#IReadsYou Book Review: BURN IT DOWN by Maureen Ryan

BURN IT DOWN: POWER, COMPLICITY, AND A CALL FOR CHANGE IN HOLLYWOOD

HARPERCOLLINS/Mariner Books

AUTHOR: Maureen Ryan

ISBN: 978-0-06-326927-9; hardcover (June 6, 2023)

400pp, B&W, $32.50 U.S., $40.00 CAN

Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood is a 2023 nonfiction book from author Maureen Ryan.  Ryan is a contributing editor for Vanity Fair, and she has had a three-decade career as a reporter and critic for such publications as GQ, The Hollywood Reporter, The New York Times, and Variety, to name a few.

Abuse and exploitation of workers is baked into the very foundations of the entertainment industry and in Hollywood, specifically.  It is a cycle, and if that cycle is going to be broken, it is important to stop looking at headline-making stories as individual events.  To make change that sticks, we must look closely at the bigger picture, to see how abusers are created, fed, rewarded, and allowed to persist.  People must discover how they can be excised – with the right tools.

In Burn It Down, veteran reporter Maureen Ryan does just that.  Drawing on decades of experience, Ryan connects the dots and illuminates the deeper forces sustaining Hollywood’s corrosive culture.  She offers fresh reporting that sheds light on problematic situations at television series such as ABC's “Lost” (2004-10) and “The Goldbergs” (2013-23); NBC's "Saturday Night Live" (1975-present); Fox's “Sleepy Hollow” (2013-17); HBO's "Curb Your Enthusiasm" (12 seasons over the period of 2000 to 2024), to name a few.

Ryan weaves insights from industry insiders together with historical context and pop-culture analysis.  Most of all, Burn It Down both shows us what’s gone wrong in the entertainment world and also how people can fix it.

THE LOWDOWN:  I first heard of Burn It Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood when Hollywood trade publications and social media started reporting a particular section of Maureen Ryan's book.  The chapter entitled, “'Lost' and the Myths of a Golden Age.”  I think many fans had an idealized view of the creative process behind ABC's Emmy-winning TV series, “Lost.”

What the people behind the scenes of the show knew was that that the production of the series involved the machinations and temperamental behavior of executive producer and showrunner, Carlton Cuse, and the codependency of fellow executive producer, Damon Lindelof.  The report about the book offered juicy “Lost” details, but Burn It Down offers further insight via Ryan's interview of fired “Lost actor, Harold Perrineau.

“Lost” is just one part of the story.  Ryan's revealing conversations with actor Orlando Jones details an ugly behind-the-scenes situation with Fox's former supernatural drama, “Sleepy Hollow.”  It seems that after the first season, which was well-received, Fox became concerned that the series was “too Black,” meaning too much focus on too many African-American characters.

Once again, “Sleepy Hollow” is just one part of the story.  Burn It Down is a virtual horror show of stories of terrible behavior – usually committed by white men – behind many hit TV series.  In the book, actress Evan Rachel Wood talks about the abuse she has suffered over the years, especially at the hands of her former boyfriend, rock star Marilyn Manson.  Burn It Down details the Nxivm cult and also the abuse of EGOT recipient, super-producer Scott Rudin.

Still, fully one-third of Burn It Down (the book's “Part Two”) talks about moving forward.  How can people clean up the industry?  What does “centering survivors” and “doing the work” look like?  How does the industry foster real change or even create a new model of creative leadership?

I get the feeling that writing this book took a lot out of Ryan, but I believe that there are more horror stories to tell, enough to fill several books.  Maybe, other writers can pick up this crusade.  In the meantime, I adore Burn It Down, and I recommend it to fans of non-fiction books about Hollywood and about the “Me Too” movement.  In the meantime, the paperback edition is due June 4, 2024.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:   Fans of nonfiction books about Hollywood scandals will want to read Burn it Down: Power, Complicity, and a Call for Change in Hollywood.

A

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

A copy of BURN IT DOWN can be bought at AMAZON.

https://www.moryan.com/

https://twitter.com/moryan

https://www.harpercollins.com/pages/marinerbooks

https://twitter.com/MarinerBooks

https://www.instagram.com/marinerbooks/?hl=en

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#IReadsYou Book Review: THE WAY OF THE BEAR by Anne Hillerman

THE WAY OF THE BEAR – (A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel #8)

HARPERCOLLINS

AUTHOR: Anne Hillerman

ISBN: 978-0-06-290839-1; hardcover (April 25, 2023)

286pp, B&W, $30.00 U.S., $37.50 CAN

The Way of the Bear: A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel is a 2023 hardcover original novel from author Anne Hillerman.  It is the eighth novel in her “Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito” book series, which began with Spider Woman's Daughter (2013).

This series is a continuation of the “Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee Series” written by Hillerman's late father, bestselling author, Tony Hillerman (1925-2008).  The father's novels are the basis for “Dark Winds,” a television series from the cable network, AMC, and its streaming service, AMC+.  In The Way of the Bear, Chee and Manuelito find themselves caught up in a case that involves fossil harvesting, greed, rejected love, and murder.

The Way of the Bear opens in December.  Navajo Nation Police Officer Bernadette “Bernie” Manuelito and her husband, Sgt. Jim Chee, have traveled to San Juan County, Utah to the place known as “the Valley of the Gods,” near the Bears Ears National Monument.  Chee is on assignment for the Navajo Nation Police Department, and his job is to convince Dr. Chapman “Chap” Dulles, a wealthy fossil hunter and paleontologist., to donate money to a fallen Navajo police officers fund.

Bernie has gone along on the trip and uses the time to visit Bears Ears for relaxation, contemplation, and exploration.  This has been a difficult time in her life for both personal and professional reasons.  While there, she has a terrifying encounter involving a pickup truck that tries to run her down.  One of the truck's passengers even shoots at her.  And after that, Bernie helps a young couple deliver their baby in the middle of the night.

However, an unexpected death on a lonely road outside of Bears Ears for raises questions for Bernie and Chee.  They didn't plan on being involved in a murder, but they also wonder why a seasoned outdoorsman and well-known paleontologist freezes to death within walking distance of his car?  A second death, and apparent murder, brings more turmoil and mystery. Who is the unidentified man killed during a home invasion where nothing much seems to have been taken? Why was he murdered?

The Bears Ears area, at the edge of the Navajo Nation, is celebrated for its abundance of early human habitation sites and for the discovery of unique and revolutionary fossils.  Instead of being able to appreciate all this, Bernie and Chee are faced with an unprecedented level of violence that sweeps them both into danger.

THE LOWDOWN:  I have been crazy about Anne Hillerman's work since I first read Spider Woman's Daughter.  I had read two of her late father, Tony Hillerman's novels a long time ago, so I requested a review copy of Spider Woman's Daughter from HarperCollins when it was offered to reviewers back in 2013.  It was a fortuitous decision, as the “Manuelito, Chee & Leaphorn” series became one of my favorite modern literary series.

When I read the previous novel in the series, 2022's The Sacred Bridge, I didn't know if I should call it a turning point in the series, but the story did suggest that big changes were ahead for both Bernie and Chee.  Joe Leaphorn did not appear in The Sacred Bridge, nor does he appear in The Way of the Bear, except indirectly, and Hillerman continues to hint at big changes for him.

Like The Sacred Bridge, The Way of the Bear is a solid crime thriller, and at times, a riveting suspense thriller.  In this new novel, Bernie and Chee's lives are constantly under threat – sometimes in unexpected ways.  There is level of danger, menace, and peril that I don't remember encountering in earlier novels.  However, the entries in this series always seem to be moving the characters forward.  Nothing is stale, and the lives of Bernie and Chee are ongoing and evolving.  Even with the danger this story imposes on them, the narrative also gives us a deeper look into them.

