September 2024 Book Club: A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan #1) by Arkady Martine

 

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre:  Sci-fi
Content: Clean

 

Ambassador Mahit Dzmare arrives in the center of the multi-system Teixcalaanli Empire only to discover that her predecessor, the previous ambassador from their small but fiercely independent mining Station, has died. But no one will admit that his death wasn't an accident—or that Mahit might be next to die, during a time of political instability in the highest echelons of the imperial court.

Now, Mahit must discover who is behind the murder, rescue herself, and save her Station from Teixcalaan's unceasing expansion—all while navigating an alien culture that is all too seductive, engaging in intrigues of her own, and hiding a deadly technological secret—one that might spell the end of her Station and her way of life—or rescue it from annihilation.

 

This was our book club read for September and I enjoyed the first half of it more the last half. I tend to like sci-fi books with mystery elements and the mystery is what really kept me reading this, but it ended up not keeping my interest throughout the whole book. Unfortunately, this book was extremely slow and the plot was bogged down by too much politics. I would recommend reading the Foreigner series by C.J. Cherryh over this one, if you like sci-fi with lots of political intrigue.
 

 

 

 

 

The Captivating Lady Charlotte by Carolyn Miller

 

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult, Christian
Genre:  Romance, Historical Romance
Content: Clean

 

Her heart is her own--but her hand in marriage is another matter. Lady Charlotte Featherington is destined for great things on the marriage market. After all, as the beautiful daughter of a marquess, she should have her pick of the eligible nobility when she debuts. She, however, has love at the top of her list of marriageable attributes. And her romantic heart falls hard for one particularly dashing, attentive suitor. Sadly for Charlotte, her noble father intends her betrothed to be someone far more dull.William Hartwell may be a duke, but he knows he was Charlotte's father's pick, not the young lady's own choice. And the captivating Lady Charlotte does not strike him as a woman who will be wooed by his wealth or title. While she has captured his heart, he has no idea how to win hers in return--and the betrayal and scandal his first wife put him through makes it difficult for him to believe that love can ever be trusted. His only hope is that Charlotte's sense of responsibility will win out over her romantic notions.Can a widowed duke and a romantically inclined lady negotiate a future and discover love beyond duty? Will they be able to find healing and hope from the legacy of grace?

 

This book was hard to put down but I can't give it more than 3 stars because there were some things that annoyed me. Characters just brushing off things that were happening instead of investigating more. Characters that seemed inconsistent at times with their actions and decisions. A lack of communication between characters. Some characters actions not being quite believable for the time period. And just like in the previous book, the Christian themes, though good, were very heavy handed. If done well they can enrich the story, which is one thing I enjoy about Julie Klassen's and Roseanna M. White's books. They add to the story without taking over the story.

Things I did like about this book were the slow burn romance, the growth of certain characters, and though heavy handed, the shared values the characters had.

I'm on the fence about reading the third book in the trilogy, even though I want to see how Clara ends up finding love.

The Big Four (Hercule Poirot #5) by Agatha Christie

  

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre:  Mystery, Suspense
Content: Clean

 

Famed private eye Hercule Poirot tackles international intrigue and espionage in this classic Agatha Christie mystery.

Framed in the doorway of Hercule Poirot's bedroom stands an uninvited guest, coated from head to foot in dust. The man stares for a moment, then he sways and falls. Who is he? Is he suffering from shock or just exhaustion? Above all, what is the significance of the figure 4, scribbled over and over again on a sheet of paper?

Poirot finds himself plunged into a world of international intrigue, risking his life—and that of his "twin brother"—to uncover the truth.

 

I saved this book for last instead of reading it in order because it seems most people think it's the weakest book in the whole series. So, instead of saving the best for last, I saved the worst for last. After reading it, I agree that it wasn't great. I had very low expectations going into this and so I wasn't disappointed. It was maybe even a little better than I was expecting. This is basically Hercule Poirot meets spy novel. The big four that the title eludes to are rather over the top at times, much in the same way a James Bond villain might be. Also, Hercule Poirot did things in this book that an old man shouldn't be spry enough to do.

