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All posts for the month November, 2019

TOMBSTONE – Tom Clavin

Posted by Daniel on November 29, 2019
Posted in: MEMOIR, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , . 1 Comment

Tombstone, the city, holds a bit of magical appeal to me.  I find that I am enjoying reading history books more and more (perhaps because I’ve got more of it myself?) and I absolutely love the American Southwest for its landscape and history and few cities in this region have more history that Tombstone, Arizona.

My knowledge of the gunfight at the OK Corral, I realize, comes from popular culture (as provided in films and television) and not from the history books, so I was very glad to correct that with Tom Clavin’s book.

What Clavin has done is taken the pivotal gunfight and researched the heck out of the history of all the primary, secondary, and even tertiary people involved, giving us a glimpse of the character traits of each individual (were they prone to fighting or over-reacting, were they easy to anger or did they often look for alternatives?)

There are so many more people involved in the ordeal than were at the corral and there was a history among the players that weaves back and well before any of them arrived at Tombstone, Arizona. It’s a complicated web and quite fascinating to discover.

Clavin’s research is immaculate.  It is fascinating how much of a trail we all leave and that Clavin was able to track down so much information about these people, from the 1800’s, and put together a time-line of where and when people worked or met one another is absolutely incredible.  Like a lot of modern bio-history books, there is a bit of the author making assumptions about the words spoken or the intentions behind an action (usually based on general human motivations), but it was nice to read him at least once admit to not knowing why someone proceeded the way that they did, but instead offered up a couple of different possible explanations based on their history.

In addition to his tremendous research, Clavin’s writing style is smooth and his sense of storytelling moves this history from moment to moment with wonderful anticipation and ease.  It is easy to read this book in a short amount of time, but you might not want to so that you can really absorb all the information proved.

Looking for a good book? Tombstone, by Tom Clavin, provides more information about the city, famous for its noted gunfight, and the people involved, than you ever imagined. This is a book not to be missed if you have even the most remote interest in history.

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

* * * * * *

Tombstone: The Earp Brothers, Doc Holliday, and the Vendetta Ride from Hell

author: Tom Clavin

publisher: St. Martin’s Press

ISBN: 1250214580

hardcover, 400 pages

THE VANISHING GIRL – Laura Thalassa

Posted by Daniel on November 27, 2019
Posted in: ROMANCE, SF/FANTASY, YA. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

What we have here is some pretty classic YA for some pretty aggressive female YA readers.  And at the same, we don’t.

Pretty confusing, isn’t it?  So is this book.

Ember Pierce is a teen girl who has an unusual ability.  She can teleport herself to anywhere in the world.  The only catch is that she only has ten minutes in her new location before she is automatically brought back to where she left from. She’s tried to keep it a secret, but somehow someone has found her out and now she’s being brought, by force, to a government facility in the middle of nowhere to train her.  It seems she’s not alone with this ability and now she’s being paired with another young student.  This other person is Caden Hawthorne and he’s the person who caught Ember and brought her to the facility, by force, against her will.

Caden, being Ember’s “pair” (a term that is very specific here), is responsible for getting her up to speed on what the facility is doing, and he will walk in on her while she’s sleeping, naked, and just stare and leer at her body.  Ember also later learns a dark secret about the teleporting program – the Pairs are intentionally male/female with the hope that they will become physical and produce babies with teleporting power.  This sets Ember off and she becomes even more determined to get away from this madhouse. But of course Caden is darn handsome and despite her despising everything about him, Ember falls madly in love with the cocky pervert, ultimately losing her virginity to him and trusting him even when everything inside her screams that she shouldn’t.

What can I say about this?  The presentation of a determined girl (great!) who gives in to a creeping asshole just because he looks good naked is a HORRIBLE message to be sending.  It might be okay if things fall apart and there’s a lesson to be learned from this mistake, but that’s not the case here in book one!

The basic concept … the teleporting, the government conspiracy, training of teens to become agents, blah blah blah, is all pretty standard but well conceived and Thalassa’s writing is smooth and easy to get into.

