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[metalgearkong]

The House of Doors - Review

12/30/21

Written by Brian Lumley, published in 1990

I will admit, I purely got this book from because of the cover. It looked like a damned good time. A skull with fangs over a door in front of a moon? Was this some sort of cosmic horror gem I'd never heard of? The cover looking like a heavy metal rock album was all it took for me to scoop it up for 5 bucks. The House of Doors is by Brian Lumley, someone who I found out is a prolific writer out of England who has an entire mythos of horror novels, mainly the Necroscope series. The House of Doors appears to be a horror novel, but the story is entirely science fiction. A castle has manifested out of thin air in rural UK, and a number of witting and unwitting people find themselves inside. Found in its innards is a pantheon of doors, challenges, and obstacles representing their greatest fears.

The House of Doors itself is like an extra-terrestrial's escape room, planted by an advanced race called the Thone. The idea is if the dominant species of a civilized planet can solve the riddles and survive, their planet will not be enslaved by the Thone. A representative of the Thone named Sith Bannerman (or at least taking a man's form with that name) secretly accompanies these people in order to spy on them more intimately. About halfway through the novel we get his insight to his true alien form, and what his opinion is of humanity and the individuals he walks with. I'm not sure how played out this concept was in 1990, but basically Sith muses that humanity clearly don't deserve to be saved due to their aggressive nature to destroy their only planet as quickly as possible. It's the old "humans are a cancer" idea, and although I've heard it plenty in my life, I still enjoyed the philosophy about it from this book.

That's about all I liked about this 470 page novel. The characters and pacing didn't do it for me. Lumley also had a problem not describing the scenery well for me. I felt like these characters were in very alien-like worlds and simulations, but he only provided modest details of the strange reality they were in. There was also a character named Spencer Gill who had an unexplained power to read the functions and intentions of machines. This power is never really explained and doesn't make a lot of sense, especially because no other human had any powers and the setting is supposed to be the real world. The House of Doors strung me along just enough to finish it, but I wouldn't recommend it for science fiction or horror fans at all. Don't judge a book by its cover. This just a bloated average sci-fi story.

[metalgearkong]

Dracula - Review

12/27/21

Written by Bram Stoker, published in 1897

Dracula is THE most influential horror novel ever. Bar none. I finally gave it a shot, and I was still surprised to how much I loved it. The atmosphere and dread can not be understated. I was worried about the book's age and it might be difficult to read, but Dracula felt far more modern than I was anticipating. Forget everything you think you know about Dracula and the stereotypical vampire. This book is so well written I felt like I was discovering the creature for the very first time. If you love the horror genre or literature history, and even if you don't care for vampires as monsters, you owe it to yourself to really absorb this watershed novel.

The way Bram Stoker describes the creature through the eyes of London lawyer Johnathan Harker is one of my favorite sequences in literature ever. Count Dracula himself has pale white skin which looks waxy and corpse-like. He is thin, tall, with a domed head, pointed ears, and pointed canines. He speaks English nearly perfectly despite living in rural Romania, and lives in a giant medieval castle presumably alone. The furniture is exquisite but much of it is covered in dust, as if it's simply placed there for appearances. Dracula comes off as well spoken and aristocratic, dressed in simple black clothing from head to toe. He is fascinated with London and wishes to relocate there. Johnathan is meant to finish a legal transaction for Count Dracula, hence why he traveled all that way.

As Johnathan endured the long journey to the castle (by boat, train, and carriage) he is met everywhere with superstition when he asks locals about the Count and the castle. The atmosphere around him becomes palpable the closer he gets to Dracula's castle. On his final leg of the journey via carriage in the old woods at night, Johnathan is surrounded by wolves and is nearly killed, but the coachman saves him by waving the wolves away, almost like they were obeying him. When Johnathan finally arrives on the doorstep of the remote dark castle in the middle of the night, Dracula politely welcomes him in, and keeps Johnathan up all night engaging in lengthy conversations about England and its people. When Dracula says he will be out until evening the next day, the reader knows what that really means. Reading about Dracula first hand is a much more suspenseful experience than I ever imagined and these chapters were incredibly fun to be immersed in.

After a few days, Johnathan Harker realizes he is not just a visitor in the castle, but a prisoner. The Count, although extremely polite and well spoken at first, slowly comes off as more threatening. Johnathan is told not to leave his room at night, and when he does, Johnathan discovers haunting things right away. He sees Dracula climbing down the outside of the castle walls like a lizard, and Johnathan is attacked by three beautiful female vampires which Dracula has to save him from. Dracula appeases these women by giving them a crying child in a sack, one of the creepiest moments in the book. After weeks, Johnathan becomes braver and eventually explores enough to discover Dracula sleeping in a crate of Earth in the depths of the castle. This is when Johnathan truly knows he is dealing with something truly terrifying.

There are so many great details about the creature I find it difficult not to want to talk about them all day. One of his most badass moments is when Dracula travels by Russian cargo boat to England, and using a storm for disguise, eventually kills each sailor aboard, escaping on shore disguised as a large dog (yes Dracula is also a werewolf). Most of the novel Dracula after this event is more a battle of wits where a variety of Victorian characters have to piece together what is going on in the shadows of London. The mystery goes into full swing when a beautiful woman is caught bitten by a white figure dressed in black, eventually expressing the traits of the mythical vampire herself. Defeating this newly transformed female vampire by Professor Van Helsing is the true first step in deducting there is something supernatural going on, and a king vampire lose in London. However, I have to admit my favorite part of the book were the earlier chapters, and once people have to start figuring out what's going on and how to combat Dracula, the book's pacing slows dramatically.

The novel almost always has the air of Dracula stalking the shadows, even if he isn't mentioned or present directly. Piecing together what is going on along with the characters is fascinating, but more boring compared to the beginning of the book in Dracula's castle. The ending of the story also keeps this book from becoming one of my all time favorites, as it felt anticlimactic after a ton of build up. Dracula was influential for a reason, especially for its time. Stoker didn't become popular or wealthy on his work during his life, but once the author died and silent film adaptations became prolific, that is when Dracula started becoming a household name. Give this a patient read when the weather may be especially dreadful or you find yourself wanting to dive into a creepy slow burn character study of the most famous villain ever created.

