Kam

Oh man, but there is A LOT going on in this novel. Just: A LOT. It???s kind of hard to know where to begin really.

Since I was just coming off my speedrun of Vols. 1-4 of Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation, I figured my brain would appreciate something a little different, and what could be more different than a straight-up horror novel? I built myself a little list from my (massive) TBR, but since I couldn???t decide which one I wanted to go with, I fed my top five choices into a randomizer, and figured I???d go with whichever came out on top. And since this is the one that turned up at the top, I decided to give it a go.

And it???s turned out to be a pretty great read, though it???s more anger-inducing than scary, truth be told. What grabs me most is the world in crisis (climate, social, all the crises really), and how the rich seem to be doing everything they can to run away from something they caused in the first place. They plan to leave and pretend everything???s okay, partying like nothing???s wrong, while elsewhere people suffer and die because they have no money and no prospects, and the world continues to burn. Selfish people broke the world, and they???re now running away from it, and they???re not above draining every other resource left - including other people - just to secure their own safety in the face of the apocalypse. Basically most every nasty, anger-inducing thing in this novel can all be traced back to selfish greedy people (aka the One Percent) who didn???t give one flying fuck about humanity and the world, and are so short-sighted that they???re willing to destroy everything around them if it will help them gather all the wealth and power they possibly can and hang onto it as hard as possible. This, despite the fact that they could have USED that money and power to make a change for the better, to help as many people as they could, to SAVE THE WORLD. But they don???t care because they???re greedy selfish fucks who only care about themselves. And the sad thing is: THESE ARE THE PEOPLE WHO ARE RUNNING THE WORLD RIGHT NOW. So if you read this novel and think ???man, this world is pretty fucking bleak???, well: that???s where the world we have right now is headed in five, maybe ten years, unless, we, idk, make guillotines more fashionable tout suite. 

 I know this seems like this book is very depressing, and yes, it is, not least because of how close these events are to reality, but I think that???s important. It???s important to see the logical consequences of where our current world situation is going, so we can actually DO something about it before it???s too late. This book doesn???t really put out an overt call to action, but portraying these things, even as part of the novel???s overall worldbuilding, is still pretty powerful. 

Another important thread in this novel is about what it means to live on the fringes of wealth and power, ever-wanting it for yourself, for whatever reason. You may want it to protect those you love, or you may want it to protect yourself, or you may want it just because you want it. But either way, the One Percent don???t care about you; they only think of you as a tool to use for their own games. They only care about themselves - as individuals, not even as a group. And they will do everything to protect themselves, even if it means burning the world around them - and you, along the way. As I said earlier, they???re greedy selfish fucks. They don???t care.

Anyway. Those are the central themes of the novel, the core around which the story is built, and for the most part, the story itself holds up, though there are a couple of rough spots. Take the characters for example: they???re all pretty interesting for the most part, though some are more compelling than others. Nina isn???t half bad as protagonist and narrator: she???s flawed, sure, but she???s flawed in interesting ways that make her a pretty good narrator for everything that happens in the story. The rest of the cast is pretty interesting to read about, though I do wish that some of them had been given a little more screentime, as it were. 

I also had a slight issue with the way the movement between past and present was handled. I understand that there was likely a need to spread out flashbacks to Nina???s past so that they???d be interpolated with the appropriate moments in the present, but there were times when they???d cut into moments when the present was very tense and I was very interested in the action going on during that moment. This became less of an issue as the novel progressed though, so that was only really a problem for the novel???s first fourth. 

As a note, I think this novel occupies a weird space in terms of genre. I picked it up because it was billed as a horror novel, and it KIND OF is, but it doesn???t read like too much of a horror novel to me as much as it does a thriller or a mystery. It does have some creepy moments, though not the kind that would make me want to read it broad daylight. As I said, most of the horror of this novel comes from the fact that it???s about the One Percent and what their greed and selfishness are doing to the world; that???s horror of a kind, made scarier by the fact that it???s real. 

So overall, this is a pretty fun read, if you???re willing to acknowledge the fact that it???s going to make you pretty damn pissed about the state of the world right now. It???ll also make you want to look at your relationship with wealth and power, and the whys and wherefores of wanting them, which can be uncomfortable if you???re the ambitious type and/or are working towards ???bettering your situation in life???, as it were. It???s got a few rough spots, but I think the plot and the central mystery will help in overlooking those spots, not least because they happen early in the novel and do kind of disappear as the book goes on.

 

 It???s not often that a book makes me weepy, but this one definitely did. I went into it expecting it to be a horror novel of some kind, or a murder mystery with hints of horror around the edges, but it didn???t turn out to be that at all. Oh, there was a murder for sure, and there were definitely spooky goings-on, but that???s not what this novel???s about. No: it???s a novel about grief, loss, and guilt, and about letting go and moving on - but a very specific kind of moving on. It???s the kind that involves soul-wrenching pain, the kind that makes you want to scream yourself hoarse, because what you???re losing is so intrinsic, so important to you, that you will hang onto whatever of it you can by the skin of your teeth.

But that???s not how the world works. Time moves on. People move on. And it does no one any good to live in the past. Remember it, of course, that???s important, but not holding onto it like it???ll come back if you don???t let go. To hang on is to die - but to let go is to finally live.

One downside: this book is a bit of a slog in the first half. Things only really get rolling around Chapter 15 or thereabouts, but before that it???s can feel like a bit of a drag. Still, if you hang in there, it???ll be worth it. 

A lot of people tend to believe that there is a very large distinction between fantasy and science fiction: fantasy is all about magic and elves and dwarves; science fiction is about space ships and lasers and aliens. Lately, however, this has not held true, with the two genres overlapping in ways that can make some novels difficult to classify neatly into either genre. Some fantasy contains sci-fi elements, while some novels that appear to be sci-fi on the surface read a lot more like fantasy. This falls completely in line with Clarke's (as in Arthur C. Clarke, renowned sci-fi writer) Third Law: any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic. The fine line between magic and technology is something that many contemporary writers of both genres have played with, each in their own way, producing works that do not slot neatly into one genre or the other.

This meeting of genres is, of course, not a problem in the least, since the potential of any story has always fallen, not on the conventions of the genre, but upon the writer doing the writing, and their skill in creating a world and characters and telling a story. And Martha Wells, author of The Cloud Roads, the first book in the Books of the Raksura series, certainly knows what she's doing.

The Cloud Roads, and the rest of the books in the series, tend to be classified as science fiction, but this first novel reads like fantasy, and I suspect that the other books will, too. This is, of course, not a problem, as The Cloud Roads has turned out to be quite an enjoyable read - albeit without the same depth I rather hoped it would have, or the same level of memorability.

The story takes place in a world known as the Three Worlds, inhabited by a diverse set of intelligent races and creatures, but none of which the reader would recognize as human. For instance, the main character, Moon, has scales instead of skin, and the people he's living with, the Cordans, have multicolored scales as well, instead of skin. But Moon is different: he's not quite Cordan, not really, because he can shape-shift into a creature with black scales, a tail, and wings. Unfortunately, this makes him look a lot like another group of creatures called the Fell, which are the enemies of many other races because the Fell prey upon everything else. When he's betrayed by one of the Cordans, he is rescued from certain death by another creature like him, who calls himself Stone. Stone says he is from a race called the Raksura, and that Moon is like him. This sets Moon on a journey of self-discovery - one that involves saving not just himself, but others, as well.

One of the most notable things about this novel is the world-building. Wells does not get into in a very in-depth manner, but allows the reader to learn about the Three Worlds as we see it through Moon's eyes. This is something I can appreciate, as I am one of those readers who enjoys having to work a little to learn about a world, and while learning about the Three Worlds in The Cloud Roads was not as challenging as learning about the world of Umayma in Kameron Hurley's Bel Dame Apocrypha books, I still appreciate the fact that I did have to work a little to comprehend the world.

And it is an intriguing world, indeed: wild and beautiful, with pockets of civilization in the form of tribes and racial groups that move across the Three Worlds in their own way: groundlings (races that can't fly) on foot, and other races that can fly on wings. There are hints of a super-advanced civilization whose existence once spread across the entirety of the Three Worlds, but nothing is left of this civilization other than scattered ruins and the occasional relic. This ancient civilization, however, only lingers in the backdrop, and while it did pique my interest, Wells does not get into it in this novel - something I hope changes in the other two novels that come after this one.

As for Moon, I pretty much liked him almost from the get-go. He's wary of everything, and very careful - a result of a major, traumatizing event in his past that continues to haunt and hound him into the present of the novel. While the circumstances that created his personality are far from pretty, and I certainly would not wish them on anyone, I tend the kind of cautious, wary character that Moon is, since they tend to notice if things are wrong - or over-think things, too, which can be funny and frustrating in the best of ways. Both of these things happen with Moon, which really makes him such a delight to read.

