Tag: books

Book Review: THE LAST VIKING and the rhythm of narrative history

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

I am woefully behind on posting book reviews, which is perhaps a good thing. It means I’ve at least been keeping up with my reading. So here goes an attempted book review for a book I finished almost a month ago.

I listened to The Last Viking: The True Story of King Harald Hardrada by Don Hollway on audiobook, and it reminded me of the pleasing rhythm of well-constructed narrative history.

King Harald Hardrada was, as Hollway argues, the last great figure of the Viking age of Norse history. After his older brother, King Olaf of Norway, is killed in battle, the young Harald embarks on a wild life’s journey that takes him opposite corners of Europe, until his death in 1066.

Hollway uses a combination of historical sources and dramatized dialogue and exposition to weave together this history of Harald Hardrada’s life. His open discussion of his sources (or lack thereof, at times) and their veracity lends credibility to his understanding of Harald’s life. We have to take the information we have about a person who appears larger than life. Hollway then builds a narrative and life journey fit for a figure who appeared to be legendary in his own time.

To open the book, Hollway cleverly sets the scene for the battle of Stamford Bridge in England, 1066, where King Harald Hardrada of Norway met King Harold the Saxon, of Wessex.

Before the battle begins, Hollway winds the clock back to Harald’s youth. Following the death of his brother, the book follows Harald as he makes his way down the Volga and ultimately to Constantinople, becomes embroiled in the imperial court, and escapes as the reign of Constantine II collapses.

Harald then returns to his homeland and attempts to conquer parts of Sweden and Denmark from his seat in Norway, before finally embarking on his expedition to conquer England. This framing leads to a surprisingly climactic end for Harald, in which Hollway deservedly places him among the most influential figures of his time.

The Last Viking is an excellent read for anyone interested in the early medieval period of Northern Europe or the Byzantine period. For me personally, this book tugged at multiple threads in the history of side of my brain, and only reinforces my growing obsession with the early-Medieval period in Britain, and now Scandanavia.

Steve D

Book Review: TERRAFORMERS is worth a read

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

I’m coming late to this review, having finished The Terraformers by Annalee Newitz a few weeks ago.

I think a slim part of the reason why it took me so long to review this novel is because I’m still not entirely sure how I felt about it.

As a world-building experiment complete with planet-sized terraforming projects, centuries-long urban planning policies, and biomechanical creatures of varying sentience and form, I found this book thoroughly enjoyable.

However, I think I struggled with the structure of the novel, even as I came to understand Newitz’s attempts to emphasize that monumental societal change does not necessarily happen overnight. Sometimes it takes generations, even when those generations live for centuries, rather than decades.

And so, this book is split into three novella-sized plots, each one taking place several hundred years after its predecessor. Again, while I appreciate the author’s notion that The Revolution is not always instantaneous, this three-part structure made it difficult to connect with any character in particular.

Scratch that, By the time I had connected with Destry of the Environmental Rescue Team – an ecological engineer purpose-designed for her job – the first plot was finished, and I was thrust seven (?) hundred years into the future, with characters who reference Destry as a hero, but who do not land as well as the first plot.

The overall plot between the three timeframes worked, I think. I just found it jarring.

I think Newitz did an excellent job of taking big, messy ideas, like bioengineered limits on intelligence based on one’s role in society, or the Personhood of creatures other than hominids, and including some biomechanical beings, or the concept of a society where people have mastered ecological balance as a form of control (and profit)… Newitz takes these grandiose ideas, and then allows little microcosms of character dialogue talk debate, challenge, and advocate for them in very accessible ways.

The world was incredibly well thought-out and felt lived in. The characters sounded unique and fully realized with their own motives and flaws, and the plot was cohesive and nuanced, even across multiple large time jumps.

This book is worth reading for those reasons, even if its structure feels a little forced.

Steve D

November Write Day: A Week Late

On By Steven D'AdamoIn Fantasy, On LifeLeave a comment

October was a frenetic month, capped off by Halloween festivities and a brief trip I took to L.A. with one friend to visit another friend. I neglected to post this last week, so here we are almost halfway through November.

Last Month’s Goals

  1. Finish three books.
  2. Stretching & exercise.
  3. Continue organizing around the house.
  4. Community resilience.
  5. Take writing notes.

