Jenn's World

January 9, 2013 -- 3:29 p.m.

Speaking of callbacks and deaths, I almost wish there had been more dying. Lan's fight with Demandred might be one of the top moments of the entire series for me. But you can't SHEAVE THE SWORD and then walk away after. That's cheating. My favorite actual death was either Egwene's or Siuan's. Even if Siuan's is only a couple lines, you got to admire someone who heroically goes to their death, even if they aren't sure it will accomplish anything. That's true heroism. I wish we'd had one last Bryne POV as he went beserking to his death to accompany it, or that they'd found his body later with 90 dead trollocs around it, but you can't have everything even in a 900-page novel, I guess.

I liked the male/female working-together dynamic that was running through everywhere (Andol/Pevara, Elayne/her generals, Rand/NynaRaine). That was a cool pay-off of the series' philosophy. It was cool to see the flaws in Callandor be intentional. That was great.

At the same time, I was disappointed by how useless Moiraine and Nynaeve turned out to be. What did Moiraine do that was so important for saving the world? Alivia could have come in her place and nothing would have changed. Mat sacrificed his eye so that, what, Moiraine could tell Egwene she needed to break the seals when she got her hands on them? I guess coming to a truce between them was good, but I wasn't sure Moiraine was the only one capable of doing that. I had really hoped she'd get to do something awesomely dramatic. And she did, at the very end with exploiting the flaw, but that was Rand's idea, so she only gets partial credit with it.

Ditto with Nynaeve. Alanna could have released the stupid bond at any time. So Nynaeve actually knowing how to do stuff without the power (a theme repeatedly hashed on this whole time) didn't actually turn out to matter. It also brings up the question: Moiraine knew she was going to die, why didn't she release Lan and save him a little suicidal angst? Not good on you, girlfriend. I always assumed she didn't because it was some complicated weave that could only be done with time/effort. Nope!

And all the stuff we had to slog through with how many books with the Windfinders? Did it pay off? Nope. Not that I wanted to spend time with a culture that beats up its teachers. WTF was that???

Padan Fain was the biggest letdown. He's been screwing things up for our heroes ever since the first book and he barely gets a mention (except for two obvious 'help remind the reader that's he's still out there' moments by Perrin) until he's suddenly a mini-roaming Mashadar who gets two pages and then gets offed. Thanks for wasting our book space for however many years only to give Mat something to do at the bore for thirty seconds!

Speaking of Mat, how great was it that the Hornsounder didn't end up sounding the horn after all. Great thing or greatest thing? (TEAM OLVER 4EVAH!!!)

***END SPOILERS***

Overall, even though I was annoyed at some little things, I loved the ending. You can't have a book series go on for so long with so many things being juggled without there being a few disappointments, and I'm in awe that Brandon Sanderson managed to complete such a daunting task.

So bravo, team Jordan, bravo. A part of my life feels...empty, now. Good thing GRRM's still writing books for me to obsess about. If he finishes a Song of Ice and Fire, I won't know what to do with myself :)

Been awhile since I've posted a book review. I haven't been able to find my camera with the Worldcon pictures in it. My mother must have put it somewhere strange when she unpacked the suitcase I borrowed.

I just got cool news. I signed up for the writing workshops at Worldcon and one of my workshop leaders is going to be N.K. Nemisin, which makes the timing of this review fun. It will be interesting to see what she has to say about my work, because while she's an awesome author, from what little I've read of her work, our styles will be completely, entirely different. It made me wish I'd submitted something a little more surreal/descriptive than Skin Farm, which is fun but very...well, plain-spoken. Purposefully so, since the main character is illiterate.

I just finished Mockingjay and...boy, did it blow me away. It completely beat my expectations. Though not perfect, it was great. I couldn't put it down and now I'm going to go back and read it again from the beginning.

But first, I thought I'd do a review. There are spoilers, but probably not the kind that will wreck the book for you, so read at your own discretion.

