DRAGONS of SPRING DAWNING (Dragonlance Chronicles, Book 3) (audiobook) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Originally published in 1985.

Audiobook published in 2012 by Audible Studios.

Duration: 16 hours, 26 minutes.

Read by Paul Boehmer'

Unabridged.

I distinctly remember loving this series 40 years ago and excitedly visiting my local bookstore to pick up a new one when they were published. I was an avid player of Dungeons and Dragons and a book series released by the publishers of Dungeons and Dragons was a guaranteed win. As the series continued to print new books, I kept on buying them. I probably owned dozen or so of them.

Somewhere along the way I sold off my Dragonlance collection. I worked part time at a used bookstore at one point and they probably ended up there.

When I found the books in audiobook format, I decided that it was time to revisit these books and see if they held up to my memories of uncritical acclaim.

Synopsis:

In The Dragons of Spring Dawning, the forces of the Dragon Queen are rolling up victory after victory. But, rather than confidently rolling up the scattered forces arrayed against them, they are pausing to search for a man knows as "The Green Gemstone Man."

The companions are still split up. Tanis flees the bedroom (and self-imposed prison) of the self-absorbed Kitiara. He and his friends had previously bought passage on a smuggler ship and Tanis had noted that the pilot was The Green Gemstone Man, unaware at the time that he was the subject of a manhunt.

Tanis and his companions convince the captain to leave port, even though a massive winter storm is expected. Dragons pursue, the storm rages and they steer into a whirlpool.

And that's when things start to get thorny...

My Review:

Was the series as good as I remember? 

No. It's good, but not amazing, especially this last volume. When the stakes were smaller in the first book, the book was better. Don't get me wrong, the situation in the first book was serious, but not as serious as saving the entire world and I think the ending was a bit forced. 

*********Spoilers**********

The idea that the Dragon Queen would stop offensive actions and bring all of her generals and their armies together in one location to impress them with her arrival from the spirit realm is more than a bit ridiculous. I understand that it feeds into the idea that evil is more than a bit self-absorbed so the Dragon Queen wants the admiration and awe of her more than anything else, but...C'mon! She's a narcissistic evil being, not an idiot! Having all of your forces in one place is bound to be trouble.

Also, I have never seen a character more charmed by a good time in bed than Tanis. His adoration of Kitiara after she has demonstrated her true ways goes against everything we've learned about him from the first pages of the first book. The moment when he finds his senses is supposed to be epic - I just wondered why it was even a struggle.

*********End spoilers*********

To be fair, this book has great scenes. The loss of certain characters is touching and well done, The chase scene through the mountains is riveting. In a lot of ways, this trilogy is the story of the growth of Tasslehoff Burrfoot. He grows up in ways that his people rarely do. 

The reading by Paul Boehmer was once again good, but not great. 

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Dragons of Spring Dawning (Dragonlance Chronicles, Book 3) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.

I rate the series 4 stars out of 5. There are two more books that were added on to the original trilogy, but I am going to stop right here.

DRAGONS of WINTER NIGHT: DRAGONLANCE CHRONICLES, BOOK TWO (audiobook) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Originally published in book form in 1985.
Audiobook published by Audible Studios in 2013.
Read by Paul Boehmer.

Duration: 17 hours, 52 minutes.

Unabridged.

Synopsis:

The war against the Dragon Queen continues.

The forces of good pulled off a major victory at the end of the last novel, but now the forces of evil are looking for revenge. 

Tanis, Flint, Goldmoon, Laurana, and the rest of the intrepid companions head off in search of new ways to fight the Dragon Queen's advancing armies. Or, if that fails - lead a refugee exodus. They use an ancient map from before the Cataclysm to find a legendary seaport only to find that it is no longer anywhere near the sea due to the immense destruction of the Cataclysm.

As the companions try to figure out their next steps, an armada of dragons attacks the city, breathing flames from above. Dragon Army ground troops swarm into the city and the companions are split into two groups while Tanis faces the decision of a lifetime.

My Review:

This is a solid story with compelling action scenes that gets bogged down in protracted political discussions and Tanis's unwillingness to just make a decision.

Paul Boehmer's reading is solid, but not amazing. 

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: DRAGONS of WINTER NIGHT: DRAGONLANCE CHRONICLES, BOOK TWO.

DRAGONS of AUTUMN TWILIGHT (Dragonlance Chronicles #1) (audiobook) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

Originally published in 1984.
Audiobook published in 2013 by Audible Studios.
Read by Paul Boehmer.
Duration: 20 hours, 0 minutes.
Unabridged.

Way back when, I read every book in this series from cover to cover as quickly as they came out. I did the same with at least two other follow-up series from these authors and, if I remember correctly, I read other books that were connected to this series - but not by the original authors. I proudly had about a dozen related books on my book shelf.

