Master Sergeant by Mel Odom

Master Sergeant by Mel Odom

So I was at the Phoenix Comic Con at the end of May (Great time if you can get there folks, I really do recommend it!) when I bought way more books then was good for me. You'll be seeing a number of these books popping up from well... Now, to November likely. Now I'll admit that this isn't the first book I picked up at Con that I finished, that honor would actually go to the Usagi Yojimbo graphic novels that I picked up. They were pretty awesome. I decided to read this one first out of the actually printed word novels because... I really like Mel Odom's earlier work.

Let me talk about Mr. Odom a bit, born in California and having lived most of his live in my own Oklahoma where he teaches college courses in writing. Mr. Odom has written about 150 novels, most of them tie in books (Preying for Keeps for example was a pretty decent Shadowrun book) which run the gauntlet from Sabrina the Teen Age Witch novels to Mack Bolan novels. He sold his first book in 1988 (when I would have been all of 7 years old). Basically this guy has been writing books almost as long as I've been capable of reading. My introduction to him was the 2001 book “The Rover” which to date I believe is his best work. It's an original fantasy work with the main character of a libertarian hobbit * COUGH* I mean huh... Halfing of course! Who gets mistaken for a great warrior and pressed ganged into a pirate crew and manages to have thrilling adventures by virtue of being one of the few people on his world who can read a single language, let alone dozens of languages. I'm not gonna lie I found The Rover pretty awesome along with it's sequels... Which I do recommend. It was on the strength of that series that I picked up Master Sergeant, I was expecting something original, quirky and engaging...

I didn't get it.

I instead got Starship Troopers (the movie), Halo, and a dozen other bits thrown into a blender and reduced to a generic feeling consistent honestly bland mil-sci fi story. We have Frank Sage, the half Argentinian/something else to make him ethnically ambiguous Master Sergeant and God Of Death who for the sin of being awesome has spent the last 6 years training soldiers to fight the Phrenorians (I'll get to them). Master Sergeant Sage doesn't want to be trainer of course, he wants to be the front lines killing aliens. Because that's what all these guys want. He finally gets transferred out of his training billet and send to... Makaum a hot, humid jungle death world full of rapidly changing plant, bug and reptile life that is scheming and fighting for the chance to kill humans. Because that's what all these worlds are like. Seriously it's always desert death worlds or jungle death worlds. I mean Warhammer 40k and the Starfist series have a greater range of planets then half of these books/movies/comics, what is with that? The planet's “government” made up of human colonists who survived a crash landing and lived a primitive lifestyle until recontact, is neutral in the war between humanity and the Phrenorians, so the aliens have a presence on the planet to. As do a legion of corrupt, scheming mega corps that would have the guys from Shadowrun and Cyberpunk calling them to dial it down. I mean if nothing else if your corporate security force has a rep for killing government soldiers in bars... It's time to ask some questions. Like if we're locked in a war of survival against alien bug monsters who can build starships... Why are we letting corporations fuck about doing whatever they want?

The General in charge of the planet doesn't want to rock the boat... Of course. And say it with me, doesn't understand or appreciate the awesome talents and morality of our hero Master Sergeant Sage. Our hero must of course whip his troops into shape, confront monstrous corporate security goons, win over the natives and carry out attacks on drug labs hidden in the dangerous scary jungle while not dying and not getting discharged. Lucky for him the guy in charge of the base a rather easy going Colonel honestly is willing to let him do... Pretty much whatever he wants and cover for him later. I mean there's a Major with a Senator daddy who is supposed to be a threat... But frankly you could have cut the character entirely from the novel without impacting the story in any meaningful way. The troops kinda of resent him for being a hard ass and making them train (which is honestly realistic, if you've settled into a routine and then some new jackass comes in and upsets everything by making you do even more work... You're not going to like him) but a small crew of NCOs and Officers (because fuck those junior enlisted guys amirite?) rally to his side to be bad-ass in the jungle waging a War on Drugs.

I'm going to be blunt. Sage is fucking boring. We've seen him before. The guy who father was in army, and his grandfather was likely in the army, who lives and breaths the army and fighting the war. Who has no friends or relationships outside of the army. No interests or hobbies outside of the army. The Army and being the living model of a cutout soldier is all Frank Sage has. Which is boring. Look, I didn't meet a single dude like that in the 4 years I served, you know why? Because such a person would burn out and end up in jail or a mental institution. Even the most Hard Charging, High Speed, Low Drag Moto Motherfucker had interests outside of the military, because that's how you stay sane. Otherwise you lose your edge and burn out.

Meanwhile the Phrenorians who are scropin like lurk in the background. Sometimes supporting Master Sergeant Sage because he's totally awesome and will create chaos that we being the true master race will take advantage of or mostly just not doing much past their actually kinda of cool intro. Zho GhiCemid is honestly a more interesting character then Sage, mainly due to his savagery. We meet him when he's molting and to hurry along the process? Dude literally rips off his own skin. The Phrenorians start off interesting but that changes as we learn more about them. They see themselves as super predators with a right to control the galaxy, they have an eugenics style program to breed stronger and better Phrenorians and birth defects and such are not tolerated. You can advance up the hierarchy by killing your superiors in certain situations and strength is honored and weakness is something to prey on. They are bug like in a lot of ways, but they don't depend on over whelming numbers, with the average Phrenorian being stronger and faster then the average human, in addition to have a stinger tail that will of course kill you dead. They are also just as smart and advanced as we are. So at least Mr. Odom manages to avoid the bug cliches. That said he trips right in other ones. I mean oh look Nazi Aliens intend on conquering the galaxy because it's their right. We have never seen that before have we?

That said, there is next to nothing that is new or interesting in this book. We've all seen the characters in here a dozen times before, we've seen the setting, the bad guys, the plot... Yeah. None of this is badly written mind you. Mr. Odom turns in a workmen like job of a novel that is nothing to be embarrassed about. The prose is solid, the world building consistent if at times questionable, the characterization okay... But... I saw every plot twist coming, knew how the conversations were going to end and what roles each character was going to play by the time of their second appearance. From a first time writer or someone still a bit new and raw like say Myke Cole I would accept that. Mel Odom isn't just that guy, he's a practiced veteran and worse, he's a veteran I know can do better. So I find myself disappointed. I expected more then something that could be a Halo DLC or short story in a book about the Imperial Guard. In a lot of ways this book feels like Odom just hitting points he believes his audience expects. Bar Brawl, check. Attack in market place, check. Jungle ambush, check. Scheming officers, check. So on and so forth.

Additionally Mel Odom doesn't really understand the military. That's nothing to be ashamed of, there is no reason for a man who never served to really get it. Nor is it a requirement to write popular or even good military science fiction, or more importantly good science fiction. Let me stress this, you don't have to grasp the modern military or it's cultures to do either there. But Mr. Odom relentlessly models his Terran Army on the United States Army. Now if you have to have an army, the US Army is certainly a good one to have for all it's flaws (insert snobbish Marine comment here). If you are going to model your fiction military on the US, get a feel for the culture of service, how it works how it's members think and feel. If someone who never served wanted to get a feel for the Marines for example, I would point them towards works like Terminal Lance and other things written by men and women who served. Because some things are timeless. I fully believe that in the misty past there were Roman junior enlisted bitching about how clueless and stupid their officers were and how their senior NCOs were inhuman assholes. I also believed that those same senior NCOs were constantly aggravated by their enlisted men's ability to come up with new and interesting ways to do stupid shit and create giant fuck ups. I also believe those officers were as clueless as I believed mine were. Now I think a United World Military would feel much differently then a US institution. That said this is science fiction we don't have to be slaves to reality here but we should try to make the work feel as real and alive as possible. To put it bluntly I didn't feel that Mr. Odom put the work in to make a believable military unit. Of course when you get to it there were only about 4 and ½ characters actually in the unit anyways as Odom didn't like writing about anyone who wasn't at least a Sgt. Seriously the Terran Army feels overstuffed with officers and NCOs. With Pvts and PFCs and such only mentioned in passing and Cpls only shown doing the work that no one else will do (well there's some realism at least). This leaves the military feeling like something manufactured by Hollywood who has at best a really mixed record when it comes to displaying what the military is like. This could have been done a lot better. I mean I took Myke Cole to town over Shadow Ops Control Point and he deserved it, but at least he convinced he knew what military life was like.