I was right about the cheerful cover being completely wrong. From the picture on front, you would expect Katniss to rise up over conflict as something pure and beautiful. You would also be wrong. This book is the darkest of the three, without doubt. And when I think a book is dark, you know that it's dark.

After an admittedly rocky start with a patchwork of flashbacks that left me wishing Scholastic had hired me as copyeditor, we find Katniss Everdeen in the bowels of District 13. Suzanne Collins manages to confound my expectations. Contrary to my worries that the new district would be a magic wand to erase all Katniss' problems, instead we're introduced to a new kind of dystopia. One of supply shortages and secret tortures and rigorous schedules tattooed on your wrist every morning. Instead of being offered a clean choice between good and evil, Katniss must decide between bad and worse.

These are the decisions that make readers sweat. These are my favorite kind of decisions to read about, and to write about.

No matter which way she turns, Katniss' choices will lead to bloodshed and death. One scene close to the ending is an epitome of useless gore. While the final pages may suggest hope (and possible a prequel involving Haymitch, PLEASE-PLEASE-PLEASE!!!), the unforgiving decisions the characters make before the last resolution will leave you wondering if history is doomed to repeat itself.

Collins' writing shimmers when it comes to pastoral moments--a ring of dancers taking what joy they can in the midst of war, for example--but she really shines when it comes to the violence. Which you'll find here in gobs of delicious, blood-rending horror. No, Katniss doesn't end up back in an "official" arena, but she is forced to kill and watch people die in a variety of ways. I was somewhat disappointed given the technology-heavy world of the Capital that so few high-tech weapons were showcased. I didn't quite buy the in-world explanations for the limited use of aircraft and WMDs, but you have to admit that close quarters combat does make for great reading. I particularly enjoyed the toys I did see--including a voice-activated bow with incendiary arrows. Guess what I'm putting on my Christmas list?

A sly reference to Farenheit 451 also made my dystopia-loving heart beat a little faster.

On other military matters, I was disappointed that--despite previous' books build-up of the Capital's insurmountable armies--there were very few military details about how the impoverished outer districts overcame the better-armed central government. But as a tactical buff, I can never get enough about that stuff, and the Hunger Games triology has never been about that.

So what is it about? In my opinion, it's about how we as a society see violence. How we glamorize it (even in book form, which makes Hunger Games all the more ironic, since it's criticizing our arena-watching tendancies while forcing the book's audience into the role of spectators at the same time). While the previous books have explored violence for entertainment value, this book explores violence for propaganda value. Katniss has always been exploited as a symbol, but never so obviously and tastelessly. The rebellion does what the capital has--put makeup and full body-polishes on murder and gruesome death. Think Wag the Dog, post-apocalyptic style.

But while decrying the exploitation of violence for power, the book also manages to rack up an impressive bodycount. My only other major disappointment was the way the death of one of the characters was handled. Apparently, it took place between books, but it is rarely discussed or thought about. It's possible I missed mention of it in my admittedly quick read, because Katniss' lack of grief over this particular individual seemed strangely out of character.

The love triangle is, of course, still in force, although it's the part that interests me the least. Unlike previous books, Gale takes off from the page. While before, I considered him a cardboard cypher, more obsticle to Peeta than actual living being, this time he's a living, breathing character and I can see why some girls on the forums were rooting for him. Collins has a gift for dialogue that rings true in Gale's mouth.

While Gale takes center page, Peeta--kidnapped and in the hands of President Snow--takes a bit of a sideline in the process. Peeta fans may not enjoy the twist his character takes, but I loved it in the way only a fellow writer can. Curse you, Suzanne Collins, you diabolical genius!

It's nice to see the character development of Katniss over the series. I may have enjoyed reading about the decisively temptestrous heroine from the first book, but I still liked the indecesive, temptestrous heroine from the third. While the romance is interesting in and of itself, it's really a stand-in for a choice between two different worldviews. Anger and vengeance, symbolized by Gale; and forgiveness and peaceful reconciliation, symbolized by Peeta.

