Hey all, Slick Dungeon here, back to review another book for you. This time I am reviwing The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin.
SYNOPSIS
This is the way the world ends. . .for the last time.
It starts with the great red rift across the heart of the world’s sole continent, spewing ash that blots out the sun. It starts with death, with a murdered son and a missing daughter. It starts with betrayal, and long dormant wounds rising up to fester.
This is the Stillness, a land long familiar with catastrophe, where the power of the earth is wielded as a weapon. And where there is no mercy.
REVIEW
3/5 STARS
This book is a little difficult to summarize but I will do my best. In this world, there are people who are capable of controlling and moving the very earth itself. These people are called Orogenes, or in a more negative conext, called Rogga. They are capable of preventing earthquakes but they are also capable of causing them. Therefore they have the potential for massive destruction. There are also people called Guardians who can negate this power that the Orogenes have. In addition there are giant obelisks that seems to have some sort of strange power that come out of the earth every once in a while. There are also stone eaters that, well, I guess, eat stone. Finally, there are the Stills. Stills are normal people without any of these powers. Every few hundred years or so, there is a calamity called a season that starts and people have to find ways to shelter themselves for centuries. The Fifth Season is destined to be the one that ends the world for good.
The book unfolds in three time periods. One period deals with Damaya, a young woman who, as an Orogene, is taken to a place called the Fulcrum where she is made to learn how to use her powers. The second is about a woman called Syenite who has left Fulcrum and is learning from a new master named Alabaster. The third period is about you. It’s told in the second person and you are left to wonder, exactly, who you are and what will happen.
While I found much of the story interesting, and I thought the system of powers in the book was fascinating, I honestly struggled with the second person point of view narrative. I am not a fan of that point of view unless I am reading a choose your own adventure book. By the end of the book I understood why the author chose it and I was a little more okay with it, but I really had difficulty finding my bearings in the story.
I don’t want to give too much away because I do think it is an interesting book but I feel like if that second person point of view was removed, it would not hurt the story at all. All three time periods do interrelate, I just would have preferred it not be told in second person at all.
I found the story of Damaya the most interesting and I think I would not have minded a whole book about her experience from start to end. The other two sections didn’t work quite as well for me, although, I can see why some people love this book. There are twists and turns the reader does not expect.
I plan to give the next volume a read, just because I want to know where the story goes from here but this was not my favorite fantasy book this year. It, however, is unlike most other fantasy books on the shelves, so it is nice to have a unique story. It just was not entirely for me.
Fantastically yours,
Slick Dungeon
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Delights, Surprises, and Horrors Continue in the Second Episode
Hey Everyone, Slick Dungeon here back to give a spoiler free review of the second episode of the HBO series Lovecraft Country.
The first episode set the tone with an intriguing blend of science fiction, the horrible reality of segregationist America and extremely gory cosmic horror that does not let up. It can be easy for a show to come out of the gate with an excellent pilot episode and then quickly disappoint in subsequent episodes. Sometimes a great premise does not carry through the initial setup. I’m glade to say that Lovecraft Country comes nowhere near to falling into that territory.
The second episode sees our three heroes in a different setting than where they started the series with the odds somehow stacked even more against them. The acting in this series is top notch, to say the least, and in this episode we get Abbey Lee as Christina Braithwhite. She is no stranger to horror/science fiction films and she increases the mystery without ever becoming ridiculous.
In this second episode there are some spots that I thought needed some explanation but that may come later in the series. Overall, this show seems like the best horror show to appear in years and if the third episode can be as strong as the first two, this will become a major horror must see.
Predicting what will happen next as you watch the show is nearly impossible and that’s saying something for anyone who is familiar with cosmic horror. The show has a very unique blend, up to and including the soundtrack. While I don’t want to give anything away here, I will say, I was surprised by the wide range of emotions that I ended up feeling while watching the episode.
