half-baked goodness
Four half-baked book reviews, most of them in my favourite crack-genre: urban paranormal fantasies/mysteries. Guess I should update this more often - I think I'm missing some.
The heat register also just kicked in. I Do Not Approve. :/ But at least my house if full of potatoes.
Half-baked book reviews:
Title: Underground
Author: Kat Richardson
Genre: Urban Paranormal Mystery
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
I'm such a sucker for tightly plotted mysteries, and if they're paranormal, all the better! Underground is book 3 in Richardson's Greywalker series, which follows a PI named Harper Blaine who died for 2 minutes and came back able to walk through the city's memories, ghosts, and echoes of time. In this installment, she is investigating something that is eating the city's homeless as they hide in Seattle's (somewhat) forgotten underground, and the beastie's table manners aren't all that great. I haven't followed a series in a long, long time, and Richardson's Greywalker was one of the first I picked up and stuck with in ages, along with Patricia Briggs. Her writing is crisp and clear so you can read at a breakneck pace, her love of her city (Seattle) shines through her prose, and her characters are interesting... if not always 100% believable. As much as I love, love, loved the fact that she had Harper break up with her beau in this novel (two good people who just didn't work out - awww! *tear*) Harper's immediate romantical shift to another character left me feeling... oh, I just hope that in the next novel she spends some time wondering if it's a rebound. It's too convenient, otherwise. Overall though, it's a fast, enjoyable read.
Title: The Necropolis Railway
Author: Andrew Martin
Genre: Victorian Train Mystery
Rating: 3 out of 5
The Necropolis Railway opens as a train-obsessed young man hurles down a track toward London to take a promised job in a rail yard in 1903, and the author keeps an eye on persnickity details such as trains (obviously), adverts, types of accomodation, and dialogue so that they feel period-correct (whether they are or not I'm not the one to say). Martin's descriptions of the setting and characters are vivid and often eerie, but I found that over the course of the mystery (who killed the man who held MC Jim Stringer's current post?) too much was held back from the reader. Stringer is often frustratingly naieve, and too often things happened to him rather than because of him, and the ending came a little out of left field for me. It's an interesting read, though, and 1903 London is beautifully described... but it's hard to truly get into a book where the love interest is constantly refered to as "my landlady". Three stars - pick it up if you want something beautiful to look at, but don't need to invest too heavily in the characters.
Title: Kitty Raises Hell
Author: Carrie Vaughn
Genre: Urban Werewolf Novel
Rating: 3 out of 5
Carrie Vaughn's Kitty novels should be added to the series that I actually do follow now, and I have a soft spot for smooth-talkin' midnight talkshow DJ Kitty-the-werewolf. I like Vaughn's world, I like the clear prose and crackling plot, and I like how she handles relationships - Kitty and her beau didn't have a flashy, hot romance - they just sort of fell in love a couple of books back. And now that they're together, they argue and act petty and then act cute and generally are honest about how difficult being in a relationship can be. They both have their strengths and weaknesses, but Kitty & Ben aren't the main plot in this novel. In the previous book, Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand, Kitty vacations in Vegas and pissess off a group of werekitties and their scary vampire leader, and now they sent a something after her in her home in Colorado. The book is about getting rid of the thing, and while I like to see Kitty use her wits, it could have been done better here. A too-convenient group of paranormal experts from tv shows up, and between them and her contact in Vegas Kitty's able to deal with things but its less about what she can do then what they can do. I wanted to see her be more alpha overall - her pack loses respect for her because they're dying and I though that the scene where she asserts her leadership could have been stronger. I know Kitty isn't a bad-ass ass-kicking alpha and prefers to talk her way out of pickles (I would have been dissapointed in a physical fight) I thought Kitty had to, well, fight harder for what she has, and prove to the reader that despite all her self-doubt, she really can do this. I also wanted the Final Showdown to be a little more of a show, and it almost felt like Vaughn rushed through it just so she could type 'The End'. Hopefully the next novel will be better.
Title: Bone Dance
Author: Emma Bull
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Tarot "Fantasy for Technophiles"
Rating: 4 out of 5
Ever since I read War for the Oaks I have been an Emma Bull fan, and I was super-stoked to find Bone Dance on the shelf - then chagrined to see it came out in 1991. Ooops. The world ended when a psychic army of body-hoppers known as Horsemen pushed the Button and everything went Bang. Now, the truly androgenous MC Sparrow is pulled from a comfortable existance selling rare video tapes and managing the tech (lighting, sound, video) at a downtown club when a Horseman rides into town and Voodoo loas make themselves known. It's a fast-paced novel about identity that hinges on bringing down the Man, and even touches on themes of forgiveness and the nature of friendship and the community. Sparrow's reluctance to be touched or become familiar with anyone becomes annoying after a while, but is understandable as the novel progresses and eventually becomes exceedingly awkward as Sparrow deals with the notion of 'self' in relation to the Deal - nothing is free. I can see why this was nominated for Phillip K Dick, Nebula, World Fantasy and Hugo award. 4 out of 5, and I'll be tucking this onto my shelf next to War for the Oaks for another perusal.
