tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-172242282024-03-07T17:36:43.401-07:00Neth SpaceEnter into Neth Space and you will find thoughts and reviews of books and other media that fit the general definition of speculative fiction. This includes the various genres and sub-genres of fantasy, science fiction, epic fantasy, high fantasy, hard sci-fi, soft sci-fi, new weird, magical realism, cyberpunk, urban fantasy, slipstream, horror, alternative history, SF noir, etc. Thoughts are my own, I'm certainly not a professional, just an avid reader avoiding his day job.Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.comBlogger880125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-53732581875394315422017-08-03T14:59:00.000-07:002017-08-03T14:59:54.768-07:00Mini-Review: Year Zero by Rob Reid<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Year-Zero-Novel-Rob-Reid/dp/0345534514/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1498506726&sr=8-1&keywords=year+zero&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=0b3a3a19c97a8b0b3b063ae2a4a53fcf" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="279" data-original-width="181" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcsGJGBf5n8vcoiiTCgJ4lk7sDPDjwc24VDDP0g7nEafuP4tNIo19dhMv71USJh_rLpRR1X8kQDi_nmD1H0YlOj4KFsYLKyKYbKNNXqIc-nI48ZX2zVHb3Pvmbr8ndBOVgAr6O/s200/year+zero.jpg" width="129" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>Year Zero</i></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> by <a href="https://after-on.com/">Rob Reid</a> was published in 2012 and is a fun, satirical SF book
about the music industry. While I’ve seen a few comparisons to H<i>itchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy</i>, I
think that really doesn’t stack up, as <i>Year
Zero</i> really aims to tap into musical nostalgia of the late 1970s and 1980s.
Think something more along the lines of a combination of <a href="http://whatever.scalzi.com/">John Scalzi’s</a> <i>Agent to the Stars</i> and <a href="http://www.ernestcline.com/">Cline’s</a> <i>Ready Player One</i> with music.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The ultimate premise is rather goofy where a galactic society of
advanced alien species discover the music of Earth, becomes crazy addicted to
it, and incurs unimaginable debt to humanity due to piracy and copyright laws
in the music industry. Reid actually pulls it off with an appropriate amount of
humor and just enough reality to keep things grounded. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">And of course it is full of nostalgia with music references
everywhere. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">But, <i>Year Zero</i> is also a
satire where humor doesn’t always distract from the acrid bitterness of Reid
himself. Reid has a long history in the real world in technology and music,
where he was essentially the founder of the first musical streaming company –
Rhapsody. From this point of view, the bitterness and anger of Reid’s
experience as a tech entrepreneur somewhere between the rampant piracy of the
Napster era and the mega music corporations and their legal teams. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I keep saying bitterness because it literally drips from this book.
I think it’s safe to say that Reid holds true contempt for lawyers and executives
of the music industry and the politicians that they own(ed). I really hope that
writing this book was therapeutic for Reid and that he has managed to move past
all this, because man…the bitterness. Note: judging from the <a href="https://after-on.com/about-rob/">bio of Reid</a> on
his webpage and the description of his latest SFF novel, <i>After On</i>, the therapy of writing is an ongoing project.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Anyway, there is just enough humor and nostalgia keeping the
bitterness from taking over the book. It’s fun and gets in a few really great
shots (such as the Bill Gates cameo), and some really fantastic music
references. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">So…looking for satirical science fiction full of musical
nostalgia? This book is absolutely for you. And it’s pretty fun for the rest of
too.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">By Rob
Reid:<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Year Zero</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Year-Zero-Novel-Rob-Reid/dp/0345534514/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1498506726&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=year+zero&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=nethspace-20&amp;linkId=0b3a3a19c97a8b0b3b063ae2a4a53fcf">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">After On</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://smile.amazon.com/After-Silicon-Valley-Rob-Reid/dp/1524798053/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1501797289&sr=1-1&keywords=after+on">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Other
books mentioned:<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Agent to the Stars</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> by John Scalzi: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Agent-Stars-John-Scalzi/dp/0765357003/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1501797266&sr=8-1&keywords=agent+to+the+stars&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=c75bc4e6da4bb9bcec25fa9e3a8b830f">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Ready Player One</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> by Ernest Cline: <a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2015/04/review-ready-player-one-by-ernest-cline.html">My Review</a>, <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_150179719206511&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=j5wz8m620100r7tw000DAkbmkp3f2&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F2015%2F04%2Freview-ready-player-one-by-ernest-cline.html&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0307887448%2Fref%3Das_li_tl%3Fie%3DUTF8%26amp%3Bcamp%3D1789%26amp%3Bcreative%3D9325%26amp%3BcreativeASIN%3D0307887448%26amp%3BlinkCode%3Das2%26amp%3Btag%3Dnethspace-20%26amp%3BlinkId%3DNCIOFUZB2RLTHMMZ&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F2006%2F03%2Freview-of-reviewskage-baker-anvil-of.html&title=Neth%20Space%3A%20Review%3A%20Ready%20Player%20One%20by%20Ernest%20Cline&txt=Amazon">Amazon</a></span></div>
Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-70132774223810348022017-06-27T13:06:00.000-07:002017-06-27T13:06:19.765-07:00Audiobook(s) Review: Star Wars Aftermath Trilogy<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Aftermath-Star-Wars-Trilogy/dp/1101885920/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475791995&sr=1-1&keywords=star+wars+aftermath&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=cce7a072ea4ac0ec432549079e9d4fd7" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg7NmfE2rwmymWj0PFWmqoL5INctA1TANLXaJSlUxNpeTFpZlUyrAhYhMMfMVkkeXbmemi5gljNRSnqsN_PprLoraDSWf6V_2rjNNDKoVt_2VaTozZ6QylKFKrmFyrP4CCegZHX/s200/Aftermath.jpg" width="130" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I am a child of the 1980s and 1990s, and like many, the first
movie I remember seeing is <i>Star Wars: A
New Hope</i>. I was that kid wore my VHS copies of those movies out, I played <b>Star Wars</b> with my friends, I had action
figures, I had <i>Empire Strikes Back </i>sheets
on my bed, etc. Later in life I read all the books in the Extended Universe
(through the whole Yuuzhan Vong thing) and somewhat tolerated Lucas’ shenanigans
with updating movies and the whole prequel thing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">But I had largely given up on <b>Star
Wars</b>. Part of it was age and simply moving on in life. Part of it was
realizing that all that came after just couldn’t live up to the magic of
original. But then something unexpected happened: my children started watching <b>Star Wars</b> and loving it. Suddenly I was
experiencing the wonder of <b>Star Wars</b>
through them – yes, even the prequels are wondrous to young kids. We’ve watched
the <i>Clone Wars</i> together and <i>Star Wars Rebels</i>, and my oldest and I
went to see <i>Star Wars: The Force Awakens</i>
together. That was it, that was when I decided that <b>Star Wars</b> was back for me – in part because I wanted to support my
kids’ love of it, but a large part was that it reawakened that wonder for me as
well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Of course life now is a lot crazier for me, so it’s a slow
process, but I have copies of audiobooks for several of the new canon <b>Star Wars</b> books and I started listening
to the <b>Star Wars Aftermath Trilogy </b>by <a href="http://terribleminds.com/ramble/">Chuck Wendig</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Life-Debt-Aftermath-Star-Trilogy/dp/1101966939/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1475792029&sr=1-1&keywords=star+wars+aftermath+life+debt&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=03d4759f9f4c5f98d4097c41b7ecbfbd" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjYJYnd1LgktzMDJeS2l-PqZgeiqkoT37F_C6b_IElvvKBsQFXQ70ZX-x6RL1aZll4PCSE5kkMr0l0DlttTtYrrQmF0YCC230nv_N0POA3YVVLYYxKiibjHTKh33xhyphenhyphenKlg7Bjeq/s200/Life+Debt.jpg" width="131" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">First, I have to comment on the production of the audiobooks,
because it really impacts how I reacted to these. It is terrible in all the
worst ways of audiobooks. The voice acting narration by Marc Thompson is so
overdone that it’s nauseating and then they top that off with sound effects and
alien language, making the whole experience rather horrible. I barely made it
through the first chapter before stopping and swearing I couldn’t continue
because the production was just that awful. But <b>Star Wars</b> and all that…so I gave it another shot.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I learned to tolerate the production. That was the best I could
do. Sometimes I simply rolled my eyes at it, and sometimes I had to take long
breaks because it is really bad. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">All this is very unfortunate, because I know that it influences
what I feel about the content of the stories. I can’t help but wonder how much
more enjoyable I would have found them if I read the books rather than listened
to the audio. But I can’t get that back, just know that my opinions of the
stories are heavily influenced by audio and not in a good way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Basically, the books play out with a major imperial remnant in the
Outer Rim gathering its power and other remnants for a final confrontation with
the New Republic. Through this we see the liberation of a few planets, we see
the fledgling republic forming up its government, and we see old favorites like
Wedge, Han and Leia. We see that Palpatine had plans for the eventuality of his
death and how those come to shape, and we see a few very big battles. And
through all of the imperial happenings, a strong sense of mystery is present. I
believe that we get many hints of what is to come and how things shape up for
new movies we are getting now. We see some of the origin for the First Order
and maybe even the Knights of Ren. We see a lot of unrelated interludes that
don’t add anything to the actual events of the trilogy, but seem to setting
Easter Eggs for fans to feast upon. We notably do not get any hints of Luke
Skywalker and what he’s up to.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Empires-End-Aftermath-Star-Trilogy/dp/1101966963/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1496162791&sr=8-1&keywords=empire%27s+end&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=e13b311abf3a8ca6b446e5396eecd5db" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="256" data-original-width="168" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiDeg5KNTLPSqXchfNx_fV1RZfkNBkCJCHDdwAAZyZ6NOfDY3ARJ_F2mx9oKo_35PqA6uGjHWIUOTC6gDuMdKIT5E76JIOhADM_dnjD4M6Vmidrne40l1cy3DdA_o37tuZj5jxc/s200/Empire%2527s+End.jpg" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">And of course <i>Aftermath</i>
introduces us to a new group of characters through which we see the end of the
imperial remnants after the events at Endor. My first reaction is that I found
it a bit hard to really become very emotionally invested in any of them – would
I have cared if they didn’t survive? I chalk this up mainly to the audio
production that I mention above. How can one become invested with such horribly
over-read dialogue and annoying sound effects? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Norra is a character that was always hit or miss with me through
the trilogy, Temmin is mostly an annoying teenager, but its overall a good
origin story for him and I hope we see something focused on him in the future. Mister
Bones is genuinely amusing and perhaps the one place where sound effects weren’t
absolutely horrible. Sinjir and Jas really steal the trilogy as the most
interesting pair – the way their friendship develops and plays off of each
other was by far my favorite parts of these stories. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I guess there is some controversy over the books among the insecure
Dudebros of the world and their objection to having a diversity of sexual
identity for the characters in these stories. I have zero sympathy for that
position and I’m very happy to see <b>Star
Wars</b> start to take its problematic misogyny, xenophobia, and shocking lack
of diversity for such a vast creation more seriously. The new movies take
things further, though there still remains a long, long way to go – hopefully the
movies can finally man-up with a nice LGBTQ star and relationship. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Overall, I enjoyed the further exploration of the <b>Star Wars</b> journey through this trilogy
as I loathed the audio production of it. In terms that I deal with, I would
place <i>Aftermath</i> as pretty decent
quality in relation to old Expanded Universe – better than a lot of it, but not
as good as the best of it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I do plan to continue exploring the books of the new canon as I
have audio copies of several. I’m currently listening the audiobook of <i>Bloodline</i> by <a href="http://www.claudiagray.com/">Claudia Gray</a> and I plan on
either <i>Thrawn</i> or <i>Ahsoka</i> next. The audio production <i>Bloodline</i> is much better if still annoying at times. The audio
narration is orders of magnitude better, the sound effects are still there to
drag things down. So I think that this production will be less of a barrier as
a result. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Star
Wars Aftermath Trilogy<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Aftermath</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_149859361714814&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=j4fzr6ag0100r7tw000DA17pp993iddxx6&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F&v=1&out=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FAftermath-Star-Wars-Trilogy%2Fdp%2F1101885920%2Fref%3Das_li_ss_tl%3Fs%3Dbooks%26ie%3DUTF8%26qid%3D1475791995%26sr%3D1-1%26keywords%3Dstar%2Bwars%2Baftermath%26linkCode%3Dll1%26tag%3Dnethspace-20%26linkId%3Dcce7a072ea4ac0ec432549079e9d4fd7&title=Neth%20Space&txt=">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Life Debt</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_149859360337813&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=j4fzr6ag0100r7tw000DA17pp993iddxx6&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F&v=1&out=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FLife-Debt-Aftermath-Star-Trilogy%2Fdp%2F1101966939%2Fref%3Das_li_ss_tl%3Fs%3Dbooks%26ie%3DUTF8%26qid%3D1475792029%26sr%3D1-1%26keywords%3Dstar%2Bwars%2Baftermath%2Blife%2Bdebt%26linkCode%3Dll1%26tag%3Dnethspace-20%26linkId%3D03d4759f9f4c5f98d4097c41b7ecbfbd&title=Neth%20Space&txt=">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Empire’s End</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_149859358602412&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=j4fzr6ag0100r7tw000DA17pp993iddxx6&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F&v=1&out=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FEmpires-End-Aftermath-Star-Trilogy%2Fdp%2F1101966963%2Fref%3Das_li_ss_tl%3Fie%3DUTF8%26qid%3D1496162791%26sr%3D8-1%26keywords%3Dempire%2527s%2Bend%26linkCode%3Dll1%26tag%3Dnethspace-20%26linkId%3De13b311abf3a8ca6b446e5396eecd5db&title=Neth%20Space&txt=">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Other
Star Wars Books I Mention<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Bloodline</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_149859354810711&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=j4fzr6ag0100r7tw000DA17pp993iddxx6&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F&v=1&out=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FBloodline-Star-Wars-Claudia-Gray%2Fdp%2F1101885262%2Fref%3Das_li_ss_tl%3Fie%3DUTF8%26qid%3D1498506324%26sr%3D8-1%26keywords%3Dbloodline%26linkCode%3Dll1%26tag%3Dnethspace-20%26linkId%3D91f7cf3c252f81eb37e023cbd22bd895&title=Neth%20Space&txt=">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Thrawn</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Thrawn-Star-Wars-Timothy-Zahn/dp/0345511271/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1498593647&sr=8-1&keywords=thrawn&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=7e7998027f6bc9940671cd918a7a53ea">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Ahsoka</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Star-Wars-Ahsoka-E-K-Johnston/dp/1484705661/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1498593688&sr=8-1&keywords=ahsoka&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=5a2a1deea986cf62c68678a10cb23a53">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-14350074540169407852017-06-26T14:11:00.000-07:002017-06-28T12:11:52.923-07:00Mini-Review: Breath of Earth by Beth Cato<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Breath-Earth-Blood-Beth-Cato/dp/0062422065/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1496162104&sr=8-1&keywords=breath+of+earth&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=a714e37002e3ea904a77a039311913f6" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="276" data-original-width="183" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjgVQpANCdZUrhLSH67w-liFtSXECYKSu-NGsqrNPUXwJxuVHKwp1OPeRpCsq0oyPUMj9ZtNcx3ygqYfAYl-u0v9y0LBOWGqq6-UqFqhaPII_6_q626wDxh_bbFzeKG8Pb3YE9/s200/breathofearth.jpg" width="132" /></a><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Geomancer<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">By day I am a mild-mannered engineering geologist and by night I
read fantasy and science fiction once the rest of the house has gone to bed. So…the
word geomancer is the only part of the description of <i>Breath of Earth</i> by <a href="http://www.bethcato.com/">Beth Cato</a> that matters. Once I read that word I
knew that I had to read this book. I was not disappointed.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Blah Blah Blah. Yeah, I’m a geologist and this isn’t the first
time I’ve written a review where that is the lens through which I (at least
initially) view a book and focus my review. Magic derived from the energy of
the earth, specifically in the form of the earthquakes – sign me up. Set in San
Francisco at the time of the infamous 1906 earthquake – keep it coming. Throw
is a provocative look at the society of the time, a view not from the ‘winners’
of society, but from those that the winners oppress – excellent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I have read (<a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2015/08/review-clockwork-dagger-by-beth-cato.html">and reviewed</a>) <i>The
Clockwork Dagger</i> by Cato and it can clearly be seen that <i>Breath of Earth</i> is its decedent. ‘Victorian-type/regency’
society with a young woman on the outside, a bit naïve to the world and thrown
into a serious situation. Plus, a dashing young man who both saves the day (and
is saved by her) complicating things. A woman who struggles to break the chains
society has placed on her. A woman who awakens to her own power within. I
enjoyed <i>The Clockwork Dagger</i>, and <i>Breath of Earth</i> takes that solid
foundation and improves it, adds experience, and has geomancers (hey, I would
never claim objectivity in a review). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">How does the geology stand up? Frankly, it doesn’t matter. It’s
not gotten into. The alternative world that Cato creates is one where most of
the myths of origin of nature are true to some degree. There are magical
creatures in the world – unicorns, selkies, etc. There are giant magical beasts
