A Little Princess ★★★☆☆

 

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Title: A Little Princess
Series: ----------
Authors: Frances Hodgson Burnett
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Children's Lit
Pages: 167
Words: 67K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org

Captain Ralph Crewe, a wealthy English widower, has been raising his only child, Sara, in India where he is stationed with the British Army. Because the Indian climate is considered too harsh for children, British families living there traditionally send their children to boarding school back home in England. The Captain enrolls his seven-year-old daughter at Miss Minchin's boarding school for girls in London and dotes on his daughter so much that he orders and pays the headmistress for special treatment and exceptional luxuries for Sara, such as a private room for her with a personal maid and a separate sitting room (see Parlour boarder), along with Sara's own private carriage and a pony. Miss Minchin openly fawns over Sara for her money, but is secretly bitter toward her for her wealth.

In spite of said wealth, Sara is not self-centered, rude, or snobbish, but rather kind, generous, and compassionate. She extends her friendship to Ermengarde St. John, the school dunce; to Lottie, a four-year-old pupil given to tantrums; and to Becky, the lowly, stunted scullery maid. When Sara acquires the epithet "princess", she embraces its favorable elements in her natural kindheartedness.

After some time, Sara's eleventh birthday is celebrated at Miss Minchin's with a lavish party, attended by all her friends and classmates. Just as it ends, Miss Minchin learns of Captain Crewe's unfortunate demise due to jungle fever. Furthermore, prior to his death, the previously wealthy captain had lost his entire fortune; a close friend from his schoolboy days had persuaded him to cash in his investments and deposit the proceeds to develop a network of diamond mines. The scheme fails, and the preteen Sara is left an orphan and a pauper, with no other family and nowhere to go. Miss Minchin is left with a sizable unpaid bill for Sara's school fees and luxuries, including her birthday party. Infuriated and pitiless, she takes away all of Sara's possessions (except for some old frocks and her doll, Emily), makes her live in a cold and poorly furnished attic, and forces her to earn her keep by working as a servant. She also forces Sara to wear frocks much too short for her, with her thin legs peeking out of the brief skirts.

For the next two years, Sara is abused by Miss Minchin and the other servants, except for Becky. Miss Minchin's kind younger sister, Amelia, deplores the way that Sara is treated, but is too weak-willed to speak up about it. Sara is starved, worked for long hours, sent out in all kinds of weather, poorly dressed in outgrown and worn-out clothes, and deprived of warmth or a comfortable bed in the attic. Despite her hardships, Sara is consoled by her friends and uses her imagination to cope, pretending she is a prisoner in the Bastille or a princess disguised as a servant. Sara also continues to be kind to everyone, including those who find her annoying or mistreat her. One day, she finds a coin in the street and uses it to buy buns at a bakery; despite being very hungry, she gives most of the buns away to a beggar girl who is hungrier than herself. The bakery shop owner sees this and wants to reward Sara, but she has disappeared, so the shop owner instead gives the beggar girl bread and warm shelter for Sara's sake.

Meanwhile, Mr. Carrisford and his Indian assistant, Ram Dass, have moved into the house next door to Miss Minchin's school. Carrisford had been Captain Crewe's friend and partner in the diamond mines. After the diamond mine venture failed, both Crewe and Carrisford became very ill, and Carrisford in his delirium abandoned his good childhood friend Crewe, who died of his "brain fever." As it turned out, the diamond mines did not fail, but instead were a great success, making Carrisford extremely rich. Although Carrisford survived, he suffers from several ailments and is guilt-ridden over abandoning his friend. He is determined to find Crewe's young daughter and heiress, although he does not know where she is and thinks she is attending school in France, as her late mother was a Frenchwoman.

Ram Dass befriends Sara when his pet monkey escapes into Sara's adjoining attic. After climbing over the roof to Sara's room to get the monkey, Ram Dass tells Carrisford about Sara's poor living conditions. As a pleasant distraction, Carrisford and Ram Dass buy warm blankets, comfortable furniture, food, and other gifts, and secretly leave them in Sara's room when she is asleep or out. Sara's spirits and health improve due to the gifts she receives from her mysterious benefactor, whose identity she does not know; nor are Ram Dass and Carrisford aware that Sara is Crewe's lost daughter. When Carrisford anonymously sends Sara a package of new, well-made, and expensive clothing in her proper size, Miss Minchin becomes quite alarmed, thinking Sara might have a wealthy relative secretly looking out for her, and begins to treat Sara better and allows her to attend classes rather than doing menial work.

