Book Review: After the Flood by A. C. Carter

February 5, 2021February 2, 2021 / frankormond / Leave a comment

(This book is available here on Amazon)

After the Flood is an interesting book. It’s book one of the Elven World series and it’s litRPG but also not an “isekai” or transported into a fantasy world setup. Instead, this book simply uses stats as a system, which is fine, but that does make the pop culture references take you out of the world a little.

The book follows a party. The main character is Arilee, an elf archer who joins up with the Overlord’s military. She soon meets up with another elf named Leela, Slicks the lizard person, and a wizard named Chip. Arilee’s whole goal is to leave the island honorably, through military service.

The party gathers for a simple training mission that turns into so much more. What was supposed to be killing some goblins or looking into something in the forest quickly turns into a quest full of illusions, a ritual, and a warlock. Honestly, the quest itself has plenty of twists and turns, so it holds your attention pretty well

There’s two main standouts of this book: the characters and the setting. Arilee is an interesting character, but by no means unconventional. She also seems to have the “chosen leader” vibe going on, but that’s beside the point. The side characters like the Scout Leader are the most interesting characters in the story. That said, the setting is brilliant. A world that suffered a vast worldwide flood, the rebellion of the elves, the rise of the Overlord, and other grand events all work as a great history behind what happens in the story.

If you like litRPG I think you’ll get something out of this book, but it really feels more like a standard fantasy novel with the trappings of litRPG elements; it didn’t need the levelling system or the skill scrolls. I would recommend it for fantasy fans.

(If I might also add, the formatting and cover to the edition I bought were great. Professional quality!)

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Book Review: Pirates of Venus by Edgar Rice Burroughs

January 22, 2021January 18, 2021 / frankormond / Leave a comment

I’ve reviewed A Princess of Mars by Burroughs before. I like him as an author well enough, but I’ve never heard much of him outside of Tarzan and the Barsoom (Mars) series. I liked A Princess of Mars, and I own the first Tarzan book, so I was pretty excited to dive into Pirates of Venus.

The book reminds me of something from H. G. Wells. It’s in the older traditions of storytelling where there’s a framing device and then the story is told from a character’s recollection after that device is setup. The story is about Carson Napier, a man attempting to take a rocket to Mars. Instead, on the way to the planet, his ship malfunctions and instead of falling into the sun he redirects it to Venus.

Right away I was drawn into the book. It’s older, so the story has that older style of prose, but it has enough imagination that it holds your attention. In the beginning Carson was able to get the attention of the original POV character through some sort of telepathic communication. There was also mention of Tarzan and Pellucidar early on. When you finally get to Venus and learn about the people and their culture, it’s interesting in its own right.

There’s some minor political commentary about Communism with the Thorists having a “class revolution” for their own benefit, but it isn’t overbearing and didn’t feel forced. The Thorists, at least the lower level ones the main characters meet, seem like normal people.

The romance is built well, though the twists are unsurprising. The genuine love aspect felt similar to a fairy tale. It was refreshing. Honestly, it’s the main heart of the story and works pretty well. I can’t say much about it without spoiling it, but let’s say there’s some social rules that get in the way.

My one and only criticism is that the story doesn’t seem to go any place that really surprised me. I knew what was coming and saw it clear as day in the book. Honestly, though, it was so good that I didn’t mind. Also, it really had a bittersweet ending. It didn’t conclude perfectly well, but it did have a good arc.

Overall, I’d recommend this book to people who love adventure and planetary romance. Edgar Rice Burroughs is a fantastic author and his work always catches the imagination. I would encourage anyone interested in early science fiction to give this a chance. Burroughs will surprise you with how well he tells a story, even if you see the pieces as you read.

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Story Review: The Raven by Edgar Allen Poe

October 14, 2020October 7, 2020 / frankormond / Leave a comment

Yes, I know this isn’t a prose story, it’s a poem, but for the sake of reviewing it I’m counting it as a story regardless.

This is one of the most well-known poems by Edgar Allen Poe. It’s also commonly read in October around Halloween, given its creepiness and overall tone.

The story is about a man who attempts to relax in his study. However, the titular raven appears and begins to pester him, possible with his own feelings of loss. He seems to long for a woman named Lenore, who died some time ago. The bird remains above his door chirping something that may or not be “nevermore”.

Poe’s writing is, of course, incredible. His poetic skills are phenomenal and his ability to create something creepy. Consider his opening stanza:

Once upon a midnight dreary, while I pondered, weak and weary,
Over many a quaint and curious volume of forgotten lore—
While I nodded, nearly napping, suddenly there came a tapping,
As of some one gently rapping, rapping at my chamber door.
“’Tis some visitor,” I muttered, “tapping at my chamber door—
Only this and nothing more.”