that live in the earth where earthquakes happen. And a select few people have
magical powers of various sorts. As a fan of fantasy, as a fan of myth, as
someone who has a great curiosity of other cultures and how they came about, I
found Cato’s approach to be wonderfully creative and simply a lot of fun. And
there are geomancers.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Another fun aspect of Cato’s alternative world is her rewriting of
political powers. It is a world of great superpowers, often at war with each
other, in various states of conquest and rivalry. Wars are cold, hot, and just
waiting to happen. Geomancers play their role, so do other magical people, dirigibles
and other ‘steampunk’ engines of war. The US is aligned with Japan, currently
bent on destroying China, the British have an empire focusing on the conquest
of India, the Russians are out there and others. Being set in San Francisco,
the main players are the Chinese, Japanese, and Americans in this (partial) exploration
of some dirtier realities of actual history. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">So, whether you are looking for a super-powered woman of color
coming finding her power and kicking ass, a bit of a Victorian/regency Romance, an
interesting alternative history of San Francisco, or the awesomeness of
geomancer, I strongly recommend <i>Breath of
Earth</i>. And I am very much looking forward to the sequel – <i>Call of Fire</i>. Bring on more geomancers!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Blood of
Earth Trilogy<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Breath of Earth</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Breath-Earth-Blood-Beth-Cato/dp/0062422065/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1496162104&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=breath+of+earth&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=nethspace-20&amp;linkId=a714e37002e3ea904a77a039311913f6">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Call of Fire</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Call-Fire-Blood-Earth-Beth/dp/0062422111/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1498511260&sr=8-1&keywords=call+of+fire+cato&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=724971f5c040aa2035d049816a5eba39">Amazon </a>(Will be released in August)</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>Roar of Sky</i>: Forthcoming<o:p></o:p></span></div>
Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-7615608393785106192017-05-26T10:38:00.000-07:002017-05-26T12:53:27.819-07:00Getting Caught Up: A bunch of Short Reviews and One DNF<div class="MsoNormalCxSpFirst" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">This post is something that
I’ve always resisted: a single post with a bunch of short reviews in it. Some
of these were read nearly a year ago and it’s just time to pass by. I think the
main reason that they have languished is that I don’t have that much to say
beyond things like ‘I enjoyed them’ and ‘others have said a lot about this book
and I don’t have much to add’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">So…enjoy my brief thought
on a wide range of books I’ve read lately.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Immortals</span></span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> by <a href="https://www.jordannamaxbrodsky.com/">Jordanna Max Brodsky</a></span><o:p></o:p></span><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Immortals-Olympus-Bound-Jordanna-Brodsky/dp/0316347183/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1475857533&sr=8-2&keywords=the+immortals&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=56eed19a262b291afcb8d8c1f4df2c13" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTK00m3-9dbGcHVOeYB-X8OJFm04DEYn_hii-hEeqRTM7B9UUif1AtYqKNw9Tp-JmA98xxxyBDmbOXoBXbnQjmsFgsYjpEjNwaSfdLNJpGDJdJIZMUQpNribHNgs5Jh-FidTFK/s200/Immortals.jpg" width="132" /></a></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Immortals</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> (Book One of the <b>Olympus Bound</b> series) is a fun urban
fantasy based on the idea of Greek Gods still hanging around, if a bit reduced
in power, and being up to no good. I enjoyed it. It’s tempting to say something
along the lines of Percy Jackson for adults, which is horribly cliché, but not
entirely a mischaracterization either. I’m tempted to pass it along to my
friend who is a bit of a Greek Classicist. I imagine that I will read the
sequel, <i>Winter of the Gods</i>, at some
point. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Olympus Bound Series<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Immortals</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Immortals-Olympus-Bound-Jordanna-Brodsky/dp/0316347183/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1475857533&amp;sr=8-2&amp;keywords=the+immortals&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=nethspace-20&amp;linkId=56eed19a262b291afcb8d8c1f4df2c13">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Winter of the Gods</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Winter-Olympus-Bound-Jordanna-Brodsky/dp/0316385913/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1495819361&sr=8-1&keywords=winter+of+gods&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=9b5af05f92f35642036fff59380afac2">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Grace-Kings-Dandelion-Dynasty/dp/1481424270/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&qid=1477523813&sr=8-1&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=8a607892392efe0ab24e5bed3414791e" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwZrnhTjpVLDuybkU-FpEkk44prEo8K9QohCLHZ6NaAhmd84q89stO0jjnigi7DGbURsWKbn54Z_0YiegY1Jx0LRbft2G2BbfaeYYH5oxTx5-d0ci9KCSF0bXHxvqoYd-45yhs/s200/Grace+of+Kings.jpg" width="131" /></a><b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Grace of Kings</span></span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> by <a href="https://kenliu.name/">Ken Liu</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Grace of Kings is the
first book in the epic fantasy series: The Dandelion Dynasty. I very much
enjoyed this Asian-inspired fantasy epic and I encourage you to look up much of
the more in-depth commentary out there about this book and its sequel. Good
stuff and I look forward to reading the rest of the series.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Dandelion Dynasty<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Grace of Kings</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Grace-Kings-Dandelion-Dynasty/dp/1481424270/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&amp;qid=1477523813&amp;sr=8-1&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=nethspace-20&amp;linkId=8a607892392efe0ab24e5bed3414791e">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Wall of Storms</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=as_li_ss_tl?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=ken+liu&rh=i:aps,k:ken+liu&linkCode=ll2&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=40b37244f2dff93bfbb45387fd8c07c8">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Lightning Thief</span></span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> by <a href="http://rickriordan.com/">Rick Riordan</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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</div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lightning-Thief-Percy-Jackson-Olympians/dp/0786838655/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1481131771&sr=8-1&keywords=lightning+thief&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=12d2f46aac969e7b0890009bc55f7a9d" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhq2uJE7zlUfQcimmzlDQqUchvN7w7HR7RilnTn4AsQEWxsu8iHULBsWODmJCcBL7Phmk0ZDYg-FZeOB5wcPyXX7uksY074tGWsFIrz2wPGrmsQDLsPe9iEYjbKCZiSJcAYO_UD/s200/Percy+Jackson+Lightening+Thief.jpg" width="134" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I read the first book in the
<b>Percy Jackson and the Olympians </b>series
at the same time as my son. I think it is a very fun book and I enjoyed it a
lot. I look forward to reading the rest of the series with him (though he’s
buried himself in Harry Potter for the moment). We recommend the book to a
friend who is a philosopher and a bit of a Greek classicist and she and her 3
boys devoured them and then started an Ancient Greece Club at school. Which I
think is a pretty positive endorsement. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Percy Jackson and the Olympians<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Lightning Thief</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lightning-Thief-Percy-Jackson-Olympians-ebook/dp/0786838655/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1495819578&sr=8-3&keywords=percy+jackson&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=78d7c795e5f1a03f2b0fc2ec291a8f06">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Sea of Monsters</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Monsters-Percy-Jackson-Olympians-Book/dp/1423103343/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1423103343&pd_rd_r=TH6NX1A5XSWAZ0RNVTKG&pd_rd_w=XKW7B&pd_rd_wg=iQjmc&psc=1&refRID=TH6NX1A5XSWAZ0RNVTKG&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=478afc30b3f6e2c2468146dcebc55d53">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Titan’s Curse</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Titans-Curse-Percy-Jackson-Olympians/dp/1423101480/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1423101480&pd_rd_r=NJR7F8HSJDZ98VB1R9B2&pd_rd_w=xUNsr&pd_rd_wg=pASN9&psc=1&refRID=NJR7F8HSJDZ98VB1R9B2&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=3c8f75c6234cef9e9a7a2d4b08021c0f">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Battle of the Labyrinth</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Battle-Labyrinth-Percy-Jackson-Olympians/dp/1423101499/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1423101499&pd_rd_r=53DCCAHF9W3PV8CBA37Y&pd_rd_w=9gEr2&pd_rd_wg=prb9Y&psc=1&refRID=53DCCAHF9W3PV8CBA37Y&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=fc0a7f23401e4ecb7cc3a6420f7e3082">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Last Olympian</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Last-Olympian-Percy-Jackson-Olympians/dp/1423101502/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1423101502&pd_rd_r=8EJKRY3HS8MDRHGMNFGP&pd_rd_w=bETEy&pd_rd_wg=Z5plr&psc=1&refRID=8EJKRY3HS8MDRHGMNFGP&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=add18e8877bb94eb2fbafa8a64e86096">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Demigod Files</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Demigod-Files-Percy-Jackson-Olympians/dp/142312166X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=142312166X&pd_rd_r=AFPWZAYCZS8SQQ1B7QYG&pd_rd_w=jdpn3&pd_rd_wg=nffKu&psc=1&refRID=AFPWZAYCZS8SQQ1B7QYG&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=35e6a499fcd5631fde362c568ed0de27">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Embers-Ben-Garston-Novel/dp/0316390690/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1481131820&sr=8-1&keywords=chasing+embers+by+james+bennett&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=4a4c168c3b017fa0d4ed0a40b01151f3" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi9x_wBG7EuGcWXG_uTaqfwlkYRODFs61DcsMk8JGFVEa5l0X5G7r-Yss6TYnUGT4wZPblKOBTnCT9ArtMudhaxLU1DLpDA4S2fJEKTPGobdHy_pF9_XR22rNnCWp7ZACGPEjN8/s200/Chasing+Embers.jpg" width="128" /></a><b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Chasing Embers</span></span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> by <a href="http://curia-draconis.blogspot.co.uk/">James Bennett</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">A bit of an urban fantasy
about a dragon in human form, living on the fringes of modern society. The book
was fun, though there was a bit too much of the ‘maiden in distress’ who needs
a man to rescue her going on. Some troubling ideas about possessive
relationships as well – if it was trying to be subversive, it didn’t work well.
The book was good enough to finish, but I’m reluctant to recommend it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Chasing Embers</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Chasing-Embers-Ben-Garston-Novel/dp/0316390690/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1481131820&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=chasing+embers+by+james+bennett&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=nethspace-20&amp;linkId=4a4c168c3b017fa0d4ed0a40b01151f3">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">The Crow of Connemara</span></span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> by <a href="http://www.farrellworlds.com/">Stephen Leigh</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></b><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Crow-Connemara-Stephen-Leigh/dp/0756410770/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483482595&sr=1-1&keywords=crow+of+connemara&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=e706d6d25ea925356c7a6f2e08fe446e" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh-KBmIziX5HPuY6puLtdGcJzqMhC5wwFlfJBMsytgq12HnKkT2zuJ2mtLhK_dp_4kllKusI_NkQPYitBOvqCdEGZvKC7p2Ba270sD-fBMEfwGNlJhC1oYrJX3TJE0852Elvtdu/s200/CrowofConnemara.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">This is a mythic fiction
book about an American musician who travels to Ireland and gets caught up with remnants
of the fay. Very much in the style of Charles de Lint in the way it integrates
music into the modern world and impacts from the ancient world. Basically I
found it to be a very pale imitation of de Lint's work. The music parts of the
book felt like a plot device rather than the underlying binding of the book –
it lacked any real emotional connection. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Crow of Connemara</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Crow-Connemara-Stephen-Leigh/dp/0756410770/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1483482595&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=crow+of+connemara&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=nethspace-20&amp;linkId=e706d6d25ea925356c7a6f2e08fe446e">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Darker-Shade-Magic-Novel-Shades/dp/0765376466/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1485198074&sr=8-1&keywords=a+darker+shade+of+magic&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=158ace4f5fca6a8ecf0ebf308f253ce7" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7tnlpIHW-cscn8OLk71f_pFl83ZMHl5k5TYpAHdzFaqDIUpCkowF3rjyvw2PENSHC9JJXPz_2Dk43kdUHKCUZbQKpfjSuiYDxqGcnig3EETQxJNI6B5n8NVpctFsa1M8nd5x-/s200/darker+shade+of+magic.jpg" width="132" /></a><b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">A Darker Shade of Magic</span></span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> by <a href="https://veschwab.wordpress.com/">V.E. Schwab</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I picked this up since it’s
been so highly regarded around the web. I can certainly say that I enjoyed it
and look forward to its sequels, though I expected to enjoy it more based on
the opinions I’ve seen about it, which left slightly disappoint. I did pass the
book on to my wife who really enjoyed it, and she quickly moved on to the second
book and is not reading the third. Anyway, there’s a lot out there that’s been
written about this series (and how it’s coming going to be adapted as TV show),
so search it out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Shades of Magic<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">A Darker Shade of Magic</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Darker-Shade-Magic-Novel-Shades/dp/0765376466/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1485198074&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=a+darker+shade+of+magic&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=nethspace-20&amp;linkId=158ace4f5fca6a8ecf0ebf308f253ce7">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">A Gathering of Shadows</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gathering-Shadows-Novel-Shades-Magic-ebook/dp/B00WDVL07Q/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1495819895&sr=1-1&keywords=a+gathering+of+shadows&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=ad563173fefb65fed386cab74ef582fa">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">A Conjuring of Light</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01EROMI2M/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=902acfd037be1e3b0741079e5205922f">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;">Crossroads of Canopy</span></span></i></b><b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: large;"> by <a href="http://www.thoraiyadyer.com/">Thoraiya Dyer</a></span><o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Crossroads-Canopy-Titans-Forest-novel-ebook/dp/B01F20E7D8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1495819986&sr=1-1&keywords=crossroads+of+canopy&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=a2ac2aecda538c3ecc036539a9fed728" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="277" data-original-width="182" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh2y6Ebf3Oz66xKscDrdvsJS9DekJXGWnXe9WzoLF1epc5_kYF6ShLrrJKVO9R2Hz7wpvszCe1DgYIRr7jbPclfMEGW45TFl4gcDTzAaYwFfWfZEysA256FTn5dUoCSk700w0LV/s200/crossroads+of+canopy.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">This is a YA level book
about a young woman coming of age in a world of gods and societies living in
giant trees. I gave up about half-way through the book. It didn’t really
connect, the main character was more annoying than anything, and I simply got
bored. So, a did-not-finish (DNF) for me. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Crossroads of Canopy</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Crossroads-Canopy-Titans-Forest-novel-ebook/dp/B01F20E7D8/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=digital-text&ie=UTF8&qid=1495819986&sr=1-1&keywords=crossroads+of+canopy&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=a2ac2aecda538c3ecc036539a9fed728">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-3160460392137426252017-03-23T09:54:00.001-07:002017-03-23T09:54:16.728-07:00Review: The Last Adventure of Constance Verity by A. Lee Martinez<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Last-Adventure-Constance-Verity/dp/1481443518/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1489773866&sr=8-1&keywords=constance+verity&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=7c0fccba684c1b741bb2929e8e2d98ca" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhhso-2AX8r_YhI80RZJggKSCOFemjjFPPGyhqjzTca7AEjJocfvp3cs6ugtqLIxTpXBN7tLhiCvbAdhC5mPVHLLVv-mgiboOpR_tgoYcJzQ-J0Fn9p1k6MMlmsbZBcuphAmsUH/s200/contance+verity.jpg" width="132" /></a><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Last Adventure of
Constance Verity</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> by <a href="http://www.aleemartinez.com/">A. Lee Martinez</a> is an
outrageous series adventures and take on the life of a superhero. These
adventures, with seemingly no real rhyme or reason or even a sense of logical
design through in everything and the kitchen sink – if kitchen sink is an evil
cyborg alien musical pirate magician and maybe Yakuza enforcer as well, or just
Verity’s grade school teacher. Every ridiculous form of an ‘evil antagonist’ is
possible, likely, and quite possibly combined in some improbable match with
another to make things more interesting and humorous. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Constance Verity is said superhero – magically endowed at birth to
have adventures, she’s good at them and repeatedly saves the world. But…she’s
tired, and it becomes almost a buddy adventure when Connie teams up with her
(mundane) best-friend for her ‘last adventure’. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">But, through all of the wild, over-the-top fun of this book, I
couldn’t help but begin viewing it a metaphor for women in modern American
society. Perhaps I’m reading into this book too much, but stay with me for bit.
The entire universe is literally throwing ‘adventure’ after ‘adventure’ at
Constance Verity. She can’t get a cup of coffee without some Yakuza ninja
enforcer getting in the way. Or maybe a lizard alien magician. Etc. She never
gets a break. The universe is literally a machine designed to make sure she has
no close attachments, distractions or anything else in her life that could keep
her from doing what it want her to do. She’s exhausted, she’s tired. She just
wants a ‘normal’ life and some rest. She was literally cursed to this life this
by a sadistic fairy godmother working on behalf of the machine of the universe.
