Swords, Dragons, and Nerds

2024 Reading Recap

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Tue, 21 Jan 2025 16:00:00 +0000

I thought it would be fun to look back at what I read last year in fantasy. 2024 was a bit of a disappointment because I only read five things: four books and a short story. This was down from the nine I read in 2023. I'm happy with what I read, but wish it had been more. Oh well, there's always this year.

Convergence by Craig Alanson, read by R.C. Bray.

This was free on Audible, and wanting to read (or rather, listen) to urban fantasy that wasn't Dresden Files, I decided to give it a try.

It was fine. The story is about Kazimir Wolf, a guy who's also possibly the only wizard in the world just as magic starts to make its return. because of this, he finds himself constantly on the run from people trying to capture or kill him. He's soon joined a talking golden retriever named Duke who is possessed by an ancient Babylonian wizard, and two warriors from the middle ages: Markius from Egypt, and Giselle from France. On top of this, Kaz has to deal with an impending event called the Convergence that could spell doom for the world.

I had two main problems with Convergence. First, it dragged on for too long. The audiobook is only 16 hours, but it honestly felt longer because the plot moved at about fast as a glacier. Alanson spent too much time writing funny scenes with Kaz and Duke that didn't serve any purpose whatsoever. Second, the bad guys were practically a footnote. They appeared in a couple of brief scenes in the first half, then disappeared until near the end. It was the same for these two other characters who were nominally supposed to be trying to find Kaz to help and protect him, but worse: they made a brief appearance in the first half and likewise didn't pop back up until the end. If Alanson had cut out some of the needless fluff and wrote more scenes featuring those aforementioned other characters, I would have enjoyed this a lot more.

Having said that, I do plan on reading or listening to the second book in the series, Dragonslayer.

Rating: 7 out of 10.

Redemption's Blade by Adrian Tchaikovsky, read by Nicola Barber.

I loved this story. Redemption's Blade is about what happens after the evil dark lord is defeated and it's not a happily ever after. Celestaine is one of a band of heroes who managed to kill the evil demigod known as the Kinslayer and put an end to his war of conquest and annihilation. That was ten years ago and the world is still reeling from the devastation. Now, she's on a quest to undo an evil the Kinslayer inflicted on one of the many races he conquered and has to contend with the aftermath of the war.

This was a good fantasy story and I enjoyed seeing a fairly realistic portrayal of what a fantasy world would look like after a massive and destructive war.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

Goblins & Greatcoats by Travis Baldree.

This was a fun short story that Subterranean Press released for free on their website. It's set in the same world as Baldree's Legends & Latte series. In this, a little goblin named Zyll arrives at an inn one rainy night and has to solve a murder. Nothing much I can add to this other than to say that I really liked it.

Rating: 10 out of 10.

The Black God's Drums by P. Djèlí Clark.

A very interesting novella set in an alternate timeline where America is still divided by the Civil War (which is a frozen conflict IIRC), and Haiti is a regional, if not a world power with its own fleet of airships. The main character is Creeper, who's a young thief in an independent New Orleans who wants to join the crew of the airship Midnight Robber. To do this, she shares information with the Robber's captain, Ann-Marie about a kidnapped Haitian scientist who possesses knowledge of a weapon that could kill thousands if it falls in the wrong hands. At the same time, Creeper has to deal with an African goddess in her head.

I enjoyed this and wouldn't mind revisiting the world if Clark ever writes sequels.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

A Night in the Lonesome October by Roger Zelazny, read by Matt Godfrey.

I read, or rather, listened to this as part of a book club. The book is set over the course of the 31 days of October as a varied group of characters in Victorian era England prepare for a ritual event at the end of the month. All of them are supposed to be famous historical figures and fictional characters, which quickly becomes clear. What makes this story interesting is that it's told from the POV of Snuff, a dog belonging to one of the players, Jack, as he goes about his duties and interacts with the animal companions of the other players. Another interesting bit is that a lot of the book's fans will read one chapter a day for the entire month o October. I didn't because I was listening to the audiobook, but I may try it next October.

I enjoyed listening to this book. Zelazny doesn't miss.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

Blood Song by Anthony Ryan.

