The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold

The Warrior's Apprentice 

by Lois McMaster Bujold 

Ms. Bujold (born Lois McMaster) was born on November 2nd, 1949 in Columbus, Ohio. She was born into the shadow of a great man. Her father Bob McMaster not only helped create a manual that is considered a cornerstone of material engineering (principles of nondestructive testing) but went on to become one of the first TV weathermen (Wait, these are two very different things. That must have been a very meandering career path.). Her father was celebrated for his television work because of the effort he put in to educate viewers of why the weather happened, not just what was happening. This left her feeling like she had big shoes to fill. Another way her father influenced her was introducing her to science fiction and fantasy. She was reading science fiction novels by the time she was nine and became a fan of this new television show called Star Trek. To the point of creating a fanzine called Stardate with her best friend Lillian Stewart Carl. They worked on the fanzine while they were in college, with Ms. Bujold attending Ohio State University, originally for an English degree but she lost interest. She first mett John Bujold at a science fiction convention and married him in 1971, leaving OSU in 1972. She divorced John in 1991. She had two children born in 1979 and 1981 and found herself at home with two small children. During this time Ms. Carl became a professional writer. In fact, she published first. This convinced Ms. Bujold that she could do it to. Turns out she can do it really well. (This is something you could do in the 1970s. Drop out of college to get married, then be successful later. Don’t do it kids, no matter what your parents say about how they could have done it In Their Day™. You probably can’t.{Eh, You can if you go into a trade, there's always a need for welders and carpenters, just don't become unskilled labor friends, the world is unkind to them}You can, but depending on the trade that market can also be volatile, and you’ll still likely end up getting screwed in recessions.  Certainly, though, don’t go “unskilled”.)

She ended up writing three novels in a series while trying to get published, the first was Shards of Honor, the second is Warrior's Apprentice (the subject of this review), and Ethan of Athos. She faced a lot of rejection at first. Science fiction publishers told that she was writing young adult fiction, and young adult publishers told her she was writing science fiction. On the advice of Ms. Carl, she tried a new company that had just started. Baen Books, which at this time was Jim Baen, his wife, and about six employees. Mr. Baen, not only read the books but bought all three and promised her that if she could write three books a year for seven years he would make her a star. Her reaction was to hyperventilate and ask if she could write one book a year for twenty instead. Which honestly worked for her. Ms. Bujold has won six Hugo awards (four for best novel, two for best series), three Nebulas and two Locus awards along with a host of other honors. The only writer who has won more Hugos for best novel was Robert Heinlein himself and only if we count two retro Hugos that were awarded after he died. Her books have been translated into seventeen different languages and just about everything she's written is still in print, which is harder to do than you would think. We're going to look at The Warrior's Apprentice today, which was published in 1986 alongside Shards of Honor and Ethan of Athos. All the books are in the same universe and have characters from other books appearing in them. The reason I went with The Warrior's Apprentice (despite Shards of Honor happening before that novel) is the fact that it's the first outing of what would be the series’ main character and central star, Miles Vorkosigan.

Miles is an interesting character with a large number of contradictions in his life. Born the son of Cordelia and Aral Vorkosigan, he is among the highest of elites on his home planet of Barrayar, however, due to an attack on his mother, while she was pregnant with him, Miles is also physically frail. His bones are extremely brittle and prone to breaking, because of this his growth is stunted and he often needs to wear leg braces and other supports. This is a problem for Miles for several reasons, part of that being the history of Barrayar itself. Let me give y'all a quick explanation, so keep in mind this isn't a complete history. Humanity travels to other planets by the means of using wormholes, it was through one such wormhole that Barrayar was surveyed and colonized. However, when the colonists arrive, the wormhole closed, washing the colonists and the planet in a wave of radiation. The planet was still undergoing terraforming, it had a breathable atmosphere and water but the native plants were mostly toxic to Terran creatures. So the colonists found themselves cut off from the galaxy, with much of their infrastructure incomplete or not yet arrived and a terraforming effort that was collapsing. Much of their technology was destroyed by the radiation. On top of that the radiation wave caused mutations in newly born children and not the cool marvel comics kind, but the kind where most newborns don't survive their first couple of weeks because their bodies simply don't work (Radiation does not work this way. The sorts of radiation that would be released by a wormhole collapse are gamma waves, and some very fast-moving sub-atomic particles that don’t stick around and do damage. We’re talking about acute radiation sickness here, not flipper babies.{I’m thinking that Bujold’s wormholes work differently, because well, it did.}). The toxic plant life also had effects on developing unborn, causing birth defects that weren’t genetic in nature. Without even 20th century medicine to fall back on, the Barrayarians adopted a brutal policy of infanticide for mutated or deformed newborns. This is honestly a part of human history we don't discuss much (because even societies that practice it usually find it horrible, not even Sparta celebrated its child murders) but we find examples of it in every stage of history and across every culture; but that's a topic for another day. Barrayar also regressed socially becoming a planet with a feudal culture and political set up, creating a society that was sexist, classist and authoritarian but was clawing its way forward with native technology being at the steam age. Then the wormhole reopened and Barraya was invaded, while they fought off their invaders, it took them 20 years and 5 million dead (Wait. What? Okay, I am gonna have to assume that this because the invading civilization simply could not be bothered with occupying the place. If they’ve technologically regressed to the steam age there is no way they could repel an extrasolar invasion. Roland Emerich movies to the contrary, we couldn’t do it now.{The invasion wasn’t very popular with the invading Empire’s ruling caste, that’s a complicated story for another book, and the rebels had a lot of outside support. Even then a number of cities were nuked. This didn’t help with the whole birth defect issue}That… is marginally acceptable.). Having acquired advanced technology and after spending some time rebuilding, they started invading people as well. Until they were stopped, partly by outside resistance and partly by not-quite-a-coup by Miles’ parents. His mother Cordelia was not born on Barrayar, but the more advanced Beta colony. Miles’ father served as regent for a new Emperor and then stepped aside once the boy hit sixteen. While regent he pushed to modernize and try to sand down the edges of Barrayar society. But let's turn back to Miles.

So while Miles is very much a member of the upper crust, he is hated by many for his physical weaknesses and deformity. His reaction is a determination to prove them wrong by becoming a military officer like his father and grandfather. Miles' personality is fairly interesting because he swings from hyperactive to morose with very little in between, which honestly suggests bipolar disorder to me (or just a teenager…{this is very much in excess of your average 17 year old. Consider he’s dealing with the burden of people openly stating his parents should have aborted him} No no. Under those conditions, that is normal non-disordered teenager.). Additionally, while he presents an outer face of sardonic wit and cynical intelligence that doesn't quite work for a 17-year-old, he's honestly incredibly insecure and desperate for the acceptance of his society, the love of his old playmate and the validation and respect of his father and grandfather (No no. All of this is perfect for a seventeen year old.). Although he would rather die than admit any of that out loud, pretty much like your normal teenage boy. It also doesn't help that his father and grandfather are titans within his society. His grandfather was one of the m

en who led that long insurgency starting when he was seventeen and his father is one of the most important men on the planet, having had a major role in creating the empire. Much like how Ms. Bujold felt like she was in her father's shadow, Miles feels trapped in his own father's shadow. The novel opens with Miles taking the officer exams to enter the military academy, sure that this will gain him his Grandfather's pride and prove himself to his Father. He's aced the written exams and all he has to do is finish the physical exams and he'll be in. However, Miles manages to break both his legs on the very first obstacle, a wall that he climbs handily enough but doesn't manage to get down from very well at all. This leaves Miles in despair and seems to kill his Grandfather out of disappointment, which is bad but comes just as the old man seemed to be accepting Miles as a person and possibly even a grandchild. This leaves Miles battling depression and when he's offered a chance to take a trip off-planet, he takes off latching on the idea of finding out the identity of the mother of his childhood playmate - and his major crush - Elena. While on Beta Colony, he overhears a confrontation between a pilot trying to keep his ship from being junked and his creditors and decides to intervene on a whim and things get out of control from there. Having assumed the pilot's debts and taken him into his service via feudal oath (the Barrayarians take these dead seriously) Miles needs to raise money fast and he finds a cargo that can do the job. It's a covert cargo of weapons to a warzone. Through a blockade run by a powerful mercenary fleet being paid by the other side. With an aging unarmed cargo ship and a crew of five. Payment on delivery (This kid is an idiot {Listen, it’s his first time and he’s a noble. He’s never had to parse a business contract before}.).

