Category Archives: Fantasy

Bennett, Jenn: Kindling the Moon (Arcadia Bell I) (2011)

2014-09-22 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

I’ve been trying to think of an entirely selfless reason to have children. You know, I cannot think of a single one. Not a single one. Listening to the expectations that parents have of their children (myself included) makes me wonder how sane parents are. For some strange and bizarre reason we combine a sperm and an egg and expect that cocktail to fulfill some kind of need in us.

Arcadia Bell‘s (Selene Duval/Mother of Ahriman) parents expected Arcadia to turn into The Moon-Child. At the time of her conception they had followed some sort of magical ritual overseen by a Frater Blue. Conceiving in this manner was supposed to have given them a child with a special kind of magick (we only get a glimpse at what this magick might be). But Arcadia does not seem to inhabit these powers.

When we meet her, Arcadia is about to turn 25. I’m impressed that she runs her own bar at such a young age along with her friend Kar Yee. The sign at the entrance of Tambuku states “Enter at your own risk” for a good reason. Humans (savages) are a minority customer at the bar. Most of the clientele are earthbound (mix of demon and human) and strange things happen every night. Arcadia is part-owner, enforcer and nonsavage human. All three play a part in our story although it is her abilities as enforcer and nonsavage that holds the most prevalent place.

Having been on the run since she was 17 years old has made Arcadia lonely. Not lonely because she is without company, but lonely because she has to hide who she really is from others. But salvation comes in the form of 13 year old Jupe. Jupe is the kind of teen-ager that is practically impossible to dislike. He grows on Arcadia “like mold” and so does his father.

Lon Butler is the third main character. He helps Arcadia search for the answer to who got her parents blamed. Because of his abilities with empathy, Lon is able to puzzle out what kind of person Arcadia is and she intrigues him. He intrigues her, so I guess they are even. The two of them are also the romantic element of this story.

We get plenty of action and hints that ought to lead you in the right direction as to the answer to Arcadia’s hunt for an answer. Kindling the Moon is a fun read, and I recommend it.

Reviews:

The English Struwwelpeter / Pretty stories and funny pictures

Lost Colony of Roanoke

Ten worst dads in literature

Ten worst mothers in literature

Fantasy, Young Adult

Jackson, Ros: Diabolical Taste (Kenssie II) (2014)

2014-09-20 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Cover art: Laura Hollingsworth (really like this cover)

Diabolical Taste is funny, sad and exciting. Satire often seems to bring out those feelings in me. The relationship between Rak and Kenssie is definitely an abusive one. Kenssie is the only one who can walk the painful journey of accepting that her illusions are just that. The whole demonic thrall system reeks of abuse.

Rak and Kenssie perfectly illustrate the lies we tell ourselves about ourselves and the people we have chosen to love. Coming to realize that one’s relationship is a destructive one must be excruciatingly difficult. As with all addictions, the first and most difficult step has to be acknowledgement.

Kenssie’s power to “eat secrets” seems to be an incredibly powerful tool. She is only 16 years old and still trying to figure out the powers she began fully utilizing in The Secret Eater. This eating of emotions and thoughts to nourish themselves is a great way of getting across the importance of our inner lives.

We meet some cool and dangerous characters in Diabolical Taste. Otis the human is particularly interesting. Toward the end of the story we discover something funny about him. Seneb, the love demon, is another character I enjoyed. Feeding on love as a demonic power is fascinating yet perhaps strange. Grief, on the other hand, is a perfectly understandable demonic meal. We also have a fear eater in our story. Both made me take a closer look at myself.

I loved reading Diabolical Taste. It left me with a sense of sadness and pride for the demon Kenssie had become.

Ros Jackson provided me with a copy of Diabolical Taste in return for a review.

My review of The Secret Eater

Fantasy, Mystery

Phoenix, Adrian: A Rush of Wings (The Maker’s Song I) (2008)

2014-09-17 humanitysdarkerside 2 Comments

A Rush of Wings - Adrian Phoenix — Strange cover for this story

Adrian writes in her bio:

I also believe in being prepared for zombie attacks and can’t stress enough the importance of having regular family drills so every member of the household is zombie-ready. One never knows. Make sure the sofa is ready to push in front of the door. Be clear that if a member of the family is on the wrong side of the door when the zombie action goes down. They remain on the wrong side of the door. The greater good, etc.