If you have not yet seen the first two episodes yet, you should do that as soon as possible. I have a feeling that the next episode is going to get even better.
Hi everyone, Slick Dungeon here and guess who appeared out of the cosmos and in my dungeon! Andrew Piazza, the author of the spectacular book A Song For The Void about a cosmic horror on the high seas during the Opium Wars in 1853. You should all go out and read it, right after you finish reading this post. Andrew was nice enough to let me ask him a few questions about the book, about his speculative fiction and his writing process. Welcome to my dungeon, Andrew, and thank you for joining me! Without further ado let’s get into the interview.
Slick: A Song For The Void is not just a cosmic horror novel but a historical cosmic horror novel. Why did you feel it was a story well suited to the time period of the Opium Wars? Had you ever considered other time periods to set it in?
Andrew: The story came about as a synthesis of two separate pieces; first, the creature known as the Darkstar. I came up with the idea for this particular nastie a while back, but I wasn’t sure where to put it. Then, as I started going down a rabbit hole reading about the history of the Opium Wars (I have a tendency to find such rabbit holes) I realized I had exactly the right setting. Using that setting and that monster allowed me to discuss some of the themes present in the novel; addiction, identity, existentialism.
Slick: How much research goes into being historically accurate in your fiction?
Andrew: Quite a lot. I usually have to throttle back a bit, because there is always a risk of going overboard and including TOO much of the history. In doing so, an author can compromise the narrative flow. I recently read a historical horror novel set in approximately the same time period that suffered this mistake. The author had clearly done exhaustive research and was very keen to show it all off, but the plot began to drag as a consequence. It’s best to learn as much as you can, and then “forget” it so to speak, and let the setting be just that… a background that is very believable so as to create an immersive experience for the reader… a more perfect illusion, if you like.
Slick: What is your writing process like? Do you dedicate time to it every day or do you wait for inspiration to hit?
Andrew: I don’t subscribe to the need to write a certain number of words per day. I do work on my books every day, but that need not be composing of a rough draft… it could be research, outlining, editing, etc.
Slick: In the book, there is a menacing cosmic entity that threatens the people aboard the HMS Charger called the Darkstar. What gave you the idea for that entity and the horrors it introduces to the characters?
Andrew: (Mild spoilers) I liked the idea of a cosmic creature that could wipe out humanity except for the presence of the magnetosphere. That is a peculiar quirk of our planet this is highly underrated. It protects us from certain death in the form of cosmic radiation, and most of us have no idea. It fits in very nicely with the general concepts of cosmic terror, which come from being a tiny creature in a vast and dangerous universe.
Slick: The main character, Doctor Pearce, struggles with addiction. Not just addiction to substances but addiction to the past and what he has lost. Do you think that this topic is one you will explore further in future works?
Andrew: Struggling with the momentum of one’s past is a common ailment, so I will undoubtedly have characters struggling with this in the future, but I don’t know if it, or addiction in general, will be as front and center of a theme as in this novel.
Slick: The story also gets quite philosophical at points. It poses the question of what we truly are. If someone has head trauma and their personality changes, are they still that same person? Is there anything behind the machinery of our bodies? This kind of question perfectly matches with the cosmic horrors that appear in the book. Why did you want to dive into these questions and do you think you arrived at answers for yourself?
Andrew: If you really want to freak yourself out, read up on what happens when portions of the brain are damaged by injury or disease. Or studies on how flimsy our knowledge of consciousness really is. At the time of the novel’s setting (mid 1800’s), science was rapidly displacing religion as an explanation for how things are. A transcendent explanation… we are all special creatures with a near-magical, eternal “spirit” residing within, began to be replaced by a more nuts and bolts approach, leading to an existential hole that still exists today. It is the great challenge of modern philosophy to provide the consolations of religion, but still within the framework of logic and science.
