Craft Sequence #1: Three Parts Dead

I am the god of hellfire! And I bring you fire, I’ll take you to burn. Fire, I’ll take you to learn. I’ll see you burn. You fought hard and you saved and earned, but all of it’s going to burn. Let’s become Three Parts Dead, by Max Gladstone.

Synopsis:

A god has died, and it’s up to Tara, first-year associate in the international necromantic firm of Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao, to bring Him back to life before His city falls apart.

Her client is Kos, recently deceased fire god of the city of Alt Coulumb. Without Him, the metropolis’s steam generators will shut down, its trains will cease running, and its four million citizens will riot.

Tara’s job: resurrect Kos before chaos sets in. Her only help: Abelard, a chain-smoking priest of the dead god, who’s having an understandable crisis of faith.

When Tara and Abelard discover that Kos was murdered, they have to make a case in Alt Coulumb’s courts—and their quest for the truth endangers their partnership, their lives, and Alt Coulumb’s slim hope of survival.

Set in a phenomenally built world in which justice is a collective force bestowed on a few, craftsmen fly on lightning bolts, and gargoyles can rule cities, Three Parts Dead introduces readers to an ethical landscape in which the line between right and wrong blurs.

Source: Goodreads

SPOILERS BELOW

Three Parts Dead is the story of Tara, a woman who was recently ejected from the Hidden Schools where she studied the magical Craft. After getting chased out of her hometown by an angry mob when she tries to perform some pro bono necromancy, she finds herself hired on a temporary basis by the firm Kelethres, Albrecht, and Ao. In order to secure a permanent position, she’ll have to put in a stellar performance on her assignment: resurrecting the recently deceased fire god Kos. However, Tara soon discovers that Kos did just die, he was murdered; and to keep her job, she needs to find out who was responsible and how and why.

This book instantly grabbed me with the mechanics of its world, where gods function like economic systems and necromancers are a cross between bankruptcy lawyers and forensic accountants (with magical powers). The cast was also strong around the board: the synopsis had me fearing Abelard would be nothing more than the obligatory love interest that too many stories insist on shoehorning in, but that turned out not to be the case at all – there was no romance between him and Tara, and he instead had his own strong character arc about his faith in Kos. Plot, characters, setting, worldbuilding… this book was firing on all cylinders in every department. Some awesome magical fight scenes check the final boxes and make it an all-around winner.

Three Parts Dead is an extraordinarily good book that has me excitedly anticipating the rest of the series.

Final Rating: 5/5

Unfettered #1: Unfettered

You can hear the sirens but we go unfettered. We don’t need the riots, we can do that better. We don’t need the doors, we don’t need the windows, we don’t need the walls. Let’s break the chains of Unfettered, edited by Shawn Speakman.

Synopsis:

You define life or it defines you.

In Shawn Speakman’s case, it was both.

Lacking health insurance and diagnosed with Hogdkin’s lymphoma in 2011, Shawn quickly accrued a massive medical debt that he did not have the ability to pay. That’s when New York Times best-selling author Terry Brooks offered to donate a short story Shawn could sell toward alleviating those bills—and suggested Shawn ask the same of his other friends.

Unfettered is the result, an anthology built to relieve that debt, featuring short stories by some of the best fantasy writers in the genre.

Every story in this volume is new and, like the title suggests, the writers were free to write whatever they wished. Authors contributing are
-Walker and the Shade of Allanon by Terry Brooks (a Shannara tale)
-Imaginary Friends by Terry Brooks (a precursor to the Word/Void trilogy)
-How Old Holly Came To Be by Patrick Rothfuss (a Four Corners tale)
-River of Souls by Robert Jordan & Brandon Sanderson (a Wheel of Time tale)
-The Old Scale Game by Tad Williams
-Martyr of the Roses by Jacqueline Carey (a precursor to the Kushiel series)
-Dogs by Daniel Abraham
-Mudboy by Peter V. Brett (a Demon Cycle tale)
-Nocturne by Robert V. S. Redick
-The Sound of Broken Absolutes by Peter Orullian (a Vault of Heaven tale)
-The Coach with Big Teeth by R.A. Salvatore
-Keeper of Memory by Todd Lockwood (a Summer Dragon tale)
-Game of Chance by Carrie Vaughn
-The Lasting Doubts of Joaquin Lopez by Blake Charlton
-The Chapel Perilous by Kevin Hearne (an Iron Druid tale)
-Select Mode by Mark Lawrence (a Broken Empire tale)
-All the Girls Love Michael Stein by David Anthony Durham
-Strange Rain by Jennifer Bosworth (a Struck epilogue tale)
-Unbowed by Eldon Thompson (a Legend of Asahiel tale)
-In Favour with Their Stars by Naomi Novik (a Temeraire tale)
-The Jester by Michael J. Sullivan (a Riyria Chronicles tale)
-The Duel by Lev Grossman (a Magicians tale)
-The Unfettered Knight by Shawn Speakman (an Annwn Cycle tale)
and artist Todd Lockwood, who donated artwork as well as a story.

With the help of stalwart friends and these wonderful short stories, Shawn has taken the gravest of life hardships and created something magical. Unfettered is not only a fantastic anthology in its own right but it’s a testament to the generosity found in the science fiction and fantasy community—proof that humanity can give beyond itself when the need arises.

After all, isn’t that the driving narrative in fantasy literature?

Source: Goodreads

SPOILERS BELOW

Since I enjoyed the last anthology by Shawn Speakman that I read, I figured should probably check out his other collections. And where better to start than with the first: Unfettered. The stories here were donated by various big-name authors to help Speakman pay his medical bills after a bout of cancer, so there’s no connecting theme to the various entries. That said, the collection does do all the proper things by having a foreword explaining its purpose as well as prefacing each story with a brief introduction from its author, so it’s miles ahead of other anthologies that can’t even get those basics right. So, let’s get to the stories.

