Review- "Black City Saint" by Richard A. Knaak

As I stumbled around the bookshelves at a local bookstore a few months ago, I happened across a book with a very interesting premise- Black City Saint by Richard A. Knaak. Urban fantasy, dragons, Noir, 1920's Gangsters like Al Capone, ancient Roman Emperors?!? What more could a girl ask for? And that's exactly what this book brought to the table.

Black City Saint focuses on Nick Medea, who for the last 1600 plus years has served as the protector of the Gate that separates the world of the Faerie from the world of man- which could cause world shattering results if it was ever permanently opened. In his down time he serves as an "exorcist" of sorts, stopping mischievous fae trapped on our side from causing problems. However, trouble arises when his long lost love reappears, not in the way you'd think either, a pawn in a wicked plot to destroy the balance between the two worlds. His only allies are his wits, a handful of outcast fae, and the soul of the Dragon he killed 1600 years ago trying to gain control over his body, when he was better known to the world as Saint George. (Not really spoiling stuff here, the book's back cover has all of this and more on it :/ )

Now, while I am by no means an expert on the Urban Fantasy genre, I am a long time fan of the Dresden Files, so perhaps my high standards biased me to this "first in a series" novel. While I thoroughly enjoyed the rich tapestry Mr. Knaak wove for his world's history, and for his believable delivery of 1920's gangster culture, this book was by no means perfect.

The Good-

As I said, Black City Saint brings with itself a rich history, that is dispersed in delicious little tidbits throughout the novel. I give ample credit for Mr. Knaak for being able to blend so many things together so successfully: his world is truly believable and not overwhelming. Not many authors could bring together Ancient Rome, Christian theology, and fantasy elements like Dragons and fae all in one neat 1920's Chicago package.

The Fae characters are also very well done. Fetch, Nick's loyal lycanthrope always brighten up any page he's on and honestly became one of my favorite characters. Krayavik is also a highlight. A complicated creature trying to better himself, even if he comes off a bit staunchy and a tad bit too dedicated to being forgiven for his past misdeeds.

The Bad-

Honestly, my real main problems are in regards to the two main characters- Nick Medea and Claryce. Nick is actually very interesting when on his own doing the P.I. thing and when interacting with the dragon in his head. When he's with Claryce or reminiscing about how he blames himself over the events of her past lives- not so much. Knaak is trying to build tension and a weakness for Nick, who really has no attachments to the world anymore, but the interactions between the two always came off flat to me. This could just be because I found Claryce endlessly annoying. If I had to hear her scold Nick for trying to "leave her behind" one more time I might have stopped reading the book completely. I wish Knaak had given her a role more akin to film noir, not necessarily as a femme fatale, but as is she is very bland. Hopefully future books will flesh her out and give her a personality. When together they always brought the plot to a screaming halt, making the story drag on and on.

There also isn't enough about bootlegging and speakeasies. Not really much of a critique, but I'm a sucker for gangster stuff like that cough *gotta finish Boardwalk Empire* cough.

Overall, I'd probably pick up the sequel when it comes out, but as is I don't really see much re-reading potential in this book. But hey, the first Dresden Files  also had some glaring issues, so I do have hope for the series once Knaak has time to flesh it out more. Plus, I think the world Knaak has built here has a lot of potential once the kinks get worked out.

I give it 2.5 out of 5 Bob the Skulls

Review- "The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet" by Becky Chambers

In the past year or so I have sadly found myself disappointed, or worse ambivalent, in the "fun books" I was able to fit into my graduate school schedule. Perhaps this was was own melancholy, or maybe I just fell out of love with the sci-fi/ fantasy genre (too much post-apocalyptic teen drama right now). So this past weekend I wasn't expecting the random book I picked off a Barnes and Noble shelf to be all that entertaining. However, much to my surprise The Long Way to a Small, Angry Planet by Becky Chambers ended up being a great surprise and a delightful look at the lives of the crew of the Wayfarer.

The Long Way... follows a young woman named Rosemary as she joins up as a clerk on the wormhole-building ship the Wayfarer. Rosemary, who has some skeletons in her closet, then meets the ships eccentric crew as they embark on a year long mission to open up a new wormhole in a recently opened region of the galaxy, which may be the make or break moment for the small ship and its amicable crew.

