Raina once again takes us through her journey of becoming. This time, she’s dealing with…well, she’s not certain just what the problem is.
The graphic Raina once again takes us through her journey of becoming. This time, she’s dealing with…well, she’s not certain just what the problem is.
The graphic novel manages to be funny and right on point. Raina thinks her problems are uniquely her own and therefore too embarrassing to talk about to others. When she has to get therapy, she’s even more ashamed. Other people seem to be on an even keel. The girls around her are maturing in a way she doesn’t comprehend. They seem to be part of some secret club and it’s immensely frustrating for her. Middle-school Raina doesn’t understand yet that problems are universal, that enemies can be human too and that her problems can be both controllable and out of her hands.
The story uses quirky graphics to detail her interior thoughts, emotions and her physical interior as well. It explores what happens when friendships become complicated and adults become the only ones who are willing and able to help. It’s not adulthood she’s in—not yet—but you’re pulled into her first steps towards it....more
The narrative is awash with poetic metaphor, with fierce declarations, with sharply drawn beings. I state beings because humanity is not the only creaThe narrative is awash with poetic metaphor, with fierce declarations, with sharply drawn beings. I state beings because humanity is not the only creature at play. There are subtle and sinister forces at play, each jockeying for power and desperate to be given a new leash on life. Mortal creatures learn immortality has its downsides and immortal beings find that they can die, after all.
The author writes of an ancient, alternate Arabia, the kind of legendary land where deserts sweep the horizons, ifrits prowl the shadows, ancient beings cast curses and rulers reign from dazzling palaces. Its enemies-to-lovers romance to the five-man-band trope may seem trite but Ms. Faizal imbues them with new life in panoramas that awe the reader or fill us with well-earned dread. It’s a stunning beginning in this series and I’m already craving the sequel....more
This sweet, comical and original tale of what happens between holidays and between Holiday factions is a real treat. The characters are lively, funny,This sweet, comical and original tale of what happens between holidays and between Holiday factions is a real treat. The characters are lively, funny, fully rounded and have complex interactions among them. Even the peripheral characters—the ones working behind the scenes to ensure Christmas runs smoothly—get their turn to shine. I particularly liked Wren, the amanuensis who was responsible for everything from individual itineraries to dressing the Claus family.
The romances among Kristopher, Iris, Hex and Nicholas were very absorbing. I was rooting for them to succeed every step of the way. While Hex initially comes off as forbidding, distant and brooding, you quickly learn that there’s a great deal happening under the surface. Nicholas also rises to the occasion as he steps into his role as future reigning Claus.
There is also sex. Ho boy, is there sex! Molten, passionate, cry-to-the-rafters, grip-the-bedposts, rattling the bedframe SEX. This is the type of sex that leaves you sore and with bruises in interesting places and it’s what had been sorely missed from recent the m/m novels I've been reading.
So this is a book I heartily recommend. With its sly reference to The Nightmare before Christmas, this novel will appeal to people who like Halloween scare and Yuletide cheer....more
Joe Benitez’s method of numbering these volumes continues to baffle me. I’d already read a story of Lady Mechanika battling an immortal creature of veJoe Benitez’s method of numbering these volumes continues to baffle me. I’d already read a story of Lady Mechanika battling an immortal creature of vengeance, one that had been created from a dying woman to hunt down vampires. That was volume six, entitled Sangre. To deepen the confusion, the supernatural demon at the center of that graphic was called La Dama de La Muerte, the title of this graphic novel. Hoy.
This story has a very similar theme but it’s a completely different tale. Once again, Lady Mechanika is drawn to protecting the innocent—even if she doesn’t always get it right. We’re reminded that, in spite of her mechanical limbs, she’s very much a human female at heart. She’s had a love affair (from a previous unread novel) and somehow lost her lover. We see mentions of the treacherous, psychotic Katherine de Winter, acknowledging that Mechanika’s continued association with her has led her down a truly gory, ugly path.
Now she finds herself in a Scooby Doo situation. It might seem strange to mention that oddball cartoon. But we’re reminded that, every time the travelers in the Mystery Machine encountered the seeming supernatural, it turned out to be some disgruntled elderly person in a fright mask. We’re reminded that true evil often resides in the hands, hearts and minds of common human beings—no need for demons from hell.
