Book review ketchup!
His Majesty's Dragon by Naomi Novik
Firstly: ZOMGLUV!!1 I've already posted an initial gush about this book here after reading the first 150 pages. Everything I said there was still true after reading the whole thing.
This book is, quite simply, love. It had me by the end of the first page, and it didn't let go of me until the last word of the last chapter. The characterization was wonderful, the dialog was entertaining, the worldbuilding was masterful. Novik takes some of my favorite things from books like the Aubrey & Maturin stories (endearing character interaction, deft depiction of a fascinating world/time) and mixed them with fantasy in a way that works beautifully.
I'm a special fan of Novik's portrayal of dragons and their aviators, especially of the relationship between them. The affection between Laurence and Temeraire is touching and believable, as is that between most of the secondary characters and their dragons. By contrast, the distant, one-sided relationship between Rankin and Levitas is heartbreaking.
Laurence himself makes for an intriguing POV character. He is a sympathetic person, but also a strict observer of rules both official and unspoken. His actions and reactions are well-considered, or as considered as they can be given that he's completely out of his depth for the better part of the book.
All in all, a very enjoyable read. Highly recommended.
Compulsory-ness rating: 10. Delicious and nutritious!
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull
Mysterious, charming, witty, eccentric: that's a pretty good summary of both the book and of my favorite character in it.
The first chapter didn't win me over immediately, as Bull's sparkling wit takes a little time to get all the way into gear. However, once our heroine Eddi makes it through her initial encounter with a few denizens of the faerie realm the dialog warms up nicely, mostly thanks to a snarky, shape-shifting phouka (who never gets a name) and Eddi's best friend Carla.
The story follows Eddi through the perils of breaking up with her useless boyfriend, being chosen as the token mortal on a faerie battlefield, starting her own band, falling for a prince of the Seelie Court, explaining ethics to the phouka, getting almost killed, getting other people killed, booking gigs for her band, and dueling to the death with the Queen of Air and Darkness, but not in the way you'd think.
I quite enjoyed this book, but I think I would have gotten even more out of it if I were more into contemporary music. A lot of character development takes place within the context of band practices and performances, the chapters are all named with song titles, and Bull is scrupulous in giving the reader as much information about the songs involved as possible. As it is, I enjoyed the very vivid descriptions of the music, but my knowledge of the past several decades worth of music would not fill a thimble (I enjoy plenty of classic and contemporary rock, but I'm clueless about most of it, I routinely forget that "Dreams" is by Van Halen, not Starship, and that sort of thing), so I'm sure a lot of the more specific references were lost on me.
One thing that annoyed me was the love scene toward the end of the book. It struck me as awkward and a little stilted, though that may just be because I'm just not a fan of reading about sexual encounters in any great detail (yeah, I'm a huge prude, you're over it). In any case, it didn't bother me enough to put me off the book, by any means, so whatever.
Compulsory-ness rating: 8. Especially recommended for people who do not mistake Van Halen for Starship on a regular basis.
The Great Good Thing by Roderick Townley
I read this because it's one of Ernie's favorite books. I can see why.
The story follows Princess Sylvie, the heroine of an out-of-print storybook, as she struggles to preserve her story, her family and the rest of her supporting cast from utter extinction. Sylvie's efforts take her from the pages of her book to the mind and dreams of a reader, opening up whole new vistas of plot twists and peril. The treatment of literary characters is much more sentimental than that in, for example, the Thursday Next novels, but it's undeniably sweet in its own way. The narrative is simple and told in a voice reminiscent more of fairy tales than of novels. The end made me unexpectedly emotional, though that's as likely as not due to the fact that I was sick in bed at the time.
Compulsory-ness rating: 7. Not compelling, but definitely a worthy-while read, especially for those--like me--who love books and have a sentimental streak the size of an interstate highway.
The Golden Age by John C. Wright
Wow. After the initial information-overload, I was quite fascinated with this book.
