Mythology/Legend

All posts tagged Mythology/Legend

WHY THE MONSTER – Sean and Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley

Posted by Daniel on October 5, 2018
Posted in: CHILDREN'S, MYTHOLOGY, Uncategorized, YA. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Why the Monster is an absolutely phenomenal book.

Sean and Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley have written a book for young readers that captures the mythology or legend of the Inuit people and also understands the concerns and fears of a child – being preyed upon by bullies, being uncomfortable trying to live up to an adults expectations, being awkward or shy or in some other way not fitting in, being alone….

Huuq is an Inuit boy who feels like an outsider. He and his dog, Qipik, wander off, alone and come upon a strange egg. Breaking this egg sets off a series of events, frightening and well beyond Huuq’s control. Huuq, bit by bit, turns into a strange half-human, half-monstrous creature.

When the transformation first begins Huuq returns to his village to seek comfort with his family. On his way he runs into the bullies who torment him and he sees the opportunity to get back at them now that he’s changed but once he begins to frighten the villagers they no longer see Huuq, they only see a monster and they try to run him off and kill him.  It is only in his pleading eyes to his parents that they recognize him and they prevent the other villagers from killing him.  But Huuq knows that it would be impossible for him to ever live in the village again and so he regretfully leaves his family and everything he knows to wander the frozen wilderness.

During his wandering journey he looks for answers from the “Its” – the supernatural creatures that turned him into the monster he’s become.  He also discovers that being big, strong, and terrifying doesn’t make life any easier for him.

I am really so impressed at how beautifully the book captures the fears of a youngster (about middle school age) and while hyper-relevant to the Inuit people, this story easily resonates with any child with an open imagination. The concerns of children are pretty universal and addressing it with a community-identifiable mythology is absolutely brilliant.  It can only broaden the appreciation for the Inuit life and philosophy – which I think is a very good thing.

This is the second book I’ve read by Rachel and Sean Qitsualik-Tinsley and I’m so very impressed. I wish their books had been available when my children were younger, but how very fortunate this is available now!

Looking for a good book? Why the Monster by Sean and Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley is a tremendous coming-of-age story set among the Inuit but with a deeply rooted story that will appeal to readers everywhere.

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

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Why the Monster

author(s): Sean and Rachel Qitsualik-Tinsley

publisher: Inhabit Media

ISBN: 1772271411

paperback, 248 pages

9 FROM NINE WORLDS – Rick Riordan

Posted by Daniel on September 3, 2018
Posted in: CHILDREN'S, MYTHOLOGY, SF/FANTASY, YA. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

How do you appeal to the younger (late elementary/middle school) readers?  You give them a popular series with some recognizable characters and you add some crude humor (“Thor was letting out farts like a sputtering engine.”).

This book is nine short stories told from the point of view of different characters.  We start with Asgard: Home of the Aesir -“Just Another Decapitated Head” by Odin.  The others are:

Midgard: Home of Humans – “This Is Why I Hate Clothes Shopping” by Amir Fadlan
Nidavellir: Home of the Dwarves – “This little Light of Mine, I’m Going to Let It Shine” by Blitzen
Alfheim: Home of the Light Elves – “Speaking of Trolls…” by Hearthstone
Jotunheim: Home of the Giants – “Nice Doggy” by Thomas “T.J.” Jefferson
Niflheim” World of Ice, Fog, and Mist – “So’s Your Face!” by Mallory Keen
Vanaheim: Home of the Vanir – “Well, That Was a Surprise” by Halfborn Gunderson
Muspellheim: Home of the Fire Giants and Demons – “I Play with Fire” by Alex Fierro

I’ve enjoyed a number of Riordan books (including the first Magnus Chase book) and he definitely continues his strong sense of character here.  He also manages to maintain a sense of playfulness – just look at the titles of those stories! – that will delight the target audience. And what is this target audience?  The same youngsters who relish Captain Underpants.

If you are planning to read this because it’s a Magnus Chase book – please look it over carefully.  It isn’t really a Magnus Chase book in the sense that we have Magnus interacting with the Nordic gods.  Instead we have a few gods telling stories. This could be very disappointing to a few dedicated Riordan readers but I suspect it will garner a new audience, which is what is likely intended.

