utopia avenue

I'm a fan of David Mitchell and his surrealistic, fantastical worlds--which in some ways, all seem to be related to one another--that flow beneath our own world, occasionally rising to the surface, to turn and twist into our reality. Cloud Atlas is what turned me, and probably many others, on to Mitchell's writing. Cloud Atlas is a series of stories strung out on a very long timeline, but nevertheless are woven together. In Cloud Atlas, we see inklings of how not just these stories, but perhaps all stories are connected, often by much less than seven degrees of separation.*

Utopia Avenue takes its title from a fictional 1960s psychedelic rock band from England, that makes a small splash in the rock world of the time, releasing just two albums, and rubbing elbows with a whole cast of rock legends, who are written in as supporting characters, that interact with, and in some cases support and advise, members of the band and their manager, during their short tour of the United States. 

Mitchell has gone out of his way to create a rock band and a manager that defies the typical rock genre novel; all of the band members seem to get a long, and their manager isn't trying to screw them. Its amazing to a read a story about a rock band without these tropes, if only that in their absence, the writer needs something else to build narrative tension with. Mitchell does that by giving us a story about the very human interactions between the band members, their manager, and those they encounter in their initial struggles, rise to fame, and somewhat abrupt exit from fame and renown, which Mitchell uses cleverly to give us the impression that Utopia Avenue was so short lived, and with just a few hit songs, that they could have actually been there, and we just missed them or perhaps forgotten them in the decades since.

This one was probably more based in reality, with less dips below the surface, than some of Mitchell's other works, which some have compared to Black Swan Green, on the reality to fantastical scale. There were clear references to other stories however, including the connection between the tour de force lead guitarist Jasper de Zoet and his ancestor Jacob de Zoet, from The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet. But that isn't all, there were a few other things I noticed that I won't get into here.** If you are interested in these connections (which may contain spoilers) the supergeeks over at Wikipedia have a whole list of interconnections to other stories identified. †

This is a review of a book I read earlier in 2024 when I wasn't doing a great job keeping up with the blog. These impressions are from early in January 2025, so its been some time since I've read this book, but I wanted to get it down before I forgot. You can see a list of the books I read, including those from last year that I haven't written about in The Books tab at the top of the page.

* When I originally read Cloud Atlas, I hadn't seen the movie, and looking back at my review of the book, I couldn't imagine how you'd make a movie given the story's complexity, but they pulled it off. The movie, which I eventually saw was pretty good, but not nearly as complex as the book.

** Some of the things I noticed while reading were not conscience connections. Just niggling feelings that there is something there that relates to something else I've read or encountered before. That, in my opinion, can be even more fun; knowing that something you've just read is somehow tied to something else, but without know exactly what it is. It could be another Mitchell book, or perhaps something else...

† The other thing you'll find on the wiki page is a list of Mitchell's short stories, published in various periodicals, and some of them include links. I just read "Muggins Here" on the Guardian website, and that too, has connections to Mitchell's other works. Those connections were put down in this Reddit thread by someone with the handle FormalDinner7.

wolf and woodsman

The Wolf and the Woodsman reads like a cross between a swords and sorcery fantasy and modern mythology. This is the debut novel by Ava Reid, and it was pretty good. Reid took on a huge task for her first book, creating a new world, with its own history, multiple cultures, languages, flora and fauna. She was aided in her world building by basing many of those things our our world, from the wolves to the cultures, which not only align with some of ours, but also seem to include some similarities in their histories, languages, and for this book specifically, their conflicts and prejudices.

Into that complex soup of people, Reid weaves a magical system that is pretty simple, and I don't think the story arc relies to heavily on it, which is good. It does help to define who some folks are, from a status point of view as well, and there are some personal struggles and interpersonal dynamics that play on that, but that's not really about the magic, its more normal personal, pecking-order behavior.

At its core, I guess I'd call this a hero adventure, and along the way, Reid is touching on themes from coming of age, to romance, and from racism, exploitation, and oppression to revolution. There are some surprises here too, and not all of the fauna are as simple as wolves. I think Reid does a good job of keeping the pace moving along, and managing all of the threads she has set in this book. I'll keep my eye out for her next venture.*

This is another catch-up book review, which I read months ago and didn't get my thoughts down then. I've tried to recreate the list of books I read in 2024 as completely as I could, and to put them in the order that I read them. You can find where this one sits on the list by going to The Books tab at the top of the page.

* Since this book was published in 2021, Ava Reid has been cranking them out. She's written four since then, and a fifth is available for preorder now. Dang!

bear over the mountain

I picked up William Kotzwinkle's The Bear Went Over the Mountain * at a library book sale on the South Shore. I don't recall reading any of Kotzwinkle's work in the past, but it looked like it might be fun and the price was right. and, we get to help out the public library, right?

Kotzwinkle has written a bunch of children's stories and novels, he has also written a couple of screen plays, and has also written novels based on movie scripts. I wouldn't put this book in the realm of hilarious books I've read, but it was amusing. He certainly seems to have nailed down some of your typical New England archetypes. The suspension of disbelief on this one requires are fair amount of work, and probably tips this book from humor to outrageous.

