Throne of Jade by Naomi Novik

Throne of Jade is the sequel to a book I read last summer, His Majesty's Dragon. The series is set during the Napoleonic wars, but with a twist: instead of a world in which dragons don't exist, these books take place in a world in which dragons do exist, are used as an air force, and are intelligent creatures. In particular we follow the adventures of Temeraire and his companion, Laurence. Throne of Jade picks up where His Majesty's Dragon left off; at the end of the first book, we learn that Temeraire is, in fact, a very rare and powerful dragon and his egg had been sent as a gift from the Emperor of China to Napoleon himself when Laurence (who had previously been the captain of a ship in the English Navy) captured it. Predictably, the Chinese are pissed and demand Temeraire be returned to China. Thus, this installment tells the story of Laurence and Temeraire's trip to China and Laurence's efforts to prevent his separation from the dragon.

The two things I liked most about His Majesty's Dragon were the action and the interactions between Laurence and Temeraire. Unfortunately, Throne of Jade was much lighter on both. Temeraire is an endearing character because of his innocence and his loyalty. He seem almost childlike, which can be very amusing, and his devotion to Laurence (and Laurence's devotion to Temeraire) make both characters more likable. But Throne of Jade focuses much more on the diplomacy and the Brits' attempts to persuade the Chinese to let Temeraire return to England. In the end, it was still enjoyable, but not quite as good as the first (though it finished strong).

There were a few other holes in the book that warrant mentioning. In England, dragons are treated almost like horses or dogs: their human companions are completely devoted to them, but they are used as tools of war and are not given nearly the same rights or freedoms as humans. In China, however, dragons are revered and are allowed to move freely through the cities and provide for themselves. Novik highlights this distinction when the transport carrying Temeraire and Laurence to China stops at a slave trading port and Temeraire begins to question the nature of human-dragon relations in England. However, instead of delving deeply into the subject, Novik just kind of puts it aside and returns to the plot of the story. On one hand, I thought that was kind of cheating, that she shouldn't bring it up if she's not going to tackle it (in all fairness, there was a little bit of foreshadowing that the topic will be addressed in the third book), but on the other I kind of wish she hadn't brought it up in the first place. It's not a requirement of actual social responsibility to call attention to the way dragons are treated in England because, you know, dragons don't actually exist (and I can't think of a situation that this was intended to be a metaphor for, unless Novik was just throwing it out there that slavery is bad) and it just kind of tainted what should be a light, enjoyable, action packed story. If I were looking for hard philosophical questions, a series of books about dragons in the Napoleonic wars is not where I would turn. Also, Novik is kind of racially and culturally insensitive. At one point she refers to a Chinese person as a "chinaman" (in a narrative description, not as a reflection of how the characters would speak at the time). Also, she says Temeraire's secret weapon is known as "the divine wind" by the Chinese, which I thought was interesting (seeing as how the word kamikaze means "divine wind" in Japanese). Maybe she was trying to be clever and missed or maybe she just didn't know the difference, but it seemed a little wonky to me.

Sorry for getting into a rant at the end; I actually did enjoy this book, even if not as much as the first one. Still up in the air whether I'll continue with the series. It'll depend on if I run out of things to read/how cheap the next one is on kindle.

Fun Books (that I got for cheap for Kindle)

Rules of Deception by Christopher Reich

I used to love a good spy novel when I was younger, but for some reason I haven't indulged in many recently. Well, I sought to remedy that with this one. To me the key to a good spy novel is, even more than action and intrigue, to have enough twists to make it exciting and that, most importantly, those twists are believable. Nothing worse than investing time in a book and then be forced to call shenanigans at the end. Fortunately this one fit the bill. Sure, you could kinda see the big surprise coming, but it was explained sufficiently well enough; unlikely, but still possible. There were times where it was hard to tell who was on what side and what the sides even were, but it never got too frustrating. Overall a satisfying diversion.