However, the same cannot be quite said about the other characters. I suppose it's because of the sheer volume of them, but while I enjoyed reading about them while I was reading the book, now that I've put it down, I find that I don't quite seem to care about them as much. I came to care about the clutch that Moon rescued at the end of the novel, but beyond them, Stone, Flower, Jade, Chime, Pearl, Niran and Selis, everyone else seemed a little lackluster and faded into the background. I suppose this is because all the other characters are technically minor and meant to be forgotten after a while, but I wonder why it was necessary to name all of them when they were, in the end, meant to fade in the background. I suppose they will make a comeback at another point in the series, but I am not so sure of that.

As for the plot, it was pretty standard fare, and was fun while I was reading it, but on hindsight, feels rather simplistic. There was a sense of true, genuine threat to Moon's life towards the end of the novel, and there was some excitement to be had learning about the truth of the Fell's plans, but apart from that, it was not as exciting or as deep as I hoped it would be, considering all the praise this story has gotten from others. I was hoping for something truly absorbing, something I could turn over in my head a while, but I did not quite get that in this novel.

Overall, The Cloud Roads is a great introduction to the characters and world of the Books of the Raksura - and that might be all it is: an introduction. While the main characters are intriguing enough and memorable enough to stick with the reader, a great many others are forgettable, and as for the plot, it's not quite as deep or as absorbing as I was hoping it would be, which is unfortunate due to the richness of the world Wells has created for her series. I suppose everything will fall into place in the later books, with a deeper, richer, more expansive plot and better character development, but that remains to be seen.

Felt a lot longer than it should have been; there???s a chunk in the middle that I think could have been done away with and the story would???ve still been fun. Much tighter in that sense, too.  If the monsters hadn???t been revealed so early, I think that entire middle part of the plot might have worked, because there???d be that tension of not knowing what the fuck is out there. But maybe that???s personal preference, because I don???t really like knowing what the monster looks like until absolutely necessary. What you see in your head is always scarier than anything can actually be and all that. 

Regardless, this was an immensely fun ride! Loved the concept of the Tatterskins and the old gods in the deep; loved the folk horror with the pinch of cosmic horror (or maybe Lovecraftian horror; the nods to Lovecraft were practically everywhere) on top of everything. Also liked the insight into the characters; the multiple POVs could easily go off the rails but the author managed to keep things on the rails for the most part.

This would make a FANTASTIC movie or miniseries though! Put it in the hands of a good director; not sure I can name names for this but it would make a great movie. There???s plenty of scenes that feel cinematic; the way some scenes are written feels that way too. Almost feels like it???s made for adaptation. 

Some people decide what to read next based on a strictly-delineated list of selections that has already been pre-decided. Others stand in front of a bookshelf and randomly pick out something to read. Yet more start a series, and do not give up until they get to the end (or at least as far as the most recent book, if the series is still ongoing). I, for my part, tend to make my choices based on my emotional state after finishing a book. Having just come off a very emotional trip with N.K. Jemisin's The Kingdom of Gods, the last book in her Inheritance Trilogy, I found myself wanting some time to give my heart a chance to heal. I delved into some non-fiction, but could not find it in myself to go back to fantasy, so I decided that it was high time I picked up something in the science fiction vein, but I was then diverted by Lauren Willig's Pink Carnation series. Willig's series is lighthearted and fun, so it was no chore to clear through all the books of the series and manage to get caught up with the latest release.

With that done - and with a much lighter heart - I decided I could go back to reading some serious sci-fi, and decided that it was as good a time as any to go back to Iain M. Banks' Culture series - especially since he passed away recently. Since I'd already read Consider Phlebas and The Player of Games, the next book in the series was Use of Weapons, which is often heralded as a fan favorite. And having just finished it, I think I can see why it would be a favorite of Culture readers, especially since I've already read two other Culture books before it.

Use of Weapons is set in Iain M. Banks' sprawling Culture universe - the Culture being a post-scarcity utopian society made up primarily of humans and sentient AIs, along with any other societies that may have chosen to embrace the Culture's ideals and ideas. The most intelligent of the AIs, called Minds, govern the Culture for the most part, and since this is a post-scarcity utopian society, people can have anything they want and do anything they want with very little to no consequences. Crime has been eliminated, and children born under the auspices of the Culture have to be taught what poverty and class are, because there is absolutely no conception of such things whatsoever in the Culture itself.

What makes the Culture interesting, however, is that for all its seemingly utopian existence and ideals, it is an expansionist society, which means that it absorbs other societies into itself - though it would prefer to frame itself as philanthropic, because expansionism has connotations of violence the Culture does not prefer to use when referring to its relations with other civilizations. Given this veil of philanthropy, the Culture makes use of an organization called Contact, whose task is - obviously - to make first contact with other civilizations, and to either shape said civilization according to the Culture's ideals, or to market the Culture's ideals to them so that said civilization will consider joining up. However, when first contact doesn't go as peacefully as it should, or it's not going to Contact's liking, Contact will send in agents from an even smaller and very secretive division within its ranks, called Special Circumstances. SC agents specialize in the things the Culture does not approve of, such as assassination, economic collapse, and war in all its brutal and subtle variations. Many of these agents are from the Culture itself, but oftentimes SC will employ agents not from the Culture's ranks - such as Cheradenine Zakalwe, the main character of the novel.

What makes Use of Weapons different from the previous two novels is its narrative structure. It operates on two story lines: one that details Zakalwe's current mission, and another that consists primarily of flashbacks to previous missions - though specifically to moments when he tries to retrieve memories of a particularly traumatic event that is only revealed at the end of the novel. The chapters alternate with one another: flashbacks are identified by chapter headings using Roman numerals counting backwards from XIII to I, while the ones about the current mission have spelled-out chapter headings from “One” to “Fourteen.” It can be fairly easy to get turned around if one does not pay attention to the chapter headings, but once one gets the hang of them they make for a very interesting effect, as the transition from one to the other is often linked to Zakalwe being asleep, unconscious, or deep in reminiscence - precisely the moments when memory is most prone to ambushing a person.

As for the characters, they are an exceptionally fun bunch to read about, as well. Banks seems to specialize in totally and utterly torturing his protagonists (like Horza in Consider Phlebas and Gurgeh in The Player of Games), and poor Zakalwe is no different. Aside from the physical and mental strain of his job as an agent for SC, his own memories are quite terrible and cause him a great deal of psychological anguish - in particular, the one that lies at the very heart of all his other memories, the one he has studiously avoided up until the point that it is revealed in the novel. His handler, the Culture SC agent Diziet Sma, is interesting as well, primarily because she seems to be entirely aware of what the mission is doing to Zakalwe's psyche, but pushes him into it anyway. This makes her a very interesting illustration of the tension the Culture engenders in those who work for it: they believe they are doing something for the greater good, but the smarter ones like Sma are also aware of what they are doing to the people they throw into the front lines.

And then there is Skaffen-Amtiskaw, Sma's drone partner. Though it doesn't take center-stage, it might be considered the sole source of humor in the entire novel, and is in its own way an illustration of the Culture's lighter - and deadlier - side. Though Skaffen-Amtiskaw might be considered funny due to its sarcastic sense of humor, there's no denying that it's deadly, as well: Skaffen-Amtiskaw is a heavily weaponized drone (as is typical for drones working in SC), and Sma has explicitly ordered Skaffen-Amtiskaw that it cannot use its weapons unless expressly ordered to, due to an incident wherein Skaffen-Amtiskaw rescued Sma, but in such a manner as to leave her traumatized. Though Skaffen-Amtiskaw doesn't understand the logic behind Sma's ordered, it obeys them anyway out of respect and fondness for her - an indication of the level of intelligence AIs have in the Culture universe. Other examples of these hyper-intelligent (and very funny) AIs include the Mind of the ship Xenophobe, as well as the passing mention made of Minds choosing to name the ships they are put in with some very interesting names: for instance, the Xenophobe itself is named in a tongue-in-cheek manner, given that it's a ship meant for diplomatic missions. There's also mention of one ship that's eighty kilometers long, and is named Size Isn't Everything. If humor is an indication of sentience, then the AIs of the Culture universe are very definitely sentient.

As for the plot itself, it felt reminiscent, oddly enough, of Skyfall, the most recent James Bond movie. Zakalwe himself is kind of like James Bond and does what he does (including the disappearing act Bond pulls early in the movie), while Sma and Skaffen are rather like M and Q, providing Zakalwe with the mission details and the tools he needs to get the mission done. Even Zakalwe's traumatic past is similar to Bond's in Skyfall, albeit far, far worse.

However, as with the previous two novels, the plot and the characters are there to support a greater theme - in this case, the idea that interference might not necessarily be the noblest thing, even if it seems that interference is being carried out for the right reasons. This is made explicit in a conversation between Zakalwe and Tsoldrin Beychae, wherein Beychae shows (or reminds, rather) Zakalwe of the duality of the Culture's policy, especially when it comes to Contact and SC. I see this as an extension of the ideas explored in The Player of Games, wherein Gurgeh is used like the cultural equivalent of a tactical nuke, destroying an entire civilization from the inside. The “weapons” in the title of the novel are not just the ships and guns and knife missiles that the Culture uses (while at the same time keeping secret or denying their use), but the way it uses its own ethos to get the results it deems suitable according to its own ideals - even if that means starting wars and ending lives.

