Utvalt

This is Me

Introduction to my life

Short, round and happy. That’s it.

… No?

Okay then. I am from a small town in Sweden. Growing up in a farmer community my family has always been the weird ones. We are artists, writers, musicians and sculptors. I was no expection as I loved both reading, writing and painting. I have read the moment I learned how, much to the librarians dismay as I read the entirety of the library before becoming ten years old, and started my second love, to write.

I have a fondness for Fantasy and the Supernatural genre as I want to experience an entire new world. My hope with this blog is not to just share my love and spread it but also evolve to create new things. I hope to be inspired by you.

Thank you for visiting and hope that you enjoyed yourself!

Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters

This historical mystery was first published in 1975 and is the first book in a twenty-book-long series following Amelia Peabody as she solves mysteries, often in an Egyptian setting.

The story is set in England in 1885 and follows the wealthy heiress Amelia Peabody as she travels to Egypt, seeking to explore the historical sites. On the way, she encounters the unfortunate woman, Evelyn. She takes her along on the journey where they will encounter the two brothers Radcliffe and Walter Emerson, and their dig where a mummy seemingly has started to walk around during the night. The people of the village call it a curse, but Amelia calls it a trick. She, along with her new companions, is ready to solve the mystery, but the question is whether it has anything to do with the setting or if all of this is a problem that has followed them from England.

Amelia is a bit of a contradiction, which many other reviewers also like to point out. She is introduced to us as an educated woman, far smarter and wiser than her peers around her. Though throughout the story she does a lot of the silly things that contradict this. I guess we could go with her being arrogant, but the book never highlights this trait and continues to write her like she is the smartest person in the room. She doesn’t faint as fast as Evelyn does, which in itself is a stereotype, but she is booksmart and has no common sense. Instead, she is constantly saved by the men around her, and the book constantly reminds us of how great men are and how incapable women are.

This isn’t the only old-fashioned sentiment in the books, as there is a lot of glorifying of British imperialism in this book. Now, I can understand if you add some of it to reflect the time the book is set in, but it becomes stereotypical after a while. For example, all Egyptians were filthy and uneducated. All the British people, including Amelia, speak of saving poor, unfortunate Egypt and speak of the rebellion as if it isn’t a threat. Though to be fair, the rebellion they speak of with Ahmed Urabi as leader took place in 1882, not 1885, but the timeline was a bit jumbled in the book.

To be fair, like I mentioned, some of it can be forgiven as it was the timeline where British imperialism did exist, but when every character showcased this trait, it became stereotypical, instead of historically correct. The British people had mixed reactions to imperialism, for every person who thought it was a great thing, another pointed out the negative impact it had on people living in the country. Support for imperialism often came from conservative parties, which Amelia, as an educated woman and a self-proclaimed feminist, was not. In other words, left-leaning leaners were against imperialism and conservatives were for it during this time, but the author very clearly just thought that every Brit was the same and wrote them very stereotypically.

Now, your ability to stomach the story seemed to come from your ability to ignore the obvious racism and glorifying Britain that the author thought every British character should have. If you can’t, then it would be hard to find any enjoyment in the story, which follows a woman with a sarcastic and honest personality who gets into funny situations. The mystery is a bit half-assed, as I would say the author forgot about actually solving the mystery with all the antics the crew gets up to, and throws in the solution rather half-heartedly at the end.

There is also romance in the book, hence why some describe it as more of a historical romance instead of a historical mystery. The very premise of the book is taken from an Egyptian poem, which seemed to be invented by the author, as I cannot find the original, about two lovers on each side of a river with a crocodile waiting for the one who tries to swim across.

Sounds romantic in theory, but the book barely has any romance in it. Amelia herself gets married at the end of the book to a man she is shown to hate. The author tries to showcase it as Amelia refusing to admit to herself that she likes the man, but the man in question is horrid to her, and the author forgot to give him any redeeming qualities, so the reader will end the book questioning why she fell for him in the first place.

Honestly, for all the bashing I have given the book, I enjoyed it. It was a silly and quirky story with flawed characters getting into ridiculous situations. I could look past the stereotypes and all the like, though I wouldn’t say this book will go down in history as a masterpiece. She ain’t Agatha Christie, and I do think the book has a bit of an identity crisis. The author wasn’t sure what genre she wanted it to be.

All in all, it had charm and quirk but failed to deliver anything outstanding. It really isn’t for everyone, and I do believe the reviews for this one are divided. I would give it a 5 out of 10. I enjoyed it for what it was, but I won’t be reading it again. I’m not even sure if I would want to continue reading the series, as I don’t know if it has anything more to deliver. We’ll see. Either way, I would only recommend it for the curious minds or for those who can overlook its negative traits. ‘

With Kind Regards
Senefer

The Trials of Apollo by Rick Riordan

The Trials of Apollo is a five-book series by Rick Riordan, the author of Percy Jackson and the Olympians and The Heroes of Olympus series. The series is a sequel to previous series and pretty much demands you to have read them first to understand all the cameos and constantly mentioned incidents. The Trials of Apollo is, much like previous books, a YA fantasy with mentions of Greek and roman mythology except that this one also has a LGBT tag as Apollo is bisexual. I will warn for spoilers as well as I will go into some of it, such as death to discuss the overall impact on the story.

I have decided to slam my review of the series together for a simple reason. Much like previous books this series is very formulaic. Hence the same complaint I have follows the books. I don’t want to repeat myself too much so I just write a review of the entire series instead of struggling like I did with previous series to say something new when the critic is the same.

The books in the series are the following:

1. The Hidden Oracle: Apollo has fallen from grace, meeting a demigod called Megan goes to camp half-blood to try and find a way to become a god again. He learns that his old nemesis, Python is back along with some old emperors looking to become gods.

2. The Dark Prophecy: Apollo goes to the Wayward Station to try and find a long lost oracle along with an old lover who has kidnapped a little girl.

3. The Burning Maze: Apollo goes to find Jason to bring down a emperor looking to become a sun god, while burning down the home of dryads.

