Lentils... I've never eaten them, are they so good? Emily Barton seems to think so, and so, behind all the alternate timelines, historical inevitability, struggling Jewish cultures, and semi-sentient mechanical horses - she has written, truly, a book about her love for this mystical legume. Do I need to say more about The Book of Esther? Probably, and I will. But, clearly, I needed to mention the lentils. I'll get it right out of the way, The Book of Esther is about an alternate timeline that inevitably leads the Jewish peoples to have their very own country, and invite wildly strange technologies. I am not Jewish, I do not know much about anything to do with Jewish culture. BUT, that strangely kept me invested in this story. The fact that I had no idea about Jewish people, had me learning new things left and right about them. I was just as invested as I would be when it came to fictional societies, countries, and cultures. Right off the bat, I was hooked and it wasn't hard to dive right in. You won't find anything else like it out there. Emily Barton has created a thoroughly complex world, and surprisingly doesn't simply create a story where the Jewish peoples take revenge on Germany because of... history. Nope, she took the high road here. The Jewish people have a minimalist society, tribes, ranking systems rife with abuse (Esther herself seems very intent on using marriage to achieve a particular title), discrimination when it comes to refugees, non-Jewish peoples, light sexism, and the most bonkers technology you could ever imagine. Most of the time, these people have no idea how to combat the Germanii threat, their intelligence often fails due to human error, and guns are just a weapon they don't use. When it comes to tech, they use semi-sentient mechanical horses that feed off troffs of oil (what?), have their own will, and sound extremely cool, but I can't feel a bit iffy on their actual usefulness. Could you not trip a mechanical horse? What is the weight limit? Why are they sentient? Atop that you have other questionable inventions such as wooden air vehicles... I have no words. I can't even decide if these are cool, or just ridiculous. Characters, to me, can be just a little bit odd. Everyone has been part of this culture for so long that, they are completely familiar with the way it runs, and the history. Oftentimes they'll be saying Jewish phrases, and talking about things that you don't know about until later in the story. It took me a long time to get a hold on what people were thinking or talking about when they weren't dealing with the situations at hand. Everything about their country, especially Esther, is so important that everyone needs to talk about it constantly. It can be, at times, a lot to swallow and borders on exposition. Esther, the titular character can be loud, and isn't often right when it comes to everything. She likes to say what seems right, demand it from everyone, without knowing if it is. And, since her name is derived from Jewish religion, she seems intent on being someone important to her people. Therein, Esther is naive, takes on far too much, has a self-determined sense of responsibility, but ultimately she is still trying to do the right thing - not always in the right way. Her family isn't much different, and often their views on how to handle situations collide and make things very interesting. I can't say that The Book of Esther is for everyone, it requires a good deal of dedication to move past it's trickier moments. Sometimes the presumption that a reader is Jewish gets in the way, definite due to me not being Jewish, but Emily Barton always seems to find a way to explain what words mean, and what exactly is happening in her world. Moments felt loss always eventually come together. And, there really is nothing as vast in the alternate-history subgenre as this book. You will not find another book like The Book of Esther, I mean that in the best possible way. -L. BROOKS Find out more, if you're interested... The Book of Esther - Penguin/RandomHouse More about Emily Barton
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Numenera: The Night Claive releases this November. Keep an eye out if you're interested... Muad'dib bless your soul. Numenera is a franchise which includes both a pen-and-paper RPG and PC game, two things I really like. And, now, it seems that the creators have some idea about getting into novelizations - much like Dungeons and Dragons, Dragonlance, and, for a little while, Magic: The Gathering. The idea is great, I love when a franchise based on a book-contained game works to expand its universe and express the function of character classes and their places within this imagined world. Sadly sometimes the idea and vision doesn't always translate well or is handled badly by the writer at hand. I couldn't tell you which is the case with Numenera: The Night Clave, as it's co-written, apparently, by the creator, but for everything this book strives to be - it fails to do much more than be annoying. No doubt, there is a lot of passion behind this novel. A lot of attention to the details of the world, but that all falls flat as the story is utterly forgettable. It all begins with an assassination