Sibeal is a young druid-in-training, with the powers of a Seer. Her family has long been of the druidic faith, but no one is sure about Sibeal being a druid because of her extreme youth, only seventeen. So, to ensure her suitability for being a druid that young, she has been sent to Inis Eala, the isle of warriors, where reside members of the raiding pirates once led by Bran, Sibeal's uncle, who left off raiding to marry Sibeal's aunt, Liadan. Now the island is where the warriors who protect Ireland are trained in wielding the new iron weapons, much lighter and easier to swing than those of the past.
Sibeal wants nothing more than to serve out her time and return to the druidic camp known as the Nemetons to take her final vows. But when she and the others witness a horrible accident, a longboat sinking in the middle of the harbor on Inis Eala, they take in the survivors: Knut, Rodan, and Svala, a beautiful woman who is in a dreadful state. Later that day, Sibeal finds another survivor, a man without a name who she finds freezing and nearly dead by the sea. Keeping him alive with her warmth, her cousin Gareth rescues them both, and the man (who Sibeal eventually names Ardal, meaning Great Courage) is taken to the infirmary to heal.
Knut, the only man who can speak some Irish, tells a story of how the boat came to crash and the survivors, claiming that Svala is his wife, and that he doesn't know the name of the man who Sibeal rescued, but that he and four other men had taken a journey on the longship together, and were presumably some sort of scholars, but as a mere crewman, he doesn't know any more about them.
When Ardal comes to, he can't remember his name, but he does feel that Knut is telling a lie. He remembers that one of the men on the ship was his brother, Paul, and that Knut was responsible for Paul's death. As he heals, he begins to remember more, including his real name, Felix, but keeps it secret from everyone, including Sibeal, who he has begun to have feelings for. Especially after Knut comes to him one night when he is still weak and sick and threatens his life if he tells anyone what really happened on the boat.
Slowly recovering, Felix must remember what happened on the fateful voyage on the longboat, including what Knut doesn't want him to remember. And while Sibeal struggles with trying to connect with Svala, she must understand the woman if her and Felix's journey is to have any successful end, and at the same time, she has to deal with the feelings she is developing for Felix, feelings that might put an end to any hopes she has of becoming a druid after all- which will she follow, her heart, or her hopes?
I find myself of two minds about this book. Yes, i loved the prose, which had a very dreamy feel to it, and was almost poetic in its loveliness, but at the same time, not much happens in the book up until about 3/4 of the way through. And while I could see that the story was heading for an action-filled ending, the wait to get to that ending was very annoying. I could forgive the slow startup until about halfway through the book, and then it really started to drag for me. I knew where the story was going, but the endless wait to get there was making me antsy.
And if you liked the slow start, once the story started to move, that felt a bit strange, too. I figured out who Svala had to be long before the book actually got to the island, since tales of Selkies and other creatures that change skins aren't unknown in Celtic myth. Some parts of the solution eluded me, but I found myself out of charity with the waiting, and hoped for a quicker speed up than the book actually gave. I have read Juliet Marilier before, so I wasn't unfamilliar with her style, and I have read her other three Sevenwaters books, so I am not sure why this one gave me so much trouble with its slow unfolding style.
In the end, unless you are someone who has lots of patience with the story, I can't really see myself recommending this book too highly. It's too slow and hangs and drags too much for me to think that people would enjoy the ending after such a long buildup. YMMV, of course.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Friday, June 10, 2011
Unnatural Issue by Mercedes Lackey
Richard Whitestone is an Earth mage who lives in the wilds of Yorkshire with his beloved wife. Called from her side when she is heavily pregnant with their child, he returns from his mission for the master of the White Lodge to find his wife dead in childbirth, having given birth to their daughter. But the circumstances of his wife's birth make him reject the child, and find solace in the second floor of his house, leaving his daughter to be raised by his servants.
Years pass, and having failed to simply lay down and die, he went on to reading through his large store of magical grimoires kept by past Elemental Masters. When in his collection he finds a set of books belonging to a Necromancer, a sort of twisted Earth Magician who has powers over the dead. And in these books, he finds a thread of hope- missing his wife so much, he resolves to try and bring her back to life. But to do so, he needs a vessel to contain her spirit, and while he can send his earth creatures into the nearest city to kidnap a girl and bring it back to his house, the spell will fail unless he invests it with a great deal of magical energy- energy that can only be raised by killing, which at this point, he still doesn't want to do.
But if the vessel is perfect enough, and the sacrifice happens at the right time, it will take far less energy. As he is contemplating this, he looks out the window and sees a woman enough like his wife to make him sit up and take notice. Of course, it is his daughter, Susanne. And since he already hates her for killing his wife with her birth, he thinks he has finally found a solution to his dilemma...
Suzanne, like her father, is an Earth Master. And since he ceased looking out after his property many years ago, it has fallen to her to keep everything clean and to do away with magical troubles. Her teacher has been Puck, the faery lord, ever since she was young and missing friends and went out to the wood to call one. Her will and magical powers summoned Puck, and while he was just her friend at first, it was to his interests to make sure that she used her powers well and correctly, and later because he realizes that she is very powerful and must maintain the countryside in the absence of her father.
But when her father takes notice of her, it causes her carefully constructed world to crumble in many ways. First, her father separates her from the servants she has lived among for all her life by making it clear to them that she is still the daughter of the house. He gives her lessons that make her stay indoors and away from the world that needs her help and care, and he makes it clear that she will be educated as a young lady. But when she realizes that her father has designs on her body, and not the sort of designs that one normally has for a daughter, she flees the house, looking for shelter elsewhere.
That elsewhere happens to be the Kerridge estate. The Kerridges are also elemental masters, mostly of Earth, and their son, Charles, is used to working with the White Lodge. In fact, the knowledge that something is amiss in the country has not passed unnoticed by Lord Alderscroft, leader of the White Lodge, and he sent his agent, Peter Almsley, to find the source of the necromantic disturbance, and to deal with it. Peter is pretending to be an artist roaming around Yorkshire, but once Suzanne has found her way to Kerridge's, she gets hired as a milkmaid and Peter, who pretends to be a newly-hired gatekeeper, teaches her how to summon elementals and defend herself with her magic.
During this time, he falls in love with her, but she has fallen in love with Charles Kerridge, and doesn't even look at Peter. But when her father sends his undead minions to attack the Kerridge estate after a private eye finds Suzanne, Peter and his friends know they must do better to protect her, and Peter sends her across the channel to his uncle in France to keep her safe while he and the others do their best to track down her father. But the foiling of his attack warns him that he must be gone, and he leaves, leaving behind the animated bodies of his servants, who angered him when they didn't know where his daughter had gone.
They discover the remains of the servants some weeks later, decaying and rotting, but still carrying out their former duties, with their master long gone. The Fire Master of the group cleanses the bodies and souls with fire. But in France, Suzanne must come face to face with her own feelings, and the onset of war when Germany invades France. But with her father now somewhere on the continent, and Suzanne mired in the horrors of war among the nurses, can Peter persuade her to come home and be safe, or will it take the near death of the man she loves to convince her to finally come home and put matters to rest?
This, like the other Elemental Masters books, is based on an old fairy tale. Among others, it is known as "Catskinella" or "The King who Wanted to Marry His Daughter". But unlike the former Elemental Masters books, it takes place without much of a romance. Yes, Suzanne is interested in Charles Kerridge, but the book makes it clear that Peter will end up with her. And he does at the end, but it's hardly the foregone conclusion here that it has been in other books. Up until the last chapter, it is quite clear that she is pining for a man who barely even remembers her, and who, by the time he meets her again, already has a fianceé.
Yes, it's kind of ridiculous, but what is also ridiculous is that we never get the feeling that Suzanne is actually in danger. About all she does on her own behalf is to make the plan at the end that brings her back into her father's clutches, and in the end, a bomb kills him off. Yes, literally, a bomb falling from the sky. I suppose you could say it's ironic, but it just seemed a waste to me. I would like Suzanne to have more of a hand in eliminating the threat her father posed than to play act for a bit. The whole bomb thing was too much Deus ex Machina for me, and it seemed a quick out, since the ending of the threat was held right up until the end of the book.
Add to that some dropping of threads in the story, and it made this book seem a lot sloppier and not as well written as previous books in the series. There are certainly funny and amusing parts, but the whole romance element was not as well done, and it just seemed the book needed a lot tighter editing than those in the past. I'd still recommend it as a good book, but it doesn't hold up to the standard of her former works. Recommended, still.
Years pass, and having failed to simply lay down and die, he went on to reading through his large store of magical grimoires kept by past Elemental Masters. When in his collection he finds a set of books belonging to a Necromancer, a sort of twisted Earth Magician who has powers over the dead. And in these books, he finds a thread of hope- missing his wife so much, he resolves to try and bring her back to life. But to do so, he needs a vessel to contain her spirit, and while he can send his earth creatures into the nearest city to kidnap a girl and bring it back to his house, the spell will fail unless he invests it with a great deal of magical energy- energy that can only be raised by killing, which at this point, he still doesn't want to do.
But if the vessel is perfect enough, and the sacrifice happens at the right time, it will take far less energy. As he is contemplating this, he looks out the window and sees a woman enough like his wife to make him sit up and take notice. Of course, it is his daughter, Susanne. And since he already hates her for killing his wife with her birth, he thinks he has finally found a solution to his dilemma...
Suzanne, like her father, is an Earth Master. And since he ceased looking out after his property many years ago, it has fallen to her to keep everything clean and to do away with magical troubles. Her teacher has been Puck, the faery lord, ever since she was young and missing friends and went out to the wood to call one. Her will and magical powers summoned Puck, and while he was just her friend at first, it was to his interests to make sure that she used her powers well and correctly, and later because he realizes that she is very powerful and must maintain the countryside in the absence of her father.
But when her father takes notice of her, it causes her carefully constructed world to crumble in many ways. First, her father separates her from the servants she has lived among for all her life by making it clear to them that she is still the daughter of the house. He gives her lessons that make her stay indoors and away from the world that needs her help and care, and he makes it clear that she will be educated as a young lady. But when she realizes that her father has designs on her body, and not the sort of designs that one normally has for a daughter, she flees the house, looking for shelter elsewhere.
That elsewhere happens to be the Kerridge estate. The Kerridges are also elemental masters, mostly of Earth, and their son, Charles, is used to working with the White Lodge. In fact, the knowledge that something is amiss in the country has not passed unnoticed by Lord Alderscroft, leader of the White Lodge, and he sent his agent, Peter Almsley, to find the source of the necromantic disturbance, and to deal with it. Peter is pretending to be an artist roaming around Yorkshire, but once Suzanne has found her way to Kerridge's, she gets hired as a milkmaid and Peter, who pretends to be a newly-hired gatekeeper, teaches her how to summon elementals and defend herself with her magic.
During this time, he falls in love with her, but she has fallen in love with Charles Kerridge, and doesn't even look at Peter. But when her father sends his undead minions to attack the Kerridge estate after a private eye finds Suzanne, Peter and his friends know they must do better to protect her, and Peter sends her across the channel to his uncle in France to keep her safe while he and the others do their best to track down her father. But the foiling of his attack warns him that he must be gone, and he leaves, leaving behind the animated bodies of his servants, who angered him when they didn't know where his daughter had gone.
They discover the remains of the servants some weeks later, decaying and rotting, but still carrying out their former duties, with their master long gone. The Fire Master of the group cleanses the bodies and souls with fire. But in France, Suzanne must come face to face with her own feelings, and the onset of war when Germany invades France. But with her father now somewhere on the continent, and Suzanne mired in the horrors of war among the nurses, can Peter persuade her to come home and be safe, or will it take the near death of the man she loves to convince her to finally come home and put matters to rest?
This, like the other Elemental Masters books, is based on an old fairy tale. Among others, it is known as "Catskinella" or "The King who Wanted to Marry His Daughter". But unlike the former Elemental Masters books, it takes place without much of a romance. Yes, Suzanne is interested in Charles Kerridge, but the book makes it clear that Peter will end up with her. And he does at the end, but it's hardly the foregone conclusion here that it has been in other books. Up until the last chapter, it is quite clear that she is pining for a man who barely even remembers her, and who, by the time he meets her again, already has a fianceé.
Yes, it's kind of ridiculous, but what is also ridiculous is that we never get the feeling that Suzanne is actually in danger. About all she does on her own behalf is to make the plan at the end that brings her back into her father's clutches, and in the end, a bomb kills him off. Yes, literally, a bomb falling from the sky. I suppose you could say it's ironic, but it just seemed a waste to me. I would like Suzanne to have more of a hand in eliminating the threat her father posed than to play act for a bit. The whole bomb thing was too much Deus ex Machina for me, and it seemed a quick out, since the ending of the threat was held right up until the end of the book.
Add to that some dropping of threads in the story, and it made this book seem a lot sloppier and not as well written as previous books in the series. There are certainly funny and amusing parts, but the whole romance element was not as well done, and it just seemed the book needed a lot tighter editing than those in the past. I'd still recommend it as a good book, but it doesn't hold up to the standard of her former works. Recommended, still.
Thursday, June 09, 2011
The Seven Natural Wonders of the World by Raymond Coutu
Everyone has heard of the Seven Wonders of the World, but there are more than just seven these days. In addition to the original Seven Wonders, there are now several categories of "Seven Wonders of the World". They are broken down into the "Seven Wonders of the Modern World" and "Seven Natural Wonders of the World". While the other Seven Wonders change with time, the Seven Natural Wonders aren't going to change.
This book describes and profiles all seven natural wonders of the World- sights and places that have entranced humans ever since they were discovered, and describes how they were formed, and found by humans and even first explored, along with information about how the wonder is viewed by the people who live near or in and around it.
Two countries share the distinction of having two Natural Wonders each- The United States, and Australia, while the others are scattered across Europe, Asia and Africa- one to each continent. So, you may be wondering, what are they?
The Natural Wonders of the World are The Grand Canyon, Meteor Crater, The Matterhorn, Mount Everest, Victoria Falls, Ayers Rock and The Great Barrier Reef. Each section contains many pictures and explains why each Wonder is important (like the Great Barrier Reef's Diversity of Species), and gives the History of how each Wonder got its name and why it's considered a wonder (for example, Mount Everest is the world's tallest mountain and the highest point on Earth. The Matterhorn is only half as tall, but is noted for its extreme beauty.)
This book covers each of the Natural Wonders in extensive detail, including how each was formed and their discovery by Europeans (even the section on Ayers Rock mentions that Aborigines knew of Ayers Rock for many, many years before any Europeans did). It's a nice overview that explains the sites and why they are considered Natural Wonders.
This is a very nice book for kids wanting to see and know more about the Natural Wonders of the world. This book is short, but the multiplicity of pictures and the nice amount of information allow kids to get a good idea about each wonder, and can serve as a springboard to finding out more information on each one.
Difficult word concepts are explained at the back of the book, and the book itself is good for second through fifth graders, and maybe even a bit beyond. The wonders it covers are fascinating in and of themselves, and the written information is sure to incite more exploration of not only the Natural Wonders, but also other wonders of the world as well.
This book is recommended for kids of late elementary school. It will probably be too short and simple to attract the interest of older kids, but can still spark their learning. Well-written and researched, and highly recommended.
This book describes and profiles all seven natural wonders of the World- sights and places that have entranced humans ever since they were discovered, and describes how they were formed, and found by humans and even first explored, along with information about how the wonder is viewed by the people who live near or in and around it.
Two countries share the distinction of having two Natural Wonders each- The United States, and Australia, while the others are scattered across Europe, Asia and Africa- one to each continent. So, you may be wondering, what are they?
The Natural Wonders of the World are The Grand Canyon, Meteor Crater, The Matterhorn, Mount Everest, Victoria Falls, Ayers Rock and The Great Barrier Reef. Each section contains many pictures and explains why each Wonder is important (like the Great Barrier Reef's Diversity of Species), and gives the History of how each Wonder got its name and why it's considered a wonder (for example, Mount Everest is the world's tallest mountain and the highest point on Earth. The Matterhorn is only half as tall, but is noted for its extreme beauty.)
This book covers each of the Natural Wonders in extensive detail, including how each was formed and their discovery by Europeans (even the section on Ayers Rock mentions that Aborigines knew of Ayers Rock for many, many years before any Europeans did). It's a nice overview that explains the sites and why they are considered Natural Wonders.
This is a very nice book for kids wanting to see and know more about the Natural Wonders of the world. This book is short, but the multiplicity of pictures and the nice amount of information allow kids to get a good idea about each wonder, and can serve as a springboard to finding out more information on each one.
