Review (okay, reaction): Quillifer series by Walter Jon Williams

Every now and again, Amazon's recommendations are actually not all that bad.

I came across "Quillifer" by Walter Jon Williams and read the synopsis. It sounded intriguing, so I got it for my Kindle and gave it a read. I wasn't past the third chapter when I ordered the next two books in the series. I've just finished the third book and have been giving my brain a chance to catch up.

In summary, the series is about Quillifer, the humble son of a butcher and an apprentice lawyer. When his home city gets attacked by raiders, his life takes some dramatic turns in some seriously weird directions. One of those directions has Quillifer, a lover of the ladies, manage to piss off a goddess-like water spirit who decides she's going to amuse herself by throwing all kinds of torments in Quillifer's way.

Despite this divine interference, Quillifer's fortunes rise. He winds up lover of many ladies and a reluctant soldier as well as... well, why spoil too much?

Williams has an incredibly engaging protagonist in Quillifer, as well as an entertaining and unusual narrative style. The books are all narrated in the first person and written as though they're being told to an audience of a specific character that differs in each book. It's quite fascinating, really. Quillifer's fortunes vary quite a lot and I have to admit I'm finding myself sympathetic to the fellow.

I gather that Williams has six books planned in all. There are three out at the moment: "Quillifer", "Quillifer the Knight", and "Lord Quillifer". I can't wait to see where things go in the next three. It's looking like Williams will actually make headway in the series, unlike past favorite authors of mine like Patrick Rothfuss and George R.R. Martin.

The Madness that is March

Blink and I just let a few months fly by.

I guess that's 2022 in a nutshell.

Fucking hell what a year.

So long 2021

Another year bites the dust.

I can't say 2021 was all that terribly bad for me. All of my family stayed out of the hospital for the year, which was a nice change of pace. Got vaccinated to the gills. No Covid. Hell, aside from seasonal allergies, I've not really been sick in a couple of years now.

Got a new, better, job. Like the people I work with.

All told, I really can't complain too much about 2021. The isolation bit has sort of sucked, but it's not been as intense as 2020. The hints of politics for 2022 and 2024 are a source of the odd sleepless night, but I can't do anything about that.

See ya 2021. I won't say you've been a bucket of fun, but you've not given me too much grief. Here's hoping 2022 isn't a dumpster fire.

Review: "Leviathan Falls" by James S.A. Corey (Expanse finale)

I finished "Leviathan Falls" the other day and have been processing since then.

The last book in the Expanse series by the two authors who write under the pseudonym of James S.A. Corey is up to the usual sweeping standard of epic crazy. Multiple views across worlds as the fall of the Laconian Empire shakes out, some of the mysteries of the protomolecule builders come to light, and there's a final-ish showdown with the dark things beyond the rings.

I don't want to drop spoilers in, but I found the overall story to be quite satisfying. I found the conclusions for most of the main characters to be pretty good. I think one character got a raw deal, but such is the way of things. There was one new POV character introduced who bugged the shit out of me, but it's a moot point now. And the epilogue was perfect!

Sigh. Now I need a new series to read.

Daniel Black series by E. William Brown

A friend pushed me to read "Perilous Waif" by E. William Brown some time past. I enjoyed it and have been eagerly awaiting the sequel. In the meantime, I finally broke down and replaced by long-dead Kobo with a Kindle. I decided to fill it up with a few books and got Brown's "Daniel Black" series (only available in eBook).

There's four books in the series so far: Fimbulwinter, Black Coven, Extermination, and Thrall. Rather than go into them in detail, I'll just give my overall impressions as I binge-read them.

The Daniel Black series is about Daniel Black, a software engineer of 21st century Earth who has a spectacularly-bad run of luck. He's recruited by the goddess Hectate to journey to an alternate Earth to save the last of Hectate's worshippers, a sexy murder witch and her equally-sexy hearth witch lover.

