Read Recently -- And the rest -- February to April 2011
So what follows is a quick summary of a number of books that I read just before, during, and just after the big move. Unfortunately, I no longer remember which books I read exactly when, so in the interests of moving thing along, here is a mass of everything that hasn't already been dealt with in depth elsewhere.
Home for Christmas by Andrew M. Greeley
Considering this is probably Greeley's last novel, it was a great disappointment. Not that it was particularely badly written, or anything (though I don't think I've ever argued that Greeley was ever all that great a writer), but here there's nothing that he hasn't done before, and better. In short, only for completists. Not recommended.
Dreadnought by Cherie Priest
Sequel to Boneshaker. In this one, a civil war nurse (remember, Priest's civil war went on for decades longer than the real one) named Mercy Lynch travels north and west to Seattle to meet with her estranged father. Along the way she takes passage on a Union train, pulled by the mighty armoured engine known as the Dreadnought. The Dreadnought's hauling a secret that the rebels will stop at nothing to possess, and there's a darker secret that has brought a pair of Mexican government agents north. Priest does an excellent job here as she did on the original, and once again I highly recommend it.
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
This is the weirdest book I've ever read, and I read some weird stuff in my time. Palimpsest, for example. This, however, is weirder. On one level, it's the story of a family who buy a house and find out that it is slightly larger on the inside than it is on the outside. At first. On another level, it's about the man who is telling us the story, and how his life falls apart. Much like with City of Saints and Madmen, as much is implied in footnotes as is told. Really, really weird and not for everyone, though Lovecraft fans will find much to appreciate.
Orbus by Neal Asher
Sequel to the Skinner and the Voyage of the Sable Keech, this follows old Captain Orbus, a recovering sadist, as he heads into space to try his hand at delivering cargo and escaping the violent tendencies of his past (sadism is easy when your crew is immortal and can recover from any wound). Unbeknownst to Orbus, however, the ancient war drone Sniper has stowed away on the ship. And neither of them knows that they are heading into a Prador civil war . . . Recommended if you've read the others in the series. If not, start with The Skinner.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin
Yeine is, to her very great shock, named heir to the emperor of the known world, in the city of Sky, where they have weaponised the gods themselves. It's an audacious concept for a first novel, but Jemisin carries it off plausibly. A great book, and I recommend it highly.
A Book of Tongues: volume one of the Hexslinger Series by Gemma Files
Like The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, this is one I could spend hundreds of words discussing, and still not make any sense. In the wake of the American civil war, magic users known as 'Hexslingers' are kinda causing worry among the political powers that be. In particular, the duo of Asher Rook and Chess Pargeter, outlaws and lovers, have drawn the attention of the Pinkerton agency. Agent Ed Morrow has been planted in the band that follows them, hoping for a chance to measure Rook's power using a mad science device. But Rook is even more dangerous than he seems, and Chess is dangerous to Ed in his own, special way. The title comes from a Gwendolyn MacEwen poem, by the way. Highly recommended.
Wild Huntby Margaret Ronald
Sequel to Spiral Hunt. Evie continues trying to make her way as a part-time bike courier/part-time mystic tracker. In the last book, she defeated the criminal masters of Boston's mystic underworld; now she must deal with ghosts and secrets that at first seem impersonal but soon become very personal indeed.
If I seem unenthusiastic that's an illusion. This is a very good book and I recommend it highly, but it's a complex plot and I don't have the space or energy to deal with it here.
The Native Star by M. K. Hobson
It's 1876, and Emily Edwards is a witch in the small western village of Lost Pine, Sierra Nevada. As the story starts she is facing fiscal ruin due to an influx of cheap, commercial potions, so in order to assure that her father is taken care of in his old age, she does something deplorable: she casts a love spell on a local man, taking away his volition in the matter. She intends to keep her end of the bargain, and be the best wife she can be, but still . . . she is called on it by Dreadnought Stanton, a warlock from New York who is in Lost Pine for reasons of his own. Before Emily can either explain herself or fix the damage she has already done, the twa magicians are forced to fight zombies together at the local mines (zombies make good miners as long as they are kept under control, but when they break out of control they can cause a lot of trouble) and Emily winds up with the titular stone embedded in her hand. She and Stanton go on a voyage that starts with a visit to his guild to get the stone removed, but before that can happen turns into a flight across country to escape a conspiracy that also wants the stone.
Stanton and Emily play the standard romantic roles of strong woman and obnoxious twit thrown upon each other by circumstances beyond their control, but quickly grow beyond those parts. The world-building is interesting, but the bit that I was most struck by was the magic system that Stanton uses: credomancy, the magic of belief. To ensure that people believe he has great powers (thus ensuring that he has great powers), he is the hero of a series of penny-dreadfuls (cheap pulp novels) spread throughout the country. However, there's a downside to having the powers people believe you do . . .
This is an interesting book with creative world-building and a truly interesting magic style. The one thing that undercuts it, in my opinion, is the plot being essentially an excuse for an old-style harlequin-esque romance. And that, of course, can be forgiven, if the rest of the story is up to it (which I think it is). Recommended, and I'm looking forward to seeing what Hobson does with the sequel.
