Trey Stone's Blog, page 31

Book Review: Facing The Sun by Carol Beth Anderson

I don’t quite remember how this book even got on my TBR list (which tends to happen more often than not), but I’d jotted it down and had it ready on my kindle for my trip last week. Which means, I didn’t quite know what I was getting into. And I’m kind of very glad that I didn’t.

This is by far the most unique and original fantasy I’ve read in ages. It was absolutely terrific. It’s a story about Tavi, a sun-blessed girl (meaning she has magical powers) who is very special among her kind. It’s not uncommon for people to be sun-blessed and have access to magic in Anderson’s world, but Tavi is something of her own. We follow her as she grows up, grows into her abilities along with her friends, learn to handle them and accept them, and the dangers and wonders that follow. It’s, for the lack of a better word, magical.

I’ll go out on a limb and say that I’m not the target audience for this book. I’m a big burly dude who likes horror flicks, violent TV and heavy metal. This is a story about teenage girls growing up and all the changes that comes with that, magical or otherwise. You’d think maybe this wasn’t my cup of tea. So the fact that I still absolutely loved it, speaks volumes of Anderson’s writing skills.

Not only is the story, and the world-building, and the completely-unique-and-original magic system fantastic, but the writing is lovely too. It’s delicate and tense, but at the same time playful and and upbeat. It a fine balance between being very detailed but at the same time not lingering too long on the things that would bore you. I don’t remember exactly the amount of hours, but I read this book much faster than I was planning to, simply because I couldn’t stop.

If you’re looking for your new favorite fantasy book, one which I can almost definitely maybe guarantee won’t be like anything you’ve read before, make sure you pick up Facing The Sun by Carol Beth Anderson. Like I said, I can’t remember exactly when or how this book found a place on my reading list, but I’m so glad it did.

You can check out the book here.

Book Review: Time of Contempt by Andrzej Sapkowski

Continuing on in our story about Geralt, The Witcher of Rivia, Time of Contempt sets the story at a much bigger picture. We see larger forces; groups of magicians, bands of elves, and armies clashing together, all while Geralt and Yennefer are trying to keep Ciri safe.

The universe is expanding and the story is so much more fleshed out. There’s war, conspiracy, spies lurking about. We’re learning more about the big dealings of things, even though we’re still very much in the shadows. Geralt is caught up in a coup, and armies start advancing on each other.

In the middle of this, Ciri is growing up. She goes to school, and Yennefer drags her around trying to raise her. She encounters some monsters of her own, and some bandits, and a unicorn, and some rats. I love following her story, it’s both a coming-of-age, seeing this young girl grow up, but also a magical adventure as she learns about the world.

Sapkowski’s writing is still beautiful, it pulls you in and doesn’t let go. Even though this is a series of fantasy novels like so many others, it’s also incredibly unique. I think it has a lot do with Sapkowski’s inspirations from European and maybe particularly Polish fairy tales. It makes the story feel rooted in something old and recognizable, and I just love it.

I’m about to start book no. 5 of 7, Baptism of Fire, and I’m really looking forward to the action picking up. Not that these first books aren’t exciting, but there’s a lot of building up to the inevitable clash. It’s going to be awesome.

Highly recommended fantasy series, especially if you’re looking for something a bit outside the norm.

Book Review: Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski

Another great installment in the Witcher series. Gorgeous European fairytale fantasy, at its best. The story follows Geralt of Rivia, a person who through arduous training and bodily mutations have become a Witcher, a monster hunter. But though he’s at the center of our story, there’s a whole lot more going on. Geralt and the other Witchers take in Ciri, an orphaned girl who proves to have extraordinary powers. Together with the sorceresses Triss Merigold and Yennefer of Vengerberg, the Witchers teach Ciri how to fight, dress, act, and ultimately survive in the world. Because much hinges on Ciri’s survival.

This is the third/first book, depending on if you count the two short story collections that are set before as a part of the Witcher series. But this is the first whole novel that kicks off the series, and it’s awesome to see that we’re getting serious about everything (I know some of what happens from playing the video games, but not everything, and it’s very interesting to learn how thing develops).

The Witcher is a very massive world. There’s not one main plot that we follow, even though at the same time there is. But there’s very many things happening parallel to our story, and there’s very much history that comes up in dialogue, both about the world in general and our characters. I love that Sapkowski drags his world-building out like this. You’re never really told what’s going on, you just have to pay attention to what people are talking about and what’s happening between the lines to understand the relationships between people. Toward the end of the book, I was learning things that in a more recent fantasy novel would probably be thrown at me in the beginning, and I love that he does it this way.