My main enjoyment came from the fact that Hastings was in this book. Having finished all the other books in the series, and reading the latter books in order of publication, it's been a long time since Hastings has been in one of the books and I missed him. It was like revisiting an old friend. The friendship between Hastings and Poirot was what made me give this book 2.5 stars instead of just two. Everything else in the book was pretty ridiculous.

I'm sad to have come to the end of the Hercule Poirot novels, but not too sad because there are still over 50 short stories to read. So now it's onto those.

 

 

 

 

 

October 2024 Reading List

 I'm planning on reading eleven books in October. There are the usual buddy reads, book club reads (except my in person book club which is skipping a month), and the pick it for me book for this month. This will be the first month in a very long time that I have no Hercule Poirot book scheduled. I'm taking a break from those for a month or two, and then I'll get back to the short stories in that series. I also have some creepy stories scheduled for the Spooktober reading challenge. 

Reading at fantasy buddy reads-

 

A Dance of Fang and Claw (The Ranger Archives #3) by Philip C. Quaintrell

 

Rangers aren’t born, they’re forged

Never has this been more true for Asher, who must train a new ranger… or be the one to hunt him down. Surviving an encounter with a Werewolf has changed Russell Maybury’s life forever. If he is to salvage anything, he must craft a new life using his abilities to do good. Should he stray, he will answer to Asher.

Learning to fight monsters is all the more difficult when the monsters are the ones hunting you. In his possession, Russell holds an artefact of great significance, a relic central to a shadow war waged for centuries untold. On the one side, the Werewolves bring their claws. On the other, the Vorska, blood fiends who know only the night, bring their fangs.

In over his head, Asher must navigate a war of monsters and the machinations of ancient mages if he is to survive. And should he survive, there is still the Assassin that dwells within, a monster of his own making, that fights for supremacy.

One way or another, the ranger is going to bleed…

 

Test of the Twins (Dragonlance Legends #3) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

 

A confrontation with the Queen of Darkness is finally within Raistlin's reach—and Caramon will do anything to stop it—in this conclusion to the beloved Legends trilogy

Defying the fate that claimed his evil predecessor, Raistlin opens the Portal to the Abyss and passes through. With Crysania at his side, he engages the Queen of Darkness in a battle for the ultimate prize—a seat among the gods.

At the same time, Caramon and Tasslehoff are transported to the future. They come to understand the consequences of Raistlin’s quest—and Caramon at last realizes the painful sacrifice he must make to prevent his brother’s success. Old friends and strange allies come together to aid him, but Caramon must take the last, greatest step alone: the first step into the Abyss.

 

 

 Reading with the mystery book club-

 This first one is a holdover from last month. I ran out of time and didn't get to it.

 

A Ruse of Shadows (Lady Sherlock #8) by Sherry Thomas 

Charlotte Holmes is accustomed to solving crimes, not being accused of them, but she finds herself in a dreadfully precarious position as the bestselling Lady Sherlock series continues.

Charlotte’s success on the RMS Provence has afforded her a certain measure of time and assurance. Taking advantage of that, she has been busy, plotting to prise the man her sister loves from Moriarty’s iron grip.

Disruption, however, comes from an unexpected quarter. Lord Bancroft Ashburton, disgraced and imprisoned as a result of Charlotte’s prior investigations, nevertheless manages to press Charlotte into service: Underwood, his most loyal henchman, is missing and Lord Bancroft wants Charlotte to find Underwood, dead or alive.

But then Lord Bancroft himself turns up dead and Charlotte, more than anyone else, meets the trifecta criteria of motive, means, and opportunity. Never mind rescuing anyone else, with the law breathing down her neck, can Charlotte save herself from prosecution for murder?

 

 

 

Girl Number One by Jane Holland

 

As a young child, Eleanor Blackwood witnessed her mother's murder in woods near their farm. The killer was never found.

Now an adult, Eleanor discovers a woman's body in the same spot in the Cornish woods where her mother was strangled eighteen years before. But when the police get there, the body has disappeared.