Things swiftly go from bad to worse on their arrival, as they find themselves trapped in a warzone with no friendly ships to call for aid. Miles finds the only way to ensure his survival and the survival of the people he's responsible for is to find a way to subvert or neutralize the mercenaries who are the dominant force in this war. He's got to do this with the only weapons he really has, his ability to think fast on his feet, his utter lack of shame, and willingness to tell any lie necessary to achieve his goals (So, either an idiot, or an inside joke in our Star Wars RPG game. Maybe… both? {Written in 1985, published in 1986, so it’s more our Star Wars game is an inside joke on this novel}). Another interesting thing is that it's Miles impulsiveness that got him into this situation, this whole series of events is a direct result of his character flaws, flaws that dog throughout the story and exact a terrible toll on him that will likely haunt him for the rest of his life. However, while he is impulsive and prone to wild mood swings, he is honestly very intelligent and capable of solving problems. This doesn't come off as some sort of Xanatos style plans-within-plans style of intelligence but rather the intelligence of a man who can pile improvisation on top of improvisation and keep a dozen lies up in the air at once. He's also backed up by the grim and dour Sgt Bothari, who has been his bodyguard and in a way his surrogate father for his whole life. Sgt. Bothari is a dangerous man but one who is willing to do anything to keep Miles alive and even happy. I can't discuss his character without spoilers, so I'll just say I find him tragic and uncomfortably real.

He's also supported by Elena, who is Bothari's daughter. Elena and Miles grew up together, so while Elena is uncomfortably aware of the class differences between them, Miles is willing to completely ignore them if it means her love and acceptance. Now, I suppose this could be considered a feminist storyline within the plot because Elena finds herself growing into a capable and competent person and commander once she's outside of the sexist society of Barrayar, which doesn't allow women to serve in combat positions or hold to many positions of authority. While this doesn't bother Miles, it does put a rift between them because Miles is focused on getting home and Elena is starting to think she doesn't want to go back. However, Miles is a lot like her in that to find out just what his gifts were and their full extent, he had to leave Barrayar behind. The big difference is because of his class and gender, Miles can go back and exercise those gifts and Elena can't. This brings an element of coming of age to the story and subtly reinforces Miles' privileged status even if he spends the entire book as an underdog. The struggles and obstacles that Miles has to go through are very real but at least because of his class, he'll be rewarded equally to his struggle. Whereas Elena's reward will be to be told to forget this ever happened and find a nice young boy to marry (See, that’s what she can do if/when she gets back home. Work to violently overthrow the patriarchal and feudal social order! Break out the guillotines! Bring on the Bourgeois Revolution as a first stage and then, the Next Stage. You know what that Next Stage is! We shall not make excuses for the terror! Sorry, that just kinda came out there. Damn Lenin demons *takes a deep breath*. I need to remember Rosa.{This is why we have that 3 dollar patron level folks}). The group is rounded off by a pair of strays (Why are you disparaging the valiant proletarians by calling them strays?{because they're literally people on the verge homelessness that Miles picked up because he could. Them being strays isn't a judgment on their value of people, it's a matter of fact statement of their socio-economic state}), that pilot that Miles picked up earlier and a Barrayarian deserter who Miles took with him out of a combination of pity and desperation as he has the engineering skills to keep their old ship from falling out of the void. I'm not going to discuss these two either because of the massive spoilers that would result.

As military science fiction, this book is an odd one. Taking a character from a very militant society who at first look cannot physically fulfill the role that society demands of him and throws him into a situation where he needs to make his gifts fit the situation or perish. While there are many battles within the novel, the main struggle is a psychological one as Miles has to win the battle not on strength of arms but through misdirection, cunning, and sheer audacity. I say audacity because who would ever commit to as big a lie as the one Miles peddles throughout the story and expect it to stick? Which is another unorthodox look at war in this novel, which is just how much perception and deception play a part in it. As a military science fiction novel, The Warrior's Apprentice goes very much against the stereotypes and shows us just how much room there is in the genre for variation. It is also a very well written work and I do encourage everyone to give it a try. While it is a sequel to Shards of Honor, it's a completely self-contained work. You can read The Warrior's Apprentice on its own and you're not missing anything important to the plot or the main characters partly because Shards of Honor happened before Miles was even born. Ms. Bujold puts a lot of social commentary here but does it without preaching. the social implications of what Elena's gone through and Miles’ position are part of the plot and there's no soapboxing to be here. This honestly makes it more effective and I think less likely for the reader to simply ignore or reject it. Also, I think Miles is a hero that works just as well in the 21st century as he did in the 20th so hopefully he'll be in print for some time to come. The Warrior's Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold gets an A.

So this opens our month of looking at woman writers of military science fiction!  Which was a theme voted on by our patrons.  If you would like to join us and vote on possible theme months or upcoming book reviews, join us at https://www.patreon.com/frigidreads where a 1$ a month gets you a vote and there are greater rewards at higher levels.  Next week join us for Elizabeth Moon's Trading In Danger.  Until then, Keep Reading!

Red text is your editor Dr. Ben Allen

Black text is your reviewer Garvin Anders

Demon Slayer anime episodes 1-4 By Haruo Sotozaki

Demon Slayer anime episodes 1-4

By Haruo Sotozaki

Before I being I should note that I'm not a hardcore anime fan. While I have watched anime series in the past since high school honestly… I'm fairly casual about it and don't devote nearly as much time or effort to it as I do my books. For example, I don’t bother really learning the names of directors, voice actors or show producers and so on. If I did, I'd likely be reviewing anime series instead of books, assuming I didn’t take one look at youtube and decide there were plenty of anime reviewers already. However, I should note that I was exposed to the anime first and picked the manga second to see where this had all come from. So keep in mind that might be influencing my review. Additionally, as many of you expect by now, Demon Slayer the anime will be getting two grades, the first is how it stands on its own and second being how good of an adaptation it is. I will only be discussing the first 4 episodes as they are an adaptation of the first manga, that I just reviewed. Demon Slayer is created by Ufotable Inc, a studio founded in 2000 by staffers from TMS Entertainment through a subsidiary branch. It's known for claymation sequences, Fate/Zero, adaptations of the Tales of video games and for owing the Japanese government a large amount of money. The lead director Haruo Sotozaki is known for directing a number of those Tales of adaptations. What little I could find out about Mr. Sotozaki is he's known for being fairly decent if not inspired work with some calling him conservative but able to turn in good work. This is my first experience with Mr. Sotozaki’s work so my own feelings are that he did a workmanlike job with this and I appreciate it.

The anime gives a lot more attention to the training of Tanjiro devoting 2 episodes of the 4 we're covering. It does a really good of conveying just how brutal and exhausting that training is despite using the standard montage narrated by the main character method of showing it. Although I think a lot of credit for that has to go to Natsuki Hanae, Tanjiro's voice actor, who found a way to communicate just how tired Tanjiro was with a single gasp in episode 2 and manages to sound like he's exhausted for most of the training. When he's not terrified that the training is actually going to kill him. I don't know if he just didn't sleep or went for a 5-mile run or something before reading his lines but it really worked for me. I think this also laudable when you consider the fact that I know all of about 15 words of Japanese, so Mr. Hanae manages to jump the language barrier and do so pretty effectively. I do feel somewhat sorry for Nezuko's voice actress who got all of like 4 lines and then was left with nothing as Nezuko spends of the run time either with a muzzle on or in a dead sleep. I did find training more interesting in the anime. I had doubts about the training system specifically, but those were verified and confronted in the story itself. I won't go to much into it due to spoilers but I do find some dark humor in the fact that Tanjiro basically had to be trained by a pair of ghosts looking for closure in order to really master his skills. Sometimes it takes the patience of the dead to really see something through. That said, I do consider the fact that a good chunk of two episodes is basically a montage meant to burn through 18 months a bit of a weakness in the story, which is much more noticeable in the anime than in the book. I get that not much happened in those 18 months compared to afterward but it kinda glosses over what would be a really important time in Tanjiro's life that would form how he deals with the world afterwards. Remember this is pretty much a 13 years old boy (15 years old when goes to the final selection I should note) who has lost his entire family to a brutal attack and is now spending everyday training until he falls over to kill things. This is a weakness in the manga as well but it's more glaring in the anime since they devote more time to it.

The art for the series is fairly good, with striking character designs that make every character easy to tell apart and well-animated backgrounds. The demon designs are well done as well. Even the demons that aren't heavy altered from the human baseline are easily recognizable as something other than human. The final enemy that Tanjiro faces, a demon that has basically altered himself to a mountainous body made up of grasping arms, a mouth and leering eyes is hideously striking and memorable. The anime doesn’t alter the character design work of the manga but does add color and detail to it. Although this isn't the first villain I've seen from Japan who seems to be a pile of hands and arms. So I'm wondering if some cultural context or reference that I'm missing out on here or if I'm reading way to much into it. The music is also very well done able to match the tone of the scene and invoke emotion without overbearing what's going on on the screen. All together the first 4 episodes are a good opening to an anime, we get the inciting incident, the character's reaction, the first obstacle and goal and the first triumph of the main character which leads him to a larger world. That said, there’s not a lot done here to make the anime really stand out, on a plotting or visual level. The voice acting and music do add to the overall experience but I don’t really think this was an amazing start. A good start definitely and certainly better than some I’ve seen (For example a while ago I tried Black Clover and that went stale for me fast). So as a stand-alone I would give the first 4 episodes a B. It’s well done, certainly better than average but not quite there yet.   Before anyone gets excited, remember we're only looking at the first 4 episodes. 

