dragons-hoard-reviews

[dragons-hoard-reviews]

From beyond the hoard…

Neil Gaiman’s American Gods

This 2001 novel has been frequently recommended to me by most people I talk to about fantasy books. When Shadow, a convict who has been recently released due to the death of his wife, gets on a plane to go home for his late wife’s funeral, he meets a mysterious man, Wednesday, who offers him a job. From there, his life changes forever.

This was a 584 page read in the edition I have, but it never felt like it at any point. @neil-gaiman ‘s descriptions and characters make the reader want to turn the pages one after another. The references to mythology and religions worldwide are so interesting, and coming off of reading Bulfinch’s Mythology and having *SPOILER* recently visited the Voodoo Museum in New Orleans *SPOILER OVER* makes this an incredibly rewarding read.

*FROM HERE ON, SPOILERS WILL BE DISCUSSED*

The climax of the book takes place on Lookout Mountain, overlooking Chattanooga, specifically Rock City, and I was very happy to read this section while I was about 15 minutes from Rock City on vacation. Just a small note I wanted to add.

As usual, I want to give some warnings to younger or minority readers. If there’s a triggering topic out there, it’s in this book. From *TW* slavery, racism, SA, violence, murder, the Holocaust, and many others. This doesn’t take away from the book, but it does make some scenes hard to read without cringing.

Overall, I really enjoyed this book, and especially enjoyed how everything came together at the end. It seemed that every single loose end was tied up in a little bow. I’m very happy to say that more of Neil Gaiman’s work is on my to-be-read list!

#book review #fantasy #modern fantasy #Odin #shadow moon #shadow #american gods #neil gaiman #Loki

[dragons-hoard-reviews]

From the horde...

Art & Arcana: A Visual History by Michael Witwer, Kyle Newman, Jon Peterson, and Sam Witwer.

This art book is a fun trip down memory lane for the Dungeons and Dragons fan. It contains many pictures of different art, books, and behind-the-scenes sections of D&D history that educate as well as entertain.

My favorite part of the book was the discussions about the art style changes between editions of the game, and seeing the commentary on how far D&D has come as a game and art form.

This book is great, however in my opinion the price point of $50 is a bit steep. It is a hardcover book with a great layout and nice printing though... I think this would be a good piece for the D&D fan who is devoted to the game or the older fan who wants a trip down memory lane.

#dungeons and dragons #dnd #dnd 5th edition #art #art and arcana #history

[dragons-hoard-reviews]

From the horde…sort of…

Madeleine Roux’s Dungeon Academy: No Humans Allowed! (illustrated by Tim Probert)

One of the newest books that I will be taking a look at is Madeleine Roux’s 2021 book. Although this is a licensed D&D product, it is not the normal output from Wizards of the Coast. This is a story geared towards younger readers, with wonderfully charming illustrations and bigger font throughout.

The plot revolves around a human girl named Zellidora, sorry, Zelli, as she tries to navigate the world of being the only human at the titular Dungeon Academy. Of course, as the title would say, there are no humans allowed in the Dungeon Academy, so she has to disguise herself as the same species as her adoptive mothers: a minotaur. As she goes through her time at the academy, she finds a call to adventure that she simply cannot ignore. Joining her on this adventure are Hugo, the vegetarian owlbear, Snabla, the tenacious (and often hilarious) kobold, and Bauble the mimic, a studious perfectionist who has yet to grow into a proper monster.

This is a wonderful book for younger readers, and I had no problem at all reading this to a younger child. There is wonderful representation in the book, with the main character being a person of color, representation of a strong lesbian relationship, and a main character (Bauble) using they/them pronouns in the book. It also serves as a great introduction to the world of the forgotten realms, with mainstays of the setting like beholders, gelatinous cubes, and mind flayers appearing, and the mention of places like Baulder’s Gate.

The only thing I would caution those looking to get this book for younger readers on is that there is a fairly brutal bit of combat for a children’s book, with one of the main characters getting a bloody, bone breaking injury during the climax of the book.

Overall, if you’re looking for a lighthearted read, prepping a campaign for younger children, or wanting to get a youngster into D&D, this is an amazing place to start!