Wright chooses to employ the sink-or-swim approach for the reader's introduction to his far-future setting. I found this a trifle problematic at first (though not as problematic as I would have found the massive info dump that would have been necessary to get me up to date on everything I was clueless about), primarily because the setting involves so many fundamental changes to perception of reality. (If that makes no sense, sorry. I've tried to write that sentence about fifteen times, and I'm still not sure it says what I think it does, but just take it from me that getting into the main character's head takes a little work at first). Between the fact that Phaethon's far-future world takes some getting used to and the fact that he frequently has no clue what's going on, the first part of the book is an exercise in just keeping with it and hoping at all makes sense, soon.
The extra effort is worth it, though, because once you get your feet under you, the story and all its intricate plot twists are quite engrossing. Lots of delicious intrigue, secrecy and heroic idealism, interspersed with entertaining comments from a nearly-omnipotent computer that represents itself most often as a talking penguin, all against the backdrop of a staggeringly advanced far future, where nothing is as it seems. There's a whole heckuva lot more to it than just that, but there's such a lot that I'm not going to bother trying to summarize it any more completely than that. Anyway, it's only the first part of a trilogy, and has no ending to speak of, just a natural breaking point in the story arc.
Two specific things that I really liked:
I want my own Rhadamanthus penguin. I found this character endlessly amusing, and was very sorry at the end when it appeared that he'd be leaving the story for some time. I especially loved his comment to Phaethon toward the end (I can't recall the exact wording, and I don't have the book with me, or I'd try to look it up) where he basically says that when you're nearly omnipotent you pretty much have to have a sense of humor, thus the penguin thing. I shall have to see if I can find it later and post the exact wording, because I remember at the time I read it I thought the whole conversation between Rhadamanthus and Phaethon before the hearing was brilliant.
The other thing that particularly pleased me was Daphne's dream world that she enters in the competition. I was charmed by her worry that having a crystal-sphere style cosmos juxtaposed with airships might constitute a gross anachronism, I liked the way the story of the Prince in the dream world mirrored Phaethon's own story, and was tickled by the reference to Austen-esque romances in the dream world's early stages.
All in all, a very rewarding read, if a bit labor-intensive in places. I think I shall make thomas_a_kempis read it so that I have someone smarter than me to discuss it with.
Compulsory-ness rating: 9. Need sequel!
Firstly: ZOMGLUV!!1 I've already posted an initial gush about this book here after reading the first 150 pages. Everything I said there was still true after reading the whole thing.
This book is, quite simply, love. It had me by the end of the first page, and it didn't let go of me until the last word of the last chapter. The characterization was wonderful, the dialog was entertaining, the worldbuilding was masterful. Novik takes some of my favorite things from books like the Aubrey & Maturin stories (endearing character interaction, deft depiction of a fascinating world/time) and mixed them with fantasy in a way that works beautifully.
I'm a special fan of Novik's portrayal of dragons and their aviators, especially of the relationship between them. The affection between Laurence and Temeraire is touching and believable, as is that between most of the secondary characters and their dragons. By contrast, the distant, one-sided relationship between Rankin and Levitas is heartbreaking.
Laurence himself makes for an intriguing POV character. He is a sympathetic person, but also a strict observer of rules both official and unspoken. His actions and reactions are well-considered, or as considered as they can be given that he's completely out of his depth for the better part of the book.
All in all, a very enjoyable read. Highly recommended.
Compulsory-ness rating: 10. Delicious and nutritious!
War for the Oaks by Emma Bull
Mysterious, charming, witty, eccentric: that's a pretty good summary of both the book and of my favorite character in it.
The first chapter didn't win me over immediately, as Bull's sparkling wit takes a little time to get all the way into gear. However, once our heroine Eddi makes it through her initial encounter with a few denizens of the faerie realm the dialog warms up nicely, mostly thanks to a snarky, shape-shifting phouka (who never gets a name) and Eddi's best friend Carla.
The story follows Eddi through the perils of breaking up with her useless boyfriend, being chosen as the token mortal on a faerie battlefield, starting her own band, falling for a prince of the Seelie Court, explaining ethics to the phouka, getting almost killed, getting other people killed, booking gigs for her band, and dueling to the death with the Queen of Air and Darkness, but not in the way you'd think.