A few years ago, I was blind-sided with an unexpected medical diagnosis that required dangerous surgery. For a short time, I thought I might not be around to wake up the next day. It got me thinking quite a lot about these kinds of existential dilemmas. Part of dealing with that was in re-prioritizing my writing, which I had let wane in the years before out of the standard distractions of career.
Slick: I am glad that everything worked out okay for you and glad you picked writing back up so we could have some great stories to read.
Slick: This book kept me up late at night, not just reading, but also because it is genuinely scary. With Lovecraftian style horror, it would be easy to go overboard and make the horrors seem almost silly. Yet you were able to deftly maneuver the reader so that it was horrific without being outlandish. Is that a difficult balance to accomplish?
Andrew: It’s a tightrope, to be sure. Part of the key of writing effective horror is to establish a strong sense of normalcy and a belief in the world the author has created… now we’re circling around to your question on historical accuracy. Writing a setting and characters that are believable and establishing them as such allow an author to then turn all that on its ear and present the impossible as not just possible, but likely.
Slick: With the book and series Lovecraft Country and the role-playing game Call of Cthulhu being quite popular right now, it seems that cosmic horror is having a bit of a resurgence in popularity. Why do you think that is and how do you think that might influence your future stories?
Andrew: My favorite kind of horror is cosmic horror. I believe it is the horror that lies beneath all other, from which all other forms of horror flow. Why do we fear death? Because we fear oblivion. We have this aching, dull, poorly defined fear inside all of us, that maybe we’re not the special snowflake and center of the universe that our ego convinces us we are. To be completely out of control, helpless, a leaf blown by the wind, is terrifying, as is the unknown, as is the prospect of nihilism.
As far as how it will influence further stories, you can count on my writing more novels like this. Cosmic horror holds the best capacity for exploring those themes that run deepest, much like good science fiction or fantasy.
Slick: Will there be more books involving these characters and, if so, what are the plans for the next book?
Andrew: I doubt we’ll see more of the characters in this novel, although the Darkstar may indeed decide to return and visit humanity again one day.
Slick: The story is on one level very personal and shows how one character relates to the world in a very difficult time. On the other hand, some menaces threaten not just Doctor Pearce but perhaps all of humanity. Do you think that the personal story of the Doctor helps to reflect the struggles of mankind overall?
Andrew: If you’re going to tackle a “big” story epic in scope, it is important to have a “small” story of the individuals caught up in that epic scope, in order to make it accessible. We can read dry statistics of millions dying and it is a distant unreality, but the story of a single person’s suffering can easily make us weep.
Slick: As I said above this story kept me up at night because it is quite frightening. What kinds of stories keep you up at night?
Andrew: Stories of people being cruel to each other to a level that is hard to believe.
Slick: Agreed. Those stories can be all to prevalent and very hard to take.
Slick: How can readers buy the book and how can they get in contact with you?
Slick: I have signed up myself for your free starter library and I have to say, it is an excellent value with great writing. You can consider me a fan. Thanks so much, Andrew, for taking the time out of your day to come and visit my dungeon.
If you are still reading this post, once you are done, go out and buy the book. If you love cosmic horror, you will not be disappointed.
Note: this review was first posted on Reedsy Discovery, an awesome website that pairs independent authors and readers. To see the post there click here.
If you are a book reviewer and want to contribute reviews on Reedsy Discovery, click here.
SYNOPSIS
A Mind Imprisoned Is The Greatest Of Hells.
1853. South China Sea. While on patrol between the Opium Wars, the crew of the steam frigate HMS Charger pursues a fleet of pirates that have been terrorizing the waters surrounding Hong Kong.
But now the hunters have become the hunted. Something else has come to the South China Sea, something ancient and powerful and malevolent. Now, the crew of the Charger must face their worst nightmares in order to survive the terrible creature they come to know as the Darkstar.
A Song For The Void is a haunting, terrifying historical horror novel that will keep you turning the pages and jumping at the shadows.
