The Crystalline Crucible by Adam Rowan; Witty and Satirical Treasure Hunt with A Quirky Cast of Seekers

 The Crystalline Crucible by Adam Rowan; Witty and Satirical Treasure Hunt with A Quirky Cast of Seekers

By Julie Sara Porter 

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: The Crystalline Crucible could be considered one of those treasure hunt adventures in the tradition of Cameron Jace’s Anne Anderson and Avanti Centrae’s Van Ops Series. Though instead of going for thrills, it goes for laughs. Instead of the prize being an ancient and valuable object or buried wisdom, it's a few minutes of Internet fame.

Max Jacobs is definitely an odd one. He is an amateur treasure hunter who belongs to various social media groups where members look for hidden prizes. Max’s latest hunt is for the Crystalline Crucible, a prize offered by a mysterious organization that is rumored to be the Illuminati. To help him, Max recruits two acquaintances: Rosie Shaw, his would be girlfriend and Khalil Ahmed, a coworker and rival.

Everything about this book is both odd and strangely adorable in its oddness. The treasure hunt itself has some intriguing clues that require knowledge and accessibility to various English locations. (It’s a good thing England is a somewhat small country so the Crucible hunt can be completed in such record time. One can only imagine how long the hunt would be if it was set in the United States.) Max and Co. find themselves in some pretty uproarious situations to achieve the clues. The book begins as Max breaks into a local museum to receive a clue, only to be arrested and  interrogated, and to later learn that the actual clue was on the museum’s website all along.

The hunt is made even stranger by the hunters themselves. The emphasis on most hunts is wealth and knowledge. There is some potential wealth that could help them. Max wants to provide funding so the local library won’t be shut down. Khalil wants to support his family and get some dangerous gangsters off his back. Rosie wants to travel the world and fulfill a lifelong dream by having her children’s book published. But equally important than the money that they hope to gain is the fame. If they find the Crystalline Crucible the trio will achieve the pinnacle of niche success: the achievement of looking cool among their army of social media treasure hunting nerds. You have to take the victories where you can find them. 

Naturally a strange hobby would feature strange people pursuing it and we are given some weird ones. Max is probably the strangest of the trio. He is obsessed with Medieval history, carries a sword, and speaks in faux Middle English. The treasure hunt gives him a chance to fill out his quixotic fantasies of being a hero on a noble quest. His obsession with certain things like trivia and the Miss Marple series add to his overall quirkiness.

His treasure seeking cohorts are quite colorful themselves. Rosis is a Math teacher and is called to lend her expertise when the clues become numerical and analytical. Rosie’s fascination with trivia is greater than Max’s own to the point that she is the founder and leader of a group called the Quizties who participate in trivia tournaments and she is just as obsessed with that as Max is with finding treasure. Her children’s book consumes her thoughts so much that she sometimes visualizes her friends as anthropomorphic animals. 

Khalil is somewhat of the normal one of the group but he also has his eccentricities. He is a photographer and first encounters Max during a nightly photo session of the local area. Partly because of his history with criminal activity and partly because of his suspicious personality, he is on the lookout for any sort of rivalry, competition, or troubling activity. Even something as innocuous as working in a co-op market causes him to sense conspiracy when he is forced to work with Max and then when Max recruits him to join the hunt. The subplot concerning Khalil’s involvement with gangsters gives a dark perspective to a book that did alright without it but it also emphasizes Khalil’s different status from the rest of his friends. They live in their fantasy world of medieval quests and anthropomorphic animals. He lives in a grittier, more realistic world of a crime thriller. He can’t hide in his imagination like they can. He has to face the violence especially when his friend’s lives are in danger. 

Much of the humor of the Crystalline Crucible lies in the meta commentary. This book knows what genre it is in and what tropes are at play and they acknowledge them even by adhering to and playing with them. When Max and Khalil agree to join forces, Max scoffs that this doesn’t mean that they will become friends bound together by their journey. Of course not even a few chapters later, they admit to becoming friends. When Max receives some disappointing news at the end, he lampshades the “it’s the journey not the destination” cliche right before he gains some enlightenment from his search to show him that yes it was the journey. The meta commentary is both parody in pointing out the tropes and respectful by paying them a touching tribute. 

The Crystalline Crucible is a fun delightful read in which Readers might find that treasure can be found in a good laugh just as well as in a  hidden bejeweled objet d’art.

Weekly Reader: Cryptic Spaces Book One: Foresight by Deen Ferrell; Captivating Science Fiction and Fantasy Combines Mathematics, Magic, and Time Travel to Make An Incredible Journey

 Weekly Reader: Cryptic Spaces Book One: Foresight by Deen Ferrell; Captivating Science Fiction and Fantasy Combines Mathematics, Magic, and Time Travel to Make An Incredible Journey 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews 

Spoilers: One could describe Deen Ferrell’s Foresight, the first book in the  Cryptic Spaces series, as the Thinking Person’s Fantasy Adventure. It is the kind of book that shows characters with supernatural gifts, but instead of citing them as magic or psychic abilities, they are more symptoms of an intellectual deep thinking mind. It is a captivating journey of the mind and spirit.

Willoughby Von Brahmer is an eccentric teen prodigy with some very unique gifts. He can see numbers and patterns all around him and because of that, he can recognize mathematical equations and solutions. He is obsessed with looking at what he calls “the spaces between,” those areas of emptiness between solid objects like alleys between buildings, the cracks on a cement or painted surface, or the space between leaves on a tree branch. These spaces seem to tell him something and make him feel like he is being observed. He is also responsible for solving the Riemann Hypothesis, a mathematical equation once thought unsolvable. 

