Blue Moon and Dune

Blue Moon

To be sure, I am behind the curve when when it comes to knowing good beer. So you will have to bare with me when I discover what’s already a well known fact. Blue Moon is good beer. If any of you haven’t yet had a chance to try it then you are missing out. I am a fan of blondes both the ladies and the beers. I like brunettes and redheads too, when it comes to women I’m not really picky. As for the beer though I only really like it when it’s light in color and easy on the palate. That’s exactly what Blue Moon is, and lately I have been having a hankering for it. Something about the smooth flavor with a slice of orange squeezed over the top is perfect on a hot summer day. This is a reasonably priced beer and you won’t look like either a snob or a dunce when you order one (something I’m in sore need of). All the varieties are great but the old standard Belgium White is what I usually order.


Dune

What is there to say about this masterpiece, that hasn’t already been said? This is hands down the greatest work of science fiction written in the english language (I don’t read russian or chinese, so who knows if they have better? I doubt it though). If you have seen the movie directed by David Lynch, before reading the book, don’t be put off. Personally I liked the movie, but to most it’s an incomprehensible mess. It only really rings true if you have read the book. Even then Lynch made a strange movie that’s not quite in sync with the book.

The story: young Paul Atreides is the ducal heir. His father and whole household has moved to Arrakis... Dune, desert planet. There Paul encounters the geriatric spice, or melange. The spice is the most prized resource in the universe. Used by powerful factions both to expand their minds and chart safe courses through space. There are many powerful factions fighting for control of Dune and the spice. Soon though they will come to loggerheads with Paul and the mysterious Fremen.  I won’t say more as I have no desire to ruin this book for anyone. I will say this though, If you haven’t yet read Dune you are missing out.

I feel like I should have more to say about Dune. All that really needs to be said is this: READ IT.

Kymburli

Apprentice to the world's deadlist assasin, Kymbuli's story is told in The Fall of Rienbect.

The novel is a historical look at the factors that led to the fall of the Rein Empire presented through a series of missives. The setting is noir fantasy with high magic, intense political intrigue and a realistic portrayal of wartime violence. Keegan Volx, an imp archmage, has created this text for his class at the Arcane Academy in Rienbect. Keegan narrates between missives and uses magical rituals as well as demon summoning to give his readers a voyeuristic perspective of the empire’s fall. Love, sex, murder, and political corruption are central themes in a game of espionage that leaves a city in chaos and an empire in civil war. The novel has a dark side similar to Joe Abercrombie’s The Blade Itself as well as an incredibly rich anthropology similar to Steven Erickson’s Gardens of The Moon.

The Heroes
By Joe Abercrombie

The Heroes is set in the period after the First Law series and is unfreaking believable. After reading this book I grew a beard and set out to make a name for myself. It did not take me long to become a named man. Yet somehow I think “Barile Bubble Belly will” not strike fear in the Union troops or the named men of the north.

The Heroes does an amazing job of filling in the details of the north. The combat is great, the tactics are amazing, and the characters… oh the characters. Just thinking about this book makes me want to reread it. If the coffee shop were open right now I would ride down and crack the book open and start ingesting caffeine and carbs!

Even if you haven’t read the first three books you could sneak this book in and be satisfied, but why cheat yourself. You deserve it, go get The Blade Itself and take a holiday. When you plow through all of Abercrombie's books and get to the Heroes you’ll thank me.

Buy the book here!

Read the author's web page.


Review by Cordell

The Name of the Wind

The Name of the Wind
By Patrick Rothfuss

I’ve never seen an author take such a course and create such a masterpiece. Rothfuss gives Freytag the finger and ignores traditional narrative structure. Some may not like the lack of rising action, climax, and falling action, but I decided to stand and applaud Rothfuss for not conforming to the standard and still being able to spin an amazing tale. Of course, for me, this proved to be a bit awkward as I ended up standing and applauding in bed while my wife was sleeping. After forty hours of counseling, a trip to the state hospital and my new special sleeping blankie (it has straps) we decided I am now no longer allowed to read in bed.

Enough about plot and straitjackets. Rothfuss has a few signature aspects to his writing that make The Name of The Wind a brilliant novel. Every novel I am ever going to review is going to have amazing characters. If your characters are boring then there is no way your story will make my list. So needless to say his characters are amazing and you will fall in love with their personalities. That is a given but the character development is so good I feel I have to at least mention it.

Along that same vein, the world is great. Again, if you have an unimaginative world then you aren’t going to make this list, but I do feel it is worth mentioning. Primarily because I can’t stop thinking about it. We even played a D&D campaign set in the world for a few months after everyone in one of my gaming groups plowed through The Name of The Wind.

When @writerbrendan and I sat down to write a book after years of being apart one of the things we focused on was the magic system. Everyone has their own magic system and there are thousands of fantasy books out there that have cool systems with virtually no character development or plot to speak of. Rothfuss has an amazing magical structure. A good part of the book is set in a school of magic (not going to say more than that because I don’t want to tip the hand of the plot) and the system of magic alone would make this book a worthy read.