A fantastic mix of timing, rhyme, and story. There’s tons of mood throughout, with old books and a somber setting. From there, the narrator becomes scared of the raven, specifically because it sounds like it says, “Nevermore” repeatedly.

The timing is incredible, but honestly Poe often repeats some lines for emphasis. Far be it from me to criticize master poet Edgar Allen Poe, but I do feel rhyming with the same word is a bit tacky, as is rhyming the same entire lines slightly modified. Still, given Poe’s skill it hardly matters.

Read this poem if you haven’t. It’s available online and it’s well worth your time. Read it aloud if you can!

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Book Review: Fury by James Alderdice

October 5, 2020October 5, 2020 / frankormond / Leave a comment

(The author can be found here on twitter, and you can purchase his book here on Amazon)

I bought this book on word of mouth ravings. My friends said it was fantastic, so I bought it. Sure enough, this book was amazing. Technically it’s the 7th book in the Brutal Saga by James Alderdice, but it’s fairly standalone.

The introduction is solid and grabs you right away. It starts with a building that was just attacked by a dragon, and among the ruins is a girl mourning the loss of her mother. She goes to her gods and begs for a warrior to come and kill the dragon.

The story follows Gathelaus the Sellsword, a warrior travelling with his friend and comrade in arms Niels. While travelling, they come across a region ravaged by a dragon that’s essentially been ignored by the current king. In the past, Gathelaus has had an issue with the king in the past, whether a rebellion or quelling a faction. As such, he’s motivated to tackle this problem head-first, declaring that he’ll handle the dragon.

The action is intense, but always leads to furthering the story. There aren’t fights for no reason, they’re all guided by the plot. There’s pursuit, attacks, hunts, and danger all around. That’s not even mentioning the dragon, which is a star in the book.

Minor spoilers (highlight to read): The dragon in this book is an obvious Tyrannosaurus Rex. I heard that going in, and bought it on that principle alone and was not disappointed. Viking warriors considered it a kind of dragon, despite “walking like a man on two legs”. The dragon doesn’t breath fire, it doesn’t get cold like a snake. It’s something alien to them, and that makes it dangerous. The descriptions of the dragon attacking a farmer and his family is particularly harrowing.

If I had one complaint it’s that this story leans on elements brought in possibly randomly. There’s a fierce monster that’s mentioned as knowing someone’s ancestors but then it just sort of sulks away only to return later. It’s a stand alone story, sure, but there’s also references and characters that are brought in because they were presumably in other stories (I assume, given the way they’re mentioned).

Another minor issue I had is that Gathelaus is called the Usurper, but it isn’t clear in the text whether he was the king and then was overthrown or overthrew the king previously to be a new king and then got deposed. He also had a time as a mercenary captain, apparently. It seems like it was all this at one time, somehow, but isn’t clear how he stands in the political landscape. Is he the rightful king? I have no idea.

(MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW, SKIP AHEAD TO SKIP)

There’s quite a few things I really disliked towards the end. First is the actual kill of the dragon Fiendal. It honestly felt underwhelming at that point, since the dragon got an arm ripped off then basically bled a bunch and scampered away. Later, Gathelaus just walks up and stabs it in the eye.

Second is a pivot shortly after the dragon is killed. The story switches to the dragon’s mother attacking the hall in retaliation, which should have been intense and fully expected. I understand it’s a Beowulf motif, but it doesn’t feel fleshed out or setup ahead of time. Oh there were mentions of the mother previously existing, but not that it was confirmed she was alive.

Also, I really don’t like how the mother was introduced. During the scene, a bard sings the tale of what happened that night, singing the attack in poetic detail. Once again, it screams of Beowulf. It was a nice experiment, but I feel like it fell flat. It would have been better to just tell the attack in narrative detail with full emotion involved. Likewise, Gathelaus finds baby dragons in the mother’s den and kills them. It just feels un-heroic to kill babies, I don’t know. It sounded like they were dangerous, but it’s hard to get past that fact.

If this sounds nit picky it’s because it is. The story was great and overall I love the idea of using a Beowulf motif, but relying on it completely strips the story of any impact. Still, it doesn’t damage the book in a major way, but does slightly hurt my general enjoyment of it.

(END OF SPOILERS)

Ultimately, this book is a recommend. James Alderdice writes like Robert E. Howard or Michael Moorcock at times, and it’s fantastic storytelling. Lots of action, interesting setting, world building, and a great premise. If you like heroic fantasy, you should love this story.

