Title: For Honor We Stand
Series: Man of War
Author: H. Paul Honsinger
Genre: Sci-fi
Publisher: 47North
Release Date: February 12, 2013
Format: Paperback
Pages: 492

 

For Honor We Stand picks up not too far from where To Honor You Call Us left off. Everything that was done in the first book picks up in this next installment. The world building, characters, and storytelling all continue in spectacular fashion. With the pacing and layout, For Honor We Stand is much more of a “part 2” than a separate book. It felt more like a film that distinctively shows itself as a sequel (a la The Two Towers). If you have not read To Honor You Call Us beforehand, you will be a little lost in this one.

The world building is not as heavy in For Honor We Stand as in the first book. We have already been around the block once here, so a lot of concepts are already established. There are some new alien races mentioned and referenced in this section of the story. A little history linked to that also explains a bit of galactic history, particularly why most of the races are at the same level of technology. As well as why technology is so similar between various races.

Each character grows a bit more in For Honor We Stand, as does Honsinger’s writing of their dialogue. On the whole these books are excellent, but Honsinger is a newer author and it shows a little. Some of the characters fit their tropes a bit too well, like Dr. Sahin’s ignorance of the Navy. On the flipside of that, the characters play their roles extremely well. Captain Robicheaux is a young but brilliant military leader, shaped into a warrior by life’s circumstances. The Admiral is more reminiscent of a drill instructor, but he is as intelligent as belligerent, and it shows. Each character, major or minor, gets a good amount of attention to showcase who they are as people. At least on some basic level. The aliens too; the different ways the various species think is a bit stereotypical but also portrayed well.

With the first book having built things up already, For Honor We Stand can focus a lot more on action. The majority of the story here is the characters going from one battle to the next, with just enough time to prepare for the next conflict in-between. Surviving by the skin of their teeth using one crazy plan after another, the war against the Krag rages on. Things do get slower towards the end with an almost-cliffhanger. The last part of the story will have any reader on the edge of their seat, ending this book masterfully while setting the scene perfectly for the end of this trilogy.

Title: The Wolf (Alternate title: American Wolf)
Author: Nate Blakeslee
Genre: Non-Fiction
Publisher: Crown Publishing Group/Random House Canada
Release Date: October 17, 2017
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 300

 

Wolves are an animal deeply ingrained into our culture, especially for us Westerners. Occasionally we see them portrayed positively, like in A Song of Ice and Fire, but more often they are depicted as evil like in The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. The wolf is commonly an animal that is either respected or hated, depending who you ask. The Wolf/American Wolf leans heavily on the pro-wolf side of that fence. In modern times this is understandable, as most wild wolves do not threaten most people today. There is a lot to be said for the history of wolves, but this book deals with a specific section of recent history in Yellowstone National Park.

The Wolf starts out with a partial history of Yellowstone, particularly the hunting season in the area. Before the mid-90’s, wolves had been long since exterminated in that area. As a result, there were a lot of elk with their main natural predator gone. Hunters could see and shoot them from the road, there were just so many. As wolf packs were reintroduced into the ecosystems, huge changes started to be seen. The elk population going down was the most blatant result, but not the only one. There was also an increase in bears, who could case wolves off and claim their kills. Also, a decrease in smaller predators, such as coyotes and foxes, who unsuccessfully tried to sneak food from wolf kills.

A good portion of The Wolf talks about wolves in general, but the main focus later turns to O-Six. Readers may remember her story from 2012, when her death made the national news. This book goes into great detail about her life from a young pup to an old, grey mother. A common sight for wolf watchers while alive, she was an extremely skilled animal; a pinnacle among wolves.

Despite being a non-fiction book, The Wolf is written as a narrative. This gave the book a sense of life that more academic texts do not possess. Even though the book is mainly about O-Six, it does address the wolf history in Yellowstone as well. The story starts before O-Six was even born, with the relocation of Canadian wolves to the park. As the narrative goes on, it talks about the legal battles in the various states around Yellowstone regarding wolf hunting. There is much more to this book than can fit in this little review and I highly recommend it to anyone interested in national parks, nature, and of course, wolves.

