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Breath of the Dragon by Shannon Lee, Fonda Lee
5.0
Though YA-targeted, this is enjoyable by all ages, and is a worthy conceptualization of Bruce Lee's life and philosophy. It's a wonderful collaboration, written by Fonda Lee based on a concept by Bruce Lee's daughter Shannon Lee.
I was the first to open the library copy (they just finished processing it for circulation and I was first in line). There was a wonderful crackling sound and tactile experience as the red sprayed edges separated for the first time, infinitely more divine even than popping bubble wrap. I am tempted to visit the local big box bookstore and repeat the experience with copies on the shelves. I know this would deny the eventual buyer the same experience, but I might not be able to help myself.
The story is excellent, layered, perfectly paced. I have read many other things with physical combat scenes, and I've learned to dread play-by-play fight descriptions that fail to achieve anything further than physical scene blocking. In every combat here, and there are many, character and story were wonderfully integrated. Each fight sang out as a lovely, significant, and necessary component to the story. This is particularly important since the plot centers around a multi-round martial arts tournament, with plenty of fighting outside of it too.
There's nothing restrained or simple about this fantasy world inspired by ancient China. Political machinations, history, individual characters, and magic interweave beautifully to create a complex and compelling story in a believable and lively setting. I'll be first in line for the sequels.
I had one irritating experience with this book, with the recurrence of certain words that have become tainted by their frequency of appearance in AI-generated text. To be clear, there is no reason to suspect any AI use in this book. It's just that AI overuses "determination," "resilience," "resolute," and "enigmatic" so much, to then read the same words in a real book makes me cringe. (And I personally dislike reading the word "resounding," which also appeared a few times.) Of course, generative AI was trained on human-written fiction and those words go with a certain brand of writing, a little bit cheesy and formulaic, maybe it's common in YA and/or fanfiction in particular. I've been reading the Ranger's Apprentice series to my boy and there's a bit of it there too (and that has plenty of not elevated but perfectly OK writing). I'm not really sure where I'm going with this, other than that reprobates publishing AI-written books have ruined certain words forever. In this book, in all cases the word use was entirely apt and in the setting of perfectly fine writing, but it did make me wonder if Lee was "writing down" to any degree or if this is her usual repertoire. I have yet to read Jade City but I moved it into my "choose from these next" blob of books and if determined characters frequently show resolve in that also, I'll have my answer.
I was the first to open the library copy (they just finished processing it for circulation and I was first in line). There was a wonderful crackling sound and tactile experience as the red sprayed edges separated for the first time, infinitely more divine even than popping bubble wrap. I am tempted to visit the local big box bookstore and repeat the experience with copies on the shelves. I know this would deny the eventual buyer the same experience, but I might not be able to help myself.
The story is excellent, layered, perfectly paced. I have read many other things with physical combat scenes, and I've learned to dread play-by-play fight descriptions that fail to achieve anything further than physical scene blocking. In every combat here, and there are many, character and story were wonderfully integrated. Each fight sang out as a lovely, significant, and necessary component to the story. This is particularly important since the plot centers around a multi-round martial arts tournament, with plenty of fighting outside of it too.
There's nothing restrained or simple about this fantasy world inspired by ancient China. Political machinations, history, individual characters, and magic interweave beautifully to create a complex and compelling story in a believable and lively setting. I'll be first in line for the sequels.
I had one irritating experience with this book, with the recurrence of certain words that have become tainted by their frequency of appearance in AI-generated text. To be clear, there is no reason to suspect any AI use in this book. It's just that AI overuses "determination," "resilience," "resolute," and "enigmatic" so much, to then read the same words in a real book makes me cringe. (And I personally dislike reading the word "resounding," which also appeared a few times.) Of course, generative AI was trained on human-written fiction and those words go with a certain brand of writing, a little bit cheesy and formulaic, maybe it's common in YA and/or fanfiction in particular. I've been reading the Ranger's Apprentice series to my boy and there's a bit of it there too (and that has plenty of not elevated but perfectly OK writing). I'm not really sure where I'm going with this, other than that reprobates publishing AI-written books have ruined certain words forever. In this book, in all cases the word use was entirely apt and in the setting of perfectly fine writing, but it did make me wonder if Lee was "writing down" to any degree or if this is her usual repertoire. I have yet to read Jade City but I moved it into my "choose from these next" blob of books and if determined characters frequently show resolve in that also, I'll have my answer.
Jade City by Fonda Lee
Did not finish book. Stopped at 15%.
Did not finish book. Stopped at 15%.
Did not finish. Around 40 pages I really wasn't feeling the love, but I thought I should give it 100 pages. My enjoyment improved slightly and temporarily with the introduction of the sister returning home from abroad, but remained stalled thereafter. I didn't even make to page 100, merely skimming the last chapter that would have brought me to that point without seeing anything to motivate me further.
It seems well-crafted, achieves it ambitious goal of its Asian-styled slightly modern city ruled by jade-powered magic-powered gang families . . . but I didn't care for the broad cast which seemed to be becoming soap operatic, or get hooked by anything. I checked reviews once I gave up and was surprised to find many of my friends and top-ranked reviews were similarly soft on this highly acclaimed, award-winning book. I don't deny it deserves its accolades. It's very good from a technical standpoint. Maybe that's part of the problem for me, maybe it goes all in on contemporary epic fantasy writing technique when maybe I need a bit of mess, a bit more art.
I know from reviews now that the action picks up significantly, but without being engaged in characters and setting up front, even that would be a slog for me. I wisely opted to avoid what would have been a paper push and cried out here.
Many thanks to whomever put this in our local Free Little Library a couple of years ago; I shall release it back into the wild once more.