Hell, the book opens with us learning that the earth is nothing more than a
giant monster that a cult wants to feed Constance Verity to as a sacrifice of
appeasement. Yes, the whole world is literally out to eat her. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Then I take a look at my wife, all the shit life has thrown at her
lately. All the responsibilities that the machine of society throws on her. All
of the asshole men of the world who make it that much harder. The impossible
expectations that society forces up on her. To not be too assertive, but not be timid. Too appear how society views is appropriate, but not to be too much. Etc. Etc. How completely beat down she can
get by it all. How she so often just wants to give up on all of it. And how she
gets out of bed the next morning (after not getting enough sleep since sometime
in the ‘90s), and saves the world…again.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Once I captured this vision of <i>The
Last Adventure of Constance Verity</i>, I couldn’t see it any other way. It
transformed the outrageous, fun adventure into something more – bitter, angry,
and intensely sarcastic satire. Which is right where my warped sense of humor
lives.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Further, take a moment to think about what the name Constance
Verity means.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Constance: Firm of purpose, constant<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Verity: Truth<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Ouch! And fuck you! <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">And then my sense of humor kicks in and I laugh for 5 minutes. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Look, I don’t know Martinez and from what I gleaned from a quick
bit of reading blog posts and the like, Constance Verity gets its origins more
from superhero lore with a good bit of discussion of free will, determinism,
and agency in life. Plus you know, fun, humorous, and completely over-the-top
adventure. It doesn’t look like Martinez set out to write a dark, satirical
feminist manifesto about women ‘having it all’. And I’m sure with a close look
the metaphor would probably break down in some troubling ways. It for sure
breaks down toward the end of the book – a happy ending plus some nice balance
in life achieved? That only exists in Hollywood, self-help books, and mommy
blogs. But I simply cannot un-see my view of the book, and I think it’s better
for it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">So…most readers will joyously take <i>The Last Adventure of Constance Verity</i> at face value – and more
power to them, because it is completely ridiculous in all the best ways. You
can feel the fun that Martinez had in writing it, and that fun is contagious. Or
maybe you’ll see it through a similar lens as I do and your own sense of humor
will allow for a different level of amusement. Or maybe something entirely
different. But do read this book, because however you choose to filter it, it’s
outrageously fantastic. Oh...and my understanding is that this was not actually Verity's last adventure and more are to come with <i>Constance Verity Saves the World </i>expected in 2018.<o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><b><u>Constance Verity Series</u></b></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>The Last Adventure of Constance Verity</i>: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Last-Adventure-Constance-Verity/dp/1481443518/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1489773866&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=constance+verity&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=nethspace-20&amp;linkId=7c0fccba684c1b741bb2929e8e2d98ca">Amazon</a></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>Constance Verity Saves the World</i>: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Constance-Verity-Saves-World-Martinez/dp/1481443542/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=628636b8c839b19feb5e4c94f96f33dc">Amazon</a></span></div>
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Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-43780886823563643042017-03-17T11:00:00.000-07:002017-03-17T11:00:05.258-07:00Review: The Collapsing Empire by John Scalzi<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Collapsing-Empire-John-Scalzi/dp/076538888X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1488574194&sr=8-1&keywords=collapsing+empire+by+john+scalzi&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=69e9844a1f9717986accb5f61dbbf04c" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBwQxEPSIs5riFBzcOHfwsJmLZeTqoZu9Ix1p6x4kvrmHA-4HAF_uIHYRDq0G8g0XEmCOpbajj5Jvm8QgWJTmAYw9FMM_VEYpAtWryvM475OUCmZMKCI9pnLK77a2iYGi0mdnC/s200/Collapsing+Empire.jpg" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.scalzi.com/">John Scalzi</a> begins a new space opera with <i>The Collapsing Empire</i> which is sure to please fans of science
fiction. In short it is fun, fast-paced and very accessible. Or…just the book I
was needing to read when I read it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The set-up is a 1000+ year old empire spanning multiple space
systems that utilize a sort of parallel energy called the flow to travel
between systems where standard travel would never be possible because of the
true distance between stars. The empire has been intentionally designed to be
interdependent, where no single system will have the ability to survive
independently of the others. A few individuals learn that the flow that ‘connects’
systems is about to shift over a period of only a few years, fragmenting
humanity into isolated worlds that are doomed to tragic ends. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Along the way we learn that the entire socioeconomic structure of the
empire with its monopolistic guilds, strict societal class delineations, and dynastic
rule is all just a con job to further enrich the powerful and keep the masses
just content enough to not cause too much trouble. In an entrenched, bureaucratic
society the will to actually meet an existential threat simply doesn’t exist,
and often the will to even acknowledge the possibility that such a threat could
be real is lacking. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Collapsing Empire</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> largely serves as an introduction to the empire, to the physics
of Scalzi’s created universe, and to the characters who personalize the story.
In this, there is a lot of exposition, but not so much that I was ever bothered
by it. Scalzi writes with a brisk pace and a slight irreverence that sets a
nicely balanced tone for the book (and presumably the rest of the series).
Humor is a big part of it, but it’s more a sense of levity in the face of what’s
to come that drives the story. The end result is that things feel more hopeful
than anything, making the story fun to read, even in the face disastrous
consequence for humanity. And through all the levity, Scalzi still manages to
set the stage well for an empire that has stagnated or even regressed, where innovation
and flexibility is stifled by tradition and economic interest in the status quo.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Collapsing-Empire-John-Scalzi/dp/076538888X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1488574194&sr=8-1&keywords=collapsing+empire+by+john+scalzi&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=69e9844a1f9717986accb5f61dbbf04c" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuuf3oyBb5yVC7MUIhC53LH4jVySsyLvMOv3mWJYevegNaqhQSCvLb52qgEkXMpWIAsZU_1q6_n38cDwhVwzwx5hRUD8a_x4pATk5IliSDSRyUPI1fW_vwETWIrOf3T-Nc7Jk3/s200/collapssing+empireuk.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It is often said that Scazli writes some of the most accessible
science fiction, and I certainly agree. Concepts are not that difficult for
someone on the outside of the science fiction world to enjoy, yet they are
thought through enough to satisfy (most of) those who are long-time fans. It’s full
of high adventure and fun with consequences that matter to story.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">For all of this to be successful, it comes down to the people of
the story, and Scalzi excels in this. Three main characters are built up as the
protagonists of <i>The Collapsing Empire</i>
– the newly ascended Emperor, the scientist son of the researcher who
discovered the impending collapse of the flow, and familial representative of
one of the largest trade guilds. Or the inexperienced political outsider who
unexpected ascends to the most powerful role in the galaxy, the naïve young
scientist from a remote backwater, and hard-edged and exquisitely foul-mouthed
business person who doesn’t take shit from anyone. Even the antagonists of the
story are somewhat likable as they are really more self-interested in the extreme
than actually evil – cutthroat is perhaps the better term. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The two most powerful characters in the story are women – and I
could probably write an entire review just on Kiva, the foul-mouthed trade
representative mentioned above. She steals every single scene she is in, and is
only briefly upstaged when we meet her mother. It’s choices like this that help
make Scalzi’s writing so accessible, or to put another way, consistent with
modern sensibilities as it projects some progressive advances for a far-future
civilization (contrasted with the stagnation discussed above). For example, sexual
identity and gender are subtly shown to be accepted for what they are and
normative for the society. And it really is important when a popular science
fiction novel that will likely land itself on multiple best-seller list makes
these choices.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Given what I’ve said above, as I close out this review, I really
feel the need to emphasize something about this novel: FUN. It is fun to read.
Scalzi’s humorous, fast-paced, and slightly irreverent writing takes over this
book. I raced through this book, finishing in a just a few days, at a time when
I typically take a few weeks to read a book. Call it escapism or just simply
fun readying, <i>The Collapsing Empire</i>
delivers. But damn it, a cliff-hanger* ending? That’s not cool, because I want
the sequel now!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">*Cleverly, the cliff-hanger moment is more intellectual and not
action-based. Which is a nice bit, though not really solace when I want to read
the sequel now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Collapsing Empire</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Collapsing-Empire-John-Scalzi/dp/076538888X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1488574194&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=collapsing+empire+by+john+scalzi&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=nethspace-20&amp;linkId=69e9844a1f9717986accb5f61dbbf04c">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-5057554305429493552017-03-03T13:46:00.001-07:002017-03-03T13:46:50.276-07:00Mini-Review: The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin-bottom: 0in;">
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Library-Novel/dp/1101988649/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1471987620&sr=8-1&keywords=the+invisible+library&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=10a3a4951697f885030653ff4f6c3856" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUeIvMUGdcEIuYzFK1OuT1G8owowK0h7_hVpYEOdDtWLD1wWKdfrLxyjBhmb0Ei9s-Q41dAmrERn4oYAsFfZFuUqypbQV5Z_8Z_1Eiu6dgCRaFsWuGsVKHBcnuK9a04MWb6IMU/s200/InvisibleLibrary1.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I love books, which really isn’t much of a surprise coming from
someone who has a blog about books. So, it’s not much of a stretch for me to
love libraries too – after all, they are huge collections of books, and I do
have my daydreams of one day having a perfectly snobbish private library for all
of my books, but I digress. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">So…fantasy stories about libraries…I’m rather predisposed to
liking them. <i>The Invisible Library</i> by
<a href="http://www.grcogman.com/">Genevieve Cogman</a> is just that, a fantasy adventure centered on a great library
where librarians have magical powers that they use to cross between worlds to
collect books. Yes, there’s a greater struggle across all the worlds between
order and chaos, full of fantastical beings that fall on various ends of that
spectrum – chaotic fae, orderly dragons, etc. But it all comes back to magical
librarian doesn’t it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The story is pretty basic…a mid-level librarian is assigned a new
apprentice and a new task that should be pretty straight-forward. Collect a
book in a mildly chaotic world and bring it back. Of course it turns out to be
more complicated, of greater importance and way more dangerous than
anticipated. There are mixed loyalties, betrayals, mysterious origins and all
that jazz. Even a nice hum of romantic tension is thrown about as it mingles
with Victorian-style propriety and modern ideas of sexual freedom. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">This is Cogman’s debut book, and it sometimes reads as such with a
bit too much exposition and pacing difficulties. But then I can forgive pacing
issues when librarians are the stars – how many librarians have you known have
a tendency to go off on a tangent right in the middle of the search for that
precious book?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I quite enjoyed <i>The
Invisible Library</i> and heartily recommend it for a bit of bookishly fun
diversion. I haven’t yet made it to the sequels, though the beckon from the
shelves of my want-to-be library. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Invisible Library</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Invisible-Library-Novel/dp/1101988649/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1471987620&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=the+invisible+library&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=nethspace-20&amp;linkId=10a3a4951697f885030653ff4f6c3856">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Masked City</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Masked-City-Invisible-Library-Novel/dp/1101988665/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1488573913&sr=8-1&keywords=the+masked+city&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=71f45362c0fae69c917710f64b1f1f20">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Burning Page</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Burning-Page-Invisible-Library-Novel/dp/1101988681/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=1101988681&pd_rd_r=T3DH3HRVPDKREYEGQZP3&pd_rd_w=cqr7G&pd_rd_wg=Mx7xz&psc=1&refRID=T3DH3HRVPDKREYEGQZP3&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=75c48ef0ccbc70e424b75d6faf73858d">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-63493119175862768752017-01-23T11:59:00.000-07:002017-01-23T11:59:54.433-07:00Review: The Heart of What Was Lost by Tad Williams<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Heart-What-Was-Lost-Novel/dp/075641248X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1483482634&sr=1-1&keywords=the+heart+of+what+was+lost&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=208d0482b29e5303456142fc4b6a30d4" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhlJq4AfV8J-uV4Vt-jEsaXkHBuiYzckQxn3-oUA1tf6UHy7w7yYZEc2Pnpo4K6xaLcne5blMMjBVxfnuicG5mVgBoYUS71-kcjkczP4pTCUXWSIVKrTWhrsjnkEapC1OmWDIGC/s200/heartofwhatwaslost.jpg" width="132" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://www.tadwilliams.com/">Tad Williams</a> returns to the world of Osten Ard after 20+ years in <i>The Heart of What Was Lost</i>. In part,
this short novel serves as a reintroduction of Osten Ard in advance of the
forthcoming trilogy: <b>The Last King of
Osten Ard</b>. But more than a simple reintroduction, I found <i>The Heart of What Was Lost</i> to be a very
meta coda to the <b>Memory, Sorrow, and
Thorn</b> series – a response coming 20 years later, in part admitting the
shortcomings of the previous series and state of epic fantasy fiction of the
times, a message of leadership and the future for today, and what I suspect is
a tease of changes to come in <b>The Last
King of Osten Ard</b>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Heart of What Was Lost</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> is set in the aftermath of the events that end the <b>Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn</b> series, and
feature dueling perspectives of a human army pursuing the remnant forces of the
Norns with intent to eradicate them and that of the Norns themselves. One of
the strongest aspects of the <b>Memory,
Sorrow, and Thorn</b> series was its portrayal of the horrors of war, rather
than the traditional glorification often seen in fantasy (or at least fantasy
of the 1980s and 1990s). This is the core of <i>The Heart of What Was Lost</i> as the army of the Northmen seeks
genocide in vengeance to the horrors the Norns brought upon people and the
world. This is balanced by the perspective of the Norns fleeing, only thinking
of the survival of their race and doing everything they can to achieve that
survival. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Heart of What Was Lost</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> is the story of two leaders of their people, how they fight to
survive, and ultimately, the sacrifices they will make. One leader serves as
the heart of their people, the other people have lost their heart and are
seemingly directionless in their efforts to survive. Both are forced to look at
the traditions of the past and confront what the future can be. Are the
traditions and actions of the past going to bring about a future they can be
proud of?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">While it’s not the focus, the weight and responsibility of
leadership is on full display. True leadership is not an act of the
selfishness, but one of sacrifice. Leadership is about the people and the
future, it doesn’t relish in the past, and it makes the hard choice. In <i>The Heart of What Was Lost</i>, the balance
of life, death and survival brings focus and immediacy to it all. Can the leaders
do what is needed?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">A third perspective is brought in, not only as a balance, but to give
those of us who aren’t leaders something we can directly relate to. An
everyman, a plain soldier far from home. This third point of view isn’t a
portrayal of grand sacrifice or such, but this is basic survival. In the
survival rivalries of the past and home are discarded as unimportant, basic friendship
is the mean to survival, and continuing when death arrives. Of course there’s
plenty of ‘war sucks’ to all this, but the way things end is tear-jerking
tragedy. The journeys of <i>The Heart of
What Was Lost </i>feel like interwoven Greek Tragedies, but none more than that
of our every soldier. And the tragic end, is also the challenge that Williams
sets for us all. For the sacrifice of leadership is not enough. The every person
must step as well, and it isn’t easy. For the sake of the future, you may be
asked to cut off the head of the reanimated corpse of your only friend. Over
dramatic? When I look at the world around me today, I think not (but I sure
wish it was). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">For all of the powerful ideas on display in <i>The Heart of What Was</i>, I must admit that it took me time to really
get into the book, even though it’s a relatively short novel. I think that this
is in part due to it being over 10 years since I read the books in the <b>Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn</b> trilogy, so
while I don’t think it’s needed to be familiar with those books, a lack of
familiarity may make it a bit more difficult to connect with the story initially.
Though I also believe that bleak, dark, horrors of war basis was also a barrier
for me as it’s just not the sort of story I gravitate toward right now.
However, as indicated by my thoughts above, perseverance is rewarded.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">At the top I mentioned some of the meta feeling I got from <i>The Heart of What Was Lost</i>. Yes, much of
this is routed in a message of fighting for the future that resonates with me
right now. But it’s more – let’s be honest, some of the world and society in <b>Memory, Sorrow, and Thorn</b> feels dated
in the context of the epic fantasy being written today. So, how does one deal
with that dated feeling that is so obvious in a sequel? Most obvious is that <i>The Heart of What Was Lost</i> is man’s
story – men are everywhere, with only a couple of token women. It’s striking
and it was one of the barriers to me getting into the story. But in the end,
Williams acknowledges this shortcoming, and further mocks the concept of ‘women
and children’ not standing up for themselves. My hope is that this is his way
of clearing the page for changes to come in the forthcoming trilogy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">In short, after a slow start, I very much enjoyed <i>The Heart of What Was Lost</i>. In spite of
a few shortcomings, it resonates deeply with what I see in the world around me.
