Botulf's Stone Blog

Abstract:  A work that displays its author’s inexperience while still remaining interesting.  Characters are a bit flat, but the various conflicts are interesting.  Best of all is Kotar’s ability to capture a hint of the numinous in scenes featuring the titular Sirin.  Despite its rough areas, this book promises potential from the author. Content Warning (highlight to view):   some frightening images, sexual content, cursing, demonic possession ——— So eventually the plan is to move this review onto Amazon, but since I’m having some problems with that, I’m just posting it here for now.  In the final version, I won’t have a summary of the novel, since Amazon does that just fine, but till then, here’s my brief synopsis: Voran, the son of a disgraced noble family, is tasked to seek out the legendary “living water” in order to help restore his home, Vasyllia, to its former glory and to reunite the people with the mystical Sirin, creatures whose enchanted songs f...

Abstract:  Despite potential difficulties in keeping track of historic names and events, and despite the absence of scenes directly featuring the novel’s titular figure, this is Christian fiction worth reading.  Political and personal conflicts drive tension, and the tone is not preachy or cheesy but engaging and at times inspiring. Content Warning [Highlight to view]:  Physical violence, allusions to fornication, occasional gore, some language,  lots  of people doing terrible things ——— I generally avoid explicitly Christian novels.  You know, the kinds found in Christian book stores and labeled on Amazon and library searches as “religious fiction.”  I don’t have a long list of grievances or detailed critiques about them.    I can’t since I didn’t really read them.  After I entered my teen years, I just got bored after a few poorly done Christ figures and preachy stories, so I stopped reading the genre.  I‘ve never read more than a...

This is a revised post from my old blog.  The original of which can be found  here  for comparison. Warning: Contains spoilers for  The Chronicles of Prydain  and  The Lord of the Rings Endings are a linchpin in stories.  They are a little thing, often just the last tenth or less of the narrative, but how a story ends impacts everything that came before and the overall impression with which a readers leaves the story.  I did not especially enjoy reading  Where the Red Ferns Grow , but the last few pages hit me in such a way that I left the book satisfied.  On the other hand, as is evident in my posts on  All the Light We Cannot See , I was enjoying Doerr’s book a good bit, but the ending left me wondering how I should feel about everything that had come before.  They are the final  narrative consequence of everything that came before, and that’s what makes them hard to write and so important to discuss. I spent the  l...