The Calculating Stars by Mary Robinette Kowal

3.5 Stars

Lady Astronaut - Book One

I started this book thinking I was about to read an alternate history about a group of women pioneering space flight on an alternate, historical planet Earth.  What I felt I just read was an autobiography of one of the first women in space.  An AU space, but still... not what I expected.

The story is told from the first person POV of Elma York, who is a mathematician and was a WASP pilot during the war.  World War 2.  She's also married to Nathaniel, who is an engineer and they are both Jewish.  (Although, for some reason - I suspect because of Hidden Figures - I kept thinking of her as black.)  Both of them are very, very smart.  The story begins in alternate 1952 and t the world isn't that much different from reality.

There is an awful lot of Elma becoming more and more aware of racial discrimination against people of colour while being subjected to antisemitism and prejudice against women personally. The latter half of the book is taken up with the beginnings of integration in the International Aerospace Coalition and Elma's learning to deal with her crippling - at times - anxiety as she moves closer to her goal of getting into space.

So, I was somewhat disappointed that I didn't get the story I expected to get when I picked up the book.  BUT, the book was a good read if I look at it as an AU auto-biography.  And because of that, I've added book 2 to the 'want to read' list. 

The Merchant of Dreams by Anne Lyle

3 Stars

Night's Masque #2

So the adventures continue for Mal, the swordsman/bodyguard/spy, and his valet Coby.  This time they're joined by Ned and Gabriel from the now defunct theatre company of book one.  Maybe it was that I read the first book back in February of 2015 and didn't remember as much as I should have, but I found this second volume of the series to be a bit disjointed and at times to be going around in circles, plot-wise. 

I wanted to know more about the skraylings and felt rather short-changed in that respect. Then there was the whole thing with the spying that Mal was supposed to be doing for Walsingham that quickly became a more personal thing as he explored the part of him that holds part of the skrayling Erishen and his relationship with the Venetian guiser he hooks up with.

I'm not so invested in the 'love story' between Mal and Coby and the whole deal with her growing into her adult feminine self and losing much of her disguise as a boy.  At least it was because she wanted to and not because Mal wanted her to. 

I don't know... I liked my read but it left me feeling vaguely dissatisfied. It won't stop me from reading the next one though.  This time, I'll try not to wait over 3 years to do it!  *LOL*

Going Dark by Linda Nagata

4 Stars

The Red Trilogy - Book 3

I have no idea why I enjoyed this near-future military trilogy as much as I did, but there you go, I did.

The hero of the trilogy, James Shelley, has gone through hell... multiple times.  He's been manipulated, pushed from pillar to post, lied to, betrayed... jeez... all kinds of horrible things.  And I keep coming back for more.  *LOL*

There's action galore in this third book.  Some new team members to get to know.  More mysteries about The Red.  It's pretty much non-stop from the get go.  Nagata writes so well that I can pretty much see the action happening in my mind's eye.  Part of the might be the 1st person POV coupled with the present tense which works. 

I was pretty much satisfied with the way the trilogy wrapped up, but I'd be lying if I said it was a perfect ending.  I was left with a bit of a nebulous feeling of bad things still out there underneath the surface despite everything.  And maybe that's a trope of this type of book.  The main point is, that it didn't really detract from my overall pleasure with the trilogy.

I have another Nagata book in my Kobo and I'm looking forward to reading it. 

Jade City by Fonda Lee

4 Stars

The Green Bone Saga - Book 1

I really have to start putting my thoughts down when I finish my books, not three days later! 

I really enjoyed this book, more than I thought I would, if I'm honest.  It's The Godfather meets Ninjas and Yakuza clans in a 1950's-ish time and on the Island of Kekon where jade is magical, giving enhanced abilities to some who are known as the Green Bone Warriors. 

