Spoiler Warning for the first season of the Delicious in Dungeon anime.
Continue readingFantasy
Returning To Mistborn At Least A Decade Later
I don’t remember exactly when I did it, but I read the Mistborn trilogy sometime around my move to my current city back in late 2013. I had enough going on then that I don’t remember the exact date, but I do think it was after my move. I didn’t really have the money for things like books before my move and I didn’t know who Brandon Sanderson was until mid-2013 anyway, since I only encountered his name as part of reading through the whole Wheel of Time series to help a friend out with his Master’s thesis. I really enjoyed the end of the series, the parts handled by Sanderson, which felt remarkable given how much I struggled with Robert Jordan’s portions of that series. I had to force myself to read Jordan’s books and genuinely only finished because the first of Sanderson’s was so much more enjoyable and pleasant to read than any of Jordan’s books. I mean, I’ll give Jordan points for creativity and plenty of respect for the world he brewed up–hell, I’ll event admit that most of the interesting plot work started with him–but I just did not enjoy Jordan’s writing for most of the series once he’d finished his original trilogy of books and started expanding them into a limitless and sprawling monstrosity of a fantasy series. Which is probably why Sanderson’s work stood out to me as much as it did. He was just as long-winded and overly detailed as Jordan was, but I enjoyed it. Sanderson seemed to have a knack for picking the right details and putting his words together in a way that lent to a more pleasant reading experience. So, when time and opportunity allowed, I followed the recommendation of my friend (the same one I go to for editing and pretty much all my book recommendations since she has unimpeachable taste and who might have given me the books as a gift–I unfortunately can’t remember, though, since it has been so long and she’s given me so many great books) and started working my way through the Mistborn trilogy.
Continue readingSpoiler-Filled Musings On The Locked Tomb Series By Tamsyn Muir
This post is going to be full of spoilers about the Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir, so you should probably avoid it if you plan to read those books or have been convinced to read them by any of my past reviews. I’m not going to be actively discussing spoilers or the plot specifically, just my overall thoughts on the series so far, but I realized while writing my review of Nona The Ninth that I couldn’t really talk about what happened in it, much less my thoughts about how it related to the previous books, without basically spoiling everything. So, now that you’ve been warned, I’m going to get to the good stuff.
Continue readingHarrow The Ninth’s Narration Made For A Harrowing Read
There will be spoilers for Gideon The Ninth and Harrow The Ninth in this review, starting in the third full-sized paragraph. There will also be some minor hints at spoilers in the second full-size paragraph, so tread with caution.
Well, I finished Harrow The Ninth. You’re probably reading this a day after I wrote about my initial impressions of the second book in the Locked Tomb series by Tamsyn Muir, but it has been two days since I wrote that. I was too busy on Friday to write a blog post during my breaks at work and then far too tired to write anything once I finished. So, since I was burned out, exhausted, mentally drained, depressed, and incapable of determining if anything would actually be fun, I decided to toss aside my reservations (and cautions) about reading Harrow the Ninth in my current mental state and dove in. Eight hours later, it was half past three in the morning and I’d finished the book. I didn’t exactly disassociate my way through the book, but I basically did. Time left no impression on me and not in the way that happens when I get sucked into a book most of the time. This was a new one for me. It wasn’t a negative experience or anything like that–I actually wound up liking Harrow the Ninth more than I thought I would–but I definitely wasn’t really in control of myself. I didn’t really feel like I could pull myself out of this weird mental state. Normally, I forget that I’m reading at all and don’t even think to stop. This time, I just couldn’t stop. It was like I lacked the agency to stop, which kinda fits with the whole “mild disassociation” thing I had going on.
Continue readingHarrow The Ninth Is Tripping Me Up
After many long weeks of putting it off, mostly to savor the anticipation but also because I started a book series, a TV series, and working my way through Dimension20, all on top of my usual pile of video games, podcasts, and YouTube series, I finally started reading Harrow the Ninth. I’ve had a lot of stuff to read or watch and I didn’t want to start on another book until I’d cleared some of that stuff off my to-do list, but I wound up getting into it because the past two weeks have been rough enough that I needed a NEW escape. Plus, I really enjoyed Gideon the Ninth and hoped that I’d be able to boost my incredibly low mood from the past three weeks by giving myself a bit of a treat. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that simple, since the second-person narration [which ultimately served a very specific purpose] was a bit too much for me to handle going into the book. I think I made it through about five chapters on my first attempt before I felt just too worn out by the book addressing me to continue reading. I can tell the writer, Tamsyn Muir, is trying for some kind of effect, but I’m not sure what it is yet and I’m not sure that it’s working since all I’m getting from it is confusion. I can only hope that it will resolve soon or that I’ll get past how weird it feels to me. Generally speaking, it’s one of those things that, as a reader and a writer, I can see the author is going for something but I can’t tell whether its just not landing for me or if they’re not doing a great job of it.
