tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-66303530472120550192024-03-05T22:30:04.198-06:00Pareidolia Book BlogPareidolia: Seeing patterns or images in ordinary things--such as a religious figure in a piece of toast, or the Man in the Moon.
I like the irony of being a skeptic and using the word in the context of "seeing" things in books.JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.comBlogger204125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-49058187106986512562014-11-09T09:02:00.002-06:002014-11-09T09:02:53.069-06:00Summoned to Tourney (Mercedes Lackey, Ellen Guon)Rating: 3<br />
Year: 1992<br />
Genre: Fantasy<br />
Read again? In another 10 years...<br />
<br />
A Bard (Eric), an elf (Korendil or 'Kory') and their girlfriend Beth have been in San Francisco for a couple of years making rent money as street musicians. This is the perfect way to lie low and avoid the attention of the FBI, which has been looking for them in the wake of some scary stuff in Los Angeles (but that's another book).<br />
<br />
Eris has been having nightmares of an apocalyptic series of earthquakes and demonic Nightflyers. It takes a lot of pages for his friends to convince him to talk to someone who can help him figure out what's going on--are they just bad dreams, or are they premonition?<br />
<br />
More pages go by before the three venture to the Embarcadero to play for the lunch crowd. Beth gets nabbed by some guys in suits. They take her to their Evil Secret Facility and torture her into panic attacks.<br />
<br />
Eric and Kory split up to go looking for Beth. Kory uses his elf-senses and such and goes right to the Evil Secret Facility, where he bluffs his way in...only to end up captured in the same cell holding Beth.<br />
<br />
The bad guys torture him, too. Turns out the Evil Secret Facility is a government project run by an evil guy who's working on mind control using psychics and mages.<br />
<br />
Eric is almost grabbed by the same suits who got Beth, but uses his music-magic to escape. He even gets their car's tag number. Good boy.<br />
<br />
He gets with some friends, puts together a Plan, and they raid the Evil Secret Facility. Here's where Eric turns fucking stupid, evil and psychotic: he uses his music to summon a flock of Nightflyer demons and sends them into the facility to kill bad guys and wreck the joint. He has enough sense to tell them <b>not</b> to kill the three good guys he knows are there, but doesn't give a thought to having condemned everyone else (including innocent victims) in the place to horrible deaths. We're told that he is "sickened" by what he's done, but that doesn't keep him from doing it.<br />
<br />
Rescue, rescue, action, action, hooray! and Eric sends the Nightflyers home. Well, he thinks he does. There's one that possessed the evil guy running the Evil Secret Facility. This one is like the Boss Momma Nightflyer and she's looking to make baby Nightflyers and wreck the world in a...Nightflyerpalooza? Nightocalypse? Nightstock?<br />
<br />
Conveniently, the Evil Secret "torture the psychics" Facility is right on top of a Legit Good Science Earthquake Research Lab which is conveniently close to a Major Scientific Breakthrough That Could Help Save The World From Bad Earthquakes!<br />
<br />
Unfortunately--and also conveniently--this Research Can Also Be Used As A Weapon!<br />
<br />
Nightflyer's gonna trigger The Big'un, kill the hell out of people, spawn, and do Total World Domination.<br />
<br />
Can Eric the Douchebag fix what he broke?<br />
<br />
Bleh. The dialog (and, well, everything else) could use some cleanup and polishing. Seems clumsy/melodramatic, especially when two people are talking in Plot Points where descriptive text would have been better.<br />
<br />
Decent concept; I'd like to see how the authors would write it now, compared to then.JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-63393928870708352712014-09-10T05:18:00.000-05:002014-09-10T05:18:51.792-05:00Bardic Voices I: The Lark and the Wren (Mercedes Lackey)Rating: 3<br />
Year: 1992<br />
Genre: Fantasy<br />
Read again? Maybe, when I forget...<br />
<br />
I decided to pop out of the <a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Valdemar">Valdemar</a> stuff again, but I didn't wander far. <a href="http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/l/mercedes-r-lackey/">Mercedes Lackey</a> is crazy prolific in her scribbles.<br />
<br />
Rune is a little tavern girl. The 14-year old hates her life. She's stuck working the backwater tavern in a backwater village with her backwater mother, whose only ambition is to lure the tavern owner into marriage so she'll have a cushy (if backwater) life.<br />
<br />
Rune wants to be a musician. A Guild Bard, player to queens, singer to kings, writer of songs that make the whole world sing. The villagers come to the tavern to listen to her scratching on her fiddle while they drink beer, but no one thinks much of her or her scratching. To the others in the tavern her music is a distraction from her proper place: doing chores, waiting on the customers, and little more. To the villagers she's a bastard and likely to follow in her mother's slutty, backwater footsteps.<br />
<br />
Rune has talent, according to the occasional visiting minstrel. They teach her when they have time, encourage her, and feed her desire to get away from the village. She wants to go to the huge Kingsford Faire, to take the three-day challenge against other musicians and win, taking her place as an apprentice in the Bardic Guild.<br />
<br />
--but there's no money for that. Her "pay" at the tavern is room and board, no more.<br />
<br />
We're treated to seven pages of Rune considering prostitution or stripping.<br />
<br />
Seven. Two of these are her thinking of how filthy and degrading and horrible and slimy and bad and sickening and awful and sinful and disgusting and otherwise not-good the stripping would be, as if that's somehow worse than prostitution.<br />
<br />
We get 52 pages of "Rune is unhappy and trapped in a hellhole and she hates it here and they hate her and she hates them" before she opens her trap and tells some village boys that she will play for the Skull Hill Ghost to prove that her fiddling is going to make her somebody, someday. She grabs up her fiddle and marches all the way to the dark, forbidding hill in the woods.<br />
<br />
The way the book blurb is written--and from the cover art--you'd think this was the Big Finish. Rune the Triumphant, player to Death, defeater of Doom, and all that. Nope.<br />
<br />
The ghost comes and they make a deal: she'll play for him all night. If he digs her stuff, she gets to live.<br />
<br />
Her digs her stuff, man. He tells her she's amazing and leaves her with a double-handful of silver pennies, remarking that she deserved gold but it'd be harder to explain to other people how this tavern child came to have so much money.<br />
<br />
So now she's got money and the rest of a too-thick book stretching out ahead of her. It could have been so much better, but there doesn't seem to be much conflict for Rune, even while she's confronting the ghost. Everything pretty much falls into place for her, just so. Where there is something like a conflict or danger, it's resolved pretty quickly.<br />
<br />
Basically, no Runes were seriously injured or killed during the production of this book. Author's pet? Rune is barely--more like minimally--educated, but is often the most articulate voice in the room. She doesn't really carry the "tavern bumpkin" role even in the tavern, which clashes with her upbringing.<br />
<br />
The characters--all of them--are pretty straight-cut sketches, nothing really interesting about them. We know what Rune hopes to become, but we don't know much more than that.<br />
<br />
(Spoilers!)<br />
The plot goes in a straight line from the Skull Hill Ghost to the city where she finds work, a teacher and lodging all on the same day. At the dramatically appropriate time, her teacher dies of pneumonia (giving the Big Emotional Hit) and she comes down with it herself. It takes the rest of Winter and part of Spring for her to recover--and just in time, the Church representative shows up to tell her that her teacher left her everything, and here's enough money for her to get to the next act in the book.<br />
<br />
She hits the Kingsford Faire and enters the competition disguised as a boy: her teacher warned her that there are no girls or women in the Bardic Guild. Her best bet is to play as a boy. If she wins, she can either keep up the deception or reveal herself (so to speak).<br />
<br />
She wins, gets the living crap beaten out of her...but fortunately she's rescued by the Free Bards, folks who play music without being part of a Guild or beholden to rich and powerful patrons. Not only that, she meets the love of her life and gets set up for the final act of the book.<br />
<br />
Blah. I'll just stop there. I'd like to have seen some more slings and arrows of outrageous misfortune.<br />
<br />
This thing's so heavy-handed it must have been typed with a sledgehammer.<br />
<br />
There's so much hand-holding I was starting to hope she'd just ask me OUT already.<br />
<br />
There's so much hitting over the head I've got a concussion.<br />
<br />
EVERY TIME Rune starts thinking, it takes several pages of making goddamn sure we get it. She's not a whore? She's not a stripper? Okay, just say that in a couple of sentences, I'll understand.<br />
<br />
On p. 254, she meets Mr. Boyfriend. She sets out with him after the Faire, looking for a place to set up for the winter.<br />
<br />
By p. 331, they're still on the road, weeks later. Mr. Boyfriend is being the noble, self-sacrificing older guy who doesn't want to lead Rune on. He's TWICE her age (35!!), it wouldn't work out.<br />
<br />
