A Bad Place to Be a Hero by Jerry F. Westinger is one of the funniest and unconventionally-entertaining fantasy novels we've read in a while. There's just something about the way that this author is able to craft sentences in such a clever, tongue-in-cheek manner. Just when you get a bit bored and want to put the book down, the author throws you a zig-zagging, crisscrossing, curve-balling one-liner that will have you rolling on the floor laughing your nerdy behind off.
There's a level of self-awareness and sass in Westinger's writing that's tough to replicate. It seems like the author is aware that these werewolf shape-shifter fantasy stories have been done to death and that there needs to be a fresh twist to it. This is, indeed, a book like many others in which a mythical or legendary creature, in this case a werewolf, stands in for a minority group in the real-world. This is also, indeed, a book like many others in which a forbidden practice, in this case necromancy, is cracked down on and discriminated against. This book really shines in several ways. As mentioned, it's incredibly self-aware and funny. It also has some of the best world-building of any book this season. You really come to understand the sociopolitical makeup of the world. You come to understand that there's a lot going on in the background (politically) that's influencing the way that werewolves and necromancers are being treated. Firstly, the senate has basically staged a soft coupe on the emperor, quietly replacing him and removing the authority of his office after his death. The military answers to the senate, but the military is full of people who have their own ideas on how things should be run. There are old-school officers like the General, who advocates for following the rules and law without any flexibility whatsoever. Then, there's the Major in the story, who acts as a voice of reason, often acting as an intercessor between the accused and the General who is trying enforce the law, however unjust. Neither is “bad” or even “evil,” it just seems like they're doing their jobs and acting like normal people who follow their personal convictions. We later learn that the General had served under the last emperor, which helps to explain why he is the way that he is. We also gather that there is a separation between the traditional police force, like the one that the silly Officer Nella Dormanni serves in, and the paladins who serve a similar function almost like sheriffs or MPs. We also later learn that many of the strange creatures that exist in the world are actually the result of necromancy used in the past. Yes, a lot happened in the history of this world, and that goes a long way in making the world feel lived in. There are also phrases like “Manaehi eleu” or “enough for everyone” used by Midoreans before means. The main characters aren't bad either. They're not obnoxious and they often show some of the things we like to see in heroes: they're dynamic (one is a werewolf), they're clever (they often achieve things through trickery and by being ninja), and they're not saints. At the same time, we don't have many reasons to hate or dislike them. Corlis, Lokenn, and Tessa are solid, well-rounded, likeable characters. So with all that out of the way, let's highlight some of our best, most hilarious parts of this book. One running joke is that Officer Nella is constantly ten steps behind the action. She is in her own little world daydreaming most of the time while necromancy is happening and dead bodies are floating past her. Ok, one dead body, but you get the point. For example, we get the following cut-away: “Meanwhile, at the other end of town, absolutely nothing interesting happened to Officer Nella Dormanni.” It's almost Monte Python-like humor. There are also humorous lines like, “Estrum leapt to his feet amidst a tidal wave of curses, at once fulfilling his promise to teach Thessa many new words” or “Good thing Mother was around to see it, as she had forgotten to tell him that pinedew berries were poisonous before they're properly dried out. That was the night Lokenn had to drink soap water until he threw up the last drop in his stomach. On the upside, it did awaken his interest in the workings of the human body.” There's so much ham and goofiness in this that it's impossible not to crack a laugh. Check it out on Amazon!
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Score: 90/100 (9.0 out of 10)
This beautiful, heartfelt poetry book by Patricia Stanway opens a window into the author's incredible life journey in overcoming what we can infer to be a challenging childhood to become an outstanding poet and author. This poetry book, probably more than the others we've read, really captures the idea of the “seasons” of life. There are high times and there are low times. There are up times and there are down times. There are times when things are bright and there are times when things are dark. There are times when you feel love and all the happy feelings. There are times when you feel anger, resentment, sadness, and unhappy feelings. This book covers topics like sexuality (especially discovering sexuality), family, music, searching for meaning, direction and inspiration; loss and pain, discovery, fantasy, truth, desire, introspection, and nature. There are even some poems in here about mystical and spiritual elements. Something we appreciated about this poetry book is that it is a poetry book—a true poetry book. These are poems—true poems. The author doesn't break into prose explaining each and every single poem. There's also a level of ambiguity and mystery behind these poems. WE—the audience, the readers—are expected to interpret these poems and acquire meaning. The meaning isn't thrown at us like “this means this” and “that means that.” This is also the least didactic or preachy of either of the four poetry books we've read and reviewed thus far. It also happens to be the most mellow and calm. Yes, the book does touch on issues such as abuse and death, but it's usually presented in a way that seems more reflective than dire. You don't have a feeling like the writer is in any immediate danger or that the matter at hand is a pressing or urgent one. The writing winds and weaves like the threads of a tapestry, and it's quite beautiful! Check it out on Amazon! P.S. Really quickly, we would like to consider this book cover for our “Best Book Cover” consideration. It's spectacular! Score: 91/100 (9.1 out of 10)
