Review: The Gathering Storm

The Gathering Storm by Robert Jordan

My rating: 5 of 5 stars



OOOOOOOH! So THAT's what's been going on for the past 7000 pages.

That was my first impression upon finishing this book. And I gotta say, beyond the big reveal that has the nice touch of being simultaneously completely believable and TOTALLY unexpected, I really liked it quite a lot.

Brandon Sanderson was an inspired choice to finish the Wheel of Time. His prose style has a lot of similarities with Robert Jordan, which made the transition from the last book seem natural, and Sanderson has a nice way* of making things happen in a way that feels appropriate. True, I, like everyone else on the internet, found the too-modern sounding phrases annoying, but the vast majority of the time, I don't think I could tell whether a particular scene was written by either author.

The best part of the book by far is the Egwene story line. I mean, we've been waiting for this to happen for years, and it's pretty great. Egwene has always been one of my favorite characters and her dramatic moment defending the White Tower is both one of the best action sequences the series has had plus a nice showcase of her cleverness, determination, and leadership.**

Rand's story line is also very good. He get's a lot of "screen" time, which is nice since he's been absent for a while, his character undergoes some stark and significant changes which Sanderson handles deftly in my opinion. This is the first book in a while that felt like it had a complete story line for Rand, and it really worked well.*** Just as one example, the devastating scene with Tam is the most emotionally resonating thing in the series since...actually maybe ever.

Not that all story lines are winners.
Maybe it's just rose colored glasses, but I don't remember Gawyn being so annoying under Robert Jordan. And not even Brandon Sanderson can save Siuan's chapters.****

On the other hand, unlike the rest of the internet, I actually thought Mat's story line was pretty good. It was kind of silly, but then Mat has always been the joker so I think it's OK that his plot line is kind of silly.

Before I conclude, let's pause to reflect on how dreadful the cover art is of the print version, (and how awesome it is on the ebook.)

Seriously, it's a picture of Egwene blasting a To'raken out of a
destroyed wall in the White Tower. (source tor.com)

I mean, even if you insist on drawing for your cover Rand basically standing there doing nothing, you could have had the decency to choose the scene where Rand stands and does basically nothing ON TOP OF A FUCKING VOLCANO!!!!!

* Maybe even better than Robert Jordan who in many of these books got stuck in a "things and the same; things are the same; things are the same; SUDDENLY
DIFFERENT!; things are the same;..." rut.
** Plus, (minor spoiler), the absolutely awesome moment where everyone in the white tower realizes, "Wait, why are you even here?! You could have Traveled out of the white tower at any time..."
*** With some minor complaints. (Spoiler alert and technical wheel of time nerdery follows:) Like the part where, Rand is wondering how is possibly going to defeat The Dark One since using Saidin to seal his prison allowed him to taint it and then in the very next scene suddenly he can use the True Source! I kinda had it already figured out, thanks Brandon.
**** Blood and bloody ashes, woman, just bed the man already.




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Review: Heart-Shaped Box

Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



So, when I checked this book out from the library, I found a 9 of Clubs serving as a bookmark about 90 pages in. As it turns out, this is a fabulous way to make a horror novel way scarier. I mean, it raises some creepy questions: if you use a playing card as a bookmark, you must mean to do so temporarily--so why was the book returned, apparently unfinished, with the card in place? What happened to the reader? And what of the deck of cards, now ruined due to the misfortune of the reader? Is there eve anyone left to play with the broken deck?*

But this is a digression from the actual book.** The actual book is pretty good. For one thing, playing card or no, it's actually pretty scary. One sleepless night in and the book was tossed on the the DO NOT READ AT BEDTIME pile, so that tells you something.

Joe Hill does a nice job of making the supernatural threat feel genuinely threatening, while also having weaknesses that the heroes could plausible exploit.

The best part of the book, though, is that the characterization is very good. Jude, in particular, is nicely balanced. He is interesting and appealing--one has no trouble rooting for him, but he is also flawed, and not completely good. He feels like a real person, even if his existence is kind of implausible.***

* When I returned the book to the library I put the 9 of clubs back where I found it, obviously.
** But keep in mind that my opinion is influenced by the creepy playing card bookmark.
*** Seriously, how many heavy metal frontmen are actually still millionaires into their fifties. I'm guessing not too many.



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Review: Libriomancer

Libriomancer by Jim C. Hines

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



The thing that makes Libriomancer really sing is the magic system. In this book, magicians (or Libriomancers) can reach into books and pull out items described therein. It's a really clever device and Jim C. Hines uses it extremely well, coming up with lots clever ways this magic can be used and creating a downright adorable urban fantasy world.*

To me, Jim C. Hines is best known for his blog and his writing about feminism and other diversity issues in Science Fiction and Fantasy.**
Not surprisingly, he does a decent job of diversifying the characters in this book***, and he even takes on women's sexuality and the problems with how that is portrayed in much of genre fiction. And honestly, I think he does a pretty decent job with these subjects.

So, yeah, cool magic system. Decent treatment of Issues of Importance to the Genre. Oh, and some fine action scenes and set pieces. I recommend this and am looking forward to the sequel.

* As a sample, the libriomancers are dismayed at the success of the Twilight books because it caused a new breed of sparkly vampires to come into existence.

** OK fine. To me, Jim C. Hines is best known for taking pictures of himself attempting the poses from trashy novel covers. For a middle aged guy, he's surprisingly flexible.

*** His principal female lead is a not-slender woman of color. But to be completely fair (and this is a mild spoiler) since her race is pleasure nymph, her color really doesn't affect her characterization. (I'm not saying that this is a bad thing or that skin color should have any bearing on behavior. On the other hand, this particular bit of diversity is purely cosmetic. Most of the characters (yes, except for the pleasure nymph) just kind of act like midwesterners. )



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