plot, of a man who may or may not be evil, or maybe he is just evil to the characters at hand. It is honestly hard to tell what the motivations or exact goings-ons are as the writing tends to be over bloated and circular in execution. If a character has even one indication of a prior event, even something as mundane as preparation, then you are immediately presented with a bulk of expository information about something else that happened, or paragraphs upon paragraphs of equipment descriptions. The first chapter took me almost an hour to read, page upon page of this - meanwhile the characters at hand have literally done nothing besides move to a position and fire. There is just way too much exposition and, sadly, things do not get better. Continuing on, viewpoints switch, and you have to deal with a character who is written in spotty sentences. For. Some. Reason. I think it’s to provide a sense of urgency, but I didn’t feel it worked at all. Not to mention, there are still expository instances abound and it’s a layered event - the same thing is still going on as before, just another character is coming to make some change in that particular instance. Worse yet, the same details are mentioned over and over again, merely paragraphs from each other: he’s about to fire the launcher, he’s going to fire the launcher, I can’t watch him firing that launcher, I got to go the guy with the launcher. As much as I want to get into this book, I’m just pulled out completely by redundancy and poor stylistic choices. Horrible writing and pacing aside, the characters are not much more than generic slates and flat, blank, characters. Perhaps this is due to the RPG being based on character creation and classes, but characters cannot just be the weapons and things they carry, or the powers they have. They need to have some real substance, and being mad at the bad guy, the only dilemma being if he’s truly good or bad, is weak at best. The setting, as well, is all over the place. Everything but the kitchen sink is thrown into the equation, and when the given writer can’t explain something, they simply say that whatever an element is, the character didn’t understand the purpose - so it just can’t be explained (didn’t stop every single other little thing from being explained). You can tell that, whomever the cover artist was, they really couldn’t get past the fatty boring chapters and instead opted to describe the setting of the first chapter. Why not, it’s there for way longer than it should be anyhow. Numenera, what a place I’d like to learn about! But I couldn’t with this book, instances of the game's mechanics are here but they are the peanut butter on a hair sandwich. Yes, that metaphor was bad - but at least you didn’t have to read about for an eternity. I’ll take the sandwich over this book any day. -L. BROOKS Within a matter of days, I devoured the story of Remy and this strange dark world he inhabits. Rather than providing a typical Aladdin-esque story-line of 'street-rat turns hero', Christina Lay has clearly went to great lengths ensuring that Symphony of Ruin's main character is both an accidental, and extremely flawed one. From the get-go, Remy sips liquor with his friends, stolen from a man who'd taken him in, and of whom he has no real appreciation; he is willing to take advantage of the people around him, blatantly lie in pursuit of reward, and is rather uncaring upon sight of the people, who'd once been his friends, lying dead from a mysterious form of attack. Because of this, Remy is constantly thrown into situations where he has to act the hero in order to ensure that he can live another day - either because of frivolous spending, leaving him unable to support himself while his master is gone, or due the fact that people are threatening him, or the money he could make. Remy is so flawed and cocksure that it's almost comedic, and he stands out as an interesting example of an accidental hero who is doing the right thing for all the wrong reasons. I rarely have comments on the individual elements of a novel (usually opting to provide my thoughts on the whole) but The City, a brooding little haunt where plagues, monster attacks, ghosts, vampire creatures, and supernatural plots seem far too common to it's residents, stands out as a character all on it's own. Life is just terrible for everyone here, even the higher ranking officials, and it's even at the point where Alchemists (basically wizards in this universe) have found a way to make a living from this fact. However, just like the main character, the dark and twisted elements of this place are portrayed in an almost comedic manner. Everyone is just so okay with others dying; the only consistent occurrence in The City being death. Why do they stay here? No person knows - even the nobility of this place are being killed off and requiring some form of exorcism due the ways they’ve been killed, sit atop magic portals to cult layers, and are victim of magical abuses. And, who will do something about this state? Not a person, unless there is a reward. Way to reflect the nature of humanity, am I right? My only gripe, besides a singular typo, is that Chapters whip from one location to another, constructed like