseful tale that is grounded in issues like poverty, drug addiction, abuse, and homophobia, despite the whimsical title. There are good elves, bad elves, and even Death makes an appearance. I read this book in a day and a half, thanks to the long President’s Day weekend. Looking at the number of reads on Goodreads, this has nearly five thousand ratings. While respectable for a small novel, I really believe this should have a much wider audience. I think it’s that good. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?ID=45444" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="235" height="375" src="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/covers/drs_trailerp.jpg" width="235" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">WARNING: Spoilers for the first novel to follow.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Adam speeds back to Guthrie, Oklahoma when he finds out that his Aunt Sue has died. When he arrives, he finds that his cousin Noreen and her daughter Jodi have moved into Sue’s trailer. The trailer suddenly explodes and Adam saves Noreen and Jodi is missing. While saving his cousin, he sees an apparition of the evil Druid who seems to be murdering his way through the Binder family. Adam’s mother and brother show up, more accepting of his mage status after saving Denver. Together they try to unravel the mystery of who the Druid is and who the next victim will be. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In the meantime, Adam’s new boyfriend, Vic, also travels to Guthrie, but with Argent, the Queen Elf of Swords. They get sidetracked by an attack from the Sea Elves. They try to infiltrate their domain, the Sea Upon the Land, only to find that their mission is to wipe out humanity because of the mishandling of the environment. When Vic finally gets to Guthrie, he finds out some family secrets that cause him to question his ability to trust Adam, something he needs if he is going to continue pursuing this relationship. Besides, as a newly appointed Reaper, he needs to understand more about the Other Side than Adam has told him so far.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Adam’s maturation process is at the forefront of this novel. He has reached some sense of reconciliation with his mother and brother. He must rely on and nurture those relationships to succeed in this quest to destroy the Druid. He must also become much more trusting of the bond between himself and Vic. He still is afraid to give himself totally to the relationship. He must learn that he’s lovable, worthwhile, and unique in a good way. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">While Vic was only seen through Adam’s eyes in the first book, we actually get Vic’s perspective in this one. We see him struggle with his bisexuality and the recent death of his own father from cancer. His family dynamic is very different from Adam’s, but he still has his own self-doubts and frustrations from the people around him. Some of it is a little humorous as he tries to understand the Argent the Elf Queen and the Other Side. On top of this, he’s trying to figure out what it means to be a Reaper. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The magic system in this book continues to be interesting and detailed. The nice thing about it is that Adam is not that powerful, so it doesn’t require a whole lot of explanation. It doesn’t get so complicated to lose the suspension of disbelief. The Other Side, that is, the land of the Fae, on the other hand, gets more complex with the introduction of the Sea Elves. But it’s pretty straight-forward and believable, while at the same time still awesome and awe-striking. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I give this book four stars out of five. It is so entertaining and engrossing that I am glad there’s one more book in the series. I love Adam and Vic and their character arcs. I want to see them survive the crazy things thrown at them and then make it as a couple. Perhaps I am a hopeless romantic, but I can’t wait until the next book to see them succeed, assuming they do. I would be heartbroken if they didn’t. Regardless of the outcome, I can’t wait to read the next book, which will hopefully be next week. </span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-30870905151651620152024-02-18T17:55:00.000-08:002024-02-18T17:55:35.298-08:00Paradigm Lost: Jamari Shaman<p><span style="font-size: large;">R Roderick Rowe<br />Completed 2/18/2024, Reviewed 2/18/2024<br />3 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I liked this book a little better than the first book in this trilogy, <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2024/01/paradigm-lost-jamari-and-manhood-rites.html" target="_blank">Paradigm Lost: Jamari and the Manhood Rites</a>. This book was not an erotic novel, and I understand that Rowe has toned down the erotica in the first book in a subsequent edition. Sexuality is still at the forefront of this book, but it is much more tied to the spirituality of the tribe. That made it more interesting. However, I felt like the book still suffered from the same basic issues as the first, mainly, it feels more like a documentary than a novel. There isn’t much tension or conflict until the last fifty pages or so. Interestingly enough, I found myself pretty moved by the ending. I guess I had become attached to the main characters more than I thought I did. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/40361304-paradigm-lost" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="333" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjk-tLmzBcZ1rDugowPkp6o2Bl8BeHh8Nqcc8Y8b7pBrHQD6j1TX1HnLZuNkRvwcG3j5RIbd8WoUcCZQ1wwSMO_hLS7pKvs0sAG4Ue8wO3M8wLkd5q0ojqfyRNN6oh41HAyM0AJWAi9dGuNDmH60dxaA1yVNTZtOpJQqwI3_V6UmTiL0BVM9QjrsjIFoZ0/s320/JamariShaman.jpg" width="213" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In this book, the older members of the tribe realize that Jamari has the talents to be a shaman. Jamari himself isn’t aware of how advanced he is, until he is told. Jamari worries that the others of his age group who are training to become full men and citizens of their tribe will treat him differently. However, that fear is unsubstantiated as most things proceed as normal. Jamari and the others of the Young Men’s Hall are now mentoring newer young men who are ready for adulthood. As he and his peers excel in their studies, they are awarded new ranks in the militia. Jamari, while being a shaman in training, becomes the chaplain. Things go well for a while until he is sent with a squad to the coast to manufacture salt from the ocean, negotiate a treaty with the coastal tribe, and look for illegal fishing practices along the way. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">What I liked best about this book was the introduction of more spirituality into the story, which you expect as the main character finds out he is not just a shaman, but has talents greater than the current Knight Shaman. I can’t remember if this is from a review I read or one of the book’s descriptions, but it’s like a mix of Native American and Celtic spirituality sprinkled with a little Gnosticism. It makes for very interesting directions in the plot. I particularly liked how one of the other shaman’s references quotes from the Gnostic Gospel of Thomas. It is some beautiful theology, which I’ve been exposed to by reading Elaine Pagels, which I bet Rowe himself also read. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">What I didn’t care for was that most of the book is the day-to-day activities of the tribe. That’s the part that reads like non-fiction. While many may find it interesting, I would have liked to have seen more fiction in it. By that I mean some tension and conflict to move the plot along. It makes for great world building, as it did in the first book. I just need some more tension to keep me interested in the story. I think another reason is that this tribe is a utopian society. And in that environment, the people are all happy and work toward the common good. Most utopian novels turn out to be dystopian. This one isn’t. And that’s what makes it dry in many places.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Now, there is some conflict, like one of the young men Jamari mentors is probably exclusively heterosexual. This poses the question of how to work him in as a productive member of the tribe. It’s a neat reversal of how society normally works. However, it continues to pop up through the story and doesn’t get resolved until the end. There’s also an exciting scene with a cougar and the realization that Jamari has more than one spirit animal, and for that matter, more than just an ordinary shaman.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The ending of the book is really good. That’s where there is tension and conflict, and even tragedy, which I did not see coming. The tragedy was done with much grace and sensitivity. It drew a tear to my eye. That’s where I realized I was more caught up in the characters than I thought.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I give the book three stars out of five. I have the third book, which I’ll read in a few weeks. The author has many other short books out which include side stories this post-apocalyptic utopia. There are also a few books to where Rowe has moved all the erotica. I’m not sure I’ll read any of those, except for one book I got at the sci fi convention which tells the account of how the tribe got started. I’ll read that one after I finish this trilogy. </span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-86513005863719279852024-02-11T01:43:00.000-08:002024-02-11T01:43:34.613-08:00White Trash Warlock<p><span style="font-size: large;">David R Slayton<br />Completed 2/10/2024, Reviewed 2/10/2024<br />4 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I thought this book would be a light-hearted urban fantasy farce based on the title. After the last book I read, I needed one. But this turned out to be a very serious drama, featuring the struggles of a gay mage who grew up very poor in rural Oklahoma and goes to Denver to help his estranged brother out of a supernatural nightmare. Despite being so serious, I thoroughly enjoyed this book. It has action, suspense, and most of all, heart. And it has a very interesting magic system along with the usual inhabitants of fantasy: elves, leprechauns, gnomes, and reapers.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=45443" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="425" data-original-width="266" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEik7lImEo6DTqyl7GRH6ToglcH2DS5mmZa-ytIPanrMcuEPZZsmy13HDeWWa8oGQzlDJ52pIEO1b48dKKXJgBibZeLP0cJ_0w-vZwpqE2Uq_rt74vvvAsNBCy7KPUnKgj5HLJnDBt-oubbaKrihAv2-jT52KNaOGrE-228AddNNKLxybE7Fq72yomnFuDc/s320/drs_whitetra.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Adam Binder is a young gay man living with his great aunt, who is also a mage, in her trailer in Oklahoma. He’s been searching for his father who he believes was a bad mage and disappeared when he was around ten. The only clues he has are bad magical items that pop up from time to time. Out of the blue, he gets a text from his brother Bobby, who is a doctor in Denver, to call him. He tells Adam that something is wrong with his wife and only he can help. So he makes the trek to Denver to find that she is being possessed by a gigantic evil force that floats over Denver like a huge black cloud. Seeing this is beyond his powers, he reluctantly asks the elven Guardians for help battle this terrible menace.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The characters of Adam and Bobby, along with their mother, are very complex characters. Turns out that Adam’s dad was very abusive. Bobby, who is ten years older than Adam, was his protector, but Adam felt betrayed by him when he locked Adam up in an insane asylum for hearing voices. The voices, of course, were the beginnings of Adam’s magical ability. Their mother, a Bible-thumper, cosigned the documents to lock up the teenager. After escaping at the age of eighteen, Adam escaped and left his mother and brother behind. Now Adam is trying his best to learn magic skills while dealing with being gay in rural country, Bobby is a doctor who goes by Robert and lives with his wife in the ‘burbs, and their chain smoking, God fearing mother is staying with Robert to take care of his mysteriously ailing wife. Needless to say, all the interactions of the family are difficult and tense. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Adam’s one source of joy is Vic, a cop whose life he saved by slicing a piece of his soul and stitching it in the fatally shot cop. Now they are connected in a mysterious way, and Adam finds that his attraction to Vic is reciprocated. However, he doesn’t know how to deal with someone who actually likes him, second guessing that it is their magical connection that is causing Vic’s feelings. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">There are two elves who play key roles in this story, Argent, Queen of the Elves, and her brother Silver, who is a Prince. They are also pretty complex characters who go from being stand-offish and otherworldly to pragmatic and friendly. There are other aspects to their relationship with Adam, but revealing that would be a spoiler.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I was so impressed by these characters that I was able to empathize with all of them. I also thought the worldbuilding was just terrific. And if you know Denver, you will get some of the unnamed references, like the May clock tower, Casa Bonita, and the amusement park (although I couldn’t tell if it was supposed to be Elitch’s or Lakeside). On top of the corporeal setting was a magical realm which Adam traversed with the Elves. The realm was not always welcoming of humans and Adam gets imprisoned there for a while. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I give this book four stars out of five. It was so much more amazing than I thought it would be. The only thing that was lacking a little was the writing. It felt very plain, as many books with a good amount of action often are. But I could overlook this because the plot, the characters, and the world all came together in a fascinating and engrossing way. This book was not as widely read as it should have been, but it did get a 2021 nomination for Sci Fi/Fantasy novel in the Colorado Book Awards. I can’t wait to read the rest of the trilogy.</span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-7643592870036057982024-02-04T21:57:00.000-08:002024-02-04T21:57:30.644-08:00The Gate to Women’s Country<p><span style="font-size: large;">Sherri S Tepper<br />Completed 2/4/2024, Reviewed 2/4/2024<br />2 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I did not like this book. I found it extremely irritating. It could be classed as ecofeminism, but I found it to be the most hateful book I’ve ever read. It does create empathy for the main character, but none for hardly anyone else. Almost every other character is unlikable, from the manipulating women to the violent men. It creates a worst-case dystopian future of gender separatism and suspicion. It almost felt like she was trying to one up “The Handmaid’s Tale” and failed. I have read quite a bit of feminist science fiction and often find it to be worthwhile and rewarding no matter how uncomfortable it makes me feel as a man. This book only succeeds in turning off the reader.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=4783" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="235" height="375" src="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/covers/sst_thegatet.jpg" width="235" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The story begins with Stavia finding out her son has decided to turn his back on Women’s Country and stay with the all-male warriors who live outside the city. It then jumps back in time to Stavia’s youth, where we learn more about the society in which she is being raised. Women get to stay in Women’s Country, getting educated, learning science, skills, and arts. Boys at the age of five are turned out, to be raised by the male warriors who protect the city. At the age of fifteen, they must choose whether to stay with the men outside or rejoin the women inside. The men who return also get education and help with the women’s society. Twice a year, the warriors come into town at Carnival and have sex with the women in a party-like, socially condoned celebrations. This is how new children are born. Then the cycle begins again for the boy children while the girl children get encultured.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Around the time Stavia is twelve, the warriors outside the city believe that the women hold some kind of secret weapon and should be overthrown. Women of course should not have weapons. They should only be making more warriors. So they send two young men to woo Stavia and her sister Myra and manipulate them romantically to get the secrets out of them. Stavia and Myra are daughters of a Councilwoman for the city, so the warriors believe her daughters would know any secrets the mother has. This leads to all sorts of trouble for Myra. However, Stavia is a pretty clear-thinking girl, but she does make some bad decisions. Her suitor-spy doesn’t try to have sex with her, but he does manipulate her into smuggling books out of the city, which is forbidden by ordinances. This only whets the appetite of the warriors for more information. The plot then follows the troubled relationship between Stavia and the young spy.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Assuming someone would like this story, there are technical problems with the book. The first half of the book is very dull. I thought the exploration of this society would be better than it was. Instead, it was so slow in parts, I think I lost brain cells. There is also a juxtaposition of a play about Iphigenia’s ghost returning to talk to Achilles and some some surviving woman from the battle of Troy. Through most of the book, its inclusion does not make sense, other than talking about the futility of war. It just makes for jarring interruptions in the story. The prose is okay, but not good enough to really enliven the world building. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">One thing that really turned me off was the little aside that homosexuality was successfully bred out of the culture. This aberration was found to be a hormone imbalance that could be eradicated through breeding manipulation. My only thought at this point was “Fuck you, Miss Tepper! You can take your homophobic nonsense and shove it where the sun don’t shine!” I tried to recover my senses after reading that passage but never forgave Tepper. Even when she has the characters captured by an inbred, Fundamentalist Mormon-like enclave, I still kept one foot out of letting myself enjoy the suspense of how they were going to escape. And this was the one part of the book that actually had some decent pacing and excitement.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I liked one review I read that said this book was “gender essentialist, heterosexist, cissexist garbage.” Yes, it is all that, and every page reinforces it. Even the revelation of the big secret at the end couldn’t bring me to fully engage with the book. If you’re looking to read a book that stays relevant to the oppression women feel today, read “The Handmaid’s Tale.” Don’t read this. I give it two stars out of five solely because I thought Stavia was a good character and actually two of the men within the city, Joshua and Corrig, were relatable and empathetic. Without these three being written as they were, I would have given this book one star. </span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-18153028457964311322024-01-27T22:16:00.000-08:002024-01-27T22:16:13.746-08:00Paradigm Lost: Jamari and the Manhood Rites<p><span style="font-size: large;">R Roderick Rowe<br />Completed 1/27/2024, Reviewed 1/27/2024<br />3 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Gay Science Fiction Erotica is a narrow subgenre in which I’ve delved a bit. What I look for in such a book is the same as in any book: plot, prose, world building, and characterization. I also like to see the explicit sexual scenes flow naturally within the story. Back in the 80’s, there were some incredible writers of gay erotica that wrote for explicit gay men’s magazines which were later compiled and published because they were recognized as great writing. That’s my background coming into this book. It had some of the qualities of a good, even great, erotic novel. However, it came across more like a documentary. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/30170200-paradigm-lost" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="330" height="304" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1462992440i/30170200.jpg" width="200" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The book began strongly, with the main character, Jamari, coming to the decision that it is his time to begin the Manhood Rites. In this not-to-distant world, a tribe of people have established a utopian society in which young adults decide for themselves when to begin the rites and the community affirms that decision after the process. It prevents immature people from attaining full adulthood and participation in the community before they are ready, and mature youths to attain it sooner. This utopia also keeps men and women separate, where homosexuality is the norm and heterosexuality is used for procreation only. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Jamari’s training begins by getting an insider’s view of what keeps the tribe going. He visits the power plant, the farmlands, and lots of other trades. He learns more about the history of the great ‘quake that threw the U.S. into chaos, the subsequent wars in that region (the great Northwest), and the establishment of the tribe. He is also trained in the way of sex, both for pleasure and for procreation. He has a mentor, Shane, who is a few years older. Shane is his guide through much of this exploration, both industrial and sexual.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I think like many queer readers of science fiction and fantasy, I liked the reversal of the sexual norms. It gives us a feel of what it would be like to not have to fear being ourselves. But it still acknowledges the need for straight sex to provide for future generations. Rowe does some interesting things with this, though, namely, during Jamari’s training for his first breeding. Women are given all the power in the situation. They decide whether they just want to be impregnated, or if they want to experience pleasure in it. They are trained more than men in self-defense to prevent being taken advantage of sexually or raped. In the male-male sex scenes, it’s all about giving your partner pleasure and mutuality. Sex in general is not taboo, but merely an expression of one’s self or a means to an end.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Unfortunately, I found Jamari’s training in the functioning of the tribe to be rather dry. It was more like a social studies lesson than a fictional account of a working society in a post-apocalyptic future. Jamari was all, “Golly gee” and “That’s awesome.” Okay, not exactly those words, but books where there is a lot of description and resultant wonder get tedious after a while. Even the sex scenes in the midst of this exposition were not that inspiring. The best parts of the book are the beginning and the end. They hold the most drama. The middle, not so much. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This was too bad, because I thought the writing was pretty good. The world building really is quite phenomenal. Rowe put tons of thought into how he wanted this society to operate, based on mistakes and lessons from the past. He brings in current events that formed our national psyche and rebels against the resulting malaise. It’s very smart and very inventive, even though I didn’t necessarily agree with all of it. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I give this book three stars out of five. I liked the characters. Jamari and Shane are well developed. I liked the writing. I liked the world building. I just didn’t like the lack of movement in the plot. This book is the first of a trilogy. I don’t have the other two books, but I have a standalone about the genesis of the tribe, which I’ll read soon. Will I read the rest of the trilogy? I might. I’d like to see how Jamari transitions into adulthood, and if the story becomes more plot driven.</span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-18365010143191064422024-01-21T22:19:00.000-08:002024-01-21T22:19:44.262-08:00 The Last Graduate<p><span style="font-size: large;">Naomi Novik<br />Completed 1/21/2024, Reviewed 1/21/2024<br />3 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Like its predecessor, <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2023/07/a-deadly-education.html" target="_blank">A Deadly Education</a>, I didn’t care much for this book. I felt like the first three-quarters of the book were a slog. I didn’t warm up to it until about the last seventy or so pages. Then I did care about the plot and the characters and the finale. This, again like its predecessor, was a book club read. Nonetheless, I still want to read the last book to see how it ends. I’m hoping it does get picked as a book club read in a few months. Novik is a good writer, creating different styles for the different series she writes. This series is written very differently from her fairy tale books, which were different from her Temeraire series, so I’m told. I loved the fairy tale books, look forward to the Temeraire books, but this series leaves me rather cold.