I personally wasn’t a big fan of these stories, but if youngsters came into my library and asking for recommendations, I can see this being a popular choice.

Looking for a good book? 9 from the Nine Worlds by Rick Riordan is part of the Magnus Chase and the Gods of Asgard collection of books, but the target audience here is a bit younger the those who read the 500 page books.

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

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9 From Nine Worlds

author: Rick Riordan

series: Magnus Chase and the gods of Asgard

publisher: Disney-Hyperion

ISBN: 1368024041

hardcover, 176 pages

A CROWN OF WISHES – Roshani Chokshi

Posted by Daniel on August 14, 2018
Posted in: SF/FANTASY. Tagged: , , , , , . 1 Comment

Roshani Chokshi’s A Crow of Wishes is a follow-up to her novel The Star-Touched Queen, which I have not read. There were times I felt as though I’d missed out on something, but for the most part, this novel reads smoothly as a stand-alone.

The story follows two members of royalty – Princess Gauri and Prince Vikram. They are from different countries, but fate brings them together to undergo a journey of epic proportions with a strong sense of mythology.

Princess Guari is held under the strong hand of her ruler brother.  Anything she loves or cares about is stripped and taken from her by her brother so that he can continue to control her.

Prince Vikram is heir to his country’s throne, but he wields no power.  Even when he ascends to the throne, he is patronized and coddled, though he rules with a pleasant, clever attitude.

When Princess Guari is sent to Vikram’s kingdom to be sacrificed/killed, Vikram takes to her and makes an offer to rescue her and to travel together to the underworld to take part in a competition – the prize:  to have a wish granted.  But how will two strangers learn to trust one another through such a journey?

What Chokshi does remarkably well is to balance the strong supernatural, mythological atmosphere with a sense of ‘real.’ The supernatural aspects (or the Indian mythology) play a strong role, but ultimately this is a story of two people learning to live and trust and journey together.

But at the same time, this is a story about a journey. A journey of two exceptional people – people who have much to lose or who have already lost their futures.

It is a story that, like the best of fiction, combines both the journey and the strength of character which is what makes this worth reading.

Looking for a good book? A Crown of Wishes by Roshani Chokshi is a strong story of character and journey but the reader may want to read the first volume before venturing here.

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

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A Crown of Wishes

author: Roshani Chokshi

series: The Star-Touched Queen #2

publisher: Wednesday Books

ISBN: 1250100216

paperback, 384 pages

THE DJINN FALLS IN LOVE & OTHER STORIES – Mahvesh Murad and Jared Shurin, eds.

Posted by Daniel on May 25, 2018
Posted in: MYTHOLOGY, SF/FANTASY, SHORT FICTION, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I’ve extolled the virtues of short stories many times and anthologies tend to center around a theme.  This theme, of course, is Djinn, or Genies as we Americans often call them.

This supernatural creature, the Djinn, is quite foreign to me and I looked forward to getting a better understanding of what s/he is about, but I came away from the collection less than enthused. The stories were generally fine, but the tone and pacing was very much the same in all the stories and so I grew bored.  Perhaps if I read these over longer period of time I wouldn’t have noticed the similarities so much.

One of my favorites in the collection was “Black Powder” by Maria Dahvana Headley. It is perhaps one of the more complex stories as it reaches through time and weaves storylines. It was quite engrossing.

“A Tale of Ash in Seven Birds” by Amal El-Mohtar about magicians hunting reincarnations of birds … a sparrow is reincarnated into crow, reincarnated into cormorant, reincarnated into hummingbird, etc … was really interesting and quite poetically beautiful, but there was no story.

“The Spite House” by Kirsty Logan stood out as being a little better than average. A half human/half djinn woman is a junk collector who is confronting by another woman who makes a wish, causing a surge of power course through the djinn.

Sophia Al-Maria’s “The Righteous Guide of Arabast” was a strange piece in which a man believes his wife must be possessed because she knows so much more about sex than he does. It was a story about sex and sex toys more than about djinn.

While I’m glad I read this, it is not a book I would recommend.