episodes or scenes of a television show. This isn’t all bad, I still very much loved Symphony of Ruin, but it had me confused at times - having to get a read on where Remy was, who he was talking to, what was going on. Honestly, I just feel that this was a stylistic choice I don’t see often and had to get used to. Not truly a detriment to the novel. For a great, very strange, dark comedy that provides death and mystery at every turn - I suggest Symphony of Ruin. It is well written, well paced, and Christina Lay has given me one of the most interesting and fun characters I have ever had the chance of experiencing. It is entirely straight-forward and to-the-point, with no unnecessary filler, but it makes for a stress-free read. Not every fantasy novel needs to be as big as a concrete block to please, or provide a compelling or entertaining narrative. Let Symphony of Ruin be a prime example of this. -L. BROOKS For those interested... SHADOW SPINNERS - Christina Lay Symphony of Ruin - On Amazon This whole mess of an article was going to be a review of The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley, a abysmal book I'd picked up at my local dollar tree because... it looked interesting. Well, it wasn't and this piece has mutated into something terrible. It was confusing, badly paced, and worst of all: it forced social politics, gender politics, on it's readers. And, by forced, I mean it wasn't a necessary aspect of the world, it didn't change anything but the wording, it was just there to appeal to a group, but, more specifically, it was marketed towards said group. Which means that it wasn't really written in a way where the inclusion of reversed gender roles and gender fluidity work, it's just put there to sell books to certain people. Understand? No. Well, that's alright. You see the endless social war of feminism, gender fluidity, and gender defined roles has been a hot button subject for years now. Some members of these groups know what they are taking about, they can be reasonable human beings, and will debate intelligently. However, there are sadly a whole lot of extremists and ignorant individuals that rise up, usually by being brazen yet somewhat unhinged and selective in their facts and arguments, and ruin the point of these movements entirely. These more extreme individuals, who basically ruin it for everyone, are so prone to backlash and wild reactions that they become viral - allowing others to feel that, maybe because they are so prominent, that these extreme people and their extreme viewpoints, are the right way to feel. Others take the opposite approach and become just as infuriating with their warlike presentations and penchant to point everyone out as idiots for not opposing these extremists. Some of us, like me, just don't pay attention to this and we move on, and somehow we get sucked into writing articles we didn't think we'd ever write. Funny how that happens. Point is, The Mirror Empire is an example of someone appealing to a movement they don't truly understand. There is not real point in the gender roles being reversed, the females don't change what it means to say, rule, or be in a certain role. They don't make these horrifying characters be more or less just because they are female - they just are female. Males characters are constructed in a way that makes them, basically, be the meek and passive females one would see in outdated literature - presented in a way that says 'ha! how do you like that?' to male readers, basically just making the whole thing seem as immature as possible. Oh, and males get raped by females and, as a man who has went through this as a young boy, I really don't find it too shocking or in-my-face. I didn't like the concept of rape in my stories when it was happening to females either, what is with this assumption that men do? Of course, you are going to have a legion of sociopolitical extremists clinging to what it sounds like it is, what it claims to be, rather then reading the book and realizing that the whole thing is garbage. Well, if this was truly a book made to spread a message and push the apparent 'patriarchy/male supremely' out of the picture, why is the author selling the book? Clearly, and obviously, to profit off of this group. But, who knows, the fact I've found this book at a Dollar Tree clearly demonstrates that, perhaps, this group isn't as malleable as people have come to believe. I'm not saying feminism, gender fluidity, or anything like that doesn't belong in Fantasy or Science Fiction - books like Dune portray females as supremely powerful and intelligent beings, almost always more capable then any male character, but that world had a difference made because of this. If your book simply switches the roles, with no difference, and they act exactly the same then why bother. If a female is put in that role, she has a history and reason that really shows that she is right for that place within the tale - then, by all means, that character should be female. But, none of the characters in The Mirror Empire are anything but archetypes with interchanged genetalia, and this book is not made to support gender politics, it is made to make money off of them. This book is a wet pile of