BOOK REVIEW: Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir has quite a lot going for it. The book jacket has blurbs from giants in science fiction and fantasy like Brandon Sanderson, George R.R. Martin and Blake Crouch. Barack Obama included the book in his list of summer 2021 reads. Weir is most well-known for his blockbuster debut novel The Martian which became a blockbuster film directed by Oscar-winner Ridley Scott and starring Matt Damon. His “thing” is realistically depicting hands-on science and engineering ingenuity to survive realistic, life-threatening situations. The premise behind Project Hail Mary is eye-catching (if surprisingly far-fetched for an author whose previous work has leaned so heavily on verisimilitude as a selling point). A newly discovered bacteria called astrophage somehow is causing the luminosity of the Sun to diminish at a slow but exponentially increasing rate which will lead to the extinction of all life on Earth within a few decades. Project Hail Mary is humanity’s attempt to investigate and fix the problem, but when the book begins all the reader knows is that something has gone horribly wrong and the main character has woken up alone in a spaceship (named Hail Mary) after spending years of interstellar travel at relativistic speeds in an induced coma leaving him with no memory of where he is or why. Unsurprisingly, Ryan Gosling is attached to a possible film adapation of Project Hail Mary by the producers and screenwriter of The Martian. (No word yet whether director Ridley Scott is interested in helming his second Weir adaptation.)

The structure of the story in Project Hail Mary is brilliant; it is told in two linear time-frames near simultaneously. The reader slowly learns that the main character’s name is Ryland Grace and that he was a junior high school science teacher. Because of Grace’s amnesia, the reader gets little drips of Grace’s life prior to the Hail Mary while he’s adjusting to the situation he wakes up to. Slowly he remembers that he’s there to try to save the world by discovering why Tau Ceti is the only local star near ours which has not experienced a reduction in luminosity in recent decades. Project Hail Mary was intended to be a one-way scientific mission with three scientific experts to investigate the phenomenon and discover a solution for the astrophage infestation harming the Sun and send it in four quadruple redundant “information life boats” back to Earth. So the two timelines of the story follow Grace trying to complete his mission in the future and remembering the past when he was involved in the preparation and design of the Hail Mary, along with the amazingly dictatorial leader of Project Hail Mary Eva Stratt (who would be perfectly cast by Emily Blunt or Tilda Swinton in the inevitable film adaptation). Ryland Grace is supposed to be white, American, under 40 and average looking. I had someone like Joseph Gordon-Levitt, Tobey Maguire or Topher Grace is who came to mind as I was reading. Ryan Gosling would probably be great.

There’s an incredible and incredibly surprising development about one-third of the way into Project Hail Mary that I don’t want to spoil in this review. Suffice it to say that it moves the plot in a whole different direction and switches the book from scientific thriller to something else in addition. Without revealing anything more I can say that this development is an amazingly positive aspect of the story. It provides another example for Weir to show he is able to deploy his scientific chops to describe a scientifically complicated scenario and raises the emotional stakes of the story.

The reader learns some shocking things about Ryland as the earlier time frame unspools in his memory that causes us to question our identification with him as the main character. However, another plot twist very near the end of the book provides Grace with a dilemma that allows him to redeem himself to the reader and results in a very surprising ending (which I suspect will not survive the Hollywood film adaptation). Overall, I think that Project Hail Mary is at least as enjoyable and exciting as The Martian, and is almost certainly a better (written)  book. I look forward to reading more from Weir, and I strongly agree with President Obama’s recommendation to include Project Hail Mary on your summer reading list.

Title: Project Hail Mary.
Author: Andy Weir.
Format: Hardcover.
Length: 476 pages.
Publisher: Ballantine Books.
Date Published: May 4, 2021.
Date Read: July 21, 2021.

GOODREADS RATING: ★★★★★  (5.0/5.0).

OVERALL GRADE: A/A- (3.83/4.0).

PLOT: A-.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A.
WRITING: A.

GAME OF THRONES (S8E02): "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms"

Summary
The second episode of the final season of  Game of Thrones is "A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms." This is either a reference to Jaime Lannister or Brienne of Tarth. This is a "quiet before the storm" episode where the "storm" is the Army of the Dead led by the Night King and the White Walkers. The Seven Kingdoms are the North (home to Winterfell), the Vale (home to The Eyrie), Dorne (home to Highgarden), the Stormlands, the Reach, the Westerlands, and the Iron Islands.

In this episode we see how people will deal with the end of the world as they know it. They know the Night King is on his way to Winterfell kill everyone in the North and the writers use this episode to show us almost every imaginable pairing of characters. A brief list is: Sansa and Theon, Grey Worm and Missandei, Jaime and Brienne, Arya and Gendry, The Hound and Arya, Podrick and Brienne, Sansa and Daenerys, Sam and Gilly, Tyrion and Jaime, Tormund and Brienne, Bran and Jaime, etc.

The information that Jon received in the previous episode that he is Aegon Targaryen VI, the heir to the Iron Throne was relayed to Daenerys in this episode, but not at a moment where there's enough time for them to have  a meaningful conversation about it. The horn blows, indicating that the Army of the Dead is approaching Winterfell and we immediately cut to an exterior shot with White Walkers (although no appearance by the Night King himself) looking at Winterfell in the distance.

The most surprising (and controversial) scene . Only 4 episodes left!

