Wizard at Large

Here we are: halfway through Terry Brooks' Magic Kingdom of Landover series! I honestly didn't remember Wizard at Large at all, so I was quite interested to see what happened.

This time around, Questor Thews has found a means to reverse the spell on Abernathy. Abernathy was turned into a Wheaten Terrier years ago by Questor, who was unable to change him back. But in order for the magic to work, he needs a catalyst: he asked Ben Holiday for the use of his medallion. But the spell goes awry, and Abernathy and the medallion change places for a magical bottle that contains a powerful demon (a darkling). Abernathy finds himself in Ben's world and in the home of Michel Ard Rhi, the ex-prince of Landover, the very man who Questor hid him from by changing him into a dog!

After the bottle is stolen by the G'home Gnomes, Ben and Willow ultimately end up going to Ben's world to try to track down Abernathy and the medallion while Questor and company continue trying to retrieve the bottle. Ben enlists the help of his former partner and good friend Miles Bennett to help find Abernathy and Michel Ard Rhi. Meanwhile Questor and company track the bottle to the Greensward, but when it is stolen again, and ends up in the hands of Nightshade, Questor decides he needs the help of Strabo to retrieve the others from Earth so they can deal with the demon once and for all.

The end of Wizard at Large is a lot of fun. First there's a ridiculous wizard battle between Questor Thews and Strabo, where Questor manages to hold his own through sheer luck. Then, just when things seem hopeless for Ben and the others (Willow is dying because she can't make her monthly change in our world, they've been detained by the police and Michel Ard Rhi is coming to charge them with the theft of the medallion), Questor comes flying in on Strabo and they escape back to Landover! Strabo is also all to happy to bring them to Nightshade, thinking he's going to watch Ben Holiday die at her hand (with the help of the demon).

But I didn't like how everything lead to that deus ex machina solution for Ben Holiday and company. They were trapped and could not get out of their circumstances. They tried a lot of different things and nearly succeed, but in the end it doesn't matter: they get caught and can't get away. It was only through the arrival of Strabo that they were able to escape. I know that the book was building to that moment (and it was, objectively, a lot of fun), but it felt so unsatisfying for their storyline.

I also found parts of this book a bit of a slog. There's a lot of chasing after things that everyone just keeps on missing (the bottle and the demon get away from Questor and company because they find the G'home Gnomes when they no longer have the bottle, then they track down the trolls who had it but the trolls killed each other, with the last one bringing it to the Lords of the Greensward, then the bottle is stolen from everyone by a completely unexpected random magical creature (a shadow wight, which had not been introduced in any way prior to this encounter), who tries to bring it to the River Master, but ends up bringing it to Nightshade after the Rivermaster uses it and decides he cannot resist its power after he uses the darkling to bring Willow's mother to him and almost kills her in the process), trying to escape from things, getting caught again (Abernathy gets away from Michel Ard Rhi with the help of a little girl, but ends up kidnapped again by him not long after getting away because he went to someone for help and they wanted to make some money off him because he's a real talking dog before helping). Ben and Willow go from one place to another with Willow quickly getting sicker and sicker - she does what she can to help, but she very nearly dies because she didn't make the change before going to Ben's world. It was only in the last 50-70 pages, where the wizard battle happens and Strabo crashes into the building to save everyone that things got fun and I wanted to keep reading.  

I originally gave this book 4/5 stars when I read it many years ago. I think it deserves about a 3.5/5 (and so I will leave the book at 4/5 stars for now) - I thought it was better than The Black Unicorn (and a lot more fun), but by no means amazing.

The Black Unicorn

Continuing on with my Magic Kingdom of Landover rereading adventure brings me to book 2: The Black Unicorn. Ben Holiday has been High King in Landover for one year, and things are going rather well. But then he has a dream in which his former business partner and friend back in our world, Miles Bennett, is in trouble. The dream feels real, and he feels compelled to go and make sure Miles is okay. When he tells his friends about his dream, it turns out that both Questor Thews and Willow have also had equally compelling dreams: Questor was shown the location of the missing books of magic, and Willow dreamt that a demonic black unicorn was loose in Landover and she needed to find a magical golden bridle and bring it back to Ben so he could stop it. They all decide to go and see if their dreams are real (plus Ben wants to deal with his affairs in a more permanent way now that it's been a year that he's been gone). Ben sends the two kobolds, Bunion and Parsnip, to accompany Questor and Willow; he can't bring anyone back with him to Earth.

Questor and Bunion's quest is a quick success: they find the tomes where the dream promised they would be with little problem. Willow, with Parsnip in tow, heads back to her people to see if she can gain some more information on the bridle and the black unicorn.  And Ben makes it back to our world, only to be confronted by Meeks, the wizard who sold Ben the kingdom (and who is angry that he was shut out of said kingdom when Ben proved to be a worthy king after all). Thankfully this first vision of Meeks is just that: a vision. So Ben does everything in his power to make it back to Chicago under the radar, paying with cash where he can so as not to leave a paper trail. But when he gets to the office, he's confronted by another ghostly apparition of Meeks. Thankfully Miles is alright, so Ben hightails it back to Landover as quickly as he can.

But on his first night back, after puzzling over the books of magic with Questor and Abernathy for awhile (one is a burnt out book, the second only has pictures of unicorns in it), Ben awakens from another dream (one in which he gave his medallion to Meeks) only to find the wizard gloating over him. It seems Meeks was able to hitch a ride back into Landover using Ben! And to add to the horror, Meeks pulls out the medallion, showing Ben that he now wears one tarnished and with the wizard's image, rather than his Paladin and Sterling Silver. Meeks then uses illusion magic to make Ben look different and to make himself look like Ben, then he has Ben banished from the castle. Ben decides that the only thing he can do is try to catch up with Willow and warn her that her dream was sent by Meeks. He sets out alone for the River Country, but is shortly joined by Edgewood Dirk, a fairy prism cat who has decided to accompany him on his journey. And so the two set out, trying desperately to catch up to the sylph.

Like Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold!, I didn't really remember much of the plot of The Black Unicorn. I remembered that Edgewood Dirk was in the book because he is the best character, but I didn't even remember that he was accompanying Ben (I thought he accompanied Willow like he does in the fourth book in the series, The Tangle Box). Little bits of the story seemed somewhat familiar as they happened, but there were a lot of things I thought might happen that didn't (like I thought Willow would be the one to help Ben break the spell). 

