Tag: Fantasy Page 46 of 54

by Michael R. Underwood
Series: Genrenauts, #5 & 6

eARC, 181 pg.
2016

Read: September 16 – 17, 2016

Her job was to fix the story, not right every little wrong in the entire world.

But was that really enough? If you force someone to work with shoddy equipment and they get hurt every week, eventually, shouldn’t you fix the tool instead of sending them to the doctor? She’d spent the last several months playing the doctor, applying spot fixes along with the team, keeping to the shadows. Help the real hero, delay the problems until the real hero came back.

I want to come back to talk about Leah’s continuing difficulties adopting the right attitude as a Genrenaut, but we’ve got some work to get through first.

A band of intrepid warriors, in possession of a magic artifact carried by the one person capable of stopping a great evil enters a castle and fights through untold numbers of warriors through magic and feats of strength and skill. Only to have the Chosen One killed before they can challenge the leader of the forces of evil. Clearly, not the way this story is supposed to go — which creates problems on Earth Prime, and a need for Angstrom King’s team to come to Fantasy World, get the band back together, and fix the story.

The first thing the team does when they get to the world is track down Ioseph, the wizard who assembled the failed heroes. Leah describes him as:

Gandalf if Gondor had already fallen, Dumbledore facing a fascist wizard state under Voldemort.

Which is a great descriptive line, wholly genre-appropriate. This is Underwood at his best — not that he’s not great in SF or the other genres we’ve seen this season — but in Fantasy, he’s at his strength (see the Ree Reyes series for further examples).

It’s not just Underwood being comfortable, either — one of the first things we learned about Leah is that she’s a big Fantasy Fan. So her being here was is just what she’s been waiting for — and she makes the most of it. She jokes, she fights, she sings (her character is a bard), performs heroic deeds and she eats a lot of stew (while making the requisite snarky remarks about the stew). Everything you want in an epic fantasy novel or game, it’s celebrated and commented on at the same time. It’d be very easy to do a quick edit to remove all the references to other worlds/Genrenauts/etc. and come up with a decent novella-length story here — with a pretty good twist. Thankfully, we don’t have to read that hypothetical edit — we get Leah and the gang guiding us through it.

In addition to the pretty fun story — we get to see these Genrenauts function like a fully formed team — which is not to say they’re perfect, part of it is Leah’s rookie status, part of it comes from the length of time they spend in this world (as we learned last time), and part of it is the uncertainty that the tall woman they’ve been chasing brings to the story. There’s at least one other part, but you have to read the book to learn about it. Roman gets to tell Leah where he came from and what that means, which helps him a lot (the rest of the team, too). King’s and Shirin’s part of the story is the more straight-forward, if for no other reason than their temperaments and experience. Which is not to say that their parts are dull — in fact, one of the best characters from this world (with the obligatory annoying ‘ in his name) comes from their portion of the story.

The focus is, of course, on Leah — she loves being surrounded by a fantasy story and lets the setting get to her. Also, as the opening quotation shows, she’s struggling with her role as a Genrenaut in various worlds. Much like Kirk bristling under the constraints of the Prime Directive, Leah has a hard time adapting her sense of right and wrong to the world and culture she’s in — and I’m not sure she’s getting better about it, maybe she’s getting worse the more comfortable she is with the team. Frankly, I’m glad to see her struggle here, and I’m not sure what side I want her to come down on.

Leah’s now at the end of her probationary status — and if any of the Genrenauts were analyzing their own story, they’d clearly see that this was the end of a narrative arc and that something big was about to happen — enough to close this chapter and lead into a new one. It does, and it’s a doozy. Man, I hope things went well enough on the sales front for Underwood to be able to bring us a second season (if not seven) — I’m more than ready to support the next Kickstarter.

Underwood seemed more confident, a little more willing to have fun with the genre in these entries than he has with the others (not that he’s been all that restrained before). I loved this. When (for example) Leverage was on the air — there were better shows on, but few that I enjoyed as much. Similarly, I’ve read better books this year than The Failed Fellowship or any of the others in this series, but not that many and none have made me as happy reading these. There is one line towards the end of this that made me laugh out loud (and groan, too — Leah has no shame) and if I read an interview where Underwood said he wrote the previous 5 books in this series just to set up this line? It’d be justified.

Disclaimer: I received this eARC from the author in exchange for this post — I thank him for it (and for releasing the cover image in time for me to post this without my lousy placeholder).