Mechanika is exposed to two different religions, the contemporary Día de Los Muertos and the ancient religion of the Aztecs. While the former is filled with joy and remembrance, the latter is much darker and hints of blood, penalty and human sacrifice. It features a fearsome deity, an entity of the underworld. This is the kind of deity that you pray to only in times of extremis. It’s dangerous to draw her attention, so you’d better not ask her for anything unless you really have no other options.
But Lady Mechanika is a force to be reckoned with, especially when innocuous youths are threatened. This graphic touches on the myriad sides of her nature: her shyness, reclusivity, tenderness towards children, curiosity about other cultures and cold-bloodedness against wrongdoers. Those who have stuck with her thus far will not be disappointed in this volume....more
I have admitted to being frustrated, annoyed and outright outraged by the character Lisbeth Salander. She’s not someone I’d want to know in real life.I have admitted to being frustrated, annoyed and outright outraged by the character Lisbeth Salander. She’s not someone I’d want to know in real life. I’d be uneasy knowing that she was in the same geographical state as myself. Her father Alexander Zalachenko had speculated that there was something wrong with her. In the previous novel The Girl Who Played with Fire, we learn that her psychotic half-brother, Roland Niedermann, has something wrong with his mind as well. Built like a tank, incapable of feeling pain, lacking in empathy and loyalty and guilty of several murders he committed with his bare hands, Roland has a superstitious fear of the unknown, imagining creatures out of myth and lore attacking him in the dark. Since Zalachenko freely admitted to Lisbeth that one of his other children is an idiot, you wonder if his DNA has more than a few kinks in it that render his offspring pathological.
In this novel, Lisbeth’s very existence casts a wide net, pulling in police officers, corrupt government officials, a secret cabal, journalists, lawyers, hit men, security guards and reporters, et al. The story itself becomes extremely convoluted, what with various characters popping up in the plot. It takes dedicated reading to keep track of who, what, where, why and how they interact with each other. People who like their stories straightforward and simpler will have a hard time keeping track of these people and how their various associations impact each other and Lisbeth. At one point, she gets completely exasperated and wants nothing more than to be done with the whole business and disappear. You can relate.
In point of fact, this novel did a great deal to make me sympathetic towards Lisbeth. At no point in the previous novels did she demand sympathy or elicit pity. She’d been through hell and back again and had the battle scars to prove it. But she made it through largely on her own and so my emotions for her ranged from indifference to the irritation I’ve stated.
However, here she becomes more mature, less judgmental and kinder towards her small circle of friends. After a final tidying up of loose ends, I realized that Lisbeth had stayed her hand from the most lethal of crimes and that she always had. She’s not entirely without redeeming features. I’d focused so much on her flaws that I didn’t see her sterling qualities.
I’m reminded that she’s just entering into her 20s; as doctors have stated, most human brains don’t reach real adult maturity until we’re in our thirties. Lisbeth does grow as a person, cracking open her shell just a little to let in others. She’s becoming an adult.
So if you’re interested in a taut psychological thriller with bursts of activity interspersed with people peering at video screens, taking hard drives, looking through surveillance cameras and have stuck with Mikael Blomvkist and his on-again, off-again relationship with the enigmatic Salander this far, read this final volume....more
Lisbeth Salander remains one of the most frustrating fictional personas you try to wrestle with in print. She has little to say for or about herself. Lisbeth Salander remains one of the most frustrating fictional personas you try to wrestle with in print. She has little to say for or about herself. In the first installement, she was closemouthed when it came to her feelings and her past. In this second installment in the Millenium trilogy, she says almost less, if that’s possible.
As I’ve stated before, these black hole characters benefit when they’re paired with others possessing actual human warmth. But, thanks to a fit of jealousy shown at the end of the first book, Lisbeth abruptly cuts all ties with Mikael Blomkvist. So, in this second book, they spend a major part of the book not even in each other’s presence. For almost a third of the novel, Lisbeth isn’t even physically on the page; she’s the main suspect in a murder investigation and, thus, people are constantly talking about her. But she is notable by her absence.
This, I think, cripples the book. Sherlock Holmes was preoccupied about the elusive Moriarty. But he didn’t spend most of his cases obsessing about his archnemesis. Having so many people talk ad nauseum about Lisbeth was grindingly annoying. It reminded me of the last terrible season of Buffy the Vampire Slayer when people would focus on the abusive, nasty Spike character. Even when he wasn’t in the room, characters would talk about him, wrecking Buffy’s narrative arc and taking attention away from the other characters, shoving the core group into the background and rendering new characters as little more than paper figures.
