Thursday, December 26, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Queen of Nothing by Holly Black




The Queen of Nothing is the conclusion of Holly Black's YA Fae Fantasy trilogy, The Folk of the Air, which began in 2018's The Cruel Prince (which I reviewed HERE) and was continued in January's The Wicked King (Reviewed Here).  I'm a large fan of Fae Fantasy works, and this trilogy has definitely been up there with the best of them, featuring a mortal teenage girl brought into Faerie in her childhood, seeking to establish a place for herself in this land - and scheming and plotting throughout, facing the most deadly of forces, to try and pull it off.....in spite of her own feelings and the opposition of some of those to whom she was once close.  It's a dark YA tale for sure, and the twists and turns throughout the first two novels were tremendous, to go along with their tremendous lead character.

I have mixed feelings about The Queen of Nothing, because while on one hand it's a really great conclusion for the trilogy's characters, it (especially in its second half) feels like it loses some of the fun scheming and plotting that filled large parts of the first two books.  Instead, the trilogy concludes with what is essentially a dark fairy tale, as everything comes to roost, and it's made even more notable by the fact that this book is the shortest of the trilogy.  That said, this book is pretty good at being a dark fairy tale, with an ending that is really great and I loved for the characters involved.  So if you enjoyed the first two novels, you'll really enjoy this one, although be ready for a little switch of how things go down.

Note: Spoilers for the first two books are impossible to avoid in the below review, so you have been warned:

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Wednesday, December 25, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Dead Astronauts by Jeff VanderMeer




Dead Astronauts is the latest novel from SF/F author Jeff VanderMeer, most well known for Annhilation (and the rest of the Southern Reach trilogy).  VanderMeer is known for writing "Weird SciFi", a genre that is hard to explain except as what it sounds like - the stories deal with settings and beings that are truly weird and out there, looking seemingly nothing like our real world.  VanderMeer often also includes ecological/environmental ideas in his books - the ideas of how humans are affecting the planet are pretty self-evident in even his most surreal fiction.

And while anyone who's read any of him should be expecting more of all of the above, Dead Astronauts takes all of the above to a new level.  Ostensibly set in the same world as his last novel, Borne, Dead Astronauts doesn't really have an overlying plot, a hero, or even a protagonist, as the book features a number of beings - most of which non-human - in various states of disarray as the destruction of their world, through the evil actions of greedy selfish humans of the entity known as the Company, changes everything about them.  The book feints like it will have a plot centered around the eponymous "astronauts" and then...doesn't.  It's easily the most confusing novel I've ever read, filled with thoughts and screeds, page long repetitions, and multiple viewpoint characters in states of insanity.  Some may call this brilliant....and others may call it a crazy pile of babble, and I can't really disagree with either assessment.

Note: While I mention above that this book shares a world with Borne (as well as Borne's spinoff novella, A Strange Bird), this book is entirely stand-alone, and events in Borne basically never come up, although certain parts of the narrative may very much be alluding to the events in Borne.

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Monday, December 23, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Queen of the Conquered by Kacen Callender



Queen of the Conquered is the debut novel by author Kacen Callender, and it's a hell of a debut.  I'd heard glowing things about this book months before it came out, so I'd been ready to reserve it the moment it popped up in my library, but man....if anything they understated how good it is.  Which is not to say that this is a light or "fun" book in any way - this is a tough book to read, but powerful and tremendously effective.

For Queen of the Conquered is a fantasy inspired by a number of real historical places and events - the place being the US Virgin Islands and the events being the slavery and oppression of the Islanders by foreigners, a few of which were POC themselves.  Our protagonist is essentially one such person, a black woman whose family was part of the ruling class despite its island heritage, and who tries to convince herself that she is a heroine in her quest for vengeance despite letting her privilege keep her from truly acting to try and help those who were suffering.  It's the rare story where you will not find yourself rooting for the protagonist, and yet it works and remains compelling from beginning to end.

Note:  As noted above, this is a book by a Person of Color inspired by real life slavery and oppression in a real part of the world, and dealing with related themes.  I'm not a POC - I'm Jewish so not always considered "White" by many racists in various contexts, but in the context of evaluating this book, I can only use my own knowledge and experiences which are obviously very different.  So while I've seen at least one POC on social media complain about this book's representation, and I've seen a few POC reviewers give glowing reviews to this same book, I can't really make any claim either way.  Just a disclaimer I think is necessary.

Trigger Warning: Rape and Torture - Slavery is a major part of this book, and slaves are beaten and treated horribly...and sometimes forced to have sex with masters, even if the forcing is through compelling power and not through physical force.  It's a justified part of this book, but it's not an easy read as a result, so be warned.

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Sunday, December 22, 2019

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker - Spoiler Filled Review




And so, for now, the main Star Wars saga (the Skywalker Saga, if you will) has come to an end.  I've spent the past three weeks rewatching every film in the saga - and threw in Rogue One as well, just for completeness - in preparation for this film.  And as a huge fan of the old Star Wars EU canon - which these movies have replaced - well...it's hard to think of a film I should have been looking forward to more in my life.  And yet, it's also a film that I've dreaded for a bit, after JJ Abrams was announced to be taking over Episode 9 and inklings started to creep out that the movie would be reversing course on what Rian Johnson did with The Last Jedi.

For The Last Jedi was a fascinating Star Wars movie that tried to do some of the more interesting things ever done with the series, and ended in a way which suggested that the Good Guys would have to regroup after some years, with a new batch of supporting heroes, but that hope was still alive against a bad guy in Kylo Ren who felt more like a modern bad guy than anyone in prior Star Wars history (the MRA-like atmosphere Ren has posed for Eps 7-8 just has always felt appropriate).  JJ Abrams - whose work in other peoples' sandboxes (See Star Trek as well) has always relied upon focusing heavily on what came before instead of creating something new - is not a director I'd expect to carry forward what Johnson started.  And......he definitely did not. 