“Imaginary Friends” by Terry Brooks is about a young boy who meets an elf and battles a dragon that’s a metaphor for cancer but maybe is also real. A very well-written, solid story.

“How Old Holly Came To Be” by Patrick Rothfuss is said in the synopsis to be a Four Corners tale, but I wasn’t able to find any series by that name; the only works by Rothfuss that I’m aware of are The Kingkiller Chronicle. In any case, whatever its provenance, this tale is written from the perspective of a holly tree, which is a bit odd, but done decently enough.

“The Old Scale Game” by Tad Williams is about an old dragonslayer and an old dragon who decide to work together to con villages. Wasn’t there a Sean Connery movie with that premise? In any case, it gets a little silly by the end, but is ultimately fine.

“Game of Chance” by Carrie Vaughn is about a group of revolutionaries in an unspecified nation who exist outside the world and try to change it for the better by nudging events in small, subtle ways. The setting itself wasn’t very fleshed out, but the premise and characters were interesting, so I think it worked overall.

“The Martyr of the Roses” by Jacqueline Carey is about… something. Noble houses and bloodlines and politics and religion that I don’t have any context for and couldn’t follow. The main character is a spy, I think, in a city on the verge of civil war? Whatever. It did nothing for me.

“Mudboy” by Peter V. Brett is the first in the collection that’s part of a larger series, the Demon Cycle. (The stories “Imaginary Friends” and “The Martyr of the Roses” were described as prototypes for what would become Word & Void and Kushiel’s Legacy, but different enough as to not be considered part of the final continuity). It’s set in a world where demons rule the night and humans hide behind wards, which is interesting, but has a child as a main character, which is annoying. It averages out at decent.

“The Sound of Broken Absolutes” by Peter Orullian is part of The Vault of Heaven series and concerns magic music. I greatly enjoyed the parts focusing on Belamae, an apprentice who is called back home to fight in a war before his training has been completed, but found the portions focusing on Divad to be too long and uninteresting. They average out at medium.

“The Coach with Big Teeth” by R.A. Salvatore is not fantasy at all; it’s about baseball. I guess I can’t accuse it of being off-theme, since the collection didn’t actually have a theme other than raising money for Speakman’s cancer treatment, but I don’t care one whit about sports so this did nothing for me.

“Keeper of Memory” by Todd Lockwood is set in the world of his series The Evertide and tells the story of an acolyte of the Keeper of Memory in a city which is fighting a war in which dragons are used as mounts. A solidly decent, if somewhat depressing story.

“Heaven in a Wild Flower” by Blake Charlton is set in a post-apocalyptic world where some people reincarnate through nanomachines. It’s a strange and interesting setting, but the story itself is written as a tearjerker with a predictably bleak ending – not really my thing. Thus, I can only call it average.

“Dogs” by Daniel Abraham is a horror story. If the previous two were a little too dark for me, this one is way too dark for me. What the hell? I hope this doesn’t turn out to be an unintentional theme for the collection: “Cancer, you say? In that case, I’ll write the most horribly miserable story I can.” Yuck.

“The Chapel Perilous” by Kevin Hearne is part of The Iron Druid Chronicles, and recounts the druid’s quest to recover Dagda’s cauldron after it’s stolen by a Pictish necromancer. A solid story.

“Select Mode” by Mark Lawrence is set in the world of the Broken Empire series, and has Jorg get briefly captured by fanatical worshippers of an ancient piece of Builder tech before turning the tables on them and killing them. A fine story.

“All the Girls Love Michael Stein” by David Anthony Durham has the ghost of a recently deceased cat named Michael Stein seeking out the Catfather for a magical favor. Very beautifully done urban fantasy.

“Strange Rain” by Jennifer Bosworth is a prequel to her novel Struck and serves as a supervillain origin story for two of the villain’s minions. It’s decent, I guess.

“Nocturne” by Robert V.S. Redick is mostly from the perspective of a man dying from rabies, then jumps ahead many years in the future to tell us how his sister dies in a snowstorm. Well, that was grim and pointless.

“Unbowed” by Eldon Thompson is part of the Legend of Asahiel series and its spinoff Warder. It was decent, though pretty predictable: even though I’m not familiar with the series, just the vague description in the introduction made me certain that his innocent childhood friend would die tragically thus setting him on the path to becoming a dark and brooding antihero.

“In Favour with Their Stars” by Naomi Novik is a futuristic reimagining of the Temeraire series, and sees a dragon colony fighting off an attempted invasion of their planet. A nice decent story.

“River of Souls” by Robert Jordan and Brandon Sanderson is part of the Wheel of Time series, which I of course have heard of but have not personally read. Specifically, it is a deleted scene from the 14th novel; and whereas the introduction to “Select Mode” talked about how it was written to be accessible to people not familiar with The Broken Empire, the introduction to this one freely admits that it won’t make sense to those not familiar with Wheel of Time in general and the 14th book in specific. Bad form. So, since I’m not going to read 14 giant doorstopper novels just to understand this one short story, I be skipping this one.

“The Jester” by Michael J. Sullivan is part of The Riyria Revelations and its prequel The Riyria Chronicles, but the introduction assures us that it can still be enjoyed by people not familiar with those series. See? How hard was that? Take notes, Brandon. It’s also funny and clever and just generally really enjoyable – a great story that makes me want to check out the associated series.

“The Duel” by Lev Grossman is part of The Magicians series. In fact, I think it’s pretty much just a straight-up excerpt from one of the books. Well, whatever; it stands fine on its own, and is one of the better scenes from that series.