One night, the monkey again runs away to Sara's room, and Sara visits Carrisford's house the next morning to return him. When Sara casually mentions that she was born in India, Carrisford and his solicitor question her and discover that she is Captain Crewe's daughter, for whom they have been searching for two years. Sara also learns that Carrisford was her father's childhood friend and her own anonymous benefactor and that the diamond mines have produced great riches, of which she will now own her late father's share. When Miss Minchin angrily appears to collect Sara, she is informed that Sara will be living with Carrisford from now on and her entire fortune has been restored and increased tenfold. Upon finding this out, Miss Minchin unsuccessfully tries to persuade Sara into returning to her school as a star pupil. She then threatens to keep Sara from ever seeing her school friends again, but Carrisford and his solicitor tell Miss Minchin that Sara will see anyone she wishes to see and that her friends' parents are not likely to refuse invitations from an heiress of diamond mines. Miss Minchin goes home, where she is surprised when Amelia finally stands up to her. Amelia has a nervous breakdown afterward, but she is on the road to gaining more respect.

Sara invites Becky to live with her and be her personal maid, in much better living conditions than at Miss Minchin's. Carrisford becomes a friend and father figure to Sara and quickly regains his health. Finally, Sara—accompanied by Becky—pays a visit to the bakery where she bought the buns, making a deal with the owner to cover the bills for bread for any hungry child. They find that the beggar girl (now named Ann), who was saved from starvation by Sara's selfless act, is now the bakery owner's assistant, with good food, clothing, shelter, and steady employment.

My Thoughts:

When I read The Secret Garden back in '12, I kept telling myself that I also needed to read Burnett's A Little Princess. Well, it only took me 10 years, but tada!

Honestly, this didn't hold a candle to The Secret Garden. Part of it was that this was a little rich girl, who while not spoiled, was given everything her father could. It didn't ruin her, but the sympathy factor started much lower than in SG (that's Secret Garden, NOT Star Gate SG1). Her riches to rags to riches story, while heartwarming, didn't have the same depth as the kids in SG had, as they had to work at stuff while Sara just has to get through each day of being a servant. The idea of a benevolent, all encompassing “magic” was much more present here and almost made Sara's riches to rags story feel like it had no impact, because “the magic” would take care of it all.

What I most remember about this story is the 1987 tv mini-series. We watched it in school (it was 6 episodes so we would have watched one part each time) and reading it now brought it all back. There is a scene where there is a pie gone missing that was reserved for the head mistress and the cook blames the scullery maid. The scullery maid knows full well the cook gave it to her boyfriend but nobody believes her. In the movie the headmistress is going on about the missing pie and demanding to know what happened and the cook just lifts her eyebrow and nods over her shoulder at the scullery maid. I didn't even realize that scene from the movie had stuck in my head until I read it again in the book and bam, I could see it all again crystal clear. It so weird how images like that get stuck in your brain without even realizing it.

To end, if I had to choose between A Little Princess and The Magic Garden, TMG wins hands down. Doesn't make Princess a bad book, but at most it gets a Participation Trophy, not a Winner's Trophy.

★★★☆☆

Fight or Flight ★★★☆☆

 

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: Fight or Flight
Series: WH40K: Ciaphas Cain #0
Authors: Sandy Mitchell
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: SF
Pages: 22
Words: 8K

Synopsis:

A short story of Cain's first assignment as a Commissar and how Jurgen was assigned as his aide.

My Thoughts:

Who would have guessed that such a short story would have spawned over 10 books in a series? In the foreward Mitchell tells how this was supposed to be a one-off for a Black Library anthology but that Cain ended up being so popular that he ended up getting a whole novel to himself, which then morphed into a whole series.

Not bad for a short story in a franchise fiction mega-series.

★★★☆☆

• For The Emperor (Book 1)

Emma: A Fragment

 

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Title: Emma: A Fragment
Series: ----------
Author: Charlotte Bronte
Rating: Unrated
Genre: Classic
Pages: 26
Words: 7K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia

A young girl, Emma, is sent to a boarding school by her rich father. When the bill comes due, no such person as the father appears to exist and his place of residence doesn't exist either. After being spoiled, Emma is now in the hands of the school teacher.

