Mar
02
2011

It must be the winter reading doldrums – two slow reading months in a row.  This time it was mostly because it took a long time to finish one book since I finished one book the very first day of the month and didn’t finish it until the day before the end of the month.  I’m a good percentage of the way through another book now, though, so I’m hoping that means this month will be better, especially since I want to try to read some of the books for the Nebula Readathon run by The Book Smugglers (even after I failed miserably this month by not reading The Dispossessed for the Women of Science Fiction Book Club – I bought it and was all set to read it but with this one book I started on the first or second day of the month taking up all of the month it just didn’t happen).  There’s no way I can read all those books for the Nebula Readathon, especially considering a few of them are two or more books into a series I haven’t started. I do want to at least read some of them starting with The Native Star by M.K. Hobson, though, which I plan to read next in an attempt to have it finished for March 13.

Books read in February:

4. The Sea Thy Mistress by Elizabeth Bear (Review)
5. Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones (Review in Progress)
6. The Sworn by Gail Z. Martin (Review Forthcoming)

Favorite book of February: The Sea Thy Mistress, which is a fantastic conclusion to the Edda of Burdens trilogy.  I’m so glad I have this whole series in hardcover – it’s now one of my favorites because it’s beautifully written with deep, troubled characters. I love how Elizabeth Bear took Norse mythology and made it her own with this setting and I really hope she returns to this world some day.

I am off to work some more on that review of Howl’s Moving Castle!  What did you read in February and what did you think of the books you read?  Does anyone else seem to be experiencing the winter reading doldrums?

Late Eclipses is the fourth book in the October Daye series by Seanan McGuire, winner of the 2010 John W. Campbell Award for Best New Writer. The first three books in this urban fantasy series are Rosemary and Rue, A Local Habitation and An Artificial Night.  This latest installment will be available on March 1, and the fifth book, One Salt Sea, will be released in September of this year.  According to McGuire’s website, there will be at least two more books after this – Ashes of Honor in September 2012 and The Chimes at Midnight in September 2013.

While putting groceries in the car with May and Danny, Toby is approached by a messenger from the Queen of the Mists.  The Queen has ordered Toby to appear at Court, which seems rather ominous considering the fact that she’s not at all fond of Toby.  Once Toby arrives at Court, she is rather surprised to see Tybalt, who as a king himself has no fealty to the Queen of the Mists.  Tybalt warns Toby that the Queen has no love for her, then creates a huge scene leaving Toby both confused and angry.

There’s not much time to dwell on what happened since soon Court is called to session.  Toward the end the Queen calls Toby forward and grants her the title of Countess of Winterrose, which was very unexpected since changelings do not get titles, even passed down from their own parents.  Afterward, Tybalt comes back and insists on talking to Toby about this being a trap, but before he gets a chance to he is interrupted by Marcia from the Tea Gardens.  Lily, the Undine in charge of the Tea Gardens, has become very ill even though Undines never get sick.  Not knowing where else to turn, Marcia came to Toby for help.  By playing out a commotion of epic proportions, May and Tybalt distract the crowd so Toby can slip out to see Lily for herself.

What Toby observes is not encouraging – Lily looks like death.  Although Lily is more concerned about her children being taken care of, Toby of course determines to figure out what is causing Lily’s illness and save her friend.  In order to do so, she’s going to have to face her past – both an old enemy and a secret her mother has been keeping from her.

The first three books in this series were fun, and they just keep getting better to the point where this has become one of my series addictions.  When this one showed up, I was very excited and started it as soon as I finished the book I had been reading at the time.  It was finished in about 3 days, and I was not disappointed –  this is now my favorite book in the series so far.

As is usual for the series, the first chapter had a few places where it filled in some background information, but I suppose this is probably considered necessary just in case someone starts reading with this book.  In any case, kudos are in order for McGuire for always keeping it interesting with Toby’s sense of humor and how she words it.  Even though we’re being told some information we already know if we’ve read the other books, it’s at least interspersed here and there and told in a different way each time.  There is none of that copy-paste-repeat style of infodumping that goes on for pages and pages and reads the exact same way every time (if you ever read a Baby-Sitters Club book during your childhood, you know what I mean).

Once it reaches chapter two, it takes off and never lets up. Although the previous books were pretty well-paced, this one moved even faster and a lot happened over the course of the book.  In this installment, we learn more about Toby’s mother, Amandine.  Also, it answers some questions that came up in the previous two books that had severely piqued my curiosity – namely, why Toby was able to do some of the magic she has done and what Tybalt was hiding in the previous book.  This changes a lot while opening up a lot of new possibilities, and it will be interesting to see what happens in the next books.

