The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord

The Best of All Possible Worlds by Karen Lord

Review featured at Worlds Without End

The Best of All Possible Worlds takes place in a distant future, featuring varied species of humans separated by different planets and genetic developments that result in some differences in appearance and mental abilities. Many of these people are brought together by various tragedies to the planet known as Cygnus Beta. The story begins shortly after the heinous destruction of Sadira, home to a stoic race of people who pride themselves on mental disciplines that have resulted in a level of telepathic communication and emotional control. These elements define the book as “science fiction,” but in truth, this is a wonderful, quiet little love story. Not that this is merely a romance set in space. The science fiction aspect remains prominent, but it is the interpersonal relationships and sociological studies that are at the story’s heart.

The story is mainly told by Grace Delarua, a 30-something Cygnus Beta native of mixed race, who works with a contingent of Sadiri people seeking to perpetuate their dwindling culture. The author explains that she was inspired by the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed a large percentage of females and forced those remaining to relocate and adjust to their new surroundings. On Cygnus Beta, there are several taSadiri societies that the group must visit to determine genetic potential for Sadiri males. Having left Sadira long before, the taSadiri have developed in many different ways, from a society that patterns itself after fantasy lore, to an incestuous mess of classism and many more in between. The goal of Delarua’s group is to maintain Sadiri disciplines and genetics as much as possible through suitable pairings, but as they progress, they find that this is not an easy task.

The operation is rather clinical, yet it is never implied that people would be paired against their will or even without emotional attachment, and I appreciate that the clinical aspect did not become overwhelming. Rather, it served as further insight into the Sadiri way of life.

Delarua’s group includes Councillor Dllenahkh, who is the epitome of a culture that has several different meanings for the word “appropriate.” It becomes obvious to all but Delarua that these two will eventually become a pair. What I enjoyed most about their relationship was that it was not at all the typical case of putting the emotional lady with the emotionally subdued man and watching the sparks fly as she teaches him how to feeeeeel. Instead, we get a very slow character and relationship building, climaxing in a bonding that I cannot help but find adorable (I do not use that word lightly!) because of how it embraces those differences between them, even as they speak in technical terms and sign contracts to cement their future.

Several important events occur during the book – an attempted murder, a nigh tragedy, a political scandal, family abuse, time travel – but they all serve as backdrop and motivation for the character growth, rather than as plot focus elements themselves.

Reading this book gave me the feeling of being comfortable no matter where I was. I felt like I was sitting in my cozy reading chair with these characters, enjoying the story as it quietly unfolded. It's probably not a coincidence that the story is told in the first person by Delarua, who has the innate ability to calm those around her, even while being a very emotionally expressive person with empathic abilities.

The Sadiri could easily be written off as Vulcan-like, but that is far from the truth. They do not suppress their emotions, they simply do not express them as obviously. The magic of the story comes in Delarua’s growing understanding of their culture – through her research as well as her empathy, which allows her to recognize their minute expressions of emotion. The Sadiri are quite capable of emotion, but a good belly laugh to us, might simply be a shared twinkle in their eyes and a curve of the lips. Because Delarua tells most of the story, we are permitted to learn and feel all of this with her.

I occasionally found myself feeling like I’d missed something in the details, but towards the end of the book, everything fell into the place nicely and I realized that the details I felt I was missing were details Delarua did not quite know or Dllenahkh had not quite revealed. It was all a part of learning along with Delarua as she grew in her understanding of the Sadiri and of herself.

Overall, a fantastic read with very unique, memorable characters and I have to thank Goodreads for recommending Karen Lord’s first book to me, Redemption in Indigo. I had not yet read the latter, but upon seeing Lord’s name on this book, I decided to grab it and am very glad I did.

4.5 of 5 stars

FanArt: The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms

Hundred Thousand Kingdoms Yeine by Jemisin 

by *DubuGomdori

From The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin

Siren by John Everson

Siren by John Everson

First off, I'd like to say that I am likely not this novel's intended audience. That will have a lot to do with my rating.

In this book, the main character Evan walks the beach every night grieving for his son who drowned in an accident more than a year ago, until one night he is drawn to the voice of a beautiful naked woman singing on the rocks by the ocean. I'm well-versed enough in my mythology to know that Sirens are mysterious and seductive creatures who lured sailors and ships to their doom with their enchanting songs, but even I was unprepared for the amount of gratuitous and senseless sex in this novel.

At times, it felt like Evan only had two modes: horny or depressed. For the first three-quarters of the book, it seemed like all he was doing was either a) having sex, thinking about sex, or talking about sex, or b) remembering and crying for his lost son. We seem to go around in circles with these two conditions.

