Christopher Kellen's Blog, page 8

Review: The Hero Gets the Girl by Robert Eaton (@heroalwayswins)

Remember last year when I reviewed Robert Eaton’s The Hero Always Wins?

Well, after way too long a wait (I only say that because I’m an impatient bastard when it comes to sequels!) Rob Eaton has at last released the second book in his epic series.

In that year, of course, Rob has changed from someone I met in passing on Twitter into one of my fellow Genre Underground authors; a stand-up guy in addition to being a great author.

Of course, the fact that he joined our circle had absolutely no impact on how much I was awaiting his next book, since The Hero Always Wins was one of the most surprising books I read in 2011 — and perhaps ever.

Now, on to the review.

The Hero Gets the Girl picks up right where Book One left off. In the interest of spoilers, I won’t go too much into the plot, because you really should read these books for yourself. Between page one and the final, explosive conclusion, we get: a fantasy version of a rock band; a hero coming into their own; a villain showing us everything they’ve got; an awesome pirate ship; and a love which cannot be denied, no matter how unpleasant it might be.

Eaton’s characters continue to intrigue and amaze, even when they’re doing things which you might not have expected. These are creations of mythological proportion, from the huge Kael Dorian and his sprawling extended family to the magic of Leorht and the healer’s light.

I have one plot quibble, in that there is a plot twist which does not quite seem to have the necessary exposition to back it up. However, I think that Mr. Eaton has earned enough credit to carry it off and explain it to us next time, rather than spelling it out for us here in this book. I also noticed a few (minor) editing errors; a missed homonym confusion and the occasional misplaced letter or punctuation, but they were not prevalent enough to detract from the reading experience.

For a hard-rocking, heavy-drinking and all around good time, check out The Hero Gets the Girl. This book is head-and-shoulders above most of what the independent Kindle market has to offer. Take my advice and read these books today!

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Stay tuned, Hero Always Wins fans! We’ll have an interview with the author coming up in just a few days! – CK

Alexander, I Blame You

A recent review of the history of Western civilization has brought me to a single, undeniable conclusion.

This guy, right here, is the reason that humanity was set back over a thousand years in the realm of critical thinking and the advancement of humanity.

Why do I blame Alexander of Macedonia for a millennia (at least!) of stagnation in human philosophy, technology and thought?

For that, we have to do a bit of a historical roundabout. Are you ready?

Let’s start with Rome. Miserable, benighted Rome, who seized the legacy of the last great pre-Renaissance thinkers in the West — the Greeks — and proceeded to do absolutely nothing with it. I’m not convinced that Rome produced a single original thought. Their victories were military and logistical, and every thought that leaned even slightly toward the philosophical was nothing but derivative. Their literature: derivative. Everything the Romans did in the realm of thought and philosophy was torn straight from the pages of the Greeks whose lands, minds and very history they stole. It’s true that Rome did a lot for advancement in the realms of logistics (aqueducts, roads, city building) but it didn’t take them long to squander all of that too.

Then, after Rome had essentially thrown their tattered legacy into the proverbial latrine, Emperor Constantine painted a pagan symbol on his warrior’s shields and attributed his subsequent victory to Christ, and so did the Christian church control every great mind for a thousand years until the Black Death finally shattered its stranglehold. All philosophy and advancement of thought was caught up in petty religious squabbles about who was more right about a carpenter who lived centuries before any of them and who was crucified by his own people for daring to preach peace and love.

So, if Rome is clearly to blame for giving us Christianity and tying up all of our brilliant thinkers for a thousand years, why do I blame Alexander?

If Alexander of Macedon had just sucked it up and named a goddamn heir, the entirety of history would have taken a different path. The Hellenistic advancements would not have fallen into ruin, but continued to grow. Philosophy, unburdened by dogma, could have continued to flourish. Mathematics and abstract thought could have continued unabated, instead of being declared heresy and wickedness. More than that, they might have been able to hold their own against or even subsumed the growing Romans under Alexander’s dynasty. Who knows what kind of advancements would have been discovered, and how much earlier, had the world not suffered under nearly five hundred years of Roman military insanity and then a thousand years of blighted Dark Ages Christianity.

Where would we be? That’s an impossible question. Somewhere out there, in the mists of the multiverse, someone knows. In fact, they’re probably so far advanced that they’ve already looked at their history and gone “Man, if Emperor Alexander I of Macedonia hadn’t named an heir, we’d be screwed.”

Sins of the Father: Release Date

December 4th, 2012

Broken free from her unjust imprisonment after seven years, Trace Atherton emerges into a world on the brink of catastrophe. Her father’s base of power as the iron-fisted First Administrator of the Kildare Syndicate is slipping, and she knows that he’ll do anything to keep that power.

Even if it means sentencing millions of people to death.

With few allies and time running out, Trace rushes to stop the looming disaster before more innocent life is sacrificed atop the pyre of her father’s ambition… but first she’ll have to overcome the mental paralysis brought on by seven years of imprisonment, and reclaim her confidence as a commanding officer.

Based on the acclaimed short story Dutiful Daughter, Sins of the Father is a full-length novel for fans of David Weber, Fred Saberhagen, and David Drake; set in the Syndicate Worlds, where glorified crime bosses struggle amongst themselves for dominance in the far future of the human race.