Review: Summerland

Summerland by Hannu Rajaniemi
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Hannu Rajaniemi is a writer whose works are fun to read because of his technical brilliance. I will admit upfront that this is only the second novel of his that I have read. Many years ago, multiple people suggested the Jean le Flambeur novels to me. I was astounded by the Quantum Thief and excited to read the rest of the series. I fooled myself into believing I could trust myself to jump around to other books and eventually the rest of the series ended up on my never-ending stack of things to get to. Not every story you read in life will stay with you, but The Quantum Thief is still as vivid to me as it was hundreds of books ago. That's how memorable Hannu Rajaniemi's writing is.

Summerland is often compared to Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy which is a movie I haven't seen and a book that bored me enough to not finish. I would love to give it another go someday but haven't been encouraged every time my eyes scan the titles of my to-be-read. Summerland has sat in that pile for quite some time. After reading three terrible digital review copies in a row I found myself picking a book by random to pull me out of the funk and Summerland was the winner.

It is classic Rajaniemi. Maybe I'm not qualified to say that just yet but he is a writer whose readers tend to agree about his strengths. That being said, Sometimes his writing can be a bit dense. If you are looking for something breezy and lighthearted I wouldn't suggest this as too casual. Remember, Rajaniemi is a sci-fi writer. If you want an example, how many of us know what the word Quantum actually means? He has a Ph.D. in Mathematical Physics. Summerland is absolutely a Rajaniemi novel to the fullest extent.

The story is set in 1938. We are introduced to Rachel White who works for the British Secret Intelligence Service. A meeting with a Russian defector takes a wrong turn and right before murdering himself he decides to reveal to Rachel the identity of a mole in the agency. This seems to be the controversial aspect of the novel reviewers complain about. Most of them from what I've read discuss how a spy novel should develop into you learning the identity of the mole. By naming him in the first chapter you lose your chance to tell a thrilling story of discovery and back and forth action. I didn't mind this at all. I did not view the story as mainly about the spy agency. I categorized that as a subplot. I was much more interested in Summerland, it's creation and "mythology". That was the focal point of the story for me.

The book alternates chapters between Rachel who has gone rogue after being demoted and Peter Bloom, the Summer Court operative who is our mole. The difficulty in Rachel's mission lies in the fact that the Summer Court is part of the afterlife. She's chasing an agent who is dead. Summerland isn't our afterlife. Not in a conventional way. I would more closely associate it with a limbo of our own design. It was figured out years ago that the British were able to maintain a form of their society in the afterlife where the best and brightest would have an infinite amount of time to hone their skills and share their gifts with the world of the living. Despite the honorable intentions, it is mainly thought of as a city of luxury. Barely anyone dies anymore in the conventional sense of the word. As long as you have a Ticket your soul will be brought to Summerland where you can continue on your existence without the restraints of truly being alive. It is not without controversy.

"...Having a Ticket will be the only thing anyone cares about. Not studying, Not working, not doing the right thing. Nothing real."

Those who exist in Summerland are able to communicate with the world of the living through different means. Throughout the book, we witness Ectophones which are exactly what they sound like, cross-dimensional telephones. They also can rent the bodies of Mediums to use for meetings and special events. Another option would be to inhabit lifesized dolls. There's a particular Edison doll that gets used at one point for creepy effect.

I envisioned this to be very similar to Bioshock Infinite albeit a touch more modernized.

The Russians on the other hand have a different means of an Afterlife. Lenin has died and his entity has become The Presence which is a form of God. Those who are chosen can have their spirits attached to his upon death and become part of the collective of the Presence. Peter's turn against the SIS is linked to his desire to join the Presence instead. A goal to go from one afterlife to the next. But there's more.

Being in Summerland is not the end. Inhabitants in Summerland are at risk of Fading, or true death. Sometimes they lose a ton of memories all at once. Sometimes they'll lose one every few years or none at all. A death in Summerland would equate to true death even if it is unlikely to occur. It does happen. Some people have faded so much they exist as almost formless entities. Some have ghostly bodies with no faces. In Summerland, you can thought travel, maintain any appearance you want barring the fading process, and can see emotions in other people's minds.

This book has layers upon layers of depth to it. Rajaniemi put a lot of work into building this world.

"Your father and I want you to grow up in a world where it matters to be alive. We want you to learn to care about this world, about sunshine, about other people."

The amazing story that is told in this book isn't the tale of espionage. It is the emotional crux that is Peter Bloom and his struggle to find meaning in any form of existence. I found myself not caring about Rachel or her struggles. Even her backstory is mainly told when she's talking about her life to others. Peter's sections are more personal. Whereas Rachel tells Peter the story about her miscarriage, Peter's past takes up pages upon pages in multiple flashbacks. His quest is a struggle to find answers amidst a world where answers are meaningless. This is his motivation for wanting to join with the all-knowing Presence. It is so much more complex than I am spelling out right here but some books you have to discover on your own.

In this alternate 1938 world, Rajaniemi intertwines his fictional world with people who really did exist. Roger Harris, Mansfield Cumming, and even Josef Stalin all have critical roles here as the Russians and British plot to take advantage of the Spanish Civil War. It is a fantastically researched and unconventional twist of the classic spy format. I would recommend this book to everyone.

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Review: The Forest God

The Forest God by Jamie Lackey
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The Forest God is a pleasant short story that I imagine could fit in any modern collection of fairy tales. I'm very fond of it as it brings me back to stories from my childhood. Not everything in the world has to be a grand epic. As I read I thought this would be a perfect story to read in class. As a fairy tale, it is enjoyable for people of all ages.

In short, it is the story about a Witch's Apprentice and a Young Noble whose paths cross one day. The Noble has injured a Hare which is the current incarnation of the Forest God. The Forest God is healed by Margery and neither of them takes to the Noble, Hugh. He insists on being part of a spell so that he can apologize to the Forest God. From there, their relationship unfolds as it is revealed Hugh's family are unapproved lords of the land and Hugh must undergo three tasks to get the Forest Gods' approval. The tasks are to collect a stone from the river, to shoot the heart of a deer mid-jump, and to collect glowworm samples. Margery has self-esteem issues due to being taken away from her family when she was ten as well as everyone remarking about how ugly she is. The Forest God and Margery bond quickly and he begins to question if becoming domesticated is good for him. As the story progresses we discover what happened to the Witch's last apprentice, why Hugh's parents are cursed, and the real reason for Margery being chosen. The two are also forbidden from falling and love and acting out on that. Margery must become a Witch and Hugh must become the Lord of the Land.

I would recommend this story particularly for fans of Neil Gaiman. It has that classic fantasy feel to it with a dash of innocence.

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Review: The Wrack

The Wrack by John Bierce
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Plague stories don't particularly interest me. You would think they would with the abundant deaths and misery. I haven't come across too many. The best I can think of would be Mask of the Red Death by Poe. I'd seen Outbreak once in Middle School and have never watched Contagion. I don't go hunting them down is what I'm trying to say. My willingness to read this one was because it sounded different from everything I've read in recent years. A plague set in a fantasy world that didn't revolve around rats. How did it fare?

The Wrack is a shipwreck in a perfect storm. It was a struggle to get through this when it should not have been.

I believe the reason why it took me three days to finish this instead of what should easily have been one short night was the structure of the story itself. The story of the plague as it develops is nothing to argue with. It is the choice to make each chapter its own short story with self-contained characters that wounded my interest. Further in that respect The Wrack also doesn't adhere to that rule either.