This book contains the following:

Introduction – Mahvesh Murad and Jared Shurin
“The Djinn Falls in Love” – Hermes
“The Congregation” – Kamila Shamsie
“How We Remember You” – Kuzhali Manickavel
“Hurrem and the Djinn” – Claire North
“Glass Lights” – J.Y. Yang
“Authenticity” – Monica Byrne
“Majnun” – Helene Wecker
“Black Powder” – Maria Dahvana Headley
“A Tale of Ash in Seven Birds” – Amal El-Mohtar
“The Sand in the Glass is Right” – James Smythe
“Reap” – Sami Shah
“Queen of Sheba” – Catherine Faris King
“The Jinn Hunter’s Apprentice” – E.J. Swift
“Message in a Bottle” – K.J. Parker
“Bring Your Own Spoon” – Saad Z. Hossain
“Somewhere in America” – Neil Gaiman
“Duende 2077” – Jamal Mahjoub
“The Righteous Guide of Arabsat” – Sophia Al-Maria
“The Spite House” – Kirsty Logan
“Emperors of Jinn” – Usman T. Malik
“History” – Nnedi Okorafor

Looking for a good book? The Djinn Falls in Love and Other Stories edited by Mahvesh Murad and Jared Shurin is a collection of Djinn-related short fiction that generally doesn’t appeal though a couple of stories do rise above the rest.

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

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The Djinn Falls in Love & Other Stories

editors: Mahvesh Murad and Jared Shurin

publisher: Solaris

ISBN: 1781084173

paperback, 284 pages

THOSE WHO RUN IN THE SKY – Aviaq Johnston

Posted by Daniel on April 2, 2018
Posted in: CHILDREN'S, MYTHOLOGY, Uncategorized, YA. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Aviaq Johnston’s Those Who Run the Sky is an exciting, coming-of-age story that should be read by every fifth-grader on the North American continent.

Pitu is a young Inuit boy.  He is out hunting when a storm hits and he becomes lost, without his dogs or weapons, and the strange storm takes him to a spirit world where he faces some of the toughest tests imaginable – from terrifying, red-eyed wolves to a giant who wants to add Pitu to her zoo (“Ah! You are so cute!” she laughs at him “Even your voice squeaks like a little lemming!”). When he gets away, it is in to the hands of Taktuq, a grumpy, bitter old Shaman who has also lost his way and hasn’t been able to leave this spirit world.  Pitu comes to recognize that he is meant to be a shaman himself, but it will only be a worthwhile realization if he can find his way back to his land and his people.

This coming of age story is tremendously powerful. I don’t know the Inuit mythologies or customs at all (though after reading this I feel as though I am maybe beginning to understand some of it), but the reader gets the sense that Pitu’s journey has deep meaning to him and his culture and that there is some strong metaphors at work here. I wish I understood more of them!  The young Inuit reader will likely pick up on this intuitively. The rest of us will get a sense of the power at work here, and we’ll still understand the basic tenets of over-coming fears and the fight to survive and finding/forging your own path.

There is a lot of action here and at times we even get the ‘out-of-the-frying-pan-into-the-fire’ rapid challenge after challenge which certainly keeps the reader turning pages, but I found the encounter and lessons from Taktuq quite interesting.  While he’s certainly painted as a bit of a curmudgeon, at his core he’s still decent (he took Pitu in and helped him recover).  But his bitter attitude is poisonous to Pitu who recognizes that this could be him if he doesn’t find his way.

The adventure aspect will keep youngsters reading, but the message will sneak in and provide a thoughtful experience.  This is ‘Gary Paulsen’ for a new generation of young readers.

Looking for a good book? Those Who Run in the Sky by Aviaq Johnston is a powerful coming of age story that reaches beyond the Inuit community and offers a strong message to all youngsters looking to find their place in the world.