As an adaptation it does a remarkable job, adding to the manga instead of taking away and there are a number of scenes that have been lifted straight from the book. In fact, it follows the book almost beat for beat. That kinda hampers the anime a bit since with a bit of creativity they could have addressed the training without using an old stand by but it was a workable use of it. That said they did a great job telling the story while translating it to a new medium and did so maintaining the same story beats and character work. They also managed to add to that mostly through the efforts of the music and the voice cast. Although I should note that the work on the backgrounds was a big plus as well. Honestly, you could move between manga and anime without any real problems. As an adaptation, I'm giving it an A-, it's almost perfect but at times the strict adherence to the manga holds it back slightly. Thankfully the source material is so good that this isn't really a terrible drawback.

Join me next week as we embark into Military Science Fiction month, looking at the lady authors of the genre.  Until then, keep reading!

Or... Watching in this case?  I'm sure y'all can figure it out.

Demon Slayer Vol 1: Cruelty by Koyohara Gotoge

Demon Slayer Vol 1: Cruelty

by Koyohara Gotoge

Koyohara Gotoge was born in Japan on May 5th, 1988. She first gained attention by taking part in the 2013 Jump Treasure Newcomer Manga Awards with a one-shot named Kagirigiri about a young man with a sword hunting a magic-using vampire. She also submitted a story in 2014 named Monju Shirou Kyoudai that unfortunately, I wasn't able to find anything about except that there are bugs and young ladies involved somehow (I… potentially approve?). Rokkotsu, her third work was also released in 2014. I was able to find a Japanese version showing a young man roaming around what looks like modern Japan fighting spirits and supernatural creatures that plague people. In 2015 she published Haeniwa no Zigzag, which is about a young man able to lift curses. Now, each of these works was a one-shot story that, while often over forty pages, were done fairly quickly. It wasn't until 2016 that she started on her first series, published in Weekly Shonen Jump: Demon Slayer. Before we jump into that series, let me talk about Shonen Jump. Weekly Shonen Jump is a magazine that features multiple comics and is the dominant magazine/comic in Japan, and might be the best selling and long-running magazine in the world. It was first published on July 2nd, 1968. Today it sells around 1.5 million copies a week (Holy Crap), compare this to the US market where a successful comic book rarely gets past 100,000. The current line up has such works as Demon Slayer, My Hero Academia, Dr. Stone; and in the past works such as Dragon Ball Z, JoJo's Bizarre Adventure, and Rurouni Kenshin also appeared. While aimed at younger boys, it also boasts a large female readership (polls conducted in the early 2000s showed it as the favorite magazine of choice for middle school girls and boys, over 60% of its readership being under the age of 14). Which may explain some trends in anime in general but let's get to Demon Slayer already shall we? Quick note: There will be spoilers.

Demon Slayer takes place in Japan during the reign of Emperor Taisho (aka the Taisho period) between the years of 1912 and 1926. During this time Japan is rapidly modernizing and democratizing with a liberal movement known as the Taisho Democracy increasingly taking up the reigns of government. I'm not entirely sure when in the Taisho era but I'm leaning towards the beginning and possibly even before World War I. To be honest, most of the series as I've seen it is in the Japanese countryside where the outside world doesn't have much meaning at this time (Which makes dating things a bit difficult, yes. If you want to go Full Ham you could maybe use fashion, if the author is particularly fastidious about such things.). The main character is Tanjiro Kamado, who lives on a mountain with his large but somewhat struggling family. That struggle is unsurprising, given that his father is mentioned as having passed away recently (I say recently because one of his siblings is barely a toddler). To support them Tanjiro sells charcoal that he has to carry from the mountain all the way down to the village. The series opens with Tanjiro heading out to sell charcoal so he can buy food for his brothers and sisters as they good-naturedly clamber to come with him. Their Mother puts a stop to this, as the journey is a long one and might be dangerous for children. Tanjiro also proves popular in town and can even use his hound-like sense of smell to determine who broke a plate. However, he spends to long in town and has to spend the night with an elder of the town who insists that he do so to avoid being attacked and eaten by a demon. Tanjiro goes to sleep thinking this is just a bullshit excuse because the old man is lonely, and showing what a good guy he is resolved to bring his younger siblings next time so the old man will have more company. Tanjiro takes off the next morning and arrives home to find everyone violently murdered and blood just everywhere. Interestingly enough, it doesn't look like anyone in the family has been especially... gnawed upon. It's also interesting that they're only attacked after their father is dead. I may be overthinking it but I find myself wondering if there wasn't another motive to the attack, because if a demon attacked Tanjiro's family to devour their flesh... Why is no one eaten? I will ask readers who are ahead of me in the series not to provide spoilers, please. (Supposition: The demons don’t eat the flesh, they’re eaten in other ways. Or the demons could be after something else entirely. Dun. Dun! DUN!)

Now Tanjiro isn't the only survivor, his sister Nezuko survived but was grievously injured. Not seeing any other choice Tanjiro picks her up and starts moving down the mountain as fast he can in the snow and cold, and it's here that our story begins. Because Nezuko didn't entirely survive or at least she didn’t survive as a human being. Instead, she has become a monster or as it's translated in the series Demon. Tanjiro realizes this when she wakes up and promptly attacks him, although his pleas do seem to be getting through to her. I'll admit to being picky here about the whole thing because being a Westerner and a Christian for me, it's not a bloody Demon until it's a fallen and corrupted divine servant that is literally crawling out of the bowels of hell (Well yes, but this is a Japanese demon.). These demons seem more comparable to the Oni of Japanese folklore (creatures that feed on humans who have a wide variety of magical powers and massive physical strength) or vampires that eat flesh instead of drinking blood; given that they were all once human and will die if exposed to direct sunlight. Although I should note that the demons here can survive in direct sunlight. That said I'm willing to give it a grudging pass based on translations issues. Now Tanjiro learns all of this when he encounters Giyu Tomioka, a demon hunter who tries to take Nezuko's head.

This is a great sequence because we manage to learn things about all three characters and Ms. Koyohara does this very economically while still being very entertaining. In a brief confrontation, we learn Tanjiro is intensely devoted to protecting Nezuko and has an equally intense faith that she can restrain her darker urges. We also learn that when pushed he is capable of violent action and tactical thinking.  To the point of being willing to embrace tactics that have a high chance of injury or death if it will bring him the best chance of victory. We learn that Giyu is a cold but not uncaring or unreasonable man. He confronts Tanjiro, questions and roughly tests him but in the end, encourages him in an aloof and rather cold kind of way. Additionally, when Nezuko breaks free and throws herself between Giyu and an unconscious Tanjiro, to protect Tanjiro instead of attacking her helpless brother, we learn about Giyu and Nezuko. Giyu's reaction tells us that he will react to the situation in front of him instead of the situation in his head, being willing to take his observations without layering his preconceptions on top of them. That said, he will test his observations and just doesn’t accept things at face value. Which are enormously valuable and rare skills. We learn about Nezuko that having gotten past the initial trauma of her transformation she can and wants to control the urges that come with being a demon. Another rare and valuable skill. This leads to Giyu deciding to spare Nezuko and giving Tanjiro directions to a trainer to become Demon Slayer and begin his quest for a cure for his sister. Of course, the trip isn't free of dangers but I'll let you see for yourself what Tanjiro and Nezuko have to deal with.

The rest of the manga covers his rather brutal and difficult training under the masked Sakonji Urokodaki. Over the next two years, Tanjiro is trained in swordsmanship and a martial art focused on using his breathing to enhance his speed and strength so he can fight demons on more even terms. This isn't an uncommon idea since learning to breathe effectively is part of many training programs but Ms. Koyohara does do a good job of using it as the central pillar of the Demon Slayer arts and as an explanation of why her characters can do the crazy stuff they will be doing later. That said, I do think Urokodaki's training program has an issue since Tanjiro needed a pair of ghosts to show up and help him achieve full mastery of the skills he was taught but that's a discussion best dealt in the next volume I think. The manga ends with Tanjiro being sent to the final selection process, which I thought was honestly insane. My first thought was that the final selection process would be an advanced training course that weeds out those unsuited for the Demon Slayer life gradually while teaching such skills like how to investigate or find a hiding demon. Instead, Tanjiro is sent up a mountain where several demons have been imprisoned and being told he needs to survive up there with the demons for 7 days. He's not alone but none of the others are working as a unit so it's kinda everyone for themselves against the magically powered, man-eating horrors. This test is not graded pass/fail. This test is graded survive/horrible death! This is honestly the equivalent of having Marines who just finished their training have to storm a beach against live fire before they can actually join the armed services (I mean… D-Day was kinda like that with promotions to Specialist. {I can’t agree considering everyone in D-Day went through a lot of training specifically for D-Day and was already a member of an Allied military}). It kinda tells me one reason why there don't seem to be a lot of Demon Slayers and I'm sure the series will show me more.

