New Book Alert: Asparagus Grass by Adrian Deans; Surreal Satirical Science Fiction Reveals The Aliens Behind Earth's Scenes

 New Book Alert: Asparagus Grass by Adrian Deans; Surreal Satirical Science Fiction Reveals The Aliens Behind Earth's Scenes

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Since Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Science Fiction has shown us that if an alien invasion is ever upon us, then we should look for some unassuming idiot because apparently that idiot is the galaxy's pick for the one who will save us all.

The Idiot Du Jour in Adrian Deans' Asparagus Grass is Mitch Kuiper, a gardening assistant in New South Wales' parks department. Besides cleaning up the grounds, his daily activities usually consist of trying to stay out of his super Garrett's bad side, avoiding suck ups like Timmy O'Toole, drinking with his best mate, Cam, and sleeping with any woman who looks his way. The sleeping with is what gets him intergalactic interest because he slept with Martina Vader AKA Marty Mindshadow. Marty works in the office of the parks department and is considered drop dead gorgeous but strange. 

It is only after they are together does Mitch realize how strange Marty actually is. She takes him in a mini shuttle, called a shell, and takes him to a space station  to tell him the truth. She is part of the Aelur, an alien race that lived on the Earth for thousands of years. However, another race, the Xyk, took over Earth by using their own greed, ambition, and dominant nature. Because of this, the Aelur plan to destroy Earth. Mitch manages to get a negotiation that if the current head Xyk is taken out then Earth will be spared. Marty and the other Aelur agree except now Mitch has seven days before the planet goes boom boom bye bye.

Asparagus Grass is one of those novels that will describe the potential end of the world but does so in a satiric or farcical light to keep things humorous. Part of the humor is in its lead character. Mitch is the last guy anyone expects to be a savior of anything, which Marty insists means he's perfect. The Aelur are a race that believes in equality so much that no one strives for leadership positions. They consider that a Xyk trait. Mitch definitely is not leadership material. In fact, he only attends a leadership seminar because his boss, Garrett, cajoles him into it.

 Most of Mitch's actions consist of either making dumb decisions or getting out of them through chance and luck.

In one chapter, he decides that Marty's news is so grave and could put him in danger, that it would be best not to tell anyone. In the very next paragraph, what does he do? Tell Cam after a few drinks. He also foolishly sleeps with another woman, Lisa, and continues to talk to her even after he learns, oops, she's a Xyk.

He's supposed to be a hero. No one ever said that he was smart.

Marty is also a fascinating character. At first, she appears to be a vapid and spacy airhead, or possibly has ADHD, but when she reveals her truth, she is a lot smarter than many give her credit for. She becomes a source of wisdom for the information that is going on but she also lives a hedonistic lifestyle free of Earth restraints. She boasts of many lovers and doesn't care if Mitch has any (though certainly gives him an "I told you so" about Lisa). In fact, she says that because she spent so much time on Earth with hedonists, she developed her vague "Mindshadow" persona. 

Asparagus Grass has some fun with conspiracy theories by making the Xyk members of a secret organization that of course plan on taking over the world. Of course, they happen to be meeting right when the infamous Bilderberg group is also meeting, leaving Our Heroes to infiltrate a protest group against them. They have to find out which Bilderbergers and protestors are really Xyk and where the ones who are Xyk are having an even more secret meeting. The plot points and twists are enough to give one a headache.

Despite that the book is mostly played with laughs, there are some genuine moments of suspense. The fact that the Xyk could be anyone that they know definitely carries a lot of paranoia within the characters, not to mention that a character who was once very friendly is now ready to kill them because their Xyk Overlords insist on it.

There are also some moments of genuine warmth between Mitch, Marty, and the friends they make on their journey. It isn't just one laugh per page. There is time for plenty of other emotions.

Asparagus Grass is one of those books that describes a potential end of the world but does so with plenty of humor so the Reader doesn't mind.

Weekly Reader: Flint of Dreams by Charles Peterson Sheppard; Involved Thriller and Dark Fantasy About Harnessing One's Own Power

 

Weekly Reader: Flint of Dreams by Charles Peterson Sheppard; Involved Thriller and Dark Fantasy About Harnessing One's Own Power

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Lucid dreaming is the ability to control one's dreams by knowing that the sleeper is dreaming. Remote viewing is seeking impressions about distant or unseen subjects with the mind. 

These are powers that are investigated in Flint of Dreams, Charles Peterson Sheppard's deeply thought and tightly woven thriller and dark fantasy about a young man who is the subject of intense scrutiny because he possesses these abilities.

Asa "Flint" Spencer, the young man with said abilities, is a Seneca Iroquois who spent a lot of time in trouble with the law. He was once part of a gang of car thieves and now is trying to live a somewhat decent law abiding life with friends and a white girlfriend whose bigoted mother does not approve of him. Unfortunately, his felonious past isn't as far behind him as he was hoping. Crystine Nagata, a college student, is raped and her assailants are dead. The police arrest Flint for the crimes. Meanwhile, a local counselor and government agents are interested in Flint's abilities and there is also a gangster who has some unique powers of his own and harbors no qualms about using them to his advantage.

Flint of Dreams puts a fantastic situation in a realistic setting and shows how people react when they are faced with it, reflecting the way many would behave in real life. Some want to study it. Others want to profit off of it and use it to their advantage. Others would fear it and think that it brings evil. Those who have it may embrace it as a sign that they are meant to do great things while others want to run from it because it gets in the way of living a normal life. 

Flint is the type who would rather run. Many of his lucid dreams involve himself in the woods or near a lake with some mysterious characters, including a beautiful seemingly ageless woman and plenty of waterfowl. He gets images of things that happen even when he isn't there to witness it. He rejects most of these abilities partly because he wants to live a normal life, but also because they remind him of his tribe and the old ways. The dreams and visions are a part of his life but they are tucked away in his mind as he deals with the reality of being a young impoverished indigenous man with very few prospects.

