Redwolf's Journal (continued)

I browse on Amazon looking for things to read from time to time. It's unfortunate that I find my recommendations often filled with entire series whether I'm interested or not. Even more frustrating are the "new releases" that are not out yet. Grrr. I'd rather see a broader variety of first books... or at least first book in a series that I haven't read? I my latest pass, I picked up Kingdoms at War (first of the Dragon Gate series, apparently). It was kind of a mixed bag. There are interesting fantasy concepts here. It's a fantasy world where dragons are legend and mage-kings are reality. "Terrene" humans live under this magocracy under fear of mind-reading mages killing them  for stray, treasonous thoughts. Power certainly corrupts, though there is at least one example of a mage-warrior "zidarr" who seems to adhere to austere principles rather than bask in power and decadence. The story largely centers around a mother-son pair of arc...

 Fireborne was... not good. I came across it in bouncing around looking for something to read and I initially thought it was written by an author I was familiar with, but after pausing to wonder why the style was so less appealing, I realized it was someone else entirely, go figure. It's urban fantasy centered on a self-proclaimed sociopath main character. Her powers are sort of Rogue-like - being able to steal the magic of others to use herself, possibly to the point of killing them. It's not so unintentional, but the experience is empowering and reasonably addictive for her and she doesn't really value most people's lives, so there is struggle to avoid using it too much more to avoid trouble than to do the right thing. Ultimately, though, I didn't find the story that engrossing and the focus on flirty "romance" encounters with guys that don't really pay off just put me off the book in general. On the other hand, I picked up Child of a Hidden Sea af...

I'd seen mention of the "Murderbot Diaries" some time back - they seemed to be fairly well-regarded modern scifi. I finally picked up the first one and I can see why.  The story moves pretty well and the shy-yet-compassionate "Murderbot" makes for an interesting protagonist with a certain charm that's particularly relatable to introverts. As an artificial (though apparently able to pass for human without mounted armor) security guard who has hacked its own governor module, it has free will, a fear of discovery, awkwardness around humans, and an appetite for entertainment media. On the one hand, I like the character and seeing interactions with those around it. On the other hand, I noticed I was going through it pretty fast and saw it was only 155 pages. For $4, though, I think that's in the realm of acceptable. What isn't was finding the sequels jump up to $11 for similar length. That doesn't seem right, especially when we're talking digital ...

 Godbound Group communication/expectation issues aside, I still need to figure out what to do with my character. An oddity in the game means you can't level-up without spending Dominion in addition to accumulating XP. Dominion is... a measure of ability to influence the world, I suppose you could say. It makes sense with the game conceit that PCs are growing divinities - they have an ability to shape the world and doing so strengthens them. Spending Dominion to benefit followers or territories seems like the most straightforward and obvious use. But when your character is intended to become a more behind-the-scenes power, things are a little more tricky. Plus, it's far too early at this stage to know who she wants to support - the PCs haven't had much change to distinguish themselves and they really haven't found any territory to claim (save, perhaps, the airship wreck they're exploring, but it would apparently take more than dumping present quantities of Dominion i...

Finally back to a little reading. Border War is the latest in the On Silver Wings series following powered armor-wearing special operative Sorilla Aida, now in the wake of the cold war cessation of hostilities with the alien Alliance. In the previous book, she was investigating a human colony in Alliance space. This one is the same in broad strokes, though this time the colonists have some particularly potent Alliance tech at hand. Not a lot of it, but enough to be dangerous and by the last page the question of who is supplying the insurrectionists remains unanswered as Aida decides she needs to get to the bottom of it, even if that means leaving SOLCOM. So it's a fair enough story in its own right, perhaps the most interesting thread being the mutual hunting of ships in space around the central planet rather than the raiding, sneaking, and fighting that goes on below. But in many ways, it feels transitionary, which action answers to ongoing questions being put off for now. Oh...

Depression: Well, after a little exchange with my doctor, we're trying an increased dosage. So far, no truly dark days or breakdowns and I can pull myself back from negative thoughts a bit easier. I worry, though, that it may also be keeping me a little... hmm... "floaty" comes to mind - less able to focus/commit to doing a thing. That's hard to quantify and confirm, though. Hmm... Reading: I have a few books on my "to read" list, though I find myself reluctant to start in on them. I received The Dragons of Babel along with The Iron Dragon's Daughter, but after reading the latter I'm not sure I want to read the former. Certainly, if it's the same level of aimlessness and depressive squandering of a character and setting, I'm not up to that right now. The latest (final?) book of the Lightbringer series has been available for a while, but I've been hesitant to pick it up. I've generally enjoyed the series and characters, but as i...

What the F- did I just read? In broad terms, it's got some interesting concepts. We have a fae world in which our protagonist human-stolen-as-changeling and several other children are used as forced mechanical labor in the construction of hypertech/magical dragons that seem to serve as a sort of air force. Written in 1993, I actually wonder if that could have influenced a few things in Rym. But the protagonist escapes and settles into a life as a student in this fae world, getting into sex, drugs, magic, and such. There are elements of fate and repetition as she encounters people who are sort of parallel incarnations of former friends, sharing true names and some facets of how they interact with her life. There's talk of a Goddess behind the fae world. There's bits of crossover with the mundane world, as she sees occasional visions of her mother. And the dragon pushes her toward a nihilistic goal that is more its own. But damn it's chaotic. Jane is pulled along t...

