Lord of a Shattered Land

The once great city of Volanus has fallen. The Dervan Empire has invaded, crushing all resistance and driving its people to extinction or slavery. Their greatest general falling to his death in the sea. Soon, there will be no trace of Volanus left if Derva has anything to say about it. Little did they count on the ghost of Hanuvar, Derva's greatest enemy, to return in order to free his people from slavery.

Thus begins the epic tale of Lord of a Shattered Land by Howard Andrew Jones. For full disclosure, I have been provided with an advanced reading copy by the author for review purposes.

In the realm of fantasy, good sword and sandals stories are few and far between. With the early fantasy genre having been partially defined by works like Conan the Barbarian (and my own childhood by shows like Xena, Mythic Warriors and the film Prince of Egypt to excite my own imagination) this often seems like a terrible oversight! However, with sword and sorcery having many avenues for adventure, the works of Howard Andrew Jones fill a niche that readers will be thankful for! Jones has a distinguished writing career, from writing historic and epic fantasy, work inside Paizo Pathfinder line and was the Managing Editor of Black Gate before it transferred to the digital sphere. When he's not writing tales of suitable drama and action, he is currently the editor for the sword-and-sorcery magazine Tales From the Magician’s Skull

Jones then has quite a lot of skill in weaving together exciting, fast paced, and enthralling tales of heroism alongside short sighted evil. That means that he knows how to wind a series of short stories into a fast paced epic that weaves well together! Lord of a Shattered Land is set more like a TV series, or perhaps an anthology, with episodic content tying into a grander arc that tells us Hanuvar's story. And Hanuvar has many stories to tell!

From his fortunate escape from imprisonment, to his clashes with literal gods, Hanuvar endures a long series of traumas. First through watching the destruction of his home, then through the wrinkles of old age. Heroism is a younger man's game, but he is the only hero remaining to Volanus. Without him, his people will disappear. Through this all, he has only one constant ally, the playwright turned unlikely hero, Antires. The young actor wants to tell Hanuvar's story to the ages, and though the thought amuses the aging hero, he sees the earnestness in the young man and invites him on what Hanuvar believes will be a suicidal mission. Fortunately for Hanuvar, he's Hanuvar, the greatest military mind of a generation!

In each of the stories within, that mind is as much an asset as his sword arm. The way in which Hanuvar reasons out traps, outthinks opponents and gains allies is thrilling to watch. We see this master strategists mind at work, and it's a joy to behold. In the later stages of his life and skill, he has nothing to prove, only a quest to fulfill. Jones portrays this masterfully as the old warrior must confront not just mortal enemies, but monsters and gods who are more powerful than any single human. Too often he comes within spitting distance of death, only to just wriggle out of reach.

Through his journeys he finds many unlikely allies besides Antires. From former Volani warriors to Dervan soldiers unwillingly serving alongside him, Hanuvar makes allies and slays enemies. Jones has an impressive array of foes for Hanuvar to fight past. With a flare for both quiet conversation and intense action, Jones delivers many exciting scenes for the reader to chew on, plotted out cleverly against the greater story of the quest to free the remaining Volani from slavery.

Each story builds on the next progressively, and set as episodic as they are, if you really enjoy one you can simply go back and read it and have a self contained short story to chew on during a coffee break. It makes for good dialogue and small character moments that are compiled against a great backdrop. The more tender moments where we explore Hanuvar's life, his story, and the sheer scale of the loss he has suffered after the Third Volani War are as well told as the scenes of action and adventure. Jones skill as a writer can't be missed here!

Choosing to draw from history, Jones does excellent work in portraying the Dervan Empire - and in a very sword and sandals style epic, no prizes for guessing who they're based off - in excellent detail. From the marching matters of a unit of legionnaires, to the casual pursuits of the Dervan upper class and their backstabbing politics, its a well built and interesting world for Hanuvar to inhabit. Pushing up against that world of course are all manner of magical beasties, from mythic creatures with a taste for human flesh, demons, indifferent gods who seem to regard the lives of all men as playthings, and more benign spirits. The more you read of Hanuvar's backstory, the more impressed you have to be with what he accomplishes, even in comparison to his historical counterpart!

The stories here head towards a genuinely action and horror packed conclusion which tie together some threads from the early stories in a way which is extremely satisfying! Old enemies meet again, and old allies are forced to work together once more under a threat greater than anything even the empire might present! And don't worry, there's no great cliffhanger, we are guaranteed a sequel which is also coming out this year!

Jones has created a fascinating setting, populated by intelligent, witty, honorable, idiotic, evil and outright monstrous characters that can keep a reader entertained for hours! There's plenty of room for rereading, and I think that I've got lots to look forward to from Hanuvar yet! Don't miss out on something the fantasy genre sorely needs more of! Grab your copy on August 1st!

Tress of the Emerald Sea

As part of his record setting kickstarter campaign Brandon Sanderson revealed he had a batch of secret novels he had written and planned to publish across the coming year. The first of these was Tress of the Emerald Sea, a touching and extremely humorous story in answer to the question "What if Buttercup went looking for Wesley rather than assuming he was dead?" as its' genesis. Honestly, it delivers so well in Wit and style that this is easily in my top ten list for one of the best books of 2023.

Some general spoilers and cosmere related information follows!

Once again Sanderson crafts a clever and unique world for the reader. Set on a world where spores rain down from the moons, filling the 'oceans' which are moved through the process of fluidization (air drifting up from deep vents causes the 'ground' to move and behave like a fluid). These are no ordinary spores however! Each possesses different properties, from the merely annoying, to the magical and deadly. It is on the Verdant Sea where Tress lives on The Rock, a small, unprepossessing little island where not much happens, but due to its strategic location no one is allowed to leave.

Against that backdrop the titular Tress leads a largely unexciting life. She washes windows at the Duke's manor, takes care of her parents, and talks with the 'gardener' Charlie, who she conveniently pretends is not the Duke's son and heir.

Tragedy strikes when he must leave the island to find a bride suitable for his station. Instead, he finds himself shipped off to try and bargain with the evil Sorceress of the Midnight Sea and is captured. When the king refuses to ransom him, Tress must set off herself to rescue him. Cue pirates, talking rats, Hoid, and many other highjinks which come to befuddle our poor protagonist!

Told through the voice of Hoid himself, we get a delightful story filled with a more mundane magic than Sanderson usually gives, but one no less exciting. It is cosmere related, so many hints from previous stories and other elements play a great part in bringing the whole world to light. For more cosmere aware fans this one is extremely exciting! I myself was making connections that had me more and more eager for the greater cosmere universe.

We also have a lot of humour, but in Sanderson's signature style, genuine tenderness and acts of redemption. An entire ship of pirates seeking to do penance for their crimes provides for a rich backdrop of characters. Tress gets some great moments with them, and her own personality and attitudes towards not wanting to impose are consistent, filled with growth, and wonderful examples of mercy, humility, and overcoming simply staggering odds.

With the nearly whimsical style that the story is told in the reader is almost led along by Sanderson's prose. You're pulled through the narrative rather than having to do any work to read it! I had difficulty putting it down, and ended up reading the last two thirds of the book in one sitting! I genuinely loved the story and characters, but the work was also visually beautiful. 

Like many of Sanderson's recent releases, his work has come to include art from many artists which brings the story to life. It added to my imagination and also set up some humorous images for the reader (a particular one near the end had me in peals of laughter). It's not just a work of art, but a beautiful rendering of the cosmere itself.

Take some time to inject a little joy and hope into your life, get your hands on a copy and enjoy the ride!

