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Powell's Staff:
Five Book Friday: In Memoriam
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Every year, the booksellers at Powell’s submit their Top Fives: their five favorite books that were released in 2023. It’s a list that, when put together, shows just how varied and interesting the book tastes of Powell’s booksellers are. I highly recommend digging into the recommendations — we would never lead you astray — but today...
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Brontez Purnell:
Powell’s Q&A: Brontez Purnell, author of ‘Ten Bridges I’ve Burnt’
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Rachael P.:
Starter Pack: Where to Begin with Ursula K. Le Guin
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Customer Comments
Antonio Gonzalez has commented on (32) products
The Destroyer of Worlds: A Return to Lovecraft Country
by
Matt Ruff
Antonio Gonzalez
, January 22, 2023
I really loved the first book and thought it was an interesting response to Lovecraftian horror and addressing some of the lesser known (Ruff’s description of the Tulsa riot preceded HBO’s Watchmen, which thrust it into the public eye) aspects of US racial history. I was warily looking forward to this follow up. I didn’t want to read something that felt like a money grab after the first book’s success. But I really enjoyed this and it felt like Ruff was seriously following up on threads of his original story. The story was more cohesive and linear in this volume than the approach in the first book. So it’s more like a traditional novel and we spend some more time with characters that didn’t get the spotlight in the first book. It wasn’t as able to focus on new areas of the Black experience in Chicago at the time but the focus on Hippolyta and George’s son’s anger does demonstrate the generational change in the civil rights movement at the time. If you enjoyed the first book, I think you’ll enjoy this book as well. I think there was a slight trade off between having a more cohesive story and not being able to explore as many new areas of the Black American experience as the first book.
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Pioneering Death: The Violence of Boyhood in Turn-Of-The-Century Oregon
by
Peter Boag
Antonio Gonzalez
, August 10, 2022
I'm reading Pioneering Death by Peter Boag. It's about a parricide in the late 1800s in central Oregon. It's a fairly interesting discussion of life in the post pioneer decades of Oregon. The country was in it's 3rd depression in as many decades and the author gets into the financial pressures on the family and farming life in general, some sociological trends, and some of the other aspects that may have contributed. The one I found most interesting was the person who killed his parents had basically a bad reputation with everyone in the vicinity while his slightly younger brother was well thought of. When they were small children the older brother had scarlet fever and survived. You wonder how an illness like that, with high fevers, may have impacted his brain and if the inability to control high fevers maybe played some part in the high rate of violence back then and what kind of impacts it had on brain development.
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In the Shadows of Men
by
Robert Jackson Bennett
Antonio Gonzalez
, September 27, 2020
This was thoughtful piece of social criticism. It’s a sly examination of the way people will set up a society that caters to young men with money. RBJ examines the willingness to overlook the costs they inflict and to excuse their transgressions because they are their transgressions and they hold the power. And he pairs that with the stunted emotional language of current white working-class males. They can recognize the problem but the lack of language to discuss it leaves them defenseless when the evils whip back around on them. The exploitation of markets that have offshored or automated the well paying jobs and left them and their communities behind and broken aren’t all that different than the ruined lives of the women abused in these oil boom towns.
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Sixteenth Watch
by
Myke Cole
Antonio Gonzalez
, April 20, 2020
This is a fun piece of military sci-fi from Myke Cole about the US Coast Guard trying to get a flare up between the US and China under control before it blows up into a full scale war. It’s my favorite fiction book of Cole’s so far and it was a really great and hopeful story, which was perfect for the current circumstances. The book is about Jane Oliver. She’s the protagonist and this whole China/US moon war mess falls into her lap. Oliver takes her mission seriously but there’s not a lot of help for her outside the Coast Guard. The US Navy is butting into Oliver’s plans like Sam Sykes tweeting Cole to join his ghost hunting team and the Marines are like Chuck Wendig enabling the whole thing in some 100 tweet nightmare thread about how Promachos isn’t as good as Pro-Nachos. The whole time Oliver is batting away the US Navy and Mariens, the Chinese PLA is waiting around to trounce Oliver’s plans like Oww F**k lying in wait to sink her claws in Cole’s bare arm. Oliver follows her guts and ends up in the thick of it for the climax. The story has a great ending and I loved the moon setting, the interforce dynamics, and getting an idea about how Cole views leadership after his years in the Coast Guard. I would recommend this if you’re into military sci-fi and if you think it’s about time the Coast Guard got its due.
