The Man Who Saw Seconds, by Alexander Boldizar

I rarely give a book five stars and I did for this one. I did not do it because it is a perfect book. It has rough edges and incongruities. I did it because it was a fascinating and challenging read in a way that has become very rare in speculative fiction. It won the Locus Award for SF in 2025, because it should have. And it was not nominated for many other major awards because the Hugo and Nebula nominators have traveled a path of renominating the usual suspects writing comfort novels and retreads (sorry, "retellings").

The basic form is a thriller that builds incredibly quickly. Boldizar takes an idea--that our consciousness is always lagging our actions--and spins up a premise for an action novel. The protagonist can very accurately predict the future within about 5 seconds. Boldizar uses this to explore how people, men in particular, make decisions to escalate violence. There's a lot of great stuff on the law, on military training, and political machinations.

[It is important that you don't read this if you're considering reading the book. A whole lot of the enjoyment comes from not being able to anticipate the ending, but I have to discuss it. The book does not have a happy ending. It has a logical one. That's an incredibly daring choice. I kept waiting for some way that he was going to pull the chestnuts out of the fire, and he didn't, really. Nor did he really leave room for a sequel. From the last paragraph and line of the book we know how the next one would end, and Boldizar would be seriously challenged to come up with a way to even make it interesting. (hide spoiler)]

I am one who enjoys leaving some suspense for my next reading session, but I struggled to put this one down and when I did, I didn't sleep well. If you like SF you will love this book.

My Yelp Review

Leviathan Falls, by James S. A. Corey

I've read several fantasy and science fiction series in my time, though only a few are as ambitious as this one. The absolute hardest thing to do is end them well. Many don't even try, they just let them tail off (looking at you, George R. R. Martin and Song of Ice and Fire. Tolkien too) or rush the ending. Leviathan Falls brought this incredible series to a satisfying conclusion, exactly when it was done. The crew of the Rocinante had gone from a tight group of people who worked really well together to a team that was infatuated with each other--and the authors manage to convey that the characters KNEW it. Brilliant. All the elements were brought together to get across that sense of impending doom. No soap opera here, it was very clear that things were coming to a head and that everyone was sacrificing themselves, all they had, and all their loved ones and followers to make it work.

The Expanse was a great series for making the reader feel like a very small part of a sweeping history, and Leviathan Falls managed to scale that up an order of magnitude. A Jupiter-sized diamond containing all the knowledge of the Ring Gate builders? Really works to convey the scope of their accomplishments.

In the end it all comes down to James Holden, and individual decisions that he makes. That sacrifice trope has been done a lot, but it still works here. He grew the most out of all the characters, and that was set up from the beginning--it was foreordained that the man with "no inner life" would acquire one. I feel like I know them all.

In my view this is the defining work in Space Opera. The speculation is amazing and the storytelling is perfect. For me it does not break new ground, but it is the very best example of all that has gone before in that genre.

My Goodreads Review

The Consuming Fire, by John Scalzi

The metaphor for the Interdependency is the Trade Winds. In the age of sail-driven cross-ocean trading (15th-19th centuries) ships would ride the southern Trade Winds to the Atlantic coast, and the northern Trade Winds back to Europe. So let's imagine interstellar Trade Winds that allow relatively easy contact between far-flung parts of an empire, and that the parts become specialized enough that life isn't possible without these trade winds. What would happen if climate change stopped them? That's the basic driver of the series. I kind of missed that in the first book, but the second book with all its exposition makes it more clear. Mind, Scalzi never *says* directly that that's what is going on, but it is.

So the plot has basically written itself, from the title of the first book. A collapsing empire, but instead of the Holy Roman or Ottoman empire it's a space empire. Honestly there are so many of these kinds of stories out there now, particularly among major award nominees, that I'm coming to pick the plot up pretty quickly. So I end up judging the book more by how interesting the characters are. We have a visionary (literally) leader, who doesn't really see herself that way, trying to act on behalf of a large and mostly functional empire, and all the other royalty is in complete denial and mostly out to screw the Emperox and each other.

The book rolls along nicely and there's plenty of humor so it's quite readable, but I can't say I engaged deeply with any of the characters. The Emperox Cardenia and her consort Mace Claremont are basically super nice people, out to help others. Their governing philosophy is expounded at some length throughout the book, which is pretty much straight Bentham utilitarian--the greatest good for the greatest number, in the most practical way possible. The Church of the Interdependency seems like worshipping Benthamite economics. Which would be a decent world--kind of like what's in John Rawls' Theory of Justice, with allowances for imperfect execution. Some think it's worthy on its own, but to me it's really a bridge to the next one, where I hope to engage a bit more.