4. The Tyrant’s Tomb: Apollo brings Jason’s body back to the Legion to bring the fight to the Triumvirate and get revenge for his fallen brother.

5. The Tower of Nero: Faces old enemies as Apollo fights against Nero and Python.

Honestly each book follows a similar formula. A homebase, such as camp half-blood or the wayward station. We get cameos from previous books, they attack the bad guys base, fail, then return to homebase to defend it. Someone dies and the bad guys are killed. Repeat for each book and you have the formula for each book.

Much like in previous books (different formula but a formula non the less) it get’s predictable and frankly very few books hit home well. I think the best one was the third one, as the death in that one (Jason Grace, the main character of a previous series) follows the other two books and it is a turning point for Apollo as a character. He for the first time wants to live up to his brother’s expectations and last wish which trigger a change in his character.

All other deaths are more a way to give shock value. “I remember that character from previous books and now they are dead!”. Honestly, most of them are barely in the book and only get a few mentions from time to time.

I also dislike, much like in previous books, the nonchalance the mythology have been used. Many of these stories are dark, mention of rape and the like, but Riordan has dumbed it down to be child friendly which often lead to the original message being gone. One example of this is the Daphne story that is about Apollo chasing a dryad who doesn’t want him to the point of her killing herself. This happens after he being hit with an arrow from Eros while the dryad is hit with an arrow of unrequired love. It misses the point as Riordan tries to explain that there has to be love there from the beginning for it to work, and frames it as a sad love story while in reality, both back then and today, it’s about not forcing someone to love them.

It’s also interesting that the guy, Hyacinthus, who actually has a lover story with Apollo is downplayed while Daphne who Apollo hasn’t even spent time with is constantly mentioned as his great love. I don’t get the way how Riordan uses the mythology, and I have never liked it. I’m not sure Greek and Roman mythology is a good base for a children’s book. But maybe that is just me.

What I like with the series is what everyone else seem to hate. That is the main character. I like Apollo as he, unlike previous main characters of Riordan’s series, are a very flawed character. He is not strong, not very bright and constantly has to rely on friends and family to get by. All while previous characters, often used rather well in the story, teach him about bravery, compassion and humanity. Something he has previously lacked.

Apollo is in no way a hero, and certainly not the Mary Sue of previous book. He constantly messes up, strumbles, get hurt and often faints at the end instead of being the kickass hero Percy and Jason was. Of course, those who enjoy the power fantasy of previous books might dislike this book as here it is not the main character who is the Mary Sue, but his companion Meg.

I’m not sure about Meg to be honest. She is mostly there as a tool. Either to be the Mary Sue that is lacked from previous books. Apparently Riordan has to have a overpowering child to beat down the entire army. Or to act as a way for Apollo to realize his own abuse by his father by comparing his life to Meg’s. She gets some sidestory though, so that is good and I didn’t really hate her. It just felt strange how much focus the story puts on her when she is mostly just running around the back while Apollo should be in focus.

I’m not sure about the cameos either. Some I liked, such as Jason who truly impact the story. Will and Nico’s cameo makes sense considering Will being Apollo’s son. Grover’s were also fine he actually has a part in the story. Other’s just felt random and thrown in for the fun of it, or for them to die. It became a bit overpowering after a while.

I had wanted a bit more scenes between Apollo and Jason as those two left the largest impact on each other and the story. Other than that, I enjoyed the story, though it surprised me as I didn’t like the other series by Riordan. I don’t enjoy the Mary Sues, and this one certainly didn’t have one as a main character. There was some flaws, and I can see fans of previous series disliking this one if only because it has a different concept. It’s not about a perfect person who becomes recognized for his greatness or teaches others about goodness. This is about flawed person learning to become a better person. Which I enjoyed.

I would give it a 7 out of 10. Some books was a bit lacking, and it was very predictable but some scenes left an impact and I enjoyed the main character. I’m not sure I would recommend it though as I worry the fans of previous series might not enjoy it, but I certainly did.

With Kind Regards

Senefer.

Beachside Books, Book 1-3 by Paula Lester and Lisa B. Thomas.

This is a review of the three first books of the series Beachside Books by the authors Paula Lester and Lisa B. Thomas. They were published 2019 and the audiobook is narrated by Emma Lysy. The audiobook had all three books in one so I decided to review them all in one go. This is a cozy mystery with all the tropes that comes with it and a hint of magic in it, for some reason.

Book 1: Pasta, Pirates and Poison

Paige Murphy is a wannabe writer who lives in Italy but is called home to Texas when her aunt dies and she inherits a bookstore. It is soon revealed that her aunt is murdered and she goes out to find the killer.

Book 2: Apples, Actors & Axes

With a new employee in the bookstore Paige has to handle a wave of fans as her new employee is a actor. That along with a treasure hunt and a sudden murder sure leaves her nervous, especially when the suspect is her new employee. She is determined to find out the thruth though before someone is falsely acuse.

Book 3: Grits, Gamblers & Grudges

A skeleton is found in the basement of Paige’s bookstore and the suspect is none other than her dead aunt. Not wanting to ruin her aunt’s reputation, Paige wants to find the real killer only to find the evidence pointing toward her fellow members of her witch coven. But it can’t be them, can it?

Now, let’s go through the characters. Most are very shallow or just a walking trope so I don’t think I need to waste too much time on it and focus on Paige. Paige is pretty much the walking trope of cozy mysteries. She is a writer who owns a bookstore and has a close by friend who is a cop and constantly gives her good warnings on the investigation she ignores. In this case, the cop is her brother Scott. She stumbles across the solutions through sheer luck but the book and with vague motivations for her to do the investigation. Often it just comes down to her being noisy and careless.

It doesn’t help that I found her annoying and frankly, a menace. In the first book she was fine, but in the third book she was just insufferable. She hid evidence to “find the real killer” which not only could make the court dismiss the case making the real killer go lose. She gets angry when this is pointed out and she ignores any proof that points at those she loves because “they can’t be the killer”. Of course it isn’t her best friend or aunt in the end, but that she was in denial the whole time told me that she shouldn’t investigate because she isn’t any good at it.