One thing is certain. In A Rush of Wings no one was left on the wrong side of the door when Heather Wallace was around. However, not every character in this story was concerned with the well-being of others.

Serial killers are fascinating creatures. The explanations for the why’s and how’s of their becoming involved in their extreme hobby are varied. Twin studies seem to indicate that psychopathy (blunted ability to empathise) is, to a large degree, inherited (Brogaard). Psychopathy seems to be one of the major traits of serial killers. But most psychopaths aren’t criminal. Another common trait seems to be a degree of psychosis (strange world view) (Brogaard). Again, most pscyhotics aren’t criminal. So, while inherited traits are important, they do need to be triggered into a killer zone somehow. Triggering the killer is certainly no problem for the true criminals of A Rush of Wings.

Heather Wallace is one of the FBI experts on serial murders and she is chasing the CCK-killer. The CCK-killer is a violent killer and the murders have a sexual element to them. After discovering the first victim of A Rush of Wings, Wallace slowly begins to suspect that Dante, lead singer of Inferno, seems to be the intended final victim. Figuring out who the killer is, has been impossible up to now. One of the problems with serial killers is that their murders do not necessarily reflect the person their not-victims see.

Why her supervisor Stearns has sent her to New Orleans in response to Detective Collins’ request becomes apparent in the latter half of the story. According to the rules this is highly irregular, but as things turn out the whole thing is highly irregular. Corruption, a Child Care system that does not work and pressures from above are part of a background story that we as readers get to see long before Wallace does. If history has taught me anything, it is that the above is rather common.

I haven’t made up my mind as to whether I think Heather trusted Dante and his people too soon. It sure wouldn’t be professional, but the paranormal element could be a factor in this.

With a background in mormonism I loved the Angel Moroni dialogue. Hilarious.

Definitely recommended.

A Rush of Wings available on

Ecampus.com (mass market paperback), Simon & Schuster (mass market paperback & e-book)

Reviews:

Brogaard, Berit (2012), The Making of a Serial Killer, Psychology Today

Comments

NCAVC & al (2005) Serial Murder, Federal Bureau of Investigations

Fantasy

Harkness, Deborah: Book of Life (All Souls III) (2014)

2014-09-17 humanitysdarkerside 1 Comment

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I cannot help but love a novel written as intelligently as The Book of Life. Not only does Deborah Harkness demand that I use what little wits are left to me, but she also keeps herself in the river of words through the entire story. In addition, my autism bug sends itself off on missions of discovery and I have had a blast looking into genetics, history and Yale University Campus and surrounding areas.

These are NOT stand-alone books. If you want to immerse yourself in the world of Deborah Harkness, you will have to start at the beginning: A Discovery of Witches. You can read an excerpt of that story here.

At some point in our lives most of us will make at least one astoundingly stupid choice. Matthew Clairmont’s choice involved revenge and abandonment. Sometimes our idiotic choices come back to haunt us well into the future. In Matthew’s case it would be safe to say that the devastating consequences of his choice could be felt for centuries. He is being bitten about as hard in his ass as a person could be. Time also has a way of sorting things out and vampires have plenty of time (if they manage to stay alive).

The Congregation is all about racial purity. Matthew, Miriam, Chris and his assistants’ research will help to shove the Congregation’s ideas of racial purity right where they belong. I hate the idea of racial purity (shudder). Every time I hear the words I become anxious, and I am one of the majority. I cannot imagine what those who supremacists consider “less than” must feel. Thankfully, both the Claremont DNA research and modern DNA research shows us how much such ideas are worth. It would now be appropriate for me to show my middle finger to those who entertain such ideas, but alas …

Friendship is such a strange phenomenon. I have people I love dearly and hardly ever meet or speak with. But they continue to hold a strong place in my feelings. When we meet, our friendship usually seems to have survived. People I meet often do not necessarily resonate with me. There seems no rhyme or reason to how these relationships come about. Several of the characters in The Book of Life experience the same thing. For some of them friendship comes in the most unlikely places. In other cases people who seemed like stinkers turn out to be strong friends. Then we have those who discover that their love has survived all the challenges thrown their way.

Political scheming, assassinations, power-struggles and betrayal are definitely a part of this last book in the All Souls trilogy. You will find plenty of near-death and death experiences in it, none of them of the peaceful kind.

