Mentally Unstable Costumed Characters

I may have mentioned yesterday that I went to the library and brought home a veritable pile of books.  All comic books and manga, so you know they won’t take too much time away from the standard Pile.  Yes, I do glance in at their science fiction and fantasy section, but a novel is much more of a commitment than a comic book or manga volume.  And I have a large number of previous commitments on my shelf at this moment.  The library books will still be there later.  Well, assuming they’re not removed from circulation.  In which case I can justify it by pointing out how I really do prefer paperbacks to hardcovers for size and weight.

This morning starts out with Spider-Man/Doctor Octopus: Year One.  This is actually the first time I’ve read any kind of Year One book, and my impression is that they’re supposed to be somewhat definitive, solid origin stories.  To be fair, I hadn’t even realized that Marvel also did Year One, as I’ve only heard of it in relation to DC characters before.  Still, I knew based on the premise that this should be a standalone book, so it was an easy enough decision to pull it off the shelf with the rest.

Year One is the story of Doctor Otto Octavius and how he became Doc Ock.  A child when death by nuclear bomb was a very real possibility, he became fascinated by atomic energy and radiation.  He was accepted into M.I.T. as a certified genius and the scientific community there recognized his raw talent as he became increasingly obsessed.  In many ways this story is a tragedy.  There are so many moments when he could have reached out, or could have allowed someone to reach him, and they’re all rejected and thrown away.  For Otto, it’s not actually a tragic backstory.  The tragedy is that he didn’t have to become a supervillain.  His childhood simply didn’t leave him equipped to accept another path.

Some of the other books I checked out – I really raided the library’s Spiderman collection – were more Miles Morales books.  None of these were highlight reels like the Spiderverse collection from earlier this week, although some of those chapters did reappear here.  The three books I found were Ultimate Comics Spider-Man Volume 2, Spider-Man: Miles Morales Volume 1, and Spider-Man: Miles Morales Volume 3.  And yes, this really reads as a situation where someone maybe didn’t provide an ISBN number of the book they wanted the library to acquire.  I haven’t flipped through the card catalog enough to be certain what else they may have that wasn’t on shelf though.

I’ve heard it said that Spiderman as a character is about growing up, about being a teenager in an adult’s world and that’s why you can’t change his origin in such a way that he’s not in school when he gets his powers.  I’ve also heard it said that’s why the writers seem to hate the idea of Spiderman being married – because it’s “not relatable” to the original audience who for some reason people think are frozen in time?  Or maybe they think we outgrow comics?  Which is a different issue altogether, the idea that we have to outgrow our childhood.  I think that’s why nostalgia is such a big seller right now, because now that we’re adults, we’ve decided it’s stupid to let someone else tell us we can no longer enjoy the things we experienced as children.  And we’re taking it back with a vengeance.  I mean, you see it over and over again in this blog as I get into series and events that bring my childhood to life, such as the Power Rangers comics or Spiderman.  Which isn’t to say anything about the books that I’ve steadfastly refused to let go of over the years.

A friend linked an NPR article this morning about allowing freedom to children.  Because kids really don’t have as much freedom as they did even twenty years ago.  Everything’s scheduled and supervised and inside, and they’re not given the chance to just run around outside.  They’re not given the trust to be home by dinner.  Which is sad and pathetic.  If childhood is supposed to make some of the best memories of our lives, shouldn’t they have the freedom to make those memories?  It’s not about who got the highest score on whatever the hot new video game is, it’s about getting lost in the woods (but not for long), it’s about walking home from school singing the opening theme to Neon Genesis Evangelion just because you can, it’s about taking your bicycle out wherever you please as long as you’re back before full dark.  And that’s just what I was able to do.  I know my parents had even more freedom and responsibility than that.  I seem to recall something about my grandparents resigning themselves to the fact that my dad liked to climb onto the roof by having him clean out the gutters.

As for Miles Morales, the comics are fine.  It hurts to not read them in the right order and to be missing pieces, but there’s not too much I can do about it.  Like I said, this is what I was able to find on shelf.  The library may have more, but it can be very difficult to get a complete run of a series all at once.  That’s why I don’t usually read the new Rick Riordan books until the second-most recent volume is available in paperback: that way I don’t have to try getting two consecutive books from the library.  I just don’t want to be burned by availability.

As far as content goes though, again, they’re fine.  It’s nice to see Miles in context with other heroes of the universe including the Avengers, at least one (former) X-Man, etc.  Plus several of the original Spiderman’s villains are alive and well, which makes for some entertaining and intriguing matchups.  I particularly like the part where Miles unwittingly uses the same line against Omega Red as Peter and Red calls him on it.  I don’t know that I want to invest more money into Miles, but I’ll try to keep up with library acquisitions on this subject.

Closer to home, I’ve gotten my hands on another couple volumes from DC Rebirth.  These are Green Lanterns Volume 3: Polarity and Volume 4: The First Ring.  There’s a lot of character growth for Jessica Cruz and Simon Baz here.  Jessica suffers from very real anxiety, to the point where she often has difficulty just getting out of bed in the morning.  Simon, on the other hand, is afraid of not being good enough – hence he carries a gun in addition to his ring.

And seriously I am so damned confused about how Rebirth works in context to the other Green Lantern stuff I’ve read.  I mean, we’ve got Scarecrow here remembering how he was deputized to the Sinestro Corps during the Blackest Night, but also Guy Gardner’s a Green Lantern again and no mention of his work as a Blue Lantern eliminating all the Red Lanterns?  Like, seriously, super confused about how all of this stuff works together because mostly it doesn’t.  I guess that’s one of the problems with a shared world, especially if none of the creators are communicating very well. I remember running into that problem with Magic Time.  The first book and third book, Ghostlands, worked quite well with each other.  But Angelfire, the second book, was written at the same time as Magic Time and it’s clear that Maya Kaathryn Bohnhoff had no idea what Barbara Hambly was working on with primary author Marc Zicree.  For the most part it’s not a huge deal in the comics I’ve read, but there’s just enough discrepency in the details to give me a slight headache.  Wait, that might be due to barometric pressure.  Whatever.

I definitely like Jessica as a Green Lantern.  Not because she’s the first female from Earth to wear a ring (although that helps) but because she’s a nerdy introvert who works hard each and every day to overcome her anxiety.  I myself don’t suffer as she does, but I get the impression that this was written either by someone with anxiety or in consultation with because it feels very realistic.  It’s one of those times where a character’s internal monologue truly helps convey how they’re dealing (or not) with something.

Early on in volume 3, there’s a full page devoted to Jessica’s anxiety in a beautiful rendition.  A few images of her at that moment, as well as from the day before, with a spiral of green light.  And on the spiral are internal monologue textboxes about her trying to control her anxiety.  Of course the center of the page and spiral is Jessica herself, freaking out.

Jessica’s not the only one with mental issues in Polarity.  After all, that graphic novel sees Dr. Polaris active again, and boy does Neal Emerson have issues.  He’s talking to his Dr. Polaris suit for starters, a weird dreamscape conversation where the suit is egging him on, trying to get him back into a life of crime.  And all Neal wants to do is save his brother’s life.

Plus there’s that whole subplot with the Guardian Rami and Volthoom the First Lantern.  And we get a lot of backstory on that and explanation as to how the guy can still be alive despite having been slain by Nekron.  And I have to admit, I’m getting fairly invested in these books.  I will probably continue to collect and read them.

But Simon.  Don’t second-guess Batman.  It’s not going to go well for you.

Now, it’s time to pick up something a bit longer.  Something out of the Pile.  I’m not completely certain what I’m going to settle on this time, so it’s time to go stare at the books until I pull something off the shelf.

Gotta Love the Library

As I mentioned yesterday, the new movie Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse has me looking at Spider-Man comics. Not just one-offs like What if Flash Thompson Became Spider-Man? but also actual series. And since I think I’ve made it clear that I know more than enough about Peter Parker, I’ve been drawn to other incarnations. Which led me to pick up The Superior Spider-Man #1. This particular version has the bizarre twist of actually being…Otto Octavius!?

