Bad-Ass Librarians – Book Review

The Bad-Ass Librarians of Timbuktu: And Their Race to Save the World’s Most Precious Manuscripts

3 out of 5 stars

Somehow the jacket of this book thoroughly confused me in the beginning. Did anyone else think that this was going to be fiction based on the summary? It sounded like a make believe romper about librarians fighting Al Qaeda. Turns out it’s a true tale of librarians resisting and rebelling against Al Qaeda. Perhaps I was just far too sleepy when I first read the synopsis.

Anywho my darlings, it was definitely interesting. I learned a lot about Timbuktu, something I honestly knew very little about, and also about the war fighting Islamic extremists. To be perfectly honest, most of the time it felt like the story focused solely on the hostile takeover, with librarians peppered in here and there. That doesn’t subtract from how awesome the librarians are, however I do think it takes away from the magic of the subject that the book is supposed to be based on.

Middle of the ground read. You need to be interested in books/manuscripts, history, war, and rebellion to enjoy this one. I’m coming away from this informed but in no way exhilarated about what I just read.

The Warded Man – Book Review

5 out of 5 stars

This book sat on my shelf for over a year. If I could go back in time, I would bitch smack myself, follow it up with a solid back hand and a, “Bitch what were you thinking?!”

The story follows three characters from three different paths in life. Arlen, farmer’s son turned warrior. Leesha, who went from future wife and mother to Herb Gatherer (healer). And Rojer, a small hamlet boy to Jongleur (jester/musician).

The back story and character progression is phenomenal. It is what I loved the most about the book. The plot line and world-building are fantastic as well but it was the characters that really drew me in. A strong female character was a winning point as well.

Their world is infested with demons by night. Or corelings as they call them. Once man fought them and won. They became lazy and forgot how they even fought let alone defeated demons, until the demons came back with vengeance and now work heavily to destroy the human race. Only day time is safe and the humans wards keep the demons out at night, but they don’t actively fight the threat. They just survive.

When you don’t fight back, you can only survive for so long. Human numbers continue to dwindle and only our three heroes can turn the tides of war.