The Starless Sea

by Erin Morgenstern

498 pgs

I believe most people who pick up Erin Morgenstern's latest book, The Starless Sea, do so because they read and loved her very popular first book, The Night Circus. which makes me confident I'm in the minority, since I've yet to read that one. But having heard about it, and having had it recommended to me by numerous people, I had pretty high expectations for this new one. 

The book is a combination of stories, which Morgenstern intertwines together with varying degrees of success. The story revolves around Zachary Ezra Rollins, the son of a fortune teller, ho loves books and is a graduate student studying video games. Zach comes across a unique book in the school's library, which appears to have been misshelved, due to its apparent lack of authorship. The book is called Sweet Sorrows, and as Zach begins reading it, he discovers it contains an account of an experience from his childhood.

The experience involved a painted door that he turned away from, but which the book reveals would have taken him to a mysterious otherworld called the Starless Sea. Zach becomes obsessed with the book and where it came from and sets out on a journey to try to find the Starless Sea once again. 

It sounds exactly like the type of story that I'd love, but unfortunately, I found myself struggling with the book throughout. Part of it could have come from the fact that I listened to it instead of read it, which made it harder to follow Morgenstern's ambitious and unique way of telling the story. She switched back and forth between Zachary's journey and the mythology of the book, which included Zachary as well. And I often felt confused about where I was in the story. I also felt like the book wandered around a lot, without an ultimate destination and resolution in mind. 

I will give Morgenstern credit here she's due though. The book was beautifully written, enough so that there were many times I was listening to it and enjoying the writing enough to not care that I was feeling lost with what as going on.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

 

The Philosopher's War

by Tom Miller
389 pgs  (The Philosophers series #2)

Picking up where The Philosopher's Flight left off, nineteen-year-old Robert Canderelli Weekes has successfully fulfilled his lifelong dream of becoming the first male to join the US Sigilry Corps' Rescue and Evacuation service. It's a previously-all-female military service, which uses expert "empirical philosophers," who use a unique form of magic to fly into battles to retrieve the wounded and fly them to aid stations.

Robert knew life in the R&E Corp was going to be hard, but he didn't know it was going to end up being this hard, what with the long grueling hours of flying rescue missions into battle zones, not to mention the fact that being the first and only male allowed to do it added unique challenges as well. But eventually he begins to win over the respect of his superior officers and other women in his division. Eventually, his natural talents become evident and he catches the attention of General Tomasina Blandings, who recruits him to join a secret--and unauthorized--group of flyers she intends to use for more than just R&E missions. She plans to use Robert and a select group to bring about the defeat of the German army and the end end of World War I.

With these first two books, Tom Miller has created his own unique and entertaining alternative history story, one that is tense, filled with action, and very entertaining. I don't know whether he intends to write more stories featuring Robert after this one, but regardless, I'm looking forward to whatever comes next.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Gwendy's Magic Feather

by Richard Chizmar
333 pgs  (Gwendy series #2)

If I'm going to be entirely honest, even though there were two authors' names on the cover of Gwendy's Button Box, only one of the names mattered to me (guess which one it was). Not because I didn't like Richard Chizmar, I'd just never read anything by him before. That being said, I enjoyed the story so much, that when I learned that Richard Chizmar had written a sequel by himself, it didn't really matter to me that Stephen King's name wasn't going to be on the cover. I wanted to know what happened next.

Gwendy's Magic Feather continues the story of Gwendy Peterson, now a 37-year-old, first-term congresswoman from Maine. Her life since the events of the first book has been relatively charmed. She's found success as a novelist, a filmmaker, and now in D.C. representing her constituents back in Castle Rock.

When the button box reappears inexplicably in her townhome one evening a few days before Christmas, without a note or another appearance by the mysterious Richard Farris, Gwendy is left with only the temptations of her own thoughts as to whether the box, and the powerful gifts it dispenses, could, or should, be used again.

