Travis

For a variety of reasons, I've been finding it difficult to get through the books I pick up recently. That's not to say the books I've been picking up are bad. Far from it. But my attention span just... hasn't quite been there.

Enter Black Stone Heart by Michael R. Fletcher.

This book gripped me from the start, and I finished it in a couple of frantic sittings. That's the first time a print book has done that for me in years. The story is intensely readable and nearly impossible to put down.

We open with Khraen crawling his way out of the earth, with no memories of his past life. He's little more than a feral animal, and only slowly comes to his senses as he recovers the shattered pieces of his obsidian heart. With each new fragment, he comes closer to regaining his former power.

But his power comes at a steep cost. Can he become the man he once was? And more importantly... should he?

There are some fantasy tropes I will always love, especially when done well. Villains vs villains, progression fantasy, and amnesia where the current personality fears becoming their old self are among those, and Fletcher delivers on these in spades.

That said, I think this will be a book where your enjoyment hinges on how much you like grimdark. This book is grim. It's dark. And it's really fucking grimdark.

I loved some of the driving themes in this book. What does it mean to be evil? Can we trust history when it's written by the victors? And are we permanently defined by our past?

However, the grimdark nature of the story overpowered the themes.

There's a significant amount of tension centering around whether Khraen will give in to the monster he once was or become his own person. In this reader's humble opinion, Khraen is already far beyond redemption. He's leapt over the line between morally grey and unforgivable so many times, he might as well be playing hopscotch on his descent through the circles of hell. Even Sauron wasn't encouraging the brutal flaying of innocent people just because he was horny. (I've only read the main four Lord of the Rings books, so if this occurs in the Silmarillion... sorry?)

This made Khraen an unforgivable villain and completely unlikable for me. And yet, I still couldn't put the book down.

Overall, Black Stone Heart was incredibly fun yet relentlessly dark. There's a lot to love for hardcore fans of the grimdark genre, but many readers will understandably want to steer clear of this series.

Have you ever read a book that you feel was just too smart for you? Because that's Piranesi for me. It was brilliant and I enjoyed it far more than I expected (i.e. I was expecting reading it to be a chore I had to force myself through and it was an incredibly pleasant read).

I don't think I love this on the same level that many others do, but it's hard not to appreciate what a powerful story it is.

First and foremost: this was a fantastic book. It is also a divisive book. More on that later.

It's hard to compare The Court of Broken Knives to other books. It's...different. Unique. Literary grimdark with a compelling cast of characters in an intricately detailed world.

On to the story.

Many years before the start of our story, a legendary conqueror known as Amrath laid waste to most of the known world. The only city not to fall to his armies was Sorlost, home to the holy Emperor.

In the present day, Sorlost is no longer the great city it once was. Generations without facing an outside threat have made the city soft and vulnerable to invasion. The Emperor is a mere figurehead. The priesthood continues to make human sacrifices, with even their own priestesses killed in the name of their god.

Enter Orhan, the head of a major noble house. He hires a mercenary company to kill the current emperor and most of his advisors, with the goal of rebuilding Sorlost stronger than before.

Tobias leads a small group of these mercenaries, smuggling them into the city to lay low before the ultimate attack. He's competent, logical, and not afraid to kill anyone in his way.

Marith is a new recruit to the mercenaries. He's nearly inhumanly beautiful, addicted to several drugs, and alternates between kindness and crazed bloodlust. I can honestly say that I've never seen a character like Marith before; he is fascinating to read about.

In parallel to the assassination plot, the high priestess Thalia slowly becomes disillusioned with the doctrine that requires her to murder and main innocents.

The main thing that sets this book apart from others is the prose. Take the first few lines:

Knives.

Knives everywhere. Coming down like rain.

Down to close work like that, men wrestling in the mud, jabbing at each other, too tired to care any more. Just die and get it over with.

Target Audience:

Literary prose

Grimdark at its grimmest and darkest

This graphic novel collects the first six issues of DC's new Damage comics. The first issue was originally released in January 2018.