Note: this post will include spoilers.  So if you haven't seen the movie and want to remain unspoiled, stop reading NOW.  This is your only warning:


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Thursday, December 19, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Unnatural Magic by C.M. Waggoner




Unnatural Magic is the debut novel from author C.M. Waggoner.  It's a fantasy novel featuring some familiar elements - a mage school that discriminates based upon class, tension between humans and non-humans and the halfbloods caught in between, but spins these more common tropes in some different ways.  It's also got some aspects of mystery and romance in there as well - with the resultant tone overall being solid and light despite the dark undertones of some of the issues and topics at the heart of this novel (such as, you know, murders).

Some of these aspects work better than others, but overall Unnatural Magic is a pretty solid and enjoyable novel.  Unfortunately, the book tries to carry on two separate plotlines at once and one (the romance one) is far better than the other, with the plotlines joining only in the very last act - to finish off a mystery that is very very obvious.  It's a book that probably could've used 50 more pages devoted to the second plotline to make it not feel abandoned and lesser at times, but the end result is still solid and enjoyable, and worth your time.


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Wednesday, December 18, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater




Call Down the Hawk is the first novel in Maggi Stiefvater's new trilogy, the Dreamer Trilogy, which is essentially a sequel to her YA Raven Cycle.  I really loved The Raven Cycle, which over four books that only got better and better with each installment told a story of love and dreams.....oh and also Magic, Quests for Welsh Kings, Demons, Psychics, and more.  Most importantly, it was a story of great characters, from our main quartet to the minor characters, who you just couldn't help loving over the course of the story as things played out.  Call Down the Hawk begins a new story centered around one member of that quartet, Ronan Lynch, who possesses the magical power to bring things out of his dreams.

I should point out that I'm not sure how Call Down the Hawk would play for someone who hadn't read The Raven Cycle first, but as someone who has, it doesn't disappoint.  Both our returning characters (Ronan and his family, Adam in small cameos) remain great, and the new characters and concepts are excellent, bringing forth a plot that remains compelling from beginning to end.  That said, the one key difference between this book and the prior ones is that those books were always at least partially stand-alone, whereas the ending of this novel will in no way be satisfying to a reader.  But it certainly has me excited for more to come.

Note: Some minor spoilers for The Raven Cycle follow - not really any that would affect your enjoyment of that series, but still.  

 Note2:  I read this as an audiobook, so some of the names and concepts may be misspelled below.  But the audiobook reader remains the same as in the Cycle and he is still excellent, so I recommend this book in that format.  
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Tuesday, December 17, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Imaginary Numbers by Seanan McGuire



Full Disclosure:  This work was read as an ARC (Advance Reader Copy) via my winning of a random giveaway thrown by the book's publisher in advance of the Book's scheduled February 25, 2020 release date.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply not review the book.

 Imaginary Numbers is the Ninth book in Seanan McGuire's urban fantasy series, InCryptid, and the beginning of a fourth arc* in the series.  InCryptid is one of my favorite ongoing series out there, with the right mix of humor, drama, and great characters to go with a very fun urban fantasy setting, featuring a family (the Price family) trying to preserve the lives of Cryptids (creatures and beings who should not exist) in North America and beyond.  When I found on my doorstep a surprise ARC of this novel, I couldn't resist starting and finishing it within 24 hours....despite having a glut of other library books to read including one book I was already 60% of the way through!

*Counting arcs solely by the novels.  There are several other story arcs which have been told over the course of McGuire's shorter fiction in this series, which are all great, but I'm not counting for this number.  

 Impossible Numbers does not disappoint, being easily the most family focused novel of the series but switching the main focus to one of our non-human protagonists, Sarah Zellaby, last seen in books 1-3.  It doesn't quite have as much humor as some of the other books, but it has a little bit, features probably the largest number of returning characters of any new-arc book in major roles, and more importantly all of the characters are strong and the plot takes some teased previous developments and expands them greatly.  It is most definitely NOT a book to start this series with, although you could try, but it's a pretty great addition...with a killer cliffhanger.

Note: This book also includes a bonus novella which essentially serves as an extra epilogue to the last arc in the series (Antimony's arc over books 6-8), which I enjoyed but will do nothing for those not invested in the series.  That's all I'll be saying about that in this review.

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Monday, December 16, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Star Wars: Resistance Reborn by Rebecca Roanhorse




Star Wars Resistance Reborn is a novel in the "Journey to The Rise of Skywalker" project - a series of tie-in novels and other media meant to take advantage of and add content to the upcoming release of Star Wars Episode 9, The Rise of Skywalker.   A similar series was released prior to The Last Jedi, and featured two books that I enjoyed quite a bit (Leia, Princess of Alderaan and The Legends of Luke Skywalker), so I was excited to see what this year's tie-in would look like: even more so, when it was announced this novel would be by Hugo award winning author Rebecca Roanhorse (Trail of Lightning).

And Resistance Reborn has some really nice moments here and there between the characters....to go along with a Star Wars story that has some fun moments but seems mostly pointless in the grand scheme of things.  It's not a bad novel, but it feels entirely empty, not standing on its own or adding much to The Last Jedi (which it immediately comes after) or likely The Rise of Skwyalker.  So unless you really need more Star Wars content to go in with the upcoming movie, this novel is definitely skippable.


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Thursday, December 12, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Vanished Birds by Simon Jimenez



Full Disclosure:  This work was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on January 14, 2020 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

 The Vanished Birds is the debut novel from short fiction author Simon Jimenez.  It was not a book on my radar at first (although one of my favorite authors blurbed it, so it might've been later), but after a review of another book by the same publisher, that publisher (Del-Rey) offered it to me for a preview if I wanted it on Netgalley, so I figured I'd give it a shot.

I'm really glad I did, because The Vanished Birds is a fascinating Sci-Fi novel about the trade-offs and sacrifices made and chosen when one pursues one's professional - and sometimes non-professional, dreams, especially the sacrifices of one's family, loved ones and personal connections.  It's a story of selfishness and searches for redemption, and of characters who are very three dimensional and conflicted from beginning to end.  I use the word "interesting" or "fascinating" quite a bit on this blog, but The Vanished Birds truly deserves these labels, and if it doesn't succeed at hitting every theme/idea it touches, it does a pretty good job exploring most of them and is a book I should really reread a second time to get the most out of it.