Unfortunately, Willoughby is something of a social misfit. He has very few friends, does not always get along with his seemingly normal family, has questions about his missing father, and gets tongue tied around girls. Even a picture of renowned violinist Sydney Senoya makes him flush with embarrassment and nervousness. In fact, his only friend is Antonio, a talkative friendly barber who dispenses some brotherly advice to the kid genius. Willoughby is definitely someone who lives inside his own head more than anywhere else.

Willoughby soon comes to learn that inside his own head is not the safest place to be either because he is starting to see people appearing and disappearing through those in between spaces. Some are even watching him and want to harm him. He also sees certain numbers shine more than others like they are pointing him towards a code or a specific pattern.

He follows the number patterns and between spaces to the headquarters of Cryptic Spaces, a secret society that travels through time, and studies and solves mysteries and puzzles that have eluded experts for centuries. Willoughby is invited to join this group by its enigmatic leader, H.S.  The offer is tempting and before he knows it, Willoughby finds himself onboard a windjammer, The Absconditus, heading for the high seas with the other Cryptics. They include Antonio who is not just a barber but an architectural genius, Sydney, who has a hypnotic mesmerizing way of playing her violin and a gift for languages, Dr. James Arthur “Dr. J” Washington, the kindly physically fit medical doctor, Dr. Hugh O’Grady, a nervous expert on string theory, and T.K., the cabin girl assigned to watch this band of genius misfits. The Cryptics' latest assignment is to travel back to the 16th century and encounter the famed seer, Nostradamus but unfortunately they are not alone. They are being followed by another more sinister group that has been very interested in their doings since Willoughby joined them and are hot on the trail of the young math genius.

Cryptic Spaces is a book that activates the mind and imagination by fusing science and magic, reason and romance to make a perfect blend of Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Adventure. While mathematical concepts are explained in detail, they are done in a way that is not only understandable but poetic. There is something genuinely beautiful about the concept of someone seeing mathematical patterns that form in the air and realize how connected everything is by a specific design and structure. It's a visually appealing thought that makes Cryptic Spaces not only a good book to read but a beautiful work to imagine. When the characters discuss for example the Golden Mean, they reveal that they are able to capture the golden strings that it emits and travel along the streams through time.

Even if you aren't a Math person, you will still find this book to be a work of art and imagination.

There are plenty of awe inspiring moments spread throughout the book. How does H.S. convince Willoughby that he is on the level and the Cryptics really do time travel? Why show him a Jurassic era sea complete with plesiosaur of course. There are some interesting possibilities about the alleged prophecies of Nostradamus and how exactly he knew so much about the future, possibilities that had better be followed up on.

The way that characters travel through those in between spaces is an interesting concept. It's like that person that you barely see out of the corner of your eye and they quickly disappear. These abilities are impressive but could make one doubt their sanity. Of course it doesn't help that you're not paranoid. Those characters that pop in and out of your line of sight really are trying to recruit or kill you!

Foresight is the typical first book in the series where the core characters meet, get to know each other, show their special gifts, and ongoing conflicts are introduced that trail throughout the series. Romances bloom and friendships are made. The Cryptics are a fascinating bunch with diverse talents and peculiarities. Sometimes they make others suspicious. H.S.’s motives are particularly questionable and characters wonder more than once what his real goals and intentions are. There is also an attack and betrayal comes from a familiar face. Most of this is routine for a first book. But with a concept like this and a fascinating ensemble like the Cryptics, the formula works well.

Cryptic Spaces combines the reason of mathematics, the imagination of fantasy, the wonder of science fiction, and the thrill of adventure to make one of the best books of 2023.

Weekly Reader: Sailing by Orion's Star (The Constellation Trilogy Book 1) by Katie Crabb; Engaging Seagoing Adventure About Piracy and Slavery

 

Weekly Reader: Sailing by Orion's Star (The Constellation Trilogy Book 1) by Katie Crabb; Engaging Seagoing Adventure About Piracy and Slavery

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: What's better than reading the next volume of a great series? Reading the first volume of a new great series. Here we have one.

Sailing by Orion's Star is the first volume of Katie Crabb's Constellation Trilogy. It is a high seas adventure involving pirates, slavery, and makes some great commentary about racism, sexuality, and what it really means to stand against deplorable institutions and become a hero.

In 17th century Jamaica, Ajani Danso and Abeni escape from a slave and prison ship getting past a young seaman, Nicholas Jerome. They end up on a pirate ship, eventually becoming Captain and Quartermaster of their own ship. Meanwhile, Jerome was removed from his old position and has been hired by Captain Michel Delacroix, a kind captain who treats Jerome like a younger brother. Jerome bonds not only with Delacroix but also the Captain's son, Rene and Frantz, Rene's best friend. 

As Rene and Frantz mature, their friendship intensifies and they become at odds with Jerome's and Delacroix's inaction with and involvement in the slave trade. 

There are so many great things about this book. In the first outing, Crabb hits it out of the park. There are plenty of moments of great sword fighting and narrow escapes that would be at home in a Pirates of the Caribbean film. There's a great moment when Danso and Abeni, fresh in their pirate careers, help slaves escape from a ship and give the escaped slaves the option of returning to their countries of origin or becoming part of their crew. This adventure helps cement their reputations as the Robin Hood and Maid Marian of the High Seas. 

Danso and Abeni's story is fascinating especially in the heart wrenching chapters when they reunite with family members lost in the slave trade. There is no doubt that despite being pirates, they are the good guys. They are fighting against a horrible dehumanizing institution that though legal was far from moral or ethical. 