I must not forget that a large chunk of the All Souls trilogy is about the love story between Diana Bishop and Matthew Clairmont. The two of them fight for their lives and their right to be together across the lines of their genetic variations. Some of their story is together and some of it is apart from each other.

Highly recommended.

Reviews:

The Book of Life on Amazon • B&N • Books-a-Million • iBooks
IndieBound • Kindle • Nook – Barnes & Noble online

My review of:

Sources:

Scientists Identify Neanderthal Genes in Modern Human DNA (2014), Sci-News.com
What Does It Mean to be Human?, Smithsonian Institute
Yale University Campus Map

Fantasy, Young Adult

Allison, P.G.: Missy the Werecat (2012)

2014-09-13 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Missy the Werecat - PG Allison

The cougar works a powerful magic on the human imagination. Perhaps it is envy. This majestic feline personifies strength, movement, grace, stealth, independence, and the wilderness spirit. It wanders enormous tracts of American wilderness at will. It is equally at home in forest, desert, jungle, or swamp. An adult cougar can bring down a full-grown mule deer in seconds. It yields to few creatures, save, bears and humans. (Mountain Lion Foundation)

Now take a look at one of the descriptions of Missy from Missy the Werecat. Missy has just come back from the wild, rescued a family and is thought to have been kept a prisoner for two years:

She moved with a smooth grace but also exuded strength and power, somehow giving an impression of greatness in spite of her only being a teenage girl. …

entering the room in full command of herself, alert and aware. Fearless. With depths that could not be penetrated. This Missy was not at all a victim, in any way …

Pretty similar, don’t you think?

After Missy comes back down from the mountains, having learned to control her changes, she befriends a girl called Alice. Alice was being sexually abused by her step-father and Missy stepped in to stop it. Stepping in while Alice was still so young, in addition to giving Alice the support she needed, helped Alice work her way through the sexual abuse as much as possible.

During a period of my life I went through some sexual abuse periods myself. To have had a Missy in my life at that point would have made a great difference. However, the norm in such cases is to have them explained away or denied. It’s simply too difficult for non-pedophiles to think that there are people out there who get turned on by such things.

Throughout her whole story of Missy the Werecat, P.G. Allison was carefully open about the darker sides of life. At the same time she made sure we understood the importance of people like Missy in the lives of those being affected by predators. Sometimes it takes a predator to hunt down other predators and, as most of us come to know, not all predators are out to hurt people.

Missy the Werecat is very US in its style. It is definitely written for a younger audience. Some violence was explicit and some sexual content was also explicit, yet it was explicit in an age-appropriate manner. I was surprised by the balance between sexual and violent content as I am not used to that from US authors. To make up for that there were the standard moralistic teachings found in US stories. In the end that did not matter to me and I for one was glad that such a person/mountain lion blessed the lives of so many people (and frightened the ☠@✴# out of others).

Missy the Werecat on Amazon US

Fantasy

Ryan, Lea: What the Dead Fear (2011)

2014-09-11 humanitysdarkerside 2 Comments

What the Dead Fear is a lovely novella about acceptance and compassion.

My reasons for choosing a story varies. In the case of What the Dead Fear it was the title that drew me. I found I had to know what the dead do fear. Well, they fear Gareth. But more than Gareth they fear

for the fates of the living, despite their witness to the hereafter. They fear retribution, but perhaps even more, they fear helplessness and insignificance.

Helplessness is an interesting sensation. Two of the characters (Juniper and Nikki) from the story suffer through acknowledging the need for different strategies. Acceptance is such a difficult choice but usually it is the only way to change. At least it is for me, and Ms. Ryan’s characters all either fight their way through it or remain stuck as they are.

I like the way the story plays out in Limbo and in the land of the living. What the Dead Fear is a ghost story riddled with strange creatures and plenty of action and humor. Definitely recommended.

Review:

What the Dead Fear on Barnes and Noble Nook, Smashwords, Kobo, It’s also available in audio HERE.

Fantasy

Winchester, C.S.: Past Life (Past III) (2012)

2014-09-06 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Past Life - CS Winchester - white background

Past Life - CS Winchester - black background

I like Dante. He is the kind of guy that would make me laugh. I wouldn’t want to mess with him, but I think I would like to hang with him (no, not the deadly kind of hanging!). He was appointed Frankie’s guardian during Josh’s negotiations with the Council in Half Past. I really hated that ending, because Josh was seriously cool. But that is the power of The Author: to mess with their readers’ emotions.

