Books 35-46
It's been 2 months since I've reported on the books I'm reading, and reading continues apace. These books are in random (not reading) order:
35. Total Eclipse by Rachel Caine. The finale to Rachel's very successful Weather Warden series. When last we left Weather Warden Joanne and her Djinn husband David, earth was in a bit of a pinch, and Mother Nature was pissed. Pissed enough to take out all of humanity. So it's a race for time, and another road trip in a sweet ride for Joanne and friends to see if she can prevent the destruction of all humanity. I was looking forward to the end of this series, because I felt it was just on the edge of going on too long, and I wanted to see how the ends would be tied up. Here's a hint: not everyone makes it out alive, and one death in particular I felt. On the whole, the book was a good ending to the series (Rachel does have a spin off series with a side character, which I haven't read yet). But I'll admit that I found the ending a bit rushed and frankly puzzling. When there were only about 30 pages left, I didn't see how things were going to end, and in a way, it was all too neatly tied up.
36. and 37. Feast of Fools and Lord of Misrule by Rachel Caine. Books 4 and 5 of the YA Morganville Vampires series. I do like this series, but these two books were a little bit weaker than the previous 3. A friend told me that when Rachel was writing these books, she was dealing with some serious health issues (which have happily been resolved). Claire Danvers' world is turned upside down with the arrival of Mr. Bishop, an older than old, and not very nice, vampire. His intentions at first are unclear, but it would seem he wants to force all the Morganville Vampires to swear allegiance to him, and allow the vampires free reign on the humans who live in Morganville. In other words, he's an agent of chaos, there to upset the working order. And he does a pretty good job at it. Claire's life gets even more complicated when her parents decide to move to Morganville, and want Claire to move in with them. Meanwhile, Claire is working with Myrnin to try to find a cure for the disease that is slowly robbing the older vampires of their sanity. Lord of Misrule opens up immediately after the chaotic events of Feast of Fools, so they make a good duo to read together. I found this the weaker book, in part because some of the timeline didn't make sense to me. For example, as best I could tell, the feast occurs on a Saturday night, and the next day, Claire goes to the college, and sees students going to class like normal. Only, really, it's Sunday, there aren't going to be classes on a Sunday. I also got pissed at one (admittedly small) scene, when Claire is talking to the Dean of Students, who tells Claire that she's been talking to Claire's patron Amelie about Claire's academic progress. Of course the academic advisor in me see said, hey, what, that's illegal! It seems a small point, but that threw me out of the story, and I hate when that happens. I guess my suggestion to writers would be if you are writing about a setting that you are not familiar with (say, higher education), run some things by someone in that field. I'm pretty sure anyone familiar with FERPA, would immediately have pointed out that what that DoS did was wrong. And it wasn't even that necessary to advance the story. Also, I think Claire is in danger of becoming a Mary Sue - she seems to think she can go tell all the bad ass vampires what to do, that she's special and they should listen to her, and I do get a little tired of that. Still, I do like this series, so I will continue with it for sure.
38. Undead and Unfinished by Mary Janice Davidson. More Queen Betsy. This time, she and her sister Laura (the Spawn of Satan) go on a time traveling trip so that Laura can learn a little bit more about her legacy as the Spawn of Satan. After all, Satan wants to retire and have Laura take over the family business. I've decided at this book to give up on this series. Yes, Davidson is taking the series in a much darker direction, which is fine. But that's not really true to Betsy, and I think she may lose readers. Betsy, despite everything, has a stubborn way of remaining a 1 dimensional character. People are her seem to grow and adapt as life changes them, but Betsy not so much. And the hint at the end of this book about the really dark future ahead, I just have to wonder if perhaps Betsy's arc should have been finished, and a newer, darker series started with other characters. My interest in Betsy has waned to the point where I just don't care.
39. Talking to Girls about Duran Duran by Rob Sheffield. Read this for my book club, and loved it. A series of essays about a teenager coming of age in the 80s, and the music that informed his growth into a young man. Easy to read, some hilarious essays. If you, like me, were of an age in the 80s, I think you'll love this.