His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik

I don't know what it is, but I've been on a little bit of a fantasy kick lately. Whatever, I'm going to run with it. This is the first in a series of quasi-historical fiction novels set during the Napoleonic wars, except there are dragons and the countries use them as an air force. Laurence, a captain of a ship in the English navy, finds himself in (what seems to him at the time) a devastating position when a dragon egg his ship has captured from a French vessel hatches and the newborn dragon chooses him as its handler. In this world, a dragon and its handler are linked for life, which means he'll have to leave the navy and join the generally disdained aerial corps. He grows devoted to his dragon, Temeraire, however, and predictably they save the day in the end. I liked this one quite a bit and recommend it to anyone who likes action and dragons and the like. I look forward to reading the rest in the series.

A Song of Ice and Fire (books 1-3) by George R.R. Martin

Winter is coming.

Those are the words of the house of Stark, but in Westeros winter isn't coming, it's effing there. Kings and lords fight and betray, heroes and villains are killed and maimed alike, and the people of the realm face numerous and unspeakable dangers. Dun dun dun DUN! (dramatic music)

I won't say a lot about these books because they aren't too deep or meaningful (of if they are I've ignored it because I think over-analyzing them would ruin some of the charm/magic). A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings and A Storm of Swords are the first three books in the (as yet unfinished) epic chronicle, A Song of Ice and Fire. I have to say they kind of remind me of Tolkien or Rowling, though the magical element is a little bit dialed down (though it's still there). The books take place in a different world, made up (as far as I can tell) on two continents, Westeros (which is more or less like medieval Europe and is where the majority of the action takes place) and another (which is more or less like North Africa/the Middle East, at least as far as the terrain goes). I won't go into the plot much, because it's detailed and the books are long, but I will say that these books are fun and addictive. Certainly not high literature, but just about everything I want in a book: an interesting, compelling story that I want to read for hours on end with characters I both love and hate. Jim got me turned on to these books (I also started because they are going to turn it into an HBO mini-series, which I'm quite looking forward to). If you are looking for something fun and entertaining with some dragons thrown in for good measure, I definitely recommend these books.

Memories of Ice by Steven Erikson

Outside the city's west wall, close to the shoreline's broken, jagged edge, a lazy swirl of dust rose from the ground, took form. Tool slowly settled the flint sword into its shoulder hook, his depthless gaze ignoring the abandoned shacks to either side and fixing on the massive stone barrier before him.

Dust on the wind could rise and sweep high over this wall. Dust could run in the streams through the rubble fill beneath the foundation stones. The T'lan Imass could make his arrival unknown.

But the Pannion Seer had taken Aral Fayle. Toc the Younger. A mortal man... who had called Tool friend. He strode forward, hide-wrapped feet kicking through scattered bones.

The time had come for the First Sword of the T'lan Imass to announce himself.

Holy crap, this book was awesome. One of the most exciting, action packed stories I've ever come across. This is the third tale of the Malazan Book of the Fallen and each story has been better than the last. It hasn't yet knocked "A Song of Ice and Fire" off its perch as my favorite series, but with 7 stories left, it's got a chance.

A bare-bones summary: A Malazan army, commanded by Dujek Onearm (guess how many arms he has), has been outlawed by the Empress herself for sedition. Finding themselves outside the imperial embrace, Onearm's host joins forces with former foes to face a new evil, the Pannion Domin. The Pannion Domin is a newly formed regime rebelling against the Malazan's imperial yoke. Ruled by a man known simply as the Seer, the Domin is essentially a band of religious zealots. Each citizen of the Domin worships the Seer above all else and would give their life to exercise his will. The Seer has an elite army comprised of professional soldiers and skilled mages, much like any other army in the Malazan universe. However, the Seer holds an ace up his sleeve... the Tenescowri.

Let me say now that I think the story of the Tenescowri is one of the most novel and horrific I've ever read. Novel because I've never before seen its like, horrific because of its cold practicality. The Tenescowri is a huge, unarmed peasant army. The Seer and his forces are a swarm, sieging one city after the next. At each city, all inhabitants are forced to convert to the Pannion faith or be executed. Men, women, or children... it makes no matter. From this tactic, the Tenescowri ranks have swollen to the hundreds of thousands. The Seer uses this huge force in the initial attacks on his targets, throwing wave after wave of Tenescowri to break the ranks of defending armies. Such a huge, peasant army is a great asset, but it should also be a great burden to supply. Therein lies the genius of the Tenescowri. The Seer doesn't supply his peasant forces. They receive no rations whatsover, besides the flesh of all those they conquer. The Seer has produced a seemingly endless supply of soldiers who fight ravenously at every turn... to feed themselves.

