February 13, 2008 at 3:46 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Mystery and Suspense, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror, World Literature
10. Snake Agent by Liz Williams (Mystery, Fantasy, Science Fiction) 267 p.
Detective Inspector Chen Wei is Singapore Three’s snake agent, the police officer who deals with the city’s supernatural crimes. He is approached by the wife of a prominent citizen whose daughter, a young girl who ought to be among the peach orchards of Heaven, has instead been photographed in Hell. Investigation at the funeral parlour shows that all Pearl’s paperwork seems to have been in order, her entry visa properly filed, so Chen has no doubt that something sinister is going on. He teams up with an agent from Hell’s Ministry of Vice, while his wife, Inari, deals with problems of her own.
Snake Agent isn’t quite like anything I’ve ever read before. It blends elements from a number of genres—mystery, fantasy, science fiction, horror—into a cohesive whole. The story takes place in the near future, in a modern city, but with a background of Chinese Taoist culture and beliefs. While this isn’t the best book I’ve read recently, the sheer novelty of the setting and some of the characters more than made up for it, and there are even a few funny moments:
The ghost-tracker scuttled along, casting about itself with its long whiskers. Its claws clicked on the pavement. Passers-by took one look at Detective Inspector Chen hastening down the road with a lobster on a string, like one of the more eccentric French surrealists, and gave him a very wide berth. (85)
I’ll certainly be keeping an eye out for the next books in the series, The Demon and the City and Precious Dragon. (Frankly, the books in this series are worth buying for the cover art alone, which I loved as soon as I saw Carl V.’s recommendation—not surprising, since they’re drawn by Jon Foster, who is probably my favourite cover artist ever.)
Pages read: 3,195
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, Detective Inspector Chen, Liz Williams, Unread Authors Challenge, What's in a Name?, World Lit Challenge
February 11, 2008 at 3:33 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Favourite Books, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
8. Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card (Science Fiction) 226 p.
At the age of six, Andrew Wiggin, who prefers to be called Ender, is taken from his family to be trained as a soldier. Test results and close observation have convinced Earth’s military, in the form of a certain Colonel Graff, that Ender may hold the key to the planet’s defence. The enemy are the buggers, a race who have already sent two invasion forces with near-disastrous consequences for humanity. Once at Battle School, a combination of coursework, games, and psychological manipulation are used to train Ender for the most important battle of all.
Some time ago, I picked up a copy of First Meetings, a group of four stories set in the Enderverse, including the original Ender’s Game, a novelette that appeared in Analog in 1977 (it wasn’t expanded and published as a novel until 1985.) Somewhat against my better judgement, I read the novelette. Having heard so much about the novel, I wanted to read it. Once the novelette was in my hands, though, I couldn’t help but read it, even though I feared that it would provide an inferior experience and lessen my pleasure when it came time to read the “real” story. I was justified in the former fear, but not the latter.
The novel is by far the better telling of the story. It takes everything that was good about the novelette, and adds a wealth of detail, character development, and emotion, without a single wasted word. I thought knowing the end would make reading the novel pointless; instead, it only made clear to me how little Card depended on a flashy climax to keep the reader’s interest. As well as having more time to explore the existing characters from the novelette, the expanded form gave Card room to create many new secondary characters, all of whom are worth the space they’re given in the novel.
My trip to the bookstore today will definitely include a search for the first sequel, Speaker for the Dead. If you’re the slightest bit interested in SF or war fiction, and you haven’t read Ender’s Game yet, do it. Now. Today.
Pages read: 2,589
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2008, Ender quartet, Enderverse, Orson Scott Card, Sci-Fi Classics Challenge, Unread Authors Challenge, What's in a Name?
October 26, 2007 at 8:23 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Children's Literature, Favourite Books, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
114. Airborn by Kenneth Oppel (Juvenile Fantasy) 355 p.
I classify this as juvenile fantasy, but Booklist narrows down its genre to “steampunk sky opera”, which I think is hysterical. Whatever genre it belongs to, Airborn is a fantastic children’s book that any adult could easily enjoy. In an alternate Victorian age, where the primary mode of intercontinental transport is the airship, 15-year-old Matt Cruse is a cabin boy aboard one such craft, the Aurora. Given a place on his late father’s ship through the kindness of his captain, he can imagine nothing he would rather do with his life than crew an airship. When the Aurora attempts to help an elderly balloonist in distress, Matt has no idea how important the man’s dying words will be to his life.
