Monalisa Foster's Ravages of Honor

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Sometime, in the course of human events, consuming a form of entertainment that is in your favorite genre but it is different in a lot of ways than the works that you usually consume is a good thing. Seriously. Listen, if you read this blog frequently (Hi, Mom!) you know that I usually take my Science Fiction with a huge helping of gun/blaster shots and a heaping side of BOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!! I like that. But let's face it, not all SF has to be that. That's a good thing, because not all SF is that. Take, for example, Monalisa Foster's Ravages of Honor. 

Seriously, it's a good book and there is enough gratuitous violence to keep us all entertained. We get everything from veiled threats to outright carnage. I love the fact that Ravages of Honor has a futuristic setting, but a lot of the weapons are things that Richard the Lionhearted or Tokugawa Ieyasu would have recognized. Some of this stuff is just amazing and it fits. Morgan-Foster does a great job blending old with the new. That in and of itself is a bit of a change (and no, lightsabers don't count as ancient weapons) but it's not the one I'm referring to. Don't get me wrong, a sword wielding donai (what's a donai? Well, you can either take my word that it's a genetically engineered person bred for war OR you can read the book and see if I'm telling the truth.) is a lot of fun and not someone I'd want to run up against, but that's not all there is to it.

I've read a lot of Science Fiction over the years. I mean, I started reading SF in the early eighties when I had to go to the public library to get it because I wasn't allowed in the big kids part of the school library. That was a long time ago, seeing as I just hit forty-three. In three plus decades of reading/watching Science Fiction and Fantasy, I have read precisely one other SF/F author that does romance as well as Foster and that's Catherine Asaro. Asaro has won multiple awards from the Romantic Times so I'm guessing that someone with more experience with works in that genre can back me here.

The main characters name is Syteria and she goes through a romance arc unlike anything I've read since probably Radiant Hawk by the aforementioned Asaro. It's weird because I haven't really read any pure romance since I was a kid raiding my Aunt Janice's book collection (yes, it happened. Don't tell anybody though, k? This is just between me and you.) and that's because I'm not really a fan. But if you add it to a SF narrative, I'm in and boy, am I in.

I don't want to give too much away about the arc itself. Suffice it to say that at one point, I thought it might go a different way. I was actually rather surprised that it didn't. I have a habit of predicting the end of a book based on gut feeling and half-considered plot points and I'm nearly always wrong but I was absolutely sure I had this one figured out. Oops.

There is also a David Weber-esque amount of political intrigue. There might actually be more than what he would typically put into a novel, since political machinations in the Honorverseor Safehold, for example, are typically between an established authority and the loyal opposition or a force from outside the state itself. The political scheming in Ravages of Honor takes place within a kingdom. It's a rough galaxy out there and it's one I'm glad I don't have to try to navigate, unlike our heroine.

No, Syteria is not native to the Imperium. She comes from a far off planet and finds herself thrust into a place where she doesn't speak the language and doesn't understand the customs. This is a technique used by a lot of authors. Gene Roddenberry put both Spock and Data into their respective Star Trek series for just this reason. Heinlein used Thorby to show us how Free Trader culture worked in Citizen of the Galaxy. An outsider learning about how a culture works in a work helps the reader/viewer learn about the culture that a writer has created without forcing us to feel like we've been spoonfed information. Foster's use of a time honored technique does her credit. Even for a science fiction author there is no need to reinvent the wheel, especially when it works this well.

Of course, the other characters in the story have to make sense as well, and this is where Foster really shines. I'm guessing she's done some serious research into how real world cultures work because I can see flashes of things here and there that make sense based on a real world perspective. She's mixed things together really well to come up with something that feels authentic but that is original. The characters in Ravages of Honor act in ways that are human. They may not be purely logical, but they make sense given the motivations of the character and that's huge. One of the things that drives me out of my gourd sometimes is when characters act in ways that they have no reason to. Foster's characters do things based on their own thoughts and feelings and the cultures they were raised in.

Don't let all of that fool you though. This is still a strong SF story, complete with starships and secret technologies. There's even a mad doctor and some alien fauna that has the potential to really ruin your day if you're not careful. The thing is that this story would probably work without  the SFnal backdrop if it were rewritten that way. There aren't a lot of stories I'd say that about but ,for this one, it's true. I'll confess to not having read anything by Mrs. Foster prior to this, but I look to be changing that in the near future. If her other stuff is this good, it'll be worth my time. Oh, and it wouldn't hurt my feelings to see this one nominated for a Dragon Award, either. I'll be keeping it in mind when it comes time to fill in my ballot in a few months.