Is Eleanor’s disturbed mind playing tricks on her again, or has her mother’s killer resurfaced? And what does the number on the dead woman’s forehead signify?

 

 

 

Grave Beginnings (The Grave Report #1) by R.R. Virdi

 

Thirteen...
As far as numbers go, it isn't a great one. Hell, it's not even a good one and Vincent Graves is going to find out just how unlucky of a number it can be.
Because someone, or something, is killing people in the Empire state, and whatever it is, it gives people everything they ever desired and more. And it's the more that's the problem!
Well...it's one of the problems.
Vincent's investigation also seems to have drawn the attention of a relentless FBI agent and then there's the little bit where he has only thirteen hours to solve the case, or he dies.
Talk about your literal deadlines...
...No pressure.
By the end of this case Vincent will come to understand the meaning of an age old proverb: Be careful what you wish for - because you just might get it!

 

 

  

The Icarus Changeling (The Icarus Saga #4) by Timothy Zahn

 

Gregory Roarke – former bounty hunter, former Trailblazer, current agent for the ultra-secret Icarus Group – has received a new locate a suspected but as-yet undiscovered teleportation portal on the backwater colony world of Alainn.

The rival Patth are also searching for the device, and have considerably more resources at their disposal. Fortunately, Roarke has Selene and her incredibly sensitive Kadolian sense of smell. On paper, it should be a straightforward enough job.

But that was before there was a murder in the small town of Bilswift…and another one…and the discovery that the Patth are already on the scene and have narrowed the search to a heavily forested area in the hills and mountains east of town.

Most disturbing of all is the discovery that one of Selene’s people, a Kadolian teenaged boy named Tirano, is working at one of Bilswift’s fish markets. A boy who may have lost his parents before his proper socialization was completed. A boy who may be connected to both the murders and the Patth.

A boy who may be the potentially dangerous wild card that the Kadolians call changelings. 

 

 

Pick it for me book-

 

The Fate of Mercy Alban by Wendy Webb

 

From award-winning novelist Wendy Webb comes a spine-tingling mystery about family secrets set in a big, old haunted house on Lake Superior.

Grace Alban has spent twenty years away from her childhood home, the stately Alban House, for reasons she would rather forget. But when her mother's unexpected death brings Grace and her teen-age daughter home, she finds more haunting the halls and passageways of Alban House than her own personal demons.

Long-buried family secrets, a packet of old love letters and a lost manuscript plunge Grace into a decades-old mystery about a scandalous party at Alban House, when a world-famous author took his own life and Grace's aunt disappeared without a trace. The night has been shrouded in secrecy by the powerful Alban family for all of these years, and Grace realizes her family secrets tangle and twist as darkly as the secret passages of Alban House. Her mother was intending to tell the truth about that night to a reporter on the very day she died - could it have been murder? Or was she a victim of the supposed Alban curse? With the help of the disarmingly kind--and attractive—Reverend Matthew Parker, Grace must uncover the truth about her home and its curse before she and her daughter become the next victims.

 

 

 Spooktober reads-

 

The Ghost Line by Andrew Neil Gray and J.S. Herbison

 

The luxury cruise ship the Martian Queen was decommissioned years ago, set to drift back and forth between Earth and Mars on the off-chance that reclaiming it ever became profitable for the owners. For Saga and her husband Michel the cruise ship represents a massive payday. Hacking and stealing the ship could earn them enough to settle down, have children, and pay for the treatments to save Saga’s mother’s life.

But the Martian Queen is much more than their employer has told them. In the twenty years since it was abandoned, something strange and dangerous has come to reside in the decadent vessel. Saga feels herself being drawn into a spider’s web, and must navigate the traps and lures of an awakening intelligence if she wants to go home again.

 

 

 

The Lonely Dead by April Henry

 

A killer is on the loose, and only one girl has the power to find him. But in this genre-bending YA thriller, she must first manage to avoid becoming a target herself.