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The Fire Is Upon Us: James Baldwin, William F. Buckley Jr., and the Debate Over Race in America
by
Nicholas Buccola
Antonio Gonzalez
, March 02, 2020
I knew Baldwin as an important literary figure in America’s intellectual history and he was on my To Be Read list but I hadn’t actually read him. I was familiar with Buckley from the National Review, his support of Goldwater and scientific racists like Charles Murray. This book confirmed most of my prejudices about Buckley, he was an aristocratic racist. He was the paradigm of the modern elite conservative and Buccola expertly contextualized Buckley’s impact on the present. Baldwin is fascinating and Buccola’s presentation of his life tied into themes that still trouble our society. Modernity’s push for a society free of racism bumps into the conundrum of how to advance the cause beyond the simple problems, like don’t beat people for voting. Dr. King’s Chicago Campaign walked face first into this difficult question and was rebuffed. Baldwin saw the issue similarly to Dr. King. That moral culpability was important, but as an act of love we had a moral obligation to end racism, not just for black people, but for the racists. Just as it’s an act of love to correct a child for bad behavior, it was an act of love to save racists from their fear and hatred. To Baldwin, this kind of love was a battle, and waging that battle was moral obligation, possibly the supreme moral obligation. This book made me want to start a Baldwin reading group and I wish there had been some kind of philosophy of the civil rights movement class when I went to college.
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Future of Another Timeline
by
Annalee Newitz
Antonio Gonzalez
, December 17, 2019
Very roughly, this book is about a group of riot grrls traveling in time and editing the timeline to protect human rights from a group of MRA/red pillers. The plot moves fairly quickly and a side plot is tied in nicely and gives the story some emotional resonance with a little bit of a twist so you get a nice surprise towards the end. The characters are fun and likable so you enjoy spending time with everyone, and often wish you could spend a little more time with certain characters. B/c it’s loosely historical, Newitz throws in some interesting factoids that will make you a champ at your local pub trivia if they ever come up. But all that aside, what I liked the most in this book was the discussion it has with the reader about how history is written. The expansion of voices in history creates a fuller picture. And people are empowered when they know their own history. But the fear of that empowerment creates a backlash. Reactionaries don’t want a fuller picture that illuminates the strengths and successes or other voices. As a metaphor I think this book did an excellent job of illustrating that conflict in a story about time travel and The World’s Columbian Exposition.
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Former Possessions of the Spanish Empire
by
Michelle Penaloza
Antonio Gonzalez
, October 01, 2019
I really enjoyed the poems in this book. The poet explores existing as part of a diaspora community, navigating around the racial stereotypes imposed on her, or any member of that community, and her place inside the community and as someone who exists as an “other”. Her relationship with her mother and the role she fills as a “daughter” were also investigated. You can feel the love and best wishes the mother has for the poet, but understand that those also come with some pressure. That pressure colors the poet’s love for her mother and maybe draws some guilt with it. Letter From My Mother does really builds that feeling that maybe you haven’t called your mother enough, but the thought of calling is a little exhausting. I especially liked To The Older Couple Also Eating Dunkin’ Donuts At O’Hare. The poet examines a brief moment of community, quickly followed by the expectations of family/gender roles and obligations as a daughter. The mix of calmness from fitting into a role you know well, while also instantly feeling the burderns and pressures of that role would be familiar to anyone who navigates between cultural spaces. I really enjoyed this collection and look forward to more of her work.
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Queen of Crows Sacred Throne Book 2
by
Myke Cole
Antonio Gonzalez
, September 09, 2019
I enjoyed Armored Saint, but The Queen of Crows is a big improvement on the previous installment. I saw a lot of growth in Myke’s writing in this book. I think Heloise’s character is more believable and less self contradicting. She is acting more adult as she has more responsibilities. She’s insecure about her new role and still has childish urges when she’s in a stressful position. But overall I think this is a much more believable teenager and the character felt more consistent and more in line with her age than the previous book.
