In this episode, I further dive into the Stainless Steel Rat space opera, where a slick space criminal experiences 1970’s style hijinks. I finish up the YA books written by the author of the Cemetery of Forgotten Books author – all of them involving kids fighting some kind of devilish dealing evil power. And I leap back to the beginning to dip my toes in the Cosmere and ponder how Avengers: Infinity War shit’s gonna get when he finally merges all his shardfolk.
Devil in Details and Missed Chances
I liked Sandman Slim most of the time. It’s got an interesting premise of a not-fully dead human resident of Hell getting back to Earth, and trying to get revenge on the people who got him sent there. There’s also some interesting side-characters like Vidocq, Candy, and Dr. Kinski (in a very different version than the Coop stories). The various denizens of Hell who show up occasionally are pretty interesting, as is the gradually revealed backstory behind Stark’s trip to Hell in the first place. […]
Another great entry in the delightfully weird and difficult to categorise Craft Sequence.
Like the Terra Ignota Series, I was first Introduced to Max Gladstone’s Craft Sequence novels via The Hugo Awards. And like Terra Ignota, I’m going to start my book reviews with a book that sits right in the middle of the series, with book six. While The Ruin of Angels is told from an increasing number of viewpoints as it progresses, the narrative can be split into roughly two branches. The first branch follows Kai Pohala, who was the protagonist of a previous Craft book, […]
Judy – love ya. Love this one? Not so much.
As a woman in my 30s, I am definitely aware of the presence and significance of Judy Blume. And the fact that she recently celebrate her 80th birthday! (You hang in there, Judy). I read all the classics in my youth and read Summer Sisters a few years ago. I remember the former being formative and the latter not really at all, and that should have been an indicator of how I would feel about this book: a resounding shoulder shrug. I would say I […]
We can work it out
The Elantris of the title was once a glorious city full of luminous beings with astounding powers that drew devotees and dependents alike. But the prologue tells us that Elantris abruptly fell, its power vanishing and its residents transforming from near gods to withered and powerless outcasts. The book picks up ten years after this disaster. The ensuing political upheaval and civil war has settled into a precarious peace and wobbly feudal system. The Shaod, the blight that struck Elantris, still occasionally and suddenly afflicts […]
This was a book but it wasn’t a story.
Normally in my WOT reviews I list things that actually happened (things of significance) in these books so as to illustrate how much space was taken up by non-essential real estate. How much Jordan veered from the idea of ‘the narrative’ as a concept. Quite literally, as of this book, Jordan lost the plot entirely. Nothing. Happens. In. This. Book. And my copy has 822 pages of text, not including the glossary and maps. There is infinitesimal movement on all fronts. Mostly the characters just […]
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