Okay so, near as I can piece together, Doc Ock and Peter Parker had their brains swapped. Ock found Petey’s life kind of addicting, but put his own twist on it. The plot summary of previous events says he “gave up Spider-Man’s body to save the woman he loves” but it’s unclear whether this means he gave it back to Peter or died. Ock definitely died in some fashion because his current body of Elliot Tolliver is a weird clone using both his original DNA and Peter’s. So he’s a real deal Spiderman, just calling himself Superior because, you know, super intelligent megalomaniac.

This issue is, as suitable for a #1, an introduction to Ock’s status quo. He’s a professor by day and a vigilante by night. And he’s not alone. He’s also got his Night Shift, a team of supervillains who are, like him, protecting the city. A comparable concept to the Suicide Squad, except that nobody’s threatening these people with bombs in their head.

No, things get interesting near the end of the issue when Ock’s old love interest recognizes him for who he truly is. Up until that point we’ve been observing events through Ock’s lens – seeing how he balances work and superheroing, the good he’s doing the city, the part where he’s a genius beyond even Peter Parker, etc. But Anna Maria turns that idea on its head and points out that Ock may be an unreliable narrator. As a megalomaniac, he can very easily twist his – and our – perception of events to make himself seem the hero. And she’s determined to prove that this is the same sort of need to prove himself he found as Doc Ock all over again. It’s definitely an interesting setup.

Now, this is a first issue, but I believe this series is, like so many today, a retread of earlier work. I found a whole run of Superior Spider-Man graphic novels on the shelf when I was at the comic shop, but opted to confine myself to the single issue to test the waters. It’s entirely possible I may go back and pick up several of those. And maybe, if I can find it, an explanation for the mindswap and cloning. Unless if those are variations from the new version…comics are insane guys. It’s not enough to know who the characters are and what their backstory is. The same stories can and have been revisited multiple times, and often times you have to know what universe you’re set in. Is it the main universe? A one-shot? An alternate or parallel universe? Some days I don’t even want to know. I’d rather just enjoy story in front of me and continue reading it.

I will mention that this particular issue is one of the tribute comics. It looks like just about every Marvel series is doing this with the plain black back, a black stripe over the front, and an image of Stan Lee inside, along with an excerpt of his text to readers of the day. There’s nothing special in the comic itself to memorialize the man, but there’s significantly fewer ads than many of the more normal series I’ve been reading and a number of solid black pages. The man was a titan of the industry and while I don’t really get into the cult of celebrity, even I could feel his genuine love of comics, comic book characters, and the creativity they embody. I can’t blame the folks at Marvel for taking the time and pages out of their comics – any and all of their comics – to be grateful such a man existed and helped bring so many beloved characters into all of our lives.

For some reason I’ve been continually putting off finding and reading Brightest Day Green Lantern Corps: Revolt of the Alpha Lanterns.  Why?  Probably beause I’m not a big fan of the Alpha Lanterns in general.  Policing the police is never a great sign, and turning people into robots is…questionable at best.  However, this just goes to show that I’m an idiot.

First and foremost, this book opens with a scene I’ve been trying to find for quite some time – Ganthet and Guy Gardner making their deal with Atrocitus.  Unfortunately, this is merely a tantalizing hint, where we don’t even get to see what they’re talking about for the most part, just a dropped clue that something’s up with the three of them.  Disappointing, to say the least.

So let’s get into the actual meat of the volume, the Alpha Lanterns revolting.  This is not quite what it sounds like, as it’s more of “Alpha Lanterns not responding to anyone else and doing their own thing for reasons they won’t deign to share.”  But with Ganthet as one of the Green Lanterns dealing with the problem – yes, this is the book where he chooses to actually become a Green Lantern himself – it seems more than just the original problem can be fixed.  There’s some character development for Boodikka, one of the original Alpha Lanterns, especially in the last couple issues which are a different story from the revolt.

This is definitely not my least favorite volume, not by a long shot.  I may not be super inetersted in the Alpha Lanterns, but this is a good story to be told on their behalf.  It does have that scene I’ve been looking for as well, and the two stories here are not major events, although they relate to and build off of things that have happened.

There’s also glimpses of a side plot that will lead directly into Green Lantern Corps: The Weaponer.  So it’s cool to see that was actually built up and not just thrust into the spotlight with no preparation.

Based on what I see, I suspect that this book takes place just after the Blackest Night and before most of Brightest Day.  A nice breathing space of sorts, which I definitely appreciate.

So the last Hannukah book I got – this has been an interesting week wherein two friends presented me with books saying that it either arrived late or they had forgotten last time – is Bibliophile: An Illustrated Miscellany by Jane Mount.  This is one of those books that exists almost exclusively to be a gift.  There’s no real story here, save how the book came to be.  Mount opens by saying how she was trying to sit down and get arting, but was having trouble finding inspiration.  So she started recreating the books around her.  It turned into a thriving business of painting “Ideal Bookshelves” and somehow inspired her to put together this book.

Bibliophile goes through many of the major genres showing and citing notable works within each.  It also spotlights libraries and bookstores across the globe, and features recommended books from bookish people.  It’s just a bunch of book ephemera shoved into a single volume.  It’s a nice volume – hardcover with full color illustrations on most pages, a nice ribbon bookmark, etc.  And you can certainly find a lot to add to your personal To Read Pile if you’d like.

This is no definitive work.  I’d say that the categories which are usually underrepresented are still so here (including my favorites of science fiction, fantasy, and graphic novels) and I think she’s done short fiction a severe disservice by limiting it to a single spread and not even discussing the magazine culture which helped it thrive for decades.  I mean, she touches on the Sad Puppies shit with the Hugos but doesn’t even mention the fan magazines and the short fiction they showcased?

I’m very glad my friend told me he got this for free.  He works at the ALA, the library for librarians, and can often get free or cheap books that were sent to be reviewed.  But while I said that Bibliophile exists to be gifted, it’s not a gift I’d want someone to pay serious money for on my behalf.  The subtitle says it’s miscellany and this is absolutely the truth.  It’s also filtered from a single person’s exposure (presumably a cishet white woman) and doesn’t get into as many little corners that I’ve found.  Your standard “classics” are still the ones that show up most frequently throughout the book and while the illustrations are nice, only 2-3 out of every twelve get more than an image.

There were some books I was thrilled to see, of course, but they were few and far between.  There were some interesting factoids and quotes, but not enough to recommend this in general.  I know only a couple people who would find this book interesting, and those are the ones who are always looking for new books in a wide variety of genres.  Frankly, that’s not me.

But the book is kind of neat and I didn’t hate reading it.  I just don’t think it has as much value as the gift-giving public will be led to believe.

As I ran some errands today, I opted to stop in at the library once again.  I’ve been pleasantly surprised by what they have on shelf before, and figured I should see if they have things I’ve been wanting to read.  So it was that I pulled Thor God of Thunder: The God Butcher off the shelf.  It’s another volume by Jason Aaron, and I have been trying to piece together the events leading up to and following from lady Thor.

I’m really glad the library has this one, because I’m not sure it’s worth money.  The premise is definitely interesting – a man whose sole purpose in life is to kill gods for their failure to be all that mortals want them to be and to do all that prayers ask of them.  But what I’m really noticing about Aaron’s writing is that he writes three timelines simultaneously.  There’s Young Thor, trying his damnedest to be worthy enough to wield Mjolnir.  There’s contemporary Thor, who is one of the Avengers and equates to our modern day.  And there’s King Thor, the last Asgardian ruler in the far-flung future.

It’s an ambitious way to tell a story, but given that comics don’t really have a lot of length, it just seems to make everything far more confusing than necessary.  I wonder if Aaron weren’t constrained by a monthly series, if he’d been solely writing graphic novels that weren’t serialized, if it wouldn’t be a better story.