Thinking of breaking the spell....Ben Holiday is so incredibly dense in this book! One of the first people he visits, The River Master (Willow's father), tries to heal him, and flat out tells Ben that the magic enchanting him is of his own making. Dirk keeps telling Ben things about the spell and about how dreams work (but in his roundabout cat way which Ben has no patience for - I was complaining about this to my partner and we concluded that Ben Holiday is a dog person who does not like cats, otherwise he would have clued in at some point to what Dirk was telling him). Dirk practically spells it out near the end of the book, and Ben STILL had to waste time figuring things out. It was really upsetting to read after awhile, especially when you remember that Ben is supposed to be this super sharp and whip smart lawyer. 

I do think though that some of this could have been better had events unfolded a little differently. After their visit with the River Master, Ben and Dirk end up going to see Nightshade in an ill-fated attempt to get the bridle. Nightshade is still incredibly angry at Ben for sending her into the fairy mists with the Io Dust a year ago. She sees through the illusion and decides to bring him to Strabo. The dragon currently has possession of the bridle, and she is hoping to trade Ben for the bridle (since Strabo is also mad at Ben for using the Io Dust on him). Strabo is likewise able to see through the illusion; both Strabo and Nightshade decide it's because they are old, magical beings; they offer no further explanation. This encounter might have worked better before Ben's conversation with The River Master because it offered a few hints but no real substance as to what was enchanting him.

I also had a pretty good idea that Meeks didn't have the medallion because Ben was still able to talk to everyone. I remembered from the first book (and it's mentioned again at the beginning of this one) that it's the medallion that lets Ben read, write, speak, and understand the language the people in Landover speak. Had he lost the medallion he wouldn't have been able to communicate with anyone, unless Meeks had given his tarnished medallion that ability as well (and let's be honest, why would he bother?)

Also, Strabo and Nightshade were hilarious. Ben and company got away because the two of them started insulting each other then fighting. Had that not happened, Ben was as good as dead.

And then at the end, even though it's Willow who found the black unicorn, Willow who braved touching it despite all the warnings that she would be lost if she did, and Willow who got all the memories from the unicorn, Ben was the one who explained everything about the unicorns and the books of magic to his friends. I felt like he was mansplaining (though I know this isn't an accurate use of the term: he wasn't talking down to her and he did keep checking with her for confirmation). I felt like she was robbed of that moment which should have been hers to tell.

Despite my annoyances and complaints, I did think The Black Unicorn was a better book than Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! Where Magic Kingdom is an introduction, The Black Unicorn is building on what we know of the different characters. It's also telling a rather interesting story about where the wizards power comes from with some fun characters (like Dirk! I think one of my favourite moments is when Meeks and everyone are confronting each other and Dirk just waltzes into the middle of the field. Meeks takes one look at him and freaks out - clearly the wizard has some sort of history with prism cats). But like Magic Kingdom, I'm giving The Black Unicorn a downgraded rating from what I gave it years ago: it's going from a 4/5 to a 3/5.

And while I am going to continue this rereading adventure, I think I might take a break to read something else before I jump into the third book, Wizard at Large 

Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold!

I read the first five Magic Kingdom of Landover novels a long, long time ago (I think around 30 years ago!! I think it was in late elementary school) I remember really liking them, but I don't really remember them. So I decided I would reread them all, see what I think of them now, and finally read the final book for the first time. This is also my first time reading them in order; I originally read books 4 and 5 first, then went back to read 1, 2, and 3.

So first up is Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold!, which tells the story of Ben Holiday buying the Kingdom of Landover for $1,000,000 and becoming the King the fairy kingdom needs. I originally gave this book 4 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.

Ben Holiday sees the ad to buy Landover's kingship in a reputable magazine that his wife used to get. His wife, Annie, along with their unborn daughter, had passed away in an accident two years previously. Ben, a partner in a law firm, had mostly withdrawn from everyone, choosing instead to throw himself into his work. But his work is no longer challenging, and he feels he is losing himself; while quite likely a scam, he feels being King of a magic kingdom might be his ticket to start living again. 

I'd like to mention that, reading this now, I didn't like how Ben's grief was portrayed. I especially didn't like the insistence of his friend and fellow partner, Miles, that after two years Ben should be moving on. Grief doesn't work like that, and people need to grieve and feel their emotions at their own pace, not at the pace that society so often demands. 

I'd also like to note that when I read this when I was younger, I probably would have glossed over that part of the story. It seems reasonable when you haven't really experienced grief, especially from an unexpected loss. But now, years later, I was uncomfortable with this part of the story. 

So anyway, Ben Holiday meets with Meeks, the man responsible for selling the Kingship of Landover. Meeks deems him a suitable candidate precisely because he doesn't have any close ties to people (and, of course, because he is capable of paying the $1,000,000 fee). When Ben accepts, he is granted 10 days to experience the Kingdom and decide if he will stay, afterwhich the sale is final. Should he remain, he must also stay for one full year or else his purchase is forfeit.

But once he arrives, Ben discovers that the Kingdom is in shambles. There is a blight destroying the land, the magic castle, Sterling Silver, that he is to live in, is tarnishing and dying. The coffers are empty, and the various people of the land are fighting. But even after losing most of his ten day grace period due to the magical mishaps of Questor Thews, the court magician, Ben decides to stay for the challenge, and to prove he is more than the play-King many people accuse him of being. But his time is limited: the demon lord known as the Mark will challenge him for the throne by Midwinter. Will Ben be able to reunite the people in time to stop the demon, especially when the conditions they give for their pledges of fealty are impossible?

I honestly didn't remember a lot of the plot. I remembered a few bits and pieces here and there, but lots felt new: the stuff with the Mark, the people of the Greensward, how Ben met Willow at the Irrylyn. I remembered that Ben did something to make both Nightshade and Strabo hate him, but not the specifics of what happened between them (and I did find it funny that they got mad at him for tricking him, but they both intended to either trick him, kill him, or both). I remembered the truth of the Paladin, but not what it took for Ben to discover it (basically accepting that Landover was his home). I also didn't remember that he went into the Fairy Mists (I remember Willow getting help from the Fairy People in later books and traveling through thr Mists, and maybe Ben returning to Earth in a later book, too. But not his foray here at Nightshade's insistence). 

