Aerrin99's Books for 2010

I'm 50 pages from my one hundredth book for this year, so I thought I'd give one of these groups a try for 2010! It's the first time I've done one of these - I look forward to chatting with you all about your reads!

You can check out my recent reads in my catalog.

January
1. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice - 4/5
2. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold - 4/5
3. Sister Light, Sister Dark by Jane Yolen - 4/5
4. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson - 3.5/5
5. White Jenna by Jane Yolen - 3/5
6. The One-Armed Queen by Jane Yolen - 3.5/5
7. Leviathan by Scott Westerfield - 4.5/5

February
8. Earth Abides by George R. Stewart - 2.5/5
9. Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey - 3.5/5
10. Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey - 4.5/5
11. Kushiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey - 4/5
12. Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey - 4/5

March
13. Kushiel's Justice by Jacqueline Carey - 3.5/5
14. Kushiel's Mercy by Jacqueline Carey - 4/5
15. The Dreams Our Stuff is Made of by Thomas M. Disch - 2/5
16. Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey - 4/5
17. Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey - 4/5
18. Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey - 3.5/5
19. Emissaries from the Dead by Adam-Troy Castro - 4/5

April
20. Consider Phlebas by Ian Banks - 3/5
21. The Nightwatch by Sergei Lukyanenko - 3.5/5
22. The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks - 3/5

May
23. Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist - 4.5/5
24. Boneshaker by Cherie Priest - 4/5
25. I Am Not A Serial Killer by Dan Wells - 4.5/5
26. Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson - 4/5
27. The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer - 3.5/5
28. This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer - 4/5
29. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro - 3.5/5
30. Feed by Mira Grant - 5/5
31. The Digital Photography Book by Scott Kelby - 4.5/5
32. The Digital Photography Book Vol 2 by Scott Kelby - 4/5

June
33. Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis - 4/5
34. A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner - 3.5/5
35. Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith - 3/5
36. Court Duel by Sherwood Smith - 3.5/5
37. Jhereg by Steven Brust - 3.5/5
38. On Being a Photographer David Hurn in conversation with Bill Jay - 3.5/5
39. Black Powder War by Naomi Novik - 3.5/5
40. Understanding Photography by Bryan Peterson
41. Dragon's Blood by Jane Yolen - 4.5/5
42. Heart's Blood by Jane Yolen - 4/5
43. A Sending of Dragons by Jane Yolen - 3.5/5
44. Dragon's Heart by Jane Yolen - 3/5
45. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen - 4/5

July
46. Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik - 3.5/5
47. Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik - 4/5
48. Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik - 3.5/5
49. Yendi by Stephen Brust - 3.5/5
50. Teckla by Stephen Brust - 3.5/5
51. Gone by Lisa McMann - 4/5
52. Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat by David Dosa - 2.4/5

August
53. Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire - 4/5
54. A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire - 4.5/5
55. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi - 3/5
56. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - 5/5
57. Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal - 4/5

September
58. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - 5/5
59. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - 4.5/5
60. The Passage by Justin Cronin - 4.5/5
61. An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire - 4.5/5
62. Taltos by Stephen Brust - 3.5/5
63. The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan - 3.5/5
64. Phoenix by Stephen Brust - 3.5/5
65. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson - 5/5
66. Living Dead Girl by Laurie Halse Anderson 4/5
67. Athyra by Stephen Brust - 4/5
68. Lucky by Alice Sebold - 5/5

October
69. Orca by Stephen Brust - 3.5/5
70. Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin - 3/5
71. Except the Queen by Jane Yolen - 3/5
72. Matched by Allyson Condie - 4/5
73. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen - 4/5
74. Armageddon Summer by Jane Yolen - 4/5
75. The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell - 4/5
76. Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta - 4.5/5
77. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin - 4/5

November
78. Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi - 4/5
79. Fables: Legends in Exile by by Bill Willingham - 3.5/5
80. Fables: Animal Farm by Bill Willingham - 4/5
81. Fables: Storybook Love by Bill Willingham - 4.5/5
82. Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers by Bill Willingham - 5/5
83. Fables: The Mean Seasons by Bill Willingham - 4/5
84. Fables: Homelands by Bill Willingham - 4.5/5
85. Fables: Arabian Nights (And Days) by Bill Willingham - 3.5/5
86. Fables: Wolves by Bill Willingham - 4/5
87. Fables: Sons of Empire by Bill Willingham - 4/5
88. Fables: The Good Prince by Bill Willingham - 5/5
89. Fables: War and pieces by Bill Willingham -5/5
90. Fables: The dark ages by Bill Willingham - 4/5
91. Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness - 4/5
92. Storm Front by Jim Butcher - 3.5/5
93. Fool Moon by Jim Butcher - 3/5
94. Grave Peril by Jim Butcher - 3.5/5

December
95. The Shining by Stephen King - 5/5
96. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare - 3.5/5
97. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare - 4/5
98. City of Glass by Cassandra Clare 4/5
99. Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold - 4/5
100. Across the Universe by Beth Revis - 3.5/5
101. Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor - 5/5

Welcome, Aerrin. I'm keeping my thread on the 75 book challenge group, but usually read over 100 so have a thread here too.

1. Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice -- 4/5



I got off to a slow start this year, due to a vacation in the first week that was delightfully filled with people rather than books, but I came home with two new volumes and a lengthy plane ride - this was one of them.

I didn't quite know what to expect with this book. I've seen the movie, I've heard the hype, and I'm not sure I would have ever picked it up had it not been given to me by someone who's taste I trust very much. In some ways, this book surprised me. It was slower than I expected, although not in a bad way. This is a book that takes its time in building a time and place and atmosphere that wraps you up completely. It's not a book I could skim, or read while distracted. It's a book that demanded I immerse myself in it, and that I pay attention or get lost in the language.

It does several things that appeal to me very much. The first is that it captures atmosphere, and personality, beautifully. In places the language of the book feels over-heavy, but its central conceit - that it is entirely told in the words of a man born in the eighteenth century, now over two hundred years old - not only explains this, but helps build and shape it into something really interesting.

The second is related, in that Interview spends a great deal of time asking very interesting questions about the nature of immortality, morality, and human nature. Does a man ever escape the age in which he is born? Can he? How much change can a person accept before they are unwilling or unable to accept any more? When time means nothing, what then does life, or death, really mean? What /does/ hold meaning? Can there be good or evil when one lives outside of these confines?

Louis is an insufferably emo narrator at times (although it's this quality that gives us so many interesting questions posed with such convincing inner turmoil), and the book gets much better when first Claudia, and then Armand appears. Every character in this book is drawn for some purpose, to explore some question or aspect of nature, and it gives me the feeling that there is a great deal beneath the surface, if I wanted to dig.

I have mixed feelings about this book, I suppose, but in the opposite manner from my usual. Typically, I find myself racing through a book, adoring it in the read, and then finding the faults upon reflection. This book was a slower read, not as instantly engaging, but I find myself more and more invested in it the more I think about it, or talk about it. I was hindered a bit, I think, by the movie - which is actually such an excellent adaptation of what occurs in the book that much of the need to find out what happens next was stolen away.

I can see why these books are considered to be classics of their genre, and I will probably pick up at least The Vampire Lestat to see where it goes.

I'm now midway through The Lovely Bones, which I wanted to read before seeing the movie, and have every confidence I will finish it tonight, because I simply cannot wait any longer to find out how it ends.

I'm glad you enjoyed Interview With the Vampire. It's the best in the series IMO. I read the series years ago.

The Lovely Bones was too intense for me and I could not finish it, but a lot of people really liked it.

The Lovely Bones is definitely intense - disturbingly so in some places - but I'm enjoying it a lot. In some ways, it reminds me of If I Stay, which I read in December.

I actually liked The Vampire Lestat more than Interview with the Vampire - probably because Louis drove me completely batty in the first book.

Good review!

2. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold -- 4/5



I read this book very, very quickly in a rush to find out where things were going and how they would get there. I rather regret this, in retrospect - Sebold's novel is lovely in language and imagery, and I wish I'd taken more time to enjoy it.

This book is a hard sell in some ways. The premise - a murdered girl, unable to let go of her family on earth, watches the various ways her death affects (read: rips apart) those she's left behind - is not something that insists I read it. It sounds depressing, and in some ways it is.

It's hard for me to describe, then, what exactly I loved about this book. Trying to do so is going to get rather SPOILERY, fair warning.

Susie's family never really recovers from her death. Her parents especially deal with the murder in very different ways, and it's implied that Susie's influence leaves her father with an obsession that almost destroys him. Her sister can't escape her ghost, her brother is lost in the shadow of a father who can't let go, a girl she barely knew sees death everywhere, and her girlhood crush is tainted by suspicion. It's a rough book. It gets rougher when things move forward 6, 7 years, and we see that although these people have moved on, they have not /moved on/.

In lesser hands, this book would be a disaster. There's something so engaging about Sebold's images, the pain and worry and finally tentative hope and life in her characters, that makes it more. She draws the things they feel so starkly and wonderfully that it's hard not to be moved.

The end of the book is intensely unsatisfying in many ways - although Susie's family begins, tentatively, to knit itself back together (after so many years apart, I remain doubtful as to the possibility), there is never any justice of the sort I was hoping so desperately for. Although Harvey dies - and the implication for me was that Susie had something to do with the fall of that icicle - he doesn't do so until he's hurt and killed several more girls. And the person I really wanted justice for wasn't Susie, it was her father, unable to rest or let go until he saw it. And that's not something he ever got.

The lack of satisfaction worked for me, in some ways - it makes the book itself as haunting as Susie's death was for her family. It jerks your expectations around (the book looks pretty clearly as though it is working toward JUSTICE for quite awhile) and then drives home, hard, that in life we do not always get the resolutions, or the answers, that we want. I think that's okay. That's interesting.

I'm very interested to see what the movie does with this book. Parts of it feel intensely filmable - Susie's heaven is a visual delight. Other parts... I'm not sure. We'll see!

Up next is Jane Yolen's Sister Light, Sister Dark, which I would have finished last night if only I did not have to work this morning.

Great review! I must admit, I read it ages ago, and then saw the trailer for the movie and realised I'd forgotten the entire plot! I haven't re-read the book, but I did see the movie and thought the visuals were beautiful. And Harvey was intensely creepy.

3. Sister Light, Sister Dark by Jane Yolen



I'm a sucker for young adult books, for fantasy, and for history, and this book hit all three kinks nicely.

Sister Light, Sister Dark is not actually a fairy tale or myth, but it has that feel to it. Yolen creates a rich and interesting world that has a history of undervaluing its female babies. A folk hero began the tradition of 'Hames', women-only communities composed largely of babies taken in after being found left on hillsides, and then later of orphans or unwanted children taken to them.

These women worship a figure called Alta, who is composed of light and dark, and they have the ability to call forth shadow sisters - twins who exist only in the light of the moon or certain lamps, and who mirror and yet don't mirror their light sisters. This ability is legend even in their own time - the one important character we meet from outside the Hame believes it to be entirely myth and is dumbfounded to find that the girls he meets not only believe the legends, but treat them as matter of fact day to day truths.

The main trend of the story here follows Joanna, a girl brought to the Hame after her mother dies in childbirth, and a prophecy that suggests she may be the girl who changes everything.

What makes it stand out among from other books of this nature is the fantastic world building Yolen does. Her Hames are interesting and believable. Yolen employs a fascinating trick of beginning each chapter with a brief myth, legend, ballad or out and out history which tells the story we have just heard, or are just about to hear, differently. I found it absolutely fascinating to see the myths and histories set down side by side with the 'true story', and in fact found it to be a fantastic commentary on what we can ever really know about historical events so far removed - and how different (or not different) history really is from myth and legend. It helped that Yolen had the tone of a particular sort of historian down pat, right down to the academic squabbles mid-text.

The other thing that sets this book apart are the richly drawn characters. Joanna is a wonderful heroine, and her struggles are interesting.

I was horrified to turn the last page and realize that this is the first in a trilogy - and it's the sort where you want to have the next on hand - but I can't say I'm disappointed to have two more to look forward to!

I've heard very good things about Jane Yolan and your excellent review has forced me to finally add her to my TBR pile!

> 10 Her Dragon's Blood trilogy are some of the few books that really stand out in my mind from my 12 and 13 year old self. I like her quite a bit!

I did like Jane Yolen when I was a young adult myself, I should go back and revisit her! I can't remember which titles I've already read/own though, so maybe I should just buy some new ones. Oh gosh darn it.

Looking at her page here on LT (http://www.librarything.com/author/yolenjane - since the touchstones aren't working) - I'd forgotten she'd also written the "How do Dinosaurs..." pciture books, which I've enjoyed with my kids!

4. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson



After thorough disappointment with my first cyberpunk (the classic Neuromancer), I thought I'd give something a little more contemporary a try. For the most part, I'm glad I did.

Snow Crash is one of those novels with an idea far bigger than its actual execution. The world Stephenson creates here is fascinating and full of intensely interesting things to explore. His characters are fun, and he makes a habit of turning certain expectations upside down and seeing what things look like from /that/ view. These things he does very well. His world building is glorious. I'm beginning to think that perhaps this is one of the primary points of cyberpunk.

The actual plot, however, falls down a bit. I'm going to try to avoid spoilers by simply saying that Stephenson has some grand and vaguely interesting ideas about the way the world - and people - work, and have worked for centuries, and that I applaud his ambition in going there, even if I feel like he didn't quite make the destination. The race to figure out these ideas in the face of a threat (only vaguely felt, which is one of the problems) to hackers, or maybe all of humanity, feels intense and visceral at times - when Hiro is wielding his swords or Y.T. her fantastic plank or a franchise is sending out crazy nuclear-motorcycle-riding madman or Rat Things.

At other times, however, it turns into an intense case of tell-not-show, with a convenient deus-ex-Librarian (who is in fact a machine) available to connect all the dots and provide all the vital information, even while racing a motorcycle along at insane speeds. Worse, though, is that Stephenson's crazy ideas about how humans works are arrived at in a bizarrely piecemeal fashion that involves intense leaps of logic which are never questioned or doubted by the protagonists /or/ the people they're working for, despite the fact that they sound rather insane.

A bit more solid work on threading this actual theory into his fantastic would would have made this book much more solid. Still, it was a fun read, and I'm glad to have it living in my brain.

5. White Jenna by Jane Yolen



A bit of a disappointment after the first book, which I loved, but White Jenna was still solid YA. Part of the difficulty here is that the book feels firmly like it ought to have been another few chapters on the end of Sister Light, Sister Dark rather than a tale all its own. Not enough happens (certainly not enough /new/), and both books are fairly slim. Telling the complete story in one volume would have helped tighten it.

I'm finding it difficult to find much to say about this book, despite having read it two days ago, which is perhaps its biggest problem - it's frankly forgettable. The Jenna from the first novel still sticks with me, as does the world of the Hames she lived in. The Jenna from the second novel did some things involving a sword and some fairy-folk and set some stuff up for the future and-- that's about all I've got. Alas. Of especial disappointment is that Yolen never truly developed the character of Skada, or explored what it meant for Jenna to have a dark sister.

It's really too bad that you'll never be satisfied leaving it at Sister Light, Sister Dark if you were at all engaged in the book (the cliffhanger hangs!).

On the plus side, the intertwining of myths, legends, and folk songs remains positively delightful in this book.