Difficult word concepts are explained at the back of the book, and the book itself is good for second through fifth graders, and maybe even a bit beyond. The wonders it covers are fascinating in and of themselves, and the written information is sure to incite more exploration of not only the Natural Wonders, but also other wonders of the world as well.
This book is recommended for kids of late elementary school. It will probably be too short and simple to attract the interest of older kids, but can still spark their learning. Well-written and researched, and highly recommended.
Wednesday, June 08, 2011
Secret Avengers: Mission to Mars by Ed Brubaker and Mike Deodato
Captain America, Steve Rogers, is given the mission to rebuild the Avengers, But alongside the regular team, he also has the idea to build a covert team, one that isn't as much about flashy power, but about doing a job in a covert fashion and getting out afterwards, like the Shadow Ops of his World War II Invaders.
To this end, he recruits War Machine, Black Widow, Beast, Valkyrie, Moon Knight, Ant-Man and Nova to form that covert mission force. Not all of them exactly want to do this full-time, but Steve Rogers can be very persuasive. But when they receive Intel that Roxxon has found the Serpent Crown, it's up to the new Covert team to get it away to where it can be secured, but after getting into a firefight with Roxxon's men, they retrieve the package, only to find out what's inside isn't the Serpent Crown... not exactly.
But hacking into Roxxon reveals that the Crown wasn't found on Earth, but on Mars. Not only did Roxxon get mineral rights to dig on Mars, but shortly before the rumors of Roxxon having the crown surfaced, their entire group of workers employed on Mars went off their employment rolls with no reason given as to why.
When Nova goes to Mars, though, he enters the facility where Roxxon had been mining, and discovers a strange, thorny crown that makes him take off his helmet and replace the helmet with itself. But what is the crown, and why was it in that strange facility on Mars? Who and what are these strange figures that seem to be boiling up out of Mars? And what is Nick Fury doing there, and who are those strange, non-SHIELD people with him?
At the end of the book, we get to see exactly who that man who looked like Nick Fury was, and how he came to be running around away from SHIELD and Fury himself. Because like Fury, this person has all of Fury's memories, and his skills as well. And now, it seems that those skills and that sharp mind will be focussing on the Secret Avengers strike team... and he doesn't like what he sees...
I liked the idea of a Secret Avengers, as it's not necessarily new to the Avengers to need a more covert team to take out threats and to deal with things that need "plausible deniability", to use government weasel words. Here, the former Captain America has made a team of characters who need redemption, or who would have a hard time working with a group, and floated his team as a vehicle for redemption, one in which they need not take part full-time.
We've never seen some of these characters as Avengers before, and many of them aren't as suited to straight-up battling roles, but work better as infiltrators or whose powers and abilities lend themselves to sneaky uses. It's hard to see Thor, for example, battling at anything less than high volume and sneaking isn't really in his purview. But they still need power characters for backup when things go south. So it's a strange mix of sneaky and brutal.
I enjoyed the story, though taking place on Mars made it seem rather... otherworldly. But problems on Mars are just one short jump away from Earth, and that's where the bad stuff goes down. This was an interesting tale and whetted my appetite for more Secret Avengers. I just hope that further graphic novels live up to the standard in this one. Recommended.
To this end, he recruits War Machine, Black Widow, Beast, Valkyrie, Moon Knight, Ant-Man and Nova to form that covert mission force. Not all of them exactly want to do this full-time, but Steve Rogers can be very persuasive. But when they receive Intel that Roxxon has found the Serpent Crown, it's up to the new Covert team to get it away to where it can be secured, but after getting into a firefight with Roxxon's men, they retrieve the package, only to find out what's inside isn't the Serpent Crown... not exactly.
But hacking into Roxxon reveals that the Crown wasn't found on Earth, but on Mars. Not only did Roxxon get mineral rights to dig on Mars, but shortly before the rumors of Roxxon having the crown surfaced, their entire group of workers employed on Mars went off their employment rolls with no reason given as to why.
When Nova goes to Mars, though, he enters the facility where Roxxon had been mining, and discovers a strange, thorny crown that makes him take off his helmet and replace the helmet with itself. But what is the crown, and why was it in that strange facility on Mars? Who and what are these strange figures that seem to be boiling up out of Mars? And what is Nick Fury doing there, and who are those strange, non-SHIELD people with him?
At the end of the book, we get to see exactly who that man who looked like Nick Fury was, and how he came to be running around away from SHIELD and Fury himself. Because like Fury, this person has all of Fury's memories, and his skills as well. And now, it seems that those skills and that sharp mind will be focussing on the Secret Avengers strike team... and he doesn't like what he sees...
I liked the idea of a Secret Avengers, as it's not necessarily new to the Avengers to need a more covert team to take out threats and to deal with things that need "plausible deniability", to use government weasel words. Here, the former Captain America has made a team of characters who need redemption, or who would have a hard time working with a group, and floated his team as a vehicle for redemption, one in which they need not take part full-time.
We've never seen some of these characters as Avengers before, and many of them aren't as suited to straight-up battling roles, but work better as infiltrators or whose powers and abilities lend themselves to sneaky uses. It's hard to see Thor, for example, battling at anything less than high volume and sneaking isn't really in his purview. But they still need power characters for backup when things go south. So it's a strange mix of sneaky and brutal.
I enjoyed the story, though taking place on Mars made it seem rather... otherworldly. But problems on Mars are just one short jump away from Earth, and that's where the bad stuff goes down. This was an interesting tale and whetted my appetite for more Secret Avengers. I just hope that further graphic novels live up to the standard in this one. Recommended.
Tuesday, June 07, 2011
The Avengers by Brian Michael Bendis and John Romita Jr.
Steve Rogers has decided to put the Avengers back together after Norman Osborne's Faux Avengers are taken down, but while almost all of the heroes he approaches are happy with the idea and enthusiastic, all except for one- Simon Williams, who seems to think that the whole thing is a very bad idea.
But soon after the new generation of the Avengers gather together, they are confronted by Kang, who tells them that their children are a problem in the future. After the Avengers failed to stop Ultron in the future, their own children took up the mantle as protectors of the Earth, and took him down with a vengeance- so quickly that Alexander the Great would have been startled. And now they rule the world, and they are endangering the entire time stream, and it is up to the Avengers to try and stop them.
Tony Stark has never built a time machine- he knows enough about himself that if he knew he had one, he would use it to try and undo all the mistakes that ended up in the death of his friends, and that would make him no better than Kang/Immortus. But to build one, he needs the help of someone who knows about time. And in Lieu of Reed Richards, he ends up contacting Marvel Boy or Noh-varr, whose knowledge of Kree science and tech allows him to understand the nature of time.
And the time viewer they build shows several possible futures- all of them equally probable. But one takes over, and the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse and Apocalypse himself show up from the broken timestream. And it's not just the one timestream that is broken- it's all of them, and unless they can fix the timestream, the entire continuum will be broken and disintegrate. They travel to that future, where they find that Kang is just a messenger boy for The Hulk, who is working with future Tony Stark to try and stop Ultron.
It turns out that Ultron and Kang were fighting over time itself, and when Kang brought an army of heroes and villains to destroy Ultron, Ultron destroyed them all, so Kang went out and recruited more, and more, all bringing them back to the same time to try again. But each time they failed, and so Kang was defeated, but all that bringing people to the same point in time over and over stressed the time stream beyond redemption, and so time began to collapse.
But how can the Avengers track down the source of the disturbance in the time stream and prevent it from being destroyed? Can they prevent Kang from taking out time in a tantrum? And what will happen to the future that they found if they change time itself to prevent Kang from losing to Ultron?
This one was kinda... creepy, actually, because the art style, to me, made some of the characters look much, much too young. Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, looked about sixteen or so, not much older than Noh-varr, a character known as "Marvel Boy". The design of the new Avenger kids was fine, and I liked the interaction between the various characters, but some of the characters looked like they should still be in high school... which I found excessively weird, because those characters weren't meant to look that young.
The story was interesting, and I liked the idea of time itself becoming unglued, and being the reason for all the problems facing our heroes, and the ending was quite intriguing as well, as it puts a completely different complexion on the scenes we saw at the beginning of the book. I'd be interested in seeing more, as to where this continuity is going. It's interesting and something I haven't seen much of before.
I've been reading comics a lot, but this one did an amazing job of creating and building tension around what was going on, who was ultimately responsible, and what the outcome would be. As a stand-alone graphic novel, this one is right up there in being interesting and having a wonderful story. Highly recommended.
But soon after the new generation of the Avengers gather together, they are confronted by Kang, who tells them that their children are a problem in the future. After the Avengers failed to stop Ultron in the future, their own children took up the mantle as protectors of the Earth, and took him down with a vengeance- so quickly that Alexander the Great would have been startled. And now they rule the world, and they are endangering the entire time stream, and it is up to the Avengers to try and stop them.
Tony Stark has never built a time machine- he knows enough about himself that if he knew he had one, he would use it to try and undo all the mistakes that ended up in the death of his friends, and that would make him no better than Kang/Immortus. But to build one, he needs the help of someone who knows about time. And in Lieu of Reed Richards, he ends up contacting Marvel Boy or Noh-varr, whose knowledge of Kree science and tech allows him to understand the nature of time.
And the time viewer they build shows several possible futures- all of them equally probable. But one takes over, and the Four Horseman of the Apocalypse and Apocalypse himself show up from the broken timestream. And it's not just the one timestream that is broken- it's all of them, and unless they can fix the timestream, the entire continuum will be broken and disintegrate. They travel to that future, where they find that Kang is just a messenger boy for The Hulk, who is working with future Tony Stark to try and stop Ultron.
It turns out that Ultron and Kang were fighting over time itself, and when Kang brought an army of heroes and villains to destroy Ultron, Ultron destroyed them all, so Kang went out and recruited more, and more, all bringing them back to the same time to try again. But each time they failed, and so Kang was defeated, but all that bringing people to the same point in time over and over stressed the time stream beyond redemption, and so time began to collapse.
But how can the Avengers track down the source of the disturbance in the time stream and prevent it from being destroyed? Can they prevent Kang from taking out time in a tantrum? And what will happen to the future that they found if they change time itself to prevent Kang from losing to Ultron?
This one was kinda... creepy, actually, because the art style, to me, made some of the characters look much, much too young. Steve Rogers, the original Captain America, looked about sixteen or so, not much older than Noh-varr, a character known as "Marvel Boy". The design of the new Avenger kids was fine, and I liked the interaction between the various characters, but some of the characters looked like they should still be in high school... which I found excessively weird, because those characters weren't meant to look that young.
The story was interesting, and I liked the idea of time itself becoming unglued, and being the reason for all the problems facing our heroes, and the ending was quite intriguing as well, as it puts a completely different complexion on the scenes we saw at the beginning of the book. I'd be interested in seeing more, as to where this continuity is going. It's interesting and something I haven't seen much of before.
I've been reading comics a lot, but this one did an amazing job of creating and building tension around what was going on, who was ultimately responsible, and what the outcome would be. As a stand-alone graphic novel, this one is right up there in being interesting and having a wonderful story. Highly recommended.
Avengers: West Coast Avengers- Assemble! by Harras, Stern, Hall, Milgrom, and McDonnell
It is just after the Secret Wars, and the Avengers have finally returned home to the Avengers mansion. Wasp steps down as Chairwoman, and the Vision is elected, and his first act is to split the team, sending one half to California, to better police the country.
Put in charge are Hawkeye and his wife, Mockingbird, and they recruit heroes and heroines who live out in California: Tigra, Iron Man (although at the time, it is Rhodey rather than Tony Stark), Wonder Man, and the Shade- even though the Shade declines the offer- he works alone.
But it seems that California is undergoing an upswing in supervillainous crime, what with Dr. Karl Malus re-powering a villain named Power Man, and the West Coast Avengers don't seem to have any luck catching him. But when they find him again, can they use teamwork to finally catch him?
Then they must face off against a criminal known as the Blank, who can erase his features and even his tangibility at will. So far, he is using his power to rob banks. But the device he is using to become the Blank is not just powered by strange science, but by the spirit of one man- Graviton! And when he comes back, it will be up to the new West Coast Avengers to bring him, and the blank, to justice. But with Simon Williams- better known as Wonder Man, becomes determined to bring in the Blank and Graviton on his own, will his teammates be able to bring him to his senses, and bring in the miscreants?
The books ends out with two stories, on in which the East Coast and West Coast Avengers band together to take down a menace known as Maelstrom. The new Captain Marvel discovers that the Earth's rotation is slowing down even even faster than it would normally. But when she discovers where the disturbance is, something frightens her so badly that she is nearly paralysed. But what will it take her to overcome her fear and attack Maelstrom?
The second story shows how Hawkeye and Mockingbird found the mansion where the West Coast Avengers make their headquarters. It belongs to an old Hollywood movie star named Moira Brandon. She says her one regret was that while she played women of great courage in the movies, she herself is a coward. But when the villain named Crossfire attacks them in the depths of the mansion, can Moira Brandon find it in herself to save the day? And the story is framed with the device of Hawkeye talking to the grave of his wife?
I actually enjoyed this book. I wasn't into comics during the whole Secret Wars Era, though I had been into the Avengers earlier on. By the time of Marvel's Secret Wars, I was much more into independent comics and publishers, so I missed all of this, like the start of the West Coast Avengers. This graphic novel allows me to catch up on what I missed. The stories are good, and the characters are sort of the best of the 80's cheese.
Everything, from Simon Williams, the quintessential 80's Marvel Hero, to the sort of overblown villains that dress like something out of a bad fantasy novel- this is the sort of thing that Marvel in the 70's and 80's was well known for. But the stories are interesting, and I have to wonder how much the non-Avenger, the Shade, played as part of further stories set in California. He wasn't a character I was familiar with, nor do I seem to be able to find much about him now online.
For doing an offshoot of the original, this isn't bad. The new team is rather irreverent, but that suits the leadership style of Hawkeye and Mockingbird. It's a fascinating introduction to a series, and one I very much enjoyed. Recommended, if you can stand high levels of cheese.
Put in charge are Hawkeye and his wife, Mockingbird, and they recruit heroes and heroines who live out in California: Tigra, Iron Man (although at the time, it is Rhodey rather than Tony Stark), Wonder Man, and the Shade- even though the Shade declines the offer- he works alone.
But it seems that California is undergoing an upswing in supervillainous crime, what with Dr. Karl Malus re-powering a villain named Power Man, and the West Coast Avengers don't seem to have any luck catching him. But when they find him again, can they use teamwork to finally catch him?
Then they must face off against a criminal known as the Blank, who can erase his features and even his tangibility at will. So far, he is using his power to rob banks. But the device he is using to become the Blank is not just powered by strange science, but by the spirit of one man- Graviton! And when he comes back, it will be up to the new West Coast Avengers to bring him, and the blank, to justice. But with Simon Williams- better known as Wonder Man, becomes determined to bring in the Blank and Graviton on his own, will his teammates be able to bring him to his senses, and bring in the miscreants?
The books ends out with two stories, on in which the East Coast and West Coast Avengers band together to take down a menace known as Maelstrom. The new Captain Marvel discovers that the Earth's rotation is slowing down even even faster than it would normally. But when she discovers where the disturbance is, something frightens her so badly that she is nearly paralysed. But what will it take her to overcome her fear and attack Maelstrom?
The second story shows how Hawkeye and Mockingbird found the mansion where the West Coast Avengers make their headquarters. It belongs to an old Hollywood movie star named Moira Brandon. She says her one regret was that while she played women of great courage in the movies, she herself is a coward. But when the villain named Crossfire attacks them in the depths of the mansion, can Moira Brandon find it in herself to save the day? And the story is framed with the device of Hawkeye talking to the grave of his wife?
I actually enjoyed this book. I wasn't into comics during the whole Secret Wars Era, though I had been into the Avengers earlier on. By the time of Marvel's Secret Wars, I was much more into independent comics and publishers, so I missed all of this, like the start of the West Coast Avengers. This graphic novel allows me to catch up on what I missed. The stories are good, and the characters are sort of the best of the 80's cheese.
Everything, from Simon Williams, the quintessential 80's Marvel Hero, to the sort of overblown villains that dress like something out of a bad fantasy novel- this is the sort of thing that Marvel in the 70's and 80's was well known for. But the stories are interesting, and I have to wonder how much the non-Avenger, the Shade, played as part of further stories set in California. He wasn't a character I was familiar with, nor do I seem to be able to find much about him now online.
For doing an offshoot of the original, this isn't bad. The new team is rather irreverent, but that suits the leadership style of Hawkeye and Mockingbird. It's a fascinating introduction to a series, and one I very much enjoyed. Recommended, if you can stand high levels of cheese.
