Murder by Munchausen by M T Bass, Murder by Munchausen Mysteries Book 1
Introduction
In near future, Cleveland, Ohio, detective Jake and his partner E. C. are searching for an Android Subject (AnSub) that has committed a murder. When hackers reprogram synthetic humanoids to commit murder the crime is called Murder by Munchausen. Their squad responds to AnSub crimes and are not so affectionately called the Geek Squad. Jake captures the AnSub and when that crime intersects a serial killer’s crimes, Jake is forced to solve both crimes or risk the life of someone he loves.
Summary
Jake was a detective in the Robbery/Homicide department with his partner Maddie. Something happened which Jake calls “the Incident” and he takes the fall. Jake is reassigned to the Geek Squad, which is the least desirable department in the police force. Maddie stays in Robbery/Homicide.
The novel opens sometime after his transfer. Jake and E. C. take the AnSub to their department android authority who Jake has dubbed Q, named after the character in the James Bond novels. Jake is fond of what he calls old-school thinking and practices. Jake did not have a romantic relationship with Maddie when they were partners. They become romantically involved now. Maddie is assigned a case that could involve a serial killer reenacting past serial killer crimes. Jake thinks his case is related to Maddie’s investigation.
Jake is helped by Maddie, Q, reporter Jamal, the owner of a diner retired cop Cutty, and a Secret Service agent to solve his case. He follows the evidence to someone called the Baron. Jake must trap the Baron in the act to prove his theories and that involves letting Maddie come into harm’s way. Will Jake risk his new love to prove his case?
Recommendation
I liked that the author included locations in Cleveland such as the West Side Market, Edgewater Park, the Flats, and Cleveland Clinic. I have frequented those locations and I think that the author has described and used them effectively. Most of Jake’s retro thinking, words and actions worked in the context of the story. He has a wise guy attitude that is appealing. I thought that the author missed an opportunity to complicate Jake’s relationship with Maddie by further developing his thoughts about his former girlfriend Amy. If they had met that would have added complications.
This was a short novel and I understand the limitations of that space, but I would have liked the story better if there was a more definitive conclusion. It felt like half of a novel. I think that there will be a worthwhile conclusion in The Darknet, Murder by Munchausen Mysteries Book 2 and I plan to read it when it is released.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of Murder by Munchausen by M. T. Bass.
Structuring Your Novel: Essential Keys to Writing an Outstanding Story by K.M. Weiland
Introduction
K. M. Weiland believes that structure is the most important component of storytelling. Structure is required in all of art, does not limit creativity, is not formulaic, offers a checklist of the must-have elements of a story, and solidifies the mastery of the craft. She details how story structure, scene structure, and sentence structure defines the writer’s work.
Summary
There are two camps in the theory of writing. One is called the plotters, who create outlines and view storytelling as a construction. The other group is the pantsers, who write from the seat of their pants and see where the story leads them. Perhaps the best description of this theory is by George R. R. Martin who says, “I think there are two types of writers, the architects and the gardeners. The architects plan everything ahead of time, like an architect building a house. They know how many rooms are going to be in the house, what kind of roof they’re going to have, where the wires are going to run, what kind of plumbing there’s going to be. They have the whole thing designed and blueprinted out before they even nail the first board up.
The gardeners dig a hole, drop in a seed and water it. They kind of know what seed it is, they know if planted a fantasy seed or mystery seed or whatever. But as the plant comes up and they water it, they don’t know how many branches it’s going to have, they find out as it grows. And I’m much more a gardener than an architect.”
K. M. Weiland shows in this book how to become a plotter/architect. Her thought is that if the writer has a solid structure built before writing then the writing will go smoother and there will be less false starts and extensive rewriting in the second draft.
Recommendation
I believe in much of the advice in Structuring Your Novel by K.M. Weiland and have used it in the novel that I am writing. What was most helpful was examining the complete outline transcript from her novel Storming which is available on her website.
The transcript uses the ideas from this book and from her other books on writing. Another resource that is available on her website is a template for the writing program Scrivener. The program is available for 30 days free on their website.
Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson, Book #3 of the Stormlight Archive
Introduction
The former city of the Knights Radiant, Urithiru, has been discovered and the order of the Knights Radiant has been revived. The Everstorm has returned along with the Voidbringers, called the Fused. Dalinar Kholin, the Uncle of the Alethi King Elhokar must try to unite all humans to fight the Voidbringers. His memories are coming back which complicates his problems. War has come to the world of Roshar and Dalinar is the only one who can win the war for the humans.