Fans of HP Lovecraft, Stephen King, Neil Gaiman, or other authors of surreal fantasy and horror will enjoy “A Song For The Void”.
REVIEW 5/5 STARS
In 1853 on the high seas, during the height of the Opium Wars, a strange comet, lacking a tail, is seen. The celestial body will have an incredible influence over the crew of the HMS Charger, a modern ship pursuing a group of pirates. A doctor with a tragic past, who is struggling with personal demons, will face horrors never before imagined and must use his own experience to pierce into the truth of the strange happenings that surround him.
A Song for the Voidis cosmic horror at its finest. The narrative is pulse-pounding and the characters are well developed, three-dimensional people, that the reader cannot help but be interested in. Horrors abound and stakes are high and deadly. At the same time, the historical aspect of the novel is well played and the perfect setting for this type of tale. Horror on the high seas in the vein of the Cthulhu mythos works extremely well here due to the deft handling of the subject matter by author Andrew Piazza.
The pacing is brilliant as the tale starts with exciting chase and battle scenes and it ever increases, making the stakes higher and the outcome more dangerous for the heroes at every turn. The evil faced in the book is well crafted and ominous. There are scenes in the book that will give the reader nightmares. When it comes to horror a reviewer can give no higher compliment than that. This book will scare you. If you love horror, that, after all, is the point.
This is a masterful page-turner that delights and surprises as well as horrifies. It ends with a wholly satisfying conclusion that is pitch-perfect for the story.
If you are a lover of cosmic horror or strange tales by the likes of H. P. Lovecraft and Clive Barker, you won’t find a better book out there than A Song for the Void. It’s cinematic in scope and personal in the narrative. This is a must-read for any horror fan looking for a story that knows how to scare.
Horrifically yours,
Slick Dungeon
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First Blush by Jonathan and Beth Ball Photo Credit: DM’s Guild
Hey everyone, Slick Dungeon here. I haven’t posted about Dungeons & Dragons for a while and thought I would give you all a review of a neat product I found on the DM’s guild.
First Blush is a “duet” style campaign for one player and one Dungeon Master. The goal of the module is to not only be a fun and interesting adventure, but also to teach people how to play Dungeons & Dragons. It includes stat blocks for all of the NPCs in the adventure. There are also three maps that you can use at your table if you are using minifigures. There is some great artwork as far as the characters go as well.
The module itself lays out some scenarios that a beginning player should be able to easily manager and will make the mechanics of the game more clear as they go along. It can be placed into most Dungeons & Dragons settings so it is good for a first level adventure no matter where you prefer your campaigns to be set.
I would recommend that this be led by an experienced Dungeon Master, however, because there are terms and situations that the module seems to take for granted that the person running the module knows already. There is plenty of boxed text and lots of descriptions of NPCs making it easy to run. They do point out several times that you are not required to run these characters as written, so if you want to change something, it is perfectly fine to do so.
I have played through this successfully as the Dungeon Master and my player and I had a great time doing it. Playing Dungeons & Dragons with just one other person is a different kind of experience and for those of us who have played with large groups for a long time, this style of play can be wildly refreshing. I highly recommend this module.
Check out their trailer below.
This is also just the first part of a trilogy. I will be reviewing all three of these modules eventually. You can buy each part separate or as a bundle to get all three. This is a pay what you want module so you can pay nothing, but for the value you get out of this module, I would say that the suggested price of $2.00 is well worth the hard work the creators put in here.
If you want to really help out this blog, get your copy of First Blush by clicking on the image or one of the links in this post. It won’t cost you anything extra and you’ll get a great module to play!
If you play this module, or have played it, let me know what you thought in the comments.
P.S. If you need some dice to play, you can also help out this blog by purchasing a set from Dice Envy by clicking the image below. Again there is no additional cost to you if you choose to purchase and you’ll get some great, high quality dice!