I did remember the main characters (Ben, Willow, Questor, Abernathy, Nightshade, Strabo, and sort of the River Master), but not some of the lesser characters like the kobolds Bunion and Parsnip. Or the G'home Gnomes, Filip and Sot (but when they were introduced, I did remember the name G'home Gnomes and where it came from). 

I also had a harder time liking Ben Holiday in this book. At times I liked him: he was clever and loyal to his new friends. But at other times I didn't, like when he would get mad and kick the gnomes for no reason; it felt like there were two versions of Ben Holiday and they were often at odds. I also didn't like Willow. She was very flat in this book. I remember her being a lot more active, and hopefully that will be the case in later books. Even her introduction was weird - I know she's a fairy creature, but her falling in love with Ben (and completely abandoning her home and people) just because he happened to be the man who saw her on a certain night at the Irrylyn felt contrived. And I'm not really sure how old she was supposed to be, but Ben was supposed to be about 40, and the book kept calling her a girl....so yeah, that felt uncomfortable. Again, these are things I noticed now that would have gone right over my head when I originally read the book.

So when I finished rereading Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold!, I felt that it didn't deserve the 4 stars that I gave it when I was younger. I downgraded it to a 3 (it would have been a 2.5/5 book I think, but you can't give half stars on Goodreads): I still liked parts of it, but there are other parts that, 30 years later, didn't really sit well with me. I'm interested to see what I will think of the rest of the series! 

 

Edit, Sept 18/26: I just finished reading The Black Unicorn, the second book in the series, and am now downgrading Magic Kingdom for Sale - Sold! to a 2/5, while I'm giving The Black Unicorn a 3/5. 

The Wicked + The Divine Vol 1-4 Rereads

I was browsing on Comics Plus, a comic reading app my local library offers, and found most of The Wicked + The Divine is available on it. I never did read any more after finishing Volume 4 back in 2016, so I decided to start it again and see what I think now. I honestly didn't remember much of what happens in the first 4 volumes. But I think I enjoyed them a lot more this time around. 

I just reread what I wrote about these volumes back in 2016. I didn't find the dance party of Dionysus as bad this time around (it was still a bit confusing, but I wasn't trying to follow it super closely either this time - they were partying, and that was good enough). I also just looked up the god Nergal, and he sounds pretty interesting - I'm not sure why Baphomet lied about who he is. I also didn't really get why people didn't like the Goddess Tara so much (but I also didn't read the pages of terrible social media posts about her, so maybe there was something in there?) 

Needless to say, I'm quite enjoying the story this time around, and can't wait to see where things go now that Ananke is dead...

Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Vol 7-10

Continuing reading through the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers series of graphic novels at the library, I'm now at volumes 7-10, which cover the Shattered Grid and Beyond the Grid story lines, so these four were all rereads for me.  I wasn't sure what I would think of them on the reread (and after reading Masters of the Multiverse, which I seem to have forgotten to talk about on this blog - I loved it though, and will write about it when I reread it!)  But if anything, I actually enjoyed Shattered Grid more!  I felt like I had a better handle on all the characters this time around, and even caught a few things I missed the first time I read it!

And of course, unlike last time, I now know the events that led up to Shattered Grid.  I saw the first time the Rangers tangled with Drakkon, how he was being held by Grace's company, and exactly how he escaped.  So that definitely gave me a better grounding in the story than the first time I read it. 

This read-through also reinforced just how much I love Lord Drakkon as a character.  The idea of an evil Tommy Oliver who remained with Rita Repulsa is just so good!  I love how very flawed he is, and how he just doesn't understand the other Tommy Olivers of the Power Rangers multiverse, and how they can all be so "weak" because of their friends (even though it is their friends who give them their power).  And even at the very end, he refuses to let anyone in and change.  He's such a fantastic villain, and Kyle Higgins did such a great job with all of his nuances.

But one thing that struck me on this time around was that the Ranger Slayer doesn't appear in the story at all prior to Shattered Grid.  I expected to see her in one of the earlier volumes with Lord Drakkon (and to see how she broke free of his mind control), but that didn't happen....but maybe that happened in the 2018 annual comic, which wasn't included in these volumes (that issue also included Lord Drakkon infiltrating a group to steal something from them - he shows Finster Five his spoils of war, but that's all I really know - it seems like that story took place between Drakkon escaping from Grace and Shattered Grid beginning).  I'm going to try to get a hold of that comic issue to see if that fills in the remaining gaps.

Likewise, Beyond the Grid was better the second time around, especially the beginning.  Knowing who Grace was seemed to help a lot - she was the Red Ranger for a team Zordon pulled together in the 60's.  Her team didn't know each other and had no training.  While their mission was ultimately successful, three of her team died.  She's carried this with her, and built everything from her company to her space ship to make the world a safer place.  She's also relentless in her belief that no one will be left behind.  It's knowing Grace that I think makes the beginning of Beyond the Grid a better read, even though the story is ultimately about the other Rangers with troubled pasts who come together into a team.

I also really like the friendship of the Ranger Slayer, Cameron, and Heckyl.  Kimberley and Heckyl in particular have similar pasts, and manage to find both forgiveness and friendship together.  I think that is one of my favourite parts of Beyond the Grid (especially the interlude where Heckyl explains his past - the three of them are having snacks together, and he specifically invited them to that little party to let them in on who he is, and they are both okay with him).  It ties beautifully into the whole theme of Beyond the Grid about second chances for everyone (and the right to choose a better path for everyone).

I'm now excited to read what comes next in the Mighty Morphin Power Rangers story.  What happens to the Rangers on board the Promethea?  Do they go back to their worlds without remembering each other?  Do they come together as a new team?  Hopefully volumes 11 and 12 will answer these questions!

Masters of the Universe: The Shard of Darkness (reread)

 

I first read Masters of the Universe: The Shard of Darkness over ten years ago.  At that time, I felt that it really starts in the middle of the story, and that you're missing what happens first.  While that's still true, with Man-At-Arms and Prince Adam initially discussing the new-found powers that Prince Adam now had responsibility of, I didn't feel like it was a problem.  Most people reading this would already know Prince Adam is He-Man, so why wouldn't he have to figure things out once he newly has his powers? 