My Thoughts:

I am not rating this because its an unfinished piece and only 26 pages long. The story had potential and I would have liked to have read the full thing. But since that didn't happen, well, I just don't feel comfortable rating this.

I do have to wonder if Frances Hodgson Burnett read this before writing A Little Princess. The main difference, if I remember correctly, is that the girl in Burnett's book is a capable, upbeat and positive girl. Emma here seems sulky and shy and not of the best character.

On second thought, it's probably just as well there isn't more to read. I know that Bronte would drag her readers through the wringer.

• All of My "Bronte Sisters" Reviews

Dragon Killer! ★★★☆☆

 

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Title: Dragon Killer!
Series: Groo the Wanderer #2
Author: Sergio Aragones
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 23
Words: 2K

Synopsis:

Groo is about to cut the minstrel's balls off and to save himself, the minstrel says he'll sing Groo's praises instead of mocking him. Groo agrees and they head to another town. The minstrel is singing and they end up getting thrown in jail for singing at the princes's funeral procession. The prince was killed trying to slay the marcosa, a dragon that exacts tribute of gold, food and women. The minstrel realizes this is their ticket out of jail and sings a song about what a great dragon killer Groo is.

Groo heads off to the valley, with a group of soldiers behind him to make sure he doesn't run away. He finds out that the “dragon” is just a device used by an old man who has been tricking the villagers. He offers the reigns of power to Groo but Groo doesn't want to give up fighting. He diverts a small stream into the lava pit and makes the volcano erupt, inundating the town with lava and destroying it completely.

But no more dragon!

My Thoughts:

There is another two page spread that once again looks like a Where's Waldo page and I wonder if that will be the modus operandi from here on out. I hope so, because it is pretty fun to look at :-)

I had to laugh at the first page because Dix had asked me what I thought Groo was going to do to the minstrel in the first volume. I never would have guessed he was going to do “that” to him. I'd rather be hung, thankyou very much! However, as it provided incentive for the minstrel to be the voice of Groo, it turned out ok. For us the readers anyway.

I actually found the cover to be the most interesting part of this issue. It is hard to see in the little one provided, but Groo is sneaking up on the dragon's tail with his sword drawn, probably thinking it is a big snake, while the dragon looks on with a rather annoyed expression. It really typifies Groo, hahahahaa. You know what, here's a full size pix. Click to see it in a new tab.

★★★☆☆

The Hero of Ages ★★★★☆

 

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 Hero of Ages
Series: Mistborn #3
Authors: Brandon Sanderson
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Epic Fantasy
Pages: 675
Words: 242K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org

The Hero of Ages is the prophesied savior of the Terris people, foretold to find and give up the power at the Well of Ascension, in a selfless act to save the world from the Deepness. However, the Terris prophecies proved to have been altered, in a ruse allowing the powerful force named Ruin to escape imprisonment.

Ruin wanted to destroy the world instantaneously but his power was too weak, as part of it had been taken and hidden by the opposing force, Preservation, long ago. Freedom from the Well of Ascension enabled Ruin to directly affect the world more, increasing ashfall from the ashmounts and summoning earthquakes to break the world apart; he could also influence people and control entire koloss armies. He used his thousand years of imprisonment to plot his escape and the subsequent destruction he would reap.

The Lord Ruler, in preparation of such an event, created storage caches containing resources such as food and water in cave complexes beneath certain cities, each one providing directions to the next. As Vin and Elend struggle to consolidate the remaining outposts of humanity, they hunt the storage caches, seeking hints left by the Lord Ruler and the missing atium stash. As they journey from cache to cache, the world itself begins to crumble, ash spewing forth in greater quantities, while the mists claim more people. The last two major unconquered cities are Fadrex City, which has reverted to the Lord Ruler's old structure of mass oppression under the obligator Yomen, and Urteau, a rebel city where the Skaa are free, the nobility overpowered, and a former commoner titled the Citizen rules with increasing violence.

Sazed tries to establish diplomatic relations with the people of Urteau, while continuing to struggle with trauma from the recent death of his beloved, the Terriswoman Keeper Tindwyl. He studies religions, but has lost his own faith and yearns to find a religion that makes sense to him. He and Breeze work with Spook (who has developed strange abilities) to try and help Elend secretly take over Urteau. Meanwhile, TenSoon the kandra is imprisoned and sentenced to death by the kandra elders, while still trying to convince them that the kandra prophecies of the world ending are now happening, and that they must work together with the humans to save the world.

