book reviews 2003

Frida, by Hayden Herrera (biography)
* * * Started: Feb. 1st, 2003 - Finished: Nearly, but Abandoned This is a fat book, and I almost never read non-fiction, so it's amazing that I nearly finished it. But it was well written, and Frida led a fascinating life. I really did enjoy it. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 4/18/05; 7:36:40 PM

Polyamory: The New Love Without Limits, by Dr. Deborah M. Anapol
Started: July 18th, 2002 - Finished: Abandoned Long since abandoned, but I had some vague thought I would pick it up again. But no, it was a little too 101 for me, and I was bored with it. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 4/18/05; 7:30:07 PM

The Sandman: Fables and Reflections (1993)

* * * 1/2 - Started 12/18/03 - Finished 12/23/03 I'm pretty far behind on this one. Many people already love The Sandman, and I'd never read any of it before. I've read some other stuff by Neil Gaiman that I really enjoyed, and I've seen Neverwhere, meaning to read that soon too. Anyway, this is a good collection. I like that he has a concept here that can take him anywhere in any time. Very flexible. I can understand why people love it so much and never get board with it. I have a friend who says she owns all of The Sandman comics and would be happy to loan them to me, so I look forward to reading more. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 1/1/04; 2:29:23 PM

The Vampire Tapestry, by Suzy McKee Charnas (1980)
* * * * Started 12/2/03 - Finshed 12/16/03 This is a completely non-traditional vampire novel. It's also non-traditional in it's perspective and layout. Its really well written and very engaging. The only sad thing is that I don't believe she has ever written anything more about this character. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 1/1/04; 1:24:41 PM

The Dreamthief's Daughter, by Michael Moorcock (2002)

* * * * 1/2 Started 11/11/03 - Finished 12/2/03 A new book with Elric, that's rare. Not about him, not entirely. I would call this a Von Bek book. It contains both of them but you are with Von Bek the whole time and Elric takes awhile to show up, but then The Dreamthief's Daughter is his daughter as well so of course he has to be an important part of the story, right? Yep. Only Michael Moorcock writing about Elric could possibly get me to read about Nazi's. He obviously hates them, and he doesn't dwell there for a long while, but it is where the whole thing starts and ends. It's about Von Bek and Elric saving the universe, and ruining the plans of the Nazi's along the way. I love Elric in all his pale brooding glory. I'm not saying this is the look or disposition that attracts me in men, or women, but I just love this huge character with his immense powers. Moorcock writes him so well. It's vast and yet not completely out of reach. Von Bek is a little more real and every day. He is a small landed noble from the time of Nazi Germany and he doesn't have any sorcery. He just has his sword, there is always a sword. The Champion Eternal, in every incarnation has his sword. Elric has Stormbringer, and Von Bek has Ravenbrand. It's great. And you even get to find out what happens when Nazi's shoot at Elric and all he has is his sorcery and his sword. I love that Moorcock can bring these two worlds together and make it work. Then there is Oona, the title character. She takes her time showing up or being identified, but she is rather important and powerful in her own way. In the Fortress of the Pearl we learn some things about the abilities of the Dreamthief, her mother. But she isn't quite the same as her mother, and she doesn't explain. She just does things. Oh, and something interesting occurred to me. Moorcock often writes about the same characters, the same type, and sometimes even gives them the same name. There are some writers who write about vampires or other kinds of immortals so that they can write about the same character in many different places and times. Moorcock's same characters aren't immortal. Sometimes they're many different generations in a family, like Von Bek. He gets the same name and is essentially the same guy, but not immortal. It bothered me at first, but then I realized that his variations are better then the immortal because he can have some variations in character if he is the great grandson of the previous one. The Vampire is always himself and that can get tired. Once I figured it out, I liked it. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 12/20/03; 12:04:11 AM

Henry and June, by Anais Nin (Unexpurgated Diary)

* * * Started 10/12/03 - Finished 11/4/03 Contrary to what I was somehow led to believe, I found this book to contain mostly the stuff you would expect to find in a diary. Descriptions of things happening in ones life, and the thoughts, worries and analysis of it all. So, the voyeur in me enjoyed reading someone else's diary, but it wasn't a real page turner. Since I'm poly I was saddened by the way she felt she had to hide her extra-marital affairs from her husband. They had to be secret, because she was sure it would destroy him to know. She needed more than one love in her life, and she couldn't leave him to do it, but she couldn't tell him either. I don't think I could handle the level of stress that would come with such deception. Oddly enough it says at the beginning that parts of the diary were previously published and this is the rest of it, with only enough of it duplicated for continuity. I'm wondering what was left out here, since it's the only one I've read. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 11/5/03; 10:53:27 PM