It seems well-crafted, achieves it ambitious goal of its Asian-styled slightly modern city ruled by jade-powered magic-powered gang families . . . but I didn't care for the broad cast which seemed to be becoming soap operatic, or get hooked by anything. I checked reviews once I gave up and was surprised to find many of my friends and top-ranked reviews were similarly soft on this highly acclaimed, award-winning book. I don't deny it deserves its accolades. It's very good from a technical standpoint. Maybe that's part of the problem for me, maybe it goes all in on contemporary epic fantasy writing technique when maybe I need a bit of mess, a bit more art.
I know from reviews now that the action picks up significantly, but without being engaged in characters and setting up front, even that would be a slog for me. I wisely opted to avoid what would have been a paper push and cried out here.
Many thanks to whomever put this in our local Free Little Library a couple of years ago; I shall release it back into the wild once more.
The Butcher of the Forest by Premee Mohamed
5.0
Sometimes you hear a new-to-you author on a podcast, and decide you'd really like to try one of her books, and your library has their most popular title, hooray! So you place it on hold and one day it's ready for you, you go to pick up, looking forward to an untried fantasy novel, only to discover it's this big:
Must I check page count and/or book dimensions in advance? Yes this is my fault for making assumptions, and it's also a flaw in online book discovery, wherein every cover image is the same size. I had this same experience recently with Elder Race. I take it as the universe's ongoing message that life is better offline. Stick to physical book browsing, in store and library and other people's books.
Thwarted expectations aside, I am pleased to report that this book's quality far exceeds its tiny package. It's a dark, harsh, unforgiving horror-fantasy novella rooted in proper folk traditions. Thankfully, it in no way resembles any kind of retelling, those trendy things which were already tired in 2018. Rather, it evokes all the grim menace of those worldwide tales of yore, when the notion of anything fae would rightfully give one nightmares, and brought to mind all the excellent examples of the same I have had the pleasure to read in my lifetime. The terrors don't only lie in the forest, either. The threats of the real world in this book are equally horrific and immediate.
The writing is sublime, a prose style that left me chilled and breathless for the entire journey. This is a writer worth going back to, no matter how big her other books may be.
Must I check page count and/or book dimensions in advance? Yes this is my fault for making assumptions, and it's also a flaw in online book discovery, wherein every cover image is the same size. I had this same experience recently with Elder Race. I take it as the universe's ongoing message that life is better offline. Stick to physical book browsing, in store and library and other people's books.
Thwarted expectations aside, I am pleased to report that this book's quality far exceeds its tiny package. It's a dark, harsh, unforgiving horror-fantasy novella rooted in proper folk traditions. Thankfully, it in no way resembles any kind of retelling, those trendy things which were already tired in 2018. Rather, it evokes all the grim menace of those worldwide tales of yore, when the notion of anything fae would rightfully give one nightmares, and brought to mind all the excellent examples of the same I have had the pleasure to read in my lifetime. The terrors don't only lie in the forest, either. The threats of the real world in this book are equally horrific and immediate.
The writing is sublime, a prose style that left me chilled and breathless for the entire journey. This is a writer worth going back to, no matter how big her other books may be.
Passage to Dawn by R.A. Salvatore
1.0
Several possible things were at play to produce this lousy book:
Drizzt trained a seal to play fetch. There's that.
Salvatore's writing is cheesy. I don't think this is deniable. It's not necessarily a bad thing, there's plenty to enjoy in his overpowered, melodramatic, sometimes goofy heroic fantasy adventures, if you're in the mood for that. The Drizzt books have been enduringly popular for good reasons. Maybe in the 6 years since I last read one of his books, I've simply become less tolerant of it. Everything is verily this and verily that, "the very ground seemed to erupt" when "the ground erupted" would have accomplished the same, "Drizzt's lavender orbs" like this is Wattpad. That kind of cheesiness.
Salvatore may have phoned this one in. This is entirely possible. After a string of 2-3 Salvatore books published yearly by TSR from 1987-1994, this was his only book in a 4-year span. I discussed his departure from TSR due to the dealings of Brian M. Thomsen in my reviews of Realms of Magic and Realms of the Underdark. For this book to come out during that time, it had to either have been handed in prior, or written afterwards to fulfill a still-extant contract obligation. If the latter, it makes sense that Salvatore would not put his best effort into this one, while also taking pains not to shit on his own legacy. It feels like the plot points necessary to wrap up the Drizzt uberseries were all in place, even when they were poorly delivered. All of the intended drama and peak moments fell flat.
This book may not have had the editing back-and-forth that his books normally would have, for the same reasons. An invested editor with a good author relationship should have indicated parts that needed more development (like the entire final 100 pages in which all the major events were shoved in), and caught copy editing flubs, like the fact that the main party suddenly attributes a mind-controlled dwarf's behavior to Errtu out of the blue when they had come to a completely different conclusion in the prior scene. Or things like, "The tavern was practically empty. It was full of raucous sailors."
I thought this was going to be a refreshing change from the string of awful to occasionally merely tolerable Forgotten Realms novels that I've been reading, for reasons, since 2015. It hurt me personally to discover that it was as much of a drag as the others. The first half of the book is summarized in the prologue: Errtu's plot is to lure Drizzt to a remote island where a witch will deliver a message to him, to further lure Drizzt into Errtu's clutches. The first half of the book is then: Drizzt is lured to a remote island. A witch delivers a message to him. What fun! What a journey!
Was it an interesting journey to that point, at least? It was not. Was there at least a payoff? No. It didn't help that the message was an unnecessarily lengthy cryptic poem, which the characters couldn't even remember and so we get to spend pages reading about them trying to remember various lines and interpret them. Giving the reader knowledge and then forcing to watch characters fumble at lenghts to attain that same knowledge, getting it wrong in the process, does not make for an engaging book.
How about two and a half pages of goofy wizards using a variety of spells against non-threatening monsters, while other characters just stand around? I can read the Player's Handbook on my own, thank you.
