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All posts for the month February, 2019

LAST DESCENDANTS – Matthew J. Kirby

Posted by Daniel on February 27, 2019
Posted in: ENTERTAINMENT, Uncategorized, YA. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I just reviewed another Matthew J. Kirby book not too long ago and enjoyed it, wrapping up that I looked forward to another one of this books.  I picked this book out of my ARC pile and noted that it was also by Kirby. How fortuitous!

But whether it’s because this book is following the rules of a specific franchise or for some other reason, this particular book doesn’t have quite the same appeal as the other Kirby book I read recently.

I should also note that I’ve never actually played the Assassin’s Creed video game, though I’ve watched my son as he’s played through it.

Owen is a fifteen year old and his father has been sentenced to death. Owen wants desperately to prove his father’s innocence. He wants to use the ‘Animus’ (a means of accessing an ancestor’s memories) to get the proof that he needs, but once he does he becomes a target for a number of secret organizations, and Owen learns about the secret societies, the Templars, and the Assassin’s Brotherhood. Getting caught up in the affairs of the secret societies and the Animus, Owen and his friends (you know … that appropriately, racially and gender-mixed group of teens) wind up back in 1863 in search of a special dagger to make sure that it doesn’t fall into the wrong hands.

One of the nice aspects to this book is the tie-in of the fictional world to real historical events.  Of course, being a book for youngsters, this history tie-in gives it that modern educational aspect that kids books tend to have.  Still, it is a great way to drop in a lesson without the reader realizing that they’re learning something.

But on the whole, I found this book to be a bit boring, which surprises me.  Being a book by Matthew Kirby and being a part of a very exciting, aggressive series like Assassin’s Creed I expected a lot more action and definitely more excitement.  (However, I was wondering how they were going to make teens into assassins.) I realize that there is a need to set up the characters and the situation because not everyone knows the video game series (me, being one of them), but I’m not convinced that this succeeds at really addressing all this.  Instead it becomes a collected bore that manages to hold true to the franchise and not offend anyone and be readable by school-aged children.

I feel like this is too often the case with children’s books that are based on something that comes from another medium (film, tv, video games, etc) – too many rules to follow and the rights holders don’t want to offend anyone so everything has to be sterile.

The character don’t stand out and they fit a stereotype grouping. We have to make sure there’s one of every kind (gender, race, and even sexual identity.  This has become so common that we expect it.

I didn’t really learn anything new about the Assassin’s Creed universe and I wasn’t particularly entertained.  This one is the sort of book that catches a youngster’s interest because of the video game, but it’s a story that will quickly be forgotten by those who manage to read it.

Looking for a good book? Last Descendants by Matthew J. Kirby takes place in the Assassin’s Creed universe … not that it really matters.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

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Last Descendants

author: Matthew J. Kirby

series: Assassin’s Creed: Last Descendants #1

publisher: Scholastic Inc.

ISBN: 0545855519

paperback, 320 pages

MISSISSIPPI ROLL – George R. R. Martin, editor

Posted by Daniel on February 25, 2019
Posted in: SF/FANTASY, SHORT FICTION, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

This is the 24th book in the Wild Cards anthology series, which is pretty darned impressive and suggests it has a pretty loyal following (publishers aren’t going to continue to publish a series if people aren’t buying it). This also happens to be the first book I’ve read in this series. I do have a few others on my Kindle, but since this was an ARC and the others were books that I purchased I thought I should read this first. And I’ll say right up front that the reason I was attracted to this was the theme of the Mississippi River. Having grown up along the mighty Mississippi I’m almost always attracted to stories set along the river.

The story takes place on the Riverboat Natchez which is captained by Wilbur Leathers … who happens to be a ghost (though he was the captain before he died).

An alien virus has devastated the planet and many people have been transformed …either into “jokers” (people with deformities) or into “aces” (people with super powers).