As you can see above, I didn't read or listen to much in the way of epic fantasy, but I did manage to fit one in. Blood Song tells the story of Vaelin Al Sorna, a man who was forced to join an order of warrior monks as a child and eventually grew to be a renowned champion of his kingdom. The book is set up with a framing device that a captive Vaelin is sent to fight another kingdom's champion and die. He's accompanied on the journey by a historian who wants to record his life story, which Vaelin relates. It's a tale of love, grief, pain, triumph, and tragedy.

I really dug Blood Song and plan to continue the Raven's Shadow series this year.

Rating: 9 out of 10.

And that brings us to the end of the recap. Like I said, I'm not happy with how few fantasy stories I read, but I plan on at least doubling the number this year. Hopefully, I'll do more than that.

In which I make another visit to Midkemia: I read Magician: Apprentice for the third time

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Sun, 27 Aug 2023 23:03:00 +0000

And I still love it. I think if I were to ever make a list of my favorite fantasy novels, both Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master would be at the top of the list. I will never tire of visiting Pug, Arutha, Tomas, Kulgan, and the rest. I'm not going to review the book here, because I've already written my thoughts on this book before, which you can read here and here.

Suffice to say, I immediately picked up Magician: Master and I'm aiming to finish it before the end of the month. After that, I'll take a break before starting on Silverthorn and finally round it out with A Darkness at Sethanon. I'm going to make a concerted effort this time to continue the series. I didn't last time around because the time jump between ADS and Princes of the Blood was hard to get used to and I think I should have taken a break between the two.

Unlike the stock market, my fantasy reading isn't in a slump

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Sat, 17 Sep 2022 20:28:00 +0000

TOPICAL HUMOR.

Anyways, here's a list of recent fantasy reads since the last time I posted about it:

The Guns of Avalon by Roger Zelazny: This has to be the oddest, quirkiest series I've ever read. It's like modern fantasy mixed with portal fantasy and like high/epic fantasy.

Prince of Fools by Mark Lawrence: I owned this book for many, many years, but didn't read it because I had mixed feelings about The Broken Empire trilogy, of which I had read Prince and King of Thorns years ago. I didn't dislike the two books, but I wasn't exactly fawning over them either. I decided to finally give it a chance once I had slain the slump and boy, am I glad I did. I enjoyed this book a lot and I'm planning on reading book 2, The Liar's Key next year.

Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree: Yes, I hopped on the bandwagon and followed the hype train for this book and you know what? WORTH IT. The book lived up to expectations and I eagerly await the sequel.

Now, do I think that everybody is going to enjoy this novella? No. I don't see every fantasy reader sitting down to read a novella about a female orc warrior who quits the life of an adventurer to open a coffee shop. And that's fine because not everybody is going to enjoy reading the same things.

Storm Front and Fool Moon by Jim Butcher: I decided rather spontaneously to give the Dresden Files another shot and re-read (and in the case of Storm Front, re-re-re-read) the first two books. My plan is to try and read at least two books a month until I'm caught up. I'd prefer three, but I don't see that happening every month.

I'm looking forward to the rest of the year. I've got a couple of books in my reading pile and more that I haven't started yet. The slump is gone and good riddance!

Hopefully Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves will be as good as the trailer makes it look

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Fri, 22 Jul 2022 17:48:00 +0000

I like that it's set in the Forgotten Realms. I'm sure there'll be folks who wish it had been Blackmoor, Greyhawk, or Dragonlance. Who knows, maybe one day they'll each get their time to shine.

Also, Sophia Lillis's tiefling druid character Doric? Adorable.

So how do y'all feel about the upcoming D&D movie?

Did you know reading fantasy books is cool? 👀

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Fri, 10 Jun 2022 16:59:00 +0000

I sure as hell hope it is, because I read five of them last month! Yes, that's right, your erstwhile blogger launched a bold attack on his fantasy reading slump in May and read five novels!

But in all seriousness, it was fantastic and I'm so glad that I did. I'm not quite prepared to declare the slump defeated, but I'm definitely getting there.

So, what did I read? I plan on trying to write individual reviews for each one, but here's a rundown:

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks: I started reading this last year, got about 50% through it before the slump struck me down, so I didn't pick it back up until towards the end of April, at which point I blew through it in a matter of days. Will be buying the second book in the series this year, hopefully.