That said, I enjoyed this book. Tanjiro is a great character, he's kind-hearted but still capable of action. His loyalty to his family doesn't override his beliefs or thoughts. Giyu and Sakonji are interesting characters as well even if we didn't an in-depth look at them. At this point, I can't say we have a lot to work with when it comes to Nezuko but I'm sure that her time will come. The fact that Ms. Koyohara can communicate so much about characters without long monologues or asides but through their interactions with each other and the world around them is the sign of someone who believes in showing, not telling. She does this not just with the confrontation between the Komado's and Giyu but in the opening sequence when she tells us everything we need to know about Tanjiro's life and family to understand the depths of his tragedy. The combat style that Tanjiro learns is also interesting, being water-based but more as the basis of the art's philosophy and style which gives it a distinctness. I also really like the art style of the series and will be discussing that more in-depth when we look at the anime. This is a great way to start a series and I'm very excited about it. That said, I'm not thrilled about ending on a cliffhanger, I know it's likely unavoidable given the roots of the series as part of a weekly release but it still irks me. That said that's my biggest complaint (the translation issue isn't an issue with the story, just how it's been transcribed to English so won't be affecting the grade) besides thinking we could have more from Nezuko. So I'm giving Demon Slayer Volume I by Koyohara Gotoge an A-. Come for the sword fights and violent murder, stay for the characters and good storytelling.

So tomorrow I'll be posting a review of the first 4 episodes of the anime.  Next week, my patrons voted for a military science fiction month and we will provide.  Based on their votes your editor and I have decided that this November will be the Women of Military Science Fiction month, where I will review a military science fiction novel written by a lady author.  First up as requested by our patrons, Warriors Apprentice by Lois McMaster Bujold. Thank you for your support and keep reading!  

Traitors, Thieves, and Liars by Rick Griffin

Traitors, Thieves, and Liars 

By Rick Griffin

It's only been about 3 reviews since I reviewed Argo, another story by Rick Griffin. So I won't repeat another thumbnail biography of the man. I figured since my biggest frustration with Argo was that it was honestly too much story for its small page count, I should give Mr. Griffin another shot to see what he could do with some actual room to let his characters develop and his themes unwind. Traitors, Thieves and Liars is that work, a 300-page rewrite of his short story Ten Thousand Miles Up. Now I haven't read Ten Thousand Miles Up, so I'll be approaching Traitors, Thieves, and Liars as a completely new work. Mr. Griffin published this work through Amazon in February of 2019. I will note that this book is set in a universe shared with Greg Luterman

This novel is a space opera featuring anthropomorphic aliens, or rather, aliens that look like earth animals (Excellent the furries are back. Privet tovarisch). This is honestly a recurring theme in science fiction and fantasy although usually, you have a host of human-looking aliens with a few creatures that look like Earth animals thrown in for flavor. The most popular animal to be turned into an alien race in science fiction is cats as far as I can tell (In Deathworlders it’s raccoons.). In the universe of Traitors, Thieves, and Liars, there are no humanoid alien races, however, although not all species are one-to-one matchups to earth creatures. Case in point the Geroo, who are a kind of kangaroo/otter mix in their looks only they are bipedal and stand about 5 and a half feet tall. Most of the book is told through the viewpoint of Geroo characters, with the main characters being Captain Ateri and his chosen successor SubCommander Gert. Before I discuss them, let me discuss the situation of the Geroo species.

The Geroo's homeworld was destroyed generations ago and the Geroo exists mostly as refugees with many enslaved by the Krakun, a massive reptilian species that is incredibly advanced in technology, but brutal in its morality and their treatment of pretty much everyone else. The Krakun destroyed the Geroo's homeworld while trying to terraform it into a copy of their own (Jesus. They are dicks. Terraforming an already inhabited planet is messed up.{Oh the Krakun elite class is made up of monsters, no excusing it}). Since the Krakun are sulfur breathers and the Geroo breath oxygen this would have genocided the Geroo by default (Generally, if you need to terraform a planet, you’re going to kill the inhabitants except for some hardy bacteria {Wouldn’t introducing Terran plants and animals to a different planet, even if had the same atmosphere set up as Earth count as Terraforming though?} Kind of? I’d call it soft terraforming). However, deciding that they could be profitable the Krakun enslaved a number of the Geroo population. As will no doubt excite my editor's prejudices, the Krakun seem to practice a form of crony capitalism. The corporation that Ateri and Gert are owned by a company named Planetary Acquisitions which receives massive government support and aid. The Geroo live scattered across the galaxy in small colonies providing disposal labor, in remote stations and outposts or vast generation ships surveying the galaxy for more worlds for the Krakun to terraform (Krakunform?) into copies of their homeworld. Many of these communities are completely unaware of the other Geroo and are not allowed to interact. They have no say in their own affairs. Down to the Krakun dictating how many Geroo may be born in any generation and even when the Geroo will die because they execute any that reach the age of 60 years (Holy shit). They have no rights (Well yes, that’s what a slave is.{Being a slave is always a bad thing, but slaves in several cultures had rights, some could even own property, testify in court and leave property to their heirs. Not the Southern US of course but the slave code practiced in the Americans was an extremely harsh and inhumane one even among slave codes} Leaving Marxism aside for a moment, without due process, it cannot be said that someone has rights, because the ability to arbitrarily kill or beat someone into submission rather puts the kebash on all the others.{That’s just it, under some codes, masters didn’t have the right to put their slaves to death. They were still slaves so their lives sucked and enforcement of such laws were always a problem but we have trouble enforcing a vast number of our own laws. I’m not arguing in favor of slavery, I’m saying their position is pretty bad even compared to historical slaves}), as the Krakun can execute them for any reason without any sanction or even eat them if they feel like it. The Geroo on the generation ships have the closest thing to freedom in their lives as they can go years without even seeing a Krakun. However, the ships are remotely powered through stargates via a device called the Trinity. Any tampering or any detected research on the Trinity can lead to extreme punishments. For example, the story opens with a Krakun slave master declaring that he will turn off the power to a ship caught researching their power source... Unless the Geroo present him with the skins of 200 officers when he arrives on their ship in a few hours. He also broadcasts what happens on the ship in question to every other generation ship.

The broadcast was especially terrifying for Captain Ateri because he had been running his own conspiracy to study the Trinity that he dubbed the exit plan. Which was fairly bold of him since he was already in disfavor, having lost an eye and been whipped for some unmentioned prior act of defiance. Faced with the possibility that if his plan is found out, that his crew won't be so lucky as the last... He gives up... Or does he? When a group of alien pirates approaches him with a complex but barely possible plan to steal a piece of secret Krakun technology and offer in exchange a way to power his ship without ever needing the Krakun again, Ateri can't help but say yes. With his 60th birthday weeks away, who can blame him? Especially since the plan involves making the Krakun think they've found a viable planet for Krakunforming and Captain Ateri knows an obscure company rule that states no one can be killed while investigating a viable planet, no matter how long that takes. Of course, there are complications. First of all, they're going to have to hack the computers surveying the planet to make sure that it reads as viable, no matter what. This means bringing in a bunch of aliens while keeping it a secret from his 10,000 strong crew and his masters, who are going to be paying closer attention to him given the new planet. Too close for him to devote any time to working with a bunch of pirate aliens whose very presence could get everyone killed. Everyone is in danger of being killed as well because their new master is the daughter of the CEO and can't wait to order the entire officer corps of the ship executed so she can be sure she's properly feared (...Wow. I mean, she could just do it arbitrarily, right? Just go full Belgian Congo on a ship. {She is subject to company rules just like everyone else, company rules state that as long as there is a possibility that the planet is viable, No One Gets Killed}). Captain Ateri simply can't afford to place one foot wrong with her. So he's gotta tap the one Geroo besides his mate that he can trust to do this job. That would be SubCommander Gert.