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Wednesday, December 11, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Realm of Ash by Tasha Suri




Realm of Ash is the second in Tasha Suri's fantasy series, The Books of Ambha, after last year's Empire of Sand (Reviewed Here).  I liked Empire of Sand a lot, from its strong lead character to its interesting central themes dealing with a mixed race protagonist in an Empire and the abuses of colonization and the taking advantage of the heritage/lands/accomplishments of a conquered people.  The story ended on a moment of personal triumph and love for our heroine, but one that also portended a major shift in the status quo, with potentially dire implications for those throughout the Empire in question.  And so I was really interested in seeing how the sequel would follow up with this situation, especially as that sequel is focused upon the sister of the first book's protagonist.

The result is yet another strong novel, tackling similar themes to the prior novel from a different angle: whereas the first book dealt with a mixed race protagonist who knew the truth about much of her heritage, our protagonist this time was raised entirely by her parents as if she was solely a member of the majority people, and her perspective is thus very different, especially as the truth of her heritage becomes apparent.  Whereas the first book dealt with the destruction of a system of oppression, this book deals with the aftermath, and the questions of whether what remains and what was is really worth salvaging or restoring.  It's a slow novel, at least at first, but it works rather well, and forms an excellent counterpart to the first novel.

Note:  Realm of Ash can be read as a stand-alone, taking place years after Empire of Sand and revealing what is necessary about that novel over the course of the story.  That said, I think certain reveals for the characters - if not the readers - work better if you have the foreknowledge of the prior book, so I recommend reading Empire of Sand first.


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Tuesday, December 10, 2019

SciFi Novella Review: Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather




Sisters of the Vast Black by Lina Rather

Sisters of the Vast Black is a short SciFi Novella from author Lina Rather featuring a religious convent in space (and not sisters in the familial sense).  It's a story about faith, about sin, and about purpose - in a universe which has just recovered from a major civil war.  It's really a story about a group of people whose goals are mainly to help others in whatever little ways they can, while trying to handle the other issues in their lives as well.  And as such, it does work nicely, even if it seems kind of too short to be especially profound.


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Monday, December 9, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: War Girls by Tochi Onyebuchi




War Girls is a "Young Adult" science fiction novel by author Tochi Onyebuchi.  I use those quotes around "Young Adult" for a reason.....because the book is advertised as YA and the author seems to describe it as such, but I'm not really sure it fits the genre.  And it's not just my not understanding Onyebuchi's approach to YA:  his first novel, Beasts Made of Night (Review Here), was quite clearly a member of the genre.  To make it more confusing, the book has a tagline on Amazon that describes the setting as "Black Panther-inspired Nigeria" and that tagline is most definitely a false representation of what this book is.  For what War Girls is is a science fiction re-imagining of a 1967-1970s Nigerian Civil War and the story of two young women forced as children into the conflict and the atrocities that occurred and of which they took part.

The above is not meant to be a judging of the quality of War Girls - by contrast, this book is a tremendously powerful story that may be difficult to read, but if you manage to do so, you will find it a heartbreaking tale of experiences and activities that Western audiences don't like to think about.  It's a story with tremendous characters amidst a plot that feels very real - despite the fact it deals with a world badly affected by climate change, radioactivity, and giant mecha.  It all results in a hell of a finish, and apparently this may only be the first in a series by Onyebuchi, and if that's so, I'll be there quickly for the sequel, although I'll have to brace myself before reading.

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Thursday, December 5, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: An Autumn War by Daniel Abraham




An Autumn War is the third book in Daniel Abraham's "The Long Price Quartet," following 14 years after A Betrayal in Winter (Reviewed Here) and nearly 30 years after A Shadow in Summer (Reviewed Here).  Through the first two books, the series has been a fascinating character-focused tale of a few characters struggling with right and wrong and survival in an East Asian-inspired world filled with magical beings of mass destruction, an ruling class that relies upon murderous succession battles, and conspiracies driven by a jealous overseas military power.  Now with book 3, the series' title starts to make clear sense, as all that was brimming beneath the surface of the prior two books comes to a fore.

And wow, is the result impressive....and devastatingly impactful.  The story takes our main duo - Maati and Otah - in new natural directions, introduces a totally different but again fascinating antagonist, and adds in two returning characters who have changed quite a bit from when we last saw them.  And the result is a plot that sometimes borders on the veins of grimdark, where every character is forced to make decisions with potentially awful costs, all the way until an absolutely explosive finish.

Note: As usual for this series, I began it in Audiobook form, and the reader is again excellent.  Recommended in this format if you have access to it - such as by a Hoopla Library.

SPOILER ALERT: The rest of this review contains spoilers fr A Betrayal in Winter, which can't be avoided in trying to discuss this book further.  Be Warned.
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Wednesday, December 4, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Wicked Fox by Kat Cho




Wicked Fox is a K-Drama* inspired young adult fantasy by author Kat Cho.  Take one part romance soap opera, another part young adult story about growing up with rough parents and a lot of internal blame and guilt, and another part Korean-Myth inspired fantasy, and you have this novel.  Unsurprisingly - given its inspirations - its a book that follows quite a few classic tropes, which I (and I presume other readers) will recognize quite well as they come up along the way.

*Despite several authors I enjoy tweeting about them, I've never actually watched a K-Drama (Korean Drama ), so that's the extent of my writing about them in this review.  

 Of course, tropes aren't a bad thing and Wicked Fox weaves these tropes in so well that I rarely groaned whenever a new one would come up to cause a swerve in the plot.  Cho weaves these tropes around a pair of excellent main characters - a high school boy and a teenage girl who's actually half-gumiho (the Korean myth version of a nine tailed fox) - and their development and romance through it all makes the book really enthralling from beginning to end.


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Tuesday, December 3, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse by K Eason




I usually start these book reviews with two paragraphs: first, a paragraph about what type of book a book is and why I was interested in it and then a second paragraph summarizing my thoughts, before I go into a bigger review.  With this book, "How Rory Thorne Destroyed the Multiverse", this template is particularly important, as the book's title suggests the story being a completely and utterly different book entirely than what it actually is.  You might think that this is a story involving parallel universes, with a main character getting involved in havoc throughout those multiple universes.  You would be completely wrong, so if that's what you're looking for, you will find yourself disappointed.

