Author: Robin Hobb
Rating: 6/10
Last Read: August 2010

Quick Summary: An outcast bastard son of a prince is secretly trained to be an assassin from a young age.  The book follows him though his childhood and training, culminating in his first mission. The book is a pretty good fantasy read: interesting characters, internal struggles, and political scheming abound.  A book for those who like Arya’s character in A Song of Ice and Fire

I did not continue on with the series.

My Highlights

The group of onlookers was growing. A few showed pity in their eyes, but none interfered. Some of what I was feeling passed to Nosy, who dropped over onto his side and showed his belly in supplication while thumping his tail in that ancient canine signal that always means, “I’m only a puppy. I cannot defend myself. Have mercy.” Had they been dogs, they would have sniffed me over and then drawn back. But humans have no such inbred courtesies.

“There is this, boy. And you should remember it in every situation, not just this one. Learning is never wrong. Even learning how to kill isn’t wrong. Or right. It’s just a thing to learn, a thing I can teach you.

“I’m not a real prince. I’m a bastard.” It came oddly from my mouth, that word I heard so often and so seldom said. Burrich sighed softly.
“Be your blood, boy, and ignore what anyone else thinks of you.”
“Sometimes I get tired of doing the hard things.”
“So do I.”

“You don’t know that. You only hear what the gossips say. You aren’t old enough to understand some things. You’ve never seen a wild bird lure predators away from its young by pretending to be injured.”
“I don’t believe that,” I said, but I suddenly felt less confident saying it. “He never did anything to make me think he cared about me.”
Chade turned to look at me and his eyes were older, sunken and red.
“If you had known he’d cared, so would others. When you are a man, maybe you’ll understand just how much that cost him. To not know you in order to keep you safe. To make his enemies ignore you.”
“Well, I’ll “not know’ him to the end of my days, now,” I said sulkily.

Author: Robert E. Howard
Rating: 6/10
Last Read: January 2013

Quick Summary:  Conan is king of Aquilonia, and people are plotting to depose him by reviving a long-dead wizard.  Conan is saved from death and travels the land seeking revenge and a way to regain his kingdom.

A decent fantasy read.  Nothing super spectacular to prioritize, but if you enjoy Conan it is a good story.

My Highlights

“These things are governed by immutable laws,” she said at last. “I can not make you understand; I do not altogether understand myself, though I have sought wisdom in the silences of the high places for more years than I can remember. I cannot save you, though I would if I might. Man must, at last, work out his own salvation. Yet perhaps wisdom may come to me in dreams, and in the morn I may be able to give you the clue to the enigma.”

Author: Michael A. Stackpole
Rating: 9/10
Last Read: February 2014

Quick Summary:  A fantasy tale involving two separate story arcs across a 500 year time period – one in the past which involves the hero (Neal) and the other in the story’s present with an elf.  The story involves tensions between humans and elves, and their common enemy who Neal tried to vanquish in the past.

Excellent fantasy read – couldn’t put it down when I read through it the first time.  The story element is interesting (Similar to Talion: Revenant).

My Highlights

“without a scar, I might forget. I’m not thinking I suffer hurts so lightly that I’ll be wanting to be unmindful of them.”

“I have forced myself to be aware of everything on a battlefield. Awareness is the key to winning.”

If you are to be understood, you must speak to them in the manner which they will understand.

The island itself was deserted, and sitting there between two small rootlets of the grand tree, I managed a lot more thinking. I didn’t like all of it, but I’ve found that when you finally sit down to do the thinking that must be done, chances are there’s not much of it that will make you smile.

The hurt was in the hearing and because of what the words have made me think about. It is difficult to discover you have been deceiving yourself.

“You are forgiven if you wish, but I did not count it a fault against you.”

Puzzlement again knotted Berengar’s brow. “I don’t understand his choice.”
“Is that because it was a bad choice, or just the choice you would not have made in his place?”

Hatred is too strong an emotion to be wasted on harmless differences such as race.

Author: Michael A. Stackpole
Rating: 9/10
Last Read: February 2014

Quick Summary:  An orphan becomes a Justice of the Talions – traveling the countryside, dispensing justice where there is no law (akin to the confessors from *The Sword of Truth* series).  Things get complicated with our Justice is tasked with defending the king of the country that invaded his homeland.