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

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Those Who Run in the Sky

author: Aviaq Johnston

publisher: Inhabit Media

ISBN: 1772271217

paperback, 200 pages

AMERICAN MYTHS IN POST-9/11 MUSIC – Daniele Cuffaro

Posted by Daniel on February 2, 2018
Posted in: NON-FICTION. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

This is a highly unusual book and it is put together and reads much more like an English class final paper at any liberal arts college in the U.S. more than it does a critical book, examining the role of myths in music, post the 9/11 tragedy.  In fact, author Daniele Cuffaro tells the reader right up front what the book will be about (“This book will concentrate on American singers who reacted to the events, and whose music refers to, or was inspired by, the events of 9/11.”) in his introduction. And in the “Conclusion” Cuffaro tells us what we just read: “This study has aimed to show how historical mythic ideas, such as the myth of the innocent nation, the myth of the chosen nation, the frontier myth, and the powerful role of religion in the myth of the Christian nation, have not disappeared from today’s American society. ”  Just like a college paper.

And that’s fine.  I’ve read a few college papers in my time and if they’re done well or have an interesting topic they can be good reads.  I enjoy reading non-fiction because I like learning something new.

But at one-third of the way through the book, we haven’t gotten to the topic yet.  That topic mentioned in the introduction?  Not yet.  First we have to get a primer on ‘myths.’  “Part One – Myths and Heroes.” Cuffaro analyzes the definitions of ‘myth’ and shares the definitions of other writers.  We get more than a few “thus” and “therefore’s” along the way, further making this read like a final essay.

And once we’ve been informed on Myths and Heroes, we have to get through the first section of “Part Two – Post-9/11 Country Music” which is “Historical Survey: How Country Music Became the Authentic Sound of the U.S.A.” before we get to examining the first of the singer/songwriters (Alan Jackson).  And here I am disappointed by the dry writing.  Take for example:

A clear image in which faith and family are linked together by love, appears in the last verses that precede the two final refrains in which Jackson states that if you went home and clung to your family you should thank God that you had someone to love (ll. 44-45). These lines summarize the connubial relationship between the individual and the family as a divine gift. Moreover, according to the author, the deep presence of God in family life belongs to tradition. Alan Jackson does not sing this openly, but it is possible to work this interpretation out from the text. … The author never specifies where he was educated, but, thanks to the patriotic references in the text, the context, and, in part, the general assumption that country music mirrors American authenticity, the audience automatically assumes that this place is America.

Toby Keith, Charlie Daniels, and Darryl Worley are studied, and Bruce Springsteen is given a third of the book just to himself.

But at the end of the day (and the end of the book) I don’t feel any richer or more informed on the subject.

Music plays an important role in expressing what is sometimes hard to express.  Folk music, especially in the 1960’s, took off as a means of expressing a generation’s fear and anger over an unpopular war.  So it’s not surprising that musicians took to their art to help capture and express the fears and anger over a tragedy of such grand proportions as 9/11.  But examining the songs, line by line does not help us get at the heart of the songs, and the myths are necessary as symbols to which the songs speak.  Did we really need a 170 page book to say that?  I think Cuffaro summed it up nicely with his sentence in the conclusion (which was not the conclusion to the book but probably could have been):

“America was hurt, and rendered vulnerable so the whole nation had to recover in unison.”

Looking for a good book? American Myths in Post-9/11 Music by Daniele Cuffaro is nothing more than a term paper, bound and sold as a book, which could be okay, except that it reads like a term paper … a bit dull and flat.

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

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American Myths in Post-9/11 Music

author: Daniele Cuffaro

publisher: Sparkling Books

ISBN: 1907230335

ebook, 176 pages

EAST OF WEST, THE APOCALYPSE: YEAR TWO – graphic novel

Posted by Daniel on January 22, 2018
Posted in: GRAPHIC NOVEL, MYTHOLOGY, SF/FANTASY. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Just … wow.

If there is such a thing as the perfect graphic novel, this would be it for me.

Set in a present-day dystopian alternate United States, this ambitious epic presumes that the U.S. Civil War never really ended and there was constant contention between various factions – until a comet hit the center of the country. At the same time, two prophecies were declared and now the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse (Death, War, Famine, and Conquest) are looking to fulfill the prophecies which would bring about the End of Times.

But something happens and three of the Horsemen are killed and then resurrected as pre-teens, ticked off that Death wasn’t killed and resurrected the way that they were.  Meanwhile, the child Babylon is on a walkabout along with his companion, Balloon, an Artificial Intelligence machine set to turn Babylon into the Beast of Apocalypse.  Babylon wears his own AI headgear so that he ‘sees’ things differently than the way the might appear under normal circumstances.