PAGES of this.<br />
<br />
Rune wants him, but thinks he's not into her. She's not pretty, she's not interesting...instead of calling her "Lark" the Free Bards should have called her "Mourning Dove." PAGES.<br />
<br />
Pages of Very Serious, Deep Introspection! At least it's not "<a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/valdemar-07-brightly-burning-lackey.html">Brightly Burning</a>."<br />
<br />
By p. 350, rune finally nails Mr. Boyfriend. Maybe they can shut up, now. All that inner monologue self-torture stuff was audience abuse, just 4 shy of 100 pages. Did Baen tell her they needed a book "about this thick"?<br />
<br />
Maybe she started out with only 200, but they forced her to pad it out. "Yeah, make it 488 pages."<br />
<br />
They could have titled it, "The Demotivational Reader Edition." JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-17226319450976216092014-08-31T03:43:00.000-05:002014-08-31T03:43:40.357-05:00Valdemar 23: Mage Storms 3--Storm Breaking (Mercedes Lackey)<br />Rating: 5/5<br />
Year: 1996<br />
Genre: Fantasy<br />
Read again? Yes.<br />
<br />
Three to go.<br />
<br />
Team Karal headed a 'way down south to the Dhorisha Plains, all that remains of the great mage Urtho's domain after the Great Cataclysm centuries ago.<br />
<br />
They were successful in finding a temporary "fix" for the ever-worsening mage storms that mark the rebound of the Cataclysm. Now, they hope to find something to help counter the Really Really Big Bang The Will Kill Everone And Everything Period coming at the end of this book. This means they're stuck in the middle of the Plains, in the wrecked remains of Urtho's Tower, in the worst winter storms any of them have ever seen.<br />
<br />
Karal spends some time in recovery. The Big Fix at the end of the last book nearly fried him. If not for him, the rest of the team wouldn't have been able to direct the enormous force of one of Urtho's mage-weapons against the incoming storm wave. Now they've got some time (several hundred pages) to find the next one.<br />
<br />
We're given a nice little walk-on cameo for Tarma of the "<a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/valdemar-08-oathbound-lackey.html">Vows and Honor</a>" trilogy (books 8-10). She's a ghost now, but she still comes in, drops some <a href="http://www.dragonlordsnet.com/danp.htm">Shin'a'in proverbs</a> (a running joke in the Valdemar books) on Karal, and winks out.<br />
<br />
<br />
-=-=-=-=-=-<br />
<br />
Over in the Eastern Empire, the most useless people (the 1%!) in the realm are gathered for "Season"--the winter occupation of the wealthy and powerful (and, hence, most useless) wherein they bring their unmarried brats and try to curry favor with those of higher status. Every Mitt Romney, every George Bush, all the other toadies and suck-ups too stupid to <b>go home</b> when the storms started are now stranded in the capital city. Never mind that the Empire is crippled: the storms disrupted everything that depends on magic. The fabulous rich are reduced to using common fire to...to...cook their own food! They have to travel by horse or carriage. WHEELS! Those are for commoners!<br />
<br />
Emperor Charliss is spending his energies just shielding against the effects of the storms. The spells that have preserved him over his 150 year reign are failing. Before the storms, Charliss had maybe 20 years before his spells could no longer sustain him. Now, though, he has much less time.<br />
<br />
Outlying provinces of the Empire have revolted. With no ability to build magical Portals, there is no way to get troops into position to subdue the rebels. There's also no way go get food quickly into the cities. People are rioting and Charliss' center cannot hold.<br />
<br />
Uneasy is the head that wears the crown, dude.<br />
<br />
Charliss declares Grand Duke Tremane nameless for turning against the Empire; in his place, he names Baron Melles the new Heir.<br />
<br />
Melles, in true Imperial style, immediately begins maneuvering and politicking and intriguing, seeking out enemies and allies and garnering power.<br />
<br />
-=-=-=-=-=-<br />
<br />
Back west in Hardorn, Princess Elspeth is leading a small troop of guards and her boyfriend to meet with Grand Duke Tremane. The former Heir to the Valdemaran throne is to be the Envoy to Hardorn. Her boyfriend will speak for some of the other Allies. The guards will, of course, be guards.<br />
<br />
On the road to Shonar, now the de-facto capital of Hardorn, she finds surprising, growing support for Tremane. The Hardornens have heard of Tremane's fairness and his real concern for his adopted People. They're not calling him "King" yet, but there are mutters in that direction.<br />
<br />
-=-=-=-=-=-<br />
<br />
Team Karal's numbers continue to swell over the course of the book. They started out with:<br />
<br />
--Karal.<br />
--Altra, a Firecat, a re-born Son of the Sun and representative of Karal's God.<br />
--Florian, a horse-like Companion. Reincarnated Herald.<br />
--Firesong, a Tayledras Healing Adept.<br />
--An'desha, formerly possessed by the evil spirit of a near-immortal mage.<br />
--Silverfox, the "healer" of the team.<br />
<br />
They were joined shortly by:<br />
--Lo'isha, a Shin'a'in scholar and shaman.<br />
--Tarm, a Kyree (basically a calf-sized, intelligent wolf) scholar/historian.<br />
--Lyam, Tarm's secretary, a Hertasi (your basic child-sized intelligent lizard).<br />
--Sejanes, Grand Duke Tremane's chief mage.<br />
--Master Levy, a math/science/engineering teacher from Valdemar.<br />
<br />
Lyam and Tarm have brought Need, the spirit of a priestess-warrior ensorcelled into a sword (and with us from Book 8 onward).<br />
<br />
Near the end of the book, another five people join the team:<br />
<br />
--the ghost of Vanyel, the Last Herald-Mage from books 4-6;<br />
--the ghost of Yfandes, his Companion;<br />
--the ghost of Tylendel/Stefan, his dead boyfriend/reborn boyfriend.<br />
<br />
...and:<br />
<br />
--Trevalen, the ghost of a Shin'a'in shaman who was killed several books ago, but now acts as the Avatar of his Goddess<br />
--Dawnfire, the ghost of a Tayledras scout who was also killed several books ago, and who is also an Avatar of her Goddess.<br />
<br />
With all these folks--and the little cameo from Tarma--we have cast members spanning the entire series' history and get to say goodbye to some of them.<br />
<br />
-=-=-=-=-=-=-<br />
No complaints, but the book ended just in time. I'm ready for something non-Valdemar after a months' worth of it in three thick books.JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-80391605987963737952014-08-29T13:49:00.000-05:002014-08-29T13:49:32.629-05:00Valdemar 22: Mage Storms 2--Storm Rising (Mercedes Lackey)Rating: 5<br />
Year: 1995<br />
Genre: Fantasy<br />
Read again? yes.<br />
<br />
Book the 22nd with 4 to go before I'm done with the Valdemar books I've got...as compared to the Valdemar books Lackey has added in the last two days.<br />
<br />
We pick up shortly after the end of the <a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/2014/08/valdemar-21-mage-storms-1-storm-warning.html">previous book</a>. Grand Duke Tremane has been forced to consolidate his forces even further in the wake of ever-worsening mage storms which have rendered magic unreliable and near-useless.<br />
<br />
Tremane has pulled the troops off the front lines and brought them to the small town of Shonor. He's got them fortifying both the Imperial encampment and the town to protect everyone from vicious creatures spawned by the storms.<br />
<br />
There has been no word from the Emperor or the Empire. No orders to pull back, no support, no rescue. Tremane still half-wonders if the storms and his isolation are a test from the Emperor to see how he handles adversity. Or is it because the Empire has been rendered helpless itself as the storms tear all magic asunder?<br />
<br />
He has no way of knowing, but keeping his men and the town safe and preparing them for the coming winter is more important. There's no going back to the Empire unless he marches his men through
hostile territory, first east across Hardorn, then through several
Imperial client states.<br />
<br />
As the story progresses, he realizes that he's not preparing just for a single winter; he's setting up for a long stay.<br />
<br />
-=-=-=-=-=-=-<br />
<br />
Karal has been in Valdemar for a year. With his teacher and boss Ulrich murdered by Tremane's assassin, Karal now represents his home country of Karse in Valdemar. It's painfully clear to him, however, that no one really takes him seriously as an Envoy. He's too young, barely into his twenties. He has no experience in diplomacy. Unlike Ulrich, Karal isn't even a mage, so in his own opinion he's unable to help the Allies to solve the mage storms problem other than to take notes like the secretary he used to be.<br />
<br />
He was instrumental in bringing Nerd Power to the mages in the first book--engineers, builders, mathematicians, scientists--scholars and their students who all would otherwise have been left out of the loop by the mages, who never would have thought to ask for a diagram of how the storm waves are interacting, let alone a timeline for when the Big Bang was coming. They've given the Allies an advantage that Tremane and the Empire lack: the ability to measure how the storms interact with the physical world. It soon becomes clear that for the next round of protection that will get us to the end of this book, the magical "breakwater" they set up at the end of the previous book will have to be expanded to include Hardorn.<br />
<br />
Karal and An'desha team up to magically search for a contact in Hardorn, someone who can help the Allies in getting the expanded protections together. Their scrying leads them to...Grand Duke Tremane!<br />
<br />