All the time spent on barbarian drama? Useless, and handwaved away at the end.
The fight scenes were probably the worst I have yet read of Salvatore's. Boring, with predictable sudden rescues, and without even Drizzt's constant soul-searching to motivate every maneuver. Against mooks, there's no point, because the good guys are so overpowered with magic items and flush with allies there's no doubt about the outcome. Drizzt is basically the Flash with swords at this point, except for the climactic sequences which forgot all about his speedy feet.
TSR was in dire financial straights for, well, ever, but it came to a head during these years when Salvatore had been driven away. When Wizards of the Coast bought the company and rescued D&D, they were able to attract Salvatore (who wrote and sold his first Demonwars trilogy during that time) back, and 1998 saw the next new Drizzt book. At the rate I can tolerate Forgotten Realms novels these days, it will probably be four years before I get to that one. By Tempus, it had better be better by then.
Drizzt trained a seal to play fetch. There's that.
Salvatore's writing is cheesy. I don't think this is deniable. It's not necessarily a bad thing, there's plenty to enjoy in his overpowered, melodramatic, sometimes goofy heroic fantasy adventures, if you're in the mood for that. The Drizzt books have been enduringly popular for good reasons. Maybe in the 6 years since I last read one of his books, I've simply become less tolerant of it. Everything is verily this and verily that, "the very ground seemed to erupt" when "the ground erupted" would have accomplished the same, "Drizzt's lavender orbs" like this is Wattpad. That kind of cheesiness.
Salvatore may have phoned this one in. This is entirely possible. After a string of 2-3 Salvatore books published yearly by TSR from 1987-1994, this was his only book in a 4-year span. I discussed his departure from TSR due to the dealings of Brian M. Thomsen in my reviews of Realms of Magic and Realms of the Underdark. For this book to come out during that time, it had to either have been handed in prior, or written afterwards to fulfill a still-extant contract obligation. If the latter, it makes sense that Salvatore would not put his best effort into this one, while also taking pains not to shit on his own legacy. It feels like the plot points necessary to wrap up the Drizzt uberseries were all in place, even when they were poorly delivered. All of the intended drama and peak moments fell flat.
This book may not have had the editing back-and-forth that his books normally would have, for the same reasons. An invested editor with a good author relationship should have indicated parts that needed more development (like the entire final 100 pages in which all the major events were shoved in), and caught copy editing flubs, like the fact that the main party suddenly attributes a mind-controlled dwarf's behavior to Errtu out of the blue when they had come to a completely different conclusion in the prior scene. Or things like, "The tavern was practically empty. It was full of raucous sailors."
I thought this was going to be a refreshing change from the string of awful to occasionally merely tolerable Forgotten Realms novels that I've been reading, for reasons, since 2015. It hurt me personally to discover that it was as much of a drag as the others. The first half of the book is summarized in the prologue: Errtu's plot is to lure Drizzt to a remote island where a witch will deliver a message to him, to further lure Drizzt into Errtu's clutches. The first half of the book is then: Drizzt is lured to a remote island. A witch delivers a message to him. What fun! What a journey!
Was it an interesting journey to that point, at least? It was not. Was there at least a payoff? No. It didn't help that the message was an unnecessarily lengthy cryptic poem, which the characters couldn't even remember and so we get to spend pages reading about them trying to remember various lines and interpret them. Giving the reader knowledge and then forcing to watch characters fumble at lenghts to attain that same knowledge, getting it wrong in the process, does not make for an engaging book.
How about two and a half pages of goofy wizards using a variety of spells against non-threatening monsters, while other characters just stand around? I can read the Player's Handbook on my own, thank you.
All the time spent on barbarian drama? Useless, and handwaved away at the end.
The fight scenes were probably the worst I have yet read of Salvatore's. Boring, with predictable sudden rescues, and without even Drizzt's constant soul-searching to motivate every maneuver. Against mooks, there's no point, because the good guys are so overpowered with magic items and flush with allies there's no doubt about the outcome. Drizzt is basically the Flash with swords at this point, except for the climactic sequences which forgot all about his speedy feet.
TSR was in dire financial straights for, well, ever, but it came to a head during these years when Salvatore had been driven away. When Wizards of the Coast bought the company and rescued D&D, they were able to attract Salvatore (who wrote and sold his first Demonwars trilogy during that time) back, and 1998 saw the next new Drizzt book. At the rate I can tolerate Forgotten Realms novels these days, it will probably be four years before I get to that one. By Tempus, it had better be better by then.
Insomnia by Stephen King
2.0
It did not need to be this long.
The story is good and ultimately epic in scope. It's the first King novel to so closely reference the Dark Tower series; more would come. It's set in Derry, location of It, but it didn't have to be and the references to that book's events didn't go beyond fan service. The characters, meh. There were some very good scenes that captured the vital King energy that propelled many of his earlier books. Some. Not many.
The storytelling never went off the tracks, but still, it didn't need to be this long.
I found myself thinking of contemporary writers and plot structures and how much more concise this story would be in anyone else's hands. Of course it wouldn't be a King book in that case, but for some of his books that would be a blessing. When he's hot, he's hot, but when his stream of consciousness writing style gets out of control and no one is willing to actually edit him (and why would they with all the money he generated for his publisher no matter how any single book turned out), then you get something like Insomnia.
It's ambitious, and the framing around mid-90s abortion wars remains relevant to this day. King's oft-used theme of domestic abuse is front and center; this has been around since 1977's The Shining, featuring prominently again in Cujo, It, and more, then peaking in his books of the early 90s (Dolores Claiborne, Gerald's Game, this one, Rose Madder). In many ways it's a peak King book and statistically a solid example of his work, if you have choose one out of all of them. But...