What this novel is instead is a take on an often subversive take on the classic fairy tale princess type of story, with a mix of fantasy and science fiction elements.  Moreover, the story is told in a princess-bride like manner, as if told from the perspective of a third party narrator (an unnamed Historian).  The result is a really fun tale with some fun characters with a great mix of humor and drama.  So yeah, if you're looking not for a tale of parallel universes, but instead of a fairy tale set in space, with a sardonic princess who uses her wits to save the day from a tyrannical regent - this is definitely a book you'll enjoy.

Note: I read this as an audiobook, and the audiobook reader is pretty good, so I do recommend the book in that format.  That said, as a result there's a good shot I will misspell some names in the below review, and that's why.


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Monday, December 2, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Gone World by Tom Sweterlitsch




The Gone World is a science fiction mystery thriller which has a tag line on Amazon as "True Detective" meets "Inception."  My experience in reading books with such taglines - X meets Y! - is that these taglines are quite often badly misleading and sensational, but The Gone World actually kind of fits the tagline to some degree - this is a mystery involving sci-fi concepts (time travel and alternate realities essentially) to create circuitous concepts in the vein of Inception at the least (I've never seen True Detective).

Whether the end result is actually good on the other hand is.....a harder question to answer.  The Gone World features a solid main character but little else in the way of interesting characters (due to its very concept changing them frequently), and a SciFi premise that by its nature gets confusing until it lands on a payoff that works, but isn't very exciting.  The result is a thriller that isn't too long, involves some interesting SciFi concepts, but left me at the end with a feeling that was basically just described as "huh" more than anything else.


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Wednesday, November 27, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Ecilpse the Skies by Maura Milan




Eclipse the Skies is the second in a YA Space Opera trilogy by Maura Milan which began with last year's "Ignite the Stars" (Review Here).  I liked Ignite the Stars a good bit - sure it had some pretty predictable plot beats, but it had 3 excellent lead characters and a story with some interesting themes, and ended on a pretty strong sequel hook.  I noted in my review that I couldn't wait for the sequel to get a release date, and it actually snuck up on me here until just recently.

Does it measure up?  Yes and No - on one hand, our three characters remain excellent to some extent, and the book definitely once again deals with some interesting themes (an imperialist government vs a terrorist organization, the rights and lives of refugees within the imperialist territory, etc.).  On the other, the book relies upon a major turn towards the dark side of one character as well as a few awfully convenient coincidences to drive things forward, and I don't think Milan quite pulled these plot elements off.  That said, I look forward to seeing how this trilogy concludes in the final volume.

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Tuesday, November 26, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Future of Another Timeline by Annalee Newitz




The Future of Another Timeline is the second novel by io9 cofounder Annalee Newitz, after their 2017 novel, Autonomous (Review Here).  Autonomous was a fascinating novel with some really interesting ideas about the autonomy (naturally) of humans and artificial intelligences in various situations and circumstances (to go along with a solid plot).  It wasn't a perfect novel, but it was excellent not just for a first novel, but for a SF/F work in general, so naturally I was interested in Newitz' next work and here we are.

The Future of Another Timeline is similar in feel to Autonomous, although with a very different central idea: the concept of fighting for women's and LGBTQ rights against those who would erase those rights/accomplishments, and the meaning of individuals' and groups' fights for changes small and large.  It of course explores this idea through genre - as you can imagine from the title, it's a time travel story, and does so too in a pretty fascinating way, leading again, like Autonomous, to an ending which doesn't suggest easy answers.  It's a strong book, and I think for the most part it has stronger characters than in Newitz' first novel, although it still has some warts along the way.


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Monday, November 25, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Mortal Word by Genevieve Cogman




The Mortal Word is the 5th book in Genevieve Cogman's Invisible Library series.  As I've said in my reviews of the first four books in this series, the fourth of which I just recently reviewed HERE, the series has quickly become one of my favorite reads over the past few years.  Or to try and explain that in terms that are less vague and childish (an earlier draft of that last sentence literally called it "my most favorite fun read"), for every previous book in this series, I've started and finished that book within 24 hours - which yes, is quick even for me.  Each book is a fun fast paced ride that I've found impossible to basically put down once I've started.

This book, book 5 - The Mortal Word - is no different, despite being the longest in the series (although it's not THAT long).  Once again we have a fun adventure, with our heroine going up against Fae, Dragons, and other potential villains in a strange new world, that never lets up in pace from beginning to end.  And unlike the last book, we get basically a full return from practically our entire cast, with the book promising to some extent a new status quo by the ending - an ending that also clears up certain plot points from the last book.


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Sunday, November 24, 2019

TV Review: The Mandalorian - Episodes 1-3





Boba Fett Sucks.  He shows up in Empire Strikes Back, let's Vader capture our heroes, takes Solo after Vader's done with him, and bolts.  He then shows up in Return of the Jedi randomly hanging around Jabba's Palace, where he gets knocked into the Sarlacc by a blind man randomly swinging a stick.  He does nothing cool or badass.  He's a specially dressed mook and that's it.  But that dress - his "Mandalorian" Armor, inspired Star Wars fans to imagine an awesome badass, which the old EU took and ran with, and the Star Wars universe could never put him to the side afterwards.

And so The Mandalorian exists, showcasing another bounty hunter who wears the same cool set of armor.  But cool looking armor isn't enough to make a TV Show or Film.  And while the show thankfully doesn't feature Fett himself, it very much envisions its protagonist somewhat in his mold, complete with being short of words.  As such, it's left very much to the setting and actions of everyone involved in order to set up the plot and characters, to go along with the action sequences featured in every episode.  Badly done, this could wind up in a show that's nothing more than empty action sequences.  Indeed, the first episode of The Mandalorian, and even the second somewhat, suggests the show might fall into that pile of emptiness.

The third episode however, does enough to suggest this show might be going interesting places.

NOTE: Spoilers after the Jump for the first three episodes, although if you've avoided all these spoilers on social media, you've basically been living in a hole the last two weeks and I'm very impressed.