The Sword-Edged Blonde by Alex Bledsoe: Same situation as above. I wanted something shorter to read about TBP, so I grabbed my tablet and restarted this from the beginning. I'm a solid fan for the Eddie LaCrosse series.

The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne: Found a copy in my favorite used bookstore and seeing how other fantasy readers (especially on booktube) were raving about it, cracked this bad boy open. I'm glad I did and needless to say, I'll be reading The Hunger of the Gods this year.

Green Rider by Kristen Britain: A fun read. Definitely meant to be an establishing book for the series.

A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham: Another booktube influence. Those folks generally don't miss, so their opinions carry some weight with me when I'm deciding what to read. It was an odd book with an interesting culture, so I plan on reading at least the second book in The Long Price Quartet.

So, there you have it. Five books in one month. I've always added to the total for the year by finishing the second book in Roger Zelazny's Amber series, The Guns of Avalon.

Looks like I've got a lot of series on my plate, but I'm not complaining.

Here's the Wheel of Time trailer

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Thu, 02 Sep 2021 17:31:00 +0000

Some people will complain about the changes and while I don't like one of them (Rand and Egwene apparently having sex), changes come with the territory. You're never going to get a faithful scene by scene, line by line adaptation because books and visual media are so wholly different from one another that you can never truly transfer the full essence of one to the other.

Just based on the trailer, the WoT show doesn't look bad.

Ten years

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Sat, 28 Aug 2021 19:49:00 +0000

Well, holy shit. I can't believe that it's already been a decade since I created this blog, but it's true: August 24, 2011, I started Swords, Dragons, and Nerds because I fell down the fantasy rabbit hole and wanted a blog separate from my "main" one to write about what I was reading and all other things related to the fantasy genre.

And yes, I realize today is the 28th, four days after the anniversary. Ironically, I was aware last month of the date and wanted to get this out on the 24th, but alas, it was not to be. Things happened and I missed it. Oh well.

Here's to ten more years!

I read fantasy? #fakenews

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Wed, 03 Mar 2021 23:55:00 +0000

But wait, it isn't, for I have indeed been reading fantasy fiction! True, it's just one book out of the fifteen books I've read so far this year, but hey, it's a start. So what did I read? A classic.

Yes, the first book in Roger Zelany's classic Chronicles of Amber series. What drove me to read this was two things: First, Daniel Greene included Nine Princes in Amber in a video of books that he wanted to read this year and that planted the seed. While I've read classic fantasy before, NPIA didn't really catch my interest for some reason. Seeing someone include it in their TBR in a YouTube video was evidently enough to do so. The second thing is that my favorite used bookstore happened to have a copy and I felt like it was worth the $2.50 to at least see if it was something I wanted to read. And it was.

So how was it? It was fine. I liked the way Zelany mixed the real world with a wholly fantastical one. I didn't expect it to go where it did in the last part, but I liked that it did. I plan or hope to read the next book in the series, provided I can find a copy.

I do feel like I'm starting to recover from this slump I'm in. I've been reading The Black Prism, which I need to get back to soon. My hope is that I can read at least four or five more fantasy novels before the end of the year. Far from what I've read in the past, but it's something.

Random thought: A Song of Ice and Fire as historical fiction

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Mon, 30 Nov 2020 01:54:00 +0000

I can't tell you why this thought first popped into my head because it's been so long that I can't even hope to remember the reason. Nonetheless, it was something that spawned from my noggin like Athena from the head of Zeus and for lack of anything better, I thought I'd share it here.

So yes, reading A Song of Ice and Fire as if it were historical fiction is an odd notion and probably not one that occurred to George R.R. Martin when he conceived the series, but it's something that I don't think is that far-fetched. Historical fiction at it's biggest and grandest is simply the retelling (with liberties) of historical events as told from a mix of historical figures and wholly fictional ones. The stage is which ASoIaF is set is not dissimilar to that. If you were to excise the more fantastical elements like the dragons, white walkers, and magic, then you have a retelling of events that wouldn't be that far removed from what you'd read in a historical fiction novel or novels.

