Jakob’s Goodreads Rating: (2) of 5 Stars – “It was ok”
Recommended for: Fantasy Readers

Book description:

Fate leaned back in his chair and smiled. “The right man in the wrong place can make all the difference.” Death nodded in concurrence. “Wake up, Akea, and see the truth.” A young man awakens suddenly in a cold, dark alleyway with no recall of who he is or how he got there. A woman is leaning over him, urging him to flee with her. ‘The Watchmen are coming!’ she warns him. He goes with her and soon recovers not only his name. Akea, but discovers that he is a powerful magician, albeit with an unfortunate lack of self-control. Together, with a small band of rebels, magicians and one very seductive female dragon, he fights for the freedom of his city and country, which lie under the tyrannical yoke of dark magicians and brutal men.

I was sent this book for review a little over a month ago and finally managed to get to it. I have been looking forward to it. An Orwellian concept with dragons and magic – what could go wrong with that?

The plot kept me somewhat engaged but there were plenty of confusing elements that just seemed disjointed or out of place. The multiple dimensions with the vague addition of Gods, but not a full pantheon seemed like a bunch of editing or refinement was missing. Ok, so Life, Death, and Fate are present… which indicates a Greek thing… where is the expansion on that then? The author relied on the readers assuming what Life and Death (as godlike entities), but then didn’t really account for the mental jump of wondering where the rest of them were.

Yet there is a solid base there that further stories could be built from. Expanding on the different realities and a bit more structure may bring the world to life a bit more. It really felt that if there was a bit more solid work on the editors part with the author that it would have brought everything up a notch. I will be keeping an eye out for more stories from this author in the future to see if the potential I do see is indeed realized.

First though, I did see some that I expected and fully agree with.

The Dune novels I see listed a couple of times and is a long time favorite.  I do note that they mention just the first three in this and I have to agree.  I have read some of the follow on on books and some of the prequel books as well and while I do like them, rarely drug me as into the story as the original.  I still remember (and own along with the soundtrack) the 1982 movie version of Dune.  I remember watching this with a mixture of love and horror.  I liked the cast and the music was incredible, but it was like someone had taken 10 pages here and there out of the original novel and pasted them all together.  I could follow the plot, but I knew the level of complexity that was being skipped over.  Yet I digress, the novel is epic in scope, but the stories and plots within plots stands to this day.

Also listed are The Mote in God’s Eye and Eon which I found great world building and believable first contact situations.  I was a little disappointed to see not a whole Asimov books included since there are many standalone stories that fit well with these.  While they are getting a bit dated now, perhaps it was felt they weren’t a “Space Opera.”   (The one off novels.) Though I would submit that the Foundation Series or the Robot novels are Operatic in scope and worth a look at – they were indeed mentioned.

The most surprising to me of what I didn’t see, was the lack of any David Weber novels.  Weber is a very prolific writer who is currently the master of military scifi. Empire from the Ashes is probably still my favorite trilogy from him, though his current Safehold series is catching up there, though the Safehold series branches away from the more Space Opera side of Scifi.  His Honor Harrington series keeps you in space with plenty of action and political intrigue.

Even with those gaps, the list is worth reading.  I found a couple of recommended books that I added to my reading list as they sounded interesting, but somehow I have missed ever picking them up.

A couple of honorible mentiones I would like to make are Graham Paul Sharp’s Helfort’s War series (Link to Helfort’s War: Book I) and Jack Campbell’s The Lost Fleet series.  Both are fairly quick reads but I really like the word building and general story construction.  Since they are fairly quick reads I would suggest picking up the first novel in each series and seeing if it suits.  Helfort’s War Book 4 is coming out in November 2010 and The Lost fleet series recently had book 6 of 6 come out.

Any others to add?

After writing the initial scene, I realized all of the plot elements I kicked off were impossible in a short story.   It was a decent start to a novella or a full novel, but not a short.  It was interesting trying to focus more on just a section since there wouldn’t be time or space for a full.

