RI May & June 2024

This covers both May & June, I think.

As usual the links are Amazon affiliate ones which could make
me a pittance should you end up buying something through one.
==

Shareholder: A LitRPG Adventure (Tower of Somnus Book 4)
by Cale Plamann
https://amzn.to/4byM1ZP

When we last saw Kat Debs, she had just foiled a plot by one of the
gamier alien species to infiltrate Earth, in the process gaining access
to a trove of alien technology, and becoming a full Shareholder in her
corporate home.  She also finally realized that she, unexpectedly,
had a girlfriend, and responsibilities beyond her own family and staying
alive.

In this installment, she must assert her will on the Board working
against the entrenched legacy Shareholders who resent the scrappy
upstart with every fiber of their beings, find time to actually go
on a date (preferably one not ending in some sort of cataclysm) and
continue to level-up with her alien friends in the galaxy spanning
sleep-time RPG, the Tower of Somnus, which has its own set of
problems with intersect unexpectedly with her "real world" issues.

It's still a somewhat goofy premise (all alien species have a human
compatible sleep cycle?), but the author commits to it, and Kats adventures
in both realms are entertaining.  I like as well that although Kat lives
in what we would consider a corporate dystopia, to her it's just the world,
and she has no real urge to reform it as she accepts its premises
and fights to get ahead.  There's also some genuine humor as when a new
addition to Kat's RPG war party dissects all the character tropes the
group exhibits:

"There's no shame in that, Kat," Jaalin replied, her voice
gentling slightly. "The lokkel clans used to engage in such
practices before we became civilized. It is the way of
things. That said, I do not find 'seizing power as a warlord'
to be a credible counter argument to my accusation that you
are some manner of barbarian princess."

Kat changed tactics, wheeling around to address Kaleek. The
desoph was covered head to toe in blood, his greatsword
slung casually over one of his shoulders.

"Are you going to stand for this? Jaalin called you comic
relief."

Kaleek just shrugged, his armor clanking and sloshing in
time with the motion.

"I don't know, Kat, that seems to be a pretty fair assessment."

Demon's Mark (Legion of Angels Book 11)
by Ella Summers
https://amzn.to/3VQyaIv

Angel of Chaos Leda Pandora has come a long way since she joined the
Legion of Angels to survive and level-up enough that she had the power
to rescue her kidnapped brother.  That finally done, and having birthed
and protected the daughter who may be the Savior of prophecy, she is kind
of taking it easy, governing a large segment of Earth recently reclaimed
from the wilderness after the most recent victory removed the monster
menace.  It's actually rather boring and her most recent task is actually
investigating a problem with her capital city's sewer system.  When
giant rats unexpectedly ensue, events kick into high gear again leading
to her involvement with her father's problem (he's the chief god)
of planetary revolts, a sister whose mind seems to have been taken over by
inimical forces, in-law & mother (the chief demon) complications, and
hints that an adversary who fled the field is nonetheless still active.

These are popcorn books, adding and resolving complications in a continuing
fashion.  I believe we are near the endpoint regardless, and found this
one much more entertaining than the last which needed a whole "let me
explain to you what just happened" section to make any sense of the events.

How to Become the Dark Lord and Die Trying
(Dark Lord Davi Book 1)
by Django Wexler
https://amzn.to/3VRC7fZ

I first encountered Django Wexler with his Flintlock-Punk series
The Thousand Names.  Well, this is completely different, but just as
good.

Davi (if she has a last name, she has apparently forgotten it) thinks
she is from Earth, and was probably a nerd, but now, after over a thousand
years of lives, she has trouble remembering anything about her first life.

All she knows is that her troubles started when she regained consciousness
in a scummy pond in the woods where a wizard pulled her out and announced
that she was the chosen one prophesied to save the human kingdom from
the marauding "Wilders".

She could just never figure out *how*.  Every path she took led her to death
(often prolonged & painful) at the hands of "The Dark Lord", exiting life
with the Kingdom falling and reawakening in that damn pond.