[metalgearkong]

While You Sleep - Review

12/23/21

Written by Stephanie Merritt, published in 2019

On the day I discovered Audible had a huge list of free titles, While You Sleep is one of the first I decided to give a chance. I read a brief description on Goodreads, and found it interesting enough to add it to my library. While You Sleep turned out to be a thrilling novel containing elements of romance, mystery, and the paranormal. In the end, While You Sleep was an excellent suspense tale that takes a long time to get cooking, but once it does, it's difficult to put down. I was metaphorically turning pages as fast as I could to learn the twists and truth to the story. This book turned out to be my favorite of this genre, and I would wholeheartedly recommend it to anyone who enjoys mystery books with psychological and supernatural elements.

While You Sleep is about a woman named Zoey who moved into an old Victorian manor (known as the McBride house) on a small island of Scotland. This book admittedly does have a very slow star for me. We learn a lot about the Scottish town nearby and some of its residents: the landlord of the estate, the handyman, a young schoolteacher, and my favorite, the old second-hand bookstore owner named Charles. As Zoey encountered these people I immediately got iffy vibes, like the entire town was in on a big secret and not hiding it very well. The townspeople get more and more suspicious because almost every day someone would turn up at her house (always a man) for one reason or another, in spite of the McBride house being on its own land many miles from the next nearest home.

The McBride house is a major piece of local legend and superstition on the island. The manor used to be owned by a woman named Elsa and her young son who the people of the time called a witch for living by herself (and more reasons we learn later on). The rumor is that she drowned her son in the ocean to protect him from something, but was so overwhelmed with sorrow and guilt she tossed herself into the waves as well. We learn this exposition extremely slowly and in small pieces, to the point where the information was so doled out I nearly gave up on this book in it's first third. I recommend everyone to hold firm because it does pick up in its second half, and the book becomes far more gripping.

Once strange things begin to occur, you wonder if Zoey is a reliable narrator or not. She hears the sounds of a woman moaning in pleasure and pain, disembodied singing in the house, figures standing in the distance, and receives grainy calls via Skype with no Wi-Fi from her young son Caleb 3,000 miles away. The most strange thing reoccurring with Zoey is a ghost that visits her in her dreams and seduces her in the night. She has extremely lucid dreams of a dark manly figure caressing her, tenderly touching her in all the right places, successfully arousing her on multiple occasions. She can't quite tell if these events are purely dreams or have a component of reality to them.

It is revealed that when the McBride house was inhabited by Elsa and her son 150 years ago, legends says her brutish husband who was unsuccessful at impregnating her, summoned an incubus (a male version of a succubus) to seduce and impregnate Elsa. The book hints that this incubus may still be haunting the grounds of the McBride house, which would explain Zoey's erotic "dreams." Men on the island also say being near the house turns women frisky, and was a key spot to hook up for young couples. Supposedly the reason Elsa drowned her son is that (a) she was afraid her son would turn out like his biological father and (b) an offspring of an incubus (called a cambion) would manifest his demonic side by the age of 7. The big question in a lot of this story is if Zoey is just imagining things inspired by creepy local legends, or is she actually being haunted by the ghost of Elsa and the incubus?

One of the final things we learn about Zoey is her background and what brought her to the island. She has a history of mental instability and pill popping, especially after her son Caleb died in her care from meningitis around the age of 7. She blames herself and has full blown conversations with him, something that greatly concerned her husband. It's especially creepy when you find out the Skype calls from Caleb were either entirely in Zoey's mind, or she was truly receiving ghostly calls manifested by the energy of the McBride house. Was Zoey meshing the legends of the island with the parallels to her own life which amplified her dreams and made her hear and see things that weren't there? Going between these theories was a ton of fun in the book and made me hungry to know the conclusion to everything.

In the end, Zoey follows an apparition of Caleb in to the ocean, but is rescued in the nick of time, having to be hospitalized for weeks due to near downing and pneumonia. From an outsider, this was a suicide attempt by Zoey driven by her poor mental state, but also parallel to Elsa's fate who drowned herself from the guilt of letting her child die. Charles, the bookseller, reveals to Zoey in the ICU that he was the child of Elsa all along, and was never drowned by his mother. Being a cambion gave him mild psychic powers and an unnaturally long lifespan, which explains why he is over 150 years old if he is telling the truth. I found all of these revelations to be worth the wait, and it made suffering through the first half of the book completely worth it. While You Sleep won't be for everyone but if you want a mature thriller where everything eventually has a great payoff, this novel is totally worth your time!

[metalgearkong]

Red - Review

12/17/21

Written by Jack Ketchum, published in 1995

I've read plenty of Stephen King, but his level of horror sometimes doesn't rise up to the level of terror his reputation might imply. This has lead me to other horror authors when I want more of a sick and twisted story. The first Jack Ketchum book I read, The Girl Next Door, left me deeply conflicted. On the one hand its gruesome content was more than enough to satisfy the horror craving I needed. But it was so graphic and cruel (based on a true story as well) I can't say I "enjoyed" it much, nor would consider ever reading it again. It lived up to its horrifical reputation a little too well. Red was another Ketchum novel highly recommended to me, and after finishing it, I like it a lot more overall. A revenge story of an old man's dog murdered by teenagers for no reason? Count me in.

Red is the name of an old mutt owned by Avery Ludlow, a man living a quiet life as a fishing shop owner. Red was the final gift given to him by his late wife Mary, who was killed horribly along with one of Avery's sons. During a mellow and innocent fishing trip along the shores of a river, Avery is targeted by teenage boys who intend to intimidate and rob him. When Avery seems unfazed by the teenagers and their shotgun, their leader Danny decides to aim at a different weak spot. When the gun-toting adolescent draws his attention toward Red, who is growling quietly during the entire confrontation, the book's tension ratcheted up to 100. For no reason other than pure cruelty, he shoots Red square in the skull, and the gang walks off laughing.

Stunned and broken, Avery wraps his dog in blankets and places him in the bed of his truck. This is when the book surprised me. Knowing Ketchum as a very graphic author, I expected more of a John Wick-style revenge story, or torture on the level of Saw or Hostel. What happens next is a very calm and calculated Avery making his way around town attempting to find out who the teenagers are, and force them to apologize. When he does find the boys and their father, Avery gets nothing but lies and deflections. His next step was the sheriff, and while sympathetic, explains its too difficult to prove and doesn't warrant much of a criminal punishment. When that fails, and going to the media only generates death threats, is when Avery goes down more risky, violent, and illegal paths.

Red as a novel surprised me, because while it does have the one stunning scene of the dog being murdered for absolutely no reason, Ketchum doesn't dwell on unnecessary details of the death. This book is surprisingly light on horror, and is more of a brisk crime novel. I thought I might not enjoy this book if it had as much graphic detail found in The Girl Next Door, but the violence is quickly noted and passed on. This made Red a much more enjoyable book to consume, and it won't scare off readers who are major dog lovers. Despite the grisly cover, Red is a good thriller for anyone who wants a good comeuppance story with a surprisingly heart warming ending. Out of two, this is my favorite Ketchum novel so far, and it makes me want to discover more of his works as a horror writer.