That was 40 years ago. I sold those books along the way and had largely forgotten about them. I was reminded of them and I decided to listen to the audiobook version of the first book just to see if they were as good as I remembered.

Synopsis:

Krynn is a mostly peaceful place years after a calamity caused the people to turn away from the old gods. Cynicism abounds and the people worship new gods that may not after much comfort, but at least they didn't turn away from the people at their time of greatest need.

There are elves, humans, multiple types of dwarves, Kinder (halflings with zero impulse control), and humans of all sorts. Honorable knights still serve, but the people doubt their sincerity. Strange barbarians live out in the wild spaces and magic users can memorize spells to do any number of miraculous and dangerous things. 

A group of brave of explorers can make a small fortune exploring the ruins of the world before the destruction came - if they can fight.

The book starts with just such a group of explorers who are reuniting after splitting up to look into rumors of strange new armies arising, clerics serving gods no one has heard of, and possibly even the return of the ultimate creatures of the legends of the olden days - dragons!

Once the group assembles back in their home town the action starts almost immediately and they have to flee into the wilderness. As they work their across Krynn they find out that the rumors are much more than idle stories.

My review:

The original cover that I remember. 
Check out the $2.95 price!

This series reads exactly like a well-run Dungeons and Dragons campaign - because that is what it was designed to be. The creators of D&D released a campaign you could buy to go along with the book (or do something completely different than the characters in the book do.)

Back when I first read the series I was a regular player of D&D and this book felt very comfortable. Experienced D&D players will see the obvious NPC characters and even the little escapes the dungeon master will have built in to make sure the players have a successful campaign. 

The characters are pretty standard fantasy characters - a grumpy old dwarf, haughty elves, a mostly brawn fighter, a mostly brains magic user whose only loyalty is to himself, a paladin with an unbending code of honor, enthusiastic but unskilled newbies, a conflicted leader, and more.

Does it work?

After a slow start, it really does work very well. The first 3 or 4 hours of this 20 hour audiobook were slow, but once it gets going, it's worth it.

The characters make it work, as it is with all good books. In this case, two minor characters make the second half of the series fun and touching: Fizban the befuddled old wizard and Flamestrike, the grieving and senile old dragon. Excellent characters make for memorable scenes. Once I was reminded of Flamestrike, I immediately remembered her touching and dramatic final scene that I read 40 years earlier. 40 years later it was as good as I had remembered. 

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Dragons of Autumn Twilight.

WITCHY (graphic novel) by Ariel Slamet Ries

Originally published in 2019.

Witchy started out as a highly acclaimed webcomic that has since been printed as a graphic novel on high quality paper. 

Witchy is set in a world where magic exists and the length on a person's hair determines the power of the magic user. The kingdom of Hyalin uses magic users to enforce its regime. They train young users in an academy with the goal of providing magic users as soldiers in the elite Witch Guard. The Witch Guard fights external enemies and tamps down internal dissent with brutal, often lethal force.

The graphic novel has a lot of positive things:

-The drawings are clean, crisp, and very clear. The art is great.

-The characters all easy to differentiate from one another (sometimes artists makes a lot of characters that look alike).

-There are several great characters, especially the raven familiar.

But, there are negative things as well:

-The ground rules of the universe are not explained well. This graphic novel deserved an written introduction page, much like the famed scrolling text in the Star Wars movies. It would have benefitted from even a few sentences, like the three sentences at the beginning of James Gunn's Superman movie. The back cover of the book provides some necessary information, but not enough.

-Because the ground rules were not explained well, I often was somewhat confused and did not understand the actual stakes involved in some dramatic scenes.

-Interesting story lines are developed and then dropped in an effort to move the story along. In particular, I am thinking about the characters in the school and how they relate to the main character, Nyneve. It didn't help to move the story along when this reader was still trying to understand the basic rules of this world. Remaining in the school longer would have allowed more character development and let the reader learn more of the ground rules.

I rate this graphic novel 3 stars out of 5. Not bad, but it seems like it was a missed opportunity to be so much more.

This graphic novel can be found on Amazon.com here: Witchy by Ariel Slamet Ries.

THE GIRL from the SEA (graphic novel) (kindle) by Molly Knox Ostertag

 

Illustrated by the author.
Published in 2021 by Graphix.
Winner of the British Fantasy Award for Best Comic/Graphic Novel (2022)

Synopsis:

Morgan Kwon's parents have recently divorced. 15 year old Morgan, her annoying little brother and her mom have moved away from the city to an island just off of mainland Canada.

Morgan seems to be doing pretty well. After all, she has a great group of friends. But, there are struggles. Her little brother has become extra annoying, she misses her dad and she can't wait to get off of this island and go to college and be her true self. 

You see, Morgan has a secret that she is afraid to share with anyone - she's gay and she's afraid her friends and family will reject her if they find out.

