The Labyrinthine Journey by Luciana Cavallaro

(Cover picture courtesy of the author.)

Follow Evan as he continues his odyssey as Servant of the Gods in The Labyrinthine Journey. The quest to locate the sacred object adds pressure to the uneasy alliance between Evan and the Atlanteans. His inability to accept the world he’s in, and his constant battle with Zeus, both threaten to derail the expedition and his life.

Traversing the mountainous terrain of the Peloponnese and Corinthian Gulf to the centre of the spiritual world, Evan meets with Pythia, Oracle of Delphi. Her cryptic prophecy reveals much more than he expected; something that changes his concept of the ancient world and his former way of life.

Will Evan and his friends succeed in their quest to find the relics and stop the advent of Christianity?

[Full disclosure: I received a free ebook from the author in exchange for an honest review.]

After the cliffhanger of the first book, I was very excited to get an email from Luciana asking if I’d like to read and review the second book.  Although I was worried that since two years had passed it would be hard to get into the second book without reading the first one again.

However, I didn’t need to worry at all.  There’s a nice amount of exposition in the first few chapters that catches the reader up quickly and relatively unobtrusively.  We get re-introduced to our cast of characters including Evan, the High Priestess, Hektor, Homer and Phameas.  We also re-hash just enough of the plot of the first book to remember that Evan and his crew are on a mission to save the Greek gods from oblivion and have found one of apparently two objects that will accomplish this.

The Labyrinthine Journey is a fast-paced romp through the ancient Greek world as Evan (called Evandros in this time) and his crew search for the second piece of the puzzle.  Of course, things aren’t always so simple and as they find out on their journeys, they truly need three artefacts and thus the title The Labyrinthine Journey is completely justified.  They have to journey across Greece to consult the Pythia at Delphi and then the real journey begins when they learn the second artefact is on the island of Thira (or Thera, modern Santorini) in the ruins left by the massive volcanic eruption years ago.  And that’s not even the hardest part.  Because where the Greek gods are concerned, absolutely nothing is simple.

The relationships we saw in the first book have changed slightly as Evan adjusts to his new life as Evandros.  He still hates Hektor’s guts but Homer, Dexion and Leander attempt to keep things from getting violent between the two.  Alexina, the High Priestess is both more familiar and more enigmatic as we discover the full extent of her powers the Mother Goddess has granted her now that she’s in possession of the golden serpent.  And the growing romance between Alexina and Leander is subtle but sweet.  What intrigued me was that although we saw a little more of Melaina, Kronos’ daughter, her motives are still as mysterious as they were in the first book.  On one hand, her father is Kronos but on the other hand, there seems to be a bit of an attraction to Evandros at play and she does seem to want to help him.  However, the gods and the titans are not always straightforward.  While I can guess at her motivations, it should be fascinating to see what side she’s truly on in the third book.  That’s part of what I like about all of Luciana Cavallaro’s writing, from her short stories to this full-length series: she is truly good at creating ambiguous characters (which comes in handy where the Greek gods are concerned).  And no matter whether a character is mostly good or mostly bad, they are always interesting.

What I really appreciated (other than the amazing character-building) was the amount of research that went into The Labyrinthine Journey.  Not only about the big events going on in the Greek world at the time (the revolt of the Messenians, democracy in Athens, etc.), but the little details like all of the temples and statues being painted in bright colours.  We’re used to seeing the beautiful white marble statues and remains of temples and great buildings but ancient Greece, like the rest of the ancient Mediterranean was colourful and vibrant.  And where history and myth are silent, Cavallaro makes up something new that is also entirely believable like the Amazons on their far-flung island.  It fits seamlessly into the greater stories that make up what we know today under the umbrella term of ‘Greek myth’.

If you loved Search for the Golden Serpent, you will enjoy The Labyrinthine Journey as much as I did.  It’s a great sequel that definitely doesn’t suffer from the plot bloat that most second books do.  So go ahead and buy it!  You won’t regret it.

And if you haven’t read the first book but figure the story sounds interesting, I highly recommend trying out Search for the Golden Serpent.  If you love Greek myth and/or historical fantasy, you will love it.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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Lazy Sundays: The Queen’s Justice (Game of Thrones Episode 7.03)

I can’t believe I missed one important thing from last week!  The scene between Grey Worm and Missandei was very sweet and I really hope it isn’t their final farewell.

Speaking of farewells, let’s get right into the action of this episode:

1: Okay, I loved Missandei’s formal announcement of all of Daenerys’ titles and then Ser Davos introducing Jon as “This is Jon Snow…Um, the King in the North.”  That had me quite literally laughing out loud because that is just so Ser Davos.