Continue readingGideon The Ninth Was A Lark
Aside from one friend recommending a wide array of books, I’ve never really encountered anyone who has talked about why someone should read Gideon The Ninth or its sequels. Tons of people talked about those books, but it was mostly hidden behind spoiler tags, involved little more than invoking the jacket blurb describing it as “lesbian necromancers in space,” or was people parroting quotations back and forth that were lines removed from context that mostly weren’t spoilers. No one really talked about the book in a way that made it seem interesting or appealing to someone who hadn’t read it yet, just talking about various critical plot moments or theories about the upcoming third book instead of really trying to expand the web of people who’ve read it. I will be the first to admit that I probably need to find better sources for books and book-related discussions given how unreliable my casual discussion spheres appear to be, but I also felt like this had become an established series for a lot of people which made it fall into the “of course everyone knows about this and has read it” void. Aside from the one recommendation I’d gotten from a friend (which is ultimately what made me buy the book since I deeply trust her taste in books), it seemed like no one ever felt the need to suggest it to anyone.
Continue readingMiradoon The Silent Sorcerer
“Miradoon, can you please take your stupid little toys and get out of the way?”
Continue readingSometimes, You Gotta Take A Little Risk
Galbret stepped up to the off-color wall panel and pressed a hand to it.
“Do you really think no one knows about this passage?”
“Yes.” Galbret tried to focus his hearing on the door, but Xendin’s pacing, heeled boots clicking on the stone floor, made it impossible to hear anything. “Just hush for a minute.”
Xendin stopped pacing and rolled their eyes at Alesi, but her back was turned as she watched the way they’d come.
Just as Xendin was about to speak again, Galbret laughed and stepped back from the opening wall panel. “Ha! I knew I could figure out the lock!”
As Alesi and Rogmaff started down the hallway, steps silent as they went, Xendrin paused next to Galbret. “How do you know this passageway is unknown to the Corpsedancer?”
“I don’t. But this place is so chock full of dust, I doubt anyone uses it. Plus, we only need it forgotten long enough for us to escape since we’ve got the Orbs of Zillamur. Once we’re out of the castle, it won’t matter.”
“Sure, and if there’s traps waiting for us on the other side? Or it leads to the Corpsedancer’s Hall of Bones?”
“Then we improvise.” Galbret ushered Xendrin inside and closed the wall panel. “Now hush. We’ve gotta catch up to the others.”
“How can you be so comfortable not knowing what awaits us?” Xendrin’s heeled boots clicked down the passage as they forgot silence in the face of their queries.
Galbret shrugged. “Sometimes you just gotta roll the dice.”
The entire table erupted in boos and hoots of derision as Thomas, a grin plastered across his face, waggled his eyebrows at Sam who sighed and covered their face with their hands.
“Sorry,” Thomas grinned even wider. “Was that too PUNishing for this group?”
Flash Fiction Rerun: The Sword And The Alchemist
Tej slipped silently through square, disappearing into moonshadows as she neared the park. Even the guards at the entrance didn’t see her, despite their torches.
Once inside, she moved swiftly, heading for the column of moonlight over the plinth. As she neared, she saw the familiar glow of the blade magnifying all the light that struck it.
She took a moment to observe the churned mud surrounding the plinth. So many tried to free the sword and earn the Xendran crown. Who wouldn’t be tempted by that much power?
Certain she was alone, Tej slipped into the moonlight and laid a hand on the pommel. The blade began to brighten and she leapt away. “Shit.”
Tej threw her cloak over the blade, leaving the hilt uncovered. After a deep breath, she pulled it free and set it on the ground. She could see the blue and gold glow pressing against her cloak, so she worked quickly. It had taken weeks to convince people it had been struck by divine lightning after the first time.
She poured both her flasks into the plinth and stirred the liquid with a stick until it began to stiffen. Careful not to toss aside the stick, she grabbed the sword from the ground and plunged it back into the plinth. The light beneath sputtered and disappeared as she tore free her cloak’s hem to wipe the adhesive from the plinth and wrap up the stick.
As she snuck away, she checked the sky. By the time the sun rose, the sword would be sealed in the stone again. This recipe should buy her enough time to finish negotiating with the Aluskan Empire. Better to sell the crown and disappear with the money than be assassinated like the last four fools to pull the sword free.
My Final Thoughts On Chained Echoes
I finished Chained Echoes last night (you can find my early thoughts here). I mean, I’ve still got a bit of post-game type stuff to do (unlocking the last two ultimate weapons, getting and upgrading some of the ultimate armors, etc), but I’m most of the way through that as well and only the final (extra) boss fight really appeals to me. Clearly, I didn’t need the fully upgraded ultimate everything to finish the game. I managed to figure out a system of abilitys and debilities in battle that has worked pretty well for me and I can now reliably put out enough damage while keeping my Damage Per Second anchors alive that I was able to get through the final plot boss fight fast enough that I think the game was struggling to do all the cool stages of the fight before I blew the boss away. I even tested it against a timed encounter that’s part of the “collect the macguffins to unlock the ultimate hidden boss fight” line of challenges that had been absolutely unbeatable only a few gaming hours earlier (I’d literally tried it before heading off to the final area where I got the ultimate armors and weapons and whatnot) and managed to end it faster than I thought was possible. I’m not sure I really need to do more of this kind of collection and gear improvement stuff before I take the hidden boss on, so I might try to bang that out tonight or this weekend.
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