Henry V ★★★★☆

 

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Title: Henry V
Author: William Shakespeare
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Play
Pages: 160
Words: 40K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia

The Elizabethan stage lacked scenery. It begins with a Prologue, in which the Chorus (a lone speaker addressing the audience) apologizes for the limitations of the theatre, wishing for "a Muse of fire", with real princes and a kingdom for a stage, to do justice to King Henry's story. Then, says the Chorus, King Henry would "[a]ssume the port [bearing] of Mars". The Chorus encourages the audience to use their "imaginary forces" to overcome the limitations of the stage: "Piece out our imperfections with your thoughts ... turning the accomplishment of many years / Into an hour-glass".

Shakespeare's plays are in five acts. In Henry V, the first act deals largely with the king and his decision to invade France, persuaded that through ancestry, he is the rightful heir to the French throne. The French Dauphin, son of King Charles VI, answers Henry's claims with a condescending and insulting gift of tennis balls, "as matching to his youth and vanity."

The Chorus reappears at the beginning of each act to advance the story. At the beginning of Act II, he describes the country's dedication to the war effort: "Now all the youth of England are on fire... They sell the pasture now to buy the horse, / Following the mirror of all Christian kings ...." Act II includes a plot by the Earl of Cambridge and two comrades to assassinate Henry at Southampton. Henry's clever uncovering of the plot and his ruthless treatment of the conspirators show that he has changed from the earlier plays in which he appeared.

In Act III Henry and his troops siege the French port of Harfleur after crossing the English Channel. The Chorus appears again: "Grapple your minds to sternage of this navy/And leave your England, as dead midnight still". The French king, says the Chorus, "doth offer him / Catharine his daughter, and with her, to dowry, / Some petty and unprofitable dukedoms." Henry is not satisfied.

At the siege of Harfleur, the English are beaten back at first, but Henry urges them on with one of Shakespeare's best-known speeches. "Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; / Or close the wall up with our English dead...." After a bloody siege, the English take Harfleur, but Henry's forces are so depleted that he decides not to go on to Paris. Instead, he decides to move up the coast to Calais. The French assemble a powerful army and pursue him.

They surround him near the small town of Agincourt, and in Act IV, the night before the battle, knowing he is outnumbered, Henry wanders around the English camp in disguise, trying to comfort his soldiers and determine what they really think of him. He agonizes about the moral burden of being king, asking God to "steel my soldiers' hearts". Daylight comes, and Henry rallies his nobles with the famous St Crispin's Day Speech (Act IV Scene iii 18–67): "We few, we happy few, we band of brothers". The French herald Montjoy returns to ask if Henry will surrender and avoid certain defeat, and ransom his men's survival; Henry bids him "bear my former answer back," saying the French will get no ransom from him "but these my joints."

Shakespeare does not describe the battle in the play. Though the French in one scene complain that 'Tout est perdu', the outcome is not clear to Henry, until the French Herald Montjoy tells him the 'day is yours'. The battle turns out to be a lop-sided victory: the French suffered 10,000 casualties; the English, fewer than 30. "O God, thy arm was here," says Henry.

Act V comes several years later, as the English and French negotiate the Treaty of Troyes, and Henry tries to woo the French princess, Catherine of Valois. Neither speaks the other's language well, but the humour of their mistakes actually helps achieve his aim. The scene ends with the French king adopting Henry as heir to the French throne, and the prayer of the French queen "that English may as French, French Englishmen, receive each other, God speak this Amen."

The play concludes with a final appearance of the Chorus who foreshadows the tumultuous reign of Henry's son Henry VI of England, "whose state so many had the managing, that they lost France, and made his England bleed, which oft our stage hath shown". Shakespeare had previously brought this tale to the stage in a trilogy of plays: Henry VI Part 1, Henry VI Part 2, and Henry VI Part 3.

As in many of Shakespeare's history and tragedy plays, a number of minor comic characters appear, contrasting with and sometimes commenting on the main plot. In this case, they are mostly common soldiers in Henry's army, and they include Pistol, Nym, and Bardolph from the Henry IV plays. The army also includes a Scot, an Irishman, and an Englishman, and Fluellen, a comically stereotyped Welsh soldier. The play also deals briefly with the death of Sir John Falstaff, Henry's estranged friend from the Henry IV plays, whom Henry had rejected at the end of Henry IV, Part 2.

