This is the first book in the sequel series to Bear’s ‘Eternal Sky’ trilogy. I read the Eternal Sky years ago and loved it. After recently reading the Mongolian-inspired ‘The Judas Blossom,’ I was made nostalgic, so I doubled back and returned to this. Once again, I really enjoyed this.
This is a deeply worldbuilt setting, with dragons and snow wyrms and jinn and cat-people. I’m happy to add this isn’t skin-deep worldbuilding, but deep and rich. The author uses colorful and flavorful prose which brings this setting to life.
The characters are good, and at moments are great. In particular, I liked the ‘Dead Man,’ a warrior who outlived his family and king and now seeks death in battle. This book has trans characters- my favorite is the Gage, a metallic robot whom was once a woman but transformed into an automaton in order to get revenge. As a robot, he goes by male pronouns because I think all robots go by male pronouns.
Overall, I had a great time reading this and I’ll finish off the series. If I have one small quibble, this book is in no way a standalone. This book was a lot of set-up, and only a small pay-off at the end of the book. As I get older, I enjoy standalones more and more. This includes having standalone narratives and plots in series. It’s a small complaint, I think this book is well worth reading.
This lecture series is about the eerie and the strange, from jinn and faeries, to spiritualism, to magic and mystery and the unexplained, MK Ultra, Nazis and Communists. On one hand, I loved this. On the other hand, I think this might be the worst Great Courses lecture I’ve ever listened to.
If you check out my blog, you’d know I like reading about our world’s religions. Magic, as we call it, is an outgrowth of those spiritual practices. I’m fascinated by the secrets this lecture series describes. So In my critique, I’m coming from a perspective of someone inclined to like this.
I disliked this because this felt like the individual lectures had no theme. The lecturer would jump from topic to topic from one breath to the next; he’d discuss the pyramids in Egypt in one breath, to Aleister Crowley the next, to particle accelerators the next. Again, on one hand I loved all the information in this. On the other hand this lecture series felt on the manic side of bipolar, jumping around WAY too much and never drilling down on any topic in particular.
As an example, this lecture series very briefly spoke about the Emerald Tablet and Hermes Trismegistus. At most, the lecturer discussed the topic for three or four minutes. This is a topic you can spend hours discussing. This lecture series felt like a tease, switching between things too often, going broad instead of going deep. Reading this was like trying to drink from a firehouse; it was too much.
This lecture series was both too much, and not enough at the same time. The information herein is good information; I intend to read it again at some point.
Now THIS is what I was looking for! I’ve been researching the Byzantine Empire and the Ottoman Empire, and up until now I’ve only read summaries of their history from the BIG PICTURE perspective: military history, peasant rebellions, fighting the Byzanties and the Franks and the Hapbsburgs, that sort of thing. This book focuses instead on everyday life. What did the Turkish people ate historically; what were their jobs; what festivals did they have. This focused on the economy, and various economic depressions. It discussed Turkish diplomatic efforts with Europe, the Middle East and to a lesser extent places like India. It discussed various ethic, religious and caste based issues- for example, how Ottoman Christians were free to trade with Europe. It even discusses art styles, and the changing tastes and taboos of different eras.
The biggest problem with this is that it doesn’t stand on it’s own. This so much about everyday life, that you basically don’t learn anything about military campaigns or peasant uprisings or anything like that. You CANNOT read this on it’s own; you must read this after reading a thing or two about Ottoman history.
Very good book overall. I think this is the best Ottoman book I’ve read yet.
John Mendez- Book Reviews and More 