Black Feathers by Joseph D'Lacey

Black Feathers by Joseph D'Lacey

This is an advance reader copy that I snagged from Netgalley. I think the book will be released sometime in March/April 2013. From this point on, there will be spoilers.

Gordon Black's birth signals the beginning of the end for the world. As each year passes, the world falls further into economic and environmental upheaval. Tired of the abuses committed against her Mother Earth rebels and begins to purge her lands of the people who harm her, leaving only those who give back as much as they take. In 2014, a few months before his 14th birthday, Gordon begins a journey to find the Crowman who he hopes can set everything right.

Megan Maurice is a young girl who lives quite some time after the collapse of everything. People are living in simpler times, reminiscent of life before technology and materialism had a firm grip on humanity. Megan is on the cusp of womanhood when she's called to become a keeper, someone who keeps the story of the Crowman alive. She is the first and only female keeper, and her teacher, a man known only as Mr. Keeper, says that she will either bring them total salvation or total destruction. He can't be completely sure of her part yet, though he knows everything will change for better or worse because of her.

No adventure is without its foes, and the foes in this story are called The Ward. They’re a group of people who believe that the earth is only there to be exploited by man, despite all the environmental warnings taking place. Their goal is to unite all the nations under one rule. In the chaos and calamity, they introduce strict laws (such as making migrant workers return to their own countries) which are lauded by the people whose fear makes them blind to what The Ward is truly trying to achieve. However, The Ward knows about Gordon, and their main goal is to stop him from meeting the Crowman, an event that will prevent them from reaching their full power.

This book entwined two stories from different points in time, the past and the future, but neither story could be told without the other.

Ravine, vol. 1 TPB by Stjepan Sejic and Ron Marz

Ravine, Volume 1 TPB by Stjepan Sejic & Ron Marz

The most striking element of this book at the start is, unsurprisingly, the art work. It seems almost a disservice to put words to Sejic's imagery as they eloquently tell the story all on their own, but of course, more detail is required than that. This is a  creator-owned story about a fantasy world where the lands are divided by a great rift - a ravine - from which dragons and magic spewed forth long ago.

The story begins in epic proportions with a prologue about a battle between a corrupted king, and the general and daughter who now fight against him. Tragedy and darkness begets more tragedy  and darkness in melodramatic proportion that felt a bit too over the top - but this was only the prologue and things settled into a more appropriate pace when the timeline switched to the present.

There are a lot of characters involved and a lot of lore and politics to follow, which can be daunting both to write and read. It's difficult to find the balance between telling too much and not showing enough, but as the story progressed, the pieces came together well enough for the situation to become clear and, more importantly, volume one ended with enough intrigue to make me want to read on. I particularly enjoyed the histories presented at the end of the book which helped fill in a few more details, while strengthening the lore.

Final verdict:

3 of 5 stars

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Curse of Chalion by Lois McMaster Bujold

First, I should say that if you enjoy a fantasy story full of action, then, this may not be the story for you. There's more talk of battle and war than actual battle. This book relies more on political intrigue, dark family histories, and betrayals. And these are things I enjoyed about the story, especially toward the end of this book.

Something spoilerish this way comes.

February Reads

February Reads for the Levar’s Rainbow Book Club are all about members’ favourite series. Members have suggested the first book in their favourite series for others to check out. Some are more popular reads, like A Song of Ice and Fire, while others are lesser known. Click here to see the full list!

The Drowning City by Amanda Downum

The Drowning City by Amanda Downum

This was an ambitious first novel at best. Downum clearly has a beautiful way with words. Passages like the following really resonated with me:

Excitement hummed in her blood, dizzied her worse than any wine. And that was the true reason she was here, the reason she would go where she was sent, no matter how ugly the mission. Not for king and country, not even for Kiril, but because danger sang to her like a siren, and after the first giddy brush with death, the rush of knowing that she was still alive, she’d known she could never stop.

However, while I don’t doubt this played out wonderfully in her head, she forgot about her readers. This book wasn’t really written in the way that you’d expect of a first book in a series. It felt like I was jumping into the second or third book in a series, as if everything that was being said was information that I should’ve already known. I think she was trying to craft it in a way to be mysterious, feeding readers information piece by piece until the big reveal. But it just felt confusing and like I was missing out on a whole story.

The first 70 pages or so of this book could’ve been removed. The little information that we did get from those pages could’ve been woven into the story. Most of those first pages seemed rather fumbling and didn’t offer much useful more than seeming to pad the book to take up the reader’s time. Totally unnecessary, and it nearly made me put the book down. If I hadn’t stuck with it for one more chapter, and the next chapter did prove to be interesting, I wouldn’t have ever picked up this book again.

Also, she used many words native to the characters that the reader is unfamiliar with, words that most of the time didn’t even have a hint as to what they really meant, words that needed at least a dictionary in the back. I like when a book has a language that is its own (or some amalgam of real language), but it does no good when I’m sitting here hoping that this word means something honorific and just isn’t some random word that means “girl.”