Finish three books?

I finished one book in October – The Terraformers, by Annalee Newitz, for which I’ll post my review next week. I’ve made progress on other reads, and I’m more than halfway through an Arthurian fantasy book: The Bright Sword, by Lev Grossman, so I should be able to hit two or three books in November.

Stretching and exercise?

I did four shorter stretching/yoga sessions in October, short of my goal. I’m hitting another motivation wall with exercise. Luckily, I went on a lovely hike in California last weekend that has given me at least one day of above-average exercise.

Continue organizing around the house?

We got our front hill landscaped, Halloween decorations put out and now cleaned up, and cleaned up the backyard a bit. I still want to build storage shelves in our shed. Some of our neighbors are already putting out holiday lights. We’re not mentally prepared to do so yet, but it will certainly be a topic of conversation and planning in our house until Thanksgiving or so.

Community resilience?

No news on this front. Still pondering.

Take writing notes?

I managed to spend a couple of brief sessions taking notes on stories floating through my head. I also played Dungeons and Dragons over the weekend. During our trip to L.A., our friend organized a one-shot session with his local friend, who DM’d for the three of us.

I used a character I had only used one time before, so I already had a bit of a backstory outline in my head. Playing (and beating!) this one-shot quest has me thinking about this even more. I don’t know if or where I will provide any information for my character, but I will definitely count this towards writing this month.

Goals for November

  1. Finish three books.
    • Current reads: The Bright Sword, by Lev Grossman; A Promised Land by Barack Obama; The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Alan Poe, by Edgar Alan Poe and Benjamin Franklin Fisher (editor)
    • Likely next reads: Haven’t looked that far ahead yet.
  2. Stretching & exercise. Aiming for 5-10 shorter exercise sessions, and 2-5 longer yoga or weightlifting sessions (or a hike in the mountains).
  3. Community resilience. Similar to last month, I need to find ways to contribute more directly and proactively in my community.
  4. Take writing notes. I’m taking notes and thinking more regularly about writing, but my attention at the moment is split between two stories in my own fantasy universe and my D&D character. Not a bad thing, I’m just letting my writing curiosity take me where it will for now.

Steve D

October Write Day: The Turn

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On LifeLeave a comment

October came upon me so quickly that I forgot to do this post last week. Luckily, I had a book review to post instead.

Halloween preparation is in full swing on our street–now that we know a fair number of our neighbors, we’re all enjoying the friendly decoration competition and watching the neighborhood kids get excited. And Halloween is on a Friday, so it’s likely to be crazy.

I feel pretty good about September. Everything is a work in progress, as always.

Last Month’s Goals

  1. Finish three books.
  2. Stretching & exercise.
  3. Organize around the house.
  4. Community resilience.

Finish three books?

I finished two books in September: I, Jedi by Michael A. Stackpole, on which I was lukewarm, and The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar, on which I was much warmer.

I’ve made marginal progress on a couple other reads, and I’ve started a sci-fi novel: The Terraformers, by Annalee Newitz. I’m enjoying its rich world-building and high-concept post-Earth civilization so far.

Stretching and exercise?

I stretched nearly every day in September, out of necessity. I also did a short resistance training routine five times, and a proper yoga session (20 minutes or more) once. Not great, but it was consistent across most of September, and it helped me feel good overall.

Organize around the house?

This is a never-ending process, so it’s more about getting things done consistently than actually “finishing”, unless there’s a larger project. I have yet to build the shelves in my shed, but we definitely cleaned out some old things. Now the focus is on Halloween decorations, which is a different sort of organization.

Community resilience?

Still mostly pondering. I’m getting more involved in the local chapter of an environmental organization, by going on hikes and such. And I’m trying to be more conscientious about reading the news from the sources I trust on a regular basis, including local ones. Still trying to find how I can meaningfully contribute, though.

