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jjwilbourne's reviews
239 reviews
Elven Star by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman
adventurous
funny
mysterious
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Plot
3.75
Continuing my re-read of The Deathgate Cycle was an easy decision to make. I was fascinated by how much I remembered, what I’d forgotten, and how this series has ultimately influenced my own writing. Whether it be Weis & Hickman’s alluring storytelling or my urge to take another trip into nostalgic bliss, my journey continues.
Elvan Star introduces us to Pyran, the realm of fire. Like the previous realm, the races do not live in harmony, and the geopolitical landscape is only civil by fragile trade relations. But there is a new and horrific race terrorizing the land: the Titans. Caught in the warpath of the violent giants, a dwarf, elf, and a couple of humans must work together to survive the coming slaughter.
Pyran isn’t what you expect. It’s not a realm made out of fire, but what it lacks in flame it makes up for with quirky and eccentric characters. While many of the new players we meet in this story are humorous in their own way, none are as curious as Zifnab and his pet dragon. His wandering mind and curious ability to confuse the timelines of his and other worlds (especially the Star Wars and Middle Earth universes) is quite amusing.
The worldbuilding of Pyran is shrouded in mystery for the vast majority of the novel, and the pacing of the story’s beginning is slower than I’d like. I was perhaps about halfway through the novel before I didn’t want to put it down, and that’s not ideal. I didn’t put Elvan Star down a couple of decades ago when I first read it, but I do wonder if I would have now if I didn’t know that the resolution didn’t stop me those many years ago.
Like the previous novel, the footnotes are still a bit distracting, but for whatever reason, they didn’t feel as intrusive. Perhaps there are fewer of them or perhaps I’ve re-adapted to the convention Weis & Hickman have established. And also like the previous novel, I love the additional worldbuilding and sheet music at the end of the novel that flesh out the magic system, culture, and kept me thinking about this world for some time after I closed its cover.
I can say confidently that if you enjoyed Dragon Wing, you should give Elvan Star a try. In my opinion, Dragon Wing is a better novel overall because of the stronger dramatic reveals, but I know that it picks up again due to my gift of foresight.
Elvan Star introduces us to Pyran, the realm of fire. Like the previous realm, the races do not live in harmony, and the geopolitical landscape is only civil by fragile trade relations. But there is a new and horrific race terrorizing the land: the Titans. Caught in the warpath of the violent giants, a dwarf, elf, and a couple of humans must work together to survive the coming slaughter.
Pyran isn’t what you expect. It’s not a realm made out of fire, but what it lacks in flame it makes up for with quirky and eccentric characters. While many of the new players we meet in this story are humorous in their own way, none are as curious as Zifnab and his pet dragon. His wandering mind and curious ability to confuse the timelines of his and other worlds (especially the Star Wars and Middle Earth universes) is quite amusing.
The worldbuilding of Pyran is shrouded in mystery for the vast majority of the novel, and the pacing of the story’s beginning is slower than I’d like. I was perhaps about halfway through the novel before I didn’t want to put it down, and that’s not ideal. I didn’t put Elvan Star down a couple of decades ago when I first read it, but I do wonder if I would have now if I didn’t know that the resolution didn’t stop me those many years ago.
Like the previous novel, the footnotes are still a bit distracting, but for whatever reason, they didn’t feel as intrusive. Perhaps there are fewer of them or perhaps I’ve re-adapted to the convention Weis & Hickman have established. And also like the previous novel, I love the additional worldbuilding and sheet music at the end of the novel that flesh out the magic system, culture, and kept me thinking about this world for some time after I closed its cover.
I can say confidently that if you enjoyed Dragon Wing, you should give Elvan Star a try. In my opinion, Dragon Wing is a better novel overall because of the stronger dramatic reveals, but I know that it picks up again due to my gift of foresight.
Shift Work by Brock Bloodworth, H. Claire Taylor
dark
funny
mysterious
tense
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? It's complicated
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
I love taking a half-step out of my wheelhouse. Historical Fantasy, Alternate History SciFi, SciFi Thrillers, and other mashup genres are a great way to dip your toes into a genre that you wouldn’t normally pick off your bookstore’s bookshelf. So when I began reading Brock Bloodworth and H. Clair Taylor’s Shift Work, a Paranormal/Urban Fantasy Police Procedural novel, I was excited to experience this sort of mashup.
Norman Green is a rookie cop with everything to prove. He is, after all, the only human in the Fang 900s. Filled with werewolves, were-bisons, leprechauns, telepaths, vampires, ghosts, and many other paranormal creatures, Officer Green is at a massive disadvantage as a Kilhaven cop. But he’s determined to win over the respect of his peers, especially his FTO, Officer Valance—a werewolf whose a non-hyperbolic mix of a werewolf, rebel cop, and complete ass. If Green can survive her training and indoctrination—and not shoot anyone in the process—he’ll earn his place on the force.