My Goodreads Review

Agency, by William Gibson

I actually liked this book better than The Peripheral, though it has some of the same weaknesses. We have kind of moved past how the stubs (alternate futures not connected to the "main" line) get generated, and that's a good thing because there's nothing in either book that pretends to explain them beyond the fact that they are Chinese. Several logical things are happening--Ainsley Lowbeer, whose title is Metropolitan Police but that's about a toenail worth of what she does, is getting ever more powerful. It's more clear how the stubs connect to the main, since by using peripherals they can exchange information. And the AI feels like it could have happened already. If it has, would we know? Only if it decided to announce itself...

That said, it doesn't live up to the visionary fire of The Sprawl trilogy, though that's setting the bar awfully high. The extrapolations feel less like a whole new world, and more like a good anticipation of the very sad current one we're dealing with. The characters in Agency have grown, relative to Peripheral--Netherington has stopped drinking, though he is now very boring (perhaps deliberately so, he's a very familiar family man now), and protagonist Verity Jane is a more worldly wise ingenue than the one in The Peripheral.
Throughout the book it becomes clear that Lowbeer has gone beyond the point where anyone can control her, and the end of the book makes that perfectly clear. That sets up a turn in Book three--absolute power corrupts absolutely. We shall see.

My Goodreads Review

The Prefect, by Alastair Reynolds

The Prefect by Alastair Reynolds

My rating: 3 of 5 stars


I read this as preparation for reading Elysium Fire, second in this subseries. Now I really wish I had read Revelation Space first. But at this point I am used to joining series mid-stream, so was able to interpolate pretty well. This is pretty classic space opera, but the emphasis is really on the stoic Tom Dreyfus and the dedicated Space-FBI Panoply. The society is a pretty direct lift from 20th century Europe, and the technology pretty much assumes you are a veteran science fiction reader and don't really need to have an explanation of how the Glitter Band's space technology works. Or maybe that's in Revelation Space. In any case, it's a very competent story, with a good amount of excitement and mechanical know-how. We have a nod to racism in Tom's relationship with hyper-pig Sparber (no other examples of his kind, so we don't really know much about them), but it too is very 20th-century. Not sure yet if I'm going to back up to read the others or not. But this one is fine.



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Space Opera, by Catherynne M. Valente

Space Opera by Catherynne M. Valente

My rating: 2 of 5 stars


This book reads like you took an armload of glam rock albums, put them in a blender, covered them with chocolate sauce and set them on fire. It has all the nuance of a trash compactor, all the character development of an overripe mango, and all the wonder of a six year old..cat. Reading this, I felt like I had run several miles in a three piece suit, sat in a hot tub, gone break dancing, and then sat in the sun for several hours.

Just about no effort to turn out the above, and that's the whole book. I have no doubt that the author crafted these sentences herself, but it reads like it could have been written by a neural network from the 90's. There's a wafer-thin plot, and a touch of character development, in a sea of overdone metaphors and similes pretending to be clever. Not sure how this gets all the award nominations, since there's just not that much there. I saw it through to the end, but was glad it got there. Exhausting to read, and not much in the way of payoff.



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Luna: New Moon, by Ian McDonald

New Moon by Ian McDonald

My rating: 4 of 5 stars


One thing for sure, this book will not bore you. A page turner all the way through. Many good action scenes, maybe not quite as good on the sex scenes, but it's definitely a solid thriller that will get your adrenaline humming.

Some good points: Finding alternate sexuality in a book is really easy these days, in fact it's pretty much the default. McDonald's lunar society finds a way to make it feel deliberate and natural at the same time--everyone is pretty much full-on horny for everyone else all the time. This feels natural because it's consistent with lunar culture, every aspect is intense. Believable maybe--a good story grounding, definitely. I was able to round up to four stars because of this. There are a few genuine cultural moments as well, in particular the description of the Long Run.