Goals for October

  1. Finish three books.
    • Current reads: The Terraformers, by Annalee Newitz; A Promised Land by Barack Obama; The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Alan Poe, by Edgar Alan Poe and Benjamin Franklin Fisher (editor)
    • Likely next reads: I recently purchased The Children of Gods and Fighting Men, first in a historical fantasy series by Shauna Lawless about Vikings in Ireland — so it’s directly in my wheelhouse. The audiobook is also narrated by Aoife McMahon, who is a top-tier narrator.
  2. Stretching & exercise. The goal is to do better than last month, so 5-10 shorter exercise sessions, and 2-5 longer yoga or weightlifting sessions.
  3. Continue organizing around the house. Halloween is the priority, but yardwork needs to be done to prepare for next spring, too.
  4. Community resilience. Similar to last month, I need to find ways to contribute more directly and proactively in my community.
  5. Take writing notes. I’ve started doing this, just to get my stories back into my weekly/daily brain space. I’m also considering options for publishing stories online, just to get my stories out there again. No decisions have been made yet, but I want to keep pacing down this path.

Steve D

Book Review: THE MAP OF SALT AND STARS

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

I’ve had The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar in my Audible library for several months, and I finally got around to listening to it. This is one of those books that, despite the blurb, I wasn’t quite sure what to expect from it.

I was pleasantly surprised.

The Map of Salt and Stars is a powerful story of struggle, sorrow, hope, and love. The story follows Nour, a young girl whose family is forced out of their home in Homs, Syria by the outbreak of the civil war, and Rawiya, a tenacious girl centuries earlier who embarks on a journey across the Mediterranean.

The mirrored stories of Rawiya and Nour created a beautiful symmetry in the plot while deriving meaning from both. Nour, in trying to understand what is happening to her family, and through the grief of lost loved ones, discovers the true meaning of her family’s history, and what it means to find home after everything she knows is destroyed. Meanwhile, Rawiya, in becoming a mapmaker’s apprentice, finds the adventure she’d been seeking, and reveals her own power as a brave warrior and cunning tactician.

The characters’ journeys follow each other from one end of the Mediterranean to the other. This structure makes the overall narrative familiar, but the twists and turns that take each character from one location to the next propel the plot forward from chapter to chapter.

The very real circumstances around Nour’s family — war, hunger, a refugee crisis in the making — are contrasted well by the more fantastical dangers of Rawiya’s journey fraught with dashing princes, mythical creatures, and magical stones.

Zeyn Joukhadar is an emotive writer, whose prose was thoughtful and intricate without being overly embellished.

The audio version was fantastic, but I think this is a story worth reading on the page. This is definitely a candidate to buy in hard cover for the home bookshelf.

Steve D

Book Review: STAR WARS: I, JEDI is a solid story, but not for me

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

Star Wars: I, Jedi by Michael A. Stackpole is the first novel I’ve read from the “Legends” canon of the Star Wars universe.

I’m not sure I’m the target audience for this novel. While there were parts of this story I greatly enjoyed, there were a few parts that bugged me.

Corran Horn is arrogant and presumptuous as a protagonist. He constantly assumes that he’s the only person who could possibly have the correct solution to any given dilemma. Even when he expresses self-awareness over his own ego, he continues to act as if he’s the only person capable of anything. This is perplexing given his backstory as a pilot of Rogue Squadron. Presumably, he could have asked for help is rescuing his wife much earlier, and ends up being backed up by a few friends anyway.

This story is laced with Star Wars Easter eggs to the point that I just ignored whatever random characters or planets were name-dropped in every chapter. I’m not deep enough into Star Wars lore to get all the references, and they didn’t add anything to the story. Novelty appearances of Han, Leia, and Wedge (of original trilogy fame) also seemed to serve little purpose but to build up Corran’s chops as an in-universe person-of-interest.

Luke was an interesting character who helped drive some of the narrative, and I’m thinking I should read some of the Luke-centric Legends novels.

The plot is winding and overflowing with context about Corran’s past, his time served as a pilot, also a detective, and his relationship with his wife Mirax. Unfortunately, these experiences are only touched on through exposition, and Mirax is fridged until the final chapter.

I consider myself a more-than-average Star Wars fan, but perhaps this particular story just wasn’t for me. I think I just struggled to connect with Corran, and in an in-depth first-person narrative, that’s an issue for the reader. I don’t regret reading this, and I’m interested in exploring other parts of the Legends canon.

Steve D

September Write Day: Return to Normalcy… I think

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On LifeLeave a comment

School has officially started, and at least one of our neighbors has already started preparing their Halloween decorations. We need to start planning ours.