Now it’s off to editing and revisions but the core is there.  This is decently in front of the end of April deadline I gave myself.  So I am looking forward to revising it and polishing it up.

Jakob’s Goodreads Rating: (1) of 5 Stars – “Didn’t like it”
Recommended for: N/A

Book description:

Follow Ben Johnson around an Asheville, North Carolina that Thomas Wolfe would not have recognized. Ride along as Ben encounters visions of Zelda Fitzgerald, pagan rituals, a sub-culture embedded in the city’s infrastructure, and fires of unknown origin. Ben becomes enamored by DC, a charismatic drifter with a dark world vision, and he is forced to confront DC’s rejection of culture and the art it produces.

Through Ben’s private journal entries, learn about his struggle to overcome DC’s destructive cynicism and his pursuit of an artistic vision. Will Ben follow his own artistic calling, or will he adopt DC’s anti-social lifestyle?

I was sent Fire Gazer for review, and finished it in mid-February. I have been stalling on writing the review because I was hoping time would give me something positive to say about the book. Even when I do a negative review I try to give some high points.

I simply can not do that with this book. It is short, around 90 pages or so, but none the less it took a couple of sittings to get through it. It meandered all over and seemed to have little point. I think the author was trying to give inspiration to aspiring artists, but I am really not sure. The book description has an interesting premise, one as a firefighter and a writer I really liked. However, I found none of the promise in the book itself.

I really don’t recommend the book, but perhaps it just wasn’t my style and I missed something here. As much as I tried to find something positive, I just didn’t want to sit on the review anymore. Before reading this I was going through 3-4 books a week, after 3-4 for the next month. It was so jarring it totally threw me off.  So I am moving on.

Jakob’s Goodreads Rating: (5) of 5 Stars – “It was amazing”
Recommended for: Fantasy Readers

Book description:

Warbreaker is the story of two sisters, who happen to be princesses, the God King one of them has to marry, the lesser god who doesn’t like his job, and the immortal who’s still trying to undo the mistakes he made hundreds of years ago.

Their world is one in which those who die in glory return as gods to live confined to a pantheon in Hallandren’s capital city and where a power known as BioChromatic magic is based on an essence known as breath that can only be collected one unit at a time from individual people.

By using breath and drawing upon the color in everyday objects, all manner of miracles and mischief can be accomplished. It will take considerable quantities of each to resolve all the challenges facing Vivenna and Siri, princesses of Idris; Susebron the God King; Lightsong, reluctant god of bravery, and mysterious Vasher, the Warbreaker.

I have to be honest up front, I am doing this review with a bit of a bias. I knew I would love Warbreaker for a few reasons. First being, I like other works by the author. Also, the author released the book in free ebook format, so I had already read the first 3-4 chapters. I decided to wait to finish till I got my hands on a copy and could enjoy the book at home.

Brandon Sanderson held a signing in Minneapolis, MN (Blog post here) that I was able to attend. To support the bookstore I finally picked up Warbreaker there. Hearing Brandon explain some of the things he tried to do with the book made me watch for certain things while I was reading it that perhaps I might not have picked up on before. Brandon and his editor (Moshe Feder) both said they worked on humor in this book. While I don’t think Brandon has done bad on this in the past, it does work well in the book.

As the description states the book centers around two sisters. Both sisters grow and change through the novel in ways that we can enjoy and remain believable. Religion and faith have a big role in this novel. I don’t know if this was the intent, but how we view other religions (or different denominations of the same religion) hit some interesting notes with me as well.

You see, the princesses come from Idris, one of which is married to the Godking of Hallandren. Hallandren has a full pantheon of Gods who live there and are called “returned.” Neither religion likes the other, yet as we read Warbreaker we learn that much is misunderstood about each other. I really liked the character Lightsong who often questioned his own religion – the one he is a god in.

