I Hate Fairyland, Vol. 4: Sadly Never After by Skottie Young

Sometime in July, when I wasn’t paying attention, Skottie Young announced this installment of the I Hate Fairyland series would be the final one. Imagine my surprise when I got to the last page of what was obviously the end of one of my favorite comic series. It was bittersweet.

Young brings the series to a close with Gertie trying one more time to get home. The last book ended on a cliffhanger with a surprise twist. He addresses that directly in the first pages of this installment.

“Yeah, that’s why I’m completely unimpressed. Feels like a cheap stunt to end a story with a ‘clever’ cliffhanger, if you ask me.”

Characters from the previous books all make an appearance, plus a few new ones. All-in-all, I enjoyed it.

The genius of this series is the idea that fairyland is one, built for children, and two, should have an expiration date. Gertrude, a foul-mouthed homicidal maniac in the form of a perpetually small child, is what would happen if someone was forced to endure endless disappointments in a futile effort to go home again. And was given a pointy-edged sword with little to no consequences for her actions.

All quests have ends though they may not be in the form the person going on the quest expected. I was pleased to see that Young didn’t drag out this series beyond its own expiration date. Because he could have. Honestly, the beautiful world he created could have gone on and on if he had chosen (or had the time) to do so. But he embraced one of the lessons in the story and ended it in a timely and, I felt, dignified manner.

Recommended for adults who are looking for a different coming-of-age story in graphic novel format. Not appropriate for the younger set.

Here is my review for a previous entry in the series:

I Hate Fairyland, Vol. 3: Good Girl (I Hate Fairyland #3) by Skottie Young

Thanks for reading!

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

Lincoln in the Bardo may be the strangest book I’ve ever read. It intersperses non-fiction excerpts from historical documents and memoirs and mixes it with fictional quotations to form the narrative. At first, I thought, “I don’t like this at all.” But strangely, it grew on me and I ended up reading the whole book in one sitting.

And I couldn’t stop thinking about what the book was saying.

In the fictional portion, Willie Lincoln, the young son of President Abraham Lincoln, dies and ends up in a world between this one and the next. And in this realm, other tortured souls are spending eternity tied to their hang-ups or traumas from their previous lives. A few of the more normal of this crowd wants to help Willie move on before something bad happens to him.

“Imagine our surprise, then, when, passing by an hour or so later, we found the lad still on the roof, looking expectantly about, as if waiting for a carriage to arrive and whisk him away.” pg 48, ebook.

The non-fiction part is about Abraham Lincoln’s struggle to mourn his son while conducting the Civil War. It contains criticisms of Lincoln from his contemporaries that I have never read prior to this book, which is shocking to me, living in “The Land of Lincoln” state and all that. You’d think with all of the books that have been written about Lincoln that I would have at least been exposed to it. So, that part was fascinating too.

But back to the fictional part… Lincoln in the Bardo is an examination of love and mortality. Everyone dies. Yet we live and love like we will live forever. What do we take with us beyond death? What awaits? A hell of our own creation or an eternal heaven?

I can see why some readers can’t stand this book. As I said, it is strange and can be, at times, vulgar and shocking. But at the same time, it is so unique and thought provoking. I can see why it was awarded The 2017 Man Booker Prize and why its rating on Goodreads is barely above three stars.

Only recommended for readers who enjoy weird books with completely novel narrative methods.

I’ll be thinking about this one for a long time. Thanks for reading!

Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory

A con-man and a highly talented psychic fall in love and have children with extraordinary talents. But this doesn’t automatically give them an extraordinary life. They struggle to hold down jobs and support each other, while mourning the loss of one of their members and a career in showmanship.

One night, years before this story takes place, the Telemachus family was on a late night show, introducing themselves to the world. But a skeptic proved a portion of their act to be fake and the family’s bookings all fell through. One of the members of the family, Frankie, blames the skeptic for the mediocre life they are living now… and worse.

“Archibald was a necessary evil,” Grandpa Teddy said. “He was the voice of the skeptic. If your mother had shown him up, the audience would have loved us for it. We could have gone to the stratosphere with that act.” “He was evil,” Frankie said. … “He killed Grandma Mo…” pg 19, ebook.