—–

5 Stars

Children of the Different by S.C. Flynn

By HCNewton

On September 22, 2016

In Book Tour, Fiction

I wanted to nail this one, and I don’t think I did — just so I’m clear — you want to read this. Any of your kids over 13 (and maybe some under) will likely enjoy this. Don’t be put off by the labels attached: “Post-apocalyptic,” “YA,” or whatever — this is a good story about kids in the nearish future.
—

Children of the Different

by S.C. Flynn
Kindle Edition, 316 pg.
The Hive, 2016

Read: September 12 – 13, 2016

I’m going to get this quotation wrong, so remember it’s just a paraphrase: William Gibson’s early works were said to be set “Fifteen minutes into our future” — they’re futuristic SF, but only barely. Using that as a basis, I think you’d be safe saying that this book is set 20 minutes into our future — when Gibson’s cyberpunk present falls apart. Yes, it’s technically post-apocalyptic, but so is The Sword of Shannara, but that doesn’t mean you can walk in with any idea of what its’ going to be like. Think of this as a fantasy world very much like our own (but with cooler accents) — but where almost nothing works and teenagers are threats to their own health and safety, but also to pretty much the entire world’s health and safety.

We meet the twins Arika and Narrah just as Arika is beginning her time in the Changeland. Which is a stressful time for everyone in her life — but her brother Narrah does something quite out of the ordinary, he takes advantage of their inherent psychic link and enters the Changeland with her. By doing so, they set down on a path that could change the world forever. Not that they knew this. These aren’t a couple of Promised Children, Children of Destiny or whatever — they’re just a couple of kids in the right place and the right time to become the Children of Destiny. Arika’s the strongest character, the best fleshed out and it’s her reactions to everything that inform the readers’. Not to discount anyone else, but it’s her fears, her hopes, her determination that set things in motion (even Narrah will defer to her). Before I leave Arika — her friend, who I see as a combination of Luna Lovegood and Sybill Trelawney, but far less chatty — is such a great character. She’d have been easy to use wrongly, but Flynn gets is just right. She’s very likely my favorite part of the whole book.

While in her Changeland, Arika finds an enemy and Narrah finds a potential ally. Both show up later when Arika returns the favor and comes to Narrah’s rescue in his Changeland. It’s really kind of hard to describe, read it yourself. His is radically different and more hazardous — as are the conditions he finds himself in. I don’t want to get into the story beyond that, but let me just say that nothing in the story worked out the way I expected, and I’m so glad for it. The novel ended in such a way as to be initially dissatisfying, but with just a little thought, it was perfect — you don’t want more than you’re given, really — it seems like you do, but after a little time and thought, you get why he doesn’t the way he ended it the way he does, and actually end up pretty satisfied with the whole novel.

Oh yeah, there’s this great part that turns out to be a description of Echolocation. That was cool — I know I was wearing a big grin for a few paragraphs once I figured out that’s what was going on. That’s just an aside and your results my vary, but I really dug that scene. Almost as nifty are Narrah’s new abilities, and I’ll just leave it at that.

Flynn gives us clear, well-defined, and distinct characters here. I can’t say that I got too emotionally attached to any of them — but I was very curious about all of them. I imagined more of what life was like for the twins and their friends growing up in their circumstances, what made the various people who left their settlement do so, and just what might happen after the book ends. At the end of the day, these are people you want to see succeed, even if you don’t have that big emotional bond with them.

Once you get your bearings (which took a little longer for me than it should’ve, I think I had an off day), you can really get into this world and get an idea how things function (or don’t) on the Australian continent — and you can guess what’s going on in the rest of the world, too. Between the powers, the hard life and the machinations of the leaders — there’s plenty going on to keep you turning the pages — some is exciting, some is rich in imagery, some is tense and all is entertaining.

A heckuva debut novel — I can’t look forward to more enough.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this novel from the author in exchange for my participation in the Book Tour and my honest post.

—–

4 Stars

A Few Quick Questions With…S. C. Flynn

By HCNewton

On September 22, 2016

In A Few Quick Questions With..., Book Tour, Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

You’ve maybe seen him here and there in the feedback for various and sundry posts, I know I have. S. C. Flynn’s been all over this blog — and I appreciate it. Thankfully, his book was good enough that I didn’t have to feel awkward (because it’s all about me, right?) Here’s a lil’ Q&A that S.C. and I did this week. I didn’t actually ask him more questions than usual — he edited my questions to make the answers better.