It all comes to a head when she meets a very cute girl while swimming one day. There is a more than a spark of romance, but it turns out that this new girl has a secret that dwarfs Morgan's secret!

My review:

This is an absolutely enjoyable coming-of-age story. The publisher recommends grade 7 and higher and I agree with that recommendation. The book has two main plots - Morgan's secret and the new girl's even bigger secret. But, it also has an environmental subplot, a strong family message and a tiny sweet subplot that is sort of hidden throughout. This book contains no nudity and nothing sexual beyond a few kisses.

I rate this graphic novel 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: THE GIRL from the SEA (graphic novel) (kindle) by Molly Knox Ostertag.

NOTE: I only heard of this book because it was listed in an article about a MAGA parent who is challenging 3,600 books in a county school district in Florida in an effort to, as he describes it, "overwhelm" their challenge procedures. The parent was particularly unhappy about The Girl from the Sea and is quite vocal about it.

HARRY POTTER and the HALF-BLOOD PRINCE (Harry Potter #6) by J.K. Rowling

 

Originally published in 2009.
Published by Pottermore Publishing in 2015.
Read by Jim Dale.
Duration: 18 hours, 32 minutes.
Unabridged.

The Half-Blood Prince is the book that one of my daughters complained about several years ago when she read it. She said it was too much talking and not enough action. Certainly when compared to the previous two books, there is a lot less action and a whole lot more talking. Rowling changed up the narrative and tells the back story of the villain of the series, Lord Voldemort, by way of an investigation by Dumbledore and Harry.

The pace is certainly slower, but the information was valuable. Perhaps it might have been delivered differently, but I was glad to have it. 

The last two hours of the audiobook were full of nothing but action and consequential moments. 

Jim Dale continued to do a great job with the book, with the exception of the voice of Hermione. 


This is my favorite cover of the entire series. Once you get done with the book you can see that it covers the major points of the story in one picture. Well done.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5 and I look forward to the last book of the series.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: HARRY POTTER and the HALF-BLOOD PRINCE (Harry Potter #6) by J.K. Rowling.

Note: this entire book series has been on banned book lists multiple times since it was originally published due to complaints from religious conservatives. Check out this website for more info.

HARRY POTTER and the PRISONER of AZKABAN (Harry Potter #3) (audiobook) by J.K. Rowling

Originally Published in 1999.

This audio edition published by Pottermore in 2015.
Read by Jim Dale
Duration: 11 hours, 49 minutes.
Unabridged

I am 21 years late to the Harry Potter party. I had seen the first movie and some of the second one but I knew nothing of this novel so I was able to come to it without having already formed any sort of impression.

The first part of Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban disappointed me. The tried and true plot points of the first two novels were brought back (Harry and his horrible muggle family, yet another shopping trip for school supplies, a new super-fast broom was being sold, and a focus on the strange candy.  The monster books that were actually monsters themselves probably delight children (and it is a children's book so that it is appropriate), but this middle-aged teacher kept wondering what is wrong with the administration at Hogwarts when they let a teacher order a book like that!

A little past the halfway point, the novel takes a darker turn. This was a welcome change - the novel gets much more complicated and adult. Harry has multiple tough decisions to make and the action gets pretty complicated pretty quickly. I would rate the first half of the book 3 stars out of 5. I'd rate the second half of the book 4.5 out of 5. I'll make the whole book 4 stars out of 5.

The narrator, Jim Dale, is both a plus and a minus to the book. His voice characterizations for Hagrid and Professor McGonagall are excellent. However, almost all of his Slytherin characters sound the same and his characterization of Hermione Granger is horrible. She sounds like a nagging whiner.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: HARRY POTTER and the PRISONER of AZKABAN (Harry Potter #3) by J.K. Rowling.

Note: this entire book series has been on banned book lists multiple times since it was originally published due to complaints from religious conservatives. Check out this website for more info.

HARRY POTTER and the CHAMBER of SECRETS (Harry Potter #2) (audiobook) by J.K. Rowling

This book was originally published on paper in 1998.

Re-mastered audiobook version published in 2015 by Pottermore Publishing.

Read by Jim Dale.

Duration: 9 hours, 3 minutes.

Unabridged.

Harry Potter returns for his second year at Hogwarts. Volume 2 follows a similar pattern as the first one in that we begin with Harry enduring a summer with his horrible muggle (non-magical) family, going off to Diagon Alley to shop for back-to-school shopping and then having an eventful trip to school with his supplies. We hear about his classes, quidditch, his teachers, his friends and some foul goings on at the school that threaten everything.

But, there are plenty of differences and that make this book much more enjoyable than the first book. There is much less macro "world building" going on because the general parameters have already been set. Instead, interesting details are fleshed out. For me, as an adult first-time reader, the relationship between those who can do magic and the muggle world and the controversy in the wizarding world over how inter-related these worlds should be.