Problems: The appeal begins and ends with the storytelling, the story itself is well worn. I am reading the award winners this year, and picked this up as a catch-up for Wolf Moon, which is nominated for a Locus award. Does everyone have to write about Great Family rivalries? John Scalzi's The Collapsing Empire, Yoon Ha Lee's Raven Stratagem, Fonda Lee's Jade City--I could go on and on. Basically everything by Aliette De Bodard. Yes, it's always been a popular story framework, but is it truly the ONLY one? I may be an outlier because, while I enjoy the Song of Ice and Fire, I'm not blinded by it. Goodness.

Other reviewers have mentioned the poor production quality of the book. There are definitely enough errors to be distracting, almost causing me to lower the rating to 3 stars. Not quite.



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The Heat of Us: Notes Toward an Oral History, by Sam J. Miller

The Heat of Us is the sort of story the Sad Puppies complain about for the Hugos.  It's an oral history of the Stonewall uprising with the added fantasy element that a wave of fire magically came off some of the resisters and killed several of the cops involved in the raid.  It's got some literary interest for character development, but there's really not much there that's speculative.  OK but I can't give it more than two stars.

Grace of Kings, by Ken Liu

Grace of Kings has been referred to as an Asian Game of Thrones (by Wes Chu, in the reviews at the beginning of the book.  I think he's right on.

If anything, it's really more Game of Thrones than Game of Thrones--but fewer characters and a lot less blood.  Otherwise, the parallels are very strong.  The speculative elements are not highly important in either series, though I'd say they are barely even present in Grace of Kings.  The main drivers are the protagonists--and Liu has the skill to manage two of them.

We have Kuni Garu, a carouser and gangster with a heart of gold, and Mata Zyndu, a man born royal in every sense of the word--noble birth, and a giant (eight feet tall).  They work together to overthrow the ambitious and cruel Emperor Mapidere, who unified Dara with blood.  Once they succeed, sad and somewhat predictable things happen.  Politics is a hard thing.

Ken Liu is an excellent writer, so the story was not difficult to read.  One feels for the characters as they succeed and suffer.  But I guess I'm something of an outlier in that while I like A Song of Ice and Fire (haven't seen the TV series), I don't think it's going to be a series for the ages in the fantasy genre.  It's basically a soap opera.  Grace of Kings is a somewhat lesser version of Game of Thrones, and suffers from the comparison.  It's a nice story, but it pretty much could take place on earth, somewhere we cannot see.  In a larger-than-life series like The Wheel of Time, magic and its constraints form a compelling part of the story.  Grace of Kings is not larger than life--though it operates on a continental scale it is still merely life size.

For all that, I do give it 3 stars because it held my interest all the way through. 

P.S. Kuni Garu is an appealing protagonist, strong when he needs to be and tender when he can be.  You can't help but like him.  If you enjoy your men strong and positive, I can recommend the works of Rusty Rhoad.

The Goblin Emperor, by Katherine Addison

The Goblin Emperor is the fifth Nebula nominated novel I'm reading this year.  Katherine Addison is a pseudonym for Sarah Monette, a prolific author but one I do not remember reading without looking it up. 

The book itself is billed as a court intrigue novel, and that it is.  Pretty much all it is.  But perhaps some expectation setting is in order.  Let's compare this with the Song of Ice and Fire series, though this one is not nearly so ambitious...

In Westeros, the rulers seem to pretty much have no rules, and blood runs freely.  The weak and even not so weak get knocked off in gruesome fashion.  The magic is rare but grandiose--there are dragons. 

By contrast, Ethuveraz is a quiet country. The world is peopled with elves and goblins (the latter from Barzhin) but this is pretty much a cover--a way to talk about races with only as much of the freighting of black and white (goblins are black, elves white) as the author wishes.  Worst case scenarios run to banishment--while there are scenes of violence and attempts on the protagonist's life, they just don't seem serious.  While the central episode of the book is the assassination of the emperor and all his family but one--our protagonist Maia, banished at birth from the court--the blood and gore do not resonate in everyday life.  Magic is present but just barely.

This is a tale of court intrigue in something close to the Great Britain of the 19th century.  The technology is positioned there, with the inexplicable exception that airships have been invented but cars have not.  Our protagonist is thrust totally unprepared into the emperor role, and spends most of the book regretting what he does not know.  He is despised by many (his mother was a goblin princess) but seems to grow on all who meet him in spite of his awkwardness. 

The intrigue of the story is undergirded by a sense of the stability of the country.  Not much is really going to go wrong.  So the story is mostly about a rather unassuming, caring person thrust into a role of power and making his way. 