I'd never heard of Damage before, but this is a re-imagining of the character originally created back in 1994. Damage is a lot like the Incredible Hulk, though instead of a brilliant scientist, his secret identity is a soldier with dreams of becoming a hero.

Ethan Avery, a 21-year-old soldier, volunteers to take part in an experimental program. The goal: to create a super-weapon capable of taking out enemies without losing any lives. The program succeeds, allowing Ethan to become the unstoppable monster known as Damage.

There's a catch, though. Ethan can only become Damage for an hour at a time, and needs to recharge for a day between each transformation. Damage also has its own personality, fighting with Ethan for control of their body.

There was a lot of action in this. Every volume had Damage going on a rampage for an hour. He takes on superheroes, supervillains, and the military. As cool as this was, I would have enjoyed more non-fighting scenes. There are hints of a larger story within the DC universe throughout, which I found more interesting than the action.

Overall, the graphic novel was an enjoyable read, though I won't be in a rush to pick up the next volume.

Find this review and more at The Fantasy Inn

There's a lot going on in this book that's only slowly revealed as the story goes on. The plot starts out with Thomas and his blind sister Mia on the run from the evil King William's right-hand woman, who is chasing them across a desert with a sandhog, reminding me of one of the Mad Max movies.

As escaped slaves marked with the yellow hourglass, they are somewhat important and the king would want them back. But the king is going through a lot of effort to recapture them, more than would make sense.

Maybe it has something to do with the magic powers both Mia and Thomas start displaying.

The main duo are both interesting characters. Mia can see glimpses of the future and call upon the magic of a glowing bird, and Thomas has a limited form of super strength he can only use on steel. Neither is in full control of their abilities and they learn more about them as the plot progresses.

Red Hourglass has a rich world, full of steampunk machines in a dystopian far-future Earth. Airships, mysterious magic, Gatling guns, and a giant Iron Man suit all play an important role. The references to the “ancient civilization” that came before were a bit on the nose, but still good fun. I would have preferred to learn a bit more about the various cultures alluded to in the book, but the “cool” factor was there in plenty.

Thomas and Mia are driven by their pursuit of freedom. After living their entire lives in slavery, they would rather die than serve King William again. I enjoyed their journey, though I would have preferred if things were a bit more challenging for them. Much of the plot was driven by the actions of secondary characters, with the brother/sister duo responding to the fallout. And, on one occasion, they conveniently find a compass pointing them exactly where they need to go.

Overall, though, the story was adventurous and fast-paced, and I read the thing in just under a couple days. At just under 200 pages, it's a quick read.

Dixie offers a unique approach to both young adult coming of age stories and portal fantasy. Rather than telling the story of a child finding themselves transported into a magical world and becoming a hero, Dixie is from the perspective of that hero's—or rather, heroine's—clueless friend.

Chance is a 12-year-old boy living in small-town America. One day in school, his life is upended when shy, wallflower Dixie uses magic to make everyone in the class forget about her. Except for some reason, Chance doesn't forget.

He follows her after school into the nearby woods, only to come across an abandoned well. Minutes later, Dixie comes hurtling out of the well in a blast of fire. Dragons can be rather annoying like that.

This is Chance's first introduction to Vahn, a magical world that can only be reached through the titular well. It's full of dragons, wizards, lizard-men, and friendly chipmunk people.

And Dixie is its greatest warrior.

The decision to have Chance be the main character instead of Dixie was an interesting one. Instead of acting like a chosen warrior (a la Dixie), Chance reacts to the perils of Vahn the same way many of us would. He hides behind trees, runs away, and fumbles his way through actual fights. In contrast, Dixie is an amazing fighter and has a magical trick up her sleeve for just about everything.

Even when things get tough and Chance is forced to act more heroically, he stays true to his character. He still hesitates and runs, and those decisions have real consequences.

