Survivors of a lost civilization search for the key to its revival. And it’s a really cool civilization. Think Atlantis minus the water.
Category: Video Podcast
REIGN Ep. 19 – Survival of the Fittest (Myst – The Book of Atrus pt1)
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This story really pulled me in. It starts as a story of pure survival. A boy and his grandmother live in the desert under the shadow of a volcano. All alone, their small cleft gives them shelter and a place to grow food. The boy Atrus is molded by the elder Anna, who teaches him to observe everything, use his instincts, hone his skills and to remember certain immutable truths about life. The boy has an innate thirst for knowledge, experimenting and adapting to this harsh world.
SPOILER: Life for Atrus changes forever when his father, who left him as a child, comes out of the volcano, telling stories of their now lost civilization and how he wants Atrus to come back with him to their former home. Atrus’s people, the D’Ni, lived deep underground and ruled an empire for thousands of years. There are mysteries and wonders that show the might of the D’Ni, and Atrus is told of the secret to their enduring kingdom before it fell. The D’Ni were world builders and used a special craft to fashion thousands of worlds by writing them into existence. Can Atrus and his father Gehn revive the once great D’Ni culture? What will it take and what are they willing to do? Their journey will take them to many unexpected places and challenge them with many decisions.
REIGN of Books Ep. 15: Building and Breaking the World (The Eye of the World pt1)
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It is a wild ride with our entry into the Wheel of Time series. This is a respected and long enduring fantasy series (14 books written over 23 years) that has been compared to the Lord of the Rings for its ambitious and rich world, built around a compelling epic narrative. The book delivers from page 1 with a prologue that sets the stakes high for a world at war between the Shadow and the Light. The characters are rich, funny, flawed and I can feel what they experience….we are constantly reminded that these characters must endure through many brutalities and hardships. This saga is off to a great start.
REIGN of Books Ep. 14: Conan Fights Wizards, Worse Wizards and, of course, Monsters (Robert E. Howard)
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Conan offers a raw, primal experience with incredible stories that rush at you with reckless abandon, even almost a century after Conan was first unleashed on Hyboria. The warrior’s battles and epic escapes from warlocks, monsters and shadows transcend mere pulp fiction and are timeless.
The two stories we take up here show this: The Phoenix on the Sword has Conan reaching his ultimate goal: king of Aquilonia. But he’s not ready for the civilized man’s warfare, with all the scheming and plotting. Give him a sword and a red-blooded enemy any day over vengeful politicians and serpent-tongued poets. A plot nearly succeeds in ending his reign as king…..and his life, but unexpected sorcery behind the scenes meets Conan head on, wrecking the political plot, and….almost his life. Only his desperation to survive and barbarian instincts save him yet again.
In The Scarlet Citadel, the story opens on Conan in absolute defeat surrounded by his enemies, but he will not yield. A wizard of untold evil, Tsotha, subdues him on the field of battle, rather than having Conan go down fighting. Trapped in the bowels of a lair of sheer terror, Conan fights his own superstitions and the dark to find his way out in a most improbable escape. More fantastical is his return to Aquilonia, having raised a small army to battle a force invading his land. The odds seem insurmountable, the fates of millions rest in his hands, but will Conan’s forces suffer the same fate as before? It’s a rousing finale and a showdown with Tsotha that will leave the barbarian wishing he had never heard of the Scarlet Citadel…..
News in this Episode:
MEET THE GODFATHER OF WEARABLES
Oyster Now Counts 500k Books in Subscription Collection
Literature’s Most Horrifying Mothers
REIGN of Books Ep. 13: Humanity’s Second Chance (Fall of Hyperion pt. 3)
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Verdict:
5 of 5 stars
Tweet Review: Gods at war, courage of warriors and poets, betrayal of machines, woman from the future and a pilgrimage; all lead to a new humanity.
This book forever changed the way I read science fiction. There is much to say, and even in these 100 minutes (!) of wrapping up the Fall of Hyperion, there are many things left unsaid. Everything is answered – yes, even where the Shrike comes from. All the complex threads and interweaving relationships are deftly tied up. The revelations hit so fast and so hard the characters in the book (and reader) have to adjust quickly in order to make it to the end.
News in this Episode:
Which books make you feel stupid?
REIGN of Books Ep. 12: Chaos in the Cantos (Fall of Hyperion pt. 2)
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I continue to be amazed at the complexity of the Hyperion universe. It is some of the best sci-fi I’ve come across. The insanely strong narrative continues in the second book of the series – Fall of Hyperion. I loved the first one (Hyperion), and have high hopes for the finale of the second. The end arrives next week and the mystery of the pilgrimage will be revealed! (Right, it’s got to!)
This book makes the reader face an ugly truth – even centuries in the future, we hold our self-preservation above everything else. We will destroy in order to maintain our supremacy. But the forces of the universe and our own creations outmatch us and we’ll have to scratch and claw our way out of the abyss in order to survive. But will we ever change, really?
Favorite moment so far – SPOILER – The war meeting after learning of the impending Ouster invasion where Meina Gladstone realized she couldn’t control the chaos she had unleashed. But she steeled herself against the coming end of Hegemony civilization with dignity and fierceness. While her joint chiefs buckled under pressure and senators moaned, she took command – she told the generals to defend the web worlds at all costs, the senators were to pass a unified war declaration with no political defectors, and Gladstone told the All Things liaison in a private meeting that she would declare open war against the TechnoCore, no matter if it meant plunging the web into the dark ages – better that than be a slave to the machines or the Ousters. That was her moment to shine.