I think the worst part of it all is that I can’t even see how the story in this volume relates to any of the others.  I read Revolt of the Alpha Lanterns this morning and could easily figure out where it fits in on the Green Lantern timeline.  True that’s because I’m working on collecting the lot, but even so I don’t think I’d have read it and compared it to other volumes saying “how do these two relate?”  Which is a damn shame.  I’m starting to get the impression that there’s a lot of good ideas, but not so much an overarching story.  Or if there is such a story, it’s poorly translated into the bite-size segments a comic necessitates.  Overall, just a disappointment.

In better news, stalking the library has finally paid off and after almost three weeks I finally managed to get my hands on the last four volumes of Deadman Wonderland all at the same time.  Plus volume 9, because it’s been a while since the last time I touched this series.  As a refresher, volume 9 is the climax of Makina’s rebellion against the director of Deadman Wonderland.  We see the bizarre privatized prison shut down, fair trials given to the deadmen, and many of them allowed to go free as a result.

However, there’s thirteen volumes in the series and there’s a lot still unresolved, mostly centering on the wretched egg and the real director, who’s alive in Mockingbird’s body.  Not to mention the still-unanswered questions about Ganta and Shiro’s past.  It’s been lightly touched on, but not strongly.

So, without giving much else away, damn was that an ending.  The series got a lot darker than I had expected (which is weird considering all the body parts flying around in earlier volumes, so you think I’d know better) but still oddly stayed true to the characters and story.  There’s a lot of satisfying character arcs for those who survive, and even for some of those who have died over the course of the series.  It is weird though, to see the color pages.  Because you get so used to seeing blood illustrated in dark grey that it’s almost a shock to remember that it’s shades of red because, well, it’s blood.  Probably something the anime does better because it’s full color.

The anime is maybe half the story, which is a damn shame.  They didn’t really change much as I recall, and the changes made were likely the normal things that just don’t work the same in animation as they do on paper.  Still, I’d like to see them finish up the series as it was written.  It’s not as bad as Claymore, but that’s not saying much.

I still fail to understand why it was such a hassle to get my hands on all of these books at the same time.  Oh well, at least I’ll return them tomorrow or the next day and then someone else can read them.

Have I Seen This Before?

Earlier this week I took time to go to the theater and see Spider-Man: Into the Spiderverse.  It’s been getting decent reveiews and reactions and I was curious.  The movie was cute enough, though simple, but it did make it clear that I should probably look into some of the Miles Morales comics.  I’ve got a very good handle on Peter Parker as Spider-Man, but it’s always nice to see a different character in a familiar role.  So when I was on my way home after the movie, I stopped by my local comic shop and picked up Spider-Man Spiderverse: Miles Morales.

This is kind of a “highlights” comic, showing off bits of Miles’ story including how he became a Spider-Man, his first encounter with SHIELD, and dealing with the demon Blackheart.  (Points to those who remember that Blackheart was the villain in the first Ghost Rider movie.)  There are some bits of narration/prologue to explain what a reader needs to know about the individual issues collected here because it’s not a straight up story, but there is one part I do not get.  It seems like Miles is from the Ultimates universe and is transported to the main Marvel universe around the Blackheart stuff, but there is absolutely nothing in this book that proves it to me.  Except a reference to lady Thor.

That alone makes this a somewhat disappointing book.  I mean yeah, reading this does help me get a better feel for the Miles Morales of the comcis as compared to the movie (the movie seriously compresses time), but it’s still very superficial.  Of course, I don’t actually know where the best place to start is, and since my local shop’s been having near-constant sales since Thanksgiving, there’s not as much available to choose from of late.  Still, I may go back tomorrow and see what else I can find while I can still get it for half off.

What I like most about Miles is that he’s not Peter Parker.  I hadn’t realized before that Peter Parker also exists, as Spider-Man, in the same universe as Miles, but that does add a number of neat quirks.  There’s a lot you can do with this concept and while I have no problems with Peter Parker as Spider-Man, I think we’ve been so collectively inundated with him and his origin story in recent years that it’s time for a breath of fresh air and something different.

I guess it’s like…Arthurian lore.  I have read so very many versions of the story that I look askance when I find yet another.  Then I read the new find and oftentimes discover that it’s a completely different take and a novel experience.  Sometimes these are amazing, sometimes average, and sometimes just plain bad.  But if I stopped reading just because I’ve seen the saga of King Arthur again and again, I’d miss out on some of the best retellings.  It’s just hard because it’s been done so very many times.

That was a nice aspect of the movie.  We went through the Spiderman origin story for every character, but they got noticeably shorter as time went on to the point where we did three at once onscreen.  Also, the epilepsy warnings are real and don’t mention that nonepileptics may also have issues because the other universe characters have different animation styles, which I found very distracting and hard to focus around.  Good idea, not great in execution.  Would have worked better on paper.  And since I didn’t read that Spidergeddon event, I am not even hazarding a guess.  I just know that was a thing and dear sweet gods were there a lot of comics related to it.

That’s all for today.  Tomorrow’s another lazier day (as compared to today, certainly it’ll be busier than yesterday) so one hopes I’ll get some longer reading done.  Only time will tell though.

Quarter for Some Thoughts

After not only rereading “Death Rites” but explaining the significance of the story within the realm of its world, I simply couldn’t put it out of my mind.  And it had been quite a while since I revisited these books, so today I finished The Quarters Novels: Volume One.  This is a 2007 omnibus of the first half of the quartet, Sing the Four Quarters from 1994 and Fifth Quarter from 1995.  I did briefly contemplate doing a blog post yesterday for Sing the Four Quarters, but decided against it.  After all, I only have the one physical book and I always treat omnibi as single books.  Except for when I choose not to read all they contain.  And since I wasn’t skipping anything, it didn’t make sense to split the post.

The Quarters books center on Shkoder, a smallish, mountainous, coastal country known for its Bards.  Bards Sing to the kigh, the spirits of earth, air, fire, and water.  A Bard might be able to Sing anywhere from one to all four quarters of the elements and ask (or just plain command) the kigh to do as they wish.  When the task is done, they finish by singing a gratitude.

In Sing the Four Quarters, our protagonist is Annice.  Bards don’t use more than their given names, which is a good thing because she’d rather not be recognized as the Princess-Bard, even though she is.  Yes, she trapped her father and brother into allowing it, but she’d still rather not be famous.  Even though there is a song, still popular even ten years later, with twenty-seven verses.

As part of being royally pissed for getting her way on their father’s deathbed, Annice’s brother King Theron effectively disowned her and told her it would be treason to have a child.  Normally she deals with this by drinking imported teas to keep unwanted visitors from taking root in her uterus.  But, one thing led to another and the Duc of Ohrid is a very handsome man.  Who also happens to be accused of treason.  Just to make everything more fun.

One very notable thing about Huff’s world is that she chose to make it attractive to herself and those of like temperaments.  It’s common knowledge that she lives happily with her same sex partner, and so it’s no wonder that Shkoder and surrounding environs see nothing wrong with homosexual relationships and find them just as valid as heterosexual ones.  Annice may be pregnant, but she’s also paired with female Bard Stasya, at least when they’re not out on Walks around the country.

Fifth Quarter move south into the Havakeen Empire and focuses on the brother and sister assassins Vree and Bannon.  As I mentioned before, “Death Rites” was an early mission of theirs, and Fifth Quarter is where everything goes wrong.  Starting with that title.  After all, no one likes improper fractions, eh?

Well, actually the title is meant completely seriously and in the same terms that the Shkodens use.  Often times when people are listing elements, they’ll add a fifth as spirit, or something comparable.  The kigh of the body, of the personality.  Essentially, the soul.  And why is it important?  Because when Vree and Bannon go to kill a rebellious governeror, he turns the tables on them by stealing Bannon’s body, forcing Vree to take her brother’s kigh into her own in the hopes of saving him and getting his proper form back.

And that’s just the beginning.