When describing this novel to my wife, I went with “it’s like an “R” rated Zootopia.” And I meant that in the very best way. It has a similar story, but I would never hand this novel to a child. Full of dark humor and cynical characters, the first entry in the Kilhaven Police series is a comedic masterwork that should card you at the door.
I loved how Bloodworth and Taylor used an alternate version of our world—one full of paranormal creatures that are normalized and fully integrated into society—to perfect comedic effect. And while this novel is part-crime story, it’s only the beginning of a much larger plot. The primary thrust of the novel is the characters and that’s perfectly fine with me. In fact, it’s probably required because it is also comedy.
If you’re interested in reading character-centric paranormal-police procedural mashup and also love dark humor, give Shift Work a read. You’ll love it.
Norman Green is a rookie cop with everything to prove. He is, after all, the only human in the Fang 900s. Filled with werewolves, were-bisons, leprechauns, telepaths, vampires, ghosts, and many other paranormal creatures, Officer Green is at a massive disadvantage as a Kilhaven cop. But he’s determined to win over the respect of his peers, especially his FTO, Officer Valance—a werewolf whose a non-hyperbolic mix of a werewolf, rebel cop, and complete ass. If Green can survive her training and indoctrination—and not shoot anyone in the process—he’ll earn his place on the force.
When describing this novel to my wife, I went with “it’s like an “R” rated Zootopia.” And I meant that in the very best way. It has a similar story, but I would never hand this novel to a child. Full of dark humor and cynical characters, the first entry in the Kilhaven Police series is a comedic masterwork that should card you at the door.
I loved how Bloodworth and Taylor used an alternate version of our world—one full of paranormal creatures that are normalized and fully integrated into society—to perfect comedic effect. And while this novel is part-crime story, it’s only the beginning of a much larger plot. The primary thrust of the novel is the characters and that’s perfectly fine with me. In fact, it’s probably required because it is also comedy.
If you’re interested in reading character-centric paranormal-police procedural mashup and also love dark humor, give Shift Work a read. You’ll love it.
Your Journey to Becoming Unskippable®: (in your business, life & career) by Jim Kukral
informative
inspiring
medium-paced
3.75
Soul of the Fire by Terry Goodkind
adventurous
dark
slow-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
2.5
Richard and Kahlan have survived many challenges that have come their way. They defeated a dark wizard twice, taken on the Sisters of the Dark, and even saved the world from a plague. But their new adventure in Soul of the Fire forces them to fight their next battle without magic altogether.
This was a re-read I was looking forward to because I wanted to compare my experience to so many others. For various reasons, many readers found this novel to be the one they enjoyed the least, but I remember enjoying it more than the previous two installments. Why was that?
My favorite thing about the story was Fitch’s experience. I enjoy stories of disillusionment; I think this one was well-crafted. We see the character slowly come to realize that his world is not at all what he thinks it is, and that new truth is tragic. I also love Ann’s story in this one. While the redemption story she’s involved with isn’t her own, this is again another story type I love and always enjoy. I also enjoy stories with a fair amount of political maneuvering. There was a lot of that here.
But we have to talk about the chicken in the room, starting with the literal chicken. Well, actually it’s not a chicken.
The “chicken monster” is one of the most mocked ideas in the Sword of Truth series. And I get it. It’s a little absurd, and it’s one of those ideas that might be better in a film than in a book. I don’t find it as silly as many people do, but I get it.
Aside from the normal issues that bother me about these books in the first quarter (the crazy amount of repetition to fill in readers just in case they skipped the previous books for some odd reason), the story had a couple of other issues that bothered me in a way it hadn’t before.
I felt as though the antagonists were comically evil at certain points. Their desire for power and certain positions were never explained, so I had a hard time relating to them. I feel as though it was a missed opportunity to make them feel more frightening than they were.
I have no idea how Richard solved the chimes. I don’t understand the magic system of the series enough for that to feel like an accomplishment. Richard just knows things sometimes, and it didn’t feel like he earned this victory. I don’t need to understand a magic system for a story to be enjoyable, but that also means solving magical problems in the way done here doesn’t make for a great climax.
But as the story came to a close, something struck me: this novel isn’t complete.
With the hindsight of having read the series before, I realized that Soul of the Fire is the first half of a longer story that includes the following volume: Faith of the Fallen. On its own, the story makes little sense. The actual story is about Richard’s journey to change the world around him. The chimes were simply a side-quest that was framed as something bigger than it actually was. This whole novel was a very long setup for the following one.