Flint is not always the most likable protagonist but it is easy to understand where he is coming from. His father is gone and his mother is an alcoholic who couldn't care less about her son. His education and employment history is spotty. Even when he tries for legitimacy there are always bullies who challenge him to fights or remember him from the bad old days, racists,like his girlfriend Denise Nash's mother, who see his skin color and ancestry and don't want to give him a chance, and cops who arrest him because of his history regardless of whether he did the crimes or not. 

With that many decks stacked against him, it's understandable that he would want to go through life fighting and breaking the law.

 If no one believes in a person when they are ordinary, why should he do anything for them when he has something extra that could help them? Why should that person believe in themselves? The moments when Flint actually does investigate his abilities and uses them to help others are that much greater because of how much stands in his path. 

It also helps that Flint has some understanding friends and allies that want to help. With the exception of the racist snobby Mrs. Nash, the rest of the Nash family is close to Flint. Denise is a supportive girlfriend even if she doesn't always specifically understand what Flint is going through. Her brother, Chance, is one of Flint's best friends but isn't afraid to call him out on his behavior when his self-pity and bad attitude get too much. 

Denise and Chase's father, Van Nash, a psychiatric counselor, is the first to notice Flint's abilities and make some attention known about how astronomical they are. While most of the police officers and government agents are standard characters there is one that stands out, a woman with the great name of Jill St. Jillian. Once she follows Flint's case and understands his powers and what he's going through, St. Jillian is empathetic enough to give him shelter when others are looking for him.

There are a couple of other characters who are tangentially related to Flint's story but still are brilliant characters in their own right. One is Cristina Nagata, the aforementioned rape victim. She is the daughter of a former Yakuza member who, similar to Flint, is putting a felonious past behind her while studying glow worms and fireflies. She is also in a relationship with Keith Habalo, a chemical assistant for a pharmaceutical company that is creating a pill to give the users certain abilities like lucid dreaming, remote viewing, and enhanced ESP.

Another fascinating character is Brizio "Essy Breezy" Pachachi, a foil and in some ways a shadow self of Flint's. Like Flint he too has extrasensory perception, usually involving telepathy. Like Flint, he had a terrible childhood with a mother who gave birth to and then abandoned him in a gas station restroom. Afterwards, he was fostered by two parents who used his powers in their street performance act. Breezy grew up abused and exploited, and fully aware of the gift that he has so unlike Flint who locks it away, he used it. He used it in his criminal career and for his own gain becoming more powerful and terrifying than the average gangster. After all, it's hard to arrest or shoot someone who can read your thoughts. He is the worst case scenario of someone that Flint could be if he doesn't keep his powers and ego in check.

Some of the later chapters get kind of convoluted and the book meanders a bit by running too long, but still Flint of Dreams is a brilliant book about the cost of having and living with abilities that makes a person different from anyone else.

Weekly Reader Offset: The Mask of Bimshire Written by Delvin Howell Illustrated by Hans Steinbach; Graphic and Mystical Trip Into The World of Caribbean Myth and Legends

 Weekly Reader Offset: The Mask of Bimshire Written by Delvin Howell Illustrated by Hans Steinbach; Graphic and Mystical Trip Into The World of Caribbean Myth and Legends 

By Julie Sara Porter

Spoilers: And we're back in the Caribbean though not looking at its history this time. This time we are focusing on modern day with a fantasy that centers around legendary characters native to the islands.

Caribbean Literature is a trend right now. One article, "The Rise of Caribbean Literature:Trends and Influences" by Sounds and Colors speculates that Readers and authors are looking for escapism as well as stories of survival, endurance, and exile. With the Caribbean islands' history of migration, slavery, and fights for independence as well as the colorful cultures of art, music, literature, myths, and legends, this is definitely an area worthy of exploration.

Offset: The Mask of Bimshire Written by Delvin Howell and Illustrated by Hans Steinbach is a mystical contemporary fantasy set in Barbados, also known as Bimshire, and involves a teenager's encounter with various creatures and characters from Barbadian or Bajan myths and legends.

Kyle Harding, has been orphaned and he and his younger brother, Damian are left in the care of their guardian, Mr. Beckles. Kyle has been studying a martial art that had been passed down through Bimshire since the days of colonialism when former slaves and local people practiced it to defend themselves from the colonists. It's a fighting style that implements a long sugarcane as a weapon. There are very few who practice it and Kyle is one of those few. However, he is helped by his new friend Damian Collins, a Rastafarian. Kyle uses his art in defending himself from bullies and thieves, like the Pel-tings, gangs who throw bottles as weapons. However, there are many worse things out there in the night that he has to defend himself, his friends, and family from. Things like a masked wraith that appears with the sound of a flute and dust not blood emerges from its body, an apparition that rips hearts from living people, and a seemingly sweet old woman with a lot of tremendous magical power and a sinister nature hidden behind her kindly facade.

Offset is clearly inspired by superhero comics and Japanese manga with the illustrations and the story of an ordinary boy with tremendous power who uses that power to fight evil. However, the Barbados setting and the use of characters and creatures specifically known to that island makes it a story of its own. 

The storyline is the basic one of the ordinary hero using his extraordinary powers and fighting evil forces that he thought were only fantasy stories. Kyle is somewhat bland as a lead character, but he has some impressive fights against his enemies. He is also protective of Damian and strives to defend him from the monsters that are all too real. In fact, many of his scenes with Damian show a surrogate parent-child relationship that evolved since the loss of their parents.

Kyle's friend Collins is a bit of a scene stealer. After he introduces himself to Kyle, he cements their friendship by…challenging him to a fight. (Bros forever right?) Then when he is convinced of Kyle's abilities, he acts as his sidekick and hypeman. Sometimes he and Kyle have to fight the dark spirits during what should be a fun night of clubbing with some attractive girls. Kyle emerges as a hero who knows that a regular life is denied him and Collins knows that it's his job to help his friend understand and use his powers. 

What makes this book stand out is the setting and the legendary characters that inhabit it. Howell really understands the country that he writes about from the history to the culture. Even the dialect is brilliantly evocative. ("Hey she mussy did want some of that King Sugar!") This writing makes Barbados as much a character as the people who live in it.