We took our boys to Boston and Salem just before school started, a much-needed trip that was hectic, but enjoyable. We rode the train from Baltimore to Boston (and overall had a positive experience), toured Boston for a couple days, visited the Lego Discovery Center (our four-year-old’s favorite part of the entire trip), stayed in Salem for a few days, and had dinner with an old college friend and her family.

Now we’re figuring out our school-year routine and making plans for the autumn, primarily in our garden and cleaning out the house before we’re inundated with new toys for Christmas. I’m not ready for any holidays, but I’m glad September has arrived.

Last Month’s Goals

  1. Finish three books.
  2. Survive until the start of school.
  3. Enjoy our last big trip for the summer.
  4. Try to exercise and stretch.

Finish three books?

I finished the final book in Manda Scott’s Boudica series, Dreaming the Serpent Spear, which I obviously reviewed already, because it was fantastic. That’s it. I’ve made some good headway on another novel, which I’m excited to review, for very different reasons.

I’m doing alright on my Goodreads reading challenge: 13 of 24 books completed; less ambitious than last year, which has turned out to be a good thing. I’ll need to finish almost three books per month to hit it by the end of the year. Time to find some shorter novels on my To Be Read list.

Survive ’til school & enjoy our last trip?

Success! See above.

Try to exercise and stretch

Success! After aiming low and just trying to figure some basic stuff I could do for August, I ended up picking a couple of calisthenics type exercises to do after my main stretching routine. These I counted as 10 minutes of “stretching” in my fitness tracking app, just to make it easy to count up how many times I did it.

10 times throughout the month of August, plus one brief weight-lifting session in a hotel fitness room, and a whole lot of walking on our trip.

The brief stretching/resistance routine has definitely helped me feel like I accomplished something on those days. What’s missing is longer yoga sessions or weight-lifting sessions.

But progress is progress, and with a more normal routine at home, I feel like I can make some more happen this month.

Goals for September

  1. Finish three books.
    • Current reads: I, Jedi by Michael A. Stackpole; A Promised Land by Barack Obama; The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Alan Poe, by Edgar Alan Poe and Benjamin Franklin Fisher (editor)
    • Likely next reads: The Map of Salt and Stars by Zeyn Joukhadar for fiction. I’m not close enough to finishing Obama’s memoir to consider my next nonfiction read.
  2. Stretching & exercise. I’d like to continue with this basic stretching and resistance routine just as a filler for my busier or lazier days. What I need to work back in is longer yoga or weight-lifting session. I’m thinking 20 minutes at minimum, twice per week.
  3. Organize around the house. Build shelves in my shed and get shit off the floor. Get rid of old clothes and toys we’ve collected. Organize the new shelf in the basement.
  4. Community resilience. I’ve alluded to this and related themes in many of my haiku of late, but it’s been pressing on my mind all year. I need to find ways to contribute more directly and proactively in my community. I know there are lots of options out there, so I think I just need to pick one and start doing it.

Steve D

Book Review: BOUDICA: DREAMING THE SERPENT SPEAR lands an epic saga

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

What a series.

Manda Scott’s fourth novel in the Boudica series, Dreaming the Serpent Spear, was a fantastic ending to an epic saga about Boudica’s rise and rebellion against the Roman Empire in Britannia.

Where book one primarily covered how Breaca, daughter of the royal bloodline of the Eceni, rose to become a warrior and leader of her people, books two and three dove into the characters’ their internal struggles and the manifestations of their various choices on and off the battlefield, casting some of them far afield, with no apparent hope of ever reuniting.

Dreaming the Serpent Spear managed to bring many of the main characters’ arcs colliding back in a final clash to decide their individual fates, and that of the Celtic and druidic peoples of Britainnia.

Author Manda Scott treated the lingering trauma of Breaca and Graine with care while demonstrating their growth as individuals and in their relationship as mother and daughter. Other characters, like Cunomar, Sigve, Valerius, and Corvus also stretched and grew into their own – at times surprising – fitting ends.

The sense of dread throughout this read forced me to a slower pace. Knowing that Rome occupied Britannia for another century-plus after the timeframe of this novel meant that I did not expect a happy ending. I didn’t want to see beloved characters die in battle or languish in imprisonment.