I don't think I'm giving much away if I tell you that the bear put on a suit and went to the city--it shows as much on the book cover--what I had trouble with is that apparently, no one noticed. Maybe that's an editorial on forced ignorance, political correctness, or perhaps even the narcissistic self-absorption of city dwellers. Maybe its just zany. Who knows. We've all seen crazy things in the city, but come on, you're asking a lot from your readers. 

Perhaps this started out as a children's book, and only became an adult book when the bear's animal allure eventually leads to women not being able to resist him. And then, yeah, banging. Nope, not a guy in a bear suit; ** its all Sodom and Gomorrah up in here. I assume the intent was humor. Again, just outrageousness. Sometimes outrageous is funny, but like an SNL skit with an outrageous shtick isn't funny if it goes one minute too long, this novel is the full English breakfast version of that skit.

Myeh. Not for me.

* You may recognize the title, which is taken from a children's nursery rhyme of the same name.

** Yes, I know the character in The Hotel New Hampshire is a woman. I haven't read a ton of books with people in bear suits. Sue me.

impossible lives of great wells

The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells is a 2014 book by Andrew Sean Greer, the author of The Confessions of Max Tivoli, 10 years prior. I liked that earlier, book and I liked this one too, altho perhaps not quite as much. There are some similar themes Greer is exploring here, and the premise of the story is also fantastical.

Greer is again examining love, loss, and longing. And because this also has historical fiction aspects, he is also looking at a woman's place and standing in American society in the various time periods in which the story takes place.

This was a fun ride and Greer has constructed some pretty complex characters, and developed their personalities and interactions in ways that really help us understand how these people feel about each other, and how society, from differing time periods, influence those personalities and interactions.

Suspension of disbelieve is again required for this one, and if you enjoyed Max Tivoli then you'll probably enjoy this one.

on-the-fringe

Sweeney On-the-Fringe is a short, sweet little novel by Dave Robinson, which states on the cover that it is "Based on the notes of Owen Kivlin" <--you can see it right there * who is the narrator of the book, and the 'compiler' of the various stories about Sweeney, and poems written by Sweeney, which were either either left around, or more often mailed to the narrator by Sweeney, from some exotic local where Sweeney was invariably surfing and relaxing. The motivation behind the telling, is that no one has seen or heard from Sweeney at the time Owen Kivlin begins to try and figure out both where Sweeney may have gone, and why he left. He attempts to figure out the mystery of Sweeney by trying to discover more about him; a folk tale of their fictional Massachusetts, seaside town of Seawell, located at the mouth of the Merrimack River. 

The small town, we soon find out, is actually a small city, and the name, its location--and the author's home town--all point to Seawell being inspired by Lowell, Massachusetts, combined with some other small, New Englandy towns. The Merrimack River actually meets the Atlantic between Newburyport and Salisbury, Massachusetts. Neither of which is a city, nor has a university, and I don't think either has an airport [nope, hold it, looks like Plum Island has a small airport.] Plum Island is a pretty big island that runs north-south along the coast of Newburyport, and apparently, you can surf there, as well as north of the river's mouth, at Salisbury Beach.

Sweeney is the story of a local legend. That guy from a few years ago, who always seemed to be able to do whatever he wanted, and no one could figure out how, and most couldn't figure out why. The story is told through a series of transcribed interviews with, and letters from, people who knew Sweeney; interspersed with Sweeney's own poems. The interesting part is that Sweeney knew a lot of people, from different generations and walks of life, and they all knew different parts of his story, but none knew his whole story. And even by the end of the novel, Owen Kivlin still doesn't know all there is to know about this enigmatic man who touched all of their lives, in profound and subtle ways.

In the 'About the Author' blurb in the backmatter, the author indicates that this 2007 novel is the first in a trilogy. A quick look around the interwebs turns up only this: Sweeney In Effable, which is a single volume containing five books, one of which is Sweeney On-the-Fringe. The description of Effable on it's Amazon page includes this line:

"This contemporary protagonist is based on the ancient Irish legend from Trevor Joyce's translation, Sweeny Peregrine, with a nod to Seamus Heaney's Sweeney Astray." 

So there is a tradition for this slippery, Loki-esque or Pan-like character. This one was a fun ride.

Read this Book.

* Another thing you can see on the cover, is the horrible font they used for the title, which unfortunately, follows us throughout the book. I was thinking, what does on-the-Frince even mean?

golden enclaves

That's Book Three: done and dusted. The Golden Enclaves is the third book in the Scholomance Trilogy by Naomi Novik, which I banged out is pretty quick order, for me. That normally means that the books are engaging enough that I'm going out of my way to find reading time, rather than just reading a little at breakfast, and when I go to bed. That methods usually ends up turning your average novel into a two to three week ordeal.

Novik did everything right here: compelling characters and storyline, some drama, some hooks, some fun, some romance, some action, some surprise, some death, a smackerel of foreshadowing, see what I did there? and as I said in my review of the first book, an original and engaging view of how magic works in this version of our world. And that magic and how it works is not just interesting, but it plays heavily into the story, and how the witches and wizards that use it need to manage its needs and implications. Reminds me a little of Isaac Asimov's three rules for robots. Once he came up with the rules, he wrote a series of short stories (I, Robot) to test them and see how they might function is 'real life' settings. Novik does the same thing, she pokes a prods at magic through her characters to see what it will do, testing the rules and implications.