What I Read in 2022

I found that 2022 was a good reading year. Not necessarily as good as 2020 with the new non-fiction and huge re-reads I did, but still a banner year for reading. I re-explored some of my favorite fiction, while also jumping into a pair of exciting new series and exploring a lot of wonderful science fiction! I read 68 books; some pleasurably for the first time and a few pleasurably once again! Here's a brief overview of what caught my attention in 2022!

Starting the year I read the phenomenal non-fiction work Revolution in Rojava which is an accounting of the political revolution which took place in northern Syria during the Syrian Civil War and up to the present. It is an older work (2015) that doesn't take into account many updates, but is still a fantastic look at one of the most revolutionary and democratic experiments in the 21st century in the last place you would expect! 

In the first months of the year I also read Stoic Wisdom by Nancy Sherman, which was an excellent modern reading on the great stoic tradition which I aspire to conform to. I also read Michael Coren's The Rebel Christ which is a must read for modern Christians and a truly compassionate look at the revolutionary message Christ espoused.

As for fiction, well that didn't disappoint! I read the exciting new alternate history The Romanov Rescue and Sarah J. Maas's new installment in the Crescent City series House of Breath and Sky which expanded on that exciting new world. I also continued on with a reread of the Honor Harrington series, which rarely fails to inspire joy in the military science fiction reader. I also sat down and read Cory Doctorow's Walkaway which is a radical story of a new society and some amazingly interesting ideas. One of my big recommends from 2022! A fantasy counterpoint would be A Country of Ghosts by writer and podcaster Margaret Killjoy, which is an equally exciting work for its storytelling and ideas!

Another good read was The Word for the World is Forest by Ursula K. Le Guin, an author I only really got into over the last two years. It, like all of her work, did not disappoint! Really an interesting look into her ideas on violence, pacifism, and the ill effects of colonialism! Very cleverly done, and written at the time of the Vietnam War, which she was of course adamantly opposed to. Interestingly enough, there were comparison's to James Cameron's Avatar film, ones which she amusingly shot down.

One of my big new jumps in 2022 was to get into Ian Douglas's Star Carrier series, where I read the first four books. Expect a full review of that series this year! I was also very lucky to get into David Weber and Timothy Zahn's Manticore Ascendant series which is all the best of Honor Harrington, but without Honor Harrington!

For other fiction, I read Christopher Nutall's Coup D'etat which is a near future thriller and one I sincerely enjoyed. Also, the late, great Eric Flint's alternate history story 1812 Rivers of War which was a work I learned about years ago, and having read, sincerely think it sets the standard for excellent alternate history, but had feared we would never see more! It's sequel was also republished last year, and I'll be reading it this year as well, while sincerely looking forward to more!

In a similar vein to the nonfiction that started the year, I read George Orwell's Homage to Catalonia which, let me just say, if you ever thought Orwell leaned to the right of the political spectrum let his own words in here cheerfully disabuse you! Secondly, a book which paired well with my more utopian reading this year was Joel Wainright and Geoff Mann's Climate Leviathan which took a riveting look at the political theory that may emerge from the looming threat of climate change. Genuinely insightful book on how the world order could respond to this calamitous threat!

Among some of the best fantasy and science fiction I read this year though was Mickey7 by Edward Ashton, which is a short but endlessly funny, inventive and pulsepounding story of the life of a clone worker on a struggling colony and his rough life fitting in with not only his human colleagues, but the dangerous alien life that inhabits that world! Legends and Lattes was just a great low fantasy story that revolves around setting up a coffeeshop for a retiring adventurer, which was oh so fun, and relaxing, to read. There was also Richard Chismar's Chasing the Boogeyman which is a soft horror story where he tells the fictional tale of his hometown serial killer, which as not only a true crime aficionado but also horror reader, loved how he wove the story of his childhood years and home into a truly terrifying/creepy story of an imagined murder spree in the late 80s!

I also finished my reread of the Mistborn Era Two novels just in time for Brandon Sanderson's latest release, The Lost Metal which effectively and heartwarmingly ends the new era on Scadrial. I loved it and I hope all the other Sanderson fans out there enjoyed it too!

However, my big foray into fun reading was in anthologies. The year started with the news that the Expanse series would be releasing all its short fiction in a single collection Memory's Legion which alongside all the previous work, included one last tale from the author which tied up (sort of) a few loose ends and made just as many questions!

The big foray for me though was into some of the amazing anthologies that Baen has released over the years. I started with their recent release Robosoldiers which was a fantastic look at robots, drones, AI and all their myriad uses and abuses on the battlefield. Just a wonderful book.

Next I perused my way through The Founder Effect which is an ambitions project that tracks the founding of Cistercia and the stories of the effort to get the mission off the ground, the trip over, the first colonists and all their myriad struggles, and oh so much more! I sincerely hope there will be more released in that shared universe so I can get my hands on it!

Finally, the most recent release was the horror/scifi anthology Worlds Long Lost by Christopher Ruocchio and Sean Korsgaard who edited the whole compilation. It is, bar none, a collection of some of the best science fiction horror writing ever put together. With stories from old masters and new faces, the anthology was one of the best I read all year! I couldn't put it down, and it gave me some haunting visuals that are still sticking with me! Definitely check this one out! The paperback comes out this year with an all new story from writer/editor Korsgaard which I was priviledged to get a look at and let me tell you you don't want to miss it!

Rounding out the year, I read Origins of the Wheel of Time by Michael Livingston which is a beautiful work by a fan exploring the late Robert Jordan's epic masterpiece. It goes into his notes, what we can glean of his thought process, as well as a long look at all the history and mythology that inspired this modern fantasy epic! If your a Wheel of Time fan check this out!

All in all, a good reading year that I was quite happy with. Here's to a well read 2023!

Age of Ash

An interesting beginning to a new fantasy trilogy. The city of Kithmar is old, has a grand character all its own, and politics and plots that span centuries. When Alys, member of a street gang, runs a pull that goes awry, she sets in motion a series of events which could undo the whole city. 

In a new trilogy Daniel Abraham, of James A. Corey and The Expanse fame, brings us a stunning visual of the city of Kithmar and its environs. From the sprawling palace complex of Green Hill to the gutters of Long Hill. He is taking us on a new journey with thieves, gods and ancient magics. This is an Age of Ash.

The story revolves around Alys and her friend Sammish, two gutter thieves from Longhill. Her older brother Darro is a hired knife who gets in over his head. Wanting to unravel the mystery of her brother's work she begins treading down the same path as Sammish tries to stop her. Though we also see the trials of some of Kithmar's other residents, especially Andomaka who lives mainly in the sprawling Palace Hill complex and the temple of the Daris Brotherhood. The rich and the poor intertwine in some surprising ways, and we do see true compassion from the top for those on the bottom. One outsider who emerges is Saffa, giving us a small glimpse into the magic of this world, and a mother's vendetta.

It is more about thieves and loss than palace intrigue, and it shows us the poorer side of the city and the desperate struggles to eke out a life on the fringes of society. This is quite well done and I could almost breath in the desperate and grinding poverty of the citizens of the city. Sammish having no family to turn to and scraping out a living by running odd errands, doing odd jobs, and of course crime, makes for some heart rending moments as her life is explored. The progressive strain of her relationship with Alys merely adds to this and I was impressed at how these material conditions also effected her emotional journey as well.

Alys began as my favorite character in the book, but her vendetta became almost background to Sammish's mundane struggles. Both characters worked well as foils for one another and their struggles were almost literal mirrors, becoming intertwined almost by accident. They made for some great reading and a very, very suspenseful third act!

Kithmar itself is a character, in a way. Abraham details so much of it so well that you can see yourself walking these streets and getting lost in the alleys or marveling at the homes of the wealthy and the palace. There's a depth to the city that you don't get from a lot of fantasy locations and I'm looking forward to how it gets used as the trilogy expands. The bare bones of a broader mystery and sprawling contest are laid down for us and it will be fascinating to see them built upon.