I love Sapkowski’s writing, his style is easy but lavish at the same time, and it’s never boring. But he does this interesting thing where he won’t describe what people are doing in scenes, only how people react to it through dialogue. For example:

“Stop that! Don’t go in, there… No! Like this.”

In one sense, you feel a bit left out, because I except someone to fill me in on all the things that are happening in between there. At the same time, it gives you a sense of wonder, a sense of ‘hang on, what’s happening now?’ I’m not saying it’s good or bad, and it’s an interesting style.

All in all, a very good book to kick off the series, and I’m definitely invested. I’ve already started book 2 which feels a bit more fleshed out compared to this which has a lot of building up and introducing different people and places. Also, I’m happy I’ve played the video games, because there are A LOT of names, and weird ones at that. It’s difficult to keep track of who everyone is.

In the end, a great fantasy series, very unique, and I’m loving it so far.

Getting Into A Habit

If you’ve followed my latest posts, you might have noticed that I’ve changed up how I both write and edit. I do both more regularly now, trying to do a little bit every day. I used to set aside evenings, several hours for every session where I would sit down and write, and I realized that while that works fine, having a regular schedule is much better. (Though I still firmly believe, that you don’t have to write every day.)

I’ve also changed when I write. Like I said, I used to do evenings, after work, trying to cram it in between going to the gym, hanging out with friends, and doing every other thing that life demands of me.

Thing is, I was never a morning person. In the last 15 years I’ve hardly ever even eaten breakfast, I’m the guy who woke up, got dressed and headed for work.

But I’ve changed that now. Now I get up early, get ready for work, have a meal, and then sit down to write for at least half an hour (or edit, depending on where I am in my process). You see, I can get at least 1000 words in in half an hour, when I’m drafting. Sure, it might not be as much as I could have written if I set aside 4 hours in the evening, but then again, I’m not spending that amount of time. (And also, to be honest, sometimes 4 hours in the evening wasn’t very productive at all.)

By using just half an hour every morning, I can write 30k words in a month (and usually it becomes more than that anyway). It’s groundbreaking for me. It’s turned my whole life around.

And that’s kind of what I wanted to talk about, because this isn’t just about writing. I’ve realized that by doing this, by changing my habits, I’ve accidentally sorted much of my life out. To wake up earlier, I go to bed earlier, and I sleep much better. I used to have very bad sleeping habits, due to having random bouts of insomnia, but this is slowly improving.

I also have less things to stress with in the afternoon. Coming home from work, knowing I’ve done at least the minimum of daily writing I aim to achieve, is such a stress reliever. That means the only other thing I have to do after work is go to the gym. So if my day gets really fucked up, or if I suddenly have to do something unscheduled, I’m only messing up at least one thing (and then again, you can always fit a gym session in).

It’s also given me a whole lot more spare time. When I come home from the gym, which is usually the early evening, I can do whatever I want. Of course, I can write if I want to. If I feel like I’m on a roll and want to carry on, what’s stopping me? Nothing. And this happens sometimes, but I’ve noticed I’m quite happy with my doing only my daily morning writing. The consistency, and the fact that I don’t try to push it, I think keeps me motivated. It keeps me coming back each morning, knowing that if I just do this, I’ve achieved a daily goal. It’s very motivating, and it works! Like I said, 30k in a month, and that’s the minimum. But with all this free time in the evening, I have more time for other things, like reading, plotting future stories. Of course, I love writing, but there’s many other things that occupy me, like playing and writing music, hiking, going out with friends, or watching a movie.

I’ve always said that it’s important to test your habits, even if your happy with them. Change them up, see what could be different. Who knows, you might just change your whole life.

Again, I was never a morning person. I’ve always been very much of a night owl. When I went to university, I wrote all my essays through the night. Well, I’ve been converted. Morning writing rules!

Book Review: Bits & Pieces by Dawn Hosmer

Okay, whoa. It’s not for nothing that everyone in the #WritingCommunity on Twitter is talking about this, and I’m so glad I finally got round to reading this. Well done, Dawn! I’m impressed.

I didn’t know much about this before diving into it, I was sold by the beautiful cover and everyone else raving about it. What I knew was that there was some person who received flashes of color when they got close to other people, so they had some kind of ability. And I wasn’t far off! From the official blurb:

Tessa was born with a gift. Through a simple touch she picks up pieces of others. A “flash” of color devours her—the only indication that she’s gained something new from another person. Red equals pain; purple, a talent; yellow, a premonition; orange, a painful memory; and blue, a pleasant one. Each flash blurs the lines between her inherent traits and those she’s acquired from others. Whenever she gains bits of something new, she loses more pieces of herself.