This really didn't have to be nearly 800 pages. I don't know how many hundreds less would have made it right, but at least two. So many detours, so many prolonged scenes that outlasted any necessary function, I found myself forced to skim many times.
Maybe I've just been reading too much King. I'm not in any particular rush to get through his work in my publication order Great Stephen King Reread—I've only read 32 of his books in the past 5 years but damn I guess that's still a lot, a book every 2 months—but it's probably still too much to not be irritated by his style when it gets unhinged, which feels like it's been a lot lately. Or maybe it's just the lingering effect of Needful Things.
I find myself getting tired of his 'instinctive knowledge' bit too, the way his characters just know what they're supposed to do or just have a feeling that a specific thing is vital. This happens many times in this book, like when Ralph just knows he has to do something to his arm and then it comes into play when his arm gets into trouble later, and the arm thing then continues to the final pages even though there was never any arm thing for the first 680 pages of the book. In retrospect the only reasonable explanation for this kind of thing, in any of his books, is, "the powers that can't intervene but maybe can subtly influence things must have intervened," and that's a shitty way to do character motivation.
So . . . I don't think anyone needs to read this book except a King completionist. Despite it's insertion into Dark Tower lore, it doesn't add anything you can't do without. The book's positives get swallowed up by the self-indulgent length of the affair. Aside from the Dark Tower series, I think It and 11/22/63 are the only King books approaching this one's length that deserve their page counts.
The story is good and ultimately epic in scope. It's the first King novel to so closely reference the Dark Tower series; more would come. It's set in Derry, location of It, but it didn't have to be and the references to that book's events didn't go beyond fan service. The characters, meh. There were some very good scenes that captured the vital King energy that propelled many of his earlier books. Some. Not many.
The storytelling never went off the tracks, but still, it didn't need to be this long.
I found myself thinking of contemporary writers and plot structures and how much more concise this story would be in anyone else's hands. Of course it wouldn't be a King book in that case, but for some of his books that would be a blessing. When he's hot, he's hot, but when his stream of consciousness writing style gets out of control and no one is willing to actually edit him (and why would they with all the money he generated for his publisher no matter how any single book turned out), then you get something like Insomnia.
It's ambitious, and the framing around mid-90s abortion wars remains relevant to this day. King's oft-used theme of domestic abuse is front and center; this has been around since 1977's The Shining, featuring prominently again in Cujo, It, and more, then peaking in his books of the early 90s (Dolores Claiborne, Gerald's Game, this one, Rose Madder). In many ways it's a peak King book and statistically a solid example of his work, if you have choose one out of all of them. But...
This really didn't have to be nearly 800 pages. I don't know how many hundreds less would have made it right, but at least two. So many detours, so many prolonged scenes that outlasted any necessary function, I found myself forced to skim many times.
Maybe I've just been reading too much King. I'm not in any particular rush to get through his work in my publication order Great Stephen King Reread—I've only read 32 of his books in the past 5 years but damn I guess that's still a lot, a book every 2 months—but it's probably still too much to not be irritated by his style when it gets unhinged, which feels like it's been a lot lately. Or maybe it's just the lingering effect of Needful Things.
I find myself getting tired of his 'instinctive knowledge' bit too, the way his characters just know what they're supposed to do or just have a feeling that a specific thing is vital. This happens many times in this book, like when Ralph just knows he has to do something to his arm and then it comes into play when his arm gets into trouble later, and the arm thing then continues to the final pages even though there was never any arm thing for the first 680 pages of the book. In retrospect the only reasonable explanation for this kind of thing, in any of his books, is, "the powers that can't intervene but maybe can subtly influence things must have intervened," and that's a shitty way to do character motivation.
So . . . I don't think anyone needs to read this book except a King completionist. Despite it's insertion into Dark Tower lore, it doesn't add anything you can't do without. The book's positives get swallowed up by the self-indulgent length of the affair. Aside from the Dark Tower series, I think It and 11/22/63 are the only King books approaching this one's length that deserve their page counts.
The Thief Who Went To War by Michael McClung
5.0
I don't know if we'll ever see more in this series, but I'm satisfied with what we have. It's just that good. Last I saw, the author was working on a Master's degree, don't know in what field, but in any case he seems like just a regular guy with regular problems making his way in the world with family, but damn can he write thrilling fantasy and his dialogue is top-notch. The last thing he published was in 2021: [b:The Makening|56946223|The Makening (Evil Overlord, #1)|Michael McClung|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1612446966l/56946223._SY75_.jpg|89065480]
After putting Amra on the backburner for most of [b:The Thief Who Wasn't There|25191067|The Thief Who Wasn't There (Amra Thetys, #4)|Michael McClung|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1428515897l/25191067._SY75_.jpg|44900962], the positions switch, with Amra back in her starring role and bereft of allies. Not that she needs any help to kick ass and yank herself out of endless streams of trouble. Pursued by the city, the state, the underworld, mages, and gods, she ekes by with brutal doggedness, but not without sacrificing a pound of flesh.
The story starts off a little bit messy, and I thought this was just some rough-around-the-edgesness that came from the author's stated struggle to get this story going after multiple discarded drafts. It seemed just a bit messy, until it all came together, but it was a rollicking good time all the while.
After putting Amra on the backburner for most of [b:The Thief Who Wasn't There|25191067|The Thief Who Wasn't There (Amra Thetys, #4)|Michael McClung|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1428515897l/25191067._SY75_.jpg|44900962], the positions switch, with Amra back in her starring role and bereft of allies. Not that she needs any help to kick ass and yank herself out of endless streams of trouble. Pursued by the city, the state, the underworld, mages, and gods, she ekes by with brutal doggedness, but not without sacrificing a pound of flesh.