As part of the bargain, Daniel is dragged through a stream of chaos that lets him pick up sorcerous powers. Daniel, a former devotee of roleplaying games and video games, munchkins the unholy hell out of this offer, picking up magics around earth, force, flesh, and even mana (the stuff of magic itself). Armed with 21st century knowledge and arcane power, Daniel then proceeds to kick ass in an alternate Earth version of Skandinavia where Ragnarok is starting.

Brown has a gift for really fun narrative. He keeps the story moving and writes entertainingly-intelligent characters. He likes to surround Daniel with a wide variety of sexy and deadly women. Many of them are barely-legal, but his narrative is quick to point out that's relative given the setting. There's lots of polyamourous sex, gratuitous sex, and just... uh... sex. There's also tons of the old ultraviolence mixed in for fun.

Daniel Black's 21st Century American morals and views are tackled in an interesting way through Brown's filter of this alternate Earth. You almost have to pity the first monster that comes across his magical flamethrower. Oops. Spoiler.

The series is a really fun read overall. I have to say, I can't wait for book five in the series. Brown has gone dark since the pandemic, by all accounts. I hope he's okay and hunkered down to crank out more books.

Review: "A Pilgrimage of Swords" and "The Kraken's Tooth" by Anthony Ryan

Fresh off reading "The Pariah", I took the recommendation of a friend of mine and gave Anthony Ryan's "Seven Swords" series a try. So far it's only two books: "A Pilgrimage of Swords" and "The Kraken's Tooth".

I burned through "A Pilgrimage of Swords" in about two days. I got "The Kraken's Tooth" immediately after and started in on that.

The two books go together, so it's easier to ramble about my overall impressions.

In a nutshell, the series is about Guyime, aka "Pilgrim", who bears a cursed sword with a bloodthirsty demon within it. The sword and the demon give our (anti-)hero long life and enhance his badass talents. Guyime, a former king with a decidedly bloodthirsty reputation, is sort of done with the whole mass-murderer routine and is looking to get out of his arrangement with his snarky demonic blade.

In "A Pilgrimage of Swords", Guyime joins a quest to meet the Mad God in order to get a prayer answered. He meets a variety of folk on his quest (as is typical of the trope), including a woman who calls herself "Seeker". Seeker is a beast-charmer on a quest to find her daughter, abducted by slavers.

As one might imagine when one looks for a being called "the Mad God", things go sideways pretty quickly. Guyime and Seeker wind up joining forces, leading into "The Kraken's Tooth". In the second book, the two are on a quest that has tied Seeker's quest for her daughter to Guyime's quest for an end to things. Without giving too much away, krakens are the scariest creatures in the world. Hunting for something called "The Kraken's Tooth", predictably goes in some horribly-wrong directions and involves a magic, demonically-possessed sword. Yes, I think there will be seven books in this series.

Overall the books are quick reads. I'm not going to suggest there's deep character development or anything, but the new characters who come on in the quest are intriguing. I think my favorite character is actually Guyime's sword. Hilariously-evil. I look forward to the rest of the series.

Review: "The Paraiah" by Anthony Ryan

Been a while since I read Anthony Ryan.

I liked his "Blood Song" book a lot. I know I said good things about the sequels, but honestly they lost me, especially when he got to "Queen of Fire". So much so that I've never bothered to pick up the successor series in the Vaelin Al Sorna story.

I picked up "The Pariah" on a whim, really. I was hitting a dry spell in my reading options and decided to give Ryan another shot. I'd tried his dragon series and found that to be uninteresting, so I wasn't sure what to expect of this book.

I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by "The Pariah".

This novel feels a lot like how "Blood Song" felt. Told as a first-person account of Alywn Scribe, a young bandit turned... uh... scribe... it traces how Alywn essentially gets in a lot of shitty situations, including a holy war. For all that, I found the story engaging. Ryan has a certain style to his tales and "The Pariah" has a lot of the flavor his "Raven's Shadow" series had. Mysterious, dark magic. Vague menace. Badass lady warriors. Gritty situations. Wolves.

Ryan likes wolves.

I'll certainly pick up the next book in the series. I hope it's better than "Tower Lord" and "Queen of Fire".