![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
Hey,
Some books take a while to read and somme you burn right through.
First up The War at the End of the World by Mario Vegas Llosa. We read this book Discreet Heroes a while back and looking through his other works I came across this. It's a fictional account of a very real event in Brazilian history -- The War of Canudos. A wandering mystic gathers a small band of followers and eventually they take over a small town. Soon the poor and desperate are flocking to the settlement and building it out. Local authorities try to drive them out but the villagers hang on leading to repeated/larger attempts until finally the central government sends out an army to starve out the villagers and then raze the settlement to the ground.
Llosa's book is a fictionalized account of that battle although we do see a number of the main historical persons involved and the events in main are generally historically accurate. The book switches between multiple viewpoints showing how various people came to live at Canudos or the people opposed to them. The story kind of sprawls a bit, but there's a lot to cover. Also, I'm not convinced Llosa has a good handle on female characters, but there's possibly a cultural lens I'm not using.
I don't know if this is a great book, but I'm not unhappy I read it (though I did struggle to get through it).
Next up, a shorter book that I blew through much faster, but mostly because I've been a big fan of the series. The Fall of the House of Cabal by Jonathan L. Howard is the fifth book in the Johannes Cabal series of books. Johannes Cabal is a gentleman and a necromancer and he's been applying the scientific method to the black arts in an attempt to revive a lost loved one. This book doesn't exactly end the series, but does ties off a number of loose ends from previous books and short stories. You could try to just jump in with this book, but you'd lose a lot of enjoyment. The series as a whole has been pretty great so if you haven't been following this series, grab Johannes Cabal: Necromancer and get started.
Once you work your way up to this book you'll know what to expect: lots of great dialog and humor and one of the more interesting characters in magical steampunk literature (and just a great character in general). Following up on a clue from the previous book, Johannes and his vampire brother Horst must assemble a team to plumb the depths of metaphorical realms in a bid to achieve their heart's desire. There follows a number of adventures in which our heroes face uncomfortable truths about themselves and kill Satan (well, the new Satan not the one you're thinking of).
I've always loved this series and the writing continues to be strong. I can't get enough of Johannes so I hope a new cycle starts up soon.
and that's what I've read lately
Tom
Some books take a while to read and somme you burn right through.
First up The War at the End of the World by Mario Vegas Llosa. We read this book Discreet Heroes a while back and looking through his other works I came across this. It's a fictional account of a very real event in Brazilian history -- The War of Canudos. A wandering mystic gathers a small band of followers and eventually they take over a small town. Soon the poor and desperate are flocking to the settlement and building it out. Local authorities try to drive them out but the villagers hang on leading to repeated/larger attempts until finally the central government sends out an army to starve out the villagers and then raze the settlement to the ground.
Llosa's book is a fictionalized account of that battle although we do see a number of the main historical persons involved and the events in main are generally historically accurate. The book switches between multiple viewpoints showing how various people came to live at Canudos or the people opposed to them. The story kind of sprawls a bit, but there's a lot to cover. Also, I'm not convinced Llosa has a good handle on female characters, but there's possibly a cultural lens I'm not using.
I don't know if this is a great book, but I'm not unhappy I read it (though I did struggle to get through it).
Next up, a shorter book that I blew through much faster, but mostly because I've been a big fan of the series. The Fall of the House of Cabal by Jonathan L. Howard is the fifth book in the Johannes Cabal series of books. Johannes Cabal is a gentleman and a necromancer and he's been applying the scientific method to the black arts in an attempt to revive a lost loved one. This book doesn't exactly end the series, but does ties off a number of loose ends from previous books and short stories. You could try to just jump in with this book, but you'd lose a lot of enjoyment. The series as a whole has been pretty great so if you haven't been following this series, grab Johannes Cabal: Necromancer and get started.
Once you work your way up to this book you'll know what to expect: lots of great dialog and humor and one of the more interesting characters in magical steampunk literature (and just a great character in general). Following up on a clue from the previous book, Johannes and his vampire brother Horst must assemble a team to plumb the depths of metaphorical realms in a bid to achieve their heart's desire. There follows a number of adventures in which our heroes face uncomfortable truths about themselves and kill Satan (well, the new Satan not the one you're thinking of).
I've always loved this series and the writing continues to be strong. I can't get enough of Johannes so I hope a new cycle starts up soon.
and that's what I've read lately
Tom