The only thing that alleviates this thudding fixation on Salander is that we get more insight into her background. (Geez, it’s depressing stuff.) We also get notes about other characters so it’s not always about her, thank goodness.
Lisbeth manages to feel a twinge of worry at dragging another person into her orbit. But that results in her decision to cut that person out of her life. Her list of friends grows shorter while she knowingly adds to her list of enemies. Not that she calls them that; she refers to them as people she must “take care of”. Given her propensity for violence, we shiver in terror about what she intends for them.
She refuses to feel helpless. She doesn’t take insults or physical abuse passively. Her retaliation towards any perceived slight is swift and often brutal. Sometimes her reaction is out of all proportion to the offense given. (view spoiler)[She sets the tax company on one rental agent after he pinches her cheek and tells her to come back in a few years when she has money to buy an apartment. (hide spoiler)] But women secretly might admire Lisbeth’s take-charge attitude. A woman’s life is filled with microaggressions: a casual sexist slur; a dismissive comment about her looks, hair, competence; an offensive leer; a too-hard shove; being ignored in favor of the man standing behind her; a punch out of nowhere. Lisbeth doesn’t take any of that.
But the disconnect from Blomkvist and almost everyone (her occasional sex partner Miriam says she’s secretive and unapproachable—she doesn’t know the half of it) makes this novel a struggle to finish. Best to focus on the mystery that is the engine of the story....more
These tales reveal a broad range of the human and non-human condition—and most are by Neal Shusterman. There is one or two in which he is a co-author These tales reveal a broad range of the human and non-human condition—and most are by Neal Shusterman. There is one or two in which he is a co-author but the bulk of the writing is borne by this stellar author.
Set in Earth post- and pre-the sinking of Endura, we are treated to the various personalities that make up a world ruled by the Thunderhead. For the first time, we are shown the lives of “mortals”, the aged who still remember a world where people could die permanently. There’s a tale of a man who finds the dog he gleaned for isn’t quite the bargain he thought it would be. We find out what happened to Ben, Scythe Anastasia’s little brother, who must deal with the complicated feelings left after his big sister was forced to glean him. There is a novella about the valet Carson Lusk—he who would become the ruthless Scythe Goddard.
In short, these stories run the gamut from horror to unease to the downright humorous. They are as diverse as the ways that scythes glean (and some ways are bizarre indeed). Mr. Shusterman proves the master of the short story as well as the novel. For those who are admirers of this author or are curious about his works, this is a good place to start, regardless of whether you’ve read the Arc of a Scythe series or not....more
“Epic” is an overused word, I think. But it applies here. Humanity has had over two centuries of peace and tranquility (mostly) as an almost omniscien“Epic” is an overused word, I think. But it applies here. Humanity has had over two centuries of peace and tranquility (mostly) as an almost omniscient and omnipresent A.I. watches and points the way towards sanity. But this is humanity we’re talking about here. The statues of Ares and Aphrodite at the end of Mark Adamo’s opera Lysistrata warn that conflict is eternal both in war and in love. They urge the characters on stage to treasure peace while they have it because, sooner or later, it will surely disappear.
What is it with mankind’s determination to build a working society and then kick it over like a game of Jenga? The Thunderhead has no answers for that basic conundrum; it only accepts what humanity is…even while secretly guiding certain members to the next step.
This finale to the great human experiment brings all the major players back onto the stage. I am a fan of grand opera, a genre in which 90% of the canon has your protagonists dead by the time the final curtain falls. So I was prepared to lose characters I’d grown attached to by the end of this heroic trilogy. Mr. Shusterman makes it clear that no one is safe in his manufactured landscape and, if permanent death occurs, it must be accepted no matter how grisly or final.
The scale is massive but the interactions are so very human. We feel what these characters experience, even when they’re being petty, sulking, miserable or vicious. We are swept on the tides of public ambition and cherish the quiet moments of a self-imposed hermitage. Even the interactions with the Thunderhead carry moments of genuine sensitivity. Like humanity itself, the A.I. strives to be more than it is.
It’s glorious, passionate, heart-wrenching stuff that pulls you all over the emotional map. I can’t recommend this book or its predecessors enough. ...more
The robot in this book introduces itself in chapter 3 as “ROZZUM unit 7134, but you may call me Roz.” This is a very observable allusion to R.U.R., a The robot in this book introduces itself in chapter 3 as “ROZZUM unit 7134, but you may call me Roz.” This is a very observable allusion to R.U.R., a 1920 science fiction play by the Czech writer Karel Čapek. The title stands for Rossumovi Univerzální Roboti (usually translated to “Rossum’s Universal Robots” in English). This is very clever but something that will go over the heads of most children reading this tale.