Both books are engaging and compelling and the only reason it took me two days to read the whole omnibus is because I was out most of yesterday.  Yes, more books were bought.  I got lucky in Wicker Park, even if I did accidentally buy a second copy of one book – I haven’t read the first copy yet, so that does make it hard.  And then I went to the comic shop because they’re having yet another sale and was reminded that boy oh boy does my local comic shop find weird things to order.  Also now there’s another Datlow/Windling anthology in my Pile.  No new Assassin’s Creed books though, there was a very scanty selection of Titan Comics titles.

It’s easy to see how, with these as some of her earlier books, Tanya Huff garnered such a following.  The world is distinct and fascinating, the characters are compelling, and in the mid-nineties you weren’t going to find a huge number of professionally published books allowing for homosexual, bisexual, and polyamorous relationships.  A lot of how she set up the world reminds me of The Twelve Kindoms, in that if you make it “how things are”, there’s no reason to question it.  For the Twelve Kingdoms, it’s the equality of the sexes, because women don’t birth children, so there’s never that limiter on what they can do or be.  In the Quarters books, it’s sexuality, because none of the characters even consider questioning it, and accept it as a matter of personal preference.  In fact, though a same-sex union won’t produce children of joint bloodline, it’s considered just as valid for cementing alliances as a heterosexual union.  And that’s one of the joys of fictional worlds.  When you’re laying the foundations, you can create such acceptance so long as nothing in the world contradicts it.

And because Tanya Huff is one of those authors whose work can completely immerse me in her world and make it nigh impossible to focus on anything else if it’s not absolutely necessary, I went ahead and finished The Quarters Novels: Volume Two as well.  I should probably be grateful that this truly is a quartet and my brain can’t compel me to continue reading because there is nothing else for this world.  Well, okay, there could be more short fiction but I don’t own it in that case.  Nor do I need to look up whether it exists.

Book three is No Quarter and it picks up where Fifth Quarter left off.  Vree and her passenger arrive in Shkoder to help the bards research the fifth kigh further.  She and Bannon are now private citizens of the Empire, ex-assassins.  Although we all know that it’s very difficult to overcome years of training and conditioning.  Still, things seem to be going relatively well especially once Magda arrives.  The daughter of Annice and Pjerin from Sing the Four Quarters, she’s the fifth kigh healer, the only one of her kind, and she’s determined to help Vree and Gyhard.  She’s also about seventeen and thinks the whole thing is terribly romantic.

What isn’t romantic is Kars moving into Shkoder through the mountain pass, upsetting the kigh wherever he goes and leaving more death and disturbance in his wake.  And when the Emperor finds out that Gyhard, the man Vree and Bannon were supposed to kill back in Fifth Quarter, is still alive, he decides it’s not right for someone to evade Imperial justice.  So he sends Prince Otavas to Shkoder, along with his personal bodyguard, the ex-assassin Bannon.  Who would desperately like to hunt down Gyhard for his own reasons.

You can probably guess how the story goes, but that doesn’t make it less entertaining as a result.  And it’s a good end to the story started in Fifth Quarter.

The Quartered Sea, final book in the set, shifts things a very great deal.  If Fifth Quarter and No Quarter take place approximately seventeen years after Sing the Four Quarters, then The Quartered Sea takes place another eight years later.  King Theron died and the rule has fallen to his granddaughter Jelene.  Her mother Onele died in a tragic accident a year before and the once adventurous young woman has been locked in mourning.  But that changes when she finds new life and decides to fulfill her childhood dream of sending ships out to explore.

The only bard willing to leave Shkoder for the open sea is young Benedikt.  He sings only one of the quarters: water.  And he has a lot of self pity for being the only bard in the land who doesn’t sing air.  Which has some benefits as well as drawbacks.  But it’s a big world out there, and nobody knows what he and the other adventurers will find.

My favorite books in this quartet are definitely Fifth Quarter and No Quarter.  Vree and Bannon are interesting characters and their lives have been so completely shaped by being assassins that it’s fascinating to watch them interact with ordinary people.  This as compared to Annice’s royal arrogance and Benedikt’s obessive self-pity.  That’s not to say that the other two books don’t have interesting aspects or plots, just that they aren’t as fully engaging to me personally.  And, as you’ll recall, it was that Vree and Bannon short story that reminded me how long it’s been since I last read these books.  The very fact that they have an additional tale, the only short fiction I’ve read from this world, speaks to how much more interesting I find their stories.

Oh sure, Bannon has a bit of an arc in The Quartered Sea.  But he always was more of an ass than Vree and so I prefer his sister given the choice.  Not to mention that she went through this same arc eight years prior.

So, there you have it.  Another day full of bricks.  Sure, they’re only considered bricks because it’s a pair of omnibi, but even the short one is over six hundred fifty pages.  And I did pretty much read three books averaging three hundred fifty pages apiece today.

Memory Not Kept

When I was hastily putting together an amazon order for the express purpose of getting my hands on The Floating Islands, I opted to get one of Rachel Neumeier’s other novels relating to a short story in Beyond the Dreams We Know as part of the effort to get free shipping.  After all, I can always find enough books to hit that limit.  Anyway, I’d enjoyed this other story (who can I kid, I enjoyed the whole damn book) and figured I might as well get the related book as well.  That was The Mountain of Kept Memory, the book relating to “The Kieba”.

It’s the Kieba’s mountain, you see.  The place where memory is kept, though that is not clear at all in the short story.  In fact, the story is not really about the Kieba, but rather about how the outside world relates to her and vice versa.  The Mountain of Kept Memory, on the other hand, is very much about the Kieba in and of herself.  And more, but you’d expect that with a full-length novel.  Especially one that has a map in the front, with which to clearly illustrate surrounding countries and key city locations.

The two main characters are Oressa and Gulien Madalin, Princess and Prince of Carastind.  This country was once part of northern Estenda, but with the Kieba’s mountain firmly in the southern lands, it’s managed to remain independent in the centuries since then.  And across the Narrows, a strait, lies Tamarist which sounds like a rather unpleasant country.  Women, particularly amongst royalty, live their lives in a cage.  It’s a sumptuous and well-appointed cage, but it is not freedom.  This sounds particularly unappealing to Oressa who is not only accustomed to coming and going as she pleases, but knows many secret passages through the palace and is adept at climbing over rooftops.  So when she overhears her father proposing to marry her off to an invading Tamaristan prince, she’s less than pleased.

The foreign prince, on the other hand, is clearly here because his father is dead by his eldest brother’s hand.  And, in the traditions of Tamarist, the new king is going to kill all of his surviving brothers to secure his throne.  Charming place, really.

It seems as if Carastind’s king can expect no help from the Kieba either, as he’s spurned her advances twice now.  Thus it’s up to his wayward children to do what they can for their country.

This is an odd book.  Some parts of it are amazingly predictable, and others go so far out into left field that I’m amazed they’re still in the same book.  Even so, the action and mystery is fairly riveting, enough to propel a reader over the rougher parts as needed.  But as I said before, this book is largely about the Kieba.  There’s many legends and rumors about the immortal woman who was once a goddess, but this book does get into the truth of the matter.  Which is a bit sad because without the great mystery, there’s not much reason for Neumeier to revisit this world.  Though I guess there’s no reason that every world has to have more than a single novel.

The other part of the story is about Oressa coming into her own.  She’s a remarkably optimistic and naive sort, though perceptive and knowledgeable as well.  It’s just that the information she does know is not always the most useful in a particular situation.  Most of the humor in the book is found concerning Oressa.  She’s also a much more interesting character than her brother who is so earnest, eager to please, and trusting it’s almost too hard to watch him learn otherwise.

And yet, there are moments where the book forces me to sit down and reevaluate what I thought about a character, which is some skilled writing indeed.  So, kudos there.

Based on “The Kieba”, The Mountain of Kept Memory was not at all what I expected.  And I have questions about the short story given the novel.  I think if I’d read these two in reverse order I’d still have similar questions because there are some aspects that don’t quite seem to mesh, questions that weren’t really answered.  It’s probably my least favorite Neumeier novel to date, though don’t mistake me and think it’s bad.  Just not the most satisfying based on my previous exposure to the world where the Kieba lives.