1. Why Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy (I didn’t even know that was a thing)?.

It is rare; I can hardly think of any examples of this sub-genre, and those are a long way from CHILDREN OF THE DIFFERENT. I suppose post-apocalyptic fantasy is rare because, as I see it, it is a mix of science fiction and fantasy. SF provides the background – in my case, an epidemic that affects the human brain such that by adolescence the second generation of survivors are already in part a new human species with enhanced abilities. Then the fantasy comes in, based on science and a little bit of magic!
I found this a neat way to let my imagination go where it wanted, while still having a plausible basis in our world.

2. Why YA?

I have written various other novels – all fantasy, but very different from this one – and been close to breaking into conventional publishing via professional literary agents over a period of many years. I had never written Young Adult before, though, so it was something new to try, together with the new strategy of quality self-publishing that I am carrying out, with an all-pro support team.
Writing YA has been a really enjoyable challenge. A Young Adult novel must have all the things that any good novel must have: strong plot, well-developed characters and convincing setting. By definition, the writer is limited in how much sex, coarse language and graphic violence can be included in a YA novel. That means that you have to work harder with those basic components I mentioned – plot, characters and setting, in order to achieve your effects you need.
Once I had the basic idea – namely, following the brain disease epidemic that destroyed civilisation, adolescents go into a coma and emerge either with special powers or as dangerous Ferals – the choice of YA was made for me. The logical time for this Changing to occur was at the onset of puberty, so the main characters (twins Arika and Narrah – a girl and a boy) are 13 years old. Arika and Narrah can read and write, but they have always lived in a small, isolated non-industrial settlement, and their language and thoughts are conditioned by their limited knowledge of the world. In CHILDREN, we see everything from the twins’ viewpoint, so the style in which their story is told necessarily had to be simple and clear. That fits perfectly with the Young Adult audience.

3. What was it about this story that made you say — yup, this is the one?

CHILDREN OF THE DIFFERENT leaped into my mind almost fully formed once I had the basic idea. Of all my novels, CHILDREN was by far the easiest and quickest to write, at least as far as the first draft was concerned.

I am an obsessive reviser, so that was four years ago, during which time there have been long pauses while I was revising other novels, or even – surprisingly enough – taking some time off from revision. Still, the first draft of CHILDREN virtually wrote itself – every day when I needed a scene, it was there ready-made.
I had never written about Australia before, so probably, without realising it, I had a great amount of background knowledge ready to use. My other novels are quasi-historical fantasy and required a lot of research.

I think the main characters really wanted to tell their story, as well.

4. You’ve been doing the SF/F blog thing for a while now — how has that helped you as a novelist??

The style of writing that works on a blog is completely different from what fiction requires, so I see them as two separate skills. As I said before, I have written novels for many years, so my fiction style was probably formed in large part before I started blogging.

Blogging certainly keeps you up with the latest books and what people are saying about them, and the skills of writing blog posts is essential for trying to publicise your fiction. Setting up a blog also brought me out of my corner, where I had been writing for years, and got me into contact with lots of cool people who have helped and encouraged me.

5. What’s the one (or two) book/movie/show in the last 5 years that made you say, “I wish I’d written that?”

Wool by Hugh Howey. A very clever dystopian idea, and also a book that helped to revolutionise the self-publishing industry.

6. Aside from a burning desire to buy copies to give away as gifts, what are you hoping your readers take away from this book?

An optimistic post-apocalyptic story like CHILDREN is an important one to tell, for me. It contains a warning about the dangers of technology, together with hope for what our society could achieve if technology were used for good purposes.

CHILDREN also contains a hopeful message that our very young people can achieve great things. Like the twins, adolescents are not stupid, but just lacking in experience, exposed to dangerous influences and struggling to work out who or what they are turning into. It is up to us to give them the best chance we can and leave them the best world we possibly can./td>

7. What’s next for S. C. Flynn?

There has so far been a fair bit of interest from reviewers in seeing more of the world of CHILDREN OF THE DIFFERENT. So, one possibility would be to write a sequel.
The alternative would be to publish one of the completed novels I referred to before. Three of those are of publishable quality, in my opinion, having been through years of editing by professional literary agents, as well as my own fanatical revision.For now, I will wait and see what happens with CHILDREN.

Thanks so much for your time, and I hope your launch week meets with a lot of success.