Also, there were two other books which I failed to keep track of. That gives this period a total of ten books. This has been a light year for reading.
Home for Christmas by Andrew M. Greeley
Considering this is probably Greeley's last novel, it was a great disappointment. Not that it was particularely badly written, or anything (though I don't think I've ever argued that Greeley was ever all that great a writer), but here there's nothing that he hasn't done before, and better. In short, only for completists. Not recommended.
Dreadnought by Cherie Priest
Sequel to Boneshaker. In this one, a civil war nurse (remember, Priest's civil war went on for decades longer than the real one) named Mercy Lynch travels north and west to Seattle to meet with her estranged father. Along the way she takes passage on a Union train, pulled by the mighty armoured engine known as the Dreadnought. The Dreadnought's hauling a secret that the rebels will stop at nothing to possess, and there's a darker secret that has brought a pair of Mexican government agents north. Priest does an excellent job here as she did on the original, and once again I highly recommend it.
House of Leaves by Mark Z. Danielewski
This is the weirdest book I've ever read, and I read some weird stuff in my time. Palimpsest, for example. This, however, is weirder. On one level, it's the story of a family who buy a house and find out that it is slightly larger on the inside than it is on the outside. At first. On another level, it's about the man who is telling us the story, and how his life falls apart. Much like with City of Saints and Madmen, as much is implied in footnotes as is told. Really, really weird and not for everyone, though Lovecraft fans will find much to appreciate.
Orbus by Neal Asher
Sequel to the Skinner and the Voyage of the Sable Keech, this follows old Captain Orbus, a recovering sadist, as he heads into space to try his hand at delivering cargo and escaping the violent tendencies of his past (sadism is easy when your crew is immortal and can recover from any wound). Unbeknownst to Orbus, however, the ancient war drone Sniper has stowed away on the ship. And neither of them knows that they are heading into a Prador civil war . . . Recommended if you've read the others in the series. If not, start with The Skinner.
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin
Yeine is, to her very great shock, named heir to the emperor of the known world, in the city of Sky, where they have weaponised the gods themselves. It's an audacious concept for a first novel, but Jemisin carries it off plausibly. A great book, and I recommend it highly.
A Book of Tongues: volume one of the Hexslinger Series by Gemma Files
Like The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, this is one I could spend hundreds of words discussing, and still not make any sense. In the wake of the American civil war, magic users known as 'Hexslingers' are kinda causing worry among the political powers that be. In particular, the duo of Asher Rook and Chess Pargeter, outlaws and lovers, have drawn the attention of the Pinkerton agency. Agent Ed Morrow has been planted in the band that follows them, hoping for a chance to measure Rook's power using a mad science device. But Rook is even more dangerous than he seems, and Chess is dangerous to Ed in his own, special way. The title comes from a Gwendolyn MacEwen poem, by the way. Highly recommended.
Wild Huntby Margaret Ronald
Sequel to Spiral Hunt. Evie continues trying to make her way as a part-time bike courier/part-time mystic tracker. In the last book, she defeated the criminal masters of Boston's mystic underworld; now she must deal with ghosts and secrets that at first seem impersonal but soon become very personal indeed.
If I seem unenthusiastic that's an illusion. This is a very good book and I recommend it highly, but it's a complex plot and I don't have the space or energy to deal with it here.
The Native Star by M. K. Hobson
It's 1876, and Emily Edwards is a witch in the small western village of Lost Pine, Sierra Nevada. As the story starts she is facing fiscal ruin due to an influx of cheap, commercial potions, so in order to assure that her father is taken care of in his old age, she does something deplorable: she casts a love spell on a local man, taking away his volition in the matter. She intends to keep her end of the bargain, and be the best wife she can be, but still . . . she is called on it by Dreadnought Stanton, a warlock from New York who is in Lost Pine for reasons of his own. Before Emily can either explain herself or fix the damage she has already done, the twa magicians are forced to fight zombies together at the local mines (zombies make good miners as long as they are kept under control, but when they break out of control they can cause a lot of trouble) and Emily winds up with the titular stone embedded in her hand. She and Stanton go on a voyage that starts with a visit to his guild to get the stone removed, but before that can happen turns into a flight across country to escape a conspiracy that also wants the stone.
Stanton and Emily play the standard romantic roles of strong woman and obnoxious twit thrown upon each other by circumstances beyond their control, but quickly grow beyond those parts. The world-building is interesting, but the bit that I was most struck by was the magic system that Stanton uses: credomancy, the magic of belief. To ensure that people believe he has great powers (thus ensuring that he has great powers), he is the hero of a series of penny-dreadfuls (cheap pulp novels) spread throughout the country. However, there's a downside to having the powers people believe you do . . .
This is an interesting book with creative world-building and a truly interesting magic style. The one thing that undercuts it, in my opinion, is the plot being essentially an excuse for an old-style harlequin-esque romance. And that, of course, can be forgiven, if the rest of the story is up to it (which I think it is). Recommended, and I'm looking forward to seeing what Hobson does with the sequel.
Also, there were two other books which I failed to keep track of. That gives this period a total of ten books. This has been a light year for reading.