Disclaimer: Jason Koivu is a friend that I met on Goodreads several years back, so there might be some slight positive bias here.
That said, I really eDisclaimer: Jason Koivu is a friend that I met on Goodreads several years back, so there might be some slight positive bias here.
That said, I really enjoyed this short overview of the Portland area. I was fortunate enough to go to Portland last week for a work conference, and I happened to find out I was going right about the time Jason released this. So heck yeah, $1.00 or two later (I can't remember), I snatched this baby right up. I did set it aside so I could read it closer to the time of my trip.
Well, it sure came in handy. I didn't get to it until I was actually on the trip, so there is a mix of suggestions that I used from the book with some things I'd already seen by the time I saw them mentioned. But all told, this made for a fun read while I was there. Jason's sense of humor made me laugh out loud a few times too.
It's not the most thorough or complete guide to Portland, but it's a funny, quick way to get some ideas when you don't have a lot of reading time (because you're out enjoying a great city)....more
Great little piece of flash fiction that serves to introduce the author's style. I'm definitely interested in checking out some of his longer works. TGreat little piece of flash fiction that serves to introduce the author's style. I'm definitely interested in checking out some of his longer works. This little teaser was a great first chapter in what could be a pretty good novel....more
I received an eARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley.
This was probably the best book I've read this year, or one of the top three at I received an eARC of this title from the publisher through NetGalley.
This was probably the best book I've read this year, or one of the top three at the very least. Trust John Scalzi to put down a comfortable, readable, and often hilarious story, because once more he comes through....
That was just what I needed: a light-hearted (though full of supervillainy) fun diversion.......more
In this superb follow up to We Men of Ash and Shadow, the focus pans out from the city of D'Orsee, showing us how the events of that first book have sIn this superb follow up to We Men of Ash and Shadow, the focus pans out from the city of D'Orsee, showing us how the events of that first book have sent a ripple to other cities. Argent Cooke has escaped the chaos of D'Orsee and is spreading the word, hoping to gather a following to resist Captain Sanquain as the other man makes a bid for martial control of the entire region.
John Vanguard narrowly survived the events of the last book, and as he hides and heals he observes how the Black Zone of the city is mired in uncertainty. The crime lords of the city are restless and making power moves against one another.
"Sometimes people didn't need to do anything particular to make you want to kill them, they just had that sort of face."
This book brought all of the great imagery that was present in book one, adding layers of scope as we see things from different points of view throughout. We see more of the politics and criminal mechanics of not only the city, but the surrounding areas too. While this is a bridge book two of a trilogy, it raises the level of worldbuilding right along with the stakes involved in the setting....more
Two years ago, when I’d finished reading From Cold Ashes Risen, I thought I had finished a brilliant trilogy that would rank among the greats in the Grimdark pantheon. I still hold to that belief, but I was pleasantly surprised early this year when Rob J. Hayes released a continuation of Eska’s story in Sins of the Mother. It seems she wasn’t finished with the world just yet.
Ten years retired from ruling her kingdom, Eskara Helsene is enjoying her life away from it all. She lives in a village called Wrysom where everyone believes her to be an eccentric old wise woman. Only one little girl calls her “The Corpse Queen” these days, and she’s doing so in jest. The poor thing doesn’t realize how close to the mark she hit with her casual insult.
”Still, I was old now, and all my life I was reliably informed that age brings wisdom and patience and a bunch of other useless things we tend to ignore in the fires of our youth.”
All is peaceful, until it isn’t. A Sourcerer from a large city comes to announce that trouble is brewing, that all the people in another village have disappeared. She is asked to help learn the reason. Before long, she is found by her adopted sister Imiko, who Eska had left to run her kingdom in her absence. Imiko tells Eska that her daughter Sirileth has left on her own mysterious adventure.
”Drink the amount Imiko had, and your tongue becomes unstuck, and truths you’ve been guarding with good purpose come tumbling out like flies from a bloated corpse.”
Of course, these events are connected, and soon Eska is drawn back in, forced into active status as her identity is eventually revealed to her villagers and she is banished. As Eska accompanies Imiko to find her wayward daughter and discover what strange forces are at work, she is brought full circle back to being the thing that she’d been hiding from all these years.
”Sorry isn’t an apology, it’s just begging to be forgiven without doing the work to warrant it.”
This was a great read, and fit like a comfortable glove after so much time both in the publishing world and in the story itself. What began in and continued in The Lessons Never Learned found a return to the narrative decades after From Cold Ashes Risen and despite the gap in time, it’s like we never left Eska’s world. But now the focus isn’t as much on her rise to power as it is those of her heirs to the kingdom, and Eska’s challenge now is to prevent them from becoming the monster that was Eskara Helsene.
”It was still dark all the time, there were no windows anywhere and so everything was lit with lanterns and torches. No matter how many of those you light, the shadows always find corners to dwell in.”
There is another (and final?) entry in The War Eternal series coming out near the end of this year, and it’s safe to say that this reader will be anxious to see what comes next for our Corpse Queen and those close to her....more
A fresh new series by Jesse Teller, Scorch tells a story from two distinct perspectives. While we see shadows of hReview now live at Grimdark Magazine
A fresh new series by Jesse Teller, Scorch tells a story from two distinct perspectives. While we see shadows of his great epic The Madness Wars, this story is much smaller in scale and scope, but no less entertaining.
Our story takes place after The Madness Wars, but one doesn’t need to have read that series to fully enjoy this tale. It occurs in a separate part of the continent, and the references back to the larger series are subtle enough to serve as Easter eggs for the returning reader.
Tack is a young man that hasn’t found his place in the world, though he seems to be moving constantly in its pursuit. He’s an expert with the bow, or so he thinks until he starts training with the Ramblers, a small group of mercenaries that have taken on the duty of protecting the Queen of Syphere from all dangers, including the King. The training program he’s put through by the commander of the Ramblers, Xaxamire FyFy, proves to be much more than he bargains for.
“’At this point, the punishment I have thought up scares even me.’” – Xaxamire
Trap is the warlord sent to the city of Scorch to reclaim the Queen by order of the King himself, Ambush. He has a personal vendetta and rivalry with Xaxamire, as the mage had come close to killing him, leaving Trap stuck with a bronze hand (the spell had been intended to transform Trap entirely).
Fast-paced and much quicker in plot movement than previous works, Scorch moves along through the trials of Tack and frustrations of Trap. Along the way we meet some interesting characters, most notably the Ramblers, each of whom has a unique animal familiar or mount bonded with them that increases their battle abilities manyfold. Kelleck rides a huge hyena, and Sarc rides a giant fire ant, and then there is Tyson and his rather unexpected mount:
“’The most loyal of horse will carry you until the day it dies. The most well-trained horse will carry you until the moment it dies. But the greatest of the loyal, the greatest of the trained, will carry you when it has died and refuse to leave you no matter its decay, no matter its bones, and when those bones crumble to powder, the highest of loyal will serve you as a ghost.’” – Tyson
Scorch is a lot of fun, and is a promising first book of a new series set in the world of Perilisc., The Burden of Beasts. Jesse Teller has done it again with his unique take on the fantasy genre, delivering one gut punch after another as the players move through the scenes....more