Book Review: Fool Moon (The Dresden Files, Book 2) by Jim Butcher

Mass Market Paperback: 352 pages
Publisher: Roc (January 9, 2001)
ISBN-10: 0451458125
ISBN-13: 978-0451458124

The book starts with the loveable, hard-bitten, wizard detective Harry Dresden, having dinner with a sometimes-apprentice of his, that is picking the depths of his brain for dark magic. From there it takes a frenzied run from scene to scene, dragging poor Harry down the wrong rabbit hole further and further. Perhaps this one is a badger hole? (Do badger’s dig holes?)

I digress.

The characters get more developed. There is mystery to uncover and there are some great battles. One action scene is particularly memorable, though it unbalances the flow of the book some by appearing midway through and overshadowing the ending. But then the ending isn’t this books strongest point anyway.

As you might guess by the title, or maybe not due to the play on words, werewolves are a big factor. For a fan of the mythical beast, this may either make the book fantastic, or make it blasphemous. There are four different types of werewolves, with one type composed of two varieties and a fifth revealed at the end (though you probably guess it for at least half the book—especially if there are any Eddings’ readers out there). Is that enough for ya? It was a little confusing to keep track of all the different types and was needlessly complex. If you look up loup-garou (one of the types) it is an actual term, but just means "werewolf" in French. There are another couple types that you’ll read of that are just made up (as far as I can tell). There’s nothing wrong with that, I was just so convinced by the book, that when I looked them up I fully expected them to mean the same in "real life" (I put that in quotes, because we all know there are no such things as real werewolves... Right? Anybody that raised their hand to contest that statement, please see a therapist.)

I’m starting to notice that Butcher follows the simple but effective premise to subject your characters to as much punishment as possible. Believe me, Dresden gets his fill.

This brings to mind the quote (not sure from whom) of how to do the Three Act Format. You’ve seen it elsewhere no doubt, but it makes me chuckle: Act 1: send your characters up a tree; Act 2: throw rocks at them; Act 3: chop the tree down.

TIMBER!!!!

Overall I liked this installment. It was often formulaic, and the magnificent, multitudinous variety of werewolves seemed a stretch, but it ultimately worked. I’d put it on nearly the same level with the first book, making me interested in reading more in the life of Dresden, but not until I put a couple more books under my belt first. I’d give it a 7 out of 10. (Keep in mind that I am a pretty tough reviewer. But then I feel that a 10 should be nearly unattainable and a 9 be reserved for only the very best. Which is why I disparage the 5 star format mostly used—really limits your options.)

If you haven’t read the first book in the series, I’d start there first. Read my review of Storm Front here.

For everyone else what did you think? I hear that Butcher more or less started the urban fantasy genre. Does that mean we should "thank" him for Twilight? No, no. Don’t hurt the man. He seems nice.

Working with Ads

I'm adding some...uh...ads to the blog. Not looking to get rich... Ok. Hoping, but not looking... Anyways, I want to try to add to the experience and keep things unobtrusive. Nothing worse than huge glaring ads in your face to take away interest.

I'm no expert in the matter, so it is a learning process and I'll be testing the waters with a few things I suppose. First up: I've added some convenient Amazon links to purchase books on the book reviews (not cutting edge, I know. But a start). Plus I put the prerequisite google AdSense text ads. I've looked around to see what else is out there and for now that seems sufficient.

So if you want to support me in my writing habit you can click to buy an advertised book or check out one of the ads.

Any suggestions or thoughts as to the inclusion? Is it enough? Too much? What else should I do?

Book Review: Storm Front (The Dresden Files, Book 1) by Jim Butcher

Mass Market Paperback: 384 pages
Publisher: Roc; First Edition edition (April 10, 2000)
ISBN-10: 0451457811
ISBN-13: 978-0451457813

Jim Butcher's Dresden Files have long been a book series I've heard of but never investigated. Through the continued harassment of reading about it on twitter and hearing about it elsewhere I decided to finally rectify that.

Interesting, with a quirky wit, the book starts very strong. It's told in first-person, from the perspective of Dresden himself. Dresden is a hardened wizard, and Chicago resident, openly advertising his services in the phone book.

At 322 pages I flew through the book. This was its one weak point. At least for me. I'm of the class of readers that enjoys reading strongly developed magic systems in my fantasy, which are therefore complicated and can be time-consuming to absorb. Yes, I loved Lord of the Rings—which has no apparent rules—but that is because of how well developed everything else is. Not because of magic. Dresden's magic is what my ill-informed mind conceives of as "typical" magic. (Feel free to correct me, my esteemed witches and wizards.) Using circles, blood, potions made of strange concoctions (including motor oil and bus tickets... Huh?), talismans, and of course force of will. I won't say that it wasn't enjoyable, in fact some of the battles rocked the cool element, but there were other times where the use of bread and honey to catch a faery was cute, but just didn't seem to catch my interest. (However the following, interplay of dialogue was fantastic.) Yes, it is a current day book, so it probably works well within that context, and for at least the first book, magic was not the driving factor...it was the murder mystery.

