Once We Were Like Wolves - M. Todd Gallowglas

    2011; 300 pages.  Book 2 (out of 4) in the “Tears of Rage” series.  New Author? : No, but it’s been a while.  Genres: Dark Fantasy; Epic Fantasy.  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

 

    Congratulations, Julianna Taraen!  The gods (well, just one god, actually) has just named you the new Lord Morigahn.  You’re now the leader of a warrior caste that call themselves “The Morigahnti”, and they’re quite a powerful fighting force.

 

    Interestingly, the previous Lord Morigahns have all been males.  I suppose the term “Lord” implies that.  I wonder why Grandfather Shadow, the deity that appointed you, chose to break with tradition.  I also wonder if the Morigahnti will give you time to grow into your new position, and whether they’ll accept a woman as their leader.

 

    Anyway, best of luck, Julianna.  Start learning how to lead, how to command, and how to delegate authority.  Also get started learning to use the magical spells that were imbued in you when Grandfather Shadow selected you.

 

    Oh yeah, there’s a bunch of rival warriors—Adepts led by Inquisitors—who are sworn enemies of the Morigahnti and headed towards your quaint little community of Shadybrook.  Each and every one of them would love to have the honor of chopping off your head.

 

What’s To Like...

    Once We Were Like Wolves is the second book in the (completed) 4-book series called the Tears of Rage.  I read the first book way back in 2013, and it is reviewed here.  “Tears of Rage”, refers to a set of magical runes etched on the blade of a magical sword.  “Once We Were Like Wolves” is a Morigahn greeting that a fellow Morigahnti warrior will properly respond to with “Our time can come again.”

 

    We follow events transpiring on both the Celestial and the Mortal planes. There are Lesser Gods and Greater Gods, and I liked that they seemed patterned after Greek and Roman deities.  That means they might be immortal, but they certainly aren’t paragons of perfection.

 

    There’s tons of action and intrigue to keep the reader turning the pages, but the main plotline is Julianna growing into the role of Lord Morigahn and her developing relationship with her sworn protector, Faelin.  The assault of Shadybrook rapidly breaks up into smaller clashes, which means there are quite a few characters to follow.  You might want to take notes of which warriors serve whom.

 

    I especially liked that both the good guys and the bad guys were well-developed characters.  I get tired of the baddies being relegated to being insectoid or robotic; here they’re humans just like the good guys.  There are a bunch of fascinating creatures, including nightbats and stormcrows both of which are useful.  But you do best to avoid crossing paths with the daemyn hounds.

 

    The story stops at as logical spot.  Shadybrook is successfully defended; Julianna has learned how to cast miracles; and she has started to gain the respect of the Morigahnti.  But on both the Celestial and the Mortal plane, the good-vs-evil struggle is just getting started.  The final chapter in the book is a segue into Book 3, Arms of the Storm.   Ith resides on my Kindle.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.2*/5, based on 61 ratings and 34 reviews.

    Goodreads: 3.98*/5, based on 131 ratings and 18 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    At one point, just to get Damiam doing something other than grin at him while he ate, Faelin said, “So, gun running?” in between bites.

    Daiman nodded.  “Seemed like the thing to do.  The Kingdom’s been hunting me ever since my father’s execution.  When I figured out where his shop was, I sort of took over his business.  Not because of any self-righteous call to free Koma, but rather mostly because the Kingdom is going to catch me and execute me for my father’s crimes, I figured I might as well earn it.”  (loc. 1770)

 

    “Who do I address?” the Inquisitor asked.  “And what business do you have traveling on such a night and hour like this.”

    Damian would have to choose his words with care.  “The people of Shadybrook call me Zephyr, High Blood, ever since they’ve known me.  I’m traveling this late because of a possible squabble that I don’t feel interested in getting drawn into.  I’m the kind of man who likes to keep myself to myself, and I’ll endure more than a little wind and rain to stay out of trouble.”

    “Well spoken, man who the people of Shadybrook call Zephyr,” the Inquisitor said.  “Not a word of it specific enough to be completely a truth or completely a lie.”  (loc. 2347)

 

Kindle Details…

    Once We Were Like Wolves sells for $4.99 right now at Amazon.  The other three books in the (completed) series are in the $3.99-$5.99 price range.  M. Todd Gallowglas has more than a dozen other fiction e-books, ranging in length from short stories to full-length novels, and in the $0.99-$5.99 range, plus several non-fiction books on writing for $7.99 apiece.

