Review: 'The Paths of Cormanor' by Jim Breyfogle

    I was very lucky and was able to get a review copy of Jim Breyfogle's book Paths of Cormanor last week. I read it as an ebook formatted for iBooks.

The Technical and Such: The ebook layout was far superior to the majority with good, crisp fonts and text, a nice layout, proper use of various textual cues, and top-notch editing. If there was a spelling or grammar error, I missed it. The team of writer-copyeditor-editor-layout did a fine job and I was actually impressed with an ebook's composition!

The Plot and Such: Breyfogle did a fine job by keeping the plot very simple and straightforward. This does not mean the characters don't face mysteries or quandaries, it does not mean it is predictable, and it does not mean it is not entertaining. he just understands that a simple plot combined with good pacing and good writing makes a great story.

  The characters were well-drawn and engaging and had a verisimilitude that I find lacking in a lot of contemporary fiction. There were even understandable motivations driving the errors made by the various characters, another thing that seems rare these days. Even minor characters were well-defined.

  The setting was well-crafted and built by hints and implications rather than a data dump. The magic within the book was very, very far from World of Warcraft and retained a sense of wonder rather than a sense of level grinding.

  The worldbuilding was subtle rather than ham-handed and very engaging. I liked the strong sense of a German/Polish/Russian culture that was not intrusive.

The Review: The book is quite good and I heartily recommend it. Although Breyfogle's writing style is different the setting and story reminded me of Vance and Lyonesse while the action was akin to Burroughs in A Fighting Man of Mars. It has been some time since I enjoyed a fantasy novel as much as I did this one, and that book was over 50 years old!

  I can't wait to read his next book.

Bullet Reviews: The End is Nigh

I just finished a collection of short stories about the beginning of the end of the world. The End is Nigh is edited by John Joseph Adams and Hugh Howey. It is the first in a set of three set just before, during, and after various apocalyptic events. I will be doing bullet reviews of each story.

Let's Talk About: The Mangani (Briefly)

  A new Tarzan movie is coming out. Hopefully it won't suck too hard. But the trailer makes it look like they go the Mangani wrong.
  The Mangani are, of course, the species that raised Tarzan. In more contemporary movies and TV they are portrayed as gorillas.
  This is wrong.
  The Mangani are portrayed as being capable of walking upright comfortably for long periods and of being omnivorous with a fondness for meat. They used some tools and even built fairly advanced shelters. They described gorillas as a different species (it is implied Mangani are not as large as gorillas). And, biggest deal of all, they had a complex spoken language!
  Other Mangani were taught human language, were trained to paddle and navigate canoes, and some even wore clothes in order to sneak into a human camp - they are obviously much more human in build, gait. etc. that gorillas and much more intelligent.
  In this language the Mangani spoke of gorillas and chimps as different species but spoke of humans as a "type of" Mangani and humans and Mangani were interfertile - this is a rather Big Deal, actually, showing that the Mangani are very, very close to Humanity!
  But I am guessing that the movie will, once again, have them as gorillas.

Adding to Appendix N: C.J. Cherryh

  Top notch reviewer and all-around gamer Jeffro has been writing about the DMG's Appendix N for some time. Instead of reviewing works on Appendix N, I am going to  write about books I would add to Appendix N.
  I am starting with C.J. Cherryh.

  I first encountered Cherryh's works in 1981 when my father got me a copy of Downbelow Station, which I read twice in one month. Downbelow Station was the beginning of her Alliance-Union Universe books, a set of (technically) about 20 books with about half of those in the 'main storyline' of the Alliance and the Union conflicts. The series is interesting for the nature of hyperspace travel (the overwhelming majority of people need to be drugged to psychologically survive jump) and for her analysis of the interplay between different human cultures.

  My favorite series of hers is probably the Fortress Series, five books in a decidedly non-Tolkien fantasy world where magic is very, very different than you might think. The viewpoint character might be what is essentially and Elf summoned by a wizard to (once again!) overthrow all the nearby human kingdoms by himself. Or maybe he's just a guy with amnesia.  Or maybe he's something else.
  A nice, realistic look at what actual fantasy world diplomacy might look like combined with a fascinating concept of magic.

  Her first books form the Morgaine Cycle (which are technically in the Alliance-Union Universe) and the books are more fantasy than science fiction (there is no magic, but the 'lost' technology of the gates looks like magic and the worlds involve feudalism, knights, sword fights, etc.). The series is based upon the Gates - devices that allow travel between hundreds, maybe thousands, of worlds. They also permit time travel. At least one major civilization has accidentally wiped itself out by the incautious use of time travel.
  The Morgaine of the title is on a quest to destroy all the gates to prevent their misuse and the destruction of everything by time paradox.

  Cherryh has actually alien aliens, non-Tolkien fantasy, work based on Slavic folklore, SF westerns where the horses are psionic, and a lot more. Her work is a treasure trove of great ideas for gamers and a fun read on their own.

  So - I would add Cherryh to Appendix N