Though of course, neither character is strictly bound by that nature in the book. Both characters break their assigned molds, making for some of the most riveting moments in Mockingjay. And whenever anyone gets too sure of themselves, Collins is there with a curveball ready to throw them off their stride.

In the end, the choice isn't black and white. Katniss is part Peeta, part Gale, and all herself--a lonely girl hurt by choices that are far too big for any one person to shoulder.

----
PS: Collins is on book tour. You can find her schedule here. I may make it over to Washington for a signing in November, if I'm feeling ambitious. Also, Publisher's Weekly has an article on the marketing on Mockingjay. Definitely worth reading if you're thinking about marketing strategies for your own book.

It's amazing how a little thing like an argument can completely throw off your mojo for an entire day. It destroys time you don't have, and leaves you frustrated because there's no way to resolve a conflict. Most of the time, you have to forgive, forget and move on, even though you crave the satisfaction of the other person admitting that you're right.

But enough of that. Anyway, here's the promised book reviews:

The Lies of Locke Lamora, by Scott Lynch

For writers, there are two types of books in the world--The books that make you think, "I wish I had had that idea because I could have done it so much better." And the books that make you think, "I'm so glad I didn't write that book, because otherwise I couldn't have gone along for the ride."

The Lies of Locke Lamora is definitely the latter. But what else would you expect from a Campbell award winner that the master George R.R. Martin himself graces with a blurb? (Speaking of which, a Game of Thrones preview is up on HBOs web site. If you're a fan, go check it out.)

Locke Lamora is a thief who steals too much. In a city of glass and canals, where gladiators battle sharks and thieves are ruled by hidden gods, Lamora is a conman who plays both sides against the middle. He's ostentatiously working for a man who is the fantasy version of the Godfather, yet at the same time he's stealing from the upper class nobles that the Godfather has declared off-limits. He's kind of a Robin Hood...except that he keeps the money.

Lamora is on track for pulling off his largest heist ever, until a mage in the service of a mysterious vigilante decides to blackmail Lamora into helping his revenge scheme against the Godfather figure and the nobles both.

Who doesn't love the fictional antics of a conman? This was a guilty pleasure for me. Yes, I got my credit card number stolen once and it sure as hell wasn't funny then, but that doesn't stop me from loving Lamora as he goes on his merry, rampaging way. It's always easier to sell me on righteous thieves than righteous assassins, even though the assassin character was very popular in fantasy for awhile. It's one thing to rob rich people of their money, it's quite another to kill them, and I thought that of lot of assasin books, much like the "pimp" phenemonon that inexplicably gripped pop culture, glorified a lifestyle that, in actual reality, was very sordid and exploitative. However, because I enjoyed Lies so much, and he only ruins people instead of murdering them, I guess I have to set my principles aside. It helps that the class conflict in the book is so demarked. It's also amusing that, though Locke Lamora steals, he doesn't really know what to do with the money afterward.

This book crackles with tension and suspense. Granted, not every twist and turn was unpredictable, but it's rare for a book to startle me so frequently and to such good effect. Lynch has mastered "the surprising-yet-inevitable" art of the twist. I found my jaw dropping in the middle of the novel, and I was cursing by the time I had to set it down and go to bed.

Like the Da Vinci Code, most chapters ended with a hook to drag the reader forward. Except in this book, for me, they always succeeded. What made this feat even more impressive is that the book utilizes an unusual structure, spacing chapters about Lamora and the other character's pasts in between chapters that propelled the main narrative forward. In other words, Scott Lynch could keep me wanting more even when I knew that the stakes were low--no character deaths, just a lot of info-dumping. Yet I loved every page.

Besides being a master of colorful characterization, Lynch also has a deft hand with description. Few of the details of his world struck me as stock fantasy set dressing leftover from the LOTR movies.

Lamora is also notable for not having much of a romantic subplot. This is strictly a buddy comedy. Well, in some parts, a buddy tragedy. There is a love plot in the sequel--a book which might even be superior to the first--but (SPOILER ALERT...Scroll over the text to see it) it's pretty obvious from the beginning that's it's going to be a case of women in refrigerator syndrome--a term propagated by comic book readers and applied to the love interests of superheroes who are fated to die for the sake of the plot.

