Two Non-posthumous Novellas by H. P. Lovecraft

 

INTRODUCTION

Hello, I’m back. I understand I went through the trouble of informing of the biweekly shift, but I am still holding onto that. This is simply a bonus edition meant to coincide with last week’s sort-of-mini-review. But I mean, when you live in The Attic all day, you have to hope some can pick up the sheets I slide through the cracks.

Ehem, an important announcement on this regard, H. P. Lovecraft was a horrific slanderer. The Beings, well they aren’t really being as they don’t be-, anyways, that I represent want to wholeheartedly, well they don’t have- wholeheartedly state that this is fiction and not representative of their goals. Though, if this moves you down the path of contacting them then by all means, read along.

Now that the important things are out of the way, let’s talk about the two novellas published during Lovecraft’s life.

THE SHADOW OVER INNSMOUTH

This was actually the only book published by Lovecraft containing an individual story in his lifetime. Originally, Lovecraft refused to publish it, and it took the efforts of correspondent August Derleth to get it published (Lovecraft was not happy about it) as a cheaply produced book.

This story begins as the narrator starts telling of how his experiences in the coastal slum town of Innsmouth led to a massive federal investigation, arrests, and an attempt to destroy a local reef. What could have led to this? Why, the revelation that the town had a dark secret, involving sacrifices to eldritch abominations and said beings slowly intermingling with humanity (yeah, that is the issue with Lovecraft. His stories seem so cliché nowadays.), is what did the trick.

This book does feature Lovecraft’s standard themes, including fears of degeneracy (particularly mixed with racism, and possibly metal illness.) It actually has a moving plot, and where it does have your standard infodumps, it actually has a legitimate action scene.

Honestly it’s pretty good. And I feel is one of his more approachable stories. The story tells of a town that is wedged between several real town that became desperate in troubling economic times and what was done in order to save the town, even if it might appear reprehensible to outsiders. While that may be moving, I feel that Lovecraft's classism means the story is supposed to move us to disgust rather than pity for the inhabitants of Innsmouth, but I pity them regardless.

AT THE MOUNTAINS OF MADNESS 

This is probably one of Lovecraft’s best stories. I won’t say it is his best, as there is another story that I feel deserves that title, but this is definitely top ten worthy. It is also the only one that Lovecraft knowingly (at least I think) approved publication of.

This story tells of a professor and geologist named William Dyer at the Miskatonic University at Arkham, Massachusetts (the asylum was named in tribute to this), who after hearing of a exhibition to a bizarre territory at the center of Antarctica that an expedition Dyer co-headed discovered has decided to explain his horror of the place and tragic and terrifying reasons that he abandoned hope of learning more of the Antarctic interior.

The story is quite good, though it is more of the fact that it has well developed plot details, and on action it is not often. It tells of a expedition to the unknown and how after losing contact with a sup-expedition after they made the discover of a lifetime, a horrifying truth is uncovered about the history of our world. The horror is more of a subtle suspense, an existential consideration of the facts before you. Ultimately, I find myself feeling that Fantasy fans may enjoy the elaborate history generated from the finding, and it definitely is one of the largest info dumps he wrote.

Well, I am afraid you won’t hear from me for another two weeks as I get back to my promised schedule. I would like to know your thoughts so far so I can feed them to- I mean I would like to know what you think and if you have any recommendations so far on what you would like me to read. I’ll have a print-out slid under through a crack in my door.

Two Post-humorous Novellas by H.P. Lovecraft

 

INTRODUCTION

I decided that, due to the different nature of this review, I would alter this week’s format. I decided to cover my most hated of my favorite authors, Howard Phillips Lovecraft. While famous in the weird fiction community, he could be called a socially awkward xenophobe with too much bigotry to count, but he still wrote moderately good existential horror that inspired many works. This week we will cover his four novellas/short novels.

Because of this decision, I will have to divide the parts up based on the works themselves as I am not really buying jumping across them, and of course, you would struggle to keep track of which one I am talking about. I always care about my readers' sensibilities.

Lovecraft was mostly a writer of short fiction, but he did write four stories long enough to be considered novellas. I will break this into two halves in order to digest it better and make it easier for me. Lovecraft had two of these works set aside due to his dissatisfaction with them, and personally, I find that he may of had a good reason to. While I cover these two this week, I will cover the two published during his lifetime next week. Now, let us go and see what these works have in store for us.

THE DREAMQUEST OF UNKNOWN KADATH

“The Dreamquest of Unknown Kadath” is the first novella Lovecraft wrote, believed to have been written around 1927, but Lovecraft declined any attempt to publish it, and it was not until around five years after his death, in 1943 did it get published.

The story details Randolph Carter, a quiet, introspective, and bookish man who had previously appeared in several other stories as he sets out across the “dreamworld,” a bizarre cross between the shared dreams of reality and an alternate dimension, in search of Unknown Kadath, a mountain palace where the “gods of earth” dwell. Carter is an experienced dreamer, someone who can move into the deeper levels of the dreamworld, yet he is stumped after he dreams of a beautiful sunset city. After praying to the gods, the vision disappears, so Carter decides to travel to Unknown Kadath to get answers, even though nobody in the dreamlands knows where it is.