I found the first maybe third of the book a little slow, as things got set up and we meet the main players, the Kaul family, as well as the a slew of secondary characters.  It's a typical clan type family, I guess, with the 'retired' grandfather who is having difficulty letting go of his power.  His three grandchildren, Lan, Hilo, Shae and the adopted Anden.  Lan, the eldest, is the new Pillar or head of the No Peak clan, Hilo is the Horn, the second-in-command.  Their sister, Shae, has been away from the island and the clan for a while and has been living without her jade.  Anden, the youngest, about to leave his teen years behind is a senior at the Academy, just about ready to graduate and take his jade as well as his position within the family. 

Once we begin to know all the characters and get somewhat of a handle on them, the story really kicks in.  We're talking murders, assassinations, stolen jade, government scandals, love affairs, clans heading to war and maybe even the total collapse of their island and way of life. 

The world-building is intricate and terrific and the characters, main, secondary and even the walk-ons are deftly drawn.  Once we get into things, the plot moves along quite nicely with twists and turns and surprises along the way.  Some good and some bad.  Some I saw coming, some I did not.

So, yes, this is one of those books where I wish I could write a decent review because I feel like I'm not doing it justice.  It's a terrific book and I can't wait for the second book to come out.

Taste of Marrow by Sarah Gailey

3.5 Stars

River of Teeth #2

I pre-ordered this book (something I very very seldom do) because I enjoyed the first, River of Teeth, so much.  It was fresh it, it was different, it was intriguing and it was well written and peopled with lovely characters.  This book, Taste of Marrow, was still all that, but at a lower level, I'm afraid.

Now, both books are novellas and I honestly think the story suffered from that in two ways.  First off, I felt that the story over both needed more fleshing out.  I wanted more... depth?  No, because what's there is plenty deep enough, but it just seemed that I wasn't getting the whole story as I should be.  I wanted more meat.

And secondly, I don't know why it had to be split over two novellas.  The first half of this one, I didn't really understand why one of the main characters was so manically obsessed with finding one of the others - big love notwithstanding.  I still don't get why it was so manic and I suppose I'd have to go back and read the first one again to see.  And I only read that one in May!  Anyway, put them both together in one normal sized novel - it would only be 75K words or 260 some odd pages.  Not even CLOSE to epic.  *LOL*   I also had trouble remembering why one of the bad characters was so important to the whole story.  So yeah... a single novel please?

The other thing that I found bothered me again was the gender-neutral use of the pronoun 'they'. It's bloody confusing, I'm sorry.  I apologise if that sounds insulting in anyway.  I have absolutely NO problem with gender-neutral/fluid people.  It's just that the word, after 55+ years of reading and 60 years of talking indicates more than one person to me.  I was confused so many times looking for the second or other people in the scene.  It brought me up short and took me right out of the story.  Which saddens me because I had to take off a .5 star for that because it did impact my enjoyment of the book.

So yeah, I was somewhat disappointed by Taste of Marrow.  I do hope the author continues to write in this universe however, and maybe even with some of the same characters.

Stiletto by Daniel O'Malley

3.5 Stars

The Checquy Files - Book 2

Sad to say that I didn't enjoy Book 2 as much as I enjoyed Book 1, The Rook.  I can put it down to too much infodumping and backstory and not enough story set in current times with the current action.  As well as there not being enough of Myfanwy Thomas, the lead character from Book 1.

The main focus of this book is really twofold, two main characters.  First we have Pawn Felicity Clements, the Checquy soldier/bodyguard who is set to 'babysit' the Grafter girl, Odette Leliefeld.  One of the best things about the story is the relationship between the two young women.  I wanted more of that.  Originally they dislike (hate?) each other, filled with distrust and suspicion but gradually, over time and adventures, that changes and they become friends, even close friends.  I actually liked both of them quite a bit but felt that I would much rather be in 'their' story than reading back over their pasts - mostly Odette's.

Myfanwy is around, she's the boss and she's the one trying to broker the deal between The Checquy and the Grafters to join forces and fight the big, horror bad guys.  She sees things very pragmatically and clearly and knows what has to be done.  I liked how both young women seemed to look to her as a type of role model even though she's really only about 5 or so years older than they are.

