Category Archives: Books

The Given Sacrifice, by S.M. Stirling

Posted on by Henry

I love S.M. Stirling‘s Change series.  I enjoyed the first trilogy, seeing people pulling together despite incredible adversity after the collapse of civilization as we know it, and I enjoyed the later transition to a more classical epic and mystical fantasy adventure with post-apocalyptic trappings.  But I did not like how slowly the story moved along in the later books.  I’ll do my best not to spoil anything, but once you get close to the end of the second Change series you’ll understand what I mean; Stirling’s story doesn’t move quite as slowly or impenetrably as Jordan‘s Wheel of Time once did, but the comparison of pace is almost appropriate.  Despite the trudging sense of gradual story progress, I still really liked the story that was being told.  And I’ll freely admit that Stirling at least made good use of the pace to lay the foundation for elaborate and interesting future story developments and character interactions.

All of this is meant by way of comparison: after the previous few books in the series, The Given Sacrifice moves like lightning.  The characters forge ahead at full speed, even as nearly all of their previous adventures are called back to our attention in a rapid-fire barrage that just helps to anchor our sense of the heroes’ earlier accomplishments.  And the second half of the book seems to move faster than that, if that’s even possible.  I almost felt as though I’d gotten plot-whiplash.  It was actually rather refreshing to find things moving so quickly, though what I’d like most is if Stirling could perhaps find some sort of middle ground in his next few books.  In the end, despite the sudden change of pace, I have to say that this was a fitting and good finish to its section of the series.  More on why after the break.

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Blood of Tyrants, by Naomi Novik

Posted on by Henry

Have you read any of Naomi Novik‘s Temeraire series?  No?  Sit down and treat yourself to the first one, His Majesty’s Dragon.  You’ll stumble in surprise as you read the first few pages, only to find yourself running, tearing through chapters until you’ve finished the first book before you even truly realize you’d begun it.  The series is a mad combination of the geniuses of C.S. Forester, Patrick O’Brian, and Jane Austen, and is studded throughout with the strangely fitting addition of dragons.  I found it too odd to pass up, and then too good to put down.  Blood of Tyrants is an excellent continuation of the series.

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Playing Hooky

Posted on by Henry

Sorry everyone.  My post for today is just the news that I am once more utterly consumed by Worm.  If you want to hear why, you can read my first post on the subject.  It turns out that the later arcs are also extremely compelling (and no, I’m not actually surprised).

If you want something else of mine to read and you haven’t yet read my Monday post, check that out.  I’ll have more for you next week!

Julia Griffin’s Retelling of The Snow Queen

Posted on by Henry

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Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you Julia Griffin’s Snow Queen.

I admit it: I’ve long been a fan of pretty pictures.  It’s no surprise, then, that I’m a fan of Julia Griffin’s work.  For example, I just cannot get over this kid’s hair.  The fine detail, the shimmer of light, and the delicacy of each strand seems incredible.  And the Snow Queen’s fur stole is similarly impressive; I feel like I’m looking at the fur of one of my ferrets.

Done entirely in colored pencils, this is just one of many images created by my friend Julia Griffin for her retelling of Hans Christian Andersen’s Snow Queen.  She’s been working on this project for the past three years, and the time has finally come for her to turn her collection of images into a book.  If you like that picture, or if you like stories about young heroines, or even if you just like the idea having a pretty picture book, you should check out Julia’s Kickstarter project.

You want to see more art?  There’s more good stuff where this came from:

6c776f78a3e3e8b3da6790fd04c21dc3_largeI continue to be amazed by the semi-stippled effect she’s created, as well as by her impressive attention to detail.

You know, I was going to wax loquacious about how cool I think this stuff is, but I think I’ll just let the pictures speak for themselves.  You should totally check out Julia’s work, and take a look at Julia’s Snow Queen.

You can see some of Julia’s other work here.

A Mighty Fortress, by David Weber

Posted on by Henry

Funny how these things work.  I was going to write an article about this book for last Wednesday, but then I was caught up by Worm.  If you haven’t read that article already, I strongly suggest that you do.  The truth is, I’m still torn by the temptation to just fall back into reading more instead of writing this.  But A Mighty Fortress deserves its dues, and it’s best for me to write about it before all recollections of my previous life are completely washed away by Worm.