All Karal has to do is convince the Queen of Valdemar, his own boss the High Priestess of Karse, and the other allies to make an alliance with the man who ordered the murders of two Envoys and the attempt on two others. But first he must convince himself. Time is ticking: they only have till the end of the novel, just past Midwinter.<br />
<br />
-=-=-=-=-=-<br />
<br />
As in the first book, we're about 3/4 of the way in before Lackey is done setting up and maneuvering everyone to their places. The story is well-paced and doesn't drag, but by the time I'm done with the trio I won't be wanting more for awhile.<br />
<br />
-=-=-=-=-=-<br />
<br />
Continuity:<br />
--In this second book, An'desha suddenly has cat eyes, a leftover from his possession by the spirit of an evil, near-immortal mage. When that spirit was destroyed two books ago, An'desha's Goddess gave him his body back, reversing Falconsbane's transformation into a man-cat. In the previous book, however, there's no mention of lasting changes other than white hair and silver eyes, which would be normal anyway for a powerful Adept mage.<br />
<br />
--Early in this book, Tremane has his men building a high wall around his camp and the town of Shonor. Yet a few chapters later, he's thinking of how the town has no walls of its own, and how the residents will regret this fact.<br />
<br />
--In the first book (and ONLY there), Tremane and the other Imperials refer to the Forty Little Gods; in the second and third, they invoke the Hundred or the Thousand Little Gods. I suppose this could be a proportion thing, with the Forty for less-extreme matters and additional Little Gods tacked on as needed to handle the larger work load. Tremane's gonna need the Thousand.<br />
<br />
--In the first book, Tremane is pleased to have functional latrines that convert waste to fertilizer without using magic...but in this book he needs latrines!<br />
JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-54315877992438495182014-08-27T09:17:00.000-05:002014-08-27T10:47:08.382-05:00Valdemar 21: Mage Storms 1--Storm Warning (Mercedes Lackey)<br />
Rating: 5<br />
Year: 1994<br />
Genre: fantasy<br />
Read again? yes.<br />
<br />
After nearly <a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Valdemar">three years of not reading any Valdemar books</a>, I finally dove in. This is the 21st in the set, with 5 to go, not that I'm really bothering to make fun with the countdown anymore. But she is <a href="http://www.fantasticfiction.co.uk/l/mercedes-r-lackey/">STILL writing them</a>.<br />
<br />
I will never be finished. This is the "Hotel California" of reading. And all those new books are going to screw up my book count. This one could be number 43 by the time I'm done writing this sentence--or number 90 by the time you're done reading the review. STOP HER!<br />
<br />
This one and its two companions (<a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/quickie-valdemar-heralds-and-valdemar.html">Companions</a>, get it? Valdemar joke! hahaha) weren't as hard a slog as I'd been expecting. They went by pretty quickly over the last 4 weeks. Reading them and the fat fifth "<a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Song%20of%20Ice%20and%20Fire">A Song of Ice and Fire</a>" novel over the last 8 weeks marks the first time since 2010 that I've even felt like reading again since all the <a href="http://pareidolia-global.blogspot.com/search/label/Aortic%20Dissection">medical crap</a> started.<br />
<br />
We begin far to the east of Valdemar, with Emperor Charliss of the vast Eastern Empire. I don't know who had it first--Lackey or George R. R. Martin--but Charliss sits upon an Iron Throne made up of the weapons of vanquished kings and emperors, same as in "A Song of Ice and Fire"/"Game of Thrones." I'd forgotten this detail, but remember it seeming confusingly familiar when I was reading "Thrones" a decade ago.<br />
<br />
Anyhow, Emperor, Iron Throne, bad guy. He's been ruling since he was 30. One hundred and fifty years, his life sustained by magic. But his clock is winding down, the center cannot hold, and he's got maybe 20 years left in him. Time to pick an Heir and get ready to retire.<br />
<br />
He has selected Grand Duke Tremane, a boring man of about 30, only a Master mage to Charliss' Adept-class. To prove his worth, all Tremane must do is take what is left of the nation of Hardorn, subdue it, and bring it into the Empire.<br />
<br />
Hardorn has had a rough several years. All the way back in Book #16, "<a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/2009/08/valdemar-16-arrows-fall-lackey-m.html">Arrow's Fall</a>," Prince Ancar staged a coup in which he murdered the king and most of his Court. He used evil blood magic to enslave any man who could hold a weapon, then used them as arrow-fodder to take control of Hardorn. Then he made war on Hardorn's peaceful neighbor, Valdemar. His campaign drained his country of able-bodied men and mage energy. By the time the Valdemarans and their allies finally got people in place at the end of the 20th book (<a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/valdemar-20-winds-of-fury-lackey.html">Winds of Fury</a>) and destroyed Ancar, poor Hardorn had been ravaged past any ability to resist when Charliss had his men invade from the Empire. <br />
<br />
They took half of Hardorn without any real opposition...at first. There were enough Hardornen loyalists to stop them from taking any more than that. Now all Duke Tremane must do is take command of the Imperial forces, subdue the resistance, and take the rest of the country.<br />
<br />
There's a snag, though.<br />
Valdemar.<br />
<br />
The same group of Valdemarans who killed Ancar also left a knife in the Imperial "envoy" to Hardorn (a spy, actually). Charliss takes this as a message from them. A warning? A threat? He doesn't know, but once he has Hardorn, he will be able to put troops on the Valdemar border to find out.<br />
<br />
Valdemar itself is overrun with refugees. Though their own military strength has been reduced by long years of war with Hardorn, they could still offer Hardorn material aid, making Imperial assimilation that much more difficult.<br />
<br />
-=--=-=--=-<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, on the Valdemaran border with Karse, we meet our next point-of-view character, Karal. He's a novice, a priest-in-training in the Karsite religion/government. He has been sent north with his master Priest Ulrich, who is to be the Envoy to Valdemar, the first such in centuries.<br />
<br />
Until only recently, the two nations had been fighting a war that stretched back several centuries and several novels, all the way back to #5, "<a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/valdemar-05-magics-promise-lackey.html">Magic's Promise</a>." Everyone on both sides of the border will have to get used to being friends now. To the Karsites, the <a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/quickie-valdemar-heralds-and-valdemar.html">Heralds of Valdemar and their horsey Companions</a> were White Demons, the baby-eating epitome of evil. To the Valdemarans, the Karsites were murderous land-grabbing demon-summoning child-burners, which is actually what they were thanks to a string of evil religious zealots who turned the Karsite religion into centuries of Inquisition where being a mage got you taken for the Priesthood and having mind-magic got you toasted. The difference between those should be a separate post, I think.<br />
<br />
The Karsites suddenly stopped fighting Valdemar when a woman, Solaris, took over as High Priest, Son of the Sun, and the Karsite god Vkandis legitimized it. Vkandis declared the burnings and demon-summoning and all the other evil stuff anathema and He smote and toasted several power-hungry Priests to make His point clear: only Solaris spoke for Him, Stop This Shit Right Now.<br />
<br />
Shit stopped and Karse joined Valdemar in their war against Ancar and Hardorn.<br />
<br />
Karal and Ulrich are sent north to work out the details of peace and friendship.<br />
<br />
-==-=-==-=-==-=-==-<br />
Our next point-of-view character is An'desha, whose body was the secondary bad guy in the previous three novels--Winds of <a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/2009/09/valdemar-18-winds-of-fate-lackey-m.html">Fate</a>, <a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/valdemar-19-winds-of-change-lackey.html">Change</a>, and <a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/2009/10/valdemar-20-winds-of-fury-lackey.html">Fury</a>. His spirit was pushed aside as that of an evil mage moved in and took over to become Mornelithe Falconsbane. This seemingly-immortal spirit dates back to the very first book, some 2,000 years (both in the series timeline and how long it's taken to read them), as the original Big Bad, Ma'ar.<br />
<br />
The same little group of Heroic Cast Members who took out Ancar also took out Falconsbane. An'desha was given his body back, but now he's terrified that the evil Falconsbane still lurks within him. He's also troubled by sudden spells in which all sensation vanishes--no light, no sound, all existence put on hold for an eternity that lasts only moments. Thanks to his possession by the Evil One, An'desha has memories that stretch back to the first novel (wish I could remember that far back) and he knows that the spells are nothing of his doing. Something bad is coming and it will take three novels to deal with it.<br />
<br />
It takes two-thirds of the novel to get all the main players and relationships ready to go and make things happen.<br />
<br />