The plot was windy and twisty and involved a splinter group of the Grafters and even some monsters popping up from God knows where.  I would have preferred more thought be given to this part of the book than the set up and world-building (really infodump backstory filler author masturbation, if you ask me) and that would have made it hang together better and kept me turning the pages far past the time I should have been asleep.

So... good book, good read, but not as good as I was hoping or expecting.

Oh, I have to say, the artist who did the cover art, one Lindsey Andrews did a STELLAR job!  In my ereader this cover looks as if there's a big crack in my screen!  I kept doing double takes when I'd catch a glimpse of it out of the corner of my eye.  Big kudos!!

River of Teeth by Sarah Gailey

4.5 Stars

River of Teeth - Book 1

I first heard about River of Teeth through one of the reading blogs I follow and I bought the novella for the simple reason that the blurb got me.  Especially this part:

Contained within this volume is an 1890s America that might have been: a bayou overrun by feral hippos and mercenary hippo wranglers from around the globe. It is the story of Winslow Houndstooth and his crew. It is the story of their fortunes. It is the story of his revenge.

Feral hippos and hippo wranglers??  What?  Talk about an original idea!  I was sold.  I pre-ordered the book right away - a couple of months ago - and I hardly ever pre-order books.

It was not a wrong decision - I loved it!  The characters were original and interesting and bound together in interesting ways.  They kept me wanting to read page after page, fascinated and dying to see what they were going to get up to.  And the hippos... the HIPPOS!  I loved all of them. 

The world-building in this tale is intriguing even if it's a bit ... out of whack as per the author's note at the beginning of the book.  Who cares... IT WORKS!  And the story itself is a rollicking, fun, banter-filled adventure.  

And back to the characters.  They are a really diverse bunch.  Race, colour, creed, sexuality... hell, it's all diverse and not made a big deal of really which works just fine for me.  I like when the diversity is just a given in a story and not a plot point.  My only real problem was ... well, mechanical?  There is a character who is ... gender non-conforming?  I think that's the label.  Anyway, the character uses the 'they' pronoun.  Which is totally fine, but I've discovered that at the age of 60 and having 55 years of reading under my belt, when I read the words 'they' or 'them' or 'their' ... my brain looks for/understands multiple people and a couple if times I had to go back and see if the character was alone or had someone tagged along in the scene.  I suppose with more of these types of characters my brain will get used to it, but it was something that impacted me as I read. BTW, I adored the character in question!  :)  

My only real complaint is that it was too damned short!  I wanted a novel, not a novella.  Yes, it ended with a cliffhanger of sorts, but not one that made me want to send the ereader for a sail across the room.  Still, the characters were so good, the alternate reality so interesting that I wanted a lot more of it.  :)

Oh, and look at that lovely cover!  

The second book in the duology just went up for preorder today.  It's called Taste of Marrow.  And yes, I have pre-ordered it.  

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.

Ha'Penny by Jo Walton

4.5 STARS

Small Change - Book 2

Inspector Carmichael of Scotland Yard is back and boy has he got problems!

The alternate world that Jo Walton has created, "In 1949, eight years after the "Peace with Honor" was negotiated between Great Britain and Nazi Germany by the Farthing Set, England has completed its slide into fascist dicatorship.", is utterly fascinating. It causes you to ponder the might have beens and what ifs. Fascinating. :)

I call this book a thriller as opposed to a mystery because it's really not about who killed whom and why, it's a race (even if the 'good guys' don't know it until near the end) against time and a bomb that could change the world once again. So it felt more like a thriller.

Again, Walton alternates her narrative between the 1st Person POV of actress Viola Lark and the 3rd person tight POV of Inspector Carmichael. And again, it works very, very well. I was concerned that Viola would turn out to be too similar to Lucy, the heroine of the first book, but her voice was quite different and quite distinct.

I was thrilled to see Jack, Carmichael's long-time partner, get some screen time in this book. It was quite interesting to see more of Carmichael's private life and learn more about how he has to be so very careful in this reality.

There's some heart-break in this book as well and I found myself tearing up a time or two and at one point I think I actually yelled at the author. *LOL*

A yummy, delicious, complex, intriguing, fascinating treat and I can't wait to read #3 in the series.