Cerulean Sins, by Laurell K. Hamilton (2003)

* * * Started: 9/14/03 - Finshed: 10/19/03 Book 11: The last one currently available. Plot stuff: A serial killer in St. Louis tearing people apart. And a big bad, ancient, vampire messing with Anita, her friends and loved ones. Political games mostly. Lust factor: Anita has more men in her harem now. Asher and Jason are added this time, but for different reasons. Asher she loves, but had been avoiding because there are enough men already aren't there? and Jason is a friend who was needed to feed her supernatural lust, or the ardeur. She learns that if she feeds the ardeur on the same person too often she could kill them. Therefore, a bigger harem of willing men is needed. Relationships: Richard is just a big broading jerk. He's still tied to her and Jean Claude, but not romantically involved. Jean Claude is her primary relationship. Micah is her partner in ruling the wereleopards, and he and Nathanial were the only ones feeding her ardeur before. Asher is now romantically involved with her and Jean Claude. Supernatural: First, there are vampires in town to mess with them, basically flexing political power and testing them to see how much of a threat they are. Then in sort of a dream like state Anita meets the mother of all vampires who has been asleep for millenia. She seems to be a cross between a vampire and a were-creature. They really don't want her to wake up. But that will be for a future book if it happens. Real world: Murders, and international bad guys following Anita around. Plus, her buddies on the police force are getting a little edgy about how involved she seems to have become with the "monsters". Overall this one had a better balance of plot and sex. The 10th book was very heavy on the sex, but in the grander scheme of the series it made sense. Now she is getting used to that part of her new life, and other issues are coming up. She can focus on other things. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 11/1/03; 1:40:26 PM

Realms of Fantasy, Magazine (Oct. 2003)

* * * Started: 9/9/03 - Finished: 10/13/03 Still enjoying this subscription quite a bit, though I didn't sit down and read the whole thing is a day or two this time. Whish I suppose is okay since I only get one every other month or so. There's a great Folkroots article on mermaids. And a good variety of short stories including "Runesmith" by Harlan Ellison and Theodore Sturgeon, which was excellent of course. Plus, I really enjoyed the artist article on Jeffrey Jones. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 10/23/03; 7:51:21 PM

The Color of Magic, by Terry Pratchet (1983)

* * 1/2, Started 8/13/03 - Finished 8/28/03 Very funny but mostly pointless as well. Two main characters, one is a hopeless pessimist, and the other is a very optimistic dreamer. The former gets dragged along as the latter just plows through things. The book is divided into four stories which seem sort of novella-like, but it's very specifically supposed to be a novel. The four pieces are only loosely joined and could each stand alone as a funny little story. It kind of lacks a back bone because of this but is funny enough to keep you going. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 8/31/03; 6:17:38 PM

The Golden Unicorn, by Tanith Lee (1994)

* * 1/2, Started 8/22/03 - Finished 8/23/03 Book 2, and sequel to the Black Unicorn. I recall rather enjoying the first one a few years back. Tanith Lee can be a little hit or miss with me but I tend to like her fantasy stuff, which this is, so I thought it likely to be a hit. It was a very fast read, but most of it seemed really pointless. The main character just sort lets things happen without taking an active roll even though she has very strong feelings about it all. It's very detached. Meaning that even though she cared she stayed detached from what was happening around her and therefore I didn't really care all that much. Surprisingly, I found the ending rather satisfying. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 8/31/03; 5:53:11 PM

Elf Magic, Edited by Martin H. Greenberg (1997)

* * * Started 8/1/03 - Finished 8/20/03 As always, anthologies consist of some good and some bad. Hopefully with the average being on the good side. I enjoyed reading these stories and I think the average was high enough. I tend to prefer something with a happy ending, something with hope. I'm not much for the tragedies, or the ones that make some sort of political statement about how we are slowly destoying the Earth. It may be true but it makes for a rather tired story. A few of my favorites from this book are: Under the Skin by Michelle West, The Phaerie Bride by Rosemary Edghill, Sleight of Bride by Brooks Peck, The Marble King by Gary A. Braunbeck, The Ceilidh by Connie Hirsch, Elf Help by John DeChancie, Mortal Things by Esther Friesner. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 8/31/03; 5:40:42 PM

Narcissus In Chains, by Laurrell K. Hamilton (2001)

