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Booking Day
Dec. 26th, 2016 04:33 pmHey,
Unless I get real ambitious these are probably the final reviews of the year.
First up: Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Mr. Tchaikovsky is best known for this "Shadows of the Apt" series, a fantasy novel in which various groups of humans gain special powers related to their insect totems. It was a fun series, but I kinda lost interest and stopped after a few. Spiderlight is a stand-alone fantasy novel that mostly plays with the tropes.
Nth is a giant spider, one of the multitudes that infest the Mirkwood forest. As the book opens the forest is being invaded by a small band of humans. No trouble except whoops, these are adventurers and they've got a pyromaniac wizard to boot. The spiders rally to defend their Mother, but can't stand against the Forces of Light. But they stop short. They're on a quest, there's a prophecy what needs fulfilling and a spider's tooth and a spider's knowledge are what's required.
To save her children, Mother gives up a venom-filled fang and offers to let them have Nth, into whom, she's implanted the memories the group needs. So now, Nth is an eight-legged member of the party. Hrm...a bit conspicuous that. Luckily, the wizard has an Idea.
The book is fun. It skewers stereotypes and has a bit of fun with the black and white morality of fantasy worlds. If you've read any fantasy at all, you'll probably catch various bits and gags. Luckily, there's still an actual story going on so it doesn't slide into that "forced funny" that a number of parody books suffer from.
Next up: After the Crown by K B Wagers. This is the second in her Indranan War series (the first being Behind the Throne I reviewed a few months ago). The story follows Hail Bristol, former princess, ex-gunrunner, and current Indranan Empress. She inherited a lot of problems when she gained the throne and one of them is a shadow war by a neighboring empire. Hail leads a negotiation team to try and work things out, but, surprise it's a trap and there's a coup on.
The book was fine, but it follows very closely on the events of the first book and since (spoiler alert) a few people die in that book, you've got new staff and half-remembered pre-existing dudes so...it was a little tough to follow in spots. Still, we get to see Hail be a bit more proactive in this book so that's nice. Unlike the first book, there is definitely no real resolution in this book (wait for book three!) so that knocks it back a bit. I'm not 100$ sure I'll buy into the final book of the series, but it continues to be some light, fast reading.
later
Tom
Unless I get real ambitious these are probably the final reviews of the year.
First up: Spiderlight by Adrian Tchaikovsky. Mr. Tchaikovsky is best known for this "Shadows of the Apt" series, a fantasy novel in which various groups of humans gain special powers related to their insect totems. It was a fun series, but I kinda lost interest and stopped after a few. Spiderlight is a stand-alone fantasy novel that mostly plays with the tropes.
Nth is a giant spider, one of the multitudes that infest the Mirkwood forest. As the book opens the forest is being invaded by a small band of humans. No trouble except whoops, these are adventurers and they've got a pyromaniac wizard to boot. The spiders rally to defend their Mother, but can't stand against the Forces of Light. But they stop short. They're on a quest, there's a prophecy what needs fulfilling and a spider's tooth and a spider's knowledge are what's required.
To save her children, Mother gives up a venom-filled fang and offers to let them have Nth, into whom, she's implanted the memories the group needs. So now, Nth is an eight-legged member of the party. Hrm...a bit conspicuous that. Luckily, the wizard has an Idea.
The book is fun. It skewers stereotypes and has a bit of fun with the black and white morality of fantasy worlds. If you've read any fantasy at all, you'll probably catch various bits and gags. Luckily, there's still an actual story going on so it doesn't slide into that "forced funny" that a number of parody books suffer from.
Next up: After the Crown by K B Wagers. This is the second in her Indranan War series (the first being Behind the Throne I reviewed a few months ago). The story follows Hail Bristol, former princess, ex-gunrunner, and current Indranan Empress. She inherited a lot of problems when she gained the throne and one of them is a shadow war by a neighboring empire. Hail leads a negotiation team to try and work things out, but, surprise it's a trap and there's a coup on.
The book was fine, but it follows very closely on the events of the first book and since (spoiler alert) a few people die in that book, you've got new staff and half-remembered pre-existing dudes so...it was a little tough to follow in spots. Still, we get to see Hail be a bit more proactive in this book so that's nice. Unlike the first book, there is definitely no real resolution in this book (wait for book three!) so that knocks it back a bit. I'm not 100$ sure I'll buy into the final book of the series, but it continues to be some light, fast reading.
later
Tom
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