The other interesting aspect to this story is the relationship between Rene and Frantz. It's fascinating watching them grow as innocent children to teens questioning and outright rebelling against something that they know is not right.

Rene starts as a naive kid who admires his father and thinks that he could do no wrong. He loves traveling with him and learning sword fighting from Jerome. He loves to hear about sea stories, tales of monsters, sirens, and of course pirates. He collects the stories in a book, including those of Danso and Abeni, Robin Hood and Maid Marian, unaware that they are closer to his father and his crew than he thought.

Rene also hates his abusive maternal grandfather who is the Governor of Kingston. He thinks he owns everything and everybody and isn't above striking and beating his own grandson into submission. No wonder Rene prefers the seas to land. 

There is another reason that Rene prefers his life on the seas: so he can be with Frantz. Compared to Rene's wealthy family with a French naval captain and his English wealthy wife, proper by 17th century standards, Frantz's family is very unconventional. He is the biracial son of Delacroix's first mate and best friend, Lt. Seymour and Chantal Mensah, a black woman from the Gold Coast. 

Unlike the Delacroixs who have to act like the correct couple even when they are at odds, Seymour and Chantal are really loyal and in love with each other but laws prevent them from being together. It's a truly heartbreaking cruel moment when Seymour and Chantal are separated forever but it intensifies Frantz and Rene's friendship as Rene tries to be the substitute family that Frantz needs. 

 The governor seeks a few times to personally attack or sell Frantz because of who he is. Delacroix turns a blind eye and Astra, his wife, only lets her real thoughts known in secret. Rene and Frantz are more upfront and are argumentative against Frantz's and the other slave's mistreatment. If the old song is right that children must be taught carefully to hate, Rene and Frantz are taught carefully to love. And love they do.

In fact, as the two boys become teenagers, their friendship evolves into romance. They become a duo who would do anything to stay together. Their convictions against slavery cause them to see the people around them, especially Delacroix and Jerome, as participants in dehumanizing people around them. They want to escape and fight against slavery even if it means leaving everyone that they know behind and facing the unknown of the seas, perhaps towards a very famous crew of pirates.

The other interesting thing that Crabb does is shows how slavery dehumanizes everyone, those that are captive and those that are doing the catching and transporting. If the pirates are the good guys, then the navy and officials are the bad.

This is embodied in Delacroix and Jerome. Delacroix is at first portrayed as a loving father to his crew and to his son. He never exhibits corporal punishment towards anybody and while nonchalant about the slave trade absolutely will not transport them. His friendship, and at one time more, with Seymour keeps him grounded and steady, giving him something of a backbone. Astra also has a higher moral compass than her husband's. Even though she can't say what she feels aloud, she is able to help escaped slaves covertly. They and Rene's admiration keep Delacroix's darker feelings in check for a while.

Unfortunately, Delacroix loses those good influences one by one either by other's actions or his own. At first he is inattentive and ambivalent to slavery, not personally liking it but accepting it in the background. Then he compromises his morals under duress and threats of removal of power. He kowtows to the institution and participates in transporting slaves. This is an anguished moment when Rene no longer sees the hero that he once idolized but a weakling who would rather capitulate than fight against something that he knows is wrong.

Jerome is another character who changes for the worse. He is the first pov character in the book and is portrayed sympathetically during Danso and Abeni's escape. He is a minor sailor in over his head and has a family history of his own that he doesn't want to admit. He is half-Romany on his mother's side. That lineage could enslave or imprison him so he keeps it a secret. (One of the few redeeming moments that Delacroix has later in the book involves Jerome letting his guard down enough to tell the captain about his family and Delacroix still understands and accepts him). 

Jerome starts creating a surrogate family with Delacroix as his father and Rene as his brother. He enjoys the sword fighting lessons as much as Rene does and clearly sees Delacroix as the standard of someone he wants to be like. However, he too is caught between the standards of the day and his own morals. His reactions towards the slaves' mistreatment amounts to being glad that he doesn't have to go through it so he maintains silence.

Jerome also hates pirates because he sees them as irredeemable criminals regardless of their motives and also because he knows that he helped create Danso and Abeni's legend. His black and white views of piracy and slavery and adoration of the captain motivate him to turn his conscience off. He goes from being naive to a cold navy man who accepts commands no matter how harsh and violent they are. He becomes someone who left his conscience at the door and is the archetypal soldier, or sailor in this case, who is "just following orders." His descent into villainy is felt in the final pages as he actively rejects the good man he once was to become the hateful villain that he is becoming.

Sailing by Orion's Star is a great start to a tremendous series. If the second volume is like the first, there is some rough waters ahead for the characters, but the Reader will find some smooth sailing.

 

Weekly Reader: The Fairy Tale Plague (Anne Anderson Book 2) by Cameron Jace; Prequel and Sequel of Fairy Tales Search is Exciting but Uneven

 

Weekly Reader: The Fairy Tale Plague (Anne Anderson Book 2) by Cameron Jace; Prequel and Sequel of Fairy Tales Search is Exciting but Uneven

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: It hurts me to say this because Cameron Jace's The Fairy Tale Code was one of my favorite books last year. It also hurts because I just read two other books that were the second volumes in their series, series that I also loved, but their second volumes were as good as or better than the first ones.

The Fairy Tale Plague, the second book in Jace's Anne Anderson series is good. It has some great moments of suspense and is another great hunt for historical truth that leads to bigger consequences for the entire world. However, it's an uneven volume because it combined two separate adventures, making it a prequel and a sequel. The results are two parts that are fine on their own but are needlessly crammed together.

