The uglishest cover for a Green Rider book thus far. Really don’t like this one. Image from the internet.

Three years later and we have a new Green Rider novel. Sure, I hated the last book and despaired of any future books. But, well, I am bored and the library had a copy. So, once more I will turn my attention to the series on a downhill trajectory from really great to oh-so-dull as we review Firebrand by Kristen Britain.

I am pretty sure this 800 page monstrosity is the longest Green Rider book to date. To those who have perused any of my book reviews, it can come as no surprise that I thought the novel was bloated and the writing mediocre at best. But before we go any further, I just want to assure the adoring fans of the Green Rider Universe: If you loved the first 4 books in the series (no one really liked book 5), then you will undoubtedly love this one too. If you are just starting with Firebrand, I really have to question your thought process. Who comes into an epic fantasy series at book 6?

Over the past couple days, and long-winded pages, I have been ruminating on exactly what I was going to write about. I confess, I am really not sure what to say. I didn’t like the book, but die-hard fans will? True, but hardly a detailed post. I suppose we must look at what I didn’t like and for that we are going to have spoilers. So, be warned!

Like Mirror Sight and Blackveil, Firebrand suffers from too many words/too many pages. It is unnecessarily long. While, it is an improvement over Mirror Sight that was such a low bench mark I really feel it should not count as an accomplishment. Now, to be honest, I did not re-read all the past books before picking up Firebrand. I just couldn’t be bothered. So, perhaps it is my failing memory that has the Evil Grandmother still in Blackveil. Which I thought was an unexplained problem as in Firebrand she is way up north. It is possible I forgotten this transition.

A better version of the cover. Image from the internet.

I’m not cranky, I am emotionally damaged – see that makes me a real and complex character!

So, our spunky heroine Karigan is about 25 years old. Over the course of the saga she has gone from runaway school girl to demi-god. Which brings me to my first major complaint of power creep. In order for Karigan to progress as a character, she becomes increasingly stronger in each novel. She has gone from being able to use a sliver of magic to disappear to being the avatar of the death god with the power to seal the dead and direct the spirits of the recently deceased.

Mostly, she is akin to a god; the one person who can survive anything and do anything. It is more than just a little over the top. Of course, the fact that there are other superheroes, I mean powerful characters does not diminish the ridiculousness of it. Reading about Karigan now requires more than just a little suspension of disbelief, because everything she has done in her short life span is over the top. She is the most capable rider (as is evidenced by the missions she is sent on), she is a sword-master, an honorary Weapon, a friend (maybe?) to the Queen (it is complicated), a friend of the mystical Elt, a friend to the Golden Guardian, the true love any important man to enter into the novels (including, but not limited to the King, Alton, Yates, Enver, Cade, etc.) and inspiration to everyone else (who isn’t Evil).

Yes, I realize that the author then tries to balance Karigan’s super-amazingness with flaws, but being cranky or suffering from grief/torture are not really striking a semblance of realism. Her problems are either stupidly small or overwhelming large that it only emphasize how unrealistic the character has become.

Green Rider – still my favourite book in the series. I do like my beginnings. Image from the internet.

Fantasy creep – where did all this magic come from?

Along with the power creep of the main character there is fantasy creep. That is the incremental increase in fantastical or magical elements to a story. This occurs in fantasy novels where the author strives to recreate that sense of world-building wonder only ever achieved in the first book of a series. Stubbornly, however, the author will continue to dream up wondrous beasts or magic infused elements in their vain attempt to bring back that first rush of amazement felt by the reader.

It never works.

Worse, it creates an internal logic problem. We are told that magic is leaving the lands. That is was scoured from the kingdom thousands of years ago – literally they killed people who had magic. That even the Elt have noticed its decline over the centuries. Then suddenly it is coming back? All because of a breach in the wall, or because the author forgot that this was a low magic world? No explanation. As for the reactions of the people, well, they are hesitant but largely accepting. No one seems to question why we now have Griffins, that didn’t exist three books ago. Or the mirror man – which seemed largely out of place. Nope, this reads like an author who loved the little bit of magic too much and now we are suddenly swimming in it.

