Mira's Last Dance by Lois McMaster Bujold
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Light fun, maybe less impressive than the rest of the Penric novellas, but this one has more of one thing than all the others combined. Boobs.

It was very funny, and even though it's basically a direct follow up from Penric's Mission, still a roadtrip novel, it was a delight just for seeing Penric have to cross-dress. :)

That's what you get when one of your ten demons was a courtesan! The poor boy never stands a chance. :)

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Barrayar by Lois McMaster Bujold
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Third read, update 12/6/17:

The love story between Aral and Cordelia continues, but it's really a tale about Barrayaran politics and cultural horrors. To cull genetic mistakes or not? To break from the hold of barbaric cultural practices or not?

Hell, it even goes a long way to toward teaching us forgiveness for the mentally ill. Although, to be perfectly fair, Cordelia's bulldog of a man has a lot of nobility in him for latching on to a truly noble mistress, but maybe that's missing a point somewhere. It's not him. It's her. Cordelia. And my goodness she really kicks ass. :)

Besides all that, I'm REALLY enjoying the hell out of all the characters who get more screen time here and it spurs me on toward all the times I see them in big roles later and I'm loving how the whole series gels together. Even the development of certain themes told with different nuances are all here, set up and knocked down and will be knocked down just as gloriously later.

Am I a total fanboy? I must be if I'm chomping at the bit to re-read the whole series. Again. For the third time. :)


Original review:

I remembered this fondly as I reread it now, and more than ever, it was nice to revisit. Revolution, stolen babies, friendly monsters, it really had it all, especially if you're looking for a solid space opera that has very little in the way of spaceships. I jest, but not really. The worldbuilding is very solid, the characters are really amazing and memorable, long, long after first reading them. I found myself smiling at what I remembered to come next, and chuckling at the ignorance of later characters when it came to the past (of which this novel is the present).

It can certainly be taken on its own merit, and should be, but it is all the greater in the wider tapestry.

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The Will to Battle by Ada Palmer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I took my time and savored this one. It deserves it. And more.

Ada Palmer has made a world worth luxuriating in, and far from resting on the Greek laurels she and her work deserve, she's delved deep into new philosophical questions while all the time fascinating us with complicated and rich characters. Never even mind the glorious world-building. The amount of thought and forethought in all of this is astounding.

The title gives the main action away. It is not Battle. But the Will to Battle. This is a philosophical conundrum. A wrenching up. A decision to kill or be killed. What's most fascinating about this is the fact we began these books in a de-facto utopia.

The first book throws all our perceptions and assumptions for a loop, especially when the great murderer is, in fact, a hero, but a hero for what? The second book dives deeper into the mysterious mass-assassinations and the purpose behind them, right down to the rights of kings and the greater ideological good of society. It also explores godhood as an observer and as a limited player and does it in such a way as to frame the rest of the book in a brilliant argument for and against the destruction of a whole society.

This book is both a surprising and sophisticated exploration of nobility, goodness and idealistic (broad sense) response to the calling of war and perhaps a complete destruction of humanity. I'm talking eyes-wide-open exhaustive discussion of turning their utopias (and there are essentially eleven different kinds of utopias in this world) into mass death, destruction, and eventual barbarism. Everyone's aware of the pitfalls and only the truly war-like among us (including the original, actual Achilles) has the most wisdom to impart. Prepare well. Keep lines of communication open. Stock up. Draw battlefield lines. Prepare for the absolute worst. Go about all your days, preparing to die.

What's most shocking about this book is the fact that it never feels contrived or absurd. At all. It's like being in reality, keeping a clear head, and carefully choosing to murder for the sake of your most deeply held beliefs... even while you live in heaven.

Disturbing? Hell, yeah. Understandable? Yeah. In this case, all the events, all the subjects, all the people in it are treated with respect and honor even when it's about assassination, betrayal, grief, or the realization that everything is not only going to change, but nobody will win. And yet the Will to Battle persists. Remains. It is inevitable, but heroism now consists in postponing the tragedy or mitigating the worst effects.

This is, after all, a highly advanced scientific and cultural utopia we have on Earth. Means to destroy are vast, and people's ire and mob mentalities are still very real. It's sick and fascinating.

And I'm absolutely hooked.

I should be perfectly candid about where I would place these books in my mind. These aren't simple tales full of action and pathos and they don't have clear-cut plotlines for easy public consumption. They are Considered. They are very thoughtful, very mindful, and rife with classics of both literature and philosophical thought. The latest one is a modern delving and interpretation of some of the best pre-game-theory classics. And it's also heart-wrenching, but mainly for the actual effects of these Big Ideas on all the characters I've grown to love and admire. And I mean all of them.