As you can probably guess, Tessa struggles with this gift. She avoids interacting with other people, she distances herself from her family, she goes to therapy. It’s hard to make a life for yourself and know who you are, when half of it is stuff you’ve picked up from others. And it gets especially hard when you can’t remember which is which.

I was hooked from the beginning. The plot is intriguing and Hosmer’s writing is captivating. It’s beautiful and playful, but also so incredibly real and brutal (damn, Dawn!) I usually struggle with reading 1st person for a little while, like for every book that has it, I have to adapt for a few chapters, but that wasn’t the case here at all. I was hooked immediately. For a little while, I was worried the book was going to be a bit slow. I felt like maybe we were getting a bit too far into the book without getting into the story, but I was still turning page after page, so it wasn’t that it was boring! And I think maybe I found only like one typo, which is very impressive.

For a while I thought I had figured it all out, then I thought I’d be disappointed, and then I was just utterly impressed. This book is so superb, I think I actually had a stunned “Oh my God”-look on my face while I read certain parts. It’s incredible. Definitely one of the best books I’ve read all year, I can’t recommend it enough.

So if you’re going to pick up a psychological thriller, and support a new author at the same time, make sure you read this. It’s a stunning story, and it’s so well told! Now I can’t wait for Hosmer’s next book.

You can Bits & Pieces here.

Book Review: Carrie by Stephen King

Right, I’m not going to tell you what this is about. If you don’t know it you must have been living under a rock, Google is your friend. In short, Carrie a girl with telekinetic powers gets bullied at school, drenched in pig’s blood, unleashes hell.

I’m very happy to see that King is able to write shorter things (so far the only other thing I’ve read by him is the Dark Tower series and though it’s amazing, it’s incredibly long). This is around 70k words I’ve heard, and it’s awesome. One of the things that sets King apart as a genius writer, in my opinion, is his ability to not drone on. Even when he writes his 500+ page stuff, the pacing is quite fast, and you get a sense of the plot developing very quickly. He has this ability to write a lot about the small stuff, and bursh over the big things, which I appreciate. This is exactly the same, we hit the ground running and King has us hooked from the beginning. Carrie is a good example of how you can spoil what’s going to happen while still keeping the reader interested, because King tells us that Carrie is telekinetic on pages 1 or 2, and still, you want to carry on.

I don’t care too much about the formatting of this book however, and the way King has written parts of it. For some reason he takes the liberty to capitalize Random words (see how annoying That is?) and he has this stream of consciousness in parenthesis throughout the book. I assumed these were Carrie’s thoughts, but it’s never actually specified, and for parts of it you could tell it wasn’t. Also, those thoughts are formatted to be on a separate line from the rest of the book, which makes it confusing to read. I would have much preferred to read it like this (because this doesn’t break my concentration) whereas, this

(see again how annoying this is?)

kind of does, and I have to read a lot of these things multiple times to understand what was going on.

Most surprising of all was perhaps that I didn’t know how it would end. Like I said to begin with, if you haven’t heard about this book, you must have lived your whole life under a rock (which sounds amazing, don’t get me wrong, rock are awesome), but I thought all of the pig’s blood and the prom night and everything was the end. Well, it isn’t. That’s just over halfway through the book. I didn’t know how it ended at all, which was great. Surprising, but great.

One thing that got me thinking though, and actually made me go double-check as I got to the end, is that this is in fact sold and marketed as ‘horror’. I made a thread on Twitter after reading this, wondering what people’s scariest reads were, because this to me isn’t horror. There’s nothing scary or terrifying about it at all. It’s a supernatural thriller, sure, but horror? I don’t see it. A lot of people on Twitter mentioned other King books like The Shining, IT, and Pet Semetary, and I have IT lying around, so we’ll see if that’s scarier. Thinking back, I don’t think I’ve read many horror books (which is Weird because I love horror Movies), so I’m going to make an effort to put more on my list. All the time I’ve spent reviewing books as well, I was never sent any horror books. But I sure hope IT is scarier than this.

A great King book, don’t care too much for the formatting, but I’m happy to have read this, finally.

Book Review: The Last Letter by WB Welch & Tory Hunter

First things first: I was so excited when I learned that I would be receiving an ARC of this book, and I just couldn’t wait to read it. So big thanks to WB Welch and Tory Hunter! And congratulations on the book!

In case the title or cover isn’t giving it away, this is a zombie apocalypse novella. Written from the perspectives of two survivors, Laura and Morrigan, who send each other letters about how they’re dealing with the end of times (no, not through the mail, silly), it’s an absolutely amazing, and unique story.