Elt improvements – they are now Vulcans!

Image from the internet.

I have previously commented on the Tolkein flavoured Elt (they are the now stereotypical elves) and their lack of originality. Well, someone heard by complaints because not only do we suddenly have half-Elt they are also emotionally-stifled. The problem with the half-Elt is the fact that these beings had apparently not been seen in the lands for several hundred years prior to book one. While that was changed in later books – because naturally our heroine must have an Elt connection – it still seems odd that half-Elt would exist now.

But more importantly, why are they like the Vulcans? Emotionally stoic until it is mating time. Then they have no control over the sexual urges. This is the best you could do for a character flaw? Really?

There was a mission – oops, I nearly forgot.

So, Karigan goes off on an impossible mission to find the moose people, I mean the p’ehdrose and Estral’s father (the Golden Guardian). When the story eventually gets going, we spend most of the time tracking down the missing musician or following the kidnapped King. We have more time with the Second Empire and our dearly departed Grandmother. We are briefly introduced to more Evil characters, because someone has to die by the end. Spoilers, someone from the Good Team parishes too (can you guess which one?).

Image from the internet.

After plodding through the woods, facing freezing cold winds, working in the mines, being physically tortured and finally destroying the Second Empire’s most recent camp we are left wondering, what did happen to our diplomatic mission? And why is Karigan sent anywhere for talks when she always ends up in a battle? Not the diplomat I would choose.

Never fear, you may have thought the author forgot about the p’hedrose, or decided the rest of the mission would be saved for another over inflated book. I would be wrong in this case. Nope, Karigan meets and treats with the p’hedrose in just about 2 chapters tucked in at the end, making us wonder, why it took 200 pages for her to leave the castle in the first place?

Wait, we didn’t forget about these characters – see, they are right here at the end.

Now, I know there are some people out there who hate Lord Amberhill. I am not one of them. Well, at least I liked him in The High King’s Tomb. I was fond of this sword thrusting charismatic thief. And clearly the author was too, because she carried him through book 4 and made him more of a feature in book 5. When it came to book 6, Firebrand, well, I thought poor Lord Amberhill had been forgotten; along with several Green Riders.

Image from the internet.

But that was not the case. Nope, she makes mention of our dear Lord Amberhill as a point of conversation between two green riders in the dying pages of this epic work. Yup, 800 pages and Lord Amberhill is relegated to a passing comment on the very last page. A real clutch character we have here.

Where’s the connection – why did we have Mirror Sight?

There was one question that kept running through my mind as we trailed after Karigan and sat with the Queen (confined to her bed like a good pregnant wife): What was the point of Mirror Sight. Book 5 had zero barring on the characters and plot of Firebrand. And to those who argue otherwise, I challenge you to think about the events really closely.

With a few minor tweaks, Karigan could have been just as emotionally scarred from her adventures in Blackveil. The mysterious reference to the weapon that some super-minor characters are searching for could have come from another source. The mirror eye could still have resulted from the end of Blackveil. The p’hedrose could have been convinced to join the cause for other reasons. Really, with very little effort Mirror Sight could be erased from the series without a problem. Emphasizing once more that it was a waste of a novel.

Image from the internet.

While I will continue to argue the author’s best books were still the first two in the series (Green Rider and First Rider’s Call), there is merit in saying Firebrand is an improvement (slightly) over Mirror Sight. If I could offer a suggestion or two. Perhaps it is time to re-evaluate the over-arching narrative. Does Karigan really have to the main character? Could we not branch out and explore some other issues and other people? Tamora Pierce is fond of series too. However, I think she was really cleaver in her handling of her fantasy world of Tortall. Pierce has several characters and thus different story arches all in the same world. She can move forward or backward in time as her fancy dictates. And regularly has four books for each of her characters, who then appear as cameos in other books. I think this helps to keep individual books from become bloated and any one character from becoming too powerful (though that might be arguable). Certainly, this method allows the author to explore her creativity more. Then we could look at a future as seen in Mirror Sight, still in the same world only facing different problems. That, I think would be really interesting.