Overall, Use of Weapons is another great title in the series, and I can see why it is a fan favorite. Zakalwe is an interesting character with a heartbreaking past (which has a twist which was hinted at but then revealed so beautifully), and Sma and Skaffen-Amtiskaw are excellent foils through which the reader can better grasp the light and the dark sides of the Culture. I am aware that these books are meant to stand alone, but I think reading the first two novels helps in grasping the concepts in this book. It did not make the same impact on me as The Player of Games, but it is an excellent read nevertheless.

Once again Wallace delivers the hilarity and the thrills in this continuation of the Sin du Jour series. Though it's not QUITE as funny as the first three books, there's still plenty of moments that are laugh-out-loud hilarious, and even better, the stakes are MUCH higher in this latest installment than in the others. Really looking forward to the next book in the series.

Hinduism (and other, sister religions like Buddhism and Jainism) has an interesting concept: samsara, which is a term used to describe the cycle of birth, death, and rebirth that the human soul undergoes. One is born, one dies, and then one is reborn again, with the circumstances of one's rebirth being determined by one's karma (the quality of one's actions). This is an oversimplification of the concept, I know, but it's a very good way of describing in broad, general terms what the concept is.

It is also a concept that writers have played with over the years, in various ways and with equally various effects. Some writers use it to explore deeper themes: a good example would be Kim Stanley Robinson's The Years of Rice and Salt, which goes so far as to use a specifically Tibetan Buddhist take on the concept for the purposes of the novel. Other writers do not take as explicit a route as Robinson does, simply borrowing the concept of reincarnation that lies at the heart of samsara for whatever purpose they deem it suitable - I have seen romance novelists use the concept for their own purposes, usually taking the idea of two lovers whose souls are bound together for the rest of eternity, following and finding each other through each and every incarnation. The concept has also found itself drifting into sci-fi from time to time, but it has found a home for itself in fantasy, since the cyclical nature of the concept lends itself very well to many fantasy stories.

Of course, not all writers do a very good job using the concept, but the few that do use it well make it into a powerful vehicle for themes about love, forgiveness, and - most important of all - redemption. That is the case with The Kingdom of Gods, the final book in N.K. Jemisin's Inheritance Trilogy.

Set a generation or two after the events of The Broken Kingdoms, The Kingdom of Gods is narrated by Sieh, the god of childhood, introduced in the first novel and who makes a brief appearance in the second. In The Kingdom of Gods, he meets a pair of Arameri twins, Shahar and Dekarta, the head of the Arameri family. If the names are familiar, there is good reason: Dekarta was the name of Yeine's grandfather in The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, while Shahar was the name of the founder of the Arameri line, a high priestess of Itempas during the Gods' War. He befriends them, somewhat-reluctantly, and in order to solidify that friendship attempts to make a blood pact with them. However, the blood pact goes awry, and when Sieh next wakes up, eight years have already passed since the failed blood pact, and he is slowly becoming mortal. He returns to the city of Sky-in-Shadow in order to reconnect with the Arameri twins to find out what exactly happened, However, when he gets there he finds out that a deeper, more dangerous game is afoot, and that this game is dangerous not just to himself, but to all the gods, even the Three.

One of the first things the reader will note, after the first two novels, is the change of narrator. I really like Sieh as a character, have liked him since The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, but I was expecting Jemisin to continue the pattern established by the first two novels and get a female narrator to tell the story (in this case, Shahar, since she is mentioned in the book blurb). Of course, learning Sieh was the narrator did not put me off at all, at least in terms of his narrative voice: he is as excellent a narrator as Yeine and Oree were, which is a good thing because I think that any novel that attempts to use a first-person perspective must have a narrator with an interesting voice. Sieh is certainly that.

There are many similarities in his tone to Oree's voice in The Broken Kingdoms, but I think that's mostly to do with the casual nature of their narration: Oree because she is a commoner, and Sieh because he is a god. The difference comes primarily from the fact that Sieh is far, far more careless about what he says than Oree, which is unsurprising because he is a god and doesn't have to care about anything, least of all mortals. That changes, though, as the novel progresses, especially once Sieh finds himself in the company of Dekarta and Shahar.

And now that I mention the twins, here's where I hit a snag with the novel. While I like the role they play in Sieh's development, I wish there was more of them as people apart from Sieh, gotten more development as characters in their own right. I think it would have been interesting to tell this novel with two first-person narratives: Sieh's and Shahar's, perhaps, or maybe even three, including Dekarta's (though this desire to see Dekarta narrate is mostly due to the fact that I want to learn more about how he constructed the system of magic he creates for himself). It would definitely make the novel longer, but the length would be very much worth the time I'd put into it if one or both of the twins were given a voice. It would also go a long way towards explaining why they are so important to Sieh, why he finds them so attractive, which is crucial to understanding the ending of the novel.

Speaking of the end, I think that Jemisin could not have come up with a better conclusion for her trilogy. I mentioned samsara earlier in this review, and that is pretty much what happens at the end. Debts are paid in full, truths are revealed, and, more importantly, people are forgiven, accepted, and redeemed (not least Ahad, for whom acceptance is a key component of his storyline). And though characters die - Sieh and Dekarta, notably - death is merely another type of transformation: when Shahar finally passes after living a full life, she essentially "midwifes" Sieh (who is no longer Sieh) back into existence, who then takes both Dekarta and Shahar with him to become another Three, in another realm entirely. As for Itempas, he dies, but does so sacrificing himself for humanity, which fulfills the conditions that were laid on him at the end of the first novel, and he returns to his original form - and, in a short story found at the end of the novel, finds his way back to Oree. Very few endings are capable of reducing me to literal tears, but this novel managed to do just that, and so very handily, too.

Overall, The Kingdom of Gods is a fantastic conclusion to a beautiful and heartbreaking trilogy - primarily because it does not focus on the typical things a lot of contemporary fantasy novels focus on. Though there is a lot of political maneuvering, scheming, and mentions and threats of war and bloodshed all over the place, they are not the central focus of the books. Instead, these novels are about characters, and how they relate to one another, whether they be mortals, demons, godlings, or gods. The only failing I can think of in the entire trilogy is one that rests in this book: the lack of development for Shahar and Dekarta, who are important enough to need it, but do not seem to get it (whereas other characters, like Glee and Ahad, get good development, which is odd since they are technically just supporting characters). Despite this one failing, however, the trilogy as a whole is a wonderful read, and definitely more than worth spending one's time - and tears - on.

 As a continuation of the first book, this functions perfectly well. It focuses a lot more on intrigue and developing the established characters, which makes for a somewhat less action-packed read but still entirely fun read, in my opinion. Reading how Gormflaith and F??dla develop was absolutely fun: Gormflaith still has more layers than F??dla, but F??dla experiences some solid character development in this book, which is where much of the fun reading her derives. 
We also get Colmon as a narrator in this one. In the last book he was a somewhat minor character, but this time around he gets narrator status and it looks like he???ll be developed into another protagonist for the third book. I look forward to it, not least because his perspective is so different from F??dla???s and Gormflaith???s.    There was also an interesting dialogue in this book about oppressive systems, and how it can be hard to dismantle such systems when one is benefitting from them. It???s only a moment in the book, but it does address an element of the previous book (and the actual historical milieu in which this series is set) that I think other readers wanted the author to deal with a bit more explicitly. I can???t say for absolute certain if it was handled well, but I will say that it gave me food for thought, especially when thinking about that element in the context of the history of the period, and what certain characters then promised to do about it. 
I think that the main gripe I have about this is that it really feels like a transition book, moving characters so they???re in specific places (literally and metaphorically speaking) as preparation for a big finale or big change of events in the next book. This is just a small complaint though, as I liked the book regardless, but it???s definitely got that vibe. 
Overall, this was a solid continuation of the previous book. Characters grow in their own ways, and the plot continues to be a fun ride. I???m looking forward to seeing how Colmon steps up in the next book in the series (along with another character I won't mention because spoilers). Still, this does feel a lot like a book that???s meant to put particular characters in specific places in preparation for something big going down, so readers looking for something a little more action-packed might not be entirely happy with this one. 

 Oh but this book is a punch in the gut. A GREAT punch in the gut, don???t get me wrong, but still a punch in the gut. Then again, could I have expected anything less, given what had happened in the first two books? 