In The Fairy Tale Code, Folklorist Professor Anne Anderson and DCI David Tale uncover a mystery of a dead woman hanging on a cross. The dead body leads the two down the Fairy Tale Road, a series of locations in Germany that were the real life locations of the sources behind fairy tales. They are followed by a creepy character called The Advocate, who would kill to keep his grip on the world, and The Ovitz Sisters, an eccentric family that are connected to the fairy tale world. 

David and Anne uncover the truth that these tales were dark brutal histories disguised as folklore that were gathered and collected by a secret group called the Sisterhood (which the Ovitzs are members of), and not the Brothers Grimm. Their discoveries open the truths about many fairy tale characters, such as Snow White and the Evil Queen who were actually Queen Mary Tudor of England and a young woman whom Mary killed after she caught the interest of her husband, Prince Phillip of Spain.

In the Fairy Tale Plague, the resolutions of the previous volume have become big news. Many now see fairy tales, the Brothers Grimm, and the British Royal Family in different lights. David and Anne have become instant celebrities. However, the Advocate has a story of his own to tell. The story leads us to the prequel portion of the novel.

Three years before Anne wandered down the Fairy Tale Road, she was hired by the wealthy Max Bauer to oversee the digital tour of the Brothers Grimm house in the town of Kassell, Germany. On her way to the Grimm House, she receives a call from a mysterious woman who informs her that she will discover a secret at the House. Her assignment coincides with the abduction of a young girl named Mary Miller. The secret has not only to do with Mary's abduction but centuries of crimes caused by the family of Wilhelm Grimm's wife, Gretchen Wild, crimes that still continue and are being covered up by the people in charge. 

Mary's abduction, the unsolved cases of the past, and the themes of powerful families controlling everything around them, including history and folklore are echoed in the sequel portion of the book which begins halfway through the novel. 

Anne is connected online to the rest of the Sisterhood, then watches in horror as they are murdered around the world one by one. She then has to save the London based Sister before she is assassinated too.

Meanwhile, David and his partner, Harriet are called to investigate the death of the Prince of Wales. No his name's not William. It's Julian. (Though he is the son of the recently crowned king so that makes things interesting). It turns out the deaths of the Prince, the Sisters, and Mary's abduction in the prequel are tied to the existence of a very powerful network of families and a fairy tale that could foretell the end of mankind, a tale called The Last Fairy Tale.

It's not that the prequel and sequel are bad. Individually, they are very good very involved stories that captivate the Reader's interest. 

The prequel has some great intense moments where the kidnapper taunts Anne and others through emails revealing that they not only know exactly where Anne is but what she is doing at any given time. 

It also becomes eerie as the kidnapper provides Anne with a series of clues and riddles to Mary's whereabouts. As Anne solves them, other clues pop up on the Grimm House virtual tour so she is definitely being monitored by a highly intelligent and ruthless individual.

Even the resolution is brilliant as it reveals another tie to the fairy tale world that Anne is so enamored with and shows that unlike fairy tales, in reality, good does not always win and evil does not always get punished.

The sequel portion is just as nail biting. David has a personal tie to what happened to Prince Julian and as Anne did in Fairy Tale Code, he is able to use own expertise on the life and works of Charles Darwin to provide answers. There also is a fascinating link between Darwin and the Brothers Grimm which may not have existed in reality but gives an intriguing backstory to the series which combines the magic of folklore with the process of scientific theory. 

Anne's part in the story involves protecting the remaining Sisterhood with some old friends. That means the Ovitz Sisters, my favorite characters from the first book, are back and are more active in helping Anne and their fellow Sisters. Now that Anne and the Ovitzs have found each other and accepted each other as family, they have no intention of letting their remaining family members go. 

Speaking of families, we once again get some hints about Anne and David's troubled backgrounds. In the prequel, Anne succumbs to blackouts when thinking of her missing sister, Rachel. One of her enemies uses that PTSD to their advantage by accusing her of killing her sister and others. While in the Fairy Tale Code, the Reader knows that isn't true, it still puts Anne in a very vulnerable position.

However, in the sequel portion, David gets more attention than Anne and we learn more about his family such as his Darwin obsessed mother and physically deformed sister, Abigail. Many of the things that were hinted at in The Fairy Tale Code about David are outright said here and they show the full picture of who this detective really is. Just like Anne was shaped by her life with Rachel to love and study fairy tales, David was shaped by his life with Abigail to protect others by bringing criminals to justice.

There are a few big reveals and twists in the Fairy Tale Plague that are at first confusing but upon rereading the first volume check, are brilliantly foreshadowed, and work seamlessly into both books. They are surprise twists that are well executed.

There is a lot to recommend in this volume of the series but its pacing is uneven because of the prequel and sequel being part of one book. The prequel doesn't get as much time to develop its story before it's resolved. The sequel ends just as the characters learn some answers as though this adventure is just getting warmed up before its final chapter. It would have been better for Jace to release the prequel in novella form and add extra chapters to the sequel, thereby making them separate volumes rather than one.

Because of this unevenness, The Fairy Tale Plague is nowhere near as good as its predecessor but as an adventurous look into the history of fairy tales, there is still plenty to recommend. 

