Last Call for Alcohol

On my lunch today, I finally finished Sharon Green's Destiny, the last book in her The Blending Enthroned trilogy.

I'm happy to have reread the entire eight book series this year, since it remains a perennial favorite of mine, and this, the penultimate volume, doesn't disappoint, even if it does go a bit Ayn Rand towards the end.

We spend much of the book following around Driff and his blending as they try to stop the former Noble Nolls from taking over the city, as well as stopping Honrita Grohl and Holdis Ayl in their attempts to take over everything. In the meantime, Tamrissa and out major blending are trying to stop the invasion of Gracely by a powerful foreign blending.

Again, the conclusion is pretty much forgone in the trilogy, so most of the enjoyment comes from watching how they arrive at the happy ending. Which mainly revolves around the original focus blending learning new ways to integrate and work through personal issues, and the Middle Blending working around the lack of High Talents to keep the government running. (The Highs in the Capitol all went into trances at the end of book 2.)

Really though, when I mentioned Rand above, that has to do more with the conclusion, wherein we find out who has been manipulating events for 8 books, pretty much narrowing possibilities down to a point where the entire series is essentially like leading cows down the chute to the slaughterhouse. While free will does play a part in the narrative, and questions of prevailing moral ambiguity do exist in the strange new world, it does tend to put a damper on the conclusion to know that we were all lead here.

Hit puree

Marking my 190th entry on this blog, as well as meeting my 40 books read goal for 2016. (While I do intend to fulfill my original goal of finishing both trilogies I've been alternating between, there's a great murcky question mark over what comes after. I do have several unread books on the shelf, and I'm pretty sure Kim Harrison has a new series starting. We shall see.)

So what book has acquired these landmarks? Why, Deceptions by Sharon Green, sis, m'Lords and M'Ladies! (Why yes, I was at Ren Fest yesterday. Why do you ask?)

As the middle entry in the trilogy, it has the unenviable task of setting up the finale as well as wrapping up loose ends from its predecessor.

Again, our sextet of heroes is abroad in Gracely, only now, the attacks from within the different factions of Gracely's governemnt are matched by an invading force that the blendings in the provinces can't defend again. As such, our heroic group ride out with the Gracelian Assembly's Blendings to try to take on the invading force. Which essentially turns into the Gandestrian Blending explaining the art of war to the Gracelian Assembly, none of whom have any real strategy beyond "Be the hero, and take over the assembly".

In the meantime, some of the former Nobility sent to rebuild Astinda are learning new lessons. Such as, cooperating and learning are paths to citizenship. This also sees the blossoming of love between Kail and Asri. Asri does have a son, but no husband to speak of. Problem being, as we find out later on, both mother and son are likely nulls, people born without any inherent powers, nor guild powered. (Given neither Astinda or Gracely appears to be aware of Sight magic....)

We also have Driff and his lady love Idresia. Driff is a Middle in Earth who also is a damn good healer. Idresia runs his spy network, which is admittedly more above ground with the new government than it was under the Nobility. Idresia manages to reel in Edmin and Issini almost by accident. Edmin, a member of the former nobility, and son of Embisson, who was stabbed towards the end of the first book, is on the run from the Nolls, who's Spirit magic keeps them manipulating people. Issini, a courtesan, happens to be the one sheltering Edmin. As such, the 4 have now joined forces to try to stop in Nolls.

And one last side project, Honrita, who gets magical psychotherapy, winds up getting her switched flipped even further in the process, joining forces with one of the villains in this series.

All in all, it does a good job at expanding on themes and moving the plot along at a good clip.

The problem is, on this umpteenth re-reading, I can't help but notice a few things that never really caught my attention before. First and foremost is that nowhere in here is there any discussion of the provinces of Gandestria. Have the changes in Gan Garee spread outwards, so that those in other cities benefit? Another question that pops up is how justified is the Gandestrian Blending in more or less rearranging Gracely's government to suit their needs? While they don't exactly overthrow the Assembly, they do violate quite a few of Gracely's laws to better position themselves in the war against the invading force. Our author, not quite as bad about it as say, Frank Herbert, seems to go with the idea that the ends justify the means. And it's not like any of the two governments affected by their interference are exactly strewing the main Blending's path with roses and praises. However, their resistance is at best portrayed by minor villains, and at worst, quickly accepted without much question. Which is, sadly, something that happens quite frequently in science fiction and fantasy stories that involve revolution or government upheaval. I'm not saying this distracts or spoils the story, but it does add another layer onto it.