2: With that said, I think it’s interesting that Jon did not bend the knee to Daenerys.  Possibly because his protestations that he didn’t want to be king are slightly untrue but I think the likelier possibility is that he’s both a bit proud and sizing her up.  He seemed quite surprised when she admitted her father was a terrible man and I think he’s warming up to her, especially after she granted him the right to mine dragonglass and volunteered her own men and resources for the endeavour.  She may not believe that the Night King and the army of the dead are real at this point, but I liked how Tyrion convinced her helping Jon in the mining would not hurt her one bit and could only help her in the long run.

3: I think it’s fascinating that Melisandre is going to Volantis.  Why Volantis?  Is she going to get more red priests and priestesses to preach that Daenerys is Azor Ahai, the prince that will save them from the darkness?  Or is it something else (which is the likelier option)?  I also think it’s interesting that she knows that when she comes back to Westeros it will mean her death is near.  And even more interesting, that Varys will also die in Westeros according to her prediction.  How will Varys die?  He’s one of the few born survivors in the series (along with Bronn and Littlefinger) so I can’t see him dying in a battle or anything like that.  And so far he has no reason to betray Daenerys so Daenerys has no reason to make good on her threat from the first episode.  As usual, my mum and I talked over the episode and she both doesn’t see a use for Varys at this point but also doesn’t see how his death would be useful.  I agree but perhaps we’ll get some more information in the coming episode(s).

4: So Euron is the hero of King’s Landing.  I stand by my assessment of his character that I made in my recap of the first episode: he’s both slightly insane but slightly smart alec-y and it’s hard to tell which is which.  His asking Jaime for advice with Cersei was both to needle Jaime (of course) but also slightly sincere?  I really can’t tell but I do think it’s both.  Either way, it’s really a credit to his actor.

5: I never particularly liked Ellaria or any of the Sand Snakes but even I was a little disturbed by the way Cersei chose to have her revenge.  It’s poetic and the absolute cruellest thing she could have done to Ellaria.  I mean, I understand why she did it (she’s tormenting the woman who killed her daughter by killing said woman’s daughter) but there’s a cruelty to it that seems slightly disturbing.  I don’t think she’ll go the path of the Mad King but I do think her conscience is going to make things very difficult for her in this (and the next) season.  Especially when Lady Olenna’s prediction comes true and Cersei becomes Jaime’s downfall.

6: Sansa is ruling nicely at Winterfell.  I loved the scene when Bran and Meera came to Winterfell and Sansa hugged him.  Bran was than of course being weird in the godswood, insensitively bringing up what was probably the worst night of Sansa’s life so far in order to prove that he’s the Three Eyed Raven.  I mean, really Bran?  Did you have to go there?  There were so many other scenes from her life that he could have used and he had to pick the one that would bring up the trauma she’s now buried deeply.  Ugh.

7:  And Ser Jorah’s alive! And going back to Daenerys!!!  I am inordinately excited about this.

8: Sam’s a hero too for performing surgery straight out of a book with no practical experience.  But even heroes have to copy a bunch of dusty scrolls and empty bedpans.  Joking aside, I think the fact he’s copying old scrolls may be significant.  After all, old scrolls could contain information about the White Walkers or the Long Night.

9: Theon’s miserable carcass was saved by some Ironborn.  I honestly thought they were going to toss him back overboard when he said he tried and the other man said that if he had really tried to save Yara, he wouldn’t still be alive.  But I guess Theon still has some use for the plot or he wouldn’t still be alive.  Nothing happens without a reason in Game of Thrones.

10:  Speaking of which, I loved the callback to the first and second seasons.  The callback to the second season was of course when Tyrion used his knowledge of the sewers of Casterly Rock to help the Unsullied take the castle with minimal casualties.  I love that Tyrion of course built a secret passage so he could continue his whoring under his father’s very nose.  That is so very Tyrion.  The callback to the first season was when Bronn said of the Eyrie: “Give me ten good men with climbing spikes and I’ll impregnate the bitch.”  Well, the Unsullied were a bit more than ten good men and they used sewers instead of climbing spikes but you get the idea.

11: Speaking of Bronn, I hope that after Jaime dies (which I’m still predicting will happen this season) that Bronn goes back to Tyrion.  They’re a perfect team.  And I’d love to see what Daenerys makes of Bronn at her court.  Of course he would also offer very practical strategies for winning the war.  That’s something Daenerys can’t afford to turn down right now.