I just absoluting don’t understand how Ember – who is portrayed so well, so determined and talented, succumbs to raw sex with someone who is never portrayed as anything other than a jerk.  Seriously.  There are no redeeming qualities about Caden. Anytime he’s about to be portrayed as kind-hearted or caring, Thalassa quickly reminds us that he’s not that at all.

I wanted to like this based on the concept, but the character motivation and behavior absolutely dashed my hopes.

Looking for a good book? The Vanishing Girl by Laura Thalassa is a YA book that may appeal to teen girls with self-destructive behavior, but it’s not something to encourage.

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

* * * * * *

The Vanishing Girl

author: Laura Thalassa

series: The Vanishing Girl #1

publisher: Lavabrook Publishing Group

ISBN13: 9780989206471

paperback, 338 pages

LOST GODS – Micah Yongo

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

I am beginning to think that I am just not interested in reading epic fantasies.

Lost Gods by Micah Yongo takes the traditional epic fantasy themes and attaches them to African legends and mythology.

Neythan is a teenager who is being trained as an assassin with the elite but mysterious brotherhood of assassins known as the Shedaím. Nethayn assumed this brotherhood would stick by him for the rest of his life but when one of his closest friends is murdered and he is framed for the killing, Neythan tries to prove his innocence by going after his accuser while avoiding the rest of the brotherhood who are now looking for him. What Neythan discovers is that there is much more to the Shedaím brotherhood than he imagined.

I started off really interested in this book.  The uniqueness of the African sensibility that Yongo brings to a fairly standard fantasy story was really intriguing and engaging. And then he got into the world-building aspect and slowed everything down so that everything could be explained. This seems a pretty common trait in epic fantasies. Some people really seem to like it, others, such as myself, don’t.

The story seems to take a back seat to the sense of awe … look where we are … look at all this that’s different from what we know. Just as we start to get a progression of character and story, we get pulled away from it in order to be presented with something new, never quite letting us establish real interest or real involvement with what’s being presented.

I just wrote “being presented” and it strikes me that this is another factor that is common in a lot of high or epic fantasy.  We’re often presented with a story, rather than being pulled into one.  I was drawn in here right at the start, but I was slowly pushed to the side as the book went on.

Hopefully the next volume will give us a little more chance to get involved, now that the setting is established, because I really did like the potential and the start here.

Looking for a good book? Lost Gods by Micah Yongo is an epic fantasy that follows a ‘non-traditional’ path, taking its roots from African legend rather than European, but gets a little bogged down in the world-building.

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

* * * * * *

Lost Gods

author: Micah Yongo

series: Lost Gods #1

publisher: Angry Robot

ISBN13: 9780857667373

paperback, 400 pages

THE BEATLES FROM A TO ZED – Peter Asher

Posted by Daniel on November 22, 2019
Posted in: ENTERTAINMENT, MEMOIR, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

It surprises me a little bit that publishers are still pumping out books about The Beatles … but it surprises only a little bit.  The lifespan of finding an audience is likely on the wane, as are the people who will have had a first-hand encounter worth telling.

This particular book is unique because it’s presented in alphabetical order (sort of), and because it’s written by Peter Asher.  For those who don’t know, Peter Asher is A) half of the 1960’s pop duo Peter & Gordon (whose first [and biggest] hit was “World Without Love” in 1964 – written by Paul McCartney), and 2) the brother of Jane Asher who was Paul McCartney’s girlfriend through much of the mid-1960’s.

During this period (early to mid-1960’s) Paul McCartney lived with the Asher’s and so Peter has a very unique view point for a number of McCartney moments.  Hearing about the early versions of songs coming from his room, or how McCartney would walk into his room and come out an hour or so later with a finished masterpiece.  This is the kind of Beatles memory that we’ve never heard before and generally makes this book worth reading for Beatles aficionados.

