Review: The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry

The Ruthless Lady's Guide to Wizardry by C.M. Waggoner
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This book was obviously written by an introvert. Not that is a knock against it. In fact, if someone offered me a choice between a book written by an introvert or an extrovert, I'd choose introvert every damn time. I merely point this out because it just stood out to me more here than it usually does. There are long excerpts of internalization and description. This is both a plus and minus, but I'll get into more in a bit. If a book deep with introversion sounds like a turnoff, stop reading this review now and write this book off ad something you're not interested in.

I'll also say this book is fun. It's intelligently written, clever, and even has a few sprinkles of genius throughout.  It's super strength strong in the prose and character department. Everything is concise and explained without making it feel you're being talked to. It's just a hands down a well-written book. Bottom line: If reading the synopsis makes you think this book is your cup of tea then it probably is.

Unfortunately, there are two major drawbacks I observed.

One, the actual plot of the book felt like it spends most of its time on the back burner. The pacing is cooked through well enough, but the increased introversion allowed the story to feel unimportant. As if the interaction between the characters is more or less the real draw and purpose of the book. The relationships are just given far more time and care, feeling like the plot is just the reason everyone is together having a good time. The characters and their time together is great, but I just wished for the plot to have a more equal measure.

Two, I honestly felt that this book's author could have written a better book. There's a real talent on display here, but the type of book it is feels a little beneath her station. If that makes any damn sense. It just feels she wrote a book that she thought would be popular (and it should be), rather than writing something that is truly inspired. Or maybe I'm just full of myself. That could easily be the case.

If you made it this far into the review, I just want to make it clear I'm recommending this book. Plot issues aside, it's still a wonderful read. I don't normally like to use the word 'fun' because it can give the impression the book is lesser than what it is. But, that's the word I keep coming back to. Fun. I'm honestly looking forward to what this author has in store for us next.

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Review: Batman/The Maxx: Arkham Dreams

Batman/The Maxx: Arkham Dreams by Sam Kieth
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Comic books shouldn't be art forward. There, I said it. Without compelling writing, the art serves more like a gallery than as a form of media. To be fair, comics shouldn't be writing forward either. The writing not being much if you don't have the art to direct it. Everything needs to work together in order to make a great graphic novel.

My point? This Maxx/Batman crossover has a great deal of awesome art, but little in way of a convincing story. The wording is surprisingly dense while not really saying that much. The structure is all over the damn place. Ranging from repetitive to confusing. And I would even say it's unintentionally funny.  An example on the last point, when Batman meets Maxx, he describes him as a homeless person. While I'm not sure if the ludicrous nature of it was on purpose, I couldn't help but chuckle at the idea this huge purple monster with a severe overbite was supposed to be mistaken as a regular homeless person. Greatest detective my ass.

The art is great though. While the flow in the paneling could use a great deal of work, how the characters are drawn and framed are damn near perfect. I'd probably prefer a book without wording and just the art. If there's one thing I'd have to judge against it, is that the amount of work and detail seem to hinder on the distance. The further the character(s) are away, the less amount of detail goes into the page. There is a slight, but noticeable, change from up close of a characters' face that looks degraded if the page shows the same character from the waist up. Then if you get far enough away that the characters are in the distance, they look only slightly better than stick figures. I don't mean to take away from the insane talent on display, but I also couldn't help but mention it.

I'll admit that I wasn't familiar with the Maxx character before diving into this book. But I don't think knowing more would have helped my opinion. Characterization and plot dynamics aren't the huge problems here. Especially when you consider how the book goes out of its way to explain everything to you. The whole writing side of things just feels clunky. I was glad I was exposed to such great art but reading it felt like driving over grassy hills in a 2WD sedan.

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Review: Sweet Tooth, Volume 1: Out of the Deep Woods

Sweet Tooth, Volume 1: Out of the Deep Woods by Jeff Lemire
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

As an opening volume, it's fine. It follows one too many troupes for my taste and is just shy of the required world-building you'd expect from a first volume. I wouldn't say its problem is slow pacing or lack of good story telling. It scores good marks in both fields. It just has the inherit problem of being good, but just not good enough.