Vin and Elend try to conquer the city of Fadrex and discover more about how their world works; they discover strange patterns in the numbers of people dying after being exposed to the mists, as well as secrets regarding the art of Hemalurgy, which is used to create the koloss, the kandra, and the Inquisitors. Fearing that Ruin will discover their plans, they are unable to discuss their plans with each other. Yomen, the King of Fadrex City, captures Vin on an infiltration mission gone wrong. Elend, left without any choice, takes another koloss army under his control, but the last remnants of Preservation appear to him, warning him to not attack the city. Shortly later, Preservation finally dies. On the verge of the attack, Vin escapes, and Ruin reveals his ability to seize ultimate control over the koloss. Ruin turns the koloss against Elend and Yomen's human armies, but before he can destroy them, Vin leads Ruin's attention and armies away to Luthadel. There, Marsh and the remaining Steel Inquisitors (who are under Ruin's control) battle Vin. On the verge of her death, Marsh briefly reasserts control and removes Vin's earring (which is actually a Hemalurgic spike), allowing Vin to draw upon the true power of the mists, Preservation's power. Vin ascends to become Preservation, trapped with Ruin upon another plane of existence, watching the world.

The kandra finally accept their doom, and Sazed finds his faith in the ancient Terris religion and the Hero of the Ages. Urteau is saved, at a great physical cost to Spook, who has discovered that Ruin was influencing him with Hemalurgy. Elend leads the last of humanity to the Kandra homeland, the Pits of Hathsin, where Ruin's power, or body, has been stored. Ruin has been fooling Vin and Elend into leading him to his body, which turns out to be the atium stash, hidden in the Kandra homeland all along. Surrounded, and outnumbered, Elend, realizes that the Mists have been snapping mistings, and that he has been provided with an army of atium mistings. He leads a desperate battle against the koloss, in vain. Marsh appears again, and faces down Elend. Though Elend receives mystical aid from Vin, giving him unlimited metallic power, Marsh strikes Elend in the chest with an axe, which proves fatal. As he is dying, Elend reveals that his soldiers have burnt away all of Ruin's body, the atium, in battle, so now Ruin can never recover his missing power. Vin realizes that Preservation gave of himself to create mankind so that mankind would be able to manifest both Preservation's ability to create and Ruin's ability to destroy. Having both abilities within her, Vin attacks Ruin directly, killing herself/Preservation, but also destroying Ruin.

Vin and many others thought that she was the Hero of Ages, but it is revealed to actually be the Terris Keeper Sazed. One major prophecy, "The Hero will bear the future of the world on his arms", referred to Sazed's Feruchemical copperminds on his arms. He uses the knowledge in these copperminds, along with the combined power of Preservation and Ruin, claimed from the fallen bodies of Vin and Ruin, to help reshape the world, re-aligning the sun and planets to stabilize the world, changing the red, volcanic ecology into a new paradise of blue skies, green foliage, gentle warming sun and rainbow flowers. Spook, Ham, Breeze, and the other survivors emerge to this newly reformed world, and begin their mission of rebuilding society.

My Thoughts:

Having read this back in '08 when it came out I remembered the basic gist and knew that there were LOTS of twists and turns in regards to the plot. I did not remember specifics though, so every “new” revelation on this re-read WAS almost new to me, again. It was one of the oddest sensations that I have experienced in a long time.

After my mixed reaction to the previous book I was a bit iffy on this. However, I enjoyed this quite a bit and didn't feel any mixed anything. Now, that's not to say it's a perfect book. Sanderson goes full on Dickens and describes stuff out the wazoo and there more times than I cared to count that I ended up skimming paragraphs at a time. That's the main reason why this stayed at 4stars even though I enjoyed it more than the previous book.

By the end of this book I had realized that Sanderson had been writing for a specific group, whether he realized it or not and that I no longer belonged to that group. So while I enjoyed this re-read, I don't think I'll ever be re-reading these again nor recommending them to anyone over 30. I have the 10^th Anniversary Edition of Elantris still to read and after that, I think I'll be done with Sanderson until he finishes up his Stormlight Archives magnum opus.