Wilbur and the crew of the Natchez are transporting some wild cards (people with the virus) to the United States where they are seeking asylum.

While the book is billed as a novel, it is a composite novel … that is, a novel made of short stories that are linked together. The concept is that different authors would follow different members on the boat (crew or passengers) and Wilbur ties the stories together. It is an interesting variation of the themed anthology and because I had not read a book of this sort before it took me just a little bit to grasp the novel concept – I was reading it as short stories at first.

Overall, I quite enjoyed the stories here. Nothing stands out as a clear favorite, though if I had to choose, I’d probably go with Carrie Vaughn’s story because of the connection with the entertainment business (something near and dear to me). We have quite an assortment here: the main story of Wilbur and the Natchez (a character herself); a government agent and his wife – the agent is on a mission but is also hoping that his wife will use the voyage to recover from a previous mission; a lounge singer who plays good Samaritan; a married pair of private investigators using the trip as a late honeymoon; a gay bartender on the boat who thought he’d never find love.

This has definitely gotten me interested in reading some of the other Wild Cards volumes – but not so much that I’m dropping everything else to rush out and read them.

The stories included here are:

“In the Shadow of Tall Stacks” by Stephen Leigh
“Wingless Angel” by John Jos. Miller
“A Big Break in the Small Time” by Carrie Vaughn
“Death of the Water” by Cherie Priest
“Find the Lady” by Kevin Andrew Murphy
“Under the Arch” by David D. Levine

Looking for a good book? George R.R. Martin’s Wild Cards series has been a favorite for many and this 24th volume, Mississippi Roll, will please current fans and capture a few new ones.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Mississippi Roll

editors: George R. R. Martin and Melinda Snodgrass

series: Wild Cards #24

publisher: Tor

ISBN: 0765390523

hardcover, 336 pages

IN AN ABSENT DREAM – Seanan McGuire

Posted by Daniel on February 22, 2019
Posted in: SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized, YA. Tagged: , , . Leave a comment

Is there anyone who writes a more beautiful, poetic prose than Seanan McGuire?

In an Absent Dream is the fourth book in McGuire’s Wayward Children series. The concept is that children who find their way to the door to a different world then find a world that is perfectly suited to them. And the lesson learned is that a ‘perfectly suited’ world may have very unexpected drawbacks.

Our central character here is Lundy. She is a very mature young lady who is quite certain that she knows what she wants (and it isn’t in the current world). She wants a world that is perfectly logical. In this world she could bargain in the Goblin Market and be certain that everything was fair and reasonable.

While she does feel that this was the right decision for her, she visits her family before her decision is final and she receives a lot of push from her sister who was hoping Lundy would be in her life for a long time to come.

This is quite possibly my favorite of the four books in the series to date. There was something that was both magical and real in this volume that I don’t remember feeling before. Perhaps it’s because I felt we spent a fair amount of time in the real world as opposed to the magical world for Wayward Children, and that helped ground me a little more (and while I could be very wrong about this, it’s certainly how I am remembering the other books).

Lundy’s maturity (or at least what she believes to be her maturity) also really helps here. The ‘wayward’ aspect becomes more of a self-diagnosis rather than a truly ‘lost’ child who has no better option. It’s hard to feel sorry for Lundy, even though she is still a child, because she plots her own course so carefully.

These books of McGuire’s … the Wayward Children series … are dangerous. They are dangerous because they are beautiful and they hold so much promise, which makes them so appealing.  But one can get lost in a McGuire novel just as easily as a wayward child can get lost in the world.

Looking for a good book? In and Absent Dream is the fourth book in Seanan McGuire’s Wayward Children series and it is a beautiful piece of fantasy literature.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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In an Absent Dream

author: Seanan McGuire

series: Wayward Children #4

publisher: Tor

ISBN: 0765399296

hardcover, 208 pages

SPACE CAT MEETS MARS & SPACE CAT AND THE KITTENS – Ruthven Todd

Posted by Daniel on February 21, 2019
Posted in: CHILDREN'S, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

THROWBACK THURSDAY: REVIEWING REISSUES

Space Cat is back in the third volume of this 1950’s era children’s book!

