Book Review: The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

It is one of the most famous battles in American history that many see as the turning point of the Civil War and has been the subject of book, films, and tv specials over the 150 years since it took place. The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara is a historical fictional account of the three-day battle in July 1863 that went on to be the basis for a Hollywood film.

Shaara retells the battle from the perspective of various characters of both sides—Generals Robert E. Lee, James Longstreet, Lewis ‘Lo’ Armistead, the spy Harrison, and the British observer Colonel Fremantle on Confederacy and General John Buford and Colonel Joshua Chamberlain on Union—starting in the days leading up to the beginning of July through the end of the battle. Though Shaara interprets the personality and ideas of everyone based on his research they are very believable, though the dialogue between characters is every so often hard to understand/read—though that same dialogue in the film Gettysburg worked very well. Shaara’s descriptions of the battle were vivid and inserted the reader into the defense of Little Round Top and Pickett’s Charge as if they were there with the character who was witnessing it. The only really negative was Shaara’s criticism of Union General George Meade for remaining on defense throughout the battle and afterwards, though I am doing so after recent research has revealed the logistical nightmare the Army of the Potomac was dealing with along with the orders from Washington that Meade was beholden to.

The Killer Angels is a vividly written military historical fiction by Michael Shaara that brings the three-day Battle of Gettysburg to life for the reader. Though there is a little issue with dialogue from time to time and unwarranted criticism of Meade, Shaara delivers a fantastic book.

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Book Review: Genesis by Jacques B. Doukhan

Genesis by Jacques B. Doukhan
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

Genesis is the book of beginnings, not only of history but of the plan of salvation for humanity that God builds towards with imperfect material. Genesis, the supplement book for the Adult Sabbath School Bible Study Guide (2nd Quarter, 2022) by Jacques B. Doukhan, reveals that the pillars of faith that inspire so many today are in fact human and not perfect. Yet through 121 pages Doukhan dives in-depth of these sinful individuals and how God worked with them their entire lives to leave a legacy that readers today know is achievable for them as well.

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Book Review: Black Sun Rising by C.S. Friedman

Black Sun Rising by C.S. Friedman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Near the galactic center humans must adapt to life on an alien planet, but it turns out that the planet and its life adapts quickly to humans as well. Black Sun Rising is the first book in C.S. Friedman’s Coldfire trilogy follows a band of humans journey to the lands of the native rahk to hunt down demons that have stolen memories from one of their number and pose a different threat to another of their number.

Twelve hundred years before the time of the novel, a colony vessel arrived on the earthlike Erna only for humanity to find the fauna not only alien but fantastical. The mix of science fiction and fantasy instantly makes an interesting environment to set a story, but Friedman adds to it by having humans upset the balance of Erna that must account for and adapt to the presence of humanity especially when human minds and emotion resulting in physical change of the world. Throughout the book this background is slowly revealed to set up new twists of the story that the five significant characters of the novel must deal with, along with their attitudes with one another. The main two characters of the book, Priest Damien Vryce and Gerald Tarrant are uneasy allies as they venture to the protected area in which Erna’s native inhabitants live for their own particular reasons to face the same antagonist; what makes things more interesting is that Damien is a part of the order that Gerald founded as the Prophet of the Church before turning heretic and becoming near immortal by joining with the dark side of Erna’s magical forces. The unique world and the uneasy alliance between the two main characters makes this a fascinating read.

Black Sun Rising is a well-written very interesting science fiction-fantasy opening installment of a trilogy. C.S. Friedman not only creating an amazing world that the reader explores, but fascinating characters as well.

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Book Review: Two Treatise of Government by John Locke

Two Treatises of Government by John Locke
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Originally published in the wake of the Glorious Revolution these two essays were neglected due to a glut of tracts and treatise in support of the events of 1689-90, it wasn’t until the 1760s that they become important in political discourse. Two Treatise of Government by John Locke were a refutation of absolute monarchy and the theory of the state of nature and how government is created.

The less famous First Treatise is a straight line for line critique of Sir Robert Filmer’s divine right absolutist monarch supporting tract, Patriarcha, the conclusion of which Locke examines the Bible and history to demolish Filmer’s hypothesis. In the Second Treatise Locke turns from Filmer’s work into his own theories of the state of nature and how it eventually led to the formation of a government by contract between individuals. Overall, the First Treatise is slog with Locke apparently having to repeat the same evidence to refute Filmer and essentially isn’t needed to understand its follow-up. On the other hand, the Second Treatise begins slowly as Locke references Filmer until transition to his own theory of the state of nature that leads to his own contract theory that is thought-provoking and historically influential.