Well, as we cross into the New Year it is a time of reflection. So I thought I would look back on some of the books I read in December.

Book cover from the internet, not owned by me.

The Palace Job by Patrick Weekes

This was by far my favourite book of the season. It was different, new and high adventure. The story revolved around a thief out to procure a book from one of the heavily guarded vaults in the Republic. To accomplish this goal, she collects a varied group of individuals each with a unique skill set. But even that does not make the task much easier as her opponents are both crafty and ruthless.

It was reminiscent of Ocean’s Eleven, if the story was set in the most fantastical of fantasy worlds. This was a high fantasy landscape filled with floating cities, magic, monsters, fairies and gods – or at least their devoted and powerful worshipers.

It was exciting, engaging and so much fun. This is a story I would recommend for those in search of high adventure and some cleaver thieves. Yes, I do plan on reading any and all sequels to this book.

Dragon-Ridden by T.A. White

The dragon-ridden may be a fantasy blend of human and dragon souls, but what set this story apart was not the protagonist suffering from amnesia or the solidly crafted fantasy world. Rather, what has me reflecting back on this book was the surprising element of science-fiction; space travel and colonists from another world. There was just enough information shared with the audience for me to piece together the back story of the protagonist, who has woken from cryogenic sleep after a very long time. That she came from another planet, I don’t think is debatable. That she was part of the crew, a leader, who became the worshiped gods of old is rather intriguing.

While I approach the blending of space travel and a more historic fantasy world with caution, I do feel this author was able to pull off the blend of magic and genetic splicing. I would be interested to read a sequel if they were to write another.  Though, I would not rate this book as high as The Palace Job, there were some character actions and words that seemed too forced or awkwardly presented, there was much to interest me in this story that I would give the author another chance.

Book cover from the internet, not owned by me.

Cast in Flight by Michelle Sagara

Cast in Flight is book 8 or 9 in the series by Michelle Sagara. I hadn’t really enjoyed the previous book and was figuring I had pretty much finished with the series, even if the author hasn’t. Certainly the first couple of chapters had me wondering if I would just return this book to the library. But I kept at it (I didn’t have anything else out at the time) and in the end I really enjoyed this one. There was more talking, more relationship building and much less fighting. For me it was far more interesting. Funny as I would also say it was far more political in story than many of the other books in the series. Politics is something I usually shy away from. This time I was delighted to spend a book following the lives of Kaylin and her various friends. That said, I am not committed to reading the next novel. And still feel the best series as those in the 4 book range. This one is certainly very, very long.

Book cover from the internet, not owned by me.

The Bird and the Sword by Amy Harmon

Fairy tale in feel the Bird and the Sword started out more interestingly than it ended. It was filled with just enough magic and mystery to make it interesting, but it did start to lag as we progressed through it. Not based on any one fairy tale the story had many familiar elements.

The magic system was sort of interesting in the manner in which it was tied into religion. However, the cliché of burning all witches as mostly boring. I was interested in the way that the protagonist was mute. However, I still question the explanation that she could not communicate telepathically until she could read. The reason being that she didn’t have the words. But she was not deaf, so she still had the words, just not in written form. This a felt was a very weak explanation. And reflective of the whole. Mostly good, an easy read, but not as solid as it could have been. I still enjoyed it, just a little lower on the rating scale.

Smoke and Mirrors by Jess Haines

Okay, it has been a while since I read this book. What I remember was enjoying the story as frivolous fun. I recall a story about a young woman just finishing college for mages in New York (or some other large city) who decides she needs to find a dragon.

Unfortunately, the story suffered from weak writing. My biggest complaint was character inconsistency. One woman is introduced as a terror who hates the protagonist and tries to kill her on first sight. This same violent individual devises a plan of sharing information that leads yet another character to again try and kill the female protagonist. Only, when this attack does go down the violent woman is immediately and inexplicably regretful. She didn’t mean for this to happen even though she set it up.

The author spent way too much time trying to set up very tried and tired scenes. Characters do things because the messy plot dictates this to be so. The main character is supposed to be proud, strong and independent while simultaneously being poor and desperate. She runs hot and cold, weak and strong with the male lead. The tone changes because the scene requires that change, even if it doesn’t fit with the character development.

