the Fiction Demon

This is the first book in Morgan Rice's The Sorcerer's Ring series, about a boy named Thor who is struggling to be a knight, defeat evil, be with the princess, all those things that boys do in cliche fantasy novels. Rice is a self-published author who has become very well-known. It's not because of the strength of her writing, though. This boek is truly awful. It's so bad, in just about every way. I agree with every sentiment expressed in this wonderfully-written review but let me add a few of my own. First of all, the prose is really terrible. There are grammar mistakes, awkward phrasing, continuity errors in the plot ... but okay, so we don't all have a talent for poetic language. Honestly, though, did this author even do ANY revising? At least try! The plot is, of course, a collection of every overused fantasy cliché ever. But, again, that alone is not enough to make the book the affront to fantasy that it is. The clichés were so poorly executed that I felt p...

On this blog, I plan to mostly do book and series reviews. I want to start, though, with a story that illustrates the value of fantasy in my life, and, I believe, in the world. Last summer, I had the privilege of studying abroad for a month in Cuba. I wanted to take classes I needed, work on my Spanish, and, most of all, test my ability to adapt to a new environment. The Caribbean sun was hot, the thick, wet heat that makes it hard to breathe, the language was difficult and isolating, and the food and customs were so foreign to me. Although I knew why I was there, and there were many things which I loved about the experience of living in Cuba, I could not help but feel uncomfortable and homesick. My roommates and others in my school group shared similar feelings with me. One of my roomates, a girl whose colorfully dyed hair melted and turned strange shades of blue and green in the humid heat, loved movies, and had brought a USB with dozens of them saved on it. As the days faded into h...