6. The One-Armed Queen by Jane Yolen



A better book than the second, but a lesser book than the first, The One-Armed Queen is still solidly entertaining. It benefits from a new cast of characters (it focuses primarily on Jenna's children), but sufferings from now living in a more traditional fantasy setting and story than the first book of the trilogy.

This story is the end of the circle, and as such it means the end of a great many things that I loved in the first book, which makes it intensely bittersweet. Otherwise it is a fairly standard fantasy romp through war and crowns and kings, set apart only by the continually-delightful histories, myths, legends, and songs.

One thread through the histories is a dismissal of Jenna (and her children) as a real historical figure, of the magic and mysteries as superstitious nonsense, and of everything from their customs to their native wildlife as 'unprovable'. Since a thread of the /legends/ holds that Jenna did not die, but instead went under the hill to wait until the Dales needed her again, I found myself longing for /that/ book - the book when Jenna returns to a world which seems quite modern (it includes cinema, at least), and in which these Dale historians are simultaneously incredibly important (for surely knowledge about the Dales would be needed for some reason) and incredibly erroneous (trust me, you want these men to meet the Warrior Queen and her dark sister. Badly.) I'm so sad that there doesn't appear to be such a book.

#13> I've read quite a few Stephenson books over the years, and he's never been terribly good with endings. Quite atrocious, really. But they are wonderful books!

> 16 What's your favorite? I've heard good enough things and enjoyed Snow Crash enough in the reading of it that I will probably try another at some point.

Actually, I've looked through my catalogue (yay for LT!) and while I own quite a few, I have read not so many...

My favourite of his would probably be The Diamond Age, mainly because I want a Young Lady's Illustrated Primer. And Princess Nell so completely rocks. And the mouse army. It's all fabulous (although the Drummers were a bit weird). And had one of the better endings.

I also really enjoyed Cryptonomicon, but the ending was APPALLING. It was as if he'd written 800 highly enjoyable pages, and then suddenly realised he had to end it somehow and got someone else to write the ending.

I am hoping to get to his Baroque Cycle this year. My Better Half really enjoyed it when he read it, and it's taking up a lot of shelf space! But that's half the problem - it's about 2500+ pages in total, and I'm having problems getting myself into the mindset to read that much...

#18> I know exactly what you mean about the Baroque Cycle. I have it sitting on my shelves and I keep thinking about reading it but the length is so daunting! However I loved Cryptonomicon (which is my favourite Stephenson book so far) so I know I shouldn't keep ignoring it either. As consolation, I just read Zodiac (the review is up on my thread). It was an early work and is different from his others books but I enjoyed it a great deal.

Exactly! I've read the 900+ pages that were Cryptonomicon with no worries whatsoever - why does the Baroque Cycle scare me off so much?

Stephenson is very very high on my list of authors I really should have read by now. I get very mixed advice on which one to start with however. And figure I should try Gibson first.

#21> Of the Stephenson books I've read, Snow Crash is the only that could really be termed 'cyberpunk' in the Gibson Neuromancer mode. I don't think you really need to read any Gibson before trying out Stephenson.

> 21 And my personal experience was that Snow Crash was a ton more fun than Gibson. Neuromancer left me severely underwhelmed.

Thanks for the recs! The Diamond Age sounds like tons of fun!

Oh, but later William Gibson novels are quite superb. He loses a lot of the cyberpunk flashiness, and ends up with characters that I simply love and never want to leave. I've never gone back to re-read Neuromancer, but I've re-read Pattern Recognition at least twice, and am half in love with Cayce Pollard. The Idoru series is also well worth reading - it's a pretty loose trilogy, but I'd still start with the first, Virtual Light.

7. Leviathan by Scott Westerfield



It's been awhile since I finished this, but I'm just now getting around to writing it.

Scott Westerfield is one of my favorite YA authors, and he doesn't disappoint in the least here. Leviathan is a fantastic adventure in an alternate past where Britain employs marvelously crafted beast-machines created by smooshing the best bits of nature together and Germany (and Austria) battles with flying and walking machines of war awesome enough to fulfill any steampunk fantasy.

What's best about Westerfield, though, is his ability to drop you into an unbelievable world and make it, with a few swift and sure strokes, utterly believable. The characters live and breathe, the atmosphere is fantastic, the language serves to build the world, and the action is engaging.

I almost didn't notice that by the end of this book, very little in the way of actual plot had happened. It feels, in retrospect, a little bit like the prologue to what's /really/ coming. But it was so much fun that I didn't care.

Earth Abides by George R. Stewart



A classic of the post-apocalyptic genre, I was prepared to adore this book. It starts out well, with some engaging differences from the fare I've read thus far.

After a disease takes out most of humanity, civilization is not left in chaos. Instead, most of the dead are buried, the cars are parked neatly by the sides of the road, the electric stays on for months, and the water runs for years.

The protagonist isn't eager to throw his lot in with (or to sleep with) the first folks he comes across. He travels the country, seeing what's happened, where people are left alive, and chooses his company deliberately.

The details of aftermath aren't ignored - parts of this book read like a fictional (if flawed) version of The World Without Us. We see nature rise up to take back man's land. We see populations of species rise and fall as they struggle to new equilibrium. We acknowledge that we fight not only time and ourselves for all those canned goods, but also rats and mice and hungry dogs. It's interesting.

And then comes the part where he settles down with people. Earth Abides was first published in 1949, and so I was prepared to deal with some fair degree of racism and sexism - there is inevitably some, and I don't typically have a problem taking a book as a product of its times. This is the first book in a very long time that I have been tempted to chuck across the room for its particular viewpoints.

It's not just the racism - which is thickly present - or the sexism - which is likewise. It's Stewart's apparent belief that in the face of crisis, most humans would be happy to lose all culture, all sense of the past, all technology, all /everything/, because really, no one wants to strive for anything.

His humans not only resist the development of society and laws, they also pointedly show no interest in teaching their post-disaster children to read, in learning to farm, in providing water for themselves, in being creative, in exploring, in understanding, in questioning, in doing /anything/ that makes us human. In fact, they actively resist all of the above (and nevermind whether it's at all feasible to survive 25 years without learning some of the above). Apparently Stewart's protagonist is the only actual human being who survives.

Earth may abide, but I have a damned hard time believing that, given a dozen in the same place, humanity wouldn't at least struggle to do the same. If there is nothing else consistent in the human story, it is the will to not only survive, but to improve.

I love apocalypses, but Stewart's is too cynical for even me.

Ooh, Leviathan does sound very good fun. I've never read steampunk before (not from lack of interest), and this sounds like a good starting point.

> 27

You can't go wrong with Westerfield in my opinion! Plus, it's kind of a treat that he's so popular with the younger crowd - it's kind of fun to have books in common with my younger cousins! I'm excited for the eventual sequels.

I second that. you can't go wrong with Leviathan it gives you a taste of what makes steampunk fun to read with its own special twist on the genre.

Kushiel's Dart by Jacqueline Carey - 3.5/5



Wow, have I been bad about keeping this updated. It's not the reading that holds me up, it's the writing! Still, I've made a resolution to review all my books this year, thus...

February for me is apparently the month of Kushiel - I'm not sure I'll quite make it through /all/ six books (at 600-800 pages each, they're no small task!), but I think I'll be close.

These are books I had to see recommended five or six times before I acknowledged that they might be worth reading. The description doesn't catch me - and in fact almost turns me off - but when list after list contains the same series, you've got to start paying a bit of attention. Then late last year I picked up the fantastic Santa Olivia by the same author and just adored it. Carey has a deft way with a pen, especially with description and the depths of emotion, and so when I scanned my wishlist for a new read, Kushiel finally made the cut.

The concept here is simple: Phedre serves as both courtesan and spy in the fictional alternative-European country of Terre D'Ange. This is a concept that could be disastrous, but in Carey's hands is engaging and fascinating. I was wary of the BDSM implications in the description, but to my surprise, I found that this aspect actually gave Carey the chance (largely in the third book) to discuss some rather interesting questions of human and divine nature.

First the bad: I nearly put this book down halfway through. The first half of the book is slow, almost tedious, and the info-dumping is intense. It's one of those books that not only has, but /requires/ 4 pages of character lists at the front. I wished I'd used it more - I may have been less frustrated trying to remember who Barquiel D'Envers or Ysandre de Courcel was and why on earth it was so shocking that their name had just been dropped.

The first half of the book feels like an author learning how to write intrigue, at times painfully so. And in fact, it may have been - Kushiel's Dart is her first novel.

However. Halfway through the book events change significantly, and the story absolutely zooms forward from there, and it's in this vein that the rest of the series continues. Now, finally, we get to appreciate Carey's strengths, which are many.

Her world building is just gorgeous. Terre D'Ange is a reflection of our own world, religions, politics, cultures and all, except that in this world, the evolution of Judaic/Christian religion has taken another step (and in fact the first two steps still appear in this world), in the form of a man named Elua, who came into being when Christ's blood mixed with Mother Earth. Elua and his angelic companions founded Terre D'Ange, and the varying beliefs and values form one of the most profoundly interesting cores of this entire series. Elua's one command to his people is 'Love as thou wilt.' At its base, this means that sex can be a form of worship, that there is no shame in prostitution or love affairs.

But Carey takes it further, and she builds on it bit by bit in every novel. Love as thou wilt - what does it mean, if one takes it seriously? If there is nothing more sacred or more powerful than love - and if denying love is a sacrilege? Carey's deft hand asks this question again and again, in different lights, from different angles. She examines treason, betrayal, sacrifice, lust and passion, heartbreak, disappointment, courage, honor. What does it /mean/ if love is above all? What does /love/ mean?

The politics and intrigue are fantastic as well. There's high adventure, dangerous escapades, true friendship, true love, and all those names and places I struggled with in the first half of the book did, in fact, pay off.

And her characters. Her main character is interesting and sufficient (and grows thankfully better after the mediocre beginning), but one of Carey's strengths is to create fantastically believable and memorable secondary characters - villians, lovers, pawns caught in the middle.

And to top it all off, Carey is just a gorgeous writer. Her descriptions are wonderful, her explanations fluid and nearly seamless (once we get past that rocky first half), and her emotion beautifully realized.

By the time I finished the book, I was more than ready for the second one - and I'm happy to say, it gets even better.

Kushiel's Chosen by Jacqueline Carey - 4.5/5



A villain from the first novel throws a gauntlet at Phedre's feet, a message that our heroine interprets as a challenge, both to her skills and to the safety of her queen. The ensuing story pushes the boundaries of Carey's world, taking us out of Terre D'Ange and into La Serenissima, a reflection of medieval Venice.

In glancing at the professional reviews on Amazon, I see that they found this an inferior work to the first - I disagree. I think Carey grows stronger here, her world richer and more interesting, and her characters deeper.

I also think that Carey's ability to write political intrigue saw a marked improvement in this novel. While it helped that I already knew the important names of Terre D'Ange, she still had an entire country's worth of important figures to dump, and not once did I feel boggled or baffled. The mysteries and secrets flowed much more naturally here, and as a result, Phedre also felt much more competent.

What I really adored about this novel, though, was the thick tension between characters, and the way difficult circumstances forced them to grow, both in each other and as individuals. Their struggles felt very real and very intense.

I also adore the way Carey keeps adding to her world brick by brick. The reflection of cultures we know - Roman and Greek gods have counterparts in this world, as do Nordic and Gaelic deities - makes it fairly easy to follow, but doesn't grow dull, primarily because Carey isn't afraid to let her characters truly and completely /live/ in a world shaped by these individuals, and she isn't afraid to tackle questions of religion, of devotion, honor, blasphemy. Because of this, the cultures we encounter and the gods they worship remain, always, something more than window dressing.

Which is probably what appeals to me most about these books - they feel so vibrant and alive, in place, in character, in rich emotion. It's hard not to want to live there.

I admit, this is a series I've held off on because of the overt subject matter. But your passionate defense has intrigued me. Nice reviews!

> 32 Thanks!

I didn't find the subject matter to be terribly overt, as I expected it to. The third book is the words with regards to that, but one could probably skim it.

The second series is much more focused on sex, and much more graphic (sometimes pointlessly so) about it. Which is strange, since the PoV characters shift!

Kushiel's Avatar by Jacqueline Carey - 4/5



The most irritating thing about this book is its cover, which features a woman with Phedre's marque, which apparently not only fits on half her back, but also curves around her ribs. Pft! If one is going to bother to include important descriptive elements from the book, one might at least notice the extreme importance of the /placement/ of said details.

Ahem. But the /book/. Better than the first, not as good as the second, due in part to some elements that simply pushed my comfort level further than I would have liked (the BDSM comes out in intense fullness here) and in part to a plot that twists and weaves and turns a few times too many.

Melisande Shahrizai, the greatest traitor Terre D'Ange has ever known, has a son, third in line for the throne. He has been missing since the events of the second book, a span of ten years. And now, he is /missing/ - he's disappeared from his hiding place, and his mother requests Phedre's help in finding him. She buys Phedre’s help with the promise of information – information that could free her true friend Hyacinthe from a curse he took on for Phedre’s sake in the first book.

Phedre's quest gives Carey the opportunity to keep drawing her world outward, now exploring the middle east and portions of Africa to fascinating effect, but this time the trip feels a little too windy. I could have done with a few less curves, a bit more to-the-point.

For the first time, as well, I see some validity to the description of Carey's work as 'overwrought.' It doesn't bother me overmuch - I like my works thick with emotion, even emotional pain - but it's heavier here, and heavier-handed, than her other works. Part of this is because the journey Phedre takes in search of Melisande’s son, Imriel, is very, very dark. This is not a book I’d hand to people who are wary of that for any reason.

What’s interesting about this book, though, is that it asks questions about justice and fairness (Phedre believes that Imriel’s disappearance is due to his mother’s sins against Terre D’Ange), as well as about the nature of service to a god, or to a grander plan. It also explores some questions of choice and sacrifice – Phedre has spent ten years trying to rescue Hyacinthe, but her choice to follow that path now would mean abandoning a child to a nasty fate – as well as about power.

I also continue to adore Joscelin through this book and like Imriel surprisingly well (ten years old tends to be a hard write for many authors, with the in-between of child/teen that the age involves). Phedre edges a bit close to ‘too perfect, too capable’ a few times, but Carey walks the line. I’m pleased to see significant changes and growth in relationships in that ten-year gap between the last book and this one.

I seem to be devouring this books faster the further in I get. I've finished the first of the second trilogy, but I think I'll give this thread a bit of a rest and write about it in a few days.

Some great reviews!

Yep I second that, the reviews are really good. I am interested to see what you think of 2nd trilogy. I must admit I personally struggled through them a bit.

Thanks!

I'm halfway through the Kushiel's Justice, and I agree that they aren't as good as the first (although I raced my way through Kushiel's Scion, I think in part because of the momentum of Kushiel's Avatar - and these names make it hard to keep track of which book is which!).

I'd love to hear your thoughts, when I'm done!

Every day that passes is one more day since I actually finished these books, so I'm making a big push - all caught up on reviews today!

March is turning out to be the month of No Time to Read (only /three/ books so far, and it's the 19th? Pft!), but I've been doing other highly enjoyable things instead, and I'm sure I'll manage a few months of over-quota somewhere along the line.

So! On to the reviews:

Kushiel's Scion by Jacqueline Carey - 4/5



I read this monster in a day and a half, almost in one straight sitting on a fine Saturday afternoon. It's fairly clear that I liked it, a great deal.