When they're called to deal with a minor emergency, they discover that Orko has found the Shard of Darkness, a piece of the Shakarran Crystal, which the Eternian Elders had used to contain an ancient evil long ago.  The Sorceress tasks He-Man to journey alone to find the remaining shards that remain on Eternia so that they can be banished from the world.

Meanwhile, Evil-Lynn is also after the Shard of Darkness.  She plans to use its power to overthrow Skeletor and take over the world in his place.  To that end she has enlisted the help of Trapjaw and Tri-klops.

I have to say, I liked this a lot more this time!  While the story is relatively simple, it still fits really well with the Masters of the Universe.  I liked how Skeletor's henchmen (and woman) were all backstabbing each other (often without you ever really sure who was backstabbing whom!) And I really liked that He-Man was unsure of himself and his powers, yet still manages to overcome great odds, even as Prince Adam.

One thing that I found particularly interesting this time around was the Sorceress.  I've always thought of her as a caring and somewhat motherly figure.  But she seems quite cold here, trusting to prophecy without explaining herself to Man-At-Arms and He-Man.  I'm interested to see if the series will continue and have her grow, as well as Prince Adam?  Well, only one way to find out - I'm reading Volume 2 next!

Starcraft (Reread)

Lol!!!  So apparently I read Simon Furman's Starcraft graphic novel years ago, but didn't remember it at all!  The only reason I discovered it was a reread is because I marked it off on Goodreads!

This story follows a band of mercenaries who were sent to do the Terran Dominion's dirty work.  They're betrayed and scatter.  But two years later, they're given the chance to clear their names if they do one more job: kill the mercenary leader Jim Raynor.

The beginning of the comic is really hard to follow, especially when you're trying to figure out who all the characters are (I got hung up for a long time on trying to figure out if someone was left for dead but survived and came back, or if it was another character coming after them). I also had no real connection to any of the characters and didn't really care what was happening.  But by about halfway through, I started to put the pieces together a bit better and found myself caring about what happened to them.

Of course, the story was greatly boosted by Jim Raynor appearing.  He's such a great character and really added the touch that was missing, particularly for Cole Hickson's backstory (that they knew each other from before, and that Hickson helped Raynor get through an ordeal at a POW camp they were both in).

Unfortunately the series was cancelled before the second arc was finished, so I don't get to read more about these characters. :(

The Jewels of Elvish

I first read The Jewels of Elvish a long time ago.  I don't remember when exactly, but it was before I started this blog (and I believe before I read Eragon the first time, because I remembered far less of this book than that one).  I don't remember why exactly I picked it up (it may have been because I read The Lioness, another book by Nancy Varian Berberick which I quite liked and read before starting this blog).  I remember, at the time, loving The Jewels of Elvish.  I discovered there was a second book, A Child of Elvish.  It took me many years to find myself a copy.  Of course, at that point, I knew I'd have to reread The Jewels of Elvish so I could remember what happened before moving onto the sequel.  Getting around to rereading it also took me years (like with finishing the Inheritance Cycle, Jacob's Ladder, and the Jeremiah Hunt trilogy).

With the looming threat of the Sorcerer, an ancient foe who was defeated many years ago, reappearing, the Kingdoms of Mannish and Elvish have decided to forge a peace treaty between their two races, who have been warring for generations.  As part of that treaty, the Elvish princess Nikia is wed to the Mannish prince Garth.  Nikia is also presented with the Ruby of Guyaire, the symbol of Elvish rule, by her father.

Sent with only her loyal handmaiden, Lizbet, to live in the Mannish Citadel, an alien place made of stone (unlike the familiar wood of her people's buildings), Nikia struggles to find her place in her new home among the Mannish.  She slowly makes friends, first with her sister by marriage, Gweneth (the wife of crown prince Fenyan, Garth's older brother), and then with Dail, Master of Bards and Garth's cousin, and finds her place as Lady of the Bards, tasked by Garth's father to create new songs to inspire everyone in the wake of the Sorcerer's incursions into their lands.  But she also fights terrible prejudice, as many Mannish mistrust the Elvish thanks to the long years of animosity between the two people. 

But when war finally breaks out in the North, and Garth is lost and presumed dead, Nikia and her friends find themselves kidnapped by the Mannish mage, Reynarth, who has discovered that the Ruby of Guyaire is not just a symbol, but a powerful magical talisman.  Holding her friends and husband as hostage, the mage seeks to break Nikia to his will and use her to unlock its power. 

It's funny, while I remembered very little, as I started reading The Jewels of Elvish, I had a vague recollection of Prince Garth.  In the first chapter, when both the Elvish and Mannish Kings speak with their children of the treaty between their people, as soon as Garth was mentioned, I knew he was the one who marries Nikia (even though King Alain hadn't said anything yet).  I didn't really remember Nikia, nor did I remember Garth's brother, Prince Fenyan or the two kings.  But I had a vague recollection that I knew and liked Garth.  And that recollection proves true: Garth is very likeable, and far more open to his circumstances (specifically that he is part of the treaty with the Elvish) than his older brother, Fenyan.  I also love his introduction to Nikia - chasing his favourite hound while covered in mud and dirt, hours before their wedding when they weren't supposed to meet. 

I find it even funnier that I had no memory of Dail from the first time I read this book.  While Garth is Nikia's love, it's Dail who is far more present in the book, being her companion when her husband is sent off to war (and being by her side when she is kidnapped by Reynarth).  Dail is charming, funny, smart, and a good friend to her (even though he secretly longs for more).

I really liked Gweneth.  She was excited to have a sister and accepted Nikia without question.  She was also such a tragic character, having married for politics, just like Nikia (but without even real affection from her husband), and having miscarried multiple children (which led to Fenyan's distance).  I felt so sorry for her being stuck in Reynarth's machinations (which is another thing I vaguely remembered when talk of the miscarriages first sprung up in the book). Reynarth was also an interesting villain.  He wasn't remotely likeable, but he was also understandable, being driven by hatred for what he lost to the Elvish many years ago.  I also liked how he very much doomed himself, being caught up in a plot of betrayal against the Sorcerer, and himself planning on betraying the betrayer (not to mention he was a traitor to his people, using his magic unbeknownst to them to help the Sorcerer's troops). Needless to say, the characters are really what make this book.

