Journey Into the Void

Sometimes I wonder why the book titles I read could double for the state of our society today...


er...nevermind...

Journey Into the Void is the third and final book of the "Sovereign Stone" fantasy trilogy by Margaret Weis & Tracy Hickman. As I mentioned when I wrote about the second book, this trilogy is not part of the Dragonlance milieu but somewhat similar in that it is set in a D&D style world.

SPOILER ALERT: I don't normally do this but it sums up my feelings for the series so I have to mention it. I quite enjoyed the first book of the trilogy, especially the character of Gareth, the whipping boy, even though he ended up supporting the man who would become the great evil of the series. He, himself, committed all sort of evil acts and I guess I was hoping he would redeem himself at the end. He did put in an appearance but was not what I had hoped for, leaving the heroes of books 2 and 3 to save the day. Oh well. END SPOILER.

All in all this was a pretty good fantasy trilogy, especially if you enjoy the traditional fantasy setting. There are orcs and dwarves and elves and humans but they aren't always exactly as you might stereotypically expect those races to be. There are also some other creative races and sub races that all interact upon the stage. A fairly large cast of characters could have been confusing but I think the authors handled them well to avoid that. I also appreciated the magic system in use here, with the Dominion Lords and their magical armor. This won't go down as my all time favorite series but there is a lot to like about this set.

Guardians of the Lost

No, I'm not referring to my role as parent to two college students.  Rather, the title of this entry, Guardians of the Lost, is the second novel in a fantasy trilogy, the "Soverign Stone Trilogy" by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman.  These authors will probably forever be known for their authorship of the original "Dragonlance" novels set in the D&D universe and while those books are the best of any other Dragonlance novels I've read, it's a shame that most readers won't look beyond that.  Most will assume this team only writes one way and may, in fact, put them in the dreaded formula writers category.

But not so fast.  The "Soverign Stone trilogy" is at least the fourth set of novels that they've written outside the Dragonlance setting, mostly very well received, and I have to say, this trilogy is darned good.  This second novel in the set takes place 200 years after the first one ended and thus there are many changes.  But of course this is fantasy and so several of the characters in the first novel show up here as well, particularly the bad guys.  Second novels in trilogies tend to suffer in my opinion, from having to bridge the two "real" stories that actually happen in most trilogies.  Of course there are exceptions (Godfather II, and The Empire Strikes Back) but generally, I tend to want to get through the second book just so I can read the third.  But this time was different, as the book served to flesh out the entire world that we encountered in the first.  I also noticed that the authors threw in a lot of characters this time, sprinkling in new ones all along the way.  But it's not confusing at all since we get to spend a little time with the new ones as we go along.  This is well done and I am totally intrigued to see what happens next.  Which of these characters will have major roles in the conclusion?  Well done!  This moves the third book further forward on my To-Be-Read list.

Back in the Saddle Again

Ok, so I kinda missed my blog...

I've decided to take up the reins again but this time in a little different fashion.  I still need to devote spare time to writing and to my on-line bookstore so I'll be taking less time with each of the entries on this blog.  It was starting to feel like a chore before, sort of like doing a term paper for a high school english class.  I always had this need to write up my review just as soon as I completed reading a book.

The other thing I noticed after doing this blog as a book review blog for over a year was that it was deeply effecting how and what I chose to read.  As I read your comments and as I followed other book blogs, I started to choose books that would be agreeable to other people more so than books that I really wanted to read.  Strange, huh?  Moreover, I found myself forming opinions about what I read based on how I felt others would want me to feel.  In essence, I was lying to myself...and reading became less enjoyable.

So now what?  Why not just drop it all together? 

Dunno.  I guess I really do miss it.  So I'll try again but this time, I won't be doing a book review blog.  I'll be writing about what I read and perhaps put in a very short blurb about whether or not I liked it...and who knows what else.  And if anybody out there would like to discuss anything, I'll be happy to give you my two cents.

Just to catch up since my last entry, here's what I've read since then (sorted by genre):

Invisible Man by Ralph Ellison
Tik-Tok of Oz by L. Frank Baum
New York, the Novel by Edward Rutherford
Fatally Flaky (Goldy the Caterer #15) by Diane Mott Davidson
Transfer of Power (Mitch Rapp #1) by Vince Flynn
Hosts (Repairman Jack #5) by F. Paul Wilson
The Pirate Devlin by Mark Keating
Hondo by Louis L'Amour
The Street Lawyer by John Grisham
The Tunnel Behind the Waterfall (Magician's House Quartet #3) by William Corlett
The Policy by Bentley Little
The Woods are Dark by Richard Laymon
Stars and Stripes Forever by Harry Harrison
The Best Time Travel Stories of the 20th Century edited by H. Turtledove and M. Greenberg
Island in the Sea of Time by S.M. Stirling
The Crystal Cave (The Arthurian Saga #1) by Mary Stewart
Well of Darkness (The Soverign Stone Trilogy #1) by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
The Puppy Handbook by Sara John

So now we're all caught up.  As for what I'm reading now, stay tuned for the next blog entry.  That won't be for a couple of days because I'm going out of town to attend my son's college orientation session.

By the way, the picture at the top is "Abigail" our new puppy.  We call her Abby most of the time.  She's a "Sheepadoodle" which is a cross between an Old English Sheepdog and a Standard Poodle.  She'll be pretty big when she grows up but for now, we're enjoying her playful puppiness.