Frankly, this book is a bit of a rollercoaster ride. The imagery, like classic Lovecraft, is lush and bizarre, yet opaque and undescriptive. It is a fantasy story with often surreal beings appearing and interacting with Carter, with very few of them getting a proper introduction and a few require you to be familiar with his work.

Unfortunately, the plot seems to go all over the place and it is really more out of luck and allies that gets Carter where he needs to be, and the meandering story with no chapter breaks makes it feel like it goes on forever. I feel this is probably a mediocre story, and it constantly features call-backs to other works. Essentially, it was badly paced, with no real drive and a lack of objectives beyond the overarching quest.

I like Carter, who is intelligent and knowledgeable, but I feel he suffers from being a mostly inactive protagonist. He has the know-how and the connections to go places, but when faced with threats such as the men of Leng, the moon-beasts, or the High Priest Not to Be Described, he really doesn’t have any way to fight back against threats.

Honestly, this book is really only for dedicated fans of Lovecraft, and this is more for the world building and descriptions rather than any entertainment value. Most of all, I feel it would be a mistake for this to be your first Lovecraft story.

THE CASE OF CHARLES DEXTER WARD

The next work is Lovecraft’s second novella, and like the prior one, Lovecraft abandoned it and it was not published in his lifetime. This work, Lovecraft’s longest, addresses the recurring themes of ancestral taint and the dark past of New England found throughout his fiction.

The narrative first describes the mysterious disappearance of Charles Dexter Ward, a bookish young man with an interest in the occult and antiquity after being confined upon the advice of several alienists (an old term for psychologists who specialized in deviant behavior,) due to his aberrant behavior. The narration follows a family friend named Dr. Willet as he investigates Ward’s bizarre behavior which began with his fascination with Joseph Curwen, an ancestor of Ward who dealt in the supernatural and was hated as one who dealt with the devil, and Willet’s ultimate confrontation with the evil that surrounds Ward.

Honestly, this book is better than "Dreamquest," and is a good story, yet it tends to drag on far too long. Multiple plot reveals become obvious, yet Willet takes forever to discover. (The plot is a bit obvious and cliché to modern readers, I think.) Ultimately, I have to admit though that is due to us knowing he is in a supernatural horror story, so I can’t get too annoyed (yes I can.)

This book is relatively good if one is interested in Lovecraft, though it does drag on a bit, so I can only say that you should expect a slow burner with mostly a mystery style structure, with little action. This book is paced much better than “Dreamquest,” but that isn’t saying much. The book is interesting for those who like Lovecraft’s style, but can be off-putting to casual readers who expect a more tense or event-focused.

Thank you for reading, and I promise that the special review next week will be better, where we will be moving onto the much more famous (and better) “The Shadow Over Innsmouth” and “At the Mountains of Madness.”

"The Things They Carried" by Tim O'Brien

 

SYNOPSIS

This is a brilliant work of metafiction, telling the stories of a platoon of American soldiers in the Vietnam War and based on first-hand experience. Meditating upon topics such as innocence, love, comradeship, bravery, and the power of stories and the truths they tell, O’Brien, through a fictional version of himself, talks of life, the people he saw, and the things they carried with them.

OPENING THOUGHTS

First of all, I would like to make some announcements. First, I would like to apologize to my readers for not releasing a post last week, but prior commitments to the old- I mean adult arrangements prevented me from doing so. I will be forced into a biweekly (once every two weeks,) schedule from now on, so I apologize to my readers for forcing them to wait twice as long. I feel very sorry, especially since it gives me great joy to see that people actually read these things. To segue off of the announcement, I thank you for reading and here is this week’s review.

My thoughts on this book was honestly how moving it was. The book constantly moves around through interconnected stories displaying a theme on what exactly is the nature of truth in a story, and whether there are problems with fictional accounts or maneuvered truth if it displays how things felt. 

This book blends reality and fiction, both within the story-world itself and in its worlds relation to reality. It weaves together narratives of camaraderie and life with dark humor and death. It mixes love with fear. Remembrance and loss.

Ultimately, it is a tale spoken through metaphors and morals, stories that paint a portrait of the young boys sent across the Pacific Ocean and into a war zone. It may not be a political story, or really about the war and the enemy, but rather one of personal reflection and compassion.

LOVING CRITICISM

Often times, people might be confused by the broken up nature of the novel, with each story jumping back and forth through time, and the narrative is a very contradictory on the nature of truth, with O’Brien consistently admitting scenes prior brought up as entirely fabricated and ultimately people may find this very confusing, especially those who desire actual answers.

The lack of character development may also put some off, and is part of the reason this review lacks a section for it.

SHOULD YOU READ THIS BOOK?

Yes, it is a funny, yet deeply moving work that uses its metafictional elements that explores the deeper meaning in life, and what truth is, not as fact, but as true expression of emotion.

REVIEW: "The Wonderful Wizard of Oz" by L. Frank Baum

 

SYNOPSIS

This is the story of Dorothy, a young farm girl from Kansas, as she is swept up in a cyclone and dropped into the strange land of Oz, a fantasy and untamed realm of magic. Here she quests for a way home by searching for a user of magic strong enough to send her back home.

