Books...and Joy for Beginners :)
What can I say that hasn’t probably been said about Paul Christopher? I’ve recently read five of his almost-eight (next is due October 2013) Templar series books. Once again, I’m reminded that it may not a be a good idea to read multiple books in a series all at once. (And of course I say that while contemplating rereading all of the Safehold and Honor Harrington books by David Weber in sequence while waiting for the next releases in each series. HA!)
Valley of the Templars, Red Templar, The Templar Legion, The Templar Conspiracy, and The Templar Throne are formulaic. Of course they are. Christopher’s found a formula that works in books that require only the suspension of disbelief, and enjoyment of thinly veiled borderline history lessons with suspense and conspiracy theory. At times I’m convinced the author votes Democratic; at others, he comes across very Republican. Typically there’s someone who seems too good to be true but the nominal hero, Doc Holliday (so not kidding) doesn’t figure it out until he’s been betrayed. So I kept waiting in the most recent book for his friend to turn up as a bad guy. Oddly enough, it didn’t happen. (There are future books where he could still be a bad guy, I suppose.) There’s a psycho shadow villain (a woman this time!), multiple agencies that want Holliday contained if not dead, and multiple historical clues that can be (and are) manipulated multiple ways to suit the author’s fancy. Do I buy the whole conspiracy theory the series has going? No. Is it probable? No. Plausible? Barely, and luckily the books are largely well-enough written to make me keep reading. I wouldn’t buy them new, though, so I’m grateful for used book stores.
And then…saving the best for last, I come to Joy for Beginners, by Erica Bauermeister. Formulaic? Not on your life! Lyrical prose that borders on poetic? Absolutely! (And without being flowery or cloying, which is a remarkable thing in itself.) I didn’t quite want instantly to start rereading Joy the way I did The School of Essential Ingredients, however, I will definitely reread it, probably multiple times. The tone of the book is much closer to School than it is to The Lost Art of Mixing, in that there is a definite thread of positive energy, more than negative, through the book. (Mixing isn’t negative; it’s just a little darker and more bittersweet.) Each character has a primary story/chapter; each character’s story interweaves with the others and leads to reasonably seamless transition between chapters and adventures. And they do have adventures. Not the world-traveling (except for one, who goes to Italy) kind, but the kind that make them adventure into their souls. And it’s a very, very good thing for each of them. I bought the book new as soon as it came out, but I’d been waiting for the so-called perfect time to read it. I expected to hunker down with a glass of wine (or two) and not come out until I’d finished reading. I hunkered down in my hammock (no wine) but I was glad I read it on a vacation day, because I was right. I didn’t want to come out of the book until it was over. That’s a really, really good thing.
Valley of the Templars, Red Templar, The Templar Legion, The Templar Conspiracy, and The Templar Throne are formulaic. Of course they are. Christopher’s found a formula that works in books that require only the suspension of disbelief, and enjoyment of thinly veiled borderline history lessons with suspense and conspiracy theory. At times I’m convinced the author votes Democratic; at others, he comes across very Republican. Typically there’s someone who seems too good to be true but the nominal hero, Doc Holliday (so not kidding) doesn’t figure it out until he’s been betrayed. So I kept waiting in the most recent book for his friend to turn up as a bad guy. Oddly enough, it didn’t happen. (There are future books where he could still be a bad guy, I suppose.) There’s a psycho shadow villain (a woman this time!), multiple agencies that want Holliday contained if not dead, and multiple historical clues that can be (and are) manipulated multiple ways to suit the author’s fancy. Do I buy the whole conspiracy theory the series has going? No. Is it probable? No. Plausible? Barely, and luckily the books are largely well-enough written to make me keep reading. I wouldn’t buy them new, though, so I’m grateful for used book stores.
And then…saving the best for last, I come to Joy for Beginners, by Erica Bauermeister. Formulaic? Not on your life! Lyrical prose that borders on poetic? Absolutely! (And without being flowery or cloying, which is a remarkable thing in itself.) I didn’t quite want instantly to start rereading Joy the way I did The School of Essential Ingredients, however, I will definitely reread it, probably multiple times. The tone of the book is much closer to School than it is to The Lost Art of Mixing, in that there is a definite thread of positive energy, more than negative, through the book. (Mixing isn’t negative; it’s just a little darker and more bittersweet.) Each character has a primary story/chapter; each character’s story interweaves with the others and leads to reasonably seamless transition between chapters and adventures. And they do have adventures. Not the world-traveling (except for one, who goes to Italy) kind, but the kind that make them adventure into their souls. And it’s a very, very good thing for each of them. I bought the book new as soon as it came out, but I’d been waiting for the so-called perfect time to read it. I expected to hunker down with a glass of wine (or two) and not come out until I’d finished reading. I hunkered down in my hammock (no wine) but I was glad I read it on a vacation day, because I was right. I didn’t want to come out of the book until it was over. That’s a really, really good thing.