Back to the Blender

So, the original goal was to do what I did previously with The Blending and WebMage, only with The Blending Enthroned and Age of Misrule, as both are trilogies. This will still be happening, even if the next October Daye showed up.

Anyway,  Intrigues by Sharon Green starts not long after The Blending ended, with the Chosen Six (Tamrissa, Lorand, Jovvi, Vallant, Rion, and Naran) awaiting the seating ceremony.

After much ado, including finding out about a faction of the Guild that wants to bring back the Nobility, people wanting to become the NEW Nobility, and just about everyone hates Naran, since her ability to see the future in glimpses makes people uncomfortable.

However, once they do get seated, we start into the subplots.

First, we meet the Nobility headed West into Astinda, as part of the reparations the Cshosen Six paid to keep the invading army from destroying the Empire. Some of the former nobles get it faster than others, as they see the destruction their poor life choices brought to Astinda. Others remain just as convinced of their inherent rightness by virtue of birth and don't get the point.

Then we meet the Nolls and what's left of the Ruhls, former nobility hiding in the countryside. Both have their own plots to take back the Empire, some of which falls apart as they head back to Gan Garee. The female Ruhl, a Spirit magic user, is busy manipulating everyone.

Then we have the training classes, which introduce people learning to live under the new system.

And of course, as the book progresses, and the army coming West from the invasion of Gracely comes into the picture, we meet Antri Lorimon, who is the fairly virtuous and noble woman in Gracely's assembly as she navigates several plots to take control of the assembly. Given the Six wind up in Gracely (which had more or less used magic to convince the army that they were succeeding in overrunning the country), it's going to be an interesting series.

Having read this before, I know how everything comes out, but I'd forgotten how much better the writing was this time around, other than GRRM levels of subplots.

The pitcher now lies empty

So, as I have now finished Sharon Green's Prophecy, the last book in The Blending quintet, I can put in a few reserves at the library. Which I have, they just haven't come in yet.

Anyway, We're again dealing with the heroic 5 (Jovvi, Lorand, Rion, Vallant, and Tamrissa) and their friend Naran as they return to Gan Garee from the Western edges of the Empire, and the Evil 5, (Bron, Selendi, Delin, Homin, and Kambil) as they struggle to maintain a grip on running the Empire.

Starting with the bad 5, the power struggle between Kambil and Delin is much at the forefront again, particularly after al of them but Delin get poisoned as part of a Nobility blackmail scheme. Which allows Delin to show that he's shaken off the control Kambil had him under. Both use heavy handed techniques that continue to destroy any chance they had at keeping the five fold throne.

The Heroic 5, on the other hand, start off in Lorand's hometown of Widdertown, explaining about the pursuing Astindian army, coming to raze Gan Garee in their wake. Along the way, Lorand makes peace with his father, the guild of the talentless lets us know more about who they are and what they do, and Naran finally reveals HER heretofore unknown talent of Sight. Which means she's now able to make it a sixfold blending.

The guild members have no magic of their own, but can tell range and power levels on others. They've also been mostly plotting to bring the Heroic 5 to the throne, since they match the description in The Prophecies. For the most part. A minority think keeping the Nobles in power would be a grand idea, but we really don't get much about them here. (They get more of a role in the follow up trilogy.)

By the time the confrontation with the Evil 5 comes around, it's actually quite anti-climactic The 5 confront the 5 and various hostages. It's not until after that (as Rion takes over narration duties temporarily) that the real climax plays out, as the Astindian Blending come within reach of Gan Garee and the Heroic 6 must make their stand. The resolution they come up with is both proper and Draconian, ultimately setting the stage for the follow up trilogy, particular since this ends with some contradictory information about the 300 year old prophecies.

It's been fun re-reading this series, and I have the follow ups coming eventually. (The problem with buying used via Amazon is that shipping can be anywhere between 7-21 days.)

I'm running out of blended drinks

In good news, Saturday sees the reopening of the Columbus Metropolitan Library's Main Branch, which means I'll actually be able to start looking for volumes I'm not plucking off my personal shelf again. (Well, except I'll likely be picking up the 3 volume continuance of The Blending from Amazon before too long. My last copies went out when I was still using paperbackswap.com. Which is a great service that people with an interest should totally check out.)