So from the near beginning of this novel we have to wonder if this is meant to be a children’s book. But we needn’t fear. There is little of hard science in this story of a robot who seeks friendship from the animal world in which it finds itself. It becomes an ally, a mother, a builder, a homemaker and a gardener, et al., proving its adaptability as well as the limits of its nature. Roz can help with tilling the soil but is ignorant of the deeper mysteries of the universe and can’t explain it to the animals who talk to her. Apparently, it wasn’t built to be an astronomer, which is explicitly stated
However, there are deep issues deceptively couched amidst the juvenile prose. Topics of xenophobia, gender, death, child rearing, climate change, e.g., take place within these pages as Roz grows into personhood and even assigns herself as “female”. (This is the sort of innocent children’s tale that would likely give fundamentalist book censors fits if they bothered to read it.)
The book eschews images of gross bloodshed. However, it doesn’t shy away from the harsher realities of nature. The truce headquarters Roz sets up hold sway only as far as the door. Outside it, it’s life as usual, with one truce animal sometimes winding up in the belly of another. In that, it’s got more bite than a typical children’s book.
Mr. Brown is thus easing his readership into the realms of grown-up concerns. Roz, as the robot who progresses from blank innocence to knowing about her immediate surroundings, ends with a trip that will take her from her natural island to the wider one outside, a world of human civilization. With this tense cliffhanger, we imagine that her unknown experiences will have a sharp impact on herself and she will make an impact upon those she meets. This is a terrific start to what promises to be an exciting series....more
While I wanted to like this novel, with its description of a fascinating type of inherited magic, I found myself grinding my teeth every time I had toWhile I wanted to like this novel, with its description of a fascinating type of inherited magic, I found myself grinding my teeth every time I had to read about Lord Vincent Fine and his curmudgeonly attitude. Indeed, I only refer to him as a curmudgeon because everyone else describes him by far worse terms and my grandmother taught me not to swear.
Lord Vincent has been to war. Like a lot of dedicated soldiers, he’s come back embittered, hardened by the atrocities he’s witnessed and committed (not that the book ever goes into details about it) and wishing to spend time only with others who know the world to be unjust and unfair…in short, soldiers like himself.
Thus we’re introduced to a man who wants to associate only with hired killers. For what else is a soldier but a person who’s given a weapon and a salary and told to go off and kill other human beings? The main differences between an assassin and a soldier is that the assassin gets paid lots of money to kill, perhaps, a few dozen people during his lifetime and the soldier gets a government salary to slaughter people by the hundreds. However, if the assassin is caught and brought up before a judge, he’s accounted a criminal and given a prison sentence—or the death penalty. The soldier who murders so efficiently he attracts the attention of his superiors is given a medal.
The Viscount Wesley Fine has another massive chip on his should and it’s a doozy. It seems a very handsome man once broke his heart by leaving him for another, a street ruffian Lord Fine evidently considers far beneath himself. (Great; he’s a snob as well.) So he states to the ridiculously handsome (his words) Sebastian de Leon that he harbors a deep suspicion of good-looking people. They have a tendency to get what they want and blithely leave other people in the dust.
Really? This, from a man whose title, wealth, breeding and aristocratic background allow him to stroll uninvited into another lord’s home, order about his servants and generally act as if he owns the place? A man who uses his money and title to get whatever he wants from staff, personnel and employees wherever he goes?!? You can cram it with walnuts, Lord Wretched.
The presence of this determined killjoy (and I do mean determined; he’s capable of decent behavior when he’s not deliberately swearing to annoy others) is leavened by the happier accompaniment of Sebastian de Leon, a man who has committed and witnessed his own share of horrors but hasn’t let it bow him under like it has Lord Fine. Sebastian is dedicated to protecting the non-magical populace from magical menaces but refuses to kill people to do it. He’s subject to night terrors yet doesn’t allow his rotten nightmares to spill over unto others. He’s the ray of sunshine to Lord Fine Wretched’s nauseous attitude and the only reason I don’t give this novel a one-star rating.
