Bookstooge's Reviews On the Road

Wednesday, August 21, 2024

The Infinite and the Divine (Warhammer 40K: Necrons) 3.5Stars

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Title: The Infinite and the Divine
Series: Warhammer 40K: Necrons
Author: Robert Rath
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 339
Words: 112K

This book came across my radar back in January, when Mark Reviewed It. It deals with two Necrons, Trazyn the Infinite and Orikan the Divine, hence the title of the book.

Oh yes, I plan to interject various Magic the Gathering cards from the Warhammer Commander set from 2022. Prepare yourselves accordingly!

They have always been enemies, even when they were still flesh and the Bio-Transference Ceremony that turned the entire Necrontyr race into Immortal Metal Necrons hasn’t stopped that rivalry.

They have found a Magical Boojum that one wants to hoard and the other wants to investigate. So for the next 10,000 years they fight and backstab and occasionally work together to figure out just what this Magical Boojum is. Well, bad news guys. It was a trap all along! The Necrons were tricked by a race called the C’Tan, godlike beings, who ate their souls when they turned the Necrontyr into the Necrons. Pretty sneaky. Well, the Necrons weren’t too happy about that and did their best to wipe out the C’Tan. They did a pretty good job, except they didn’t quite destroy them all. Those they couldn’t destroy they put into Shards, basically permanent prison. One Shard didn’t take this sitting down and decided to do something and eventually break free. Which is what this Magical Boojum does. The C’Tan breaks free, Orikan and Trazyn are forced to work together to destroy it and the book ends with both Necrons having a piece of a sub-shard which they are convinced they can handle, secretly and on their own. Sigh.

While not as bad as Farsight, this book still does rely on the reader having some knowledge of the Warhammer 40K universe. Too much in my opinion. You have to know that the space elves destroyed their society by creating one of the Chaos Gods. You have to know that the C’Tan forced the Necrontyr into becoming the Necrons. You have to have heard of the Horus Heresy and understand that it was a civil war in the human empire. There is an instance of the Empire of Mankind performing an Exterminatus on the planet that the Magical Boojum is hidden on, but the author does a pretty good job of explaining that so you aren’t left flailing, trying to figure out what it is.

Rath also does an excellent job of showing how time is so different for a race that is functionally immortal. The middle section of the book encompasses just over 8,000 years and Rath has both characters look up and realize 2,000 years have passed while they’ve been doing whatever. The “time” aspect was handled very well.

The end of the book is one massive battle that starts as a betrayal between Orikan and Trazyn and then spirals out of control as they realize that a C’Tan has tricked them both. They throw everything they have against him and barely make it out. Rath throws in tons of Necron military types to the mix and eventually my eyes just glazed over and I read it all as “then another Necron did something something something”.

Overall, I enjoyed this and found out a lot about the Necrons, but that wouldn’t have happened without input from Mark. I was doing a buddy-read with Dave and he had just as many questions as I did. The blind leading the blind as it were.

One the plus side, I got to showcase a bunch of Magic Cards, so that’s a big plus, hahahahaa.

★★★✬☆

From TVTropes.com

Synopsis – click to open

the novel follows two Necron lords, Trazyn the Infinite, a collector of ancient artifacts, and Orikan the Diviner, a powerful chronomancer. Trazyn and Orikan have been enemies for millennia, but when Orikan steals the Astrarium Mysterios from Trazyn’s collection, believing it to be the key to unlocking an ancient power, the two are dragged into direct conflict. Over the course of ten thousand years, they go from competing over ownership of the Mysterios, to working together to unlock its secrets, to stabbing each other in the back over it. Their feud reshapes timelines, dooms planets, and threatens to either destroy or restore the entire Necron race.