An Unsuspecting Child by Marylee Martin is a heart-wrenching yet inspirational and adventurous dive into one woman's life following a childhood of covert childhood abuse that haunts her even as she travels the world and becomes a star actress. That's right, this book does seem to have a slightly more uplifting and happy vibe to it than When to Run, Born Scared by Stephanie King, a book covering almost the exact same topic that we ironically just read and reviewed. Keep in mind that we scored When to Run, Born Scared a 9.6 out of 10, our highest rating ever, so that's a really tough comparison. It's difficult to take two life stories and say, “well, this one was more exciting” or “well, this one had the happier ending.” We've read a book by a Holocaust survivor and one by a mother who helped her daughter live as long and as happily as possible through Edward's syndrome, so it's always difficult and challenging to take these real-life stories and pit them head-to-head like it's some kind of contest for who's life was more dramatic. We do have to evaluate other things. What we can do is compare these literary works in aspects such as tone, pacing, and memorable characters (referring, in this case, to real-life figures). As we mentioned before, the tone of this autobiography—while not glowing—is noticeably more bright. That may actually be to this book's detriment as that also means that it lacks the tension and suspense that When to Run, Born Scared did. With the latter, you were constantly on edge and worried about what was going to happen to the narrator, Stephanie, next. That book had more real-life twists and turns than a Six Flags roller-coaster ride. That also means that it was paced in a way that facilitated a heightened level of suspense and tension. With suspension and tension comes more engagement and intrigue. With An Unsuspecting Child, the action and events are more scattered. That could be interesting to some because it adds a level of variety to the mix. After all, some people love to throw a lot of different things into the blender to make a smoothie. However, sometimes this seems to distract from the main issue the book is trying to bring light to, that being covert childhood abuse. Case in point: there is A LOT of adventuring in this book, and it can be exciting and interesting. We do, after all, want to see Marylee be safe and happy. There are maybe two or three points in this book when she is truly happy: 1. When she travels from country to country and gets to see that there is beauty in life and the world, 2. When she is performing on-stage as an actress, living her dream, 3. When her loved ones throw a surprise party for her and make her feel loved and appreciated after what seemed like a pretty down time. How about the figures/characters we follow throughout the book? Well, we can really only remember a few: Marylee, her dad, her therapist, her partner, and her step-daughter, Leona. If you were to quiz us on these characters, we might be able to answer without cheating. Marylee, of course, does have friends and relationships throughout the book, but they're more like NPCs. That's life, really. Your friends today might be afterthoughts tomorrow as they move away to have families and pursue careers. Something that's always in the air is Leona's idealization of her late mother—a stoic, pious Christian woman. By the way, how ironic is it that that there's also a major character named Leona in When to Run, Born Scared. Wait a minute... is this a prequel or alternate universe!?! Dun dun duuuuuuuuun! Anyway, Marylee is constantly comparing herself to Leona's mother, and there is at least some semblance of jealousy she feels in competing with a ghost. It's one of the more interesting things about this book. Although Marylee's discovery of her deep-seated problem in a therapy session seems a little anti-climactic, there is a bit of a payoff. Marylee's moments with her elderly and dying dad—the man who scarred her for life—are powerful. We were thoroughly on Marylee's side throughout the book. How can't you be? While not a perfect person, Marylee is a victim who did absolutely nothing wrong to deserve what happened to her and how it affected her. Furthermore, Marylee is an inspiration. She took those terrible events and fought past them. While a lot of people fall into suicidal idealization, drug addictions, and homelessness, Marylee made something of herself. She set goals and she pursued them. She became a successful actress, even an award-winning actress! And she'll be an award-winning author at the end of this season! Check it out on Amazon! Score: 95/100 (9.5 out of 10)
This is our absolute favorite Michael Cook book for a reason! We rarely have a book this short score this highly, but it's well-deserved. It's short and concise yet packs a huge punch! It's one of the best collections of inspirational and practical life quotes we've ever read! We have no doubt that if humanity were to follow the advice in this book, the world would be a much better and happier place. So, where do we begin? Let's start with the general premise of this book. Meditations for Modern Man is a collection of quotes and affirmations—“maxims”— about the following subjects: leadership, morality, logic, facts, liberty, criticism, character, education, and politics. These maxims were collected by the author in a small notebook over the course of three years. They are based on 30 years of studying history, observing and experiencing events, and supervising military service men and women. There's also a short section on different logical fallacies which are at the root of flawed thinking and decision making. Interestingly, this also includes appeals that Aristotle advocated for like the appeal to emotion. That reminds us that being persuasive doesn't mean being good, moral, or right. Most people are simply not aware that they are being manipulated by politicians, the education system, and the media on a constant basis. We watch commercials in which