Review: The Soul of Chaos

The Soul of Chaos by Gregory Wunderlin
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

It was a rocky start, jumping right in with power play/conspiracy against one royal scion while switching up to her sibling just trying to survive his exile into some sort of mine. There was obviously a lot of depth to the world building; however, a lot of it remains hidden in the choppy prose and it took me way too long to catchup, so a few more details for each scenario would have been appreciated. Still, it turned into a fairly interesting adventure … with Kali soon spending most of her arc trying to avoid discover candor capture and Rurik taking his crew of “breakers” into the fray from the other side. I still don’t have a clear idea what a breaker is outside of some sort of miner teaching for magical detritus in the bones of a once great magical civilization (in that respect, it is sort of a dystopian story). I didn’t particular care for the MC introductions, but they grew on my toward the end. Each MC has something special to contribute and the slow reveal was well done and helped make the story work … especially toward the end, when it pace picks up dramatically to stick the landing.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: Spiritual Practices for Soul Care: 40 Ways to Deepen Your Faith

Spiritual Practices for Soul Care: 40 Ways to Deepen Your Faith by Barbara L Peacock
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Each chapter begins with a topical title and introduction to a specific discipline or practice. Then there is a scriptural pericope (aka scripture focus) that inspired the practice and on which to meditate further. This is followed by a very brief introduction to a person (aka soul care leader) who [presumably] models this practice in everyday living (along with a specific book or other work that illustrates why that person was chosen (and potentially provide a follow-up in the case of written works). The author then provides a short poem, also inspired by the discipline or practice (which didn’t do much for me, but I generally struggle with poetry). Finally there are some recommendation on putting that particular discipline “in action” (although this was generally in the form of prompting questions … so more meditative than active). For the most part, this book only works if it is used as a springboard for future study and meditation (with numerous references to material that supports the disciplines or practices identify in each chapter. In at least one case, the contextual facts presented did not match my own understanding (specifically the claim that a majority of jewish homes had an upper room that served as a prayer closet). This leads me to question other contexts presented and detracts from my own ability to simply accept what is said and enjoy it.

After reading the publisher summary and endorsements, I still was not expecting this book to essentially be a 40 day devotional. My track record with devotionals is extremely hit or miss for a number of reasons, such as not connecting to the life experience examples or from the need by the author to strength it all out to cover a specific number of days; additionally, in my experience, there tends to be a lot of beautiful fluff and not as much practical application in this type of work. In this case, the number 40 was chosen because of its significance in biblical numerology and gematria and not because the author actually had 40 specific practices to communicate. This means some chapters are quite a bit better than others. Ironically, some of the weakest chapters could have benefited with a more extended treatment and deeper examination, especially of the scriptural and individual exemplar sections. Soon after you start reading the book, it becomes apparent that most of these comes out of the author’s experience as a spiritual director, which is heavily dependent upon a personal connection with the person seeking direction … so it should come as no surprise here that only about 25% of this book connected with me and another 25% was a struggle (with half more or less neutral). I have starred the chapters that I connected with below ...

Introduction
Part 1 Should Care Living
1. Loving Today
2. Worshiping Today
3. Praying Today *
4. Lamenting Today
5. Celebrating Today
6. Experiencing God Today

Part 2 Soul Care Directing
7. Directing Today *
8, Readying Today
9. Entering Today * Prayer Closet
10. Listening Today
11. Discerning Today
12. Maturing Today
13. Examining Today *

Part 3 Soul Care Discipling
14. Reading Today *
15. Teaching Today
16. Fasting Today
17. Connecting Today *
18, Serving Today
19. Mentoring Today
20. Leading Today

Part 4 Soul Care Restoring
21. Dwelling Today
22. Meditating and Contemplating Today
23. Resting Today
24. Silencing Today
25. Commemorating Today
26. Resurrecting Today

Part 5 Soul Care and Self-Caring
27. Exercising Today
28. Journeying Today
29. Transforming Today
30. Chastening Today
31. Welcoming and Centering Today

Part 6 Soul Care Reflecting
32. Journaling and Writing Today
33. Speaking and Recording Today
34. Envisioning and Awaking Today
35. Ruling Today
36. Thanksgiving Today

Part 7 Soul Care Liberating
37. Storytelling Today
38. Detaching and Attaching Today
39. Slowing Today
40. Freeing and Communing Today

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: Letters from a Stoic

Letters from a Stoic by Seneca
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Performance: ***

Story: ***

With Letters from a Stoic, you get a selection of philosophical monologues from Seneca, a famous Roman Stoic, that is almost required reading for those interested in this philosophy.  As might be expected for the literature of the time, it can be a hard slog to get though, which is where having somebody else read it to you is so convenient, that I am added a star to the over all score.  

This audiobook is organized just like the kindle book that it is sync'd with, covering nearly 100 letters, each a few pages long on various subjects such as:  On True and False Friendship, On Sharing Knowledge, On Practicing What You Preach, On Despising Death et al.  This makes it easy to revisit specific topics of interest and to track where you are within the work ... so that you can fade in and out of the narration when playing it in the background when doing something else.

I was given this free advance review/listener copy (ARC) audiobook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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Review: Refractions

Refractions by M.V. Melcer
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

This book as earned a place on my favorites shelf after reading through the more that 400 pages in one sitting.

In the near future (approx. 200 years), the world has changed in profound ways as it struggles under increasing human population until a global pandemic kills off enough to give us some time to plan.  The current hegemonies were reorganized with China ascendent on earth with an aggressive American Union that has lost its way and devolved into a quasi Christian theocracy in all but name, while the powerful elites escape to space orbitals owned and run by competing business conglomerates.  The advent of Chinese interstellar engines, a closely guarded monopoly, enables earth to attempt colonizing worlds in other star systems; so the Americans, with Chinese help, build and launch several colonies ships, leveraging cryogenic tech to help the crew through the decades long journeys and keep resources manageable for such a voyage.  The first colony at Bethesda landed and seemed to be doing well when it suddenly goes silent.  Quickly finding out what happened to the 5000 colonists may hold the key to the success of the remaining colony ships, so an international “rescue” is launched to find out.

The world building here was absolutely fantastic, with a hard science feel without the typically long, and potentially boring, tech descriptions that gave everything a natural feel.  That said, this story is almost completely character driven, with just enough action to maintain the dramatic tension.  The main character is an orbital pilot that was recruited at the last minute to replace the second in command for the rescue mission.  As a Canadian, with a Russian brother-in-law, working at the top of a Chinese space elevator in Kenya Africa, she quickly finds her “neutrality” the key to keeping the paranoid, multinational crew of the rescue mission together after the captain dies enroute in a “suspicious” compartment fire.  Everybody is keeping secrets and trying to figure out each mystery is really what drives this story forward … what happened to the colonists on Bethesda … who “sabotaged” the cryogenic chamber where 7 of the crew died and why … what are the secretive Chinese engineers (the only team allowed to maintain the interstellar drive) hiding … and who is the mysterious spy electronically watching over everything.  Each character is broken in some way and this is hinted at or revealed through crew interaction (reminiscent of a good murder mystery).  Some of the secrets are progressively revealed through flashbacks as we get the backstory of why the MC volunteered for the trip where everybody she knows will likely forget all about her before she returns (if they are even still alive by then).  Some become red herrings and feints that totally pulled me in (well done) with some great twists at the end that I didn’t see coming.  There is a light touch on a few philosophical questions on capitalism, human nature, and environmental depredation that, for me, added a lot to the story but are easily skimmed over if that is not your bag.

I was given this free advance reader copy (ARC) ebook at my request and have voluntarily left this review.

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