Another point in this book’s favor was the amount of scenes containing Tybalt (particularly the end of chapter two and beginning of chapter three which were made of pure win).  When Toby sees Tybalt at the Queen’s court, she notes that he has presence.  This is absolutely true, and I love that this has already been illustrated before she even mentions it.  Tybalt is a character who really comes to life and nearly everyone wants to see more from him and waits for any scene involving him.  He has all the best lines, and he does indeed have literary presence, although this is partially due to waiting to see Toby’s reactions to him.  Although there is more of my favorite character, I’m not sure I like some of where some of the relationships are going by the end of the book:

In some of the earlier books, I’ve had some trouble believing in Toby as a PI because, quite frankly, she’s been dim when it comes to solving some of the mysteries.  Happily, she was much smarter in this book and I didn’t have this problem even though it was more mystery-focused than the third book.  This isn’t to say she figured everything out immediately, but there were good reasons for her to not know everything.  Plus she did have a better handle on the situation than most of those around her.

This book also shows yet again that not everything is always going to end up happy in this series.  McGuire lets sad events occur, and she doesn’t wave her magic author wand to right all wrongs and set everything the way it was in the end.

Late Eclipses had everything I’ve come to love about the October Daye series and then some since it exceeded my expectations.  It’s a lot of fun with some very satisfying revelations and is the strongest installment in the series yet.

My Rating: 8.5/10

Where I got my reading copy: ARC from the author/publisher (sent by the publisher at the request of the author).

Reviews of other books in this series:

Other Reviews:

This week I received two review copies of books coming out in March.

Dante ValentineDante Valentine: The Complete Series by Lilith Saintcrow

This is a massive omnibus containing all five of the books in the Dante Valentine series: Working for the Devil, Dead Man Rising, The Devil’s Right Hand, Saint City Sinners, and To Hell and Back.  Totaling around 1300 pages, the trade paperback edition containing the complete urban fantasy series may be a little too large to hold up well – my copy came with the back cover already coming off.  Reading about working for the devil sounds like fun, though, so I’m planning to give the first book a try at some point.  This edition of the books will be available on March 7.

Necromancer. Bounty hunter. Killer.

Dante Valentine has been all three in her life. But in the beginning, she was a Necromancer for hire. And while she was choosy about her jobs, there were just some she couldn’t turn down. Like when the Devil showed up at the door and offered her a deal. Her life – in exchange for the capture and elimination of a renegade demon. But how do you kill something that can’t die?

Dante Valentine, one of urban fantasy’s hottest series, is compiled into one volume for the first time. Included in this omnibus edition are: Working for the Devil, Dead Man Rising, The Devil’s Right Hand, Saint City Sinners, and To Hell and Back.

The Neon CourtThe Neon Court: Or, the Betrayal of Matthew Swift by Kate Griffin

This is the third book in the Matthew Swift series, following A Madness of Angels and The Midnight Mayor.  I’ve actually been curious about this series since the first book came out, and I’ve now received the second and third book as review copies.  Considering the first book is a bargain book on Amazon right now for about $7 in hardcover, I think it’s time to complete the series so I can actually start it (I’m going to order it as soon as I finish writing this up, actually).  The Neon Court will be available on March 24, and it is only $10.99 in hardcover on Amazon right now.

Kate Griffin is also known as Catherine Webb, author of young adult fantasy fiction that has been nominated for the Carnegie Medal.

War is coming to London. A daimyo of the Neon Court is dead and all fingers point towards their ancient enemy – The Tribe. And when magicians go to war, everyone loses.

But Matthew Swift has his own concerns. He has been summoned abruptly, body and soul, to a burning tower and to the dead body of Oda, warrior of The Order and known associate of Swift. There’s a hole in her heart and the symbol of the Midnight Mayor drawn in her own blood. Except, she is still walking and talking and has a nasty habit of saying ‘we’ when she means ‘I.’

Now, Swift faces the longest night of his life. Lady Neon herself is coming to London and the Tribe is ready to fight. Strange things stalk this night: a rumored ‘chosen one,’ a monster that burns out the eyes of its enemies, and a walking dead woman. Swift must stop a war, protect his city, and save his friend – if she’ll stop trying to kill him long enough for him to try.