12: As much as I hate to admit it, Cersei’s strategy was brilliant.  She knew Tyrion was going to try to take Casterly Rock both because of revenge and its strategic value so she made it into a trap.  Meanwhile, Jaime of course took the bulk of the troops to Highgarden to take out another woman Cersei hopes to have vengeance on: Lady Olenna Tyrell.

13: Lady Olenna’s final scene with Jaime was so brilliant and so quintessentially her.  When Jaime found her I thought for sure she had already taken poison and was just waiting for it to kick in, stalling by taunting Jaime.  But I do love that after Jaime went through all of the trouble of finding a poison that wouldn’t hurt (because he’s very much not his sister), she told him she’s the one who killed Joffrey at his wedding a few years back.  You could see Jaime really regretting taking the kind route with her.  But she said something else I think will become significant in this season: that Cersei will be the death of him.  And at this point, Jaime both seems to know that and doesn’t seem to care.  Thus, my continuing prediction that Jaime is not long for this world and will likely die sometime in this season.

14: Finally, given the reappearance of the Iron Bank of Braavos and its mention in the promo for episode 4, I think they’re going to play a bigger role in the coming season.  Sure, Cersei’s riding high right now: the bulk of Daenerys’ fleet is gone, her Unsullied are trapped at Casterly Rock and most of her Westerosi allies are dead or captured.  But it would be far too easy if in the fortnight she promised that she’s going to be able to pay off her debt to the bank in full.  The promo for the next episode seems to hint that things aren’t going to go entirely smoothly for Jaime while he’s bringing the gold back to King’s Landing and I think that makes perfect sense.  Nothing is ever that easy in Game of Thrones!  But I guess we’ll have to wait until next week.

So thank you all for wading through my absolute wall of text this week.  Things are heating up and so these recap posts will only become longer as the season goes on.  I can’t wait for next week!

Lazy Sundays: Stormborn (Game of Thrones Episode 7.02)

Well, they’re certainly not wasting time on exposition before the action gets going this season.  Yay!  No more travel scenes!  So here are my thoughts about the episode:

1: Daenerys’ council at Dragonstone was an important scene.  On one side, we have the women advocating for an aggressive strategy.  On the other side, we have Tyrion with his much more sensible advice.  I think Daenerys was smart to take the middle route offered later on in the episode: Take Casterly Rock with the foreign army but beseige King’s Landing with a Westerosi army.  It avoids the bad PR that Cersei could use to whip up support for her cause.

2: Randyll Tarly is going to be an interesting dark horse for at least another episode.  I think he may be leaning toward Daenerys at this point but if he hears of the destruction of the Greyjoy and Dornish fleet, he may play things safe and go for Cersei.  However, it’s really hard to tell.  He’s the only one who ever beat Robert Baratheon in battle, which shows he has a real head for strategy and tactics (not so much for parenting!).  Even with the Greyjoy fleet destroyed by Euron Greyjoy, I think Tarly may end up with Daenerys as she still has three dragons, an army of Dothraki and her Unsullied.

3: Now I’m really justified in my most repeated saying in Game of Thrones: Poor Ser Jorah!  I was so glad that Sam decided to help him despite Archmaester Marwyn’s objections.  I really, really hope that all of that pain was worth it and he’s cured like Shireen.  (And that Sam also doesn’t get greyscale in the process.)  For the sake of adding some hope to the penultimate season, please let this work.

4: I told you so!  I knew Arya wasn’t going to end up going to King’s Landing and I’m so glad she’s heading back north.  She needs to be with Jon, Sansa and Bran (who will be arriving shortly I assume).  The few remaining Starks and the secret Targaryen-Stark need to be with family, now more than ever.

5: I’m not sure how I feel about Melisandre’s reappearance.  I knew that after Jon banished her she would of course go to Daenerys but I really do wonder what role she’s going to play in the season.  Will she act as an advisor to Daenerys?  Or is she going to do something else?  My money would be on something else because her character has never really been that simple.

6: Also: yay Nymeria!  Now that we’ve found Nymeria again, all we need is for Arya to run into Gendry, who is presumably somewhere in Westeros.  Unless he rowed all the way to Essos, seeing as he has apparently been rowing for years. /s

7: Shit is going to go down at Winterfell with Jon gone, Sansa in charge and Littlefinger still skulking about.  I’m not sure what’s going to happen with Littlefinger’s storyline, but going off past experience he’s going to counsel Jon to side with Daenerys.  Littlefinger is a survivor most of all.  If Jon doesn’t side with Daenerys, he’ll try to pack up the army of the Vale along with Sansa and side with the Mother of Dragons himself.