For Adele, the dead aren’t really dead. She can see them and even talk to them. But she’s spent years denying her gift. When she encounters her ex best friend Tori in a shallow grave in the woods and realizes that Tori is actually dead -- that gift turns into a curse. Without an alibi, Adele becomes the prime suspect in Tori’s murder. She must work with Tori’s ghost to find the real killer. But what if the killer finds Adele first?

Master mystery-write April Henry adds a chilling paranormal twist to this incredibly suspenseful young adult novel.

 

 

  

The Locked Door by Freida McFadden

 

Some doors are locked for a reason…

While eleven-year-old Nora Davis was up in her bedroom doing homework, she had no idea her father was killing women in the basement.

Until the day the police arrived at their front door.

Decades later, Nora’s father is spending his life behind bars, and Nora is a successful surgeon with a quiet, solitary existence. Nobody knows her father was a notorious serial killer. And she intends to keep it that way.

Then Nora discovers one of her young female patients has been murdered. In the same unique and horrific manner that her father used to kill his victims.

Somebody knows who Nora is. Somebody wants her to take the fall for this unthinkable crime. But she’s not a killer like her father. The police can’t pin anything on her.

As long as they don’t look in her basement.

 

 

   

Arrowood by Laura McHugh

 

Arrowood is the most ornate and grand of the historical houses that line the Mississippi River in southern Iowa. But the house has a mystery it has never revealed: It's where Arden Arrowood's younger twin sisters vanished on her watch twenty years ago--never to be seen again. After the twins' disappearance, Arden's parents divorced and the Arrowoods left the big house that had been in their family for generations. And Arden's own life has fallen apart: She can't finish her master's thesis, and a misguided love affair has ended badly. She has held on to the hope that her sisters are still alive, and it seems she can't move forward until she finds them. When her father dies and she inherits Arrowood, Arden returns to her childhood home determined to discover what really happened to her sisters that traumatic summer.

Arden's return to the town of Keokuk--and the now infamous house that bears her name--is greeted with curiosity. But she is welcomed back by her old neighbor and first love, Ben Ferris, whose family, she slowly learns, knows more about the Arrowoods' secrets and their small, closed community than she ever realized. With the help of a young amateur investigator, Arden tracks down the man who was the prime suspect in the kidnapping. But the house and the surrounding town hold their secrets close--and the truth, when Arden finds it, is more devastating than she ever could have imagined.

Arrowood is a powerful and resonant novel that examines the ways in which our lives are shaped by memory. As with her award-winning debut novel, The Weight of Blood, Laura McHugh has written a thrilling novel in which nothing is as it seems, and in which our longing for the past can take hold of the present in insidious and haunting ways.

 

 

 

 

  

September 2024 Reading Wrap-Up

In September I finished up two books that I had started at the end of August, read eleven complete books, and started three that I haven't finished yet. There was one book I had planned to read that I didn't get to, and that was A Ruse of Shadows (Lady Sherlock #8) by Sherry Thomas. I'll be adding it to my reading list for October.

 

Below are the two books I started at the end of August and finished up in September.

 

The Captivating Lady Charlotte (Regency Brides: A Legacy of Grace #2) by Carolyn Miller

3 of 5 stars

Review to come.

 

Court of Assassins (The Ranger Archives #1) by Philip C. Quaintrell

4 of 5 stars 

I've been buddy reading The Echoes Saga series on Goodreads and after finishing the first three books of the series and that story arch, we decided to take a break from it and read this prequel trilogy about the character Asher. The first book was really good and I'm looking forward to reading the second book this month.

 

 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

 

 

Below are the books I got completely read in September. Some of them I read specifically for the monthly reading challenge, which was standalones.

 

The Dark Before Dawn by Jaima Fixsen

3 of 5 stars

I read this for the monthly challenge. I liked this author's Fairchild series but this one just didn't work all that well for me. It wasn't bad but it was a bit different than I was expecting. I wasn't crazy about the love interest and the whole disguise thing seemed a little far-fetched. It also seems like a first book in a series, but there have not been any other books written. This resulted in the ending feeling rather unsatisfactory to me.