Monday, June 06, 2011
Mouse Guard: Legends of the Guard by various
Scene: The June Alley Inn in the town of Barkhouse. Mice love to gather there and drink, served by June herself. But one night, a bunch of mice with large, unpaid bar tabs are offered a choice by June- tell a better tale than any of the others, and have their bar tab wiped out.
This is a challenge that the mice cannot resist, and as the hours pass, the stories get wilder and wilder. But are they less believable or more believable? And who will win the contest?
The First tale is the Battle of the Hawk's Mouse and the Fox's Mouse. Before the Mice fought for themselves, they fought for other animals. But when two warring animals use the mice against each other, will this status Quo last for long?
"A Bargain in the Dark" tells the tale of a mouse who comes to an accord with a bat in the dark. But how can he trust the other, and what secrets will they end up teaching each other?
"Oleg the Wise" tells the story of a mouse King whose steed was foretold to lead to his death. But when he puts his steed away, will he live a long life, or will there be a twisted logic in the seer's words after all?
"Potential" tells why the Mouse Guard go to great lengths to protect not only the large communities of mice, but the smaller ones as well. So why do Mice goes to great lengths to protect even the smallest communities?
"The Shrike and the Toad" tells the story of two ingenious mice who use the body of a dead shrike and a living toad to escape a huge group of enemies.
"Worley and the Mink" tells the story of a mouse who goes a-courting, and loses his goods and his bride. But when he is offered a deal to get his own back- by taking on a vicious mink... will he do it?
"A Mouse named Fox" tells of two foxes who adopt a mouse as a son when they can't have a child of their own, but when he goes out into the world, he must learn a hard lesson about what he thinks he is, and what he actually is. But can he use his upbringing to save Mice in trouble?
"The Critic" tells the story of a mouse whose artist spends time building him up. But when reality intrudes, will the Mouse be able to recognize reality over stories?
"The Ballad of Nettledown" tells of a small mouse town and the disaster it underwent, and how a single mouse manage to save them all from the flood.
"Raven" retells the story of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven", but with a mouse as the protagonist. Will the ending be different because of the identity of the narrator?
"The Lion and the Mouse" tells of a mouse who discovers a lion with a thorn in its paw, and the lion thereby incurs a debt. So when the mouse is menaced by two jackals, will his new friend come to his aid?
"Bowen's Tale" sees the tale of a mouse, who, alone, witnesses a sight of tremendous majesty and danger- and manages to survive.
"Crown of Silver, Crown of Gold" tells a story of a mad King, Avidar, and his chief General, Garrow War-Wise, who loved a mouse-maid named Moira. Avidar falls in love with Moira when he sees her, but she is promised to Garrow, which even Avidar must respect. So Avidar decides to send Garrow to his chief opponent, the King of Cedarloch, with a message promising peace should Cedarloch kill Garrow. But can Garrow survive his King's treachery to reveal his evil?
When all the tales are told, whose tale will win? And will the winner survive the night afterwards?
I found this an interesting and amusing book. Okay, some of the stories are just retold tales (Like "Raven", "The Lion and the Mouse" and "Crown of Silver, Crown of Gold" are all retold tales in some fashion, either from Poe, Aesop, or the Bible. It's just sad that the best stories all seem to be from elsewhere. The other stories are good, but those three are really the best.
I also like the art. Even though the art differs from story to story and artist to artist, the linking art and characters tie all the stories together. The Interior of the June Alley Inn is warm and homey, and the winning story is beautiful. Put together, while this book doesn't tell any sort of coherent tale, it does paint a picture of mouse life and mouse lives and the story of the Guard in all of them.
This is merely a book of well-told tales, but it massively expands the world of the Mouse Guard graphic novels, bringing in untold lands and cultures and lets us see the kind of bravery and gallantry that makes a Mouse Guard. Anyone who liked the Mouse Guard books, or who likes the work of Brian Jacques will find something to admire and like in these books. Highly recommended.
This is a challenge that the mice cannot resist, and as the hours pass, the stories get wilder and wilder. But are they less believable or more believable? And who will win the contest?
The First tale is the Battle of the Hawk's Mouse and the Fox's Mouse. Before the Mice fought for themselves, they fought for other animals. But when two warring animals use the mice against each other, will this status Quo last for long?
"A Bargain in the Dark" tells the tale of a mouse who comes to an accord with a bat in the dark. But how can he trust the other, and what secrets will they end up teaching each other?
"Oleg the Wise" tells the story of a mouse King whose steed was foretold to lead to his death. But when he puts his steed away, will he live a long life, or will there be a twisted logic in the seer's words after all?
"Potential" tells why the Mouse Guard go to great lengths to protect not only the large communities of mice, but the smaller ones as well. So why do Mice goes to great lengths to protect even the smallest communities?
"The Shrike and the Toad" tells the story of two ingenious mice who use the body of a dead shrike and a living toad to escape a huge group of enemies.
"Worley and the Mink" tells the story of a mouse who goes a-courting, and loses his goods and his bride. But when he is offered a deal to get his own back- by taking on a vicious mink... will he do it?
"A Mouse named Fox" tells of two foxes who adopt a mouse as a son when they can't have a child of their own, but when he goes out into the world, he must learn a hard lesson about what he thinks he is, and what he actually is. But can he use his upbringing to save Mice in trouble?
"The Critic" tells the story of a mouse whose artist spends time building him up. But when reality intrudes, will the Mouse be able to recognize reality over stories?
"The Ballad of Nettledown" tells of a small mouse town and the disaster it underwent, and how a single mouse manage to save them all from the flood.
"Raven" retells the story of Edgar Allen Poe's "The Raven", but with a mouse as the protagonist. Will the ending be different because of the identity of the narrator?
"The Lion and the Mouse" tells of a mouse who discovers a lion with a thorn in its paw, and the lion thereby incurs a debt. So when the mouse is menaced by two jackals, will his new friend come to his aid?
"Bowen's Tale" sees the tale of a mouse, who, alone, witnesses a sight of tremendous majesty and danger- and manages to survive.
"Crown of Silver, Crown of Gold" tells a story of a mad King, Avidar, and his chief General, Garrow War-Wise, who loved a mouse-maid named Moira. Avidar falls in love with Moira when he sees her, but she is promised to Garrow, which even Avidar must respect. So Avidar decides to send Garrow to his chief opponent, the King of Cedarloch, with a message promising peace should Cedarloch kill Garrow. But can Garrow survive his King's treachery to reveal his evil?
When all the tales are told, whose tale will win? And will the winner survive the night afterwards?
I found this an interesting and amusing book. Okay, some of the stories are just retold tales (Like "Raven", "The Lion and the Mouse" and "Crown of Silver, Crown of Gold" are all retold tales in some fashion, either from Poe, Aesop, or the Bible. It's just sad that the best stories all seem to be from elsewhere. The other stories are good, but those three are really the best.
I also like the art. Even though the art differs from story to story and artist to artist, the linking art and characters tie all the stories together. The Interior of the June Alley Inn is warm and homey, and the winning story is beautiful. Put together, while this book doesn't tell any sort of coherent tale, it does paint a picture of mouse life and mouse lives and the story of the Guard in all of them.
This is merely a book of well-told tales, but it massively expands the world of the Mouse Guard graphic novels, bringing in untold lands and cultures and lets us see the kind of bravery and gallantry that makes a Mouse Guard. Anyone who liked the Mouse Guard books, or who likes the work of Brian Jacques will find something to admire and like in these books. Highly recommended.
Sunday, June 05, 2011
Late Eclipses by Seanan McGuire
October Daye, better known as "Toby", is a Changeling knight in the court of Shadowed Hills of Faerie, out in San Francisco, California. Up until two years ago, she spent fourteen years as a fish in the ornamental Tea Gardens in Golden Gate Park. Restored to human form, Toby tried to put the pieces of her life back together, knowing that somewhere out there, her husband and daughter believe she left them with no word. But as both of them are human, she can't explain where she was for all that time, or how she was transformed into a fish by magic, because both of them are ignorant of Faerie.
Now, things seem to finally be looking up for Toby. She is having feelings for Tybalt, the King of the Cats, and has solved several cases for her old lord Sylvester Torquil, not the least of which was the one she was on when she got transformed: where his wife and daughter had been kidnapped to, and she has rescued him. But that case wasn't without sadness, as both had gone a little mad during their imprisonment, and the Duke's daughter, Rayseline, had gone very mad indeed, and blamed Toby for not rescuing her and her mother immediately.
Now, even though the Duke and Duchess are grateful for Toby's actions, Rayseline spends her time hating Toby and attempting to bring her down. Now, Toby is living with her new roommate, May, her fetch. A fetch only shows up when a fae or changeling is close to death, but Toby isn't afraid of May, and has actually had the fetch move in with her. They are shopping for food at the local Safeway, where Toby once worked when she was barely out of fish-dom when Toby is summoned to the court of the Mists by its Queen, who has no love for her. But when Toby gets there, aside from Tybalt distracting attention by kissing her, the Queen does a complete turnaround and gifts Toby with her own holding, making her the Countess of Goldengreen, since the former Countess was killed under Toby's watch.
Toby feels that this is a gift with strings, but she can't see why the Queen would give her the Duchy. Before long, though, she is summoned to the Tea Garden by the Fae living under the protection of Lily, a Kelpie, who is deathly ill and becoming the water that makes her up. The members of Lily's court beg Toby to find out what is wrong with Lily before she can die, and hopefully, they can save her. Toby, who knows Lily is the one Good Fae she actually knows, promises to do her best, and has another Fae who is a member of Lily's court, a Tylwyth Teg who is also a chemistry professor at a local college, to analyze the water in the ponds for toxins.
But Lily isn't the only Fae who is dying. When Toby attends a ball at the court of her liege, Torquil, she detects the personal scent of Oleander, a fae poisoner, and shortly thereafter, the Duchess collapses, but Toby can't find Oleander in the crowd. With the collapse of his wife, Torquil becomes a little unhinged himself, and withdraws to look after his wife. Which means that Toby has little time to save the Duchess. Rayseline, the Duke's daughter, blames Toby for the collapse of the Duchess, implying that Toby seeks the throne and is attempting to poison her way to the top. For now, the Duke is still in charge, so Rayseline can't accuse Toby and make it stick, but if the Countess continues in her sickness, who knows what could happen?
And when members of Tybalt's court are also poisoned, Toby knows she has to act before someone else dies. But when Rayseline and the Queen of the Court of the Mists team up to get Toby sentenced to burn to death for killing the Countess, Lily and Blind Michael, Toby is shot with Elfshot and imprisoned in an iron cell. But can Toby's allies rescue and free her before she is killed, and what will she learn about herself and her heritage in the process? And can she save those she loves before she loses them for good?
I love the Toby Daye books. Toby is a character who is constantly being forced to change and grow, and she finds out that she is better at the whole change part than many other fae, even other changelings. In fact, you could say that this is a part of her very nature as a fae, which she is still learning. Nor does she react in ways that other fae do, such as how she actually ends up befriending her fetch and living with her, despite her fetch being a sign that she will soon die. But what happens to a fetch if Toby doesn't actually die?
I loved this book. Once again, Toby comes close to death, twice this time, and manages to pull it out in the end. In fact, I wonder if her opponents will end up seeing that being opposed to Toby is actually a very bad thing. So far, everyone who has gone up against her and dared put themselves in opposition to her is either dead or banished, so things aren't looking so good for the Queen of the Mists. But I guess that's where "undying hatred" comes in. And I don't see Rayseline suddenly not hating Toby any more just because her scheme failed badly.
I love this book because I love faeries, and I don't love the "Kinder, kiddy-friendly" faeries that have become so popular. Faeries are fearsome for a reason, and they were quite rightly feared in olden times. I am sure that there are non-malicious faeries, but that doesn't mean they can't screw you over unwittingly because they don't understand human lives, emotions or time frames. I love this series because that lies at the heart of it, and even the non-malicious faeries are still a risk to not only humans, but half-human changelings like Toby. Highly recommended.
Now, things seem to finally be looking up for Toby. She is having feelings for Tybalt, the King of the Cats, and has solved several cases for her old lord Sylvester Torquil, not the least of which was the one she was on when she got transformed: where his wife and daughter had been kidnapped to, and she has rescued him. But that case wasn't without sadness, as both had gone a little mad during their imprisonment, and the Duke's daughter, Rayseline, had gone very mad indeed, and blamed Toby for not rescuing her and her mother immediately.
Now, even though the Duke and Duchess are grateful for Toby's actions, Rayseline spends her time hating Toby and attempting to bring her down. Now, Toby is living with her new roommate, May, her fetch. A fetch only shows up when a fae or changeling is close to death, but Toby isn't afraid of May, and has actually had the fetch move in with her. They are shopping for food at the local Safeway, where Toby once worked when she was barely out of fish-dom when Toby is summoned to the court of the Mists by its Queen, who has no love for her. But when Toby gets there, aside from Tybalt distracting attention by kissing her, the Queen does a complete turnaround and gifts Toby with her own holding, making her the Countess of Goldengreen, since the former Countess was killed under Toby's watch.
Toby feels that this is a gift with strings, but she can't see why the Queen would give her the Duchy. Before long, though, she is summoned to the Tea Garden by the Fae living under the protection of Lily, a Kelpie, who is deathly ill and becoming the water that makes her up. The members of Lily's court beg Toby to find out what is wrong with Lily before she can die, and hopefully, they can save her. Toby, who knows Lily is the one Good Fae she actually knows, promises to do her best, and has another Fae who is a member of Lily's court, a Tylwyth Teg who is also a chemistry professor at a local college, to analyze the water in the ponds for toxins.
But Lily isn't the only Fae who is dying. When Toby attends a ball at the court of her liege, Torquil, she detects the personal scent of Oleander, a fae poisoner, and shortly thereafter, the Duchess collapses, but Toby can't find Oleander in the crowd. With the collapse of his wife, Torquil becomes a little unhinged himself, and withdraws to look after his wife. Which means that Toby has little time to save the Duchess. Rayseline, the Duke's daughter, blames Toby for the collapse of the Duchess, implying that Toby seeks the throne and is attempting to poison her way to the top. For now, the Duke is still in charge, so Rayseline can't accuse Toby and make it stick, but if the Countess continues in her sickness, who knows what could happen?
And when members of Tybalt's court are also poisoned, Toby knows she has to act before someone else dies. But when Rayseline and the Queen of the Court of the Mists team up to get Toby sentenced to burn to death for killing the Countess, Lily and Blind Michael, Toby is shot with Elfshot and imprisoned in an iron cell. But can Toby's allies rescue and free her before she is killed, and what will she learn about herself and her heritage in the process? And can she save those she loves before she loses them for good?
I love the Toby Daye books. Toby is a character who is constantly being forced to change and grow, and she finds out that she is better at the whole change part than many other fae, even other changelings. In fact, you could say that this is a part of her very nature as a fae, which she is still learning. Nor does she react in ways that other fae do, such as how she actually ends up befriending her fetch and living with her, despite her fetch being a sign that she will soon die. But what happens to a fetch if Toby doesn't actually die?
I loved this book. Once again, Toby comes close to death, twice this time, and manages to pull it out in the end. In fact, I wonder if her opponents will end up seeing that being opposed to Toby is actually a very bad thing. So far, everyone who has gone up against her and dared put themselves in opposition to her is either dead or banished, so things aren't looking so good for the Queen of the Mists. But I guess that's where "undying hatred" comes in. And I don't see Rayseline suddenly not hating Toby any more just because her scheme failed badly.
I love this book because I love faeries, and I don't love the "Kinder, kiddy-friendly" faeries that have become so popular. Faeries are fearsome for a reason, and they were quite rightly feared in olden times. I am sure that there are non-malicious faeries, but that doesn't mean they can't screw you over unwittingly because they don't understand human lives, emotions or time frames. I love this series because that lies at the heart of it, and even the non-malicious faeries are still a risk to not only humans, but half-human changelings like Toby. Highly recommended.
Wednesday, June 01, 2011
Reader's Digest Special Edition: The Greatest Stories Never Told- 230 Tales from History to Astonish, Bewilder and Stupefy by Rick Beyer
History is very interesting, but when it comes to teaching it to schoolchildren, oftentimes the more interesting bits that would get kids interested in the subject are thrown out in favor of teaching what must be known, or in making history seem like it is inevitable and not very interesting at all.
This book collects 230 different stories that many or most people are unaware of that put a human face on history, from the 7th grader who served in the battle of Midway, people whose names became enshrined in popular culture because of something they did, strange and wonderful inventions, stories almost too strange to be true (but which actually are), successes and failures, stories of government gone awry, twists of fate that changed the course of wars and nations, and the hows and whys behind the facts of history.
