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This is a translation of "The Map of Knowledge", and discusses how scientific knowledge was advanced and preserved from Antiquity until the Renaissance, in Europe and the Middle East.

The book discusses the history of science. More specifically, it looks at the scientific world in seven cities in chronological order. These cities are Alexandria (mainly because of its library), Baghdad (under the Abbasid dynasty), Cordoba (under the Umayyad dynasty), Toledo (mostly under Alfonso X "The Wise"), Salerno, Palermo, and Venice.
While the first four cities are in clear chronological order, after that it feels like we're being moved forward and downward in time. A timeline would have helped to make things more clear.
Although the motivation for each town is clearly explained, it still sometimes feels arbitrary. Paris is mentioned often enough that it, too, might have been included. The book ends with the printing press, and how Venice became a primary source of printed books. This is a fitting end, as the dissemination of scientific knowledge was revolutionized and a new era began in the scientific world.
In the epilogue, it discusses how the telescope and microscope revolutionized science even further.

If you're interested in the medieval world, this is a worthwhile read.

"Witch Hat Atelier" follows the adventures of Coco, a young girl who is fascinated by magic, but has no magical talents herself. Until she discovers the truth.... amidst controversy, Coco is inducted into magical society and allowed to become a witch.

In volume 4, two of Coco's fellow students enter a practical exam. Unfortunately, they are not alone - the antagonists of the series, an group that calls itself the Brimmed Hats, are in the labyrinth where the exam takes place. They have designs on Coco and they're not above targeting her friends...

In this volume, the Brimmed Hats' trap is sprung. The students, their master, and the proctor of the exam need to pull all their strings to get out unharmed.

One of the great things about "Witch Hat Atelier" is that it actually tells us how spells are constructed. Where Harry Potter would simply be taught a spell, Coco has to construct one. This makes magical fights in "Witch Hat Atelier" more than combat sequences. It becomes a duel where creative use of one's spells, both prepared and improvised, can spell the difference between victory and defeat. And when the violence breaks out in volume 5, Kamome Shirahama does not disappoint. Coco and her friends have to think on their feet and make good use of their abilities. This makes for a very dynamic type of battle.

There are other interesting things in this volume, but what I appreciate most is how characters are fleshed out. In previous volumes, we met Easthies, a member of the Knights Moralis. The Knights Moralis are effectively the police force of the magic users and they are described as rigid people - they'll uphold the law of their society and make no exceptions.
In volume 5, we see Easthies has a human side. Most authors would give him a tragic background causing him to become a ruthless policeman, but Kamome Shirahama does not resort to such an overused plot device. Instead, she simply shows him interacting with his own students. We also see a man who is very aware of the responsibility that rests on the Knights Moralis' shoulders.

All in all, this is an excellent installment in an excellent series. If you enjoy the fantasy genre, this series is heartily recommended. Do start at volume 1, though.

"Illium" is a good SF book, with some interesting concepts.

It's a bit difficult to give an excerpt, because the book has three separate storylines. Only two of them come together, and even that only happens at the end.

The first storyline is that of Thomas Hockenberry, Ph.D., and is told in a first-person perspective. He is a scholar of classical literature and the Greek gods have tasked him with recording the events of the Trojan War. The Greek gods know about Homer's poem but are not allowed to know the contents, hence they set humans to check if the war is unfolding like Homer said it would.

The second storyline is about a group of robot-like beings called moravecs. They live and work at the asteroid belt and beyond. Their leaders have learned that there is a lot of quantum activity going on around Mars, which represents a threat to the entire solar system. (The details of the threat are a bit vague to the reader, but the moravecs take it seriously - and they know their science).
Four moravecs are sent on a mission to Mars to investigate.
It is clearly hinted that this "quantum activity" is in fact caused by the Greek gods, but the moravecs only meet Hockenberry and the Grecian pantheon at the end of the book.