Jim Dale read this audiobook. Jim Dale's reading is a mixed bag. His take on Lockhart, Dobby and Hagrid are fantastic. But, his voices for the Malfoys, and snake and Voldemort all sound essentially the same. I get it - Slytherin and snakes. Do other characters sound like the animal that represent their houses? His characterization of Hermione always sounds like she is whining.

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: HARRY POTTER and the CHAMBER of SECRETS (Harry Potter #2) by J.K. Rowling.

Note: this entire book series has been on banned book lists multiple times since it was originally published due to complaints from religious conservatives. Check out this website for more info.

HARRY POTTER and the SORCERER'S STONE (Harry Potter #1) (audiobook) by J.K. Rowling

Originally published on paper in 1997 by Scholastic.
Originally published as an audiobook in 1999.
Published in 2015 by Pottermore.
Read by Jim Dale.
Duration: 8 hours, 18 minutes.
Unabridged.

Truth time. This was my first time with the book form of Harry Potter. I'd seen the first movie and maybe the second, but never actually read or listened to any of them. This is a big deal for me because I am generally a fan of the wonderful world of nerd stuff. 

I will dispense with the plot stuff since just about everybody, even me, knew the bare outline - orphaned wizard boy with no friends and hated by his relatives that took him in, special magic school, Quidditch, and a creepy bad guy that killed the boy's parents.

So, what did I think?

This book is so adored and so talked up that it couldn't possibly live up to the hype. But, I liked it. I am looking forward to the other books. It is my understanding that they get more complicated and I certainly don't know the plots of the other books (beyond the annual attack by Voldemort).

Jim Dale read the audiobook version I listened to because it was the American version. The British version is read by Stephen Fry. Jim Dale's voices were all solid except for Hermione. She consistently sounded shrill and whiny.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here:  HARRY POTTER and the SORCERER'S STONE (Harry Potter #1) (audiobook) by J.K. Rowling.

Note: this entire book series has been on banned book lists multiple times since it was originally published due to complaints from religious conservatives. Check out this website for more info.

I FIND YOUR LACK of FAITH DISTURBING: STAR WARS and the TRIUMPH of GEEK CULTURE (audiobook) by A.D. Jameson

Published in May of 2018 by Macmillan Audio.
Duration: 6 hours, 58 minutes.
Read by Holter Graham.
Unabridged.

A.D. Jameson is a student of cinema - not just science fiction and fantasy movies, but of cinema in general. I used the word "student" in the previous sentence carefully because he is not just a fan of movies, he studies the directors, the movements and the ideas behind the movies.

Photo by DWD

But, he is also a proud geek - a fan of sci-fi and fantasy literature and movies. Like me, he was really into those genres in middle and high school, moved away from them for a while during and after college and then came back to them in a big way when the Star Wars "Special Edition" movies were released.

My own children do not believe me, but there was once a time when the mere sight of a Star Wars t-shirt or bumper sticker was worthy of comment. Now, they are everywhere. My family probably owns more than 20 Star Wars-related t-shirts alone.

A.D. Jameson explores how this happened by focusing on the world of cinema and television. He argues that Star Trek, not the original run on NBC but the re-run episodes running night after night, day after day until everyday, normal TV viewers got used to the idea of spaceships and aliens. When Star Trek was starting to fizzle out, Star Wars came in and made a big splash - the biggest splash in movie history up to that point. When the Star Wars phenomenon started to fade away, Star Trek came back with the movies and then with four different TV shows that spanned 18 years. Many of those shows aired every day (sometimes multiple times per day) because they were syndicated.

Star Wars came back with the troubled (but immensely successful) prequel series. X-Men movies started coming out - another troubled franchise, but it has been going on for 19 years! The Lord of the Rings movies and suddenly it seemed like every movie was a sci-fi, fantasy or a comic book movie.

As I mentioned, Jameson focuses on TV and especially cinema, spending a lot of time arguing that Star Wars fits perfectly well in with its peers from the time period like Bonnie and Clyde and The Godfather. He makes a compelling argument, one that would undoubtedly be argued against by Martin Scorsese when you consider the ruckus he has kicked up with his comments about the Marvel Cinematic Universe.  While I was interested in all of this exploration of cinema, the book title gives the reader the impression that "geek culture" was going to be explored in a meaningful way. Culture is more than movies. I assumed that the book was going to explore how we went from being a culture where sci-fi and fantasy were fringe movements in everyday life to the point where the truck in the picture I posted with this review is driven around in central Indiana, but it is largely unexplored.

His comments on Star Trek and its influence on culture as a beacon to where we might one day end up as a society (more open, more accepting) were quite good. It occurred to me that among my many behavioral role models are Jesus and Jean-Luc Picard - and those two don't clash with one another at all.

