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elzbethmrgn's Reviews (667)
I bought this book not because I had any interest in reading it, but to support [a:Francis Pryor|57943|Francis Pryor|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1381263587p2/57943.jpg]'s crowdfunded publishing (and get my name printed in the book, of course). The book I got in return is an archaeologist who runs across some crime and decides to solve it himself. As the protags of crime fiction do.
Alan Cadbury (our archaeologist) feels wooden - Bad Stuff happens to him (as does Good Stuff), and yet he doesn't seem to bat an eyelid. He doesn't break down or become overly excited or really show any emotion at all. The archaeology and related science-y bits are great if you're interested in that sort of thing, but dense if you are not. At times the writing feels pretty rigid as well - this is Prior's first foray into fiction (if you don't count History in that category, but that's an argument for a different day), but parts of Lifers' Club feel like a non-fiction work (a little like [b:The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo|2429135|The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1)|Stieg Larsson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327868566s/2429135.jpg|1708725] feels like it's written by a journalist).
That said, it wasn't a bad read. The twist on the whodunit ending was a nice surprise - there is more to it than Cadbury solving the case and finding out who the 'real killer' is, and the human repercussions of that, rather than the generic grateful wrongfully-arrested prisoner, is really nice to read. There is more of Alan Cadbury's story in the works and I'll probably read that too.
Alan Cadbury (our archaeologist) feels wooden - Bad Stuff happens to him (as does Good Stuff), and yet he doesn't seem to bat an eyelid. He doesn't break down or become overly excited or really show any emotion at all. The archaeology and related science-y bits are great if you're interested in that sort of thing, but dense if you are not. At times the writing feels pretty rigid as well - this is Prior's first foray into fiction (if you don't count History in that category, but that's an argument for a different day), but parts of Lifers' Club feel like a non-fiction work (a little like [b:The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo|2429135|The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo (Millennium, #1)|Stieg Larsson|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1327868566s/2429135.jpg|1708725] feels like it's written by a journalist).
That said, it wasn't a bad read. The twist on the whodunit ending was a nice surprise - there is more to it than Cadbury solving the case and finding out who the 'real killer' is, and the human repercussions of that, rather than the generic grateful wrongfully-arrested prisoner, is really nice to read. There is more of Alan Cadbury's story in the works and I'll probably read that too.
This sure is a book of translated source documents relating to medieval heresies. If you're in the market for something like that, this is your book.
This was not the book I was expected, and I thoroughly enjoyed it anyway. Marketed as epic fantasy that perhaps fans of GRR Martin may like, instead I got YA fantasy with an author unafraid to kill his sympathetic characters (that's where the Martin comparison comes in). I'm ok with that.
The YA feel comes from the two teenage brothers doing the classic YA fantasy trope: one goes off in his teens to become as ass-kicking 'knight' and learns about himself through discipline and killing, and the other is sent off in his teens to become a 'mage' and learns about himself through discipline and 'magic', although in this case it's eastern meditation philosophy. A third POV of their sister, the woman doing a man's job in a man's world, sometimes cuts in, but it's mainly about these boys.
The first three quarters of the book follows the standard pattern of the scrapes YA protags get into in their schooling, but then at pretty much 75% the shit hits the fan and doesn't stop until beyond the end - written as a trilogy the story doesn't end on a cliffhanger so much as a 'the next chapter won't be out until 2015'. I'm looking forward to it.
The YA feel comes from the two teenage brothers doing the classic YA fantasy trope: one goes off in his teens to become as ass-kicking 'knight' and learns about himself through discipline and killing, and the other is sent off in his teens to become a 'mage' and learns about himself through discipline and 'magic', although in this case it's eastern meditation philosophy. A third POV of their sister, the woman doing a man's job in a man's world, sometimes cuts in, but it's mainly about these boys.
The first three quarters of the book follows the standard pattern of the scrapes YA protags get into in their schooling, but then at pretty much 75% the shit hits the fan and doesn't stop until beyond the end - written as a trilogy the story doesn't end on a cliffhanger so much as a 'the next chapter won't be out until 2015'. I'm looking forward to it.