Oh, I didn't mention Nikia either.  I liked her character.  She was a child who is forced to grow up thanks to her circumstances.  She's also got spunk and a heart of gold, even if it isn't always on display (she spends so much time finding her place among the Mannish that she isn't able to often, but this was best displayed when she helped Gweneth's son survive, and took the child from Fenyan so Gweneth could hold him before she died).  I thought there was a lot within Nikia that I could identify with, and so I found her story quite alluring.

The plot itself took some very dark turns once Garth disappeared and Nikia and company were kidnapped.  Prior to that, I was quite enjoying it as more of a political story, where Nikia is trying to deal with prejudices (I love the scene where she decides to stop being a victim, and plainly uses her magic rather than continuing to hide it).  But Reynarth's attempts to break everyone are dark indeed (and while it isn't shown, I should give a trigger warning: he does rape Nikia). 

This latter part of the book, in my opinion, wasn't as good as the first half.  It wasn't just the darkness of what happens, but also the helplessness of everyone.  Yes, Nikia is able to find the strength to save everyone (and defeat even the Sorcerer with the Ruby of Guyaire), thanks largely to Reynarth's arrogance (he doesn't even bother to have a guard watch over Nikia because he's sure he's broken her).  And her friends are able to escape thanks to their own ingenuity (and some major helpings of luck).  But I had a hard time reading about just how helpless everyone was for so long (it felt like it took forever for Nikia and company to actually get to Reynarth in Seuro).  It's for this reason that I'm no longer counting The Jewels of Elvish as one of my favourite books (although I do not begrudge my younger self for liking it so much - perhaps I was at a different place then, and the themes within the book spoke more to me at the time?)

Well, whatever my changing perspective and thoughts on the book, it's now time to finally read the sequel, A Child of Elvish.

Reread: Chill

I still wish they'd used the other cover.

Like Dust before it, I remember only two things about Chill: the ending (albeit only vaguely), and how I felt about the book (specifically, in Chill's case, that I disliked it).  I wasn't looking forward to rereading it because of that dislike, but I was also willing to give the second book another chance.  Maybe it won't be so bad when I read it directly after the first book?

I already gave the synopsis of the book last time:

Chill picks up pretty much where Dust left off. Perceval is now captain of the ship, which she has managed to save from the dying nova star. The Jacob's Ladder is now accelerating, but it has been damaged in the process and is now in dire need of repair. So enters Caitlin, the Chief Engineer, who must find a way to repair the damage with the limited resources available onboard.

At the same time, Arianrhod, a woman who should have died, has escaped. And so Tristen, Perceval's First Mate and head of the house of Conn, and Benedick, Perceval's father and Tristen's younger brother, are trying to track her down. With a colourful cast of characters, many of whom appeared in Dust (like the necromancer Mallory and the basilisk/torch Gavin), the two brothers journey across the ship in pursuit. Engaged in a pincer movement in an attempt to cut her off, the two brothers encounter vastly different things, from carnivourous plant people to ancient enemies of Tristen's. 

In the beginning, I kept thinking that Chill wasn't as bad as I remembered it.  This time around, I was prepared for Perceval to basically be sidelined, so that realization wasn't a problem like the last time I read the book.  I also liked Benedick and Tristen.  While neither of them were as well developed as Perceval or Rien in Dust, I was willing to give them a shot.  But they never really end up well developed, despite some of their trials (this was particularly weird with Tristen; he's made to remember and atone for his past; while he endures, I never really got a sense of his anguish over the past, other than being told over and over again that he was hurting).  Benedick is joined by his younger sister, Chelsea, who I likewise never get a feel for; she's just someone kind of shoved along for the ride.

And as the narrative continued, more and more characters got added as point of view characters (compared to just the three of Perceval, Rien, and Dust in Dust).  And more and more of those point of views seemed unnecessary.  For example, the book would flash periodically to Arianrhod, who might tell the angel fragment of Asrafil (who was with her) that she had laid a trap for either Benedick or Tristen.  Then the book would cut to one of the brothers dealing with said trap.  Couldn't we have cut out the middle bit, and just gone straight to the brothers dealing with the traps?

Other than the aforementioned repetition of characters saying plans then other characters stumbling into said plans, the book is super repetitive in other ways.  I know that Perceval, Caitlin, Tristen, and Benedick are all still mourning over Rien's sacrifice.  But t felt a bit much that by halfway through the book everyone was still upset when dealing with the new angel, Nova (now don't get me wrong, it made sense for Perceval to still be struggling). 

And then, there was the plot itself.  Benedick and Tristen are trying to catch Arianrhod, but rather than meet up, they try to catch her in a pincer move.  They go through all kinds of holds and see all kinds of fantastical things.  And by about two thirds of the way through the book, it gets very, very boring.  They go from hold to hold, but nothing they encounter feels like it actually matters.  Will the plant people have any part in the story within Grail?  What about the Edenites (despite Tristen's parting words to their priestess that he'll be in touch after the crisis is over)?  They feel like these are just random diversions thrown at the characters that they have to deal with, rather than actual alliances that have more consequence.  The stakes don't even seem high, despite the fact that there's a giant alien asteroid thing attacking the ship that their dead sister captured.  I had to push myself to finish reading the last thirty pages or so, because I just didn't care about what was happening.  :(

But I did it: I reread Chill. And my quest to Grail is complete: I can now finally read the final book of the Jacob's Ladder series.

Reread: Dust

Continuing on with my apparent quest this year of rereading books/finally finishing a series, I've now turned to Elizabeth Bear's Jacob's Ladder trilogy (which I am referring to as my "quest to Grail" because I've already read the first two books in the series).  I decided to tackle Jacob's Ladder right after the Inheritance Cycle because I needed a break from epic fantasy.

I admit, I was somewhat hesitant to reread Dust.  While I don't remember much other than the ending, I do remember loving it (not so much Chill, the second book).  Would it hold up?

As I said before:

Dust tells the story of two girls. Sir Perceval was captured in battle, her wings cut off. She waits only to die, to be consumed by her captor. Rien is the serving girl who was to attend Perceval, and who is also Perceval's lost sister. Together, the pair escape Rule and set off to find their father in hopes of stopping a war. Their journey takes them throughout their world, the ruined starship Jacob's Ladder, in an unforgettable story that I couldn't get enough of!