SubCommander Gert is a good guy, fairly honest, good-natured and straightforward if a tad naive. At first, I was seriously struggling to see how he was in the running for Captain, he has next to no command presence, is kinda socially awkward and can be honestly a bit of a doof at times. However, Captain Ateri points out that Gert has never failed at anything major in his life, being able to succeed through a combination of natural talent, determination and pure luck. This would be a case of telling and not showing but the book does make a case for Gert subtly, showcasing that he's very brave, able to choose a course quickly and commit to it in a crisis and able to do what it takes to achieve an objective even when things keep getting worse. Which they do. Elements of the plan go wrong from day one, from their genius alien hacker screwing up her first covert insertion, to needed equipment explosively malfunctioning. Course this is when the two other traits that Gert has come into play. Gert is lucky. A lot of that luck comes from his determination but some of it is just the sheer dumb luck that can separate insanely successful leaders from failures and object lessons. The second is in the grand tradition of space captains, most famously Captain Kirk (And G’Kar). Gert is really into alien girls and it seems alien girls are really into him (Oh Dear God.). Gert is going to have to summon every scrap of wit and talent he has because he's operating alone and unafraid with no support from his unknowing crew and his Captain only really able to cover for him after the fact. Of course, there's the question of whether or not Gert can stand up to this stress test from the acid bowels of hell or is he going to finally break and fail during the most important mission of his life?

Mr. Griffin does a good job fully illustrating the many problems the Geroos face living under a frankly merciless and brutal regime that doesn't even value them as sapient but as self-directing cogs in the vast machine of profit and expansion (I mean, that’s how the average corporation sees its workers, just look at Amazon.). By keeping the story from their point of view we are forced to experience the universe the same way they do, a dangerous, uncertain place where any safety is an illusion because it can all be snatched away at the whim of a reptilian sociopath. The one Karkun we do see in the story openly sneers at “mammalian emotions”, just as an example. Which does bring up one flaw, that every Karkun we met is an utter monster. I mean that may be due to the isolation of the Geroo from their masters, they only met rich and powerful Karkun who profit massively from their labor but I would have liked some indication that the Karkun weren’t entirely made up of the kind of psychopaths who think eating sapient creatures is a wonderful hobby. Otherwise, I’m asking how did these manics avoid fucking each other over before they ran into aliens to exploit?

Mr. Griffin also does a good job keeping the Geroo from being too human but human enough that a reader doesn't have problems empathizing with them. When you're writing nonhuman viewpoints you do have to be careful to walk that line. Make your characters to human and readers begin to ask what's the point of having them be aliens, make them too alien and most of your readers won't be able to stay interested. Mr. Griffin also does a good job of giving us hints through dialogue and action that there is a wider universe out there but since most of our characters don't have a lot of contact with it, he preserves the mystery just enough to encourage the reader to want to find out more. That said Gert carries the story on his furry back, a lot of whether the story works for you will depend on your opinion of Gert. Because in the end, this book is about Gert and him becoming an adult and officer, which means finding out just what it’s like to make decisions that impact a lot of people quickly and on imperfect information. His naivety and general stumbling about can be a bit wearing at times. Additionally, there are times when it feels he only succeeds on pure luck or plot fiat. On the other hand, I do like his honesty and bravery. He's willing to literally step between his people and danger and pay whatever that costs. So I can see both sides here and I can't say I'm a full-blown fan of Gert, just that he doesn't irritate me. Also while Mr. Griffin tries to tell a complete story and stop at a natural stopping point in the story, it still feels kinda abrupt as an ending. I do also want to note that this is an adult book, there are characters that very clearly engage in sexual relations, although there are no graphic of explicit scenes (honestly you won't see me review books that are graphic or explicit enough to edge into erotica, as that's just not where I'm wanting to take the review series). Either way, I wouldn't hand this book to the kids. I also feel that a lot of the plot hinges on Gert's dumb luck which detracts from the story. Still, I found the characters and the world interesting enough and Mr. Griffin’s willingness to inflict rather drastic and meaningful setbacks to make up for Gert's luck balances it out to a point. I do hope that future books tone Gert's luck down a tad and give us more of him succeeding based on his wits and talents, however. All things considered, this is a great improvement over my last experience with Mr. Griffin’s work. I’m giving Traitors, Thieves, and Liars by Rick Griffin a B-.

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Factotum by D.M. Cornish

Factotum

By D.M. Cornish 

So here we are at the end of the series: The Monster Blood Tattoo. Factotum by David M Cornish, an Australian born illustrator, was published in 2010. The entire series was born out of a set of illustrations and notes of a fantasy world that Mr. Cornish had been writing down for ten years before his editor found out and demanded he write some stories set there. Mr. Cornish wrote and published three novels (all reviewed here), a book with two short stories, and some additional stories on the internet. Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be any other work in this world coming. In the unlikely event that Mr. Cornish reads this review, I would encourage him to return to this world and grace us with more stories set in it. Before I get started there is no way to review this book without spoiling Foundling or Lamplighter which are the first and second books of the series. So I would encourage you to seek out those books first and give them a read.

Factotum takes place on the Half-Continent, a setting that can be best explained as merging Oliver Twist with a Dungeons and Dragons game where the Dungeon Master is either a genius or a drug-fueled mad man (Warum nicht beide?). Of course, speaking from personal experience there are times where there doesn't be much of a difference (Indeed!). On the Half-Continent, the most powerful state is the Haacobin Empire; a sprawling Holy Roman Empire like state of semi-independent cities, feudal domains, and princely states, with a powerful Emperor and a weak central government (Hang the parasites, all power to the workers!). I will note here for upcoming writers that a Holy Roman Empire style state is a fantastic setting for many stories and allows for a lot of variations of government and traditions within the same country (Communism aside, this is definitely true.). The Empire is beset by enemies within and without, not just human enemies but a vast array of creatures called monsters. The various creatures that are counted among monsterdom are wildly varied in size and form, but many of them are dangerous to humanity and see them as a simple food source. Meanwhile, there are those monsters who would live in peace with humanity but the humans of the Empire have decided better safe than sorry. That said, I do have to point out that humanity has its own array of sins to account for (Well...yes). Such as trying to create their own monsters through dark experiments (to be fair, these are illegal but that doesn't stop a lot of people) and using captive monsters for fighting pits against specially bred dogs or in some of the more twisted places human fighters. As you can imagine a sense of grievance and righteousness is common through humanity and monsterkind meaning that it's hard to get anyone interested in peace.

Our main character Rossamund Bookchild is a citizen of the Empire and in Lamplighter just managed to avoid being tried for the crime of being a monster. I found the charge a bit ironic since one of the arguments his accusers used was that he was to good at killing monsters to be anything but one of them. Rossamund was saved by this when Europe, aka the Duchess of waiting of Naimes, invoked a feudal privilege to simply cancel a trail on account of her being one of the most important people in the Empire. This is on top of Europe being a professional monster hunter and a lahzars. A lahzar is a person who through having a set of artificially created organs implanted gains powers and abilities beyond that of mortal men. This doesn't come without a price, as they must at regular intervals drink fairly complicated potions called treacles to keep their body from rejecting the organs in question. On top of that Society's relationship with Lahzars is a complicated one, on the one hand, lahzars make the majority of professional monster hunters and without them, settlements outside of massive fortress cities might not even be possible as they roam the land slaying monsters who prey on humanity. They are paid handsomely for their labors as well as often being the stars of stories and plays. That said, they are often looked down upon as living beyond the bounds of polite society and many prefer that they do the dirty work and move on quickly. I'm honestly pretty sympathetic to the lazhars here, as I've had some experiences like that myself. Europe manages to dodge a lot due to being heir to what is practically a head of state however and can rub elbows with Arch Dukes, Barons and the vastly wealthy whenever she feels like it and she feels like having Rossamund serve her as her factotum. Europe isn't Rossamund's only ally, as his old teachers from the orphanage where he was raised reappear, determined to protect him to the last. They're both old retired sailors and honestly, I enjoyed reading their dialogue as it is full of salty sailor nonsense. Despite being in their old age, they're both rather talented and skilled men and are willing to make sacrifices to protect Rossamund. Which honestly adds to the burden Rossamund feels about his situation, it's all worked together rather well.

This book picks fairly quick from the end of Lamplighter, with Rossamund serving as Europe's factotum, which is a catch-all term for the men and women who handle the affairs and supplies of wealthy lazhars so they can focus on killing monsters. Among his duties is brewing and serving Europe treacles, something he proves to be rather skilled at due to his prior training as a Skold. A Skold being someone who makes and uses various potions and chemicals for healing and warfare. Before the creation of Lazhars, Skolds did most of the monster hunting but they can't match the sheer killing power of someone who can shoot lightning from their fingers. A good chunk of the book takes place in the city of Brandenbrass, where Europe makes her headquarters much to the dismay of the current city's Duke. Rossamund finds himself having to navigate an unfamiliar society as he's been elevated to new heights while fending off rumors that he is a monster birthed from magical mud pits in the image of man. The problem being, what if the rumors are right? Even if Europe decides she doesn't care that one of the people she's closest to is a monster, can she fight the entire world to keep him safe? While Rossamund makes friends and enemies of his own while trying to find out the truth of his origin, he increasingly has to ask an important question. Is staying with Europe worth the price she'll have to pay? Because while he is growing into abilities of his own, he is not a fully grown man yet and it is Europe who will have to fight, be it socially, legally or with her amazing abilities to keep him from literally being thrown to the dogs.