Tuesday, August 20, 2024

Lady Susan 4Stars

Title: Lady Susan
Series: ———-
Author: Jane Austen
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic novella
Pages: 85
Words: 23K

When I originally read this back in ‘13, it was as part of Austen’s collected “Minor Works”. As such, in my mind it was incomplete, because I was mixing it up with Sanditon. I assumed it was unfinished because it was so short. The reality though, is that it is a novella and reading it on its own this time, I realized it has a beginning, a middle and an end. It is also in the epistolary style (the story is told through letters written to and from various characters) and I have a weakness for that particular literary device. It just works for me, so I had a great time this time around.

Lady Susan, the titular character, is, to put it bluntly, a home wrecker. She’s recently widowed and on the prowl for her next meal ticket. She gets involved with a married man, because “he’s interesting” and then when that causes a scandal, removes to the countryside to live with her brother-in-law and his wife. The wife’s brother comes to visit and Lady Susan decides to play with him. While keeping the married man on the leash AND keeping an eye on yet a third rich young man, who she thinks should marry her 16 year old daughter. Lots of drama ensues between family as the story progresses and we get to see the true Lady Susan through her letters to a friend in London. In the end, the daughter of Lady Susan is set to marry the good rich young man and Lady Susan ends up with the third young man, who is rich as Croesus, but extremely stupid. No come uppances are anywhere to be seen.

I was amazed at just how brazen Lady Susan was in her letters to her friend in London. She tells her real thoughts on everyone around her, outlines in detail her schemes for herself and her daughter and generally shows just how terrible a person she is. I would have been ashamed to even write in my own private journal some of the things she casually and glibly writes about. To be frankly so self-centered and selfish with no concerns for anyone besides herself, well, I’d be embarrassed to admit even to myself that I was that kind of person.

I did have a little trouble keeping track who was who. With several people referring to each other by their titles and last names instead of their family relation or full name, I had to concentrate on who Mrs Vincent Godfrey the 4^th was, or how they were related to Miss Emma Murray. Thankfully, I WAS able to keep everyone straight, even if they did just refer to each other as Mrs Godfrey or Miss Murray. Naming conventions and their usage is another one of those little time capsules that I so enjoy about reading older books, even if it does take work on my part.

Reading this by itself emphasized the ending and I was glad to see this as a complete story instead of the “fragment” I thought it was in my head.

★★★★☆

From Wikipedia.org

Synopsis – click to open

Lady Susan Vernon, a beautiful and charming recent widow, visits her brother-in-law and his wife, Charles and Catherine Vernon, with little advance notice at Churchill, their country residence. Catherine is far from pleased, as Lady Susan had tried to prevent her marriage to Charles and her unwanted guest has been described to her as “the most accomplished coquette in England”. Among Lady Susan’s conquests is the married Mr. Manwaring.

Catherine’s brother Reginald arrives a week later, and despite Catherine’s strong warnings about Lady Susan’s character, soon falls under her spell. Lady Susan toys with the younger man’s affections for her own amusement and later because she perceives it makes her sister-in-law uneasy. Her confidante, Mrs. Johnson, to whom she writes frequently, recommends she marry the very eligible Reginald, but Lady Susan considers him to be greatly inferior to Manwaring.

Frederica, Lady Susan’s 16-year-old daughter, tries to run away from school when she learns of her mother’s plan to marry her off to a wealthy but insipid young man she loathes. She also becomes a guest at Churchill. Catherine comes to like her—her character is totally unlike her mother’s—and as time goes by, detects Frederica’s growing attachment to the oblivious Reginald.

Later, Sir James Martin, Frederica’s unwanted suitor, shows up uninvited, much to her distress and her mother’s vexation. When Frederica begs Reginald for support out of desperation (having been forbidden by Lady Susan to turn to Charles and Catherine), she causes a temporary breach between Reginald and Lady Susan, but the latter soon repairs the rupture.

Lady Susan decides to return to London and marry her daughter off to Sir James. Reginald follows, still bewitched by her charms and intent on marrying her, but he encounters Mrs. Manwaring at the home of Mr. Johnson and finally learns Lady Susan’s true character. Lady Susan ends up marrying Sir James herself, and allows Frederica to reside with Charles and Catherine at Churchill, where Reginald De Courcy “could be talked, flattered, and finessed into an affection for her.”