The audiobook was well-read by Holter Graham. He did such a good job at sounding like he was into the topic that I actually assumed that the author was self-narrating the book until I checked.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5. I have to take off a star for mostly failing to address one of the themes mentioned in the title. Still, it is a good book. It can be found on Amazon.com here: I FIND YOUR LACK of FAITH DISTURBING: STAR WARS and the TRIUMPH of GEEK CULTURE by A.D. Jameson.

DRAGONWORLD by Byron Preiss and Michael Reaves

Originally published in 1979.
Illustrations by Joseph Zucker.

Way back in 1985, I bought a paperback copy of Dragonworld at Viewpoint Books - a great store in Columbus, Indiana. I sold it to a used book store a few years later and I forgot all about it.

A couple of years ago, I found a copy of Dragonworld at a thrift store. I snatched it up, feeling like I had found a relic from my past. I remembered that I loved the beginning of the book and I loved the pictures (there are more than 80 pencil drawings throughout the book), but I couldn't remember anything else about it.

So, I finally got around to reading this book and I have determined that I did not finish the book 34 years ago. I remembered the first 30 pages or so but everything else was a surprise - and not a particularly good one (with the exception of the aforementioned drawings - they are quite excellent).

The book is set in a world with two continents separated by a narrow strait of very volatile water. The eastern continent, Simbala, is filled with people that are like Tolkien's rangers and people that are sort of like elves (but they are still people). They live in the woods and in the forests. They fly air ships, which are sort of like hot air balloons. They also dig deep mines (which is not like elves, I know, but this is barely touched on in the book). The western continent, Fandora, is full of people that are sort of like Tolkien's hobbits mixed with his dwarves. They are farmers, villagers and fishermen.

Fandora is horrified by the sudden violent death of two of its young people. It looks like both are attacked from above, so it is assumed that Simbalese air ships have crossed the strait and attacked them. The Fandoran villages unite and build a ragtag army to cross the sea.

*******Spoliers ahead**********

Meanwhile, a similar attack has hit the people of Simbala. This is where the story gets bogged down. Simbala has an elderly monarch and an extensive royal family but the king has done an unpopular thing (but, then again, maybe it's popular - it depends on the page). He has appointed a miner to be king. The miner is quick-thinking and acted to save the country from an attack by underground creatures (think hobgoblins from Lord of the Rings) and their wolf-things. There is a dramatic build-up to deal with some sort of problem with the mines, but it is dropped and never brought up again.

art from the book

(still more spoilers)

The new king is named Hawkwind and he is an amazingly talented individual. Not only is he an excellent miner, he also had time to learn how to sword fight, how to hunt, how to track things in the wilderness, how to ride horses better than anyone, train that horse to fight alongside him, learn military tactics, learn military strategy, learn diplomacy, acquire a complete education of the lore of his kingdom, romance a gypsy princess and train a hawk to fly around and fight alongside him. No wonder he was made king! Imagine Aragon from Lord of the Rings but make him take a full job as a miner in his spare time.

(one last paragraph of spoilers)

Enter the dragons. Actually, they are coldrakes, which are like dragons, but dumb. Kind of like chimpanzees when compared to humans. There is a mixed breed dragon/coldrake (don't think too long about my previous comparison of humans and chimps) that is worried about the future of the coldrakes. He is moving them from the frigid north to the human-filled south (and he killed the children of Simbala and Fandora, causing the war). He is the most interesting character because he is doing bad things in a misguided effort to save his own kind. But, in the end, he is quickly dispatched.

*************End spoilers*********

By far, the best part of this book is the pictures.

The real problem of this book is that it should have been a trilogy. The situation in the mines could have been addressed. The war could have been more fleshed out. The dragon/coldrake issue could have been a book by itself. Plus, there's a hint of a sequel that never happened. 

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: DRAGONWORLD by Byron Preiss and Michael Reaves.

THE EYES of the DRAGON by Stephen King

Originally published in 1984.
Published by Penguin Audio in 2010.
Read by Bronson Pinchot.
Duration: 10 hours, 18 minutes.
Unabridged

The ancient kingdom of Delain is ruled by a good king, but not a great king. He is a widower with two sons and an ancient, yet seemingly ageless, magician adviser named Flagg. His oldest son is Peter - a son who shows all of the signs that he will be a great and good king in the future. His youngest son is Thomas, a young man who is a lot like his father. Thomas is very jealous of the well-deserved attention lavished upon Peter and often turns to his only friend - Flagg.

Flagg is very powerful, long-lived and an omnipresent dark force in the royal palace. In reality, he is more than a mere magician, he is a malignant force that seeks to create chaos and disorder above all else. Flagg is a frequent character in Stephen King books, most notably in The Stand and The Dark Tower series. This book is his second appearance in King's work.

Flagg poisons the king and frames Prince Peter for the regicide. Peter is sentenced to live in a high tower the rest of his life and the young and woefully unprepared Prince Thomas becomes King. Flagg advises Peter and steers the kingdom on a course that will lead to chaos and civil war.

