Empire’s Gambit (Empire Rising #13) 3.5Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Empire’s Gambit
Series: Empire Rising #13
Author: David Holmes
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 515
Words: 204K
Publish: 2022

Oh man, this was long. It felt long too. The main issue is that Holmes needs an editor to hack and slash and force him to write tighter. I’ve noted this in previous volumes, where he goes into world building detail mode and suddenly, 5 pages later, the scene ends but the story is still at the same exact place. World building should NOT be indulged in at the expense of the overall story pacing. With this being the thirteenth book in the series, I’m obviously not going to abandon it over this, but it is a continual little irritant to me. I’m sure there are other people out there who love it. Those people probably only read this series, or stuff just like it, so they don’t care. I do care however.

The other irritation is the flow of time. This one could very easily be on me and thus I’m not knocking any half stars off, but it really feels like almost no time has passed since the first book. I “know” it has, and events prove that (James losing his first wife, getting re-married, having a child, now having twins) but James feels exactly the same as Emperor as he did as the captain of a small ship. James’ voice hasn’t aged or changed. I think that is what I’m picking up on here. Other authors are guilty of this literary sin as well. Dean Koontz and his Odd Thomas. Terry Brooks and ANY of his Shannara characters. Dan Willis and his Alex Lockerby creation. A counter example would be Simon, from Tad Williams’ Memory, Sorrow, Thorn epic fantasy trilogy. You get the idea. Once again, it’s not something I’m going to stop reading this series over, but it is a weakness.

This volumes ends the War of Doom with the karacknids. From the little chapter headers in previous books, I know there will be a second War of Doom plus other wars with even more insidious species. I also know there will be a civil war that almost tears the Empire apart. This is a good stopping place. I wondered, for several days, if I wanted to continue the series. Book 21 was just released in January, so there’s still a LOT of Empire Rising ahead of me if I want it. I decided that I will continue. I was not surprised by my own decision. As I’m sure you aren’t either.

I have been reading this series for over two years now. I read the first book (The Void War) back in February of ‘23. I thoroughly enjoyed it. If this series sounds like something you might enjoy, read my review and then for a 180degree difference, read Nancy’s Review. Between us, hopefully you can decide if starting this series would be good for you or not.

★★★✬☆

From the Publisher & Bookstooge

The Karacknid assault on Earth has been turned back at great cost to both sides. Only the intervention of the Kulreans saved Humanity’s homeworld from certain destruction. Yet the Kulrean worldships cannot be used for offensive operations. This means Humanity and her allies have only a few months of respite before the Karacknids can make good their losses. When they do, everyone knows they will resume the offensive and Tanaka-lan will seek to end the war once and for all.

With no way to compete with the Karacknids’ superior numbers and industrial might, Emperor Somerville has proposed one final stratagem. The Allied fleet must strike right at the heart of the Karacknid empire in a last ditch effort to try and end the war. Yet to do so would mean venturing into the enemy’s most fortified systems and leaving the Allied worlds at the mercy of Tanaka-lan. Risking everything, James has no choice but to attempt the impossible. No sacrifice can be too great to save his people and his family.

James challenges the Imperator to a one on one duel, Imperator vs Emperor. James wins and the karacknids immediately fall back along clan lines and thus begins a civil war. This gives humanity and the Alliance a chance to regroup and begin recovery. Empress Christine also gives birth to twins, setting the stage for the next series of adventures in the Empire Rising chronicles.

• All of My “Empire Rising” Reviews

Mayenne (Dumarest #9) 3Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: Mayenne
Series: Dumarest #9
Author: EC Tubb
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 182
Words: 52K
Publish: 1973

When we last left Dumarest, he was safely ensconced on a world where he could be happy. So what happened? I’m not exactly sure to be honest. The following is all we, the readers, get from the author:

“He leaned back against the wall and allowed the hypnotic cadences to wash over his conscious mind, dulling reality and triggering sequences of unrelated imagery. A wide ocean beneath an emerald sky. A slender girl seated on a rock, her hair a ripple of purest silver as it streamed in the wind, the lines of her body the epitome of grace. A fire and a ring of intent faces, leaping flames and the distant keening of mourning women. Ice glittering as it fell in splintered shards, ringing in crystal destruction. Goblets shattering and spilling blood-red wine, the chime of chandeliers, the hiss of meeting blades, harsh, feral, the turgid chill of riding Low.”

Not much to go on, now is it? It feels like Tubb wasn’t sure HOW to explain Earl leaving a place that could have been a new home to him, so he didn’t. For that reason alone I docked this a precious half-star.

The book, by itself, was fun. It ends up being about a planetary mind (much like the Star Trek Episode Firewater recently reviewed) that falls in love with Earl. Of course it does. Everybody falls in love with Earl. He’s worse than Captain Kirk in that regards. I did check out the date and this book was published in ‘73 while the Star Trek episode was back in ‘68, so it is quite possible Tubb just lifted the idea wholesale. Of course, the idea of a planetary intelligence was bouncing around a lot, so Tubb might have just lifted it from the generalized zeitgeist of his generation. Either way, he wasn’t being original at all. But if you tell an exciting story, does it really matter?