However, I do think that for all this detail we were sparse on some background details. There are the Hansch and Inlisc peoples who inhabit the city, but beyond some broad cultural differences we don't get much information. There's gods about, but we get little information on who worships what and why. We also never really get a broader sense of the world, or whether the magic is so powerful. It leaves a lot of mysteries, but also slightly unclear stakes overall beyond our main characters. This is made up for by making the stories so personal and the stakes rooted firmly in their struggles, but it does leave many mysteries unexplained.

Told against the sprawling backdrop of Kithmar, which comes to life as a living, breathing, city, it's a tale of friends at odds and gods in the streets. The story shows us a lot of mysteries, but never quite answers them to our satisfaction. I'll certainly be looking to see more of Kithmar in the future.

The Heroes

Three men, one battle, no heroes. Thus is the tagline to another epic story from Joe Abercrombie. In truth, this is about the fourth time I have read my well loved, and much worn, copy of the book. It was in fact the first I ever picked up of his. I effectively went into the world of the First Law blind and came out star struck. As such, there were some contexts I missed the first time, but when I first read (and then reread) the amazing trilogy, I fell in love with this book all over again. Allow me then, to introduce you to the epic three days in the Valley of Orsung as we see The Heroes. 

From goodreads

Picking up roughly nine years after the events of The Last Argument of Kings we see that, once again, the Union and the North are at loggerheads. A disagreement between the southern clans of the North and the new Protector have exploded into open war and so the King of the Union has backed them in their fight. Now for interminable months the two armies have snapped at one another but not yet come to battle. It's time to change all that.

Fighting for the North we have Crunden Craw and his dozen, working in and behind the lines to support the main army's four war chiefs. Slithering among them is the former Prince Calder who claims the North in the name of his slaughtered father Bethod, but so must act like a hostage while dodging assassins. A young lad named Beck decides he wants to see a real battle like his father and leaves home to take part in the war.

For the Union we have the hulking warrior Bremer dan Gorst, formerly the king's First Guard and a warrior without equal in the whole of the Union. Then we have the infamous Corporal Tunney, the longest serving junior officer in His Majesty's army, a lazy standard bearer who does his best to stay out of the way despite his officers meddling. Finally, on the sidelines, Finree dan Brock, now married to the son of the most infamous traitor in the Union, schemes to raise her husband in society and hopefully become a power to be reckoned with in society.

Behind them all though, Bayaz schemes and plots, while the leaders in the North may have some secret agenda of their own.

One thing I have to mention is that the battlefield is just as much a part of the story as the characters. Laid out in loving detail with a map that changes with the battle, you can track the action and see where everyone is in relation to everyone else. A fantastic use of visual work to help the story and I really think it needs to be commended.

The story, as usual for Abercrombie, is a brutal affair. The folly and misery of war is well on display. Men drowning in mud, bad rations, the misery of the wounded, and the stupidity of men and officers can be seen everywhere. That doesn't drown out individual moments of heroism and mercy of course, but they're far outnumbered by the butchery.

It is a well put together story which takes place over a few days on a single field of battle, with intrigues, betrayals and numerous pitfalls for each side. It shows that any great event can make for an engaging story and have plenty of room for betrayal! It is also where he started on his wonderful little vignettes of characters experiencing the events of the battle, from officers on horseback to soldiers going toe to toe with their counterparts, and many of them meet grisly fates indeed! It's a wonderful piece of writing which brings the scope of the battle to life!

Our strong female character in Finree is a wonderful foil to the men, having to scheme and politic rather than stab and batter her way to the top. There's also Calder, a well know coward who will do anything to avoid fighting! They set themselves against seasoned warriors and commanders whose perspectives really livened up the story. My personal favorite was Beck, a lad who has only heard about war in songs. He goes to earn his manhood and finds war much more than he expected. I won't spoil it, but the end of his story is perhaps one of the most tear jerking things I've read, an amazing piece of writing.

As a stand alone in the greater First Law world, its one of Abercrombie's best books in my opinion. He does some phenomenal work with this one little piece of land and makes you feel the blood and mud spilled for it. It is an amazing war story and an altogether phenomenal work of grim fantasy fiction. It sits proudly on my shelves as one of my favorite novels! Definitely pick this one up!

The Wisdom of Crowds

Finally, the Age of Madness comes to an end! With civil war, revolution and bloody cunning, the world of the First Law is finally brought into a new era with The Wisdom of Crowds.

From the First Law wiki

Picking up almost immediately after the events of The Trouble With Peace we return to the Union in the aftermath of the pulse pounding events of the recent civil discord, only to find more civil discord awaits! King Orso has arrived home expecting his subjects to fete him as a hero, instead he finds a sullen population who seem to hate him more than ever. From political favorite to disgraced traitor, Leo dan Brock doesn't know whether he can expect execution or imprisonment. His wife, Savine dan Brock nee Glokta, is in much the same straights, waiting for the fates of her children to be decided.

In the far north Rikke of the Long Eye must now match wits with the cunning Black Calder, all while having to depend on the loyalty of the most disloyal man in the North, Jonas Clover.

Once again Abercrombie brings his dark and humorous take on the world to the fore, and he does it in a few surprising ways. Some uplifting, others very potently disturbing. There are revolutions, battles, and terrifying leaps of faith. Here we explore the darker side of national mass movements, and see a few familiar notes from history, and with some familiar sinister characters from the events of A Little Hatred.

In truth, much as I love Abercrombie, I came away both awed and a little disappointed by this book. It is still a stellar read which ties all the characters together, and explores the power of shared trauma and deadly political intrigue, but it seems to set up more subtle hints for the future than it does resolve major issues for the here trilogy as a whole. I did appreciate though, how well the characters grew and changed, and just how downright ruthless many of their actions became. It made for an amazing reversal of where so many started, and a very tragic end for some.

That being said, the reveals for the overarching mystery of this trilogy were amazing, and some of the final scenes left me slack jawed in how powerfully they were written! The twists must be read to be believed! It also gave a rather terrifying vision for the future of this story, and one I sincerely hope is eventually investigated!

A solid ending to a good trilogy. 

First Thoughts on Amazon's The Wheel of Time

I am a huge fan of Robert Jordan (and eventually Brandon Sanderson's) amazing Wheel of Time series. It is a series which, consciously or unconsciously, much of modern fantasy owes some homage to. It has everything one might want, prophecy, madness, war, amazing magic, battle scenes, and a plot which can propel you through fourteen books and get you misty eyed at the end. Truthfully, I loved pretty much every minute I spend in the world Robert Jordan created, and I thank him for much of the work he did which inspired other authors. Now, however, Amazon has sought to bring his work to the small (very small) screen in their multi-million dollar adaptation of his series.

Does it do anything for readers or watchers? Let me offer my initial thoughts. I have, so far, only watched the first two episodes, which is what I will be basing my thoughts on. SPOILERS BELOW

Game of Thrones: Retrospective

Ten years ago, Game of Thrones burst into the television scene and rammed itself into the collective psyche of millions the world over. It was common for people to talk more about the politics of Westeros than the politics of their respective countries for a while! Almost overnight, the show leapt to meteoric heights, praised as "The Sopranos in Middle Earth" and having a talented cast of dedicated actors who worked their way through some of the most intensive scenes we've seen on television.

For all that though, not many people talk about Game of Thrones today.

