Lucas Blogs About Books

  Hey! It's this book again! So, what's this boo—oh it's another of Ursula K. LeGuin's Hainish novels ! That it is. This one is called City of Illusions . Okay, but what's its deal? All right, so this one takes place on Earth, or Terra (I have to admit that I'm irrationally annoyed when science fiction novels treat "Terra" as a more universal alternative to "Earth," but that has nothing to do with this book).  A young woman named Parth comes across a naked amnesiac with cat-like yellow eyes (like so amnesiac that he doesn't even remember how to talk). Over time, the amnesiac, Falk, learns the customs of Parth's people, including learning the new strain of Taoism that has been passed down through the centuries. Eventually, Falk decides that he needs to learn where he comes from, so he sets off for the mysterious city of Es Toch where the Shing rule the Earth with lies and illusions. Who are the Shing? No one rightly knows except that...

Yes, I did buy the sequel in hardcover instead of waiting a few months for the paperback version. Don't judge me. So, what's this book's de—wait, is this the sequel to the book you blogged about last week ? It is. This is Harrow the Ninth  by Tamsyn Muir. I'll try to avoid TEH SPOILARZ  for this book, but anything from Gideon the Ninth  is fair game. Okay. Anyway, so remember how in the last book, Harrowhark and Gideon are at Canaan House to figure out how exactly a necromancer can become a Lyctor? And by Lyctor you mean one of the saints of the God-Emperor the Necrolord Prime? I do. It turns out that the secret is to kill your cavalier and absorb their soul. But before we get into that, let's say a little bit about the ending of the first book. So, instead of anyone solving the mystery, the killer reveals herself to be Cytherea the First, one of the Emperor's original Lyctors. See she's not so keen on serving the Emperor any more and has decided to kill all...

"The most fun you'll ever have with a skeleton" is a pretty bold claim, especially once you realize that you do everything with a skeleton.   So, what's this book's deal? It's about lesbian necromancers . . . IN  SPAAAAAAAAAAACE! I see. Well, that's the elevator pitch version anyway. Gideon the Ninth  by Tamsyn Muir, is a sci-fi/fantasy novel about Gideon Nav. Who is Gideon Nav? A hard-headed, acid-tongued teenager who wants nothing more than to escape her childhood home of the Ninth House and join the Imperial Cohort. Oh no, this is gonna be one of those blogs where you have to preface the synopsis with a massive paragraph of exposition, isn't it? I'll try and make it quick. Ten thousand years ago the solar system of the nine houses (which is almost definitely our solar system) died, and the Emperor (who is revered as a god-king) revived it with necromancy. Subsequently, necromancy is a pretty big deal, and each house (headquartered on a different...

Well, that's eye-catching.   So, what's this book's deal? Well, Hypothetical Reader, Magic for Liars  is a fantasy novel by Sarah Gailey. It's about Ivy Gamble, a private eye, who finds herself in the employee of Osthorne Academy when a member of the faculty is found bisected in the library. Bisected? You mean like split into two parts? Yep! Right down the middle. What kind of school is this? It's a magic prep school. Is Ivy a magic detective? No. But her twin sister, Tabitha, is on the faculty. So when Headmaster Torres still has lingering doubts about the official investigation, she hires Ivy to poke around and see if she can find any leads. Anyway, Ivy and Tabitha fell out years ago after finding out that Tabitha could do magic and she went away to a school like Osthorne. While Ivy interviews faculty and students she also finds herself flirting with Rahul Chaudhary, the physical magic teacher, while maybe, kinda-sorta letting him think that she knows how to do ma...

It's that not hard being green. So, you actually stopped playing Hades  long enough to write a blog post, eh? Yes, Hypothetical Reader, I was able to exert a modicum of self-control and sit down to write about this lousy book. Poisoning the well, aren't we? Maybe a bit, but we've got another inductee into the " books-that-I-didn't-finish " club. I struggled mightily to complete this book and gave up two-thirds of the way through. Dude! You were in the home stretch! I know, but each time I put the book down it got harder and harder to find the motivation to pick it back up. According to my book-mark, I even stopped in the middle of a chapter. Anyway, I just realized that I haven't even mentioned the title or author yet. You're slipping. Sure you wouldn't rather talk about Hades ? Well, that's certainly done a better job of holding my attention of late, but no. I'll blog about Brightfall by Jaime Lee Moyer. So, what's its deal? Well, it...

