Rating: 3 Stars out of 5.
Series Order: S Series, Advanced Dungeons & Dragons 1st Edition
Book's Website: Dungeons of Dread on Wizards.com
Book/Author's Twitter: @Wizards_DnD
Amazon: Buy Dungeons of Dread Through My Affiliate Link!
Goodreads: 
Well, hello again. Welcome to my latest attempt at completing a Cannonball Read. First off, for those who are new here and are not from Pajiba or the CBR blog, Cannonball Read is a free-for-all reading marathon that anyone can join. Started originally between two commenters at my favorite movie and pop culture website, it has grown into a nicely-sized conglomeration of folks celebrating the life of a great person and the idea of reading for fun. Regardless of my completing it or not, I do appreciate CBR for getting me back into reading as much as I used to. If you would like to find out more, read other reviews, or maybe join up yourself, please visit the site here.
So without further ado...
Hard Magic is the first book in the "Grimnoir Chronicles" by Larry Correia, author of Monster Hunter International (a series that I am also tackling during CBR, based mainly on this book). The Grimnoir Chronicles is an alternate history series, at the basic level, Great Depression-Era X-Men. The first book follows two characters: Jake Sullivan (the big palooka on the cover) and Faye (actually not the woman on the front, I'll get to that) as they end up embroiled in a secret war between the Grimnoir Knights (a group of people with special abilities who are trying to avert World War II) and the Chairman (the near-godlike leader of a supremely powerful Imperial Japan, who seeks to cull the weak in his own attempt at saving the world).
Now, for those of you wondering, in this world, magic does exist, but instead of wizards and witches, you have people born with a single magical ability, or Gift. These people are called either Powers or Grimnoirs (I'll get into THAT later). The discovery of the source of this power and its effect on humanity is an important plot point (and looks to be the plotline for the entire series).
So let's get down to brass tacks. Pros and Cons of the book (warning: a few spoilers abound, but barely). Keep in mind: "pros" and "cons" represent both my logical and emotional responses to things in the book. A particular character I like/dislike will be listed in the respective area, whether or not the text indicates I am to feel that particular way about them.
Pros:
Jake Sullivan. Jake is a Heavy, a Power who can manipulate gravity. Right from the outset, Correia shows us that in contradiction to his ex-con status and his hulking frame, Jake is a cunning soldier and is a borderline genius when it comes to his insights into the Powers. He isn't spouting magibabble or anything, but is shown experimenting with his powers and noting his limits. He acts like a scientist, while putting on a front of the dumb muscle.
Faye. The secondary protagonist, she is an Okie girl who can Travel (basically Jumper-style teleportation) with more skill and power than most others like her. She proves to be quite resourceful, acting more like the viewpoint character when Jake isn't available to do so, and she is badass in a way that is believable. She has probably the best fight scene in the book between her and another teleporter, that ends epically.
Characters. Nobody runs around acting like they hate their powers. Nobody cries about not being normal. Everyone takes full advantage of their abilities and come up with some wickedly brilliant uses for them. Jake is the king of this, but everyone manages to do some impressive feats by the end of the book, including the villains. And everybody (aside from most of the villains, and even then...) is likeable and worth following. Even Faye's grandpa (who's kind of a dick) is shown to be a loyal and loving man.
The action scenes. Oh good God, the action scenes. Right off the bat, the first fight is a brutal knockdown brawl between Jake and his Brute ex-girlfriend (Brutes are the superstrong Powers) that tears up a blimp depot. He also takes down a magically enhanced near-invulnerable samurai with the assistance of a duel-wielding German gunman in all white who can phase through solid matter, ending the fight in a way reminicent of the hallway fight in Inception. The fights are grimy yet fantastical. Correia is known for his action scenes and his attention to detail and function when it comes to firearms in his books, and he does not disappoint here. Again, the Traveler fight between Faye and her rival Toshiko steal the whole shebang, though there isn't a sour note among any of them.
The mystery of Pershing's death. Fairly easy to figure out around halfway through, but that may have just been me. Correia does do a fine job of keeping the clues subtle enough that you might not pick them up right away, with all the other stuff happening. Most of the really big keys to the puzzle revolve around relationships to other characters, which are made clear.
Cons:
The name "Grimnoir". Okay, this is jsut my thing, but while it is pretty cool to read (the quotation of its creation in-universe is quite cool as well), and it isa nice badass appelation for our heroes, it is really awkward to say. I keep telling myself to get the "n" sound after the "m" sounds, and it just sounds like something is stuck to the roof of my mouth. It is just something that bugs me.
Pershing's killer(s). They were still assholes, regardless of their motives. And really, a lot could have been avoided if they didn't think they were so much smarter than everyone else. Again, this isn't a knock against Correia or the book (if anything, it is a compliment to his characterization), I jsut thought they were assholes.
Conclusion
Totally worth a read. It is an action-packed thriller and can easily compete with some of the better adventure books and movies out there. I am surprised it hasn't gotten any film offers (although MHI has been sold for a TV show), but who knows, maybe someone will. All I know is, if they can convey half the awesome in this book on a movie screen, they already have my money and maybe my firstborn.