The story starts off a little bit messy, and I thought this was just some rough-around-the-edgesness that came from the author's stated struggle to get this story going after multiple discarded drafts. It seemed just a bit messy, until it all came together, but it was a rollicking good time all the while.
The City of Gold and Lead by John Christopher
2.0
Less likely to bore the modern young reader that The White Mountains, it's a fine book, dated and unlikely to capture the attention of its target age now, but a worthy classic of children's dystopian science fiction.
Finally, we see directly actual hardship stemming from the domination of the tripods. Other than the low-technology society, there seemed little limitation on individual freedom or evident mind control, until such time as this book's heroes are taken to the titular city of the masters, and there, still, only a few hundred people out of multiple countries' population were affected. But in that setting, finally the truth of this series's future-past Earth is revealed.
The aliens and their city struck me as Lovecraft-light, not dissimilar to the Great Old Ones of The Shadow Out of Time crossed with The War of the Worlds' own tripod-driving beings. The narration is subdued by contemporary standards, largely factual and requiring the reader to generate any emotion. I often found myself thinking that fiction writing in general has gotten simply better over the past decades, more engaging and exciting, if this and its contemporary classics are any measure.
Not a bad series and one I picked up from a library booksale because it looked "classic" and vaguely familiar, to populate our family library with the aim of providing plenty of potentially grabbable browsing material for my children, it has sat unread for many years until I finally opted to work through many such books. I don't feel the need to sing any praises for it to my children now. If a dystopian classic is needed, I would rather steer them to John Wyndham.
Finally, we see directly actual hardship stemming from the domination of the tripods. Other than the low-technology society, there seemed little limitation on individual freedom or evident mind control, until such time as this book's heroes are taken to the titular city of the masters, and there, still, only a few hundred people out of multiple countries' population were affected. But in that setting, finally the truth of this series's future-past Earth is revealed.
The aliens and their city struck me as Lovecraft-light, not dissimilar to the Great Old Ones of The Shadow Out of Time crossed with The War of the Worlds' own tripod-driving beings. The narration is subdued by contemporary standards, largely factual and requiring the reader to generate any emotion. I often found myself thinking that fiction writing in general has gotten simply better over the past decades, more engaging and exciting, if this and its contemporary classics are any measure.
Not a bad series and one I picked up from a library booksale because it looked "classic" and vaguely familiar, to populate our family library with the aim of providing plenty of potentially grabbable browsing material for my children, it has sat unread for many years until I finally opted to work through many such books. I don't feel the need to sing any praises for it to my children now. If a dystopian classic is needed, I would rather steer them to John Wyndham.
Flowers in the Attic by V.C. Andrews
(Panels above are from Paper Girls, Volume 3. Use the desktop site to see them.)
I read this despite not being a pre-teen-to-teenaged girl nor it currently being the 1980s. For decades I have heard vague things about this book, purely salacious rumours of specific events, and I pegged it as one of those every generation pieces of popular taboo fiction that crop up regularly, like Mandingo, The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, or later Fifty Shades of Grey or Unhinged.
Dear Reader, I was shocked and elated to find that it was not like those things. It is a literary masterpiece.
V.C. Andrews' first novel and one of only seven she wrote (the other 95 are not hers, it's just some guy writing under her name; everyone knows this now, right? A coworker a few years ago was unaware, but it's not like she read the books, simply knew their ubiquitous and endless appearance in grocery stores,) this is truly a gothic powerhouse. The only criticism I formed was that dialogue was very much of the type from movies and TV of yore and not realistic (while beautiful), but I realize that's part of the style.
The Dollanganger children's situation is bizarre but completely logical and consistent in the book's context. The story is anything but salacious; its reputation as "the teenage incest book" is technically accurate but the reality is nothing like I expected. There are a few odd things early in part 2 that made me think it was going off the rails: (view spoiler). But in a wider view this was all in keeping with a sharp decline in the protagonists' coping ability and was perfectly placed to keep a long story engaging, with no lulls in sight. It's amazing how engaging the book is, with such a limited setting.
With beautiful language and genuine emotion in an impossible situation, this book is impossible to forget. It's a deeply felt tale of intergenerational trauma and cycles of abuse, narcissism, parentification, and no part of it is cheap or taudry. It's a legitimate modern classic.
5.0
(Panels above are from Paper Girls, Volume 3. Use the desktop site to see them.)
I read this despite not being a pre-teen-to-teenaged girl nor it currently being the 1980s. For decades I have heard vague things about this book, purely salacious rumours of specific events, and I pegged it as one of those every generation pieces of popular taboo fiction that crop up regularly, like Mandingo, The Claiming of Sleeping Beauty, or later Fifty Shades of Grey or Unhinged.
Dear Reader, I was shocked and elated to find that it was not like those things. It is a literary masterpiece.
V.C. Andrews' first novel and one of only seven she wrote (the other 95 are not hers, it's just some guy writing under her name; everyone knows this now, right? A coworker a few years ago was unaware, but it's not like she read the books, simply knew their ubiquitous and endless appearance in grocery stores,) this is truly a gothic powerhouse. The only criticism I formed was that dialogue was very much of the type from movies and TV of yore and not realistic (while beautiful), but I realize that's part of the style.
The Dollanganger children's situation is bizarre but completely logical and consistent in the book's context. The story is anything but salacious; its reputation as "the teenage incest book" is technically accurate but the reality is nothing like I expected. There are a few odd things early in part 2 that made me think it was going off the rails: (view spoiler). But in a wider view this was all in keeping with a sharp decline in the protagonists' coping ability and was perfectly placed to keep a long story engaging, with no lulls in sight. It's amazing how engaging the book is, with such a limited setting.
With beautiful language and genuine emotion in an impossible situation, this book is impossible to forget. It's a deeply felt tale of intergenerational trauma and cycles of abuse, narcissism, parentification, and no part of it is cheap or taudry. It's a legitimate modern classic.