Kushiel's Scion is at its heart a coming-of-age story, and as such, I can see how it may be a less-favorite for some. The focus here shifts starkly from Phedre and Joscelin and settles on their foster son, Imriel.

Imriel's coming of age is not easy, and it's filled with a lot of angst. However, I found it to be a fascinating tale of overcoming your past and the demons and fears that live there. Imriel is a survivor of some pretty intense abuse, something that may sit uncomfortably with some in how frankly it's dealt with, but that's also what I found interesting. Most of this book is about Imriel learning who he is and who he can become, and how to integrate the things that happened to him with the person he wants to be.

Unfortunately, there are some side pieces shoved into this more interesting tale, and those side pieces are the center pieces of the remaining novels. His 'romance' with Sidonie is abrupt and appears to be related entirely to hormones. After Phedre and Joscelin, I expected an interesting and nuanced love story. Instead, we mostly get 'we decided we are in love and so we are'.

While it doesn't hurt this book much, it most certainly hurts the next - I never bought the foundations of their love, so it becomes almost impossible to buy it as epic.

Still, I liked Imriel's growing-up and Carey's Terre D'Ange so much that I can't much regret any time spent there.

Kushiel's Justice by Jacqueline Carey - 3/5



I spent much of this book doing a mental eyeroll and saying 'Oh, /please/.'

It's not that the writing is bad. Or that the characters don't remain interesting (although Imriel treads the line of 'insufferably smug' more closely than Phedre ever did). Or that the story is boring.

It's that the fundamental premise - that Imriel, son of the most infamous traitor Terre d'Ange has ever know, and Sidonie, daughter to the queen and heir to the throne, are so /intensely/ in love that the gods themselves would punish them for turning their backs on that love for the sake of duty.

I don't buy it. I don't buy it because we never see these two child exhibit anything more than lust or passion. It's not until well into this book - after hundreds of pages of plot revolving around their True Love - that you see anything that even resembles a spark of the emotion, when they discuss what draws them to each other. The groundwork was never laid, and the entire book suffers for it.

It doesn't help that the sex cranks up significantly in this series - we know more about Imriel's sex life (and indeed, his masturbation fantasies) than we ever did about Phedre's! The sex we got in the previous series always seemed, to me, to add something about character or story. For the most part here, it's just sex, which is a disappointment.

The travels in this book aren't as interesting, either. Imriel's self-doubts made for a compelling coming of age story, but are less interesting in the travel-adventure this book wants to become. It felt like we made a great many side trips to nowhere, in the long run.

Ultimately, I feel like this middle child suffers from trying to be a love story instead of a political intrigue with love to color it. Carey is much better when her characters have bigger and brighter and larger concerns than romance, and when love is something that they can't escape anyway, something that gives them strength or is their weakness, but that is /not/ their be-all end-all.

Kushiel's Mercy by Jacqueline Carey - 4/5



This book drives home the notion that Sidonie and Imriel, together, /is/ political intrigue, and it uses their love as a driving force rather than a focus, and as a result, it's far better than the previous book.

I struggled a bit here because, while we've had gods that are real and bits and pieces of magic dropped into the books previously, this is the first time that we're confronted with full out I'm-a-sorcerer magic, and it's in a big way. I know the seeds were set out, but it still felt like a jarring rearranging of what we know of the canon of Terre d'Ange. It would have worked a bit better had the magic been related to the gods in some fashion.

Terre d'Ange is ensorcelled into an unlikely alliance, and Sidonie is likewise enchanted into an unlikely marriage. To save both his love and his country, Imriel is forced to confront the traitor-mother he hates (and has sworn to deliver to justice in order to be allowed Sidonie's hand), and in doing so, he's forced to confront where he comes from, and where he's going.

This story is interesting, and Carey's deft touch with characters, politics, and relationships returns here. I cared about what happened to Imriel and to Sidonie, and in a huge improvement from the last book, I cared about what happened to them /together/ for the first time.

@34 I agree the 1st one was very interesting, seeing how Imriel developed and overcame his abuse, all very deftly done. I wish I had stopped there though, I didn't even like the 3rd book!

I had hoped that Imriel/Sidonie's relationship would mature or least move in an interesting direction but even in the 3rd book I never really cared. I guess the 2nd book did a lot of damage to my opinion of the characters (I grew rather bored of Imriel).

Spoiler...
How did you find the Imriel/Leander section? I always felt Leander's character undeveloped and the whole thing fell a bit flat.

Yeah, I think the 2nd book did a lot of damage. I can definitely see where you're coming from.

I have mixed feelings about Imriel/Leander. At times, I think she used it to highlight some aspect of Sidonie that he honestly loved, and vice versa. More often, I think she used it cheaply to force 'destined!!!' on us some more. And by the end of their leaving, Imriel was coming off as pretty smug.

I wish Imriel had done more self-reflection when it came to light. I wish his interaction with Melisande hadn't just dropped off.

I think it's for the better that she's moving on to some other projects now - she's a fantastic writer, but she probably needs to change up her scenery now and then.

Yeah that's true about Melisande, I think there could of been so much more done with that.

I am not a huge fan of YA coming of age tales but her Santa Olivia was an interesting science fiction tale, very different though.

The Dreams Our Stuff is Made of by Thomas M. Disch



Despite a fantastic title, a promising subject matter (the impact of Science Fiction on the world we live in), and a fairly cool cover, this book was a solid disappointment.

I was frustrated in the early chapters, which were more of a rambling history of some aspect of science fiction with which he was familiar (and no real solid evidence as to why that aspect was /important/). Most of the book is like that - a lot of history, some rambling, but no ability to pull it all together and match it up with real world events or societal and technological changes.

The one section that stood out as interesting to me discussed Star Trek as a sort of sneakily utopian science fiction which, although it had its own issues, did the world a service in presenting what a workplace with no official recognition of gender or racial differences might look like.

Unfortunately, this was a small section, and by the time I'd reached the chapter titled 'Can Girls Play Too? Feminizing Sci Fi', I was done.

Most of the chapter is devoted not to the changing role of women in science fiction, both as subject and author, but to complaining about particular female authors, in particular LeGuin, whose efforts at inclusiveness the author finds distasteful in the extreme. At one point, I nearly threw the book.

The book does a lot of rambling, very little point making, and almost none of the connection-creating I'd hoped for. I stopped about 3/4 of the way through, which is unusual for me, but by that point I'd realized that not only was I not learning much about the actual impact of Sci Fi, but I was being actively irritated in the process.

How disappointing. The Dreams our Stuff is Made Of seemed to have such an interesting premise. But some of his statements seem rather foolish. There seems to be a dearth of good nonfiction about science fiction (or maybe I'm just not well-informed?) Brian Aldiss' Trillion Year Spree was very good, but its now very out of date.

Just catching up...

I do have to say that The Dreams our Stuff is Made Of has an *excellent* title. Shame the rest of it didn't live up!

And I'm quite tempted to find the Kushiel series for myself now.

I feel like 'I'm so behind' is going to be my mantra this year... Only three books in April? What on earth!

I'm declaring a clean slate for myself when it comes to reviews. Things I've read but didn't get around to writing for:

16. Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey - 4/5
17. Dragonsinger by Anne McCaffrey - 4/5
18. Dragonflight by Anne McCaffrey - 3.5/5

All three re-reads (many many times re-reads) from my childhood, which I picked up again because a friend of mine asked where he should start, and I wasn't quite sure which to suggest (the answer is 'Dragonsong'). Having in the interim years come to regard McCaffrey as something of a fluff writer who did very silly things at the end of this series and had a penchant for super-special lead types (I spent much of my early 20s very actively engaged in the Pern fandom, which inevitably leads to some hyper-critical thinking), I found it a pleasant surprise to discover that the early books are in fact still a delight, still capable of moving me, still widely creative, still make me feel like I'm thirteen and still make me want a dragon of my own, so badly. Her Dragonsinger triology does this better than Dragonflight, which is very rough in place and features a pair of honestly rather unlikeable leads, but I seem to recall that that main-story series gets better as she gets her feet.

I once again feel comfortable recommending these books to thirteen year old girls longing for something to capture their imagination like Harry Potter did.

19. Emissaries from the Dead by Adam-Troy Castro - 4/5

A group read for the Sci Fi group, and a pretty good one! A sci-fi murder mystery, with an interesting (if not precisely likable) lead and some world-building that Is suspect will lead to interesting sequels. Nothing earth-shattering, but pretty solid.

20. Consider Phlebas by Ian Banks - 3/5

I know I was supposed to love this book but... meh. It's almost single-handedly responsible for my slow book month, because I just wasn't that interested in it. In the story, in the characters, in the world. I'll probably give the next book a shot, because it comes so ridiculously highly recommended from people whose taste I trust, but this first Banks outing was disappointing for me.

21. The Nightwatch by Sergei Lukyanenko - 3.5/5
Mediocreish fun of the somewhat predictable urban fantasy variety. The world was vaguely interesting, but fleshed out rather haphazardly, in such a way that the plot often turned on points we'd only just learned about. It felt like there were a lot of strangely loose threads. The characters were middling. Moscow was lovely, however, and there were hints of a more interesting Larger Story with Larger Questions that never quite seemed to coalesce. I'd recommend it to someone looking for something light in the genre, but I'm not compelled to pick up any following books.

22. The Zombie Survival Guide by Max Brooks - 3/5

An interesting text, but intensely inferior to his World War Z (and to be fair, very different), which makes it hard to be that interested. Fun and funny in many places, it actually strikes me as a book that'd be hilarious in a group read aloud. The fake histories in the back of the book are the most compelling part, which is no surprise, as that's the format Brooks used so fantastically in WWZ.

And now I'm starting Let Me In (or Let the Right One In), which I have been attempting to request from the library for 11 months now after stellar and raving recs from LT. The combination of popular and swedish has made it difficult! I'm only a hundred pages in, but thus far it is very much living up to the hype.

Just the comments like this is perfectly fine--that's all the majority of us do! I do like the early Pern books, especially Dragonsong, Dragonsinger, and The White Dragon. And I agree with you regarding Emissaries from the Dead. I haven't read the others.

Oh, I know! It's just my personal goal to actually /review/ the things I read this year. It may be a too-lofty goal in the end. ;)

The White Dragon was one of my favorites when I was younger. If I get bored or find myself in a gap between library requests, I may pick that one up again.

Yes, I've just piled up the books that have to be out of the house rsn (library books due back tomorrow; bookcrossing bookrings that need to keep moving), and that makes up six books that need reviewing. Sooner, rather than later.

Expect a rash of reviewing from me tonight! (I hope!) Or at any rate, a list of what I've read... :}

Ah, Pern. That takes me back...

23. Let Me In by John Ajvide Lindqvist 4.5/5



I waited almost a year for this book to become available through the library. The combination of foreign title (originally published in Swedish) and insanely popular amongst the horror crowd meant that every time I checked, someone else was reading it. I think I was trending a little obsessive toward the end.

Fortunately, I'm very happy to say that it was worth the wait.

It's a little difficult to describe this book - it /is/ horror, in that sort of atmospheric creepy way, but it's not an edge of your seat thriller, and although it has violence, blood, and gore, they're pretty well contained. This is in many ways a coming of age novel as much as anything.

The story revolves around a bullied boy, Oskar, who meets a very strange girl, Eli. They form a very unlikely friendship which changes each of them substantially, and which is threatened by the fact that Eli is a vampire.

The joy of this book comes in the rich characterizations, the incredibly drawn atmosphere, and the rising sense of dread that builds throughout the story. One thing that it does amazingly well is to make our monster a character you relate to and even root for while at the same time making her a legitimate and scary monster. The conflict is glorious. So, too, is the juxtaposition of far more human monsters, and those who may become so given the right final push. It's very difficult to find figures of pure good or pure evil in this book, and that's part of what makes it so interesting. So, too, is Oskar's engaging journey. The story of what he becomes because of this monster he's befriended raises all sorts of interesting questions.

Let Me In - or in some places, Let the Right One In - is well worth a read. Now if only I could get my hands on the (equally highly-praised) film!

24. Boneshaker by Cherie Priest - 4/5



Boneshaker is one of those books I first heard about on John Scalzi's blog, and then kept watching pop up on recommended list after recommended list. I spent a good several months eying the library's availability before I finally grabbed it.

Boneshaker combines two fantastic things - steampunk and zombies, called 'rotters'. Perhaps more importantly, it also includes really fantastic world building, and the steampunk underground of the overrun Seattle that Priest creates is just wonderful. There are a lot of stories that could be told here.

Unfortunately, plot and character don't quite hold up to atmosphere. Neither is particularly bad, but neither was particularly noteworthy, either. The basic premise involves some interesting backstory for a mother (Briar) and son (Zeke), and when Zeke disappears over the wall into Blight-infected Seattle, Briar goes in after him.

Throughout the story we meet a number of colorful characters and get a really interesting sense of how the walled-off city operates and the man who runs it. The characters themselves are decently drawn, but the relationships between them felt lacking to me - it was hard to ever feel a real connection between anyone, even Briar and Zeke, where it was most important. The chase through the city, one after the other, let us see a lot and explore a lot, but never really connected as an interesting or important thing to be doing. I never really cared all that much about whether Briar found Zeke, because I never really cared that much about him - or believed that she did.

Still, I've rated the book pretty highly, because the atmosphere carries it a lot for me, and despite my complaints about plot, it's one of those books where I almost didn't realize the issue until I was in the last 30 or so pages. So the book is a pretty firm success by that measure - it read well in the reading, and it's only in the after that I feel a little unsatisfied.

Sounds like it's been some good reading for you this month!

My reading quality has skyrocketed since I joined LT! It's pretty rare these days that I end up with something I just flat out don't like, by the time I've picked through everyone's excellent recommendations!

Yes, the quality of my reading has skyrocketed since joining LT. And so has Mt TBR!!

I have Let The Right One In on Mt TBR (to tell the truth, I started it a few months back but only got a few pages into it as it wasn't quite was I was looking for then). And I might be adding Boneshaker to the pile sometime soon too. Sounds interesting!

25. I Am Not a Serial Killer by Dan Wells - 4.5/5



John is a teenager who's quite aware that he has some issues - his mother is terrified about his obsession with serial killers, he helps embalm corpses in the family morgue, and he sees a therapist regularly. He feels almost a sense of relief when his therapist mentions the word 'sociopath' - it explains so much about his inability to connect with or relate to other people. It explains why he needs strictly-kept rules to keep his violent impulses in check.

John is afraid that there is a serial killer - a Monster - inside of him. But he doesn't want to let it loose. When his small town is shaken by a series of murders, his obsessive nature leads him to track the killer, unraveling motivations and clues, and in the end John is faced with a choice between his Monster, or one that may be worse.

This book is wonderfully written and beautifully drawn. It is at times shocking and violent, but always engaging. I am absolutely dumbfounded at the ease with which Wells creates a character who is so foreign - he does an excellent job of exploring what it means to be a sociopath, such as memorizing the cues to others' emotional reactions in order to function properly in society - while still making John extremely sympathetic and relatable.

The mystery is interesting enough and decently done, but the primary interest here is John and his internal voice and his internal struggle with parts of himself that he doesn't like. I think there's a sequel coming, which makes me very happy.

26. Toads and Diamonds by Heather Tomlinson - 4/5



This fairy-tale retelling is delightful fun, and the wonderfully rich details of her setting (a fantasy world built up on many of the traditions of India) is delightfully unusual and interesting.