The book did suffer a bit from “debut syndrome.” The dialogue was slightly wooden, the plot was simplistic and a little cliché, and the main character sometimes flip-flopped drastically in his actions. Some of this was likely by design with the book's young target audience, but it kept me from sitting back and letting the story pull me along.

Slight disclaimer: While the book is explicitly stated to be targeted towards a younger audience, there are occasional moments of graphic violence, including multiple beheadings.

All thing considered, Dixie was an enjoyable read. Where the writing fell short, the originality more than made up for it. I'm excited to see the direction the series takes now that the world has been established and future storylines hinted at.

Hundreds of years in the future, the planet is all but uninhabitable and the majority of the population has been cryogenically frozen. One day, the massive generation ships will be complete and take humanity to newly discovered planets across the galaxy. Until then, the Watch makes sure everything runs smoothly.

Martin and his sister joined the Watch, a ten-year shift watching over the frozen population. Even though it's his first chance to see the outside world after living underground, things aren't quite like the stories he's been told. The book's tagline is a bit misleading though—there are crops, there are metal, and there are people, just not very many of them.

Things take a turn for the worse when Martin's sister dies. However, she doesn't stay gone. Martin begins seeing her ghost and is guided by a spiritual cat that only he can see. Together, these spiritual apparitions help him to solve the mystery of why his warehouse of frozen people is beginning to fail.

It took a little while for me to settle into this story. At first, I wasn't sure whether to expect more sci fi or supernatural elements. The plot took a while to get going, leaving me initially confused as to the direction the story would take.

Once things started coming together, the story began to take off. There's betrayal and intrigue from every direction, and Martin's stuck in the middle of it. His struggles are interwoven with flashbacks of what his life was like before the Watch.

For a book that centered so strongly around human emotion, I would've preferred getting to know the side characters more. The writing style was difficult to follow at times, diving into a lengthy description of a crumbling house but offering no information about the lead character until several chapters into the book.

Some of the plot could have been revealed in a more logical manner, as well. I often found myself confused about a character's motivation until later in the story. Everything made sense by the end of the story, but the confusion could have been avoided.

Overall, this was an interesting take on a possible future for humanity. It fell somewhere between dystopian and hopeful, and it managed to end a note that was appropriately bittersweet for the themes it dealt with.

In 2012, scientists unearthed an artifact of advanced technology in Italy. Soon after, a hole opened in the sky and an alien race made contact with humanity. Interestingly, the aliens were human, too. It didn't take long for Earth to be overcome by these conquerors. Seven years later, The Corps (as the fleet of conquering human-aliens is called) is struggling to stamp out a vicious terrorist resistance.

Since this is a sci-fi book dealing with an advanced race, there's quite a bit of futuristic technology. In addition to the standard pulse-blasters, energy shields, and bio-implants, there's a dark and sinister invention: “coffee” made with a triple shot of hot sauce.

I can see why the terrorists are rebelling.

There's a pretty small cast of characters, with the core three being:

* Rebecca: The titular traitor, she used to program drones for the Canadian government. Now, she lives on a space station near Jupiter, just trying to save up enough money to buy out her indenture to The Corps

* Katherine: She used to work for the Canadian military and has turned her skills toward rebelling against The Corps.

* Zain: Rebecca's friend on the space station and respected alien within The Corps. He's also a creep.

All of these characters are dynamic, and your opinion of each will change throughout the book as you learn more.

Aliens—who happen to be descended from the same ancestors as humans and thus look exactly like us—conquered Earth in 2012 during what came to be known as The Fall. Most people died, with the survivors either assimilating into the conquering culture or becoming rebel freedom fighters.

Rebecca chose to willingly submit to the aliens, becoming a traitor to the human race (well, the Earth humans). She works on a space station near Jupiter as a second-class citizen, trying to buy out her indenture and become fully accepted by the aliens. All of her hard work is put in jeopardy when some of the most notorious rebels that survived The Fall decided to launch an operation against the Jupiter space station.

