Category: Fiction

Categories
Fiction

The Alignment Ingress By Thomas Greanias: A Worthy Read?

The first novella from the augmented reality game Ingress.

This may not be a popular post among the Ingress community because those who are playing this augmented reality game and have read the novella seems to love it.  However, just because everyone seems to love Nolan’s Batman series doesn’t mean that there aren’t common voices within that have a different opinion.  Here are a few observations for sharing if you are curious to know if The Alignment Ingress is your cup of tea.

First of all, let me say that I am a huge fan of Ingress and its communities.  I have spent many walking hours playing the game.  I enjoy reading books that are spawned from a game, like the novels from World of Warcraft.  Reading The Alignment Ingress, I would expect to have a better clarity on the lore and the characters involved.  I enjoy reading mysterious and code solving types of novels like Dan Brown’s The Da Vinci Code and The Lost Symbol.  This novella has a promising start with a picture of Queen of Sheba and a celestial map of Virgo – both appear to match each other perfectly.  There is a treasure to be discovered.  The Alignment Ingress has a fair amount of military weaponry jargon, which I am OK with as I have once ground through Tom Clancy’s mightily thick books.  But here lies the challenge, this novella is short.  Packing all these ingredients in and making it an entertaining read is no easy feat.

There are two main characters in this novella: Conrad Yeats and Hank Johnson who seek ancient treasure and truth.  Conrad Yeats is a known character from the author’s previous books.  So if you have not read any of Greanias’s books in the past, you probably would find it a little bit hard to relate to some of the characters because character development in this novella is scarce.  There are Ingress related explanations dotted throughout the book – which is good for those who play the game more than following the lore in Ingress website.  What I find missing is how the dots connect to each other.  Yes, I now know what exotic matter is, even chaotic matter that is not yet live in the game.  ADA, the female voice from the game.  Various organizations.  And portals of course.  But how do all these really link to each other?  More importantly, what is the Shapers and the real agendas of different entities?  The novella doesn’t say.  Out of nowhere, the two factions – Resistance and Enlightened – are mentioned.  But why such division from the start?  Who are leading the factions?  How do the characters in this novella relate to these factions?  It doesn’t say either.

On the puzzle solving bits, the beginning was promising.  I was anticipating a Da Vinci Code-like journey.  Throughout the mid section of the book, more insights mixed with Biblical events are thrown in.  It is only till the very end when the solution is revealed.  It is a great ending no doubt despite a lack of depth.  However, I wish I was able to solve the mystery alongside with the narration as the plot progresses like Dan Brown’s books.

There is a fair bit of technical jargon with regards to drones and explosive that lost me for a moment.  Not because I have no interest in the topic.  This novella does not have the luxury of the length of Tom Clancy’s books that explain the parts in great details.  But I enjoy seeing how modern day gadgets like Nexus devices and the social media site Google+ are being mentioned.  There seems to be a tinny bit of romance too.  I guess only those who follow the author’s previous books may be able to relate.

All in all, maybe I am expecting too much, The Alignment Ingress is still a pretty good read for the most hardcore fans.  Ironically, I seem to enjoy reading a link from the novella that leads to a chapter from another up-coming book by Felicia Hajra-Lee called An Exotic Matter the most.  There is a fair bit of suspense and an interesting character development within.  I am curious about what that may turn out.

The Alignment Ingress comes in two digital versions (as far as I know).  I bought the Kindle version.  On a hindsight, if I were to have a Nexus tabulate, the Google Book version would have been a better choice.  Because the novella contains links to external sites and that don’t open well in Kindle PaperWhite, I have to toggle between reading on a Kindle and on a PC so as to dive into these extra bits of the story.

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time By Yasutaka Tsutsui

A Japanese novelette

First, a couple of interesting points about this book and the author.  The title story was written between 1965 to 1966 and was translated into English on 2011.  This English version has two stories: The Girl Who Leapt Through Time and The Stuff That Nightmares Are Made Of.  Just over 200 pages in length, this Japanese science fiction is a quick read.  Yasutaka Tsutsui is also the author of Paprika, which was made into a film.  I remember liking that film a lot.