One of the pleasant quirks to the book is that Asher (who is an extremely bright person) plays fast and loose with the alphabet and the Beatles catalog.  For instance, when Asher discusses “All You Need Is Love” it is not found under the letter “A” but under the letter “T.” “T”?!  I won’t explain why, but it makes sense in the context of how Asher presents this book.

Also, the alphabet is not just used to discuss song titles, but other aspects of the Beatles and their lives and history.  “G” for instance brings Asher to discuss Germany and the Beatles’ time there. “S” talks about the Ed Sullivan show.

What is also nice to note is that the book doesn’t focus solely on The Beatles as a group, but songs, concerts, and/or events that are a part of each Beatle’s solo career or work with another group (i.e. Wings, Traveling Wilburys, etc) are also often brought up through Asher’s discourse.

While I am a Beatles fan, I can’t say that I’m a Beatlemaniac or deeply knowledgeable about the Fab Four.  I can’t quote anything about their history (I can’t even quote most of their songs), but I enjoy their music, and as an avid reader, I enjoy reading about them. This book was a very easy read. Given the format, I found that when I had a moment to read something, but couldn’t get involved in a story, I could pick this up and get a good, short read.

Looking for a good book? The Beatles From A to Zed by Peter Asher is a clever, fresh look at The Beatles by someone who is able to offer to new insight to The Beatles’ history.

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

* * * * * *

The Beatles from A to Zed: An Alphabetical Mystery Tour

author: Peter Asher

publisher: Henry Holt & Company

ISBN: 1250209595

hardcover, 272 pages

SUPER BOYS – Brad Ricca

Posted by Daniel on November 20, 2019
Posted in: GRAPHIC NOVEL, MEMOIR, NON-FICTION, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Well this was informative!

It’s pretty hard not to know who the character of Superman is, but naming the creators of Superman might be much more challenging to most people.  Fans of comics and graphic novels likely already know of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster and even someone like myself – very much on the outer fringe of comic/graphic novel reading – knew about the long battle Siegel and Shuster had to retain (or regain) the rights to the character.

Biographer Brad Ricca has done some exhaustive research and we get a look at these two young men from their early school days, to the high school days when the early characteristics of Superman could be found.

Starting as a fan and writing letters science fiction magazines, it was clear that Jerry was a go-getter and a planner and he thought he’d get rich writing stories. When he Jerry met Joe, he saw someone who could illustrate his stories and together, like many high school boys who dram of making it big doing something they love, the multiple ways that a dream can crash never occurred to them.

Small successes built up and they were producing stories for comics at a fantastic rate, and making good (for them, at the time) money.  But it was a difficult period in publishing (when isn’t it?) and sometimes they worked on hand-shake agreements or with promises for more later.  And through innocence and bad choices, they gave away their rights to what would become one of the most iconic figures in all of pop culture. And once those rights were gone, Jerry and Joe weren’t essential to be part of the story-telling process, and while their creation would make millions of dollars for a publisher, Joe and Jerry were often challenged just to find work.

Joe and Jerry’s story is quite sad, and not all that unusual for those working in this industry. Much of their later lives are spent challenging the rights to Superman and trying to get their due and even now, at the end of this book, their families are trying to get these rights maintained.

The story of the lawsuits goes on a bit too long for me – though I recognize that this is what consumed Jerry for much of his life.  Still, I found his early years – the environment in which he grew to become a writer – the most fascinating.

This is a really well-written biography. It is thorough and doesn’t really manage to take sides (in the debate about rights ownership), which is nice.  Yes…it’s about Joe and Jerry and there is going to be some bias toward their being allowed to cash in on their character, but Ricca himself doesn’t outright say that.  He lets Jerry say it.

Definitely worth reading.

Looking for a good book? Super Boys by Brad Ricca is a solid biography of the creators of Superman, from their early days before Superman, to their decades-long battle for the rights to their greatest creation. It is fascinating and well written.