Make no mistake, this was exciting. Tormyle (the planetary intelligence), puts the group through quite a few tests that are life and death.

The reveal at the end that Mayenne was a cyclan agent was not one I saw coming. I probably should have, but it was just too preposterous to consider, so I didn’t. The very end, with Tormyle sending Earl to some random world was more on par with how Earl gets separated from his various lady loves and didn’t bother me at all.

Thus the Eye Rolling Adventures of Earl Dumarest, Male Gigolo, Continues!

Sadly, the cover art changed. There are no more bubble spacesuits. Awwwwww….

★★★☆☆

From Jeffbuser.com

This one has very little to do with the arc story, and is almost a stand-alone SF piece. An accident strands the ship on which Dumarest is traveling in deep space. The eerie songs of Mayenne, a Ghenka singer also on board, are accidentally transmitted over ultraradio, and are received by a mysterious entity that eventually transports the whole ship to an unknown planet at the very edge of the galaxy. It is quickly revealed that the planet itself is the entity Tormyle, which proceeds to eliminate passengers and crew in “10 Little Indians” fashion while performing a series of experiments to understand the nature of human emotion. Tormyle notices and tests the love between several sets of passengers, including the budding romance between Dumarest and Mayenne. By the time the cast is down to five, Tormyle is desperate to make Dumarest love it, and reveals that Mayenne and another passenger are actually agents of the Cyclan. Dumarest kills the man and Mayenne kills herself before Tormyle allows the other two to escape in the repaired ship. Finally alone with Tormyle, Dumarest convinces it that a human (at least Dumarest) simply cannot fall in love with a planet, and Tormlye releases him.

• All of My “Dumarest” Reviews

Goblin Balloon Brigade - MTG 4E

 

PSA: Blogging and Personality

 

I am writing this post because it struck my fancy, that's it. No deep revelations about the human condition will be revealed. You won't learn how to attract 10,000 followers with "this one simple rule". You certainly won't make any money out of this. And finally, to be honest, you might not even be happy by the end of this post. So with all of that out of the way, let's get on with things!

Personality 101: How to have one.

First off, I realize I am not the most qualified to be speaking on this subject. I tend to the narcissistic and thus make everything about me. I have followed people like myself and had to stop because their ego was too big and I didn't like it. So I understand if people feel the same way about me.

But that is where personality as a blogger comes in. You may not like me, you may not follow me, but if you've interacted with me, you will not forget that experience. I have Blogging Personality.

The thing with blogging personality is that you have to have your own. You have to create it, grow it, be it. You can't copy it from someone else. If you do, you are a phoney and it will come crashing down at some point as the weight of being someone else will crush you to death. Being yourself is hard enough, so don't make it harder. Even if you are one of those bloggers who do nothing but follow the herd and read the same books as everyone, watch the same movies as everyone, do the same blogging prompts as everyone, you can still stand out and not be a little bowl of vanilla pudding that tastes like nothing and just sits there and jiggles.

Jifflypuff

You don't have to be a lion and dominate the scene. You can be a quiet, gentle lamb. But you have to be unique. That means having an opinion about something and sticking to it. Don't hem and haw and try to please everybody. You don't have to go out of your way to offend people, but remember, it is YOUR blog and everyone else can go slag off.

Now where do your opinions come from? Your mind of course. So think. Think for yourself. Don't parrot everybody around you. The world is filled with idiots and sadly, the world includes bloggers. If you remember that most bloggers are idiots, it will help you examine what they are saying and force you to think for yourself instead of just regurgitating their idiotic pap.

I hope this post has been helpful to you. If not, I will gladly refund your money. Or throw you in a big bowl of vanilla pudding. People pay to watch that kind of thing, so I bet I could clean house with a Pay-Per-View of you sloshing around in a swimming pool of vanilla pudding while an alligator tried to eat you!

[Journal] Mary Shelley, Frankenstein

 

Journal #29, Mary Shelly's Frankenstein. Considering I'm currently on Journal #23, well, it will be quite some time before I get to this one. But having it all ready to go takes that miniscule amount of pressure off of my shoulders and as an inveterate long term planner, that means a lot to me.

I've only got a few more journals to showcase before I'm caught up. Of course, Paperblanks is always bringing out new ones and since I have to buy 4 to get free shipping, well....
The alternate is to buy them individually on Amazon and just order 2 to qualify for free shipping from there. It never fails to amaze me how that kind of thing works. Why doesn't Paperblanks offer free shipping over $35 on their own website, since that is what they are actually doing when they sell through Amazon? I'd much rather buy direct. The mysteries of commerce I guess.

