Fantasy - Patrick Rothfuss - The Name of the Wind (2007)

I think Steve got me this book for Christmas. I tend to depend on him to tread those new fantasy waters while I deal with my backlog of unread books that fill my shelves, but I may have eventually picked this up on my own, but for a different reason. We didn't go to PAX this year, but Rothfuss was in the DnD Live Show this year, so I likely would have read it for that reason even without Steve's interference. The truth of the matter is, I had plans to read this after A Dance with Dragons, but then Nadia was kind enough to lend me a bunch of her books, so it got pushed back.

The Name of the Wind is a book one of a debut series, so it is covered in accolades that, for the most part, are well-deserved. The story starts out with some drunken bumpkins coming to an inn, encountering some razor-sharp spider creatures, and declaring them demons. That's just brushing over it briefly. Then a guy known as the Chronicler comes up and discovers that the innocuous innkeeper is a legendary hero by the name of Kvothe. It's a great hook, especially once Chronicler convinces Kvothe to relate to him his story. The majority of the book is just that: the first day of Kvothe telling Chronicler his tale.

I could totally see this in so many different media: DnD adventure, TV miniseries, comic serial. The book form is great for relating it in his own words, but I don't doubt that there is potential for more here.

There is one problem. He gives away some of the shit that happens with this method. Kvothe lists some of his accomplishments and failures before you even get started. Since most of this is about him trying to get to the University, and then stay, the fact that you say on the back that he has gotten "expelled from the University at a younger age than most people are allowed in" gives some of the story away, now, doesn't it? But that's a problem I tend to have with book backs. They always give too much away. But that line is embedded in the text as well, so there's really no avoiding it. It's just a nitpick.

Here's another: the world is great, the worries of a poor person spot on, and the main character a giant douche.

Don't get me wrong. Kvothe's story is interesting. But he is the MOST Mary of Sues, and if you don't know what that means, maybe you should look it up. This is wish-fulfillment at its most heinous. Why does he have to be some kind of super-genius? Why does he always convince his elders to do what he wants? There's so little opportunity really for Kvothe to fail. I wonder if it is the intention of the author to make Kvothe relate his story with the rose-colored glasses of nostalgia in order to toot his own horn, or if the first-person POV got to Rothfuss when it came to his character.

All in all, it's a great read, especially if you like fantasy. There are some annoying higher fantasy aspects toward the end, and the climax is, for lack of better description, somewhat anticlimactic, but I enjoyed it, despite Kvothe jerking off to himself the entirety of the book.

9.5/10

Buy it @ Amazon.
Buy it @ Barnes & Noble.

Graphic Novel - Kristofer Straub - Starslip Crisis Volume 1 (2007)

I bought this book from the man himself at the last PAX Prime, and I was able to get a drawing and an autograph in it as well. I have been trying to read this particular comic of his online for a long time, but I couldn't get into it. Not because it's bad or anything. But because there occasionally happens to be a lot of text, and that's difficult to parse when you just want to read some webcomics.

In book form, however, it's just fine.

Starslip Crisis is a webcomic by the great Kris Straub, lately of Chainsawsuit and Broodhollow fame, that ran for several years. Now that it has ended, I felt like it was time to really dig in, but I had the aforementioned problem. Because while some of the premises of this hard sci-fi comic can be a bit ridiculous, make no mistake, it is hard sci-fi.

Starslip is about a decommissioned warship that has been converted into a high-class art museum, curated by professional artsy douche Memnon Vanderbeam, piloted by ex-space-pirate Cutter Edgewise, and janitorially serviced (among other things) by an alien creature known as Mr. Jinx. Other characters obviously join the fray over the course of the comic, such as Jupiterian princess and ambassador Jovia, engineer Holliday, and rampaging antique robot Vore. The hard sci-fi comes into play primarily in the form of FTL travel, in this case explained by switching places with a parallel universe version of themselves already at the required destination.

Rather than just stick with the concept as infalliable and useful for plot, Straub allows for the logical conclusion of such a mode of travel, even when it becomes inconvenient for the characters; especially when it becomes inconvenient for them. While a bunch of the jokes seem like jokes for the sake of a punchline, the story aspects of this comic are pretty great.

The art... eh, I'm just glad he figured out necks before he started Broodhollow.

Nice work, Mr. Straub. I look forward to acquiring the next volume in your landmark series.

9.5/10

Buy it from Kris Straub's store. 

Franchise Fiction - James Wyatt - Storm Dragon (2007)

I mentioned in the last post that I was ass-deep in D&D stuff. While I did not purchase this book then, I did start reading it in that time period. We've just started playing last night, and I actually finished reading this a couple days ago. I started it a while ago. I wasn't keeping super on top of anything, let alone my reading regimen, so again, I apologize.

