warriorofworry

**SPOILER ALERT** for these books, published in 1989.

In this shared world trilogy C.J. Cherryh fully exercises her history fetish by exploring the what-if inherent in the rise, fall  and adaptation of cultures.
The main characters, over a timeline of nearly a thousand years, are the descendents original citizens of the Sabirn Empire, and the cultures and empires which conquer and oppose them.
In Book 1, A Dirge for Sabis, Ancaran hordes from the north (pushed by barbarians from even further north, of course – this is Cherryh) conquer the Sabirn Empire and overrun the capital, Sabis.  This despite the efforts of a group of patriots including a “natural philosopher”, a smith, an army officer, and a resourceful magician to construct a weapon that could hold them off.  The group of patriots are forced to flee, finding a new patron behind the Ancar lines and using their knowledge to scare off a cult fleecing the locals. 
“If at first you don’t succeed, get the hell out of the way.”
 Followed by Wizard Spawn
Book II of the Sword of Knowledge series
C.J. Cherryh and Nancy Asire

500 years later, (See A Dirge for Sabis) Book II concentrates on the remnants of the Sabirn people, and the scorn and persecution they suffer under the rule of the descendants of the Ancar in Sabis.  This is our “one person makes a difference book”.  Chemist (and alchemist) Duran rescues a Sabirn boy injured in an attack behind his shop, and is stunned to discover that his neighbors disapprove – strongly.  Worse, the presence of the boy in Duran’s home leads to rumors of witchcraft and alchemical deeds that reach the ears of the court.  Eventually, he flees with the boy, the boy’s grandfather, and other Sabirn who know secrets of which he could only have dreamed.

Reap the Whirlwind
Book III of the Sword of Knowledge series
C.J. Cherryh and Mercedes Lackey
(See Also, A Dirge for Sabis and Wizard Spawn) Book III brings the descendents of the protagonists of Book I and II together to resist the depredations of the Wind Clan (fleeing, in a nice bit of symmetry, the pursuit of another clan and *their* overlords).  Having joined forces as a scholarly quasi-magical organization, they’re able to use the secret magics of the Sabirn, the strengths of the Ancar, the tenets of Duran, and the tenacity of the scholar’s leader to bring the Clan into alliance. 

Book one shows the Cherryh touch the most clearly – the multi-layered plotting, characters who turn out to be much different than first perceived. The early chapters were clearly her work, and Leslie Fish does a great job keeping up and fleshing out the characters and story.
The next two volumes are much simpler in plot and characterization, though not without the occasional surprise.  If not up to Cherryh’s,  Asire’s and Lackey’s best work, still a fun read.

Mr. Fogel, a motivational speaker and former comic (more on that in a minute), creates a pastiche from the considerable literature of self-help, job search, motivation and entrepreneurial advice to argue that advancement is possible, even in this economy, if one acts as though one’s already promoted.

Right off the bat, I hugely dislike the typesetting in this book. The publisher (I suspect the publisher is also the author) uses a relatively small typeface. Then, each sentence is surrounded by a sea of white: double-spaced breaks. The effect is less than attractive, distracting, and difficult to read.

I understand why the author included the disclaimer “If You Still Have A Job”. For one thing, how-to books on getting a job abound. Yet I found parts of this applicable not only to improving one’s work situation, but to a job search and even (gasp) self-employment. 

Some of Mr. Fogel’s tongue in cheek humor is anything but subtle. “Yes! I am giving YOU the authority to to change your situation! And I must be serious, because I just italicized that last sentence.” (p. 37).    Often it reads as though he’s just re-writing his speech notes. I hope the lame humor works better in person than on the page.

Some of his assertions made me wince. “finding a mentor or Mastermind Group is a lot like dating the right girl” (p.89). Really? And in an anecdote where he describes a woman who is changing careers she is “a stunning woman who was a pediatrician” and “a stunning looking pediatrician” (p. 89) within three sentences. [I have erased five different descriptions of my reaction to that overt sexism. Let’s just say – speechless.]

Mr. Fogel occasionally lapses into circular arguments.   My favorite was “One of the main reasons I reinvented myself was because I wanted to be in control of my destiny. To be in control of my destiny, I knew I had to soak in new specialized knowledge that would allow me to leap over my competition in the quest for clients. [white space redacted] It was my desire for specialized knowledge that allowed me to learn an in-demand, financially viable skill!” (p. 154)

Lapses in grammar (“Is your present situation, like that?” p. 162) also call into question Mr. Fogel’s career as a “editorialist, direct mail copywriter, information marketer”.

Most of the heavy-handed advice seems to be common sense to me, but there are pieces worth keeping, though I might start (and finish) elsewhere. And finally - how couldn’t I love a recommended reading list that *begins* with Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams?