Bottom Line:  5.0 out of 5 Concealed Daggers

Ravages of Honor
Monalisa Foster
Polite Society Enterprises LLC, 2019

Ravages of Honor is available for purchase at the following link. If you use my link to get to Amazon and buy basically anything I get a small percentage at no extra cost to you:

Lucasfilm's The Rise of Skywalker

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Look, I know my opinions on the first two installments of the latest Star Wars trilogy have not been all that well received in certain circles. I have been casigated by some simply for posting links to trailers. So be it. The rules listed in the very first post on this selfsame blog state flat out that it's okay to trash me. I'm a big boy and I'm putting myself out there. I'm perfectly okay with someone telling me I'm full of poo-poo. Seriously folks, bring it.

That much having been said...

I loved The Rise of Skywalker.

I mean, flat out loved it.

My most favoritest Star Wars flick will always be Return of the Jedi because that's the first one I ever saw, at the old Chesterfield Cinema I think it was called (it's been thirty-six years, I may be wrong) with my mama. I laughed through it mostly. My mom kept me laughing because she didn't want me to be scared by all the crazy looking aliens. I was young enough that she might have had a point.

After that, my next favorite is Empire, followed by Star Wars. After that, I'm going with Rogue One. After that though, it's The Rise of Skywalker. Seriously. Solo would come next, but whatever.

I'm struggling here because this is a tough one to review without spoiling it. Seriously. There is a lot of good stuff here, but I don't want to talk about any of it in specific. Wish me luck. I'm going to need it.

Let's start out with Kylo Ren. His character arc is amazing. At one point, he almost had me in tears. Adam Driver is pretty amazing this time around. I found myself enthralled with the way this worked out. Others have criticized the way things went, but honestly it turned out better than I expected it to.

Rey's character arc was pretty awesome as well. It was pretty apparent that she was afraid of the way she was going to turn out but it went the way I wanted it to for the most part. I have heard that Daisy Ridley has publicly refused to be involved with the Star Wars franchise in the future. That sucks, because if I were the one writing it (Hey Lucasfilm! I'll work for half of whatever your current writers are getting. Wait. What? Whaddaya mean credentials? Resume? CV? Who needs those?) she'd get a whole trilogy in the future centered around herself especially considering the thing that happened at the one part. It would totally fit.

And if I couldn't get Rey, I'd go with one about Finn. Or maybe I'd do both. Except I think I heard that he won't be back too. That puff peppies though, because there was enough of a development with Finn that it needs to be explored. I'm not going to say what it was, except that it was something I picked up on in The Force Awakens lo those many years ago. I was surprised though, because...

Yeah, not going to reveal that. Watch the movie.

And yes, Poe had his moment too. I'm wondering if the people who are running around claiming that there was no planning done for the trilogy have watched the first two though, because his was a fairly typical character arc but it was performed beautifully. Mix Finn and Poe and there is strong evidence that things were planned from the beginning. I mean, if you were paying attention instead of whining incessantly about forced political correctness. \

Listen, I'm as anti-PC BS as anyone you know. I was once threatened with expulsion from a graduate program by a freaking Social Justice Bully because I said I wasn't ashamed to be white. That much being said, not EVERYTHING is SJB crap just like not EVERYTHING is race. Grow up, no matter what side you're on.

Having said that....

I was glad to see less of Rose this time. I kind of felt like she was always there just to show a female Asian  face and not to accomplish anything as a character. This time she actually did more than deliver one cheesy line and be diverse. It's nothing against Kelly Marie Tran. She's a good actress.

It's not that I'm against diversity. I'm all for diversity if the character has a point in existence. Look back at Star Trek:The Original Series. Hikaru Sulu, played by George Takei was, to the best of my knowledge and belief, possibly the only Asian on TV in the US at the time. Nyota Uhura, played by Nichelle Nichols, was one of a very few black women on TV in the US at the time as well. There weren't very many shows with integrated casts earlier than that, either.

The difference is that Uhura was the Communications Officer. She had an important job keeping her captain informed of things going on outside the ship. Sulu flew the ship and took part in some away teams. Rose, well, uhh...