I honestly don't read a lot of franchise fiction. We do have a few though; that teen novel from the last post, the City of Heroes novels, and the first two books of this series. I don't usually read franchise fiction because I don't believe that a story should depend on an existing IP to sell. I bought this and the second book because of that little word in the top right corner of the cover: Eberron.

When I bought this book, I was still working on my first adventure and devouring lore for Eberron, our campaign setting of choice. I liked that it wasn't high fantasy, good-versus-evil gameplay, so I wanted to dig in. In particular, I wanted to figure out the feel of the world beyond steampunk, technology-runs-on-magic fantasy. And in the end, I'm still more inclined to point my own campaign towards my preconceptions than that of the story provided.

If it was standing alone as a story, I probably would be giving it a lower score than I am. The story itself is fairly basic: there is a prophecy detailing the events leading to the rise of the Storm Dragon, and there are a group of fugitives orchestrating these events. The main character is a member of the dragonmarked House of Storm, and knows all of the prophecy regarding the Storm Dragon. Is it any surprise, then, when (Spoiler!) he becomes the Storm Dragon in question?

The story itself is rather high fantasy. However, the only thing I can compare it to is the story of Final Fantasy 12. They go and collect people and artifacts to make certain things happen, even if the characters themselves are at odds with each other. In this book, those items are information and artifacts from various places in the world, and collecting them all to one spot to force an event to take place, one that was supposed to send one of the more unsavory characters to godhood.

Again, as a story, it was subpar. The main character quickly and easily forgives and changes his mind about people and events. He feels little to no remorse, taking an "ends justify the means" attitude. And since he does end up being the legendary Storm Dragon, he becoming even more of an unbelievable character. If he was too naive or kind to appreciate the destructive power he has been gifted with, or even if he descended even more into the delicious madness the beginning of the book hinted at, then I would have been enthralled. Instead, he just comes off as a douchebag.

The fact that his biggest conflict is that he wants to choose his own destiny also just makes me want to gag.

However, the fact of the matter is, for all of this book's flaws, it actually gave me ideas and techniques to use in my future adventures. I know now how I'm going to end the campaign. I know how to work with some of the more contradictory dragonmarked houses now. And I know how to use the Draconic Prophecy in my campaign, which was the primary reason I wanted to read these books in the first place. It had been so confusing to me before. Now I get it, and I may even employ some of it.

The best thing I got out of it though is the use of changelings. One of the side characters that grows into a main character is a changeling. At first I just though it was cool that Wyatt was including that side of Eberron in his story. But the use of the changeling was so polished. That character felt like a real guy with a stable of faces and personalities in his head. And the way he molded himself based on personality and name was just awesome. If I got nothing else out of this, I got that, and that was good enough for me to start reading the second book already.

4.0/10

Fantasy - Gail Z. Martin - The Summoner (2007)

I got this book a while ago. I don't remember when. Within the past year, for certain. I know that I bought it primarily because my little brother Steve suggested I read it. That should have been my first hint as to how my experience with it would be. Guy loves high fantasy.

For the sake of full disclosure, I will tell you that I occasionally stopped reading this book in order to play The Witcher. Not the new one, the old, buggy-as-fuck one. And this book inspired me to buy it. Why?

Because this book is a video game. Sure, it has pages and words and goes on a bookshelf with other books and was purchased from a bookstore, but it's a video game. A role-playing game, to be exact. There are monsters traveling the wilds, several groups of human baddies to justify being in the wilderness in the first place, and scenes of such high magic followed by a blackout that it may as well have been a cutscene.

"But Tabetha," I can hear you say, "a lot of high fantasy follows that formula. Isn't that why you don't like it?" That's true, faceless and nonexistent blog reader. I do tend to dislike high fantasy on the fact that it is formulaic. But the more I think about D&D and the campaign I'm building, the less I'm beginning to mind high fantasy. It has its place. Unfortunately, that place is more often in games. And this book doesn't even get to be a book. It's a game.

The gang's all here: the exiled prince-turned-mage, a roster of interchangeable fighters, a flamboyant bard, the grumpy female healer, the chosen-one princess-paladin, even a trickster thief in the form of Berry. And their travels and adventures are straight out of any game. If this had been written as a script instead, it would have been out on Steam for everyone's enjoyment with little changes.