Barbados' legendary characters are also impressive. There are appearances of the Shaggy Bears, sinister little creatures who dance to their own beat and fight whoever is near them and the Steel Donkey, a large donkey covered in chains that throws rock stones on rooftops and sets fires to cane grounds. Their humorous names hide their fearsome and troublemaking intentions.

By far the most interesting antagonists are also the scariest: The Heart Man and his practitioner. The Heart Man roams the streets at night grabbing unsuspecting victims and removing their hearts. He's a terrifying creature that comes from the lowest depths of one's nightmares. He's the childhood monster in the closet come to life and because he's made of childhood and ancestral fears, that makes him more powerful. 

In the middle of the book, the Heart Man's story is revealed. He was once a human being who was injured because of a rival workmate. His hatred and desire for revenge fueled him as he found himself bound to a bargain in which he is healed and given immense strength but must take lives. He is also given an insatiable need, pain, and hunger that fuel his desire to collect those hearts.

Of course the Heart Man didn't get that way on his own and herein lies the most sinister character of all: Ms. Pringle. Okay, despite the innocuous name and the fact that she looks like a sweet old lady, the type who wears long dresses, spends time in her garden, and gossips with her friends in the market, she is anything but. Ms. Pringle describes herself as a practitioner, one who practices the Dark Arcs (magic). She casts spells on others for a price. She basically owns those she blesses or curses, particularly The Heart Man who she takes a sadistic delight in controlling. 

She is similar to the houngan in Haitian folklore who raises zombies from the dead and controls them. Ms. Pringle restored the Heart Man's health and now he owes her.

While the Heart Man is physically scary and is meant to be, Ms. Pringle reveals another truth. Sometimes the darkest most frightening hearts are in the people that we know, the ones we pass by every day. She is so scary because she appears not to be. You don't know what to make of her until it's too late. She is the center of the dark things that are happening and she has her sights set on Kyle whom she dubs "The Inheritor." They are on opposing sides and use all of their strength and power to prepare for a fight.

Steinbach's illustrations help propel the book. With plenty of shading and stark black and white coloring, it's clear that Steinbach gave his work a timeless sense of dark action with characters that hide in and out of the shadows. The characters' appearances definitely show a strong Japanese manga influence which Offset in plot and theme is somewhat similar to. Perhaps the illustrations could have shown a more Caribbean artform but the mixed style in drawings reveal the universal themes of good vs. evil and holding onto and believing in the regional legends and stories.

Offset Mask of Bimshire is a great trip exploring Bajan myths and legends. If one is familiar with the legends, it's like catching up to some old friends, some might be frightening friends but friends nonetheless. For first timers, it will introduce them to a new cast of interesting creatures and the stories in which they inhabit.

New Book Alert: Ginger Star: A Prequel (Stuck in the Onesies Series Book Three) by Diane McDonough; Gender and Racial Conflicts Surround 18th Jamaica Historical Fiction

 New Book Alert: Ginger Star: A Prequel (Stuck in the Onesies Series Book Three) by Diane McDonough; Gender and Racial Conflicts Surround 18th Jamaica Historical Fiction 

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: It's becoming common for me to review two or more books on the same subject. This year alone I have read books about ballet, books set in 2040 California, books in which characters have the ability of lucid dreaming, and fantasies involving magical creatures and beings from countries other than the United States and  those in Europe. It's still rare however when I read two or more historical fiction by different authors that are set at the exact same time frame and feature the exact same historical figures. In recent years, I remember Mistress Suffragette by Diana Forbes and Gilded Summer (Newport's Gilded Age Series Book One) by Donna Russo Morin being one set and Rhapsody by Mitchell James Kaplan and Lady Be Good: The Life and Times of Dorothy Hale by Pamela Hamilton being another. Well now I have another: the early years of the 18th century Caribbean seen through the words of Katie Crabb's Constellation Trilogy and Diane McDonough's Ginger Star: A Prequel Stuck in the Onesies Book Three.

 Both feature sailors, pirates, the slave trade, and both involve characters questioning and rebelling against the standards of the day. They are so similar, that it really isn't fair to compare them. I am not accusing anyone of plagiarizing, just sometimes ideas strike more than one person at a time. 

There are some interesting aspects that each author focuses on. Both focus on the dehumanization of slavery but they also take different approaches on how others are treated. Crabb also writes about the struggles affecting gay men and lesbians in the 18th century and how they often had to conform to societal standards, exile themselves (in this series' case to the seas), or face imprisonment or death.

She takes some looks at gender roles and the status of women in this time period but it definitely is sidelined for the LGBT perspective.

McDonough however puts her emphasis on race and gender roles. Many slaves and free blacks made communities of their own despite threats from the approaching white slavers and colonials. The book also looks at the roles of women in this Caribbean society and how they also fight for their rights and independence.

The book begins with Amari, a young Ghanaian man in a friendly hunting competition. Unfortunately, he and his friend, Kwasi are kidnapped, taken to a slave ship, and then separated. Amari  is injured and cared for by Ronnie Shepherd, the cabin boy and an indentured servant. The two become friends and Amari learns that Ronnie has been keeping a secret. Ronnie is actually a woman disguised as a boy to escape a troubled abusive home life. When the two reach Jamaican shores, Amari rescues Ronnie from being raped and the two make their escape. They reach an estate where a wealthy woman, Adria, helps them hide and covers for them. Adria invites them to stay on her family's estate, Ginger Star. Unfortunately, she has a secret of her own. She's unmarried and pregnant. 

Since The Constellation Trilogy spends a lot of time at sea, the Reader doesn't really get to explore the beauty of the Jamaican island. McDonough more than makes up for that. Adria’s first description of Jamaica is beyond lovely. McDonough wrote, “Small white caps broke over the reef that was outside the cove. The sea went from royal blue to crystal-clear aqua as it closed in on the shoreline. (Adria’s) gaze landed across the cove on a waterfall that spilled into the sea with fresh water from one of the eight rivers in and near Ocho Rios.” The book also explores the local flora and fauna and the local names for them such as ginger star for heliconia and doctor bird for hummingbird. 