40. Inside Out by Maria Snyder. A YA book. I've enjoyed Snyder's previous books, and I read a good review of this. I finally found a copy back in July when I went to Arlington for a few days to visit The Simpsons. We hit up Borders for their going out of business sale. This is a rather dystopian society that bears more than a superficial resemblance to the societies seen in Metropolis. Trella, the Maria equivalent, is a scrub - she works all day cleaning out pipes on the lower levels. But she is dissatisfied with her life and dreams about life on the upper levels. She becomes accidentally involved in a revolution when her only friend introduces her to The Broken Man, a man from from the upper levels who wants to bring change to the lower levels. Trella befriends a young man from the upper levels, and while the security forces tighten their grip on the rebelling workers in the lower levels, Trella discovers the truth about her world. The book closes in such a way that it has a satisfying ending, but it also leaves open the potential for sequels (and there is one sequel that I'm aware of, called Outside In). The book started out a little slow for me, but I did get into it, and read it in short order. I enjoy a good dystopian story. And I would be highly surprised if Snyder did not in some way have Metropolis in the back of her mind when writing this book (it would almost be too coincidental if she didn't, because the book maps pretty well to the movie on a larger scale). If you can find this book, and enjoy YA, this would be a good book to read.
41. Dracula, My Love by Syrie James. A retelling of the Dracula story from Mina Harker's perspective. Mina, a not well off orphan who is engaged to Johnathan Harker, meets the enigmatic Nicolae Dracula while on a holiday with her friend Lucy. Over a course of meetings, Mina and Nicolae engage in a passionate affair, while the men in Mina's life, including the rather dottering Van Helsing, strive to kill the Dracula monster. In the end, Mina must chose between the two men in her life (and since this book takes Stoker's book at it's starting point, we all know what choice Mina makes). I like a good romance, and this was that, although not marketed as a romance novel. Still at times I found myself getting a bit annoyed at Mina, because she was allowing herself to be manipulated by Van Helsing among others. She'd berate herself for not getting all the facts of a situation, and then minutes later, when Van Helsing tells her something, she just falls for it all. If she was as smart as we're lead to believe she is, I found her to be easy to manipulate, and that was annoying. Also, and call me a rebel, but just once, I'd like to see the misunderstood count get the girl.
42. The Magicians by Lev Grossman. I've heard a number of people say this is Harry Potter for grownups, and I think that's a ridiculous comparison. If you're expecting a Harry Potter type story, you're going to be disappointed by this book. There are some very superficial similarities - a group of students going to a college to learn magic. That's about it, really. There is also a clear homage to Narnia, in the set of books of the land of Fillory, where a group of siblings return over a period of years, The first half of The Magicinans follows the college career of Quentin, Alice and their friends as they learn to unlock their magic potential. Quentin is an especially unhappy, drifter type of teenager, too smart for his own good, and with no clear vision of what he wants for himself. After they all graduate, the friends end up in New York, some drifting, some following careers in magic. They get a visit from the one misfit, Penny (and why is it always the Goth/Punk type who is cast as the misfit?), who shows them the key to visiting the land of Fillory, thought to be just a kids story (albeit one that Quentin is obsessed with). When the group gets to Fillory, they discover a far more sinister reality than they could have expected, and they don't all come back unscathed. Once the book got rolling for me I really enjoyed it. It definitely started out slowly for my taste, but the college years (only half the book) were set up for what follows. There second book, The Magicians, was recently released (I found a copy last weekend at Half Price, so got it for the extra 20% off, a sweet deal, $5 for a HB).
43. The Painter of Battles by Arturo Perez-Reverte. I'm always happy when I find a new Perez-Reverte novel. The premise of this book held a lot of promise, but I didn't feel it quite delivered for me. A retired war photojournalist, Andres Falques, buys a tower on the Spanish coast, and devotes his days to painting it with war remembrances. He lives a solitary, quiet life, until one day he is visited by a young man, Ivo Markovich, whose picture Andres took in Serbia. The young man tells The Painter of Battles, Andres, that he is there to kill him. But first, they embark on a series of discussions over a period of a few weeks about the nature of Andres' work, how the very famous photo he took of him, and the devastating effect that photo had on Ivo's life. This book is more of an intellectual discussion about war, the place of journalists, especially photographers, in war. There's no doubt that Perez-Reverte's background as a photojournalist heavily informed this book, but ultimately, this didn't quite work for me as a story. Which is not to say it isn't worth reading, because I think it is, especially as the characters work through the issues surrounding war and what it means to be an observer to war. If you keep that in mind going into the book you won't be quite as disappointed by it.
