Mini Reviews #2

So I've listened to some more books. Time for a short review of each. Here we go...

1356 is Bernard Cornwell's return to the Hundred Years War. He has already written a trilogy set during this time period, following an archer named Thomas of Hookton. This book picks up Thomas's story several years later and tells of the English victory over the French at the Battle of Poitiers.

Bernard Cornwell is the master of historical adventure fiction. No one does it better. 1356, however, wasn't as good as his previous archer stories. I felt that the central conflict--the Battle of Poitiers--was just thrown in at the end for something for the characters to do. There was no sense of a building conflict that would lead to the fateful battle. I really felt Cornwell phoned this one in. That said, I still enjoyed returning to 14th century France, and archers just plain kick butt. They are way cooler than knights.

1356 gets 3 out of 5 stars. Don't start here if you're new to Cornwell. Try The Archer's Tale or Agincourt first.

It's finally here. A Memory of Light is the concluding volume to one of fantasy's most seminal epics. Twenty three years in the making, folks. Deep breath in... now let it out. Aaahhh... Okay. Now we can get on with it. So did it fulfill all of my hopes and dreams that have been building up since I picked up the first book back in 2002?

No.

But that doesn't mean I didn't enjoy it. I did. However, I thought that there were some serious flaws with this book, and because of it the entire series. I won't discuss it here. I plan to do a post about the entire Wheel of Time series in the future. You'll get an ear full from me then. For now, know this: Brandon Sanderson did an excellent job. Nobody could have done better. But it was never Sanderson's book. Even though Robert Jordan passed away in 2007, he left detailed notes about how things should wrap up. All the flaws and shortcomings are his, not Sanderson's.

You have to read this book if you've been a long-time fan of the series as I have. You have to read it to finish the story. If you've never read the series before, though, I'd suggest stopping after book six. After that, the word count just isn't worth it. I give A Memory of Light 3 out of 5 stars.

Another historical to review. Ironfire, subtitled, A novel of the Knights of Malta and the Last Battle of the Crusades, is a monster soap opera. I didn't like it hardly at all. The only reason I stuck with it, other than the fact that I'd paid to listen to it, was because I was waiting for the siege of Malta to happen. It took way too damn long to get to the battle... which is so idiotic seeing as how the subtitle of the freaking book declares itself to be about the bloody siege! No joke--the final five hours out of thirty-one is all the time the last battle of the crusade got. I'm guessing the only reason this book has its subtitle is because no one would have bought the dumb thing if they knew what it was really about.

What is it about? It's about soap opera romances, modern medieval story cliches, and a bunch of crap completely unrelated to the siege of Malta. David Ball, if I'd wanted a medieval soap opera I would have listened to The Pillars of the Earth. At least that book doesn't use a subtitle to falsely lead readers. Oh, and you suck at info dumping. How boring is it to be taken away from the story to be force-fed historical facts for twenty minute chunks?

And that's all I have to say about that. :D  Ironfire isn't even worth a more detailed review. Don't waste your time on it. If you want a novel about the siege of Malta, read The Religion. It's a bit on the soap opera side, too, but at least the majority of the story focuses on the battle. Ironfire gets 2 out of 5 stars.

Wish there'd been some higher-rated ones to tell you about this time. And it seems there was a theme here: YOU HAVE TO BE ABLE TO STICK THE ENDING. Otherwise, it just hurts the rest of the book or series. Oh well. I've already got more good audiobooks waiting in the wings to tell you about in a few weeks. Until then, That's all!

P.S. I do have to add that all these books have excellent covers. Well done, marketing people!

The Way of Kings

My first experience with epic fantasy was Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series.  (I cosider it that way, at least... I did read Lord of the Rings first, before the movies came out, but Tolkien didn't turn me on to an entire genre like Jordan did.)  I was just graduating high school, and saw a friend of mine reading the tenth book.  I made fun of him for reading such garbage.  The only speculative fiction I read was smart sci fi, like Dune, but mostly I stuck to thrillers.  I spent my teenage years thinking I would become a thriller writer in the vain of Tom Clancy.  I can't even remember what it was that made me finally pick up The Eye of the World and read it, but it changed my life in a major way.

Fast forward ten years and I find the majority of my reading and listening is spent on epic fantasy and sword and sorcery.  Every once in a while I find a good sci fi (see my review of The Prefect), but my personal library is probably 85% fantasy series.  You can guess that, as a huge fan of the genre, and as an aspiring author, that I would be writing the stuff as well as reading it.  This is why Robert Jordan changed my life.  His books realigned my dreams and goals, and now I am spewing out (at a rather slothful pace) stories with magic and made up worlds. 