Monday, August 19, 2024

Eye for an Eye - MTG 4E

Dude is built like a brick! If he was shorter, I’d say “Hey look, it’s me!”. But he’s way too tall to be me. Plus, I’m rocking the goatee while he’s got the evil villain mustache thing going. And my abs don’t “quite” look like that. Maybe if you squint though.

Sunday, August 18, 2024

[Repost 2024] Bookstooge's Star Ratings

Been a couple of years since I last reposted this. Good for all the new people who have joined the band since then. Cheers!

Since Star Ratings can by mysterious beasts to some, I thought I would explain what each Star Rating means, roughly, to me.

5 Stars:

An Epic read that I will buy in hardcover and read again and again or a book that has profoundly changed my life.

4 Stars:

A book that I thoroughly enjoyed but am not sure I will read again. It ‘might’ not hold up to the Me I’ll be in 10 years.

3 Stars:

A completely average book that I enjoyed. Nothing really special but nothing bad to note either.

The majority of what I read falls into this category.

2 Stars:

Did not enjoy this book. It might have been grammar, editing or plot issues. It might also have been Religious and Philosophical in nature.

1 Star:

Crap. Probably could not finish. Most likely Blasphemous in one way or another. Could also be that the skillz of the writer were of a 3rd grade level.

Half Stars:

Whenever a book is a Strong or Weak X Star Book, I tend to go for the half stars. They make my life so much easier!

Saturday, August 17, 2024

[Art] Soul Guardian

Besides his Archmage, the Hidden King was also protected by his Soul Guardian. Knowing he was vulnerable to attacks powered by the Tree of Day and Night, the Hidden King had broken his soul up into five parts. Four of them he entrusted to his Soul Guardian, who had the power to hide from the Tree of Day and Night and whoever might use its power. The fifth part of his soul though, the Hidden King had decided to hide it away where only HE would know of it. Thus was born his name, the Hidden King.

The Mad Chartreuse Emperor was driven to frothing fits of pique in his search to destroy the Hidden King’s soul. With his entire pool of power tainted by the Tree of Day and Night, even the power stolen from the Spirit of the World Guardian wasn’t enough to allow him to find the soul aspects. The Soul Guardian was doing his job of protecting the King’s four soul aspects perfectly. The Chartreuse Emperor sat in his Forest Refuge, brooding, planning, seeking a way to destroy his foes. He knew his destiny, that this world would belong to him and him alone, and nothing would prevent that.

Friday, August 16, 2024

Liquid Death or My Week IX

Murder Your Thirst, with a Chainsaw made out of Mangos!

In recent months I’ve been trying to wean myself away from drinking diet soda, mainly because of all the chemicals in them that I KNOW aren’t good for me. As a diabetic, drinking regular soda with it’s 3 day supply of sugar in one can just isn’t an option, so I always went diet. But as I’m getting older and my midlife is staring me full in the face, I’ve realized I have to take better care of myself, even if in small ways. A friend of mine from my Bibleschool days always talked about how he just drank seltzer and so I began that. It has worked. I get my bubbly without the thick, cloying sensation of artificial sweetener and I don’t feel like I’m pouring something down my throat that can clean toilets. But I have to admit, the “flavor” of seltzers is so light that at times it is really nonexistent and I just crave some flavor.

I was browsing Amazon one day while looking for deals on Rockstarenergy drinks and saw Liquid Death. I thought it was a new brand of energy drink to be honest and so I bought a case to check it out. Imagine my surprise when I found out it was only flavored sparkling water. More flavor than seltzer though! And it comes in 20oz cans, which is a big plus for me, as I like to have something to sip all evening long as I read on the couch or write up my latest masterpiece for the blog.