celebrities tell us to eat or drink a certain thing, yet those celebrities—utilizing “appeals to authority”—are always paid and sometimes don't even eat or drink the things they're advertising. Kids don't know that. Many adults consciously or subconsciously forget that. Yet they're bombarded with this information that's full of deception. And they accept it. We accept it. This is even scarier when it comes to things like politics. How many times can the media remind you that something or someone is “bad”—whether they truly are or not—before you start to believe it and accept it as true? Truth seems eerily relative in that regard. In a nutshell: don't be a lemming, at least in the mythological sense. Don't follow others off a cliff just because those others are doing it. Don't believe just because everyone else believes. Do your own due diligence. Question everything. Challenge everything. And don't forget that everyone has an agenda that often doesn't involve your personal health, happiness, and well-being. Something we can greatly appreciate about these is that many of them are what we'd consider counter-cultural. That means that they don't reflect the Millennial popular opinion of the time. This book isn't about what's popular or hip, it's about what's true and what works. For example, you would think that throwing money at a problem like poverty would work. That's pretty much what the government does. But what you think is real isn't necessarily reality. What you believe isn't necessarily what's true. Furthermore, we've long emphasized language, math, and sciences, but practical life skills and the trades have always been neglected by our education system. The author advocates for these practical life skills and trades. Here are a few of our favorite quotes and partial quotes from the book: “Actions, not incomes, define people as noble or evil.” “Nothing is ever free, it must be paid for in exchange of individual responsibility and personal liberty.” “The most intolerant people in the world are those people who demand tolerance from everyone else.” “There are two types of people in this world: you either have a pair of balls or you cling to a pair.” There are so many more great quotes from this book! Check it out on Amazon! Score: 96/100 (9.6 out of 10)
WARNING: This book contains descriptions of severe sexual abuse that may be triggering to some readers. When to Run, Born Scared by Stephanie King is one of the most heart-wrenching, engaging real-life stories we've ever read! You just can't turn away. You just can't stop flipping to pages to see what's going to happen next, hoping against all hope along with Stephanie that everything will finally be ok. First of all, this book is TENSE and INTENSE. The narrator has us constantly guessing what's going to happen next. For example, she doesn't immediately reveal what mysterious illness or infliction is causing their back pain, the ultimate fate of her wicked dad, and what happened with the Italian mafia. Suspense is constantly being built. You're constantly on edge. This could easily qualify as a thriller and/or a drama. Just when you think that the narrator has it all figured out and that their life is on an upward trajectory, tragedy strikes or they're hit with another curve ball. Another thing that really stands out is that, from a literary standpoint, the major characters are unforgettable. Stephanie is a brilliant main protagonist, not because she's a white knight hero, but because of how flawed and vulnerable she is. At the same time, Stephanie is infinitely sympathetic and compelling. Her life story is incredibly tragic and, yet, inspirational. There are so many times when Stephanie could've called it quits and tapped out. There are so many times when Stephanie could've been killed. However, like an Energizer bunny or Rocky, she just kept on going and going and going. Her innocence and childhood were quite literally robbed from her by people she loved and trusted. There is so much darkness and evil surrounding her, it is incredible she didn't grow up to be a serial-killer and instead grew up to be a phenomenal writer and author! In this book, Stephanie is constantly trying to survive and better her life. And, beside letting a cocaine addiction get out of control, seems to be doing her best given the circumstances. She's not one of those victims who keeps going back to be victimized, it seems like it follows her no matter how hard she tries to escape. And she does try to escape multiple times. What happens when she tries? She goes to a detention center “shelter” where someone immediately gets his throat slit in front of her and she fears for her life. She loses her bag with all the meds she's dependent on. She gets kidnapped. A disgruntled client basically blows up her one working vehicle with her inside it. She gets her path crossed with the Italian mafia because of the stupidity of her guy friend—the one dude you think might be her saving grace for the longest time. She gets drugged into a paralytic state by unscrupulous people including her own sister. She even gets poisoned, including by her eventual husband. Stephanie endured more in her first 13 years than most people do in a lifetime. By the age of 21, she basically has experience comparable to Wolverine from X-Men or Officer Frederick Douglass Reynolds from Black, White and Gray All Over. One of the other memorable characters or figures in the book is Stephanie's dad, Jean, the main antagonist and villain of the book. And, no, it's not just what you think. It's WORSE. HE is worse. If this were a work of fiction, Jean would be the perfect villain. Not only is he given a backstory setting up the roots of his wickedness, but we fully get to see how vile, wicked, and corruptible his actions and behavior are. He is borderline demonic, yet somehow believably human. There are times that you, for some reason, come to think he might redeem himself somehow or have a change of heart. This is despite all you've read about him. He even manipulates and fools the reader! You vicariously feel his filthy hands to your throat and his fist to you face, and you just can't help but want to fight back too! Similarly, Leanne (Stephanie's older sister) is despicable