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review 2020-06-21 18:02
The Saga of Tanya the Evil, Vol. 1: Deus lo Vult (book) by Carlo Zen, illustrations by Shinobu Shinotsuki, translated by Emily Balistrieri and Kevin Steinbach
The Saga of Tanya the Evil, Vol. 1 - Carlo Collodi,Emily Balistrieri,Kevin Steinbach
Note: Due to the way this book handles religion and religious belief, devoutly religious people should probably approach it with caution.
 
The main character of this book used to be a Japanese salaryman (his name is never mentioned). Specifically, he worked in HR and did layoffs. One particularly upset person he'd just laid off pushed him in front of a train, landing the salaryman in front of Being X, aka God. Being X, annoyed at having to deal with yet another unbeliever, decides to put the salaryman in a position where he will be forced to believe in God. And so the salaryman is reborn in a new world, as an infant girl named Tanya. He retains his personality and memories of his former life but is forced to deal with the limitations of Tanya's body. At age 8 Tanya joins the military, and the book covers Tanya's time there from age 9 to 11, as she rises up in the ranks during the start of this world's first world war.
 
Tanya's new world is very similar to Germany just before World War I. In fact, the book begins with a map of Europe, labeled with new country names (except the United States, which is allowed to remain the same for some reason) - Tanya is a soldier for the Empire. Somehow, Tanya's interest in economics (and psychology and history?) and experience in Human Resources translate to "military genius" in this new world.
 
First, a note about pronouns and gender. The salaryman is male, and Tanya is female. The salaryman still thinks of himself as male, even in Tanya's body, but he is also fairly disconnected from Tanya, to the point that it shows in the writing. Although the bulk of the book is from the salaryman's perspective and he occasionally uses first-person pronouns, he often talks about Tanya in the third person, using feminine pronouns, as though she were a separate being. I couldn't find any rhyme or reason for when he'd use "I" vs. "she" - it seemed, at first, to be linked to whether he was talking about physical actions ("she") rather than purely thoughts ("I"), but that wasn't always the case. In the thick of battle, for example, the salaryman tended to use "I," even when describing actions he performed with Tanya's body.
 
Anyway, I bought this because reviews frequently described it as better written than most recent light novels. I'm not sure I'd agree. Yes, Zen clearly did a lot of research, and yes, certain scenes and passages were really good. But like many recent light novel authors, Zen didn't know how to do decent story pacing and got too bogged down in the nitty gritty details of favorite topics at the expense of story and characters. I was more tolerant of Zen's reliance on first-person POV, because it was occasionally fun seeing the disconnect between Tanya's perspective and how other characters perceived her and her actions, but in the latter half of the book it wasn't uncommon for me to not know whose perspective I was dealing with until several paragraphs or even a whole page or two into a scene. Characters' "voices" were just too similar.
 
Then there were the time skips. At two points, the story skipped forward in time about 30 or 40 years, for about 5 pages total. The first time this happened, it seemed to serve the same function as foreshadowing, hinting at something that would be happening soon in the main narrative but doing so via reporters in the future researching the war years after it was over. The second time skip, though...I don't know. Pretty much pointless.
 
I'm not a big military fiction reader, and I don't know much about the World Wars beyond vague memories of having to learn dates and events in high school. I'm not really the intended audience for this book. That said, I've enjoyed jargon-filled military fiction before. Even if I had trouble following the big picture strategies, this could have kept me hooked with its character interactions and individual battles. Unfortunately, I had trouble following the battles, and Zen seemed to want to avoid having characters talk to each other and interact outside of battle, so there wasn't as much human interaction as I might have liked either. It didn't help that the salaryman was an antisocial person who viewed people as objects, literal human resources for him to use as needed.
 
There were parts of this book that hooked me - I enjoyed the scene about the testing and eventual perfection of the Type 95 orb, which veered (unintentionally?) into black comedy, as well as Lergen and Zettour's perspectives on Tanya's actions and behavior and the salaryman's occasional flashes of cynical humor. But there wasn't enough of that, and the parts that I did enjoy could have been executed better.
 
I don't plan to continue this series and don't know that I'm even interested enough in it to watch the anime.
 
Extras:
  • A map of Europe labeled with all the new country names and coded according to their relationships with the Empire
  • A glossy folded sheet with large illustrations on both sides, which includes a timeline of Tanya's life up to age 9
  • A 6-page appendix that explains the interior and exterior lines strategies, with maps, and gives an outline of the history of the war up to the end of this book
  • An afterword by the author
  • Several black-and-white illustrations throughout
  • This may be the first light novel I've read with footnotes

 

(Original review posted on A Library Girl's Familiar Diversions.)

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review 2018-01-31 18:43
Giveaway & Review for Arachnosaur by Richard Jeffries #RichardJeffries @SDSXXTours
Arachnosaur - Richard Jeffries

 

Arachnosaur
by Richard Jeffries
Genre: Horror
I hate spiders. They totally creep me out and I love it, which is why I had to read Arachnosaur by Richard Jeffries. lol
 
Soldiers facing off against terrorists. Death, blood, bullets and savagery.
 
Key struggles to make sense of what was happening to him, a concussion messed with his mind. Could he believe what he was seeing? The squad had been slaughtered. How many were left besides him? He wanted answers.
 
And….we know something worse is coming his way.
 
Key and Daniels are opposites, but work well together as a team. Key is methodical and Daniels a bit reckless. Can they save the world from the egomaniacs who think they can control their new weapon? Foolish, foolish men.
 
I love the combination of military intrigue and giant spiders. So much of it read as if it could be real. The writing was detailed and the action was non stop.
 
The world…well…I loved to visit it, but don’t want to live there.
 
I would love to be on their next adventure.
 