This could have easily been a much longer book. Ball manages to pack a lot of action and some heavy themes into a mere 250-page story. One of the interesting results of this is that there are very few “info dumps” in the story. Most of the exposition to lay the foundation for the book takes place in a short prologue, told through news headlines and tweets that outline the events leading up to The Fall.

Everything after the prologue serves to advance the plot, with healthy chunk of character development along the way. The book is fast-paced; I read the entire thing in under 24 hours, which is almost unheard of for me. The prose is very straightforward, with no frills and minimal descriptions.

Pick this up if you enjoy science fiction, quick reads, and flawed characters that evolve throughout the story. This is a fast-paced popcorn read with intrigue and action, so if that's something that interests you, you'll have a great time.

If you prefer poetic prose or deep worldbuilding, this might not resonate with you. The writing style tends to introduce you to new aspects of the world only when you need to know them, and the prose is written to be easily digested.

Overall, this was a fast and fun read. I greatly enjoyed it and am looking forward to the sequel.

Pretty much garbage, if I'm feeling generous. Amazing that a book published in 2022 could be so obsessed with cryptocurrency and NFTs. Also written in a condescending tone that seemed to imply if you're not already rich, you have no one to blame but yourself. And it seemed to think taxes were one of the worst things blocking the everyday layperson's path to wealth, while also not providing any support for this claim or advice to act on it.

I'd requested this book from Libby thinking it was The Simple Path to Wealth by JL Collins. It's not, though I think that's an understandable mistake. Even the subtitle is nearly identical. Whether intentional or not, the similarity is misleading and feels deceitful.

Larkspur, or A Necromancer's Romance by V.M. Jaskiernia is a dark fantasy romance novelette featuring a necromancer as the lead character. It manages to pack a lot of worldbuilding into a short, 48-page story. If you're in the mood to try something that's (possibly) a little different from what you usually read, this might be a good choice.

The world of Larkspur feels like it's set in the Victorian era. We are introduced to two main types of magic users: necromancers and faeries. The fae are only hinted at in this story, but necromancy is explored in some depth. Necromancers can use their blood to enslave or kill others and can even write secret messages in blood.

The two main characters are Pierre and Elizabeth. Pierre is the son of wealthy nobility and is just returning from the end of his schooling. Unknown to most, he is also an accomplished necromancer. He has to keep this secret because necromancy is frowned upon. Something about dark magic and killing people.

Elizabeth is portrayed as Pierre's love interest, similar to a high school sweetheart. They lost touch while Pierre was away at university, but are reunited at the start of the story.

Death itself is also a character in this book. Necromancers have a rather intimate relationship with death, which adds an air of darkness to the story and sets the groundwork for future conflict in following books.

The plot is somewhat brief, since this is a novelette. Pierre has finally returned from school and is ready to take the next step in his development as a necromancer. After meeting each other for what I think is the first time in years, hints of an old romance are rekindled between Pierre and Elizabeth.

The story was nicely self-contained, so you can read it as a standalone, though I believe the sequel was recently released.

It's a bit difficult to compare this to full-length novels, since a lot had to be conveyed to the reader in a short time. The prose is fairly straightforward, spending a good bit of time on worldbuilding in addition to telling the actual story. I think the author managed to strike a reasonable balance between world, plot, and character.

You might like this if you like hard magic systems and detailed worlds. Given the amount of romances out there involving vampires or werewolves, the focus on a necromancer was a nice change of pace. I don't read much romance, but having the main character be a male stood out to me, as well.

If you prefer full-length stories or relatable characters, this might not be for you. I had trouble finding any redeemable qualities in the main character, but I recognize that some might consider that a positive.

Overall, if a short, dark fantasy romance sounds appealing to you, you might want to give this a try.

Wow. Honestly so close to my perfect book.

Look. This wasn't bad. But people are telling me it's pretty much the best WoT gets and I find myself looking for excuses to do anything but listen to it.

...see you again in three years when my guilt over buying these in pretty hardcover outweighs my memory of actually reading them.