The Girl Who Leapt Through Time is fast pace and entertaining.  One day, fifteen-year-old schoolgirl Kazuko has discovered by accident that she is capable of time travel.  Leaping back and forth in time, Kazuko is trying to convince her friends this new found superpower of hers.  To Kazuko, the ability to leapt through time is more of a problem that has be solved rather than an opportunity to be exploited.  As a part-science-fiction-part-drama-and-romance, The Girl Who Leapt Through Time doesn’t dwell too deep onto the technical details.  The story has also elegantly avoided the topic of temporal paradox.  All in all, I was glued to the story from the first page.  My only disappointment is that the story has ended too soon.  It has a beautiful ending, don’t get me wrong.  I just wish the story would last longer.

Then, there is this odd piece called The Stuff That Nightmares Are Made Of.  While the two stories do not seem to relate to each other, it does have this common theme of erasing memory.  Masako has certain phobias that have been haunting her since young.  And she discovers that not only she has this problem, the people around her too.  Like The Girl Who Leapt Through Time, the author is taking the readers a journey of mystery and discovery.  The Stuff That Nightmares Are Made Of does not seem to have the magic like the titled story does.  It is a good albeit short read nonetheless.

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

Rebecca By Daphne Du Maurier – An Exceptional Read

What an exceptional read.  Reading Rebecca is like reading My Cousin Rachel all over again.  Because I know Du Maurier’s writing style, that she was capable in destroying or even killing off main characters that readers grow to love, it was quite a nerve wrecking experience reading Rebecca.  On top of that, Du Maurier was gifted in writing suspense novels as well as breathing life to her characters.  This makes Rebecca a thrilling read, from start to finish.

I read Rebecca on our trip to Hong Kong

One year ago, after reading the library copy of My Cousin Rachel, I love the book so much that I bought a copy for my keeping.  While I was at it, I bought a copy of Rebecca too.  I have been wanting to read Rebecca for quite some time.  Haven’t got around to.  On our recent trip to Hong Kong, I brought it along as my reading companion.

Although Rebecca was first published in 1938, I found it as entertaining as some of the modern literature published today.  There are four major components in this book.  Manderley, which is an estate dominating the entire story, with a west wing facing the sea and an east wing facing a rose garden.  Max de Winter, who owns and lives in Manderley.  Rebecca – Max’s first wife and is dead.  The narrator – Max’s current wife and remains nameless throughout the book.

Rebecca is intriguing in a couple of ways.  Rebecca is dead, since the beginning of the book.  Yet, under the hands of Du Maurier, this character has come alive through the recollections of others, the metaphors that represent her, the legacy Rebecca has left behind, even the drama that still continues.  It is as though her presence and physical dominance is felt strongly throughout the book, as a dead character.  It is only fitting that the book is titled as such.

The narrator – also presence throughout the book – on the other hand, is very different from the Rebecca character.  She is shy and young.  Coming from a humble background, the narrator is socially awkward and unsophisticated.  She is the opposite of Rebecca, and without a name.  She is the living Mrs de Winter but with an identity slowly dissolved away, what good is her existence?  The dualism of Rebecca and the narrator is striking, best to be explained by Sally Beauman in her afterword.

Shy, and socially reclusive, [Daphne Du Maurier] detested the small talk and the endless receptions she was expected to attend and give, in her capacity of commanding officer’s wife [in Egypt].  This homesickness and her resentment of wifely duties, together with the guilty sense of her own ineptitude when performing them, were to surface in Rebecca: they cluster around the two famale antagonists of the novel, the living and obedient second wife, Mrs de Winter, and the dead, rebellious and indestructible first wife Rebecca.  Both women reflect aspects of du Maurier’s own complex personality: she divided herself between them, and the splitting, doubling, and mirroring devices she uses throughout the text destabilise it but give it resonance.  With Rebecca we enter a world of dreams and daydreams, but they always threaten to tip over into nightmare.

The way this story is narrated is worth a mention too.  It starts with a dream by the narrator, on the house Manderley.  It then transits to a present day narration that gives hints to what the ending of the story may be.  The narrator reading a story aloud to a nameless partner that brought her back in time years ago when she was the paid companion for a Mrs Van Hopper doing similar things.  What a full circle.  The flow in time is so smooth that it took me several repeated reading of those pages in order to fully appreciate it.  The story ends with a dream – the only two true dreams in Rebecca – that wraps it back to the beginning.  The ending is so abrupt that left me speechless.

I am torn between My Cousin Rachel and Rebecca.  Till now, I am still unable to decide which one is my favorite.

*     *     *     *     *

An excerpt below demonstrates how Du Maurier brings Rebecca to life literally through the narrator.