Read together, Soul of the Fire and Faith of the Fallen make more sense, and perhaps it should have been written as one volume. If you were to trim the fat of the repeated backstory and narrative padding and make the chimes take up less space as a side-quest should, this story could have been fit into one installment. Because of this, it has reaffirmed my belief that if you’ve read past the first two books, keep reading through the first six books if you want to feel you’ve got a complete story.
Did I figure out why I enjoyed the story during my original read while others didn’t? I’m not sure, but I have an idea. I think it is easy to ignore what you don’t like if you like something else enough. There are elements about this story that I like, and I ignored everything else because my mind will wave it off. If you’re good at that like I am, this book won’t bother you as much as it bothers other people.
This was a re-read I was looking forward to because I wanted to compare my experience to so many others. For various reasons, many readers found this novel to be the one they enjoyed the least, but I remember enjoying it more than the previous two installments. Why was that?
My favorite thing about the story was Fitch’s experience. I enjoy stories of disillusionment; I think this one was well-crafted. We see the character slowly come to realize that his world is not at all what he thinks it is, and that new truth is tragic. I also love Ann’s story in this one. While the redemption story she’s involved with isn’t her own, this is again another story type I love and always enjoy. I also enjoy stories with a fair amount of political maneuvering. There was a lot of that here.
But we have to talk about the chicken in the room, starting with the literal chicken. Well, actually it’s not a chicken.
The “chicken monster” is one of the most mocked ideas in the Sword of Truth series. And I get it. It’s a little absurd, and it’s one of those ideas that might be better in a film than in a book. I don’t find it as silly as many people do, but I get it.
Aside from the normal issues that bother me about these books in the first quarter (the crazy amount of repetition to fill in readers just in case they skipped the previous books for some odd reason), the story had a couple of other issues that bothered me in a way it hadn’t before.
I felt as though the antagonists were comically evil at certain points. Their desire for power and certain positions were never explained, so I had a hard time relating to them. I feel as though it was a missed opportunity to make them feel more frightening than they were.
I have no idea how Richard solved the chimes. I don’t understand the magic system of the series enough for that to feel like an accomplishment. Richard just knows things sometimes, and it didn’t feel like he earned this victory. I don’t need to understand a magic system for a story to be enjoyable, but that also means solving magical problems in the way done here doesn’t make for a great climax.
But as the story came to a close, something struck me: this novel isn’t complete.
With the hindsight of having read the series before, I realized that Soul of the Fire is the first half of a longer story that includes the following volume: Faith of the Fallen. On its own, the story makes little sense. The actual story is about Richard’s journey to change the world around him. The chimes were simply a side-quest that was framed as something bigger than it actually was. This whole novel was a very long setup for the following one.
Read together, Soul of the Fire and Faith of the Fallen make more sense, and perhaps it should have been written as one volume. If you were to trim the fat of the repeated backstory and narrative padding and make the chimes take up less space as a side-quest should, this story could have been fit into one installment. Because of this, it has reaffirmed my belief that if you’ve read past the first two books, keep reading through the first six books if you want to feel you’ve got a complete story.
Did I figure out why I enjoyed the story during my original read while others didn’t? I’m not sure, but I have an idea. I think it is easy to ignore what you don’t like if you like something else enough. There are elements about this story that I like, and I ignored everything else because my mind will wave it off. If you’re good at that like I am, this book won’t bother you as much as it bothers other people.
Artificial Condition by Martha Wells
adventurous
funny
fast-paced
4.25
Artificial Condition is the second entry in Martha Wells’s Murderbot Diaries series. This well-received, sci-fi story caught my attention some time ago, and after the first novella, I was curious where Wells would take the story. As you can probably tell, I found out.
Murderbot is now set on uncovering the mysteries of its past. It’s not sure how or why, but something went wrong—a malfunction that resulted in the death of many humans—during a job it was tasked with, and Murderbot’s memories aren’t quite intact anymore. After reluctantly teaming up with a transport AI, Murderbot takes on a commission as a disguised human so that it can do its own investigation of the massacre.
The appeal of this story circles around the protagonist itself: Murderbot. Still full of robotic angst, the SecUnit is as much a personality as any human character you’ll find on your bookshelf. I still hold that there’s a certain level of lovable, cute charm to the character despite its mood on the page. Perhaps it’s the extreme relatability I have with the character, or perhaps it’s the juxtaposition of our typical perception of an AI built to kill in modern media versus the anxiety and social reluctance that we so strongly graft onto the modern bookish sensibility.
Wells’s choice to pair Murderbot with ART was fantastic. Seeing two sentient AIs interact helped flesh out the fact that AIs live in a sort of shadow realm—a hidden world where they’re aware of us but we’re not quite aware of what they’re doing.