My Thoughts:

Back in May of '21, I decided to Take A Break from Shakespeare. I was just burned out and even Henry V, the play I am most familiar with and enjoy, was not working for me. I had thought about taking an entire year off (you know you are getting older when planning your reading schedule now encompasses years instead of weeks or even months) but was a bit afraid that if I stopped that long that I might not get back on the horse. So here we are.

In highschool I had watched the Kenneth Branaugh production of Henry V. It really hit home to my teenage self and ended up occupying a place in my mind where I judged all other Shakespeare films to it. I still do in fact. So while I was reading this I had scenes from the movie interjecting themselves into my brain. I also had the Musical Score running through my head. Man, that is some good music!

All of that is to highlight just how biased I am in this play's favor. I enjoyed reading this. It was interesting and having the “histories” lining up chronologically allowed me to have a fuller grasp of Henry as a character, as well as a few of his “old crew” who got themselves into various sorts of trouble.

It was encouraging and refreshing to enjoy Shakespeare again. While I have had, and will continue to have, issues with the Bard, they aren't big enough to stop me from reading him. At least as long as I'm not approaching burn out. I'm going to try reading him until the end of '23 and see if two years is a good period or not. Three years was definitely much too much.

★★★★☆

• All My Shakespeare Reviews

Sharpe's Fortress (Sharpe #3) ★★★✬☆

 

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: Sharpe's Fortress
Series: Sharpe #3
Authors: Bernard Cornwell
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 274
Words: 114.5K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org

In 1803, Arthur Wellesley's British and sepoy army is in pursuit of the Mahrattas in western India, having beaten them in the Battle of Assaye. Ensign Richard Sharpe, newly made an officer, is beginning to wish he had remained a sergeant, as most of his fellow officers look down upon him, including Captain Urquhart, his commanding officer. Urquhart suggests he sell his commission if he is not happy.

Manu Bappoo, the younger brother of the Rajah of Berar, decides to turn around and fight the British again, with his best unit, composed of Arab mercenaries, leading the charge, but he is again routed. During the fighting, Sharpe is impressed by the bravery of a teenage Arab boy, Ahmed, and saves his life when the boy is surrounded. Ahmed becomes his servant.

After the battle, Urquhart reassigns Sharpe to the 95th Rifles, an experimental unit, though the transfer cannot be completed while the war rages on. For the moment, Sharpe is sent to manage the baggage train, under the command of Captain Torrance. The army is short of many desperately needed supplies, and Sharpe soon discovers why. Lazy and deeply in debt, Torrance has been selling them to the merchant Naig, with the assistance of Sharpe's old nemesis, Sergeant Hakeswill. When Sharpe finds many of the stolen supplies in Naig's tent, Torrance has his associate hanged immediately to avoid being implicated. Jama, Naig's brother, is not pleased, so Torrance agrees to betray Sharpe into his hands. Hakeswill is only too glad to waylay Sharpe; besides their mutual hatred, he rightly suspects that Sharpe has a fortune in jewels looted from a dead enemy ruler.

Hakeswill ambushes Sharpe and takes him prisoner. He steals all of the jewels Sharpe has hidden on his person, then hands him over to Jama. Fortunately, Ahmed witnesses Sharpe's kidnapping and gets away. He finds Sharpe's friend, Syud Sevagee, who rescues him. Sharpe decides to let his enemies believe he is dead. Using this ruse, he catches captain Torrance alone and kills him in an act of summary justice.

The Mahrattas take refuge in Gawilghur, a seemingly impregnable fortress, perched high on cliffs above the Deccan Plain. Wellesley, despite his deep misgivings, has no choice but to attack anyway. Gawilghur is composed of an Outer Fort and an Inner Fort. While the Outer Fort is formidable, the Mahrattas expect the British to take it, though at heavy cost. However, the Inner Fort is so strong, they are confident it cannot fall. Once Wellesley's army has been bled dry trying to capture it, the Mahrattas plan to emerge and destroy the survivors.

When two of Hakeswill's henchmen are killed, Hakeswill realises Sharpe is responsible, so he deserts and finds service with the renegade Englishman William Dodd in Gawilghur. Who rules in Gawilghur, it is said, rules India, and Dodd intends for it to be him. When the Outer Fort falls, Dodd orders the gates of the Inner Fort be kept closed, trapping Manu Bappoo outside to be killed by the British. Dodd also murders Beny Singh, the weak commander of Gawilghur. However, Sharpe finds a way into the Inner Fort, a section of the wall which is weakly defended because it sits atop a steep cliff. The cliff, however, can be scaled. When Captain Morris, Sharpe's commanding officer, refuses to give him men, Sharpe beats him, then takes charge and leads a group of soldiers inside and opens the gates. He then finds and duels with Dodd, only to find that Dodd is by far the better swordsman. It is Dodd who gives Sharpe the scar on his right cheek. Ahmed appears unexpectedly and attacks Dodd. Dodd kills him easily, but a cavalryman shoots him in the shoulder, and then Sharpe is able to kill him.