* * * 1/2 - Started 7/15/03 - Finished 7/31/03 Book 10: The book in which sex is unavoidable. Plot stuff: Hmmm, was there a plot? Yes, yes, I'm sure there was, let me think. Were-creatures in trouble. That was it. First, her were-leopards, and later she learns lots of the smaller clans/tribes (few of one type: snakes, bears, swans, etc..) are being picked on. Lust factor: The big deal in this book however was that Anita "marries the marks" with Jean-Claude and Richard. (This binds them together magically and makes them more powerful.) From Jean-Claude she seems to have inherited quite a bit of vampire stuff. She needs to feed, but since she isn't really a vampire she doesn't drink blood. So she also got his ability to feed on lust. She wakes up everyday with the overwhelming need for sex. The prude in her spends the book trying to come to terms with this. She's stubborn too, so she fights it. Not a good idea, like other magical stuff, it just gets worse when she fights it. Relationships: Let's play musical chairs! Jean-Claude is a rock, he ain't going nowhere, but they do bicker a bit. Richard starts out okay, and happy to see her, then he fucks up, then they make up, then they break up. OY! New guy: Micah, sexy wereleopard, enters the scene. He accepts Anita for who and what she is. It helps that he has accepted who and what he is. But can she trust him, she doesn't know much about him and she's already had sex with him very early on. Anita has changed a lot over the course of 10 books. For the better I think. Oh, and we can't forget Nathaniel, she isn't having sex with him, not by her definition, but he sleeps in her bed most nights and she feeds the ardeur on him without intercourse. On the outskirts you'll find Asher and Damian making doe eyes at her. Supernatural: Biggest coolest thing is that we briefly meet a panwere, which is a lycanthrope that can take more then one animal shape. Beyond that we just met lots of new kinds of were-creatures. Hyena's, cobra, anaconda, tiger, lion, dog, bear... Real world: The real world is far away! Overall the book seems scattered, but she does tie up all the loose ends. Not always as neatly as I might like but she does manage it. You just spend most of the book thinking that too much is happening too fast and you can't see how she could possibly tie it all together. But she does. And I did rather enjoy the ride. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 8/1/03; 9:43:07 PM

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, by J.K. Rowling (2000)

* * * 1/2 - Started 7/20/03 - Finished 7/31/03 It's not the new book, but the one that came out three years ago. I figured it was about time I read it, now that the new one is out. Don't anyone dare spoil it for me. Might be awhile before I get around to reading number five. I like these books because they are aimed at kids, but not in a way that talks down to them and treats them like idoits. Instead it treats them like curious individuals who are trying to learn how to be adults. This book is thicker, the story is denser, the characters are richer, and the whole thing is a bit darker. You get suspicious of everyone, and you don't know who the mystery bad guy is until she's ready for you to know. And she wraps everything up neatly at the end. I like that. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 8/1/03; 8:00:31 PM

White As Snow, by Tanith Lee (2000)

* * * * Started 6/23/03 - Finished 7/8/03 I like Tanith Lee and I love retold fairy tales, and so of course I enjoyed her retelling of the Snow White tale. It's dark and rich with ancient myths. The best part is that this story is told heavily combined with the Greek myth of Persephone. The Queen isn't really a witch, just insane, and the dwarves don't sing, they are just a group of folks born to a world that sees them as slaves because of there lack of height. They stick together and make the best of what life deals them. I was disappointed that the Hunter character didn't have a bigger part. Coira (Snow White) is like a poor pawn in the story, not having any ability to change the fact that gods may be retelling one of their stories around her. In fact she is like the Queen (her real/blood mother) in that she seems to sleep-walk through the story, rarely taking an active role in what happens. In fact the whole story seems to be above human intervention. There are a group pagan "woods" folks who are more aware of what is happening around these two women but they are in awe of the things gods do, and they don't interfere. The story is a bit detached and lacking passion. It goes along at a steady pass that lacks the ability to drag you back to it, needing to know what will come next. I still enjoyed it, I don't need a story to drag me along by the nose, it's just an observation on the pacing. There is an amusing observation made by a side character near the end, that I have to share: "In many tales of women, the lord-the man-a prince or king, need only intervene during the last quarter, even the last lines. There were plenty of such recitals. A virgin would dance, the prince see her and capture her shoe, as a token. Or the girl would be imprisoned by some sorcery, the prince arriving to free her in the final moment of the tale. Man was the fate of woman." Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 7/13/03; 4:15:23 PM

Obsidian Butterfly, by Larrell K. Hamilton (2000)