Be warned, for those of you who aren't a fan of adult language, Lamora has it's fair share of it. It's not meant as a book for children. Also be warned that the second book ends on a cliff-hanger, and Lynch's blog suggests he's been having problems that may delay the third book for some time.

But if Hunger Games was the best book I read last year, I suspect The Lies of Locke Lamora will be my favorite of 2010. I read it back in February and haven't found another book that even comes close to toppling it. Lamora was fresh and exciting in a genre that so often embraces clones. I can't wait to read the sequel, and depending on how the rest of the series goes, "the Gentlemen Bastards Sequence" might even be up there with the works of George R.R. Martin and Robert Jordan.

***

Paper Mage, by Leah Cutter

I don't know if there's ever going to be another book where the magic system is centered entirely around origami.

Xiao Zen is a female paper mage struggling in a fantasy world reminiscent of Imperial China. She folds paper creatures to bring them to life. Her family is disgusted by her profession because they believe it will harm Zen's chances of marriage, but her manipulative aunt sees it as a way to guarentee herself immortality. Zen herself isn't sure what she wants and struggles throughout the book to come to terms with her talent, her feminity, and her duties to her family.

I'm putting this book next to the Lies of Locke Lamora because they both use a similar narrative system--one chapter on background, one chapter on the present, alternating throughout the book. While structurally similar, the purposes are quite different. Lamora, though populated with a large number of memorable characters, is a plot-driven book, and even the background pages give you a dallop of mystery. Paper Mage, on the other hand, is a character driven book, where the suspense comes more from the character's decisions than from anything about the plot. Because I'm not as much a fan of character-driven fiction as I am of plot-driven fiction, this didn't necessarily always work for me as well as Lynch's book did. For example, Xiao defeats the big bad evil warlord in the middle of her book, not the end, which honestly left me scratching my head a little.

Cutter is excellent at capturing a culture not her own. I'm not used to being in character's heads who are so alien from me. I think a lot of fantasy readers are so used to female characters who embrace the modern tennants of feminism, so it's surprising when we see a woman so firmly torn between career and family. And one who often believes that she is made less by the soft squishiness between her legs. Her attitude frustrated me to death sometimes, but also helped me see into a world that is admittedly very far from my own.

The setting itself is interesting. I loved the tidbits like part-rat/part-dragon monster, and how Zen has to find creative ways to defeat things with paper.

Paper Mage is an impressive study in characterization and cultural exploration. Writers can learn a lot about using foreign cultures and different ideas in this book. But if you're expecting a lot of suspense, swordfights and flashy fireballs, this is definitely not a book for you.

I actually won something in a contest.

So unheard of, for me. I think the last time I won a random drawing was when I was in elementary school.

Goodreads, a wonderful website that's kind of like facebook for book lovers, is sending me a copy of "Battle Of The Network Zombies" by Mark Henry in the next couple of weeks, and I'll review it there. I signed up for the drawing because any books that feature zombies and journalism is probably right up my alley. Though they're sending it out before the book's official publication date to generate buzz, ironically it won't arrive until after. It's the third book in a series, so I'll have to jump in midway. I didn't notice that the author was a man until just now--I'm so used to reading paranormal romances by females that I'm surprised the author didn't use a pseudonym. It'll be interesting to see what it's like. It's also set in one of my adopted hometowns (Seattle). So that'll be fun to read.

Here's Publisher Weekly's snippet, as per Amazon:

Clever, fast-paced, and so delightfully trashy that it should have been printed on Hefty bags, Henry's third Amanda Feral novel (after 2009's Road Trip of the Living Dead) smartly skewers popular culture. Brilliant, bitchy undead diva Amanda is desperate for a fledgling reality show to succeed, because being paid to judge it is the only thing that can keep her financially afloat. When someone murders the show's host, a would-be playboy wood nymph, the show's contestants—a snooty Belgian ghoul, a werewolf drag queen, a pair of sirens, a down-home backwoods stripper, and a tentacled manicurist—are all suspects. Amanda's got to solve the case while attempting to rebuild a relationship with her werewolf boyfriend. Henry gleefully delivers a sharp-edged, snarky whodunit with some smart and funny twists.