Hakeswill tries to flee, disguised as a British soldier, but Sharpe finds him. Sharpe retrieves most of his jewels from him, then backs Hakeswill up until he falls into a pit filled with poisonous snakes.

My Thoughts:

This was a good adventure story. Without a side character who is religious and devout, Cornwell didn't seem to have a target for his religious vitriol and thus didn't use Sharpe as a mouthpiece. Hakeswill is still around, but he talks a LOT less, so his abuse of the phrase “Scripture says” was cut down to a palatable amount.

Speaking of Hakeswill. The book ends with Sharpe pushing him into a pit of poisonous snakes and then Sharpe just walks away without confirming that Hakeswill dies. How stupid is Sharpe? He's tried to feed Hakeswill to tigers AND have an elephant crush him but he never verifies. So I am fully expecting Hakeswill to survive and come back in the next book to cause problems yet again. Honestly, I'm surprised Sharpe just doesn't bring him up on charges for not saluting him and have him flogged to death. What's the point of being an Officer if he's still going to think and act like a soldier of the line?

I am not at all familiar with the history of Britain's conquering of India, as I'm more concerned with the American and British bit of history, so this has all been brand new stuff to me. I rather like it and am enjoying the story. There was talk about Sharpe being transferred to another company somewhere in this book and I think they were located back in England, so this might be the last of the Indian scenery. I guess I'll find out in the next book.

★★★✬☆

• Sharpe's Tiger (Book 1)

• Sharpe's Triumph (Book 2)

The Song of Groo (Groo the Wanderer #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: The Song of Groo
Series: Groo the Wanderer #1
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 23
Words: 2K

Synopsis:

A minstrel is singing about the (mis)adventures of Groo the Wanderer. First he is supposed to catch some food for the kingdom, but ends up stampeding the whole herd off the cliff, thus destroying all the livestock. Then he is supposed to guard a bridge against enemies. He guards the bridge, but lets the enemies pass and sack the city, as his duty was to guard the bridge. Finally, he is sent out as a decoy to capture one city while the king captures another. Only Groo captures the first city and when the king hears about it, he marches off to claim it for himself. One of Groo's soldiers tells him the king had sent him off as a decoy and he wasn't actually supposed to capture the city. So Groo gives the city back and the king and his army get the stuffing beaten out of them.

The book ends with Groo coming into the tavern, laughing at the stupid idiot in the song, only to realize it is himself and he starts chasing the minstrel with his swords drawn.

My Thoughts:

I had to do a bit of research before I could catalog this, as “Groo” had a tumultuous beginning. The creator, Argones, started with one independent press that went out of business, then did some standalones or small runs of Groo until Epic Comics picked him up. So technically, this series I'm reading is Groo the Wanderer Vol 2, Issue 1. Don't worry about it, there are 120 issues for this run :-D But what it does mean is that there are 12-20 comics about Groo before this that I can't get a hold of. I don't think it affects anything, but without reading them, who knows?

The first thing that struck me as I opened this issue was how busy it was. Mrs B was looking over my shoulder and commented that it reminded her of a Where's Waldo page. Here's the first page of the issue:

Clickable for a high res version

This was very light hearted and humorous and had no overarching narrative plot. To be honest, I think that is perfect for a once a month comic of only 23 pages. I hope the comic stays that way because sometimes you need a break from Big Stories. Even when you like them, Big Stories can be tiring.

On another note, the editor for this series is Archie Goodwin. I had to go look that up to see if it was a joke or what. Turns out it is his real name and as far as Wikipedia was concerned, had no relation or bearing from the Archie Goodwin in the Nero Wolfe mystery books by Rex Stout. Not a big thing, but it was another humorous aspect to this comic :-)

★★★☆☆

Iron Wolves (Galaxy's Edge: Order of the Centurion #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: Iron Wolves
Series: Galaxy's Edge: Order of the Centurion #2
Author: Jonathan Yanez
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Mil-SF
Pages: 212
Words: 62K

Synopsis:

From Galaxysedge.fandom.com/Publisher's Summary

The Iron Wolves are a company of legionnaires whose legendary exploits date back to the Savage Wars. When they are invited to be guests of honor at a ceremony on a small, backwater planet, they look forward to some precious time away from the constant conflicts of galaxy's edge.

