Down the Stacks #13: The Emperor's Soul

This week on Down the Stacks, for the first time I return to an author I’ve previously featured: Brandon Sanderson.  As I’ve said before, Sanderson is one of my all-time favorites because of his world-building and ability to hold his readers’s interest through hundreds of pages.  This week’s selection, The Emperor’s Soul, is a much lighter affair, clocking in at a modest 167 pages.  Despite its brevity, however, The Emperor’s Soul still has most of the hallmarks of Sanderson’s writing.

Down the Stacks #12: Mechanique

This week on Down the Stacks, we’re taking a foray into Steampunk territory with a bit of post-apocalyptic flavor.  Mechanique: A Tale of the Circus Tresaulti by Genevieve Valentine also breaks away from the traditional bounds of narrative time, producing a unique and sometime frustrating experience.  Read on as I try to sort out the puzzle pieces.

Other Media Review: Log Horizon

    I don't have a Down the Stacks review prepared this week, so instead I'm starting a "substitution" series where I'll review anything that isn't books but I feel like stating my opinion about.  This "Other Media Review" will be about an anime series I recently watched: Log Horizon.

Down the Stacks #11: Warbreaker

This week on Down the Stacks, I’m turning my attention to one of the my all-time favorite contemporary authors, Brandon Sanderson.  He is a master story-weaver with a particular gift for crafting fascinating and complex worlds with unique cultures and very realistic problems.  Sanderson is also the best creator of new and unusual systems of magic; half the fun of reading his novels is learning the rules that govern each world’s magic systems.  The other half of the fun is watching the characters resolve major conflicts that may only tangentially relate to magic.

There are a lot of Brandon Sanderson book series to choose from, but for this review I’ll be looking at one of the stand-alone novels: Warbreaker.

Down the Stacks #10: Celtika

This week on Down the Stacks, we’re diving into the first entry in a take on the legends of Merlin and King Arthur that reaches far beyond the shores of Britain and into the realms of other gods, myths, and heroes.  Author Robert Holdstock has a clear love of the old stories from before the spread of Christianity throughout Europe: the times of paganism, tribal and clan honor, and bloody cycles of revenge.  Through this wild world wanders the sort of Merlin we rarely consider - not a sagacious mentor but a man of passion who has yet to gain wisdom.  Come with me as we explore the untamed lands of Celtika.

Down the Stacks #9: Lord of the Changing Winds

This week on “Down the Stacks” we’ll be looking at a fantasy novel that takes a unique spin on a classic fantasy creature, the griffin.  The uniqueness of the author’s approach makes it difficult to judge the book as simply “good” or “bad,” because it simply ignores many expectations of griffins while still hitting many familiar notes.  Come with me on this journey through Lord of the Changing Winds by Rachel Neumeier, and maybe by the end we’ll figure out if it’s actually worth looking for the rest of its series.

Down the Stacks #8: The Fortress in Orion

This week’s offering for Down the Stacks is a good example of a “potboiler,” a piece of work good enough to get published and earn the author some money, but not groundbreaking or experimental.  The author is Mike Resnick, and the book in question is The Fortress in Orion.