New Book Alert: The Fairy Tale Code (Anne Anderson Book 1) by Cameron Jace; Intricate Murder Mystery/Treasure Hunt Adventure Brings The Truth Behind The Fairy Tale

 

New Book Alert: The Fairy Tale Code (Anne Anderson Book 1) by Cameron Jace; Intricate Murder Mystery/Scavenger Hunt Adventure Brings The Truth Behind The Fairy Tale

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: I have a soft spot for books and movies that involve treasure and scavenger hunts that provide answers towards history and legends' greatest mysteries. Stuff like The Da Vinci Code, National Treasure, The Indiana Jones movies, Avanti Centrae's Van Ops Series. Plus, I love History Channel documentary series like The Unxplained, History's Greatest Mysteries, and the various series on the Travel Channel hosted by Don Wildman. 

Whether you believe the claims in them, the quests are suspenseful and intricate especially with how the clues and codes are joined together. Questions are asked, theories imposed, and fascinating things even some potential answers are discovered. They make you look at things differently and see that often times there is more behind what we learn and read. At the very least, the claims are fun to speculate upon.

Adding to this subgenre is Cameron Jace's The Fairy Tale Code, the first in his Anne Anderson series. This one takes that type of high adventure and mystery into the world of fairy tales, particularly those gathered by Jacob and Wilhelm Grimm.

Folklorist Anne Anderson is called to appraise a copy of the presumed first edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales. Realizing that the book is a fake (and threatened not to reveal it), Anne is then called to solve a bigger mystery. DCI David Tale and his team investigate a woman's body hung on a cross in Lady Chapel Westminster Abbey. There are a few clues pointing to a potential connection to fairy tales as well as a coded message to locate Anne. 

No, Anne doesn't know why there is a message singling her out nor does she know who the woman is. However, the clues lead to a trail in Germany known as the Fairy Tale Road, the real life locations of the inspirations to many famous fairy tales. This clue sends David and Anne on the run to solve the clues and find out the mystery. 

In the meantime, they are being stalked by various strange characters: Tom Jon Gray, who operates on behalf of the British Royal Family, Jacqueline de Rais and Franz Xaver who are trying to preserve their family's names and legacies, Lt. Wolfe, an intense and violent cop from Germany, Bloody Mary Harper, David's sadistic former colleague who has a vicious streak, The Advocate, a mysterious creepy character who pulls everyone's strings, and (my personal favorite characters) The Ovitzs, a family of seven sisters, most of them little people, who either are trying to harm or help Anne and certainly have their own strange secrets and rituals.

I love how intricate the creation and execution of the quest is where each clue leads to a specific location and gives a little more about the history of the participants and their involvement in fairy tales. For example, a picture on a laptop of the WWII-era Ovitz Sisters, aka The Seven Dwarves, reveal that the Ovitz involvement in the fairy tale world goes very deep. Also, the location of the shot is Polle, the site of the real story behind Cinderella. It must have been quite an impressive feat for Jace to create the clues and codes that lead to each solution and each place along the Fairy Tale Road. 

The book also gives some interesting perspectives about the origins of fairy tales that make sense, that herald interesting possibilities. The majority of these stories featured women as protagonists and antagonists, so it would make sense for the stories to be told and gathered by women. This book proposes that a group called The Sisterhood (of which the Ovitzs are members) had and still have a close connection to the Grimm Brothers and the original tales. 

It is also no secret that the original stories are much darker and (pun not intended) grimmer than we are used to. They contained rape, incest, cannibalism, destructive black magic, and homicide in its various forms. They were horror stories that slowly evolved into moralistic stories with potentially dark elements but ultimately happy ever afters. The Fairy Tale Code provides interesting theories about the real meanings behind the stories, why they were so dark, and what compelled the gatherers like the Brothers Grimm and France's Charles Perrault to change and edit them.

Again, whether it is necessarily true in the real world or not, the theories posed in this book are impressive and offer unique perspectives.

Any good mystery adventure makes the main mystery a personal struggle for the characters and The Fairy Tale Code is no exception. Both Anne and David bear personal angst that they hope this mystery will bring solutions towards. Anne was very close to her older sister, Rachel, who introduced her to the world of fairy tales. (They even called each other "Snow White"-Rachel and "Rose Red-"Anne after one of theirs, and my, favorite story.) Unfortunately, something happened that led to an estrangement and Rachel is hard to get in touch with. Plus Anne describes her sister in vague terms implying that she might have a serious mental disorder.

David meanwhile still grieves for his mother who died in a gruesome way when he was still a child. He also speaks about a sister who is missing. A common thread in fairy tales is a sibling looking for another one. Anne and David hope that maybe the solution to this mystery will lead to the answers to their own quests.

 

My favorite characters, The Ovitz Sisters, also have their own struggles with family and its meaning, even as they are involved in this mystery. They are part of The Sisterhood and operate under the behest of a shadowy figure called The Queen who doesn't mind that her subordinates use violence. Many of the sisters follow The Queen's orders without question. Another sister  Lily, questions the orders and whether she is fit to be a sister in every sense of the word, both theirs and in The Sisterhood. She debates what sisterhood means if it conflicts with the personal individual thought.

With its adventurous suspenseful plot, fascinating characters, and strong themes of feminism, family, and the history behind the legend, The Fairy Tale Code isn't just a great book. It's one of my favorite books of 2022. 

Weekly Reader: The Doomsday Medallion (A Van Ops Thriller) by Avanti Centrae; Van Ops Takes On Nostradamus In Another Thrilling Adventure

 

Weekly Reader: The Doomsday Medallion (A Van Ops Thriller) by Avanti Centrae; Van Ops Takes On Nostradamus In Another Thrilling Adventure

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: If you are as fascinated as I am with Michel de Nostradamus and his famous prophecies then you should enjoy Avanti Centrae's third Van Ops Thriller, The Doomsday Medallion. Even if you are not and just enjoy a good adventurous treasure hunt sprinkled with plenty of suspense and character development then you still should read The Doomsday Medallion.