Highlights
The highlights of this episode were:

• The best line of the episode is probably Bran's "The things we do for love" which he said when Jaime was being interrogated by Dany, Sansa and Jon for his crimes, to let the Kingslayer know that he was the kid who he had pushed out the window in S01E01 so many years before.
• The second best line of course belonged to Tormund Giantsbane when he said "Why the f*** not?" to the notion that a woman can't become a Knight.
• The best scene was almost certainly the meeting between Dany and Sansa, as Dany tries to convince Sansa to not be her enemy as she points out that they have a lot in common (primarily that they both love Jon Snow). Interestingly, there is some progress made, but still tension, as Sansa wants to know how the independence/autonomy of the North will be maintained in any new Targaryen administration.
• Second best scene was when Brienne became Ser Brienne, at the hands of Ser Jaime Lannister. The two have had a tumultuous relationship, but Brienne had stuck her neck out to save Jaime from Dany's wrath and revenge by convincing Sansa that Jaime is "honorable" and it was interesting to see how Jaime was able to "pay his debt" later in the same episode.
• Most valuable player of the episode is Podrick, who (again!) surprises us with his hidden talents. his time whipping out a surprisingly supple... voice as he sang the new song "Jenny of Oldstones." The look on his face when Brienne says "Oh I don't really want to be  a Knight."
• All the pairing (or couplings) were great but my two favorite were Grey Worm-Missandei and Arya-Gendry. However, as George R.R. Martin says, "If you think this story has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention."

An amazing highlight was the original song called "Jenny of Oldstone" which was sung by Podrick in the show a cappella but the version in the credit was done  by the amazing Florence and the Machine. Listen to it below:

Lowlights
The only lowlight of the episode was the languid pacing and the lack of action, but I have no doubt that episode 3 will make up for that, with epic battle between the living and the dead.

Grade: 8/10.

2018 EMMYS: The Winners

My predictions for the 70th annual Primetime Emmys didn't work out too well. The actual winners were very different from whom I wanted to win an whom I thought would win, in the Top 6 categories (Drama Series and Leading Actor and Actress and Comedy Series and Leading Actor and Actress). I only correctly picked Brosnahan as the winner and in my hoped-for-wins I got Game of Thrones and Claire Foy correct.

The nominees and the actual winner is in bold below.

Outstanding Comedy Series
Atlanta
The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel
black-ish
Silicon Valley
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Glow
Barry
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series

Tracee Ellis Ross (black-ish)

Rachel Brosnahan  (The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel)

Allison Janney (Mom)

Lily Tomlin (Grace and Frankie)

Pamela Adlon (Better Things)

Issa Rae (Insecure)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Comedy Series

Donald Glover (Atlanta)

Bill Hader (Barry)

Anthony Anderson (black-ish)

Ted Danson (The Good Place)

William H. Macy (Shameless)

Larry David (Curb Your Enthusiasm)

Outstanding Lead Actor in a Drama Series

Sterling K. Brown (This is Us)

Jason Bateman (Ozark)

Ed Harris (Westworld)

Matthew Rhys (The Americans)

Jeffrey Wright (Westworld)

Milo Ventimiglia (This is Us)

Outstanding Lead Actress in a Drama Series

Elisabeth Moss (The Handmaid’s Tale)

Keri Russell (The Americans)

Evan Rachel Wood (Westworld)

Sandra Oh (Killing Eve)

Claire Foy (The Crown)

Tatiana Maslany (Orphan Black)

Outstanding Drama Series

Game of Thrones

The Handmaid’s Tale

This Is Us

Westworld

The Americans

The Crown

Stranger Things

In addition to these winners, other notable results were in the best supporting actor categories where Thandie Newton and Peter Dinklage won for HBO's Westworld and Game of Thrones, respectively in the drama category and Henry Winkler won for HBO's Barry while Alex Borstein (the voice of the Mom on Family Guy) won for The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel on Amazon Prime. Both This Is Us and The Handmaid's Tale would have been shut out except for the wins by Ron Cephas Jones (the dad) and Samira Wiley (the lesbian friend) as Guest Actors on those series. I belive Stranger things was shut out. Again.

Netflix's Altered Carbon IS Arriving 02/02/18 (And Looks Awesome)!

The next great television show based on a science fiction/fantasy books is going to be a reality soon! It was announced in January 2016 that Netflix had ordered a 10-episode season of 1-hour episodes based on Richard K. Morgan's Takeshi Kovacs trilogy: Altered Carbon, Broken Angels and Woken Furies. These books are set in the 24th century where humanity has expanded to about a dozen worlds and the most notable technological change is the development of human conscious transfer and storage. One consequence of this is effective immortality because once a body begins to fail, one can transfer one's consciousness into another body. In fact, for the super-rich there's no reason to wait until death to do this consciousness transfer from an , and so the bodies that store consciousness are known as "sleeves."

Netflix has now announced that the series is called Altered Carbon will be available on the streaming service starting February 2, 2018! In addition to announcing the release date, a number of teaser and trailer videos have been released and they look AMAZING!

and
One quibble I have with what I have seen of the show (in the trailers) so far is that in the books Takeshi Kovacs (the primary protagonist) is described as being "of Japanese and Eastern-European descent" but in the Netflix television adaptation he is being played by an actor named Joel Kinnaman who looks pretty fair-skinned (he's a Swedish actor). Kinnaman is quite attractive, but the non-white hue of most of the characters in the books (as far as I remember) was definitely mentioned. I don't think this will become a huge talking point as the series starts getting more prominent public notice, but I do find it somewhat troubling. I believe they will explain it by referring to an original "sleeve" Takeshi had where he is played by a Korean-American actor.

There are other interesting tidbts about the show in this Entertainment Weekly article: the pilot was directed by Game of Thrones alum Miguel Sapochnik (S6E09: The Battle of the Bastards) and the budget is rumored to be the biggest ever for Season 1 of a show (and remember House of Cards had an estimated budget of $100m for its first two seasons, or approximately $4.5m per episode).

I can't wait see this show on February 2, 2018!

With Game of Thrones probably off the air until the end of 2018 at the earliest and Season 3 of The Expanse shot but no airdate released (but expected to be sometime in 2018) we are living in the golden age of television based on speculative fiction classic works (by George R.R. Martin and James S.A. Corey, respectively).

GAME OF THRONES (S6E02): "Home"

Episode 2 of Season 6 (S6E02) of HBO's Game Of Thrones is titled "Home." There was no indication from Episode 1 (S6E01) that the follow-up would become one of the most significant episodes of the entire show, but that is what happened this week.  Spoilers Follow Below!