 

Phoenix (Vlad Taltos #5) by Steven Brust

3.5 of 5 stars

This was mostly a good read. It's one of the best books in the series even though the relationship issues are a bit of a drag. I enjoy the humorous bits the most in this series and it's hard to feel light and humorous with the relationship problems. That being said, this is the first book in the series where the author seems to start to dig deeper into who Vlad is (I'm reading them in chronological order, not in publication order) and he really starts to reevaluate some things. The book felt more complex because of it and that almost made up for the parts I thought were a drag.

 

The Big Four (Hercule Poirot #5) by Agatha Christie

2.5 of 5 stars

Review to come.

 

Christmas by the Bay (Blue Heron Cottages #7) by Kay Correll

3.5 of 5 stars

 

War of the Twins (Dragonlance Legends #2) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

3.5 of 5 stars

This was a reread. I read this years ago and gave it 4 stars. Now I think it's more of a 3.5. I didn't enjoy it as much as the first book in the trilogy. Also, Tasslehoff is still the best character in all of these books.

 

 

  

Tell Me Lies by J.P. Pomare

3 of 5 stars

I read this book for the mystery book club, but it also fit in with the monthly book challenge.

 

To Catch a Husband by Sophia Holloway

3.5 of 5 stars

This was another book I chose to read for the monthly reading challenge and it's the first book I've read by this author and I almost gave it 4 stars, but took a half star away because the main character does some incredibly irritating things at one point. Overall, I love this author's writing style, even though it took getting used to at first. I'm looking forward to reading all of her books.

 

A Memory Called Empire (Teixcalaan #1) by Arkady Martine

3 of 5 stars

Review to come.

 

Omega Rising (Omega Force #1) by Joshua Dalzelle

3 of 5 stars

My husband picked this book to read on our road trip in hopes that it would be a series we could listen to together. He really likes this series, but I was on the fence after listening to this first book. I liked it but didn't love it, but I decided to listen to at least another one to give it more of a chance.

 

 

 

Celia by Sophia Holloway

5 of 5 stars

This was another book I read for the monthly book challenge.

Review to come.

 

 

 

Soldiers of Fortune (Omega Force #2) by Joshua Dalzelle

3 of 5 stars

I stuck with this series for two books because I really wanted to love it. I liked some things about it. The characters were likable and it was entertaining, but there was just something missing for me, so I think I'm probably done with it.  

 

 

 ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ 

Below are the books I started in September but am still reading.

Blood and Coin (The Ranger Archives #2) by Philip C. Quaintrell

 

Lady of Quality by Georgette Heyer

Reading for the monthly reading challenge

 

Explorer (Foreigner #6) by C.J. Cherryh

 

 

 

 

 

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August 2024 Book Club: Short Stories

We read 11 short stories for book club in August. I thought most of them were good with a couple of them being just ok. I'll post them in order of favorite to least favorite. Make sure you scroll down to the end to see our themed refreshments.

 

Signal Moon by Kate Quinn

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult, Short Story
Genre: Historical Fiction, Sci-fi, Fantasy
Content:Strong language

 

A short story about an impossible connection across two centuries that could make the difference between peace or war.

Yorkshire, 1943. Lily Baines, a bright young debutante increasingly ground down by an endless war, has traded in her white gloves for a set of headphones. It’s her job to intercept enemy naval communications and send them to Bletchley Park for decryption.

One night, she picks up a transmission that isn’t code at all—it’s a cry for help.

An American ship is taking heavy fire in the North Atlantic—but no one else has reported an attack, and the information relayed by the young US officer, Matt Jackson, seems all wrong. The contact that Lily has made on the other end of the radio channel says it’s… 2023.

Across an eighty-year gap, Lily and Matt must find a way to help each other: Matt to convince her that the war she’s fighting can still be won, and Lily to help him stave off the war to come. As their connection grows stronger, they both know there’s no telling when time will run out on their inexplicable link.