I wonder how much of a mess I am making of the lives of my sons. Parents seem to be good at handing work to therapists. Frankie’s mother is a good example of messy parenting. She has never accepted Frankie and all of her sides, while Frankie has worked harder and harder at getting that acceptance. In the end something had to break, and break it does. Sometimes fractured relationships end up being exactly what was needed to finally move forward and together towards the same goal. And sometimes not. Reading the story will let you know which is the case in Past Life.

Will is giving me a hard time. Do I like him or not? Hmmmm? Yes and no. Figuring out where Winchester is going with him is difficult. We’ll just have to see if another story is forthcoming.

Past Life is a mystery, and the crimes committed turn out to be against one of the people Frankie knows well. She is extra motivated to solve the bizarre killings and is learning to accept help to find her answers.

Answers is something Winchester has left us with in each of the stories in the Past series. Choices and their unintended consequences were an important issue of Past Life, and CS hands us her gift in a fun wrapping.

Past Life available on Amazon US

My review of:

Past Due
Half Past

Fantasy

Winchester, C.S.: Half Past (Past II) (2010)

2014-09-05 humanitysdarkerside 1 Comment

Thankfully, Half Past did not become mushy. Romance is fine. Once it becomes the focus of the story and reaches into bizarro-land I become confused and hope that no one actually has to go through that kind of stuff. There was romance in Half Past. Maybe romance is the wrong word. This is a confusing field for me. Frankie made decisions about her life that included Alex and Josh. Alex made a decision about himself and Frankie that stank to high heaven. Josh made a decision about his life that increased Frankie’s understanding of her feelings and value.

CS Winchester‘s vampires are far from glittery. These vampires are predatory creatures who do not hold back from what they deem necessary violence. Once a person has lived centuries their views on ethics and morals are bound to differ from whatever the fashionable view might be. Josh is the kind of person who can rip off a person’s head. He is also the kind of person who is willing to take in those in need of protection.

Frankie Wright’s powers are growing. She has a little more control over them now and is better able to use those powers to help the people around her. You see, Frankie suffers from an empathetic personality. Even though a person has been a complete dufus toward her, she has the ability to see that person’s suffering and need. Perhaps this has something to do with her psychic abilities. Or it could just be that Frankie is a pretty decent kind of person. Being decent doesn’t stop her from protecting society from the dangers the supernatural community might pose. I like Frankie. At times I find her annoying – like the people around her also do. It’s interesting being able to empathize with a fictional character’s compatriots.

I’m not sure what I think of Alex. He is seriously patronizing and seems to think that he owns Frankie. 700 years ago – when he began life – he would have. I wonder what it must be like to have to adjust to changing morals and ethics over and over again. I wonder if you would get to a point where you become stuck and lose the ability to fit in.

Half Past was a fun story with plenty of action, silliness and just a little bit of romance. I look forward to reading the next in line.

Reviews:

Half Past available on Amazon US

My review of: Past Due

Fantasy

McGuire, Seanan: The Winter Long (October Daye VIII) (2014)

2014-09-05 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Cover artist: Christian McGrath

A geis can be compared with a curse or, paradoxically, a gift. If someone under a geis violates the associated taboo, the infractor will suffer dishonor or even death. On the other hand, the observing of one’s geasa is believed to bring power. (Wikipedia)

Imagine a person strong enough to place a geas on the Luidaeg, one of the Firstborn. Daughter of Maeve and Oberon. Doesn’t seem possible does it? Except there is a person who is just as connected to Oberon as the Luidaeg is, although Titiana is this person’s mother. And we know who this person is. We have, in fact, been given clues as to this person’s identity several books ago. Not that I got it, of course. Ms. McGuire had to give it to me in tiny helpings. Shows how good a detective I am.

Family is a strange matter. All of us are born to one family, one we do not choose. Some of those families are extremely dysfunctional. Toby’s mother is a great example of that. Amandine is a nutter. Perhaps being immortal does that to you even if you are genetically engineered for it. After all, what is there to see and strive for once you have lived for hundreds, maybe thousands of years? How would you deal with the death of mortals and their envy? Humans would envy immortals. Just look at the research that is being done to extend our lives and find the key to eternal life.

