I’ve seen friends and others rave about the amazingness of the Saga series for some time now. After finally getting around to reading volume 1, I can now say I get it, I finally understand what the fuss is about. The world of the story is interesting and makes you want to know and understand more of the history and various races and planets involved, the characters are unique and engaging, and the different plot threads being set up all each intriguing but clearly somehow […]
Grammar Fixing Magic
Imagine fantasy and historical fiction are fused into a mystery, like what you’d get with a mash-up of Umberto Eco’s Name of the Rose, anything by Terry Brooks, and Harry Potter. The result, if it’s decently done, would be Ironfoot (Book 1 of the Enchanter General). There’s a touch of historical reality in the social divisions between the native Saxons and the ruling Normans, which is probably accurate given the setting in 1164 England. The brief cameos by Eleanor of Aquitaine, Henry II, and a […]
Worth the Weight
I saw this book on a display in a Blackwell’s in Edinburgh, Scotland. It looked interesting, but it was large-ish hard cover book, and I didn’t want the extra weight in backpack. The problem was that I discovered this book was not available in the US at the time. So on my last day in town, I went back to the store and thankfully there was a copy left. It was worth the trouble. Rotherweird is at its core a supernatural mystery. It’s told from […]
More Bad Ass Librarians Needed
Last review of the year, here we go. Not counting the epilogue, this book runs 227 pages. The first and last 50 pages contain some genuine bad-ass librarianism. The middle 100 pages are the political history of the region, which is relevant and good info to know, but seems to be a separate narrative (non-fictional, but still a different story). If you title a book The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu, most of the book should be about that. This is the problem with the book. […]