These are the European book covers – blame the marketers. The book is serious subject matter…
Bitter Seeds is a vivid reminder of Great Britain’s brave men and women during WWII as they held the line in Europe. But in this sweeping alternate history tale about the high cost of war, the death toll comes not only from conventional weapons, but through more sinister means as well. Nazi super soldiers wreak havoc and the British are forced to answer the threat with dark cosmic forces summoned by Warlocks. It’s an interesting morality tale that explores “What is too high a cost to win a war?”
Welcome to REIGNfall, our weekly series on book topics where we talk fiction and ponder the world of storytelling.
Books are judged by their covers. But we take their titles to task. We find some pretty bad book names, and talk about just how mediocre they get. We cry foul on some of them. (We find out even great writers have bad book names.) Got any atrocious titles? Let us know.
Weekly book topics on fiction of all shapes and sizes.
Book covers are like a gateway into great stories. They become intertwined with the experience of any great tale and can instantly transport you back into what you loved most about the story. So we picked some iconic book covers to go alongside our favorite movie posters and album covers. We love this art and share why it matters.
What book covers made a difference in your reading experience? What is one you’ll never forget and why?
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I want to focus on Roland now. Many unanswered questions remain about this gunslinger and his mysterious past. The world has moved on, but this hard-as-nails cowboy continues to travel the long miles of its wastelands, in search of hope or answers of some sort. As iconic characters go, he ranks up there with Mad Max, the Mariner from Waterworld and Eli from the Book of Eli (sorry, cinema is my only reference point). He lives by the gun, but only when the “battle-rage descends,” as it inevitably does. He’s a survivor, and he has a mission, but will seeking the Dark Tower free or destroy him, or both? What kind of man is he? Part of that question is answered in this extraordinary latter half of the Wastelands as Roland and his friends are tested in a gut-wrenching race to survive a city gone mad.
Spoilers ahead:
Jake is taken and we wait to see how Roland will respond. Will he leave Jake and continue his quest to the Dark Tower, or save Jake and risk the city becoming his own grave. The diseased, rotting city of Lud is a rat trap with a junkyard maze stacked high and set with booby traps. Gasher takes Jake to an underground bunker where it seems all but impossible to get in, even if Roland could follow. But Roland doesn’t hesitate. He will not let Jake fall again. I love how Stephen King keeps the pace tight and cuts away to other action in the book as the story builds to a climax.
Our fellowship has split up, and Eddie and Susannah are forced to kill a crazed mob in the streets. It hardens them and awakens them to the necessities of survival in this place. They face an even bigger challenge with Blaine, a half-crazed, sentient train who feeds on riddles like a heroin addict on the needle. It can kill with electricity in its cradle, but Eddie and Susannah walk right up to the train’s gates because they need him to get across the wastelands. It’s a dangerous gambit with their lives on the line, but it’s part of their ka, or destiny, and they must hurry before time runs out.
Roland meanwhile stands outside the bunker and devises a plan for Oy (the pet billy bumbler) to crawl through the air ducts and pounce on the Tick Tock Man – an over-the-top barbarian who runs half the city – so Jake can push the button and open the hatches for Roland to get to him. Oy will almost surely die in this effort, and Jake, glimpsing Oy in the air vent above, focuses on his pet and misses the chance to open the door. The seemingly invincible Tick Tock Man (he’s lightening fast and lethal with a throwing blade) is badly mauled by Oy and is about to painfully kill Jake for this, but Jake stumbles onto Tick Tock’s throne where he feels a gun. Jake is beyond fear now; he knows it is his life or Tick Tock’s and in pulling the trigger and putting a hole through the barbarian’s head, he loses his innocence. King does a spectacular job of showing the fallen humanity in this lion’s den and Jake’s vulnerability here, hinting that Jake, if held captive, would be subjected to cruel and perverse things that might shatter him. But instead of becoming a victim of would-be rapists, the end of his childhood comes when he takes a life to save his own. It’s profound, expertly executed, and wholly unexpected.
The ending is amazing for the mix of sheer bravado and faith (in his ka) that Roland exhibits in challenging the demented Blaine who plans to kill the gunslingers. They escape the city (thanks to Susannah decoding the prime number riddle) that Blaine has just unleashed biological weapons on, but they are trapped on a train that plans to kill itself and them. Blaine demands riddles, but Roland rebukes him for his stupidity in making a death threat unless he gets his riddles. Roland is challenging a crazed machine, and he knows this may be the end, but he’s in his “battle rage,” and instead of bullets, it’s words he’ll use to challenge this strange foe. Who will win and how will this play out? This cliffhanger leaves a lot of unanswered questions but propels us to End-World, where the Dark Tower awaits. It’s an amazing story with an ensemble cast that I’m quickly falling in love with and promises many more unexpected and thrilling twists.
Roland has the toughest luck. He’s been chasing the Dark Tower for years, decades, centuries even? He’s had to suffer and endure seeing the collapse of his civilization, losing all his friends, and wandering the scorched Earth trying to find his path to the Dark Tower, which he is mysteriously drawn to.
His new gunslingers are showing they have grit and will surely step up (we hope) and fulfill their ka (or destiny) as Roland expects. Eddie, Susannah and Jake are ripped from their reality and thrust into this strange perilous new existence. But they are leaving behind broken, unfulfilled lives. As hard as it is to lose everything and risk desolation and death, they have a purpose now and they are more whole than they were in their former lives. It’s a powerful statement about rebirth and second chances.