I'm not familiar with the story being retold here - in which two stepsisters meet a goddess, or a witch, and one receives the blessing of speaking diamonds and flowers and the other the curse of speaking serpents and toads - but I am a huge fan of what Tomlinson did here. I think I picked this book up off Scalzi's Big Idea, where Tomlinson talked about her desire to subvert the 'stepsisters are bad' trope, to imagine a world in which both gifts - diamonds and toads - are valuable in their own way.

She manages admirably. The book is mostly light, with a true expanded fairy-tale feel, but there are some deeper moments and some interesting questions and realizations as each girl struggles to uncover the reason for her gift. For anyone who's a fan of YA authors like Robin McKinley, I'd very much recommend this book.

Also, the cover art is frankly gorgeous.

>57 Aerrin99: Okay, simply irresistible. Onto the wishlist it goes!

Hooray! I just went and threw up recs on a number of my other favorite fairytale retellings. I hope you like it!

27. The Dead and the Gone by Susan Beth Pfeffer - 3.5/5



I absolutely adored Life as We Knew It, to which this book is a companion. I'd heard that The Dead and the Gone was inferior, so I skipped it until This World We Live In, a sequel to both, appeared.

I kind of wish I hadn't - it's true that The Dead and the Gone isn't as good as Life as We Knew It, but it's still quite enjoyable, and these three books are some of my favorite post-apoc lit, period.

All three books tell the stories of teenagers living through the immediate aftermath of intense climate change, the result of an asteroid which hit the moon and adjusted its orbit. Communication disappears, food becomes scared, a flu epidemic wipes out thousands, volcanoes send ash into the sky and make growing crops nearly impossible.

I think what really appeals to me here is how deeply Pfeffer draws you into the world via her characters. This is a story about people, about particular people, not just about the fun toybox that is an apocalypse. She's stronger in the first person voice, which is part of what makes Life as We Knew It so power, but I still grew quite attached to Alex and his sisters and his friends, and I cried more than once - Pfeffer doesn't pull any punches in these books. A few moments are flat out horrifying.

These books aren't /cheery/ by any means, but they're good reads, and if you like a little apocalypse with your stories, I recommend them!

28. This World We Live In by Susan Beth Pfeffer - 3.5/5



As a sequel to both Life As We Knew It and The Dead and the Gone, This World We Live In is solid, but not fantastic. The connection to characters is a little weaker here. It's maybe hampered a little by the fact that emotions which ring true for a seventeen year old girl at the end of the world feel a little over-dramatically false here, especially when fixed on True Love.

Still, the story is sufficient (although not as gripping as the previous two books), and I liked seeing Alex from other eyes. His story post-New York is fairly compelling. Again, Pfeffer doesn't pull any punches, and a few moments are outright painful. The ending lacked a bit.

I'm glad you enjoyed this series, and I agree that they have quite an impact, especially Life as We Knew It, which is a very intense read. I could hardly put it down! I haven't yet read The World We Live In but it's on the TBR pile.

> 62

I think all of them are sort of read-straight-through-if-you-can books - I went through both The Dead and the Gone and This World We Live In in an evening!

29. Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishinguro - 3.5/5



This book is unusual for its genre, in that it is a rather understated character-driven book which explores the lives of children who are (SPOILER, but you figure it out quite early in the book) raised entirely for the purpose of providing organ donations for the rich. Although the book does raise some questions about morality and ethics and the ability of the world to turn a blind eye to certain cruelties if the benefit is great enough, it does so in an quiet, sideways sort of fashion.

It works okay, but I found it less engaging than I had thought I would, in part because I didn't find any of the characters all that interesting. Because the book asks these questions through the characters' experiences, in particular through the narrated memories of one, this lack meant that I didn't engage fully with what I think the book was trying to do.

Objectively, I can appreciate the fact that the book's structure mirrors its story - that in showing us the lives of these children (and then adults), we are meant to see the same things that so many in their world miss: that they are fully human, that they have souls, that they think, hurt, laugh, love. That this is a travesty.

Unfortunately, this conclusion feels so blatantly obvious that it had no impact for me, and the world they live in, the world that could /disagree/ about these things, is not explored at all. Nor do the children themselves appear to ever wrestle with these questions or question their purpose with any real fervor, nor do we engage heavily with others who do so on their behalf. It felt like a book that knows it has a point somewhere, but didn't ever bother with the thesis statement.

Basically, this book is so subtle that it lost all its impact for me, and since I wasn't that invested in the characters for themselves, I just found it kind of middling, although an enjoyable enough read.

30. Feed by Mira Grant - 5/5



This book was stunningly, surprisingly fantastic.

I know I'm going to have a hard time summing up what I loved about it, because the answer is a pretty thorough 'everything'. I'm a sucker for zombies, and I'm especially a sucker for post-apocalyptic lit, and I'm /especially/ a sucker for a really interesting post-apocalyptic world, so this book seems pretty much made for me. Because there are zombies (wonderfully, thoroughly thought out zombies), there was an apocalypse, and there is an amazing world post that apocalypse.

But there is so much more.

The general gist of this book is that we are set down in a world 25 years after the zombie rising. Humanity has survived. So did the zombies. In a world where a mass gathering can turn into a blood bath with a single infected present, people live in more and more isolation. And in a world where the mainstream media dismissed the apocalypse as a teenage hoax until thousands were dead, more and more trust has shifted to online bloggers. Our main character is a Newsie, dedicated to the truth, and she, along with her partners (brother Shaun and friend Buffy) win a gig trailing a potential Presidential nominee on the campaign trail. This in itself is a great story, but it gets even better when violence, environmental hazards, and high corruption enter the story. George, who believes in the truth above all else, who is intensely dedicated to the freedom of information, is faced with some hard choices.

This book contains some of the most richly-drawn, interesting, flat-out-addictive characters I've encountered in awhile. Grant has an amazing way of drawing out personality in a matter of sentences, which means that even her secondary characters feel full and real. She also has a really fantastic touch with drawing out relationships. We see the story through George's eyes, but through her observant gaze we learn to adore her brother Shaun, to appreciate her partners, to be critical of the politicians she's reporting on. Her voice is engaging and sharp, a delight to listen to.

It also contains a fantastic world, with details that sneak in without you ever noticing. I actually stopped at least twice in this novel to appreciate Grant's knack for choosing a setting or a background that would elaborate the world seamlessly while still driving plot. Important conversations happen over blood tests, celebrations take place in an outdoor restaurant considered dangerous by most of the zombie-fearful public, and mental musings over her job provide background on the political state of the country. She's deft, and every detail of her world is interesting. It is clear that Grant not only thought a lot about this world, but also has the skill to make us live in it.

These two things alone probably would have carried the book far. Fortunately, Grant feeds us some pretty great plot, too. Stuff that has George, and us, asking what price we're willing to pay for freedom, what sacrifices are worth our safety, what is worth it, in the end. Stuff that has you on the edge of your seat. Stuff that will make you cry. Stuff that will make you angry.

I've just finished this book - all 571 pages in one day - and I've almost convinced myself to go read it again. I liked it that much.

#64 Nice review. I had the same reaction to Never Let Me Go. I kept waiting for more. It seemed there should be at least some resistance, instead of passively accepting their fate. I felt that the whole idea was not as fully explored as it could have been. It wasn't a bad read, just not a favorite.

I've added Feed to the wishlist. Thanks (I think!).

Yeah, that's exactly how I feel about Never Let Me Go. Sort of 'eh'. I kind of get the feeling that it's one of those genre books that non-genre people read and they go WOW, whereas genre readers have a broader base for what /can/ be done and /has/ been done with these ideas.

Re: Feed, definitely thank me. It's that awesome. ;)

Marvelous review of Feed--you have FORCED me to put it on my wishlist!

> 68 Haha, EXCELLENT! I've just forced my boyfriend into a promise to read it soon so that I can discuss it with him.

Wow, Feed has been added to my library request list- sounds excellent!

Oh dear, I think I'm adding Feed to my wishlist now too! Sounds brilliant!

>71 wookiebender: Hooray! I can't wait to see what everyone else thinks about it!

Onward, before I fall too far behind again!

31. The digital photography book the step-by-step secrets for how to make your photos look like the pros'! by Scott Kelby - 4.5/5

32. The digital photography book the step-by-step secrets for how to make your photos look like the pros'! Vol. 2 by Scott Kelby - 4/5



This touchstone is never going to work. BAH!

I recently purchased a very nice digital camera as a reward to myself for paying off the last penny of my grad school loans. I'd been lusting after something sleek and sexy for awhile, so as soon as it came in, I zipped through some recommendations and ordered half a dozen books to teach me all the tips and tricks I'd never pick up on my own.

Scott Kelby's two books (he actually has three, but I've only read the first two) are delightful and immensely helpful. They're designed for pseudo-beginners - it's probably good if you know a /little/ about how cameras work in principle, but not necessary. He says that he's going to treat the book as if you're out on a shoot with him, asking how to get certain effects, and he'll give you practical, useful answers.

He does. The chapters are clear, the hints, tips, and tricks short and easy to read (making it ideal for reading with your camera next to you, so that you can try things out instantly), and his tone, while occasionally verging on the cheesy, is amusing and light. He'll do everything from tell you how to get a great portrait to give you advice on framing landscapes to avoid an amateur look.

Perhaps the best and most unexpected benefit is that Scott will tell you how to actually /work/ your camera, if it's a Nikon or Canon (there are actually pictures of many of the menus) and opened up my eyes to a billion tiny settings that my last manual camera (not a digital) didn't even dream of being able to have. He de-mystified white balance, highlights, framing grids, and a dozen other new-to-me capabilities of my camera.

If you're looking to get started on digital photography with a camera that does more than point and shoot, you can't go wrong with these books. And while I found vol. 2 to be a tiny bit repetitive, there was more new inside than old, and I'd recommend both equally.

33. Bitter Seeds by Ian Tregillis - 4/5



I picked this book up off John Scalzi's 'Big Idea' feature almost entirely because the 'big idea' behind this book - exploring a true, unlimited precognitive and what sort of power that /really/ means - absolutely enthralled me.

I'm happy to say that the execution is solid. Tregillis is an excellent writer with a good sense of voice and place and time, all helpful when setting this alternate history full of magic and mad science down in WWII.

Germany has a house full of orphans with superhuman powers - invisibility, intangibility, telekinesis, pyrokinesis, and, of course, precognition. Our precog, Gretel, is a bit of a loose cannon - she doesn't do what her good doctor wants, and while her intel is invaluable when it's right, many of her suggestions seem mystifying, and her motives are unclear.

Britain, catching wind of some of these abilities but not what they are or how they work, forms a secret project, code-named Milkweed, to counteract them. Milkweed turns to warlocks who work their magic and pay terrible blood-prices to keep Britain safe.

What's engaging in this book is also what makes it feel a little disappointing - because I was primed for it to be Gretel's story, it felt a bit odd that she's not the front-and-center character (it alternates between two British agents and Gretel's brother, Klaus). Gretel herself seem to perhaps be a bit of a sociopath, or at the very least someone who keeps herself above and apart from the rest of her colleagues (one of the effects of her abilities), which makes her both hard to relate to and hard to read.

The largest frustration here is that we never really know Gretel, so we can never really place her loyalties or goals. Which means that while we can suspect,it's difficult to recognize for certain what events in the long chain are a direct result of her long-ranging plan. I suspect that at the end of this series, we may all sit back with our minds blown at the intricacy of it, but in the middle, it's a bit difficult to really grasp.

That said, I /do/ recommend this book. It's an engaging read, and it has a wonderful sense of atmosphere. I'll most certainly be watching for the sequel as soon as it comes out, even with my suspicions about when the real payoff will come.

Congratulations on paying off that pesky student loan! And what a way to celebrate! Enjoy the camera.

Thanks! Trust me, I already am - it was fantastic on a recent trip to Texas!

re Feed: Mira Grant is apparently a pseudonym of Seanan McGuire. This site refers those looking for Mira's books to this site. Heh, love it when authors play games with their names. Feed has been added to my purchase list for June. Thanks guys!

34. A Conspiracy of Kings by Megan Whalen Turner - 3.5/5



I was a latecomer to this apparently classic-to-my-generation fantasy series, but I quite loved the preceding books, The Thief, The Queen of Attolia, and The King of Attolia.

A Conspiracy of Kings lives in the same vein as these others, but with a few noticable differences. The most prominent is that we lose our main (wonderful) protagonist, Gen, in favor of a minor character from the previous three books. While Saphos is an interesting and solid character, he doesn't shine near as bright as Gen, and so neither does the tale. He's also very different - he doesn't have the cunning or wit to make the book quite the page turner I might have wished for.

Still, the book is solid, the plot entertaining enough, and the writing as always lovely. I'm invested in what happens to these lands now, not just these characters, so on that front I quite enjoyed it, and would likely enjoy any more to come.

I recommend it to fans of the series, but probably not to anyone else.

35. Crown Duel by Sherwood Smith - 3/5



A fairly predictable fantasy involving a made-up kingdom, a king we're pretty sure is the bad guy (although why is a bit vague), a district devoted to overthrowing him, and a heroine who is mostly a heroine by mistake because she pretty much never makes good choices or uses her brain.

It's short, and probably aimed younger than I'd thought when I requested it - I'd say this walks the line between children's and young adult, and as such I'm a little more willing to forgive the simplicity of some of the ideas which I think could have been more interesting with more time devoted to them. Decent enough, but I've certainly read this idea in far better forms before.

36. Court Duel by Sherwood Smith - 3.5/5



Much better than the previous, largely because this book doesn't rely on politics or warfare beyond what one can learn in any junior high cafeteria and has a predictable-but-still-fulfilling mismatched love story (which is the primary focus of the book, even if it tries to pretend otherwise). Since I'm a sucker for mismatched love stories and men who are insanely smart and hard to read, this hit the spot for me.

37. Jhereg by Steven Brust - 3.5/5



The series came highly recommended by a friend, and I found this book the be solidly enjoyable, although sadly not much more. I suspect that it improves as the series goes along, because there's plenty of solid basis to build on here.

The world Brust builds is interesting, with varying houses and varying magical systems and a central character who works as detective and assassin. Though the characters are a bit thinly sketched here, they hold enough life to make me suspect that they grow deeper in subsequent books.

I put this review off too long and I have a hard time remembering much more about the book, which is pretty much a sign of where it fits in my mental landscape: enjoyable enough, but not something that, for me, lingers. I'll let you know whether it catches me more when I read a few of the subsequent novels.

38. On being a photographer : a practical guide by David Hurn in conversation with Bill Jay - 3.5/5



Another in the stack of books I've been reading as I dig into photography. This book is interesting not for technique - there's honestly very little of that, and what's there is is almost useless without demonstrative pictures to accompany it - but for its vision of the field and the art.

David Hurn is a very famous photographer who does a lot of documentary type photographer - people in places, not things. He has a very particular vision of what it means to be a photographer, both amateur and professional, and it's interesting to read.

Some of the material here is outdated - it was published in the late 90s - but the last chapter, which concerns the future of photography at the advent of the digital age, asks a lot of interesting questions about the truth of a photograph and the trust an audience places in it. Hurn is surprisingly prescient, and his thoughts are insightful and thought-provoking.

Unfortunately, there's rather a lot of textual rambling to accompany these moments, which is why the rating sinks to a 3.5.