But you don't have to take my word for it. Correia has sample chapters from all his novels for free on his blog, Monster Hunter Nation, including Hard Magic. Give it a whirl and let me know what you think.
Note: I originally read this book for CBR3, and was intending on making a video review, but never got around to it. In order to keep myself honest, I am re-reading all the books I did last year. Honest and a bit lazy and cheap. This is the original text for my review, edited to remove the script format I had it in. Enjoy.
Hello, fellow readers. I'm Vermillion, and if you are anything like me, you enjoy a good fantasy story every once in a while. Dragons, knights, princesses, heroic deeds, evil overlords, the whole works. And, if you're anything like me, you love deconstructionist parodies of said works, where the secret entrance to the evil lair has an admission price and prophetic old crones are only as good as their stock portfolio. You enjoy that kind fo stuff right?
If you said no, you suck. and you go away, but until after the video finishes and you comment. But if you said yes, have I got the book for you: Heroics for Beginners, by John Moore.
John Moore is a long-established fantasy author, having first been published in 1986. A resident of Houston, Texas, he was a classmate of comedian Bill Hicks at the University of Houston, with Hicks inspiring Moore's use of comedy in his fantasy work. Now with six novels (one a free ebook), several short stories, and a few nonfiction works under his belt, Moore has managed to get his name mentioned in the same breath as Terry Pratchett and Robert Asprin. And I totally did not crib this from Wikipedia. Nope, no sirree.
This is my first time reading his stuff, after having stumbled upon in an ad I read somewhere. I found the book itself in a thrift store a couple of years ago, and finally got around to reading it earlier this year.
Heroics for Beginners follows the story of Prince Kevin Timberline of Rassendas, a young and not particularly strapping member of royalty seeking the hand of the quite available and quite well proportioned princess of the neighboring (and strategically important) country of Deserae, Princess Rebecca. During this time, Kevin learns of a grave threat to the land: the evil Lord Voltmeter has gotten his hands on Deserae's most prized possession, the Ancient Artifact Mark Seven. Kevin volunteers to go and recover the artifact, seeing this as the perfect way to get the clout needed to impress the king. Of course, this is easier said than done, as Kevin has to compete with Lord Logan (the much more aggressive suitor competing for Rebecca's hand) and his own ineptitude when it comes to being a hero. Luckily he find a book, The Handbook of Practical Heroics, in the local library to teach him the basics and get him started. Of course, not everything goes to plan, and Rebecca has her own ideas about how this will end.
So now that we have done the summary, now we get to the review. Warning, some slight spoilers, but nothing past the middle of the book, and nothing that really ruins the story. With that said...
First off, the good stuff. This book is HI-LARIOUS. From Kevin's near-dismissal of a old crone making prophesies (don't ever ask them to be more specific. They will, and it pretty much kills the mood. Instead, Ask for stock tips!), to the banter between him and Rebecca (such as their discussing her desire to become his sidekick, a position that he points out would mean she will certainly die) to Voltmeter and his hammy antics (MILKING THE COW!) and other gags (you cannot leave without going through the gift shop. Fiendish!), this book peppers you with enough jokes that at least some of them will hit home.
But while it is quite funny, it's greatest strength lies in the moments where it plays the plot straight. Much like, say, The Princess Bride, there is an actual story underneath the gags, and the secret weapon Voltmeter develops is quite frightening. The final confrontation with Voltmeter is truly dramatic and tension filled, with some well-written fight scenes and a neat firing of a Chekov's gun. While some of the resolution is predictable, it is only so due to its nature as a fantasy story parody, and still managed to cleverly subvert some expectations to the end.
Now there are some, well, I wouldn't say weak, but maybe, underdeveloped spots. The book, being a farce as it is, isn't very deep and may be a bit too short for some folks. I have seen some complaints in other reviews that the characters are too shallow, but I found that to be a bit nitpicky. I for one thought the characters were fairly well-established as a bit more than standard fantasy archetypes and Moore managed to show some wonderfully believable chemistry between Kevin and Rebecca. Of course, he used a bit of a cheat with them, but with the clever writing, you could buy it without complaint.
Since this is a fantasy comedy, and I did review Unseen Academicals last time, I suppose I should compare the two. But it is kinda unfair to compare him to Terry Pratchett. While both like to poke fun at and subvert quite a number of fantasy tropes, they go about it in different ways. Pratchett is more of a satirist, using the Discworld setting to not only demonstrate the silliness in your typical fantasy world, but in our modern one as well. Moore seems to come from a more farcical standpoint, not really coming with a message or anything, and just content in making you laugh, even when taking a moment to play it straight towards the end.
Now, since I made a similar comment in my written Prometheus Deception review, I can't walk away without giving a little thought to a possible film adaptation. Quite honestly, I would like to see a movie version of this book. It is quick, irreverent, and since all of the plot and humor are not dependent on the literary medium (another thing different from Pratchett), very little would have to be lost in translation. Of course, this is with some trepidation. It is almost too easy for some hack to get their hands on it and try to unnecessarily "update" it.