A bunch of teenage beauty queens are stranded on an island. Sure they could go all Lord of the Flies, or they could tackle capitalism, the patriarchy, and the beauty industry. Each chapter is led with a “commercial” that both parodies a real world commercial with scathing accuracy and foreshadows plot developments in unexpected ways.

Without spoiling the actual story, you can expect sexy pirates in tight pants, Scottish James Bond preferring his haggis “boiled, not stir fried,” and sensational boy bands.

Also, add Libba Bray to the list of ridiculously skilled people I'll forever be in awe of.... She narrated the audiobook version of this herself and it's incredible.

The story picks up two years after the events in Lies of Locke Lamora, nearing the final stage of a long-running scheme the Gentleman Bastards have been planning. There are a series of flashbacks that fill in some of the gaps between the end of book one and the start of this book.

While the first book is often compared to Ocean's Eleven, this book picks up with Jean and Locke conning people in a high-stakes casino. Sure, the Sin Spire might have harsher penalties for cheating than Vegas (unless Vegas chops off your hands and throws you out of windows, it's been a while since I visited), but the atmosphere is pretty similar.

The stakes quickly rise, with the Bastards being played by not one, not two, but three separate enemies. Their schemes are also less transparent than in book one, and we as readers sort of figure things out as we go.

About a third of the way into the book, the seafaring part kicks in. What's not to love about Jean and Locke becoming pirates? For me, at least, this was an interesting change of pace from city heists.

Overall, the plot was solid. The flashbacks played a slightly smaller role than in Lies of Locke Lamora, but the present-day plot was more complex. I enjoyed it quite a bit, though there has been some controversy surrounding this book.

Locke and Jean have one of the best bromances I've read. They always have each other's backs and their banter is great. Without a doubt, they are the stars of this book.

Locke is his usual outlandishly devious self, but he has to struggle to return to that point after the conclusion of the previous book. He spends some of the flashbacks deeply depressed. By the time the present rolls around, though, he's the Locke everyone knows and loves.

Jean gets fleshed out more this book. You get to see him at odds with Locke on occasion, how he deals with the possibility of romance, and more. I've always liked that Jean is both a scholar and a fighter, and this book explores both.

The new side characters introduced are colorful and fun to read. From lady pirates to military dictators to engineers with a penchant for throwing people out of tall towers, this book has it all. There's even a James Bond type villain with an artificial knife hand.

You might have heard that a lot of people consider this book weaker than Lies of Locke Lamora. I'm not completely sure why, but I can guess that one of the main reasons is the seafaring. It feels very different from the standard “richer and cleverer than everyone else” Gentleman Bastard plot, and I think a lot of people didn't like that. It's also difficult to make hundreds of pages at sea compelling for all readers.

I didn't mind the sailing bits, but they were definitely slower-paced than the rest of the book. This is probably the aspect that will make or break the book for you. Your nautical mileage may vary.

Say what you want about Lynch, he always delivers a damn entertaining book. His over-the-top dialogue is probably one of my favorite parts of The Gentleman Bastards series.

The worldbuilding continues to be a fun addition without getting too bogged down in the details. There's a city of rich folk who play chess with peasants as the pieces, more alchemical shenanigans, and giant killer wasps.

Also, this is still a book about thieves being thieves, which is just plain fun.

Say one thing for Joe Abercrombie, say he writes a damn good book.

Nearly the entire book takes place around a hill in the North called The Heroes, named for the famous warriors who are supposedly buried beneath giant slabs of stone. There's been an ongoing war for years between the North and the Union, which both sides are growing tired of.

Abercrombie manages to work in some important worldbuilding throughout the book. While The Heroes works as a standalone novel, with viewpoint characters that at most played minor roles in the previous books, some questions from past books are answered. What happened to Shivers after the events in Best Served Cold? What's the general state of the North and Union after The Last Argument of Kings? And so on. Plus, there are some technological advancements mentioned briefly in this story that lay the groundwork for the new trilogy Abercrombie is planning to launch in 2019.