With some interesting characters in the form of an animated skull possessed of an air spirit and a ridiculously amusing faery by the name of Toot (short for a beautifully long rolling of syllables that, by Harry's own admission, he would not share—names are power and he wouldn't share without good reason. Yeah, I know, it's an excuse. But it WAS funny.).

Butcher really sticks it to Dresden in this first novel: he has to deal with smooth, business-minded mafia, a haunted past, juiced-up magical law enforcers, a seductive vampire, a black mage that walks in the shadows, and to top it off: Dresden gets his apartment trashed and has to fight off a demon—naked! All the while with overdue rent.

As Butcher's first published novel, this doesn't read like a first book...so something went obviously right. I'd give it an 8 out of 10. Go check it out.

What did you think? Have you read the book? I'm onto the 2nd one now, but it's not catching my attention as much as the 1st did. (correction: it started Meh, but has built to Yay!)

Book Review: Spellwright, by Blake Charlton

I just finished reading the debut novel, Spellwright by Blake Charlton and I'm taking a moment to review it. I never do, but this time I WILL. As Patrick Hester said on the Functional Nerds, "Reviewing a book is hard." And whether he meant it or not is debatable, but I know that it takes time that could otherwise go to something else. So in that fashion, I will agree.

As a first novel it is a solid home run. The prose starts strong, with great characterization and flow. The plot unveils at a good pace and there is some great intrigue between competing factions (in which I would have liked to see more). The magic, as you have no doubt already heard, is different and interesting.

As the novel progresses, the magical languages broaden a bit much for my taste, in a way cheapening what came earlier. I think more focus on a few would have been a stronger choice.

There is a great reveal towards the end, in which I was certain--despite the number of remaining pages--was the ending. It was too perfect of a stopping place though and for whatever reason the book continued to build for events that will probably occur in the sequel. It doesn't kill the story, but it does weaken the impact and the great setup. (If you want to know which reveal I mean, it has to do with the Beastiary--there, now you'll know when you get there.)

If I was to draw a line-chart for the quality of the story as it progressed, I would start high for almost half of the book before a dip which continues till about two-thirds with intermittent turbulence. Then there are some extreme dives, turbo boosts--through what could have been interesting parts of the story--then a sharp rise back up to finish at a decent ascent.

I should note that a new author is often inconsistent in their story telling. It takes quite a while--as you can imagine--to master your prose, story and characters. So, with that in mind, he does an outstanding job. As examples: Sanderson's first attempt, Feist's, Eddings', Farland's, and probably many more all had the same issue (more or less). I know of few, like Rowling, that manage to maintain consistency throughout. It's all about practice, as is everything in life. Even a master like Jordan was hit with much criticism as his epic The Wheel of Time became mired within itself about half way through the series.

Overall, I give it high marks as a first endeavor by a very busy man and will be checking out the upcoming sequel Spellbound. Blake Charlton, if you don't know, is also a medical student and hopefully one day he will extemporize a cure for cancer with Language Prime fluency (don't know what I mean? Read the book). He's an interesting, easy to talk to fellow and you can follow him on twitter if you are so inclined.

I could talk more about the book, but I have to get back to my own writing. What did you think?

The Trials of Revising

Twitter-friend @trinza (aka Zachary Tringali), posted about his troubles with approaching revisions. Sucked into revision-mode as well I can fully commiserate and posted the following on his blog:

I agree that revisions can be DAUNTING (and moving doesn't help). Not only are you trying to refine the work to make it better, but things get added, removed, rearranged, and edited. Constantly running the risk of derailing good flows, messing with plotlines and other problems that can arise when you lose sight of the entirety of the story amidst all the various distractions of work, family and other entertainment.

My book about a character named Hestea Hammerblood keeps evolving--mostly for the good--but when I was reading a couple of the early chapters to my wife recently, I could not stop myself from cringing at the severe infodumps and horrible over-explanations that ensued. Ugh!

Finishing up 3rd Draft of Hestea Hammerblood

Some quick thoughts:

Yes, I'm alive. Just buried in the novel. Trying to keep focused on it and finish up the 3rd draft, which for me I'm feeling can start going to Beta. There's still tons to do and tweak, but I've gotten to a point where I want outside input on my imaginings and if it is just amusing to me, or has some ACTUAL standing power.