Unlike say, The Sopranos or The Wire, or even other big name science fiction and fantasy shows like Merlin or Stargate and Battlestar Galactica; you don't see many people sharing memes about the show, it isn't often referenced in contemporary discourse, and often times people seem to act as though it didn't even exist. Where once you couldn't scroll through reddit, Tumblr, Facebook or Twitter without seeing something related to that series, now you only find it on dedicated fan sites and amongst people who still care about the (as of 2021) unfinished series.

Why that is, is hard to explain. For one thing, the show has possibly the most divisive ending in television history. From some who praised it, to millions of fans who were so pissed off they petitioned to have the ending re-filmed. In fact, the show seems to have ended on such a bad note that people who were fans seem to be almost unwilling to talk about having ever liked it in the first place. Hyperbole sure, but I certainly don't run across many people who I know loved the show who say they're going to re-watch it any time soon.

What I Read in 2020

The year 2020 was a long, long year for me. Quite honestly it almost feels like the period between January and March was one year, between March and June was another and then June to September, and finally October to January. So, I feel like I've been through four years when its been just one. Thankfully though, I read a lot in the four years of 2020!

I managed to read 72 books and 34,204 pages between them. I'm not sure if that's a record for me or not, but it certainly outpaced what I read last year. I had actually planned 2020 as a fresh start in a new decade, especially for reading. I had started the year with the goal of doing a massive re-read of my favorite book series for the year. I had dedicated myself to re-reading a lot of my old favorites to see if they stood up, and then to maybe, maybe downsizing my collection. I mostly expanded it though. In the course of my re-read I went back to a few of my old favorites, The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress, Leviathan Wakes, Jennifer Government, and then branching into some of my favorite fantasy series. A re-read of Joe Abercrombie's amazing First Law series, then re-reading all of the Stormlight Archive so far in anticipation of the release of Rhythm of War this year. Finally I re-read, perhaps the perfect trilogy in the first three books of A Song of Ice and Fire. Though I had to put off my combined reading of A Feast for Crows and A Dance With Dragons until 2021.

On the whole, the re-read was highly successful. I didn't get to all of what I wanted, but I managed to read a lot of new books too.

Normally my year has pretty bog-standard reading. Fantasy, science fiction, and the occasional mystery, historical fiction or alternate history. This year however, I was committed to reading more on social issues, some on political issues, and generally more books by authors I had not yet read, but especially by women and people of color. 

A small cross section of what I read!

One of the first books I branched out on and took a chance with was The Secret History by Donna Tart. It's a novel set in the 1980s in Vermont at Hampden College. Young Richard Papen leaves his home in California to study Ancient Greek, and while there he meets an eccentric group of wealthy students partake in an almost cultish devotion to the art. From there, dark things transpire and poor Richard is thrown into a world well beyond his understanding. It's honestly one of the most fascinating and frustratingly good books I've read in years. Well recommended!

Something more in my usual wheelhouse that I read for the first time was 2312 by Kim Stanley Robinson. Originally written in 2012, it was the authors attempt to reach 300 years in the future and grapple with what humanity might look like. It tells a compelling story of love, loss, and a humanity startlingly distinct, yet also depressingly still similar to our own 21st century selves. It's an old planetary romance novel in the style of recent reads. A solid piece of science fiction literature!

A non-fiction book I distinctly enjoyed was The Global Crisis by Geoffrey Parker. It's a fascinating look at war, religion and climate change in the 17th century. It supposes an idea of a "general crisis" taking place across the globe brought about by previous socioeconomic conditions, religious awakenings and social upheaval, but most of all, by climate change. The 17th Century was a genuine era of emergency, encompassing the whole world with events like the Thirty Years War in Europe, the collapse of Ming China, the near extinction of the Virginia Colony, the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate, and the Puebla Revolt. It was referred to by some as the "Age of Iron" due to there being a genuine sense of global calamity. It's a very academic work (and I read the abridged version!) but it is chock full of information, research and first hand accounts of the people of the era. It established to me that this was one of the most fascinating periods in human history. 

In other realms of non-fiction, I also read The Sport and Prey of Capitalists by Linda McQuaig. It's a very short, but spectacularly enlightening read. It details the history of public ownership of utilities and natural resources in Canada, while also detailing long campaigns of poor deals and mismanagement by private entities. It compares and contrasts the systems here with those of other countries. There's notes on missed opportunities and possibilities for how we can make our own institutions better.

A book which acted as a real eye opener for me was Why Women Have Better Sex Under Socialism by Kristen R. Ghodsee. From showing how many early socialists were women, to the egalitarian thinking of other socialists and socialist writers, it also highlights how modern liberal democracy, and capitalism in particular, has made women less free and arguably less equal as well. It's a spectacular examination of how in Eastern Bloc nations, there was a long history of, at the very least, pandering to women's rights, establishing job and childcare opportunities to make something of a more level playing field among men and women, and makes a compelling argument that had the Eastern Bloc not adopted such policies, there would have been little impetus for Western nations to adopt them as well. Far from cheerleading for the East Bloc however, it rightly points out their flaws and failings, while also arguing that the ideas behind socialism could do a lot for our economic lives, and even our love lives.

I think the most shocking, if not the most radical book I read in 2020 though was The Uninhabitable Earth: Life After Warming by David Wallace-Wells. It fleshes out what he wrote in a 2017 article, and runs the range of possible global outcomes across various levels of warming. He points out that with rising temperatures - and they will rise, it's only a matter of by how much - there's a gambit of problems which will impact across multiples spheres. Mass extinctions, spreading disease, rising sea levels, frequent natural disasters and increased risk of internal and external conflict between peoples. It's a grim read, but with a hopeful message. It pairs really well with another novel I read this year, The Ministry For the Future. Both are somewhat shocking examinations of the potential ramifications of climate change, and frankly, I would advertise them as must reads.

On a more fictional note, I also read Mexican Gothic by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I've done a longer review for this one, but in brief; it takes the usual horror of Gothic fiction and transplants it to the highlands of Mexico. The story has everything you love from Gothic literature, creepy old houses, a reclusive family, and a very deep and disturbing mystery.

Another author who I was very fortunate to run into again was Max Brooks. I was able to re-read his cult classic World War Z, and his new, unique work Devolution. It was amusing to discover this year as well that the one movie monster my dad has a fear of is bigfoot. I got more than a little mileage out of this book by describing it to him. A fun and very unique take on the monster horror style, I definitely recommend this to horror buffs everywhere!

I also caught up with Brandon Sanderson's works by reading Rhythm of War. This is the latest work in the Stormlight Archive and a very well done piece. It defies a lot of your expectations and takes you deeper into the world of Roshar and his fictional cosmere as a whole.

Finally, one of the best novels I read this year was The Parable of the Sower. In my bid to expand beyond works I'd already read, I tried to find works recommend by others. This novel by Octavia Butler was highly recommended in many different circles and by many different authors. I dove in to this world in our near future and found myself entranced. It was a phenomenal read and one which I have to recommend to anyone who loves science fiction. Tracking down the sequel is one of my main reading goals for 2021, along with the rest of my reading list.

Of course, I did read 72 books this year, so I had a lot to choose from to celebrate. These books specifically though, were easily in the top ten of what I read among the re-reads to start the decade. I managed to reconnect with old favorites, while finding lots of new work which I could enjoy! I'm happy for what I accomplished this year, and I'm hoping I can read more next year!

Rhythm of War

I've really returned to the world of Roshar in my 2020 re-read, so much so that I practically feel like I was living there in the latter half of the year! So with the release of Rhythm of War this year I was very excited to climb back in to this fascinating planet with its great story and fascinating peoples! 

There are, of course, SPOILERS for the events of the three preceding novels. You can find my reviews for those here, here, and here if you want to dip your toes in the water, but otherwise, proceed at your own risk!

