Wednesday, June 24, 2020

Princeps' Fury (Codex Alera #5) ★★★★★


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 & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Princeps' Fury
Series: Codex Alera #5
Author: Jim Butcher
Rating: 5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 350
Words: 153.5K




Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.com & Me

The book begins with Octavian negotiating with Captain Demos of the trading vessel called the Slive, to book passage for Octavian and his contingent to cross the sea and reach the Canean homeland with Varg. Meanwhile in Alera, Crown cursor Ehren reports to Gaius about the Vord having entered Alera and learnt how to furycraft.[2]

Octavian and the Canean survivors face several storms as they make their way for the Canim continent. Octavian learns more about the Canean civilization, which has several tribes with populations in the millions and also learns the Canim tongue as they prepare to disembark. Amara and Count Bernand are helping improve the defensive structures around Calderon Valley, in anticipation of a future Vord assault. However, they are summoned to an Imperial Council by Gaius Sextus, First Lord of Alera, for an urgent mission against the Vord.

Gaius Sextus informs the Council of the threat of the Vord, which was slowly expanding from the Kalare wasteland. The Vord had overwhelmed four Imperial legions, leaving no survivors and the croach[check spelling] was expanding through Alera at an increasing rate. More than one hundred thousand Aleran freeholders and citizens had been killed in less than a month. Gaius requests all the High Lords of Alera to unite their strength and muster all the legions that they could, so that they could force a big battle against the Vord. Gaius appoints High Lord Aquitaine as the captain of the military campaign. The First Lord also meets Countess Amara and Count Bernard and requests them to go behind the Vord enemy lines on a mission to find out how the Vord are using furycrafting when they had been unable to do so.

Amara and Bernard find out that one of the High Lady's has been taken by the Vord Queen and that Brencis Kalarus is using his father's slave collars on Citizens to make them fight for the Vord. They take out Brencis and without him and his knowledge, the Vord Queen loses the ability to collar any more Citizens.

Tavi formulates a plan to take down a Vord Queen in Cania, thus allowing the surviving Canim to escape to Alera to regroup and plan how to take back their homeland. His plan fails but Kitai and Varg's backup plan works perfectly. Everyone escapes on giant ships sculpted from icebergs.

Isana is sent north to the Shield Wall to broker a piece with the Icemen so the Legions guarding the Wall can march South and bolster those fighting the Vord. She realizes the Icemen are empathetic crafters and that the whole war has been a gigantic misunderstanding. She challenges the Lord of the Legions to Juris Macti to force him to march South. She loses but her standing up to him makes him realize the truth of her position.

The Vord overwhelm the Capital City and Gaius destroys the city and all the surrounding Vord to give the rest of the people a chance to formulate a way to fight back against the Vord.



My Thoughts:

First off, this review is where I start using the Calibre Page AND Word count to get my numbers. So while the paperback actually has close to 700 pages, based on characters per page, it is “only” 350. Which is why I want to include word count, to give a better data estimate between. Ok, enough of the nerdy stats/data talk.

Man, what do I say? I loved this book and this series? Tavi is the best hero and everything a proper Hero should be? This is a book of Ideals triumphing over petty base human'ness even while humanity reels from blow after blow from the Vord? You can almost hear the Capital Letters when ideals are discussed or even just acted out? In short, this is exactly my kind of book.

Self-pitying fools and dunces these characters are not. They have no time or place for pseudo-philosophizing while calling good evil and evil good. They have too much to do to drag the reader down into the cesspit of a self-loathing mind. They don't hate themselves or the world they live in. They love life and it shows in every action they take.

There is no despair.

★★★★★






Monday, June 22, 2020

Gulag Archipelago, Vol. 1 ★★★★☆


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 & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Gulag Archipelago, Vol. 1
Series: Gulag Archipelago
Author: Alexander Solzhenitsyn
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Non-Fiction
Pages: 626
Words: 265.5K




Synopsis:

Containing Parts I & II of Solzhenitsyn's book, The Gulag Archipelago.

From Wikipedia.com

Structurally, the text comprises seven sections divided (in most printed editions) into three volumes: parts 1–2, parts 3–4, and parts 5–7. At one level, the Gulag Archipelago traces the history of the system of forced labor camps that existed in the Soviet Union from 1918 to 1956. Solzhenitsyn begins with V. I. Lenin's original decrees which were made shortly after the October Revolution; they established the legal and practical framework for a series of camps where political prisoners and ordinary criminals would be sentenced to forced labor. The book then describes and discusses the waves of purges and the assembling of show trials in the context of the development of the greater Gulag system; Solzhenitsyn gives particular attention to its purposive legal and bureaucratic development.

The narrative ends in 1956 at the time of Nikita Khrushchev's Secret Speech ("On the Personality Cult and its Consequences"). Khrushchev gave the speech at the 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union, denouncing Stalin's personality cult, his autocratic power, and the surveillance that pervaded the Stalin era. Although Khrushchev's speech was not published in the Soviet Union for a long time, it was a break with the most atrocious practices of the Gulag system.

Despite the efforts by Solzhenitsyn and others to confront the legacy of the Gulag, the realities of the camps remained a taboo subject until the 1980s. Solzhenitsyn was also aware that although many practices had been stopped, the basic structure of the system had survived and it could be revived and expanded by future leaders. While Khrushchev, the Communist Party, and the Soviet Union's supporters in the West viewed the Gulag as a deviation of Stalin, Solzhenitsyn and many among the opposition tended to view it as a systemic fault of Soviet political culture – an inevitable outcome of the Bolshevik political project.