A textbook doing a good job of covering such a broad topic over a broad timescale would be far too big for this job this one tries to do: briefly cover the major heretical movements from the 11th to the 16th centuries.
Although aimed at students, this book sadly doesn't put the various heretical movements into much social and political context. I was disheartened to see that events that would have had major impacts on the flourishing or repression of heresies, such as the Great Schism, barely even get a mention. The final chapters, although not the direct focus of the book, assume a prior knowledge of the events and key players of the Reformation. In conjunction with other readings I'm assuming this textbook will get me through my class, but on its own it doesn't do enough with the space it's given.
On a more nit-picky note, the language used in this book was really difficult to wade through. Obviously of its time (the first edition was published in 1977), the contents may have been updated in the 2002 edition but the language hasn't. I had to read the majority of it aloud so the run-on sentences would actually make sense, as they were going nowhere in my head, and Lambert is liberal with his use of foreign phrases and archaic words in the place of a more simple (and direct) English phrasing. Obviously, I have the ability to Google them, but surely English in an English-language book makes sense? My favourite was the repeated use of 'quondom', when 'former' would not only not affect the word count, but contains fewer letters. And don't even get me started on all the extraneous commas.
If you've been assigned this book for class, IMO it's worth your time. The specifics on the major heresies (Waldensianism, Catharism, Hussitism) are quite thorough. Just remember that you need to look elsewhere to give it all some context.
Although aimed at students, this book sadly doesn't put the various heretical movements into much social and political context. I was disheartened to see that events that would have had major impacts on the flourishing or repression of heresies, such as the Great Schism, barely even get a mention. The final chapters, although not the direct focus of the book, assume a prior knowledge of the events and key players of the Reformation. In conjunction with other readings I'm assuming this textbook will get me through my class, but on its own it doesn't do enough with the space it's given.
On a more nit-picky note, the language used in this book was really difficult to wade through. Obviously of its time (the first edition was published in 1977), the contents may have been updated in the 2002 edition but the language hasn't. I had to read the majority of it aloud so the run-on sentences would actually make sense, as they were going nowhere in my head, and Lambert is liberal with his use of foreign phrases and archaic words in the place of a more simple (and direct) English phrasing. Obviously, I have the ability to Google them, but surely English in an English-language book makes sense? My favourite was the repeated use of 'quondom', when 'former' would not only not affect the word count, but contains fewer letters. And don't even get me started on all the extraneous commas.
If you've been assigned this book for class, IMO it's worth your time. The specifics on the major heresies (Waldensianism, Catharism, Hussitism) are quite thorough. Just remember that you need to look elsewhere to give it all some context.
This is a beautiful little vignette about a broken girl. I love it.
Sword & Laser Anthology
Day Al-Mohamed, Aidan Moher, Paul Kreuger, Tom Merritt, David Emery, Patrick Rothfuss, Adam Callaway, Auston Habershaw, Sean Tadsen, Rebecca J. Thomas, Zachary Tringali, Luke R. Pebler, Stephen Case, Sarina Dorie, Jeffrey N. Baker, Austin Malone, Victoria Hooper, Kristy Sutherland, Jacob A. Boyd, Mike Murphy, Veronica Belmont, Trisha L. Sebastian, Nicole Feldringer
I only read the fantasy half of this, the sci-fi not interesting me enough to give up precious reading time I need for uni right now. Although the stories were disappointing at first, they quickly picked up, and a few (Partly Petrified by Auston Habershaw and The Lesser Evil by Day Al-Mohamed) were brilliant. Hopefully sci-fi fans think the same, or better, of the Laser half of the anthology.
That moment when you type out a review and then the browser crashes. Nevermind.
I can't decide if I enjoyed this book or not: it's something I picked up because it's the Sword and Laser read for this month, and the Kindle sample chapter didn't suck. I'm not particularly interested in having guns in fantasy, and I'm not interested in steampunk worlds, but that's not the fault of the book. The fact that I kept reading says it didn't completely suck, but at the same time none of the characters, the politics, or the more interesting layers of mages and 'gods' are enough to make me want to go on to the next in the series, despite ending on a cliffhanger (although at some point I will ask Wikipedia what happened to Ka-Poel).