39. Black Powder War by Naomi Novik - 3.5/5



I received Tongues of Serpents as an ER book, and I thought 'well. I guess now is the time to actually finish Temeraire instead of just the first two books'. I thought that I hadn't read Black Powder War - I was wrong. I read it halfway, got bored, and actually forgot to finish it.

Which if a big deal for me, let me tell you. I don't not finish books, and I certainly don't just /forget that I'm reading them/.

That probably tells you what I think of the first half of this book. It's not that it's bad so much as it is that it just dragged for me, with details about an overland overdesert trip that were pretty much entirely unengaging for the first good stretch of the book.

It's not helped by the fact that I, unlike most readers of this book, actually find Temeraire, the dragon and focus of the books, to be at best boring and at worst kind of annoying, and the same for his captain, and that the historical tone, which aims for a 19th century way of writing in addition to speaking, is hit or miss for me.

If you're starting to wonder why I requested the latest for ER, well, don't worry, I am too.

That said. Once I hit the second part of the book, where Temeraire and his crew rejoin the war, things start to happen at a pace faster than a snail's, and the very interesting question of dragon rights (which StormRaven has recently written about in a very excellent review) comes to the forefront, I found myself unable to put the book down and finished it in short order.

I think this is a general trend with these books. There are times and places where Novik's writing captures me and she ratchets up the tension and I find myself intensely involved. And then other times where it just... flatlines for me. It'll be interesting to see how I feel about the next two, which sit on my shelf waiting for me to get through before Tongues of Serpents.

40. Dragon's Blood by Jane Yolen - 4.5/5



I started into a re-read of Yolen's Pit Dragon's trilogy after spotting a great review of Briar Rose in this group. These are books I have fond but foggy memories of from my adolescence, and I'm happy to say that they stand up to my memory pretty well.

The world Yolen created here is really interesting, and I think that's what grabbed me as a pre-teen. Austar IV is a former convict planet that is now one of the top recreational locations because of the violent and exciting sport of Pit Dragon fighting. Our protagonist, Jakken, is a bonder who works in a dragon nursery and dreams of buying his way out of bond by stealing a dragon and raising it to be a champion fighter.

It's a simple story at its heart, but rich with delicious detail and wonderful characters - both Jakken and Akki, the girl who first catches him and then helps him - are interesting and capable.

Something in this story makes it feel very relevant to adolescence - despite its fantastical setting, it's very much a coming of age story, and some of the details resonate strongly. Jakken experiences setbacks that feel, to him, insurmountable - but he manages to surmount them. He feels like he's fighting his upward struggle alone, but through the course of the book we come to realize that a number of people are rooting for him to succeed. And through the course of it, he learns a great deal about both responsibility and friendship.

The subsequent books aren't nearly as strong in my opinion - the themes shift rather sharply toward political hijinks and adventure - but this first volume remains very entertaining.

41. Heart's Blood by Jane Yolen - 4/5



In this second book of the Pit Dragons trilogy (although now there are four, so I suppose it's not really), we find Jakken a successful dragon trainer, free from bond and moving swiftly upward in the world.

We also find that Austar IV is a politically complicated place, and a potentially dangerous one. This book gears up the political plots that carry through the rest of the volumes, and is, to me, the only one that manages it successful. It revolves around a group of rebels Akki has fallen in with and Jakken's desperation to save her, while still maintaining a firm foot in the Pit Dragon culture I loved in the first book.

There is still a strong thread of coming-of-age (Jakken flat out asks himself if he's a man yet - and what that means) and some wonderful notes of personal loyalty and personal responsibility. The ending is heart-breaking. Worth a read.

42. A Sending of Dragons by Jane Yolen - 3.5/5



The world of Austar IV becomes abruptly more foreign in this volume, but in comparison to ours and to what the reader knew about it from the previous books. This story doesn't work nearly as well for me for several reasons, beginning there.

We lose all contact with the Pit Fighting and the nursery as Jakken and Akki hide in the mountains with Heart's Blood's five hatchlings and newly-gained telepathic skills. While it is a semi-interesting expansion of the world, it's hard not to read this book - which reveals that the dragons have fully-formed thoughts and can communicate them - and wince at the implications for earlier books - in which dragons are bred for food and fighting.

To Yolen's credit, she does not ignore these implications - her characters struggle with them quite a bit, and much of the thrust of the last book revolves around the tension between wanting to share this discovery with the world, and what it might mean if they do - since the only way to gain these telepathic skills appears to be to kill female dragons.

I think, though, that this shift of setting combined with the shift of story - away from coming of age and into an escape/rescue/adventure from a bizarre clan of mountain folks - makes it feel jarring, and Yolen just doesn't manage it as well as she managed the others. For me, this is the sort of book I read because I fall in love with a world, and because I'm a completionist.

43. Dragon's Heart by Jane Yolen - 3/5



The only of the four books that's new to me, I also found Dragon's Heart to be the most disappointing.

Akki and Jakken have been rescued from their mountain existence and return first to the nursery and then to the main city of the Rokk primarily so that they can serve as pawns in political schemings.

I'll spill a minor spoiler when I say that halfway through the book, Akki ends up kidnapped, and most of the rest of the tale is spent trying to rescue her.

The book was frustrating because characters who had previously been very capable and interesting and who have a gift few others on their world have, and who have formed impossible relationships out of loyalty and love, are suddenly swept up in events beyond their control. It's like we spent three books learning about how these teens are really able to make their own way in this world because of who they are, and then we get to the fourth book and they're told that they can't sit at the Adult Table anymore.

Yolen tries to imbue this tale with a sense of the political, working up the implications of the telepathy Jakken and Akki share and the abolishment of the bond system that had pushed Jakken to better himself in the first book, but it falls a bit flat. As a caper, the book is mediocre. In comparison with the early volumes, it's disappointing.

I don't think I've ever read the fourth book--it was always the Pit Dragon trilogy. But I also thought the first book was the best, and I don't find any burning desire to go back and read the fourth after all this time.

Where are you? It's been 3 weeks since you've been here. Taking a vacation, I hope?

Haha. No, still here, just um-- behind in my reviews again and caught up between work and some other more fun sorts of things. I'll probably have to declare a freedom from reviews for another batch when this vacation is over!

Good to hear I'm missed, though. ;)

I'm now officially two months behind, so here is a quick attempt to get toward caught up!

45. Briar Rose by Jane Yolen - 4/5

I picked up this title because of someone in this group (can't remember who now!) thinking I'd never read it, but several chapters in I realized I had! It's still a delightful tale, following a granddaughter who seeks the truth of her grandmother's claim to be Briar Rose after her death. The truth is powerful and heartbreaking, but fulfilling, and I find Yolen a strong story-teller, as always.

46. Empire of Ivory by Naomi Novik - 3.5/5

I got Tongues of Serpents as an ER book, so I had to finish my way through this series. It was a bit of a struggle. This volume in particular is dry and slow, and I'm not that invested in the characters. I realized nearly halfway through - yes, it took me that long - that I'd read half of it before before forgetting to finish it. I can't remember ever just /forgetting/ to finish a book. That should tell you something about the beginning of this book. Fortunately, the second part picks up quite satisfactorily, which edged up its rating considerably.

47. Victory of Eagles by Naomi Novik - 4/5

Probably my favorite of the series, save for perhaps the first one. I particularly like that we get Temeraire's PoV for the first time, and for the first time I started to enjoy him as a character on his own terms. There are some hard decisions in this book, and I like what Novik did with them.

48. Tongues of Serpents by Naomi Novik - 3.5/5

A step backward, but still pretty enjoyable, especially since I liked the characters better by this point. The book suffers from Novik wanting to explore her world more than she wants to tell a story, and to be honest, not much happens - but I enjoyed it well enough on the way.

49. Yendi by Stephen Brust - 3.5/5
50. Teckla by Stephen Brust - 3.5/5

Brust picks up here with the second and third volumes. I read them together and it's been a month and a half, so I can't actually remember what happened in which, but I know that by the time I was done I was anxious for more, and that the politics and history and magic of this world are growing more and more compelling.

51. Gone by Lisa McMann - 4/5

I adore this series by McMann. I think I have it out for the protagonists of the novels I read - I love that she has given hers this wonderful gift - to see other people's dreams - and made it have some very serious consequences - she can't drive for fear of falling into one and crashing, she's going slowly blind.

I like the difficulty of the choices made here and I absolutely adore the characters. It's not my favorite of the trilogy, but still quite solid.

52. Making Rounds with Oscar: The Extraordinary Gift of an Ordinary Cat by David Dosa - 3/5

Another ER book, and I have no idea why I requested it, because it's not my usual fare at all. I had to force myself to start it, but once I did, I was surprised to find it interesting. The writing is clunky and the cat bits not all that interesting beyond the general concept, but Dosa has some interesting insights into end-of-life care, dying with dignity, handling dementia, and other things that I found worth reading. It certainly made me think.

Welcome back, stranger. Good to see you emerge!

I'm a big fan of the Brust series. I think Taltos is next, and that is one of my very favorite ones, so don't put it off too long.

I've got one of the Brust books on my shelves somewhere... Ahah! Book of Jhereg and if the LT fairies are correct, it's an omnibus of the first three books (publication order). Will dust it off one day! (So... many... books...)

> 91 Haha, so my friends keep telling me (about Taltos). I picked up The Passage off our smallish reading collection at work, so that's next, but I'll probably do Brust after that (he requires requesting and waiting, so maybe next week...)

And thanks for the welcome back!

> 92 Yes, that's what I read. Maybe technically it's one book, but I'm counting it as three!

No, it's definitely three books! If they were first published as individual books, that's how I count them. And I have all three in their separate first printings! (before they started coming out in hardback first--ah, the price of success.)

Another quick catch-up post - I'm gonna get there!

53. Rosemary and Rue by Seanan McGuire - 4/5
54. A Local Habitation by Seanan McGuire - 4.5/5

I picked up these two urban fantasies because Seanan McGuire is also Mira Grant, who wrote the fantastic zombie book Feed (raved about up-thread). These two books came first, and there's a third due out in about a week. And FURTHER, I'm absolutely completely thrilled to report that McGuire won the 2010 Hugo for best new writer!

You might say I'm a fan.

These books came before Feed, and you can tell. The first especially is a little shakey in places, but I still enjoyed it enough that I actually bought the second book when my library couldn't provide it (and I don't buy books. I am a diehard library user!). The books are of the urban-fantasy-PI genre with a side helping of faeries. I've read a number of the latter - Tithe, Wondrous Strange, Wicked Lovely - and I've yet to find one that I've been honestly impressed with.

Rosemary and Rue and A Local Habitation are it. They're the first books I've read that really /work/ with the 'faery is real' setting and make it feel rich
and complicated and complex and dangerous - and not just in a 'sexy dangerous' sort of way. McGuire also does a really great job of pulling from a number of different mythologies, with some of the lesser-known Celtic myths making an appearance alongside some keen Shakespeare shout-outs. World-building was her strength in Feed, too, so this is no surprise to me.

Her protagonist starts a little stale, but by the end of the first book and most definitely by the time we hit the second, I was hooked on her, and I'm anxious for the third. It's interesting to read these two because I can so clearly see the progression of McGuire as a writer, and watch as she developed the strengths - world and character - that captivated me in Feed.

Her plot is a little thinner, but enjoyable. It's mystery/investigation, but not really the sort that the audience has much hope of figuring out itself. If you just enjoy the ride, though, I think you'll like them!

55. The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi - 3/5

Intensely overrated, in my opinion, and I'm disappointed that it tied for the Hugo for best novel. It feels like a book with a really interesting idea behind it that never really did what it could have done. An idea book that didn't care that much about its ideas. Unfortunately, it didn't care that much about its characters or plots either. Bacigalupi is a beautiful writer and I enjoyed his prose, and his descriptions bring a really foreign place to gorgeous life, but in the end, I just didn't /care/. It took me far too long to finish this book. I found the possibilities enthralling, but the plot slow and flat and the characters forgettable.

2/3 done in the first 2/3 of the year--Of course you are going to make it!!

Nice reviews. I shall have to look out for McGuire.

Haha - I have no doubts about making 100 books - I have doubts about writing about all of them!

I bought Feed on the basis of your raverecommendation above. If I like it, I'll keep her other name and novels in mind!

Sorry you didn't like The Windup Girl - although I am yet to source and read it, it is getting an interesting buzz. (Love the title too.)

Now there's all this pressure - I hope you like Feed! ;)

I like the title too, and in fact the titular character is the best part about the book and the only character I was invested in. Unfortunately, she is not half so prominent as the title might lead you to believe.

56. Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins - 5/5



It's a rare book that I head out and buy because I'm so impatient to read it, but I simply couldn't stand the 6 month+ wait I'm sure was coming at my library, I'd already bought The Hunger Games, so I was going to collect the series, and the book was only $8!

Absolutely worth it. I re-read this series backwards - the first two after Mockingjay - and while I think the first is my favorite, Mockingjay might come in second for me. When I first read Hunger Games, I recall feeling like it pulled some of its punches, letting Katniss off the hook for some of the more horrible situations by devising instances where she would not have to stand face to face with the cold-blooded moral choices of the Games (ie, by having her kill from afar, or in a fury of rage after someone she cares about is dead).

The rest of this series fixed that issue, and none more than Mockingjay. The stakes are high and feel high, and several characters who had previously been more background - including Prim and Gale - get expanded time. I like Katniss' first person perspective, limited, and I like that we're never quite sure the full extent of everything going on. I like that she remains not only fully human, but fully teenage, with choices she doesn't want to make and things she doesn't want to be and panic at them both.

The end was brutal, and I certainly cried through much of it. I've heard some criticism that it was a bit rushed through the final chapters and I can see the point, but as I was rushing through it too, I'm not sure I noticed it much at the time.

And while I'm not the hugest fan of some things indicated by the epilogue - I would have chosen something different for Katniss professionally, if not personally - I loved the 'real or not real' payoff and very much approved of how the 'love triangle' played out (as someone who was never much team either side). It felt real and complicated and interesting.

Can't wait to see what Collins does next.

57. Shades of Milk and Honey by Mary Robinette Kowal - 4/5



I picked this book up off John Scalzi's 'Big Idea' feature, which rarely steers me wrong, and I'm glad I did so. This is a fun little book, filled with a fantastic vision of magic-as-art during the Victorian era. It quite neatly blends Jane Austen with magic and illusions, both in tone and feel, as well as subject matter.

The basic premise is that magic exists, and while it is capable of many things, such as starting fires, it is primarily used to create vast illusions which decorate the homes of those who can afford them. It is considered largely a womanly art, much like playing the piano or learning to paint landscapes, although there are of course some male 'masters' who do it for "real". The story revolves around one such master and an 'old maid' in her late twenties who is quite formidable in such arts herself, and includes all the romantic ditherings, misunderstandings, and general hijinks you'd find in an Austen novel, with similar appeal.

I quite enjoyed the book for what it was - fun, creative, and with engaging (if sometimes predictable) characters. I did, however, rather wish it had gone a step or two further - I liked Jane in particular a great deal and I would have enjoyed seeing a larger investigation of the affect magic - even if "just" illusion - could have on England in the hands of someone capable and smart. I think it's that potential that often has it compared to Jonathan Strange & Mr. Norrell, but the comparison is not apt - outside of the setting and the very different magic, the books feel quite different to me.