Parallel to this historical and legal narrative, Solzhenitsyn follows the typical course of a zek (a slang term for an inmate), derived from the widely used abbreviation "z/k" for "zakliuchennyi" (prisoner) through the Gulag, starting with arrest, show trial, and initial internment; transport to the "archipelago"; the treatment of prisoners and their general living conditions; slave labor gangs and the technical prison camp system; camp rebellions and strikes (see Kengir uprising); the practice of internal exile following the completion of the original prison sentence; and the ultimate (but not guaranteed) release of the prisoner. Along the way, Solzhenitsyn's examination details the trivial and commonplace events of an average prisoner's life, as well as specific and noteworthy events during the history of the Gulag system, including revolts and uprisings.

Solzhenitsyn also states:

Macbeth's self-justifications were feeble – and his conscience devoured him. Yes, even Iago was a little lamb, too. The imagination and spiritual strength of Shakespeare's evildoers stopped short at a dozen corpses. Because they had no ideology. Ideology – that is what gives evildoing its long-sought justification and gives the evildoer the necessary steadfastness and determination. That is the social theory which helps to make his acts seem good instead of bad in his own and others' eyes.... That was how the agents of the Inquisition fortified their wills: by invoking Christianity; the conquerors of foreign lands, by extolling the grandeur of their Motherland; the colonizers, by civilization; the Nazis, by race; and the Jacobins (early and late), by equality, brotherhood, and the happiness of future generations... Without evildoers there would have been no Archipelago.

— The Gulag Archipelago, Chapter 4, p. 173

There had been works about the Soviet prison/camp system before, and its existence had been known to the Western public since the 1930s. However, never before had the general reading public been brought face to face with the horrors of the Gulag in this way. The controversy surrounding this text, in particular, was largely due to the way Solzhenitsyn definitively and painstakingly laid the theoretical, legal, and practical origins of the Gulag system at Lenin's feet, not Stalin's. According to Solzhenitsyn's testimony, Stalin merely amplified a concentration camp system that was already in place. This is significant, as many Western intellectuals viewed the Soviet concentration camp system as a "Stalinist aberration"



My Thoughts:

I started reading this book on March 13th. It took me until June 5th to finish. At under 700 pages I figured I could easily knock this out in a month, even if I only read it on the weekends. “Ha” and agains I say “ha!”

This was a dense book and mind you, it is the first of three. It is also dealing with very heavy material (not literally, it's paper after all) but my spirit was weighed down after reading it, every single time. By the time I got to the end I could only read 5 or 6 percent each weekend. While nothing is graphic, if you've been reading any of my Quote posts from the last couple of months, you'll know just how horrifying some of the stuff discussed in this book is.

Solzhenitsyn, thankfully, writes in a very dry, sardonic and sarcastic manner, which allowed me to distance myself from the words I was reading. That being said, he also writes in the most rambling form I have ever run across. I eventually just stopped trying to connect the dots and let him tell the tale in his own way.

He tells of his own arrest, his time in the sorting prisons and the time getting to the official Gulag camps. He also tells a lot of other peoples' stories as well. It is horrible, sad and disheartening that people today want a form of government that leads to Communism that inevitably leads to places like the Gulag.

I am going to take a break of 2 months and read some other non-fiction, preferably of the theological bent, before I dive back into Vol. 2.

★★★★☆






Friday, June 19, 2020

Harrigan ★★★☆☆


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 & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Harrigan
Series: ----------
Author: Max Brand
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Action/Adventure
Pages: 225
Words: 65K




Synopsis:

Harrigan, a red irishman, is in Hawaii, looking for something to keep him moving. He joins in a fight and backs up a black irishman and finds out he's a captain of a vessel. They go their separate ways until Harrigan's wanderings bring him to the docks. He sees the captain's ship taking off and jumps aboard. The Captain takes him aboard as a common sailor but promises that he's going to break Harrigan.

A woman sees Harrigan being broken and tries to intervene, thus making things even worse. This brings her to the Captain's attention however and suddenly there is even more bad blood between Harrigan and him. A hurrican destroys the ship and the woman, the Captain and Harrigan all end up on a deserted island. The woman uses deception to keep a fragile peace and both men abide by it until they are rescued.

They are rescued by a crony of the Captain who is even more powerful and even worse than the Captain. The breaking of Harrigan begins all over again. The new Captain is a cruel hard man and his crew eventually mutinies. Harrigan gets dragged in to protect the woman and the old Captain gets involved to try to take her away from Harrigan. Things go badly for everyone, the ship is destroyed and our trio make their way to some homestead in South America. There they find out that The Great War has started and they all, unbeknownst to each other, join up.


My Thoughts:

Love triangle. And yet I never once considered putting this book down. If you want two testosterone laden Irishmen trying to beat the living daylights out of each other and break the other's spirit, all the time, this is the book for you!

And for anyone who doesn't know (cause I didn't for years and years) red irish and black irish refer to the hair color, not their skin.

This was a story about men being stupid and yet glorious all at the same time. I laughed, I groaned, I sympathized, I shook my head and rolled my eyes. Why I didn't abandon this? Because the action between them was so intense it was like the words jumped off the page and grabbed hold of me and didn't let me go. While their hands were around each other's throat, they were just as much around mine. But even with that, it still only gets 3 stars because of love triangles and stupidity.

Also, this isn't a western. It is a Men's Adventure Story.

★★★☆☆





Wednesday, June 17, 2020

Mr Murder ★★★★☆


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 & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Mr Murder
Series: ----------
Author: Dean Koontz
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Thriller
Pages: 500
Words: 141K




Synopsis:

From Wikipedia

Bestselling mystery writer Marty Stillwater was recording himself one day when he realized that he was saying "I need..." repeatedly. When he rewound the recording he found that he had been unconsciously repeating "I need" for over 7 minutes. Marty was tense that whole day, when he put the kids to bed though he calmed down considerably and was finally consoled.