After several hundred lifetimes, she has had her belly-full of it and decides
that *this* time things will be different.  To start with, while she always
dies at the hands of the Dark Lord, it's not always the *same* Dark Lord,
so there's obviously some kind of choice point out there somewhere: Why not
Dark Lord Davi?  She kills and robs the wizard and sets off into Wilder
territory.  It takes her a half dozen quick & painful trips back to the
pond before she figures out how to make a Wilder band accept her (it helps
that unlike most humans, she can eat the magical Thaumite stones as Wilders
do) and set out on her path to Dark Lordship.  In the beginning she is
helped by her general knowledge of the shape of coming events, but past
that, she must depend on her ability to wing it (aided by the fact that
despite her odd and devil-may-care aspect, she is smart and vastly experienced)
and judge character.

Not that she's perfect at that, the knowledge that she's probably heading
for an early and protractedly painful death have made her prone to take
pleasure where she can find it, and while she knows that she probably shouldn't
sleep with the help, the understanding that she will be around to face the
consequences this time comes a bit late to her.

Still she has, against all the odds, increased the size of her little
band and made it to the Conclave.  Well, every now and then, a dog
catches the car -- now what?

This book is one of the most fun I have read this year.  Davi's story
is told in snarky first person, with the most footnotes(*) I have encountered
since _Happy Hour of the Damned_ (more than Vance, for sure).  She is
shielded somewhat from the full realization of all her betrayals by her
conviction that everything will "reset" with no-harm-no-foul, and when
she comes to see that might not be the case this time, it does give her
pause, but fortunately does not dampen her narrative for more than a few
pages.

We are promised that Davi's story is a duology, and I am quite looking
forward to the conclusion.

(*) Actually this is one of the first (fiction)cases I have found where
    reading in hardcopy would clearly be superior to reading on Kindle.
    I often found that by the time I got to the actual footnote page, I had
    forgotten what the reference was to.

Against All Odds: A Military Sci-Fi Series (Grimm's War Book 1) Kindle Edition
by Jeffery H. Haskell (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
https://amzn.to/3xOejBJ

With Grimm Resolve: A Military Sci-Fi Series (Grimm's War Book 2) Kindle Edition
by Jeffery H. Haskell (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
https://amzn.to/45QiB8k

One Decisive Victory: A Military Sci-Fi Series (Grimm's War Book 3) Kindle Edition
by Jeffery H. Haskell (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
https://amzn.to/3zvxjW6

A Grimm Sacrifice: A Military Sci-Fi Series (Grimm's War Book 4) Kindle Edition
by Jeffery H. Haskell (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
https://amzn.to/45UfSe2

Know Thy Enemy: A Military Sci-Fi Series (Grimm's War Book 5) Kindle Edition
by Jeffery H. Haskell (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
https://amzn.to/4eNYQSS

A Grimm Decision (Grimm's War Book 6) Kindle Edition
by Jeffery H. Haskell (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
https://amzn.to/45QLUaS

Traditions of Courage (Grimm's War Book 7) Kindle Edition
by Jeffery H. Haskell (Author) Format: Kindle Edition
https://amzn.to/4cNbMXh

I only read the last of these during the May or June, but as the
previous ones fell into one of my review lacunae, I thought I would
list the whole series above.  If you have been missing early Honor Harrington,
Jacob Grimm may be your MilSF guy.

Years ago there was a promising young Alliance Lieutenant on his first
serious deployment.  His attention to detail and exceptional vigilance
deduced a Caliphate ambush from barely perceptible sensor readings and
allowed his patrol to get the jump on the ambushing ships instead.
"Ambushing" ships that turned out to be full of... children.  The ensuing
scandal was a publicity disaster and propaganda victory for the Caliphate
(as intended), and dropped support for the Alliance Navy to an all time
low, which given that the Fleet was already in something equivalent to our
"between the wars" years, was down from "not high".  War was still
coming, and now the Fleet would be even less prepared than it had been.
And the unlucky Lt. Grimm?  Well, he didn't give the order to fire, and
technically hadn't even done anything chargeable, but his career was done.
Or so it might seem.

Assigned to the stereotypical "Worst Ship In The Navy", Grimm must make
peace with his demons and see if he can do any good during his remaining
enlistment.  As you may guess, the Universe is not finished with
Jacob T. Grimm...

