book review

So. I finished Echoes of the Fourth Magic the other night.

Gotta say that I'm truly impressed. It was a fresh take on a post apocalyptic society.

I don't want to say too much and give anything away for those who haven't read it. If you haven't, I highly recommend that you do. The hottest geek I know told me to read the series, and damned if he wasn't right yet again.

There are two things that I really liked the most about the first book in the series and have me ready for the next.

The first is the way that Salvatore tied the old world to the new. This includes everything from the hold overs from the dead world that went before, to the speech patterns of the various races that were inherited from the few who came forward. It provides a nice solid background to the characters in the story and makes them feel like they fit in the places he's put them.

The other thing I liked, which will likely be a topic of future musing, was the main protagonists view of war and violence. Despite my road rage and the general joking about that I do, I'm actually not violent in the least. I unleash my temper through words and vent out the angry grr feelings by imagining horrid things and then throwing them away. I'd never actually do any of it because violence is... well... eww.

It's abhorrent and does nothing but beget more violence. We're a primitive people, genetically, and our biological urges haven't caught up to our super ego imposed societal mores. (Re-reading that, it looks dreadfully pretentious and vaguely along the lines of one of our all time favourite subjects of pokeage... so... it stays.) The point is, we're still rather base creatures. Prone to fighting and given to vengeance.

It's a hard urge to overcome and I battle with it every time some halfwit in a toyota cuts me off. But, battle it I do. And so does our hero in this novel. That, more than anything, is what endeared the story to me.

Yeah, we can make the world better... but we need to start with ourselves first.

Note: I no longer have a ton of time to read, as I've managed to wrangle myself all kinds of obligations for my time. So these will happen whenever I manage to finish a book. On my desk to be read (and waiting to be pulled out of boxes) there are currently at least 14 books. So bear with me. I'll get to them all eventually.