[Maxim] did not look at me, he went on reading his paper, contented, comfortable, having assumed his way of living, the master of his house.  And as I sat there, brooding, my chin in my hands, fondling the soft ears of one of the spaniels, it came to me that I was not the first one to lounge there in possession of the chair; someone had been before me, and surely left an imprint of her person on the cushions, and on the arm where her hand had rested.  Another one had poured the coffee from that same silver coffee pot, and placed the cup to her lips, had bent down to the dog, even as I was doing.

Unconsciously, I shivered as though someone had opened the door behind me and let a draught into the room.  I was sitting in Rebecca’s chair, I was leaning against Rebecca’s cushion, and the dog had come to me and laid his head upon my knee because that had been his custom, and he remembered, in the past, she had given sugar to him there.

And as in her previous book My Cousin Rachel, there is some interesting observations that may still ring truth today.

‘You have qualities that are just as important, far more so, in fact.  […]  … but I should say that kindness, and sincerity, and – if I may say so – modesty are worth far more to a man, to a husband, than all the wit and beauty in the world.’

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

Carry The One By Carol Anshaw

Having read a beautifully written review by one of my blogger friends, I had been keeping a look out at my local libraries to see when a copy would be available.  I was in joy when I finally borrowed Carry the One by Carol Anshaw, from a library outlet that I had not visited before, saved a buck or so of reservation fee while I was at it.

I took a picture of the book right outside the library.

The plot is tantalizing.  It was the wedding night of Carmen the bride who was pregnant with Matt’s child.  Carmen’s sister Jean was a musician, who was blindly in love with Tom the married man – also a musician.  Nick was Carmen’s brother.  A smart graduate with one bad habit – drug usage.  Nick has a girlfriend called Olivia who worked in a mail room and like Nick, Olivia too was into drug.  Alice – sister of Carmen, Jean, and Nick – was a gifted painter, as well as a lesbian.  She fell in love with Matt’s sister Maude who studied nursing while doing part-time job as a model.

The night was getting late so Matt and Carmen sent the last of their guests to the road.  Jean and Tom, Alice and Maude got into one car with Nick in the front and Olivia at the driver’s seat.  Both Nick and Olivia were high in drug.  The car had no light, saved for the fog light.  In such wee hours, who would have thought a little girl would cross the road?  It was almost an instant death.  The girl had no chance to survive.  Carry the One documents those who have to live through this painful memory for the next decade and more, how their lives were impacted by this incident.

Each blames himself or herself on what could have been, should have been.  Carmen should have asked the guests to stay, because it was getting real late.  Alice should have volunteered to drive, but she was so into Maude and wanted to get into the backseat with Maude.  Maude should have paid more attention to her nursery course.  At least she might have a better chance to save the little girl.  Olivia was at the driver seat, clearly the guilty one.  But it was Nick who saw the little girl, thinking that she was magical, surreal.  Nick could move the wheel and the little girl would not have died.

As what I have expected, Carry the One is about forgiveness and atonement.  Each character finds his or her own way to atone to the mistake.  Some are constructive.  Others are more destructive.  Through jail time, divorce, heartbreak, career breakthroughs, facing hope and despair, death and more death, Carol Anshaw draws me into her haunted story of what makes flaw characters so attractive to read: realism.  These are real life dramas come alive.  People with real emotions, likes and dislikes, strengths and weaknesses.  It is one successful story that makes you fall in love with all the main characters, despite how flawed they are.

While reading this book, I could not help but to hope that Carry the One would tackle the question of: Why do bad things happen to innocent people?  Indeed, the plot does seem to head to that direction when Nick was trying to solve where this ‘equation’ led.  Through the routines that the characters lived and breath, I too was looking for the answer.  Unsatisfied as it may sound, God works in a mysterious way.  Whether or not there is an answer, the characters bounded by this accident would have to carry the little girl with them.  In a way, the deceased still lived through them decades down the road.

“Here’s what I hate.  I hate that it doesn’t matter if we see each other.  There’s still this connection, between me and him because we were both in the car.  Like in arithmetic.  Because of the accident, we’re not just separate numbers.  When you add us up, you always have to carry the one.”

“I think we altered what was supposed to happen.  And we can’t go back and make it happen right.  So we’re stuck in some kind of endless loop, trying to improve the past.  Which, as you might notice, is resistant to revision.”