As I have done with the previous books, I am heartily recommending The Way of the Bear.  The more I read, the more I learn about Bernie and Chee, and the more attached to them that I become.  As always, I am sad about reaching the end of the story, doubly so this time because it was just a year ago that I read The Sacred Bridge.  The best recommendation that I can give The Way of the Bear is to tell you, dear readers, that I would like to read another book in the series right now.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:   Fans of Anne Hillerman and of her late father, Tony Hillerman, will want to read The Way of the Bear.

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

https://www.annehillerman.com/

https://twitter.com/harperbooks

https://www.instagram.com/harperbooks/

https://twitter.com/HarperCollins

https://www.harpercollins.com/

The text is copyright © 2023 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved.  Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Book Review: Masters of Make-Up Effects: A Century of Practical Magic

MASTERS OF MAKE-UP EFFECTS: A CENTURY OF PRACTICAL MAGIC

WELBECK PUBLISHING

AUTHORS: Howard Berger and Marshall Julius

DESIGN: Russell Knowles; Darren Jordan

EDITORS: Ross Hamilton and Roland Hall

ISBN: 978-0-80279-001-6; hardcover – 9” x 11” (September 20, 2022)

320pp, Color, $39.95 U.S., £30.00 U.K.

Forward by Guillermo Del Toro; Afterword by Seth MacFarlane

Masters of Make-Up Effects: A Century of Practical Magic is a film history and art book from authors Howard Berger and Marshall Julius.  Berger is a special make-up effects artist with over 800 feature film credits.  With Tami Lane, Berger won the “Best Make-up” Academy Award for their work on the 2005 film, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.  Julius is a London-based film critic, blogger, broadcaster and author, whose previous books include Vintage Geek (September Publishing, 2019) and Action! The Action Movie A-Z (Batsford Film Books, 1996).

Masters of Make-Up Effects: A Century of Practical Magic is an illustrated oral history of the art form of make-up effects, celebrating the make-up artists and acclaimed make-up effects masters from the world of both film and television  The authors take their readers into that fascinating world via untold stories from the sets of both popular and cult films and television.  Read the tales behind the make-up and effects on such films as An American Werewolf in London, Star Wars, Pan's Labyrinth, and The Thing, to name a few.  Visit the sets of such TV series as “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Doctor Who,” “Star Trek,” and “The Walking Dead,” to name a few.

THE LOWDOWN:  In Masters of Make-Up Effects: A Century of Practical Magic, there are 293 stories over 15 chapters.  I counted.  That made Masters of Make-Up Effects one of my most difficult book reviews – if not the most difficult.  There is just so much good stuff for film fans and movie buffs that reading it can sometimes feels like sensory overload.

First, I'll mention something that absolutely delighted me.  Co-author Marshall Julius pens an introduction that recounts an interview he conducted with his then-future co-author, Howard Berger, in 2006.  It ended with Berger applying his make-up effects magic on Julius, and the result of that magic...  Well, you have to buy Masters of Make-Up Effects to find out what it is.  [If you are a movie fan, you really should already have this book.]

Masters of Make-Up Effects contains hundreds of photographs, a few of which I was familiar.  However, the vast majority were new to me – these photographs of actors, directors, and, of course, the make-up and effects artists who are the stars of this book.  Yes, I have seen make-up special effects legend, Tom Savini (Dawn of the Dead, Creepshow), in film and on television for decades.  However, the other photographs put faces on these make-up effects and make-up artists I only knew as names on screen, on the Internet, and in books.  This includes masters such as Rick Baker, Rob Bottin, Greg Nicotero, Dick Smith, David White, Kevin Yagher, and Louis Zakarian, to name a few.

Seeing a photo of Stuart Freeborn and another of the members of his Star Wars “creature crew” was almost a religious experience.  Thank you, Howard and Marshall, for that.  Freeborn and company were the people behind Chewbacca and the creatures of the “Mos Eisley cantina sequence” in the first Star Wars.  In 1982, I saw Star Wars in a pre Return of the Jedi re-release.  That Saturday afternoon, I followed Luke Skywalker and Obi-Wan “Ben” Kenobi into that “wretched hive of scum and villainy” and movies were never the same for me after that.  So finally seeing the artists behind it is a big deal.

While trying to find a way to talk about all these photos, it was then that I realized that Masters of Make-Up Effects: A Century of Practical Magic is not only a book of photographs, but it is also a book of stories.  If you like science fiction, fantasy, and horror films and television, this book of stories is for you and the fans in your life.  The storytellers include the great Robert Englund, Rick Baker, Doug Bradley, Bruce Campbell, Nick Dudman, Toni G, Doug Jones, John Landis, James McAvoy, Greg Nicotero, Sarah Rubano, and Tom Savini, to once again name a few.

One does not need to be a fantasy film fan to love this book.  After all, film and TV dramas also require make-up effects and make-up artists.  Chapter 13 is entitled “Reel Lives” and focuses on the make-up work behind films based on real-life figures.  Actors have to be made up to resemble historical figures like Alfred Hitchcock (Anthony Hopkins in 2012's Hitchcock); Judy Garland (Renée Zellwegger in 2019's Judy); and Margaret Thatcher (Meryl Streep in The Iron Lady), to name a few.

I bought this book almost a few months ago, and I find myself repeatedly returning to it.  I can't get enough of the photographs or the stories.  Howard Berger and Marshall Julius have created an important book in Masters of Make-Up Effects: A Century of Practical Magic, both for what it is and for what it may mean in the future.

As more people discover this book, some because of a second printing, they will realize that it is a gem.  Over time, it will become an important resource for reference and scholarly research.  Movie and television fans, put those unused gift cards from Christmas and the holidays to use and buy Masters of Make-Up Effects: A Century of Practical Magic.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Readers who are fans of the magic that is movies will want a copy of Masters of Make-Up Effects: A Century of Practical Magic.

A+

10 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

https://www.welbeckpublishing.com/

https://twitter.com/welbeckpublish

https://www.instagram.com/welbeckpublish/?hl=en

The text is copyright © 2023 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Book Review: THE SACRED BRIDGE

THE SACRED BRIDGE – (A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel #7)

HARPERCOLLINS

AUTHOR: Anne Hillerman

ISBN: 978-0-06-290836-0; hardcover (April 12, 2022)

336pp, B&W, $26.99 U.S., $33.50 CAN

The Sacred Bridge: A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel is a 2022 hardcover original novel from author Anne Hillerman.  It is the seventh novel in her “Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito” book series, which began with Spider Woman's Daughter (2013).

This series is a continuation of the “Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee Series” written by Hillerman's late father, bestselling author, Tony Hillerman (1925-2008).  The original series is the basis for “Dark Winds,” a television series from the cable network, AMC, and its streaming service, AMC+.  In The Sacred Bridge, Chee and Manuelito each investigate an unusual murder.

Navajo Nation Police Officer Bernadette “Bernie” Manuelito and her husband, Sgt. Jim Chee, are enjoying a vacation, but Bernie leaves early.  Jim Chee’s stay in beautiful Antelope Canyon and Lake Powell has a deeper purpose. He is on a quest to unravel a sacred mystery his mentor, the legendary police officer, Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn, stumbled across decades earlier.  Chee's journey takes a dark turn when, after a prayerful visit to the sacred Rainbow Bridge, he spots a body floating in Lake Powell.  The dead man is Curtis Walker, a Navajo with a passion for the canyon’s ancient rock art.  However, Curtis lived a life filled with many secrets, including an affair with a married woman and double-crossing one or more potential business partners.  In his mission to discover why Curtis died and who is responsible, Chee's will put his own life at risk.