* * * 1/2 - Started 6/12/03 - Finished 7/2/03 Book 9: The book all about Edward. Plot stuff: Edward calls in a favor from Anita. She drops everything to go to New Mexico to help on a case there. Someone or something is butchering people and she is an expert on supernatural bad guys. In the meantime, she gets to learn a lot more about Edward then she ever knew before. Lust factor: She has been avoiding both of the men in her life for 6 months and apparently she's horny. She is actively lusting after several people in this book, but she doesn't actually have sex with any of them. Relationships: She has been working a lot and learning from a witch she met in Tennessee in book 8. She has power and needs control. But she has shut the guys out in the meantime. She hasn't been making any decisions, just avoiding them. My only, big, disappointment was that *none* of the usual characters appear in this book. Just Anita and Edward. Jean-Claude makes a tiny appearance in a dream, but that's it. I miss Nathanial and Jason, and Damion and everyone else. Supernatural: Aztec vampires are the main theme here. I found a great web site on Quetzalcoatl, since he is of course mentioned a few times. Real world: In this book we have to deal with some very real seeming horrors. Humans that are evil. Government trained assasins, that sort of thing. I find it much easier to read about fantasy kind of horrors. If it's too close to reality I don't like it so much. Luckily this is not the focus of the book overall, or I might have had a problem. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 7/6/03; 6:12:15 PM

Elf Fantastic, edited by Martin H. Greenberg

* * * Started - 5/26/03 and Finished - 6/23/03 This is an anthology that I bought a few years back. I read half of it then and put it down. I just picked it back up and skimmed through the stories I read before and finished the rest as well. It has two stories in the first half which have stuck with me and I think are among the best fantasy stories I've ever read. They are 1) The Law of Man, by Michelle West, and 2) Jerlayne, by Lynn Abbey. There are, of course, lots of other good stories in there. These are just my favorites. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 7/1/03; 11:03:08 PM

A Circle of Cats, by Charles de Lint & Illustrated by Charles Vess

* * * * Read - 6/23/03 This is a kids book with full double page illustrations all the way through. It is related to the book these two Charles' did together in the last year, Seven Wild Sisters. That one was a novel by de Lint, sprinkled with illustrations by Vess. Both are quite wonderful. The books and the artists. And there are further installments yet to come in this series. In this one Lillian is a young girl who lives in the woods and plays all day after chores are done. She is always on the lookout for magic, and faeries in particular, but never seems to find any. When a snake bites her and she might die, a large gathering of cats comes to her aid. It's a really lovely story with lots of beautiful pictures. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 7/1/03; 10:56:13 PM

Realms of Fantasy Magazine: August 2003 Issue

Finished - 6/22/03 A review of LXG (movie), the Folkroots column about "Shakespeare's folklore and English holiday cycle", book reviews, and a bunch of good short stories. My favorite was "Down with the Lizards and the Bees" by Tim Pratt. Then there is an article about the artist John Berkey, the Past Lives column which includes dates and locations for many events happening this summer, and finally the Games column which doesn't interest me much because it seems to be all about computer games. I really enjoy this magazine and tend to read it cover to cover within a week of receiving it. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 7/1/03; 10:34:53 PM

Blue Moon, by Larrell K. Hamilton

* * * 1/2, Started 6/3/03 - Finished 6/11/03 Book 8: She gets better and better. She keeps doing a few little things that I don't like, ex. describing certain people or things in the same phrases again and again. But here plots are getting tighter. I like that everything is always from Anita's perspective. If she doesn't know about it then neither do we. The more she learns the more questions there are. Keeps you on your toes. Plot stuff: Bad cops set up Richard on a rape charge because he's getting in their way. Or at least, he's getting in the way of a rich guy who can buy the cops off. Lust factor: There was definitely sex. Anita has erotic little moments with a few different men. Then she lays down a challenge to Richard in front of the entire local pack and has to run. If he isn't the first one to get to her then she's going to be in trouble. Relationships: Jean-Claude gets left at home while Anita goes off to play with Richard in Tennessee. They get a little closer after he catches her, and he tells her that she can have both Jean-Claude and himself, but if she doesn't have to be monogomous, then neither does he. That gets her thinking. Supernatural: Anita has started channeling the packs munin, the spirits and powers of their dead. They like her a lot and they scare her. If she doesn't learn control it could kill her. She also finds out that sex makes the marks between her and the guys stronger. We also get to meet and learn about demons in this one. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 6/21/03; 2:51:41 PM