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Raven Tower
by
Ann Leckie
Antonio Gonzalez
, April 07, 2019
I’ve been a huge Ann Leckie fan since Ancillary Justice came out. I thought she had an interesting and deep take on AI that had been missed until that point. Her book expanded the way I viewed the topic and is one of my favorite SciFi books in the last ten years. With The Raven Tower she did it again. The story and characters were great but really impressed me was one of the god characters. She was able to capture the voice of the god in a way that impressed upon the reader the slow deliberativeness of that type of god. That voice set the tone for the book in a way that the reader could feel sitting with them throughout the story. It made the story feel like it was moving slowly, but you knew that it was constantly building. It had the same deliberateness of forming sandstone a layer at a time or watching a cliff erode as water passed beneath it year after year. But the amazing thing is it never feels boring or trudging. The story first teases that the god may be an omniscient narrator to the realization that they’re just as important to the story as the main human character. The reader often realizes there is a much bigger picture that they’re not comprehending, as any mortal would while carrying out the will of an immortal being. The ending was great as well. As any heavy reader knows, a twist ending is incredibly hard to pull off. Leckie did an amazing job. She let enough clues out that you thought you had a handle on what the twist would be. And as I braced myself to have the trick revealed she piled one bigger twist on top of everything. It left me exhilarated.
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Rock Manning Goes for Broke
by
Charlie Jane Anders
Antonio Gonzalez
, March 04, 2019
Have you ever wondered what it would be like if the Fall Guy’s kid did an prat fall into the apocalypse? Then this is the book for you. It’s kind of a dadaist take on the current trend of dystopian fiction with increased scarcity, perpetual war, a surveillance state, and social media running amok. In the middle of it all is Rock Manning who is willing to do anything to awe an audience with his daring. I liked the book. It would touch on serious topics lightly so you always knew they were in the background, like Rock’s brother’s death in some never ending middle east war, while using Rock's hi-jinx as a contrast to the insanity. I wish there had been more of the story and more focus on Rock’s relationship with Sally but it was still a great story of facing the absurdity of existence with even more absurdity. Charlie Jane was pretty efficient in getting three great stories across in not a lot of pages.
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Seven Blades in Black Grave of Empires Book 1
by
Sam Sykes
Antonio Gonzalez
, March 04, 2019
In case you care, I got my copy of Seven Blades In Black through a Goodreads contest. I’m also a big fan of Sykes previous trilogy, his Brave Chef Brianna comic, and his twitter persona. Those are my prior biases. Also, I should warn you, I read this book before bed each night and had crazy dreams. Reading this before bedtime is like smoking a big pipe of wizard pepper right before falling asleep. I really enjoyed this book. Sam’s focus on damaged characters just trying to get by in bad situations, and usually making it worse, is at full force in this story. Sam flaunts his influences through his main character and the two supporting characters. There’s a JRPG influenced bookish inventor/crafter that wouldn’t be out of place in a Final Fantasy game. She has the wonderful name, Twenty-Two Dead Roses in a Chipped Porcelain Vase, and provides ammunition, first aid, and love and support to the main character. A soldier named Cavric Proud who shares the naive honesty and optimism that characterized Asper in the first two books of Sam’s Bring Down Heaven trilogy grudgingly also joins the hero in her mission. He’s a solid soldier and of a type you’d find in a lot of flintlock fantasy. Sam’s twist on this archetype is to slowly erode his confidence and attack his optimism. The hero of the story, Sal the Cacophony, is a very Sykesian character. She’s, at base, moral but overwhelmed by her situation and forced to pursue a quest which often leads her into making fairly immoral decisions. While Sal would prefer to try to be good, her past has left her jaded and cynical that one can actually be good, so she strives to be vengeful in the least worst way that’s expediently possible. On her path to vengeance she hurts those she loves, those who are caught up in her quest, those who are along the path of her quest, and even those who are merely quest adjacent. Where Sal shows up, catastrophe is not far behind. Sam writes at a quick pace although occasionally I would say he drags things out a little far than necessary to build tension. No one wants to see a bad guy shot in the back of the head and the hero to move on, but sometimes even if it didn’t serve the story it made more sense. In one instance I thought Sal would find herself unarmed after she left her gun with her bird, but either that scene got cut down or I missed the point of separating her from the gun. Overall I would highly recommend this book to people who already like Sam Sykes, to people who like sorcerous guns, or anyone who likes a story of hot mess barreling and then stumbling and then face planting through the obstacles in her bloody bloody path.