Finally, the thing I appreciate the most about Patrick Rothfuss is he is a gods damn word smith. Every word in this book is worked over and over until it shines. I can’t imagine how much… nevermind… I know exactly how much work he put into this book and it shows. The writing is beautiful. I love to just sit and reread sentences over and over. My wife has taken to putting a napkin down my collar to catch the drool.

I would recommend these books to anyone who is a hardcore fantasy geek, as well as those who know nothing about the genre.

The Kingkiller Chronicle
The Name of the Wind
A Wise Man's Fear 


Review by Cordell

Magician
by Raymond E. Feist
broken up into two books called:
Magician: Apprentice and Magician: Master

These two books are the beginning of a very large series written by Feist. Four books (as noted below) make up the Riftwar Saga. With later series that flesh out his world. Magician is classic high fantasy, filled with elves, dwarves, wizards and warriors. I highly recommend these first two books to anyone who enjoys fantasy or genre fiction. The books chronicle the adventures of two major characters Pug, a young magician struggling to learn his craft and come to grips with magical power he doesn't understand and his adopted brother Thomas. Thomas begins to train as a warrior, serving his duke in the Dutchy of Crydee. Pug and Thomas are soon whisked off into the greater world, interacting with powerful world figures and heroes of all races.

The story has a quick pace throughout and never feels bogged down. The world while in many ways a typical fantasy world, has complexities that show themselves as the books and later series progress. The books are such an enjoyable read that I come back to them every couple of years with renewed enthusiasm and I can't wait to get to later chapters where Thomas is with the dwarves or Pug is studying powerful magics (I'm trying to be careful with spoilers!).

I love how Feist is able to take the old standards; elves and their fae magics, dwarves in their dark tunnels and even an ancient and powerful dragon, and make all of it feel new and fresh. The 'hero's journey' of both Pug and Thomas are wonderful and it’s always a challenge for me to say whose story I like more. The side characters are fleshed out and many of them show up in later books with their own storylines. The one drawback for the series as a whole is that some of the more recent books don't have the similar verve or excitement to them that this first book (or couple of books) had for me. If you really love the books though there are many and more to keep you reading for months. Many of the characters from the Rift War Saga make appearances or are main characters in later series.

The Prince of Nothing

The Prince of Nothing series
by R. Scott Bakker

The Darkness that Comes Before is the first book in Bakkers fantasy series. Bakker has studied philosophy and its clearly evident in the thought provoking concepts this series deals with. Scarred by an apocalypse that happened centuries before, with another apocalypse dawning on the horizon this is a world that is relatively stable, until Kellhus a man with mysterious powers enters it. The world was years in the making as any reader can tell. The one thing I really like about Bakker, similar to Erikson, is that he doesn’t waste time explaining his world to readers. Various factions, philosophies, and histories are fleshed out and as a reader you wait hungrily for more details to flesh the world out in your mind. He jumps right into it and lets you figure the world out as the book progresses. The characters are realistic, full of flaws and contradictions just like real people. Bakker has definitely taken a page from the “Martinesque” book on fantasy writing, in that his world is not for the faint of heart. This is a dark and cerebral series.

The titular main character of the series, Kellhus is a wonderful realization of the remote monk who uses his unmatched intelligence to triumph over enemies. His power of the “Logos”, a system where in one tries to achieve mental perfection, is new and wonderful. My one major problem with the series is there isn’t enough of Kellhus. After reading three books I never felt that the character was fully fleshed out. He remains as remote to the readers as he does to the characters whose perspectives he is often viewed through.

The “wizard” character in the series is Drusas Achamian. He is both an example of what is wonderful and terrible about the series. The character Achamian is beautifully flawed. A man of unquestionable magical power who is hamstrung by his love for a prostitute and his own flawed sense of inadequacy. The character of Achamian is perfectly human and I love seeing a character this flawed endowed with such power. But damn! He is such a whiner sometimes! The internal dialog (of which Achamian is just an example) where he over analyzes every single thing is very annoying. I don’t mind the fact that Achamian does his over alanysis and second guessing, that what makes him great. I just don’t want to read 20k words about it in each book.

The love stories made me uncomfortable, I can’t say anything else without giving away spoilers (should be covering it in a podcast at some point).

Besides Kellhus’s badass powers the best part of the series are two characters.

Cnaiur: awesome barbarian/homicidal maniac. gotta love this dude. You also would never want to meet him in real life.

Ikurei Conphas: basically Alexander the Great. If Alexander had to contend with powerful wizards and insanely intelligent monk-priests like Kellhus.


If you would like to purchase the book head here.

 

The Hobbit

I’ve been listening to the Hobbit at work recently. Man, I forgot how much fun that tale is. Can’t wait for the movie to come out on Dec 14^th. If you are like me and haven’t read the book since you were twelve I strongly recommend giving it a quick read before the movie. One cool thing about the audio book that I love is the songs. Rob Inglis did a great job reading those books and hearing him sing the songs I normally just scan over it fun.

I’ll have to do a book review for it sometime although it seems a bit like a waste since everyone and their step mother has probably already read it. Nonetheless check it out before the movie comes out. I’m totally loving it. I’m even having flash backs to some of my D&D characters that I was playing back then!

Hobbit Audio Book
Hobbit Movie Trailer