McDounough captures the contradictions of an island of immense beauty and the ugly times which occur there: the buying and selling of human beings, the theft of land and resources by outsiders unwilling to share them with the people who were there first, and the fact that those in authority are so willfully corrupt and ignorant to what’s happening around them that the only way to uphold true justice and liberty is to break the law and become a pirate.

McDonough creates some memorable characters who live on the different sides of the socioeconomic and racial scale that inhabit her settings and makes them real. They are more than just microcosms of their society but individuals that live within it. 

The four strongest and best characters in this book are Amari, Ronnie, Adria, and another character whom I will mention later. After he escapes. Amari joins the Maroon community of escaped slaves and indigenous Tainos. They fight against colonists and rebel against the white government that had been forced upon the island. Amari later marries, adopts a son, and becomes a leader of his community. Because he befriended Ronnie and Adria, he is able to be a bridge between the white and indigenous and black communities of the island and to achieve diplomacy in the Maroons’ desire for recognition and independence. Amari still fights against the slavers and colonists when he has to, but he is also willing to work with and talk to his white friends to encourage cooperation. Also, during this time, the Maroon community grows with more slaves leaving plantations to live lives of freedom in which they can declare their own agencies. 

Adria is on the side of those white colonists and she shows kindness and charity towards those around her, white, black, and indigenous. She is mostly sheltered and kept in a very restricted upper class home where she is expected to marry, have children, and lead the servants and household. Adria  is in a more vulnerable position than Ronnie or Amari and is unable to physically fight, but her strength is in her gentleness and generous spirit. One of her greatest moments occurs long after she gives birth and she is separated from her child. When she learns the whereabouts of her child, the Reader expects her to strike out angrily and accuse those around her of kidnapping them, even kidnapping the child herself. Instead she sees the little one is happy and well cared for. Even though she admits that she gave birth, the little one’s real parents are the ones who raised them. 

Ronnie is another one in a peculiar position that puts her between worlds. Even though she is a woman, she spent time working on ships so can see the pirate’s perspective. She reverts back to her female identity, works in a store and sees other women taking charge of their own destiny. As a former indentured servant, she saw first hand the abhorrent treatment that black slaves suffered and speaks against it even after she enters a romance with a white plantation owner. She retains her friendship with Amari and Adria and helps stand against the institution of slavery. She has survived on her own for a long time, so is very strong willed and knows her own mind.

As I mentioned this book is set during almost the exact same time span as The Constellation Trilogy and many of the historical real life figures appear in both, one in particular. While she is glimpsed very briefly in Sailing by Carina’s Star, she is an important figure in Ginger Star and takes part in the plot in a huge way. She is Anne Bonney, one of the few female pirates during the Golden Age of Piracy. In Ginger Star, she is a former friend of Ronnie’s who  encouraged the younger woman to follow her own path of donning men’s clothing and taking to the seas. 

One of the most interesting things about Bonney’s appearance in Ginger Star is that this book offers a few theories as to why she disappeared from history. In reality, her husband Calico Jack Rackham was executed and she was scheduled to be executed as well, but she claimed pregnancy so she was released. That was the last known record of her, no one knows where she went upon her escape, if she escaped, or when and where she died. Ginger Star cleverly fills those gaps by giving Bonney a more decisive end to her story while still being true to her crafty, adventurous, fighting spirit.

Ginger Star is a very different book from The Constellation Trilogy even though it covers the same time period. It captures great beauty in setting, ugliness in inhumanity, and courage and spirit in the various individuals that dwelled in that time and place. 

New Book Alert: Sailing by Carina's Star (The Constellation Trilogy Book 2) by Katie Crabb; Dramatic Confrontations Abound as Family and Loyalty Lines Are Redrawn

 

New Book Alert: Sailing by Carina's Star (The Constellation Trilogy Book 2) by Katie Crabb; Dramatic Confrontations Abound as Family and Loyalty Lines Are Redrawn

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: The previous volume of Katie Crabb's Constellation Trilogy, Sailing by Orion's Star, ended with Rene Delacroix, a wealthy Captain's white son, Frantz Seymour, the biracial son of Captain Delacroix's deceased first mate, and Auden Carlyle, Rene and Frantz's gambler friend ran away from their Jamaican homes of abuse and slavery and joined the pirate crew of Ajani Danso, AKA, Robin Hood The Merciful. Nicholas Jerome, Captain Delacroix's current first mate and surrogate son, angrily vowed that he would find them no matter how long it took.

The second volume, Sailing by Carina's Star, continues to redefine the terms of family and friends and puts the characters in situations that change and mature them.

In this volume,Jerome, now a Lieutenant in the English Royal Navy, is making a name for himself as a pirate catcher. However, one crew seems to slip from his grasp. A reunion with his long estranged Romany mother, Tiena, does not soften Jerome. In fact, it only makes him more determined to find Rene and the others. He owes it to Michel Delacroix, now Commodore of the East India Company, a man that Jerome considers his father.

Meanwhile, Danso's crew has grown. Besides Abeni, his female quartermaster and best friend, Rene, Frantz, and Auden, he also has Abeni's daughter Flora, Danso's nephew Jahni, and new crew members, Chema Guerra, Elliot Roux, Benoit Martel, Marc Favreau, and Eli Matos. Rene, Frantz, and Auden have become experienced sailors, so much so that rumors spread about the three young pirates, particularly a fair haired one on Robin Hood's crew. Danso's crew and legend grows so much that when he gets a new ship, the Saiph to accompany his Misericorde, the vote is unanimous to make Rene the consort captain, Frantz the sailing master, and Auden as quartermaster. In fact, Rene gains quite a reputation of his own and names such as Robin Hood's Devil, The Red Devil, Lucifer, and (his favorite) The Morning Star.

This book sees a huge age lift for many of the young characters. Jerome and the boys ended the previous book in their late twenties and mid teens respectively. In this volume Jerome is approaching forty and the young men are now in their twenties. With that aging comes great change and maturity and the desire to cling to old values or completely break away from them. 

After Delacroix and Jerome have been promoted, they have moved away from personally involving themselves in the slave trade, though still condoning it. One hopes that their final encounter with Danso, Abeni, and particularly Rene and Frantz shook them up enough to open up some humanity in them, but realistically they are more concerned with catching pirates and have one major project at a time to work on. 