As previously noted, the naming stuff really bugged me. Although taking 'real' names and giving them a slight twist is a deliberate action on the part of McClellan, next time maybe choose a less universally recognised name than Karolus Magnus. I did have fun, however, imagining Ricard to be a shorter, fatter, equally bald version of Jean-Luc Picard.
The addict storyline also bugged me, for reasons I can't put my finger on. It makes complete sense in the world: of course the powder and the accompanying trance would become a habit and then a necessity, and I think it's important to explore that facet of the mechanics of gunpowder mages. But it still bugged me.
Overall, I would actually give this book three stars, but I stick closely to the Goodreads ratings and for me, this one was ok, but I wouldn't say I liked it. Hence two.
ETA: I have to mention I really did like that the impressions of the powder mages and Adamat about third parties were different, rooted in their backgrounds and social positions, and that different characteristics about each of the third-party people were noted by Adamat when he met them for the first time, as opposed to Tamas who has obviously known them for decades at this point in time.
I can't decide if I enjoyed this book or not: it's something I picked up because it's the Sword and Laser read for this month, and the Kindle sample chapter didn't suck. I'm not particularly interested in having guns in fantasy, and I'm not interested in steampunk worlds, but that's not the fault of the book. The fact that I kept reading says it didn't completely suck, but at the same time none of the characters, the politics, or the more interesting layers of mages and 'gods' are enough to make me want to go on to the next in the series, despite ending on a cliffhanger (although at some point I will ask Wikipedia what happened to Ka-Poel).
As previously noted, the naming stuff really bugged me. Although taking 'real' names and giving them a slight twist is a deliberate action on the part of McClellan, next time maybe choose a less universally recognised name than Karolus Magnus. I did have fun, however, imagining Ricard to be a shorter, fatter, equally bald version of Jean-Luc Picard.
The addict storyline also bugged me, for reasons I can't put my finger on. It makes complete sense in the world: of course the powder and the accompanying trance would become a habit and then a necessity, and I think it's important to explore that facet of the mechanics of gunpowder mages. But it still bugged me.
Overall, I would actually give this book three stars, but I stick closely to the Goodreads ratings and for me, this one was ok, but I wouldn't say I liked it. Hence two.
ETA: I have to mention I really did like that the impressions of the powder mages and Adamat about third parties were different, rooted in their backgrounds and social positions, and that different characteristics about each of the third-party people were noted by Adamat when he met them for the first time, as opposed to Tamas who has obviously known them for decades at this point in time.
My overwhelming feeling towards this book is 'eh'. I didn't ever feel compelled to not put the book down, and it shows in that it took me five months to finish it. I felt like we were just killing time for the first three-quarters of the book (is this where [a:Brandon Sanderson|38550|Brandon Sanderson|https://d.gr-assets.com/authors/1394044556p2/38550.jpg] learned that annoying habit?), and even when Stuff was happening at the end the only person I felt was really doing something was Nynaeve (how much ass does she kick? I love her.)
I will read the next one ([b:The Dragon Reborn|11203967|The Dragon Reborn (Wheel of Time, #3)|Robert Jordan|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1343770673s/11203967.jpg|791061]), but I'm going to tackle other things on the TBR pile first.
I will read the next one ([b:The Dragon Reborn|11203967|The Dragon Reborn (Wheel of Time, #3)|Robert Jordan|https://d.gr-assets.com/books/1343770673s/11203967.jpg|791061]), but I'm going to tackle other things on the TBR pile first.
Shadows Beneath: The Writing Excuses Anthology
Howard Tayler, Dan Wells, Brandon Sanderson, Mary Robinette Kowal
I'm a fantasy reader so while I did read Howard's story (so I could listen to the relevant Writing Excuses episode), I really enjoyed the two fantasies from Mary Robinette Kowal and Brandon Sanderson. I'm a sucker for religion.
And there is a whole bunch of writing craft stuff in there too if you're into that sort of thing.
And there is a whole bunch of writing craft stuff in there too if you're into that sort of thing.