human refuse, fermenting in the sun. I, quite literally, tossed it in the garbage after reading it. -L. BROOKS I'm always looking for a new series to read, and I love when I can hop aboard as a new set of books launches. You never know what you are getting and you never truly know what to expect. It can be a great experience or one you regret buying into. Well, sadly, The Summer Dragon fits into the latter category. And, though there are hints of brilliance along the way, no doubt due to the fact that illustrator Todd Lockwood is the author, it inevitably has too many flaws and attempts to cater to a more marketable group Reading through The Summer Dragon, I couldn't help but feel that it had been rewritten at some point. There is a lot of evidence that points towards the book either originally being in a third person perspective, rather then the highly constrictive first person narrative presented here, or being for a much older audience. You see, it's mostly YA, but it doesn't feel like it should be. The book opens, for instance, with a third person perspective prologue, then abruptly throws readers off when it switches to the perspective of Maia. Initially, Maia is a completely incompetent and insufferable character, the first chapter paints her as a run-of-the-mill snappy female lead, destined for adventure. I got to say, for how brief the first chapter is, it took me a long time to read. Maia is annoying, her brother is annoying, her father is the typical gruff-yet-knowledgeable sort of father you see in these types of books, and her friends are flat, just there to express that there is some small community around dragon breeding. They, ultimately, prove to just be flat names and their dragons are given one character trait each to define them; compliment their given owner. I must point out, as well, that Maia inadvertently almost kills a family friend in this chapter - you'll see why I bring this up later. After the first chapter, the whole book wildly changes in both style and quality. Explanations and descriptions go from short, brief, and almost dumb - to well done and almost poetic. Maia's view of the world also shifts entirely, as if shes someone else completely. No longer is she snappy, but instead she's a little young minded, yet, but earnest and understandable. You can see how she views the world around her as a beautiful place and genuinely loves the work she does with dragons, they are more to her then just vehicles or weapons. It's great, for a bit, and I couldn't help but feel like this was some remnant of what the book had initially been - because this Maia is a better character, and this Maia makes sense. However, this Maia also doesn't seem to care enough to regret almost killing her family friend. She doesn't even bring it up. The gore described from the incident, she could care less, and the incident just passes her by without her caring. She does seem to care about ancient, mysterious, ruins that coincidentally skirt a buried city, which is coincidentally near where she lives, and, coincidentally, one of the legendary dragons that is described almost instantly shows up. Of course, Maia and her brother are surprised, but instead of caring that a legendary dragon of myth, the real Summer Dragon, has presented itself to them - they are just concerned about themselves. Oh, is this good luck? Maybe that means we'll get Dragons now, what we want. Then there is a dead dragon, possibly poachers and - it utterly ruins any wonder, becoming tedious, as the book hops from scene to scene ad nauseam. Further in the book, when he does decide to commit to a scene or idea, it is entirely too drawn out. And he just keeps stacking things on - including a side character that is just there to segway the story into a second book. It's a mess, and though the ideas may be good individually, they make for a confusing spotty story-line when placed together as they have been. Worse yet, it's all YA. Trying to cater to a scene that people make more money from in the short-term and it further harms this book. As I mentioned, there are times when the writing breaks through into more mature prose, but other times it seems dulled or dumbed down for a younger audience. It made me feel a little alienated as a reader, confused as well. We already had the Eragon series for YA Dragon stories, and no one has been asking for them since. So, why bother? The content here demands a sprawling, massive, fantasy world - not a forgettable, by-the-numbers first person YA fantasy. I yern for what could have been. -L. BROOKS NOTE: I have not yet completed this novel, I've just read up to the end of Book I within the story. This review is ongoing. I picked up the initial Mistborn trilogy some time ago, right as the series was branching out with further timelines and histories. But, it's been sitting on my shelf collecting dust, and a bit of the covers have been, regrettably, nibbled at by mice that had wandered in during a previous winter. Most of the reason for this was that I had been completely distracted by the Game of Thrones hype, digging into the A Song of Ice and Fire series - devouring A Game of Thrones, sputtering through A Clash of Kings, and burning out after A Storm