I would place these books in my mind in the Classics category. Classic as in "This needs to be a cult favorite that gets pulled out fifty years from now with just much love and respect as I'm giving it now" kind of book.

If there's any justice in this world, Big Ideas books that are written this well should ALWAYS have staying power. And that's what I wish for it. It needs to be known and savored. We need this discussion for all our thinking selves. Seriously and honestly.

That's how this book affects me. How all of the books have affected me. Am I putting them on a very precise pedestal? Perhaps. But any winner of the Olympics ought to be respected for all the reasons behind the competition.


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Bad Moon Rising by Jonathan Maberry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

The conclusion to the Pine Deep novels, that poor benighted horror-loving town, is easily the best of the lot. All the novels build and build to this epic blowout and I'm honestly rather surprised how much I got into it by the end.

Mike is easily getting most of my hero-worship, that poor abused teen, but Crow is geeky-awesome and Val kicks butt. And most of all, I enjoyed the great reveal about the weres and the vamps and the twist to the mythos. None of it would be half as good if it hadn't built so slow and steady in the telling. A mysterious big bad is always more fun than an outright tell-all, though we do get that by the end.

If I had to compare this to anything, I think of Stephen King. Just putting all three of these novels together would have been just fine. Think epic horror. The kind that goes through a few generations or a whole town. Which this does. With great detail. Fun detail. :)

Want bloody? Want an epic small-town battle against the hoards of evil? Hell yeah. :)

This is definitely either an upgrade to the previous novels or the payoff for getting through those two gives this one all the credit. :)

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Dead Man's Song by Jonathan Maberry
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Maybe there's a groove we readers need to fall into with certain authors and I certainly needed to find it here, or at least for the first novel, but fortunately, I had no problems with this one.

Maybe it's just the fact that the established MC's that I've grown to love are still alive and kicking and raising hell when the time is right. That's pretty satisfying in any book, but this does a really fine job of characterization. The evil men aren't quite so cardboard here. My sympathies are only strengthened in the pain soup Val undergoes. And Mike? I'm always loving the hell out of him. Crow's a geeky dream, but I'm equally horrified and rooting for Mike.

This is shaping into a horror that SK could be proud of. Hell, just thinking about putting all these books together into one long story gives it exactly that kind of edge. Epic Horror! That is: a huge cast of characters in a small town besieged by an old evil that will consume them all if something isn't done kind of horror. :)

I'm quite happy with this. :)

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Strange Music by Alan Dean Foster
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

So Flinx got godlike in the last novel. And after having the powers of three ancient BDO's used and spent, leaving him, for once, to be free with his love and his friends, free of an enormous aegis... he decides to do what he does best.

Go off to find trouble.

I mean, this is a standard Flinx adventure, after all. And fortunately, his biggest asset is neutralized fairly well by this new planet of singing seal-like aliens. They can fool him as they sing! It makes for good times for his mighty empathic warning system.

There are intrigue and kidnapping and huge economic and technological disparity, and as is usual with these novels... battle. No complaints from me. It's everything you might expect out of the Flinx novels. It follows a formula. A well-done formula with truly fascinating aliens and fun situations, but I'll be honest: there's nothing really new here aside from a race of aliens that speak in metered song and we're given all of that as a treat.

Overall, this is a very comfortable SF adventure and I recommend it to anyone just wanting to unwind. It is, after all, about saying hi to an old friend and his deadly minidrag. :)

Thanks to Netgalley for the ARC!

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Flinx Transcendent by Alan Dean Foster
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

It's funny how this is supposed to be the end volume in the Pip and Flinx series... but I started reading it with an ace up my sleeve. I got an ARC for the one that comes after. :)

So I'm reading this awesome volume that goes ahead and wraps up all these huge BDO's and story threads, between his sister, the Aann, his favorite girl, and so much more, putting a huge bow on top and letting Flinx BATTLE IT OUT with the HUGE HUGE big-bad that's eating galaxies.

Woah.

I mean, it's not like we've not seen this coming or anything, but it's really great to see all the threads come together and a great writer who pulls all the right strings together until everything ties-up perfectly.

It's called payoff. This book is the huge payoff. Do we like? Yes. Is anything really unexpected? Um. No. But that's okay! It's the journey, man! What's an adventure without journey? :)

So yeah, I like. :) Huge blowout ending. Everyone still alive gets together to fight or help each other. Alan Dean Foster puts grand gala in the grand Galaxy. Galaxies. :) Cool. :)

And now I've got to see what the new one is going to do. :) You can't keep a good Flinx down.

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