Title: Storm Raven
Author: K. Hanson
Genre: Young Adult
Publisher: Self-published
Release Date: December 15, 2017
Format: Paperback
Pages: 294

 

Storm Raven was sent to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.

Storm Raven is a fun book. It is a story that makes for a good summer afternoon read. As a young adult book, there are some darker moments but nothing too extreme. It is gritty but not on the level of something like the Broken Empire trilogy. Characters make mistakes and do suffer for it, just not in a grisly level of detail. Author K. Hanson knew what needed to be done to keep the book YA and did it well.

The main focus of the book is the characters, particularly the pirate Captain Nereyda. She is the loveable scoundrel, somewhere in-between Han Solo and Jack Sparrow. A fun-loving adventurer with a heart of gold despite a life of hardship, her skill at sea is only matched by her unwavering resolve. Nereyda is not the only point of view we get to see either. Some chapters focus on Brynja, Nereyda’s first mate, after the crew becomes separated. Other segments are through the eyes of Erhan, a commander of the Cambisian Empire who is a bit disillusioned when it comes to right and wrong.

Setting-wise the book followed a lot of your standard fantasy world rules. In here there is “the Continent” and surrounding islands. It is a bit reminiscent of The Earthsea Cycle’s geography, but also with a continent. Granted this is also only a part of the world instead of a global map. Essentially, there are two Empires who are on bad terms following a war. Pirates are a thing and the world seems to be at an early-1700’s Europe level of technology and culture. Maybe a bit more tyrannical on the culture part.

For the plot, Storm Raven is a little basic but that is to be expected for a starting story. There were not really any moments where you think, “I did NOT see that coming.” But the story does an excellent job of setting things up for future installments. By the end of the book, there are still a lot of unanswered questions and problems the characters need to resolve. After this first action-packed, swashbuckling adventure, it will be fun to see where the Storm Raven series goes from here.

Title: Last Shot
Series: Star Wars
Author: Daniel José Older
Genre: Sci-fi
Publisher: Del Rey
Release Date: April 17, 2018
Format: Hardcover
Pages: 356

 

Note: This review will contain spoilers for Star Wars: Episode VII. But it has been 2½ years, so I hope you have seen it by now.

Last Shot is more or less what you would expect from a current Star Wars novel. This particular book seems like it exists more to promote the upcoming Solo film than anything else. It would be a stretch to say Last Shot is bad (it is not), but it did not feel important. Disney seems to want all plot-relevant content confined to the films (which is understandable), so the New Canon novels are mainly only good for character development.

The central figures in this book are Han Solo and Lando Calrissian. Now maybe there are things in the new movie that will help guide this book along a little. But these are characters who have already been clearly established in the films. Han was in the whole original trilogy; then in Episode VII he was given a quick reintroduction and subsequently killed. All Last Shot establishes is he tried being a dad and did not think he was very good at it. And that was just a sub-plot, not even the main story.

Lando had a bit more room for character development since he has had less screentime in the films. And “character development” basically means how he stops being a bachelor. So, it is like How I Met Your Mother in space. This was nice to see, but it did not 100% fit his character in this continuity. In the old canon it was clearly established that Lando was a player. In the new canon, he has only popped up a couple of times. Sure, he always flirts with the ladies in those appearances, but they have been too few and far between to really establish that character aspect. Most of the time we have seen him prior to this book, he is helping Rebels.

This book does jump around between three different stories as well. The “present” story made the most sense since it was self-contained. Lando’s flashback probably ties in with Solo since his droid, L-3, was featured in the trailer. Han’s flashback features his first wife Sana from the current Star Wars comic books; if you have not read those, you are going to be a bit lost on that character. Overall, it felt like this book tried to do something and just could not. Daniel José Older is primarily a YA author and it showed throughout Last Shot. Ultimately, it is a skippable book for people interested in Star Wars.

Title: The Facefaker's Game
Author: Chandler J. Birch
Genre: Fantasy
Publisher: Simon Schuster/ Simon451
Release Date: November 1, 2016
Format: Paperback
Pages: 464

 

The Facefaker’s Game came to me thanks to a Goodreads giveaway.