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Vigilance
by
Robert Jackson Bennett
Antonio Gonzalez
, January 24, 2019
Vigilance is a novella of the current times. It’s a parade of horribles criticizing US responses to current problems. Global warming and the student debt explosion are in the background. The US obsession with guns is in the foreground but the theme of the book is the absolute refusal to assess and solve the issues facing us today. It’s easy to see the metaphors for Fox News and people like Murdoch, Bill O’Reilly and their interchangeable blonde counterparts. Patriotism puts on the costume of outrage and respect while the actual citizenry is delinquent in their patriotic responsibilities. Guns and televisions become props of the unengaged citizenry falling down on the job. Although the society RJB describes is one that’s embraced the nihilism of the NRA I don’t think he’s totally pessimistic. You don’t write a criticism like this if you think it will fall on deaf ears. But RJB has no faith in the older generations. They’ve failed and continue to fail the US. His hope is with younger people and those left out of the American mainstream who are better able to see the narcissism and consequences of current choices of the Baby Boomer generation. It’s short and worth reading as a piece of social criticism before turning off cable news and talking to your friends about organizing for change.
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Foundryside Founders Trilogy 01
by
Robert Jackson Bennett
Antonio Gonzalez
, August 25, 2018
I’ve been a huge fan of RJB ever since I picked up City of Stairs. I ended up getting City of Blades a few days later and finished them both with in a week. I’ve read through his entire catalog and have been impressed with the progress he makes as a writer with each book. Before Foundryside came out there was so much hype I was worried it wouldn’t live up to expectations but it was more than a match for the hype. I don’t really care about magic systems but I think he used Sanchia’s powers within the system to great effect and it provided a huge insight into the way that Scrivners think and work in the world. This book is faster paced than the Divine Cities trilogy and RJB was able to use that to great effect. Foundryside is a heist novel, but the pacing helped ramp up tension continuously through the book instead of just at the conclusion. The faster pacing also helped roll the world building out so you got continuous bursts of helpful information throughout the book but it never dragged. I also appreciated that there were more characters interacting more so RJB really showed off his dialogue skills. There were plenty of bon mots and the exposition was entertaining and helpful. I’m excited for the next book and if RJB keeps improving at the rate he has I expect it’ll be on everyone’s top five books of the year.
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First Person A novel
by
Richard Flanagan
Antonio Gonzalez
, May 01, 2018
I’m a big fan of Flanagan. The writing in this book is good, perhaps too good, and that makes giving it a fair review very difficult. This book is uncomfortable to read. The premise of the book is about an aspiring writer who is trying to ghost write a con man’s memoir. Throughout the book there are enough allusions to Flanagan’s own life that you get the suspicion that you’re not in on the con, but are the one being conned. At one point the ghostwriter and publisher are talking about ways they can make a book seem bigger and therefore more weighty. The publisher mentions they could use heavier paper to give a book added heft. The hardback edition of First Person that I read probably had the thickest paper stock of any book I’ve ever read. As I finished that paragraph I couldn’t help if I was the butt of a joke. That was the clearest time I got that feeling but it seemed to happen every 20 pages. It’s uncomfortable but forgivable b/c this is the state the ghost writer is in throughout his ordeal. The other issue that made the book difficult to get through is that Flanagan did an excellent job of creating a despicable con man. You feel the ghost writer’s disgust with his subject and his hatred of being trapped with him to get the book done. But as a reader you’re just as trapped. And it feels icky. This is probably the biggest flaw in the book b/c if this con man was so successful we should get a sense of his charisma, but we don’t. He just seems like someone you wouldn’t leave an uncovered drink around. The last thing that really hits you is that the ghost writer’s life is so full of stress and anxiety and eminent failure that it’s not really a place you want to be. You sympathize with his plight. He’s got to get this book written so he can pay for the various emergencies that is his life. But standing in the ghost writer’s place and feeling the threads of his life unwind and slip out of his grip is rough. So to sum up, Flanagan did a great job of writing a book about people in a situation that was uncomfortable with people that were unpleasant to be around and did such a good job you feel like you’re in the middle of action, which is the last place you want to be. And he may have been making fun of you the whole time.