She makes friends along the way, the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, and the Lion, each one suffering a predicament they believe only magic can fix, and she and her friends are forced to fight through the wilds of Oz and some evil inhabitants who lurk there.

MY INITIAL TAKE

Now, we have a children’s book whose fan base was so rabid, (as we all know most children and adults are) that the author was enslaved to pump out sequels until his death. Frankly, I don’t think that the book was that good, but then again, I didn’t read it until after I aged out of the intended audience range. Unlike usual, I will talk about events that do spoil plot points, but it’s story almost everyone knows, even if they haven’t read the book

This book, to me, is a simple and whimsical tale about a fantastic adventure with almost child-like attributes in descriptions and threats. It's a fun book, but mostly for a boring afternoon, or if you read it to children.

And sometimes, that's what you want. Nothing big or fancy, just a simple tale meant to entertain (I don't buy that silver nonsense. It's just looking into things too deeply.)

WHAT I LOVED MOST

Frankly, the most lovable thing about it is that it’s a cute story, with fun and silly characters. The story doesn’t require much thought, yet the situations are quite imaginative and fun to read. There’s not much to say about the book, as much of it is widely known, but there are a few differences, with one making the ending make far more sense.

LOVING CRITICISM

The most criticism that I can muster would be that the book is principally a children’s book, and people at a higher reading comprehension level may find it boring and unengaging. Like the last section, I don’t have much to say.

MY FAVORITE CHARACTER

Honestly, my favorite character would be a tie between Dorothy’s three companions: the Scarecrow, the Tin Woodsman, and the Lion.

The Scarecrow is an animate scarecrow who was made a few days before meeting Dorothy while she traveled through Munchkin land that seeks to be given a brain. He starts the story as clumsy and naïve, he begins to show a sense of cleverness. He creates intelligent and thoughtful solutions to Dorothy and the others’ problems, but because he equates having a brain with intelligence, he ironically believes himself incredibly dull.

The Tin Woodsman is a woodsman who was cursed by a witch to slowly lose his body parts until he had replaced all of it with Tin because he loved a girl. He believes himself incapable of love, and so abandoned his pursuit of the girl. Yet, he felt guilty and as such seeks to regain a heart. He thinks of himself as cold-hearted, but he is one of the most compassionate and sympathizing people in the whole book.

The Lion is a lion who lives in the forest, but was so intimidated by everything, used his reputation as a lion to frighten everyone away. He is the last to join Dorothy, and like the others, has a wish he wants granted. He desires courage, even though he shows it as he throws his life on the line for the others whenever they have need of his strength.

The reason I like these characters is the irony of their tales. Each one desires a quality that they fail to realize that they possess. The Wizard even points this out to them, and when they force him to give them it anyway, his solutions are obvious placebos. They really learn to show it as they continue on their journey, but they have become so focused on it being contingent on a physical quality, they fail to realize it until they receive placebos from the Wizard.

SHOULD YOU READ THIS BOOK?

Yes, though I do caution some. This book is different, and actually longer than the classic film, but it is meant for a young audience, and as such, may not be appealing to some.

REVIEW: "Jurassic Park" by Michael Crichton

 

SYNOPSIS

An astonishing technique for recovering and cloning dinosaur DNA has been discovered. Now humankind’s most thrilling fantasies have come true. Creatures extinct for eons roam Jurassic Park with their awesome presence and profound mystery, and all the world can visit them—for a price.

Until something goes wrong. . . .

WHAT I LOVED MOST

Now we move onto Jurassic Park, a novel many only know because of the movie adaptation. Which makes explaining the premise of this book quite easy. A team of experts assembled by a wealthy genetic engineering corporation are brought to a zoo/theme park where dinosaurs are reconstructed by skilled technicians when accidents put the feasibility of the park opening at risk. Several accidents, caused by glitches and people alike, throw the park out of control, and now the team must fight for their survival.

Before we move deeper, I must comment that the book and the movie are not very similar. They both feature the basic premise, and most of the characters have the same names, but the plot doesn’t always match up and many characterizations are extremely different. Just because you watched the movie, doesn’t mean you will know the plot of the book, and concurrently, you may be a fan of one and not the other.

On a personal note, I found this book to be a thrilling novel. It had an interesting premise that was expanded into an interesting plot. You have a large cast, some of which will be likable and some not, that the narrative moves around. The shifting narrators allow us to follow both the personal feelings of the cast and the action, while also creating an atmosphere of suspense as the reader becomes increasingly aware of events and dangers that the current narrator may fall victim to without realizing it. It was a fun novel, not really taking that much effort to finish. I really enjoyed the plot, though that may be my bias speaking, due to my interest in dinosaurs.

LOVING CRITICISM

The book may seem dull due to the in-depth descriptions afforded to the scientific processes, a fact that the novel even admits though the young narrator Tim to be boring, and the characters feel stale and overused, particularly if you are familiar with Crichton’s work. You certainly see it in Dr. Ellie Sattler, who frankly reads like most of the women created by Crichton.

The archaisms may be a little amusing, such as the top-of-the-line computers used to automate the islands are actually inferior to most modern smartphones, and there are several inaccuracies with the dinosaurs.

The final criticism is that the theme of  the dangers of abusing technology can get boring, as it’s basically the same theme that every other Crichton book. As I once heard someone describing the differences between book and film (though I can’t recall who,) for every speech about it that Malcom gives in the movie, he gives nearly five in the book, and I feel this can get preachy after awhile.