It encourages and shows of view of hope, hope that we’ll need to fight for. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Books/Series
of Osten Ard:<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Memory,
Sorrow, and Thorn</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> (<a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2006/11/memory-sorry-and-thorn-trilogy-tad.html">my review of the trilogy</a>*)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Dragonbone Chair</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> (<a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2006/06/dragonbone-chair-by-tad-williams-are.html">my review</a>*, <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_148519737533211&key=503c38809682907e0e07931326b1c03d&libId=iyaeq2jf01012xfu000DAksaw8x2a&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F2006%2F11%2Fmemory-sorry-and-thorn-trilogy-tad.html&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fexec%2Fobidos%2Fredirect%3Flink_code%3Das2%26path%3DASIN%2F0886773849%26amp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Btag%3Dnethspace-20%26camp%3D1789%26amp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bcreative%3D9325&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F2006%2F03%2Freview-of-reviewskage-baker-anvil-of.html&title=Neth%20Space&txt=The%20Dragonbone%20Chair">Amazon</a>) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Stone of Farewell</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> (<a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2006/10/stone-of-farewell-by-tad-williams.html">my review</a>*, <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_148519758743911&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=iyagahod0100r7tw000DAwzmetij&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F2006%2F10%2Fstone-of-farewell-by-tad-williams.html&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0886774802%3Fie%3DUTF8%26tag%3Dnethspace-20%26amp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3BlinkCode%3Das2%26camp%3D1789%26amp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bcreative%3D9325%26creativeASIN%3D0886774802&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F2006%2F06%2Fdragonbone-chair-by-tad-williams-are.html&title=Neth%20Space&txt=Stone%20of%20Farewell">Amazon</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">To Green Angel Tower Part 1</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> (<a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2006/11/to-green-angel-tower-tad-williams-its.html">my review</a>*, <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_148519739869012&key=503c38809682907e0e07931326b1c03d&libId=iyaeq2jf01012xfu000DAksaw8x2a&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F2006%2F11%2Fmemory-sorry-and-thorn-trilogy-tad.html&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0886775981%3Fie%3DUTF8%26amp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Btag%3Dnethspace-20%26linkCode%3Das2%26amp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bcamp%3D1789%26creative%3D9325%26amp%3BcreativeASIN%3D0886775981&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F2006%2F03%2Freview-of-reviewskage-baker-anvil-of.html&title=Neth%20Space&txt=1">Amazon</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">To Green Angel Tower Part 2</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> (<a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2006/11/to-green-angel-tower-tad-williams-its.html">my review</a>*, <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_148519741622713&key=503c38809682907e0e07931326b1c03d&libId=iyaeq2jf01012xfu000DAksaw8x2a&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F2006%2F11%2Fmemory-sorry-and-thorn-trilogy-tad.html&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0886776066%3Fie%3DUTF8%26tag%3Dnethspace-20%26amp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3Bamp%3BlinkCode%3Das2%26camp%3D1789%26creative%3D9325%26amp%3BcreativeASIN%3D0886776066&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F2006%2F03%2Freview-of-reviewskage-baker-anvil-of.html&title=Neth%20Space&txt=2">Amazon</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Heart of What Was Lost </span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">(<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Heart-What-Was-Lost-Novel/dp/075641248X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1483482634&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=the+heart+of+what+was+lost&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=nethspace-20&amp;linkId=208d0482b29e5303456142fc4b6a30d4">Amazon</a>)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Last King of Osten Ard</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">
(Forthcoming Trilogy)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Witchwood Crown</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> (<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Witchwood-Crown-Last-King-Osten/dp/0756410606/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1485197869&sr=1-1&keywords=witchwood+crown&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=59c93a4952b4f27ae02daa0441eaa98e">Amazon</a>, coming June 2017)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Empire of Grass</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> (forthcoming)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Navigator’s Children</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> (forthcoming)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">*These reviews were written near the beginning of this blogging adventure,
and I like to believe that I’ve gotten a lot better through the years. So,
enjoy these ‘early years’ reviews.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">An Aside
for Some Personal Indulgence<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Feel free to ignore the following as it’s more about me than <i>The Heart of What Was Lost</i>….<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Heart of What Was Lost</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> brought about another reaction in me that I feel like writing
about, even though I suspect it matters to very few. It brought back a passion
for reviewing. It’s no secret that I review far less these days than I once
did, and the vast majority of the few reviews I do put up are ‘Mini-Reviews’
that say little more than ‘I liked this book, you should read it’. It’s rare
for me to really dive in, fully review a book, and explore my response to it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Reality is that this is likely more of a one-off than a trend.
Life keeps landing punch after punch these days, meaning I don’t have the time
or emotional capacity for much deep reviewing. And the backlog of reviews I
still plan to write shows that even the short, basic reviews will come at a
rather slow pace. But, it was nice to be reminded that I do have ideas that I
want to share, that I feel I can add to the conversation about a book beyond ‘read
it, it was good’. And that is another reason why I really enjoyed <i>The Heart of What Was Lost</i>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I could go on about ‘The Heart of What Was Lost in Reviewing’, but
that level of wankery really isn’t necessary </span><span style="font-family: "wingdings";">J</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-76087317629951461342017-01-03T15:23:00.000-07:002017-01-03T15:37:23.819-07:00Mini-Review: Long Black Curl by Alex Bledsoe<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Long-Black-Curl-Novel-Novels/dp/0765376555/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1471380018&sr=8-1&keywords=long+black+curl&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=3f4d21bcbbafd65d90421f67eef9e938" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh6ZQw7QkdxB_cV_3yOMqBq5RGVyxhjNiLy8k1Lga0Gfd0Kf3n7ND_YVViHreeJVwy7F97XZKJKI8Lt8DyuJJ-pq4BnLPpQV_NutSs62F6o_Vit4omWW6vcsVu0oO6EOGBSKeaZ/s200/longblackcurl.jpg" width="133" /></a><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Long Black Curl</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> by <a href="http://alexbledsoe.com/">Alex Bledsoe</a> is the third <b>Tufa</b>
book which is a ‘series’ of interconnected novels that all really stand on
their own with independent stories. Of course the reader familiar with the
other books in the series will experience things at a deeper level. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Anyway, as evident from <a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2015/04/review-wisp-of-thing-by-alex-bledsoe.html">my reviews of</a> <a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2015/06/mini-review-hum-and-shiver-by-alex.html">other <b>Tufa</b> books</a>, I really, really enjoy them, and <i>Long Black Curl </i>is no exception to this trend. It always surprises
me that I don’t read more <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mythic_fiction">Mythic Fiction</a> – books that loosely fall into
category of Mythic Fiction seem to connect with me at a deeper level, bringing
me a much more holistic and satisfied reading experience. Not merely entertaining
or escapist and not really the sort of book that makes me feel like I’m a
better person for having read it, but books that truly connect, books that
awaken deeper awareness of myself. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Bledsoe’s <b>Tufa</b> books
are about an exiled faerie clan who settled in the Appalachian Mountains long
before humans came along. These stories tell how the Tufa people interact with
the modern world around them and show how they are connected to their land and
their music at deeper levels than the people around them. While set within the
modern world, they bring the reader back in time, reminding us of the deeper
connections to nature and the land around us. For the Tufa, music is the
vehicle that this connection is founded within.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Long Black Curl </span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">is specifically about two exiled Tufa who have lost their ability
to sing. These exiled exiles are cursed in a fundamentally horrific form of suffering
for their people, further complicated by their means of surviving in the modern
world – both work in the music industry. This forms the back bone for a story
of revenge, loss, and redemption. A large part of the success of this story
works because of duality of the modern world and the ‘other’, timeless world of
the Tufa, and it’s an approach that I am especially fond of.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I love the <b>Tufa</b> books
because they really embody Mythic Fiction in a way few books achieve. The
emotions invoked are full of mystery, darkness, fear, love, and a whole host of
other primal emotions for us all. While I believe that it’s the connection to
nature that leads me to back to Mythic Fiction, the vehicle of music to form
this connection is fully realized in these books. This is a very tough balance
to achieve as it’s quite easy to nerd out on the music without ever creating
the deep emotional connection that is really necessary<sup>1</sup>. <a href="http://www.sfsite.com/charlesdelint/">Charles de Lint</a> is another author I who can achieve this balance and I rank him and
Bledsoe at the top of a short list of authors who do. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Long Black Curl</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> is another wonderful addition to the collection of <b>Tufa</b> novels by Bledsoe and another
reminder of how much I enjoy these books. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Tufa
Novels<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Hum and the Shiver</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2015/06/mini-review-hum-and-shiver-by-alex.html">My Review</a>, <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_148348168068511&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=ixi2om6w0100r7tw000DAffp23qz8&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2Fsearch%2Flabel%2FAlex%2520Bledsoe&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0765365901%2Fref%3Das_li_tl%3Fie%3DUTF8%26camp%3D1789%26creative%3D9325%26creativeASIN%3D0765365901%26linkCode%3Das2%26tag%3Dnethspace-20%26linkId%3D26BFYXICYPHEXSXX&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F&title=Neth%20Space%3A%20Alex%20Bledsoe&txt=Amazon">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Wisp of a Thing</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2015/04/review-wisp-of-thing-by-alex-bledsoe.html">My Review</a>, <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_148348170436012&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=ixi2om6w0100r7tw000DAffp23qz8&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2Fsearch%2Flabel%2FAlex%2520Bledsoe&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0765334135%2Fref%3Das_li_tl%3Fie%3DUTF8%26amp%3Bcamp%3D1789%26amp%3Bcreative%3D9325%26amp%3BcreativeASIN%3D0765334135%26amp%3BlinkCode%3Das2%26amp%3Btag%3Dnethspace-20%26amp%3BlinkId%3DC7QFZLPVEOUH3GHP&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F&title=Neth%20Space%3A%20Alex%20Bledsoe&txt=Amazon">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Long Black Curl</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_148348175968013&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=ixi2om6w0100r7tw000DAffp23qz8&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2Fsearch%2Flabel%2FAlex%2520Bledsoe&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0765376547%2Fref%3Das_li_tl%3Fie%3DUTF8%26camp%3D1789%26creative%3D9325%26creativeASIN%3D0765376547%26linkCode%3Das2%26tag%3Dnethspace-20%26linkId%3DVLJK3724S546MDGY&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F&title=Neth%20Space%3A%20Alex%20Bledsoe&txt=Amazon">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Chapel of Ease</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Chapel-Ease-Novel-Tufa-Novels/dp/0765376563/ref=as_li_ss_tl?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=XBKQ7JJ2T2XHHBTX56PE&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=cc5bf2300fe4965eceef8fa931ec5cbf">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Gather Her Round</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Gather-Her-Round-Novel-Novels/dp/0765383349/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=19c9a2795e644e1eb886f773f7b583af">Amazon </a>(Forthcoming) <o:p></o:p></span><br />
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<sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; font-size: x-small;">1</span></sup><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">For an example of a Mythic
Fiction book where the bridge of music between the modern world and something
other never quite works out an fails to achieve the emotional connection
needed, see <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Crow-Connemara-Stephen-Leigh/dp/0756410770/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=89357385d58d203c6afc075d0452761e"><i>The Crow of Connemara</i> by Stephen Leigh</a> (I’ll eventually get to writing a full review for it).</span><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-61306373630529384892016-12-07T10:44:00.001-07:002016-12-07T10:44:29.553-07:00Mini-Review: The Deaths of Tao by Wesley Chu<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Deaths-Tao-Book-Two/dp/0857663321/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1470256555&sr=8-1&keywords=deaths+of+tao&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=8e2c79685d99452eec5f8ddfa328c1cb" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjxm0QwH2YZQ8GKIXf418xDSehiAcP5D7kBzt2AvxxpSR7P94lZWNmel4Z3buLy208kf8CoYGnoh8xK8ngDbEBXbmTeb1Lt1WDHCxsCN5OJzxNcfQiHsY4wldFVcBHfNqxl_k2E/s200/Deathsoftao.jpg" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The </span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Tao</b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> books by <a href="http://wesleychu.com/">Wesley Chu</a> are the perfect spy thrillers for a generation where science fiction is mainstream
and dominates pop culture. They are action-packed, full of intrigue, both
political and personal, witty, funny, and wrap it all up in alien possession. And
of course who could be a more perfect choice for a heroic spy than an overweight,
single, gamer in a dead end job?</span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Deaths of Tao</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> is the second book of the series, which is in part a trilogy,
though it has expanded with a ‘coda’ novella and now a new series set in the
world. <i>The Lives of Tao</i> began the
series (<a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2015/08/mini-review-lives-of-tao-by-wesley-chu.html">my review</a>) with a bang and <i>The
Deaths of Tao</i> follows up a typical middle book does. Things go dark, it
gets bad, really bad. Lack of hope bad. And in the end…well a tiny bit of hope
gets thrown in just as a huge and unexpected curveball is thrown in to the mix.
And Chu makes this all work without losing the witty, slightly irreverent voice
that somehow makes a spy-thriller about alien-possessed people who secretly
control the world something that isn’t just believable (in a fiction sense),
but is a lot fun to read. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Go forth and read. And believe. And have fun. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><b><u>Tao Series</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>The Lives of Tao</i>: <a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2015/08/mini-review-lives-of-tao-by-wesley-chu.html">My Review</a>, <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_148113248244311&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=iwf7zvzw0100r7tw000DAf8oss6cp&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F2015%2F08%2Fmini-review-lives-of-tao-by-wesley-chu.html&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0857663291%2Fref%3Das_li_tl%3Fie%3DUTF8%26amp%3Bcamp%3D1789%26amp%3Bcreative%3D9325%26amp%3BcreativeASIN%3D0857663291%26amp%3BlinkCode%3Das2%26amp%3Btag%3Dnethspace-20%26amp%3BlinkId%3DPLB7EXBTQEUIGTXG&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2Fsearch%2Flabel%2FWesley%2520Chu&title=Neth%20Space%3A%20Mini%20Review%3A%20The%20Lives%20of%20Tao%20by%20Wesley%20Chu&txt=Amazon">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>The Deaths of Tao</i>: <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_148113249498512&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=iwf7zvzw0100r7tw000DAf8oss6cp&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F2015%2F08%2Fmini-review-lives-of-tao-by-wesley-chu.html&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0857663321%2Fref%3Das_li_tl%3Fie%3DUTF8%26camp%3D1789%26creative%3D9325%26creativeASIN%3D0857663321%26linkCode%3Das2%26tag%3Dnethspace-20%26linkId%3DKCJEDYF2PPD57OWR&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2Fsearch%2Flabel%2FWesley%2520Chu&title=Neth%20Space%3A%20Mini%20Review%3A%20The%20Lives%20of%20Tao%20by%20Wesley%20Chu&txt=Amazon">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>The Rebirths of Tao</i>: <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_148113251409613&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=iwf7zvzw0100r7tw000DAf8oss6cp&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F2015%2F08%2Fmini-review-lives-of-tao-by-wesley-chu.html&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0857664301%2Fref%3Das_li_tl%3Fie%3DUTF8%26camp%3D1789%26creative%3D9325%26creativeASIN%3D0857664301%26linkCode%3Das2%26tag%3Dnethspace-20%26linkId%3DSBRUJYKXLVH2RJJN&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2Fsearch%2Flabel%2FWesley%2520Chu&title=Neth%20Space%3A%20Mini%20Review%3A%20The%20Lives%20of%20Tao%20by%20Wesley%20Chu&txt=Amazon">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>The Days of Tao</i>: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Days-Tao-Wesley-Chu/dp/1596067888/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1481132563&sr=8-1&keywords=the+days+of+tao&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=5b26fdf0a60fbd8aa37e9deb6153017d">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><b><u>Io Series</u></b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>The Rise of Io</i>: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Rise-Io-Wesley-Chu/dp/0857665820/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1481132590&sr=8-1&keywords=rise+of+io&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=2a6f562682be377a3dd8965ef0b05ea1">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-74573010147602827492016-11-28T11:04:00.000-07:002016-11-28T11:04:11.699-07:00Kids’ Reviews: Septimus Heap, Ivy and Bean and More!<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It’s been a while since I’ve provided an update on my Kids’ Review
series, so here we are. For an introduction to this series,<a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2016/05/something-new-kids-reviews.html"> information isavailable in this post which provides a good bit of context.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Magyk-Septimus-Heap-Book-1/dp/006223692X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1480355993&sr=8-1&keywords=magyk&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=b9ac5d2b2dfaedba1406146fae1d48b0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4-pwORlazdwXRuHtBvCkERpfweaqTk1tWCjWxVvB7Sw7RMtxFhffNGFnGXwOknjVTqqPhxIIp88lJfd8a2FR2AsCtgkA5TGSkbLCwq9cSo0JK9qF8APOs2vsmgGZ_1WXbt00q/s1600/Septimus+Heap.jpg" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Hebop turned 9 last month and continues with an, at times,
voracious love of reading. We are slowly letting him read through the Harry
Potter books and he just finished up <i>The
Goblet of Fire</i> in a fury last weekend that saw him reading for hours at
time (this is a kid who never stops moving, so to see him so still is
shocking). He has since started the <i>Percy
Jackson</i> books next – he gave them a shot a year or more ago but wasn’t
terribly interested and just not quite ready. I think he’s matured enough now
that it may be different this time around. We still read aloud with Hebop at
times, but he’s mostly solo now, which was quite impressive give the size of <i>The Goblet of Fire</i>. Hebop can have a
short attention span at times as he jumps around from the likes of <i>Goosebumps</i> to <i>Spirit Animals </i>to<i> Diary of a
Wimpy Kid</i>. For his birthday he got some fiction and nonfiction soccer books
and it’ll be interesting to see when he gives those a try and what he thinks. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Arty turned 6 earlier this month and is thick in the transition
from shorter books to chapter stories. She recently left behind <i>Magic Treehouse</i> books – she still can
get scared/anxious with some books, and the later <i>Magic Treehouse</i> books can be surprising tense at times with a fair
amount of implied death and destruction. So we’ve started in on <i>Critter Club</i> and <i>Ivy & Bean</i> books. She’s enjoying both – especially <i>Ivy & Bean</i>. The love of <i>Ivy & Bean</i> has introduced quite a
few conversations about good choices and following rules. We’ve now read a
couple of the <i>Critter Club</i> books and
the first three of <i>Ivy and Bean</i>. Both
series are working great for Arty. A month or two ago, we read <i>Harry Potter and the Sorceror’s Stone</i>
with her – she loved it, but also has nightmares about Voldemort (tales of
later books from Hebop are no help here). She watched the movie, but we’ve
backtracked and will wait another year before doing more to give time for the
nightmares to go away.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">As a family we’ve been reading aloud the <i>Septimus Heap</i> books. So far we’ve read the first two (<i>Magyk</i> and <i>Flyte</i>) in the series (the kids’ will get the full series for
Christmas). I think it’s probably safe to call them <b>Harry Potter</b> knock-offs, but they are a lot fun and both kids enjoy
them. I find it surprising that Arty doesn’t seem to be bothered by the more
tense and serious parts of these books when she was by <b>Harry Potter</b>, but that’s how it works sometimes. So, I can easily
recommend these books – as always, check to see how they match up with your own
positions on age-appropriateness. I often use Common Sense Media as an initial
tool to help with that.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Septimus
Heap by Angie Sage<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Book 1: <i>Magyk</i> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Magyk-Septimus-Heap-Book-1/dp/006223692X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1480355993&sr=8-1&keywords=magyk&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=b9ac5d2b2dfaedba1406146fae1d48b0">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Percy
Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Book 1: <i>The Lightning
Thief </i> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Lightning-Thief-Percy-Jackson-Olympians/dp/0786838655/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1480356049&sr=8-1&keywords=lightning+thief&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=8ee95b822c3cffb8665aa74854117247">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Goosebumps
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Book 1: <i>Night of the Living
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Spirit
Animals<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Book 1: <i>Wild Born</i> by
Brandon Mull <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Animals-Book-Wild-Born/dp/0545522439/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1480356120&sr=8-1&keywords=wild+born&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=e200f0b2454c67effe00947a2bb07052">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Book 1: <i>Ivy & Bean</i> <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Ivy-Beans-Secret-Treasure-Books/dp/0811864952/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1480356209&sr=1-1&keywords=ivy+and+bean&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=2f9792fd226c76cf71ca383535b5c394">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-6131124761806750162016-10-26T16:11:00.000-07:002016-10-26T16:12:14.505-07:00Mini-Review: Willful Child: Wrath of Betty by Steven Erikson<div class="MsoNormal" style="line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Willful-Child-Wrath-Steven-Erikson/dp/076538390X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1472666645&sr=8-1&keywords=wrath+of+betty&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=f5e38612a4b4a8de76077c9b4a37d422" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjCAnK_IWgKk671HOqt18ULpkhZpMJMkqrfypegk14lv1R0QO-U4J6eDkvbYIwbB9KJftmKcn35rQfS8ylr3V9Fw5zMHvLYJhe-otK5iRA9H-8JiNCTnmUd_EgBhfJVLGxzxMrT/s200/Wrath+of+Betty.jpg" width="134" /></a><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Willful Child: Wrath of
Betty</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> by <a href="http://www.stevenerikson.com/">Steven Erikson</a> is a sequel <i>Willful Child</i>. <a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2014/11/review-willful-child-by-steven-erikson.html">Therefore, I recommendthat you stop now and read the review I wrote for it as I think it’s valuableto have that perspective before getting to what I write below</a>. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">If anything, in the two years since I wrote that review, my
thoughts on <i>Willful Child</i> have only grown
stronger. I think it is a superb satire of far more than just <b>Star Trek</b>, but read the review for
that. I’ve come to realize that while the humor of that book is certainly
coarse and inappropriate, that plenty of people ‘get it’ and therefore see what
Erikson is doing in the book. All this adds up to me being very happy to read
the sequel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Unfortunately, I was largely unimpressed. Of course, I enjoyed a
lot of what Erikson was doing with the book and how he plays with both time
travel and parallel-dimension issues. I particularly found the gender-swap /
parallel world parts to be well done and timely given so much of what’s going
on. And of course, it’s hard for someone like myself to not be immensely amused
by the comic-con sequence. Really, <i>Wrath
of Betty</i> is worth reading for those two parts regardless of my overall
disappointment.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Where does my disappointment come from? It’s all in the timing. <i>Wrath of Betty</i> continues the satirical
directions from <i>Willful Child</i>, with a
strong focus on the consumerism and rampant capitalism of the Western world.