Summary – Three Viewpoints
There are three main viewpoint characters in this long novel. Dalinar is the novel’s main character. He has the flashback chapters which detail why he does not remember his wife and what happened up to the time that he lost his memories. Kaladin is the leader of his bodyguard and is the first member of the Knights Radiant order of windrunners. Kaladin’s flashbacks were in Book 1. His focus in this novel is to discover what the Voidbringers are planning.
Shallan’s flashbacks were in Book 2. Her struggle is with dealing with her other personalities which are taking over more and more of her life. She created these personalities to cope with the terrible things that have happened to her in her life. The personality Radiant trains with the Shardblade and is the ideal Knight Radiant. The personality Veil pretends to be worldlier than Shallan and associates with the underground gang called the Ghostbloods. Shallan also has trouble figuring out her relationship with her fiancé Adolin, who is Dalinar’s elder son. Shallan’s talents are creating illusions and creating items by surgebinding of stormlight. She is a member of the Knights Radiant Order of Lightweavers.
Summary – Voidbringers and Parshmen
The Voidbringers attack Kholinar, the Alethi capital, and the people gathered at Urithiru lose contact with them. Dalinar sends Kaladin to find out what is going on there. Kaladin first stops by at his hometown to make sure that his parents are well. He discovers that the Parshmen have been awakened.
The Parshmen are a non-human race that have been the slaves of the humans and have been in a state that is called dull form which decreases their intelligence. The Alethi have been fighting the Parshendi on the Shattered Plain since the Parshendi had Dalinar’s brother, Alethi King Gavilar, assassinated by the assassin in white. The secret they discover is that the Parshmen are actually Parshendi in the dull form. Some Parshendi, called the singers, have brought the Everstorm back and have awaked the Parshmen out of dull form. The Everstorm brings the Voidbringers who are called the Fused. The Fused are singers melded with ancient powerful spirits of Parshendi trapped by the Heralds in another plane. The Fused seek to overthrow the humans and retake Roshar as their own. The original Knights Radiant had discovered a secret about the Parshendi and had forsaken their vows.
Summary – Dalinar’s Visions
Dalinar has visions of the past which are brought to him by the Storm Father. The Storm Father is a Spren. Spren are creatures that are bonded to Knights Radiant and serve to focus their use of Stormlight. Kaladin’s spren is Sly, Shallan’s is Pattern, and Dalinar’s is the Storm Father. Dalinar is a Bondsmith and discovering the nature of his powers is important to his struggle. Dalinar hears the words unite them in his visions and he interprets that to mean that he must unite all the countries that have Oathgates.
Oathgates are used by Knights Radiant to teleport people and things from one Oathgate to another. The first two Oathgates that they control are at the Shattered Plains and at Urithiru. There is a total of ten Oathgates that circle the main Oathgate at Urithiru. Dalinar knows of other gates at Kholinar in Alethkar, Azir in Azir, Vedenar in Ja Kaved, and Thaylen City in Thaylenah. He brings the rulers of the countries to Urithiru to convince them to help him defeat the Voidbringers.
Dalinar sends a group to Kholinar to find out what happened there. The group includes Kaladin, Shallan, Adolin, and Elhokar. They face many trials and discover the secret behind the fate of Kholinar suffering tragedy along the way.
A climatic battle looms at Thaylen city where Dalinar has gathered his allies and awaits the coming of the Voidbringers. Dalinar must face his past and suffer unexpected disappointments in his mission to save the human race on Roshar.
Recommendation
This is a great book. It expands on the first two books and intensifies the conflict. The reader learns more about the lore of the Heralds, the desolations, the Voidbringers, and the Everstorm. Dalinar’s loss of memory is explained in full and Dalinar shines as a conflicted hero. Kaladin is the true hero of this series and learns more about himself and his abilities. Shallan fights her other personalities and finds a way to be happy about herself.
Oathbringer was Dalinar’s shardblade until he gave it up to Sadeas to save Kaladin’s bridge four crew. Sadeas is dead now and Dalinar has the shardblade back. Oathbringer the shardblade played an important part in the flashbacks that occurred before Dalinar’s loss of memory.