If you enjoyed the Harry Potter series, enjoyed The Magicians books even more, but weren't as much of a fan of Narnia Series, then this is probably for you. The Bone Season has some similarities as well, in the interesting view of magic in our world, but the Scholomance is much better written.

Novik crushed it. Read this book.

 

last graduate

Part two of the Scholomance Trilogy is called The Last Graduate. Naomi Novik is pretty well practiced at multi-novel story arcs, she has a series called Temeraire, that has 10 books in it. You can find more about that, and Naomi Novik, as well as some kind of web interactive trip to the Scholomance on her website.

I had to wait for this book at the library as it was reserved by someone else, but I banged out a few others while I waited, but now that this one is done, I've started on the third book, as I bought a surplus copy at my library's book sale. Unlike a lot of middle books in trilogies, The Last Graduate is really the second part of a longer story, and it really does pick up right where the first book left off. And sneak peek: the same is true between the second and the third. I'm not sure if these books would read so well if taken alone, or out of order, but then, I don't think any writer assumes that will be the case, and any subtle summarizing of the earlier book is probably done to catch up those who have had to wait a year, or however long its been, since the earlier book was published.

Book two develops the main characters in more detail, and we watch them grow in this book from the juniors they were in Book one, to the seniors they are now, getting ready to graduate from the Scholomance. This story took some turns I wasn't expecting, but I guess that is the plan. I don't normally spend any time while reading trying to work out the ending, but in some cases I'm not surprised, and in others, I am. This was one of the latter type, which is always fun. Novik does a pretty good job of convincing you of one thing, along with the protagonists, only to then change your mind, and win you over about something you didn't think you'd ever change your mind about, taking you on the same journey as the characters. That's tough to do, and can sometimes seems clunky. The worse of which is just the explainer, whether to a supporting character, or even worse, in inner dialog.

I reserved judgement on this when i wrote about the first one, because I wasn't sure where this was going to go, but I'm going assume the third book is going finish this story up nicely, and say Read this Book.

 

On a side note, this series has the backbone that I think people look for in a movie premise, or more likely a TV series. I can imagine something with a fair amount of production value that might be pretty good on the small screen. Diverse cast, international scope, and enough intrigue to pull in various types of viewers.

sea of tranquility

Sea of Tranquility was on the New York Times Bestseller List, according to the cover of this paperback I picked up at my library's book sale while waiting for my shot at the second book in a trilogy I just started. That's not why I bought it, it was because the blurb on the back cover made this one sound like a wild romp with some Cloud Atlas vibes.

It was, but not AS out there as Cloud Atlas.

Emily St. John Mandel tells a pretty good tale. She probably best known as the author of Station Eleven, which they apparently made a mini-series out of over at the HBO Max, which, in case it isn't obvious, I haven't seen. St. John Mandel is also the author of The Glass Hotel, a blurb of which is included in the backmatter of this book, and if i understand that paragraph correctly, that book may include some of the same characters as this one. Another reminder of David Mitchell.

And I just needed to read the first line of this book to know that St. John Mandel is a funny woman.

Sea of Tranquility did nod in the David Mitchell direction, for me, but the story line was completely original, albeit with some time traveling antics that I guess we've all seen before, but how they're woven together here was a treat. This was a good one, and I'll keep my eye out for books by Emily St. John Mandel.*

Read this book.

 

* Moments after publishing this post, I was cleaning up by closing browser tabs and read at the very top of Emily St. John Mandel's website, these words, "St. John is my middle name. The books go under M." I guess that's pretty clear, and apparently happens often enough that its the first line on her page. Mandel is a funny woman.

gawain and the green knight

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight, Pearl & Sir Orfeo are three poems translated from Middle English by J.R.R. Tolkien. The first two were discovered contained in the same manuscript, along with two other poems, written in the same hand, around the year 1400, according to the introduction, edited by Christopher Tolkien from a number of sources which original with his father, including notes, transcripts from broadcast interviews, etc. Sir Orfeo is contained in three extant manuscripts, and the one Tolkien used is dated to the 1330s, inscribed, probably in London. The original authors are unknown.

Tolkien worked on the translations a number of times from the1920s up through at lest the 1950s according to the preface by Christopher Tolkien, and in some case in collaboration with other experts in the field. In some cases, Christopher found multiple versions, and made an effort to use the most recent updated forms for this publication. The copyright is dated 1975 and held by Tolkien's long time publisher, George Allen & Unwin, Ltd. and published in 1980 by Ballantine Books, of New York.

The trickiest part of the translations, according to the front matter, is the rhythm, not the strict iambic metrical foot used in other forms, such as Shakespeare, but a more loose rhythm of stressed and less stressed syllables, more closely matching natural speech, combined with alliterative sounds within many of the lines, such as this example given in the Appendix (also credited to J.R.R. Tolkien, and edited by Christopher):

Tirius went to Tuscany         and towns founded*

In this line, I've bolded the stressed syllables in red, and obviously, Tirius, Tuscany and Towns alliterate. I've added the break in the line, as the example in the aforementioned appendix did, to illustrate that each line is composed of two chunks, according to Tolkien.

The trick is apparently finding the words in moderns English that both tell the same story, give the same intended meaning, maintain the meter and rhythm, and don't damage the structure of the poem or its speech patterns so much that it is no longer a worthy representation of the original.