Despite it's predictability and flaws the book is well written. Which is what saves it from being awful. But also that well written prose serves to highlight just how mundane and generic this story is. I'm not saying every fantasy and science fiction has to be original, but they all have to be interesting and this isn't.

Master Sergeant by Mel Odom rates and gets a flat C. Hopefully Mr. Odom lives up to his talent in the next book I pick up.

So next up I take on a book that I know will be awesome and leave me in need of a hug and some booze. My good friend Julian has patiently awaited this day, I'm currently reading and will be soon reviewing R. Scott Bakker's The Judging Eye. After that I finally get to one of Alamo's recommendations, I'd like to thank him for his patience as well. That book will be George Washington's Military Genius by Dave R Palmer.

The Goblin Emperor By Katherine Addison

The Goblin Emperor By Katherine Addison

I was going to review this anyways. I saw it sitting in Barnes and Noble as I was using the coupons they oh so dastardly send me to encourage me to shop in their store and I realized... Oh hey, this book is on my rec's list! And then this whole... thing came up so The Goblin Emperor got moved up. As a side note, I honestly prefer to buy from a brick and motor store over Amazon, Amazon's amazing don't get me wrong but I prefer the brick and motor experience if you get my meaning.

The Goblin Emperor is written by Katherine Addison which turns out to be a pen name for Sarah Monette who has been a published writer since at least 2003. Her other works (6 books and a bunch of short stories, she has done a lot of work), I am completely unfamiliar with these works so I can't comment on them at all. Wondering why I asked around about why an already published author would release a work under another name... The answer was basically that publishers don't like to release to many books under a single name or if they feel the writer is jumping their lane a bit, they put it under another name. Which is fair enough I suppose. Either way Monette is a very experienced author and it shows. The Goblin Emperor was published in 2014 and has received a lot of hype. So let's see if it stands up shall we?

The answer is... Well yeah. The Goblin Emperor is a well written book with a lot of in depth world building and characterization. Which is kinda of a problem because you need a glossary to understand people's names. For 3 chapters I just thought the elves just gave all their women the same first name for example. Part of the problem here is that the glossary is in the back of the book and I had no idea it was there as part of my own refusal to peek ahead for spoilers. Also I may be slow on the uptake. Advice for those of you writing a book that might need a glossary? Put it in the front, or note it's existence up front so I can look at it. Additionally, because of Monette's ruthless devotion to first person single narrative we don't really get to explore the in depth world building because our main character is very much nailed into place in the first couple chapters. It's like realizing someone has made an incredibly rich and interesting painting... But you only get to see a corner of it.

Let me talk about that main character a bit, Maia is the youngest prince of the elvish empire. He is also the most despised son of his father, the Emperor. Because of this Maia has been raised in a back country estate by an exiled noblemen far away from the court... Or anyone else and with a haphazard education. Normally this wouldn't matter, but the Emperor and all his other sons die very suddenly, leaving Maia as pretty much the most powerful person on the planet. Maia is a shy retiring type of person. I can sympathize with that. In fact I like Maia, although there are times where I want to scream at him to do something. That said, his quiet understated courage and devotion to trying his best to be a good Emperor to his people are traits I enjoyed. I also liked that he was also willing to push his own path at times. So I feel that on the whole Maia balanced out well. Certainly better then some protagonists I could name... That said, he's often not the most interesting character in the room and the interesting characters are here and gone.

Now the reason for Maia's disgrace is a very simple one. Maia's mother was a Goblin Princess that was married to the Elvish Emperor for political reasons. The Emperor, like many upper class elves (who are the standard light hair, eye and skin colored types), dislikes goblins. Now when I say goblins, I don't mean the squat ugly fellows you saw in the Hobbit or the green skinned capitalist many of you know from World of Warcraft. I mean dark skinned elves.

So not these guys.

More like these guys.

I'm kinda of two minds on that. On the one hand racism is bad and it's good to address that. On the other hand, Christ this is most well worn, safest message you can pick for your fantasy book. I mean even Harry Potter beat that horse into paste. That said, I'm a white male and this may be coloring my opinion. I have rarely suffered negative effects for my race or gender and certainly never to the extent say... A black person in the United States would. I am aware of this, but at the same time? Heinlein was doing this moral in 1959! I am not against having social messages in fantasy or science fiction, it's a well and time honored tradition and in some ways the two genres are at their best when they are tackling political and social issues through metaphor and allegory. But racism is bad frankly feels increasingly safe as a message. Which is a good thing for our society, but it also means I think unless you can bring something new to the table you may want to consider looking at some of the other issues plaguing our society. By all means keep the racism is bad issue, but lets look at some other issues as well. Besides the book doesn't have anything to really say on the subject nor does it examine the issue in a new or interesting way. It's just, hey the pale skinned upper class elves are mean to the lower class dark skinned elves and that's awful. People who do that are bad and should stop. Which I agree with but what else you got?

Additionally, we have a name for dark skinned elves and it isn't goblins! Yes, I am gonna be a bit of a purist snob here. I would have preferred it if the goblins here were called something else. Use the Norse name if you don't want to say Dark Elf or borrow from another mythology.  I can get the problem of having dark skinned elves be evil (which is why they're increasingly shown as gray instead of black) but the goblins here aren't evil so calling them Dark Elves would have helped deal with that problem. But frigid you say, aren't goblins presented as evil usually. Yes, that's true... But how many people with green skin and fangs do you see on the street?  But I'm rambling now. 

Also there are some questions this brings up. If the Goblins have their own state, which is so powerful, that the Emperor of Elves is marrying one of their princesses to help preserve the peace... Why is the elvish empire's underclass so full of half goblins and such? What's the history here? What happened?!? I am left with many, many questions that I am eager for answers for. Why is Elf society set up this way, how much is the life of the average elf different from the nobility? How did this happen? Where did the nobility come from? Hints are dropped, and they are tantalizing, but that's all I get. I have to admit it leaves me so many questions... Someone get her started on a sequel using one of those soldiers or factory workers I hear about.

I also would have loved to hear some of Maia's lessons on how the Elvish government system actually worked. The Emperor is clearly limited by the law but is still a powerful executive in his own right dealing with a tiered parliament of sorts that is utterly dominated by a hereditary elite but also has elected members (who gets to vote?). He is also the highest judge in the land and we should have seen more of that. Maia only gets involved in a single legal battle and solves it in a single afternoon. The Emperor is clearly more powerful then the say the current English Monarchs but more constrained then the Saudi monarchs.

Maia is forced to confront the fact that most of his court doesn't want him to be Emperor and that someone murdered his father and half brothers. He has to solve the mystery using his own resources as the official investigation gets fouled up by the prejudices of the court officials running it. It's a really interesting plot... That we don't get to see very much of. Most of it happens away from Maia. Bluntly put there's not a lot of action in this book. There's intrigue, internal conflict and political sneakiness.

These are all fairly well done and were interesting enough to keep me reading the book. But if you have no interest in these kinds of things at all, you will be bored out of your damn mind. This is a book where tastes may vary. Monette goes all out on the intrigue and showing the problems a monarch may have trying to manage a powerful and unruly nobility. Nor does she shy away from the consequences of it. Good people die, are ruined or have unpleasant things happen to them because of the actions of other people. Life is unfair, actions have consequences for people other then you and not even an Emperor can change that. Nor does being an Emperor shield you from the fall out of those actions. I really liked that. Still the book manages to keep from veering into the dark darkness of dark that some writers love to play in. I am thankful for that. Monette manages to keep a balance here.