Meanwhile, the Killer is roaming the streets before his job. He goes into a bar and leaves with a prostitute to go to a motel. He has sex with her and then murders her because she cannot assuage his frustration. He proceeds to kill his targets and returns to his hotel. That night, still restless, he is drawn for some reason towardsTopeka. Suddenly, he starts saying:

"I need... to be... I need to be... I need to be..." As the suburbs and finally the dark prairie flash past on both sides, excitement builds steadily in him. He trembles on the brink of an insight that, he senses, will change his life. "I need to be... to be... I need to be someone." At once he understands the meaning of what he has said. By "to be someone," he does not mean what another man might intend to say with those same three words; he does not mean that he needs to be someone famous or rich or important. Just someone. Someone with a real name. Just an ordinary Joe, as they used to say in the movies of the forties.
— Mr. Murder page 48-49

The Killer is attracted like a magnet by some force he doesn't understand to the Stillwater residence. On his way he kills several people; an old couple for a set of clothes and a gas station clerk to steal food and money. When he breaks into the Stillwater house he sees a picture of Marty and believes it to be himself. He observes books authored by Marty and decides they are his. He sees the pictures of the daughters Emily and Charlotte and Marty's wife Paige, he then decides he wants to be the father and husband. He attempts to write a book but cannot and in his frustration he destroys the computer.

Marty was quite upset about his fugues (a break in one's memory) and so went to see a doctor. The doctor attributed it to stress.

When Marty comes home he finds things misplaced and his computer smashed. The Other then enters and accuses him of being an impostor. He menaces Marty who shoots him twice in the chest, but the Other is unfazed. The fight catapults them over the banisters leaving the Other seriously injured but he gets away. Marty's family returns home, and Marty sends them to their neighbour's house. Soon after, the police arrive. Cyrus Lowbock, the detective, interrogates Marty and doesn't believe his story, insinuating it is a publicity stunt. Marty and his wife refuse to cooperate and the police leave.

The Other's body has rapidly recovered from his injuries but the effort leaves him ravenous. After consuming massive amounts of food he returns to get Paige and the girls back from Marty who he believes has stolen them. He manages to get the daughters from the neighbour's house, but Marty sees him and gives chase. The car crashes and the girls escape but the Killer flees again.

Drew Oslett and Karl Clocker, two operatives of a clandestine government agency are sent to retrieve the Killer (referred to as "Alfie") They discover the bodies of the two seniors and Alfie's tracking device. A message from their agency leads them toward the People magazine article on Marty Stillwater and they discover his connection with the Killer. They meet a contact who might help them find Alfie. To maintain their cover they decide the Stillwaters have to be terminated to look like a murder/suicide and Alfie has to be brought in.

Meanwhile, the Stillwaters flee to a cabin in Mammoth Lakes and prepare to defend themselves against attack by The Other. Paige hides under a rock to ambush The Other, but unpredictably he rams his car through the cabin. The Stillwaters then flee to an abandoned church. Here Marty is shot and Paige and the girls are trapped. As The Other prepares to kill them, Drew and Karl track him down. Drew kills The Other and is then killed by Karl who has turned against the agency. He rescues the Stillwaters, provides them with new identities, a new home and evidence to bring the agency down. He explains that cloning and genetic engineering were used to create a breed of elite assassins, with Marty's tissue samples accidentally becoming involved in creating Alfie. After a few months Marty mails the evidence to the authorities from an anonymous name and the Stillwaters begin their new lives.



My Thoughts:

This is what I was hoping for from Koontz. Pure thriller through and through. I was thinking, when I reached the end, if I enjoyed this or Lightning more. It's a real tossup and I would recommend either one if you wanted to dip your toes into the Koontz ocean (seriously, this guy has written a bajillion books).

In terms of tension, Koontz did an admirable job of keeping me in suspense even while staying true to his trademark “The Hero Doesn't Die” platform. I figured the wife and kids were safe as well, but when the girls are kidnapped, I wondered if all bets were off. Thankfully, they were ok. Marty's parents (Marty being the main character) however, were pure cannon fodder and I almost wished they'd been off'ed nearer the beginning rather in the last 10% so as to provide even more tension about the wife and kids.

I've got a quote or two I'm including in this review instead of doing them as separate posts (Gulag is taking up the Quote posts for the whole month, the greedy hog!)

“Standing in his kitchen, holding the loaded Beretta, Marty knew that he and Paige now constituted their own last line of defense.
No one else. No greater authority. No guardian of the public welfare.”
~ Page 248

“She wondered what it was about storytelling that made people want it almost as much as food and water, even more so in bad times than in good.”
~ Page 320

The first quote made me think about the Law and the police, as the embodiment of the Law. The Law does not PREVENT crime from happening. Nor should it. The Law states “X is the Law and if you break the Law you will be punished”. Cops are meant to be an “after the fact” part of the Law. They find and arrest the perpetrators. They don't sit outside a private citizens house and prevent it from being burgled, that is the responsibility of the home owner. However, that is not the reality of life today. The majority of my fellow countrymen have given up their responsibility to take care of themselves and handed that off to the government. The inevitable outcome of THAT is always tyranny. Just look at how the Governor of the State of New York has acted during this covid19 outbreak to see tyranny in action.

The second quote, and its attendant idea, was much more pleasant to contemplate, thankfully. Koontz, being a writer, talks up storytelling as much as he can. He touches on the idea of stories being an escape but also states he thinks it goes deeper than that; that the need for a story is built into us, like God put it in from the beginning.

So to end this, I thoroughly enjoyed this tense thriller even while knowing the protagonist was going to be ok. That is the kind of story Koontz tells and it is the kind of story I like to read. The Good Guys Win, the Bad Guys Defeated, Evil Vanquished.