But when a neighboring country invades, disrupting the ceremony and killing innocents, the Wolves are forced to make an impossible decision. Aid a people pleading for their protection... or obey the cynical orders of their Senate to stand down and see how the dust settles.

Taking their careers and lives into their hands, the Iron Wolves and local militia form a brotherhood determined to fight for what they believe in. War is on the wind, the battle is at hand, and the Legion is on the move once more.

My Thoughts:

This is the first GE book truly written by another author. While Anspach and Cole's names are on the cover, this is all Yanez. As such, it is a very different book from what I've read before. In many ways, it was almost straight up Mil-SF, just like the first book that kicked this whole series off, Legionnaire (by the by, can you believe it has been over 2 years since I started in on the Galaxy's Edge series? And man, it is still going wicked strong!). There was no space opera about this novel, only the grim side of a war for a Republic that was downright dirty.

The main character, Sam, is a real basketcase. He suffers from flashbacks & nightmares and has bad enough anger issues that he's constantly being busted back in rank. His life is the Legion though and there is nothing he won't do for his brothers, including disobey direct orders from their Point Major, who is safely ensconced in a spaceship high above the world.

I understood what Yanez was writing here and why he wrote Sam as he did but I did not enjoy it nearly as much as some of the other GE books. Without that space opera element, that “fantastical other”, Mil-SF has to be really interesting to keep me engaged.

I'll definitely be adjusting my expectations for the rest of this sub-series. Hopefully that will be enough to keep me motivated.

★★★☆☆

• All My "Galaxy's Edge" Reviews

• Galaxy's Edge: Season One

• Galaxy's Edge: Tyrus Rechs

• Galaxy's Edge: The Savage Wars

• Galaxy's Edge: Order of the Centurion

Jerico's Garrison Finish ★★☆☆☆

 

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: Jerico's Garrison Finish
Series: ----------
Author: Max Brand
Rating: 2 of 5 Stars
Genre: Western
Pages: 86
Words: 23K

Synopsis:

Jim Orchard is a hard worker, a tough man and one with a lot of ability. He's also a soft touch and whenever someone appeals to him for aid, he gives it even if they give no actual proof of the need they claim to have. Jim wants to marry Sue Hampton. Thankfully, Sue has a head on her shoulders and has set a goal for money that Jim must accumulate for their house and future children before she'll marry him.

The book opens with Jim having made that money but on the trip back to Sue losing it all. His only chance of getting the money before the date comes due that Sue has been patiently waiting for, for years mind you, is win a horse race, riding a horse that left its owner a broken man and who nobody else has ever been able to ride.

To complicate things, a rival rancher, Gary Munn, has decided that he wants to marry Sue himself. He also has brought in an eastern racing horse to slyly win the race and become the richest man in the region.

Jim tames the horse, wins the race and gets Sue to marry him.

My Thoughts:

Well, this is the last Max Brand story I'll be reading. Not because of anything egregiously wrong but because of the complete and utter mediocrity of it all. I've been reading Brand's stories since May of 2020 and almost none of them rose above a mere competency. The only reason I've kept on so long with him is because he was the only western writer I had on tap and I like keeping my reading rotation fresh with a plethora of genres. Unfortunately, instead of keeping things fresh, every time I saw Brand's name coming up I began to dread it. Like broccoli, which I won't eat as an adult, not even if you pour cheese sauce on it. So I finished this story, thought to myself “Well, that was pretty stupid and unenjoyable” and as such I realized I was done with Brand.

While the synopsis might make Sue sound like a gold digger, she's actually the only wise person on this story. Unfortunately, she has a very small part. When she and Jim are married, she'll be the one making things work, even if Jim does the actual work. She's a saint for marrying him as far as I'm concerned. Jim is one of those people I can't stand, the irresponsible generous man. It's not that he is “too kind”, he's not. It's that he thinks money can solve everyones problems and gives no thought to those depending on him to keep his money for his own needs. He's the kind of guy who would give his last dollar to the Salvation Army bell ringer, while his kids are at home starving. Thankfully, almost losing Sue seems to have changed him slightly by the end of the book.