“Walker and the Shade of Allanon” by Terry Brooks is part of the Shannara series, and is another deleted scene from a book which is unable to stand on its own without the relevant context. Dammit; you too, Terry? Boo.

“The Unfettered Knight” by Shawn Speakman is part of the Annwn Cycle. Unfortunately, it didn’t really do much for me: it was long, the heroes just ended up playing into the villain’s plan the entire time rather than accomplishing anything, and there was no real resolution other than a vague implication that these events would have consequences sometime later in the main series. So, I have to call this one a miss.

So, at final tally, this collection has 6 good stories (“Imaginary Friends”, “Game of Chance”, “Select Mode”, “All the Girls Love Michael Stein”, “Jester”, “The Duel”), 10 average stories (“How Old Holly Came To Be”, “The Old Scale Game”, “Mudboy”, “The Sound of Broken Absolutes”, “Keeper of Memory”. “Heaven in a Wild Flower”, “The Chapel Perilous”, “Strange Rain”, “Unbowed”, “In Favour with Their Stars”), and 8 bad stories (“The Martyr of the Roses”, “The Coach With Big Teeth”, “Dogs”, “Nocturne”, “River of Souls”, “Walker and the Shade of Allanon”, “The Unfettered Knight”). As such, I deem it to be overall average.

Final Rating: 3/5

The Breach

Once more unto the breach, dear friends, once more; or close the wall up with our English dead. In peace there’s nothing so becomes a man as modest stillness and humility: but when the blast of war blows in our ears, then imitate the action of the tiger; stiffen the sinews, summon up the blood, disguise fair nature with hard-favour’d rage. Let’s plunge into The Breach, by M.T. Hill.

Synopsis:

From Philip K. Dick Award-nominated author M.T. Hill, The Breach is a unique science fiction mystery set in the dangerous underground world of the urban exploration scene.

Freya Medlock, a reporter at her local paper, is down on her luck. When she’s assigned to cover the death of a young climber named Stephen, she might just have the story she needs. Freya soon meets Shep: a trainee steeplejack with his own secret life. As Shep draws Freya deeper into the urbex scene, the circumstances of Stephen’s death become more unsettling – and Freya risks more and more to get the answers she wants.

Source: Goodreads

SPOILERS BELOW

I picked up The Breach after seeing it in a bookstore, knowing nothing more than that it had an interesting cover and was filed under the catch-all label of “sci-fi fantasy”. You have to try new things every now and again, you know; how else can you discover new and exciting works? The Breach, alas, turned out to be trash rather than treasure; but so it goes.

The plot follows Freya, a reporter assigned to cover the mysterious death-by-misadventure of a climber named Stephen who was active in the urban exploration community. She teams up with a steeplejack and urban explorer named Shep to investigate the final photo Stephen took before his death. All well and good for a premise. But it takes forever for anything to happen, with the investigation hardly seeming to progress at all; and it ends without ever actually giving a satisfying explanation for what was happening, nor any resolution to Freya’s journey. Throwing a bunch of bizarre stuff at the reader may be intriguing early on, but you do eventually have to tie it all together somehow if you want the book to end on a satisfactory note.

Furthermore, the characters weren’t exactly likeable. Shep is introduced getting a coworker injured due to carelessness on the job, while Freya is a vulture constantly lying to bereaved loved ones of the deceased in order get info for her story. Ideally, these would only be the starting points for their character arcs and we would see them grow and improve; but no, Shep just gets crazier in increasingly icky ways while Freya just seems to be spinning her wheels making no progress – instead of any actual development, we get plenty of details about her erotic dreams and her breakup with her ex and other stuff that has no relevance to the plot.

So, The Breach was a major disappointment. Oh well, such is the luck of the draw.

Final Rating: 1/5

Magic or Madness #2: Magic Lessons

So you have magic, and it’s not that great. But when it found you, you know it was fate. And it might seem scary now, but it can be wonderful, too. So how about we embrace the magic, and make the magic part of you? Let’s embrace Magic Lessons, by Justine Larbalestier.

Synopsis:

Fifteen-year-old Reason Cansino has learned the painful truth that she – like her mother, grandmother, and new friends Tom and Jay-Tee – must face a choice between using the magic that lives in her blood and dying young, or refusing to use the magic and losing her mind. Now a new threat leaves Reason stranded alone in New York City, struggling to control a power she barely understands. But could the danger she faces also hold the key to saving her life? “Magic Lessons” is a stunning follow-up to Larbalestier’s debut novel, “Magic or Madness, ” which earned multiple starred reviews and a spot on the Locus 2005 Recommended Reading List, along with being named a Best Book of the Year by “School Library Journal” and the Young Adult Round Table of the TLA.

Source: Goodreads

SPOILERS BELOW

In the second book of the Magic or Madness series, Reason has just begun taking magic lessons from her grandmother when a creepy old man with incredible magical power begins trying to force his way through the magic door to New York. Surprisingly, it turns out not to be Reason’s villainous grandfather, but instead a completely different creepy old man with incredible magical power. Even more surprisingly, after they spend the entire book trying to fortify the door against him, it turns out that it was all a misunderstanding and that he was actually trying to help them. Boy, they sure must’ve felt silly afterwards. Also, it’s been what, three days since Reason vowed that she would somehow find a third option other than madness or death for those cursed with magic, and she just happens to run into a man with immortality and infinite magic who wants to help her? That’s sure convenient.

So, as you can probably tell from my snarky tone, I didn’t think Magic Lessons was quite as good as its predecessor. That doesn’t mean that it didn’t have good parts, mind; plenty of it was in fact enjoyable, such as Jay-Tee’s plotline, and my final score reflects that. It just felt like the central narrative was a little more confused and contrived than that of the first book. Still, we’ll have to see where this ends up going in the next book before determining if there was actually some underlying logic that wasn’t immediately apparent to me.