Killers at the Core

It’s a busy time of year, filled with family.  And, if you’re Jewish, movies and Asian food.  Sure it’s usually Chinese, but I’d been looking for an excuse to get good, cheaper than usual Japanese.  And a plate full of good fried rice.  So between all of tehse things, I opted not to stay up ’til midnight reading last night.  I mean, I’m under no obligation to finish my books in any specific amount of time.  I read my books and write this blog for fun after all.

Today I finished Assassin Fantastic, the last of my Hannukah present books.  And this is a book with not one but two stories I’ve read before, one of which alerted me to the existence of this collection.  That would be “Death Rites” by Tanya Huff, the opening story.  It is a Vree and Bannon story.  Which, of course, requires more explanation.

Back in the nineties, Tanya Huff wrote a quartet that is generally known as Quarters.  It opened with Sing the Four Quarters which is a fairly standard introduction to the world and the country of Shkoder where bards literally sing to the elementals of the land to help their country prosper and remain strong and independent.  Also the main character Annice has some odd adventures as well as an inclination towards sex.  But it’s the second book, Fifth Quarter, that we need to talk about.  The focus in the second book is a pair of assassins from Shkoder’s neighbor the Havalkeen Empire.  There, assassins are attached to every one of the armies but the First, and Vree and Bannon come from the Sixth.  Unusually for most assassins, these two are a team.  Which makes a lot more sense when you realize they’re brother and sister.  The book is about how they end up in Shkoder.  The short story, however, is about one of their earlier assignments, long before the bungled job with Gyhard.

It’s a solid story that shows why these two are some of the best assassins in the Empire as well as showcasing their logic and skill.  As for the book…I’ll have to reread the Quarters novels at some point.  There’ll be more detail at that time.

“Green Stones” by Stephen Leigh is the second entry for Assassin Fantastic.  I’ve read one story from the man previously, but don’t remember much.  And “Green Stones” was a story I’ve seen done before.  More than once.  I particularly like Brandon Sanderson’s “Shadows For Silence in the Forests of Hell” take on it, as seen in both Dangerous Women and his own collection Arcanum Unbounded.  That’s not to say that Leigh’s story is bad, just that I saw through it by the end of the first full paragraph.  For a fifteen page story, whcih is on the shorter side in these books, that’s not great.

Conversely, the story after that from Kristine Kathryn Rusch (a familiar name in anthologies) was quite enjoyable.  Called “Coin of the Realm”, I did suspect the twist it would take in the end, but that made the story no less good.  There’s more than a little empowerment to be found and I had fun.

“The Svedali Foundlings” by Fiona Patton is another good tale.  It’s a twisted one, a mystery that you can solve using mystery logic, but it’s definitely intriguing.  Also, I have to wonder if she’s written more in this particular world.  I wouldn’t be opposed to reading other tales in this setting.

I’d never heard of or read anything from Anna Oster prior to “History and Economics”.  It’s another predictable tale – well, I guess assassin stories lend themselves to that sort.  After all, so many of these are murder mysteries at heart.  And mystery logic says there’s only three characters: victim, perpetrator, and investigator.  It’s especially true in short stories where you don’t have the word count to allow for extraneous characters.  Even so, this was an interesting read.  You almost feel bad for the poor moron.

Josepha Sherman’s “Never Say…Uh…Die?” is a fairy tale, a story type I hadn’t expected to find in this particular anthology.  On the other hand, the story is Koschei the Deathless, which is fair, since the point of the story is to kill the unkillable man/sorceror/demon/whatever.  The narrator is highly entertaining, to say the least.

Then there’s “Dying by Inches” by Teresa Edgerton.  It was…not my favorite story.  Very Victorian in feel, there were details mentioned that could have used some elaboration, other details that seemed unnecessary, and generally this could have easily been a novella or book.  And if it had been, I probably wouldn’t choose to read it.

Mickey Zucker Reichert contributed a Nightfall story, “Darkness Comes Together”.  It’s another one of these short story series that I am not particularly interested in, though I’ve definitely read at least one other from this world.  Part of my disinterest might be the main character of this one.  He’s not the most likable person in the world.

Another author I’ve not read before is Lynn Flewelling (and that is definitely a last name).  The story is “Raven’s Cut” and it turned out to be far creepier than I had expected.  Probably the story closest to horror out of this lot.

“Myhr’s Adventure in Hell” comes from P.N. Elrod.  I think this might also be from a set of short stories following Myhr and Terrin, though of course she’s not obligated to do so.  The pair are a cat…person and a sorceror who travel from world to world.  The comparisons Myhr draws are definitely interesting.

I never heard of Leyte Jefferson before, but I wonder if her work will turn up in other anthologies I read.  “He” is a strange story with an unreliable narrator that manages to immerse you in the action whilst you struggle to piece together the setting and story.  It’s not the type of story I like to read for very long or very often, but it’s been a while since I found something quite like this, so I’m able to appreciate it.

Rosemary Edghill is probably expecting something specific to come into a reader’s mind with the title “War of the Roses”.  Because there’s definitely an audience whose first thought will be England’s civil wars.  There’s even a White and a Red rose here.  I wonder if I’d be able to read even more into this short story if I had a better understanding of the two factions in the Wars of the Roses, despite the fact that the story is set in a fictional world.  Still, I don’t seek out a great deal of history aside from that which I find in historical fiction, so my musings will likely remain unresolved.

Bernie Arntzen, another author I’ve never read before, has his narrator spend the entire twenty-four page length of “On My Honor” musing on an interesting conundrum.  The question truly is where his loyalties lie in a conflict with two sides. Or is there a third way out?

“A Touch of Poison” from Jane Lindskold reminds us that danger can be only a heartbeat away, but that you may still want to argue with terrorists.  This story really does consider the everyperson’s point of view in such a dangerous situation, and shows that we can all find the strength within ourselves if necessary.

Finally is Michelle West’s contribution, “Echoes”.  This is her Kallandras short story, from her Essalieyan books.  Kallandras appears in just about every book in the world, which includes the Sacred Hunt duology, The Sun Sword and its six book series, and the most recent House War series (still in progress).  There’s at least one more series to go, if not more, before the world’s climax, but the elements are slowly coming together.  “Echoes” takes place during The Sea of Sorrows, the fourth Sun Sword book, and shows Kallandrass remembering his youth and how he became one of the world’s most notorious assassins.  Considering the events which would occur in that book, it is particularly poignant that he would be remembering that past at this time.  And oh, are there feels.

So, those are the fifteen stories of Assassin Fantastic.  They range from average and predictable to utterly classic and well-loved.  I would note that the biggest problem in having an entire anthology themed around assassination does bring in the same problems that a mystery anthology could have – the fact that a lot of the stories will be predictable or otherwise easily solved.  Again, mysteries have small casts and the answers can always be found within them.  The only time you have short story mysteries that can’t be easily solved is when there’s elements that the reader doesn’t know until the investigator explains them.  After all, if a detail isn’t mentioned until then, how are we supposed to know?  We’re not mindreaders.

Continuing the theme, I then read Assassin’s Creed: Reflections.  Yes, I know I was not at all pleased with the two full length novels I read recently, but graphic novels do tend to be shorter.  And since a certain friend who shall remain nameless introduced me to a website wherein overstocked books from stores end up, I figured I might as well give the graphic novels a chance for a decent percentage off cover price.

And, of course, the first portion of Reflections immediately made me grateful to have read those damned Oliver Bowden books.  The premise here is that Master Templar Juhani Otso Berg is diving into Abstergo’s files to research the Assassin’s strengths and weaknesses.  As such he’s looking at lesser utilized memories from notable Assassins – IE fan favorites.  And the first such is Ezio Auditore, of course.  He drops in to visit an elderly Leonardo da Vinci and shares a secret concerning the famous Mona Lisa painting.