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

* * * * * *

Super Boys: The Amazing Adventures of Jerry Siegel and Joe Shuster–the Creators of Superman

author: Brad Ricca

publisher: St. Martin’s Press

ISBN: 0312643802

hardcover, 423 pages

THE PENGUIN BOOK OF HELL – Scott G. Bruce, editor

Posted by Daniel on November 18, 2019
Posted in: MEMOIR, SHORT FICTION. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Clearly I’m not the only person who is fascinated by the hell found in literature. Editor Scott G. Bruce has put together a collection here of a wide variety of hellish representations, most of them unfamiliar to me, which made for a real fascinating read.

We start off with the classics of Greek literature, and while some of these should be familiar (selections from Homer’s Odyssey, Plato’s Phaedo, and Virgil’s Aeneid) it is especially nice to get these (as well as portions of Hesiod’s Theogony and Senecca’s The Madness of Heracles) together to get this over-view of hell from this time period.

Then it’s on to the Christian views of hell – those most familiar to me to many of us. Here we have sections of the Apocalypse of Paul, the Gospel of Luke, and the Gospel of Nicodemus.

The Early Middle Ages are represented by Dialogues of Gregory the Great, two selections from Bede’s Ecclesiastical History of the English People, and The Voyage of Saint Brendan.  It is interesting to see how the Christian view of hell changes from the biblical writings and onward.

There are three sections from the Vision of Tundale and then the High Middle Ages are specifically represented with “Lessons in Horror” from the Elucidarius of Honorius of Autun, “Preaching Pain” from a Medieval Priest’s Manual, Dialogue on Miracles by Caesarius, and Thomas Aquinas’s Summa Theologica.

And of course you can’t have a book about Hell in literature without Dante’s Inferno being represented!

An interesting period, c. 1500-1700, is represented here with works that were quite unfamiliar to me: “The Sharp Pangs of a Wounded Conscience” (a sermon by William Dawes), “Into That Eternal Furnace” from Giovanni Pietro Pinamonti’s Hell Opened to Christians to Caution Them from Enter into It, and a portion of John Bunyan’s The Resurrection of the Dead and Eternall (sic) Judgement. Followed by two additions representing the 19th century: “Hell is for Children” by John Furniss and Austin Holyoake’s Heaven & Hell: Where Situated?

These last two piece’s give us a pretty classic impression of the “Fire and Brimstone” kind of sermon’s that are often remarked upon in film, television, and literature representing this era.  The “Hell is for Children” piece by Furniss (what a perfect name!) seems really atrocious to the modern reader.

Up to this point everything is kind fascinating from a historical perspective. At this point, editor Bruce makes some really tough choices, giving us hell that isn’t so much a specific place that bad people go, but a hell that is much more of a here and now, suffered by the good as well as the bad.

The first of the modern pieces is “The Death Factories” from Vasily Grossman’s “The Hell of Treblinka.” A recollection of the atrocities of a German extermination camp, this was the only work that I had a difficult time reading. …Difficult because of the nature of what I was reading. I have a pretty strong constitution, but this really tore at me.

“Fire in the Sky” from the “Testimony of Yoshitaka Kawamoto” is a brief recounting from a child survivor of the atomic bomb that was dropped on Hiroshima.  Though horrific, this didn’t impact me as much as the previous work most because of the distanced nature of the telling.

“The Sum of Suffering” from William Blake’s “A Sentence Worse Than Death” was at first quite impressive.  Blake was a manner of writing that easily paints a picture of his bleak life in prison solitary confinement … for the rest of his life.  I was moved during my reading of this, but afterward, upon reflection, I noted that he never once, during this segment of a longer work, mention, acknowledge, or show remorse for the eternal suffering of the family of the man he murdered.  This reminded me that we can easily get caught up in rhetoric (especially when it’s well done) without noticing how one-sided it might be.

The last little bit is simply a mention that the United States war on terror interrogators employ their own hell-on-earth tactics, specifically the use of mix-tapes.  That’s right.  By playing offensive songs to prisoners, at deafening volumes, repeatedly and without end, prisoners are subjugated to a torture, a hell, that is hard to imagine for many of us.  What songs are on that mix-tape?  Well, some pretty harsh songs, of course, like songs by Deicide, Drowning Pool, and Marilyn Manson.  But also on that mix-tape…? Britney Spears, Christina Aguilera, and Barney and Friends’ “I Love You” song!