The book just pretended it to be. She was also immature, constantly complaining that the bookstore didn’t go well or her employee did better than her but she was never in the store. She was constantly somewhere else and had no interest in being a storekeeper. It doesn’t take a genius to get that she needs to actually put in an effort to make something work. The same goes for her book. She actually had a book deal in the first book, but messed it up because she apparently never wrote the book. I don’t know if the authors did it consciously but they made her spoiled and lazy. Wanting things but not working for it, but the book frames it like she has all the right to complain.

To make a comparison, in Secrets and Scrabbles by Josh Lanyon the main character also inherits a bookstore, but he constantly fights and works to keep it afloat. Trying to make it better, and solving cases often has to do with either helping friends or keeping the bookstore afloat by earning money or ensuring its reputation is good as he is often the suspect of murders. In that series we feel pity for the main character as he actually cares about the store. In this book we hear Paige complain while the book constantly tells us about her leaving early to write her book or run around to talk to her friends or go to the restaurant. It simply could have been done better and I was confused by what the authors wanted to convey with her acting this way.

The other characters are just summed up to one or two traits such as Sarah who is married to Scott and is a vegetarian. She can see the future (or at least so she claims) through dreams. Or old Lucy who is a baker and can make potions. (Or so she claims).

Now, as you noticed I used, so the book claims, a lot here. The books relationship with magic is weird. It is only hinted at in book 1 and in book 2 the three witches start a coven, despite book 1 not even going into details that they even were witches. I had no idea Sarah was one and can’t remember the first book mentioning it, but in book 2 she can suddenly see the future. Or so the book claim. Over the three books barely any magic is actually used and even when it does it isn’t sure it actually worked. Like in book two when Paige asks Lucy to bake a pie with some truth potion in it so she can interrogate a suspect. We have no idea if the pie actually works but the main character assumes it so I guess it did. Paige never uses it again either. Sarah also tells us about all the previous times she has dreamed of the future but it doesn’t seem to work in neither book 2 or 3 so I’m not sure how to feel about it.

What we then have is Paige’s ability to see ghosts, a gift Scott share, which turns out in book 3 to be an ability that everyone has as long as they believe in the supernatural. Frankly, the book could have removed the witch part and nothing would be especially affected in the overall mystery. I have no idea why its there because the magical part of the story isn’t especially implemented into it.

So, what about the mysteries? Frankly, they were a hit and miss. The story focuses on Paige interviewing the suspects and searching for clues, which is good. Though the solution is often stumbled across there are some searching to give the readers hints on the solution. Each book has a well-rounded number of suspects and it works well, though some things were clumsily implemented. Such as the distractions were obvious. The amount of times Paige will go “it really could be this person who did it,” and you going “no, it can’t. It’s a distraction. Now move on” is plenty.

The problem is that this book isn’t even trying to be complicated so the solution is always the most basic one such as love or money. The twists aren’t really twists and just by how boringly common all the mysteries are you know that there won’t be any interesting solutions. This is the reason why I was convinced in the third book that it wasn’t the witches who had done anything. It would be too interesting to think Aunt Nora killed someone to protect her and her coven as a witch. A too complicated motivation.

I guess this is the book for those who want simple and shallow to read on a rainy day, but I feel like there are plenty of cozy mystery that just have better writing than this. Better characters, better mystery, better story and less clumsily implemented tropes. I would give these three books an overall score of 4 out of 10. It might be your cup of tea, but I prefer mine to have a bit more flavor.

With Kind Regards

Senefer.

The First Step by Tao Wong

The First Step is the first book in the A Thousand Li series by Tao Wong. It is a wuxia inspired book first published 2019 and the audiobook is narrated by Travis Baldree. A narrator who should get some credit as he tried to pronounce the names in Chinese. Now the author is not actually Chinese but comes from Malaysia and is currently living in Canada. I thought I should mention it as I will discuss some strangeness in this Wuxia story that I was surprised by. I will also not even try to write out all the names as I listened to the audiobook which means I have no idea how they are spelled. Most are just side characters though who rarely shows up more than 30% of the book.

Now, the story follows the farmer Wu Ying who wants to support his family and enters the Verdant Green Waters Sect. His life become a mess though as everyone at the sect seem to hate him for being a peasant and he will have to fight by everything he is worth in order to just get half of what the rest of them gets as he has no money, no status and an absent sponsor. What he has though is the luck and skill of a hero.

Wu Ying is presented to us as a good son who wants to care for his parents. At least at the start. He doesn’t mention his parents again after that. I couldn’t really get a feel for him. He seemed gentle, being kind and polite but then he just suddenly turns bloodthirsty and arrogant and in the scene after he was polite and wise. He has no consistency which means that I have a hard time attaching myself to him. Now, this isn’t strange for a wuxia novel as the genre relies heavily on the “golden” protagonist. The one blessed by the heavens who has all the luck, all the women and all the skill of a genius not seen in a thousand year. Mary Sues with other words and Wu Ying has some of the tendencies. His setbacks often come from him being bullied to do extra work but he always handles them even when it makes no sense.

There are some side characters, but most of them are just there randomly to then vanish. Half of them is just there for two reasons either to bully Wu Ying or to save him by giving him just what he needs (or better). Such as the nephew of the merchant who sells the plum wine. He was sent without money to by the most expensive wine in the country. He stumbles over a rare skin that the nephew wants, and the nephew gives him not only a plum wine, he gives him three of the most expensive ones from his families special store. All because of luck. Whether you like it or not is up to you, but I have a hard time with it as it makes the characters struggles feel unimportant.

Now as I mentioned at the start of the review there was a mentioned of a strange thing considering it was a wuxia story. In Chinese wuxia you will notice that most men look like popstars, very thin and hardly any muscles on them. In this story they all have a lot of muscles, it being mentioned several time.

Now, you might think that it isn’t that strange but several Chinese stories I have read actually explains why they are so thin despite being martial artists. Its because the chi they use replaces muscles. A rule is, the less muscles the more chi, as muscles fade away along with fat to ensure that they use chi instead. Of course, there are some stories that doesn’t leave an explanation but from what I can tell this is strongly a belief centered around Buddhism and Daoism which might be why the author didn’t use that rule. If you don’t know of it then you can’t use it. It isn’t that important, but it made me look up the author as I previously thought he was Chinese.