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Thursday, November 21, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Steel Crow Saga by Paul Krueger




Steel Crow Saga is the recently published Epic Fantasy novel from Paul Krueger featuring a world inspired by a number of East Asian cultures (Krueger is Filipino-American himself).  It's a novel I skipped over at first, but one which I'd seen a number of people I trusted on social media hype up quite a bit.

And I'm glad they did, because Steel Crow Saga is very very good.  The setting is incredibly well done, with many peoples, magics, and cultures all feeling really well developed and real.  And the characters are excellent, resulting in a plot where you care about all four of the major characters and keeps you on the edge of your seat wondering what will happen next.  Along the way we deal with themes of discrimination, of the effects of colonization and the cycles of war and conquering, and the aftermaths of those battles.  The result is an excellent stand alone novel that contains enough sequel hooks to make me hopeful for a sequel.


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Wednesday, November 20, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Betrayal in Winter by Daniel Abraham




A Betrayal in Winter is the second book in Daniel Abraham's "Long Price Quartet", his first four published novels, after "A Shadow in Summer" (which I reviewed HERE).  I really enjoyed A Shadow in Summer - which combined an epic fantasy setting with the feel of a fantasy of manners, with much of the plot dealing with the interactions and machinations of various characters in a city bereft with conspiracy.  The story had me constantly guessing what would happen next, all the way to its impressive ending, in which one main character makes a pretty dire choice, the effects of which were generally left to the reader to imagine.

A Betrayal in Winter takes place years after A Shadow in Summer (13 years, if I calculated right), and follows two of the same main characters from before - Otah and Maati - now in very different places.  Again, these characters find themselves caught in a city beset by conspiracy, one perhaps even deadlier than before, and have to struggle to both survive and find a way forward.  In some ways therefore, it's a bit of a similar book in mechanics to its predecessor.  But the new characters involved, in particular the story's antagonist, are absolutely tremendous, and even with the feeling of sameness being pretty clear, the characters kept me riveted and caring at what happened next.

Note: I read this as an audiobook and the reader is again very good.  Worth a read in that format.


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Tuesday, November 19, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Lost Plot by Genevieve Cogman




The Lost Plot is the fourth book in Genevieve Cogman's ongoing series, "The Invisible Library".  I've kind of loved this series, which if you've missed it is an incredibly fun series about Irene, an agent for a multiversal Library that collects rare books from across the multiverse and tries to avoid getting involved with the battle across the worlds between the Dragons - agents of order - and the Fae - agents of chaos.  But again, the key thing about the series is how the setup allows Cogman to vary things up in really fun ways - so we have the most common setting being a version of London with Fae and fantasy creatures, but we've also seen a high tech world run by dragons, a fantasy version of Venice overrun by Fae, etc.

In this book, we get into an alternate version of 1920s New York, in which our incredibly fun and quick-thinking heroine Irene has barely any time to breathe as she attempts to outwit multiple parties, both human and not, in order to save the day.  As with the last review I did of this series, I suspect this review will be a bit short - mainly because I'm running out of ways to say: "Still really fun and enjoyable!"  There's nothing in this series that makes it an absolute must read, but the ability to always be really fun and read at a really good pace should not be undervalued.



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Monday, November 18, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy/Horror Book Review: The Twisted Ones by T Kingfisher (aka Ursula Vernon)




The Twisted Ones is the latest horror novel by fantasy author T Kingfisher (aka children's book author Ursula Vernon's pseudonym for her adult work).  I'm a pretty solid fan of Kingfisher's work in general, although I'm not a huge horror fan honestly, so I've never actually read her horror work.  Still, given all the tweets I've seen about how scary this book was from multiple authors I respect on twitter, The Twisted Ones seemed like a good place to start.

And it's a pretty strong horror novel, although to be honest I wasn't that scared?  I suspect I'd have been more scared in audiobook form, as the book relies well on what are often classic horror jump scares - good ones mind you, but they lose something for me in text form.  The book is actually inspired by and includes references to a classic early 20th century horror story "The White People", but I hadn't read that story and it still overall works.  Add in Kingfisher/Vernon's classic charm of dialogue/characters, and well, you get a very enjoyable package, even if I didn't quite find it as scary as others have.


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Thursday, November 14, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Rosewater Redemption by Tade Thompson




The Rosewater Redemption is the third in Tade Thompson's Rosewater trilogy.  The first book in the series was in my opinion an absolute classic - a tale of alien invasion in Nigeria in a particularly unique fashion.  The original's non-linear story allowed for a fascinating tale in a cynical crapsack world, with at a take on humanity's value that was both cynical and sadly realistic.  The second book in the trilogy wasn't any less complicated - god these books are complex with how they mess with timelines, psychic and real worlds, and character motivations - but was almost more conventional in its aims: it seemed to make the story more of a standard humanity vs alien invasion narrative, if one with some very weird and strange aliens and a non-western setting.  As a result, while it still worked, it didn't have that same specialness of the first book.

The Rosewater Redemption continues the vein of the second book - this is now a book about humans dealing with alien invasion in many chaotic ways, and the conflicts that erupt.  And well, I called the second book a bit of a mess with the motivations and actions of many conflicting actors, and the third book takes that to a new level.  It's a hell of a book, really and a crazy ride.  I still agree with my original thoughts that the result isn't quite as tremendous as the initial installment, but it's still a worthy capper to one of the more original works I've read in a long long time.


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Wednesday, November 13, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Finder by Suzanne Palmer




Finder is a space opera novel by Suzanne Palmer.  It may be part of a series (Amazon now lists it with a series subtitle), but it's entirely stand-alone as a novel.  I say the novel is space opera because it features a SF universe featuring multiple planets, travel through space, and scifi devices and weaponry, but the story has traces of the spy, noir, and action novel genres as well.

That said, the book has as many down moments as ups, which prevents it from being overall anything particularly special.  The story verges into silliness at more than a few moments, but it's never really a comedy overall, so some of these stories kind of stand out awkwardly - and our protagonist's competence seems to waiver with the plot's demands.  It's still a fun romp for much of it, but the book's repetitive use of certain tropes and the awkward humor prevent it from really reaching any higher levels beyond average.

