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 BROTHERHOOD (PRECINCT 11 #1) by Jerry B. Jenkins

Published by christianaudio.com in 2011.
Read by Johnny Heller.
Duration: 9 hours, 8 minutes.
Unabridged.

The Brotherhood is the story of Boone Drake, a young Chicago cop who seemingly has it all. He is married to his beautiful high school sweetheart. They have a healthy toddler son. His career is on the fast track. His family attends a big church and he helps run the athletic program.

But, a horrific home fire destroys this idyllic life. Jack loses his family and his faith as he slowly recovers. As Jack slowly rebuilds his personal life, will he still be able to move forward in his career?

************Caution: spoilers***********

This book is all about world building for the other two books in the series. We meet Drake and set up his tragic backstory. Sadly, the tragedy dominates the book. The descriptions of how his family died are quite graphic and go on for quite a while (there is an extensive hospital scene). It verges on the level of being grief porn. It just goes on and on and on.

The actual police part of the book has some very good moments, especially with the smaller day-to-day police work. But, the big culminating case was delivered a little too easily. This is really an up-and-down book.

Johnny Heller read the book. I generally enjoy Heller's narration and I enjoyed it this time as well. He is quite good at creating individual voices for the characters.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: THE BROTHERHOOD (PRECINCT 11 #1) by Jerry Jenkins.

THE SUBTLE ART of NOT GIVING A F*CK: A COUNTERINTUITIVE APPROACH to LIVING a GOOD LIFE (audiobook) by Mark Manson

Published in 2016 by HarperAudio.
Read by Roger Wayne.
Duration: 5 hours, 17 minutes.
Unabridged.

Two things before we start:

1) I am not a reader of self-help books - I can't think of the last one I read. 

The author, Mark Manson

2) You simply cannot read this book if coarse language bothers you. I will follow the style of this book in this review.

Manson makes many points in the book, but two stuck out to me. He posits that many people are unhappy because they simply try to focus on too many things and can't do any of them well. In short, he says that you have to stop giving a f*ck about everything and figure out the very few things that you actually give a f*ck about and make them your priority.

One of his other points is similar, but worthy of mention. He points out that no matter where you go, there's a 500 pound bag of sh*t problems waiting for you. If you move to a new city, there will be a 500 pound bag of sh*t of problems. If you quit your job because you can't stand the 500 bag of sh*t in that place, you will find a different 500 pound bag of sh*t at your new job. If you break up with your girlfriend because you can't stand her sh*t, there will be another big bag of sh*t with your new girlfriend.

The secret to it all is that you find the 500 pound bag of sh*t you can deal with and stay there. Everyone has different sh*t that they can tolerate.

The book was well read by Roger Wayne. He sounded so confident and authentic in his reading that I actually assumed that the audiobook was read by the author.

So, I rate this book 4 stars out of 5. There is a little too much filler for a full 5 stars, especially for a 5 hour audiobook. But, this is a worthy read.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: THE SUBTLE ART of NOT GIVING A F*CK by Mark Manson.

SAG HARBOR: A NOVEL (audiobook) by Colson Whitehead

Published in 2009 by Random House Audio.
Narrated by Mirron Willis
Duration: 11 hours, 17 minutes.
Unabridged.

Colson Whitehead's Sag Harbor is set in 1985. Benjie Cooper and his brother are spending the summer at the resort town of Sag Harbor, New York. This Long Island resort town is actually two resort towns - one white and one black. The Coopers are part of a very close-knit African American community of New York City professionals that started their part of Sag Harbor two generations earlier.

During the summers, families head out on the weekends and older kids are often left out in Sag Harbor for the summer. Benjie and his brother are in high school and a group of high school boys hang out together all summer. Benjie is desperate to be cool (being on Dungeons and Dragons-playing Star Wars fan doesn't help - take it from a kid who was both in high school at the same time).

They get summer jobs, they hit the beach, they look for girls, they try to get into concerts at local night clubs, they get BB guns and shoot each other, they explore, identify houses that were undoubtedly haunted, avoid doing laundry until way after it starts to smell and other typical teenage boy things. Also, they desperately want to figure out what makes girls tick.

...and that is pretty much the plot of the book. I listened to it as an audiobook, and Mirron Willis' narration was well done. But, there is no real plot to the book. There are hints of family strife that never are explained. There are hints that some of the boys go on to do great things and some end up in jail or worse. There's not even a "where are they now?" epilogue at the end of the book. It starts right after Memorial Day and ends at Labor Day - almost like the world's longest "What I did over the summer" essay.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: Sag Harbor: A Novel by Colson Whitehead.

  

AMERICAN INDIANS and the CIVIL WAR: OFFICIAL NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HANDBOOK by the National Park Service

Published in 2013 by Eastern National

One of the best things about visiting a National Park is visiting the book section of the gift shop. If you visit a Civil War-related site, the book sections are a rare treasure trove of high quality books all gathered in one place.