The magic system in this novel is intricately tied into the religions and has a lot to do with why the different denominations are at odds. It takes a bit getting used to, but as the reader settles into the world it gets more and more natural.

Warbreaker I would recommend to any fantasy reader in its own right, though other Sanderson books are worth checking out as well.

Last night was a lot of fun. I was able to rearrange work a little bit and leave from Jamestown, ND a bit early to drive down to Minneapolis, MN to attend a signing that Brandon Sanderson was having at DreamHaven Books. This rearranging included working a couple of support tickets in the evening and having my wife drive for an hour while I was on a conference call. We were heading down to the Twin Cities for Easter with our families anyways, but worked out well.

I brought my camera along with, so I was able to snap some pictures.  This was actually the first author signing I have ever attended.  (We don’t get a lot of big name authors, particularly fantasy authors, up in Jamestown, ND.)  Overall the experience was worth the effort getting there.  It is a bummer that the convention Brandon is in town attending is right on Easter weekend, otherwise I would be going.

There were three key highlights for me at this signing.  This doesn’t include listening to Brandon talk to the other fans and answer questions that they asked.   Which was pretty cool.  It wasn’t just get your book signed and move on, but chat a minute or so, a picture if you wanted, etc.  Brandon (all 3 actually) were very friendly and personable.

The first big highlight for me was talking to Brandon himself while he was signing my books.  (Brought The Gathering Storm from home and purchased Warbreaker there.) I had overheard him say something to another fan about character development and mapping, but was hard to hear at the time.  So I re-asked him when it was my turn.  He said he doesn’t like to fully map out characters in the beginning.  Sure know who they are and the basics, but allowing them to grow with the plot as you write it prevents having to go back and completely rewrite a character.  (As I am doing in my own novel currently…)

The second greatest highlight for me was getting a chance to chat with Moshe Feder.  Moshe is Brandon’s editor at Tor Books.  I had been trying to come up with a great question all evening since I heard he was going to be there.  What would be the best question for an aspiring writer to ask an editor with Tor?  I can’t remember exactly what I had come up with, but it was something along the lines of agent ready material, how to know when, etc.

While I was standing in line I heard someone make a joke about being unknown outside of the slush pile.  Moshe piped up that

I hadn’t realized this, but *bam* my question came to mind.  So while Moshe was signing my copy of Warbreaker I asked him, “What is it out of the slush pile that catches your attention?”  He said of course it always depends, but two things get his attention right away.  A unique idea and storytelling.  The ability to spin a tale.  He can fix the writing, though above average writing catches his attention to.  Apparently the first 50 pages of Elantris (Brandon’s debut novel) were a bit rough, but the idea and the story caught his attention.

I like to think this means there is hope for me yet

Last, Brandon did a reading from the prologue The Way of Kings which is coming out in August of this year.  It was actually interesting to hear the author read his own work for a couple of reasons.  First, just hear some of the pronunciations.  Second, to hear his voice pick up in areas that emphasize something I might not have paid as much attention to.

So it was worth sticking around for that. He spoke of some of the things he is trying to do with The Way of Kings. One of the more interesting points was when he was describing the viewpoint approach he was going. He tried to take the best part of the G.R.R.M approach, combine that with the Jordan approach, and combine that into something he hopes is better. See G.R.R.M (A Song of Fire and Ice is his fantasy epic) tends to have a large cast of characters that you never really spend a lot of time with. Jordon tends to spend great 3-4 chapter chunks with the same character/viewpoint, then you don’t see then again for a while. The way I understood Brandon’s explanation (and this is me trying to explain it to my readers a day later) it is more of a Jordan approach interspersed with flashes from around the world.

Below are some pictures from the signing.  (They can also be found on the Gallery page.)

