After re-reading Lords and Ladies, I gave into the urge to re-read the rest of Terry Pratchett’s Witch sub-series of Discworld books, starting with the next, Maskerade. This is probably funnier if you know Phantom of the Opera well, or even at all—I’ve seen it, but I don’t remember a thing about it. However, though it’s much lighter than the books it comes between, it’s still an enjoyable enough diversion, perhaps especially when sleep-deprived.
Thurber, James: 13 Clocks, The
I read James Thurber’s The 13 Clocks from the library years ago, liked a lot, and then forgot almost everything about it during the time it was on my “look for in used bookstores” list. It’s just been reprinted, and Chad bought me a copy as a gift.
I was pleased to rediscover that it is indeed a lovely book, though I am puzzled why Neil Gaiman’s introduction asserts that it’s not a fairy tale. I mean, this is the first paragraph:
Once upon a time, in a gloomy castle on a lonely hill, where there were thirteen clocks that wouldn’t go, there lived a cold, aggressive Duke, and his niece, the Princess Saralinda. She was warm in every wind and weather, but he was always cold. His hands were as cold as his smile and almost as cold as his heart. He wore gloves when he was asleep, and he wore gloves when he was awake, which made it difficult for him to pick up pins or coins or the kernels of nuts, or to tear the wings from nightingales. He was six feet four, and forty-six, and even colder than he thought he was. . . . His nights were spent in evil dreams, and his days were given to wicked schemes.
Also there is a prince, spells, impossible quests, and at least two indescribable things.
I would prefer that Saralinda were just a little less soppy, but the joy of the language almost entirely carries me past that; this is one of the rare books that I want to read aloud. If only FutureBaby would deign to arrive, already . . . (The illustrations, by Marc Simont, are also charming.)
McDermott, J.M.: Last Dragon
I received an ARC of J.M. McDermott’s Last Dragon through LibraryThing’s Early Reviewers program. Unfortunately this book confirmed that I should stop requesting things from that program without knowing more about them. “Hey, a fantasy novel, why not?” is insufficient reason to get a book, especially since flipping through it in the store would have made it clear that this was not a book for me.
So this is not really a review, because I only made it through the first chapter. The dealbreaker was that all the dialogue is in italics, which as a practical matter I found too much work to read. If the book had grabbed me right away, I might have been able to push through regardless, but it didn’t. The prose and narration are deliberately fractured, as the opening paragraph indicates:
My fingers are like spiders drifting over memories in my webbed brain. The husks of the dead gaze up at me, and my teeth sink in and I speak their ghosts. But it’s all mixed up in my head. I can’t separate lines from lines, or people from people. Everything is in this web, Esumi. Even you. Even me. Slowly the meat falls from the bones until only sunken cheeks and empty space between the filaments remind me that a person was there, in my head. The ghosts all fade the same way. They fade together. Your face fades into the face of my husband and the dying screams of my daughter. Esumi, your face is Seth’s face, and the face of the golem.
And then the narrator is remembering being a young woman in a strange city, and an unpleasant story her uncle told her, and for some reason even though she is very pale-skinned and from the far north, her teacher was called sensei, and I just couldn’t get any traction.
Since I couldn’t read this, I’m passing it on; see my LiveJournal for details.
Brust, Steven: (111) Jhegaala
I’ll say right up front that I have very little useful to say about Steven Brust’s latest Vlad Taltos book, Jhegaala. This is the long-awaited story of Vlad back East, set shortly after Phoenix, and as a result of its position in the series, my principal reaction is that I want to re-read Athyra and maybe Orca too, to see how they look in light of Jhegaala. (The Dragaeran Timeline (spoilers, obviously) suggests that the book is narrated between the two, which makes emotional if not necessarily logistical sense to me.)
This book is a prime example of why I make a mental distinction between plot and story. The plot is a mystery whose solution (a) is deliberately not explained until the end, even though Vlad has arrived at it earlier and (b) doesn’t particularly interest me in and of itself. The story, as in most if not all the other Vlad books, is Vlad’s development; and while that is of great interest to me, I’m having trouble fitting into my conception of his overall arc. (This happens with some of the other Vlad books, too; I love Dzur for its story, but two years later, have forgotten pretty much all of its plot, whereas Orca sticks with me for both.)
Miscellaneous other notes: as would be expected from its chronological position in the series, this is a bleak book. It works very well thematically in terms of its title House, which represents metamorphosis and endurance. And I really liked the Nero Wolfe joke.
Brockmann, Suzanne: (13) Into the Fire
I have to give Suzanne Brockmann credit for this: she is not afraid to write things that will displease her fans. Her latest, Into the Fire, has three plot threads, and all three are very likely to annoy someone.