However, since that day of glory and renewal hasn't occurred yet, Let me tell you about Betrayals by Sharon Green,  book four of The Blending. 

At the outset, Tamrissa is being held by the current seated High in Fire, who wishes to hopefully breed powerful children from her womb. Rion is in the tender care of his mother. Vallant, who'd due to be shipped off with Jovvi and Lorand, is instead side tracked as a love slave to Lady Eltrina for a few days.

In the mean time, the new Seated Five (who haven't yet been seated due to the Advisors rightfully being convinced that they had something to do with a bunch of murders), again begin murdering those who get in the way of their rise to power. Mind you, Delin is supposedly under control, thanks to Kambil's spirit magic and some Puredan later on, but there's still quite a bit of murdering people in the process. Delin, who's figuring out ways around his enforced conditioning, blames Kambil for most of their problems. Kambil, unsurprisingly, blames Delin. What the murders do manage to accomplish is much of the day to day running of the empire falling apart, since the people who actually do things or knew who was doing them, are dead.

In the meantime, Naran, Rion's girl, manages to meet up with Tamrissa as she breaks free of her captivity. Tamrissa's captor lets slip a few plot points that clear up the end of the last book, namely that the Advisors slipped Hilsom Powder (which cuts off access to elemental magic) into the blending's undergarments to ensure the win on the part of the noble blending.

Tamrissa and Naran break out Rion and Vallant, who in turn meet up with Alsin. Alsin had been keeping an eye out for Lorand's friend Hat, who vanished off the face of the planet. Alsin runs an underground organization devoted to proving the Nobility is breaking the law and using that information to wrest the power from them. Alsin is able to get information to help find out where Jovvi and Lorand vanished off to.

Very long story short, by the end of this one, we have a much better idea of how corrupt the Nobility actually is and what it is they've been doing. We find out what's happened to the Highs shipped out of Gan Garee following the testing. And we know that one of the countries the Empire has been trying to annex is suddenly fighting back.

This particular volume is probably one of the strongest in the series, even if the fighting between Vallant and Tamrissa has become a central plot point for a LOOOONG time. There's also a heck of a lot of rape going on in here, both figurative and literal.

Looking forward to finishing the series here in the near future.

Oh wow, now we know where the series title came from!

Been on a reading roll recently, mainly thanks to nice weather and some medicine that I can't take for a few hours after getting home. As such, I managed to cruise through Challenges, the third book in Sharon Green's The Blending, in record time.

Basically, as the middle book in the quintet, we hit some of the meat of the plot here. Our heroic 5 and the Nobility 5 learn to Blend and eventually face off in the Competitions to determine the Ruling 5 of the Empire.

On the Heroic side, this five walk a tightrope figuring out how to keep the Testing Authority from breaking them up, while also facing down personal issues. Again, everyone gets a lesson in how rigged the system is, as Lorand watched his friend Hat compete for the Seated High position in Earth Magic and as a mysterious source reveals to them the key to freeing themselves from the control drug the Nobility used to prevent them from winning.

On the Nobility side, lots of murder, as Delin, the Earth Magic user, keeps seeing himself prepare to murder people he hates, only to pass out as the event happens. Not that the people he thinks he killed aren't killed, he just doesn't remember doing it. The Noble 5 are now under suspicion for a few murders plus a suicide of their former advisor. As such, they provide the keying phrase to out main 5, knowing they'd pass it on to the other 4 Common Blendings, with the idea that the Commoners can take out the other Noble Blendings, leaving them to gain the support of the Advisors.

Speaking of the Commoners, they get trained to Blend twice. The first is supposedly a Noble, the second truly is Nobility.

Most of it goes the way you'd expect, until the very end, which leaves us hanging, waiting for Book 4.

Blending, by the way, links all 5 aspects, and can then become one entity that's a nonphysical entity that's an amalgam of the 5.

Fun book, and very good at planting the hooks to get the story moving again.

Maybe a margarita

For some reason, I keep labeling her as Sharon R Green, even though there is no R in her author name.

Competitions by Sharon Green picks up about where the last one left off, with our 5 main characters about to start their masteries over their element. However, here we get to meet what will become the 5 primary antagonists (eventually). Bron (Fire), Selindi (Air), Homin (Water), Delin, (earth) and Kambil (Spirit). These five are one of the 5 Noble blendings, one plotting to win the competition over the Nobility (and Advisors) hand picked winners. Given all 5 are mildly deranged....