In any case, Magic Lessons was decent, but not quite up to the standard set by the first book.

Final Rating: 3/5

Oz #13: The Magic of Oz

Breathe, breathe in the air. Don’t be afraid to care. Leave but don’t leave me. Look around, choose your own ground. Long you live and high you fly, and smiles you’ll give and tears you’ll cry, and all you touch and all you see is all your life will ever be. Let’s conjure The Magic of Oz, by L. Frank Baum.

Synopsis:

In this witty and imaginative tale, the “Royal Historian of Oz,” L. Frank Baum, takes young readers back across The Great Sandy Desert for more exciting adventures in the wondrous Land of Oz. Old friends such as Dorothy, the Wizard, and the Cowardly Lion reappear, along with endearing new characters — the Glass Cat, the Hungry Tiger, Little Trot, Cap’n Bill, the Lonesome Duck, and others.

Seeking special birthday presents to express their devotion to the wise and beautiful Princess Ozma, the friends venture beyond the Emerald City and into unknown territory. Little Trot and Cap’n Bill find themselves stuck — literally! — on an enchanted island, while Dorothy and the Wizard uncover a treasonous plot. It seems that Kiki Aru, the foolish son of a magician, and Ruggedo, the evil King of the Nomes, intend to recruit an army of forest-dwelling beasts, overthrow Princess Ozma, and enslave the citizens of Oz. Can Dorothy and the Wizard foil the conspirators’ plans and rescue their stranded comrades? You’ll find out in the pages of this exciting story.

Graced by a wonderful array of original black-and-white drawings by John R. Neill, as well as 12 captivating full-color plates, this spirited tale will thrill readers of all ages.

Source: Goodreads

SPOILERS BELOW

We’re up to the penultimate Oz book written by Baum, and the first one to be released posthumously a few months after his death. Ozma’s birthday is coming up – for whatever that matters in the land of Oz, where nobody ever ages – and Dorothy is undecided about what to get her as a present. Despite some subtle hints from her friends, like Scraps the Patchwork Girl composing a song called “When Ozma Has a Birthday, Everybody’s Sure to Be Gay” and Toto saying Ozma desires love and kisses above all else, Dorothy decides on miniature trained monkeys and sets out with the Wizard to find some. At the same time, the Glass Cat, Trot, and Cap’n Bill go looking for a magic flower for their own present. But lest you fear this is going to be The Road to Oz all over again, there’s also a pair of villains this time: Kiki Aru, a wicked boy who knows a powerful Magic Word of transformation, and the Nome King, who was once interesting but has by now been dreadfully overused. The two of them plot to conquer Oz using an army of beasts, but are of course summarily defeated and have their memories erased with the Water of Oblivion – because that worked out so well last time, right?

Kidding aside, this was actually one of the stronger Oz books. There are clear antagonists, thus making for solid source of conflict, and the protagonists manage to win through their own wits for once rather than having Glinda drop in with a deus ex machina magical solution. The Glass Cat also stands out among the teeming masses of companion characters as one I actually find interesting – fortunately, it has its pretty pink brains back, retconning the end of The Patchwork Girl of Oz where they were replaced with more humble and therefore less interesting ones. Really, here now near the end of the original Oz books, I might finally have been able to give out another decent score – if only it knew when to end. The villains are actually defeated about halfway through; but, as has been a problem in previous Oz books, the story just keeps going and going. As the denouement dragged on, the goodwill that the surprisingly competent first half had built up slowly drained away, and by the time it finally finished my enjoyment had dropped to the point that it was on par with the rest in the series.

It’s been a long journey, but at last we approach the end. Join me next time when we look at the very last Oz book written by Baum, and I sum up my feelings on the experience of reading the series as a whole.

Final Rating: 2/5

Slayers #6: Vezendi’s Shadow / The Darkness in Vezendi

I want to become a bird and fly in the sky, searching out a far-off, distant hope. But if I looked down on myself, far below, I wonder: would I only be living recklessly? If I can look at the present in this manner, then even getting hurt, or what will come tomorrow won’t scare me. Let’s cast light on Vezendi’s Shadow by Hajime Kanzaka and translated by Jeremiah Bourque, and The Darkness in Vezendi by Hajime Kanzaka and translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

Synopsis:

Jeez, some guys just can’t take “drop dead” for an answer! Here I am, beating up bandits and minding my own business, when all of a sudden my least favorite assassin jumps out of the woods. “Come to Vezendi. If you don’t… someone will die,” he says! Zuma’s one blast from the past I really didn’t need… But with a threat like that, I don’t have much of a choice about playing along for now. Good thing the whole group’s on board for this fun-filled, trap-laden, demon-driven ride! Darkness in Vezendi, here we come!

Source: Goodreads (Tokyopop) / Goodreads (J-Novel Club)

SPOILERS BELOW

Lina Inverse, Gourry Gabriev, Zelgadis Graywords, Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune, and Xellos the Priest… the most iconic Slayers cast lineup has finally been fully assembled. A threatening letter from the assassin Zuma, who still has an unfulfilled contract on Lina, draws the group to the town of Vezendi, where they take employment as bodyguards for the wealthy merchant Radok Ranzaad/Laddock Lanzard. However, Zuma isn’t the only old enemy returning for revenge against Lina: Seigram the Faceless also shows up seeking to kill her. As it turns out, the two have joined forces in a very literal sense, merging together into a half-demon. As with the time she faced Rezo-Shabranigdu, a moment of discord between the human and demon portions of Zuma-Seigram is what gives Lina a small window of opportunity which she is able to seize in order to triumph – almost like it’s establishing a theme or something (but I’m sure it’ll never be important again, wink wink).