True to form, most of Abercrombie's characters are various shades of “likeable” asshole. Beautifully-written, complexly flawed assholes. They are motivated by fear, greed, self-preservation, lust, and generally anything that you're not likely to find associated with heroic figures.

There are roughly six main POV characters, evenly split between the armies of the North and the Union. Each POV is carefully chosen to show us a different experience of war. Fighting for the North, we get to see the story through the eyes of a disgraced former prince, an elderly and honorable warrior who just wants to retire, and a young man determined to win glory in battle. Fighting for the Union, there's an ambitious wife of a mild-mannered officer, a depressed and nearly suicidal fighter with an unhealthy appetite for killing, and a jaded corporal who has to help the new recruits.

Abercrombie is renowned for his skill with crafting characters. He's mastered the art portraying characters with contrasting values and motivations. For example, a character might seem like a misunderstood man bent on redemption, and yet also be a depraved murderer who thinks only of themselves.

It isn't easy to sum up the plot of a book that is mostly one giant battle. In a broad sense, the story covers the climactic end of the war between the warriors of the North and the armies of the Union.

However, the story is more accurately described as a series of six interwoven character arcs that take place before, during, and after the battle. Unlikeable characters come close to redemption, likable characters fall from grace, and some find themselves nearly exactly where they started.

More than half the book is a multi-day battle, but I never felt like the fight scenes drug on too long. One fight scene, in particular, might be my favorite in all of fantasy, with a brilliant use of POV switching. There were plenty of “quieter” scenes that focused on character interactions to complement the bloody scenes.

The prose and dialogue are both skillfully done. Characters talked like real people, and the banter had me laughing out loud on more than one occasion. Abercrombie also manages to string together words that are both crass and beautiful, never spending too long on descriptions or resorting to flowery prose.

One of the central themes of this book was that there are no heroes. People act in their own self-interest more often than not, and those that are truly selfless are quickly forgotten. A little bleak, maybe, but still a powerful theme for the book.

The characters, humor, grit, and dynamic worldbuilding all made this a fantastic read. The audio narration is done by the incredibly-talented Steven Pacey, who manages to make an excellent book even better.

The book is roughly split into two halves, the first of which takes place in 1970s Earth and the second which takes place in Amber. Amber is the one true world of which all others are but a shadow, and nine brothers are competing for its throne.

As readers, we figure out how the magic goes along the way. There are Trump cards that can be used to magically contact the person portrayed on them and a Prince of Amber can travel through Shadow worlds at will. It is fairly easy to travel to Amber, but much harder to leave.

The book follows several of the princes and princesses of Amber, centering around Corwin. Corwin is a mighty warrior and songwriter, and he spends the first half of the story trying to recover his lost memory. His greatest enemy is his brother Eric, who tries to claim the throne of Amber for himself when their father disappears.

These are the main characters that really stand out. There are several encounters with other princes and princesses of Amber, but they are brief. The most intriguing character is Dworkin, the mysterious artist who originally crafted the Trump cards, but he went missing many years before the story begins.

In the opening scene, Corwin wakes up in a hospital bed with no memory of who he is or how he got there. After managing to muscle and bluff his way out of the hospital, he encounters his sister, one of the princesses of Amber. His sister has no idea that Corwin is missing memories, so he does his best to pretend like nothing is wrong and learn just what the hell is going on. Slowly, Corwin starts to understand the world around him.

About halfway through the book, the struggle for the throne of Amber becomes the main conflict. Corwin's brother Eric has decided to crown himself king, and Corwin decides to oppose this.

The story is told in first person from Corwin's point of view, and the prose is elegantly direct. Zelazny doesn't use three words where one will do, and this helps to keep the book moving quickly. A lot happens in the 175 pages of this book, and the writing style helps avoid a rushed feeling.

In the second half, the writing takes a slightly more detached approach. The events portrayed are viewed from a macro level rather than up close and personal.

This is one of the most easily digestible works of classic fantasy I've read. It's short, the prose is straightforward and memorable, and the pacing is quick.