The story picks up roughly a year after the events of Oathbringer. The Everstorm ravages the land, the Voidbringers and their singer allies have taken much of the world. Dalinar, his reforged Knights Radiant and their coalition of allied monarchs fight tooth and nail to reclaim as much of the world as they possibly can, but the war drags on. The reforged Radiants battle the emerhing forces of the Fused, the favorites of Odium, and Kaladin Stormblessed finds himself unable to keep up with the fighting. Shallan Davar meanwhile, works to keep her order of Lightweavers alive to fight another day, but without the help of more spren, will find herself succumbing to the many facets of her personality. Adolin Kholin, her husband, also struggles in a world where demigods soar through the skies and he is merely the most competent swordsman with no powers of his own. Meanwhile, Navani Kholin, husband to Dalinar, must try and run his small kingdom in the lost city of Urithiru, trying to unlock its secrets. Finally, the former listener scholar Venli attempts to keep her head down as Odium uses her people as disposable pawns, and potentially, find a way to fight back.

Rhythm appropriately starts off showcasing how this war has displaced so many. Long lines of refugees flooding into Kaladin's occupied hometown. It is, in my opinion, a very effecting way of showcasing the horrors of war and the toll it takes on nations, communities, and individuals. The fighting in the opening is fantastic, the characterization is superb, and the opening section here is probably one of the best Sanderson has written. I was immediately sucked in to what was happening, felt a real raising of the tensions and the stakes, and could tell you what had happened and what was going on. It reminded me a lot of the opening of The Hero of Ages for getting you situated in this world again, and keeping the story fresh and fast.

Kaladin's arc this book leads him down the path of someone suffering from "battle shock" or PTSD. It is done well, alongside handling his lingering issues with depression and anxiety to a really realistic level where he tries to fight through the pain and overcome his own feelings of worthlessness. Shallan meanwhile is attempting to fight past her three different personalities which cover up a multitude of sins, while keeping a nebulous fourth personality from emerging and taking her over.

The three most compelling arcs though, IMO were those of Venli, Navani, and Adolin. While we had some very solid movement on our three mains like Kaladin, Shallan and Dalinar, we've only gotten some time in the last three books with each of these characters, and of those Adolin took up the most space. Venli only came into her own in Oathbringer, and Navani has been more in the background of these books. Adolin was always in the forefront, but this book was truly his chance to shine. Though, unfortunately, his and Shallan's plots were relegated to the background for much of the book.

First I'm going to outline a spoiler free part before leaving more below.

The first half of the novel, after Part I is a little slow and had some events that felt rushed or overlooking certain outcomes at the end of Oathbringer, but it made for a workable opening. Kaladin's arc seemed to bog down in the middle, not because it was boring IMO, but because there just wasn't enough real material to work with. I felt you could have truncated his story in this book considerably and not really lost anything.

Meanwhile, Adolin and Shallan's stories in this book were almost completely overlooked. There was still progress and work done on them, but it felt like we had to wait forever to get through much less interesting storylines to see it, and an inordinate amount seemed to get wrapped up at the very end of the story. Adolin trying to move out from the shadow of both his Radiant wife and almost demigod father is still very fascinating. Add that to his relationship with his sword, and I think we had a much greater potential for a powerful story here.

This story though, is far more that of Navani, Venli, and Kaladin. For all that Navani and Venli are given the center stage though, I can't really say much about Venli's story. Her story seems to be much slower because, unlike the last three books, she doesn't have interludes begin which bring her to the center stage until almost a third of the way into the books. That means the looks back on her past and her build up as a character drag excessively compared to the detail put into building up Navani and Kaladin.

Navani's story is excellent however. I liked her on page presence and her struggles as a leader and someone who felt imposter syndrome as she led, but did not consider herself, a scholar. This is well reinforced in the prologue by showing off her strained relationship with her former husband Gavilar. That she has to struggle first as a leader, a scholar, and then a war leader, makes her go through many mental stresses and deal repeatedly with the cost of failure. I like her growth, and the revelations and ultimate build up for her ending were very satisfactory and made me very much enjoy building her into a main cast member in her own right.

The first to middle sections of the story though, did drag somewhat, and I did find myself not breathlessly racing through them in the same way I did in Oathbringer which I found myself doing in my original read-through of that book's Kholinar arc. The finale though, really brought the whole book together in ways that I genuinely appreciated, and I had to put the book down to dry my tears for a few moments with some characters. The send off for Eshonai was, IMO, one of the most touching moments in the book. 

Upon my first re-read, I do think that Oathbringer is actually a stronger novel than Rhythm of War simply because there was more action in that book than this one. Much was thrust on the shoulders of almost too many characters for really good build up for each of them. That being said, of the three main characters who had the greatest build up, Kaladin, Navani and Venli had some of the best work done, and poor Adolin and Shallan were somewhat left out till the end. That said, they still got excellent characterization and great moments of triumph as they found their way through this plot.

My only real criticism of this book might be that here, beyond any doubt, we get to the point of a continuity lock-out. If you haven't read all the cosmere material up to this point, you probably won't understand the implications of Shallan's plot. Many scenes won't make sense, and much of the Ghostblood's plot will seem completely unrelated to the main characters on Roshar. Casual readers will, probably be put off by this, which makes me think that beyond this book the Stormlight Archive will be primarily for fans of the cosmere.

At the end of it all though, I still enjoyed this book, and really hope that upon re-reading I'll pick up on more that I've missed and can say that this was, once again, a well done piece by Brandon Sanderson! Still, for a book that delves into not just the physical wounds, but the mental pain and anguish that can hold people back, I think this is a wonderful series to read!

Major SPOILERS below the cut!

Fantastic Cooking in the Cosmere

Recently, in a nerdy kick, I decided I would try some fantasy cooking. Now I'm not saying I cooked with dragon eggs and added a pinch of dwarven mead for flavor, no, I used very real world ingredients to cook some very out there recipes. Welcome to my first adventure in cooking with weird recipes from fantastic places!

A real shout out to Deanna Whitney who put together the inspiration for these recipes on Tor.com and who has done quite a lot of work to make these things right. I took inspiration, if not the whole recipe, from Whitney in compiling my own two meals. Mostly to a rousing success! Let's unpack how this went!

Now as a disclaimer, I'm not really a cooking writer, so I'll be giving what I worked on, some of the recipes, and linking to the articles with preparation instruction. This is just my unpacking of how this experience went.

The two recipes I tried were from the world of Roshar in Brandon Sanderson's cosmere. If you've read my reviews of the Stormlight Archive books so far, you'll see this is a world very unlike our own. It's one which, very much, requires a bit of experimentation to get things cooking just right. Roshar has a distinct lack of anything like cows, so all the dairy is either goat or pig, and chickens come in varying shapes and sizes. That makes for some interesting cuisine, and since many meat bearing creatures are more akin to shellfish than our own meat bearing animals, you have some fun designs.

For my first recipe I decided to cook a variant of Alethi "men's food" which is different from "women's food" for cultural reasons. Men's food is spicy, while women's food is sweet. I prepared myself a dish of shellfish chickpea curry, which went quite well in concept and execution!

The basic recipe as laid out by Whitney can be found here for both the curry I used and cooking the shrimp. For the curry, I did a few changes and I used coconut milk.