It is impressive that the entire book felt authentic enough for me not to suspect he wasn’t Chinese, it proves that he must have made quite a lot of research in order to get it right. Personally, in my own wuxia book, I choose to remove elements like the overpowered main character and long explanations of chi and the like that just went on a bit too long. These are clichés littered in Chinese stories, but the clichés are well received in the west, and I fear this book might not be to westerners liking. Though, what would I know? The wuxia literature has grown in popularity lately.

I would say it is a good wuxia novel, but not an overall good book. It lacks any real motivation, goal or feeling of real progress. What progress there are is a giant leap from nothing to power without much happening in between to explain how Wu Ying has progressed. The motivation of the character Wu Ying, which is to support his parents, vanishes in the book and is just replaced with a will to get stronger to survive which doesn’t really feel as urgent or intensely as it was meant to be.

There is also no goal which comes from a lack of villain. There are some bullies that I cannot remember because they are so insignificant, and there is no end in sight. Being stronger doesn’t work as a goal. Is it to become an Inner sect member? To be a grand master? To defeat a certain enemy? Gain status? None of these exist and it makes the story feel slow paced and boring despite having quite a lot of fights and tournaments.

This is a story I won’t continue reading as there was nothing that made me interested in following Wu Ying story, but it made me interested in looking up other books by the author and maybe other series are more to my liking. This book earns itself a 5 out of 10, it is average but does make a good wuxia story. Unfortunately, it also has a lot of the chinese clichés that really aren’t good writing and makes the story feel dry.

With Kind Regards

Senefer.

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston

Red, White & Royal Blue by Casey McQuiston is a standalone LGBT+ romance set in modern age. The book was published 2019 while the audiobook is narrated by Ramon de Ocampo. Since this book is about to get a movie I decided to pick up the book to see what they had to work on so I will mention some of my expectations of the movie as well, but let’s start with the book.

The book follows Alex, the son of the President of United States of America, who is forced after an incident to spend time with the prince of Wales, Henry. Sparks fly, and the two find each other in a peculiar situation as both fear that their relationship might bring ruin to their families.

Alex is the one who wants to save the world, being sassy, social and constantly wanting to learn more about the political world. Henry is a gentleman but distant, constantly being told what to feel and behave while desperately wanting to escape it all. The two of them are the opposite and that always makes for an interesting romance. The problem is perhaps that the two comes across a bit of a stereotype.

The typical liberated American dude and the snobbish British guy. It also has a tendency to glorifying America while dumping on the Imperial Britain. Often without understanding the culture and politics of Great Britain. It’s also very clear that the author has a political leaning as the republicans are depicted as racists homophobes who cheats and does dirty things while the democrats are the saviors of justice.

Now, I found it to be a very small part so I wasn’t that bothered by it, but I do think the movie would do better by trying t remove the political leanings and focus on the romance aspect of the book. I should also mention that a large part of the book is spend on the two of them mailing each other instead of actually interacting so that is also a style choice that might deter people from liking it. It didn’t for me, but I can see some people finding it to be dull or unpersonal.

What I had a problem with is the pacing. The book is over 400 pages long and if you cut down unnecessary plotlines, long conversations that say nothing, then you could easily have cut 100 pages and gotten a better pacing. For example, the couple has their forced reveal and confrontation in the climax. So what’s the problem then? Well, there are two hours left of the audiobook and the storyline has wrapped up. What we are left with is a bunch of forced milking that just feels dry.

For what it is, I would say this book earns itself a 7 out of 10. Your enjoyment of it depends on your ability to shut off your brain and just enjoy a charming and lightheaded story. If you read the more political parts and think about it you might not enjoy it as much as this is very shallow when it comes to culture and research. It’s a guilty pleasure meant to satisfy you for a couple of hours then you move on feeling better about your day. If that is what you are looking for then I would recommend this book to you.

With Kind Regards

Senefer.

Dracula’s Child by J. S. Barnes

Dracula’s Child is a standalone book by J.S. Barnes, but a spiritual successor of Bram Stoker’s novel. The book is 576 pages long and was first published 2020 by Titan Books. The book occurs around 12 years after the Bram Stoker book and is written in the same manner as the original book, both in language and in style. It is close enough that you will be surprised that it wasn’t written by Bram Stoker. Of course, with the old style of writing comes also problems that would not go over well with modern readers, but before we enter into details. Let’s summarize the plot.

Mina and Jonathan Harker is living a somber life raising their strange child, Quincey. They are still haunted by the memories of Dracula and is straying away from each other as time goes on. Mina notice though that the world seemed out of sorts, as madness grips her friends and people go missing. Sensing something coming and her son being in center, Mina believes that their old enemy might be back, though Jonathan is more sceptic. Unknown to them, London is being prepared to fall and the strigoi has come to prepare the city for the rebirth of their master.

We see many old characters such as Mina and Jonathan. The story set in motion by the death of Van Helsing and with his death, the story escalate. Making previous unimportant characters into larger players. Unfortunately, the story can be confusing. It is in the same style as the original novel, which means that it is built on dairies entries of various characters, along with letters and news articles. The characters feel alive through the letters but there are too many to even try to keep them apart.

Only a few sticks out such as the fat old man, Maurice who is a former actor and gay. He follows a beautiful young man, Gabriel, around and has a crush on him. We have the guy who writes articles for the new council who wants to bring London back to a time where they where strong. We have the two policemen, one American and one British. One dies by the end and the other suddenly get a larger role to play the hero. I think you can guess which one.

I must also mention that I also wonder about the title of the book. It would have been more accurate to name it Dracula’s return than Dracula’s child because the child in question is hardly a character in this book. The child has some plotlines in the beginning but is mere a tool that easily could have been replaced. The boy just feels insignificant in the grand schemes of the book, and yes I know that Dracula cannot fully be reborn without him and he gets a big role in the very final fight but I just feel like it easily could have been replaced, making the boy rather unimportant outside being there as a plot point for possible future books.

