The Straggler’s Mask by Juho Pohjalainen
My rating: [rating=2]
Link to the review on Goodreads.
It’s been a while since I had the opportunity to review a First Reads book that I won from Goodreads. In fact this is perhaps my third book since creating my Goodreads account. Be that as it may, let’s get on with my book review of The Straggler’s Mask.
Since this book is an ebook I had no idea how long it was; although I rarely check. The length of a book is hardly a factor as to whether or not I’ll read it (although it might be a factor as to when I read it). Good books that are long rarely feel long, for example the first couple of books in George R. R. Martin’s Song of Fire and Ice series (aka Game of Thrones). Unfortunately for this book, there are parts where it feels like it drags on. I’m actually going to skip the synopsis this time, and the reason for that will become clear shortly.
Biggs’ Review
Based on a few Amazon and Goodreads searches I couldn’t find any other book written by this author; therefore I’m going to assume this is their first book. I know it has to be hard to publish your first book not knowing how its going to be received by readers. As much as I don’t like giving mediocre reviews to a debutante author, I did struggle with this book, a lot.
This is a bugbear from Dungeon’s & Dragons
I found it difficult to keep track of all the characters as well as the story. Sometimes I forgot where they are as they traveled. I honestly forgot what their ultimate goal was (until I got to the actual face off with Nirvana). There are times when the point of view of the storyteller would change, without notice and I had no idea who was speaking in the first person. I went through about a 3 week dry spell where I didn’t pick the book up at all because I was bored. However, I still finished it because I refuse to leave a book unfinished, but it felt a little arduous.
Peal is an Interesting Character
I did enjoy the concept of the story (an unsuspecting creature picking up the mantel of a legendary hero). Peal is an interesting character, though his skittishness and small stature don’t really correlate to what I expect a bugbear to look like or behave. Granted that’s based on an old D&D reference point. The world the author created felt pretty imaginative and thought out. However I don’t know if I would have used Earth; otherwise you are setting the readers up to identify familiar areas of the planet which they’re not going to find.
I guess I’m more disappointed that I didn’t like it as much as I wanted to. I feel like this book could have been broken up into two novels. If you’re an aspiring new author, perhaps a 600+ page book with a complicated list of characters isn’t the way to start. This, by no means, deters me from reading more by this author, unless the next novel is equally as disappointing. Honestly, I may go back eventually and try to read it again to see if a second time will more easily capture my attention.
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“The more that you read, the more things you will know. The more that you learn, the more places you’ll go.” – Dr. Seuss
Lego has a very humble origin story. They 
The things that go through my mind when I’m alone with nothing but my thoughts for entertainment is dangerous. Some might even say eccentric. Consider this your warning about today’s Random Thought of the Day
The 2018 Reading Challenge was 12 books. Since I barely missed 15 books from 2017, I actually started the year at 15 again thinking I could easily complete it. Half way through the year I was nearly 4 books behind so I reduced it down to 12 books.
Picking the best read for 2018 is difficult. These are 9 excellent books to choose from so its hard to pick just one! I want to go with Timothy Zahn, the man, the myth the legend. However, picking Timothy Zahn won’t work because 1) I read two of his books and I can’t pick just one; and 2) it’s Timothy frakking Zahn! It also wouldn’t be fair to pick Ready Player One because I re-read that one and I’d prefer to pick something that I hadn’t read before.
It is now 18 years after the dreaded Y2K scare. I wonder if there is anyone still hiding in their bunkers. While the Y2K date issue was a valid bug in most software, it would never have caused the catastrophe the fear-mongers were predicting. Be that as it may, 2018 is over and another year is in the books. Most of us are still here but its hard to tell if any of us still like each other. Lots of people still have a hard time seeing past party boundaries and misguided political correctness. I’m going to cover a lot of the usual retrospective topics, I might throw in a couple of new items. So with that said, time for the 2018 Year in Review.
I actually made some strides in my home automation projects and I will go into detail of that in the upcoming “Year in Review” post. Just know that Samsung really handicapped me with the sudden change to the app. I’m not really sure what the goal will be for 2019 for any of my home automation endeavors (other than fixing the bugs and issues from 2018). I know we have a few more things we want to integrate, we just haven’t purchased them yet and I’m not entirely sure I’m done with the Raspberry Pi and home automation integration. Watch for a (long overdue) Biggs Lab post in 2019.
This category is going to be a big focus area for me this year. Of all the areas I’ve been making intentions, this is the one where I’m most successful. I will be kicking things up a notch in 2019. Now that I have two 5k races under my belt, I think it’s time to try for the 10k this year. Granted this isn’t necessarily just my choice; I’ve been encouraging friends to run more and they, in turn, are now challenging me to run a 10k. I will also be putting a heavier emphasis on additional fitness training (i.e. strength and core workouts).