So, Nevernight set up an assassin girl out for revenge with unusual shadow powers. Godsgrave upended things somewhat with a few reveals and threads of destiny. Darkdawn ... I'm not sure exactly what to say about it... It continues the story, of course. The divine destiny is expanded upon. The source and natural of those shadow abilities is fully revealed. Relationships are complicated and carry on through. Vengeful battles are had. Good times! There are bits, however, that are kind of "out there" in ways I almost expect out of some anime series these days. We go full-on meta by having the novels themselves showing up in a mystical library of books destroyed and unwritten. And this isn't a throw-away event, either. Several characters are literally brought up to date on things they never were around to see by reading them and make plans based on what they've read. That is simultaneously a fascinating mind bender and a disappointing deus ex machina. Also, the...

Such book timing to go through a book juuust before the sequel is released. But so torturous to have the second one end in a major cliffhanger. Aieee! Skyward had been on my radar for a while simply by virtue of being written by Brandon Sanderson, but I hadn't quite gotten around to it. It sets up a tale of fugitive humans surviving on a debris-shrouded world under constant threat of aliens above. There are a lot of very clear mysteries laid out in that. Archives and knowledge have been lost, but there was obviously a time of greater technology. And the aliens who sortie against the humans are readily shown to be operating by some rules that aren't understood. When an advanced stealth craft is introduce, that raises even more questions. And by the end of the first book, we do get some of the answers. Along the way, the story follows Spensa and friends in working through flight school, naturally against difficult odds. She's a bit angry and impulsive, which colors the ...

Hmm. Another of those books that I read through I sort of want to have enjoyed more than I did. In the end, I feel it's just "okay" and perhaps trying too hard. There are plenty of neat fantasy ideas here, with a war among gods and their avatars in the background as well as the nature of divinities in the setting themselves, various alchemical creations from bombs to "Tallowmen," and dead-eating ghouls and colonies of worms. There's a reasonably interesting cast of characters, though it takes a while for them to all fall into place. I found the technical side of the book to be more off-putting. I think I have a greater tolerance than normal to present-tense writing due to MU* experience, but even so, it rarely feels "right" to me in a novel. Also, the writing style has what feels to me like a "stream of consciousness" quality to it that results in a lot of choppy, partial sentences and such. I feel as though this book would have given...

April Fools Day is pretty weird when you think about it. I'm not sure if it's my own age or society's shifting in general, but everything feels so much more serious these days than I remember in my youth, draining any fun from the day. Alas. There are still plenty of scattered corporate entries across the internet that range in levels of amusement. WoW has its fake patch notes. A number of other games do cutesy pitches for variants. I found the Lego brick finder app entertaining for how awesome it would be to be real. Rainbow Six Siege (which I don't even play) seems to be doing a week of pink pastels and unicorns in game as a "Rainbow is Magic" event. I think the one thing that I saw that I would rate the "best" of the year was Corsair's "Game Launcher Launcher." The delivery in the video was just about right and it's especially timely satire with the Epic Store controversy in the PC gaming community. You probably have to be at l...

I seem to have been on a bit of a tactical scifi kick lately, including the seven books (thusfar) of the On Silver Wings series. From a raw, technical standpoint I have to say the books could use a little more proofreading. I'm guessing these were largely self-published online as an increasing number of books these days seem to be, and there is a little bit of a quality difference there with company published ones, usually. It wasn't so bad to really interfere with anything, but I did notice. The series itself follows a (for the beginning) sergeant Sorilla Aida, part of a Green Beret-descended special operations team for the SolCom. Earth here isn't fully united, but it's less divided than it is in present day, with humanity building starships and using jump technology to expand and colonize several other systems. Implants are heavily used for communications and interfacing with technology. There are some definite scifi leaps there, but there's also an attempt to ...

There's often a point when a series settles into a routine. The Chronicles of Elantra has done that for a while. Kaylin will be compassionate, focus on her powerlessness while fumbling her way to success using the unique powers she does pocess, be subjected to a lot of explanation from others (especially discussions about differing perceptions), and still generally be entertaining. Cast in Oblivion isn't really anything new even as it gets into more of the powers hidden beneath the Barani High Halls. It was a comfortable read, at least. Chasing Graves , on the other hand, had the bonus of being something new. It also kind of annoyed me by the end. It sets forth a world with some loose borrowing of Egyptian mythology and terms that centers heavily on "shades" - dead bound to physical-ish form, usually indentured to the living. There are plenty of rules about it, with a spirit rising after a death in "turmoil" and being bindable via a ritual performed with ...