Even if you aren't a schoolchild anymore, this book will fascinate with stories like the 12 year old who served in the Battle of Midway; Weird Wars like the War of Jenkin's Ear; the story of the Dutch people, who may have been invaded by the Germans, but who gave them hell right up until 1943; the real-life Doctor who was the Inspiration for Sherlock Holmes; The Battle of Trenton, the least remembered Battle of the Revolution, which nearly ended the Revolution for good; The world's worst speculation crash, and no, it wasn't the Stock Market Crash of 1929; The one vote which decided an election (really- so the next time someone tries to tell you one vote doesn't count, you'll know it's not true!); The Custody Battle which might have really made a difference in the way America is governed; The little girl who convinced Abe Lincoln to grow a beard; and the man who predicted 9/11, and died in an attempt to make sure that the survivors got out of the Towers when the unthinkable happened.
All of these stories are true, and there are plenty more besides. Anyone who loves history will enjoy this book, and even those who don't love history at all will find themselves fascinated and charmed by the stories therein. Most are just two or three pages long, which makes it an easy book to read in odd moments or to stop and start reading at any time. The stories are enlivened with pictures and artwork, and all of them are completely true. At the end of the book is information that will allow interested readers to look up more information about these famous stories and learn more.
And these aren't the only interesting and weird stories throughout history. There are plenty that pop out of the pages of history, like the Funeral Mozart gave for his pet bird (including numerous paid mourners), and why Beethoven kept a chamber pot under his harpsichord (he didn't have time to get up to do his business!), among others. Once you have read this book, there are plenty more to tempt the reader interested in History and why things happened a certain way. ("Lies My Teacher Told Me" and the "Don't Know Much About History" series, among others.)
This is an excellent book to get anyone interested in History and the way things could have been, or the way things happened that we never heard about in school. Anyone with the slightest interest in History or interesting stories should seek out this book for themselves. Highly recommended.
This book collects 230 different stories that many or most people are unaware of that put a human face on history, from the 7th grader who served in the battle of Midway, people whose names became enshrined in popular culture because of something they did, strange and wonderful inventions, stories almost too strange to be true (but which actually are), successes and failures, stories of government gone awry, twists of fate that changed the course of wars and nations, and the hows and whys behind the facts of history.
Even if you aren't a schoolchild anymore, this book will fascinate with stories like the 12 year old who served in the Battle of Midway; Weird Wars like the War of Jenkin's Ear; the story of the Dutch people, who may have been invaded by the Germans, but who gave them hell right up until 1943; the real-life Doctor who was the Inspiration for Sherlock Holmes; The Battle of Trenton, the least remembered Battle of the Revolution, which nearly ended the Revolution for good; The world's worst speculation crash, and no, it wasn't the Stock Market Crash of 1929; The one vote which decided an election (really- so the next time someone tries to tell you one vote doesn't count, you'll know it's not true!); The Custody Battle which might have really made a difference in the way America is governed; The little girl who convinced Abe Lincoln to grow a beard; and the man who predicted 9/11, and died in an attempt to make sure that the survivors got out of the Towers when the unthinkable happened.
All of these stories are true, and there are plenty more besides. Anyone who loves history will enjoy this book, and even those who don't love history at all will find themselves fascinated and charmed by the stories therein. Most are just two or three pages long, which makes it an easy book to read in odd moments or to stop and start reading at any time. The stories are enlivened with pictures and artwork, and all of them are completely true. At the end of the book is information that will allow interested readers to look up more information about these famous stories and learn more.
And these aren't the only interesting and weird stories throughout history. There are plenty that pop out of the pages of history, like the Funeral Mozart gave for his pet bird (including numerous paid mourners), and why Beethoven kept a chamber pot under his harpsichord (he didn't have time to get up to do his business!), among others. Once you have read this book, there are plenty more to tempt the reader interested in History and why things happened a certain way. ("Lies My Teacher Told Me" and the "Don't Know Much About History" series, among others.)
This is an excellent book to get anyone interested in History and the way things could have been, or the way things happened that we never heard about in school. Anyone with the slightest interest in History or interesting stories should seek out this book for themselves. Highly recommended.
Monday, May 30, 2011
The Kane Chronicles #2: The Throne of Fire By Rick Riordan
Ever since Carter and Sadie Kane found out that the world of Egyptian Gods and Egyptian magic was real, they have been focussing on a last-ditch effort to beat back the forces of Chaos and save the world from dissolution. Now, Sadie and Carter are focussing on retrieving the Book of Ra. But it won't be that easy. Even now that they have students learning their own brand of Egyptian magic under the tutelage of Sadie and Carter, their uncle Amos is recuperating with the rest of the Egyptian magicians in Cairo after the events of the Red Pyramid, the first book in the series.
Carter and Sadie are convinced that the Book of Ra will lead them to victory and allow them to triumph over the forces of Chaos and save the earth and all the people on it. But when they go after the Book, they discover that the book has been sundered into three pieces, and each piece is well-guarded, both by magic and magical guardians, like a Griffin. But after they have retrieved the first part of the book, Sadie calls for a well-earned rest. Her birthday is tomorrow, and she's taking off from the search for the book to go to London and spend time with her friends.
Carter is upset with her, but he decides to let her do what he wants while he gets on with business. Unfortunately for them both, the forces of Chaos aren't going to let Sadie off the hook, even on her birthday, and she ends up in a confrontation with two minor Gods so that Carter and one of their students, an amulet-maker named Walt, must rescue Sadie with the help of another Egyptian minor God, Bes, the God of Dwarves. He can also help them get the next piece of the book, which is located in Russia. But that piece is guarded by the Russian magicians, and they are not going to let, Carter, Sadie and Walt just waltz out with the Scroll. The Keeper of the Scroll, Vlad Menshikov, apparently once wanted to bring Ra back as well. But by using only one part of the scroll, it caused massive burns to him inside and out, leaving him heavily scarred and with a raspy voice.
Now, however, he just wants revenge on the God whose scroll disfigured him, and he is working with Apophis to destroy the world. When the three young magicians appear to take his scroll, he summons actual demons to try and kill them, and Carter is forced to release the Red-Headed God, Set, to help them escape. Set may be bad, but at least he doesn't want to destroy the world like Apophis does. However, during their escape, Carter is bitten by a two-headed snake whose venom will soon kill him, and Sadie bargains with Set to help them by giving him back her knowledge of his secret name. Set agrees, and Sadie uses Carter's secret name to heal him.
In addition, Set gives Carter and Sadie a gift- the true location of Zia, the girl who Carter fell in love with in Red Pyramid, the first book in the series. At the end of that book, it was revealed that the girl he fell for was actually a Shabti, a servant made of clay who was linked to the real Zia by magic. Carter is desperate to revive the real Zia, and so he and Bes go to where she is buried beneath the Red Sands of her home village, while Sadie and Walt end up going after the third piece of the scroll, buried amidst a tomb of Roman mummies. When the mummies attack, Walt, who Sadie has come to like and feel something for, tells her that he is dying. Those of his family are fated to die young, because his family descends from Akhenaten, who was cursed by the Priests of Amun-Ra. So even though his using magic makes his curse happen more quickly, he does like Sadie and wishes he could be with her longer. They are saved by Ptah, the God of the World, and manage to retrieve the last piece of the Book.
Meanwhile, Carter and Bes manage to find where Zia is buried beneath the waters of the Nile. But she is not happy that Carter uses mouth-to-mouth to revive her, and he finds that she was buried with the rod and flail of Kingship. But they are attacked by Vlad and Desjardins, the current Lector of the Egyptian magicians. Vlad has convinced Desjardins that Sadie and Carter are trying to bring about the end of the earth, and while Desjardins doesn't seem to completely believe it, he still dislikes the two, so has no problem attacking them. Carter, Zia and Bes manage to escape and make their way to Cairo where they meet Sadie and Walt. While they are there, Carter spends some time with Zia and manages to make her at least end up liking him.
But when a Ba dream tells them that the Brooklyn house is under attack, Walt and Zia leave to help, leaving Carter and Sadie to try and save Ra alone. But they will have to discover the location of the God and resurrect his sun Barque, then travel the length of the Underworld in twelve hours, as Ra once did on his journeys through the Underworld. But can Carter and Sadie accomplish all those things, and even if they do, will Ra's sanity and mind return so that he can lead his fellow Gods into battle against the forces of Apophis and the chaos-snake itself? Or should Horus lead the fight and Sadie and Carter forget about Ra? What is the right choice, and what are the consequences of being wrong? And can Carter make the right choice for the battle to come?
Well, this was certainly an eventful novel! So much happened, and even though it's a thick book, the amount of story that goes on in the book was rather amazing, as the characters travel from Brooklyn to London, Russia, Egypt and the underworld itself in search of Ra. Ra is a powerful God, but when Isis made him step down from his job to install his son Horus in his place, Ra lost much of his mental power and went senile. But even if he is returned to his former position as the head of the Gods, can it reverse the inevitable mental transformation that took place when Isis stripped him of his power and Kingship?
I personally, hoped it would happen, but suspected it wouldn't. Ra's senile ramblings actually do make a bit of sense at the end, but wouyld you trust a senile God to lead the rest of the Gods in battle? Horus tries to convince Carter to abandon his plan and let Horus lead the Gods, but Apophis is such a threat that Carter doesn't know if the Power and Might of Horus will be enough. And this time they have allies. Not just Zia and Walt and Bast, but Bes himself joins Carter and Sadie on their journey. But can even Gods survive the trip through the underworld, and the destruction of their mental faculties?
And yet again, we find the Egyptian magicians fighting on the wrong side of the battle, and against Carter and Sadie. Though they manage to end the problem of Vlad Menshikov, they also lose an unexpected ally, and the new lector of the magicians may not be able to support them as fully as he likes because of the perception that the Kanes want to take over the Magicians and pervert them to the will of the Kanes, whose motives are suspect. This was a taut, suspenseful and well-plotted book that made the story exciting and almost real.
Rick Riordan's books are one of the best series for kids I have ever read. And the fact that he's writing these while also extending and filling out the Percy Jackson series is amazing and I would find it hard to write two such series, about two so very different pantheons, simultaneously. If you haven't checked out these books and this author, do so now. You will not be disappointed in any way. Highly recommended for all ages who love a cracking good adventure story. Read them now.
Carter and Sadie are convinced that the Book of Ra will lead them to victory and allow them to triumph over the forces of Chaos and save the earth and all the people on it. But when they go after the Book, they discover that the book has been sundered into three pieces, and each piece is well-guarded, both by magic and magical guardians, like a Griffin. But after they have retrieved the first part of the book, Sadie calls for a well-earned rest. Her birthday is tomorrow, and she's taking off from the search for the book to go to London and spend time with her friends.
Carter is upset with her, but he decides to let her do what he wants while he gets on with business. Unfortunately for them both, the forces of Chaos aren't going to let Sadie off the hook, even on her birthday, and she ends up in a confrontation with two minor Gods so that Carter and one of their students, an amulet-maker named Walt, must rescue Sadie with the help of another Egyptian minor God, Bes, the God of Dwarves. He can also help them get the next piece of the book, which is located in Russia. But that piece is guarded by the Russian magicians, and they are not going to let, Carter, Sadie and Walt just waltz out with the Scroll. The Keeper of the Scroll, Vlad Menshikov, apparently once wanted to bring Ra back as well. But by using only one part of the scroll, it caused massive burns to him inside and out, leaving him heavily scarred and with a raspy voice.
Now, however, he just wants revenge on the God whose scroll disfigured him, and he is working with Apophis to destroy the world. When the three young magicians appear to take his scroll, he summons actual demons to try and kill them, and Carter is forced to release the Red-Headed God, Set, to help them escape. Set may be bad, but at least he doesn't want to destroy the world like Apophis does. However, during their escape, Carter is bitten by a two-headed snake whose venom will soon kill him, and Sadie bargains with Set to help them by giving him back her knowledge of his secret name. Set agrees, and Sadie uses Carter's secret name to heal him.
In addition, Set gives Carter and Sadie a gift- the true location of Zia, the girl who Carter fell in love with in Red Pyramid, the first book in the series. At the end of that book, it was revealed that the girl he fell for was actually a Shabti, a servant made of clay who was linked to the real Zia by magic. Carter is desperate to revive the real Zia, and so he and Bes go to where she is buried beneath the Red Sands of her home village, while Sadie and Walt end up going after the third piece of the scroll, buried amidst a tomb of Roman mummies. When the mummies attack, Walt, who Sadie has come to like and feel something for, tells her that he is dying. Those of his family are fated to die young, because his family descends from Akhenaten, who was cursed by the Priests of Amun-Ra. So even though his using magic makes his curse happen more quickly, he does like Sadie and wishes he could be with her longer. They are saved by Ptah, the God of the World, and manage to retrieve the last piece of the Book.
Meanwhile, Carter and Bes manage to find where Zia is buried beneath the waters of the Nile. But she is not happy that Carter uses mouth-to-mouth to revive her, and he finds that she was buried with the rod and flail of Kingship. But they are attacked by Vlad and Desjardins, the current Lector of the Egyptian magicians. Vlad has convinced Desjardins that Sadie and Carter are trying to bring about the end of the earth, and while Desjardins doesn't seem to completely believe it, he still dislikes the two, so has no problem attacking them. Carter, Zia and Bes manage to escape and make their way to Cairo where they meet Sadie and Walt. While they are there, Carter spends some time with Zia and manages to make her at least end up liking him.
But when a Ba dream tells them that the Brooklyn house is under attack, Walt and Zia leave to help, leaving Carter and Sadie to try and save Ra alone. But they will have to discover the location of the God and resurrect his sun Barque, then travel the length of the Underworld in twelve hours, as Ra once did on his journeys through the Underworld. But can Carter and Sadie accomplish all those things, and even if they do, will Ra's sanity and mind return so that he can lead his fellow Gods into battle against the forces of Apophis and the chaos-snake itself? Or should Horus lead the fight and Sadie and Carter forget about Ra? What is the right choice, and what are the consequences of being wrong? And can Carter make the right choice for the battle to come?
Well, this was certainly an eventful novel! So much happened, and even though it's a thick book, the amount of story that goes on in the book was rather amazing, as the characters travel from Brooklyn to London, Russia, Egypt and the underworld itself in search of Ra. Ra is a powerful God, but when Isis made him step down from his job to install his son Horus in his place, Ra lost much of his mental power and went senile. But even if he is returned to his former position as the head of the Gods, can it reverse the inevitable mental transformation that took place when Isis stripped him of his power and Kingship?
I personally, hoped it would happen, but suspected it wouldn't. Ra's senile ramblings actually do make a bit of sense at the end, but wouyld you trust a senile God to lead the rest of the Gods in battle? Horus tries to convince Carter to abandon his plan and let Horus lead the Gods, but Apophis is such a threat that Carter doesn't know if the Power and Might of Horus will be enough. And this time they have allies. Not just Zia and Walt and Bast, but Bes himself joins Carter and Sadie on their journey. But can even Gods survive the trip through the underworld, and the destruction of their mental faculties?
And yet again, we find the Egyptian magicians fighting on the wrong side of the battle, and against Carter and Sadie. Though they manage to end the problem of Vlad Menshikov, they also lose an unexpected ally, and the new lector of the magicians may not be able to support them as fully as he likes because of the perception that the Kanes want to take over the Magicians and pervert them to the will of the Kanes, whose motives are suspect. This was a taut, suspenseful and well-plotted book that made the story exciting and almost real.
Rick Riordan's books are one of the best series for kids I have ever read. And the fact that he's writing these while also extending and filling out the Percy Jackson series is amazing and I would find it hard to write two such series, about two so very different pantheons, simultaneously. If you haven't checked out these books and this author, do so now. You will not be disappointed in any way. Highly recommended for all ages who love a cracking good adventure story. Read them now.
Sunday, May 29, 2011
Devil at Midnight by Emma Holly
Grace Gladwell is a happy young teenager on a date with the handsome Johnny Dorsey. Their date is over, but Johnny wants to kiss her. Grace is happy, but reluctant- her father doesn't want her to do anything, but she lets herself be persuaded- only to meet her father's fist when she comes in the door. He hits her so hard that he knocks her into the fireplace, so hard that she bleeds from the head. While her father accuses her of faking, her mother screams at him for taking away her daughter.
