Review - The Iron Ship by K.M. McKinley

The Iron Ship bills itself as the story of the six Kressind siblings drawn by fate and ambition toward a great destiny, inexorably linked with the adventure of the titular iron ship.  More accurately, it is seven stories - loosely connected at best - following five of the six Kressind siblings and two other people with whom they have a passing acquaintance; the iron ship doesn't touch water until the last 50 pages of this 650 page book.

Just enough so that the cover art isn't wholly misleading.

Published in 2015 by Solaris Books, K.M. McKinley's debut novel deserves high praise for its rich descriptions and unique worldbuilding.  The Iron Ship is an industrial fantasy novel set in a world of magic and science, a world that grabs the reader's attention and doesn't let go. A mysterious dark planet called The Twin plays havoc with the earth's oceans; high tides push thousands of miles up great rivers and lap at the lowest reaches of cliffside cities, while low tides reveal temporary islands and ghost-haunted marshlands. Archaeologists vie to discover ancient cities of lost civilizations and the valuable technology and mysterious architecture they left behind.  Free-thinking women challenge a social order that treats them as less than their male counterparts. The old aristocracy looks down its collective nose at the nouveau riche industrialists who are quickly coming to dominate high society in the 100 Kingdoms. Downtrodden pioneers populate a boom-town mining magic ore from a dangerous black desert to power the engines of industry.  Also, horses are extinct and some dogs can talk.  Bet you didn't see that one coming.

If you are like me, you'll keep reading just to find out more about the world.  McKinley blends familiar aspects of our own history with fantasy tropes, subverting both in the process and crafting a world both accessible and regularly surprising.  Unfortunately, if you are like me, you will also look up at some point and realize that three quarters of the book have gone by with barely anything happening in the story.  It all feels like set up with no pay-off; like the first third of a bunch of stories, bundled together and stretched out into a full novel.  Each story has its climax, of course, but some of them feel forced, like they were tacked on simply because the book was ending.  Two of the climaxes are simply twists that set up further conflict for the next book, and two of them involve previously established characters that have made the switch to cartoonishly evil villains simply to provoke a violent confrontation.  Moreover, even though the book is pretty long, it feels like every story gets shortchanged, with the narrative dipping in just enough to show how things have progressed before jetting off to another corner of the world.

Story problems aside, I'll be grabbing the next book in the series - The City of Ice - when it comes out late 2016 or early 2017.  But would I recommend it?  If you like worldbuilding, give it a read, but if you're expecting a gripping story, it's probably safe to pass this one up.

The more in-depth and spoilerific review is below, so if you want to read it and hate spoilers, go no further.

Review: Pathfinder Bestiary 5

Bestiary 5 for the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game is out now!  But should you buy it?  As a general rule of thumb for Pathfinder Bestiaries or D&D Monster Manuals, the higher the number in the title, the less useful it is.  This is something I learned before I ever started playing D&D.  When I went over to my friend Marc's house in junior high school, I would flip through his monster manuals and marvel at the strange collection of beasts therein.  I soon realized that, while there were some pretty weird creatures throughout all the books, it was the higher-numbered ones that were more likely to contain cheesy, dumb, or downright bizarre monsters destined never to be included in a random monster table or emblazoned on some knight's shield.  It was Monster Manual IV, after all, that famously gave us the ice-skating dragon.

© WOTC

Not that there is anything inherently wrong with weird monsters; beholders and rust monsters are pretty darn weird, but they are also iconic, interesting, and truly threatening monsters that are easy for GMs and players alike to grasp.  A monster can get away with being weird if it has been around for a long time, or if its underlying concept is really engaging.  I knew Bestiary 5 was in trouble when I opened to a random page and saw this:

© Paizo

That's a dwiergeth, and its name is just as much of a random jumble of consonants and vowels as its body is a random jumble of monster parts.  But Bestiary 5 isn't all dwiergeths and aatheriexas, it is also packed with beasts from Greek, Egyptian, Mapuche, Inuit, and Slavic mythology (and many more), plus crazy sci-fi creatures and and odd occult horrors.  As I read on, I knew I had to create a metric that I could use to review each monster individually and compile them to get a sense of how useful the bestiary was overall.  The results are below.

Book Review: Brokedown Palace

As this blog is the primary authority on matters relating to fantasy role-playing games for literally tens of people, I thought I might branch out to touch on the literary world - inextricably linked as it is to the world of fantasy RPGs.  After all, D&D was fundamentally shaped by the novels and stories of J.R.R. Tolkien, Robert E. Howard, Jack Vance, and Fritz Leiber - among many others - and modern RPGs continue to draw heavily on contemporary and classic fantasy works.

It may come as no surprise to you that I have been known, on occasion, to read fantasy novels and stories.  As such, I am taking it upon myself to post reviews of some of these here on this blog.  And with this blog being what it is, my reviews will be made with an eye toward fantasy RPG gaming.

Brokedown Palace

The first work up for review is Brokedown Palace by Steven Brust, originally published in 1986 by Ace Books.  Some minor spoilers may follow, but I shall endeavor to restrict them, for I am vehemently anti-spoiler.