Centrae's third go round follows the same pattern as the previous volumes The Lost Power and Solstice Shadows in that it involved three Van Ops agents: Maddy Marshall, a psychic and Aikido instructor, Will Argones, Maddy's twin brother an engineer and expert knife fighter, and Bear Thorenson, Will's friend and Maddy's boyfriend, a seasoned agent with an interest in the humanities particularly history, art, and literature.

In the first volume, The Lost Power,  the trio found themselves searching for the Aragon Chasse while on the run from Russian assassins who killed their father and Will's wife. The second volume, Solstice Shadows, found them recovering a stolen star chart that would lead to a great power while encountering treacherous relatives and a looming war.

This time the trio's adventures take them right on the path of Avril, a 16 year old social media sensation who has impressed and frightened many with her spot on predictions. Her latest one involves a military takeover in the South China Sea. This accurate foretelling makes her the target of some suspicious characters who attempt to kidnap Avril and her guardian, Monique. Will, Maddy, and Bear are assigned to watch over the girl who is more powerful and more important than your average psychic. She is a direct descendant of Nostradamus and possesses knowledge on where some of the famed seer's missing quatrains are and what they foretell.

The book doesn't jump around as much as the previous books. Mostly Doomsday Medallion is set in France and Italy. While the settings don't give the Readers their "Imagination Frequent Flier Miles" that the previous books do, French and Italian art and history are explored more frequently. Key scenes are set near cave paintings and Renaissance art to reveal that strong connection to the past.

The adventure sequences are as exciting as those that can be found in many blockbuster films. There are some pretty tense moments such as when the twins infiltrate a kidnapping attempt on Avril. Many times  they are followed by enemies that want to make short work of them. Centrae makes her books extended chase scenes and leaves the Reader with breathless anticipation with every close call that her characters get.

While the adventure is tight, Centrae never loses sight of characterization. In The Lost Power both Maddy and Will share the spotlight. In Solstice Shadows, Maddy gets more attention while this one evens the score by having Will be the main focus. While the twins live active lives full of adventure, Maddy has been able to form a family with Bear and her adopted son, A.J. Will has not been so lucky.

He still feels the loss of what might have been after his wife, Maria's death. Here he feels a paternal protective connection with Avril wanting to be the father figure in her life that fate so far has deprived him. Their chapters together are sweet and humorous with the world weary adult and the bright sassy kid arguing with and supporting each other through this adventure.

In fact Avril herself is also a very well written character who easily stands out in this book. She is gifted with this phenomenal inherited power that she doesn't fully understand but still wants to share in her own right.

Like her famous ancestor, she is uncertain and vague about what she sees and shares her information with others for them to interpret. With Nostradamus it was through writing poetic quatrains. With Avril it's creating TikTok videos. Whatever reaches the masses, am I rite?

 However, Avril is also a regular kid who loves her pet gecko, worries about her guardians, sasses authority figures, and makes social media her second home. It would be interesting if the series continues to see her equally involved in future adventures. The ending resolutions seem to foretell this.

The Doomsday Medallion is another great Van Ops adventure. I predict Book Four will be just as good.

New Book Alert: Ela Green and The Kingdom of Abud by Sylvia Greif; Slow Start To YA Fantasy But Magical Kingdom Shines And Leaves Readers Wanting More

 

New Book Alert: Ela Green and The Kingdom of Abud by Sylvia Greif; Slow Start To YA Fantasy But Magical Kingdom Shines And Leaves Readers Wanting More

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Could this year's frequent theme/genre be YA Fantasy? Maybe, between Bekah Harris's The Thorn Princess and now Sylvia Greif has Ela Green and The Kingdom of Abud, it's entirely possible. They are similar in many ways. Both deal with high school age boarding school girls who come upon unique powers that are revealed by older relatives. Both take trips into beautiful magical lands that are feasts for the eyes to read and the mind to imagine. Both no sooner have their young protagonists get their feet wet in the new worlds than the books end on a cliffhanger to prepare the Reader for Part Two.

What is different about the two worlds is tone and inspiration. The Thorn Princess is a modern fairy tale that takes its roots from Celtic and Teutonic fairy lore. Ela Green's source is more reminiscent of 19th century Adventure novels. While magic is a central feature of Ela Green, the focus seems to be more on exploring this new landscape and investigating it for magical treasure than learning about the monarchy and political structure and ruling over it. Ivy Hawthorne, The Thorn Princess, is a part of her magical landscape, ultimately the heart of it. Ela Green is just visiting for now but also has a huge part to play in this alternate world and maybe the physical world as well.

The book begins in media res on the night of the full moon when Eleanor "Ela" Green is enchanted by a bracelet that she found. She recites the words of a spell on a scroll included with the bracelet. She suddenly finds herself no longer in her boarding school room but instead in a mysterious forest and standing face to uh, bark with a giant evergreen that reaches the sky. 

Most of the book takes place before and after this strange trip. Before Ela was an over imaginative girl arguing with her mother, becoming the bane of the existence of the headmistress, and bonding with her Uncle Archie whose adventurous and imaginative spirit rivals hers. Then she finds the bracelet and travels to the Enchanted Kingdom of Abud where the giant tree, Yggdrasill tells her that because of her "magical miraculousheart" she might be the Unikone. As the Unikone, she must find The Book of Names. Meanwhile, her Uncle Archie has a family tie to this weirdness and there is the scheming Count Sigismund who just bought Ela's school and also has his sights set on her bracelet and its power.