A Mighty Fortress returns to the world of Safehold, with all of the previously established intrigue, religious strife, and budding world-wide warfare that David Weber has thrown together into this meaty fictional stew.  At the end of the previous book in the series, I was feeling a little let down: it wasn’t that the book was bad, it was simply that it followed my expectations so completely that I didn’t feel inspired to immediately grab the next book.  But now I’m glad that I did; while it wasn’t some magical honeymoon moment, like the first denouement of a radiantly new setting, it was most definitely a lot of fun.  Still true to form and somewhat predictable, but totally worth the read.

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Worm, a superb story about supers

Posted on by Henry

Lock up your doors, close your shades, phone in sick.  You’re about to disappear, pulled down by the rapturous embrace of another internet fic.  It will keep you up late, and get you up early.  For those of you with a hankering for excellent stories and an intelligent treatment of what happens when the superhumans come home to roost, I have to share the new drug in town.  As with all good drugs, the first hit is free.  Unlike most, the other hits are free too.

I was jonesing for more Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality yesterday (you know, that fic that I liked so much), and thought I’d check in to see whether there was a new post.  While I was out of luck on that front, the author, Eliezer, did post a new note on November 1st.  Better yet, he recommended another piece of internet-based fiction: Worm.  The name isn’t much, I know, but bear with me.

Worm is excellent.  As I write this, I’ve just lost an hour and a half of my afternoon to its charms, and I’m only pulling myself away because I absolutely have to force myself to write something.  As soon as I have enough of this written that I can put off finishing it until Wednesday morning, I’m certain I’ll dive back in.  It is compelling and appealing, and I really don’t want to stop.  I don’t want to write my own material, I just want to read more Worm.

Whew, ok.  That was all I got down before I fell back into the fic.  If you want to know more about the story that’s grabbed me, read on. Continue reading →

Burdens of the Dead, by Flint, Freer & Lackey

Posted on by Henry

The next installment in the Heirs of Alexandria series is here!  It took me all of three days to read it, tops, and that was while I was doing other things.  Actually it might have been two days, I kind of lost track.  Burdens of the Dead offers yet another compulsive read, much like the other books in the series, and explores a fantastical Renaissance-that-might-have-been in which magic works, demons plot the conquest of mankind, and forgotten gods still roam the Earth.  If you haven’t read the other books in the series and any of that piques your interest, I strongly recommend that you pick up The Shadow of the Lion, the first installment in the series.  I really love this series…

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A Brief Digest

Posted on by Henry

Did you notice how I mentioned that I was reading Hide Me Among The Graves several weeks past, but haven’t yet posted any review of it?  Well, I can explain.  And I have a few other points of interest for you today, with tidbits on Agents of Shield and Dominions 3.

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Wolf Who Rules, by Wen Spencer

Posted on by Henry

I have to admit, my memory of Wolf Who Rules has blended into the book that comes before it (Tinker, which I reviewed last week) and the next one in the series (Elfhome).  As you might expect from such a situation, if you liked Tinker you’ll almost certainly like Wolf Who Rules.

I can extricate the details of the plot with some additional focus, but the stories all pile together, following one another so closely that it is not easy to tell where one ends and the next begins.  Little is done to ease you back into the story beyond a few quick info drops, but this also means that if you’ve just read Tinker you’ll easily slide along into this one without any sense of confusion.  Without one of the sometimes ponderous prolonged reintroductions that are so common to a series, Wolf Who Rules whisks you straight into the next adventure.

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Tinker, by Wen Spencer

Posted on by Henry

Wen Spencer surprised me.  I picked up Tinker through the Baen ebook store, expecting to find something that would keep me suitably amused while traveling.  The book did that, and then it grabbed me and pulled me in.  While I should have been working, I read.  While I should have been visiting with family, I read.  While I should have been sleeping… you get the idea.  It turns out that Spencer is very good at delivering on the promises of her pacing; she starts with a bang, and she quickly turns up the heat and adds increasing tension to the mix.  There are a few spots where you can sit down and take a breath, but you won’t want to.  Add some sections that make you wince and cringe and more sections that are laugh-out-loud funny, and you’ve got Tinker.  It’s a bit like a less pulpy version of Girl Genius.  Would you like to know more?

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