Summary
Ever since 2011 when George R.R. Martin published A Dance with Dragons which included a scene in which fan favorite Jon Snow appears to be murdered by his brothers in the Night's Watch speculation about Jon's fate has been one of the key plot points of the entire story being told in A Song of Ice and Fire. These are the events that were depicted in the Season 5 finale (S5E10).

In "Home" we learned that even though Jon Snow has been killed, he does not stay dead. Jon Snow is dead! Long live Jon Snow!

There were also other important things that happened in this episode besides the resurrection of Jon Snow (which happened in the very last seconds of the episode).

We got to see Bran experiencing past events and we see Hodor as a young boy (still huge for his size) and we discover his name is Willis! And that he could talk!

Also in the North we see some very disturbing events at Winterfell (see lowlights below) and also in the North we see Brienne and Sansa talking about Arya, ad Theon tells Sansa that he is not going to go with them to the Wall to find Jon Snow and ask for his protection, since he's pretty sure that Jon will want to murder him for Theon's cowardly actions of attacking Winterfell and proclaiming the deaths of Rickon and Bran.

We move directly from Theon, to his father, Balon Greyjoy, arguing with his sister Yara about strategy. Balon is the last survivor of the five Kings, the War of the Five Kings was about but Yara points out that the War has not gone well for the Ironborn. Later we see Balon fall to his death when he meets his younger brother Euron (who has been missing in action for a long time, and is certifiably insane). It's not a coincidence in the same episode where we see Melissandre's prediction that all of the "pretenders to the Iron Throne" would be killed finally come to fruition is the one where it looks like her magical powers are weak because she can't resurrect Jon Snow.

There's an important scene in King's Landing when Jaime meets the High Sparrow at Myrcella's funeral and gets into a showdown between him and the Faith Militant. They both walk away from it without any bloodshed but you just know things will not go so smoothly next time! We also get to see more of Cersei's Personal Zombie Knight, i.e. the reanimated Ser Gregor Clegane a.k.a The Mountain who kills Some Random Dude who was besmirching Cersei's name in public. We see that even the Goldcloaks are scared of the Mountain when they try to enforce an order not to allow Cersei to go the Great Sept for the funeral, at King Tommen's explicit orders. Later, after speaking with Jaime, Tommen goes to his mother and apologizes, and she appears to forgive him. Cersei is acting surprisingly low-key, but I'm pretty sure she is biding her time and collecting her forces before she strikes wrath upon her enemies. Look out, world!

In Essos, Tyrion argues that dragons are very intelligent creatures and finding out that they have been refusing food and appearing to grow sickly, volunteers to make sure they have their dinner." He goes down to the dungeons where Dany had tied up the two remaining dragon with Varys, and incredibly bravely walks up to the deadly beasts and unclasps both of their shackles, not getting burn to a crisp in the process. This is interesting on multiple levels because there are lots of fan theories that Tyrion must have some Targaryen blood in him and his ability to walk away with a close encounter with dragons just increases that speculation.

Now, finally we get to the moment we have been waiting for. Melissandre attempting to resurrect Jon Snow, at the explicit request of Ser Davos, and clearly against the wishes of Big Tall Redheaded Wilding Dude (what's his name?). She washes Jon Snow's body, revealing the horrible lacerations the multiple stab wounds from his Night's Watch assassins left in his body. She cuts his hair and puts in the fire, saying incantations multiple times. NOthing appears to happen, and Redheaded Dude storms off and slams the door. Eventually Melissandre and Davos leave as well. And, then, of course, Jon open's his eyes, gasps, and sits up! He's alive!

Highlights
The highlights of this episode were:

• Seeing Kit Harrison's almost-nude body as a corpse was a highlight. Here was an opportunity to "Free the peen!" but, alas, the showrunners missed this chance!
• The last seconds when Ghost stirs from his sleep and Jon Snow opens his eyes and gasps awake will probably be the highlight of the season!
• Seeing Hodor as a youngster and Bran walking about (even if it is in a "greenseeing" dream) was pretty cool and a definite highlight especially since the character didn't appear in all of Season 5.
• Dragons! The scene with Tyrion and Dany's two shackled dragons (Viserion and Rhaegal) was all osrts of awesome. The special effects were particularly convincing heree and the dragons looks as big as houses!

Lowlights
The parts of the episode I could have done without:

•  We know that Ramsay Snow is bad, horrible evil guy. Sheesh! In this episode, he stabs his father to death and follows that up by having his stepmother and her newborn baby devoured alive by bloodthirsty dogs. Srsly! This was way over the top. Even though we didn't see their deaths we did get audio of the snarling canines as they attacked and it was way over the top!
• Do we really need to see Arya as a blind girl getting the crap beaten out of her for yet another week? With so many characters and so much story to tell, this seemed like a waste of

Grade: 10/10.

Game of Thrones: Another Teaser For Season 6 (Starts Sunday 4/24 9pm!)

There is a new trailer for the new season (#6) of HBO's Game of Thrones, which starts on Sunday April 24th at 9pm. There are new reports that this season may be the last "full" season of 10 hours, with the producers saying that they think they have about 13 episodes of story left. The television show has progressed further in telling the story in George R.R. Martin's A Song Of Ice and Fire books than the author has. Season 5 ended with some events that happened in Book 5 A Dance with Dragons and Book 6, The Winds of Winter is nowhere to be seen, although Martin claims that he is working hard on it.

I'm very excited that Season 6 is beginning this weekend!

Mathematical Analysis Reveals TYRION Is Main Character of Game Of Thrones

This is really cool! io9 reports on a mathematical analysis of the third book in the A Song of Ice and Fire series by George R.R. Martin to demonstrate that the Tyrion Lannister is the actual main character of the series.

After ranking the characters through various methods, the three most common characters that could be perceived as the “main” stars of the series emerged: Sansa Stark, Jon Snow, and—at the top in pretty much every measured regard—Tyrion Lannister. 

It’s not really that surprising—each chapter of a book in the series is told from the perspective of a different character, and Tyrion has the most chapters to his name across the whole saga. 

The type of mathematics being deployed here is called "network science." You can read the text of the original article (titled "Network of Thrones") at Math Horizons.