I am really glad I read this, and I highly recommend it for anyone interested in short works, and the fascinating, changing way we have viewed Hell through the centuries.

Looking for a good book? The Penguin Book of Hell, edited by Scott G. Bruce, is a remarkable collection of our images of hell, from the early days of Greek literature to our modern views of hell on earth.

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

* * * * * *

The Penguin Book of Hell

editor: Scott G. Bruce

publisher: Penguin Classics

ISBN: 0143131621

paperback, 304 pages

THE FUGITIVE AND THE VANISHING MAN – Rod Duncan

Posted by Daniel on November 15, 2019
Posted in: SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

***WARNING — POSSIBLE SPOILERS AHEAD! READ AT YOUR OWN RISK***

Oh, wow. Rod Duncan wraps up the Elizabeth Barnabus series with a tale that is wild, tight, beautiful, and heart-wrenching in so many different ways.

Elizabeth Barnabus, who, despite being an enemy of the Gas-Light Empire, is a strong supporter of the peace and stability that the Empire brings. Although she’s given up all the information she can to the authorities in the Patent Office no one seems to take her seriously.  She has seen first-hand what could happen if the Empire isn’t prepared and so she does what she has always done … take things into her own hands.

Escaping the Empire she heads into the wild lands of Oregon where a king is preparing for war. And this king has a number of aides on his side.   He has a powerful new weapon that can kill many enemies in just one squeeze of the trigger. And, among his many confidants, he has a magician – Edwin, the son of the previous magician who was killed when her prophecy turned out not to be true.  Edwin knows his time is short, especially since the king has another aide who will stop at nothing to get Edwin discredited and killed.

Edwin has one more trick that even he didn’t realize for the longest time.  Elizabeth is Edwin’s twin sister. Raised in a circus family performing magic tricks, and with Elizabeth having spent much of her life pretending to be her brother Edwin, the two might be able to perform, for one last time, the Vanishing Man trick and stop a war and save their own lives as well.

Raised by a different parent and in a different land, Elizabeth and Edwin don’t exactly see eye to eye.

This story is just … wow.

Although we’ve heard mention of Edwin throughout the series as Elizabeth (when she’s dressed as a man she refers to herself as her brother Edwin), I didn’t expect to actually encounter this sibling. And pulling in the magic that she and Edwin were raised on – the kind of magic that started this series – is some kind of brilliance.

Before I started this I had read or heard somewhere that this was the last book in the series. I don’t know if that’s true or not, and because I’ve been enjoying this so much I was definitely hoping that this would continue on. But about three quarters of the way through the book, I could see the end coming. And I was completely content.

Something about the way that Duncan pulled the pieces together had me feeling good about this series and the idea that we weren’t likely to get another Elizabeth Barnabus story. It was just feeling … right.

There are so many layers to this book that I’m sure that when I read this again I’ll discover even more.  The surface story – that story which is described as a blurb on book selling websites – is only the action that gets us from point A to point B. But the story of family is just tremendous. Though an absent figure in Elizabeth’s life, her mother and her mother’s leaving have been a source of frustration for some time.  And though we get to meet the mother (albeit briefly – and Elizabeth doesn’t), there is so much for Elizabeth to come to terms with.

And alongside this learning about family, she also has to face her thoughts on politics and governance. There is a system which hasn’t treated her well over the years.  A system she herself tried to disrupt. But she finds herself defending this system when confronted with something very different and very aggressive.

One of the most interesting characters here … and someone I suspect we may see again in another book (either a Fall of the Gas-Lit Empire series or the Map of Unknown Things series [or a combination of them]) – is the strange woman being held prisoner by the king simply for refusing to recant her declaration that there is no such thing as magic. Elizabeth becomes obsessed with her strength and integrity for refusing to even just say the words without meaning it in order to gain her freedom. Elizabeth will see to her escape – thereby freeing herself (metaphorically) as well.