The first few chapters of the book focus on certain characters as the plague starts to affect those around them. The king's son is the first victim and it is initially believed to be the work of poison. A healer is summoned who quickly realizes that this is a sickness whose cure is beyond their reach. A plague. It becomes evident that they are in grave danger and the healer rushes to dispatch a warning as well as alert the King his son is dead.

After that start, you would imagine that this book would be remarkably good. It is an excellent beginning. Things become jumpy from here on out. I was hooked, armed, and ready. I stood on those frontlines waiting for greatness. Then I was forced to sit down. As I type this I'm reminded of so many unresolved storylines. It hurts because what we are given is good. The problem is as soon as I become invested in these people, their chapter ends and I'm given over to others. If this book was intended as a collection of short stories that would end each section with the horrors of the plague as it affects each group of people, that would almost have been better. The use of certain characters for multiple chapters, then dropping them for most of the book, only to bring them back later on for one or two more, then to drop them again before the ending results in a very jumbled feeling book.

Out of all those random middle chapters, two particularly stood out for me. One of which three people travel throughout a city going door to door to record the names of the deceased. There is a poignant moment when the person who had been doing the writing realizes his book has no more room and after being kind and composed the entire time to those suffering he finally loses his calmness and runs off screaming. One of his partners picks up his abandoned book and returns to the temple to get a blank notebook and only then does she feel the weight of what she is truly holding. The weight of their souls exists in those words. Otherwise, they would be lost. Only memories to be erased.

The other involves crew members on a ship. They discover a ghost ship filled with the dead. One member wants to burn the ship while another wants the crew to take it and return with two ships. Words get exchanged and they duel to the death. It is an odd story because the two crew members are a man and woman who it is believed are interested in each other. The instances from getting along to a sudden death match come quickly, and then the female remains after having stabbed her once-possible suitor. In the end, with the help of another crew member, they carry the fallen up to the ship's crows nest so his dying sight can be of the land. I'm not sure why this story spoke to me especially as none of these characters return or are mentioned in the rest of the book.

Much of the chapters are short and, to me at least, were irrelevant. When we finally return to the people who interested me at the beginning of the book, strangers come into the town and declare the nobility has to pay and atone for their deeds. This goes nowhere. There's also a mist that contains monsters which is also largely unimportant except for I believe in the end it's revealed the monsters transmitted the Wrack to cattle which in turn affected everyone else. Talk of these monsters comes up a few times in descriptions but there's no larger story about these creatures. With all literature, we get the story that is told to us. What I wanted was a larger conflict. It was a cool idea that didn't amount to anything.

Another moment that bothered me was that at the beginning of the book we are introduced to a Seer which are people with special sight gained through the use of various gem glass eyes. It is mentioned that not a lot of people are willing to become Seers because of the cost of losing an eye but throughout the book, we are introduced to quite a lot of them. It is something that stuck out and dragged me through the rest of the book.

After the first few chapters, we meet Yusef. His introduction made it seem like he would have a great presence in the book until he tells his daughter to investigate the plague in his stead. He does have one more chapter later on in the book but then disappears from the story forever. His daughter is another sporadic character that has her chapter and then disappears largely.

The plague is what connects these disjointed chapters but it doesn't pay off. Not when the inhabitants of this world are interesting and I want to read more but there is not enough. That's the fault in this book. It is only twenty-five chapters when it would have benefitted from being fifty or sixty. I wouldn't have minded all of the single stories if the main ones were fleshed out more. The Wrack doesn't reach the promise of what it is capable of. The writer took me to the Cheesecake factory, sat me next to the case, and wouldn't let me order a slice.

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Review: The Fires of Vengeance

The Fires of Vengeance by Evan Winter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

You'll Choose Wrath: The conclusion of our Two-Part Evan Winter double feature

**Disclaimer 1: This review contains minor spoilers for The Fires of Vengeance. Read at your own risk. **

**Disclaimer 2: After discovering what I believed to be a continuity error, I contacted Evan Winter to discuss it and was informed that when The Rage of Dragons was republished with Orbit he went back and made several changes. This disclaimer is to let everyone be aware of the changes between the two editions and I'll touch on that more later on**

"The things worth fighting for die in darkness if we'll only defend them in the sun."

The Burning series book two. We have come so far on this adventure through this world that Evan Winter has created for us. I just put the book down maybe ten minutes ago, grabbed all of my notes because I took many, and I'm still there in Uhmlaba.

I'll start by saying structure-wise, there is no prologue or epilogue. This was important to me with the first book and you can read all of my thoughts on that in my review of The Rage of Dragons but not having a prologue was an extremely smart choice. Winter, his team at Orbit, everyone else who assisted in this project - those people are gold. Great stylistic choice. Instead, we start more or less where we left off with the first book.

With a lot of Epic Fantasy, at least classical epic fantasy, Authors will put summaries of what happened in the previous book at the beginning to catch you up if you aren't a loyalist who rereads the last books as a refresher before diving into the new one. Or a prologue might serve to fill you in. What Winter does here is to tie up what I considered a mild loose end in the first book with a conversation that recaps in great detail everything that has happened so far. You could probably copy and paste it into Wikipedia, put some flesh on it, and have the plot summary section for The Rage of Dragons filled out. If it's not up there somebody should try it. It works. This conversation, more like a confession, brings us to the here and now and we are right back into it.

Jabari! I disregarded his sacrifice at the end of book one because he was out of the book for so long and then was mainly in the background for the last of the fighting. There was a lot that needed to happen between Tau and Jabari including a huge secret that didn't have a moment to come up. Winter didn't force a conclusion that wouldn't have felt natural. As a reader, I appreciate that and Jabari shines in this book. He is deeply changed after getting blasted with Dragon Fire at the end of the last book. I was afraid because I almost thought after the beginning that Jabari was going to have the same fate that befell him in book one where he was in it until he wasn't. There's a long stretch without him but he is in recovery after all as a burn victim so it's more than justified. Once we get him back with the team, he is superb. The character development, his relationship with Tau, the new struggles he must face as someone whose existence brings constant relentless pain are all satisfactory moments. I'm very glad he didn't die off-page after the battle of the last book. We also have a great line early on in the book where Tau says to Jabari "Keep fighting, and I swear that before it consumes us, we'll burn our pain to ash in the fires of vengeance." Poetic.

The rest of our team are all the same as we have left them. This is one of the many benefits of having written the story to keep ongoing. The big notable difference would be Winter's preference of Themba over Yaw. Themba had many lines and was a stand out in book one mainly because he annoyed everyone. Yaw was the bard-like storyteller whose recounts of Tau's escapades were amusing to read due to their embellishments that never strayed too far from the truth. Yaw spends most of his time here off-screen and when he is present he doesn't have the same storyteller quality to him. He's much more religious here. Themba has a much bigger role and he is another character whose relation with Tau develops quite a lot.

In what is sure to bring some fans into a frenzy, we also have an LGBT relationship reveal. This is big news. What I like about this is that it was not thrown in your face. Many books who try for inclusion overdo it and make characters come out to the reader for no point other than to have something else we can put a checkmark next to and give the author brownie points. You can see this relationship develop from book one if you were paying attention so it is not shocking or forced and never upstages any part of what else is going on. Again, good writing on Winter's part.