Indeed, you could take it one step further and argue that if the plot of the series were distilled down to just the events that occur, then the entire series could be read as a historical record. Political upheavals, assassinations, and wars of succession are exactly the kind of thing that happened in Europe for centuries, just sans dragons, zombies, and Kitt Harrington's perfect hair. In fact, when I finally get around to re-reading A Game of Thrones and (hopefully) the rest of the series, I'm going to try and do so from the point of view that I'm reading historical fiction.

Obviously, I bought more fantasy books

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Thu, 19 Nov 2020 02:03:00 +0000

Because when you're in a never ending slump, that's the sensible thing to do.

A Goodwill find and an impulse buy.

Found at a used bookstore that I've fallen in love with. I've never been heavy on urban fantasy outside of the like four Dresden Files novels I've read, but I'm willing to give this a try.

Bought this on Google's ebook store for like $.99 and read in fairly quickly. It was good enough to make me want to buy more of Parker's books.

Bought at a new-ish bookstore in town. I've reading it off and on and I'm going to make a concerted effort on this one.

Bought at same store as above. Lemme just quote you the opening:

In the myriadic year of our Lord - the ten thousandth year of the King Undying, the kindly Prince of Death! - Gideon Nav packed her sword, her shoes, and her dirty magazines, and she escaped from the House of the Ninth.

I'm hyped to read this one.

Another used bookstore purchase. Thought I'd take a chance on it.

Another new one. I've read it before, but wanted a copy of my own.

Does anything stand out for you? Read any of these before?

Finished reading: Arrows of the Queen by Mercedes Lackey

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Sun, 05 Jul 2020 14:00:00 +0000

Or should I say I finished re-reading Arrows of the Queen. Books are always better on the second go around. You remember some things while forgetting enough that it doesn't feel like you're just retreading.

Fun fact: I started writing a review for this novel after I read it for the first time, but never finished it. It was too long, over 7,000 words and was more of a synopsis than a review. Spoilery too.

Oh a whole, Arrows of the Queen still holds up as I remembered it on the first go. The same parts still gave me a lot of the "feels" (as the Internet calls emotions) as they did before.

Winds of Winter next year, maybe?

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Wed, 24 Jun 2020 21:33:00 +0000

George R.R. Martin provided an update on his blog concerning his full throttled progress on Winds of Winter, the next book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series. As it turns out, a global pandemic is conducive towards writing door-stoppers, as GRRM seems to be boogieing along:

If nothing else, the enforced isolation has helped me write. I am spending long hours every day on THE WINDS OF WINTER, and making steady progress. I finished a new chapter yesterday, another one three days ago, another one the previous week.

He also makes important note that he still has a ways to go, but is hopeful that maybe, just maybe it'll be finished by next year.

Of course, this won't suit the dipshits who constantly complain and hound the man for not writing as fast as say Brandon Sanderson. Hell, GRRM could release Winds of Winter tomorrow and they would still find reason to complain. "But he's taking forever to write A Dream of Spring!"

If you're a fan of the Dresden Files, then boy, has your year been made

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Tue, 24 Mar 2020 22:30:00 +0000

Because there's going to be not one, but two Dresden books released this year.

I should resume reading this series at some point soon. I kind of gave up after reading some spoilers, but I feel the urge to give them another try. I made it up to Death Masks before quitting and I enjoyed all the previous books.

Here, have a hodge podge of D&D articles

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Sat, 17 Aug 2019 14:00:00 +0000

One of these is several years old, but the rest are from within the last couple of months. Interest in D&D seems to be on an uptick, which I'm sure is delighting the sales departments at Wizards of the Coast and Hasbro.

From Polygon: We asked a simple question about the D&D timeline and got a wild answer

The Guardian: No more nerds: how Dungeons & Dragons finally became cool (I'm not a fan of the headline)

io9: The 20 Most WTF Magical Items in Dungeons & Dragons (The Wand of Misplaced Objects would be useful if facing a well equipped foe, wouldn't it?)

Now THIS might be the greatest D&D homebrew character of all time

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Sat, 29 Jun 2019 21:15:00 +0000

This is art. ART!