This brings me to The Way of Kings, by Brandon Sanderson.  I'm not going to review the book, exactly, because I haven't read through the massive 1,000 page tome since it came out in 2010.  I did re-listen to nearly 5 hours of it yesterday, however, and so have it on my mind.  (FYI: I've read/listened to the entire book once, re-listened to everything a second time except for the girl chapters--because I couldn't stand her--plus the few hours I just mentioned.)  I figured I'd blab about TWoK for a bit, and stop when I feel I've got everything out that I want to say.  I apologize if this turns in to a long post.

       

Before going on, I have to mention the stunning cover art, painted by Michael Whelan.  I'm not the type that pays attention to fantasy artists, but I can't deny the perfect imagery this illustration depicts.  Most books have random weird scenes on the cover that have little to do with the actual story (almost every WoT book), but Whelan managed to encapsulate The Way of Kings so well in this that I find myself interested in genre art for the first time.  (Dad, if you're reading this, I'm sorry.  Don't think of my art taste as slipping... only know that it's expanding.)

If you haven't read TWoK, you should.  It's the first book in a planned 10 book series, which will likely take the next 15-20 years for Brandon to write.  This might scare off readers, but I think this first book stands on its own fairly well.  The reason I think you should read this (and I'm not suggesting everyone read it... you should familiarize yourself with epic fantasy first, by trying out smaller books in the genre) is because it has a lot more depth to it than your run-of-the-mill novel.  TWoK isn't a fun book, the way Harry Potter or His Majesty's Dragon is.  It is rather a thought-provoking, character-driven story that can stay with you for days after you've listened to/read its pages.

So many popular fantasy stories these days are dark and "edgy".  I happen to like the dark stories--I've already posted about why--but even I tire of the gray morality these stories promote.  TWoK is such a positive piece, about what it means to be a leader, the importance of honor, self-sacrifice... the list of uplifting points goes on and on.  The great thing about it is that it never feels preachy.  The characters go through hell before they understand morality.  Their world is falling apart politically because their society has degraded so far, and they have to struggle against the current to overcome the depravity engulfing them.

There is a set of codes, or ideals one character tries to understand and live by throughout the book.  The phrase I love so much from it is: "Life before death.  Strength before weakness.  Journey before destination."  While not particularly original, I find that the words are still profound.  Especially the last part.

I'm at a point in my life where the journey is somewhat of a struggle.  As a new parent, I've realized that what life was before my baby girl, is now gone.  It some ways this saddens me.  In most ways, it brings more joy to my life than words can describe.  I haven't regretted the decision to become a dad for one second.  It's the single greatest thing that has ever happened to me.  I naively thought that I could be the same person with a child.  After all, I feel that I remained the same after becoming a husband... I was more completely myself with Rhonda in my life.  Having a companion to share life with was easy.  (We've still yet to have a serious argument after over 5 years of marriage.  Some would call that unhealthy.  I call it a triumph, in no small part due to the saint I wed.)  Having a little one who depends utterly on us is hard.  Every parent knows exactly what I'm talking about, and will roll their eyes at my words.  That's the cool thing about parenting, though: we all get to discover it for ourselves.  Back to the journey... my destination has been altered by choices made.  I am no longer I, but We.  (This change occurred years ago, of course, but for me really hit when 2 became 3.)  We have to work to support our family.  We have to sacrifice for education.  We have to get up early to write.  We have to want to put the long hours in to become a published author.  This is one of my/our journeys right now.  I have several that I could talk about, however, I'll stick to writing goals for this blog.   The destination in mind--of publishing professionally--may never be reached.  But I believe I'll be better for the journey.

This is the crap I think of while listening to TWoK.  I wish I could promise that the book will provoke such self-discovering thoughts in every reader.  It might.  I want to give Brandon credit for this.  I'll have to wait to discuss the topic with other readers before having a definitive answer.  Whether Brandon meant TWoK to be as potent or not doesn't really matter to me.  For me it was, and continues to be every time I re-listen.

Oh, and the narrators are great.  Suppose I should add that since I listened to the book.  They are the same duo who read The Wheel of Time.

Should you read The Way of Kings?  Uh... yeah.  If you've read anything I've written in this post, you should read it.  Duh.  It's by far Sanderson's best work, and one of the best novels in years.  I can't wait to see where he takes the series.  (Not looking forward so much to book 2, since its focus will be on the chick.)  I said I wasn't really going to review it, but what the hell.  I pretty much did.      

Day 9, and The Alloy of Law

Day 9, whew.  It went well.  I made my word count early this morning.  It was surprising.  It always makes the day go easier when I get all the writing done before going to work.  Then I don't have to feel all guilty for sleeping in or whatever.  That's all to report on the writing.