When Gwendy flies home to see her parents for the holidays, she takes the box with her. But she returns to a Castle Rock currently under a dark cloud. Two girls have recently gone missing, and the police have no idea what's happened to them. Soon after her arrival, a third girl goes missing, and Gwendy, with her box, might be the only chance any of them has for surviving.

Any disappointment I might have had with Stephen King not being an author of this book were quickly forgotten when I started reading it. Richard Chizmar does both the character and town King created justice. Like the first book, it's a novella, and with its short chapters, it makes for a very quick, but satisfying read. I enjoyed it enough to place an order for another of Chizmar's books as soon as I finished this one, and I'm looking forward to seeing what else he has to offer.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

It Devours!

by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor
347 pgs  (Welcome to Night Vale series #2)

It Devours! is the second book to take place in Night Vale, the fictionalized desert town made popular in the long-running podcast Welcome to Night Vale. It's a town that's a little reminiscent of Garrison Keillor's Lake Wobegon, but the version of it, had it been created by Stephen King instead. Ghosts, aliens, and mysterious government agents are commonplace in Night Vale, and if there's a conspiracy theory that has ever been thought of, chances are, it's true in Night Vale.

The stories that take place in Night Vale, both those told in the podcasts, and those in the two books so far, are not driven by any particular plot, most of the time. In fact, the plot is really secondary to the atmosphere and feel of the story. That's not to say there isn't a plot, there is, but the story meanders around the plot and only seems to come back around to it occasionally. Surprisingly, that's a big part of the appeal for me. Much in the same way I enjoyed The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, I found myself simply enjoying the journey, and not necessarily the destination.

As far as the plot goes though, here's a small taste: There's a mysterious void that keeps "appearing" in random places in Night Vale, which swallows up whole buildings and anyone who happened to be inside of them at the time. The local religion, The Joyous Congregation of the Smiling God, and local scientists are at odds to try to explain what the void is and to understand where and when it will appear next.

I enjoyed It Devours!. It's a fun story that had me smiling often. I've only listened to a handful of the podcasts so far, and to be honest, I think the types of stories Fink and Cranor come up with for the town are better suited for that format, but the books offer an interesting and more in-depth visit to this small desert town where the possibilities are endless.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Alice Isn't Dead

by Joseph Fink
322 pgs

Alice Isn't Deadis another book based on a podcast by Joseph Fink. A few months ago, I read Welcome to Night Vale, which has based on the podcast by Fink and Jeffrey Cranor of the same name. This book is based on a different podcast and is solely Fink's. Like Night Vale, Alice Isn't Dead is a horror story, but while the former is a little more tongue-in-cheek and is based on conspiracy theories and the absurd, this one is a little more traditional and is based on fear and anxiety.

The book and podcast tell the story of Keisha Taylor, a woman whose wife, Alice, a big-rig-driver, disappeared months ago without a trace and is presumed dead. But Keisha knows Alice is still alive, otherwise, how is it possible that she keeps seeing Alice in the background of news reports of every major tragedy across the country? So, Keisha, who goes to work for the same trucking company Alice worked for, now spends all of her time driving around the country searching for her wife, who isn't dead.

Alice Isn't Dead is a fun and entertaining horror story Fink, who has been public with his constant battle with anxiety, gives Keisha the same issue to deal with, and it's prevalent throughout the story. Her feelings of anxiety are justified though. Because as she searches for her wife, she becomes swallowed up by the same world of secret societies and strange creatures that took her wife away from her.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Black Leopard Red Wolf

by Marlon James
620 pgs  (The Dark Star trilogy #1)

Black Leopard Red Wolf is the type of book that I felt like I should have enjoyed more than I did, and probably would have, if I were smarter. Reading it was kind of like watching an opera for me. When I watch and listen to the performers sing, I know they're talented, but their talent is wasted on me. I just don't enjoy it. Similarly, while I was reading this book, it was obvious that Marlon James is an extremely talented writer and story teller, but I felt like his talents were wasted on me. I had a hard time following and staying interested in the story he was telling.