Paperback is $15.99, Kindle is $4.99. Definitely worth the price.

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Book Review: The Skylark of Space by E. E. “Doc” Smith

August 6, 2019 / frankormond / Leave a comment

A newer cover of the title, though a more dynamic and interesting one.

E. E. “Doc” Smith is a mixed bag for me. I really disliked Triplanetary, despite many of my peers suggesting it. I think of the Lensman series, First Lensman might be my next attempt into that space. However, the Skylark series was Smith’s other huge series.

And it is very approachable.

The Skylark of Space, the first book in this series, is about two scientists whose brilliance is tested when one of them, the heroic Richard Seaton, discovers a way to transform copper into energy. It’s fantastical, but the amount of energy provided is to a degree that allows space travel and augmented weaponry. Of course, the evil Marc DuQuesne can’t allow Richard to have it.

The tagline for the book reads, “it started in earth, it ended in space”. This is a good tease for what is within. The spaceship Seaton designs, the titular Skylark, is able to travel incredible speeds pushing relativity to points dreamed impossible. Though the battle between Seaton and DuQuesne escalates to a scale beyond simple battles over property rights. It soon becomes cosmic. The story leaps from the Earth to a black hole (which they call a “dead star”) and then to several alien worlds. Each alien world is unique and interesting, though the last society they interact with is by far the most interested. It also seems to have some similarities to Edgar Rice Burrough’s Barsoom society.

It comes off as an elementary school book report when you start talking about the two main characters, protagonist and antagonist, as if there were some opposing morality in their motivations. In this case, that doesn’t really apply. Both Richard Seaton and Marc DuQuesne have moralities that justify themselves by their ends. “The ends justify the means”, for lack of a better phrase. However, DuQuesne steps past a line of criminality that Seaton never does, going into both thievery and murder. Seaton only goes as far as deceiving the US Government about what he’s discovered and some minor violence to protect it.

There’s never a doubt in the story about which character is the hero and which is the villain. There’s something refreshing about that kind of writing, given the “shades of gray” characterization of modern stories. Your heroes can be human without also being evil, as Smith shows us. Seaton isn’t completely perfect, either. He’s the manly scientist character that was popular back then, but so is DuQuesne. They almost seem cut from the same cloth. At one point, DuQuesne is given honors similar to the honors bestowed upon the other four passengers of the Skylark, though he is still considered a “captive”.

If I had one complaint it was the pacing. In one chapter you’ll be reading about how the crew of one ship gets stuck next to a “dead star”, but then the next chapter has that immediately resolved with the other ship finding them and rescuing them. It’s paced quickly, which can be a hard sell at times. More often than not, though, it feels like a good pace for the story.

I recommend this book for fans of space opera. It won’t disappoint, though it does feel dated at points. That just added to its charm for me, though.

You may like some of my other reviews:

Book Review: The High Crusade by Poul Anderson

Book Review: The Ship of Ishtar by A. Merritt

Book Review: The Dragon Masters by Jack Vance

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Story Review: Black Amazon of Mars by Leigh Brackett

June 30, 2019 / frankormond / 13 Comments

I can’t use the cover used in Planet Stories. However, this is the cover used for the story collection in Fantasy Masterworks.

I get this story recommended to me often. In truth, the circles I run in love older stories, and they seem to always extol Black Amazon of Mars as one of the better tales from the past.

Leigh Brackett was once called the “Queen of Space Opera”, and I have to admit that this story lives up to the hype.

Black Amazon of Mars has vivid storytelling, a fast pace, interesting action and characters, and twists and turns I didn’t see coming.

The story follows Eric John Stark, a recurring character in Brackett’s work. First published in 1951, it was originally in PLanet Stories, but subsequent publications used either the changed version or the original (depending). I read the original.

In this story, Eric is with his friend Camar, who is dying. Camar held in his possession a lens of some type that has some powerful abilities. As Camar dies, he Eric volunteers to take the lens back to his Martian people. However, a band of marauders, lead by the mysterious Lord Ciaran, are planning an attack on the city Camar comes from.

Stark is a good character, though he felt pretty generic. His “wandering rogue” aesthetic held pretty standard for a pulp story, but the real shining stars were the other characters. Lord Ciaran, in particular, was fascinating. There are a lot of martians in the city that interested me, but mostly by that part of the story, Ciaran’s uniqueness eclipsed the other characters.

All in all, I’d recommend this for anyone who likes science fiction or fantasy. It’s only about 70 pages, so I think it’s worth it. It’s fantastic.