If this is sounding a bit ‘heavy’ or even weird, you are absolutely right, and the art by Nick Dragotta adds to the unusual nature of the story in the most stunning, beautiful of ways. This is not a light comic or even a superhero-style graphic novel.  This is an intense, well-crafted epic story.

I’ve written before that I like a story where the stakes are high and that’s certainly the case here, but we’re still involved with the characters on an individual basis. The use of literary/Biblical allusion is also tremendous and adds to the weight of the story.

I am absolutely blown away by how perfectly the story and the art blend to draw us in to this strange world. Nothing here looks ‘real’ in the sense that we might look out the window and see something we recognize.  This is 1960’s style conceptual art, combined with 21st Century high-tech gizmos.  It is intense and yet easy on the eyes.  Our eyes flow from panel to panel easily, but we stop at each panel because they are all wonderful snapshots of strange art.

Author Jonathan Hickman has a deep, intricate story at work here and really, this is the only way to take it in – in a massive 500+ page volume.  I reviewed two of the previously published graphic novels (100+ pages each) and gave them only three stars, but I did mention that there was clearly a lot going on.  So much so, apparently, that I couldn’t quite get it in 100 pages. But now that I have it, I’m absolutely hooked and count myself a fan. If I were to read only one graphic novel series for the rest of time, this would be the one.

Looking for a good book? East of West, The Apocalypse: Year Two is a truly epic graphic novel with stunning, unusual art and a story that is deep and intense and absolutely engaging. This is highly recommended.

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

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East of West: The Apocalypse, Year Two (East of West (Collected Editions) #4-6)

author: Jonathan Hickman

artist: Nick Dragotta (colors: Frank Martin, letters: Rus Wooton)

publisher: Image Comics

ISBN: 1534300597

hardcover, 504 pages

 

CLEOPATRA: I AM FIRE AND AIR – Harold Bloom

Posted by Daniel on September 27, 2017
Posted in: ENTERTAINMENT, NON-FICTION. Tagged: , , , , , , . Leave a comment

Shakespeare scholar Harold Bloom explores one of Shakespeare’s most intriguing personalities with his book Cleopatra: I am Fire and Air.

Bloom clearly appreciates the literary character and writes not only about the character as written, but also as performed by some of the bigger named or more famous actresses.

Shakespeare’s Antony and Cleopatra is not one of his more popular plays and not performed nearly as often as some of his other tragedies and yet the enigmatic character of Cleopatra is instantly recognizable to most people and brings to mind a strong, sexual, sensual ruler of exotic persuasion.

I have sometimes found Bloom’s writing to be annoying and even difficult to read, but that was not an issue here.  Instead, Bloom pulled me in right away as he made the book immediately personal (“I fell in love in 1974 with the Cleopatra of Janet Suzman…”*) instead of didactic. And when he writes of “the ferocity of the most seductive woman in all of Shakespeare”* he is instantly identifying the appeal of the character and we know that Bloom’s examination comes not from a dispassionate professorial point of view, but something deeply felt.

Other than Elizabeth Taylor’s portrayal of the role on film, which I saw far too long ago, I don’t know much about the play or the character.  This examination brings to light a good many arguments for seeing this produced on stage (by a company that knows how to perform Shakespeare well).  I was surprised in Chapter 15 by the look at the role of the Clown in the play.

It was not surprising that the Clown provides insight – this is common in Shakespeare – but the sexual attitudes and the provision of the means of death coming through the Clown strike me as unique among the Shakespeare plays I have seen.

More than ever I would like to see this play on stage and I tremendously appreciated this insightful look at the character.  I look forward to more individual Shakespeare character examinations by Harold Bloom.

Looking for a good book? Cleopatra: I am Fire and Air is a wonderful examination by Harold Bloom of an exotic and strong character in Shakespeare’s canon.

* All quotes are from an Advance Reader Copy of the book and may not represent the published edition.

