Book Review(s)

The Dagger and The Coin Series

So, one of my favorite authors, Daniel Abraham, has a relatively new series, which I had read was supposedly a trilogy. I waited until all three books were out to start reading.

About halfway through the second book, I'm thinking to myself "wow, I have no idea where he's going with this or how it's going to end." Halfway through the third book, I'm thinking "this is either super dis-jointed, or it's not a trilogy."

So, I googled it. First result - "The Dagger and the Coin Quintet". Further down, I see only one site has referred to it as a trilogy. ARRRGGGHHH!!!

Furthermore, Book 3 ends on a pretty massive cliffhanger.

Anyway, the books are quite good --> I'd say they're worth a read. But you should definitely wait until the next two are out to start reading.

Now for the review part:

The series focuses on events from the perspective of 4-6 main characters (some rotate in and out). There's lots of moving parts, and the characters overlap and cross paths at different times. It's not immediately obvious how that will happen, as they are initially spread out pretty far geographically.

The pacing of the books is good - lots of action very quickly. Arguably too quickly - there are massive events that take place in what seems like a very short period of time (or at least, not that many pages). Some things happen that make me question the characters' reactions. With something as big as X, would that person really have moved on that quickly? Maybe, but it's foregone. That's probably my biggest complaint.

All the characters are interesting in their own right - for the most part, they are very relate-able and understandable.

As far as world-building goes, I think it's left intentionally obscure. The main characters start uncovering pieces of the puzzle later on in the series, which I think will play into the over-arching story-line. It seems sloppy at first, but I think it's done that way for a reason.

Overall rating: 4, maybe 4.25/5 so far. Obviously, I'm going to reserve judgment until I see how it wraps up.

Day 1

Eating Out

I ate at a Russian/Georgian place yesterday. We had blini (think crepes) and piroshki (think puff-pastry with filling). Both were quite good, although the blini had some meat marinated in some particularly tasty spices. They were served with a spicy-sriracha like sauce (not quite sriracha - I would recognize that) and sour cream. Also, the bread (served on the side) was very light and airy, and served with an herb butter. For me, there's a huge gap between regular butter and butter with some sort of seasoning in it, but I don't really know why. I finished up with a Turkish coffee, which was excellent, but my heart was racing for the next hour. It was served in a pitcher (maybe I wasn't supposed to drink the whole thing?), and was probably equivalent to three or four shots of expresso, plus sugar. All in all, a very good experience - I'd definitely go back there, if it wasn't so far away. The name of the place is "kafe sobaka restoran pomegranate", and it's in South Park, San Diego. Apparently, they have a whole range of infused vodkas, which are VERY smooth. It was lunch-time and I was driving, though, so I refrained. 

I honestly didn't expect much from this type of cuisine - I figured it would be way more bland or less textured. I was quite impressed - if you ever happen to encounter a Russian place with good reviews, give it a try.