 

“That’s the problem with tradition.  It doesn’t like innovation.”  (loc. 5165)

    There’s only a smattering of cussing in the text; just 14 instances in the first half of the book, all but one of which was a damn.  In places where profanity is called for, M. Todd Gallowglas often uses topical phrases, such as “What in Shadow’s name!” and “Gods and Goddesses!”  I’m a big fan of that.

 

    The main problem with Once We Were Like Wolves is the editing.  To be blunt, it was atrocious.  I counted 19 typos in the first half of the book; then things went downhill from there.  The second half contained at least 80 errors, which was highly distracting.  One example:  the name of one of the characters is spelled four different ways: Jenice, Jenise, Janise, and Janice.  Sheesh.

 

    Hopefully those typos were fixed in subsequent versions, in which case you’ll be entertained by a gritty, exciting tale with well-developed characters and convincing worldbuilding on three levels: celestial, mortal, and infernal.  Just learn from my mistake and don’t wait thirteen years between reading Book 1 and Book 2.

 

    8 Stars.  One last thing.  On Amazon, the titles for Books 1 and 3 have been changed from what’s listed on my Kindle.  "First Chosen” and “Arms of the Storm” are now “An Imbalance of Shadows” and “As Fugitive as the Wind”.  At Goodreads they still use the original titles.  I presume the text is identical in books of both titles.  But maybe it wass a matter of ownership to the titles.

Fall of the Dark Magicians - Marlin Williams

     2025; 569 pages.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Action-Adventure; Dark Fantasy; Time Travel.  Overall Rating : 9½*/10.

 

    Stephanie Richardson has had enough.  Her husband Gerald is is not only involved in illicit arms deals, but he’s a wife-beater as well.  She’s been living comfortably off his money, but it’s no longer worth it.

 

    It’s time to go away, to get as far from Gerald as she can.  Maybe find some out-of-the-way island in the South Pacific where she can sit back, relax, and make a new life for herself.

 

  Although even there, she’d have to watch over her shoulder, always fearing that Gerald might find her.  If only she could fly away to someplace even further away.  To another world, even.

 

    Hmm.  Be careful what you wish for, Stephanie.  Sometimes, they have a way of coming true in unexpected ways.

 

What’s To Like...

   Fall of the Dark Magicians is Marlin Williams’ latest offering in the epic-fantasy genre.  If limited to six words, I’d describe it as “Lord of the Rings Meets Dune”.  Our protagonist, Stephanie, is a reluctant “Chosen One” who struggles against impossible odds to return a powerful artifact to its proper place, thereby saving a world or two.

 

    I loved the time-&-dimension travel mechanism.  Unlike most sci-fi chrono-hopping devices, using this one is rather dicey.  Oh, you’ll get zapped to a faraway cosmos alright, but good luck trying to figure out just where and when you'll get dropped into, those are variables.

 

    Just like in LOTR, the group of supporting (and opposing) characters are diverse and fascinating.  Some of them provide a bit of comic relief, others offer metaphysical pointers, and still others threaten imminent destruction to Stephanie and her cohorts.  One even stirs a romantic interest in her.  The character development of all of these is impressive; none of them are the same person by story’s end, albeit for a few, that's because they’re dead.

 

    Action and adventure abound, but Marlin Williams imbues some lightheartedness into the tale as well.  Two of the characters are curiously named Ida March and Rue Bella, a number of the chapter titles are wittily dubbed, and at one point Stephanie’s vegetarianism is sorely tested.  Several mystical oddities from this dimension are also referenced, including the Philadelphia Experiment and Chavin de Huantar. Both of those were new to me.  Look them up in Wikipedia; they will amaze you.

 

    Everything builds to a tense, exciting climax, with several  plot twists that will keep Stephanie, and the reader, on their toes.  Plot threads are resolved in what I call a “stutter-step” fashion, and that’s always a plus.  The Epilogue is both satisfying and heartwarming, and things close with a catchy little teaser for a sequel.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.8/5 based on 14 ratings and 14 reviews..