And this is unfortunately where it misses. Often the most effective satire
works because it feels particularly timely to what’s going on in the culture it
targets. Generally consumerism and capitalism are perfect elements for satire
to target, but at least for me, it misses the elephant in the room for a satirical
book published in 2016. I am speaking of the big issues we all see too much of
right now – from Brexit to the US election and the idiot who will remain nameless,
and war and refugees, etc. etc. A satire focused so much on consumerism simply
doesn’t stick with me right now – it feels off topic, especially since reality
is so primed for good satire (though admittedly, Brexit and the US election are
often plenty satirical without any help at all). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I do think that the focus on consumerism and capitalism in <i>Wrath of Betty</i> is likely to be more
timeless and therefore would have more staying power than the satire I wanted
to read. But, it remains that I simply couldn’t enjoy things as much as I
wanted to. Yes, I realize that due to just how it works writing a novel, that <i>Wrath of Betty</i> was largely written well before
reality jumped the shark, but that intellectual knowledge doesn’t really help
my reaction to the book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">So, while I think <i>Wrath of
Betty</i> is a worthy follow-up to <i>Willful
Child</i>, it didn’t work well for me. However, it may well work for you. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Willful Child</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://redirect.viglink.com/?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_147752317940111&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=iurj3waw0100r7tw000DAkqid4fum&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F2014%2F11%2Freview-willful-child-by-steven-erikson.html&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0765374897%2Fref%3Das_li_tl%3Fie%3DUTF8%26amp%3Bcamp%3D1789%26amp%3Bcreative%3D9325%26amp%3BcreativeASIN%3D0765374897%26amp%3BlinkCode%3Das2%26amp%3Btag%3Dnethspace-20%26amp%3BlinkId%3DHBRS2MNPLFUDTEDR&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F2006%2F03%2Freview-of-reviewskage-baker-anvil-of.html&title=Neth%20Space%3A%20Review%3A%20Willful%20Child%20by%20Steven%20Erikson&txt=Amazon">Amazon</a>, <a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2014/11/review-willful-child-by-steven-erikson.html">My Review</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Willful Child: Wrath of
Betty</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Willful-Child-Wrath-Steven-Erikson/dp/076538390X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1477523307&sr=8-1&keywords=wrath+of+betty&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=32b7aa5ed50852895f3933964e8ddc97">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-87254018972154595872016-08-31T11:01:00.000-07:002016-08-31T11:30:28.585-07:00Mini-Review: Wake of Vultures by Lila Bowen<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wake-Vultures-Shadow-Lila-Bowen/dp/0316264318/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1468347533&sr=8-1&keywords=wake+of+vultures&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=3c7caac117e5353bd63bc00ade69b679" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjhgk_07vxf61__SdMJH5-a-aORpHOKtaNYy1jYB0Ex6rVuj0OyK1P5EJwQ8DsNEHgOubc_LYYYUpgRgEqX0_m_vjfCCMvJI7dUE8tK3e1XMgWbgEKZ0XnC6z7D2gxLq6tN61fF/s200/WakeofVultures.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I live in the West and I have a soft-spot for the ‘weird west’, at
least when it’s done well. So, I was intrigued by <i>Wake of Vultures</i> by <a href="http://www.whimsydark.com/">Lila Bowen</a> – it sounded like something
different … something weird and west in all of the best ways. Not only was I
not disappointed, but it far exceeded my expectations.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">In my mind I have so many good things to say about this book, but
I love this elevator pitch from the author herself:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It’s </span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Lonesome Dove<i> meets </i>Buffy the Vampire Slayer<i> with a biracial, genderqueer heroine.<o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">SOLD!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Honestly, I’d throw in a comparison to <i>Preacher</i> as well, not for anything specific, but these two just
feel like they get each other. Note: that Bowen quote is from <a href="http://whatever.scalzi.com/2015/10/27/the-big-idea-lila-bown/">The Big Idea:Lila Bowen</a>, which absolutely worth a full read if you’re wondering about this
book. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wake-Vultures-Shadow-Lila-Bowen/dp/0316264318/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1468347533&sr=8-1&keywords=wake+of+vultures&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=3c7caac117e5353bd63bc00ade69b679" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiNp3-HaPAH14Xx9HSBO4T56RuqJn9rMhgwXMQcRoldE1X5rvIfi9EZfIeS7JVqF4Xv7oSQCTZvQazZQioACSU9OJK3AojZ7GCKm_rVd-NsEegIIUFhU0sfDd41bF30a2vdtOld/s200/WakeofVultures2.jpg" width="132" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It’s the voice of Nettie Lonesome that stands out perhaps most of
all. She’s caustically witty, sarcastically ignorant, and delightfully direct. Reminiscent
of the strong voice of <a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2015/05/mini-review-karen-memory-by-elizabeth.html">Karen Memory by Elizabeth Bear</a>, to throw yet another comparison into this review. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Nettie’s journey of self-discovery and struggle with her identity brings
the depth to </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Wake of Vultures</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">, but
what I want to emphasize is the wonderful, weird fun of the book. It’s a menagerie
of fantastical beasts in the scrub-lands of the West, mixing mythologies with a
dark, cynical tinge wrapped in just enough humor. It’s a perfect setting for
some monster hunting fun: vampire bordellos, sirens at the bar, chupacabra roaming
the range, harpies circling above, werewolves on a warpath, and a band of
monster hunting rangers on the prowl. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Wake of Vultures </span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">is a fun read full of weird, even horrific, adventures in a re-imagined West. I thoroughly enjoyed it and enthusiastically recommend it.
Also…it’s only the beginning of </span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The
Shadow</b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> series, with a sequel, </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Conspiracy
of Ravens</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">, coming in October, 2016, and more books planned for the future. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Shadow</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> Series:<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Wake of Vultures</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Wake-Vultures-Shadow-Lila-Bowen/dp/0316264318/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1468347533&amp;sr=8-1&amp;keywords=wake+of+vultures&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=nethspace-20&amp;linkId=3c7caac117e5353bd63bc00ade69b679">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Conspiracy of Ravens</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Conspiracy-Ravens-Shadow-Lila-Bowen/dp/0316302279/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1472666250&sr=8-1&keywords=conspiracy+of+ravens&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=b62db522c5246d2250449537b3d49282">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-72042642422932509452016-08-16T13:33:00.001-07:002016-08-16T13:33:56.396-07:00Review: The Last Mortal Bond by Brian Staveley<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Last-Mortal-Chronicle-Unhewn-Throne/dp/0765336421/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1461178033&sr=8-1&keywords=the+last+mortal+bond&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=bd9283560b180953499b1fe2a4b725a2" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEidRSRGWUeEI4wzULkv6QIfu9Wl1U2Uu_ufCoEFWI763bUEbm-AXzDCCl8BasSx6qJ4KaYa32t6x_tjFqZXmRbZLcqoj169SW7teVdkgGatT9dyX5UXVDTtRG_A-2iRhbU7ywbK/s200/last+mortal+bond.jpg" width="133" /></a><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Last Mortal Bond</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> by <a href="http://lwlink3.linkwithin.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_147137920803610&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=irxwtl1g0100r7tw000DAfxh1680z&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2Fsearch%2Flabel%2FChronicle%2520of%2520the%2520Unhewn%2520Throne&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fbstaveley.wordpress.com%2F&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F&title=Neth%20Space%3A%20Chronicle%20of%20the%20Unhewn%20Throne&txt=Brian%20Staveley">Brian Staveley</a> is the final volume in the <b>Chronicles of the Unhewn Throne</b> trilogy. In <a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-emperors-blades-by-brian-staveley.html">my review</a> of the first
book, <i>The Emperor’s Blades</i>, I dig
into how I felt uninspired because it was about a fight for the status quo,
there was no progress, nothing new had been added. Yes, I enjoyed the book
because Staveley is an excellent story teller, the book was exciting, and so
well paced that I always needed to know what would happen next. Ultimately,
that was enough to encourage me to read the sequel. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">In <a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2015/05/review-providence-of-fire-by-brian.html">my review</a> of <i>The
Providence of Fire</i>, I got excited. <i>The
Emperor’s Blades</i> was a set-up, and big things happened in book 2. Huge I
tell you. There are progressive ideas – thoughts of moving things forward. And
it was so well wrapped together, that it was simply impossible to tell who was
bad and who was good. Where was it all going to go? There were so many
possibilities. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Of course, I had my hopes and ideas of where it was going. They
were some really good ideas. They built on the ambiguity of book 2, explored
some the more interesting (to me) concepts developed in <i>The Providence of Fire</i>. I was certain Staveley was with me in this,
that he was going to pluck these ideas right out of my head, run with them, and
then turn them around a few times to put some real sting into it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">But….Staveley wasn’t with me, he had ideas all his own. Yes, they
are good ideas – there’s excitement, the stakes are upped even further, more
complications added, and some really great fighting and sacrifice, and an
unexpected character (Gwenna) leaps up and steals the whole show. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">But…I wanted to see my ideas. And so I was disappointed. Much of
what excited me about <i>The Providence of
Fire</i> was abandoned in <i>The Last Mortal
Bond</i> – the empire was not on a progressive path of improvement. In the end…we
just got the status quo again. And that pissed me off – I’m just tired of epic
fantasy that leaves us with the status quo. Where the people aren’t better off
and there isn’t really hope that things have changed a bit. Just a bunch of big
battles, lots of death, young leaders learn valuable lessons, the meaning of
life is love, blah, blah, blah, and…the same old shit goes on into the future.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I had other ideas too – damn good ones. Of how the gods interacted
with humanity and the immortal ‘elves’. I was looking forward to the ambiguity
of good and evil, only to have a standard Big Bad fixated on as the story moves
forward in more or less predictable ways. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">So, overall, I am fairly disappointed with how <i>The Last Mortal Bond</i> wraps things up.
Yes, it was fun, and Staveley is just so excellent with the pacing, action, and
tension that it really is almost impossible to stop reading his books. I know
that it’s my own expectations that lead to my disappointment, and not
(necessarily) what Staveley actually did with the book – because it’s not bad,
not bad at all. It’s just that I saw so much potential in <i>The Providence of Fire</i> and where things could be taken, and it was
crushing to see <i>The Last Mortal Bond</i>
take the path that pretty much everyone else before has taken. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Final verdict: Good series, fun writing, exactly what fans of
traditional epic fantasy crave…safe. But damn, it could have been great. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Chronicles
of the Unhewn Throne</span></u></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Emperor’s Blades</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2014/01/review-emperors-blades-by-brian-staveley.html">My Review</a>, <a href="http://lwlink3.linkwithin.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_147137933668510&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=irxx86g20100r7tw000DAbhjw2cm7&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F2015%2F05%2Freview-providence-of-fire-by-brian.html&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0765336405%2Fref%3Das_li_tf_tl%3Fie%3DUTF8%26amp%3Bcamp%3D1789%26amp%3Bcreative%3D9325%26amp%3BcreativeASIN%3D0765336405%26amp%3BlinkCode%3Das2%26amp%3Btag%3Dnethspace-20&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2Fsearch%2Flabel%2FChronicle%2520of%2520the%2520Unhewn%2520Throne&title=Neth%20Space%3A%20Review%3A%20The%20Providence%20of%20Fire%20by%20Brian%20Staveley&txt=Amazon">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Providence of Fire</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2015/05/review-providence-of-fire-by-brian.html">My Review</a>, <a href="http://lwlink3.linkwithin.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_147137935190011&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=irxx86g20100r7tw000DAbhjw2cm7&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F2015%2F05%2Freview-providence-of-fire-by-brian.html&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2F0765336413%2Fref%3Das_li_tl%3Fie%3DUTF8%26amp%3Bcamp%3D1789%26amp%3Bcreative%3D9325%26amp%3BcreativeASIN%3D0765336413%26amp%3BlinkCode%3Das2%26amp%3Btag%3Dnethspace-20%26amp%3BlinkId%3D2K43EOHVTJGATSBR&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2Fsearch%2Flabel%2FChronicle%2520of%2520the%2520Unhewn%2520Throne&title=Neth%20Space%3A%20Review%3A%20The%20Providence%20of%20Fire%20by%20Brian%20Staveley&txt=Amazon">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Last Mortal Bond</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://lwlink3.linkwithin.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_147137936615912&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=irxx86g20100r7tw000DAbhjw2cm7&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F2015%2F05%2Freview-providence-of-fire-by-brian.html&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2Fgp%2Fproduct%2FB00WR9L08I%2Fref%3Das_li_tl%3Fie%3DUTF8%26camp%3D1789%26creative%3D9325%26creativeASIN%3DB00WR9L08I%26linkCode%3Das2%26tag%3Dnethspace-20%26linkId%3DWO63Z2GGZZXO2EHF&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2Fsearch%2Flabel%2FChronicle%2520of%2520the%2520Unhewn%2520Throne&title=Neth%20Space%3A%20Review%3A%20The%20Providence%20of%20Fire%20by%20Brian%20Staveley&txt=Amazon">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Set in
the Same World As Emperor’s Blades<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Skullsworn</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> (forthcoming): <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Skullsworn-Brian-Staveley/dp/0765389878/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1471379555&sr=8-1&keywords=skullsworn&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=f3465f20b38ebe607d78c78ae06fed6c">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-69927667186638157302016-08-03T13:35:00.000-07:002016-08-03T13:35:11.295-07:00Mini-Review: Los Nefilim by T. Frohock<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Los-Nefilim-T-Frohock/dp/0062429000/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1470256062&sr=8-1&keywords=los+nefilim&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=5f5363bb09fdbd4c469252c69286a3b8" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzab5iDj82Fs1ND-4fEvxghKuKHvN2C4jA4h1qTfCN_thSN-EZNIEcJCstnHQPsmkkXOkPsgsw__O48elVYbETEvF8h-LxNjVaOCptVMFYw60Up-hfNnTw2s6m2WN4yjvzwqZB/s200/losnefilim1.jpg" width="124" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">In <i>Los Nefilim,</i> <a href="http://lwlink3.linkwithin.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_147025640522712&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=irfcetri0100r7tw000DAydfv8w744vdk&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.tfrohock.com%2F&title=Neth%20Space&txt=T.%20Frohock">T. Frohock </a>imagines a world where angels, demons, and their human hybrids
(nefilim) live and act mostly unnoticed in the world. The focus is on Barcelona
in the 1930s and Diago, a unique nefilim with both angel and demon blood. Diago’s
family is threatened as angels and demons battle for the future of the world in
the face of oncoming war. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Midnights-Silence-Los-Nefilim-Part-ebook/dp/B00VES8D5Q/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1470256136&sr=8-2&keywords=los+nefilim&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=aee00e809f690daab99fec94873b28aa" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiQofPhfB3777I5FCxQztTXxJkEkSQneicYcPR4zYsy6toe6FAj3oq4MkqxMBMPZItNQpguyLvXN-0q0lBsI-0Lj43GVNwIw16_76PoRCA2wnbYREIOgHQpA3I86J9e8ATOMiYN/s200/inmidnightssilence.jpg" width="124" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Magical battle, torture, betrayal. Yes these things occur and are
important. But the soul of the book is in love and relationships. A son and his
estranged father, the son a father of a son he does not know, lovers, friends.