When I was done, I felt sad that this was just a standalone novel – I liked the character and the universe enough that I wanted more. (Stackpole says it’s the book for which he most often gets sequel requests)

My Highlights

“I will not wish you good luck, because a Talion does not depend upon luck. Have courage and trust yourself.”

Such a simple job did not annoy me as it did others because, for me, it provided a reference point within reality and reassured me that while I dealt with good and evil, and the vast gray area in between, there were jobs that could be finished and finished well. In its own small way it confirmed the possibility of progress, and how any task that could be started could also be completed.

I am merely a man who realizes he is capable of mistakes, but I am also a man who is willing to take responsibility for those errors.

Lothar grumbled. “But he died from my attack. That was stupid. He just helped Marana win as if he was just her second sword.” I frowned. “A tool is just a tool, unless it does the job by itself.“

Remember that a stalemate is a stalemate as long as no one acts.

A man who you fear will kill you is often afraid of the same treatment at your hands. There are times when two men in such a position both defend to prevent injury and deny victory to themselves. The person to act in that situation, if he has the required skills, will break the stalemate and be the victor.”

But the anger was swallowed, in turn, by the pride I had in myself. I worked hard for everything, and if that threatened them, it also marked them as petty and small.

Justice must be tempered by mercy and common sense. Justice is your gift to the world, not your right or privilege. Remember this and live by it. In this you will serve well.

Author: Robert E Howard
Rating: 8/10
Last Read: March 2014

Quick Summary: Collection of short stories and poems by Robert E. Howard. He created many different characters, the most notable being Conan the Barbarian.  Much of his work is in the “pulp fiction” style, and he includes many elements of horror in his writings (think of Lovecraft).

Pick this up if you like quick fantasy reads – especially nice before bed.  He is one of my favorite fantasy & pulp writers.

My Highlights

“You are young,” said the palaces and the temples and the shrines, “but we are old. The world was wild with youth when we were reared. You and your tribe shall pass, but we are invincible, indestructible. We towered above a strange world, ere Atlantis and Lemuria rose from the sea; we still shall reign when the green waters sigh for many a restless fathom above the spires of Lemuria and the hills of Atlantis and when the isles of the Western Men are the mountains of a strange land. “How many kings have we watched ride down these streets before Kull of Atlantis was even a dream in the mind of Ka, bird of Creation? Ride on, Kull of Atlantis; greater shall follow you; greater came before you. They are dust; they are forgotten; we stand; we know; we are. Ride, –loc 473

and man, the jest of the gods, the blind, wisdomless striver from dust to dust, following the long bloody trail of his destiny, knowing not why, bestial, blundering, like a great murderous child, yet feeling somewhere a spark of divine fire…. –loc 657

Thus far I was prepared; from now on we must trust to our luck and our craft. –loc 688

And what, mused Kull, were the realities of life? Ambition, power, pride? The friendship of man, the love of women–which Kull had never known–battle, plunder, what? Was it the real Kull who sat upon the throne or was it the real Kull who had scaled the hills of Atlantis, harried the far isles of the sunset, and laughed upon the green roaring tides of the Atlantean sea? How could a man be so many different men in a lifetime? For Kull knew that there were many Kulls and he wondered which was the real Kull. –loc 742

“Man, are you mad?” she asked, “that in your madness you come seeking that from which strong men fled screaming in old times?” “I seek a vengeance,” he answered, “that can be accomplished only by Them I seek.” She shook her head. “You have listened to a bird singing; you have dreamed empty dreams.” “I have heard a viper hiss,” he growled, “and I do not dream. Enough of this weaving of words. –loc 4190

“Barbarism is the natural state of mankind,” the borderer said, still staring somberly at the Cimmerian. “Civilization is unnatural. It is a whim of circumstance. And barbarism must always ultimately triumph.” –loc 8337

“Nobody writes realistic realism, and if they did, nobody would read it. The writers that think they write it just give their own ideas about things they think they see. The sort of man who could write realism is the fellow who never reads or writes anything.” –loc 9766

He understood that selling window blinds, or drilling holes in sheet metal all week, or working at the rent-a-car counter at the airport is not enough to fill a man’s heart. –loc 9838

“There was pageantry and high illusion and vanity, and the beloved tinsel of glory without which life is not worth living,” wrote Howard concerning times gone by: “All empty show and the smoke of conceit and arrogance, but what a drab thing life would be without them.” For him, there is no meaning or beauty in life other than what we dream into it. –loc 9845