Tremane arrives in Hardorn to find the occupation going even more badly than expected. He is forced to pull his men back to the town of Shonor. Almost as soon as he gives the orders to do so, Tremane is hit with the same "spell" as those An'desha has been experiencing--no light, no sound, all existence on hold for an eternity. He soon learns that the "spell" has affected all the mages and all the magic. The Empire uses magic for everything: transportation, cooking, heating, lighting, building. It has all failed, disrupted by this "mage-storm."<br />
<br />
Tremane's advisors tell him that the wave swept out of the northeast, headed southwest and leaving strange circles of disrupted land in its wake.<br />
<br />
Imperials are suspicious by nature; it's a given that the man standing next to you is a spy for at least one of your enemies. Your own wife could be on the Emperor's payroll, telling him all your secrets. It's also a given that there are daggers everywhere, always ready should the unwary turn his back. Did the Emperor send this "storm"? Or was it one of Tremane's rivals? Was this a test, an assassination attempt?<br />
<br />
Or maybe it was sent by the Valdemarans to further hamper Tremane's mission in Hardorn. He's already convinced that they've been giving aid to the Opposition.<br />
<br />
Beset by unseen enemies, Tremane sets some retaliatory plans in motion.<br />
<br />
-=-=-=-=-=-<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, back in Valdemar, the same wave of disruptive mage energy has rolled past, flattening all the mages, disrupting their spells, and leaving strange circles of disrupted land in its wake. Since Valdemarans don't use the same class of magic as the Imperials do, though, they're back on their feet pretty quickly. Search parties are sent out to inspect those circles. Each one looks like someone dug out of plug of earth several feet across and replaced the plug with something different--a circle of black sand; one of tough, wiry grass in red clay; one of fused black glass that looks blasted by enormous power. There are also transformed or dead animals, but no people...so far. These circles stretch for miles in all directions.<br />
<br />
An'desha offers an answer based on those ancient memories of his: this wave was just a small one, a tiny ripple that will build into a repeat of the great Cataclysm that ended the war between Urtho and Ma'ar some two thousand <strike>books</strike> years ago.<br />
<br />
-=-=-=-=-=-<br />
Typically for a Lackey novel (when it's not <a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/2009/03/valdemar-07-brightly-burning-lackey.html">one of the suck ones</a>), the story moves well. She makes an effort to make people "feel" real, but maybe spends too much time on that. The "mage storm" subplot builds slowly; two-thirds of several hundred pages is a long time for the action to kick in. Not that it drags, but there is an awful lot of getting to know Karal and getting him around to meet everyone who will be instrumental in the next two books.<br />
<br />
This first one is mostly about him.<br />
<br />
-=-=-=-=-=-=-<br />
<br />
SPOILERS!!<br />
I didn't like the "just so" jumping to conclusions that led Tremane to unleash the assassin/agent in Valdemar. I really didn't like the bad-guy-who-looks-like-a-weasel character who plays the assassin. Beady eyes, obsequious, nervous, and all intended to scream in 90-foot-high neon that <b>HEY!!! THIS IS THE BAD GUY YOU GUYS!! SEE HOW HE LOOKS LIKE ONE?!?!</b><br />
<br />
There's some hammy overacting and Heroic Speeching that are played straight, as if the character is rallying her troops, but it feels clumsy and out-of-character.<br />
<br />
This wouldn't be a Mercedes Lackey book without the Big Emotional Hit in the assassination that leaves Ulrich and a supporting character dead and several others injured. Karal becomes the new envoy from Karse. It's telegraphed several pages in advance, with Ulrich telling the young man how proud he is, and how like a son Karal has been to him. At least it wasn't held until later as a death bed declaration, complete with Karal closing his master's eyes and screaming at the sky as the camera looks down upon him. As it is, Ulrich is rendered unconscious in the attack and never wakes up. This keeps our focus on Karal as he first keeps his vigil and subsequently goes looking to get away from the Palace.<br />
<br />
The confrontation with the assassin was another bit of just-so convenience, with the bad guy spilling the whole plot in an insane rant designed to let the Valdemarans know that Grand Duke Tremane of the Evil Eastern Empire Sends His Greetings. Crap.JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-46384261641310698182014-07-28T01:50:00.000-05:002014-07-28T01:50:27.974-05:00SIF 05: A Dance With Dragons (Martin, George RR)Rating: 5<br />Year: 2011<br />
Genre: Fantasy<br />Read again? Yes.<br />
<br />
The long-awaited triumphant conclusion to the epic "A Song of Ice and Fire"!<br />
<br />
Wait...no, sorry. It's not over yet. There are still some Starks to kill off.<br />
<br />
"Dragons" runs mostly parallel to 2004's "<a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/sif-04-feast-for-crows.html">A Feast For Crows</a>" and follows characters who weren't included in that book.<br />
<br />
There are 16 Point Of View characters in this 1,040-page wrist-breaker. <br />
<br />
Tyrion Lannister has fled Westeros after killing his father. The old man had it coming:<br />
--having convinced the dwarf that his wife had been nothing more than a whore; it turns out she had legitimately loved Tyrion. This is what got his father killed--when Tyrion asked him where Tysha was, Lord Tywin told him, "wherever whores go."<br />
--he claims he would have saved Tyrion from execution after blame for King Joffrey's murder fell upon him;<br />
<br />
Tyron makes his way across the Narrow Sea to the city of Pentos. He ultimately joins a band of people headed for the city of Meereen, hoping to meet with Daenerys Targaryen. They hope to convince her to return to Westeros to take the Iron Throne as the rightful Queen.<br />
<br />
Things don't work out for Tyrion. He gets taken captive and sold into slavery as part of a novelty dwarf-jousting act--but he does end up in a slavers' camp right outside of Meereen, so that part worked for him.<br />
<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, in the northern reaches of Westeros, Jon Snow is learning how to be the commander of the Night's Watch. His men and supplies are stretched too thin and winter is coming. The Others and their walking dead troops are coming and there's no way the Watch can stop them, even with the great Wall blocking their path.<br />
<br />
Jon knows the only way to fight the Others is to make peace with the Wildlings, long the enemy of the Watch, and bring them through the Wall to help his men staff its castles.<br />
<br />
<br />
Meanwhile again, Daenerys Targaryen is trying to keep her own realm together. One of her three dragons has gone from eating sheep to children. Then he goes missing when she tries to pen the dragons to protect her people.<br />
<br />
She holds Meereen by slender threads. Thousands of former slaves are loyal to her, but their former masters are scheming to take the city back. Other slave cities have answered their calls and have sent ships and troops to lay siege to the city.<br />
<br />
All roads seem to be leading to Meereen. There are at least four men who want to marry Daenerys, but only one she really wants. <br />
<br />
<br />
Another meanwhile! Cersei Lannister, the manipulative mother of dead King Joffrey, has been imprisoned in the Great Sept. The only way out is to confess her sins, and being Cersei she confesses only enough to get herself out of there. She denies having slept with her twin brother Jaime, having borne him three children, and engineering the death of her husband King Robert. She's lying, but she'll stand trial somewhere in the 6th book. <br />
<br />
There are at least 12 more "meanwhiles," but this is a good stopping point. For being such a thick book, "Dragons" left me wanting more. I put off reading it for nearly three years because of its length and because the last time I read the first four novels it took me 6 months to get through them. That was in 2010, just after my medical troubles started. Between that and wasting time on the Internet, I don't feel like reading nearly as much as I used to. This one only took 6 days!<br />
<br />
One thing that amused me was Martin's nicknames. EVERYONE has a nickname.<br />
<br />
Jon Snow? The Bastard. He is, though--his father got an unnamed woman pregnant.<br />
Tyrion Lannister? The Imp or Halfman. He's a dwarf.<br />
Ser Gregor Clegane? The Mountain That Rides. Dude's really big.<br />
Jaime Lannister? Kingslayer. He killed Mad King Aerys, who came by his own nickname honestly, too.<br />
<br />
There are tons more. Even people you only encounter as some background guy on page 860 and never again. Barristan the Bold, Dolorous Edd, the Knight of Flowers, the Blackfish, the Sword of the Morning, the Hound. If you don't have a nickname, you're just not cool.<br />
<br />
This is why the 6th book isn't out yet, and why it took 7 years for Martin to finish the 5th. He was coming up with nicknames.JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-78671527583320430732014-01-27T07:38:00.000-06:002014-01-27T07:38:28.814-06:00Cornelius Murphy 02: Raiders of the Lost Car Park (Robert Rankin)Rating: 4<br />
Year: 1994<br />
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Comedy<br />
Read Again? Yes<br />
<br />
The Stuff of Legends continues right where the first book left off!<br />
<br />
Cornelius and his half-pint friend Tuppe have a plan: they will modify an ocarina to add the special notes that will open the Forbidden Zones scattered around town. Then they'll open them one by one and liberate the loot hidden therein!<br />
<br />
