Fantasy – …on the B.L.

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates

February 20, 2020 RaeAnna

Worth A Read Yes
Length 406
Quick Review Delving into magical realism and familiar themes of justice, humanity, freedom, and equality, the era of slavery is raging in Ta-Nehisi Coates debut novel.

The Water Dancer by Ta-Nehisi Coates in Galveston, Texas | Dress |

Ta-Nehisi Coates’ writes incredible essays and nonfiction, which are entertaining and thought provoking. I couldn’t wait to see what Coates would do in a world he created himself. Set in pre-Civil War Virginia, The Water Dancer is an impressive piece of fiction.

Hiram Walker is the son of a slave and the Lockless plantation owner. His mother was sold when he was young, and he was taken in and raised by another slave on the plantation. The community is made up of Quality, slave/land owners, the Tasked, slaves, and classless whites. Hiram is an exceptional human because of his photogenic memory, but he also possesses the gift of conduction, the ability to travel across great distance through waterways. He eventually travels to Philadelphia through the Underground Railroad, where he meets Moses, a legendary Underground member.

One of my favorite parts about the story is the way it is framed and told. Coates introduces Hiram in a death scene in chapter one. It captures the readers’ attention and holds it. There are also breaks in the narrative, where Hiram speaks as an older wiser man reminiscing about his younger years and even to speak directly to the reader. There is a lot of dependence on mysticism and suspension of reality. Coates shows the evils of slavery through the eyes of a slave. He also shows the entire society was trapped in the horrific cycle. Everyone suffered. No one was free.

Story wise, it’s very interesting, well thought out, and thoroughly researched. Honestly, it’s rather forgettable. I’m having a hard time writing a decent or even remotely in depth review because it did not sweep me along. I read it and had to make myself keep reading. It’s not a novel I just had to know what happened. I remember the beginning far more than the ending.

The Water Dancer is a combination of intriguing, boring, and well done. To be honest, it’s really hard calling, the beloved writer, Ta-Nehisi Coates’ prose boring, but it was. I thought it dragged on and on at times. Maybe part of it is that I don’t really like fantasy. I’ve never been a huge fan, and this is very much a fantasy novel. Although, I don’t think that has much to do with it. The fantasy bits were interesting and did not overwhelm the plot.

Memorable Quotes
“She’d gone from that warm quilt of memory to the cold library of fact.”
“I was a man well regarded in slavery, which is to say I was never regarded as a man at all.”

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

Buy Amazon | Buy Barnes & Noble | Buy Book Depository
Shop the Post
[show_shopthepost_widget id=”3919098″]

Title: The Water Dancer
Author: Ta-Nehisi Coates
Publisher: One World
Copyright: 2019
ISBN: 9780399590597

Books, Fiction

Letters From Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien

December 18, 2019 RaeAnna

Worth A Read YES
Length 192
Quick Review J.R.R. Tolkien spent over twenty years writing letters and drawing pictures to his children as Father Christmas. They have been beautifully documented in this sweet book.

Reading Letters From Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien at River Oaks District in Houston, Texas. | Skirt | Sweater | Earrings | Red Embellished High Heels |

Letters From Father Christmas by J.R.R. Tolkien

I am a sucker for Santa stories. This is not new to… anyone. I’ve mentioned it more than twelve times throughout my many interweb presences. I also love Tolkien. I’ve read all the Lord of the Rings books, so this book was an obvious holiday choice on my part. Tolkien is brilliant at creating worlds and characters. He also deeply loved his children. Letters From Father Christmas tells an entertaining and beautifully depicted story of Santa Claus’ adventures, but beneath the surface, it’s an embodiment of a man’s dedication and adoration of his children, their innocence, and a preservation of their childhood wonder.

Father Christmas started leaving letters and drawings in a shaky and recognizably unique handwriting for the Tolkien’s oldest son, John, when he was three years old. The letters and images continued arriving for twenty-two years discussing the inhabitants of the North Pole, the adventures, and the setbacks as John, Michael, Christopher, and finally Priscilla grew up. Father Christmas wrote to the children, and his assistant, Polar Bear, often made side notes and comments. Father Christmas is wise and kind but also frustrated by the unique everyday goings-on at the North Pole.