We also see Maia grow from a teenager terrified of the bully who raised him into an adult willing to stand up for himself. Which honestly seems to be the main thrust of the book. Planting a crown on his head didn't really make him a monarch. Nor did giving him a throne make him powerful. It was his own efforts to grow into the role and start developing a willingness to tell people no that did. Realizing that all these people do in fact work for him so he is in fact in charge was kinda a process, but it was process that I kinda liked reading. Monette found ways to keep me from getting to frustrated with Maia as he bungled about especially with the opposite sex. I did find it somewhat true to life that while being powerful and rich certainly helps you with the ladies, when the ladies are used to wealthy and powerful, it's not gonna be enough to carry you over the home plate. Although I kinda disagree with the idea that his goblin blood made so many of the nobility stand at arms length. He's the fucking Emperor! You get on his good side! This isn't calculus, it's addition.

So to sum up, the characterization is interesting and believable. The main character sympathetic and likable and the world itself seems a rich one that I hope to see more stories in. The plot is one that I liked following. That said the world building is dense and not very well explained. The most interesting parts of the story, happen where you can't see them and there is a deep dearth of action and excitement in this story to my point of view. Whether you like this book is going to come down to a simple matter of taste in my view.

The Goblin Emperor gets a B+ as it doesn't suffer the minus from being a book in a series. Still I hope Monette takes more time to explain some of her world building if she should ever return to the world of Maia and I am actually eager to return. 

ISIS Inside the Army of Terror

ISIS: Inside the Army of Terror

by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassan

As you can guess this is another nonfiction book about the middle east. If all you were doing was going off this blog I suppose you could be excused for thinking I was very focused on it. In a way I guess I kinda am. I served in the Marines (I think that's been mentioned a lot here) and the climax of that service was the Iraq invasion of 2003. I wasn't in Iraq very long. So you would think that would be a very minor part of my life. It is and remains a pivotal moment in my life. Much of who am I and what I've become is because of Iraq and because that I think my gaze in one way or another may always be drawn back to the middle east. Metaphorically speaking. That's all I really want to say on that front.

Written by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassan, both these men are very experienced journalists and writers who have appeared in Foreign Policy, the Guardian, the New York Times and other papers. Now one might wonder if it might be to soon to analysis ISIS. I can understand that view but here's my stance. While it may be to soon to analysis the effects of ISIS or to write even the middle chapter of it's existence. It is no where close to soon to start analyzing it's history and it's structure. That's how we learn about them and to quote Sun Tzu here, “If you know the enemy and know yourself, you need not fear the result of a hundred battles.” In Iraq we did not know our enemy and look what happened. It's time to start addressing that flaw.

Either way Weiss and Hassan have convinced me in this book that to soon or not, they are capable of doing the job. To get the information for this book they used the connections and skills built up from years of covering the middle east to interview members of the Syrian and Iraqi Government, ISIS members both those who left and those still in the organization, various middle eastern analysis, US military offices and people who live in the areas in question. Additionally they sourced a vast number of articles and other written sources to put together this book. Each of these sources are listed in the notes pages (divided by chapter quoted in as well) which are over 20 pages. This is the first time I've mentioned this but I just found that fairly impressive. Especially since a good number of the other ISIS books I found were political screeds that could be summed up in the words “Thanks Obama,” you may in fact be able to hear me roll my eyes at that but this review isn't about American politics.

Side Note: I prefer to use the Arabic name for the organization of Daesh (which in Arabic also has implications of thuggishness and brutality making it a perfect fit) but the book uses ISIS, so I will in this review to prevent confusion.

The book covers the origins of ISIS and it's “founding fathers,” many of whom were members of Al Qeada or the Saddam government. It traces the ideological underpinnings of the movement (in this it goes all the way back to Abdullah Azzam a mentor of Osama Bin Laden who published works arguing Muslims must expel all occupying armies in Islamic lands), it's embracing of Takfirism (a Takfiri being a Muslim who accuses other Muslims of apostasy basically) and it's evolution away from the doctrine set down by Osama Bin Laden. In face it may shock you to learn that Osama was a moderate Jihadists. In this book you'll meet the guys who thought he didn't go far enough. This book also details the shady deals that ISIS has cut with the remains of the Saddam government. Mostly the men who put in charge of the gray and official black markets (seriously how do you have a government sanctioned black market? What is this shit?). Many of these men started out secular but found religion in the 1990s. ISIS encourages that to whole new levels. This is one of the more interesting parts of the book (although if you're like me you'll have to write down the names to keep them straight) that reaches back decades upon decades ago to trace out the inter-linkage between Al Qeada, ISIS and the Baathist of Iraq. A lot of it is economic and I'll get to that later.

This book also discusses the history of ISIS, it starts as a part of Al Qeada in Iraq, it survives the Awaking in Sunni Iraq by going underground and waiting and is protected and fed by the Assad regime in Syria looking to use it as a boogeyman. A very dark moment in this book was when I learned that the US prisons in Iraq were considered wonderful recruiting grounds and educational organizations by the various Jihadists. I delivered men to those prisons and I find even more reasons to feel grief about it now. Not that the prisons of Assad were any better. Many of ISIS's best troops and low level leaders were recruited in either prison system and neither side was very capable in even slowing this process. Going through this part really made me want a drink. There also a discussion on the tribal system, Arabic tribes remain major players in that part of the world and a government must either work with that fact or face trouble for the rest of it's days. The Awakening was the US working with that fact, deciding to stop pretending the tribes didn't matter and enlisting them whole sale. We basically did this by offering them positions within the government and paid jobs. Many young men from the tribes were hired to be the local security, which they were doing anyways, hiring them just meant that they would now side with us instead of Al Qeada. This happened right when the forefathers of ISIS got to big for their britches and decided they could run roughshod over the various tribes and treat them as conquered vassals. That didn't work out to well for them and they found themselves rebuilding in Syria, where Assad thought he could use them as a threat to force the US to talk to him.

Speaking of Assad, the book gives a real in depth at everything Assad has done to nurture and strengthen ISIS. No, I didn't mistype this. ISIS when the Syrian civil war started was the ragged remains of a Al Qeada organization that only survived because Assad wasn't gonna arrest all of them without at least some kind of a bribe from Washington. When the revolution turned violent, mainly because people who go to funerals and get machined gun tend to have dark violent thoughts, Assad did everything he could to make sure that the rebellion would have a Islamist, Sunni character. Including releasing every Islamist Jihad fighter and preacher he ever arrested and making sure they could get guns. I had to reread this chapter because the first time I literally could not follow the logic of what even now seems a move of pure insanity.

In the end, I think it springs from Assad's overconfidence. Which has marred his stragerty repeatedly during the war. Assad believed that the biggest threats to his rule were a Libyan style western invention (which I think was unlikely even then) and/or the various minority groups deciding to jump ship and ally with the Sunni. The second one I kinda get because the majority of the Sunni had already decided to wreck his shit if they got a shot. So if the Christians, Kurds and other minorities decided fuck it... Well he would be up shit creek. Assad figured the best way to do that would be to ensure that the rebellion was full of religious lunatics (I say as a practicing religious man myself) who were burning for the chance to kill them all. His sells pitch to the minorities and to the West being “Look it's either me, or a bunch of howling savages bent on genocide and slavery, who do you want?” These days I'm wondering if maybe his plan might have gone a bit to well. That said, it has had some success. The west has refused to this date to support fully any rebel faction (although money and weapons do get sent out from time to time) and while the Kurds have gone their own way, the Christians and other Muslim sects are hanging pretty close to Assad, you know to keep from being hung. Hell for that matter on Space battles and other forums, I've seen plenty of reasonable people argue that Assad is the best person to support. Personally I think we've supported to many mass murdering torturing rapists as it is, so we should let the Russians and the Iranians spend money and lives to keep his ass on the throne if they want to. To be honest my ideal solution to this whole mess would be to tie Assad's and Al Baghdadi's left hands together, throw them in a room with a single knife, lock the door and never open it again. But that wouldn't do anything expect make me and a lot of other people feel better I think.