To this end, Cornelius shoplifts an ocarina and a young woman from a music shop. The trio hijacks an ice cream truck, which gains them a place to store loot and a PA system to boost the ocarina's signal.<br />
<br />
<br />
In the meantime, one Inspectre Hovis is hoping to solve the Crime of the Century. This would involve the theft of a sizable quantity of diamonds years before which suddenly turned up scattered all over the road. His prime suspect is a cab driver who claims that he was minding his own business when a train--a TRAIN!--came barreling out of a solid wall and scattered those very diamonds all over the street. This really did happen, at the end of the first book.<br />
<br />
In the meantime again, Team Cornelius open one of the Zones and find a wonderous car designed by The Man Himself, Hugo Artemis Solon Saturnicus Reginald Arthur Rune, master of the unpaid bill, guru of gurus, reinventor of the ocarina, hater of Bud Abbott.<br />
<br />
They soon find themselves in Rune's very presence. He has a plan to enter the Forbidden Zones and destroy them utterly, to reveal the beings who lurk within and secretly control the lives of humanity!<br />
<br />
At the same time, there is to be an enormous rock festival headlined by Gandhi's Hairdryer, Prince Charles meets an interesting young woman, the Queen is an alien, and the very forces of the underworld whom Rune wishes to reveal are working to keep him from succeeding!<br />
<br />
I'd have liked this book more if I hadn't taken so long--several months--to read it. I kept putting it aside and forgetting it. No fault of Rankin's, just me doing other things and ending up too tired to read.JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-60975860204408901672013-08-20T11:39:00.000-05:002013-08-20T11:40:00.000-05:00RIP: Elmore Leonard (1925-2013)Mr. Leonard <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2013/08/06/elmore-leonard-stroke-justified-get-shorty/">had a stroke</a> three weeks ago and has <a href="http://www.tmz.com/2013/08/20/elmore-leonard-dead-justified-get-shorty-dies/">died of complications</a> from that.<br />
<br />
Dammit.<br />
<br />
If he's not my favorite author he's near the top.<br />
<br />
His IMDb page <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0001465/">is here</a>.<br />
<br />
His Wikipedia entry <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Elmore_Leonard">is here</a>.JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-82559932522379651252013-08-02T21:13:00.000-05:002013-08-02T21:13:12.455-05:00Cornelius Murphy 01: The Book of Ultimate Truths (Robert Rankin)Rating: 5<br />
Year: 1993<br />
Genre: Adventure, Fantasy, Comedy<br />
Read Again? Yes!<br />
<br />
Young Cornelius Murphy is the Stuff of Epics. Destined for Greatness. No one is more aware of this than he.<br />
<br />
Actually, he seems to be the only one aware of this fact: the world doesn't care.<br />
<br />
There's a Mr. Yarrow (the youth Employment Officer) at his school who is desperate to see the young Murphy gainfully employed before his final school year is done. He's tried and failed seven times to get the wretched boy into a job.<br />
<br />
Mechanic? "Too delicate."<br />
Merchant Seaman?<br />
Minicab Driver? "Too well-spoken."<br />
Monumental Mason? "Too tall."<br />
Motorcycle Messenger?<br />
Marriage Counselor? "Too sophisticated."<br />
Male Model? "Too rugged."<br />
<br />
He tries again. Mime Artiste.<br />
<br />
Nope. "Too well-endowed."<br />
<br />
Cornelius does finally get a job, but not via Mr. Yarrow. One Arthur Kobold hires him to travel into the wilds of Scotland to find and purchase the effects of the heroic and mystical Hugo Artemis Solon Saturnicus Reginald Arthur Rune, master of the unpaid bill, guru of gurus, reinventor of the ocarina, hater of Bud Abbott.<br />
<br />
Among these effects is a manuscript for Rune's greatest work, <i>The Book of Ultimate Truths</i>. Kobold wants to reprint the magnificent opus.<br />
<br />
Cornelius travels into the vast reaches of untamed Scotland, finding himself pursued by a Campbell, who is also after the manuscript.<br />
<br />
The simple "go to the auction, win the bid for some old junk no one wants, and bring it back" isn't as simple and uneventful as Cornelius expected it to be. He faces an enormous riot, a shootout in a monastery, and a bunch of naked Wiccans ("It's a genuine religion, you know.").<br />
<br />
As he travels, Cornelius reads a copy of <i>The Book</i>, learning of the perils of C11 H17 NO3 (mescaline) in soaps, tea, and cola (Rune ran a profitable soap, tea, and cola concession off this fearmongering); the secret lives of Biro ballpoint pens (and why they vanish when you need one); and the truth of why there's always two screws left over when you reassemble a toaster or radio, and how this delayed the scheduled beginning of World War Two by three years (Rune learned this secret in India, acting as Gandhi's spiritual advisor).<br />
<br />
Rankin's writing is rich, engaging and wickedly funny. There's no drag, aside from a mincing Gandhi in disguise as Rune's wife. Hell of a ride.JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-60779296380585668132013-07-01T02:01:00.000-05:002013-08-20T11:29:28.377-05:00Raylan 04: Raylan (Elmore Leonard)Rating: 5<br />
Year: 2011<br />
Genre: Crime<br />
Read again? Yes.<br />
<br />
Raylan's got a warrant for Angel Arenas, a marijuana dealer. He finds Angel in a hotel bathtub full of ice water, near death, and shy a pair of kidneys.<br />
<br />
<br />
Once he gets Angel to talk, Raylan learns that the dealer was meeting with a couple of men. He figures the guys drugged their mark, cut him open, nipped the kidneys. But Angel refuses to ID them.<br />
<br />
Doctors at the hospital say the job looks professional. The incisions were stapled up.<br />
<br />
The kidney-nappers send their victim a fax: $100,000 to get his guts back. As a show of good faith they've taken the liberty of dropping the purloined pieces at Angel's hospital, ready to reinstall.<br />
<br />
But if he doesn't produce the cash, they'll repossess them. Angel has one week.<br />
<br />
The plot breaks up into several threads from here: the hunt for the pair of small-timers who waylaid Angel; a young woman who's insanely good at poker and who might be part of a trio of drug addicts who rob banks; and the people running the kidney-theft ring. Harlan County is very busy.<br />
<br />
A lot of this book has made its way into the TV series "Justified," but not quite as-written. The kidney-theft and bank robber arcs are part of the show's third season and get tweaked to fit the show's plotline. It's got me wondering whether the poker champ will show up for the 5th season.<br />
<br />
Good book, more meaty and satisfying than "<a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/2013/07/raylan-03-fire-in-hole-elmore-leonard.html">Fire in the Hole</a>."JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-25557267248513184552013-07-01T01:35:00.002-05:002013-08-20T11:29:28.362-05:00Raylan 03: Fire in the Hole (Elmore Leonard)Rating: 4/5<br />
Year: 2002<br />
Genre: Crime<br />
Read again? Yes<br />
<br />
Deputy U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens has been reassigned to Harlan County, Kentucky in the wake of a shoot-out with a mobster. To be fair, Raylan did give the guy 24 hours to get out of town or get shot. Guy didn't leave.<br />
<br />
It was simpler to just shuffle Raylan out of sight than to try to build a case against him.<br />
<br />
This being Raylan Givens, he's not even settled in before the trouble starts. His old schoolmate Boyd Crowder has started up a white supremacist church, mostly as a criminal enterprise: bomb goes off in a Black neighborhood, cops rush to the scene, and Boyd's boys rob a bank or two elsewhere while the cops are busy.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, the recently-widowed Ava Crowder shows an interest in Raylan now that her abusive husband is out of the picture.<br />
<br />
This novella is the basis for the TV show "Justified"; I haven't seen much of the show's first season, so I don't know how well they fit together. The book's a very quick read, but there are no real surprises. By the halfway point the ending is obvious, but Raylan's got so many awesome one-liners in his dealings with the bad guys that it doesn't matter. I would have liked a longer story with more of a challenge for Raylan.JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-43086478137224892232013-06-26T16:35:00.001-05:002013-08-20T11:29:28.369-05:00Raylan 02: Riding the Rap (Elmore Leonard)Rating: 5<br />
Year: 1995<br />
Genre: Crime<br />
Read Again? Yes<br />
<br />
Deputy U.S. Marshall Raylan Givens drives up to Ocala to nab Dale Crowe on a warrant (Unlawful Flight to Avoid Prosecution). He puts Crowe in the driver's seat and makes him drive them back to Palm Beach County.<br />
<br />
He's alone with the man convicted of battery on a police officer. Being a Crowe, he tries something stupid and ends up handcuffed to the steering wheel, still driving.<br />
<br />
On the way, they pick up a pair of carjackers (dumbasses tried to jack Raylan's car), so now the Marshall has three prisoners and feels pretty damn smug.<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, Harry Arno, the bookie-in-trouble from the <a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/2011/12/pronto-leonard-elmore.html">first book</a>, hires a bounty hunter to ferret out a $16,500 gambling debt owed by Warren "Chip" Ganz up in Manalpan, Florida. Harry's retiring and wants to settle his accounts.<br />
<br />
The bounty hunter, Bobby "the Gardener" Deogracias, finds Ganz at his mother's run-down 9,000 square foot home. Ganz' mother is in a different sort of home, dying alone of Alzheimer's. Ganz himself is hardly living large, since his mother controls the house and whatever money there is.<br />
