The Good, The Bad, and the Smug by Tom Holt

Are you trying to fill the hole that Terry Pratchett left in this universe?

Maybe you were more into Doug Adams. Guess what? He’s gone too.

Vonnegut? Long passed. My tears for him are dry.

You know who we do have? Tom Holt!

He likes to mix a fantasy and science fiction universe with jokes and magical doughnuts.

His books feel familiar in your mouth, light and fluffy with a bit of meat thrown in there - cut my own throat!.

What happens in this one? Well, an extended joke about Rumpelstiltskin and hard money monetary policy for one. Some other stuff too. Read it!

The Fire This Time: Coates's "Between the World and Me"

Reading this was like reading

the Fire Next Time.

It’s the world I live in.

But so unfamiliar.

Wanting to say eloquent,

knowing it is back

handed. Expecting nothing

less from the Author,

needing him so much

to keep writing.

And in a generation,

There won’t be the need

for books

That remind that reader

of Between The World

And Me

Uneven but Entertaining: Scott Meyer's "Off to Be the Wizard"

I’m not a big fan of exposition.

So at first I was super pleased that this book seemed to really just roll through the introductory stuff.

We learn that the world is a computer program, and it can be manipulated. We also learn that the main character can get himself in trouble very easily. So he then has to make a quick choice to escape to medieval england.

His plan is to be a wizard. He goes and fnds that there are other people who have made the discovery. And then the bulk of the book is the main character going through the learning process. It turns out that the exposition is the thing. There’s some plot, a bit of conflict, but it seems grafted on. I wrote myself a note at page 270 (of 373) that there was only a hint at the conflict that might be going on. Maybe I missed some sign-posts, but this is much more character driven than the cover would suggest.

But the thing is that it is still pretty good. Maybe Meyer isn’t one for a lot of plot, it is more like one of those movies put together by the SNL alums in the 90s where the plot is secondary and it’s mostly just stitched-together sketches. I wasn’t expecting that, so I was a little let down. I’ll probably seek out the rest of the series in the future. At least now I know what to expect.