Though the head of the family, Grandpa Teddy, doesn’t have any legitimate powers to speak of (except a talent for manipulating cards), his children have a veritable cornucopia of abilities. Frankie can move metal objects with his mind, when he’s not under stress. Irene can tell if someone is telling her a lie. And the youngest, Buddy, can see the future so clearly that he calls his perceptions “memories”.

And their children have different powers too.

“That they were psychic was another Telemachus Family Fact, in the same category as being half Greek and half Irish, Cubs fans and White Sox haters, and Catholic.” pg 27, ebook.

The strength of this story is in the characters themselves. You really enjoy learning who these people are and seeing how they prevent themselves from being great. It’s also just a fun story about a large, semi-dysfunctional family. As someone from a large family myself, I felt right at home in this world (minus the extraordinary powers and most of the dysfunction).

One of my favorite characters, though he was a bit of a rogue, was Grandpa Teddy. He’s trying to keep his herd-of-cats family all pointed in the same direction while not having the advantage of extraordinary abilities beyond his own quick mind.

“The problem with getting old was that each day had to compete with the thousands of others gone by. How wonderful would a day have to be to win such a beauty contest? To even make it into the finals?” pg 196

I also liked Irene, the daughter who could tell if you were lying to her. I never considered how much the small untruths we tell each other grease the wheels of relationships and civil discourse.

This might be a good pick for a book club read. There are plenty of issues to discuss and powerful moments to dissect.

I may have enjoyed this book more if it had been primarily about the family’s abilities rather than real life drama. But I’m into superhero stories and epic fantasy. For readers who like to think about the impossible but not read a story where that sort of thing is the norm, this book may fit the bill.

Thanks for reading!

Bloody Rose (The Band, #2) by Nicholas Eames

Readers get the opportunity to return to the adventure-filled world of bands and monsters, Grandual, in Bloody Rose. Nicholas Eames second book in The Band series, the sequel to The Kings of the Wyld takes place years after the first book. It follows the exploits of a band called Fable, a bard named Tam and Bloody Rose, the daughter of Golden Gabe, one of the members of a band called Saga, who readers got to know and love in Kings of the Wyld.

The world is on the brink of annihilation, again.

“Hey, did you hear the news? There’s another Horde, apparently. North of Cragmoor, in the Brumal Wastes. Fifty thousand monsters hell-bent on invading Grandual.” pg 5

Tam wants to see the world, but her father is a retired mercenary. He doesn’t want Tam to have the life he led, risking life and limb to battle monsters. He also doesn’t want to lose her, like he lost her mother.

“To Tam, there was nothing worse than the prospect of never leaving home, of being cooped up in Ardburg until her dreams froze and her Wyld Heart withered in its cage.” pg 20

Bloody Rose, Gabriel’s daughter, has never quite left her father’s shadow, even though she’s a formidable fighter and bandleader in her own right.

“She’s got something to prove — whether it’s to herself, or her father, or the world in general, I don’t know. I can’t have been easy growing up the daughter of Golden Gabe. The man’s got boots even a giant could wriggle its toes in, but that doesn’t stop Rose from trying to fill them.” pg 63

The other members of Rose’s band include Brune (a shaman), Cura (an inkmage) and Freecloud (a mighty druin fighter). They have their own burdens to bear and shadows to face down. A large part of this story is getting to know them through the band’s adventures.

“And yet here they all were: at the cold edge of the world — each of them vying to be worthy of one another, to protect one another, to prove themselves a part of something to which they already, irrevocably belonged.” pg 265

Photo by eberhard grossgasteiger on Pexels.com

Like the first book, the world has become more civilized and bands fight in contrived battles against captive-bred monsters in arenas to the cheers from bloody-thirsty crowds. It is more show than substance.

“She began to question every song she’d ever heard about heroic mercenaries and vile monsters doing battle on the arena floor. If those so-called battles were anything like the one-sided slaughter she watched from the comfort of the Lair’s armory, then the work of a bard was even more difficult than she’d been led to believe.” pg 103

I enjoyed Bloody Rose, but I missed the characters from the first book. Eames writes an ripping tale, but my favorite parts of this book included cameos (and one rather large story arc) of people from the last one.