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=37691" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="235" height="375" src="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/covers/nn_lastgrad.jpg" width="235" /></span></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The book begins with Galadriel, or El, as a senior at the Scholomance. She has allies now as well as very tempered relationship with Orion. Like in the first book, she goes through the first semester trying to study spells, languages, and other magical disciplines while fighting off the monsters that seep into the school. Strangely, this time, they appear to be focusing on her more than the other students. So the first half of the book is her trying to fight off the monsters. The second semester is a class-free semester where the seniors are expected to prepare for the great purge known as graduation. They are to hone their mal killing and protection spells to survive the ceremony and go through a portal to return home. El decides that, because of her power to cast large, very powerful spells, it is her duty to save all the seniors. But then she realizes that’s not enough and must save future students from the graduation purge as well.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I was really bored by the first half of the book. I thought I’d enjoy it more considering I warmed up to the first book by the end. However, it just felt like a rehash of the first book. The only difference is that El is not as mean to other people. She doesn’t say a lot of what she normally would have in previous years. This made it easier to empathize with her this time around. At the turn of the semester, the practice sessions to prepare for graduation were rather tedious as well. It didn’t get good until she starts to figure out she has to do something to end the death of so many students once and for all. Then it feels like there’s some skin in the game.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I was actually disappointed that this had very little buildup of her relationship with Orion. I think I would have enjoyed a teen romance spread over the book a little more evenly. It does become intense in the last 70 pages, but for me that was too little too late. My reaction was “Finally!” I guess I wanted to see her more vulnerable, to see someone breaking through her hard shell. She doesn’t break character, but she does let loose. So when we finally got to it, I will admit it was very well done. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">There was one element of the story that did not seem to add anything for me, except extra pages. That was her familiar, a mouse. The students get familiars. El’s takes a long time to bond with her but eventually does. Except for the occasional biting of her ear to warn her of things, I didn’t see a real reason for bringing the familiars into the story.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The world building continues to be terrific. The Scholomance still blows my mind and the sheer variation of monsters is creatively staggering. I just wish the majority of the book was more interesting than simply: 1. Go to class 2. Kill monsters. For that reason, I again give three stars out of five to this book. It’s well written, the characters develop, and the ending is really good. Yet it’s still a dull read through the first three hundred or so pages. That was the disappointing part. </span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-89823035787421627092024-01-15T00:27:00.000-08:002024-01-15T00:27:48.272-08:00Queen<p><span style="font-size: large;">JS Fields<br />Completed 1/14/2024, Reviewed 1/14/2024<br />4 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I have picked up quite a few self-published books by local authors at the Oregon Science Fiction Convention. This is one of them. I’ve shied away from this author in the past because she mostly writes space opera, touted as “pew-pew” action (hold your fingers like laser guns and go pew-pew). But I’ve always enjoyed them on panels at the convention and thought I’d give one of their books a try. Sure enough, there’s a lot of pew-pew, but after warming up to it, I found myself caught up in the action of the unique, crazy world that Fields created. There’s giant lightning bug-like creatures, a massive bunny population, and lots of special sand that big business wants to exploit, all on a Dune-like planet. It’s an all-woman planet where all you need to immigrate to it is a vulva. However, emigration is not permitted. Lots to think about, lots of fun, and decent character development as well. I enjoyed it more than I thought I would.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/61069004-queen" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="533" height="389" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1652198107i/61069004.jpg" width="259" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The book begins with Ember on patrol duty outside the colony on the planet Queen. The planet is tidally locked to its sun, meaning one side always faces it, one side never does. In her flyer over the habitable zone, she grieves the recent death of her wife Taraniel from cancer. She is ambushed by the pirates where she finds out that before her death, Taraniel disappeared into the wastelands, met with the pirates, and with them built a spaceship to take Ember and the pirates back to Old Earth. Taraniel even uploaded her personality to the ship’s AI. Ember does not handle this revelation well. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">When Ember’s sister Nadia goes looking for her, she comes across a secret conference where she finds out that Queen is going to be sold to the highest bidder for its special sand. When they are finally rejoined, they use the planet’s beetles who have a strange symbiotic relationship with the invasive bunny population to fight the forces at the conference so that they can return to old Earth. They initially left the home planet because of its environmental collapse. Now they want to return based on Taraniel’s belief that after the massive diaspora, Earth has been renewed, mostly from the plant research done on Queen.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">It's quite a wild plot with a lot of crazy ingredients, but it works. From the giant flying beetles with the phosphorescent tails that can be tamed and ridden like flying horses to the bunnies guarding the fungi that exude the pheromones that can help tame the beetles, it’s loads of fun. But amidst that fun is a lot to think about. Specifically, Ember and her dealing with the death of her wife. First, she must deal that Taraniel died alone in the desert, of her own free will. Then she finds out that she actually survived, lived for a while longer with the pirates when she could have still been living with Ember. Lastly, she uploaded her memories and voice to the ship’s AI, so now Ember has to deal with hearing her dead wife’s voice again. It’s a hell of a lot to take in and Ember remains bitter and angry for a while. Eventually she makes peace with the past and moves on. She even develops a mild crush on one of the pirates.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">While Ember is the main character, I also enjoyed her sister Nadia who tries to keep an eye on her. So when Ember goes missing, Nadia goes after her without qualms about the rules of the colony. Asher, the head pirate, is also very likeable, especially with her ability to handle Ember’s reaction to the ship’s AI. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The world building is phenomenal. One might think it’s a Dune rip-off, but even the author pokes a little fun at their own use of a desert planet. The bunnies add a special touch. One might think it’s simply a case of overrun invasive species, but here they’ve formed a strange relationship with the beetles. The only thing I thought was a little weak was the prose. The description of the action was good, but overall, I thought the prose sounded the same way the characters talked. It was a little disappointing during the less exciting points in the book. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Still, I give this book four stars out of five. It’s a fun and exciting action-packed adventure. It’s the first of a series, so it ends on a giant cliffhanger. I didn’t mind it, because I’m sure I’ll read the next book when it comes out. It also plays around a little with gender, which of course it would need to being an all-women planet. But it’s not heavy handed like the gender-based utopian and dystopian novels of ‘70s women authors. It’s much more organic. I actually would have liked a little more gender and sexuality discussion in the story, though there are still two more books that might cover it in more depth.</span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-10137124869204329592024-01-07T16:22:00.000-08:002024-01-07T16:22:40.411-08:00Lovecraft Country<p><span style="font-size: large;">Matt Ruff<br />Completed 1/7/2024, Reviewed 1/7/2024<br />4 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I had trouble getting into this book at first. I didn’t like the writing. I thought it was pedestrian, lacking any emotional force. But as I continued on, I came to really love the characters and feel terrified for them by the supernatural and natural horrors in their lives. It probably didn’t help that I saw the mini-series before reading the book, so I had an expectation of the emotional impact it should have. But after the first story, any qualms I had over the prose dissipated and I could enjoy the stories. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=17299" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="235" height="375" src="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/covers/mr_lovecraftcountry.jpg" width="235" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This book was initially pitched as a series like The X-Files. When it came to novel form, it ended up as seven interconnected vignettes, or episodes, featuring the main characters and an eight story that ties them all together. It was a great way to introduce everyone, giving different perspectives and experiences with the horrors of Jim Crow and the Lovecraftian supernatural. The overarching plot is that Atticus Turner is the last surviving descendent of a powerful “natural philosopher,” i.e. a magician or alchemist, from the 1700’s. Caleb Braithwhite is also a descendent and has supernatural powers. He plans to use Atticus and his family and friends to try to take over and unite all the houses/lodges of the Sons of Adam. The result is the seven episodes in the book. I liked all of them, but the two I liked most were about Hippolyta, Atticus’ aunt, and Horace, his nephew. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">All three families in the story work or are associated in some way with the “Safe Negroes Travel Guide”, a fictional version of the Green Book, which lists restaurants and hotels and other travel related businesses that serve blacks without harassment or danger. In the story featuring Hippolyta, she goes to Minneapolis to research some entries in the guide, but makes a stop at an observatory on the way. It turns out to be related to one of the now deceased but immensely powerful Adamites, H. Winthrop. She enters it one night, hoping to see the stars and discovers an interdimensional traveling device that reveals the fate of the black staff of Winthrop. I loved this story because the main character wanted to be an astronomer, but being poor and black and a woman in America in the early 20th century didn’t lend itself to that type of opportunity. I, myself had other reasons why I didn’t become an astronomer, but I empathized with the longing. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The other story featured Horace, an asthmatic tween who creates his own comic books. He’s being hounded by white detectives to spy on his parents because they may lead the detectives to Braithwhite. They put a curse on him that worsens his asthma to the point that he cannot speak whenever he tries to tell someone about the investigation. In addition, he’s being chased by a “devil doll”, not unlike the scary tribal doll come to life from “Trilogy of Terror.” I empathized with Horace as a young person struggling with asthma. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The other stories were really good as well, such as the ones about the haunted house that Leticia buys and the potion that turns her sister Ruby into a white spy for Braithwhite. All the stories are hard to read, though, because the Jim Crow prejudice and segregation is so prevalent and severe that it makes you wonder how black people survived the era as they did. Reading it made me uncomfortable in my own skin, the same way watching the film “KKKlansman” made me so uncomfortable. On the lighter side, it inserts black people into the speculative fiction fandom during a time when the authors weren’t black, and there were no black characters. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I give this book four stars out of five. I recommend reading it before seeing the series. If you get a copy of the book with the interview of the author, I highly recommend reading that to get a perspective of the actual events that Ruff directly included or fictionalized within the book.</span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-15643394480786269432024-01-03T21:49:00.000-08:002024-01-03T21:49:21.736-08:00 The Daughter of Doctor Moreau<p><span style="font-size: large;">Silvia Moreno-Garcia<br />Completed 1/3/2024, Reviewed 1/3/2024<br />4 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Moreno-Garcia is an awesome writer. Even when I find I’m not really into a book of hers, the writing keeps me going. That’s what I discovered with this book. I did not find it quite as compelling as the other books of hers I’ve read, <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2020/10/gods-of-jade-and-shadow.html" target="_blank">Gods of Jade and Shadow</a> and <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2021/03/mexican-gothic.html" target="_blank">Mexican Gothic</a>. But the language is just astounding. I also liked the premise, the Dr. Moreau story set against the 19th century Mayan revolution on the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. It has other positive qualities, like great character development and excellent world building. The whole just felt a little less than the sum of the parts. This book was nominated for 2023 Hugo, Aurora (Canadian Sci Fi/Fantasy) and Locus Fantasy Awards. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=39769" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="235" height="375" src="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/covers/smg_daughter.jpg" width="235" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The story begins with the arrival of a British man accepting role of mayordomo at the Moreau compound. Montgomery was found by the owners of the property and sole benefactor of Moreau’s research, the Lizaldes family. Montgomery is a ne’er-do-well alcoholic and gambler who has nothing to left to lose and oddly enough, doesn’t bolt when he finds out about Moreau’s human-animal hybrid experiments. Helping him adjust is Moreau’s daughter, Carlota. Of course, sexual tension develops between the two. Everything and everyone remain in a state of balance until the Lizaldes’ son Eduardo shows up and falls for Carlota. Suddenly, almost every combination of relationship, including between the people and the hybrids, falls to chaos.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Carlota and Montgomery are the main characters. The book alternates chapters with their points of view. Carlota is a sweet, caring individual with relatively modern thinking, despite growing up with only the hybrids as companions and her father as her teacher. She even agrees to her father’s wishes to be open to Eduardo’s advances so that the Lizaldes family will keep funding his research. Montgomery on the other hand is rough around the edges. He doesn’t trust the Lizaldes family nor their son’s intentions toward Carlota. He, of course, is in love with her, but can’t admit it to himself as his own secretive past eats away at him. I actually liked Montgomery more than Carlota, I think because he’s broken and I could relate to his brokenness. Carlota is no Mary Sue, but I couldn’t relate to her as well. I’ll admit though, she was a strong, multi-dimensional character and I did like her.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The secondary characters are also well developed. Eduardo, his cousin, Moreau, the hybrids, are all interesting and realistically portrayed. No one is a caricature of good or evil. There are just a lot of bad circumstances that throws people into difficult situations that evoke passion and bad decisions. Still, the evils of slavery and abuse of the indigenous population come through. Ultimately, the Lizaldes are the privileged landowners who represent everything that was bad with colonization in Mexico. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">There are so many things to like about this book, but while reading it, I occasionally found myself struggling to stay interested. If I could have found it more exciting and perhaps a little less prosy, I might have empathized with Carlota more and experienced a more emotional response at the book’s conclusion. But this is a good read, and I don’t dissuade anyone from it. I like Moreno-Garcia and will probably continue to read her output. She’s a terrific writer with good vision and great imagination.</span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-63437266089608163152023-12-28T17:13:00.000-08:002023-12-28T17:13:42.275-08:00Saint Death’s Daughter<p><span style="font-size: large;">C.S.E Cooney<br />Completed 12/28/2023, Reviewed 12/28/2023<br />5 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This book won the 2023 World Fantasy Award. I was predisposed to not liking it because I read three of the other nominees this year and really loved them. But as I began to read this one, I was pulled in by the immediacy of the plot. Before I knew it, I was chewing through this 700 page tome. I really got into it. It did occasionally feel like it was two or three books in one. However, it worked, and I felt like this was award worthy. I think many people will be overwhelmed by the detail of the magic and the world-building. They may also miss the dark humor sprinkled throughout it. Even I didn’t realize how uncomfortably funny many parts were because the dramatic parts are so dire. In the end, I was glad I read it and got so immersed in this world for five days.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?ID=39815" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="235" height="375" src="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/covers/csec_saintdea.jpg" width="235" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The book begins with Lanie Stones trying to get her not-so-nice older sister back from boarding school to help keep their castle since the passing of their parents. Turns out the parents had many debts and a banking family is coming to demand immediate payment. The Stones family has a long line of necromancers and Lanie is the last living one. The family has also been the executioner and assassin for the Royal family since the founding of the kingdom. The sister decides to come back and take her place as Royal executioner to earn money to pay off the debt. When their plans are thwarted, the Queen offers her a job to assassinate the parliament of a rival nation. This works for a while, but the head of the rival nation, the Rook of Rooks, has other plans. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Lanie is the main character. As necromancer, she controls Goody, and undead servant bound to the family for generations. She also practices her own resurrection skills, learning from the ghost of her dead grandfather, the last necromancer in the family. The problem is, she has an allergy to violence. When someone speaks of violence, she experiences the trauma. When someone near her experiences violence, she feels that as well. It makes being a necromancer difficult and can result in an early death. Lanie is rather pitiful at the beginning of the book. But she learns and grows throughout. Without realizing it, I was rather caught up in her failures and successes, so that by the end, I was devastated by the big twist.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The secondary characters were also very well developed. There was the sister and her shapeshifting husband who turns into a falcon, their daughter Datu, Goody the undead servant who practically raised Lanie, Lanie’s love interest Canon Lir, and two teachers and Havoc the pub owner. As you can see, I don’t remember all the names, as there are so many characters. But they’re easy to remember as they come into the book gradually, not all at once in the beginning. I was impressed that Cooney was able to develop so many secondary characters, although she did have 700 pages to do it in. Sometimes they help, sometimes they hinder, often they add dry, dark humor. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The world building is quite amazing. There are different languages and dialects. There are different nations and continents. Throughout the book and occasionally through the use of footnotes, we learn of the long line of Stones as well as members of the Royal bloodline. The magic system is amazing, with twelve gods all providing different types of magic. Lanie’s patron is the goddess of death, as in the title of the book. There’s even a yoga-like meditation system access the attributes of the different gods. There’s also a lot of use of birds in this system, with the Rook of Rooks heading her parliament of four and twenty wizards, all given the power of different types of birds. It’s amazing that this book started out as a short story, then grew into a book during NaNoWriMo. Later, it was fleshed out into this massive tome. It took Cooney seventeen years from start to finish, and it shows in the diversity and depth of this magical world.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I give the book five stars out of five. I found it quite enthralling and I felt a part of Lanie’s journey. I read this book in five days (vacation days of course), regularly reading deep into the night. I found out later that day that this is the first in a planned series, so the ending made sense. It’s not exactly a cliffhanger, but you do see that Lanie’s work is not done. I don’t know how I feel about delving into another massive tome in this world. I think I have to see how next year goes with my plan to only read books on my massive TBR pile. </span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-51035443675364921952023-12-21T09:04:00.000-08:002023-12-21T09:04:30.401-08:00Buried Mage<p><span style="font-size: large;">Michael Taggart<br />Completed 12/20/2023, Reviewed 12/21/2023<br />4 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Another winning entry in the Fledgling God series. This fourth book wasn’t quite as spectacular as the third book, <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2023/12/gathering-mage.html" target="_blank">Gathering Mage</a>, but it still kept me pumped up on Jason and the Louisville Mages. I felt this one spent a little too much time on build-up. The significance of the title isn’t apparent until halfway through the book. But Taggart’s easy prose and the love between the four who live with Jason really make it worthwhile. It makes it another feelgood romp of an urban fantasy with a masterfully detailed magic system. And it ends on a cliffhanger, something I’m not generally fond of, but welcomed as it means there will be a fifth book in the series. Yes!</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60458612-buried-mage" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="313" height="362" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1645377394i/60458612.jpg" width="226" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This book takes place right after Jason and Sandy return from the Gathering of Mages where they established themselves as powerful Mages in their own right. They brought back newly developed magical abilities and new confidence in their powers. They share their discoveries of charm creation and rune use with their housemates. Oh yeah, and Jason and his boyfriend Tyler the incubus have lots of I-missed-you-so-much-sex. Just when everything seems to settle down, the House is challenged to a Reconciliation battle by the Cincinnati House. It’s a stylized ritual to pit one House against another to settle a dispute. Turns out the Cincinnati House had helped the rotten Mages in the first two stories, unaware that everything they were told about Jason’s House were lies. When it is all settled, all seems right with the world until Karl and Marius, the remaining super-rotten mages return once and for all to destroy Jason and his housemates.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The real star of this book is the magic system. We learn a lot more about charms and runes. The House members work to create charms, starting with easy and working up to complicated and powerful. Jason also works with runes, figuring out how they draw and process power. Taggart is so detailed, he’s almost scientific in his approach to this magic system. Where some books assume you understand spells and runes and charms, Taggart defines them like an instruction manual would. I have to admit, sometimes it got a little tedious, particularly in the first half. However, when Jason has to actually work with runes and charms as well has his shield and soul creations to escape from being buried alive, all that background makes sense. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I was startled by the sexual content in this book. After 800 pages of almost no sex, this installment ushers it back in with intensity and some humor. To say this book is erotica would be too much. I would classify it as an urban fantasy with healthy sexual expression. I’ve read some fantasy and sci fi erotica, and this is tame compared to those books. But I would classify this as having mature content. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I must say that I’m very impressed with Taggart’s imagination. For a set of books with the common trope of “learn an aspect of magic, use it in a life or death fight, repeat”, they are wildly entertaining. I also still love the fact that everyone in Sandy’s house gets along like a loving, chosen family. There is very little conflict between the house members. Sometimes, all the hugging and laughing and partying seems unrealistic. On the other hand, it saves the conflict for the real bad guys. It reinforces the idea that one’s chosen family can be supporting and loving, something that many LGBTQ+ people eventually learn and experience. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I give this book four stars out of five. It was a little bit of a come down after the exhilaration of the previous book. I was still very involved emotionally with Jason, Sandy, et al. Like several other reviewers, I feel sad that Annabeth is the only House member not in a relationship, and it is never noted if she wants one or not. And it’s not like she’s a fifth wheel. She fully participates with the others and is never left out. In fact, she has a pivotal role in the big showdown. I’d just like to see the love spread out a little more evenly. As for the next book, I can’t wait to see what happens to everyone. I can’t wait for it to come out and will probably jump on it as soon as I hear it’s been published.</span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-33063446833870107062023-12-15T22:13:00.000-08:002023-12-15T22:13:45.931-08:00Gathering Mage<p><span style="font-size: large;">Michael Taggart<br />Completed 12/14/2023, Reviewed 12/15/2023<br />5 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I adored this book. It’s 850 pages felt like nothing, making me read over thirty pages an hour (except on the nights when I passed out while reading because I read until super late the night before LOL). It truly had me engrossed. I loved the main characters, the intricate magic system, the world building, and the excitement of the setting. Unlike the previous two books in the series, <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2021/06/misfit-mage.html" target="_blank">Misfit Mage</a> and <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2022/08/melee-mage.html" target="_blank">Melee Mage</a>, this had a lot more substance even though I could still argue that this was fluff. This one just came together for me in so many ways, and I realized I had missed being in this world that Taggart created. I also found out in the afterward, that this and the fourth book were written as one huge epic, which he split into two books. So that was all the motivation I needed to jump into the next one without taking a break with a different author.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/60233706-gathering-mage" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="500" height="519" src="https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1643420091i/60233706.jpg" width="325" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This book is quite a different setup than the first two. It continues the story, which began only a few months ago, of Jason Cole, a young gay man who has just discovered he’s a mage. He lives with Sandy, the head mage of the magical House, her husband John the mountain troll whom she just married, and another mage named Annabeth who’s magic is linked to music. Jason is in love with an incubus named Tyler, and they’ve just declared their relationship status as boyfriends, not just friends with benefits. Jason has a cat named Bermuda who is recognized by other mages as a revered Celestial Guardian. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">In this book, Sandy and Jason go to week-long gathering of mages. It’s kind of like a convention where the mages of the world come together to share the experiences in their respective Houses. Both are young mages: Jason only a few months old, and Sandy only about 70 years old. They’re there to learn as much as they can. Jason grows in many ways, particularly in his understanding of his own magical nature and in how he accesses this magic. But besides the usual fun and education of going to a convention, the two run into trouble. There is a growing movement that wants to cast out the new mages, whom they call rats, from the Houses, claiming they are draining their resources, physical and magical. This eventually leads to a showdown between the forces of good and the rat haters. In between, there is a ton of fun and excitement that leads up to this final showdown. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">You’d think that a story about a convention would be kind of boring, but Taggart makes it unbelievably fun. Beginning with the opening ceremonies, for which Sandy and Jason create an ad hoc show to represent their House that blows away all the participants, there are tons of new aspects of magic for Jason to discover and explore. There are new friends to meet and new enemies to avoid. In particular, there are the centaur llamas, beings from another plane who act as servants because they lost their magic generations ago. Jason befriends one of them and opens a whole new relationship between the centaurs and the mages that all had thought disappeared ages ago. There are also the tree creatures, mages who are also from another plane. After a misunderstanding between Bermuda and a giant dragonfly, the trees and Jason and Sandy also become fast allies.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I just loved Jason in this book. Perhaps one can argue he’s a male Mary Sue (sometimes called a Gary Sue). Jason is almost certainly a fictional Taggart, and he’s a little too perfect at times. And after all, the series is called “The Fledgling God.” Jason is just so adorable and naïve and vulnerable that I can’t help but love the character. I cheered for him throughout the book, felt like I was him, and at the end, I wished it wasn’t over (thank heavens for the fourth installment).</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I really got into the magic system in this book. It is quite complex. Taggart almost makes a science of the way that Jason visualizes, stores, and access his magic. There were times where Jason works and grows his internal magic for pages and pages (and pages). I think it could have been boring, but I found it totally intriguing. When he actually uses his magic to heal or in combat, it all makes complete sense. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The only complaint I had was there’s a deus ex machina towards the end. However, after I acknowledged it, I completely bought into it. After all, Jason is a fledgling deus himself. And there’s foreshadowing of it when Jason meets the All-Rune in a powerful sequence earlier in the book. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I am so glad I took the chance on this self-published series. I got it because the guy on the cover of the first book was hot. And what began as fun fluff turned into something a little more meaty but no less fun. I give this book five stars out of five for being an intense page turner, thoroughly entertaining, and highly addictive.</span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-85476775699374887672023-12-03T09:26:00.000-08:002023-12-03T09:26:45.244-08:00 The Spare Man<p><span style="font-size: large;">Mary Robinette Kowal<br />Completed 12/3/2023, Reviewed 12/3/2023<br />3 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This was an okay book by a writer who has written some terrific stuff, including the Hugo and Nebula Award winning <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2019/09/the-calculating-stars.html" target="_blank">The Calculating Stars</a>. It’s a murder mystery aboard a spaceship traveling between the Moon and Mars during the ultra-rich main character’s honeymoon. Reading this book felt like a throwaway, kind of fun, kind of suspenseful, a little science fiction-ish; certainly not up to par with the Lady Astronaut series. The best part about the book was the characterization. I didn’t get lost in the number of characters and there was a cute service dog that distracted me when the plot got boring. I’m guessing this got a 2023 Hugo nomination on the strength of her previous books rather than on the quality of this one. Of the four of the six nominees I read so far, this one was the weakest.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?ID=40097" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="235" height="375" src="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/covers/mrk_spareman.jpg" width="235" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The main character is Tesla Crane, a brilliant engineer and one of the richest people in the world. She’s on her honeymoon with the new husband. Tesla was in a horrible space accident that left her permanently in pain from a severe spinal injury. Fortunately, she has a device implanted in her that can prevent her from feeling the pain. She sets it to varying levels depending on how much she needs her sense of touch. She has an extremely cute service dog that everyone falls in love with. On this trip, she’s using a digital masking device so she’s not recognized and swamped by fans. Everything goes smoothly until someone is murdered and she and her husband are first on the scene. The ship’s inept security suspect her retired private detective husband and take him into custody. Tesla’s mission is to prove her husband’s innocence and find the killer before they strike again.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The characterization was quite good. I had clear pictures and impressions of most of the characters. The story is told from Tesla’s perspective in third person. Through her we see the inept security team, the other ultra-rich passengers, her super-intense lawyer, and several of the service employees. Almost everyone of these characters in her eyes is a suspect. And she’s out to find out who the murderer is. She’s really a good character: determined, independent, successful despite being in paralyzing pain. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I also really liked how the author portrayed Tesla’s PTSD. It was very enlightening. It included a terrible flashback and Tesla’s process for staying grounded. The PTSD was the reason for Gimlet, her adorable service dog. Gimlet could sense when the panic attacks were coming on and helped ground her as well. Of the things that were right about this book, this was probably the most profound.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">What I didn’t like about the book was that it felt like a standard murder mystery. I don’t know how mystery fans would like this book, but I was often bored. I didn’t feel like the story moved well until the last hundred pages or so. I liked bits and pieces, like the introductions and interactions with some of the suspects. I liked that the some of the suspects were guilty of other things, making them look suspicious. But the time between these was not fast-paced. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I give this book three stars out of five. It was okay, but nothing special. The prose was nice and world building decent. The spacecraft’s concept was interesting, with different levels having different gravities: Earth’s, Mars’, and the Moon’s. Also, the descriptions of the Coriolis effect on movement in the ship were interesting. But it just didn’t work as a whole for me. I found myself not really motivated to finish the book until the last quarter, and that because I just wanted to know who the murderer was. </span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-79438793435662615102023-11-26T21:29:00.000-08:002023-11-26T21:29:41.964-08:00When the Angels Left the Old Country<p><span style="font-size: large;">Sacha Lamb<br />Completed 11/25/2023, Reviewed 11/26/2023<br />5 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This was an incredibly delightful novel about a Jewish angel and demon at the turn of the 20th century who travel from the old country to America in search of a missing emigrant from their shtetl. This book won the 2023 Mythopoeic Award as well as several young adult fiction awards, the latter I was surprised by because this book didn’t read YA. It simply had a queer sixteen-year-old girl as one of the major characters. This book is immersed in Jewish tradition and mythology and has the occasional Yiddish words thrown in. Fortunately, at the end of the book, there’s a Glossary of Terms to help with the words. This was one of those books where I fell in love with the main characters and was sad to see it end. But I read it voraciously, in just over two days. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=43729" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="235" height="375" src="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/covers/sl_whenthea.jpg" width="235" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Little Ash is a Jewish demon who studies the Talmud with a Jewish angel. The reason for noting them as Jewish is because there are demons and angels from all the other faiths, a few of whom pop up later in the novel. Little Ash and the angel live in a tiny shtetl (village) that doesn’t even have a name. One day, they hear about a young girl who left for America but her family hasn’t head from her since she left Europe. Since the family can’t afford to go to America, Little Ash decides to go and convinces the Angel to accompany him. In a nearby larger town, a young girl named Rose emigrates to America, even though her best friend who was supposed to go as well, stays in the town because a boy proposes to her. Little Ash, the angel, and Rose cross paths on the ship and end up hanging out together. In addition, Little Ash names the angel Uriel for forged papers purposes, causing a transformation in the angel, for good or for worse. Along the way, they find that the missing girl is just one of many emigrants from the Jewish area of Russia who have been tricked into indebtedness and forced to work for a pittance in factories in New York. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I loved Little Ash and Uriel. They are study partners, but having been studying so long, they are basically in a relationship, albeit, a non-sexual one. But they certainly act like they are an old married couple. Little Ash, despite being a demon, is not your Christian idea of a demon. He’s more of mischief maker than anything else. Uriel, before accepting the name for itself, is kind of an airhead, not remembering much and naming itself for whatever circumstance it’s in. When Uriel accepts the name, at the prodding of the ghost of rabbi, it begins to take on more human characteristics, including remembering things, and having a more difficult time with circumstantial good vs. evil. Both Little Ash and Uriel go through many changes on their journey, including that of their relationship as Uriel becomes more aware of itself and the world. One of my favorite scenes is when the two go to a dance hall with Rose and Uriel develops an intense desire to dance with Little Ash.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Rose is also a great character. She is in love with her best friend, even though she doesn’t understand the feeling, let alone have a name for it. When her friend decides to stay in their hometown to get married, Rose is crushed. Being a strong young woman, she picks herself up and emigrates to America on her own. When she teams up with Little Ash and Uriel, the trip begins to feel more like an adventure, helping her get over her misplaced feelings. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The world building is terrific. It was a little reminiscent of the setting for <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2014/04/the-golem-and-jinni.html" target="_blank">The Golem and the Jinni</a> in that much of it takes place in immigrant-heavy areas of New York City. The scenes at Ellis Island are devastating, dispelling any fanciful myths about the process of immigration during the European exodus. The scenes on the ship are intense as well, with the overcrowding and the contagious coughs and fevers.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Reflecting on the book a day after finishing it, I realize that it’s not a light book. There are many dark scenes as the experience of immigrants was very difficult. At the same time, there’s a lightness to the book in its supernatural foundation. The banter between Little Ash and Uriel, and subsequently, with Rose, relieves some of the heaviness. The book is not simply depressing, nor is it hysterical. But it is funny and sad and dark and heartwarming. It evoked many emotions in me which I did not expect. It was simply a joy to read. I give this book five stars out of five.</span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-8459602755341693872023-11-23T18:11:00.000-08:002023-11-23T18:11:15.247-08:00Gloriana<p><span style="font-size: large;">Michael Moorcock<br />Completed 11/23/2023, Reviewed 11/23/2023<br />3 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This was an extremely well-written novel with terrible content. It’s a parody of The Fairie Queen as well as an homage to another author. It’s an alternative universe Great Britain and Elizabeth I, here named Albion and Gloriana, respectively. It’s full of court intrigue and sex. Somehow, the sex is done matter of fact and not pornographically. The original ending was a terrible message and Moorcock was reprimanded about it, so he rewrote the ending. It’s still not great, but at least a little more palatable. This book won the 1979 World Fantasy and Campbell Awards, thus concluding my personal challenge of reading all the Mythopoeic and World Fantasy Award winners through last year. I have yet to read this year’s winners, but they were outside the scope of my challenge. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=447" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="235" height="375" src="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/covers/mm_gloriana.jpg" width="235" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Gloriana has ruled over a Golden Age of Albion for thirteen years since the death of her despot of her father, the King. Her only problem is that she can’t achieve orgasm. Thus, she is unmarried, determined not to marry until she can be sexually fulfilled. In the meantime, her Chancellor, Montfallcon, uses spies, kidnappings, and assassinations to preserve Gloriana’s throne. This leads to some complex and underhanded court politics, namely, the employ of Quire, an extremely successful rogue, by Montfallcon. After an argument, Quire leaves Montfallcon to work for another kingdom to help bring down Albion and Gloriana. Suddenly, there are unsolved murders in the Court, destroying the peace within and without, leaving Albion on the brink of war with the Tatars and revolution from within its own borders.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The best thing about this book is the writing. It is an homage to older literary works, with long paragraphs of prose and soliloquies. The characters are very verbose, particularly Montfallcon and Quire. I have to admit that while I can say it was beautifully written, sometimes I got a little bored with the length of some of the passages. However, I mostly found it engrossing to read complex word choices and sentence structures. I don’t know if I can say if the world building was imaginative since I haven’t read The Fairie Queen or any of Mervyn Peake’s works (to whom Moorcock dedicated the book). But in and of itself, it is well crafted.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I also have to say that the characterization was phenomenal. I had a good sense of who many of the characters were and what drove them. There were some lesser nobles who blended into one another, but the main characters were extremely well drawn. Montfallcon’s fall from grace is terrific as is Quire’s dastardly betrayal. Gloriana herself was rather simple, but Una, her personal secretary, was a terrific, strong female character. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The whole orgasm plot was pretty weird. There wasn’t much sex, just a lot of allusions to it, very matter of fact. As I said above, there was nothing pornographic about it. However, Moorcock leads you down that path and your mind fills in the details. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">WARNING: SPOILERS FOLLOW!!</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Along this plotline, the ending was pretty weird. Gloriana finally achieves orgasm by overpowering her would be rapist by asserting herself as authentic self, not as Albion incarnate, as well as with the help of a knife to his crotch. This is the revised ending. Originally, she achieved orgasm during the rape, as in being completely out of control. Fortunately, this ending was quashed by heavy criticism, particularly from Andrea Dworkin, the anti-pornography feminist and friend of Moorcock’s. If this was written today, maybe Dworkin would have been a sensitivity editor and would have caught this before it was published. But in 1978, I can see how the original ending would have gotten through the male-dominated publishing industry. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Besides this major problem with ending, I also didn’t like how everything came together so neatly. After writing such a complex novel, one would think Moorcock would have had a much more complex ending as well. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I give this book three stars out of five. Great writing, lousy sexual plotline, much too-tidy ending. I’ve only read two other books by Moorcock, <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2014/02/behold-man.html" target="_blank">Behold the Man</a>, a terrific parody of religion, and The Final Programme, a decent parody of spy novels. In the next year, I plan to read the Elric Saga, one of his most famous works. I hope that is equally well written with hopefully a less problematic plotline.</span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-10860997398116210542023-11-20T20:27:00.000-08:002023-11-20T20:27:57.564-08:00The Songs of Distant Earth<p><span style="font-size: large;">Arthur C. Clarke<br />Completed 11/19/2023, Reviewed 11/20/2023<br />3 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">As loved and prolific as Clarke was, I never found his books to be that amazing. I often found them a bit tedious with so much time spent on the science and so little effort spent on the characters. <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2014/11/1980-fountains-of-paradise.html" target="_blank">The Fountains of Paradise</a>, one of his Hugo winners, was a yawner. His other Hugo winner, <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2014/05/hugo-winner-review-1974-rendezvous-with.html" target="_blank">Rendezvous with Rama</a>, was like Space Odyssey, full of wonder, but lacking character development. This book is not really full of wonder, but full of interesting science. It questions why there are so few neutrinos from the Sun striking the Earth and devises a 20% of the speed of light form of propulsion. There are a lot more characters than usual, and a lot more time with them. There’s not much development, but at least we get some human interaction. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=4217" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="235" height="375" src="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/covers/acc_thesongs.jpg" width="235" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Thalassa is a near-utopian colony inhabited by one of the early missions to escape the destruction of Earth from the Sun’s pending nova. When they landed, they had communication with Earth for a while until a volcanic event destroyed their comm link. About 700 years later, the spaceship Magellan approaches hoping to find the colony still alive. The ship carries almost a million people in suspended animation and is one of the last colony ships to leave Earth. A small delegation comes down to meet with the Lassans and offer to trade technology and art from the last centuries in exchange for millions of tons of ice from the ocean to use as a shield for their ship. Of course, intermingling occurs between the Lassans and the just over a hundred awakened crew. A few fall in love with the locals. A few want to stay rather than continue on to the ship’s original destination, Sagan 2. Several want to end the mission at Thalassa all together. This all causes some strife and human drama.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">What I enjoyed most about the novel was that human drama. The characters are rather two-dimensional, but I actually liked them and empathized with them a little. They had some normal interaction and dialogue, though the emotion was sparse. One could say it was a little soapy and melodramatic, but I thought it wasn’t too bad. One thing I didn’t care for with the characters were some of their names. Some were borrowed from science fiction writers. Some were a little too close to other fiction, like Mutiny on the Bounty. Clarke even gives one of the characters who wants to abandon the mission to Sagan 2 the name Fletcher and has him reflect on whether his ancestors came from Pitcairn Island. The familiarity of the names was just a little too, well, cute.