Opinion
In my opinion, about the only misstep of Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson is the handling of Adolin. He was the fourth main character in the first two books. He doesn’t appear as a viewpoint character until halfway through this book and is reduced to having only commentary about his clothes and looks. I expected a little more than that from Adolin.
A pleasant surprise is the development of Szeth-son-son-Vallano, the assassin in white. I think that he has an important part to play in the next two novels of the series and I am looking forward to understanding his role in this series. I wonder how Shallan will continue to deal with her multiple personalities and her relationship with Adolin. The flashback character for book 4 is Eshonai and book 5 is for Szeth. This series continues to amaze and I look forward to reading the next two volumes and the next group of five volumes in the coming years.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of Oathbringer by Brandon Sanderson.
Link to my review of Promise of Blood (Book #1 of the Powder Mage Trilogy) by Brian McClellan. The Powder Mage Trilogy has an interesting magic system like The Stormlight Archive series. The system uses gunpowder as the magic element.
Link to my review of Black Prism (Book #1 of the Lightbringer Series) by Brent Weeks. The Lightbringer series has an interesting magic system like The Stormlight Archive series. The system uses turning light into luxin as the magic element.
Nemesis Games by James S.A Corey, Book #5 of the Expanse Series
Introduction
The Rocinante must be refitted at Tycho Station after the crew’s last adventure in Ilus (New Terra) which was detailed in book #4 Cibola Burn. The crew splits up, each going on separate missions located around the solar system. Ships are disappearing mysteriously. Disaster strikes on Earth. The crew must come together to defeat a new menace or the balance of power in the solar system will be irrevocably changed.
Summary
For the first time in the series, all four members of the Rocinante crew are viewpoint characters. We can finally see what is inside the minds of Naomi, Amos, and Alex.
Four Viewpoints
Alex Kamal decides to reconnect with his old life on Mars including meeting with his ex-wife. He encounters Bobbi Draper and they go on a mission involving missing Martian MCRN ships.
Amos Burton goes back to Earth to face his past. There is a huge reveal of his true identity. He faces the disaster occurring on Earth. He visits Clarissa Mao (aka Peaches) in the prison where she is incarcerated. They must find a passage to Luna despite facing hostile enemies.
Naomi Nagata has a secret past that she kept from everyone including James Holden. Her secret is directly related to the reason for the missing ships. She must complete a difficult mission alone to redeem herself from the choices that she made in the past.
James Holden supervises the repairs on the Rocinante at Tycho Station. He works with the leader of the OPA, Fred Johnson, in discovering the whereabouts of missing colony ships.
Convergence
The four characters converge together and work on the same goal of dealing with each of their pasts and finding the shocking truth of the new order of the solar system.
Review
I think Nemesis Games is a great book. It is my second favorite book after the first of the series. Using the three new viewpoints was ingenious. Some viewpoints were more successful than others. Naomi’s was the best. Her secret was well thought out. She faced an extreme dilemma and was conflicted realistically. She attacked her problem with an analytical mind and found a solution which didn’t solve everything. James Holden was his usual action-oriented self. He worked well with Fred and thought things through. Amos had a lot to deal with in his past and faced it well. It seemed that the purpose of his journey was to bring Clarissa into the novel.
The timing of the events seemed too close to be realistic and that was the only weakness of this part. The weakest section was from Alex. It didn’t seem that he had enough of a motivation to return to Mars. His interaction with Bobbi was interesting but was also too much of a coincidence that it occurred.
Recommendation
The biggest problem with the novel Nemesis Games is that while there is some resolution to it, it serves only as a set up to the next novel, Babylon Ashes #6. By contrast, the previous four books all came to a strong conclusion. Fortunately, I don’t have to wait for a year to read it. I won a copy of the e-book in a Goodreads giveaway so I will read it very soon.
The Dead Key by D M Pulley is a story about two women separated by time but connected by a secret involving an abandoned safe deposit box. In 1978, Beatrice Baker interviews for a job at the First Bank of Cleveland. In 1998, Iris Latch is an architect who is examining the First Bank of Cleveland building for a redevelopment project. The Bank was closed twenty years before and has been abandoned for all those years. The safe deposit boxes are still locked from the day the bank closed. Iris must figure out what happened at the bank in 1978.