But you people aren't here for video games. You're here for book reviews. And honestly, with that wall of text up there about how this book is high fantasy, you shouldn't be surprised when I say that I didn't really enjoy it. The cast was too big for this author, who often had characters fade into the background so much that, when three characters left the main cast to go do something else, I didn't even notice. I thought they were just being quiet.

Two couples are made in the course of the book, and they are so predictable I wanted to choke and die. Of course the two people who fight a lot will bone. Of course the female chosen-one and male chosen-one are going to do it. Also, how many Chosen Ones are you going to have in one book? It's ridiculous.

The thing I hated the most about this book is the fact that this lady doesn't seem to know how to end chapters properly. Surely you've read a book or two in your lifetime? You know that a chapter is a length of book to mark at least one change to the story, at whatever length the author wishes. You also know that they usually end on a cliffhanger, in attempts to tempt the reader into moving on to the next chapter without stopping. That is, of course, the gold standard for writers: a reader who would rather read the whole thing in one sitting then do something else.

This lady doesn't understand that.

Many of the chapters, especially the early ones, have the climax happen in the middle of the chapter, and the resolution finding its own conclusion before the end of the chapter. Then the chapters usually end when a person goes to sleep. As a result, the reader has no stake in what happens next. Nothing is driving them to the next page. That was another reason I kept putting this down. Because, why shouldn't I? Why should I care about these cardboard cutouts?

1.5/10

Writing - Heather Sellers - Chapter after Chapter (2007)

I told you I have a lot of these. I even have a lot I haven't read. I will admit that I read about half of this one back when I bought it, but then it lost me. I read it all the way through this time.

Maybe the fact that this book is not for my situation has colored the way I feel about it. I don't really like it though. I'll get into why in a minute.

This book is the spiritual sequel to Sellers's first writing book, Page After Page, which is mostly about getting started writing as a practice and a habit. This book, however, is about writing your book. Sellers's way.

It may stem from my relationship with my parents (better, now, that I don't live with them), but I hate it when people tell me what to do and imply that it is their way or the highway. Sellers spends the last half of the book talking about how to keep on your book and how to then get it published. This includes not reading anything while actually writing the book (which can obviously take a year or more!), how to travel while in the midst of your book (make assignments for yourself every day and don't you dare enjoy your vacation), and how to not even think about any of the new ideas your musing brain may come up with while in a creative stance to write your story.

Normally, I would just remember that it's advice. This lady is not going to fly to Vegas from Michigan, beat down my door, and strangle me for not doing things her way. But she often bookends her advice about not doing things you like while writing with "if you want to be a real writer" or "if you ever want to finish" or even "if you ever want to publish".

If you're writing, you're a real writer. You can finish in your own way, at your own pace. Thousands of books get published every year. You're not going to miss out somehow just because you decide to spend your Florida vacation on the beach rather than in a darkened hotel room.

The first half of the book actually does address some of the anxieties writers have about their stories. Like how they might mess them up if they actually write them. Like wanting to write, but having to go to a child's birthday party, or celebratory dinner, or help your friends move, or whatever other obligations you may have. Like feeling like you should be writing, or doing something else, or working on one project or the other. But again, these are steeped in "this is what I do, so you should do it too, especially if you want to be a real writer". Like, do you volunteer and visit with your friends over lunch? Say goodbye to it. It's taking up too much of your time.

The part I think that I dislike the most is the part about the "Book 100". Sellers says that you should, before even starting on writing your story, read 100 books like it. List them all out, and read them all over the course of a year, taking copious notes on each one. And, if you can't easily list 100 books similar to yours, (by the way, you probably had to read them in the first place before to know this) then it's probably not a good idea.

Read that part again. If you cannot list a hundred books like yours, it's not a good idea. This is book writing on Sellers's terms.

I say, if you have a story in you right now, start it right now. Give it a shot. Don't wait until you've found and read a hundred books like it. And if you want to read while you write, have at. You may find new themes and concepts from the book you're reading that you want to incorporate into a book you're writing. Go to lunch with your friends. Have a life outside the writing room.

The reason I think that it may have gone over better with me is the fact that it is for a person in the middle of their story and floundering. I have a few started stories, but like I said in the last post, I haven't actually written in a long time. So the exercises in this quickly became irrelevant to me. I don't need something to help me finish something. I need something to get me back on the horse.

If that has colored my review somewhat, then so be it. All I know is that the last book had me excited about writing. This one made me feel cynical and like I shouldn't bother.

4.0/10

Writing - Jamie Cat Callan - The Writer's Toolbox (2007)

I think this is the first writing book I'm reviewing. You may not know this, but I have a ton of these things. Not boxes full of stuff. I only have two of those.