That being said, there is still the snappy dialogue, epic fights and breath-stealing finale that characterized Eames’ debut novel. Highly recommended for fantasy readers and I look forward to his next one.

Thanks for reading!

The Mermaid by Christina Henry

The Mermaid begins like most other mermaid tales. A creature from the sea is caught in a fisherman’s net. With one glance, the mermaid falls in love with him and decides to leave the ocean.

But her eyes had seen inside him the way that women’s eyes do, and his loneliness snaked into her, and she was sorry for it, for that loneliness caught her more surely than the net.” pg 4

Predictably, their life together goes well, until one day it doesn’t.

Then, one of P.T. Barnum’s right-hand men, Levi Lyman, comes seeking a real mermaid, or at least a woman with a reputation of being a mermaid, for the showman’s museum.

“What he’d caught in his net had been far more alien, a creature covered in silver scales all over, with webbing between its fingers and teeth much sharper than any human’s. pg 9

Barnum is cast as the villain of this tale, a grasping coin-counter with little regard for the feelings of people, let alone magical creatures like a mermaid: “Barnum privately thought that if the woman was really a mermaid — not likely, as Levi had said, but there was always hope — she wouldn’t be going anywhere. There wasn’t a chance in heaven or hell that Barnum would let something like that go once he had it.” pg 43

Coincidentally, the day before I picked up this book, I had the chance to watch “The Greatest Showman“, a musical film about P.T. Barnum’s life, museum, and the people he hired to fill its halls.

I enjoyed the music and choreography, but felt that a man as complex as P.T. Barnum couldn’t fairly be depicted in a 90-minute film. There was a darker side to Barnum’s story — the way he fleeced people out of their money with “humbugs” and, in a particular, his treatment of a woman named Joice Heth.

P.T. Barnum is a purveyor of wonders, a seller of miracles, a showman of the first order.” pg 58

In this book, Christina Henry doesn’t shy from these shadows in Barnum’s life, but I didn’t feel like he was a particularly scary antagonist.

I suppose the true struggle in The Mermaid could be Amelia’s difficulty in maintaining her mermaid nature in a human world. However, that story has been told before.

She meant to do the proper human thing, to behave the right way, but they were not as easy with each other as she’d thought they would be.” pg 153

Henry didn’t put a twist to this fantasy tale as she so successfully managed to do with Alice, her dark re-telling of Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll. I confess, I was rather disappointed.

I wanted a unique mermaid story. Instead, I got a fairly standard interpretation of a classic.

“I left because I wanted something I didn’t have, and once I loved Jack and lost him, I wasn’t the same as I was before. Love does that. It changes you in ways that can’t be undone.” pg 177.

The Mermaid is a charming little tale, for what it’s worth. Just don’t expect too much out of it. It’s not a humbug, but I wouldn’t call it a wonder of the world either.

Here are some of my other reviews of books by Christina Henry:

Lost Boy: The True Story of Captain Hook by Christina Henry

The Red Queen by Christina Henry

And thanks for reading!

Lair of Dreams (The Diviners, #2) by Libba Bray

Something is attacking sleepers during their dreams. They enter another realm, tempted by their deepest desires and then become haunted by their greatest fears, and never wake up.

“For dreams, too, are ghosts, desires chased in sleep, gone by morning. The longing of dreams draws the dead, and this city holds many dreams.” pg 9, ebook.

All of your favorite characters from The Diviners are back on the case while dealing with drama in their personal lives. And readers are introduced to a new diviner, a talented dream walker named Ling.

“Ling often spoke to the dead in dreams, but these men weren’t like any dead she had known. ‘What do you want?’ she’d asked them, afraid. ‘Help us,’ they said, and then the sky exploded with light.” pg 19, ebook

Even as the characters face the menace in their dreams, something even bigger and darker is on the horizon, threatening the future of the entire country.

Lair of Dreams is a story by itself, but it leads to a bigger story arc and the third book in the series.

Libby Bray has created a richly detailed world of Prohibition-era New York with flappers, flasks and speak-easys. She effortlessly transports the reader from Harlem to Chinatown and back again.