I first heard about the book when I saw James on a late-night talk show discussing it. It sounded very interesting and the host couldn't stop gushing over the portion of the book he had read so far. So I was excited to pick it up and start it as soon as I got it. When I did, I quickly realized that this wasn't the type of book that can be read casually. It takes concentration and thought, two things I struggled with while reading it.

It's the story of a man called Tracker. "He has a nose," is how people who know him describe him, and he's able to follow the scent of someone, no matter how far away they are, or how long they've been gone. It's because of his unique ability that he's recruited to track down a boy who went missing three years ago. Normally Tracker works alone, but this time he breaks his own rule and finds himself working with a group of unusual characters, including a giant, a witch, a buffalo, a water goddess, and a shape-shifting man-animal known as Leopard.

The book is set in a dark fantasy version of the African continent, where Tracker and his group encounter river witches, bush fairies, blood swamp trolls, and demons, as they follow the boy's scent from one ancient city to another, through the mystical Ten and Nine Doors.

James has a one-of-a-kind writing style. He writes his sentences in such a way that he hides who is speaking and who is doing what until the last possible second. A style that had me shaking my head, both out of amazement and confusion.

★ ★ ☆ ☆ ☆

Hiddensee

by Gregory Maguire
283 pgs

Those who see the Broadway musical "Wicked," and then go out and read Gregory Maguire's book, which it was based on, are usually confused and disappointed. The tones and feel of the two are polar opposites. The musical is funny and engaging, while the book feels like a chore you have to complete, hoping for some sort of reward by the end. Maguire's books tend to sound like great ideas when you hear high-level summaries of then, e.g. "it's a retelling of "The Wizard of Oz/Snow White/Cinderella/Alice in Wonderland," but I recommend people perform a little more initial due diligence before reading one, to make sure they know what to expect.

Hiddensee is no exception. The high-level summary is it's the backstory of "The Nutcracker." Based on that, one might think it's a great alternative to having to sit through a three-hour ballet, but it's not a story about the magical soldier who battles the Mouse King to protect Clara on Christmas Eve. Instead, it's a dark and often dreary tale of a foundling boy named Dirk, who lives an isolated life in the woods with an old woman and an old woodcutter. An accident in the woods one day knocks him out and he sees a vision. The vision consists of a talking bird, a gnome, and a forest sprite, characters who leave an indelible mark on the rest of his life. When he wakes up, he runs away, out into the world he knows nothing about.

The story follows Dirk's life as he travels throughout Germany. He lives with a small village pastor for a time, running errands and helping clean and maintain the church and rectory. Eventually he becomes a successful toymaker, carving toys from wood, one of which is the nutcracker.

Hiddensee, like almost all of Maguire's books I've read, is a good book. It's highly creative and for some reason, I feel like I'm smarter and more cultured for having read it. But it's not a page turner, nor is it a book Disney is likely to ever adapt into a movie. But it's intriguing and entertaining enough to keep me reading his books when they come out.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

The Philosopher's Flight

by Tom Miller
423 pgs  (The Philosophers series #1)

The Philosopher's Flight is the debut novel by Tom Miller. The story takes place during World War I and centers on a young man's pursuit to become the first male accepted to the Rescue and Evacuation Division of the US Sigilry Corps. Empirical philosophers, aka sigilrists, are individuals adept at "Sigilry," the mysterious and unexplained art of manipulating energy to produce a physical effect. Through sigilry, an individual can make innumerable fantastical things happen. They can make plants grow faster, they can send messages from one end of the country to the other instantaneously, they can cause the bones of the enemies to dissolve, and they can fly. Those who master the art wield immense power, and are almost always women.

Robert Weekes grew up in rural Montana. His mother is a philosopher and he's always dreamt of one day joining Rescue and Evacuation and saving peoples' lives. His mother taught him sigilry and he's good at it, far better than any of his male peers, and almost as good as some of the female ones. In fact, he's good enough to be accepted to Radcliffe College in Massachusetts, a school famous for producing some of the best sigilrists. Once he's there though, he learns how formidable achieving his dreams is going to be. No one believes a man belongs in R&E, not his professors, and definitely not his female classmates. He's bullied, picked on, and ridiculed. But he's not a quitter.