YAY! Netflix Announces 10-Episode Deal To Adapt Richard K. Morgan's Altered Carbon

Wow! The number of my favorite works of fiction that are becoming multimedia projects is increasing. Of course if you follow this blog you'll know that I have been a big fan of Game of Thrones (adapted for HBO from A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin) and I'm currently ecstatic that the first season of James S.A. Corey's The Expanse series is on SyFy.

Yesterday, Netflix announced that is going to adapt Richard K. Morgan's Altered Carbon into a 10-episode streaming series. There are three books in the Takeshi Kovacs series (Altered Carbon, Broken Angels and Woken Furies), which are set in the 25th century and are an exciting combination of noir mystery and far-future cyberpunk science fiction. Here's the description by io9:

Altered Carbon is set in the 25th century, where humans live all across the universe and consciousness can be transferred from body to body, making death a thing of the past. It follows a centuries old soldier who is “resleeved” (their word for transferring consciousness) into the body of a police officer and must then explore a huge conspiracy. 

Writer and producer Laeta Kalogridis, who co-wrote Avatar and Terminator Genisys, bought the rights to the book and its sequels several years back, after co-writing a movie script that didn’t get picked up. She’ll now serve as writer and executive producer. 

“Altered Carbon is one of the most seminal pieces of post-cyberpunk hard science fiction out there,” Kalogridis said at that time. “A dark, complex noir story that challenges our ideas of what it means to be human when all information becomes encodable, including the human mind.”

It looks like the production team is strong as well (although Terminator Genisys mostly sucked) the studio SkyDance is well-versed in big special effects movies and is exactly the right place for this adaptation. VERY psyched about this news!

I don't understand why producers are not knocking down the doors of two of my other favorite sci-i authors Peter Hamilton's Commonwealth saga and Alastair Reynolds' Revelation Space books would make awesome movies or television series.

2015 EMMYS: Game of Thrones Wins Best Drama, Veep Wins Best Comedy!

Viola Davis became the first African-American woman to win the
Lead Actress in a Drama Series Emmy Award

I did pretty well on my predictions of the Top 10 categories. I nailed the two biggest categories, predicting a Veep win  in Best Comedy series and a Game of Thrones win in Best Drama series but then I also did pretty well in the other categories as well, ending with 6 out of 10 correct.

The four I had wrong were all of the supporting actor and supporting actress categories!

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Comedy Series: Allison Janney, Mom  

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Comedy Series, Tony Hale, Veep

Outstanding Actor In a Comedy Series: Jeffrey Tambor, Transparent 

Outstanding Actress In A Comedy Series: Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Veep

Outstanding Supporting Actress In A Drama Series: Uzo Aduba, Orange Is the New Black 

Outstanding Supporting Actor In A Drama Series: Peter Dinklage, Game of Thrones 

Outstanding Actor In A Drama Series: Jon Hamm, Mad Men

Outstanding Actress In A Drama Series: Viola Davis, How to Get Away With Murder

Outstanding Comedy Series: Veep

Outstanding Drama Series: Game of Thrones

It's interesting that Game of Thrones had such a big night, considering that the fifth season is considered by some to be its worst (it definitely had some controversial moments!) its surprising that the show not only won the big enchilada but also won Emmy's for writing and directing (for the Season 5 finale: S5E10 "Mother's Mercy") and Peter Dinklage won his second Emmy for portrying Tyrion Lannister.

BOOK REVIEW: The Emperor's Blades by Brian Staveley

I have been hearing about the Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne series by Brian Staveley for quite awhile. Amazon.com has been suggesting Staveley's books to me because I have either bought books by Brent Weeks (The Lightbringer Series) and Daniel Abraham (The Dagger and the Coin series). I read some reviews on Goodreads and requested the first two books from the Glendale-Pasadena library system. I'm very glad that I did! These books excellent works of fantasy, in the classic tradition of my favorite authors like George R.R. Martin, Peter Brett and Scott Lynch.

A new name can be added to this list: Brian Staveley. His debut novel is The Emperor's Blades, which won the 2014 Gemmell Morningstar Award for Best Debut Fantasy Novel. Happily this award-winning 2014 release is the first book in a trilogy with the second book, The Providence of Fire published in 2015 and the third and final book, The Last Mortal Bond, set to appear in March 2016. Together these three titles form what is known as The Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne.

The Unhewn Throne is the symbol of the Emperor's power in Annur.At the beginning of the first book, Emperor Sanlitun is dead, murdered by forces unknown. His three children are Adare, the eldest child, a daughter; Kaden, the Emperor's heir; and Valyn, the youngest son. Adare is in the capitol city, surrounded by both enemies and allies, where one of her father's posthumous acts has been to appoint her to be Minster of Finance. She has not seen her two younger brothers for years. At a tender age, Kaden was sent far, far away to train with the monks of the Blank God in the distant Bone Mountains at the very edge of the Annurian empire. Valyn has gone to the Qirin Islands to try out to survive the deadly training regime to become a Kettral, one of the elite forces who ride giant birds in service of the Emperor.                    

The Emperor's Blades is primarily a story about what happens to Kaden and Valyn as the ramifications of the assassination of their father the Emperor are revealed it becomes clearer that he was probably not the only member of  the royal family targeted for death. But even more intriguing is that who ultimately sits on the Unhewn Throne controlling Annur may not be the most important fact that needs to be determined.

Staveley does an excellent job of making the reader want to care about all of Sanlitun's children. (One of the main criticisms of The Emperor's Blades that one often sees is that Adare's story is not as interesting or important to the plot in the first book. This is true, but this is a somewhat minor quibble and is more than balanced by how compelling both Valyn's and Kaden's stories are. I do like Adare's character and wish there was more of her in the first book. Happily, she plays a much larger role in the sequel, The Providence of Fire. In addition to Kaden, Valyn and Adare, the other characters are also well-drawn and I was genuinely moved when really bad things happened to some of these characters who I had started to care about. The stakes are high, people! This is epic fantasy at its best.