The Legend of Rah and the Muggles by N.K. Stouffer
Got that? What, you need a picture? Fine, but first I want to show a picture of the print layout next to a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone so you'll understand how padded the page count is:
And now, please enjoy a sample of the artwork included in every copy of The Legend of RahTM and the MugglesTM:
Are they . . . polishing a mushroom? Anyway, my copy of the book, purchased second-hand from Thriftbooks, came with a photocopy of a 2001 news article ("Harry, meet Larry Potter in a battle of the muggles"), reporting the claims of similarities but obviously published before Stouffer was laughed out of court to the tune of $50,000. I entertain the thought that Stouffer herself inserted one of these articles into every copy that went out into the world. Teach the controversy, that'll do it!
In conclusion, I love everything about this book. Just like Antigua: The Land of Fairies, Wizards and Heroes, it's a thoroughly, undeniably stupid book, written for children by an idiot who thinks children are morons, and the result is pure comedy gold.
5.0
How to Lose $50,000 in Two Easy Steps
There's the story, and there's the story behind the story. Both are hilariously awful. The stupid, it burns.
Maybe you've heard of this book, first self-published in some form in 1984, or its author who in 1999 tried to sue J.K. Rowling for copyright and trademark infringement over use of the word "Muggles" and other matters. This was in between Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and who wouldn't have wanted a slice of that sweet Potter pie? Unfortunately for Nancy Stouffer—I'm sorry, that's "N.K." Stouffer on her republished books by sheer coincidence, I'm sure—her claims were prima facie absurd. But for a time, the lore tells us that Rowling was "fretting so much over this one stupid case that it’s kept her from finishing her latest book," making Stouffer probably the most hated woman in publishing for a time. My, how the tables have turned.
Anyway, Stouffer was found to have falsified promotional materials for her prior self-published material, in an attempt to bolster her claim that Rowling must have seen her work and stolen her ideas, and was sanctioned $50,000 in a summary judgment by the court, so that was the end of that. There's a nice one-page summary of the affair here: http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...
I particularly enjoyed this detail from the legal judgment (https://www.eyrie.org/~robotech/stouf...), because I was already ready to say that if Stouffer had ever sold even three copies of The Legend of RahTM prior to her claims of infringement, I would eat a Real MuggleTM :
There's the story, and there's the story behind the story. Both are hilariously awful. The stupid, it burns.
Maybe you've heard of this book, first self-published in some form in 1984, or its author who in 1999 tried to sue J.K. Rowling for copyright and trademark infringement over use of the word "Muggles" and other matters. This was in between Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, and who wouldn't have wanted a slice of that sweet Potter pie? Unfortunately for Nancy Stouffer—I'm sorry, that's "N.K." Stouffer on her republished books by sheer coincidence, I'm sure—her claims were prima facie absurd. But for a time, the lore tells us that Rowling was "fretting so much over this one stupid case that it’s kept her from finishing her latest book," making Stouffer probably the most hated woman in publishing for a time. My, how the tables have turned.
Anyway, Stouffer was found to have falsified promotional materials for her prior self-published material, in an attempt to bolster her claim that Rowling must have seen her work and stolen her ideas, and was sanctioned $50,000 in a summary judgment by the court, so that was the end of that. There's a nice one-page summary of the affair here: http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/...
I particularly enjoyed this detail from the legal judgment (https://www.eyrie.org/~robotech/stouf...), because I was already ready to say that if Stouffer had ever sold even three copies of The Legend of RahTM prior to her claims of infringement, I would eat a Real MuggleTM :
It is undisputed that Ande [the publishing company Stouffer created for her own work] never sold any of its booklets in the United States or elsewhere.
Sounds about right!
Another hilarious fact: Ottenheimer Publishers of Maryland was in business for 111 years before they republished Stouffer's The Legend of RahTM and the MugglesTM and other books of hers (under the created-just-for-this Thurman House imprint), capitalizing on the publicity surrounding the legal claims. Within the following year they went bankrupt and closed forever, by sheer coincidence I'm sure.
So, about the book: it's stupid. So, so stupid. If I may paraphrase Fran Lebowitz, you have not read any book as stupid as The Legend of RahTM and the MugglesTM. You just haven't.
It's for children. Do you hate children? Do you want children to grow up stupid? Then by all means, read them this book. Hey, do you know what makes a great foundation for a children's story? Nuclear fucking war, that's what.
From the very first page, the first paragraph, the first sentence, this book has you asking, "What the fuck are you talking about?" Try it for yourself:
Another hilarious fact: Ottenheimer Publishers of Maryland was in business for 111 years before they republished Stouffer's The Legend of RahTM and the MugglesTM and other books of hers (under the created-just-for-this Thurman House imprint), capitalizing on the publicity surrounding the legal claims. Within the following year they went bankrupt and closed forever, by sheer coincidence I'm sure.
So, about the book: it's stupid. So, so stupid. If I may paraphrase Fran Lebowitz, you have not read any book as stupid as The Legend of RahTM and the MugglesTM. You just haven't.
It's for children. Do you hate children? Do you want children to grow up stupid? Then by all means, read them this book. Hey, do you know what makes a great foundation for a children's story? Nuclear fucking war, that's what.
From the very first page, the first paragraph, the first sentence, this book has you asking, "What the fuck are you talking about?" Try it for yourself:
On the far side of the earth, Aura citizens fought great wars with other nations. They had lived a relatively peaceful coexistence until government representatives became restless and greedy. The need for power and control seemed to spread throughout the Congress of United People, C.O.U.P., like a disease out of control. The discord caused great unrest within the colonies. Absent any real or decisive leadership, citizens gathered arms and formed militia groups.
These splinter revolutionaries were determined to reclaim democracy, . . .