Soon, Grace finds herself in another place, where a man she thinks is an angel (he calls himself a "Guide") tells her that she has someone she meets up with again and again. Grace wants to see this boy, and then we meet Christian. Christian is a mercenary raised by his father, a hot-tempered, violent man who is also a mercenary. He leads a band of men from their home in Lac Lemán. But he is a terrible and brutal man, taking out his rages on his own men, and even more often, on his own son.
He's so terrible that some of his men have pulled away from him to follow Christian instead. But when Christian's dog ruins his father's hunt, Christian's attempt to save the dog earns him a flogging- which he takes without complaint. This makes his father happy, but unsettles him at the same time, wondering what Christian will do when his father grows weak. For this reason, his father is of two minds about his son. He wants him strong and ruthless, but not so ruthless that Christian will seek to do away with him. But at the same time, he is disappointed that Christian doesn't do exactly that, so that he can beat Christian down while his son is still weaker, and have Christian as a devoted follower forever.
But that isn't going to happen. When Christian meets Grace, he at first thinks she is a malicious ghost sent to torment him, but she is soon able to make him feel differently. Christian soon comes to have feelings for Grace, and then to fall for her, hard. But he must keep Grace's presence a secret, for people will think him mad if he goes around talking to the air.
But Christian's father isn't the only one with designs on his son. Nim Wei, in the guise of a traveling minstrel, meets Christian and thinks he would make a fine Upyr, but he is devoted to Grace and won't even give her a second glance. To try and persuade the young man into seeing things her way, she hires him and his father, and their men, to be her bodyguards on a trip to Italy. Since Christian is determined to be faithful to Grace, his angel, he won't respond to her advances, and her attempts to try and control him mentally are rebuffed by the mere Presence of Grace. But when Christian's father divines her intent towards his son, to have him. Gregori looks at the effects of her sleeping with Christian's men, which has made them temporarily stronger and brought out conflicts between them, and bargains with her for the same for his own men- in exchange for turning Christian over to her for her use.
And when Grace disappears and his father's men kill his own men, who happen to be Christian's close friends, what will Christian, in his rage and despair, be forced into? How far will he go for revenge on his own father, and will he lose his soul in the process?
This is the prequel to a book I had previously read, Angel at Dawn, and even though it came out before Angel, I read it second, not realizing that Angel was a sequel book. As it is, it feels a bit unfinished at the end of the story. Grace and Christian don't have any kind of happily ever after, and the book ends on a rather downer note. And if you've read the Angel at Dawn review, or even the back of the book in the bookstore, you are going to know the ending to this book without me having to spoil it for you.
This book is wonderful at keeping up tension throughout the story. The conflict between Christian and his father is well done, with Christian wanting to be a dutiful son, but only up to a point, as he is waiting for his father to step down so he can still be a mercenary, but a less cruel and brutal one than his father is, and more honorable as well. It's significant that the mercenaries on his side are all around his own age, and those who support his father are all older as well. It's a very effective generational conflict on both sides, but even then, his father can't win against his son without cheating, And the brutality of his friend's deaths shows just how cruel and brutal his father is.
Aside from the downer ending, Christian survives the machinations of his father, and we know, from the Guide that Grace talks to that she and Christian will meet again. But when and where that is, that's the mystery in the book- which comes about in the sequel, Angel at Dawn. This is prime Emma Holly, hot lovemaking and really good story, all wrapped up with supernatural elements from the Upyr. Recommended.
Soon, Grace finds herself in another place, where a man she thinks is an angel (he calls himself a "Guide") tells her that she has someone she meets up with again and again. Grace wants to see this boy, and then we meet Christian. Christian is a mercenary raised by his father, a hot-tempered, violent man who is also a mercenary. He leads a band of men from their home in Lac Lemán. But he is a terrible and brutal man, taking out his rages on his own men, and even more often, on his own son.
He's so terrible that some of his men have pulled away from him to follow Christian instead. But when Christian's dog ruins his father's hunt, Christian's attempt to save the dog earns him a flogging- which he takes without complaint. This makes his father happy, but unsettles him at the same time, wondering what Christian will do when his father grows weak. For this reason, his father is of two minds about his son. He wants him strong and ruthless, but not so ruthless that Christian will seek to do away with him. But at the same time, he is disappointed that Christian doesn't do exactly that, so that he can beat Christian down while his son is still weaker, and have Christian as a devoted follower forever.
But that isn't going to happen. When Christian meets Grace, he at first thinks she is a malicious ghost sent to torment him, but she is soon able to make him feel differently. Christian soon comes to have feelings for Grace, and then to fall for her, hard. But he must keep Grace's presence a secret, for people will think him mad if he goes around talking to the air.
But Christian's father isn't the only one with designs on his son. Nim Wei, in the guise of a traveling minstrel, meets Christian and thinks he would make a fine Upyr, but he is devoted to Grace and won't even give her a second glance. To try and persuade the young man into seeing things her way, she hires him and his father, and their men, to be her bodyguards on a trip to Italy. Since Christian is determined to be faithful to Grace, his angel, he won't respond to her advances, and her attempts to try and control him mentally are rebuffed by the mere Presence of Grace. But when Christian's father divines her intent towards his son, to have him. Gregori looks at the effects of her sleeping with Christian's men, which has made them temporarily stronger and brought out conflicts between them, and bargains with her for the same for his own men- in exchange for turning Christian over to her for her use.
And when Grace disappears and his father's men kill his own men, who happen to be Christian's close friends, what will Christian, in his rage and despair, be forced into? How far will he go for revenge on his own father, and will he lose his soul in the process?
This is the prequel to a book I had previously read, Angel at Dawn, and even though it came out before Angel, I read it second, not realizing that Angel was a sequel book. As it is, it feels a bit unfinished at the end of the story. Grace and Christian don't have any kind of happily ever after, and the book ends on a rather downer note. And if you've read the Angel at Dawn review, or even the back of the book in the bookstore, you are going to know the ending to this book without me having to spoil it for you.
This book is wonderful at keeping up tension throughout the story. The conflict between Christian and his father is well done, with Christian wanting to be a dutiful son, but only up to a point, as he is waiting for his father to step down so he can still be a mercenary, but a less cruel and brutal one than his father is, and more honorable as well. It's significant that the mercenaries on his side are all around his own age, and those who support his father are all older as well. It's a very effective generational conflict on both sides, but even then, his father can't win against his son without cheating, And the brutality of his friend's deaths shows just how cruel and brutal his father is.
Aside from the downer ending, Christian survives the machinations of his father, and we know, from the Guide that Grace talks to that she and Christian will meet again. But when and where that is, that's the mystery in the book- which comes about in the sequel, Angel at Dawn. This is prime Emma Holly, hot lovemaking and really good story, all wrapped up with supernatural elements from the Upyr. Recommended.
Saturday, May 28, 2011
Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck
Kelsey Hayes is a girl with a sad history. Her parents were killed back in a car crash when she was only a freshman in School. Now graduated, she is living with a foster family and trying to find a job for the summer. When the placement officer asks if she likes animals, she says yes, and finds herself becoming the live-in animal carer for the Maurizio family traveling circus, especially their white tiger performer, Ren, who acts almost tame around her. And when his owner, an Indian man named Mr. Kadam, sees how well Ren likes her, he offers to let Kelsey come along to India, where Ren will be returning to in just a few days time, all expenses paid.
But Ren and Mr. Kadam have a vested interest in Kelsey making the trip to India, because Ren is not just a tiger- he's an Indian Prince imprisoned long ago in a tiger form by a magician named Lokesh. And Kelsey and Ren must go on a quest through India, led by the Goddess Durga, to bring him back to human form-permanently. This isn't without danger, either for Kelsey or Ren, and the two of them may be alone for weeks at a time in the jungle.
Kelsey finds the whole idea rather strange, but if Ren is an actual person, she can't just leave him alone in a tiger form for the rest of his life- she has to help him. And truth be told, she is finding the human form of Ren, which she gets to see in small bits and pieces at night for about an hour at a time, strangely fascinating. And while Ren appears to be falling for her just as hard, she is troubled by sights of a tiger who is a black tiger, the mirror opposite of Ren, who seems to have his own reason for wanting Kelsey to come over to his side, and who turns out to be his brother, Kishan, imprisoned in Tiger form the same way that Ren was, but Kishan wants Kelsey as his own, and in between fighting immortal sea-monsters and bloodthirsty monkeys, he pursues Kelsey with a steadiness that might bode ill for Kelsey and Ren's success.
Is Kishan on the side of his brother, or is he on the side of Lokesh? Or is he only serving himself by playing Lokesh and Ren and Kelsey against each other? And can Kelsey trust his answers if she dares to ask him for the truth? And will her story have a happy ending with Ren? Can a normal girl from America find happiness with an Indian Prince who was turned into a tiger three hundred years ago?
I enjoyed this book, it presented a fairly normal girl who gets tapped to try and break the curse on an Indian Prince. In a way, it kind of has shades of "Twilight" in it, but Kelsey is older than Bella Swan, and isn't nearly so helpless on her own. It has a bit of the same sort of wish-fulfillment aspects in falling in love with someone who is way, way out of your league, but Kelsey can definitely stand on her own, and makes friends because she is able to keep her head and land on her feet.
Tension is set up by the fight against the strange culture of India itself, the appearances of Ren's brother Kishan, and the various supernatural creatures that Kelsey and Ren must fight against, befriend, or whatever, and Lokesh, whose shadow overlays the entire story. But the secondary characters are wonderful as well, like Mister Kadam, who is Ren's owner/protector, but used to be his father's vizier.
I loved this book. I liked how Kelsey could take care of herself, that she didn't kick herself for stuff that happened outside her control. She got dragged into this situation, but she doesn't let that make her upset- she actually takes on the responsibility for helping Ren and helping him become human again rather than having it thrust upon her- she claims back agency for herself and becomes a stronger character for it. Highly recommended.
But Ren and Mr. Kadam have a vested interest in Kelsey making the trip to India, because Ren is not just a tiger- he's an Indian Prince imprisoned long ago in a tiger form by a magician named Lokesh. And Kelsey and Ren must go on a quest through India, led by the Goddess Durga, to bring him back to human form-permanently. This isn't without danger, either for Kelsey or Ren, and the two of them may be alone for weeks at a time in the jungle.
Kelsey finds the whole idea rather strange, but if Ren is an actual person, she can't just leave him alone in a tiger form for the rest of his life- she has to help him. And truth be told, she is finding the human form of Ren, which she gets to see in small bits and pieces at night for about an hour at a time, strangely fascinating. And while Ren appears to be falling for her just as hard, she is troubled by sights of a tiger who is a black tiger, the mirror opposite of Ren, who seems to have his own reason for wanting Kelsey to come over to his side, and who turns out to be his brother, Kishan, imprisoned in Tiger form the same way that Ren was, but Kishan wants Kelsey as his own, and in between fighting immortal sea-monsters and bloodthirsty monkeys, he pursues Kelsey with a steadiness that might bode ill for Kelsey and Ren's success.
Is Kishan on the side of his brother, or is he on the side of Lokesh? Or is he only serving himself by playing Lokesh and Ren and Kelsey against each other? And can Kelsey trust his answers if she dares to ask him for the truth? And will her story have a happy ending with Ren? Can a normal girl from America find happiness with an Indian Prince who was turned into a tiger three hundred years ago?
I enjoyed this book, it presented a fairly normal girl who gets tapped to try and break the curse on an Indian Prince. In a way, it kind of has shades of "Twilight" in it, but Kelsey is older than Bella Swan, and isn't nearly so helpless on her own. It has a bit of the same sort of wish-fulfillment aspects in falling in love with someone who is way, way out of your league, but Kelsey can definitely stand on her own, and makes friends because she is able to keep her head and land on her feet.
Tension is set up by the fight against the strange culture of India itself, the appearances of Ren's brother Kishan, and the various supernatural creatures that Kelsey and Ren must fight against, befriend, or whatever, and Lokesh, whose shadow overlays the entire story. But the secondary characters are wonderful as well, like Mister Kadam, who is Ren's owner/protector, but used to be his father's vizier.
I loved this book. I liked how Kelsey could take care of herself, that she didn't kick herself for stuff that happened outside her control. She got dragged into this situation, but she doesn't let that make her upset- she actually takes on the responsibility for helping Ren and helping him become human again rather than having it thrust upon her- she claims back agency for herself and becomes a stronger character for it. Highly recommended.
Friday, May 27, 2011
Angel at Dawn by Emma Holly
In the late 50's and early 60's, Nim Wei, a female Upyr, decided to go into filmmaking, specifically in Hollywood. To make her film a success, she needs the help of one of her children, an Upyr named Christian Durand, who she made back in the Renaissance. But Christian isn't happy about being made a vampire/Upyr. He only did it to avenge his men who his father killed. Back then, he was a mercenary, the son of a mercenary as well, and his father wanted Christian to follow in his footsteps, but at the same time, he never wanted to be supplanted by his son.
Now, Christian lives on his own on a ranch he owns in Texas. Nim Wei doesn't want Christian to turn her down, so she brings her assistant, Grace, to try to convince Christian to come to Hollywood and make a movie with her. Christian finds himself attracted to Grace, for she reminds him of another Grace, a woman who came to him like a ghost when he was human and who was supposed to save him. Save him from what, she had no idea, but when she suddenly disappeared, he fell into Nim Wei's clutches, and he saw that as her abandoning him. Ever since, he's held a grudge against that Grace, who suddenly abandoned him when he needed her love and support the most.
But, finding himself attracted to Grace, he finally agrees to make the film just to be near her. He travels to Hollywood with his ranch foreman, a man named Roy. He knows that Grace has actually done most of the writing on the film he is to make, and to be honest, the thought of having her at his beck and call is not an unpleasant one. But he also knows she is almost exactly the same as the woman he thought of as his angel, and when she appears not to know him, he wonders if she is lying about not knowing him and not remembering what happened. The longer he is around her, though, the more he finds himself being able to forget that she left him in the past, and just enjoying their relationship in the here and now.
But there are troubles on the film that have nothing to do with Christian and Nim Wei (now known as Naomi) being vampires. Or does it? Someone is trying to kill the film by killing the young actors who are taking part in it, and Christian, being one of them, is also under attack. Who is it trying to kill him off, and do they know anything about vampires, or is it just someone who doesn't want the film to be made, for some reason? And when the killer targets Grace, can he keep the woman he is beginning to love again safe, or will her possible death drive him back down into the pit of self-hatred and despair it took him centuries to crawl out of the first time? And will Grace ever remember meeting this young man that she loves, and why did she leave him that first time?
I have to admit, that at the time I read this book, I hadn't read the one before it, which was a prequel to this one. So all I knew was what the story told me about the two characters and how they met- not much. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, because this book can stand on its own. I never felt like I was missing much simply because I hadn't read the prequel book. This story fiowed and worked on its own even as Christian remembered and pined for the love he had lost.
Grace, too, is her own person, almost completely self-made. The child of an abusive father (whose last rampage put her in the hospital near death and which was the cause of her spirit going back to meet Christian in the first place), she left home soon after she recovered and worked to make it on her own before she was tapped by Naomi Wei to be her assistant. Grace is somewhat flummoxed by her attraction to Christian, and although she can't remember meeting him, sometimes she feels like she should know him, and they have to work together to protect the film from those who would bring it down while they rediscover their love for each other.
At the end, when she accepts who and what Christian is, and she explains why she wasn't able to return to him, the explanation made me smile happily, as did their rekindled love. I really enjoyed reading this book. The story captured and held my interest, from how Christian was able to deal with the restrictions of filming, right up to the end, when the film was premiered in front of the cast and crew, and I loved the happy ending with Grace. I will definitely read more by this author and in this series. It's just too good not to. Highly recommended.
Now, Christian lives on his own on a ranch he owns in Texas. Nim Wei doesn't want Christian to turn her down, so she brings her assistant, Grace, to try to convince Christian to come to Hollywood and make a movie with her. Christian finds himself attracted to Grace, for she reminds him of another Grace, a woman who came to him like a ghost when he was human and who was supposed to save him. Save him from what, she had no idea, but when she suddenly disappeared, he fell into Nim Wei's clutches, and he saw that as her abandoning him. Ever since, he's held a grudge against that Grace, who suddenly abandoned him when he needed her love and support the most.
But, finding himself attracted to Grace, he finally agrees to make the film just to be near her. He travels to Hollywood with his ranch foreman, a man named Roy. He knows that Grace has actually done most of the writing on the film he is to make, and to be honest, the thought of having her at his beck and call is not an unpleasant one. But he also knows she is almost exactly the same as the woman he thought of as his angel, and when she appears not to know him, he wonders if she is lying about not knowing him and not remembering what happened. The longer he is around her, though, the more he finds himself being able to forget that she left him in the past, and just enjoying their relationship in the here and now.
