Shelf Reflections

Click image to purchase from Amazon I’m a huge fan of good, meaty character development.   I do enjoy books where the characters are pretty set and their reactions to situations are what drive the story, but sometimes the evolution of a great character trumps just about everything.   With the second Eli Monpress book, The Spirit Rebellion , Rachel Aaron demonstrates her skill at advancing her characters in a realistic and exciting manner. Miranda Lyonette failed to catch Eli Monpress, but she did save an entire kingdom by offering her own body as the vessel for an ocean spirit.   However, she returns to a Spirit Court rife with politics.   A trumped up charge brands Miranda an outcast, and she runs, hoping to somehow clear her name… and maybe catch that pesky thief Eli in the process. Meanwhile, Eli and his friends Josef and Nico have arrived in Gaol, following the rumors of an impregnable fortress and a fabulous treasure. ...

Six reviews archived to the website tonight.  Check the main books page to see them.

Click image to purchase from Amazo One of fantasy’s most prevalent stories is, of course, the King Arthur myth.   Any story that survives hundreds of years and thousands of retellings obviously has some staying power.   You might think that the Arthur tale has been done to death, but that’s not true.   Rather than growing stale, the myth lends itself to some very creative re-imaginings.   Among them is Alex Bledsoe’s Dark Jenny , a whodunit set in the last days of an alternate King Arthur’s reign. Sword jockey Eddie LaCrosse is having a peaceful drink in a bar when he gets a very unusual delivery: a coffin, accompanied by a note, which came from the island nation of Grand Bruan.   Eddie’s friends know the tales of King Drake and his downfall and death at the hands of his bastard son Medraft, but now Eddie lets on that he was there during those final days.   And he’s willing to tell the tale. Years ago, a simple spyin...

I've seen a couple of unusual birds in our backyard in the past week.  Last weekend, I saw a hummingbird that was red like a fox--kind of a russet red.  I was able to identify it as a male Rufus Hummingbird.  Today, I saw a bird that had a brown body and a zebra-striped head, stripes running front to back.  I just identified it as a white-striped sparrow. I've also noticed kestrels in the area a bit more often.  They usually stay out in the more rural areas, but we've seen them in our neighborhood lately.

Click image to purchase from Amazon Anybody who reads urban fantasy can tell you that there are certain cities that are the popular settings.  Chicago, Seattle, Los Angeles, New York—these are the “happening” places to have a story take place.  So it’s such a refreshing change to see a novel set in my home area, the Sacramento valley.  Eileen Rendahl’s Dead on Delivery continues the tale of Melina Markowitz, a Messenger working in a location rich in diversity and danger. When two people to whom Melina made deliveries turn up dead, apparently by suicide, she doesn’t think that it’s a coincidence.  But what could have been in the packages that would drive someone to end their own life?  Melina probes into the lives of the two dead men, and she finds that they share a past—one that includes a horrible crime. Now, in a community split by unspoken racial tensions, Melina searches for the person who handed off those fatal packages for delivery.  Her invest...

I just got back from a book signing by Eileen Rendahl , local fantasy author.  I enjoy her novels, and it was a pleasure to meet her.  I always feel a little shy around authors, though!  Anyway, she's a nice lady and I got to chat with her a little bit.  I hope to have the review of her latest novel, Dead on Delivery , up no later than tomorrow afternoon.  It's been a busy week and I haven't had time to write much.  I've been catching up on things that I let slide while working my way through Rothfuss's tome of massiveness.

Click image to purchase from Amazon The vast majority of fantasy epics focus on heroic deeds, feats of derring-do, and mind-numbingly powerful magic.   What would you make of a story that, in many ways, does the exact opposite?   That’s just what happens in Patrick Rothfuss’s The Wise Man’s Fear , the story of the legend behind one extraordinary man. Kvothe, known as the Kingkiller, is in the second day of telling his story to Chronicler.   He spins his tale in between patrons visiting the inn that he owns under the guise of a simple bartender named Kote.   Monsters are roaming the land, and the king’s tax collectors bleed the people dry.   The village is uneasy and looking for a way through their difficulties, but what can they do to hold back the night? Kvothe’s story as told to Chronicler continues, following him through some of his University time and his departure for Vintas.   Encounters with rapacious nobles, ...