MY FAVORITE CHARACTER

My favorite character would have to be Dr. Alan Grant. I feel he is the most likeable and is actually very different from the movie. Instead of being a young professional man who dislikes children, he is a middle aged, friendly, casual and bearded widower and has a healthy love of children, particularly those fascinated by dinosaurs.

He has a similar role in the movie, where he is a paleontologist who briefly met years ago and is funded by John Hammond, and is invited to the island. During the chaos he is forced to watch after Tim and Lex, and later becomes one of the leaders of the group attempting to survive the dinosaurs.

SHOULD YOU READ THIS BOOK?

While I feel this book to be a bit slow in the beginning, it quickly makes up for it once at the titular park, and I feel it to be a fun, if long, and exciting thriller that I would recommend to many.

REVIEW: "The Little Prince" by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

 

SYNOPSIS

A pilot stranded in the desert awakes one morning to see, standing before him, the most extraordinary little fellow. “Please,” asks the stranger, “draw me a sheep.” And the pilot realizes that when life’s events are too difficult to understand, there is no choice but to succumb to their mysteries. He pulls out pencil and paper and thus begins this wise and enchanting fable that in teaching the secret of what is really important in life, has changed forever the world for its readers.

WHAT I LOVE MOST

Honestly the theme of this book really moved me. This book I originally read as a young teen, and it is one of the few to make me cry. This book was originally written in French, and while I intend to read it as such someday, I have only read the translation by Richard Howard. 

This book is a children’s book, yet it is quite introspective at times, questioning what exactly people find valuable in life and detailing the little prince’s interactions as he stumbles through an adult world that he finds bewildering. This bewilderment is the source of the book’s message as the little prince questions the established actions of people as they chase what the little prince sees as meaningless things, yet we ourselves can see ourselves and people we know in these adults, forcing us to wonder whether we chase things of little value.

I feel this book is for all ages, as its simple plot and illustrations make it a story digestible for children, who might find a sense of connection to the little prince’s wonder at the frivolous pursuits and rules of adults, yet it really can be a story of rediscovering the passions of youth that one leaves behind to fit in with a mature world. I personally find the book a fantastic view on children and adults alike.

LOVING CRITICISM

Honestly, this book is very satisfactory for children, though the tragedy may be harsh to them. Adults may find the book simplistic and the symbolism obvious, and they may find it ridiculous to read a book written for children’s comprehension level.

MY FAVORITE CHARACTER

My favorite character would have to be the pilot. The pilot’s role in the story is at first glance minimal. He acts as the storyteller for the little prince, nothing but a vehicle for us to have a glimpse into the story of the little prince and his rose.

On the second look, you realize what he is. The principle crux of his character is his fascination with the little prince. The pilot presents himself as a responsible adult who simply desires to fix his broken plane and escape the desert. He is the grounded realist, contrasting with the imaginative dreamer that is the little prince. Yet he becomes fascinated with the prince because he sees himself in the prince. 

The prince asks him to draw a sheep, a task a young pilot would have enjoyed. But after the pilot’s dreams of artistry were crushed in childhood when his pictures failed to garner interest and were dismissed. The pilot, ready to get rid of him, hands a drawing he made as a child, but he is shocked when the prince correctly identifies the picture. This leads to the pilot seriously attempting to draw a sheep, and after that he begins their acquaintance.

The pilot sees in the little prince the imaginative wonder he once had, but was crushed when the grown-ups around him thought it wasn’t respectable. This is the first person that the pilot sees as truly understanding of him, and their friendship grows until the pilot repairs the plane and their sorrowful farewell.

SHOULD YOU READ THIS BOOK?

This question’s answer, to me, is yes. This book is an emotional journey for both adults and children as we look at what exactly is meaningful in life, and it shows the joys of youthful imagination.

REVIEW: "Catch-22" by Joseph Heller

 

SYNOPSIS

    Set in Italy during World War II, this is the story of the incomparable, malingering bombardier, Yossarian, a hero who is furious because thousands of people he has never met are trying to kill him. But his real problem is not the enemy—it is his own army, which keeps increasing the number of missions the men must fly to complete their service. Yet if Yossarian makes any attempt to excuse himself from the perilous missions he’s assigned, he’ll be in violation of Catch-22, a hilariously sinister bureaucratic rule: a man is considered insane if he willingly continues to fly dangerous combat missions, but if he makes a formal request to be removed from duty, he is proven sane and therefore ineligible to be relieved.

WHAT I LOVE MOST

    Catch-22 is a book that I consider, along with War and Peace, one of my top three favorite books. I can’t think of the third one, but I’ll get there when I remember what it is. Anyway, now that’s out of the way, let’s talk about what I liked about the book.

    This book’s central and recurrent theme is insanity. From the titular rule to the daily interactions, Yossarian finds insanity everywhere. In fact, most of the people he encounters claim the same about him. Insanity is the only attribute one can find in almost every chapter.

    Really, for me, what made this theme special was how the repetition of the comedy reflects this. Everyone has their unique quirk, a comedic insanity, that, as the book progresses, it becomes a sobering horror. This horror is in my opinion omnipresent throughout the novel, yet it is hidden. As the novel progresses these actions slowly build upon each other until they head to their ultimate and logical conclusion.