Evie O’Neill, now “America’s Sweetheart Seer”, is just as sassy as she’s always been. But she’s come a long way since the last book and stepping into her power has given her a smidgen of gravitas.

“Evie only told the object holder what he or she wanted to hear. People wanted entertainment, yes, but mostly they wanted hope.”pg 23, ebook

Fans of Henry get to learn more of his backstory. Theta and Memphis continue to develop their relationship, while Memphis’ brother, Isaiah, faces a shadowy menace of his own. Mabel and Jericho receive less attention in this installment, but they do have some development too.

My complaint with Lair of Dreams is that I found the dream sequences repetitive. It slowed the forward motion of the plot to a plodding pace. Other than that, the characters are fantastic and the dialogue is snappy.

It is a fun historical fiction and fantasy novel for young adults, but readers have to practice some patience during its reveal.

Check out my review of the first book in the series: The Diviners (The Diviners, #1) by Libba Bray

And thanks for reading!

Reamde by Neal Stephenson

A former drug smuggler turned (mostly) straight-laced business man owns a multi-million dollar computer game, a refugee from Eritrea, a Hungarian computer hacker, a computer engineer, a further cast of international characters and the Russian mob all feature largely in Reamde. It is a science fiction novel by Neal Stephenson, but more than that.

This book will teach you about how flight paths are planned, how to properly check the safety on a firearm, and how the best laid plans of mice and men oft go astray.

“Thanks for coming all the way out from Vancouver,” Peter said. They had not introduced themselves, or shaken hands, just sized each other up and confirmed with nods that they were who they were.” pg 108, ebook.

Stephenson gives almost every character a full-fleshed out backstory and motivations. Sometimes he allows you into their mind to experience each nagging insecurity or existential crisis they may have.

He’s big into writing about body language, setting, and giving readers context on cultures or situations that she may not understand.

For example, the addictive quality of gaming for the non-gaming crowd: “She’d been awake for twenty-four hours. There was something deeply wrong about the situation, and the only thing that had kept her from simply running out the door of the building and flagging down the first car she saw and asking them to call 911 was the addictive quality of the game itself, her own ability to pull herself out of the make-believe narrative that she and Wallace had found themselves in.” pg 150, ebook.

Or making plans. Stephenson also enjoys writing about his characters concocting plans: “It is a classic Dilbert situation where the technical objectives are being set by management who are technically clueless and driven by these, I don’t know, inscrutable motives.” “Then we just need to scrutinize them harder. Do what those guys in the high-tech companies do.” “Which is what?” “Set expectations. Look busy. File progress reports.” pg 198, ebook.

And it is a long read. My ebook clocked in around 1420 pages. So, definitely not for the impatient reader. I found myself wanting more to happen and less agonizing by the characters.

That being said, if you invest the time in it, the last dozen or so chapters of Reamde are incredibly satisfying. You know the characters, you’ve been with them through all sorts of insane situations, and when Stephenson starts bringing them all together in the most unlikely and unexpected ways… it is very good.

But you have to make it that far first.

I’m not explaining this book and its attributes very well, but it may be one of those books you just have to experience for yourself. I picked it up on the recommendation of a friend and was not disappointed.

But I don’t think I’m going to immediately go running for the next Stephenson epic. Or maybe I will…

If you’re into epic-length science fiction, you may want to check out The Abominable by Dan Simmons

Thanks for reading!

The Autumnlands, Vol. 2: Woodland Creatures (The Autumnlands #2) by Kurt Busiek

The curious fantasy/science fiction graphic novel series The Autumnlands continues in volume two: Woodland Creatures.

In the last book, the chosen one, “Learoyd”, a violent and profanity-laden human from the future or, perhaps, the distant past, was summoned by a group of magic-wielding, sentient animals to save their world from the disappearance of magic.

But the effort of summoning Learoyd was so great, that it caused one of their sky-roving cities to crash to the earth. On the earth, there were tribes of violent and power-hungry creatures waiting for their chance to plunder the riches of the sky.

That entry ended with an epic explosion and fight with a bison tribe.

In this book, Learoyd and Dusty, a magic-wielding pit bull who recently lost his father, venture into the wilds of earth to discover who is poisoning the animals and continue searching for a way to bring back the magic that continues to disappear from the world.

