Scrapping Posts

So, I've had a few posts planned. Even a few partially written.

I couldn't bring myself to do a book review of Ludlum's The Holcroft Covenant. It was pretty bland, and it took me way too long just to slog through the mother. And I think it was less than 500 pages. Not at all what I was expecting from him.

My posts on my D&D campaign are stillborn when I try to write them. I just need to figure out HOW I want to present them, and then have time to do that. Because I would like to post that at some point.

I wrote up an article last night about the competitive/non-competitive debate. Essentially, the gist was that the non-competitive crowd is losing because they are too disrespectful of their fellow hobbyists. Only, I took a look at that today, and I come across as a whiny brat.

Sigh.

Everything is in a state of flux right now. So I'm sort of just powering through and seeing where I am once things calm down. Is this what being an adult feels like? Blugh.

On the bright side, the new Necrons look awesome! I'm tempted to put a 'cron army on my Christmas list.

Book Review: A Dance With Dragons

Let me open by saying I am a massive fan of George R.R. Martin’s work. In his A Song of Ice and Fire series, he has created what is probably the best work of fantasy since Tolkien wrote his opus. The depth of characterization, the complexity of the plot, and the excellent writing all make for a truly great series. Nothing being written today in the genre compares. If you haven’t read these books—even if you’re not a fantasy fan—read them now. Like, now! Or at least watch the HBO series (itself remarkably true to the books. From this point forward, spoilers for the books previous to Dance may be written, though I’ll try to avoid any Dance spoilers that weren’t well-known before the book came out.

Harry Potter spoiler: Snape kills Dumbledore. A Song of Ice and Fire spoiler: EVERYONE YOU LOVE IS KILLED
via gameoflols

A Dance with Dragons picks up where A Storm of Swords left off, following the events in the east (Tyrion and Daenerys) and at the wall (Jon Snow). Eventually, it catches up with the events of A Feast For Crows, and we see a number of returning viewpoints.

As always, Martin’s writing is spectacular. The prose is engaging, and the constant cliffhangers leave you always wanting more. The entire series is next to impossible to put down.

One of my most hated characters in the series has always been Theon Greyjoy—at least since the events of the second book. Whenever he came onscreen I would gloomily mutter, “Fuck you, Theon,” to myself. However, in this book, he has actually become someone worth rooting for. How does this turn around? Ramsay Bolton.

We got a little bit of the Bastard of Bolton in A Storm of Swords, but now we truly see how horrific a man is. He is probably the most axe-crazy guy in the entire series. And for y’all who have read this, that’s saying something. I mention it because it shows how adept Martin can be at manipulating his audience when he wants to. Taking someone I reviled and turning him into someone I practically cheered for? Well played.

The most agonizing moment came at the end of one of the final chapters had me shouting “NO!” at the book, only to have my protests reduced to a low whimper as I turned the page.  It’s a massive spoiler, so no more for now.

A common complaint that I’m seeing online is that, while the Westeros stories are engaging, the Essos stories revolving around Dany and Meereen drag. In hindsight, this is to a certain extent true. But to me, this did not truly disrupt the flow of the book. The problem is that Martin is setting up his chess pieces for the final two books—there’s a lot of maneuvering, but not a whole lot of checkmates. I fully understand this, and it doesn’t bother me at all. I actually really enjoy seeing Martin maneuver! Just know that there isn’t much resolution in Dance. It truly raises more questions than it answers.

What I did miss was Sansa and Sam’s POVs. I don’t really care about Sansa, but I wanted to read about Littlefinger! And Sam is one of my favorites, even moreso now that we know the maesters are up to… Something.

Mmmm... Frey...

In terms of favorite characters? Barristan the Bold came into his own, serving as a highly effective foil to Quentyn Martell. Both are idealists, but Barristan has the experience to fit his idealism into reality—and that makes all the difference. It was good to see the return of Jon Snow. Tyrion was fun, but much darker after the events at the end of A Storm of Swords. His and Jaime’s relationship had always been one of my favorite in the series, but that seems shot to hell now. I’m glad to see Ser Robert Strong is back, and I’m looking forward to that plotline developing in King’s Landing. Lord Manderly gets a special shout out for me as my favorite “new” character. He was a true Magnificent Bastard. Think about what’s in his pies. 

Book Review: The Power That Preserves

Donaldson’s final book caps off the series rather nicely. Taking place 7 years after the events of The Illearth War (in the Land’s timeline), Thomas Covenant is once again summoned to fight Lord Foul. Covenant and his allies must make their way to Ridjeck Thome, while Revelstone is besieged by the forces of Satansfist, the third and final Giant-Raver.

