Review time!
Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri - Starting with the challenge here as Tasha Suri's book is quietly a rather unique take on the traditional fantasy set up of "Outcast teenager finds out they have magical powers and gets into all sorts of trouble against a mighty villain". Mehr, said teenager, is stripped of the power to effect change for most of the book due to powerful societal and magical coercions in a way I wasn't expecting. I was expecting something a lot more traditional and it threw me for a lot of the book. It also provided a platform for Mehr to show she's as indomitable and protective as a protagonist gets; she's the star of the book in every possible way.
Ultimately Empire of Sand didn't quite work for me and I don't know if that's due to thrown expectations, or it just didn't quite execute the premise for me. It's probably a little bit of both. The most similar book I can think of The Tombs of Atuan and I think I understood what I was reading quicker there; but I also found more of a sense of wonder and growth there. I like Mehr, but she starts strong and stays strong. However, anybody out there who sees that ToA comparison and is curious or likes what I've said should definitely give it a try.
Sorcerer's Legacy by Janny Wurts - I've decided this is going from most challenging to least challenging (with a non-fic at the end) and Wurts' debut novel, the one that led to her Empire Trilogy collaboration with Feist, isn't the easiest read. It is dense with detail of every kind - magic, prose, mystery - and fast moving. There's also a casual time paradox thrown in but the main difficulty is knowing exactly what's going on. Our heroine, Elienne, is thrown from one world to another early on and never really fully gets her bearing and neither do we.
I did rather enjoy exploring the murk with her - she's rather like Mehr in terms of being indomitable and protective - but what didn't work was the slightly thin, rather stereotypical characterisation. This is exacerbated by the romance subplot that doesn't involve the two lovebirds spending a lot of time together. But for someone looking for a good old trad fantasy that's more about the adventure than anything else and doesn't mind some stereotypes, this is a good book to pick up.
Summerland by Hannu Rajaniemi - So. I was excited to pick this up as it was sold as John Le Carre with added ghosts (or spooks - hah!). And the first chapter read interestingly enough. But this never really swept me up in its momentum. This is possibly due to reading it after The Traitor and being devastated by everything non-perfect. It is possibly due to subconsciously comparing it to Le Carre, which is full of rich detail in a way Summerland isn't.
I think that at least partially though Rajaniemi simply never sold me on why to care about the characters. This led to a vicious circle where lack of engagement led me to nitpick the dramatic moments where characters changed their minds, which then led me to not seeing the sort of adversity that makes characters interesting. It's a shame, but Summerland was an interesting idea with good writing that just never came to life for me.
The Ruby Knight by David Eddings - My reaction to The Traitor and Summerland was to go for a nice comfy re-read to purge any book hangover. This was the first paperback I could find that fitted the bill that I hadn't read recently. It took me a day to read (mostly en route to a rugby game) and I spent a lot of it laughing at the corniness. Poking fun at Eddings' flaws could be a blog post in its own right and I always seem to find something new to wtf at. This time it was a minor character out of nowhere complaining about not being allowed to rape the local peasants. WTF?
The thing is though that I really enjoyed it. It's just a big dumb fun adventure, simultaneously poking fun at the stereotypes and embracing them, and full of heartwarming human relationships. It is unabashedly modern, weird barbarian moment detailed above aside, and in a world full of solemnly near historical books there's something refreshing about that. I can never really quite bring myself to say Eddings is good, but he's so much fun if that sort of thing is your bag, and this is not the last time I'll read this.
What It Is Like To Go To War by Karl Marlantes - This book is ronseal - it does exactly what it says on the tin.
And a huge amount more.
Marlantes comes across as a very honest, thoughtful man, one with more integrity than most and wise and humble enough to admit when it comes to an end. What he tells is done with eloquence, with clever use of anecdote and supporting evidence to the universality of his experience, and unflinching openness.
More than describing the process and experience though, he makes arguments for -
Why sometimes it is right and moral to kill for your tribe and how better education will make the process less painful for those who do and those who love them
Why bad wars aren't right and moral and how better education would make it more difficult for them to happen
For acceptance and forgiveness of the shadow of humanity without dropping standards on stopping its excesses
Most crucially, it argues about the power of transcendence and self-sacrifice, and how to channel that impulse, and to return from it. It is a borderline sacred text. Make no bones, as somehow who badly wanted to be a soldier and was barred through an awful medical record (lied my way into the OTC, but no further) I am the ideal target audience, but I there's a huge truth for everyone willing to listen. This book has changed my mindset on a lot of things in life in a few short days and hopefully, with some work on my part, for the better.
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