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The Call of Agon: Book One of the Children of Telm by Dean F. Wilson

nrlymrtl, June 1, 2013

Ifferon and Teron part ways hurriedly while battle approaches their village. Ifferon is assailed by black chasing shadows almost immediately as he and another (wannabe cleric Yavun) run willy nilly like startled bunnies. Soon, they bump into Herr’Don The Great, savior of damsels in distress, bringer of the sword, major task accomplisher, and blow hard. They all leave, running into the magus Melgales who reveals hidden things. Next enters Thalla, the lover of Herr’Don and apprentice to Melgales. She also has a bow but rarely uses it. In fact, she starts off strong and interesting but then quickly slides into Silly Lass With Breasts role. For nearly half the book, she is the only female character. Other heroes, magi, women, bad guys, and youngins make an appearance as we move forward.

So far I have made this book sound a bit light hearted. It isn’t. This is a thick book, not so much in page numbers, but in the fact that so much is going on on every single page. Additionally, the book is told in limited third person, like Tolkien wrote The Lord of the Rings. This means that we see everyone’s actions and hear everyone’s words, but we never know what is going on in anyone’s head. In some instances, this can be challenging, and in some it makes the plot that much more interesting because you truly have to weigh everything about a character to figure out if they are the spy and betrayer.

I enjoyed the intensity of this book. The serious, desperate need to defeat Agon and his minions weighed on all the characters and drove the plot. There was a variety of ages; not just the young and beautiful were key to this novel. Eventually, we do get some warrior women, one with sense and the other without. I do have to mention that nearly all the women are called sluts or prostitutes or whores by some man at some point in the book (and those male characters are soundly booed by other male characters). But it stood out in my mind as I was reading it. Perhaps because the main female character, Thalla, was driven by the need to be attached to a man and had to be protected, or fought over, for most of the book.

By and large, the book was very interesting with beautiful prose, good guys with personality flaws, and large, well-developed world to play in. From a technical aspect, I only have two points that stand out for me as minor detractions: 1) Occasionally the reader would be following a group of heroes and several pages into the scene, a character, who I thought had gone with the other hero team, speaks up. Ooops, where did you come from? Been here all along, have you? 2) The ending left several of the smaller story arcs unanswered and I felt I could have used at least a few more pages to wrap things up for this book. I know it’s a series, but there were just some nagging questions. Nothing major for those who plan to continue with the series.

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Shadow on the Crown by Patricia Bracewell

nrlymrtl, May 27, 2013

I did not want to put this book away. It’s that simple. My little laptop was my best buddy with this audiobook playing. It accompanied me on all my house chores, while I knitted, even while I showered. I know. I have an addiction, but we aren’t here to talk about that; we are here to talk about this awesome historical book that I requested simply because I knew so little of the time and location. Patricia Bracewell sure does make ancient, dusty, moldering English history riveting, thought-provoking, and worthy of paying attention to.

Emma was so easy to connect with, and so uncomplicated in her desires and motives; yet she was put in this impossible situation where so much was not within her control. Her simple, perhaps even childish, dreams of a loving marriage and safety had to be set aside for bigger considerations. Through it all, she met it with poise and honor. King Athelred, long bedeviled by a sense of guilt over his brother’s death, might finally be loosing it. But in so loosing his wits, he may loose his hold on his kingdom. In his fear and anxiety, he often places unwarranted blame on Emma and forces her into demeaning marital obligations.

Of course, there are also the intrigues and politics of her homeland, Normandy, haunting her. King Ahtelred and her brother, the Duke of Normandy, signed a written agreement that included Normandy no longer provided harbor to the Vikings, who annually ravage the northern coasts of England. Emma is well aware that her brother couldn’t possibly turn away Fork Beard and his horde when they appear in their Viking ships, all bedecked with pointy metal bits, ready to ravage any city or village, English or Norman. This knowledge adds to Emma’s anxiety as she tries to safely navigate the intrigues of the English court.

