Review: Spell of Fate

Spell of Fate by Mayer Alan Brenner
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I recently read a book on Roger Zelazny that talked about how he deliberately turned away from overwriting, and how some people thought he sacrificed depth in his stories as a result. This book has, if anything, the opposite problem; it's trying to be deep and complex, and the author doesn't quite pull it off, so it ends up murky and slow-moving instead.

The main problem with this (and the series generally) is that there are too many characters, and too many plot threads, and the proportion of reflection to action is too high, especially for sword-and-sorcery. It's entertaining enough that I keep reading, but it's never going to make it to my Best of the Year.

Also, it needed a bit more editing even before it was scanned. Though there don't appear to be a lot of obvious scan errors, so that's something.

It does finally get to action by the end, and then stops before the resolution, which presumably we will get in the last volume. I'll wait until that volume drops in price, as I did with the other three; $7.99 USD is too much for me to pay for a fairly entertaining book with significant, though not fatal, flaws.

Hangs onto its fourth star by its fingernails, since I do enjoy the characters (even though there are too many) and the story (even though I have to beat the thickets for it).

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Review: Is That What People Do?

Is That What People Do? by Robert Sheckley
My rating: 0 of 5 stars

A lot of the stories are cynical about marriage, relationships, or women, so I went and looked up the author's Wikipedia entry.

Not at all to my surprise, he was married five times.

DNF at about 50%, when the misogyny went right over the top.

Got this as a freebie from Open Road, and like most of their books, it needs better proofreading for basic things like missing periods at the end of sentences. Thinking about ditching their Portalist newsletter, since most of their list is crusty old SFF like this, and the half-assed job they do of the proofreading is starting to wear on me.

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Review: A Wizard's Guide To Defensive Baking

A Wizard's Guide To Defensive Baking by T. Kingfisher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Amazon kept trying to sell this to me, and even though Amazon isn't usually very good at recommending books I like these days (it used to be; not sure what happened), when the price dropped to 99c I decided to sample it, and based on the sample, decided to buy it.

I didn't regret my decision (as I have in similar circumstances before). It's funny, it's charming, it has a point (which, yes, it makes a bit too obviously), and it's well written.

The point is that, if a teenager or a child or several children have to sort out a serious situation - so, if you have the plot of basically any YA book - things have gone badly wrong, because multiple adults have neglected their responsibilities. For that matter, if heroes have to step up and fix a situation, the same thing can generally be said; multiple people have failed to prevent a bad situation from developing by doing their everyday jobs properly. What's more, getting rid of the bad guy doesn't, by itself, fix things.

The point is driven home just a little too hard, with Mona, the first-person protagonist, too repeatedly protesting that she's only 14, and just a baker, and she shouldn't have to be a hero. But it is a good point.

I spotted the villain fairly early, but there were still some surprises in the plot, and overall I enjoyed it. I've sampled a few of the author's other books and been put off by the dark tone. This certainly had dark moments, but I felt that overall it was hopeful, and not too dark for my taste.

I'm now considering reading the (apparently similar) Minor Mage as well.

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Review: The Dream and the Muse

The Dream and the Muse by Jake Burnett
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

A delightful and original portal fantasy with a heroine who is not in any way conventional, in the process of discovering her potential.

Her mentor is an out-and-out rogue, but his caper turns out to be laudable. The whole thing is pretty much an ode to chaotic good.

Along the way, the characters visit a number of different worlds, including one where everyone is some kind of undead, a shattered planet where witches can each have their own asteroid, and a bastion of lawfulness/awfulness. Thirteen worlds are connected by a nexus, but we only hear about half a dozen by name, so there's scope for more adventures in this universe. The different worlds only really have one idea each - there's not much depth to them - but they're fun anyway.

The heroine's exploits are ingenious, her character is appealing, and all in all it's a good ride.

I received a copy via Netgalley for review.

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Review: Merlin's Mirror

Merlin's Mirror by Andre Norton
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Because the Arthurian legend is so well known and so established, we know more or less what's ultimately going to happen, but Norton makes the journey there interesting and unpredictable. It lacks any lightheartedness, which I miss, but that's not what she's going for. It's also told in a slightly elevated style, fortunately not as bad as some (looking at you, Vance), but just a bit distancing nonetheless.

It's presented as science fantasy. That aspect didn't quite work for me, because the effects are fantasy even where the causes are science (ancient aliens). While it does raise the stakes, it challenged my suspension of disbelief.

It needs more careful editing for scan errors. Mostly, these are full stops missing off the ends of sentences (and occasionally quotation marks, but that might have been in the original; it's a common fault). Sometimes, though, a word has been misread, and at least a couple of them looked as if spellcheck should have caught them. It's not anything like as bad as another Norton book I had from Open Road, though, which made me wary of their books for some time.

Still, when your business is reissuing old books, and scanning is the way you usually do that, you'd think that your editors would be better at fixing the inevitable errors than this example shows to be the case.

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Review: Fate Accompli

Fate Accompli by Keith R. Fentonmiller
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had to think about the four-star rating; the downbeat-but-somehow-vaguely-hopeful ending wasn't what I'd hoped for (though it was adequately foreshadowed by earlier events that things might not go well). The humour is definitely on the dark side, which isn't usually to my taste. Think Terry Pratchett's (or maybe Tom Holt's) hapless and somewhat nebbish characters, but in a less kind and generous universe. It was well enough done, though, to keep the fourth star.

Some interesting play with Greek mythology here. Quite a bit of anachronism (probably intentional, for purposes of humour).

I read a pre-publication version via Netgalley, and there were some shockingly basic homonym errors, but hopefully those will be fixed by the time of publication. The prose was otherwise decent, so I have to wonder if the book was written using dictation software.

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Review: Battle Ground

Battle Ground by Jim Butcher
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Excerpts from the mental soundtrack of me reading Battle Ground:

I like Murphy.

I like Murphy.

I really like Murphy.

...Oh.

This is intense.

This is really intense.

Whew, that was quite a ride, now we get the wind-down and wrap-up and OH WOW I did not see that coming.


It's a roller-coaster ride, if a roller-coaster ride started with being shot out of a cannon, and also shot at. By a cannon.

Right from Chapter 1, Harry is in big trouble, and he takes a lot of losses and a lot of damage along the way. But throughout, he retains his heart and his dedication to protecting as many people as he can, whatever it costs. Along the way, his complicated and extensive array of enemies, allies, and people who might be one or the other depending on the day and hour flexes and morphs and ebbs and flows and fights and, frequently, dies.

There are what feel like non-stop action sequences almost throughout, but they always mean something to the story; they're not just there to be set-pieces or fill in time. The best comparison I can make is that this is more like a Daniel Craig Bond movie than a Pierce Brosnan Bond movie. More Avengers than Transformers, if you prefer.

The several-year gap between Dresden books has not led to Butcher's writing powers waning, or to him going soft; this is as well-crafted and hard-hitting as any of the previous books (maybe not quite as hard-hitting as Changes, but what is?) It was dark in many places, and grueling, but I was 100% up for it, because of everything that's gone before and who Harry is and what he stands for.

Dresden is back. And, just like every other time, it's personal.

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