As his abilities become stronger, he gets caught up in an even bigger battle, the one that's been going on for many years between sigilrists and "trenchers." Trenchers are those who don't understand and fear sigilry, and who believe those who practice it are a danger and need to be eliminated.

The Philosopher's Flight is part Harry Potter, part The Magicians, and part Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. It's a fast-moving, imaginative book that shows a lot of promise for what's to come from Tom Miller. The sequel, The Philosopher's War, comes out in June, and I'm looking forward to it.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Elevation

by Stephen King
146 pgs

Elevation is a short novella by Stephen King that will take less time to read than it would to watch a movie adaptation of it, if one is eventually made. When I learned what it was about, I thought "Hasn't he already written this book before?" In a sentence, it's about a man who begins losing weight every day and can't stop it. But it doesn't take more than a couple of pages to realize that this story bears only a passing resemblance to Thinner.

Scott Carey is a normal guy who lives in Castle Rock, Maine. who inexplicably starts losing weight every day. Regardless of how much he eats, the weight continues to gradually drop off. But what's even more perplexing is the fact that his clothes seem to weigh nothing as soon as he puts them on. In fact, he can stand on his bathroom scale fully dressed and wearing a coat with pockets filled with quarters and the scale reads the same as it does when he takes everything off. But while he's getting lighter every day, his physical appearance doesn't change. His stomach still hangs over his belt just as it has for the last decade or so of his life.

One of the trademarks of a Stephen King story is that he takes ordinary people and places them in extraordinary situations. And from that perspective, Elevation is classic King. But it's also a departure from what I've come to expect form him. It' snot just a great story that incorporates elements of the fantastical. It's also a thinly-veiled allegory and social commentary on the weight our prejudices add to our lives, and the freedom that can come if that weight is dropped.

Elevation is a book I'd recommend to everyone. Even those who don't think they'd like a Stephen King book will like this one. Take an hour of your life and read it.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Welcome to Night Vale

by Joseph Fink & Jeffrey Cranor
401 pgs  (Night Vale series #1)

Welcome to Night Vale is the first book by coauthors Joseph Fink and Jeffrey Cranor, the creators of the twice-monthly podcast of the same name. Night Vale is a small desert town located somewhere in the American Southwest. But Night Vale is not like any small town you’ve ever driven through, stopped for gas at, or eaten a meal in its local diner. In Night Vale, aliens are real, time is kind of funny, and every conspiracy theory you can imagine is true.

The lives of two of its residents: Jackie Fierro, the pawnshop owner who has been 19 years old for decades, and Diane Crayton, whose son is a moody teenage shapeshifter, are drawn together by bizarre circumstances. Jackie is given a small strip of paper by a man who is impossible to remember if you’re not looking at him. The words KING CITY are written on the paper and Jackie finds she’s physically unable to get rid of it. Meanwhile, Diane’s son Josh has recently become interested in his estranged father, a man who until recently Diane hadn’t seen since she was pregnant with Josh, but who now seems to be everywhere she turn…and he doesn’t appear to have aged a day.

When Josh disappears, Diane believes he’s gone to KING CITY and she enlists Jackie’s help in getting there. But together they discover that physically leaving Night Vale is seemingly impossible.

Welcome to Night Vale is a wildly inventive story. At times it gets a little too absurd for its own good, but overall, it’s funny and entertaining. If you haven’t listened to any of the podcasts set there, it’ll take a while to settle in, but if you’re willing to just buckle up and enjoy the ride, it’s a worthwhile read.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Gwendy's Button Box

by Stephen King & Richard Chizmar
170 pgs  (Gwendy series #1)

In Gwendy’s Button Box Stephen King accompanies friend and coauthor Richard Chizmar to Castle Rock. The small town in Maine which served as the locale for many of his earlier books. But don’t let the fact that there’s a second author’s name on the cover dissuade you from reading it. It has Uncle Stevie’s prints all over it.