Note: I read this as an audiobook.  The reader is fine if not anything special, but if you're considering the book in the audiobook format,

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Tuesday, November 12, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: We Set the Dark On Fire by Tehlor Kay Mejia




We Set the Dark on Fire is a YA Dystopian Fantasy - the first in a Duology by Tehlor Kay Mejia.  I mention that first and foremost because it's  book without a complete ending really - it's a logical end point, but one that is clearly only the first half of a longer narrative.  So if you don't want to commit to that, you should stay away, as the sequel won't be out till early next year.  That said, if you do decide you might want to commit to that, this is a very solid book that will reward you for that commitment.

It's a story that very much follows a traditional sounding plotline but it takes it in interesting different directions, and executes it rather well.  The book is easily setup in a way that other stories might turn into a hetero romance story, but the book swerves instead into a F-F romance at its center, to go along with a plot featuring racial and class conflict and revolution.  The book is also excellent in showcasing the risks and rewards of those involved in such class conflict, and makes it clear better than most works how the actions aren't black and white, but in shades of gray.  To go along with its excellent character work, that makes We Set the Dark on Fire an excellent first half of the story, if a little brutal in its ending point.


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Monday, November 11, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Shadow in Summer by Daniel Abraham




A Shadow in Summer is the first in Daniel Abraham's fantasy series, The Long Price Quartet.  I've never actually read anything by Abraham - nor have I read anything previously by Abraham and his various co-authors (for those unaware, Abraham is one half of James S.A. Corey, the pseudonym author of The Expanse books).  This is actually the first published book I see of Abraham's (it's possible wikipedia is incomplete) but it very much doesn't read like a debut work, setting up a complex world clearly based on a mixture of real life cultures, and following a number of characters with intersecting plot arcs.

The result is....pretty good, although very hard to describe.  Essentially the book combines the style of a Fantasy of Manners with the typical styles of Epic Fantasy - the book contains magic and a setting befitting that of epic fantasy, but takes place for the most part within a single city, with a plot based upon the characters maneuvering via diplomacy, political and personal gambits, and growing and breaking relationships.  As with much of the "Fantasy of Manners" genre (think Swordspoint), it's very much a slow burn of a book, but it pays off with excellent characters and a plot that had me on my seat waiting to see how things would play out.

Trigger Warning:  Forced Abortion (Magical).  A major part of the story involves a plot to trick a mage into using his power to abort a baby that is actually wanted by the mother.  The actual event happens off-page, but it does happen, and some readers may be turned off by the use of this plot mechanic in this way.

Note: I read this as an audiobook, and the reader is very good, even managing to hide a twist with creative use of voices, so I'd definitely recommend it in this format.  
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Thursday, November 7, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo




Ninth House is a pretty hyped modern adult fantasy* novel by author Leigh Bardugo, known far more for her YA works.  I've not yet actually read any of her YA works, so this is my first experience with Bardugo - but Ninth House was getting a lot of press (it got a review in Vox, for example, which is not a frequent reviewer of genre books) so I reserved it some time before its release.

*I've said this before, but I define "Modern Fantasy" as a story taking place in a modern-esque setting with fantastical elements as compared to "Urban Fantasy" which also takes place in a modern world but one in which fantastical elements and creatures from fantasy stories are commonplace throughout - so most usually magical creatures and the like are present either openly or secretly but in such frequency to be a major part of the setting.  It's a definition of the subgenres that's really without meaning but I don't think "urban fantasy" gives the right impression for this book.

 And Ninth House is a really interesting and solid novel, a genre mystery story with strong themes of class and gender oppression, especially that of class.  The story is set on a version of Yale in which Yale's secret societies are in fact organizations devoted to different studies of magic, using these magics to enrich their members and alumni.  Into this world is dropped our protagonist, a high-school drop out who is enrolled into Yale because of her innate ability to see ghosts and supernatural phenomena, making her of great use to the societies' overseers - but who finds herself torn between her "town" (lower class) roots and her need to survive to escape the horrors of her past.  It's a really strong story with some really interesting themes, helped by a very strong lead character, and is well worth your time even if the mystery elements don't really work upon any close inspection.


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Wednesday, November 6, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review; Children of Earth and Sky by Guy Gavriel Kay




I was a latecomer to the work of Canadian fantasy author, Guy Gavriel Kay, with me only reading my first Kay novel earlier this year.  And well, I really loved that first experience with Kay's work, in his most recent work, A Brightness Long Ago (Review Here), so it was never going to take me long to try and catch up with Kay's backlog.  Children of Earth and Sky is another book in the same universe as A Brightness Long Ago (ABLA was essentially a stand-alone sequel) - Kay's low fantasy version of Europe - so it was a logical next book for me to try.

And again I really enjoyed Children of Earth and Sky quite a bit, for much the same reasons as A Brightness Long Ago.  Like that other book, it's an incredibly character focused story, following a set of major characters - and a few others - and really lacking a major plot other than to follow a set of characters as they find themselves caught up in the events of this pastiche renaissance Europe.  It's a slow-paced book that often jumps between characters we haven't seen in quite a while, but Kay manages to give even the minorest of characters real life and depth - making them interesting to read - so that it always works, culminating in a rather satisfying ending for all involved.

More after the jump:


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Monday, November 4, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Novella: The Deep by Rivers Solomon (with clipping)


Full Disclosure:  This work was read as an e-ARC (Advance Reader Copy) obtained via Netgalley from the publisher in advance of the book's release on November 5 2019 in exchange for a potential review.  I give my word that this did not affect my review in any way - if I felt conflicted in any way, I would simply have declined to review the book.

The Deep by Rivers Solomon (with an assist from the band "clipping.").

The Deep is one of the more highly anticipated novellas of the year in the SF/F world due to the story's unique origins: the novella is inspired and takes its name from an afrofuturist (afrofantasy?) song of the same name by clipping - the band that includes Daveed Diggs, and has branched into SF/F in its songs more than a few times.  In fact the original song actually earned its own Hugo nomination, featuring a fantasy world in which the children of pregnant African slaves thrown overboard during the slave trade morph into beings who can live under the sea and eventually come into conflict with surface dwellers.  And the author who is adapting that song into this novella, Rivers Solomon, was twice a Campbell nominee for Best New Writer, with the powerful but tragic novel: The Unkindness of Ghosts.  So yeah, it's got one hell of a pedigree.

