Die Hard Book Tag

Just a few more days to go before Christmas gets here! 😀 It’s my favorite holiday, and since I don’t want to think too much over these few days leading up to it, I’ll instead do a couple Christmas-themed book tags. Hopefully they’ll fill you with Christmas cheer. 😀

I’ll begin ringing in the Christmas cheer with Peat Long’s Die Hard Book Tag. I’ve heard many peeps talk of Die Hard as a Christmas movie. It’s been a long time since I’ve seen any of the movies.

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John McClain: A book in which someone has a really bad time

Soldier Son trilogy by Robin Hobb

I was going to choose Fitz from Hobb’s Farseer trilogy, but I think Nevare from her Soldier Son trilogy has a worse time. At least there were moments of happiness and ease and companionship in Fitz’s story. In Nevare’s things start going downhill for him midway through the first book, Shaman’s Crossing, and don’t stop until a few pages from the end of the last book.

The Soldier Son trilogy is a fantasy series about a young man who gets on the bad side of some nature magic.

Holly Gennaro: A book with a superb leader

Nasuada

She’s from the Inheritance Cycle series by Christopher Paolini, which begins with the fantasy novel, Eragon, about a farm boy who becomes a dragon rider. Nasuada becomes leader of the rebel group, the Varden, after her father passes and does a decent job (from what I remember).

Sergeant Al Powell: A book with a sidekick with a great backstory

Ananke

Ananke isn’t a sidekick. I misread the category and thought of side characters instead. I tried to think of someone else when I realized my mistake but couldn’t budge because learning Ananke’s backstory is one of many reasons why I enjoyed reading The Wicked + the Divine comics by Kieron Gillen, illus. by Jamie McKelvie. They are fantasy comics set in the present day about gods being reincarnated as pop stars. The story begins by focusing on Laura, a teenager who’s a huge fan of the Pantheon. The story is a great read, and the art is superb.

Johnson & Johnson: A book with a pair of real dicks

Fifty Shades of Grey by E.L. James

I didn’t make it far into this erotica before giving up, and didn’t bother watching the adaptation either. I don’t remember much except that the dude was an ass.

Karl: A book with a revenge plot that needn’t have happened

The Eye of the World by Robert Jordan

This beginning to a 15-book fantasy epic is not a revenge story. Well, as far as book 6 (or wherever I’m at in the series), it’s not a revenge story, but one of Nynaeve’s motivations seems to be getting back at Moraine for what she did to her village friends, which I think is totally pointless. I get annoyed by Nynaeve holding on to this belief/motivation despite learning that Moraine had to take them away for theirs and everyone else’s safety.

Mr. Takagi: A book with an interesting side character who was killed too early

Jarl

He’s Azoth’s (Kylar) friend from the Warrens who was supposed to become the next Sa’Kage, and I SO wanted that to happen. I just wonder how things would have been for Kylar if his childhood friend was running the Sa’Kage. It took me a while to accept that Jarl wouldn’t return to the story.

Jarl is from Brent Weeks’s Night Angel trilogy, which is about a street kid who becomes apprentice to a notorious assassin.

Ellis: A book with a character really out of their depth

Owen Wedgwood

Wedgwood is a renown chef in Eli Brown’s historical-fiction novel, Cinnamon and Gunpowder, set in 1819 about a chef (Wedgwood) who’s kidnapped by a notorious pirate and must cook her exquisite meals in exchange for his freedom. It’s one of my favorite books, well written and quite entertaining too. Wedgwood is out of his depth on Mad Hannah Mabbot’s ship, which he thinks is full of miscreants and sinners who he wants nothing do with. He tries several times to escape. All are unsuccessful and he even seems to suffer a mental break at one point because of his situation and unwillingness to accept it.

Richard Thornburg: A book with an infinitely punchable character

Morveer

Fucking Morveer, yo! OMG, this dude! Ugh!! I bet Abercrombie knows someone who’s like this because, man, the dude is insufferable. Jeez!

Morveer is a professional poisoner from Abercrombie’s standalone fantasy novel, Best Served Cold, in the First Law series. He’s quite pompous and is not above praising himself often and believes he has no faults. The way things end for him was funny to me.

Hans Gruber: A book with a fantastic villain

Deathstroke from Identity Crisis by Brad Meltzer, illus. by Rags Morales

Identity Crisis was my first time meeting this character, and I immediately liked him. I get the idea that Deathstroke is super smart and is probably always a step ahead of the superheroes. I’d love to read of him in his own story.

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And there we have it — Bringing in the Christmas cheer with Die Hard.