I finished the book in a morning. I loved reading this one. The pages are glossy and feel like heaven on the fingertips. I love that images of the original letters in Father Christmas’ uniquely shaky handwriting are included along with the paintings and drawings. It feels like Tolkien is bringing you into the family for Christmas. Everything about the letters are Tolkienesque. They are well thought out, and each character has their own unique style of writing linguistically and chirography. Polar Bear even went so far as to create his own language – of course Tolkien would.

Letters From Father Christmas is an enchanting world of clumsy polar bears, visits from the Man in the Moon, goblin wars, lost reindeer, busy elves, and more. Father Christmas documents imagination while also harkening back to the ever changing world and the struggles people faced throughout the 1920’s, ‘30s, and early ‘40s. It’s just a pleasure to read. Perfect for children of all ages – how does that song go? to kids from one to ninety-two.

Memorable Quotes
“Very much love from your old friend Father Christmas and Polar Bear.”

bisous und обьятий,
RaeAnna

Buy on Amazon | Buy on Barnes & Noble | Buy on Book Depository
Shop the Post
[show_shopthepost_widget id=”3858243″]

Title: Letters From Father Christmas
Author: J.R.R. Tolkien
Publisher: Harper Collins
Copyright: 2004
ISBN: 9780007463375

Books, Fiction

The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay

November 7, 2019 RaeAnna

Worth A Read No
Length 383
Quick Review A group of people are magically transported to another realm, which is in the middle of a war.

Reading The Summer Tree by Guy Gavriel Kay | Jumpsuit | Earrings | Watch

My best friend loves Guy Gavriel Kay’s writing. He has been bugging me for about a decade to read one of his books, so finally I did. The Summer Tree was an obvious place to start because it’s the beginning of the Fionavar Tapestry series. Much to the dismay of my best friend, I hated it. Genuinely. The story is interesting, but the writing is horrible. I don’t know where the editor was, but they weren’t doing their job with this one.

Five acquaintances are whisked away to Fionavar for a celebration by magical beings. They accidentally find themselves at the center of a war spanning many lands. The plot is inventive but not necessarily original.

The Summer Tree dives right into the action. Often times, this is a great way of making the reader keep reading. Kay made a grave mistake in having the action begin immediately: there was no emotional investment in the characters. All this stuff was happening to them, and I had no interest or connection to them. Why should I care? They were flat and uninteresting. They are underdeveloped, which does not allow readers to connect with them or even for the characters to connect with each other.

I’m all for fantasy. It’s not my usual genre, but I do love Tolkien and C.S. Lewis. From Kay’s writing style in The Summer Tree, it’s evident he also admires Tolkien. He was trying for a Tolkienesque narrative but had problems carrying it out throughout the novel. On top of that, his descriptions are overly flowery but lack any concrete imagery. The dialogues are clunky and do not feel like anything real people would say to other real people. Kay tends to foreshadow often in a give-it-away style. Simultaneously, he does not explain things at all. Maybe, he’s leaving those mysteries to be spelled out in the other books, but it just feels riddled with plot holes. One of the most irritating aspects of the narrative was Kay’s repetition. I love repetition. It’s an amazing literary device, but he just does not do it well. I think he was trying to be poetic, but came across like he was suffering from short term memory loss.

One of my biggest issues with the book is Kay’s inability to write compelling women. I question if he’s ever talked to a woman. He has no idea how to create female characters with interesting emotions and motivations. There are also bits of odd sexual torture; they are abrupt and make absolutely zero sense. As a rape survivor, it was offense and insensitive. More importantly than that, it was unrealistic. Fantasy or not, sexual violence should make sense and be done in a way that mimics reality.

Kay tries for an epic on the same level of Tolkien’s Middle Earth, Lewis’ Narnia, or Martin’s Westeros, but it echoes hollow. An idea with a lot of promise but a deficient execution. The Summer Tree does not have the emotional wallop an epic requires.

Memorable Quotes
I found no memorable quotes because the writing was painful to read.