and diabolical. Yet, there is a scary degree to which we sympathize with and understand her. She felt shafted by having to take care of a new sister who replaced her as the center of the family's attention and forced her to move to the cold, dark basement. There is also a time when she develops severe health problems. Strangely, as evil and wicked as she was to Stephanie, you can't help but feel a little bit for Leanne. After all, their father clearly wrecks everything and everyone he touches, and Leanne is no exception. At the same time, what Leanne pulled off by pimping out her little sister to endure severe sexual abuse later on is absolutely disgusting and unforgivable. There is even an implication that Leanne didn't care if the abusers permanently maimed or even killed Stephanie. The calmness, poise, and fake shows of sisterly affection that lead up to this are horrifying. Another person to note here is Stephanie's mother, who constantly yet unsuccessfully tries to defend and protect her from the wrath of her dad. Her mother just simply lacked the ability to do what this book advocates: to know when to run. There are so many times in this book when it would have been better for her to divorce him and run away. What's kind of incredible is that despite the fact that Stephanie should blame her mom for her weakness, her mom is still the one person she seems to unconditionally love. And there is a bit of a redemption arc for her mom, who slips Stephanie money while she's on the run, and also supports her new business. Yes, that's right, after all of that crap she went through, Stephanie actually started her own business! Check out this book on Amazon! Review of “A Symphony of Logic from the Basket of Deplorables” by Cornelius Van Blyderveen7/14/2022 Score: 93/100 (9.3 out of 10)
A Symphony of Logic from the Basket of Deplorables is a passionate philosophical book by Cornelius Van Blyderveen, a Jewish Canadian immigrant who is greatly troubled by trends in the Americas and the west today. In a sense, this book is the exact equal and opposite of Wisdom by Jason Merchey as it takes a similar impassioned approach to socio-cultural and socio-political issues, however from a more right-leaning, conservative perspective (where as Merchey's work was from a left-leaning, liberal perspective). It's almost incredible how similar yet diametrically opposed these two books are. While both books are preachy and didactic, you could make the argument that Blyderveen is more restrained and a lot less shouty about his point of view. You don't get nearly as many exclamation marks, CAPITALIZED LETTERS, or name-calling here. It also doesn't contradict the thesis in practice (to think less emotionally and more rationally) like Wisdom arguably did. However, because of their similarities, we are giving them identical scores of 9.3/10. We have to preface this by saying that, despite what the author may claim, this book does have a degree of bias toward a political (conservative) and religious (Judeo-Christian) point of view. That doesn't make it “wrong” necessarily, but we're just preparing and warning you. If these are views that boil your blood and make you want to throw things and/or set your local Wendy's on fire, then avoid this book like the plague. If you are open to different points of views, even those you might not necessarily like or agree with, then you might be able to bear with this book. Look, we don't agree with a lot of books we read. There were a lot of things about Wisdom we didn't like or agree with. There are some things in this book we might not like or agree with. That doesn't mean we're going to rage and set it on fire or something. America is the land that prioritizes one thing above all things: freedom of expression. This is the ability to share beliefs, values, and ideas without fear of the government or public “cracking down” on you and killing you. We aren't supposed to live in fear of what we think and believe, yet look at where we are as a society. People are SCARED. They're scared of each other. They're scared of being “turned in” or marked as racist or intolerant by their friends, coworkers, and loved ones. People are being canceled—their livelihoods destroyed. It's pretty mad. What's worse is that the people the media tells us are the “good guys” sure are hypocritical and tend to hold double standards. They have a kind of sick selective demonization of people and groups of people, as long as they're not minorities. And they're quick to turn a blind eye to the racism and discrimination that they are promoting and perpetuating. Another very relevant fear is the indoctrination of our kids. Do you want to send your kids to schools where they are regularly told how bad and wrong their parents and grandparents were? Where they're taught that they live in a systemically unethical or even “evil” society? Where they're taught to blame people and feel like victims instead of accepting personal responsibility for their future and the future of society? That's realistically what we're looking at. And what's really scary about that is how this all starts so subtly and slowly. When we start losing one right, we should expect to start losing all our rights. Slowly but surely. We're taught that it's “good” or for the “greater good.” We're taught to accept it. And if we push back, we're labeled as wicked or corrupt somehow. And when one side riots, it's justified. When another side riots, it's evil. When one side wants to overturn an election, it's justified. When another side wants to overturn an election, it's evil. When one side talks about how bad white people can be, they're justified and almost never reprimanded. But when a person brings up higher crime rates among a minority group—something that indicates a cultural and NOT a racial problem, to be clear—they're evil and immediately face repercussion. Many of the people protesting their loss of what they perceive as a human right right now were probably protesting for more restrictions and in favor of willingly LOSING their rights to assembly and to make private medical decisions a year or two ago. Think about how backwards and hypocritical that is. And it really isn't right either way. But no one wants to talk about it. Why? Because it's scary and it's dangerous to speak the truth. It's scary and dangerous to say that 2+2 doesn't equal 5 (figuratively speaking). And that's why we can appreciate this book even if we don't 100% agree with it. It highlights these fears—these very real fears. Here's one of our favorite quotes from it: “The alternate reality of Chinese communism as any alternate reality always need(s) to construct an ideologically correct response to everything.” In other words, like in 1984, a government or society can agree on things that are completely untrue and objectively false like 2+2=5. They can convince you that it's correct by shear force, manipulation, and indoctrination. Is that what we're seeing in society today? The day when blatant lies becomes accepted as truth. Check out this book on Amazon! Score: 91/100 (9.1 out of 10)