Back at their home base of Shiprock, Bernie is driving home when she witnesses a black Mercedes sedan purposely kill a hitchhiker.  The search to find the killer leads her into an undercover investigation at KHF – “K'é Happy Farm,” a cannabis farming operation that was supposed to benefit the Navajo Nation.  However, the place is surrounded by mystery and rumors and also reports that workers are shooting dogs.  Even the guy who is supposed to own the place, Dino Begay Perez, is missing.  Bernie discovers a dangerous chain of interconnected revelations involving KHF.  It is an evil that jeopardizes both her mother and sister, Darleen, and puts Bernie in the deadliest situation of her law enforcement career.

THE LOWDOWN:  I have been crazy about Anne Hillerman's work since I first read Spider Woman's Daughter.  I had read two of her late father, Tony Hillerman's novels a long time ago, so I requested a review copy of Spider Woman's Daughter from HarperCollins when it was offered to reviewers back in 2013.  It was a fortuitous decision, as the “Manuelito, Chee & Leaphorn” series is one of my favorite modern literary series.

I don't know if I would call The Sacred Bridge a turning point in the series, but the story does suggest that big changes are ahead for both Bernie and Chee.  While Joe Leaphorn does not appear in the novel (although he plays an indirect part in the plot), Hillerman also hints of a big change for him.

Of all the books in this series, The Sacred Bridge is the one that I would most describe as a crime thriller or a suspense thriller.  Both mysteries that confront the lead characters are filled with danger, and it seems that their lives are always under threat.  It is not a spoiler to say that both come close to being killed, and Chee's case is filled with heartbreak that will vex some of the characters long after the story ends.  In Bernie's case, the characters end with hope and reunion.

As I have done with the previous books, I am heartily recommending The Sacred Bridge.  As usual, I was sad when I finished the last page.  I always want more, and, dear readers, if you give this book a chance, you will want more, also.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:   Fans of Anne Hillerman and of her late father, Tony Hillerman, will want to read The Sacred Bridge.

A

★★★★ out of 4 stars

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

https://www.annehillerman.com/

https://twitter.com/harperbooks

https://www.instagram.com/harperbooks/

https://twitter.com/HarperCollins

https://www.harpercollins.com/

The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved.  Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Book Review: WAR LORD: A Novel

WAR LORD
HARPERCOLLINS/Harper

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

AUTHOR: Bernard Cornwell
ISBN: 978-0-06-256329-3; hardcover (November 24, 2020)
352pp, B&W, $28.99 U.S.

War Lord is a 2020 novel from Bernard Cornwell, a bestselling British author of historical novels.  This is the thirteenth and final book in Cornwell’s “Saxon Tales” series, his epic story of the making of England and his continuing story of pagan Saxon warlord, Uhtred of Bebbanburg.  “The Saxon Tales” series is also known as “The Last Kingdom” (named for the first novel in the series).  War Lord finds Lord Uhtred torn between protecting what is his and his sworn oath to a young king.

As War Lord opens, Lord Uhtred is ruling his part of Northumbria from his family's fortress, Bebbanburg.  With a new woman, Benedetta, and a loyal band of warriors by his side, his household is secure.  Well, he should be secure, but beyond the fortress, a battle for power rages.

Young King Æthelstan has done something he swore to Lord Uhtred that he would never do.  Uhtred is the man who is most responsible for putting him on the throne and made him “Anglorum Saxonum Rex” – King of the Angles and the Saxons – King of Wessex, of East Anglia, and of Mercia.

That promise that Æthelstan has broken is that he has invaded Northumbria.  He wants to be “Monarchus Totius Britanniae,” King of All Britain, and the invasion is his first stop.  To the north, however, is King Constantine of Alba (Scotland) and other Scottish and Irish leaders who are all looking to expand their territory.  Possessing Northumbria will do that, and the region can act as a buffer zone between the Scots, Danes, Norse, and Irish lands and the Saxon lands.

Uhtred is faced with an impossible choice.  He can stay out of the struggle, but each side will think that he has made a deal with its enemies.  Or he can throw himself into this power struggle that will eventually result in the most terrible battle Britain has ever experienced.  It is a battle that could realize the dreams of King Alfred, King Edward (his son), and King Æthelstan (his grandson).  That dream is to create one realm for everyone who is Christian and who speaks the “Ænglisc” tongue, a kingdom to be called “Englaland” (or England, of course).  Will Uhtred, the War Lord of Britain, survive this crisis and hold onto Bebbanburg?

THE LOWDOWN:  I have read the seventh through this thirteenth entry in “The Saxon Tales” series.  I love these books, and as soon as I reach the last page of one book, I dearly wish the next book was immediately available.  George R.R. Martin, the author of A Song of Fire and Ice (the inspiration for HBO's Emmy-winning “Game of Thrones” television series), says that Cornwell writes the best battles scenes he has ever read.  I can say that Cornwell's “Saxon Tales” are kind of like a real life “Game of Thrones,” with Cornwell taking creative liberties with the story of the creation of England.  And yes, Cornwell's battle scenes are breathtaking.

Well, it is pointless to wish for more.  War Lord is the magnificent finale to the epic story of how England was made.  After writing reviews for seven of these books, I have practically run out of ways to praise Cornwell.  The series just never ran out of steam, as Cornwell never ran out of ways to depict political and courtly intrigue and epic brutal battles.

War Lord borrows elements from the previous books, and wraps up several story lines.  There is family drama and tragedy.  There is sea-faring adventure.  Scores are settled, and an epic battle decides the fate of kings and kingdoms.  Heck, this book is almost two years old, so I can spoil a few things.  Uhtred is alive at the end of this book, but is apparently retired.  Thus, we get a happy ending, a bittersweet one, of course.  I am sure that I am not the only reader who wants more.

In the meantime, I hope new readers discover this riveting series full of wonderful characters, topped by an amazing lead character.  Praise Bernard Cornwell and Lord Uhtred.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of historical fiction and of Bernard Cornwell must have War Lord.

A
★★★★+ out of 4 stars

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


https://twitter.com/BernardCornwell
https://www.bernardcornwell.net/
https://www.facebook.com/bernard.cornwell
https://twitter.com/HarperCollins
https://www.harpercollins.com/


The text is copyright © 2022 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Book Review: Anne Hillerman's STARGAZER

STARGAZER – (A Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito Novel #6)
HARPERCOLLINS

AUTHOR: Anne Hillerman
ISBN: 978-0-06-290833-9; hardcover (April 13, 2021)
336pp, B&W, $27.99 U.S., $34.99 CAN

Stargazer is a 2021 novel from author Anne Hillerman.  Recently published, it is the sixth novel in the “Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito” book series, which began with Spider Woman's Daughter (2013).  This series is a continuation of the “Joe Leaphorn and Jim Chee Series” written by Hillerman's late father, bestselling author, Tony Hillerman (1925-2008).  In Stargazer, Navajo tradition and the stars collide with murder and deception in a possible case of suicide that also might be homicide.

Navajo Nation Police Officer Bernadette “Bernie” Manuelito starts out having a typical day, as she serves a bench warrant, while also dealing with a herd of cattle obstructing traffic.  Then, the day takes two unexpected twists.  First, Bernie stumbles across a crime scene where she makes a grisly and heartbreaking discovery.  Then, Bernie learns that her old college roommate, Maya Kelsey, has confessed to the murder of her estranged husband, Steve Jones.

The case takes Bernie to Socorro County, where she helps her friend, Sheriff's Detective Tara Williams, who has Maya in custody.  Bernie finds Maya uncooperative, and while Detective Williams is willing to believe Maya's confession, Bernie is not.  Steve was a prominent astronomer, and Bernie wonders if Steve's work at the radio telescope facility, the Karl G. Jansky Very Large Array (VLA), and with some of his colleagues might explain the mystery of his death, which was originally considered a suicide.