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight is the longest poem, at about 80 pages, Pearl is about 33 pages, and Sir Orfeo is shortest at about 15 pages. Each seems designed to be spoken aloud, as one assumes that not many in the 1300s and 1400s could read, and they each seems to be focused on a story that is both exciting, and includes lessons on life and strong moral. They each extol the glory of God and being good, and the rewards that come from keeping both of those aspirations close at heart. Each also has a sprinkling of magic, often dressed as dream or phantasm brought on by sleep, drink, or love. All of the ingredients for that which Tolkien was trying to restore to England, its lost native mythology, which he imagined was as rich and diverse as the Greek, Roman, Egyptian, or any other ancient civilization that didn't suffer the losses brought on by England's northern, damp climate, which is so hostile to things like old parchment manuscripts.

What I found most fun was the similarities in some of the themes from the adventures themselves that were clearly the inspirations,** at least in part, for some of Tolkien's fiction. That itself, is worth the price of admission.

* Sir Gawain, stanza 1 

** Tolkien fans out there will have heard the comparisons between The Lord of the Rings and Wagner's Ring Cycle (Der Ring des Nibelungen) which Tolkien denied, and still many try to say that it is at least partially inspired by Wagner, regardless of the author's dismissal. But Wagner was himself inspired by an old Middle High German poem from around 1200, called Nibelungenlied (The Song of the Nibelungs), which is in turn, based on oral traditions that likely go back to Old Norse sources, which Tolkien did study. In his 2011 essay on this comparison, Jamie McGregor provides a quote from Tom Shippey's work on Tolkien, indicating that Tolkien has a distinct dislike for Wagner (and other authors, including Shakespeare) and felt that they "had got something very important, not quite right." That, to me, explains why the similarities are present, i.e., they used the same source material, but Tolkien's inspiration, and what he took from the texts and traditions he studied, could be his own.***

*** One of Tolkien's friends--and a member of the Inklings, which they founded with their literary friends--C.S. Lewis, was described by Roberts Giddings, again, according to McGregor's essay, noted above, as a "rabid Wagnerite" and in his mind the source of the Wagner "taint" in Tolkien's work. Not having read Giddings work myself, I can't tell you if that theory is supported by any evidence, but in absence of that, I'll only add that it may be that Lewis saw these associations himself, and may have even brought them up to Tolkien himself, and if he did, I assume that Tolkien's response was the same to Lewis as it was to more public comparisons, altho, I also assume, perhaps more pointed.

deadly education

On a recent visit to my local library's book sale shelf, I found what ends up being the third book in a trilogy, about young magicians enrolled in a magic school of some kind. I was intrigued, but after discovering it was book three, I decided I should check out the first books before committing to the two-dollar purchase price my library was looking to collect for a used hard cover. that's frugality, right there

I found the first two volumes in the library catalog, and because my library is currently under construction, and I was standing in the gymnasium of a former elementary school which currently serves as the temporary home for my library, I needed the librarian’s help to collect the book from the closed stacks. That was just a few days ago.

I sailed through this book. 

It was an easy, well-paced and exciting read. I returned the book just a few days later, and immediately tried to secure the second volume, only to find that the one copy the library has is currently out, and another patron had a hold on it, when it returns. So I added my name to the hold list, and then picked up a few more books from the book sale in the meantime.* I’m currently enjoying once of those, while I wait for my turn at book two of the Scholomance Trilogy, called The Last Graduate.

Book one is called A Deadly Education. Naomi Novik has written a few other books, including a whole bunch of books in her Temeraire Series, which seems to be about alternate history, dragons, and whatnot, but I don't recall ever reading any of her stuff. Novik also has a number of fantasy short stories that are often included in fantasy anthologies, so maybe I've run across one or two of those.

The Scholomance is the name of the school these young magical folks attend. This ain't Hogwarts or Brakebills. I was gratified to read Novik's take on a magical school, and how different it is from so many other's. It seems that when a particular literary archetype has been written about enough, the traits become so standardized that if a vampire doesn't cringe at garlic, we're all thinking, "That can't be true!" Its refreshing to read a story that breaks that mold, and Naomi Novik has built a world where magic, what powers it, and how it is taught is different from the other books I've read. There will be some hard-core magic  readers out there who've read everything is this genre magical realism? fabulism? swords & sorcery, sans swords? who beg to differ, and please do, I just haven't read anything quite like this before.

Book one is fast paced, well plotted, and exciting, with spots of action, trauma, classism, and a kind of teen rage-angst that could blacken stars and end worlds. 

Maybe that will be in part two... [rubs hands together like an evil spirit watching politics.]

* When I went back to return book one and reserve book two, the third book was still on the book sale shelf, so I bought it, along with a few others. cue more hand rubbing

amina al-sarifi adventures

I was first attracted to this book at the library. It was on the shelf, face out, in the new fiction section, not far from where I had recently found The Priory of the Orange Tree, and then The Day of Fallen Night, both by Samantha Shannon. The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi is by Shannon Chakraborty,* so there is a similarity in the names, but not just that, the illustrations on all three of these books seemed similar, so I picked up Al-Sirafi thinking that it was another book by the same author.

Similar name (Shannon)... similar artwork... but no, this is a different adventure. One I turned out to like, but the similarity in the illustrations was uncanny. I figured that it had to be the same person.

Yep.