But, high up in his tower, Peter has a plan...

The author, Stephen King

This book is different than the majority of King's books, being an epic fantasy rather than a horror book. It is also presented differently as well. This book has a narrator that acts as a storyteller that often speaks directly to the reader as though we were all sitting around a campfire or a hearth on a cold winter's night. 

The audiobook is read by award-winning narrator Bronson Pinchot. When I say that it is read, though, I am not doing his work justice. He doesn't just read this book. He performs it. He screams, he cries out, he laughs. His characterization of Flagg is so creepy, so scary, that it makes the character emerge fully formed in the listener's consciousness. At the end of the book, when Flagg's true nature is shown to everyone, his screams, his anger, his unhinged-ness (if that is a word) are captured by Pinchot perfectly. 

This is not a perfect audiobook - the story simply lags at too many points for that. But, it is a good story and it is well worth it just to hear Pinchot's audio performance.

I rate this audiobook 4 stars out of 5.

This audiobook can be found on Amazon.com here: THE EYES of the DRAGON by Stephen King.

STANDARD HERO BEHAVIOR by John David Anderson

Published in 2007 by Clarion Books

Indianapolis native John David Anderson's Standard Hero Behavior is a tongue-in-cheek look at the Lord of the Rings type fantasy world, sort of like The Princess Bride. 

Mason Quayle is a young, under-employed bard (he write epic songs about heroes and the like) and his best friend Cowel sells epic plumes for the hats of heroes (think Three Musketeer hats). The problem is that they live in a town that used to be full of heroes but the new duke of their city has the monsters under control. It used to take dozens of heroes, now it is handled by one man. Mason can't figure out how he does it all by himself because his father used to be the most-requested bard for all of those heroes and he's very familiar with the old songs and stories.

But, that was a long time ago. His father is gone, disappeared along with several of the most powerful heroes while off on an epic quest. 

One day Mason is summoned to the Duke's home and he finds out that everything is not as it seemed and he and his friend have to go out and find the old heroes before it is too late...

I really liked the premise of this book but as the book went along I felt like it just didn't live up to its potential. It wasn't a bad book, it just wasn't as good as I felt that it could have been.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Standard Hero Behavior by John David Anderson.

BORDERLINE (The Arcadia Project #1) by Mishell Baker

An intriguing mix of the old to make something new

Published in March of 2016

The best cooks can take a couple of tired old recipes and do something special to mix them together and make something that feels like it is brand new.   

Mishell Baker has taken bits of several popular movies and thrown them together with a a couple of well-known book genres and created something entirely unique in Borderline. Take a handful of Jack Nicholson's 1974 classic movie Chinatown, fold it into Will Smith's Men in Black, add to it a pinch of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe by C.S. Lewis and a giant handful of Stephen R. Donaldson's Thomas Covenant the Unbeliever and you have an approximation of what this book is like. It is a crazy jumbled mess that comes pretty close to being brilliant.

Millie Roper is a former film student who shattered her body when she jumped off a building in an attempted suicide. She suffers from mental illness, has two prosthetic legs and is a very difficult person to get along with. She has grown weary of the mental health facility that she has been living in so she is intrigued when a stranger approaches her and recruits her to join the Arcadia Project. The Project is not explained well and, despite the fact that her therapist at the facility warns her away, Millie is intrigued and agrees to join the Arcadia Project.

Photo by Oreos

What is supposed to be a routine beginning at the Arcadia Project turns ugly as Millie discovers that a missing Hollywood movie star is also a visitor from another dimension. His home is full of mythical creatures like faeries and elves and travel back and forth is possible through a handful of portals. One of those portals is in the Los Angeles area and has long been a vital part of the Hollywood movie scene. But, a simple missing person case becomes something much more complicated and pushes her beyond her physical and emotional limits as Millie scrambles to stop an open war between our world and a world of unlimited powerful magic...

For me, the only thing that stopped this book from being a truly great book is the difficulty of its main character, Millie. Her mental illness often makes her a narcissistic, petty and childish. But, a premise of the book is that mentally ill people sometimes are able to see and understand things that others fail to notice because they don't approach things with the proper vantage point. So, Millie and her quirks are essential to make the book work but, ultimately, the book gets bogged down in them.

That being said, the book is something new and different, even it is made up of a whole lot of familiar items. If you are looking for a change of pace and you are a fan of sci-fi and fantasy this book should work nicely. 

I rate this book 4 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: Borderline (The Arcadia Project)

OLD NATHAN by David Drake

Originally published in 1991 by Baen Books

David Drake, a science fiction author who usually specializes in tales of high-tech fighting told from the grunt's point of view changes pace with Old Nathan, a tale of backwoods folk magic. 

Set in the the 1830s in rural Tennessee, this book features Old Nathan, often called the "cunning man". Old Nathan suffered a life-changing injury during the battle of Kings Mountain in the Revolutionary War. As he recovered, he discovered that he had been gifted with some magical powers, including the ability to talk with animals. 