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Horror Fans Clear Your Sunday Night Because You Have Plans
Hey all, Slick Dungeon, here back with another review for you. I watched the first episode of the HBO series Lovecraft Country. I want to give you my thoughts on it, but I will keep it free of spoilers, so if you have not seen the episode, read away.
Lovecraft Country is a horror series based on the book of the same name by author Matt Ruff. After watching the first episode of this series, that book is going directly on to my to be read list. The story is about a young black man who travels across the segregated 1950s United States in search of his missing father. I won’t give away any more plot details than that.
If you watch the show, from the opening scene, you will realize that we are dealing with a story that could go just about anywhere. The horror involved in the series is both cosmic and human in nature, and it’s not certain at all which type of terror is more frightening.
The series is executive produced by big names like J.J. Abrams and Jordan Peele. If you have seen the horror hits, Get Out and Us, you will be able to feel Peele’s welcome influence all over this project. It is both grounded in the horrifying reality of Jim Crow laws and the awful people who supported them while still delivering unimaginable horror that cannot be explained by the rational mind.
The main character reflects some of this in his interests, and there are some intriguing conversations about literature at the time. The show is intelligent, and if you are well-read in science fiction and pulp stories of old, this only becomes more enjoyable.
So far, this show is a master class in setting a tone and ratcheting up horror in unexpected ways. The performances of all the main characters are outstanding. Still, in this episode, Jurnee Smollett as Letitia “Leti” Lewis, Jonathan Majors as Atticus Freeman, and Courtney B. Vance as George Freeman shine brightest. They are entirely believable, and as an audience, it’s easy to get wrapped up in their stories.
It is hard to say where the series will go from here, although violent, gory horror is absolutely on the table. The show will undoubtedly continue to explore the dark racist territory of America’s past and intertwine it with things that go bump in the night.
While this is set in the 1950s, the show, like much of the greatest science fiction and horror out there, can reflect and relate to our times in a way that nonfiction cannot. The episode is all the scarier because, in 2020, we know how these things can turn out. This feels like a story that is necessary to be told, and as a bonus, if you love horror, this will knock your socks off.
If you do not have this on your watch list already, add it asap. The next episode releases on Sunday, and I already know what I will be doing that night.
Hey everyone, Slick Dungeon, here and I am back to review the fifth episode of the Netflix hit Cursed.
If you haven’t watched the first five episodes of the series, watch out because there are spoilers below.
While I have enjoyed the setup and visuals of previous episodes I think this one is my favorite so far. Nimue has found temporary safe harbor with the fey and with Arthur there, the inevitable love connection grows. A new threat is introduced as there is now another man claiming to be the Pendragon King and it is clear that he is absolutely ruthless and has an army to back it up.
Meanwhile, the Red Paladins are dealing with the loss of their abbey and still trying to regain control of the sword that is in Nimue’s possession. It turns out that there are people that even The Weeping Monk has no power over.
Nimue is trying to get word to Merlin that she has the sword. I don’t want to spoil how the meeting comes about or what happens in it but Merlin and Nimue definitely have an intertwined destiny here.
Merlin’s story in this episode is extremely memorable and I loved how Gustaf Skarsgard portrayed him here. He has quite a good range from humorous to menacing and can turn it on and off seemingly at will.
Also in this episode is the green knight and if you know the Arthurian legend as originally told, this is definitely a big deal. The character had been introduced in earlier episodes but it’s not until this one that we see him as the green knight.
The end of the episode drops a bombshell on us that I won’t spoil here but it has me quite excited to watch the next one.
Hey everyone, Slick Dungeon here back with a movie review for you all. Elizabeth Harvest is a movie with a huge house, a small cast, and a lot of blood.
Fair warning that there will be spoilers below but I will keep them to a minimum.
Elizabeth is a new bride married to a brilliant scientist. He shows her around the house, introduces her to the staff, shows her how the biometric doors work and tells her that there is one room she is not allowed to go into. Yes, this is kind of a modern day Bluebeard story and when Henry calls Elizabeth “my pet”, tells her to “be a good girl” and feeds her with a spoon as if she is not a grown woman, it’s pretty safe to say, Henry is probably up to no good.