 

I really enjoyed this short story. If you've seen the movie frequency or the short lived TV show that was on the CW then this is similar in that there is a radio that allowed a couple of people to communicate with each other across time. For me this packed just the right amount of an emotional punch along with character development or a short story.

 

 

 

 

Bastard, Sword by Tim Pratt

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Strong language

 

Betrayed by his companion and robbed of everything down to his boots, Rodrick wakes to find himself in the very tomb he meant to rob. Fortunately, Rodrick can still turn a profit—he just needs to slip past a slumbering linnorm, retrieve a talking sword with a wit as sharp as its blade, and return in one piece to his employer. Yet a talking sword may have goals of its own... From Hugo Award-winner Tim Pratt comes a dark comedy of theft and danger set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game. 

 

This was great fun to read. I loved the talking sword! It's a story based on an RPG, but it didn't feel like I was reading a story based on an RPG. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Veldt by Ray Bradbury

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult, Short Story
Genre: Sci-fi, Horror, Fantasy
Content: Clean

 

The advanced technology of a house first pleases then increasingly terrifies its occupants.

 

I really enjoyed this story. It was a very well crafted short story that somehow packed a lot into just a few pages. And that ending! The house that does everything for you and the theme of technology making people lazy feels very ahead of it's time for 1951. But then again, those ideas were floating around back then. It's where the seeds of the smart home began.

 

 

The Ransom of Red Chief by O. Henry

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult, Young Adult, Children, Middle Grade, Short Story
Genre: Fiction, Classic, Humor
Content: Clean

 

Two men kidnap a mischievous boy and request a large ransom for his return.

 

A fun short story about kidnappers who kidnap a boy who ends up being more than they can handle. I wouldn't be surprised if this inspired Dennis the Menace and Kevin McCallister from Home Alone. I thoroughly enjoyed it.

 

Rappaccini's Daughter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

My rating: 3.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult, Short Story
Genre: Classic, Gothic, Horror, Fantasy, Sci-fi
Content: Clean

 

“Rappaccini’s Daughter” is one of the best-known short stories by the American writer Nathaniel Hawthorne (1804–1864).

First published in 1844, it tells a story settled in medieval Padua, where Giovanni Guasconti, a young student, started to frequent the house of Giacomo Rappaccini, a physician who grows a garden of poisonous plants.
Guasconti is told by another physician to avoid Rappaccini, but he falls in love with his daughter Beatrice…

“Rappaccini’s Daughter” has been the source for several plays and screen adaptations.

 

I find Hawthorne's writing style to be hard to get into, so sometimes it was hard to stay focused on the story. Despite that, I did enjoy this, although not quite as much as would have liked to. There were aspects of this story that I appreciated, and the more I've thought it, the more I like it. There are different theories about what the story means. One being that it parallels the fall from grace, the expulsion from the Garden of Eden, and the original sin, with the genders of Adam and Eve reversed. Another is that mortals should not play God, with the story showing the consequences of interfering with the laws of nature. And yet another is that the story shows that Giovanni, unable to accept Beatrice's uniqueness, attempts to make her normal and then ends up losing her instead. This last one is very similar to the conclusions I drew from another of Hawthorne's short stories, The Birthmark. All three of these theories seem plausible.

On a weird note, if Hawthorne was alive today I can't help but think he would be writing about super heroes and villains. Poison Ivy anyone?

Also, I have to give a shout out to the Youtube channel, The Well Told Tale, for giving voice to this story. Superbly done!

 

 

 

  

The Disk by Jorge Luis Borges

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult, Short Story
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Clean

 

A woodcutter who lives in the midst of a deep wood in old England tells the reader of the time a man appeared at his door and asked for lodging. 

 

An interesting story. I liked it but didn't love it. The story illustrates the lengths someone will go to obtain something they want, only in the end to not have it. There's a real irony in the fact that it's there but he can't find it. 

 

We read The Two Kings and Two Labyrinths from this collection. My rating and comments are only for this one story.

