The Echo of Things to Come

by James Islington

The lesser of two evils, or the greater good. Get a good man to utter either of those phrases and there is no one more eager to begin perpetrating evil.

The second installment of the Licanius Trilogy did not disappoint. Davian, Asha, and Wir are back, cleaning up the messes that the wave of the blind and almost collapse of the boundary that separates them and the unknown beyond. Wir is left fighting for his position in the country, Davian finally escapes North to the boundary with a team of augurs under a new amnesty that allows them to use Kan as the gifted uses essence, hopefully to fix the boundary, while Asha is thrown into the middle.

Caeden's sudden disappearance after winning the battle against the soldiers known as the blind that escaped the boundary into the south, took him back to his past. A man, another immortal being who seemed to know Caeden was waiting for him and helped begin to unlock the memories of who Caeden really is. He is the Veranate, 13 immortal beings, each with a unique talent for Kan, like time travel, or forgery. The 13 had all been friends until Caeden switched sides, believing that they were not fighting for El, the God of the old and new religions, but his direct opposite. The being of Evil, who had knocked the trajectory of the world off El's original plan. 

Caeden remembers his plan, that he had set in motion long ago, one that will affect the world as they knew it. 

This series contains epic characters and politics, and Islington took us closer to each character in this book, giving a little backstory into Asha, Davian, and Wir's life before going to Cadadel. It added a lot of depth, and urgency to the whole series. We still don't know who to believe, is Caeden, Tal'kamar, Avard Devad, really on the right side? Can Davian save the Boundary, should he? Lots of questions. 

I highly recommend this story and series so far, and am already halfway through the last book in the Trilogy. 

:)

 One Foot in the Fade

By Luke Arnold

You cannot fight for peace. You must give into it. You must let go. 

 Here we have the third installment of Fetch Phillips adventures, written into existence by Luke Arnold. I have to be honest, for the first two books, in my head, the main characters name was 'Fletch' not 'Fetch', so now that I know the main characters name, I feel like I can give an honest review. 

Again, the cover is really cool and this blue is fantastic, but the story itself, not so much. That's not saying it was bad, but just tired and too similar to the other installments in the series. This felt like book number 2, something that just bridges book 1 and book 3, and thats it. It didn't add huge amounts of substance. I feel that this either is leading to the last book, or Arnold is trying to 'Nancy Drew' it and make as many novels in this vein as possible. 

It was the same fast paced adventure that the other books had, but some things happened that I felt were just to fill the page and add some fluff to the story. Some new elements were brought in, some new characters and motivations, but the whole time felt like I've read this before.

My biggest ick from this book is that the title was used, verbatim, word for word, at least twice in the story by the characters. For some reason, that felt really cheesy and beneath Arnolds usually writing and story telling standard. Doing it once can be fun and add an almost 'easter-eggy' feel, but twice felt like an amateur wrote this and snuck it back in once the editor looked at it. I don't know why that really hung me up, but it did.

Over-all, this is still a really fun series to read, but this was the least strong book so far, in my opinion. 

:)

 Babel

by R. F. Huang

"English did not just borrow words from other languages; it was stuffed to the brim with foreign influences, a Frankenstein vernacular. And Robin found it incredible, how this country, whose citizens prided themselves so much of being better than the rest of the world, could not make it through an afternoon tea without borrowed goods" - Babel.

    Yes that is a long quote to start with, but this book deserves it. I don't joke when I say, that this book helped me understand the world better. I saw myself, people I know, and the world from a zoomed out view. R. F. Huang made me an ant and let me look at the world through a telescope. I loved it. 

   

    Robin Swift was the perfect protagonist for this story, it wouldn't and couldn't have been done as powerfully with any other character. Robin Swift is gentle, smart, and eager to please those who look after him. He was a survivor, and he hie behind that idea of himself for most of the story. After being taken from his homeland, taught languages and eventually was admitted to Oxford, the alma mater of his guardian who was also a professor there, he wanted to be grateful for this opportunity, to avoid working the docs and behind homeless back in Canton, Asia. 

    He tried to ignore the nagging feeling that he had not chosen this, that something wasn't right, and once he saw what his beloved London and Babel pumping Opium into China for profit, to keep the balance of the world that London had built with itself at the center, the fantasy that was his life at Oxford fade away. 

    He knew he had to take a stand, maybe too late, even though he was the last one to do it, he had to stand up for the all inclusive Other. 

    There were so many heart warming scenes in this story, between Robin and his friends and professors, the romanized educational setting that makes up the dark academia genre. This was the first one of that genre I could make it through, or love to pieces. 

    The whole time reading this, I couldn't help but think of a professor I had in college. I took a book binding class and we learned about the history of the book, what is a book, and why. We watched a movie on fonts, I'll never look at Helvetica the same ever again, but he also talked about words, and how they've traveled and changed throughout time and cultures, and this book explored the origin of words and what language is, as its core and in the philosophical sense. What is translation? The conversion of words from one language to another, or should it focus on the transfer of meaning as every culture has different idioms and metaphors. I hope this book finds him.

    Another scene that I think highlights what this book is about is when Robin, who is one of four translators at Oxford, is invited to hangout with the jocks (business majors types) of Oxford. When he does, and they're talking about their studies, and they try and intimidate Robin, by reading terrible poetry none the less, and when Robin wasn't intimidated, they cast him out, called him slurs and insulted his studies, only because they themselves couldn't do it. Robin saw the lack of substance in them that they refused to believe was there. Broaden that out to London England is the cocky business majors, and Robin is the rest of the world. 

    I think we see a lot of that today, and R. F. Huang did an amazing job of of making this book relevant. 

    I am so glad I picked up this book, and I read it slow, I spent about 6 weeks on it, and I think thats how it's meant to be read. It's not slow or written difficultly, but it's deep, and it needs time to sink it, or at least it did for me. 

    There's so much more to be said about this book, but I think it needs to be experienced yourself. 

I hope you pick this one up.

:)