February 11, 2008 at 12:55 am · Filed under Book Reviews, Favourite Books, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
7. Hammered by Elizabeth Bear (Science Fiction) 324 p.
The backstory: I love Sarah Monette. She and Elizabeth Bear wrote a book together, which I loved. I became convinced that if only I could get through Carnival, one of Ms. Bear’s other SF novels, I would really enjoy her writing. Well, I didn’t, but I do.
Hammered is, in a word, awesome. Set in a rather bleak future, former Canadian Forces soldier Jenny Casey is hiding out in Hartford, Connecticut. Pushing fifty, badly scarred, with a cybernetic arm to replace one lost in combat, she lives in constant pain. When the enhancements she was given along with the new arm begin to degrade, one of her old commanding officers seizes the chance to get her working for him again.
This book is very much the first in a trilogy, since most of the storylines are left to be resolved in the later books. It took me a while to get into the story, but once I did, it flew by. Jenny Casey is an engaging narrator, and the other characters are equally fascinating (and many of them are equally likable.)
Hammered is followed by Scardown and Worldwired, both of which I am frothing at the mouth chomping at the bit eager to read. (Carnival, on the other hand, is still on hold. I’ve picked it up and put it down many times, hampered by the fact that as I never fully understood what was going on, I am now, many months and a hundred pages further on, hopelessly confused. The only solution is to go back to the beginning, this time paying attention to who the characters are.)
Pages read: 2,363
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, A ~ Z Reading Challenge, Elizabeth Bear, Jenny Casey
January 9, 2008 at 5:58 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Favourite Books, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
123. A Companion to Wolves by Sarah Monette and Elizabeth Bear (Fantasy) 302 p.
I’m almost caught up with reviewing my December reads, and finally, here’s one I can rave about. Ever since I read her first books, Mélusine, I have been madly in love with the way Sarah Monette writes. Four books later, and she has never disappointed me. I was a little wary about A Companion to Wolves, though, because I haven’t had such a great experience with Elizabeth Bear. I’ve made several attempts to enjoy Carnival, but for some reason reading it has been a slog instead of a pleasure. It’s very frustrating, because she seems to be an excellent writer and I have a feeling that if I could get into it I would like it a lot, but I haven’t been able to. Of course, it’s possible that Carnival just isn’t the book for me, because judging by A Companion to Wolves, Elizabeth Bear is my kind of author.
Njall is the sixteen-year-old son and heir of the jarl of Nithogsfjoll when he is unexpectedly chosen to join a wolfheall, a group of fighting men bonded to trellwolves, whose job it is to defend inhabited towns from trolls. Neither Njall nor his father is happy that his duty is to join the pack, in great part because the homosexuality practised in the wolfheall is seen as weak and degrading by ordinary men. As Njall, now called Isolfr, begins to be accepted and to find his place in the pack, the trolls begin to come south in greater numbers than ever before, threatening both Isolfr’s old family and his new one.
I found the set-up of A Companion to Wolves intriguing, since it has the feel of high fantasy to me (partly because it is steeped in Norse myth), but also has a lot in common with other kinds of fantasy. The bond between man and wolf puts me in mind of Mercedes Lackey’s Heralds and their Companions, while the wolfheall reads something like a werewolf pack—although Monette and Bear’s world is far more realistic than most werewolf stories, and far less gag-worthy than anything Ms. Lackey ever wrote. The wolves feel like wild animals, rather than pets, and the structure of the wolfheall is engrossing, springing naturally from the behaviour of an ordinary wolf-pack. I loved the characters, both humans and wolves, and even the villains of the piece, the trolls, had an interesting and cleverly conceived society.
[spoilers]
The only slight quibble I had was with the feminism-heavy ending, which felt out-of-true with the rest of the book, even though I could see how Isolfr’s character development clearly led him to the decision he made. I think it was the emphasis it was given by being at the very end of the book—to me, the story was mostly about Isolfr, and yes, his gradual awakening to the oppression of women in his society is an important part of his life, but it wasn’t necessarily the most important part of it to me, and I’m not entirely convinced it would be for Isolfr, either. Or maybe I should say, I’m intellectually convinced, but I don’t feel it.
But that’s a very, very minor complaint.
[/spoilers]
If you like fantasy, try this book. If you love it even half as much as I do, you’ll be glad you did.
Books read: 123
Pages read: 36,474
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2007, Elizabeth Bear, Sarah Monette
