The Daylight War by Peter V. Brett

The Daylight War is the third installment in the Demon Cycle, a planned five-novel series by Peter V. Brett. It is a 639 page fantasy novel. The story continues to follow the main characters of the previous novels and adds a new main POV — Inevera — the woman (should I say seductress?) on the cover on the novel.

The first two novels in this series were focused on two powerful men who learn the secrets of defeating corelings, Arlen Bales and Ahmann Jardir. This novel focuses heavily on the women behind the scenes of the men, Renna, Leesha and Inevera. The main plot centers around the tensions between all these people, and the fact that each community believes either Jardir or Arlen are the Deliverer-come-again to rally armies and save humanity from the corelings. In the meantime, the mind demons become aware of these two powerful minds and aim to destroy them before they can make a difference in the world. Unfortunately for the demons, Jardir is equipped with ancient weapons of immense magic and power that protect him, and Arlen — thanks to consuming demon meat and tattooing himself with wards — is learning the secrets of their power, and starts traveling through the core and virtually teleporting around the world.

Along with the demon battle going on, the namesake, The Daylight War, is finally getting a little more exciting. The Krasians have left the desert and are coming to the north to gather everyone into one great force to fight the demons. In order to rally forces, first they must “convince” the northerners to come to their side. This shows the culturally real side of the Krasians; they rape, pillage, set fire to food supplies and force their women-as-second-citizens culture onto the greenlanders. We get to see this in-depth when Leesha and some of her company travel to the Krasian fort. Seeing the culture push was a wake up for how brutal most Krasians can be. I loved these sections of the book, though–the Krasians are and have been my favorite to read about in the second and third novels. Brett is excellent at exploring and describing different cultures.

While this story follows Arlen and Renna, Rojer, Leesha, Jardir, the mind demons, and pretty much all the characters from the previous novels, my favorite character in The Daylight War was the new main POV, Inevera. Because she was so mysterious in the first two novels, I was always curious about her training as a Krasian dama’ting, a healer and fortune teller of sorts. While most dama’ting are born into the life, every once in a while the dice, mystical pieces of carved demon bone, foretell a Damaji’ting–the predicted wife of Kaji, the original leader of the Krasians (and therefore wife of the Sharum Ka, first spear and leader of their country). Because the other nie’dama’ting have known each other and have been training since birth, Inevera is not only behind in knowledge, but also an outsider and a pariah in her group of peers. Her struggles are endearing — I applaud Brett for being able to make me sympathize with someone I once detested.

On the lighter side of things, we also get a POV from Abban — the Krasian trader and friend of Arlen. Smaller perspectives like his–while not a huge source of plot movement–kept the story fresh, because by the end of the novel, I wasn’t sure if I could stand to read, “Love you Arlen Bales” another time. The romance is fun for a while, seeing Arlen being more of a normal human, but Renna’s character seemed like she was trying too hard to please him. She becomes sort of a wild woman, hunting all the time, eating demon flesh, a generally violent and feral woman-beast. It seemed Arlen was more a temperance for her than she for him.

The coreling battles, while less numerous, were outstanding in this novel. Corelings start coordinating, and the mind demons act as generals to the lesser demons. Their attacks on major human settlements were both disturbing and fascinating. This is where Jardir’s and Arlen’s powers truly shone; Brett did a fantastic job narrating the battles. At the end of the novel, when the demons have been at bay for the waning of the moon, there is a human battle of sorts (supporting the title!), and is all too brief for my tastes. It was thrilling, but the ending felt unfinished. Perhaps that’s because I am now anxious to read the next novel and don’t want to wait.

Overall, I would say this book is an improvement in point of view on The Desert Spear, and moves along much quicker, if only because you’re hurrying to get to Inevera’s next section. This installment of the Demon Cycle is a great addition, so if you’ve read The Warded Man and The Desert Spear, this is definitely a must-read. If you haven’t had a chance to get into the series, what are you waiting for? This series is incredibly creative and fun.