But there are troubles on the film that have nothing to do with Christian and Nim Wei (now known as Naomi) being vampires. Or does it? Someone is trying to kill the film by killing the young actors who are taking part in it, and Christian, being one of them, is also under attack. Who is it trying to kill him off, and do they know anything about vampires, or is it just someone who doesn't want the film to be made, for some reason? And when the killer targets Grace, can he keep the woman he is beginning to love again safe, or will her possible death drive him back down into the pit of self-hatred and despair it took him centuries to crawl out of the first time? And will Grace ever remember meeting this young man that she loves, and why did she leave him that first time?
I have to admit, that at the time I read this book, I hadn't read the one before it, which was a prequel to this one. So all I knew was what the story told me about the two characters and how they met- not much. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, because this book can stand on its own. I never felt like I was missing much simply because I hadn't read the prequel book. This story fiowed and worked on its own even as Christian remembered and pined for the love he had lost.
Grace, too, is her own person, almost completely self-made. The child of an abusive father (whose last rampage put her in the hospital near death and which was the cause of her spirit going back to meet Christian in the first place), she left home soon after she recovered and worked to make it on her own before she was tapped by Naomi Wei to be her assistant. Grace is somewhat flummoxed by her attraction to Christian, and although she can't remember meeting him, sometimes she feels like she should know him, and they have to work together to protect the film from those who would bring it down while they rediscover their love for each other.
At the end, when she accepts who and what Christian is, and she explains why she wasn't able to return to him, the explanation made me smile happily, as did their rekindled love. I really enjoyed reading this book. The story captured and held my interest, from how Christian was able to deal with the restrictions of filming, right up to the end, when the film was premiered in front of the cast and crew, and I loved the happy ending with Grace. I will definitely read more by this author and in this series. It's just too good not to. Highly recommended.
Thursday, May 26, 2011
The Art of Dale Chihuly by Timothy Anglin Burgard
Dale Chihuly is the foremost glass artist of the modern day, with glass installations that have been seen around the world. Some of his more famous works include a bunch of blown glass chandeliers that were installed in Venice that looked like giant, feathery confections rather than glass. But from the very beginnings of his art career, Dale Chihuly has done a lot more than just followed the crowd when it came to artistic inspiration. He's set trends himself, and always moved on to new directions and new inspirations that make the rest of the world sit up and take notice.
This book is part biography and part art book, following the life and career of Dale Chihuly through his first beginnings with glasswork, which he attempted after living on a Kibbutz in Israel. Returning to college after his time away, he submitted as an artist, a woven wallhanging which incorporated several pieces of glass, turning it from a textile into something more like a stained glass window. And blowing that glass awoke something inside him that said this was the path to follow.
There were several more workings with glass, like one which reproduced a butcher shop with everything, including the sides of meat hanging, were all made of glass. There followed another exhibit produced in collaboration with another artist, James Carpenter, known as "20,000 pounds of ice and neon", where neon tubes were inserted into ice, which slowly melted away over ten days, showing the ephemeral nature of art, and mocking the museums that attempted to preserve it long after the original artist was dead.
Another of their collaborations was "Glass Forest", where Chihuly blew glass that was allowed to run like water, creating long tubes that almost looked organic as they were allowed to cool. From there, Chihuly was off on explorations on everything from Native American pots and blankets, to explorations of light, color and the sorts of aquatic forms that dominate his work today. Today, even though he is in his seventies, he is still creating, although some say that because he no longer blows or creates his work alone by hand (his depth perception is gone since losing an eye) means that his works can no longer strictly can be called "his". Instead, other glassblowers work under his direction, something he calls "Studio-style" glasswork.
The rest of the book is taken up with large color plates of his most famous works, symphonies in glass of light, color and form. Every piece is interesting and colorful and beautiful, allowing us a long look into the mind and sensibilities of the artist.
This book, frankly, blew my mind when it came to glass art. Most glass is done to be utilitarian, whether it is for a drinking glass or something like a vase. But Dale Chihuly's art is in a class by itself when it comes to making you feel something or just to be astonished by the many different colors and shapes hiding in his work.
I was especially impressed with the section called "Millefiori". Millefiori is a type of Italian glass whose name means "A thousand flowers", and usually consists of flower-shaped spots of color in a clear glass globe or other form. But Chihuly's millefiori actually *is* glass flowers, amidst other shapes and objects, each one vibrant with color, and yet all the colors and shapes form a harmonious whole that I couldn't stop looking at. It was amazing.
Each color plate demands looking at over and over, and you can spend longer absorbing the pictures than the words of the biography from the first part of the book. This book is a delight for the eyes, and now I want to see these works of art with my own eyes, a feeling which will probably be evoked for every reader of this book. Stunning, fascinating, and highly recommended.
This book is part biography and part art book, following the life and career of Dale Chihuly through his first beginnings with glasswork, which he attempted after living on a Kibbutz in Israel. Returning to college after his time away, he submitted as an artist, a woven wallhanging which incorporated several pieces of glass, turning it from a textile into something more like a stained glass window. And blowing that glass awoke something inside him that said this was the path to follow.
There were several more workings with glass, like one which reproduced a butcher shop with everything, including the sides of meat hanging, were all made of glass. There followed another exhibit produced in collaboration with another artist, James Carpenter, known as "20,000 pounds of ice and neon", where neon tubes were inserted into ice, which slowly melted away over ten days, showing the ephemeral nature of art, and mocking the museums that attempted to preserve it long after the original artist was dead.
Another of their collaborations was "Glass Forest", where Chihuly blew glass that was allowed to run like water, creating long tubes that almost looked organic as they were allowed to cool. From there, Chihuly was off on explorations on everything from Native American pots and blankets, to explorations of light, color and the sorts of aquatic forms that dominate his work today. Today, even though he is in his seventies, he is still creating, although some say that because he no longer blows or creates his work alone by hand (his depth perception is gone since losing an eye) means that his works can no longer strictly can be called "his". Instead, other glassblowers work under his direction, something he calls "Studio-style" glasswork.
The rest of the book is taken up with large color plates of his most famous works, symphonies in glass of light, color and form. Every piece is interesting and colorful and beautiful, allowing us a long look into the mind and sensibilities of the artist.
This book, frankly, blew my mind when it came to glass art. Most glass is done to be utilitarian, whether it is for a drinking glass or something like a vase. But Dale Chihuly's art is in a class by itself when it comes to making you feel something or just to be astonished by the many different colors and shapes hiding in his work.
I was especially impressed with the section called "Millefiori". Millefiori is a type of Italian glass whose name means "A thousand flowers", and usually consists of flower-shaped spots of color in a clear glass globe or other form. But Chihuly's millefiori actually *is* glass flowers, amidst other shapes and objects, each one vibrant with color, and yet all the colors and shapes form a harmonious whole that I couldn't stop looking at. It was amazing.
Each color plate demands looking at over and over, and you can spend longer absorbing the pictures than the words of the biography from the first part of the book. This book is a delight for the eyes, and now I want to see these works of art with my own eyes, a feeling which will probably be evoked for every reader of this book. Stunning, fascinating, and highly recommended.
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Black Butler, Volume 5 by Yana Toboso
Sebastian Michaelis is the Butler to Ciel, the young Earl of Phantomhive. He basically runs the house and tells the staff what to do. In fact, Sebastian does his job so well because he isn't strictly human, but a demon, a demon that Ciel has created a bargain with. If Sebastian keeps Ciel safe until the young Earl can find and bring to justice those who killed his parents, Ciel will let Sebastian take his soul. But in the process, Sebastian must sometimes take on the impossible, like now.
Ciel is being visited by an Indian Prince,Soma Asman Kadar, who has brought his servant, Agni, a man with the Hand of God to serve him. But Agni has left to work for Harold West, a man who wants his own company to receive a patent to make curries from the Queen. Having the Royal Patent would assure his company of success, but Agni challenges Sebastian to compete in this curry-making competition. With only a few days to prepare, can Sebastian's dish out-do a man who not only comes from India, but who is an expert at making curries?
Sebastian turns his hand at everything to do with making curries, from the cooking to the blending of spices and selection of ingredients, but when he recreates Agni's Curry that is the Prince's favorite, can he improve it enough to make it something distinctive and make it his own? And during the competition, can Sebastian win over the judges when he faces not only Agni, but two other professional chefs? And when it seems that neither competitor may win over the other, will the appearance of Queen Victoria hand victory to one of the two cooks?
And when the Prince finally finds the girl he came to England to find, will he find the ending he wanted, or will he have his dreams and fantasies cruelly killed by the girl who he loved and missed so much? And when it comes time for Ciel to reveal to the British Police at Scotland Yard who exactly killed all those people in the streets, will Agni's overdeveloped sense of honor cause him to falsely confess to the crimes? And what do the Scotland Yard feel about Ciel? And how did Ciel's servants come to work for him? When Queen Victoria sends Ciel some tickets to the Circus, what will be the story, and the crime, behind its members?
Well, the Prince has found the girl he wanted to find, but the ending for him isn't as happy as he would wish. In the end, it causes him to decide to make some changes in his life, but as most of thebook shows, he's pretty much an idiot, so that even his attempts to make some sort of changes in his life come smack up against his basic naivety and over-enthusiasm. But in the process, through his servant Agni, we discover why the three servants in the household are so dire at their jobs: none have held the posts for long, and Mei-Rin the maid, for example, is very far-sighted, but cannot bear to give up her glasses, which are the wrong prescription, because Ciel bought them for her.
In fact, it was nice to see that the reason that the servants were so bad at their jobs had some sort of reason beyond "but he's got Sebastian as a Butler, so he doesn't NEED competent servants." I did wonder where the rest of the Prince's servants and hangers on had gotten to. I think he may have sent them back to India once he decided to learn to be a gentleman and make his own way in the world, not being a sponge on his parents. It's just not mentioned in the manga.
In any case, this story took a strange and unique turn towards the end. It may have been intended strictly to be funny, but the jokes, if they were intended to be jokes, fell rather flat for me. I still am enjoying the series, but it's one of more subtle amusement than laugh-out-loud humor, and I am hoping that the end may be somewhat happy, but given the conditions laid out for Sebastian's service, I wouldn't be surprised if it had the same sort of ending as "Godchild" by Kaori Yuki, which this series somewhat resembles for me (though much less dark, certainly). I do enjoy the story and the characters, and I will continue reading this series to see where it goes. Recommended.
Ciel is being visited by an Indian Prince,Soma Asman Kadar, who has brought his servant, Agni, a man with the Hand of God to serve him. But Agni has left to work for Harold West, a man who wants his own company to receive a patent to make curries from the Queen. Having the Royal Patent would assure his company of success, but Agni challenges Sebastian to compete in this curry-making competition. With only a few days to prepare, can Sebastian's dish out-do a man who not only comes from India, but who is an expert at making curries?
Sebastian turns his hand at everything to do with making curries, from the cooking to the blending of spices and selection of ingredients, but when he recreates Agni's Curry that is the Prince's favorite, can he improve it enough to make it something distinctive and make it his own? And during the competition, can Sebastian win over the judges when he faces not only Agni, but two other professional chefs? And when it seems that neither competitor may win over the other, will the appearance of Queen Victoria hand victory to one of the two cooks?
And when the Prince finally finds the girl he came to England to find, will he find the ending he wanted, or will he have his dreams and fantasies cruelly killed by the girl who he loved and missed so much? And when it comes time for Ciel to reveal to the British Police at Scotland Yard who exactly killed all those people in the streets, will Agni's overdeveloped sense of honor cause him to falsely confess to the crimes? And what do the Scotland Yard feel about Ciel? And how did Ciel's servants come to work for him? When Queen Victoria sends Ciel some tickets to the Circus, what will be the story, and the crime, behind its members?
Well, the Prince has found the girl he wanted to find, but the ending for him isn't as happy as he would wish. In the end, it causes him to decide to make some changes in his life, but as most of thebook shows, he's pretty much an idiot, so that even his attempts to make some sort of changes in his life come smack up against his basic naivety and over-enthusiasm. But in the process, through his servant Agni, we discover why the three servants in the household are so dire at their jobs: none have held the posts for long, and Mei-Rin the maid, for example, is very far-sighted, but cannot bear to give up her glasses, which are the wrong prescription, because Ciel bought them for her.
In fact, it was nice to see that the reason that the servants were so bad at their jobs had some sort of reason beyond "but he's got Sebastian as a Butler, so he doesn't NEED competent servants." I did wonder where the rest of the Prince's servants and hangers on had gotten to. I think he may have sent them back to India once he decided to learn to be a gentleman and make his own way in the world, not being a sponge on his parents. It's just not mentioned in the manga.
In any case, this story took a strange and unique turn towards the end. It may have been intended strictly to be funny, but the jokes, if they were intended to be jokes, fell rather flat for me. I still am enjoying the series, but it's one of more subtle amusement than laugh-out-loud humor, and I am hoping that the end may be somewhat happy, but given the conditions laid out for Sebastian's service, I wouldn't be surprised if it had the same sort of ending as "Godchild" by Kaori Yuki, which this series somewhat resembles for me (though much less dark, certainly). I do enjoy the story and the characters, and I will continue reading this series to see where it goes. Recommended.
Warrior by Zoë Archer
Captain Gabriel Huntley, late of the army, is on his way to a future he isn't sure he wants, one in which he has retired and taken a stable and settled job and taken a wife. It's true he's left the army, but he isn't sure that he wants to be saddled with a wife so soon. So when he comes across a fight in an alley, with one man fighting off multiple attackers, he jumps in on the side of the lone target, to both save the man's life, and to find his own saved as well.
But when a chance strike takes the man down, that man, Anthony Morris, implores Gabriel to deliver a message in person. And not just any message, but one that could determine the fate of the world- and the destination is Mongolia, even further than halfway around the world. But Gerald knows he owes Anthony his life, and agrees to take the message, even if the message makes no sense to him.
The man whom the message is for is Franklin Burgess, and he is one of the Blades of the Rose. Normally, he'd gladly take on the job of finding the object mentioned in Anthony Morris' letter, but an accident has left him with a broken leg, so he assigns the job to his daughter, Thalia, and her servant, the Mongol known as Batu. Gabriel himself is unsure that sending out a woman to do the job is wise, and he respects Burgess' knowledge in this, but at the same time, he feels that Thalia would be safer with someone like him along to be her protector.
So when she leaves early in the morning, he follows her. She, with her senses trained from her life in Mongolia, can feel that Gabriel is following her, but she doesn't also know that two of the Heirs of Albion are also on her trail, along with some Mongols who have betrayed their country and heritage by trading their knowledge of the Source for money. So when Thalia is attacked on the road by the Heirs, it is Gabriel who rides to her rescue, and who helps her deal with the loss of her innocence over taking a life, which he has had to do many times in his stint in the Army.
Afterwards, she reluctantly lets him accompany them, but doesn't actually tell him about the Blades, the Heirs and Sources until all of them nearly die in a storm raised by one of the Sources that the Heirs control, the Hammer of Thor. When he saves not only Thalia, but Batu as well, she bows to necessity and tells him all about those subjects, and about the Source they are going to find- as much as she knows about it, anyway. The only part she knows is that they must find "she that feeds the turtle", and while she doesn't know who the "She" is, Thalia does know where to find the turtle, the ruined city of Karakorum.
Once they find the turtle, and the mysterious woman who feeds it, they next must find the source, and a mysterious red banner that will surround it. With that done, they must take part in a Mongol festival and win the right to be the guardians of the mysterious source from all the tribesmen who come to win that right for themselves as well. Including the Mongol who is travelling with the Heirs, Tsend, who cares nothing for magic, but only money and power. And once they have won the right to protect the source, can they keep it safe from the Heirs, or will they lose it to Brigands, only to have them lose it to the Heirs?
Will Thalia realize her greatest dream, to become a Blade of the Rose, and will she win the love of Gabriel, who she has come to love in their time together? And will he be able to overcome his shyness in matters of the heart, and profess his love to Thalia by finally be asking a woman to marry him and being comfortable with the fact?
This is the first book in the Blades of the Rose series, and its a strong introduction to the characters and groups that will dominate later books, like Bennett Day, who is the Hero of "Scoundrel", and even Catullus Graves, who comes into his own in "Stranger". The characters from the second book, "Rebel", are generally not mentioned until the very end, but it's nice to see them all mentioned here. Despite having read the last two books first, if I had read this book first, it would definitely have made me want to read more, whereas before, I had already wanted to read them all.