    The true heart of the novel is the titular catch. Yossarian spends his time after learning of it trying to understand it. Where does it come from? What power does it have? Who is in charge of its implementation? How can he escape? The climax of the novel ultimately exposes to Yossarian the truth to these answers.

    A unique attribute about the book is that it is told nonlinearly. The novel starts in the middle of his quest to escape catch-22, but it proceeds to jump around as it describes characters and events. Yet I feel that the progression of events follow the book thematically, and it can be quite funny seeing the origin of jokes chapters after their introduction.

LOVING CRITICISM

    So, what are the problems with the book? There are a few problems such as repetitive humor, confusing narrative, and a large number of characters.

    The humor in this book, while we move through various scenes, and many of the jokes are quite funny, is very formulaic. I don’t quite think this to be a bad thing necessarily, I simply feel people may get bored, frustrated, or irritated by this.

    The narrative, if one wants to try and sort everything out, is complex, with chapters running before, ahead, or even parallel to others. I feel people may want to organize all these events, but I feel it is easier if one tries to treat each one as separate stories, sharing a continuous theme and setting. It takes a chart to truly get each part down, but really there are enough call backs and set pieces to generally get a feeling when each chapter appears in relation to other events.

    There is a massive amount of characters, some minor, major, and a few that change from one to the other. Most characters though tend to have simplistic characterization, often a prominent trait or quirk, that helps you remember enough about them. Characters often have segments that introduce them though and give you a general understanding of who they are.

MY FAVORITE CHARACTER

    I feel that my favorite character would have to be the protagonist, Yossarian. He originally comes off as a one-note character like everyone else, a lazy and womanizing bombardier who wants out of a war he sees himself as nonfactor, yet he comes out more fully fleshed as we discern the effects of the death of the radio-gunner Snowden on him. Due to nonlinear narrative Snowden is introduced as dead and his death becomes one of the major set pieces of the story, but his death is the climax of the story.

    Yossarian ultimately becomes a man desperately trying to keep his life in the face of insane cohorts, selfish or impotent commanders, and a deadly enemy trying to kill him on every mission he goes on. Ultimately, his character arc is the main meat of the novel.

SHOULD YOU READ THIS BOOK?

    I feel this book is one of my favorites, so I feel I am a bit biased when I say that you should read it. This book is very comedic and silly, yet at times open and horrifying. The book is pretty long, with most editions running over six-hundred pages. There is also the criticism that I brought up before, so try to see if you would like it.

REVIEW: "Shadow of the Fox" by Julie Kagawa

 

SYNOPSIS

Every millennium, whoever holds the Scroll of a Thousand Prayers has the power to call the great Kami Dragon from the sea and ask for one wish. The time is near...and the missing pieces of the scroll will be sought throughout the land of Iwagoto.

When demons kill half-kitsune Yumeko’s adoptive family, she’s forced to flee her home with one part of the ancient scroll. Fate thrusts her into the path of mysterious samurai Kage Tatsumi, who is Yumeko’s best hope for survival. But he’s under orders to retrieve the scroll. An uneasy alliance forms, and Yumeko begins the deception of a lifetime, knowing her secrets are more than a matter of life or death―they’re the key to the fate of the world.

MY INITIAL TAKE

Julie Kagawa was one of the first YA writers I read, and I loved the Iron Fey Trilogy (no, I do not acknowledge The Iron Knight because whiny Ash is a disaster). I stopped reading her books after being disappointed by her Blood of Eden series, which were just too grim and frankly depressing for me. However, Shadow of the Fox is a return to the things that made The Iron Fey so great: mischievous beings, well-researched lore, and a strong cast. The return to the more light-hearted style also highlights her growth as an author. Tatsumi manages to be brooding and mysterious, even when in his own narrative, something that, unfortunately, Ash missed the mark on in his standalone novel. Yumeko's playful pranks and naive-but-not-stupid nature bring to mind some of the best qualities of Meghan and Puck. 

It was nice to get a chance to explore non-Western myths and Kagawa's explanations of the unfamiliar vocabulary were thorough enough that I didn't feel lost. I wasn't sure how much I would enjoy this book, given that I haven't read YA fiction in a few years, but it was light-hearted and fun, an overall easy read, and it manages to avoid both talking down to its younger audience and depressing anyone who reads it. And the cliffhanger definitely makes me want to read the next book!

WHAT I LOVED MOST

As previously mentioned, the return to form for Kagawa hit a nostalgic note for me and reintroduced me to her writing. It hits all the tropes of YA fiction that I haven't seen as much since I've been reading more adult fiction: Yumeko is a plucky heroine, who while mischievous, refuses to take moral shortcuts; Tatsuki is the brooding boy archetype, whose heart melts with prolonged contact with Yumeko; Okame was a loveable scoundrel; and Daisuke was the knight (or samurai, as the case may be) in shining armor. It didn't really make me think too much. The characters aren't one-note or flat, but they are simple and straight-forward. Their motivations are laid bare. There are no schemes or deep secrets that make them overly complicated. It was some much-needed lightness after a long and emotionally draining year. 