Summary
The chapters alternate between the two viewpoint characters. Beatrice gets an interview with Mr. Thompson at the bank with the help of her Aunt Doris. Beatrice is young and naïve but gets a job in the secretarial pool. Max, who is another secretary, takes Beatrice under her wing. Mr. Thompson, Aunt Doris, and Max all have secrets and Beatrice must discover the truth, or someone will end up killing her. Iris has been doing menial work for her architectural firm. She is assigned to assist Brad in drawing floor plans for the old First Bank of Cleveland building so that the building could be redeveloped.
Iris sees the locked safe deposit boxes in the building’s basement and is curious about their contents. She is involved with her coworker Nick both romantically and work-related. This complicates Iris’s life. Beatrice and Iris’s stories are connected through one man, Ramone. He was a janitor in 1978 and has served as the lone security person for the entire building from 1978 to 1998. His knowledge is important to both women.
Recommendation
There is a lot to like about this novel. The background is interesting. The writing is clear. The mystery is complicated. I find that the protagonists keep this novel from being great. Beatrice is sympathetic because she is young and thrown out of her element. She should have grown more as a character because of all the stressful events that occurred during the story. Iris is simply unlikeable. She smokes, has a superficial relationship with Nick, and is frankly dumb. Iris does risky and foolish things in this novel. She stumbles onto the truth despite her shortcomings. I wasn’t rooting for her to succeed and thought that she ended up where she should have.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of The Dead Key by D M Pulley.
This is the link to my review of The Unclaimed Victim by D.M. Pulley. Ethel from March 1938 and Kris from April 1999 are connected through the Torso Killer of Cleveland. They are targets. Can they survive?
Will Tamas escape from the Kez army and save Adro? Can Adamat rescue his wife and children from Lord Vetas? Will Taniel shake off his demons and defeat the demi-god Kresimir, again?
Summary
Tamas is at war with Kez. He becomes trapped behind enemy lines with two of his elite brigades. They face a long and dangerous journey to find their way back to Adro. Adamat must rescue his wife and children from Lord Vetas. He enlists Taniel’s friend Bo to help him defeat his foe. Bo is the last Privileged in the city of Adopest and Adamat goes to great lengths to secure his help. Adamat’s story is one of family and sacrifice and Adamat must extend himself to save his family. Taniel starts this novel in a haze den, unable to come to grips with what occurred at the end of the previous novel, Promise of Blood. He breaks his melancholy as the forces of Kez attack deep into Adro. Taniel is the last Powder Mage on this front. Taniel and his faithful companion, Ka-Poel, fight back the invaders. The looming battle between Kresimir on the Kez side and Mihali on the Adro side concludes with Taniel caught in the middle.
Recommendation
This novel is a great follow up to the first novel in the series, Promise of Blood. The action is non-stop and the three main narrators have compelling stories. Bo becomes an important character as well. The potential relevance of Nila and Vlora is hinted at but they remain underdeveloped characters. This middle novel sets up a gripping conclusion in the third novel of the series which is called The Autumn Republic.
Cibola Burn by James S.A. Corey, Book #4 of the Expanse Series
Introduction
After a thousand worlds were opened up by James Holden in Abaddon’s Gate everyone wants to be the first to claim the richest world possible. Belters, Martians, and people of the UN take any ship that they can find to leave the solar system. This novel, Cibola Burn, is about one particular world where refugees from Ganymede and a corporation with UN land rites called the Royal Charter Energy (RCE) come into conflict. James Holden is brought in to negotiate their claims but none of them are prepared for the consequences of waking up a planet after a billion years asleep that was created by the entities that sent the protomolecule to the solar system.
Summary
This novel has four Point of View characters plus a fifth called the investigator.
Basia Merton is one of the Ganymede refugees that came to Ilus to escape the destruction of Ganymede. He is part of a sabotage plan upon the RCE who came to take over the planet which they call New Terra. The RCE has a charter from the UN to explore and develop the planet. The refugees are not recognized by the RCE. The refugees want to destroy the RCE colony ship, Edward Israel, but Basia has reservations at the last minute. An RCE shuttle is destroyed which kills the provisional governor and leaves a scientific team stranded. Adolphus Mutry, the leader of the colony ship’s security detail, comes down to the planet and takes charge. Basia gets involved in a plot against him.
Elvi Okoye is a scientist, an exozoologist, on the RCI team that wants to explore the planet. She is stranded with the rest of the scientific team.