Burnt Offerings, by Larrell K. Hamilton

* * * Started 5/17/03 and Finished on 6/2/03 Book 7. It's only been a little over two months since we started the first one. I don't know what we will do when we hit the last one. (Go through withdrawals? Start reading them again from the beginning?) Overall: This book felt a little scattered. Not quite so smooth, but she does still manage to tie everything up neatly at the end and I appreciate that. Lust: No sex in this one, just a lot of innuendo, forplay, and erotic moments. Relationships: Anita, Jean-Claude and Richard are a triad of power. Girl loves boys, but is stuck on this monogamy trip. Richard is with her on that trip and off somewhere pouting and beating himself up because she is with Jean-Claude. I think Jean-Clause is patiently waiting for them to get over it. Plot stuff: The unexpected arrival of The Council. Or at least a couple of the vampire council members. These folks are what regular vampires have nightmares about and they are here to pick on Jean-Claude and Anita. Why is it that the monsters never play fair even when it's their own rules they are supposed to be playing by. Maybe these guys have been around so long that the only fun they have is in playing games. Problem is that lives are at stake. Richard comes home to help them out. Even though he is pissed off at Anita and being a complete prick the whole time, he is still their third. Too late to change that. ( I really hope he gets over this crap soon, he's starting to irritate me.) Cool characters: A couple of 4000+ year old vampires. One is the Beast Master. It seems he can call any kind of animal to do his bidding. The other is the Traveller. If this guy has his own body we don't know about it. All we know is he possesses the bodies of other vampires. It's kinda hard to shoot a bad guy when he is currently using the body of a good guy. But the coolest character has to be Warrick, the crusader. He's been pining for god and his lost soul for at least a thousand years, but he's not a whiner. He's honorable, and you wonder what he's doing with the bad guys. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 6/10/03; 11:06:42 PM

Under the Fang (short story collection)

* * * Started - 5/9/03, Finished - 05/25/03 This is a collection of vampire stories told in a world where the vampires have risen up and taken over control. Government, TV, radio, pop culture now all belong to them. The humans resist, they hide, and fight back, or they serve. I bought this book for this story: We Are Dead Together, by Charles de Lint. I adore his stuff and will buy collections just for one six page story, like this one. But I also like vampire fiction so I finally got around to reading the rest of the book. Here are some others that I liked: 1) Red Eve, by Al Sarrantonio - Far future, the earth has been destroyed by the war between humans and vampires, and there is a celebration to remember. 2) Calm Sea and Prosperous Voyage, by Chet Williamson - A young couple that disappears into the mountains. They just want to survive and live a quiet life away from the world that has changed so much. 3) Advocates, by Charnas and Yarbro - A couple of famous vampire characters meet in this one. 4) Herrenrasse, by J. N. Williamson - A vampire takes a human as a pet. 5) Midnight Sun, by Brian Hodge - A human resistance group is found in the land of the midnight sun. 6) Prodigal Sun, by Thomas F. Monteleone - A vampire scientistic is working on a serum that will allow his kind to see the sun again. 7) Juice, by Lisa W. Cantrell - A country bootlegger, sells a different kind of illegal drink in the world after the change. It's sort of the same as what his daddy did. There are other good ones, and some that I wasn't so impressed with, but that's how it always is with anthologies. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 5/26/03; 4:11:20 PM

The Killing Dance, by Larrell K. Hamilton

* * * 1/2 - Started 5/1/03 -- Finished 5/14/03 We are fairly whizzing through these books. It will probably seem a bit abrupt when we hit the last one available. There are eleven currently and this is number six. And it's pretty good. Just when we thought she'd never get over the "waiting for marriage" crap, she breaks. I thought we were going to be tortured with it until at least book seven, so it was a nice surprise that we weren't. In this one there is someone trying to kill Anita, but not directly, they are trying to hire expert killers to do it. Then there is a vampire with a disease who wants her to help find a cure. We get to meet another (rare) necromancer. There is boyfriend #1 struggling for dominance in the local werewolf pack and boyfriend #2 has a new dance club opening with camera crews everywhere and Anita on his arm. Oops, her parents didn't know she was dating the master vampire of the city. Now they do. I spent most of the book thinking the author might not pull off a good ending, but I was wrong. She does a good job of pulling in all the loose ends rather tidily. You might not like everything that happens, or how, but that isn't the point. You don't write a good book by keeping everybody happy. Well, maybe a kids book, but not fiction for adults with "vampire hunter" in the title. I'm really enjoying these. On to book seven. P.S. This one should have been named Dance Macabre. That's the name of JC's new dance club. It's the first one in the series not to be named after a place in the book. (restaurant, club, etc...) I think some editor, or who ever, decided The Killing Dance was a better name. Idiot. You don't change the naming scheme on book 7 of a series. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 5/19/03; 10:59:17 PM

Travels with Samantha (travel), by Philip Greenspun

* * * 1/2, Started - 12/25/02, Finished - 5/10/03 I enjoyed this right from the beginning. But I kept picking up other things to read in the middle. I probably read 75% of the book in the last ten days. The pictures are beautiful and his comments and thoughts about his experiences are by turns funny, witty, self deprecating and generous. I may have missed a few good adjectives, but the idea is that he really engages in the traveling activity of meeting people and learning something about them and therefore learning something about himself. I've never read any other "travel" books so I have no idea how it compares. I hardly ever even read non-fiction which is probably why I had a hard time sticking with it early on. In the end I can say that I enjoyed the whole thing. If you want to read this book online, here is a link to the beginning of chapter 1: http://www.photo.net/samantha/samantha-I.html Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 5/10/03; 4:07:03 PM