The Black Prism by Brent Weeks

When I was desperately in need of some well done fantasy, I went looking for a new author. Peter V Brett led me to Brent Weeks, and I tried out The Black Prism on a whim. It is a 629 page sort of epic science fantasy novel, the first in a planned four book deal known as the Lightbringer series.

Before I detail the plot and characters, I want to give a little description of the magic system which centers around light and the ability to “draft” physical objects from it. Each drafter can draft different colors — each color has certain strengths and weaknesses; green can be incredibly durable, but will also weigh you down and can induce mania, superviolet may be invisible to most, but it can be used in secret messaging, and so on. When someone can draft, which not everyone can, they can be a monochrome (one color), bichrome (two colors), polychrome (3+ colors, usually in successions: red-orange-yellow), or if they can draft every color, they are known as the Prism.

Only one person can be the Prism at a time. They last for years in increments of 7 — they die out after 7, 14, or if they’re lucky, 21 years. Gavin Guile is the Prism at present. Unfortunately, due to unknown circumstances, his younger brother Dazen was also granted prismatic drafting abilities. This spawned the Prism’s War (or the False Prism’s War, if you were on Dazen’s side). Gavin won the war 16 years ago, and has been the religious figurehead, sort of emperor, and High Luxlord Prism of the Chromeria ever since. The Chromeria is a neat, sort of oppressive ruling body and elite school where anyone who can draft, and can afford it or earn a sponsor, goes to learn the magical craft.

The Black Prism follows Gavin and a few other key characters, like his bastard son, Kip, his prisoner and brother, Dazen, his ex-fiance Karris, a general who fought on Dazen’s side in the False Prism’s War, Corvan Danavis, and Corvan’s daughter, Liv. I honestly can’t talk too much about plot without giving away a huge spoiler that happens about 1/3 of the way into the book. Though I will say that watching Kip and Liv, both from the same town originally, learn and grow so differently based on how the Chomeria affects them when they go there was a great dynamic.

Spoilers aside, the plot focuses on Gavin’s great purposes that he sets out to accomplish before his final 7-year span finishes and how each of the other characters eventually help or hinder him. In the land, there are seven satrapies (sort of territories/countries) that are loyal to the Chromeria. Unfortunately, one of them–Tyrea, has had their head satrap (diplomatic leader) go rogue and insist he is the King of Tyrea. Gavin has to enlist the help of everyone to try to figure out why this occurred–aside from the fact that Tyrea suffered major losses 16 years ago in the (False) Prism’s War–and how they can put an end to the senseless massacres of innocent citizens.

I loved this book, and the magic system was incredibly fun to learn about. Of course, once you think you have a handle on it, Weeks throws in some curveballs that the characters don’t even understand, but that just adds to the whole mystery of chromaturgy (drafting powers). The only real complaint I have about the book is Kip’s POV. Even from the beginning of the novel, I wasn’t a huge fan of his sections. At first, I thought he was a boring weakling, but even after he started becoming more powerful, he was just awkward. It was obvious that it was part of his appeal, but I didn’t find it that appealing. The shifts from third person narration to first person in his sections was a little jarring at times, and sometimes just felt unnatural. Fortunately, it was a rare occurrence that the rest of the brilliant narrative easily makes up for. Balancing his incredibly awkward teen vibe, Gavin Guile absolutely shines in the book as a debonair, clever, handsome, and extremely powerful ruler who is actually wily and more humble than he likes to admit. His character was incredibly fun to read as a POV and I am excited to get more of him in the next book, The Blinding Knife.

With The Black Prism, Brent Weeks spins an incredible tale of secrecy, intrigue, loyalty, and questionable faith. If you enjoy high/epic fantasy with incredibly intricate and clever magic systems, I highly recommend The Black Prism. It’s through the magic and worldbuilding that the book really shines. With plenty of character growth in the second half of the novel, the Lightbringer series is a promising one.