Toby is just starting her way down the path of an extremely long life – if she isn’t killed during one of her heroic deeds. It’s a good thing her human part has receded as much as it has. Without being faery to the degree that she has become, Toby would surely have died during The Winter Long. She comes close enough as it is.

I’m wondering what Toby’s chosen family will end up being like. The beginnings of it are there. We have the changelings, May and Jade, Tybalt, Raf, Quentin and the Luidaeg. Beyond that, well? Perhaps in some instances Toby has misinterpreted her relationships or maybe refused to see the world as it really is rather than as she wishes it to be. We all do that. Lie to ourselves. Except the Luidaeg. She can’t lie. But the rest of us? Some truths about ourselves and our surroundings aren’t fun to acknowledge, so we change them to fit our desires. So too with Toby.

I have to say that Seanan McGuire is an excellent writer. She keeps her text tight and tense while interspersing it with bits of humour and goo. I love goo. Ever since I met her through her Mira Grant persona, I have loved her writing. Definitely recommended.

Reviews:

The Winter Long on Amazon US

My review of:

Chimes at Midnight

Adventure, Fantasy, Young Adult

Sullivan Brothers: Shadowbloom: (Rhyme of the Willow I) (2011)

2014-08-31 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

I read other reviews before I publish my post. Sometimes that helps me understand why I enjoyed a story. On Amazon one of the commenters said something about the children not thinking about their grandparents and how that must make their grandparents feel. That got me wondering about my relationship with people.

Perhaps one of the reasons autistic people are thought of as not having empathy is because some of us are like the teenagers in Shadowbloom. If a person is not in my vicinity, I seldom think about them. Even when they are near by, I can completely forget their existence. I can love them to bits, but my focus tends to be in the here and now. Sure I worry if something is amiss with a person I care about. But allistics seem to get caught up in their worries. To me Axton and Anina seemed perfectly normal.

The two twins lost their parents to the Willow 13 years ago. All they know is that their parents crashed their car into a tree and then disappeared completely. Since then they have lived with their grand-parents. Anina and Axton have opposite reactions to the loss of their parents.

Anina is ANGRY and shows it. Her personality is probably a bit tetchy to begin with, but what she sees as a betrayal has brought out her barbs completely. Very fitting considering her changes in the Garden. Axton has become afraid of most things and delves into his mother’s field of study – botany.

Disappearing from the world and ending up in a place unlike anything the two could have imagined only intensifies their behavioral patterns. Axton becomes more afraid. Anina’s anger grows. But at least the two hope that they might discover what happened to their parents. Perhaps they will.

I really liked Shadowbloom. The Garden was a strange place where plants took the place of animals. Getting eaten by one was certainly possible. The Sullivan brothers write well and their cover was great.

Reviews:

Shadowbloom on Amazon US

Fantasy, Science Fiction, Short story/novella

Edwards, Nigel: Garrison (2011)

2014-08-30 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Editing and cover design by Tim C. Taylor Cover images by KireevArt and fotola70 — Editing and cover design by Tim C. Taylor
Cover images by KireevArt and fotola70

Garrison is a military fantasy in novella format. It is set in another time and place with pre-industrial technology and strange creatures. Whether these people are human, I do not know. That is just a presumption on my part.

Von was the most interesting person of this story. His exact role within the company wasn’t completely clear to me. While regular soldier seems to have been his official title, his role was more likely as some kind of troubleshooter. New soldiers saw him as a father-figure. Being just another soldier seems to have given him an in that was not open to the officers. The two newbies were highly visible in Garrison, but their role seemed to be as supporting characters to Von.

I liked Von and I enjoyed reading Garrison and Nigel Edwards’ writing.

Reviews:

Adventure, Fantasy, Young Adult

Halstead, Jason: Dark Earth (Dark Earth I) (2011)

2014-08-29 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

Cover art by Willsin Rowe

In my opinion Dark Earth seems aimed at a younger Young Adult audience.

Jason Halstead starts off the story in modern US and then takes us to a parallel world set to a pre-industrial age. He describes this Dark Earth as meaner and greedier than our own. Perhaps that is due to the younger audience he is writing for and possibly a need to create a good and a bad world. I certainly know of plenty of people who are as mean and greedy on our side of the gates. Places that are more or less pre-industrial are in existence although these are becoming fewer by the decade.