A third storyline takes place on Earth, although not at the time of the Trojan war. The time seems to be about 2300 and humans are having a luxury life, their every need taken care of. Of course, in a novel, this means there is something wrong under the surface. A few of them suspect it and set out to learn more.
This third storyline never explicitly touches the other two, which makes "Illium" like reading two different novels.

The book ends, not quite on a cliffhanger, but with a lot of open conflict looming over both storylines. It is continued and concluded in the next book, "Olympos".

All in all, it as a good read with a nice mix of actual physics and speculation. The book includes discussions not only of Homer's Illiad, but also of Shakespeare and Proust. I was torn between giving it 3 and 4 stars, but the the lack of interaction between the different storylines made me settle on a lower score.

An interesting alternate history based on the premise that Isaac Newton's experiments in alchemy had borne as much fruit as his investigation of physics.

The book roughly consists of two parallel stories: that of Benjamin Franklin in the New World and England, and of a woman named Adrienne in France. Their stories are told in alternating chapters.

Newton's discoveries have opened the door to a whole slew of new inventions, most important of which is called an "aetherscreiber". The basic idea is that two attuned crystals can copy each other's vibrations even if they are literally on the other side of the world - making one-on-one communication possible worldwide. However, they only work in pairs: each screiber can only be attuned to one other, so mass media is not yet possible.
Nonetheless, it is through these ingenuous alchemical devices that the two storylines are linked together, as people in both storylines exchange secretive communications.
But Newton's alchemy can also be used for destruction - Louis XIV, the Sun King, seeks to have it used to develop a weapon in his war against England.
Worse yet, there are other creatures than humans around, and the alchemical process that makes aetherschreibers possible also brings humanity in contact with them. We learn only a little of these mysterious beings, but enough to realize that they do not look kindly upon humankind...

Keyes understands how to end each chapter on a cliffhanger. Perhaps he understands it a little too well, because it feels disappointing to be given a cliffhanger and then have the next chapter continue the other storyline. Still, it is enough to make one keep reading.

My main complaint about the book is that it has a few too many famous people. A meeting between the young Benjamin Franklin and Blackbeard strains its credibility. Similarly, an important side character turns out to be the grandson of d'Artagnan - one can taste how dearly Keyes would have liked to have the historical d'Artagnan in the story. Since the real d'Artagnan had long died before the book starts, Keyes settles for his grandson.

That said, it is a good adventure story with good worldbuilding. Rather than simply having a 1700's world with magic, Keyes has created an alternative 1700's where the new inventions are firmly rooted in alternative science. He even goes so far as to explain how several of these devices work, showing he's given serious thought to the workings of Newton's alchemical science.

It is clearly the start of a series; the opening salvo of a much longer battle. When the book ends, the world is aflame. And the book's epilogue is another cliffhanger.

All in all I found it a good read. Recommended for the lovers of clockpunk, fantastical alternate histories, and adventure stories in general.

"The Realmgate Wars" is a promotional novel, or rather a promotional anthology, for Games Workshop's "Age of Sigmar" tabletop game. The "Age of Sigmar" game was launched in 2015 as the successor to the earlier "WarHammer Fantasy Battle" game. With the new game, there was a new setting, that needed new stories. "The Realmgate Wars" ties the new game to the old one. The world from "WarHammer Fantasy Battle" was physically destroyed, and from its ashes, new worlds arose.

The new worlds had a time of happiness, then had a series of major wars. Those wars ended with most realms being overrun by the forces of Chaos - the archetypical bad guys of the book. Only Azyr, the domain of the warlike god Sigmar, remained unsullied. Sigmar closed the gates of Azyr, and started working on a new army - the Stormcast Eternals. He reincarnated the bravest warriors, trained them rigorously, and then in the first story sets them loose upon the worlds. This is the moment that the titular "Age of Sigmar" begins; all stories and games are set in the time after the god Sigmar unleashes his new elite warriors.

In itself, that premise isn't bad: we have conflict, we have a bunch of heroes, and we literally have entire worlds to explore. Yet, the book disastrously fails to use its potential.