This week the Nebula nominees were announced.  The entire list can be viewed by clicking the link, but the nominees for best novel are:

The Native Star by M. K. Hobson
The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms
by N. K. Jemisin
Shades of Milk and Honey
by Mary Robinette Kowal
Echo
by Jack McDevitt
Who Fears Death
by Nnedi Okorafor
Blackout/All Clear
by Connie Willis

This year 5 of the 6 nominees are women, which is nice to see since the past couple of years have only had one novel by a woman each year.

I’ve only read The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms, but this looks like a pretty interesting list.  The Native Star and Shades of Milk and Honey are both books I’ve been wanting to read – I actually almost picked up the former last time I was at the bookstore and now I wish I had.  I’ve been waiting for paperback to get the latter.  Echo is the fifth book in the Alex Benedict series, but the series sounds like it could be pretty fun. Who Fears Death is a new title to me, but it sounds like a book I’d like to read.  Connie Willis is on my to-read list, but I’ll probably start with Doomsday Book.

The Andre Norton Award for Young Adult Science Fiction and Fantasy also looks like a great list, although I have yet to read any yet (3 are on my wish list and 2 more are in series I want to start):

Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi
White Cat by Holly Black
Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
Hereville: How Mirka Got Her Sword by Barry Deutsch
The Boy from Ilysies by Pearl North
I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett
A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner
Behemoth by Scott Westerfield

I was particularly thrilled to see Megan Whalen Turner was a nominee since I love her Queen’s Thief series!

In a recent interview about Firefly being aired on cable, Nathan Fillion said:

 

If I got $300 million from the California Lottery, the first thing I would do is buy the rights to Firefly, make it on my own, and distribute it on the Internet.

This has, of course lead to many people wanting to contribute to the cause of bringing this fantastic but short-lived TV show back with new episodes. There’s now a new website with the self-explanatory domain name www.helpnathanbuyfirefly.com.  Patrick Rothfuss, the author of The Name of the Wind and The Wise Man’s Fear (which is coming out next week!), wrote an open letter to Nathan Fillion about how he would like to contribute the proceeds from the book to helping buy back the show when he has more money than he knows what to do with.  It’s quite an enjoyable read.

Dust is the first book in the Jacob’s Ladder trilogy by Elizabeth Bear.  The second book in this science fiction series is called Chill, and both books are available in mass market paperback and as e-books.  Grail, the final volume, will be released on February 22.  The imminent conclusion combined with the fact that this book was the January selection for the Women of Science Fiction Book Club made this the perfect time to read Dust (which has unfortunately been sitting unread on my bookshelf for far too long even though it is by one of my favorite authors).

Ariane of the House of Rule, the eldest of the Conn princes and princesses not to be killed, disowned, or missing, defeated Sir Perceval of Engine.  When Perceval surrendered, Ariane severed her wings, removed her clothes and jewelry, bound her in nanotech chains and paraded her to a prison in House Rule.  When Ariane’s father, the Commodore, is angered by this, Ariane kills him and devours his memories – just as she plans to do to Perceval.  It soon becomes apparent that Ariane doesn’t just want to take over Rule – she wants a war with Engine and world conquest.

Rien, the servant girl put in charge of the care of the prisoner, is shocked when Perceval immediately calls her by name with no introduction.  She’s even more shocked when Perceval says she knew her because they are sisters – unknown to Rien, she is the daughter of one of the same Conn prince who is Perceval’s father.  Although Rien isn’t sure she believes Perceval’s claim, she is a soft-hearted girl who feels protective of this young woman.  One night Rien leaves her room and frees Perceval so the two can travel to Engine and try to prevent the war began when Perceval was captured.

Meanwhile Jacob Dust, the memory of the god of the world, has taken an interest in their journey and would seek to use them. However,  he’s not concerned about the war as he has bigger problems to deal with – such as the end of the entire world with the approaching explosion of their sun.

Other than Dust, I have read (and reviewed) 8 books by Elizabeth Bear, who is one of my favorite authors.  (She’s also a very prolific author – 9 books may sound like a lot of books, but I still have a long way to go before catching up.)  Although Dust had a lot of similarities to Bear’s other books, it was my least favorite of those I’d read so far.  The ideas and setting were very well-executed, but the characters were not as compelling as ones from her other books I’ve read.