★★★★☆






Monday, June 15, 2020

[Manga Monday] Birth of a New Knight (Record of Lodoss War: The Grey Witch Saga #2) ★★★☆☆

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 & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Birth of a New Knight
Series: Record of Lodoss War: The Grey Witch Saga #2
Author: Ryo Mizuno
Artist: Yoshihiko Ochi
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 214
Words: 7K



Synopsis:

Chapter 9: The Gang meets a group of Holy Knights who are chasing the carriage with Karla and the princess. Parn chases after them to “help” and of course everyone else is dragged along. Before they can catch up a fireball explodes and Deedlit has to summon a spirit of wind to see what has happened. Slayn intervenes and uses magic eyes to see what has happened. He sees Karla and her guards as the sole survivors and recognizes her as the woman in the painting in the manor from before.

Chapter 10: Parn is all set to go charging in to avenge the dead Holy Knights but everyone reins him in. Then Ghim reveals that Leylia is the spitting image of Karla and HE goes charging in. Only it is too late and Karla has left. Etoh revives the one surviving Holy Knight and tells them Karla had kidnapped the Princess. Everyone decides to go after Karla and rescue the princess. They catch up to Karla that night and surprise her. Ghim confirms Karla IS Leylia while she attacks him with magic.

Chapter 11: Karla releases a slumber spell and puts everyone to sleep. She has the remaining guards lock them up as she hopes to recruit Parn and Gang. Karla leaves to go get more guards and leaves a skeleton warrior to guard the gang. Our gang defeat the skeleton warrior and prepare to take on the remaining human guards. They then rescue the Princes and head back to the capital of Vallis.

Chapter 12: They then rescue the Princes and head back to the capital of Vallis.

Chapter 13: Karla catches up to them, offers to let them join her and tells them what she is doing is best for Lodoss overall. The Gang refuses and Karla prepares to incinerate them all.

Chapter 14: Everyone attacks Karla but she doesn't destroy them all for some reason. She just holds them off with a shield spell. Then a bunch of Holy Knights show up with the Head Sorcerer of Valis. Karla makes her escape using a spell that only a High Priestess of Marfa could use, confirming that she is indeed Leylia. Parn reveals his father's name to the Holy Knights and they all react negatively to the news.

Chapter 15: The Sorcerer reveals to Parn how his father died and that he did not die in disgrace as Parn has always been afraid he did. As a reward for saving the Princess the Sorcerer promises Parn that the truth of his father shall be known to all.


My Thoughts:

I did not enjoy this volume quite as much as the previous. Mainly because I could almost hear the dice rolling as the story moved along.

While I know that Karla IS Leylia, and I even know why because of the anime, the continued “mystery” and her evil villain monologue of all 2 sentences about doing everything for the good of Lodoss just had me rolling my eyes.

I have the sequel series in manga as well (in regular tankubon size. This Grey Witch Saga has been in the trade paperback size and I really appreciate that) and I was considering reading them next, but I am seriously reconsidering that now.

Thank goodness for the chapter covers. Those at least are still fantastic.




★★★☆☆



Wednesday, June 10, 2020

Attack of Shadows (Galaxy's Edge #4) ★★★★☆


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 & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: Attack of Shadows
Series: Galaxy's Edge #4
Author: Jason Anspach & Nick Cole
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF/Space Opera
Pages: 338
Words: 84.5K




Synopsis:

From Galaxysedge.fandom.com

On the Black Fleet flagship Imperator, beyond Tarrago Prime, Goth Sullus begins his attack on the Galactic Republic by jumping his three new battleships, the Imperator, the Terror, and the Revenge into the Tarrago System. The plan is to launch an all-out assault on Tarrago and Tarrago Moon, which houses the grand defense of the Republic, a massive space-based gun cannon powerful enough to destroy any attacker. In addition, Tarrago is the home of the Kesselverks Shipyards which supplies capital ships to Republic Naval stations all over the galaxy. Controlling the shipyards will allow Sullus to choke off the Republic Navy’s supply lines. Taking control of the super-space gun will let him defend his new gain from any counter-attack.

The attack is being carried out with the knowledge and aid of House of Reason Delegate Orrin Kaar and Republic Navy Admiral Silas Devers, who Kaar has been grooming for command of the Navy for years. Their plan is for Sullus’s Black Fleet to seize the defense cannon and destroy the Republic Seventh Fleet while the Third Fleet, commanded by Devers, takes control of the system, allowing Kaar to dictate the terms of the Republic’s star lanes.

Sullus has plans of his own and Devers is reduced to complaining to Kaar about his being left out of the loop as the attack begins. The main objective is to kill or capture the planetary governor and declare Black Fleet rule over the system, then utilize the Kesselverks Shipyards to construct more ships for the Black Fleet.

Aboard the Terror, the tri-fighter squadron Pit Vipers launches, their pilots eager for glory and a bit of revenge as they strafe the gun emplacements of Fortress Omicron, the core of the Tarrago system’s defenses. The base has long since been infiltrated by assassins who worked to execute base personnel in key positions in order to keep the base’s defenses inoperative and their communications down.

Unfortunately for Sullus and his co-conspirators, the Republic legionnaires stationed on Tarrago are not about to allow their defenses to be breached, and are reinforced by Republic Army soldiers and Marines. Over the course of a morning, the Black Fleet’s fighter squadrons are reduced by the Republic’s combined Starfighter cover and anti-aircraft turrets, while a ground assault bogs down and quickly becomes a war of attrition between the Black Fleet troops and the defending legions.

The Republic Navy’s Seventh Fleet jumps out of hyperspace to see the Tarrago system under attack. Admiral Landoo, the fleet commanding officer, is under orders to defend the system but is less than enthusiastic about losing her fleet in the face of utter destruction. The Black Fleet’s battleships are massive, new, and never before encountered as opposed to her own ships which are more numerous but smaller, and their weapons and defenses are well known to any well-informed ship's crew. Landoo calls Utopion for assistance as she engages the Black Fleet and is told that Admiral Devers is on the way.