Engaging plot aside, Carol Anshaw has an unique way of telling a story.  It does not read linear.  Timeline may jump ahead.  Crucial part of the plot may be casually revealed through one person’s conversation, or one simple sentence.  The emotional distance between the characters can be easily felt.  It always put a smile to my face when I read how two siblings love each other while putting up with one another’s nuisances.  When it comes to romance, the wordings are intense.  Below is one of my favorite parts that so vividly describes the disappointment and frustration of searching for love.

Whatever element causes romance to flare was simply not present in the air between [Alice and Charlotte].  This was a huge relief to Alice.  Romance no longer looked like so much fun, more like a repetitive stress injury – beginning with Maude, but by now including all the failed and pathetic attempts to replicate that constellation of emotion with someone else.  She could measure this past effort in all the underwear she had left behind in apartments, all the bottles of pricey wine she had brought to dinner, all the recitations of bad childhoods and adult disappointments she had earnestly listened to.  The first list was, of course, all the women she had by now slept with.  Taken individually, they seemed, at their various times, to hold the possibility of lasting love.  As opposed to now, so far down the line, when they could only be looked at in accumulation, as one then another fool’s errand.  An offshoot list to this was the figure for how far she had gone for sex.  (Thirteen hours on a flight from Chicago to Tokyo then back to Chicago the next day has held the top spot for quite a while; she might never better this.)  Books she had to read to get into somebody or other’s bed.  (The Four-Gated City.  The Fountainhead.  Linda Goodman’s Sun Signs.  Women Who Run With the Wolves.)  Terrible music she had listened to because it was someone’s idea of a mood enhancer.  (Hall & Oates.  Holly Near.  George Winston.  The Carpenters.  Celine Dion.)  Topics in which she had feigned an interest during the short term. (Juice fasts.  Rugby.  Celtic dancing.  Bikram yoga.)  The longest list was the kinds of tea she had drunk in moments structured around the pretense that tea drinking was the reason for being in this or that café (Pergolesi.  Kopi.  Café Boost) or kitchen, or side by side on this or that futon sofa or daybed, sipping.  (Earl Grey.  Lapsang Suchoung.  Gunpowder.  Rooibos.  Sleepytime.  Morning Thunder.  Seren-i-tea.  Every possible peppermint and berry.  Plain Lipton.)  There was a stretch of time when tea became fetishized for her being so linked with sex and romance, so reliable a harbinger of one or the other.

Different readers interpret a story differently.  Here may come as a major spoiler.  The centerpiece of Carry the One appears to be the little girl who was killed in a road accident.  Rightly so that is an obvious theme.  To me, a hidden centerpiece could be Nick the drug addict instead.  Throughout the story, Nick’s condition was deteriorating.  Olivia – his wife – left him the moment Nick returned to his old habit.  His sister Jean was never close to him.  Carmen – the sister who was organized and strict – in the end gave up on him.  Only Alice, his lesbian sister, still made an effort to take care of him when he crashed, but did not seem to do enough to get him off the drug.  Like the little girl’s accident decades ago, these character could have done something to avert Nike’s eventual and premature death.  Ironically, while Nick has played a major role in causing the little girl’s death at the beginning of the book, it could be the little girl’s mother who played a major role in causing Nick’s death two decades later.

Forgiven, but not forgotten.

Not only did Nick need to carry the little girl in his memory, but also the very physical clothes that the little girl wore that night, handed by her dying mother to him more than twenty years later: I couldn’t part with these.  Couldn’t even wash them, so it’s all still there, the blood and dirt.  Anyway I want you to have them.  I just wanted you to know how much it’s meant to me.  That you never forgot.

“You’re high as a kite, aren’t you?” [said Shanna Redman, the little girl’s mother.]

“Sorry.” [said Nick]

“No, it’s all right.  I know you’re a junkie.  And I know you’ve lied to me, so we could keep talking, so I wouldn’t blame you.  But the thing is, I’ve moved beyond blaming anyone.  And she’s beyond it too.  I got that from her.  What happened that night was what was going to happen.  It’s done.  You’re forgiven.  She’s forgiven all of us.  She’s let us go.”

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

The Merde Factor By Stephen Clarke: Missed Opportunity

I used to enjoy reading Stephen Clarke‘s Merde series.  It is funny and light.  A great read when you are on a holiday.  The Merde series is men’s answer to chick-lit.  These books don’t really have much depth.  But surprisingly, I can still remember the plot of the James Bond inspired novel Dial M for Merde when the main character Paul West has to worked with a beautiful blonde female agent M to uncover a caviar counterfeiting operation.  Or the love story Merde Happens when Paul and his girlfriend French girlfriend Alexa took a road trip to US.  Being such a big Stephen Clarke fan, I am somewhat disappointed with his latest novel The Merde Factor.  Even Merde Actually is much better than this.