This is easily one of the best series I’ve read (with only Roger Zelazny’s Amber series being in the same grade) and this book just made me feel good.  I don’t know that I’ve ever had such a feeling of peace at the end of a book … but it took a lot to get us there!

Looking for a good book? The Fugitive and the Vanishing Man by Rod Duncan is a tremendously superb book that (perhaps) closes the cycle of Elizabeth Barnabus stories. Please read the entire series!

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

* * * * * *

The Fugitive and the Vanishing Man

author: Rod Duncan

series: The Map of Unknown Things 3

publisher: Angry Robot

ISBN: 0857668447

paperback, 400 pages

NIGHT AND SILENCE – Seanan McGuire

Posted by Daniel on November 13, 2019
Posted in: SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

I always look forward to reading a new Seanan McGuire/Mira Grant book.  I do think she’s one of the finest fantasy writers currently working.

October Daye is feeling frustrated at being unable to help the people she wants most to help. Then, to add to her complicated life, her daughter Gillian (with whom she has a struggling relationship), is kidnapped. October’s ex-boyfriend and his new wife accuse October of being the kidnapper, but they also aren’t behaving in normal (for them) behavior.  Are they hiding something?

It’s pretty clear to October that Faeries are involved somehow, but she can’t imagine any of them would even remember that October had a child and even less likely that they would have any reason to take Gillian if they knew about her.

I haven’t read the entire October Daye series (though I’d like to go back and read the first books) but of these that I have read, I felt that this was the darkest (in tone) of them.  And I liked that.  This gave much more depth to the series (not that it didn’t have depth before that) giving October discomfort and anxiety that has built up over the course of the series, and coming to a head with this latest issue. McGuire really captures Daye’s sense of hopelessness, which is something she’s really not used to.

And, as always with a McGuire story, this is well plotted and executed. We’re brought on a journey that is intense and very real.

The last quarter or so of the book features a separate novella, “Suffer a Sea-Change” (though I’m a little confused by this … in the contents section of the book it says to read “an excerpt from “Suffer a Sea-Change” but at the end of the book it says “Read on for a brand-new novella by Seanan McGuire: SUFFER A SEA-CHANGE” … is this an excerpt, or is this the novella?).

This novella was really tremendous.  Essentially it is Gillian’s point-of-view narrative of what has happened to her.  Rather than have alternating view-points throughout the book, we get the October Daye story – exciting and intense – and then, if we should read on, we get the story that Daye doesn’t know.  Really well done!

As usual, I highly recommend this Seanan McGuire book … but be careful, you may get hooked on what is now a twelve book series!

Looking for a good book? The twelfth book in the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire, Night and Silence, is a dark, thrilling urban fantasy that will have you wanting to read the entire series.

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

* * * * * *

Night and Silence

author: Seanan McGuire

series: October Daye #12

publisher: Daw

ISBN: 0756414768

hardcover, 368 pages

DRAGON ROAD – Joseph Brassey

Posted by Daniel on November 11, 2019
Posted in: SF/FANTASY. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

Just as I enjoyed the first book in this new series by Joseph Brassey, I enjoyed this second foray as well.

Harkon Bright and his apprentice, Aimee, are called upon to be mediators in a dispute where three strong candidates vie for the position of captain of the mega skyship Iseult. And while Aimee managed to save Elias (from himself, mostly), Elias hasn’t found a way to put behind him all the things he did when he was known as Azrael. It doesn’t help that the crew don’t trust him a bit. And in addition to the choosing of a new captain, Haron and Aimee must try to find out what happened to the previous captain … and maybe save the universe while they’re at it.

As with the previous volume (and it might be important to read the first book to really understand who these characters are), this is just an action/adventure space opera We know who the good guys are and we cheer for them all along the way, just as we boo and hiss at the villains. Though author Brassey does a fine job of muddying the waters a bit more with this book.  Still, we can pretty well tell who the heroes are.