"Please, sir, I want some more" said no child ever. The commentary writes itself. On the far side of the earth from where? What government representatives? Colonies from where? What the fuck are you talking about? I particularly enjoy the presumably unironic United Nations stand-in abbreviated "coup".
You don't even have to read the first page time to appreciate this book's insane stupidity. The copyright page alone does that. Stouffer, in her ill-guided, extremely expensive attempt at legal maneuvering, tries to trademark everything under the sun (I regret that I can't make superscript work here for all the "TM" markings, but you'll get the idea):
You don't even have to read the first page time to appreciate this book's insane stupidity. The copyright page alone does that. Stouffer, in her ill-guided, extremely expensive attempt at legal maneuvering, tries to trademark everything under the sun (I regret that I can't make superscript work here for all the "TM" markings, but you'll get the idea):
MUGGLEtm, MUGGLEStm, MUGGLES-BYEtm, and The Legend of RAH and the MUGGLEStm, MUGGLEDOMEtm [NB: term not in book], MUGGLEPLICATIONtm [NB: term not in book], SHADOW MONSTERStm, NEVILtm, NEVILStm, NARDLEStm, GREEBLIEStm, NADIE [sic, different spelling from in book] & NEDDIE SPOONERS OF THE DEEPtm, WINKLEtm, ELDERStm, RAHtm, ZYNtm
Y'all better not ever use the words "elders" or "shadow monsters" in y'all's books, or Nancy Stouffer's gonna git ya!
But if for some reason you continue reading, it gets even worse. Chapter One (the previous example is from the introduction which is actually a prologue) is a run-on, bloated, terrible regency romance between Lady Catherine and her butler, Walter, after her husband dies while she's pregant with twins, with a confusing timeline that begins and ends with unspeficied enemy soldiers breaking down the palace doors, in a conflict that Lady Catherine is sure will end with nuclear weapons. Note: this is a completely different use of nuclear weapons from the introduction, which happened several hundred years prior and let to the creation of MugglesTM. You know, for kids.
Chapter Two is way stupider, and Chapter Three is even stupider than that, and oh by the way after that first 45-page long first chapter, do we ever hear about Lady Catherine and Walter and will these crazy kids be able to make it after all? We do not. We do not, in fact, ever hear again about any crucial story element once introduced.
Chapter Four is, once again, the stupidest yet to come, and so forth and so forth. I could provide countless examples, but I would hate to spoil it and encourage you to read it for yourself if you're at all inclined to read the worst thing you've ever read. I happen to find joy in such things. Yay, me. But really, it's all so, so dumb. Like, this land (country? continent? archipelago?) of Aura, devastated by nuclear weapons whose radiation transformed humans into MugglesTM over centuries, has
But if for some reason you continue reading, it gets even worse. Chapter One (the previous example is from the introduction which is actually a prologue) is a run-on, bloated, terrible regency romance between Lady Catherine and her butler, Walter, after her husband dies while she's pregant with twins, with a confusing timeline that begins and ends with unspeficied enemy soldiers breaking down the palace doors, in a conflict that Lady Catherine is sure will end with nuclear weapons. Note: this is a completely different use of nuclear weapons from the introduction, which happened several hundred years prior and let to the creation of MugglesTM. You know, for kids.
Chapter Two is way stupider, and Chapter Three is even stupider than that, and oh by the way after that first 45-page long first chapter, do we ever hear about Lady Catherine and Walter and will these crazy kids be able to make it after all? We do not. We do not, in fact, ever hear again about any crucial story element once introduced.
Chapter Four is, once again, the stupidest yet to come, and so forth and so forth. I could provide countless examples, but I would hate to spoil it and encourage you to read it for yourself if you're at all inclined to read the worst thing you've ever read. I happen to find joy in such things. Yay, me. But really, it's all so, so dumb. Like, this land (country? continent? archipelago?) of Aura, devastated by nuclear weapons whose radiation transformed humans into MugglesTM over centuries, has
never experienced the warmth of sunlight, nor the beauty of an evening sky filled with glittering stars. Their world is lit only by moonlight shining through a purple haze left behind by nuclear warfare.
So the planet became tidal-locked because of nuclear war? What? But a box of jewels comes to them on a raft, carried between two babies floating on the ocean for over a week without sustenance (and if I know anything about babies, it's that they survive perfectly well without food or water for days on end), and somehow these jewels absorbed the power of the sun and as they approach the MugglesTM's land it gives off heat sufficient to instantly warm the air and light to instantly cause trees and shrubs that survived and grew without sunlight for centuries in a nuclear wasteland (where squirrels and rabbits and lion-sized dogs and birds managed to survive just fine along with the MugglesTM) to burst into leaves but somehow doesn't fry these babies to a crisp or permanently blind them. The MugglesTMplace the sunlight-giving jewel box on top of the Tower of Time which by the way is shaped like a pyramid, as towers tend to be, but now the story talks all the time about sunrises and sunsets and the MugglesTM have always had songs and poems and stories that specifically reference day/night cycles and how the fuck is any of this supposed to make any sense. And this is just the start of it! So many more stupid things follow! Like the sheet music at the back of the book for the MugglesTM traditional bedtime song that indicates 4/4 time but has measures that are 10/4 or 1/4 and is just an awful song with terrible lyrics and you bet your ass I'm going to play it.