MY FAVORITE CHARACTER

Daisuke stood out to me as a character with little screentime, but quite a bit of impact. He first appears in the little short stories about Suki the maid that appear in between each section of the book. Suki is the fake-out protagonist, and I honestly thought Daisuke was going to be the male lead in an unlikely romance between a maid and the equivalent of a prince. Even though that ended up not coming to fruition, that he was kind to Suki when the other nobles were cruel stood out, and he remembers her when she disappears. Unlike the other nobles who don't care about Suki at all, Daisuke remembers her name after their brief encounter and notices when he hasn't seen her for months. 

He is out of the spotlight for quite a while to the point I had almost given up asking, "what happened to flute-boy from the first chapter?" And then he reappears, in such a dramatic way that I couldn't help but laugh. I don't want to spoil it, as it is a major reveal, but it did so much toward painting a picture of who he is as a character, and it instantly shot him to first place in my books. 

LOVING CRITICISM

It's not so much a flaw as a personal preference, but I'm not a fan of gratuitous use of a foreign language for no reason. It just reminds me too much of the bad fanfic I read (and, guilty as charged, wrote) to really like it. The use of honorifics, like -san and -chan, were not problems to me, as those help to establish the setting and are used consistently. Random uses of hai and baka when the characters normally said "yes" or "idiot" just seemed a little out of place. 

SHOULD YOU READ THIS BOOK?

I would recommend it for 14-18-year-olds who enjoy fantasy and are interested in different pantheons, I would recommend it. If you like The Iron Fey, it's likely you'll enjoy this series as well. For adults, if you want a fantasy that isn't dour or full of gratuitous sex scenes, this is a safe bet. 

You can purchase "Shadow of the Fox" on Amazon, or your favorite bookstore.

REVIEW: "Blood Meridian or The Evening Redness in the West" by Cormac McCarthy

 

SYNOPSIS

An epic novel of the violence and depravity that attended America's westward expansion, Blood Meridian brilliantly subverts the conventions of the Western novel and the mythology of the "wild west."

Based on historical events that took place on the Texas-Mexico border in the 1850s, Blood Meridian is an epic novel that traces the fortunes of the Kid, a fourteen-year-old Tennessean who stumbles into a nightmarish world in which the market for Indian scalps is thriving.

MY INITIAL TAKE

My initial take of this book is quite complicated. This book is shocking, horrifying, and shows depravity on a mass as well as an individual scale, yet this book is moving, spiritual, and shows scenes of wonder and beauty.

The synopsis may be sparse, but truly telling of how this book is not really about the events at all. Events happen as we trace the kid, a young teenager heading west, as he becomes a scalp-hunter and travels with the Glanton Gang, but the novel’s meat is its intelligent and questioning dialogue and its description of the world in which the characters live in, a world of brutality and bloodshed.

I may not be familiar with the western genre, but this is no Tombstone. This is not a tale of independence and free-spiritedness. These are not characters who hold onto their values in a world filled with gore and heartless depravity. These characters are black-hearted villains who callously beat, rob, rape, and slaughter their way across northern Mexico. They are the terrors who intimidate one into doing what they want. They are the ones who kill, not because they are card-carrying villains, but because they wanted money or found you an annoyance.

The morality of the characters is not white and black, but rather dark-grey and black. The characters who are not completely depraved, still murder and act indifferently to the actions of far worse offenders.

WHAT I LOVE

Now, in the prior section I talked briefly about “beautiful” language, but I decided to save it for this section.

I absolutely must say that I think the prose is artistically done. McCarthy’s style shows scenes amazingly, but in trade, I find it very difficult to understand at times. I really don’t know how to describe it, but it is almost poetic in its elaborate and admittedly purplish ways. I feel as we move across these vistas of violence, we see a sense of callousness as violence becomes increasingly meaningless to its perpetrators and the distant-yet-clear language perfectly shows that.

Ultimately, This novel is an artistic masterpiece that paints beautiful and nightmarish landscapes as it delves deeply into the nature of violence and whether there is meaning behind it.

LOVING CRITICISM

The novel’s focus on artistic merit can feel boring to those who enjoy an engaging story and a proper plot and conclusion. Its complex prose can shut out those who prefer clarity, and can be hard to read due to the convoluted style and unique punctuation usage. The violence, which throughout the book occurs to adults, children, and animals, is definitely a nonstarter for those with a sensitivity to violence or dislike of it.

MY FAVORITE CHARACTER

The book has plenty of characters, with most of them without introduction and none likable, though there are two characters in particular that I find interesting: the kid and Judge Holden.

The kid is an interesting character, yet like many characters, he is very enigmatic. The narrative follows his story, which many may say makes him the protagonist, yet the narrative says very little about his thoughts and actions. This is compounded by the fact that during his time in the Glanton gang, the narrative shifts to follow other events, some of which the kid does not appear and at least a few where he is not even present for. 

The beginning of the book describes him as an illiterate, brutal, and violent person. He is generally indifferent towards the depravity of his cohorts, and participates in the violence perpetrated by the gang, against natives and later any who cross their path. 

Yet, he is shown in some scenes to have a sense of pity and even performs acts of mercy occasionally. He is one of the few who helps other members of the gang. Notably, he is also one of the few who refuses to be afraid of the judge, where the others avoid him at all costs.