As the story begins, Gwendy Peterson is a 12-year-old girl who is starting to feel self-conscious about her weight. She has decided that this summer she’s going to lose some of that extra weight and return to school in September looking better and ready to shed the “Goodyear” nickname some of her peers use when referring to her. So, each day Gwendy races to the top of the stairs at the park known as the Suicide Stairs.

One day, when she reaches the top, she’s met by a man wearing on old-fashioned hat. The man speaks to her as if he’s known her all his life and proceeds to give her a strange wooden box with different colored buttons and levers on it. The man tells her the box will give her gifts, but that the gifts are compensation for the responsibility she will bear in keeping it.

Each time Gwendy pushes one lever, the box dispenses a small chocolate animal. It’s delicious and satisfies her appetite to the point that Gwendy no longer overeats. When she pushes the other lever, the box dispenses an 1891 Morgan silver dollar, in mint condition. They’re worth hundreds of dollars apiece and will allow her to attend the Ivy League college she dreams about. But the buttons each have destructive powers, and Gwendy soon learns just how important it is to guard the box and make sure it never gets into the hands of someone who would use those buttons with evil intent.

The story is short, but is a prime example of what has made King so well liked. It’s a great story and I think it’s King providing an analogy to how he feels about what he has spent his lifetime doing. Pushing buttons and pulling levers on a small box his entire career has given him everything he has ever wanted, or needed in life, but it hasn’t come without a sense of importance and responsibility.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians: The Knights of Crystallia

by Brandon Sanderson
296 pgs  (Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series #3)

I’ve already mentioned this in my reviews of the previous two books, but my son and I are really enjoying reading this series together. The action and the humor have kept him captivated, and in The Knights of Crystallia, he got a taste for what I’ve always enjoyed about Sanderson’s books: the worldbuilding. Sanderson is a master at creating new and vibrant worlds for his stories--no small accomplishment, considering how prolific a writer he is. In book three, Alcatraz and his friends finally make it to the Free Kingdoms, the magical world few of us Hushlanders even know exists.

Alcatraz finally makes it home to Nalhalla, but finds out as soon as he does, that negotiations are already underway to establish peace with the Librarians. The country of Mokia is being used as a bargaining chip in the negotiations, and Alcatraz quickly suspects that those trying to negotiate with the Librarians are actually in league with them, and that it’s all part of the Librarians’ plans to gain control of Mokia.

Despite Alcatraz’s ongoing claims that he’s not the hero of these books, he’s once again thrust into that role, and must find a way to expose the proceedings for what they really are and thwart the evil plans of the Librarians.

This was probably our favorite book in the series so far. The fact that it’s set in the Free Kingdoms helped bring a new level of magic to the story and once again, as soon as we finished it, my son went and grabbed book four off the shelf.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

The Clockwork Dynasty

by Daniel H. Wilson
309 pgs

In The Clockwork Dynasty, Daniel H. Wilson crafts an alternate-history story in which a secret society of automatons has been living amongst humanity for hundreds, if not thousands of years. Automatons, which are essentially robots, have a real-life history that dates back at least as far as ancient Greek mythology (think of the owl in the original Clash of the Titans movie). In Wilson’s version of history, these automatons, are self-aware, with emotions and intelligence, and have had centuries to enhance themselves through technology far more advanced than ours.

When June Stefanov was a young girl in Russia, her grandfather told her he witnessed a soldier in WWII withstand a hail of bullets and single-handedly destroy a German tank. He said the soldier had supernatural strength and left behind a mysterious metal artifact, which he then presented to her, and which she has worn as a necklace around her neck ever since. She has spent the rest of her life investigating the mystery behind her grandfather’s story. She travels the world hunting down examples of antique automatons, which she believes hold the key to unlocking the mystery behind the relic she wears around her neck.

