Wednesday, September 24, 2014

Review: City of Stairs

City of Stairs

by Robert Jackson Bennett
Broadway Books
Published 2014
464 pages
ISBN: 978-0804137171
Paperback $9.49
Kindle $7.99

The City of Stairs “boasts” a perfect heroine. By the third chapter I knew how special this particular snowflake was and that set my impatience in motion. City of Stairs is a cross genre — detective and fantasy novel. I wasn’t too displeased about the author using detecting as a means of examining the culture. But I did get annoyed that our heroine always had the answer for everything. Mary Sue perfection in the extreme.

Imagine a continent whose indigenous population —and whose gods— have been defeated by a smaller nation they had formerly enslaved.  The conquerors, the Saypuris, have no gods and they have done what all imperialistic nations do: they’ve removed almost all traces of the Continental’s gods from the public sphere. However, one cannot erase history or a culture’s nostalgic attachment to its deities. Thus, secret adherents to the old gods still persist. As do many “miracles.”  Religious extremists, called Restorationists, are going around fomenting riots. The miracles are also problematic because they really shouldn’t be happening without a god operating them.

When the novel begins, an important Saypuri historian has been assassinated. He had a special love of Continental culture and seemed to have stumbled upon something that cost him his life. Are the Restorationists behind his murder? Are the gods and the Restorationists working together? Heck, are the gods still around? And if they are, what do they want? And do we —the reader— really want these gods around?

Now this is where the book and I began to part. I also will have to part ways with readers who consider religion evil. Yep, there are many things in this book which I dislike which readers might actually love. So, here goes.

True, the Continentals have a very backward attitude toward women and homosexuals. But as a dark-skinned religious woman, I’m hard-wired to be on the side of the religious Continentals. I dislike imperialists even if the heroine is imperialistic lite and “admires” the religion of the conquered Continentals. She’s not scornful but she is smug and patronizing. And she has taken on the imperialist burden of  preventing a culture from finding its past. Let me confess that as a kid I was always on the “Indians’ side” whenever I watched cowboy movies. I always rooted for the monster to win when I watched Creature Features. And no matter how weird the religion was in any film or book —nonfiction or fictional— if they were battling atheists, I was always on the side of the religious characters. Religion, history, and politics make strange bedfellows.

Seeing this is my personality, I ploughed through the story, knowing that I was really just being peevish. I tried to give the novel a chance. But a rich effete closeted gay aristocrat whose cultural politics and religion is ruled by his sexuality, a tough-as-nails ball-buster female governor, a brawny Hagrid-like bodyguard from the north, and an ignorant emotional judgmental misogynist religious conservatives Big Bad were all stereotypes I had to wade through. Funny thing though: I couldn’t stop reading because of the fantastic worldbuilding.

The worldbuilding and the detective story go perfectly well together. Our stereotypically open-minded and plucky heroine is up for her task of discovering all that is left of Continental history and destroying it. The way the world is built, the history and ramifications of each deity’s power, the social implications of cultural war —and the interactions of the various religions — were so well-drawn, they were amazing! The worldbuilding made for a good book.

Still, ultimately, the “war against the gods” thing irked me. Again, it probably won’t irk most secular-thinking scifi/fantasy readers but the whole “Who watches the Watchers” Star-trekking of religion can really bother a conservative religious person. So, excellent book. But not for me. 

Thursday, September 18, 2014

Review: NIV Once a day Bible Chronological Edition

NIV Once a Day Bible -- Chronological Edition
Paperback: 1280 pages
Publisher: Zondervan; Special edition (October 31, 2011)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 9780310950950
ISBN-13: 978-0310950950
Paperback $13.98
Kindle $10.99

It's been a while since I've read the Bible from cover to cover. If you're a Bible reader like me, you end up reading certain sections over and over in your daily devotionals and avoiding others. So it's good, every other year or so to read through the Bible.