Ivan Belikov did the cover art for all three of these books. Belikov does these rich, crisp illustrations of mystical beasts that made him a great choice for all three of these adventures.

The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi is the first (I'm assuming) in a new series of adventures for Shannon Chakraborty. I haven't read her stuff before that I can recall, but she established herself with another fantasy series known as the Daevabad Trilogy. I say the first in a series, but this actually read like the first book is a series, which has also intentionally left plenty of room for prequels, if this series does well. I guess you might call that savvy.

This story does--perhaps because of the need to leave room in both the future and the past--spend some time and text on both world building and backstory, but the adventure makes up for that, especially when one considers that there is probably more to come, and that backstory is going to be helpful in the future. and the past? the future-past? past-of-the-future? 

Chakraborty is a fan of history, according to he acknowledgments, and did lots of research to ensure that the travels, the ports, the seas, the ships, and the customs, Amina Al-Sarifi is awash in ring true. There is even a bibliography and further reading suggestions at the back of the book, including some translations of a few of the adventures this stories Al-Sarafi is based on. Most of Chakraborty's research was done in the original language, and she points out that there aren't many of those volumes that have been translated into English, so she has us (sole English speakers) at an advantage there. 

Does this book remind me of The Story of Sinbad the Sailor? Yep. Is that a bad thing? Nope. This one is worth a read, and I'll be looking for the next one.

* Shannon Chakraborty used to use the "author name" S.A. Chakraborty, which she used for the Daevabad Trilogy. Looks like Shannon Chakraborty is the name her future works will be published under.

day of fallen night

A Day of Fallen Night is the follow-up to The Priory of the Orange Tree. I guess you could say that its the second book in a series, but I'm not sure if there will be others, but I think there will be and its more accurate to describe this book as prequel. This is the third book in a row I've read by Samantha Shannon, so I guess she's doing something right. 

Fallen Night, and the last one, are part of Shannon's Roots of Chaos Series. Based on the number of books in the Bone Season Series, I'm guessing that there will be more. Shannon has built a whole world here, and this prequel tells me that she has dug pretty deep into this world's history, mythos and culture.

The science and physics of this world differs from ours in that magic is woven into the energy that powers it and the universe it which it sits. Magic and science intertwine, as natural as the tides and the seasons. Shannon told us in the first book's foreword (or somewhere) that the cultures and myths that form the foundation upon which her world building grows, come from a variety of our own world cultures and traditions. Those histories bring some of their own weight to Shannon's world building, helping to cement them in the reader's mind. J.K Rowling was good at that, as is Lev Grossman, in an interesting derivative way, building on the worlds other authors built--including Rowling's--based on our own world.

Does that mean Shannon is standing on the shoulders of those who came before? Yes, as are all successful authors, to a greater or lesser extent. 

I think it may be tricky to create a prequel that has almost no characters in common with the cast of characters from the first book in a series. Its the characters we come to know, as well as their trials, so I think Shannon may have made herself a harder task than she could have, but ultimately did a good job. Like the last book, the climax was a soft one, and the Bone Season's was as well. That seems to be her MO. If you're looking for a dynamic, earth-shattering climax to wrap up some larger sized tomes, these book may not be for you.

There are a few less pages in this volume that the first one, but not by many. This book is a little thinner, and part of that thinness, unfortunately, is the thinness of the paper stock used to print it. The pages are a little too transparent for my taste. The text bleeds through. Its a small complaint, but given the size and length of this books, its was distracting too often for me. Maybe that's on the publisher, what do I know.

This was a fun read, and I will look for the next one when it comes out. This world Shannon has created has some staying power and I think the stories she can pull from it will also be fun.

 

 

priory of the orange tree

The last book I read, was also by Samantha Shannon, and I read it because I wasn't sure if The Priory of the Orange Tree was a follow up to her earlier works. That last book I read, The Bone Season, was the first in a series, but not this series. The Priory is actual the first in a new series, The Roots of Chaos Series, and I don't know how many volumes it will have. At least two; the second book in that series is what I'm reading now.

Shannon is still working in the fantasy realm here, but she created a whole new world to set this series in, and based on this first book, she's done a pretty good job. It seems clear from The Bone Season and now this book, that for Shannon, inclusivity and equality are fundamental. Its a good place to be, but how she's done it in this book is to bake it right into the world she's created. Its just normal, and anyone who feels differently is the outsider. Its an effective tool and reminds me a little of Ursula K. Le Guin.

You can tell by the cover art that there be dragons here, but Shannon has them with a different take. In the front matter, the book jacket, somewhere there is a note that the fictional lands of The Priory were inspired by legends from various parts of the world. or something like that Shannon has taken a kit of parts provided by various myths and legends around the world and reformed them into a massive crossover that forms the basis of her world building cultures, economies, magic, and religions. Its because they are familiar, that she can lean on them to help infill the backstory. The same technique is used for place names and personal names, which are similar to those cultures that inspire them, but different enough to set them apart. Western Dragons, with the wings and fire, are set against the Eastern Dragons, which slither through the air and and more water based.