Nestled in among the books are a series of attractive books printed by Eastern National. They are the official books printed by the National Park Service itself. Physically, they remind me of the old style of National Geographic. They are bound similarly and, most importantly, they are chock full of color photographs like National Geographics were.

The pictures are truly the strong point in this book, however. The text of the book is a series of essays written by different authors from the points of view of several different Native American groups. There is a lot of overlap and a lot of gaps because they are not edited together into a coherent narrative.

Manuelito
(c. 1818 - 1893)

The perspective provided by the book is a welcome one, but the book would have been much strengthened by the inclusion of an essay focusing on the Indian policies of the Lincoln Administration and how it was or was not implemented while the primary focus was on the war that was sometimes being fought just a few miles from the White House.

I particularly enjoyed the essay on the Navajo by Peter Iverson. I found the stories of their leaders Barboncito and Manuelito fascinating.

I rate this compilation 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here: AMERICAN INDIANS and the CIVIL WAR: OFFICIAL NATIONAL PARK SERVICE HANDBOOK.

BLACK KLANSMAN: RACE, HATE, and the UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATIONS of a LIFETIME (audiobook) by Ron Stallworth

Originally published in 2014.
Audiobook version published in 2018.
Read by the author, Ron Stallworth.
Duration: 5 hours, 50 minutes.
Unabridged.

Black Klansman is the memoir of Ron Stallworth, at the time the only African American detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department (this was the 1970's), wrote a letter in response to a classified ad. It was looking for recruits to the Ku Klux Kan. Stallworth expressed his interest and thoughtlessly signed his own name, rather than an undercover name. Soon enough, the Klan leader called the number and Stallworth found himself being recruited.

Clearly, Stallworth couldn't show up in person so he created a little task force complete with a white undercover officer pretending to be Stallworth, when needed. Eventually, Stallworth had a membership card (!) and having frequent phone conversations with David Duke, the most famous KKK leader in the country.

The premise of the book was, sadly, more interesting than the follow through. The book was written in a very dry style, much like a "just the facts, ma'am" police report. It was easily understood, but it was easy to let my mind wander and not miss much. Some moments stand out, however. The phone conversation with David Duke telling Stallworth how he could ALWAYS identify African Americans on the phone was priceless, as was the time that Stallworth was assigned to be the bodyguard for Duke when he came to Colorado Springs to give a speech.

The author read the book, which was helpful in the sense that the listener could hear Stallworth's voice and understand how he fooled the KKK. But, Stallworth is not a particularly exciting reader. This is a great story, but it would have been better if Stallworth had read an introduction and had the rest of the book read by a professional.

I rate this audiobook 3 stars out of 5. It can be found on Amazon.com here:  BLACK KLANSMAN: RACE, HATE, and the UNDERCOVER INVESTIGATIONS of a LIFETIME by Ron Stallworth.

PAST TENSE: A JACK REACHER NOVEL by Lee Child (audiobook)

Published in 2018 by Random House Audio.
Read by Scott Brick.
Duration: 12 hours, 51 minutes.
Unabridged.

Jack Reacher is in New Hampshire and is working his way cross-country to San Diego. As normal, in Past Tense he is hitchhiking. He gets dropped off near the town where his father was born, Laconia. He has never been there and decides to check it out. His father has been dead for thirty years but he might find someone who remembers him.  The more  digs, the more he finds that this father's backstory doesn't quite jive with what he is discovering on the ground...

Meanwhile, a Canadian couple is travelling through New Hampshire on their way to New York City. They are carrying a mysterious cargo in the trunk of their rattletrap Honda. When the Honda dies in the parking lot of a lonely hotel, the owners of the hotel convince the couple to check in for the night and try to find a mechanic in the morning. But, something doesn't seem right...

This book had all of the pieces to make a perfectly good Jack Reacher novel - Reacher's mysterious family problems (a semi-constant theme throughout the series), Reacher rolling into town and finding a wrong that needs to be corrected and clever local people with brave hearts to help him.

But, this book became a tedious mess that just never gels into a consistent plot. It takes nearly 25% of the book for Reacher (or anyone) to get into any sort of action, and that was obviously a plotting device designed to make it difficult for Reacher to stay in town. Eventually, Reacher picks fights with three different groups of people in this small New Hampshire town and its nearby surroundings (there simply must be something in the water to cause all of these problems). Even though this sounds like a lot of action, it was surprisingly slow.

It was almost like there were pieces of three separate books laying around and Lee Child just mashed them together into this book. There are flashes of clever writing and good action, but there is simply too much of watching Jack Reacher perform a genealogical investigation throughout the book. This was a wasted opportunity.

This is the first audiobook in the post-Dick Hill era. Dick Hill read almost all of the previous 23 novels and the assorted short stories and I enjoyed them thoroughly. Scott Brick is a solid choice to replace Hill (Hill has retired from reading audiobooks). I am sure that my dislike of this book was not due to Scott Brick. It's too bad that his debut book was this dud.

So, this is my worst rating of a Jack Reacher novel - 2 stars out of 5.

This book can be found on Amazon.com here: PAST TENSE: A JACK REACHER NOVEL by Lee Child.