The Rook by Daniel O'Malley

4 STARS

The Rook Files - Book 1

On Her Majesty's Supernatural Secret Service is the tagline for this first novel from Daniel O'Malley and that's exactly what it is. What a fun read this was!

This was a guts buy from the get go. I saw it in a list of first books on a book blog, I think and was intrigued by the blurb so I added it to my 'to buy' list about a year ago. I don't recall any type of review or even comment on it, but I do remember that this was the part that hooked me...

She soon learns that she is a Rook, a high-ranking member of a secret organization called the Chequy that battles the many supernatural forces at work in Britain.

One of the things that makes this book stand out is that it's filled with humour and a healthy dose of irreverence. It has some real laugh out loud scenes which is like a breath of fresh air. Sometimes though, I thought the author got carried away and there was one scene in a very tense part of the book where the humour got fairly slapstick and if it had been toned down just a bit I think the scene would have worked a lot better.

There are also info-dumps... OMG, are there info-dumps! But you know what? They work for the most part because they're presented as letters of instruction from the former Myfanwy to the one in the story. There were one or two that I found a bit too long and tedious and wondered exactly what they were bringing to the narrative. For those two reasons, I rated The Rook as 4 stars instead of 4.5.

The characters are fun and if they're sometimes a bit over the top, I refer you to the tagline once again. Same thing with the plot. But it does all hang together, it all works, and that's what matters to me. This was a book I was looking forward to continue reading whenever I had to put it down. There's a second book coming in 2016 (Stiletto), but really, The Rook does stand well enough on its own.

Farthing by Jo Walton

5 STARS

The Small Change Series - Book 1

I loved this book! It's brilliant, it's delicious, it's thought-provoking, it's fun, it's sad and it feels like an old friend has come to stay for the weekend. You think you're getting a cozy mystery set in an alternate history, but in reality, you're getting much much more.

I knew of the author, Jo Walton, because I read a lot of fantasy and she writes fantasy. (Apparently she lives in Montreal too, so I have to wonder if I ever met her in my sci-fi/fantasy club days.) I'd heard her name but never read any of her works. Then one day, one of my favourite authors, KJ Charles mentioned/recced Farthing on Twitter, which had been recced to her by another of my faves, Jordan L. Hawk, so it came up on my radar. Last week, I acquired my copy. :)

So, Farthing is, on the surface, a cozy murder mystery set at the country estate of high born folks - The Farthing Set - in 1947 England. But it's a slightly different England than we're used to. Peace has been made with Hitler and WW2 never really became WW in scope. What we end up seeing, is a world where what happened in Germany and other countries in the 30s can be seen to be happening in England, which adds a whole different set of layers to the story.

The author has also chosen a different way to actually tell the story. The narrative alternates between the first person POV of the daughter of the house, so to speak, Lucy Kahn - I swear, it reads as if she's sitting across the table from you with a pot of tea, telling you the story as she sees it - and the 3rd person POV (technical term Narrow POV?) of Scotland Yard investigator Peter Anthony Carmichael. You get one chapter of Lucy, and then one chapter of Peter and while it sounds like it would be jarring, it's not. It works PERFECTLY!

As far as the mystery goes, I was suitably puzzled for most of the book, my suspicions all over the place. *LOL* And in the end, the solution makes total sense.

I quite fell for Detective Carmichael and I'm really glad that his 'adventures' continue in two other books. (Apparently with the same style, 1st person POV of a female MC and then Carmichael's narrow 3rd POV.)

The striking thing about Farthing, though, is that it makes you see how easy. How too damned easy it would be to let bad things happen to good people. It's so much more than an alternate history cozy. And the ending. Well, it wasn't what I was expecting and I have to say. I cried.

Read this book. It's EXCELLENT!

Bomber's Moon by Alex Beecroft

4 STARS

Under the Hill - Book 1

I have come to really enjoy Alex Beecroft's work. She gives great plot, terrific characters, a love story that takes its time to grow and some super dialogue. And I'm very enamoured of the historical settings that she uses as well.