Flyball is now a seasoned ‘space cat’, flying regularly between the Earth and the moon and having now visited Venus as well.  So when the rocketship is caught in the gravity of an asteroid, Flyball trusts his human captain, Colonel Fred Stone, to do the mathematical figuring to get them out of any trouble. But maybe Colonel Stone could use some better luck because they are thrown off course and headed to Mars.

Mars turns out to be a pretty fascinating planet, with giant mushrooms and lakes with plenty of fish. But Mars holds an even bigger surprise for Flyball … Moofa.  Moofa is a female feline – a native Martian! With stripes running the long way down her body and a beautiful red coat of fur, Flyball is quite smitten with her. Flyball and Moofa strike up a friendship and when Flyball takes her back to his ship to meet Fred, the Colonel welcomes her aboard.

This book is equally as outrageous as the previous two books when it comes to the science involved. But this book was written at a time when space travel of any sort was still just science fiction, but also the idea of visiting the moon or the planets was looking like it become more and more likely, fueling much speculation.

This book was also written at a time when telling a fun, fantastic story for children was key. Today’s children’s books appear to need an educational element.

The story is just plain fun. Flyball is a character that kids will smile at and even the youngest will understand, on some level, the implications of meeting a pretty girl cat.

I enjoyed this book. Ruthven Todd’s story moves along nicely, keeping the young reader turning pages to find out what happens next, and Paul Galdone’s art – very  typical of the 1950’s children’s book style – is whimsical and eye-catching.

Looking for a good book? Space Cat Meets Mars by Ruthven Todd and Paul Galdone is a delightful children’s re-print from the 1950’s that is simply fun to read.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Space Cat Meets Mars

author: Ruthven Todd

artist: Paul Galdone

series: Space Cat #3

publisher: Dover Publications

ISBN: 0486822745

hardcover, 80 pages

The fourth (and final?) volume of the Space Cat series includes not only Flyball’s new female friend, Moofa (from Mars), but also a pair of kittens – Moofa and Flyball’s children.

The kittens, Marty and Tailspin, have quickly become space travelers, with Space Cat and Moofa showing them how to handle themselves in space. And now, in this volume, they join Colonel Fred Stone and his friend Bill on a trip to Alpha Centauri.

Along the way, the now sizable party investigate a completely new, heretofore unnamed planet. This is what being space explorers is all about after all. And what they find is a fascinating array of animals that look exactly like Earth’s pre-historic animals. There are tyrannosaurs and pterodactyls and triceratops and stegosaurus’. It’s like traveling to Earth’s past. And as exciting as it may be to see these animals up close, Tailspin and Marty are still just a pair of kittens who don’t care too much about what they see and, like the siblings they are, they rough-house and wander off.  But this is a dangerous planet to become lost on! Fred and Bill have to take their helicopter out of the spaceship in order to search for them!

I’ve enjoyed these Space Cat books, despite the quite obvious scientific flaws. It predates most of what we know about the planets and satellites in our solar system and it’s fantasy for young children – books to get the imagination flowing. 

And that’s part of the problem with this title.  It really lacks imagination. Of all the wild and crazy things author Ruthven Todd could put on this new planet (and he’s already come up with some pretty crazy things), he instead falls back to something old. Yes, dinosaurs have captured children’s imagination for about as long as we’ve known about them, but this one just doesn’t fit well within the Space Cat series.

It doesn’t help that we’re almost trying to do too much, with the addition of the kittens, the introduction of a new human, and visiting a planet of dinosaurs. We’re trying to hold on to the attention of young children after all. (And today’s youngsters have a very short attention span.)

I’ve enjoyed this series quite a bit and I’m glad to have this fourth book if just to keep the collection complete, but as a book/story, this one is easily the weakest of the lot. As always, though, Paul Galdone’s art is funny and captivating.