But I didn't give much detail of the book.  Perceval used the nanotech chains that bound her in Rule to help her and Rien escape, but the chains became new wings that attached themselves to Perceval's back, melding onto the stumps of her old wings (Rien called the new wings Pinion; Pinion scared both of the girls because they had a mind of their own),  After escaping Rule, the pair finds themselves in a Heaven (which is like an orchard with different fruit trees) where the necromancer Mallory and her companion, the basilisk-looking cutting torch Gavin, reside.  Mallory gives Rien a peach which contains the essence of a long dead engineer, as well as a plum (which Rien keeps but has no intention of eating after consuming another being in the peach).  Gavin decides to accompany Rien and Perceval to their father, leading the way.  But thanks to the engineer inside of her, Rien finds a side tunnel that will get them there faster, where they discover their uncle, Tristen, whom everyone thought was long dead.  Together, the four of them make their way to Benedict Conn.  Then one of the ship's AI fragments, Dust, makes himself known to Perceval and kidnaps her with his construct, Pinion; Dust wants Perceval to become the ships new captain, but this involves Perceval submitting to him (or one of the other fragments).  In an attempt to save her, Rien, Gavin, Benedict, and Tristen make their way to Engine searching for allies; there Rien meets both her mother and Perceval's (they have different mothers) and unravels the plot centered around Perceval that threatens the whole world.  Racing to her sister's side, Rien sacrifices herself to make the ship AI whole and save her sister and everyone else on the world.

It was a different experience reading Dust this time, because, while I didn't remember most of how the story went, I did remember the ending.  And seeing the book building inexorably towards it and Rien's sacrifice was quite something.

But even though it was a different experience, I still loved this book.  Rien, Perceval, and Gavin are all fantastic characters.  I love how Rien, thanks to her upbringing as a Mean and servant in Rule, looks at the world in a more naive yet also more suspicious way than Perceval.  And how Rien is just an all around good person, willing to name the nameless (even when she offers to name her armor, she detects a jauntiness in the armor's step).  Perceval, in comparison, is much more world-weary from being a knight on errantry (but her errantry makes her more open to the trials of the world; if not for her, they wouldn't have saved Tristen).  I liked how the narrative switched between the two as well.  And of course, Gavin just added that little bit of spunk to the team.

I also love the worldbuilding of Dust.  How the Means, while looked down on now, were meant to be the controls in the great experiment that  was Jacob's Ladder.  How to save itself, the ship's AI fractured (and pieces of it have been lost).  How the split between Engine and Rule happened because when disaster first struck centuries ago, the engineers and command didn't agree on how to save them.  I'm so glad that Dust remains such a fantastic read. :)

Of course, now I have to tackle Chill....and while I don't really remember the book much at all, I remember it being terrible, especially in comparison to Dust.  We'll see though; maybe it'll be better when I read it right after Dust rather than a year later?

Good Omens

I first read Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett years ago (before I started this blog - I'm guessing the early 2000's).  I don't remember much about it except that I really enjoyed it (I was actually talking to my mom earlier today and she said I tried to get her to read it.  I don't remember that, but it's a testament to how much I liked the book if I tried to get her to read it, especially since it isn't remotely her kind of book).

So a friend of mine suggested that a group of us read it as a sort of book club book.  Since we're not able to see each other right now thanks to the pandemic, she thought a book club on Goodreads would be a great way to hang out, so to speak.  She suggested either Good Omens or another book; consensus was Good Omens (even by the people like me who would be rereading it).

So Good Omens is the story of the Antichrist, Adam Young.  He is mistakenly given to the wrong parents and grows up largely left alone in rural England (while the boy who Heaven and Hell thinks is the Antichrist grows up being tutored by their agents, who hope to sway him onto their sides).  It features a large and eclectic cast of characters, from the angel Aziraphale and the demon Crowley, to the three kids in Adam's gang (Pepper, Brian, and Wensleydale - the Them), the four horsemen of the apocalypse (War, Famine, Pollution and Death; Pollution replaced Pestilence, who retired when penicillin was invented), Anathema Device, the descendant of Agnes Nutter (a renowned witch who actually got the future right in her prophecies), a couple of witchhunters (Shadwell and Newton Pulsifer of the Witchfinder Army), and a medium (Madame Tracy - she's Shadwell's neighbour), who are almost all flailing about trying to stop the end of the world.

While I liked Good Omens the first time I read it....I honestly wasn't a huge fan this second time around.  It took me over 70 pages before I felt like things were actually getting interesting enough to continue.  I caught myself wondering around page 200 or so how there could possibly be another almost 200 pages in the story.  With the huge cast of characters, I found I only really enjoyed a few of them (mostly Aziraphale and Crowley, but more-so when they were together; there was a chunk in the middle of the book where they largely disappeared and that felt like a slog). 

With that being said though, I actually enjoyed the ending once I finally got there.  Having Adam's friends defeat the horsemen, and Newton halting nuclear Armageddon by attempting to "fix" the machine (because he breaks everything he tries to fix) was pretty great.

But overall, this felt like a book I should have left alone.  I would have preferred to have remembered Good Omens being great (even without actually remembering it in any detail), rather than now living with the fact that it isn't as good as I remember it being. :(

Oh, but one interesting side note on rereading it: when I first read it all those years ago, a friend of mine mentioned that it was really obvious whether Pratchett or Gaiman was writing a given part.  I hadn't yet read anything by Pratchett, so at that time I didn't notice this at all.  Going back to it now though, oh yeah, it seemed really obvious (particularly in the first half of the book - basically the really crazy stuff just felt more like Pratchett, as it were).

Eragon

I originally read Christopher Paolini's Eragon when it first came out, before the second book, Eldest, was even published.  At a guess, this was sometime in 2005, a few years before I started this blog.  So unfortunately I don't remember what exactly I thought of it (although I remember liking it well enough).  It was recommended to me at the time by a friend (we went to see the movie together, too).  I bought Eldest when it first came out, too, but decided not to read it because I knew the series was supposed to be a trilogy; at that time I decided I wanted to wait until book three came out before continuing on.  Then book three was split into two (much like what happened with Bruce Coville's Unicorn Chronicles; that seemed to be a trend in books at the time).  And since the books are so big (book 1 is about 500 pages), it was really hard to get myself to go back to them, especially knowing that I had to reread Eragon before getting to the newer books.  But thanks to the global pandemic that's happening right now, this seemed like a good time to actually go back and reread it.