44. Succubus Revealed by Richelle Mead. The finale to Georgina's story. I was looking forward to this book, and read it in short order. On the whole, a satisfying end to Georgina's story. When you make a deal with hell, there's no getting out of it. Or is there? Even hell has it's rules. Since this is a very recent book, I won't say more than that, except if you like Georgina and Seth together, you'll probably like how this story ends.
45. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. I read this multiple award winning book in honor of Bacigalupi's visit to Austin a few weeks ago as Guest of Honor at ArmadilloCon. I wasn't too sure if I would enjoy the book, but I found myself getting sucked into it. I also told Paolo that the weather we've been having in Austin this summer made the perfect reading weather for a book about a world devastated by environmental disaster, where food (calories) is currency. Heat permeates this entire book, from constant reminders of the immediate environment in Bangkok, to the lack of internal/external temperature control of Emiko, the Windup Girl. There are multiple factions trying to find their way in this society, while also fighting the influence of foreigners (and having to deal with the cognitive dissonance of knowing that they need the technologies of the foreigners). And in the middle is Emiko, a New Person (a genetically engineered person, thought not to have a soul, and who has no rights) working in a brother who accidentally triggers a civil war. This is a really complex book, but so readable. Everyone should read this book.
46. The Bookman by Lavie Tidhar. A very strange alternate history/steampunk novel about Victorian England, a Victorian England ruled by lizards from outer space. Orphan gets caught up in an accidental revolution when he tries to exact revenge against The Bookman, who kills Orphan's fiancee Lucy. Orphan ends up on a journey with Jules Vernes to find a mysterious island that holds the key to what/who The Bookman is, and in the process, Orphan finds out who he is. This is just a crazy (in the best possible way) book. If you like Jasper Fford's Thursday Next books, I think you'll like this. Tons of little nods and winks to English literary tradition (I have no doubt I missed many of the references), adventure, silliness and seriousness. This was a strange book, and I really liked it, even if I didn't completely understand it.
35. Total Eclipse by Rachel Caine. The finale to Rachel's very successful Weather Warden series. When last we left Weather Warden Joanne and her Djinn husband David, earth was in a bit of a pinch, and Mother Nature was pissed. Pissed enough to take out all of humanity. So it's a race for time, and another road trip in a sweet ride for Joanne and friends to see if she can prevent the destruction of all humanity. I was looking forward to the end of this series, because I felt it was just on the edge of going on too long, and I wanted to see how the ends would be tied up. Here's a hint: not everyone makes it out alive, and one death in particular I felt. On the whole, the book was a good ending to the series (Rachel does have a spin off series with a side character, which I haven't read yet). But I'll admit that I found the ending a bit rushed and frankly puzzling. When there were only about 30 pages left, I didn't see how things were going to end, and in a way, it was all too neatly tied up.
36. and 37. Feast of Fools and Lord of Misrule by Rachel Caine. Books 4 and 5 of the YA Morganville Vampires series. I do like this series, but these two books were a little bit weaker than the previous 3. A friend told me that when Rachel was writing these books, she was dealing with some serious health issues (which have happily been resolved). Claire Danvers' world is turned upside down with the arrival of Mr. Bishop, an older than old, and not very nice, vampire. His intentions at first are unclear, but it would seem he wants to force all the Morganville Vampires to swear allegiance to him, and allow the vampires free reign on the humans who live in Morganville. In other words, he's an agent of chaos, there to upset the working order. And he does a pretty good job at it. Claire's life gets even more complicated when her parents decide to move to Morganville, and want Claire to move in with them. Meanwhile, Claire is working with Myrnin to try to find a cure for the disease that is slowly robbing the older vampires of their sanity. Lord of Misrule opens up immediately after the chaotic events of Feast of Fools, so they make a good duo to read together. I found this the weaker book, in part because some of the timeline didn't make sense to me. For example, as best I could tell, the feast occurs on a Saturday night, and the next day, Claire goes to the college, and sees students going to class like normal. Only, really, it's Sunday, there aren't going to be classes on a Sunday. I also got pissed at one (admittedly small) scene, when Claire is talking to the Dean of Students, who tells Claire that she's been talking to Claire's patron Amelie about Claire's academic progress. Of course the academic advisor in me see said, hey, what, that's illegal! It seems a small point, but that threw me out of the story, and I hate when that happens. I guess my suggestion to writers would be if you are writing about a setting that you are not familiar with (say, higher education), run some things by someone in that field. I'm pretty sure anyone familiar with FERPA, would immediately have pointed out that what that DoS did was wrong. And it wasn't even that necessary to advance the story. Also, I think Claire is in danger of becoming a Mary Sue - she seems to think she can go tell all the bad ass vampires what to do, that she's special and they should listen to her, and I do get a little tired of that. Still, I do like this series, so I will continue with it for sure.