Gary Munn was just a total jerk. He wanted to see Jim destroyed from before the story was even started and as such he tried to destroy his reputation, both in the community and with Sue. He bet everything he owned on his horse and since it lost, his evil deeds rebounded on his head and he reaped the just rewards.

Unfortunately, none of those characters was enough to overcome Brand's blandness. I do admit I'd like to try to find some authors to keep the western genre going, but it'll probably take some effort on my part. I'm not a huge fan of hard work when it comes to my hobby. I might try to chase down some standalone Louis L'Amour books, but we'll have to see.

ps,

I had no idea what a “garrison finish” is. I had to go look it up in the Merriam-Webster dictionary. It stated: “a finish in which the winner comes from behind at the end”. If I had known that when I stated the book it totally would have destroyed what tiny bit of tension there was.

★★☆☆☆

• All My "Max Brand" Reviews

Taras Bulba (The Russians) ★★★☆☆

 

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Title: Taras Bulba
Series: (The Russians)
Author: Nikolai Golgol
Translater: CJ Hogarth
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic
Pages: 170
Words: 46K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia

Taras Bulba's two sons, Ostap and Andriy, return home from an Orthodox seminary in Kyiv. Ostap is the more adventurous, whereas Andriy has deeply romantic feelings of an introvert. While in Kyiv, he fell in love with a young Polish noble girl, the daughter of the Governor of Kowno, but after a couple of meetings (edging into her house and in church), he stopped seeing her when her family returned home. Taras Bulba gives his sons the opportunity to go to war. They reach the Cossack camp at the Zaporozhian Sich, where there is much merrymaking. Taras attempts to rouse the Cossacks to go into battle. He rallies them to replace the existing Hetman when the Hetman is reluctant to break the peace treaty.

They soon have the opportunity to fight the Poles, who rule all Ukraine west of the Dnieper River. The Poles, led by their ultra-Catholic king, are accused of atrocities against Orthodox Christians, in which they are aided by Jews. After killing many of the Jewish merchants at the Sich, the Cossacks set off on a campaign against the Poles. They besiege Dubno Castle where, surrounded by the Cossacks and short of supplies, the inhabitants begin to starve. One night a Tatar woman comes to Andriy and rouses him. He finds her face familiar and then recalls she is the servant of the Polish girl he was in love with. She advises him that all are starving inside the walls. He accompanies her through a secret passage starting in the marsh that goes into the monastery inside the city walls. Andriy brings loaves of bread with him for the starving girl and her mother. He is horrified by what he sees and in a fury of love, forsakes his heritage for the Polish girl.

Meanwhile, several companies of Polish soldiers march into Dubno to relieve the siege, and destroy a regiment of Cossacks. A number of battles ensue. Taras learns of his son's betrayal from Yankel the Jew, whom he saved earlier in the story. During one of the final battles, he sees Andriy riding in Polish garb from the castle and has his men draw him to the woods, where he takes him off his horse. Taras bitterly scolds his son, telling him "I gave you life, I will take it", and shoots him dead.

Taras and Ostap continue fighting the Poles. Ostap is captured while his father is knocked out. When Taras regains consciousness he learns that his son was taken prisoner by the Poles. Yankel agrees to take Taras to Warsaw, where Ostap is held captive, hiding Taras in a cartload of bricks. Once in Warsaw, a group of Jews help Yankel dress Taras as a German count. They go into the prison to see Ostap, but Taras unwittingly reveals himself as a Cossack, and only escapes by use of a great bribe. Instead, they attend the execution the following day. During the execution, Ostap does not make a single sound, even while being broken on the wheel, but, disheartened as he nears death, he calls aloud on his father, unaware of his presence. Taras answers him from the crowd, thus giving himself away, but manages to escape.

Taras returns home to find all of his old Cossack friends dead and younger Cossacks in their place. He goes to war again. The new Hetman wishes to make peace with the Poles, which Taras is strongly against, warning that the Poles are treacherous and will not honour their words. Failing to convince the Hetman, Taras takes his regiment away to continue the assault independently. As Taras predicted, once the new Hetman agrees to a truce, the Poles betray him and kill a number of Cossacks. Taras and his men continue to fight and are finally caught in a ruined fortress, where they battle until the last man is defeated.

Taras is nailed and tied to a tree and set aflame. Even in this state, he calls out to his men to continue the fight, claiming that a new Tsar is coming who will rule the earth. The story ends with Cossacks on the Dniester River recalling the great feats of Taras and his unwavering Cossack spirit.