Bloody Bones, by Larrell K. Hamilton

* * * * Started 4/21/03 and Finished 4/26/03 Book 5 is the best one yet! It seems a bit contrived at the beginning because of my expectations after the last one, but in the end this one came together really well. Anita still claims to always be in control while letting lots of people push her around. She still walks into traps, sometimes knowing that's what she's probably doing. She always seems to think she has to. As if there is no alternative. Well, she's living the charmed life of a fictionally heroine. *shrug* So, we have really nasty bad guys, lots of them, but they all get sorted out by the end. Definite plus. Anita's werewolf boyfriend gets to mostly sit this one out, but Jean-Claude gets a starring role. Love that. Anita learns new things about vampires and about herself and her own powers. She is seriously questioning her previously black and white definitions of who the good guys and bad guys are. The more the human/police/good guys treat her badly and the more the vampires/monsters/bad guys treat her well, the more she rethinks her definitions. A very good thing. Nothing in life is really black and white. Everything is complicated. I am pleased that none of the rules for the monsters or supernatural stuff seems to contradict any others. (Yet, knock on wood.) Sometimes it seems like the rules pop up at the last minute as a plot device. But I think that overall she is trying not to explain things too early or out of context and as long as she doesn't contradict previously stated rules I'll be happy. Oh and I've decided that she's gun happy because she needs to get laid. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 4/29/03; 11:55:55 PM

The Riddle of the Wren, by Charles de Lint

* * * 1/2, Started - 4/14/03, Finished - 4/18/03 This appears to have been Charles de Lint's first published novel (1984). I've only just read it because I didn't discover him until maybe 1995 and this one was out of print and hard to find by then. It just got reprinted in paperback, Sept. 2002, because he is always growing in popularity there is a demand now for his early books. Anyway, this is one of only a handful of high fantasy books he has written and I rather enjoyed it. Not incredibly original in its basic plot, but still well thought out. His characters are rich and the beauty is in the details of it all. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 4/19/03; 6:05:25 PM

The Lunatic Cafe, by Laurell K. Hamilton

* * * 1/2, Started - 4/7/03, Finished - 4/16/03 I like werewolfs and other shape shifters almost as much as I like vampires, so I enjoyed the fact that this book is all about the were-creatures. Anita's boyfriend is a werewolf and even though she hasn't seen him shift yet she agrees to marry him early on. Then she spends the rest of the book meeting his pack and seeing glimses of the beast behind his eyes and wondering if she's made a mistake. What drives me nuts is that the proposal was brought on in the heat of the moment because Anita doesn't believe in sex before marraige. Is she nuts?! That isn't any way to pick a life partner, based on a moment or even a month worth of lust. Lust can be very blinding, and a spouse/partner has to be someone who'll last long after your vision clears. The vampire in her life refuses to be forgotten though and when Jean-Claude finds out that she is engaged to Richard, he insistes on "equal time". Which is to say that he's pissed off and wants to kill Richard, but if she agrees to date him (JC) for a couple of months then he will promise not to harm Richard. The plot is a little weak in this one. Anita is suppose to be figuring out why 8 shape shifter have disappeared. It has the usual pressure from everywhere and it all happens in only a few short days/nights, but it's a little thin. The author springs info on you at the last minute and the heroine misses some of the most obvious clues along the way. I guess she isn't a detective. Doesn't claim to be even. She's a zombie raiser and vampire hunter technically. But I think she will have to start learning. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 4/19/03; 5:26:36 PM

Circus of the Damned, by Laurell K. Hamilton

* * * * Started: 4/2/03 - Finished: 4/5/03 Good stuff. She isn't the best writer I've come across, but she tells a damn good story. What's the difference? Well, I like her characters, and the story in general is rather gripping in that *don't want to put it down* way, but she uses a lot of the same descriptions or catch phrases too much and occasionally screws up something. In this one Anita trashes her car trying to escape a pack of vampires and the next day she drives herself somewhere and then on the third day she remembers that she doesn't have a car. *shrug* It could be much worse. Oh, did I mention yet that each book is named after a club or bar of some sort. This one is actually an indoor circus. A demented one run by vampires but still a circus. She goes up against a couple of supposedly very old and powerful vampires. The one that was supposed to have been around at least since before the Aztecs was more impressive then the supposedly million year old homo-erectus era vampire. The latter just wasn't very well developed as a character. And she drives me crazy with all the sexual tension. By the end of this book there are two men in her life that she lusts after and they want her too, but she won't have sex with either of them. She is so independent and anti-monster at this point that she seems to consider lust a weakness in herself. She is a zombie raiser (necromancer) and vampire hunter (they call her The Executioner) and she doesn't really know much about were-creatures, but she seems to think of them as monsters too. Of course, she doesn't spend time with many humans. So why is she surprised that she is attracted to "monsters". Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 4/11/03; 6:50:58 PM

