Review: The Elven Inquisition: A Woke Fairy Story

The Elven Inquisition: A Woke Fairy Story by Steve Wiley
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

A cautionary tale for social justice warriors

The Elven Inquisition is a hilarious satire of the modern social justice movement. I'm an avid promoter of social justice, which made me appreciate this book and its message. In my experience, some groups and individuals can push social justice to extremes that do more overall harm than good. This is particularly true when social justice is used to benefit a minority group by subverting others rather than addressing the causes of inequity. This story is an excellent illustration of how social justice can be co-opted and wielded as a weapon against those that threaten a supposed egalitarian society's status quo. It is smart, witty, and an excellent cautionary tale for social justice warriors everywhere. As I read, the words of Nietzsche came to mind -- "Beware that, when fighting monsters, you yourself do not become a monster."

Outside of its value as a clever satirical work, it is an excellent story as well. The overall plot and story are entertaining and engaging, and the characters were surprisingly nuanced and deep for a short book. I also enjoyed the way the author used a combination of modern fantasy and traditional folktale elements to build a unique world. Overall, it was a fun and enjoyable read (or listen). The audio version of the book was performed by Michael J. Lunney, who did an excellent job narrating the main character and projecting the book's tone and unique message.

A special thanks to Steve Wiley, Jen McDonald, and the rest of Lavender Line Press, who graciously provided me with this book at my request.

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Review: Renegade Star

Renegade Star by J.N. Chaney
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Great Sci-fi Reminiscent of Firefly 

Renegade Star's description says that it's for fans of Firefly, Battlestar Galactica, or Leviathan Wakes -- and though I'm not sure about the last two, this book is basically is Firefly. Jace Hughes is a dead ringer for Malcolm Reynolds, so much so that Luke Daniels even created a voice for Jace in a voice that sounds very much like Nathan Fillion that captures the inflection and tone of Serenity's captain. Now don' think it's an exact replication -- the setting and world are unique enough, the plot is different, and there's an entirely different set of supporting cast of characters, though some still fill the same crew or story niches.

Being Firefly-esk alone wouldn't make this a great book, but it's well written with a great mix of drama, sci-fi, and comedy. After listening to this publisher pack which contains the first two books, I'm eager to both find out what will happen to the captain and crew of the Renegade Star, but also read more on into the origin stories of the various crew members (which I've discovered have been written out in a series of prequel novels or novellas). I find the characters likable and multidimensional, the plot is interesting, and the world-building is excellent (I imagine it gets even better since there are apparently at least 20+ books set in the universe.

Luke Daniels does an excellent job narrating and though I've listened to quite a few series he's done, it feels and sounds like a different person is narrating each time. He not only can capture the essence of a character but manages to match the narration to the unique tone of a book or series of a book to create a totally unique performance. As a side note, I'll also mention that no only does Luke Daniel's narrate the rest of this series, but other of JN Chaney's books are narrated by awesome people like R.C. Bray, Ray Porter, and Jeffrey Kafer -- so they are bound to be pretty awesome as well.

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