The big change I was talking about in disclaimer two happens about a fifth of the way in. The enraged Xiddeen who killed Jayyed in book one makes a return except for this time around it is a woman spear hunter. Much of both books are written through Tau's Point of View so any chapter written through the eyes of another character stands out. Daaso Headtaker was a memorable part of book one for as little as he is in it. As I said above, I contacted Winter about this. Everyone who read the initial release will be the ones affected by the change. Those who read the version published by Orbit will have no problems. I felt Daaso, as a male, was very developed and the enraged Spearhunter was the complete opposite. I'd have to read how that chapter was handled in the revised editions. Her appearance here was short and she could almost have been anybody. Luckily, Winter assured me that this was the biggest change between the editions and I wouldn't be thrown off by anything else.

I wonder how much of this book was a reflection of the times we live in. When the Prequel Trilogy of Star Wars came out it was heavily written with a response to a post-9/11 America. Episode III's political scenes had a direct correlation with how our Government was handling itself. It bogged down what was supposed to be a Children's franchise.

The major plot of this book revolves around one's place in society. The concept of Lessers and Nobles and how they are one people united as Omehi. We also learn how they became united, as it wasn't always this way. The mythology of Uhmlaba is fleshed out here and we are reminded that the true villains of the series are the Cull. That's why all of this has happened. The revenge story in book one overshadowed this but here it takes the main stage because the only way to defeat an enemy that powerful is through unity. How can the Omehi attempt to find unity with the Xiddeen if they can't find unity among their own classes?

This is the aim of Queen Tsiora. I am so happy with how her character was written. I believe Winter does well with his portrayal of women. She isn't a typical ditzy love interest or a strong independent female who happens to fall for the weaker goofball hero against her will. You know, the roles women get shoehorned into. The range of emotions and what her character goes through, this would be an award-winning role in a movie. Tau is typical Tau. For most of the book, he is still of a one-track mind and his selfishness to fulfill his own ends leads to devastation among his peers. His actions cause further major events to form. They were not his alone. Queen Tsiora does have a portion of the blame but they fall on his shoulders as her Champion and also as someone who would have done it anyway because he just does what he wants. I was on the edge of my seat hoping it would not be the last I see of a character I'd rank among my favorites.

The main challenge faced in The Fires of Vengeance is Queen Tsiora's attempts to find a means to reconcile with the Xiddeen after their planned peace fell apart at the end of book one. To do so, she must reunify the Omehi who were split apart by Odili and her sister, now known as Queen Esi. This is all in an attempt to get everybody on one page so that they can eventually face the Cull she believes will still be going after the Omehi much like her Ancestors said in the prologue of the first book. Tau still is on his revenge mission with Odili as his last remaining target. He's also coming to terms with his new role as Champion to the Queen and what that means with his relationship to her as he is a Lesser and no Champion before had ever been one.

We also have Kana returning who had a minor role in the first book but was obviously always intended to have a bigger impact later on. A situation involving Tau leads up to one of the most memorable chapters in the book (Bodies) whose imagery I still cannot get out of my head. Another minor subplot involves a secret council meeting that threatens the Queen's power. Remember, the split in the kingdom is about Nobles and their superiority over Lessers. This is at the beginning of the book and it's where we first see our band of heroes get together again. I'll tell you there was one moment while reading it where I knew things were about to go down. This is the first of those moments in the book and we all know how Winter writes. I had a total freakout. I started rocking back and forth and I got up and paced a little bit. My adrenaline was pumping!!! I read this on a Kindle and right where it stopped I knew when I turned the page ass-kicking was about to begin and I was not disappointed.

This book has some glorious battles. Glorious! The last major battle takes place at night and for all you Dragon lovers out there, this book makes up for the one Dragon we saw in the last one. Your appetite will be quenched. This book takes everything from the last and steps it's game up. Everything is bigger. Everything is harder. The stakes are higher. Everybody has a role to play. Tau is not the only lesser put in a position of power among the Queen's rank and file. Even the Nobles loyal to the Queen have difficulty accepting the changes. You never really know where things are going because you feel like at any minute the whole thing can crumble to pieces. And Isihogo! We spend so much time in Isihogo. Forget everything you thought you knew.

The writing in this is extremely tight. I am pleased. I am satisfied. I am in awe. Why is this so good? Did Winter have a Devil at the Crossroads experience at some point in his life? Some characters get introduced which we know right away are expendable characters. Right away. The minute I saw their names I was like 'Well, you're dead." However, Winter puts so much into these characters that they had meaning and purpose and were elevated from being simple throwaways. He's gifted.

Relationships play an important role in this book and I want to step outside the story to talk about the dedication. Winter shares an extremely powerful and sad story about his father. It sets so much of what goes on into a different spotlight. We know a father and son relationship is a huge part of this series. Tau and his father Aren. Then Tau and his mentor Jayyed. We would not be where we are with this book without Winter having experienced all he had while writing it. There are many aspects of relationships in play both positive and negative. New friends, old friends, alliances, and betrayals. Much love and much loss. And we are all the better for it.

Finally, I'll leave us with what I consider to be a powerful quote from the book which I feel reflects what our country as a whole needs to hear right now.

“Rage is love...twisted in on itself. Rage reaches into the world when we can no longer contain the hurt of being treated as if our life and loves do not matter. Rage, and its consequences, are what we get when the world refuses to change for anything less.”

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Review: The Rage of Dragons

The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In Part One of a Two-Part Evan Winter double feature, we will be revisiting The Rage of Dragons.

Can we take a moment to appreciate the fact that this isn't a generic low-born hero rises to save the world from its ultimate destruction by an ancient evil storyline that fantasy books fall into? We should clap to that. Let's do it and move on.

I've noticed lately a lot of authors struggling with prologues. This year I've seen multiple prologues which should have been the first chapter of the novel. Contrary to that I've also seen at least one novel where the first chapter would've benefited from being separated from the main story. I've been covering newer authors so this is a bit worrying. Everyone is attempting to write novels with prologues and epilogues as if they have to and while some people excel at it, it is not for every story.

The prologue in The Rage of Dragons is an introduction done right. Winter throws you into the thick of a battle that takes place close to 186 years before the rest of the book. I can see where readers might falter as it is also an info dump. A struggle with all fantasy novels is the adjustments a reader has to make when bouncing from one world to the next. It's especially hard for those that read Epic Fantasy. The books that start you off with a Squire or a Kitchen Boy tend to ease you in. The Rage of Dragons doesn't. I tend to read late at night when I am already exhausted. I can see the frustration and lack of accessibility some readers have mentioned but I found that even if there were a lot of places, names, ranks, and magic abilities coming at me that if I kept reading to the next paragraph or page everything would explain itself. Any questions or confusion you may have are dispelled by Chapter 3 where everything is spelled out for you. There is a lot of explanation in this book. You'll either have Tau thinking about the structure of society to himself or characters in conversation explaining how the demon underworld or dragon summoning work. The prologue sets up the bigger story that will unfold over the rest of the series.

This is also where I suggest new writers study on how to write battle scenes. Every writer dreams of being near Abercrombie levels of technique or at least I imagine him to be the plateau to reach. Many entry-level fantasy writers I've seen stumble in this regard. Winter has it down. There is a flow, a dance if you will, that we can visualize. The battles in this book are an artform.

There is a secondary plot that revolves around revenge. I don't know what it is with stories about revenge but I'm a little wary of there always being three people for our hero to overcome. With the murder of his father after losing an impossible duel, Tau swears revenge on those responsible for his death. To kill them without retribution, he follows through with his original plan of becoming an Ihashe which is a group of soldiers made up of lesser-commons. Once in the military, he will be able to challenge anybody including the high noble who ordered his father's death.