Initially, this book read a lot more like a fantasy novel than the sci-fi/thriller-adventure feel of the first two books, mostly because of the drastic change in setting. I honestly thought that this was going to be more focused on court intrigue initially - at least, until a certain character shows up, whereupon the plot became more like that of the first two books, but flavored with a different kind of desperation this go-round.  Again, the novel turns on the relationship between Nick and Johnny, as it did in the first two books, though obviously things are much more different in this book than in the first two. Since this novel takes place seven-ish years after the ending of the second, the two protagonists have become very different people compared to who they were in the first two books. Throughout the novel, Nick???s intensely ambivalent feelings about Johnny come to the forefront, and his emotional journey as he grapples with the events of the past two books and the events of this one is both interesting and heartwrenching, especially given Nick???s situation at the start of the novel, and given the context of what happened at the end of the second book.  While Nick???s emotional journey was definitely a highlight of this novel, reading about Johnny was just as interesting, mostly because it elicits some rather complicated feelings about her, which are further complicated by the fact that it???s Nick narrating the story. It???s easy to sympathise with Nick, to outright SIDE with him, because he???s the narrator and the reader only gets his thoughts, his side of the story - but there are moments when the reader might find themself on Johnny???s side.  When that happens, it???s usually when the plot touches on the concepts of revolution and uprising, which form the base upon which the rest of the plot is built. This novel asks a very interesting - and very difficult - question: in the face of an utterly overwhelming force, does it make more sense to capitulate and appease that force in the hopes it doesn???t destroy everything and everyone one cares about, or does one fight back against a future of oppression and occupation? Some people might say that one must always fight back, even at the cost of one???s life; that makes sense on an individual level, as some people might be willing to make that sacrifice, but must one expect an entire country to do the same? The answer is more nuanced than what a lot of SFF novels (and historical novels, for that matter) make it out to be, and I liked how this novel tried to explore that.  Another thing I found interesting about this novel, especially given the two other books before it, is how, when it really came down to it, it was plain old trust that won the day: not magic, not gods, just trusting that another person would make the right choice. While there were a couple instances of literal deus ex machina (if the deus in that situation could indeed be considered such) in the story, they didn???t erase that final, basic fact. Helped it along, maybe, but didn???t erase it.  Overall this was a great way to end the series. Reading about how both Nick and Johnny had changed after the events of the second book, and seeing how those changes played out throughout this novel, was both fascinating and an emotional rollercoaster ride. And while I wasn???t entirely expecting the ending, it made sense in the grand scheme of things, and I appreciated that everything worked out in a good way - though I admit, I was expecting a far more tragic ending.

Places have stories. Any traveler is aware of this idea, and writers are exquisitely aware of it. Many writers are fine hands at making places integral to their stories: landscapes can become epics of geography; lakes and rivers and the ocean itself can sing lyrics as varied and endless as the sounds water can produce. But if one must conceive of a place as a character, then one need not look any farther than a city: that concentration of humanity that seems to imprint its own unique identity upon the spot of earth it springs from. The character of a city is shaped by the humans that inhabit it, just as much as those humans are shaped by it. Currently, a popular trend has been to write about a city and its populace, in all its glory and shame, with an added supernatural element: history and folklore old and new come together to give any city a little something special.

Of course, some cities lend themselves better to such efforts than others. New Orleans, with its ties to voodoo and Cajun culture, is a favorite for American writers. For British writers, though, they need not look much farther than the City: or London, to those of us who don't live there. And it is in London that Ben Aaronovitch sets Rivers of London.

Rivers of London is the first book in a (hopefully lengthy) series of books centered around Peter Grant, the lead character of Rivers of London and of the series itself. Peter Grant is a policeman - a “copper” in the parlance of the book - and he thinks he's headed for a dead-end desk job, but it turns out he's meant for bigger, grander things. It turns out he's meant to be a wizard. And he will have to learn the ropes fast, because there is a lot of work that needs doing: cleaning out vampires, for a start, and negotiating between two opposing deities laying claim to the Thames River and all its tributaries. And then there are those strange murders going on in London, the cause of which needs to be found, and stopped, because if not, London itself will implode.

Now, I have read quite a few urban fantasy books that play on something like this. I have read China Mieville's Kraken, which also uses the city of London as a primary staging-ground for all sorts of supernatural activity. Jim Butcher's Dresden series is one of my favorites, a series whose main character is a wizard who solves supernatural crimes. And before sex and romance became the primary preoccupation of the storyline, the Anita Blake books were quite a good read, too. But of these books, it was the Dresden novels I've loved the most, and in many ways, what I love about Jim Butcher's work is also what I love about Rivers of London.

And indeed, there's plenty similar between the two of them. They both feature lead characters who are wizards, and who are both not comfortable with the inevitable comparisons to Harry Potter (though Peter Grant must feel it more keenly than Harry Dresden, since Peter Grant lives in England). They are both involved in solving criminal cases that the police cannot deal with because it's out of their scope of knowledge (though Dresden gets a lot more flak than Grant, mostly because the London police have been working with wizards far longer than the Chicago PD). They both have dark pasts (Grant's not so bad as Dresden's, though to be fair, Dresden has had several books in which to explore his dark past, and Grant has only two so far). And they both have mentors who were (are, in Grant's case) crucial to their development as wizards.

But Aaronovitch's work is no mere copy of Butcher's. True, there are many similarities (some would say too many), but the simple fact that Aaronovitch is a British writer, and Butcher is an American writer, is enough to make Rivers of London quite distinct from any Dresden book. For one, Grant's humor is much drier, more deadpan than Dresden's - typical British humor, I should say. Grant is also somewhat less emotional in his reactions (as he narrates them; since the novel is in first-person it is unknown to the reader how Grant really reacts to anything) than Dresden. Finally, since Grant is with the police, he is able to explain how the police react and work around a wizard, which seems to be somewhere between mild reluctance to outright unwillingness to cooperate; in the Dresden books there is only outright hostility from the police, and even Dresden's usual liaison, Karrin Murphy, doesn't really trust him.

However, whatever else one may say about the similarities (or not) between Grant and Dresden, it must be said that Rivers of London is a great read. The title of the book is based on the fact that, long ago, London had more than one river running through it. The reader is naturally familiar with the Thames, but there are several other, smaller streams and brooks that used to thread through London. The reason why they are no longer seen in the twenty-first century city is that they were built over sometime in the nineteenth-century, to become part of London's sewage system. And then there are, of course, the other tributaries in the countryside north of London, like the Isis (actually part of the Thames itself). In the novel, however, these rivers are embodied by spirits: genii locorum, as they are called. The trouble is that though the Thames used to be ruled in its entirety by Father Thames, he abandoned the lower half of the river during the Great Stink of 1858. As a result, that part of the river was without a spirit - until a young Nigerian woman heard the call of the river and became its spirit, with her daughters becoming the spirits of the tributaries around it. Father Thames, of course, still exists, but mostly to the north, with his sons and their wives acting as the genii locorum of the waterways there. These spirits form some of the most fascinating and important characters in the book, and not just because they are the rivers of London - one of their number, Beverley Brooks (obviously the spirit of the Beverley Brook in London), a daughter of Mother Thames, plays a crucial role in the progression of the storyline.

However, while the rivers themselves are quite important, the storyline involving them is a subplot compared to the other, larger one: the one connected to Punch and Judy. How Aaronovitch gets from a puppet show to a serial killer might be rather confusing, but it is all very deeply rooted in the old mythologies and folklore attached to the concept of Punch and Judy - and a tribute to Aaronovitch's ability to seamlessly weave these together without getting in the way of the story. Recognizing Punch's roots in the Trickster and Lord of Misrule archetypes, Aaronovitch describes Mr. Punch as the spirit of riot and rebellion particular to London: that sensation of "laughter and violence," as Grant describes it, fueling riots and demonstrations in the city. It must be assumed that all cities have just such a spirit embodying those qualities, but in London, it's Mr. Punch - and unfortunately, Mr. Punch has found a willing, ghostly partner with whom to make more mischief and mayhem than usual.

But this story, is, at heart, a mystery, despite all the interesting trappings, and on that level, Rivers of London functions very well. Aaronovitch manages to work a good balance between being informative and leaving things out for later, and never once does the reader feel like he or she is being led around by the nose - or at least not being led around by the nose in a bad way. I suppose the first-person narration helps there, since the reader is learning a lot of facts right alongside Grant, but even when Grant formulates his own theories and reaches his own conclusions, it doesn't feel like he is making very great leaps in connecting one thing to another, or in coming up in with his ideas. This sort of thing is very satisfying on the part of the reader, because never once is he or she made to feel stupid.

Rivers of London is, in many ways, a solid tale. The best books, in my opinion, are the ones that teach us something along the way without making it a chore, and I have learned quite a few things from Aaronovitch's novel. Peter Grant is a solid, reliable (from the reader's perspective) character, and while the novel reaches a satisfying conclusion, there are enough questions still left unanswered to leave the reader hankering for more. Hopefully Aaronovitch continues this wonderful series, because it would be a pity if he does not.

I wasn't all that sure what I was getting into when I picked up this book, but despite that it's proven to be a rather interesting read, even if I'm very sure that geopolitics is not the end-all and be-all of understanding the world's current political climate. It's out-of-date by now, of course, since it was published in 2015 and the world has changed significantly between then and the Orange Oompa Loompa being elected President of the United States, but there's still quite a few interesting chunks of information scattered throughout that still hold true today. Most important, I think, is how arbitrary lines drawn on maps by white people in the 19th century have created the chaotic warzones of the 21st. A good thing to remember that, especially when looking at the political situation in the Middle East and Africa.

Perhaps in the long run an oppressive system must be burnt down and a new, better system built on top of its ashes, but in the meantime, those who work within the system must do what they can to ensure that the system does not become even more destructive, even more oppressive than it already is. Standing up and doing something to change the system is a good thing, of course, but not everyone is in a position to do so openly, or freely. For those people, perhaps the best they can do is to ???serve honorably,??? and in doing so, become a light of hope for others who might have no hope at all. Not everyone can be a revolutionary, but then again, not all revolutionaries fight at the barricades; sometimes they operate from within the system itself, fighting the good fight in their own small, but no less important, way.