8: Speaking of dragons, I knew Qyburn was up to something as soon as Cersei knew that Daenerys was sailing for Westeros.  A weapon that can wound dragons was pretty obviously going to come up sooner or later.  I just hope that for Daenerys’ sake, it doesn’t work quite as efficiently as Qyburn hopes.  Although I do suspect she may lose at least one dragon this season.  Having three dragons and a massive intact army would be way too easy for Daenerys.  Characters in Game of Thrones never just get things handed to them, as we’ve seen over the previous six seasons.

9: Hey, Hot Pie is still around.  Now there’s a survivor!

10: Okay, so we know Ellaria, one of the daughters and Yara have been all captured by Euron.  Lovely.  The other two Dornish women are dead and frankly I can’t bring myself to care.  I wasn’t all that invested in their characters in the books anyway but I really didn’t like them in the show (too much bland acting and B-movie fight scenes).  So on that front, my reaction is kind of ‘meh’.

11: So now we know that Ellaria and Yara are Euron’s wedding present to Cersei.  I think we can all agree that these two women are in for horrific deaths at best.

12: And…brave Sir Theon ran away.  When the fighting was pretty much over and he saw Yara captured, I think it brought out the Reek in him again and he fled.  I really can’t blame him from a psychological standpoint but it still feels like a betrayal of his sister yet again.  But, I suppose he still has a role in the show or he wouldn’t have gotten away alive.  Maybe to tell Daenerys her plan to beseige King’s Landing with a Westerosi army has failed?  And then what?  I’m really not sure where his character is realistically heading.  Maybe for death, like Jaime is.

Well, that’s all for this week.  I can’t wait for next week’s meeting between Daenerys and Jon, Euron’s presentation to Cersei and some Winterfell intrigue.

Lazy Sundays: Dragonstone (Game of Thrones Episode 7.01)

Yay, Game of Thrones is back!  Finally!  I’ve been ridiculously excited for the new season so let’s get to it.  Here are my thoughts about this episode, in no particular order:

1: Okay, so much for the Freys.  I was suspicious when I saw the scene start with a feast but as ‘Walder’ kept talking I figured out who it was.  That scene was just the perfect revenge for Arya.  Go Arya!

2: Samwell, you’re awesome.  Finally, the boy who desperately didn’t want to break the rules or do anything to cause a stir has found some steel in him.  It started when Sam rescued Gilly and killed a white walker (and stole his father’s sword last season) but now I think we’re nearing the end of his sort of coming-of-age character arc.  He used to be a boy, but experience and love have made him into a man.  A man who has to empty bedpans and eat soup that looks like it came out of a bedpan, sure.  But a man nevertheless.

3: NO!!! Poor Ser Jorah.  sigh  I know he’s going to die so I really, really hope he waits until Daenerys gets there.  The writers are keeping him alive and putting him in Oldtown for a reason.  But at the same time, I’m still holding out hope beyond hope that Sam will somehow find him a cure and he goes back to Daenerys.  What can I say?  Maybe I’m a hopeless romantic after all.

4: The Sansa and Jon tension will only heat up this season.  With Littlefinger plotting as usual and Jon being an honourable Stark (despite actually being a Targaryen) I think she may become frustrated with both of them and forge her own path.  Whether that’s alongside Jon or Littlefinger remains to be seen.  Not only did she learn a lot from Cersei, she also learned what not to do when playing the game of thrones by watching what happened to her father and older brother.

5: So I hope Bran and Meera finally get to Winterfell.  I want Jon to finally know his actual origin story.  Preferably before he meets with Daenerys, his aunt.

6: Hmm…you guys, I think Jaime is going to die this season.  His children are dead and his lover/twin is distant and drowning herself in wine.  I honestly just don’t see much of a future for his character.  Perhaps he’ll die fighting in the Reach, trying to claim Highgarden?  I’m not sure, but I really do think he’s going to die this season.  He’s lost all motivation to live.

7: On a side note, can I just commend Euron Greyjoy’s actor for finding the perfect blend of smart alec and crazy?  He’s got the crazy eyes like Theon when he was Reek but you still get the feeling he’s more clever than he’s letting on.  I wonder what present he’s going to give Cersei (besides his two working hands)?

8: And Arya’s travelling along the road and happens across a band of Lannister men with an apparently famous singer doing a cameo.  Huh.  She says she’s going to kill the Queen but I really think she won’t.  Not because Arya doesn’t want to but because I just can’t see Cersei dying that easily.  That would be a real cop-out.

9: After six seasons, Daenerys is finally in Westeros!  And Dragonstone, where she was born.  And it’s completely empty despite the fact that I’m pretty sure Stannis would have left some force behind to guard his home castle.  Oh well, as far as plot holes go this one isn’t bad.