I know you've been wondering all this time, what is a MuggleTM, if not a non-magical person? I'll let the completely necessary character glossary from the back matter answer that:
I know you've been wondering all this time, what is a MuggleTM, if not a non-magical person? I'll let the completely necessary character glossary from the back matter answer that:
MUGGLES, Humans left behind on Aura, the Forgotten People, conscientious objectors, sick and diseased, physically challenged, elderly, blind, deaf, savants, dwarfs, earning disabled [sic], the Have Not's [sic]. They became genetically mutated humans, hybrid humans, resemble children when fully grown, large hairless hears [sic], tiny ears, large oval eyes, eyelids with no eyelashes, blue, violet, brown and gree [sic], lump cheeks [sic?], narrow shoulders, thin arms chubby hands [sic], three fingers and one thumb, no fingernails, thin legs, chubby feet, four toes, no toenails, round plump bellies, half-moon shaped belly button, height: 3'-4', weight: 45-90 lbs., skin color: white, brown, beige or olive, vegetarians.
Got that? What, you need a picture? Fine, but first I want to show a picture of the print layout next to a copy of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone so you'll understand how padded the page count is:
And now, please enjoy a sample of the artwork included in every copy of The Legend of RahTM and the MugglesTM:
Are they . . . polishing a mushroom? Anyway, my copy of the book, purchased second-hand from Thriftbooks, came with a photocopy of a 2001 news article ("Harry, meet Larry Potter in a battle of the muggles"), reporting the claims of similarities but obviously published before Stouffer was laughed out of court to the tune of $50,000. I entertain the thought that Stouffer herself inserted one of these articles into every copy that went out into the world. Teach the controversy, that'll do it!
In conclusion, I love everything about this book. Just like Antigua: The Land of Fairies, Wizards and Heroes, it's a thoroughly, undeniably stupid book, written for children by an idiot who thinks children are morons, and the result is pure comedy gold.
Blood Over Bright Haven by M.L. Wang
2.0
Going against the grain here. I won't deny anyone else their enjoyment and I see why this book is so well received. It's written very well, the story is polished and flows well from start to finish, and it has a deservedly satisfying outcome, especially if you want to see power structures smashed a la Iron Widow. Plus, props for making it an actual standalone fantasy novel.
I found it all cliche and predictable.
Opens with a magic school audition, closes with a courtroom scene, with no real surprises in between except for the appearance of the Batmobile. Was there ever any doubt that (spoiler for the book's mid-point and then vaguely the end) (view spoiler) or that (view spoiler)?
Sanderson-worthy detailed magic system, with opportunities for the main character to explain it in full to non-practitioners, elementary style, for multiple pages. Yes, it serves the story, but it also felt like Sufficiently Advanced Magic crossed with grammar-based magic from The Long Price quartet (A Shadow in Summer) and while this isn't a bad thing it felt very much like, "main characters explains the magic system," for multiple pages. This was balanced at the back end by character arguments that went on for pages without actual story progress, unless "this guy's a dick about everything" becoming, "this guy's also a dick about this additional specific thing," counts as progress.
Those are relatively minor annoyances. My biggest issue with the book is simply how in-your-face the themes are. I appreciate how the book reflects paternalism and misogyny, racism, climate destruction, demolishing native cultures, religious hypocrisy, medical sexism—but did it have to be so blatant and on the nose about it all? There's zero subtlety or nuance to any of it. The men are so explicitly paternalistic and dismissive they're caricatures of themselves ("I guess it's her time of the month, hur hur"). The Kwen as an oppressed class are practically a cartoonish depiction of such. The whole societal construction is so plain jane about all its evils in support of "progress" I have to think it's geared to people who don't already see that these things are bad. We know it's bad to say women are hysterical and incapable of emotional control. We know it's bad to decimate native cultures and force the survivors into sub-par living conditions and debased labour. We know destroying the environment to sustain modern comforts is bad. I can't find anything in the book taking this discussion beyond that level. I accept that other readers may find catharsis in the idea of simply smashing the system apart. It did nothing of the sort for me.
My feeling is that this book will appeal more to readers who also enjoy YA and NA fantasy fiction. The kissing scene sealed this.
On a positive note, at least the book wasn't ruined by unnecessarily italicized dialogue, except on pages 12-14.
I found it all cliche and predictable.
Opens with a magic school audition, closes with a courtroom scene, with no real surprises in between except for the appearance of the Batmobile. Was there ever any doubt that (spoiler for the book's mid-point and then vaguely the end) (view spoiler) or that (view spoiler)?
Sanderson-worthy detailed magic system, with opportunities for the main character to explain it in full to non-practitioners, elementary style, for multiple pages. Yes, it serves the story, but it also felt like Sufficiently Advanced Magic crossed with grammar-based magic from The Long Price quartet (A Shadow in Summer) and while this isn't a bad thing it felt very much like, "main characters explains the magic system," for multiple pages. This was balanced at the back end by character arguments that went on for pages without actual story progress, unless "this guy's a dick about everything" becoming, "this guy's also a dick about this additional specific thing," counts as progress.
Those are relatively minor annoyances. My biggest issue with the book is simply how in-your-face the themes are. I appreciate how the book reflects paternalism and misogyny, racism, climate destruction, demolishing native cultures, religious hypocrisy, medical sexism—but did it have to be so blatant and on the nose about it all? There's zero subtlety or nuance to any of it. The men are so explicitly paternalistic and dismissive they're caricatures of themselves ("I guess it's her time of the month, hur hur"). The Kwen as an oppressed class are practically a cartoonish depiction of such. The whole societal construction is so plain jane about all its evils in support of "progress" I have to think it's geared to people who don't already see that these things are bad. We know it's bad to say women are hysterical and incapable of emotional control. We know it's bad to decimate native cultures and force the survivors into sub-par living conditions and debased labour. We know destroying the environment to sustain modern comforts is bad. I can't find anything in the book taking this discussion beyond that level. I accept that other readers may find catharsis in the idea of simply smashing the system apart. It did nothing of the sort for me.
My feeling is that this book will appeal more to readers who also enjoy YA and NA fantasy fiction. The kissing scene sealed this.
On a positive note, at least the book wasn't ruined by unnecessarily italicized dialogue, except on pages 12-14.