Afterwards I have to thank Bowden again as I recognize Altaïr Ib-La’ahad.  This story takes place while he’s away from Masyaf and out in Mongol territory.  Apparently Genghis Khan is not a friend to the Assassins.

The third story stars Edward James Kenway and I’m pretty sure this one is from Assassin’s Creed: Black Flag.  Again, I don’t really know much about it (and my one friend has declared a lack of interest in playing it) but it seems to have been pretty popular.  Everyone likes pirates, right?

Last is a story of Ratonhnhaké:ton.  From the context, I guess he was born a Templar and was or came to be an American colonist.  But he killed his father the Master Templar, married a Native American woman, and lived with her tribe.  It is interesting that the endnotes of the book do detail an actual Native American being consulted to ensure that this story was accurate in detail as well as respectful of heritage.

For all I’ve never played the games, I do appreciate the “loading screen” title page for each of the issues colleted here.  It’s a nice nod to the main medium.  And I’m sure fans of the games appreciated seeing little one shot stories of their favorite characters.  For myself, all the stories are perfectly good.  I definitely have less investment in the last two as compared to the first two, but that doesn’t injure the inherent value.  Again, these are one-shots for each character, and each tells a complete short story.  Background information isn’t strictly necessary beyond what Berg narrates at the beginning and end of each tale.

So when I said I’d give the Assassin’s Creed graphic novels a chance, I did mean that fairly literally.  And I didn’t get a single book either.  Which means that next up is Assassin’s Creed: Desmond.  From Eric Corbeyran, this is the start of a story about Desmond Miles.  Until very recently, he was a bartender living an average life.  Then he was kidnapped by Abstergo and the Templars to mine his genetics in the hope that they could find Pieces of Eden.  But the Assassins want him too and for good reason: Desmond is descended from several key characters including Aquilus son of Lucius, Altaïr (a scene right out of Assassin’s Creed: The Secret Crusade), and Ezio Auditore.

Desmond’s story is clearly only beginning, but given that I don’t see anything else showing up on Amazon very quickly, I wonder if the comic series was ended after these first issues.  It’s a bit disappointing, but I’d read more if I found it for a good price.

Then I went to Assassin’s Creed Uprising Volume 1: Common Ground.  For all it’s a first volume, this is not the first graphic novel featuring these characters.  One page makes a direct reference to Assassin’s Creed Homecoming Volume 3 and based on the ads in the back of the book, I suspect that in turn follows Assassin’s Creed: Awakening.  You know, there’s a lot more Assassin’s Creed tie-in material than I ever realized.

Anyway, Uprising shows a relatively large cast of characters.  We’ve got the Templars and their Black Cross who seems to be playing his own game, we’ve got the Assassins, and we’ve got the Instruments of the First Will who I guess are working directly for Juno.  I still don’t know a huge amount about this whole Greek gods aspect going on, but I have it on good authority that you do not ever trust Juno.  So a group of people working for her directly is worrisome.

There’s a lot of moving parts here, a lot of character development and revelations that I simply can’t appreciate, and just a lot going on.  Luckily, of all the series I did see available, this was the one with two volumes I could get my hands on.  As you may have realized, I only picked up books that seemed to stand alone, or were marked as one, or I could get consecutive volumes starting with the first.  After all, I really don’t know a huge amount about the franchise and I really hate starting stories in the middle if I can avoid it.

The point here is that I also got my hands on Assassin’s Creed Uprising Volume 2: Inflection Point.  This volume is far more focused than the first and there’s fewer overall characters getting a lot of screen time.  The Assassins also have an Animus, an older model that was likely stolen from Abstergo as there’s a question as to whether parts were scrubbed clean of Abstergo data and interfaces before being put to use.  The Animus sequences are now focused on the Spanish Civil War, as that was the last time a MacGuffin artifact was seen.  I guess the Instruments of the First Will need this thing to…revive Juno in a cloned body?  I really don’t get that part of it.  I do understand enemies working together for a common goal against Juno though.

With many fewer locations and characters, or rather, with many fewer characters getting significant amounts of screen time, it’s a lot easier to keep track of things in Inflection Point and the story is starting to coalesce.  Obviously there’s the third volume I don’t have where things are wrapped up.  I mean, in all likelihood, the teamup saves the day and then they go their separate ways and return to being enemies.  That’s how the script generally goes, right?  Still, I definitely enjoyed this volume better than the first.

That’s all the Assassin’s Creed graphic novels I picked up and it’s been a mixed bag.  Reflections is definitely the strongest because it is a showpiece, meant to display the four one-shots of four popular characters.  Desmond after that because it’s clearly an introduction and doesn’t require as much background knowledge, especially of current events, as Uprising does.  I don’t know that I’d seek out Awakening or Homecoming specifically, whereas I am interested in the last volume of Uprising if only to end the story I’ve just invested some time in.  Overall, I’ve definitely read worse comics.

I guess that means the comics and novels come out about even thus far for Assassin’s Creed.  I’m still willing to give actual books a shot as long as they’re not by Oliver Bowden, just like I see no reason to not read more of the comics as long as I can get the volumes in order.  The art’s pretty good too, making it a nonentity for me because it’s not so problematic that I have to notice it.

Well, that was my Christmas Day for the year.  It’s not been a bad one.  But once again, only time will tell what book I pull out of the Pile next.

Brick Day

As I mentioned yesterday, Burdens of the Dead takes place concurrently with Much Fall of Blood.  It runs from Benito, Maria, and Alessia’s arrival back in Venice through Benito’s arrival at the celebration that ends Much Fall of Blood.  But where the fourth book is almost entirely on land, a good chunk of this fifth volume involves the sea.  And not just sailing but full military maneuvers as Venice, Genoa, and Aragon send a combined fleet to deal with the one Jagiellion is building.  Not that they’re going to do much of that in this book.  It’s no short trip to get from Venice to Constantinople in winter, as opposed to the spring when the fleet is expected, and so very many things can go wrong.

We see that in the Ilkhan, the Batini assassins are wrecking havoc in the name of Chernobog, though even they don’t know that.  And there’s some suspicious characters in Venice who seem very interested in baby Alessia…

But the real standout new character of this book is Hekate.  And yes, I mean exactly who you think.  The Goddess of the Crossroads herself.  It’s not like this is the first time a deity has played a role in these books, though many of the forces are merely old powers such as the Lion or old demons like Chernobog.  But Constantinople is Hekate’s place, as much as any place needs to be, and the city is in trouble.  Its ruler Alexius is a spendthrift known to be deeply in debt and utterly incompetent at his job.  Not to mention the various factions who seek to use Constantinople for their own purposes.  But war is coming, and no one wants a prolonged siege, including Hekate, once she realizes what’s going on in the mortal world.

Like I said before, Much Fall of Blood is one of my favorite books in the series and Burdens of the Dead will never quite live up to that.  But that doesn’t mean this book isn’t good on its own, and it surely has one of the best scenes and later realizations.  Benito Valdosta is the main character here, and once again we get to see how much he’s grown and learned.  More importantly, other key characters are forced to see and understand that as well.  After all, sometimes you can be too close to a thing to realize how much it’s changed.

There’s a number of twists and turns that have been adding up throughout the series to this point, and I’m quite certain we’re going north next.  But just because things are settling down on the home front doesn’t mean more troubles can’t arise there either…just ask Venice about the things that happened in this book.

Well, that prediction was wrong.  I’ve just now finished the newest book and nope, nothing to the north at all.  It’s the mess of Italy we saw in the first book all over again, but now most of the action is beyond the canals of Venice.

In years past, I would have gotten All the Plagues of Hell from the library when it was first released and then wait to buy it in paperback.  But I’ve been following this series for so many years and I’m not up for waiting anymore.  Not for something this good.  I should note that it’s not just Lackey that makes me like the series, for the new book is only from Eric Flint and Dave Freer.  If I remember correctly from Flint’s website, there’s a plan to vary who works on each book, probably because these are intricate and detailed plots that take a significant amount of time and he and Lackey in particular I know work on numerous other projects.  I’m not nearly as familiar with Freer’s work so I can’t speak to his load.