The book is clearly the start of the series and because of that, it only takes two trips into Abud, one where Ela goes alone and then a subsequent one that she takes with Archie once everything is explained. That's rather unfortunate because the book cuts off right when it's getting good. I know I know cliffhangers, Authors want to leave the Reader hanging. But Abud is such a beautiful setting that it is a shame to not read more of it.

There are wonderful little touches like talking trees that hang upside down and crystals that change color and play musical notes as a visitor steps on them. Of course there are portions of the landscape that will defend itself from the selfish, greedy, and sometimes overly curious, which is why it's very important that it is able to share an empathetic connection with Ela and sees her good heart. She is able to be welcome when others with harmful intentions would not. 

These chapters set in Abud are the highlight of the book as they make the Reader want to see more of this world and the unique characters that inhabit it. The Abud portions should definitely be longer.

It's not that the rest of the book is bad, it just takes a long time to really get invested in the Abud setting before the book abruptly cuts off. 

There is a long expository section where Archie explains the family's link to this magical kingdom. It's an interesting story and it captures how avarice and greed can destroy one's soul and make one lose sight of their real purpose.

It definitely takes its cue from old Adventure novels like the works of Jules Verne, H. Rider Haggard, and Robert Louis Stevenson where there is treasure to be found and a strange land to explore it. The backstory also reveals what's in the heart of the explorers and what compels them to go on this journey, both in the past and present.

It also shows why Abud waited so long for the Unikone to arrive and why many were found wanting. The journey is a test and when the visitors reveal their selfishness and avarice, the way is closed to them.

 I'm also glad that the back story is in the first volume instead of potentially inserted into later books and interrupts the flow of action once Ela and Archie are in Abud. It's always good to get exposition out of the way. However, the build up to Abud itself with this exposition only makes the Reader want to see more of it. It's not asking too much to include a couple more chapters to explore this landscape that has had such a build up.

There are some issues with the pacing of this book as well. An important character is introduced as a potential antagonist only to reach a very anticlimactic ending. Also other characters' motives are somewhat unclear but I suppose need more time for them to be revealed. 

Ela seems like a decent enough protagonist, kind to all living things with just a bit of a sardonic bite so she can stand up for herself. At times, she can be a bit flat in characterization but that could be attributed to this being her first adventure. We may get more nuances to her character in subsequent volumes. 

Archie seems to be an alright character, adventurous, intelligent, understanding towards Ela which her mother is not. There are a couple of times where this Reader wonders if his journeys to Abud are just to protect Ela or to fill some greedy or curious desire himself. Again it will be interesting to see how his character develops in multiple volumes.

Because of the extended build up, Ela Green and The Kingdom of Abud has a very slow start. Once it reaches Abud, it is truly enchanting and leaves the Reader breathless with its description and in fervent anticipation.

Weekly Reader: Victorian Adventure Stories by Jon Stephen Jones; Nostalgic Adventurous Fun Set In The Victorian Era

 

Weekly Reader: Victorian Adventure Stories by Jon Stephen Jones; Nostalgic Adventurous Fun Set In The Victorian Era

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Question: Are you a fan of the old 19th century Adventure Novels written by Jules Verne, Robert Louis Stevenson, and H.G. Wells? Do you like the mysteries featuring characters like Sherlock Holmes, A.J. Raffles, Arsene Lupin, and Fantomas? Do you dream in Steampunk? Does your preferred style of reading end in the 20th century before Realism and psychological motivation became the thing? Do you read just to embrace a good adventurous escape? Then look no further than Jon Stephen Jones' Victorian Adventure Stories. 

This anthology is exactly what it says on the tin and in some ways that's what makes it good. The stories are predictable, but exciting. They are entertaining and fun. When a Reader is under stress sometimes it's good to kick back with an old fashioned adventure yarn and Jones provides that.

The best stories are:

"Henchman"

Most of the stories stand on their own but there are some plots that carry over into multiple stories. "Henchman" is the first of three stories that feature The Medics, a ruthless gang that rules London's Underworld and are headed by the mysterious Dreaded Doctor, an unidentified figure who has had some medical training which they put to good use when taking apart an enemy or a stool pigeon (and might be that other frightening unidentified Victorian medico, Jack the Ripper.).

The trouble starts when John Felmersham, a Medic operative, has decided that he has had enough of gang life and wants to resign. Unfortunately, the Medics don't exactly take rejection well. As John struggles to escape from his former employers, they use various intimidation tactics such as death threats on windows and stalkers following him from train station to train station.

The story has its share of tension since John never knows who is in the Medics, so much of the suspense lies in the fact that anyone that he meets could be a potential threat. One of the more interesting twists is the revelation of the Dreaded Doctor's true identity. While in the context of the story, the twist is obvious, the implications and back story behind this character and how they became the Dreaded Doctor are rather fascinating to imagine. The Dreaded Doctor takes an older story and gives it a more modern outlook.

"A Hebridean Adventure"

If "Henchman" is a tribute to the crime stories for Arthur Conan Doyle, then this story is a tribute to Doyle's other well known work, The Lost World with a lot of Jules Verne thrown in. It is also the other plot that carries over into multiple stories in this anthology.

Professor James Bedford accompanies his colleague, Giles, and several others to a mysterious island near the Outer Hebrides.  Of course the island is filled with prehistoric creatures that scare the daylights out of our plucky scientists and adventurers.