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Stanton: Lincoln's War Secretary
by
Walter Stahr
Antonio Gonzalez
, April 30, 2018
This book was fascinating. Before I get into the content of the book I want to note that it’s a really well made book. The binding is solid and the paper used is of excellent quality. It really gives you a sort of luxurious experience when you handle the book that made reading it an even greater pleasure. There were three things that I found this book did a better job of illustrating than most books about this period. The book shows a special moment in the history of warfare logistics, provides an example of how Lincoln inspired loyalty, and shows how some people’s racist views during the period evolved. Scientific developments during this period had their biggest impact on the frequently overlooked bureaucratic and logistical sides of warfare. With the use of telegraphs and railroads, the Union army was probably the best supplied and best informed army in the history of the world up to that point. Learning about the work Stanton put in to move troops to defend Chattanooga is fascinating b/c you see the creativity and might the Union had and how the use of these new technologies was not obvious and took time to develop. Stanton worked tirelessly with civilian and military leaders to perfect these developments. Stanton and the Union quartermaster Montgomery Meigs definitely have a lot to teach anyone involved in logistics. The description of his relationship with Lincoln follows a similar pattern to other cabinet members. Their relationship started as one of contempt, Stanton thought of Lincoln as a country bumpkin and was condescending and rude and over the 4 years that he worked with Lincoln he came to venerate him and have a deep love for the President’s bravery, empathy, and intellect. This is similar to the process Seward and Wells went through and it’s amazing to see Lincoln’s charisma take hold on three such different personalities. There really was something almost providential about Lincoln. The last aspect of the book was interesting and provides insight into how racism slowly changes in the U.S. Stanton went from a man who bragged about slave ownership in his extended family to a man who was adamant about voting rights for black citizens. Although he had a propensity of telling people what they wanted to hear and had told Democrats one thing and Unionists another on important topics like abolition and the defense of Fort Sumner I believe this was a real change in his belief about citizenship and black people as human beings. He saw daily the work that black troops did in defending the Union and when he was given choices that would have been more politically popular, like trading only white prisoners of war, he refused. He understood the importance of guaranteeing black Americans the vote b/c that was the only way they could defend their hard fought liberty. Stanton’s character is interesting b/c he was pompous, stubborn and egotistical but he was an amazing learner. His ability to apply the lessons he learned, whether in logistics, his estimation of an individual, or his recognition of the humanity of black Americans was forceful and a good lesson to learn from his life.
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Active Memory
by
Dan Wells
Antonio Gonzalez
, March 13, 2018
I enjoy Wells’s writing. He’s great at writing characters you care about and putting them in plots with fast moving stories that provide enough mystery to keep you turning pages. This book completes Wells’s Mirador series. It’s a YA near future cyberpunk series. The protagonist, Mari, is a young hacker in Los Angeles’s Mirardor neighborhood. Her family owns a small restaurant that her father runs, in a neighborhood run by a crime family, in a world run by corporations. Mari has problems with all of them. Mari is trying to solve a mystery from her childhood about a car crash that took her arm and killed Zenaida Maldonado. Her father forbids her from investigating, worried that it will upset the local mob boss, who happens to be Zenaida’s widower. Mari’s investigation leads to an uneasy alliance with Omar, the scion of the Maldonados, who also wants to know what happened to his mother. Along the path they get involved in a gang war, recieve cryptic clues from a opaque hacker named Grendel, and become the targets of corporate assassins. The story winds through twists and turns as previous characters make appearances. Action sequences are peppered throughout the story to keep it exciting and keeps the story moving a fast pace until the final scene. Wells talks about the contract with the reader in his podcast, Writing Excuses, and he upholds his end of the deal. We learn the answer to questions raised in the first book. Wells sprinkles enough clues throughout the book so that you can figure out the identity of Grendel before it’s announced in the book without feeling like it was obvious all along or that he hid the ball from you. One issue that came up in the series that I think is really interesting is how to integrate characters from a VR world that aren’t in the action locally. Wells overcame this problem in the 2nd book by having everyone in one geographic location. In the third book he doesn’t use that conceit and the characters set in China and India fall to the sides of the story. It’s a tough problem and I don’t fault Wells for it. Books like Ready Player One or Snow Crash that face a similar problem avoided it by putting the action with distant characters in VR so that the real world was a minor setting. As more cyberpunk uses an international group of characters it will be interesting to see if anyone can find a way to address the problem without localizing the characters.
