THE OLYMPIA AFFAIR: The Cinder Spires Book 2 is Jim Butcher’s followup to The Aeronaut’s Windlass, using most of the same cast in Butcher’s world of flying ships, mile-high cities and talking cats. The plot turns on one sky-spire nation’s systematic attack on the others by a)unleashing a doomsday weapon that can wipe out entire cities and b)provoking one of the cast into a duel of honor he’s certain to lose, thereby sending a message to anyone challenging the would be empire builder. I’m looking forward to book three.
MISHIMA’S SWORD: Travels in Search of a Samurai Legend is Christopher Ross’s look at the great Japanese novelist Yukio Mishima, his suicide, and Ross’s search for the sword he committed seppuku with. Mishima is a fascinating man but this is more about Ross’s personal experiences of living in Japan and trying to understand Mishima; as I’ve mentioned more than once, it rarely works for me when writers insert themselves into the story. I wound up not finishing this.
Matt Madden’s EX LIBRIS is the kind of metafictional narrative that often comes off as pretentious self-indulgence; in this case it worked (at least for me). A nameless narrator checks into a rented room after suffering some traumatic experiences. There’s a bookcase stuffed with graphic novels which aren’t their thing but they start riffing through it anyway — wow, isn’t funny how some of them seem to mirror their personal situation? Heck, it’s almost like they’re living the book even as they read it. I suspect liking this one will come down to personal taste but I give it a thumbs up.
#SFWApro. Cover by Madden, all rights to image remain with current holder.