The heat register also just kicked in. I Do Not Approve. :/ But at least my house if full of potatoes.
Half-baked book reviews:
Title: Underground
Author: Kat Richardson
Genre: Urban Paranormal Mystery
Rating: 3.5 out of 5
I'm such a sucker for tightly plotted mysteries, and if they're paranormal, all the better! Underground is book 3 in Richardson's Greywalker series, which follows a PI named Harper Blaine who died for 2 minutes and came back able to walk through the city's memories, ghosts, and echoes of time. In this installment, she is investigating something that is eating the city's homeless as they hide in Seattle's (somewhat) forgotten underground, and the beastie's table manners aren't all that great. I haven't followed a series in a long, long time, and Richardson's Greywalker was one of the first I picked up and stuck with in ages, along with Patricia Briggs. Her writing is crisp and clear so you can read at a breakneck pace, her love of her city (Seattle) shines through her prose, and her characters are interesting... if not always 100% believable. As much as I love, love, loved the fact that she had Harper break up with her beau in this novel (two good people who just didn't work out - awww! *tear*) Harper's immediate romantical shift to another character left me feeling... oh, I just hope that in the next novel she spends some time wondering if it's a rebound. It's too convenient, otherwise. Overall though, it's a fast, enjoyable read.
Title: The Necropolis Railway
Author: Andrew Martin
Genre: Victorian Train Mystery
Rating: 3 out of 5
The Necropolis Railway opens as a train-obsessed young man hurles down a track toward London to take a promised job in a rail yard in 1903, and the author keeps an eye on persnickity details such as trains (obviously), adverts, types of accomodation, and dialogue so that they feel period-correct (whether they are or not I'm not the one to say). Martin's descriptions of the setting and characters are vivid and often eerie, but I found that over the course of the mystery (who killed the man who held MC Jim Stringer's current post?) too much was held back from the reader. Stringer is often frustratingly naieve, and too often things happened to him rather than because of him, and the ending came a little out of left field for me. It's an interesting read, though, and 1903 London is beautifully described... but it's hard to truly get into a book where the love interest is constantly refered to as "my landlady". Three stars - pick it up if you want something beautiful to look at, but don't need to invest too heavily in the characters.
Title: Kitty Raises Hell
Author: Carrie Vaughn
Genre: Urban Werewolf Novel
Rating: 3 out of 5
Carrie Vaughn's Kitty novels should be added to the series that I actually do follow now, and I have a soft spot for smooth-talkin' midnight talkshow DJ Kitty-the-werewolf. I like Vaughn's world, I like the clear prose and crackling plot, and I like how she handles relationships - Kitty and her beau didn't have a flashy, hot romance - they just sort of fell in love a couple of books back. And now that they're together, they argue and act petty and then act cute and generally are honest about how difficult being in a relationship can be. They both have their strengths and weaknesses, but Kitty & Ben aren't the main plot in this novel. In the previous book, Kitty and the Dead Man's Hand, Kitty vacations in Vegas and pissess off a group of werekitties and their scary vampire leader, and now they sent a something after her in her home in Colorado. The book is about getting rid of the thing, and while I like to see Kitty use her wits, it could have been done better here. A too-convenient group of paranormal experts from tv shows up, and between them and her contact in Vegas Kitty's able to deal with things but its less about what she can do then what they can do. I wanted to see her be more alpha overall - her pack loses respect for her because they're dying and I though that the scene where she asserts her leadership could have been stronger. I know Kitty isn't a bad-ass ass-kicking alpha and prefers to talk her way out of pickles (I would have been dissapointed in a physical fight) I thought Kitty had to, well, fight harder for what she has, and prove to the reader that despite all her self-doubt, she really can do this. I also wanted the Final Showdown to be a little more of a show, and it almost felt like Vaughn rushed through it just so she could type 'The End'. Hopefully the next novel will be better.
Title: Bone Dance
Author: Emma Bull
Genre: Post-Apocalyptic Tarot "Fantasy for Technophiles"
Rating: 4 out of 5
Ever since I read War for the Oaks I have been an Emma Bull fan, and I was super-stoked to find Bone Dance on the shelf - then chagrined to see it came out in 1991. Ooops. The world ended when a psychic army of body-hoppers known as Horsemen pushed the Button and everything went Bang. Now, the truly androgenous MC Sparrow is pulled from a comfortable existance selling rare video tapes and managing the tech (lighting, sound, video) at a downtown club when a Horseman rides into town and Voodoo loas make themselves known. It's a fast-paced novel about identity that hinges on bringing down the Man, and even touches on themes of forgiveness and the nature of friendship and the community. Sparrow's reluctance to be touched or become familiar with anyone becomes annoying after a while, but is understandable as the novel progresses and eventually becomes exceedingly awkward as Sparrow deals with the notion of 'self' in relation to the Deal - nothing is free. I can see why this was nominated for Phillip K Dick, Nebula, World Fantasy and Hugo award. 4 out of 5, and I'll be tucking this onto my shelf next to War for the Oaks for another perusal.