Dimitri Havelock is a security officer on the colony ship. He was the partner of Miller on Ceres employed by the Star Helix security firm. Now he is employed by RCI and is the head of active security on the ship while Murtry is on the planet.
James Holden is the only character who has previously been a Point of View character in the series. After the shuttle is destroyed Chrisjen Avasarala, the UN Secretary-General, convinces Holden to go to the planet and serve as a negotiator. Since this is the first case where conflict among the new worlds has developed, she wants an impartial person to negotiate a solution.
The Investigator viewpoint’s purpose is unclear until the end of the novel where it is explained.
Review
This novel is very good and I would recommend it for readers of the series but there were some curious plot choices made in the novel. I liked that this novel focused on a more constrictive story compared to the solar system wide stories of the previous novels. It was interesting seeing Holden, the man of action, attempting to play the negotiator. The character of Basia was suitably conflicted. He mixed the story of Ganymede with his complicity in the plot to hurt the RCE members. Another aspect was finding the courage to let his daughter Felcia choose her own path. He also decided to help the Rocinante crew when he was presented with the chance to do so.
Recommendation
I’m not sure where the arc for Elvi was supposed to go. She starts out with a schoolgirl crush on Holden. I thought maybe she would have put Holden in a compromising position. That could have been interesting but the whole idea was dropped suddenly. I don’t understand why Havelock was brought back as a character. His arc didn’t have anything to do with him being a partner to Miller. He was dropped into this story randomly. Security officer Carlos “Bull” c de Baca was a character from Abaddon’s Gate. If Bull’s name was substituted for Havelock’s name then I don’t think that any of the plot elements would have been changed. That tells me that Havelock was not an essential character. I did like his interaction with Naomi at the end of the novel. The novel, Cibola Burn, was another enjoyable read and I intend to read the next novel in the series, Nemesis Games, soon.
Wade Watts is finishing his last year of high school. He’s poor and has no prospects. His parents are dead and he lives with his junkie aunt in a trailer park. The year is 2044. The seas have risen and the displaced people including Wade are crammed into high-rise trailer parks. The only way out is to win a contest for a billionaire’s fortune. The contest started five years ago but no one has won it yet, so Wade is determined to win it to secure his future.
Summary – Halliday
The contest was created by the eccentric co-creator of the OASIS, James Halliday. The OASIS is a virtual reality system using a Wi-Fi unit, glasses, and gloves. Halliday’s company called Gregarious Simulation Systems (GSS) builds the units and distributes them for free to everyone in the world. The company makes money through paid add-ons. The OASIS provides education, entertainment, and jobs to the masses. All school classes are held in virtual classrooms.
When Halliday dies the contest is opened. The first person who solves his three riddles and completes the three gates will collect his entire fortune. The clues started in a video that Halliday had posted after his death. Halliday loved the 80s since it was the time of his youth. He fixated on classic video games, sci-fi and fantasy novels, and movies.
Summary – Gunters
The people who studied the era to win the contest were called gunters. After five years of many people trying and not solving the first riddle, only the gunters still attempted to solve the contest. Wade is one of those gunters under his username of Parzival. His best friend in OASIS, who he has never seen in real life, is called Aech and they share knowledge of everything about the 80s. Wade’s crush is on a girl who he knows as Art3mis. The gunters try to win the contest singly or in a clan.
Things change when a corporation called IOI is formed to specifically win the contest. They want to use the fortune to take over OASIS and make it a paid platform. The gunters hate this and call the corporation sixers. Wade and his friends vow to win the contest before the sixers can win to preserve the OASIS as they know it. It will be difficult because the sixers have the money and will do anything to win.
Recommendation
Ready Player One is a great book. I cannot give this novel an unbiased review. I was hooked when The Tomb of Horrors became important to solving the first puzzle. The Tomb of Horrors, which was published in 1978, is a module for the Advanced Dungeons and Dragons game. Advanced Dungeons and Dragons is a paper, pen, and dice roleplaying game that came out in the late 70s and early 80s. I remember playing that module as a dungeon master in 1983. Other media that is featured in the puzzles include Zork, a text-based computer game, The Dungeons of Daggorath, a role-playing video game, Black Tiger, a hack and slash arcade game, and Joust, a multiplayer video game. Movies used in the contest were Wargames, Bladerunner, and Monty Python and the Holy Grail. The album by the band Rush called 2112 from 1976 was also important.