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I also enjoyed the discovery of a possibly sentient sea creature during the Magellan’s stay. It was a nice little scientific subplot that kept the book interesting. I found that part more interesting than the vacuum drive Clarke describes. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Like his other books, I give this three stars out of five. It’s simply too devoid of feeling. Even when one of the characters dies, there is little emotional response. One of the main characters from Thalassan asks her lover from the ship to explain the need for grief. Just too academic and stoic. I did like the brief allusion to a bisexual encounter, but again, not much in the way of emotional description. I’d say I liked this book about as much as Rama. It was entertaining, but ultimately, I felt hungry for something more substantial.</span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-37859986947892111052023-11-15T17:42:00.000-08:002023-11-15T17:42:09.664-08:00Glimmering<p><span style="font-size: large;">Elizabeth Hand<br />Completed 11/13/2023, Reviewed 11/15/2023<br />4 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Finishing this book completes my challenge of reading a dozen books by the prolific Elizabeths of Science Fiction and Fantasy. This is the third book by Hand I read for the challenge. While her other books were fantasy and horror, this was science fiction. It concerns an apocalyptic event which sets the atmosphere on fire, creating a glimmering of colors. The society begins to decay and rival groups vie for power. It is a rather depressing book, but Hand takes it interesting places with a mix of gay and straight characters trying to survive in a nightmarish world. This book was nominated for a 1998 Arthur C Clarke award.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=598" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="235" height="375" src="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/covers/eh_glimmeri.jpg" width="235" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The book takes place at the turn of the 21st century as the glimmering begins. Jack is an HIV positive gay man living at his family’s large ancestral home with his grandmother and housekeeper. He owns a literary magazine which once rivaled the New Yorker, but as resources become scarce, he barely gets any issues published and distributed. The magazine comes under the gaze of major world corporation from Asia, offering Jack several million dollars as long as he stays as the main power behind its publishing. But he doesn’t know if he should take the offer as the world slowly decays and his supply of life saving medication dwindles like other resources. But then an old friend and lover offers him a miracle drug from Asia that actually seems to work.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">At the same time, Trip is a young Christian rocker on the verge of massive stardom. However, his fame is threatened by temptation that comes from a sixteen-year-old Polish refugee and the popular new drug IZE, more addictive than heroine and on the verge of getting FDA approval for general distribution. Trip and Jack’s paths cross as the world approaches New Years Eve and the doomsday cults are poised to rip the power out of the megacorporation that may have an answer to ending the glimmering.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This book is not long, but it packs a lot of punch into its 350 pages, as you can tell from the complex plot. But Hand handles it deftly. I was never confused by all the events taking place and was impressed by how she brought the characters across each other’s paths. The science of the glimmering is a little vague, but its effects on the main characters and the general population are terrifyingly specific. As usual, Hand’s prose is wonderful without being overbearing, creating a gritty wasteland of New York City and its suburbs and even the mess left of rural Maine. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The characterization is terrific. I felt like I was living inside both Jack and Trip, as different as they were from each other. I didn’t care for either of them at first, but clearly empathized with them. Jack’s ex, Leonard, is deliciously creepy. He’s probably the most interesting character, being a Warhol-like photographer who specializes in species going extinct. He also has his hand in various other ventures including AI and the music business, which introduces him to Trip. He pops up throughout the book, and while not necessarily a bad guy, he has quite a few antagonistic traits. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The book is clearly dated, with it forecasting the events of the change of the millennium, and its punk and grunge influence, but it still rings true in many ways for society today. Near future apocalyptic books often do, the good ones, anyway. And this is one of the good ones. It’s a tough read, with minimal humor and lots of despair, but I found it engrossing and chilling. I give this book four stars out of five. </span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-45601101068754447082023-11-05T01:16:00.000-08:002023-11-05T01:16:39.579-08:00 Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl, and Sir Orfeo<p><span style="font-size: large;">JRR Tolkien<br />Completed 11/5/2023, Reviewed 11/5/2023<br />4 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I’ve never had much of a fondness for poetry. I was usually too caught up in the mechanics to understand or appreciate the story, emotion, or sentiment. That changed when I began to read Tolkien’s poetry. For some reason, I got it. This book is a collection of 14th – 15th century poetry that Tolkien studied and translated into modern English, keeping the form of the originals as close as possible. The result in the case of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is a phenomenal alliterative tale of morality and courtesy in Arthur’s Court. Pearl is a dream-like fantasy of ABAB poetry, and Sir Orfeo is a variation of Orpheus and Eurydice again in ABAB style. I enjoyed them in varying degrees. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=11616" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="235" height="375" src="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/covers/jrrt_sirgawai.jpg" width="235" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">For the most part I enjoyed Sir Gawain’s tale. I find alliterative poetry a little tough to get into, but generally can get used to it after about ten or so pages of it. Alliterative means that there is a recurring sound in the line. For example, “Attend the tale of Sweeny Todd” has three T’s. When each line is like that, I find myself looking for the recurring sound rather than paying attention to the story. But I did get into the story, which is basically a morality play. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Sir Gawain, the nephew of Kind Arthur, takes a challenge to fight the mysterious Green Knight in a one-stoke only game. Gawain gets the first stroke, with the Green Knight’s return stroke coming a year later. Thinking he’ll kill the Green Knight, he cuts off his head, but the Green Knight gets up, takes his head and rides off. Now Gawain is bound to find the Knight to let him have the return stroke. During the interim year, the young knight ends up in a castle where the lord engages him in another game of gift giving and chastity. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I found it strange the Gawain naively takes up these games without thinking of the catches, but was able to suspend disbelief to enjoy the story. The only real hindrance to my enjoyment was the somewhat archaic structure of the poetry, with subject, verb, object being bounced all over a line. Like Shakespeare, you get it after a while, but it occasionally made it difficult to follow. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Sir Orfeo was a cakewalk by comparison. He is a king with a queen who is stolen by fairies. He goes into a self-imposed exile to mourn her disappearance only to find a secret way into the faerie realm to bring her back. It was very easy to follow the story, which is short and to the point. Gawain on the other hand is nearly one hundred pages long. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I didn’t enjoy Pearl at all. It a story about a man mourning a deceased child. He dreams she returns to him in a dream, appearing from heaven. The narrator then sees images derived from John’s Apocalypse and David’s Psalms. Mixing religious symbols in a dream state with poetic form made for tough reading. If Christopher Tolkien didn’t have a forward to this piece, I would have been totally lost. I felt this story was a blemish to an otherwise very good example of the erudite poetry that Tolkien excelled at. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I give the book four stars out of five on the strength of Sir Gawain and Sir Orfeo. The translations from middle English to contemporary poetry keeping the flavor and form of the original and still be able to tell a comprehensible story amazes me. From other reviews, I heard that listening to the audio book is not as enjoyable, which makes sense. I would think it would be much easier to read and listen to the poems at the same time. Anyway, I’m glad I finally read this book, which had been sitting on my Kindle for a few years. Hopefully next year, I’ll read another one of his translation books. There are still one or two out there which I haven’t read yet.</span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-16197318811556767012023-10-29T10:51:00.000-07:002023-10-29T10:51:49.193-07:00The Book of Lamps and Banners<p><span style="font-size: large;">Elizabeth Hand<br />Completed 10/28/2023, Reviewed 10/29/2023<br />4 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Elizabeth Hand is always a good read. This one surprised me in that there is very little fantasy or sci fi in it. But the premise is that there’s a book with fantastical powers that has been found and subsequently stolen. A common premise, but Hand couches it within a mystery thriller with a drug-addled female anti-hero. The result is a taut mystery that takes you from the crowded streets of London amidst neo-Nazi nationalists to the desolation of a Swedish island on the Baltic Sea. This book is the 4th in a series featuring the protagonist, which I didn’t know when I got the book, but it reads very well as a standalone. I slipped into the story and was immediately hooked on this mess of a middle aged woman searching for something that will provide her with a windfall to make her life easier.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?ID=39047" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="235" height="375" src="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/covers/eh_bookofla.jpg" width="235" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The book begins with Cass trying to figure out what happened to her old boyfriend. In the meantime, she runs into Gryffin, an old flame from her bookstore days. He’s a dealer in antiquarian books now and has come across an amazing find. The Book of Lamps and Banners was only ever rumored to exist. It was written by multiple people over the centuries, perhaps even by Aristotle. Filled with drawings as often seen in ancient books, it may also be the ultimate code. Gryffin has sold the book to a woman who is writing software that would help people with PTSD and other traumatic events heal from it. She purports that the book is the final piece of code she needs for her software. Suddenly everyone around them begins being murdered in a mysterious way and the book is stolen. Cass thinks if she could recover the book, she could sell it and make a fortune that would let her retire in Greece. But actually doing that is a dangerous path.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Hand does a tremendous job with character development. I felt like I was completely in the Cass’ head, right there with her as she snorts crank and drinks anything alcoholic she can get her hands on. When she finally does meet up with her old boyfriend, she drags him into her chaotic life and quest. If anything, I questioned myself on why I was so drawn to her. It’s like watching a train wreck. She somehow balances on the verge of OD, and her obsession with the book is ridiculous. However, I was in it hook, line, and sinker.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The setting is also pretty amazing, between London and the remote Swedish island. The world is on the verge of the COVID pandemic. Nazi nationalists are on the move, and the Book of Lamps and Banners ties into their occult obsession. When we move to the desolation of the island, that’s even more exciting than the bustle of London. The writing is awesome, with the perfect balance between prosy descriptions and smart dialogue. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I give this book four stars out of five. It’s a terse thriller, and a great read in a genre I usually don’t get into much. I think Hand is underrated as a fantasist although she’s won multiple awards for her shorter works. I’ll be reading one more book by her before the year is out, a sci fi piece, which I’m really looking forward to.</span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-78237330496004949542023-10-21T22:05:00.000-07:002023-10-21T22:05:07.879-07:00Time Enough for Love<p><span style="font-size: large;">Robert A Heinlein<br />Completed 10/21/2023, Reviewed 10/21/2023<br />3 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This book is extremely well written. Despite my taking nearly two weeks to finish this longest of Heinlein’s works, I felt like I sped through it. Unfortunately, I didn’t enjoy what I read. I found the constant proselytizing about the benefits of polyamory, free love, and community childrearing to be tedious after a while. The science fiction in the story was an aside. In fact, there was very little science fiction in the book at all. Sure it had computers, time travel, space ships, and DNA manipulation, but it was all just a platform for Heinlein to preach his sexual utopian ideas. </span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=276" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="235" height="375" src="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/covers/rah_timeenou.jpg" width="235" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Lazarus Long is a man who is at least 2000 years old. He is the patriarch of a huge family which keeps records of him and his descendants. When he is pulled by one of his descendants from a brothel where he’s contemplating finally dying, he’s rejuvenated and given the will to continue living. During that time, he tells stories of his past to help fill in his historical gaps. Then he goes back in time to see his family when he was a child, but instead of going back after the end of WWI, he goes back at the beginning, and gets involved with the war as well as his family, and most disturbingly, his mother.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I have to say that the characterization is quite excellent. I had pictures in my head of almost all the characters, between their looks and their dispositions. I was quite amazed that I kind of liked Lazarus and the members of his commune. I used to think Heinlein was misogynistic. After reading this, I believe he wasn’t. He believes women are made to be fully realized humans. He just happens to be obsessed with having as much sex with them as he can, as Lazarus did. And Lazarus finds all the women who want to have sex with him, so it’s a win-win situation.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">There were some things that made me cringe a bit. The most glaring one is that there are a fair number of jokes about rape that wouldn’t made it past an editor or publisher of a book written today. On the other hand, there were some surprises as well. Galahad meets Ishtar for the first time after deciding they were going to have sex. When she takes off her helmet he says, “Oh, you’re a woman.” Ishtar replies, “Does that matter?” Galahad says, “I guess not.” I thought that was a decent nod to sexual fluidity, more than I would have expected from Heinlein and the early 1970s.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The part of the book I liked the best was where he goes homesteading on a planet with his new wife Dora. They have lots of children together and create a sexual utopia. However, this really reminded me of the quote I once heard which irked me at the time but felt relevant here. If you take the science fiction out of a story and you still have a story, it’s not science fiction. While I still don’t buy it completely, I did feel like this book wasn’t really science fiction. It was merely the background in which Heinlein gets to espouse his utopian fantasies.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I gave this book three stars out of five because I thought it was really well written. The characters were great, even though Lazarus Long is clearly Heinlein. However, I didn’t really enjoy it. There wasn’t much of a plot and I felt like I was getting hit over the head with the sex, even more so than some sci fi and fantasy erotica I’ve read. I think I’d rather read about sex than the philosophy of sex. </span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-31037705826615425842023-10-08T15:23:00.000-07:002023-10-08T15:23:00.036-07:00An Apprentice to Elves<p><span style="font-size: large;">Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear<br />Completed 10/8/2023, Reviewed 10/8/2023<br />3 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Finally got to the conclusion of the Iskryne trilogy. It was okay. I thought it better than the middle book, <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2023/09/the-tempering-of-men.html" target="_blank">A Tempering of Men</a>. But what I realized with this volume is that I felt that the prose was generally uninteresting. And by prose, I mean the descriptive parts of the book. Usually, the descriptions of the characters and the world fill out the missing parts and make world and the characters come alive as much as the dialogue. In general, though, I simply wasn’t interested in how the authors were describing anything. I just wanted the plotlines to keep moving. I think all three books suffered from this, but it was most evident in this volume because I actually liked the plot and wanted to see what happened next.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: large;"><a href="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?id=13993" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="235" height="375" src="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/covers/smeb_anappren.jpg" width="235" /></a></span></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">The main plot concerns Alfgyfa, the daughter of Isolfr from the first book. Being a woman, she can’t bond with the wolves. So Isolfr sends her to the Elves to apprentice as a blacksmith rather than having her become a housewife-ish person. The book picks up where she goes to the Elves and of course, being human, gets into a lot of trouble. She excels at smithing, but her ideas and actions don’t mesh with the behavior of the underground society of Elves. So Tin, her mastersmith, takes her back to her father, where the Northmen are trying to figure out how to deal with the Rhean invaders. Alfgyfa becomes somewhat of an ambassador to the Elves. There are two factions of Elves, the ones who metalsmiths and the stonesmiths. The two had a schism millennia ago, but now both are needed to help fend off the Rheans. Alfgyfa has a relationship with both and tries to help reconcile the division before the Northmen go to war.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Alfgyfa was generally a likeable character. I enjoyed her feistiness. Tin was also interesting, and in general, the smiths were interesting in that they were female Elves. So if you find the wolf-bonding of the human men a bit misogynistic, you get a reprieve in the women doing traditional masculine work. It made for interesting relationships, particularly between Alfgyfa and other apprentices. I also liked Otter, the woman slave of the Rheans who is rescued by a Northman and taken in as his daughter. Her perspective is interesting as an outsider looking into this wolf-centric society. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">I thought this book was better than Tempering in that the characters who were featured were much more definable. There were still too many men and their names, their wolves’ names, and other pseudo-Nordic names still ran together. But the introduction of Elven names as well as the Rhean pseudo-Roman names helped keep from drowning in the similar sounds. And the major points of view were from the women: Alfgyfa, Tin, and Otter. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">All in all, I thought this wasn’t a bad book, and it ended the trilogy pretty well. In general though, I don’t think this is that good of a series. Despite giving <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2019/12/a-companion-to-wolves.html" target="_blank">A Companion to Wolves</a> four stars, I’d give the trilogy as a whole only three stars. Once past the novelty of the human/wolf relationships wears off, it’s just another fantasy, with not much that’s really special. </span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2004198118802951520.post-13127969350069271082023-10-03T21:21:00.000-07:002023-10-03T21:21:31.350-07:00 Oath of Gold<p><span style="font-size: large;">Elizabeth Moon<br />Completed 10/3/2023, Reviewed 10/3/2023<br />5 stars</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This book is the best out of the three in The Deed of Paksenarrion series. I loved the first two, but this one is full of character development and magic all wrapped up in an exciting conclusion. The book starts with Paks at her lowest point and builds her way back to being a king maker. It’s like Moon saved up all her best ideas for this book. The series reminded me of Lord of the Rings in its imagination and execution. It’s like Moon took LOTR, deconstructed it, and from the remains constructed something original told from a female perspective. This series is that tremendous.</span></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/novel.asp?ID=2956" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="375" data-original-width="235" height="375" src="https://www.worldswithoutend.com/covers/em_oathofgo.jpg" width="235" /></span></a></div><p></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This book begins with Paks wandering the countryside begging for work and food. She makes her way back to Master Oakhollow, guardian of the trees, who is able to heal her from the torture by the evil forces of the spider demon. She then joins a group of ranger elves where she builds back her skill and confidence as a warrior. She also finally accepts that she is meant to be a paladin, acknowledging all her magical gifts, including the ability to heal. Finally, as a paladin of Gird the saint, she begins to get messages from the gods which eventually put her on a quest to find and restore the lost heir to a nearby kingdom to his rightful throne.</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">Reading this book was like a homecoming, even though I had just read the first two in the last two months. When I opened this book, I realized just how much I loved the character of Paks. Reading how she traveled the land trying to survive to making her way back to Master Oakhollow’s grove and finding healing there was so moving for me. This followed by the journey of accepting her paladin gift simply stole my heart. There were a few things in this book that I could see coming from a mile away, like who the missing king was. But the journey to that moment was exhilarating. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This is going to be a rather short blog entry, as I already feel like I’ve given away too much. Suffice it to say, I loved this book. Five starts out of five. It is one of the best high fantasy trilogies I’ve read in a long time. The prose is wonderful as is the world building. Paks growth from being a <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2023/09/sheepfarmers-daughter.html" target="_blank">Sheepfarmer’s Daughter</a> to warrior to spiritual pilgrim in <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2023/09/divided-allegiance.html" target="_blank">Divided Allegiance</a> to paladin in this book is marvelous. I also felt that many of her other characters were pretty well developed as well, with only a few one-dimensional baddies. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">(You should be aware of the trigger warning: this book has some graphic torture and allusions to rape. It is hard to read.)</span></p><p><span style="font-size: large;">This series deserves to be named among the best fantasy series ever. I think Moon is quite the master story teller. I think she really needs to be made a Grand Master. These books plus <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2021/01/the-speed-of-dark.html" target="_blank">Speed of Dark</a> and <a href="https://itstartedwiththehugos.blogspot.com/2014/08/remnant-population.html" target="_blank">Remnant Population</a> are among the best I’ve ever read. I think Moon is up there in my top five favorite authors now. </span></p><div><br /></div>Stephen Phttp://www.blogger.com/profile/00474038338477057626noreply@blogger.com0