The problem is that there is no characterization, and no character development. All Stormcast Eternals are essentially the same - brave goody two-shoes with at best a hint of darker or deeper emotions. If the name "clone wars" hadn't already been taken by another franchise, it would have been a more appropriate title than "the Realmgate wars".

The titular realmgates themselves are portals: they allow transportation between the different worlds. This naturally makes them strategically important, and the battles mostly revolve around capturing these portals.

Unfortunately, the book has little else than battles. It has almost 900 pages, and barely one without people trading blows. A well-written fight can be interesting, but 900 pages telling us how someone slung their hammer, cracked an enemy head, then dodged a blow, and so on... it gets tedious.

It's a pity, because it could have been so much better. For example, there's the story of Tornus the Redeemed, who is a champion of Chaos but eventually defects to the Stormcasts. He gets occassional paragraphs about his past, that explain to us why he makes this traitorous decision. (If you defect to the good guys, you're still a traitor, just one who chose Team Good). But these paragraphs get buried under seemingly endless descriptions of combat. Nor, for that matter, is there any consequence to this change of allegiance. One would expect the forces of Chaos to hold a deep hatred of the man who switched sides, but instead, it's never mentioned anymore. Not even in a "we don't talk about Tornus" attitude - no, the whole thing is entirely forgotten. Everybody is far too busy doing battle to have personal developments - even grudges against other characters.

Unless you enjoy long descriptions of battles and single combats, this book is not recommended.

This was one of the first mainstream fantasy novels with a gay protagonist. Written and published in 1989, when this was a risky proposition for a mainstream novel.

The book follows the adventures of 15-year old Vanyel Ashkevron, the eldest son of a noble. As such, he will one day succeed his father as head of the family, but father and son don't get along well. After a particularly bad episode, Vanyel's father sends him away to study in the capital, under the guardianship of his aunt Savil. Although Vanyel has no desire to live with his aunt, this exile turns out to be a blessing in disguise. When Vanyel discovers that there are boys who fall in love with boys rather than girls, he realizes that he is one such boy himself; and with it, he understands his feelings for Savil's protégé Tylendel. The two boys enter a relationship, and for a while, Vanyel finally has a happiness that he had never thought possible. Tylendel also introduces Vanyel to his mount Gala, a "Companion": Valdemar's breed of intelligent, magical horses. Valdemars Companions choose its Heralds, and it is Gala who has chosen Tylendel. Gala and Tylendel share a deep bond; she has had to help him over a heartbreak earlier, and is eventually happy that he has found love with Vanyel.

But there are dark clouds over the young lovers' heads. If Vanyels homophobic father learns that he is in a relationship with another boy, he will drag the boy back home and force him into a cloyster. Meanwhile Tylendel's family is involved in a bitter feud, and Vanyel is about to be dragged in...

The book can be quite a tear-jerker, but all in all it is a beautiful and sensitive story. It is as much a coming-of-age novel as it is a fantasy novel. Many teenage protagonists in fantasy are written as fully functional adults in teenage bodies; Vanyel, however, clearly has some growing up to do. And the emotional abuse that he has suffered from his father, doesn't make that any easier.

If I have a criticism of the book, it is that the last part feels rushed; as if a longer story had to be compressed to fit the pocket book format. For example, Vanyel has spent about 300 pages being very self-centered; then a single adventure opens his eyes to the needs of others. Yet this important new insight itself is described with just a few sentences.

Similarly, this is where a villain conveniently shows up. Although the book doesn't lack unpleasant people, from Vanyels father and his brutish armsmaster to the Leshara family that caused Tylendel enormous pain, it doesn't have a villain who deserves being killed in a final battle. Enter Krebain, a sadistic sexual predator who seems to be there only for the purpose of having a climactic battle at the end. To be fair, that final battle does help to bring the book to a satisfying conclusion, so it (almost literally) works out neatly in the end. And when Vanyel launches a near-suicidal attack on Krebain to protect the villagers, his final thought brought tears to my eyes.

Recommended for fantasy fans, horse lovers, and those who like to see a queer protagonist carry the day.