However, I think Scott deftly navigated the brutality and desperation of the final battle and brought the characters’ stories to worthy resolution.

This series is absolutely worth a re-read and will sit among my favorite novels on this historical period.

Steve D


August Write Day: Nearly There

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On LifeLeave a comment

Our summer took an unexpected turn when our oldest son, through absolutely no fault of his own, was kicked out of daycare. The daycare messed up and had too many kids for the summer.

We’ve been scrambling to find things for him to do during the week for a month, and we’re now just two weeks away from the start of his schoolyear. I have never in my life been this excited for school to start.

We have one more family trip ahead of us, which is greatly needed for all of us, perhaps most of all just to break us out of our week-to-week schedules for some quality time.

Last Month’s Goals

  1. Finish three books.
  2. Small acts – Exercise.
  3. Small acts – Writing. 
  4. Continue daily meditation/affirmation.

Finish three books?

I finished two books in July. I’ve already reviewed Boudica: Dreaming the Hound by Manda Scott here, and I finished Star Wars Legends Collection: The Empire, Vol 1 what feels like ages ago. That was not my first entry into Star Wars comics, but I appreciated the deeper focus on Vader and his conflicted state of mind in the early years of the Empire.

I don’ think I’m ready to jump head-first into the vast back-catalogue of Star Wars comics and novels. It’s too much to even think about wading through, to be honest. However, I have enjoyed the smattering of stories I’ve picked up as one-offs.

Perhaps I will take a similar tack with the Warhammer 40,000 novels. I had tried to get into The Horus Heresy series some years back, and found it overwhelming in its lore depth.

Small acts – exercise, meditation, writing?

Not much to say in any of these categories. I’ve been active in different ways, but no real routine to speak of.

I think I’ve done okay with posting haiku each Sunday, mostly. I’m starting to think that until I really start writing fiction again, I will probably stick to book reviews for my Wednesday posts.

I would like to start writing regularly again. I’ve just been pre-occupied. My sons have started playing video games a couple times per week – Super Mario Bros. Wonder, and Mario Kart 8, primarily. This has reignited my love for casual gaming, so that has been my hobby of late.

No regrets. It just means I’ve spent evenings doing that than almost anything else.

I will have some downtime while we’re traveling for our upcoming trip, and I’m optimistic that I can write in my journal a bit.

Goals for August

  1. Finish three books.
    • Current reads: Boudica: Dreaming the Bull by Manda Scott; A Promised Land by Barack Obama; The Essential Tales and Poems of Edgar Alan Poe, by Edgar Alan Poe and Benjamin Franklin Fisher (editor)
    • Likely next reads: No idea.
  2. Survive until the start of school. It will be camps for us next summer.
  3. Enjoy our last big trip for the summer. We’re taking the train to Boston. It will be the boys’ first real train ride, so we’re excited.
  4. Try to exercise and stretch. I stretch just about every day. Still looking for the right motivation to exercise consistently.

Steve D

Book Review: BOUDICA: DREAMING THE HOUND

On By Steven D'AdamoIn On Storytelling, ReviewsLeave a comment

As expected from my earlier goals post, I finished Boudica: Dreaming the Hound, the third book of this series by Manda Scott, and am well on my way with the fourth.

I’ve already reviewed books one and two.

As book three of a four-book series, it was not too surprising to find that Dreaming the Hound had a minor case of middle book syndrome. The plot dragged a bit more than its predecessors, and both the characters and the reader are left waiting for momentous changes to happen: the Roman invasion of Mona, for instance.

Even still, there was some interesting character development in this story, particularly for Valerius and Cunomar. Valerius steps into his redemption arc, while Cunomar finally takes some initiative to become the warrior for which he has always overreached.

The ending of Breaca’s time with the Eceni, under Roman rule, comes swiftly and shockingly. I will spare the details, but the confrontational sequence towards the end of this arc is brutal and traumatic. Its purpose in the story is to portray what little historical evidence there exists for these events, as explained by Scott in the afterword. In the moment, though, it left a poor feeling.

I am still definitely enjoying this series overall, but I was somewhat relieved for this book to be over. Given Scott’s deft plot development and skilled character building, I was also optimistic to begin the fourth and final installment. That optimism has already paid off, and I’m greatly looking forward to seeing how this epic series ends.

Steve D