Actually, the very fact of three plot threads is enough to annoy me, mildly, as I think the book is overstuffed. But, to take each of them in turn:
First, there is a romantic suspense plot involving Murphy, whose wife was murdered several years ago back in Hot Target. The person responsible for his wife’s murder has turned up dead, he’s a suspect, and he can’t remember what he was doing at the time. This thread was just not going to work for me, because romances almost inevitably give me the impression that they are reducing dead lovers to mere obstacles in the way of One True Love, which annoys me. And while I am abnormally sensitive to this (for no reason that I can tell), I’m particularly uncomfortable with the way Brockmann characterizes the characters here.
Second, there’s more in the tangled *takes deep breath* Tess, Nash, Decker, Sophia, Dave, and Gillman . . . thing . . . which gives some answers but also introduces more questions and yet another character. Added all together, I’m neutral on these developments, but I suspect most of Brockmann’s fans will not be.
Third, there is new plot for Izzy Zanella, who was prominently featured in Into the Storm. I like Izzy, but this strikes me as Kitchen-Sink Angst, plus I have deep doubts about the last heaping of Angst (spoilers for the very end, see sidebar for ROT-13: vg’f vzzrqvngryl boivbhf sebz ybbxvat ng n gjragl-sbhe-jrrx zvfpneevrq srghf, rkcyvpvgyl fgngrq gb or oyhr-fxvaarq orpnhfr bs gur zvfpneevntr, gung gur sngure jnf abg oynpx? Jura gurer ner zhygv-enpvny nqhygf bhg gurer jub nera’g arprffnevyl vqragvsvnoyr nf fhpu ng svefg tynapr?). And aspects of this are likely to be controversial apart from the overall outcome.
On a positive note, Brockmann continues to populate her books with diverse characters: Murphy is multi-racial, while one new character is deaf and another is in her late forties. (Though I’d be even happier if at least one of her romances involved two non-white characters.) And her books are unquestionably fast smooth reads.
One final comment: this may not be the best book to read while pregnant.
Novik, Naomi: (05) Victory of Eagles (spoilers)
By request, a spoiler post to discuss Naomi Novik’s Victory of Eagles. The non-spoiler post is here.
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Novik, Naomi: (05) Victory of Eagles
In Naomi Novik’s Victory of Eagles, the fifth Temeraire book, Napoleon has finally invaded England. While I was thrilled with the wider view of the world that Empire of Ivory provided, and was initially unenthused about a return to a tight focus on the Napoleonic Wars, I was won over pretty quickly.
First, there’s the characterization: this book adds Temeraire’s point-of-view, and it’s a pleasure to see his growth—and, of course, Laurence’s after the end of the last book. Second, there’s the improved pacing: Napoleon lands at the end of the first chapter, and it seems to me that the rest of the book also moves at a brisk clip. This is particularly welcome since much of the book is not exactly cheerful, as would be expected from the subject matter.
My only quibble is that there’s one character that I don’t have a good handle on, whose importance is out of proportion to the amount of page time, and so ends up feeling a little more . . . convenient, I guess . . . than is ideal. Perhaps I should re-read the relevant bits of the series to see if that helps. Other than that small matter, though, I found this quite a satisfying and enjoyable book.
Baker, Kage: (08) The Sons of Heaven (spoilers)
This post contains BOOK-DESTROYING SPOILERS for The Sons of Heaven. The non-spoiler post is here.
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Baker, Kage: (08) The Sons of Heaven
Well, I’ve finished Kage Baker’s Company series with The Sons of Heaven. What can I say about it outside of spoiler protection?
- I really, really hate what happens with Mendoza. Only having read nine prior books kept me reading past chapter 7.
- Unfortunately a lot of the resolution of the overall plot depends on Mendoza’s thread, and so it’s hard for me to decide whether I find the conclusion satisfactory. Certain elements of it, sure, but overall? Can’t really say.
- Similarly, there are a lot of players to keep track of by this point, and the book spends a lot of time shifting among them. I think some of them might deserve more time, and a late addition was gratuitous, but again, can’t really say.
- Though I’m pretty sure that all of the major questions get answered in terms of what happens to everyone and so on.
- As someone who is (1) an adopted child and (2) 39 weeks pregnant, I find the attitude the novel takes toward children really very peculiar indeed.
Thus, between the pacing issues I’ve been mentioning and the serious problems I had with this book, I can’t recommend the series. But a quick look around the Internet suggests that most people’s reactions were far more positive than mine, so, well, who knows?
A spoiler post follows.
Baker, Kage: (07) The Machine’s Child (spoilers)
This post contains BOOK-DESTROYING SPOILERS for Kage Baker’s The Machine’s Child. Here’s the non-spoiler post.
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