The Merde Factor, I suppose, takes reference to The X-Factor.  Instead of a music competition, The Merde Factor is a poetry competition.  If you recall, Paul the Brit has a friend called Jake who is so entrenched with the French culture so much so that Jake cannot speak a sentence of English without mixing it with French words.  And he writes terribly obscene poems, probably motivated by his obscure obsession to bed women from different nationalities.

Meanwhile, Paul’s French business partner Jean-Marie is thinking of taking over the My Tea Is Rich cafe and converting it into an American dinner.  Paul, poor as always, settles for a job working with the Ministry of Culture in Paris.  At the romance front, Alexa is now his ex.  He is dating a New Zealander Marsha and is intrigued by Jean-Marie’s new intern Amandine.

The problem with The Merde Factor is, life in an office is boring.  Not even Paul’s bizarre observation of the French way of life can make such an boring work life any more interesting.  There is a severe lacking in the romance department too.  Paul’s love with Marsha is more like a given, rather then a pursuit.  His brushes with his ex are not even close to a tease.  And the romance with his new love interest comes too little, too late.  The so-called crisis at My Tea Is Rich is lacking in drama.  And the entire poetry competition – the main theme of this book – is likely to be the only material that stands out as mildly entertaining.  Good effort though, I must say.  Clever too.

If I was the author, I would cut down bulk of the first half of the book and beef up the bizarre love triangle of Paul, his ex (and love of his life), and the intern.  That that love story to the climatic ending.  I would make it even harder to save My Team Is Rich and would definitely give a more in-depth insight on the intern’s sacrifice and the ex’s heroism.  Overall, a missed opportunity to what could have been a fantastic follow up to a well loved franchise.

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War By Christie Golden

In recent days, books published by Blizzard Entertainment are more in line with the pace of the popular online game World of Warcraft‘s lore development.  At the end of Cataclysm, the age of the Dragons has passed.  Now, we are onto the age of the Mortals.  The so-called lesser races have proven themselves that they can and they will rise up and guard this world.  Dragons – the previous guardians since the age of the Titans – have lost their immortality in the battle against Deathwing who was corrupted by the Old God.  They have stepped down from the guardian role.  Slowly but surely, Blue Dragons have lost the notion of a dragonflight and now seek the concept of individuality.  Nexus – home to the blue dragonflight – is turning into a ghost town.  The world is indeed changing.

Human and Orc have been at war with each other for years.  Over time, Human has gathered other races namely Dwarf, Night Elf, Gnome, Draenei, and Worgen and formed the Alliance.  As for the Orc, Horde is formed with Troll, Undead, Tauren, Blood Elf, and Goblin.  The Horde and Alliance are technically at war with each other.  But they have briefly joined force with the Aspects of the dragonflights in the battle against Deathwing who threatened to destroy the world.

Now that Deathwing is vanquished and the world is on the path of healing, Horde is in a much stronger position compares to where they were years before.  No longer the orcs are enslaved by the humans like they have in the past.  Led by Thrall – the ex-Warchief – the peoples of the Horde have left Eastern Kingdoms and settled in the opposite continent, Kalimdor.  Due to Cataclysm, Thrall has answered his calling, dropped his mantle as a Warchief, and has become a shaman who has a key role to play in saving the world.  Before his departure, Thrall has named Garrosh Hellscream – son of Grom Hellscream who once succumbed to the demonic power but died a heroic death – as the new Warchief.

In the Universe of Warcraft, while good and evil is as clear as black and white, it has nothing to do with the races’ appearances.  Horde are as honorable as the Alliance.  They have bad seeds, just like the Alliance do.  During the Cataclysm era, there are disgruntle voices within our online community: Do Blizzard flavor Horde?  Thrall has turned into a savior while his counter part King Varian seems to have been sidelined.  Horde appear to have gained ground against the Alliance across the world.  Supporters of the Alliance have made a long list in justifying their claim that Blizzard has indeed flavored the Horde.