This time around, we're thrown into the action rather quickly. We meet Flynn who is in Fairyland with the mythological creatures, and then Ben and Chris and other modern day group in what feels to me like small town England. And it seems that while this is modern day, Chris is actually a bomber pilot from WW2. These days, he's a Fairybuster (as opposed to a Ghostbuster.) or maybe a more inclusive term would be Mythologicalcreaturebuster. *LOL* He and his small group of co-workers are ready to help out with all your paranormal needs. I know that sounds flip and it's treated with far more seriousness in the book. And it makes sense, it fits in this slightly skewed view of our world and its history.

In the fairy realm, there seems to be some crossover with parts of what I assume to be Indian mythology. I don't know a helluva lot about those cultural myths and I admit to just making assumptions based on how the story is going.

From what I gather, Chris and his WW2 bomber crew were attacked by something from the fairy realm and all were killed except for Chris who woke up something like... 30 years later in a field with his plane wreckage. And somehow, Flynn is connected to Chris and wears the face of Chris' lover, Geoff Braxtasomethingorother... I haven't figured that out yet. And something bad is going down in Fairyland - there's some kind of war? It's complicated.

The upshot is, we're left with a HUGE cliffhanger and a ton of unanswered questions. it makes me think that this book and its sequel Dogfighters would have been better served as one large volume. But you know... we don't do things that way in an M/M world. It seems that most M/M readers can't read past 250 - 300 pages max. And even then, it's asking a lot. But I have the second of the two Under the Hill books in my TBR pile so whenever I'm ready I can jump right in to it. (I have a book coming next week - Monday? - that I MUST read right away and then it will be holiday reading.)

I quite totally enjoyed this though and I have been charmed by both Ben and Chris, so the sequel won't languish in the TBR pile for very long. :)

Bone Rider by J. Fally

5 STARS

I LOVED THIS BOOK! Loved it so much I gave it 5 stars which is something I don't do easily these days, since I tightened up my ratings 'criteria'.

I bought this book on an impulse one night near the end of March, after seeing one of my favourite authors, Amy Lane, make a comment on Twitter about how one of the characters was her new book boyfriend and how she was enjoying the book. I am SO glad I followed that impulse!!

Bone Rider is set in contemporary time and is the story of a sentient alien armor system (who ends up naming himself McClane) and Riley the good-natured cowboy who's on the run from a failed relationship with Misha, a Russian mobster hitman. We also meet Misha's best friend, Andrej. His good friend J.C.. Misha's employee/friend Kolya and of course Misha's sister, Maryia. And the military folks including the doctor and the general and the president. All these characters, every last one of them, works for me.

Bone Rider was like a movie on the page. I was hooked from the beginning and could not put it down. The action was fast-paced and the battle scenes, for once, were clear and easy to follow. There were lots of periods of introspection by the characters, especially Riley and Misha, but they didn't feel like info dumps at all - they were perfect insights into the characters and served to move the story forward. There were sex scenes and each and every one of them were integral to the story. Bone Rider is an excellent example of how to write hot, steamy, fun, heartbreaking, intimate sex scenes and make them matter.

Bone Rider is funny too. I laughed out loud so many times, especially with McClane learning the ropes and Riley's reactions to him. And then the camaraderie of the 3 Russians - Misha, Andrej and Kolya - a bunch of smartasses at times and I loved it.

Now I've been pretty immersed in the world of m/m for the past couple of years and when Bone Rider came out back in October/November of 2013 I don't remember much of a buzz at all. I have NO idea why. This book would DEFINITELY appeal to the legions of fans of Abigail Roux and SE Jakes. Is it because it's marketed/catagorised as a Science Fiction/Western? Because really, it's more of an Adventure with futuristic elements. Okay, what's the difference between that an Sci-Fi? Well... McClane, even though he is an alien AI armour system is an actual full-fleshed character as opposed to a piece of futuristic weaponry. The whole book just doesn't have a sci-fi feel to it at all. As far as it being a western.... well, Riley is considered a cowboy, but a modern day cowboy and there are NO horses involved at all - except maybe under the hood of Riley's truck or Kolya's muscle car. So I really think it was, and continues to be erroneously marketed.

