Wednesday, January 25, 2017

Beguilement by Lois McMaster Bujold

3.5 STARS

The Sharing Knife - Book 1

This book was a surprise to me.  I wasn't expecting quite as much romance.  I think part of that is that a good friend of mine really loved these books and she's not so much of a romance nor a fantasy reader.

The first half of the book tells the fantasy tale of Fawn, a young woman farmer, who is running away from her home and family, and Dag, a veteran Lakewalker patroller possessed of some very interesting magic.  They have adventures fighting the malice - bad, awful, deadly, gross horrors that threaten their world.

Then, close to the middle of the book, we turn to the more romantic side of the tale as the two begin to get to know each other and fall in love.  Of course, their vastly different cultures hold myriads of pitfalls and difficulties, never mind their big difference in age.  But it's really a fun romance, I thought.  I enjoyed it alot and I also enjoyed how Dag was able to be Fawn's protector with her family and how he encouraged her to be her own woman.

I only gave the book 3.5 stars because it felt rather unfinished.  It seems, as I discovered near the end of my reading, that Beguilement is actually the first half of a full book,  The second book, Legacy, is the other part of the volume.  Beguilement is about Fawn's people and how they react to the could and it seems that Legacy will be about how Dag's people will react.  And you know... I've grown to kind of resent books that do this.  I tend to feel tricked.  In retrospect, I wish I'd maybe waited to read this until I had book 2 in hand - but now I shall wait until it goes on sale.  :)

Monday, January 23, 2017

Some Reading Stats for 2016

One of the book blogs I follow, Stuck In A Book, did a post about Reading Stats for 2016 and I thought it was interesting, so I'm stealing most of the categories and doing my own list.  :)   For shits and giggles as they say.  :)

Number of books read
97.  The last few years I've shot for 50, figuring a book a week is an eminently do-able number and won't discourage me if I read lots of bricks or just fall behind.

Male/female authors
23 male authors and 74 female to the best of my knowledge.  :)

Fiction/non-fiction
96 Fiction and one non-fiction which is Andy Cohen's book, The Andy Cohen Diaries.

Most-read author
Louise Penny.  I read her first 11 Inspector Gamache mysteries over the course of the year and still have the latest one left to read.  I'm saving it.  :)

Re-reads
No Re-reads.

New-to-me authors
31

Oldest book read
Sing the Four Quarters by Tanya Huff - published in 1994.  I seriously wonder how I missed this!  :)

Newest book read
Glass Tidings by Amy Jo Cousins - published December 5, 2016.

Most disappointing book
The Bollywood Bride by Sonali Dev.  I had been so looking forward to this romance and it came highly touted from some of my favourite authors as well as the majority of romance readers on my Twitter feed, but oh... I really disliked it.  A lot.  My thoughts on it, and there were many, are here.

Most frustrating book
Again, I'd have to say The Bollywood Bride.  See above.  :)

Most surprising delight
I would have to say Traitor's Blade by Sebastien de Castell.  It was a guts call and I'd never even heard of the author before and I just adored it!  AND subsequently the next two books in the series!

The book I’d been nagged about for ages
Nagged about is pretty strong, but the books I kept seeing recced in all my online places were the afore-mentioned The Bollywood Bride and then The Hundred Thousand Kingdoms by N. K. Jemisin.  Thankfully, the Jemisin book was much, much, MUCH better for me than the other one.  :)

Best title
How the Light Gets In by Louise Penny.  This title, not only is it from a Leonard Cohen (RIP) song, Anthem, but it's a perfect, perfect title for this installment of the mysteries of Armand Gamache. :)

Worst title
None of them are really bad, but I'd have to say of all the books I read in 2016, it'd have to be Percepliquis by Michael J. Sullivan simply because it's an unwieldy mouthful.

Animals in book titles
Hmm... Nature of the Beast by Louise Penny, Fish Out of Water by Amy Lane, Black Dog Blues by Rhys Ford, Tequila Mockingbird by Rhys Ford,

Strange things that happened in books I read in 2016
I read a lot of fantasy.  All KINDS of strange things happen in those books!  *LOL*  


Sunday, January 22, 2017

Forty Words for Sorrow by Giles Blunt

3.5 STARS

John Cardinal - Book 1

I read this first of the John Cardinal mystery thrillers to get ready for the 6-episode mini-series (Cardinal) that's coming on CTV this coming week and I'm glad I did.  The introduction of Detective John Cardinal and his new partner Lise Delorme is a pretty good read.  It didn't blow me away, but it certainly held my interest and has me looking forward to the show, which BTW, is perfectly cast with Billy Campbell and Karine Vanasse as Cardinal and Delorme respectively.