Add time and betrayal. The sum is greater than the parts where the past must be
addressed to accept the present, to know oneself and finally submit to the love
all around. To fight without quarter for the ones that are loved. This is <i>Los Nefilim</i>, historic context with consequences
for all of humanity, but played out at a personal level. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Without-Light-Guide-Nefilim-Part-ebook/dp/B00VES8DG0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1470256136&sr=8-3&keywords=los+nefilim&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=6b3db12653988f0dd8948060b759b8e6" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDhIw9pMa3ZEof7pg4qZ2kC6ItDkG38RwivJlVSxhmohWtOtcaSAdO80rbHGmwUmfMK6vH0F6oLbgYTQr-qh7hu9xogXRiegHM7t2fhrNpCBLNH4ShyPK083VK8cE1hu49k3fW/s200/withoutlightofguide.jpg" width="124" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The foundation of this powerful story is a poetic prose, dark and
moody, yet infused with color and music as it embodies hope, love and loyalty.
Yes, there is a lot of conflict in that last statement, as is appropriate in a
story full of internal and external conflict. It’s the grounded, devoted love
that keeps it all together. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">As you have probably guessed by now, I really enjoyed <i>Los Nefilim</i>.
It’s beautiful, moving, filled with suspense. It kept me up at night because I
could not put it down. I want to read more of Diago, Miquel, Rafael, Guillermo,
and others. It’s historic urban fantasy, not quite alternative history, and it’s
a powerful portrayal of love and family.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Second-Death-Nefilim-Part-Three-ebook/dp/B01122C0UW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1470256136&sr=8-5&keywords=los+nefilim&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=9a9450be776b4b303cbd9637a9186684" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg_OQ7jMMO6PsnAGuMh2MmFKFx1xHVPi3Be4pqs-Y4jroMrAoKszjiNVy8F2enyPtgnEYwDqA2ZjsOXLmcFIOrDLYbMCx5DyjuNGggeXq3WydfNHWUKsaT2GcDU_12ANrY6jRnr/s200/seconddeath.jpg" width="124" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Additionally, it’s worth noting that the main family unit at the
heart of <i>Los Nefilim</i> is two male
partners. The relationship is genuine, heartfelt and simply lovely. I await the
day when focus on a same-sex couple is not noteworthy and commonplace, but we
aren’t there yet, and it’s books like <i>Los
Nefilim</i> that will get us there. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">A few logistical notes: <i>Los
Nefilim</i> is in reality a print collection of 3 novellas that were initially published
electronically: <i>In Midnight’s Silence</i>,
<i>Without Light or Guide</i>, and <i>The Second Death</i>. The reality is that the
three independent novellas seamlessly work as a traditionally structured novel.
Read it as a serial, collection, or single work – it doesn’t matter. But I
certainly recommend that you read it. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>Los Nefilim</i>: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Los-Nefilim-T-Frohock/dp/0062429000/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1470256062&sr=8-1&keywords=los+nefilim&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=5f5363bb09fdbd4c469252c69286a3b8">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>In Midnight’s Silence</i>: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Midnights-Silence-Los-Nefilim-Part-ebook/dp/B00VES8D5Q/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1470256136&sr=8-2&keywords=los+nefilim&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=aee00e809f690daab99fec94873b28aa">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><i>Without Light or Guide</i>: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Without-Light-Guide-Nefilim-Part-ebook/dp/B00VES8DG0/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1470256136&sr=8-3&keywords=los+nefilim&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=6b3db12653988f0dd8948060b759b8e6">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif; text-align: justify;"><i>The Second Death</i>: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Second-Death-Nefilim-Part-Three-ebook/dp/B01122C0UW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1470256136&sr=8-5&keywords=los+nefilim&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=9a9450be776b4b303cbd9637a9186684">Amazon</a></span><br />
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Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-32865847058007438122016-07-05T14:15:00.000-07:002016-07-05T14:15:01.480-07:00Mini-Review: Broken by Susan Jane Bigelow<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Extrahuman-Union-Susan-Bigelow/dp/1942302223/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1467752325&sr=8-1&keywords=broken+susan+jane+bigelow&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=b73dde6de5d7d483d816b2b60ad22d31" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdsW4JjTd2s9eDsdGYFXYYJX_ny4V129tf-C_MkJbsnJ9wmwbMro7GDZJG406uciLbQcn5usDzrAJX9k6aQaZbAApcRZr7sweO8Z-fuYnlTQOeKCnieKQ8dj4hgJlb_fT3z0g9/s200/broken1.jpg" width="136" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">A woman is so broken by life, not only has she adopted the name
Broken, but she is incapable of escape – because there is essentially nothing
she can do to die. She picks a fight, she heals before death. She tries to commit
suicide – it won’t take, she heals after the attempt. The healing is pain. The
pain is the only part of life she ‘enjoys’. Folks…this is the backstory, this
is where it begins. And of course, Broken is a superhero and there was a time
when she could fly.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Broken</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> by <a href="https://susanjanebigelow.wordpress.com/">Susan Jane Bigelow</a> is extraordinary in its portrayal of superheroes,
or extrahumans, as they are called in Bigelow’s books. Everyone loves a label,
so let’s call this post-superhero literature. This is the maturation of
superheroes in popular culture, and it was originally published in 2011 (and now republished by <a href="http://thebooksmugglers.com/book-smugglers-publishing">The Book Smugglers Publishing</a>), so a
few years before the current height of superheroes in pop culture had been
reached. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It’s a few decades into a dystopic future where the US was on the
losing side of a global war. Extrahumans, each with a superpower or two, have
become a tool of the government, both hated and loved, but hated more and more.
A new government has taken over, much more authoritarian, and full of parallels
to groups like the Nazis, or even to the troubling groups in visible in today’s
politics. A baby is born – prescient extrahumans have seen a future where
things get better, seemingly infinitely better. They have also seen a future
where he makes it much, much worse. It falls to a young teen, an unregistered
extrahuman who sees countless possible futures when he looks others in the eyes
– even his own eyes in the mirror, where he has seen his own death too many
times. He finds Broken and together they try.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Extrahuman-Union-Susan-Bigelow/dp/1942302223/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1467752325&sr=8-1&keywords=broken+susan+jane+bigelow&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=b73dde6de5d7d483d816b2b60ad22d31" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjghirfuIEXpkicZQDMk-QHeB28BmZeJCaUYqBkrSYmvGy83ZcReob7GGXazXJTmOmSQI_UiWit22AVUwiWWYj2uF3CkPaxWSxSqfrD0RIjQooLgW1bJsAz0lwN1-eO44yKUm4k/s200/broken2.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">As positive as I am above, I must admit that dystopic books are
not something I read often – it’s just not my thing. I imagine it’s a result of
just where I am in life, how hard it is, and how damned stressed out and
depressed I am much of the time. I simply cannot enjoy books where that sort of
world dominates, where all too real situations dominate, where hope tastes of
ashes. I suppose that’s why I like my SFF extra fantastic, where things are
unreal and metaphoric as opposed to a version of reality that’s all too real.
Call me a dreamer or escapist. So, generally, I avoid the whole dystopian
thing. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Given these preferences of my reading, it’s hard for me to say
that I enjoyed reading <i>Broken</i>. It’s
hard, bad things happen, and hope is scarce, though always present in the background.
It’s just not my thing. However, I can see the brilliance of the concept and
the success of the execution. <i>Broken</i>
is an incredible novel, both timeless and perfectly timed to the now. While I
would probably argue that dystopic SFF is becoming overdone to the point of
dulling its impact, the genre is primed for the concept of post-superhero fiction.
And there’s much more to be said than I get into here. It’s done so well that I
just might read the other books of the <b>Extrahuman
Union</b> series, knowing that they aren’t my thing. Because as good as <i>Broken</i> is, I’m very curious to see what
comes next. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><b>The Extrahuman Union Series</b><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Broken</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Broken-Extrahuman-Union-Susan-Bigelow/dp/1942302223/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1467752325&sr=8-1&keywords=broken+susan+jane+bigelow&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=b73dde6de5d7d483d816b2b60ad22d31">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Sky Ranger</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Sky-Ranger-Extrahuman-Union-2/dp/194230224X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1467753077&sr=1-2-fkmr0&keywords=sky+ranger+susan+jane+bigelow&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=78fccf86a3c88d02280b558a939fad84">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Spark</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: Amazon (forthcoming)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Extrahumans</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: Amazon (forthcoming) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-13440438362178299302016-05-26T10:58:00.000-07:002016-05-26T10:58:17.356-07:00Kids Review: HiLo by Judd Winick<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hilo-Book-Boy-Crashed-Earth/dp/0385386176/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464283755&sr=1-2&keywords=hilo&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=21a5833126eda27b32fc5ca6cab13bae" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEioY36pUvFAwrfkJ-SWonVOSoqS96AqZj2kPsGman4-9_ypH5xcHfLAKLvPEbdTkosNuHbmNec7L6_GA6lvM_xHc3XHLUcgyUBs4vGTk_MVQNs1I1R2bSb5njhE7izv19kcb-v6/s200/HiLo1.jpg" width="136" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">As my son, Hebop, has become more of an independent reader, he’s
become more interested in the books I receive for review. Arguably, it started
with <b>Star Wars</b> and seeing <b>Star Wars</b> book covers that really got
him paying attention, but I think that he really began to understand that some
of these books are perfect for him with <i>HiLo
Book 1: The Boy Who Crashed to Earth</i> by <a href="http://www.juddspillowfort.com/welcome/">Judd Winick</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It was fall of 2014 when Hebop was looking over my shoulder as I
opened a few books that had come in the mail. One of these was an advanced copy
of a graphic novel: <i>HiLo: The Boy Who
Crashed to Earth</i>. He immediately grabbed it and started to look, with me
looking over his shoulder. ‘Dad, can have this book?’. I looked at my wife, we
both shrugged, and said yes. He runs off to his room to read. He spent at least
the next 2 hours reading, right up until bedtime. He repeatedly requested that
either my wife or I (or both) read with him – him reading to us. And he
finished the book. I believe this was his first true graphic novel.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">‘Dad, I need more books like this.’<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">In short, it’s a charming story of friendship where a boy (D.J.) befriends
a mysterious boy/robot he names <i>HiLo</i> who
crashes to earth. The boy, his best friend Gina, and <i>HiLo</i> then save the world. It’s nice because the main characters are
both gender and racially diverse, and in spite of the superhero sort of feel,
it’s a story of friendship.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Hebop read <i>HiLo</i> over and
over again (at least 6 times) for the next week or two. He told all of his
friends and brought the book to share. Later, when I got the finished copy, I
never even saw it as it went straight to his room. The advance copy was given
to his best friend, who quickly had similar love for the book (his mom has
thanked us repeatedly for passing on a book that he was so excited about). For
the end of the year book exchange, we had to buy a copy of HiLo to include – no
other book would do.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hilo-Book-Saving-Whole-World/dp/0385386230/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&refRID=1XWM7RY6YXJFXE7DYK19&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=2707cc42879fe7afcd1c70f6c6b6a4cc" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhZrQUQ1Co2-Wd335vkEGLcgK1nUwssjvtyhoKJPdyfZ6E5q1UPED9RDy91k5VfC5vBaVfzMCP2hS_SYfCEEy3zpnA9Z8nmB-pwCJBh52OwPD4Wsyk8lybwkMmtPwT2ZrVg2-pK/s200/HiLo2.jpg" width="134" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">A couple of months ago, I got <i>HiLo
Book 2: Saving the Whole Wide World</i> in the mail. We excitedly gave Hebop
the book, and he excitedly read the whole wide book that night. Then he read it
again a few times. By now, graphic novels aren’t new anymore and we have a
number around the house, so the excitement wasn’t as enthusiastic as before,
though that’s not to say that he wasn’t extremely excited to get book 2. Though
we were both (happily) frustrated with the cliff-hanger ending that left us
wanting book 3 now.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">So, <i>HiLo</i> is a hit in my
house. It’s a ‘superhero’ graphic novel that I have no issues sharing with an 8
year old (or 7 year old as when he first saw it). And I am happy to highly recommend
it.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">HiLo<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">HiLo Book 1: The Boy Who
Crashed to Earth</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hilo-Book-Boy-Crashed-Earth/dp/0385386176/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1464283755&sr=1-2&keywords=hilo&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=21a5833126eda27b32fc5ca6cab13bae">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">HiLo Book 2: Saving the
Whole Wide World</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hilo-Book-Saving-Whole-World/dp/0385386230/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&refRID=1XWM7RY6YXJFXE7DYK19&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=2707cc42879fe7afcd1c70f6c6b6a4cc">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-6504524268022532662016-05-25T10:45:00.000-07:002016-05-25T10:45:08.441-07:00Something New: Kids’ Reviews<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Hi all, long time followers here on the blog and other social
media know that in real life I am a father, among other things. It is not a
surprise that I share my love of reading with my children, and I’ve long
contemplated sharing that aspect of my reading life here on the blog. I’ve gone
back and forth – separate blogs (I even have several registered, just never
posted) or whatever, but the reality is that I will never post often enough to
really justify that. So, I’ve decided that they will be integrated here on the blog.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">My concept of this will likely evolve significantly through time
and vary a fair amount from post to post. Some will be little more than the reaction
of one (or both) of my children. Sometimes I might focus on my experience
reading a book with them, and others will be a hybrid. But they likely won’t be
typical reviews. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Also, I doubt I’ll spend much time on the ‘obvious’ books. For
example, my son and I (and my wife) have been reading through the <b>Harry Potter</b> books. We do it slowly,
because my wife and I feel that there are aspects of the books that an 8 year
old is not ready for. And we don’t let him see the movies until we read the
books (my daughter will start next year). Everyone knows that kids love the <b>Harry Potter</b> books and movies – and it
is loads of fun to read those books with my son and then watch the movie, but
that’s not something that really needs a lot of extra attention. So, don’t
expect a lot of coverage there. Also, I may cover something that is really a
very big thing, perhaps closing in on <b>Harry
Potter</b> scale, but if it’s new to me (and a lot is/will be) then I may go
ahead and cover it anyway. However it works out, I think we can all agree that excitement
around children reading is a good thing to share.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">So, I’ll introduce you to my children’s internet names (that I
made up for this). It’s possible (likely) that I have inadvertently referred to
them by name somewhere on my blog or social media, but I have chosen give them
some privacy either way (hell, I don’t openly publish my own full name here on
the blog, though it wouldn’t take too much digging to excavate it).</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;"> </span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4PcrfQSNpDKhyphenhyphen7bWA8wAdXNq7LyXZ5HERpOYBRLh_IuqZkpXVVS2CGiReAAVTHWuzzEe4dtYfx2TwoK-iyVI4jV7Lfmv_WGTZ2ELVtMhPzXz4hPVwJOMIF50oRcn05wgJw9Ph/s1600/IMG_2296.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4PcrfQSNpDKhyphenhyphen7bWA8wAdXNq7LyXZ5HERpOYBRLh_IuqZkpXVVS2CGiReAAVTHWuzzEe4dtYfx2TwoK-iyVI4jV7Lfmv_WGTZ2ELVtMhPzXz4hPVwJOMIF50oRcn05wgJw9Ph/s200/IMG_2296.JPG" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Hermes (Hebop) is my 8 year old son. He loves all sports (especially
soccer) and is always in motion. We work hard for balance and he also does
piano and we have instilled a love for reading. He reads quite well for a
second grader and reads a variety from silly comics, to rather long novels, to
graphic novels. In the near future, most of these posts will focus on Hebop due
to where he is at developmentally. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjYEAfOwzASd1gSLM7b3g87tfvSGifZu7DfhwoIeb7j1zFgNFo685wkp972fvOrL2mrIDQrc9O_XrfdBl8cCdOuBV5a4Vdpq6WGnVgzNODmjamTVSuY6KwZCjLMTXyaceoY7rP/s1600/IMG_20140209_113255.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjYEAfOwzASd1gSLM7b3g87tfvSGifZu7DfhwoIeb7j1zFgNFo685wkp972fvOrL2mrIDQrc9O_XrfdBl8cCdOuBV5a4Vdpq6WGnVgzNODmjamTVSuY6KwZCjLMTXyaceoY7rP/s200/IMG_20140209_113255.jpg" width="200" /></a><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">At</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">ë</span><span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">/Artemis/Aristaeus (Arty) is my 5 year old daughter. As the Greek
references imply, she’s a bit mischievous (much more sly than my son), and also
a very big animal lover, especially dogs. She doesn’t yet read on her own (that
will be a summer project this year in prep for Kindergarten). She dances
ballet, occasionally plays soccer, and will (hopefully) start piano soon. It’ll
probably a few years before Arty is a big focus for these posts.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Anyway, I hope you all enjoy this new direction (I’ll try to remember
to tag the posts with Kids Reviews) and just maybe fellow parents, and anyone
looking for reading ideas for little ones, will discover a few gems along the
way.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-58186880033410832212016-05-20T14:11:00.003-07:002016-05-20T14:39:05.035-07:00‘Review’: Shadows of Self by Brandon Sanderson<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Self-Mistborn-Brandon-Sanderson/dp/0765378558/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1458593347&sr=1-1&keywords=shadows+of+self&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=5e2d98c7ec25fccb5cb485fd8328f9c0" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhW2BHx35rDClyB-hR9iR9llvhEDTe8bpXqOxVosjwfPPmV44W5Pqb39Jhl92yO4WuQJGPMk1DTiZqb9BNxX7CyhLy7yKJEsKWKnYR2FG2y6hYHJQmoR5lhdNCObXYbES5Qr4qd/s200/ShadowsofSelfUS.jpg" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">What feels like a long time ago and practically a different life,
I wrote <a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2011/11/review-alloy-of-law-by-brandon.html">this review of <i>The Alloy of Law</i></a> by <a href="http://lwlink3.linkwithin.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_146377826645910&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=iog6bjd30100r7tw000DAlv7zt486&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F2011%2F11%2Freview-alloy-of-law-by-brandon.html&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.brandonsanderson.com%2F&ref=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2Fsearch%2Flabel%2FMistborn&title=Neth%20Space%3A%20Review%3A%20The%20Alloy%20of%20Law%20by%20Brandon%20Sanderson&txt=Brandon%20Sanderson">Brandon Sanderson</a>. In that review I was excited – I was reading a new <b>Mistborn</b> book by Sanderson, one that
basically came out of nowhere and pleasantly surprised fans, and one that I was
reading months before Sanderson’s rabid fan base was going to see it. It seems
to have surprised Sanderson nearly as much, because a small side project, one
that wasn’t planned to have sequels has grown into a fully-fledged trilogy (EDIT: I have been informed that <i>The Alloy of Law</i> is a stand-alone, and technically <i>Shadows of Self</i> is the start of the trilogy).<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I’m now a few years older and a lot more overwhelmed in life. My
reading tastes have evolved and grown a bit. I’ve become a bit more bitter and
jaded at a time when I’ve also become more hopeful as I often intentionally
pull on the blinders to the world around me and simply enjoy fatherhood. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Anyway…I’m getting a bit too self-indulgent. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">After a having a copy of the sequel to <i>The Alloy of Law</i>, <i>Shadows of
Self</i>, for over a year, I finally got around to reading it, in spite of just
how much I wanted to immediately see a sequel 5 years ago. Anyway, for whatever
reason (perhaps all the reasons?), I can’t say that I’m equally as excited
after reading <i>Shadows of Self</i> as I
was back then – I literally stayed up half the night to immediately write my
review of <i>The Allow of Law</i>,
immediately requested <a href="http://nethspace.blogspot.com/2011/11/interview-brandon-sanderson.html">an interview with Sanderson</a> (and was granted that request
in short-order). Now…well, I finished reading the book a month ago and am just
now reviewing it, I haven’t done an interview in years and don’t plan on doing
one now. So… is this lack of enthusiasm me or the book? (It’s me, but really,
that’s not what I want to dwell any more on). <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Shadows of Self</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> is an excellent follow-up to <i>The
Alloy of Law</i> – it does everything a sequel in a fantasy <strike>trilogy</strike> setting should do.
