Snow and More Snow

New England is expected to have approximately 2 feet of snow tonight and tomorrow and some potential for even more. We ended up canceling our normal board game night and instead will be prepping to turn into Siberia for a weekend. To this end, I have enough food, water, entertainment, and if electricity goes out, books!!!!! Keep safe everyone and try not to venture outside this weekend unless you want some excercise shoveling or you have a decent tauntaun and believe that anything at all will be open.

Two Weeks in Iceland

Originally, me and 2 friends had planned a Scandinavian trip to Sweden (for Midsommar), Norway, and Iceland, but it had been canceled due to the Covid Pandemic. As a result, we were stuck with travel vouchers (for me with Iceland airlines). As a result from July 25th to August 7th, I traveled to Iceland instead as it was the only country which would take US travelers who had been vaccinated.

The first thing I instantly confirmed was how expensive everything in the country was. Most meals will cost $20-$30 even at fairly cheap places when ordering a bowl of soup or a small sandwich. Getting past that, the food was pretty decent. The bread in particular, was to die for. They had a rye bread that tasted like a rye version of banana bread; slightly sweet, but very rich and tasted homemade.

(Seen here is a meal at Cafe Loki) Other must try foods: -Lamb stew -Lobster Soup -Rye Icecream -Cinnamon rolls -Ice Cream at Valdis The fish is pretty decent and there is a lot of fine dining everywhere you go, but those particularly are the best in my opinion. The Hakarl (fermented shark) is overrated and is not even that strong tasting, the hardfiskur (fish jerkey) is kind of hilarious and worth a shot, and the Skyr (Icelandic yogurt) is quite good.

(Ian Chinich eating Hakarl, fermented shark)

Of the things I did, The glacier hike was probably the most fun.

(Ian Chinich hiking a glacier in the South of Iceland in August 2021) Followed by the Phallic Museum in Reykjavik

And the National Museum and Saga Museum.

The scorcery and witchcraft museum is interesting but a long drive unless you are heading in that direction

While I think that Iceland is new to tourism and still developing institutions to support it and things to see other than small random sites hours away, some of its greatest charm is that it still has many areas that are off the beaten path.... there are dirt roads, very little night life, and sheep everywhere you go. If you like good bread and hiking in scenery out of A Song of Ice and Fire, check out Iceland for yourself!

The King Beyond the Gate

The King Beyond the Gate by David Gemmell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I liked this book even better than the first book in the Drenai saga. Again it follows characters resisting impossible odds in a struggle that comes 100 years after the events in the first. While still being slightly formulaic in that the action tends to take place in defense of fortifications, the opposing factions and character motivations are much better in this book. It also further develops the cultural regions from the first book, Legend, and contains some memorable heroes who are faced with the ultimate sacrifice.

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My review of "Legend"

Legend by David Gemmell
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I had not heard of this book until a few weeks ago, and saw it recommended as a series in the vein of Dark Company, Game of Thrones, and First Law... which is a good enough recommendation for me. Sure enough, the series has a dark foreboding quality to it of a coming clash which is unwinnable.

What I liked about it are its visceral quality to both the battles and in its regional geopolitics. Most of the characters motivations also didn't seem forced, the love story...short as it was, didn't seem as 2 dimensional as a story from the early 80s could have. Lastly, its use of magic was also very thin and focused, like many of the books I had mentioned.

My only critique are that despite its nihilistic look at war, it seemed to simultaneously glorify in war/violence as something that makes people feel alive and brings out qualities in them. I am deeply uncomfortable with how this gets done in fantasy and its even weirder in situations where there is not a good/evil binary.

Still, I cant wait to read the next book in the series!

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The Light of All That Falls Review

The Light of All That Falls by James Islington
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This series is what you get when you take a less developed wheel of time, with slightly less binary in terms of evil (the elder powerful enemies believe they are doing things for the right reasons and not just for power). Add some time dilation, and then a handy dose of CS Lewis's religiosity. While I liked some of the plot and the timelines, I found myself cringing hard at seemingly Christian themes throughout the whole book. the name "EL", the god vs satan binary, the importance of believing in an afterlife, always telling the truth, does having a god prevent the characters from having free will, and lastly why doesn't "EL" intervene on behalf of the people when there is evil in the world. It was a bit too much, but if you have finished WOT and a few other stories and want something in a similar vein... try this out.

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The Shadow of What Was Lost Review

The Shadow of What Was Lost by James Islington
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This obvious Wheel of Time influenced starts in the aftermath of a war of control between magic (called essence) users and those without the ability and a mystery to find out what is going on behind the scenes. It took a bit to get into as it felt like a much less developed and more 2 dimensional WOT without all of the good world building, politics, and culture, and history.

Its not a fantastic book, but it definitely gives you a little bit of an homage to Eye of the World in a different kind of way if thats what you are looking for.

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Review: Prince of Thorns

Prince of Thorns by Mark Lawrence
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book is as if you had a mix of Robin Hood and Ramsey Bolton cut loose in a dark war of principalities. The main character is pretty horrible and ruthless....perhaps the most ruthless antagonist I have ever read in a book... and it often makes you wonder whether you should be rooting for him or not.

In my opinion, the first book is the best of the trilogy and if you like dark gritty fantasy, it is in the vein of Game of Thrones, Black Company, and First law.

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