Meanwhile, Bernie is experiencing an unexpected rift with her husband, Sgt. Jim Chee, who is sure that Bernie is headed for trouble.  Chee is also currently Bernie's new boss at the Shiprock police station, because their boss, Captain Howard Largo, is away on official business.  Chee's increased workload and Bernie's case make each short-tempered with other.

Chee is at a crossroads, burdened with new responsibilities for which he did not ask and does not want.  Still, he must decide what the future holds for him.  Also at a crossroads is Bernie and Chee's mentor, retired Lt. Joe Leaphorn.  He is dealing with a case from the past after learning that a woman who claims he once saved her life now wants to meet him.  Leaphorn must also decide if he is going to make a trip by plane with his companion, Louisa.  Leaphorn is afraid of flying, but declining the trip to Washington D.C. could be detrimental to his relationship with Louisa.

Will the past and the future provide the guidance for Chee and Leaphorn?  Will the Navajo heroes that dot the starry sky and the never ending celestial dome help Bernie find the answers to the questions about Maya's case that vex her?

THE LOWDOWN:  I have been crazy about Anne Hillerman's work since I first read Spider Woman's Daughter.  I had read two of her late father, Tony Hillerman's novels a long time ago, so I requested a review copy of Spider Woman's Daughter from HarperCollins when it was offered to reviewers back in 2013.  It was a fortuitous decision, as I have come to view the “Manuelito, Chee & Leaphorn” novels as my favorite current literary series, and I have been awaiting a new novel since the release of The Tale Teller back in 2019.

Thematically, Stargazer focuses on two threads.  The first focuses on the bonds and obligations of family and kinship and the duty and obligations to colleagues and friendship.  The second is how both what has happened in the past and what could happen in the future shape the present.

Bernie's relationship with Maya, which was stronger in the past than it is now, is actually what drives Bernie's investigation.  Bernie certainly has fidelity to her vocation and also a deep and abiding sense of justice.  Still, she cannot believe that Maya is a murderer, although Maya insists that she has killed her estranged husband, from whom she hoped to obtain a divorce.  Throughout Stargazer, author Anne Hillerman portrays how Bernie's relationships with her family, friends, and colleagues push her forward.  These relationships shape how she thinks about a case, and what she expects from people.  It seems that such connections with people are what makes Bernie pay extra-special attention to what they say or communicate in other ways, such as by email.  This attention to intimate details leads Bernie in where she should look for clues.

Hillerman makes Bernie the primary focus of Stargazer, but she does not neglect Chee and Leaphorn, revealing that each is at a crossroad in his life.  Each must examine the past and the future as his present circumstances demand decisions for the future.  Stargazer is truly a turning point novel in the Leaphorn, Chee & Manuelito series.  The main characters will begin heading in different professional directions, to one extent or another, the next time we see them.

By my reading, Anne Hillerman is also making it clear with this novel that Bernie Manuelito is really the lead character of this series.  I don't have a problem with that.  As crime fiction lead characters go, Bernie lights up the sky just like her ancestors and heroes.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:   Fans of Anne Hillerman and of her late father, Tony Hillerman, will want to read Stargazer.

A
9 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


https://www.annehillerman.com/
https://twitter.com/harperbooks
https://www.instagram.com/harperbooks/
https://twitter.com/HarperCollins
https://www.harpercollins.com/


The text is copyright © 2021 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved.  Contact this blog or site for reprint and syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Book Review: STAR WARS: THE HIGH REPUBLIC: A Test of Courage

STAR WARS: THE HIGH REPUBLIC: A TEST OF COURAGE
DISNEY/Lucasfilm Press

[This review was originally posted on Patreon, and visit the "Star Wars Central" review page here.]

AUTHOR: Justina Ireland
ILLUSTRATOR: Petur Antonsson
COVER: Petur Antonsson
ISBN: 978-136805730-1; hardcover-reinforced binding (January 5, 2021)
256pp, B&W, $14.99 U.S., $19.99 CAN

Ages 8-12

Star Wars: The High Republic: A Test of Courage is a 2021 Star Wars novel from author Justina Ireland. Star Wars: The High Republic is an all-new storytelling initiative set in the world of Star Wars that will be targeted at multiple age groups of readers.  A Test of Courage focuses on a new Jedi Knight whose first assignment finds her and a small group of survivors shipwrecked on a strange moon.

Star Wars: The High Republic's saga takes place 200 years prior to the events depicted in the film, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), in an all-new time period.  The High Republic is set in an era when both the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order are at the height of their power, serving and protecting the galaxy.  This is a hopeful and optimistic time, and the Republic and the Jedi are noble and respected.

Star Wars: The High Republic: A Test of Courage introduces Vernestra “Vern” Rwoh, a newly-minted Jedi Knight.  At the age of sixteen, she is one of the youngest ever, and she may be the first Padawan to pass her Jedi trials on her first attempt, as she did at the age of fifteen.  However, her first real mission for the Jedi Council, her first tasking as a Jedi Knight, feels an awful lot like babysitting.

Vernestra is at Port Haileap, where she has been charged with supervising 12-year-old aspiring inventor, Avon Starros.  The powerful Senator Ghirra Starros is also Avon's mother, and she sent her daughter to Haileap, which to Avon feels like a banishment.  Soon, Rwoh, Avon, and J-6 (Avon's droid) will leave Haileap on the “Steady Wing,” a cruiser headed to the dedication of a wondrous new space station called Starlight Beacon.

Soon into their journey, bombs go off aboard the cruiser. While the adult Jedi, Master Douglas, tries to save the ship, Vernestra, Avon, and J-6 join Imri Cantaros, Douglas's 14-year-old Padawan, and Honesty Weft, an ambassador’s son, and make it to a maintenance shuttle.  They escape the Steady Wing, but communications are out and supplies are low in the shuttle. They decide to land on a nearby moon, Wevo, which offers shelter but not much more.  And unbeknownst to Vernestra and company, danger lurks in the forest; the Steady Wing's saboteurs are also on the moon; and the darkness calls to some of them....

THE LOWDOWN:  Star Wars: The High Republic: A Test of Courage is one of the three novels that are part of Star Wars: The High Republic.  I have already read Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi, the “adult readers” novel of the three.  As much as I enjoyed Light of the Jedi, I find myself utterly thrilled by Star Wars: The High Republic: A Test of Courage.

The main reason for that is that I think that author Justina Ireland focuses more on character development and on the personalities of the characters.  Ireland uses her characters' thoughts and internal dialogue to reveal their inner turmoil.  For instance, readers know how much his home planet of Dalna and its culture mean to Honesty Weft and how that brings him into conflict with others and especially with himself.  Ireland makes us feel Honesty's grief and guilt, which makes his heroic arc engage the readers.

Ireland makes the readers feel the doubts and struggles of the Jedi, especially in the case of Imri Cantaros, although even the Jedi prodigy, Vernestra, still questions her own methods and the decisions she makes.  Ireland also makes young Avon Starros the kind of curious and inventive explorer of science and tech that could star in her own science fiction series.  I hope to see all these characters again.

I am decades older than A Test of Courage's target age group, but I had a blast reading it.  Once I got into it, I could not stop.  I wish I had Star Wars: The High Republic: A Test of Courage to read when I was a teen reader, but I can enjoy it now.  Author Justina Ireland has written a Star Wars novel that captures all that is the light that draws fans to the many worlds of Star Wars.  I hope to read more High Republic stories written by Ireland.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Young Star Wars fans will want to read Star Wars: The High Republic: A Test of Courage.

10 out of 10

[This book contains a 12-page preview of the upcoming novel, Star Wars: The High Republic: Race to Crashpoint Tower by Daniel José Older.]