But wait! That's not all, also covered is a brief civil war within a civil war when the other major factions in the rebellion (including Al Nursa of all people, I mean God Help Us all, we're cheering on Al Nursa, that's how fucked up this is!) decided they had had enough of ISIS (who they accused of not doing a lot of fighting against Assad, but very happy to steal turf from other rebels). This fight took place last year in 2014. The FSA, Al Nursa and a lot of other factions all got together and attacked ISIS. ISIS started having to pull back but was winning a lot of the fights. That's when Assad jumped in and attacked everyone who wasn't ISIS... Given the recent actions by ISIS to overrun a number of important military bases... If I was a Syrian Army General, I would be very unhappy with my boss. To be fair, I think of to many people who should be happy with Assad. He has basically hand raised a monster and unleashed it on the people on Syria, to either scourge them for wanting to be free or to force them into needing his protection. I really can't over state my contempt for these kind of tactics. Before you say they worked, I'll remind you the war isn't over yet and it's been going worse and worse for Assad.

The book also takes a look at the economics of ISIS and how they govern their territory. They raise money by a combination of charging for services and instituting strict price controls to prevent gouging or profiteering. They also seize the assets of anyone who is convicted in their religious courts. All those folks who have been beheaded or fled? ISIS has helped itself to their stuff (and in some cases their family members). ISIS also uses a number of black market connections inherited from Saddam officers who joined up back when the US first invaded. They of course ruthlessly murder all their competitors when they get a chance, but that shouldn't surprise anyone. An interesting thing to note it that ISIS also makes cash by selling artifacts and antiques mainly smuggling them into Turkey for sell to private collectors. Finding out this has put their rampant destruction of archaeological sites into a new context for me and a less flattering one. See by destroying these sites, they're driving up the price of the artifacts they sell. Don't get me wrong there's certainly a manic zeal for destroying all traces of non Islamic life and a rampant disregard for their fellow man (what can you expect from a band of slavers anyways?) but there's also some underhand calculation going on here. Of course the main source of revenue is... Oil they sell to Assad...

Reading this book has led me to question if Assad understands which side ISIS is on?

We also get a peek into how ISIS governs and expands. ISIS gains popularity in areas by moving in slowly first getting rid of bandits and abusive individuals (many FSA units had turned to theft and ISIS clamped on that). As they slowly become the strongest force in the region they add more and more Islamic rules until the people there realize they're living in a theocracy run by armed lunatics. ISIS is also willing to embrace the tribal system, making allies within tribes by giving them positions and putting armed men at their command with the provision that they keep order and follow ISIS' rules. There has been scattered resistance to their rule within these territories but for the most part, ISIS's willingness to resort to swift, savage force has cowed most people. ISIS also maintains a strong PR machine aimed both at it's captive population and at possible recruits outside their borders. They even adopted a motto... Don't Hear About Us, Hear From Us.

ISIS Inside the Army of Terror gets an A. Clearly deeply researched and drawing from 1^st, 2^nd and even 3^rd hand sources to create a picture of what ISIS is, where it came from and what it wants.

On Hugo's and Puppies, or I alienate half my audience.

Sidebar:  On Hugo's and Puppies

I've gone digging about on this.  I've discussed it with a number of people.  Below are the timelines that both sides are presenting as what lead up to this whole mess.  Just to be clear, both timelines are suppose to cover the same time frame and events, just think of this as two different viewpoints if you will.

First one.

Larry Correia invited to Hugo's.

Says he's treated like shit, not for writing a bad book, but for being a libertarian and pro-guns.

Afterwards says he experiences a campaign of harassment and rumor mongering, with people accusing him of everything from racism to wife beating.

Talks to other writers with similar politics, says he found experiences in common and was unhappy.

Starts campaign to crash the Hugo's with supporters to generate votes for books he feel overlooked for ideological reasons.

After a couple years it takes off.

People get upset and act like nuts on the internet.

Second one.

Last year women and people of color swept the Hugo awards.

A group of conservatives upset about this got together on the internet to stuff the ballot.

After a couple of years it takes off.

People get upset on the internet and push back trying to prevent the Hugo's from being ruined.

People start acting like nuts on the internet.

With all this, I've come to an opinion on the whole... thing.

First of all, let me be blunt.  I've never read a book because it has a Hugo stamp.  I never will.  Sorry.  Second of all, an award handed out due to the votes of around what?  One or two thousand people whose great distinction was they paid money to attend a con does not make for an award of any great awe or prestige in my eyes.   That doesn't mean the Hugo's are bad or that people shouldn't be excited about them... Just... That in my personal opinion... I am unmoved by them.

Frankly I'm much more concerned about what I'm seeing in the interactions of the two camps.  The so called “SWJ's” and the “Neo-fascist” Sad Puppies.  I am deeply disappointed in both groups and you all need to go take long looks at yourselves and ask just what are you thinking?  Yeah, you were provoked.  I don't care.  Yeah, the other side is bad.  I don't care.  Yeah, they said such and such about so and so.  I.  Don't.  Care.  Have I made myself clear here?  I don't care about your excuses, your causes or whatever.  Let me be blunt.  I heard this all before, only in real life and what happened there was people died and wars happened.  So I am out of patience with your self righteous howling here.  Nothing good comes from a mob on a Crusade.  Gentlemen and Ladies, you have allowed yourselves to become a mob.

Here's my problem.  First thing I see when I do the goggle searches is on both sides I got assholes screaming “They're not real fans!  We're real fans!  We have to drive them out!”  I care about that.  I care about such statements a great deal.  I've heard them before.  They were wrong then and they are wrong now.  That, ladies and gentlemen, I will stand against.  Not against Liberal writers and their fans. Not against conservative writers and their fans.  But against people who would cast out my fellow lovers of science fiction and fantasy, who would turn against my fellow nerds.  That goes too far.

This is not a castle.  The other side is not a barbarian horde. We do not need gatekeepers and even if we did, we wouldn't pick you.  We need ambassadors.  We need people willing to reach out, not strike out.  Look, science fiction and fantasy are genres that at their best are open to people of all political stripes.  At their best they are open to people of all color and genders and whatever else the fuck it is that makes people different this week.  This means there are going to be fans who have different opinions on guns, God, taxes and everything else... And that's okay.  In fact that's better then okay, it's fucking awesome!  It's okay to have leftist writing science fiction and winning awards for it.  It's okay to have right wingers writing science fiction and winning awards for it.  It's okay to be fans of these works.  It's even okay to be fans of works I hate.  Yes, even Touched by Alien so help me God.  If you love that book, that's okay, I just thought it was terrible.  I might think you have rather awful taste but I'm not going to say you're not a “real” fan.   Basically...

 Let me be clear here, after a survey of a few hours spread out over a period of weeks (because there's only so long I can look at this shit without wanting to burn the entire internet to the ground) and to be blunt, both sides have utterly embarrassed themselves in behaving like foul mouthed toddlers.  It was ridiculous.  It was infantile and I have never been so powerfully gripped by an urge to start taking people over my knee while washing their mouths out with soap.  To give you a context on what my boundaries are?  I SERVED 4 YEARS IN THE MARINE CORPS.  I WENT TO FUCKING WAR.   Am I making myself clear here?  Am I getting through to anyone?

We need to stop screaming at each other and start talking to each like actual fucking adults.  We need to stop excluding people just because we got something stuck up our noses.

Look people, we don't have to agree on anything.  We don't have to be friends.  We don't even have to like each other.  I'm not gonna ask for the tide roll back here.  But we do need to learn to share and tolerate each other.  We need to learn to listen to people we disagree with without screaming that they're communists out to oppress us, or that they're racists out to oppress people.  The world is to small for this now.

I get that everyone is bringing in a lot of baggage from the outside.  A good number of us are worried that we're going to lose the one thing or the one place where we felt safe and accepted.  That we will have no safety or surety and be cast out into the outer darkness where there is only weeping and gnashing of teeth.  I get that.  I understand that fear and I see it on both sides.  That said, ladies and gentlemen by letting that fear rule you, you are becoming what you hate.  I don't think any of  you really want that.  I'm sure there are some trolls that revel in that, but the vast majority of us are not trolls and it is time we stop letting them dictate the conversation.  I'm calling on you to not let your rage and fear guide your actions.