As is common with Bear’s books, there’s no real introduction to her world – the story begins without background information and as one reads more, what is going on slowly comes together.  This does make for some confusion about what exactly is going on at the beginning, which doesn’t make it the easiest book to read.  Personally, I really love this technique and think it adds an air of mystery, but it does mean needing to pay careful attention so it’s not a book to read when in the mood for a light, easy-to-read book.  This also makes it very re-readable since starting it again with more knowledge of how the world works will help with gleaning all the details.

It’s not at all a dense book and has lots of short paragraphs.  Some of the writing is very elegant, but it is not nearly as beautifully written as The Edda of Burdens series or The Promethean Age books.  Although there are some lovely passages, the writing is generally more functional than poetic.

Also, the characters were more conduits for carrying out the plot than people with fleshed out personalities that were really worth rooting for and caring about.  Some of the minor characters, particularly the angels Dust and Samael, were interesting to read about because of their mysterious motivations, but there was nothing about the two main characters that really made me love them.  I did enjoy watching Rien’s progress from servant girl to the higher class, and she did have compassion and a heroic spirit.  She was easier to relate to than Perceval, who although brave seemed very distant and wasn’t as passionate as Rien, instead devoted to her knightly duties.  There was a part at the end that affected me somewhat, but for the most part there was no emotional attachment to any of the characters or their situations.

The strength is really in the setting and the plot.  Even though this is a science fiction book complete with nanotech and people living in space, it is very reliant on fantasy conventions and is rather mythical.  Despite being such a high-tech society, it has almost a medieval feel with princesses, dungeons, sword-wielding, a necromancer, and angels.  Yet all of these are based on advanced technology – the swords are nanotech, the necromancer works with memories of the deceased, and the angels are various AIs running different ship functions (more guardians than what we would think of as angels):

 

“I’m the Angel of Death, aren’t I?” The knobby hands turned palm-up now. “And you’re the Angel of Memory. So trade me a little knowledge for a little life. A little withholding of death, if you will.”

“Don’t be ridiculous,” Dust said. “You’re not the angel of anything.”

“That’s what they call us. And not just us. Some of them call the old crew angels and demons, too.”

“Ahh,” Dust said, willing his fingers to stillness when they wanted to worry his sleeves,” but we know better, don’t we?  Besides, if you were the angel of anything, it would be the angel of…life-support services.” He scraped his boot across the deck, leaving a green smear of chlorophyll like a punctuation mark.

“Not very poetic,” Samael said, disappointed.

Dust shrugged.  He only cared about his own poetry. [pp. 68]

It also has a storyline common to fantasy books since one of the main characters is raised without knowing she is a princess until she is 16 and then plays a large role in the fate of her world.  There’s also an emphasis on rediscovering the origins of the world.  No one other than the angels really seems to know where they came from, why they’re there, or the purpose of the world.  Along the way, the characters discover it along with the readers as the angels try to manipulate the humans.  They never seem to be good or evil, though – they have their own agenda without seeming particularly villainous or heroic.

Dust had a well-developed setting with both a past and present that slowly unraveled to reveal the reality of the world.  It was a very cleverly told story with some twists and placement of fantasy traditions in a science fiction world.  Although I enjoyed it and find it interesting to reflect on, the characters were not easy to become attached to, meaning I didn’t love it the same way I normally do books by Elizabeth Bear.  However, there was enough to recommend about the rest of it that I am planning to read the next book, although most likely not soon.

My Rating: 7/10

Where I got my reading copy: I bought it.

Read an Excerpt

Women of Science Fiction Book Club Discussion (of course, there are spoilers if you have not read Dust)

Other Reviews:

Interview with Elizabeth Bear

First, a quick update: I’ve finished a draft of a review of Dust by Elizabeth Bear, so I’m hoping to get that up over the next day or two.  Now that it’s almost time for Late Eclipses, the fourth October Daye novel by Seanan McGuire, to be released, I’m also working on that review and hope to have it up soon.  After that, I’m caught up on reviews, but I’m taking a break from a book that is taking a long time to read. Before I go back to it, I’m reading Howl’s Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones after reading Ana’s review and being further tempted by Janicu, who convinced me to go track down my copy.  That shouldn’t take long to finish at all – I just started it a couple of days ago and am halfway through it now.

This week brought four review copies, all of which look very good.