of Swords. I also bought up a few of the show's seasons, until I got frustrated with their brevity and, eventual, poor handling of the source material. Still, on the shelf sat Mistborn, until I finally got around to reading this much praised book. And, I can honestly say it was my own fault that I didn't read into it more; only paying attention to those who gave it unending praise in reviews on Amazon and Youtube. Because what nobody seems to say is that Mistborn is tough, slow, and intentionally limited. Every new or smart idea, is met with a somewhat plain or uninteresting one - at least, so far. Firstly, the concept of Allomancy is great, but the strict rules and boring ongoing explanations behind it make me feel sort of underwhelmed whenever its used. The main character, Vin, doesn't seem to particularly care about her own ability or anyone else, always simply acting like 'Oh, that person can do this' in a very passive manner. As well, the abilities Allomancy can provide seem to be coincidentally suited for the characters who need it, almost exactly tailored for a cast of thieves, scoundrels (which the cast of this book happens to be), and the 'Mistborn' class basically having the ability to use all the metals. Its cool for a bit, until you realize that there are so many rules put in place that it chokes out the possibilities of something genuinely amazing, horrific, or experimental - melange, this is not. No mixing metals, no burning too many, only certain metals work, don't burn them too long, and so on. The mystery of this weird magic is quickly thrown out the window. Weirdly, Sanderson seems to have a complete obsession with control over whats going on in this novel. Using not only strict rules on his Allomancy system to ensure things go certain ways and are useful only to certain individuals, but he also intentionally shrinks the world down into a controllable state long before it begins. Not unlike other novels with similar poor, struggling, and lower class characters - everything pretty much sucks unless you are rich. And, due to some apocalyptic event where everything was reduced to a little land where ash, mist, fog, and horrible mutants roam the night, there is little besides the lowerclass, upperclass, and slaves called Skaa - little more then a continent exists, maybe less, where people can live. Most places are considered either shiny or dead and dirty, and this grim imagery is interesting until you realize that everything is reduced to a either-or scenario. You get nothing in-between, not yet. To further illustrate my point, there is a anti-hero middle ground kind of guy trying to free them. He is decidedly trying to hide his past, pain, and intelligence behind a facade of egotism and self-assurance. But its frail and weak and predictable, you can guess the details behind his past before it happens, and just to establish him as a anti-hero, not just a misunderstood one, he kills a few guys here and there. But he isn't a bad guy, he isn't inbetween, because there is such an obvious and exact divide with everything in Mistborn that, because he isn't a antagonist, he is a protagonist. Also, there are blurbs before every chapter about the big bad guy having once been a hero and how he somehow failed. I'm half interested in seeing where that goes, I also half really am getting frustrated by the author meandering about. Because, again, he once was good, yes, but now he isn't... not in this story. So, naturally because he isn't a protagonist, he is an antagonist. That is how things just seem to go in this book, nothing seems to every manage a grey area and, when it does, its through cheap melodramatic and sorrowful reasons or excuses. Vin herself is boring and meek, probably intentionally due to her past and the mysterious circumstances behind her brother betraying her and being used as a tool for a group of thieves, but I feel like she is just too welcome to people ordering her around. She goes through the motions, from one place to another, with very little question, and sometimes it seems like it might be due to the influence of Allomancy, while sometimes it just seems like poor character design. This makes it very confusing when, say, she is being trained to use Allomancy and, for no reason, just starts mistrusting the man she's been mindlessly following around anyhow. Then, out of nowhere, decides that trust is a big part of her character. Also, for some reason a heist turns into a bid to save the slave race, Skaa, and possibly a war will... happen? My question right now: Is Vin a Mistborn or not? Nobody really says she is or treats her like one, most of the time, but suddenly its implied she is... but no one seems to care that she is some sort of rarity in the world? She can use all the powers, I know that much. So she must be. So, my impressions so far? Well, I hope it gets better. Really, I have no idea how I could read the whole series if things are like they are for the next two books, or even in the further histories of this world. But, hey, tough ideas are difficult to do exactly right at first and perhaps Sanderson has some surprises in store for me? We'll see. -L. BROOKS |
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