June’s latest find is one of an automaton built hundreds of years ago to resemble a 12-year-old girl. She eventually figures out how to activate her, and when she does, she becomes noticed by the race of beings she’s unwittingly been investigating her whole life. She soon finds herself in the middle of a feud that has been brewing for hundreds of years, and her survival becomes tied to that of this mysterious and fascinating race.

I really enjoyed Wilson’s three previous books, and once again, he showcases his background in, and love for, robotics and has written a story that is wholly unique. This time, however, his story falls more in the fantasy genre, than in science fiction. He doesn’t spend a lot of time establishing the roots of his story in real life science and technology, like a lot of science fiction stories do, but instead, expects his readers to suspend their beliefs and just enjoy the story, which I did.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians: The Scrivener's Bones

by Brandon Sanderson
343 pgs  (Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series #2)

We recently discovered my 10-year-old son is dyslexic. For years we thought his handwriting would improve and he’d eventually stop confusing his “b”s and “d”s and writing certain numbers backward. But as he got older, and those things weren’t improving, we had him tested and were glad we did. I want my son to enjoy a lifetime of reading. I don’t want the fact that it’s not as easy for him as it is for his peers to discourage him from reading and prevent him from learning from and enjoying books for the rest of his life.

As we started educating ourselves about the best ways to address dyslexia, I realized it was probably a good idea to once again start reading with him. It’s something we did when he was younger, but got out of the habit of doing as he got older. So I gave some thought into what to read with him. I wanted something that we’d both enjoy. I wanted something he’d look forward to reading with me every night, and something I would be just as excited about. I’ve made it well known that I’m a big fan of Brandon Sanderson’s books, but as big a fan as I am, I’d never read any of his Alcatraz books. I thought now was the perfect opportunity to do so.

I couldn’t have picked a better series to read with my son. It’s got action, excitement, a great system of magic (every Sanderson book does), and an underlying sense of humor, which appeals to both my son and me (and that’s not an admission that my sense of humor is juvenile). When I wrote my review of the first book in the series, Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians, I mentioned the fact that as soon as we were done with the book, my son went to the bookshelf and grabbed the second book and set it out so that it was ready to be started. The same thing happened when we finished this one. It’s been very rewarding to see the difference in my son’s attitude about reading since we started reading these books together. It used to be a battle with him every night when I tried to get him to find a book to read and go to his room to read before bed. Now, without me having to say a word, he comes to me with the book in his hand and asks if we can read now. We start book III tomorrow.

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Bigfootloose and Finn Fancy Free

by Randy Henderson
428 pgs  (Familia Arcana series #2)

In Bigfootloose and Finn Fancy Free, the sequel to Randy Henderson’s first book, Finn Fancy Necromancy, Finn Gramaraye has finally started to get used to being back in the real world. Having spent the last 25 years imprisoned in the Other Realm of the Fey for his alleged practice of Dark Necromancy, he’s now trying to get caught up on pop culture and technology. He’s fallen in love and he’s once again using his abilities as a necromancer in the family business of operating a mortuary for the Arcane (those born with magical abilities).

But Finn is restless for something more in his life. He’s figured out a way to use a device his half-crazed father invented called the Kinfinder to find people’s True Love, and he’s begun a side business as an Arcane dating service. His first client is a Bigfoot named Sal, and the Kinfinder leads the two of them into the middle of a rebellion taking place against the Arcane Ruling Council.

Sometimes authors suffer a “sophomore slump” with their second book. They have years and years to work on their first book while they try to get it published, but once they’re published, they often have a much tighter deadline to write the next one, and oftentimes it’s not nearly as good. This is not the case with Randy Henderson. With Bigfootloose and Fin Fancy Free, Henderson takes all the things he did well with his first book, and then he adds to them.