Title: The Emperor's Blades.
Author: Brian Staveley.
Paperback: 480 pages.
Publisher: Tor.
Date Published: January 14, 2014.
Date Read: July 21, 2015.

OVERALL GRADE: A/A- (3.83/4.0).

PLOT: A.
IMAGERY: A-.
IMPACT: A-.
WRITING: A.

The Emperor's Blades Wins 2014 Gemmel Award for Best Fantasy Debut Novel

The David Gemmel Awards for Fantasy are internet-based awards that have been given out since 2009. There are three categories: the Legend Award (Best Novel), Morningstar Award (Best Debut Novel) and, somewhat inexplicably to me since I care less about book covers, the Ravenheart Award (Best Cover Art).

Brandon Sanderson's Words of Radiance won both the Legend award and the Ravenheart award. Words of Radiance is the sequel to The Way of Kings which won the Legend award in 2011. However, more interesting to me (since I haven't read Sanderson's Stormlight Archive series yet even though I do a copy of the first two books in the house) is the fact that Brian Staveley won the Morninngstar award for The Emperor's Blades which I read recently and enjoyed greatly (review still in progress). The Emperor's Blades is Book 1 of the Chronicle of the Unhewn Throne and Book 2, The Providence of Fire came out earlier this year, while the last book in the trilogy  is on tap for release in March 2016. It's called The Last Mortal Bond. If you like fast-paced fantasy with intricate plots and characters that you care  about you will like these Staveley books. I just discovered him about a month ago, but with these first two books he is now right up there on a short list of my favorite fantasy authors that includes Brent Weeks (The Lightbringer), Daniel Abraham (The Dagger and the Coin) and Richard Morgan (A Land Fit For Heroes). He's no George R.R. Martin (yet) but that may be a good thing.

Game of Thrones (S5E10): "Mother's Mercy"

The finale of Season 5 (S5E10) of HBO's Game Of Thrones is titled "Mother's Mercy." The significance of this episode to the overall project of adapting George R.R. Martin's landmark fantasy series, A Song of Ice and Fire can not be overstated. The fifth book in the series, A Dance with Dragons was released in July 2011 and the most of the events depicted in this book have now been depicted in Season 5 of the show. What this means that unless the next book, The Winds of Winter is published before HBO's Game of Thrones Season 6 begins in Spring 2016, the television show will be revealing aspects of the story have not appeared in the books. This basically inverts the usual relationship between written source material and a filmed adaptation. In reality this inversion has already been going on, because some of the events depicted in earlier episodes of Season 5 do not appear in Book 4 or Book 5 so either the producers were deviating from the source material or they were depicting events that would appear in the as-yet-unpublished Book 6.

Summary
This episode contained one of the highest body counts of previously introduced characters in the show's history. After the murder of his own child on a fiery altar to the Red God (in S5E09), Stannis Barratheon has sold his soul to try to sit on the Iron Throne and although we see that the weather has improved his overall situation has gone from bad to worse. Unsurprisingly, at least half of his troops have abandoned his cause (taking all the horses with them), presumably repulsed by the man who would be King willing to sacrifice his only child in such a barbaric fashion. Additionally, his wife Selyse decided that she could not live with the reality that she had stood by and watched her only child burn to death and she hung herself. Stannis grimly (or stupidly) decides to continue ahead with his siege of Winterfell (even though he also gets word at that point that Lady Melissandre has been seen leaving the camp in the direction of Castle Black). However the Boltons decide to come out behind their protected walls and  meet him on the field of battle, using their now overwhelming numerical advantage to basically slaughter the remaining troops led by the person Lord Petyr Baerlish called "the greatest military mind in the Seven Kingdoms." At the end of the battle, Brienne catches up with Stannis and is finally to inflict the ultimate punishment on  Stannis for his use of the Red Witch's blood magic to kill his brother Renly Barratheon way back in Season 2 right before her horrified eyes when she served as Renly's Kingsguard. And thus House Barratheon is basically ended (although technically teenaged Tommen Barratheon is on the Iron Throne, everyone knows that he is actually full-blooded Lannister).

Sansa takes advantage of the battle happening just outside the walls of Winterfell to finally use the device she squirreled away previously (in S5E07) to escape from her room and finally light the candle at the top of the old tower (but Brienne is out hunting for Stannis and thus again  only to be caught by Ramsay's mistress, the dogmaster's daughter Miranda and Reek. Happily, Reek finally realizes he is still Theon and saves Sansa by pushing Miranda to her death. Then, holding hands, Reek Theon and Sansa jump over the balustrade in a way that looks like an attempted suicide or the famous jump from Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid. we'll have to wait until Season 6 to find out if Sansa survives, but it is known there are Sansa chapters in Martin's Book 6.

The show then cuts to the other remaining female member of House Stark where arya has fully realized her ability to impersonate another person and does so as an underage girl in a whorehouse that Ser Meryn Trant frequents in Braavos. She whips out a knife and violently stabs out his eyes and then as he whimpers she tells him her name and then slits her throat. However, when she gets back to the House of Black and White, she is chastised by her Faceless mentor for killing someone who was not on her task list and through a magical potion she is blinded. This is what happens to Arya in Book 5, so we are fully caught up with her story now.

In Essos, we see a bedraggled Dany trying to get a very unwell looking Drogon to get up and fly her back to Mereen,but he won't respond so she starts walking and finds herself in a verdant valley. She realizes someone is watching her and soon a person on horseback approaches, slipping a distinctive ring off her finger, she watches open-mouthed while what looks like hundreds of Dothraki on horseback suddenly appear from the grassland and surround her. Since Dany's story began way back in Season 1 as a timid little girl who was sold by her brother to a Dothraki warlord, it is ironic indeed that she find herslef back among them. Happily, she does speak excellent Dothraki and knows their culture very well. Back in Mereen we see Ser Jorah and Daario deciding to go out and search for Dany, leaving Tyrion, Missandei and Grey Worm behind to rule the city in their mistress' absence. Happily, Varys finally makes and appearance, reminding Tyrion that he has some experience running a city filled with deceit, graft and despair.