Airborn is an adventure novel in the best sense of the word, filled with dangerous and beautiful creatures, dastardly villains, and incredible feats of bravery and daring. I’m fairly sure the used bookstore near my work has copies of the sequel, Skybreaker, which I could pick up on my way home and read tomorrow night. I’m so excited to read it!
Books read: 114
Pages read: 33,941
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2007, Kenneth Oppel, Matt Cruse, Unread Authors Challenge
October 26, 2007 at 2:11 pm · Filed under Historical Fiction, Mystery and Suspense
113. Lord John and the Private Matter by Diana Gabaldon (Historical Mystery) 301 p.
Much, much better than I expected. I’m interested in the Outlander series because I know a lot of people love it, but I’ve been put off by the number of things in it that I don’t enjoy reading about (particularly the time travel.) Still, no one seems to doubt that Diana Gabaldon is a good writer, so I picked up a copy of Lord John and the Private Matter at a book sale a couple of weeks ago.
Lord John is a minor character from the Outlander series, apparently. Back in London after his exile in Scotland, Lord John has rejoined his army regiment, waiting to find out where they will be sent next. It is 1757, and there is no shortage of possibilities. Before they get their orders, however, Lord John has the misfortune to witness something shocking: the troubling evidence that Joseph Trevelyan, his cousin’s fiancé, is suffering from syphilis. On the heels of that discovery, he is asked to look into the mysterious death of one of the regiment’s enlisted men, a man who may have been guilty of treason.
Plenty of people have commented on Gabaldon’s impeccable research into the time periods she writes about, and that’s something I find very attractive in a historical novel. More so in this case, because there aren’t many fictional depictions of London’s gay community in the 18th century.
I liked Lord John, although I wish he wasn’t in in love with Jamie Fraser (the hero of Outlander and its sequels). I suppose she didn’t have much of a choice (since she’d already written him that way), but it isn’t an interesting plot thread for anyone who hasn’t read her other series. I would love to see Lord John in a relationship with someone else, but somehow I don’t think that will happen anytime soon (although I’d be delighted to be proven wrong!)
The book focuses mainly on the mystery plot, and anything we get of Lord John’s internal life comes from the thoughts and emotions arising from the events of the book. This isn’t a bad way of writing him, but it makes him somewhat difficult to get to know, especially since he’s rather introverted and there’s no one particularly close to him among his friends and family, so we never see how he acts when he’s truly at ease with anyone.
I will be keeping my eye out for the sequel, Lord John and the Brotherhood of the Blade.
113a. “Lord John and the Hellfire Club” by Diana Gabaldon (Historical Mystery, Short Story) 42 p.
My edition contains two special bonuses: an excerpt from the latest Outlander novel, A Breath of Snow and Ashes (judging by which, I will never pick up any of the books in that series), and Gabaldon’s first (and at that time, only) short story, “Lord John and the Hellfire Club”. Gabaldon wrote this for an anthology which had a strict word limit, which she says is the only reason she was able to produce such a short piece. Short stories are clearly not her medium. The plot is far too complex for the length of the story, and it reads a bit like a novel with a lot of the characterization, description, and plot development left out. Things happen, but there’s not enough space in the text to really explore them. It isn’t a bad short story, but it’s one that should have been a novel, or at least a novella.
I’ll still read her other short stories (she has a collection of Lord John short stories coming out in November, which includes this one), but I wouldn’t recommend that anyone judge her talent by them, as they’re clearly inferior to her novels.
Books read: 113
Pages read: 33,586
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2007, Diana Gabaldon, Lord John Grey, Unread Authors Challenge
October 24, 2007 at 1:35 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Historical Fiction, Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror
111. The Rest Falls Away by Colleen Gleason (Historical Fantasy) 368 p.
I really wanted to like this. I like vampire novels, I like romance when it’s mixed with a decent plot, but I didn’t like The Rest Falls Away. Neither the characters nor the plot sparked any interest in me, and the writing felt almost amateurish. I was most closely reminded of a novelization of an episode of Buffy the Vampire Slayer I once read (and having said that, I think this book would also work better as a movie for me, since the uninteresting descriptions of Victoria’s emotional state would not appear.)