If you enjoyed All Systems Red, the sequel is an easy suggestion. I’ll probably return to the Murderbot Diaries sooner rather than later.
The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin
adventurous
emotional
hopeful
medium-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? Character
3.5
My time to revisit Earthsea has come, and I had the privilege to read The Farthest Shore by Ursula K. Le Guin this time around. As the original conclusion to her Earthsea world, I was curious how she would wrap up her saga, especially after the detour taken in the second novel.
As wizards across Earthsea are diminishing in power and its people are afflicted with an unexplained forgetting—a sickness that takes away the songs and names of things, even speech itself. A young prince, Arren has sought help from the great Archmage, Sparrowhawk. Together they embark on a journey to uncover the source of the spreading ailment and put an end to its erosion of Earthsea.
Le Guin is a master of the English language. Her ability to shape an image in my mind or evoke a mood or emotion is nearly unparalleled considering the relative narrative distance that the tale takes. Her rich language complements well with her focus on thematic depth. The novel explores the importance of self-imposed limits on power and tackles themes that will likely continue to be relevant for readers when the book was released and into the future as mankind is constantly confronted with an increasingly distant horizon for our potential.
Like the two novels before it, The Farthest Shore continues to build the world of Earthsea. The part that I enjoyed the most was the exploration of the Raft People. Their sea-faring society was interesting and I hadn’t quite seen anything like it before. The time we spent with them was fleeting, but it was wonderful while it lasted.
But, alas, this book left me feeling… adrift. And I’m having a hard time nailing down why. The only thing I can point to is that while the prose was exceptional, the themes excellent, and the world immersive, the relationship between the characters and the development of Arren didn’t resonate with me. Further, because Le Guin’s second installment feels disconnected from the first and third novel, I find myself wondering if there was a better way to conclude the trilogy. Could she have tied both journeys together to create a more complete catharsis?
But I have the privilege of hindsight, and I know that the series did not in fact end here as originally planned. Because of this, I remain open to reading further to discover if what is, in my view, the weakest novel in the series thus far, is only a means to a wondrous end.
If you’re absolutely in love with the first two novels in this series, I’d be hardpressed to say you shouldn’t continue. Many of the same elements are present here, and may very well be satisfactory for you. But if you haven’t enjoyed the first couple of books, then maybe your next adventure lies elsewhere.
SONG RESCUE: THE ESSENTIAL GUIDE TO SAVING YOUR SONGS, BUILDING A BAND, AND NOT BEING A DUMBASS. LESSONS WE'VE LEARNED ALONG THE WAY by Toby Morrell, Devin Shelton
funny
informative
inspiring
fast-paced
4.5
Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson
adventurous
fast-paced
- Plot- or character-driven? A mix
- Strong character development? Yes
- Loveable characters? Yes
- Diverse cast of characters? Yes
4.25
We finally made it! The Stormlight Archive, Book 3.5: Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson. This series basically needs no introduction at this point, so I’m going to go ahead and skip to the meat of this novella.
Dawnshard takes place soon after Oathbringer and focuses on just two characters, Rysn and Lopen. There is a mysterious island where there is said to be an oathgate, but all previous expeditions to the area have ended in the disappearance of the ship’s crew. Fearing that the enemy has captured the island and Oathgate, Navani has sent Rysn and Lopen on a mission to breach the storms and solve the mystery of Akinah island.
Because I haven’t taken the opportunity to re-read any of The Stormlight Archive novels, I often forget who’s who. Rysn is one of those characters. While she has been mentioned at least a few times throughout the series, I remembered nothing about her. There are a lot of mentioned characters and a lot going on in these stories, so having a whole book dedicated to Rysn has ensured that I remember her. Lopen, however, has been one of my favorite characters from the very beginning. Though he is often relegated to comic relief in the series, I appreciated this opportunity to take a closer look at him as an individual.
The plot was a bit more fun than I expected. And I’m inclined to say that perhaps this book is more of a must-read than his previous Stormlight novella, Edgedancer. That novella is fun and definitely worth reading since it adds extra context to Oathbringer and completes a story that was started in Words of Radiance, but Dawnshard’s story feels more like a significant plot point in the series that Sanderson couldn’t find a way to write into the series’s primary novels.
Overall, this story accomplished two things. First, it kept me entertained and was a good way to keep Roshar fresh in my head between Stormlight novels. But it also made me that much more excited to read the fourth book.
I would certainly recommend Dawnshard to anyone who’s enjoying The Stormlight Archive so far. And if you skipped Edgedancer or didn’t like it because of its brevity, I would definitely encourage you to give this one a try because the events feel more significant.