The author weaves the 80s nostalgia throughout the book. I liked the kids and their mission. There were very few missteps in my opinion. There were too many info dumps early in the book. It provided important information but stopped the plot. Having a corporate evil antagonist was cliché like the government in the movie E. T. I felt that there should have been a further reveal for Art3mis at the end of the novel. It was a missed opportunity.
Other Media Connections
Other computer games that I think would fit in with Ready Player One are the Space Quest series by Sierra Games and Wizardry, which seems like a computer game version of the Dungeons of Daggorath. Video games that I liked from that time were Double Dragon, Galaga, Gauntlet, Dragon’s Lair, and Space Ace. I think that the music of Blue Oyster Cult would have fit more with the theme of the book, especially the songs about the Imaginos concept.
This picture has some of my memorabilia that is featured in Ready Player One. They are The Tomb of Horrors module for Advanced Dungeons and Dragons, the record album by the band Rush called 2112, and my VHS copy of the Monty Python and the Holy Grail.
Killing the Rising Sun by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard
Killing the Rising Sun by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard, Book #6 of the Killing of Historical Figures Series
Introduction
The authors use eyewitness accounts and historical documents to tell their stories. It is written as a first person account of how America defeated Japan in World War II. There are many stories told in this book. Some were of Emperor Hirohito of Japan, American general Douglas MacArthur, Japanese submarine captain Mochitsura Hashimoto, American physicist Robert Oppenheimer, and American president Harry S. Truman. Why did the Americans drop two atomic bombs on Japan? This book attempts to answer that important question.
Summary – Origins of World War II
Japan’s military leaders convinced Emperor Hirohito that Japan must expand to get natural resources or die. The Japanese expanded into China but came to the point when they must cross American interests in the Philippines. The Philippines blocked Japan’s expansion into South East Asia. The war between America and Japan started with the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor in Hawaii on December 7, 1941.
The Philippines were aligned with America and their military commander was General Douglas MacArthur. The Japanese took over the Philippines in 1942 and MacArthur retreated to Australia. The Japanese expanded to the south in 1942. The Americans regrouped. In 1943 and 1944 the Americans employed the strategy of island hopping. They took the islands that were needed to drive to Japan one by one including retaking the Philippines. The last island taken was Okinawa. The Japanese fought to the last man, inflicting many casualties on the Americans. The island was secured on June 30, 1945. The invasion of Japan, called Operation Olympic, was scheduled for November 1, 1945, to be led by General MacArthur. The operation faced the possibility of huge casualties occurring.
Summary – The Manhattan Project
In 1939 the Germans sought to create an atomic bomb. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt approved the Manhattan Project which sought to create the atomic bomb first. The Manhattan Project was headed by Robert Oppenheimer. The Americans were successful and tested the first atomic bomb on July 16, 1945, called the Trinity test. Two more bombs were constructed, called Little Boy and Fat Man. Little Boy was shipped on the U.S.S. Indianapolis on July 16, 1945, from San Francisco to Tinian Island. The island was in the range of the Japanese main land by using a B-29 bomber.
The U.S.S Indianapolis delivered the pieces of the atomic bomb, Little Boy, at Tinian Island on July 26, 1945. The ship then headed to the Philippines for a training mission. Mochitsura Hashimoto commanded the Japanese submarine I-58. The sub had been attempting to sink an American ship for the last six months without success. Hashimoto spotted and sank the Indianapolis early on July 30, 1945. The distress call is missed and many men die in the water before they are accidentally discovered on August 2, 1945. The ship’s crew was 1196 men. About 800 men entered the water and only 317 survived the ordeal.
Summary – Decision to Drop the Bomb
Franklin Delano Roosevelt is elected president for his fourth term on November 7, 1944, with a new vice-president, Harry S. Truman. Roosevelt dies on April 12, 1945, which made Truman the president. The first atomic bomb was tested on July 16, 1945. Truman must decide if the bomb that was delivered by the Indianapolis would be used against Japan. It is a dilemma. He can either start Operation Olympic to invade Japan and lose up to a million American casualties or he can use the bomb to kill over 100000 innocent Japanese civilians and end the war. He chooses to drop the first atomic bomb ever used in war.