This time around, hubby and I are using the NIV ONCE A DAY BIBLE (Chronological Edition) and I was so pumped to order it from Zondervan for review. Reading the Bible chronologically would be a fun way to read it. Plus the fact that certain chapters are assigned to you -- Day One had my hubby and I reading Genesis 1 through Genesis 4-- keeps you on track. There are also reflections at the end of each "day."

Day 4 is when the chronological aspect kicks in.  In this case, Day 4 begins with the Book of Job, after the mention of Haran, Nahor, and Abram in Genesis 11. Job is placed in a different position in this book than in the NIV Integrated Bible. Understandable because although we know Job is the oldest book in the Bible, no one is really sure where in the timeline it fits. So one chronological Bible might place Job after Ishmael, another after Abram. It's not a big deal but it does subtly shift our understanding of Job and one is tempted to ask, "Is Job a descendant of Abram through Ishmael or not? OR is he just some other non-related person living around that time?" This Chronological Bible is done by the folks at Walk Through the Bible, a group I highly respect so I won't whine.

Other differences is that this is how the Bible books are integrated. But again, that is about the art of the editor. Interestingly, the historical books are merged and interwoven very well with the psalms and the prophets, and the epistles are interwoven with the book of Acts, but the books of the Torah, Joshua, Judges, Ruth, and the first seventeen chapters or I Samuel (everything before Day 103) are pretty much left alone and unintegrated into the larger chronology. I like the NIV Integrated Bible a bit better because with the integrated Bible similar passages found in Leviticus, Exodus, or Deuteronomy were placed beside each other.  

There is a chronological index with the readings for each day so if you wish to avoid certain books, you can. I always avoid the books of Ezra and Nehemiah but now that they're all woven in with Daniel, Esther, a couple of psalms, and Zechariah, I guess I'll have to read them.

There are reflections at the end of each day. They are not particularly insightful, but they aren't useless either.  I would think that anyone reading the Bible chronologically would probably already have studied their Bible so deeper Biblical insights might be needed. Or even commentary about the chronological events. But why be picky? IT's a good edition and it's actually a fun way to go through the Bible.

Like all chronological Bibles, this is not to be one's sole Bible. Bible books are separated, split up, and interwoven into other books. The psalms, for instance, are all over the place. So, this is definitely a supplemental Bible.

All in all, this is a really good Bible and a fun way to read through the Bible. My only nit is the type size. The print is readable but still a bit too tiny. True this is a paperback but even so. Little old ladies read paperbacks. I shouldn't complain because the paperback isn't expensive. Recommended.


Wednesday, September 10, 2014

Review: In Capable Arms by Sarah Kovac



In Capable Arms
by Sarah Kovac

I generally don't like Christian non-fiction. I find much of it dishonest or preachy...especially autobiographical books.

But In Capable Arms is an incredibly pleasant exception.

This is the bio of Sarah Kovac who was born with arthrogryposis, a condition that occurs in about one in every 3000 births where the arms are pretty much useless.

Kovac tells about her experiences growing up and coming to terms physically, culturally, emotionally, and theologically with this disability. She writes about the shame and fear she went through and continues to go through. As this is a book written by a Christian, she also writes about her faith and about the theological, doctrinal issues and platitudes she went through

It is also a story about family, about marriage, and motherhood. The writer's depiction of her parents' parenting philosophy, her own fears of being a capable mother, and her journey to self-acceptance will touch anyone even if the reader does not have a disability.

This book is recommended for everyone, disabled or not, who have had to battle to gain self-acceptance or who has had struggles which make them feel "abnormal." The writer is insightful and shows the philosophical and emotional pitfalls that those with any kind of life struggle might fall into.   There are little insets with questions that the reader may journal about. These attempts at interacting with the reader seemed slightly intrusive and a perfunctory attempt to a kind of self-help book for Christian women's group. The journal questions really don't quite work. Either they should not have been included or they editors should have prepared more questions, surveys, reading guide, or commentaries.

However, the inclusion of some kind of reading guide is habitual with some Christian non-fiction. Some readers will like the inclusion and may find the journal questions useful.  Recommended.

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