“Soak”
Coffee cups warm hands,
hoods pulled over dampened hair,
rainy errand run.
Steve D
Tag: Steve D
Book Review: SWORD OF KINGS demonstrates Uhtred’s ability to rise above humiliation
I’m very rapidly making my way through the final books in Bernard Cornwell’s The Last Kingdom series. I finished reading book #12 of 13 last week, Sword of Kings.
I greatly enjoyed this story after feeling like its predecessor, War of the Wolf, felt overly contrived.
Sword of Kings follows Uhtred as he makes mistake after mistake. For the first time really in the entire series, Uhtred’s penchant for impetuous decision-making and lack of communication with anybody significant in his life stacks up against him.
A similar trail of mistakes followed in Uhtred’s wake in War of the Wolf. The difference in Sword of Kings is that in the moment, every single one of Uhtred’s mistakes makes sense. He rationalizes to the reader as he proceeds, but events turn against him for various reasons, and by the time you reach the final confrontation, you’re left wondering a) how the hell did we get here, and b) how the hell is Uhtred getting out of this one alive?
Uhtred ultimately faces the most humiliating moment of his life. The shame, regret, and fear he demonstrates thereafter is poignant as a side of Uhtred we’ve never seen. After several books of seeming invincibility to anyone else’s ambitions and his own brashness, Uhtred is brought as low as possible, and he has to be convinced by those closest to him to either give in or fight for his own dignity.
My only nitpick is the quite flippant disposal of a few characters in Uhtred’s life, treated with little more than a footnote at the end of the story. Without giving away anything, I think these characters had lost their own purpose in Uhtred’s stories, and perhaps made room for new characters and narrative developments, but these are not realized until the next book.
This is perhaps one of the best novels of the series.
Haiku Sunday – Pull
“Pull”
Crash, hiss, recede, build.
Shallow tides to sweep the feet,
draw into its depths.
Steve D
Book Review: WAR OF THE WOLF has points of interest, falls flat
I’m working my way through the final three books of Bernard Cornwell’s The Last Kingdom series. War of the Wolf posits an interesting question: what sorts of adventures / wars does Lord Uhtred get drawn into after he’s achieved his ultimate goal?
The answer, it seems, is getting tricked into fighting a war in someone else’s land.
While I always enjoy The Last Kingdom series to some extent, this installment felt too formulaic. The book opens with Uhtred outside of Bebbanburg, the nigh impenetrable fortress of which he is lord, for a dubious reason. Someone lured him there with a lie to try to ambush and kill him. Without giving away any spoilers, the rest of the narrative follows with similarly dubious decision-making by our usually cunning Uhtred.
There were some notable emotional stakes here that helped Uhtred’s individual development, and his fealty to King Sigtryggr of Eoforwic makes for some interesting politics. Aethelstan remains a compelling character, but his presence in this story merely feels like set-up for future stories.
This was not my favorite story in this series, but it was still entertaining.
Steve D
Haiku Sunday – Flash
“Flash”
Shapeless wall of gray.
Forms revealed by white flashes,
looming in the sky.
Steve D
September Write Day: Busy-ness
It’s hard to believe it’s September already. August really passed me by in a hurry. We managed to do a lot of family activities outside: theme parks, hiking, swimming. That helped the month fly by, and it also kept us very busy.
Last Month’s Goals
- Read three books.
- Exercise every day.
- Write at least every other day.
- Move to the next stage for my duology.
Read three books?
Yes! Aaaaand… I finally finished A Memory of Light. You can read my thoughts on that here. I actually read four books in August, which felt great, including a couple that had been sitting in my Audible library for ages.
With one epic fantasy series out of the way, I’m on the lookout for my next one. At the moment, however, I’m trying to work through some nonfiction books — actual print books — that have been sitting unread on my actual shelves for years. So, I’m in no rush to find my next fantasy series, but I am in the market if you have suggestions.
Exercise every day?
No, but I was generally more active, I think than in previous months. We’ve started using Sunday afternoons to spend time outside with our boys, and that has helped my own activity levels and keeps the boys interested in being outside. I like this little tradition, and I intend to continue it in all weather, as much as we can.
