I recently finished the amazing Libriomancer series with the amazing Revisionary (I think?  Unless there’s a book five coming…?)  And I also recently finished the not so good Riverman Trilogy with the not so good The Storyteller.

The Riverman by Aaron Starmer began the series very intriguingly, as Alistair hears from friend and crush Fiona about a magical world, and wonders if she’s actually covering some real world trauma.  Book two, The Whisper, answers that question as Alistair dives into Aquavania himself, in pursuit of the Riverman, also called the Whisper, who has made Fiona and other kids disappear.  The Storyteller brings us into the head of Alistair’s sister Keri, trying to make sense out of her brother’s reaction to a traumatic shooting and his strange stories, while also writing stories of her own.

There’s an interesting concept at the core of this, that ideas from Aquavania leak out into the world and are picked up by people like Keri, to turn into stories.  Story ideas do often feel like they must be coming from somewhere…though as I think about this more, in this scenario they’re just coming from the imagination of other kids, rather than the imagination of people actually writing them down, and as a writer-down of stories I’m not sure I like that after all!

This may be a microcosm of why I didn’t like this series better.  There’s a lot that makes me go, “hmm, that’s interesting…” but then it never comes together in a satisfying way.  A lot of ethical questions come up in the second book, and even more mysteries about who is good, who is evil, what those concepts even mean, how the Riverman and Aquavania actually function and what Alistair’s role is…and this final book didn’t give me much of an answer to any of it. Continue reading “Book Review: The Storyteller (Riverman Trilogy)” →

If I had to choose one magic system as my absolute favorite ever (I mean, ever), libriomancy would be a very likely winner.  So you can imagine I was delighted to return to it with Jim C. Hines’ fourth Magic Ex Libris book, Revisionary.

See my reviews for book one, Libriomancer, and book three, Unbound, and some spoilers inevitable below!

Book three ended with the reveal of magic to the world at large, and now Isaac and his friends are dealing with the aftermath.  Deep in magical research, Isaac wants to use magic for good but finds himself blocked by new rules and bureaucracy…but the rules go out the window when incidents of magical terrorism start to point towards an even larger threat.

Like I said–I love a magical system built on books, and even more so because our narrator is a sci fi/fantasy geek who totally gets how cool all this is.  Even more, I’m convinced Hines and I have read all the same books.  If you pulled a random sampling of books, even popular ones, even fantasy ones, I still doubt the percent I’d read (and possibly loved) would be as high as it is with the books that appear in Hines’ series.  References to Tamora Pierce, Robin McKinley, Catherynne M. Valente and Terry Pratchett have all appeared, to name just a few of my favorite authors! Continue reading “Book Review: Revisionary (Libriomancer Series)” →

I was intrigued primarily by the premise of The War of Words by Amy Neftzger – because how cool is the idea of words used as magical weapons?

Set in a fantasy world mid-way through a war, the story begins with Kelsey, a young soldier fighting in that war.  A sorcerer has cast a spell over the kingdom to spread confusion, while endless shadows attack the king’s army in a series of battles.  Kelsey hears a legend of a hidden book no one can read which holds the secret to winning the war.  With her friends, she sets out to find the book and unlock its mystery.

The words as weapons idea did turn out to be very cool, especially as it grows increasingly literal by the end of the book.  The sorcerer uses words and the distortion of words to fight, creating increased confusion and challenges to communication—and eventually, words as literal weapons with all the power of arrows.  Kelsey and her friends have to find clever ways to fight back, first by preserving the meaning of words and then by magically spreading truth. Continue reading “Book Review: The War of Words” →