The movie does take on original twists, however, and becomes more intricate as the film progresses. It’s slow paced despite the large amount of violence in it. Parts of the film are disorienting and I do feel like some of the plot is dangling by the end but I don’t want to give that away in case anyone wants to watch this.
Abbey Lee who plays Elizabeth has an exceptionally difficult job here considering what the role calls for but she pulls it off perfectly. The concept of the film is not bad and the execution is decent overall, I just wish it didn’t remind so much of other movies where these kinds of events happen. The tone is ominous and threatening when it needs to be and I think the filmmakers made good use of the location they had.
Overall this is not a bad watch if you enjoy science fiction and horror but it’s also not so brilliant that it should be at the top of your watch list. If you’ve gone through all the other good stuff and need something to view this evening, it’s worth a view.
Hey everyone, Slick Dungeon, here and I am back to review the fourth episode of the Netflix hit Cursed.
If you haven’t watched the first four episodes of the series, watch out because there are spoilers below.
The fourth episode starts out with Nimue on the run, Arthur captured and headed toward the Abbey with the Red Paladins and Merlin off on a risky meet up. Arthur’s sister who we learned in the last episode is (spoiler) Morgana, has faked that she was attacked by Nimue and convinces the church that she is on their side. Morgana’s lover is not so convinced though.
This episode introduces several new characters to the series. Nimue meets an ally, Merlin talks to a quite memorable character, and a character from the first episode makes a reappearance. And for the first time The Grail is mentioned. This is important considering the legend of King Arthur.
At its heart this show is about the prejudices that humanity has toward the other. Fey creatures are slaughtered ruthlessly and punished by the church. This episode continues to explore that theme.
It’s clear that at some point our main characters will have to converge together once again. But for now they are scattered to the winds and pursuing their own agendas. I don’t want to get too much into what happens because I would rather not spoil the episode but the stakes increase here.
The beginning of the episode gets us right into the action but it does drag a bit in the middle. Stick with it though because the last third of the episode is really good and let’s just say that the episode title is quite appropriate.
Hey everyone, Slick Dungeon, here and I am back to review the third episode of the Netflix hit Cursed.
The first episode established the magical world we see and the second set the stakes higher. The third episode is called Alone but it could just as well have been called mistakes are made.
Heads up that there will be some spoilers in this review so feel free to watch the episode first if you don’t want that.
Nimue who was attacked in the last episode wakes up to find that she is in the Abbey which is full of the people who want to kill all of the Fey kind. Nimue, of course, is one of the Fey people and is in serious danger. To add to her troubles, Arthur has absconded with her sword. This sword is known as The Devil’s Tooth but we would know it as Excalibur.
Arthur does the thing he shouldn’t and tries to ask his uncle for his blessing to join a tournament. We get a little bit of the back story of Arthur here and find out that his father was honorable but died early and his uncle is a hard man. Arthur’s uncle does give permission for Arthur to fight but soon regrets it.
I don’t want to spoil what happens with Arthur too much but let’s just say he does not end up in a good position at the end of this episode.
Meanwhile, the Weeping Monk, knows that some Fey person is in the Abbey. Nimue ends up in the awkward position of having to save the life of the man who attacked her in the last episode. She uses Fey healing poultices which is quite dangerous considering where she is. We learn more about the Abbey and one of the sisters in it in particular. I don’t want to give away who she is but if you know the legend of King Arthur, it’s a pretty major name drop.
Meanwhile, Merlin still seems to be searching for the sword and in debt to whoever the Shadow Lords are. And the king, Uthor Pendragon is on the hunt for Merlin.
The whole episode ends on a bit of a cliff hanger.
I won’t say this is one of the best episodes so far but the events in it are important to the story and I am eager to see what happens next.
