book reviews
A while ago, desparately in need of new books to read since no new books by my favorite authors will be out until next summer, I went and browsed through the fantasy section at the library, with mixed results.
Faces Under Water by Tanith Lee
This book was . . . interesting. The writing style was good, the setting intriguing, the plot so confusing I didn't have a clue what was going on for 90% of the book. It is set in an alternate history Venice during carnival. The main character is a man who used to be part of the nobility, but gave it up to live in the slums because he felt bad about having money when other people didn't (or something like that -- it takes forever to figure out what's going on). He works odd jobs, including dragging dead bodies out of the canal to give to a doctor for autopsies and other experiments and rituals. One night he finds a carnival mask in the canal, which leads him and the doctor into a web of intrigue involving a guild of murderers and all sorts of bizarre other things, from reincarnated birds to incest to Native American curses to sex scenes with people with paralyzed faces. Suffice to say the book was really weird, and by the time I figured out what the heck was going on (about five pages before the end of the book), I was expecting some dark tragic ending, and instead somehow it manages to be a book about the redeeming power of love. Huh? To sum up this book simply -- WTF? I liked the alternate Venice, I liked the dark ambience, but seriously, it was too confusing for me to say I liked the book. I didn't dislike it either though.
The Glasswright's Apprentice by Mindy Klasky
Okay, this one I definitely did not like. Another WTF? kind of book. The setting is a world with a caste system, with the castes being the Touched (=untouchables), Merchants, Guildsmen, Nobility, and then there are pilgrims who came from any caste but while they're on a pilgrimage they have special status. The story is about a 13-year-old girl from a merchant family whose parents bought her an apprenticeship in the glasswright's guild. By being in the wrong place at the wrong time, she becomes an accessory to the assassination of the prince, and then gets involved with all sorts of groups from various castes trying to clear her name and save the royal family from further disaster. At least, that is what they would like you to think. Really, she just blunders around from situation to situation doing things random people tell her to do and getting in the wrong place at the wrong time about five million times. I don't think the main character actually DOES anything on her own motivation for the whole book. She only ever does things because someone else told her too and is really a pretty useless person. Plus this is another one where you don't figure out what's going on until the end . . . My problem with not figuring it out until the end isn't that I want to know the whole story up front, but that as a reader I should feel like I know what's going on, then be surprised when I am wrong, or suspect something else. Instead I find myself staring at the book saying "WTF?" until page 400 or something. This one was easier to figure out plotwise than the last one, but lacked the redeeming characteristics of good setting, writing, and characters.
Currently I'm halfway through my third library pick, Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg. This is the only one I picked up by an author I've read before. I have mixed feelings about Carol Berg -- she's written books I really liked (notably Transformation, take or leave the rest of that trilogy), and books that I didn't really like (Song of the Beast, which amusingly won an award). So far this one is shaping up well. She gets extra credit for setting the book largely in a monestary, which is a pretty uncommon setting for fantasy. Of course I just discovered that this book is the first of her latest series, which means it will probably end on a cliffhanger and leave me waiting for further books to be published. :P
I need to find some new authors I like. Lynn Flewelling, Jacqueline Carey, and Sarah Monette have books coming out later this year or next year but I need something to read until then!
Faces Under Water by Tanith Lee
This book was . . . interesting. The writing style was good, the setting intriguing, the plot so confusing I didn't have a clue what was going on for 90% of the book. It is set in an alternate history Venice during carnival. The main character is a man who used to be part of the nobility, but gave it up to live in the slums because he felt bad about having money when other people didn't (or something like that -- it takes forever to figure out what's going on). He works odd jobs, including dragging dead bodies out of the canal to give to a doctor for autopsies and other experiments and rituals. One night he finds a carnival mask in the canal, which leads him and the doctor into a web of intrigue involving a guild of murderers and all sorts of bizarre other things, from reincarnated birds to incest to Native American curses to sex scenes with people with paralyzed faces. Suffice to say the book was really weird, and by the time I figured out what the heck was going on (about five pages before the end of the book), I was expecting some dark tragic ending, and instead somehow it manages to be a book about the redeeming power of love. Huh? To sum up this book simply -- WTF? I liked the alternate Venice, I liked the dark ambience, but seriously, it was too confusing for me to say I liked the book. I didn't dislike it either though.
The Glasswright's Apprentice by Mindy Klasky
Okay, this one I definitely did not like. Another WTF? kind of book. The setting is a world with a caste system, with the castes being the Touched (=untouchables), Merchants, Guildsmen, Nobility, and then there are pilgrims who came from any caste but while they're on a pilgrimage they have special status. The story is about a 13-year-old girl from a merchant family whose parents bought her an apprenticeship in the glasswright's guild. By being in the wrong place at the wrong time, she becomes an accessory to the assassination of the prince, and then gets involved with all sorts of groups from various castes trying to clear her name and save the royal family from further disaster. At least, that is what they would like you to think. Really, she just blunders around from situation to situation doing things random people tell her to do and getting in the wrong place at the wrong time about five million times. I don't think the main character actually DOES anything on her own motivation for the whole book. She only ever does things because someone else told her too and is really a pretty useless person. Plus this is another one where you don't figure out what's going on until the end . . . My problem with not figuring it out until the end isn't that I want to know the whole story up front, but that as a reader I should feel like I know what's going on, then be surprised when I am wrong, or suspect something else. Instead I find myself staring at the book saying "WTF?" until page 400 or something. This one was easier to figure out plotwise than the last one, but lacked the redeeming characteristics of good setting, writing, and characters.
Currently I'm halfway through my third library pick, Flesh and Spirit by Carol Berg. This is the only one I picked up by an author I've read before. I have mixed feelings about Carol Berg -- she's written books I really liked (notably Transformation, take or leave the rest of that trilogy), and books that I didn't really like (Song of the Beast, which amusingly won an award). So far this one is shaping up well. She gets extra credit for setting the book largely in a monestary, which is a pretty uncommon setting for fantasy. Of course I just discovered that this book is the first of her latest series, which means it will probably end on a cliffhanger and leave me waiting for further books to be published. :P
I need to find some new authors I like. Lynn Flewelling, Jacqueline Carey, and Sarah Monette have books coming out later this year or next year but I need something to read until then!