Thing is, I don’t like zombies in any other format than books. Movies and TV shows, boring as hell. Maybe in video games if they’re well-made, but usually, nah. Zombies just aren’t interesting, to me. They’re stupid monsters, and every movie feels the same.

For some reason though, I love reading about Zombie apocalypses in books, and The Last Letter is no exception. It’s grizzly, frightening, and emotional, and it’s so well-written. The way Welch and Hunter have worked together to create these couple of characters who exchange letters is brilliant. I cooperate with a friend on a writing project myself, and it’s always a worrying factor that our styles will be too different, and that it will shine through who’s written what. Well, that’s not an issue when you’ve not only written your zombie book expertly, but also made the whole execution of the story fit this kind of format.

About the book itself, I loved the writing. It’s fast paced, emotional, descriptive enough to paint a picture, but at the same time it’s constantly rolling. I read nearly all of it in an evening and was almost late for dinner. The plot is great, gripping, thrilling, and the characters feel so real. All of them.

I could ramble on, but I won’t. Go read the book instead, because it’s excellent. The writing, the plot, the execution, all A-game stuff. You won’t be disappointed. Also, did I mention that it’s JUST been released?

You can go get it here.

Go now, before the zombies come.

You Finished Your First Draft, What Now?

Other than perhaps actually publishing a book, nothing’s as sweet as that moment when you write the ending of your first draft, whether that’s just a final full stop or if you type out THE END. It’s an amazing feeling. The first time I did it, I remember that feeling quickly being washed over with uncertainty, though. A sense of, ‘What the hell do I do now?‘ came over me. Well, I just finished my fourth, first draft, so I’m beginning to get the hang of it. Here’s what I do:

1. STEP AWAY FROM THE BOOK!

It can be easy to want to dive right back into it, especially if you’re the kind of freakshow that actually enjoys editing. Wanting to crack on with it and fix all those things that have been on your mind since page 12 can be very, very tempting, but I would advise against it. Put the first draft away, at least for a month. Four weeks, in a cloud, on your hard drive or in a drawer. Don’t look at it. You’re going to want to forget as much of it as possible, so that when you look at it again, you can be objective. This isn’t something I’ve invented, Stephen King taught me this, and believe me, it works.

2. Start something else

If you’re eager to keep writing, I suggest starting something new. Yes, right away. I don’t know about you, but my inspiration tend to bounce up and down. If I’m on a roll, I’ll do everything I can to keep rolling, so if I have energy for it I’ll jump straight into something new. Not only will you get a running start on a new project, but it will also help you forget the one you’re going to edit in a while.

3. Read!

But by all means, not everyone wants to have several projects bumping around in their minds at the same time, and I get that. If you don’t want to crack on with something new just yet, take a break. Take a month off from writing, and read instead. Or maybe do research, play video games, catch up with friends. We all know how much of being a writer isn’t about writing, so you could do that: build your brand, start new social media accounts, look for cover artists or editors. You’ll be back to editing your manuscript before you know it, so don’t feel bad about some well-deserved time off.

When it comes to getting back to your manuscript take it one step at a time.

Read it first. Skim it one time, then read it properly a second time. Make some notes. Hold back on diving right into doing corrections and changing things. You want to think about the big picture first, don’t worry about the spelling mistakes just yet. What you’re doing at this stage, is really revising (even though I and so many others call it editing). You’re looking at the story, the characters, the arcs, and seeing what works and what needs to go. Maybe talk it over with a friend, have someone read it. Take your time with it.

When you’ve got the story to where you want it to be, that’s when you start worrying about the typos and the language. And this is also the time you go looking for an editor.

But whatever you do, if you follow my advice on this or not, if you edit as you go, or turn straight to page 1 as soon as you finish your draft… Don’t forget to stop long enough to celebrate. Pat yourself on the back, raise a glass to yourself. You’ve just written a book, and that’s amazing.

 

Book Review: We Are Mars by Cheryl Lawson

This, is one absolute gem of a sci-fi book. And I’ll tell you why in a second.

We Are Mars follows the colony of Rubicon, in the year 2128, on—you guessed it—Mars. Rubicon is harsh, but simple. Most of the inhabitants are genetically modified humans, all with their own purpose, their own job to go to, and everyone works together to make sure the Rubicon stays afloat. The biggest problems the inhabitants face, are each other, and the divides between them. Until one day when a disaster hits; when something that shouldn’t be possible happens, putting the whole Rubicon at risk. The people of Mars must come together, or face extinction.

Lawson’s books is magnificent. I’ve recently read the classic sci-fi book Dune, and this is better. Much better. Lawson’s writing style is lavish and gorgeous, and the plot was gripping from the start. I was fascinated.