Buy on Amazon | Buy on Barnes & Noble | Buy on Book Depository
Shop the Post
[show_shopthepost_widget id=”3790591″]

Title: The Summer Tree
Author: Guy Gavriel Kay
Publisher: Roc
Copyright: 1984
ISBN: 9780451458223

Books, Fiction

Fire and Blood by George R.R. Martin

May 18, 2019May 17, 2019 RaeAnna

Read Yes
Length 706
Quick Review The Targaryens came to Westeros. Aegon I united the seven kingdoms and began a three hundred year dynasty leading to the events being played out in the beloved show Game of Thrones.

Lounging in a burgundy ballgown at Glassell in Houston and Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin.

Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin | Burgundy Mermaid Gown

I love the HBO show Game of Thrones based off George R.R. Martin’s series A Song of Ice and Fire. I’m sad to see it go tomorrow night. I’ve been holding off reading the books until the show is over. I didn’t hesitate to read this prequel, though.

I started watching Game of Thrones the show in its second season. I don’t read fantasy because I don’t like it. The exception being Harry Potter, everyone should read that; it’s culturally important. Game of Thrones is one of those series that has gripped the world. It’s incredibly well done, but I haven’t read the books. I finished George RR Martin’s first prequel (there will be two) Fire & Blood, and it was not what I thought it would be.

I don’t know what I expected out of this book, but this wasn’t it. I liked it, but it was boring. Like really boring. I love history books, I think they’re far more interesting than novels to be honest. I’m the kind of person that enjoys reading textbooks. Fire & Blood read like an incredibly dry history book. In all honesty, it kind of is.

Fire & Blood is the first of a two part prequel documenting the 300 year reign of House Targaryen over Westeros until their demise leading to the storyline played out for the world to watch on HBO. The Targaryens came to Westeros after the Doom of Valeria and resided on Dragonstone for awhile. Then, Aegon I decided to hop on his dragon and conquer/unite the seven kingdoms of Westeros WITH his sisters Visenya and Rhaenys, which Arya points out to Tywin Lannister in season 2 episode 7. FYI, Aegon’s sisters are his wives. This is totally normal and fine for the Targaryens, which could be more pointed out in the show. The book follows the ruling Targaryens in Westeros for a good 150 odd years. Including the Dance of Dragons.

Fire & Blood by George R.R. Martin calls for dressing up in a ball gown. Obviously. I’m fancy.

After reading the prequel, things happening in the show made a LOT more sense. Names and stories from history made in passing during the show come to life within the 700 pages of Fire & Blood. The dialogue is a little rudimentary and clunky at times: “But not so high as to keep out dragons. Dragons fly.” Not so riveting. There is a lot in this book. Dorne is probably my favorite. Yay strong warrior women and female leaders.

Martin has an incredible mind. History is made up of people who actually lived, breathed, and did stuff. Creating that kind of intricacy in an imaginary world really deserves a great deal of applause. The book might be a bit dry, but the amount of information he comes up with and gives background to is truly remarkable. I love history, so it’s fun to find the historical parallels. Martin also has a great deal of respect for women. The female characters are incredibly powerful and probably more dimensenial than the male characters. That said, Martin doesn’t shy away from the difficulties facing women historically and documents the expectations, violence, cruelty, and blatant overlooking of their existence within the pages. The illustrations throughout Fire & Blood are quite beautiful. What is interesting is the fact the men age, but the women stay young and beautiful when illustrated. (Unless they are old and mean to begin with. Old being a relative term.)

It took me awhile to read the book because a) it is a big book b) it reads fairly dryly. Over all, I really enjoyed Fire & Blood as a whole. The story and Martin’s imagination are quite fantastical. I would suggest it, but it can get a bit dry at times. I love being able to watch the show and understand the history and the references much better than I did before.

Buy on Amazon | Buy on Book Depository
Shop the Post
[show_shopthepost_widget id=”3584624″]

Memorable Quotes
“The game of thrones takes many a queer turn…”
“And in songs, as ever, love conquers all. The truth, we submit, is a deal less simple.”
“Save my wife, you should have said, but what are wives to men like you.”
“…no plan made by man has ever withstood the whims of the gods above.”

Title: Fire & Blood
Author: George R.R. Martin
Publisher: Bantam Books (Penguin Random House)
Copyright: 2018
ISBN: 9781524796280