I am concerned, of course.  Because it seems to me that Blizzard is making a U-turn in order to please and retain the fans.  In the online game, we know that the fall of Theramore once ruled by Lady Proudmoore is the trigger of a new war between the Horde and the Alliance.  We also know that at the end of this new Mists of Pandaria expansion, the Horde capital Orgrimmar will be raided and Hellscream will be defeated – by Alliance and Horde alike.  As a keen observer of the lore, this a very bold plot development.  Blizzard is going to upset a lot of people.  This is a big gamble.  But, if played right, this plot twist may well bring the entire franchise back to its very root.

War.

As a fan of this franchise – be it as a Horde or Alliance supporter – I welcome this twist.  Let’s put war back to Warcraft.  In order to fully appreciate this wind of change, Christie Golden has written an excellent book called Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War.  I have read quite a number of her novels.  This book again moves me to tears.  The scale of war is nothing like what I have read before (within this franchise that is).  Garrosh Hellscream has a plan.  He is not agreeable to the ex-Warchief’s vision of peace.  Garrosh wants to bring glory to the Horde.  More specifically, he wants to be the leader who finishes off what Thrall – in his eyes – has failed to do.  Readers of Christie Golden would immediately recognize that while Garrosh is hotheaded, he is one great tactician when it comes to warfare.  He would sacrifice all that he has in order to achieve a goal.  But he would also retreat if the tactical advantage is no longer viable.  He does not listen.  But he values loyalty and he does not hesitate in exerting authority over his people and other Horde races.  Horde leaders such as Baine and Vol’jin do not agree with Garrosh’s thirst for war.  Both have secretly negotiated peace with the Alliance in the past through diplomacy means.  But for their peoples’ survival’s sake, they answer to Garrosh’s call for arm because Horde units, even when it is fragmented within.  Such is the political difference between the two factions.

Jaina Proudmoore’s Theramore is of a strategic military importance to the Alliance.  The city is located by the sea, in Kalimdor, south of Orc Capital Orgrimmar, and has a key route to Night Elf’s home land up north.  Garrosh’s vision is clear.  Destroying Theramore is only the first step.  His military plan is to barraade Kalimdor from Alliance’s reinforcement, and ultimately drive out or exterminate the night elves in the north.  Both the Undead and the Blood Elf are uneasy about Garrosh’s plan.  Because their capitals lie in Eastern Kingdoms.  Alliance will retaliate and they will be the first to suffer.  But like Tauren and Troll, it is either follow Orc’s command or face isolation.  That leaves them little options.

While Garrosh vision is sound, the execution can be less than honorable.  Slowly, we can see how power corrupts Garrosh and turns him into a tyrant, a dictator who will stop at nothing unless his goal is attained.  This time, there is no demonic corruption to be blamed.  Nor the Old Gods.  It is pure greed and ambition of the mortals, which is something new in the lore.

The center figure of this new book is of course Jaina Proudmoore.  I have been following Jaina’s story for years, mainly because in the early days of this online game, I enjoyed role playing as a human.  Jaina is one of the – if not the – most powerful living human mage.  If you roll a mage class like I do, she is the role model to look upon.

Due to her heritage, she rules Theramore and was romantically linked to the then-human prince Arthas who turned into Lich King.  While her family was slaughtered by the Horde, she believes that most Horde are as honorable as the Alliance and that diplomacy is the key to peace.

Imagine her emotional shock when Garrosh has launched an assault to Theramore.  As an attempt to halt the assault, she has to plead for help from the neutral organization Kirin Tor residing in the magical city of Dalaran, from her new friend Kalecgos the ex-Aspect of Blue Dragonflight, and from King Varian the leader of Alliance.  This is one spectacular battle when we get to see first hand the transformation of Jaina as well as King Varian stepping up as a war strategist.  This war does not end when the book does.  It is going to be escalated as more stories unfold in the World of Warcraft.

Jaina Proudmoore: Tides of War is a must read for the fans and the lore lovers.

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

Of Blood and Honor by Chris Metzen

Chronologically speaking, Of Blood and Honor is the last book of the Warcraft: Archive series.  This book is written by the esteemed Chris Metzen, generally regarded as the father (or one of the fathers) of Warcraft.  It is of an honor to finally read his work.

Of Blood and Honor, on the surface, is a rather short story.  Lord Tirion Fordring, a human paladin and a follower of Light, one day finds an old orc in his province.  In his days, every orc is a monster and must be eliminated.  Tirion fights the old orc and is being defeated.  As the tower collapses threatened to kill the unconscious Tirion within, the old orc saves his life, binds him onto his horse, and sends him back to his Keep.

