A Modern Celt--Seeking the Ancestors (Mabh Savage)

A caution must be issued right up front about this book: this is not a book of lore or ritual/personal techniques. If that is what you are after, this book will not fit your needs. A Modern Celt--Seeking the Ancestors (Mabh Savage) is a "fire-side chat" book; it is a rather informal collection of the author's experiences, tales from her family, and accounts from her friends about experiences gained by coming into contact with the lore and deities of the Ancient Celtic people.

For those people who have experienced the fire-side chat mode, that time after a ritual or lesson when you are sitting around a bonfire (or in the case of lodge members--during the after-ritual dinner) talking to your teacher and fellow students and seekers, the style of this book will be familiar. It is a rather informal book, one that my professors in college and university would have imploded upon reading. It is a step above gossip, generally on the level of the stories that one tells when one's coven (study group or lodge) has became a familial unit of sorts.

This style may be strange to those who have been practicing and studying by themselves, or who have gotten involved in the "strict lodge" setting where students are forced to hang out only with others of their particular grade and degree of knowledge. Hint: the fire-side chat mode is the start of the oral traditions that one hears about.

This book is not heavy on knowledge or techniques. It is a retelling of personal stories. And it will be a comfort for those who have experienced similar events, and educational for those with open minds who have not. I think that the book is worthwhile reading, despite the lack of spoon-fed lore and techniques; but I imagine that there will be readers who take issue with the book because of the lack of information and detail in it (one cannot say that I did not try to warn them off).

Is the information that is given accurate? This is a hard question to answer, at least for me; I am not an expert in Celtic paganism. But I do have a benchmark to attempt to hazard a guess, and that is how the author treats the Celtic Tree Calendar. For those who do not know, the Celtic Tree Calendar was created almost completely out of thin air by Robert Graves during the "paganism has survived underground, and my wild theories is what the ancient pagans actually thought" mode of the pagan revival (the Golden Dawn of the 1880s and the Wiccan books of Gerald Gardner are other examples of that particular stage of the pagan revival). Basically, there is no evidence to indicate that the Ancient Celts used such a fixed calendar, not alone the one that Robert Graves expounded upon.

There are three modes of dealing with the Celtic Calendar: 1) insisting on the truth of it...mainly because one loves the idea that paganism survived underground clear up to the start of the pagan revival; 2) completely abandoning it...because only actual Celtic practices should be used; and 3) splitting the difference...acknowledging the fact that Graves made the Celtic Tree Calendar up, yet using the result because it serves a purpose.

Mabh Savage belongs to the splitting the difference camp. She acknowledges the fictional nature of the Celtic Tree Calendar, and then proceeds to gather some actual tree and plant lore from the Ancient Celts to illustrate that Graves was not pulling it completely out of thin air and that there might be a grain of usefulness in the Celtic Tree Calendar. As someone who belongs to a group that does much the same with the Celtic Tree Calendar, I like that approach (the group that I belong to uses the Celtic Tree Calendar because it needed a Celtic knowledge system that could be represented in diagram form...it is a lodge thing).

Overall, given the fact that book is meant to be, essentially a set of fire-side style stories about how modern Celts are interacting with the deities and practices of the Ancient Celts, I give it five out of five stars. (It would suffer a loss of at least one star if one decided to judge it based on lore or techniques--something that the book is not really about.)

[Disclosure: This review is based on a pre-publication version provided by the publisher.]

Immersion Mastery (Zack Jezek)

Immersion Mastery by Zack Jezek was a hard book for me to finish. I abandoned it several times since starting to read it in November. I only finished it though sheer force of will.

One of my problems with the book is sheer amount of bragging that the author engages in; he is proud of the fact that he became a Reiki master and Mayan shaman at age ten, and that he is also a NLP master and a professional skate boarder. Jezek wrote this book at the ripe old age of nineteen. Yes, this book brought back flashbacks from earlier in my esoteric career, for I acquired a high degree far too young and said some damn stupid things earlier in my life believing that I actually knew what I was talking about. Maybe Jezek will be different, but I personally find my earliest writings as an esoteric leader and teacher to be almost physically painful to read.

While I agree with Jazek's opinion that his generation are the leaders of the future, I do not necessarily agree with him that his generation is any more unique than any previous generation. Sure, they have their own set of brand-new problems which young adults have never seen before, but a lot of generations have been able to say that statement.

So is there anything worthwhile in this book? And will it appeal to teen and twenty-somethings?