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

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Cleopatra: I am Fire and Air

author: Harold Bloom

publisher: Scribner

ISBN: 1501164163

hardcover, 160 pages

 

 

THE MOTION OF PUPPETS – Keith Donohue

Posted by Daniel on August 21, 2017
Posted in: Dark Fantasy/Horror, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

I was venturing blind into new territory here.  I was not familiar with author Keith Donohue and I was not sure what genre of story this was going to be, though I suspected (by the cover, mostly) it would be dark fantasy/horror.  But it’s more than that, and not that at all.  It’s a sad, mysterious romance against a darkly magical backdrop.

Kay and Theo are newlyweds who have just moved to Quebec. Theo is a translator, currently translating the life story of photographer Eadward Muybridge. Kay had been an acrobat, in Quebec, and shortly after moving back, she visits the old theatre where she once worked. But one night she does not return home.  Leaving the theatre she was followed and she ducked into the Quatre Mains … a toy shop that never appears to be open. There she is taken by the shop owner and turned in to a puppet.

Theo is beside himself with worry for his bride and scours the city looking for her, checking the most obvious place – the theatre – first. Without much luck, Theo goes to the local police to report Kay missing. Theo, of course, is the prime suspect in Kay’s disappearance.

While Theo loses himself with fear and longing for Kay, Kay loses herself in the world of the puppets.  She has identified herself as one of the many puppets.  She has a faint memory of her life before, but she doesn’t long for it.  All of the puppets have a sad complacency about them, setting a troubled undercurrent of mood about the book.

I enjoyed Donohue’s writing.  He has a remarkable knack for mood and tone.  He can place the reader into a location and give us a real sense of what everyone is feeling. And this is what kept me going.  I could feel Theo’s sense of urgency and his losing control, and I could feel Kay’s confused complacency.

But what I couldn’t feel was a purpose. I stayed with the book because of the language, hoping it would take me somewhere, and I enjoyed the journey, but when it was done, I was left unsatisfied.

I will definitely be curious to read some of Donohue’s other works and hope that, instead of retelling an old story (you’ll see many other reviews refer to this as a retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth), he’ll give us something completely new.

Looking for a good book? The Motion of Puppets by Keith Donohue is a mesmerizing story – a retelling of the Orpheus and Eurydice myth – that doesn’t quite satisfy.

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

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The Motion of Puppets

author: Keith Donohue

publisher: Picador

ISBN: 1250057183

hardcover, 272 pages

THE BEAR AND THE NIGHTINGALE – Katherine Arden

Posted by Daniel on August 7, 2017
Posted in: MYTHOLOGY, ROMANCE, SF/FANTASY. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I don’t normally talk about a cover, but let’s face it … this cover art is beautiful.  What it suggests is a lyrical fairy tale, and that’s precisely what we get with the story inside.

Author Katherine Arden (whose very name conjures up fairy tale princesses) has written a Russian fairy tale, drawing on her own interest and education in Russian literature and language.  But the story doesn’t require the reader to know Russian or even the history of Russian literature. The story requires only that you be willing to sit back and be willing to be mesmerized by the poetry of the writing and the descriptions of the countryside.

Vasilisa lives in the Russian countryside.  It’s a harsh living, where it is winter most of the year, but Vasilisa is accustomed to the life and very satisfied.  When her mother dies, her father travels to Moscow and brings back a new wife.  This step-mother is a religious women and she forbids the family to worship in their pagan ways.  But the way of life in the Russian wilderness is uniquely tied to the land and spirits who inhabit the land and those spirits won’t be dismissed without a fight.  Vasilisa, who has the unique ability to peer into the spirit world is caught in the crossroads between the old, familiar way of life and the new regime.

Arden gives the reader an allegorical tale of the conflict of Christianity and paganism wrapped in a veil of fairy tale.  it is an entrancing tale, but I will admit that I wanted the story to develop a bit faster than it did.  The action of the tale really doesn’t start until two-thirds of the way into the book.  It is all set-up before that, and then the action begins quite suddenly and a little more blending of the two would have made for a smoother story.

I enjoyed my reading of this book and if I were to have a copy of the next book in the (planned) trilogy I would read it as well.  But … at the same time, I’m not in a rush to get the next book.  I am not so totally enthralled that I can’t wait and if I don’t read the next installment, I likely won’t miss it.

Looking for a good book? The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden is a lyrical fairy tale set in the romantic past in the Russian countryside and is engrossing in the language but not quite as much so in the story itself.  It is recommended.