The novella features that same origin concept, but is its own inspired story with the themes you would expect, and perhaps a few you wouldn't - themes of a people being thrown away, a people being forced to adapt, of the value of memories and history to a people that may be dying off/be split apart, and of one's self.  It's a fascinating work, and well worth your time, making good on the promise of its pedigree.


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Wednesday, October 30, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A House of Rage and Sorrow by Sangu Mandanna




A House of Rage and Sorrow is the second in Sangu Madanna's "Celestial Trilogy", a trilogy that began with last year's "A Spark of White Fire" (Reviewed Here).  The trilogy is a SciFi/Fantasy (there's aspects of both) adaptation of the Indian epic, the Mahabharata, with a slight YA slant - and is actually one of two adaptations of that epic (Ashok K Banker's "Upon a Burning Throne") I know of being published by western publishers over the past year.  I really liked A Spark of White Fire - the book was short, but contained a fascinating universe of worlds, stations, gods, and mortals, with a really likable heroine struggling to find peace and family despite prophecies and curses suggesting those may be a mere pipe dream.  It had some flaws, but I really enjoyed it despite those flaws and have been looking forward to the sequel pretty much all year.

And well, A House of Rage and Sorrow delivers tremendously on the promise of its predecessor, despite being even shorter in length.  Now that the stage has been set, we go fully into epic scifi/fantasy as Mandanna presumably adapts the sprawling nature of the original epic into her world, and despite packing everything into a short package, she manages to fill the world and characters with such depth as to keep me riveted throughout.  This is a story of mortals, gods, sentient space ships, great beasts, and more, and it even somehow manages to address some of my key flaws of the prior book.  Yeah, I love this one and I cannot wait for the conclusion.

Spoilers for A Spark of White Fire below are inevitable, be warned.

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Tuesday, October 29, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review:A Chain Across the Dawn by Drew Williams




A Chain Across the Dawn is the second book in Drew Williams' "Universe After" series, after his "The Stars Now Unclaimed" (Review Here).  In that review, I compared the first book to Star Wars in its space opera roots - but in retrospect, I've seen a few other reviews which make what I think is a better comparison: Mass Effect, being a space opera universe featuring a crew of misfits of different species being forced together to deal with a major threat.  And it was a hell of a lot of fun, with great action set pieces and fun characters, so I was really interested in reading the sequel.

And I think A Chain Across the Dawn is actually a bit better - whereas the first book was Mass Effect-esque, this book is a little bit like Mass Effect crossed with Alien.  The book also switches its viewpoint character to Esa, the young girl with telekinesis from the first book, now 3 years older and an agent in her own right (at age 17), and the switch works really well, giving a fresh look at a plot that once again contains a number of excellent action sequences.  That, along with some excellent character work, makes this book one that I really enjoyed and tore through, and i can't wait to get the trilogy ender in February.


Note: This book was again read as an audiobook, and the reader is excellent once again.  That said, as a result, if I misspell some names, that's why.


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Monday, October 28, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Song of the Abyss by Makiia Lucier




Song of the Abyss is a YA fantasy novel that is the stand-alone sequel to Makiia Lucier's earlier Isle of Blood and Stone (Review Here).  I enjoyed the world of that first book quite a bit - featuring an Island Kingdom with a culture towards exploring, and a trio of protagonists who weren't warriors like the typical fantasy protagonists, but explorers at heart, looking into a mystery.  That said, while the setup was very good, the book kind of dropped the ball with its abrupt ending and had some character beats I found annoying, which kept me from truly loving it as much as I'd hoped.  Song of the Abyss is, as I mentioned before, stand-alone and takes place years after the first book, featuring a character who was merely a young girl and has now grown into a young woman as its heroine.

And I liked Song of the Abyss quite a lot honestly, with the book improving significantly on its predecessor.  Again, the book features a protagonist who is an explorer/surveyor more than anything, working to solve a mystery in a way that would not involve violence.  And again, the book features a solid romance between its two most prominent characters, who have a lot of chemistry between them.  But the ending is a lot more satisfying this time around, and while the book isn't perfect - I actually wanted a little more from the romance - it's very easy to recommend for its strong world, strong heroine, and satisfying plot that moves at a nice brisk pace.


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Thursday, October 24, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Shadowshaper by Daniel Jose Older




Shadowshaper is a YA Urban Fantasy novel by Daniel Jose Older, set in modern day New York City, particularly Brooklyn.  I haven't loved the two prior books(Half Resurrection Blues, Star Wars: Last Shot) I've read by Older - I've found them functional novels that generally work, but unimpressive as a whole. Moreover, novels set in NYC tend to be hit or miss, with the books more often than not just using the setting as a generic setting, to my disappointment (as a local New Yorker).  Fortunately, Shadowshaper is the exception to that: quite clearly using its setting for specific reasons and showing a clear understanding of the areas involved, which I really appreciated.

Even more so, Shadowshaper uses this setting to tell a story of people from a "minority" community dealing with class and racial issues - such as gentrification and cultural appropriation - through a fantasy lens in a way that really works.  The story still has some of the same issues I had with the prior Older works - its pacing is very jumpy and it feels like characters jump in certain directions early just because the plot says they have to - but overall it comes together nicely to tell a story with some satisfying turns, some enjoyable characters, and an ending that has me looking forward to getting to the sequel eventually.

Note: I read this as an audiobook, and the audiobook reader is very good at handling the different voices and accents of the characters involved.  Definitely recommended in this format.


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Tuesday, October 22, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: Grave Importance by Vivian Shaw




Grave Importance is the final book in Vivian Shaw's "Dr. Greta Hellsing" trilogy.  I loved this series from book 1 (Strange Practice - reviewed here), and so was kind of disappointed to find out that this would be the end of it, at least for the moment.  But that disappointment was tempered by the joy of having a new installment to read, because what's come before was so good, and so different from the norm, that I couldn't wait to read it.  The difference in the series is clearly set out in the series' name: this is the story of not a monster hunter, or a monster preserver, but a monster doctor (Dr. Greta Hellsing), who really means it when she says "do no harm."  Yeah the books may involve conflicts that threaten entire cities (or worse), but Greta's only concern throughout is healing and helping, not destroying or stopping.  The sheer joy that results, from the (ironically) humanity of the characters to the humor of the dialogues and the situations involved, is tremendous, and wow did I need a fun book just at this time.