Deehabta's Song is a Stephen Alder novel that showcases impressive world-building as well as a compelling main character. Krissa is a highly-skilled, passionate, and determined martial artist from the Mindas Fight Academy, trained under the skilled Master Mildriss. Krissa is a mix between Mulan and Ip Man. She is one of the only (and one of the best) practitioners of Caderyn fighting arts, a fighting style and practice that is banned by the authoritarian government and their enforcers, the EPF. The empire bans this practice and many other aspects of Caderyn life and culture because it fears a resurgence of the years-long war that dominates the background of this story. The Caderyn War was a long and bloody conflict between the empire and the Caderyns it sought to subjugate. Krissa had found herself in the center of this conflict as almost a Boudica-like figure against the might of Imperial Rome, and now like Caratacus finds herself spared and assimilated into the dominant culture at the expense of her own. Krissa constantly has flashes and nightmares about that time 30 years before when she was a warrior and a Caderyn. They haunt her constantly. The empire, like the Borg or the Romans, are prolific at assimilating the people they subjugate. In this sense, it's almost like these victims are overwritten or reprogrammed to think and believe a certain way. In a sense, her love for Caderyn martial and her nightmares are her repressed subconscious coming to the forefront, screaming to be let out and be heard. This is something that a lot of native and indigenous peoples can probably relate to. For example, Native Hawaiians work and fight to preserve their language, food, and culture in the face of an overwhelming western influence and Americanization. We do get some Ip Man-like vibes from Krissa as she's the practitioner of a secret martial art who can take out multiple baddies at one time, especially when armed with a staff. It's almost like wing chun or kung fu “magic” if you could even call it that. We almost wonder who would win in a fight between Krissa and Sis Jones from “Surviving the Second Tier” by M.K. Lever. That would be a GREAT brawl between two very skilled and determined female fighters. We'd give the edge to Krissa in the case of her having a staff or being able to use her powers, but hand-to-hand, mortal-to-mortal might be too close to call. C'mon though, Sis was undefeated and beat up 220+ pound trained fighters with her bare fists. That would be an awesome fight! Speaking of Krissa's other powers, she appears to have an old ability to summon animals with her singing voice, something which greatly turned the tide of the war in her previous life. This is why controlling her voice and ability to speak is such a big deal to the government when they try to assimilate her. The assimilation process, at least the one shown to the reader, is primarily demonstrated by Dr. Zackron. Believe it or not, Dr. Zackron is not evil, nor is he really a bad or terrible guy. Really, Zackron seems to be a guy who buys into the “good work” he's doing, truly believing that he's saving these people who would've otherwise been executed. He views assimilation as giving these people a second chance. He even stands up for the well-being of the captives, insisting that they still be treated like human beings. That's ironic considering that he's basically turning them into cyborgs and patting himself on the back while doing it. The same can even be argued for General Pen who is really just doing his job and securing the empire. General Pen's men even provide Krissa with food, water, and some semblance of privacy while she's in captivity. They could've easily starved or outright killed her if they wanted to, especially knowing how dangerous she is. The real villain is definitely the empire and the EPF. Why wouldn't it be? That's par for the course. As mentioned at the beginning of this review, this book demonstrates some impressive world-building. Both Roon and Caderyn feel lived-in. There's even talk about how the wildlife in Caderyn in the post-war era is quite dismal, mostly consisting of “creepy crawlies” despite fluffy animals having once been plentiful there. The government mansions also emphasize the pompous, obnoxious excess of Roon. All in all this is an adventure-filled sci-fi/fantasy/thriller novel you can check out on Amazon! Score: 95/100 (9.5/10)
WARNING: WE MEAN THE FOLLOWING IN A POSITIVE LIGHT. WE ACTUALLY LIKED THE BOOK A LOT! With that out of the way... Seriously, did the author deliberately lower our expectations only to shatter them later? The first page of this novel is simultaneously one of the worst and most cringe-worthy opening pages of any novel while also being one of the most brilliant and ingenious. That first page reads like it was written by an 11-year-old who gathered a whole bunch of random notes for a cool character concept and threw them onto the page. How so? Well, the book begins with a ton of telling (rather than showing) including the main protagonist/antihero outright telling you who they are, what they're wearing, where they're from, what their quirks and perks are, what mental disorder they have, what their dog's name is, and their entire life story. It's everything you aren't supposed to do in the beginning of a novel. Well, thank God the rest of the book is nothing like that—not at all! The rest