The Gardener offers to prune Ganz' ears, one at a time, if he doesn't pay up the $18,000 he owes (finder's fee). More anatomy to follow as needed for motivation.<br />
<br />
Chip sees an angle and proposes a business opportunity: he and The Gardener could team up, take Harry Arno hostage, and squeeze him for the money he's <i>had</i> to be skimming in all his time as a bookie. They'll split the take three ways, since Chip's already got another partner, man named Louis Lewis.<br />
<br />
Harry vanishes. Raylan reluctantly tries to find him, prodded by Harry's lady friend. He finds some interesting puzzle pieces: a young, attractive professional psychic; a robbery at a little Mom & Pop grocery (with strawberry Jell-O as part of the take); one of the robbers threatened one victim with pruning shears. Raylan suspects Bobby Deo, "The Gardener," but lacks all the pieces just yet.<br />
<br />
The genius of Elmore Leonard's tale is that we're not dealing with criminal masterminds. You've got the financially embarrassed, desperate man-of-the-house (Chip Ganz) who once read a book about hostages and how they were treated. Chip wants the caper done By The Book, but the practicalities keep this from going to plan. Straw mattresses are hard to come by in Palm Beach County. Crappy food, chains, and squalid shacks are kind of hard on the jailors and the jailed, and Chip's partners refuse to go along. Harry makes do with being chained in a run-down 9,000 square foot mansion instead.<br />
<br />
Then there's Louis, who almost immediately starts trying to undercut the other guys; and The Gardener, who's so obsessed with his gunslinger-badass self-image that he fails to think very far ahead.<br />
<br />
Greed is the only thing keeping the trio of kidnappers together, and each of them is plotting against the other two.<br />
<br />
Fast-paced, easy reading here. I really like that the bad guys are just regular, stupid human beings instead of evil geniuses. It really doesn't take much more than that and a little greed to drive a typical crook.JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-85376201454234236972013-06-26T15:41:00.000-05:002013-06-26T15:41:15.308-05:00Dresden Files 14: Cold Days (Jim Butcher)Rating: 4/5<br />
Year: 2012<br />
Genre: Fantasy<br />
Read Again? Yeah.<br />
<br />
Turns out Harry Dresden was only Mostly Dead after being taken down by a sniper in "<a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/2010/12/dresden-files-12-changes.html">Changes</a>." He did a little time as a ghost in "<a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/2011/11/dresden-files-13-ghost-story-butcher.html">Ghost Story</a>." Now...he's baaaaaack!<br />
<br />
Well, there's a hitch. He's not a freelance wizard anymore. He made a deal in "Changes" that bound him to Queen Mab, agreeing to become her Winter Knight, which makes him her enforcer, assassin, or whatever she wants.<br />
<br />
The previous Knight was an evil, sadistic bastard. Now Harry wear the mantle. There's a constant struggle between keeping his own identity and allowing the cruel, hungry passions of Winter to take over.<br />
<br />
Oh, and as in every previous book, he has to save the world from Armageddon. Again. This time he has a day to pull it off...and Mab wants him to kill her daughter Maeve, the Winter Lady.<br />
<br />
Dresden has been speculating over several books about a sort of "Black Council," an evil counterpart to the White Council of wizards, shadowy hands manipulating events and people (and creatures) to trigger a new Armageddon focused on Chicago on Halloween. Turns out he's right, in a way: parasites. This angle is used to explain why nearly every previous book has a super-monster flocking to the Windy City to further their plans for Total World Domination (or at least the Utter Destruction of Everything): the baddies have been influenced by parasites. I don't like or dislike this angle just yet, since it's only now being introduced. If Butcher handles it well, it could be cooler than a "Black Council."<br />
<br />
This book brings back Butters the Medical Examiner, Molly the former Apprentice, Murphy the ex-cop (and love interest?), Bob the talking skull, Thomas the White Vampire (and Harry's half-brother), and Mouse, Harry's humongous dog.<br />
<br />
No one's particularly surprised Harry isn't actually dead, but now that he's the Winter Knight everyone's convinced he's a raging murderous bastard, or at least under the Winter Queen's sway.<br />
<br />
The story moves well. No rambling. Good plot development, some revelations about the role of the Faerie Folk in keeping the evil Others at bay. JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-10590633888064697662013-06-26T15:13:00.001-05:002013-06-26T15:13:18.883-05:00Airframe (Michael Crichton)Rating: 4<br />
Year: 1996<br />
Genre: Techno-thriller<br />
Read again? Yes<br />
<br />
Everything's quiet aboard TransPacific flight 545 out of Hong Kong. Most of the passengers are asleep.<br />
<br />
The plane starts to pitch violently, diving several thousand feet, then climbing sharply, then diving and climbing again.<br />
<br />
By the time 545 makes its emergency landing at Los Angeles International, it's carrying 56 injured and 3 dead.<br />
<br />
The captain claimed "severe turbulence" but radar shows clear weather for thousands of miles around the plane.<br />
<br />
The flight crew leaves the country before they can be questioned. Everything seems to point to a failure in the aircraft itself.<br />
<br />
The plane, a Norton N-22 Widebody--is shuttled to the factory for a complete inspection, but there's a catch: the team has one week. The boss wants immediate answers because Beijing is considering an $8 billion dollar purchase of 50 N-22's with an option for 30 more.<br />
<br />
If the fault lies with the aircraft, Beijing will buy from Airbus instead.<br />
<br />
Casey Singleton, Quality Assurance Liason and Press Spokesperson for Norton, is put in charge of the Incident Response Team. She'll be working with engineers and mechanics to either prove the N-22's soundness or condemn the company to a massive loss of business.<br />
<br />
She's been saddled with Bob Richman, an assistant, some nephew of the Norton family who's being shuffled around the company to see where he'll fit in.<br />
<br />
The boss is John Marder, the Chief Operating Officer, who was the program manager on the N-22.<br />
<br />
Casey's team are a bunch of 2-dimensional off-the-shelf characters from Central Casting:<br />
Marder is the Dark, Intense Company Man.<br />
Doherty is the Mopy, Overweight Guy with a bad complexion.<br />
Trung is the Industrious, Hard-Working Asian Genius.<br />
Burne is the Angry, Truculent Red-Haired engine expert.<br />
Smith is the Jittery, Fidgety Electrical Genius.<br />
Wallerstein is the Efficient German Flight Simulation Operator.<br />
Rawley is the Dashing Cowboy Test Pilot.<br />
<br />
As soon as the investigation starts, everything hits the fan: one flight recorder is scrambled and will take some time to sort out. The strongly-unionized mechanics are angry because of a rumor that part of the big China sale includes moving wing fabrication to China, which would effectively kill U.S. production of the N-22 and thousands of jobs at the U.S. factory. Marder denies the rumors.<br />
<br />
Bob Richman seems squirrelly. Casey starts giving him busy work and does some behind-the-scenes investigating into him. She finds that he did a lot of off-the-table flying when he was in Marketing. What's his deal?<br />
<br />
The media gets involved: a tabloid TV show producer who fancies herself a Hard-Hitting Investigative Journalist. Shortly after the N-22 story breaks, an unrelated incident with a different airline makes her think she smells blood. She packs her hatchet and heads out to LA to get "the real story" about the N-22 DEATHTRAP!! She's already framed out the entire story, not caring about the facts, just the sensationalism and ratings, ratings, RATINGS!<br />
<br />
Crichton frequently adds paragraphs or pages worth of technical or industrial information to explain things his principal characters should already know, such as the problem of counterfeit aircraft parts or how the government and industry actually interact versus how we would prefer it to be. Bob Richman is our surrogate. A lawyer, not an engineer or industry insider, he's someone for Casey to explain the technical stuff to.<br />
<br />
Thick but not too hefty, and a page-turner. Crichton stays out of his own way, feeding you technical stuff as needed without straying from the trail. There's a lot going on--corporate intrigue, media hype, Casey's ex-husband who is convinced she's just breaking his balls, juggling all the engineers and mechanics without pissing them all off, trying to quell rumors about the wing sale to China. There's a <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome?from=Main.CrowningMomentOfAwesome">Crowning Moment of Awesome</a> when Casey puts the stupid, arrogant media woman solidly in her place during the Big Test Flight at the book's end.<br />
<br />
The only real disappointment is the low-budget supporting cast, but that's only a momentary distraction near the beginning of things.JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-61103965368003455082013-05-30T03:58:00.000-05:002013-05-30T03:59:06.817-05:00"TV Tropes" on ValdemarNot a review, just a quick link to the <a href="http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Literature/HeraldsOfValdemar?from=Main.HeraldsOfValdemar">TV Tropes</a> page on the "Valdemar" books. There's an alphabetical trope breakdown at the bottom of the page, and a navigation bar across the top leading to other topics on the series: YMMV, Main, Headscratchers, Synopsis, Characters, and Analysis.JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-6241656782983106142013-05-15T22:11:00.002-05:002013-05-15T22:12:21.134-05:00Wuntvor 03: A Disagreement With Death (Craig Shaw Gardner)Rating: 4<br />Year: 1989<br />