The most memorable thing from this book for me has always been Zuma-Seigram’s two low-ranking Mazoku henchmen, Gduza/Guduza and Dugld/Duguld. Despite being mere flunkies, they stand out for their strange and distinctive forms, the fact that Duguld talks a big game but actually demonstrates himself to be rather incompetent, and their ignominious end when Duguld attempts to sacrifice his allies to secure victory for himself but only ends up bringing Guduza down with him. Zuma-Seigram himself, though much more competent, does far less to really distinguish himself: though he’s become a half-demon, he doesn’t use his expanded magic capacity to cast any inhumanly powerful spells like Copy Rezo did, and having a physical body now means he can longer perform Seigram’s signature teleport spam either. He’s not a bad villain by any means, but he doesn’t really stand out the way the series’s more colorful characters do.

On the worldbuilding side, we continue to get more information about the Mazoku – specifically, their internal discord. With Ruby-Eye Shabranigdu being the undisputed Dark Lord of all demons in the world, and the Cult of Shabranigdu’s ritual showing equal reverence to each of his subordinate Five Retainers, it’d be easy to assume up until this point that they were all one big happy evil family. This book, however, demonstrates that’s not the case at all: Xellos is a demon, but is protecting Lina from other demons trying to kill her like Mazenda and Raltaak/Raltark; and despite his stated loyalty to Greater Beast Zelas Metalium/Zellas Metallium, he’s actually less-than-enthusiastically taken this job on behalf of Hellmaster Phibrizzo/Fibrizo – Hellmaster is the strongest of the Retainers but has lost his own best servants and so bullies his weaker siblings into “lending” him theirs whenever the need arises. Nothing like factionalism and infighting among the enemy to keep things interesting.

Regarding the translations, I can’t avoid mentioning that Tokyopop did a bad, bad thing with this book: they cut off the Afterword and tried to pass it off as the end of the series. That obviously didn’t work, given that it ends on a definite sequel hook with Raltark’s agenda still unknown and Xellos pointing out the group’s next destination, and fans eventually shamed them into at least releasing the next two books which complete the first story arc. That doesn’t change the fact that this one book is left feeling incomplete without its Afterword. (Being such an avid fan of the series, I tracked down a fan translation of the Afterword online, printed it out, and stuck it at the back of the book). So since I really praised Tokyopop’s translation last time, I think this time I should mention a strength of J-Novel Club: consistency. Now that the story is becoming more serial, it’s becoming a lot clearer that Tokyopop can’t keep their own romanizations straight from book to book: the town that just last book was Mane is now Maine, Kalmaart is now Kalmatt, and the Demon Blood talismans are now Demon Brand Talismans. What I’m saying is, while I might find individual moments or added jokes better in the Tokyopop version, J-Novel Club is still a stronger translation overall (except possibly for book 5, which could easily be my personal preference based on nostalgia and favoritism).

In any case, the Slayers series is still going strong with its sixth installment, and there is still much more greatness to come. So concludes Slayers Collector’s Edition #2; see you again in Slayers Collector’s Edition #3!

Final Rating: 5/5

Slayers #5: The Silver Beast / The Silver Demon-Beast

Surely, somewhere there lies “the answer,” the answer which was born. That is what all people wish for, facing the dreary dream that they can’t let go. I’m not afraid of getting hurt, but it’s not hard to erase. It’s just the way it is without doing anything, and I don’t want any regrets. Here we go! Go! Keep on running! No one will be able to stop us. I want to give a reason for life to my future self. Let’s give a reason to The Silver Beast by Hajime Kanzaka and translated by Jeremiah Bourque, and The Silver Demon-Beast by Hajime Kanzaka and translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

Synopsis:

Sure gotta love bandits, huh? One minute you’re just whaling on ’em for some quick cash and stress relief, and the next thing you know, your magic’s been sealed! With Gourry and Amelia at my side, it oughta be easy enough to track down the lady responsible for all this and set things straight, right? Too bad our destination’s a town full of Dark Lord cultists and werebeasts. Oh, and we all manage to get separated… Maybe this self-styled “mysterious priest” guy can help me out. They never have ulterior motives, right? Right?!

Source: Goodreads (Tokyopop) / Goodreads (J-Novel Club)

SPOILERS BELOW

Time to look at the Tokyopop and J-Novel Club versions of the fifth Slayers novel. A bit of an oddity regarding the translation of the title this time: the J-Novel Club digital release has it as The Silver Demon-Beast, which I used in this post’s title to emphasize the difference from the Tokyopop translation, but the version in the physical volume of Slayers Collector’s Edition #2 just uses the simpler The Silver Beast title. Which I think works better – short and snappy, without the awkward hyphen – but it is odd that they would release their translation under two different names.

This book’s plot sees Lina and her companions encounter a group of bandits which includes a sorceress, Mazenda, who seals Lina’s magical powers. To restore her capabilities, they head to the village of Mane/Mayin, where a cult worshipping the Dark Lord Shabranigdu has taken root. They’ve recently acquired the magical knowledge involved in the creation of the terrible Demon Beast Zanaffar which once devastated the city of Sairaag, and are brewing up a new batch of monstrosities.