Whitney's recipe is laid out with these ingredients:

• 2 cups basic curry
• ½ cup milk (I used goat)
• 2 teaspoons of garam masala (to taste)
• 1 teaspoon of chilli powder (to taste)
• 1 teaspoon turmeric
• 1 teaspoon+ of kosher salt (to taste)
• 15 oz can of chickpeas: pre-cooked, drained, and rinsed
• 4 oz of spinach 
• 1 teaspoon of cooking oil

Chickpea curry slow simmering

I managed to get these all together in the pan quite nicely while I marinated the shrimp according to the stated recipe. Her ingredients for a marinade were as such:

• 1 pound jumbo shrimp, cleaned and deveined
• 1 cup water
• 6 cloves of garlic OR 2 tablespoon of ginger-garlic paste
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ¼ cup lime juice
• 1 tablespoon oil
• ¼ teaspoon pepper
• 1 cup of coconut milk
• 2 tablespoons of stock (I used chicken)
• ¼ cup of toasted coconut

Then for the shrimp I roughly followed Whitney's guide to the recipe and it turned out quite well. I think I had more food waste than intended with the marinade, but overall, it was an excellent recipe! For this recipe I had to forgo using the toasted coconut, and I used pre-minced garlic for my own which saved quite a bit of time and allowed me to set the marinade up very quickly.

Both of these went off, relatively, without a hitch otherwise. I managed to make myself a tasty snack with many leftovers for work the next day! The recipe came together as a very satisfying pair.

A light snack for reading!

Next I decided to try chouta. I will admit, that of all the foods that have fascinated me in the cosmere, chouta is the one I have most wanted to try and was what I had originally set out to cook. It was the recipe though which did not turn out quite as intended.

The recipe can be found here and it is well worth checking out. The way Whitney prepared her recipe involved making your wrap and meatballs from scratch. I got tortillas from the mall personally, and simply used chopped onion, rice, hummus and feta cheese for the base of the wrap to keep everything nice and stuck together.

My difficulties began when I decided to use store bought chicken meatballs (no beef on Roshar!) and pan fried them. It was a, less than satisfactory outcome. Doing that I moved on to cooking the sauce. Since I have not cooked my own sauce before rather than making something from a can, this from scratch sauce was way too thin, more of a liquid really, rather than very thick. Despite my very amateurish efforts to thicken, it never did reach the consistency I sought so I remedied this by adding the meatballs and cooking them together.

The sauce ingredients are laid out as such:

• 2 tablespoons butter
• 2 tablespoons flour (I used cassava)
• 2 cups broth (I used chicken)
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• ¼ to 1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper (to taste)
• ¼ teaspoon curry powder
• ¼ teaspoon turmeric
• ¼ teaspoon coriander
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ⅛ teaspoon black pepper

The sauce was way too liquid like

I also forwent directions on cooking the bread, using my store bought tortillas to save the time. I wanted to try a thicker wrap, so I put two together. It was a bit of a stretch, but it took. To fill the wrap I used hummus, rice and chopped onions and feta cheese. It was a very tasty filling. So filling I could only eat two in one sitting! In the end, I ended up savoring them alongside a glass of yellow (white) wine with my dinner!

When I make this again I feel like I will be well served by practicing with making a sauce. I would also want to try making my own meatballs were I to do it again, and I would definitely stick to only using one tortilla. Even were I to fry the bread, one tortilla maximum. What would also be interesting is to work on my wrap style, making make it more "one handed" to work with. 

My first foray into chouta, mildly successful!

On the plus side, I had plenty of sauce, meatballs and rice leftover for a tasty meal at work the next day!

Meatballs, sauce, and rice.

This has been my first foray into fantasy cooking, but rest assured, you can't stop me from trying again!

Oathbringer

Picking up only a few days after the climactic end of Words of Radiance the third book in the Stormlight Archive explores a world where a new cataclysm has come! The Everstorm comes, and the Voidbringers threaten to return! Can the Knights Radiant turn the world towards facing the threat, or will they all be swept away by a new storm about to break upon Roshar? Find out in Oathbringer!

SPOILERS for Way of Kings and Words of Radiance to follow. Read on at your own risk!

A paperback which owes me nothing

The ancient city of Urithiru has been rediscovered. Ancient citadel of the Knights Radiant, it has been occupied by the Alethi highprinces, and Dalinar Kholin's small group of Knights. But, the ancient enemy, Odium, and his Voidbringers come, the Desolation is upon Roshar!

Oathbringer is one of the strongest openings in Sanderson's works outside of The Hero of Ages. It also, nicely, and subtly, twists the expectations of the apocalypse you have, and grinds them against one another. Everything I expected in this book was actually turned on its head, and the one true constant of the cosmere kept coming back to me; there's always another secret.

In this third installment, we explore more of the Knights Radiant, their founding and disbandment at Aharietiam, and the conflict between gods which has been brewing in the background on Roshar for millennia. Major questions brought up in the first two volumes are answered, but even further questions are raised. The issues of old legends being true, and others being false, are brought to the fore again, and we even have to wonder whether we can trust the sanity and perceptions of some of our main characters! 

Similar to how the previous two books explored the issues facing Kaladin and Shallan, this book is Dalinar's. We see the history of Dalinar, the Blackthorn, feared but respected general of Alethkar, the blade in the hand of the unifying king Gavilar Kholin, and the power behind the throne of the kingdom. His youth spent drenched in blood to win a kingdom, his attempts at being a father, and his systematic deconstruction of himself to try and become a better man after his brother's death, are all explored in depth. His story is very well handled, and leads to important revelations in the present which threaten to derail the struggle of the good guys completely!

Meanwhile, Kaladin and Shallan continue to battle their own inner demons. Kaladin, who fights to protect the world, makes some disturbing revelations about his simple look at war, while Shallan grapples with her own identity and fragmenting it into many different shapes in order to be the woman she needs to be. This will affect them in different ways, whether they can advance on their path to being Radiants, and refound their orders to, hopefully, save the world.

We also go a bit deeper into the other characters from the Kholin family. Adolin, Navani, and Jasnah Kholin are all explored more in depth, given much to do, and given more depth and character exploration. Adolin may even be on his way to becoming a Radiant! Jasnah however, is my current favorite side character, one who I hope is given much, much more exploration in the series as a view point character.

Two new characters, Szeth, the Assassin in White, and Venli, one of the Parshendi who fought to survive, are also brought more into the forefront. These characters aren't new, since we've seen them in each previous installment, but it will be very interesting to see where we go with them. 

As mentioned above, the story itself does what Sanderson does extremely well, and he twists your expectations almost completely. What I personally expected after the end of Words of Radiance fell short as things never did quite go the way I predicted. This was, occasionally, extremely frustrating, for reasons I can't quite outline for spoiler specific purposes, but also in many ways satisfying. The work Sanderson put into expounding on the characters rising to new heights and overcoming both the fantastic, and the mundane obstacles in their paths were extremely well executed. It's a story where characters battle their own selves just as much as external obstacles, and it is so empowering for that.

In a non-spoiler ending to this review, I do want to highlight that if you're expecting the End Times of the Apocalypse as normal, you'll be delightfully disappointed! TEOTWAKI might be upon us, but it is spectacularly so! On my first reading of this story, I was actually severely disappointed with it. I found it dragged in places, and I wasn't quite satisfied with the conclusion. On second reading though, there;s hidden depths, other stories I love, and even things I feel speak to my own inner demons. The story is fraught with twists and turns, lots of highs and spectacular lows for our characters, and some really phenomenal action scenes and sequences involving the gods themselves! 

Below the cut here are some spoilers I want to include in my review, as I want to talk about them, but don't want to spoil the book for those who haven't caught up yet. Journey before destination.

By Isaac Stewart

Words of Radiance

The second book in the Stormlight Archive, Words of Radiance, was released in 2014 and I eagerly got my hands on a copy. Now for the 2020 re-read, I've eagerly jumped back in! Re-reading the book for the second time I discovered many things I had forgotten, and got some of the most intense action sequences Brandon Sanderson has ever put to paper!

Mild spoilers for Way of Kings follow.