Winter has many great side characters. Hadith, Unuak, and Yaw are wonderful. Anytime you read or watch a story that involves characters from different backgrounds banning together in wartime comradery, it tends to feel a little Mulan Montage-esque. I don't feel that here. Each of them comes to terms with Tau in different ways but still stay individualistic enough to not feel regulated to the background. Hadith shines as a strategist. Unuak is a man of few words but his size and strength make up for it. Yaw took on the role of storyteller that spread the legend of Tau throughout his training camp after each victory. Speaking of Victory, a moment I adored came after one of the skirmishes when Tau alone is returning to his tent. The people in the stands start to salute him one by one until they are all standing and saluting. Hadith shows up and advises Tau what to say, then how long to wait before coming inside the tent. Hadith is all about the execution of actions. Other notable characters are Jayyed, Kellan, and Zuri.

Zuri is Tau's love interest. We get to see them develop innocently before Tau is ripped away from the world he knows. However, Zuri is fated as one of the gifted who practices what constitutes as magic in this world and can control dragons as well. I was not expecting her to come back or be as vital a character as she ended up being. One thing about Society in this book is that females were equal or more powerful than men. There are no damsels in distress plots here. It's Tau who is shown to be one of the best fighters who consistently needs saving. It's also easy in literature, mainly fantasy, to have a flawless main character. Tau is flawed by his determination to get his revenge. His bloodlust throws him into situations he has to be pulled out of. Zuri, surprisingly, gives Tau the key to becoming stronger than anyone else he trains with by clueing him in on the notion that anyone can access Isihogo.

I am not a fan of romance but I don't agree with the notion that the love story in this book felt forced. Maybe it's because I was able to roll it off my shoulders and move onto the next bits. I spent a lot of time analyzing the society and war strategies they used so that is where my focus went.

The revenge plot falls apart in exchange for the bigger story taking effect. There is a coup to unseat the Queen because Nobles refuse to give up their titles and self-worth. All roads lead to this moment. I didn't expect to like the Queen. You don't get a true feeling for her until the end of the book where she's trapped in the Keep and must be rescued by Tau, Kellan, and their peers. Based on the interactions between her and Tau I would not be surprised if she turns into his love interest in future books. It's also at the end of the book where Tau's friend from the beginning returns as a member of Kellan's Indlovu. Jabari and his relationship with Tau seemed important during the first few chapters. They even sneak over to a nearby city during a battle to fight side by side. Jabari is being trained by Aren, Tau's father, so the two are sparring buddies. After the events that catalyst Tau into banishment, you never hear about Jabari until the last few chapters from the final skirmish onward. He fades into the background even though he is the one person with Tau when they recover the queen. I'd wondered if the falling out between them would result in Jabari becoming Tau's enemy in a bit of literary atonement. The fact that this didn't happen shows that Winter is not one to fall into the obvious.

And now, the Dragons. It makes me cringe a little to think about Dragons and that is a sign about how far we've fallen as a society. What have Dragons done lately except profess their love of Tacos? Not much, right? If I see a book with Dragons in the title I don't imagine it to be well written. I think it's going to be a cheap fantasy novel. Dragons have moved on to be video game bosses. They have no time for anything literary. Although if I was a dragon, I would horde books instead of Gold. If someone came to steal my treasure I would light books on fire to scare them into leaving me alone. But don't worry because in secret all those books in the burn pile would be The Catcher in the Rye. Do you see what I'm saying? It's hard not to become silly when you start talking about Dragons. This isn't your classic fantasy novel. The Dragons, though important, are secondhand. The relationships between the other characters and the quest for peace between two warring cultures comes first. The dragons may be a part of that, but only as a means to an end and not overbearing. You will not have a Dragon Rider or any silly nonsense like that. They are murder machines summoned as a last resort.

I'll add in a brief shout out here for the demons of Isihogo. I love how different they all looked and acted and how horrifying it came across to be trapped with them. Tau dies hundreds of times to these monsters. Beautiful.

The Rage of Dragons is an inspiration for new writers who think they will never be good enough to make it to one of the big publishes houses. Self-publishing is not rock bottom. If your work is strong enough, the masses will respond. Publishers will see that.

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Review: It Will Just Be Us

It Will Just Be Us by Jo Kaplan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I am not someone who is well versed in all of the horror tropes that exist. When it comes to the genre I'd consider myself a novice-intermediate. When it comes to literature I am much more of a fantasy reader even though I branch out quite often especially into various degrees of nonfiction. With movies, I know the different characters in all the slasher films and the general premise for many others but I was never the person who had friends over late at night to eat popcorn and watch B movies.

Despite that, I could still see the influence other works, namely those of Shirley Jackson, had on It Will Just Be Us. I like books where they do reference and do a nod to what came before them but also come up with a story that feels fresh. As for someone who admittedly doesn't always read horror, this felt fresh. To take a step farther I am willing to bet that the idea for the house came from the real-life mansion belonging to Sarah Winchester.

What appealed to me outright was that in all occurrences of Ghost Stories I'm familiar with there has been a lead up to the reveal. An easy comparison would be The Haunting of Hill House show on Netflix. The ghosts were there the whole time but you never realized how many until the last few episodes. Here, we are faced with the opposite. Not only do we know the house is full of ghosts but that the family that lives there is alright with it. The ghosts aren't specifically ghosts either. I would say that this is another clever difference the author put in. It reminded me of The Invention of Morel. The house has the ability to record certain events, and the ghosts are the events replaying themselves over and over again. It appears that on occasion the house also can play specific memories on command. The mother, Agnes, has a connection to the house and sometimes it plays scenes specifically for her. Usually, it's of her daughter's playing when they were children but there's a comical scene involving a blogger and one ancestor who died of a seizure. The blogger lies his way into the house but is then tortured by Agnes and the house while the woman comes into the room, adjust some pictures, sits on the couch next to him, and then dies.

These ancestral recordings are not interactive. Their descendants who live in the house can't interact with them. They see their relatives as they lived and died there. But that's okay. This is not a generic ghost story. There are multiple layers that add up to something quite original.

We have a story about a family. Agnes who rarely leaves the house and spends most of her time drinking. Samantha who works as a teacher of archeology but also observes and studies the ghost of her ancestors. Pregnant Elizabeth who is fleeing from her abusive husband Donovan and who wants to have a normal life. Their father committed suicide in the house.

We have a story about atonement. The family history involved madness and murder. They helped slaves escape the clutches of evil plantation owners just to force some of them into working for them. Some mistakes have been made in the past, and vengeance is coming in the form of a slave who died in the swamps.

We have a story about a swamp witch who promises to make things right and protect those who choose to come to her. Clementine, a former slave, is the first who falls into her grasp. She cannot save her daughter from ending up in the Wakefield house and seeks retribution for what will befall her.

We have a story about the unborn child of Elizabeth who manifests himself as a dark entity in the house. His presence tortures Samantha who believes she must put an end to this before he is born. She witnesses him torture and kill animals and people. He is wicked and cruel as his father.

What I loved was that I could not predict where the story was going to take me. The real horror of the story comes in the form of Donovan who tracks Elizabeth down to the house in an effort to lay claim to his child. With Samantha to guide us, we are on the fence with killing the child before he is born or allowing him to live and keep him away from his father. We are left wondering why Julian, the child, is manifesting despite not being dead and appearing at different ages. He drifts into different time periods and interacts with the ancestors. The rules of the makeup of the house do not apply to him. It was truly thrilling to follow Samantha along as the madness around her grew and took hold. The story leads us to a grand finale with a riveting chase through a house changing forms and switching rooms followed by a life or death struggle in the swamp overtaken by snow.