The story is also punctuated periodically by chapters flashing back to the 1800s, focusing on a crew aboard a smuggling ship and their encounters with the novel's eponymous creature. These scenes serve to add a little more background and history to the setting, but you also end up getting a healthy dose of gory violence, and of course, even more sex.

Now I'm no prude, and I'll even admit I've been known to enjoy books that are even more extreme in their dealings with the subject both in their quantity and carnality. I would even have found all of the sex in this book to be entertaining and good for the kicks, but for the fact the main character is apparently an utter ninny.

Not only was he repeatedly cheating on his bereaved wife, in the book Evan is also told flat-out by his friend Bill that he may have been spellbound by a Siren. And yet, Evan remains unconvinced. Granted, being lured into the ocean by a beautiful naked woman and her song could possibly be explained away by an over-amorous skinny dipper with a talented voice, but when dozens of seagulls suddenly start dive-bombing you and killing themselves against the windows of your house, shouldn't it make you think that maybe, just maybe, something strange or supernatural might be up?

And considering how many of Evan's problems in the book were defined by his son's drowning, there was surprisingly very little detail about his death and that tragic day. Meanwhile, of course, there were pages upon pages devoted to descriptions of Ligeia the Siren's naughty bits. Indeed, the characters could have been better developed, and in my opinion a couple of them were either underutilized (like Evan's psychiatrist) or written strangely (like his friend Bill, who would say the most ridiculous things at inappropriate moments). Much of the time, they don't act like real people.

Basically, reading this book reminded me a lot of watching a low-budget B-list creature feature on the SyFy channel (though, I suppose the SyFy channel would not abide so much nudity and sex). Don't get me wrong, though; those kinds of movies have a place in my life, especially snuggled on the couch on a Saturday night with a big bowl of popcorn. They're definitely good for some expedient thrills and entertainment, and bottom line, I would probably say much the same for this book. Purchased for $0.99 from Amazon's Kindle promotional list, I certainly don't regret it.

Final Verdict:

 2 of 5 stars

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

Warbreaker by Brandon Sanderson

It's official. I've been thoroughly spoiled by The Way of Kings and the newer novellas that Sanderson has written in the last couple of years.

Anyway, let's first start with what this book is about. As with most of his works, explanation of the world lore and magic system in Warbreaker will take at least a few paragraphs alone, so here we go. This is a story of two kingdoms on the verge of war. Idris and Hallandren have been at odds for centuries, due to irreconcilable differences in their culture, religion and beliefs.

The magic in their world is BioChromatic, one based on drawing power from color while being fueled by an essence called "Breath". Breath is considered almost like a soul to the people of Idris; without a Breath you are called a "Drab". Indeed, the Idrians wear grey-scale colors and shun the practice by Hallandren Awakeners who use Breath to bring objects to life and even reanimate the dead for their Lifeless army.

Sometimes, the dead also come back to life if they die in glory, and in Hallandren these people are known as the Returned and are worshiped as gods. One of the main characters in this novel, Lightsong the Bold is one such individual. However, he and the other gods require taking in at least one Breath a week to remain alive. Luckily in this world, Breath can be sold, bartered and collected like any other trade good. With his or her Breath, a Returned god can heal or do other amazing things, but the catch is, he or she cannot give their Breath away with dying.

Events kick off when Siri, princess of Idris, is sent to Hallandren to marry their God King in accordance to a treaty to try to stave off the war, taking the place of her older sister Vivenna at the last minute. Vivenna, feeling snubbed and robbed of the duty she has been preparing for her whole life, secretly makes her way to Hallandren as well in an attempt to rescue her little sister. But despite their best efforts to avert the conflict, war might be inevitable anyway.

I've said it before and I'll say it again; I don't think Sanderson is capable of writing a bad book in my eyes, but I just like some of them better than others. There are several things about Warbreaker that kept it from being one of my favorites, the main reason being the BioChromatic magic system. Out of all the worlds and systems that Sanderson has ever created, I don't think this was one of his strongest ones.

Admittedly, it could be a personal preference and my own difficulty in imagining a magic system based around color. As an artist, colors in all their glorious hues and tones play a huge part in my life, and sometimes it's hard to picture in my head the characters' manipulations of it in fantasy. I remember having a tough time wrapping my head around the chromaturgy magic system in Brent Weeks' The Black Prism as well, that being another book with its magic based around color.

