"The Way of Kings" by Brandon Sanderson

"The Way of Kings" by Brandon Sanderson is the opening installment of his new series, "The Stormlight Archive."  Sanderson has come to the forefront of the fantasy genre through his work on the home stretch of Robert Jordan's popular series, "The Wheel of Time."  He had been selected by Jordan's widow to complete the series based on his early work, "Mistborn: The Final Empire."

Ten years in the making, "The Way of Kings" has all the earmarks of becoming one of the genre's "must read" series.  His depth of characters--both the primary and secondary--draws you into their individual worlds and keeps the reader engaged throughout the 1,007 pages.

Like all good fantasy works there involves a quest, and it's no different for here.  But what Sanderson adds to his literary strategy is the quest for self-identification or self-fulfillment.  In the case of Brightlord Dalinar Kholin it is an effort to find out the destiny of his visions and pull to fulfill the standards and expectations of ancient book, "The Way of Kings."  And for Kaladin, it his escape from the reality of who he was and who he is that brings him face to face with what must be.

"The Way of Kings" is one of the best fantasy works I have read in some time and look forward to the next volume.

"The Hero" by John Ringo & Michael Z. Williamson

"The Hero" by John Ringo and Michael Z. Williamson is a continuation of Ringo's popular Posleen War series.  This particular book is set about a millennium after the other main Posleen works--a time when the human race is divided between those who live around the core of planet Earth and those who live on the out fringes; the humans and the Darhel are attempting to come to terms with one another; the Posleen efforts are now more of a minor insurgency; and a new enemy, the Tslek, are on the horizon.

The storyline focuses on the Darhel member of a Deep Reconnaissance Team, one of two survivors of fratricide attack on his team, as he tries to prevent an artifact from falling into the traitor's hands.  This is a very simplification of the plotline, but don't want to spoil the story for others.

I must say "The Hero" is not an opus indicative of Ringo's storytelling talents.  It was almost like the two authors just threw something together in order to meet a publisher's deadline.  Most surprising was the lack of character depth of the protagonist, Tirdal San Rintai--not the norm for Ringo's previous characters.  Bottom line: a disappointment.

Fallen Hero - First Sergeant James A. Mercer

Dear Jim,

It seems apropos when General Gonzales called me this morning of your passing I was staring across Monterey Bay at Fort Ord (or what remains of it).  The shock of your loss brought an immediate gush of memories of our time there.  The good, the bad, the ugly all marched its way through my mind in an almost effective blocking action against the pain of losing someone close.

It was a time of challenges and new beginnings when 1SG Jim Mercer greeted his new commander at the door of the orderly room.  You, the veteran leader--okay, so you had been there only 30 days more than me (so zip it and listen, First Sergeant.  These are my memories.)--welcoming the brash new commander who was wondering what in the hell he had gotten himself into.  Much to the surprise of many we clicked as a command team rather quickly, which I credit to you as the consensus builder and common sense overlay for all we did and accomplished.

Through deployments to Central America and the first Gulf War we took our Soldiers and brought them all home--a great feat in my book.  Throughout this time you were always a crucial source of inspiration, experience, and fun.  I just can't imagine history being written any other way.  More importantly, you were there through some very troubling and dangerous times--and I'll leave it there.  Nuff said about that.

Jim, its unfortunate the spectrum of time is an unsympathetic delusion of what is and is not.  Although the memories it provides feel like events and meetings were only yesterday; yet, the reality is that time has passed us quickly by since the last good bye.  Now you have stepped off the Green Ramp for a heavenly deployment.  So I will not say farewell, but wish you good-bye as the advance party for the deployment that awaits us all.

In keeping with the mission protocol we shared too long ago:  "First Sergeant, I'll see you on the other side."  Good-bye, my friend.

Michael