In the end, I found The Rest Falls Away both tedious and unconvincing. I wouldn’t necessarily discourage anyone else from trying it, though, since it has a lot of fans, and it wasn’t actually terrible; I just didn’t find it entertaining. Still, if you like somewhat trashy vampire novels along the lines of Laurell K. Hamilton or Charlaine Harris, it wouldn’t hurt to give Colleen Gleason a try.
I’ll probably read the second book if I get the chance, just because I’ve heard that it better, and because I would really really like to enjoy this series. (If you want the opinion of someone who loves the series, CJ has reviewed The Rest Falls Away and the sequel, Rises the Night.)
Books read: 111
Pages read: 33,054
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2007, Colleen Gleason, Gardella Vampire Chronicles, Unread Authors Challenge
September 2, 2007 at 11:47 pm · Filed under Book Reviews, Favourite Books, Mystery and Suspense
91. A Great Deliverance by Elizabeth George (Mystery) 413 p.
Unread Authors Challenge
In the Yorkshire village of Keldale, a young woman is found in her family’s barn, wearing her Sunday best and sitting next to her father’s headless corpse. Her only words are, “I did it. And I’m not sorry.” Scotland Yard is called in, and Superintendent Webberly assigns Inspector Thomas Lynley, eighth earl of Asherton, as well as Detective Sergeant Barbara Havers, to the case. Lynley, handsome, wealthy, titled, and charming, is the last person most people would expect to be a good match for bitter, aggressive, unpleasant DS Havers.
I enjoyed A Great Deliverance quite a bit. George got me interested in Lynley and Havers quite early in the book (in fact, it was reading Barbara’s thoughts in an excerpt of the first section that attracted me to the book in the first place.) The mystery was intriguing, and I found the ending fairly satisfying. Unfortunately, the plot featured a few too many coincidences, and there were rather too many breakdowns resulting in confessions and outpourings of emotion.
I could also have done without Lynley’s last two confrontations; the first of them was fully justified, but something about Lynley’s attitude during it bothered me. As the second involved him delivering judgement on a woman who was practically a total stranger, on an issue on which he had very little (if any) moral high ground to stand on, I wasn’t too impressed with him.
I would also have liked to see a little more exploration of the things revealed when the mystery was solved; once the truth was discovered, the end felt rushed, as though the author was frantic to tie up every loose end any way she could, as quickly as she could.
Nevertheless, A Great Deliverance is a mystery novel I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend to any fan of the genre, or even a number of people who aren’t. I’m looking forward to hunting up the next books in the series.
Books read: 91/100 (91%)
Pages read: 27,148/30,000 (90%)
Tags: 50 Book Challenge 2007, Elizabeth George, Inspector Lynley, Unread Authors Challenge
August 5, 2007 at 10:17 pm · Filed under Books Etc
The second of my new challenges, the Unread Authors Challenge: 6 books by authors you’ve never read before, September 2007-February 2008.
Update: Challenge complete! I got the chance to try out some great authors who were new to me. Orson Scott Card and Kenneth Oppel were definitely my favourites; I wouldn’t hesitate to recommend their books to anyone interested in SFF. I also wouldn’t mind picking up more books by Elizabeth George, Diana Gabaldon, and Liz Williams. I don’t think I’ll ever touch Colleen Gleason again, though—her books definitely aren’t for me!
- A Great Deliverance » Elizabeth George
- The Rest Falls Away » Colleen Gleason
- Lord John and the Private Matter » Diana Gabaldon
- Airborn » Kenneth Oppel
- Ender’s Game » Orson Scott Card
- Snake Agent » Liz Williams
Alternates:
- In the Skin of a Lion » Michael Ondaatje
- The Stone Diaries » Carol Shields
- Barney’s Version » Mordecai Richler
- Ender’s Game » Orson Scott Card
- Water for Elephants » Sara Gruen
- Independent People » Halldor Laxness
- Abandon » Pico Iyer
- Smilla’s Sense of Snow » Peter Hoeg
- Don Quixote » Cervantes
- The Opium Clerk » Kunal Basu
- A Recipe for Bees » Gail Anderson-Dargatz
- A Sunday at the Pool in Kigali » Gil Courtemanche
- The Joy Luck Club » Amy Tan
- The Inheritance of Loss » Kiran Desai
- Fugitive Pieces » Anne Michaels
- The Moon is a Harsh Mistress » Robert A. Heinlein
- Hyperion » Dan Simmons
Tags: Book Lists, Unread Authors Challenge