[metalgearkong]

Shadows of the Empire - Review

12/9/21

Written by Steve Perry, published in 1996

One of the Star Wars books I've been wanting to read since the 90's was Shadows of the Empire. At the time, a video game of the same name came out, and my friends & I loved it. This novel takes place between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, meant to show what the heroes were doing in between movies. It truly shows why Luke couldn't immediately rush back to Yoda for training, and how they did make a first big attempt to save Han from Boba Fett. Finally I've gotten around to reading this book, and luckily it did not disappoint. Shadows of the Empire begins at the tail end of Empire Strikes Back, and flows an action packed story of Luke, Leia, Lando, Chewie, R2-D2, and C-3PO.

The best thing about the book is a new character named Prince Xizor, the reptilian, cunning, and suave underground crimelord of the Black Suns; an organization so expansive it places Xizor unofficially as the 3rd most powerful bad guy in the galaxy. Not only is he a great foil for Darth Vader (competing for approval of the Emperor for his own goals) but Xizor is the perfect example of how great some of the "extended universe" Star Wars material used to be. Coruscant is a major location in this book, and Darth Vader is referred to as the Dark Lord of the "Sith" many times, making me wonder if these terms came from the expanded universe first, or George Lucas giving out privy information to licensed authors before The Phantom Menace released three years later.

Xizor ultimately wants to undercut Darth Vader wherever possible. The lizard prince knows if Luke joins the dark side, Vader will be much more unstoppable. Xizor uses his massive spy network to keep tabs on virtually anyone or anything in the entire galaxy, and uses it to his advantage to curry as much favor from the Emperor as possible. Xizor is intelligent and extremely seductive to the right people. His skills of manipulation and making calculated risks is where most of the conflict is generated in this story. I love how this book also explains how Luke crafted his green lightsaber, and what he and his Alliance friends were doing leading up to the beginning of Return of the Jedi. It makes my favorite Star Wars movie even better, if that were even possible.

Not only that, Shadows of the Empire also explains a number of other details, such as where Leia got her bounty hunter disguise when she rescues Han, how the Rebel Alliance obtained the plans for the second Death Star (Xizor suggest to the Emperor leaking it intentionally), and the incident where "many Bothans died to bring us this information" occurs. This book is not Shakesepear, and I'm still on the quest to find a really adult sophisticated Star Wars novel if it even exists. But Shadows of the Empire is still a lot of fun, the same kind of fun your friends have in the backyard playing with action figures and coming up with your own side stories. This book is one of my top recommendations. If you could only pick up one book in the original expanded universe taking place around the Original Trilogy, this is the one.

[metalgearkong]

Treasure Island - Review

12/3/21

Written by Robert Louis Stevenson, published in 1883

Treasure Island is my very first novel I've read from the 19th Century. As the originator of nearly every pirate stereotype, it probably is the most adapted novel into film (over 50 times). Treasure Island is a piece of bedrock I wanted to fully experience. This novel may be an iconic piece of popular culture, but in the 1880's it was shunned, especially for its violence. But entertainment has come a long way, beings The Muppets have even adapted this story. If you enjoy pirates, adventures, coming of age stories, or classic literature, Treasure Island is a no-brainer to read.

Jim Hawkins is a teenage man who falls in with a lot to find Captain Flint's secret buried treasure on Skeleton Island. He joins a crew sailing a ship called the Hispaniola, but only a select few people are meant to know what the map looks like, especially the Xs marking the burial spots. However, knowledge of the map does get out due to a lose-lipped squire, and part of the crew plan a mutiny. Secretly, former members of Captain Flint's crew are also aboard, blending in as everyday sailors, who scheme to take their Captain's treasure for themselves. The cook aboard the Hispaniola nicknamed Long John Silver is the ringleader of the mutineers, but originally shows leadership and warms up to Jim. What results is musket battles, and Jim trying to survive the mutineer attack.

The language and style of writing is also obviously different from what literature is today, almost 140 years later. It took me about 25% more effort to look at each sentence and understand what was truly going on. This made reading feel a bit tedious, but the writing very much has a poetic feel and is very much (understandably) of its time. The concept of a peg-legged pirate, mimicking parrot, buried treasure, deserted island, treasure map, marooning, mutiny, cutlass duels, yo ho-ho and a bottle of rum, Long John Silver, and virtually every single generic idea of a pirate came from this novel. For that it, deserves all the credit in the world. But reading it these days does make it seem overly generic.

[metalgearkong]

The Martian - Review

12/1/21

Written by Andy Weir, published in 2011

The Martian is a thoroughly detailed and exhaustively technical novel about the every minutia of what it may be like to be stranded on Mars. Many people have seen the Ridley Scott movie, and I enjoyed it so much I wanted to seek out its source material of the same name. In the near future Mark Watney is an astronaut along with four other astronauts on a near future NASA mission to Mars. They are the 16th, 17, 18th, and 19th astronauts to walk on the red planet, as inter-planetary travel has become somewhat normalized. Upon liftoff, a random accident leaves Watney wounded and stranded, and his crew are certain he died. Mark wakes up and finds he was pierced in the abdomen by an antennae, but luckily the blood pooling around the wound, along with gravity and his own weight sealed the O2 in his space suit.

Basically, he is extremely lucky to be alive, and right away you get a dose of Mark Watney's personality. I believe the first words of this book are "well, fuck." Mark is an endearing and aggressively positive human being. Later in the novel it is explained that this is partially why he was chosen for the mission. Mars explorers have to spend 13 months together, and social cohesion is one of the most important elements of a mission. Right away we hear Mark's every thought as he wakes up from the freak accident, shocked to be alive, then sarcastic (but optimistic) begins to formulate a plan to survive. One of the best aspects of this novel is its theme of enduring and problem solving even in the most hopeless of situations. Mark manages to shake off any pessimism or misery, and immediately gets to work on calculating how long he can live with the resources on hand, and how he can extend that time by maximizing everything at his disposal.