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


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#IReadsYou Book Review: STAR WARS THE HIGH REPUBLIC: Light of the Jedi

STAR WARS: THE HIGH REPUBLIC: LIGHT OF THE JEDI
RANDOM HOUSE/Del Rey

[This review was originally posted on Patreon, and visit the "Star Wars Central" review page here.]

AUTHOR: Charles Soule
COVER: Joseph Meehan
ISBN: 978-0-593-15771-8; hardcover (January 5, 2021)
400pp, B&W, $28.99 U.S., $38.99 CAN

Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi is a 2021 Star Wars novel from author Charles Soule. Star Wars: The High Republic is an all-new storytelling initiative set in the world of Star Wars.  This publishing program will feature interconnected stories that will be told across multiple publishers, including book and comic book publishers, and that will be targeted at multiple age groups of readers.

Star Wars: The High Republic's saga takes place 200 years prior to the events depicted in the film, Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999), in an all-new time period.  The High Republic is set in an era when both the Galactic Republic and the Jedi Order are at the height of their power, serving and protecting the galaxy.  This is a hopeful and optimistic time, and the Republic and the Jedi are noble and respected.

Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi opens in a golden age.  Intrepid hyperspace scouts have expanded the reach of the Republic to the furthest stars and into the Outer Rim.  Worlds flourish under the benevolent leadership of the Senate on the Core world of Coruscant and its leader, Chancellor Lina Soh.  Peace reigns, enforced by the wisdom and strength of the order of Force users known as the Jedi Knights, who are at the height of their power.  The light of the Jedi spreads across the Republic, and every citizen knows that “We are all Republic.”

The Republic has a new project, “the Starlight Beacon,” which will connect the inhabitants and new settlers of the worlds of the Outer Rim to the Mid Rim and Core worlds.  In fact, the “Legacy Run,” a Kaniff Yards Class 4 modular freight transport, is traveling through hyperspace with a full contingent of new setters to the Outer Rim.  Then, a shocking catastrophe in hyperspace tears the Legacy Run apart, and multiple pieces and sections of the ship emerge from hyperspace like a flurry of shrapnel.

These “Emergences” from hyperspace into real space threaten disaster and total destruction for the entire Hetzal System, an Outer Rim system of mostly agricultural worlds.  The Jedi quickly race to the scene, but the scope of what will be called “The Great Disaster” pushes even the Jedi to their limit.  A single mistake on their part could cost billions of lives.

Behind this emergency is a new enemy, a band of marauding and mysterious “space vikings” known as “the Nihil.”  The threat of the Nihil has largely stayed beyond the boundary of the Republic, but this hyperspace disaster is part of a new sinister plan that just might strike fear into this golden age of the Republic.

THE LOWDOWN:  Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi is the first Star Wars novel that I have read in about eight and a half years.  The last one I read was author James Luceno's Star Wars: Darth Plagueis (2012), which was part of the defunct “Star Wars Expanded Universe.”  Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi is the perfect book to welcome a returning Star Wars novel reader to the franchise.

Charles Soule is a novelist and attorney, but I know him as one of Marvel Comics' very best Star Wars comic book writers … ever.  I was surprised to see that he would write one of the novels that would launch Star Wars: The High Republic, but Soule turns out to be one of those perfect choices.

Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi works because Soule's prose and storytelling slowly draws the readers into the narrative.  Then, he forces readers to race through this book that roils like a summer potboiler novel.  The chapters are relatively short; there are 44 of them, plus a prologue, an epilogue, and a few interludes, but almost everyone of them packs a wallop.  Anytime is the right time for a book that you, dear readers, can't put down.

Soule gives readers a good taste of the characters:  Jedi, non-Jedi, and adversaries in Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi, but character writing isn't what Soule does best in this book.  In a way, the characters' personalities, conflicts, histories, relationships, doubts, goals, motivations, etc. seem somewhat allusive.  I think that is partly because these characters are still in a state of development so early in this publishing program.

Still, Jedi like Avar Kriss, Loden Greatstorm, Bell Zettifer, and Elzar Mann promise to be quite interesting and fun.  What is the highest recommendation that I can give Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi?  By the time I reached the end of this book, I really wanted there to be more.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Star Wars novels will certainly want to give Star Wars: The High Republic: Light of the Jedi a try.

8.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


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#IReadsYou Book Review: OUCH

OUCH
STUDIO FARLAINE

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

AUTHOR: Pug Grumble
COVER: Cutlip
ISBN: 978-0-9890058-9-0; hardcover (November 2020)
264pp, B&W, $12.95 U.S.

Ouch is a 2020 comic novel from author Pug Grumble.  Comic book people may know Grumble from his seven-volume fantasy graphic novel series, Farlaine the Goblin.  Ouch is a prose novel that offers up a quirky love triangle made up of a masochist, his sadistic girlfriend, and the klutzy girl who enters the picture.

Ouch introduces Sylvester, a man with a bit of thing for pain.  He enjoys everything from splinters and stubbed toes to the pain caused by food burns and getting a tattoo.  Sylvester really gets to experience pain when his kinda-sorta girlfriend, Felicia, gets a hold of him.  A sadistic siren and queen of torments, Felicia will put out cigarettes on Sylvester's back and use sharp objects, even tools, on him.

However, fate steps in one evening while Sylvester is shopping for the ointments, medications, and bandages he needs to recover or even to survive the sadist in his life.  At the Wong Chen Supermarket, Sylvester hears a commotion on another aisle,  There he meets Natalie, a girl under a pile of products that fell on her.  You see, Natalie is a klutz, and not just any kind of klutz.  She is a colossal klutz who could end up in the hospital from a series of events that begins with a mere stumble.

As fate would have it, Felicia must leave Sylvester's life for a while, and happy coincidence (or fate) keeps bringing him to Natalie.  And so nothing will ever be the same for Sylvester, Natalie, or a vengeful Felicia.  Watching it all, from a safe distance, of course, is Sylvester's pal, Socket, who is obsessed with electricity and the shocks he can deliver to people with it, and Poke, Sylvester's narcoleptic porcupine.

THE LOWDOWN:  Ouch is one of those novels that deserves to be called “truly unique.”  It is one of the most different novels that I have read over the last two decades, at least.  Being a fan of Farlaine the Goblin, I requested a copy of Ouch from Pug Grumble, curious about what he would do in a storytelling medium like the prose novel, obviously so different from comics.

Pug has a surprisingly deft touch with prose, and his execution of Ouch's narrative yields a read that is as engaging as anything you, dear readers, will find on the bestsellers list.  What is different is the cast of characters.  For instance, Sylvester, as a masochist, is not usually for popular consumption.  He is an addict, but he is a joyful adventurer in the realms of pain both familiar and unfamiliar.

Felicia is gleeful and shameless, and is more prankster than sadistic villain, although she has dark dreams.  Natalie is a klutz on the level that goes beyond mere bad luck and seems supernatural, as if she and her accidents exist partly in a place that is like “The Twilight Zone.”  The author simply presents them as characters with which we can identify.  Like us, they have needs and wants and confuse which are really important and which are merely indulgences.

If I would find a fault with Ouch, it is that both Felicia and Natalie seem more like the ideas for characters than like actual characters for much of the first half of the novel.  It is when Pug introduces trouble, change, and confusion into their lives that Felicia and Natalie spring to life.  They become whole characters, full of color, conflict, and motivation, and they grab the spotlight from Sylvester, who seems fully formed and complete right from the start of the novel.

Ouch calls to readers looking for something different in a comic novel, and it is truly a comic novel.  Pug offers a misadventure that presents a side of addictions and afflictions that might be off-putting, but is quite interesting, so we can't help but want to get inside these characters.  Ouch is timely, or it seems so.  In an age of strife and pandemics, when self-interest … trumps caution, Ouch is fresh and vibrant and gives us lovable afflicted and addicted rogues and foils.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  People who are really looking to read something that isn't the same old thing will want to read Ouch.