He befriends ex-convict Toadvine before they both join the gang, and latter befriends a fellow member, the ex-priest Tobin. Ultimately, the kid is cold, pragmatic, and generally indifferent towards other people, but he does show near the end more complex emotions such as a reluctance to kill when not necessary and does seem troubled by the violence he perpetrated with the gang in retrospect.

The other character of interest is Judge Holden. Whereas the kid seems to be merely cold, violent, and unempathetic, the judge is a true monster. He is a cool, somewhat-friendly, knowledgeable, well-educated, and philosophical man, in every way different from the kid. Though they are both brutally violent and have no problems with it, Holden goes out of his way to commit violence, beating out even Glanton in brutality towards people and animals and is even implied to be a pedophile.

He functions as the unofficial second-in-command of the Glanton gang, yet no one really knows anything about them. Every member claims to have met him at least once before joining the gang, and he joins after mysteriously waiting for the gang in the desert. The gang’s feelings of dislike towards him range from the scalphunter Brown’s discomfort to Tobin’s fear. The only two who don’t feel this way are Glanton and the kid, the first indifferent and the latter dismissive. 

He is described as youthful, hairless, and entirely too pale for comfort. He argues that murder is the most noble of sports, and argues the philosophical points of this. He declares mastery over all life, and uses this as justification for his recordkeeping of all living things they come across. his philosophy is depicted in the line, "Whatever exists without my knowledge, exists without my consent." He is shown half-dressed and nude frequently, dancing to fiddle-music in the moonlit night. Ultimately, he is implied to be eternal in the book’s extremely ambiguous ending.

SHOULD YOU READ THIS BOOK?

Honestly, this is a hard question. The book may seem to be historical fiction, but one doesn’t have to know the history to read it. It definitely is an adult fiction, and those who have difficulty with violence should avoid it. Sexual violence is never shown , though the after effects are, particularly rape-murder. Those who have difficulty with or don’t like elaborate and complex prose styles should avoid.

In the end, the only people I would recommend this book to are people who enjoy books for artistic and literary purposes as much as entertainment, have no issues with McCarthy’s style, and can stomach brutal violence.

REVIEW: "Not Even Bones" by Rebecca Schaeffer

 

SYNOPSIS

Nita doesn't murder supernatural beings and sell their body parts on the internet--her mother does that. Nita just dissects the bodies after they've been "acquired." Until her mom brings home a live specimen and Nita decides she wants out; dissecting a scared teenage boy is a step too far. But when she decides to save her mother's victim, she ends up sold in his place--because Nita herself isn't exactly "human." She has the ability to alter her biology, a talent that is priceless on the black market. Now on the other side of the bars, if she wants to escape, Nita must ask herself if she's willing to become the worst kind of monster.

MY INITIAL TAKE

"Not Even Bones" sucked me in and kept me up late at night reading. This fairly gruesome novel is a departure from my usual choice in stories. I prefer to follow heroic characters in stories with at least a bittersweet ending if it can't be happy, but Rebecca Schaeffer created a cast of antiheroes and straight-out villains that force you to love them, despite their warning signs.

Nita, a seventeen-year-old butcher on the black market, loves her job working with dead bodies, justifying that she has never personally killed anyone. She goes through several moral crises over the course of the book, but ultimately has no intent on changing her morals or crossing back over to the light--she is a part of the underground world through and through, and she intends to stay there. She is joined by the male lead Kovit, a Thai zannie (a vampire-like creature that feeds off physical pain), who works for the American mafia as a torturer. These two make no excuses for who they are, insisting that they are not misunderstood or helpless victims of their situations. They are, rather, active members of the criminal underworld who live there because they choose to be. While they arguably cannot leave the underworld without facing consequences, Nita points out that is in itself a choice. They are not good people and probably very bad ones, but nonetheless, they are hilarious, with delightful interactions. 

The supporting cast is no less impressive. Reyes is a villain you love to hate for her tough, no-nonsense behavior and her paranoia over her very precarious position as the "queen of parts." Boulder is a creep, eating the raw body parts of supernatural beings...right in front of them. And Mirella, one of the more "good" characters, is ruthless in her quest to survive and hell-bent on vengeance. 

WHAT I LOVED THE MOST

A good hero is always a joy to read about--they're fun to root for, easy to love, and they inspire others to find kindness in the world. A good villain, however, is always fun. They can go further, to more dramatic extremes, to reach their goals. They aren't held back by morals to making the "right" decision or sacrificing what they love for the greater good. 

While Nita isn't a villain (yet), she is a distinctly morally ambiguous character. Early on, you can argue that she has little choice in her career. Her domineering and abusive mother would never let her leave, and has taught her a harsh lesson in what happens when Nita says "no." Still, Nita wants to think of herself as a decent person, at best, and at the very least, not the monster her mother is. This keeps her from completely losing herself. Something brought up late in the book is the importance of boundaries, even for villainous characters. A character who has been deeper in the criminal underworld than Nita has ever gone warns her of the importance of not losing herself to the brutality of the black market. She doesn't need to be moral, but she should keep some hard rules and lines. 