As I mention, there is a large shift by two thirds into the book. What before was a quiet horror lead by Mina who needs to investigate the strange occurrence and protect her son, turns into a loud paranormal adventure with explosions, a rebellion and Mina is thrown aside to make the men who before was useless to take the scene as main characters. Some might like it but considering that Mina was a force to be recon with in the original book, and has turned into a silly damsel in distress by newer media, I must wonder why this author did the same. He seemed to have studied the old book vigorously so why does the latter half of the book seem to be far more influenced by American media, enough that I wondered if the author was American himself. Maybe it was to amuse the modern audience who is by far more accustomed to action adventures than slow paced horror.

That said though, the first part is slowed paced and much of it comes by too much random entries that just isn’t necessary for the story. There is for example and entire entry of Mina’s friend who becomes pregnant, kills her unborn child, then go mad and save them from a bomb. This entire plotline felt long and the first half of it felt just unnecessary.

The same goes with Maurice story. A large part of it was just him wandering around or lay in bed. I feel like much of it could have been cut without affecting the story or the atmosphere. This though seem to be a residue of the same problem of the original novel that also had a lot of unnecessary letters and entries. It was acceptable before to write out every detail, but today you might lose some readers by adding too much information. Though I do think that the intended readers might be more lenient since they most likely are fans of the original novel.

Now, this is a horror with all the old stereotypes. Dracula is a monster, so is the majority of the vampires. The men don’t seduce, the women do because women must be beautiful and seduce men to their doom. That is the old stereotype. Illeana, the vampire mistress of Dracula, along with the nurse all fall under this stereotype. The women are often connected to a man, often their husband and has no ambition of their own. Which once again is a stereotype which might not connect as well to the new readers. The author tries to capture the essence of Mina, who is perhaps the greatest deviation of this stereotype but unfortunately, as I mentioned, she is thrown aside to give place to male heroes.

All in all, I think the story is expertly written and capture the spirit of the original. Of course, with that comes the old stereotypes, the slow pacing and the dumps of unnecessary information. Which means that the demographic of this story is the fans of the original novel. The hiccup of this story is the latter part where the story’s pace picks up but it also looses some of the original’s charm and the modern author shines through. You can feel an influence of the American media which younger reader might be more familiar with which means that the latter part might annoy those who were a fan of the old book, but feel better for those who has never read it. I would say that this book is still impressive and deserve a 9 out of 10. I only removed one point for the inconsistencies in the story, but overall, I was impressed and would recommend this for someone who has read and liked the original Dracula by Bram Stoker.

With Kind Regards

Senefer.

Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman

This is the first book in the Chronicles series in the Dragonlance universe by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman. It was first published in 1984, and the audiobook I listened was so old that it asked me, god how many times, to change the cassette. Yes, Cassette, children. Look it up.

I have no idea who narrated the audiobook, but I think it was the version from 1990 from Random House Audio Books, but I leave that one alone. This is a really old fantasy book based on the Dungeons & Dragons games and you can see that from the characters and their “classes” such as knight, healer, rogue and wizard. In one point they even tell us that fighters go first. The audiobook I listened to was long, like really long, around 15 to 20 hours. I have been told that there is an audio drama who had shorten the book to 3-4 hours which I probably would have preferred. You felt every hour in this book.

Well, we are going ahead of ourselves. The story starts with an old gang of veteran adventurers meet up after years apart, they encounter a barbarian princess with a staff. A staff with healing powers that could only belong to the lost gods. They decide to help the princess when she gets hunted by Dragonlings who had been send out by an unknown enemy to take the staff. The story follows the team as they encounter undead, dragons, traps in their search for the True Gods.

The characters are the leader Tanis Half-Elven, a knight named Sturm, the two brothers Caramon, the warrior, and the dark wizard Raistlin. We also have a dwarf, Flint, the thieving kender Tasslehoff, and the two barbarians Riverwind and the princess Goldmoon.

Those are just the main cast though, we also have some characters that show up later in the book to join the team such as the elven princess Laurana who is in love with Tanis, her brother Gilthanas who hates Tanis, the old wizard Fizban who isn’t what he seem to be, the barmaid Tika who wants to become a warrior to impress Caramon who she is in love with, and the evil Dragon Highlord Verminaard who is barely seen but often spoken of in the book.

I probably missed someone, such as Tanis human love interest who is spoken of in the book but hardly matters. And yes, there are four females in the book, all are hinted to be virgins (Some are said straight out to be so), two are princesses, and all of them are love interests to one of the main casts. The three women who are in the main cast are passive, even the ones who are suppose to be fighters are just lousy ones so… A very old book then.

I cannot speak of the entire cast, it’s too many to mention but there are two who sticks out. Tanis, the leader who is, if you haven’t figured it out when you read the surname, half-elven. His father raped his elven mother and he has always been torn between the two world, along with his two loves, one human and the other elven.

The other is, from what I can tell, the fan favorite Raistlin. A secretive wizard with a sick body and a mysterious past. He cares for the weak, mostly because he is constantly taken care of by his brother who see him as such, and never speaks outright about his thoughts. There are others with larger roles such as Goldmoon who carries the staff of a True God but she isn’t that interesting. Mostly it is about her being a princess in love with Riverwind who is a commoner.

Most of the characters are stereotypes that you will know well if you have read any of the old fantasy or most of all, played any of the Dungeons & Dragons games. The grumpy, bearded dwalf, the human hating elves, the old wizard and the dark wizard, the honorable knight and the reckless warrior. We know them well, and depending on the person we either love them or hate them. I found them boring with the exception if Raistlin, who I really wanted to know more about. Not that we got to know much about him, or any of the characters, at least not in this book. There is some background story to flesh out the characters, but most of it is just lore. Nothing really seem to make me understand them as people, it was just their past.