My original copy which owes me nothing!

Words of Radiance picks up just a few weeks after the conclusion of Way of Kings with all the strides made by our characters from that book. The Alethi warcamps on the Shattered Plains continue to struggle against the Parshendi, but meanwhile Shallan, ward of Jasnah Kholin, is travelling to meet with the Alethi royalty to reveal potentially dangerous secrets about the ancient Voidbringers which could turn the whole world on its head.

In the warcamps, Kaladin Stormblessed struggles to protect Highprince Dalinar Kholin and his nephew, King Elhokar from the infamous Assassin in White and schemes from within their own armies as betrayal and intrigue stalk the supposedly allied highprinces. In the rest of Roshar, chaos rocks the world as kings die, spren begin acting strangley, and people fear that the Knights Radiant have returned. For if the Radiants have returned, so too must the ancient and cataclysmic Desolations.

This story is, while just as much of a door stopper as Way of Kings a bit tighter in its focus. The vast majority of the story takes place on the Shattered Plains so it is all very geographically centered on this spot. The main characters are all interacting in various ways, and numerous new plots and counter plots are unfolding. 

One of the most interesting aspects of this story is that we get a good look at the other side of the war on the Plains. Throughout Way of Kings the Parshendi were enigmas, we only saw them as enemies being confronted by the Alethi, and they were directly responsible for not a few deaths of those that Kaladin and Dalinar were trying to save. It made them foes only to be confronted. Now we have a character, Eshonai, who shows the war from their perspective. Tantalizingly though, we still get some mystery as to how the war started and why Eshonai has made some of the choices she has. In her chapters though, we do see how her people are becoming desperate and being driven to the edge. Hard, perhaps unthinkable, choices must be made.

Meanwhile, Dalinar Kholin is still trying to mold the fractious Alethi highprinces into something resembling a coherent whole. They still balk at his authority, scheme against him, and after the great betrayal by his old friend and ally Sadeas, he doesn't know who he can trust. His guard is now led by Kaladin Stormblessed who must struggle with the burdens of command and the need to try and master his new and mysterious powers. 

Shallan Davar meanwhile, must make her own way to the warcamps, and uncover the mysteries of the Voidbringers and the lost city of Urithiru. In doing so she finds that one constant of the cosmere remains true, there's always another secret.

This book is really Shallan's book. Like the first book, which had Kaladin's backstory play out, this one shows us flashbacks from Shallan's childhood and her early life. We learn of her struggles growing up, the mystery of her mother's death, and why she and her brothers have always lived in fear of her father. The way this illuminates much of her character, and character growth, in this story is very well done. Shallan grows in leaps and bounds over the course of the story, and I think this further makes her one of my favorite characters in the whole series!

Of course, that's not to say our other leads, Dalinar and Kaladin, don't grow more too. Dalinar has to learn many hard lessons about principles and politics, while trying to match wits against those who don't share his politics or his scruples. Kaladin meanwhile, after so much abuse from men who are supposedly good men and his superiors, must learn to trust. While he respects Dalinar, he feuds with Dalinar's son Adolin, and mistrusts every lighteyes he meets. This leads to an interesting dynamic with Shallan early on.

With all the main characters concentrated in one location, this story lets Sanderson shine in his writing. Most of his tales have always had the action happening at one place, and I think that the plot he writes here is very much better for it. Most importantly, he allows the characters to all interact and grow in natural ways which will be very important for their relationships in Oathbringer.

It also delves deeper into the lore of the magics (investiture for those cosmere aware) on Roshar. It's what makes the world tick, how all the spren relate to one another and how those blessed with the powers granted by the gods can shape and use their powers. With the characters in one spot, and for the moment, pursuing broadly similar goals, it allows everyone to put their thoughts to figuring all this out in order to both win the war and to prevent the Desolations. That in particular, is one of the greatest strenghts on display here, as Sanderson is able to really bring our attention to the lore and magic in a narratively necessary way while also highlighting how wonderfully alien the world of Roshar is.

It is also a fantasy world that doesn't rely on those traditional fantasy races we all know. There's no dwarves, no elves, and no orcs. The Parshendi can't be counted as orcs as they're very, very different, and almost like aliens. The Iriali are vaguely human, then there's creatures much, much stranger. You really do have to read it to see it!

Of course, this all comes together in a very satisfying climax as the war, the political scheming, and all the study we've seen in both this book and the previous installment. It showcases a lot of Sanderson's strengths, with his avalanche of intrigue and storytelling among the humans and the Parshendi paying off at the end. It's both epic, and really suitably tragic. Kaladin's story arc here is perhaps one of the most important as, while this is Shallan's book, Kaladin has done some of the most growing as a person.

Words of Radiance is an excellent sequel and, so far, definitely the second best work in the Stormlight Archive overall. Its' got all of Sanderson's strengths and really lets him run wild with the world he has created. It sets us up for the next installment quite nicely, and really gives us a lot to appreciate, and ask ourselves, for what comes next on Roshar.

The Trouble With Peace

Having once again fallen into chaos, the Circle of the World returns to the Age of Madness as though the wars have been won for now, Joe Abercrombie shows us that an absence of conflict can be as much of a problem itself. This is indeed The Trouble With Peace.

Picking up almost directly after the end of A Little Hatred we once again join our new cast of characters in the world of the First Law. Leo dan Brock is basking in the victories he has achieved in the last novel, Savine dan Glokta is alternating between her life collapsing around her and making something of herself, Prince Orso is finding terrifying new responsibilities while feeling stuck in a moribund power structure, Rikke struggles with the Long Eye, Broad doesn't know whether he is a man of peace or war, Vick struggles with her role in the Union, and Clover is trying to stay alive beneath the capricious and violent shadow of Stour Nightfall. 

From goodreads.com

I admit to not quite knowing what to think going into this book. It raised the stakes in a way I hadn't seen used by Abercrombie before. He wasn't giving us any indication of an imminent war at the end of the last book, the status quo seemed to be god. Of course, by the end of the first third of the book that's all been thrown out the window as men's ambitions are never satiated!

This book was, compared to much of Abercrombie's other work, a sort of slow burn. The machinations of our protagonists built over time, and the results definitely took time to get to the payoff. The final act of this book though, was spectacular, but more on that in a moment.

Savine dan Glokta, Leo dan Brock, and Prince Orso arguably took center stage for this piece. They had the most view point issues by far, and over all, managed to drive the plot almost in spite of the presence of other characters. I do think that this series has, overall, shaped up to almost be about the main characters of Savine, Leo, Orso, and Rikke, with the others being more of a supporting cast to these four characters machinations.

That said, this book was the most political and bathed in conspiracy and backstabbing since arguably Last Argument of Kings and Best Served Cold, and it had many call outs to Best Served Cold which absolutely endeared it to me. Those two books contained some of Abercrombie's best pushes towards political backstabbing and personal vengeance, as well as amazing battle scenes. Though The Trouble With Peace is a lot less bloody than those two, it doesn't disappoint when it comes to battles or treachery. The slow burn plot does an excellent job of giving us reasons to root for both sides of the emerging battle lines, and it makes it quite impressive as the two factions end up coalescing around various characters, and the lengths each character is willing to go to because each character believes so firmly in their cause.

I believe that this book works well because A Little Hatred built up these characters so that we could care about them. That they now have competing ambitions in a time of peace makes it so much more tense as you get led along through conspiracy, webs of lies, and competing ideas and ambitions which pits these men directly against one another. It means that the stakes are very real, and as the book comes blazing towards its conclusion you get a number of shocks and feel real tension for our main characters as they come up against obstacles both on and off the field of battle. I won't spoil where that battle takes place, but boy does it take everything Abercrombie has built on since the last few installments and really make it shine.