Children of the Different by S. C. Flynn Book Tour

By HCNewton

On September 22, 2016

In Book Tour, Fiction, Science Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

Welcome to our Book Tour stop for Children of the Different. Along with this blurb about the book I’ve got a Q & A with the author, S. C. Flynn and my 2¢ about the book.

Book Details:

Book Title: Children of the Different by S. C. Flynn
Release date: September 10, 2016
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Fantasy
Extract: THE ANTEATER

Book Description:

Nineteen years ago, a brain disease known as the Great Madness killed most of the world’s population. The survivors all had something different about their minds. Now, at the start of adolescence, their children enter a trance-like state known as the Changeland and either emerge with special mental powers or as cannibalistic Ferals.

In the great forest of south-western Australia, thirteen year-old Arika and her twin brother Narrah go through the Changeland. They encounter an enemy known as the Anteater who feeds on human life. He exists both in the Changeland and in the outside world, and he wants the twins dead.

After their Changings, the twins have powers that let them fight their enemy and face their destiny on a long journey to an abandoned American military base on the north-west coast of Australia. If they can reach it before time runs out.

Author Info:

SCy-Fy: the blog of S. C. Flynn

https://twitter.com/LaughRiotPress

https://twitter.com/SCyFlynn

S. C. Flynn’s Amazon Page

Ascent by M. T. Miller

By HCNewton

On September 21, 2016

In Fantasy, Fiction, M. T. Miller

Ascent: Second Book of the Nameless Chronicle

by M. T. Miller
Series: The Nameless Chronicle, #2

Kindle Edition, 316 pg.
2016

Read: September 3, 2016

Can you read this without having read Risen? Yeah, but it’d be better if you didn’t (and Risen is short enough that you might was well). I’m not sure how much time has passed since the last page of the first book, but we find Nameless pretty much how we left him — wandering along, on the verge of . . . whatever exactly would happen to him if he didn’t get more energy. Like before, almost as soon as he gets to town, he falls victim to a gang of sorts and is mugged. Of course, his first order of business (after recuperating from the beating) is revenge, which will give him the energy he needs to move around the Pyramid to search for the explanations he needs to understand his abilities, his nature and identity.

What’s the Pyramid, you ask? It’s a city in a giant 4-tiered structure (each tier housing a different caste). Nameless adopts a name, makes a little money on the lowest level — full of crime, poverty and menial labor — and buys himself access to the next level. Where he finds a new — and legal — way to use his fighting abilities to make money. Things go haywire from there.

There’s a lot more going on in this book than there was in its predecessor, Risen — if for no other reason than it’s almost 3 times as long. It’s still the same kind of book — full of violence, some pretty good fight scenes, and a post-apocalyptic culture that’s foreign, yet all-too familiar. There are many more characters, relating to Nameless in a variety of ways — friendship, camaraderie, betrayal, exploitation, to name a few.

The way things went in Book One, I assumed that we were going to learn Nameless’ origins, etc. over the course of a handful of books. Nope — we get almost every question we had about where he came from answered — and almost all of them are just dumped on us. There was no slow and steady learning here, just BAM! here are your answers. And it worked — much better than a slow reveal, a giant dropping of information (which I usually am opposed to) took care of everything (while still leaving me with almost as many questions as Nameless had).

I shouldn’t neglect to say that just because Nameless has almost all of his questions answered here, that he knows what to do with this information. I’m guessing part (or all of that) will be revealed in Book Three.

I don’t normally do this, but I while writing this I went back to my post about Risen and chuckled because what I said there as a lot like the next point on my outline: “My one complaint is length — just about everything is too short. The story is too short, most of the scenes are, too. But I’m pretty sure that’s just my wanting more for myself — to give us longer scenes would ruin the pacing, would mess with the way Miller’s constructing the series. And really, when you get down to it “I wanted more!” is more of a compliment than a complaint — but I’m calling it one nonetheless.” His scenes aren’t too short this time, but everything else I said there is still true. A lot of the action (especially the violence) is given to us in summary form — we see the “important” fights, the ones that shape the story, but the rest is given in something like a re-cap mode (ditto with the flirting, with his conversations with others, and so on). So clearly, this is the kind of thing that’s 1. Miller’s style and/or 2. The style of this series. Either are perfectly acceptable. And honestly? If he’d given us more of the fights, more about Nameless’ days in the new society he’d encountered, etc. I’d likely be complaining that he’s reveling in the violence, bogging down the story with the details. So what do I know?