38. Undead and Unfinished by Mary Janice Davidson. More Queen Betsy. This time, she and her sister Laura (the Spawn of Satan) go on a time traveling trip so that Laura can learn a little bit more about her legacy as the Spawn of Satan. After all, Satan wants to retire and have Laura take over the family business. I've decided at this book to give up on this series. Yes, Davidson is taking the series in a much darker direction, which is fine. But that's not really true to Betsy, and I think she may lose readers. Betsy, despite everything, has a stubborn way of remaining a 1 dimensional character. People are her seem to grow and adapt as life changes them, but Betsy not so much. And the hint at the end of this book about the really dark future ahead, I just have to wonder if perhaps Betsy's arc should have been finished, and a newer, darker series started with other characters. My interest in Betsy has waned to the point where I just don't care.
39. Talking to Girls about Duran Duran by Rob Sheffield. Read this for my book club, and loved it. A series of essays about a teenager coming of age in the 80s, and the music that informed his growth into a young man. Easy to read, some hilarious essays. If you, like me, were of an age in the 80s, I think you'll love this.
40. Inside Out by Maria Snyder. A YA book. I've enjoyed Snyder's previous books, and I read a good review of this. I finally found a copy back in July when I went to Arlington for a few days to visit The Simpsons. We hit up Borders for their going out of business sale. This is a rather dystopian society that bears more than a superficial resemblance to the societies seen in Metropolis. Trella, the Maria equivalent, is a scrub - she works all day cleaning out pipes on the lower levels. But she is dissatisfied with her life and dreams about life on the upper levels. She becomes accidentally involved in a revolution when her only friend introduces her to The Broken Man, a man from from the upper levels who wants to bring change to the lower levels. Trella befriends a young man from the upper levels, and while the security forces tighten their grip on the rebelling workers in the lower levels, Trella discovers the truth about her world. The book closes in such a way that it has a satisfying ending, but it also leaves open the potential for sequels (and there is one sequel that I'm aware of, called Outside In). The book started out a little slow for me, but I did get into it, and read it in short order. I enjoy a good dystopian story. And I would be highly surprised if Snyder did not in some way have Metropolis in the back of her mind when writing this book (it would almost be too coincidental if she didn't, because the book maps pretty well to the movie on a larger scale). If you can find this book, and enjoy YA, this would be a good book to read.
41. Dracula, My Love by Syrie James. A retelling of the Dracula story from Mina Harker's perspective. Mina, a not well off orphan who is engaged to Johnathan Harker, meets the enigmatic Nicolae Dracula while on a holiday with her friend Lucy. Over a course of meetings, Mina and Nicolae engage in a passionate affair, while the men in Mina's life, including the rather dottering Van Helsing, strive to kill the Dracula monster. In the end, Mina must chose between the two men in her life (and since this book takes Stoker's book at it's starting point, we all know what choice Mina makes). I like a good romance, and this was that, although not marketed as a romance novel. Still at times I found myself getting a bit annoyed at Mina, because she was allowing herself to be manipulated by Van Helsing among others. She'd berate herself for not getting all the facts of a situation, and then minutes later, when Van Helsing tells her something, she just falls for it all. If she was as smart as we're lead to believe she is, I found her to be easy to manipulate, and that was annoying. Also, and call me a rebel, but just once, I'd like to see the misunderstood count get the girl.