Anyway... you like Abi Roux and SE Jakes? You like action/adventure? You like fast-paced novels with great characters, wonderful relationships and fun dialogue? READ THIS BOOK!! I don't give my 5 stars easily, but with Bone Rider, it was a no-brainer!

American Craftsmen by Tom Doyle

3 STARS

American Craft - Book 1

I had very high hopes for this book. The premise sounds so cool! From the blurb - "In Tom Doyle's thrilling debut, American Craftsmen, Seal Team Six meets ancient magic--with the fate of the United States hanging in the balance . .". I mean, uber cool, right?

Well, I haven't been this happy to finally finish a book in a long time. It was an okay read, but my Lord, it seemed never-ending! Dale Morton is the main protagonist - he can control weather, compel people and other witchy type stuff. I feel like through the book we get to know him, but only on the surface really. I felt the same about the other main characters as well, Endicott and Scherie. Maybe that's a function of this being the first book in a series, but it sure made it difficult for me to connect with them and create that 'need' in me to know what's going to happen to them next.

The world-building was pretty nifty although, there was some things that left me extremely confused. To be honest, the first half of the book left me scratching my head more often than not. It seemed that I was missing that one bit of information that would unlock the barrier in my head that would allow me to get what everyone was seemingly taking for granted. I wanted to, but the sparkly ball of OMG I GET IT! Never happened.

Also, by the blurb of the book, it sounded to me that Morton and Endicott were going to team up to conquer whatever was going to be thrown at them. Sort of like a Tom Clancy (early days) buddy book with magic and ghosts and otherwordly things (which sounded quite alright by me!). Wasn't what I got. I think that by the end of the book, Dale and Michael were beginning that journey and that is what will probably propel me to check out the next book whenever it comes out.

I think the end result is that I never reluctantly put the book down because I needed to go to sleep or cook supper or go grocery shopping or do any other number of chores.

The Tomb by F. Paul Wilson

3 STARS

Repairman Jack - Book 1

So a bunch of my buddies recommended the Repairman Jack novels to me and I finally decided to take the plunge. This was so not what I was expecting. *LOL* And that's not a bad thing, really! :)

So Repairman Jack is the guy that fixes things for a price. He lives off the radar, far off the radar and only his best friend Abe knows what he's really about. He's broken up with his girlfriend, Gia.. or should I say, she broke up with him when he confessed some of what he does to her. He misses Gia and her little girl Vicky very, very much. Vicky, by the way, is a Westphalen through her father, and either her grandfather or great-grandfather did something that set in motion a sequence of vengeance-filled events that are meant to culminate in her murder. And thereby hangs the tale

You know what this felt like? And Indiana Jones type adventure. :) There are monsters and rituals and myths and talismans and non-western gods... all the things that are necessary for a good pulpy horror-adventure. There are fires, explosions, guns, daggers, poisons and all kinds of things including eyes that glow in the dark.

Once I got past the first couple of chapters, I began to get more invested in the character of Jack and the book began to move along quite nicely. Was it 'scary'? Nope. Suspenseful? Some, yeah. Mystery? There is some, but to be honest, there were no surprises for me, I had sussed it all out from the beginning, but then again, maybe I'm supposed to. :) There were some flashes of humour that I quite enjoyed, especially concerning Jack's friend, Abe. Very, very quirky and I like him.

The ending? Well, it was a bit teeth-gnashing because I know there are more stories of Repairman Jack to come and it sort of leaves you suspended. But if I didn't know there were others? I'd be impressed by the almost ambiguous finality of it.

My friend, Ginette, wanted me to fall in love with Jack. I'm not there yet, but I did come to like him a helluva lot, especially in the final chapters. Will I read more? I most certainly will. It was a fun, Saturday afternoon matinee type of read and those are always enjoyable. :)