Oh yeah, did I mention the Tenescowri are led by a small band of elites known as Children of the Dead Seed? These "children" come to be when the female Pannions rape those defending soldiers they find dying or dead on the battlefield.

I love this book.

Okay, so aside from the unbelievable badassery that is the Tenescowri, just about everything in this book was well executed. The role of the Gods and the turmoil in their pantheon reaches a fever pitch, further complicating events of the mortal realm. The new characters are masterfully developed, sometimes heartbreakingly so. In fact, Memories of Ice, managed to form a bond between its characters and the reader that Gardens of the Moon and Deadhouse Gates did not. This was my main criticism about the first two books. I really enjoyed what I was reading... But I never really cared about any of the players as I do about the principals of "A Song of Ice and Fire," for example. This book changed that. There are 2-3 deaths in Memories that really struck home with me, as I'd finally come to feel a connection with Erikson's characters.

I could write about 10 more pages on how much I love this book, but I'll leave it at that. This series is god-damned excellent and I think if you like this genre in the slightest you need to check it out. Memories of Ice was enthralling, ensuring that I will be finishing the journey and the remaining seven books.

Oh yeah! - I've completely forgotten to mention a character from Memories of Ice and Gardens of the Moon who needs to be noted. Anomander Rake, aside from a laughable name, is one bad mother &*%$er. He's a couple thousand years old, essentially immortal, can shapeshift into a huge dragon, and he carries a sword called Dragnipur. Not only does this sword kill you so dead, but it then traps your soul inside itself, where you spend the rest of eternity in chains, dragging an inconceivably huge wagon burdened with Chaos itself. So yeah, that sucks.

Highlights: The Tenescowri, Toc the Younger, The Mortal Swords, The Sword Anvil, Quick Ben, the Crippled God.
Lowlights: Overuse of the following words: Countenance, preternatural, bells. Also this book used the tiniest typeface I've ever seen. Miniscule.

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien

I kind of wanted to avoid reading more than one book by any author this year, but for some reason, I've read four Tolkien books: this one, and the three Lord of the Rings books proper, and I have to say, if I had read this first I probably wouldn't have wanted to read the others. In that way, I echo Carlton, who thought the book was boring and juvenile.

The story is promising enough: Bilbo the hobbit finds himself volunteered for some reason for an adventure by Gandalf the wizard in which a bunch of dwarves travel to their ancestral home, the Lonely Mountain, to defeat the dragon Smaug that has taken up residence there and lords itself over the dwarves' rightful gold. Along the way, Bilbo meets the Gollum and gets his magical ring, which has a minor role to play in the three LOTR books.

But ultimately, this book has all the "negative" aspects of a Tolkien book--the possible racism, the boring poetry, the flat characters, the artless battle scenes--but none of the really interesting stuff, like the extensive maps, detailed histories, and invented languages. It hints at those things, of course, but by the time he had written The Hobbit Tolkien really hadn't conceived of his opus quite so grandly, and a lot of the stuff that makes the LOTR books so fascinating was sort of made up after The Hobbit and projected backwards on to it. It sucks for Carlton that this is where he decided to start with the series, but, then again, who gives a crap about Carlton?

The Hobbit by J. R. R. Tolkien

I'll make this short. I don't have a lot to say about this book, and I am a little behind...both in posting reviews and reading books.

I really thought I would enjoy this book more. I didn't really dislike it, more that I was simply disappointed. Part of the problem was that it is truly children's literature. I was expecting something a little less juvenile. The book really dragged for the first 100 pages. I nearly stopped reading it, but I usually finish a book if I start it. It got much better. The issue was that I didn't find Tolkien's prose all that good, so the slower parts of The Hobbit were just boring.

I am hoping that the LOTR books are better. People have told me that The Hobbit is much more of a kid's book than the LOTR books. I still plan on reading them, but my expectations have been lowered.

Check out Christopher's review of The Hobbit.