Crimson Rising by Nick James

Crimson Rising is the 360 page science fiction sequel to The Pearl Wars, the first of the Skyship Academy series by Nick James. I was browsing in Barnes and Noble, just looking for something to spend a $10 gift card on, when I saw this! I was not even aware that the The Pearl Wars had a sequel, so it was very exciting. Anyway, onto the review…

After the showdown in Seattle at the end of Pearl Wars,  Jesse Fisher and Cassius Stevenson realize there is a lot they have yet to uncover about their home planet and family. The Skyship Academy is now basically holding Jesse prisoner, assigning him an older-brother-type gaurd and sentencing him to what basically amounts to a time out. Cassius is now on the run — from his original home of the Unified Party, and also from his original enemies, the Academy itself.

This story jumped straight into the action, similar to the first novel. Jesse, the Pearlbreaker, finds a new red pearl that he is unable to break, or even touch. A new character is brought into the mix — Theo — a young child who is incredibly dangerous and has an even more deadly secret (that I won’t spoil). Along with Theo, Jesse and Cassius have to deal with enemy aliens who are trying to exterminate humanity and take over the planet. They are, what some might call, in over their heads.

Crimson Rising was incredibly fast-paced. The action is well-done and interesting, and even stepped up a notch from The Pearl Wars. Though it had been a few months since I read the first one, the narrative did a great job at bringing me right back into the world of the characters. I loved every bit of Avery and Jesse’s interactions; Cassius, on the other hand… I will say I liked his parts — he is a fugitive on the run from the domineering woman he thought was his mother! However, while I feel Jesse was definitely the main character of the story, I wish I would have gotten more of Cassius’s side.

I would have to recommend reading the The Pearl Wars first, for obvious reasons, and because it was a great start to an intriguing world. Crimson Rising made me want to invest even more time into the world that Nick James created. Learning about the aliens’ home planet and the manipulations of a fascinating and dangerous element, Ridium, satisfied my inner sci-fi desires. If you enjoy sci-fi or post apocalyptic worlds, I would absolutely recommend this incredibly fast paced action novel.

Watchmen by Alan Moore, Dave Gibbons

I started reading Watchmen during second term of last school year, and finished reading it for my graphic novel class during May term. I forgot that I had started a review until I got into listening to Bob Dylan and the song “The Times, They Are A-Changin” came on. For those of you who don’t know, that is the title song for the film adaptation of the graphic novel. Back when graphic novels were, shall I say, less accepted and more ‘edgy’, Watchmen was a must-read for many followers of the medium. Now, it seems cliche to list it as a favorite graphic novel, but I will preface the review by admitting it has become one of mine. I was unsure of how long it really is until I searched it — my book is broken into the original 12-issue series, and so each issue starts over at page 1. According to goodreads, Watchmen is 408 pages.

Watchmen is incredibly complex and has many, many threads of narrative. One of the main threads is that of the people who used to make up the Watchmen and their lives. There is Jon, as most everyone would recognize as Dr Manhattan, his girlfriend Laurie (Silk Spectre II), Dan (Nite Owl II), Adrian Veidt (Ozymandias), and Rorschach.  Rorschach, the only one from the Watchmen that still wears his mask, is convinced there is someone killing off masked heroes. He travels his old haunts and alerts his old comrades of his hypothesis. While this is occurring, the world these ex-heroes live in is illuminated. In a political struggle with the Soviet Union, scientists count down a giant clock to midnight — how close they think we are to nuclear war.

A second thread occurs as a series of stories and flashbacks. We are told the story of the original Minutemen, and their exploits and fall into disrepair as many members met horrible ends (death, insanity, etc.). This is a sort of parallel to the present, post-Keene Act. The Keene Act outlawed vigilantes, forcing heroes to hang up their costumes.

A third thread is a separate story entirely. Included throughout the novel is metacomic sort of story. From Tales of the Black Freighter, we get “Marooned,” a story about a man who is marooned on an island with his crew. I won’t get into this thread much — though it is interesting and a great commentary on the rest of the novel, it is grisly.

A fourth (sort of) thread we receive are chapters from “Under the Hood”, a novel written by Hollis Mason (original Nite Owl). It is interesting as well, and adds a lot of back story to the novel, but I won’t go into much detail here. In a similar fashion, we get to read some of Adrian Veidt’s letters and ideas.