“When he arrived in Dodge City in 1878, Dr. John Henry Holliday was a frail twenty-six-year-old dentist who wanted nothing grander than to practice his profession in a prosperous Kansas cow town.  Hope – cruelest of the evils that escaped Pandora’s box --- smiled on him gently all that summer.”
At its best, “Doc” exemplifies Russell’s work as both elegy and advocacy of the refugee.  A southern boy fleeing the effects of the Civil War, his mother’s death, and the humid Georgia weather that exacerbated his worsening tuberculosis, Doc Holliday wanted only to breathe – and exercise his not-inconsiderable dental skills.  Russell gently humanizes but never lionizes the iconic black-hatted villain of the Wild Wild West. 
Holliday isn’t the only refugee in the maelstrom of personalities, money and politics that is Dodge City.  Russell deftly distills the locale and people from fable to dusty, sometimes bloody, reality.   Unlike many western tales, the women are given at least as much attention as the men, even if, in the end, their motives are equally inscrutable. 
I’ve said elsewhere that I am not particularly fond of the third person omniscient voice which Russell uses here.  Too often that narrative voice becomes a personality of its own.  Here, it’s unobtrusive and serves only to insert the reader into the story, ghostlike, beside the characters.
If you could only read one book this year, this is one I'd recommend enthusiastically.

Collection of urban fantasy stories featuring strong female protagonists, some human and some not, pitted against the darkest of the dark. Their victories are sometimes pyrrhic, but each gain, keeps our mundane streets safe.

I found all of the stories eminently readable, with nicely varied examples of the theme of the anthology.

Some are improved by an acquaintance with the author’s universe, such as Rachel Caine’s Weather Wardens. Carol Nelson Douglas’ Monster Mash was frenetic yet hysterically funny. Lilith Saintcrow is an author I’ve heard lauded, but haven’t read – and will be. Her “Monsters” was atmospheric, complicated and moving. Another new-to-me writer, Rachel Vincent, has a nice take on the hunter-turned-hunted trope.   I thought Jenna Black’s “Nine-tenths of the Law” was a perfect – and perfectly enjoyable - example of urban fantasy.

3.5 out of five.

Engrossing mystery set in the Aztec/Mexica empire circa 1480, where the magic of the gods is real; blood – freely given or sacrificed – invokes the divine; and where the politics would put Byzantine to shame. 

Acatl, High Priest of the God of the Dead, is called in to investigate an apparent locked-room murder. His estranged warrior brother Neutemoc is the only suspect. But the use of magic in the murder that Neutemoc doesn’t know and can’t use leads Acatl to a series of suspects and gods.

Acatl suffers from what we’d call imposter syndrome, elevated to an office he never wanted by the recommendation of a mentor/frenemy. He doesn’t handle the position well, preferring to immerse himself in details.   Priests being celibate and of a lower social strata than warriors, he was a disappointment to his now-deceased parents. The evolution of his family and professional relationships are integral elements of the plot.

One must read slowly and pay attention – otherwise names – especially the multi-syllabic names of the gods - tend to devolve into word salad.   And you’ll need to know who the author is talking about at any given time, in a complicated story with plenty of red herrings, loops, back tracking and magical interference.

Still not understanding the popularity of this series, except that it's not difficult to read and partakes a bit of the sensibility of an old movie serial or a modern tv show; the plot does have an arc, but the novel itself is a series of intertwined stories. This readable romance is obviously (sometimes a bit too obviously) well-researched and grounded in the history that forms its backdrop.  Yet there's only a single science fictional element, and the fantasy is all about the romance, not any magic of any kind. 

The romance between Claire and Jamie continues to be so over the top that it's not always believable, and while they endure hardship and setbacks separately and alone, happy endings seem inevitable as sunrise.

It’s hell to finally discover the secret about yourself that others have known all along. Not as bad, though, as watching the people you care about fall, one by one, at the hands of your arch-enemy.

Exploring concepts (Scalzi’s “big ideas”) of family, governance, guilt, honor and love, McGuire keeps the stakes nearly astronomical for her Knight of Faerie, October Daye. Toby caroms from one crisis to another with barely time to catch her breath.   This tale is so tightly plotted that revealing any one element unravels the rest, so I forgo a synopsis. Instead, accept my enthusiastic endorsement of this installment of the October Daye series. 

I haven’t followed this series at all, although I enjoyed the first couple of novels and the tv show. Harry Dresden is a hard-boiled, smart-ass detective magician sorcerer who solves mysteries and saves the world. Over and over.  I found that wasn’t a handicap on this volume I picked up at the library on a whim. Butcher does an excellent job of continuing a story and adding in the information a new or returning reader needs.

Dresden is a memorable character – as likely to stumble into a solution as to solve it with intellect. And over the years, he’s made lots of friends and at least as many enemies. As the story opens, he’s made a grave mistake (sorry, Butcher’s gotten to me) and has to solve the mystery of his own murder – incorporeally. 

There was much good back story here, non-stop action loaded with emotional implications, soul searching and discovery.

Not the most profound fiction I’ll ever read, but not a waste of an afternoon, sunny or rainy.