The story is appealing, the magic properly interesting, the action is packed, the ancillary characters as properly appealing as Sebastian himself and the sex is hot. If you can stomach the belly-churning awfulness that is Lord Wretched, this is an m/m mystery-action novel worth exploring....more
The stories in this anthology can be unsettling for those unfamiliar with Mr. Ito’s manga. His horror seldom features monsters like the werewolves, vaThe stories in this anthology can be unsettling for those unfamiliar with Mr. Ito’s manga. His horror seldom features monsters like the werewolves, vampires, ghouls or phantoms familiar to European horror. They feature very human figures, albeit ones that have undergone terrifying transformations. When a beautiful boy appears out of a fog, his skeletal figure combined with his empty eyes, devoid of irises or pupils, let you know that there is nothing good about his presence.
The horror arises from human beings: people beset by guilt, doubt, greed, the lust for power, jealousy, brutality or vanity. The characters in this manga are a motley crew who each have another agenda that removes them from the security of their fellow human beings. Almost all of them fall prey to their own desires or inabilities to accept the broken parts of their lives. An older brother tries to exert his hold over his ill-behaved siblings by pretending he’s working for their benefit. Girls demand strangers tell them their fortunes instead of relying on the advice of people familiar to them. A girl undergoes drastic and awful surgery to repair imagined defects in her figure, etc.
While the pictures are shocking, the messages they give resonate deep within the human psyche. They seem to offer stern warnings about giving in wholeheartedly to our human frailties without considering the unfortunate consequences....more
Dwar Ev ceremoniously soldered the final connection with gold. The eyes of a dozen television cameras watched him and the subether bore through the unDwar Ev ceremoniously soldered the final connection with gold. The eyes of a dozen television cameras watched him and the subether bore through the universe a dozen pictures of what he was doing.
He straightened and nodded to Dwar Reyn, then moved to a position beside the switch that would complete the contact when he threw it. The switch that would connect, all at once, all of the monster computing machines of all the populated planets in the universe–ninety-six billion planets–into the supercircuit that would connect them all into the one supercalculator, one cybernetics machine that would combine all the knowledge of all the galaxies.
Dwar Reyn spoke briefly to the watching and listening trillions. Then, after a moment’s silence, he said, “Now, Dwar Ev.”
Dwar Ev threw the switch. There was a mighty hum, the surge of power from ninety-six billion planets. Lights flashed and quieted along the miles-long panel.
Dwar Ev stepped back and drew a deep breath. “The honor of asking the first question is yours, Dwar Reyn.”
“Thank you,” said Dwar Reyn. “It shall be a question that no single cybernetics machine has been able to answer.”
He turned to face the machine. “Is there a God?”
The mighty voice answered without hesitation, without the clicking of single relay.
“Yes, now there is a God.”
Sudden fear flashed on the face of Dwar Ev. He leaped to grab the switch.
A bolt of lightning from the cloudless sky struck him down and fused the switch shut. – “Answer” by Fredric Brown
Thunderhead begins and ends with words from the massive supercloud that serves mankind. Sapient, it starts out as a benevolent watcher. However, as the previous novel Scythe indicated, it’s capable of subtle direction. Here, it is firm in its belief that it is a benefactor for mankind. It holds the fragile lifeforms of Earth in its palm like a delicate butterfly that it must nourish and protect. Never must it close its fist for that is against its function.
In Thunderhead, we witness the resurrection (like an Anti-Christ) of a former hated mass murderer. The Thunderhead is aware of this as well and is disturbed by the implications. As always, it cannot take direct interference. But it understands the implications of this mass murderer’s reappearance and the doom he spells for mankind.
As the novel progresses, the Thunderhead starts to experience emotions, even emotions it doesn’t comprehend. It goes through the gamut of human feeling: sorrow, terror, bewilderment and, finally, a growing rage as it realizes it has been betrayed.
The Thunderhead is supposed to be a munificent machine. But snippets of its thoughts show it wondering whether a deity actually exists, what use this deity provides for mankind and, scarily, whether the Thunderhead itself could be a god. Wow. That isn’t terrifying at all.
We begin to wonder if this society faces destruction not just from the resurrected maniac but from the very computer human beings created to save and protect themselves. The soulless, formless entity has calculated what it will take to keep mankind from destroying itself. It has come to the realization that the Anti-Christ-like figure took and will continue to take steps that prevent mankind from ever populating other planets. It has borne witness to a slaughter the likes of which haven’t been seen since the Mortal Age.