The fleet engagement ensues, damaging Sullus’s battleships and doing real damage to the Seventh Fleet. A starfighter’s suicide attack on the Terror’s bridge wipes out the command structure but gunnery officer Vampa seizes the opportunity to turn the tables on Landoo’s forces, and swerves the Terror to head into the clustered formation of the republic destroyers, breaking their formation and stalling their attack. Thus distracted, the Imperator and Revenge are able to flank the Seventh Fleet and wreck a number of Republic destroyers.

As a precaution against the total loss of the system, Landoo tasks the Hammerhead Corvette Audacity with rescuing the remaining principal politicians and their families from the surface, despite its lack of weapons and resources (the ship is in the middle of a refit). Captain Desaix runs the gauntlet created by the remaining tri-fighters and lands on Fortress Omicron’s main landing pad, defies the governor’s orders for immediate lift off, and stays long enough to fill the ship with refugees.

Back in orbit, the Audacity disembarks its refugee passengers into the super-destroyer Atlantica’s hangar bay, and is immediately tasked with shielding the Seventh Fleet as its ships try to escape. Desaix intends to use the ship’s new multi-warhead torpedoes to delay the Black Fleet despite the fact that the missiles have no warheads. Through clever tactics and almost perfect timing, the corvette releases the torpedos and distracts the attacking battleships long enough for the fleet’s jump computers to pick their paths into hyperspace. The fleet jumps away and the Audacity is captured with its crew.

Back on Tarrago Prime, captives are unloaded from surviving Republic ships as the Black Fleet’s shock troopers take command of the system. Goth Sullus executes Admiral Devers for incompetence as Orrin Kaar realizes that he has no control over Sullus. Admiral Rommal, commander in chief of the Black Fleet, hails Sullus as the new Galactic Emperor, and his troops join in the salute.



My Thoughts:

Beyond the fact that I really enjoyed this book (probably the most in the series so far due to it being a very linear timeline this time), I've only have a few brief thoughts.

Anspach and Cole (the authors) do a wonderful job of portraying side characters and their motivations for joining Goth Sullus in his bid to bring down the Republic. Exo, one of the Legionnaires from the first book plays a large role and so we know already why he's doing it. But we get fighter pilots, other Legionnaires, soldiers, etc. We get their personal stories of why they are fighting against the Republic and it becomes extremely easy to sympathize with them and even root for them. At the same time, you have the regular Legionnaires who are doing their best to hold the Republic together as they know that as bad as things are, a regime change will bring chaos and death to a huge number of worlds. And I was rooting for them too!

Make no mistake though, Goth Sullus is shown to be the figure of terror that he is. His own people are afraid to even say his name and near the end one of his generals has to decide whether to help Goth Sullus or to kill him and take his place. And the general, while a rebel, is generally portrayed as one of the good guys. On the Republic side, you get some real scumbags too. General Devers, who is an active traitor to the Republic and the character portrayed in the first book, waffles back and forth in deciding who he is going to actually support, all based on who he thinks he can get more power out of. The main politician of the Republic is using Goth Sullus without realizing that Sullus is using him. Despicable people and I wanted them to face the justice they deserved.

The battle was great too. I enjoyed this book and am looking forward to the next installment with anticipation.

★★★★☆






Monday, June 08, 2020

The Shadow Rising (The Wheel of Time #4) ★★★★☆


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 & Librarything by Bookstooge’s Exalted Permission
Title: The Shadow Rising
Series: The Wheel of Time #4
Author: Robert Jordan
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Fantasy
Pages: 1465
Words: 398K




Synopsis:

From Tarvalon.net & authored by Toral Delvar

Min arrives in the Tower, where she tells Siuan and Leane that Rand has gone after Callandor, and also that she has had a viewing that many in the Tower will die in battle on the same day. She is recognized by Gawyn, but not Galad. Neither believe Elayne and Egwene are safe. Elaida and Alviarin begin plotting together. Siuan convinces Min to stay and look for the Black Ajah. In order to accomplish this, Min dresses in a more "girly" fashion and begins calling herself Elmindreda. Siuan receives word from Moiraine that Rand has taken the Stone and tells the Aes Sedai that the Dragon has been Reborn.

With Alviarin's help, Elaida organizes a coup and overthrows Siuan, proclaiming herself Amyrlin. Siuan and Leane are stilled and imprisoned before being rescued by Min, who is helped by the Mistress of the Kitchens, Laras. They are allowed to leave the Tower by Gawyn, who had organized the resistance when those loyal to Siuan tried to free her. They are joined by Logain, who Min insists is important in some way. Siuan promises to help Logain get his revenge.

Rand is attacked in his room by his own reflection, scaring Berelain, who was attempting to seduce him at the time. Perrin is attacked by his own ax, while Mat is assaulted by playing cards. Moiraine claims that these attacks are the result of "bubbles of evil" rising from the Dark One, and that although they are likely to occur only around ta'veren at first, they will eventually become commonplace.

Egwene, Elayne and Nynaeve question the two captured members of the Black Ajah, both of whom claim to be willing to help them. They are told of a plot to rescue Mazrim Taim and blame his activities on Rand, and also of an object in Tanchico, which could be used to control Rand.

Elayne and Egwene try to teach Rand about channeling, but all he is able learn is that he can sense when women channel. Egwene is surprised to learn Rand is far stronger than she is. He and Egwene tell each other that they don't love each other anymore, giving Elayne the chance to move in on him.

Mat asks Egwene for advice and she tells him about a ter'angreal which will grant three answers to any who enter. He claims not to be interested.