Full review here: https://wp.me/p21txV-Gv

 What a ride! It moves very fast and does NOT stop, with events coming one after the other, so fast that it feels like you???re hanging onto the interior of a speeding car that you absolutely cannot stop. In fact, it???s easy to speed through all the things that are going on, try to match the breakneck pace of the storytelling by speeding up one???s reading pace, but that makes it easy to miss little nuances that add context and dimension to the bigger scenes. I had to remind myself to slow down every so often because of that.

That being said, another thing that???s relentless about this is the heartbreak, especially given the climax of the last book. Nick???s emotions are pulled three ways: his righteous anger at Johnny, his loyalty to Johnny, and his desire to do the right thing, to take the path that will save the most lives, that will do the most good. Inevitably, in wanting to choose to do the right thing, Nick finds himself compromising on his anger: asking himself if he???s understanding things wrong when it comes to Johnny, trusting her despite her actions in the previous book, despite knowing the truth of their friendship. He wants so much to believe that she could be better, that she could save the world without hurting more people, but at the same time he is so very, futilely, ANGRY.

Actually this anger is something that keeps coming up throughout the book in relation to Nick and the world around him. He???s just???he???s so ANGRY. It???s not something that colors absolutely EVERYTHING that goes on in the book, but it???s in the background: this low simmer that colors certain specific thoughts and actions. I also find it interesting that Nick???s ambivalent about his anger - mostly because he realizes he hasn???t been allowed to be angry at all, but also partly because he thinks that his anger has to be for a good reason.

Speaking of, I just have to say that I love how hard Nick tries to be a good person. Sure, he does and says hurtful things, selfish things, but when it comes down to it he also desperately strives to be a good person, or at least to make good choices. Of course, doing so is difficult, given Johnny and what happens in this novel, but there???s something lovely about someone who tries to do good, even with the world imploding around them.

I also have to say that the creepiness got upped a little bit in this novel. It still reads more like a thriller than a horror novel overall, but there were moments where I had to pause a little and stare at something NOT the page because I was getting spooked.

Overall, this was a great continuation of the first book: a little creepier, with higher stakes, but rooted in the same emotional conflict of the first book: Nick and Johnny, and how their relationship has changed, but also stayed the same. Definitely looking forward to getting a copy of that last book, because I need to see how this whole series ends, especially given how this novel ended. 

 Oooooh this was GOOD! It???s not even a horror novel, not really; it kinda feels like a Da Vinci Code-type thriller if it was crossed with Lovecraft, but this is a million miles better than either.
The main reason for that is the characters. They are AMAZING. Johnny seems like the obvious standout: a white billionaire genius who has saved the world by curing HIV and Alzheimer???s, among her many MANY other accomplishments. But she???s also selfish and destructive; she claims to be doing things for the sake of ???the world???, that she wants to save as many people as she can, but she???s also oblivious to those around her, and is really quite selfish. It makes her rather unlikeable, but also very interesting, because she???s done a lot of good for the world, but she is really quite a terrible person.
And then there???s Nick, who is the balance to Johnny???s, well, everything: a Person of Color who is very much not a white billionaire genius, who has a regular shitty job and normal everyday concerns, with siblings and a mom who need him to pay the bills and buy the groceries. He???s immensely sympathetic as a character, and it certainly helps that he???s also the narrator, because I don???t think Johnny would make for a very interesting narrator even if she DOES have Main Character Energy. (Actually I think Johnny wouldn't make a very good narrator precisely BECAUSE she has Main Character Energy.)
While the plot???s amazing and the worldbuilding???s pretty solid, what really makes this novel stand out is the friendship between Nick and Johnny. It???s complicated and messy and deeply, deeply flawed, but it???s this novel???s primary emotional core, and it???s what keeps the reader onboard the ride that is the story. Without it, I don???t think this novel would be nearly as interesting, or nearly as enjoyable. The contrasts between them also help bring up some important themes about class, wealth, race, and gender. All those things complicate the friendship between Nick and Johnny, make it less straightforward and more nuanced. It also makes it clear just how powerful the bonds are between them, because this is clearly a friendship forged in something else other than shared commonalities.
So overall, this was a fun, fast-paced read. It reads more like a adventure novel or a thriller than a horror novel, and while it functions great in that regard, what really keeps the reader???s attention are the interesting characters and their complex, complicated friendship, which provides the strong emotional core around which the rest of the novel hangs.  

So I completely forgot I had this in my TBR, but it surfaced to the top of the list recently when I did TBR roulette, so I figured I'd give it a shot. And well... It's not quite as fun as I thought it would be. Don't get mer wrong: the science is clearly solid and the animals featured are indeed worthy of being labeled “weird”, but I'm just not fond of the framing device used in this book, which I think was supposed to make everything even more interesting and funny and put it all in context for people who aren't very much into science, but I personally think it falls flat. Of course that could just be my sense of humour not really jibing with the author's, so YMMV for sure, but I still didn't think it was very funny. I also think that this was a compilation of online articles written by the author, so maybe that framing narrative may actually work in the context of a blog but they don't really work in the context of a book with a sustained narrative.

Looking back at the order of books that I have read thus far, I wonder to myself why I did not choose to pick this book up immediately after I finished reading Jonathan Kirsch's The Grand Inquisitor's Manual, a nonfictional account of the Inquisition. Now that I think about it, though, it was a good idea that I didn't go straight from Kirsch's work to Morrow's. The intellectual current started by The Grand Inquisitor's Manual would likely have prevented me from seeing and appreciating The Last Witchfinder for what it is: a rollicking yarn of a story about a woman fighting against injustice in the name of Reason.

To be fair, The Grand Inquisitor's Manual was very helpful when it came to reading The Last Witchfinder. The description of the various implements and methods by which the Inquisition tortured confessions out of their victims, as well as the basic set-up of an Inquisitional court and what counted as evidence within that court, all helped in understanding the reason behind the madness of the witch hunters written about in The Last Witchfinder. It allowed for a certain ease of reading and understanding, as I did not really have to linger long asking the whys and wherefores of such an institution that claims to dispense “justice” when what it dispenses is certainly no justice at all.

With such considerations rendered clear by an earlier reading, I was free to focus on other things, primarily the triad of characters at the heart of this book: Jennet Stearne, her brother Dunstan, and Isaac Newton's Principia Mathematica. If counting a book as a character strikes one as rather improbable, then reading The Last Witchfinder will certainly change one's opinion on the matter, as the Principia is the novel's narrator, recounting the life and times of its beloved Jennet Stearne.

The Principia makes for a fascinating character in its own right. It speaks of intertextuality, which as a word is rather intimidating on its own, but the Principia explains it in very uncomplicated terms which will be appreciated and welcomed with a knowing chuckle by any scholar intimately familiar with it, and which will, hopefully, make the meaning clearer to anyone who hasn't encountered it before. Intertextuality, at least the way the Principia puts it, is books breeding books, using authors as their vessels. Writers are readers too (they must be), and the books they read exert an influence on their writing, one way or another, whether they know it or not. So when the Principia says that books write other books using authors as vessels, what it's talking about is simply how, through intertextuality, what a writer reads inevitably finds its way into what the writer writes, whether they do so consciously or otherwise.

And so the Principia appears to use the author of The Last Witchfinder as a vehicle for telling the story of Jennet Stearne. Alternating between personal musings and personal battles (against the Malleus Maleficarum, to be precise), the Principia spins out a tale that is, in many ways, a touching memoir from an entity that has loved its object of affection from afar. Comparisons between Dante and Beatrice might occur to some readers (it certainly has to me), but the Principia fancies itself above exceedingly emotional demonstrations, and strives to give the reader as factual and as plain-faced an account as possible.

Of course, as soon as the reader begins reading about Jennet, one begins to doubt the Principia's promise of objectivity. Jennet's story reads like something closer to Don Quixote or Huckleberry Finn instead of an objective account. Her adventures and encounters seem to occur on such a grand scale for just one woman - even her mission to fashion an argumentum grande contradicting witchcraft is seemingly larger than life. If books can be characters, and characters can be narrators, and narrators can be unreliable, then the Principia might be considered a somewhat-unreliable one, somewhat blinded by its adulation of Jennet.

And yet, perhaps the picaresque narrative style is really the only way to tell Jennet's story, given what happens to her and what she tries to accomplish. She certainly doesn't want for pluck or courage or cleverness to get her out of whatever trouble she might find herself in, and it's pretty clear she thinks well on her feet. Such characters inevitably find adventure in their lives, whether they choose it or not, and Jennet certainly chooses it right from the get-go.

The only problem with this style (and hence the novel) is that it occasionally favors adventure over furthering the (far more, in my opinion) interesting struggle against the anti-witchcraft laws and the witchfinders - the main reason why I was recommended this novel in the first place, aside from the intriguing concept of a book as a narrator and character in its own right. While it's made quite clear that whatever happens to Jennet, and whatever she does, is all for furthering her goal of completing her argumentum grande, there is still a great deal of story there that has absolutely nothing to do with the argumentum grande. It's only towards the latter end of the book that things really take off in line with that original premise. Those moments are diverting, but not exactly necessary.

