Title: Devil's Due
Series: Destroyermen
Author: Taylor Anderson
Genre: Sci-fi
Publisher: Ace Books
Release Date: June 13, 2017
Format: Paperback
Pages: 496

 

A lot of Devil’s Due focuses on the same things as the rest of the Destroyermen series. The ongoing war (split fully between multiple fronts), a complex plot and cast of characters, and Anderson’s meticulous attention to detail, particularly where military technology is concerned. And that last bit ties into the character development we see this time around. The war is far from over, but it is starting to wrap up. There’s still plenty of fighting left to be done but the end is in sight. It’s starting to look like this may actually end. That they might actually win. And the characters start to ponder what that means.

Way back in book 1, the Lemurians were a (mostly) peaceful people. They only took up arms because the Grik forced them to. And they were a divided people with each Home and land city doing their own thing. The war changed all of that. Everyone’s under one banner now and everybody, soldiers and citizens alike, are helping the war effort. Their technology is decades ahead of what it was, but it’s all been focused on war. So, when peace finally comes, what does that mean? Things will never be like they were before. And the realization of that is starting to sink in.

The characters are fully aware that they did what they had to do. But all the deaths of the war, the orphans those deaths created, and the sheer psychological effects are unprecedented to these people. And while all this is going through everyone’s minds, the war continues as the final battle against Kurokawa draws near. I obviously won’t spoil how that plays out, but man, it was good.

Despite being 12 books in, this series is still solid. It’s not suffering from the decay many long-running series go through and I really hope it stays that way.

Title: Hearts in Atlantis
Author: Stephen King
Genre: Short Story
Publisher: Scribner
Release Date: September 14, 1999
Format: Paperback
Pages: 673

 

So, Hearts in Atlantis is a collection of two novellas and three short stories, all of which run chronologically. I picked up this book because I read it had a tie-in to the Dark Tower series. Which I have already read before picking up some of King’s prior works, so I felt like I was missing context there. But the main time this comes into play is in the first story.

Low Men in Yellow Coats can be a bit confusing if you haven’t read the Dark Tower. It’ll have a much greater air of mystery. But it’s no less sinister if you fully understand what’s going on. This is probably the most classic Steven King story in the book.

The titular Hearts in Atlantis story focuses heavily on young men in college during the Vietnam War. This one stuck with me the most because it was more grounded in realism than the others. Mostly. But that revelation doesn’t come until the next story.

Blind Willie deals with how a Vietnam vet deals with his guilt and somatoform disorder. The thing that sticks out here though is a character named Raymond Fiegler getting mentioned. Fans of King’s work will probably know what his initials mean.

Why We’re In Vietnam is probably the most disconnected of all the stories. It’s a good little story, but if you somehow skipped over it, the info you’d miss isn’t all that critical. Still, the way it deals with aspects of PTSD is entertaining, in a grief-stricken sort of way.

Heavenly Shades of Night Are Falling is the conclusion story, wrapping up a few key loose ends from the earlier stories. Not all of them, mind you, because at least a couple don’t get addressed until the Dark Tower books. But enough that it feels like a good ending to the book as a whole.

Overall, this is probably one of King’s best collections. The quality does have its high and low points but is fairly consistent in a good way. Now to go read everything else connected to the Dark Tower that I missed.

Title: Jonathan Strange & Mr Norrell
Author: Susanna Clarke
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Tor Books
Release Date: September 8, 2004
Format: Paperback
Pages: 1006

 

Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell isn’t the first alternate history Napoleonic Wars story I’ve read. But it is fairly different from what I’ve picked up before. Now, the setting alone was a breath of fresh air. Most of the fantasy novels I’ve seen are either pure fantasy, set in their own world, or modern-day urban fantasy. It’s fairly unusual for a story to be set on Earth in an earlier time period. But it does still use the fairly standard trope of magic coming back. Not that it really left, humans just tend to ignore magic as technology progresses cause that how it be.

Now, this book is slow. That probably goes without saying with the page count being a little over 1000. Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell leans heavily towards its 19^th England setting. It is very, very British. The characters are proper English gentlemen. The book’s length gives plenty of time for characterization, worldbuilding, and everything else a fantasy story needs. The meat of the story starts snowballing when one of the characters, who is as overconfident as he is egotistical, makes a deal with a fey. Without specifying some key details. And if you know anything about fey folklore, you see where this is going.

If you like fantasy + history and long reads, you’ll probably enjoy this book. That being said, it’s pretty obvious this book won’t be for everyone. I loved how well-researched this was and that large parts of it read like a textbook. And I loved it’s a unique story that doesn’t just stick to the standard fantasy format. Magic, while it is the catalyst for the story, is kind of secondary to the plot and characters. The magic is important, but it’s not what drives the plot. Having any fantasy book that breaks the norms is just wonderfully refreshing.

Title: Honor Among Enemies
Series: Honor Harrington
Author: David Weber
Genre: Sci-fi
Publisher: Baen
Release Date: June 1, 1996
Format: Paperback
Pages: 544

 

Honor Among Enemies finds our title heroine put into an impossible situation by her political enemies. To fix a problem her enemies are having or die trying. It’s a win-win for them. So long as you completely ignore the fact that it’s Honor. She’s got a pretty good track record of turning things around in her favor. And yet people continue to ignore this because of their own overconfidence and ego. Much to their regret (if they’re still alive afterward to have any).

Now, there is a fair amount of rehashing and world-building in the early part of this book. This might be a turnoff for some people, but I appreciate it. This is a long series; I’m not reading these books back-to-back. Nor would anyone who followed these books back when they were reading them right as they released. Those little reminders are super helpful because maybe it’s been months since I read the last book.

