Author: Scott

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Books

Fortune’s Pawn by Rachel Bach

I finished reading this and was excited to read more. I’m requesting the next two books in the trilogy from the library, but would be content with this as a stand alone.

The book is well written; Devi is an engaging protagonist, but also one with work and a background. In contrast to the YA novels I’ve been reading, it’s nice to have a hero who has been around. The story starts off with her asking an ex (kind of) about her plan for advancement and getting a reality check.

That she takes on the crazy, high risk mission as a step in her career advancement tells us a lot about her. And, as she reacts to the “things are stranger than they seemed”, her reactions reflect experience and realistic calculation.

In the background is a universe that seems plenty plausible. There are some aliens, but there’s not the casual acceptance of a Star Trek or Star Wars universe. There are a few human empires: their relationship seems mostly political, very important if you’re a planetary homebody, but companies and ships travel and trade between them.

As I said, this book is well written, and has a nice mix of action and character development. There’s also an interesting romance angle, but even the romance reflects an experienced woman–not a lovestruck teenager blindsided by feelings for the first time. Her determination to buckle down and concentrate on what’s important is great… and reflects women I’ve known.

Books 2 and 3 here.

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Books

The Clockwork Crown by Beth Cato

This is the sequel to The Clockwork Dagger. At the end of The Clockwork Dagger, I mentioned that the book was fine, but not my A+ number one, so I wouldn’t really look for more of the series. Part of blah that assuming that the next book would be the middle of a trilogy… which meant that when I learned that it was only a two book series, I decided to check out the sequel.

Octavia and Alanzo continue their flight, and are soon in a much less war torn land. It’s still a world on the edge of industrialization, with grime and rampant poverty played up from the start. From there, the two of them move through various societal strata, and have difficult relations with Alanzo’s family.

Long story short, the book was well written and went to some very interesting places (a call back about Mrs. Stout’s family, an explanation for the Tree’s fading), and Octavia struggles appropriately–there’s a lot of difficulty to overcome, and it takes a lot of pain and grit at the end. The implacable tree at the end proves to be as sad a betrayal to us as it is shocking to Octavia.

Everything resolves in a nice epilogue; the world went through a rough patch, but it’s going to be revitalized now. Which is a fine place to leave the world. I’m left ambivalent; it was a good story, with good characters and unique powers, well told… but they’re still not books that I love. I’m again vaguely curious at to what you’d do next with the world, given the tumultuous changes, but am content to let it lie.

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Roleplaying Roleplaying Books

Apocalypse World by Vincent Baker

This was my second read through, with over a year and exposure to several other Powered by the Apocalypse games in the meantime. It made all the difference–probably alongside seeing the new Mad Max movie and listening to discussions about how it would make an excellent AW scenario.

I want to play it now–to the point where I’m considering working on a campaign for it. I’d probably lean a little differently on my sources; it’d probably feature a lot more Canticle of Leibowitz and The Road, since I’m much more a reader than a movie goer.

Interestingly, moves of all kinds and the MC’s role came through solidly; I get, in a way I missed the first time, how the MC acts and how that results in a particular game style. The responsive nature was apparent, but this time the advice about how hard you respond, etc., really came through. (I was looking for it, of course, since it was something I’d felt that I’d lacked the first time around.)

Even Sex Moves, something I’d tittered about before, came clear on the reread. The only thing they really do is affect your history with someone–and the game makes a statement about the characters are affected. For example, the operator picks up his companion as a job to juggle; that’s very different from other playbooks that immediately leap your history (Hx) to +3… or just giving you +1 to your next roll.

A big difference in this go around, I think, was reading the characters not as classes, but as solid chunks of setting. It’s a world with characters like these, where these characters shine…

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Books

Conjured by Sarah Beth Durst

A solid book, well written and appealing. The perspective is YA, but some of the twists are pretty sophisticated, and the cost of Eve’s magic is well done.

There’s a lot of interesting about identity, loving who you’re supposed to, and deviating from the plan. It wasn’t my favorite ever, but it was solid and I’d certainly read more books by the author–though in a new universe next time.

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Books

Vicious by V.E. Schwab

An interesting prose book about ExtraOrdinaries… a kind of super, in a world where they’re hidden, mostly unrealized. It’s a darker, almost dismaying version of super heroes… which makes it feel real, authentic. Victor and Eli both feel like ambitious, driven… entitled, jerky guys. They feel right for college age guys.