This book is able to go places that others can't, because its characters are not good people. It explores the psyche of rising villains by examining what kind of life leads a person to kill and sell others on the black market, while also showing that no one is a total monster...at least, that such people don't last long. And it completely demolishes the concept of the Freudian excuse. Nothing in any of the characters' backstories is used to justify their actions--they do this because they enjoy it and because it grants them something that improves their lives. I am excited to read the next installments of "Market of Monsters" and to see how Nita evolves. 

LOVING CRITICISM

Schaeffer's descriptions can get a little...extra. It might just be my personal preference, but while Nita's creative descriptions of Kovit's Slasher Smile are clearly meant to get his dangerousness and amoral personality across to the reader, they get pretty lengthy and awkward. This is especially the case when lengthy descriptions are repeatedly used with these characters. 

MY FAVORITE CHARACTER

Choosing a favorite character is tough when each character has such a strong presence, but I would have to say Kovit is my favorite in this book. He's dramatic, he's over the top, and he's brutally honest about who he is. There is no woe-is-me from this character, and he isn't a broken man to be fixed. He doesn't want to be fixed, a nice break from other male leads, since, let's be real, the "broken man needs to be healed by a kind and gentle woman's love" is a little tiresome. 

What really makes him a great character is how delightfully unhinged he gets. Man is a member of the American mafia, and he shows it. In the scenes where he tortures characters, he enjoys every minute of it, and in the scenes where he chooses to be vulnerable, he shows a real, human quality. Schaeffer has done an excellent job of creating complex characters that feel like real people. 

SHOULD YOU READ THIS BOOK?

This book is gory and gruesome, with murders, torture, and violence against children. If you have any triggers related to violence or are under the age of sixteen, then I do not recommend this book for you. But if you like stories that explore morality, have fast-paced action, and morally ambiguous plotlines, then this is the book for you. 

You can buy "Not Even Bones" on Amazon or your favorite bookstore. The Webtoon adaption of the same name is available for free online and currently on-going. 

REVIEW: "War and Peace" by Leo Tolstoy

 

SYNOPSIS

Tolstoy’s epic masterpiece intertwines the lives of private and public individuals during the time of the Napoleonic wars and the French invasion of Russia. The fortunes of the Rostovs and the Bolkonskys, of Pierre, Natasha, and Andrei, are intimately connected with the national history that is played out in parallel with their lives.

The prodigious cast of characters, both great and small, seem to act and move as if connected by threads of destiny as the novel relentlessly questions ideas of free will, fate, and providence. Yet Tolstoy’s portrayal of marital relations and scenes of domesticities is as truthful and poignant as the grand theme that underlies them.

WHAT I LOVE ABOUT IT

Honestly, War and Peace truly is a fantastic book. It is a deeply engaging book as we look into the fortunes of its main characters, several noblemen and noblewomen in Napoleonic Russia, as they quest for ideals such as happiness, personal fulfillment, or understanding of one’s meaning in life.

I first read War and Peace, in Mandelker’s edit of the Maude translation, about five years ago, and it was one of the most engaging books I had ever read. No stranger to classics of literature, I decided to tackle this immense novel and found a book that I could not put down.

Its characters were fascinating as I watched them engage in their domestic struggles. From Andrei’s feelings of unfulfillment with his married life driving him to the army, to Pierre’s complete bewilderment with his own life leaving him unmoored and frustrated, to Nikolai’s and Natasha’s youthful naivety leading them into dangerous pitfalls at violent war and precarious peace.

The moments we see in the narrative from the mundane to the chaotic, in my opinion, show meaningful description. We see this from scenes of war, where noble and impressive commanders give orders that are ignored, worthless, or past enforcement, and description of convoluted and tricky scenes as characters try to navigate the social circles of high society.

I truly felt this was an amazing novel.

LOVING CRITISIM

Frankly, the book is long. Many people would automatically see that as a nonstarter, and I admit that people who don’t read fast or find it tiring will struggle with this. The mass of text can seem overwhelming, and side characters are not the easiest to keep track of either.

The principal issue lies in the dozens of chapters without narrative. See, this book was written with a theme in mind, and back when this book was written, authors (like Victor Hugo) did not always shy away from giving the most precise reflection and description of various plots and themes. These chapters are increasingly prevalent in the second half, and if one decides to read them, they can kill your interest.

MY FAVORITE CHARACTER

Personally, my favorite character is Andrei Nikolayevich Bolkonsky. I feel he has a fascinating storyline, being driven to find a purposeful, fulfilling, and happy life.

At the beginning, we find an intelligent, driven, and witty young man. He finds his wife, while friendly and sociable, to be enamored with trivialities and thinks of himself as chained to this unfulfilling life.

In his attempts to escape this, he becomes an officer in the army, after which, he pursues a source of happiness through glory, domestic life, and romance. He attempts and struggles with all of these, and ultimately finds truth in his epiphanies on the nature and importance of man.

SHOULD YOU READ THIS BOOK?

Yes, absolutely. This is a masterpiece of literature, though I feel it should not be one’s first foray into high literature as it is long and didactic at times. If one likes historical fiction, one should definitely give it a try. I recommend this to adults as there are scenes of violence and the prose is opaque and hard to understand. Any sexual content is merely implied or happens off-page for those who are uncomfortable with that.