42. The Magicians by Lev Grossman. I've heard a number of people say this is Harry Potter for grownups, and I think that's a ridiculous comparison. If you're expecting a Harry Potter type story, you're going to be disappointed by this book. There are some very superficial similarities - a group of students going to a college to learn magic. That's about it, really. There is also a clear homage to Narnia, in the set of books of the land of Fillory, where a group of siblings return over a period of years, The first half of The Magicinans follows the college career of Quentin, Alice and their friends as they learn to unlock their magic potential. Quentin is an especially unhappy, drifter type of teenager, too smart for his own good, and with no clear vision of what he wants for himself. After they all graduate, the friends end up in New York, some drifting, some following careers in magic. They get a visit from the one misfit, Penny (and why is it always the Goth/Punk type who is cast as the misfit?), who shows them the key to visiting the land of Fillory, thought to be just a kids story (albeit one that Quentin is obsessed with). When the group gets to Fillory, they discover a far more sinister reality than they could have expected, and they don't all come back unscathed. Once the book got rolling for me I really enjoyed it. It definitely started out slowly for my taste, but the college years (only half the book) were set up for what follows. There second book, The Magicians, was recently released (I found a copy last weekend at Half Price, so got it for the extra 20% off, a sweet deal, $5 for a HB).
43. The Painter of Battles by Arturo Perez-Reverte. I'm always happy when I find a new Perez-Reverte novel. The premise of this book held a lot of promise, but I didn't feel it quite delivered for me. A retired war photojournalist, Andres Falques, buys a tower on the Spanish coast, and devotes his days to painting it with war remembrances. He lives a solitary, quiet life, until one day he is visited by a young man, Ivo Markovich, whose picture Andres took in Serbia. The young man tells The Painter of Battles, Andres, that he is there to kill him. But first, they embark on a series of discussions over a period of a few weeks about the nature of Andres' work, how the very famous photo he took of him, and the devastating effect that photo had on Ivo's life. This book is more of an intellectual discussion about war, the place of journalists, especially photographers, in war. There's no doubt that Perez-Reverte's background as a photojournalist heavily informed this book, but ultimately, this didn't quite work for me as a story. Which is not to say it isn't worth reading, because I think it is, especially as the characters work through the issues surrounding war and what it means to be an observer to war. If you keep that in mind going into the book you won't be quite as disappointed by it.
44. Succubus Revealed by Richelle Mead. The finale to Georgina's story. I was looking forward to this book, and read it in short order. On the whole, a satisfying end to Georgina's story. When you make a deal with hell, there's no getting out of it. Or is there? Even hell has it's rules. Since this is a very recent book, I won't say more than that, except if you like Georgina and Seth together, you'll probably like how this story ends.
45. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi. I read this multiple award winning book in honor of Bacigalupi's visit to Austin a few weeks ago as Guest of Honor at ArmadilloCon. I wasn't too sure if I would enjoy the book, but I found myself getting sucked into it. I also told Paolo that the weather we've been having in Austin this summer made the perfect reading weather for a book about a world devastated by environmental disaster, where food (calories) is currency. Heat permeates this entire book, from constant reminders of the immediate environment in Bangkok, to the lack of internal/external temperature control of Emiko, the Windup Girl. There are multiple factions trying to find their way in this society, while also fighting the influence of foreigners (and having to deal with the cognitive dissonance of knowing that they need the technologies of the foreigners). And in the middle is Emiko, a New Person (a genetically engineered person, thought not to have a soul, and who has no rights) working in a brother who accidentally triggers a civil war. This is a really complex book, but so readable. Everyone should read this book.
46. The Bookman by Lavie Tidhar. A very strange alternate history/steampunk novel about Victorian England, a Victorian England ruled by lizards from outer space. Orphan gets caught up in an accidental revolution when he tries to exact revenge against The Bookman, who kills Orphan's fiancee Lucy. Orphan ends up on a journey with Jules Vernes to find a mysterious island that holds the key to what/who The Bookman is, and in the process, Orphan finds out who he is. This is just a crazy (in the best possible way) book. If you like Jasper Fford's Thursday Next books, I think you'll like this. Tons of little nods and winks to English literary tradition (I have no doubt I missed many of the references), adventure, silliness and seriousness. This was a strange book, and I really liked it, even if I didn't completely understand it.