The cover I have used here is quite different from the one that was originially released back in '08 (https://aarongifford.com/images/heroofages.jpg) and I feel, that while not as cool, is much more in line with the contents. A bit more “truth in advertising”.

★★★★☆

• All of My "Mistborn" Reviews

• The Hero of Ages (2008 Review)

Straight Ahead!!! ★★★★☆

 

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: Straight Ahead!!!
Series: One Piece #15
Arc: Baroque Works #4
Author: Eiichiro Oda
Rating: 4 of 5 Stars
Genre: Manga
Pages: 213
Words: 9K

Synopsis:

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

"Snail-o-phone"

"Pirate Pride"

"Straight Ahead!!!"

"Maximum Speed"

"Wapol of Tin"

"See?"

"Adventure in a Nameless Country"

"Dr. Kureha"

"Lapins"

"A Man Named Dalton"

Sanji, drinking tea in Mr. 3's hideout, receives a call from Mr. 0. Pretending to be the agent, he convinces the warlord that he killed Vivi and her companions. Messengers arrive during the conversation; Sanji defeats them and takes their eternal pose compass, intended for Mr. 3. Although Broggy is still grieving his fellow giant's apparent death, after a century of battle his axe had become dull and Dorry is only unconscious. Using the eternal pose, the crew can continue their journey. However, Nami falls ill and the crew must find a doctor. After a hostile encounter with the pirates of the omnivorous Wapol, they arrive at a snow-covered island. The only physician there, who lives in a castle on a mountain, is said to be a 140-year-old witch. Sanji and Luffy, carrying Nami on his back, face the island's dangerous wildlife and bring their friend to medical care and Wapol reinstates himself as king of the country.

My Thoughts:

Another thoroughly enjoyable volume. Luffy and Crew get off the giant island but Nami gets sick, so instead of heading straight for Vivi's kingdom, they have to find an island with a doctor. In the process they run afoul of some pirates and a guy named Wapol. The Straw Hats find an island but there is only one doctor so Luffy and Sanji go after her. The pirates from before land on the island and it turns out the leader of the pirates was the former king of the island. The book ends with an avalanche about to engulf everybody.

My only gripe with this volume was that there were a lot more 2 page spreads than in previous books. It's not a problem when you're reading a paper copy, but when you're reading a digital copy, and only view one page at a time, it's annoying. In previous volumes there's only been 1 or 2 of them, but this time I think I counted 5+. You really lose the “big picture” when you can't view it (easily that is) as one page like it was meant to be.

Storywise, I am liking what Oda-san is doing. Baroque Works is staying in the background and not hogging the “Evil Person of the Issue” spotlight. They are still the big menace but there are enough other powerful pirates out there so that the adventures get split between them. It is striking the right balance between adventures that last just a couple of chapters and ones that cover multiple volumes. What Oda-san seems to be doing is keeping readers on the edge of their seats (or firmly ensconced on the couches, cough, cough, cough) with the smaller stories but providing a stabilizing influence by having Baroque Works give an over-arching framework. It is completely working for me!

★★★★☆

• All My "One Piece" Reviews

Sharpe's Trafalgar ★★★✬☆

 

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 Trafalgar
Series: Sharpe #4
Authors: Bernard Cornwell
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 306
Words: 131K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia.org

In 1805, Richard Sharpe is to sail to England from India aboard the East Indiaman Calliope to join the 95th Rifles. He is swindled after purchasing supplies for the voyage. After finding out, he gets not only his money back, but also helps fellow victim Royal Navy Captain Joel Chase do the same, saving Chase from great financial embarrassment. Chase wants to show his gratitude, but is under orders to destroy a French 74 named the Revenant that is raiding the Indian Ocean.

The Calliope's passengers include the lovely, young Lady Grace Hale and her much older husband, Lord William Hale. Sharpe is also astonished to find aboard Anthony Pohlmann, a renegade and former Maratha warlord (defeated by Arthur Wellesley in Sharpe's Triumph), traveling under a false identity - Baron von Dornberg - but sees no reason to denounce his former foe.

Peculiar Cromwell, captain of the Calliope, spots the jewels (looted from an Indian ruler) Sharpe has sewn into his clothing and insists that Sharpe leave them with him for safekeeping, to avoid tempting his crew.