In fact, Jerome has regressed considerably in character. In the previous book, he was determined to follow Delacroix’s orders and maintain what he considered law and order on the high seas; however he still showed glimpses of being a good person at heart. He spent time teaching Rene about sword fighting and telling sea stories to him and Frantz. He treated Delacroix like the father that he desperately needed. He sometimes fought inward battles between what he personally believed and what his orders were, with orders always coming first.  Now those flashes of humanity are gone.

Instead the years of regimentation, rules, and regulations have taken their toll turning Jerome into an unremorseful, bigoted, hateful, tool of the British Navy. When he reunites with his mother, instead of having a tearful embrace (like Frantz does when he reunites with his missing mother, Chantal), he yells at her and turns her away. He thinks of her as a stain on his reputation (because he believes that if word gets out that he’s half-Romany, he would be removed from his position at the very least and imprisoned at the very worst). Even though there is brief talk of him getting married, Jerome is a Navy man through and through. While he is still a loyal surrogate son to Delacroix, his ambitions and his remorseless behavior have made him completely monstrous and no longer identifiable.

Rene, Danso, and the other pirates on the other hand have become stronger in terms of character and their relationships with each other. Besides being a brave and effective leader who has earned the respect of his crew, Danso has become a father figure to his men and women. He worries when the younger members are on their own missions and is protective of them. He doesn’t have children of his own, but he treats Rene, Frantz, Auden. Jahni, and Flora like his own. 

He also encourages them and knows that he can’t keep them sheltered forever which is why he lets them crew the Saiph because he trusts them. Unlike Delacroix who was well meaning but wanted to keep Rene sheltered, Danso knows that the young people in his care will face the world on their own and he might as well prepare them for it. 

Abeni also comes into her own, becoming a fierce and loyal first mate. In a couple of chapters, Danso becomes incapacitated and unable to captain. Abeni has to fill in and does so becoming proactive and assertive instead of the more diplomatic Danso. She also obtains a love interest in the patient and kind, Eli. 

The other pirates also become stronger in various pages as a family, crew, and individual characters. Their circle expands to include many other pirates and civilians who are on their side. Real life characters like Edward “Blackbeard” Teach, Sam Bellamy, Anne Bonney, Mary Read, and “Calico '' Jack Rackham encounter the Misericorde crew giving their “arrs” of approval. Danso and Abeni’s former crewmates, lovers Collins and Robins, help them and later they return the favor. After Jerome rejects his mother, Tiena, the Misericorde gang not only accept her but introduce her to Frantz’s mother, Chantal, who hires her to work with her. Even Rene’s mother, Astra Delacroix remains where she is in her stately home in Kingston but remembers how she helped the boys escape to the Misericorde. She states to her husband and her father that she would rather the boys remain pirates than return to a life of imprisonment for Frantz and misery for Rene.

Similar to Fearghus Academy: Precarious Gems, one of the ways to show the characters’ developing maturity is to explore their romantic interests and pair them up. Besides Abeni and Eli, new pirates  Eliot and Benoit become a couple, as do Flora and Auden. While Rene and Frantz are best friends, their previous relationship was clearly one of deep emotion and platonic pairing. This is finally the volume where they confess their love for each other and become an out and proud couple that men like their fathers were afraid to become. The feeling from the Reader is less “I knew it” than a relieved “Finally!” when the duo confess their love. 

Of the characters, Rene is the most developed. In the first volume, he was a wide eyed kid drawn by the adventure of the high seas and piracy. He left Jamaica as a stand against the slavery institution that his grandfather, father, and Jerome represent. His humanity and his love for Frantz were more important than that. 

In the second volume, he is less wide eyed and innocent. He is someone who has killed to defend his crew and is unafraid to do so again. Thanks to Jerome’s teaching, he is quite the swordsman (as Frantz is aces with firing guns), and will fight with a vengeful fury. In fact his fair hair, red coat, and angry fighting style are what earned him the nicknames of the “Red Devil” and “Lucifer the Morning Star.” (Because he “looks like Satan before the Fall and fights like him after” legends say). He takes the insults that his grandfather gave him like “monster” and “devil” and turns them around to take pride in them as someone who will fight like a demon for those he cares about.

 One mark of Rene's maturity is his ambivalence about accepting the captaincy. Ever since he was a boy he and Frantz shared the dream of Rene becoming captain of a ship and Frantz being his navigator. While he proves himself as a great sailor and teammate to Danso and the rest of the crew, he is at first reluctant to take the consort captaincy. He doesn’t dodge the possibility of leadership, in fact takes the lead in small groups. But the offer of becoming a captain awakens not only his old ambitions but memories of the abuse inflicted from his grandfather and the indifference from his father. He is afraid of becoming like them. It takes Frantz’s declaration of love and unshakable faith for him to accept the captaincy and the reputation that comes afterwards of becoming the “Red Devil.”

Sailing by Orion’s Star had plenty of suspenseful chapters of the crew nearly getting caught but escaping. Since Sailing by Carina’s Star is darker, they aren’t always so lucky. Some get caught and their rescue takes a tremendous toll on their numbers. It also ends with a cliffhanger in which some are put in the worst position possible and face imprisonment, exile, or the gallows. 

With the characters maturing and the situation becoming darker for the characters, the third part of the Constellation Trilogy should be a final decisive climactic ending for the characters and the new families that they have formed in the ashes of the old ones.

New Book Alert: Midlife Shadows (Paraval Book 3) by Kate Swansea; Final Elise Clair Fantasy is Her Darkest Adventure Yet

 

New Book Alert: Midlife Shadows (Paraval Book 3) by Kate Swansea; Final Elise Clair Fantasy is Her Darkest Adventure Yet

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: Here we come to more than likely the final book in Kate Swansea's Paraval Series. We will soon bid adieu to Elise Clair, Theo Stallard, and the other residents of Black Lake Falls, Washington. Swansea has clearly saved the darkest book for last. While Midlife Alchemy is the best book in the series, Midlife Shadows has a dark ominous energy and some unforgettable moments that prove that the Paraval Series definitely has gone out with a bang.