The scope grows, the stakes are larger, more is explained, characters grow and
history is revealed, things get dark, and for fans of Sanderson’s <b><a href="http://www.tor.com/2015/07/21/lets-talk-about-brandon-sandersons-cosmere/">Cosmere</a></b>, goodies abound. And Sanderson
revels in his strengths – the magic is right in the reader’s face, there are
adventures and battles, and the world of <b>Mistborn</b>
is further revealed. Which of course only leaves more questions to be answered.
As I said, this is a very solid second act for a <strike>trilogy</strike> not-trilogy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Self-Mistborn-Brandon-Sanderson/dp/0765378558/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1458593347&sr=1-1&keywords=shadows+of+self&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=5e2d98c7ec25fccb5cb485fd8328f9c0.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg6kaM7sQ_B6-kx5G48Xz4nFRDHZSXUAWss50Nl9q0zA6eA3QZVgq5ZRKAhj8uKZe3SbCdZHesOdFwcnTD3swQ6ikd5w9Zj4NGOe3BnJcBW9N3CI-EKjtLw_SvZobeSY_TEedkI/s200/ShadowsofSelfUK.jpg" width="131" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">This is the second book, of a second trilogy set in a secondary
fantasy world (surely, this unlocks some super-secret epic fantasy magical
power?) (EDIT: Note, I'm keeping this line because it's cool, even if it doesn't work since technically <i>Shadows of Self</i> is the first book in the trilogy). It’s pretty safe to say that if you are considering reading this book,
you are already a fan of Brandon Sanderson. You are a fan of <b>Mistborn</b>. You probably know more about <b>Mistborn</b> and the <b>Cosmere</b> than I do. So, let’s face it, this review doesn’t matter.
The only people reading it have either read the book already or will read it
regardless of the words here at my little blog. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Which brings me full circle to the indulgence of self. Hell, this
review jumped the shark, went off the rails, tipped back the bottle a while
back. Hell, I’m just excited that for the first time in years I won’t have a
backlog of reviews to write and I can’t believe that anyone is still actually
reading this. Bless you for that, but really, I’m sure there’s something better
that you can be doing with the time. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Anyway…read <i>Shadows of Self</i>
– it’s a fun book that fans of Sanderson will love. And I suppose I should read
the <strike>final</strike> next book in the trilogy: <i>The Bands
of Mourning</i>. I should probably even ‘review’ it, though will I be able top
this piece of …<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Mistborn<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Mistborn</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mistborn-Final-Empire-Book-No/dp/0765350386/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&refRID=190WT158MFDBS4R4NX75&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=56af01177ad2128c2fa47082506a3ddb">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Well of Ascension</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Well-Ascension-Mistborn-Book/dp/0765356139/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&refRID=1KWCK9R5MKWFN7Y0SM5W&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=6b7ff9f24b2bd18229a01812705db22d">Amazon</a><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Hero of Ages</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hero-Ages-Book-Three-Mistborn/dp/0765356147/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&dpID=515py-tGQHL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL160_SR99%2C160_&refRID=05ZC67AEXET2SV66QH0K&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=d02f6b7a63bbf078ebca7adf2d35f444">Amazon</a><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Alloy of Law</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765368544/ref=as_li_ss_tl?pf_rd_p=1944687442&pf_rd_s=lpo-top-stripe-1&pf_rd_t=201&pf_rd_i=0765378558&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_r=0XG3C3N9RQG9F8EJ7V4S&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=4e9c4fd39ede01ead6f4532864c4c40e">Amazon</a><i><o:p></o:p></i></span><br />
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Shadows of Self</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shadows-Self-Mistborn-Brandon-Sanderson/dp/0765378558/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&amp;ie=UTF8&amp;qid=1458593347&amp;sr=1-1&amp;keywords=shadows+of+self&amp;linkCode=ll1&amp;tag=nethspace-20&amp;linkId=5e2d98c7ec25fccb5cb485fd8328f9c0">Amazon</a><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Bands of Mourning</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bands-Mourning-Mistborn-Novel/dp/0765378574/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&refRID=0MKXFJY457X0MT8CTMG7&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=fd44bcd818c1d7987eb1f9378af44b18">Amazon</a><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-17988256728316928212016-05-17T15:19:00.000-07:002016-05-17T15:33:05.507-07:00Mini-Review: Mystic by Jason Denzel<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765381974/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0765381974&linkCode=as2&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=SLFMFGLLF2LUDYF3" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBNx2zOw4ytLmrfSl306NTxdQfwyrBCMTB0Ie3Jk3LL1-__CB2TJEjup3xiTyXwW8QmMsx1ikd9DN9p_jsmHspxkKvQrFPcqLUqJsGEMyLeShyphenhyphennEewUlHGEDBdy9sHLIS_cfut/s200/Mystic.jpg" width="131" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Author <a href="http://www.jasondenzel.com/">Jason Denzel</a> is best known for running the <b>Wheel of Time</b> fansite, <a href="http://www.dragonmount.com/index.php">Dragonmount</a>, and
in 2015, he published his debut novel, <i>Mystic</i>.
Fans who know Jason (and I’m one, going back to my days spending untold of
hours on <b>Wheel of Time</b> message
boards), probably expect Jason’s novel to be world-spanning, epic fantasy
adventure in the same vein of <b>Wheel of
Time</b>. They would be wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Mystic</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> takes a different, more focused approach. This book is an origin
story, almost a prequel to a series that hasn’t been published yet. It’s not
(well, mostly not) the story of an epic journey to save the world. <i>Mystic</i> is the story of a young woman’s (Pomella)
journey, her personal struggles against a severely stratified society, and her
own baggage from that society. It’s the journey of a young woman breaking
barriers and learning her magic. It’s heartwarming, sweet, with a good bit of
misguided teenage action. In this, it’s a classic YA book with a good bit of
cross-over appeal. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Yes, there is a threat, a threat that could have dire consequences
to the world. But the threat feels almost contrived – it really was a
placeholder, something to pitch the growth and struggles of Pomella against. In
this way, the book is more about her own internal struggles than the external
struggles around. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">This internal, almost small-scale focus is both the strength and
weakness of <i>Mystic</i>. The fan base
Jason is chasing after is most likely expecting a sprawling epic that stand on
the shoulders of 1990s era big fat fantasy. They may bounce off of the modest
page count and ‘lower stakes’ journey of a young woman. That would be unfortunate,
as the story is well told, even as it shows many of the signs of an author
still in development rather than full command of their skills. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I enjoyed <i>Mystic</i>, and I
look forward to reading what Jason does with this series in the future.
However, it does not really cover any new ground. That’s not (necessarily) a
bad thing – not every book can or should be groundbreaking, but in a time when
so many exciting things are happening in the world of SFF books, this is the
sort of thing that could fall through the cracks. Or maybe it’s the sort of book
that could really take off due to its accessibility. It’s hard to say. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Mystic</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765381974/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0765381974&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=nethspace-20&amp;linkId=SLFMFGLLF2LUDYF3">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-31839859492833261522016-05-13T10:14:00.000-07:002016-05-13T10:14:52.050-07:00Review: Black Wolves by Kate Elliott<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316368695/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0316368695&linkCode=as2&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=RT5VPRLMREMNVPQL" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuZ8bTPWZx5k6B8f4Mi1yNQ9T2GEle8LvzzkWXg-l8Ak45YymUYbcnOdlGL8m4qblEQFmVC7GoF4N0xlkAW9YuXpzbNKMvs7w_cdSDoiP53mzOhmnSxoReAo1xJ7ox5uvw_bGU/s200/BlackWolves.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">First, I need to get this out of the way right up front: <i>Black Wolves</i> by <a href="http://lwlink3.linkwithin.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_146315944498110&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=io5za5520100r7tw000DAaxp6n3dnmckn&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.kateelliott.com%2F&title=Neth%20Space&txt=Kate%20Elliott">Kate Elliott</a> is one of
the most extraordinary epic fantasy books I’ve ever read.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Got it?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Good, because that is a very important perspective that must be
understood, especially as I dive into what is undeniably a rambling, unfocused
review that says little about book plot and probably says more about my own
relationship with epic fantasy than anything else. Feel free to move along
knowing that as I said above, <i>Black
Wolves</i> is extraordinary and I cannot recommend it enough.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Still with me? Good.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The aspect of <i>Black Wolves</i>
that makes it so extraordinary (get used to this word, as I will keep using
it), is the scope of its ambition. <i>Black
Wolves</i> embraces the full history of epic fantasy, converses with it, moves
into interrogation, then subversion, and spits it back out as something new.
And this is done in every aspect of the book. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The beauty of this approach and the shear skill and will Elliott
wields to pull it all together makes for a reading experience more fulfilling than
any I can recall in recent years. For one thing – I literally had no real idea
of just where the story was going to go. There were too many options – I could
see a vast array of possibilities, and then Elliott would go in a different
direction, bring in a new reveal. It was absolute fun and entertainment – yes,
as I will discuss soon, this book has a lot of serious and important things
that it does, but that fun and entertainment is never lost. The reader is
cheering the characters, invested and rewarded. The dark, grim nastiness of the
book, it’s interrogation with more than just itself, but an entire genre and
those writing it today, are present without ever losing that critical enjoyment
of reading, the investiture of the fan. It’s a bloody brilliant maneuver to see
succeed. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Black Wolves </span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">takes on many of the most common thematic elements of epic fantasy
– colonialism, religion, role and execution of government, class system, war and
its consequences, violence, gender roles, racial/ethnic tensions, inspirations
from non-Western societies, and many more. Any one of these aspects could
become quite a lengthy discussion, along with a few that I didn’t mention.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Many reviews and discussions of <i>Black Wolves</i> have (rightly so) devoted time to discussing gender,
and to a lesser degree, age, aspects of the book. <i>Black Wolves</i> is full of strong women with agency, which is becoming
much more of the standard to achieve rather than an exception to the state of
genre, so I won’t focus on that too much (others have already done this and
much better than I can anyway). The aspect that I enjoyed and felt was more
fresh was the inclusion and focus on older characters. An aging, retired
spy/soldier and a Princess who has grown into a commanding role in a corps of
specialized soldiers who bond with and fly giant eagles (which, is really cool
in of and by itself). It’s rare for older characters to play more than an aging
sage, mentor, monarch, etc. – and when they do, it’s very often that they will
be killed off early in the series. So, it’s refreshing that arguably the two
most important characters in <i>Black Wolves</i>
are long past their youth. And I would certainly speculate that it takes an
author with a long history in the genre to make these characters work so well. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It’s also nice to see that every single character in this book has
its flaws – there simply isn’t anything universally likeable or unlikeable
about any of them. That is a difficult balance to pull off. But, I’m not going
to go into any detail of this beyond this mention that characters a fully
rounded people and never an encyclopedia entry.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">As I’ve matured in my own reading journey through the years, I’ve
become far less focused on battles, world-building, and other such details of
fantasy books. Often what really gets me excited is fully developed political maneuvering
and all of the unpredictability that come from a multitude of intelligent,
motivated people all working to further their own interests within and beyond
the constraints the world places on them. In <i>Black Wolves</i> we have all that through a King, his wives, his sons
and daughters, and a few other, more mysterious groups. Throw in the
cultural/colonial appropriation and re-write of history and things get very
interesting indeed. As I said above, this creates a mystery and
unpredictability of the narrative that keeps tensions high, even as the book
drags a bit in the middle.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">And this brings us to perhaps one of the most interesting aspects
of <i>Black Wolves</i>, one that occurred to
me much more in retrospect than while I was too busy simply enjoying the book:
change. Cultural change to be sure, but <i>Black
Wolves</i> is more than just an epic fantasy thriller wrapped around a period of
monumental cultural change. To a degree (in my opinion, a large degree), it’s a
meta commentary on the cultural change that the entire SFF field is going
through. And it’s brutally unapologetic in this interrogation as it revels the change
of today and those to come. Change is messy: it’s messy in <i>Black Wolves</i>, I suspect it’ll get messier in the sequels to come,
and cultural wars facing genre today, while overall moving things into a much
better place, are too often cruel, disheartening, disgusting, tortuous, as they
leave countless casualties in their wake. <i>Black
Wolves</i> is an answer of perseverance to all that. As I’ve hinted at above,
it takes an author who has been too often on the receiving end of a brutal
patriarchy for her entire career to seize the opportunity of this time and
celebrate the possibilities of the future, all the while shouting ‘Fuck You’ to
the haters. Bloody brilliant I say.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">As I have now repeated said, <i>Black
Wolves</i> is an extraordinary epic fantasy that can be enjoyed on many different
levels. One does not have to see the meta interrogation of genre if one doesn’t
want to – it can be enjoyed as a great, fun book to read. And, one can enjoy it
for other reasons than I focused on in this review. This book is the real deal
and a shining example of what can be done. Simply put, the best thing I can say
in this review is: READ IT NOW!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">And I figure I should get out a few final details that some may
find important and/or helpful. <i>Black
Wolves</i> is the first book in a planned trilogy. It is also set in the same
world, though many years after the events of the <b>Crossroads Trilogy</b>. <i>Black
Wolves</i> is the first book by Elliott that I’ve read (and it certainly won’t
be the last), so it can easily be enjoyed with no knowledge from the first
series, though I predict that knowledge from that series may enhance some
aspects of one’s enjoyment. Anyway, do not let this book pass you by. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Crossroads
Trilogy<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Spirit Gate</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Spirit-Gate-Crossroads-Book-1/dp/0765349302/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463159519&sr=1-3&keywords=kate+elliott+crossroads&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=4de460bb162a62d66fe455941372e657">Amazon </a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Shadow Gate</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shadow-Gate-Book-Two-Crossroads/dp/0765349310/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463159519&sr=1-1&keywords=kate+elliott+crossroads&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=f719d7489b8ff9a60292fdccf9ff0f8c">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Traitors Gate</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Traitors-Gate-Crossroads-Kate-Elliott/dp/0765349329/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1463159519&sr=1-2&keywords=kate+elliott+crossroads&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=0f5a04dbac25128af2b83661cf73ec20">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Black
Wolves Trilogy<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Black Wolves</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316368695/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0316368695&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=nethspace-20&amp;linkId=RT5VPRLMREMNVPQL">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-21623358369885767522016-05-04T14:54:00.000-07:002016-05-04T14:54:21.101-07:00Mini-Review: The Builders by Daniel Polansky<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765385309/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0765385309&linkCode=as2&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=W5K2YFUXCQ7MR6PW" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhWmxqXU5LmZq5yxf_Pb0LO8kwnpZyhYE3Y2blI05q7kF8hQfffpunspLKvCG3zmseMI__wawL8AhUSvMW2uHGZ1JaZwcfw-9yM_shZzZDTDiKU76YgG6mpAgnBtumNv36zf_sr/s200/Builders.jpg" width="124" /></a><i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Builders</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> by <a href="http://lwlink3.linkwithin.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_146239880291610&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=intdymjj0100r7tw000DA1ur5tir9tsbmc&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.danielpolansky.com%2F&title=Neth%20Space&txt=Daniel%20Polansky">Daniel Polansky</a> is at its basic, a novella about a bad joke.
