Behind Blue Eyes

Plight of Madness by Jesse Teller My rating: 4 of 5 stars Review now live at Grimdark Magazine Plight of Madness is Book Three of The Madness Wars , the penultimate volume of this epic sprawl covering a massive military conquest of the warrior nation Drine over its refined and cultured neighbor, Tienne. Continuing on the previous reviews of Onslaught of Madness , and Wrath of Madness , I found myself immersed in the struggle not only between these two nations, but a resulting series of conflict within each. War is Hell, and takes its toll on everyone involved, whether they’re winning or not. As with the previous volumes, Plight of Madness is split up into chapters with shifting point-of-view from a variety of characters. Continuing from Wrath of Madness are the chapters told from the perspective of Rextur and Aaron the Marked, who have been with us since the first book. Also continuing from the previous entry are Tarana and Saykobar, and we’re giv...

Dune: The Duke of Caladan by Brian Herbert My rating: 4 of 5 stars Review now live at Grimdark Magazine As the classic novel Dune by Frank Herbert opens, we’re introduced to the noble family of House Atreides, as they’re moving operations from their homeworld of Caladan to a new holding, the desert planet Arrakis, also known as Dune. We can immediately see that this family will be the source of our upcoming story, with the young protagonist Paul Atreides taking center stage. While it’s easy to pull for Paul and his family from the outset, it would have been nice to get to know these people a little before their great journey began. Dune: The Duke of Caladan gives us that experience. Set in the year leading up to the novel Dune: The Duke of Caladan centers on House Atreides before they embark on their voyage. Duke Leto and his concubine Lady Jessica have been together for some time, coping with the struggles that the Imperium forces on their relati...