"The Malevolent Eight" by Sebastien de Castell

Back in July of 2023, as my world was turning to shit in a truly spectacular fashion, with so much more to come later, I finished a book I'd found: "The Malevolent Seven", by Sebastien de Castell. I had a few thoughts on it.

De Castell wrote a sequel and I blazed through it.

"The Malevolent Eight" takes place some months after the conclusion of "The Malevolent Seven". It stars the same characters, with the addition of a completely demented new one named Temper. And it goes in the same batshit crazy directions.

I have to say, I'm hard-pressed to figure which of de Castell's works I enjoy more: his Greatcoats short stories (the longer stories are a bit harder for me to digest) or this series.

The snarky narration of the Malevolent series is a special sort of fantastic, and "The Malevolent Eight" delivers that in spades. And it goes that much further with the addition of the new character.

Overall, the story has much the same sorts of twists and turns as the previous book had (and follows a lot of the patterns I've found with de Castell's protagonist journies, for good or ill).

I'm honestly not sure he's going to try for another book in this world. The ending works as a conclusion but has just enough ambiguity that I could see him squeezing out another if he's inspired. Or takes the right drugs. I mean this book is nuts.

I thoroughly enjoyed this as a crazy romp through epic battles of... um... not really "good" and "evil" so much as... well... read the book and you'll see.

Plus there's a kangaroo. Sort of.

Thoughts on "The Mercy of Gods" by James S.A. Corey

Last night I finished "The Mercy of Gods", the latest novel by the creative team who calls themselves James S.A. Corey, the writers behind "The Expanse" series.

Initially set on Anjin, a lost human colony, it follows the lives of a team of researchers who are caught up in a nightmare when Anjiin is invaded by an alien race known as the Carryx.

The invasion is brutal and vicious, ending with the humans of Anjiin enslaved to the Carryx and many of their best and brightest, including the protagonists, being abducted from their home and taken to the homeworld of the Carryx to be of use.

I'll be honest: I struggled to get through the first third of the book. It felt like a bit of a slog, and after the invasion, it felt like a banquet of despair served in a slog. It wasn't really the sort of story I was inclined to read when everything in the real world seems to be going to shit.

At the recommendation of a friend, I persisted and, a little over halfway through, I found it hard to put the book down. The overall story is, to my mind, a depressing and brutal tale, but there were things in the story that intrigued me and suggested things could get better in future novels.

One thing I'm wondering is if this is set in the same universe as the Expanse, only millennia later. If that's the case, kudos to the subtle insertion by the authors.

While I found the tale itself a bit hard to wade through, the storytelling is excellent. I highly recommend the book, for what that's worth.

Pondering 2025

Yeah, so it's 2025

I have no idea what to expect, based on the last four years or so.

Okay, I have an idea what to expect, but not sure what to say without sounding... you know what? Fuck it. I don't care.

2025, try not to be a dumpster fire, okay? I expect you'll be one anyway, but try to be less of one.

Won't happen, but it's worth a try.