Our heroes are Eric, who lost his wife 13 years ago, and his 13-year-old daughter Jessica. Eric is still caught in the grief of his wife being killed while in her 8th month of pregnancy. When a guy turns up at his house attempting to murder his daughter, Eric is understandably frustrated, angry, afraid and reminded of his previous loss. Then Eric and Jessica discover that they are part of a 2000-year-old legacy that reaches across to parallel world. Now the two will also have to deal with Jessica being kidnapped and Eric being bitten by a strange wolf.

I read Dark Earth a long time ago but had forgotten to write a review for it. That meant I had to read it again. Jason Halstead certainly writes well enough for me to also enjoy the second reading. Although Jessica was the person of interest to the various parties, Eric was the character that I saw the most of. He was the one that showed growth and development.

There was plenty of action and some violence. Only one short bit might be considered by some parents as too much for the youngest children. Other than that, Dark Earth must be one of the safer stories out there for a Young adult audience. There was no swearing, very little violence, some sadness and no romance (except in the memory of Eric and his late wife).

Reviews:

Dark Earth on Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, iTunes, Smashwords

Fantasy, Horror

McDermott, J.M.: When we were executioners (2012)

2014-08-24 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

http://julienalday.blogspot.no/2011/10/n193-when-we-were-executioners.html

When we were exectutioners - JM McDermott

I want to understand why writing a review of When We Were Executioners is so difficult. Part of it has to do with how invested in the lives of Jona and Rachel I have become. Not only they, but also the two Walkers of Erin seem to have a profound effect on me. There is this area from my solar plexus to the tip of my chin that becomes warm and weepy just thinking about the quartet. Sometimes art does this to me. Whether I am dealing with happy art or sad art does not seem to make a difference.

When We Were Executioners falls within the last category. From the beginning of the serial Dogsland we know that Lord Joni doesn’t survive. We soon come to expect the same with Rachel, and in When We Were Executioners it seems impossible that her brother Djoss will make it either.

People die all the time. They die all the time in the city/town Dogsland – a city of crime if there ever was one. Drugs are its mainstay. Drugs come into the city and are sold and traded on to the citizens of Dogsland and other places. JM McDermott shows us the darker side of drugs, both from the point of view of the users, the dealers and lords – sometimes one and the same person. It is a path that many tread both in fantasy and in the real world. Addiction.

But then I suppose we all suffer from one sort of addiction or another. Some of us will do anything for affection while others will stop at nothing to get another shot of their drug of choice. It is all the same, and oh, so very sad. Maybe evolution needs us to be this way to keep the human race going.

Lord Joni and Rachel Nolander are both half-demons and a hunted minority. Perhaps with good reason, for anything their bodily fluids touch (except for each other) ends up disintegrating and sizzling away. Somehow that does not make sense for their fathers had to have sex with their mothers and there is certainly an exchange of bodily fluids at that time. But perhaps what goes for half-demons is not the case with full demons. Even in death Jona and Rachel are deadly. Keeping their remains (especially their skulls) for magical purposes will end up destroying the magician. But in the end that is the way we all go. Death is just another part of life that we try to avoid and forget.

Could this be another reason the Dogsland trilogy thus far has affected me so strongly? JM McDermott makes no attempt to hide death from us. Nor does he attempt to make it more or less than what it is. Thus far the deaths we have seen in this trilogy have been difficult and painful ones. I wonder what my own death will be like?

Definitely recommended.

Review:

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When We Were Executioners on Amazon USA

My review of: Never Knew Another

Fantasy, Young Adult

Stewart, Michael F.: 24 Bones (2009)

2014-08-21 humanitysdarkerside Leave a comment

24 Bones - Michael F Stewart — Cover art by Martin Stiff; Hieroglyphs by Manfred Klein

This cover is stunning. Those green eyes and the light together. Wow.

I laugh a little when I see someone has picked up both Assured Destruction and 24 Bones because they are so different. And perhaps my apprenticeship is over and it’s time to choose a genre.

Nah! Take your time. Why ruin a good thing?

I arrived early at the Great Pyramid, and for a special few minutes I was the only one inside. Within the King’s Chamber I noticed that every sound reverberated strongly…soo powerfully. I had researched the resonance of the chamber but being there was entirely different. So, checking over my shoulder, looking down into the grand gallery to ensure I was alone, I then clambered inside the rose granite sarcophagus, and began to hum.