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

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The Bear and the Nightingale

author: Katherine Arden

series: The Bear and the Nightingale #1

publisher: Del Rey Books

ISBN: 1101885939

hardcover, 322 pages

A PARTICLE OF DREAD – Sam Shepard

Posted by Daniel on July 12, 2017
Posted in: ENTERTAINMENT, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , , , . Leave a comment

I love to read plays and don’t have as many opportunities to do so since the Fireside Theatre Book Club went out of business (when was that…the 1990’s?).  There seems to slowly be a revival of getting plays in print for the general reading audience.

It should come as no surprise to anyone who is familiar with Sam Shepard’s work, that he’d be drawn to the Oedipus story.  Shepard has written for years about families and family dynamics and Oedipus is the original story of a dysfunctional family. But when I read or hear about a story/play/film that is a re-telling of a classic, I can’t help but wonder: Why?  What is missing from Sophocles’ Oedipus Rex that we need to re-tell it?  Is it just that our modern audience can’t relate to it?  We can’t identify with oracles and … well, I’m no sure what other parts would be so foreign to a modern audience. But, well, Shepard wants to try this and we’ll go along.

But A Particle of Dread is best defined by the sub-title: Oedipus Variations. This play has a very random feel about it.  Short, segmented scenes are assembled to try to fill a narrative.  It’s a bit jumbled or disjointed but generally works okay.  There are some humorous scenes which feel very out-of-place for me.  Perhaps this is what a modern audience needs?  A chance to laugh among the pathos?

Even after reading through this, I ask myself: Why?  What was the point here?  Shepard took a classic story, chopped it up, set it in the present, added some humor, and tossed it back together.  It’s less coherent than the classic, which in my mind makes it less relevant instead of more-so.

If this were written by anyone other than Sam Shepard would it ever have been staged and published?

I’m glad to have read this, but if by some odd bit of coincidence any theatre near me were to stage it (including the Guthrie) I would not likely run out to get a ticket.

Looking for a good book?  Sam Shepard’s script, A Particle of Dread, is a retelling of the Oedipus story, but turns out to be less relevant to modern audiences than a good translation of the original.

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

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A Particle of Dread (Oedipus Variations)

author: Sam Shepard

publisher: Vintage

ISBN: 1101974397

paperback, 128 pages

AGE OF HEROES – James Lovegrove

Posted by Daniel on April 10, 2017
Posted in: SF/FANTASY, Uncategorized. Tagged: , , , , , . Leave a comment

Book #8 in a series?  I wish I had known before I started.  That is one of the problems with Advanced Reader Copies – you just don’t always know when a book is part of a series or not.  I suppose in today’s book market it’s safer to assume a book IS part of a series than not.  And…I could look it up before reading, but I do like to go into each book with an open mind and knowing only what the publisher wants me to know from the information on the cover and the front matter.  And so I end up in the eigth book in a series…

In Age of Heroes, we meet a series of Greek demigods who have hidden themselves among the mortals over the centuries. As demigods, it has been expected that they could never die, but somehow, someone has figured out how to do precisely that … kill demigods.

Theseus has been living in New York and working as a crime fiction writer which prompts his interest in investigating the murders.  The investigation brings him in contact with a lot of his extended family, each of them trying to quietly blend in, but demigods have a very long memory and family squabbles aren’t easily forgotten, making it difficult for Theseus to get the information that might help save the family.

Author James Lovegood does a nice job of weaving an action story using classic Greek heroes who’ve been, essentially, re-booted. The story moves swiftly, with plenty of action, but not a whole lot of substance.  Mostly we get action sequence, followed by clever modernization of demigod, followed by action sequence, and so on.

I’m probably not the only person who will make this obvious connection, but the book reads a lot like an adult version of Percy Jackson.

This was a delightful read for the moments that I was in the story, but it doesn’t make me want to run out and get any of the other books in the series.

Looking for a good book? Age of Heroes by James Lovegood is an action-packed sequence of Greek demigods that will appeal to those who want a more adult version of the Percy Jackson series.

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

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Ages of Heroes

author: James Lovegood

series: Pantheon #8

publisher: Solaris

ISBN: 178108405X

paperback, 380 pages