Grey Sister by Mark Lawrence
"The two moved in a flowing contest of position and stability, flurries of blows finding nothing but air. It might be a dance, and a beautiful one at that, but Nona knew the form held scores of moves for disabling or killing a less skilled opponent in a quiet and efficient manner, any of which could be used in a heartbeat if either woman gained sufficient advantage."
Between the events of the last book, Red Sister, and this one Nona Grey has moved from Gray class to Mystic class, completing her introduction to combat and poisons and moving into harnessing magical abilities. She and her fellow classmates still mourn for the one they lost. The Convent of Sweet Mercy is also still recovering from the theft of its shipheart, an ancient artifact that allowed those around it to better grasp their abilities. Despite this, Nona continues her studies, deciding if she will follow the path of servitude toward The Ancestor, or the path of the sword. Within the walls of the convent though, the wealthy elites have not forgotten the shame Nona brought upon on of their families. At the same time, a new enemy emerges, one that seeks to use ancient power to conquer what is left of their world.
Obviously one that I should've written about after I finished it rather than waited almost a year to try to recall with my terrible memory. I'm sure a lot more happens than I've lead you to believe especially since I think it took me a month to read. It's probably one of the reasons I continue to give shitty descriptions of these stories. I'll try harder once the third book comes out in paperback.
Once again, the thing I like the most about Lawrence's writing is the lack of details. A lot of times in High Fantasy, entire paragraphs are dedicated to descriptions of castles, or caves, or forests whether it be to the shapes or colors or its history (which then usually isn't even relevant to the story). Lawrence's work tends to skip all that bullshit and just give the details you need to know, the ones that are important to the story.
One Shot by Lee Child
"He stared upward and saw nothing but sky. He closed his eyes against the glare and started to think about ego and motive, and illusion and reality, and guilt and innocence, and the true nature of randomness."
"'You got medical insurance?' he asked.
The guy nodded.
'Dental plan?'
The guy nodded again.
Reacher hit him in the mouth. Right-handed, short swing, hard blow.
"Get that fixed,' he said."
So it's finally the book I've been trying to get to, the one that inspired me to start these books in the first place. If you've seen the first Jack Reacher movie with Tom Cruise, you know what this story is about. On a regular day, a lone gunman sits in a parking garage and shoots seemingly at random several people down below. The city is in terror and the police begin their search for the man. In record time, the man is apprehended with all the evidence against him. When questioned, the only words he says in his defense is "Get Jack Reacher." Reacher is already on his way though, having seen the news report and making a promise to the accused that if he ever stepped out of line again that Reacher would be there to bring him down for good. As the evidence against the gunman mounts, Reacher senses that something isn't quite right. Eventually, he'll find himself not only searching for evidence to clear the falsely-accused, but to find those responsible.
If you're getting annoyed of these stories, well One Shot isn't even the halfway point so there's plenty more to come. In one of the few times I can recall, I think I did like the movie more than the book. The Reacher character in the movie had a more of a "not caring about the law, only what's right" attitude especially when all of the bad guys turn up dead in the movie (the book leaves a couple of them still alive). The book introduced a couple more characters that I was okay with the movie cutting out for the sake of time and to move the plot along.
Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg
"'The trick is getting the Folds right. Everything must be aligned just so, or the spells won't work."
"At the same moment, Lira dropped the leather bag from her shoulder and, with a quick command, half a dozen severed hands rose from its mouth, bloodied and raw at the wrist, their fingers pale and violet, their nails jagged and blue."
Despite receiving the top scores from her magical school, the school board assigns Ceony Twill to apprentice as a paper magician rather than giving her a choice in the decision (something about there not being enough Paper Magicians). Once she binds herself to paper, she cannot control any other material. To make her situation worse, her tutor, Magician Thane, is rumored to be an odd and eccentric man who hasn't taken on an apprentice in years. Surprisingly, she'll find the magic in paper to be more amazing than she could ever imagine. Just as her lessons become more and more interesting, she'll be forced on a quest to recover Thane's heart after a dark magician steals it from his chest.
Rather than just stumbling across this book on the shelves of Barnes and Nobles like I normally do, this popped up as a suggestion by Amazon when I was purchasing some other books. I spent several trips to Barnes and Nobles looking for it. Apparently 47North is one of Amazon's publishing companies so that's why I was unable to find it, and why it kept being recommended. I think I mostly gave in and bought this book because of an old anime (I can't even remember the title) and there was a female spy called "The Paper" and she could manipulate paper to fight people or something. The story itself was good, I liked the characters and the different magics that could be accomplished through paper. I think the one thing that kept bothering me was that I couldn't figure out ... where they were, if this was supposed to be an alternate Earth, or an alternate timeline, or if this was our Earth, then when this might've taken place.
