Lucas Blogs About Books

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...

It's magic! So,   what's this book's deal? Unnatural Magic  is C.M. Waggoner's debut novel. It's a fantasy story with mystery elements and strong bent towards social commentary. That sounds like a thing you'd be interested in . It is! What's it about? Well I'm not sure if I should start with describing the world or with a quick summary of how the plot kicks off. Let's start with the plot then you can delve into the setting more. Okay. You're being unusually helpful, Hypothetical Reader. Times are hard, we all have to help each other out. Fair enough. So, we start with Onna Gebowa. She's a merchant's daughter who shows a seemingly preternaturally facility for math which leads her parents to send her to the local school house. Turns out that Mr. Heisst's school teaches the children of well-to-do-ish families how to do magic. However, her career path is scuttled when her audition to attend the prestigious Welts...

Huh, I never knew that Prospero was the Duke of Milan, IL. So, what's this book's deal? Well! I'm glad you asked, Hypothetical Reader. You're glad I asked the question I ask at the start of every post? . . . yes. Anyway, this book's deal is that it's a sequel to Shakespeare's  The Tempest written by Katharine Duckett. Didn't you already cover something like this ? No, that was an adaptation. This picks up the story where the play leaves off. Well, let's say a few weeks after the play leaves off. So, we all remember that the play ends with Miranda happily married to Ferdinand, the prince of Naples, and Prospero giving up magic and taking his rightful place as the Duke of Milan. . . . uh, yeah, we all definitely remember that. Oh, good, I was worried I'd have to explain it. Anyway, this book starts off with Miranda cloistered away in her rooms in the ducal palace in Milan. Wait, why's she in Milan, shouldn't she be with...

Huh, this is familiar . So, what's this book's de—hey! We had a whole bit about this last time , if you're going to be blogging about each of these novellas individually, you gotta have a picture with their title! My bad! How prescient! That's better. So, then, this book's deal is? Well, like "Uncharted Territory," "Remake" is a sci-fi novella that Connie Willis published in the 1990s. Unlike "Uncharted Territory" it seems to take place on Earth in what must be the early 21st Century. How d'ya figure? Well, one of the characters was born the year Fred Astaire died, which was 1987, meaning that she's only a few years younger than me. It's probably set in the late 2000s or early 2010s. Well, as scintillating as this discussion of how old one of the characters in the story is, would you care to elaborate on its deal? Oh, right. Anyway, we open on our protagonist Tom, an on-again-off-again film student who...

Nice comic books, NEEERRRDDD! My feverish pursuit of MOAR content brought forth this feature: Simplified Series. Here's the pitch: quick synopses (I'll try and keep them spoiler-free, but, you know, most of these are past the statute of limitations on spoilers) of the entries in a series followed by the reasons you should or shouldn't read it. This week: Silver Surfer (Volumes 7 and 8) written by Dan Slott, drawn by Michael Allred, colors by Laura Allred Background Info: The Silver Surfer was created by Jack Kirby in Fantastic Four #48. He was the herald of Galactus, Devourer of Worlds, who ultimately turned against his master and helped the Fantastic Four drive him away. For his betrayal, Galactus dismissed the Surfer but placed a barrier around the Earth trapping his former servant on Earth. Since then he's been the star of several limited series from Marvel, each one making up a "volume," the most recent is the only one I've actually read, and t...