Time once more for my bi-wheneverly update to this blog! Yes real life has jumped up and kicked me right in the teeth once more, overwhelming my time and my sense of creativity as it throws more crap at me. Also a lot of good things too, but they just need a hell of a lot more effort to achieve!
So today I bring you a review of The Brazen Spindle by T.R. Pippin.
This has to be quite honestly one of the best tales of magic, fairy tale worlds and gender altering spells I have come across. Hell even without the last bit it would have been a damn fine read!
The author was able to craft a fantasy world that was both in depth, well thought out and almost alive in the way it was set out. The scenes were set so well that it was easy to imagine them in your mind as you read the text. The characters are well crafted and not the frankly horrible two dimensional ones you often find in modern fiction.
All the characters explore what it means to be of each gender, the expectations one has to deal with, the challenges it brings and even the differences in generations as new ideas and thoughts come into play. The main character is almost trapped by the expectations and beliefs of the age he/she was brought up in and the thoughts and desires of her new body. After all, it certainly takes a lot of working out as to just how you need to be when you're a penniless skilled weaver turned cow turned beautiful woman!
I enjoyed it from start to finish, the sort of period drama that I would love to see more of, but the style that most authors would be afraid to write. The bad guy is a total cad, which is as lovely as it always is especially when they get what is coming to them, the friends of the protagonist are the type you'd like to have yourself and it has the usual selection of uppity types period tales are packed to the gunwales with. Well no gunwales in this book, that sort of thing is left for Hornblower!
So if you're looking for a book to spend a rainy day with (which there have been a lot of over on this side of the Atlantic of late!) then this is a great one to pick up and have a giggle with!
Five out of five.
The Brazen Spindle by T. R. Pippin
Available from Smashwords.com
Monday 30 April 2012
Sunday 1 April 2012
Black Library's 15th Anniversary
Ah time for my semi regular update to this review blog! Well its not that I don't read anything, just that when I do, I can't think of something to say in review, or just move straight onto the next book and get absorbed with that instead. That's even worse now I own a kindle and a new book is just a few clicks away!!
So anyway, instead of just reviewing one thing, I thought I'd do a little thing for the whole event going on over the the Black Library at the moment. 15 years in the business. Not bad for what many might call a niche market. Or at least it would have been if they hadn't managed to make the Dawn of War series a success and then get a game that was actually good onto the Xbox! Well two in fact if you count the xbox arcade game....
So anyway, as you might have guessed from what I've said here in previous reviews, I'm somewhat of a fan of the fiction produced to go along with the games of the warhammer universes. It makes the whole thing far more enjoyable and gives life to otherwise dull 2d characters. Well they're not exactly 2d but you should get what I'm on about..... maybe.
Well for the last fourteen days they've been producing a bunch of short stories to be downloaded directly from their website, each one written by a different author in their collection, each one dealing with a different aspect of one of the two universes. Sometimes we see established characters out for another jaunt, the first appearances of a brand new one soon to get their own novel/audio drama (their latest thing and I must say they are enjoyable to listen to, just not to wake up to at 3am to the sound of plague beasts howling!!). We even get brand new ones out for a visit as well.
Now, I'm not going to go through each one, partly because I have yet to download them all and partly because that would take forever to do, but so far, I have enjoyed everyone I have read. From the Crimson Fists returning to a grave of an old comrade in arms, to seeing a crazy Dwarf free a beast from the bloody pits of an arena, they each hold something a bit special that adds greater depths to the universes created by the company.
My only complaint is they end sooner than you think they would, but hey, thats a great marketing trick to get you to buy more books from them!!
So with one day left to go in the promotion, I highly suggest you head over there and pick them up! Great way to fill those ten minutes in the day when you're not sure what to do!
Five Stars
The Black Library
So anyway, instead of just reviewing one thing, I thought I'd do a little thing for the whole event going on over the the Black Library at the moment. 15 years in the business. Not bad for what many might call a niche market. Or at least it would have been if they hadn't managed to make the Dawn of War series a success and then get a game that was actually good onto the Xbox! Well two in fact if you count the xbox arcade game....
So anyway, as you might have guessed from what I've said here in previous reviews, I'm somewhat of a fan of the fiction produced to go along with the games of the warhammer universes. It makes the whole thing far more enjoyable and gives life to otherwise dull 2d characters. Well they're not exactly 2d but you should get what I'm on about..... maybe.
Well for the last fourteen days they've been producing a bunch of short stories to be downloaded directly from their website, each one written by a different author in their collection, each one dealing with a different aspect of one of the two universes. Sometimes we see established characters out for another jaunt, the first appearances of a brand new one soon to get their own novel/audio drama (their latest thing and I must say they are enjoyable to listen to, just not to wake up to at 3am to the sound of plague beasts howling!!). We even get brand new ones out for a visit as well.
Now, I'm not going to go through each one, partly because I have yet to download them all and partly because that would take forever to do, but so far, I have enjoyed everyone I have read. From the Crimson Fists returning to a grave of an old comrade in arms, to seeing a crazy Dwarf free a beast from the bloody pits of an arena, they each hold something a bit special that adds greater depths to the universes created by the company.
My only complaint is they end sooner than you think they would, but hey, thats a great marketing trick to get you to buy more books from them!!
So with one day left to go in the promotion, I highly suggest you head over there and pick them up! Great way to fill those ten minutes in the day when you're not sure what to do!
Five Stars
The Black Library
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)