Eragon is the story of a farm boy (? it's a weird distinction because he's first portrayed as a hunter) who finds a dragon egg.  The egg hatches, and he finds himself suddenly thrust into the larger world with enemies everywhere fighting to control him.  His only help is the storyteller, Brom, an older man who lived in Eragon's little village but has many secrets of his own.  Together the two of them head out on a quest of vengeance, with Brom doing everything he can to prepare Eragon for the larger world in which he's suddenly part of.

In a lot of ways, Eragon is very much the typical "boy from nowhere is actually the chosen one" kind of tale.  I'd even go so far as to say Eragon himself is a Mary Sue kind of character (his sword fighting progresses over a couple of months so he's now one of the best human sword fighters around! He's the youngest Dragon Riders to start using magic!  He learns to read in a week! He's destined for a great romance!  That sort of thing - I suspect he's also of noble birth...my guess is actually the second and unknown son of the King's second in command.  We'll see if I'm right).  He's also one of the most whiny teenagers imaginable.  Through the first half of the book he's honestly pretty unlikable (although I don't blame him from some of his frustrations - Brom in particular doesn't tell him things pretty much "just because" and it's annoying from a reading standpoint).

While I don't remember my thoughts on the book the first time around, I'm pretty sure Eragon annoyed me back then, too. Thankfully he's surrounded by far more interesting characters.  Saphira, the dragon, is a lot of fun.  Although she is much younger than Eragon, she's infinitely more wiser; plus she has a great sense of humour.  I also really liked Brom (outside of his "not telling you things just because" thing); he's a fun character who has no problem with gently making fun of Eragon so he learns.  (Now I don't know if it's because I read the book years ago and kind of remembered Brom's story, or if the writing was just super predictable, but I did know a lot of what Brom was keeping hidden - but that didn't detract from the story at all).  Murtagh, the random swordsman who helps Eragon and Brom and later becomes close friends with Eragon, is likewise a very intriguing character with a great backstory (I also loved his reasoning for refusing to submit to anyone entering his mind: "My mind is the one sanctuary that has not been stolen from me. Men have tried to breach it before, but I've learned to defend it vigorously, for I am safe with my innermost thoughts. You have asked for the one thing I cannot give, least of all to those two" (405)).  I would love to follow his story far more than Eragon's!

The other character of note is the elf, Arya.  She's most likely the great love interest.  I don't have much of an opinion on her at this point though since she hasn't done much but be rescued by Eragon and company, test Eragon's battle prowess, and help in the final battle of the book (which honestly ended up a bit weird - she stayed to get Saphira's damaged armor off while Eragon ran ahead....shouldn't Eragon have helped HIS dragon while the super powerful elf goes ahead?  Also, he kind of steals her kill (the shade) - she demanded it because of what he did to her).  I'm hoping she'll prove to be more interesting in the later books...

I also found the books villain, the Shade Durza, rather interesting as well (although he's not in it all that much).  He actually goes hand in hand with the really cool worldbuilding Paolini did for this book: the villains.  The main world has the typical elves, dwarves, dragons and men.  But the bad guys have shades (sorcerers who accidentally let spirits take over their bodies and become evil), a Dragon Rider who went mad after his dragon died (and took down the whole Order, declaring himself King/Emperor), the Ra'zac (who make me think of Skeksis), and the Urgals (who I suspect are just Orcs, but it still gives the world its own flavour).  Some very cool stuff going on here.

So while the first half of the book is kind of hard to get into (again, thanks to Eragon being a whiny kid who's inexplicably good at everything), by the end I did enjoy the story (thanks in large part to all the other characters).  Hopefully the momentum built up in the second half of Eragon carries through to book 2!

Eyes to See (Reread)

This is a bit embarrassing (yet also somewhat par for the course for me, unfortunately) - years ago, I read (and loved) Eyes to See by Joseph Nassise.  At that time I couldn't wait to get my hands on book 2 in the trilogy.  But then for whatever reason, I just never actually read it.  I've taken the trilogy out periodically from the local library, but never read more than book 1.  I think as the years passed it was harder and harder to go back because I didn't really remember Eyes to See anymore. 

So a few days ago, I decided I was going to remedy that.  I once again took the trilogy out from the library (super glad they're all still available!) and actually started rereading Eyes to See.  A large part of this decision came from me feeling like reading something I actually want to read, not something I feel like I HAVE to read (which just seems to keep happening in life).

It was very interesting going back to it, six years later.  I only remembered some of the vague story beats.  I remembered Jeremiah Hunt, and how he had given up his eyesight to find his daughter, which ushered him into a supernatural world.  I remembered the ghostsm Scream and Whisper (but not necessarily their names).  And I vaguely remembered that Hunt found her by the end, and was on the run from something by the end of the book; that was about it.

What I didn't remember was the actual goings-on.  Hunt gets called in by Detective Stanton to investigate a murder scene.  Stanton thinks Hunt is a psychic, and Hunt has no intention of telling Stanton otherwise.  The murder is a gruesome one, and the murderer left writing in several dead languages on the walls.  As an ex-professor who specialized in dead languages, the writing in particular intrigues Hunt, but so does a familiar-seeming charm he finds at the crime scene.  When a second body is found with the same writing (and yet another charm, which Hunt realizes came from a charm bracelet that his daughter had), he realizes this may be the lead he has been searching for over these five long years to finally find her!

The world that Nassise built, especially around the ghosts, is still so interesting.  I liked the first encounter where Hunt is hired to exorcise a ghost from an apartment building, and Hunt goes through all the levels of ghosts that he's encountered (and how this particular ghost hid its true nature).  I actually would have liked to see a bit more of that sort of thing, but oh well, the story is still good without it.

This time around, I admit that I had a harder time getting into it though.  I'm not entirely sure why....but I suspect that it had to do with Hunt being on his own.  I know that the first time I read Eyes to See, I didn't really like some of the interactions between Hunt and the other characters; this time, I actually preferred those moments over Hunt being on his own.  I really liked Dimitri, and loved Stanton - he was the perfect foil to Hunt (and I loved how once he saw real evidence of the supernatural in terms of the fetch, he was all on board with stopping it because he knew it was dangerous).  I think I liked Denise more this time around too - the hedge witch was a very capable woman on her own.