In FFN Henderson showcased both his unique sense of humor and his love for 80’s pop culture. Those are just as prominent and enjoyable this time around. But this book offers much more. Henderson does an excellent job of fleshing out many of his characters and making the overall story more compelling, as he shows the conflict which exists within the magical world, a world the rest of us are unaware of.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection

by Brandon Sanderson
672 pgs

Brandon Sanderson is such a prolific writer, so much so, that at times it can feel like a challenge trying to keep up with all the different series he’s writing. Fortunately, they’re all great, so it’s a good challenge to face. But the challenge became even more daunting for me a few years ago when I learned of the Cosmere, the universe within which all of his stories take place. The Cosmere contains multiple solar systems and his different series take place in the different systems. When Sanderson began to include more details about the Cosmere, and the fact that the different systems were connected to each other, and that there were ways one could travel from one to the other, I realized that I needed to be paying closer attention as I read his books. Now I was no longer content to simply read his books for pleasure, now I needed to be watchful for references and clues to the bigger picture Sanderson has begun to reveal.

There’s the Selish System, where Elantris and The Emperor’s Soul take place, the Scadrian System, where his Mistborn series take place, the Taldain System, a system introduced for the first time in this book with White Sand, the Threnodite System, where Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell takes place, the Drominad System, where Sixth of Dusk occurs, and the Rosharan System, where his most ambitions series (Stormlight) occurs.

Arcanum Unbounded: The Cosmere Collection is a collection of shorter fiction, with stories taking place throughout the Cosmere, in which Sanderson begins to reveal a little more of the interconnectedness between the different systems he's created, and he gives his readers a better idea of what's to come in the many years and books ahead. 

★ ★ ★ ★ ☆

Norse Mythology

by Neil Gaiman

293 pgs

When I initially heard that Neil Gaiman was putting out a book composed of stories taken from Norse mythology, I considered not reading it. I thought, why bother with it if the stories weren’t his, but just his retelling of the myths? But I’ve never regretted reading anything by Gaiman, whether it’s a novel (graphic or otherwise), poem, short story, or children’s picture book, so I gave it a try. And I’m glad I did.

The book is not long, containing 15 stories, most featuring Odin, Thor, and Loki. It begins with a story about the beginning of the world and ends with its destruction. In between are the myths Gaiman probably selected because of their importance within the mythology. He wanted to write a book Norse scholars could appreciate as well as those completely new to the characters and the mythology. This isn’t another American Gods, where Gaiman took another ancient mythology and used it to form a modern-day novel. If you’re hoping for that, you may be disappointed. With Norse Mythology, Gaiman stays as true to the stories as he felt he possibly could, and simply lends them his own voice.

The stories are all entertaining and oftentimes funny. We learn how Odin, the high one, sacrificed his eye for knowledge, how Thor, the not-so-bright god, acquired his hammer, and how Loki, the shape shifter and trickster, was either assisting the gods or causing them headaches.

Gaiman does a wonderful job presenting these stories. He tells each one at a moderately fast pace and tells them in such a way that quickly hooks you and makes you want to continue reading. 

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians

by Brandon Sanderson
313 pgs  (Alcatraz vs. the Evil Librarians series #1)

Alcatraz Smedry is a 13-year old foster child, who has a propensity for breaking things. As a result, the families he’s living with often don’t know how to deal with him and his case worker has to find him a new set of foster parents for him to go live with. 

But all that changes on the day he accidentally set his current foster parents’ kitchen on fire. It happened to be on his birthday and he had just received a strange package with a note attached. The package contained a bag of sand, and the note said it was his inheritance and came from his mom and dad—his real ones. As he’s getting ready to be taken away once again, a man he’s never met before shows up, claims to be his grandpa, wishes him a happy birthday, and explains to him that he needs to come with him, and to make sure to bring the sand.

And so begins an adventure which opens Alcatraz’s eyes to a whole new world he had no idea existed: the Free Kingdoms. He learns that the world he’s been living in (the one we also live in) is controlled by librarians. They control the books, and therefore information, and they’re able to keep the existence of the Free Kingdoms a secret.