Yes, it will appeal to his own generation who will believe that they are somehow special and that their problems and disadvantages are actually assets and special abilities. And yes, I do believe that attention and compulsive disorders can be assets--history is full of famous people who today would be labeled ADHD/ADD and/or OCD. In fact, I would probably be labeled with an attention disorder if I would have went though high school five years later than I did (ADHD was just being a bad kid when I was in school)--not that I will ever be famous, yet these things are a daily part of my own life to a certain extent. But Jezek lays it on so thick, it is like a commercial to remain immature forever.

And maybe the book does have some worthwhile stuff in it. But it is buried deep in feel good talk aimed at making teen and twenty-somethings believe that they are perfectly ok just the way that they are. I am not sure Jezek is going to feel the same way when he is forty.

As for esoteric techniques talked about in this book (after all, I review esoteric and New Age books), there is a version of the "grounding as a tree" mediation, some game console based mental reprogramming techniques, a watered down version of the immersion method (my regular readers will know this better as magical boot camp or power week), and a hint of the chaos magic technique of interchangeable personalities. But they are all so caked in happy talk that quite honestly, I can't imagine anyone over the age of thirty being able to tolerate this book; or for that matter, any parent that has been exposed to the techniques in a different setting. And there are better sources for each and every one of the exercise and techniques, or at least better written ones (Jezek is far away from being a good writer).

I am giving this a weak two stars out of five.

[Disclosure: I received a free copy of this book though a Goodreads First Reads drawing.]

Candy Crush Saga Guide Advanced Edition (Tyler Davis & Emily Jackson)

Candy Crush Saga [Player] Guide: Ultimate Advanced Edition, by Tyler Davis and Emily Jackson, is a follow-up of the previous game guide that they did for beginners to intermediate players. Starting off with a list of what they included in the first guide (but careful not to give away the actual contents), they then proceed to give hints on how to deal with the obstacles of the tornadoes, chocolates, and time bomb makers, as well as giving general hints for jelly and ingredient levels.

This ebook focuses on what the authors consider the most difficult of the game. A quick list of the levels that they give hints for: 77; 135; 138; 269; 275; 285; 342; and level 417.

Like their preceding Candy Crush Saga game guide, this book consists of general play hints, and not how crack the game level by level (even the levels mentioned are left to the player to completely figure out).

The writing in this ebook is clearer than the last one, but occasionally it still irked me. And in this one, I found myself annoyed by the number of cheerleading statements the authors made about the worth of the ebook. Such cheerleading makes me wonder if the authors on some level suspect that their game guide is a little weak in content.

The authors also assume in one place that you are able to play Candy Crush Saga both on Facebook and on your phone; this is not true in my case (I currently do not have a phone with the ability to play the game on...yes, I am still living in the Stone Age in many ways).

I am giving this four out of five stars, but it is a weak four.

[Disclosure: I grabbed this game guide on an Amazon free day that one of the authors told me about though Goodreads.]

Candy Crush Saga Player Guide--Fire HD Version (Tyler Davis & Emily Jackson)

The Candy Crush Saga Player Guide--Beginner to Intermediate Version (Fire HD Version) by Tyler Davis and Emily Jackson, as its full title says, is meant for those who are in the early stages of the Candy Crush Saga. My Facebook friends know that I am in the lower 200s on the game, so the question is: Did I find anything useful in this guide? Yes. But first, let's treat this game guide on its proper level--beginner to intermediate players.

I would have found this game guide useful when I was a beginner, just starting the game. I blew a lot of games learning some of the basic information in this game guide. And I had many of a moment of "What the heck is that?" and "How do I get rid of that obstacle?" as I progressed though the levels of Candy Crush Saga. So I believe that it would be useful for its intended audience.

My only complaint about the game guide is that some of the writing is a touch unclear (hence four stars instead of five). Please note that this game guide does not give specifics to beat particular levels; if that is what you are looking for, then you want to give this one a miss and head directly for Google. This is an overview book.

Now, as an advanced player (or I like to think that I am advanced, considering that I am in the lower 200s level-wise), did I find anything of value in this guide? Yes.

For instance because of my current budget, I can't afford to buy charms and boosters, so it was nice to have a reminder of what the various charms and boosters do in the game. Also a couple of the candy types mentioned, Frozen and Rainbow, I had not encountered yet at the time of my reading of this ebook (since my initial reading of this game guide, I have encountered the Frozen Candies). There is also an obstacle mentioned in the preview of the advanced game guide (which will get its own separate review...probably tomorrow or the day after that), the Tornado, that I have yet to see in game play.

And to amuse all my friends, it was not until I read this guide that I realized the pattern behind the formation of the horizontal and vertical stripped candies. I thought that it might be random, but I could never be bothered enough to go Google it. I might be a little thick, or just stubborn.

Anyways, I did find some useful information in this short game guide (it is short), so I am giving it four out of five stars (as I mentioned before, some of the writing is a touch unclear and therefore, I don't feel that I can give it a full five stars--call me a picky Virgo or a nasty ex-literature student if you want).