The Martian is the first book I think may have been written by an actual computer. The language Andy Weir uses is so full of numbers, statistics, acronyms, and other technical jargon, I'm glad I listened to the audiobook instead of reading it in person. But I don't necessarily mean this in a bad way. The Martian is so meticulous and feels so realistic, you could forgive someone thinking this was a real account of a man accidentally stranded on Mars. This is the biggest complement I can give this book. After looking up the author it came as zero surprise that Andy Weir is a former computer programmer, and thoroughly researched several topics such as astronomy, botonny, and other professional fields to make this novel seem as realistic as possible. Let's just say he succeeded with flying colors.

The Martian is the most technically detailed science fiction book I've ever read. I would love to look back decades from now if humanity is doing actual Mars missions and seeing how well this novel holds up. Those who love math, science, and space stuff should make sure this is in their collection. Anyone else who is looking for a generally exciting space adventure ought to be wary that there is little in traditional "entertainment" value in this novel. Mark's humor and vocalized thoughts are fun to read, and his ability to keep turning a worsening situation in his favor is extremely commendable. I can't say I personally loved this book or would ever read it again. I love what Andy Weir did, and I wish him all the success in the world, but The Martian just wasn't for me personally.

[metalgearkong]

Jaws - Review

11/30/21

Written by Peter Benchley, published in 1974

I know right? Jaws was a book? Everyone's seen or heard of Stephen Spielberg's Jaws, but not a lot of people (including myself) knew it came from a novel released a couple years earlier. Jaws the movie is considered "the first blockbuster," and it gave generations of people a phobia of sharks and the ocean ever since (including myself). Jaws the novel isn't as spellbinding as its film, but it's still a suspenseful and more than worthy read if you are a fan of the movie or you want a thrilling marine novel to occupy your time.

In the quiet vacation town of Amity, Long Island, four violent shark attacks result in the death of four citizens, ranging from a 6 year old boy on his raft to an elderly man wading in the waves. I love how the book begins immediately with the great fish itself. The way author Peter Benchley describes the grace and power contained within the shark gives it a mindless and purely instinctual personality. The shark isn't specifically looking to murder, it's just doing what it does. Anything thrashing in the water draws its attention, and it will eat anything. The book doesn't describe where the great fish came from nor what drew it to Amity, making for a thrilling monstrous presence.

That I liked about the novel is it emphasizes a conspiracy between Chief of Police Brody with a man who owns a lot of property along the beach. Brody is facing pressure to not close the beach because the big 4th of July weekend is coming up, despite multiple death by shark in recent days. Amity survives on its tourism industry, and the town will surely sink and disappear if it endures too many light weekends. The man pressuring Brody the most is the landowner who keeps referring to his mysterious "partners" of which he doesn't disclose upon questioning. Basically he is part of the mob, and when Brody does in fact decide to close the beach at one point, a man comes to Brody's house and snaps their cat's neck in front of their 8 year old son. This struggle in the novel was gripping and I can't remember if it made it into the movie.

The weaker parts of the book are an extended dinner party at the Brody household where his wife Ellen invites the Oceanographer Matt Hooper over. She takes a liking to Matt, and the two have a nefarious rendezvous the next day in secret. This section of the book was frankly pretty boring and difficult for me to get through. It pays off only slightly near the end when Brody, Hooper, and Quint are on the fishing vessel and the three men share a tense partnership, especially because Brody is highly suspicious of Hooper sleeping with Ellen. But the novel does culminate into an exciting climax which is similar and different from the film. Combating the great shark in an early morning rainstorm was my favorite part. Jaws is a good read for anyone who might be interested, especially if you have a real life love/hate relationships with sharks (including myself).

[metalgearkong]

The Gate of Sorrows - Review

11/28/21

Written by Miyuki Miyabe (translated by Jim Hubbert), published in 2015

Seeing this book cover in Barnes & Noble drew me to it like a black hole. The Gate of Sorrows was a book I knew nothing about, but I loved the cover, and after buying it almost five years ago I'm finally finding the time to get around to it now. The Gate of Sorrows is the second novel by this Japanese author I've read, the first being Ico: Castle In the Mist based on the 2001 video game Ico. I loved that Miyuki Miyabe saw or played Ico on PlayStation 2 and became so passionate about it, she got the license to write a full fantasy novel explaining the backstory and events of the video game. Miyabe is a popular Japanese novelist in her country and already I want to read all that she's written based on the quality of the books of hers I've read so far.

A 19 year old college student named Kotaro decides to work for a company called Kumar Inc, which patrols the internet and media for hateful or illegal content. He quickly makes friends and becomes heavily invested in his work, more so than his classes in college. Around the same time, a serial killer begins dumping victims in public places around Tokyo, usually with a body part amputated. Another mystery in a parallel story is of a retired detective in his 60's suffering from chronic pain. His neighbor becomes afraid of a building on her grocery commute; an old medieval-looking building tipped with a ghastly gargoyle overlooking the street. She claims it can be seen in slightly different positions most days, and thinks it may be alive. Of course that would be impossible, but the mystery of the gargoyle and of Kotaro's internet work eventually interweave into the same thrilling story.

There's something about Japanese storytelling I'm starting to see a trend in. I can't put my finger on it specifically, but I'm definitely feeling a commonality distinct from American writing. When it comes to anime, video games, and now novels, I'm In love with how Japanese explain their stories and characters. A heavy emphasis on dialog helps a lot, and characters constantly reaffirming information to each other keeps me up to date with all the story details. This is something I think is different from American authors, who I've been finding take more of a linear way of explaining their story, and more emphasis seems to be on omnipresent 3rd person explanations rather than explanations coming from the words of characters to each other. This book also contains a Japanese trend which are high school or college students pairing up with an older more wise mentor, and one of the two of them may have a supernatural ability.

The Gate of Sorrows is an excellent supernatural crime thriller, and I had a blast flipping through the pages and absorbing every single word. To finally read it full while it's been staring at me from my shelf for many years is a great feeling. This is also the book I was reading while I proposed to my fiancé, and that alone makes it special, along with its already great qualities. Dark urban fantasy combined with a supernatural detective story is what you get with The Gate of Sorrows. Technically this is book 2 of a duology, the first entry being The Book of Heroes. I accidentally read the second book first, but from what I could tell I fully understood The Gate of Sorrows without its predecessor. Still, I want to read it, beings it is another Miyabe novel. Get this book if you are a fan of Japanese fiction of this genre!