I liked the way that both the characters were portrayed. Thalia and Gabriel are strong characters, but as they come together as comrades and lovers, each of them grows stronger, and they were not afraid to show parts of themselves which would have been discounted had they met in more genteel surroundings. For example, Gabriel is rough and ready, with a tongue that is too blunt to suit women unused to adventure, whereas Thalia is used to dressing like a man and riding astride, and would come off as too mannish and uncouth in "polite" society, but both suit each other down to the ground, and neither minds the other having traits and skills that the other does not. It's nice to see them appreciating each other for what they are, and not putting each other down for skills they either don't possess or which they are unused to using, like polite conversation.
In short, the book was a grand adventure, as well as a romance. And it wasn't like one part could be picked out wholesale. leaving the other alone, the romance and the adventure were interwoven skillfully, and reinforced each other, so that reading the book was a sheer delight. I also loved seeing the different sources, and the magic, at work, from the source that shot golden bees like bullets at the beginning of the book to the Strength of Antaeus enchantment that Gabriel had to fight when beating Tsend in the wrestling portion of the naadam that gave him and Thalia the right to be protectors of the ruby. I recommend this book, and the entire series, highly. It's fun to read, and the romance is excellent.
But when a chance strike takes the man down, that man, Anthony Morris, implores Gabriel to deliver a message in person. And not just any message, but one that could determine the fate of the world- and the destination is Mongolia, even further than halfway around the world. But Gerald knows he owes Anthony his life, and agrees to take the message, even if the message makes no sense to him.
The man whom the message is for is Franklin Burgess, and he is one of the Blades of the Rose. Normally, he'd gladly take on the job of finding the object mentioned in Anthony Morris' letter, but an accident has left him with a broken leg, so he assigns the job to his daughter, Thalia, and her servant, the Mongol known as Batu. Gabriel himself is unsure that sending out a woman to do the job is wise, and he respects Burgess' knowledge in this, but at the same time, he feels that Thalia would be safer with someone like him along to be her protector.
So when she leaves early in the morning, he follows her. She, with her senses trained from her life in Mongolia, can feel that Gabriel is following her, but she doesn't also know that two of the Heirs of Albion are also on her trail, along with some Mongols who have betrayed their country and heritage by trading their knowledge of the Source for money. So when Thalia is attacked on the road by the Heirs, it is Gabriel who rides to her rescue, and who helps her deal with the loss of her innocence over taking a life, which he has had to do many times in his stint in the Army.
Afterwards, she reluctantly lets him accompany them, but doesn't actually tell him about the Blades, the Heirs and Sources until all of them nearly die in a storm raised by one of the Sources that the Heirs control, the Hammer of Thor. When he saves not only Thalia, but Batu as well, she bows to necessity and tells him all about those subjects, and about the Source they are going to find- as much as she knows about it, anyway. The only part she knows is that they must find "she that feeds the turtle", and while she doesn't know who the "She" is, Thalia does know where to find the turtle, the ruined city of Karakorum.
Once they find the turtle, and the mysterious woman who feeds it, they next must find the source, and a mysterious red banner that will surround it. With that done, they must take part in a Mongol festival and win the right to be the guardians of the mysterious source from all the tribesmen who come to win that right for themselves as well. Including the Mongol who is travelling with the Heirs, Tsend, who cares nothing for magic, but only money and power. And once they have won the right to protect the source, can they keep it safe from the Heirs, or will they lose it to Brigands, only to have them lose it to the Heirs?
Will Thalia realize her greatest dream, to become a Blade of the Rose, and will she win the love of Gabriel, who she has come to love in their time together? And will he be able to overcome his shyness in matters of the heart, and profess his love to Thalia by finally be asking a woman to marry him and being comfortable with the fact?
This is the first book in the Blades of the Rose series, and its a strong introduction to the characters and groups that will dominate later books, like Bennett Day, who is the Hero of "Scoundrel", and even Catullus Graves, who comes into his own in "Stranger". The characters from the second book, "Rebel", are generally not mentioned until the very end, but it's nice to see them all mentioned here. Despite having read the last two books first, if I had read this book first, it would definitely have made me want to read more, whereas before, I had already wanted to read them all.
I liked the way that both the characters were portrayed. Thalia and Gabriel are strong characters, but as they come together as comrades and lovers, each of them grows stronger, and they were not afraid to show parts of themselves which would have been discounted had they met in more genteel surroundings. For example, Gabriel is rough and ready, with a tongue that is too blunt to suit women unused to adventure, whereas Thalia is used to dressing like a man and riding astride, and would come off as too mannish and uncouth in "polite" society, but both suit each other down to the ground, and neither minds the other having traits and skills that the other does not. It's nice to see them appreciating each other for what they are, and not putting each other down for skills they either don't possess or which they are unused to using, like polite conversation.
In short, the book was a grand adventure, as well as a romance. And it wasn't like one part could be picked out wholesale. leaving the other alone, the romance and the adventure were interwoven skillfully, and reinforced each other, so that reading the book was a sheer delight. I also loved seeing the different sources, and the magic, at work, from the source that shot golden bees like bullets at the beginning of the book to the Strength of Antaeus enchantment that Gabriel had to fight when beating Tsend in the wrestling portion of the naadam that gave him and Thalia the right to be protectors of the ruby. I recommend this book, and the entire series, highly. It's fun to read, and the romance is excellent.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
Black Bird, Volume 8 by Kanoka Sakurakuji
Misao is learning to deal with the presence of Raikoh, the boy who once had an interest in her and is now an exorcist specializing in demons, in her home. Because while she loves Kyo, Raikoh hates him and wants to kill him. Misao still draws back from Kyo whenever it seems like they might do more than just kiss, but she loves him- she just wants to stay with him forever, and he might devour her for the power that her power as Senku maiden would give him. And he doesn't want to lose her, either.
Raikoh returns with a special sword, known as Dojigiri Yasutsuna, which has the power to kill demons. He agrees to meet with Kyo to discuss their disagreement over Misao, and Kyo tells her that if they cannot reach some other sort of agreement, he will take away Raikoh's memory of the demon attack on his family that made him hate all demons. Misao doesn't exactly trust Raikoh not to try and kill Kyo, so she attempts to steal the sword and its case, since the case has a special lock that needs a code to open. But Raikoh halts her attempts by letting her know that the case is bugged with a locator chip so that even if she attempts to steal and get rid of the whole case, he could still find it.
Foiled, Misao tells him that Kyo wishes to meet with him, and he agrees, and sets the date in several days. Raikoh also shows Misao water he brought with him from his temple to drink- her mother has been making tea with it for some days now. He gets her to try some, and she says it just tastes like water, but a little soft, and he agrees with her. He then turns to her, startling her and making her drop the knife she was using so that she cuts her leg open. He says she can get Kyo to heal her, but she doesn't want to, simply pressing on it until the bleeding stops and then using a bandage.
But when she, Raikoh and Kyo meet, he notices the bandage first thing and insists on treating her wound by licking it right away. However, when he drinks some of her blood, he winces, and Raikoh tries to kill him with the blade, which he had concealed on his body. He then reveals to Kyo that the water from his temple is the water of God, which curses and kills demons. By making Misao and her family drink it, he turned them into secret weapons against Kyo, and now that Kyo has drunk her blood, which is infused with the essence of the Godly water, it will slowly leech away his power until he dies.
Kyo's bodyguards want to kill Raikoh, but Kyo makes them release him, and they promise Raikoh that if Kyo dies, so will he. Meanwhile, Misao blames herself, and decides to go through with sleeping with Kyo, no matter the outcome, because even if it ends up killing her, she cannot bear to see him die. But will Kyo go through with the act, or will he find some other way to save himself? And will their mating kill Misao? Or will the mating force her and Kyo to part?
I have enjoyed this series from the start, and it's great to see it finally come to some kind of conclusion of the Kyo/Misao storyline. I hope that the ending of the sexual tension between them won't mean the end of the manga as well, as I enjoy the romance and situations between the two of them, not to mention those of Kyo's bodyguards and servants. It's really cute and I enjoy it all.
And even if it is the end, I will hope that Kanoka Sakurakuji writes something else I can enjoy, as I have really enjoyed this series a lot and to be honest, the thought of it ending saddens me. Maybe not as much as some other series, but I have really enjoyed this series for a while now. I found the use of a Tengu as a supernatural creature to be very interesting, and while Kyo doesn't have the sort of strict Tengu features from myth, I find him an interesting character, Misao as well, even if she sometimes falls into the "Princess who must be rescued" trope.
I really like this series, which is fresh and fun and introduced me to some new creatures from Japanese myth that I wasn't really too familliar with before (Okay, Tengu showed up in the AD&D Oriental Adventures supplement, but that was a while ago. A LONG WHILE ago.) With a cute romance and more supernatural creatures than you can shake a stick at, as well as a girl with a really unique problem, if you love supernatural romance, you might want to give this manga a try. Recommended.
Raikoh returns with a special sword, known as Dojigiri Yasutsuna, which has the power to kill demons. He agrees to meet with Kyo to discuss their disagreement over Misao, and Kyo tells her that if they cannot reach some other sort of agreement, he will take away Raikoh's memory of the demon attack on his family that made him hate all demons. Misao doesn't exactly trust Raikoh not to try and kill Kyo, so she attempts to steal the sword and its case, since the case has a special lock that needs a code to open. But Raikoh halts her attempts by letting her know that the case is bugged with a locator chip so that even if she attempts to steal and get rid of the whole case, he could still find it.
Foiled, Misao tells him that Kyo wishes to meet with him, and he agrees, and sets the date in several days. Raikoh also shows Misao water he brought with him from his temple to drink- her mother has been making tea with it for some days now. He gets her to try some, and she says it just tastes like water, but a little soft, and he agrees with her. He then turns to her, startling her and making her drop the knife she was using so that she cuts her leg open. He says she can get Kyo to heal her, but she doesn't want to, simply pressing on it until the bleeding stops and then using a bandage.
But when she, Raikoh and Kyo meet, he notices the bandage first thing and insists on treating her wound by licking it right away. However, when he drinks some of her blood, he winces, and Raikoh tries to kill him with the blade, which he had concealed on his body. He then reveals to Kyo that the water from his temple is the water of God, which curses and kills demons. By making Misao and her family drink it, he turned them into secret weapons against Kyo, and now that Kyo has drunk her blood, which is infused with the essence of the Godly water, it will slowly leech away his power until he dies.
Kyo's bodyguards want to kill Raikoh, but Kyo makes them release him, and they promise Raikoh that if Kyo dies, so will he. Meanwhile, Misao blames herself, and decides to go through with sleeping with Kyo, no matter the outcome, because even if it ends up killing her, she cannot bear to see him die. But will Kyo go through with the act, or will he find some other way to save himself? And will their mating kill Misao? Or will the mating force her and Kyo to part?
I have enjoyed this series from the start, and it's great to see it finally come to some kind of conclusion of the Kyo/Misao storyline. I hope that the ending of the sexual tension between them won't mean the end of the manga as well, as I enjoy the romance and situations between the two of them, not to mention those of Kyo's bodyguards and servants. It's really cute and I enjoy it all.
And even if it is the end, I will hope that Kanoka Sakurakuji writes something else I can enjoy, as I have really enjoyed this series a lot and to be honest, the thought of it ending saddens me. Maybe not as much as some other series, but I have really enjoyed this series for a while now. I found the use of a Tengu as a supernatural creature to be very interesting, and while Kyo doesn't have the sort of strict Tengu features from myth, I find him an interesting character, Misao as well, even if she sometimes falls into the "Princess who must be rescued" trope.
I really like this series, which is fresh and fun and introduced me to some new creatures from Japanese myth that I wasn't really too familliar with before (Okay, Tengu showed up in the AD&D Oriental Adventures supplement, but that was a while ago. A LONG WHILE ago.) With a cute romance and more supernatural creatures than you can shake a stick at, as well as a girl with a really unique problem, if you love supernatural romance, you might want to give this manga a try. Recommended.
Frostfire: A Novel of the Kyndred by Lynn Viehl
Lilah is an animal control officer, but she is also a Kyndred, and her power is that she can read and control the minds of animals. With that kind of power, she should be perfect at her job, but her boss is angry with what he sees as her grandstanding, and so he fires her. She is completely blindsided by his hatred, and since it is just before Christmas, she has nowhere to go, and very little money, having always lived hand to mouth.
With her relative fame, she knows that she will have to move again, and spends her night eating a peanut butter and banana sandwich and drinking a cup of cocoa. But before she can secure herself, she falls asleep. Only to dream of an imprisoned Wolf who calls himself "Guide" who is imprisoned in a cage made of snow. She speaks with him, only to have him tell her to save herself. But she already acknowledges it is too late/
Walker is a soldier who was in Afghanistan, terribly wounded, and used by an Afghani farmer as a scarecrow in his fields. Bought by scientists from Gen Hance to use in their experiments, Walker is loaded into the back of a refrigerated truck and driven across the country to pick up another body- the woman named Lilah. But far from freezing, when Lilah encounters Walker, she grows warmer, breaking through the stasis his body is in and freeing him from his half-dead state. It's too bad that Walker can't remember much of his life before that last morning when he and a bunch of other soldiers were blown to bloody ribbons and left to die, but once he encounters Lilah, he knows he must help her escape.
It takes them a while to recover from what was done to them and to free them from the handcuffs that hold them together. But their escape into the wilderness in Colorado brings them into contact with a tribe of secretive creatures that have plenty of reasons to want to remain hidden. But when Walker and Lilah get a glimpse of them through the storm, will they have to die to keep the secret?
And meanwhile, Lord Richard sends two of the Darkyn, Nicola and Gabriel, to find a dangerous Rogue who has entered America unnoticed. They must track him down and kill or otherwise dispose of the Rogue without the knowledge of Michael, the Seigneur of America, who must not be allowed to know about or confront the rogue. And meanwhile, one of the women working for Gen Hance has decided to buy her way out of the company, by faking her own death and stealing a body and a woman intended to be experimented on, in short, Walker and Lilah. But when she comes in search of her missing assets, can they fight her off and remain free?
This woman isn't the only one after Lilah. Another of the Kyndred, a man named Samuel, is looking for her as well after connecting with her and other Kyndred through the internet. But when he finds Walker with her, will he continue to try to help Lilah, or will his enmity with her lover and companion take precedence?
I was rather surprised to see this book on the shelf when I went to the book store, since it has been so long since I have seen or read one of the Darkyn/Kyndred books. This one focusses on Lilah, a woman with amazing power to read the thoughts of animals. But it was unusual in that both main characters are lying about who they are and what their real names are, either knowingly or unknowingly, but both have many good reasons for doing so, and you do find out who they really are at the end, and both accept each other willingly for who and what they are.
Despite the clues given as to who they both are, the story identifying them as only who they present themselves to be for most of the book allows you to feel quite deeply for both of them through what they are subjected to and what they experience for most of the story. You may not know who they really are, but the experiences they go through are horrible and terrifying, and you quickly come to identify with them and hope and wish for them to succeed in surviving and being with each other.
Gen Hance crops up again as the series villain, but in this book, they are kept mainly in the background. The people trying to capture them are far more villainous people than they are employees of an organization, and that makes the menace feel more up close and personal than somewhat removed, as the previous Gen Hance villains are. I found it so good that I couldn't put the book down to stop reading, and I read it in a little over two hours of steady reading. I would definitely recommend it, and both series that lead up to it, the Darkyn and the Kyndred. Highly recommended.
With her relative fame, she knows that she will have to move again, and spends her night eating a peanut butter and banana sandwich and drinking a cup of cocoa. But before she can secure herself, she falls asleep. Only to dream of an imprisoned Wolf who calls himself "Guide" who is imprisoned in a cage made of snow. She speaks with him, only to have him tell her to save herself. But she already acknowledges it is too late/
Walker is a soldier who was in Afghanistan, terribly wounded, and used by an Afghani farmer as a scarecrow in his fields. Bought by scientists from Gen Hance to use in their experiments, Walker is loaded into the back of a refrigerated truck and driven across the country to pick up another body- the woman named Lilah. But far from freezing, when Lilah encounters Walker, she grows warmer, breaking through the stasis his body is in and freeing him from his half-dead state. It's too bad that Walker can't remember much of his life before that last morning when he and a bunch of other soldiers were blown to bloody ribbons and left to die, but once he encounters Lilah, he knows he must help her escape.
It takes them a while to recover from what was done to them and to free them from the handcuffs that hold them together. But their escape into the wilderness in Colorado brings them into contact with a tribe of secretive creatures that have plenty of reasons to want to remain hidden. But when Walker and Lilah get a glimpse of them through the storm, will they have to die to keep the secret?