My Thoughts:

I had a couple of thoughts about this story and so you get to be the spectator today as I lay them out, like pearls of great price. So don't be a swine! ;-)

First, this was pure propaganda of the highest order. There is Nationalism and pride of country, but Gogol takes us beyond that and into propaganda territory. The Cossacks are the best, the brightest, the bravest, the most devout, the most fervent, the loyalest, the fiercest, the most honest and just, just THE BEST EVAH! and don't you forget it. At first it grated but then it just became so ridiculous as the cossacks own behavior put lie to what Gogol was claiming that I simply had to grin.

Second, it was hard to tell if it was Hogarth's translating, but I really didn't care for Gogol's style. I do think it was Gogol himself, or at least this specific story, because I've enjoyed most of the other Russian literature I've read and I believe a lot of it was translated by Hogarth as well. This was the first book I've read by Gogol and I'm not really impressed. I've got a Complete Works of Gogol so I'll be giving him a couple more chances to impress me, but I've got that DNF axe ready and it won't take much for me to let it fall and for heads to roll.

Overall, this was a story of a man who grew up fighting, raised his sons to fight and died fighting. I can't say it is a good advertisement for the Warrior Lifestyle though. While the Cossacks were presented as The Best Evah, it was only to their own kind. Bulba considers it as a mark of how good Christians the cossacks are that they don't steal from each other or cheat other cossacks. But when it comes to someone who isn't a cossack, well, there simply aren't any rules. It made me wonder how much of what Bulba thought of as “Christian” was from culture and what he'd heard in church instead of actually reading from the Bible. That is why even our pastor says “Don't take my word for it, go look it up in the Bible”.

With only one more full novel, Dead Souls, then a large body of short stories collected in various editions, I should be able to make my mind up about Gogol relatively easily. It looks like Garnett did the translating for the majority of the short stories so once I get to those it should be easier to tell if it is the translator or the author I don't care for :-D

Gogol is the last of the Russians that I have on tap, so now I begin the cycle anew. I'm pretty pleased overall with how this is going and while it is a bit more spread out than say my Dickens read, I just can't read the Russians as intensely as I can Dickens.

★★★☆☆

• The Russians

• Leo Tolstoy

• Fyodor Dostoyevsky

• Ivan Turgenev

• Nikolai Gogol

Barrelhaven (Bone #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: Barrelhaven
Series: Bone #5
Author: Jeff Smith
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 28
Words: 1K

Synopsis:

From Boneville.fandom.com

The rat creature surround the farmhouse and Gran'ma Ben tells Fone Bone and Thorn to run while she fights off the rat creatures. While running the two get surrounded by rat creatures and Fone Bone calls out for The Great Red Dragon's help. The dragon appears and chases the army away. The dragon returns Fone Bone and Thorn to the farmhouse to find it destroyed. Phoney Bone arrives at the Barrelhaven Tavern and finds Smiley Bone who is working there as a bartender. He also meets Lucius Down, the owner of the tavern and gets on his bad side as well. Phoney learns that they don't use money here, meaning that he has to work at the tavern to pay of his debt.

My Thoughts:

Man, Phoney Bone just can't seem to keep his mouth shut or to stay out of trouble. 10 minutes in the tavern and he's already a problem child. It makes me wonder how he got so rich in the first place! He's not that clever, just more clever than either of his cousins. Which isn't saying much, hahahahaa!

Gran'ma Ben reveals a side that while not unexpected (she does race cows and wins after all), isn't what you'd expect. Busting through her own walls, throttling the rat creatures and saying how she'd be just fine because she fought in the “Big War”. There is history to this valley that none of the Bone's are aware of nor does it seem like Thorn is either. The dragon reveals himself fully to Thorn in rescuing Fone and in the process reveals that there is some sort of agreement between him and Kingdok (the king of the rat creatures), probably going back to said “Big War”.

With just a few phrases, Smith has given the readers clues that this valley is not just an idyllic place that the Bones have stumbled into and brought trouble with them. Trouble has already been here and beaten back. What is amazing is the fact that he just used a few phrases. He isn't spending the next 6 issues fleshing out the history and telling us every single detail and removing our chance to use our imagination. But he doesn't leave the past alone either. It's a fine line to walk (a line which Spawn failed miserably at) and I think he does an admirable job of balancing it all.

