Into the Storm reviewed, Heroes Die Pondered

Up now at SFFWorld is my latest review, Destroyermen I: Into the Storm by Taylor Anderson. It is a bit flawed, but on the whole, I felt Anderson delivered an entertaining story and set the groundwork for a good series. Sometimes a good entertaining novel fits the reading bill and here, Anderson delivered for me.

Heroes Die thoughts…

As I’m reading through Heroes Die, I’m also noticing how much of the narrative is NOT focused on Caine. Though Caine left such a strong impression on my earlier two readings, I hadn’t recalled that Stover really did some interesting things with Pallas/Shanna and even (maybe especially) Kollberg. Strike that, not that he did interesting things with the supporting characters so much as he gave them solid character arcs and developed them very well. I likely noticed these elements before, but they are standing out to me on this third reading of the book. Duality is a pretty strong theme throughout the novel, which should be unsurprising since the nature of some of the characters is that they play a dual role. Although Caine/Hari has his own duality issues, one can see how Berne is the flip side of Caine. Or rather, Berne is what Hari/Caine could become if his morals were checked at the door. Ma’elKoth is a god who wears two faces, in some respects. Outwardly he emits a radiance of benevolence, but as Caine is trudging through the Donjon, it becomes clear his benevolence only goes so far.

I'm still working on my response to The Dark Knight.