Overall, though, this is an interesting book, and a pretty good yarn, if that's what the reader is looking for. This novel, first and foremost, is an adventure novel, a picaresque tale, and should be treated as such. The title and the beginning portion of the novel are misleading, promising something along the lines of The Scarlet Letter, perhaps, but with a pluckier heroine. But that is not the case, and what one gets is something more like Huckleberry Finn, with some Robinson Crusoe and Treasure Island thrown in for good measure.

For the right reader, in the right frame of mind, with the right kind of expectations, the novel is sure to be a resounding success. For the wrong reader, it is likely going to disappoint.

Ever since I began this whole book-review-blog thing, I've tried to keep an ear to the ground when it comes to books. I've subscribed to various podcasts and a few online reading groups on Goodreads, as well as asking my friends what they're reading. My friends are the ones who are most likely to throw books my way (sometimes literally - and believe me, trying to catch a hefty book like Neal Stephenson's ReaMdE is no joke), which is great since I trust them to have excellent, excellent taste. As for the rest of it, I listen to podcasts like Sword and Laser and The Geek's Guide to the Galaxy for news on what's coming out, as well as to help me discover new authors whom I might not have heard otherwise.

Some, though, I've been reading since I was young, and Garth Nix is one of those authors. Ever since I discovered his Abhorsen Trilogy in high school I've been in love with his writing, especially because of his world-building. This is something I've always looked out for in the authors I read, and is pretty much an important qualificiation before I consent to pick up the rest of an author's work. I blame Tolkien; his Middle-Earth is so beautifully and almost perfectly constructed that I look for that same quality in all the books I read. And in the fantasy and sci-fi genres, world-building is crucial. I want to be able to immerse myself in a world, and hopefully I'll be able to do this via characters who are fun to listen to (in first-person narratives) and hang out with (in third-person narrative).

So when I found out, on a Geek's Guide to the Galaxy interview, that Nix had written a space opera-type story, I was all over it. The Abhorsen Trilogy is fantasy, and most of his other work (which I've read but didn't find as interesting as the Abhorsen books) have been primarily fantasy, so this foray into sci-fi made me very excited indeed. Influence from my friends and my own recent reading had made me exceptionally receptive to space opera, so as soon as I could get ahold of Nix's A Confusion of Princes, I started in on it - especially since my friend Hope had already begun reading it.

Now, something my friends are quite familiar with is the fact that I'm “spoiler-proof.” Essentially, this means that they can tell me the ending of a book or a movie, if they so choose, and I won't try to tear them apart for spoiling me. Some people don't want to be spoiled; I'm the sort of person who couldn't care either way, since it won't affect my enjoyment of the story. Hope is aware of this, and so when she warned me that there would be some issues in the storyline regarding buildup and ending, I took it, and said I'd find out for myself. I knew she would most likely be right (Hope's got a really sharp mind when it comes to these things), but I wanted to find out for myself if this was true. After all, I could very well disagree with her.

Unfortunately, it turned out she was very right.

A Confusion of Princes is the story of a Prince named Khemri, who is one of ten million Princes, all of them in line to be the next leader of an empire spanning what appears to be an enormous chunk of the galaxy. There are alien races, but the Empire is predominantly human, with the race tracing its origins back to Earth, though the Earth itself has been lost so deep in the mists of history that it's practically a legend.

Khemri, like other Princes (who are not necessarily male - a great many are also female, just as the Emperor might also be female), is superhuman, engineered - but not at birth - to be a cut above the rest of the ordinary humans living in the Empire. Carefully raised in a temple to believe that rule of the Empire is his birthright, an attempt on Khemri's life before he even leaves the temple makes him realize that being a Prince is not all fun and games, that it is, in fact, a dangerous, deadly game, the rules of which he isn't even entirely aware of. And he has wise up fast if he wants to reach his ultimate goal.

Khemri as a character is pretty funny. His very sheltered upbringing means that he knows absolutely zip about the world beyond the temple he was raised in, but his initially firm belief that this ignorance is of no consequence, that he will succeed because he's a Prince, and moreover an important one, even though he hasn't done anything to warrant that importance, is hilarious. There were quite a few moments during the first one-third of the book when I thought of Khemri as a rather impetuous but very inexperienced puppy, one needing guidance from a far more intelligent and more experienced hand - in this case, his Master of Assassins, Haddad. Despite Haddad's guidance, however, Khemri still gets into a lot of scrapes, but he does learn relatively quickly how to stop being stupid.

Now that I mention Haddad, I would like to mention the world-building in this book, which is spectacular, to say the least. Just like with his world-building in the Abhorsen books, Nix has created a fantastic world which makes sense in terms of its structure, and, moreover, is great at immersing the reader in the world without getting them lost. To be fair, the choice of point-of-view for this novel (first-person) helps in that a lot: Khemri's been so isolated in his temple that he is the perfect foil for the reader to learn about the world around him - as he learns about it, so do we. Aside from that, though, the world itself works brilliantly on its own: the three different kinds of technology - Bitek, Psitek, and Mektek - all work together with the Imperial Mind to form the basis for the kind of Society the Empire is.

Princes, especially, are highly influenced by the connection between the three teks and the Imperial Mind: not only are they engineered to have all three kinds of tek built into them, they are constantly in touch with the Imperial Mind, which they can use as a source of information for absolutely anything. They can even use it to “witness” events - kind of a way of showing what's going on around them in order to prove whether or not something has happened, like an assassination attempt, for instance. Because of this connection, Princes are the Imperial Mind's - and thus the Emperor's - link to the rest of the Empire, acting in the name of the Empire and enforcing its will all across its territory.

Alongside the realities that a Prince of the Empire must live, there are glimpses of how the rest of the Empire operates - that side of the Empire that doesn't have a direct link to the Imperial Mind, a world with mind-programmed servants, alien soldiery, and common people try to get by as best as they can. What is shown of this world stands in direct contrast to Khemri's experience as a Prince: it's not an easy life, to be sure, but in some ways it might be a better one than what he's living as a Prince. Khemri learns this, too, the hard way.

With such a great world that could be explored, and some elements of military sci-fi that, so I believe, could easily compare in terms of quality to what I've read of Lois Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga, I was entirely prepared to settle down into a long, pleasantly drawn-out tale wherein Khemri has his snootiness beaten out of him in a variety of ways, even as he learns to be less a Prince and more a human being. I was entirely prepared for this transformation to be long, gradual, and hilarious, especially with Haddad in tow providing the necessary subtle but deadpan commentary, and the mysterious Morojal showing up every so often to give Khemri a more direct slap to the face in her own way. In fact, I was entirely prepared to have this extend beyond one book: the way the story was structured could have been sufficient for a trilogy, maybe even a quartet, showing Khemri's progress through the ranks of the Imperial Navy as an Adjuster, until at last he becomes Emperor - or not, since it was a possibility he might be able to take.

Except that's not what happens. What I get instead is a severely truncated version of the above, with an equally hurried rush to the ending - an ending which I'd expected to see in maybe two more books down the line. In truth, I felt rather cheated - cheated of a grand adventure I'd been led to expect; cheated of an attempt to explore this incredible new fictional universe; and cheated of a chance to really get to know Khemri himself. I really liked him as a character, and I also liked the other characters he encountered: Atalin, for instance, who looked like him for reasons that are explained later on; and Raine, who forms an important part of Khemri's development as a human; hell, even Khemri's rivals for the throne, all of whom are eager to kill him or use him to their advantage. So much of the world has incredible potential for in-depth storytelling opportunities: the House system for Princes, and all those Assassins - Master and apprentice alike - wandering around, for example; or the fact that entire worlds and their inhabitants are used by both the Empire and the Princes as part of their gigantic chess game against each other. Nix has created a world so rich and multilayered, and, more importantly, populated it with characters I could potentially care about, but by bringing this book to an abrupt end I don't have the chance to see more of it, and that is truly sad.

Overall, A Confusion of Princes is a novel with a great deal of potential: the characters are engaging, the world is very interesting, and the story itself has a great deal going for it. But by rushing to the end and closing it off the way he does, Nix deprives the reader of any real opportunity to settle into the world and explore it, or even to really get to know the characters and see them grow. I'm crossing my fingers that this isn't the last we've seen of Khemri, or at the very least of the world he's from, but unless Garth Nix decides to write some more books, I guess this is the last and only chance any of us readers will have to enjoy both, and that is rather depressing.

