The Rose of Sebastopol

The Rose of Sebastopol by Katharine McMahon

      I’m not quite sure how I feel about this book. I mean it’s a book and the characters are lovely and well written. The main character is a mousy young woman during the Crimean war who goes off to the war zone find and nurse her betrothed back to health. Eventually, in his delirium, this man convinces her to enter the war zone find her missing favorite cousin who was a nurse in his hospital. This heroine, who wants nothing more to stay at home and have a nice domestic life, finds bravery and does what needs to be done to find the people she cares about.

    As I read, it became apparent that this author really knows her time period and the geography and how people thought. However, she has an unfortunate habit. She is way too fond of flashbacks and I do mean way, way too fond of flashbacks. In the first hundred pages, there was something like thirty two chapters. Most of which were only a page and a half jumping through three different times in the characters’ lives; childhood, the present (during the search for the cousin), and a year before (how everyone ended up involved in the war). This would not have been so bad except she would switch time periods as soon as the story started getting good in the one that was currently being read. If she had put the book in chronological order, it would’ve been brilliant.

     As it is, the ending is good and there are some twists and turns that make it worth while read. I could’ve done with out the final chapter which was another page and a half flashback but that’s just me. If you like historical novels or just have a couple of days to read something new, it’s worth putting up with the frustration of the flashbacks and getting it from the library but I don’t think I’d read it twice. 

Windhaven

So first up we have a book called Windhaven by George R.R. Martin and Lisa Tuttle

     Windhaven is a world of many islands separated by rough seas filled giant sea monsters and killer thunderstorms. It was colonized when a star ship crashed and the colonists were stranded. They salvaged parts of the space ships to build wings to fly between the islands using the nearly constant winds. Fast forward a couple centuries and we are introduced to Maris, a young flyer. Maris was adopted into a flyer family when it was presumed the flyer was not going to be able to have an heir. The flyers deliver messages between rulers and bring stories and gossip to the common people. A couple years later, Maris was well into her training to be flyer when her step mother finally conceived. By long tradition, the family’s wings were supposed to go to her younger brother since he was a flyer by birth and not adoption. Coll, the brother, was terrified of flying and dreamed of being a singer. After he crashed during his introduction ceremony, Maris steals the wings and begins what turns into a sweeping social change over the entire planet of Windhaven.

     I really enjoy reading this book. It is one of my favorites and I find myself picking it up again and again. I always find some new concept or idea that may have passed me by the other times I’ve read it. The character of Maris is easy to identify with especially if you were the one standing up for other people. The story lags at times when it starts to go political but quickly gets back on track. The book spans several different decades of Maris’s life; watching how she grows and changes and helps society change around even if she doesn’t agree with the changes is fascinating. I can’t say how this book compares to George R.R. Martin’s other books since I’ve never read them but according to other reviews I’ve read, this ends up being nothing like them. If you want to read something completely different from most scifi fantasy, this is a good choice. Windhaven is definitely a book you should pick up if you can find it. 

Introduction

Hello to everyone out there on the World Wide Web. I'm a lover of movies, music, and just about anything containing the written word. Since nothing is better than sharing opinions with others, I decided to get in some writing practice and hopefully will be able to entertain somebody. I'll be mainly reviewing books and book based movies. I'm working on a guest blogger who I'm hoping will help me with a music section if I prod him about it enough.

Basics:

Books

I am a huge Fantasy/Sci fi nerd. If it's got magic swords, talking computers, or damsels in distress, I am there. I grew up on Robert Heinlein and Mercedes Lackey and Forgotten Realms novels. Those authors in particular feel like old friends of mine. I tend to read a smattering of other genres; historical fiction, classics, biographies, fanfiction (of which I may resort to a few reviews of), even some young adult novels too. With any luck, I'll be able to keep an interesting rotation of genres and books reviews. 

Movies/TV

I watch a lot of movies and TV shows, very little of it new. With the recent surge in book-related movies and shows, I've had many friends who have either read the book or seen the movie but not both ask me for my opinion on the one they haven't had experience with. Aside from (or including even) the book based movies, I typically enjoy action/adventure, period dramas, and even some martial arts movies and, yes, you will get to hear about those too. 

Music

My music tastes are as eclectic as my interests in books and movies but this one isn't really going to be about me. I love listening to music but I don't really have the expertise to analyze it and explain why I like certain songs or bands more than others. My companion (should I be able to beg or bribe him into writing for me) is a big fan of anything metal, rock and roll, and occasionally rap. He is able to talk about the subtle nuances between death metal and something that sounds like death metal to me. I'll see if I can get him to explain the differences. 

That's all for today and I hope to get an actual review up in the next day or so. 

~Wolfe