[Disclosure: I received a review copy of this game guide from one of the authors, who contracted me though Goodreads.]

Flash review of Commentaries on the Golden Dawn Flying Rolls

Just realized that I have not posted my quick video post (flash review) of the most recent book about Golden Dawn--Commentaries on the Golden Dawn Flying Rolls by the Golden Dawn Community. So here it is.



[Full disclosure: One of the commentaries in the book was written by me; but considering that the royalties from the writers are going to the Golden Dawn Legal Defense Fund, I do not profit if you buy a copy of the book. And as I noted in my review, if you do not like the existence of the Golden Dawn Legal Defense Fund, just don't buy the book.]

Lilith--A Snake in the Grass (Jack L. Chalker)

Lilith: A Snake in the Grass (by Jack L. Chalker) is the first book in the Four Lords of the Diamond series. The series takes place in the future where a galactic Confederation has expanded to cover a third of the galaxy. The population is breed to be legally average, and only on the expanding frontier is random genetics and culture allowed to flourish. The reason that the frontier is allowed an element of chaos is to prevent the human race from ceasing to develop its advances. Interestingly enough, this does not completely eliminate crime; and given the fact that criminals are often the brightest of humanity, the Confederacy needs a secure place to imprison those criminals that might still make a brilliant advancement without having to worry about them escaping.

This secure place is the Warden Diamond, a solar system with four habitable planets and a rather nasty problem. Once you set foot on one of the planets in the Warden Diamond, you cannot ever leave the solar system, thanks to an organism that infects all matter in the Diamond system. But with the bad comes the good, for the organism allows for the development of special powers--the abilities dependent upon what planet you first set foot on.

Into this perfect prison system enters an unknown alien race with advanced technology, a definite danger to the Confederacy. To send an agent into the Warden Diamond is condemning them to a life sentence of imprisonment in the Diamond solar system. But the Confederacy has developed the ability to record the personality and experiences of a person, and imprint this set of memories into another's mind. Furthermore, it allows the Confederacy not only the ability to send an agent into the Diamond, the technology allows them to send the same master agent to all four Warden worlds inside four different bodies.

In Lilith: A Snake in the Grass, we are introduced to the first world of the Warden Diamond system, Lilith, and to the nameless agent that is imprinted onto four bodies condemned to be imprisoned in the Diamond system. Much of the book is about the agent overcoming the shock of being sent into the Diamond (in a new body), learning to control the Warden organism which on Lilith does not allow items that are not natural to survive unless a powerful mind overrides nature's model, and realizing that the new body changes the mind of the agent. In the end, the agent is shaken by the recorded experiences of his mind-cloned counterpart, and we are not given many clues about the alien menace (or so, we think at this point in the series).

I have read this book several times over the years. And it is a series that I have grown to admire more and more over the years as my skill as a writer and literary critic has grown. For instance, this reading I found myself admiring the first sentence of the novel: "The little man in the synthetic tweed jacket didn't look like a bomb." It is an accurate description of the first few paragraphs of the novel, and our first encounter with the technology of the alien menace. And honestly, I wish that I could come up with opening sentences for my own writing that was as good as this sentence.

I recommend this book to science fiction fans. Five out of five stars.

Let's Pretend This Never Happened (Jenny Lawson)

I first discovered Jenny Lawson's writing though her blog--The Bloggess. I must admit that she occasionally writes the way I think. Which is probably not a good thing. I tend to blame my family for that...and the fact that I once fell off a roof and my father and his friends laughed for an hour (after making sure that I was all right--"Just walk it off!"). And given how Jenny writes about her family, I feel like we are kindred spirits.

I do find it fascinating that I am referring to her as Jenny. I normally refer to writers by their last names. But then again, I believe that if I wrote a book about my upbringing, she would refer to me by my first name because people who can look at one another and say, "You just can't make stuff up like this about your family" tend to treat one another on a first name basis.

And while some readers might be tempted to rack up some of these stories to an overactive imagination, I am less inclined to do so...because I have stories that are just as traumatic and weird. And so do my sisters.

One of the things that I found extremely humorous was the ongoing notes from "the editor." This is something I am sure was created out of thin air; but it was darn funny, so who cares. Again, it hits a little close to home (I once had a publisher ask me not to mention my cats in my brief bio...but they are my beta readers--as in I read to them and they nap though the reading).

Anyways, enough digression, I recommend Jenny Lawson's "Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir)" to anyone who has a family that you have stories about that end with "And you can't make this stuff up."

(Five out of five stars.)

[I proudly brought this book at my local bookstore, The Tattered Cover, where I gushed that I read Jenny's blog all the time.]