 

The Two Kings and Two Labyrinths by Jorge Luis Borges

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult, Short Story
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Clean

A Babylonian king orders his subjects to build him a labyrinth "so confusing and so subtle that the most prudent men would not venture to enter it, and those who did would lose their way". When an Arab king visited his court, the king of Babylon told him to enter the labyrinth in order to mock him. The Arab king finally got out and told the Babylonian that in his land he had another labyrinth, and Allah willing, he would see that someday the king of Babylonia made its acquaintance. 

 

Initially I thought this was just a story about two kings being awful to each other, but I like the way the story has two completely opposite things that have the same result.

 

We read the story One Man's Courage from this collection. My rating and comments are for that story only.

 

One Man's Courage from the L5R Fiction Archive

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Category: Adult, Short Story
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Clean

 

In this story, a man has to choose between his two sons which of them is going to receive the ancestral sword of his clan. Who does he choose? The son who knows what it means to win, but he does not know how to lose or the one who keeps trying?

This is a short story based on a fictional game world. I've never personally played this game but my friend has and this is a story she really likes because she likes the Crab Clan, and how they do their duty and persevere. I enjoyed the moral of the story even though I didn't have the connection to it that she had.

 

Certainty by Liane Merciel

 

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult, Short Story
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Clean

Faith is the greatest battle. To fallen paladin Ederras, right and wrong aren't as clear as they once were, and even the forces of good seem tainted by sin. Lost and broken, the formerly righteous warrior joins up with the crusaders of Mendev, the last bastion of civilization fighting desperately against the demonic tides of the Worldwound. There he plans to rediscover his faith—or die trying. Yet even on the edge of total destruction, humanity's base nature runs rampant, leading any crusader to is there anything left worth fighting for? From rising star author Liane Merciel comes a tale of battle both physical and ideological, set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder campaign setting.

 

There's some good description in this short story but I have a hard time sometimes with stories that are based on role playing games. I felt like I was reading a story of a role playing adventure. The different characters where there to perform their roles as needed. I don't really know how else to explain it other than it has a different feel to it from a regular fantasy novel based on a world that has nothing to do with a game. I also thought this story was a little depressing, but the end was good.

 

Tower of Babylon by Ted Chiang

My rating: 2.5 of 5 stars

Category: Adult, Short Story
Genre: Fantasy
Content: Clean

 

Together with a crew of other miners and cart-pullers, Hillalum is recruited to climb the Tower of Babylon and unearth what lies beyond the vault of heaven. During his journey, Hillalum discovers entire civilizations of tower-dwellers on the tower—there are those who live inside the mists of clouds, those who raise their vegetables above the sun, and those who have spent their lives under the oppressive weight of an endless, white stratum at the top of the universe.

I'm not sure why, but stories about the tower of Babel or the tower of Babylon just don't usually interest me, and this was the same. I did end up liking the ending of this story but getting there was a bit boring at times.

 

 

 

  

The Crystal Spheres by David Brin

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Category: Adult
Genre: Sci-fi
Content: Clean

 

In a universe filled with habitable worlds why have we had no contact with extraterrestrial intelligence? David Brin's "The Crystal Spheres" offers a fantastic explanation for the Great Silence. Instead of being late-comers - might humanity have come upon the scene too early?

 

This could have been a lot more interesting. It's a story about why we haven't been contacted by any alien species from other planets, and why we can't contact them. Unfortunately, I found it to be a bit dull at times.  

 

 

For our book club meeting I topped this cake with objects that represented each story we read.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

One Man's Courage- silver sword; The Two Kings and the Two Labyrinths- labyrinth; The Veldt- lion, Bastard, Sword- blue crystal sword; Certainty- paladin; The Crystal Spheres- small crystal ball; Signal Moon- radio (not the right kind of radio but it worked well enough); Tower of Babylon- tower; The Ransom of Red Chief- two feathers; The Disk- clear disk that's hard to see; Rappaccini's Daughter- ivy vine around the cake and flower in the middle of the cake.

 

 

The sword from the story Bastard, Sword made out of crackers.

With the treasure added. The sword is lying on top of treasure, specifically gold, in the story.

A cheesy Tower of Babylon