I So what's this book's deal? Oh, this is The Obelisk Gate , it's the second entry in N.K. Jemison's Broken Earth trilogy. Wait, did you blog about the first book  without me? I did. And you expect me to be able to keep up? I mean, I can write you however I like. Maybe you read the first book but haven't read the second and I don't need to fill you in. Well, maybe you could just give me a quick recap of the story so far. Okay. So on this continent called the Stillness there are people called orogenes who can control seismic activity. They are feared and oppressed. An annoying feature of life on the Stillness are Fifth Seasons which are seismic catastrophes leading to conditions not unlike nuclear winter. The main character is Essun, an orogene who tried to escape and live a normal life until her husband, Jija, learned the truth, murdered their son, Uche, and ran off with their daughter, Nassun. All of this happens against the backdrop of a Fifth Season that is p...

Mammoths and rabbits and hoopoes! Oh My!   So, what's this book's deal? Well, the deal with The Empress of Salt and Fortune  is that it's a fantasy novella by Nghi Vo. It's set in Anh, an empire that is not unlike imperial China. Well, that covers a pretty lengthy history. Could you be more speicific? Well, I'm not familiar enough with Chinese history to say if it's an exact parallel with any particular period. So let's just talk a little about the story. You're the blogger. That I am. So, we start with Cleric Chih and their talking neixin (also known as a hoopoe ), Almost Brilliant, on the way to the first Dragon Court of the Empress of Wheat and Flood. However, on the way is Thriving Fortune, the home in exile of In-yo, the Empress of Salt and Fortune (the new Empress's predecessor), in the days before she orchestrated the coup that put her on the throne of Anh. And like any good cleric of the Singing Hills monastery, Chih can't pass up the opp...

This book has everything! Pocket watches, spiders, pistols, that thing where you keep a reanimated mouse skeleton as a pet. So, what's this book's de—Oh, it's a sequel to that book you blogged about last May. You mean Unnatural Magic ? Well, kinda. Whaddya mean kinda? How can something "kinda" be a sequel? Well, it is by the same writer, C.M. Waggoner, and it does take place in the same world, and one of the characters is the daughter of Jeckran and Tsira from Unnatural Magic . You're doing a very bad job of convincing me that this isn't a sequel. I can see that now, yes. It's just that the story doesn't really have anything much to do with the story of Unnatural Magic . Both stories are entirely self-contained. You don't need to have read Unnatural Magic to make sense of  The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry .   Gotcha. But that title's a bit of a mouthful. It is. Anyway, let's jump in. The story starts with Dellaria Wells — usua...

So, what's this book's deal? Well, the deal with Apocalyptigirl: An Aria for the End Times  is that it's the project Andrew MacLean worked on before he wrote and drew Head Lopper . As one might guess from the title, it's a post-apocalyptic sci-fi adventure comic. That does sound like a thing you would enjoy, Lucas. I did enjoy it, so let's talk about it. The protagonist, Aria— Wait, the word "Aria" in the title is a pun? Yep! Anyway, Aria is a young woman who's been sent to Earth27 to recover the Grand Photon, an energy source — and potential weapon — which was used to bring about the cataclysm which lead to the collapse of society. The thing is that Aria's mission was supposed to last a few months but it's already been several years. She's not completely alone, she's got her cat Jelly Beans, and the broken down mech she's been trying to repair, which she's named Gus, but neither of them is much of a conversationalist. Nor are...