---

In other news, I finally had the courage to open up the book I'm published in. Here is it. The Authorized Ender's Companion, published by Tor. I am the very first page of the Ender's Friends section on page 393.

I can't bring myself to read it, because I remember that it contains some very graphic, very personal information. I literally wrote the chapter on a whim when I was very, very drunk. This was before I was reconverted to the LDS faith, and I'm sure in the future I'll regard the essay as a very good reason not to mix alcohol and writing. You might accidentally end up published. Which is a fate no sane mortal wants.

But the parts of the book not written by me seem pretty good, and I'm learning things that not even a devout Ender-rite like me whose read the book so often that pages all have my inky thumbprints on them. So go out and buy it, if you're as rabid a fan as I am.

My brother's home from law school for the next month so I've been spending all my time with him, which is why I haven't blogged anything, and won't until February.

It's good to take a break from the computer, anyway, sometimes I feel like I've been tethered to it for too long.

In news, I love-love-loved HUNGER GAMES. I just finished Suzanne Collins' Y.A. book and I can honestly say it's one of the best things I've ever read. I'm a sucker for both games and violence, so Hunger Games scratched an itch that hadn't been scratched for me since Piers' Anthony's Adept Series (the first three of which are some of my favorite books ever written). I loved the Battle Royale manga despite the provocatively mature content, and so Hunger Games was like that for me in book form. It's amazing to me how an author can cram so much worldbuilding, characterization and just so much awesome into so few pages. I finished it in half a day or so while waiting in the airport and flying to Seattle. It's a reminder that you don't need 300,000 words to tell a brilliant story. If you haven't read this book. Go. Read. Now. Then come back. I'll wait.

I'm tempted to scrap my Y.A. novel right now because unfortunately, so many elements are so similar it's going to look like a rip-off. A bad rip-off, because Collins is so much more adept at handling emotion. I don't always have a deft hand there--sometimes I turn pathos into bathos.

Ah well, I can always finish the novel now and not send it out for a decade. Or hide my name under a pseudonym and never admit to writing it. NEVER!

Well, after I get that banged out of the way, the next project I'm looking at is a dark fantasy loosely based on the French Revolution but with gladiators and stuff like that. It'll be much darker in tone than Godsplay. The main POV character is a painter, another one is a drag queen. No clue on the title yet, except maybe "Wyrmborn" because the ancient kings claim they are descended from the blood of dragons and claim ancient powers because of that, to wield against the righteous-yet-fanatical revolutionaries. The problem is I've got five or six P.O.V. characters right now but not much of a plot, but I'm still in the research phase. Anyway, I'm excited about the idea.

"Aspar White smelled murder. Its scent was like a handful of autumn leaves, crisped by the first frost and crushed in the palm.

Dirty Jesp, the Sefry woman who had raised him, told him once that his perculiar sense came from having been born of a dying mother below the gallows where the Raver took his sacrifices. But Dirty Jesp made her living as a liar...."

Where did the mysterious colonists who vanished from Roanoke go?

They were kidnapped by monsters, of course, and taken as slaves to a land of dark magic!

That has nothing to do with these books. Or not much, anyway. It's just fun to know because you can see some of the languages evolved from corrupted English. There are enough little easter eggs in these books to keep a reader engaged...it took me an embarrassing long time to realize that the word "d'Ef" is, well...

Greg Keyes' series, called "The Kingdoms of Thorn and Bone" is definitely a winner and one of the most underappreciated sagas in the fantasy genre. At the end of the age of men, a small group of heroes is fighting to save the land from the unnatural evil looming. I got into this series a few years ago, but added two more books to my collection during the orange and black buy-fest. This is one of those sets of books that makes young writers groan, because there is no way you could ever replicate such wonderful prose.