Dusty, though young, is no dummy and Learoyd isn’t quite what the animals were hoping he would be.

The great champion of legend- the hero we’d thought him to be- would have sallied forth just because it was the right thing to do. But this champion… I was learning that legends were a poor guide. He had reasons for all he did. His own reasons. Whether I understood or not…”

This graphic novel is surprising in its treatment of the themes of power, magic and betrayal. I like how the animals tell the story about how everything that happens one way, but the reality of what happens seems to be something else.

It is an interesting examination of the power of storytelling and the construction of legends. What is truth? How much is magic simply technology that isn’t understood yet?

“This f-ing world. I thought it was a dream, at first. It comes off goofy, all badgers and warthogs in fancy robes and sh*t. Like a kids’ story. But there’s just as much sh*t here as there is anywhere, isn’t there?”

I didn’t particularly like how much Learoyd uses profanity, but it certainly gives him character.

This series is for adults. It contains adult themes, nudity, profanity and violence. And yet, I think it is worth the reading.

It asks big questions. It uses fantasy to explore strange worlds and the human condition. Recommended.

Thanks for reading!

Senlin Ascends (The Books of Babel, #1) by Josiah Bancroft

Senlin Ascends is a steampunk adventure novel wherein our hero, Thomas Senlin, ventures into the mythical and massive Tower of Babel to reunite with his new wife and love of his life, Marya.

Sounds simple? It’s not.

Each ring of the tower is a different country with tyrannical and ruthless rulers who run their circle of influence with an iron fist. And as Senlin ascends, the technology becomes more and more advanced to the point where, even to an educated man like Senlin, it looks like magic.

“There is a lot of debate over how many levels there are. Some scholars say there are fifty-two, others say as many as sixty. It’s impossible to judge from the ground.” pg 4

And their married life had started out so well…

“Their honeymoon was ruined, that much seemed certain. They would have to fabricate some fable of luxury to tell their friends, and he would, of course, make it all up to her with a quiet weekend in a pastoral cottage, but for the rest of their marriage she would remember what a terrible trial their honeymoon had been.” pg 16

Senlin is no fool in love though. He’s introverted, introspective and thoughtful. His wife, Marya, is younger and impulsive. Together, they make a great team. If only he could figure out which direction she went.

The character of Senlin is one of the delights of this fantasy novel. He’s prickly and doesn’t seem lovable right off the bat. But as you get to know him, you realize, he’s one-of-a-kind.

Photo by Enric Cruz Lu00f3pez on Pexels.com

“The subtext was obvious: Love, pure and eternal, reigned supreme. Senlin did not believe in that sort of love: sudden and selfish and insatiable. … He believed true love was more like an education: It was deep and subtle and never complete.” pg 59

Senlin is still hopeful he’ll find his wife until he discovers what the tower really is and what it does to the unknowing who venture within its walls.

“I am upset because we have pooled out human genius into the building of an elaborate Tower and have filled it up with the same tyrants that have plagued our race since we crawled from the sea. Why does our innovation never extend to our conscience?” pg 142.

Why indeed.

Highly recommended for fans of fantasy and adventure fiction. Senlin Ascends is a masterful debut novel and start of a unique series.

Thanks for reading!

The Help Desk Book Blog

Sharing reviews and deep thoughts about life.

Category: Fiction

I Hate Fairyland, Vol. 4: Sadly Never After by Skottie Young

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

Spoonbenders by Daryl Gregory

Bloody Rose (The Band, #2) by Nicholas Eames

The Mermaid by Christina Henry

Lair of Dreams (The Diviners, #2) by Libba Bray

Reamde by Neal Stephenson

The Autumnlands, Vol. 2: Woodland Creatures (The Autumnlands #2) by Kurt Busiek

Senlin Ascends (The Books of Babel, #1) by Josiah Bancroft

Menu

Sharing reviews and deep thoughts about life.

Share this Blog:

Share this Blog:

Share this Blog:

Share this Blog:

Share this Blog:

Share this Blog:

Share this Blog:

Share this Blog:

Share this Blog:

Menu