Boaz Lavie

There are a lot of things I really like about this book, and some things I'm kind of meh about.
The illustrations are beautiful. Really gorgeous. I got a lot of pleasure reading this book despite any shortcomings of the plot just from the illustrations.

While set in a fictional south-east asian-ish country, the twin children that Mark (which, actually I'd like to mention that in the reviews of this book his name is give as Mark, Mike, and Max by different people and I honestly don't remember the name that I read because I returned the book already???) encounters are based on real-life twins Johnny and Luther Htoo who led God's Army, a guerrilla group in Myanmar in the late 90's. They were said to have magical powers and be invincible. I like the fictionalization of their story in this book, I think the inclusion of magical elements was a good idea.

I wasn't a huge fan of Mark, though. He seemed like he was supposed to be a "good guy", in that he saved an injured child and risked his life to make sure the kid got home safe, but he's also a creep enabler when it comes to his asshole friend. They appear to have been friends for a while, long enough that Jason keeps trying to recruit Mark to this shadowy mission, and Mark just seems to humour this guy for some reason. Mark eventually does take his boringly mean friend up on the mission, because...? Mark decides to go to Quanlom for a couple weeks for a secret mission after his promotion destination is changed (which he and his wife are disappointed about), leaving his pregnant wife behind, lying to her about where he's going and not even consulting her about the decision (which rightly pisses her off), because he's mad about his promotion, or he feels trapped, or something. Who knows. Also, when he's kidnapped by the twins in Quanlom, he remains unconvinced that magic exists despite seeing it happen right before his eyes. Maybe he's in denial and just can't accept it, but he didn't seem that shook. Basically, I don't like Mark. He seems fake or poorly written or both.

The twins were interesting characters. I love that they fought for their beliefs but I'm always wary about stories like this told from the perspective of the westerner. The story was pretty flat in the end anyway... the kids win and Mark gets to go home, with a memento from his journey for his own kid. I feel like this story had more potential and I wish it had lived up to it. But I'm definitely going to read more from the Hanuka twins because their art was just so *kisses fingertips*… (meer)

Mark's an ex-soldier, living his quiet life as an explosives consultant. He's got a wife, and a baby on the way, though, and a promotion he was counting on has been downsized out of existence.

He takes a short-term assignment "consulting" on explosives for the CIA in a little Southeast Asian country called Qualnom.

It's just two weeks. And although there's a war there, he's assured it's "a joke," too minor to matter.

But of course, he's going there to blow something up.

The acquaintance who connected him with the job shows him a tattoo he has on his arm, of a dragon, that he says he really saw the last time he was in Qualnom.

They're nearly done, and waiting on their pickup, when Mark sees a small boy, hurt, and way too close to the thing they're going to blow up, from the helicopter, when they're in the air.

What has been a relatively ordinary, if hot and humid, assignment, suddenly becomes very strange.

The war is apparently the doing of twin boys, one of whom speaks, and the other of whom has magical powers and commands a dragon.

There's nothing terrible about this. The art is okay. The story is okay. The characters are a bit cardboard. It's a decent enough read.

I see no reason for it to be on the Hugo Finalists list.

Not especially recommended, but not recommended against, either.

I received this as part of the 2016 Hugo voters' packet.… (meer)