Anyway, we’re back in Northern Italy.  Milan has changed hands and its new Duke needs to marry someone related to the old Visconti for legitimacy.  There’s two main candidates and a third that is possible but probably not a good idea.  And we’ve another main character who’s been present in almost every book to date, though never for more than a few scenes.

Yes indeed, it’s time to get a look at Count Mindaug.  He’s been flitting around in Jagiellion’s court, then associating with Elizabeth Bartholdy, and finally King Emeric of Hungary.  Now it seems he’s just trying to find a safe place to live with his library – a sentiment I can get behind – which does make me sympathize with the man.

Of course, having associated with such powerful magicians and creatures, and having a reputation for being a notable sorceror yourself, there’s a number of people who would desperately like to know where Mindaug is going and what he’s up to.

Add in the fact that the seers in Rome have foreseen plague – and not just any minor plague either – and there’s going to be a rather lot of chaos going on.  Plus the comedy that skilled authors like to insert into that chaos.

I really enjoyed this book, and it’s probably going to be another one of my preferred rereads from this series.  I’ve a fondness for underdogs and unlikely situations, of which there were plenty here.  And while the romantic subplot was nowhere near as fulfilling as Much Fall of Blood, it was definitely just as funny.  Some few plots have been concluded, but there’s more new ones introduced and advancement on old ones.  I think it’s clear that the series will only end once Jagiellion is dealt with, but there’s no telling how many books the authors will choose to take in getting there.  But I’ve been following it for close to fifteen years now and will be sticking with it to the bitter end.

It’s always nice to pick up a book to read and knowing for a fact that it won’t disappoint you.

Improvement

Given my interest and eventual conversion concerning the goddess of thunder, it can come as no surprise that I’m starting to seriously keep an eye out for all Thor volumes I can find written by Jason Aaron.  Which brings me to today’s The Unworthy Thor.  Which does fill in a number of blanks about the Odinson’s eventures while someone worthier holds Mjolnir.

As I indicated, this book takes place after the Odinson has resigned himself and his name to the fact that he is no longer worthy to lift his hammer.  And there’s lots of flashbacks in multiple volumes of him trying so hard for so long to be worthy in an attempt to tug at your heartstrings.

But there is another hammer.

These words are all the Odinson needs to fuel him to action once more.  It is, as you may recall from other volumes I’ve read, the hammer of the Ultimates universe Thor.  Upon his death and that of the universe, it somehow ended up in this one, on Old Asgard.  And someone wants it desperately for his collection.  Most of this book takes place on the Collector’s ship.

It’s not a bad story, but it’s not a great one, which is probably why the book was so sharply discounted.  The Unworthy Thor is simply a side story as to what this particular character has been up to while someone else has been flying around with Mjolnir.  Although it does explain where Thori came from.  Really not sure what I think about the dog.  And something I’d picked up on in a single panel from a later volume is much clearer here, but again it doesn’t add much to the tale.

The most important aspect of The Unworthy Thor is that it does show the Odinson learning and growing as a character.  And, for someone who hasn’t read Original Sin, it does actually state the contents of the whisper that caused Thor to become unworthy in the first place.  I guess that means I should probably go pick up that volume too at some point since it clearly is the foundation for much of this arc.

Overall, The Unworthy Thor feels like an episode of a TV series.  We’re presented with the main character of the episode, his problem, a friend to accompany him for the day, and they manage to figure out a solution to the problem, even if it’s not the obvious one.  Then they part ways and we’re not quite back where we started, but close enough.

As I’ve said so often lately; I’ve read far worse.

So I think it’s time I read something far better, something I knew from the start would be good because, well, I’ve read it before.  Something with one of my favorite suplots.  This is Much Fall of Blood by Mercedes Lackey, Eric Flint, and Dave Freer.  It’s book four in the Heirs of Alexandria series and follows (some months later) the events of This Rough Magic.  As a reminder, though This Rough Magic may be billed as book two by some, the timeline says it’s book three.  The first is, of course, Shadow of the Lion but the second (okay it overlaps somewhat) is A Mankind Witch by Dave Freer alone.  I do also love A Mankind Witch but I am less interested in rereading This Rough Magic.  Also given that this entire series is made of bricks (Much Fall of Blood is over eight hundred pages), I didn’t feel like spending five days on it.  (Hooray for the holidays and time off.)

The book opens with Manfred, Erik, Eneko, and Francesca preparing to depart Jerusalem.  The latter two are heading on to Alexandria, while the former two are going to the Holy Roman Empire when the Ilkhan Mongol send for the Knights of the Holy Trinity with a request.  The Red Horde of the Middle East is concerned about their distant kin in the Golden Horde of Eastern Europe and wishes to send an emissary.  The Knights are asked to help them get there and Manfred offers to escort them the entire way, hoping to make an alliance on behalf of his uncle, the Holy Roman Emperor Charles Frederick.

Meanwhile, Benito Valdosta is being markedly more responsible as he’s the acting governor of Corfu for the time being.  It’s not exactly the job he would ask to do, but someone’s got to and he’s it.  At least people listen to him.  Even when he comes up with the crazy idea of making an alliance with Iskander Beg, the Lord of the Mountains of Illyria.  Which becomes fundamental in how the Knights will escort the Tarkhan Borshar to the Golden Horde…

However the Golden Horde is having its own difficulties.  It was the time of kurultai, a gathering of the Clans to elect a new Great Khan, and it’s broken up in violence in a complete and utter betrayal of tradition.  Now Princess Bortai has to keep her brother alive long enough to win said election, but she can’t do it alone.

The last main character of this book (Benito is really just a side character here) is Prince Vlad of Valahia.  And I promise you, he is not a vampire.  Just what exactly he is can’t be easily pinned down, but with the death of his father he is Prince in his own right, and many say he’s also his grandfather reborn.  They call him the Dragon, and he’s not much interested in being King Emeric of Hungary’s vassal.

There is a great deal of setup in Much Fall of Blood for future books.  As I recall, much of it does overlap with the next volume, Burdens of the Dead, but that’s where we’ll see more of Benito.  Aye, and his older brother Marco too along with baby Alessia.  But there are several key events here, as well as the end of some stories that began in the first book.  As I said before, there’s a subplot that runs almost the entire book that is utterly hilarious and endearing and I love it to pieces.  This is where I first heard the story of Princess Khutulun, the Mongol wrestling princess who would only marry the man who could defeat her.  That’s a real story by the way, not something made up for this book.

True, I didn’t go back and reread Shadow of the Lion, whose grasp on the shifting Italian politics makes Oliver Bowden’s books look shallow in comparison.  But I’ve read the first three volumes so many times over the years that I know their events well enough.  And I think we all know what I’m reading tomorrow, given what I’ve finished today.  As for the day after that, I suppose it depends on how busy I am.  Only time will tell.

The Job Gets Done

It’s highly unusual for me to buy a new hardcover and put off reading it until long after that same book is available in paperback and the next installment is out in hardcover.  What can I say except that I was afraid?  I don’t like conspiracy theories and I’m not big on cop dramas and I can definitely burn myself out on military fiction for a while (thank you Safehold).  So while I bought A Peace Divided by Tanya Huff well over a year ago, it’s only now that I finally read it.  And yes, I did skip rereading An Ancient Peace.  Together, these are the first two books of Huff’s Peacekeeper series, the follow up to her Valor series (Valor’s Choice, etc.).

It is worth mentioning the book that started it all and first introduced us to then-Staff Sergeant Torin Kerr, because I found numerous callbacks to Valor’s Choice that I will always appreciate.  Not just the well-known observation that “space is big” or the unforgettable skull (really, read the book if you want to know about that), but also (ex) Marines arguing about grammar and the ability to identify piles of shit.  That last may have made me laugh aloud.

