Jim C. Hines

‘Kitemaster‘ was my seventh book by Jim C. Hines, and it is by far my favourite. For me, it sets the bar for what a Fantasy novel can be.

It’s an exciting adventure with an against-the-odds struggle by an underdog locked in a righteous struggle with a powerful, ruthless enemy. It has a unique, well-thought-through magic system, flying ships, great battle scenes, wonderful air serpents and enormous dragons.

What impressed me most was that it never followed the obvious path. Nial did show more what needed to be done, but she always sought the route of least harm to others. Her enemy was ruthless, cruel, but not evil. She was broken and her actions were monstrous but her failings were very human.

I found myself absorbed in the world that Jim Hines had created: its religion, its people, its use of magic as a technology and its endless cycle of war over territory. I loved how what I at first thought to be myth turned out to be history, and how history started its journey towards becoming myth.

I liked that Nial’s journey wasn’t powered by a hero’s zeal for an epic quest but by her need to protect her family and the other people she cares about. She never falls into a righteous anger that allows her to take any action necessary to achieve her goals. She always takes responsiblity for what she does and is more comfortable with sacrificing herself than with harming others.

For me, the most powerful aspect of the novel was its deep understanding of grief and loss. If you've lived through grief, you'll recognise the emotions being described here. There is no attempt to say that grief is something that you'll get over. Grief and loss change you. You are never again the person you were before they touched you. This story shows how, if grief turns to rage, it can consume a person. It also shows that you can't 'move on' from grief; you can only become reconciled to the life that now sits before you.

Jim Hines captures that sense of isolation and dislocation that comes when your life is derailed by loss. Nail's life stops for a while. She withdraws from the people around her, no matter how well-meaning, knowing that she causes them discomfort and they can offer her little to fill the void.

I loved the spirit kite funeral rites of Nial's people. Even without the magical aspects, it seems to me that this is a practice that honours the dead and helps the living. show less

I wanna be a libriomancer!
Seriously, this concept is so awesome. And the book references many of my favorite books and authors as part of the hero's library. Also, we have a hero who is a librarian and damn proud of it.
This book had a great idea and explored the implications of that idea thoroughly, while leaving room for expansion later. The characters are well-drawn and relatable. I would recommend this book to anyone with even the faintest interest in speculative fiction.

Wow that was a fun book. I very much enjoy that each of the princesses have both a very large strength and a flaw, keeping them out of Soulless Action Girl realm and making them interesting characters. This book focuses mostly on Danielle (Cinderella) who is one of those incredibly compassionate and forgiving characters that when done wrong can be terribly stupid, but showed a real growth and a willingness to see when Things Had To Happen. Her newness to the group was particularly useful as show more an introduction to the status quo as well, so I can understand why we're in her POV.

I really REALLY love her companions. Some people roll their eyes at Snow (White) but she's probably one of my favorite sorceress types out there; her flirtatiousness doesn't come out as fanservice-y like in some books, probably due to the fact that instead of just being a Pretty Girl With Magic Who Is The Hero's Love Interest she's incredibly nerdy and spends most of her time in the library, and there IS no love interest (unless you count the gnome she flirts with a lot, which is kind of endearing?). She's also the youngest, and her immaturity was believable. I really look forward to seeing her character grow too.

And then there's Talia (Sleeping Beauty). Oh. My. God. Way to pull out everything I find creepy about the original fairytale and turn around and make her BADASS. Both her and Snow have had some pretty traumatizing things done to them (and in Danielle's case, JUST HAPPENING), and it's really lovely to see how she draws strength from that. But unlike a lot of the badass types of females, you get moments with Talia's vulnerability, which instead of making her weak just makes you kind of love her more for being so refreshingly HUMAN. I also really adore her close relationships with both the Queen and Snow, there was a bit where Snow was talking her through a briar patch which just really warmed me. Women (pretty and talented even) getting along and looking out for each other WHY IS THERE NOT MORE OF THIS IN FANTASY/SCI-FI.

Also, there's some refreshingly normal takes on queerness (humans are still a little uptight about it, but most of the other magical races have varying degrees of normalcy with it) that makes me wish that this had been around when I was 14. Seriously. I look forward to how one thing in particular gets resolved in this realm. Because. Yeah. Awesome. show less

Squee!!!...Wow! Awesome! What a Ride!