I later found out that Liquid Death is marketed towards Metal Heads, to try to get them to drink more water and stop being dumby heads. There’s a whole marketing scheme about selling your soul to the Company, etc, etc. That doesn’t bother me at all because I’m sure the Company believes in your soul about as much as I believe that you can sell it. So as I’m typing this, Thursday evening, I’m eating some french bread pizza and sipping on a Mango Chainsaw Liquid Death. Eat, Drink and Blog is a great way to spend your evening!

And on to this week’s part of the My Week post.

Bupkiss. Doody. Nothing. Voido. Entropy!

Oh wait. I ate some cold cereal for dinner one day. That counts as exciting and exhilarating blog material right? Sigh, yeah, I didn’t think so either. That’s the problem with being me. I crave the bland weeks, the weeks where nothing happens. I WANT my days to blend into each other, where I literally can’t tell one from the other. Because that means everything is going smoothly, that there are no hiccups. Hiccups in Life always means bad things in my experience.

Like thinking your eye doctor appointment is just a checkup and so you make plans with Mrs B to go to IHOP afterwards to have breakfast for dinner (because that IS exciting news and blows having cold cereal right out of the water) and then finding out that no, you’re scheduled to get injections in both eyes that day. Now THAT is a hiccup. Because all you can do afterwards is get driven home, take 2 extra strength Tylenol and collapse into bed and hope you feel better by the next morning. Things like THAT are not what I look forward to. If you do, you are a sick fether and I’ll gladly put you out of your misery.

See, weeks that have things like that are not cool. So I just pretend that that didn’t happen this week and thus nothing happened and I am entirely happy and you get a vanilla post about nothing. Which I’m ok with too, because really, just who do you think you are that I have to entertain you? YOU should be entertaining ME in the comments section. So get cracking.

Or you could always buy me some more Liquid Death. I wouldn’t say no to that…

ps,
the featured image for this post is the side of the box of Liquid Death. Yep, that’s what the box looks like…

Thursday, August 15, 2024

Counterstrike (Empire Rising #11) 3.5Stars

Title: Counterstrike
Series: Empire Rising #11
Author: David Holmes
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 458
Words: 180K

This is where Humanity tries to turn things around and go on the offensive against the Karacknids (giant xenophobic space spiders). So far, Humanity has been playing nothing but defense but here, Emperor Somerville and other top notch Space Commadores take various fast attack groups behind the front lines and attack the support structure enabling the Karacknid War Machine. It works well, very well. The only problem is, unknown to Humanity, the Karacknids are moving in a massive space fleet from another front and they plan to use all 10,000 ships to absolutely crush Humanity and the Alliance.

This was another chunkster of a book. Every time I pick up one of these Empire Rising novels, it always surprises me just how long they are. But then I start reading and I’m never bored, never.

It was quite the interesting dichotomy as a reader, knowing from the get-go that the Karacknids had a massive fleet on the way, while we are reading about the successes of Humanity in the war on their infrastructure. It was hard to be excited for the victories because we knew the giant hammer was looming, just out of sight.

The book ends with humanity once again on the back foot and all is in doubt. Now, we know that isn’t the truth because every chapter starts with a saying from the book Empire Rising, written in the year 3000, which chronicles the history of the rise of the Human Empire. So I know that Humanity is going to win, eventually, against the Karacknids. I think it is a testimony to Holmes’ skill as an author that I can still feel trepidation about the outcome even while knowing the eventual longterm outcome.

I can’t remember if I’ve stated it before or not, but Holmes has passed from the realm of mere writer/scribbler into the realm of Author in my opinion. He writes real, different, compelling characters (everyone is not the same character with just a different name), with exciting scenarios that do not feel repetitive. My only niggles are that he really needs to tighten up his prose (450+ pages is long, period) and he needs to make his characters actually grow. While distinct in voice, they remain the same. James is pretty much the same now as he was in the first book, The Void War. Like I said, minor quibbles.

Otherwise, I remain quite happy to keep reading this series a couple of books at a time. Holmes has been writing this series since 2015 and book 19 just came out this past March. I’m ok with that given the quality shown here.

