Book Reviews 2004

Kushiel's Dart, by Jacqueline Carey (novel)

Started 12/14/04 - Finished: Abandoned I had this book recommended to me by several people. So, Michael and I picked it up and tried to read it together. But it wasn't a page turner. The politics is so thick that we're constantly turning to the reference pages to figure out who they were talking about. So, we got a little bored, and have moved on to something else. We may try it again later. It is possible that it's just a long set up, and they will get into more proper storytelling at some later point, that makes it all worth while. Book Reviews 2004 item Posted: 4/18/05; 7:41:59 PM

The Crimson Faery Book (1966/1903)

Started 10/6/04 - Finished 1/10/05 While the book I read was printed in the 60's, it said it's a reprint of a book from the turn of the century before. Very strange little collection of fairy tales, with odd morals. In some places, christianity has obviously been awkwardly added to something older. On the stranger bent, there is one near the end that tells us how to know when a person is a true friend, which I think is valuable. But in the end it tells us that you should be a true friend yourself, and be willing to do anything for that friend, right down to sacrificing your new born child so that he might live. Then you will all live happily ever after. Which is all a bit much for me. I think the problem I have with fairy tales from a hundred years or more past, is the same as with poetry. I'm not familiar with the time, the references, the pop-culture as it were. I read modern re-written fairy tales and they are rich and lovely because even when they are set it old times, or fairyland, the references and context are modern. I really enjoyed reading this, it was just baffling sometimes. Book Reviews 2004 item Posted: 1/27/05; 9:20:19 PM

Slow River, by Nicola Griffith (1996) novel

Started 10/4/04 - Finished: 12/7/04 Very interesting near future science fiction novel. Lots of mystery, twists and turns in the story. A 'coming of age' element to the story. It's told from three different time lines. One is the 'now' timeline, the second is from three of four years back, and the third is from her childhood. the main character was born into a rich and powerful family, she is very smart, and well educated. Then she gets kidnapped, she becomes nobody for awhile, and it's about her trying to figuring everything out and decide what she wants. It's difficult to get a handle on the three narrative threads at first, but once you get ahold of that it's great. Very well written, very well put together story. Book Reviews 2004 item Posted: 1/8/05; 2:10:19 PM

Lion of Ireland, by Morgan Llywelyn (novel)

Started 5/11/04 - Finished 9/30/04 An epic tale of Brian Boru, who is known as the "Charlemagne of Ireland" for briefly uniting the tribes, and for driving the Norse out of Ireland. This is an incredibly well written tale, I almost always enjoy Llewelyn's books. I think she is at her best when writing epic historical fantasy, based on the myths and heros of the Celts. As is the case here. It's taken us a really long time to get through this book, and looking back I can see that the story was exciting, but not in such a way that we couldn't put it down. It didn't pull us back at every possible opportunity. But it was definitely worth it to keep plugging along. It's a tale that spans a lifetime, and it seems right to have taken our time with it, and savored it. Book Reviews 2004 item Posted: 10/3/04; 3:02:14 PM

The Tower at Stony Wood, (2001) by Patricia McKillip (novel)

Started 8/21/04 - Finished 9/2/04 High fantasy: magic, a dragon, a knight on a quest, and many towers It starts out simple, gets really complex, and sorts itself out nicely at the end and seems very simple again. The complex part is that you see most of the story from the heros perspective and he really has no clue what's going on. Well, that's not quite right, you get the story from the perspective of at least three characters and none of them knows what's going on. The "hero" is just the spine of the story and he does get the most time in the forefront I think. There are those in the story who know what's going on, but of course they aren't going to tell you anything until the end, and at that point all they do is nod and confirm what you've already figured out. It reads really fast, and the story is also fast paced, and while I felt completely confused through most of the middle, I knew I was supposed to be, and it was fine. I didn't mind and I was pretty sure it would all sort itself out. And it did. It was lovely. Book Reviews 2004 item Posted: 9/17/04; 9:37:58 PM