[metalgearkong]

Dune: Messiah - Novel Review

11/24/21

Written by Frank Herbert, published in 1969

I wasn't sure if I was going to continue the Dune saga after finishing the first book. The world was extremely unique and well-realized, but some of the way it was written wasn't the most smooth reading I've experienced. There were so many weird terms so often it made me feel a little lost more than I wanted to be. Still, it's a terrific concept which rightfully inspired all of science fiction going forward. I admit, seeing the movie helped a lot. At least to confirm what I did and didn't understand. In retrospect, the first Dune is a great jumping off point. While it's stuffed with exposition and tons of new terminology, the first book seems to have done most of the heavy lifting to propel this series forward. Dune: Messiah is the first direct sequel, and far less of the writing is stuck having to explain such a complex new world to readers.

Dune: Messiah takes place a whopping 12 years later. Paul, the leader of the Fremen, and House Atreides has taken over the entire galaxy. The Fremen Jihad has propelled Paul's influence and law across all known civilized worlds. The center and seat of his control of course is on Arrakis, still the only known planet which produces the all-important spice. I had to keep double checking this was the direct sequel to the first novel because so much has happened in between. I've never read a fantasy or science fiction series which has had such a leap in time and events. Dune: Messiah has a lot of cool stuff packed into it, even if this is a shorter book than the original, and it kept my attention throughout the entire book. There were some awesome concepts popping up, and they couldn't have happened so smoothly if the first book didn't get most of the exposition out of the way.

A new faction emerges, the Tleilax, as an interloper between the Atreides Empire and conspirators against them. Scytale, the main Tleilax of the story, is also a Face Dancer, someone who can physically shape shift into anyone. He shows his faction doesn't necessarily take sides, but their special abilities are up for sale, mainly genetic tampering. They can make gholas (golems) out of the flesh of a recently deceased person and completely bring them back to life. However, this usually comes with changes in personality, and all sorts of secrets and ill-intentions built in. Scytale does this to Duncan Idaho, and gives the revenant to Paul. Against his ally's wishes, Emperor Paul accepts the gift, missing Duncan Idaho greatly. It doesn't have the same personality as Duncan (and has metallic eyes) but it does obey Paul's every command.

We also learn more about the fascinating Guild Steersmen, pilots who fly spaceships through faster-than-light routes to travel the galaxy. They are warped disgusting humanoids required for interstellar travel. They must be suspended in a tank of liquid spice at all times, and their very nature conceals their presence and immediate surroundings from Paul's psychic powers. Guild Steersmen are intelligent, and conspirators against the Atreides Empire meet with Edric, the main Steersman of the story, to cloak their meetings from Paul. Alia, Paul's younger sister (and Bene Gesserit) is also a primary character, who does her best to keep Paul sane. She inadvertently falls in love with the resurrected Duncan Idaho, causing more tension in the story. A woman named Princess Iralan is the official wife of Emperor Paul, but Paul only has affection and love for Chani, the Fremon he met in the first book. Paul only married Iralan for political reasons. Paul wishes to have an heir with Chani, and not Iralan, who he suspects has ulterior motives for having Paul's child.

Dune: Messiah is a great continuation of the Dune story. Most of this entry is about conspirators against Paul, and Paul's descent into insecurity and madness. He seems distracted from Chani and his future children with the daily life of being the Emperor and head of the Fremen Jihad. Paul certainly isn't a hero in this book, and shows he wasn't truly fit for being an all-conquering Emperor. The Fremen Jihab seems to have gotten away from him, and he realizes he's not gained loyal followers, but enemies and worshipers. Even his trust and relationships with Fremon Chief Stilgar wanes, and Paul thinks he's losing control of something he doesn't even want. As it turns out Paul loses his eyes in a blinding terroristic attack and must rely on his phychic powers to see. His turmoil over everything and amounting pressure eventually leads him to giving up and wandering the Arrakis desert, presumably to die. I loved seeing his inner conflict in this book, despite being so powerful. I can't wait to see where the Dune saga steers next.

[metalgearkong]

Timeline - Novel Review

11/22/21

Written by Michael Crichton, published in 1999

Michael Crichton is and continues to be one of my favorite writers. Categorizing his style is hard to do, and falls between thriller and hard science-fiction. His most famous work is Jurassic Park, a novel heavily influenced by real science and real theory, but makes the extra leap in order to provide a fantastic and thrilling adventure. Timeline is similar, in that it clearly contains exhaustive amounts of real world research on a certain scientific topic, bending it subtly to provide a structure for an adventure largely based in reality. While it's not my number one favorite Crichton novel, Timeline still delivers on the same high quality writing and detail the author is famous for.

Timeline revolves around quantum physics and is utilized for a time traveling story. A couple are driving through the Navajo desert and come across a man garbed in a dirty brown cloak on the side of the road. He is old, weak, but doesn't have any sign of extreme exposure. He is speaking mostly nonsensically, and the couple have no idea how he got there. After taking him to the nearest hospital, the man dies suddenly of a heart attack before anything of much value can be learned. A big tech company called ITC is secretly building labs and machines utilizing quantum computing to travel to the past via hopping into parallel universes. The explanation for this mechanism was fascinating, and by far was my favorite part of the novel.

ITC got a parchment from the 1400's simply saying "HELP" in the handwriting of a professor of history who has recently disappeared from the lab. ITC convinces three volunteers, a mixture of history, linguist, and science buffs, to travel to the 1400's and bring the professor back. When in the medieval times, the interest of the story drops for me, and turns into almost a Scooby-Doo level of antics and adventures of trying to stay disguised as peasants while locating the professor among two waring factions spanning two different fortresses. It's not that things become boring or child friendly (the tone certainly remains very historically realistic) but I had more fun reading about the explanations on how the quantum time travel worked, along with parallel dimensions, and explanation of time paradoxes the vice president of ITC gives to the volunteer time travelers.

I also loved when the volunteers were comparing the castle ruins of modern day to the structure of the castles as they stood in their heyday. Comparing rooms and having an insight to secret passages and architectural details aided them in their mission and I thought that was really cool. Timeline is a very fun book if you like technical science talk with only some hand-wavy explanations for how things work. Crichton's words come off as authentic and well researched leading to a very immersive hard sci-fi thriller. The medieval time period in this story isn't my favorite part about it, and I do think there are a few too many characters to keep track of in this novel as a whole, but the very idea and concept of the quantum parallel universe hopping was enough to make me appreciate this story. Recommended for science and history buffs alike.

[metalgearkong]

The Green Mile - Novel Review

11/20/21

Written by Stephen King, published in 1996

Stephen King is a household name for horror, but I keep finding I enjoy his works the most when he deviates from his supposed only genre. The Green Mile originally released in 6 different small volumes (60-90 pages each), but today can only be found all together in one solid book. The Green Mile contains one or two of King's tropes (such as a person with inexplicable supernatural powers) but this is as far from his style I've seen him deviate. In 1932 Paul Edgecomb works the death row cell block of the Cold Mountain prison. He oversees the prisoners and organizes their executions via Ol' Sparky. The regular repertoire of inmates come and go, until a very unique convict is arrives at the mile; a man named John Coffey, like the drink, just spelled differently.