Sleight of HandSleight of Hand by Peter S. Beagle

This collection of short stories by Peter S. Beagle is coming in April according to the press release I received with it.  Amazon and Goodreads have it listed as March 1, though, so you may actually be able to get a hold of it sooner than that.  Peter S. Beagle is probably best known for The Last Unicorn, although he has written many other books (such as A Fine and Private Place and Tamsin) and short stories.  I love The Last Unicorn so I am particularly excited about the first story in this collection, “The Woman Who Married the Man in the Moon,” which is about Schmendrick the Magician before the time of The Last Unicorn.

Abundant with tales of quiet heroism, life-changing decisions, and determined searches for deep answers, this extraordinary collection of contemporary fantasy explores the realms between this world and the next. From the top of the Berlin Wall to the depths of the darkest seas, gods and monsters battle their enemies and innermost fears, yet mere mortals make the truly difficult choices. A slightly regretful author and a vengeful-but-dilapidated dragon square off over an abandoned narrative; the children of the Shark God demand painful truths from their chronically absent father; and a bereaved women sacrifices herself to change one terrible moment, effortlessly reversed by a shuffle of the deck. Whether melancholic, comedic, or deeply tragic, each new tale is suffused with misdirection and discovery, expressed in the rich and mesmerizing voice of a masterful storyteller.

Badass: The Birth of a LegendBadass: The Birth of a Legend by Ben Thompson

This book from the creator of the Badass of the Week website will be available on March 15.  It looks like a lot of fun – it’s stories about all sorts of badass figures from myths, legends, movies and books divided up into four sections:

1. Gods, Goddesses, and Other Kickass Celestial Beings (i.e., Anubis, Kali, Thor)
2. Heroes, Heroines, and Over-the-Top Do-Gooders (i.e., Beowulf, Captain James T. Kirk, Finn McCool)
3. Villains, Sorcerers, Antiheroes, and Psychotic Merciless Bastards (i.e., Sauron, Darth Vader, Skeletor, Skuld)
4. Monsters, Fiends, Hellspawn, and Worse (i.e., Dragons, Baba Yaga, El Chupacabra)

Personally, I’m most looking forward to section 3 which also covers Professor Moriarty and a lot of others that sound fun to read about.  What can I say – I like a good villain, antihero or psychotic merciless bastard in my reading.

From sex-crazed gods to ravenous monsters, Ben Thompson brings legendary titans to life in tales of adventure, bloodlust, and unrelenting badassitude.

Since the beginning of human history people have created myths, tall tales, superheroes, and arch-villains—men and women who embarked on insane adventures, performed extraordinary feats of unparalleled awesomeness, and overcame all odds to violently smite their foes into bloody pulp. In Badass: The Birth of a Legend, Ben Thompson compiles these fantastical tales from the beginning of time to today and tells them in the completely over-the-top manner in which they were intended, including:

Rama
The Indian god-king who led an army of monkeys against the King of All Demons

Thor
The Viking god of thunder and awesome hair, who crushed the skulls of giants with a ridiculously huge hammer

Beowulf
An Anglo-Saxon hero so hardcore he could arm-wrestle monsters’ joints out of their sockets

Moby-Dick
The hate-filled literary behemoth who obliterated ship hulls with his face

Skuld
The Norse necromancer queen who summoned a horde of zombie berserkers

Dirty Harry Callahan
The prototypical modern-day antihero and very embodiment of badass

Never Knew AnotherNever Knew Another by J. M. McDermott

The first book in the Dogsland trilogy came out last month.  I’ve been wanting to read it after reading some reviews and also because I enjoyed the debut novel from the author, Last Dragon (review).  So when the author asked if I had copies of his newest books for review, I was glad for the opportunity to read them.  Since I have the e-book versions I’ll have to try out the Kindle I got my husband for Christmas, too – I’m not a huge fan of reading on the iPad but I’m hoping reading on the Kindle won’t be as distracting.

Fugitive Rachel Nolander is a newcomer to the city of Dogsland, where the rich throw parties and the poor just do whatever they can to scrape by. Supported by her brother Djoss, she hides out in their squalid apartment, living in fear that someday, someone will find out that she is the child of a demon. Corporal Jona Lord Joni is a demon’s child too, but instead of living in fear, he keeps his secret and goes about his life as a cocky, self-assured man of the law. The first book in the Dogsland Trilogy, Never Knew Another is the story of how these two outcasts meet.

Maze by J. M. McDermott

There does not yet seem to be a cover or description for this yet, but it is a mosaic novel coming from Apex sometime this spring (most likely March, April, or May). Apex also recently reprinted Last Dragon, McDermott’s first novel.