What I'm saying here is, being pro whatever we're calling the not puppy list doesn't make someone a man-hating anarchist out to destroy America (for Christ's sake these people gave Avengers a Hugo), it just means they have a different view point and different taste.  Try talking to these people, like adults. Try getting to know a couple as individuals.  Try reading some of the books they like.  Yes, a number of them you will hate and think they suck, but unless you're a dogmatic, close minded individual with a mind of metal and wheels... You'll find there are books you like to.  Stop screaming SJW and acting like you just saw a spider in Mirkwood.  Get a grip and act your age instead of your shoe size.  You people are embarrassing me in front of the mainstream.

I'm also saying that being pro-sad puppy doesn't make someone a racist or misogynist (for Christ's sake these people have women and people of color on their list, it's not just an old white boys club) .  It just means they have a different view point and different taste.  Try talking to these people, like adults.  Try getting to know a couple as individuals.  Try reading some of the books they like.  Yes, a number of them you will hate and think they suck but unless you're a dogmatic, close minded individual who cannot bear anything unapproved by the party...  You'll find there are books you like to.  Stop screaming racist and acting like you just saw a Xenomorph. Get a grip and act your age instead of your shoe size.  You people are embarrassing me in front of the mainstream.

Now I want to note that I am not the only one saying this.  There are people calling for calm and sanity in this and asking folks not to take up arms.  So I am not the first nor greatest voice (God have pity on us on the day that I am).  I am merely echoing those calls.

I will close by paraphrasing a much greater man then I can be.

We are not enemies.  We are all nerds together.  We must learn that disagreement does not make us enemies.  We must look to our commonality and allow the better angels of our nature to help us forge a better community and prevent these disagreements from tearing us apart.  Our fandoms cannot be destroyed from the outside, they can only be torn down from within.

I do not really expect anyone to follow my advice, but I will take my own.  The next review is on a book I'm finishing this weekend.  It's nonfiction.  After that, since I reviewed Monster Hunter Nemesis, I will review the Goblin Emperor.

Monster Hunter Nemesis by Larry Correia

Monster Hunter Nemesis by Larry Correia

Ladies and Gentlemen! Boys and Girls! Monsters and Monster Hunters! Welcome to the Heavyweight Championship of the WOOORRRLLLDDD! In the red, blue and white corner, he's big, he's mean, he's a German made killing machine! America's number government mandated killer! You know him as Agent Franks, aka Frankenstein Monster! And in the black and red corner, brought to us by a secret government task force bent on creating domesticated monsters that kill on command, from beyond the borders of the reality and from before time, give it up for the Hordes of Hell! Are you ready for a fight!?!

I hope the answer was yes! Because if you pick up this book you're getting one! Monster Hunter Nemesis is the 5^th book in the Monster Hunter series by Larry Correia. Mr. Correia started out as a independent writer, part time shooting instructor and accountant (wait... This sounds familiar Correia.). His first book Monster Hunter International was actually independently published, hit Entertainment Weekly's best seller list and got him a contract with BAEN, when the book was republished it hit the Locus bestseller list. A number of his books since have been on the New York Times bestseller lists as well. Additionally Mr. Correia has written a lot of short stories. Including one I love involving a trailer trash elf and a ninja warrior orc who team up to save people from evil Fey in the American South. Yeah, you heard me and it was awesome! Look guys, if ninja orcs and gangsta gnomes are wrong? Then fuck you! I don't wanna be right!

As I said, this book is the 5^th in a series. If you haven't read the others, do so. Honestly, read them first because otherwise you will have no idea what the hell is going on. Which is going to be a point against this book. While I enjoyed seeing the characters and threads from other books woven into this story, if you haven't read the other books you have no damn idea who these people are or why you should care. That said the story does stand on it's own and a new reader should be able to pick up on the basics without reading the other books (that said read the other books). The Monster Hunter series is a damn good series in my view but at this point the books no longer stand on their own. The action is well written, the fight series intense and interesting. The world slowly revealed over the books is a interesting on that provokes rampant speculation on just what is going on and frankly I really like a lot of the characters (Trip is best monster hunter. That is all.). Some readers do find themselves disliking Owen Pitt, but for those of you who do... Good news, he's not a view point character here. No, this book isn't about Owen. This book is about Agent Franks.

Beware for in this book you will see the secret origin of Agent Franks, aka the Frankenstein Monster. Told via flashbacks from the 1^st person viewpoint of Franks himself. In between these flashbacks we get the story of Agent Franks being on the business end of what he's so often handed out. A government cover up and monster hunt. Since it's a 1^st person narrative (really just about all of Correia's books are, it's an interesting quirk really) we get the chance to peer into Agent's Franks misshapen skull and it's an interesting view. Franks is the most inhuman character yet to get an in depth treatment in this story. He's just human enough to understand but you'll be cruising along when Franks reminds you that he is utterly and completely inhuman. Let me be clear here, I don't mean lacking in social skills or autistic or anything like that. I mean inhuman in his views and understanding of how the universe works. Which is more terrifying because you start to realize as the book goes on, that he maybe completely right in how he views the universe. Correia does a good job in getting Franks voice right and in making him distinct from Owen or Harbinger. Franks does not sound like either of these men, he does not share their beliefs or their connection to the human race. At the same time we are given things help us empathize with Franks. He does honestly want to protect humanity from monsters, even if he's a little indifferent to individuals. He does have a real friendship to Agent Myers and a sense of loyalty and duty driving him to put himself in danger for people who don't even like him very much. There are also little things, like Franks being able to recognize beauty but not having any emotional response to it and being frustrated by that. He gets that humans are moved by things like sunsets and paintings but he looks at this and doesn't feel a damn thing. This... This sticks in his craw a bit and I found it kinda interesting (there's more here but then we're in spoiler turf).

Contrasting Franks being inhuman and somewhat regretting it is the biologically human but completely monstrous Stricken, leader of Secret Task Force Unicorn. Secret Task Force Unicorn (introduced in Monster Hunter Alpha) is a even more secret government agency where we stick monsters who might be able to live in human society without you know... Eating people. Stricken is the asshole in charge of this and frankly the monsters he leads have more humanity then this pale jackass. Hell, a number of the monsters who were eating people in prior books have more humanity then this guy! He's full of contempt for his fellow man, has an utter disregard of human (or other) life and sees the system of law and government as just another club to beat down anyone who doesn't give him what he wants. The whole time he's talking about how no one else understands what it takes to protect humanity from monster but him. Honestly given how his way of protecting humanity involves murdering a number of the men and women in charge of protecting us and framing our best weapon for the deed so he can be the sole owner of all the supernatural and paranormal assets in the US government and have total control of the information... Well... Let me put it this way. Hey Stricken? I don't believe a damn word to fall out of your pasty white noise hole dude. I will give the guy this, he's really good at playing a situation and getting people to do what he wants and he never, never gives up. These are important traits for a villain, especially one in government work.

I also want to take a moment to point out the other members of STFU (God that gives me the giggles, I will admit it) who help present a more human face to the organization. Despite one of them being a werewolf, this would be Heather Kerkonen. Heather is a hot redhead, a former police officer and a werewolf working for the government so she can be exempt from the bounty we place on monsters (this might sound cruel. Let me point out that Heather is the 2^nd werewolf we've met in 5 books who doesn't engage in mass murder as a hobby.). Her origin story was written back in Monster Hunter Alpha (I told you, you had read the other books) and we see her now some time later halfway through her term as a government killing machine. She's stuck working for Stricken. She knows Stricken is the kind of guy who gives assholes a bad name. So when the order to kill Franks comes down, she does what every good person of the canine persuasion should do, she digs in and starts sniffing around. In addition to this is Beth Flierl (how do you even say that?) her team lead and completely human type person who wants to clean up STFU. They make a good side story with some nice intersections and some really good fights.