The word that I think best applies to this book is ???adequate???, in that the characters and plot all seem to largely function as they should, and the worldbuilding also works quite well. There???s nothing about any of those things that I think functions terribly. But there???s a certain lack of depth that I was expecting to find, and didn???t.
The first contributing factor to this is the choice of narrative tone. Using Neferura to narrate the story is interesting, and telling it from her POV is also interesting, but the TONE used? Much less so, given that it reads like young adult instead of adult, which is what I expected when I picked up this novel. Nothing wrong with that age group, of course, but this book wasn???t marketed as such, and so I was expecting a higher level of maturity from the story than what I got. Maybe this is because the author writes middle grade books and hasn???t quite got the hang of writing for adults just yet? I don???t want to think this is the case, but it???s possible, given her bibliography.
Another issue is that the lead character and narrator, Neferura, seems to lack layers and nuance to make her a sufficiently compelling character and narrator. Because of this, Neferura???s concerns, while they SEEM genuinely troubling, feel narrow, because she doesn???t have enough layers to her to feel like a fully fleshed-out person. This is a problem with the other characters, as well. Hatshepsut, for example, is portrayed as a secondary villain in this novel, but her characterization feels so narrow in comparison to the historical reality of who she was. My perspective might be influenced by the fact that I read Kara Cooney???s Hatshepsut biography, but I think that there could have been more complexity and nuance in the way Hatshepsut was portrayed in this book. I???m not saying she cannot be portrayed as a villain; I???m just saying that there needs to be more nuance. The same goes for Thutmose: he???s easy to portray as unlikeable, and was portrayed as such even in Cooney???s biography, but even in his unlikability there???s room for nuance. There were moments when his behavior seemed psychopathic, which would have been an INTERESTING path to take, but the portrayal isn???t given any additional angles or nuance.
What makes this even sadder is that there are plenty of aspects in this book with immense potential. The worldbuilding, as I???ve said, is incredibly well done, and I appreciated the author using actual ancient Egyptian terms for things like the Nile and Hatshepsut???s mortuary temple. There are elements that are also really fascinating: that whole bit with the tattooed wisewoman and her spy network would have been incredibly interesting to explore vis a vis the themes of societal change and potential revolution that were touched upon (but not really explored) throughout the novel. Sadly none of these get the attention and development I think they deserved.
Overall, this book was something of a let-down. Hobbled by an underdeveloped protagonist, a juvenile narrative tone, and a lack of exploration of interesting themes, this novel left me feeling nothing much at all. This is an immense pity, given the potential of other elements in this story, but it is what it is, and perhaps other readers may find something in it to enjoy. 

Just wasn't in the mood. Gave up on it recently when I realized I wasn't really reading it. Will probably pick it up another time.

 Once again this was a DELIGHT! The world expands a bit here, in the sense that the reader begins to see more of it beyond just the rear palace and the tiny bit of the pleasure quarter that the first volume showed. This expansion also means that there are more mysteries for Maomao to solve, and while they aren???t always necessarily complex, they DO begin to take on a bit more significance, because now those mysteries involve more than just the consorts and their ladies-in-waiting. (Which isn???t to say the consorts and the other residents of the rear palace aren???t important in the grander scheme of things, but it???s rather limited in what sorts of things can happen in there.)
Speaking of expanding, not only do the mysteries expand, but the backstories expand as well! This time the reader learns more about Maomao???s origins, which are DEEPLY fascinating and also tragic. The mystery of Jinshi???s identity is also touched upon in this volume, but in such a way as to actually produce more questions than answers. There were hints of something towards the end of the first volume, and that little hint is expanded upon somewhat in this one, both in Maomao???s own speculations about Jinshi and in the scenes where Jinshi appears without Maomao present. Speaking of Jinshi and Maomao, their connection progresses in this novel - to a certain extent. It becomes VERY obvious that Jinshi is rather possessive of Maomao, and acts quite jealous whenever Maomao chooses to pay attention to someone else - or a LOT jealous, as one particular scene in this volume shows. He also isn???t above bribing anyone, including Maomao herself, to get what he wants. As for Maomao, her view of Jinshi changes a little too in this volume, though she still finds him troublesome and a bother for the most part.
As in the previous volume, much of the fun in reading this series comes from how Maomao interacts with the characters around her, and this volume is no different. While the consorts and ladies-in-waiting of the rear palace do make an appearance (with a new consort included to make things more exciting), much of Maomao???s work in this volume involves characters from the outer palace. Aside from Jinshi, Gaoshun, and Lihaku, the story introduces other characters like Suiren, Jinshi???s housekeeper, and (the rather confusingly-named) Suirei. This volume also prominently features the Verdigris House (a high-end brothel also featured in the first volume), including more of its residents, like Meimei. As mentioned earlier this opening up of the world in which the story is set is great because it gives more opportunities for mysteries, but it also begins laying down the groundwork for the overall arc of the series itself.
Speaking of which, that arc is rather hard to tell so early in this series, but it certainly seems like it has to do with succession and the Emperor. Of course this was a clear concern laid down in the previous novel, given that Maomao???s first case was to solve the mystery behind the death of a child in the rear palace, but this volume shows that something is afoot that neither Maomao nor Jinshi can quite grasp at the moment. The reader gets a fairly good sense of who the key players might be, but there???s nothing confirmed as of this volume - and even then, there might be some plot twist further into the series that will render any speculation moot.
Overall, this volume was an excellent continuation of the first one. The shift in milieu from the rear palace to the outer palace not only opens up the setting, but opens up the plot: both in terms of the kinds of mysteries that Maomao gets to solve, but also in terms of the overall plot of the series itself. The reader then gets to know Maomao and Jinshi better, though there are still plenty of questions about the latter that are still left unanswered. As always, though, the beating heart of this series is Maomao???s interactions with the world and people around her, and that remains a consistently delightful aspect in this volume as much as it did in the previous one. 

Oh but this was a delight! The way I think of this is that Maomao is kind of like Sherlock Holmes, except she???s stuck in a period intrigue drama set in the rear palace of the Chinese imperial court and has to negotiate all the etiquette and conspiracies in THAT particular setting while also solving mysteries. Which, given all the conspiring, there are actually plenty of.
While the mysteries are pretty interesting, what REALLY hooked me was reading about Maomao interacting with the consorts and their ladies-in-waiting. The way Maomao views herself (low-ranked servant/food taster/apothecary) stands in direct contrast to the way the REST of the inhabitants of the rear palace view her (poor unfortunate waif), and there???s plenty of hilarious moments where Maomao does or says something that makes the other rear palace residents react in a certain way, and she does NOT for the life of her understand WHY. It???s not that she can???t READ people, because she CAN; she just doesn???t seem the least bit interested in anything that might necessarily apply to HER. On one hand there???s a pretty good reason for that: she firmly believes no one would care about her because she???s so low in the overall hierarchy that she doesn???t think anyone would care about her welfare. On the other hand, she???s just the type of person who???s not easily impressed by anyone. She knows how to act in front of her social betters, but that???s just manners; she doesn???t go out of her way to impress anyone because, in her opinion, it???s a waste of time.
What this means is that Maomao has some entertaining, and often outright HILARIOUS, interactions with the other residents of the rear palace. There is a moment in the novel where some ladies-in-waiting concoct a tragic backstory for Maomao that Maomao finds annoying - not only because it gets the facts of her life wrong, but also because it prevents her from working as much as she used to. Despite that, though, she tends to let it slide because the privileges she gains from the misunderstanding allow her to do OTHER things that are more aligned with her preferences. There???s a lot of ???It is what it is, I should just make the most of it??? to Maomao???s outlook in life, which is juxtaposed against her intense curiosity and willingness to go to any lengths to find the answer to any question she might have.
And then there is Jinshi: the beautiful eunuch who is constantly giving Maomao migraines. At first he???s an almost adversarial character, but that???s only because the reader first sees him through Maomao???s THOROUGHLY unimpressed eyes. It becomes clear later on that Jinshi isn???t all that he seems to be on the surface - something that Maomao figures out herself later on, though that doesn???t lessen her annoyance at him. It???s also through Maomao???s interactions with Jinshi and his assistant Gaoshun that the reader gets a sense of something brewing in the palace - something that goes beyond the games and intrigues of the imperial consorts and their ladies. Still, it???s clear his and Maomao???s dynamic is something to keep an eye on, and it???s easy to see why they???re popular as a ship in the manga and anime fandoms.
Overall, this is a very quick and entertaining read. Maomao???s an absolutely endearing character, both because she is extraordinary and extraordinarily flawed. The way she interacts with the characters around her and navigates rear palace politics often make for hilarious moments, but they make for some pretty interesting mysteries for Maomao to solve as well. It???s interesting to see where Maomao???s curiosity will take her, and what mysteries she will unravel - not just in the rear palace, but perhaps in the Imperial court itself. 