This book is a beast at nearly 850 pages, and traverses the globe Shannon has created, following the stories of people from several different countries, who eventually learn that they probably need to work together to defeat an insurmountable common foe. I didn't love this book, but I did like it. Enough to go to the library and get the next installment, A Day of Fallen Night, which, so far at least (its another big one) is a prequel to The Priory.

bone season

The Bone Season is a novel by British writer Samantha Shannon, and it may be her first. I'm not sure. It is certainly the first in a series. According to Book Series in Order, its the first of 6 books in the series, and this one was published 10 years ago. I picked up my version at my local library after hear something about Samantha Shannon's current book, The Priory of the Orange Tree, which I'm reading now. it may be a while, that book is a monster

I don't have this book on hand to double check some of these things, as I've returned it to the library, but I'm under the impression that this is Shannon's first book because of the writing. It wasn't bad, there were just a few unresolved items that I think Shannon may have known the answers to but just didn't share with us. Perhaps these are loose ends that we be wrapped up in a later book in the series, but one in particular concerning a dead flower in a jar, is mentioned numerous times, and then we're left to wonder. I could guess. After all we're in this together, the author and me as a reader, but that seems like a heavy lift. not my job, man

I got about one third of the way through this book before I wondered (not for the last time) if this was going to be a vampire story and/or if this was going to be a Stockholm syndrome-type vampire love story. I'm happy to report that wasn't the case, and I hope that remains true in the rest of the series. I guess we'll see how the Priory book goes before I decide to dig further into Samantha Shannon's catalog of books.

There is some interesting world building here, which takes place in an alternate version of Earth, which shares a history with our own, albeit modified enough to allow for a dystopian future where Scion rules over the London of 30 years from now, and anyone found with any connection to the aether,* a condition better known as 'unnaturalness' is under threat of immediate arrest, presumably to protect the public.

Paige Mahoney, our hero, has a fair case of this unnaturalness, and rather than hide, as many in her position do, she joins a criminal underground, where she uses her connection to the aether and fight against the oppression of Scion. Mahoney ends up finding some interesting allies, and the story takes some weird turns when she is captured by Scion. Arresting folks with a connection to the aether IS in order to separate them from the public, but not because they're dangerous. The real reason they are separated is much worse.

 

* There are a number of old timey terms which have made there way back into the lexicon of this story. I guess because of the unnaturalness, and the need to have terms to describe its various facets. These old timey words are supplemented by a number of invented words for the same reason. Shannon has included a glossary in the back matter to clarify many of these terms.

dreams underfoot

I’m not sure exactly what list I found this book on, but I’ve had the title tucked away as something to read for a while. I may have had it in an Amazon wish list and forgot about it, but it showed up for Christmas this year from Santa Claus. Maybe he just knew I’d squirreled the title away. thanks santa

Dreams Underfoot is a collection of short stories that all take place in Newford, a small, imaginary city that seems to have elements of both east and west coast cities. It seems to have some of the history and general spookiness of an eastern town, along with the hip, urban attitude--and earthquakes--of a west coast city, and the cross section of people, neighborhoods, and urban blight one would expect in many US cities.* It also has magic.

Charles de Lint would have us believe that all cities have magic, and Newford just happens to be where this collection of stories is focused. The implication, at first appears to be that Newford is special, and that is why the stories are set there. Rather, we come to understand after reading a few of these stories, that Newford is not special, and that magic things exist and occur in all cities, so why not choose a city at random and tell those stories; and Newford is as good a representation as any.

Christy Riddell is a fictional writer who lives in Newford and appears in person or by name in a few of the stories. Riddell is also an author of short-form urban mythology, and many of the characters who appear in de Lint's stories are friends, relatives and acquaintances of Riddell's. So the Riddell character seems like an odd mash-up of self-insertion and story-in-story (think The Princess Bride) that I thought was a little odd, but perhaps that sense of being a little off-kilter is exactly what de Lint is looking for in his readers, priming them for the belief--or at least a suspension of disbelief--required to fully absorb his magical stories. 

On the other hand, maybe that’s giving him too much credit, I’m not sure. I can tell you that his Urban Faerie stories are quite popular, and its seems as though he’s published quite a few since this Newford installment from 1993. [I count 26 Newford books in the series from 1990 to 2022!]

The stories are fun and escapist, each with a touch of delight, heartbreak, or horror. Sometimes all three. Wrestling mythology into the modern age is what originally drew me to this (if I had to guess) as I’ve done a little bit of that myself from time to time. If you enjoy that kind of thing, then de Lint may be worth a look.

 

* Yes, de Lint is Canadian, but the east coast, west coast thing still holds I think. But sure, Canada.

lord of the rings

Is this a re-read? Yes.

This may be the fourth time I've read this... maybe? could be the fifth? The first time I was a teen; maybe 15 or so? I suppose I could do that math, but the results would include some guess work. I was assigned The Hobbit in the 8th grade, and then I actually read The Hobbit the summer after the 8th grade. I think I read The Lord of the Rings in high school, which I borrowed from my Uncle, or.... maybe he got another copy and gave me his old one? Yes, I think that's right, those iconic 1970s paperbacks, as shown on the left.

The second time I read through them I read these same books, but after a while, they started to take a beating, and the glue binding was starting to break down. So at some point, I bought a one volume paperback edition. I did the one volume thing so I could get to the appendixes when I needed to. In the three volume versions, the appendixes only appear in the third volume, so you need to carry that around if you need it. The one volume paperback is fine, but the stresses on the glue binding are too much and its been falling apart for a while. Because of its size, its also cumbersome to read, and I eventually went out and bought a three volume set of paperbacks, which is what I read the last time through, in 2016. But the one volume is fun, I think I'm going to try and re-bind it.