Realms of Fantasy Magazine, June 2003 Issue
* * * * Started - 4/2/03 Finished - 4/5/03 This is the second one I've gotten now and I read it practically from cover to cover. Definitely a good thing. My favorite stories were Crossing Into the Empire by Robert Silverberg and A Fault Against the Dead, by Nina Kiriki Hoffman. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 4/6/03; 3:29:27 PM

Guilty Pleasures, by Laurell K. Hamilton

* * * 1/2 Started - March 29th, 2003 Finished - March 31st, 2003 *Slurp* There went book 1 of the series. These books are a pretty fast read, which is nice sometimes. Ponderous and deep is only good when you can alternate it with the fast and crazy. This one was not as solid as book 2 in the story department, but it tries to make up for that with shear rapid fire action. The story spans three days and nights during which everything that can possibly go wrong does, until there aren't many options left for our heroine. We know she's going to win since there are at least 11 books in this series. I hope they're all this much fun, or better. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 3/31/03; 10:54:40 PM

The Laughing Corpse, by Laurell K. Hamilton

* * * * started - March 22nd, 2003 finished - March 27th, 2003 This is the second book, Michael read the first one to himself and then started reading the second one to me. We enjoyed it a lot, and whizzed through it in less than a week. It's about a vampire hunter and zombie raiser name Anita Blake. The action is really fast and the books span only a few days. Things start off getting bad and it snowballs until things are about as bad as they possibly can get before they get any better. The climax is right near the end of the book with just some minor wrap up afterwards. She cleans up all the big loose ends, which is a good thing too. I enjoyed this one so much that I had to go back and read book 1 before we can go on to book 3. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 3/31/03; 10:28:17 PM

Gossamer Axe, by Gael Baudino

* * * * 1/2 Started - Friday, Mar. 14th, 2003 Finished - Monday, Mar. 17th, 2003 Good stuff. I could hardly put it down. She is a good fantasy writer, I should read more of her stuff. There are Pagan/Wiccan, lesbian/bisexual themes in her work. Not anti-christian, just pro something else. Nothing against straight people, just pro options, and a broader mind. And she puts together a good story. This one is about a woman born in the 6th century, who ends up in fairyland for a bit. Time isn't the same there, so when she escapes it's the 18th century. Unfortunately, her lover was left behind and she has spent more then 200 years trying to figure out how to rescue her. She has to battle the master bard and win, but she's failed twice and nearly died. Now it's 1987 and she has discovered rock and roll, more specifically heavy metal, which is a lot more powerful then her magic harp. Of course, if you read fantasy novels you are pretty certain she will succeed, but that isn't the point. It's how she does, it's the journey to that end that is really important. Lots of fun. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 3/20/03; 10:41:08 PM

Reflections In A Looking Glass, by Morton N. Cohen

* * * * * Started - February 12th, 2003 Finished - March 13th, 2003 Fabulous and fascinating. I would have finished it within a week but I got distracted by that last book I finished, Complicated Women. I'm a fan of the Alice in Wonderland stories and I find Lewis Carroll (aka Charles Dodgson) fascinating. He was a mathematics lecturer at a college and an ameteur photographer in the 1850's. This book is about him and his photography. The pages are made of heavy paper and his photographs are beautifully reproduced. In a time when the subject had to hold perfectly still for a full minute or more in order to get a good picture, he took amazing pictures of children. In scenes posed to appear as if he really has caught a moment in time. Amazing! Not the sort of thing we think of when we think of photos from this time, the sort of frozen and stiff image. Ones where your sure they are terrified that their nose will start itching or something. This is a wonderful book and I recommend it to anyone with an iterest in any of these: Alice In Wonderland, Lewis Carroll, Photography (especially in it's first years), the Victorian Era. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 3/13/03; 9:25:10 PM