8 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"

https://puggrumble.com/


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#IReadsYou Book Review: BLEACH: Can't Fear Your Own World

BLEACH: CAN'T FEAR YOUR OWN WORLD
VIZ MEDIA

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

ORIGINAL STORY: Tite Kubo
AUTHOR: Ryohgo Narita
TRANSLATION: Jan Mitsuko Cash
COVER/DESIGNER: Jimmy Presler
ISBN: 978-1-9747-1326-4; paperback (July 2020)
256pp, B&W, $14.99 US, $19.99 CAN, £10.99 UK

Bleach is a shonen manga series written and illustrated by Tite Kubo.  Bleach was serialized in the Japanese manga magazine, Weekly Shōnen Jump, from August 2001 to August 2016 and was comprised of 686 chapters, which were collected in 74 tankobon (like a graphic novel).

Bleach focuses on Ichigo “Strawberry” Kurosaki, a teenage boy born with the ability to see ghosts.  Joining the “Soul Society,” Ichigo becomes a “Soul Reaper.”  He dedicates himself to protecting the innocent from a kind of malevolent lost soul known as a “Hollow,” and also to helping these tortured spirits find peace.

Bleach is also a media franchise, spawning a long-running anime television series (“Bleach”), four feature films, OVA (original video anime) episodes, video games, stage musicals, merchandise, and spin-off novels.  After the manga ended, Tite Kubo and various authors began producing novelizations of the Bleach series.

Kubo and Japanese novelist and manga writer, Narita Ryohgo, also produced a new Bleach novel, Bleach: Can't Fear Your Own World, with Kubo providing the story and Ryohgo writing the novel.  It began serialization in Japan in April 2017, and it was collected in three paperback “light novels,” published between August 2017 and December 2018.  VIZ Media began publishing an English-language edition of Bleach: Can't Fear Your Own World as a series of paperback novels under its “Shonen Jump” imprint in July 2020.

The central story line of Bleach: Can't Fear Your Own World opens almost a year after the end of the Quincie's Thousand Year Blood War, in which Ichigo Kurosaki and his allies defeated the Quincy leader, Yhwach.  The embers of turmoil still smolder in the Soul Society, and incidents in the past threaten to worsen the unease.

The story focuses on Shuhei Hisagi, the assistant captain of the Ninth Company, who loves guitars and motorcycles from the world of the living.  Hisagi was once a reporter for the newspaper, the “Seireitei Bulletin,”and his late mentor, Kaname Tosen, was the editor-in-chief.  Now, Hisagi has been made the newspaper's provisional editor, and he is confronted with a mystery Tosen left behind.

Tosen once had a confrontation with Lord Tokinada Tsunayashiro, a minor aristocrat in the Tsunayashiro family, one of the “Five Great Noble Clans” and a clan said to be involved in the creation of the Soul Society.  Tokinada has recently become elevated to head of his family after a slew of assassinations take out every other claimant to the title of head of the clan.  Now, he has a grand plan to create a new “Soul King,” and it involves a very powerful child named Hikone Ubugino, who worships Tokinada so much that the child is practically his slave.

Tokinada's dark ambitions are sowing the seeds of disquiet throughout of the Soul Society, and may lead to a new total war.  The one Soul Reaper who unknowingly holds the key to stopping Tokinada is that very assistant captain and reporter/provisional editor, Shuhei Hisagi.

[This book contains spot illustrations, drawn in Tite Kubo's style; a four-page illustrated character guide; and a full-color mini-poster insert.]

THE LOWDOWN:  Bleach: Can't Fear Your Own World is a strange novel.  Technically, readers don't have to have read the Bleach manga in order to read the novel.  To understand and to comprehend the story, plots, characters, and settings, readers will have to understand the world of Bleach, with which they will be familiar via the manga and/or the “Bleach” anime series.

So I write this review in that context.  If you understand Bleach, you can understand this novel and also enjoy it, to one degree or another.  Ryohgo Narita delves deeply into the personalities of the characters and explores the motivations of some of the characters.  That tends to slow the narrative, but I get the sense that this novel was written to tantalize Bleach fans and not to offer impressive prose.

The main story is linear, mostly, but the entire novel jumps around between many pasts and the present so much that I want to call this a non-linear narrative, although it really is not that.  Also, this novel is just the first volume, and it reads like one long prologue that introduces the central conflict (Shuhei Hisagi vs. Tokinada Tsunayashiro?) and the supporting players, of which there are way too many, as far as I am concerned.  Still, I have to admit that I am intrigued enough by Bleach: Can't Fear Your Own World that I want to read “Volume II.”

This book contains several spot pencil art illustrations that are either drawn by Tite Kubo or by an assistant in Kubo's style.  I love that beautiful illustration that is the book cover art and is also used for the mini-poster insert.  The cover art is eye-catching, and it may tempt Bleach fans that have never read a Bleach light novel to give this one a try.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Bleach will want to read the novel, Bleach: Can't Fear Your Own World.

7 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


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#IReadsYou Book Review: TWILIGHT

TWILIGHT (The Twilight Series Book One)
LITTLE, BROWN AND COMPANY

AUTHOR: Stephenie Meyer
ISBN: 978-0-316-16017-9; hardcover (October 5, 2005)
544pp, B&W, $22.99 U.S., $28.99 CAN

Twilight is a 2005 young adult novel written by Stephenie Meyer.  A vampire romance, Twilight focuses on a 17-year-old girl who falls in love with a 103-year-old vampire who looks like a 17-year-old boy.  Twilight is the first in the four-book “Twilight series.”  It was also adapted into the hit 2008 film, Twilight, which became the first entry in a five-film franchise.

When Isabella “Bella” Swan moves from Phoenix, Arizona to Forks, a small town in the Olympic Peninsula of northwest Washington state, she thinks that her life will be miserable until she graduates from high school.  Forks is not unfamiliar to Bella, as she was born there.  After her parents divorced and she followed her mother, Renée, to Phoenix, Bella often returned to Forks to spend summers with her father, Police Chief Charlie Swan.  Now, however, because of her mother’s new marriage, Bella is moving in with her father full time.

Adjusting to her new school is not as much as a problem as Bella thought.  In fact, the very things that made her unpopular in sunny Phoenix, makes her attractive to the high school kids in this remote rural area.  Bella makes, or rather tolerates friends, but then she sees him, Edward Cullen.  This pale-skinned Adonis, so beautiful and graceful that he seems supernatural, captures Bella’s attention and imagination.  She can’t stop thinking about him, but he’s distant, even hostile towards her.  Then, Edward saves Bella’s life in an act of bravery that is as shocking as it is impossible.  What is Edward Cullen, and why does he make Bella feel so madly in love and out of sorts that she can’t seem to live without him?

THE LOWDOWN:  Since its debut in October 2005, Twilight, the young adult (YA), fantasy, romance novel by author Stephenie Meyer, has been a favorite with teen female readers.  Twilight spawned three follow ups (with the four books forming The Twilight Saga) and recently became a hit movie.  I am of the mind that novels that are hugely popular and that also spawn a devoted following or fan base might actually be quite good, although many pop novels are really trash.  Twilight, however, is a damn good read.

The books strength comes from two strong elements:  strong characters (especially the leads) and a deeply seductive romance.  Bella and Edward are strong individual characters, but as a pair, they are magic.

Bella comes across as a modern goth-type girl, more stubborn and individualistic than sullen, but she has a romantic’s heart and a generous spirit.  She doesn’t dislike people so much as she prefers her solitude.  Simply put, Edward is chivalrous.  Loyal and brave, his protective way towards Bella may seem odd in this era of the independent woman.  On the other hand, it is also easy to see why young women would be attracted to the character of Edward, especially in an era in which young men consider loutish, self-centered behavior to be cool.