And as far as worldbuilding goes, I love it. Granted, spending so much time on worldbuilding may not be the most efficient method for getting the story going in this specific book. But it’s important to the overall series. I particularly enjoy the political aspect of it all but, again, that’s not for everyone. There’s also a fair amount of time spent on the characters themselves, which you really should expect because you’re reading a space opera.

Aside from all that, Honor Among Enemies is your standard military sci-fi fare. Space battles, tactical decisions, big explosions, and all that good stuff. And Honor just, you know, being Honor. We’re six books in by this point; you should know what to expect. Plus, this is still the early stages of a military series where it focuses on the main character. If it’s like most other military series I’ve read, the scope will widen significantly the longer the series goes on. And I look forward to that too.

Title: Blood in the Water
Series: Destroyermen
Author: Taylor Anderson
Genre: Sci-fi
Publisher: Roc
Release Date: June 14, 2016
Format: Paperback
Pages: 448

 

A lot of the Destroyermen series focuses on a classic good vs. evil plot. Humans and Lemurians good, Grik bad. Once other humans got introduced, namely the Dominion and now also the League, that starts to get muddled. Here it gets muddled even further as the Grik start changing. One of their key traits, at the beginning, was that they don’t innovate. They can steal ideas, but their society is largely an unchanging one. And we’re seeing that start to change.

This is the first time in a long time, maybe ever, the Grik can’t just curb stomp their enemy through sheer numbers. Most of their leaders who tried to stick to the old ways have died for that decision. So, some of the ones who are left realize that if they don’t adapt, they die. Really, what’s saving them right now is the Lemurians triggering their invasion long before they’re ready for it. And it’s not like this is the only enemy the Alliance is dealing with.

The battle in Central America rages on against the Holy Dominion. It’s by no means the key focus right now due to everything ramping up with the Grik. But it is still an ongoing thing. On top of that, the mysterious League of Tripoli is increasingly interfering in both theaters of war. Enemies continue to surround the Alliance and, as history will tell you, fighting a war on multiple fronts is challenging at best.

But through it all, the Destroyermen series remains solid. The plot’s still moving, characters are still developing (Silva’s actually learning to make plans now), and there’s plenty of action. And the worldbuilding, can’t forget the worldbuilding. Even this late in the series, Taylor Anderson continues to add more people and cultures that make his world feel like a living, breathing thing. And that’s always fantastic.

Title: Chaos Rising
Series: Star Wars: Thrawn Ascendancy
Author: Timothy Zahn
Genre: Sci-fi
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: September 1, 2020
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 336

 

Ah, prequels. Showing how characters we already know and love before we ever knew them. While the previous Thrawn books talk about Thrawn’s past, here is where we actually see it. Parts of this book also take place at the same time as Alliances (in the previous trilogy), fleshing out further details of that particular Clone Wars adventure. And this book does assume you’ve read the previous trilogy. It pretty freely uses names of technical concepts with no explanation because those topics were covered in the previous books. I wouldn’t call it impossible to read Chaos Rising first, but you’ll get more out of it if you read everything in publication order.

Now, something I normally hate about prequels is that they take away suspense. Because other stories are chronologically later, you know certain characters can’t be killed. But here, it’s a very limited number of people. Thrawn’s been in a fair amount of media since his reintroduction to the canon, but the Chiss in general haven’t. So, most of the characters are fair game as this story unfolds.

The other thing that bugs me about prequels is reversing character development. In military matters, Thrawn is still the chessmaster he’s always been. But his slowly developing understanding of politics goes back to being non-existent. When he analyzes a situation, it’s from a purely military perspective unless someone else points something political out to him. While this does annoy me slightly, it’s also clever because it gives a near-unstoppable character like Thrawn a flaw that can be exploited on the basis that he’s still young and inexperienced in this area.

He also seems more compassionate in his youth. I attribute at least part of this to the fact that he’s still a captain. He can keep casualties light in a way that an admiral commanding more people (including pilots in easily-shot-down fighters) cannot. But we know from the future books that that’s where he ends up. And it’s so much fun to see just how he got there.

Title: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Light Novels, Vol. 8
Series: That Time I Got Reincarnated as a Slime Light Novels
Author: FUSE
Genre: Light Novel
Publisher: Yen On
Release Date: May 19, 2020 (English) | August 30, 2016 (Japanese)
Format: Paperback
Pages: 288

 

Time for a break from the action. And thank goodness. The last few volumes of this series were heavily action-packed. While action sequences are cool, there can be too much of a good thing. This is particularly true in series that suffer from power creep. Which is true for most anime/manga/light novels that involve fighting with superpowers. It’s not like Rimuru and co. are on the level of a Dragonball character, but it wouldn’t surprise me if he makes it to planetbuster status by the end of the series. So, it’s nice to see the characters dealing with issues that aren’t just straight-up fights.

The bulk of this book is about the Tempest leaders getting ready for a festival. With their nation established and relations started neighboring nations, it’s time to show themselves to the rest of the world. So, they decide to throw a big festival to show off the culture and technology they’ve developed. “Technology” being magitek in this case; it is a fantasy setting. Most of this book is very light-hearted. It’s day-to-day normal stuff (granted, for government leaders) instead of another fight to the death.

And it’s all just set-up. This is part one of a two-part story; we don’t actually see the festival here. That will happen in the next book. We do start to get some plot towards the end, setting up the challenge the protagonists will have to overcome in part two. I know not every reader will enjoy the bureaucracy and planning here, but I like it. It gives the author a chance at more worldbuilding and the readers an opportunity to reflect on just how far the story and characters have come. There will definitely be more action later, but for now, this was a nice litter breather.