Then the ending! Oh, the ending was good. That epilogue where you almost feel satisfied with how things turned out. I can live with that last death. It didn't bother me. The hopelessness that follows was fine dining. It was a bit of the twist from The Haunting of Hill House TV show but not quite. Still fresh. Samantha's fate still creeps me out. I'm in my living room, It's 2:11 AM, I have every light on, and I have goosebumps. Now I'm shivering a little. That's the effect this book had on me. This is a remarkable piece of fiction.

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Review: How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It

How to Rule an Empire and Get Away with It by K.J. Parker
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

In past reviews, I've tended to rate higher than I should have. In my last review, I gave it 4 out of 5 stars even though I spent most of the review nitpicking it and complaining about the need for an editor. I should've marked it as a 3 but the story and world that was built encouraged me to push past that edge. I have no reservations about this book being a solid 5.

Our story is set up right in the first chapter. Notker is a playwright and actor who is trying to shop his play around but nobody wants to buy. His story is considered to be too similar to another work named The Man in the Bronze Mask which is this world's equivalent to our own stories by Dumas and others. The Man in the Iron Mask was a real person imprisoned in Paris by Louis XIV. When told his play was done time and time again and that he needs something fresh, he brainstorms out loud and mentions a scene with a siege. The potential client says a full story about a siege would be better and to return if he writes one like that. The entire book we are about to read is a story about a city under siege where Notker is forced to impersonate someone else much like the character in the play he was trying to sell.

This particular snippet from Act 1, Chapter 2 stood out for me. I think it's a great example of the type of humor that's consistent through the book:

'The door opened, and this woman stood there staring at me.
You wouldn't put her on the stage. You wouldn't dare to. Stereotypes and caricatures are all very well - our life's blood, if the truth be told - but there's such a thing as overdoing it. So, if you want an obnoxious old hag, you go for two or three out of the recognized iconography: wrinkles, hooked nose, wispy thin white hair like sheep's wool caught in brambles, shriveled hands like claws, all that. You don't use them all, because it's too much. Which is why you don't get much real life on the stage. Nobody would believe it.
"Hello, Mother," I said.'

Notker's humor and attitude are what keeps the story flowing. This is a very smart story. Sometimes Notker will explain the structure of plays and what happens in the different acts. Whereas he's relating them to the siege in general, or villains versus heroes, K. J. Parker is really telling us as readers what is going on or how things will be developing. There's many read between the lines moments and as a reader it makes me feel extremely gratified to find them. I caught on to the big twist as I usually do but didn't expect the reveal of it to occur in the form that it did.

One of Notker's talents is impersonations. Out of these, one that he pulls off the best is Lysimachus who is a renowned war hero. The city the story takes place in is under a relentless siege from an opposing empire who for the most part shoot boulders or flaming pots at the city. One of these boulders crushes a building Lysimachus was in, killing him. Seizing an opportunity, three acquaintances of his decide to kidnap Notker and force him to impersonate Lysimachus in their attempt to take over the government. Notker has no choice in the matter but rises to the occasion proving time and time again that he makes for a good ruler after all. Eventually, the plot gets more complicated with numerous assassination attempts and Notker as Lysimachus finds himself crowned Emperor. There's a will he or won't he flee from his duties subplot as well. His former lover, current friend, forced to turn Emperess Hodda tries to encourage their escape. The further they get along in their plans, the more caught up they become with the struggles of the war going on. Nothing goes as planned and there's a lot of luck for our hero.

I was pleasantly surprised that the easiest plot line the author could have written did not come to fruition. In fact, the secret of Notker's identity does come up repeatedly but those that know the truth simply don't care to see beyond their own needs. This was excellent.

The resolution to the entire conflict was clever and rewarding. This is one of the safest reviews I might ever write because I do not want to give anything away. I want to save the details for the rest of the future readers out there because there will be many. The ending was concise enough for this to be a one and done novel but also left the story clearly available for a sequel in the future if Parker feels inclined to do so. I'm personally fine either way. I'd greedily eat up a sequel but this was a fine one-off if that's what its legacy will be. I'd be glad to have this sitting on my bookshelf.

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Review: Ashes of the Sun

Ashes of the Sun by Django Wexler
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

My experience reading this was one of pure frustration. I have a teething six-month-old and I couldn't figure out between the baby and the book which I wanted to be around less. I adore that little girl so imagine my feelings towards this book! I'm screaming on the inside.

The author notes that this book was inspired or influenced by Star Wars novels by the likes of Timothy Zahn and Chuck Wendig. I can get behind that. I truly felt Star Wars vibes while reading this. There's also an ability a character gains later on which is basically foresight from Mistborn.

This book is enjoyable. It is. You may think I'm crazy then after what I've said already but I am truly deeply torn over this.

I have a feeling that I was reading an uncorrected proof of the book. Aside from the fact that there are general placeholders, the first few chapters have obvious mistakes and there are also word choices that I found odd. One paragraph had a sentence with the world trudged followed by a sentence with the word nudged. Another chapter nearby had a similar rhyme going on. Little things like that pulled me out of the story. Roughly two-thirds of the way through the book I felt it needed an editor. The irony of course is that the author thanks his editor in the acknowledgments. Ouch. The final villain of the book also has an "I can't wait to cut you to shreds" line right before the battle which made me groan. It's not as bad as when James Bond villains reveal their plans but there's no care put into it. I know it's not going to happen by the villain saying it will. The battle, with all the build-up the book gives you in trying to discover what is going on, only last around a page and a half. It's an afterthought in a book with tons of battles.

The characters were great. One of the most important things is to have a great cast and no one disappointed. Every side character was equally fleshed out. I realized while I was reading that this is a world in which I wish I existed so that I could interact with these characters. I haven't felt this way since I read Harry Potter as a kid. I'm in my thirties so this is an extremely weird statement to be typing out but there it is. Kit was the one who did it for me. She was an absolute blast through and through.

One piece of uniqueness that this book presented to me was that there was no clear good side or bad side. I know you're saying that a lot of media covers that. Not like this. See, at its core, it is a book about a brother and sister separated as children. One becomes a thief and underground legend who wants to tear down the Twilight Order because he believes they don't care for the general public. The other ended up working for the Twilight Order, an ancient group that has magic swords and special abilities they channel from within. Similar to the Force. Their purpose is to defend humanity. There are politics and internal struggles within the Order which we learn more about as the story continues. Each chapter flips between the two of them until the end where the stories merge and each takes half a section. Admittedly, Maya's story carried my interest more than Gyre's. If Kit wasn't in it I would probably suffer a lot more. Gyre and his crew don't have the personal connection that Maya's team had with me. They were all good characters but If I had to read a single book about one or the other, I would choose Maya in a heartbeat. Kit is my equivalent to Ahsoka, Gyre to Anakin. I can watch Ahsoka do anything but there's only so much Anakin I can take.

Also, holy LGBT representation Batman!

I don't think there has been any other work I have ever read where there were so many openly gay or bi characters. When you do first find that out it happens very quickly. There are a few chapters where you learn one person is a lesbian, and suddenly this other person is gay as well, and then even a minor character is into women, and then this person goes both ways. It's rapid-fire information but it doesn't feel forced.