You might like this if you like urban fantasy that strays away from things like vampires, werewolves, and demons. The first half feels a bit like a magical Jason Bourne, where Corwin must slowly discover what it means to be a prince of Amber.

This might not be for you if you need books with relatable characters. Corwin starts out sympathetic but shifts away from this as the book progresses. Most of the side characters get little development, and there are almost no female characters in the book. I've heard that the characters become more interesting in the sequels, though. This is also not the book for you if you dislike long drawn out battles that feel like lists of numbers instead of an actual story.

Overall, this is a fairly significant book to the fantasy genre and you could finish it in a couple of sittings. There are rumors of a television series being produced by the makers of The Walking Dead, so now might be a good time to check this series out.

WE'LL HAVE ABOUT FOUR STARS

Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg is the first of two books in her Lighthouse Duology, and it is not your typical fantasy novel. The book follows a rebellious, drug-addicted sorcerer who comes from a long line of magical cartographers. Though the world may be slowly ending, all he really cares about is himself.

Berg does a marvelous job of slowly revealing more about the world. She slips in important details that you might not notice at first glance, and the fantastical elements subtly build throughout the story.

Magic comes in two varieties: sorcery and bents. The Pureblood Registry strictly controls the breeding of those with magical talent, to the point where each pureblood family has developed magical bents particular to their bloodline. These sorcerers can still do generic magic, as well, but they each have specialties.

There's also a unique fantasy race in the mythology of the world, though it isn't clear whether they exist in reality or merely in legend. These beings, the Danae, live in a parallel world to humanity (think Faerie) and are essentially immortal. They are intimate with nature—sometimes spending years of their lives as a tree or rock or bird—and shun many things associated with humans, like clothes, writing, and buildings.

Berg does an excellent job of crafting complex, believable characters. The cast grows throughout the book, but some of the most important are:

Valen: A rebellious, drug-addicted, womanizer with the ability to read the world like a map. We experience the story through his eyes, and he's refreshingly different from many characters in fantasy.

Perryn: The most noble of three princes that are causing a civil war over the right to claim the throne after the king died.

Bayard: A ruthless, war-crazy prince who will stop at nothing to gain the throne, including allying himself with the doomsday cult known as The Harrowers.

Osriel: Known as Osriel the Bastard, he's shrouded in mystery and magic. Reports say that he gained his magic by partnering with the devil, and he steals the eyes of the men he kills.

Abbot Luviar: The wise ruler of Gillarine abbey, he offers sanctuary to weary travelers. There are hidden layers to this character, and all might not be as it seems.

Valen is injured fighting as a soldier in Perryn's army and manages to escape with his life, eventually collapsing near an abbey of monks. He's taken in by the abbey under the direction of Luviar and nursed back to health, though the monks are unusually interested in Valen's stolen book of maps.

Valen mostly cares about himself, but he finds himself sucked into a world of secret societies, civil war, monks, magic, and destruction. This is a story where you think you've figured things out, only to have the author reveal another layer and keep you guessing.

This was a carefully crafted book, where every scene was important. Even though much of the book takes place in the same location, it never feels stale and the plot is constantly progressing. It's not the fastest-paced of books, but I never found it slow.

Berg is a wordsmith without resorting to purple prose. I often find myself shying away from books touted as being masterworks of prose, but this has a little something for everyone.

If you enjoy good prose, complex characters, and a mysterious atmosphere, this might be the book for you. The magic is unique, if not visually flashy.

If you prefer high magic and lots of action, this might not be for you. Also, this book deals heavily with the theme of consent. Characters are often compelled to act against their will through magical or nonmagical means, which may or may not affect your enjoyment.

Overall, this was an enjoyable and refreshing read. It's rather different than what I've read before, but if you think you might enjoy this book I encourage you to give it a shot!