Looking for a good book? Space Cat and the Kittens by Ruthven Todd and Paul Galdone is not quite as enjoyable as the earlier books in the series, but a moderately fun reprint from the 1950’s.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

 

 

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Space Cat and the Kittens

author: Ruthven Todd

artist: Paul Galdone

series: Space Cat #4

publisher: Dover Publications

ISBN: 0486822753

hardcover, 96 pages

BERSERKER – Emmy Laybourne

Posted by Daniel on February 19, 2019
Posted in: HISTORICAL FICTION, YA. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Imagine reading a Willa Cather novel with occasional flashes of raw violence like a Quentin Tarantino movie, and you get a feel for Emmy Laybourne’s Berserker.

Siblings Knut, Stieg, and Hanne Hemstad are a dying breed.  They’ve been cursed with a gift – to be from a family with ancient powers. Hanne is a Berserker. She can sense when a loved one is in trouble, from a long way away, and she flies into an uncontrollable, murderous rage. This is not something she can control … it’s simply who she is. But it’s gotten her into trouble at home in Norway and so the teens flee their native land in search of an uncle who might be able to help them with their abilities.  But he’s somewhere in the American west. It’s the 1800’s and the country is a vast and dangerous space. Fortunately they have each other – a bond that is stronger than any other. But how many will have to die because of them?

I found the concept behind this novel really intriguing. This really sounded like a novel that I would absolutely enjoy … Norse mythology, American western, some historical fiction.  If someone asked what kind of book I’d like to read, this could well be what I describe.

But the execution of this book is just dull. So little actually happens here, except for in brief spurts. The ending (the last 6% of the book, according to my Kindle) was exciting and terrifying, but it was so little, so late.

Mostly we are treated to 300 pages of a young girl moaning about herself and her uncontrolled Berserker-ness, with a little bit of uplifting chatter about family. And 50 pages of action that almost always involves someone being brutally hurt.

I really could not connect with any of the characters. I did not buy in to their frustrations and never believed in their special abilities or that it was as detrimental as they seemed to think. Instead I just saw teens with the need to feel sorry for themselves.

I recognize that this high-pathos attitude is a common trait in a lot of YA literature, and while I don’t generally care for it, I can usually find a story amid the pathos that is worth following or rooting for.  Not so in this case. This book just felt like a huge missed opportunity.

Looking for a good book? Berserker by Emmy Laybourne tries to be an exciting mash-up of Norse mythology and the old American west for YA audiences but ends up being not much of any of it.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Berserker

author: Emmy Laybourne

publisher: Feiwel Friends

ISBN: 1250055202

hardcover, 352 pages

HE-MAN AND THE MASTERS OF THE UNIVERSE NEWSPAPER COMIC STRIPS

Posted by Daniel on February 18, 2019
Posted in: GRAPHIC NOVEL, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

What is it about He-Man and the Masters of the Universe that it manages to have a lasting appeal?

I was not aware that there had been a newspaper comic strip (daily and Sunday). 1,674 days worth of comic strips. So when I saw that Dark Horse gathered as many of these strips as possible (all but thirty-five are reprinted and of those that are missing a synopsis of the story is in its place) I was eager to get my hands on this.

A daily comic strip is a very unique and challenging way to tell a story but as you read through this volume you come to see that authors Jim Shull and Chris Weber and artist Gérald Forton did a really remarkable job telling stories in this method. It becomes even more impressive when we learn through the different interviews included that these stories had to be cleared not just from the editor and publisher, but also by the controlling toy company that often wanted to feature a new item that would soon be for sale.

The interviews here are with Weber, Forton, colorist Connie Shurr (the early colors in the Sunday strips are quite remarkable and notable), and strip editor Karen Wilson.