The fight scenes are plentiful. The author does a good job of making them descriptive but it was a detriment when the smallest battles of the story go on and on. There is also a lot of repetition. This is where I felt an editor should have stepped in. How often does a battle or event happen and then a character blacks out and wakes up somewhere? How often does Maya alone hit the floor after using up her powers? Does Drowning Pool need to make a song about her?

Like the actual Star Wars movies, this isn't perfect. Will I follow the rest of the story when it comes out? Absolutely. There's that fence that I'm sitting on. I'm throwing all the negative out there so that you look past it when you read this. The mystery, the characters, the dueling stories, the genre-mixing..it makes a compelling read. This is an LGBT friendly Fantasy version of Star Wars without Space. There also are no Ewoks. There are some furry ghouls though.

To summarize the conflicting narratives:

Maya and Gyre start out as children in the prologue. Maya suffers unexplained sicknesses and is taken by a member of the Twilight Order (the Jedi) Gyre tries to stop this and is wounded in the process. Years later, Maya is still an apprentice (Padawan) in the order who has traveled around with a master (Jedi Master) on various missions. As a result of one such mission, they seek guidance from a high ranking council member. They are split up and Maya travels with another apprentice (Padawan) and two other members of the order, a scout and an Arcanist, to solve a mystery. It turns out that there is a traitor on the council (a Dooku figure) who set up Maya's master on her own mission and Maya must go to her aid. She also has to battle to become a full-fledged Master herself (much like how Anakin is shown to be the greatest Jedi but isn't allowed on the council. Maya doesn't join the council but does get the ranking in between) 

Meanwhile, Gyre is working on a rebellion to overthrow the Order & Government (like the Rebels) because he feels they don't take care of the lower classes. The Order is self-involved in its own squabbles and the government is to its own end. He is aided by ghouls to try to accomplish this end. The ghouls are various types of monsters. Some have solid forms while others take the body parts from creatures they kill. Gyre travels with Kit (a Han Solo/Ahsoka hybrid) and works with the ghouls until he realizes that they don't just want to stop the Order, they want to destroy the world as we know it. Gyre realizes his errors and puts a stop to it. (Much like how Darth Vader turned good in the end. He's basically Anakin from episode 3 onward). Kit ends up dying, but not before her conscious, spirit, or what have you is transferred into a tiny spider. She is able to assume any body she wants from this point forward. The end. 

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Review: Kooks and Degenerates on Ice: Bobby Orr, the Big Bad Bruins, and the Stanley Cup Championship That Transformed Hockey

Kooks and Degenerates on Ice: Bobby Orr, the Big Bad Bruins, and the Stanley Cup Championship That Transformed Hockey by Thomas J. Whalen
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I hate the Bruins. This will also be about ice cream.

As a sports fan of any sport, you find a team you love and everyone else is dead to you. Not that intensely but rivalries exists. The breakdown of the divisions in Hockey enables us to have multiple sets of rivals who we love to hate. I'm a Penguins fan. The Flyers and the Capitals are teams I will always root the worst for. I don't care if they have some great players. That's not how sports work.

You may be wondering then why I would be against the Bruins. They are no longer in the same division as the Penguins. I'm originally from Long Island. The Islanders were the hometown team but they haven't been good since the Eighties. When I was growing up the Rangers were the team New York cared about. I was brought into Hockey by a Devils fan. This is all very misleading, I understand. My point is even if I'm not a Hockey rival of the Bruins, as a person from New York I have been engineered to automatically think negative thoughts about all things Boston.

Also, when the Dropkick Murphys in their song Rose Tattoo sing the line "Black and Gold we wave the flag" I will always attribute that to the Penguins even though I know for a fact it is about the Bruins. You wore it first. We wear it better. Yours is also more yellow.

Why then would I choose to spend hours reading a book about a team I don't like? I love Hockey. I can spend many more paragraphs detailing what Hockey means to me but that will detract from the fact I'm here to talk about Kooks and Degenerates on Ice.

Reading this was similar to someone offering me Ice Cream. Let's say I told them that I was in the mood for chocolate but then was fed multiple bowls of vanilla. Over and over until I'm bursting. It's not what I wanted 100% but it was worth every single spoonful. Because what Thomas Whalen does here is not to simply tell you the story of one season of the Bruins but the story of Hockey itself. The history of the Bruins is the history of the NHL. Yes, the focal point of this book will bring us to the 1969-1970 Stanley Cup-winning season. It doesn't end there. It doesn't even start there.

I'm a sucker for exposition. Thomas starts the book by letting us know what was going on in the world which was great because I didn't come around until eighteen years afterward. Nixon as president is trying to pull us out of Vietnam. Ted Kennedy crashed his car into a lake which caused his passenger to drown and was a major scandal but not enough to do lasting damage to his reputation because he is a Kennedy. The Apollo 13 Incident occurred during this time. Muhammed Ali loses his titles and right to fight for refusing to be drafted to Vietnam on the grounds of religious beliefs. There are more movies, music, and sports references.

The book, while being focussed on the 1970's team, has a habit of jumping around. While talking about players we learn everything about them. Where they are from, who they used to play for growing up, what their relatives thought about their talent. It's very informative and for people who like to do deep dives for facts they can tell others while drinking at sports bars, this is perfect. I may not be a Bruins fan but I have a ton of respect for the great revered players of the game. Many of them happen to have played for the Bruins. Who hasn't heard of Bobby Orr, Derek Sanderson, or Phil Esposito? These are people that modern players are being compared to. Art Ross was the first coach and eventually the long time General Manager of the team. Art Ross! As in the Art Ross Trophy.

I've been following Hockey since 2000. I've never been a major sports fan. I flirt with other sports but none give me the emotions that I get while watching Hockey. Something about it clicked with me. There is much I still have to learn about the sport. I'm not completely out of the loop but I didn't know the significance of who Art Ross actually was aside from a great player. Same with the others. To me, they were names. Statistics to be beaten. What was great about Whalen's book is that it felt like I was there watching these players reach the level of greatness that we know see them as. By learning their trials, tribulations, injuries, and anecdotes I feel personally connected to this team. I wanted them to win that cup. Their battle became my battle. When all the pieces fell into place it was like magic on ice.

One thing in the book which I noticed was that we would start to follow a player in the current time period then jump into their past and how they ended up on the Bruins. Then towards the ends of the chapters, they go even further into the future. Sometimes far into the future. The main time frame in this book is the lead up to that 1970's cup win but also the immediate years before and after. By throwing us some information about the late Eighties, Nineties, even the early Naughts I found myself doing some double-takes. These moments of information seem rushed, and disappear quickly among the flow the rest of our story takes.

The acceptable what-happened-after does come after the cup win and we watch the team deteriorate in the years after. Trades, a rival league, health issues, and financial grievances lead our heroes their separate ways. Many find their ways back to the Bruins in one role or another. Other fresher talent also fills in the gaps but it is obvious the great Big Bad Bruin team cannot be replaced.

This was a great book. I enjoyed learning about the players, coaches, and the history of the league. Thomas Whalen also did something I would not expect. He made me respect the Bruins.

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Review: Monstre

Monstre by Duncan Swan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

An adaptation of this will be a bigger phenomenon than The Walking Dead.

Jesus Christ.

Where to begin? This was severely rewarding. It was constant chaos. The minute things seem to start forming into a structured story and you finally think it's about to settle down, it doesn't. How beautiful is it that everything keeps going to shit? Lets dissect this for awhile because I need some self-therapy to work this out.