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3 Kings Diddy Dr Dre Jay Z & Hip Hops Multibillion Dollar Rise
by
Zack OMalley Greenburg
Antonio Gonzalez
, March 08, 2018
This book was a pleasant surprise. I won it in a Goodreads contest and my highest aspiration was that it might be kind of interesting if I actually won it. And it turned out to be very interesting. The author is able to track the development of hip hop along with the three subjects lives so the reader gets a basic understanding of the history and the individuals credited with its invention. He takes it from the parties in NY housing project rec rooms as Diddy and Jay-Z were children to the rise of Gangsta rap as the crack epidemic flaired to east/west coast beefs up to the impact of Me Too on Russell Simmons. The author did a great job of making a subject that I have only a mild interest in very engaging and he showed how hip hop intersects with so many other industries and how it has become an important tastemaker over the last couple of decades. He also showed how the three shared the same workaholic tendencies, intellectual curiosity, and risk taking propensities that allowed them to keep moving forward. Music stars don’t just sit back and let the money roll in. They work their butts off at a punishing pace. It was a great book if you’re interested in either hip-hop or business management and entrepreneurship.
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Armored Saint Sacred Throne Book 1
by
Myke Cole
Antonio Gonzalez
, February 23, 2018
This book deserves between 3 stars and 3.5 stars but I’ll round up. I think this was a good growing experience for Cole. The author, who’s known for his military speculative fiction, reached out of his comfort zone not just in subject matter but in character as well. It was a big step and you can tell he learned a lot. And like any similar endeavor it has some rough spots. I have two critiques. The first is that the pacing is a little bumpy. The book isn’t very long and it takes at least half the book to establish the main character and the world. It’s only completely established in the 3rd to last chapter. That didn’t leave enough room for the denouement. This makes the first half of the book drag a little. Once it finally gets going it’s off like a nitro burning funny car. My second critique is that the main character had some issues. Cole’s usual character is a “hard operator” special forces dude so a little girl is a big stretch. Overall he did fine but he didn’t quite stick the landing. The issue that bothered me most is that she just seems kind of young for her age and the world Cole’s painted. She’s supposed to be 16 or 17 (16 winters) but behaves like an 11 or 12 year old, and a spoiled one at that. In the rougher world that Cole has painted she’s probably behaving like a 8 or 9 year old. My criticism of the pacing is somewhat offset b/c this is supposed to be a series. If the book were twice as long there wouldn’t have been any problem with it. So, when the second one comes out and you can read them close together I think that will go away. There was a lot I liked about the book. The world building was great, especially for a fan of the Dragon Age universe. The quotes at the beginning of the chapters gave the feeling of deep lore and a sensible basis for political organization. The magic system was interesting. You’re given enough information to know the truth of it at the extremes but no idea what the middle ground is like. Cole does two things really well. He gives you an enemy to hate. And I really hated them. I think part of my problem with the pacing is I wanted to see them beat down and fight back a little sooner. The other thing is that Cole can write a fight scene. A big ass steam powered war engine punching the shit out of stuff was awesome. The TLDR is that the books not perfect but it was good enough that I’ll read the second one and it showed a lot of growth and hard work on the part of the author.
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Dangerous Subjects: James D. Saules and the Rise of Black Exclusion in Oregon
by
Kenneth R. Coleman
Antonio Gonzalez
, January 21, 2018
I had a great time reading this book. The subject of the book, James Saules, is intersectional in so many trends of American history that you actually get a pretty good survey of the period. His journey covers events from Virginia to the North East U.S. to Peru and the S. Pacific to the Pacific Northwest. Throughout his journey you learn a little about free black Americans, the whaling community, missionary culture, manifest destiny, indigenous people, the Hudson Bay Company and how that all came together in Oregon. The author did an amazing job considering how few sources on Saules exist. I think tracking Saules from the East coast of the US all the way to Peru and then up to Oregon was an accomplishment. The book also was helpful in explaining how the culture of Oregon changed from a multicultural fur trapping community where the indigenous people suffered but were still valued for their skills and knowledge to a settler culture where even missionaries just wanted the native peoples to go away and die. I think this is an important book for understanding the origins of Oregon and how racism evolved in the mid 19th century to a more rigid and exclusionary force. It was also interesting to watch how racism of against natives and black Americans was interwoven and then compounded so that black and native Americans together was considered more dangerous than either alone and allowed for more bigoted treatment of both groups.
