Xor: The Shape of Darkness by Moshe Sipper
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

I’m a boy named Lewis Nash and today is my twelfth birthday.

Upon waking up on his twelfth birthday, Lewis discovers that he can Shape. Before he can really figure out what to do with this new ability, he is whisked away to Xor with a very important mission – saving the planet from the Realm Pirates. With the help of a few new friends, Lewis sets out to do just that.

The reader is thrown into Lewis’s world, abruptly leaving his “home” to a new planet more advanced than Earth, with Artificial Persons, interactive computers, holographs, werewolves, and magic. It seems like a conglomeration of everything tossed into one book, and since Xor isn’t very well-developed, it is hard to see how these all fit together.

The pacing is varied, with some fast sections at the beginning but most of the book being too slow. Lewis asks a lot of questions – which I would assume of a young person – but the questions he asks are either not necessary, not relevant, or not answered. The plot also gets sidetracked at several points, going of on tangents of minimal importance.

The writing itself is simple – perhaps too much so, though it could be good for a younger reader. While Lewis is twelve and should act appropriately, some of the ideas he struggles with seems to imply he is much younger. The repetitive narrative can wear on the reader, causing a lack of interest in what could be a very interesting story.

Hidden within Xor is a growing up story about a young boy forced to face fantastical things and to overcome the sadness inside of himself.

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Tales From The Dew Drop Inne by Kenneth Weene
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

“I guess you could say I’m from The Dew Drop Inne. There’s one in every town.”

Set in a local bar and narrated by Calvin, this collection of stories depicts the lives of those who hang on to the bottom rung of life’s social ladder. From strippers to musicians to veterans, the desperate often-drunk people that inhabit the bar and call it “home” are clinging to what little family they have – all the regulars at the bar.

Within these pages are colorful tales of people that could be anywhere. The life they lead is illuminated, showing companionship, competitiveness, and compassion mixed in with the drunken mishaps. Through the collection, the reader watches the characters take shape, though sometimes can still not relate to said characters due to their lot in life.

Tales From The Dew Drop Inne takes a bunch of characters that everyone knows (but doesn’t) and portrays them in a setting many are familiar with to some extent. The slice-of-life collection deals with characters and issues that are considered “beneath” many but shows the goodness that is still present in these run-down people.

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