Brandenbrass is fairly interesting but the first part of the book where we are introduced to the setting is honestly the slowest. Much of it is set up for the plot and main conflict of the book, which is well done but I honestly found myself wanting to get to it. I don't think this is a failure of the book but I do think it's because we have an unfinished conflict boiling from Lamplighter that I wasn't that interested in more set up. Brandenbrass, a large powerful walled city with an ancient forest that no one dares go into at its very heart is a great idea and Mr. Cornish does labor to give a good view of it. Additionally, the most interesting characters in Brandenbrass are the ones we see the least of. For example, a fellow aristocratic woman who is also a monster hunter that only gets about 2 scenes. Much here is hinted at but given the book's complete devotion to only showing Rossamund's point of view, we don't get to explore these characters or their relationships to each other. That said D.M. Cornish does give us payout for all this build-up and hinting. When Rossamund enemies decide to make their move the result is an explosive and deadly fight. Additionally, we get to see Europe at work when she takes Rossamund out on a monster hunt and it's there we learn that not every human has set their hand against monster kind. Some would live peacefully with them whenever possible and some outright worship monsters. Those who worship monsters are no friend to their fellow man and you can imagine how they feel about monster hunters. So when Rossamund and Europe find themselves the focus of such a cult while monster hunting in addition to other enemies circling them. It makes for a dramatic confrontation, I am somewhat disappointed that some of the villains from the last book are handled off-screen in favor of dealing with new enemies but the battle that we do get do make for that.

This book is the end of Rossamund's story in a lot of ways and I don't want to spoil it. I will say that it's in this book that Rossamund learns who he is and what that means. It's here that he also decides his place and relationship to society at large. While his childhood has been over for quite some time at this point, this book really does mark his final steps into adulthood and because of that and the decisions he faces there is a bittersweet tone to it. Europe and he share real admiration and affection for each other, an unlikely friendship that makes both of them better people in the end. While I would love to see more stories set in the half continent or even other foreign lands away from the half continent, I do think this book ends Rossamund's story fairly convincingly. The entire series is set in an incredibly well-realized and vividly imagined world, helped with illustrations and a formidable appendix in the back of the book (where appendixes belong I remind you). While it started slow, it finishes well and brings everything together fairly decently. I'm honestly glad I read this series and I'm sorry to see it come to close. If nothing else D.M Cornish joins writers such as Garth Nix in making a strong argument that Australia can produce some very good fantasy writers. Factotum by D.M. Cornish gets an A- from me.

Factotum was one of the novels voted for by our patrons to be reviewed in October. If you like to take part in the vote, or suggest new books or vote for theme months, discuss the reviews and more. Please join us at https://www.patreon.com/frigidreads where you can vote and comment for as little as a dollar a month. Join us next week for Traitors, Thieves, and Liars by Rick Griffin.

Thank you for your support and as always, keep reading! 

Red text is your editor Dr. Ben Allen

Black text is your reviewer Garvin Anders

Conan Omnibus Vol II: City of Thieves By Kurt Busiek

Conan Omnibus Vol II: City of Thieves

By Kurt Busiek 

“Where is the worst of the cities of men? Where is the lowest cesspit of civilized wonder this world can offer?” Conan page 27.

We return to Dark Horse's run of Conan the Barbarian. Now, I did discuss Mr. Busiek and the origins of Conan in the last review and I hate repeating myself (No he doesn’t.{Oh good, my editor is here}). However, just in case you have no idea who Conan the Barbarian is, let me give you a brief rundown. Conan the Barbarian is the creation of the Texan author Robert Howard, who left us too soon. Conan was born in the hill lands of Cimmeria, a metal-rich but wild land on the edge of civilization. While capable of metalworking, his people still lived in tribes and clans riven by constants feuds and raids, in fact, the only things Cimmerians agree on is that it’s pointless to ask the gods for help (A sentiment they share with your editor.), and that everyone should drop everything and rally to kill outsiders if they cross into Cimmeria. It was after joining in one of these battles that Conan, for a variety of reasons, decided to leave Cimmeria. He became one of the greatest adventurers in his world's history and even one of its greatest kings but that is another story. In this story, Conan is young and grapples with understanding civilization at its worst.

The story picks up pretty much the morning after Volume I ends. Conan, having partied hard with people he just met, has been robbed and stuck with the bill. As you can imagine this leaves him outraged and after escaping the inn, he sulks by camping out on a hill that all the townsmen are terrified of. This isn't his wisest decision, as it turns out that hill is haunted and Conan spends the night fighting for his life. Conan staggers back into town the next morning convinced he needs to learn the lowest and vilest tricks of civilized men if he wants to avoid a life of fighting monsters beyond the understanding of mortals just because he's broke. Those of you who are passingly familiar with Conan's life can take a moment to laugh if you like (Look, having to do anything because you’re broke sucks. It’s okay to do those things for other reasons.). It's here that he is pointed to the city of Zamora, the city of thieves. If it sounds like I'm dropping major spoilers, folks this is the first thirty pages of a four hundred page graphic novel, all we've done so far is discuss the prologue. Buckle up, this is gonna be wild.

One of the things that makes Conan so interesting is that he's a flawed character without going overboard into tragic character territory and this volume gives us a show of those flaws and the virtues paired with them. In Volume One we saw that Conan's refusal to restrain himself lead to tragedy for his friends and family. While Conan still struggles with the practice of self-restraint, he accepted the necessity of it. That's not his only flaw though. Conan's pure bullheaded pride in this Volume will lead him into one disaster after another. In Zamora, Conan resolves to learn how to be a thief and how the corruption that plagues the civilized world works. His pride gets in the way, as he can't just unbend enough to humble himself and learn from men that he sees as inferior to him (“Teach me, you effeminate worm!” “Um. How about I not?” {You joke but that’s basically what happened.}). Additionally, it’s not enough that he be a thief. It's not enough that he be a great thief. Everyone has to know he is and has to know exactly what he stole and who he stole it from (Oh god. It’s like trying to be a viking assassin…). Now to be fair, some of this arises from Conan coming from a culture where you trumpet your deeds far and wide and in places like Cimmeria stealing from your enemies is something to be celebrated. In fact, if you were clever and sneaky enough, even your enemies will grudgingly respect your ability. In a civilized society, telling everyone what you stole and who you stole it from is a great way to get crowds of armed men after you. Especially since Conan never really bothers to make friends or allies of the other thieves around him (Oops). Additionally what Conan seems to have problems grasping is that the thieves and guards aren't opposing tribes locked in a cycle of raid and counter-raid but two groups within the same tribe, one trying to uphold the laws of their society and other determined to break those laws. Because of this Conan is constantly a target for the wrath of the law. I'm sure some folks would feel sympathy for the thieves but this is where I point out the virtue wrapped up in Conan's pride.

The vast majority of the thieves in Zamora feel no qualm at victimizing those weaker than them. Whether it's a starving girl who steals some bread out of desperation or beggars whose bowls are a little too full, the thieves of Zamora are brutal towards anyone they believe can't defend themselves. Conan, because of his pride as much as any moral code that’s still slowly pulling itself together in his soul targets the powerful and incredibly wealthy (Fight the power Conan! Taking their stuff and buying things you need with it is the only way that wealth will ever trickle down to the masses - unless you simply kill the wealthy that is! {I suppose tavern keepers and the sellers of jewelry for Jiara do kind of count as the masses}). There are good practical reasons for breaking into their fortress homes and robbing them, after all, they have all the bloody money! So Conan will break into the temples of dreaming pagan gods, the fortresses of judges, princes, and priests all to pillage their treasuries and laugh into the night. Of course, what happens the next morning is forces he can't fight (whether it be monsters from beyond the stars or just hordes of armed men) are unleashed after him but being in his late teens at this point, planning for the future isn't among Conan's strong points.