Sharpe becomes obsessed with Lady Grace, but his attempts to become better acquainted are unsuccessful, at first. However, she later questions him in private about "Dornberg"; while Cromwell and Dornberg denied knowing each other, she has observed them conversing frequently. Sharpe protects Dornberg as best he can. When Lady Grace gets up to leave, a sudden movement of the ship causes her to stumble, and Sharpe ends up with his arm around her waist. They eventually become secret lovers.

Cromwell leaves the safety of a slow convoy with his fast ship. Lady Grace becomes worried that they are sailing near French-held Mauritius. She ends up spending the first of several nights with Sharpe. Malachi Braithwaite, Lord Hale's secretary, finds out and is angered, as he is attracted to Lady Grace too. Sharpe threatens to kill him if he tells anyone.

The Revenant appears. Before the Calliope is captured, Sharpe hurries to retrieve his jewels from Cromwell's safe, but they are not there. Sharpe suspects both Cromwell and Pohlmann aided the French; both men board the Revenant. A prize crew starts sailing the Calliope to Mauritius. Later, the lieutenant in charge tries to rape Lady Grace; Sharpe goes to her rescue and kills the Frenchman in a swordfight. The French understand and do not punish Sharpe. One day, another ship is spotted. Sharpe manages to cut the tiller ropes controlling the rudder, slowing the Calliope. This enables Captain Chase's Pucelle to capture the Calliope.

Chase invites Sharpe to transfer to his ship; Sharpe is reluctant to accept, until he discovers that Lord Hale has insisted on switching to the faster Pucelle, along with his wife. Chase confides to Sharpe that a French agent, probably Dornberg's "servant", negotiated a secret treaty with the ablest of the Indian Maratha leaders. If it is delivered to Paris, the French might send arms to the Marathas to start a new war against the British.

Chase does everything in his power to overtake the Revenant. Sharpe trains with the Marines for shipboard fighting and is introduced to a seven-barreled Nock gun (a weapon which future friend Patrick Harper will favour). A ship is spotted. The Pucelle gives chase, but loses it.

Meanwhile, Lady Grace tells Sharpe that Braithwaite is trying to blackmail her. He ambushes the man. Braithwaite produces a pistol and tries to negotiate, claiming he left a letter describing Sharpe's affair, but Sharpe kills him. When the corpse is found, people assume Braithwaite had a fatal fall.

The Revenant is spotted, and a long chase commences. One night, Lady Grace hesitantly informs Sharpe that she is pregnant with his child, unsure of his reaction. He is delighted.

Just when it seems that the Revenant will get away, the combined French and Spanish fleets sortie, with Admiral Horatio Nelson's fleet in pursuit. The Revenant joins the enemy fleet, while the Pucelle comes under Nelson's command. When Nelson summons Chase to a meeting, Chase brings Sharpe along and introduces him to his friend the admiral.

When the British attack the enemy fleet, commencing the Battle of Trafalgar, Chase points out the Revenant to Sharpe. Chase sends the Hales to safety, over Lord Hale's protest, while Sharpe joins the Marines. The Pucelle and the Revenant pound each other. The Revenant is captured. Pohlmann is killed by a cannonball. Sharpe finds the French agent and tosses him into the sea; the man cannot swim. Cromwell survives; Sharpe retrieves his jewels before reluctantly handing him over to Chase.

When Sharpe goes to find Lady Grace, he discovers that she has killed her husband. While the battle was raging, Lord Hale had confronted his wife over Braithwaite's letter. He eventually told her that he would kill her and make it appear a suicide. He also promised to sabotage Sharpe's life secretly. Sharpe sees to it his body is taken up on deck so it will seem that he was killed in the fighting. Upset at first, Lady Grace realises she is now free to do as she pleases.

My Thoughts:

In some ways this was better than previous books (no blasphemous Hakeswill misusing Scripture) but at the same time, it was worse as Sharpe commits adultery blatantly as can be and commits murder to cover it up. It reminded me of King David and Bathsheba, but sadly, without the repentance at the end.

I did enjoy the naval aspect of the story, which was quite different from Sharpe's usual infantry fights. There's a quick ending with the Battle of Trafalgar where the Frenchies got their backsides handed to them and Napolean's dream died.

Overall, I had a good time reading this but am continuing to have issues with Sharpe as a person. I'll try one more book, as I am enjoying these, but from everything Inquisitor Jenn has said, Sharpe stays the same, so I'm not expecting to go beyond the next book.