Right after I put this book down, that was all my brain could function to come up with for a review. This book was that good. I'll try to do a more useful review below.

It's a unique take on worldbuilding. Never at risk of interrupting the flow of the story or what the characters are going through; but, a wonderfully rich, developed piece of worldbuilding. Once reader accepts the basic premise, everything works. Even if you have not read the books show more mentioned. Instead of esoteric bits and pieces of books, he manages to just share a love of books and the wonderful worlds within that completely permeated the pages of this one without getting in the way of the story (and I was not lost even though had not read everything mentioned).

Isaac is a former field agent with the magic of libriomancy and one of three central characters. The story is told from his viewpoint and richly imaginative, often distracted, and occasionally lusty geek mind. He was retired from the field for overdoing things and plunked into a small library branch. Libriomancy is the power, within some logically presented limits and risk, to pull magic literally from books. The more thoroughly believed or widely read by readers, the more powerful and the more likely things happen like vampires becoming a part of the real world. Some potentially horrifying things within the pages of even the most beloved books caused a society to be created to handle the dangers. The plot revolves around one of the worst case scenarios including the society founder being kidnapped and a lot of their powers being used against them. Includes so much (like incipient war with the vampires), it is one helluva romp. But it all flows very well as only such a talented storyteller could do with so much to juggle. Very well done.

The sheer imagination behind some of the magic Isaac does and the situations he gets into is staggering. I can't wait to see in the sequel what other bits are lurking in the author's mind.

Where I said Isaac was one of three central characters--well, the next most central character was Smudge. Yes, the spider-sized fire spider who was a pet of Jig the Dragonslayer. Isaac pulled him out of Hines' Goblin Quest series and was unable to put back without killing him (Smudge would have burned the book and himself if tried). How on earth such a tiny, nonspeaking, nontelepathic and rather uncommunicative character could become such a part of the book and come so much to life -- before reading this book I could not have imagined. But he does. And it's a grand element of the story that should be unbelievable but is not.

Another character literally showing up on Isaac's doorstep is Lena, a dryad and definitely a kickass (although not typical) heroine. Isaac's mentor, her lover, and several of their fellow libriomancers are endangered (or dead) from the events going on, either actively in the conflict, kidnapped by vampires or the yet unknown evil forces. They team up to get to the bottom of things. I almost always despise love triangles in urban fantasy (one too many icky YA genre ones as well), but this one was different. I felt for everyone involved and things took a twist pleasing at least to Lena. More on that would be spoiler.

A complex, tense, action filled plot. But I laughed out loud a lot. Isaac definitely has a great, warped sense of humor that goes over well despite all the more serious themes like free will that run through this book.

A complete story on the one hand (no buy-my-next-book-or-you-won't-have-story-finish cliffhanger) but definitely there is more to come. Isaac still has much to figure out on the evil forces, the libriomancer society seeing some changes, the love triangle resolution and all the other character lives.

Not really a part of this review or something I base purchases on, but, hey, is that a cool cover or what?

I know there's a hundred other plot points, character thoughts and actions and things I should mention. Despite the well flowing story, there was just so much going on a review is just not going to do it justice.

So, again, just "Wow!"

And one little funny to share from the book:

"State Farm does not cover acts of dinosaurs"

I am a big fan of the author's so to be honest I would have read this book whether or not the description interested me. This one sounded like could either be an inventive, unique take on magical worldbuilding or a terrible mishmash of esoteric bits from other books that only an uber geek could get or that could just be a bunch of filler for a lazy author (actually cringed a little when I heard he was going to write something with, among other creatures, vampires in it and feared maybe publisher pressure to get into a more lucrative genre). I gave it a whirl anyway because I consider Mr. Hines to be a very talented storyteller (yes, a very good writer, but beyond that a "storyteller" with stories that carry throughout the whole tale without ever losing my interest and characters that come to life)

I also wanted to share author's post of a "get out of work/school" permission slip if anyone has real life trying to intrude into their reading schedule. At this link:
http://www.sff.net/people/jchines/Temp/Excuse.pdf show less