Imagine this. You’re a college student from a fairly prosperous family. You know things are starting to go wrong in your country, but your position in life shelters you from the profoundly bad shit that’s going down. You have a girlfriend, but social mores and the difference in your stations mean that the most you’ve ever done is hold her hand during late-night walks down unlit streets. But then, your family begins to run out of money, long after less fortunate people have already begun […]
On Siegecraft, Skaa, and Badass Brunettes
There’s something about watching a fantasy series really hit its stride. No matter how good an initial entry in a series is, there’s always a fair bit of expositional license-plate-making that has to be taken care of, thus there’s always room for growth, for the author to take everything cool about the series and turn it up to eleven. A Storm of Swords immediately springs to mind, as do The Two Towers and Memories of Ice. And now, so too does The Well of Ascension, […]
On Allomancy, Tyranny, and Coming of Age
I’m going to go way out on a limb and guess that I’m not the first, or even the fifth, person to review this book over the years for CBR. In fact, it was the recommendation of fellow CBRer narfna that finally led me to pluck Mistborn off my wishlist. I’ve been going through a major fantasy kick over the last few years, but it wasn’t until recently that I’d heard of Mistborn, as all I really knew of Sanderson to that point was his […]
On Race, Revolution, and Vertically-Challenged Corsicans
Alexandre Dumas, father of the famous French novelist, was born into a noble Norman family. He was generally acknowledged to be the strongest man in the French army. He commanded armies, fought on two continents, and successfully invaded Italy. Not only was he personally known to Napoleon, but Napoleon hated his guts. Dumas managed to survive enemy action, prolonged imprisonment, personal betrayal, and the Terror. His was a life of almost picaresque scope and wonder. Oh, and he was also the mixed-race son of a […]