This Book, book 4 of my Fool’s Path series, has been fun to write so far. So much action!
Some First Draft Nonsense
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Quotable
“And as much as I’d like to believe there’s a truth beyond illusion, I’ve come to believe that there’s no truth beyond illusion. Because, between ‘reality’ on the one hand, and the point where the mind strikes reality, there’s a middle zone, a rainbow edge where beauty comes into being, where two very different surfaces mingle and blur to provide what life does not: and this is the space where all art exists, and all magic. And—I would argue as well—all love. Or, perhaps more accurately, this middle zone illustrates the fundamental discrepancy of love. Viewed close: a freckled hand against a black coat, an origami frog tipped over on its side. Step away, and the illusion snaps in again: life-more-than-life, never-dying. Pippa herself is the play between those things, both love and not-love, there and not-there. Photographs on the wall, a balled-up sock under the sofa. The moment where I reached to brush a piece of fluff from her hair and she laughed and ducked at my touch. And just as music is the space between notes, just as the stars are beautiful because of the space between them, just as the sun strikes raindrops at a certain angle and throws a prism of color across the sky—so the space where I exist, and want to keep existing, and to be quite frank I hope I die in, is exactly this middle distance: where despair struck pure otherness and created something sublime. And that’s why I’ve chosen to write these pages as I’ve written them. For only by stepping into the middle zone, the polychrome edge between truth and untruth, is it tolerable to be here and writing this…”
-The Goldfinch, location 12466
Quotable
“Instructors could teach the basic techniques and methods, but a mastery of mechanical knowledge could never make a person an artist. No one could teach creativity or invention. A spark needed to come from within. It must be something unique, something discovered by the individual, a leap of understanding, a burst of insight, the combining of common elements in an unexpected way.” -Riyria Chronicles
Book Review: Ash Princess, Ash Princess Trilogy #1
Book Review
Ash Princess, Book 1 of the Ash Princess Trilogy
By: Laura Sebastian
4 Stars
Fantasy, YA
Theodosia was six when her country was invaded and her mother, the Fire Queen, was murdered before her eyes. On that day, the Kaiser took Theodosia’s family, her land, and her name. Theo was crowned Ash Princess–a title of shame to bear in her new life as a prisoner.
For ten years Theo has been a captive in her own palace. She’s endured the relentless abuse and ridicule of the Kaiser and his court. She is powerless, surviving in her new world only by burying the girl she was deep inside.
Then, one night, the Kaiser forces her to do the unthinkable. With blood on her hands and all hope of reclaiming her throne lost, she realizes that surviving is no longer enough. But she does have a weapon: her mind is sharper than any sword. And power isn’t always won on the battlefield.
For ten years, the Ash Princess has seen her land pillaged and her people enslaved. That all ends here.
You probably won’t care to read this if you hate cliches and classic stories retold with varying names and places. But if a classic story with classic characters is something you love, as I do, then this is a book to curl up with over a long weekend.
A princess enslaved by the people who conquered her land, fighting to save her crown and her people. What’s not to love about that? Especially when Laura Sebastian delivers with a rich world and a multitude of lovable characters. Every decision Theo was forced to make ripped at my heart. Such a perfect blend of wants versus needs, self-indulgence versus self-sacrifice, the things one must sacrifice to put an entire people’s needs over one’s needs, and the things we have to tell ourselves to do so.
While the bulk of the story reminded me of Holly Black’s The Folk of the Air series, The Ash Princess is not set in a fairyland. Already getting into book 2, I find a rich, eclectic world surrounding Theo’s land. I can’t wait to read more. I can’t wait to see if the Ash Princess can discover her true strength, reclaim her land, and find her happily ever after.
Happy Reading 🙂
Book Review: Axiom’s End, Noumena #1
Book Review
Axiom’s End, Noumena #1
By: Lindsay Ellis
3.5 Stars
Science Fiction, Conspiracy, Aliens, Alternate History
The alternate history first contact adventure Axiom’s End is an extraordinary debut from Hugo finalist and video essayist Lindsay Ellis.
Truth is a human right.
It’s fall 2007. A well-timed leak has revealed that the US government might have engaged in first contact. Cora Sabino is doing everything she can to avoid the whole mess, since the force driving the controversy is her whistleblower father. Even though Cora hasn’t spoken to him in years, his celebrity has caught the attention of the press, the Internet, the paparazzi, and the government—and with him in hiding, that attention is on her. She neither knows nor cares whether her father’s leaks are a hoax, and wants nothing to do with him—until she learns just how deeply entrenched her family is in the cover-up, and that an extraterrestrial presence has been on Earth for decades.
Realizing the extent to which both she and the public have been lied to, she sets out to gather as much information as she can, and finds that the best way for her to uncover the truth is not as a whistleblower, but as an intermediary. The alien presence has been completely uncommunicative until she convinces one of them that she can act as their interpreter, becoming the first and only human vessel of communication. Their otherworldly connection will change everything she thought she knew about being human—and could unleash a force more sinister than she ever imagined.
I don’t read much political conspiracy, or alternate history, or alien contact stories. Axiom’s End, by Lindsay Ellis, was fun. I think I liked it because of the alternate history angle. Chapters are prefaced with news and blog articles about government secrecy and how “truth is a human right,” using fictitious events blended with actual history (if I recall correctly, I believe the book takes place circa 2007). When Cora gets caught in the middle of one conspiracy, the story carries into a deeper encounter than I expected based of the blurb.
While the overall story kept me reading, I was often annoyed/frustrated enough with the main character to wonder if it was worth finishing. My thought that she was the archetype of “average” kept me in it. Whenever I rolled my eyes or exclaimed some frustration over a decision or action, I remembered this point.
The caricature of one of the government agents is also enough to make an eye roll, but again, it’s not enough to be a deal breaker. I get why people hate this book, and I get why people love it. I fell more in the middle.
I’d love to hear your thoughts 🙂
Happy Readng 🙂
Author C.M. Martens 