    Goodreads: 5.00/5 based on 2 ratings and 1 review.

 

Excerpts...

    “I shall have my revenge!”

    “Do not be a fool,” Shylite said, whirling to face his companion.  “That will only get you killed.”

    “I can have no peace without it,” Kamal told him.

    “Then go with my blessings,” Shylite replied.  He paused.  “But I will not join you.”

    “Where will you go?”

    “After I find my tribe,” said Shylite.  “We will hide.”

    “And continue to live a coward’s life, hiding like a rat inside a cave?” Kamal asked him.

    “There are worse things,” said Shylite.

    “Like what?”

    “Death.”  (pg. 96)

 

    I could’ve had you executed, like the others.  But that would’ve been . . . wasteful.”

    Stephanie’s voice came out low and steady.  “You think I’m part of a prophecy.”

    “I think you’re a variable,” Badra said flatly.  “And variables are dangerous.  They don’t fit the pattern.  They cause chaos.  But sometimes . . .”  She stopped in front of her.  “Sometimes chaos has its uses.”

    Stephanie met her gaze, unblinking.  “I’m not yours to use.”

    Badra tilted her head slightly.  “We’ll see.”  (pg. 465)

 

 

Kindle Details…

    Fall of the Dark Magicians currently sells for $5.99 at Amazon.  Marli Williams has seven other e-books for your reading pleasure, including novels, short story collections, and anthologies.  They range in price from $0.99 to $9.99.

 

“John Grinder is a man built out of scars.  Most of the time, he forgets he’s still bleeding.”  (pg. 113)

    There’s only a light amount of profanity in Fall of the Dark Magicians; I counted just 15 cusswords in the first 25% of the book.  There are a couple instances of drug usage, including Stephanie’s introduction to opium, but in no way is the partaking of drugs encouraged.

 

       There were some typos, the most glaring of which were several cases of misspelled character names: Caliamr/Calimar, Grider/Grinder, and Stehanie’s/Stephanie’s, but these weren’t frequent enough to be distracting.  Oh yeah, and if you're an animal lover, be warned: the horse dies.  So does the prairie dog.

 

    Overall, I thought this was a great read.  The writing is polished; the action is plentiful and the pacing was page-turning fast.  Fall of the Dark Magicians is a standalone novel, but I have a sneaking suspicion it is also the start of a series, which I am very much looking forward to.

 

    9½ Stars.  One last thing.  At one point, Stephanie resorts to Faraday’s Law in order to save the day.  Ultimately it was unsuccessful, but that was due to personnel issues, not scientific ones.  SCIENCE ROOLZ!!

Redneck Kaiju - Wil Radcliffe

   2025; 185 pages.  Full Title: Redneck Kaiju: The Scavengers of Deep Hollow.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Dark Fantasy, Horror.  Overall Rating : 9*/10.

 

    It came out of the mist like a myth; a giant man-shaped goat.  Thorns twisted like serpents.  Muscles like tree trunks.  Cloven hoofs that cracked stone.  And eyes . . . God, those eyes . . . yellow like wildfire.  (pg. 7).

 

    And it kicked the stuffing out of a 12-man squadron of US Marines.  Patrick “Panther” McMorn was one of the lucky survivors, and still has nightmares about that encounter.

 

    But that was in the past, in Afghanistan, and who knows what kinds of vile mutated beasts all the wars with chemical weapons over there may have been spawned.  Panther McMorn is a civilian now, back in his hometown of Deep Hollow, Indiana.  The only monsters here are in fairy tales.

 

    Yeah right.  In your dreams, Panther, in your dreams.

 

What’s To Like...

    The action in Redneck Kaiju starts right away; the monster-meeting excerpt given above occurs on the third page of the text.  There are two timelines, one in Afghanistan; the other in Deep Hollow.  The text switches between the two, but it is not confusing at all.

 

    I was unfamiliar with the term “Kaiju”, but it’s not a made-up word.  Google it; you’ll be glad you did.  The character development is excellent; I especially liked how Barry’s persona evolves as the story progresses.  Kira and Panther are also well-crafted.  Heck, even the dog’s character development is deftly done.