I will not be able to do this novel justice. I wasn't a great reader until recent years. There are huge gaps in time in my life where I didn't pick up a single book, and if I did, I barely registered its words. Until the first book I ever re-read, Eli Wiesl's Night, which turned me on to an entire genre of fiction, a genre which black and white words on a page could make my reptilian brain feel a real emotion: horror. This continued with Richard Matheson's Hell House, and many others. Recently, horror has been my favorite genre because so far, it was the only niche to make me feel something on this side of the 4th wall. Although I loved horror, Stephen King wasn't one of my favorite authors, mainly do to frequent padding I felt he stuffed much of his books with.

This changed after I finished The Green Mile. I was familiar with the gist of the story from the 1999 movie adaptation I saw as a kid, but I couldn't recall a ton of the details. This book didn't make me afraid in my gut. No, this book made me sad. But in a good way. The happiest most satisfying catharsis of sad. I wasn't getting chocked up or misty-eyed, I was weeping. The kind of ugly cry where your face contorts to hold as much of the avalanche of emotions and snot in as possible. Where you only sniff every so often to recollect the goop in your nose from trickling onto your lips. I loved the characters so damned much and felt so sad, not only for John Coffey, but the numerous injustices found in this book.

I could feel each character's struggle and inner thoughts even if it wasn't typed out on the page. The characters at every turn take action to steer the plot in different directions, dealing with the fallout of many difficult decisions. This book was so complicated but so natural and immersive I struggle to put it down every single day until I finished it. There wasn't one bit of fluff in this entire book. King doesn't go long periods of time rambling about townspeople or details in a community which have no effect on the plot. The Green Mile keeps the characters to a relatively low number and each of them stand out with at least some purpose. The actual villain of the story is irony, and how many tragedies could be avoided if everyday people weren't spoiled by racism and ignorance.

I didn't get emotional in just one part of the story. I was crying at at least three different moments. It almost didn't even feel like a Stephen King book in many parts, for better or for worse. The Green Mile has made me reconsider how much I appreciate King as an author, and this novel has shot near the top of my favorites I've ever read. Regardless if you've seen the film or not, The Green Mile ought to be read by everyone who may be interested in prison stories, or stories of tragedies and miracles. Don't expect extreme horror. Expect a nuanced perspective of right and wrong, and about the dignity deserved to every single human being.

[metalgearkong]

American Gods - Novel Review

11/18/21

Written by Neil Gaiman, published in 2001

When I worked at a lodge in Sequoia I used to give amateur astronomy lessons for the guests. With the lack of light pollution we were always able to see more in the night sky than what people were used to back in their big cities. When explaining where the English names for the days of the week came from (Sunday: sun, Monday: moon, Tuesday: Tyr, Wednesday: Odin, Thursday: Thor, Friday: Frigg, Saturday: Saturn) one of the guests suggested American Gods to me, or more specifically, the TV show adaptation. He said I might be interested because "one of the main characters is named Mr. Wednesday and that's all I'll say." In a Goodwill months later, I found a copy of the book and got it right away. After reading the book, mostly, I was disappointed and felt like maybe my my expectations were wrong about both story and the universal praise of Neil Gaiman.

A man named Shadow is in prison for battery and assault. He is meant to serve 6 years, but gets out early at 3 years due to good behavior. A week before he is meant to leave, and the day after he talks on the phone with his wife (planning a coming home party) he is informed by the warden that she was tragically killed in a car crash, along with Shadow's best friend Reggie. Shadow is released to the world and goes straight to the funeral parlor where the services were being carried out. Shadow overwhelmed with emotions, shuts down. He encounters a man pursuing him named Mr. Wednesday with a mysterious job proposal for him. After much resistance, Shadow finally accepts.

This begins a country-wide trek of odd characters and lucid dreams. I understand the quirkiness of the book, but the plot never picked up much, and results in a story of loosely connected characters and locations. My favorite part of the novel is about halfway through when Shadow is assigned to lay low off in a northern Michigan city called Lakeside. The icy cold town is where there began to be some consistency in location and characters. I loved Gaiman's descriptions of how cold the town got (negative 30 degrees) and how it felt to Shadow. I pictured it as a town right out of a Christmas card, filled with snow and warm townspeople.

Unfortunately I couldn't identify with Shadow's journey. He is the definition of an inactive protagonist, where the story happens around him, instead of him driving the plot. His underreacts to weird stuff around him, and I didn't care much for the side characters either. The idea of the story is people these days worship new gods, essentially TV, media, money, drugs, etc, instead of the traditional gods from generations ago. Mr. Wednesday is basically Odin, and is journeying through the United States attempting to recruit sullen and washed up people who represent other old gods to fight a war against the new gods. These people weren't as interesting as I'd hoped they'd be, and I found the book to be incredibly boring. I skimmed the last quarter of the novel because I could not wait for it to be over. When you're more focused how many pages you have left to go rather than the story itself, you know the book isn't the book for you.

[metalgearkong]

Tick Tock - Novel Review

11/15/21

Written by Dean Koontz, published in 1996

Dean Koontz is rapidly becoming my favorite horror/thriller author I've ever read. Phantoms was a surprise hit for me when I read it last year. I love Koontz's ability to get to the action quickly and maintain suspense and thrills throughout the book. Tick Tock is a random novel of his I chose of his to read next, and luckily it did not disappoint. Tick Tock is a fairly ambiguous title, and like Phantoms, it's another story with a supernatural monster on the lose with a couple of main characters trying to survive and evade it. The mystery to what the monster is and where it comes from remained my favorite aspect of this book.

Tommy Phan is a first generation descendant of a Vietnamese family who moved to America in the 1970's. Tommy tries to strike off on his own and achieve the American Dream as an author of detective stories, much to his traditional mother's chagrin. While driving his dream car, an aqua metallic Corvette along the coastline of Southern California, his radio begins to emit strange voices and even his name. That night a ragdoll is left at his doorstep, complete with a ringing of his doorbell, despite not seeing or hearing anyone outside. Tommy brings the ragdoll inside and almost right away the doll begins to move, and a demonic creature within the gingerbread man shape starts to show itself.