Of the eight Slayers novels originally released by Tokyopop, The Silver Beast was my favorite. There are a lot of different things factoring into that. For one thing, the characters: with the return of Zelgadis and the introduction of Xellos[s] the Mysterious Priest, the “core cast” used in the anime adaptations has finally been assembled. Xellos in particular is one of the most popular members of the Slayers cast – the new Afterword in the J-Novel Club version has Kanzaka reveal that he surpassed Lina herself in popularity polls conducted while the series was running – and this is a very strong introduction for him: he straddles the mixed comedic/serious tone of the series perfectly by switching between annoying goofiness and sinister menace. But let’s not give him all the credit: the Cult of Shabranigdu manage to be a surprisingly memorable group of baddies, considering that they’re really just a bunch of glorified mooks with Zanaffar serving as the true final antagonist. Specifically memorable were Duclis the oddly noble tiger man, Vedur/Vedul and Gilfa the chimeric abomination, and Balgumon the swordfighter who dresses like a sorcerer. We also get a good bit of worldbuilding worked in between the fight scenes, with the first mention of the Shabranigdu’s siblings the Demon Lords of the other worlds and his offspring the Five Retainers, plus Xellos’s little magic lecture about the difference between physical and astral spells. Finally, I feel like I should mention that this is the thickest of the Tokyopop books: there’s just plain more plot than we get in other stories. Everything’s really firing on all cylinders here.

I really have to give credit to the Tokyopop translator for this one, as I think it’s the best-adapted of the books. Yes, it takes a lot of liberties with the dialogue for the sake of jokes, but the point is that it works. The different translations have their various strengths and weakness, but this is the one case where I feel the Tokyopop version just works better. Maybe it’s just nostalgia from this being my original favorite, but I prefer its humor.

Also, I like the spelling Xelloss better than Xellos. It’s just a personal preference thing with regards to the aesthetics: two S’s to match the two L’s.

Well, give J-Novel Club this much credit: they were thorough in their research. In the Tokyopop translation, Zelgadis talks about the “guy” that the cult stole the manuscript from, whereas J-Novel Club correctly uses “girl”. The character in question, Plum, only appears in an outline by Kanzaka for a short story he never actually wrote, but damned if they didn’t make sure to get that tiny, irrelevant detail right. Now, see, that is exactly the level of fastidious devotion to the source material that will insist on exactly replicating a gag from the original which relies on reader familiarity with the traditional Japanese comedic form of manzai, while Tokyopop realized most people wouldn’t get it and changed the punchline of the joke into Lina awkwardly having to admit to Gourry that she stole fancy slippers from the last inn she stayed at. One is more correct, the other is more funny.

Lastly, I would like to note that the final battle against Zanaffar is pretty awesome. This book sees the debut of Lina’s second spell calling on the power of the Lord of Nightmares, the Ragna Blade. And while Lina is quick to assure us that it has a lower power level that makes it much less likely to run out of control and destroy the world, it serves to demonstrate that, when Lina’s back against the wall, her first instinct is still to turn back towards forbidden magic. It’s only been two books since she was told that the Giga Slave was henceforth banned and off-limits forever because it could destroy the world if miscast, and Lina is already starting to dip her toe back into those forbidden waters. Can anyone say, foreshadowing? Lina’s promise to Sylphiel is looking shakier by the minute; is there anyone anymore who still believes she won’t break it the instant Giga Slave appears to be the only way to win?

Even among the exceptionally good Slayers series, The Silver Beast stands as a masterpiece; and while I happen to prefer that translation over The Silver Demon-Beast, the latter is also a faithful adaptation that allows the extremely high-quality storytelling of the original to shine through. They easily score my strongest recommendation.

Final Rating: 5/5

Slayers #4: The Battle of Saillune / The Battle of Saillune

Things are moving so fast, the moments ticking by. The city that it runs through is a savanna. Sure news of an ill change, we’ll get used to it tomorrow, everyone will forget. I live now, I live. Like it’s inside, something searches as if it were struggling, as if it were sneaking away. It wants to test this power. The Battle of Saillune by Hajime Kanzaka and translated by Jeremiah Bourque, and The Battle of Saillune by Hajime Kanzaka and translated by Elizabeth Ellis.

Synopsis:

No good deed goes unpunished, huh? Me and Gourry help one little orphan find her new home in Saillune City, and the next thing I know, we’re breaking and entering for the local crown prince! I mean, he is getting the short end of the stick in this whole royal succession dispute and there are assassins trying to murder him and all, but… Wait, why are these interdimensional monsters coming after ME?! I thought this was YOUR family drama!

Source: Goodreads (Tokyopop) / Goodreads (J-Novel Club)

SPOILERS BELOW

Hey, the titles match this time. That’s no guaranteed thing, when you’re dealing with a fantasy name; the anime dub, for instance, romanized the city’s name as Seyruun. In any case, the fourth installment of the Slayers series sees our plucky protagonists Lina and Gourry arriving at Saillune, the white magic capital of the world. Unfortunately, the usually-peaceful city is currently in a state of disarray due to a power struggle between the princes (or “royal successors”, as Lina would have it) over who will succeed the elderly and ailing king. Lina and Gourry initially just plan on dropping Sylphiel off with her family, but soon find themselves roped in to finding out who is behind the assassination attempts on First Royal Successor Philionel El Di Saillune (“Prince Phil” for short, no matter how much Lina objects).

It is in this book that we first meet Princess Amelia Wil Tesla Saillune, one of Lina’s more popular recurring allies who becomes a mainstay in the anime (which notably ages her down a little bit to be younger than Lina, when the novels have her as slightly older than her in Tokypop or the same age in J-Novel Club). Of course, true fans of the series will know that Amelia’s briefly-referenced older sister, Prince Phil’s daughter Gracia Ul Naga Saillune, is in fact Naga the White Serpent, Lina’s companion and rival in the prequel Slayers Special stories. There’s this whole deep-lore that’s not in the novels and can only be found in interviews about the murder of Phil’s wife by the assassin Booley, how Gracia killed him in turn by entangling his weapon with the spell Chaos String, how her comedic habit of fainting at the sight of blood is in fact deep-seated trauma from the carnage of these deaths, and how the outrageous costume she now wears actually belonged to her mother and was taken by her as a memento when she set out on her journey. I still remember all this background stuff that isn’t even in the books twenty years later; that’s how deep into Slayers I was.