Worth a look if you like Victorian-era fiction, fun-but-fraught love stories, and/or magic!

58. The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins - 5/5
59. Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins - 4.5/5



As mentioned, I re-read both of these books after adoring Mockingjay so much that I wanted more Hunger Games fix. I actually thought they re-read even better, perhaps because I knew how rich some of these characters would become, and how many hard choices they would be faced with.

I'm not sure I have much new to say about these books (If you haven't read them yet, WHY ON EARTH NOT?), but I read a lot of sci fi, a lot of dystopia, a lot of young adult fiction - these are easily some of my favorites. They're engaging books, filled with brutal action, a winning heroine, and a love story that feels right and appropriate for the age (I'm looking at you, creepy Twilight) without overwhelming the story. They're also thinking books - books that talk about poverty and excess and waste and power and manipulation and propaganda and put these things into terms and situations easily accessible to thirteen year olds. If I were a junior high english teacher, I'd be all over getting these books into the classroom, because they are so, so rich, if you want them to be.

They creep up on you and stay with you, and Collins is a formidable writer to pull it all together. I'm sure I'll reread these ones more than once in coming years.

Ack! So many good books! I do like the sound of Shades of Milk and Honey too...

> 103: And it's a fast read, too! I'm pretty sure I came close to doing it in one sitting, although I may have split it between two lunch breaks.

You're just enabling me now, aren't you. :)

*gasp* Just went to the independent bookshop's website, and it seems to only be available on import, hardback at a gobsmacking $42. Their blurb did make it irresistible, but it will just have to go on the wishlist. (It's a much more reasonable $25 from TheBookDepository, but I'd rather wait for paperback, methinks. WAH.)

Ouch, yeah. This is why my library and I are BFFs. It is positively decadent, working at one where they can deliver almost any fiction book to me in 2 days time...

I did check the library catalogue too, but it's not there. They're probably waiting for a local copy too!

I find my library is an even worse enabler than LT recommendations. They're all *free*! and I can never say no to them. I've got quite a pile of library books next to the bed at the moment, oh dear...

>107 wookiebender: not MY library... they only allow 4 books to be checked at a time, 2 week limit on checkout, they start calling (repeatedly) on the 15th day, and they charge 10 cents per day per book for being late to return. Also anything on the 'new arrivals' shelf costs 25 cents to check out the first time and 20 cents per day for late return.

I've applied for a position on the board.

> 108

Holy cow, that is /insane/.

60. The Passage by Justin Cronin - 4.5/5



This book takes its time, and the journey is long but wonderful.

The span is vast - the book covers over a hundred years, and because of that it manages both apocalypse and post - and both are engaging. It manages to keep itself interesting through shifting characters, societies, and focuses largely on the strength on Cronin's writing, which is wonderfully evocative, and on the strength of his world-building, which is fantastically rich. He also has a knack for characters who are fascinating even when they aren't necessarily relatable.

The first section of the book brings a number of diverging narratives together - it was the slowest section for me, because I'm not a fan of that technique, but I'm glad I waited through it.

The second section shows us a world after a true apocalypse, and because it's one of the monsters-and-terror type rather than the we-blew-ourselves-up type, there's some great dramatic tension and some creative bits of the new society. Cronin really engages you in the small group of survivors, and manages the extremely deft task of getting you invested in almost a dozen core characters. By the time they coalesce into a group for reasons too spoilery to mention, I was already hooked on all of them, which meant I spent the last portion of this book flipping pages swiftly.

I've seen this book compared to The Stand, and for once I'd agree - while the details are certainly different, there is a similar feel, as of an epic apocalypse that paces itself and concerns itself with details and deep characters and takes us into a world with unexpected things, both wonderful and terrifying. My favorite kind of book.

61. An Artificial Night by Seanan McGuire - 4.5/5



Alright, that's it - I'm thoroughly hooked on McGuire's Toby Daye, and I'll be pre-ordering her next book pretty much now.

There's a shift here from the in-and-out world of fae and humans that has filled the previous two books to a story that takes place almost entirely in the faerie Summerlands, and because of that, the creepy is seriously cranked up several notches. Blind Michael is an excellent villain, the Luidaeg's magic is fantastically wonderful and strange, and the haunting refrains of children's songs made parts of this book feel like a tale right out of your childhood nightmares.

Once again, McGuire shows up as the author who is absolutely the best at making the world of faerie the richest, most complex, most /dangerous/. I've read a number of other series that dabble in this world, but nothing comes close to McGuire's vision. It's a literary joy with references to mythology and Shakespeare and everything else sprinkled in, but it's also dark and full of mystery and, consequently, packed chock-full of tension and good story.

The characters get better with every book. Toby in particular shines here - I loved exploring her heroic side and touching on the dark places from which that aspect of her is born. I also adored the Luidaeg here, as well as the usual cast - Simon, Luna, Quentin, Lily, Tybalt. McGuire is amazingly deft at growing characters with a light touch, a detail here and there, until they are rich and wonderful.

There are growing hints about the importance of Toby's mother, Amadine, and I can't wait to see how they pan out. One of my favorite things about McGuire is her ability to plant seeds and wait for them to grow properly, as well as to call back to earlier events. Her continuity is lovely - we see that strongly in this book in a scene where those who care about Toby, for one reason or another, all end up in the same place, and it's a bit overwhelming to see the lives she's touched in just two previous volumes.

If you like urban fantasy, faeries, or just kick-ass heroines, I can't recommend these books enough.

"If you like urban fantasy, faeries, or just kick-ass heroines..."

Yes--added the first in the series, Rosemary and Rue to the wishlist. Thanks for the review!

ETA--I've just looked through your reviews on this thread and you've added quite a bit to my TBR pile this year. Looks to me like you've had some great reads.

Haha, thanks! LT has made my reading so much better! I really hope you like Rosemary and Rue - McGuire is easily my new favorite author for the year!

It's funny how LT changes your reading habits. I choose most of the books I read through recommendations from LT readers now, and the types of books I enjoy has expanded. Before LT my reading was arbitrarily hit or miss. Now most of what I read is excellent! On the down side, my TBR pile and wishlist are huge! I wish I could read two books simultaneously!!!

What loriephillips said!

Two great reviews, two more books on the wishlist.

ETA: We were discussing libraries above. Just to boast: I can get 20 items out at a time (books, DVDs, CDs, although there is a number limit on toys if I go to the library with the toys, but the kids are all a bit too old for them now), keep them for 3 weeks, and renew them twice. (And I can renew online/over the phone, and there's a grace period of a few days in case I forget where I don't get fined and can still renew the books.) This is why some days I drown in library books. :)

Massive catch-up post again!

62. Taltos by Stephen Brust - 3.5/5
64. Phoenix by Stephen Brust - 3.5/5
67. Athyra by Stephen Brust - 4/5
69. Orca by Stephen Brust - 3.5/5

I don't know what it is about these books, but I just cannot love them as much as my friends say I should. I think part of it is Vlad - as a main character, I don't find him that interesting or that sympathetic, and I find his actual written voice a little annoying. The adventures are engaging enough, but not super. I found that I enjoyed Athyra, which is written from someone else's PoV entirely, more than any book thus far, while I found Taltos, a flashback book most my friends really love, pretty lackluster.

I'm far more engaged with books that hint at a larger political plot than those that are set in the past or deal strictly with Vlad and his troubles. I dunno, I'll probably finish these at some point because I'm a completionist and I find them entertaining enough, but I probably wouldn't hand them off to a friend.

63. The Dead-Tossed Waves by Carrie Ryan - 3.5/5

I love me some zombies, but this sequel to The Forest of Hands and Teeth was not as awesome as I was hoping. I enjoyed aspects of it and will read the next book, but the characters did not engage me as fully as the first, and I don't find the generations-after-the-zombie-apocalypse society (we've switched locations, and thus societies) as interesting or as creative in this volume.

65. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson - 5/5

I read this in direct response to the well-publicized book-banning challenge, and I'm glad I did. Short, painful, powerful. Speak is the story of a girl who cannot tell anyone about her rape and lives in increasing silence. I am astounded at the delicate detail and the heavy hit of emotion that Anderson manages. I absolutely understand why it has had such an impact on so many.

66. Living Dead Girl by Laurie Halse Anderson - 4/5

You will start to sense a theme here picked up from threads about Speak - Living Dead Girl is the story of a girl abducted as a child and kept prisoner until she's 15, when her abuser tells her to help him find her replacement. Also well done and very, very, very painful, but ultimately a little less powerful simply because it's a bit less relatable. It feels like there is no hope possible for this girl - after five years of abuse of this nature, what can her future possibly be?

68. Lucky by Alice Sebold - 5/5

An excellent and extremely powerful memoir about rape, survival, and all the things that come between. Sebold is an evocative author, with the ability to make you hear and feel and smell an event as it happens. Her honesty here is brutal - about what rape makes you feel, about what the reactions of others to your rape makes you feel, about what survival really means. Some of the strongest and most impactful sections come after the trial of her rapist, after Sebold's appearance on national talk shows, after she looks, to the outward world, strong and recovered and a fighter, and inside she is still destructive.

Well-told, hard to read in places, but very good.

70. Extraordinary by Nancy Werlin - 2.5/5



I picked up Extraordinary after a Scalzi Big Idea post pitched it as the tale of a friendship so strong it changes the very core of two very different girls - one faerie, one human. It was disappointing.

I've read a lot in this 'faerie meets humanity' sort of genre in the past year or two, and this is one of the weakest. Part of it is simply the writing - Werlin has an absolutely nails-on-chalkboard terrible sort of grasp on dialog. It feels force, it feels fake, it brings me out of the story and to a halt with remarkable speed. Her teenagers do not speak like people, let alone like teenagers, and her faeries have this pseudo-medieval royalty/aristocratic thing going on that reads a lot like a teenager trying to mimic the sorts of things they read in Tolkien.

Her characters aren't great either. This life-changing soul-deep friendship happens almost entirely off-page, in a sweep of skipping several years. It's a lot of tell, don't show, and nothing in any of these pages ever made me believe that these girls cared enough about each other to be life-changing, let alone to make the sorts of sacrifices and decisions they must at the end.

Finally, the book revolves in part around a no-good romance, a boy Phoebe is fatally attracted to and who manipulates her with great ease.

Except that anyone with eyes can see that he's a sleaze, and never once does he do anything in the least romantic. The whole appeal of the dark-and-dangerous romance is that there is /appeal/. This guy wasn't just creepy, he was /boring/. And weird. I wanted to punch him in the face a lot.

I do not recommend Extraordinary - and given the problems I had with just the writing, I don't recommend Nancy Werlin at all. In fact, I sent Impossible back unread. I couldn't stomach the thought of wading through that terrible dialog and that horrific characterization again.

71. Except the Queen by Jane Yolen - 3.5/5



I'm generally a fan of Yolen, and in theory all the details of this faerie tale are exactly right. So I'm not really sure why it is that I had a hard time getting through it, or enjoying it.

Yolen's characters are solid - the two sisters banished from Faerie to make their way in the world of humans in very different places are interesting, their letters to each other are engaging, and they have a very definite growth arc that is laudable.

The people they meet in the world - ranging from Baba Yaga to an exceptional girl plagued by a dark curse - are well-drawn and provide a forward-thrust to the narrative.

The plot is satisfactory, the writing is good, and Yolen remains a wonderfully descriptive author.

It just felt a bit flat to me for some reason - as though, although I could appreciate these things and these characters, none of them really held any emotional appeal or draw for me.

I'd recommend it, if you like the genre - it's very different in that it tells the story from the frivolous faerie point of view rather than the unsuspected human pov - but probably not all that strongly. I wish I knew more concretely why.

72. Matched by Allyson Condie - 4/5



A well-crafted young adult dystopian novel with an engaging romance and fantastic characters.

Matched is not anything special when it comes to the actual dystopian world - plenty of novels, young adult and adult alike, have envisioned a world in which people exchange freedom and personal choice for the happiness of 'perfection.' There's nothing particularly unique or unexpected here along those lines.

What there is, however, is a version of that dystopia that engages and interests you, one that breathes itself into life through details, strong description, and most importantly, through characters who are fully-drawn, who you root for even when you don't quite know what they're doing, who you want desperately to be happy.

The centerpiece of this story is 17-year-old Cassie, who is thrilled when she is Matched with her best friend, Xander. But a glitch in the system shows her someone else's face for a few seconds, and she can't leave it alone - she's drawn to Ky and to what his unusual past means. Through him, she's also drawn to question things she'd always taken for granted. She starts to see a bigger world - more importantly, she starts to /want/ it.

It's been a long time since I've read a young adult romance that has so thoroughly captivated me - and I appreciate that Condie manages to make all three sides of this triangle complicated and complex, so that it's never quite clear what the best result /really/ is. More importantly, it's been a /very/ long time since I've read a young adult romance where the relationships feed the plot so nicely, where the growing connection between these people has such lovely ramifications, where each encounter draws the world larger and richer.

I enjoyed this book a lot and read it very quickly - I'll pass it along to others, especially those who are currently enjoying other dystopias with strong central female characters, like The Hunger Games.

73. Just Listen by Sarah Dessen - 4/5



Another book focusing on the aftermath of a teenage rape, Just Listen is pretty powerful, with rich characters that bring the struggles of high school, friends, popularity, and being alone to life. Dessen is a very good writer with a good ear for high school dialog, and while Just Listen isn't quite up there with Speak, it is thoughtful and powerful.

I have Except the Queen in my TBR pile here at home--must get to it soon!

74. Armageddon Summer by Jane Yolen - 4/5



A short but powerful novel about two teens caught up in their parents' cult involvement in the year of the millennium, when they believe the world is going to end and climb a mountain in preparation to be saved.

This book does a wonderful job of capturing all the uncertainties of being a teenager - how fast things happen, how deep they feel, how it is both confusing and exhilarating to balance in that place between child and adulthood, between carefree and responsible. Most especially, it captures that moment when you start to think about a world bigger than yourself and what your parents have taught you. When you start to doubt - to doubt what you believe, to doubt your parents' infallibility, to doubt the existence of easy answers in the world. To doubt whether you want to doubt, or whether it is better, easier, safer to wrap yourself in belief.

I was a little wary going into this to see how Yolen and Coville handle the ultra-religious, but I'm pleased to say that the answer is 'deftly'. The variety of characters gives a variety of viewpoints. Our two main characters - Marina, who believes, and Jed, who doesn't - struggle with the complexities of who they are, what they believe, and what it means that the adults in their lives are so fully sold on something the rest of the world things of as crazy.

This book is sold as a romance, and there is that - but Marina and Jed are drawn to each other for bigger reasons, and those reasons are surprisingly fulfilling.

75. The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell - 4/5



I thoroughly enjoyed this hopeless/hopeful story of a young girl making her way through a post-zombie-apocalyptic U.S. in search of herself.

It's hard to put my finger on exactly why, or even to describe this book. It doesn't have a driving plot so much as a series of interesting occurrences and a driving character. It's the character - Temple, sometimes called Sarah Mary - who kept me interested. She doesn't remember a world before the zombies, and she doesn't understand locking yourself away from the beauty and wonder that's still in the world out of fear.

She also doesn't understand herself, and isn't sure she wants to. She carries a lot in her past, and she's not sure what that makes her. Watching the world through her eyes - figuring out who she is as opposed to who she sees herself as - is interesting. Bell is adept with the world and with the character, and he captures a particular sort of yearning in this tale that sticks with me.