Then, there was the confusing POVs. I’m a reader that doesn’t mind “head-jumping,” but it’s not implemented well here. Sometimes, I didn’t even realize the POV had changed until I read some information that made me realize that this had to be one of the other characters, and it was more than a bit frustrating at times, considering how much I wanted to like this story.

I did enjoy the intrigue, mystery, and supernatural aspect that Downum tried to use. I think her characters have potential to be amazing and praiseworthy, but I just don’t think this was executed as well as it could’ve been. And I have to admit that I thought the ending was sublime and really showed what this story had the potential to be. I will give the second book a chance and hope that Downum found her footing a little better because this does have so much potential to be an amazing series.

Final Verdict:

2.5 of 5 stars

The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin

The Killing Moon by N.K. Jemisin

This was a good but disappointing book. I blame my likely unfair review on N.K. Jemisin for writing The Inheritance Trilogy first. Comparisons inevitable happened, mainly over the way The Killing Moon was crafted and presented. Where The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms – a book I have now read twice and loved all the more the second time – focused deeply on the main character and her emotions and relationships, with the politics being a secondary issue, this book focused more on the politics and religion, as viewed through its main characters. The problem, I think, is that it really only skimmed the surface layers of these politics, as well as the characters. As a result, while I liked both characters and the world, I did not fall in love with them because I was not able to get to know them well enough.

The Killing Moon takes place in an Egypt-based realm where dreams hold magic and those who wield the magic are, of course, the ones in power. At the beginning, Jemisin apologizes to Egyptologists for anything she may have gotten wrong, though she did not intend this fantasy world to be exactly like the real Egypt. At the end of the book in an amusing interview with herself, she commented that basing the world on reality was difficult and that she’d rather create her own worlds. I’d have to agree. There wasn’t an overindulgence in making everything like Egypt, but perhaps it became too much of a focus along the way.

One thing that disappointed me was the need to discriminate based on colour. The third major player in the book is introduced so:

The black ropes of his hair had been threaded with cylinders of gold and strings of minute pearls, and this mane surrounded a face that was fine-planed and flawless, apart from the misfortune of his coloring. 

I had to reread that a few times to make sure I’d understood it correctly, and as the book proceeded, such discrimination over skin tone occurred several times more. As there were many other ways that the various peoples were categorized (ie castes, religious beliefs, location, occupation), I was surprised that Jemisin would choose to make this such a prominent issue. I am not familiar enough with Egypt and the surrounding area to know if this discrimination is common in reality, but in a fantasy setting, I wish Jemisin had chosen not to make discrimination by skin tone such a prominent factor in her story telling. Especially since one of the reasons why I fell in love with her works initially was because of her views on race and culture in fantasy. While she enjoys the fantasy books that have come well before her, she has, as I have, grown tired of the Euro-centric stories and characters. My friend and I are currently reading A Song of Ice and Fire and are amused by George R. R. Martin’s constant need to review his thesaurus in order to describe people of various colours from the lands outside of his main realm of Westeros. In Jemisin’s The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, I was so pleased to find a world filled with people of all different colours and cultures yet, save for one or two moments, descriptions of skin colour served only to identify characters – not to discriminate against them.

None of this disappointment is enough to prevent me from reading the second book in the Dreamblood series. As I said, this was a good book and Jemisin has already proven herself to me through her first book and through her blogged thoughts. The characters and plot were interesting enough to keep me reading and enjoying. But I will do The Shadowed Sun a favour and read it before I continue on with The Inheritance Trilogy.

Final verdict:

3 of 5 stars

Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

Girl of Nightmares by Kendare Blake

I've just finished reading this book. It's 3:30 in the morning, and my Nexus 7 is on its last leg because I was too enthralled to plug it up. When I bookmarked the last page I'd read in GRRM's 4th book, I told myself that I'd read a few pages of this to catch up and call it a night. I didn't expect to fall so quickly.

In a matter of a few pages, the story started going many interesting places with a battle-weary Carmel breaking up with the gang (and by extension Thomas) because she no longer thinks she can handle the supernatural part of her life and the normal part of her life clashing any longer. We witness Thomas come into his own as a black witch and become much more confident with his powers, and, in his search to free Anna from hell, Can learns a few more secrets about his father and his blade, how it can aid him in saving Anna, and the price you sometimes have to pay for those you love.

Star Wars Legacy by John Ostrander and Jan Duursema

Star Wars: Legacy by John Ostrander and Jan Duursema

The Jedi and Sith infuriate me. They are the same side of a spherical coin, but they refuse to see that. I have complained about my frustration with these Force users before, but usually, my complaints are within reviews of Star Wars books, games, shows, etc that point out the hypocrisy and stupidity of the Jedi and Sith perceived dichotomy. Star Wars: Legacy joins this collection.