The novel is unpredictable. It’s wild. It’s terrifying. It’s a vision of a future world in which we cede all authority to sentient machines. As the novel closes, we shiver at the implications of what the Thunderhead might do next. Mr. Shusterman has done it again. He’s pulled me in and shaken me to my foundations.
I bought and read the first book in this trilogy June 2022. Happy chance caused this book to fall into my hands only a few days ago. I will wait as long as it takes until I can acquire the last novel. I want to know what this horrified A.I. will do next....more
Since this novel lets us meet Bridger Whitt for the first time, I sought to put aside my opinion of him from reading the sequel first. Bridger Whitt hSince this novel lets us meet Bridger Whitt for the first time, I sought to put aside my opinion of him from reading the sequel first. Bridger Whitt here is twitchy and angst ridden, which I expected. But it comes off as the typical uncertainty of adolescence. He’s not quite at home in his body; his brain is still forming; he’s basically a sea of churning hormones. In contrast, his crush Leo comes off as being assured and overly calm. He’s athletic, kind, attentive, sympathetic, good natured, friendly and draws people to him like a sun draws planets to revolve in its orbit. The fact that he’s out and gay is almost too much for this reader. Leo is almost too good to be true!
Yet the novel focuses mainly on Bridger so it’s his journey in which we are supposed to be invested. His struggle to manage his job, his schoolwork, maintain a friendship with an extreme extrovert named Astrid and be the good son to his hard-working mother means that he’s got a lot on his shoulders. It makes sense that he feels overwhelmed at times. His stumblings (literally and figuratively) arise organically from the text and his unique job situation. His inner convictions that he’s not good enough for the shining beacon of light that is Leo are tied in with his worries/terror about coming out to his contemporaries and his own mother.
Bridger is very much a product of his time: too much television and internet misinformation, not enough interaction with his peers and his workaholic parent. He comes off as believable, nervous, lovable, closed off and sweet, even when sprinkled with pixie glitter or running from enraged unicorns. (Did I mention there are werewolves, too?) He’s a bundle of contradictions—just as a well-written adolescent should be.
The otherworldly nature of his job and his attempts to find his footing in it dovetail neatly with his overall confusion about where he stands in the world. It’s a fantastical novel with an unexpected denouement and the most amazing coming-out scenes I’ve ever read.
Can Bridger finish his schoolwork and save the world? Read and find out....more
This book is the start of a beautiful friendship. And I do mean the start. To my dismay and annoyance, this is the first book of a series and I swear This book is the start of a beautiful friendship. And I do mean the start. To my dismay and annoyance, this is the first book of a series and I swear I did NOT know that when I picked it off the shelf! (It’s in tiny print on the spine of the book. Django Wexler, you sneak!).
This is one of the most hilarious takes on what it takes to succeed in a topsy-turvy nonsensical fantasy world that I’ve ever read. The Main Character (my caps) is fed up with hundreds of repeat appearances in trying to overthrow the Dark Lord and save the Kingdom (their caps). When she decides to switch sides, the story takes off into parts and peoples unknown.
The author adroitly plays with the tropes of the Chosen One and gives them a solid kick in the pants. The hoary, aged sorcerer we see in so many stories, from The Lord of the Rings, The Sword of Shannara to the Harry Potter books is seen to be a complete pain in the keister. Tserigern is dealt the fate you secretly wish the Dursleys had leveled on Dumbledore when he muscled his way into their home. The waif Davi is determined to get things her way, even if she has to die gruesomely over and over again to do it. She’s willing to sleep with the enemy (especially if they’re hot), make bargains with bad guys, doublecross her hosts, etc. In short, she’ll do anything to get the job done and you can’t help but applaud.
But Davi isn’t a black-hearted psychopath who wants to grind her enemies under her bootheels while she cackles maniacally. She refuses to sacrifice a little girl to save her horde. She promises a better life for those who join her train and usually delivers. She’s perfectly content to take in all kinds of peoples into her horde. She’s not hung up with species, gender or age. She puts them to use according to their individual talents and strengths. Like Dorothy when she first lands in Oz, she makes friends and forges alliances among disparate folks. Yes, she makes mistakes. But her Groundhog Day repeats means that she literally learns from her errors and gets to rectify them on the do-overs…usually.