In the previous book, Midlife Incantations, Elise, Dentist and Town Warden, discovered the powerful Book of Mairel, a spell book which includes a spell to close the paraval to Inferium forever and prevent the nasty umbra from entering the world above ever again. The only problem with the spell is that it must be cast by an alchemist from inside Inferium. So, Elise must take a trip inside this book's answer to Hell and they have to do it in three weeks,by the next new moon, or it will be difficult to go through Inferium when it is pitch black. 

Elise is going but she's not going alone. She's going with Theo, her boyfriend, Nina and Jerome, their vampire friends, and Professor Marly Curtis, a scholarly expert on Inferium and Theo's ex-girlfriend. 

Most of the book is set in Inferium which is a marked contrast with Black Lake Falls. It's similar to the Angela Hardwick Science Fiction Mysteries by Russ Colchamiro. In two books, Crackle and Fire and Fractured Lives, we are taken to Eternity, the part of the Universe in which its residents are responsible for the design, creation, and maintenance of the Universe. It's a beautiful, wonderful place with many possibilities and great characters to explore. Then another book, Hot Ash, takes the Reader to the Arcasia System, a system filled with smog, pollution, slavery, and dictators. The Arcasia System is the Hell to Eternity's Heaven.

That is what is at play here in the Paraval Series. Everything that Black Lake Falls is, Inferium is its opposite and its shadow. Inferium is the Hell to Black Lake Falls' Heaven. The buildings and houses are structured the same way they are in Black Lake. But instead of the charming Old World European style, they are gray, dingy, and mostly abandoned. Instead of filled with friendly, eccentric, helpful locals, the houses are abandoned and desolate. Instead of a population of colorful and idiosyncratic witches, alchemists, vampires, and mythological creatures, Inferium is filled with umbra and other creatures deprived of their individuality and attacking others in the shadows like vicious animals at prey. Spending most of the time in Inferium makes the characters and the Reader long for the cozy comforts of Black Lake Falls, a town that for three books they have grown to love.

The Inferium setting puts quite a number on the characters the longer that they stay there. In this land of eternal night, the screams of dark creatures can be heard from beyond. Glowing eyes could peer out from anywhere. Sometimes one's own fears and insecurities can attract the umbra. The umbra attacks themselves are quite bloody, bloodier than they are up above since the protagonists are on their turf. Not to mention with the landscape always staying the same, it's hard to find your way through these dark lands. It's enough to drive anyone insane. One would have to be really brave, really crazy, or really dead to be there. 

 One character, Idris, acts as a guide through Inferium. He is deceased but has yet to become an umbra. He helps the gang while struggling to hold onto his integrity, compassion, memories, all the things that once made him alive. It's a painful and disturbing transformation that could engulf our heroes. Also Elise and the others are in danger of becoming umbra as well, the longer that they stay in Inferium. Idris' transformation is a preview of potential coming attractions for the others.

The landscape already changes the characters mentally and emotionally as well as physically. Their emotions are heightened and their fears and insecurities are more apparent. Elise becomes more doubtful of her alchemist abilities and suspicious of Marley's presence and her involvement in Theo's life. Theo becomes protective of the others to the point that he throws himself in danger and makes dangerous decisions. Jerome disappears for a time and questions about his loyalty are raised. Nina gives into her bloodlust and becomes terrifying to her non-vampire friends.

The one who is extremely difficult to figure out is Marly. Our first encounter with her is before they make the trip and she already acts very snobbish and arrogant by treating the locals like underlings. She demonstrates quite a bit of knowledge of Inferium through her studies but she definitely does not endear herself to Elise when she recommends that Elise remain home (even though the spell has to be performed by an alchemist and Elise is the only one who can read it in the Book of Mairel). Since this is our first impression of Marly, it's not a good one.

In Inferium, Marly gets worse. She makes some bad decisions that puts herself and the others in danger. Her research is sometimes flawed or works on paper but not in practice. She also comes on to Theo making Elise jealous. Considering Elise's marriage ended because of her ex husband's infidelity, this is a sore point with her.

While more than likely Inferium is bringing out Marly's worst qualities, we barely knew her before her entrance into Inferium and in those few chapters, her character doesn't amount to much. Marly is the one weak spot in an otherwise great book. She shows some flashes of insight and intelligence but she is more of a plot device to give some exposition on Inferium and provide Theo some emotional baggage than an interesting character. 

The final confrontation is filled with suspense and frightening chills as the characters gather the ingredients to make the spells and fight the umbra while avoiding being turned into them. The appearance of the Dark Commander is worth the wait when in the previous volumes, he was a voice in someone's head. He is powerful, terrifying, and his identity is a brilliant twist. It is he who is the final test for Elise and her friends to pass before they can cast the spell.

Midlife Shadows is a fine ending to a great series that captures the imagination and brings out the best in its characters.

Weekly Reader: Fearghus Academy: Precarious Gems by I.O. Scheffer; Magic Users Get Some Serious Game Play

 

Weekly Reader: Fearghus Academy: Precarious Gems by I.O. Scheffer; Magic Users Get Some Serious Game Play

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: In this third installment of the Fearghus Academy Series, Artesia Addison and her friends get to know more of the rest of the world around them. They also are affected with that illness that strikes every teenager: an overabundance of hormones and deep romantic feelings for classmates and other peers.

Another school year is in the air in Domhan and this year coincides with the Magic Research and Cooperation Triennial Tournament. Good news, Fearghus Academy students are permitted to participate in the Tournament in nearby Naomh. They have to use their magical abilities of Water, Fire, Air, Earth, Ice, and others against students from other schools. So in other words, it's something like Hogwarts' Triwizard Tournament combined with a human Pokemon battle.

To top it all off, sworn enemy Alptraum Engel is still around and is ready to take her villainous act on the road to fight those meddling kids. Just as big as the athletic tournament and the ever present threat of Engel, is the romantic lives of these kids who are starting to view their classmates as more than friends. 

Because I am not fond of books or episodes where most of the action is an athletic tournament, I find Precarious Gems to be the weakest volume in the series. However, it is the weakest volume in an outstanding series so the weakness isn't very much and Fearghus Academy is still strongly recommended as a whole.