of this book reads like it was written by a masterful storyteller who has published about 200 books and has been doing TED Talks on writing for years. We don't know if any of that is true, but it certainly seems like it based on how impressive their writing and storytelling is after that first few pages. When it comes down to it, this is a terrific character-driven tale about a very gray character, the titular Blind Justice, and their vigilante quest to inflict justice on wrongdoers (mainly pedophiles) even if it means losing their humanity and becoming the villain themselves. It's very Batman-esque as many vigilante stories go, only Blind Justice is far more ruthless and brutal than Batman is, not to mention being willing to torture and kill. In fact, Blind Justice seems to enjoy torturing and killing, justifying their actions because of who they're perpetrating them again. In their mind, they are doing the things the law is unable or unwilling to do: to catch and punish the worst in society. However, how far is too far? Should you give up your humanity—your soul—for retribution? Should you abandon morals and ethics for what you perceive to be the greater good? Is a serial killer ever justified? Is a serial killer redeemable? Notice we use the pronouns they, them, and their to describe Blind Justice as they are a transvestite, however it's interesting to note that others refer to them by other pronouns for various reasons. For example, members of law enforcement like Detective Peter, one of the other major protagonists, sometimes refers to Blind Justice as “him” or “he” partly because of the assumption that most violent criminals are male and are lacking information on the identity of Blind Justice. Blind Justice also occasionally reflects on the time when they were male or a boy. And they sometimes seem torn between who they are and who they were. There are many times when they're just called “she” or “her” because that's what they identify as. Sexuality and gender seem to be handled respectfully regardless of where you stand on the social-political or religious views on LGBTQ issues. It seriously didn't bother us either way. Blind Justice is neither demonized for being trans nor are they glamorized. Pretty fittingly, it's just a part of Blind Justice's identity, and the author just expects us to accept it the way we would if a close loved one were trans. We can actually appreciate the author's approach a lot. The author actually shows some of the ways that Blind Justice feels more satisfied and fulfilled being a trans woman, but on the other hand how people mistake them for being a cis girl in the physiological sense and treat them differently. For example, early on, boys try to play the white knight assuming Blind Justice is a cis female. A pedophile also mistakes Blind Justice for being a young girl, underestimating the strength and muscle-mass Blind Justice still has from having been a biological male. This gives Blind Justice a surprising physical advantage which they leverage against their enemies/victims (depending on how you look at them). Indeed, they will often disarm these enemies/victims with their feminine charm and dog, then quickly overwhelm them with surprise and strength as happens with one of the book's major antagonists/victims, Simon Richards, a known pedophile and child abuser. What's really fascinating about this book and its characters is, again, the grayness. Blind Justice is split not only in her gender (being a biological male who identifies as a trans female) but also in their personality. They immediately reveal to the audience that they suffer from multiple personality disorder. Furthermore, the character is just so split and torn between good and evil, humanity and depravity. On one hand, Blind Justice believes they are protecting and avenging victims including young children and vulnerable women by brutally murdering those who have or would hurt them. They also show some degree of caring for these victims as well as for their dog, Willow. On another hand, Blind Justice takes things way too far. Blind Justice relishes in causing as much pain, suffering, and agony to their victims as possible, even deliberately avoiding killing them for as long as possible in order to prolong their suffering. They also have a strange barbaric obsession with dismembering the victims and keeping their flesh to feed to Willow and the stray dogs outside. These are not activities that most normal human beings would associate with a kind and compassionate personality. In fact, Blind Justice proves themselves to be just as depraved, sadistic, and bloodthirsty as some of their victims, if not more so. And before you say: well, the feeding of these perverse humans to the stray dogs shows that Blind Justice is loving and caring enough to feed animals. Think again! Blind Justice gives their victims a tranquilizing medication that makes these victims even more defenseless and easier to abuse. Why does that matter? Well, Blind Justice has a strong hunch that this medication could be harmful to her dog and the strays when they eat the human flesh she feeds them. They do research into it, after which Blind Justice admits that she is really only concerned with the health of Willow, she doesn't really care what happens to the other animals who eat the contaminated and possibly poisoned human flesh. Blind Justice has really become a sociopath and a psychopath akin to many mass-shooters and serial killers. So, like Walter White in Breaking Bad, the audience is really going to be torn about how they're supposed to feel about the protagonist/antihero—whether to root for them or root for someone like Peter to put an end to their madness. It's kinda perfect in that sense. Check it out on Amazon! Score: 93/100 (9.3 out of 10)