How does an author bring the girl who loves solitude and the boy who seems to be a gentlemanly hero from a 19th century romance novel together?  This is where the seductive nature of Meyer’s writing comes into play.  Meyer builds so much of the text on dialogue, and all that talk gives the novel such warm colors.  Even in the cold and damp setting of the evergreen forests of Washington, the way Meyer has Bella and Edward talk to each other brings a heat to the story that the reader feels.  In his own way, Edward seduces Bella, and in turn, Bella seduces him in her own way.  Their verbal play is searing, and although their conversations run for pages on end, it’s attractive the way real conversation was in the movies, Before Sunrise and Before Sunset.

The majority of the last act becomes a twister of suspense running on the razor’s edge.  Still, the thrills exist in the context of this dangerous, but alluring romance that will have readers flipping pages.

POSSIBLE AUDIENCE:  Readers who enjoy a well-written romantic novels, even a supernatural romance, will like Twilight.

A-
7.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


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#IReadsYou Book Review: Roald Dahl's THE WITCHES

THE WITCHES
PENGUIN RANDOM HOUSE/Puffin Books

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

AUTHOR: Roald Dahl
ILLUSTRATOR: Quentin Blake
ISBN: 978-1-9848-3716-5; hardcover with color dust jacket; 5.31 in x 7.75 in; (September 3, 2019)
224pp, B&W, $17.99 U.S.

Ages 8-12

The Witches is a 1983 children's dark fantasy novel written by the British author, the late Roald Dahl.  The book was published with almost 100 full-page and spot illustrations by Quentin Blake (who illustrated many of Dahl's works).  This review is based on a hardcover edition of The Witches published in September 2019 by Puffin Books, an imprint of Penguin Random House.

The Witches is narrated by an unnamed young British boy who recounts his and and his grandmother's experiences battling a society of child-hating witches.  Some people are familiar with The Witches through two film adaptations, director Nicholas Roeg's 1990 adaptation, which starred Anjelica Huston, and the recently released 2020 film directed by Robert Zemeckis.

The Witches opens in Norway where we meet the story's narrator, an unnamed seven-year-old English boy whose parents were Norwegian immigrants to England.  After his parents are killed in an accident, the boy goes to live in Norway with his grandmother, whom he calls “Grandmamma.”  He has already previously spent much time with her, and he loves all her stories, especially the ones about horrific witches who seek to either kill human children or to transform them into animals.  It turns out that Grandmamma is a retired witch hunter, and she tells the boy how to spot witches.  They all look like ordinary women, but they are actually disguising their deformities,  For instance, they have bald heads, have claws instead of fingers, and do not have toes, to name a few of their deformities.

The boy eventually returns to England with Grandmamma in tow, and while on holiday at the grand Hotel Magnificent in Bournemouth, England, the boy has his second experience with witches.  While hiding in the hotel ballroom, the boy discovers that a meeting of the “Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children” (RSPCC) is really the annual gathering of all the witches in England.  At that meeting, the boy sees something that almost no human has ever seen – the Grand High Witch, leader of all the world's witches.  And nothing can prepare the boy for the Grand High Witch's diabolical plan to get rid of all the human children in England.

THE LOWDOWN:  My experiences with Roald Dahl revolve around his 1964 children's novel, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, and the two film adaptations of it, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971) and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (2005).  I read the novel once, sometime after the release of the 2005 film, and I have seen both films a few times.

I remember when Nicholas Roeg's film adaptation of The Witches was originally released, and I planned to see it but never did.  I have been putting off seeing the film ever since, but when I heard about Zemeckis' then-upcoming adaptation of The Witches, I chose the book as one of my Christmas 2019 gifts.  After finally reading it, I wish that I had read The Witches a long time ago.  I feel it could have been a formative reading experience for me when I was young.

That aside, it is a fantastic novel.  I am amazed that Dahl could create such evocative and vivid prose in writing for children.  Well, I guess that's why he is beloved by generations.  From the moment he introduces the unnamed boy, Dahl transports readers into another world, one that is fantastical, but one in which the readers will want to believe.

I also love that Dahl makes both the boy and his grandmother, who is 86 in the book, both plucky and adventurous.  The boy is not afraid of new things, and his child's sense of wonder and nosiness makes him not afraid to try new things and to go new places, as well as to try dangerous things and to go to dangerous places.  The boy is one of those classic characters onto which the readers will graft themselves in order to follow him on an incredible and perilous journey.  The witches of The Witches are unique and scary, but are also a little pathetic and funny, which is enough to make them creepy.

The best thing that I can say about Roald Dahl's The Witches is that when I got to the end of its 200 pages, I could have read another 200 pages.  Also Quentin Blake's illustrations are the perfect accompaniment to the novel.  I feel like the world of The Witches as my mind imagines it should look similar to the way Blake presents it.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Of course, fans of Roald Dahl should read and re-read The Witches, and fans of great children's literature will want to fight The Witches.

[This volume includes a 16-page from another Roald Dahl book, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.]

10 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


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#IReadsYou Book Review: NARUTO'S STORY: FAMILY DAY

NARUTO'S STORY: FAMILY DAY
VIZ MEDIA – @VIZMedia

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

AUTHORS: Masashi Kishimoto and Mirei Miyamoto
TRANSLATION: Jocelyne Allen
DESIGN: Shawn Carrico
COVER: Shawn Carrico with Masashi Kishimoto
ISBN: 978-1-9747-1342-4; paperback (August 2020); Rated “T” for “Teen”
164pp, B&W, $10.99 U.S., $14.99 CAN, £7.99 U.K.

Naruto is a Japanese manga series written and illustrated by Masashi Kishimoto.  Naruto was serialized in the Japanese manga magazine, Weekly Shōnen Jump, from 1999 to 2014.  Naruto eventually became a media franchise, yielding anime television series and films, video games, various print and audio publications, and a wide range of merchandise.

Naruto focuses on the mischievious young shinobi (ninja), Uzumaki Naruto, from the shinobi Village of Konohagakure.  When he was a baby, Naruto's parents (father Minato and mother Kushina) imprisoned a nine-tailed fox spirit (Kurama) inside his infant body, making him something of an outcast.  Determined to gain the recognition of his peers, Naruto fought and eventually became “the Hokage,” the leader of his village.  Now, he is a husband, married to Hinata, and they have two children, a son named Boruto and a daughter named Himawari – also called “Hima.”

Naruto also yielded a series of light novels (a Japanese form of the short novel), which furthered the adventures of Naruto and also of Naruto and his family after the ending of the Naruto manga.  VIZ Media recently released the fifth Naruto novel, Naruto New Story: Family Day, which was originally published in May 2018, in a paperback, English-language edition.  VIZ's release is entitled Naruto's Story: Family Day, and it is published under the “Shonen Jump” imprint.

Written by Masashi Kishimoto and Mirei Miyamoto, Naruto's Story: Family Day opens in the office of the Seventh Hokage, Uzumaki Naruto.  Advisor to the Hokage, Nara Shikamaru, has just handed Naruto a document that he must read.  The village of Konohagakure (or “Konoha” for short) has had an influx of new residents.  These new townspeople want to give an official name to one of the village's standard holidays, in which the villagers enjoy a day off from work.

Thus, “Family Day” is born.  But how is a workaholic and very busy Hokage going to celebrate Family Day?  Is Naruto even going to have the day off?  Well, Naruto, three other wayward fathers, and one teacher will learn the true meaning and spirit of Family Day.

[This book includes a two-page, illustrated list of characters.]

THE LOWDOWN:  Naruto's Story: Family Day is comprised of four short stories and four interludes, one appearing after the end of each short story.  There is also a prologue and an epilogue.