Not a lot of roiling excitement--it's hard to say how a peaceful and prosperous reign makes a story--but here we have one.  And it seems to be well regarded--it's on the World Fantasy Award list as well.  I give it 3 stars, solid but not that exciting.

Trial by Fire, by Charles Gannon

Back to the Novel category for the Nebulas, for the past couple of weeks I've been reading Charles Gannon's Trial by Fire, sequel to Fire With Fire, which was nominated for a Hugo.  Trial by Fire likely would have been nominated in a normal year, but this wasn't a normal year for the Hugos.  So it goes.

I wasn't real appreciative of Fire With Fire.  Trial By Fire doesn't change the formula, but Gannon definitely refines it and plays to his strengths, making this a much better book. 

Gannon's strengths are definitely in the military aspects of the genre.  He really brings the otaku factor to his descriptions of current, historical and future weaponry.  We get pages of fine detail on weaponry and tactics, with lots of happy warriors.  Not our hero Caine Riordan, though--he continues to be disturbed by the carnage but capable of dishing it out.

This is a standard middle volume in a series, in that it is mostly setting the stage for what is to come.  The humans fight a war against the advanced but normally peaceful Arat Kur and the equal but very warlike Hrkh'Hkr (or something like that).  The humans have behind the scenes aid from the Dornaani, the most advanced of the alien species, while the Arat Kur have the K'tor, a very mysterious bunch.  Gannon layers the plot twists onto the battles in a way that keeps you guessing.

The technology speculation is amusing at times--the speculation is tight on weapons, pretty nebulous elsewhere.  Interstellar travel is done in well-defined lanes with acceleration (usually) but not too much detail.  Reading is done on "dataslates"--here in the 21st century we call them "tablets".  Too simple I guess.

So it's Golden Age SF, and as I said earlier, if you want more of it just go back to Heinlein.  But this one is decent, I will give it 3 stars.

Fire With Fire, by Charles E. Gannon

Fire With Fire was nominated for a 2013 Hugo award.  But for my money it could have been nominated for a 1963 Hugo. 

This is a story of the early period of Earth's interstellar exploration and exosapient contact.  We have all the elements of a very good early Heinlein here:

1. Powerful but limited faster-than-light travel (though not so fully explained)
2. Earth governments cracking under strain, thus a secret organization (named ISIS!) emerges to steer Earth down the right path in confronting the aliens.
3. A "true polymath" of a hero--investigative reporter, capable fighter, upstanding citizen to a fault.  And a hunk/ladies man to boot.  Named Caine Riordan.  How many action heroes have been named Riordan?  I think it's a lot.
4. Really awkwardly portrayed women/sexuality. 

I could go on for a long time.  You name the late Golden Age trope, Gannon hits it.

It's not a terrible book.  Caine generates interest once in awhile, and the diplomatic chess games are somewhat interesting.  But this is 2014.  I looked for any sense of understanding of how we've changed since 1963, and found none at all.  Yes, the book asserts that women are the equal of men--you can find that in 1963 SF too, though the writers mostly didn't fully understand what that meant.  There's no consciousness at all of how technology has changed us socially--it's early 60's mentality with spaceships.

I can see the award nominators' nostalgia in offering this up.  But really, if you want this sort of thing, go back to the originals.  Read Heinlein, Arthur C. Clarke, Asimov.  Don't bother with this one.  2 stars from me.

The Golem and the Jinni, by Helene Wecker

The Golem and the Jinni is another one of the Nebula nominated books for this year, and one I enjoyed reading tremendously.  Chava is a golem, named by the rabbi who realizes her nature when he finds her in New York City.  Ahmad is a jinni, trapped in human form by a wizard.  Neither name fits them well.  But there they are, in New York, trying to make their way in situations they didn't intend to be in. 

According to the author, this book took seven years to write.  It certainly marinated fully in that time.  The book is well written, with plenty of action and excitement.  But what's really interesting about it are the characters--the Golem and the Jinni have personalities driven by their natures--of Earth and of Fire.  These characteristics animate them throughout the book, making them feel very real and true to themselves.  They do end up in a relationship, but it's not an easy one.  And when they confront evil they do it in a way that feels authentic to them.

I would say this is an easy read, and in the very best way--the ideas go straight into your head without a fight for understanding, yet Wecker has a lot to say about human nature through these two.  Go read it and have some fun.