It wouldn't be the first comic series to hold off on a strong hook. Invincible is a good example of this. Of course I mean the comic version because the show couldn't hold its wad past the first episode. It's just Sweet Tooth doesn't make me feel that a hook is coming. And, as a result, I don't feel I should continue reading into further volumes.

I've always considered Lemire to be upper to mid-shelf in the writing arena. I've never hated anything of his that I've read, but I also haven't loved everything he's done. Ascender and Gideon Falls are probably two examples of his best work. Sweet Tooth just felt like another interesting but subtlety vain undertaking.

The art matches well with the story and themes. Every few pages I see something slightly clever in the panels. With comic books, it's not so much about having great art as it is having art that fits the story. Don't take this the wrong way, but the art is perfect for people who look malnourished.

In the end, I would actually give this a recommend. Your flavor palette might work better for this piece of work. It's worth your time to say the least. It's up to you to decide to continue reading further volumes or just catch up through Netflix.

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Review: Consider Phlebas

Consider Phlebas by Iain M. Banks
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I've been told that this isn't a great start to Banks' work. That he has much better stuff in his catalog and starting with this might turn you off. After finishing Phlebas, I can see why people would say that. Not because his other stuff is good (to be fair, I haven't read it yet), but because this book is so meh. It tries so hard to entertain and impress, but I can't help but feel a dryness to it. Not Kim Stanley Robinson kind of dry, but more of a licking sandalwood kind of dry.

The book is just fine in most areas, think in the arenas of pacing and prose, but what it fails in sticks out so much more because what it succeeds in it only does so in the mildest of terms. The uninteresting characters are so much blander because the pacing is only modest. There is also a severe lack of scope that undercuts everything else. The world this book takes place is suppose to be so much bigger but the narrative is so two-dimensional. No book is perfect, but what is wrong with it happens to stand out so much more than what actually works.

Also, action doesn't equal plot development. Just because characters are throwing their fat around, doesn't mean the plot is actually moving. This is more of a general comment that applies to most books, but it needed to be said.

Double also, the only science fiction book that can justify having an appendices is Dune. Not even the works of Asimov or Clarke can get away with that shit. Get the fuck over yourself.

If this book succeeds in one thing more than any other, is that it sparked a debate within me between the nature of fantasy and science fiction writings. It stuck out to me that this book claims to be science fiction but mostly reads like a fantasy novel. If you asked a random person if a book that contains a religion called the 'Circle of Flame' and asked them if it was science fiction and fantasy, what do you think their answer would be? I'm not saying books in well-defined genres need to be written in a certain way, but the debate persisted. I don't have a clear answer, but anyone reading it might also notice it.

Am I going to read more of Banks? Probably not. Maybe one day to spite those who say his other works are good, but for now they win this one. I rushed through the latter half of this book, and I only do that when the book is super good or I just want the pain to be over. This book isn't a broken arm painful but more like an annoying paper cut that just won't heal.

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Review: If Beale Street Could Talk

If Beale Street Could Talk by James Baldwin
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

There are some books you read because you want to. Some books to read just for shits and giggles. Some books because you want to complain about how badly literature has fallen. And there are some books you read because you need to. While the last one could probably describe all of Baldwin's work, there might not be a better example for a much needed emotional stirring than Beale Street. A fully encompassing tale about emotional bonds and the system that feels justified in breaking them.

Because I can't help being negative, I have to point out the plot is a little slow going. It opens by telling us why we're all here but takes some time to develop after that. I'm mostly only pointing this out because I've given other books lots of shit for pacing issues. The difference here is that Baldwin is a much better writer than the people of those other books. The subtext and underlying the family connections everyone shares is the main purpose of the book, the tragedy being that when systemic racism brings hell to one person, it brings hell to everyone he/she/they are connected to. The book needs time to establish those connections before the non-linear narrative explains itself.

The prose are some of the best I've ever read in modern literature. It's impactful, deep in emotion, and heavy in its intent. Even though it's short, I felt full by the time I finished. I didn't want anymore because I don't think I could handle it. Which is probably why it ends where it does.

I think what makes Baldwin's work so engaging is the subtle feeling of hope under the tide of tragedy and injustice. Being simultaneously anger and sad at the system that treats humans as less than that, but still being able to imagine a world that can be better. To quote Baldwin himself, "I am an optimist, because I am alive."  For all those who still feel they are alive, read this book. Because you need to.