Which is a rather big problem with this book, all these fantastic races and lore but the book neglect the characters themselves. For example, Sturm is from an order of knights who is pretty much gone but he continues to act like a knight. Wonderful, why? How does he feel? Is he disappointed, does he want to reclaim his honor and if yes, why? How did he lose it? Why does he put so much effort in being a knight? Anything to make us understand how he is as a person and why. Now he is just pretty much a knight and noble. That’s it. Which is pretty much how most of the cast in this book can be summed up.

The plot is… linear. We barely get any opinion of all the characters when they receive the quest and they just go on it because that is what they do. Tanis and Raistlin is the only ones that seem to have legit reason, Tanis wants to find the True Gods and Raistlin sacrificed much in the past to gain power, which he still seeks among the dragons. It is hinted that Raistlin know what is to come and that is why he sacrificed his health for magical power.

Mostly the characters just run around, stumbles over things that will point them to their next destination without really giving us any development. They just run around, fighting and go to the next place. I cannot even describe it properly because it is just a mess of fighting and running around. They fight undead, encounter a unicorn who tells them to go where the staff was found, they find some disks who needs to be protected and then they go back to where they begun and finds out that the humans have been taken slaves and run to save them and so on and on.

I just found the book boring and think that many would think so today. This book has not aged well and lean too much into lore and too little into the characters for young people to like it. It is slow paced, maybe around 200 of the first pages goes on just to introduced the characters before they actually get the quest which is just too long. The characters are to flat and too stereotypical. This is a story that a parent loves because they read it when they were children and live on nostalgia, forcing their children to read it not getting that they won’t like the same thing that their parents liked. Now, if you are a young child and love this book today, I bow to you. It is all depends on taste but I highly doubt that many people younger than 40-50 years old would adore this book.

I will rate it a 3 out of 10, I just couldn’t enjoy it. It feels long, old and flat. Nothing, other than the hope of Raistlin getting a larger role, could entice me to continue reading this and that is never a good sign. If you would like an old classic, then this one has all the signs of one, but I just cannot see why people would like this one, so maybe another reviewer could give you a better perspective on its strengths.

With Kind Regards

Senefer.

Banished by Blood by Maria Booth

Is the first book in the Santa Cruz Vampires series by Maria Booth. It’s a MM romance with a paranormal spin. I would say it is also set in the same universe as the Santa Cruz shifters but I’m not entirely sure. The book was self-published 2021 and the audiobook is narrated by Tim Paige and Liam DiCosimo.

The story follows Asher and Ezra who are two fallen angels who had their wings cut off and turned into vampires. The story starts off with Asher being banished while Ezra is the one who caught him and tries to keep him alive. Asher is determined to continue doing what he does best, which is healing. A task not easy by former angels betrayed by their Archangels who wants to use them as weapons to take over earth. They still want to protect the human though the question is if they can succeed when they have to go up against the archangels and lose whatever slim hope they have to return to heaven.

Now I don’t mind the characters but I though find them problematic. I really had no interest in them and it took me a while to figure out why. It’s because they are perfect. Whatever flaws they have comes from them wanting to do good but are stopped by the very cartoony evil archangels who just want to take over the world because they are evil.

Asher has his wings cut off in a horrible manner and he gets over it pretty much immediately. Ezra wants to get back and prove his innocence but none has any interest in revenge. They are healers and warriors who are perfectly good with no nuances at all. I quickly lost interest in them and the only one I was interested in is the one who is hinted (not shown) to have some flaws but their knew “master” is barely in this book.

Asher also don’t really face any repercussion or is even called out on some of the strange things he does or say. He, for example, tells them to go against an order of Michael and Michael takes Ezra and whips him as a punishment when they do it. Then Asher turns around and blames the leader for doing it despite he being the cause of everything and everyone seem to agree. Apparently Asher can’t do anything wrong. It easily could have been a very good way to cause some conflict but the author just runs past it to make these godlike characters fight the ultimate evil. Who becomes an allegory for corruption among those in power.

I also felt that some things were glossed over. Such as the mention of a virus which ravaged the human and shifter population but not what it actually was. Is it just a lazy allegory for Covid or an actual plot point from one of her other series. I don’t know. Why would they turn angels into vampires? There are no real advantages to that idea since the angels wants humans to worship them so they can rule over them. That would have been far easier to do as angels claiming to be gods messengers.

Now, is there any good points. Well, the world does feel unique. The angels becoming vampires when their wings are cut off, the war between the demons and angels where both sides see themselves as the good one, the virus ravaging the world. All of this gives a unique world and the story, a bit of a underdog trope, could have worked really well if the author was just able to bring it all home and connect them. She wasn’t able to do it and it felt a bit rushed. It doesn’t help that the book, apparently, had a lot of spelling mistakes, such as missing words or punctuations, like it hadn’t been edited. I haven’t read the book, instead went for the audiobook, so I didn’t notice but a friend of mine barely was able to get through it because of it. This is a clear sign of a rush job, especially considering that some of them could easily be spotted if she just read through her own work.

I would say that the book has plenty of ideas and potential and with a bit of time and patience the author could have a really good book. For now there is too many missed opportunities and rushed job to give it that high of a rating. I would say it is a solid 6 out of 10. It was fine, but unfortunately lacking in editing. I would have liked a bit more flaws and less cartoon feeling over the characters, but the world had potential and I do hope she expands upon it in the future.

With Kind Regards

Senefer.

Five Ways East Asian Literature and Comics tends to gets Wrong with Western Culture

To write about a different culture is not easy. There are many things to consider and it might be hard to spot what you might have written wrongly about other cultures because you simply have no idea how they are like.

An easy way to train this is to look at how other cultures write about your own culture as this is something you know and can spot the differences and easily understand where they come from.

I’m going to go through some of these differences I have encountered when reading east asian literature and comics like manhwa and manga to show what I mean.

1. Views on marriage and dating

I have encountered several stories where east Asians has put out western stories with very strange ideas on marriages. At least from a western viewpoint. It might be a modern setting with arranged marriages for example. Getting married after one date or marrying a complete stranger because your family said so.

Needless to say, this is not western culture where you date for at least one year, move together for another before you even consider marriage. Arranged marriage just doesn’t exist even among the elites such as royalty and hasn’t for at least a hundred years and even then it was first a lot of dating before you even considered marriage.