The author also plotted as many clichéd moments and stereotypical events as possible into one story. Adding more tropes does not make your story better. Sure I appreciate the take on poverty and agree that being poor does not mean that you don’t work hard. But really, you don’t need to lecture me. And if you are so poor, can you really afford to be stupidly stubborn?

The story was light, mostly fun, but poorly written.

Banquet of Lies by Michelle Diener

Of the books listed here, I think it was my most disappointing read. For a book that was taking a real event of political intrigue (a treaty between Britain and Russia if memory serves), the author did nothing with it. I loved the setup of a wealthy, well-traveled and unconventional woman hiding out as a chef in Regency London. It was different and the character’s background was devised in such a way to make this seem plausible. What followed after that was poor characterization and a pathetic attempt to play at spy. The characters were lackluster, the plot was rather silly in the end and overall it fell flat. Yes, I realize that it was categorized as a Regency Romance, but the romance was also very lame and poorly handled. Overall, this was a flop.

Book cover for the Invisible Library – taken from the internet.

When faced with the bleak reality of a desperate future, I retreat to the safety of the fantastically written word. While I tend to gravitate, during these dark times, to familiar books it is not always the case.

In contrast to the rest of the media and news, I will share something positive today. I read a good book: The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman.

The book focuses on Librarian Irene as she sent out of the Interdimensional Library into an steampunk inspired Victorian-esq fantasy alternate world; complete with seductive fae, dashing dragons, famous detectives, air ships and of course magic. Irene is pitted against secret cults and Library bogeymen, as she tries to complete her book retrieval before being utterly destroyed by the chaos infecting the world and herself. It is a highly entertaining read.

Another book cover for the Invisible Library, taken from the internet.

So, what do I love about this book? Well, Irene is a strong, practical and extremely effective Librarian. Evidently good at her job and equally competent at training her new apprentice. I like her spirit, her efficiency and even her questionable moral standing on humans. Irene doesn’t crumple under the pressures of her job, she rises to the challenge with a mix of magic, strength and decisive intelligence.

Although, we the reader, get to spend little time in the mysterious Library, connected to all words yet existing apart from them. I was greatly interested in this intriguing location, filled with even more unique personalities of other ageless Librarians. I was pleased in the handling of all worlds being true, just alternates of each other. This gives the series so many options for future venues; any place, any time, any amount of magic or technology all fit without breaking the laws of the world. It is a great system for storytelling.

Book cover for the Masked City, the sequel of the Invisible Library.

The supporting cast are similarly rich in their characterizations: Kai, Vale, Silver and Albrech all add a tremendous lot to the story telling with different views, goals and backstories. They compete, support and try to murder our intrepid heroine at different points.

Really, I recommend trying this book. In fact I enjoyed the Invisible Library so much I was quick to take out the sequel: The Masked City from my local Library. It was an equally good story, though it swapped most of the mystery of the first book for inter-world politics. Still, it was filled with adventure, imagination, and of course books!

Conclusion: in the face of so much depressing uncertainty, I recommend the security of a good read and the Invisible Library is an excellent place to start.

Beauty and the Beast is one of my favourite fairy tales. I have certainly read any number of good, moderate and terrible iterations. I have also seen quite a few movie versions. And there is yet another live action remake of the classic Disney telling is set to come out in some near-ish future.

Book cover for K.M. Shea’s Beauty and the Beast. I got this image from the internet, it is not mine.

Today, however, I want to comment on K.M. Shae’s novel simply entitled Beauty and the Beast. Like so many of my other amazon finds, I made the purchase when it was free – as trashy books hurt less to read when you haven’t actually paid for them. In this instance I was pleasantly surprised. It was a good book. It was a good, logical retelling with well-written characters and only a slightly silly ending.

Lots and lots of spoilers to follow – be warned.

The book starts with Beauty, called Elle of course, falling through the stained glass roof of the Beast’s chateau. She badly breaks her leg, thus explaining her presence in the place. It is not long before the reader discovers Elle was supposed to be there in secret. She was never meant to be seen. All too soon, we learn that the Beast is the bastard son of the current King and military advisor to the Heir. Contrary to many conventions the brothers are supposed to support and even like each other.