 

    Thrills and spills and kaiju critters abound.  It’s easy to determine who the bad guys are, but the real crux of the storyline is figuring out a way to stop them, and then repair their evil doings.  There are a wide variety of kaiju creatures to meet and discreetly avoid.  They differ in size, mentality, and temperament, but all of them are lethal.

 

    Everything builds to an exciting, over-the-top, ending, with a major plot twist thrown in just when I thought the story was winding up.  The final page hints that a sequel will follow, hopefully in the not-too-distant future!

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Luchador (n.) : a Mexican professional wrestler

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  5.0/5 based on 1 rating and 1 review.

    Goodreads: x.xx/5 based on 0 ratings and 0 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    Whatever was out there wasn’t trying to hide.  Heavy footfalls.  Breathing, maybe.  Slow and steady.  He didn’t feel fear, not exactly, but his muscles tensed, trained for impact.

    If it wanted to kill him, it probably could.

    He reached down, fingers brushing the handle of the knife on his belt.

    Then a snout pushed out of the brush.  A long tail wagged behind it.

    “Seriously?” Panther said, a smile tugging at the corner of his mouth.  (pg. 12)

 

    She laughed for real this time.  Then she stood on her toes and kissed him deeply.  When they pulled apart, T-Bone gave a jealous grunt.

    Kira reached out and scratched the giant dog’s head.  “Take care of this big dummy,” she whispered.

    “I will,” Panther replied.

    “I was talking to the dog,” she said with a crooked smile.  (pg. 125)

 

Kindle Details…

    Redneck Kaiju currently costs $2.99 at Amazon, which is a super deal for a new release.  Wil Radcliffe has another half-dozen e-books for your Kindle, from his two earlier series: Noggle Stones and The Whisper King.  They range in price from $0.99 to $4.99 apiece.

 

“Holy crap.  Chemistry is way more violent than I thought.”  (pg. 72)

    There’s a light-to-moderate amount of profanity in Redneck Kaiju.  I counted 16 instances in the first 20%, including a couple of f-bombs; which extrapolates out to about 80 in the whole book.  Not bad for a horror tale.  There was also one roll-in-the-hay.

 

    I spotted only one typo: raises/raised.  Kudos to whoever did the editing on this.

 

    That’s it for the quibbles.  Redneck Kaiju is a fast-paced, well-written tale with a bit of wit thrown in for good measure.  There were no slow spots that I recall.  Simply put, the monsters come in droves, fast and furious, and there’s just no time to slow down.

 

    9 Stars.  One last thing.  I liked the tip-of-the-hat to acclaimed Wyoming-born American artist Jackson Pollock.  I’ve been a fan of his ever since seeing his works in a gallery in Jackson Hole, Wyoming years ago.  It’s nice to see him getting a nod.

Night's Master - Tanith Lee

   1978; 244 pages.  Book 1 (out of 5) in the “Flat Earth” series.  New Author? : Yes.  Genres: Dark Fantasy; Anthology; Folklore.  Overall Rating: 7*/10.

 

    He is known by many titles: Lord of Darkness, Bringer of Anguish, Eagle-Winged, the Beautiful, the Unspeakable, the Prince of Demons, and the Master of Night.  Besides being a demon, he’s also a shape-shifter.

 

    He rules the Underearth from his capital city of Druhim-Vanashta, “The City of the Demons”, where the sun never shines.  He is the lord of the princely Vazdru, the worshipping Eshva, and the lowly Drin.

 

    He enjoys traveling to Upperearth, at least when it is nighttime.  He can cast spells, pronounce curses, conjure up foul beasts, and create new beings.  All of which wreaks havoc on the mortals up there.  But he despises the great orange sphere that rises in the east and bathes Upperearth with heat and light, and he is careful to scurry back to Underearth when rays of lightness begin to shine in the eastern sky.  His name is Azhrarn, and this is his story.

    Actually, it’s six stories about him and various creatures which have had the misfortune to cross his path.  I’m pleased to introduce you to the Night’s Master.

 

What’s To Like...

    Night’s Master is really three pairs of interrelated tales.  They all center around Azhrarn, of course, but each duad of stories also features at least one recurring character.  Ferazhin costars the first section, Zorayas in the second, and Janeve in the third.