She delivered a cheesy line at the end of The Last Jedi and didn't do much else.

If you want an example of a couple of  good “diverse” character in the same trilogy, look at Finn and Poe. Oscar Isaac (Poe) is Latino. He was born in Guatemala. John Boyega (Finn) is, of course, black. That's how to do it right.

I am, of course, a fan of story uber alles. There is a reason for that. It's because that's what fiction, and some non-fiction if you're into popular history, is all about. That's always been my main focus. It always will be.  As far as I'm concerned if you're reviewing fiction and story isn't your main focus you're doing it wrong. Sometimes though, other forces effect entertainment value, and this IS Star Wars, so...

The special effects for The Rise of Skywalker were completely amazing. I don't want to list them all. I can't list too many without giving up too much of the plot. I will say this though: OH MY HOLY FREAKING WOW! This movie was gorgeous. Whether it was stormy seas or space battles, everything looked great.

And, being a band geek, I can't NOT mention John Williams. He has stated that this is his last Star Wars. That makes me sad. John Williams has been with us since the beginning. Even so, he's earned his retirement. His music has always been amazing and, if I got in trouble for whistling the Princess Leia theme at my daughter when her mother thought she was my princess, that's not his fault per se. We played a John Williams show for marching band my sophomore year of high school and I loved it. I wish you well Mr. Williams and you can always count on having me as a fan. And I'll be an even bigger fan (in more ways than one) if I never have to march to Liberty Fanfare again. That tempo was just too fast for us non-athletic types.

Oh, and by the way...

That's because he can put a score like this together. Seriously. Well done music can enhance a mood and make a story work better. John Williams gets that and his music does that. The Rise of Skywalker is one of his best.  I probably should've (not should of) mentioned that first. Oops. Ah well, my blog my goofiness.

Overall, the only thing I found disappointing about The Rise of Skywalker was the Knights of Ren. Yep, we see them. I don't remember any of them speaking a single line. I mean, they look all intimidating and stuff and there was a pretty awesome fight scene with them in it but by and large, they've got a bad case of Rose Tico disease: Show up for looks and don't do much else. They all wore armor and masks, so I have no clue if they were “diverse” or not.  Overall, they should have just left them out of the trilogy completely. It would have changed basically nothing and there would have been no whining after the first two were released without them in it. Oh well, maybe Disney will make a bunch of loot selling the toys based on these guys.

Let's face it, too: A lot of us are getting a little long in the tooth. If you're going to a movie in your forties or fifties expecting to get the same feeling that you got from another movie when you were in your single digits or teens you're fooling youself. You're not that person anymore.Watch the movie for what it is and who you are and not for what the originals were and who you were then. You'll like it much better that way.

Overall though, this was a damn good flick. I mean that. I had my eyes glued to the screen the whole time this thing was on. I plan on watching it again in the future, many times. One of my friends posted a meme on Facebook the other day, asking which movies you've seen twenty times or more. This is something I will be able to mention on that kind of a meme someday. It's that good.

Bottom Line: 4.75 out of 5 Lightsabers

Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker
J.J. Abrams
Lucasfilm, 2019

Some Star Wars related products can be found at the link below. If you use my link and buy anything on Amazon, I get a small percentage at no cost to you.

Dark Moon Arisen by Chris Kennedy and Mark Wandrey

(Disclaimer: I am not just a member of The Mercenary Guild: The Official Fan Club of the Four Horsemen Universe. I am its Public Relations Officer. I'd like to think that I'm being perfectly non-biased here, but I'd also like to think I'm rich and famous. Read at your own risk.)

 So, why exactly has a Dark Moon Arisen? Do I look like Mark Wandrey or Chris Kennedy? So why are you asking me? Look, I know this is my blog and I'm theoretically the one in charge here, but it's not my day to know what's going on. That would be on the eleventy-first of Aintgonnahappenuary and today is December twenty-fourth, so it's clearly not my day. See me on my day if you want an explanation of what's going on.

Of course, if you've read the book (and you should) then you know that this is the third book in the Omega War Series and life pretty much sucks for humanity, so that juuuust might have something to do with it. I'm going with possibly on this one. I mean, in the Four Horsemen Universe, which Dark Moon Arisen is part of, and in the Omega War series in general, it's Earth against the galaxy, or at least the Mercenary Guild. There are thirty-seven mercenary races in the Galactic Union. Humans are one and we're at war with the other thirty-six and a few traitors from our own side. Things look bleak.