The Large Hadron Collider exists. Scientist are using it to study laws of nature and smash atoms together at accelerated rates. They discovered the "Gods Particle" not too long ago. It is also capable of creating microscopic black holes. A quick google search tells me that there's nothing to worry about, but this thought has followed me for years. Of course, a book where something goes wrong with the LHC is going to fit in the right place for me. It's a puzzle piece I never knew was empty in my soul.

The first person we meet is also our first casualty in a story filled with them. You know the fulfilling feeling you got when you saw Rogue One for the first time - you did, didn't you!?!?! - and you knew everybody was going to die? It was perfect and it was right. They all died in kind of cute ways where you felt bad but in the end, it was alright. NOT IN THIS BOOK. This book has so many changes of direction it was like the car chase in Tintin. You think somebody is going to die, but they don't. We revisit them later and they are still holding on but not for long. When we jump back to the character again, you start to think maybe they actually make it. Wouldn't that be obvious? No. They're all going to die. They're going to die horribly and suddenly and it's going to happen so don't get attached to anybody.

You change perspectives frequently. The story also jumps between time periods. We follow from the day of the accident and half a year later. Some scenes fill you in on plans or things that occurred in the time between. There's a sequel coming so all will be answered. Those perspectives give us one sad story after another. After the LHC explodes, a cloud fills the air and blocks out the sun. As the world plunges into darkness, monsters described as being fifteen feet from nose to the end of the tail with multiple legs and rows and rows of teeth start killing people. The air is corrupted by toxins commonly found in pesticides. Everyone is struggling to escape, but just by being outside everyone is already doomed.

It actually comes out in the lightest part of the story. One of the sections follows a group of marines investigating the disappearance of other marines in the cloud covered area. The monsters come and destroy the team, and the leader has his gas mask ripped off. While recovering, and receiving new orders, he's told that he probably only has days to live. A bus load of people who they traveled with back to the safe zone started with forty six survivors. They end up with around twenty, and then they all die off once they arrive. A scientist we meet in the beginning of the story gets progressively worse and worse. We last see him hooked up to a dialysis machine and told he's done for. There is no hope. Not for anybody. It's futile. It's delicious.

I hate talking about the marines because by saying this is a book with marines in it I don't want to give you *that* idea that it's some type of military ops book fighting extraterrestrial alternate dimensional monsters. No. Listen, there are tons of different characters here. There's scientist, prison inmates, military both current and retired, everyday people, police officers, rapist, neighborhood watch teams. People of all different nationalities. Kids too. Listen, there's some Crossed vibes here. The kids are going to suffer. Nothing good will happen to anybody. Here's an example:

One character, Mason, is fleeing with a convoy of cars. In his vehicle are his wife, daughter, a neighbor, and his neighbor's wife. They are attacked by the Monsters but make it through okay. Mason figures the Monsters wont attack if they are lit up by the flashlights. It's fine until the attacks start up again. The daughter in the backseat, Jessie, tries to reach for her dad and call his name. Then a Monster burst through the back window, slashes Jessie and her mother, rips the neighbor's wife's head clean off, then kills the neighbor. Mason is the last to die, but it's all instantaneous. There's no breathing room in this book.

I would say the longest part of this book revolves around the police officers in America trying to head to NORAD. One has her family with her. There's also a friend named Drew who is an outdoors guy. They get caught up in a trap set by former criminals who steal people's cars, gas, and possessions. They flee, but end up killing two of them. This leads to them being hunted down, without realizing it and leaves us at the end of the book shocked with a CLIFFHANGER ENDING. How could you Duncan Swan?

Remember when The Walking Dead was the show to watch? People were obsessed with it even in an over saturated zombie market. There was initially a rag tag group of characters that you watched die off one by one until it ended up with a core group and they made the show about hiking. I'm looking at you season four. Picture The Walking Dead but without it sucking. Instead of zombies, we have monsters that are actually scary. You have to keep a Game of Thrones level of attachment to these characters too. You experience the coming doom from a variety of perspectives and cities and countries even. I'm in love with this book. I want to time travel back to February and have it be my neurotic valentine.

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Review: Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout

Tranny: Confessions of Punk Rock's Most Infamous Anarchist Sellout by Laura Jane Grace
My rating: 4 of 5 stars



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Review: Star Wars Galaxy's Edge: Traveler's Guide to Batuu

Star Wars Galaxy's Edge: Traveler's Guide to Batuu by Cole Horton
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

What Star Wars: Galaxy's Edge: Traveler's Guide to Batuu tries to accomplish is to walk the line between Theme Park pamphlet and exotic travel guide. The end result is a roughly 142 page advertisement whose effort only hardcore Star Wars fans will appreciate.

Interspersed throughout the "Guide" are details about Batuu. A Map shows us where Batuu sits in the Star Wars Galaxy and then we are advised different options of getting there. The eleventh page introduces us to the Star Cruiser which will end up being the Galaxy's Edge Hotel when that eventually opens. The next page is where the separation between guide and ad starts to become apparent. Under the Fast Facts section it talks about a "temperate climate that is enjoyable by most species." The air is "dry, but tolerable" and "the occasional afternoon rain shower is possible" Under the dress section, they post a picture of Star Wars styled clothing hanging in a shop which even in a galaxy far far away looks like any other Disney store.

The maps of the outpost are some of the more interesting parts of the guide. Again, you are looking at a map of the theme park land. A disassembled lightsaber is our hint that you will be able to build your own while you are there. Following this, we are shown vehicles and even different types of droids. As a Star Wars fan, this is really cool. There's tidbits about the people who live on Batuu like Oga who runs the Cantina. The section on Dok-Ondar's Den of Antiquities gives us a closer look at the oddities around his shop. There's sections on Stormtroopers and Imperial Vehicles. We also get cool propaganda images such as Stormtroopers in front of a First Order banner with the words Legitimate Power at the bottom. More photos of the shops and food courts follow. Lots of odds and ends flesh out the rest of the book included a guide to translate the Star Wars symbols into our own language.

The guide is written to be in-universe but it doesn't read that way. Too much of it comes across as trying to sell us the Disney experience. Anyone who has a description about who they are don't cross over from being two dimensional. These are people and creatures I can drive two hours to see in person, and I won't have any feelings for them. I don't see how this guide differs from the months of promotional material we were shown of the parks. A YouTube video of someone walking from location to location barely differs from this supposed "in-universe" guide. There's too much content that's selling us a product. The person that would buy this book and enjoy it would be someone that loves Galaxy's Edge and wants to be reminded of their time there. Everything else in the book can be found in other places. It doesn't work at bringing Batuu to life.

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The Farewell Scene: An Introduction

I wish I had some profound story behind the title I write under. 

I know it was sometime in 2008. I had gotten my own apartment which was too big for my own needs. It was sparsely decorated but also probably the best set up I've ever had anywhere I've lived. At one point I had a dining room table but since I was the only one there I purchased a huge desk and set up a writing station with a white board and everything. This was my command center. 

Like every writer out there, I would grab inspiration from everything around me. I was sitting at this desk while skimming through my iPod because iPods were still a thing at this point. Among the thousands of songs I never listened to was a complete discography of John Williams, the guy behind the Star Wars music. One random film soundtrack in there had a track labelled The Farewell Scene. For a movie, the purpose of the track was obvious. The title spoke to me, and has stuck around ever since. Thanks John. 