In Dorne, we see Jaime and Bronn setting off at a dock with Myrcella, leaving Prince Doran and the San Snakes behind. The Viper's widow Ellaria Sand has sworn her allegiance (on pain of death) to Doran earlier but as the party leaves she gives a curiously long and intense open-mouthed kiss on the lips to Myrcella. Later on we see a heart-to-heart conversation with Jaime where he finally tries to tell his niece that she is in fact his daughter, but she stops him, saying "I know, and I'm glad that you're my father." Just as Jaime's heart swells with relief and joy, blood starts pouring from his daughter's nose and we realize that Ellaria has finally gotten her revenge, using poisoned lips to kill another one of Cersei Lannister's children.

Back in King's Landing we get one of the most famous scenes from the book, Cersei's comeuppance, known by fans as the Walk of Shame. Her head is shaved and she is stripped naked and forced to walk naked from the High Sept all the way to the Red Keep (through the slums of Fleabottom), with crowds of thousands throwing refuse and abuse on her head. It is a harrowing scene, almost 10-minutes in length and Lena Headey does an amazing job. Apparently a body double was used for the scene, but it is still incredibly powerful.

Finally we come to one of the most important moments in the show, the final 2 minutes of the episode. It happens at the Wall, of course. First we see Melissandre arriving and when Ser davos asks her about Shireen's well-being she says nothing but looks grim and walks on. Then we see Olly rushing in to the Lord  Commander's office where we see Jon Snow writing at his desk and tells him that his Uncle Benjen has been sighted at The Wall. Benjen disappeared beyond the Wall in Season 1 and was one of the reasons why Jon jioned the NIght's Watch in the first place. He rushes outside to a vantage point to try and see Benjen and is confronted with a sign that says "Traitor" instead. When he turns arund, he is surrounded by his men and Ser Alliser (his deputy) growls "For The Watch" and stabs a knife between his ribs. Two others follow, and as Jon sinks to his knees Olly, the orphan boy who Jon saved from certain death and brought into the Night's Watch stabs Jon through the heart, saying "For The Watch." We watch as Jon Snow sinks to his back, face up, eyes wide open as a pool of dark red blood grows larger and lager behind him. They killed Jon Snow!

Highlights
The highlights of this episode were:

• Cersei's walk was incredibly emotional. One of the high points of the season. You definitely feel like even though you have hated her for five seasons, did she really deserve that? (The answer is yes.)
• The banter between Varys and Tyrion was great, as always. There's also the hint that the banter between Daario and Ser Jorah, two men who both love Dany, will also be entertaining in season 6.
• Arya's butchering of Ser Meryn Trant was scary to see and shows how far down her vengeful path she has traversed.

Lowlights
There were no lowlights although it was very sad that we did not get to see any kind of telltale glow in Jon Snow's eyes and this seems to indicate that he really may be dead, crushing the hopes of millions of viewers who saw him and Dany as the only chance of some semblance of good triumphing over evil in the entire story. Plus the fact that Ramsay Bolton is shown torturing dying soldiers at the end of the skirmish with Stanis' force, unharmed and shouting "I want to see my wife, she must be lonely." If the odiously evil Ramsay has not beem punished in the story it really seems like good will not triumph over evil after all. But then again, as the saying goes, "If you think this story has a happy ending, you haven't been paying attention."

Grade: 10/10.

Game of Thrones (S5E08): "Hardhome"

Episode 8 of Season 5 of HBO's Game Of Thrones is titled "Hardhome." Hardhome is the name of the location of a wildling settlement north of The Wall near the sea where Jon Snow goes to convince them to come with him to live south of The Wall in order to spare them from becoming part of the White Walkers army of the un-dead.

Summary
This episode clarifies some issues which are central to the entire television series. The events at Hardhome provide the audience a revelation of exactly what it means that "Winter is Coming": undead zombies animated by incredibly powerful, magical beings who want to annihilate all life.

Also in the episode, there is an exchange between Daenerys Targaryen and Tyrion Lannister which hints at the end of the show:

'Lannister, Targaryaen, Baratheon, Stark, Tyrell...' Daenerys sighed, almost bored. 'They're all just spokes on a wheel. This one's on top, then that one's on top. Then on and on it spins. Crushing those beneath on the ground.' 

It was a defiant speech/statement of intent, which clearly left Tyrion impressed – to a point. 

'It's a beautiful dream – stopping the wheel,' he allowed. 'You're not the first person who has dreamt it.' 

But if he meant it as a gesture of support or unity, she couldn't let it pass without correcting him. 

'I'm not going to stop the wheel,' she stated typically simply. 'I'm going to break the wheel.'

(Hat/tip to the Daily Mail for the transcript.)

There are other things in the episode besides the events at Hardhome and the verbal gymnastics of Tyrion and Dany. For example, despite the obvious value of his gift, Jorah Mormont was exiled (again!) and we got another look at Cersei in prison. In Braavos, Arya was given a job assignment (i.e. a target to be assassinated) for her to complete on her path to become a servant of the Many-Faced God. In Winterfell, Sansa learned that her brothers Rickon and Brandon were not killed by Theon Greyjoy after all and her husband Ramsay Bolton made plans to take the battle to Stannis Barratheon's forces while they are struggling with the Northern cold weather. It's amazing to think that there are only two more episodes of this season left.

Highlights
The highlights of this episode were:

• The best line of the episode was "A ruler who kills those devoted to her is not a ruler who inspires devotion." (told by Tyrion Lannister to Daenerys Targaryen). 
• The second best line of the episode was "Fuck the dragon glass, we're all gonna die here!" with "I fucking hate Thenns" close behind.
• The desperation inherent in Cersei's attempt to suck up water from the ground of the floor of her cell after the Silent Sister has deliberately drizzled there as punishment for her prisoner's defiance and refusal to confess.
• The giant Wun Wun smashing wights by stomping on them with his feet and also clearing the path behind him by using a huge flaming log as a broom to sweep away the thronging hordes.
• The sheer magnitude and scale of the battle at Hardhome was thrilling, even if things went so quickly it was hard at times to follow the action.