After reading through this a few times, I've begun to see some of the rhythms in Tolkien's writing shining through a bit. There are some spots where he seems to be impatient to get to the next (major) point and the narrative, and doesn't provide as much of the detail of those moves are accomplished as he had in other places. I wonder if this is pressure from publishers, or a self-imposed pressure or editing on his own part. You may have heard that one of Tolkien's regrets about The Lord of the Rings is that its too short. In response to the questions and opinions of critics and others, Tolkien offers no quarter, response or apology, in his Forward to the Second Edition, but offers only this to those who have complained that the book was too long:

"The most critical reader of all, myself, now finds many defects, minor and major, but being fortunately under no obligation either to review the book or to write it again, he will pass over these in silence, except one that has been noted by others: the book is too short."

This can probably be read two ways: at face value, or as a subtle jab at his critics, which was only partly meant or facetious. After having read through a number of times, I believe Tolkien did have more story to tell, and while he may not have been referring to The Lord of the Rings specifically, I think he did see a number of his works still spinning in his head, which he was unable to get into print. Tolkien complained a number of times about not having his notes in order, and that peccadillo, along with the rigors of his non-writing life, prevented him from bringing many of those other stories to fruition. I wonder what we'd have if Tolkien had a computer. Would it have increased his productivity, and if so, would there have been a cost to that, in the quality of his work? Perhaps from a lessening of the contemplative way he wrote, and re-wrote, in longhand? mmmm...

All this to say, I believe I've said it all in other reviews of this book. I didn't break down my review this time into three chunks to correspond to the traditional three volumes, only because this is well traveled ground, both for me and for many others. I did want to get some of my thoughts down on why reading a one volume editions vs. the three volume (they both have pros and cons) and on the length of the tale itself. On that point I will add that if you are left wanting more, there is a little more in the Appendices, and I can recommend highly enough that you read them. In fact, back in 2016, when I read through all of these books the last time, as noted above, I recommended that if you are re-reading the Middle Earth books that you read the Appendices first, right after The Silmarillion, and before The Hobbit. This time I was just reading The Lord of the Rings, but I did read all of the notes in the front matter, and the Appendices at the back, before I began the body of the text.

Tolkien is a champion world-builder and creator of mythologies. The Lord of the Rings has a depth and richness that is unmatched by most of its counterparts in fantastic fiction. It still has staying power, the ability to thrill and entertain, even after multiple readings, which hasn't been dimmed by the films, in my mind at least.

Read this book.

thousand autumns

I put the novel The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet on my read list because of other books I've read by the author David Mitchell. Mitchell writes on that wobbly line between--or maybe its the smeary overlap in the Venn diagram--of science fiction, speculative fiction, and fantasy. Maybe David Mitchell would hate that description, I don't know. I guess he could describe it better himself, and perhaps has, elsewhere. What I do know is that Mitchell seems to have a fascination with time, and how we, as humans (and perhaps other human-adjacent creatures) move through it.

This novel seems to fall more squarely into the historical fiction genre, but I wasn't too far in before I began to get a sense of time as a character in this story. de Zoet is a carefully told story, of Europeans in c. 1800 Japan, where they were not welcome, and were mostly segregated from the populace to prevent European influence in the general culture. The pacing of the story recalls that attachment to history, tradition, and sameness the leaders of Japan held dear tat the time. Jacob de Zoet himself is a classic reluctant hero, in the form of a mid-level clerk who see himself as an uphold of what is righteous and true, which is mostly expressed in his manners and dignity, until he is called upon to uphold those ideals in a more taxing sense.

Mitchell thumbs his nose at the demand for fast paced, action drama and paints a picture of 'modern' Europeans, doing their best to take advantage of the closed Japanese culture, while the Japanese did the same from their point of view, all the while both looking at the other as the barbarian. Mitchell uses this backdrop to explore the relationships between the very few people on either side of this cultural divide who saw one another as human, with similar feelings, thoughts, and goals, and who reached across this divide toward one another, while early geopolitics tried to hold them back.

There is a whole chapter where Mitchell gives himself up to the poetry of what he is doing. Its like a treasure or a hidden message for us in the midst of of this love letter to an earlier time, which tries to express how different we are, and how much the same.

atlas of middle earth

When you create a reference book about a fictional place is your reference book fiction, or non-fiction?

Given that Middle Earth has almost no reliable  empirical data, I guess Karen Wynn Fonstad had to take some creative license in order to produce the maps and plans she did.  That said, I think she did consult with Christopher Tolkien; I’m pretty sure I read something he wrote indicating the he had worked with her on something. Not sure what that was, but it may have been a forward in one of the History of Middle Earth books. Speaking of which, I haven’t read all of those yet. Fonstad also consulted drawings and maps done by Tolkien, and his son, which were used in earlier published works, as well as unpublished drawings and sketches form the professor’s notes, the text of the books, and further information from the Histories, published by Christopher Tolkien which provided additional information and was the impetus for the revisions Fonstad made in the updated Atlas. 