★★★✬☆

• All My "Bone" Reviews

Spellbinders in Suspense ★★★★☆

 

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: Spellbinders in Suspense
Series: ----------
Author: Alfred Hitchcock (Editor)
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Crime Fiction
Pages: 215
Words: 77K

Synopsis:

From the Inside Cover

These are mystery-suspense stories. Some will keep you on the edge of your chair with excitement. Others are calculated to draw you along irresistibly to see how the puzzle works out. I have even included a sample or two of stories that are humorous, to show you that humor and mystery can also add up to suspense. So here you are, with best wishes for hours of good reading. --Alfred Hitchcock

Includes the following 13 stories:

The Chinese Puzzle Box - Agatha Christie

The Most Dangerous Game - Richard Connell

The Birds - Daphne du Maurier

Puzzle For Poppy - Patrick Quentin

Eyewitness - Robert Arthur

Man From The South - Roald Dahl

Black Magic - Sax Rohmer

Treasure Trove - F. Tennyson Jesse

Yours Truly, Jack The Ripper - Robert Bloch

The Treasure Hunt - Edgar Wallace

The Man Who Knew How - Dorothy L. Sayers

The Dilemma of Grampa DuBois - Clayre and Michel Lipman

P. Moran, Diamond-Hunter - Percival Wilde

My Thoughts:

I must have read this back in the day because I recognized over 3/4's of the stories. Now, some of them have been in other anthologies so that would account for some of them, but not the number I remembered. I'd start reading and then it would be “Ohhhhh, I remember how THIS story ends”, etc, etc. I am very sure this is the collection where I was introduced to the Most Dangerous Game (in short story form), The Birds and The Man Who Knew How.

I still labeled this as crime fiction, because it has aspects of criminality involved, but unlike some of Hitchcock's other collections, this doesn't focus nearly so much on that. I wasn't sure what else to label it as, so inertia won out :-)

While this was not as thrilling or exciting as some of the others, I'd choose this one collection if I had to recommend one so far. With the authors and stories involved, it gives a very broad collection upon which to build a good literary foundation, even for a Hitchcock book. Let me put it another way. The first story was a Poirot story and while I HATE Poirot with a passion, I still went on and read the entire book. I don't know what higher praise I could give.

Oh wait.

If you read this book:

• You will win the lottery

• Your hair will be the style you always wanted but couldn't get because of Nature

• You will be at your ideal weight

• People of the opposite gender, complete strangers, will come up to you and tell you how amazing you are and how they wished they knew you better

• Hollywood will pay you 100 million dollars to make a movie about your life, starring your choice of actor to play you

• You will get a magic fridge that is always full of just what you want to eat, AT THAT MOMENT!

If none of that appeals to you, then you shouldn't read this book. I'm actually writing this post on my new Lear Jet while on my way to check out locations in the Bahamas for the movie “The Bookstooge Chronicles”. And I'm drinking a Pina Colada Bang. That I just took out of my magic fridge.

'nuff said.

★★★★☆

• All of My “Alfred Hitchcock” Reviews

Sins of Empire (Gods of Blood and Powder #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: Sins of Empire
Series: Gods of Blood and Powder #1
Author: Brian McClellan
Rating: 4.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Flintlock Fantasy
Pages: 507
Words: 177.5K

Synopsis:

Ten years after the Kez-Adran War, General Vlora Flint, now head of the renowned Riflejack Mercenary Company, finds herself hired by the government of the independent colony of Fatrasta. Her mission is to find a dangerous insurgent leader named Mama Palo.

Benjamin "Mad Ben" Styke, former hero of the Fatrastan Revolution and convicted traitor, is released from prison after ten years thanks to the machinations of a mysterious benefactor, who asks him to get into General Flint's good graces and keep an eye on her.

Meanwhile, Agent Michel Brevis of the Blackhats, the Fatrastan government's secret police, is given orders to investigate the origin of a widely circulated political pamphlet titled "Sins of Empire".

Everything comes together as the Dynize Empire, which has been closed to any outsider for the last 100 years, sends a fleet and an army to Landfall, the capital city of Fatrasta, to recapture a magical artifact. An artifact that Taniel and Ka-poel have been seeking. An artifact that can create gods.

My Thoughts:

Man, what a rush! I haven't read a lot of epic fantasy recently (outside of my re-reads of the Wheel of Time and the Mistborn books) and it just felt “good” to slide back into this genre. While McClellan is fully a Flintlock fantasy kind of guy, his books do cross over into the Epic, what with their scope and literal size.