Of course, Conan isn't alone in this venture. The first companion he picks up is Jiara. He met Jiara when she partied with him, slept with him and then stole everything he had (What a wonderful way to meet new people…). Finding her a second time, Jiara convinced Conan that it wasn't her idea to steal from him and promptly decides to hitch her wagon to him (Phrasing?). This is for a couple of reasons. For one, Conan is strong and skilled enough to kill anyone who comes looking for Jiara over her own thieving. Second, Conan is a big, strong and very not ugly man who hates wearing clothes (I cannot blame her). To be fair, most of the ladies in these comics are wearing very little clothing, suggesting to me that Zamora must be rather warm so I suppose Conan could be wearing a breechcloth and nothing else out of solidarity with the ladies. Thirdly, despite Jiara robbing Conan of everything they had, when they met again Jiara was broke and Conan was flush with cash. Suggesting to her that Conan could be counted on to make more gold no matter the circumstances. Conan stays with Jiara because she's smart enough to take care of herself, she's a very good looking lady and she can even be helpful in scouting locations and gathering information. The relationship is interesting to read in the book as both of them are clearly in the relationship for what they can get out of it and neither one really spends any effort trying to understand the other person. As a result, you watch as Conan mismanages his relationship with Jiara to the point that when it hits the endpoint, you can't say Conan didn't get what he deserved. Of course, you can also say the same about Jiara. For example bragging about sleeping with a Magistrates new young and pretty wife, while your girlfriend is sitting on your lap is a pretty bad idea on so many levels that it's honestly not a shock what results (Oh dear. Cultural differences rise again? {I don’t think so, from what I can tell this would get him in trouble in Cimmeria as well. It just seems that Conan is pretty good at convincing women to sleep with him and being a randy teenager doesn’t take it very seriously. To be fair, Jiara isn’t the most loyal girl either but she doesn't flaunt that right in front of him and seems to expect him to do the same}).

Another major character that shows up is Nestor the Gunderman, a mercenary turned thief. Nestor is both a foe and an ally to Conan depending on the situation and over time Conan is forced to respect Nestor. This makes Nestor one of the few civilized men that young Conan has brought himself to respect but it is a major step for the young man as he is forced to admit that civilization can make formidable men that he can't treat lightly. Nestor for his own part starts out loathing Conan as a loud jackass who is going to bring trouble down on everyone's head but comes to see Conan as a capable if wild young man who is just in the need of some seasoning. Nestor is a bit older than Conan and while not as physically capable is wilier in the ways of the back alleys and courtyards of civilization and even teaches Conan a trick or two. The relationship here is pretty different from one that Conan has with Jiara. For one thing, it's pretty clear that Conan doesn't respect Jiara as much as he does Nestor. While I do think her gender plays a part in it, I have to point out that Conan was pretty respectful of Janissa the warrior woman in Volume One. So I think the main thrust is that Conan simply doesn't respect people who are dependent on others to commit violence for them. His disrespect for men who can't fight is more evident and aggressive but his disrespect for women who can't fight is still there in visible ways. This is another flaw of his, that at this point in his life he believes that respect comes from your ability to kill and it comes back to bite him as much as his pride does.

In this volume, Mr. Busiek and his team continue the same practice of making original Conan stories to support and serve as a bridge between adapted stories by Mr. Howard. In this case, there are three of these stories in the graphic novel, Tower of the Elephant, Halls of the Dead, and Rogues in the House. If I'm going to be honest, Tower of the Elephant is the most important one of the three to me and I'm pleased that they adapted it skillfully. The Tower of the Elephant is one of the must-read stories of Conan I would point anyone to, because of that I'm not going to touch on the details of the story. It's a story where Conan walks in determined to simply rob a place that everyone has told him is untouchable because he wants to prove them wrong. However, an encounter with Yag Kosha, the long-lived alien being imprisoned in the tower changes all that. Conan goes from being a thief here to someone determined to help right a wrong and correct a miscarriage of justice. I don't want to overstate this but its a step forward in Conan's growth as a character and person where he begins to grasp that some things aren't about wealth, pleasure, or glory. Not that Conan ever develops into a righteous paladin or anything but as he grows Conan does develop a moral center and a belief that there is a role for his abilities beyond just crashing through the world trying to do whatever or whoever catches his passing fancy and this is one of the seeds of that growth.

City of Thieves also continues one of the elemental themes of Mr. Howard's work, civilization vs barbarism. In this volume, we see an argument for the virtues of Barbarians, whereas the last work argued fairly convincing against barbarism without trying too hard. Here we see that even as a thief Conan doesn't prey on those weaker and more desperate than him and we see the dark side of civilization. As men prey on each other even in the streets of their own homes and lies become just as dangerous as lions. Of course in this same volume, we see that civilized men are just as capable of the same virtues has Conan even in the face of torment and death. This feeds into another theme that runs throughout many of Mr. Howard's works that of human decency and justice vs the law. In many of Howard's work, the law works to uphold the powerful and wealthy over the poor and this creates a conflict when the protagonist's sense of honor and decency runs directly counter to the law.  Nestor, for example, displays honorable behavior more often as a thief and a lawbreaker then he does when he's anything else. There will come a time when we explore and fully discuss Mr. Howard's themes but it's not yet. I do also want to say that the art in this volume is fantastic but I should note that the number of people who are practically naked or just naked means you might not want to hand this book off to some of the younger set. That said I really enjoyed this and Conan Omnibus Vol II: City of Thieves gets an A from me. If you enjoy fantasy or think you might go ahead and give this book a try, you honestly don't really need to read Volume One to follow what's going in this book so that's a plus as well.

This week's selection was voted for by our patrons.  If you would like to vote on what books get reviewed you can join us at https://www.patreon.com/frigidreads for as little as a 1$ a month.  In November our patrons have voted to make it military science fiction month and we are in a poll to determine what work will be our cornerstone.  It's neck and neck so please feel free to join us and cast a vote.   Next week we come to the end of the Monster Blood trilogy with Factotum by DM Cornish, which was also voted for by our patrons!  Until then, thank you for your support and keep reading!   

The Atlantropa Articles By Cody Franklin

The Atlantropa Articles

By Cody Franklin

Cody Franklin is the man behind the youtube channel Alternative History Hub. He’s a native of Ohio with at least one sibling and attended college in Wisconsin pursuing a degree in journalism. Cody currently lives in his home state. Not much more of his private life is known than this because he is incredibly thorough in keeping details about his life off the internet (Good for him!). Alternative History Hub, on the other hand, is fairly well known. Mr. Franklin founded it in 2012 and today it has nearly 2 million subscribers on youtube and videos with view counts in the millions. On that channel, he briefly explores scenarios where history happened differently, like what if the American Civil War never happened, or what if Napoleon never fell? He's also taken detours into the fantastical, looking at things like what if Godzilla were real or doing an overview of the timeline of the Red Alert video game series. In all honesty, I really enjoy the channel and I think he's produced a lot of quality content. In 2015 Mr. Franklin spun off the channel Knowledgehub (originally called GeographyHub) where he creates informative videos on various historical and geographic subjects. Knowledgehub was taken over by his brother Tyler. Cody, however, wanted to try something new so he wrote a book. He published the Atlantropa Articles with Mango publishing a 5-year-old and rapidly growing independent publishing company, so I'm sure we'll run into them again. For now, let's look at this novel.

Atlantropa was first pitched in 1929 by the German architect Herman Sogel. Mr. Sogel suggested that a series of dams be used to block off and lower the Mediterranean Sea level. This would generate vast amounts of hydroelectric power and bring about large amounts of new lands for colonization and eventually link North Africa and Southern Europe. Mr. Sogel then also suggested that the rivers of Africa be diverted to refill the Chad basin, creating an enormous freshwater sea that could be used to irrigate the Sahara (And create an ecological catastrophe, but we’ll get there). This would open those lands to European settlement (Ah yes. Nothing says ‘colonialism’ like a disastrous attempt to Euroform the African continent!). The idea generated a limited amount of excitement in Northern Europe (Where no one would have to deal with it.), received no real support in the Mediterranean parts of Europe and well, no one in Europe cared what the Africans thought. Although I kinda doubt that the people of Africa would be all that excited about more European colonialism since the last couple batches didn't do anything for them (And indeed put out bounties on the hands of children.). Especially given this was supposed to be on the order of millions of European settlers. The Nazis, however, marginalized this idea; looking Eastwards not South for their living space and we all know what happened next. In The Atlantropa Articles, Mr. Franklin asks, what if the Nazis didn't marginalize the idea but instead rode it all the way to the Straits of Gibraltar? This isn't the only question that Mr. Franklin asks but we'll get there. First, let me introduce you to the setting and the plot.