10: Tyrion needs to shave.  Badly.

11: So now that, thanks to Sam, Jon knows there’s dragonglass (obsidian) on Dragonstone, I’m pretty sure he’s going to meet with Daenerys somehow to try to forge an alliance.  He needs to if he’s going to fight the White Walkers.

12: I thought the part with the Hound was going to be boring, but man was I wrong.  I think that whole part where he stumbles on the hut he robbed, sees a vision in the fire and then buries the bodies is a real turning point for him.  Maybe the Lord of Light isn’t so bad after all.  Maybe the Hound is alive for a purpose, just like Beric Dondarrion.

13: Where’s Gendry?  Is he still rowing that damn boat?  Or is Arya going to stumble upon him in or on her way to King’s Landing?  Who knows?  I guess we’ll eventually find out.

And now I can’t wait for next Sunday!  Like Daenerys, I’m definitely ready to begin.  This season is going to be great!!!

Blood of Elves by Andrzej Sapkowski

(Cover picture courtesy of Goodreads.)

The New York Times bestselling series that inspired the international hit video game: The Witcher.
For over a century, humans, dwarves, gnomes, and elves have lived together in relative peace. But times have changed, the uneasy peace is over, and now the races are fighting once again. The only good elf, it seems, is a dead elf.

Geralt of Rivia, the cunning assassin known as The Witcher, has been waiting for the birth of a prophesied child. This child has the power to change the world – for good, or for evil.

As the threat of war hangs over the land and the child is hunted for her extraordinary powers, it will become Geralt’s responsibility to protect them all – and the Witcher never accepts defeat.

The Witcher returns in this sequel to The Last Wish, as the inhabitants of his world become embroiled in a state of total war.

I actually played the video game Witcher 3: Wild Hunt before I even thought about picking up the novels that inspired the award-winning video games.  When I fell in love with the game and its rich mythology, political intrigue and vibrant characters I had to have more of Geralt and his world.  So I decided to give Andrzej Sapkowski’s novels a try.  Given my recent rash of disappointing reads, I was absolutely thrilled when it turned out that Blood of Elves completely exceeded my expectations.

Here in Blood of Elves, we have a fantasy world that is both familiar and alien to most North American readers.  There are witches, wizards, dryads and other such creatures while at the same time there are unique creatures Sapkowski has created like witchers (obviously) and aeschnas (aeschnae?).  At the same time, he has put a spin on old fantasy creatures like elves, dwarves, dryads and werewolves.  It’s a wonderful blend of the familiar and the strange and it makes me happy to see that there’s a lot of potential exploration of other fantasy creatures in the rest of the series.  In addition to the wonderful creatures Sapkowski has created, the world-building allows for quite a lot of intrigue and conflict.  On one hand, you have the expanding Nilfgaardian empire under the lead of Emperor Emhyr var Emreis.  On the other hand, you have the fractured Northern Realms that include kingdoms like Temeria, Kaedwen, Redania, Cintra and Aedirn.  Each country has its own unique leader, culture and history and while the main focus of the story is on Ciri and Geralt, it’s fascinating to catch glimpses of the vast world Sapkowski has built.

As for the characters, I was pleasantly surprised.  While Andrzej Sapkowski has a pared-down writing style that doesn’t necessarily lend itself to much description, all of the characters in the novel were well fleshed-out.  Geralt is of course fascinating because although he’s supposed to be this cold-blooded monster killer for hire, you can tell he cares about people deeply.  Ciri herself is wonderful and I loved seeing her interactions with Triss and, later in the novel, Yennefer.  She’s rough and tough being raised as a witcher at Kaer Morhen but at the same time, she’s vulnerable when it comes to the changes every girl goes through during puberty.  She really reminds me of myself at the same age so I do admit to having quite a bit of a soft spot for her.  Seeing her interactions with Triss who becomes a mentor and a big sister to her was really touching in contrast to Yennefer’s loving yet slightly cold relationship with her.

Although Blood of Elves is slightly under 400 pages long, you will hardly notice the length once you get going.  The aforementioned pared-down writing style really does move the action along quite quickly and the first chapter has you hitting the ground running so to speak.  However, Sapkowski does have enough description and backstory that you’ll quickly catch on like I did, whether or not you’ve read The Last Wish (I still haven’t) before beginning the main series.  I don’t speak Polish so I can’t speak to the faithfulness of the translation, but I can say that it was fairly well translated because the story flowed well and the style was consistent throughout the novel.

If you’re looking for a slightly different fantasy with some great characters, pick up Blood of Elves.  I’m sure you’ll enjoy it as much as I did.

I give this book 5/5 stars.

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