Then you sigh and remember that Keyes has been writing professionally for much longer than you have, and the voice saying "I wish I could write like that" is quickly drowned out by all the wonderfulness of these books. They hit all the right old notes--buxom barmaids, snarky princesses, rapscallion fighters, and knights with big ass swords--with enough new twists to keep you interested. Monks with ninja-like powers! How awesome is THAT? Not to mention six-nippled albino gypsy people...

Besides a hefty helping of palace intrigues and a viewpoint character fatality rate reminiscent of George R.R. Martin, Keyes also does some wonderfully inventive things with religion. Now, I'm re-reading the series from scratch at the moment and my memory's a little patchy, but I believe I'm accurate in saying that the church has been calling the local spirits into "Saints" -- just like the Christian church of medieval Europe did in places like Ireland. By folding the local deities into their religion, they make it more easy for the locals to convert.

In this stories' case, if you walk through their sacred places, you get mad magical powers. Of course, each walk requires strength, and not all Saints are good...

Besides memorable characters, wonderful description, realistic languages (heroes actually have bad grammar and syntax errors when they switch tongues) and interesting religions, Keyes also plays with contrasts in weapons and culture. For example, one of the fighters is trained with a rapier, which works, although not always very well, against men with plate mail and cleavers.

Another wonderful part about this series is that it is done. No waiting for books. Just grab and go.

I've read all but the last book, the Born Queen, so I can't say whether the series' end is as good as its beginning, but these are books you won't regret buying, in my opinion--it's even available in e-book form. This is a sophisticated fantasy. As delicious as it gets.

My only complaint is that every chapter ends with a cliff-hanger, which, occasionally, can seem a bit forced. But it's a small flaw compared with so much goodness packed into these pages.

I had to add this snippet from the Briar King, too, just because I love characters bantering with each other and the reference to Gimli/Legolas.

" 'I killed a hundred, before the gate,' Thaniel asserted.
" 'I killed a hundred and five,' Carsek replied.
" 'You can't count to a hundred and five,' Thaniel retorted.
" 'Aye, I can. It's how many times I've had your sister.'
" 'Well,' Thaniel mused, 'then my sister had to have been counting for you. I know that after two hands and two feet, I had to start counting for your mother.'
" At that, both men paused.
" 'We are very funny men, aren't we?' Carsek grunted.
" 'We are men,' Thaniel said, more soberly. 'And alive, and free. And that is enough.'"

Finished the the Gathering Storm. In about 12 hours. Fantastic. There are minor quibbles, minor disappointments, occasional steps out of character, and definite jolts of stylistic choice that left me blinking, but nothing that denies the basic greatness of the work itself. There is no question that Tor chose a worthy heir. I think most of my annoyances would have existed even if Robert Jordan had written the work, so they don't stem from a new author.

I was right about the character POV swaps though. That was a little distracting. Felt like a water droplet being jolted around on a hot griddle. I wanted to nail the POV to the ground and FOCUS.

Still, he did a phenomenal job. This book will make you fall in love with the Wheel of Time all over again. I laughed, I cried (well, not really), I cheered.

I will have to pick up Brandon Sanderson's other books now and read them. That is the highest compliment you can give an author.

Revised almost 70 pages today. Woohoo! I wouldn't have, but my internet connection was down so I didn't have much else to do.

Of course, I didn't cut as much as I should have. I think I'm leaving in a lot of description because I like the long, elegant sentences, even if they are repetitive. Words are teh win!

For Dragonlance fans, the Lost Chronicles are like slipping into a nice, fuzzy bathrobe. It feels wonderful to meet up with old friends and relive the stories and characters of my childhood. Sure, it robs some of the fun out of it because you know Tanis isn't going to die (spoiler alert? Oops). But I still enjoyed it a lot. Nice, light reading, as delicious as your favorite dessert.

