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| Happy Anniversary Your Majesty |
So, here it is the 2nd of June 2022. Since my last reading update, I've completed 4 books. I'll provide the reviews of those selections and the synopses of the next books in line. I've also acquired 3 new books so I'll also provide the synopses of those books.
Just Finished
"Written in 1966, Ensign Flandry is the first book in the Ensign Flandry by American Sci-Fi author Poul Anderson. It's an entertaining space opera, a battle between Earth's empire and that of the Merseians, another race. It's all focused on a small planet of Starkad where both races side with one of the two peoples that inhabit the planet, the Tigeries (sided by Earth) and the undersea Seatrolls (sided by the Merseians). One of the leaders of Earth, Lord Marcus Haukesberg comes to Starkad on his way to the home planet of Merseia to try and arrange a peace treaty.
In the meantime, battles continue on Starkad, with the two empires trying to stir up trouble. Ensign Flandry makes his first appearance. He is believed dead after a Merseian attack but it turns out not. He works with the Tigeries (a matriarchal society) to stop Seatroll attacks on one of their cities. Flandry will accompany Lord Haukesberg and the intelligence officer, Commander Abrams, to the home planet of Merseia. There they will discover secrets that endanger both the Terran empire and the citizens of Starkad.
I mean, that's the gist of the story. At times I felt that I was swimming upstream with this story. It was a bit cumbersome and I had difficulty grasping the various races and some of the technical concepts. But it's a fast-paced story and by the half way point the pace picks up and it's a full-fledged adventure. While it's not my favorite style of Sci-Fi, more of just an outer space adventure / thriller, but Flandry, Abrams and various other characters are interesting and likable. I have two more books in this series on my shelf and I will read them. If they are as fast-paced and entertaining, I'm sure I'll enjoy them. (3.5 stars)"
"Do you ever sit down with friends and wonder who the top five personalities, dead or alive, that you would like to meet or have dinner with? Well the more I read of her works, the more I would have liked author Ursula K. Le Guin to have been one. Le Guin was born in Berkeley Ca in 1929 and died in Portland Ore in 2018. Over her life she wrote 20+ novels and over 100 short stories. She also wrote poetry, literary criticism, etc. She might be best known for her Earthsea fantasy series and her Hainish Sci-Fi series. My first exposure to her work was The Left Hand of Darkness back in my university days. I readily admit that I didn't explore her work further for a long while, but I've begun in the past years and such a great writer. I've enjoyed the first two books in the Earthsea series, a book of her poetry, The Lathe of Heaven (a standalone) and this collection of interviews by various interviewers, a collection called :Ursula K. Le Guin: The Last Interview and Other Conversations.
It's a series of books published by Melville House and features interviews by various authors, philosophers, etc. I've previously enjoyed a collection featuring political philosopher Hannah Arendt. This collection with Le Guin is excellent and you get a lovely feel for her personality and her thoughts on so many topics; her writing, feminism, her family, her ideas on science fiction and so many other things. It brings you closer to her, to her wonderful personality, her bluntness, her thoughtfulness, her humor.
The book contains a series of seven interviews conducted by different people from 1977 to 2018. The last interview was conducted by David Streitfeld, a reporter for the NY Times and he had to cancel his last interview with her because she passed away. Her last thoughts were very poignant as she discussed having one of her daughters visit for her 88th birthday. "My daughter came from Los Angeles, and I got to see her. It's a serious age, eighty-eight. If you turn the numbers on their side, it's two infinities on top of each other."
I enjoyed this book so very much but it left me feeling somewhat bereft. Bereft that I'd waited so long to start enjoying Ursula Le Guin's works, but at the same time, happy that I've been able to experience something of her personality and have many of her books still to enjoy. (4.5 stars)"
"Six of Crows is my first experience with the fantasy of Leigh Bardugo. It is the first book of (2 so far) in the Six of Crows duology and a continuation of the Grishaverse. The Grisha are magical people, accused by many other races of being witches and sorcerers, as I understand it so far.
Six of Crows is a perfect gang story and heist story. It's only weakness is that there is a second book following up on the adventure. But even that does not take away from the excellence of this story.
The story takes place on the merchant island of Kerch. Kaz is hired by one of the merchant society to find a Shu scientist, Bo Yul-Bayur, who has made a chemical drug that enhances the capabilities of Grisha. It also hooks them on the drug and drives them insane. The Merchants want to get the scientist so they can control the drug and stop enemies from using it.
Kaz is a lieutenant of one of the gangs of Kerch and he takes along members of his gang to the Ice prison at Dierholm where Yul-Bayur is being held by the Fierdan, enemies of the Grisha, so they can use the drug to defeat their enemies. The prison is supposed to be impregnable, hence the great heist story. It's a great, fascinating adventure with a great team of crooks; Kaz, the leader, his right hand man (woman) Inej, aka The Wraith, Nina, a Grisha Healer (the various levels of Grisha and their talents are outlined at the beginning of this story), Jesper, a jack of all trades and weapons expert, Matthias, a Fierdan soldier with a relationship (if you can call it that.. a love / hate relationship) who knows the workings of the Ice Prison, and Wylan, the son of the main trader and somewhat of an expert with bombs, a great story and wonderful dialogue.