Overall Rating: 1/5

Characters:

This was the toughest part of the book for me to get through. The main character, Celaena, is supposedly the most famous assassin in all the land (wouldn't fame be bad for an assassin?) and has spent the last year of her life doing back-breaking labor as a slave in a death camp. When we first meet her, she's cold and calculating. However, as soon as she arrives at the glass castle, her characterization completely changes and she's a free-spirited girl who can't decide which man she loves. In addition, she shows no signs of trauma from her time as a slave and lacks basic survival instincts that she should have as an assassin. When she's told to downplay her skills as an assassin to protect her identity, she throws a temper tantrum because she wants the world to know she's the best (maybe this is why she was famous?).

The other two main characters, Prince Dorian and guard captain Westfall, really don't do much other than brood over their feelings for Celaena. Oh, and read a few books. They don't really feel like fleshed-out characters because they aren't given any scenes that don't center around Celaena.

Plot:

There are two main plots: a contest between criminals to win the position of king's champion but is plagued by horrible murders, and the battle between Dorian and Westfall for Celaena's affection.

The contest: This is actually pretty interesting and kept my attention whenever there was one of the contest scenes. Her opponents are hardened criminals. The mysterious murders and the research Celaena conducts to solve the mystery is also interesting.

The love triangle: It's pretty much love at first sight for Celaena-Dorian and Celaena-Westfall, with little to justify this other than the fact that both men like books. This wouldn't be all that bad but it takes up a significant portion of the book.

Setting:

Magic is mysteriously gone and also illegal. The immortal race of Fae have vanished. The king is buys conquering all the land. All in all, pretty cool and will probably be expanded on in the future.

Wow, what a book. This comes the closest to filling the void in my heart after finishing Maggie Stiefvater's Raven Cycle series, but it's not really all that similar?

There's a supernatural serial killer trying to bring on the apocalypse, the slow assembly of a magical scooby gang, and some poor decision making with a ouja board. There's also some excellent commentary on bigotry, police corruption, and religious cults. It's always chilling to get to the end of a book and read an author's note explaining that yes, most of the darker content of the story is taken straight from history.

All in all this was an incredible read, and I'll be looking up as much of Libba Bray's work as I can. It also confirms that January LaVoy is one of my all time favorite audio narrators.

I'd forgotten how much I love Hobb's writing, and it was just delightful to be back with Fitz. It seems like Farseer was the Skill trilogy, and Tawny Man will be the Wit trilogy.

Unsurprisingly incredible.

Anyone who remembers reading stories like The Bridge to Terabithia knows that fantasy can sometimes be a form of escapism for the characters as well as the reader. In I Kill Giants, Barbara fights to slay giants of both the literal and metaphorical kind.

The story begins with Barbara ignoring the speaker for her fifth-grade class's career day in favor of Dungeons and Dragons manual. Barely a page into the book, I liked her already.

Unlike many young heroes going to school and defending the world on the side, Barabara isn't afraid to keep what she does a secret. She boldly announces in front of her entire class:

I find giants.

I hunt giants.

I kill giants.

How many twists is too many twists?

I'm not often a fan of “Mary Sue” characters. They're overpowered and everything seems to go their way for the sake of the plot. Miles Vorkosigan could easily be considered such a character, except for two things.

First, he's severely crippled. His mother was poisoned by an assassin while he was still in her womb, and the result was a twisted spine and brittle bones. Second, he's unintentionally successful. He doesn't realize his own brilliance and charisma, which leads to him hilariously stumbling from one victory to the next.

After flunking out of military academy for failing his physical tests, Miles has his dreams of following in his legendary father's footsteps crushed. In an attempt to fix his financial difficulties, he purchases an old spaceship. From there, he ends up recruiting a ragtag team for a smuggling expedition, and things spiral wildly out of control.

I don't read a lot of sci fi—perhaps because I suffer from the mistaken impression that it emphasizes technology over people—but this is exactly the kind of book that makes me want to fix that. It's got humor, heart, and prose that makes me forget it was written more than thirty years ago.

The Warrior's Apprentice is a fun read that offers and exciting jumping-in point to Bujold's Vorkosigan Saga. I look forward to continuing the series.