American Gods, (novel) by Neil Gaiman

Started July ?, 2004 - Finished 8/21/04 Excellent book, I really enjoyed it. Shadow is a great character. All the gods are amazingly placed. The story is fast paced enough to keep you glued to the book, and yet it unfolds gently throughout. It was complex and fascinating. The vision of "new gods" was interesting but incomplete so far as I could tell. It felt a little thrown together. If I give it the benefit of the doubt, I figure it just wasn't all spelled out for me, and I didn't put it all together for myself. But, I had to wonder why they were worried that "highways" were unsafe, but "cars" were no worry to them. Another thing, that I imagine would bother some folks was the absense of Jesus Christ as a player. But he is mentioned at some point, so it isn't like we are supposed to be ignoring him, or pretending that Christianity doesn't exist in this world. I believe that based on the final outcome, he would be too big a player for the war that was brewing. It wasn't said explicitly, but when you have old gods, that hardly anyone remembers let alone worships, lining up against new gods (of the TV, highway, internet, cell phone, etc...), then Christianity would have to be a third side, there are too many people still worshipping this one god. He doesn't belong on either of the two sides that exist, and he would just screw everything up. Book Reviews 2004 item Posted: 9/13/04; 11:00:14 PM

Waif's and Strays, by Charles de Lint (short stories)

Started 4/5/04 - Finished 6/15/04 Of the sixteen stories here, four were definitely familiar to me, two I wasn't sure about, and the other ten were new to me. Lots of good stuff. The stories collected here range from 1986 to 2002. Whether I'd seem them before depended on how many times they'd been printed before and mainly whether they had made it into a previous collection of de Lint's. The theme of this collection is main character's who are young adults. Two of the stories I'd read before still get to me, make me weepy: Merlin Dreams in the Mondream Wood, and A Wish Named Arnold. The vampire stories were a wonderful new find: There's No Such Thing, and Sisters. It's difficult to review short story collections. It's a lot different from a novel. I love reading stories by de Lint, long or short, old or new. Only one of the stories in here seemed like a dud to me, The Graceless Child. It was clunky, and I had to think about it a lot afterwards to figure out what was going on because it wasn't made clear while reading it. Still an interesting idea. His characters have depth even when the story is very short. Their real, they have feelings and motivations. I always get sucked in. It's great. Book Reviews 2004 item Posted: 6/21/04; 11:32:37 PM

The Da Vinci Code, by Dan Brown (novel)

* * * * * Started 4/30/04 - Finished 5/8/04 This is a great book that was so fun to read that we could hardly put it down. Being a recovered Catholic myself, I liked all of the information in the book about the Church changing things in the bible, being selective about what is in it, and how they have dealt with the people who didn't want to just go along with it. I believe these things have happened, even if I don't have the exact details. I believe the bible was put together by power-hungry, manipulative men. I don't even remotely believe it is the "word of god". Even as a child sitting in my "Religion" classes, I thought the stories interesting but far from consistent. No one told me, no one had to, all they had to do was put it in front of me and instruct me to read. But I've gone off topic. The book strikes a cord with me in this way, and I'm sure it's done the same for many other people. But that isn't the point of the story, it's more back story and something that drives things along. There are those who want to uncover the truth, and possibly proclaim it to the world. And then there are those who want to continue to hide the truth, because it is threatening to them. The story itself is about two people on a treasure hunt of sorts. The book covers one long chase scene that lasts less then 24 hours. These two central characters come together very early on, occasionally have help from others, are constantly on the run, while solving one puzzle after another and moving from one place to another. It's dizzying. It's well written, the puzzles are clever, we care about the characters, and we can never quit tell friend from foe. And there is a sequel in the works. I can't wait. Book Reviews 2004 item Posted: 5/23/04; 3:28:24 PM

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Book 5), by J. K. Rowling

Started 3/27/04 - Finished 4/27/04 What can I possibly say that hasn't already been said? Not much, if anything really, so I'll keep it short. J.K. Rowling is a marvelous storyteller, though sometimes her writing is technically off, and slightly irritating. Her stories center around a kid who never talks to adults, not even the ones who have helped him before and shown themselves to be trustworthy. Of course, the adults never talk levelly to the kids either. Everything is always hugely unfair to him. I suppose these books are so successful because every kids feels like the world is unfair to them. And every adult was once a kid. Hell, as adults we are certain that the world is unfair. If you haven't read these yet, I recommend that you do. For adults they are a fast and satisfying read. She maintains tension in the plot from the first page. The problem is that it'll probably be at least two more years before we see the 6th book. So, maybe you want to wait five or ten years until they're all available. I wouldn't blame you. Book Reviews 2004 item Posted: 5/2/04; 6:02:26 PM