I wasn’t quite as interested in the story this time around – I got a bit bored and distracted, in fact – but the strength here is really in the characters anyway.  These are stock characters from every sci-fi adventure movie you’ve ever seen, but they work because Brassey gives them just enough personality to make them fun.

This isn’t a deep read.  It’s not the sort of cutting edge fantasy or sci-fi that I’ve found in some of the other Angry Robot published books the last few years, but it IS fun.  It’s a perfect get-away read.

Looking for a good book? Dragon Road, by Joseph Brassey, is fun, fast space opera.

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

* * * * * *

Dragon Road

author: Joseph Brassey

series: The Drifting Lands #2

publisher: Angry Robot

ISBN: 0857666797

paperback, 448 pages

KICK-ASS: THE NEW GIRL: BOOK ONE – graphic novel

Posted by Daniel on November 8, 2019
Posted in: GRAPHIC NOVEL, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

GRAPHIC NOVEL WEEK

It’s not surprising that I’ve missed out on nearly all the Kick-Ass graphic novel/comic series since I haven’t been very good about staying current with my graphic novel reading (so many books, so little time!) and it was seeing John Romita, Jr’s name on this book that had me request an ARC.  And I’m really glad I did.

Patience Lee is a military vet, just back from the war in the Middle East to find that her no-good husband has run off with his nearly-teen girlfriend leave Patience to suddenly be mother to their kids again while trying to provide for the family as well. Her intentions are good, but she finds that she can never quite make it and it’s the children who have to keep doing without.

It occurs to her that there are plenty of bad men in town – drug dealers and the like – and that with her cool combat skills, she could probably take a few of them out and relieve them of their criminal cash. This works pretty well and Patience is determined not to get greedy, taking only what she needs to make ends meet, giving the rest of the cash to local charity.

But ends don’t stay met for long and she knows she can help the city by taking down some of these bad men.  But she’s only one person and no matter how good her military-trained skills are, sheer numbers will do her in.  And to make it worse, she personally knows one of the men at work.

This is a pretty simple origin/vigilante story.  It’s Robin Hood all dressed up for modern day. It’s pretty violent and graphic so if you don’t like seeing bloody and beaten figures in your graphic novels then you probably wouldn’t like this.

I enjoyed this book. I felt much more connected with Patience (despite the fact that I’m a white male who’s never been in the military) and I attribute this connection to Mark Millar’s talent making a story relevant and Romita’s art that engages the reader.

Looking for a good book? Kick-Ass, The New Girl: Book One is a good, modern super-hero (with no super powers) graphic novel and worth reading.

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

* * * * * *

Kick-Ass, The New Girl: Vol. 1

author: Mark Millar

artist: John Romita, Jr.

publisher: Image Comics

ISBN: 1534308326

paperback, 160 pages

FREE COUNTRY – graphic novel

Posted by Daniel on November 7, 2019
Posted in: GRAPHIC NOVEL, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

GRAPHIC NOVEL WEEK

I typically think that Neil Gaiman has the Midas touch when it comes to comics and graphic novels so when I saw his name on this book I put in a request for it, even though I knew nothing about the background of the book or the characters.  I discovered some of that a bit later.

Apparently, at one time, Gaiman had written a couple of books for publisher Vertigo using characters from some of his other stories. Specifically the dead boy detectives that had been in his Sandman series. Those two books were then put together and some additional material was written to tie the two books together.

The Dead Boy Detectives (DBD) take on a case, brought to them by a strange girl, who insists on joining them through their research.  Several local children have gone missing and the DBD wind up in Free Country – a land where no child ever grows old and there are no adults to condemn or abuse them. (Wait a minute … isn’t that Never Never Land where Peter Pan lives?  Anyway ….) But Free Country is falling apart. Can the DBD save this land?  Should they?

Creatively, this is an interesting idea, despite the obvious correlation with Peter Pan. The different characters are interesting but we never get to know them. This book strangely balances character development and plot by not fully exploring either.  This jus doesn’t feel like a Gaiman story!