Well, I never need to reuse this picture again.   The Intro That's right, we've finally arrived in Canterbury, readers (Hypothetical or otherwise), this is the final installment of Whan That Month , a mere three months behind schedule. This month I'll be reading the longest of the tales (by about twenty pages) and something that's not a tale at all, so let's jump into— The Parson's Prologue Chaucer reckons that it's about four in the afternoon when the Manciple finishes his tale , and Harry Bailly triumphantly proclaims that they lack only one tale (the math definitely doesn't check out there, especially since The Manciple's Prologue is about the lack of a tale from the Cook). So he turns to the Parson who, having listened to the other pilgrim's tales on the road to Canterbury without comment replies, "Y'all need Jesus." And rather than a tale proceeds to deliver— The Parson's Tale Which, as it turns out, is a lengthy guide to p...

Remember Cowboys and Aliens ? No? Me neither.   So, what's this book's deal? I thought you'd never ask, Hypothetical Reader. The deal with Lake of Fire  is that it's a comic book written, colored, and lettered by Nathan Fairbairn and drawn by Matt Smith. The pithy synopsis is that it's crusaders vs. aliens. Perhaps a less pithy synopsis is in order. Yeah, okay, have you heard of the Albigensian Crusade ? You mean the twenty year campaign of extermination against the Cathars in the Languedoc region of France in the early 13th Century? Yes, that Albigensian Crusade. Lake of Fire  takes place in 1220, about halfway through. After a couple of pages showing a spaceship crashing, we cut to Theo and Hugh, two teenage boys who have set off to join the crusade before the campaigning season is over. However, when they arrive they discover that a family friend, Count Henry, has been dispatched to bring them home and has overtaken them on the road. Sensing an opportunity to get...

It really is a lovely shade of blue. So, what's this book's deal? Well, Hypothetical Reader, as with Magic: A History  the deal with A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos   is that I never finished it. You're the worst, Lucas. Yep! Last Winter I was the worst at finishing books that weren't comics. That said, I read so many comics that I've lost track of what order I read them in, so I've probably already blogged about several that I actually read after I gave up on Magic and A Winter's Promise . So that's something. Anyway, time to get this one out of the way. Unlike Magic , I don't feel bad about giving up on A Winter's Promise , but before we get into why, let's give a brief synopsis of what I got through. Let's. Okay. So Ophelia is the curator of a museum in a place called Anima where she uses her ability to see the history of the objects she touches to . . . . see the history of the objects she touches.  Well that would be usefu...

Hmm, morning doesn't have idea lighting conditions for my crummy webcam bookselfies. So, what's this book's deal? Well, Magic: A History: From Alchemy to Witchcraft, from the Ice Age to the Present  is a book by Oxford archaeologist Chris Gosden. As you may have guessed from the title, it examines the place of magic in societies around the world from the earliest evidence of magical practices by early humans up to the present day. Unfortunately, part of the deal with this book is that I didn't finish it . Lucas! I know, I know. This was one of those books that I just couldn't get into back when I was in my "it seems like all I can finish is comic books" funk. On the one hand, that means I have plenty of comics that I can blog about. On the other hand, I feel a weird compulsion to blog about books I didn't finish and why I didn't finish them. Unlike say, Bloody Rose  I didn't stop reading this book because I hated it. The subject matter is legit...

Too bad Norgal doesn't have a van, he would look sweet air-brushed on the side.   So, what's this book's dea—oh, more Head Lopper . That's right, it's Volume 3: Head Lopper & The Knights of Venora . So, as you may recall, in Volume 2 , Norgal, aka, the Head Lopper, caught feelings for Zhaania in the Crimson Tower, only for her to die. So he's been drowning his sorrows in drink and bloodshed and is in a pretty sorry state when he's forced to rescue Arlenfor and Balan, the Third and First Swords of the King of Venoriah, respectively. See, they were sent out to parley with the goblin army that's been laying siege to the city. As it turns out, the goblins think that the giant egg-shaped stone within the city's walls is going to hatch their fire-breathing toad god who will then devour the sun and the moons. As fire-breathing toad gods are wont to do. Exactly. In gratitude Arlenfor vouches for Norgal who had previously been turned away from Venoriah fo...