Urth of the New Sun, (novel) by Gene Wolfe

Started 11/2/03 - Finished 3/26/04 Well, it took us forever to finish this book. The beginning was the most difficult, hard to get into. A lot of seemingly random stuff happens at the beginning and there isn't enough plot tension to help pull you back to it. But once it comes together and you have a better sense of what's going on and that there is a goal they are headed towards, it's much better. The only thing that occassionally bothers me about his writing is that he likes to make up words and idioms and such. This is fine if it's familiar enough that you can get what he means, but other times it defeats the purpose. If he says "It was as big as a fhjunmp." it's meaningless, and only serves as a momentary reminder that this isn't supposed to be Earth, it's Urth, and even though he's speaking English they have different sorts of creatures there, and different measurements and money systems. That's also fine, but I'm used to authors who will tell you that "a fhjunmp is ten times the size of a man". Something you can relate to. If the thing he is describing is completely alien and the measurement system or other thing he uses to decribe it is also alien, then what is the point? In his defense, it's only this bad about half the time. Sometimes he does also gives you a relevant reference point. If you've read "The Book of the New Sun" then I highly recommend that you read this one. It explains a lot. If you haven't, then you need to know that this is essentially book five for that series. Book Reviews 2004 item Posted: 4/3/04; 4:30:22 PM

The Rose and the Beast: Fairy Tales Retold, by Francesca Lia Block

Started 3/10/04 - Finished 3/25/04 I love fairy tales. Old ones, the standards, rare ones, rewritten ones, I love 'em. Not always so into the Disney movies, since the stories are so sterilized and rewritten down to children. (I'll avoid the soap box rant about this.) Anyway, this book of rewritten, and reinterpreted fairy tales is quite different then anything else I've read. It's very interesting. They are more then poetry, but not quite prose. It's a lovely mixture of the two. The central characters are always the women, and they usually save themselves when needed, or they get help from other women, or they save their men even. But it seems that she has specifically avoided having men save the women. I don't mind this really since it isn't overdone, she doesn't make a point of it, it's just there. And it seems to me that fairy tales are supposed to teach lessons, while being entertaining. They aren't meant to be entirely pretty, I believe they are supposed to teach you about the dangers of the world, and she does that too. I would much rather read these stories to a young girl, or encourage a young woman to read these, over more trite, sterilized versions. Book Reviews 2004 item Posted: 4/3/04; 1:18:56 PM

Prophecy: Book Five of The Blending, novel by Sharon Green

* * 1/2 - Started 3/3/04 - Finnished 3/13/03 I keep reading these books because they are a fast read and I already know the world and the characters. So I grabbed it off the shelf because I wanted to read something that would be easy to get into. It worked. But by the end I was really wondering why I bother with them. The whole point of the stories seems to be back-stabbing and revenge plots. The author is just seeing how many of these she can juggle. I think this weakens the story. When the central conflicts finally come around they seem to fall a bit flat. I don't really recommend these. Book Reviews 2004 item Posted: 3/14/04; 12:09:54 PM

The Winter Child, by Wendy Froud and Terri Windling (2001)
* * * * Started 1/17/04 - Finished 1/24/04 These two are both great. Terri Windling spins a beautiful, original fairy tale, and Wendy Froud is an amazing doll artist. The two together are just fabulous. If you like fairy tales, or anything either of them has done before, you will love this one. It's absolutely wonderful. Book Reviews 2004 item Posted: 2/1/04; 11:13:50 AM

TMGAIHAA (a novel), by Mil Millington (2003)

* * * * Started 1/9/04 - Finished 1/15/04 Things My Girlfriend and I Have Argued About. First there is this website that I've been reading occasionally for a few years now. I'm not exactly sure when he started it, but that's unimportant. It's really funny. Blow milk funny on a regular basis. So, eventually it gets enough of a following that Mil gets a book deal. Fabulous. Michael gave me a copy for Christmas and then he got to listen to me laughing, snorting, snickering and gaffawing a lot while I read it. Now you have to understand that this is relationship comedy and you have to just accept it for what it is. It's not about whether they love each other or not, or why he stays with her if it's so horrible. It's not horrible. It's funny. He gets a lot of material and he gets to exagerate it with his own spin and it's brilliant. The book's point is to put "Pel" into as many embarassing situations, and set up as many arguements with "Ursula", as possible. If you remember this and you remember that the relationship here and the comedy is the point, then you won't be disappointed. I think comedy is a wonderful and underrated genre. There are hundreds of comedians and comic movies, etc that just get occasional smirks from me. It's so rare when someone can make me laugh out loud at all, that the fact Mil can inspire it in me a lot and regularly is fantastic. I still laugh at the same entries over and over. I highly recommend him. Book Reviews 2004 item Posted: 1/25/04; 2:06:05 PM