Of course, being the Omega WAR series, there is a lot of action and this is where Kennedy and Wandrey excel. Things go boom. People end up bleeding. Troops seem to be short of everything but the enemy at times. In short, this is a work of military (and, given the setting, it does feel a little more military that mercenary at this point. It's not so much about the contract at this point. These mercs may be a little more free-wheeling that a typical standing military, but they our focused on the end of the conflict and not just on the current objective and how much it pays this time around.) fiction. If you're looking for some high-class lich-rit-you-er that your college professor would approve of, then you're in the wrong place. This is something you can actually enjoy reading. I mean, I read it and it wasn't even assigned by anybody. I loved it.

Seriously, this is the finest in escapism. I've been there and done that as far as reading “important” stuff and I have to tell you that I'd rather read Kennedy and Wandrey than Bartov and Woods (those are historians if you missed it.) They write  scholarly books that are like, peer-reviewed and stuff. Unless you're looking for scholarly cred, you're better off with Stephen Ambrose.) any day. They're like Michael Bay if he knew how to make a good story instead of just a bunch of exciting explosions. Seriously, this is good stuff.

Of course, if you've read anything in the Four Horsemen Universe then you already know that the Horsemen are the four largest human mercenary corporations; Cartwright's Cavaliers, Asbaran Solutions, The Golden Horde and The Winged Hussars. The first four books in the Four Horseman Universe were known as the Revelations Cycle and featured each company. They're pretty awesome too.  At any rate, they're running things and the rest of the human mercs that haven't sold out are following their lead.

I like watching the leaders of the various Four Horsemen units working together. When I first started reading the series I was a bit dubious about how well that would work. The different units are all human but they're also kind of rivals, right? Well, maybe not. They've all got different specialties, but they're also working within the same market. I wasn't sure if they'd get along. I can assure you all that the old saw is true here: Nothing unites within like an enemy from without. And if Nigel wants to get a little closer to one of his allies than everyone else, can you blame him? I like bad-ass women too. Seriously. The only reason I haven't married Susan Ivanova is because she doesn't really exist. Nigel has good taste.
What? Oh, you want to know who he's after? I bet you do. If you got the book and read it, I'm willing to bet you could figure it out pretty easily. Don't worry. I'll drop a link at the bottom of the review, because you need to pick this up.

The villains are villainous as well. I like having bad guys that I can hate. General Peepo is well deserving of a MAC round to the head. I'd love to be the one to give it to her. Unfortunately, if she ever does get it, it won't be from me. That's alright though. I'm keeping hope alive. Somebody's gonna get that wench someday, right? RIGHT? Somebody has to. I hope.

It's weird too, because a lot of science fiction has humanity at, if not the top of the entire pyramid, at least at the top of a smaller one. Humanity ran first the Republic and then the Empire in Star Wars. The headquarters of the United Federation of Planets is on Earth. In Battlestar Galactica it's humanity versus the robots that they built. The same holds true in most fantasy. Tolkien's Lord of the Rings series  features a war primarily between humans, in the form of Rohan and Gondor, and admittedly with some help from dwarves and elves, against orcs and goblins. The largest armies on both sides of the War of the Lance in Weis and Hickman's Dragonlance Chronicles were human, but it's not that way in the 4HU.

No, humanity is comparatively new to the Galactic Union. We're a small, poor, weak race and we're up to our backsides in manure. Things are rough for the little guy out there. This is, in many ways, an asymmetric conflict and humanity is the small combatant. They need friends and they're looking for them. Of course, in any asymmetric conflict, the smaller side must act in a surprising manner. Think Washington crossing the Delaware on Christmas Eve. I'm not going to say what, but there just might be something that happens here that Peepo didn't expect. I'm not saying I found myself chuckling at certain points. I'm just saying that my belly shook like a bowlful of jelly. Or sumfin'.

Anyway, check this thing out. I'd recommend reading the first six books first, but you don't really have to in order to get it.

Bottom Line: 4.5 out of 5 Broken Repair Bots

Dark Moon Arisen
Mark Wandrey and Chris Kennedy
Seventh Seal Press, 2018


Dark Moon Arisen is available at the following link (I get a small percentage at no cost to you if you use the link):