The first story is “Racing Through Konoha,” and it stars Naruto and his daughter, Hima.  The father-daughter pair race through Konoha looking for the latest hot toy, the “Kuraa-ma.”  It does not matter that it is based on “Kurama,” the nine-tailed spirit inside her father, Hima really wants this toy.  Feeling guilty because he is so often busy at the office and not at home, Naruto believes that he has to obtain this almost impossible to find toy for his child.

“Racing Through Konoha” is the most straight forward of the four tales, and its message is simple.  Fathers should make time for their children, especially for their daughters.  In fact, the father-daughter relationship is the subject of all four stories, and “Racing Through Konoha” is the most heartfelt.

The second story is “Forms of Happiness.”  It stars Naruto's wife, Hinata, and her younger sister, Hanabi, and their elderly father, Hiashi Hyuga.  Hinata reluctantly joins Hanabi and Hyuga on their father's quest to make a legend of himself as a ninja, although his ninja mission days are long over.  Hyuga's quest seems to hinge on his need to impress his grandson, Ninata and Naruto's elder child, their son, Boruto, who is a big fan of the card game, “Extreme Ninja.”  Ninja legends are the subjects of these cards, and the bigger legend a ninja is the more rare his card is within card packs.

Cards featuring Hyuga's image are not particularly rare, and he believes that he if completes a new and important mission, his card rarity will be upgraded.  “Forms of Happiness” might seem to be about grandparent and grandchild relationships, but it is really about adult children and their elderly parents.  Mortality and the fact that both parent and child are aging hang over the story.  I like the story, and I admire Kishimoto and Miyamoto's willingness to discuss themes of aging and mortality in what is really a juvenile novel.

The third story is “Table for One.”  It stars Boruto's friend, Akimichi Cho-Cho, and her father, Akimichi Choji, who is known for being a fat ninja... who is constantly eating.  Choji's wife and Cho-Cho's mother, Karui, also stars in this story.  Cho-Cho and Choji enter an eating contest held at Family Day.  The story is good, but not great, and it is a kind of comic relief version of the father-daughter themes of this novel.

The fourth story is “Cold Flames and Roiling Fire,” and its stars longtime Naruto rival, Uchiha Sasuke, and his daughter, Sarada, and, in a lesser role, his wife, Sakura.  Sasuke, who is usually away from home on secret missions for Konoha, returns for a (very) short visit and discovers that his daughter, Sarada, is estranged from him.  Because of a series of mishaps and bad advice, the estrangement increases.  So what can Sasuke do to improve his relationship with his child?  Hopefully, his wife, Sakura, who is also a bit miffed at him, has the answer.

“Cold Flames and Roiling Fire” is a surprisingly edgy story.  The tartness between Sasuke and Sarada is unexpected, but what the authors offer the readers is a story in which the father has to work hard to repair and to build his relationship with his daughter.  I think this story was the best choice as the final entry in this novel.

The “Master Shino!” interludes star Ninja Academy teacher, Aburame Shino, and each one is also surprisingly heartfelt.  Not one of the four reads as if it were filler material.  All in all, I have to admit that I enjoyed reading Naruto's Story: Family Day much more than I thought I would.  I heartily recommend it to fans of Naruto.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Naruto and Boruto manga will want to read the “Shonen Jump” novel, Naruto's Story: Family Day.

7.5 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

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#IReadsYou Book Review: SURVIVOR'S SONG

SURVIVOR SONG: A NOVEL
HARPERCOLLINS/William Morrow

[This review was originally posted on Patreon.]

AUTHOR: Paul Tremblay
ISBN: 978-0-06-267916-1; hardcover; 6 in x 9 in; (July 7, 2020)
320pp, B&W, $27.99 U.S.

Survivor Song: A Novel is the latest novel from author Paul Tremblay (A Head Full of Ghosts).  A suspense novel, Survivor Song follows two women, longtime friends, on a journey across an epidemic landscape to save one of the women... or, at least, her unborn child.

Survivor Song opens in the present or the near-future.  An insidious rabies-like virus, commonly called “super-rabies,” that is spread by saliva, has overrun Massachusetts.  Unlike rabies, this new disease has a short incubation period of an hour or less, and the infected quickly lose their minds and are driven to bite and to infect as many others as they can before they inevitably succumb to the infection.  Massachusetts has tried to limit the spread of this outbreak by putting the entire state (commonwealth) under quarantine and by initiating a curfew, but society is starting to break down, and the sick and the dying are inundating hospitals.

One evening during this outbreak, Dr. Ramola “Rams” Sherman, a soft-spoken pediatrician in her mid-thirties, receives a frantic phone call from Natalie “Nats” Larsen, a longtime and dear friend who is eight months pregnant.  It seems that an infected neighbor viciously attacked and killed Natalie's husband, Paul.  The super-rabies-infected neighbor also bit Natalie as she fought to save Paul.

Natalie's only chance of survival is to get to a hospital as quickly as possible in order to receive the super-rabies vaccine.  And she needs Ramola's help getting to a hospital.  The clock is ticking for Natalie and for her unborn child, and Natalie’s fight for life becomes a desperate odyssey as she and Ramola make their way through a landscape turned hostile by the outbreak.  Terrifying, strange, and sometimes deadly challenges push Nats and Rams to the brink, so will they make it in time to save Nats... or at least, her unborn child?

THE LOWDOWN:  Back in 2015, while looking through a list of review copies that publisher William Morrow's marketing department was offering to reviewers, I came across a book entitled A Head Full of Ghosts, written by Paul Tremblay.  I loved the title, and I was intrigued by the book's premise.  Although I thought it was well written, I really did not enjoy reading A Head Full of Ghosts, so the next time, William Morrow offered a novel by Tremblay, I passed.

When Survivor Song was offered, I was intrigued by both the title and the premise, especially the latter.  Since the COVID-19 pandemic began, I have been interested in books, movies, and television programs about epidemics, pandemics, and outbreaks – either as works of fiction or non-fiction.

Even in the well worn genre of the “riveting novel of suspense,” Survivor Song manages to be fresh and surprising.  The novel is not like any other viral outbreak story.  It is detailed in a way that sets the reader in the scene, but without robbing readers of the right to fill in a scene or a setting with their own imagination.  Survivor Song is viscerally frightening, but the narrative is equally deeply emotional in a way that will make it resonate with readers.

Survivor Song is also something else.  It is timely and prescient.  Although I clearly understood this novel to be a work of fiction, I found myself often feeling that I was reading a long feature article about  our current, environmental mini-apocalypse, the kind one would find in The New Yorker, Rolling Stone, or any number of progressive magazines... or perhaps, a non-fiction book expanded from that kind of feature article.  Paul Tremblay has fashioned in Survivor Song a novel that is so chilling because it is so much about us and our times.  He is not afraid to sprinkle witty social and political asides that are obviously about President Donald, his cult, and sadly, about the rest of us who would turn into monsters the minute things (like society and comforts) start to break down.

Survivor Song is all too plausible because a version of its dark fairy tale is already happening.  Yes, it is a wonderful tale of friendship and commitment told as a road trip through insta-dystopia that will reassure you, dear readers, about humanity... but.  Damn, Paul Tremblay, what a wonderful novel you have written in Survivor Song.  Damn you, Tremblay, for telling the awful truth.

I READS YOU RECOMMENDS:  Fans of Paul Tremblay and fans of scary, but all-too-plausible novels will want to read Survivor Song.

10 out of 10

Reviewed by Leroy Douresseaux a.k.a. "I Reads You"


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The text is copyright © 2020 Leroy Douresseaux. All Rights Reserved. Contact this blog or site for syndication rights and fees.

---------------------------

Amazon wants me to inform you that the link below is a PAID AD, but I technically only get paid (eventually) if you click on the ad below AND buy something(s).