Harvard Can't Teach You What You Learn from the Streets by Sam Liebman is one of the best real-estate books we've ever read! That's right, it's a real-estate book. We were actually surprised by that because that's not what we inferred from the title, although the subtitle was more explicit. Anyway, the most amazing thing about this book is just how straight-forward, dry, and practical it is! This is a no-frills, no-BS book. In that sense, the title is very fitting because it has a very street smarts kind of approach to the subject matter. This is stuff that the author has learned from years of experiences, successes and failures (but mostly successes). One of the most interesting concepts in this book comes in chapter six when the author prompts us (the potential real-estate buyers) to consider the following questions about our prospective property: What is it? What was it? What can it be? These are questions that often go ignored by people who are just excited to buy a property. They go at it with rose-tinted glasses and don't consider what they're actually buying—is it something that's actually valuable and could increase in value or is it a liability/accident waiting to happen. The author encourages the buyer to do their due diligence in having the property inspected by third-party experts for things like rust, mold, water/gas leaks, and pests. Similar to the business safety book we read earlier this year, this book emphasizes doing your own due diligence and prioritizing safety and security over short-term wealth or gain. What good are your assets today if they're on fire, get flooded, are eaten by termites, or explode tomorrow? Also, you need to be aware that different areas have different laws and regulations about what information needs to be revealed to the potential buyer. The author provides an excellent example of this. He recounts a story of when he was just about ready to buy a house based on a report, however, he talked to an elderly man who'd been in the neighborhood for a while who brought up that the house had burned down over 18 years prior. It turns out that the local laws stated that events that took place on a property more than 18 years prior didn't have to be revealed to buyers because they were consider irrelevant. The author had to do his own little side research to find that out. Because of that, he dodged a bullet. This insightful book inspired us to consider real-estate! Check it out on Amazon! Score 88/100 (8.8 out of 10)
The Alexandria Scrolls: Book One by Lukman Clark blends actual historical figures and events with a hint of fiction in what is ultimately a pretty interesting novel. We've gone through this about six times between us, that means more than once. Each time we uncover more and more about the characters and what's really going on. It can get a bit chaotic, cluttered, and crazy. If the author hadn't provided the background information they did such as the genre and sub-genre, we might still be a bit lost. Without this information, it would have been unclear if this were even fiction or non-fiction. For one, there's a preface in this book titled “Translator's Foreword” which implies that the origins of this story were actually some papyrus scrolls the author found, something which immediately becomes questionable or difficult to believe when he starts talking about being some kind of a 10th century Arab archaeologist. So, from page one, we're already thinking that the narrator is either 1000 years old or a ghost. The only other option is that this is a fictional account. That immediately ruins the immersion. The foreword then implies that Helen of Troy and Isis (the mother of Horus/wife of Osiris) were real people rather than mythical, which is an interesting presumption that further lays credence that this was written by a fallible, somewhat naive girl from ancient times. If only it were... The book is also double-spaced like it's some kind of extensive college essay. It's a little bit of an eyesore if you're expecting to read a normal book. Another issue we noticed is that characters sometimes don't sound like they're in the 3rd or 4th century, especially when it comes to insulting each other. It gets kinda hilarious in that regard. For instance, there's "you stinking son of a bitch," "bitchling," "cocksucker, butt fucker," and "pip-squeak." With all that said, let's get to the actual meat of this book. The “meat” actually doesn't start with characters, it starts with context. This book takes place in Egypt around the late 3rd and early 4th century AD. Emperor Constantine has come and gone, making religious tolerance the supposed law and Christianity the official religion in the Roman Empire—an empire which, at the time the book takes place—is split between the east and the west, Constantinople and Rome, Byzantine and Roman, Christianity and Paganism. The Roman Empire appears to be crumbling, and there is political, religious, and social upheaval all around. Furthermore, there is constant talk of a “great deluge” (a large Mediterranean flood which is assumed to be a tsunami based on description of it being a “terrible wave”). This causes the superstitious folks to act even more irrationally and deranged, resorting to gruesome tortures and executions to appease their god(s). Some of this context isn't immediately clear, unfortunately, and you have to pick up the breadcrumbs. It doesn't help that the primary narrator is too young and naive for most of this to fully understand what's happening. Something missing from this is a sensitivity to the history of the Christians in the Roman Empire, giving context to what's happening. Context is everything. This book makes the Christians of the 4th century out to be the “big evil.” They are portrayed as mass-murdering, torturing, genocidal, intolerant psychopaths. That isn't necessarily fair or even true, especially given the way the ancient world worked. There were reason why the Christians were feuding with and fighting other groups of people. Those other groups of people feuded and fought back! Believe us, whether the author tells you that or not, they did. Do you think the Romans just waltzed through enemy territory singing happy songs and patting surrendering soldiers and civilians on the backs? Of course not. The Romans set an example out of anyone who threatened them or stood in their way. That's just what conquering, warring, feuding people did at the time. Do you think the Huns and Visigoths were just super nice to everyone they came into conflict with? No, they would flay you, burn you, and rip out your windpipe while raping and plundering your village. Do you think the Jews at the time were like the Jews who