Hopefully the latter.

I'm running a little over a month late on it per my time schedule. Though it would be nice if I was signed with a publisher and it was late on their schedule, except they'd probably be very annoyed and threatening to pay me NO more and NEVER again. Ahhh, to dream.

Had a great Fourth with family. Our daughter is growing up so fast, it is an ever-increasing joy to see her interract with friends and family.

Now onto the regularly scheduled lack of blogging and back to revising. See you...soon?

TV will soon...DIE!

In listening to episode 7 of the Functional Nerds podcast (just to make sure I didn't blow it, I'm not THAT narcissistic) I had some additional thoughts on the impact of online video portals like Hulu, Youtube, and Netflix. Thinking about how TV will change, I posted a reply to the podcast (copied below). But if you haven't listended yet, go over to episode 7 first and give a listen:

I'm finding listening to myself on the 'cast as a very weird experience. I sound more intelligent and ridiculous then I expected, all at the same time.

In further thought on the subject of Hulu and Youtube, it seems that in the very near future we will see TV die as we know it. As convenient as Tivo and Cable/Satellite On Demand services are on the TV to many, I think the ability to merely choose and click (whenver you want, from a larger library) will win out. Meaning that Netflix, Hulu, Youtube and others will become portals into video-media worlds just like a channel is on TV to a series of programming. As fast as things are moving, I wonder if we'll use Tivo anymore in ten years.

All those built-in network cards to modern TV's will probably become more and more worth while as we turn to the net for our video entertainment. I only hope the great pipelines on the back-end can hold up under the onslaught.

Up until now I think the podcast has been PG rated at its worst, apparently my first appearance was a bad influence and the 'F' word was uttered with blatant Bob Saget vehemence. I thought I behaved myself, but apparently my sheer presence was enough to subvert...very weird.

Your thoughts?

Listen to me on Functional Nerds

Unbelievable but true, you can listen to me spout (occasionally) along with the Functional Nerds at http://functionalnerds.com/2010/04/episode-007/. Listen to us talk about: Hulu's new subscription service, books, TOR turning 30, slushpiles, and much more...

It was a fun experience, and my very first podcast.

You may ask me, "Why? Why? Oh dear (deity of choice)...why?"

Why do a podcast? Well, because my confused friend, it is good to be part of a community and to talk about those things we hold dear to our nerdly, artistic, little hearts.

Functional Nerds Podcast

So, a little bit of excitement for me is that later this week I'll co-star as a new Third Nerd for Patrick Hester's Third Nerd Army on his and John Anealio's Functional Nerds Podcast. It's just a one shot thing, but maybe if I behave myself and laugh at their jokes and say how clever they are they'll ask me back (or maybe they won't if they read this...hmm...).

If you haven't checked out their new podcast yet, they talk about all things of Nerdly goodness, there is focus on Apple products and a fair amount of talk on music. They also spoke so highly of new author Blake Charlton's first fantasy novel Spellwright that I decided to check it out and was very pleasantly surprised (he has a free excerpt to read on his website—recommended read for most any fan of fantasy).

I don't know what we'll speak on yet, but it is bound to be a varied list.

Anyways, I look forward to the podcast, and hopefully manage to come off as somewhat coherent. But we'll see.

Excerpt from Chronicles of Hestea Hammerblood - Epic Fantasy Novel

Ok, here goes. At long last I'm sharing some of my epic fantasy novel (cue fanfare...aaand cut! That was cheesy. Let's just get to it):

In the land most call Molroun, the evil Sacraith are a fanatical group bent on all out domination. Invading by sea they are a Dark Brotherhood dedicated to the dark arts and their evil god. They sweep into Molroun with their massive forces; destroying and subjugating with sheer force of numbers and arcane magic. In their wake lay devastated lands, near and far, their people enslaved and ruled in fear by their new dark masters.

Some say they have lain in wait for centuries building strength and plotting their rise; a shadow on the world growing in darkness. Others think them to be a sign of another Great Destruction as told of in myth.

Either way, as word spreads of their plague upon humanity, pockets of resistance begin to form in Molroun and other lands. While some of these pockets are turned against their own and some are destroyed, others grow to be sizeable forces to challenge their oppressors. And from these trials a warrior of legend will rise from the destruction.

Read the excerpt here: http://clifton-hill.blogspot.com/p/chronicles-of-hestea-hammerblood-epic.html

As I write this post, part of me is screaming, "No, don't share. It's dangerous. Dang-er-ous! Someone will copy my brilliance and all my hard work will be for naught!"

Problem is that I need to shut that part of me up.