But back to this specific journal, ahem. I read Frankenstein back in '12. I am glad I read it and I can see why it is a Classic, but it is not a book I've been tempted to re-read. I thought maybe seeing this journal would kindle a little ember of interest in re-reading it, but so far, nada. Considering it will be several years before I ever get around to writing in this, maybe by that time I'll be ready for a re-read. I remain doubtful of myself though. Some books speak to you on multiple levels over the years (Dickens for me) but Shelley's book just didn't seem to have that power when I read it. That is ok though, not every book has to be like that. 

The Dracula Tape (The Dracula Files #1) 3Stars

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Dracula Tape
Series: The Dracula Files #1
Author: Fred Saberhagen
Publish: 1975
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 186
Words: 76K

When I was looking around for another series to add to my tbr, I ran across these and didn’t really pay attention to the author. I probably should have, as I haven’t had the best luck with Saberhagen for the most part. However, it has been over 8 years since I last read a book by Saberhagen, so when I realized this series was by him, I figured I’d give him another chance.

Back in ‘14 I called his Berserker book dry and pedantic and “workmanlike” (and not in the good way). This was very much in the same vein. What saved it from an ignominious 2star rating and series abandonment was reading about Dracula try to justify everything that took place as chronicled in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. He’s an unreliable narrator and what’s more, he’s a big fat whiny loser. It was hilarious. I don’t know if Saberhagen intended things to turn out that way, but my goodness, watching Dracula perform mental contortions of unfathomable proportions to justify himself was better than going to the circus.

For this book to work, you really need to have read Dracula, not just know the basic premise but have read it and be familiar with it. Which leads to the biggest drawback, for me, in regards to this book. I knew, roughly, what was going to happen and was bored. Dracula’s re-writing of the events aren’t different enough to make this book stand out as something truly new. Kind of like watching an actor’s commentary track on a movie. Sure, it is a little different and you get a slightly different view, but it is not a different movie. Same with this book, and since it wasn’t in epistolary format, it automatically wasn’t nearly as good as the original.

With all of this complaining, I’m still giving this 3stars. Dracula is a great story and even Saberhagen couldn’t cover that up. I’m really hoping that the next book is more original though, or I’ll have to dnf the series.

★★★☆☆

From Fandom.com

The Dracula Tape is a novel by Fred Saberhagen where Dracula tells his version of the events in the Dracula novel.

Dracula tries to paint himself in a better light and while some of his claims ring true (like the issue of blood type and the blood transfusions Lucy Westenra received) others (such as what happened on the Demeter) have an unreliable narrator quality about them.

According to this novel the final events of Dracula took place in early November 1891.

Per this novel the fates of the other characters are:

Jonathan Harker - dies of apoplexy in 1938 while raging at Neville Chamberlain.

Mina Harker - dies of old age in 1967; rises as a vampire her youth restored in the "present" day

Lucy Harker (Mina's daughter) - still alive

Quincey Harker (Mina's son) - killed in the Battle of the Somme, 1916

The Amazing Quest of Doctor Syn (Doctor Syn #5) 3Star

 

This review is written with a GPL 4.0 license and the rights contained therein shall supersede all TOS by any and all websites in regards to copying and sharing without proper authorization and permissions. Crossposted at WordPress & Blogspot by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission

Title: The Amazing Quest of Doctor Syn
Series: Doctor Syn #5
Author: Arthur Russell Thorndike
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 164
Words: 81K

In previous books, the Scarecrow had refrained from killing government people because of the problems it would bring down on his head. In this book, he throws that all to the dungheap and kidnaps and hangs a Revenuer in the public square. He also kills several other men in the process of rescuing one of his confederates. The reasons given were spurious and cheap.

The “Amazing Quest” only takes up about the last third of the book. I was expecting more. The other “despicable smuggler” let me down too. Dr Syn defeats him so easily that it made me wonder how the Revenuers had any problems with him in the first place. I wanted a battle of wits and I didn’t get one. Some of the government men down in Romney Marsh put up a smarter fight than this guy did.

I think most of what I’d like to talk about are the covers. The little one I used as my featured image shows some white haired gentleman with an eyeglass. I’m guessing it is supposed to be Dr Syn? But the reality is that it is an Uncle to the kidnapped girl and said Uncle gets pushed off that stone he’s sitting one and splattered all over the ground by the Despicable Smuggler. Then I saw this black and white wood cut style cover. These are the first edition versions and you know, I really like them.

Syn is showing his age here and yet you look at his arms and you know he can swing that sword with the best of them. And looking at his face, that is the Scarecrow and not one shred of the Reverend Doctor Syn. I see the entity that hung a Revenuer, kidnapped families and exiled them to France and generally thinks he is above the law.

★★★☆☆

From Bookstooge

Doctor Syn, as the Scarecrow, battles it out with revenuers and dragoons and kills at least one of them. Due to this, he heads to Wales to investigate another smuggler who has kidnapped a young girl. Money is involved. Doctor Syn plunders and kills the other smuggler and gives the money to the girl so she can marry the man she wants. Who is a revenuer. How Ironic.