News in this Episode:
Announcing the 2014 Hugo Award Nominees
Amazon Chooses ’100 Books to Read in a Lifetime: Mystery & Thriller’
The genre debate: Science fiction travels farther than literary fiction
REIGN of Books Ep. 11: Pilgrims’ Progress (Fall of Hyperion pt. 1)
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What would you do on the last day of your life? What if the world as you knew it was about to end? Nope, this isn’t a zombie apocalypse. It’s the Fall of Hyperion, an action-packed and deeply meditative tale of mankind confronted by long separated space siblings now returning for war, man-made machines gambling on their supremacy in the universe and surrounding it all – seven pilgrims on a desolate planet close to death and discovery of the ultimate truth of our existence. Listen to the first part of the book here on the REIGN of Books podcast.
News in this Episode:
SAMSUNG & AMAZON TEAM ON NEW EBOOK CLUB
Interactive Game of Thrones Map
Goodreads Will Soon Let You Add Amazon Books to Your Shelves
REIGN of Books Ep. 10: In the Abyss, The Flowering of the Strange Orchid (H.G. Wells)
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We dive into some classic turn-of-the-century sci-fi from H.G. Wells, who helped define the genre. It’s impressive how Wells takes the ordinary things that surround us and turns them into tense terrifying mysteries. The tales are strange unwinding oddities filled with fantastic creatures and wondrous places. It takes me back to the roots of good ol’ campfire storytelling.
News in this Episode:
Amazon’s ComiXology Acquisition Has Some Readers Concerned
Zola Books Makes iOS App Social
Game of Thrones: how does the TV series compare to the books?
REIGN of Books Ep. 9: The World is Not as It Seems (Hyperion pt3)
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Verdict:
Hyperion is one of those rare pieces of fiction that transcends mere storytelling. It is epically crafted and its ensemble cast of characters are wonderfully deep, complex people who bare their souls through the journey. It is a saga stretched over space and time yet incredibly personal and intimate.
The future represented in this book is shaped through the personal experiences and histories of the seven main characters (and a fantastic supporting cast), and it’s very effective. We learn about the galaxy through their eyes and it’s easy to digest facts about an alien future and at the same time to care about where each person ends up. And the future is not so very different than the present – humans have taken their same hopes, dreams and fears out into the cosmos. And the book attempts to deal with the repercussions of our actions as a society. We killed earth, do we get a second chance?
But the story leaves many cliffhangers that make you want to jump immediately to the next book, which I’ve heard described as the second part to Hyperion rather than a sequel. The space saga that is the Hyperion universe demands to be expanded (even if the cliffhanger makes you want to scream). After that initial shock you realize you can’t wait to see what happens next. Let the journey continue.
Rating: 5/5 stars
I’m having a little bit of withdrawal already. I miss my fellow travelers and their stories of planet hopping, space battles, the search for eternal life, and the burning forest and sea of grass on Hyperion. I felt like I came a long way with them on this journey. This is one of those stories that rises above the rest and really nails it when it comes to describing the human condition and connects with you in strong and unexpected ways. Hyperion is part of my sci-fi lexicon now and in my opinion some of the characters are as memorable as any in Middle Earth, Star Trek or Star Wars. Hyperion hyperbole? I don’t think so. It’s that good.
SPOILERS: My favorite parts. Peter Dure’s trek through the flaming forest, subsequent discovery of the cruciform and the labyrinths, and his gut-wrenching fate. Colonel Kassad’s many simulated and real military campaigns and the insane survival instinct that lets him outfight the Ousters in zero-gravity. Martin Silenus and his centuries-long story including the Dying Earth, fame, and true literary obsession in the City of Poets. Sol Weintraub’s emotional powerhouse of a tale in watching his daughter become younger and lose her skills and essentially her life. Brawne Lamia’s classic noir tale ripped from Blade Runner and which exposes the true nature of the Technocore. The Consul’s tale of his world of Maui-Covenant being crushed and later his role in keeping the Hegemony secret of the systematic genocide of other species so that mankind would not be challenged. And then he became a double agent many times over, conspiring with the Ousters and potentially destroying mankind by unleashing the Shrike. The whole book makes you think hard about morality, destiny and our choices in life.
News in this Episode:
Waterstones founder: e-book revolution will soon go into decline
Amazon’s Literary Journal Day One is Seeking Submissions
Audiobook Revenues Reach $1.6 Billion
New York City Hosts Twitter Poetry Contest
REIGN of Books Ep. 8: City of the Dead and Time Tripping (Hyperion pt2)
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The Hyperion Cantos
It was not about the planet but about the passing of the self-styled Titans called humans. It was about the unthinking hubris of a race which dared to murder its homeworld through sheer carelessness and then carried that dangerous arrogance to the stars, only to meet the wrath of a god which humanity had helped to sire.
The middle part of Hyperion raises the bar significantly. It’s a very strong middle section that delivers some jaw-dropping revelations.
The many layers of mystery wrapped up in this space saga draw you in deeper as the history of the Dying Earth and the colonization of Hyperion are retold by a living witness of these century old events. We see another personal encounter with the Shrike that shows the power of the time energy at the Time Tombs and the resulting devastation that reverberates through the years. Below the surface of these stories are deep issues of faith, obsession and destiny. Hang on, this is gonna get good.
News in this Episode:
Zola’s Bookish Recommendation Engine Goes to Work for Libraries
REIGN of Books 