Review: Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics Is Destroying American Democracy

Suicide of the West: How the Rebirth of Tribalism, Populism, Nationalism, and Identity Politics Is Destroying American Democracy by Jonah Goldberg
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a 3-star review.

I didn't finish the book because at roughly 1/4 the way through, I had already heard all of these arguments via his various podcasts.

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Review: The Devils

The Devils by Joe Abercrombie
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a 3.5-star review. Rounding up to 4 stars as it was an engaging read.

Consider the medieval world but where magic is real. There are vampires, mages, and werewolves. Elves are around but are considered evil. The relationships are either tortured or slapstick...and sometimes a bit of both!

At one point, the she-werewolf ends up fighting a he-werewolf. At least they start of fighting...

Something similar occurs at another point in the book when two armies are poised to destroy one another until their leaders...an estranged husband and wife...patch things up. Ah..l'amour!

The Pope is a pre-teen/early-teen girl who performs powerful magic on a whim.

And a street rat girl is plucked from the streets and told she is to the heir to an empire. A select team is assembled to see her installed on the throne. A vampire, a mage, a werewolf, an immortal fighter, an elf, and a jack of all trades.

Much jocularity ensues. Along with a lot of bloodshed and other forms of nastiness.

The author continues his reign as the lord of all grimdark; leavening a heavily flawed world with some spicy banter and a little spicier action. A nice enough read.

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Review: Breaking Hel

Breaking Hel by Miles Cameron
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a 3-star review which a reasonable estimate of my experience.

While I enjoyed the first two books in the series, this one didn't really work as well.

One reason is the large number of characters coupled with the large armies. It was hard to keep the protagonists separate from the antagonists. Couple that with the fact that characters switch sides a few times.

A second reason is that the ultimate "big bad" in the series is never really exposed until this last book. The character(s) are in the other books, and quite a bit is done to question their motives, but those questions are never really answered.

Thirdly, the "big bad" involves worms that inhabit/coopt human bodies. The author did the same thing in another series.

Lastly, the book goes full on identarian with no useful differences between the sexes when it comes to fighting. And the author is an early Greek (as in BC era Greek) army reenactor. The dude knows better.

If you enjoyed the first two books in the series, then you will enjoy the conclusion enough to warrant reading it.

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Review: The Book That Held Her Heart

The Book That Held Her Heart by Mark Lawrence
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This is a 3-star review.

There are times when the last book in a series doesn't stick the landing. This is one of those times.

The first two books were great reads. So what went wrong here?

The author is a bona fide mathematics genius. With that comes great familiarity with the string theory that we are living in one of many parallel, nearly identical worlds.

The author attempts to illustrate how there might be so many possible realities in the narrative of the book. The reader ends up consuming several different versions of what might have been. Think of the multiple endings of Tolkien's Return of the King, but not quite as well executed.

Couple that with an ending that is essentially, "conflict resolved because we wish it to be so". It is a fantasy book, so I suppose that's as good an ending as any other, but it felt a bit unjustified.

If you enjoyed the first two books in the series, then you will enjoy this enough as well.

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Review: The Magic Battery

The Magic Battery by Gary McGath
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This is a 3.5-star review which is a reasonable estimate of my experience. Rounding up to 4 stars because the book was very engaging towards the end. The author stuck the landing.

The Magic Battery is set in the 16th century post-Martin Luther, Copernicus, and a few other luminaries of that age. The author admits to taking a bit of license with history in order get magic to be an element of history.

An apprentice mage develops the ability to store magic (hence the "battery") in a manner that will non-mages activate spells. Those with D&D experience will understand the concept to be similar to magical scrolls that can be used by anyone.

This undermines the religious and political dogma of the day as only bona fide mages of the Christian faith may legally cast spells. No women. No heretics (i.e., Jews, Muslims, atheists). The conflict should be obvious.

This book is a slow burn. The early sections drag a bit as our hero looks to learn and use mathematics with magical theory. As someone that uses higher math professionally, I appreciated some of that content. But there came a point where it became almost repetitive without advancing the plot.

The author also hits hard on the themes of social/political exclusion based largely on faith and gender. There were moments when it felt a little too on the nose. However, that may simply reflect a response drive by our modern moment when issues of inclusion/exclusion based on faith and gender are centered in public conversations.

While I think the author's perspective is presented in the book, at the conclusion, he certainly does not rub it in the reader's face. He leaves lots of room for thoughtful reflection regarding individual rights, free speech, right to the free exchange via commerce, and the right to peaceably disagree. This book makes you think, which is what any good book should do.

As an early outing, this is a solid book that is worthy of your time.

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