A Side of Panache

Well. It's that time again! Finals are over and it's time to dive head-first into the next book in the Tiger's Curse saga!  I'm looking forward to getting into this book, because Tiger's Voyage is...a weird book. In some ways, it's an improvement on both Tiger's Curse  and Tiger's Quest .  This is mostly because the pacing is actually...normal in this one.  Which is great news for all of you guys, because I don't have to spend the first ten or so chapters saying variations on "nothing is happening" over and over again.  We actually start with...not filler! But for all of the improvements to story structure (which, believe me, I greatly appreciate), the third book is still not, well, good.  As part of the law of equivalent exchange, this increase of quality in pacing means that there is a sharp decrease in quality in...pretty much every other aspect of the book.  The mythology is worse.  The characters are worse.  The unintentiona...

Hello, and welcome back to our irregularly scheduled nonsense! Last time, we got to read a summary of stuff we've already read, and learned why Ren's been acting so strangely--he has amnesia! You know, only the worst dramatic trope I can think of!  This is just a personal pet peeve of mine, but I absolutely cannot stand it when a character gets amnesia.  It just feels like the author couldn't think of what to do with the character next, so instead of developing their character or making them do anything interesting, we end up just wasting a whole bunch of time trying to get their memories back instead of doing anything actually productive.  It's one of the reasons I couldn't really get into Heroes of Olympus --the main character had amnesia. Part of my feelings towards the whole amnesia trope is a me thing, but part of it is completely justified, I think.  Like I said above, it wastes time retreading things the audience already knows, and you all have already ...

Hello, and welcome back to our irregularly scheduled nonsense! Last time, Kelsey & Co. saved Ren!  It was badly written and the tone was all over the place, but they did it!  We've passed the climax of the novel, and including this one, we have three chapters and an epilogue left before we get to the end of Tiger's Quest !  I can hardly wait for Tiger's Voyage ! Ren also punched Kelsey in the face and knocked her out, so that's Kelsey's one hundredth-ish concussion for this series. Also, fun bonus for you!  Chapter Twenty-Six is really short and boring, so I'm giving you a twofer!  This also means that we get to finish this book up even sooner! Chapter Twenty-Six: Baiga The chapter opens with Kelsey coming to after getting knocked the fuck out by Ren.  Kishan is carrying her through the jungle, no longer disguised as Some Other Person, and Kelsey asks where they're going.  Kishan says that they're following the Baiga into the jungle to ge...

Hello, and welcome back to our irregularly scheduled nonsense! Last time, Kishan cemented himself as a terrible person, but more importantly, Kelsey & Co. have made some important steps in narrowing down where Ren is being held captive so they can (finally) go rescue him! Stuff actually happens in this chapter since this is the climax!  After this, the story just kind of peters out over three chapters, but we're in the home stretch now! Lokesh is in this chapter, and even though he's cartoonishly evil to the point of absurdity, he's still kind of a fun character.  I don't know how it's possible to chew the scenery in a novel, but Lokesh somehow manages it. Chapter Twenty-Five: Saving Ren Finally . Mr. Kadam says that they've found the missing Baiga tribe that they already suspected of working for Lokesh.  Mr. Kadam has some satellite footage that shows some technology nearby, which is unusual for the Baiga people.  This technology is some cars an...