Book Review: The King's Blood by Daniel Abraham

The King's Blood, by Daniel Abraham, is the sequel to The Dragon's Path, one of my top 5 books of 2011. The story continues where we left off with mostly the same characters. Not sure if I'll have the sequel among my top 5 this year, since I've read so many other good books in 2012.

A tyrant's power increases with the help of priests of a ravenous Goddess while a young banker struggles to hold on to her bank. Things are going to get messy as war breaks out in the lands once ruled by dragons.

Read on, to find out what I thought.

Chile on September 18

September is a month of history in Chile. Back on September 11, we saw the remembrance of the military coup that overthrew Allende and established the Pinochet dictatorship. Today, however, we go further back in history: to September 18, 1810 and the first steps in Chile's independence. From my readings, it looks like there were many notable dates throughout the process for independence, but September 18 is celebrated as the Day.

Chile on September 11

In the United States of America, September 11, 2001 (aka 9/11) is remembered as the day terrorists hijacked several aircraft and crashed them, most famously into the Twin Towers of the World Trade Center in New York City. While those events were tragic, it's sometimes easy to forget, particularly in this political climate, that the US is not the only country of the Earth. There is a whole world out there for whom the date may or may not have special significance.
Chile is one country that remembers something similar for September 11.

Video Book Reviews

As you may know, I've written several reviews for books I've read and enjoyed this past year. You can see them all by searching for "book review" on the right-hand search box, or showing all those entries with the label "books" (for example, the tab above). You can also filter by science fiction or fantasy if you prefer.

One thing you may have noticed, though, is that my reviews tend to be a bit long. I have suffered when people ask me what a book is about and I can't tell them quickly enough.

Enter: 1-minute book video summary/reviews/thoughts.

Book Review: A Fire Upon the Deep by Vernor Vinge

There are some books people frequently recommend. I've heard a lot of people praising Vernor Vinge for A Fire Upon the Deep, but never once do they tell what it's about. Then I read the basic blurb, which talks about Zones in the Galaxy that control where advanced technologies (like faster-than-light travel) can work. That sounded original so I finally got it. And was blown away. This was one of the best pieces of fiction I have read in a long time. It is certainly among my Top 5 this year. It's not just because of the Zones, though. There is a lot to enjoy in this book: a medieval society experiencing first contact, "world"-building on a galactic and extra-galactic scale, a Blight that threatens to destroy the civilizations in the Galaxy, and some very odd alien races. Read on to see my full review.

Of Hurricanes, gods, and planet Jupiter

It's hurricane season in the Atlantic right now, so that means lots of news channels will be reporting on the latest storms to develop. Given that I grew up in Puerto Rico and lived a few years in Florida, I have had my share of storms and can attest to their intensity.

Above is an awesome graph created by John Nelson, a data visualization expert. The graph depicts every tropical storm and hurricane that has been recorded since 1851, color coded by intensity. The projection is polar, so we see Antarctica in the center and the US off in the edge near the right. The Southern Hemisphere hasn't been tracked until more recently, hence the fewer storms there.

This post, as you may be able to tell from the title, ties together hurricanes, storm gods, and the planet Jupiter. More information after the jump.

Poetry: The Fellowship

Back in high school I dabbled in some poetry some time before the first of the Lord of the Rings movies came out. I wrote four epic poems set in that world (with some liberties at time). I'll be posting them here when I find I haven't posted in a while. I am not a poet, so I don't think these are great, but perhaps you'll disagree?

Here is the first of them.

Book Review: Assassin's Apprentice by Robin Hobb

I consider myself a fan of fantasy and science fiction and there are certain names that always get mentioned by people in the genre. Robin Hobb is one of these names and yet I had never read her books. Given that Sword & Laser, one of the shows on the amazing Geek & Sundry lineup, is reading the book this month, I figured: it's time. And I have to say I'm glad I finally read Robin Hobb's Assassin's Apprentice.

Click through to find out why.