The castle is filled with cursed staff, their faces covered in part masks and their voices taken away by magic. While they might not have the flare of some animated versions, their presence is a positive in the telling of the story. They actively drive both Elle and the Beast together.

While it is left a little vague to start with, we know that Elle has a strong dislike for the Beast Prince she is co-habitating with. She thinks him selfishly arrogant and thoughtless when it comes to the lives of others. This perspective is changed over the course of the story that shows a Beastly shaped man who cares very deeply for his staff and his family. He has a protective personality.

Little bits of information, tiny twists in the way the story unfolds guides the reader to assume that Elle, with her worrisome secret, is a spy or assassin from another country there to harm the Beast, his household and his family. Thus the big twist at the end, revealing Elle to be one of two elite Rangers sent by the Heir to protect his brother, is both clever and refreshing. Looking back, I can enjoy the development of the relationship under this new light and it works. Yes there were hints to this end, so it was not truly surprising. But it was enjoyably done.

The weakest point for me is the post-assassination ending. When the arrogant Beast Prince, now turned back to human form by the power of love, turns against Elle for lying to him. It seemed a bit of stretch. It seemed even more frustrating when it is revealed that he effectively forced Ranger 78, Elle, into a longer service because she was effective.

Over all, I thought this was a great retelling of an old, familiar tale. For those fond of fairy tales, I would recommend giving this book a try. I have added more of K.M. Shae’s Timeless Fairy Tales series to my wishlist.

Confession, I have been a little lax in my posts. Well, here is a review of a book I read a little while back. The review was written at that time too.

** ** **

That said, I still managed to find time to read a book (or two). Unfortunately, I have not had the good fortune to read anything amazingly good. And much like my last book review, this one was a bit of a long awaited disappointment.

Cover for the book Silver on the Road. Picture borrowed from the internet. Not my own picture.

I found Silver on the Road by chance while pursuing the online bookstore. Fortunately, my home library had a copy. Unfortunately, I had to wait over two weeks upon my return to borrow the book. The fact that it was out, should have meant it was a good read, right? Well, Silver on the Road by Laura Anne Gilman was not terrible, but it was not terribly good either. Just to get it out of the way, I would give Silver on the Road the same rating as Uprooted – a solid 7 out of 10.

Let us start with the positives. Because there were things about this book that I really liked. I liked the Wild West feel of the world. I liked the respect shown the Natives of North America. This was carried through to the magic system, known as Medicine in the Territory. I liked the way the Devil was not mustache twirling in the least. I liked the way the relationship grew between the two main characters into something warm and friendly and not the least romantic. Now I am sure some could read it that way, but considering their age difference, it could just as easily be read as familiar instead. Indeed there were several good things about this book.

Sadly it was weak in the actual writing department. Well, it was either poorly written or I am a complete idiot. It felt like the story arc of the novel was a long time coming. What was only supposed to be a few weeks on the road, felt like months from my perspective. I had a nagging feeling like I was missing something, which became shear irritation when I realized the author just didn’t say anything.

And then of course there was the ending. Once more it seemed as though the author reached their word count and suddenly realized something needed to happen in order to complete the story. Out of nowhere we have evil Spanish Monk-Magicians sending a curse to wipe out the Territory and then conveniently chasing after that curse to reverse it (well, a different subsection of Monk-Magicians, if I understand properly). It was a good thing this religious men bothered to sully their feet by entering the Devil’s Lands, otherwise, our main characters would never learn what was happening and have a chance to stop it.

The action beats leading up to this inexplicable climax were muddy and confusing. The defeating of the curse was even more muddy and incomplete. The female protagonist recognizes the curse has split into many pieces and the one piece she is currently facing has adapted to its current environment, so she tells it the rules and walks away. I am guessing it is more like a stray puppy that just needed a good scolding and reminder that it is not allowed to eat people. Then with a pat on the head the puppy is left to its own devices, while our heroes walk off – possibly to find and scold more curse-pieces. It was not a strong conclusion.