Created by user u/Sir_Platinum on Reddit, this is pure genius and I will hear no slander against it. N O N E.

h/t to Wil Wheaton and Boing Boing.

Review: Devlin's Justice is an only okay ending to the Sword of Change trilogy (SPOILERS)

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Sat, 04 May 2019 16:56:00 +0000

Click the links to read my reviews for the first two books, Devlin's Luck and Devlin's Honor.

First off, let's talk about that cover. The only thing accurate about the cover (besides the title, author's name and such, obviously) is the Sword of Light, which matches the description of it in Devlin's Honor. Everything else isn't remotely accurate, including the blurb. "His own magic"? Aside from the Geas spell that binds him to his duties as Chosen One, Devlin has no magic whatsoever. I feel like whoever did the cover didn't read the book beforehand. But that's just the cover, let's talk about the book itself.

It's only okay. Going by the blurb on the back of the book, I was expecting a lot of excitement, drama, and adventure. Unfortunately, expectations slammed into reality like a race car into a wall at 190 miles per hour. Devlin's Justice felt rushed, as if Ms. Bray was just trying to get the thing done and out the door or she was trying to meet a specific word or page count. As a result, a lot of meat was left on the bone. There were so many ways the story could have been expanded or enhanced and none of them were used.

Before I go on, let me tell you what happens in this book. Devlin is returning to Kingsholm after successfully retrieving the Sword of Light in the previous book. Upon returning, he's betrayed by King Olafur of Jorsk and handed over to the Selvarat Empire as part of their deal to send "aid" to help the Kingdom of Jorsk stave off an invasion by an unknown enemy, along with like a third of the kingdom itself as it turns out. So Devlin spends a good chunk of the book imprisoned and tortured by the main antagonist while his friends believe him dead and struggle to find a way to save the kingdom from both the Selvarats (who, "shocker", are the unknown enemy) and the king himself. Four of them - Drakken, Stephen, Didrik, and Oluva - are forced to escape the city and go in search of Devlin once they discover that he is in fact still alive. Devlin eventually escapes, joins up with the others and the rest of the book is them leading a guerrilla campaign against the occupying Selvarat forces and setting things to right.

All of that sounds exciting, but as I said, a lot of meat was left on the bone and what we got instead didn't live up to the potential. For example, there's never an explanation given for why King Olafur did anything he did. Yes, he was led to believe that there was a major threat to the kingdom and yes he had a big legacy to live up to, but betraying Devlin and giving away a huge chunk of the kingdom for aid just doesn't make any sense and there was no indication that he was being manipulated by the Prince Arnauld, the main antagonist of the series or anybody else for that matter. It also doesn't explain his slide into despotism which is both sharp and sudden.

There are other examples I could point out but I don't want this post to run too long, so we'll leave off them. The other thing that I found disappointing is the lack of a big finish. I was expecting to see Devlin and Arnauld face off in a big fight, but it never happened. It was a letdown given that Arnauld was the mind-sorcerer that had been plaguing Devlin since the first book. Instead, he's brushed off like some mid-level villain and we're denied the payoff that should have been.

The ending was also lackluster as it felt rushed. Olafur commits suicide just before Devlin arrives back at Kingsholm to confront him and Devlin names himself regent until Olafur's daughter is old enough to rule in her own right. He also marries Stephen's sister which comes straight out of left field and makes about as much sense as Olafur's actions. Devlin also secures the independence of his homeland of Duncaer which I liked.

All in all, I found Devlin's Justice a letdown. It had a lot of potential that was largely squandered. I would rank it as the weakest of the trilogy.

Rating: 5/10.

So I might own a first edition of Tad Williams' The Dragonbone Chair I guess?

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Sun, 17 Mar 2019 00:39:00 +0000

I found a hardcover of the book at a Goodwill last month and just started reading it today and one of the things I noticed immediately is the year of publication listed is 1988 and no other dates or markings that would indicate that it's a reprint or anything. It also has Tailchaser's Song as Williams' only book published up to that point. The inside flap of the dust jacket says "Book Club Edition", so that probably disproves it as a first edition. A relief and preference, honestly, because I don't like the idea of owning first editions of classic SF&F series or really books in general.