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Gods Last Breath Bring Down Heaven Book 3
by
Sam Sykes
Antonio Gonzalez
, December 11, 2017
I'm a big fan of Sam Sykes and his twitter presence. I've enjoyed the first two books in the trilogy and was excited to finally get this book. There are three things I expect from a Sykes book: 1. Sword fights 2. Tender smooches 3. Elf butts There were a slew of sword fights, on against a giant demon, and all of them were clothed. Sykes has previously tackled naked sword fights, so it was good to see him move in a new direction. But the sword fights weren't even the best part this time, and not just b/c the characters were wearing clothes. He put in an awesome wizard fight. You could practically smell the burnt flesh and ozone as lightning bolts ripped apart combatants. There was also a great battle scene with a phalanx defense that would make Myke Cole jealous. The smooches in this book were some of the tenderest. Lenk, who has been fairly slow to learn throughout the series, really developed in this book. That's probably why he had pants on during his sword fights. His relationship with Kataria was really fleshed out and believable. They aren't a happy couple but they're working on it between giant demon attacks and I think things look good for those two kids. Even Asper gets a sword fight in this book. Which makes sense b/c she really is a major focus of the plot line. You may be asking if were there elf butts? There were hella elf butts. I like Sykes's focus on characters. There's a decent amount of world building but I think it's kept to the proper limit so you can really focus on the characters and how they fumble throughout the story. The magic system is described enough so you know it's not some fix all deus ex machina device that's going to rear up and save the day, but you get to focus on the wizards and what kind of people they are. BTW, they're awful, awful people. My only real criticism is that the cast was a little too big so some characters didn't get as much attention as I would like. I mean Dreadaeleon didn't get enough attention. He's a total dick and a real piece of magic spewing garbage but he's my favorite and I worry what this says about me.
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Six Months, Three Days, Five Others
by
Charlie Jane Anders
Antonio Gonzalez
, October 16, 2017
This was a great collection of short stories. Each story is different enough from the next that you get a good feeling of CJA's range. The first story is a great Alien contact story kind of in the vein of Terry Bison's They're Made of Meat. There's an interesting dysfunctional family story that centers on a cybernetic inheritance. A sweet story about a cat, a neat time travel story that definitely has novel potential, and a dystopic future story. The eponymous story is a love story about two clairvoyants struggling through a relationship. It was a great read and a couple of the stories, Clover especially, had that feeling you get when you read a Kelly Lynch story.
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American Elsewhere
by
Robert Jackson Bennett
Antonio Gonzalez
, October 16, 2017
Bennett is an engaging writer. I finished his Divine Cities trilogy and it was so impressive I had to work my way through is back catalog. This is another amazing book. It meshes Lovecraftian horror with quantum physics for a fun read full of dimensional shifting, tentacles, and unseen horrors. There's a great mix of action to keep the story lively and moving while the mystery unravels and horror seeps into our dimension. This is a entry to RJB's horror and it's a good companion to The Company Man.
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Mr Shivers
by
Robert Jackson Bennett
Antonio Gonzalez
, June 08, 2017
This was an impressive debut novel. It has some of the typical debut novel problems, prose is a little purple, but overall there's the kind of necessary restraint in the writing needed to build tension. The author didn't try to pull any cheap tricks,he signaled his twist and followed through. His later books are very much improved but it's cool to see that he was concentrating on the fundamentals with his first novel.