I quite enjoyed this book, but I think I would have gotten even more out of it if I were more into contemporary music. A lot of character development takes place within the context of band practices and performances, the chapters are all named with song titles, and Bull is scrupulous in giving the reader as much information about the songs involved as possible. As it is, I enjoyed the very vivid descriptions of the music, but my knowledge of the past several decades worth of music would not fill a thimble (I enjoy plenty of classic and contemporary rock, but I'm clueless about most of it, I routinely forget that "Dreams" is by Van Halen, not Starship, and that sort of thing), so I'm sure a lot of the more specific references were lost on me.
One thing that annoyed me was the love scene toward the end of the book. It struck me as awkward and a little stilted, though that may just be because I'm just not a fan of reading about sexual encounters in any great detail (yeah, I'm a huge prude, you're over it). In any case, it didn't bother me enough to put me off the book, by any means, so whatever.
Compulsory-ness rating: 8. Especially recommended for people who do not mistake Van Halen for Starship on a regular basis.
The Great Good Thing by Roderick Townley
I read this because it's one of Ernie's favorite books. I can see why.
The story follows Princess Sylvie, the heroine of an out-of-print storybook, as she struggles to preserve her story, her family and the rest of her supporting cast from utter extinction. Sylvie's efforts take her from the pages of her book to the mind and dreams of a reader, opening up whole new vistas of plot twists and peril. The treatment of literary characters is much more sentimental than that in, for example, the Thursday Next novels, but it's undeniably sweet in its own way. The narrative is simple and told in a voice reminiscent more of fairy tales than of novels. The end made me unexpectedly emotional, though that's as likely as not due to the fact that I was sick in bed at the time.
Compulsory-ness rating: 7. Not compelling, but definitely a worthy-while read, especially for those--like me--who love books and have a sentimental streak the size of an interstate highway.
The Golden Age by John C. Wright
Wow. After the initial information-overload, I was quite fascinated with this book.
Wright chooses to employ the sink-or-swim approach for the reader's introduction to his far-future setting. I found this a trifle problematic at first (though not as problematic as I would have found the massive info dump that would have been necessary to get me up to date on everything I was clueless about), primarily because the setting involves so many fundamental changes to perception of reality. (If that makes no sense, sorry. I've tried to write that sentence about fifteen times, and I'm still not sure it says what I think it does, but just take it from me that getting into the main character's head takes a little work at first). Between the fact that Phaethon's far-future world takes some getting used to and the fact that he frequently has no clue what's going on, the first part of the book is an exercise in just keeping with it and hoping at all makes sense, soon.
The extra effort is worth it, though, because once you get your feet under you, the story and all its intricate plot twists are quite engrossing. Lots of delicious intrigue, secrecy and heroic idealism, interspersed with entertaining comments from a nearly-omnipotent computer that represents itself most often as a talking penguin, all against the backdrop of a staggeringly advanced far future, where nothing is as it seems. There's a whole heckuva lot more to it than just that, but there's such a lot that I'm not going to bother trying to summarize it any more completely than that. Anyway, it's only the first part of a trilogy, and has no ending to speak of, just a natural breaking point in the story arc.
Two specific things that I really liked:
I want my own Rhadamanthus penguin. I found this character endlessly amusing, and was very sorry at the end when it appeared that he'd be leaving the story for some time. I especially loved his comment to Phaethon toward the end (I can't recall the exact wording, and I don't have the book with me, or I'd try to look it up) where he basically says that when you're nearly omnipotent you pretty much have to have a sense of humor, thus the penguin thing. I shall have to see if I can find it later and post the exact wording, because I remember at the time I read it I thought the whole conversation between Rhadamanthus and Phaethon before the hearing was brilliant.
The other thing that particularly pleased me was Daphne's dream world that she enters in the competition. I was charmed by her worry that having a crystal-sphere style cosmos juxtaposed with airships might constitute a gross anachronism, I liked the way the story of the Prince in the dream world mirrored Phaethon's own story, and was tickled by the reference to Austen-esque romances in the dream world's early stages.
All in all, a very rewarding read, if a bit labor-intensive in places. I think I shall make thomas_a_kempis read it so that I have someone smarter than me to discuss it with.
Compulsory-ness rating: 9. Need sequel!