The real reason for the post was to review The Alloy of Law, by Brandon Sanderson.

I picked this shot of the cover because it focuses on some things I want to talk about before I give the review.  1. Look at the goggles around the neck of the main character, hanging there like he needs to take them along with him in case, I don't know, he needs to ride some kind of steampunky contraption.  Wouldn't that make sense?  Course it would.  Only problem is he never does this.  In fact, the only time the protagonist dons the goggles is when messing with some metallurgy.   No steampunk, sorry.  I only bring this up because this was kind of marketed as a steampunk, western-fantasy.  And, isn't it silly that goggles on a person dressed in certain clothing communicates steampunk?  It's not like you steamy guys and gals own the rights to goggles, sheesh.  2. If you look real close, behind the lettering, there is something that appears to be a steampunky contraption.  The only thing that could resemble that in the book is a crane on a barge, and it's in the story for like two seconds.  Funny that it ended up on the cover.  3. And last, the sidekick, standing all badass behind the dude in front, is holding what looks to be a shotgun or rifle.  Only problem there is that the sidekick wants nothing to do with guns, and won't touch them.  Isn't it interesting how a publisher tries to sell books?

Having said all that, the cover is awesome.  And it got me excited about the book months ago.  So I guess it did its job.  I just wish it wouldn't have made things up in order to sell the book.  Okay, on to the review (I wouldn't feel like myself if I couldn't rant about something for a bit).

The Alloy of Law, hence forth known as: TAoL, was my favorite of the Mistborn books.  I liked it a lot.  It hit all the right buttons, and was the perfect length for Brandon's style of writing.  (I always feel his books are way too long, despite being excellent).  For me, this wasn't my favorite of his works, but it comes in a respectable second.  (The Way of Kings still wins).

The story starts with a lawman named, get ready for this, Waxillium.  It isn't so bad when it gets shortened to just Wax, but Brandon didn't use nicknames nearly as much as he usually does this time around.  This made me sad, but oh well.  Anyway, Wax gets called back to the city to take up his dead uncle's position as Lord Ladrian.  He gives up his cowboy ways and begins to acclimatize to life in high places.  Until his old deputy, Wayne, shows up and enlists his help in solving a crime.  Lots of cool action scenes ensue, (ah yeah, Mistborn gun fights are very cool) and Wax and Wayne find themselves uncovering a conspiracy.  Can't say much else without giving things away.

The villain is one cool dude.  The girl is rather annoying, filling the academic role that Brandon loves to give to a character in every book he writes, and the banter between Wax and Wayne is fun.  It gets over the top sometimes, but usually stays within the bounds of humorous, rather than idiotic (Wayne is actually the funniest when he's away from Wax, doing his own things.  He makes a great character, and has a past that makes him rather interesting).

One thing I had a problem with: Wax is a twinborn, meaning that he can use Allomancy and Feruchemy.  I know that if you haven't read the Mistborn books you have no idea what these two terms mean, but I don't want to get in to explaining two magic systems right now.  If you want to know more, read the books.  Anyway, being a twinborn is supposed to be a rare thing in the world.  Problem is, the sidekick and the Villain have this rare gift as well.  Makes it seem a little less rare when three of the main characters can use two magics.  Just saying.  Mixing the two systems, however, make for some awesome action scenes.  It's really cool how Wax and Wayne use their powers together to co-op their foes into corpses.  (Oh, and if you care, Wayne and the girl are able to burn two metals that aren't featured in the trilogy.  Kind of fun to see new stuff in the world).

If you liked the Mistborn books, or any of Brandon's other novels, you'll like TAoL.  I only hope that it doesn't take too long for the sequel, because the ending, although satisfying, leaves much unanswered.  (It is okay to do this when done right!  I'm glaring at you, Scorch Trials!)  I listened to the audiobook, narrated by Michael Kramer, who does the Wheel of Time series, Mistborn, and The Way of Kings.  His narration is excellent as always.  Go and get this book!

The Alloy of Law gets 4 out of 5 stars.

One last thing.  Well, two, really.  Like you were ready to stop reading... There are NO Mistborns in this book.  You heard me.  It's a Mistborn book without Mistborns.  They don't exist in the world anymore.  Something to do with the end of the trilogy.  I thought that was interesting.  And last, (it really was last... this little tid-bit happened in the epilogue)  a character from the trilogy shows up in a little cameo.  Which character, you ask?  Ha!  You think I'm gonna spoil that?  All I got to say is it made me smile, and maybe pump my fist in the air... maybe.

*Reaches arm up, closes fist... stops.  Tells himself to grow up*

That's all.