 

    The “Flat Earth” appellation in the series' name caught my eye since I’m a devoted reader of Terry Pratchett’s Discworld series.  But Tanith Lee’s version isn’t circular and doesn’t have elephants standing on a giant turtle’s back.  It’s square, and the Sun apparently revolves around it.  I’m curious to see whether anyone ever reaches the edge and accidentally falls off.

 

    The world-building is fantastic.  The author utilizes a flowery style of writing.  For instance, at one point we meet a “pedlar”.  I looked it up; it is an archaic version of “peddler”.  There are also lots of descriptive passages that let you “see” Underearth and Upperearth.  In the hands of an amateur, this writing style could be irksome.  Here it works beautifully.

 

    The character-development is also masterful.  Yes, Azhrarn is the Prince of Demons. But the gods have a wry sense of humor, and at one point he’s forced to save mankind.  Zorayas is also deeply developed.  Events in her early life leave her scarred, turning an innocent child into a vengeful adult.

 

    Upperearth is filled mostly with humans, and Underearth has mostly demons.  But there are other creatures to meet and steer clear of, including witches, dragons, giants, magicians, gods, and even a unicorn.  It was also fun to see something called the Chair of Uncertainty; it's definitely an artifact I want to get my hands on.

 

    Each of the six tales has its own ending, but I didn’t sense anything tying together and closing the entire set of stories as a whole.  I suspect Tanith Lee’s main goal for Night's Master was to introduce the reader to Azhrarn and the two planes of Flat Earth.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon:  4.2/5 based on 293 ratings and 52 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.04/5 based on 2,816 ratings and 359 reviews

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Fane (n.) : a temple or shrine.

Others: jestling (v.); asphodel (n.); vulpine (adj.).

 

Excerpts...

    She called out: “Blessed be the name of the Dark Lord, and let him do me no harm.”

    To which Azhrarn, smiling, replied: “Time has harmed you enough with his claws.”

    “So indeed he has,” cried the witch, her eyes glittering greedily.  “May the Dark Lord grant me my youth again?”

    At that Azhrarn laughed coldly: “I do not often grant favors, hag.  But though I will not give you your youth, I will see to it you grow no older,” and a lightning slipped from his hand and struck the witch down.  It was never wise to ask a boon from a demon.  (loc. 269)

 

    “You may not drink,” said the first Guardian to Azhrarn, regarding him with this pitiless fearsome eye.

    “Indeed you may not,” said the other, regarding him also.

    “I am not here to drink,” said Azhrarn.  “Do you not know me?”

    “It is futile to know anything,” said the first Guardian, “since all things below pass, alter, decline and perish, and all things here above are unchanging.”

    “Humankind know me,” said Azhrarn.

    “Humankind,” said the second Guardian.  “What are they that we should be interested in their knowledge?”  (loc. 3072)

 

Kindle Details…

    Night’s Master currently sells for $6.99 at Amazon.  The other four books in this series are priced in the $7.99-$9.99 range.  Amazon offers a couple dozen Tanith Lee e-books for your reading pleasure, generally in the range of $1.99 to $12.99.

 

So there he sat.  And the stars grinned like naked daggers.  (loc. 401)

    I noticed only a couple of typos in Night’s Master: except/accept, wreck/wreak, and back/black.  I suspect these crept in when the book was converted into digital format.

 

    Amazingly, I didn’t note any cusswords in the text.  I can’t remember the last time that happened in a dark fantasy book.  There are a bunch of “intimate relations”, including those of the gay, hetero, forced, oral, and aroused varieties and occasionally involving gods with humans and dwarfs with spiders.  That last combination makes my head spin.  To be fair though, Tanith Lee alerts the reader to this degree of sexuality in her Introduction at the front of the book.

 

    Tanith Lee was a British author, which means occasionally American readers will run into strange spellings, such as travellers, grovelling, lustre, and a few others.  Curiously, both marvelous and marvellous were used.  I got the feeling that someone made an effort to Americanize the spelling for the e-book version and, for the most part, succeeded.

 

    That’s about it for the quibbles.  The Flat Earth series is an early effort by Tanith Lee (Wikipedia says she wrote more than 90 novels and 300 short stories), and I gather it is her most popular one.