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Review: Heavy Vinyl, Vol. 1: Riot on the Radio

Heavy Vinyl, Vol. 1: Riot on the Radio by Carly Usdin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Most things are just alright. Books, movies, days. It's the nature of the universe that everything just settles into a bell curve. With that in mind, I try to temper all my expectations. I don't expect everything to knock it out of the park. Just as long as they get on base. This book? Yeah, it's just okay.

It's nearly perfect okayness mostly steams from the writing. I understood what was happening at all times, the commas and periods were all in the right places, and the characters weren't entirely two dimensional. But doing everything right doesn't mean you did well. Nothing was excessively creative, the plot was a little thin, and the writing wasn't as engaging as I would have hoped. There's pieces of coolness in this book, but most of it comes off as dry.

The art. Well the art is actually really good. Not and-the-award-goes-to good, but it exceeds its serviceable needs. Characters are well designed and drawn. Backdrops and settings don't feel lazy or uninteresting. Emotional impact and panel transitions  are all properly communicated. Given the so-so writing, the quality of the art actually stands out.

There is one thing that really bugs me though. No record store looks this nice or does this well business wise. I mostly say this because New Jersey's Vintage Vinyl, the best record store east of the Rocky Mountains just announced it is shutting down. A reminder that record stores struggle daily to stay in business and are mostly used by their cash strapped owners as storage. It's a cool fantasy, but I've seen D&D games with more realistic settings.

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Review: Piranesi

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I consider myself to be pretty pretentious, all the people who know me nodding simultaneously in agreement, but even I'm not pretentious enough to like "Piranesi". I'm going to try and keep this review as non-ranty as possible, but it's going to be obvious I didn't like this book. Or, to be more accurate, I'm going to explain why this book isn't good. Disliking something and knowing it's bad are two different things. In this case, both qualify.

For those reading this review who have no idea what this book is about, let me sum up: It's a journal of the universe's most boring genre character. It's not uncommon for books to have a fairly uninteresting main character in comparison to the supporting cast, but damn is Piranesi a boring person. He literally spends a good portion of the novel, especially in the beginning, just wandering around making notes about when birds show up. There is a motivation about finding some great knowledge, but it's such a generic idea that I rolled my eyes each time it came up. Also, the secret knowledge doesn't matter. At all.

The pacing is terrible. The so-called plot takes some time to get started, ramps up suddenly without warning, and then overstays its welcome after the climax. You would think a short book like this would have a tighter narrative. You would be wrong. Imagine watching an eight-hour-long debate on C-SPAN over the arrival of albatrosses, there's an explosion, and then the debate continues in the wreckage for two more hours. That's what reading this book felt like.

The prose are okay. If there weren't so many damn structural problems, I might have actually liked the writing in the book. Aside from most of it being boring, there are two problems with the writing I wanted to highlight. One, most of it is formatted in the way of a journal. That wouldn't be a problem in and of itself, but it's far too observational to be a journal. Journal entries are meant to self-reflective, processing the days' event(s) into a means for the person writing it to psychology examine. But the descriptive nature makes the book more of an artistic form of logging.  And there's a difference between keeping a journal and keeping a log. The biggest problem is that no one would write a journal or a log in this fashion. As normal prose, it's fine, but the journal structure mostly just ruins it. Two, it's trying too hard to impress C.S. Lewis. There's a difference between influence and imitation, and the prose of this book rides that line likes it's a wild horse it's trying to break in. At the end of the day, I would say the book bucks on the influence side, but anyone else who has read a good amount of C.S. Lewis will notice it.

Perhaps this book's biggest sin is that it only sounds good if you talk about it conceptional. Like how "Catcher in the Rye" is only good when you talk 'of it' instead of 'about it'. "Piranesi" alludes to a bunch of stuff but firmly commits to almost nothing. I feel there are some genuinely good concepts floating about only to forever remain shadows. There's also a misconception some people are having with this book coming out in 2020 and the nature of being in quarantine. This isn't the book's fault so I won't devolve into the extremely mean rant forming at the base of my skull. I'll only say that those people are wrong.

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