★★★✬☆

• Sharpe's Tiger (Book 1)

• Sharpe's Triumph (Book 2)

• Sharpe's Fortress (Book 3)

The Awakening ★★★☆☆

 

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 Awakening
Series: (The Russians)
Author: Leo Tolstoy
Translater: Unknown
Rating: 3 of 5 Stars
Genre: Classic
Pages: 641
Words: 174K

Synopsis:

From Wikipedia

The story is about a nobleman named Dmitri Ivanovich Nekhlyudov, who seeks redemption for a sin committed years earlier. When he was a younger man, at his Aunts' estate, he fell in love with their ward, Katyusha (Katerina Mikhailovna Maslova), who is goddaughter to one Aunt and treated badly by the other. However, after going to the city and becoming corrupted by drink and gambling, he returns two years later to his Aunts' estate and rapes Katyusha, leaving her pregnant. She is then thrown out by his Aunt, and proceeds to face a series of unfortunate and unpleasant events, before she ends up working as a prostitute, going by her surname, Maslova.

Ten years later, Nekhlyudov sits on a jury which sentences the girl, Maslova, to prison in Siberia for murder (poisoning a client who beat her, a crime of which she is innocent). The book narrates his attempts to help her practically, but focuses on his personal mental and moral struggle. He goes to visit her in prison, meets other prisoners, hears their stories, and slowly comes to realize that below his gilded aristocratic world, yet invisible to it, is a much larger world of cruelty, injustice and suffering. Story after story he hears and even sees people chained without cause, beaten without cause, immured in dungeons for life without cause, and a twelve-year-old boy sleeping in a lake of human dung from an overflowing latrine because there is no other place on the prison floor, but clinging in a vain search for love to the leg of the man next to him, until the book achieves the bizarre intensity of a horrific fever dream. He decides to give up his property and pass ownership on to his peasants, leaving them to argue over the different ways in which they can organise the estate, and he follows Katyusha into exile, planning on marrying her. On their long journey into Siberia, she falls in love with another man, and Nekhludov gives his blessing and still chooses to live as part of the penal community, seeking redemption.

My Thoughts:

While I have not committed the same particular sin as the main character, his reaction to it, albeit a decade later, felt like looking in a mirror of my younger days. It was scary because while I wouldn't react like that now, I remember reacting/thinking EXACTLY like that in my 20's. It was eye opening and made me much more charitable towards Nekhlyudov and as such, towards young idiots of today ;-)

This was pretty heavy-handed in terms of philosophy. Tolstoy uses Nekhlyudov to talk about property ownership and pre-supposes the audience is familiar with some long forgotten european who seemed to be against property ownership. The little bit I was able to figure out was pretty ridiculous at best, and woke guilt at worst. Who knew, you woke folks are just old news recycled ;-)

I've got so many reviews coming up this month that I'm keeping everything super short. The dangers of being out of work for 10 days. Lots of books get read :-/

★★★☆☆

• The Russians

• Leo Tolstoy

• Fyodor Dostoyevsky

• Ivan Turgenev

• Nikolai Gogol

Phoney's Inferno ★★★✬☆

 

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: Phoney's Inferno
Series: Bone #6
Author: Jeff Smith
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Comics
Pages: 28
Words: 1K

Synopsis:

From Boneville.fandom.com

Fone Bone, Thorn, and The Great Red Dragon find Gran'ma Ben alive. Upon seeing the dragon, Gran'ma Ben isn't as surprised as Thorn is, they both greet admitting that it's been awhile and leaves. Phoney Bone now has to work for Lucius to pay off his debt since they don't use money here and while he plans his scam to get rich, he is visited by The Hooded One who claims that he wants his soul (and the death of Fone Bone, because he woke up the Great Red Dragon). Fone Bone, Thorn and Gran'ma Ben arrive at Barrelhaven. Fone Bone finds Phoney and Smiley and the three cousins are reunited at last (although Fone Bone begins to strangle Phoney after tricking him).

My Thoughts:

As has been hinted at in the earlier issues, Gran'ma Ben is more than meets the eye. Not only does she survive the rat attack, but when Fone and Thorn “introduce” the dragon to her, it's quite apparent that they already know each other and that she's not impressed by it. Whatever the “Big War” she mentioned obviously had its heroes back in the day and my bet is that Gran'ma Ben was one of them.