The novel itself takes place over a thousand years after the 20th century. Our time is a time of myths and tall tales. It is hinted that there’s been at least one nuclear war between us and the time of our characters and much of the details of their history has been lost. Perhaps on purpose as the story unfolds. The Atlantropa project didn't work, or it didn't work as intended. While the Gibraltar dam does provides nearly endless power for Europe. This has created a green, vibrant North Europe free from want according to our main characters. The Mediterranean Basin though did not become a new land of milk and honey but a blasted, salt choked, sand-covered plain of heat and death that they call the Kiln (This is basically accurate. Basically, by draining the Med, you get a giant salt flat with high pressure and high temperatures. Think Death Valley but the size of a small continent. In reality, there would still be some water left - especially from rivers draining in and whatever they allow past the dam for power - and that is salt water that evaporates. This evaporation leaves behind the salt and so at the lowest point in this desert there will be a vast soda lake. So salty almost nothing can live there. Basically bacteria and Flamingoes. Maybe some really hardy lizards that eat the brine flies that can exist near the river/ocean inflows.). Most of southern Europe is little better becoming an abandoned wasteland (This is because southern Europe gets most of its water from the Med.). Only in the small fortress cities called Eagle Nests arrayed in a line across the southern edge of the Basin is there life and greenery. These cities are not just besieged by the heat and sand but by bands of people called Scavengers who roam the sand in tracked ships looking for targets to loot. The Eagle Nests then require resupply of weapons, medicines and sometimes foodstuff, this is provided by giant tracked ships from Europe. The European continent has been united under the rule of the Aryans of Germania, all of them tall, blond and blue-eyed thanks to genetic engineering (... Oh Fuck No! Wait. How in the ever-loving monkey wangles did the Germans build that dam?). The Reich has spread across the continent but the Kiln remains the Southern frontier and not much is known about what lies beyond it. That's largely because no one seems to care. Not even the men manning the giant tracked ships that roam the Kiln providing resupply to the Eagle Nests who are fated to maintain a line of defense against people they know nothing about. It seems almost absurd, given that Germania has gone into space, and can use orbitally dropped weapons on its enemies and characters discuss there being colonies on Mars. If you have the infrastructure to go into space and build an array of weapons so vast that a low ranked guy on what's an armed freighter can call in an orbital strike? You can certainly find out who is living in Africa and what's going on in the rest of your planet. The fact that the Aryans don't and most of them seem militantly incurious makes them seem more alien than human to me. Which I suppose rather fits since despite this being Earth, the world feels incredibly alien.

The novel is a first-person story told from the view of Ansel, captain of the Howling Dark. Ansel used to be a soldier until he lost his arm reclaiming an Eagle's Nest that fell to Scavenger attack. The civilian populace of the Eagle Nests were all killed, including noncombatants and children. Often in horrifying ways. This was Ansel’s first experience with the outside world and it became the defining one of his life. While his physical wounds were treated and his arm replaced, his mental and emotional wounds never were. So despite being born and raised in the still green and lust lands of Germania, he has become entirely a creature of the Kiln. Alienated from the society that raised him and any ideals of forgiveness or peace. Completely comfortable in his environmentally controlled armor, preferring it to normal clothes, reveling in the violence he commits on any Scavenger he finds. He so revels in it that he refuses to use the orbital weapons preferring to kill with cannon, gun, knife, and rope. When he doesn't use his cyborg arm or his boots. Captain Ansel, while being our protagonist, is thoroughly the villain of the story. He preaches a grim belief in a constant race war against the people of the south, decrying them all as blood-soaked savages while declaring his own acts as just and good. This is a man who goes out of his way to take prisoners so he can murder them up close and refuses to use faster, cleaner ways to kill in favor of getting as much of the feeling of the kill as he can. He's also a man living in self-denial claiming that he's doing everything to defend innocent people, and holds that up as a shield against any self-recrimination or doubt. Ansel stands not just for violence but for brutality and a forever degrading cycle of attack and counter-attack without any thought or self-examination. His self-deceit is real, as he berates himself for casualties that his crew suffers when he misjudges an enemy but never once actually admits to himself that every death on his crew is pointless because he could have simply wiped his enemies off the map without any risk to his men in the first place! Honestly, he's a man who would fit in perfectly with the SS Battalions battling their way across the Soviet Union in the 1940s (Well, yes. Yes he would. And he’d die like they did too!). Which is why he is likely frustrated by his brother Ulric.

Ulric is a scholar and civilized man who believes in peace and law. In a bizarre twist, he's also a Knight of the SS, the organization has reinvented itself as the paramilitary guardians of peace, culture, history, and law in Germania. I can really sympathize with readers who find that statement a sick joke by the way, but keep in mind this a thousand years later, things change. Ulric is an example of just how much the Aryan ideal has changed since Hitler first preached his message of hate and genocide. Ulric believes that Germania was founded on peace and forgiveness, that Hitler (who is depicted as a giant blond demigod by the people of Germania) was a visionary who ended wars in Europe by preaching forgiveness and peace between all Europeans. He even believes that the Aryans might want to try to live in peace with the Scavengers (as long as they stay on their side of the line, of course, he's not about to try living with them). Now granted, Ulric isn't a pacifist, he's perfectly willing to kill raiders as they do pose a danger to his fellow Aryans but he doesn't glory in it. He’d much rather just call in an orbital drop and be on his way, with the threat neutralized, no protracted blood sports needed. As events continue and Ulric trips over information that leads him to suspect that history might not be everything he was told it was, their conflict intensives (HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA). This conflict is interesting because both men believe the other to be playing with fire and want to save their brother from the self-destructive path they're on. Ulric is standing up for what he believes is the truth and right way of doing things, while Ansel believes that his way is the only way for people to survive the realities of the world. While Ulric's unpleasant character traits are sometimes played up (Ansel thinks of his brother as whining when he calls for Ansel to let him drop the damn space rock... When Ansel's ship is on fire!) I honestly found him more sympathetic than Ansel. It's an interesting spin to tell the story from the viewpoint of someone who would traditionally be the villain of the piece, however Ansel doesn't engage in the conflict here, whether or not the history he's been taught or not is a lie.  He simply doesn't care.

The biggest question in Atlantropia is, what will you do if you find out your world is built on a lie? Because the longer Ulric stays in the Kiln, the more clues he finds that the history he was taught is not the history that actually happened. Worse, from Ansel's point of view, the more Ulric becomes interested in what the Scavengers viewpoint of all this is. Ulric's questions become more dangerous, like why is it against the law to remove any artifacts from the Kiln, especially artifacts that date to the foundation of the Reich? Why are we not allowed to even talk to the Scavengers? What does lie south of us and what did happen all those centuries ago? With evidence mounting that their history is, in fact, a bald-faced lie and nothing about the far past they believe in actually happened, the rift gets worse. As Ulric becomes increasingly determined to find out just what the truth of the matter is, Ansel grows more determined to stop him. To the point, that victory might only be achieved if one of them dies and no matter who wins, the other will have to live with the fact that he killed his brother. Because while Ansel might be a savage in power armor, he still cares about his brother and Ulric might view his brother has fallen to a debased state but he still believes that the brother he loved is in there somewhere and he can bring him back. Ansel for his own part needs Ulric to admit that there’s nothing wrong with his actions or he’ll have to question himself and he can’t bring himself to do that.

Before the grade, let me break down what works and doesn’t work for me here. The novel does a great job getting us inside the head of Ansel and showing his view of the conflict between him and Ulric. Mr. Franklin also does a wonderful job of detailing the environment of the Kiln and showing us the effect it has on Ansel and why Ansel has devoted his life to it. The action is well written as well. The book overall is an episode of Mad Max meets the Man in the High Castle. If that sounds appealing to you, I encourage you to try the book. Now, what doesn’t work? The Atlantropia Articles is a book that raises a fair number of questions but then refuses to answer any of them. Some of the unanswered questions like ‘What the hell actually happened in this version of the 20th century’ I could maybe live. Other questions like “What do you do if you find out everything you know is a bald-faced lie?’ or ‘How do you reconcile the potential of the present with the sins of the past?’? These are simply left hanging. Part of this is because Ansel just can’t carry a story with these questions and the conflict between brothers just isn't enough to replace that for me.  I suppose some people will tell me that was Mr. Franklin’s point but it falls short for me. Additionally, since we only get to see things from Ansel’s side and Ansel is militantly opposed to doing any digging, we don’t get a full exploration of the conflict or the myriad questions driving it. Simply put Ansel isn’t enough to support this weight and as a result, the story is rather lopsided. Now it’s possible that further books will happen that will address these questions but I have to look at what’s in front of me. That’s a book that left me frustrated and feeling a lack of any real confrontation between the two opposing ideas. Because of that, I don’t feel the book really hits a climax so much as stops. Which considering how well it was doing right up to that point is really frustrating for me. Others are going to disagree with me but I’m giving The Antlantropia Articles by Cody Franklin a C+. What the book does well, it does really well but by leaving all the questions hanging and lack of a strong climax in the sense of addressing the questions, I can’t give it a higher grade.

Next week join us for a shorter review as I tackle Conan the Barbarian Omnibus volume II:  City of Thieves, which was selected by my patrons.  If you would to vote on upcoming reviews, or themes (we have a poll up, on whether or not make November Military Science Fiction Month) you can join us for as little as a dollar a month at https://www.patreon.com/frigidreads.  Until next Friday, Keep Reading!

Comments in red text are your editor, Dr. Ben Allen
Comments in black text are your reviewer Garvin Anders