Deeply affected by how the situation turns out, Tirion has decided to return to abandoned tower and confront the old orc once again.  Why would a monster save its enemy’s life?  To his surprise, this old orc speaks his language and has a name.  Eitrigg further enlightens Tirion on how some orcs have decided to leave their ranks because they do not wish to be corrupted by the demonic power and lose their way of life.  Do orcs have honor?  This one seems to have, so thinks Tirion.  In return to Eitrigg’s saving his life, Tirion has vowed to leave Eitrigg in peace and never seek him out.

Unfortunately, words are out and people now know that there are orcs in the area (although there is only one).  Is Tirion willing to risk losing everything he has in order to uphold his honor and his vow with an enemy?  To those of us who have been playing World of Warcraft since the beginning, the interaction between Tirion and Eitrigg marks a pivoting moment in the history of Warcraft – Horde and Alliance can collaborate.  They can fight side by side if a situation calls for.  This is exactly what we do today, when we face the worse adversity the world has yet to face.

Of Blood and Honor may not be rich in complexity.  However, without a doubt, it is a book that is rich in honor and sacrifice.  The path to heroism is not easy.  Especially when most don’t see that you are one.

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

The Last Guardian By Jeff Grubb

For those who have played Warcraft 3, the real time strategy game released decades ago, you may recall a black raven that transformed into a human prophet at will speaking to both the Horde and Alliance.  It was the prophet’s plan to bring both sides’ attention to the looming danger of the demonic invasion – The Burning Legion.  The game ends with the glorious battle of all races of Azeroth against the demons’ final assault to the World Tree.

Perhaps the name Medivh means something to you.  The Last Guardian tells the story of Medivh, the most powerful mage known in Azeroth, before he has become the raven that some of us are familiar with in Warcraft 3.

To my best knowledge, The Last Guardian is the only Warcraft novel written by Jeff Grubb.  I do not know why he no longer writes for the Warcraft series.  I happen to enjoy his writing style – slower pace no doubt, but with a certain mysterious underlying to the overarching story.  The Last Guardian almost reads like a detective story.  Magic is explained in the finest technical detail.  The entire book is written in such finest detail.  I feel as though I am living inside the tower of Karazhan, together with the visions within and all.

Medivh is an enigmatic character.  His tower of Karazhan holds many secrets of the past and the future.  To tell the story, Jeff Grubb relies on the young Khadgar – a human mage highly recommended by Kirim Tor (an organization of mages residing in Dalaran) to be the apprentice of Medivh.  Khadgar has an inquisition mind and his undying curiosity makes him a perfect spy to learn the secret of the tower.  Medivh knows of Kirim Tor’s intend but is confident that by building trust, Khadgar may one day stand by his side.

The stories told within Karazhan are epic.  It goes all the way when Medivh’s 800 years old mother Aegwynn battled the evil Titan Sargeras.  Throughout my interaction with the Warcraft franchise – be it as in-game or the bits and pieces of lore scattered in books and at Blizzard’s website – it is the closest moment I have read about the Titans.  There are plenty of visions that explain what the past was, and what the future is to be.  The stories further explain Medivh’s background and why the most powerful mage in Azerorth is going insane.

After reading The Last Guardian, there are still many questions in my mind.  If Medivh is the Guardian of Order of Tirisfal, how does he relate to the Aspects of the five dragon flights – who are also named as the Guardians of Azeroth?  If the Aspects are empowered by Titans, what empowered the Guardian of Order of Tirisfal?  Sargeras appears to be one tough Titan to defeat – though it does not seem impossible – would this Titan be the ultimate villain in the online game World of Warcraft?  If so, when would that be?

The Last Guardian is the third book coming from the Warcraft Archive series.  It reads differently from others.  A worthwhile read nonetheless.

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

Lord of the Clans By Christie Golden

Christie Golden needs no introduction.  She has written tons of books for major fantasy franchises.  I reckon she is one of Blizzard’s favorites.  I may not be agreeable to her writing style, especially her over reliance of the word ‘had’ (who am I to comment about English grammar anyway, though this habit of hers has been highlighted by other online reviewers as well).  But every book of her so far managed to move me to tears.  If you need someone to thoroughly develop a character and to strike the emotional core of the readers, Christie Golden is the one you shall look for.

Lord of the Clan, in summary, is a story of Thrall.  It is the second book from the Warcraft: Archive series.  The demonic power that corrupted the orcs seems to have receded, leaving the blood eyed orcs docile, incapable to return to their former glory.  For most orcs, their way of life is lost.  The warlocks’ abuse of demonic power has driven the shamanic spirit away.  In this era, orcs who were previously addicted to the demonic power are now willingly imprisoned by the human.  The war is lost.  It is a dark day for the orcs.