It is ALSO quite apparent that Phoney made some sort of deal with the Hooded One, who has now come to collect. That piqued my curiosity, as it really comes out of nowhere. I'm looking forward to how Smith fleshes out that aspect of the story. Of course, it fits perfectly that Phoney would make a deal to sell his soul and then try to renege on it.

One thing that is quite apparent is that Fone Bone, while ostensibly the main character, is actually more of a vehicle for the reader to piggyback on than an actual character. Both Phoney and Smiley have clothes and characteristics that set them apart, while Fone is just a small Bone character, clothesless and while not characterless, not very inspiring. It could become bothersome so I'm going to try to remember that Fone Bone is the mouthpiece of Smith and not some sort of Conan character.

★★★✬☆

• All My "Bone" Reviews

Cthulhu Lies Dreaming ★★★✬☆

 

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: Cthulhu Lies Dreaming
Series: Cthulhu Anthology #2
Editor: Salome Jones
Rating: 3.5 of 5 Stars
Genre: Cosmic Horror
Pages: 389
Words: 134.5K

Synopsis:

Table of Contents

Foreword: Cthulhu, Lies, Dreaming by Kenneth Hite

Nikukinchaku by Matthew J. Hockey

Babatunde by Ayobami Leeman Kessler

The Myth of Proof by Greg Stolze

Service by Lynnea Glasser

The Star that is Not a Star (The Statement of Natasha Klein, April 1996) by Lucy Brady

August Lokken by Yma Johnson

Wake My Lord by M. S. Swift

Puddles by Thord D. Hedengren

Sometimes, the Void Stares Back by Marc Reichardt

Beyond the Shore by Lynne Hardy

Bleak Mathematics by Brian Fatah Steele

Father of Dread by Matthew Chabin

He Sees You in His Dreams by Samuel Morningstar

Isophase Light by Daniel Marc Chant

Icebound by Morris Kenyon

Seven Nights in a Sleep Clinic by Saul Quint

Mykes Reach by William Couper

Notes for a Life of Nightmares: A Retrospective on the Work of Henry Anthony Wilcox by Pete Rawlik

Offspring by Evey Brett

Out on Route 22 by E. Dane Anderson

The Red Brick Building by Mike Davis

The Lullaby of Erich Zann by G. K. Lomax

Cymothoa Cthulhii by Gethin A. Lynes

My Thoughts:

I am finding that the Cosmic Horror genre is my weakness. Mostly in the sense I would naturally abhor everything contained within it (hopelessness, dread, despair, the absolute insignificance of man) but that within these stories not only do I NOT abhor them, I practically revel in them. I was thinking about this as I was nearing the end of my read trying to figure out why this was. When I read Hard Day's Knight the other month, the very mention of Jesus not being strong enough to combat the powers of Hell sent me into a frenzy of practically calling down fire on the authors unbelieving head. Yet in this collection when God is simply dismissed as a non-entity in the face of the elder gods, I didn't blink. Why? I don't know yet but I'm keeping that question in the forefront of my mind as I continue reading this genre. Once I figure it out I'll be mentioning it in one of the reviews.

This collection started out fantastically with “Nikukinchaku”. A story about a school teacher facing budget cuts and how she cuts costs by buying nikukinchaku, a cheap food source that everybody loves. The story ends with the things eating a teacher, the dealer drowning himself in a toilet and everyone who has eaten the nikukinchaku heading out to see to answer “a call” they all can hear, including the teacher. This story had the perfect sense of dread and psychological horror. It was almost literally delicious to read. While some of the other stories had more horror, this was a great way to start.

Sadly, every collection has a low point and this one's was “Father of Dread”. Incest fantasy between adopted siblings and teen hormones. I don't need or want to read about a teen boy masturbating to thoughts of his adopted sister. This story is the main reason this was 3.5stars instead of 4.

Salome Jones has done another great job with this anthology and I'm really impressed. To the point where I'll be looking her up to see what else she has put together. That's pretty high praise coming from me. That's if I can figure out how to search for editors instead of authors of course.

I had mentioned in the previous Cthulhu Anthology that I was wanting to space these out a bit more so as to lessen the impact on myself from these soul destroying stories. After reading this my desire is intensified all the more. So instead of reading nothing but Cthulhu Lore, I'll be spacing it out with a couple of King in Yellow anthologies. Brilliant or what?!?

★★★✬☆

• Cthulhu Lives! (Book 1)