Lanfear visits Rand in his room, and whilst she is talking to him, he is attacked by a Gray Man. The Stone is attacked by Trollocs and Myrddraal, which Rand eventually kills using Callandor. Afterwards, the members of the Black Ajah are found dead in their cells.

Perrin looks for rumors that could lead Faile away from Tear, as he fears it is too dangerous. Instead, he hears that Whitecloaks have taken over the Two Rivers and are looking for a yellow eyed Darkfriend. He decides to go there and give himself up to be hanged in order to free everyone. He tries to put Faile off going with him. Faile and Berelain fight, with Berelain promising to take Perrin away from her until she gets bored with him. Rhuarc splits them up and punishes both of them. Perrin gets Loial to take him through the Ways, though Loial and Faile have an agreement that he must take her. They are accompanied by three Aiel.

In spite of his earlier feigned disinterest, Mat enters the ter'angreal that takes him to the realm of the Aelfinn and is supposed to give him true answers to any question he asks. However, the answers he receives - that he is to die and live again, that he must go to Rhuidean and that he is destined to marry the Daughter of the Nine Moons - leave him more unhappy than ever. The area inside the doorway starts shaking and he is forced out. When he leaves, he meets Moiraine and Rand, who are also leaving.

Thom stays in the Stone, plotting against the High Lords that oppose Rand, and also advising him. Moiraine does not approve of this, so she promises to give him the names of the Red Ajah responsible for illegally gentling his nephew Owyn if he will go to Tanchico with the girls.

Egwene enters the World of Dreams without the ter'angreal for the first time. While there, she meets Amys, who says that if Egwene wants to learn, she must come to the Waste. She also goes to Tanchico, which Amys says contains an evil worse than men can make, whatever that means.

Rand calls a meeting, where he tells all the Tairen Lords that they must trade with Illian and restore order to Cairhien, which is caught in the throes of a civil war. He sends the Tairen Lords who are plotting against him most to deal with it. Rand says he is going away and drives Callandor back into the Heart of the Stone. He then tells Mat and Moiraine that he is going to Rhuidean in the Aiel Waste.

Rand and the Aiel, together with Mat, Egwene, Moiraine and Lan go directly to the Waste using a Portal Stone, which Rand requires an angreal to use. They arrive next to a city - Rhuidean.

Perrin and company are attacked by Trollocs in the ways and only just escape Machin Shin, which kills the Trollocs. In the Two Rivers, Perrin shuts the Waygate so it is only possible to open it from the outside. He discovers someone is killing the wildlife. In dreams he chases the man responsible for this, who is called Slayer. Slayer disappears through the Tower of Ghenjei, which leads to the worlds of the Aelfinn and Eelfinn. Here, Perrin meets Birgitte, one of the heroes of legend who warns him that Slayer is dangerous and that he is in the World of Dreams physically.

Perrin learns his entire family has been killed. Trollocs have been blamed for this. Perrin decides against giving himself up to the Whitecloaks and instead to rescue people from them. Padan Fain has linked up with the Whitecloaks, and we learn that he was the one who killed Perrin's family. Bornhald does not trust Fain, as Whitecloaks sent to accompany him tend to die. Fain has killed two Gray Men sent after him and is keeping a Myrddraal prisoner in his tent.

Perrin learns that two Aes Sedai, Alanna and Verin, are in the area, ostensibly to look for recruits. He meets several families and convinces them to move to the village for their own safety. He also meets a man calling himself Lord Luc, who he does not trust, though the others think highly of him. Some of the young men agree to go with Perrin to free the Whitecloaks' prisoners. After doing so, he goes hunting Trollocs. After initial success, he and his men are ambushed and many of them are killed. Perrin is severely injured. They spend the night with the Tuatha'an before returning to Emond's Field, where Alanna Heals him. Faile tells Perrin about her father, Davram Bashere. Perrin talks to Slayer in dreams and notices how much he resembles Lan. Loial and Gaul go to shut the Waygate permanently; Slayer has told Perrin it is open again.

Trollocs mount an attack on the village and are beaten back. They also attack a group of Tuatha'an, who Perrin convinces to come into the village for safety. When they return to the village, they see a wolf’s head banner, as well as a Manetheren banner. The Aes Sedai are behind this. One of the Tuatha’an, Aram, picks up a sword and asks to be taught to use it. Perrin allows it. Whitecloaks arrive to arrest Perrin on charges of being a Darkfriend. Perrin agrees to go with them if they stay and help defend the village against the Shadowspawn. The men and women of the village start coming to him for instructions.

In Tel'aran'rhiod, Perrin shoots Slayer before returning to the real world. Lord Luc runs through the house injured. Perrin realizes that Slayer and Luc have a similar smell and decides he is to be arrested if he reappears.

Perrin sends Faile off to tell the Queen what went on, though in reality he just wants her safely out of the way. She agrees, on the condition that he marries her. They get married. The village is almost overrun by Trollocs chanting "Isam", but is rescued by men from the other Two Rivers villages, some of whom were led there by Faile. They receive no help from the Whitecloaks during the battle, which enables Perrin to refuse to go with them when they try to arrest him. People start referring to Perrin as Lord Perrin, which displeases him.

Nynaeve and Elayne, along with Thom and Juilin, set off for Tanchico on a Sea Folk ship, which only agrees to take them because they believe they are serving Rand. Elayne suspects that she knows Thom. The Windfinder teaches Elayne a great deal about controlling the weather.

The girls arrive in Tanchico, where they again meet Bayle Domon, who agrees to help them look for the women they are seeking. Elayne gets drunk and makes Thom tell the truth about himself. They also encounter a Seanchan captain, Egeanin, who has remained in Tanchico, looking for escaped sul'dam. She is paying Floran Gelb to look for them. When he mistakenly goes after Nynaeve, she stops him. Egeanin is interested in Aes Sedai and the Power, so she meets with Nynaeve and Elayne. She attacks Domon when he walks in, for which they blame him. Egeanin releases the captured sul'dam.