Alcatraz learns that his propensity to break things is actually a magical talent he was born with, and one that will save his life numerous times throughout the book. He also learns that he has an important role to play in stopping the evil librarians from conquering the remaining Free Kingdoms.

Alcatraz vs the Evil Librarians is written for a younger audience, and as such, my 9-year-old son and I read it together. He loved it. Each night he’d grab the book off the shelf and let me know it was time to read. He’s usually not a big fan of reading, so this was exactly what I was hoping for when I bought the series. I’m a huge Sanderson fan, and I thought, if he could direct his skills at building worlds with unique and engaging systems of magic to a younger audience, and if he could do it with the same sense of humor he often inserts into his adult books, then there would be a pretty good chance my son would get hooked. When we finished this one, my son took it back to the bookshelf and grabbed book II, which made me happy.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆

Lost Gods

by Brom
490 pgs

Chet Moran is a young man recently released from prison in Alabama, having spent the last seven months there for drug possession. He's determined to turn his life around and become the type of man he knows he can be. His first task is to convince Trish, the girl he loves, now eight months pregnant with their baby and wanting nothing further to do with him, that he's a changed man and that she should run away with him to start a life together. Not an easy task, especially when her father, a powerful judge in the community, has pledged to shoot Chet if he ever comes near his daughter again.

After convincing Trish that he can provide her with a loving and stable life, and having narrowly escaped the judge with his life, Chet takes Trish and their unborn baby to the home of his grandmother Lamia on Moran Island in South Carolina. But the island is not the safe place he thought it would be, and Chet is murdered shortly after they arrive. But this is a story by Brom, a fantasy artist and author whose stories I can best describe as terribly wonderful, so death is not the end for Chet. A dark and dangerous journey awaits him.

Chet must travel through Purgatory in order to save Trish and their baby from an equally terrible fate. But Purgatory itself is in a state of upheaval and civil war. Ancient gods are fighting for their survival and Chet must navigate his way through purgatory and back again in order to barter for the lives of those he loves and swore to never again let down.

I described Brom's stories as terribly wonderful, and I meant it. This is a dark and sometimes disturbing tale. But it's not disturbing just for the sake of being disturbing. Brom is a fantastic world builder, and in creating his vision of Purgatory and in describing what the souls of the lost might go through there, he doesn't coat it with a layer of sugar to make it more palatable. He draws upon an eclectic assortment of theologies and their views of the afterlife and then combines them in a way that no one else could.

I loved it, but am sure others won't.

★ ★ ★ ★ ★

Perfect State / Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell

by Brandon Sanderson
177 pgs

Perfect State and Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell are two novellas Brandon Sanderson wrote a couple of years ago, which he recently published together in the same book.

Perfect State is different from anything else I've read by him. It's got more of a science fiction feel--a la Philip K. Dick--than any of his other stories. It's a brief story about the God-Emperor Kai, who has united his entire world and conquered all of his enemies. He's over 350 years old and is trying to decide what next to do with his life (he's contemplated learning how to control the weather). But first he has to go on a blind date.

The woman he's meeting is his equal from another world, and in their short time together, Kai is forced to face the truth of his own existence and what he's really accomplished with his life so far.

I don't want to spoil the story, but it reminded me a little of The Matrix. And while it didn't have a fascinating system of magic--a trademark of a Brandon Sanderson story--it's still a very interesting idea for a world and I wouldn't mind if he decided to flesh it out more with a longer book down the road.

Shadows for Silence in the Forests of Hell is the second story in the book, and is more in line with what I'm used to from Sanderson. The story is about a woman named Silence Montane, who runs a tavern in the Forests of Hell. In order to save her tavern from her creditors, Silence takes on the role of a bounty hunter and goes after Chesterton Divide and his gang. As she tracks them through the forest, you find out how the forest earned its name. This is where Sanderson really shines.

Both of the stories are quick reads--less than 90 pages each--and are well worth the hour or so it will take to read them. Shadows takes place in Sanderson's Cosmere and provides another small piece of the mosaic he has in his mind, and that he's slowly revealing through his books.

★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