I'm once again excited to read book 2; this time I'm actually going to read it, too! ;)

A Wrinkle in Time

I read A Wrinkle in Time years ago and don’t remember it very well (with the exception of a scene where the humans were trying to explain sight to aliens who had no eyes). With the movie coming out in March, I decided to reread it. I got it out from the library back in December and started reading it on my break. Then I somehow managed to lose the book. :/

I started getting desperate, and even phoned a few stores I had been to and friends I had visited, just on the off chance that I had left it there. No luck. I finally found it in a weird spot under my bed - it had fallen against the wall by the window, and was behind a bunch of books that were under there. I have since cleaned up under the bed; there are no longer any books under there, so this should never happen again!

So with that whole fiasco behind me, I also had to get through the holidays and another commitment this past weekend. I’ve also been playing video games a lot rather than read. So last night I finally sat down and started rereading A Wrinkle in Time. I managed to finish it a few hours later (I was planning on stopping, but at that point I was so close to being finished that I just continued on).

A Wrinkle in Time is the story of Meg, her little brother, Charles Wallace, and their new friend Calvin. Meg’s father has been missing for about a year and the whole town is talking (they all believe he has run off with another woman). Meg is a bit of an oddball, and has a hard time fitting in. Her younger brother is believed to be mute, but is quite intelligent (he just chooses not to speak much to other people). Their twin brothers (who are between Meg and Charles Wallace in age) are rather average (or at least content to seem average).

During a hurricane, Meg, Charles Wallace, and their mother find themselves in their kitchen when they get an unexpected visitor - a strange lady named Mrs. Whatsit appears at their door, having been blown off course. The next day, Meg and Charles Wallace go to visit her; she and a few other ladies have taken up residence in the nearby haunted house. On their way there, they encounter Calvin, who had a strange feeling that he needed to go to the haunted house as well. After speaking with Mrs. Who, one of the other ladies, the three children head back to their house. Later that night, Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which arrive and spirit everyone off through time and space to go and save Meg and Charles’ father (and hopefully save the universe or something? The book kept saying more was at stake but I’m not really sure how or why?)






There was an amusing moment where Mrs. Which lands everyone on a 2D planet.  They can't stay though because the children can't survive there. 

To travel through time and space, the immortal ladies (who are stars? Or something? I don’t really know what they were - Mrs. Whatsit was a centaur-angel or something? But later said she was a star who gave her life? Yeah, it confused me. Were Mrs. Who and Mrs. Which the same things? The book never really said.) “wrinkle” time. This was a concept Meg’s father was working on and had discussed with her mom - that there was a fifth dimension, a tesseract, and that you could travel through manipulating it (I apologize, I’m probably butchering this explanation). It’s a really neat concept - it lets you get somewhere much faster rather than travelling the long way from star to star.


Here's the ant on a string diagram the book used to explain the concept:

So somewhere along the way, Mrs. Whatsit shows the children the big evil black thing (I have no idea what it is beyond a black thing). It is around the Earth, but people fight it with art and science and enlightenment. They then travel to Camazotz, a place ensnared by the black thing. Everyone behaves identically (and if you don't you're punished as an aberration).  The children then encounter IT, the central intelligence that controls everything, first through a man.  In trying to divine ITs true nature, Charles Wallace ventures too deep and becomes lost in IT.  Charles Wallace (controlled by IT) then brings Meg and Calvin to Meg's father.  She manages to get him out of the holding cell he's in using Mrs. Who's glasses.  Charles Wallace then brings everyone to IT.  Mr. Murray manages to get everyone (except Charles Wallace) away by tessering.  They encounter the aliens who cannot see, who nurse Meg back to health (she was the worst off in the showdown with IT).  This is also where that conversation I remember reading years ago happens.

Everyone then makes plans to go save Charles Wallace (with Meg throwing temper tantrums because she doesn't think they're wanting to go save him - she blames her father, who she thought would fix everything, for leaving him behind).  Mrs. Whatsit, Mrs. Who, and Mrs. Which arrive around this point.  Meg figures out that it has to be her to go back to save Charles Wallace, because he doesn't know their father at all and only barely knows Calvin.  Mrs. Which brings her (because Mrs. Which is far better at wrinkling time than her father is).  Meg returns to IT, where Charles Wallace is waiting.  She uses the power of her love to free him from IT.  Then they all go home. 

I found the end to be a super abrupt thing - I expected a little more of something (especially since the black thing wasn't exactly defeated).

So that was A Wrinkle in Time.  I feel about the same reading it now as I did many years back - it's got some super interesting concepts, but as a whole the narrative isn't very engaging (hence why I forgot most of what happened beyond that conversation with the sightless alien about what it's like to see).  I looked a bit into the rest of the quintet, but they honestly don't sound interesting enough for me to continue reading the series, especially since this book itself was really just okay.  If it had grabbed me more, I would have probably continued with book 2, but as things are, no thanks.

Reread: Song of the Wanderer

Today I finished rereading book 2 of the Unicorn Chronicles, Song of the Wanderer (I started it late last night but decided to sleep rather than force my way though it last night).  I've read this book once before, when I first got it.  I honestly didn't remember anything about it (except for the very basic quest).

Song of the Wanderer continues the story of Cara.  This time Cara is tasked by the unicorn queen to go find her grandmother and bring her back to Luster.  So Cara sets off with a small glory of unicorns made up of Belle, a female fighting unicorn, Finder, a large unicorn who is himself a wanderer, and Moonheart, the uncle of Lightfoot, as well as the Squijum and Thomas the Tinker.  Cara must first find the geomancer, a sorceress who is adept with earth magic, who will find Cara a path back to her grandmother.  Unfortunately the path is a dangerous one.  Along the way Cara meets up with friends new and old.

Song of the Wanderer is a good book, but it isn't as good as Into the Land of the Unicorns. For one thing, Song is longer and at times it feels like it takes a lot longer to get to its point.  For another thing, there are a lot of characters (there's something like ten + characters in Cara's party by the end of the book), which also made it harder to give them all enough time at the forefront of the story (I remember writing a story like this years ago where I had such a large party it was unwieldy to write!); Into the Land is a lot better because the party of characters is smaller and so you get to know all of them much better.

As I said though, it is still a good story.  Some crazy things happen which lead staight into book three, Dark Whispers, which I am really looking forward to reading for the first time ever!