Ascent is a book that kept you guessing and leaves you in a very different world than you thought you were in at the beginning — with a status quo that is so far from what it initially was that it’ll leave you reeling. Taut, well-paced, with some pretty good hand-to-hand combat scenes — and it won’t let you go until the very end. Miller’s really got something going here.

Disclaimer — I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for my honest opinion. I appreciate that, Mr. Miller — and thanks for being so cool about me forgetting the date.

—–

3.5 Stars

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany & Jack Thorne

By HCNewton

On September 16, 2016

In Fiction, Harry Potter, J. K. Rowling, YA/MG/Children's Books

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child – Parts One and Two (Special Rehearsal Edition)

by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany & Jack Thorne
Series: Harry Potter, #8

Hardcover, 308 pg.
Scholastic, Inc., 2016
Read: September 2, 2016

I went into this with low expectations for a few reasons (negative buzz being one of many), and sadly had them all met — I don’t think anything were exceeded.

This is fan-fiction, pure and simple. Sure, it’s official fan-fiction written in conjunction with Rowling — but it’s not the same series, it doesn’t feel the same. It feels like someone’s trying to recapture what they had, in just a slightly different form. I’m fine with that — if people want to throw money at Rowling, Tiffany and Thorne for doing this? Let them. Let’s just not pretend it’s more than what it is.

The story primarily focuses on Harry and Ginny’s middle child, Albus. Albus is pretty uncomfortable living in the shadow of the Boy Who Lived — he doesn’t like the notoriety or pressure that comes with that territory. Which is absolutely understandable — especially now that he’s at Hogwarts, where Harry’s legend is strongest. Between that, and typical teenager strife with Dad leads Albus to take some really big risks with banned magical technology.

These risks center on time travel — and this is where it lost me. I just can’t stand the kind of stories where someone goes back in time with perfectly good intentions and messes things up, changing the future so much that it’s not recognizable. So then they (or someone else) have to go back in time again to prevent/minimize the damage. And magically, this second (or third) intervention restores everything back to the way it was before the time travelers left. Sure, this is a series in which magical things like that are clearly possible. But there’s possible and too-incredible. It almost doesn’t matter how good this story/execution was, I wouldn’t be crazy about it.

The writing was . . . okay. Nothing spectacular, nothing that had the same …”magic” as the other books in the series. It’s not as bad as many claim — but it’s not as good as others claim either. How some of this can be staged, I just can’t imagine. I’m not saying it can’t be — but wow, that’s a real technical challenge, I’d think.

There were some nice moments, some great fan-service stuff — and I’m very glad I got to meet Scorpius Malfoy. I’d rather spend time with him than any of the rest of the descendants of the original series, there’s something very cool about this kid. I should also mention that there’s some nice father-son moments with Harry and Albus.

On the whole, I’m glad I read this, but I really can’t get crazy about it.

—–

3 Stars

The Hidden Oracle by Rick Riordan

By HCNewton

On September 16, 2016

In Fantasy, Fiction, Rick Riordan, YA/MG/Children's Books

The Hidden Oracle

by Rick Riordan
Series: Trials of Apollo, #1

Hardcover, 361 pg.
Disney-Hyperion, 2016

Read: August 31, 2016

Only 361 pages? Riordan is taking it easy on his readers. And maybe himself.

Anyway, following the events of The Heroes of Olympus, Zeus is a little displeased with Apollo and demonstrates this by turning him into a human teen (read: YA/MG novel star) and casting him to earth. He appears to be fully human — not even a demigod like Percy and the rest. Speaking of Percy, as soon as Apollo figures out what happened to him and where he is, he makes a beeline for Percy’s apartment to get help. Smart move. Percy gets him to Camp Halfblood and disappears back to NYC to do homework.

Once there, Apollo begins trying to figure out what quest he’ll have to do to return his status to quo. Along the way, he’ll make some friends, get a better perspective on himself and his offspring (yeah, that’s not weird), and maybe go through some of that personal growth. Note that I said, “some” personal growth and “better” perspective — that’s not saying much, basically Apollo comes across as a teenaged-Gilderoy Lockheart with a conscience. Instead of the large number of missions that we’ve become accustomed to in these books, there’s really just one (plus the series-arc mission) — such a nice change.