#dnd #dungeons and dragons #kobold #zelli #owlbear #book review #young readers #children’s fiction #mimic

[dragons-hoard-reviews]

From beyond the hoard…

H. G. Wells's The Time Machine

This 1895 book is one of the forerunners of science fiction and has a charm that I cannot quite put into words. Putting the idea of a time machine into the world of gilded age England is something that evokes the idea of steampunk mechanisms and steam power (although it is never shown how the machine is powered). 

The story follows a character only known as The Time Traveler as he tells the story of his adventures with a race of people from the future, the year 802,700 to be exact, in a world that is far-flung from what we know today. When he arrives in the future, his time machine is stolen, and the mystery of its disappearance is more complex than The Time Traveler initially thinks…

There is a use of what is now considered a slur against people of African descent, and a very Eurocentric view of what is "advanced" and "civilized," but those are mainly products of the time. Although, as a white person I don't feel it is my place to say if this is okay or not.

Overall this book is a unique look into what the nineteenth century thought the world would look like in 800,000 years that makes me want to read many more of H. G. Wells’s novels (Luckily War of the Worlds is the book I’m reading after next!).

#the time machine #h g wells #science fiction #scifi #weena #the time traveler #morlocks

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From the hoard...

Thomas Bulfinch's Bulfinch's Mythology: A Modern Abridgement by Edmund Fuller

This 1967 version of Thomas Bulfinch's textbooks on mythology (finished in 1863) is a chronicle of myths that have influenced Western civilization and literature for hundreds of years. It is divided into three sections: The Age of Fable, The Age of Chivalry, and The Legends of Charlemagne.

The Age of Fable takes up more than half of the book and is a great look at the myths of Greece, Rome, Scandinavia, and the British Isles. The vast majority of this section (33 out of 40 chapters) is spent on the myths of Greece and Rome. Fuller chooses to follow Bulfinch in naming the characters of the myths in their Roman names, rather than the Greek names, although translations are given. Stories included in this section include the creation of the world, Hercules, The Iliad, The Oddesy, and the Anead, as well as many Norse myths, the druids of Europe, and Beowulf. This section is easy to follow and gives insight into any myth you'd want to read about (or take inspiration from for your games, particularly from Mythic Odysseys of Theros).

The second section, The Age of Chivalry, revolves around the stories of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. This section is where the "Abridgement" in the title starts to rear its ugly head. While not as bad as in the following section, this is where the fact that this book was originally a textbook comes out in the storytelling. Unlike the former section, where there were stories like the Iliad but quickly move on to other characters, this section is more or less about the same group of people throughout. This means that while we have these characters for a longer amount of time, we still do not get very much elaboration on their character traits outside of being told that they love people or are virtuous knights. Because we are with these characters for longer, I would expect more elaboration on them. This section also summarises Le Morte d’Arthur (1485), by Sir Thomas Malory, which is also located in the recommended reading of Appendix D of the 5e Dungeon Master's Guide (2014).

In my opinion, the last section, The Legends of Charlemagne, was the hardest to get through, even though it was only around fifty pages. Maybe this is due to the fact that it is around half the length of The Age of Chivalry, or due to the fact that Charlemagne was an actual historical figure, but this section dragged along quite a bit. It was also, especially in chapters four and five, very insistent on a mentality of "us Christians versus those Muslims," which while understandable for the time, was not exactly the most palatable depiction for me, as I am not a Christian.

All in all, this is a great reference book, but I would stick to using it as just that and not reading it cover-to-cover like I did.

#Zeus #Hera #poseidon #hades #hermes #apollo #artemis #dionysus #demeter #persephone #hephaistos #ares #greek mythology #roman mythology #jupiter #uranus #saturn #neptune #ceres #hercules #ulysses #trojan war #prometheus #pandora #Daphne #pyramus #thisbe #cephalus #procris #juno

[dragons-hoard-reviews]

From beyond the hoard...

David Blum's Casals and the Art of Interpretation

This 1977 pseudo-biography is a must-read for every musician or music teacher. Each chapter gives an insightful look into how musicians can interpret the music rather than just play the notes on the page.