And Grave Importance is incredibly damn fun and a hell of a way to cap this series, if it is indeed the end.  Our heroine remains delightful in her commitment to helping monsters - in this case Mummies - and her sheer joy at the new tools she is presented with is so contagious.  And then there is her relationships with the other major characters, and their own relationships to each other, and I just couldn't help loving all of it.  And oh yeah, there's a reality-wide threat to the universe and a major artifact heist involved with it all as well, I guess, but really it's the characters and the reactions to everything that make this such a joy.  Also, you know, the demons, vampires, mummies, witches, and the like.  Those too.

Minor Spoilers for the first two books after the jump:


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Monday, October 21, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Stars Now Unclaimed by Drew Williams




The Stars Now Unclaimed is very much in the mold of classic Space Opera.  It features a galaxy of different species, including one sentient AIs in both ships and humanoid forms, planets with varying degrees of technologies and climates, battles with high tech guns on the feet and in the air, etc.  The main cast and enemy will give a reader pretty easy Star Wars vibes as well.  In short, it's not trying to do anything particularly unusual in any way in its plot.

That's not a bad thing mind you, and The Stars Now Unclaimed is executed very well, with a very likable cast of characters and a plot that, while never wholly surprising, still manages to take some interesting twists and turns along the way to keep the reader hooked.  The battles and set pieces - not usually something I care too much about - are written pretty excellently as well.  The result is a space opera that may not be original in form or setting, but is definitely fun and enjoyable.  A pretty strong effort from what seems to be author Drew Williams' first novel, too.

Note:  I read this as an audiobook.  The reader is excellent, and made me very much want to keep listening as the story played out, to the point where I finished this book in a week, which is pretty impressive given it's not short (it's not long either, around 14 hours).  So yeah, I'd recommend this book in this format.


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Thursday, October 17, 2019

SciFi Novella Review: To Be Taught If Fortunate by Becky Chambers





To Be Taught If Fortunate by Becky Chambers:

Becky Chambers' Wayfarer series has been one of my favorite works of SF since I got back into the genre - character focused with lovely characters, featuring an optimistic universe of cohabitation and ideas extending that optimism toward an interesting and worthwhile future.  So naturally I tried to pick up her latest work, this novella To Be Taught If Fortunate, as soon as it came out....only to find out that a bunch of others had the same idea, so it took until this week for me to get it.  And then I finished it in one day, so you know, of course.

It's a bit of a different type of work than the Wayfarer series in some ways, but not others.  This is a novella that features a far more near future - about a hundred years or so - featuring a group of scientists exploring other planets and cataloging the environments and life found on those planets.  Like the Wayfarer series, it features a crew who are dedicated to their jobs and try to cooperate together to ensure those jobs are done well, with rivalries between the crew non-existent and collaboration being as natural as breathing.  Unlike the series however, the book deals with more clear ethical and moral questions, and while optimistic at heart, it holds less answers.

It's a fascinating piece of work that I definitely recommend.


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Wednesday, October 16, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: The Warrior Moon by K Arsenault Rivera





Since I got back into reading genre in 2015, there are few books that I've loved more than K Arsenault Rivera's, "The Tiger's Daughter" (Reviewed Here), the first book in her "Ascendant" trilogy.  That book was just such an amazing fantasy romance tale that I put in on my list of "perfect" books - just a perfect romance between two fantasy heroines as they grew up and faced a world of demons and evil humans that threatened not just destruction, but to pull them both apart.  The book was followed up last year with "The Phoenix Empress" (Reviewed Here), which couldn't quite measure up to its predecessor - the book was a little less focused and centered more firmly on the fantasy side than the romance unlike the first book - but was still really good, and ended with things firmly set up for the concluding volume.  And now, with The Warrior Moon, that concluding volume is here.

And what a volume it is - The Warrior Moon still doesn't measure up to The Tiger's Daughter's perfection - the book is much more epic in scope, with far more characters to keep track of, whose stories are being told alongside our main duo and as such Rivera can't quite keep everything together without a few noticeable flaws sneaking in.  But Rivera manages to come incredibly close to doing so, wrapping up the trilogy, and the stories of not just our main duo, but of several other:  characters we've come to know and love, in a satisfying, if sometimes bittersweet manner.  It may not measure up to the trilogy's beginning, a tour de force of a love story's first act, but as the final act of that story it's still pretty damn incredible.

Spoilers for the first two books are inevitable after the jump, although I don't think they'll reduce your enjoyment of the series if you haven't read those books before this review.  Of course, you totally should read those books first anyhow, so get on that already.....

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Tuesday, October 15, 2019

SciFi/Fantasy Book Review: A Choir of Lies by Alexandra Rowland




A Choir of Lies is the follow up to Alexandra Rowland's 2018 novel, A Conspiracy of Truths, but it's very much a stand alone novel.  That said, it's very much a follow up to the first novel, a response to how that book treated the power of storytelling.  For those who missed Conspiracy, it's the tale of a traveling storyteller who only goes by the title "Chant", who finds himself accused of false charges and responds by using stories told to political leaders to change the situation in the country to great - and powerful - effect.  It was somewhat a satire of the silliness of people in power and somewhat a tale of the power of how the right words can change everything.  I liked it a bit, although I found the book itself let down by having the stories themselves not be particularly interesting.

A Choir of Lies responds to that first book by asking questions of the responsibilities of those telling stories, especially given the devastation they can cause.  Two Chants appear - Ylfing, the first Chant's apprentice from the last book and who narrates this tale, and a woman who goes by Madame Chant, who provides footnotes and responses to his comments.  Their dialogue and overall story provides a fascinating look at not only the different arts of storytelling, but also a pretty interesting look at the responsibilities and codes that can come with those arts.  The result is probably better than the first book - although the use of a real world event as a clear inspiration for much of the plot of this book didn't work for me, as it was really distracting as I was always waiting for the implications of that even to drop, as they inevitably had to.  Still, well worth a read.


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