Two Treatise of Government while being connected as a refutation and then opposing argument, the latter work by John Locke this is more profound not only as political theory and from an historical perspective.

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Book Review: Fatal North by Bruce Henderson

Fatal North: Murder Survival Aboard U S S Polaris 1ST U S Expedition North Pole by Bruce Henderson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Following the Civil War President Grant wanted to unite the country through various ways, one being the exploration of the North Pole masterminded by a two-time Artic explorer from Cincinnati. Fatal North: Adventure and Survival Aboard the USS Polaris, the First U.S. Expedition to the North Pole by Bruce Henderson follows the internally divided and essentially doomed expedition that see’s its leader most likely murdered, and its crew allowed to go undisciplined afterwards that its surprising he was the only casualty.

Henderson essentially follows the expedition from the perspective of George Tyson, a subordinate officer on the ship, who like its leader Captain Charles Francis Hall, wanted to reach the North Pole but is stunned by the lack of motivation and decline of discipline by Hall’s successor. Tyson latter becomes the nominal leader—due to the drastic decline of discipline on the ship—of a group of crew and the expedition’s Inuit abandoned by the ship on the ice and survived six months before rescue. One of the biggest questions that Henderson attempts to tackle is if the expedition’s leader was murdered and if so who did the deed, but the evidence and time result in no hard conclusion.

Fatal North is historical book of adventure and survival with a dash of mystery that Bruce Henderson wraps together in easy-to-read prose that shows great research.

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Book Review: The Last Jedi by Jason Fry

The Last Jedi: Expanded Edition by Jason Fry
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

The novelization of the middle film of the Disney sequel trilogy The Last Jedi hit shelves four months after the film’s premiered in theaters, written by long-time Star Wars author Jason Fry based on the script by Rian Johnson.

Following the outline of the script faithfully, Fry attempted to bring sense to the story by clearing up the plot holes and give better descriptions of characters than what the finished film displayed. While Fry tries to give a credible background to Luke Skywalker’s self-imposed exile, it didn’t really feel it was the same Luke who saved his father decades before. No explanation is given why Leia doesn’t order the bombers not to proceed nor why Hondo decides not to give hope to Resistance fighters by giving them the outlines of the plan nor why the escape pods weren’t used as a distraction. Fry does make Rose Tico more of a rounded character and he’s able to give some insight into Snoke though he’s still just a device. The disconnected chronology of Rey on Ahch-To over the course of days and the Resistance’s flight from the First Order over the course of hours—as well Rose and Finn’s journey happening in that same time frame—did not make sense even though Fry tried to write around it as best he could.

The Last Jedi is a novelization that was an attempt to adapt a poorly written film to the page that Jason Fry was able to improve a little but couldn’t overcome the source material.

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Book Review: Master and Fool by J.V. Jones

Master and Fool by J.V. Jones
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Prophecy, sorcery, politics, and war dominate the Known Lands though for many, they just want to survive. Master and Fool is the concludes J.V. Jones’ The Book of Words series that finds Jack, Melli, and Tawl working together to bring about the end of Kylock’s burgeoning empire.

The dark elements that Jones has been delving into through the series continued, but it felt that she really went hard on the classical fantasy tropes than in the two previous installments of the series. Jones also stealthily revises Melli’s arc by getting her pregnant by the Duke just after their wedding which gives her a pregnancy arc to deal with especially after she is captured by Kylock’s agents and his to endure his insane sadistic treatment of her until her rescue by Tawl and Jack. The two male protagonists’ finally meet—becoming insta-friends soon afterwards—and go on a road trip with Nabbler first to Larn then back to Bern destroying the first and saving the second as well as Melli via Tawl beginning the Knights of Valdis’ redemption. Kylock’s military genius—or the ineptitude of his enemies—is on full display along with his madness which is enhanced thanks to Baralis giving him a sorcery suppressing drug. The endgame was well written, though given the dark elements Jones had been weaving throughout the series if a protagonist had not made it after the final showdown, it would have worked just as well if not better.

Master and Fool finishes off the trilogy very well, but J.V. Jones’ decision to go with more tropes and putting in revisionism from how the previous book ended were enough to make this the “weakest” of the books though a very entertaining one.

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