My partner is finishing up her second novel in the Rise of the Fomori series, and I got an insider look at the manuscript while it's still in progress! Here is my review
Book review: “The Silmarillion” by J.R.R. Tolkien
The Silmarillion has been sitting on my too-intimidating-to-read shelf (right next to Les Miserables and War and Peace) for too long, but I finally took up the challenge. Mind. Blown. The thousands of years of back story make you read Lord of the Rings on a whole new light.
Book review: “The Name of the Wind” by Patrick Rothfuss
The "Name of the Wind" has some intangible quality about it that gives it the solidity of a real thing. You have the impression of a world that has only been explored in so small a part, you couldn't finish telling stories about it. It spends time describing simple pleasures like a few beautiful notes on a lute or the feel of a breeze and yet is simultaneously an absolute page-turner.
Beta reading my wife’s first book!
My wife is getting close to publishing her first book, and I'm honored to be one of the first to read it all the way through! It's kind of scary releasing your book into the world, and I'm glad she trusted me with it! It's YA fiction, y'all should try it out when it comes out next year.
Read this when Stormlight Archives #4 comes out
As I was finishing Oathbringer yesterday, I realized that by the time the next one comes out, I will probably need a refresher. I am sure there is probably an entire Wiki out there for the series, and I will probably read that too. But this is my summary of things to remember from Oathbringer.... Continue Reading →
Broken oaths and dead gods: Book review of Sanderson’s Oathbringer
I finished Oathbringer in between camping trips during my short summer break, and I'm writing this on our camping trip to Crater Lakes National Park early enough in the morning that everyone else is asleep. Many of my friends praised Oathbringer to the skies considering it the best of the Stormlight Archives novels. I was... Continue Reading →
The ethics of creativity as explored in Sanderson’s Words of Radiance
How do you confront the existence of evil in the world? What do you do when those who are supposed to be leaders have weaknesses and failures? Why is there injustice in society, in our institutions and governments? And ourselves too? And do you confront your own imperfections and weaknesses? You're own brokenness? Can you... Continue Reading →
In it for the long haul: Book review of Sanderson’s The Way of Kings
I have moved away from reading fantasy fiction since my high school days, often viewing that period sentimentally as the gateway that really got me into reading, but perhaps also a little condescendingly as of "lesser" worth. Look what I've become-- a literary snob. This book was recommended to me by a fellow graduate student... Continue Reading →