Except for this blog, regrettably I haven't written for a while. It was my job, and also the wedding, and also my depression and anxiety. But now I'm unemployed, married, and on Celexa, so I figured it was time to stop with the excuses.

And if you have writer's block, this is fucking amazing.

The book inside is a scant 60 pages long, but it's mostly an instruction manual for the goodies inside the box, which include Popsicle sticks, a deck of cards, a three-minute hourglass, and spinning palettes you would otherwise think are more suited to kids learning their addition or times tables.

But they aren't normal items. The Popsicle sticks have first lines on them, lines to start new scenes, and even something to spark the conflict in a story. The cards have ideas and senses on them, so you can dive into description or use one as a starting off point. The palettes have protagonists, their goals, what's standing in their way, and how they try to get around that. All in all, it's a pretty robust set of inspiration tools for any stuck writer hoping to fill a notebook with some ideas to mine through later.

I used some of the tools as I read through the manual. I ended up with a guy setting his family's home on fire while hallucinating that they are actually all going on a vacation together, three female roommates that secretly and not-so-secretly hate each other, and an older guy trying to reclaim his youth through sex with younger women. This, after not really writing for months.

The great thing about book itself is that it doesn't just explain the tools in the box and give crappy examples of how to use them. It describes how to use each tool to start a new story, start back into a half-finished one, and even how to combine them more than just "sticks go together, cards go together".

I mentioned earlier that I have a lot of these kinds of books. One thing that this one does, and I love, that none of the others do, is show some examples of using the tools by other authors. Short little vignettes followed by commentary by the author describing their thought process while writing. That was super cool. And the vignettes are enough to inspire you to pick up your pen and start on using the tools yourself.

Not bad for a box I picked up on a whim to use a coupon.

9.5/10

Fantasy - C.S. Friedman - Feast of Souls (2007)

I wasn't lying when I said that I read a lot of fantasy. It is my preferred genre, after all, despite how much I hate high fantasy. I promise that the next review will not be another fantasy novel.

I got this book and The Adamantine Palace during my last book shopping trip. It isn't super often that I get around to reading the books I buy so soon after purchasing them, but what're you going to do? With my job being gone now, I won't be going out to buy books as often as I used to.

Man, I am getting off track easily this morning.

I went into this book expecting to like it. Not love it; if you go into a book expecting to love it, you may only be disappointed. And for the vast majority of the book, I did like it a lot. I've read C.S. Friedman before, in the form of  This Alien Shore, which still stands as one of my favorite science fiction novels. This one had an author I liked and a premise I adore: the cost of power in a land with magic. That's one of the themes I seriously love in fiction in general, the cost of power.

The cost of power here is that magic feeds off life energy, and where that energy comes from depends on what kind of magic user you are. For witches, who can be male or female, that life energy is your own. For Magisters, who can only be male, that life energy is that of another person, usually one you don't even know. The story opens up to present this idea in the form of a dying witch, but also quickly introduces the main character, Kamala, a girl who is determined to become a Magister, despite her uterus. I don't think it would be spoilery to tell you that she succeeds: if she didn't, she'd be dead before the first hundred pages are up, and that makes a shitty main character.

The writing and premise got me reading for a while without pause, even though Kamala reads like a Mary Sue, with her hair and eye coloring reiterated often, along with her tomboyishness and desire to dress like a boy. All that plus the fact that she is the first female Magister makes one groan whenever the points in her favor are pointed out again and again. But I guess it's a good price to pay for some of the other characters, who are richly developed peoples. Colivar, Gwynofar, and Siderea stand out in particular. Especially the last: her set up where she has sex with Magisters so they will do her magical dirty work is an interesting concept that I wish could be explored longer.

About a third of the way into the book, the plot turns sharply away from Kamala trying to find her way as a Magister and her consort trying to find her to what is essentially a manhunt, because she accidentally kills a Magister, which is like the only rule Magisters have. I actually stopped reading for a few days because of this. It was not what I wanted to read.

But it just as quickly swung away from that plot line to that which included monstrous Souleaters, which look like dragons with dragonfly wings. They do exactly what they say, feed off life energy, but in hoards, like locusts. They quickly become the major concern for the rest of the book and probably the rest of the series. I don't know exactly how I feel about it. I didn't really like how the plot took on an inconsistent color that maybe a little more lingering on the transitions would have helped.

It also required a more careful editor. There were some obvious typos and formatting issues that the editor could have caught. It all kind of smelt like there was a looming deadline and it was published at the wire.

That isn't to say that the book isn't worth a look. For the magic system alone, I would recommend it. And I certainly will be getting the next book in the series.

8.0/10