The latest reading I settled on revolves around the draconian aetherian Raz Arro. The story launches into prophecy about the character and sort of keeps laying that on. We know from that alone that he's fated to meet up with Syrah, the magic-wielding priestess, and accomplish all sorts of things. He's readily presented as nearly larger-than-life, which makes a lot of the threats in the books feel... less threatening. I think overall, I want to say the narrative feels rather blunt . It's the sort of thing I think would have appealed to me more as a teen, when awesomeness was great. As it stands, I don't rate the series as "great," but it's not bad either. There are some moments where characters look into philosophy/world view that edge toward noteworthy, but don't quite make it. While the plot is fairly predictable, I find myself reasonably invested in the main characters, so it's fun enough to read, making it above-average anyway. That's fine...

So, I started with Into the Dark and went through the other five books in the series thus far. After suspending disbelief enough to accept the primary conceit of sailing ship-like interstellar travel, I was able to settle in and enjoy the ride. Things feel a little formulaic/predictable as the series goes on, but Alexis and her adventures remain a solid draw to me. She's deeply principled without being blindingly naive. She also carries the weight of her actions and definitely shows some PTSD signs after the first two or three books. The series has followed her from civilian to officer to privateer and back to a place that leaves some question as to what comes next. It'll almost certainly involve another ship, though, and misfortunes to pull through.

I don't always know why Amazon recommends the things it does, but I guess such is the mystery of modern algorithms. I picked up Into the Dark alongside the last book while looking for cheaper options of "well, maaaaybe this will be decent." I think I'm glad I did. Now, there is a very, very large hurdle to overcome with the book. I really had to take a very deep breath and just suspend disbelief over some fundamental setting elements. You see, the setting involves a many-systemed human space society, but it borrows heavily on the Age of Sail for detail - from the provincial feel of frontier worlds to societal culture and more distinctly in space travel itself. Interstellar travel is conducted by transition to "darkspace" where ships use special sails to travel. The altered physics of that realm itself are there basically to justify starships that are largely sailing ships in form, and it's put forth that this is the most efficient way for things to be ...

I don't know... The elements of a book I'd really enjoy are there, but it feels like Blade and Rose was, perhaps, trying too hard. We have a fantasy world where magic is real, but monsters mostly aren't (at present). Rielle makes a fine lead character - a battle-hardened elemental sorceress with a ton of background baggage. Jon, a mysteriously-discharged paladin (who seem well versed in anti-magical tactics and equipment) offers a fair enough counterpoint and romantic interest. Brennan, an often petty/abusive nobleman secretly cursed with werewolfism sets up the main "love triangle" by being Rielle's betrothed, even if there's a lot of animosity between them. There are a few more major characters, but that's the big core trio. So that's pretty standard, but the book lays it on really thick. The teasing/tension between Rielle and Jon infuses just about every scene for the first half or two thirds of the book. Of course, they're bad about ke...

So, over the weekend I queued up a few audiobook versions of some H.P. Lovecraft stories to listen to. It was rather happenstance that one ended up catching my eye and me reflecting on how all my Mythos knowledge is from secondary sources. The most striking things about the experience were perhaps the most mundane. I found myself thinking about the flowery, archaic language used and how that represents the very different time in which the stories were written. The stories themselves make a strong case for there being things that man is better off not knowing, but many of the elements lack punch in my view. That may be because I've lived on a diet of the fantastical and science fiction, or it may be because the rise of information technologies has made the world feel smaller. I mean, The Doom That Came to Sarnath sort of sets itself up as a tale of how the people of Sarnath messed with ancient non-humans and got punished for it. A vast majority of the story, however, is about how ...

So, following up on The Alchemists of Loom , I read through The Dragons of Nova and The Rebels of Gold . I have to say, the second book has a surprise amount of "character does something that hoses longer-term plans." These are things that make me, as a reader, cringe and want to chide the character for being stupid/impulsive and making things worse. I also have to acknowledge they often end up making the narrative more interesting. That's a point I've considered in roleplaying from time to time - few players will ever allow their characters to make obvious mistakes. I'm not altogether sure if it's something that should be addressed, or how, but I think about it anyway. Arianna becomes a little less the primary protagonist, though she's still critically important to everything that happens. Cvareh is forced along a fairly predictable path. Florence steps out from being more-or-less Arianna's sidekick to become leader of a rebellion. Inter-character ...

Racial/class conflicts in a steampunk-ish world? Adventures of a trio of central characters there? Sure, it sounded interesting enough to give a try - certainly more so than the piles of self-published LitRPG books that seem to like to fill up my Amazon "recommended" lists. Overall, I think it is pretty good and I expect to follow the series, but there are a few details that seem to hold it back from being "great" in my eyes. The world is interesting enough, though feels a little shallow in areas. We have the surface world of Loom occupied by the Fenthri, who seem to be more-or-less gray-skinned humans, who were roughly organized around technical guilds as they built up to steampunk-ish tech levels and reached up into the sky. At which point, they came to the attention of the Dragons, who are strong and magical humanoids (even though dragon-dragons seem to exist in myth, which begs the question in my mind of whether there is a connection). The Dragons impose their...