We can here see a very different dating culture from the western and asian continents and it is easy to forget that not all cultures view marriages and dating the same.

2. Collective punishment and public shame

This is very present in historical novels or mangas. Maybe one person intends to overthrow the king of a made up western country and suddenly their entire family is killed and whoever survived, often children, has to live in eternal shame. Or in a modern setting it might be a person marrying outside her status or marrying your own gender and suddenly your entire family has to bear your shame.

This concept is very east asian where everything is connected to family and name. There is no, or at least very little, such thing. Western countries emphasize individuality and has done since the introduction of Christianity where every soul bears their own sin. Your father’s sin is not yours so to speak.

That means that the killing of an entire family because one person in that family did wrong is not a western phenomenon even if it was in east asia and I have encountered this in east asian stories about western culture far too often for them to just have forgotten. It’s more likely that they believe this is something we western folk do or at least did.

Not to mention public shame, where in east asian stories the shamed party almost always end up fired and unable to get a job which is pretty unheard of in western cultures where you can’t fire people easily since we have laws against it.

3. Status

Now, most who has any encounter with east asian culture knows that they have a stricter view on status that we in west do. This can be seen when east asian depict western cultures as well as they tend to forget or not understand certain aspects of how we see titles and status.

A common misconception among asian literature seem to be the differences between their emperors and our kings or their CEOs compared to ours. In asian culture power and wealth is everything and you can get away with murder. It’s a given there, but not so much in western culture. There are times where higher ups might be able to buy yourself out of punishment, or at least get a easier punishment then a poor person but it’s still considered a crime.

For example, the concept of an emperor being put on trial would be quite ridiculous. But there are several kings who was put on trial and even executed. Charles I was executed for high treason, and Gustav IV Adolf was arrested by nobles and forced to abdicate because of his crimes. It wasn’t common, but kings had to stand trial often losing their crown for their incompetence and this was a given. The reason why we see far less bloody crimes among kings in West compared to east asia is because even kings was under scrutiny of the law. They couldn’t just accuse and have people executed without trials. It might happen but those cases were very few.

Even nobles could be punished for killing a servant as this was considered a crime as well. The amount of east asian stories I have read where the noblemen whip and kill servants without anyone is ridiculous. Now there are exceptions here in Europe, but the exception was not because it was allowed to kill those of lower status, it was because they hadn’t gotten caught yet. Some famous examples of this are Countess Elizabeth Báthory and Gilles de Rais. The amount these people killed comes from their high status but in the end, they were caught and punished for their crimes despite all that.

4. Language and the meaning of words

This one is easiest to spot. One example I can give is the manhwa “ The monstrous duke’s adopted daughter”. So what’s the problem? Well, the duke in question is a woman. With other words, the correct term would be duchess. Other examples are names. The amount of female names on men or male names on women is ridiculous. Girls named Emir (meaning prince), or boys named Alice or Helen.

Not to mention the use of titles such as duke without understanding the meaning behind it. Dukes are rare and is a title only given to the siblings of the crown prince, the direct children of the king. Not to random families and Archdukes is even more rare. Most countries has never had one. In certain stories, such as The Male Lead’s Little Lion Daughter, there isn’t just one duke family. It’s several and none has any relation with the king.

Though some of these can be understandable some can be easily solved with a search on the internet.

5. Diversity and acceptance

Now I want to end it on a more positive note. East Asian stories often depict the western world as a diverse utopia. Especially in BL genres such as Shounen Ai. They have no prejudices and different ethnicities live in harmony.

Though nice and see, and in some cases such as sexuality it might be true compared to east Asia but knows about the tension between ethnicities. Not only the white European disliking everyone else and being racism but the hate and prejudices the minorities has for each other or the white majority. There is also still a lot of negative opinions on gay people, especially in America.

The misunderstanding here comes most likely from east Asians having nearly no diversity so the problems arising from diversity is not present and homosexuals are treated much better in Europe and America so it is understandable that they think we are far mor open about it.

Conclusion

These are just some of the things I noticed and as I mention and there are more such as how other cultures often get historical and modern clothes of different western cultures wrong. But I felt those was often obvious to spot. I wanted to mention the more easily missed ones.

The purpose is to read these and consider am I doing the same thing just with other cultures? Am I depicting lengthy dating and romances in a society that has a culture of arranged speed marriages? Am I depicting a culture far more accepting than it actually is? Might this culture see society differently than me? If any of these is yes, then it might be time to look up the differences.

I doubt you can get it perfectly, and frankly, I don’t believe you need to get it perfectly. I can still enjoy East Asian’s try of depicting western culture even if they get some of it wrong. The problem comes when the other party isn’t even trying to get it right and just show a shallow version of that culture.

Despite all the criticism, especially when westerners depict other cultures, I do think it is interesting when it happens if only because it gives inside in how another culture views your own culture. Whether its correct or not can be discussed but it gives us a new point of view which cannot be depicted if a person writes about their own culture.

With Kind Regards

Senefer.

The Ivory Key by Akshaya Raman

The Ivory Key is the first book, and currently the only, in The Ivory Key Duology by Akshaya Raman. It’s a fantasy published 2022 by Clarion Books. The audiobook I listened to was narrated by Kirin Ali, for the two female main characters, and Nathan Clarke for the two male main characters.

The story is set in a fictional world inspired by ancient India, following four siblings as they set out to find the Ivory Key. Their country is in danger as their magic, which is mined, are running out. Their neighboring countries eyes their country, sensing their weakness, while the people are on the verge of a rebellion. The four siblings from the ruling family finds parts of a map that is suppose guide one to the Ivory Key that opens the long forgotten mine filled with magic that could save their country.

The four siblings the story centers around are, Vira, the new ruler (maharani) after her mother was murdered. Kaleb, the oldest brother and the step sibling with no connection to the former maharani but share the same father, is a prisoner after being accused of the murder of the former maharani because his mother was a foreigner. The second son, and the twin of Vira, Ronak just want to escape his arranged marriage along with freeing Kaleb from his unjust fate. Then it is Riya, the youngest sister who ran away and joined a rebel group called the Ravens.