Assassin's Quest by Robin Hobb
"Why do you chop your life into bits and give the bits names? Hours, days. It is like a rabbit. If I kill a rabbit, I eat a rabbit. A sleepy sort of disdain. When you have a rabbit, you chop it up and call it bones and meat and fur and guts. And so you never have enough."
"'You do not understand. Were Molly standing here before me with our daughter, still I would have to seek my king. No matter what is done to me, no matter how I am wronged. Still, I must seek Verity.'"
The final part to the trilogy! I don't know if the trilogy has it's own name and I'm not going to look it up. FitzChivalry, the bastard son of former King-in-Waiting Chivalry and King's assassin, awakens from death to find the Buck Kingdom in shambles. Regal, his uncle, after spreading false rumors of King-in-Waiting Verity's death, crowns himself king and wages a war against their recent allies, the Mountain Kingdom. He abandons his people to the Red Ship raiders, who now move inland from the coasts and destroy village after village. Forged Ones, Buck citizens captured by the raiders and transformed into zombie-like beings, roam the countryside, stealing, raping and murdering. But Fitz is done with being a King's Man and decides to put it all behind him to live his own life. After a botched revenge attempt and seeing first-hand how his kingdom is being ravaged, he begins his quest to seek out lost King-in-Waiting Verity and restore him to the throne.
Unlike other sword and sorcery High Fantasy novels, the only magic in this world comes in two forms: The Skill and The Wit. The Skill allows the user to mentally connect with other Skilled ones to communicate long distances. This ability can only be used offensively against an enemy by spying into their thoughts and briefly taking over their bodies, casting illusions into their minds. The Wit, an ability despised as "an unnatural connection between man and beast" allows the Witted one to communicate with animals and sense living beings within a perimeter around them. When they bond with a specific animal, in Fitz's case the wolf, Nighteyes, the human and animal can share information, sensing what the other senses.
As good as Hobbs' writing is, the story feels too ... long. Personally, I don't like dream sequences as, typically they do nothing to advance the plot and usually deal with things the reader already knows. Unfortunately, there are several "dream sequences" involving Fitz Skill-dreaming, his consciousness drifting into the minds of other characters so he can see and hear and experience what is happening around the kingdom. These scenes are important so that the reader can know what is going on in the rest of the world while Fitz is on his quest. It's just that it makes the story feel longer than needed.
When you are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris
On watching a fly get trapped by a spider:
"It was a trapped fly, and as I bent forward to get a closer look, a spider rushed forth and carried it screaming to a little woven encampment situated between the wall and the window casing. It was like watching someone you hate getting mugged: three seconds of hard-core violence, and when it was over you just wanted it to happen again."
On telling his friend that he is gay:
"Next on my list of people to tell was my former college roommate, Todd. I hitched from Raleigh to Kent, Ohio, but once I got there, the time didn't seem quite right. It was harder telling a guy than it was telling a girl, and harder still when you'd taken too much acid and were trying to keep the little people from sticking pins in your eyes."
This makes the second of David Sedaris' books that I've read. I still have no other way to describe the books than to call them a collection of stories from his life. His humor is perfect for me and I laughed throughout the entire book. It's the way I would like to tell stories, maybe I'll actually start writing some again. His collection of clothing, the time he spent at a morgue, quitting smoking while in Japan, these are just some of the stories found in this book. I would have liked to put up other great quotes from the book but they were just too long for the set-up and joke.
The Book of Extraordinary Deaths by Cecilia Ruiz
In this book, Cecilia Ruiz complies some of the strangest deaths ever recorded: giving both a short account of the death and a beautiful illustration to commemorate it (nothing vulgar or explicit). Some memorable ones include a hot-air ballon duel, a flood of molasses, and a cockfighter killed by his
own bird. Not really a read but something fun to skim through for a while. If I had my own place and I was the type of person to host ... things that people show up for, and had a coffee table, this would be something I would put on it.
I forgot where I found this book or how I even came across it. It might've been something that popped up as an Amazon recommendation, or I heard about it on a podcast, I really can't remember. Of course, I laughed through the whole book as you probably expect I would, though I do expect most people I know to laugh at it too.
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