Burn, by James Patrick Kelly

I have read Burn before, but didn't know that when I started and have not reviewed it, so now I will.  I can see that I didn't understand it fully as I only gave it 2 stars that first time.  It's a four star.  It got a Nebula award and Hugo nomination for best novella of 2006, and well deserved.

How do you keep them down on the farm once they see the city lights?  That's the starting premise behind the story, but Kelly's stories never stay simple.  Even though our protagonist Spur is a farmer living a simple life on Walden, named for Thoreau's simple paradise.  Its simplicity is enforced by compact--the rest of humanity has gone in for radical progress on the Thousand Worlds, and is quite far along.  Spur discovers all this quite by accident, being exposed to "upsider" technology while being healed of burns suffered fighting a forest fire.  Walden has its own conflict with the "pukpuks", people left over from the first colonization.

The story builds gradually from its accidental seed, and is still building when it comes to an end.  There is obviously room for sequels, but it doesn't seem like that was the intent.  The hints at larger things are just an extension of the story, shedding light on Spur's development as he struggles to choose between his old life and a possible new one.  It's a dandy of a story, and though I had marked it as "a good read" I don't recall it at all, so the reread was worthwhile.  Go read it and enjoy.

The Way of Cross and Dragon, by George R. R. Martin

I have gone back to my favorite free SF source, Free SF Online, to take in an award winner while waiting for a book from the library.  The Way of Cross and Dragon is a Hugo winner from 1980 that was added to the site while I've been away reading the Song of Ice and Fire.  It was interesting to read a story from Martin that references dragons, but has nothing at all to do with Westeros.

This is instead a story of alternative religions.  An inquisitor is sent forth to deal with an apostate believer who has invented a history and sainthood for Judas Iscariot.  Not the first attempt to revive Judas' reputation--certainly The Last Temptation of Christ tried.  It's pretty predictable, the inquisitor himself has doubts, but in the end there is a nice twist.  It is very representative of Martin's work, solid but not really adventurous.  I liked it well enough, you will too.  3 stars.

George R. R. Martin, A Dance With Dragons

So, now that I have finished A Dance With Dragons I am up to date on the Song of Ice and Fire.  It's been a summer-long project that has stretched into Fall--guess I'm not a fast reader.  My perspective is a little different in that I have swallowed the whole thing in one sitting, as opposed to reading the series over 15 years as some have done. 

I confess to being slightly relieved at having finished the series to this point.  Not that it wasn't entertaining, it certainly was.  The craftsmanship in this work is excellent, second to none.  It's a comfortable read, knowing that the author is keeping careful track of 1000 plus characters and taking the time (five years, in this case) to sort out the plot.

What may be tiring me a bit is that it is very much beginning to feel like a soap opera.  Soap operas can be very entertaining in their subplots.  Will Tyrion ever find happiness, or at least Tysha?  Are the Starks truly crushed now that Jon Snow is slain and the children have gone to ground?  Will Daenarys Targaryen get her act together, or will her brother take the lead, or what?  Would we actually want any of these families to prevail?

But fantasies aren't soap operas, at least not the ones I like.  They build toward something.  Rather the opposite of The Wheel of Time, where one knows exactly where the whole thing is headed.  Maybe too much the opposite, but the Lord of the Rings wasn't.  Nor was Harry Potter.  This series aims for comparison to the above, at least in popularity, so the comparison is fair.  The Hundred Years' War was actually 127 years long, all told, and this series takes a lot from it.  It's Westeros Lives of the Rich and Famous, and like life it goes on.

We do get some hints in this volume about the price of progress--perhaps Valyria was too advanced, and discovered something that brought about the Doom.  That's very Fantasy.  They seem to have invented Cyvasse, or chess, in this book.  It's a good read, but I'm not as anxious as some for the next one.  I can wait.

I took advantage of an e-reader glitch to read this as an e-book from my local library.  Simply loaded it to my old Kindle and turned off the wireless, and had as much time as I needed to complete it.  Since I could not renew this was the only way a library loan was practical.  We'll see if they ever close that.

Give this one three stars, like the rest.

Martin, George R. R. - A Feast for Crows

I have just finished A Feast for Crows, book four in A Song of Ice and Fire.  It's definitely a bridge to the rest of the story--at least I hope so.  Mostly it seemed to be focused on people destined to be minor players, with the exception of the Lannisters.  In the end, it was hard for me to get excited about it, though it did hold my interest.  Martin has carefully woven a first-rate Age of Chivalry soap opera, with a bit of supernatural thrown in.  It's enjoyable to see all this clockwork execute.