I asked at the top here why He-Man has such a lasting appeal.  Editor Karen Wilson may have answered that in her interview when she says:

There’s something in our culture that appreciates heroes who act with fairness, justice, equality, and compassion. Although powerful, He-Man and She-Ra look out for the needs of the marginalized, the suffering, those seeking justice. They use their power for good, not evil. They are not self-serving. They only use violence as a last resort. They use their smarts and their wits. … They are also brave. Strong. And still have a sense of humor.

This was a really fabulous read and it deserves to be on every shelf of every comic book, comic strip, television/media fan who enjoys a good story with wonderful art.

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, through Edelweiss, in exchange for an honest review.

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He-Man and the Masters of the Universe: The Newspaper Comic Strips

authors: Jim Shull and Chris Weber

artists: Gérald Forton and Connie Shurr

publisher: Dark Horse Books

ASIN: B01NAVEJQH

Kindle Edition, 496 pages

FRAMING FAN FICTION – Kristina Busse

Posted by Daniel on February 15, 2019
Posted in: NON-FICTION. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I have a tremendous interest in fandom and fan interests having been one of the early participants in fandom (mid-1970’s). I’ve been interested in other books published by the University of Iowa that have been about fandom and fan interests, and those that I’ve read have been quite interesting.  Unfortunately I can’t say that about this particular volume.

First, let’s start with the writing itself.  It is pretty clear, to me at least, that this was written as a thesis. That doesn’t necessarily make it ‘bad’ but in this case the presentation is incredibly dry and dispassionate. It is a critical look without any apparent desire … which is strange because author Kristina Busse mentions being a part of fandom. You would never guess by the writing here.  I attribute this to professors who want to see this sort of not-involved/observer writer.

We also get that classic school writing that has Busse starting each chapter telling us what we’re about to read and then a conclusion telling us what we just read. And rather than footnotes or end notes we get a constant array of parentheses citing sources throughout the book.

I’ve read books like this before and without being an academic myself I’ve just never found this sort of writing particularly interesting.

The subtitle of this book is “Literary and Social Practices in Fan Fiction Communities.” Okay, aside from sounding like a thesis paper, this is quite interesting to me. This is part of the reason I requested to read this book. Fan fiction and fandom can create a real community and I was curious how Busse would report on the social aspects, as well as the writing, of these fan communities.

But she doesn’t.

Or, what I should say, is that she gets much more specific. I think that the bulk of this research paper is about the erotic fiction in fandom.

The book is sectioned into three parts.  The first part is titled “Slash as Indentifactory Practices.” For those who aren’t familiar with the term, according to Wikipedia: “Slash fiction is a genre of fan fiction that focuses on interpersonal attraction and sexual relationships between fictional characters of the same sex.”

The second section is titled “Canon, Context, and Consensus” which only touches on sex in the third of the three essays.

Part three is “Community and Its Discontents” which doesn’t sound like it would discuss erotica, but the three essays are: “My life is a WIP on my LJ: Slashing the Slasher and the Reality of Celebrity and Internet Performances”; “Geek Hierarchies, Boundary Policing, and the Gendering of the Good Fan”; and “Fictional Consents and the Ethical Enjoyment of the Dark Desires”.

I’m not opposed to a research book on the eros in fan fiction, but I sure would like to know that’s what I’m about to read.

I will say that it’s clear Busse is quite knowledgeable on the subject and has done a tremendous amount of research here and I’d like to see her write something that isn’t meant to be graded.

Unfortunately, this book just didn’t work on too many different levels.

Looking for a good book? Unless you’re looking for a potential classroom textbook, Framing Fan Fiction by Kristina Busse is probably not going to hold much interest for the casual reader (or fan).

I received a digital copy of this book from the publisher, though Netgalley, in exchange for an honest review.

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Framing Fan Fiction: Literary and Social Practices in Fan Fiction Communities

author: Kristina Busse

publisher: University of Iowa Press

ISBN: 1609385144

paperback, 258 pages