The book is enlivened by Davi’s wry observations and mental asides about the uncanny world in which she finds herself. She’s got all sorts of disjointed memories from her time before she landed on this place but they’re more like scattered fanboy trivia than real memories. (There are exceptions. Somehow she knows what a haruspex is. Hey, I learned a new word today!) The footnotes are almost as funny as the proper text. Wait a minute; some of them are funnier.
While this is a humorous poke at the typical trials and tribulations of a Chosen One, it manages to be a story of character growth as well. Davi is maturing as a human being. She progresses from viewing those around her as imaginary beings in a type of RPGs video game scenario to real people, deserving of her care, attention and love. She will bring the fight to her enemies if they insist on fighting but she prefers to avoid full-on battles since it means that some of her people will die.
I would recommend this book to fans of Terry Pratchett, Piers Anthony and William Goldman. If you’re salivating for a Dark Love-in-waiting who can shoot like Merida in Brave, be willing to make a crazy Men-in-Black move and is willing to sleep with men, women, whatever, then pick up your broadsword, give a hearty barbarian yell and dive into The Dark Lord Davi series....more
Let me state that I did NOT know this book was a sequel when I picked it up to peruse. It had the author name of F.T. Lukens on the cover, a man who iLet me state that I did NOT know this book was a sequel when I picked it up to peruse. It had the author name of F.T. Lukens on the cover, a man who is fast becoming my latest favorite in the YA m/m subgenre. What more did I need to know? I hadn’t known he wrote series (something I’m coming to loathe given the limits on my bookshelves and in my lifespan).
It’s tough figuring out the relationships, background, characters in a sequel if you haven’t read the previous novel. You have to hope the writer drops enough clues for you to get a handle on the story. That’s what happens here. Poor Bridger Whitt is a good kid—at least that’s what everybody says about him. His boyfriend, his not-quite-human employer and his hard-working mother all agree that he’s a terrific boy. It’s just he has a hard time following directions, is constantly goofing up by disobeying explicit instructions and is prone to panic attacks.
That latter trait got old really fast. I wanted to feel sympathy for him. After all, you’re supposed to be patient with the neurodivergent. And I’ve read that human beings don’t develop our brains fully until we’re in our late 20s and Bridger is just reaching 18 years old.
But I kept wondering why he wasn’t on medication or using an inhaler or going into therapy. His mood swings were off the charts. It was like reading about the Incredible Hulk! I kept expecting him to pass out from hyperventilation or Hulk out and flip a car. Sheesh!
However, he’s placed in a world where he has to keep people from knowing the supernatural exists, which makes for interesting hijinks. The book is decidedly humorous in places, such as when there’s mention of unicorn feces, cake-eating pixies and a scary werebeast who attacks when he sees bright lights.
The action is very good and I came to revise my initial irritation with Bridger as he wrangles tests, homework, his deadbeat dad’s reappearance, prom night and a nosy, aging reporter who’s determined to get the scoop on the weird goings-on in Midden, Michigan.
I’m hoping to get a gander at the previous novel, The Rules and Regulations for Mediating Myths & Magic. However, the Bridger of this novel states that he was lonely, miserable, sad and closeted. It sounds truly depressing. But this is F.T. Lukens and I have hope that he’ll pull through for me once again....more
This is the second part of a series and I haven’t read the first book. But, heck, this book was only $1.00 and I said, “Screw it. I’m going to get it This is the second part of a series and I haven’t read the first book. But, heck, this book was only $1.00 and I said, “Screw it. I’m going to get it and read it anyway.)
A group of children have a special gift: their doodles come to life. Apparently, in the previous installment, they got loose in an art institute and caused a bit of a mess. Here, they return and the mess becomes havoc.
The children are called upon to fix an error and, instead, make it worse. While I was appalled to see famous works of art being destroyed by someone’s unintended mischief, I rather liked the notion that children can’t fix everything. The Scooby Doo trope gets old. Children don’t know everything, they don’t understand everything and sometimes it’s better to step back and let adults handle matters.
However, the adults are dealing with forces they don’t quite understand and it’s up to the children to mend their fences, join forces again and find out who took the baby. In the doing, they stretch themselves beyond the limited confines of their own comprehension. Someone isn’t necessarily a monster because they look strange. Precision isn’t stultifying. Unplanned creativity doesn’t have to be labeled as chaos. Adults aren’t meanies because they like to enforce order and rules.