 

    For me this was an interesting and well-written introduction to a fantasy world I’ve been meaning to explore for quite some time.  Alas, I’m not a big fan of anthologies, but in fairness, I knew this was one of those going in.  If Book 2, Death’s Master, crosses my path in the future, it’s even odds whether I’ll pick it up.  But if you happen to like books like 1001 Arabian Nights, then by all means give this series a try.

 

    7 Stars.  We'll close with a bit of trivia, courtesy of Wikipedia.  Night’s Master was nominated for the 1979 World Fantasy Award – Best Novel.   It didn’t win – Michael Moorcock’s Gloriana did – but to give you some idea of the competition, Stephen King’s The Stand was also nominated that year, and didn’t win either.

The Sandman: Preludes and Nocturnes - Neil Gaiman

   2018; 236 pages.  Volume 1 (out of 11) in the “Sandman – 30^th Anniversary Edition” series.  Full Title: Sandman Volume One: Preludes & Nocturnes.  New Author? : No.  Genres : Graphic Novel; Horror; Dark Fantasy.  Overall Rating: 9½*/10.

 

    Neil Gaiman is one of my favorite contemporary authors.  I first became acquainted with his work 16 years ago via his collaboration with Terry Pratchett in the fascinating novel, Good Omens.  Within a year-plus I’d also read his solo efforts, American Gods and Anansi Boys, both of which I consider to be masterpieces.

 

    I’ve read most of his solo novels since then, with only The Graveyard Book still on my TBR shelf.  But over the last 10 years he seems to have slowed down in his writing of full-length novels.

 

    Then I heard about his series called The Sandman.  “Aha!”, thought I, “Neil Gaiman has turned to putting out graphic novels!  Awesome!”

 

    Actually, the first volumes of his Sandman comics came out slightly before his first novels.

 

What’s To Like...

    According to Wikipedia, there were 75 issues in Neil Gaiman’s Sandman comic book series.  Preludes and Nocturnes is a 2018 re-release of the first eight comic book issues, comprised of

    1.) Sleep of the Just  (loc. 11)

    2.) Imperfect Hosts  (loc. 53)

    3.) Dream a Little Dream of Me  (loc. 77)

    4.) A Hope in Hell  (loc. 103)

    5.) Passengers  (loc. 128)

    6.) 24 Hours  (loc. 154)

    7.) Sound and Fury  (loc. 180)

    8.) The Sound of Her Wings  (loc. 205)

 

    Our protagonist goes by several names in the series, including Morpheus, the King of Dreams, Dream, and the titular Sandman.  At one point he is caught and imprisoned by a mortal who mistakenly thinks he’s captured the King of Death, which confused the daylights out of me.  The character "Death" does finally show up in the final book, and is an equally interesting character.

 

    Each of the eight books has its own storyline.  Needless to say, our hero escapes his prison early on, but is in a weakened condition and without several of his important artifacts: a pouch, a helm, and a ruby.  The overall storyline chronicles Dream’s efforts to retrieve those items.  Along the way, Neil Gaiman weaves in mythological references (such as the Hecateae), Reality “Slam Contests”, and a couple cameo appearances by other comic book stars.

 

    I read the e-book version of Preludes & Nocturnes, which is usually a clunky way to read a graphic novel.  But Kindle starts you out with a couple of tips for navigating the images on each page, and once I got the hang of things, I was amazed how smoothly things went.  Scrolling is ultra-slick, and the artwork, lettering, and storytelling are all incredible.

 

    Since this is a compilation of eight comic books, there is no discrete “ending”.  Book 8 does stop at a logical point in the saga, with a lot of the plot threads being explained and cleared up, and the stage being set for the next 67 installments in the series.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.8*/5, based on 5,823 ratings and 368 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.24*/5, based on 254,869 ratings and 8,898 reviews

 

Excerpts...

    “Do you know what dreams are made of, Rosemary Kelly?”

    “Made of?  They’re just dreams.”

    “No.  They aren’t.  People think dreams aren’t real because they aren’t made of matter, of particles.  Dreams are real.  But they are made of viewpoints, of images, of memories and puns and lost hopes.

    “The ruby seems to turn them into matter.  It forces them to translate themselves into forms we can recognize in this world.