THE SLUMP GOT WORSE

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Sat, 15 Dec 2018 01:35:00 +0000

As some of you might recall, 2017 was not a great year for my fantasy genre reading with all of five books read that entire year. I was hopeful that the slump was just a fluke and 2018 would be the year I bounced back.

Dear reader, IT GOT WORSE. I'll finish this year with all of three fantasy novels under my belt. Three, as in more than two and less than four. Yikes. So what were the three books?

The Fifth Season was a fantastic book and easily one of the best fantasy novels I've ever read. The hype surrounding this book is real, folks.

A sure sign that I love a book is when I re-read it. I don't think I'll ever get tired of doing so.

I've seen this series recommended on the interwebs and I decided to take the plunge. While I felt that the part of the book with Sonea hiding out from the eponymous Magician's Guild was stretched a bit too long, I could not put this book down and the trilogy is definitely on my "to read" list for next year.

Having said that, I have been reading different novels over the past year. More like sampling, really. One of those books is Raymond E. Feist's newest work, King of Ashes. It's different from the Riftwar books I've read. It feels more, I don't know, up to date? It's much more violent and adult than what the Riftwar trilogy felt like.

Brandon Sanderson is another writer I've been checking out. Warbreaker looks interesting and I want to give Mistborn another shot. The Way of Kings is daunting because of it's sheer size, but I'm willing to give it a try.

I'm currently reading The Mirror Empire by Kameron Hurley. Different in some ways, familiar in others, both mixed in a way that's appealing.

2018 has been a pretty crappy year in general and so all I can is here's to a much better 2019.

Photo dump: The amazing photography of Douglas Herring

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Sun, 07 Oct 2018 23:36:00 +0000

I came across one of his pictures several weeks ago on Tumblr and absolutely loved it. Check out his Twitter and Tumblr accounts for more.

Model: Dawn Vice.

Model: Alicia Archer.

Models: Maria Kountz and Rhiya Prater.

Model: Shaniqua Ogletree.

Herring has tons more on his Tumblr, so be sure to comb through the archive.

By Crom! Amazon's doing a Conan the Barbarian series!

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Sun, 29 Jul 2018 14:59:00 +0000

So apparently this was announced at some point in the past, but then nothing was heard about it until now. According to Syfy Wire, the show is being developed by Ryan Condal, the co-creator of the SF TV show The Colony and screenwriter of the future Academy Award-winning movie Rampage (you know, the one with Dwayne Johnson and a giant mutant gorilla? Yeah, that one.) and will adapt the short stories written by Robert E. Howard.

According to Condal, the first episode of the Conan series will adapt “The Frost-Giant’s Daughter,” one of the primary tales in Howard’s canon for his signature character.

“I think the Conan purists will be very pleased,” said Howard, while setting the stage for Amazon's pilot episode. “If anybody knows and follows the saga [‘The Frost-Giant’s Daughter’] is... the earliest story in Conan’s life. He’s basically just left Cimmeria and he’s running around as a mercenary with this Viking band of warriors called the Aesir... I’ve put [the Conan stories] back in [chronological] order and the idea is to tell Conan’s story over the time of his life.”

I'm intrigued. The idea of following the Cimmerian's life in proper order rather than just random points I think is a good idea. Condal also says that the show will have a serial element to it, which I guess means that each episode won't be a self-contained, standalone. I wonder if that means that all the events in each episode will build up towards something big near the end of the first season?

So what do you folks think? Does the prospect of a Conan the Barbarian series pique your interest? Will Amazon screw this up or will it strike gold?

My fantasy book collection isn't great, but it doesn't exactly suck either

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Tue, 10 Jul 2018 14:53:00 +0000

I've been taking pictures of my various bookshelves lately and thought I'd share the ones of my fantasy books.

I got the cabinet itself by swapping with one of my parents.

It's worth noting that this isn't the whole entire shebang. I could only fit so many in the cabinet, so I had to be choosy with what went in it and I chose books that I'm planning on reading if not this year, then the next. The ones that didn't make it are probably going to end up boxed up with the rest in the closet.

I think it's a nice collection, though. It shows where my tastes in the fantasy genre lay which is mostly in the more standard and maybe "generic" territories. I also favor books that aren't doorstoppers. That one Sanderson book is giving me the stink eye, but it's true otherwise.