The mystery of who is committing the murders lasts until barely halfway, so this is more of a how are they going to catch 'em thriller, as well as being a character-driven narrative as we learn about John Cardinal and his somewhat shady past.  I liked Cardinal and I liked Delorme, even though we don't get to know a great deal about her.

The crimes in Forty Words for Sorrow are rather gruesome, which isn't really my favourite thing and why I only rated it 3.5 stars instead of 4.

Also, I love that it's set in Canada, a vaguely disguised North Bay, Ontario. :)

Will I read more?  Oh yes, I think so.

Friday, January 20, 2017

The Incrementalists by Steven Brust and Skyler White

2 STARS

The Incrementalists - Book 1

What the HELL did I just read?

The premise sounded really cool - as writer John Scalzi said "Secret societies, immortality, murder mysteries and Las Vegas all in one book? Shut up and take my money." But the execution... oh, the execution...

The story is told from the first person POV of two characters, Phil and Renée 'Ren', and they alternate, one character taking up the tale in just about the next line from the other. And that's okay, I'm fine with multiple points of view in either 3rd or 1st person.

But what they did for the most part was prattle on about their 'mind powers', their histories, their concerns, their lies, their questionable emotions... dear God, it was like a huge circle jerk!

I honestly don't really know what's going on - it's all rather vague and confused in my brain and I don't think I'm an especially dense person. This book left me feeling rather dumb. What was the point? I have to say, I was left with a lack of desire to run out and get book 2, that's for sure.

Usually I enjoy Steven Brust - his Phoenix Guard books are among my favourites - but this one? Just felt like he and his friend were postulating their philosophical and political thoughts disguised as dialogue - inner and outer - of their characters. And it was confusing and quite often boring.

So, sadly, this book was a disappointment.

Monday, January 16, 2017

Mad Lizard Mambo by Rhys Ford

4.5 STARS

Kai Gracen Series - Book 2

I think that Kai has just become my favourite of all of Rhys' heroes.  :)

I loved the first of the series, Black Dog Blues, and I think I loved this one even more.  :)  We learn a lot more about Kai (and that twist near the end took me RIGHT by surprise) and thank heaven he's still the snarky smart-ass I enjoyed so much in book one.

I really like how the relationship between Kai and Ryder (the elvin lord) is growing and taking its own sweet time.  This series is about the adventure and the action and the mission and about Kai growing as a person - or do I say being? - not sure.  :)  The 'romance' of Kai and Ryder is there, the attraction is very obvious and acknowledged, but it's not the main thrust of the series.  The banter between the two is some of the most amusing and enjoyable of any book in any genre I can remember reading.

I feel like we've barely scratched the surface of this post-apocalyptic fantasy world and I searched Rhys' website to see when the next one is coming... there HAS to be a next one!  Especially after the revelations at the end of this one.  But, I couldn't find anything!!

So yes, I loved this book and I love this series and Rhys Ford remains one of my favourite go-to authors.  :)

Friday, January 13, 2017

Black Wolves by Kate Elliott

5 STARS

The Black Wolves Trilogy - Book 1

I.  LOVED.  THIS.  BOOK.

Black Wolves has been on many 'best of' lists since it's publication back in November of 2015 and I'm here to say it's totally earned.  :)  This is epic fantasy done right.  780 pages of it and none of it was tedious.  (That can happen a lot even in the best of epic fantasies.)

The setting of Black Wolves is an Asian-flavoured world as we're seeing more and more of lately - and that's okay because it's fresh and often surprising in unexpected ways.  Yes, it's reminiscent of Ken Liu's The Grace of Kings but I think a large part of that is that I've read few fantasies in this setting.  Kate Elliott's world-building is amazing!  She brings this world to life with deft artistry - really! - we learn through the actions, thoughts, speech and memories of the characters and it never feels burdensome and as a reader I was never tempted to skim.  

The characters were delightful and even the bad ones had depth and motivation and shadows and even lightness at times.  I LOVED that two of the main antagonists were a woman in her fiftes - late fifties, I would say, and a man of over seventy!  And they're both wonderfully vibrant and wise and rigid and biased... and their bones ache.  :)

The young characters were just as marvelous in their own ways.  We grow with them and feel their triumphs and their pains and their uncertainties and their sometimes blind beliefs.  They all rang true to me.  And there is still so much more to learn about them and more for them to grow (or not in some cases, I guess.).