    “It also controls dreams in their raw state.  Your dreams.  Anybody’s dreams.”  (loc. 144)

 

    “You could have called me, you know.”

    “I didn’t want to worry you.”

    “I don’t believe it.  Let me tell you something, Dream.  And I’m only going to say this once, so you’d better pay attention.

    “You are utterly the stupidest, most self-centered excuse for an anthropomorphic personification on this or any other plane!  An infantile, pathetic specimen!  Feeling all sorry for yourself because your little game is over, and you haven’t got the—the balls to go and find a new one!”  (loc. 214)

 

“Mother? They took my dreams away from me!”  (loc. 62)

    There’s nothing major to gripe about in Preludes & Nocturnes.  There is some cussing (10 instances in the first 25%), and a smidgen of sex and nudity, albeit those are done in a non-pornographic way.

 

    The Table of Contents either doesn’t work or is non-existent.  You can’t highlight text, but that’s because the whole e-book is scanned images of the pages from the comic books, and that's a small price to pay for the marvelous artwork and lettering.  And like any e-book consisting solely of images, this was a memory-hog on my Kindle.  Amazon lists it as eating up 811,037 KB of space.

 

    My biggest beef concerns the plethora of reissues of this series.  These include trade paperbacks, deluxe editions, 30^th Anniversary editions, Absolute Editions, annotated editions, and an Omnibus edition, all of which divide up those 75 issues in different proportions.  So even though my “Kindle 30^th Volume 1” was Issues 1-8, my “Full-Sized Paperback Volumes 2 and 3” are Issues 21-37 and Issues 38-56.   Do I hunt down something containing Issues 9-20 for the sake of completeness, or just shine it on and skip to the volumes/issues I already have? 

 

    These are all quibbles.  I’m not a big reader of Graphic Novels, yet Preludes & Nocturnes was a real treat for me, both from a storyline and an artistic angle.  Somehow, someway, Neil Gaiman is capable of adding a “Wow Factor” to any project he undertakes.

 

    9½ Stars.

Hollow City - Ransom Riggs

   2014; 428 pages.  Book 2 (out of 6) in the “Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children” series.  New Author? : No.  Genre : YA; Dark Fantasy; Time-Travel; Coming of Age.  Overall Rating : 8*/10.

 

    They are a motley crew.  Ten English children – peculiars, all of them – plus one damaged peregrine falcon are now fleeing for their lives, with deadly wights and hollowgasts in close pursuit.

 

    Oh, and there’s also one American kid with them – Jacob Portman.  He can not only see hollowgasts (something nobody else – both normal and peculiars – can do), he can sense their presence before they come into view.  That makes him very handy to have around.

 

    The falcon is a peculiar as well, a “ymbryne” to be precise, and she's none other than the children’s headmistress herself, Miss Peregrine.  Ymbrynes have the ability to shapeshift into birds and, more importantly, control and manipulate time itself.

 

    Unfortunately, ymbrynes can only do their time tricks while in human form, and at present, Miss Peregrine is stuck in her bird shape due to a broken wing.

 

    Hmm.  It looks like Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children is about to become as dead as a dozen dodo birds.

 

What’s To Like...

    For the most part, Hollow City is set in and around London in 1940, which means during World War 2 when the Germans were bombing the daylights out of England on a daily basis.  It is the second book in Ransom Riggs’ incredibly popular “Miss Peregrine’s Peculiar Children” series, and timewise, immediately follows the events that closed out Book One.  Surprisingly, only three days elapse between the start and finish of Hollow City.

 

    The book chronicles three interrelated plotlines: a.) getting Miss Peregrine’s wing fixed so she can change back into a human; b.) locating another ymbryne, since they’re the only ones who can heal Miss Peregrine; and c.) freeing all the other ymbrynes that are currently held captive by the evil wights.  These are daunting tasks for a bunch of kids, peculiar or not.

 

    As was true in the first book, Ransom Riggs incorporates a whole bunch of bizarre, vintage photographs into the story.  You’d think photoshopping was involved but they were taken long before the computer age, and I trust the author when he swears that they weren’t doctored in any way.  I was happy to see that these pics were included in the e-book version (I read Book One in the paperback format), and can attest that they were easily expandable and in sharp focus.    