As a wanna-be edgy twenty-something youth, I attributed it to a type of Scene. Like Grunge, or Punk. I'm part of the Farewell Scene, always moving from place to place. Anywhere I hang myself is home and all that lovely sentiment. It's cool to be leaving. Luckily I grew out of that phase. I still move around a lot. You know what you learn when you move around so much? Books are heavy. 

Around 2009, maybe closer to 2010, I was involved in a conversation with Eddie Soto who used to be the Vice President of Disney Imagineering. He designed Main Street USA for Disneyland Paris among many other things. The whole conversation was amazing but what stuck out was about how the Theme Park experience was all about Escapism. 

Books are a form of Escapism. No matter where you are in the world, a book can take you to some far away place. You bid farewell to your mundane life and end up somewhere spectacular. With literature, I've always been part of the Farewell Scene. 

The purpose of my review site and everything I plan to do under The Farewell Scene banner is threefold. First, I would love to encourage new readers and also recommend things that they may not have tried otherwise. Secondly, to promote new Authors. We all love the classics and I can't tell you how many times someone recommends The First Law or Game of Thrones to me. There are so many unheard voices who have great stories and those are the ones I want to focus on most of all. Sure, I'll talk about other books that everyone knows already but the new blood are definitely worth it. Lastly, there seems to be no big book culture where I currently live. Everything book related happens in New York. I would love, somehow, to be a part of something here in Florida and maybe my reviews and conversations will help build something. 

Without much else to say, I thank you all for stopping by and welcome you to The Farewell Scene. 

Review: Disney Manga: Tim Burton's the Nightmare Before Christmas -- Zero's Journey Graphic Novel Book 4

Disney Manga: Tim Burton's the Nightmare Before Christmas -- Zero's Journey Graphic Novel Book 4 by D J Milky
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I couldn't pass up an opportunity to check this story out. Granted, it's part four of a four part series of comics based around The Nightmare Before Christmas.

As with every child who lived through the Nineties, I went through a Nightmare Before Christmas phase. I'm a Tim Burton fan but not a fanatic. I owned Ed Wood at one point but never watched it. I do own The Melancholy Death of Oyster Boy. He's impressive. I love the world that he created with, allowing an abbreviation, TNBC. One thing that always bothered me about the movie and the original book that Tim put out is that Halloween Town is small. With Jack's pumpkin patch and the forest, it's implied that there's more to the world but you never see anything else.

This comic isn't written by Tim but it features all the characters we know and love. Zero is actually the main protagonist here. Despite only reading the last part of the set, it was a story that was self contained. A brief introduction explained why Zero was in Christmas Town to begin with. This comic picks up with Jack missing his beloved dog. He decides he has to go to Christmas Town to bring him home. To do this, he recruits the other monsters. While this is going on, Lock, Shock, and Barrel set fire to Santa's Workshop as a distraction in order to steal the presents and one of Santa's Sleighs. Zero helps save a Reindeer who had fallen under debris and then assist the Elves in putting out the flames. Santa is attempting to make due with the remaining presents when Jack shows up and after briefly uniting they discover the trio trying to speed out of there. Santa's Reindeer team up with Zero to stop the children and get the presents back to Santa. Then he allows Zero to help him deliver all the presents to children around the world because Zero saved the day.

This is obviously all geared towards young children. I get that. Us older Nightmare Before Christmas fans will be able to enjoy this by seeing our old 'friends' again but we're not in Penny Dreadful territory here. It also made the world of TNBC seem bigger. You see part of Christmas Town and Halloween Town, but they don't feel like isolated locations. There might be a little bit around the bend in both areas. I liked how the other monsters went with Jack to bring Zero home, but once they were in Christmas Town they stopped being active characters once they ran into Santa Claus. The monster under the stairs steals the show in this comic.

I can see myself reading the whole set - even the ones I didn't see - to children at the end of the year. If a local library has a Nightmare Before Christmas Day showing the movie and then having different activities and related books to read, this'll be worth having because the younger audience will love it. The artwork was fantastic too.

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Review: A Demon-Haunted Land: Witches, Wonder Doctors, and the Ghosts of the Past in Post-WWII Germany

A Demon-Haunted Land: Witches, Wonder Doctors, and the Ghosts of the Past in Post-WWII Germany by Monica Black
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

A Demon-Haunted Land is short, dense, and not at all what I expected it to be.

Post-WWII Germany has a lot of internal struggles going on. We're not taught in school about what happened when the war was over except for minor bits and pieces. From an American perspective, I never once thought about how the German citizens felt after they loss. There's a moment in this book where we read about feelings of collective guilt. People aren't moving on with their lives. The war has shattered the country in numerous ways. People who were part of the Nazi Party still have those beliefs while others are struggling to figure out why they had to suffer when they weren't the ones fighting or doing all those horrible things.

This conflict manifest itself in the form of physical pain for a lot of people. Otherwise, if not an ailment or injury, people assumed everything bad that happened to them was the result of what had occurred. That there is a negativity hanging over them. A curse. if you will. There's a line in the book which I'll paraphrase here. It went something like "Those who look for a cause for their pain blame others." It is in this spirit that the book talks about Witchcraft. This was a let down for me because I honestly thought, with how it's on the cover and the description, that Witches were going to have a bigger focal point. Witchcraft comes up sporadically. First in a quick story in the beginning of the book, and then sprinkled throughout other chapters. Nothing too heavy. Someone's child is sick, the neighbor who has a competing business must have used witchcraft on them. More important than the accusations are the fact that these cases usually went to trial for slander and ruining people's reputation.

What the book is mostly about are wonder doctors, or glorified lay healers, specifically Bruno Groning. Bruno was a mystic with no medical background. He traveled around the country giving lectures on faith healing. Many considered him to be a Jesus-like figure who can cure any ailment. He constantly told people that their belief in God will pull them through. They had to focus on healing energies and that by thinking about the pain and negativity it would interfere with their recovery. As with most faith healers, there isn't proof that Groning legitimately did anything. People either recovered or they didn't. It sounds a lot like people were mainly inspired to believe they can overcome their ailments and put in the efforts themselves such as the cases where people throw away crutches or walk on their own. Groning was also a drinker and and slept around. At one point he's managed by a husband and wife team who were heavily involved in the Nazi party. The man, Otto, even worked at a concentration camp.

Another Faith Healer tells a man he will cure his sterilization. The man's wife becomes pregnant, but it turns out she slept with the Faith Healer. You see how this all goes. Groning, the first healer and the one mentioned the most, ends up going through countless trials up until his death in 1959 from cancer.

There's a few pages dedicated to the story of the Virgin Mary apparition that is mentioned on the back cover. While playing, a few girls discover what appears to be the Virgin Mary praying. People start flocking to see this apparition until the local government and the church step in to denounce it as being a hoax. I believe it is implied it was people playing dress up to scam others because if I'm remembering this section correctly, I think a Jesus or other religious figure is also mentioned to have shown up at one point. It's a very small portion of the book, and took only a few minutes to get through this bit.

This was a well researched and informative book. What it wasn't was a book about Witches or the occult that I expected it to be. I was thinking it would be a Post-WWII Paranormal Germany situation and it's truly a bunch of bogus guys and some trash talking the neighbors. Groning was an interesting figure to follow as he was a cross between a Jesus figure and also a mild replacement for Hitler. Someone the Germans can look to and believe he can cure them of their diseases. He didn't want power, or money. Maybe some coffee and sausages. I won't say that I didn't like the book. It took me on an adventure back in time that I wasn't planning on going on.

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