We also get a bit more of Lady Eltrina, who's arranging our primary blending on behalf of the Advisors. Eltrina's motivation in all of this is to take her boss's job and get rid of her husband. That she also has intentions of taking Vallant Ro as her love toy after they lose is of little consequence. Also, the current Seated High in Fire (whom we don't have a name for as of yet) has similar designs on Tamarissa.

Rion, in this book, does manage to briefly find Naran again, for one night of pleasure.

Vallant and Tamarissa spend much of the book fighting over silly things.

Jovvi and Lorand also spend much of the book not speaking.

However, the 5 main characters do start figuring out exactly how badly the deck is stacked against them, since every competition is to gauge how much power they have and how best to control them. The Noble blending, while not given much to do in this book beyond some fairly petty intrigues involving framing their advisor for murder, do manage to give the reader some improtant information the main characters aren't privy to at this time. (Mostly timeline issues, as well as setting up the next book, since the chosen Blending is set to face off against our main characters first when the battles begin.)

Honestly, most of the big payouts are a book or two away, so most of this is setting the stage and filling in the background on what our as of yet Unnamed Empire has been doing for the past 300 years. Still fun. Looking forward to finishing this journey soon.

Who wants a mudslide?

Well, thanks to having some time over the weekend, I'm working on playing catch up with my reading schedule. Which did mean getting to start on the other quintet I plan on alternating with the WebMage series.

So, let's begin shall we?

Convergence by Sharon R Green is the first book of The Blending. As this is a fantasy series, we start with a prophecy, detailing the first 5-fold blending defeating the Dreaded 4, as 4 was unbalanced and 5, with the inclusion of Spirit, was able to overthrow the 4. As such, competitions are held every 25 years to seat a new 5 fold Blending. Each ruling Blending will face a challenge during their rule to prove the legitimacy of their reign.

Tamrissa, a Fire talent, lives in the capital of the Empire, Gan Garee. She also narrates this book, even though roughly 4/5ths of it are in 3rd person. Like the other 4, Tamrissa is a potential High talent in her aspect, which means being tested for her abilities. Tamrissa also enters her house up as a residence for for others undergoing testing, mainly because it prevents her house from being taken during legal proceedings. This is important because Tamrissa's parents wish to marry her off again and sell the house as part of her dowry. Her groom is just as bad as her now deceased ex husband, who maliciously abused Tamrissa prior to the start of the book.

Lorand, who's magic is Earth, starts off in a small farming community. Unlike everyone else, his voyage to Gan Garee starts with a friend along for the ride. Hattiel, as defined by the Guild (folks with a blend of all 5 elements but no ability to use them), is likely a Middle talent, but since all Middles must go test for High... Lorand's father essentially disowns him for running off, regardless of what the law declares.

Jovvi, she of Spirit magic, starts off in a Residence, where's she's quite the popular courtesan. While her Madame is not happy to see her go, Jovvi expects to set up her own Residence in Gan Garee after testing ends.

Rion, the Air magician formerly known as Clarion, is the only member of the Nobility present in this grouping. His mother is pretty much Norma Bates, trying to keep her adult son as a child.

Then there's Vallant Ro, Water magic. Vallant is a sailor by trade, and is not happy to leave his business to go inland for testing. He also breaks up with his rather nutty girlfriend before boarding the coach to Gan Garee.

The long and the short of this book is that all 5 wind up passing the initial test and living in Tamrissa's house for the duration of the Competitions. Well, along with Eskin Drowd (Earth), Beldara Lant (Fire), and Pagin Holter (Water). The former two act mainly as petty antagonists to move things forward, Pagin has something of his own spot in the hierarchy.

By the end of Book 1, most of the relationship pairings are fairly well set up, each with their own challenges. Vallant and Tamrissa get off on the wrong foot, fight, reconcile, and fight some more. Jovvi and Lorand have two very different relationship goals. Rion, who loses his virginity about halfway through this book, can't seem to figure out whom he wants, other than the girl from the tavern.

We also know that no one seems to know what happens to applicants who don't get to be seated Highs in their aspects, and that the Nobility seems to have all processes rigged in their favor. The Advisors seem concerned about some hidden passage in the Prophecy about a new Blending.

As first books in a series go, this one does a lot of legwork in setting up what comes later, even if much of the thrust of the overall plot can be inferred from the get go. However, it remains readable and fun.