No, I won’t give you the punchline or even tell you what the joke is – knowing that
it’s there, you’ll figure it out. And the suggestion that book is about a bad
joke is in no way my saying that the book is a bad book – it’s quite the
opposite, but it does help frame the story. Appreciation of just where this
book comes from makes it all the more enjoyable, as for example, a Quentin Tarantino
movie is.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">“Revenge is a dish best served cold”<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Builders</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> begins with this idea at its core, and the story is very much
full of references not only to revenge tales, but also to variations of small
teams at war and/or criminal gangs on a mission. I will not list them – they are
legion – and I suspect many a reader will come up with their own, and those may
or may not align with the ideas of Polansky as he wrote it all. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The mysterious Captain begins the story by recruiting his team, or
more correctly, getting the old gang back together for one final mission to
redress their last failed effort. We know one of the crew was a traitor, of
course we do not know who. We can only suspect that it’s all only the
beginning. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Captain’s crew is a mixed group of the most unlikable sort –
assassins, artillery, demolitions, snipers, etc. – but one and all, they are
killers. Some of them get along, some hate everyone, the Captain holds them
together, and for all that it may only be due to the blood they have spilled together.
Or that the Captain is the meanest, most dangerous of them all.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">And I suppose that I should mention that all the characters are
anthropogenic animals whose personalities, instincts, and deadliness often
correspond with their species. The mysterious, deadly Captain who all fear – he’s
a mouse. His crew has a weasel, badger, rat, mole, salamander, owl, and possum.
One of them may be French. They are up against the likes of an ermine, armadillo,
cat, snake, fox, skunk, and legions of rats. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Personalities may be large, but the prose is minimal, dark, and
dripping in morbid, gallows humor. There is bombastic boasting, dark grumbling,
and the flash of knives in the dark. The final, suicide mission is told, blood
and gore abound, betrayal, victory, and death. Who lives, who dies? Does it mean
anything? Was it cold enough? Was it worth it…was it worth anything?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Who has the final laugh? <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Will it be you dear reader, will you get the joke?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Builders</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765385309/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0765385309&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=nethspace-20&amp;linkId=W5K2YFUXCQ7MR6PW">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
</div>
Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-60595855882244374292016-04-26T08:00:00.000-07:002016-04-26T08:00:15.777-07:00Review: Emperor of the Eight Islands by Lian Hearn<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374536317/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0374536317&linkCode=as2&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=KYNZVFPK3HT3Y4GE" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaP5yDwhMs1-zs_qFYeIx-W8nkk-0ryFCSw-WSscC4JRRe5Hn0hrjOFTeXkdt2fnWqeb1HEFAuamq_0DDIKDn1OtHRsNQMW5mL38ifusYMY1zyFQdH4Rjo4rk-WUf4xpIfZG5o/s200/EmperoroftheEightIslands_US.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><a href="http://lianhearn.com/blog/">Lian Hearn</a> returns to a world of medieval Japan with a new series,
</span><b style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">The Tale of Shikanoko</b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">, set in the
world of her earlier Otori series. </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Emperor
of the Eight Islands</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> introduces this new series, as it explores the great
warrior tales of ancient Japan.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">I have not read any of Lian Hearn’s previous books, though the <b>Otori</b> series has been on my shelf for
years waiting for me to come around. During my recent trip to Japan, I spent
some time in Northern Honshu in the region of the Great Tohoku earthquake and
tsunami, which is the same region in Japan where Hearn drew inspiration for
this series in the immediate aftermath of the tsunami. This in combination with
my having wanted to read Hearn’s books for years, made it an easy choice for me
to begin with this book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Tale of Shikanoko</span></b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> is told in what feels like a very Japanese writing style –
elegant, poetic, and minimalist. Which is to say, a style that I am not very
used to. At first it felt very wooden, more like a ledger account than a story,
lacking emotion and intimacy. However, as I grew used to the style I realized
that this wasn’t the case. The minimalism of the story doesn’t lack the
intimacy that I was looking for – it was just more subtle and shown a bit
differently. By the end of book I had not only learned to appreciate the style
of the story, but I can see how the approach makes emotional punches that much
more effective.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">This is a story of an older time – a feudal Japanese world, a time
of divine emperors, magic and mysticism where the spirits of the land and those
of people are much closer. A time when the world was a smaller place, and
humans were a smaller presence. It is a time before (perhaps just before?) the
arrival of temples of Buddhism and where the politics and rivals of the elite
dominate everything. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">In this, <b>The Tale of
Shikanoko</b> is not just a great example of Asian-inspired medieval fantasy,
but it’s a bridge for those deeply attached to fantasy inspired by medieval
Britain and surrounding environs. The parallels are rather striking – a deep mystical
tradition of living close the spirits of the land that is threatened by the
arrival of a religion from abroad, and a feudal society dominated by the elite
where rivals backed by traditions from abroad are at war. At the heart of this
tale is a young man connected to the spirit of a great stag. It’s still early
in the series to know just where it will end, but I think it’s not a stretch to
believe that this young man is bound for some form of greatness, and quite
likely, a tragic end. Before reading this book, I had never realized how the
Arthurian traditions of Britain so closely parallel the warrior tales of Japan.
This of course will lead to the inevitable decrees that <b>The</b> <b>Tale of Shikanoko</b> is
the Japanese King Arthur, which is a disservice to both in spite of the very
real parallels. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">But it really misses the point for me to frame this story in terms
of similarities to ‘Western’ traditions and that is not my intent. Merely an
observation that I came to time and again while reading. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">These are human tales – universal tales of power and love,
betrayal and victory, loss and change. It’s a coming of age story, I believe it
will become a story of revenge. A story of love, hate, betrayal, and everything
in between.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Emperor of the Eight
Islands</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> is the first book in this series of four, all
of which will be published in 2016. It is the opening, the origin story, the
telling of how the stones are placed before the real game begins. It is the
first quarter of a whole rather than an independent work, and as appropriate
for the minimalist prose, it weighs in at only 270 pages. In many ways I’ve
reviewed this book as if I know what’s ahead, which is untrue. I have not read
the others in this series, though I now look forward to doing so. It is a
universal tale, one that we’ve heard before, though the details are different.
Of course most universal tales are tales of change, so what changes are in
store?<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">As I said above, I look forward to finding out.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Tales of Shikanoko<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Emperor of the Eight
Islands</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0374536317/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0374536317&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=nethspace-20&amp;linkId=KYNZVFPK3HT3Y4GE">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Autumn Princess Dragon
Child</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Autumn-Princess-Dragon-Child-Shikanoko/dp/0374536325/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1458594357&sr=8-1&keywords=autumn+princess+dragon+child+hearn+lian&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=b87a5281bf4fe8069076adea46a28b3c">Amazon</a><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Lord of the Darkwood</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lord-Darkwood-Book-Tale-Shikanoko/dp/0374536333/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&refRID=1N8PFFPR71ZXMRGYWHRM&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=26de00dd362492978e42b2e2663ce5ce">Amazon</a><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Tengu’s Game of Go</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Tengus-Game-Go-Shikanoko/dp/0374536341/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&refRID=0GTJA2YM09FS59DTQXNX&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=64a41c150aec8b8475bb6a0cda95d52c">Amazon</a><i><o:p></o:p></i></span></div>
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Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-64298071607487093282016-04-25T10:46:00.000-07:002016-04-25T13:48:37.092-07:00Mini-Review: Swords and Scoundrels by Julia Knight<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt; text-align: justify;">
<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316374962/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0316374962&linkCode=as2&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=I2JKCZJTQGE5IYY6" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhKknTmaBzB1VhCH_Q3ZuT_rE_PVTxeyln81G1CiQHMzuzVUDa_qftSuGgLrNlw0N8zbb-x1YgbwwlFIhOpPF6gfk-9WWJKjvLV-4gJIoWDSP5ch0QOcuD3Q8ZFI9ZNC21j7poa/s200/Swords+and+Scoundrels.jpg" width="133" /></a><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Swashbuckling!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It’s a word that I initially wanted to avoid at all costs for this
review as I suspect that it’s probably used in just about every review of <i>Swords and Scoundrels</i> by <a href="http://lwlink3.linkwithin.com/api/click?format=go&jsonp=vglnk_146160608207410&key=8a69ede45b8445f6b533712ba9899ffb&libId=inga8pxf0100r7tw000DA14otiea56jun9&loc=http%3A%2F%2Fnethspace.blogspot.com%2F&v=1&out=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.juliaknight.co.uk%2F&title=Neth%20Space&txt=Julia%20Knight">Julia Knight</a>.
But, the more I thought about it, I came to conclude that it’s a word that
should be fully embraced. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Swashbuckling – it just roles off the tongue. It’s fun to say. It’s
one of those words. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">So…let’s take a look at what it really means to swashbuckle and be
a swashbuckler.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Swashbuckler: a swaggering swordsman (swordswoman), soldier, or
adventurer; daredevil<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Well, yes, this covers the 2 main characters (a sister and brother
duo) in <i>Swords and Scoundrels</i>. It
covers it really well, each having different aspects of a swashbuckler. But,
it’s really this definition below that I think captures the book.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">[to] Swashbuckle: engage in daring and romantic adventures with
ostentatious bravado or flamboyance.<o:p></o:p></span></i></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">That definition above is </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Swords
and Scoundrels</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> in a nutshell, though with some very important caveats. As I
said, the book is about a sister/brother duo, each embodying different swashbuckling
aspects in different ways – one traditionally flamboyant and one a fair bit
darker, though no less a swashbuckler for that darkness. It’s the duality in
many ways that has brings more to </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Swords
and Scoundrels</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> than the traditional swashbuckling adventure, offering
swashbuckling commentary and even subversion of swashbuckling. Throw in a
fantasy setting, large-scale clockworks, a magician or two, and nice bit of
populism to add depth, and </span><i style="font-family: Arial, sans-serif;">Swords and
Scoundrels</i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> is the perfect swashbuckling tale. And as the book is the first
in the </span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"><b>Duelist Trilogy</b></span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">, there are 2
more presumably equally swashbuckling adventures to follow – excellent!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Swashbuckle!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">The Duelist Trilogy<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Swords and Scoundrels</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0316374962/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0316374962&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=nethspace-20&amp;linkId=I2JKCZJTQGE5IYY6">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Legends and Liars</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Legends-Liars-Duelists-Julia-Knight/dp/0316375012/ref=as_li_ss_tl?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1461606220&sr=1-3&keywords=julia+knight&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=b3d9c8ae2a9951572d7122f337ab751a">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Warlords and Wastrels</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Warlords-Wastrels-Duelists-Julia-Knight/dp/0316375039/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&dpID=61SklIdQFmL&dpSrc=sims&preST=_AC_UL320_SR214%2C320_&refRID=12FR22Z4Q6X4CYC5G66T&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=9a9a5a890be6af284af2417c1a432197">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Note, this review joyfully uses a variation of swashbuckle 15 times!<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-17224228.post-36506238017452121842016-04-20T11:47:00.000-07:002016-04-20T11:47:01.950-07:00Mini-Review: Updraft by Fran Wilde <div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0.0001pt;">
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765377837/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0765377837&linkCode=as2&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=JMKS3BSRNBE62PQG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjviSDV7je9xvbCVLYmPANSgTBhb1HRpnTPRcbKPKDY5t1SrpZCMwO5klHvHwM_4_r-nTPX2hSOLvbCKO8GkSuEsEUHJG3TalZn5ZdCefivrccpTUwlngmLb92-JHgnCX2rSiF/s200/Updraft.jpg" width="131" /></a><i style="font-style: italic;"><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Updraft</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> by <a href="http://www.franwilde.net/">Fran Wilde</a> was released with a fair bit of critical fan-fair
in 2015 and I read it a few months post-release based largely on that the good
word of many of those I follow in the blogging world. My thoughts on the book
are somewhat mixed, though I believe that to be largely a result of relatively
high expectations I had from reading other reactions. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">In short, I liked the book, I really enjoyed the turns the plot
takes, a few of the surprises that are thrown about, and the more political
machinations. Where I struggled a bit is with the whole flying thing and the
general weirdness of the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">It’s not that I don’t like a good, weird world of fantasy, it’s
just that I was never completely sold on it. I’ve seen the comparisons to this
book and worlds created by the likes of China Mi</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">é</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">ville and I just can’t take
things that far. Yes, Mi</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">é</span><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">ville creates some very weird worlds, but those
creations aren’t questioned in my reading of them, just marveled at. And the
very weirdness of those creations usually serves an important point in the
thematic goals of the writing. It’s not Wilde doesn’t do these things with her
world, it’s just that it didn’t completely work for me. I understand that
keeping the origins of these mysteries is key, and I also get that this is
fantasy, so fantastic and unexplainable things are around. But it still didn’t
gel the way I would have like to see.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765377837/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&camp=1789&creative=9325&creativeASIN=0765377837&linkCode=as2&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=JMKS3BSRNBE62PQG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhoNZsnOkzVYrvUMRg_o-Pz8TegjCVR-4SOC8IZx4iQn7_bNx2B5cRXPdHGZJ9tBUqmxbnABpr8I4coaFqaGLlNFQdA_ldYbbWHjytgNXXwKxA8yIWYjT1BH3IGhMSsa2AG2KXJ/s200/updraft2.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">However, I don’t want to dwell on these, as they didn’t really
bother me all that much. I did like the book. I am looking forward to reading
the sequel. And I’m happy to recommend the book to readers at the blog here. <i>Updraft</i> is a coming-of-age story, it is
the story of a child seeking information about a parent, there are secrets, and
what I enjoyed most is that it’s a story about a moment of upheaval in a
society that can and will likely end in a very different place. Plus, living
bone towers and people flying around way above a distant, fog-covered ground –
it might not have completely worked for me, but is still sounds pretty awesome.
<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Updraft</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;"> is the first novel in a planned trilogy in the <b>Bone Universe</b>. The second novel, <i>Cloudbound</i> is forthcoming in September, 2016.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<b><u><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Bone
Universe<o:p></o:p></span></u></b></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Updraft</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="ttp://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0765377837/ref=as_li_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=9325&amp;creativeASIN=0765377837&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;tag=nethspace-20&amp;linkId=JMKS3BSRNBE62PQG">Amazon</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">Cloudbound</span></i><span style="font-family: "arial" , sans-serif;">: <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cloudbound-Bone-Universe-Fran-Wilde/dp/0765377853/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&qid=1461177637&sr=8-2&keywords=updraft+fran+wilde&linkCode=ll1&tag=nethspace-20&linkId=2c588c310aa9c4500222d72372fc1c2f">Amazon</a></span></div>
Nethhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16963540055415924510noreply@blogger.com1