You may like some of my other reviews:

Book Review: The High Crusade by Poul Anderson

Book Review: The Ship of Ishtar by A. Merritt

Book Review: The Dragon Masters by Jack Vance

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Book Review: There Will Be Dragons by John Ringo

April 12, 2019 / frankormond / Leave a comment

I’ve previously reviewed several of John Ringo’s books, including The Troy Rising series and Gust Front, part of the Legacy of the Aldenata series (also known as the Posleen War series).

This book is about war. Ringo’s writing is straightforward, and a lot of what he delves into is the logic inherent in the story. In the Posleen War series he goes into depth about how the aliens work, how to fight them, and what a war on the Earth would look like, all within the logic of the series. He does the same here.

He also does a good job in pacing. Early on I was a little worried that it was lagging too much, but right around the 100-page mark the story shifted dramatically and my interest was rekindled. Ringo setup a LOT in the early chapters, and the pay offs were worth it. If I have one complaint it’s that I couldn’t really follow a protagonist. Ringo sort of drifted between several POV characters, but ultimately seemed to “zoom in” on Edmund Talbot and Herzer Herrick.

From there, however, the book takes a turn. Instead of being a fantasy book set in the far future, it becomes military fantasy. I’m not complaining, I like that genre, but it wasn’t apparent from the beginning.

Also, if you don’t like discussion of sexual assault this book may not be for you. There’s a prominent attack, which hangs over the head of most of the characters the rest of the book.

Ultimately, I like the book a lot. After burning through the first two hundred pages, I got hooked. If you like military fantasy it’s for you.

You may like some of my other reviews:

Book Review: The High Crusade by Poul Anderson

Book Review: The Ship of Ishtar by A. Merritt

Book Review: The Dragon Masters by Jack Vance

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Book Review: Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan

August 27, 2018 / frankormond / Leave a comment

9781101965337-us-300 Age of Myth by Michael J. Sullivan is a fine work in high fantasy. I will admit I imagined a far different story from the summary than what it ended up being, but it was a good read. I think I burned through it in about one afternoon.

I will be covering the characters, so if you don’t want to hear the beats of the story, just know I think it was a good book, but wish it had been more focused.

The story follows a few characters:

Raithe is a warrior from a barbarian-type clan. He maliciously kills a Fhrey, a god to humans, in a dispute of his father and his father’s family sword. Raithe is called the god-killer, and as such travels with his new companion, Malcolm, a former slave of the Fhrey. They eventually find themselves in Dahl Rhen.

Arion is the next character, though it feels she was underutilized. Arion is the tutor to the prince, and as such holds a great amount of respect in Fhrey society. She’s a gifted mage (or whatever they call them) and has great powers even among the Fhrey. Interestingly, the Fhrey society seems to have almost developed a caste system over time, and it was only slightly touched upon in the book. She is eventually told to find the god-killer.

Persephone is the widow of the former chief of Dahl Rhen. She is intelligent and finds herself drawn to Raithe, when the man arrives. However, it’s interesting how she keeps him at arm’s length due to her recent loss. She also listens to Suri, a young mystic with a pet wolf.

Suri is my least favorite character. She seemingly has no real problems or weaknesses. Instead, she’s already gifted and even Arion sees a skilled mage in her. I’m not sure why she rubs me the wrong way other than the fact that she’s supposed to be perfect; all bad things seemingly come to her from outside, never internally. Suri has foretold the coming destruction of their society, and because of that she works with Persephone to forestall it.

REAL SPOILERS BELOW, read on at your own peril!

The only thing I didn’t like was the mention of Raithe’s killing of the Fhrey actually after he had incapacitated the elven being. It seemed like a big deal, but it was tossed aside with a single line of dialogue towards the end of the book.

Also, there was the “conspiracy” aspect. I won’t spoil it for you, but it came out of nowhere and felt like it wasn’t set up at all. Payoffs require setups, so I wish it had been setup better.

Ultimately, I liked the book. Great characters and an interesting setting. I would love to see more of the Fhrey, so we’ll see how the next books are!

If you liked my review you might like these others:

Book Review: The Broken Sword by Poul Anderson

Book Review: The Shadow of the Torturer by Gene Wolfe

Book Review: The Fifth Season by N. K . Jemisin

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Book Review: The High Crusade by Poul Anderson

August 20, 2018August 20, 2018 / frankormond / 19 Comments

TheHighCrusade Following in the footsteps of my The Broken Sword review is another Poul Anderson masterpiece, mostly unknown to modern readers.