Genre: Fantasy, Comedy<br />
Read again? Yes<br />
<br />
Fresh from fleeing Mother Duck and her fairy tales, Wuntvor and his companions learn that Death has taken Wunt's master, the great (sneezing) wizard Ebenezum. Death's holding him hostage and wants the Eternal Apprentice to hand himself over.<br />
<br />
Snarks the horribly honest demon reminds them that he used to be a monk in the service of Plaugg the Somewhat Magnificent, and that Wunt might ask the third-rate god for help. Wunt and Snarks fly dragonback to the heavens--with a short stop to ask the Two Fates for directions (the third sister is on vacation).<br />
<br />
The Fates' advice sends them to the Home of the Dragons. Hubert (the theatrical dragon) hasn't been home in quite some time. He's wildly famous, the local-boy-done-good, but his friends and relatives want to know why he's hoarding those tasty morsels (Wunt and Snarks). A little song, a little dance...and it turns out that the part of heaven where they'll find Plaugg is up, and a little to the left.<br />
<br />
Of the six Ebenezum/Wuntvor books, this is the most disappointing. Once we've gotten through the Big Fight with Death, the book just winds down and seems to stop. A perfunctory resolution to the series.<br />
<br />
Stylistically, through all six books Gardner's writing gets you there, but kind of plods along the way. Serviceable. The first time I read the series (1991 or so), it was cryingly funny. After maybe the 6th time, I'd say to just ignore the bumps and these short books will go by quickly.JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-42198378524326146202013-05-15T21:46:00.000-05:002013-05-15T22:12:21.132-05:00Wuntvor 02: An Excess of Enchantments (Craig Shaw Gardner)Rating: 4<br />Year: 1988<br />
Genre: Fantasy, Comedy<br />
Read again? Yes<br />
<br />
Team Wuntvor have finally reached the Eastern Kingdoms. Wunt hopes to convince Mother Duck to help cure the allergy curse on the sniffling, sneezing, stuffy-headed-so-they-can't-use-magic wizards of Vushta.<br />
<br />
Mother Duck isn't interested in helping Wunt. She's got an agreement with the Netherhells!<br />
<br />
But her plans are far, far worse than handing Wunt and his friends over to the demon horde.<br />
<br />
They will star in her fairy tales (even the Brownie, who really hates being called a fairy).<br />
<br />
Once upon a time....<br />
<br />
This phrase is part of the spell. Wuntvor finds himself as the Young Adventurer seeking the home of the Sun. He makes camp after a day's travel and is joined by a fairy--<br />
<br />
--who suddenly breaks character, insisting that Brownies are NOT fairies. They're very sensitive about that. Brownies are an industrious tiny people who make shoes! Fairies are tiny people who hang out in the woods and frolic with satyrs! They couldn't be more different!<br />
<br />
The spell is broken. Mother Duck, struggling artist, shows up and makes a few changes, amps up her spell, annnnd--ACTION!<br />
<br />
Once upon a time...<br />
<br />
Wuntvor is a traveler crossing a valley. A sign warns of danger ahead. The next bids him "BEWARE!" His trail leads to a bridge and the dangers that wait beneath...<br />
<br />
Then one of the "trolls" drops out of character and breaks the spell.<br />
<br />
Mother Duck is furious, but quickly regroups. A new story begins.<br />
<br />
Once upon a time...<br />
<br />
Wunt now walks in the woods and meets a tiny man--a tiny man who is NOT a fairy, but a Brownie--and who offers him seven wishes. One wish for a weapon, squandered on the magic sword he already carries.<br />
<br />
Second wish, true love. The Brownie leads him to a tower. After a brief conversation with the resident Damsel, Wunt finds himself buried in an enormous fall of golden hair. He climbs, they talk, and he learns that he must defeat the Dragon beneath the tower to rescue the Damsel...<br />
<br />
With each interruption, a new story begins. Each time he seems to be alone, Death shows up, trying to take the prized Eternal Apprentice only to be thwarted. There seems to be no escape from Mother Duck's stories.<br />
<br />
Will Wuntvor ever reach happily ever after?JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-3469426559882585132013-05-15T21:18:00.000-05:002013-05-15T22:25:58.501-05:00Wuntvor 01: A Difficulty with Dwarves (Craig Shaw Gardner)Rating: 4<br />
Year: 1987<br />
Genre: Fantasy, Comedy<br />
Read again? Yes<br />
<br />
Vushta is saved!<br />
<br />
Too bad about the wizards, though.<br />
<br />
In trying to cure the sniffling, sneezing, handkerchief-filling wizard Ebenezum's allergy to magic, almost all the other wizards in Vushta have been stricken with the same curse!<br />
<br />
Three tough-guy apprentices are after Wuntvor, demanding that he cure their masters or pay 200 gold pieces by moonrise the next day. Failure to pay the 400 in gold will result in unpleasantness (the ever-increasing fee is a running joke).<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, there is discord amongst Wuntvor's companions. Snarks the honest demon is suddenly terrified of Brownies (instead of being merely disgusted by them). The Damsel and Dragon are sniping at each other (creative differences). Love interest Norei thinks Wuntvor's eye wanders too much and he doesn't take her seriously. The Dealer of Death has a quarterly review coming up and it likely won't be favorable because we're in the fourth book already and he still hasn't killed Wuntvor, Ebenezum, or Hendrek (a contract is a contract, friends or not). Hendrek is thoughtful.<br />
<br />
Wuntvor must go to the Eastern Kingdoms to find help for the allergy-stricken wizards. Since his usual companions are acting weird, he decides to go it alone.<br />
<br />
Mistake!<br />
<br />
He's accosted by Death, who seeks to claim the lone traveler. Death believes Wuntvor is the mythical Eternal Apprentice--and Death can only take him when he's truly alone.<br />
<br />
Then a ferret shows up. And Tap the Brownie...and Guxx Unfufadoo and Brax the salesdemon...Hubert the theatrical dragon and his Damsel...the unicorn...Hendrek and Snarks. Death is furious...but rules are rules. He can't take Wuntvor, so he leaves.<br />
<br />
Guxx Unfufadoo is no longer a rhyming demon. Because of the spell involving his nose hair at the end of the previous book, any attempt at rhyming sends him into sneezing fits! Now he can only speak in verse. Brax carries a small drum for beating rhythm.<br />
<br />
Wunt and the gang keep heading east, eventually reaching the Eastern Kingdoms and meeting the Seven Other Dwarves (Nasty, Touchy, Snooty, Spacey, Dumpy, Noisy, Sickly, and Smarmy...yes, there are actually eight) and their frightening mistress, Mother Duck.<br />
<br />
Will Mother Duck help Wuntvor...or will she bake him into bread?JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-87639091934200725532013-05-15T20:16:00.000-05:002013-05-15T22:21:17.968-05:00Ebenezum 03: A Night in the Netherhells (Craig Shaw Gardner)Rating: 4<br />
Year: 1987<br />
Genre: Fantasy, Comedy<br />
Read again? Yes<br />
<br />
Vushta, City of Forbidden Delights, has gone right to hell!<br />
<br />
The Netherhells, that is.<br />
<br />
Apprentice Wuntvor and his sneezy master Ebenezum finally reach the city after two books, Death, a Brownie, a gold-pooping chicken, an angry union representing bog womblers and other downtrodden imaginary and mythical beasts, a lap-lusting unicorn, a dragon and damsel stage act, a brutally honest demon, an assassin who loves to strangle wild boars, several attacks by Guxx Unfufadoo and his horde of Netherhells demons, a love-interest witch, a giant, and a long trip across the sea (powered by sneezing)!<br />
<br />
And now the city is gone, dragged to the Netherhells by evil rhyming demon Guxx Unfufadoo. Not even one Forbidden Delight for Wuntvor to sample.<br />
<br />
All that remains is the less-fashionable West Vushta. two wizards, some apprentices, and a costumer.<br />
<br />
Plans are made. Wuntvor will venture into the Netherhells, armed with what few weapons could be found:<br />
<br />
Wonk, the Horn of Persuasion.<br />
Cuthbert, the cowardly talking sword.<br />
A "Get Out of Jail Free" card.<br />
A magic hat that produces scarves, flowers, or ferrets when one says "yes", "no", or "perhaps".<br />
<br />
He will be joined by Hendrek and his cursed battleclub Headbasher (which no man can truly own, etc.) and Snarks the horribly honest demon.<br />
<br />
And three ferrets.<br />
<br />
All they have to do is find Guxx Unfufadoo and snip a single nose hair from him.<br />
<br />
They meet up with the Dealer of Death, who once relished the the challenge of killing demons, but now wanders the Netherhells wishing for a good, solid wild boar to strangle.<br />
<br />
Can our heroes defeat Guxx once and for all and rescue the Fabled City of Vushta?JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-18332616000418460192013-05-15T19:54:00.000-05:002013-05-15T22:18:28.626-05:00Ebenezum 02: A Multitude of Monsters (Craig Shaw Gardner)Rating: 4<br />
Year: 1986<br />
Genre: Fantasy, Comedy<br />
Read again? Yes<br />
<br />
Sneezing wizard Ebenezum and his trusty--if clumsy--apprentice Wuntvor are still on the road to Vushta, City of Forbidden Delights. They travel with Hendrek the warrior and his cursed warclub Headbasher (which no man can truly own, but can only rent) and Snarks, formerly a monk in the service of third-rate god Plaugg the Reasonably Magnificent.<br />
<br />
Snarks is a demon so unpleasantly honest he has to wear a hood to muffle the truth.<br />
<br />
Then the Brownie shows up.<br />
<br />
Then a unicorn seeking a virgin lap upon which to rest his weary head.<br />