In any case, returning to the stuff which is actually in the book, this novel has some of my favorite fight scenes from the series. The attack in the banquet hall where Lina and Gourry’s food comes alive and tries to kill them has always stuck in my mind, probably due to the surreal horror of the strange and gross lesser demons bursting out of our heroes’ lunch. Zuuma/Zuma’s introduction is also memorable for how close he comes to killing Lina with very little fanfare, punctuated by a starkly brutal picture from Rui Araizumi of his gloved hand crushing Lina’s throat. Equally impactful is Zuma’s departure from the story, losing both of his arms in battle but still managing to escape so he can return to menace Lina again someday in the future. Finally, there’s Lina’s confrontation with Kanzeil/Kanzel at the climax: the way he toys with her, shrugging off a Dragon Slave and revealing that all of the pure demons she previously faced were in fact low-ranking (excepting Ruby Eye Shabranigdu, but he wasn’t a pure demon anymore due to being fused with Rezo), and the way he’s finally defeated by Lina, Gourry, and Amelia all teaming up for a combination attack. The Slayers series has gone from having Lina defeat the Dark Lord in the first book to a merely mid-ranking demon being a challenge for all the protagonists working together, and somehow made it work – by revealing that Lina’s earlier victory was more due to luck and circumstance than she knew (recklessly tossing out the Giga Slave without being aware of the consequences should it fail, and Rezo’s soul holding Shabranigdu back), and that the true danger posed by powerful Mazoku is far greater than she imagined.

It is also worth noting that, with this novel, we get the series’s first cliffhanger ending: Kanzel is defeated, but he was working on behalf of some unknown master, and Amelia is joining the party as they head out in search of answers as to who. The first plot arc is kicking into swing, and we’re firmly on the ride that will be taking us up through book 8.

As for translation differences, there are the usual alternate name romanizations: Kanzeil vs Kanzel, Clawfell vs Clophel, and so on. In a rarity, there’s also an instance where I disagree with both of them: the name of the setting’s primary god, Flare Dragon. Tokyopop puts it as “Sylpheed”, which is pretty obviously a mistake given that they had it as “Ceipheed” in their translation of the first light novel, while J-Novel Club goes with “Ceifeed”. Myself, I always assumed that it was meant to be “Cepheid” – not a made-up fantasy word, but a real-life astronomical term. As usual, Tokyopop’s more loosely translated dialogue feels punchier, while J-Novel Club is more technically accurate: in particular, this novel opens in medias res and then has a flashback to how Lina and Gourry got in the situation, and Tokyopop doesn’t put in a line break at the point of the time jump, thus causing the time period to shift mid-paragraph. Though, the later time-jump after Zuma’s attack is handled more naturally by Tokyopop… maybe abrupt time jumps are actually a problem in the original, which the adaptations handled as best they could?

In any case, The Battle of Saillune is a great entry in the Slayers series, which continues to be of exceptional quality.

Final Rating: 5/5

Star Wars: X-Wing #2: Wedge’s Gamble

Every gambler knows that the secret to surviving is knowing what to throw away and knowing what to keep. ‘Cause every hand’s a winner and every hand’s a loser and the best that you can hope for is to die in your sleep. Let’s place our bets for Wedge’s Gamble, by Michael A. Stackpole.

Synopsis:

Sleek, swift, and deadly, they are the X-wing fighters. And as the battle against the Empire rages across the vastness of space, the pilots risk both their lives and their machines for the cause of the Rebel Alliance. Now they must embark on a dangerous espionage mission, braving betrayal and death on the Imperial homeworld to smash the power of a ruthless foe!

It is the evil heart of a battered and reeling Empire: Coruscant, the giant city-world from whose massive towers the Imperial High Command directs the war. The Rebels will invade this mighty citadel in a daring move to bring the Empire to its knees. But first Wedge Antilles and his X-wing pilots must infiltrate Coruscant to gain vital intelligence information. Capture means death, or worse–enslavement by the vicious leader known as “Iceheart,” Ysanne Isard, now
Emperor in all but name. And one of Rogue Squadron’s own is already her slave, a traitor hidden behind a mask of innocence, working to betray both colleagues and the Rebellion itself.

Source: Goodreads

SPOILERS BELOW

In the second X-Wing book, the Rebel Alliance is preparing an operation to seize Coruscant, the city-world that served as the capital of the Empire. However, in order for the invasion to succeed, they’ll need to bring down the planetary shields protecting it. The dangerous task of infiltrating enemy territory and finding a way to sabotage the defenses is given to the most elite group of pilots available: Rogue Squadron. However, the Empire is somehow getting fed information about their secret operation – someone in their ranks is a traitor.

When I read the first X-Wing book, I was disappointed with how it felt slow-paced and spent most of its time on low-stakes training missions. Wedge’s Gamble, on the other hand, is exactly what I expected from this series: hotshot pilots getting thrown into the very heart of the action and somehow managing to triumph against the overwhelming might of the Empire. The cool action sequences are deftly balanced with intrigue regarding the double-agent as well as solid character-building moments – if there’s one thing everyone remembers this book for, it’s “the one with the story about the time Corran Horn fucked a space otter” (Selonians are only sparsely described in this book as humanoid with light fur, but if you look up a picture of one: giant space otter). Of course, having read many books set later in the timeline in which a number of Rogue Squadron characters appear, I kind of already know about certain major story developments with regards to, for instance, the traitor, so perhaps I’m not getting the full benefit of suspense and uncertainty regarding those plotlines; but nevertheless, this book worked for me a lot better than the previous one.