And before anyone starts in with the argument this was a character driven story, not a plot driven one, I will say yes, I realize that. I also realize that all the revelations the character makes are kept from the reader. For example:

“Understanding filled her, a comprehension so intense that she couldn’t remember not having it a heartbeat before. That was why she had to try to stop Farron, why –

The creature didn’t care whatever revelation she was having.” – page 268; Silver on the Road, 2015

It literally then goes into a fight scene and a poorly described one at that. There are many such instances of characters evolving or things happening that are not revealed to the reader. This is such a cheap and frustrating way to drag out an already plodding story. I was sincerely unimpressed.

As much as I love books with no action (Pride and Prejudice is one of my favourites!), this was a dragged out telling of an imprecise narrative. It was successful in showing how dull and repetitive life on the open road was. It was not successful in building a complete world with interesting and fully developed characters. Yet for all its faults, I have read worse, so I will defend my overall rank of 7/10.

The cover of the book Uprooted by Naomi Novik

So, we have been home for two weeks now – hard to believe. In this time, I have fought the wild weeds over-running the garden, visited with relatives, started watching The International (Dota 2), and read a few books. Truthfully, there are only two worth mentioning and both of them were rather meh in the end.

I was so very excited to read Uprooted by Naomi Novik. I waited almost an entire year to borrow this book from the library. I read the teaser trailer on several different webpages, always looking for the version that included a few more paragraphs than the last.

The author, Naomi Novik, is not knew. I had read the first three books of her Temeraire Series before becoming bored. But this, this new book looked different. It looked exciting, new and yet with the comforting feel of classic fairy tales. I was excited to read it when I picked it up. I was underwhelmed by the end. It wasn’t bad. It was mostly good. It was just … not as engaging as I had hoped.

So, here is the thing. The book starts in the Valley surrounded by the magical and slightly evil Wood. The Valley is protected by a Wizard known as the Dragon, who requires a sacrifice of one village (a young female) once every 10 years. The Sacrifice serves to take care of chose in the Tower where the Wizard lives, then after their period of servitude is give a small fortune and moves out of the Valley to the City. This is all poorly understood by the villagers in the Valley and thus feared. Our story naturally starts with the selection of a new female Sacrifice.

I liked the opening premise the girl chose was not the prettiest or most special (not the one the Dragon was expected to select). I liked the struggles of the main character as she learned more about the mysterious Wizard. I even liked how you learned more about the Wood and its evil minions.

I also liked the fact this was not an old, established fairy tale. There are definite elements from the classics. The opening feels very beauty and the beast. Baba Yaga makes an appearance of sorts later on. There are witches, magic spells, and evils leaking from the wood.

Everything moves along from the beginning in a rather interesting fashion until almost halfway when suddenly our main character is sent off to the City and the entire plot feels like it slides sideways. The ending seemed to come – if not out of nowhere, then it was rushed and a bit forced. It was not the smoothest transition from start to finish.

The Valley had started as an interesting and developing setting. Which was pushed to the side as the Wood came to life. Then the reader was sent to the City, which never felt real to me. It was underdeveloped. The City was home to the Royal Court, a place of politics and intrigue. But our heroine was not savvy in the ways of Court Politics. She never fit into the location and that entire section of book felt like a tacked on side trip that wasted more time than served to develop the key characters.

We are finally told that betrayal caused one ancient woman (of questionable race – magical and perhaps humanoid) to seek revenge thus poisoning the Wood. Only, this seemed to be an explanation tacked on at the climax of the story with very little setup. Why could we not have skipped the whole City and focused on how one angered female could turn a massive forest into a dark and evil place (and then be defeated so easily by one half-trained witch after existing for hundreds of years)?

In conclusion, it was a mediocre to good book, made disappointing through high expectations and a long wait. If you like Naomi Novik’s other books, you will likely enjoy this one. If you are a huge fan of fairy tales then I would mildly suggest trying Uprooted. If you want something with snappy writing and cleaver dialogue, then I wouldn’t bother. This is an atmospheric book with a plodding plot and a main character that spends most of the time explaining and far less time showing.