 

    There’s a handy “Cast of Characters” in the front of the book, showing most of the peculiar children plus some associates of Jason’s.  Included are photos for each of the peculiars, along with a list of what “gift” each one has.  I frequently consulted this section to look up which peculiar could do what.

 

    There are a couple of time-jumps in Hollow City, and also a coming-of-age aspect.  Jacob experiences his first kiss, his first romance, and his first set of relationship issues.  The “Armageddon chickens” were neat, so were the gypsies, and the character named Addison is a great addition to the series, and hopefully a recurring one.

 

    The book is written in the first-person POV (Jacob’s).  There are 13 chapters covering the 397 pages of the story, which averages out to about 30 pages a chapter, but that includes a lot of space taken up by the photographs.  The cover image ties into the storyline; you can read more details about it in the second excerpt below.  The ending is suitably exciting, has a twist in it that I never saw coming, stops at a logical place and sets up Book 3.

 

Ratings…
    Amazon: 4.7*/5, based on 7,075 ratings and 3,934 reviews.

    Goodreads: 4.05*/5, based on 220,005 ratings and 18,007 reviews.

 

Excerpts...

    “I think we’re being punished.”

    “For what?” said Emma.  “We’ve been perfect angels.  Well, most of us.”

    “The sins of past lives, maybe.  I don’t know.”

    “Peculiars don’t have past lives,” said Millard.  “We live them all at once.”  (loc. 690)

 

    It made no sense that Sam’s body was functioning in any capacity.  Stranger still, her wound wasn’t even bleeding, and there was no gore or bits of entrails hanging out of it, like I knew to expect from horror movies.  Instead, Sam looked like a paper doll that had been attacked with a giant hole-punch.

    (…) “Excuse me,” [Enoch] said, crowding into their personal space, “but could you please explain how it is that you’re alive?”

    “It’s nothing serious,” Sam said.  “Although my dress may not survive.”

    “Nothing serious?!” Enoch said.  “I can see clear through you!”

    “It does smart a little,” she admitted, “but it’ll fill in in a day or so.  Things like this always do."  (loc. 3534)

 

Kindle Details…

    Hollow City presently sells for $9.99 at Amazon.   Books 1, 3, and 4 are also $9.99, while Book 5 is $8.99 and Book 6 is $11.99.  The first two e-books are also available in Graphic Novel format, and there is a “Companion Book” titled Tales of the Peculiar, which is an anthology containing 11 short stories set in the Peculiar world.  These three options are all priced at $9.99 apiece.

 

Kewlest New Word ...

Huskers (n., plural) : persons who perform music or other entertainment in the street or public places for monetary donations.

 

“I love sad stories,” said Enoch.  “Especially ones where princesses get eaten by dragons and everyone dies in the end.”  (loc. 1086)

    There are some things to quibble about in Hollow City, but no show-stoppers.  There is only a smidgen of cussing (I counted a mere nine instances in the whole book, none of which were f-bombs) and don’t recall any R-rated acts.

 

    The pacing felt somewhat slow.  Wights and hollows are constantly hot on our heroes’ trail, yet we spend a fair amount of time hanging out at a menagerie, then with the gypsies, then later at a deep-freeze.

 

    We cross paths with a number of other peculiars, but a lot of them get developed, only to fade away.  The part about Cuthbert’s head seems totally extraneous.  But I think this is inevitable,  and due to Ransom Riggs diligently working as many weird photos into the story as he can.  I’m certainly glad he did so.

 

    The ending, although exciting, doesn’t tie up any of the three main plotlines.  When you compare where our band of adventurers are at the end of Book Two to where they were at the end of Book One, there’s not a lot of progress.  I wouldn’t call Hollow City a standalone story and recommend that you read the books in this series in order.

 

    8 Stars.  There are about 30 pages of “Extras” at the end of the e-book, consisting of: 1.) Photo Credits, 2.) Acknowledgements, 3.) A Conversation with Ransom Riggs, 4.) an excerpt from Book 3.  The “Conversation” is well worth reading, as it gives insight into the approach Ransom Riggs used to write Hollow City.  He also reveals some of the bizarre photographs used in the next book.  For me, they were effective teasers.