Lowlights
The parts of the episode I could have done without:

•  None! One of the best episodes of the entire series. 

Grade: 10/10.

Game of Thrones (S5E06): "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken"

Episode 6 of Season 5 (S5E06) of HBO's Game Of Thrones is "Unbowed, Unbent, Unbroken." The title comes from phrase the motto of House Martell, which has become an important focus of this season as the show has expanded to the Martell's domain in Dorne. Fans of the books know that the motto reflects the fact that Dorne, has never been conquered by any external force (not even the Targaryens with their Dragons) while the Martell family has ruled it. However, it is possible that another interpretation of the title could be words that describe Sansa Stark, especially considering what happens at the very end of the episode.

Summary
I think the main theme of this episode (S5E06) is about lies and the impact of lies on the lives of people, as well as bad things happening to good people (but, wait, every episode of Game of Thrones is about that!). The good people in this episode are our usual fan favorites: Sansa, Tyrion, Jaime as well as "the Tyrell Roses" (Margaery and Loras). The bad things that happen to these characters are quite varied. Arya is also a fan favorite, of course, but it is unclear whether something good or bad happened to her.

What did happen is that she learned how to lie convincingly in the House of Black and White, and convinced a very sick girl to drink the poisoned water and meet the Many-Faced God. As a reward, Arya is shown the hidden underground chamber below the House and it turns out that it is filled with thousands and thousands of faces. This seems like a significant development in Arya's goal of becoming one of the deadly assassins known as the Faceless Men. But is this a good thing?

Here are just some of the bad things that happened to our favorite characters in this episode:

• Jamie and Bronn were captured trying to rescue Myrcella Lannister (who clearly did not want to be separated from her hot new boyfriend Trystane Martell)
• Jorah and Tyrion were captured by slavers in Essos and are likely to be taken to Mereen
• Margaery and Loras Tyrell were taken away to jail by the Sparrows, accused of violating the "laws of gods and men"
• Sansa was raped on her wedding night by the odious Ramsay Bolton, while Theon Greyjoy (formerly Reek) was forced to watch, after he had assumed the role of eldest male relative at the wedding 

Some of the lies that resonated in this week's episode were: Arya's lie to the sick girl that she had been brought to the House of Black and White by her father to be healed; Tyrion lies to the slavers who have captured him in order to spare the lives of Jorah and himself; Margaery and Loras lie to the High Sparrow while testifying in Loras' trial; Sansa is lying (presumably?) when she says "I do" during her wedding to Ramsay Bolton; and Jaime and Bronn are not lying per se but they are being deceptive when they break into the Water Gardens of Dorne (Jaime is still perpetrating the lie that he is not Myrcella's father).

Then of course there is Littlefinger's statements to Cersei that he knows where Sansa Stark is and if she makes him Warden of the North then he will bring her Sansa's head on a spike. Is that a lie? Does Littlefinger even know what the truth is anymore?

Highlights
The best parts of the episode were:

• The best line of the show (and possibly the series) was spoken by the anonymous slaver who captured Tyrion Lannister and Ser Barristan Selmy: "The dwarf lives until we find a cock merchant!" 
• A close runner-up  for the best line of the show (for the sheer magnitude of delusion it reveals) is Cersei Lannister's "House Lannister has no rival." Sadly, the statement by Sansa to her fiance's gielfriend is equally self-delusional: "I am Sansa Stark of Winterfell. This is my home and you can't frighten me."
• The verbal clash between Cersei and Olenna Tyrell was a delight; as expected the Queen of Thorns easily won the match and also learned that Lord Tywin's daughter is not as worthy an opponent or combatant as he was.
• Another highlight of the episode was the buggery trial of Loras Tyrell, primarily for the clever way the show runners were able to set the perjury trap for Queen Margaery. The smirk that Cersei gives Olenna is priceless, but again demonstrates she is unaware of the danger of arming religious zealots and then blurring the lines separating Church and State.
• The dress that Sansa Stark wore to her wedding to Ramsay Bolton was absolutely stunning.

Lowlights
The parts of the episode I could have done without:

•  As many other recaps have noted, did the show really need to have another female lead character get raped in order to demonstrate the ubiquity and horror of sexual violence in Westeros? Sansa is the third one, following the rapes of Dany on her wedding night by Khal Drogo and Cersei by her brother Jaime next to the body of their dead son King Joffrey.
• The Sand Snakes are simply unacceptably bad; their "plot" to capture Myrcella was laughable. It's really not clear how the entire Dorne subplot can be salvaged at this point.

Grade: 8/10.

Game of Thrones (S5E03): "High Sparrow"

Episode of 3 of Season 5 of HBO's Game Of Thrones aired earlier this week and is titled "High Sparrow." This episode (S5E03) features the debut of acclaimed British actor Jonathan Pryce playing the soon-to-be important role of the High Sparrow, a leader of a religious sect. As you can see from the pictures above, and as I have said before, this season revolves around Cersei Lannister (played by Lena Headey), and to a lesser extent Arya Stark (played by Maisie Williams).

Summary
I think the main theme of this episode is alliances or partnerships. There are numerous "big moves" made in the Game of Thrones in this episode. First, Cersei seeks out the man they call the High Sparrow, the head of a group of believers in a hard-core version of the Seven Gods religion that dominates Westeros. She wants to align faith and crown (church and state) in a mutually beneficial pact that will lead to stability in the kingdom, and more power to each of them, especially her, she thinks.

This is important because, in sharp contrast to the other dramatic weddings that have happened on the show, the wedding of Margaery Tyrell and Tommen Barratheon proceeds without incident and is vigorously and repeatedly consummated. Thus Cersei's grip on power is more and more tenuous since her title of Queen Regent or Queen Mother may soon slip to Dowager Queen or Queen Grandmother as soon as Tommen's new bride successfully delivers a new heir. Margaery takes a little too much pleasure at informing Cersei of this fact of life to her face, and also points out to the newly deflowered King that perhaps he no longer requires such close devotion from his mother.