The High Crusade is a book about English knights, priests, and peasants from the medieval period who take over an alien spaceship and begin to fight the aliens on other planets. It’s fun, exciting, and from that premise comes one of the most interesting explorations of the medieval mindset I’ve ever read.

To be honest, the weakest part is the characters. It was pretty clear which direction the characters were going to go, and with the medieval mindset it was clear the person who broke fealty was doomed from the get go. This is honestly a flimsy weakness, though, since the book is excellent despite this.

Before I get into spoilers, I can’t recommend this book enough. If you like science fiction or the medieval age, this is right up your alley.

SPOILERS BELOW

The main thrust of the book is Sir Roger’s campaign against the Wersgorix Empire. He’s successful only because he’s modifying medieval warfare to the new technology they acquire, and because the aliens have had a relative peace due to the empire controlling much of the galaxy.

The most interesting element is the idea that Earthlings will go into space far in the future and find a feudal system throughout the galaxy!

If you liked this review you might like some of my others:

Book Review: The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien

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Book Review: The Fifth Season by N. K . Jemisin

June 25, 2018 / frankormond / 6 Comments

jemisin_fifthseason-tp I’ve had this book recommended to me multiple times over the past year, but just recently picked it up. I’m glad I did!

The trilogy of novels started with The Fifth Season is critically acclaimed, the first book winning the Hugo Award for Best Novel in 2016.

The Fifth Season is three stories in one, told throughout the novel. The first follows a young girl who revealed supernatural powers, the second follows a young woman in the Fulcrum (which is essentially a guild for the orogenes), and the third story is in second person following an older woman. The stories switch between each POV throughout the story.

Throughout the three stories you explore a little about the characters but a lot about the world. Honestly, the world as a dying Earth with strict social structures and a magical system based on geology was creative and unique.

A few things I don’t like:

Damaya doesn’t seem to have much of a character, and is a little obvious as far as her characterization goes. She has no real growth or change, and seems to remain the strong-willed overly intelligent girl right from the beginning.

To be fair, she does have some interesting storylines, like the one with the kids bullying her in the Fulcrum. I also like the interactions she had with her Guardian.

The second person sections were creative, but difficult to read. Honestly I had so much trouble adjusting to it, but once I did, I enjoyed what I read.

A few things I like:

Syenite and Alabaster’s story is the most interesting story in the book. It’s got character development, growth, change, and mysteries that are explored. I loved it.

Syen is a little shallow, but Alabaster was fascinating. When they’re first introduced it was awkward and uncomfortable. As they went on, they maintained a level of awkwardness but it was understandable.

The big star was the worldbuilding. N. K. Jemisin’s worldbuilding is fantastic. From the fully-developed organization and culture to the magic system everything is fleshed out and interesting.

Before I get into spoilers, let me say this: the book is award winning. It’s well deserved.

I think this is one of the best written books I’ve read in the fantasy genre, and would recommend it to anyone who errs on the side of experimentation and creativity with genre fiction. Despite how picky I am, I would say it’s fantastic.

SPOILERS BELOW

The first main twist in the book is the fact that all three storylines follow the same character. I absolutely loved that revelation. Syen as a character was a little boring, but the story was told so brilliantly that it didn’t matter.

What’s more is that Alabaster basically made up for Syen’s lack of depth. ‘Baster was forced to continually impregnate other orogenes due to his status as a ten ring. However, he was most likely a closeted gay man. He also never fell in love with Syen, which made a ton of sense.

I think at this point my other major complaint can be aired: the lack of love. I understand this was probably intentional, given the world the story takes place in, but it felt alien and inhuman, transferring that oddity to the characters. It was also apparent when Syen had her first child. You felt little to no love between mother and child, and made Syed seem robotic.

Now, I want to talk about the ending, so I’ll give you a nice warning and white out the text below:

ENDING SPOILER

Syen ends up killing her son in the end, to kill the Guardian that was bonded to her. It was heartbreaking and sad, but also felt soulless because it didn’t seem like Syen even cared about the kid to begin with. I kind of don’t understand why she had to kill him anyways if the obelisk was all ready moving towards her for aid, or why she didn’t just launch more projectiles at the ships.

The ending revelation as to what caused the Earth to get into its “current” state was interesting. I also noticed the distinct lack of description of the moon, and when they revealed that humanity killed Earth’s child, I knew it was the moon (as did most readers I’m sure). So for the book to end with the question from a damaged Alabaster concerning the moon was a nice surprise.

All in all I would, again, recommend this book.

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You may also like some of my other reviews:

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