Holy moly guacamole: Forgotten Realms edition

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Fri, 06 Jul 2018 16:48:00 +0000

I got myself a nice little book haul at a thrift store yesterday. I was scanning through their book section when I stumbled upon books 6-16 of The Harpers series, what I think might be the original paperbacks of The Icewind Dale Trilogy, and a book from The Lost Gods series called Tymora's Luck. The whole lot, sixteen books in total, cost me nearly twelve dollars, but I figured it was worth it. For the most part, the books are in surprisingly good condition. The exception was The Crystal Shard. It had something stuck to the cover that I'm cleaning off.

I'll take pictures of them at some point and post them here.

Revisiting The Belgariad (again)

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Sun, 24 Jun 2018 21:41:00 +0000

First, an apology for the lack of updating on this blog. Sadly, my fantasy reading slump from last year has carried over to this one and at this point, I'm prepared to upgrade it from a slump to a drought. N.K. Jemisin's excellent The Fifth Season is the only fantasy book I've read this year to completion. I made a worthy effort with Robin Hobb's Royal Assassin, but even that couldn't hold my attention. Strangely, the fantasy genre is the only thing affected, as I've no problem reading SF and other genres.

So I've decided to go back to basics and start afresh by reading (or re-re-reading in this case) some classics of the genre, which brings us to my current book, Pawn of Prophecy by David Eddings.

This would be my second read through and much like the prior two times, I'm enjoying it. Indeed, I'm almost finished with it and I only started it the other day! I don't know what I'll read after PoP. Queen of Sorcery, the second book in The Belgariad would be an obvious next step but I'm not sure if I want to jump straight to it. I could finally sit down and read The Sword of Shannara or venture to the Underdark with the first Drizzt book, Homeland. The Last Wish would be another choice, but might be too "new" be the kind of classic I want to read right now. The whole idea is to ease my way back into reading the fantasy genre, basically.

Fellowship of the Ring by Mike Ploog

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Sun, 24 Jun 2018 17:13:00 +0000

Credit: Mike Ploog.

It's Lord of the Rings, but it has a very D&D feel to it too.

You can('t) go home again: Devlin's Honor by Patricia Bray (The Sword of Change #2) (Spoilers)

noreply@blogger.com (Jason) — Sat, 17 Feb 2018 18:02:00 +0000

This review took longer to get around to than I had expected. Add to it that my memory is piss poor, and this shouldn't be a long review.

Devlin's Honor is the second book in Patricia Bray's Sword of Change trilogy and while a good story, it doesn't quite match-up with its predecessor, Devlin's Luck. Still, it's worth reading.

The story picks up four months after the events of the previous book. Devlin has spent those months trying to shore-up the defenses of the Kingdom of Jorsk against the threats that he feels are imminent. Unfortunately, he hasn't had that much success and every attempt at strengthening the kingdom is a struggle due partly to the usual power plays and politics you see in most any fantasy novel, but with the added invective that Devlin is still looked down upon because he's a member of a conquered people and not a Jorskian. He later discovers via one of his few friends, the minstrel Stephen, that his very status as Chosen is questioned in the Jorsk circles of power because he lacks the Sword of Light (the sword on the covers of all three books and a pretty accurate description to boot).

The Sword of Light is one of the badges of office of the Chosen, but was lost during the conquest of Duncaer, Devlin's homeland. We get a brief rundown of how the conquest happened: Basically, the Caerfolk practiced a form of elective monarchy where a woman would be elected queen for a term, then either re-elected or replaced with another queen when their first term ended. Duncaer's final queen was a two-termer who wasn't going to get a third and so she went full asshole and "invited" the Jorskian army for a *ahem* visit. It's explained that only one city, Ynnis (or Yniss, I can't remember the proper spelling) resisted the invasion. That's not because the Caerfolk were a docile people but because the rest of the country was more focused on waging a bloodfeud against this queen and her entire family tree. And man, I'm not even exaggerating about that. Caerfolk are dead serious when it comes to blood feuds and the resulting conflict really didn't end until every single member of Queen Asshole's family going as far as distant relations were six feet under.

Read more »