Infant orc Thrall, son of Frostwolf Clan’s Chieftain, is left in the wild when his parents are brutally assassinated by their fellow Horde.  During a hunting trip, Thrall is found by a human called Lord Blackmoore who is in command of the encampments where orcs are imprisoned.  Instead of killing the orc baby, Blackmoore has decided to enslave Thrall and train him as a gladiator for his personal gain.  He commands his people to teach Thrall how to read and to fight.  He wants Thrall to learn the human language and master the war strategies.  Life as a gladiator is never easy.  However, Thrall is also blessed with a few friends.  One of them is a human girl called Taretha, who treats Thrall as her little brother.

However comfortable life seems to be as a slave, Thrall’s true destiny is not to be a gladiator.  He must join force with Grom Hellscream of the Warsong Clan.  He must unit with the Warchief Orgrim Doomhammer.  Together, the New Horde must rise.

Lord of the Clan is the first book that is written from the Horde’s perspective.  While the Old Horde that fell under the demonic influence is traditionally viewed as villain and the Alliance is seen as hero, with the rise of the New Horde, the line is no longer black and white.  Orcs can be honorable.  Orcs can be merciful.  And human can also be corrupted by political power too.

Thrall has become a center figure in recent lore development.  Lord of the Clans has shed much insight onto Thrall’s childhood and adulthood.  With Thrall’s unique background – born as an orc and taught by the human – it is no doubt he is where he is today.  The question to all whom indulge in the World of Warcraft is: after Cataclysm and at the end of Mists of Pandaria, will Thrall return as Horde’s Warchief?

Categories
Book Reviews Fiction

Day of the Dragon By Richard A. Knaak

Richard Knaak is one of the few resident Warcraft series writers.  His storytelling style is visibly different from others, more so towards the traditional fantasy genre.  Written in 2001, Day of the Dragon is considered as the first book of the Warcraft series.  It is also the first book of the Warcraft: Archive four-book series.  Warcraft is a fantasy universe I am fond of, dearly.  Hence, I read Day of the Dragon with a high anticipation over my holiday in Bandung, devouring every bit of the lore within.

For those who are familiar with the recent lore development, reading Day of the Dragon is real treat.  Never have we been so close to some of the key figures in recent days.  Imagine reading Deathwing in human form, the Old Horde corrupted by demonic power, and the general mistrust of the use of magic – just to name a few.

Back to the era whereby the day of the dragon has passed, dragonqueen Alexstrasza – one of the five great Aspects of the dragon flights – is captured by the orcs from the Dragonmaw clan and is imprisoned within the caves of Khaz Modan.  Deeply weakened by an artifact called Demon Soul, she resigns to her fate of birthing red dragons only to be trained by the orcs to do evil deeds.

Her consort, Korialstrasz also known as Krasus in his human form, must find a way to free his beloved queen.  And it is no easy task.  Uniting the rest of the weakened dragon Aspects seems impossible.  Malygos has gone mad; Nozdormu is obsessed with collecting artifacts throughout the timeline; and Ysera is lost in her dream world.  Only Deathwing the Destroyer – the black dragon flight Aspect – is not weakened by the Demon Soul.  And he is plotting his sinister moves in bringing the world to an end (you could say again, but this event happens before Cataclysm).

Hope is now placed upon a human mage Rhonin from Kirin Tor of Dalaran.  Krasus sends Rhonin on an observatory mission to Khaz Modan escorted by an elvan ranger Vereesa Windrunner.  During their journey, they have recruited the help of the human paladins as well as the dwarves and their quest has changed.  But is it enough to face the adversities of the orcs, trolls, and goblins?  With the Horde losing ground and the Alliance gathering its forces under a mysterious character called Lord Prestor, how would this ultimate battle play out?

Day of the Dragon answers a lot of questions I used to have.  Locations and characters such as island kingdom of Tol Barad, Gemm Greymane, and Gilneas are not featured in World of Warcraft until 2011.  It appears to me that Day of the Dragon was well ahead of time.  Lore development these days are tightly coupled with the game development.  Deep inside, I am wishing that Blizzard would release new lore that will not be seen in the game till, say, a decade later.  This will give the fans something to look forward to, something beyond what we have anticipated today.