I've been asked to go over how this book and this series treats women by a friend. Since this is a good friend of mine and he asked me instead of demanding, let me take some time to go into this. This is part of why the review took so long by the way. Correia is very clearly a male writer more comfortable writing other guys. Or at least it seems that way. Most of his view point characters are male. I'm not gonna throw rocks at the guy because when I write my own stuff, I'm way more comfortable writing men then I am women. That said Correia does give women the helm every now and again and he treats his female view point characters with the same respect he treats his male ones. Additionally, there are a good number of recurring women characters in this series, from Julie, the heir to Monster Hunters Inc, who is shown as a great shot and has rescued the main character a number of times. She is shown to be better at things then her male counterpart, who is better at other things. To Heather as I mentioned above. There's also Holly who I imagine would be the character who draws the most protests. This is because she used to be a stripper and the character doesn't shy away from that part of her past. That said, it is her past. She never strips in the book, nor is she ever shown as less competent a hunter as the men. For that matter her sexuality is never allowed to dominate her character. She is not a vamp or a prize for the men in the group to fight over (to be honest she doesn't actually have a romance plot, that's given over to Julie and Owen in the series). That said, I am cheering on the Trip/Holly ship. That said, with the exception of Holly so far, Correia does suffer from a need to pair up his characters. Even the bloody vampires get paired up if they survive a book (which is rare, our heroes are really good at killing things what go bump in the night). I could go into his other series, The Grimnoir Chronicles, where a number of women characters are shown to be more powerful then the men, but I don't want to waste space. I've never met Correia, and honestly I'm not sure we've get along if we did (he's a libertarian, I think that system simply doesn't work in the real world) but if he is sexist, he's doing really good job keeping it from his books... Which frankly is all I ask for. I really don't care that he has different politics then I do. All I ask that he make entertaining books that aren't gonna beat me over the head with his beliefs. Which he does. So I'm happy. Mr. Correia on the astonishingly unlikely chance you ever read this, this Marine thinks you're doing okay. Now lets move on.

This book also serves an important function in the series. Starting to tie the various elements of the series into a coherent mythology. The revealed facts up until now have been very interesting but at the same time... A little conflicting. This is a universe where there are Lovecraftian creatures, Elves, Orcs, Oni, Trolls, Dragons, Fey, werewolves, vampires and Judeo-Christian Demons. Add in that modern technology can blast them... Or you can ward off most of them if your faith is pure enough (earlier in the series we see a Mormon character stand off a vampire). It's an awesome setting but it's a little schizophrenic and with Franks help this books starts bringing it all together into a coherent understandable framework you can sum up in less then a paragraph. Which was at this point in the series kind needful. It also does this while giving a hell of a floor show, which is always a plus.

Let me talk about the action in this book. It is amazing. This is a book written by a man who understands the joys of the old 80s action movies. Fuck this book could go action scene for action scene with 90% of them! We got gun fights, fist fights, monster brawls, blade action, bombs! You are spoiled for choice and it is written with good attention to detail and pace. It doesn't drag, it doesn't go to fast. You are allowed to enjoy the sheer spectacle unfolding before you while not being forced to drag your feet. This man can write action! The dialogue is pretty good to, the various characters have different voices and word choices, so I'm never for example reading Heather lines thinking they belong to Franks. That said while the dialogue is done in a professional and workmen like manner, it's nothing special. I really think that past books did a better job of that. This may be a consequence of letting the terse and laconic Agent Franks take such a center position in the book. But it won't detract from your attention.

Additionally, wow, this series has gotten really self referential. I figure someone who hasn't read at least up to Monster Hunter Alpha would be completely and utterly lost here. I honestly find that a problem. It's an increasing problem in fantasy books where publishers have been pushing more and more for long series that never end. I understand why, sequels have inbuilt audiences and new books are risky but man... I'm starting to get a little tired of everything having to be a 12 book series. That said I'd read this over the Wheel of Time any day of the week (send your hatemail to frigiddon'tcare!@gmail.com)... No I'm serious there guys, I stop reading Wheel of Time around book 5 or 6.

While I wouldn't say this series is dragging, there are some plot points I would like to see resolved already! Unleash the demons and the end of the world or don't Correia but stop teasing me about it!

Monster Hunter Nemesis gets a hardcore B, due to be being inaccessible to anyone who hasn't read the last 4 books. Beyond that it's a good solid action fantasy book with nothing to be ashamed of.

Oh... You're wondering why I didn't address the other thing? Well...

Next up! I alienate half my audience with a sidebar over the whole Hugo thing. After that I go back into nonfiction. Stay tuned!  

A Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart

A Bridge of Birds by Barry Hughart

“Take a large bowl, fill it with equal measures of fact, fantasy, history, mythology, science, superstition, logic and lunacy. Darken the mixture with bitter tears, brighten it with howls of laughter, toss in three thousands years of civilization, bellow kan pei, which means 'dry cup' and drink to the dregs.”

“And will I be wise?”

“Better, you'll be Chinese.”

Dialogue between Li Kao and Procopius, page 29.

A Bridge of Birds is the first spacebattles recommendation, but it won't be the last. Set in a China that never was but should have been, it's a tale of a simple quest that starts simple and quickly explodes into a complex, gloriously entertaining mess. Given that the book won the World Fantasy Award in 1985 and the Mythopeic Award in 1986. Which makes it one of the more accomplished books I've done a review for on this blog. Despite this, I am more then willing to add my two cents. Let me start with the author of course.

Written by Mr. Hughart, who currently resides in Tucson Arizona. Mr. Hughart has a lot of experience in Asia, having served in Japan and Korea with the United States Air Force and working with a military surplus company that was based out of Asia. Interestingly enough, he admits in interviews that while he's read many classics of Chinese literature, he has never visited China due to the cold war (his service was during the 50's). He wasn't even allowed to visit Hong Kong. His exposure to eastern culture shows in the book. While it doesn't have the same voice as the Journey to the West (but then, the Chinese parts of Asia are big places and there is plenty of rooms for more then one voice therein), it still feels like a Chinese story, instead of a Western story set in China. Let me clarify that, Mr. Hughart writes like a man who has sat down and read the classics of Chinese literature and taken a deep drink of the culture. That said I wouldn't say he writes like a native, just someone really familiar with the old culture of China. Of course I should point out that I am no where near an expert in China so I could be completely off base here. Anyways, I was sad to find out that this is the first book in a series that will never be finished. Mr. Hughart had wanted to write 7 books but due to disagreements with his publishers (among them selling it in the fantasy lot), books 4-7 were never written. I am told that book 3 might change my mind about this being a sad thing, but I digress

The story begins when the children of the village of Ku-Fu are poisoned while harvesting feed for silk worms. Lu Yu (not to be confused with the famous man who wrote The Classic of Tea) who goes by the name Number Ten Ox is charged by his aunt to find them a sage. Unfortunately she gives him 5000 copper coins and as anyone who has played a fantasy RPG can tell you... Copper coins will buy you about 2/3^rd of a cup of give a fuck and not a drop more. This is demonstrated to us when Number Ten Ox doesn't even make it pass the doormen of most the sages for hire. Lucky for our protagonist, he discovers there is a sage willing to work for cheap. Surname Li, personal name Kao and with a slight flaw in his character... If you consider being a drunk, a thief, a liar and a cheat all slight flaws anyways. That said, Master Li may just be the smartest guy in all of China, which is pretty damn smart, he's willing to go to insane lengths to finish the job, his professional ethics are impeccable and he'll work for copper coins. So you know... He'll do.

Let me discuss our two main characters here. Number Ten Ox is a village kid with large muscles and a bigger heart. The story is told from his point of view, which leads to an interesting situation where a number of nearly superhuman feats are down played because Ox is a modest boy. While he is a good boy, he's also willing to go the mat to save the children of his village. If that means dealing with bandits, monsters and gods... Well that's what he'll do. He plays a lot of roles in this book, he's a dashing hero, a lying liar who lies, a man mourning a lost love, an innocent farm boy and a sage's treasured pupil. If there was a traditional hero in this story Number Ten Ox would be it. He's also the audience stand in some situations, as being from a tiny little village, he of course doesn't know all that much about some of the figures and places that he and Li Kao find themselves in. Course Li Kao will be happy to explain that.