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Undertow by Elizabeth Bear

nrlymrtl, May 24, 2013

While this book took a little while to get into, I definitely appreciated the build up once the plot began to unfold. Cyberpunk meets alien suppression and exploitation meets assassin meets turning on a chance. Indeed, this tale brought together several tropes and spat out something unique and highly memorable. Told mostly from Andre’s point of view, and an interesting view it is, we see his impersonal approach to his job, assassinating folks. He also has a somewhat impersonal approach to his love life with Cricket. But then things change, and get weird, and very cool. The Charter Trade Company wants folks dead, a valuable mineral mined and off planet before anyone notices, and doesn’t care who gets injured along the way. That includes a good friend of Cricket’s and the Jean’s lover.

The Rannids are introduced bit by bit giving the reader time to get to know them. They think differently, and hence, their actions don’t always make sense to their human overlords. They have no visible sign of advanced civilization, which has left Charter Trade Company legally able to exploit them and remove the planet’s resources. But they are far more complex, able to communicate world wide through vibrations in the water, treasuring stories. Humans have many stories in many forms, and so many Rannids learn to read human lips (lacking the natural auditory equipment to hear human speech) in order to enjoy these stories.

Jean, in introducing Andre to these planet natives, may not only save Andre’s retched existence but also the planet. Jean is a Conjurer, a man who can and does affect chance outcomes. Andre has this latent ability in himself but lacks the training, and the mindset. I found Andre’s storyline the most fascinating because he starts off the least human (psychologically) and grows so much as a character by the end of the book. Listening to the culture of the Rannids unfold bit and bit as Andre would learn of them piece by piece kept me coming back for just one more chapter before bed.

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Iscariot by Tosca Moon Lee

nrlymrtl, May 17, 2013

I am not a Christian, and therefore, not well versed in the this time period. Tosca Lee told this story simply: of a traumatized boy who became a successful young man who became a pivotal character in a major world religion. I have always enjoyed reading a well known tale from the viewpoint of the ‘bad guy’. Learning the characters life history and their motivations makes the over all tale that much more real for me. Tosca Lee does not disappoint. This book has a historical fiction feel to it and I did not feel that it was preachy at all.

There were other famous, learned men of the time named Judas. As there were other men named Jesus. The use of the secret society idea added weight to Judas’s decisions and his fears. I especially enjoyed the various culture clashes as seen through Judas’s eyes: Jesus the Messiah taught, fed, and healed not just the learned or rich, but the lowliest of classes and women and those not of the Jewish faith. One by one these things shocked Judas, who eventually saw the right of it. Some few references I did not fully understand, like when a few ill men move their mat on the Sabbath. But these few instances did not detract from the over all enjoyability of the book.

My one negative point is that the book became narrowly focused towards the end, whereas the beginning brought me knowledge of the cultures and political climate of the time. Indeed, my mind started to drift on the last CD, the CD where we have the ending of Jesus’s life, his confirmation of Messiah-hood, and Judas’s death. This should have, at the least, been as interesting as the beginning of the book. Instead, it was not. In retrospect, perhaps the author wanted Judas’s life to end on an anticlimactic note? Could be an interesting question for an interview; not so interesting for a book ending.

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Legend of Eli Monpress #01: The Spirit Thief by Rachel Aaron

nrlymrtl, May 15, 2013

This book was full of quick banter, ridiculous situations, and memorable characters that give just enough seriousness to balance, but not detract, from the silliness. I liked the idea of everything, from stone to stream to dust devils, having spirits and that those spirits have needs, rights, and are capable of loosing their sanity and personal identity. There’s sword fights, compelling love and sacrifice, betrayal, conflict among the good guys, and a very persuasive spirit talker. While the characters didn’t particularly grow once they were established, they were immensely entertaining and I loved spending time with them. The plot was a little predictable, big picture-wise, but I thoroughly enjoyed watching Rachel Aaron fill in the details.

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