"A Hebridean Adventure" is one of the definite tributes to the old adventure novels in writing style and characterization. The band of scientists are the typical characters that would be found in such an adventure of the time period. There is the cynical first person narrator, the enthusiastic science expert who cares more about exploration than the cost of human life, the assistants that provide their expertise to the expedition, and the working class muscle. We even have the bratty kid whose involvement causes more harm than good (and in this case whose actions carry over into another story, "The Great Exhibit." I told you the Outer Hebrides Island carries over into other stories.) Characterization takes a back side to action and adventure just like in the real life books and stories of the era.

In fact the only real modern touch in this story is that the dinosaurs have feathers, keeping with modern paleontological research that has shown that dinosaurs may have had them as potential evidence of their subsequent evolution into birds. 

The reason that this one is one of my favorites is because it is such a pastiche of the writing of the era, that it could have been written then. While "Henchman" takes centuries old ideas and gives them unique modern twists, "A Hebridean Adventure" is firmly stuck in the past and that is part of the antiquated fun.

 

"The Magic Circle"

You know the fairy stories where some poor mortal gets invited to share a drink or a dance with the Fair Folk only to return from the party to find that centuries have passed? "The Magic Circle" takes these old fairy legends and transports them to the Victorian Era. Geoffrey and Edward, two drunken Victorian gents, take a spooky ride on the London Underground. No one else is on the train nor is anyone driving. Things get weirder when they encounter a very short man who politely offers them a drink.

Jones clearly has a lot of fun visualizing a fairy land that has gone Industrial like its human counterparts. The legendary creatures have their own station in which they dub the "real London Underground," a station where they lure unwary travelers. The drinks are now offered in pubs and stands rather than in a court setting. The Little Man that speaks to Geoffrey and Edward could be mistaken for the average London train goer of the day. It's an interesting twist when most fantasies write Faeries as still living in an agrarian Medieval in appearance society, that some author modernize them.. Jones writes the magical creatures as capable of modernizing their culture and using human's styles and inventions against them. 

The other interesting aspect to this story is that it's a tribute to the London Underground System and was meant to correspond with the 150th anniversary. Jones reveals how much the system has changed over the centuries and how it's still a part of London daily life.

"The Box"

Let's see we have criminal gangs, dinosaurs, and fairies. Why not a story that pays tribute to the con artist and Gentleman Thief, that charming lying conniving bane of law enforcement's existence as popularized by characters such as Maurice Leblanc's Arsene Lupin and E.W. Hornung's A.J. Raffles (the latter of whom was created by none other than Doyle's brother in law)? "The Box" is a clever game of one-upship as the various characters seek to outdo and outsmart each other.

Gordon is upset because his box containing a precious treasure is missing. He recruits various people including Bill, the station attendant, Arthur, a gentleman, and Marcus and Wayne, a pair of rough Cockney men go on the search for the box. Each one hopes to hoard the treasure for himself or at least for a financial reward.

The story is brilliant as the characters attempt to outdo each other and find the box. Bill and Co's seemingly altruistic desire to help Gordon is definitely put aside for financial gain. 

However the thieves are themselves outsmarted when Gordon reveals himself to be much smarter and more cunning than they are. Two plot twists come into play revealing a clear winner in this battle of wits.

"Next of Kin"

Who doesn't love a good ghost story? The Victorians certainly did as evidenced by works like A Christmas Carol, The Woman in White, and many short stories such as the ones that I reviewed in the anthology Women's Weird.

Terrence storms into the home of his friend, John terrified. He has been haunted by a poltergeist. Concerned for his friend's health and sanity, John goes to Terrence's house to confront the ghost. An apparition threatens to frighten Terrence to death.

John tries various means to get rid of the ghost from engaging in friendly conversation, finding out why it's still on Earth, to physically fighting him. As a last resort, John has to call in a relief player: another ghost with a familiar tie to the duo.

The resolution is sweet compared to the creepy actions previously that shows that even death can't stop true friendship and loyalty.

"To Stay or Not To Tay"

This story mixes fact with fiction by using a real life tragedy as a backdrop for the fictional happenings. The Tay Bridge Disaster happened on December 28, 1879 during a violent storm. The first Tay Rail Bridge collapsed as a train passed over it, killing all aboard.

This disaster is graphically described as a married couple take a fateful ride on the train to flee for their lives.

"To Stay or Not To Tay" calls back in many ways to the first story, "Henchman." Once again we find someone escaping via train from the dastardly Medics and their leader, the Dreaded Doctor. (Unfortunately, even though we now know the identity of the Doc, they don't make a personal appearance in this story and are only name dropped a couple of times. It's rather disappointing since in the first story, the Doctor made a very effective and brilliant antagonist.) 

This time married couple, Lionel and Anne Spadwick are the unfortunate targets for an umm unscheduled surgery after Lionel steals from the gang.

While the story is similar to "Henchman" in the increased paranoia that they are being followed, the biggest issues aren't from the Medics themselves but from the elements and faulty construction. This story shows that no matter how people act, there will always be events that are completely out of their control. Sometimes, Fate doesn't care what you have done or are planning to do when it has other ideas.

Despite the gravitas of Jones' writing in depicting the disaster and the enormous loss of life, there is a clever line that actually draws on some of the other stories suggesting that all of the stories in the anthology are tied together.

Sometimes you want a book that is deep in thought and analysis. Sometimes you want a book that is pure escapist adventure. Victorian Adventure Stories is the latter and that's what makes it fun.