The bomb explodes over Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. The B-29 named Enola Gay dropped it and it caused 120000 dead and wounded. Hirohito sought to save face and would not accept an unconditional surrender. On August 9, 1945, the B-29 named Bockscar dropped the Fat Man on Nagasaki and caused 140000 casualties. Japan surrenders on August 14, 1945. General Douglas MacArthur accepts Emperor Hirohito’s surrender on the battleship Missouri in Tokyo Bay on September 2, 1945.
Summary – Aftermath of the War
Emperor Hirohito remains the Emperor of Japan but has no power. Douglas MacArthur oversaw the occupation of Japan and was the leader of the United Nations forces in the Korean War. MacArthur wanted to increase the scope of the war to include attacking China but Truman did not want to do that so he dismissed Macarthur from service on April 11, 1951. Mochitsura Hashimoto helped bring the Japanese troops home from China and the retired as a Shinto priest. Robert Oppenheimer created a think tank called the Institute for Advanced Study. He lost his security clearance on suspicion of being a Communist sympathizer and died from throat cancer. Truman was elected president in 1948, but his dismissal of MacArthur in 1951 led to him not seeking re-election in 1952.
Recommendation
I have only detailed five stories in the post, but there are many others in this book. The authors researched the story of the American defeat of Japan and presented it in a quick and compelling manner. I had heard of the historical theory that using the atomic bomb had saved many American soldiers lives, but had not heard it described as completely as the authors have done in this book. I would recommend reading this book to learn about that theory.
Links
This is the link to the Goodreads page of Killing the Rising Sun by Bill O’Reilly and Martin Dugard.
This is the first book with history as its subject that I have reviewed. A fiction book that takes historical facts and put them in a fantasy context is American Gods by Neil Gaiman. My review of the book is linked below.
The Blinding Knife is Book #2 of The Lightbringer series
Introduction
Gavin Guile is the Prism, the leader of the Seven Satrapies. Prisms only live for seven years before the build-up of drafting luxin by the magic of chromaturgy forces them to die. Gavin has seven great purposes that he wants to complete before he dies. His problem is that he is losing the ability to draft colors, starting with blue, and he only has about one year left to live. In addition, the Color Prince has raised an army in Tyrea and is threatening to invade Atash. He must complete his seven great purposes and defeat the Color Prince or the whole foundation of the Seven Satrapies will fall.
Summary
The main characters are back from the first book of the series which was called the Black Prism. Gavin has taken the refugees from Garriston to an island. He leaves Corvan Danavis to lead them. Kip is Gavin’s bastard son, who becomes a Blackguard trainee. Gavin’s former fiancé Karris White Oak protects Gavin as a member of the Blackguards. Liv Davavis, Corvan’s daughter, is a member of the Color Prince’s army. Gavin’s prisoner has broken out of one cell only to be trapped in another cell. Gunner, a pirate captain, is added to the view point character list.
Gavin is the main character. He faces many trials. Prisms can draft all colors, but he is losing his ability to draft colors starting with blue. One of the Prism’s jobs is to keep the colors in balance. Keeping the colors in balance eliminates the appearance of colored banes. Gavin has lost blue and must defeat a blue bane, which can cause destruction if not stopped. Gavin’s father Andross is a member of the Prism’s advisory group. Andross is the Red member of the group and he tries to undermine Gavin’s position and get him to marry a woman Gavin does not love for political gain. Kip is almost as important to the plot as Gavin. Andross does not like having a bastard grandson and seeks to cause Kip to fail at his training in the Blackguards. Gavin, Kip, Karris, Andross, Liv, and the Color Prince are at odds in the climactic battle at the end of this novel.
Recommendation
I enjoyed this novel almost as much as the Black Prism. It does not suffer the issues of most middle books in a series, because it reads like a section of the greater work called the Lightbringer. Story lines are concluded and spun off into greater story lines. I only have a couple of nits to pick. It feels like the chapters with Gunner as the viewpoint character were tacked on. The author had a plot point at the end of this novel involving Gunner and he dropped Gunner’s chapters along the way. It should have felt more part of the narrative to be more believable. The other thing that I did not find believable was the resolution of the prisoner’s plot. I think there is something more here and it was resolved too quickly in this novel. I did like Gavin’s transformation, Kip growing character, the reveal of the Color Prince’s true identity, the addition of Kip’s buddy Teia who is another Blackguard trainee, and the use of the Blinding Knife as an important instrument of concluding this novel.