★★★✬☆

From the Publisher

Synopsis – Click to Open

The Karacknid invasion of Human space has been temporarily thwarted. A window of opportunity has opened up. Through it Emperor Somerville hopes to strike deep into Karacknid territory to buy Earth and the Varanni Alliance the breathing space they need to replace their losses. On the other side of the Karacknid Empire, Rear Admiral Becket and the Conclave species are planning a pre-emptive strike of their own. With relatively undefended borders, Becket has seen an opportunity to hit the Karacknids where they least expect it.
Yet the Karacknid’s power is far from diminished. After the series of defeats the Karacknids have suffered, their Imperator has now focused his full attention on destroying Humanity and the Varanni Alliance. Nothing short of the total conquest of Humanity’s colonies has been ordered. The full might of the Karacknid Navy has been tasked to bring it about. For James, Christine, Lightfoot, Becket and all the others, their own lives and the future of the Empire is at stake.

All of My “Empire Rising” Reviews

Wednesday, August 14, 2024

Farsight: Crisis of Faith (Warhammer 40K: Tau) 3Stars

Title: Farsight: Crisis of Faith
Series: Warhammer 40K: Tau
Author: Phil Kelly
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 281
Words: 93K

Well, this wasn’t QUITE as bewildering as Farsight was. This was almost a direct sequel to that novella, so I was building on that foundation. I say a direct sequel, but some big events and some matter of time has passed since then. At the end of Farsight the main character, Commander Farsight, has figured out how to beat the orks and is on the brink of taking back the planet Arkunasha, when he is commanded by the Celestials, the highest level of Tau politics, to abandon the planet. Then the Empire of Man attacks the Tau home system and Farsight is tasked with defending his race. Another battle of greater import draws off the Empire and for morales’ sake the Celestials claim it as a great Tau Victory. Everyone involved knows the reality however.

So that is the background of this novel, which is woven into the ongoing story, bits of puzzle pieces that we the reader are expected to pick out and figure out on our own. I’m not a fan of that style of writing any more. The Wheel of Time series and the Malazan Book of the Fallen series both cured me of that.

The current story is about the Tau sending a fleet to reclaim the worlds that the Empire of Man recovered in that unwritten battle. Only politics are involved and lots of highly placed Warrior Caste characters are either sidelined or sent into impossible situations to probably fail and cast doubt on them. The Celestials definitely are NOT good guys.

We also have the Tau really facing the Chaos Gods for the first time. One of them is actually possessed by a daemon and works at undermining the entire fleet. Since the Tau have almost zero psychic ability, they are pretty blind to that aspect of the Universe they inhabit, even after having it rubbed into their little xeno faces when the Psykers from the Empire of Man really let loose.

Overall, I understood more of what was going on but I can’t say I actually enjoyed this any more than its predecessor. The Tau politics are just as dirty as anything seen in the Empire of Man and I do not enjoy that in my fiction. Even in a grimdark universe I need some good guys, not some backboneless wimp.

Not for the Uninitiated or those beginning their exploration of the Warhammer 40K universe.

★★★☆☆

From the Publisher

Synopsis – Click to Open

The tau are a mysterious alien race, diametrically opposed to the Imperium of Man in every possible way — in their mastery of technology, methods of warfare and social structure. Yet in galactic terms they are a young race, and naive when it comes to the manipulations of Chaos. When promising young Commander Farsight is promoted to lead a crusade across the Damocles Gulf to reclaim the tau’s lost colonies from mankind, the mood is one of optimism. With their mighty fleet, and superior weapons and machines, how can their endeavour possibly fail? However, despite a parade of early successes, Commander Farsight soon faces enemies he wasn’t anticipating, and finds not only his courage but also his soul tested to the very limit.

Tuesday, August 13, 2024

Mary Poppins Opens the Door (Mary Poppins #3) 3Stars

Title: Mary Poppins Opens the Door
Series: Mary Poppins #3
Author: Pamela Travers
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Middlegrade Fiction
Pages: 256
Words: 55K

Same old, same old. Mary Poppins comes back, has adventures with the Banks family and then leaves, only for good this time around.