The finale honestly blew me away. It combined some of Abercrombie's best work in writing well plotted violence, the tension he can create for both combatants and non-combatants, and the sheer pull of characters. He shows the push and pull of a battlefield in ways that, quite honestly, many people who write military fiction often fail to do. The ground pounders view to the commanders view lets you see the chaos, the violence, and the blood and mud. I loved that about his writing and anyone who loved his standalone The Heroes won't be disappointed by what he manages to craft here. Then the aftermath of the battle, and the actions of the victors, just adds an entirely new layer of excellence.

Personally, I don't feel this will become my favorite book of his. It takes much of what he does well and combines it, but I do think that some of the pacing felt off. The characters and their flawed actions were all very well executed, but I don't think it had the same stakes as say, Best Served Cold or Before They Are Hanged. While it is an excellent middle book, which reintroduces us to some of our favorite characters from the previous series, I did honestly think something was missing overall. Perhaps it was that the main four I highlighted felt like they received more attention so that the secondary characters all felt like a supporting cast where in A Little Hatred they played more central roles and had more agency. It also might be that I felt that a few of the revelations were not as well foreshadowed as they might have been.

All that being said, I sincerely enjoyed this book and roared right through it in a couple days. Fast paced and it never once drags and gives you a bit of everything you enjoy about Abercrombie. Characters are maimed, people claim the ashes of victory, and many new and scary revelations are brought to the forefront. It is just more proof that Abercrombie remains an excellent writer.

The Way of Kings

Way back in 2012 I picked up The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson. I saw the cover and, on a whim, I snatched it up. I had no idea then that I would leap down into the world of Roshar with both feet and not once look back as I rode the storms into the greater world of Brandon Sanderson's cosmere.

Now for full disclosure, I actually had to put this book down the first time I started reading it. Brandon Sanderson does an amazing job at capturing a character who is burnt out, facing depression, and on the verge of a total breakdown. It was so well done that I, who was at the time facing one of my own, was unable to read about a character who had similar problems. Boy am I glad that I picked it up again though because that put me in a much better mood. I've re-read the book three times now, and I have thoroughly enjoyed it each time. I firmly feel that, to date, Way of Kings is the best book he has yet written.

A copy which owes me nothing

The Way of Kings is the opening to Brandon's epic series, The Stormlight Archive. It is projected to be a ten book long undertaking with two distinct arcs of five books each. I say these things in advance just so people know why I'm going to be gushing about the cosmere for, oh, say the next decade or so.

But what is this story? Way of Kings is set on the world of Roshar, far unlike anything you've ever seen before. The single continent is perpetually lashed by highstorms, hurricane like storms which come randomly sweeping east to west, scouring the land and creating a landscape and creatures we would find wholly unnatural. Grass lives in tiny holes in the ground that it retreats into when the winds rise. Trees will hug in their branches to stay alive, and animals have shells and other methods of hiding and surviving which will spare them the worst of that damage.

Humans too have to adapt to survive this world. They build in the shelter of natural concentrations of rocks, lees and valleys which hide their homes from the worst of the winds. It's a world very different from our own.

Far in the past, humanity was cast from the Tranquiline Halls by the Voidbringers, demons who hated humanity. Humanity had the Ten Heralds who led them against Desolations where the Voidbringers would invade and ravage Roshar. Protected by the Knights Radiant, the Heralds and Humanity banished the Voidbringers and the Heralds left the world to bring the fight to the enemy in the afterlife. However, the Knights Radiant later betrayed humanity, and so left behind their great weapons, shardplate and shardblades. 

In the present day, four thousand years after Aharietiam, the Last Desolation, the nation of Alethkar is at war. Their king has been assassinated by the mysterious Parshendi people, and so they have sworn the Vengeance Pact to bring the assassins to justice. It is a brutal war which has lasted for six years.

Roshar

We follow three characters, the disgraced warrior Kaladin, the warlord Dalinar, and the scholar to be, Shallan. Each of these three characters begin in disparate stories, separated by geography, motivation and class. One is a slave, one an impoverished noble daughter, and the other head of an Alethi princedom, and seen as the power behind the throne.

Kaladin's story was, to me, a very poignant and personal one, but one that was not without hope. His start as an amazing fighter who eventually falls as low as one can in that society, and the resultant hopelessness he feels hit very close to home. I enjoyed Kaladin, and the family he found in Bridge Four, where he is cast out and left to be used as cannon fodder. This story of rediscovering humanity and friendship spoke to me. I definitely enjoyed Kaladin and his growth into a leader, that he gets an amazing spren companion in Syl, just added to the fun.

Shallan was actually my favorite character in this book. Her journey to find the famous heretic princess, scholar Jasnah, a formidable character in her own right, was one I sympathized with. Jasnah's artistic talent being unappreciated by her mentor, and her growth in the love of finding knowledge. Her quick wit, and determination to move forward was another thing I found inspiring.

Dalinar Kholin, the Blackthorn, unifier of Alethkar, and brother to a murdered king, is probably an fan and series favorite. I admit, he is on my list to be the best character in the series. I can never decide who I enjoy more as a main character. However, his story is one of the burdens of leadership, and the possibility that he is going insane. During every highstorm he receives visions and a voice commands him to "unite them" and this has caused him to try and live by increasingly strict Alethi codes, and the philosophy of the book The Way of Kings. It puts him at odds with his former friend and ally, Torol Sadeas, who doesn't share his vision. Putting the two most powerful highprinces at odds, Dalinar battles his visions, his son who questions his sanity, and his own doubts. If he fails, he may doom his entire kingdom.

As a set up for an epic fantasy series, I don't think this book can be beat. It is a detailed piece of worldbuilding, story driven adventure, and revelation of an ongoing mystery. You can very easily begin to question all the assumptions you have about the world presented to you, as everything is not necessarily as it seems. In what could be the defining feature of all of Brandon's books, there's always another secret. Clever, witty, and it will not fail to constantly exceed your expectations.

Way of Kings straddles the line between being an expositionary tale for building the world and lore of Roshar and beginning the whole saga of the Stormlight Archive very well. It separates each part of the book through interludes which are clever little vignettes which flesh out the world of Roshar, some of the side characters, and even give us more information on the cosmere as a whole. People who have been digging for the deeper mysteries in the whole of the cosmere will be happy with what they find, but usefully, those who don't want to read the whole of the cosmere don't have to understand these hints to enjoy the story.

As per usual, there is a very strong emphasis on the magic of the world of Roshar. This time, even for Brandon Sanderson, it is complex. It is used rationally, and very much is apart of the world itself. We have three distinct magic systems, all revolving around complex bonds and the use of various implements. Surges and Soulcasting are the mainstay, explored differently by each story arc. Then there's the shards and shardplate, something we still don't fully understand how it was created. Attached to that is fabrials, devices which harness the magical energy of spren and use them for mundane things like telling time or heating. It adds some great depth and flavor to the world, and of course, it shows off Brandon's impressive ability to create and utilize his magic in very plot important ways.

The action with this one is almost as powerful and visceral as that in the Mistborn series. It uses the magic so well, and is very cleverly written. The shardblades and shardplate make for some amazing scenes, and they are basically power armor that you would normally see in science fiction. The sheer power put forth in these ancient artifacts of destruction is amazing to see on the page. Coupled with Brandon's skill at raising the stakes as the story progresses, I promise you that you won't be disappointed with what you see!

Having now re-read this book three times, I can say it still stands tall as one of my all time favorites, especially in the fantasy genre. As I said in my Mistborn review, while that trilogy remains his perfect trilogy so far, Way of Kings remains his most perfect book to date.