were persecuted during the Holocaust, hiding under floorboards or in attics from the Nazis? No, they actively ambushed, attacked, and killed the Christians at the time. Pagans got in on the mix too. There was lots of killing and torturing to go around. Christians had been persecuted for centuries, being burned at stakes, crucified, and fed to lions in the coliseum in Rome. They were a group of people who were heavily antagonized to begin, and it's no surprise that, when given power, they antagonized others. Is that “Christlike” behavior? Absolutely not. Christians were taught by Jesus to love their neighbors and pray for their enemies. However, human nature is human nature. Do you blame the Jewish concentration camp prisoners who beat the guards to death after their liberation? It doesn't make it “right” or Biblical, but it makes it understandable. What do most groups of people do when other groups of people are aiming guns at them, especially people who have a history of killing them? They aim their guns back. That's just how that works. It's the same reason why Ukraine is fighting Russia right now. It's the same reason why Israel fought the Arabs in the Seven Days & Yom Kippur Wars. They remember being steamrolled by another power and murdered en masse, and they're determined to never let that happen again. This book seems to practice and invite willful ignorant of all that in favor of a much narrower, more didactic narrative about what's going on. Now, if this book were a legitimate (real) memoir or autobiography, we could better excuse all of that, but it seems like the author was in total control of the content and deliberately chose to transmit information this way. If this were the making of an actual little girl/young woman living during the 400s AD with limited knowledge of what was going on, then we could understand why she sees things the way she sees them. The problem arises that it seems clear that a barrage of information was selectively presented while a bunch of information was deliberately withheld to serve an agenda, and that's an approach we don't necessarily like. But it's not our book, that's the author's choice. They're free to present things the way they present them. The issue in the previous paragraph is also an issue in terms of excusing the pacing and randomness of the book. There's less of an excuse when you consider that this is a fictitious retelling of events masquerading as an autobiography. Things just happen. That's how real-life is. To emphasize, let's say that again: things just happen. This book jumps from one thing to another thing to another thing, seemingly without reason or purpose. The characters, who are supposed to be real people, often have random conversations with each other that are akin to the ones the hit men have in Pulp Fiction. The one topic that comes up over and over and over again in these random conversations is breasts. Breasts, breasts, breasts. There are more breasts described in this book than there are breasts in most adult magazines! Our favorite part of this entire book is the line “stay clear of evil witch tits lady.” Another favorite line is “she also has a pair of walnuts beginning to pop up on her chest. Actual line! This is supposed to be the 4th century. Ok, we're kinda exaggerating with the breasts talk, but it was a topic that seemed to pop up time and time again. These girls are more preoccupied with breasts than 16-year-old boys are. And they linger on the topic. Second to that is menses. The menstruation of these women is constantly brought up and dwelt upon. Anyway... This book is suppose to focus on two fraternal twins, Tuya and Tem. We can assume they're fraternal twins because they differ in various physical ways including their hair and skin-tone. Tuya is slightly older (being born earlier on the same day) and seems to take control most of the time. Let's be honest: Tuya is the main character. Tem is an afterthought most of the time. Sometimes we forgot she was even around. That's not entirely unprecedented. In Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, Katniss is very clearly the main character; meanwhile, her sister, Prim/Primrose, really doesn't do much other than serve as a catalyst for Katniss to do stuff. What does Prim even do in the series beside milk her goat? We don't remember. Tem is kinda similar in that regard. This is really a book about Tuya and Hypatia. Hypatia really saves this book. While Tuya and Tem are kinda passive protagonists who just witness stuff and have things happen to them, Hypatia—like her historical, real-life counterpart—makes stuff happen. Who is Hypatia? Glad you asked because the author assumes you know who the heck Hypatia and her dad, Theon, are. They also assume you know who Theophilus is. It's a good thing at least a quarter of our judges aren't uncultured swine and actually took advanced history lessons (dig dig). Hypatia is the greatest female mathematician of the ancient world and objectively had one of the most tragic and worst deaths imaginable. She is also one of the cornerstones of neoplatonism and basically led her own big school/cult centered on the concept of becoming one with “the One” (Hypatia's idea of a monotheistic God) through a denial of carnal attachment. Many of her followers practiced chastity and asceticism because of this. Something that's a little off about this narrative is that there is a very heavy emphasis on Theophilus, the powerful and idealistic bishop of Alexandria. You could argue that he is the main villain of the story (although Peter or the hypocrites in general vie for that position). The problem with that is that Theophilus was not Hypatia's enemy historically-speaking. In fact, they respected each other and considered each other allies. Theophilus enabled Hypatia's movement to grow. His nephew on the the other hand is another story. Theophilus had a power-hungry and ruthless nephew named Cyril who acts a lot more in the severe and dogmatic manner that we see Theophilus behave in this book. It almost feels like Theophilus and Cyril were conflated for the sake of this novel. Perhaps there will be more about Cyril and Hypatia in the sequel? |
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