Though if you don't have the benefit of Dragonlance-ish nostalgia, they might not be for you. For me, childhood memories are like rosy glasses. They make things look wonderful, even if they really aren't (or are they? With distorted judgment, how can you tell?)

I stumbled across an entry in my livejournal mentioning I'd gotten up to page 77 in my novel. I wonder where those pages went because I started from scratch.

"True love, like any other strong and addicting drug, is boring -- once the tale of encounter and discovery is told, kisses quickly grow stale and caresses tiresome... except, of course, to those who share the kisses, who give and take the caresses while every sound and color of the world seems to deepen and brighten around them. As with any other strong drug, true first love is really only interesting to those who have become its prisoners."

--Dark Tower IV: The Wizard and the Glass, by Stephen King.

I finished Stephen King's Dark Tower series. In some ways, I was a little disappointed by the ending, but at the end of it, I'm really not. The journey was well worth it. I read for the world, and Stephen King is a master of good details and realistic people/creation. I may read some of his other books, though the other ones of his I've read haven't grabbed me. Maybe because they weren't so epic.

The Dark Tower is a series about Roland of Gilaead, a kingdom medieval in sensibility save for the gunslingers, who crafter their pistols from Excaliber, the high king Arthur of Eld's sword. They are the White, the good, but sometimes being doing good means being dirty, and Roland is more gray than White at times.

He is accompanied by various people/creatures, including several people from our world, including a boy, a recovering heroine addict, and a black double-amputee with multiple personality disorder who has a hell of an attitude. On their way to the Dark Tower, the holy grail that keeps the world together, so to speak, they must fight their way past mutants, evil wizards, half-spider shapeshifters and homicidal choo-choo trains.

My two cents is that this is definitely a B.A.F.S. worth adding to your bookshelf. The characters are different and utterly real. The details ooze with magnificance. This are the kind of books that, as writer, make you want to write, because you read a paragraph and his words dance. They're so visceral, they roll off the page. The paragraphs of description make me excited. Mind you, that doesn't begin to happen until book two or three--the first book is more a collection of short stories and lacks the broad brush strokes of the latter part of the series.

But if you don't like lots of description, slow-moving plots, and god-like shooters who never miss, this isn't the series for you. I didn't find the pace annoying because I wanted to take things slow, to delve into the language of the world and take my fill, but my brother doesn't feel the same way, so if you're not into that sort of thing, maybe you should skip it.

The only quibble I had was King's attempts to wrap all his books together into the Dark Tower series and include himself as a character, as well. But he did it with a sense of humor, so I didn't mind too much.

And the ending is a surprise. If I had written the Dark Tower, Roland would have turned out to be God, and would have stepped into that room at the top of the Tower to assume the controls of the universe. Does it violate any spoilers to tell readers what the ending isn't?

You'll notice the books I review here will probably be a little old. This is partly because I'm unemployed, thus don't have the money to spend on my true addiction (hardbacks) so I find most of what I read at the well-picked over library, where more recent selections, like Hunger Games, have over 100 holds on them. So I have to wait awhile to partake.

Plus, I've sworn off reading B.A.F.S. (my favorite flavor of book) until the author ends them. I've suffered through too much Robert Jordan, G.R.R.M., and Janny Wurts-caused angst to embrace unended fantasy series easily. Plus the oldies are sometimes the goodies, eh?

And, if I keep buying books, someday I'll have to sleep in the gutter because my house will be overflowing with hardbacks covered with silver dragons and longswords with rubies in the hilt. Ah, longswords.

Pat Holt had a great entry about beginning writer's mistakes here. Definitely worth reading and re-reading, IMHO.

Fantasy magazine has a nice short story up (close to a micro-story) called "Voice of a cello." It ends kind of abruptly as most short stories do, but I like the way Catherine Cheek has worked in the details and the dialogue together in such a short space, interweaving humanity and magic. I love the second line: She’d always been fond of loud noises, as long as they were real.

For me, that's a hook.

Catherine also has a web comic about chickens called Coop de Grace. Golly, I love puns.