The book is two tracked for the first half; a current and 10 years ago. It then shifts to current and moves forward only (though there are a few flashbacks still). It features multiple, engaging POVs… I liked it. It’s a complete book–a complete thought–but it sounds like there are sequels planned. I’ll keep an eye out for them.

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Books

Across the Great Barrier and The Far West

These two books are the sequels to Patrica Wrede’s The Thirteenth Child. Each is well written and largely self-contained. There’s continuity, but most of the threads wrap up at the end of each book.

These two books cover much shorter spans–not a whole childhood, only a year or two per book. In each, Eff grows, changes, and understands something new. She’s a great character, and it’s a pleasure watching her come to maturity. The west proves fascinating to explore alongside Eff and her friends.

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Books

Clockwork Dagger by Beth Cato

It’s a world of wonders, but also of early industrial grime, some magic and early science, airships, assassins, infernals, and intrigue. The book was a quick, easy read–and never quite simple. Neither Caskandia nor the Dallows are noble–they’re trapped in a bitter war (or its immediate aftermath–there a pause in the fighting as the book opens), and reach for underhanded methods to advantage themselves. Methods like kidnapping our heroine Octavia, a medicant–a healer.

There are lots of interesting things to the book. Centering the book on a healer, someone who is compelled to heal, even at great inconvenience to herself, is an interesting choice. She’s powerful (and revealed to be uniquely so as the book goes on), but she’s not winning wars or decimating her foes with powerful spells.

The religion of the tree is interesting; Octavia’s a true believer–for good reason–but society around her mostly dismisses worship of the tree as superstition. There’s action and risk, and Octavia does rely on others for most of the fisticuffs… but it’s never not an adventure because she’s not leading the charge.

The book is complete enough to stand alone–the dangling threads can be picked back up, but the book doesn’t feel incomplete, or like the heart of the story is still untold. Instead, she’ll be off on another adventure… in The Clockwork Crown.

Despite the praise above… I may be entering the end of my cyclical fiction reading phase. I don’t feel a strong draw to pick up the next book, despite suspecting that it’ll be a fine book, with even more authorial skill behind it.

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Books

Thirteenth Child by Patricia C Wrede

Set in an alternate mid-1800s, magic makes settling the frontier easier for the settlers… and much trickier, as there’s magical wildlife too.

The book is a fun combination of frontier era struggles, mores, and chores, with a magical twist. Magic proves a great way of making the unknown of the frontier powerful and dangerous feeling again. The introduction of “alternate” or subversive schools of magic was well handled–as was the was neglect that many of the characters who were skilled in (Eureopean style) magic felt towards the “lesser” schools of magic.

Our protagonist, Eff, is very well drawn. She has a realistic and nuanced set of relationships with a wide variety of people in each of the settlements and towns of the book. As soon as I finished it, I looked up the sequels and recommended it to Jennifer.

The book also ends on a solid, quite complete note–while it’s part of a trilogy, the book stands alone.

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Books

Ambassador by William Alexander

A well written fast read. Gabe Fuentes is a well written, likable, identifiable kid and the problems he encounters are immense. Honestly, the week after he meets his “aide”, he loses his family, his house, is targeted for death (and barely missed a few times), is almost stranded on the moon… it’s a pretty horrible week.

On the other hand, he takes it all in stride. He is very true to himself in his collaborative approach to the problems; he doesn’t waste time with revenge fantasies, which is awesome.

The book ends at an awkward place; the immediate threat is over, but there’s a lot of untangling to be done. For a young YA book, it might be an adequate stopping place [and good for keeping the overall length correct for a young reader], but for more mature readers it’s not a complete story.

Overall, the book features a fun, fast moving plot, a young hero in the spotlight, a sense of wonder… it just doesn’t stick the ending.

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Books

The Three-Body Problem

The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin is a very interesting novel that is translated so well that, other than the subject matter, I’d never have noticed.

Set in China, the first chapters are during the Cultural Revolution–when science is thrown out for its western taint. Then the action leaps to the present and engages with a familiar feeling scientist in modern Beijing. At first, the book neglects his emotional attachments–it feels like classic sci-fi, in that it’s very focused on scientific challenges and the big picture.

It’s an intriguing book, with a lot of “hmm, how would we respond if we learned we weren’t alone?” and very cool upper dimensional considerations.