Also, for the first time, a Sanderson character managed to annoy me. Lightsong wasn't an unlikeable character or badly written by any means, but he grated on my nerves. I understood that he was meant to come off as a clownish buffoon, but some of his jokes were so outrageously lame and tacky that I couldn't help but cringe in my seat. In contrast, I very much enjoyed the characterization and development of the two sisters though; both Siri and Vivenna grow in ways throughout the course of this novel that are believable and endear the reader to them.

Final Verdict:

3.5 of 5 stars

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

Without giving too much away, the story is this. Jacob’s grandfather has always told him fantastic tales about monsters and an orphanage for “peculiar” children. When Jacob grows older, he dismisses his grandfather’s stories as fairytales. Then, Jacob receives a strange call from his grandfather, and when he checks in on him, he finds him on the cusp of death after an attack. His grandfather’s last babbling words to him send him on a journey to a town called Cairnholm to find out more about his grandfather.

While he is able to fill in the gaps of his grandfather’s life during this trip, he also finds out something important about himself.

Even though this book came highly recommended by many people, when I first got into it, I was little skeptical that it would be as good as everyone says it is because the beginning was a little slow. However, after making it past the first few chapters, I was engrossed with this world. Personally, I didn’t think story was scary or “haunting” as the description said. It’s more along a fantasy mixed with sci-fi with some bits of intrigue. I don’t think I’d quite call this a young adult story, either. Even though the characters were young, it didn’t have that YA feel to it.

This plays out more like a mystery as little bits and pieces are revealed to the readers, and there was one major part of the story that I figured early on. But that didn’t make it any less of a great read. Also, I think part of the reason this was a four-star book for me is because of Rigg’s creative use of pictures throughout the book. All the pictures are real pictures (and some admittedly touched up for the book) that he borrowed from collectors, giving the book an almost eerie vibe.

It’s really hard to talk about this book without spoiling all the things that made it enjoyable, so I’ll end on this note: Bronwyn is my hero, and you’ll see why once you read the book.

Final Verdict:

4 of 5 stars

Guild Wars 2: Ghosts of Ascalon by Matt Forbeck

Ghosts of Ascalon by Matt Forbeck

I read Edge of Destiny early in my Guild Wars 2 career and stepped into that book expecting to find incredible stories of the heroes that were mentoring my various characters. Instead I found a bunch of adults acting like emotional teenagers whose failure to defeat an elder dragon in the book had turned them into adults acting like bitter, whiny teenagers in the game. The events of the group of heroes known as Destiny’s Edge and the actions of the characters dropped my opinion of them and undoubtedly affected my appreciation of the overall story. I was willing to accept that my low rating of Edge of Destiny had a lot to do with my new found bias against the characters, but in reading Ghosts of Ascalon now, I have come to realize that Edge of Destiny really was not that impressive in its storytelling and certainly not in its characterization. Ghosts of Ascalon, similar to Edge of Destiny, features a group of unlikely companions working together towards a task for the greater good – in this case, finding the Claw of Khan-Ur in hopes of aiding the truce talks between centuries long enemies, humans and charr. The group consists of varied personalities, many of which do not get along, but their conflicts were not tedious and I appreciated the way the different characters so strongly represented the basic character traits of their respective races, while still developing unique personalities and growing as characters as the story progressed.

Further more, through these characters and their conflicts, the book did a very good job of bridging the gap between Guild Wars and Guild Wars 2 by explaining a lot of the events of the past and present, without it reading like a condescending history lesson. Among many other details, the book tells about both sides of the war from the rival humans and charr. I started playing Guild Wars specifically to learn the lore of the series for myself, but this book serves as an acceptable background reader – at least for the Prophecies storyline.

Playing the game helped me easily visualize the descriptions of places, creatures and even the different fighting styles of the characters, but I think the author did a good job of making it all accessible to a new reader, as well.

The plotting was a bit weak in its straightforward purpose, but I really won’t fault the book itself for this. Guild Wars 2 has been disappointing, plotwise, especially in comparison to its predecessor. It has been disappointing characterwise, as well. However, Ghosts of Ascalon was far from disappointing with its characters, whom I really came to care about, so much so that I hunted them all down in game the next time I logged in.

It is unfortunate that these characters, who played such a large a role in history, are minor NPCs within the game itself, while less interesting and far more annoying characters like the members of Destiny’s Edge are so prominent.

4 of 5 stars

March Reads

March Reads for the Levar’s Rainbow Book Club are centred around the theme of “Back to School.” Think back to the books you read in highschool – ones you loved, ones you hated, ones you may have loved if you hadn’t been forced to overanalyze and write essays about them. Click here for a few of our member suggestions.

