Friday Mini-Reviews: 5 Books I Read Last Year

When I looked at the books left on my to-review list, I found I am behind a bit. I am going to try to catch up a little here with five books that I don’t really feel need a full post review. These were some of the ones I read that didn’t leave a really big impression on my when I finished. Of course, this is all my own opinion, and if you loved any of these, that’s great!

Enchantment: Awakening Wonder in an Anxious Age by Katherine May– 3 of 5 stars From the title, I rather expected a more self-help type of book that would give ideas and perhaps exercises to help awaken a sense of enchantment in one’s self. But it seems I misinterpreted it. What we have here is a personal diary or journal type of book, detailing the author’s own quest to find more enchantment in her own life. So, the issue really was my looking for something that wasn’t here and not necessarily a failing by the author. I will say that it did get a bit tedious in spots. On the other hand, there were some brighter spots, as well. Go into it knowing what it is, and you might get more out of it than I did.

The Three-Body Problem by Liu Cixin– 2 of 5 stars This is (supposed to be) the story of an impending alien invasion, but it became a treatise on astrophysics and social injustice. Not that those subjects are bad or unworthy of exploring in a science fiction book, but in this one, it was wordy and extremely convoluted. The aliens that are heading out to conquer Earth are attracted to us by our sending those “Hey, we’re here!” messages into space, but they aren’t even really a part of the story and are very sparingly touched on. There was more personal angst and long-suffering on the part of the human scientists than anything we learn about the aliens. There’s a lot of science that gets a bit hard to deal with (so much math!). I found it rather meh, and it left me not really eager to read the other books in the series.

The Runelords by David McFarland– 3 of 5 stars It was okay as epic fantasy. And maybe the problem, again, is with me. I have found lately that I tire easily of these big, sprawling epic fantasy tales, and like a more tightly written story. The magic of the Runelords was interesting and a different take on the ability to magically enhance one’s stamina, charisma, strength, etc. The worldbuilding was decent, characters were pretty standard with some development in the main one, and the plot is the oft-used evil warlord who wants to take over the world. Again, it wasn’t terrible, but like a lot in this genre, it was a bit wordy in spots, and the plot dragged and rehashed just a bit too much for me.

Femina: A New History of the Middle Ages through the Women Written out of It by Janina Ramirez– 3 of 5 stars The subject interested me. These are stories of women in the Middle Ages, a time we seem to perceive as one where women were suppressed and kept in the background. Where men were the ruling class, passed wealth and title to their male heirs, and if a woman were not married and able to bear those sons, she had little recourse other than a convent. In fact, that was not necessarily so. These stories are of the women who defied those stereotypes, who held land of their own, who made and enforced contract, and even a few who were warriors in their own right. The problem is that it reads very much like a history book- which it is- but it’s very dry and academic for too much of it. It was a bit difficult to read, though I am glad I did because I learned a few things along the way.

Story Structure Architect by Victoria Lynne Schmidt– 2 of 5 stars Another one I kind of expected more from. If you are willing to spend extra time and do a lot of exercises and testing of the concepts, you might get more out of this one. As it was, I found it a bit boring to read in many spots, and most of the examples given were from film (the author is educated in film studies) and didn’t really apply directly to written stories. There’s not a lot of new and interesting ideas here. It rehashes a lot of what is already available in other forms that relate more directly to writing shorts and novels.

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My latest book is a collection of very short stories, half science fiction and half fantasy, called “Crossed Wires and Other Very Short Stories”. I have also written a few other short pieces, another collection, two novels, and an urban fantasy series. You can find most of them at Smashwords, Amazon, Barnes and Noble, Kobo, and wherever e-books are sold. A few are also available from Amazon in paperback. My novel, “Circle Unbroken” is also on Kindle Unlimited, if that’s your reading preference. You can find out about all of them here.

There are also some stories you can read here on my site, mostly the yearly Halloween short I write, but there are a few others. You can read them from here