This book caught my eye mainly through the recommendation on the cover by Brent Weeks. Reading up on The Facefaker’s Game ahead of time, I went in knowing Chandler J. Birch is a budding author. With that in mind I set the bar for my expectations and Birch pole vaulted clear over said bar. Without prior research, you would never know this was someone’s first book. The writing, while not on par with masters of literature, feels like someone with a decade of experience authored it. Birch clearly has a knack for this and The Facefaker’s Game seems like a prelude of great things to come.

The characters follow a few standard tropes but are all fun and memorable. The main character Ashes, an Oliver Twist type orphan trying to get out of the slums to a better life. Antagonist Mr. Raggard takes on the role of the politician/crime lord (more Wilson Fisk than Lex Luthor). Candlestick Jack is the mysterious mentor who sees something special in Ashes but also has plans of his own. Despite fitting tropes, all the characters have backstories and quirks that make them feel real. Readers see their motivations and it explains their decision making; they feel more like people than words on a page.

Setting-wise, The Facefaker’s Game follows the trope of The City. The City is big, important, and divided between rich and poor. With Ashes being an orphan, the slums are the setting for a good portion of the book. The writing here is dark and gritty, reflecting how desperate people living here are to get out or just survive. It is not as extreme as something like The Night Angel Trilogy or The Broken Empire Trilogy, but rough enough that there is a real sense of danger.

Plot-wise, the story went along pretty quickly. The page count here is not too crazy, so this does not crawl along like a high fantasy novel. Some parts are more fast-paced than others but overall it does not fly by you too fast. The pacing was just where it needed to be in order to resolve plot elements. That is not to say everything is resolved; enough gets left open here that this could be a standalone story or start a series. Hopefully it starts a series as there is room for much, much more here. And if Birch can start The Facefaker’s Game and his writing career this well, I cannot wait to see where he goes next.

Title: To Honor You Call Us
Series: Man of War
Author: H. Paul Honsinger
Genre: Sci-fi
Publisher: 47North
Release Date: November 4, 2012
Format: Paperback
Pages: 454

 

To Honor You Call Us is the start of a powerful trilogy, especially from a first-time author like Honsinger. So far, the only other space military series I have read is The Lost Fleet, but this book was different. Still an amazing read, just not for the same reasons. The Lost Fleet was in every way a space opera; it was very reminiscent of 80’s anime series like Mobile Suit Gundam, Space Battleship Yamato, and Super Dimension Fortress Macross. To Honor You Call Us reminded me more of Battlestar Galactica (2004) than anything else. This book is more thriller than drama than Galactica, but many of the same elements are there.

Despite the sci-fi setting, this just felt like a military book. It was a bit like the Temeraire series (Napolenonic Wars, but with dragons) as sci-fi instead of fantasy. Navy men fighting with swords while ship boarding (well-explained here) and fighting in a 3D environment (just in space in a ship instead of in the sky on a dragon). We readers are thrown into the story after the war has already been on for a while as well. But for all these similarities there are differences as well that make To Honor You Call Us stand out well.

This series has many different space nations beyond the two involved in the conflict. Humanity is divided up into nations resembling real nationalities. Essentially you have places like Space America, Space Rome, Space Middle-East, etc. And then most of the aliens seem to resemble animals (rat people, bear people, catfish people, etc.). Some other cultures are just name dropped once and never mentioned again, which really shows how huge Honsinger’s world is. To a degree, the various species have different technology. Everyone has spaceships, but they might not all use the same fuel, as one example.

The world-building in this book is fantastical. Characters will pause to explain things but in a fashion that makes sense within the story. As powerful as the world-building is, the characters are just as strong. In a nutshell, the characters feel real. Their war has been going on for 30 years and it shows. Some of these men are old soldiers who remember peace and others have fought for their entire lives. They are soldiers first and foremost, but they are also people, and damaged people at that. This first book is build-up to greater things; at the same time, it functions as its own brilliant story.