The Six-Gun Tarot by R.S. Belcher

The Six-Gun Tarot by R.S. Belcher

Golgotha, Nevada 1869. Fifteen-year-old Jim finds himself in town after surviving the 40-Mile Desert, running from his past with just his horse and his father's magical jade eye in his pocket.

Golgotha has always had a way of attracting and drawing in the supernatural. With its history of unexplained occurrences, the old town is also home to many strange denizens, including Jonathan Highfather, the town's sheriff whose extraordinary luck has always preserved him despite many close shaves with death. Mutt, his deputy, is said to be the son of Coyote. Meek and prim Maude Stapleton, wife of a prominent banker, is actually a deadly trained assassin and a follower of the cult of Lilith.

It all comes to a head when an ancient evil deep beneath the old mines of the mountain is called forth into the world, and the town's motley crew of citizens must join together to defeat the sinister force and its tainted army.

On the surface, this may sound like another one of your familiar characters-get-together-to-save-the-world books, but I have to say in all honesty I've never read a book quite like The Six-Gun Tarot. And it's a great thing. I've always enjoyed westerns whenever I read them, especially when they are mixed with aspects of fantasy and the paranormal. This book was an interesting blend of all that goodness as well as elements of theology and horror.

What makes The Six-Gun Tarot stand out is its world-building and character development. Almost the entirety of the book takes place in Golgotha and its surroundings, with flashbacks to some of the characters' pasts. The town and its population is brought to life by many of these rich backstories.

In fact, at times the book almost feels overly ambitious in these areas. I think it was a good move for the author to keep a lot about the history of the town and its people unexplained to preserve a bit of mystery, but at the same time I was left with so many questions and a desire to know more.

Take Maude's past as an example. What really was the purpose of all her training? Did she put her skills to good use on any adventures between the short time she became initiated and the time she met her husband and got married? Or what about Clay the taxidermist and mad scientist tinkerer? What's the deal there and where was his backstory?

These questions were just a handful of the many that occurred to me while reading. It felt to me that there was so much potential there to be explored, and what didn't get expanded upon seemed like wasted opportunities. This book could have been longer if only to delve more into the history of these characters, since they were what made this book so unique. Perhaps then there would also have been less frequent jumping around of character perspectives, which often got distracting.

As a debut novel, however, I have to say this one was solid. I look forward to checking out more of R.S. Belcher's stuff in the future.

Final Verdict:

3.5 stars of 5

A Dance with Dragons by George R. R. Martin

A Dance With Dragons by George R.R. Martin

At the end of A Feast for Crows, GRRM excitedly informed readers that it and the subsequent A Dance With Dragons were actually a single book, separated due to length. He promised that missing characters would be present in Dragons and that the stories would catch up and proceed onward. For this reason, I will often be referring back to Crows.

I feel that separating the books was an unfortunate decision and Dragons suffered for it. I wanted to love this book as much as I loved the previous, but I feel like reading it so closely following Crows hurt my enjoyment of the series. From the beginning of the book, I concluded that the people who read Crows years before and had waited so long for Dragons were at the advantage. They didn’t have to read chapters that literally repeated things word for word from Crows where the books overlapped and those readers were filled with years of anticipation, allowing them to overlook many of the flaws.

What I loved in Crows failed to follow through in Dragons and as a result, I have come to refer to Dragons as “Killing Time Until I Figure Out Where The Hell This Is All Going,” by George RR Martin, featuring the following chapters:

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Snow Flower and the Secret Fan by Lisa See

Wow, what a story. I wouldn't say this was a hard story to read, but much of it is dreary. This book takes place during a time when women were only seen as vestibules to bear children--particularly sons. Other than that, their lives were "worthless," and they were often viewed as another mouth to feed for their husbands' families.

Living life under strict patriarchal codes, women were not allowed to air their grievances. They were encouraged to accept their lot in life and believe that everything that happened to them was their own doing, something they deserves. They were taught that they only achieved perfection through pain. However, these woman created a secret language used to convey their true feelings to one another.

This books follows the journey of two women whose spent their lives as loatongs (old sames)--women paired together to be the emotional pillars to each other that their husbands could not be for them. Their history together is painful, and their relationship poignantly illustrates the ever shifting face of female relationships.

Women, and our relationships with one another, are such complicated things. Even though this story takes place during a time long before women had many rights, some things remain true. Some of the same tricks they used then, we use now. We still share so many of the same fears, hopes, aspirations, etc. These things still affect us no matter our races, geographical locations, social statuses. Beautiful story.

Final Verdict: 

4 of 5 stars