I note that someone else, in their review, has written that the book is over-written and I would agree whole-heartedly.  This book is packed with text. Typically when I read a graphic novel I absorb the art as I read only occasionally spending extended time on a panel of art if there is a lot of action going on that is subtext to the text and dialog.  But here the art never seemed to be a part of the story, or a complementary method of telling the story.  It seemed more like a picture book.  Story. Art. Read the story and then look at the art – it won’t help tell the story – it’s just there to be pretty. And even then … it wasn’t. Pretty that is.

The artwork is as chaotic as the story, and not helped by the fact that there are texts boxes and dialog balloon everywhere.

This was a massive disappointment and I think I’d much rather read a Gaiman novel.

Looking for a good book? A Take of the Children’s Crusade: Free Country is a graphic novel that is confusing and difficult and not really worth the trouble.  Gaiman devotees may still want to experience this.

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

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A Tale of The Children’s Crusade: Free Country

authors: Neil Gaiman, Toby Litt, Rachel Pollack, Alisa Kwitney, Jamie Delano

artists: Chris Bachalo (Penciller), Mike Barreiro (Inker), Peter Gross (Penciler) , Al Davidson (Inker), Peter Snejbjerg (Penciler), Daniel Vozzo (Colourist), Jeanne McGee (Colourist)

publisher: Vertigo

ISBN: 1401242413

hardcover, 200 pages

GREEN LANTERN, VOL. 1: INTERGALACTIC LAWMAN – graphic novel

Posted by Daniel on November 6, 2019
Posted in: GRAPHIC NOVEL, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , . Leave a comment

GRAPHIC NOVEL WEEK

It’s not a secret that Green Lantern is one of my favorite superheroes and when I see the opportunity to get an ARC of a GL graphic novel, I’m likely to put in a request.  Based on this cover, however, I was really concerned as to how much I was going to like this book.  Ah ha … how quickly I forget not to judge a book by its cover.  And yet, isn’t cover art on a book intended to help sell a title?  Seriously, look at this image of GL … muscles on muscles on muscles.  Is that what makes someone a superhero?  Even in the graphic novels? There’s just nothing about this figure that looks ‘real’ to me and that betrays a lot of what has always appealed to me about the character.

But enough about the cover.

One of the questions I’ve had regarding these superhero books is how can they manage to keep coming up with stories that will engage and excite when they’ve completed epic stories that deal with saving entire universes.  But author Grant Morrison manages to do just this by bringing Hal Jordan/Green Lantern back to his roots. There’s a conspiracy going on and it looks like there may be a traitor within the Green Lantern Corps.

Hal has to go to the rescue of planet Earth, which has gone missing and is found, up for auction.   The buyer, who greatly resembles the Christian god as popularly imagined, may have an iron-clad contract on his purchase.  Space cop Hal Jordan must get it all squared away in order to save humanity (again).

The story is pretty basically a detective story, which makes sense when you figure that the Green Lantern Corps are essentially a galactic police force. As a detective story with a superhero protagonist, this works just fine.

The art here really helps make this story interesting.  Artist Liam Sharp works some magic with inventiveness and whimsy.  Morrison writes in a number of unusual aliens and Sharp seems to have a field day with it.

I seriously thought that there were multiple artists at work on the series.  Some of the art was quite ‘simple’ – with just a figure or two in the panel and a little bit of background to add depth.  Other pages had panels packed with miscellany – scads of items all over the panel.  I truly thought that this reflected the styles or different artists at work but as I paged back through to see who these artists were, I was surprised to find only Sharp’s name.

There’s nothing earth-shattering here (pun intended), but I enjoyed the read as a little diversion from some of the weightier books I’ve been reading lately.

Looking for a good book? Green Lantern, Vol. 1: Intergalactic Lawman is a decent addition to the Green Lantern series with some very nice artwork.

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

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Green Lantern, Vol. 1: Intergalactic Lawman

author: Grant Morrison

artist: Liam Sharp

publisher: DC Comics

ISBN: 1401291392

paperback, 176 pages