As I understand it from my research, Moore has managed to improve on the weaknesses mentioned here in his later books. I am certainly quite eager to find out, because if this is his rookie work, I gotta see what he does with some time under his belt.
So to wrap up, go read Heroics for Beginners. You will definitely get more than a chuckle, and you make find a guffaw or two. It won't take much out of your day, and could be a good way to unwind after ready something heavy and soul shaking, like many of my other reviewers have (show pics of books, then one of a silly choice). And if you like this, try out some more of his work and let me know how they are. And if you liked this review, please comment. Otherwise I am going to feel all sad again.
You don't want me to be sad, do you? Well, that's it for my third book review for Cannonball Read 3. Next time, I go over to the other side. To the sci-fi side. But will I find myself going over....to the DARK SIDE???!?!?!
No. But I will be reviewing a Star Wars novel. Bye!
Cannonball Read 3 Review #2: Unseen Academicals from Claude Weaver on Vimeo.
My second review in the CBR3 series, I take on Unseen Academicals by Terry Pratchett. Look what six months of writer's block gets you!
Ah yes, Robert Ludlum.
While everybody now knows him as the guy Matt Damon should present his next child to Roots-style, Ludlum, along with Ian Fleming and Tom Clancy (and John Le Carre to a lesser extent), should be considered one of the codifiers of the image of the modern covert operative in fiction. And like them, Ludlum had his own signature style, namely that one guy goes around and beats the crap out of other guys in increasigly verbose titles with the same "The (adjective) (noun)" naming scheme.
I figured, since I am a big fan of the Bourne films, and I wanted to streatch my reading boundaries some, I would tackle a Ludlum novel. It just so happened that I found a nice bundle of them on sale at a local thrift store, and this one was the only one I could put my hands after the ugliness of a few months ago. But enough about me, to the book!
Meet Nick Bryson, near-legendary operative for a super-secret organization only known as the Directorate. Answerable only to the President (presumably), the Directorate has no ties with any other agencies, and as far as anyone is concerned, they do not exist. After a paticularly brutal mussion where is his greviously wounded (seriously, I visibly flinched when I read the aprt about the knife going...where it went), Nick is forced into retirement.
Five years later, he is now Jonas Barrrett, colelge professor. Of course, that doesn't really have any point past this quarter of a chapter, because the CIA comes calling, giving Bryson an excuse to engage in some counter-intel hijinks before they corner him at his home. He is told that the Directorate was not an U.S. agency, but a Russian sleeper group, and that all his mission were actually against American interests. So now Bryson is recruited to use his experience to find out what the Directorate is up to. This leads to a floating weapons bazaar, a worldwide phenomena of coordinated terrorist attacks, and something called "Prometheus".
If that sounds kinda familiar, you may recognize as the central conceit of a little show called Alias. Quite a few reviews make a big deal about that (even the Wikipedia page does it), but really, there is very little similar between the two. As far as the book itself, it is a pretty fast read for 500 pages. The pacing is nice and,crisp, the plot (while not groundbreaking) had enough twists to keep me engaged, and the action was brutal and beleiveable. In other words, what you would expect from the guy who created Jason Bourne.
Bryson is a pretty engaging protagonist. The closest I could come up with for a comparison is probably Michael Westen from Burn Notice. He is viciously pragmatic, but stillhas that streak of honor and loyalty that always gets taken advantage of. Of course, around the tenth time he questions everything hes ever known and wonders who can he trust, I did kinda wnat him to shut up with the existential crisis crap. Motherfucker, you are a spy. People lie to you, dela with it, punch them in the face, and move on. Ted Waller, the head of the Directorate and Bryson's best friend-turned-enemy(?) is a decent fellow and a manipulative bastard of the highest degree. The book repeated shows how Waller's lessons help Bryson deal with the situation, almost like he trained Bryson specifically for this purpose. For all I know, he did. The other characters are functional to say the least. Elena (Nick's wife) does her duty as resident hacker type (refreshingly not some Hollywood Hacker type, but a fairly realistic cryptographer), but besides giving Nick something else to moan about, doesn't have much else to do. And don't bother getting to attracted to any other characters, because they will die. Usually within 50 pages. And offscreen. As far as the big reveal of "Prometheus", it was....kinda underwhelming. I wish I could really discuss it, but spoilers and all that. I may go into more detail on my blog (BLATANT PLUG ALERT), but suffice it to say, the main antagonist (if one could call him that) does have a sympathetic story and motivation. But he ends up more like a Macguffin than an actual character.
In conclusion, I have to say the book was quite entertaining, and while I did get a bit irked at some parts, it wasn't enough to keep me from reading. I can totally see this getting the film treatment, and if the rest of Ludlum's work is the same, i am surprised Hollywood hasn't done more to take advantage.
Anyway, thank for reading my review. I welcome all comments, and feel free to ask for mroe detail.
