The third book in the series; Torin is back for more. There’s some nice character evolution at the start, with Torin having scored a promotion and continuing a relationship with Ryder. The overall plot is good and interesting– what’s going on Crucible? There are lots of red herrings and alternate valid lines of thought to keep your brain engaged throughout. If you liked the first two books [and I did], the third’s a nice continuation.
A very fast read, the author does a great job of building a plausible world with interesting issues. The idea of Pretties, a vapid beautiful people as a class or role you pass through in life was fascinating. There are a lot of good ideas buried in here about attraction, physical attribute manipulation, freedom and individuality, and more. For a long time I thought he was going to skip over the Rusties altogether after teasing, but I like the end he cooked up for them.
It looks like it’s at least a 4 books series; I look forward to tackling the next in line soon.
A straight up interlude story– it ties up the loose ends from the Shadows series and performs as a nice bridge between Ender’s Game and Speaker for the Dead, but it isn’t a story so much as a series of events. It’s kind of nice to wander around with Ender again, but there’s nothing here that felt necessary.
The major subplot was neat; not quite a romance, but very true to Ender. The rest seemed… necessary– you knew he wrote The Hive Queen, so he does it here. Tasks that you already knew he tackled (because they’re mentioned in other books) make up a major portion of this book. It wasn’t a bad book by any means… it just didn’t have much of a point, other than getting to wander around in young Ender’s head again. At that, it succeeded well.
Next weekend is Labor Day weekend, and we won’t be meeting. What does your schedule look like for the following weekend– Friday the 11th and Saturday the 12th? Does Friday work? What times work for you on Saturday (if any)?
This was originally two books, Valor’s Choice and The Better Part of Valor. They are fast moving military sci-fi, with a great main character and interesting roles. The brief afterward, where the battles are analogized to historical battles, are interesting but kind of suck the wind out of the story’s sails.
I’m eagerly looking forward to checking out the next books in the series. (They’re on request now!)
A great book. This is a fantasy story with very low key magic. It’s gritty– the world order is based on drug addiction and slavery, with a lot of political scheming and struggle. It feels a lot like GRRM’s Song of Ice and Fire, but it has some appealing protagonists, and they don’t all die!
The book does a good job of hopping between interesting scenes and switching among many POV characters. It leads to a somewhat choppy feel; occasionally the focus shifts away just before a dramatic confrontation and when you return it was resolved off screen and a month has gone on. It’s a little jarring at times– you’d ordinarily expect the focus to be on the conflict scenes– but it works. It made me think of a movie with obvious and dramatic cuts and quick story advancement, but it works. And you get the novel’s advantage of stepping into their minds, though I suspect actors could convey many of the thoughts well.
In the end, the contrast between the four children is stark. Corinn’s arc is well handled, as is her eventual decision to continue the dark path of history. Until the final chapter or three I thought it was a solid book and was going to appreciate it as a stand alone. The final scenes reincorporate some of the earlier promises and drive home how the world has reached a new and different equilibrium. It’s unstable, particularly given Mena’s promise Aiken… but that’s why I’ll eagerly look for book two.
A good book, solidly rooted in a fantasy Asia. The setting has large and subtle effects, and does a great job of kicking you out of “standard fantasy” mode. Jade is important, and more than symbolically, as comes clear as the book advances. The Jade Throne is more than a name…
The POV characters are all clearly drawn with interesting and overlapping storylines. The unlikely rise from fisherwoman to concubine was handled deftly, and the mountain man’s introduction to more complex society is disheartening and impressive by turns. The strange life of a servant and slave is very strange… and sets up the ending well.
This is the first book of Moshui, the Books of Stone and Water– as the final scene makes clear. I’ll keep my eyes out for book two.
A peek behind the curtain at some campaign prep ideas from my campaign, a while ago.
A T&D Willey Farms recipe, adapted on the fly for missing ingredients. I turned it vegetarian!
We recently had a cool mini-tournament with six people in Paul’s garage. It was a fun day of gaming. We took lots of pictures– enjoy!
Lots and lots of pictures, so it goes below the fold.