In this installment, Grimm commanding a small task force in charge of
defending an impromptu new Alliance member, must deal with the fact that
that defense has already failed, and the planet has been invaded by one
of the series two big-bads, the Terraforming Guild, something about which
he can do nothing.  However, he can harry their resupply lines and
locate the bases they run supplies from.  Whether it will be enough to
help the situation on the ground with only a rump force of Alliance
Marines in place and the locals largely defeated, and anyway riven with
civil strife remains to be seen.  In the meantime, Grimm's girlfriend,
whom he fondly imagines to be on his home planet, getting acquainted with
Grimm's father, is actually on a desperate deep-cover mission of her own
into the heart of the Guild...

I find these books quite enjoyable despite some "indie" editing flaws
(for instance in this book a crucial action of an enemy ship in orbit is
called out, and then apparently forgotten) and the occasional deployment
of "Captain, you have to come see this!" suspense.  No, the Captain
doesn't need to come see "this" -- he's in a damage control meeting.  He
needs a concise description of "this" & why it's important.  Also, when
the focus of a book is on one big-bad (say the Caliphate) the other one
(the Guild) seems to be forgotten.  Given the level Grimm's command operates
at, it makes sense that he would only be dealing with one or the other, but
we have big picture characters who by all rights ought to be dual worriers.
I do dock this particular installment a little bit for the deployment of a
good old Space Opera genocide, and the fact that Grimm seems in line to be
fitted with a Halo at times, but it still comes out well on the plus side.

Hell For Hire: Urban Fantasy Action with Witches and Demons
(Tear Down Heaven Book 1)
by Rachel Aaron
https://amzn.to/3zDevEk

Remember Gilgamesh?  Turns out he was a real guy, and the saga we have was
only the half of it.  In the end he defeated the gods of Sumer, occupied
their paradise, and put scales on the eyes of most of humanity so that
they could never see magic nor be any threat to him.

As part of his conquest, he enslaved all the demons of paradise and established
cabals of sorcerers & warlocks (dependent on him for their magic) to
enforce his will.  The only independent magical force left in the world
are the Witches of Blackwood, and they live at Gilgamesh's sufferance
only because they are useful.

It's obviously not something the Witches are happy about, especially since
the bargain that keeps them sort-of free involves rendering their sons
to become warlocks.

In point of fact, its something that one of those said sons is unhappy
about unto the point of rebellion.  Adrian Blackwood figures that if
he is to make a move, he must establish his own Blackwood on the west
coast, well away from the witches of New England in order to try and
minimize the fallout on them.  It's a move more likely to fail than not.
He's a young witch, and he has to start a forest in secret and try to
bring it to magical maturity before its noticed, something he has
no experience in doing, and while he can afford to hire some security,
he only has enough actual cash for one month pay.

Bex is a demon, and the head of said security.  Reincarnated many times
over the ages, she has been leading a futile rebellion against Gilgamesh,
and freeing the odd demon whenever she could until she was grievously
wounded in a battle with one of Gilgamesh's sons.  Now she runs her team
as mercenaries, trying to keep them fed as her dreams of doing anything
better have crashed around her.  Taking a contract with a Blackwood witch
was a welcome surprise (as was the fact that the "witch" was [good looking]
guy) as to the limited extent that any rebellion exists anymore, the Blackwood
would be on her side.  Soon it's clear though that Bex doesn't know all of
Adrian's secrets, and he has no idea about the deepest of hers...

To my mind Aaron continues to get better with each series.  Early on she
had a tendency to over-explain her magical systems, but she has that well
under control here, and doing something with Gilgamesh and Sumerian demons
is a bit of a nice switch up from usual UF tropes.  She also has a knack for
writing complementary heroes & heroines who each bring something to the
table that the other does not.  Her romances  tend to be rather slow-burn,
but I don't think there's any doubt where this relationship is headed.
There's still plenty to do after the partial victory in the final battle
here, so I would expect probably two more books, which I will follow.
--
columbiaclosings.com
What's not in Columbia anymore..