(author of Elantris, the Mistborn Trilogy, and The Gathering Storm (Wheel of Time, Book 12))

Brandon Sanderson and Patrick Rothfuss are my two favorite authors, so getting to see/meet one of them is awesome. I grabbed my copy of The Gathering Storm to hopefully get signed, along with the paperback copies of Mistborn (book 1) and Elantris.  Though I am not sure if I will bring either of the paperbacks since they are kind of worn.  I am thinking I might pick up a hard copy of Warbreaker to support the store and if Brandon will sign more than one, have that one signed as well.

Getting The Gathering Storm signed in person would be awesome.  (Hopefully *will* be!) The series that I have been reading since the mid-90s that is my all-time favorite, inspired me to write, signed by an author who also helps inspire me to write… yea will have to try and avoid fanboy antics.

I hope to post some pictures up here later!

I have recently started a new site that also probably has something to do with my being behind on things, Hosehead Life is my new site on Life with Obstructive Sleep Apnea.  Some might find it interesting, so feel free to stop by and let me know what you think.

Of course I hadn’t anticipated receiving so many in the same month, so I am a little behind on reviewing those.  I plan on getting through at least a couple of them in the next week.  I do like reviewing books since some of them are outside my usual genre.  This is sometimes a good and a bad thing.  I have found authors I like this way, and also found books I could barely get through.

Adding to this working on a short story for a writing contest, should be a busy month!

Jakob’s Goodreads Rating: (4) of 5 Stars – “Really liked it”
Recommended for: Fantasy readers looking for a series

Book description:

In a land-locked galaxy that tunnels through our own, the Entire gathers both human and alien beings under a sky of fire, called the bright. A land of wonders, the Entire is sustained by monumental storm walls and a never-ending river. Over all, the elegant and cruel Tarig rule supreme.

Into this rich milieu is thrust Titus Quinn, former star pilot, bereft of his beloved wife and daughter who are assumed dead by everyone earth except Quinn. Believing them trapped in a parallel universe—one where he himself may have been imprisoned—he returns to the Entire to free them. Thus begins a tale of high adventure and vast concept, replete with alien cultures, an exotic Mandarin bureaucracy, and a man with nothing left to lose. He may not find what he seeks, but he’ll be offered a view of the multiverse, the power of princes, an unthinkable revenge—and unexpectedly, love.

In this, her first series, Kay Kenyon has created high-concept SF written on the scale of Philip Jose Farmer’s Riverworld, Roger Zelazny’s Amber Chronicles, and Dan Simmons’s Hyperion.

This book was actually really hard for me to pick a rating. I settled on 4-stars, but there were some issues with it. I ranked it a little higher as there are great indications that through the course of the series this will be really great and the questions I had with the first book will probably be answered. (Currently there are 4 books out in the Entire and the Rose.)

The scope of this book builds and builds the course of the novel. We learn that the universe Titus comes from is called the Rose and the “other place” is called the Entire. (Hence the name of the series.) We find out pretty quickly that Titus somehow crossed into this other place before with his family and somehow he came back, but without his wife and daughter. When we meet Titus, it has been two years since he returned with little to no memory of what happened to him. Through the course of the book we learn some of what happened to Titus and what happened to his memories. We learn that the Entire is well aware of the Rose and one of the rules of society is that the Rose should never know of them. The Tarig have manufactured the entire universe and society in a way that elevates them.

At times a bit of fantasy seems to be mixed in yet, but perhaps we just don’t have all of the explinations. The part where we learned how Titus lost his memories seemed a bit weak to me, though there were many open threads and perhaps this was just one of them. I did however enjoy the story and like to read series, so was happy with the open threads. What she does do a great job of here is world building. The Bright is described just the right amount and more importantly the changes in how Titus views it are done very well and believable.

This series has been compared to Dune, which I think is a good comparison. The complexity isn’t quite as buried as Dune is, but there are complex and unanswered questions throughout the book and left open at the end. I am looking forward to picking up the rest of the series and continuing to discover the world and universe that Kenyon has given us.