The Tournament sections are interesting especially for those who like athletic competitions or magical duels. The characters often have to use their intelligence as well as their skill sets to best their opponents. A Water Mage Vs. A Fire Mage or Ice Vs. Fire is easy enough to figure out. But what sparks could fly in a Fire Vs. Fire battle (pun not intended)? What would result in Light Vs. Earth besides a scorching summer day? What powers are those in Other and how can one compete with a rival who has powers that they don't know about? 

There are some pretty clever means that Team Fearghus uses to defend themselves like building an ice wall or creating a bright light to throw their opponent off kilter. But a little of the competition goes a long way and ends surprisingly anticlimactic when unforeseen circumstances force Fearghus to withdraw from the competition.

What is more important is the development of our lead characters. As adolescents, they are experimenting with their bodies and their emotions. Many of the characters are pairing up. Wild girl Marnie and the steadier Gretel have fallen in love. The devout Lulu and class clown Douglas have been involved since the ending of the last book. They are strange attractions of opposites, but so far seem to work well.

Deuteragonists, Artesia and Eilam get the most attention and this book explores their romantic lives as they struggle to survive in this exciting but troubling world. In the previous book, Eilam was afflicted with a parasite which caused him to have great pain hearing or seeing religious things. He was then kidnapped and subjected to torture and abuse from his birth parents. 

This volume clearly shows that those events left their mark on him physically and emotionally. He is easily subdued a few times in this book and is unsure of himself or his abilities. He makes a few new friends, some turn out to be beyond fair weather friends, and exposes his fears and vulnerabilities even more. He has many heart to heart conversations with Artesia and Telemachus.

One of the most emotional ones between Eilam and Telemachus involves Telemachus pouring out his heart to Eilam. While Telemachus is certainly gay, Eilam is asexual but this conversation suggests that Eilam may actually be demisexual, asexual except where Telemachus is concerned or at least feels an emotional romantic connection with his friend, just not a sexual one. It's nice that finally after flirtations, jokes, and loyalty in the past two books the two young men are ready to admit their true feelings towards each other and take that step into becoming a couple.

Artesia also has her own love life to sort out. She breaks up with her former boyfriend, Jun, because the long distant relationship becomes harder to keep up with. At first, she thinks that she may have feelings for Eilam but since she knows of his sexuality and recognizes their platonic friendship, she does not pursue it.

Instead her latest romance comes from another place. In my review of October Jewels, I wrote that Artesia treats both Jun and Marnie, who are infatuated with her, equally and speculated that perhaps her sexuality was something that was waiting to be explored.

Well the wait is over. While Artesia had a romance with Jun, she is now interested in someone else: Callie Rose Boutique, a model and student from a rival school. Callie and Artesia at first get into teasing conversations that border on flirting. They go on dates first in groups then single. Then finally they become physical. Artesia is captivated by this beautiful self-assured woman who is unafraid to pursue a romantic relationship with another woman despite objections from her homophobic classmates. 

Artesia herself is uncertain at first. Even though she sympathizes and understands her friends' sexualities, her own has never been explored. There is still something of the 1860's Earth girl in her that causes her to think those feelings are wrong for her. Callie gives her a chance to understand and accept those emotions within herself and realize that they are perfectly natural and normal. Artesia is bisexual and she finally acknowledges that.

Another important aspect to this volume of the series is how it explores the relationships between the adopted parents and the children in their care. After the previous volume where we met Eilam's horrible abusive birth parents and learned a painful depressing secret about Artesia's, it is demonstrated that in Domhan they are in good hands. 

Mr. Peterson shows deep affection for Eilam and his other adopted son, Cadence. He becomes the person that Eilam can confide in and respect. He gives what the young man never had before: unconditional love and acceptance.

Nichole Harvey also steps up in her parenting of Artesia. She acts like a mother tiger or bear protecting her cub. She is concerned about Artesia's relationship with Eilam because of his parentage but slowly comes around. She also shares stories of her own youth to lead by example but also to let Artesia know that nothing is off the table and they can talk about anything.

Nichole's best moment comes at the end when she has to defend her adopted daughter from Engel's latest trap. While Engel reveals a dark secret of her own, Nichole's actions show that there is no excuse for her to mistreat children, particularly her daughter. 

While the Tournament takes a lot of Precarious Gems' time, it is the romantic and familial relationships that stand out in this book.

Weekly Reader: The Cat With Three Passports by C.J. Fentiman; Sweet Travel Book With Plenty of Cat-itude

 

Weekly Reader: The Cat With Three Passports by C.J. Fentiman; Sweet Travel Book With Plenty of Cat-itude

By Julie Sara Porter

Bookworm Reviews

Spoilers: As anyone who has a cat knows: cats are the true rulers of any household and we humans are simply their over glorified servants. How often do cats demand just that specific brand of cat food and turn their nose up at any other substitutes? How often do they swat their paws at any other pet that gets into their territory or give their humans  imperial stares to remind them who’s in charge? How often do cats turn their backs to be left alone but will sit on our laps or keyboards right at the most inopportune moments to get attention? My personal favorite is when a cat designates a specific human as their “Official Human Mattress” so they can sleep on them all night while their human servant underneath struggles to be comfortable with a five to ten pound weight laying on their hips or legs. Yes, cats are something else: independent, fussy, quirky, argumentative, but somehow lovable and adorable. 

C.J. Fentiman’s The Cat With Three Passports is a lovely book for any cat lover or owner uh I mean servant. It details Fentiman’s life in Japan when after a time of fruitless wandering and searching for meaning, she finds it in a new country with her partner and an excitable bundle of feline fur and nonstop energy.

Fentiman’s first time in Japan was in her mind a disaster. She and her partner, Ryan, were hired to teach English in one of the largest multi language schools in Osaka. What she hoped for was an opportunity to get to know the city, interact with students, and find some purpose. What she got instead was a dehumanized approach to education which lumped Fentiman with the other “Anglo” teachers, remote teaching without connecting with the students, and a school whose administration practically owned her time away from campus. Fentiman wrote that she and Ryan didn’t stay even a week before they packed their bags and returned to their native England. Unfortunately, Fentiman was beginning to realize that running away was a distinct pattern in her life from a troubled youth in England, to Australia, then to Japan. She realized that she wasn’t looking for something so much as she was constantly leaving at the first sign of trouble. 