Let's take a look at Li Kao, a man with a colorful past that ranges from imperial palaces to the dirty gutters. When Number Ten Ox's find him he's passed right out and all he wants is a jar of cheap wine (the kind you can buy with copper coins). Give him a tipple and a job though... And he doesn't give a crap about wine. Which kinda suggest whatever his problem is, it's not an addiction to booze. Older then old (oh to be 90 again I can hear him sigh) and with every ounce of the kind of sly, wicked wisdom that comes from surviving misspent decades. That said, while at times venal, I wouldn't call him evil or all that bad. A little corrupt perhaps, but his predatory urges seem restricted to people who are just as bad or even worse. Yeah, this is a guy who is willing to lie, cheat and murder to get the job done but frankly this is a guy trying to save the lives of dozens of children for a bowl of copper coins he already spent going up against people who are wealthy and as vile as ripe sewage. I kinda find it hard to hold his flaws against him in such a situation especially given the people I am forced to compare him to.

The villains in this story are uniformly wealthy, powerful people who think nothing of bringing ruin and pain to everyone around them. Often for the most petty reasons. We all know people like this so sadly these people are incredibly realistic despite their fantastic surroundings. I mean we have the Ancestress, based on Empress Dowager Ci xi, a woman who started as an imperial concubine and worked her up to ruler of China. She was however utter crap at it on a account of only being interested in her own comfort and rights. Thrown out of power and exiled to the countryside she plots revenge and makes the life everyone around her utterly miserable. S Then there's the Duke of Chin, who rules from behind a Tiger mask so every Duke of Chin will be the same as the first. This is a guy who when told that the crops of a village had been destroyed and the peasants begged for tax relief so they could rebuild, kills everyone and burns down the village. Compared to people like this, Li Kao could be nominated for sainthood.

The recurring minor characters are also joys and interesting case studies of the skill of a good writer. I found myself cheering on the scholar Henpecked Ho on his murderous rampage. This book made me cheer on a man going on an axe murder spree! I felt sorry for Miser Shen. The story of Bright Star was tragic and moving. Minor characters are given just enough color to feel like actual people with interesting stories, but they never overshadow our heroes. This is a tough tightrope to walk but it's done with panache here.

The story itself is broken up into episodes as our heroes chase down leads, encounter obstacles and learn more about the increasingly high stakes game they've bellied up to. Form trying to figure out the proper cure, to hunting it down and more. Each episode reads as a nearly contained story in and itself which is an interesting way to write a book. At the end of each episode they return to the village and it's there we usually get revelations about Number Ten Ox, or the village itself that plays into the story later down the line. That said, we learn more about the children of the village then the adults. They (excluding our buddy Ox of course) don't do much besides sit vigils by their kids. There's the abbot of the village temple of course and his job is basically to nod with Li Kao and confirm that he's a genius. As well as assist with the treatments they come up with. Besides that the village is the most lifeless part of the book, which is damn odd. Part of it might be that every moment past the first chapter we spend in the village the characters are preparing to be somewhere else. We learn a lot more about the life and past times of the children of the village. We learn about their games, relationships and more. This is despite most of them never getting a line here. Don't get me wrong, there is color to the village, mostly in the misplaced section of the Wall of China, the general who built there claimed he was ordered to by heaven itself. The wall called the Dragon's Pillow is a bit of curiosity and plays a part in the story. As does the ghost who sits watch over the wall.

That ghost isn't the only one! You'll run into several ghosts reading this story, each with their own story and often with a task that our heroes must perform to complete their mission. The ghosts work pretty well. They often work to introduce a touch of the fantastic as well as advance the plot. Additionally we see brief but interesting appearances of Taoists and they are set in the right role. That of people living pretty outside of the Confucius order of society and subtly critical of it. In fact, I would suspect that Li Kao is himself a Taoist given some of his comments. The whole book itself has some subtle criticisms of ruling parties who get to wrapped up in their privileges and wealth to remember just what they're suppose to be doing. Which ironically plants it firmly in the Taoist tradition, which I am aware of but haven't really looked into.

Bridge of Birds gets an A. It's one of the best fantasy works I've read and I encourage everyone to give it a tour.

The Bone Doll's Twin By Lynn Flewelling

The Bone Doll's Twin By Lynn Flewelling

“Black makes white. Foul makes pure. Evil creates greatness.”

Bone Doll's Twin chapter 1

This book was recommended to me by my little brother, yes, that's right being related to me means your recommendations get to the head of the line. Frigid Reads makes no bones of practicing old fashion Family Values and there's nothing more old fashion then letting kin jump the head of the line!

Anyways back to books. Written by Lynn Flewelling whose first book Luck in the Shadows was a finalist for the Compton Crook Award and picked by the editor of Locus Magazine as best first novel. The Bone Doll's Twin is a fantasy book published in 2001, it is Ms. Flewelling 3^rd or 4^th book and the beginning of a new series. This is the first book of her's I've read though. The story itself maintains a dark and creepy atmosphere through most of it, the offsetting moments only strengthening the overall themes running through the story.

The story is set on the peninsula nation of Skala, a former imperial province of another power (Plenimar) that lies across the sea from it. Nor it is the only nation with this background. Once under the rule of Priest Kings, Plenimar ruled all the nations bordering the inner and outer sea (which honestly look like the same bloody sea to me just broken by the peninsula of Skala but what do I know?). However like all empires do eventually, it fell and many of the provinces made their own way. Skala and other nations that share the sea with it must contend with Plenimar's constant attempts to bring them back into the imperial fold and in addition with Plenimar raiding their nations for goods and people to carry off into slavery.

Skala is in luck however as the gods of the setting have promised that as long as a Queen sits on the throne. For 300 years the divinely sanctioned Warrior Queens of Skala have held the nation safe and ensured it prospered. Which is actually a problem... Because the book opens with a King having planted his ass on the throne.

Now to be fair to King Erius, he did it because the Queen at the time (his mother) was batshit insane and killing everyone! That's a pretty good reason to overthrow a Monarch I think. Less defensible are his actions after taking the throne. For example... Murdering every woman who had royal blood expect his half sister, who he married off to a powerful nobleman for his support. This is where the story begins. Let me say up front that I really enjoy the villain, King Erius and his servants. He clearly starts out with good intentions and slides into villainy in the pursuit of staying in power. I can almost hear him rationalizing every act he does as being for the good of the nation... And if the good of the nation should make him more powerful and secure.. Well, it's all for the best isn't it? It makes him very human and understandable. Don't get me wrong, I hate his guts because he's a fucking baby murderer and an increasingly tyrannical ruler who is dragging his nation down in a paranoid quest to secure his own power. But it's a paranoid quest that makes sense and I can actually see a person doing! That means a bit to me.

Another villain is the King's wizard henchmen Niryn. As Erius paranoia grows, he suspects wizards and priests of plotting against him (to be fair... He ain't wrong) and with Niryn creates his own organization of wizards to register, number and police the wizards while beginning a bloody suppression of the priests of one god, while favoring another. Niryn is rarely ever present physically in the book, but his hand is often in evidence. In the white robed King Harriers enforcing his will, in the dead bodies being strung up everywhere our characters follow. In the numbering system that he enforces on behalf of the king and the system of informants and secret policemen that he creates. While the motivations of Niryn or his past are never discussed, it seems clear that he desires wealth and power, especially power over his fellow magic users. Additionally this is all done without ever making either of them view point characters. Which is good work in and of itself. So full points there!

The prologue is magnificent, focusing on a pair of wizards, Iya and Arkoniel, who are teacher and student. Iya, the elder of the two is the person to blame for this whole story. As she is granted a vision while visiting a oracle, which convinces her that she has two jobs. First, create a wizard organization and school. Second, put a queen back on the throne. The first job is easy and just involves traveling around the country to talk wizards into the idea. How does she intend to do the second job you ask? Lies, Politics, Black Magic and Infanticide (our Heroes ladies and gentlemen.). The only woman left with royal blood in her veins, is the King's little half sister Princess Ariani, married to the Duke Rhius an old war buddy of the King... Who now has doubts about being buddy buddy with a guy who has clearly gone over the line. Worried about his country and tempted by the thought of putting his daughter on the throne... He agrees to Iya's plan. The plan is simple. Ariani is pregnant with twins. A boy and a girl. Iya tracks down Lhel, a witch belonging to the original people of Skala who have been driven into the hills by the main characters people a long time ago. Lhel practices a different kind of magic then Arkoniel and Iya. A magic forbidden to them. Combining their magic abilities will allow them to craft something more then illusion but less then a full shape change to make Rhius and Ariani's daughter look and feel like a boy to everyone. Including herself. All they have do to do it... Is kill her twin. Iya makes it happen.