A lot of people from the Percy Jackson and The Heroes series are name-dropped and discussed, not to mention the few that we see — there’s even a nod to the Magnus Chase series — thankfully, my favorite is one of those who shows up in the flesh. There’s also a good amount of in-jokes to please the long-time fans. But readers new to this universe shouldn’t be put off by any of this — it’s absolutely approachable, maybe even moreso than anything since The Lightning Thief.

This is told in the typical breezy style that characterized non-adult mystery Riordan novels, but given the different protagonist, feels a little fresher. A little briefer, a little change of pace — still full of that Riordan magic. The Hidden Oracle is a sold first-entry in yet another adventure in this world. Give it a shot.

—–

3.5 Stars

The Key to the Coward’s Spell by Alex Bledsoe

By HCNewton

On September 6, 2016

In Alex Bledsoe, Eddie LaCrosse, Fantasy, Fiction, Mystery/Detective Fiction/Crime Fiction/Thriller

The Key to the Coward’s Spell

by Alex Bledsoe
Series: Eddie LaCrosse, #?

Kindle Edition, 27 pg.
Tor Books, 2016

Read: September 3, 2016

This over-before-you-realize-it short story is a welcome dip of the toe back into the world of Eddie LaCrosse, sword jockey (i.e., medieval private eye). Bledsoe’s Tufa series is one of the best things around, but man, I enjoy this series so much.

LaCrosse has been hired by a local blacksmith to find his kidnapped son. LaCrosse is sporting a broken arm, so he’s going to need a little more help than normal, Jane Argo, for one — and some new faces, too. There’s really not a lot to say, here — half of the action takes place before the story starts. LaCrosse gets a little more intel, and then jumps into action.

The action is brief and to the point — with a nice twist or two along the way. Nothing special, but it’s a good couple of sequences. And a brief reminder that no matter what you dress it up in — modern time/tech/clothing, generic fantasy tropes, SF, whatever — there are some forms of evil that transcend those details and are just evil that need to be fought in whatever little way we can.

Yeah, it was fun to spend some time in this world and with LaCrosse and everyone. But man, just as you get into it, the story’s over. Just not enough to really satisfy, but it was a fun taste. I don’t know that this is a good intro to the character (it might be), but it’s a good reminder for those who’ve met him before that they want to read more about him.

—–

3 Stars

Timothy Other: The Boy Who Climbed Marzipan Mountain by L. Sydney Abel

By HCNewton

On September 2, 2016

In Fiction, YA/MG/Children's Books

Timothy Other: The Boy Who Climbed Marzipan Mountain

by L. Sydney Abel
Series: Timothy Other, #1

Kindle Edition, 325 pg.
Speaking Volumes, 2016

Read: August 11 – 13, 2016

A nameless boy is left at the Dreams and Hopes Orphanage (and don’t think I didn’t have to concentrate really hard not to flip those two every time I read/wrote the name) and is named Timothy Other — which is not the most interesting name in the book, trust me — where he spends the first twelve years of his life happy, healthy (insanely so) and cared for. Until the man who ran the orphanage dies and the bank takes ownership of the mortgaged-to-the-hilt facility. The people that take it over might as well have been Miss Hannigan and Dolores Umbridge.

Not surprisingly, Timothy wants something else in his life, runs away — and straight out of Candide ends up at Marzipan Mountain (his name for it); befriending a giant mouse, caterpillar and Sasquatch-like creature; and on the trail of his birth parents (something he learns much later); and a way to rescue the orphanage. Meanwhile, back home we learn about the nefarious schemes that are behind the takeover of the orphanage and the various motivations behind them.

Some of the subject matter and way it’s depicted seem a little more “adult,” dark or whatever than is acceptable for kids’ literature. On the whole (there might be a line or two I wouldn’t defend), this is silly and doesn’t give kids enough credit. It also ignores the history of these kind of books — from Lewis Carroll and J. M. Barrie to Rowling and Gaiman — kids can handle this stuff if presented right. Frequently better than adults can.

Eventually, Timothy and one of his new friends come back home to save the day, right wrongs, and give many the happy ending you expect given the genre and setup. There’s a bit of redemption, a bit of justice, and a lot of hope and love at work here — Dreams and Hopes, I guess you could say, as these various characters pursue the Golden Life and launch Timothy on further adventures in the sequel(s). All the makings of a good introductory novel for a series.

There’s a nice hat-tip to another British children’s fantasy series that should tickle everyone who catches it — and mean nothing at all to those who don’t.