After using the Power, the girls are visited by Moghedien, who uses Compulsion to make them reveal their plans. She tells them to forget about the visit and leaves them alone, as she doesn't believe they will interfere with her. They locate the Black Ajah, and enter the World of Dreams to check if it is safe. They also locate the object of danger to Rand, using a method taught them by the Wise Ones. Nynaeve sees the Black Ajah holding the Panarch hostage before seeing Moghedien and remembering their encounter. She is prevented from attacking her by Birgitte. Slayer attacks Nynaeve in Tel’aran’rhiod.

They head for the palace. Egeanin accompanies them. Elayne goes to rescue the ruler of Tarabon, the Panarch, from Temaile. Nynaeve's objective is to find the object that could hurt Rand. She finds some bracelets, and is interrupted by Moghedien, who tells her the bracelets can be used to control men who can channel. They battle with the Power, and are evenly matched until Nynaeve throws the bracelets at her, then shields Moghedien and ties her up. She retrieves the bracelets and one of the seals, and is attacked by an Aes Sedai of the Black Ajah using a ter'angreal that produces balefire. By the time it stops, Moghedien has escaped. The girls then leave the building.

Rand asks the Wise Ones' permission to enter Rhuidean. Permission is granted, and Mat makes the same request. He is refused permission, but when Rand tells them he is going whether they allow it or not, they relent. Couladin attacks Rand and Mat, and is stopped by Melaine and Amys using the Power, to Moiraine's surprise.

The boys leave all their weapons and head to the city, which is surrounded by a strange fog, one which cannot be penetrated in Tel’aran’rhiod. In the center of Rhuidean, Rand enters a crystal ter'angreal, where he starts to see visions of Aiel long dead, including most of the important events from their history. He learns the truth that most Aiel don't know; that once, they followed the Way of the Leaf. In fact, the original, full name of the Aiel, "Da'shain Aiel", means “dedicated to peace” in the Old Tongue. Rand also learns that the Tuatha’an are descended from the same people in the Age of Legends. He sees Couladin's first-brother, Muradin, apparently dying.

Mat enters a separate ter'angreal, this time to the land of the fox heads (Eelfinn), in the belief this will also allow him to ask questions. Instead, he is given gifts, based on requests he makes. These are memories of dead lords, soldiers and generals, to fill up holes in his memory from when he had the dagger, an amulet to protect him from Aes Sedai and the One Power, and the ashandarei, which is like a spear, but with a more sword-like blade on the end. He also gains the ability to fully understand and speak the Old Tongue. The people behind the doorway leave him hanging from the Tree of Life. Rand resuscitates Mat after leaving his ter'angreal. They make their way out of Rhuidean, overcoming another "bubble of evil" on the way.

They arrive at the camp outside at dawn and Rand reveals dragons on both arms, showing him to be the Car'a'carn. Couladin attacks him and is threatened with being outlawed. He learns Moiraine has also gone, as has Aviendha, and they have been gone seven days. He also learns of his mother and how she became a Maiden of the Spear. She is obviously Tigraine, though Rand doesn't realize it. He learns how his real father died, killed by a man who looked like his mother.

Rand and Mat journey with the Aiel to Al'cair Dal, following Couladin, who has said the Shaido will not accept Rand. Rand is accompanied by Aviendha, who claims to dislike Rand because he has treated Elayne badly. Despite this, she is told by the Wise Ones to teach him Aiel ways, which she does.

They stop off at Cold Rocks Hold, which is where Rhuarc lives. Couladin asks to enter as a clan chief but is welcomed as a beggar. Rand gives Aviendha a bracelet as a thank you, and to try and pacify her. Her friends take this to mean he is trying to attract her attention, and they approve of him. Lanfear appears in his dreams and argues with Asmodean. Aviendha accidentally reveals that the Wise Ones are watching Rand through his dreams. The hold is attacked by Trollocs and other Shadowspawn. One of the Wise Ones, Seana, is killed by a Draghkar. They are joined by a group of peddlers, who Rand knows to be Darkfriends. Couladin heads for Al'cair Dal, prompting Rand to leave earlier than he wished.

At Al'cair Dal, Rand announces that the Maidens carry his honor, which pleases them greatly. He and Couladin both announce they are the Car'a'carn. Both have dragons on their arms. Rand is accepted only after revealing the secret of the Aiel's history. He confronts Lanfear, who was masquerading as one of the peddlers. She tells him that Asmodean has gone to Rhuidean in search of something useful. Rand Skims after Asmodean to Rhuidean, where they battle with the Power next to the Tree of Life, after grabbing a ter'angreal that links them both to the giant sa'angreal outside Cairhien. Rand cuts Asmodean off from the Dark One, and Lanfear shields him partially so he will not escape. She almost kills Asmodean when he accidentally calls her by her original name, which Rand recognizes as one of the Aes Sedai who created the bore in the Dark One's prison. Asmodean agrees to teach Rand to channel, as the other Forsaken will turn on him if they get the chance. A great lake is created in Rhuidean, the fog having been dispersed.



My Thoughts:

Just want to say, AGAIN, that Toral Delvar IS THE MAN!!! All that work for a synopsis each time, saves me 100 million headaches. And I'm only slightly exaggerating.

Going through the various storylines here.

As Gru, from the movie Despicable Me, would say “The Goils”. Much better than in the previous book but that is ONLY because they are all split up from each other and in ones or twos can only be so catty and bitchy. I do not understand why Jordan chose to write them all this way. You can write about females acting irrationally without making them be unlikable. For me, the biggest pitfall is how Nynaeve and Elayne are in Tanchico seeking the Black Ajah and as such they can't channel without drawing attention to themselves and the city is filled to overflowing with refuges and violence. But they want to go out on their own and “sniff” (Oh, I am beginning to HATE that word) at the men who want to give them some protection while out on the street. It takes them almost being kidnapped and killed to even make them consider they might not have acted so wisely. Other than that, their storyline was actually pretty cool. Going head to head with a Forsaken, how much cooler does it need to get?