It is very formulaic, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing for the age group this is aimed at. Mary Poppins takes the children to meet an eccentric family member of hers. Mary Poppins takes the children out and they have an adventure. The children go to a dream party of sorts where they find out Mary Poppins is the guest of honor. Thankfully this time around none of the children felt naughty and acted out, thus bringing the wrath of Mary Poppins down on their heads.

It really was the same as the previous two books, so if you liked those, you’ll like this and conversely, if you didn’t like the previous books, you won’t like this either. It’s also a natural ending place if you are on the fence and don’t want to continue reading any more in the series. I’ve got an omnibus of the first four stories, so I’ve got one more and I have enjoyed my time enough that I think I’ll go ahead and read it. But I won’t be seeking out the next four books.

★★★☆☆

From Wikipedia

Synopsis – Click to Open

On Guy Fawkes Night, Mary Poppins arrives in the wake of the last fireworks display by the Banks family. The Banks children, Michael, Jane, the twins, and Annabel plead with her to stay. She reluctantly agrees to do so “till the door opens.” When an anxious Jane points out that the nursery door is always opening, she clarifies “the other door.”

Mrs. Banks has Mary and the children find a piano tuner, who happens to be Mary’s cousin, Mr. Twigley. When Mary and the children visit, Mr. Twigley tries to unburden himself from seven wishes given to him when he was born. Besides pianos, Mr. Twigley also specialises in songbirds such as nightingales, one of which he releases when he’s finished. He also provides music boxes for Mary and the Banks children to dance to. When they return home later, the drawing room piano is playing perfectly, and when the Banks children ask Mary what happened, she sharply rebukes them.

Other adventures in the book include Mary telling the story of a king (implied to be Old King Cole) who was outsmarted by a cat (known as “The Cat That Looked at a King”), the park statue of Neleus that comes to life for a time during one of their outings, their visit to confectioner Miss Calico and her flying peppermint sticks, an undersea (High-Tide) party where Mary Poppins is the guest of honour, and a party between fairy tale rivals in the Crack between the Old Year and the New. When the children ask why Mary Poppins, a real person, is there, they are told that she can be considered as a fairy tale that has come true. The next morning, Jane and Michael find definite proof of the last night’s adventure, and this time she does not deny it, simply telling them that they too may end up living happily ever after.

Finally, after Mary and the children have a non-magical (but nonetheless wondrous) afternoon playing on the swings at the Park, the citizens of the town as well as many other characters from the previous two books turn out in front of the house to have a farewell party. Before going inside, Mary urges the children to be good and remember everything she told them, and they realise that it is Mary, not the other characters, who is departing. They rush to the nursery to see her open and the nursery door’s reflection in the window. Mary Poppins then opens her parrot headed umbrella, and it soars up into the sky, taking her with it. The Banks Children are happy she kept her promise by staying till the “door” opened. Mrs Banks arrives afterwards, and sees the children alone. Mrs Brill tells her that Mary Poppins has left again, and she is distraught about what she is going to do without a nanny for the children. Mr Banks is distracted by the music playing outside, and encourages his wife to just forget about it and dance with him.

When he has finished dancing with his wife, he sees what he thinks is a shooting star, (though it is really Mary Poppins flying away on her umbrella) and they all wish upon it. The children wish to remember Mary Poppins for the rest of their lives, and they faintly make her out in the star. They wave and she waves back to them. The narrator remarks, “Mary Poppins herself had flown away, but the gifts she had brought would remain for always.”

They promise to never forget her, and she hears this and smiles and waves to them, before the darkness hides her, and they see her and her umbrella for the last time ever.

The Banks Family sigh that Mary Poppins has gone, but happily decide to sit by the fire together. (This presumably meaning that the parents have decided to spend more time with their children thanks to Mary’s lessons).

Monday, August 12, 2024

Evil Presence - MTG 4E

You just KNOW something wicked creepy is hiding in the shadows, just out of sight.