The story is told from the perspectives of the main characters, jumping from one to the other as we learn about them, their personalities, their past, the connections with each other. There are twists and turns a-plenty as other gangs try to break into the prison and foil Kaz's team. It's a rich world that Bardugo has created, with fascinating peoples and just a wonderfully complex story. I have to say it grabbed me so quickly. The story is dark and gritty, but there is humor at the same time. Everything about it was amazing. I can't say enough positive about it. Ocean's Eleven meets Game of Thrones. I need to explore this world more. (5 stars)"
"The Marvelous Land of Oz by L. Frank Baum is the 2nd book in the Oz series by the American author. Originally published in 1904, we get to meet new characters in this wonderful land. Besides the Scarecrow, Glinda and the Tin Man, we meet young Tip, a boy who has been raised by evil sorceress Mombi. Tip steals a magic powder from Mombi. This powder brings inanimate objects to life and with it, Tip creates Jack Pumpkinhead and a horse out of a Sawhorse. With these two he escapes from Mombi as Mombi has said she plans to kill Tip.
Deciding to head to the Emerald City which is now ruled by the Scarecrow, he is unaware that General Jinjur plans to take over the city and install herself as ruler. So that's your basic plot. The short novel will become a grand adventure, involving Glinda and the others as they try to save the Scarecrow's thrown. It's all a great fun adventure and all you really need to know. Oh don't forget, we will also meet the Woggle-Bug who will star in a later book and also the Gump, another neat creation.
It's a wonderful world that Baum created, a joy to children, I'm sure. I've got the next book on order, Ozma of Oz. Can't wait to continue this series. (3.5 stars)"
Currently Reading
"In Beatrice Prior's dystopian Chicago world, society is divided into five factions, each dedicated to the cultivation of a particular virtue—Candor (the honest), Abnegation (the selfless), Dauntless (the brave), Amity (the peaceful), and Erudite (the intelligent). On an appointed day of every year, all sixteen-year-olds must select the faction to which they will devote the rest of their lives. For Beatrice, the decision is between staying with her family and being who she really is—she can't have both. So she makes a choice that surprises everyone, including herself.
During the highly competitive initiation that follows, Beatrice renames herself Tris and struggles alongside her fellow initiates to live out the choice they have made. Together they must undergo extreme physical tests of endurance and intense psychological simulations, some with devastating consequences. As initiation transforms them all, Tris must determine who her friends really are—and where, exactly, a romance with a sometimes fascinating, sometimes exasperating boy fits into the life she's chosen. But Tris also has a secret, one she's kept hidden from everyone because she's been warned it can mean death. And as she discovers unrest and growing conflict that threaten to unravel her seemingly perfect society, she also learns that her secret might help her save those she loves . . . or it might destroy her."
With millions of copies sold worldwide, Ursula K. Le Guin’s Earthsea Cycle has earned a treasured place on the shelves of fantasy lovers everywhere, alongside the works of such beloved authors as J.R.R. Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. Now the full Earthsea collection—A Wizard of Earthsea, The Tombs of Atuan, The Farthest Shore, Tehanu, Tales from Earthsea, and The Other Wind—is available with a fresh, modern look that will endear it both to loyal fans and new legions of readers.
A young prince joins forces with a master wizard on a journey to discover a cause and remedy for the loss of magic in Earthsea."
After World War III, the Servants of Wrath cult deified the mysterious Carlton Lufteufel, creator of the doomsday weapon that wiped out much of humanity. But to worship the man, they need an image of him as a god, and no one has ever seen him. So the high priests send a limbless master painter named Tibor McMasters into the wilderness on a mission to find Lufteufel and capture his likeness. Unfortunately for Tibor, the nation’s remaining Christians do not want him to succeed and are willing to kill to ensure that the so-called Deus Irae remains hidden. This hallucinatory tale through a nuclear wasteland asks what price the artist must pay for art and tries to figure out just what makes a god."
Desperation causes the Athsheans, led by Selver, to retaliate against their captors, abandoning their strictures against violence. But in defending their lives, they have endangered the very foundations of their society. For every blow against the invaders is a blow to the humanity of the Athsheans. And once the killing starts, there is no turning back."
What is the meaning of the mysterious string of German numbers the bird spews out - a top secret SS code? The keys to a series of Swiss bank accounts perhaps? Or something more sinister? Is the solution to this last case - the real explanation of the mysterious boy and his parrot - beyond even the reach of the once-famed sleuth?"
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