By tying the maps and the landforms they represent to the distance data provided in the various texts, Fonstad has created maps that can be scaled and therefor, in many cases, actually differ from the maps published in versions of The Lord of the Rings. That takes some getting used to. btw, I’m not used to it, and I may not get there

Any serious fan of the world building accomplished by Tolkien will recognize the dedication and joy expressed by Fonstad in her work. The Atlas is clearly a labor of love undertaken by a cartographer who really just wanted a more complete picture of the lands she followed our mutual friends through on their adventures. Are there problems? Sure. Do I hate that all of her hills, mountains, and downs end in the same elephant toenail roundness? Sure. Am I grouchy that the publisher (or some other bean counter) decided that two colors was plenty to adequately express the level of detail included in all of the maps in the Atlas. You bet. And finally, is it—and has it been, over the years I’ve had this book—aggravating to consult the maps it contains while reading The Silmarillion or The Lord of the Rings and find that they are so different (for the sake of scale accuracy?) that they confuse more than clarify. Ya, you betcha. But that doesn’t mean I’m a hater. 

 

Karen Wynn Fonstad has done an admirable job of researching and providing insight many of us would never otherwise have access to. It’s the same issue diehard fans have when someone makes a movie of a book like The Lord of the Rings, it’s bound to contradict our individual visions of what happens in the stories we read. Our internal visions are a dialog with the author’s written word. Seeing someone else's vision of that material is always jarring, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t have value. I went to see all of the movies, and they were great. They just weren’t how I would do it. 

And neither is The Atlas of Middle Earth. But I keep going back to it. And so should you.

 

 

Silmarillion

Sweet, sad, Silmarillion. 

The Wikipedia entry refers to The Silmarillion as a mythopoetic collection of stories. I had to look that one up; and I kind of like it. The tone the stories are told in is a little reserved. Some of the early ones, chronologically speaking, read like bible entries. But when you’re talking about the birth of the Earth—or Ea, Tolkien calls it—then I guess biblese seems appropriate. 

As I understand it, Tolkien felt the absence of a traditional English mythology beyond the tall tales of Arthur Pendragon and his ilk. Something of the scope and depth of the kind the Greeks, Romans, and Norse cultures have; stories that underlay their culture and belief systems, and tie them to their spiritual past. A careful look at what Tolkien has done shows that. From his proto-nursery rhymes, to the linguistic underpinnings of English, present in the early languages of the Quendi, the Elves. 

The Silmarillion is Tolkien’s unfinished backstory, the framework of his world building upon which he built the Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings. But it’s more than that; it’s his notes on dozens of other stories that he didn’t get the chance to finish. Christopher Tolkien did a great job, organizing, editing and releasing many of these work in the decades after his father’s death. Working, as he says he did when his father was alive, as a kind of amanuensis. One can only imagine what kind of works Tolkien may have produced had he had access to modern word processing or even speech-to-text technology. 

Tolkien described the creation of the world as the first collective music of the Ainur, made manifest by the one god Illuvatar, with all of the good, the bad, and the ugly of a first run, still in there. It’s like a proud papa pasting his kid’s first crayon drawing on the fridge... and then asking us all to live there for eons. augh, I don't wanna live in a first draft. Melkor is licking his finger and touching me! But don’t worry, says Eru, the big man, this is like a dry run. We’ll work out the bugs then bang out a fresh one all fixed up!*

What? Yeah, this ones probly gonna suck, for you guys and everyone else down there, but screw it, right? You guys made it, let’s see what happens!**

In here we find everything from the beginning of the world to the creation myths of the sun, the moon, and the stars; from the origins of elves, dwarves, and men, to the flat world theory; from the flood story to the making of dragons; and from the invention of war, to the making of rings. That last one was inspired, by the way, by the same fables and myths that inspired Wagner and his Der Ring des Nibelungen, "The Ring of the Nibelung," often referred to as the Ring Cycle. Tolkien was also inspired by the Edda, as was Wagner. 

 

This isn't the first time I've read this book, and it won't be the last. My last time through was nearly ten years ago. That review is maybe better than this one. If you want to know why you should read The Silmarillion, or even some pointers on how to read it, check out my earlier review.

Either way, read this book.

 

* I'm paraphrasing, nerds

** Yep, paraphrasing again

 

 

wonder woman - final final

My final design. click to see larger.

I know, I said final, but after it sits with you for a little bit, and you think about it, sometimes you need to go back in and do some tweaking. That's what happened, and here's where I'm at. As much as I don't like it, and I don't see the need for it, Wonder Woman iconography is pretty well tied to the tiara. If you didn't know the 'final' drawing I posted was a image of Wonder Woman, you may not immediately guess. So I've added a very understated head adornment. I was going for something small, like those eleven crowns from The Lord of the Rings movies.*

I also added a few highlights to the drawing, which made way more of a difference than I thought it would. If I haven't bragged enough about how good this drawing/painting application is, here I go. This was all done with Sketchbook which you can download for free from AutoDesk, the folks that make AutoCAD, among other things.

 

That's it! Let me know what you think.

* Bro, I don't remember crowns in the books. The only thing I recall that was similar is the Star of Eärendil which was given to him by his wife, Elwing, after being recovered from Morgoth's iron crown by Beren and Lúthien. Eärendil wore it on his brow, to light his way, and I assumed that it was set in something metal. Other than that, I don't recall crowns. Am I missing anything nerds?