This is a story about relationships. It always has been. It’s kind of an odd thing to say since Roland is a nomad wandering the world mostly alone, but we see with his new companions that he is a mentor, teacher and father figure. The relationship is a complex one, with the newly married couple dependent on the gunslinger for their survival in this strange world. They go through some horrific trials that test their bodies and their minds. It’s a strange fantastical journey and I cannot wait to see what destiny has in store for these explorers in the wastelands.
This book is “Castaway” for the space age. It’s a story of struggle and survival on a hostile world that astronaut Mark Watney is forced to make his home.
Some of my favorite parts (spoilers ahead): when Mark had to think extremely quickly after he’s launched out of his HAB home by a decompression. The airlock was launched with him and it’s slowly leaking. He has to stop the leak in the airlock (the almighty duct tape!), then do some extreme modifications to his spacesuit with a cracked faceplate – nothing major, just cut one of the suit’s arms off, use it to cover the smashed helmet and seal both openings with his supersticky goo. The seal isn’t airtight, so he does the math on how much oxygen he has (4 minutes) before he makes a run for it to the HAB to get another suit, then hop into the rover before suffocating. Intense stuff.
After surviving a year and a half on Mars, Mark is on the verge of rescue. His rover trip to an evacuation site with a launch vehicle almost ends in his death because of a huge dust storm that is so immense (it could last months) that it slowly descends on Mark without him knowing. His solar cells are slowly getting less power because of the increasing sand particles in the air. He only realizes there is a storm when he leaves the rover to stand on the edge of a huge crater and realizes that he can only see a limited way in one direction of the horizon. Smart guy. He now knows the danger he’s in. Go in the wrong direction. Mark dies. Turn back. Mark dies. Try to beeline through the crater. Mark dies.
The solution he comes up with is amazing – as usual. He lays out solar cells 40 kilometers apart and videotapes the readings so he can come back and collect them later and calculate exactly how much solar energy each gets at a certain time of day. He can use the readings to find out the direction of the storm and then drive in the opposite direction, hoping that it’s a circular storm and maintain enough solar energy to get out of it. (DISCLAIMER: I completely failed at explaining the science of this book, so don’t trust anything more than my general descriptions.) One of my favorite quotes.
The storm is probably circular. They usually are. But I could just be driving into an alcove. If that’s the case, I’m just f&*%ing dead, okay? There’s only so much I can do.
Mark’s honesty, humor and courage are the core of the book. He never wavers and shows a determination and hope that represent the best of who we are. His crew too has some amazing moments in the few pages that they appear. All are memorable from Commander Lewis (“I left him behind. In a barren, unreachable, goforsaken wasteland.”) to Martinez (“Who would you have eaten first?”) to Johanssen, Vogel and Beck.
Long live the Ares 3 crew and long live Mark Watney!
This book is stunning. You read the first-hand account of astronaut Mark Watney, who is stranded on Mars alone with no means of communication with Earth or hope of escape. It would take years for a rescue mission to arrive. His survival instinct is extraordinary and he uses all his experience, intellect and training to carefully map out a plan that will give him the best shot of staying alive until the next Mars mission. His sheer ingenuity and resourcefulness make for a riveting tale. His wit, his vulnerability, his determination all show through and we see a human being unwilling to surrender in even the most insurmountable of odds. This man vs. nature tale is set in the most extreme of environments and science is Mark’s tool to beat the red planet. It’s amazingly funny, emotional, realistic and it will pull you in from the first page.
The conclusion to the Great Hunt was impressive with its grand stage setting and gripping confrontations. The story feels urgent with the odds seemly stacked against our group, which now faces powerful ageless forces separately and on different fronts.
Spoilers: My favorite part by far is the introduction of the marauder army from across the sea. The Aes Sedai are the most powerful group which wields the One Power, or so we thought. We see that women with the One Power are enslaved by this army from across the sea, being held as captives with silver collars and leashes that keep them under complete control. Jordan’s description of their enslavement was brilliant and utterly despairing. Egwene, whose control of the One Power is just beginning, is captured and we see her tortured. It shows that this series is growing up quickly. Nynaeve’s sheer will and determination make her the perfect force to counter this evil. Her trials to rescue Egwene make this one of my favorite parts of the book.
(Spoiler-light) The wielding of an uncontrollable power takes Rand down a dangerous path, where many will seek to either use or destroy him. The group of friends from the Two Rivers are forced to separate and each of their journeys is amazing. The hunt itself is wild and wondrous and Rand battles foes, other dimensions, and his own fear. The places Rand and his band of Shienaran soldiers go in pursuit of the horn really open up the world and the scenes are vivid and unforgettable – those Trollocs and Fades are some evil creatures.
Nynaeve and Egwene explore the world of the Aes Sedai and they must protect each other in the growing darkness and uncertainty. One of my favorite parts of the book is the inside look at the mythology and rites of the Aes Sedai. The multiple Ajah sects within the sisterhood and their unique traits are fascinating to watch play out.
The Great Hunt, book two in the Hugo-nominated Wheel of Time series, picks up right where the first book left off. This presents a rich exploration of the characters’ conflicts and motivations that each must face in this next leg of the journey. There’s no fast forwarding of the narrative with convenient resolutions that take place without the reader. This immerses us in the world and shows the crossroads at which this saga lies. Any story with an ensemble cast worth reading is able to show how each character deals with competing agendas and the process each goes through in deciding the path they must take. Let the hunt begin!
REIGN of Books 