I voluntarily reviewed a free copy of Arachnosaur by Richard Jeffries.
 

Animated Animals. Pictures, Images and Photos 4 Stars

 

Enter the giveaway here.

 

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Source: www.fundinmental.com/giveaway-review-for-arachnosaur-by-richard-jeffries-richardjeffries-sdsxxtours
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review 2017-11-13 16:19
Excellent mashup! Legion of the Undead by Michael Whitehead
Legion of the Undead - Michael Whitehead

Legion of the Undead really hit the spot; I need a second helping! First, I love Roman Empire stories and I’ve come to love zombie fiction in the past few years. Now we have the perfect mash-up. Hungry zombie horde, meet the Roman legions! Cue evil laughter!

Often with ancient Roman historical fiction, I don’t see too many female characters and the few that are present are usually only there to act as someone’s love/lust interest. Not so with this book! Yay! The ladies are true to accepted Roman Empire gender roles but they also get plot-relevant stuff done. Even the minor but evil Sevillia did something that affected the plot. And I love Lucia, who is a 16 year old thrown into the midst of this zombie uprising. She’s not a cliched uber-tough zombie stomping heroine but she is practical, saves the day a time or two like the other heroes, and doesn’t fall to pieces when she needs to be rescued.

Of course Vitas Protus is my favorite. He’s an archer that is catapulted up into the ranks as the zombie issue becomes a real problem. He keeps his wits about him, takes advice from those around him, and gets stuff done. I loved how he watched out for Regulus, the 14 year old lad that was forced into the military. Then there’s big Antonius too. He’s also a practical sort, giving the soldiers orders to aim for the heads if they want to take out the zombies.

Starting out on the outskirts of Germania where the Roman legions were pushing back the German tribes, Vitas has to get his little band to safety. First, it’s to the their encampment and then on to the estate of Governor Clemmons. There Vitas gets his orders to head to Rome with a dire note and Lucia, who can speak to her merchant father’s home being overrun with these Risen (as the zombies are called in this book). Not everyone makes it out unscathed. In fact, a character I had gotten a little attached to takes one for the team before the end. There’s also a touch of intrigue and betrayal!

Anyway, it’s just a really good book and since we’re in November, I can safely say it’s one of my favorites of the year. Legion of the Undeadhas set a new bar for zombie Roman Empire historical fiction! 5/5 stars.

I received a free copy of this book.

The Narration: Terry Self really out did himself with the narration. Just a great performance all around. He has distinct voices for all the characters and his female character voices are feminine. There’s a few accents as well (Spain Spanish, Gaulish, and Chinese) which he pulls off quite well. In fact, Terry Self sounded like he was really into the story, it never being a dull moment. There were no technical issues with this audiobook. 5/5 stars.

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review 2017-11-08 00:02
The Trials - Linda Nagata

This is a genre that I seldom read, near-future, sort of post-apocalyptic, military fiction; but DAMN, I like this series. It's almost like ... well, I want to say good Tom Clancy with twists.

This is the continuation of the events in First Light, book one of the series.  Again, we follow the 1st person narrative of Lieutenant James Shelley as he navigates this screwed up world.  Shelley is the beneficiary of some high tech body modifications, even thought they sometimes seem like a curse and Nagata writes it so well that even a know-nothing like me understands what's going on.  Even the trial/court scenes were eminently readable and that's not always the case.

The world is dark and cynical and full of conspiracies and plots and counter-plots and the author does them all justice.  I never predicted what was happening until it was either happening or just about to go down.  And even then, there was always some twist I didn't see.

This is a techno-thriller in the true sense of the word, I think.  I was on the virtual edge of my seat almost the whole time I was reading.  We meet up with lots of old friends, make some new ones and come across some not so nice folks too, familiar and otherwise.  And I should have seen that twist coming at the end, but I didn't, and damn, it's a good one!

So yeah, I really enjoyed my read and I'm glad that I have the final book in the trilogy nestled nicely in my Kobo.

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review 2017-07-31 04:43
[Book Review] Old Man's War
Old Man's War - John Scalzi

Old Man's War / John Scalzi

July has proven to be a horrible month for me, so I went for a light read as the Virtual Speculation pick.  Old Man's War is a light military SF read, written in a similar tradition of Starship Troopers, but it also manages to act as both a tribute and satire.

Title page of Old Man's War by John Scalzi. Autographed and snscribed with "Tegan, thanks for the brownies! You rock!"In general I enjoy Scalzi's work.  Fun, light reads, and he's proven to be a pretty good person as well.  This is the second Scalzi read I've done, the first being Lock-In (which I've still failed to post an actual review of).  I've also met Scalzi several times, the last time being several months ago where, as the inscription on my copy of Old Man's War indicates, I brought brownies to the author event.  In case you were wondering, it was a giant star brownie.  Sadly, I was trying a new recipe for making them from scratch, and it was not my best baking result.  (Sorry, John).

I ended up sitting down and reading the book in three days.  It would have been fewer, but I read another book in the middle of that.  As I indicated, it's not a heavy read.  Almost all aspects of the book is kept relatively light, and you know what, that's exactly what I wanted.

Discussion Fodder:

  • In what ways does Old Man's War compare or contrast to similar military SF (Starship Troopers, The Forever War, others)?
  • What do you think of the logic behind CDF recruitment, and the choice of the recruits?
  • Let's talk about colonialism!  The CDF espouses a pretty strong expansionist policy, one that relies heavily on use of military force against alien races.  How do their arguments stand or fall in the face of more technology advanced aliens?
  • The Ghost Brigades are made up of recruits who die before they receive their new bodies.  How does this change their personal development?  What are all the ethical complications of their existence?
  • What makes something military SF?
Source: libromancersapprentice.blogspot.com/2017/07/book-review-old-mans-war.html
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