Brotherhood of the Wolf (Runelords #2) 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: Brotherhood of the Wolf
Series: Runelords #2
Author: David Farland
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 559
Words: 213K
Publish: 1999

Farland has some really neat ideas with this series. Unfortunately, he doesn’t have the same skill at creating fleshed out characters. This felt like reading 500+ pages of a Terry Brooks book. If you’ve ever read Terry Brooks, you’ll know what I mean. If you haven’t, don’t worry about it.

By the end of the book I REALLY wanted to know what happens next, but I didn’t care what happened to ANY of the characters. That’s not a good combination.

The reavers (another species that might be the up and coming species that displaces mankind, as mankind has done to other species) were a great addition and we get some really broad hints at what their end game is. But they are, once again, a generic threat without being “characterized” to my satisfaction. They should have remained beasts and not sentient beings.

I can see why this was as popular as it was at the time of publication. The Wheel of Time series was taking the world by storm but had slowed down to molasses and Farland was putting out these books every year to 18months and he kept the plotting much tighter than Jordan was doing. But my goodness, I can also see why this never became a Fantasy Behemoth.

I was looking ahead and according to Wikipedia, there is a narrative break in the story after book four, when the story moves on to Gaborn’s son (Gaborn is the Earth King). I think I’ll read up through book four and just let things go after that.

I rated this 3stars, but it was skirting the edge of the 2.5, really closely. I also know myself well enough that now that I’ve decided to read through book 4, I will. Call me pigheaded!

★★★☆☆

From the Publisher & Bookstooge

Raj Ahtan, ruler of Indhopal, has used enough forcibles to transform himself into the ultimate warrior: The Sum of All Men. Ahtan seeks to bring all of humanity under his rule-destroying anything and anyone that stood in his path, including many friends and allies of young Prince Gaborn Val Orden. But Gaborn has fulfilled a two-thousand-year-old prophecy, becoming the Earth King-a mythic figure who can unleash the forces of the Earth itself.

And now the struggle continues. Gaborn has managed to drive off Raj Ahtan, but Ahtan is far from defeated. Striking at far-flung cities and fortresses and killing dedicates, Ahtan seeks to draw out the Earth King from his seat of power, to crush him. But as they weaken each other's forces in battle, the armies of an ancient and implacable inhuman enemy issue forth from the very bowels of the Earth.

The Reaver Mage is killed, the rune of destruction of man is destroyed and Raj Ahtan and Gaborn are still enemies. They go their separate ways to deal with the overall Reaver threat. Gaborn has the blessing of the Earth removed from him for Choosing Raj and then allowing him to be attacked.

Mrs Pollifax on the China Station (Mrs Pollifax #6) 4.5Stars

 

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: Mrs Pollifax on the China Station
Series: Mrs Pollifax #6
Author: Dorothy Gilman
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 174
Words: 62K
Publish: 1983

Absolutely delightful! I have been alternating Mrs Pollifax with the Alphabet Mystery series and I must say, it is a true delight to return to the adventures of Emily Pollifax.

She is calm, poised and while not always “in control”, she never allows the circumstances around her to impede what she must do. In this book near the end, she has to face down an armed Russian sleeper agent and ends up karate chopping him to death. Scenes like that are why this isn’t “cozy”. She’s also old enough not to fall to pieces after such an act. She’s in no way stupid and I for one appreciate that Gilman actually writes her character to be intelligent.

Another successful foray into the underbelly world of the CIA. Mrs Pollifax hasn’t failed me yet and I doubt she’d fail you either.

★★★★✬

From Wikipedia.org

Mrs. Pollifax is thrilled when Mr. Carstairs, her boss at the CIA, gives her an assignment in China to help rescue a prisoner from a labor camp. As luck would have it, she has recently completed a course in Chinese history, so she is primed and ready to go. She joins a tour group and is told that one of the other group members is actually a CIA agent who will become her partner later on. She tries unsuccessfully to detect her future partner and is very surprised when the agent's identity is revealed. As the action speeds up she finds the labor camp, rides a runaway horse, and encounters some rough stuff from a Russian spy.

• All of my “Mrs Pollifax” Reviews

Healing Salve - MTG 4E

 

It's amazing to me how just having armless hands and that funky red background gives this whole picture a djinni, arabian nights vibe. 

Calendars & Scheduling the Bookstooge Way

 

I have talked about scheduling before, and mention it randomly in posts and comments. I touched upon it in my Blogshido series of posts and randomly sneak attack you by suggesting maybe you should try scheduling. Many people are intimidated by Schedule-Fu, while others just don't want anything to do with it. If you don't have any interest, this post is not for you. This is a post to help Masters of this discipline increase their mastery and to help those who have not started yet down the path but who are wondering about it. But I would like to say that ANYONE can master Schedule-Fu and make it their own.