All four has distinct personalities, such as Vira being strict and a bit stiff. She is constantly told that she is nothing like her mother, the former ruler, and must constantly be scrutinized to see if she is suited as the new ruler which put pressure on her. She doesn’t like problem and acts a bit clueless, simply because she doesn’t want to face some difficult truths. Such as her being surprised that Kaleb asks her to free him in return for his freedom. He was falsely accused, of course he want to leave the prison. What is there be surprised about?

Kaleb is the calmest and most humblest of the siblings. Which makes sense as he is (from what I can tell) the only one who has no royal blood and is the stepson of the former maharani. Ronak is spoiled, wanting more of life while having no idea what is outside these walls. He also hates admitting he is wrong and prefers to blame everyone else. Riya was the girl who got away, her being idealistic, wanting to save the commoners, but often having a hard time facing reality. Her world is black and white and in the story she will have to learn how to see the grey areas of the world.

The plot makes sense, with us readers seeing all the puzzle pieces moving around while the main characters is slowing finding out was is going on. Such as Riya is being send in to steal magic, she helps Ronak steal a dagger from Vira (containing one of the map pieces to the Ivory Key) to get the into the mine, only to find out the mines are empty, confronting Vira about it and agree to help her find the Ivory Key. When she does she realize that Ronak wanted the map piece and later on finds out it is because he wants to sell it to criminals to get his freedom. This is just one of the storyline as there are four characters we follow throughout the story, but the author has built out the storylines well enough that they interact with each other, making the overall plot feel natural.

Now, I wouldn’t call it a problem but a repercussion of having so many main characters and shifting perspective between them is that it takes around half the book before all the pieces are in place and the search for the ivory key can begin. With that I don’t just mean that they set out on the journey, it takes around half of the book for them to even start the search for the pieces before they search for the ivory key. The reason for this is because the author spends a large amount of time to introduce the main characters, the side characters, the history, the world and lore. As there are four main characters, there is a lot to go through and the first part of the book is really slow paced while the second half is higher paced and has more action and adventure.

Some introductions to the world were also clumsily depicted. An easy way for the author to clarify that this is a different culture is through foreign words of for example food or objects. The author does this but it goes overboard. She describes Indian food constantly. Often randomly. Such as halting an important interaction between characters to describe every food served on the banquet. It was around seven dishes that has no real purpose as this was around halfway into the book and the reader has already figured out that this is fantasy world inspired by India so there is no need to randomly continue describing food.

Now, I don’t know much about the author but if I would guess, they did not grow up in India or if they did then they either left when they were young or they really didn’t have much of an interest in Indian history or mythology. The lore in this feels western instead of Indian, at least it does seem so to me. The names are Indian and so are the dishes and some ceremonies such as the engagement party, but there are no Hindu or Buddhism inspired lore or philosophy here. Even the magic system feels very western as magic as a recourse has at least existed in western fantasy the last 50 years while in asian countries, like India it’s gained through meditation and training to become enlightened. Another example of the book feeling more western is the use of the title Viceroy, which didn’t come to India until they were colonized. I can’t remember ancient India having a Viceroy system, maybe they are supposed to represent another culture. I don’t know.

This is not necessarily a problem as the demographic should be westerners, and a mix between the two cultures should appeal to them both, but I would like to point out that the Indian inspired elements are more shallow cultural things such as food, some random Indian weapons, titles and clothes that are used even today in India.

There is no deeper fantasy or philosophical elements such as the concept of avatar, reincarnation, karma or the duality of people and gods (everyone has two sides, one good, and one evil). The Vedic tradition (Jyotisha) of reading the stars to tell the futures are not mentioned. Mantras (which would be involved in a magic system inspired by Indian culture), which normally would be used to cast curse, purify areas and defeat evil are only mention one time (if I remember correctly) and it was connected to a ceremony with no real connection to magic.

Of course, there are plenty more examples than these, but these are just some things I think would easily could have been used in a Indian inspired fantasy, but the author decided that food was more important. This has become common in modern authors (often americans of foreign ancestry). I don’t know if the market in America allows writers to be published if they claim to have a story that is North African, Indian, Chinese-inspired and so on but then just put in the bare minimum into the story and rely on their ancestry to take them the rest of the way.

Now, outside this nitpick that no one except me will probably comment on, if only becomes I love history, art and mythology. This is a really solid fantasy. I was surprised as this seem to be the debut book of the author and those are always rough, but this one both feels and is written professionally. The author has real talent for writing, and I can see this being a popular book if it finds the readers. I hope it do, because it was worth reading. I liked the focused on the characters, making them feel real alongside the plot being well planned and executed.

My only problem with the characters is that some of their motivations seems a bit feeble. Such as Ronak wanting to escape the marriage, then he meets his bride to be and don’t really seem to care that much about the thought of marrying her. It was almost like the author forgot his main motivation to escaping. After Kaleb is free, that cannot be used either and you do realize that by the end, Ronak barely has any reason to do what he does. The same goes for Vira who wants to live up to her mother’s image and she does that by not taking any decisions and leaving it up to the council… It just feels a bit off, or weak when you think about it.

The characters still feel alive its just that their motivations fall a bit flat at times and some of their actions are clearly put there to force the characters to act in certain way. Such as Vira never releasing Kaleb despite there barely being any evidence against him or Vira saying that if Ronak won’t get married he will be tried for treason. How is refusing to marry treason? Well, it will have to be in order for Ronak not just refusing to marry instead of running away.

Overall, the story is great. A bit slow to set of because of the many characters, and some more clumsy sections that I think could have been removed to make a better story. I would give it a 7 out of 10, very close to an 8, but the first half did drag on a bit too much for me. If I were to read the book again, I would just skip or skim the first part of the story, and that is not a good thing when a reader feels they can do that and the story will be better for it. The good parts though are filled with mystery, puzzles, ancient temples and family drama. It’s like an Indian mix of a fairytale and Indiana Jones and I did like it well enough to recommend it to those who loves fantasy.

With Kind Regard

Senefer.