Iya is one of the main view point characters here and she is an interesting one. A woman and a wizard in her 3^rd century of life. She shows a lot of certainty and courage. Having been granted a vision she is determined to do her part no matter the cost to herself or sometimes the cost to others. Iya frankly makes Abraham look like wuss here. Having been given orders by her god and told if this doesn't happen her nation is heading to ruin and destruction, she does not hesitate or turn aside. She spends years in the countryside tracking down wizard after wizard to recruit them into her secret society of wizardly cooperation. Making each one swear to support the Queen to come, leaving Duke Rhius to deal with the fall out of her actions that awful night.

Duke Rhius is another character who despite not getting a lot of time on center stage is made entirely human. He is up to his neck in a conscirpy to defy his best friend and to be blunt kill one of his children to save the other from said best friend (let me just say God save us all from such choices). He does this by lying to the wife he loves, the captain of his men who is practically a brother to him, dealing with forbidden magics and afterwards doing whatever it takes to keep the King from being suspicious. He does this all despite the guilt and doubt that is clearly gnawing at his soul the entire time. He is the only character in this little plot to ask hey wait a minute couldn't we do this another way? While his doubt is shown openly by having him question Iya and later Arkoniel. Ms. Flewelling shows this guilt subtly without having him beat his breast or whimper in corners about the state of his soul. This is a book where you'll have to pay attention to catch these details but they're there. Sometimes they pop out in his dealings with his wife, who was driven insane by the fallout of that night... And his daughter Tobin.

Ah, Tobin. Our protagonist and main view point character.... And the source of most of my problems with this book. Just for the record, I am going to use feminine pronouns for Tobin despite the fact that physically she's a boy in this book. Her boyhood is a magically created lie to protect her, she is actually a girl and for simplicity sake's I'm simply going to refer to her as a girl. After that amazing prologue/1^st chapter... I am forced to deal with several chapters of 7/8 year old Tobin trying to piece together just why her life is the way it is. Why is her mother insane? Why is her father often gone? Why is she haunted by a angry spirit that torments almost everyone in her home? Why does she live in a fortress out in the middle of nowhere? You know... Questions we already had have been fully shown the answer to! Frankly I hate that. I hate having crawl through a character figuring out things we already know. There's no mystery or excitement in that! There's only me waiting for the bloody character to catch the fuck up so the story can go somewhere I haven't been! I don't blame Tobin for this, as far she knows she's the first born son of one of the most powerful men in her nation and she is a perfectly normal boy... As far as she knows. Tobin isn't written as a genius child either (which I am okay with)or has Harry Potter but as a perfectly normal kid all things considered. Which means she is terrified of her mother, adores her father and is in turns freaked out and utterly enthralled by the spirit that roams her home. She also is consumed with the desire to be the greatest warrior possible. Mainly I think because that brings her approval and attention, which she gets very little of from her parents. She also gets a lot of acclaim for being an artist has she is capable of great works with wood and wax. I enjoy this part of her character. I am forced to spend more time with Tobin flailing about then I would like, while Iya and Arkoniel are out doing interesting shit. That honestly annoys me, Tobin is the least interesting person in this book but is also the one person I have to spend the most time with.

Thankfully, Ms. Flewelling fixes this by having Arkoniel come to live with Tobin after yet another tragedy slams into her life. Let me talk about Arkoniel, because he is a character we also spend a lot of time with as well. Arkoniel is a young man full of idealism and fire and that loads him with guilt and a powerful desire to do right by Tobin and her family. He also has a vision from his god and it drives him to make his own path in life, leaving Iya to become a tutor and protector to Tobin eventually. He fully believes in the future that Iya is pursuing but hasn't bought in fully to her methods in some cases I think. His relationship with Lhel is a complicated one, he wants the knowledge she has whether it be forbidden or not. But he's also afraid and tempted by her. He doesn't want that knowledge for power sake though, but for two reasons. One he thinks he'll need it to guard Tobin from her enemies. Two, for knowledge's own sake. Arkoniel is one of my favorites here and I enjoyed anytime he was the center of the book. His constant quest to try and do right by Tobin and give her a decent life while everyone else kinda sees her as a tool to be used or a precious object to be hidden way makes him a breath of fresh air.

Arkoniel's return also brings the witch Lhel back into the picture to explain things to Tobin and teach her how to control the angry spirit... Who is the ghost of her murdered brother, chained to her by the magic Lys and Lhel performed the night of their birth. The key to controlling the spirit that Tobin names Brother? A doll crafted by her mother that hides the part of the physical remains of the boy (I did mention creepy right?). Arkoniel also brings in another child character, a country Lord's son named Ki.

Ki is bloody awesome. His appearance compels Tobin to do things and interact with someone beyond an adult-child level. I am supremely thankful for Ki being in this book. He is easily my favorite character. The only person here with a sense of humor and an earthy easy understanding of people. Add in a devoted loyality to Tobin and you got a great kid running around in this book who humanizes Tobin to a great degree. Ki is also the only one willing to meet Tobin at her level and accept her for who she is. Frankly, to my thinking that means there's a huge target on the poor boy's back.

On the flip side we have Lhel, who I am of two minds of. Lhel seems less of a character at times and more of a plot device. Her job is to pass information on to other characters, often challenging their understanding of the world around them and to represent a completely different way of life. But I'm often left groping for a handle on her character. I get that she's a practitioner of an older, rawer form of magic than Iya and Arkoniel with different rules (Iya and Arkoniel get their powers by having ancestry that isn't entirely human and live under rules to maintain it, Lhel gets her power through... I'm not actually sure). I get that she's a representative of a different people and has a different way of viewing things. I don't get what she wants or what she actually believes besides some grab bag Wiccan style paganism with yin/yang elements. She's left her home to teach Tobin and Arkoniel and lives out in the wilderness for years maintaining a watch over Brother and she claims that's the price she bares for creating the spell that makes Tobin look like a boy in the first place. But I'm left with more questions then answers and I'm not entirely sure I believe Lhel.

After Ki is introduced, another tragedy hits and Tobin is forced to come to live in the capital. There we meet Tobin's cousin, the heir to the throne and his court. The prince is a nice teenager, if rowdy but slowly going to rot being left in the capital with no responsibilities and a strong desire to join his father in his wars. We also made very aware of certain realities that Tobin has been sheltered from. First off, draugth and plague have been hammering the country for years now. The poor ride the ragged edge of starvation, which only makes them more vulnerable to plagues that flare up killing thousands if not more. Also... Tobin's home is at war. Sick of the constant raiding and needing loot to pay for imported food (and something to keep people's mind off the idea that this might be a punishment from the Gods for having a King instead of a Queen like they were told to), King Erius has gathered together an alliance to attack Plenimar directly and teach them a lesson. This war is however increasingly costly. This section is rather brief but we do see more portents, as Tobin sees more ghosts and spirits. We also see the children of the nobility that frankly are a mixed bag.

The story starts with Tobin's birth and ends with her... Well let me be blunt about it, it ends with her having her first period. Which is the event where Tobin finally learns that she is not a boy and what happened to Brother in the first place. Sadly, we don't get to see the fall out of this in the book. The book ends there with Lhel creating an even more powerful spell using Brother's bones to keep Tobin looking and feeling like a boy and Tobin reeling under the revelation that her entire life has been a lie. That made me scream with frustration right there! You've been building up to this the whole book and then you tell me to get another book to answer the question! Dirty Pool Ms. Flewelling, this is behavior I hate when I see it from Hollywood, forget the book industry. Still I knew this was a trilogy going in.

The Bone Doll's Twin gets a B-. Well written and masterfully plotted but making me deal with a kid stumbling about to find answers I already know for chapter after chapter and not letting me view the full resolution that you've building up to is going to cost you. I do however recommend it if you're into dark fiction and willing to start a new series. Hopefully when I pick up the 2^nd book, Tobin will be more interesting.