The Powder Mage trilogy was gritty. This toned that down as only one of the three points of view was from a powder mage. The inclusion of the political side of things made it feel more of a stiletto kind of story than a powder horn story. The revelation that the godstone could create gods has set some things into motion that I have no idea where McClellan is going to take it. The final revelation that there are two more of the blasted things makes me wonder why the world isn't overrun by gods. I'm hoping the author has some good explanations for all of that.

I am not a fan of Vlora. I didn't care for her in the original trilogy and nothing here makes her any more likeable. Her poor decision making skills endanger herself and by proxy the entirety of the Riflejacks on several occasions and while she is firm once she makes a decision, we as readers get the full view of her internal vacillating. Bleh. She's no Taniel. That and her irrational dislike of Ka-poel grates, as it was Vlora who betrayed Taniel by sleeping with another man during their engagement. Ka-poel only made a move on Taniel once it was clear Vlora disdained him on all levels. So Vlora's dislike just seems like a seed of bitterness that she's nursing. It's ugly.

I have not read any of the short stories (or the book where they are all collected) that McClellan put out on his website back in the day, so I was a complete stranger to Ben Stykes. He's definitely an interesting character. His “mad” added to his name definitely fits and yet he's quite the sympathetic guy too.

I am looking forward to the rest of this trilogy. Just the fact that it is a trilogy and not some bleeding sprawling forever series is a huge plus in my eyes.

★★★★✬

• All My "Powder Mage" Reviews

[Manga Monday] It's All Right! (One Piece #13) ★★★★☆

 

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: It's All Right!
Series: One Piece #13
Arc: Baroque Works #2
Author: Eiichiro Oda
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 188
Words: 8K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_One_Piece_chapters_(1_186)

"A Question of Duty"

"The Night Isn't Over"

"The Secret Criminal Organization"

"Luffy vs. Zoro"

"It's All Right!!!"

"The Course"

"Little Garden of Adventure"

"Big"

"Dorry and Broggy"

Zoro fights the four remaining bounty hunters as a far-greater threat enters the village: the high-ranking Baroque Works agents Mr. 5 and Miss Valentine. Their target is not the Straw Hats but Miss Wednesday, whose true identity is Nefeltari Vivi (princess of the kingdom of Alabasta). Vivi runs for her life; Nami (who had feigned sleep) makes a deal to save Vivi's life with Mr. 8 – who is actually Igaram, captain of the Alabastan Royal Guard. Nami then forces Zoro to take on the agents. Out of immediate danger, Vivi tells the Straw Hats that Mr. 0 (in charge of Baroque Works) plans to use the organization to overthrow her country and reveals his true identity: Sir Crocodile – like Mihawk, a member of the government-sanctioned Seven Warlords of the Sea pirate group. The Straw Hats agree to bring Vivi to Alabasta. They reach the jungle-covered island of Little Garden, where the giants Dorry and Broggy engage in a hundred-year-long battle.

My Thoughts:

Oda, the manga-ka, makes it really obvious from the get-go just how fragile Baroque Works is. With each paired teir looking down on those below them and despising them, coupled with the secrecy and mystery, everyone but Mr Zero is expendable. Oda also does a fantastic job of showing how Luffy doesn't take someone fighting against him as a personal insult. He can be fighting someone one minute and then trying to be friends the next. That is quite a seesaw to balance and I'm impressed with how smoothly it happens, time and again.

The rest of the crew gets a very good showing in this volume. Zoro ends up fighting some of the higher up from Baroque Works. Nami gets involved with Princess Vivi and blackmails her to get their help to free her kingdom. Usopp and Sanji get the short end of the stick in regards to the plot but they do make for great foils for the others.

I've included the picture below because it perfectly illustrates the characteristics of the 4 crew members. Zoro and Sanji are always trying to one up each other. Nami and Usopp are always trying to stay away from danger. And Oda brings his unique humor to the whole situation. I just laughed at the last panel :-)

I've been including the story arc info in the info block because I find it helps me to focus on the story at hand and not to be wishing I was still reading about the previous line. Luffy and co have moved out of East Blue and having a different name for the arc just helps me keep that straight. It also helps my expectations. I think that will make a bigger difference in future volumes.

We also meet Miss All Sunday, Mr Zero's counterpart. She makes it clear she holds the crew no personal grudge, which just makes my point about how fragile Baroque Works is. I seem to remember Miss Sunday plays a bigger part in the series than just as Miss Sunday, but I might be mixing her up with another character. Oda isn't exactly making his female characters super distinctive, unlike say Usopp and Zoro.

★★★★☆

• All My "One Piece" Reviews