Perrin and Faile. Perrin is a control freak and is one of those people who feel guilty about everything that happens around them even if it is totally outside of their control. Faile provided a good foil to his mopiness and I can't wait until he gets rid of the axe and takes up the hammer. I seem to remember that is when his attitude changes and he stops being such an insufferable bore and resigns from being the General Manager of the Universe.

Matt & Rand. Matt has accepted that he's going to tag along on Rand's coattails and pretty much decides to have as much fun as he can while doing it. Rand has the biggest changes so far. He has taken to studying various prophecies of the Dragon and has formulated his own set of plans to make things work. He's studious, powerful, assured in his Dragon'ness but oh so afraid. I really enjoyed his parts of the story.

Overall, Jordan wrote a crackerjack of a novel here. The world building continues to expand, the Forsaken are introduced as real beings of power rather than just vague “Oh, the Forsaken, they exist, somehow, somewhere”. However, this also seems to be where the storylines start to get big enough that every storyline can't fit in each book. The Seanchan are pretty much ignored and the Children of Light are only ancillary to Perrin's tale. Nothing was unwieldy here but knowing what is coming, now I can see the proverbial cracks in the foundation.

While this was a fun read, I am not sure that I'll feel the same way in another 10 years. I've already downgraded this from a 5star read in 2011, so I'm thinking it might be wise to let this series rest after this re-read.



★★★★☆






Friday, June 05, 2020

Sabbat Martyr (Warhammer 40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #7) ★★★☆☆


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Title: Sabbat Martyr
Series: Warhammer 40K: Gaunt's Ghosts #7
Author: Dan Abnett
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 416
Words: 104K




Synopsis:

From Wikipedia & Me

At the request of the reincarnated Saint Sabbat, the Tanith First-and-Only is summoned to the remote and tactically insignificant world Herodor. The Civitas Beati, a holy city dedicated to the Saint, is under assault from a legion of Blood Pact, led by Enok Innokenti. While the Ghosts prepare to defend the city alongside the local PDF force, Gaunt learns the truth of the situation: the woman posing as the reincarnated Saint is Sanian, an esholi whom the Ghosts encountered on Hagia. Utterly convinced that she is Sabbat, Sanian has clearly lost her mind. Lord-General Lugo – whose career has been unstable since his disgrace at Hagia – plans to use her as propaganda, and does not care that she is an imposter; he believes that he will be forever remembered as the man responsible for a miracle in the Sabbat Worlds. As far as untold thousands of pilgrims, Imperial and archenemy troops are concerned, Sanian is the true Saint.

However, things take a strange turn when Sanian actually does become the host for the Saint's spirit, after Sabbat's true incarnation perishes in the assault. Innokenti deploys nine specialist assassins to the Civitas Beati under the cover of the invasion. Their purpose: kill the Saint and shatter the morale of the Imperials. With the Imperial fleet all but destroyed and surrounded by an enemy who has multiple advantages over them, the Ghosts face one of their most daunting challenges yet.

The title Sabbat Martyr is a reference to the psychic message experienced by a number of Ghosts in Honour Guard. Ultimately, it is one of the Ghost's most beloved leaders who becomes a martyr in Sabbat's name, as he gives his life defending her from the final assassin.

Sabbat takes down Innokenti and with the death of the Chaos leader, the Chaos forces retreat and are eventually destroyed by reinforcements. Cuu is revealed as the final traitor and is killed. The book ends with one of the Ghosts, who has been getting messages from himself that have saved innumerable lives, being handed over to the Psykers and his final message being “Help Me!”



My Thoughts:

For whatever reason, I struggled with this book. I had to check to see if it was written by Abnett because the writing just wasn't zinging along like his previous books in this series. Part of it was there were a couple of space battle scenes and I don't care two figs for space battles. I don't dislike them, but it doesn't draw my attention. However, even the ground pounder action felt almost like it was a gaming scenario from a WH:40K miniatures game instead of a battle in a story.

How magic is treated (I was going to say works, but that's not accurate) in this universe still baffles me. It is supposedly of Chaos and therefore tainted. But then you have whole Departments of the massive army dealing with the magic, ie, the Psykers, etc. So why don't they take in everyone with some talent and use them until they become too tainted by Chaos? Why put them “under the question”? Then you have the whole “Emperor Protects” thing, where the people are basically invoking the Emperor to protect them with his magic and you have reincarnated saint like Sabbath. How does that square with everything? All magic can't be bad, but it is treated like it is.

The body count is pretty high and even with the injection of the Verdegast volunteers from a couple of books ago, the Ghost's are going to need a fresh dose of people to keep things moving along. At some point though the Tanith Ghosts will lose their identity if that were to keep up. My guess is by the end of the series they're chewed up to nothing and the few survivors are rolled into other units. We'll have to wait and see.

Finally, the biggest reason this was dropped half a star is because of the end of Lijah Cuu. That miserable son of a gun has been a cancer within the ranks of the Ghosts and caused so much trouble that his ending should have been appropriately horrific. Instead, he's dispatched like a rabid dog with just a couple of shots. Bam, he's dead. No justice for the horror and betrayal he's committed ever since we met him. That just stuck in my craw and was like vinegar and gall.

Even with all that complaining, I still enjoyed the book enough to continue on with the series. Obviously I won't enjoy every single book and I guess this one just falls into that “I mostly enjoyed it but didn't love it” category.

★★★☆☆