Teaser Tuesday: Lock In

Like Doctor Who crossing his own timeline, the Wheel of Time had turned ’round to Teaser Tuesday.

Just in case you don’t know, Teaser Tuesday is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Books and a Beat. Anyone can play along! All you have to do is grab the book you’re currently reading, open to a random page and share a few sentences from that page. But make sure you don’t share any spoilers!*

*I wish I could take credit for this introduction, but I shamelessly stole it from Heather over at bitsnbooks. To help me make amends, you should go check out her blog.

This week I’m reading Lock In by John Scalzi. Yes, the man who once called me a Beetletoed Jackneedle and told me to leave the internet forever is now on my Currently Reading list.

The Truly Random Number Generator sends us to page 144:

A Dodger wants to do something he can't be seen doing in public. They've got those grey-market scanner caps that work well enough for the job. And now that Abrams-Kettering's passed, you've got a reason to go looking for side gigs. The government contracts are drying up. And you've got a family to think about. 

Sounds shady . . . let’s get going!

In Retrospect

Review for No Snakes in Iceland by Jordan Poss

Disclaimer: I know the author personally.

* * * WARNING: MAY CONTAIN SPOILERS * * *

Set in 10th century Iceland, No Snakes in Iceland pays brilliant homage to the great Norse epics. Think Beowulf with an internalized protagonist [never fear; there’s still a good old fashioned incorporeal ghost]. Readers of Tolkien & Pratchett will find familiar landmarks along the way.

This work contains all the power of a great epic contained in the simplicity of modern English. No Snakes in Iceland earned my five star rating unequivocally. For me, five stars means that a book is so good it will actually make you a worse person if you don’t read it. That’s quite a claim to make.

I do not give this praise lightly; in fact, I went into this book looking for reasons to mark it down lest I be accused of patronage/nepotism/graft or what have you. And, truth be told, there are certain grammatical choices I found distracting – mainly reading 300+ pages of first-person narrative. However, a good story can transcend the language used to convey it, and for me, No Snakes in Iceland did just that.

Poss has combined a classic ghost-feud-revenge tale with a unique protagonist. Our hero is no warrior, no prince, no humble farmer. Instead of these morality tale tropes, we cheer on a poet begrudgingly wielding his sword in defense of what seems right – or, at times, what he is told is right. It’s not often the scop tells his own tale with such introspection.

Like all good epics, our protagonist must face his inner demons; or, in this case, decapitate his own snake. As this internal struggle is integral to the story, I won’t divulge it here. There’s such a thing as too many spoilers.

I encourage you to read it yourself and judge for yourself. It will be time well spent.

5 Stars