Adventure Stories
There is no truer gauge of a man’s character than the way in which he employs his strength, his power.
Storm Front
Power, like money, magnifies.
Give a saint power and she will change the world for the better. Give it to a demon and watch the world burn.
It has been said many times in many ways, but to understand a person, pay attention to their actions. Words and intent aren’t without value, but true character is revealed in the actions one takes, day in and day out.
You’ll always have morons like that, swallowing belief patterns whole so they don’t have to think for themselves.
Altered Carbon
One of the crazy problems of our rapidly advancing technology is going to be sorting out reality from imagination. Thanks to advances in editing, it is now possible to make videos and sound clips that look and sound almost exactly like people who are well-known, like celebrities and politicians.
One of the unfortunate rallying cries of our age is that of “fake news.” But what we really seem to be calling out is bias and a twisting of the facts to suit a narrative.
Already, as an educated adult, it can be difficult to separate the facts of the news from the opinion and analysis surrounding it.
But we will soon live in a world where it will be possible to make convincing fakes of whatever people want. How then do we determine what we believe and what we don’t?
I don’t have the answers yet, but I firmly believe one of the most important skills we can develop is to critically question any information that fits a belief we already hold.
I don’t like to think that I cry that easily.
But Steven Erikson seems determined to prove me wrong.
In my journey to finish the Complete Malazan series this year, I just finished the novel Memories of Ice.
It was one of the very best fantasy books that I have read this year.
Incredibly complex world building. Deeply layered and fascinating characters. A mysterious plot. Friendship, redemption, betrayal, and failure all have their day in the sun here. In my mind, these books represent some of the best fantasy has to offer, and in my opinion, that’s doubly true of the sub-genre of dark fantasy.
For a book that is nearly a thousand pages, I felt like I flew through it, always eager to return for more. It’s one of the rare enormous fantasy stories that I don’t think I would hesitate to read again.
Just as a primitive sextant functions on the illusion that the sun and stars rotate around the planet we are standing on, our senses give us the illusion of stability in the universe, and we accept it, because without that acceptance, nothing can be done.
Altered Carbon
The more humans learn about the world, the stranger it becomes. Particularly on the scales of the very small and the very large, mystery dominates our lives. Even thinking on an atomic level, the computer I write these words on is mostly empty space.
Our understanding of physics is far from perfect, but we can still land a man on the moon and send probes to explore Pluto.
Our knowledge of our own bodies is lacking, but we can cure an amazing number of diseases.
More knowledge is almost always a benefit to humankind. But perfect knowledge isn’t required to accomplish great feats.
What we thought of as personality was no more than the passing shape of one of the waves in front of me.
Altered Carbon
Identity is a fascinating concept. So much of our lives, especially when we are younger, revolves around the questions of who we are and who we want to be. Many hours of my teenage life were spent agonizing over the answers to such questions.
And yet identity and personality are fluid. My teenage self would hardly recognize the person I’ve become today. Change is a part of who we are. Life demands no less. We are subtly different people with every passing hour, shaped by experiences both recognized and not.
I can’t deny the importance of identity, but at the same time, perhaps we hold on too tightly to the concept.
I was to bring peace to souls, and to do so without judgment. This I have done.
Itkovian, Memories of Ice
Itkovian has quickly become one of the most interesting characters in the Malazan series, books filled to the brim with fascinating people. He fulfills the role of shield anvil, a mortal tasked with caring for the souls of the dead.
Most impressively, he does so ‘without judgment.’ This is seen in the book as he embraces the souls of those who have done great evil. He carries their burdens himself.
What might a shield anvil look like today?