I am in awe of the plot.  How the author managed all those twists and turns and didn't really give anything away until the story wanted it given away was masterful.  I was surprised time after time.  I had suspicions, sure, everyone will I think, but the few times my suspicions were confirmed there was always a little thing, a little twist that I had never even thought of!  Amazing plotting.  Amazing.

This is a terrific beginning to a new fantasy epic and I can't WAIT until the next book in the trilogy comes out!

If you loved A Song of Ice and Fire and The Dandelion Dynasty, you must read this book!  You won't be sorry.

Saturday, January 7, 2017

Uprooted by Naomi Novik

4.5 STARS

Oh, this was a much, much, MUCH better read than my previous one!

Uprooted has it's roots in what I have to assume is Polish/Slavic legend and mythology.  The story, to me, has that almost familiar feel to it.  Not instantly recognisable but it's not totally alien, if you know what I mean.

The book is written in the first person POV and the heroine is a young, seventeen year-old, girl and is the basically the story of how she is chosen to serve The Dragon (the local wizard) for the next 10 years. As the tale progresses, we learn about the evil that lives in The Woods and how The Dragon works to keep it at bay and the people of the valley safe.  But it's really far more complex than that.

Agnieszka has no little power of her own, it turns out and it's different from any type of magic that is currently known.  Yes, she's young, but she doesn't read at all like the heroines of those YA fantasies that I abhor.  She's a village girl who knows the difference between flights of fancy and real life.  She learns and grows throughout the book, but to me she always retained a little bit of the fun that she displayed in the early chapters and flashbacks to her childhood.

The Dragon, is a powerful wizard, whose actual name is Sarkan, and he's been around the block even though he looks like a young man.  Except for the lines around his eyes when you get up close.  He has no patience and is a grumpy git.  Persnickety and fussy.  I quite liked him.  :)  He has been working hard over the decades to keep the valley safe and the evil from spreading, so he's allowed a little bit of annoyance, I think.

So, yes, we have the retelling of some fables and legends, we have a fantasy novel where the good magic fights against the bad and we have a bit of a love story.  One thing I liked a lot was that neither character had to change for their love story, they just grew  And the love story was really only a minor part of their story.  Very important, but minor.  :)

One of my favourite characters was Alosha, one of the other wizards. I wish we had seen more of her, but I understand why we didn't.  I also really liked Kasia, Agnieszka's bestie.  I thought she was just going to be a small part of the first quarter of the book, but nope!

So, yes, my second read of the year was totally delightful and I'm glad that I finally caved in and put it on my Christmas list.  (It had never really grabbed my attention until Heidi Cullinan - at least I think it was Heidi - read it and mentioned how much she enjoyed it.)  And thanks, Mike, for putting it under the tree for me.  :)

Highly recommended!

Thursday, January 5, 2017

Wicklow's Odyssey by R. Cooper

2 STARS

Well thank God that's done with!  It wasn't Wicklow's Odyssey, it felt more like mine!  How long did the Odyssey take in classical literature?  10 years?  Felt like it took me 10 years to read instead of almost 10 days.

There was so much internal shit going on with Wicklow Doyle and it was the same stuff repeated over and over again.  And to be honest, there was some stuff that even by the end of the book I wasn't clear on whatever Wicklow was going on about.  Most of the time was spent with him whining about the same things to himself over and over again - why Rhoades did this, the same this again and again, the pain in his stomach that sounded more like an ulcer than anything romantic, and why did Rhoades say this or that - again and again.  Repetitive, you get my drift.

Part of the reason I picked up this book was because it was billed as a steampunk American Civil War romance.  That sounded really intriguing.  But for the great majority of the book, aside from all the repetitive blah-blah about radios and a few mentions of air raids from dirigibles, there was no steampunk.  Only in the second to last chapter when the BFM (Big Fucking Machine) was unveiled - it was a tank type thing - did I feel we got to see some actual steampunk elements.

And the chapters!  OMG, they were long, long, LONG!  I honestly think that it makes books a chore to read when authors make their chapters overly long or even of wildly differing lengths.  Something about the unconscious part of my reading mind.

Now the story itself was good.  I love a story about a team who have grown to care about each other, led by an enigmatic type of man who inspires great loyalty etc...  But it was so lost beneath the load of all those repetitive words, over and over and over again.  And the love scenes.... well... I found that they were often flowery and over-blown and each time way too emotionally intense.  In this case, less would have been more, I think.

Oh... I really wanted a final confirmation of Mariama's (and Louis') fate.  Didn't get it.

Unfortunately, my first read of 2017 was a dud and I will be very wary of anything by this author again..  But... onward and upward, right?  :)