And meanwhile, Lord Richard sends two of the Darkyn, Nicola and Gabriel, to find a dangerous Rogue who has entered America unnoticed. They must track him down and kill or otherwise dispose of the Rogue without the knowledge of Michael, the Seigneur of America, who must not be allowed to know about or confront the rogue. And meanwhile, one of the women working for Gen Hance has decided to buy her way out of the company, by faking her own death and stealing a body and a woman intended to be experimented on, in short, Walker and Lilah. But when she comes in search of her missing assets, can they fight her off and remain free?
This woman isn't the only one after Lilah. Another of the Kyndred, a man named Samuel, is looking for her as well after connecting with her and other Kyndred through the internet. But when he finds Walker with her, will he continue to try to help Lilah, or will his enmity with her lover and companion take precedence?
I was rather surprised to see this book on the shelf when I went to the book store, since it has been so long since I have seen or read one of the Darkyn/Kyndred books. This one focusses on Lilah, a woman with amazing power to read the thoughts of animals. But it was unusual in that both main characters are lying about who they are and what their real names are, either knowingly or unknowingly, but both have many good reasons for doing so, and you do find out who they really are at the end, and both accept each other willingly for who and what they are.
Despite the clues given as to who they both are, the story identifying them as only who they present themselves to be for most of the book allows you to feel quite deeply for both of them through what they are subjected to and what they experience for most of the story. You may not know who they really are, but the experiences they go through are horrible and terrifying, and you quickly come to identify with them and hope and wish for them to succeed in surviving and being with each other.
Gen Hance crops up again as the series villain, but in this book, they are kept mainly in the background. The people trying to capture them are far more villainous people than they are employees of an organization, and that makes the menace feel more up close and personal than somewhat removed, as the previous Gen Hance villains are. I found it so good that I couldn't put the book down to stop reading, and I read it in a little over two hours of steady reading. I would definitely recommend it, and both series that lead up to it, the Darkyn and the Kyndred. Highly recommended.
Monday, May 23, 2011
The Bid by Jax
Vejhon Mach, leader of the Valiant, the forces of the planet Wite, has been captured by his enemies and sold into slavery on the other side of the galaxy, on a planet which supports slavery because it needs the genes and virility of slaves whose bloodlines haven't been affected by an endless war and slaughter. Taken and put in stasis, Vejhon is auctioned off for a high price, with the Baron Mejum being the highest bidder, until an outrageous bid by a slave named Najir disrupts the bidding and takes Vehjon for his master, Hanna Drakoulous.
Mejum is furious at losing a slave he wanted so much. The last slave he wanted so badly was Najir himself, and Hanna outbid him for Najir as well. He already hates her, for their two houses were once at war, and he got his revenge on her then by slaughtering both her parents just hours before a vote went through that ended the feuding between houses forever and which also put aside all punishments for such crimes in hopes that the feuding will end. But Mejum hasn't forgotten the enmity between their houses, nor stopped wanting to extirpate her house from the surface of their world.
Nor does Hanna like Mejum, but having voted for an end to the feuding, she intends to hold up her end of the agreement. She doesn't like that Mejum killed her parents, but she isn't going to go into banishment for 50 years merely to get revenge, either. But she will do anything to prevent another slave from ending up in Mejum's hands. Even if Vejhon hates slavery and her, for owning him, she will do her level best to make him see that living in House Drakoulous is hardly the worst thing that could happen to him. But first, she must ram some home truths into Vejhon's head, like what exactly he could expect living in another house as a slave, and how they could use his own body against him. And how he has been dosed with a targeted virus that ensures that trying to return to his home planet, or coming in contact with any of its animals or plants, is now a death sentence for him.
But Hanna has no use for another slave- no use for slaves at all, really, given that her entire house staff except for Vejhon and Najir are paid employees rather than slaves. And while she doesn't want a slave for a bedmate, she has something much more unusual in mind for Vejhon than merely a bed partner. But can he trust her and what she says long enough to believe what she has to teach him? And when Mejum threatens one of her employees to try and get close enough to kill her, can Vejhon and Najir save her life when she willingly enters Mejum's house to free the children the Baron has imprisoned? And can Hanna rise above her own concerns to save her planet and her people by abolishing slavery and making a different way to save her people?
This erotic novel is actually written by Jacquelyn Frank under the pen name of Jax. Unlike the rest of her novels, those written as "Jax" are much more erotic and closer to erotica than straight romance. But unlike most erotica I have read, there is no real hot sex straight from the beginning of the story. Sexual content begins in the third chapter, and despite the sex being written both sensually and descriptively, the book still comes off more like a regular romance rather than erotica. The cover might make you think that the book is written as a threesome, but it's all straight one male-one female, and despite Najir having had sex with Hanna in the past, once she takes up with Vejhon, he never touches her in that way again.
And also apparent from the cover is that this book is Science Fiction erotica. Hanna and her people are blue-skinned (and apparently have four fingers and a thumb, just like straight humans, from the cover), thus when she tells Vejhon that if he attempts to escape, he will stand out like a sore thumb, he believes her straight off. But Vejhon is useful to Hanna not only for his experience and fertility, but also for the color of his eyes, which becomes quite a subplot in the novels. I can't spoil it here, because that would give it all away, but I will say I found it interesting, and how the problem worked was unusual, even if I had to shrug off exactly how it worked to alleviate a problem as magic that was never really explained other than "It just happens that way."
I found this book to be very enjoyable and read it in only a few short hours. I was forced to take a break out of exhaustion in the middle, but I picked it right back up and read the last 100 pages in about 30 minutes. It was a wonderful read, and I would definitely pick up other books by "Jax" in the bookstore if I saw them, although this appears to be the first by this author under this pen name. Highly recommended.
Mejum is furious at losing a slave he wanted so much. The last slave he wanted so badly was Najir himself, and Hanna outbid him for Najir as well. He already hates her, for their two houses were once at war, and he got his revenge on her then by slaughtering both her parents just hours before a vote went through that ended the feuding between houses forever and which also put aside all punishments for such crimes in hopes that the feuding will end. But Mejum hasn't forgotten the enmity between their houses, nor stopped wanting to extirpate her house from the surface of their world.
Nor does Hanna like Mejum, but having voted for an end to the feuding, she intends to hold up her end of the agreement. She doesn't like that Mejum killed her parents, but she isn't going to go into banishment for 50 years merely to get revenge, either. But she will do anything to prevent another slave from ending up in Mejum's hands. Even if Vejhon hates slavery and her, for owning him, she will do her level best to make him see that living in House Drakoulous is hardly the worst thing that could happen to him. But first, she must ram some home truths into Vejhon's head, like what exactly he could expect living in another house as a slave, and how they could use his own body against him. And how he has been dosed with a targeted virus that ensures that trying to return to his home planet, or coming in contact with any of its animals or plants, is now a death sentence for him.
But Hanna has no use for another slave- no use for slaves at all, really, given that her entire house staff except for Vejhon and Najir are paid employees rather than slaves. And while she doesn't want a slave for a bedmate, she has something much more unusual in mind for Vejhon than merely a bed partner. But can he trust her and what she says long enough to believe what she has to teach him? And when Mejum threatens one of her employees to try and get close enough to kill her, can Vejhon and Najir save her life when she willingly enters Mejum's house to free the children the Baron has imprisoned? And can Hanna rise above her own concerns to save her planet and her people by abolishing slavery and making a different way to save her people?
This erotic novel is actually written by Jacquelyn Frank under the pen name of Jax. Unlike the rest of her novels, those written as "Jax" are much more erotic and closer to erotica than straight romance. But unlike most erotica I have read, there is no real hot sex straight from the beginning of the story. Sexual content begins in the third chapter, and despite the sex being written both sensually and descriptively, the book still comes off more like a regular romance rather than erotica. The cover might make you think that the book is written as a threesome, but it's all straight one male-one female, and despite Najir having had sex with Hanna in the past, once she takes up with Vejhon, he never touches her in that way again.
And also apparent from the cover is that this book is Science Fiction erotica. Hanna and her people are blue-skinned (and apparently have four fingers and a thumb, just like straight humans, from the cover), thus when she tells Vejhon that if he attempts to escape, he will stand out like a sore thumb, he believes her straight off. But Vejhon is useful to Hanna not only for his experience and fertility, but also for the color of his eyes, which becomes quite a subplot in the novels. I can't spoil it here, because that would give it all away, but I will say I found it interesting, and how the problem worked was unusual, even if I had to shrug off exactly how it worked to alleviate a problem as magic that was never really explained other than "It just happens that way."
I found this book to be very enjoyable and read it in only a few short hours. I was forced to take a break out of exhaustion in the middle, but I picked it right back up and read the last 100 pages in about 30 minutes. It was a wonderful read, and I would definitely pick up other books by "Jax" in the bookstore if I saw them, although this appears to be the first by this author under this pen name. Highly recommended.
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Quicksilver by Amanda Quick
Virginia Dean is a very powerful glass reader talent, but she has no idea why she comes to at Midnight in a room completely sheathed in glass, half-naked, with the body of Lord Hollister lying dead beside her in the same bed. As she is dressing and trying to make sense of her sudden (to her) appearance in the room, the hidden door to the room opens and a man named Owen Sweetwater steps in.
Sweetwater is a hunter-talent, and he has been following Virginia, thinking that she is either working with Hollister, or is being menaced by him. Luckily for her, he believes her when she tells him she doesn't know how she got here, and he helps her escape the room, and she, in turn, helps him stop a strange device, a carriage that radiates a malign energy in the spectrum of glasslight. Owen is all set to ignore the carriage and go around it, but a voice calling out for help from the corridor beyond makes him, and Virginia, have to deal with it.
From the maze of corridors, they rescue a prostitute named Becky, who was snatched off the street, and who knows who killed Lord Hollister. It wasn't a man, but a woman, mad as a Hatter, and Virginia knows in an instant it was Lady Hollister, for she was hired by the lady to find out how her beloved daughter died. Virginia has worked as a medium, but all she really does is read any glass in the room for captured images to find out what may have happened in the room where something happened. She does try to explain to people what she really does, and that she doesn't contact dead spirits, but many believe what they wish to, regardless.
Owen, as a hunter-talent, has been hired by the Arcane Society, specifically their new investigative arm of Jones and Jones, to find out why so many glass reader talents have been going missing. He was watching Virginia because he believed she might also go missing, and because she is so powerful a talent. He also finds himself attracted to her, and this is of interest to him because if he cannot find a woman to marry or have a relationship with, he will fall prey to the family condition, where the hunt becomes all, and he spends all his time on the hunt, day and night, until he dies or is killed by one of his prey.
As for Virginia, at the age of twenty-six, she knows she is on the shelf, but devotes her life to saving prostitutes from the street at a placed called Elm House, mainly because she knows that if her father's death when she was 13 hadn't included a bequest that allowed her to finish her schooling, she, too, might have ended up on the street. She is somewhat wary of Owen, because he has outed as fakes some of her colleagues, and if she is seen as aiding him in his outings, her professional name will be mud.
She is not a member of the Arcane Society, as they have a tendency to look down on those who use their talents to make a living. This is all well and good when you have plenty of money and don't need to work to survive, but those who are not so fortunate find that the attitude rankles severely. Instead, Virginia has joined the Leybrook Institute, as it has a less jaundiced attitude to those talents forced to turn to their talent as a means to survive.
But something is up with the Leybrook Institute, and Owen believes that someone there knows more than they are telling about the deaths of the Glasslight readers and the strange clockwork contraptions that keep showing up at the houses of the dead Glasslight readers. But can Owen and Virginia find out who has been killing the Glasslight readers and why, and stop them before Owen and Virginia become their next victims? And can Owen find it in his heart to make Virginia return his affections and marry him, when she has such strong negative feelings on the subject of marriage? Now that Owen has found the woman for him, can he win her forever?
I always enjoy the Arcane Society novels, and this book was no exception. As has been the case in recent books, we see that not everyone enjoys the attitude of the Arcane Society. it's not just the Winters family or the Tallentyres who dislike the Arcane Society, but many rank and file psychics, many of whom, truth be told, are fakers that the Arcane Society takes down because of the harm they do to people with real psychic talents. If they are outed as fakes, people will be more likely to assume that all psychics are faking it, which will harm the Arcane Society. But they also have a distaste for people using their talents for money, a hidebound attitude that doesn't endear them to those not well-off already.
I liked this book for the real villain, who had some psychic powers, but who was killing off Glasslight Readers when they turned down the villain's offer of work, because the villain didn't want anyone knowing what they were up to. And the villain had assistance from another person with a weak will, someone with charisma who hated their lack of power and merely sucked up to get what they feel they didn't have.
I found this an enjoyable book with an enjoyable story and characters. The Arcane Society books, no matter the pen name they are written under, are all wonderful and enjoyable books, and this one is one of the better ones. I loved the romance between Owen and Virginia, and how these two characters came together in romance, and later into marriage. Highly recommended.
Sweetwater is a hunter-talent, and he has been following Virginia, thinking that she is either working with Hollister, or is being menaced by him. Luckily for her, he believes her when she tells him she doesn't know how she got here, and he helps her escape the room, and she, in turn, helps him stop a strange device, a carriage that radiates a malign energy in the spectrum of glasslight. Owen is all set to ignore the carriage and go around it, but a voice calling out for help from the corridor beyond makes him, and Virginia, have to deal with it.
From the maze of corridors, they rescue a prostitute named Becky, who was snatched off the street, and who knows who killed Lord Hollister. It wasn't a man, but a woman, mad as a Hatter, and Virginia knows in an instant it was Lady Hollister, for she was hired by the lady to find out how her beloved daughter died. Virginia has worked as a medium, but all she really does is read any glass in the room for captured images to find out what may have happened in the room where something happened. She does try to explain to people what she really does, and that she doesn't contact dead spirits, but many believe what they wish to, regardless.
Owen, as a hunter-talent, has been hired by the Arcane Society, specifically their new investigative arm of Jones and Jones, to find out why so many glass reader talents have been going missing. He was watching Virginia because he believed she might also go missing, and because she is so powerful a talent. He also finds himself attracted to her, and this is of interest to him because if he cannot find a woman to marry or have a relationship with, he will fall prey to the family condition, where the hunt becomes all, and he spends all his time on the hunt, day and night, until he dies or is killed by one of his prey.
As for Virginia, at the age of twenty-six, she knows she is on the shelf, but devotes her life to saving prostitutes from the street at a placed called Elm House, mainly because she knows that if her father's death when she was 13 hadn't included a bequest that allowed her to finish her schooling, she, too, might have ended up on the street. She is somewhat wary of Owen, because he has outed as fakes some of her colleagues, and if she is seen as aiding him in his outings, her professional name will be mud.
She is not a member of the Arcane Society, as they have a tendency to look down on those who use their talents to make a living. This is all well and good when you have plenty of money and don't need to work to survive, but those who are not so fortunate find that the attitude rankles severely. Instead, Virginia has joined the Leybrook Institute, as it has a less jaundiced attitude to those talents forced to turn to their talent as a means to survive.
But something is up with the Leybrook Institute, and Owen believes that someone there knows more than they are telling about the deaths of the Glasslight readers and the strange clockwork contraptions that keep showing up at the houses of the dead Glasslight readers. But can Owen and Virginia find out who has been killing the Glasslight readers and why, and stop them before Owen and Virginia become their next victims? And can Owen find it in his heart to make Virginia return his affections and marry him, when she has such strong negative feelings on the subject of marriage? Now that Owen has found the woman for him, can he win her forever?
I always enjoy the Arcane Society novels, and this book was no exception. As has been the case in recent books, we see that not everyone enjoys the attitude of the Arcane Society. it's not just the Winters family or the Tallentyres who dislike the Arcane Society, but many rank and file psychics, many of whom, truth be told, are fakers that the Arcane Society takes down because of the harm they do to people with real psychic talents. If they are outed as fakes, people will be more likely to assume that all psychics are faking it, which will harm the Arcane Society. But they also have a distaste for people using their talents for money, a hidebound attitude that doesn't endear them to those not well-off already.
I liked this book for the real villain, who had some psychic powers, but who was killing off Glasslight Readers when they turned down the villain's offer of work, because the villain didn't want anyone knowing what they were up to. And the villain had assistance from another person with a weak will, someone with charisma who hated their lack of power and merely sucked up to get what they feel they didn't have.
I found this an enjoyable book with an enjoyable story and characters. The Arcane Society books, no matter the pen name they are written under, are all wonderful and enjoyable books, and this one is one of the better ones. I loved the romance between Owen and Virginia, and how these two characters came together in romance, and later into marriage. Highly recommended.
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