The isn't horror or action or even bleak post-apocalyptic. It's something a little different, a little hard to put your finger on. But it's very enjoyable.

76. Finnikin of the Rock by Melina Marchetta - 4.5/5



A truly excellent and heartbreaking novel about a people exiled from their home nation and the fight of a young man and a mysterious girl to help return them a decade later.

Lumatere had once been prosperous and stable, with a bevy of Princesses and a Prince set to ensure the continuation of the royal line. But a betrayal ended with a massacred royal family, and the violence done to the people who lived in the forests of Lumatere in the aftermath led to a curse that locked the kingdom away from the rest of the world by an impenetrable barrier.

Those outside Lumatere at the time have been left homeless for the past decade. They are poverty-stricken, outcasts, plagued by fever and death and despair.

Finnikin's father was the captain of the guard and he grew up with the royal family. In the ten years since the exile, he has traveled with Sir Topher in an effort to ease the plight of displaced Lumatereans and, perhaps, to find them a new home.

Early in the story they pick up a mysterious girl named Evanjalin, a novice of the Goddess who can walk in dreams and claims that the prince Balthazar is still alive and will be able to break the curse. Thus starts what could be a predictable and safe tale of overcoming odds to restore the kingdom of Lumatere - but Marchetta deftly saves it from both.

She writes with a heart-breaking beauty that tackles everything from a growing romance that both parties are wary of to the very real cruelties experienced by the characters in her book. There are dark places here - the exiles of Lumatere do not feel fantastical. They feel very, very real, and your heart aches with every story of illness, homelessness, poverty, violence, and rape. More than any other book, this one has made me think about displaced people in our own world, which I think is a triumph for any fantasy tome.

The politics and magic of her world are both complicated and interesting, but the real shine here are her characters. Finnikin is nineteen at the book's beginning, Evanjalin is younger, and both are struggling with being thrust into leadership roles that they aren't sure they want, but that they know are completely necessary. They doubt each other, they doubt their advisors, they doubt themselves. Their choices are difficult, and the reader feels the weight of that. It is simply impossible not to cheer for them.

Finnikin of the Rock is one of those books that is surprising in its loveliness and almost shocking in its depth. I did not expect it to be what it is, and I did not expect it to linger in my mind like it did - it was a very, very welcome surprise.

77. The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N.K. Jemisin - 4/5



I was drawn into this book in a serious way, and I had difficulty letting it go.

The magic of The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms is largely in the world itself. Despite traits of the typical coming-of-age overcoming-odds sort of fantasy tale, the world felt unlike any other I'd ever read before.

I love the insertion of gods into everyday life as very real characters who are both relatable and foreign. I love the vision of a religion that is manifestly real, and how this affects the world and the magic in it, as well as the notions of balance and history. These were the threads that kept me coming back and turning pages. I wanted to see what would happen with all that power, and how Yeine would balance the new secrets and dangerous interactions she was facing.

The joy of this richly drawn history and culture is powerful - enough that I rated the book quite highly despite the problems, which seem more numerous in retrospect. The characters themselves are often a bit wishy-washy and unclear, without strong personal voices, especially secondary characters. I'm still not quite sure who Yeine is beyond the things that happen to her (although Nahadoth and Sieh are wonderful).

And the plot is solid enough, but it seems ironically pre-ordained. In a story about captive gods, I would have liked to have seen more clear-cut agency from our human protagonist. A little less fated-to-be, a little more I-make-my-own-way. And while I adored Yeine's interactions with the gods, I wish I had any idea at all of how she behaves with humans. I expected some court intrigue in this book and there's not really any at all. A lot of this book is about things that happen /to/ Yeine rather than things she's an active participant in.

All in all, I really enjoyed reading The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms and will absolutely pick up the sequel. Highly recommended for those who adore an interesting world, recommended with caveats to those who look for strong protagonists.

Yours is the third highly-rated review I've read of Finnikin of the Rock--it is going onto my wishlist immediately. And The hundred Thousand Kingdoms also sounds interesting.

I wishlisted Finnikin of the Rock after seeing several awesome reviews and recs of it elsewhere, and it languished there for quite awhile because the description doesn't really sound all that awesome or unique. I think I finally got it because I was in the mood for some squishy 'generic' fantasy - but it's not at all!

I hope you enjoy it!

127> I second the recommendation for The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms. The sequel just came out a few days ago and I'm looking forward to getting my hands on it.

Oh, I'm so glad you liked Finnikin of the Rock! I may have been the writer of one of the reviews/raves/recs of it that you read, I thought it was marvellous.

Hi Aerrin99,

Just wanted to drop in to say thank you. I read your review of Kushiel's Dart earlier this year, and remembered it when I saw a copy in a second hand bookshop recently. I may not have ever picked this up otherwise, and your comments helped me to see and appreciate things that I wouldn't otherwise have enjoyed as much.

I've enjoyed perusing your more recent reviews too - and have come away with another long list of recommendations to add to Mt. TBR.

> 130

It probably was you! It was fantastic, and it's proving to be one of the few books I've read this year that is really sticking with me. I liked it enough that even though the author's other books are outside my usual genre, I'm really thinking about picking them up.

> 131

Thank you! I'm glad you enjoy it. It makes me so happy to know someone gets use out of my reviews!

78. Ship Breaker by Paolo Bacigalupi - 4/5



A fantastic dystopian world with solid characters but a plot that sadly fizzles a bit near the end.

I was captivated through the beginning of this novel, where we met Nailer, a teenage 'shipbreaker' who works in a crew to strip ancient lumbering oil-burning ships of anything of value, like copper wiring or steel screws. He and his crewmates live in abject poverty on a beach regularly pounded by 'city killer' hurricanes, and it's difficult for them to imagine a different life. This world is fascinating and a little terrifying.

Nailer's world changes when a city killer leaves one of the sleek and modern - and very expensive - clipper ships crashed on their beaches. He finds a salvage there worth a great deal of money - but only if he makes the right choice and beats his alcoholic, abusive father to the punch.

The plot itself, which hinges around the swank 'Lucky Girl' and touches on the broader politics of money and energy and business, falls a bit flat. Once we moved beyond Nailer and his life on the beach, I cared less about the characters, although I'm still invested in Nailer's discovery of and desperate hope for a life beyond the extreme poverty of his beach.

I'll probably pick up the sequel because I'm interested to see the other side of this world - what the haves look like in tandem to the have-nots - and what Nailer does if he manages to secure his foothold there. But it's not a must-have.

79. Fables: Legends in Exile by by Bill Willingham - 3.5/5
80. Fables: Animal Farm by Bill Willingham - 4/5
81. Fables: Storybook Love by Bill Willingham - 4.5/5
82. Fables: March of the Wooden Soldiers by Bill Willingham - 5/5
83. Fables: The Mean Seasons by Bill Willingham - 4/5
84. Fables: Homelands by Bill Willingham - 4.5/5
85. Fables: Arabian Nights (And Days) by Bill Willingham - 3.5/5
86. Fables: Wolves by Bill Willingham - 4/5
87. Fables: Sons of Empire by Bill Willingham - 4/5
88. Fables: The Good Prince by Bill Willingham - 5/5
89. Fables: War and pieces by Bill Willingham -5/5
90. Fables: The dark ages by Bill Willingham - 4/5



There is no way I'm reviewing all of these individually, but I'll do them as a batch!

I'm new to graphic novels, and I've been slowly making my way through the ones that are 'stand out' in the genre according to my friends - Sandman, Y: The Last Man, The Walking Dead. I've enjoyed them all (especially The Walking Dead - you may have noticed I like zombies and apocalypses!).

But Fables is by far my favorite. By /far/. I ripped through these really quickly - and although they are graphic novels, that's still a pretty sizable amount of text. I think I spent pretty much all my freetime reading til I ran out of Fables to read.

Fables is an urban fantasy series that postulates a multi-verse where every legend, fairy tale, or fabled creature you've ever heard of - from traditional Snow White to more recent Alice in Wonderland - exists /somewhere/. Most of these 'verses have been taken over by a mysterious figure called the Adversary, and many fables have fled the the 'mundane' world where they live either in New York City or on the farm upstate, if they can't pass as human. They have their own laws, a general amnesty that has the Big Bad Wolf serving as sheriff, and a growing fondness for human things like television and guns. They've been here a few centuries. They have loved ones left at home. Many of them want to go back.

I'm not quite sure what it is that stands out here. The world is creative and interesting, but not blow-your-mind unique. I do like the twist on urban fantasy - that it pushes beyond 'faeries' and into fairy tales and legends from around the world (a fact that plays prominently in some later volumes). I like the sense of displaced peoples - it brings to mind Finnikin of the Rock in fact, in terms of how something so 'silly' could really hit home what it must be like to be an exile.

I /adore/ the conflict between characters caused by the general amnesty - the Big Bads live alongside the traditional fairytale princesses and there is a clear degree of strain there. There are some particularly interesting things done with this that I won't mention for fear of spoilers, but what could easily have been a gimmick is instead a real character-building bit.

What stands out most of all are the characters. Oh, I love these characters. My favorite changes with every issue, which to me is a sign that you have a really great and rich world full of awesome people. I love Bigsby, I love Snow, I love Boy Blue (/oh/, I love Boy Blue!), I love Fly, I even manage to love Prince Charming, the philanderer who loves conquest and power.

I love the way mythology twines in here, but also children's stories, morality tales, bits and pieces of legend. I love the Vorpal sword and every time it goes snicker-snack across the page. I love the witching cloak and the foresworn knight and the little old witch who tried to eat Hansel and Gretel. I absolutely adore how all of these things show up in early pages and end up playing central roles in the end. Fables is a masterpiece of planting the gun on stage in the first act in order to fire it in the third.

I was very caught up in a number of these storylines - cheering, hoping, doubting, mourning. At one place even crying. It's the first graphic novel series I've read where it had a serious emotional impact not once, but again and again and again.

You can see the highlights from my ratings - the later volumes tend to be stronger, in part because the neatly-drawn arc builds to a very, very satisfying crescendo and a lot of earlier bits pay off. But every one is a solid, enjoyable read. Even ones that felt like 'misses' in the scale of the rest are lots of fun.

I think I'm gushing a little. But seriously. If you like urban fantasy at all, pick these up. They are /wonderful/.

I've only read the one Fables (Storybook Love), and will *have* to track down the rest!

91. Monsters of Men by Patrick Ness - 4/5



A solid ending to the Chaos Walking trilogy - definitely one of the better trilogies I've read lately!

I wasn't as thrilled with this volume as I was with the first two - especially the second - but I felt satisfied with the ending and enjoyed the ride quite a bit.

For me, it didn't have quite the punch as the first and second, especially when it came to questioning morals and finding shades of grey and deciding how far you will go for love or revenge or freedom. It felt a little bit like it was retreading old ground, and it took an uncomfortable amount of time for relationships - Todd and Viola especially - to progress or change.

That said, the action is quick, I loved the shift to the Spackle PoV and the expanding understanding of their society, and the Mayor is still extremely creepy. Definitely recommended.

92. Storm Front by Jim Butcher - 3.5/5
93. Fool Moon by Jim Butcher - 3/5
94. Grave Peril by Jim Butcher - 3.5/5



I /want/ to like these books. I mean, I really, really do. They've been recommended to me by friends whose taste I trust. They hit a lot of my sweet spots - anyone reading this thread has heard me rave about urban fantasy and PIs (see Rosemary and Rue). I love magic. I love interesting worlds. I love a good caper.

But I have to admit, I don't actually like these books that much. I mostly just like the idea of them.

My problems:

- The capers and cases are middling to mediocre. They'd be solid enough to hold my interest if I loved the rest of the books, but for the most part they are twisty-turny sort of things that 1) are impossible to figure out unless you are Harry Dresden with magical sudden-sense-making abilities near the end of the book (ie, clues are not planted satisfactorily) and 2) often don't seem to make a ton of sense upon further examination. That is, things get pretty far-fetched as far as motivations go.

- The world is a bit flat. I never thought I'd say this for an urban fantasy book with secret wizards, werewolves, and vampires, but there is very little life to it, for me. It feels a little wooden and by-the-books. Maybe this is a result of having read too much urban fantasy (much of which I imagine owes some debt to Butcher but still), but nothing feels particularly fresh, new, or surprising.

- Most importantly, the characters drive me bonkers. Remember that movie and/or sitcom pratfall wherein something important is not communicated, or missed, or miscommunicated, or misunderstood, causing either hilarity or danger depending on your genre? It's used in these books. A lot. At least once a volume, often more.

Even better, it's almost always used by one of the women in Harry's life who refuses to trust/believe/listen to/acknowledge him despite having solid reason to do so. That is, the women in these books are portrayed as sexy, spunky, capable, and entirely irrational.

All of them. Repeatedly.

And this is probably the main problem - I can't stand Butcher's women, and I don't like Harry all that much because it's his voice telling us these things about these women (once we actually got a description using the phrase 'long of leg and full of lip'). These things might be forgiven in an author more capable - after all, not every protagonist needs to be truthful, or likable, or see the world the way I might wish. But the authorial control of general actions and conversations makes it worse, not better.

Although we are told that these women are good at their jobs, it all happens off camera - on camera we see an awful lot of dumb. The same goes for significant relationships. We get the one-night-flings or first-dates in the book, and the months-long dating off camera between the books, and Butcher is not deft enough to make the 'we totally are dating' relationship feel anything but wooden - I suspect it occurred off camera (and was swiftly destroyed again by new events) because he couldn't manage to write a convincing relationship between his characters.

In fact, come to think of it, Harry does not have a single convincing relationship with any character at all in these first three books, except possibly the spirit that lives in a skull who possesses a character voice so grating that I winced when I first read his dialog.

- Which brings me to my final point, which is that Butcher just is not a very good writer. We get the same exposition and description at the beginning of every book. I don't mean that exposition is necessary in every book - I mean that he reuses sentences, if not paragraphs. His dialog is often quite bad, especially for secondary characters. He tells-not-shows often (although not always - there are a few places where he really pulls out the description to good effect), especially when it comes to characters and their abilities, attitudes, and relationships.

I had in mind that I would give this series a rest and pick up the next ones a bit later, out of a desire to see if some of these things (which could be the mark of a raw author) improved as they went. I've heard so much praise for these books, and for Harry as a changing, flawed character, that I really wanted to. Except I think maybe I've just talked myself out of it.

Anyone else read these and have helpful thoughts?

hmm I am not sure I have helpful thoughts but for my two pennies worth it only get worse! I agree with a lot of what you say but I started off quite enjoying the Dresden books. I suppose as I have a softspot for downbeat detective stories but I did get quite bored for three main reasons: one the repetetive nature of the plot, two it stopped being a a fun PI story and started to be 'orphan with magical skills saves the world' and three the tell-not-show act really started to annoy me when Harry yet again gets a beating yet mgaically seems to continue on.

As to the gender thing again I think your are right, it's all about Harry and I don't think anyone comes off well when compared to him. It doesn't help he seems to avoid having many female characters around apart for the romance angle although I think he eventually gets a female apprentice so it might eventially even up gender wise.

I have waffled on enough I think!

Those were definitely helpful thoughts! The more I think about them, the more I suspect I probably won't pick them up again. I will just wait for the next Toby Daye book (Late Eclipses is due out in March, I think!) and call that my urban fantasy PI fix.

There are so many other things to read, after all!