The single most important tool that a master of Schedule-Fu has available to him or her is a calendar. I use three calendars myself, because of the amount of things I keep track of and it would be wicked messy to put it all one one calendar. I use the calendar above to keep track of real life things, like doctors appointments, car things, social engagements, etc. It's on the wall next to our door, so I see it every morning and evening as I come and go. As long as I write stuff down (and so does Mrs B), we never forget things happening in real life. That's important, because you know, Real Life.

The next calendar I use is the Protonmail calendar. I use this calendar as a widget on my phone. The reason I've put it on my phone is so that when I go to look at it, I don't get distracted from my purpose and end up not reading my Bible. This is a chart for what I'm to read each day. I used to use little paper charts, but the print was so small on them (because they were trying to fit a whole years worth of stuff on one 8.5x11) that I had to abandon them. This has one purpose alone and it's not cluttered up. Now, it was a lot of work setting it up, as I had to enter each day individually and click the "repeat annually" for every day. But once it was done, it was set for the years to come.

Finally, and the most used and most relevant for blogging. is my google calendar. This is where I plan out everything blog related. The blue posts are the ones I've written and scheduled. The red ones are unwritten ones but are there to show me when I want a post. As you can see, when I took the screen capture, I hadn't yet written this post. By the time this goes live, most of June should be a sea of blue. The nice thing about using red and blue is that I can rearrange the red posts however I want should something come up. It gives me the comfort of still using the schedule but also the freedom to rearrange things should that one iota of "artistic" me strike :-D

I realize scheduling like this just isn't for everyone. It can bring more stress to others and become a weight that drags them down. But if you want to become a disciple of Scheduling, these tools, or ones like them, can help you tremendously. I know of people who keep a planner journal and use that.

There you go. Now you too can become a Scheduling Guru! 

[Journal] Pear Garden

 

This is the blurb about this journal from Paperblanks:
"During the Tang Dynasty (618–907), the Emperor Taizong founded an opera school called Liyuan (Pear Garden). Chinese opera reached its pinnacle under the Qing court (1644–1911), giving birth to what is known as Peking Opera. Reproduced here is a piece of beautifully embroidered opera skirt from that era."

When I was deciding which 8 Journals to buy last year, by the end I wanted something that looked completely different from all my others. This Pear Garden option worked a treat. You can't see it in the pictures, but it has a little bit of sparkle to it. I'm gonna sparkle like a bloody Twilight Vampire!

Hope you have a great weekend and feel free to tell me how you feel about the journal, Twilight, vampires or just life in general. "I'm Listening"

Bone Swans 2Stars

 

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: Bone Swans
Series: -----
Author: Claire Cooney
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 236
Words: 95K
Publish: 2015

Last year Bookforager reviewed this collection. In her review, she sounded exactly how I felt when I would read a Patricia McKillip book. As McKillip is now dead and will not be writing any more stories, I was hoping that maybe this Cooney girl could pick up the slack. Saying I had high hopes was putting it mildly.

Things got off to a rocky start. There was an introduction by Gene Wolfe, as he knew Cooney. I despise Wolfe’s writings, so when he praises someone, that’s a big old warning sign to me. I knew that biased me so I went into the actual stories determined not to let Wolfe ruin this for me. No fear on that account, Cooney did that all by herself with no help from anyone.

I have described McKillip’s writing as fire and silk, rounded stones in a small brook creating that soothing babbling sound. Her writing was poetry in lyrical form. Cooney had that same poetical format and even I could appreciate it. However, Cooney was rotting granite (if you have ever come into contact with rotting rock, you know how vile it is) in the midst of a swamp of effluent. Every story set my teeth on edge. My back was completely riled. I hated this collection. I’m not going to go into specifics in this review because I don’t want to give any more of my time to even thinking about Cooney. I know nothing about her beyond the introduction by Wolfe and I want to keep it that way.

If you are curious about the book’s contents, read Bookforager’s review. She did an admirable job and I have no hesitation about recommending her review.

★★☆☆☆

From the Publisher & ToC

A swan princess hunted for her bones, a broken musician and his silver pipe, and a rat named Maurice bring justice to a town under fell enchantment. A gang of courageous kids confronts both a plague-destroyed world and an afterlife infested with clowns but robbed of laughter. In an island city, the murder of a child unites two lovers, but vengeance will part them. Only human sacrifice will save a city trapped in ice and darkness. Gold spun out of straw has a price, but not the one you expect.

Introducing C. S. E. Cooney

Life on the Sun

The Bone Swans of Amandale

Martyr’s Gem

How the Milkmaid Struck a Bargain with the Crooked One

The Big Bah-Ha

Currently Reading: Batman/Shadow: The Murder Geniuses

 

I am a fan of The Shadow. Lashaan is a huge fan of Batman. He read this way back in '19 and it caught my eye then. It has just taken a little bit of time for me to get around to it, hahahahaa. I do like that cover and you know what? The Shadow's schnozz isn't huge, amazing!

I just wanted to showcase the cover because while I like it a lot, there is no way it'll ever make the Cover Love category.

Cheers!