Complicated Women, by Mick LaSalle

* * * * 1/2 Started - February 16th, 2003 Finished - March 3rd. 2003 Fabulous book. History is a good thing to know, but so often the writers are too boring to make us care about the topic. Not LaSalle, he is exciting and vibrant. He draws you in and presents a case for watching those old movies, the first talkies from 1929-34, known as the Pre-Code Era. For those of us who were too young to remember the Production Code which wasn't lifted until 1968, this book is very eye opening. Most of us think that movies must only get better chronologically speaking and if we aren't impressed with movies from the 40's or 50's why would we ever bother going back to the late 20's - early 30's. I've just added about 45 Pre-Code films to my must see movie list. I highly recommend this book! Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 3/8/03; 5:33:45 PM

Realms of Fantasy, magazine

issue: April 2003 Years ago I had a subscription to this magazine and I let it end when I found that I didn't seem to have the time to read it. But then I missed it. Michael has had to hear about it once in awhile over the last couple years so he decided to get me a new subscription for xmas. It only comes out every other month, and the first one just finally showed up on Friday and I've already read the whole thing. Thank you Michael. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 3/2/03; 5:04:54 PM

Lady Cottington's Fairy Album

A quick read that is quite fun. If you have or have read the first book, Lady Cottington's Pressed Fairy Book, then this is essential. Not a lame sequel done just because the first one was popular. I think they might have planned it from the beginning. The only thing that drives me mad about this book is that there is a picture card pasted to one of the later pages with something written on the back and you can only read a bit of it. (*I won't rip it out*I won't rip it out*) Anyway, it's a lot of fun. * * * 1/2 Started - February 11th, 2003 Finished - Februaury 16th, 2003 Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 2/16/03; 10:31:16 PM

Fortress of the Pearl (novel), by Michael Moorcock

* * * * Started: Nov. 5th, 2002 Finished: Feb. 3rd, 2003 I just love Moorcocks vivid imagination! I don't know how to explain any of it properly here, I just adore his writing. If you've never read any of Moorcock's writings, I would suggested that you start with the first collection in the series of omnibuses I have: The Eternal Champion, it has a great assortment of stories in it. Anyway, about the Fortress of the Pearl. His writing style is much more polished in this one, compared with the first one writen some 20 years earlier. The point of the comparison is that I am rereading these for Michael in the way they are set 'chronologically' for Elric. Not in the order they were written. I'm not so sure this is the order they should be read. I loved this book, and I highly recommend it, but I suggest you read them in the order they were written because then the writing style will improve more naturally with the author, instead of jumping around like this. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 2/3/03; 11:19:21 PM

The Tower and The Hive (novel), by Anne McCaffrey

* * 1/2 Started - Jan. 21st, 2003 Finished - Jan. 30th, 2003 I dearly loved the first couple of books in this series. (The Rowan and Damia) The third (Damia's Children) and fourth (Lyon's Pride) were almost as good. These first four were all just a year or two apart and then the fifth one (I am theoretically here to talk about the fifth one) The Tower and Hive was a five year wait. Good thing I didn't hold my breath for this one. It was okay. It was written mainly to wrap of the series, but I didn't really feel, as a reader, that the authors heart was in it. The first two books focused on a single character, and they were rich and well developed. With this last one she is spread herself so thinly across so many characters that you hardly have time to get to know, let alone care about any of them. I highly recommend those first two books in the series, but I'd have to say that there isn't any huge loss if you don't make all the way to the fifth. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 1/30/03; 9:22:09 PM

Night Bites, edited by Victoria A. Brownworth

* * * Started - Dec. 25th, 2002 Finished - Jan. 20th, 2002 The stories were mostly mediocre unfortunately. Although there were a few interesting ideas, and a few surprises. Those made it worth wading through the others. Lisa D. Williamson's Best of Friends, Diane DeKelb-Rittenhouse's To Die For, and Ruthann Robson's Women's Music were my favorites. So the book was not a waste of time, and I think that it is probably true of all such anthology. The stories, by a variety of writers, will run the spectrum from good to bad. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 1/25/03; 3:05:46 PM

A Midsummer Night's Faery Tale, by Windling and Froud
* * * * Started: Jan. 11th, 2003 Finished: Jan. 11th, 2003 A beautiful faery tale indeed. Terry Windling's story and Wendy Froud's fabulous dolls combine wonderfully. I love fairy tales of all kinds, you may have noticed by now. I highly recommend this to fairy tale lovers of all ages. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 1/18/03; 11:03:39 AM

Book Review rating system for 2003

I can't believe it. I read 26 books in 2002! This book diary thing is a great idea. I'm going to do it again here for 2003. Here's the rating system I came up with last year: * * * * * Could hardly put it down * * * * Highly recommended * * * Good, I would recommend it to others * * Took an effort to finish * Not worth finishing It's worked pretty well so far, so I'm going to keep using it. Book Reviews 2003 item Posted: 1/6/03; 11:30:48 PM