Fifty years later, he is living in Tennessee and serves as the local area's potion-maker and a resolver of problems of last resort. He also can cast some spells. He does not understand the powers, but he understands that the spells he cast do not always resolve the problems the way that his clients hope.

Photo by DWD

The book consists of five interrelated short stories. The best story by far is the last one but you really cannot understand it without reading the other four and they are pretty boring. The stories are long on descriptions of Old Nathan traveling by donkey and dire warnings about using magic but I just never really bought into the characters. Nathan was intentionally stand-offish and mysterious and difficult to relate to. The locals all around him were rubes or just difficult to like or even be interested in.

This book can be found here on Amazon.com: Old Nathan.

I rate this book 2 stars out of 5.

THE ISLANDS of the BLESSED (Sea of Trolls trilogy #3) (audiobook) by Nancy Farmer

Published by Simon and Schuster Audio in 2009.
Duration: 13 hours, 30 minutes
Read by Gerard Doyle

Jack, the apprentice Bard from late 8th century Saxon England and his difficult friend Thorgil, the Viking girl, continue their adventures in The Islands of the Blessed, the conclusion to their trilogy (although there is an opening for the series to continue...). 

As with the other books in this series, Jack and Thorgil come into contact with a host of fairy tale creatures such as Mermen and Mermaids, Hogboons, Half-trolls and even a Viking god as Nancy Farmer demonstrates the depth of her research into European mythology. Jack and Thorgil join the bard on a quest to correct a horrible wrong done by Father Severus on a Mermaid  years ago (the Merpeople are called Fin Folk in this book) that has caused her to become a fearsome ghostly creature that kills and spreads disease and destruction. 

A Viking Longship in the Bayeux Tapestry.
Photo by Urban.

In this book, the adventure returns to the form of the first book and heads out to the open sea in Viking long boats. But, sadly, this book is much more like the second book of the series than the first. The book quickly deteriorates into a series of rather pointless confrontations with random monsters that are the unfortunate by-product of Nancy Farmer's meticulous research. Rather than develop a creature and flesh it out as a character (which the first book did so well with the Trolls and their world) this book just throws the out as a series of obstacles that Jack must overcome in his quest. It reminded me of the worst of the adventures that I helped create when I played Dungeons and Dragons in Junior High and High School.

The best parts of the book are when Jack struggles with the immense changes his world is undergoing. Christianity is a new arrival and Jack struggles with blending his Christian worldview and his pagan worldview.  He struggles with a Christianity that allows Father Severus to be so cruel. But, he has the example of Father Aidan who exudes a much more subtler style of Christianity and who comes so much closer to living up to the ideals of Christianity. Jack respects those ideals and espouses them at a critical moment that I cannot detail here because of spoilers. But, he is also a practitioner of magic that Christianity condemns (or at least discourages, depending on the location).  He also struggles with his friends the Vikings - fantastic friends, loyal to a fault who will gladly slit your throat and sell your sister into slavery and the Viking brand of paganism that glorifies death above all. 

As I listened, I was struck by the idea that the best parts of the book were constantly being subverted by yet another mythical beast's arrival making the book much longer and all the poorer.

Gerald Doyle's narration was extraordinary, as it was in the other two books of this trilogy.

It can be found on Amazon here: The Islands of the Blessed (Sea of Trolls Trilogy)

Click on the Nancy Farmer label below to see the other reviews of the books in this trilogy.

I rate this book 3 stars out of 5. 

THE LAND of the SILVER APPLES (Sea of Trolls Trilogy #2) (audiobook) by Nancy Farmer

Did Not Have the Same Spirit as the First Book in This Trilogy.

Published by Simon and Schuster Audio in 2007.
Performed by Gerald Doyle
Duration: 13 hours, 31 minutes.
Unabridged

It is the year 794 and Jack, the 13-year-old Bard-in-training from what is now the United Kingdom is on a new mission. Having recently returned from his adventures with the Vikings and the Frost Giants (detailed in Book #1 of this trilogy, The Sea of Trolls) Jack's new adventure begins in The Land of the Silver Apples with a mid-winter ceremony led by his teacher, known simply as The Bard. 

The ceremony is supposed to symbolize renewal by ridding the village of all fire. Then, the village gathers in one place and creates a new fire and re-ignites everyone's hearth fires from this new fire. The ceremony has few hard and fast rules, but Jack's self-absorbed sister, Lucy, breaks one of them by bringing metal to the ceremony in the form of a beautiful silver necklace that she was given during their trip to the Viking homeland.