I really enjoyed 24 Bones. Not at first. Not when I was wondering if this was going to be a conversion attempt by Michael F. Stewart. Thankfully, Stewart wasn’t that kind of annoying author. What I had thought preaching was instead an in depth comparison between the Christian (Coptic) godhead and the Egyptian Osiris/Isis/Horus legends. I knew some of this stuff but hadn’t realized how many beliefs the two systems had in common.

24 Bones is kind of about good and bad, except not really. The person who apparently serves evil doesn’t really. The character who seems to serve good does but also faces his demons. Then we have the third person. I’m not really certain how to describe him. Maybe as some one who looks for the easy way out? In other words, regular people.

David, Sam and Faris are tools of a prophecy that comes to fruition every 500 years. All of them access something called Void or Fullness (a kind of magic). Fullness (order) is waning and Void (chaos) is on the rise. The ideal is a balance between the two.

Balance is something the world lacks. There is always some species threatening eco-systems around the world. We humans just happen to do so all over the place. Power is possibly one of the greatest motivators for making the world chaotic. Pharaoh has power as his main goal in 24 Bones, and with it he is going to do what all power-hungry maniacs have tried to do throughout history: topple existing power-systems and take over the world. History and today show just how power-hungry countries/leaders/people can be and what they are willing to do to achieve ultimate power.

There was plenty of action, strange people and strange animals. Egypt is an interesting country. I have only been there on a two-week holiday and there was never a sarcophagus around that I could climb into. I am thankful that there are people like Michael F. Stewart who will do that kind of thing so my reading experience can be more authentic.

Reviews:

24 Bones on: Smashwords

… all author proceeds to go to charity, more particularly to the people of Zimbabwe (MobilReads)

Fantasy, Reading together, Science Fiction, Young Adult

Sagara, Michelle: Cast in Shadow (Chronicles of Elantra I) (2005)

2014-08-20 humanitysdarkerside 2 Comments

Kaylin by athenapallas87

Illustrated by Mathia Arkoniel

http://www.deviantart.com/art/ELANTRA-Lord-Nightshade-348308131

My son and I just finished reading Michelle Sagara‘s Cast in Shadow. Reading Michelle Sagara’s writing out loud is a completely different experience to the one we have had reading together lately. She has a lot more dialogue and Cast in Shadow reads more like a play than a novel. Realizing this has made me even more aware of the importance of reading my own posts before I put them on my blog.

… she added softly, remembering. The way they had huddled together in a room that was warm because it was small and it held so many of them. The way Jade had come to her side, had put a skeletal arm around her, …

Poverty stinks. There is the physical stink that comes from not being able to afford all of the things a lot of people (myself included) take for granted. Even stinkier is the unfairness of it all.

When Kaylin at the age of 13 moves out of the fiefs and becomes a hawk, one of the first things she notices is how different the two sides of the river are. Yes, there is poverty. Yes, there is crime (hence the Hawks, Swords and Wolves). Yes, there is inequality. But in the fiefs life was worse to such a degree that we might compare the fiefs with the slums anywhere in the world. The other side of the Ablyn would be more like Norway.

Moving from the fiefs (in her case Nightshade’s) to the Emperor’s side of the Ablyn is no simple matter. In Kaylin’s case she was helped/hindered by the magical marks that appeared on her arms at a younger age. The decision was to either kill her or to let her be under control of the Hawks. The Hawklord felt she deserved a chance to prove herself, now that the danger seemed to be over. Kaylin’s marks represent a danger to both Elantra and the fiefs if the process that was once begun is completed. (Hah, hah not going to tell you more about that).

Because I am practically 50 and perhaps because I happen to be autistical I understand the choice Severn made seven years ago. Kaylin’s rage/sorrow/hatred against him is also something I understand. Now that she is 20 rather than 13 she slowly begins to see Severn’s role in another light.

I also get why Kaylin was so pampered by the Hawks. She was 13 when she was allowed life and given the position of maskot and private. With the immortal Barrani she will always be a child age-wise although her knowledge and understanding has increased. Marcus, the Leontine, loves her dearly because of what she did for one of his wives. The same goes for the Aerians. You see, Kaylin has decided that she needs to use her magic for certain things.

Even though reading out loud was more difficult this time, Kaylin, Severn and Nightshade all captured my heart. My son must have felt the same way for he has stated that he wants to hear book number two of the series: Caught in Courtlight.

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