As she describes it she and Ryan were “lured back to Japan by two cats.” Feeling guilty about leaving so quickly, Ryan and Fentiman found another opportunity to teach English in a more remote location Hida-Takayama, about 312 km north of Osaka. As if the fact that there would be more human interaction wasn’t enough of a draw, what really turned them around was the fact that their potential apartment was housed by two cats. The former owners had to leave and they couldn’t find anyone to take care of their small gray kittens, so Fentiman and Ryan found new teaching opportunities and two furry roommates named Iko and Niko (one and two in Japanese). Iko, the cuddler, and Niko, the timid one, made their human’s lives more colorful and friendlier as they adjusted to their new lives of working and living in a foreign country.

Iko and Niko were great companions and stress relievers for their humans. When Fentiman hit a rough patch in her teaching, she considered once again packing up and leaving but one look at those two precious faces gave her anchors to remain, smooth out the edges, and work alongside the students, staff, and community.

After she chose to remain in Hida-Takayama, Fentiman found another responsibility. Ryan rescued a small kitten from trying to cross a busy street. The couple took the little guy home and he became a permanent fixture in the household. The couple originally had a hard time introducing their new little friend to his future roommate and adjusting to the new apartment. At first the couple tried to lure him out with toys which he liked to play with but when they wanted to pet him, he hissed and scratched at them. It took about two weeks before he accepted his new human friends. They separated the cats letting them spend small amounts of time together so they could grow used to each other. The older cats at first hissed at him but grew accustomed to their new brother (or at least knew that bribing him meant food was present). The kitten accepted his new home and upon realizing that music soothed the tiny beast, Fentiman and Ryan named their newest fur baby Gershwin or G for short.

Gershwin may have adjusted to his new home, but he was not exactly the easiest cat to live with. Unlike the older and slower moving Iko and Niko, Gershwin was young, feisty, mischievous, and sometimes considered trouble on four legs. Many times, he would leap up and attack anyone who approached, earning the moniker “Ninja Attack Kitten.” He also wasn’t above attacking anything twice his size needing Fentiman and Ryan to discipline him. Fentiman wasn’t kidding when she described Gershwin as “kawaii” for cute but also “kowaii” for scary. Gershwin was a lot of both.

Their cat circle grew wider as they took in Takashi, a sickly kitten that they had examined for Feline HIV. Thankfully, Takashi didn't. The newcomer caught the cat flu and made a full recovery thanks to the care and devotion of the human companions.

The Cat With Three Passports is a great guide for anyone living with one or several cats, especially a sometimes troublesome cat who makes life “interesting” for the humans unfortunate enough to be caught up in their presence. It’s not exactly a guide for pet owners, but it does lead by example to show how a pair of loving pet owners loved and managed the felines in their lives. 

Besides a wonderful book about caring for and loving pets, it’s also a great travel book. Fentiman captures Japan’s natural beauty, customs, and technology . When they first arrived in Osaka, it was spring and the blossoms were present and fragrant. The flowers were such a part of the people’s lives that their football team was called The Blossoms. 

Fentiman and Ryan witnessed various festivals such as the Fertility Festival in which some create effigies of men's umm little friends. (Don't worry in keeping with Shinto's themes of balance, they have a festival to honor women's little hidden friends as well). Fentiman's descriptions of the festivals including the colorful decorations and graceful floats make the festivals come alive.

The festivals also gave Fentiman a sense of closure in her own life. During the Obon Festival, which people honor their deceased ancestors, Fentiman thought of her own difficulties with her family, such as her deceased mother and distant father and began the process of letting go of her hurt and angry feelings towards them. Later she contacted long lost relatives. Even though reconciliation and moving on were long processes, the festival allowed Fentiman to stop focusing on her past and live solely in the present to become a better teacher, partner, and pet mother.

Fentiman indulged in many activities like mountain climbing and community bathing. In one chapter, Fentiman was talked into getting a traditional makeover complete with kimono, obe, and updo. Far from looking like an elegant geisha, Fentiman felt self-conscious and unattractive until she went outside and got caught up in bystander's enthusiasm. Wearing those clothes also gave her insight into the daily lives of Japanese women and how restrictive some traditions were. 

Fentiman and Ryan found their time in Takayama cut short because of increasing expenses and debt. They had to accept better paying teaching jobs in a school called British Hills, an English training center and resort, in Fukushima. That meant saying goodbye to the friends and village that they had grown to love and especially the breakup of their cat haven home. They made sure that Iko, Niko, and Takashi had good homes. The constant interviewing and inspection of each future cat owner is one that many will relate to as well as the tearful goodbyes when the end comes. 

However, Fentiman and Ryan opted to keep Gershwin because they weren't sure if the feisty little guy would adjust to a new home and even though he was a mischief maker, the Ninja Attack Cat was their favorite. 

Readers will understand the difficulties of making pets ready for travel including getting them used to a long trip,making sure they have their vaccinations, and getting them spayed and neutered. It's a stressful ordeal alongside the packing, getting rid of things, and saying goodbye to friends. 

Cats are notorious for having difficulties with change. It was no doubt a miracle that Gershwin became used to his new home and being an only cat. The exploring of his new domain and the cuddling and spoiling by his humans certainly helped with the transition. Gershwin's adjustment also allowed Fentiman and Ryan to make a bigger move to Australia with cat in tow.

Ikigai is a strong theme throughout this book. It means finding one's purpose. In the past, Fentiman was always wandering, running away when things got hard, and looking for something to belong to. Her time in Japan and taking care of the cats, especially Gershwin, revealed her purpose. Teaching, traveling, and caring for cats was her ikigai and if not for Gershwin and Japan, she never would have found them.

The Cat With Three Passports is a wonderful book about travel, animals, and finding one's true purpose. It has plenty of beauty and plenty of cat-itude.