 So I picked this up because I recently read an article that announced it had been picked up for screen adaptation, and I got curious. It was being pushed as a thriller, and after reading the summary, I wanted to know how this would play out if it were adapted for the screen.
The thing is, I???m honestly not sure how they???re going to pull this off in a visual medium. This novel is largely made up of flashbacks and Jay Gardiner???s musings, punctuated by spurts of harrowing (and I mean HARROWING) action as he tries to get out of the whale before he runs out of air. And the point of this novel isn???t really the action, but what???s going on in Jay???s head: the ???demons??? the summary says he???s trying to escape.
See, when I picked this up I thought it would be along the lines of The Martian, wherein a scientist finds himself stuck on Mars and has to find a way to get back to Earth before he reaches the limits of his problem-solving ingenuity. With that in mind I thought this novel???s one-hour time limit would create a more frenetic, compressed story than what was presented in Weir???s novel, with Jay pushed to the very limits of his ingenuity trying to find a way out before he died in the whale???s guts or his air ran out. But that???s not what this novel???s about. In fact, comparing it to The Martian wasn???t right, either. It???s a lot more like the Book of Jonah - which, yes, I realize is VERY on the nose in this case, but the two align thematically in ways that I didn???t expect. Just as Jonah finds himself in the belly of the whale because he???s trying to run away from doing the things God wants him to do, so too does Jay (and don???t those two names parallel each other?). The difference is, Jay isn???t running from God, but from his fraught history with his father (which is kind of the same thing, come to think of it).
So what this novel???s about, aside from the bits about trying to get out of the whale, is about Jay trying to navigate and negotiate his complicated relationship with his father, trying to find closure. This novel hones in on that relationship, and though it???s hard to relate to the specifics of Jay???s relationship with his father, the shape of it will likely be familiar to a lot of readers. Because this novel isn???t about trying to escape the belly of a whale in an hour, but about the complicated relationship of parents and children: the ways each can shape the other, for better and for worse. It also asks questions about forgiveness, and grief, and how those two things are made even more complicated and bittersweet when one believes one was hurt by one???s parents as a child. And most importantly, it???s about bridging that gap: finding a middle ground between the child-who-is-now-an-adult and the parent, finding ways to finally see each other eye-to-eye.
And I have to say, it pulls that aspect off pretty well. The chapters are short and choppy, jumping from past to present, in a way that???s kind of reminiscent of how time tends to get weird when one is a dangerous situation. That trick with time gives the story some breathing room, lets the story unfold on its own and lets the reader really come to understand Jay???s relationship with his father. It also ties Jay???s past and the whale escape together in a way that is very emotionally impactful - enough that I actually got choked up in certain points. This is the aspect of the novel that I worry might not translate very well onscreen, because I think it???s the beating heart of this story and it would be sad to see that get flattened or ripped out completely.
It also helps that the characters are easy to latch onto. Jay is, frankly speaking, kind of pathetic but in a relatable way: so deeply wounded by his past with his father, and now also deeply regretting not going to see him in his last moments, that he dives headlong (sorry) into a hare-brained scheme that lands him in the belly of the whale. His memories of his father are initially very unflattering, but as he manages to recover more and more of his memories, he begins to realize that maybe, just maybe, his father isn???t the only one he can blame for the way his life turned out. His father is not COMPLETELY innocent, of course, but Jay slowly comes to realize that maybe, just maybe, he didn???t completely understand his father, just as his father never completely understood him.
So overall, this novel is very definitely worth a read, but don???t expect it to be all high-octane, MacGyver-esque situations. While there ARE a few thrilling (and admittedly gross) moments of action, this book has a deeply emotional core that I hope will be translated well to the small or big screen. Readers who have (or had) a fraught relationship with their parent/s and/or parental figure/s will likely have a very strong emotional reaction, so having a box of tissues nearby is recommended. 

Huh! Wasn't entirely sure what I was going to get just from reading the blurb, but this turned out to be super-entertaining to read. I know I got onto this because of Garrusmance feels, but this isn't Garrusmance fanfic with the serial numbers filed off - it's something entirely different, but still a wonderful read. Could have been just a SMIDGE hotter, but that's just me. 

I was peripherally aware of the xianxia/danmei boom some years ago, which was led by this series in particular. I remember the hype and excitement when the animated series came out, then when the live action version came out on Netflix. But despite all the hype, I wasn???t that interested; I had other things on my mind then.

Recently, though, one of my close friends managed to talk me into giving xianxia a shot, and after attempting to sell me on a handful of series, I decided to try this one. It was the one that appealed to me most when she started selling me on the genre, and what better place to start than the series that catapulted an entire genre to popularity, right?

And I have to say: I am HOOKED. Not so much on the pairing, though I can see why the entire fandom???s latched onto them and is very invested in them. Wei Wuxian is pretty entertaining, not least because he loves to stir up trouble, while Lan Wangji makes such a wonderful foil for him that the two of them are pretty fun to read about. I wouldn???t say their characterization is very deep, at least not yet, given that this is just the first volume in a series of five, but even if their characterization isn???t all that complex they are still fun to read about, and capable of holding the reader???s attention. 

But what really made me latch onto this series were the world-building, and the plot. I am INTRIGUED by the world in which this is set, which is familiar to me from watching historical wuxia movies, but the fantasy-related touches connected to cultivation make it stand out in a different way compared to, say, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (though technically they belong to two different genres, and not just because one???s a book and the other???s a movie). And the plot is VERY engaging: it???s basically a series of supernatural mysteries, with the resolution of one mystery leading into another, with two or three overarching mysteries that will likely stretch across the entirety of the series. I am a SUCKER for that kind of story, and this book structures them in a way that is basically like candy for my brain, and makes me want to keep going.

Which is what I???ll be doing: I???m hopping right into the second volume as soon as I???ve gotten my mitts on it (which won???t be long, thankfully - this is why I got into ebooks!), and I???m going to keep on rolling with this momentum because I REALLY want to find out where this whole thing???s going! 

Gosh, what a read! This book goes through the history of Rome from the beginnings of the papacy within it, all the way to 2020, and tells the story of how the popes and, therefore, the Church, have shaped not just the city of Rome, but most especially the people. As expected it???s a lot of ups and downs, as seen in the way the papacy gained power and then slowly lost it. Nowadays, though the Catholic Church???s largest congregations exist outside of Europe, and though the Church???s power has diminished significantly since the heady days of the medieval period and early Renaissance, Rome still remains an important city to Christians, and the Pope himself remains an important figure on the world stage. He might not be able to take direct political action anymore, but the Pope is still a culturally important force. And he can certainly still steer the Roman Catholic Church - though I do wonder just how much power he exerts over the Church. I can???t really speak to that though, as I was never really a devout Catholic even when I was studying at Catholic schools. 
I enjoyed W??rnberg???s narrative, which wove together various aspects of the story of Rome and the popes in a way that showed just how tightly the two were linked. The chapters on the early Church, in particular, were fascinating, showing how the primacy of Rome as THE holy city of Christianity was grounded in the death and suffering of saints and martyrs, particularly Peter and Paul. The concept of Petrine authority - the fact that Jesus said that he would ???build his church??? upon the ???rock??? that was his disciple Peter - would be called upon by the popes repeatedly over the hundreds of years of the Church???s existence. Initially it was used to shore up and emphasize the primacy of Rome and the Pope above all other cities where Christianity was practiced, like Alexandria and Constantinople, but once that status had been cemented, it was used to project the power of the Pope and of Rome across all of Europe - and, eventually, to the colonial holdings of European nations. It would all come to an end, of course, with the power of the papacy - and therefore Rome???s dominance - diminishing in the 18th century and finally coming to an end in the early 20th, but some of that glamor and importance still remains - as seen in the way the Pope is treated by the international community, and how Rome is considered the home and center of Catholicism. 
Something I noticed W??rnberg doing a lot was showing how it wasn???t just ???great men??? who shaped the history of Rome and the papacy. Wealthy Roman women provided money and other invaluable resources to the early Church, and female saints both lauded and chastised popes down the centuries. They were also instrumental movers and shakers behind the scenes (and sometimes not even behind the scenes) during the medieval and Renaissance periods, and even a little after that. Nuns and prophets, queens and princesses, all left their mark in some way, shape, or form on the history of Rome and the papacy in their own ways. 
Another thing that W??rnberg brought up, but didn???t quite expand upon, was just how global the papacy???s reach was - and consequently, how large Rome looms as the center of Christianity in the minds of people in other places very far from Rome. While she does go into how the popes turned the city into one of Christianity???s most important pilgrimage sites, she doesn???t quite go as in-depth in the role of the papacy in fostering colonialism and the slave trade. I suppose that would be straying too far afield, given how the book is supposed to focus primarily on the relationship between Rome and the papacy, but I think that???s something that bears closer examination. After all, colonialism and slavery made many countries rich, and thus financed not just wars that would affect Rome and the papacy, but also donations and contributions made to the Church???s coffers. Thus, through wealth, war, and later through missionaries who ???claimed souls??? for the Church, slavery and colonialism altered the character of both the papacy and Rome. 
W??rnberg also examines the relationship between fascism and the Church, but again, only does so briefly, as it relates to Mussolini???s attempt to use Rome and the Pope as the centerpiece for his fascist regime. This is a topic that could definitely be explored with more depth, especially since the popes of the time alternated between leaving Mussolini alone, to working with him, to working against him. 
Overall this is a fantastic read. W??rnberg weaves the story of the popes and of Rome together in a way that shows how each influenced the other in ways that neither could always predict, thus creating the city - and the papacy - we are familiar with today. Though the papacy???s power is now restricted to Vatican City (an immensely small fragment of what used to be under its jurisdiction in its heyday) the fact remains that papal influence is still powerful in Rome, and thus can still shape the city in certain ways - just as, of course, the city, and indeed the rest of the world, can shape the papacy in turn. It will be interesting to see how that twined relationship shifts and changes in the future.