Otherwise, I leaned pretty heavily on a very basic yoga stretch routine to keep myself loose. I have not yet gotten gym membership at our local spot. Frankly, I’m having difficulty seeing where I can fit the gym into my weekly routine at the moment.
That’s definitely one theme from this month: we were so busy that a lot of routine things fell through the cracks. September isn’t looking any more open, and then, oops it’s the holidays. We’ll see how this goes, but I might be relying on Sunday afternoon activities with the kids for exercise for a while.
Write at least every other day?
No, but I fared much better than in July. I wrote nine days in August, including longer-form blog posts, and I made some strides in my duology.
Move to the next stage for my duology?
Yes! I finished reading through Uprooted and began a read-through of New Earth, the part two. I had completed this draft of New Earth sometime last year, and I hadn’t looked at it since, so it has been really exciting to dive back in. I’m about twenty pages into my read-through, and I’ll be aiming to finish it this month.
Goals for September
This seems to be the place where I’ve developed a solid routine, which is a good start.
- Read three books. I already have one down. The trick will be finishing my current nonfiction read-in-progress.
- Exercise every day. I’m playing loose with this for now. The goal is to do something every day, even if it’s just a basic yoga stretching routine. I have many things on my to-do list this month, and finding a way to incorporate more exercise into my day is one of them.
- Write long-form at least every other day. Focusing on long-form, again. I think this is a good way to focus my energy on the writing that takes the most time and effort. I just need to do it at least fifteen days in a month.
Steve D
Haiku Sunday – Acorn
“Acorn”
Tiny seed tumbles,
buried in forest debris,
then towers above.
Steve D
Book Review: ANDREA VERNON AND THE CORPORATION FOR ULTRAHUMAN PROTECTION brings quick wit and plot
I don’t remember the circumstances under which I picked up Andrea Vernon and the Corporation for UltraHuman Protection, but it’s been sitting in my Audible library for a good while. So I finally decided to read it.
It was quite enjoyable.
Author Alexander Kane appears to have a knack for witty and compelling storytelling that does not get weighed down by exposition. This story moves quickly and demonstrates Kane’s deft plotting. No chapter felt cumbersome, and no character was throw-away.
Each character had a unique voice, perhaps in part thanks to Bahni Turpin’s excellent narration. Andrea, as the protagonist, had the strongest scenes and sense of growth. Other characters, like Ms. Oh, were interesting in their own right, but I often found myself anticipating Andrea’s next section more than any other POV character.
This is not necessarily my preferred style of storytelling, which veers between absurd cultural references and wise-cracking one-liners to keep the dialogue bouncing along, but I respect that Kane executed it so well.
There are two other books in the Andrea Vernon series, and I just may be tempted to pick them up.
Steve D
Haiku Sunday – Breath
“Breath”
Grasping for control,
slow to a single inhale.
And then another.
Steve D
Book Review: THE PLOTTERS digs and resonates
I just finished listening to The Plotters by Un-Su Kim on audiobook, a story with the trappings of an action thriller and the tonal resonance of a slow-burning suspense novel.
This story wound through a methodical plot, at times jumping into the past to provide insight into the mind and life of the protagonist, Reseng. While the narrative focuses on Reseng’s time as an assassin and his growing discontent with his life and the people around him, this is really a story about making life choices and living with – or fighting against – the consequences. The reader finds themselves rooting for Reseng to find some semblance of understanding about his own life, even if he is not a heroic character.
The narrator had a sort of deep, droning voice for the protagonist. As the story proceeded, I think this tone worked to emphasize Reseng’s aimless resignation with his life, compared to other character who had much more distinctive voices and motivations.
I did not find this story to be suspenseful in that I was riveted to my seat, but every scene carried a latent tension that was difficult to grasp. Even the action sequences were described with such monotoned effect that they seemed to be happening in slow motion. It felt like the entire story was gradually building towards something, but the final reveal was inside the character’s head, rather than in the action surrounding them. I don’t know that I’ve ever read a story with that type of tension, and it was quite compelling.
This story asks readers to empathize with its characters despite, or perhaps, because of the horrible things they do. Really fascinating read.
Steve D
Evening Satellite Publishing 