I wouldn’t call Wedge’s Gamble a perfect Star Wars book: Isard constantly telling us that it’s all part of her plan for Coruscant to fall to the Rebels undermines the sense of them succeeding against impossible odds, and the actual battle for Coruscant seems to involve a strangely small number of ships given how densely populated a world it is. Still, it made for a fast-paced and action-packed read, and was overall very enjoyable.

Final Rating: 4/5

Oz #12: The Tin Woodman of Oz

I’ve been mad for fucking years, absolutely years, been over the edge for yonks, been working me buns off for bands. I’ve always been mad, I know I’ve been mad, like the most of us, very hard to explain why you’re mad, even if you’re not mad. Let’s chop up and glue back together The Tin Woodman of Oz, by L. Frank Baum.

Synopsis:

Join the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow as they journey across the fantastic magical Land of Oz in search of the Tin Woodman’s long-lost sweetheart. In a series of adventures sure to thrill Oz fans both old and new, these beloved friends face such challenges as a selfish giantess and a group of quarrelsome dragons–all to fulfill a promise made long ago to a beautiful Munchkin girl.

The Tin Woodman sits on the glittering tin throne of his splendid tin castle, ruling the Winkle Country of the Land of Oz with the help of his best friend, the Scarecrow. All is peaceful and well, but when a young wanderer named Woot asks the Tin Woodman how he came to be made of tin, the emperor recalls his days as a flesh-and-blood woodchopper and his love for Nimmie Amee, a Munchkin girl so fair that the sunsets blushed when they fell upon her.

The three quickly decide to set out on a daring quest to reunite the Tin Woodman with his lost love and ask Nimmie Amee to be Empress of the Winkie Country. During their travels, they battle dragons and loons, a mighty sorceress, and an all-too-hungry beast called the Hippo-gy-raf. Luckily, they are joined in their search by their old friend Polychrome, the Rainbow’s Daughter, and are aided by Dorothy and Princess Ozma–the powerful fairy ruler of the Land of Oz. But just when they think their troubles are over and their quest is complete, they discover a surprise that leaves all of them truly astounded!

This deluxe edition of the rare first edition features all twelve of Oz artist John R. Neill’s beautiful color plates, along with his nearly one hundred black-and-white drawings, making this a book sure to be treasured for years to come.

In a series of adventures sure to thrill OZ fans both old and new, the Tin Woodman and the Scarecrow journey across the magical Land of Oz in search of the Tin Woodman’s long-lost sweetheart, a beautiful Munchkin girl. This deluxe edition of the rare first edition features all twelve of Oz artist John R. Neill’s beautiful color plates, along with his nearly one hundred black and white drawings, and is a great way to celebrate the upcoming centenary of Oz!

Source: Goodreads

SPOILERS BELOW

Hah! I bet you thought I’d run out of Oz-related songs to use in the opening after I resorted to the deleted song “The Jitterbug” for the previous book. However, as everyone knows, the Pink Floyd album “Dark Side of the Moon” goes together well with the film. Thus, I have my next series of openers all lined up.

Also, I don’t care how Baum spells it; to me, it’s the Tin Woodsman, with an S. Woodman makes it sound like he’s made of wood. He is not made of wood, he’s made of tin. The Tin Woodsman. So there.

As for the plot, the premise is nominally that the Tin Woodsman is setting out on a journey to discover whatever become of his long-lost love from back when he was human; but in practice, it’s another one of those “wander around aimlessly” stories, with the characters frequently taking unnecessary detours to barge into places they have no business being and getting in trouble for it. At one point, they get cursed by a wicked giantess and abandon their previous quest in favor of a new one to break the curse; but of course that’s where Dorothy makes her contractually obligated cameo appearance and has Glinda deus-ex-machina away the problem. The conclusion to this little subplot might have managed to be a satisfactory bit of karmic justice, if they’d earned it through their own efforts; but no, it just gets handed to them. They then resume their former quest, which anticlimactically ends with the discovery that the girl is now happily married and no longer interested in the Tin Woodsman. It seems a long way to go for very little payoff.

On another note… is it just me, or is there kind of an undercurrent of creepiness to this book? I know, it’s kind of cliche to point out works for children often contain elements that have troubling implications if you overthink them; but this book introduced Chopfyt, a man who was Frankensteined together out of severed body parts bound with Meat Glue, and that’s just messed up. “Nobody ever dies in Oz” has also now been expanded into “nobody ever ages in Oz” (something that definitely wasn’t true before – see, for instance, references to Billina’s chicks growing up and having chicks of their own), which has pretty dark implications for all the young children and babies we’ve seen:

“Did they ever grow up?” inquired Mrs. Squealina Swyne, in an anxious voice.

“No,” answered the Scarecrow; “like all other children in the Land of Oz, they will always remain children, and in the case of the tiny piglets that is a good thing, because they would not be nearly so cute and cunning if they were bigger.”

“But are they happy?” asked Mrs. Swyne.

“Everyone in the Emerald City is happy,” said the Tin Woodman. “They can’t help it.”

– The Tin Woodman of Oz, Chapter 20

Happiness is Mandatory, Citizen. You’ll never grow up, and you won’t have any choice but to like it. I used to kind of look down on “dark and edgy” reinterpretations for introducing an unnecessary mean streak to light and whimsical stories meant for children; but certain aspects o the setting seem to just be crying out for that kind of reassessment, don’t they? I hadn’t planned to look at, for instance, the Dorothy Must Die books – the title just gave me the impression of something bleak and mean-spirited – but maybe I should.

Well, I can’t really say I enjoyed The Tin Woodman of Oz but I’ll give it this: it was certainly the most interesting Oz book I’ve read in quite a while, even if not necessarily for the right reasons.

Final Rating: 2/5