Because of this necklace, a change comes over each of the members of Jack's family. Jack develops a cruel streak, his father becomes even more blind to Lucy's self-absorbed nature and starts to exhibit uncharacteristically greedy tendancies. Jack and Lucy's mother, a "wise woman" with a touch of magic power even is affected. So, The Bard leads a group to St. Fillian's well, a monastery that is supposed to use the water from the well to cure possession. The monastery is in a kingdom controlled by a cruel king.

Once they arrive, things go badly right from the beginning. Jack is attacked with magic by an unseen (to everyone but Jack) woman who comes from the waters of the well. Later, she kidnaps Lucy and takes her into the well and the waters of the well dry up despite Jack's best efforts to save her.

As a punishment, Jack is sent down into the well (now a dried up cave entrance) to figure out what the problem is and fix it. The Bard cannot travel with him because it will be too difficult for the old man to traverse the caverns. Jack is accompanied by Pega, a young recently-freed former slave girl that is considered to be hideously ugly but has a hauntingly beautiful singing voice. The last member of their group is Brutus, a man who acts like a fawning slave when in the presence of the king but once he is away from the king he quickly asserts that he is a knight and also the rightful ruler of the kingdom - and also a true descendant of Lancelot!

As they travel through the caverns this party finds one adventure after another, including monsters that make themselves look like the scariest thing you can imagine, a forest that consumes people it does not like, hobgoblins, kelpies and, of course, the self-absorbed elves who live in "The Land of the Silver Apples". 

Along the way, Jack and Pega lose Brutus but they find the girl Thorgill, Jack's companion for a lot of the action in Book #1.

Farmer mixes Celtic, Norse, Saxon and Christian beliefs throughout this book, much more than in the first one. This was a time when all of those beliefs were in active play and the story of the Elves mixes the religious traditions the most. 

Gerald Doyle reads the entire Sea of Trolls trilogy and he does an inspired job with this book. He gives real character to the all of the characters and all of the mythical races that appear throughout the books. 

But, his remarkable performance does little to help with the pacing of the book. The story of their time in the hobgoblin village takes entirely too long and just drags on and on. Farmer keeps on re-iterating Thorgill's irascibility, Pega's good nature and Jack's doubts about Brutus. Yeah, yeah. We got it the first fifty times you said it.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5. Two or three hours could have been cut out of this book and it would have only improved it. The quest had none of the drive or quick pace of the first book.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: The Land of the Silver Apples.

Reviewed on December 22, 2014

THE SEA of TROLLS (Sea of Trolls Trilogy #1) (audiobook) by Nancy Farmer

Published in 2004 by Recorded Books
Performed by Gerard Doyle
Duration: 13 hours, 51 minutes
Unabridged

Brilliantly read by Gerard Doyle, The Sea of Trolls is essentially the story of a young boy living in 793 England who is kidnapped by Vikings, taken back to their home and eventually returns home.

But, this story is so much more than that.

Jack is an adolescent that lives in an English coastal village with his parents and younger sister. This world is Christian with a hefty bit of pagan practices thrown in. This is not a comfortable mix.

Jack is invited to be the apprentice for the local bard. Bards are more than mere story-telling musicians - they can weave magic by being in touch with something called the Life Force. Their music can enhance and focus their magic. Jack's mother exhibited such tendencies as well but she was never formally trained.

While in the midst of his training, Jack's teacher is magically attacked by a half-troll Viking queen (married to King Ivar the Boneless) and the village is soon physically attacked by Berserker Viking raiders from the same kingdom. Jack and his sister are captured by these raiders and their leader, the fearsome Olaf One-Brow plans to sell them as slaves back in the kingdom of Ivar the Boneless.

A Viking Longship in the Bayeux Tapestry.
Photo by Urban.

While traveling back to the Viking kingdom, Jack's nascent talents as a Bard are discovered and he moves into a new, precarious position - still a slave yet also valuable to Olaf as a weaver of spells and singer of his praises. But, if he casts a spell incorrectly or sings a song wrong his life may be forfeit.

A mistaken spell in the great hall of Ivan the Boneless and his half-troll wife sends Jack, Olaf and the sullen young shield maiden Thorgill on an epic quest across the Troll Sea into a land that only exists in legend - a land filled with trolls, man-eating plants, giant spiders, sea monsters, dragons and more...

This is a fun story, has lots of depth and plenty of opportunity to talk about how people are rarely all good or all bad. For example, the Vikings warriors are thieves, slave traders and brutal murderers of an entire village. But, they are also honorable friends, wonderful hosts and fantastic family men.

I listened to this audiobook with my freshman daughter. It was her first audiobook experience and she absolutely loved it. I was more than impressed by the narration of Gerard Doyle. He voices men, women, boys, girls, trolls, crows, and even more with great skill. 

I rate this audiobook 5 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: THE SEA of TROLLS (Sea of Trolls Trilogy #1) by Nancy Farmer.

Reviewed on October 12, 2014.

Read my review of The Land of the Silver Apples, volume 2 in this trilogy by clicking HERE.