A message written on a note with the doll says something like "you have until dawn, tick tock." The doll shows a lot of intelligence and immediately cuts the power to Tommy's house. I loved this section of the book because it was easy to identify with Tommy's fear and anxiety as he moved around his house with a creature that could stab him or bite onto his ankle trying to kill him. Eventually the chase leads outside of the house and into the rainy California night. Tommy meets a blonde waitress named Deliverance who rescues him from the doll at one point, and she seems chock full of skills that someone like her wouldn't normally have (extremely good marksman, stunt driver, vastly wealthy for a waitress, and can start any vehicle they enter without keys or hotwiring). The mystery of who this woman is along with where the monster came from were two enigmas I was dying to find out.

The only part of the book where I think Koontz loses a lot of potential is the Deliverance and her family's true nature. Not revealed until the closing pages of the book, its revealed that Deliverance is an alien who doesn't need to sleep and is given all sorts of powers by benevolent extra-terrestrials. Deliverance's mother was abducted while pregnant with her, and apparently is immortal and has a vast amount of wealth, upwards of hundreds of millions, which is not actually explained. Her mother also has a radio that can tap into live transmissions from any time period in radio history. There are all sorts of abilities Deliverance and her mother have, but none of it is really explained thoroughly. Deliverance's dog is also extra-terrestrial in disguise who has powers of his own. It was so strange it felt like ideas from a different and more complete novel leaked there way into this one.

Surprisingly, and to my satisfaction, the plot about the doll monster was exciting and lead to a competent conclusion. Apparently bad aliens abduct people from Earth all the time, and teach them evil powers once in a while. One of those abductees was Tommy's mother's friend who knows all sorts of pagan rituals (learned from her abduction) who summons the doll to scare Tommy into leading a more traditional lifestyle with his family, rather than trying to pursue the American Dream on his own. The spell didn't go "quite right" and the doll was much more powerful and evil than intended. The book takes on a more comedic tone as time goes on. However I found myself identifying a lot with Tommy as he's asking for answers from everyone around him all the time, but only gets vague sardonic answers. I never actually felt the tone of the book to be funny, but apparently that's what Koontz was going for (according to the internet).

Tick Tock was fantastic up until the good and evil alien abduction plot reveal. With such a change in subject matter it nearly gave me whiplash. The suspense and extreme anxiety of the unstoppable and growing monster doll was much more interesting and thrilling, and this book only needed to be about that. Still, I found the alien twist near the end at least interesting, even if it's not fully realized. Koontz has a way with words I really enjoy, mainly going off on tangents constantly about the details of something the characters were doing, holding, or seeing, full of metaphor and description without halting the pace of present events. This book is extremely trim with no ounce of fat or wasted pages. Koontz is still one of my favorite thriller writers ever and I can't wait to pick the next book of his to consume.

[metalgearkong]

1984 - Novel Review

11/13/21

Written by George Orwell, published in 1949

This book was one of the mega classics I knew I wanted to get around to sooner or later. Everyone has said that Orwell's warning of a totalitarian future was reminiscent of today's society, and the story did not disappoint. The world in this book is miserable, unfair, full of lies, control, and omnipresent surveillance. The country known as Oceania, formerly the UK, is ruled by "the Party" ruled by "Big Brother." This dystopia is filled with propaganda about how great the Party is and how much worse things were in the past before "the revolution." Cameras equipped with microphones are placed on virtually every wall and every corner of the city, inside and outside, leaving everyday people zero privacy. This is a place where even facial expressions or not cheering enough for Party propaganda videos could condemn someone disappearing the night.

The story itself centers around a 39 year old man named Winston Smith, a begrudged worker for the Party who spends all hours of the day in a windowless cubical farm. He is sent passages and ordered to alter them to what the Party deems appropriate for the public to know and read. This includes rewriting history so no one knows anything about the past or present other than what the Party strictly says it is. The vocabulary of English has even been renamed to Newspeak, and the number of words is drastically shrinking, leaving people less ability to express themselves and communicate well. Regular English is called Oldspeak, and of course forbidden to use at the risk of being arrested. The Party completely controls knowledge not just of the present, but of the past. This world is such a mind fuck because everyone is controlled on every level from the inside out, and its brilliantly realized.

1984 is also a far more disturbing book than I ever expected. Most of the writing focuses on the descriptions of society and everyday life itself, but in later chapters, mainly when Winston is set up and captured by the Party, things take a more brutal and visceral turn. Winston is kept in a windowless cell surrounded by surveillance. He is physically and psychologically tortured for weeks. He is subject to infrequent but harsh beatings by guards. Sometimes Winston would share his cell with other political prisoners, other people found guilty of thought crimes, but all eventually dragged off one by one to a horrendous place only referred to as "Room 101." Things get even worse for Winston at that point, and to see what the Party does to people who have potential ties to a revolution attempt, or simply have read unapproved literature, shows the true horror of 1984's dystopian society.

Winston at one point stumbles into a romantic relationship with a 27 or so year old woman named Julia. She attracts him to a secret grassy knoll on the edge of a lake for a sexual rendezvous. While it seems too good to be true, it's not a trick, and one of the only happy elements of his life in many years. They attempt to maintain their relationship but always have to meet in extreme secret. Even if someone can sneak off to the countryside, microphones are placed everywhere in secret, and they never know if they are being listened to. This was actually one of my favorite elements of the book because their anxiety and desperation felt so real and showed how much of a struggle it is in this society to have anything happy or unique.

The only weakness of the novel, or at least the only part that wasn't fun to read, was the 20-something pages of Winston simply reading what is known as "the book." The book is something secretly passed between revolutionaries about what the real state of the world truly is. It's full of information, but reads like a literal textbook explaining the ins and outs of the Party and other global superpowers. To have so many pages of walls of text was exhausting and eventually lost my focus. 1984 was better than I expected, and some of Orwell's warnings have already come true. This twisted world and story should be read by anyone interested in history or politics, or simply enjoys dystopian worlds and alternate futures. This was mind blowing stuff, especially written in the 1940's, and it shows how intelligent and influential George Orwell really was.

[metalgearkong]

The Wolf Road - Novel Review

11/10/21

Written by Beth Lewis, published in 2016

This book attracted me a few years ago and is yet another I set on the shelf for far too long before reading. I had never heard of Beth Lewis, and she appears to only have written a couple of novels, but that fact doesn't reflect in her quality of writing. The Wolf Road is about a girl named Elka (the feminine version of "Elk") who grows up with her semi-abusive "nanny" before a massive storm destroys their fragile hut. 7 year old Elka becomes lost and is adopted by a rugged man in the woods with tattoos all over his face saying his name is "Trapper." He becomes her mentor for hunting and surviving in the woods, but undoubtable has some kind of malevolent past, as Elka is under strict orders to never tell anyone where they live or who he is.