Let’s start with an overview of Torin Kerr’s world.  She was a soldier in a centuries-long war against the Others, better known as the Primacy now.  Humans, as well as other species like the Taykan and Krai, were recruited into the Confederation to fight the war because these Younger Races (as they would come to be known) had not yet overcome their violent tendencies enough to be invited to join the group as had happened in the past.

But the war is finally over and Torin Kerr is not someone to sit on her butt.  The mindset of a noncommissioned officer is not easily overcome, nor the inclination to protect and serve.  So now she finds herself – and a team – in the Justice department, keeping the peace among the Confederation.  Also plastic is evil.  Just roll with it.

In this book, the main location is an archeological dig.  Because the older races of the Confederation love bureaucracy, archeologists are very limited as to what they can do on site and must work slowly and in stages.  There’s only four teams on the planet – scattered throughout – and each is only working on a very small section of the ruins they’re stationed by.  It’s when an elderly Niln (lizard-like) scientist’s assistant finds plastic molecules in a latrine that things get interesting.  After all, there was no evidence that the vanished civilization had the technology to create plastic.

That information is found by people who are probably linked to the Humans First movement.  These people feel themselves losing power now that there’s no longer a war and it’s more difficult for the military to wield influence.  And, yeah, they’re speciesist.  Although they no longer use the apostrophe in their name so they’re probably not morons.  It’s clear that Huff is building this group up to be the main opposition in Peackeeper.  And, well, it’s another clear instance of writing, no matter how fantastical or futuristic, taking its cue from real life.  If this wasn’t space opera military science fiction, you could change the group’s name to Neo Nazis.  Or Westboro Baptist Church.  I think you get the idea.

And in case you weren’t sure where Huff stands, there’s a homosexual pairing front and center for much of the book.  (We’re not counting the di’Taykan because as has been stated in every book in this universe, they will sleep with anything and everyone.)

So, part of this book is cop story, part of it’s military trying to be very good cops, part of it’s conspiracy, and part of it’s a treasure hunt.  There’s a bit of something for everyone if you like Tanya Huff.  And this is of course why I have to laugh at myself for putting this off so long.  Sure I’m sick of conspiracies and sure I’m not big on cop stories.  But I love me some Tanya Huff and I’ve had six books before this one to get attached to Torin Kerr.

At least there’s a very good reason why she always finds herself in these kinds of situations.  She’s just that good that they trust her to do the job, no matter what she finds.  That’s what they’ve been doing since Valor’s Choice and it seems to have worked out well for them.

I should also mention that A Peace Divided has the most adorable child scene I’ve read in a long time.  I feel like it’s probably a representation of a real life father and daughter, but if the real kid is that cute, of course she should be immortalized in a book as a precious little ball of energy and optimism.

I probably won’t pick up the next book, The Privilege of Peace until it’s available in mass market paperback this summer.  But when I do get it, I won’t wait a year to read it this time.

Same Story, But Different

Today’s book didn’t come out of the Pile, though it could have. As you may have read in much earlier posts, there have been times when I absconded with portions of my dad’s science fiction collection.  Many of those books I had read before and loved, others seemed interesting or were from authors I’d already enjoyed.  And today we’re talking about one of the biggest: the late, great Andre Norton.

There’s a lot to be said about Andre Norton.  Obviously I wasn’t there when most of her books were written, but I know she was no mere footnote of history.  I know she originally published under the name Andrew North because some people thought women couldn’t write science fiction.  Or worse, some people wouldn’t necessarily buy science fiction if they thought a woman had written it.  Her best known work is probably Witch World, an expansive series with several anthologies – not unlike the Valdemar anthologies I read annually.

I remember hearing about her death back in 2005.  It was a sad day, and not just because Elvenborn would now be the final volume of the Half Blood Chronicles.  Unless, you know some miracle happens and a fourth book is published and it’s actually worth reading.

My own first exposure to Andre Norton was Witch World, though I’ve read a few other books outside that universe over time.  But she’s not an author I’m often inspired to read from, probably because most of her books are written for a different decade.  That doesn’t stop them from being good, but it does mean I often find them less engaging than more modern publications.  I know it’s kind of dumb, especially because most of Norton’s books average a mere two hundred pages, but I just can’t justify forcing myself to read a book I’m not actively interested in.

After realizing that my disappointment yesterday was directly tied to the lack of science fiction in the book, I decided that some actual science fiction would be the best antidote.  And as I perused my shelves, my eye fell upon Andre Norton.

I examined several books.  I definitely wanted to read something for the first time, but wasn’t sure what.  Should it be a title I’ve heard people talk about, like Quag Keep, The Beast Master, or The Jargoon Pard?  (Wait, that last is a part of Witch World?  How did I not know this?  I blame the weird title.)  Should it be a title that’s just plain eyecatching like Voorloper?  Should it be short stories like The Book of Andre Norton?

Let’s just say I was supremely disappointed in myself when my eye fell upon Merlin’s Mirror and refused to budge.  I mean, it’s an Arthurian tale for goodness’ sake!  I’ve read so very many, and there’s one in the Pile right this moment!

And yet, Norton’s take promised some science fiction, something that you don’t often see with this subject matter.  I gave in to the strange compulsion and pulled the book off the shelf.

In Merlin’s Mirror, there was once a war spanning galaxies.  Seeds were sown on countless planets against the possibility of loss, then forgotten about as the war raged on and the combatants were diminished, their former power a mere memory.  On a small, backwater planet, a beacon has been transmitting for untold years and one day its signal reaches an equally ancient vessel in space.  Thus begins a sequence of events that sees Jesus born.  No, I lie, it’s Merlin.  But seriously, he’s conceived through mysterious technology in a virgin woman’s womb and the only outward sign at conception is a golden light.  So go on and tell me he’s not Jesus.

Anyway, Merlin is half human and half the blood of the Sky People, one of the two alien races in the great war.  As a child, he one day finds a cave that is filled with wonders of technology that he will never fully understand, the most important of which is the titular mirror.  This device is his instructional unit which attempts to teach him what it can, but even so, much of the knowledge is useless without more advanced technology, complex alloys, etc.  But it is also the mirror which instructs and guides him into creating and living the story that would one day become legend.

However, the Sky People had their enemies, and somehow they too had devices which detected Merlin’s conception and/or birth and in turn created Nimue to be his opposition.

The book plays the main story fairly straight, though Merlin and Nimue’s powers do seem like magic to the people and the reader, especially the ability to project illusions and levitate megaliths.  The cast is smaller – no Lancelot or Gawain for example – and skips over years at a glance as needed.

It’s not a bad retelling.  The science fiction aspects are an interesting twist, but the Sky People are so distant and operate on such a different timescale that they’re more of a presences by their very absence.  On the one hand, I like seeing a version of Arthurian lore that’s not pure fantasy.  On the other hand, I’m not sure how much it actually adds to the story, or if it’s actually detracting from the story.

The end reads to me as if this is meant to be the final conclusion of the story, but a person could be forgiven for hoping for a sequel because the door is left open.

For me, it’s very difficult to judge this book because it’s over forty years old, it’s a common story, and I’m just left feeling vaguely unsatisfied.  I’m having flashbacks to other books I’ve read including The Zero Stone, “Knight Squadron”, and Guardian of the Balance.  And I have said before that it’s not a good sign if I’m thinking of other books while I’m reading, but again, I don’t want to judge this one too harshly.

Like the past two days, I won’t say that my time was wasted.  Merlin’s Mirror has definitely given me food for thought that I probably wouldn’t find elsewhere and it does evoke other Andre Norton books I’ve read, which is no bad thing.  I’m not sure that I really enjoy the book or that I’d see fit to read it again, but I’m not sorry I did read it.  After all, that’s why I took all of the Andre Norton books: so that I’d have a chance to read each of them and judge later whether or not I should keep them.

I think I may continue with more science fiction.  I don’t think it’ll be more Norton, but I do have plenty of options.  So, time to go figure it out.