95. The Shining by Stephen King - 5/5



My first 'classic' King read (I've read some of his more recent works, like Duma Key and Lisey's Story). I was very pleasantly surprised to find that The Shining is far more than a work of horror.

It is in fact a subtly written, profoundly moving psychological study of ghosts and demons of all sorts. King twines his themes - alcoholism, abuse, and raging tempers to match the supernatural aspects of ghosts, precognition, and telepathy - together with skill and grace, and it makes The Shining something really remarkable.

It's a long book, and it takes its time - I'd been reading for a good hour and a half before I hit the place the movie starts, with the infamous winding drive up into the isolation of the Colorado mountains.

But it does a lot with that time. It builds three characters so rich and richly complex that they feel intensely real, a fact that makes the climax at the end heart-racingly terrifying.

You spend a lot of time in their heads. You see Jack struggle with his violent inclinations, his addictions, his anger. You see Wendy agonizing over the right choices for her family, especially her son. You see Danny, a wonderfully-written five year old, try to come to terms with the things he sees that not everyone else does - and then later, with the horrors in the place he's now living.

This is a horror tale that really plays with the concept - there are absolutely supernatural forces at play in this book, but it also seems pretty clear that the real reason the horror plays out as it does is because of the monsters that live inside people, too.

King has a lovely, deft way with words here - he evokes character and place and emotion and event smoothly, richly, wonderfully. This is the sort of book that reminds you that this man is responsible not just for demon cars and bloody prom queens, but also The Shawshank Redemption and The Green Mile. King is, at his best, a truly talented author with a truly engrossing vision of humanity - which is, I think, what makes his horror so effective.

96. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare - 3.5/5
97. City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare - 4/5
98. City of Glass by Cassandra Clare 4/5



Doing these in a bundle, too. Clare's Mortal Instruments series has been on my radar for a very long time. I followed her lo, many years ago, when she was still in-progressing the Harry Potter fanfic that made her famous in those communities (I spent many a night putting off sleep reading chapters in fact), so it's fascinating to come to her published work and see the influences there.

The trilogy is solid, but not fantastic, with several quite predictable elements if you read a lot in any of these genres, but I completely see why they are such a hit in the teenage sector. Clare writes an excellent bad-boy-you-want-to-love and understands the power of a good love triangle (although I find the triangle complication - that the two 'in love' leads think they are brother and sister for two books - a bit squicky).

Fortunately, she also writes an engaging world with an engaging mythology, although none of it feels terribly surprising.

Basically there are solid bones here, and while it feels a bit forumlaic in places (especially regarding the main bad guy, his return, his former circle, and the allegiances of various characters), it is at least a well-done formula. I like the characters, if I were younger I'd want to /be/ the characters, and there's a lot of just flat out fun in her world.

One thing I especially enjoy is that Clare introduces teens to a lot of literary and mythological references in a pretty engaging way. Sometimes this means that her teenage characters are bit a smarter than they ought to be, but I'm still a really huge fan of bringing teenagers classic poetry and literature in a form they'll appreciate. She also stretches their vocabulary in a pretty accessible way on a fairly regular basis.

I'm kind of surprised these haven't seen movies yet - they seem ready made for it, from merchandizeable bits and pieces to the brooding male hunk to the 'Team Jace' and 'Team Simon' tees.

At least this heroine engages her brain once in awhile.

99. Cryoburn by Lois McMaster Bujold - 4/5



I am such a huge fan of these books that I cannot possibly overstate it. I love Miles Vorkosigan et al to itty, bitty little pieces and I would fall on any book featuring him like a rabid piranha.

That said.

Cryoburn, the most recent in the series, is a fairly solid caper that holds your interest, but doesn't captivate it. I'm sorry to say that I think this particular series with this particular character at its helm is starting to show its age. Miles is 39, grown, respectable, and while he's still got that fantastically manic mind, he's also got a wife, a host of children, and a bigger sense of responsibility than risk.

These are all good things - we spent a long time watching Miles become this person, and it was a gorgeous journey. In fact, I can't think of another character journey I've loved even half as much. The shift from Warrior's Apprentice Miles through Mirror Dance and Memory and toward the Miles we know now is amazingly rich, with a wonderful backdrop of characters, culture, and technology to keep him company. But it feels now that he's winding down.

Cryoburn is a book set on a planet that revolves around death. Or not-death. Most of the business on the planet revolves around cryogenically freezing and storing people. As such, it's a great tool for Bujold to explore notions of death, of generations come and gone, of the shadow of great men and those who stand in it. We spent many of the early books of the series watching Miles try to wiggle his way out from his father and grandfather's sizable shadows - now Miles himself has grown an impressive one.

Bujold is a deft enough writer that even a fun caper and mystery book has these lovely touches of character and philosophy, but there's not a lot of character change or growth here.

The book gains most of its strength in retrospect when

GIGANTIC SPOILER

the aftermath drabbles show us not the aftermath of Miles' usual antics, but of the unexpected news of his father's death. Suddenly, all that musing about generations and change and life and death feels so much more poignant - and Aral Vorkosigan, who has been a secondary figure in most of the novels, but a very important one - feels both gigantic and very, very small.

Do not read the last pages in a public place. I made that mistake. And the final 100 words reduced me to tears with an unexpected efficiency. Absolutely beautiful, and the sort of emotional gut-punch you can only get after living with these characters for years.

If you have never read these books, do. Now. Yesterday. I do not care if you think you aren't a sci fi fan or, as my father puts it, 'don't like spaceships'. The Vorkosigan books are science fiction for people who don't like science fiction, full of fantastic characters, worlds, adventures, hijinks, and an amazing level of energy.

Now I have a desperate desire to go reread Warrior's Apprentice or Memory.

But first, my ARC copy of Across the Universe, which seems strangely fitting for my 100th book this year.

#99 sounds good. I only ever read a couple of the early Vorkosigan novels and rather liked them, so I'm not sure why I haven't made swifter progress in reading the series (probably because there are just so many books TBR!) I think I'll definitely have to read a few more this coming year.

If you haven't made it to Mirror Dance and Memory, move them up up your pile! Memory is one of my all-time favorite books, I think.

I've never read any Vorkosigan novels, but I'm putting them on the wishlist now!

\o/

I hope you love them!

There is an enternal debate among my friends as to whether you are best off to start with Shards of Honor (Typically packaged with Barrayar as Cordelia's Honor - most the books are primarily sold as omnibus these days) or Warrior's Apprentice (First in Young Miles).

I'm a chronological completist, so I did Cordelia's Honor, but the first book especially is very different from the others, and I didn't like it much at first (although I do in retrospect). The first Miles proper book is Warrior's Apprentice, and it grabs you fast, but there's something to be said for having his backstory already in place.

Can't wait to see what you think!

Very nice review of Cryoburn!

Thank you!

#146> Thanks, I was getting rather muddled trying to work out where to start. :) Cordelia's Honor it is!

Haha, you're welcome!

I like Barrayar (the second half of the omnibus) quite a bit, but Shards of Honor only interests me as the beginning story of characters who become truly remarkable later.

But Bujold's world of Barrayar is really fascinating and a lot of fun. I hope you enjoy them!

I also enjoyed the Cryoburn review.

Memory is likewise one of my favourite books - although I really just love (and frequently re-visit) the whole arc from Mirror Dance to Civil Campaign. Great comfort reading with thought-provoking depths.

146 - I read The Warrior's Apprentice first and thought it was okay. After that I read Cordelia's Honor and really liked it (the other book in the Vorkosiganverse that I've read is Falling Free which I believe is a kind of prequel).

Funnily enough I liked Shards of Honor the most out of all of them. Generally I'm a little sceptical about Feudalism in space type settings, because I can't help feeling that it really is a horribly regressive social system and its always in the back of my head that the hero/heroine is the beneficiary of an exploitative, immoral socio-economic set-up. Add to this the fact that Miles in The Warrior's Apprentice is a mercenary to boot and the discomfort grows. That is why I liked Shards of Honor so much, because you get an outsider's view, you see the culture clash between two different social systems, and the protagonist's struggle to adjust to this social system. It showed an awareness of the issues with the standard feudal military sf setting that many military sf authors simply lack.

Yeah, Falling Free is an odd-out book in the Vorkosiverse (much like Ethan of Athos) and it's been so long since I read it that I can't really say much else beyond that.

I really love Bujold's Feudalism in Space - largely because, as you mention, she acknowledges right off and frankly that that's what she's writing, and there is a lot of clash.

The later books see a lot of change and shift in Barrayar's social structure resulting both from the end of the Time of Isolation (which occurred I believe when Aral was a young boy) and in no small part from Cordelia's not-inconsiderable influence. It's rarely the flat out focus of the books, as Miles rather than Cordelia remains the main character, but it's an ongoing and interesting theme - what happens to this sort of society when suddenly confronted with technology like cloning and uterine replicators and equal rights not only for women but also for various genetically modified human beings and experiments, clones, etc.

Bujold actually manages a number of really fascinating worlds, I think.

100. Across the Universe by Beth Revis - 3.5/5



My 100th book for the year! As you can see from my rating, I liked it rather less than seems to be the general consensus (I think my 3.5 is the lowest rating thus far). Primarily, this is because I feel like it takes the easy 'dystopia is bad' shortcuts and because I've read enough in the genre to know medicore when I see it.

If you want YA dystopia, pick up The Hunger Games (although they are not flawless in this department either) any day.

Review:

A solid enough young adult book about a generational spaceship filled with mysteries and bearing the unsurprising earmarks of a dystopia, but there's nothing particularly grabbing here, and over-simplification makes the dystopian-lessons-learned problematic.

The premise: Teenage Amy boards a generation ship headed to establish Earth's first colony, along with her parents, who are essential personnel. She's woken from her sleep 50 years early but hundreds of years after she was frozen, and everyone she knows is still sleeping. Worse, someone is leaving frozen passengers out to thaw - and die. She must adapt to the ship, solve the mysteries, and determine her future.

To start, the positives: Across the Universe is well-written, a fact that helps the confines of the Godspeed feel very real and very confining. The first several pages, which describe the process of cryogenic freezing, made me wince with their details. I can, for the most part, feel the ship as place, which is important for a story that revolves in part around how no one can leave.

The main characters are solid enough. I liked Amy a great deal, and Elder's struggles and questions felt genuine and were interesting. The romance feels a little pasted on on Amy's part, but I very much adored Elder's fascination with all the ways in which she is different from everything he's ever known.

The plot is fast-paced and interesting enough, especially for younger readers who are unlikely to have read much in this genre before. However, if you've read a dystopia or two in your day, you'll start to note the negatives, including the fact that most of it is fairly predictable and none of the surprises are very surprising.

The negatives:
The secondary characters are cheaply and shallowly drawn. This means that the villains of the piece come off are cardboard cut-outs with very little nuance or understanding. To my mind, this one fact is what can take a dystopia from mediocre to great - how much do we deal with and acknowledge the causes driving the villains? How easy are the answers our heroes come to? You do see their side of the story -- but the problem is that their side of the story is pretty darn compelling, and instead of exploring how to deal with that they are shoved aside by the 16-year-old-heroes for some pretty simplistic 'if everyone is just freeeeeee life will be better!' ideals.

Which brings me to the negatives of the plot. The reason dystopias work is that they show us something we are afraid of - usually excessive control - and start to chip off the paint and see the nightmare that's underneath the bright and shiny. The sacrifices required to maintain it, the love of power, the suppression of difference for its own sake, the loss of truly human emotions or virtues.

Across the Universe tries to do this. It focuses on knocking out differences and individual thought and brushes past the things that make us human and tells us firmly that the things happening on this ship are Bad. But it does it in an almost thoughtless way - it lists difference as a primary cause of discord and then shows us that difference is to be cherished but the book never stops to acknowledge that Eldest, who spouts this 'bigoted' principle to Elder, is /right/.

He is not right in the application, but he is right in the assessment - through history, difference has been a primary cause of discord. What the book fails to do is to suggest that there are other ways to deal with that fact than simple suppression. Instead, it suggests that he's wrong from top to bottom.

It also expresses a worry about the survival of people who have no hope

SPOILERS FROM HERE TO THE END

because their engine has been slowing, and they personally will never see land, and neither will their children - it will be several generations more than expected, if at all.

But it ignores the fact that the people who boarded this ship in the first place /also/ had no hope of seeing land. It was a 300 year voyage. They boarded it knowing that was it. And you've got to think that at some point, 10 generations down the line, people would not really remember how to dream for wide open skies /anyway/.

There are a number of small instances like this - and in the end, of course, the teenagers find out the secrets and take over the ship and start a new way of life-- and the book completely ignores the complicated reality of human nature, of difference, of survival in a small space on limited resources, everyone is happy (or at least content) to know the truth, violence does not resurge, no one is unsettled to find a 16 year old in charge of them even once they've regained their minds, and everyone is happy to continue their jobs.

It's all just too simplistic. And it brushes so close to greatness by giving Eldest a very solid and interesting rationale for his actions that it's just hard not to be disappointed in the end.

Congratulations on reaching 100! Shame it wasn't a better book for you, but at least it's a great review. :)

Congrats on reading 100 books!

Thanks!

Wookie - I suppose I can't complain too much, since a lot of my reading was fantastic this year!

Congratulations on reaching the 100 book mark for the year, and with such interesting reads too!

some great reviews!! I'm definitely going to give Finnikin of the Rock and Ship Breaker (which sounds absolutely marvelous from a world building standpoint!) a go, plus I've got the first by Patrick Ness and Cassandra Clare lined up...

so much to read!!

101. Lips Touch: Three Times by Laini Taylor - 5/5



I think this is my last book of the year, as my boyfriend is visiting until Jan 6 so I'm likely to be doing very little reading between now and Saturday! A few short of my numbers last year, but by and large not too shabby!

And it was a fantastic last read, too!

Lips Touch: Three Times is a wonderfully delightful set of two short stories and a novella. They read like dark, delicious fairy tales, and although the title evokes romance and each tale revolves around an important kiss, the tales are actually richer and more complex than you might think.

The first, Goblin Fruit, is a delightful modern retelling of Christina Rosetti's poem "The Goblin Market". Kizzy is a fantastic heroine almost any teen girl will identify with, and Taylor evokes the voice, worries, fears, and desires of teenagers with effortless ease. The last words of the story had me blinking and rereading quickly - did that /really/ happen?

The second, Spicy Little Curses, is the story of an ambassador to hell (of the Indian, not Christian, variety) who bargains with a demon for children's souls. Sometimes the bargains have bitter prices - like the curse she lays on a newborn girl. The sound of her voice will kill all who hear it. Every character in this story - the ambassador, the demon, the cursed girl, the soldier who loves her - is wonderful, and the story builds a dread in your stomach for the myriad of possible endings even as you root for your favorites.

The last, the novella (Hatchling), is easily my favorite, and it is just a gorgeous example of world and mythology building. Taylor crafts a magnificent world to hang her story on in about a hundred pages, and she does it with a deftness and thoroughness any fantasy or sci fi author out there ought to envy.

The story itself is dark in places. I don't want to give away details because the slow unfolding of the world is delicious and I'd hate to cheat anyone of that. But the darkness makes the ending so very powerful. This is a story that can really move you.

Taylor is a deft author with a knack for characters and worlds and delicious description. I will definitely be watching her.

My thread for next year is here: http://www.librarything.com/topic/104939

Come by and keep me company!