<br />
Then a giant bird--a Rok--nabs the wizard and his apprentice, flying them miles away to confront the nefarious (and unheard-of) Association for the Advancement of Mythical and Imaginary Creatures (AFTAOMAIBAC). They demand better treatment, what with unicorns and dragons and fairies getting all the good jobs in stories and tapestries. What about bog womblers? Satyrs? Griffons?JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-18159713406778875612013-05-15T19:37:00.000-05:002013-05-15T22:12:21.127-05:00Ebenezum 01: A Malady of Magics (Craig Shaw Gardner)Rating: 4<br />
Year: 1986<br />
Genre: Fantasy, Comedy<br />
Read again? Yes<br />
<br />
When wizard Ebenezum tries to awe his new apprentice by summoning a fearsome demon, a broken line on his protective pentagram means the demon's not in the wizard's control!<br />
<br />
Even worse, this is Guxx Unfufadoo, a horrid rhyming demon whose dread powers grow with every rhyme!<br />
<br />
After a brief battle--part of which with Ebenezum's beard stuffed in the demon's mouth to keep it from speaking--the wizard banishes his foe back to its home in the Netherhells.<br />
<br />
Then...the sneezing begins.<br />
<br />
Ebenezum finds himself cursed with a horrible allergy to magic. Even minor spells send him into convulsions of sneezing.<br />
<br />
Now the stricken wizard and Wuntvor the apprentice must take to the road for Vushta, the famed City of Forbidden Delights, to seek a cure. But first, they raise some traveling funds by rescuing a damsel from a dreadful dragon...well, kind of. The dragon's really into theatre and takes on the damsel as his partner.<br />
<br />
Soon our heroes encounter their next foe, Hendrek of Melifox, armed with the enchanted warclub Headbasher, which no man can truly own, but can only rent!<br />
<br />
Then they meet Death; a woman with a chicken that poops gold; an assassin named the Dealer of Death (and who loves to strangle wild pigs); and an enclave of monks who worship Plaugg, the Moderately Great.<br />
<br />
<br />
Very much in the vein of <a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/search/label/Myth">Robert Asprin's "Myth"</a> series, which started as a send-up of heroic fantasy and swords-and-sorcery tales. As with Asprin's Skeeve the apprentice, Gardner's Wuntvor must handle the magical burden for his master (in Skeeve's case, his original teacher was assassinated; his second lost his powers as a prank by the previous guy). Wuntvor is incredibly clumsy, but he means well, and his successes are more from screwing things up than from being competent in magic.<br />
<br />JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-80531067921615863712012-09-05T18:32:00.000-05:002012-09-05T18:32:02.510-05:00Dexter 01: Darkly Dreaming Dexter (Jeff Lindsay)Rating: 4<br />
Year: 2004<br />
Genre: Thriller<br />
Read again? Yes<br />
<br />
Dexter Morgan is a blood-splatter analyst for the Miami Police Department. In his spare time, he's a serial killer--but one with a mission. He only kills bad people who have it coming.<br />
<br />
Dexter lives by a code named for his adoptive father, Harry. Harry's Code is a set of rules his father put together to keep Dex from ending up on death row. He'd seen the homicidal impulses in his son even at a young age, so he started sharpening Dex to use as a weapon against the bad guys who so often escape justice because Justice is hemmed in by too many rules.<br />
<br />
As the book opens, Dex is stalking a priest who abuses and murders children.<br />
<br />
Dex abuses and murders him. Then he buries the bastard in his own graveyard, right next to his victims.<br />
<br />
Dexter's sister Debbie is a cop, stuck out of the way in Vice where she works as bait for horny johns. Someone has started killing hookers, cutting them up and leaving their bodies on public display.<br />
<br />
As soon as he sees the first corpse, Dexter recognizes the work of a fellow murder artist. But he has a dilemma: does he do his job and help the police catch the baddie...or does he hold back and enjoy the artistry?<br />
<br />
<br />
"Darkly Dreaming" covers much of the first season of the "Dexter" TV series. I tend to like the show more, probably because that's where I started. Most of the character dynamics are the same: Dexter's got a friendly public mask to hide behind, including a relationship with an emotionally-damaged woman (Rita) who isn't likely to want intimacy. She's just part of his disguise. Dex is respected by most of the cops in Homicide, seeing him as a lab nerd who knows his stuff. There's one cop--Doakes--who sees through all of Dexter's camouflage. Doakes is a killer who recognizes another.<br />
<br />
That said, the books and the show don't spend a lot of time together once we're past "Darkly Dreaming."<br />
<br />
I read this book several months ago, but I don't remember anything in Lindsay's style that would keep me from reading the rest of the series.JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-64310300264180532922012-05-22T18:06:00.000-05:002012-05-24T11:31:51.002-05:00Star Trek--TOS #23: Ishmael (Hambley, Barbara)<br />
Rating: 5<br />
Year: 1985<br />
Genre: Sci-Fi/Star Trek<br />
Read again? Yes<br />
<br />
<br />
James Kirk hopes Spock is dead.<br />
<br />
The Vulcan science officer snuck aboard a Klingon ship, convinced its crew were Up To No Good. The ship entered a Space Cloud, ostensibly to investigate a rogue dwarf star...and then vanished. Spock managed two transmissions: "White Dwarf, Khlaru, Tillman's Factor, Guardian" and "Eighteen Sixty Seven."<br />
<br />
Kirk knows that if the Klingons found Spock aboard their ship, they would torture him.<br />
<br />
<br />
Meanwhile, in 1867, Aaron Stemple sees a strange light in the woods as he guides his horse through an early-morning mist toward Seattle. Upon investigating further, he finds an unconscious man. No, not a man, not with those ears, not with green blood. After days of nursing the alien into some semblance of health, Stemple is no closer to understanding him: the alien has no recollection of his own identity. Stemple passes him off as his nephew, Ishmael Marx.<br />
<br />
About the same time "Ishmael" shows up, two mean-looking strangers come to town, asking questions; we'd recognize them as TV Klingons--dark skin, dark hair.<br />
<br />
Can Ishmael figure out why he's in Seattle? Can Kirk figure out Spock's final transmissions?<br />
<br />
This book hies from the era of Space Animals in Star Trek books: a Space Octopus (I'm assuming; she had a tentacle) who takes over at the Science station when Spock goes missing; and a blue-eyed Space Snot Puddle named Aurelia Steiner. There just had to be one, some sort of Cosmic thing, because shortly before getting to the part where we meet Ms. Puddle, I was re-reading the review for "<a href="http://jw-bookblog.blogspot.com/2010/04/star-trek-tos-45-double-double-friedman.html">Double, Double</a>," where I made a snarky reference to them.<br />
<br />
This book was better than I was expecting. I seem to remember not liking Hambly's style or writing for some reason, but I found no issues with this one that would keep me from coming back to it.JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-90319469779996282552012-05-21T08:32:00.000-05:002012-05-21T08:32:31.806-05:00Teardrops and Tiny Trailers (Douglas Keister)<br />
Rating: 5/5<br />
Year: 2008<br />
Genre: Nonfiction / Travel<br />
Read again? yes<br />
<br />
I've been wanting to build a little <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Teardrop_trailer">teardrop camper</a> for years, partly out of a desire to see forts I've never been to without having to pay for motels, but also because one just needs to get away from time to time.<br />
<br />
These hip-pocket homes on wheels date back to the 1930s and are typically built around a standard 4 x 8 foot sheet of plywood. The smaller ones are roomy enough for two friendly people and are light enough to be towed by almost any car. It's a step up from lying in a tent, but still more rough-and-ready (and far cheaper) than a bus-sized RV.<br />
<br />
Keister's book is both an attractive guide to the possibilities for designing, outfitting and decorating trailers and a display of their tow vehicles, from Plain Jane to radical; boring to beautiful; wood, fiberglass, and aluminum.<br />
<br />
There are plenty of photos of gorgeous old cars and trailers, some of which were built from plans like <a href="http://www.hawcreekoutdoors.com/teardrop-trailer-for-two/">these</a> from Mechanix Illustrated in 1947.JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6630353047212055019.post-5939569720911103962012-04-13T03:59:00.003-05:002012-05-21T08:25:43.001-05:00Jack of Shadows (Zelazny, Roger)Rating: 5<br />
Year: 1971<br />
Genre: Fantasy<br />
Read Again? Yes<br />
<br />
Jack the master thief is nabbed at the Hellgames: his presence alone (even as a bystander) is reason enough to suspect that he intends to steal the game trophy, the Hellflame.<br />
<br />
He is executed. Because he's a Darksider, he has a number of lives, but dying is still no small thing.<br />
<br />
He awakens several years hence in the Dung Pits of Glyve and sets out to gain revenge upon those who sent him there, most notably his worst enemy, the Lord of Bats.<br />
<br />
As he walks from the Pits, he seeks to avoid capture--but the Bat Lord has been waiting: Jack is imprisoned and tormented in payback for stealing some magical manuscripts. Jack's execution was only the beginning.<br />
<br />
Once he wins his freedom, Jack's revenge could bring the end of the world.<br />
<br />
<br />
This is a quick, easy read, though Zelazny doesn't spend much time fleshing the characters out.JWhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/01367596987146850877noreply@blogger.com0