The book is vivid, buoyant and quite funny in parts. It’s also a poignant look at art and the role it plays in our lives. Adults and children actually converse instead of talking past each other. So this is a book that children and grownups can enjoy together. ...more
Miriam Black has taken a path that considerably alters her behaviors and it makes the action more violent, nastier and more steeped in fictional gore Miriam Black has taken a path that considerably alters her behaviors and it makes the action more violent, nastier and more steeped in fictional gore than a Clive Barker novel. Miriam has found, to her deep shame, that the only way to change the nature of a person’s death…is to kill whomever will be responsible for it. It’s not a task she relishes and she cannot reconcile to her new role as assassin. After all, she’s not killing for money, gain or buying swanky clothes, jewelry or a house. That still makes her one of the good guys. Right?
The novel plumbs her troubled psyche through the use of the Trespasser, as she’s dubbed the s/he/it mental construct that haunts her day and night. The Trespasser takes different forms and its image is warped with disturbing visuals: bleeding eyesockets, exposed brain matter, shattered limbs, e.g. No aspect is too gruesome for this thing to manifest itself as and Miriam is unpleasantly startled every time it appears. The worst part is, no one else can see nor hear it and someone idly speculates that Miriam may be actually insane, imagining a voice that is telling her to commit murders. Think of the serial killer in the film Se7en who claimed that he was “chosen” and you’ll get the point.
The Trespasser is not the only blast from Miriam’s past making a reappearance. An old acquaintance-turned-nemesis has returned and it takes Miriam’s considerable wits, guts and her changing abilities to combat him. Along the way, she makes new allies as she learns what all superheroes do in the end—she’s not alone. Psychic talents (or curses, as she prefers to think them) are possessed by others and their fates intertwine with Miriam’s until she seems like another version of Madame Webb.
Victory is bittersweet, the aftermath like that of any battlefield. When the hurly-burly’s done, when the battle’s lost and won, there are casualties of the fight. The survivors are wounded, sometimes beyond repair, and Miriam’s talent can’t fix them. In spite of becoming a deliberate killer, she learns patience, displays empathy, accepts love and manages forgiveness. But the cost of her growth is the damage done to others.
Whatever awaits Miriam in the future, we know her road will be hard, littered with filth, plasma, body parts and broken glass and poor Miriam must tread it barefoot, head bloody and unbowed....more
At first, this egg comes off as being a little pompous, a little too smug about its innate goodness. Ugh, a goody two-shoes. Is there any character moAt first, this egg comes off as being a little pompous, a little too smug about its innate goodness. Ugh, a goody two-shoes. Is there any character more aggravating?
But it backs up its self-assertion with a number of good deeds. Great! Then the story continues with what happens when goodness goes too far. Can someone be too good? Maybe. Can that give the do-gooder inner stress that physically manifests itself? Oh, you bet.
The egg’s journey is physical and spiritual (no, it’s not about finding god; it’s not that kind of book). It comes to an understanding about what makes for a fulfilling life. Yes, it’s great to help others; that makes the world a better place. But you also have to accept people for who and what they are. Doesn’t that make things easier and better, too? Yes!
All of this through the metaphor of a big-eyed happy little egg. Children will like it. Adults who may have been pushing themselves a little too hard may recognize themselves. It doesn’t hurt to have me time. So shut the door, turn down (or turn up) the music. Relaaaaaaax....more
Miriam Black is back and she’s as caustic as ever. Miriam spills her bile on everyone—and she gets a glimpse of what happens to determined bad girls. Miriam Black is back and she’s as caustic as ever. Miriam spills her bile on everyone—and she gets a glimpse of what happens to determined bad girls. I’m not talking about girls who’ve got a bad start in life but also girls who have every privilege and still deliberately flush their lives down the toilet.
In the previous novel, Blackbirds, Miriam managed to save Louis’s life. Now that she realizes that fates can be changed and her prophecies of people’s deaths aren’t unchangeable, she’s on a mission. But she’s a very reluctant savior. She’d rather stay out of the fight, especially when it comes with actual fighting. Just how often can she take these hits to the body and bounce back from them?
Mr. Wendig ramps up the supernatural in this novel. Signs multiply, visions permeate Miriam’s waking life, dreams and near-comas. Her touch now brings spasms, fits and blackouts that alarm everybody near her. Fun for the whole family!
Miriam also comes into contact with people who do want to know their fates and are content with their predicted future. Quite unusual. It fosters a link with humans, connections that Miriam has fought against tooth and nail. The book therefore posits a Miriam who may be changed herself—for better and worse.
Miriam is coming and this time she’s got a gun....more