This series kept getting better and better as the books continued. Over the course of the trilogy, Donaldson creates a plethora of extremely complex characters, with deep underlying motivations and personalities, not to mention development. Many of these come to fruition in The Power that Preserves, meaning that we see what really makes these people tick. I like that a lot; good character development is one of the things that really draws me into a story.

Thomas Covenant’s Unbelief also comes to a head. As with many things about Donaldson’s work, it isn’t until a subject reaches its conclusion that the reader fully understands it. At the books climax, the reader gains an even deeper understanding of Unbelief, the oft-spoken of but seldom described force that allows Covenant to accept the Land as a delusion.

Even that description is pretty poor—a “force”? Bah.

If you are interested in a different sort of fantasy, I hesitatingly recommend The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever. Be forewarned, however: the first Chronicles were written at the same time, even if they were published as three different books.

Right now I am reading something which I would call far superior—A Dance with Dragons! That will be the subject of my next review. 

Book Review: Yellow Eyes

From Google. The other cover had some sort of Beastman in Power Armor? Not sure what THAT was...

My first book review will unfortunately start off in the middle of a series. For those wondering, I plan to review whatever books I happen to read. I have just finished Yellow Eyes, by John Ringo and Tom Kratman.

Warning: Thar be spoilers ahead, matey!

Yellow Eyes is part of John Ringo's Legacy of the Aldenata series. The story takes place before and during the Posleen invasion of Earth: chronologically, it begins during A Hymn Before Battle and ends between Gust Front and When the Devil Dances.

The writing style is pretty much what I have come to expect from Ringo: easy, laid-back, very accessible, with some extremely irritating comma usage (or more importantly, lack thereof). Kratman's influence is detectable--the narration is a bit more informal, and some of the scenes are gory in very descriptive ways. Whereas Ringo would before have left the effects of certain injuries more vague, Kratman goes into detail.

The story is also what I have come to expect. The good guys win, and the bad guys lose. I found the story predictable, with certain deaths forseeable (marriage is a death sentence, by the way) and the survivors just about what I expected (with the possibility of a few Posleen, who I either expected to live or die, and had those expectations reversed).

The problem was, as it was in When the Devil Dances and Hell's Faire, is that I'm not rooting for the humans. I want the Posleen to kick those threshkreen's asses and eat them! John Ringo has created characters in the Posleen God Kings who are generally far more likable, changeable, real than the plastic humans who are defending Earth against the oncoming alien hordes. Without the O'Neil clan, I don't mourn for the lost soul of humanity, as I did in Hell's Faire. There was no chance to see a man call down a nuclear blast on his own daughter so he could follow orders that he despised with every fiber of his being. (By the way, I think the exchange between Jack Horner and Mike O'Neil in When the Devil Dance's is one of the finest parts of the series--O'Neil literally destroying his own building in impotent rage was an image that still stick with me.) Instead, Yellow Eyes give us a few humans who are good, and a few who are bad. Granted, the scenes involving the military coup are well done, but I never get the sense of loss that I do in the main series. I get...confusion. While the slaughters of Posleen by humans in the main series are heroic and tragic at the same time, in this book, they are gross. The soldiers think it is hilarious as Posleen are disemboweled while slipping to and fro in the blood of their mutilated comrades, but I was half afraid the author did too.

And that's the part that bugged me the most. The Posleen, whom I cared about more deeply than some of the humans (I'm looking at you, token ACS officer) were getting the crappy end of the stick, in some cases for no apparent reason. (The native american who ravages an entire oolt and kills one of my favorite Posleen ever written can bite me.) There was never any sense they could win, because the cards were stacked against them from the start. I never felt like Panama could fall, as much as the author kept telling it could happen soon. There was just too much plot armor for a clan whose normals only had boma blades to cut through.

But my brother tells me this leads into The Tuloriad, which I am very much looking forward to. 'Cause I love me some Tulo'stenaloor more than just about anything else in the entire series.

So, in conclusion. This book is a decent addition to the Legacy of the Aldenata series, but not my favorite. If you read for big battles and killing hordes of Posleen, look no further--it has that in spades. What it lacks is the sense of dehumanization and cultural shift that so nicely formed the background of the main four books; the sense that humanity could indeed lose the war, and even if it wins, we may not like what we become. That is what made the Legacy of the Aldenata distinct for me, and that is what Yellow Eyes unfortunately lacks.