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Nothing Left to Lose
by
Dan Wells
Antonio Gonzalez
, June 06, 2017
I'm a big fan of Dan Wells and he just keeps improving and improving. I've been super impressed with the Mirador series and forced a copy of Blue Screen onto a few friends. My favorite book he's done so far is Mr. Monster. That book was an emotional obstacle course with a side of teeth grinding suspense. This new book is now my second favorite. The action was good, the last hundred pages were nail bitters. The mystery was good, I didn't catch on until a page before the reveal. And the character change was totally not what I was expecting
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City of Miracles: Divine Cities #3
by
Robert Jackson Bennett
Antonio Gonzalez
, May 02, 2017
Bennett did one of the hardest things to do with an engrossing trilogy. He finished it in a satisfying way. The characters from all three novels complete their stories in ways that make sense for their characters. The ends of the plot are tied together in a manner that leaves questions open but don't feel unfinished. This book flowed naturally out of City of Blades by emphasizing Sigrud's character. While the other characters in the book are interesting the story focuses on Sigrud's growth and the completion of his story line. The experience left me very satisfied with the trilogy and I look forward to what Bennett does next.
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Sins of Empire Gods of Blood & Powder Book 1
by
Brian Mcclellan
Antonio Gonzalez
, March 09, 2017
I'll be surprised if this isn't the most fun I have reading a fantasy novel all year. I tore through this sucker and McClellan is a crafty enough writer to give me enough of what I expect from a good story (Revenge plot!) and turn some of my expectations on their heads (Not a double agent like I thought!). He's got a good mix of old our old favorite characters (Who doesn't love Olem?) and has introduced some great new characters (I like Styke but I'm most excited about Ibana. She seems to be filling Olem's old shoes in a Vlora:Styke Olem:Ibana way). Last, this is just conjecture, it seems to me that Michel is slightly influenced by Joe Abercrombie's Glotka. There's no way that's a bad thing.
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People Like You
by
Margaret Malone
Antonio Gonzalez
, March 01, 2017
This was a good collection of short stories. There were a lot of stories exploring themes surrounding obligations and status of motherhood and the difficulties of flat relationships. All were well written and there were more than a few instances where I had to stop and think about the deeper meanings and philosophical implications of a line.
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Blade Itself First Law 01
by
Joe Abercrombie
Antonio Gonzalez
, March 09, 2014
I had gone through a spate of books that I liked, but didn't love before coming to the The Blade Itself. I'm not finished with the trilogy yet, but I'm having a great time reading them. The characters are, in general, such terrible people, but you come to really like them. You really hope things work out for the torturer, the spoiled arrogant rich kid, and the brutal murderer. I find myself hoping that the torturer doesn't become a better person or learn any lessons, because he's so wonderful just the way he is. Abercrombie also did a great job with the wizard. Instead of a noble near perfect figure like Gandalf, this wizard is having a hard time of it. He makes bad decisions, he's proven wrong, he's kind of a crappy person to be on a journey with. I really only have two complaints about this book. It's not really a whole book in itself. I understand that you don't want to sale a 1,500 page book right off the bat, but this is more like the Part I of a huge fantasy novel than it is a stand alone. My second complaint is really more of a fear. I want the characters to keep being terrible. I hope the consciousless torturer keeps being ruthlessly efficient and depraved. I really hope the rest of the trilogy stays this good.
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Redshirts
by
Scalzi, John
Antonio Gonzalez
, January 01, 2013
This book was so much fun to read and every time a theme started to feel played out, it got a little deeper. This is a great airplane book or beach book because it flows so easily and it really stirred my enthusiasm. If you're even slightly familiar with star trek or enjoy sci fi the tiniest bit then this is a great read.
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Some of My Best Friends Are Black The Strange Story of Integration in America
by
Tanner Colby
Antonio Gonzalez
, September 16, 2012
This is an important book. The author successfully addresses the issues he presents fairly and openly. He assigns blame to both sides and points out a lot of problems with the different attempts at solutions. I read a lot about race in history and this is the first book I read in a long time that gave me new insights and motivated me to adjust my thinking on integration, racism, and the economics involved.
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Hollow City
by
Dan Wells
Antonio Gonzalez
, August 05, 2012
This was a fun read and more along the John Cleaver line than the Partials line. We have a narrator who's not all that reliable and a fun mystery. It wasn't shelved in YA but there's no reason this wouldn't be a good book for a middle reader.
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Great Big Book of Horrible Things The Definitive Chronicle of Historys 100 Worst Atrocities
by
Matthew White
Antonio Gonzalez
, January 02, 2012
One of the funnest history books I read this year. The nature of this book means that the depth of information is sacrificed for the quantity of information, but it was well worth it. It gives you a quick overview of the major conflicts of human history and ignores patriotic agendas so you can put modern events in a realistic context.
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