If you don't know, Pablo Casals (1876-1973) was a Spanish cellist, conductor, educator, and above all, musician. His success as a performer can be attributed to his ideas on interpretation, which Blum masterfully illustrates in this book.

The first chapter, aptly named "The First Principle," is an exploration of something that the western musician might not think of. Xie He's principles of painting were developed in the fifth century in China, and the first one is particularly important to musicians of the modern day; creativity, or "spirit-resonance". This concept is explored in terms of putting your feeling and spirit through the instrument (instrument here including the voice).

The second chapter, "Finding the Design," is an exploration of deviating from the score. Casals, and therefore Blum, argues that in looking at the score for performance, we must add to what we see. He states in regard to the second movement of Mozart's Symphony No. 39 in E♭ Major that "Although only piano is written, we must follow the line of the music; we must find the design!" This concept is explored throughout the chapter.

The third chapter, Casals and Bach, is interesting from a musicological point of view as it explores how to play compositions by Johan Sebastian Bach accurately. If one looks at the life and times of Bach, we can see that he was an emotionally passionate person. This, I argue, must show through in his music. Casals agrees with this, saying that his music is subject to interpretation just as all other music is.

Because I am a wind player (and the fact this chapter was not assigned in my music seminar) I skipped chapter four, . While I assume that it is quite good for string players, a string player I am not.

The last chapter, "A Casals Rehearsal: The Pastoral Symphony," is truly mindblowing. It details what Blum observed over "several" rehearsals with Casals of Beethoven's Sixth Symphony. While great, it will only have the intended impact if you have both read the rest of the book and know the Pastoral Symphony well.

Overall, in my opinion, this is a must-read for any musician or music teacher.

#pablo casals #casals #cello #conducting #book review #music #music book #David blum #beethoven #A Casals Rehearsal: The Pastoral Symphony #Casals and the Art of Interpretation #Casals and Bach #johan sebastian bach #bach #piano #symphony #The First Principle

[dragons-hoard-reviews]

If you’re a DM, you’ve likely heard about the supplement “Consent in Gaming” from Monte Cook. It’s free to download, and after taking a read through it myself, I’ve formed some definite thoughts. The TL:DR version of my review; every DM should read this. Because the concepts and tools in it, even if you don’t use them, are things you should know about.

[dragons-hoard-reviews]

From beyond the horde...

Ray Bradbury's The Illustrated Man

This 1951 collection of short stories from the mind of Ray Bradbury is a wonderful introduction to science fiction reading that gives bite-size (at least five pages and at most seventeen pages in the Bantam Books Grand Master Edition that I was reading) stories that are perfect for those that want a bit of a dark foray into some classic literature.

When a man is hiking a walking tour of Wisconsin he comes across a man with a woolen shirt buttoned all the way up to his neck and all the way down to his wrists. When the woolen man takes off his shirt, the hiker sees mystical arcane tattoos that seem to show vivid scenes from the future. This collection follows what the man sees that night while he gazes at the tattoos all over the titular Illustrated Man's body.

Some personal highlights for me were the short stories "Kaleidoscope," which is a very interesting look at death and what the idea of impending death does to the human psyche; "The Highway," a short look at war and how it can affect all of us; and "The Last Night of the World," which is once again a sweet look at what happens when we all know the world is coming to an end that very night.

While this is not the darkest book in the world there are some looks into psychology, war, violence, and other topics that might be upsetting if you know these things upset you on a regular basis. There is also one use of a slur against Japanese people used in the last quarter of the book in the short story "Zero Hour."

All in all, this is an amazing collection of science-fiction short stories that leaves me wanting more of Ray Bradbury's writing that has certainly earned its spot on my bookshelf for many reads to come.

#the illustrated man #ray bradbury #books and reading #books #science fiction #book review #literature #classic literature #tattoos #short story #the veldt #kaleidoscope #the other foot #the highway #the man #the long rain #the rocket man #the fire balloons #the last night of the world #the exiles #no particular night or morning #the fox and the forest #the visitor #the concrete mixer #marionettes inc #the city #zero hour #the rocket