There's a lot to love about this book. The characters, especially Kizzy and Sizzix (dinosaur person!!!), are vibrant and relatable. The personalities of all of the crew, with one noticeable exception, are all believable and just feel so real that you can feel the love that Chambers put into making them. Even the A.I. Lovey and the non-human Sapients (the books catch-all term for intelligent lifeforms) of the crew don't feel like cookie cutter characters. Sizzix and Dr. Chef both are given a close look at their cultural differences as seen through Rosemary's eyes, but the cultural discourse at play in the book makes them both vastly different yet still very "human." 

There are also several surprises in the book, especially in regards to mankind's own development as they spread through the galaxy. I liked the differences between Rosemary, the "Martian" and Captain Ashby, a descendant from Earth explorers. There are also several side characters who are hard not to enjoy, which in the wrong hands could have distracted from the episodic look at the Wayfarer's crew members.

All in all, there really isn't all that much I had a problem with. I did feel like the surprise romance could have used more of a build up, and the Algeist Corbin could have been given more page time in the first half of the book, to fill out his character growth. Nothing too earth shattering though. By the way, Earth still exists in the book, don't worry about it!

This book, while it may fall under the genre of sci-fi space opera isn't a heavy-handed piece of science fiction. It isn't 2001 or Ender's Game. Its an intimate look at the lives of crew. The good, the bad, and the ugly and how the idea of family keeps them all from falling apart, even when their specific cultural definitions on the matter differ. As a book I randomly picked up, it has quickly become one of my favorite in the genre in recent years. If you are a fan of Firefly and light sci-fi definitely give it a read.

Overall, I give it 4.5 out of 5 Mews.

Oh, and a sequel is coming out this fall. Check out Becky Chambers' website for more info.

Pokemon Sun and Moon: Crazy Theory for the Starters *Updated*

Rowlet, Litten, and Popplio

So, the internet has been abuzz with Sun and Moon info lately, and apparently the final evolution for the starters has been leaked by some concept art that popped up a few weeks ago. See this site for more info and the leaked images themselves

However, while the idea that since the trial leader Mallow seems to be in the leaked art means these images are legit, and they very well may be, I had a crazy idea last night: The starters may have different final evolutions!

Ok, ok, I know what you're going to say: None of the previous starters has had more than one second stage evolution, don't be crazy with your crack theories. Hear me out though.

So far, with the recent info from the latest trailer, its safe to assume that Pokemon is going to focus on regionality and population specialization with the Alola region. Everyone and their third cousin has been discussing the Alola forms of gen 1 mons and the different Oricorio forms. And I think that this may end up applying to the starters as well. Especially when taking into consideration other "alt-forms" that appeared in gen 6. We got two mega forms for Charizard, X and Y, and two for badass MoFo Mewtwo

There is also Ash's Greninja from the anime, which may or may not be in the gen 7 games.

Then we have the different forms of Zygarde, a legendary from gen 6 and the long anticipated Pokemon Z

Furthermore, and this is kind of baseless on my part but makes rational sense, if the leaked starter evolutions ARE real, why would Gamefreak give us yet another fire/fighting starter. That would be 4 out of the 7 fire starters we've had so far and no one was clamoring for another. Why try to make a new mon to compete with Blaziken, who is Ubers in the competitive scene, or even Infernape. It makes no sense, especially after we got the fire/psychic Delphox in gen 6.

However, if Pokemon is going to continue on with this species specialization based on environment, then maybe the starters will reflect this and we'll get the fire/fighting and another second stage evolution based on something else, maybe fire/dark.

Oh well, this is just a crazy idea I had last night and I really do't have any proof other than this circumstantial stuff. But I do think it would be an interesting take on how people approach the classic, surefire formula of Pokemon, especially seeing what they've changed up so far for gen 7.

*UPDATE*

Ok, so apparently others thought of this too AND there is a supposed leak. Check out Shofu's discussion here. Maybe I'm not as crazy as I thought!