If you thought I was kidding about an insanely complex story, I think you might see now that I was being completely serious. Everything in the novel is clearly written or illustrated with intent. There are so many subplots that while I want to rant about how I enjoyed each one, I will resist. Moore himself even said, “we spend a good deal of time with the people on the street. We wanted to spend as much time detailing these characters and making them believable as we did the main characters.” So I hope you can understand that every character was deep and well thought out.

Due to the fact that I read this for a class, I have lots of things I would like to talk about, but for brevity’s sake I will pick just one. In small groups, we discussed the polarity of characters Rorschach, who sees life in black and white, and Veidt, who has a much more subtle view. I personally preferred Veidt’s views, and though many who saw the movie see him as an ass, I believe the novel puts his views into perspective and show how he really is a genius (his ‘power’ is being the most intelligent man in the world).

One of my favorite things about this novel is the excruciating amount of detail. I really mean that; if you look through the book after reading it multiple times, I am positive you would still find new symbols or background images that comment on the story. My favorite chapter of the book is titled, Fearful Symmetry, and rightly so. I was incredibly pleased (tickled pink, you might say) to find that the first and last page, second and second to last, third and third to last, etc. pages were symmetrical — in color, size, and many times even in content. This is just one example of the time put into the amazing illustrations. Every panel seems painstakingly put together with tiny details that are only revealed through multiple readings, once you have a grasp on plot.

Sound like I’m gushing? The only thing I really didn’t enjoy about Watchmen was the “Marooned” comic — and that was just because it was a lot darker (in color, not just content) than the rest of the novel. Even this, I could appreciate, if not love. Just about everything else in this novel is worthwhile. I think the questions that arise from this story about humanity, life, and what we are personally willing to do when it comes to saving human life are worth pondering. I have much respect for both Moore and Gibbons for the masterpiece they have created. I urge you to read it. If you enjoyed the movie, read the novel; if you haven’t seen or read either and don’t know what to expect, feel free to watch the film. It is also excellent — many scenes were taken directly from panels in the book. Both are excellent pieces of literature.

Mockingjay

At first, I was POSITIVE I was not going to like this book anywhere near as much as I did the first two. From the mediocre reviews, the hinting suggestions from friends that it just didn’t live up to others, and my own doubts about how Suzanne Collins was going to be able to end the series, let’s just say I was afraid for this book’s safety. I was positive I was going to give it 3 stars, say, “that was decent” and move on. Well…

I will not forget that the cover of The Hunger Games is WHY I got to experience this superb tale.

At first I WAS disappointed. I was disappointed in Katniss. Couldn’t she pick someone and stick with them? I was disappointed in Haymitch. Couldn’t he sober up and help Katniss when she needed it? I was disappointed in the Capitol. Couldn’t they get over their greed for power and realize that so much life was going to be wasted in the coming months? Let’s just say, I was disappointed.

After the original disappointment wore off, what came next was bitterness. I could feel how Katniss had changed since her time in the games. I felt like I understood her — she said something to the effect of not liking anyone that she didn’t have a lifetime to decide about — I felt so similar to her (is that a bad thing?).

Although this book is much more centered on the political rebellion aspect of the world of Panem, I enjoyed it (almost) no less than the other two in the series. There were parts in the first third of the book that felt jumbled to me, a weird mix of long stretches of introspection with sharp bits of action thrown in. It was jarring, to say the least.

I want to say I have not devoured a series as quickly as I did this one (minus the brief break before I got my hands on the other two books– I decided to treat myself on my birthday) in a long, long time. Some may say this book disappoints as a finishing touch to the series. My bitter/angry/desperately sad tears for the last twenty pages beg to differ.

Again, my call is that if you liked The Hunger Games and Catching Fire, you HAVE to read this book. Even if it doesn’t give you the ending you want, you must. I was initially angry about the wild turn of events, but then I realized it was completely realistic and fitting to each characters’ personality. I think Collins knows her characters very well to finish the way she did. I hope you read and enjoy this series as much as I did. It certainly has my stamp of approval.

One of the many amazing posters for the film.

P.S. I cannot wait for the film version of The Hunger Games!