Her absolute forte is the world-building. It’s been long since I’ve come across such a well put together world, such excellently researched and crafted scenarios. If I didn’t know better—which I don’t—I’d say Lawson works in some kind of industry that has ties to space exploration, like NASA or similar. It’s absolutely amazing how well-crafted this book is, and it shows from the very beginning.

On the other hand, there was one thing I struggled with with this book. There’s a few minor errors—the kind you find in any book—but they’re really not a problem at all. Then there’s a lack of chapters, which I found a bit strange simply because I’ve never come across it before, but again, it’s not an issue. There are some titled parts, and there are sections indicating which POV we’re reading from, so chapters or not doesn’t really matter.

But the lack of dialogue, was very noticeable. (Maybe particularly to me, because I love dialogue, and I write a lot of it myself). In the first third of the book there was hardly any, and throughout the rest it was very little compared to the narrative. At first I found it a little bit annoying, because often when I see this it makes for very boring reading. Thankfully, Lawson’s writing is excellent regardless, so that wasn’t it. I couldn’t quite put my finger on it, until I got further into it, which was when I realized I hardly knew the characters. The lack of dialogue between people made me feel like I didn’t know the people I was reading about. Of course I knew what they were doing, what they were up to, but I didn’t know much about how they spoke or thought. There were a few cases of scenes between characters, where I would have loved to have seen what they were saying, instead of just being told that they said it. Don’t misunderstand though, I loved the book. The style is very different to what I usually read, and I was intrigued to read something that while very familiar, was so different. 

Again, this book is fantastic. The writing is superb, the plot is gripping and the world-building is absolutely phenomenal. Many bonus points to Lawson for all the research she must have done. You can tell she’s very dedicated to sci-fi.

So, if you’re looking for a vivid, emotional, thrilling, an exceptionally well-crafted Mars adventure, go check out We Are Mars by Cheryl Lawson. It’s great!

Book Review: Lord of the Flies by William Golding

First of all, I loved this book, regardless of what I say about it, because I had more than a few issues with it. But to be clear, loved it.

If you haven’t heard of it, this is the book from the 50’s about a group of English school children who become stranded on some tropical island, and end up becoming pretty feral by the end of it. At first they elect a leader, try to build some kind of society, but of course it all collapses into madness. Who would have thought.

I like Golding’s writing. I love that there’s no elaborate backstory in either end. We don’t know who these kids were before they ended up on the island, or where they come from, other than that they are English. There are no flashback, and very few ‘reminiscing about home’ scenarios. I like that. It’s a concise story, about what happened to them.

But what the hell happened to dialogue tags?

If you’re like any of the other thousands of authors on Twitter who worry about dialogue tags, read this. There are hardly any, at all. It’s the most confusing thing I’ve read in ages. At the same time, a lot of dialogue from the same character is separated between multiples lines (for God knows what reason), so I struggled a lot with knowing who said what. It would be formatted like this:

“Dialogue!”

Ralph said.

“It can be confusing without tags!”

And this is one of the less confusing examples. Often there would be multiple lines of dialogue by different characters following each other, with very few action beats as well. This is clearly done to emulate people shouting and talking over each other, which I understood, but still, it made for very confusing reading at times.

And with fast paced dialogue, between two characters, it was difficult to keep track of who said what when there weren’t a single dialogue tag until the end of the conversation. I’d much prefer it if one was thrown in here and there, giving me a heads up as to who was talking. That’s kind of the two things you need, and this book illustrates why: 1. You need a tag/action to let readers know who starts the conversation, & 2. You need to indicate when dialogue changes between people (with proper formatting). My edition is from the 60’s so maybe this one is particularly weird.

I might be making it out to be worse than it actually is, but as soon as it becomes even a tiny bit confusing (even though it might make perfect sense if you take a second glance at it), it slows down the reader and pulls them out of the story.

Moving on

The book just isn’t what I thought. I’ve heard a lot about this book, it’s been hyped to be some kind of horrible, devolving spiral of madness, and in my opinion it just isn’t that at all. It’s grotesque and awful, sure, but not nearly as much as I thought. I don’t know why I had this idea of it, I’ve just always known The Lord of the Flies to be this terrible, terrible book, and I was kind of disappointed.

For a book of a relatively short length, I’m surprised at how repetitive it is. A lot of the dialogue between characters feels like it’s churning the same stuff over and over, and I kept wanting people to get on with what they were talking about.

But like I said to begin with, I like the book, it’s really good, and well worth a read. I’m guessing it might have made more of an impact if you read it while you were young, but it’s aged really well. Recommended.