I am still wondering how a society with eight thousand years of written or remembered history fails to progress.  Could the key be in Valyria?  Not yet, according to this article on Valyria.  Oh well.  I am finally at a point to read the Hugo award nominated most current installment, after which I can move on to some other good literature.  By then a Song of Ice and Fire will have consumed about five months, somewhat more than the Vorkosigan novels did last year.  Worth it?  The last entry will tell...

A Storm of Swords, by George R. R. Martin

I am progressing steadily in the Song of Ice and Fire series, having just finished A Storm of Swords.  The book definitely has the feel of a midpoint in an epic, and it can be hard to sustain the momentum during these spells.  Since Martin eschews sensationalizing the fantasy elements of the story, it ends up reading a lot like history. But really well done history--we move smoothly from viewpoint to viewpoint, with each teller coming forward in turn, moving the plot along and revealing more about themselves in steady measure.  We see the decline of Westeros here, though none of the characters seem all that conscious of it.  This is consistent with their mostly noble positions--there is some concern here and there for the "smallfolk" and how they will get through the winter since the country is squandering several harvests on war, but in the end glory wins out.

And the lives of the players are quite tumultuous--more Starks get killed, and even the Lannisters suffer major losses.  Spoiler alert, am going to talk specifics.  Though I have not spoiled it for myself.  Seems like Tyrion is going to be one of the continuity characters.  Martin seems to be fond of him, it's hard to imagine him dying.  Of course, one fantasy element that DOES appear to be playing a large role is returning from the dead--Berric Dondarrion set that up, then Catelyn Stark does so at the end.  Most of Storm of Swords is chess moves, but at the end things are really hopping.

I am still wondering about the lack of standard progress in Westeros and the world.  Eight thousand years, and they have actually gone backward a bit, at least as regards the Wall.  But no explanations (just a bare hint in that Valyria seems to have been rather advanced before its Doom--no clue of what that is yet).  Are long winters truly that catastrophic?  We shall see.

I will be back shortly, am taking a break from Westeros to catch up on the online World Fantasy Award nominees. 

Mirror Dance, by Lois McMaster Bujold

Coming off the disappointing Brothers in Arms, I approached the companion in Miles Errant with some trepidation.  Had read some reviews that it was better.  And those reviews were right.  This may be the best one in the series so far. 

Mark really comes into his own as a character here, differentiating himself in as many ways as he can from his brother.  He likes to eat more, does not like combat, and is much more analytic.  Being a clone, he defines himself in terms of his progenitor, but by the end of the book he has worked through all that.  Though he definitely seems to have more than his share of the bad luck between the two.

It will be interesting to see if Mark gets to play an ongoing role in the future books.  The synopses are still all about Miles.

And Miles himself goes through some changes here, having ended up dead trying to rescue his "brother" early in the book.  He comes back considerably weakened, but since he is pretty weak anyway this doesn't change his perspective much.  He's getting better all the time at seducing women--even manages it as a particularly nasty looking convalescent.

This is one to look forward to in the series.  I give it four stars, just because I don't hand out five stars easily.  Matter of fact, I haven't done it yet.

I've been reading all these on my Nook, and rate it a very pleasant way to read.  But I think we're going to get a Kindle Fire.  We'll see what we think of it.

Flesh and Fire, by Laura Anne Gilman

Continuing in my reading of award nominees of 2010, I recently finished Laura Anne Gilman's Flesh and Fire. This one I could not get for free, at least not easily--the local public library did not have it. So I bought one cheap on Amazon, and will donate it to the library. Sometimes you have to give back...

It won't be too tough to let it go. The book was decent. It's a basic magic fantasy, first of a trilogy called The Vineart War. The magic basis is wine, which gives the author access to the rich vocabulary of the oenophile. And while the descriptive language is interesting, the plot is really pretty basic. The society is rigidly hierarchical, with parallel political and magical structures (The mages were once called that, but are now Vinearts). And the title Vineart is repeated so often, with such omnipresent force, as to become a hammer. The War of the trilogy title appears that it will be with some form of rogue Vineart. Vineart, Vineart, Vineart. Oy. It's a basic coming of age story, and I'm sure the rest will be fine too.