Legacy takes place 100+ years after the original trilogy and is about Cade Skywalker, who is, well, a Skywalker. If there’s a “fate of the galaxy” involved, then assume a Skywalker will be there, for good or evil. Unlike the rest of the Skywalker line, events in Cade’s life have made him choose to forget his legacy, no matter how many times ghost Luke pops by for a visit. When we meet Cade, he is a bounty hunter hiding his last name and his Force abilities and drowning his visions with deathsticks, while the Sith, Galactic Republic, Imperials and Jedi fight over control of the galaxy – and of him.

Legacy starts with typical Star Wars tropes, familiar names and character archetypes that initially disappointed me because I had hoped that a series that takes place so far into the future could step away from all that. There were the cool ship and the cocky pilot and the princess and the questionable friends and the stoic Jedi and the evil Sith and, of course, a Skywalker. But once the connections to what we know had been established, the story comfortably moved on, with Cade leading the way as the atypical hero who has no interest in saving the galaxy, no matter what his name might be. Of course we know that the galaxy saving is going to happen anyway, right? But the books do a good job of casting doubt about the how and why. Will Cade give in to the darkness within him? Will he take up his legacy? Who will stand with him?

The series also adds interesting dimensions with the overall politics of war and all the sides involved. The Sith remain the official Big Bad and the Jedi the Persecuted Good, but now the Jedi and Sith are no longer intrinsically connected to the Imperial/Empire and Republic respectively. The two political factions in the middle teeter between fending for themselves, fighting within their own ranks, seeking alliances, betraying alliances… It’s not as confusing as it might seem. In fact, the politics became one of the aspects of the series that I really enjoyed, which surprised me. I also enjoyed the space battles, which don't necessarily translate well in this medium, but the battle tactics weren't overly dramatic and there wasn't any time wasted in the battle.

Despite the initial comparisons to movie counterparts, all the characters develop into strong players in their own rights. There are a LOT of characters, all of which are introduced in the primers, though not all play the prominent or support roles you might expect from them. My angry feminist initially poked her head out with the primer introductions for Moff Nyna Calixte with the glass ceiling accusations, Deliah Blue, the girlfriend with a wrench and Gunner Yage, the daughter that should have been a son. But, as with the rest of the series, everything moved on quickly from the basic tropes, and even the characters that appear only briefly are well established. Well, most of them.

Overall, an excellent entry into the Star Wars saga and one that anyone could get into, without knowing too much about the massive past.

Final verdict

3.5 of 5 stars

A Feast for Crows by George R. R. Martin

A Feast for Crows by George R.R. Martin

After 400 pages or so, "nothing" was happening in this book, and yet I could not stop turning the pages and had already rated this book at four stars. By the time I was done, I'd upped the rating to five stars and determined that this was my favourite book of the entire series.

I can see why many people would not like this book. As I said, "nothing" happens for a thousand pages. After the Battle of Blackwater, the Red Wedding, the War of Five Kings and various other violent and magical events that have taken place over the last three books, this book is stark change, but it is the book that proves just how atypical a fantasy series it is. I cannot think of a single fantasy trope that Martin uses in his storytelling. I cannot identify any tropes, for that matter. From the moment he chopped off the apparent hero's head, Martin made it clear that we are not to expect anything but the unexpected. Don't try to guess what happens next and to whom because you are very likely to be wrong.

No, that's not true. If you guess that someone is going to die, then you'd probably be right. Where, when and how, you won't guess, but it's pretty safe to assume that everyone's going to die in A Song of Ice and Fire. Don't get attached. There is no shortage of death in this book, but, interestingly, a lot of it happens offstage. A lot of everything happens offstage, actually, with information passed on through rumours and the occasional crowmail.

The reader is just as much in the dark about many occurrences and there is no such thing as dramatic irony to rely on. Keeping in mind that A Feast of Crows is only half the story Martin wished to tell in this part of the series, this shouldn't be a surprise. The prominent characters missing from this book are a part of the next and presumably, the rumours we are reading about here will be made more clear in A Dance with Dragons. Not that there are no prominent characters here. There are many, many characters in Crows, with several new ones being introduced, as well as new plots and twists. It may seem as though this would make the series too convoluted for its own good, but the beauty of Martin's epic is that it is so realistic. Of course all these plots and characters would exist in such a world, under such circumstances. It is absolutely amazing that Martin threads it all together so coherently and completely such that a reader paying attention simply can't get lost, despite the magnitude of characters and plotlines.

Crows takes the time to delve very deeply into these characters and plots. This is where many may complain, because the book does not seem to move very far forward. It is filled with characters conniving, searching, plotting, whining, grieving, coping, and most importantly, changing. Several major characters undergo some intriguing transformations throughout this book. Some don't realize they are changing, while others have recognized the changes in themselves and their relationships and look further inward as they grow and learn to survive within the game of thrones. Others change literally, becoming someone else, even as they try to stay true to who they were.

Final verdict:

4 of 5 stars

January Reads

January Reads for the Levar’s Rainbow Book Club come from Goodreads’ top-voted Science Fiction and Fantasy nominees for 2012. Note that books in the middle of a series are not included in the book choices. 

Alif the Unseen was voted the top choice for this month by book club members.