With each major character (and most of the minor) there’s a moment or two, a couple of lines, or a scene that doesn’t seem to fit with what we’ve been told/seen about the character. It’d take too much space to illustrate this, but when you get to that scene (and you’ll recognize it just about every time), just shake it off and move on, Timothy or Edwin or Itling or whoever will get back to themselves soon.

I had a hard time nailing down the feel of this one, there’s sort of a fairy-tale feel to it. Not Grimm Brothers’ fairy-tale, but the warm-fuzzy kind (with a hint of the other), like J. K. Rowling-light. Even a dash Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle at the beginning. Later on, it morphs into a Neil Gaiman-esque children’s book feel. Now, Abel never quite hits the Rowling/MacDonald/Lewis/Gaiman tone exactly — which is good, he’s doing his own thing, but it’s in those ballparks. The one thing that would help his tone is a bit more economy of words — he takes a few too many to pull of the whimsy, the sense of play, that he seems to be going for.

Actually, that goes for pretty much the book as a whole — Abel could’ve trimmed just about everything a bit. It’s a slow read, which is not necessary a bad thing, I’ve got nothing against them. But I think it works against what he’s trying to do and I think I have a little more patience than the target audience would. I’m not saying it needs to be a hundred pages shorter — but it could read a little smoother, quicker. Really — how many people noticed the length of Goblet of Fire? You didn’t because of the way it was written (not just the exciting parts, either).

I want to be clear, I’m not saying the writing isn’t good — but the pacing and language are so close to being very good, the fact that he misses the target by a little emphasizes the fact that he missed it. This is a winsome and charming book that should enchant younger readers, if they just give it the opportunity.

Disclaimer: I received a copy of this book from the author in exchange for this post/my honest thoughts. I’d like to thank him for the book and for his patience, I took far too long with this.

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3 Stars

Trampling in the Land of Woe by William Galaini

By HCNewton

On August 26, 2016

In Fiction

Trampling in the Land of Woe

by William Galaini
Series: Patron Saints of Hell, #1

Kindle Edition, 360 pg.
Scarlet River Press, 2015

Read: August 24 – 25, 2016

This is a well-written, imaginative book with a stack of great characters — they have depth, individual voices and points of view. Coming up with the idea of this book is a stroke of something, I’m not sure what. I trust that Galaini’s parents had him tested as a child.

How do you even give a synopsis of this? Imagine Dante’s After-Life, but fuzzier on morality/religion/ethics than the Alighieri would be comfortable with. Denizens of Purgatory (and the Heavenbound) can move around from place to place (not sure if the damned can, it doesn’t appear so) — at least to “lower” levels than their own. As technology among the living advances, the dead use it, too — but instead of regular old Steam Power, they use Hellfire — which is a much better source of energy (for example). Living for thousands of years gives you plenty of time to refine your science.

Now, Alexander the Great’s right hand man, lifelong friend, and companion, Hephaestion, has decided that Alexander’s been consigned to Hell long enough and is going to liberate him. Hephaestion has been in Purgatory since his death and has spent a millennia or so preparing for his rescue mission. He’s going to sneak into Hell, track Alexander down and slip out the back door. The plan goes awry from almost the beginning and Hephaestion has to rely on newly minted friends and allies to get him where he’s going.

For some reason that’s only made clear at the end, the Jesuits aren’t fans of this, and use a variety of means (bribes, threats, assassins) to dissuade Hephaestion and his friends from their quest. Many of these assassins are ninjas. Which is just cool, I gotta say.

There’s all sorts of strange magic, odd beasts, crazy settings and some great fight scenes here — Galaini can write. Make no mistake.

But man, I just didn’t like it — I didn’t connect with any of the characters (there’s a couple I might’ve been able to, if they’d been around more), the quest seemed wrong-headed and doomed at best (as at least one person tried to tell Hephaestion), and I couldn’t muster up the interest to get invested. I persisted, in case he won me over (and Galaini came close), because I told the publisher I would, and I was mildly curious. My curiosity wasn’t rewarded, sadly. I’m not saying it’s a bad book — it’s not. It’s not a book for me.

I’m giving it 3 because it deserves at least that objectively on merit — my gut says to give it two, it just didn’t click for me — but it’s so well-written than I have to bump it up one. I do expect many would like it more than me, and if I’d read it at some other point in time, I might have liked it more (but I don’t think so).

Disclaimer: – I received a copy of this book from the publisher in exchange for my honest opinion. I thank them for the opportunity.

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3 Stars