After 10 years growing up with Trapper, Elka eventually learns the crimes he has committed, and what he is on the lamb for. Elka strikes out on her own, now in search of her biological parents, following shallow clues and basic information across the BC wilderness. With the vengeful Trapper on her trail, as well as the local sheriff thinking Elka is in cahoots with Trapper, Elka uses all of her wits and skills to get out of and avoid trouble in her travels. Unfortunately her 17 years in the woods leaves her vulnerable to societal norms, and her larger obstacles begin to rear their head the more she gets into civilized areas. She is conditioned to mistrust people, and Elka has more than one run in with people who she should have trusted, and should have trusted more.

The only problem with The Wolf Road is when exactly this story takes place. People refer to past "conflict," "second conflict," and "the big stupid" which I would think are the World Wars, yet Elka talks like and moves through settlements like it's still the 1800's. Six-shooters are described as the pistols, and no reference to paved roadways, signs, cars, billboards, or anything of 20th Century technology is ever mentioned. Plus, people in this area of BC (British Colombia?) are moving north for fortune found in that "yellow rock." Bombs had been dropped from planes, putting the time period at least after WWI. The smoking gun is Trapper mentioning his rifle is a Dragonuv, which is of Soviet Union make, invented in 1963. The incongruity is actually not a huge problem because I enjoyed the story and characters so much, but it seemed like a major detail not to clear up.

I can't say this is my favorite novel of all time, but it was really fun watching Elka grow and develop both her survival skills and understanding the nature of people. She's a steadfast character who is far smarter and more adaptive than most people in her position would be. I also enjoyed the more horrific side of the story, mainly what crimes Trapper had committed, and a small dark twist we find out late in the book. This is definitely a book I would keep on my shelf mainly for the focus on nature and the strong female characters found within. The story does end like a sequel could happen, but in almost 5 years it appears no sequel has or will materialize. The Wolf Road is good, but a few details keep it from easily being great.

[metalgearkong]

Words of Radiance (The Stormlight Archive #2) - Novel Review

11/4/21

Written by Brandon Sanderson, published in 2014

I became a huge fan of this series after finishing the first book a couple months ago, and The Stormlight Archives has already become my favorite fantasy series next to The Lord of the Rings. Just shy of 1,100 pages, Words of Radiance continues the stories of Kaladin, Shallan, Dalinar, Szeth, and the ignition of a war between the Alethi and Parshendi (or the "Listeners" as they call themselves). Words of Radiance is full of revelations and packed with so many exhilarating character moments its difficult to recall them all. With several more books to go, I am curious how Sanderson will keep the momentum moving forward. With how well he fleshes out his characters, world, and magic system, I am eagerly along for the ride.

Former slave Kaladin is head of the Cobalt Guard, Dalinar Kholin and King Elkohar's personal bodyguards, and is fiercely dedicated to his job as well as the men of Bridge 4. Kaladin's loyalties and honor are torn between his men and the royalty he's sworn to protect. Seeing him make decisions and his thought processes are some of the best insight to his character. Kaladin isn't just a squeaky clean hero, he legitimately considers letting King Elkohar get assassinated because of how awful of a leader he is, and how it could better the entire kingdom to not have him in his place. However, it was strange to have Kaladin sidelined for a large portion of this novel, either injured, stranded away from the other main characters. Without a doubt Kaladin does have two of the most exciting chapters in the entire book (1) learning Lashing abilities and taking to the skies, and (2) jumping in an arena to help Adolin Kholin against a fight against 4 Shardbearers.

While The Way of Kings saw the most development for Kaladin, Words of Radiance focuses more on Shallan Devar. She gets the most backstory out of any character, and we find out she certainly hasn't had the easy lifestyle of a Lighteyes that one would assume. We learn how she began her mission to learn from Jasnah Kholin and why she wanted to swap Jasnah's Soulcaster for a fake one, among other details fleshing her out. I do think the book had one or two too many chapters explaining Shallan's upbringing, but it does pay off in the very last pages of the novel. Jasnah has recommended Shallan to get married to Delinar Kholin's eldest son Adolin to help secure her safety and future. The two women are in route via ship to the war camps on the edge of the Shattered Plains at the beginning of the book. Plans change very quickly when they are raided by a secret society called the Ghostbloods with murderous intend.

My favorite character in the series is still the middle aged warrior-turned politician Dalinar Kholin, Uncle of King Elkohar. Dalinar does his best to steer the King in the right direction, but others see it as Dalinar grasping for power. Other see Dalinar as a madman as he is the only one who can converse with the Almighty (God) in dreams or in waking visions. Dalinar's desire to reform the Knights Radiant also seems crazy, as history says the Knights Radiant abandoned humanity during the former Desolation. Seeing him struggle with the dying honor around him caused a lot of great tension in the book. Many see him as borderline heretical or corrupt as he struggles to do the right thing at every turn. His eldest son Adolin also gets a surprising amount of character development, and wasn't as one-note of a character as I thought he'd be, especially when he begins interacting with other main characters such as Kaladin and Shallan.

The one chapter I outright disliked was a chapter about a thief named Lift infiltrating the Emperor's palace. She uses abilities she calls awesome powers. She has to eat in order to use her powers, and constantly says stuff like "I am now awesome again" and things like that. She even used magic she referred to as Slick and unSlick to slide along floors and escape grasps of enemies. These sorts of words obviously stick out like sore thumbs and read like a teenager's fan fiction of a video game. I know Sanderson writes interlude chapters about characters in locations and scenarios which have nothing to do with the current story, but I also dislike those chapters in The Way of Kings as well. If you're going to set up something completely new and then never address it again in the same book, to me that is a flaw. Even for the sake of worldbuilding paying off in future novels.

I have a couple more nit picks about this book compared to The Way of Kings, but it doesn't keep Words of Radiance from being yet again another one of the best fantasy books I've ever read. This story is stuffed with characters who are well rounded, likeable, and who interact in an extremely well realized world. Everything from the world building to the magic system is very consistent and makes visualizing this colorful energetic world easy to do. I love learning new details about nearly everything in this universe, especially the more unique magical stuff like Knights Radiant, Heralds, Shardplate, Shardblades, spren, Parshendi, and the Almighty himself. This is also the first book in history to legitimately make me laugh out loud (in a good way) and it gets a spot on the history wall just for that. I can't wait to see how the sequel Oathbringer continues the story.