Another example of alliances being forged/re-arranged in S5E03 are in The North, where Littlefinger reveals that he has offered Sansa Stark's hand in marriage to Ramsey Bolton, the Lord of Winterfell. So, a Stark may again be residing in Winterfell, but as we in the audience know (and knowing Littlefinger's penchant for secrets its hard to imagine that he does NOT know), Ramsey Bolton is a psychopathic sexual sadist and his father, Roose Bolton, murdered Sansa's brother Robb Stark (the former Lord of Winterfell) in cold blood.

In addition to these events there were other important plot developments in this episode. The first  of these was at the Wall, where newly elected Lord Commander of the Night's Watch Jon Snow was forced to eliminate a thorn in his side and demonstrate that his orders must be followed by beheading Janos Slynt for refusal to follow a direct order. Other important developments were Tyrion Lannister's kidnapping in Volantis by Ser Jorah Mormont (formerly a key adviser to AND secret informant on Dany Targaeryen) and confirmation that Brienne and Pod are continuing to follow Sansa and Littlefinger.

A key take away of this episode is that the showrunners have made a definitive split from the story that is being told i George R.R. Martin's A Song Of Ice and Fire and the story being told in this television adaptation called Game Of Thrones.

Highlights
The best parts of the episode were:

• The best line of the show was when Sansa shows up at Winterfell and one of the servants addresses her as "Lady Stark" and Sansa turns around, surely thinking, "Lady Stark was my mother, I'm not Lady Stark" and the servant says "The North Remembers!"
• The verbal jousting between Margaery and Cersei and the look on Cersei's face when Tommen asks her whether she wouldn't be happier if she moved back to Casterly Rock and her realization that his new bride is already manipulating her son was priceless.
• Another highlight was the conversation between Littlefinger and Roose Bolton. I like how explicit the show is about how significant Littlefinger is to all the intrigues and plots that change the power structures in Westeros. I don't think that was remotely as clear in the books.
• The look that Sansa Stark gives Roose Bolton as she approaches her fiance's father, recognizing that he is the man responsible for the death of her brother and mother, before waiting a beat (or two) and then giving a perfect curtsey.

Lowlights
The parts of the episode I could have done without:

•  Did we really need to see the stump of the decapitated body of Jonas Slynt

Grade: 8/10.

Game Of Thrones (S5E02): "The House of Black and White"

Episode of 2 of Season 5 of HBO's Game Of Thrones aired this week and is titled "The House of Black and White." This episode (S5E02) features Arya Stark, the one main character who did not appear at all in last week's (S5E01) "The Wars To Come." Since Arya is one of my favorite characters I am pleased that the show caught up with her story so quickly

Summary
I think this episode is really about shades of gray. Arya has basically devoted herself to a life of revenge for the horrible things that have happened to the her family (Lord Eddard Stark beheaded due to the treachery of Joffrey Barratheon; the death of her mother and brother at the Red Wedding). She basically sees all people in "stark" terms as either friend and foe (and most people are foes). Interestingly, Arya's death list has shrunk to just four people  (Cersei Lannister, Walder Frey, The Mountain, and Ser Meryn Trant). Arya has made her way to Braavos in order to join the guild of shape-shifting assassins called The Faceless Men.

Another character who is shown not  appreciating nuance in this episode is Daenerys who decides to execute one her supporters in Mereen after the former slave takes the law into his own hands and executes one of the former slave-owners associated with the Sons of the Harpy group who was awaiting trial for killing one of the Unsullied last week. "The law is the law" says Dany firmly, but when Daario does the deed the assembled audience hisses at their Mhysa and the beginnings of a riot ensues as former slaves and former slave-owners try to kill each other.

Cersei Lannister is not known for her willingness to see both sides of a situation and she (rightly) interprets a missive from Dorne containing her daughter's unique jewelry as a threat to the life of Myrcella. This fear for her daughter's well-being is well-founded as Ellaria Sand is shown castigating Prince Doran Martell (her deceased lover's brother) for being unwilling to take revenge on their Barratheon hostage guest for the death of Oberyn Martell.

Really the only characters who we know are smart enough to have nuanced views are Varys and Tyrion Lannister, and they have an amusing and interesting dialogue about the futility of trying to make the world a better place.

Two other characters who  we know see things in more details than just black and white are Jon Snow and Stannis Barratheon. They have some good scenes together this week when Stannis offers Jon his heart's desire of becoming a real Stark and the Lord of Winterfell--if Jon just "bends the knee" and pledges fealty to Stannis as the true claimant to the Iron Throne (and forsakes his oath to the Night's Watch). Somewhat surprisingly, Jon doesn't get a chance to accept or decline this offer because instead he gets elected as the 998th Lord Commander with Aemon Targaryen casting the last, deciding vote.

Highlights
The best parts of the episode were:

• The return of Drogon, the largest child of the Mother of Dragons
• The setting for the famous Water Gardens of Dorne (apparently some fancy Spanish castle) looks incredible
• The banter between Bronn and Jaime Lannister bodes well for their mission to Dorne to try and rescue Myrcella
• The best lines of the show were of course between Tyrion and Varys: "Are we really going to spend the entire trip to Volantis discussing the futility of everything?" (Varys to Tyrion) and Tyrion's reply "You're right. No point."
• Another highlight was the fact that Brienne was able to run into the second Stark daughter she swore an oath to Lady Catelyn to defend, a brilliant departure from the books where despite her oath Brienne never runs into either of the Stark girls. In the show, the tragedy is thta both Stark girls reject Brienne's offer of protection.

Lowlights
The parts of the episode I could have done without:

•  Even though I was happy to see more Arya, the scenes in Braavos did not seem to  make much sense. What did Arya do to get the attention of the Faceless Men? Why did they not let her in to the House of Black and White when she first arrived? Hopefully we will learn more later on because the reasons were not revealed this week.

Grade: 9/10.

Overall: This was definitely a better episode than last week, and brought forward the story of many of the fan favorite characters (like Arya, Drogon, Bronn and Brienne) and set up scenarios which will become even more important later in the season (Dorne,